The Houston Texans went into Pittsburgh and extinguished the Steelers' season, winning 30-6 and advancing to the Divisional Round to face the New England Patriots on the road in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. The Texans' defense dominated, picking off one pass, collecting four sacks, and converting a strip-sack and an interception into two defensive touchdowns. With how well the Texans' defense played, you would think the Texans would be high on the list of teams that could represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. But unfortunately, that is not the case. Houston's Woody Marks ran for over 100 yards and scored a touchdown, which is atypical for them. While that sounds good, what wasn't good was Texans quarterback CJ Stroud's play on Monday night.
Stroud was 21 for 32 for 250 yards with one touchdown and one interception. While the numbers don’t sound extremely bad, the game is more than just the stats. Stroud never seemed to get comfortable in the pocket. Sure, there was some pressure at times, but it looked like he was seeing ghosts on the field during the game. Those “ghosts” caused Stroud to miss passes to wide-open receivers. Some of the misses stalled the Texans' offense when they could have kept it on the field. In the next game against the Patriots, Stroud cannot do that because, while the Texans' defense is good, the Patriots' offense has been good as well and can add more stress to the Texans' defense than the Steelers defense ever could. And that could mean an ugly outcome for the Houston Texans.
Along with Stroud being uncomfortable in the pocket, the decision-making was also questionable for Stroud. For example, in his lone touchdown pass, it almost didn’t happen. When Stroud rolled out to his right after faking the pitch going to the left, wide receiver Christian Kirk came across the formation right in front of Stroud and was wide-open. But instead of throwing it immediately, Stroud hung on to it another beat and then threw the football. The result was still a touchdown, but it was a little more difficult, with Kirk having to break a tackle to get into the endzone as opposed to walking in untouched.
There go 1️⃣3️⃣
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) January 13, 2026
📺: @nflonespn pic.twitter.com/6vQ4vAd7D5
Stroud also threw an interception later in the game when the Texans were in the redzone that could have broken this game wide open sooner. In that decision, he did face some pressure, but he moved up in the pocket. He could have run and preserved the field goal, or at the worst, thrown it to Nick Chubb, who was in the flat, to see what he could make happen. Instead, at the last minute, he threw the football and it landed right in the arms of defensive back Brandin Echols. The turnover ultimately did not hurt the Texans, but it could have. Stroud has to be more decisive and make better decisions going forward, especially if the Texans want to make a run to the Super Bowl.
Pure hesitation from CJ Stroud leads to an errant interception. Three turnovers today: pic.twitter.com/JyGbdzbeDM
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) January 13, 2026
Between the fumbles and indecision, Stroud has a lot to clean up before the New England game next Sunday. Can he get it together before that game? We will find out next week.