- 2 days ago
ITL debates whether Stroud is ready for the expectations that come with being one of the NFL's rising stars.
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00:00Can CJ handle pressure? It's one of the biggest questions. It feels like it's one of the questions that's kind
00:05of tantamount to what the larger CJ Stroud experience is right here with the Texans in this time period as
00:12you try and figure out whether or not the Texans want to find a deal with him on the second
00:19contract.
00:19And this comes up again, at least in our imaginations, from social media, funny enough, in a roundabout way, because
00:26social media circulated a video about CJ Stroud on a podcast, or not about, of CJ Stroud on a podcast,
00:34notably with his long hair, talking about the difference between women in L.A. and Houston.
00:39Can you give me a little bit of this, Fig?
00:42You know what's crazy, bro? It's not even close.
00:47Oh, yeah. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I'm interested. I'm interested.
00:50Like, it's not even close. It's not close? No.
00:52So, which – what's the separation here? L.A., bro. It's not even close, bro.
00:59I love Houston. That's crazy. It's not even close? It's not close, bro.
01:04I want to apologize to all of my sisters from Houston, Texas. All right. All right. And I appreciate –
01:09they appreciate the apology, big dog.
01:11Yeah, no, but as you might imagine, right? Is he talking about teams or women?
01:15No, he's talking about the ladies.
01:16L.A. ain't even close.
01:17He said – and it ain't even close.
01:19And then he went, you can go up to Oakland. Oakland's 400 miles away.
01:21Not even close. In fact, the people in Southern California would be mad at you for like – no, that's
01:27NorCal. That's different than SoCal.
01:28All of a sudden, you're claiming the valor of all these other women. Right.
01:33But I saw this, guys, and I'm like, that is from 2023. Here's the thing, though.
01:38He's on a podcast here. Like, those are the two immediate tales.
01:41Well, you and I and Figgy know that, and a lot of people know that. But it is circulating right
01:46now.
01:46I bet you if you went to your Twitter feed right now, as if it just happened.
01:51Yeah.
01:52And that happens sometimes.
01:53That happens sometimes.
01:54I saw it yesterday.
01:55Yeah, me too.
01:56And I kept seeing people – it kept popping up.
01:58And people commenting in real time.
02:00Yeah. I'm like, what are y'all talking about?
02:02I've seen somebody say, oh, he shouldn't be commenting on anything after that playoff game.
02:06Yeah, yeah, exactly.
02:07I'm like, this was two or three years ago.
02:10Three years ago.
02:11And that's exactly the point, right?
02:12It's the fact that these things continue to compound on themselves.
02:16And white or wrong, and in this instance, very clearly wrong, right?
02:19I think the take was bad.
02:20But very clearly, like, this is not something that you pile on to the questions and concerns you have as
02:25a player.
02:26Yeah.
02:26But this is going to be a part of the pressure, right?
02:28Like, this is a part of the CJ is now a meme for you playing poorly in a big circumstance
02:33of this all, right?
02:35All of that adds to the pressure of CJ Stroud on the field.
02:39And so this is going to be not just the pressure of expectation.
02:43The pressure of – this is a team that if not for those two games in the playoffs,
02:49people are saying wholeheartedly, full-throatedly, that this is a Super Bowl contending team.
02:55And people sometimes feel like they have a little hesitance getting there
02:58because of the questions that they feel like they have about CJ Stroud in the playoffs.
03:02And now you add this other stuff.
03:03Like, it's – and as much as he can say he doesn't listen to any of this,
03:06and his team doesn't listen to all of this, they all hear this.
03:09In fact, it's kind of amazing.
03:10If they don't listen, they magically know how to get to conversations about the things
03:14that people are talking about without hearing them.
03:17And so he's going to need to demonstrate that he can – that's this a very valid question.
03:22And we're talking between the ears pressure, in-your-heart pressure.
03:25And I think there's a bigger sort of story.
03:29There's a bigger story happening right between our eyes.
03:32You might think it's the offseason.
03:33You might think it's the last two weeks.
03:35I know it's the offseason.
03:35Two weeks from today, right?
03:37Yes.
03:37The player Texans report for training camp.
03:39You might think, boy, we've got two weeks of waiting.
03:43There's no real season going on right now.
03:47It's put pressure on CJ Stroud's season.
03:50Let's go through some of the stuff, man.
03:52Like, this came out of nowhere, and I don't think it was an accident.
03:55Like, just happened – someone happened to put it up there, and then it takes fire.
03:59Like, this – people are doing this, and people are acting and reacting about this video for a reason.
04:05Then there's the – not even the top 18, 19, 20, depending on how you look at it on ESPN's
04:12quarterback list.
04:12We talked about that yesterday.
04:13Anyway, the apparent snub – apparent, because maybe he's still going to be on the list.
04:18We don't know.
04:18Which would be very fun.
04:19Which would be wild on the NFL top 100 list.
04:23That resurfacing of this video.
04:26Greg Cosell.
04:27Do you have that?
04:27Talked yesterday about just, you know, CJ Stroud handling not necessarily the pressure physically, but both the pressure physically and
04:37the pressure mentally.
04:39That's a great question.
04:40I mean, CJ – I can only go by watching tape.
04:42I don't know what's in his head.
04:43But CJ Stroud has become a quarterback that plays incredibly fast.
04:48His mental and physical processes become speeded up way too soon.
04:52He perceives pressure that's often not there.
04:56When he can't play in rhythm, you can almost see his body language and everything becomes faster.
05:02I thought Troy Aikman spoke about it really well during the telecast.
05:05The last two years have been difficult.
05:07They've got to figure out what it is.
05:10You know, if he's the guy, you know, he's going into his fourth year.
05:14But the last two years, for the most part, with few exceptions, he's not been a comfortable player.
05:21Everything's happening too fast for him.
05:23It's pile on CJ Stroud's season.
05:26Put pressure on CJ Stroud.
05:28So, can he handle it?
05:30Yeah, and this is the nature of being a quarterback.
05:32It's funny because you would think with the pedigree, the answer should be absolutely right.
05:35Played at Ohio State in big games and big circumstances and looked good in those big circumstances, right?
05:41The very first one that comes to mind, you know what I'm going to say, is Georgia.
05:44I'm going to immediately think about the fact that not only did he play really well,
05:48but he also opens up a different part of his game that he had not used.
05:51That was the one game where he was like, man, you know what?
05:54I'm going to run.
05:56I'm going to put this team on my back and try to win this game.
05:59Unfortunately, the kicker is out of the other things.
06:01Right, so you've had that.
06:02You've had games in the NFL.
06:04I mean, hello, Browns.
06:06Hello, Chargers, where he has demonstrated a capability of handling pressure.
06:10But this is another level that it's getting.
06:12It's a different kind of pressure.
06:12It is.
06:13And I see you on the text line.
06:14We always appreciate you getting involved.
06:15The A32 says, just hearing it does not give it validity.
06:18Oh, I agree.
06:19But it's there, and you have to be able to answer it, right?
06:22And I understand that it does not have to be valid, but that pressure exists nonetheless.
06:26And so I'm very intrigued to see how he responds to it because I think Greg Osell is right.
06:31C.J. Stroud, when there's like an ease to his game, it still shows up.
06:36And we're doing the rewatch of last year.
06:38And I see it when there's ease to his game and, you know, those situations where, like
06:43I mentioned, he gets his wide receiver one-on-one.
06:46He's protected.
06:46Buddy, that ball is gorgeous.
06:49But in the moments where things get a little muddled, like, you can see there's times where
06:53the feet get happy or whatever.
06:55And I am a little bit less inclined to say that he can't get there because I think there's
06:59something to be said, right, about the pressure of this all.
07:02I think if you look at it from one of two different ways, if you look at it from the
07:05place
07:05of C.J. and pressure, then I think that it is easy to have a negative view on him.
07:11I think also, I very much look at it from, like, the circumstance of this.
07:14And some of the pressure that has been created for C.J. or some of the lack of ease has
07:18been
07:18circumstances have been odd.
07:20Like, there's constantly been newness, whether it's from year one to year two, you get a
07:24new level of poor offensive line play.
07:26From year two to year three, you literally get a new offensive play caller and a new offense,
07:31right?
07:31There's always something new and he's trying to find and establish some level of footing
07:35within those.
07:37This is the closest that he's had to, like, year to year some level of stability.
07:41But he needs to demonstrate that with that stability, that pressure is eased for him
07:46as opposed to the other way because I think that that then compounds what we're dealing
07:49with.
07:49I think there are two kinds of pressure that players have to deal with.
07:53And I'm talking both mental pressure.
07:56The mental pressure of on the field, reacting the right way, kind of what Greg Cosell was
08:01talking about, you know, being able to not have the happy feet, you know, be able
08:04to stand in there, handle the mental pressure of being the quarterback.
08:08Then there's another pressure.
08:09And that's the pressure that you feel before you even walk onto the field.
08:13And that is what's happening now.
08:16Before he even walks onto the field, he's not feeling the pressure of how do I deal with
08:21this second, you know, second year play caller or this and that mental pressure.
08:26He's dealing with the mental pressure of people doubt me.
08:29He's dealing with the mental pressure of that video is resurfacing, the mental pressure of
08:34I'm not respected by my peers.
08:35I'm not respected by NFL execs and coaches, all the things that have been happening this
08:40week.
08:41That's an entirely different kind of pressure.
08:43It's like when you go to work and for whatever reason, just make up a reason, you're feeling
08:49really pressure about something at work.
08:51Well, when the mics come on, that's different.
08:54You react differently because you're feeling that pressure.
08:57You know what I mean?
08:58Or you walk into your office or whatever.
09:01That is the kind of pressure that we don't know he can handle.
09:05We don't know he can handle the stuff that's out before he even walks onto the field.
09:10I will say this too, because remember when he did this podcast, remember he was on a media
09:15run after that rookie year.
09:17And then we know how that season ended.
09:19Not the actual season, but his season, it was kind of a down year.
09:23And remember, he kind of went ghost.
09:25He didn't do any other media stuff the following offseason.
09:29And so I'm not sure if that was a way to try to get rid of that pressure or just
09:34not add
09:35any fuel to the fire because of that season.
09:37So I don't know.
09:39And I feel like a lot of people agreed with that.
09:41The way that TJ Stratford was like, hey, don't be out here talking big if you are in a
09:46circumstance where it feels like you have not backed it up or whatever.
09:48Maybe that's not the best way of saying it, but you get what I'm going for.
09:51I don't know that that speaks to the pressure, but regardless, however you want to parse
09:55the previous portions of it, I think that this becomes a whole different level of the
10:00pressure, the mental aspects of it.
10:02And people will talk about the tank Dell.
10:04I think that you could find whichever side you want to be on of the question of can CJ
10:09Stroud handle the pressure?
10:10I think there's things that you could point to and go, here's an answer to the affirmative.
10:14Here's an answer to the negative.
10:15I think this year, this is the question that we're talking about, right?
10:18Like, this is what we're talking about underneath all the other things.
10:21He can make the throws, right?
10:23We've had enough people tell us that he's a smart quarterback and all that thing.
10:27This is the answer.
10:28Like, this is ultimately what we're trying to evaluate from CJ Stroud.
10:31And it became even more clear with something as silly as a video that was clearly old of
10:36him coming up and it's starting the wildfire again.
10:39Yeah.
10:40Yeah.
10:40And I kind of expect more to happen.
10:43Not necessarily another video or whatever, but just people find it.
10:46It's CJ Stroud season.
10:48Can he handle it?
10:49And to your point, we've seen him in pressure situations, maybe not high leverage pressure
10:53situations, but like the Browns playoff game, the Chargers playoff game.
10:56We haven't seen him where people are looking at him and he knows people are looking at him.
11:02This is probably the big, to your point, Lopez, this is probably the most pressure he ever
11:06had as far as like just off the field.
11:09Not real game time situations, but off the field.
11:13Because even when he went ghost that one season where we all said he locking in and all that
11:18stuff, like it wasn't even this bad.
11:21That kind of pressure has broken people.
11:24Yeah.
11:24It's broken athletes.
11:26Yeah.
11:27And that's, can he handle it?
11:29That's the question.
11:30Is it like Todd Marinovich, right?
11:31A different style, but you get to that, obviously.
11:34Yeah, man.
11:34There's definitely instances where you have that kind of pressure and does that change
11:38stuff.
11:39This is where it's important for the things that can help ground him away from that stuff.
11:44Because that stuff is, I don't know that you could take that off the table for him.
11:46Yeah.
11:47Right?
11:47Like as much as they've tried, right?
11:49When they talk about all the support that the guys in the building have for him.
11:52I do wonder how like those messages come from the leadership because they've seen, seemed
11:56like somewhat in the middle when it comes to committal with him.
12:00They're like, he's our quarterback for this year.
12:02And I don't know how that plays with him in answering this pressure.
12:05That's still really funny just hearing it.
12:07But yeah, this definitely got to add to the pressure, right?
12:09That too.
12:10I didn't even put that one on there.
12:11Yeah.
12:12Yeah.
12:12Yeah.
12:12All right.
12:12You're in the loop right here.
12:13Oh, by the way, also more pressure, contract year.
12:16But he held his end of the bargain up, so you ain't got to worry about that.
12:20Well, I mean, they picked up the fifth year option.
12:23But I mean, he didn't get a contract.
12:25Yeah.
12:25I mean, he's playing for a contract.
12:26Yeah.
12:26But I mean, like in the very technical sense of the word contract year, it's not.
12:29We don't care about technical right now.
12:30I mean, but you can't throw it in.
12:32All right.
12:32So I'm about to tease, right?
12:33He's playing for a while.
12:34And you're like, well, also, there's this one thing that's not technically correct.
12:36Come on, dawg.
12:37What's going on?
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