- 2 days ago
The crew revisits C.J. Stroud’s rookie year and identifies the traits that made him special; from pocket presence to decision making and leadership. ITL debates which of those strengths can carry into the future and define Houston’s offense.
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00:00And somehow I got into a story and I forget the, you know,
00:04who wrote it and that's on me.
00:05I apologize, but no attribution.
00:07It was from 2023.
00:09It was his rookie season.
00:10What kind of journalism is this?
00:12After he won, I know bad, after he won rookie of the year.
00:15Yeah.
00:16And the writer was talking about CJ Stroud has, you know,
00:19elite superpowers and they were projecting, you know, how,
00:22like we all were, you know,
00:24how awesome it was that the Texans had him and what his ceiling was and all
00:28that time to be alive.
00:29Oh my gosh.
00:29It was such reminiscing.
00:32And he talked about six superpowers that CJ Stroud, you know,
00:37put on display in 2023.
00:40So I asked myself, how many of,
00:42how do I feel about these superpowers today?
00:45Okay.
00:46All right.
00:46So I figure, I want you to get in on this listeners as well.
00:49713-572-4610, the base power text line.
00:52The last one.
00:55Well, okay.
00:56I'll just, I'll just go through them.
00:58I mean, you tell me how you feel about CJ Stroud and if this is still a
01:03superpower of his or how you feel about it.
01:06Ball placement.
01:08This is tough because I vividly in my brain,
01:12I still think about over the probably back half of the season,
01:15the times when he would kind of mail a or sale is the word I want to use,
01:20sale the football over the top.
01:22And I can never tell if that was intentionally trying to protect the football,
01:25seeing as that was such a big point of emphasis,
01:27or if that was a mechanical issue where,
01:29especially for quarterbacks,
01:30if you don't step into your throw or if your feet aren't placed properly,
01:33the ball can sail on you a little bit.
01:35And I've thought about that,
01:36but ultimately all of that comes back to the ball placement isn't exactly where
01:40it once was and where you would think of for the ball placement specialist
01:44moniker that he had once given himself.
01:46So it's definitely off of where I had previously thought it should be.
01:51I don't know if he's incapable of getting it back.
01:55In fact, I believe he's capable of getting it back.
01:56I just wonder what that entails.
01:58I really do believe.
01:59I said it before the draft, before they even drafted him.
02:01I thought that was his superpower, his accuracy.
02:05I always said it.
02:06And so I don't feel, I'm kind of with you.
02:09I don't feel like, oh boy, that ship has sailed by any stretch.
02:12I think it's still there.
02:14He's shown it for, you know, more than one occasion for more than one year,
02:19you know, and he had some, some incredible throws this year.
02:21So figure, I think ball placement, I'm not out on.
02:25I think maybe a mechanical thing, maybe it relates to confidence, et cetera.
02:29I'm still, I still think he is one of the more,
02:32or can be one of the more accurate passers.
02:33Yeah, I think so too, man.
02:35Just even that, just watching this time at Ohio state and then his rookie year
02:40to me, I just can't jump off the bandwagon right now.
02:44Oh, and I don't think he just lost it.
02:46Right.
02:47Right.
02:47Placement.
02:48Are we doing this grade wise?
02:49Is that what we're doing here?
02:51Actually, I don't want to.
02:51Okay.
02:52So how do you feel about this?
02:54It's about to be spring break.
02:55Ain't nobody doing it.
02:55Yeah.
02:55I'm like, why are you breaking up then?
02:57So let's, they talked about this as a superpower.
03:00Processing speed.
03:01Ooh, this one is fun because they did try and speed him up this year.
03:08The idea was to get the ball out quicker and he did that,
03:11but there was also instances where he held onto the football in ways that were
03:15a little weird.
03:15And there was times where he made decisions that were like, man,
03:18did you see what you were doing there?
03:19Yeah.
03:20This is another one where I'm definitely more skeptical than I once was in
03:27trying to be as fair as possible.
03:29I still lean to, especially the people who I know as analysts are like, no,
03:33this is a smart dude that gets it.
03:34I still lean on that very heavily, but I'm starting to have more skepticism as
03:40to that portion of the game for him.
03:42Yeah.
03:43I think I'm not really sold on this one.
03:47I think they,
03:48I think it is a little bit of issues with how fast the game is for him right
03:52now.
03:53Yeah.
03:53And maybe it could be the offense.
03:55Maybe it's a whole new offensive scheme where, you know,
03:58he's trying to get through that.
04:00But I hate to use the word, the league caught up to him.
04:03Yeah.
04:04But it do feel like the league kind of caught up to him a little bit and it
04:08seemed like it's playing a little too fast for him.
04:10I'm with you two guys, but for a different reason,
04:13I think this is a direct reflection of system.
04:16Fair.
04:17I think we didn't mention that he's in a, he was in a brand new system.
04:20That's a good point.
04:21I think this is system.
04:23And so to be determined, but I am skeptical like you poise was considered to
04:28be a superpower.
04:29This one is the one that's probably taken the biggest hit for him recently.
04:32Yeah.
04:32Yeah.
04:33I mean, you can't look at that postseason run and go, he is incredibly poised.
04:37I think that you could,
04:38he could have even had a bad game and you still feel good about his poise.
04:41It's the way that it's snowballed in both of those games that I think really
04:45undercuts his argument towards poise at this point.
04:50And of course,
04:50these are two games that we're making this off of instead of all of the other
04:54games that he has done,
04:54where he has shown a modicum of poise at times,
04:57especially under immense pressure under times where it felt like they were
05:00playing Ole blocking on the offense line.
05:02Right.
05:03What was the scheme?
05:04Ole.
05:04Right.
05:05But it's really hard to look past a game in which, you know,
05:09you start, you know,
05:10having bad snaps.
05:12You can't bring them in and it just snowballs.
05:13And then you have another game where the turnover snowball and go,
05:16the poise is there.
05:17That's really hard to sell.
05:19The crazy part is I didn't have this thought until the new England game in the
05:24playoffs.
05:24And I just felt like he was just a deer in the headlight.
05:28Even,
05:28even as bad as he played against Pittsburgh,
05:31he still made some good throws to,
05:33you know,
05:34help win the game.
05:36Yeah.
05:36That Patriots game.
05:38He just looked like he shouldn't even been out on the field.
05:41Right.
05:42And I never had that thought about CJ Stroud.
05:44He just looked like a deer in the headlight.
05:46Yep.
05:46His eyes were bigger than I ever seen before.
05:49He was just on the sideline looking speechless.
05:52Yeah.
05:52This is the one I'm most worried about because I,
05:54you know,
05:55you both referenced the playoffs and they keep saying,
05:57well,
05:58he had a good year.
05:58Otherwise,
05:59you know,
05:59blah,
06:00blah,
06:00blah.
06:00No,
06:00I think the scar is deep enough that it could be lingering.
06:03Yeah.
06:04I think it could be a lingering scar.
06:05What about leadership?
06:07This is one that I have to,
06:09I have to lean on what his teammates say.
06:13And for the most part,
06:14they seem to appreciate who he is and how he,
06:17how he steps up for them.
06:19The question that I think pops up is when Nico Collins points to,
06:25and I,
06:25you know,
06:25I hate doing the thing where we go back to the tank Dell injury in Kansas
06:29city and we make that into some level of referendum on him.
06:32But when Nico Collins talks about how,
06:34Hey,
06:35we have to,
06:35you know,
06:35get our guy back into it.
06:37It's hard to not remember that.
06:39It's hard to not think of Dalton Schultz kind of really talking about this in
06:43such a way where they're having to kind of lift him up in a way,
06:46which of course that's what teammates are for in a general sense.
06:48But we kind of build this,
06:50this mythos,
06:50this legend status of quarterbacks where they need to be above that.
06:53And it's hard to not take into account those portions.
06:57I believe that,
06:58you know,
06:59they,
06:59they follow after him and they say as much whenever you have an opportunity
07:03to talk to the guys in that locker room.
07:05You do wonder also,
07:06if you were talking about leadership is buying in something that you consider
07:10part of a leadership quality or a metric.
07:12I think this is to BD,
07:15TBD.
07:16I just,
07:16I'm not sure.
07:17And I,
07:18you know,
07:18I think everybody likes CJ Stroud in that locker room,
07:21of course,
07:22but I think the leadership really shows when it's nut cutting time and he got to
07:28rally up the squad and say,
07:31come on,
07:31let's go.
07:32I,
07:32you know,
07:32let's,
07:32let's get this done.
07:34And I'm,
07:35I'm not sure.
07:36I'm not sure if he can do that.
07:39I'm,
07:39I'm,
07:40I'm,
07:40I'm just not sure.
07:41I don't want to sit here and say,
07:43yep,
07:43he's a great leader.
07:44He could do this.
07:45I'm just not sure.
07:47I'm with you.
07:47I think being well-liked and leadership are two different things.
07:51You know,
07:51he is well-liked consistently,
07:53but I think it's different from being a leader.
07:56And I think that's one of the things they're worried about.
07:58Our last,
07:58we have question marks on all four of these to this point.
08:00Not the first one.
08:01I don't think,
08:01I think we're all pretty confident that the ball placement can be there.
08:04Yeah.
08:06But maybe something of a question mark.
08:07And this is the last one ability to elevate receivers.
08:11He did that a lot his rookie year.
08:13He did that a lot.
08:14Yeah,
08:14he did.
08:15Yeah.
08:16Um,
08:17this is interesting because who are the receivers that we'd be talking about
08:20elevating?
08:20It's clearly not Nico Collins.
08:21Nico Collins is a,
08:22is a level of his own.
08:24Um,
08:25we're talking about Jaden Higgins.
08:26How'd you feel about Jaden Higgins in the elevation of him within what we were
08:30doing here?
08:31I think there was some,
08:32uh,
08:33you know,
08:33putting,
08:34you know,
08:34putting them in a good spot,
08:35reading correctly,
08:36getting them there.
08:37But this is to me is,
08:39is a little bit wavering.
08:41Uh,
08:41I think it's wavering a little bit,
08:42but it also much like ball placement could be a product of confidence.
08:45And you know what?
08:46I think this one might be the hardest to judge because of,
08:50you talk about the system.
08:51So much of the system isn't coming up on the wide receivers themselves being able
08:55to be good.
08:56Uh,
08:56how much stock did we put in the idea of Christian Kirk because he was a
09:00veteran that was supposed to be able to understand all the optionality of
09:04what wide receivers have to do.
09:05I think the young guys that were in this needed so much,
09:08uh,
09:09seasoning that I don't know how a quarterback elevates somebody who has to
09:13figure out on their own,
09:14where do I move in these,
09:16in these instances,
09:17right?
09:17When do I cut in?
09:19When do I,
09:19you know,
09:20continue to take carry this route?
09:21When do I kind of cut this route short?
09:24I don't know how he's elevates that in that way,
09:27but it felt like he did a great job with the guys that he had a connection
09:31with.
09:31So this is,
09:31this is a tough one for me to,
09:33to even answer.
09:34Cause I don't know how much he had an opportunity to really do this.
09:37Yeah.
09:37I think it's a little tricky too,
09:39especially if you look at his rookie year where he had Noah Brown,
09:42who had a pretty good connection with him.
09:45Yeah.
09:45And I felt like the weapons he had last year are better than the weapons he had
09:50this first year.
09:52And I just,
09:53that's a good point.
09:54It seemed like he is not to say,
09:56so I'm not sure where to go with that.
09:58I don't want to say CJ don't really help his guys or as far as the receivers,
10:02because we saw it in his rookie year.
10:04So we're feeling maybe one superpower still.
10:08One,
10:08one,
10:09one still,
10:10but how many of these do you feel like are still capable of coming back or at
10:14least show?
10:15Or a product of the,
10:16of him being shaken.
10:17Right.
10:17I still think the poise is something that could show up.
10:19The leadership is an interesting one because leadership is one of those things
10:22that feels like it's unveiled in times of strife.
10:25And this is definitely that.
10:26So maybe we'll see some level of answers to that or how we feel about that
10:30through camp.
10:32And obviously the early portions of the 26 season.
10:34But yeah,
10:35this,
10:36this it's interesting to see how,
10:38how these things are shaking.
10:39But I also feel good about,
10:40I'm not shaking to the point where I'm crossing any of these smooth off.
10:44Now,
10:44some people on the text line have right.
10:45The poise,
10:46they're like,
10:46yeah,
10:46that's out the window or what have you.
10:48I think that there's,
10:49if I feel at least good in that I have not looked at these and gone,
10:54these are not,
10:55these are entirely gone.
10:57This is not something that actually exists.
10:58And we were wrong in seeing that.
10:59It's just,
11:00I have questions about these now and he has to show us answers about them
11:03as we continue to go,
11:04which makes sense as to where this team is,
11:06right?
11:06They looking at him as we believe that you could still be this guy,
11:09but you have to show us again.
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