C.J. Stroud
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C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans offense struggled again on Monday Night Football versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It wasn’t even two full years ago when the Houston Texans last hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that would go down as one of the most memorable matchups of the entire 2023 NFL season. The Texans emerged victorious in a 39-37 fireworks show in which C.J. Stroud established himself as a full-fledged star-in-the-making, torching the Buccaneers D for 470 passing yards and five touchdowns, both single-game rookie records.
On Monday night, C.J. Stroud, the Texans and the Buccaneers picked up right where they left off 22 months ago, combining for 24 total points on the first four drives of the game, with each team’s offense looking crisp and in midseason form. It felt like Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and the millions of fans watching the game across the country were settling in for another exciting firework display at NRG Stadium.
But after the Buccaneers jumped out to a 14-10 lead early in the 2nd quarter following the third career touchdown reception for rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka, both Tampa Bay and Houston’s defenses settled in, and for the next 35 minutes of game action, each team’s offense might as well have started lighting sparklers and firing off party poppers, not launching aerial shells and bottle rockets into the sky.
Apparently though, these two teams can’t play a normal football game against each other, because in the final five minutes of action, all hell broke loose and an entire armada of fireworks were shot into the air. In the end, it was the Bucs who emerged with a 20-19 win, with a beaten up Baker Mayfield standing victorious on the sideline like Maximus, ready to shout “Are you not entertained?” at the crowd that had been lulled to sleep for two quarters of hard-nosed and oftentimes ugly football.
Special Teams Nearly Steals Win For Texans
Even though the Texans did manage to score nine points in a four minute stretch of the 4th quarter, it wasn’t as if their offense finally clicked into gear. Sure, Nick Chubb’s 25-yard touchdown run to give Houston the lead with just over two minutes to go was a highlight-worthy moment for the veteran back who has dealt with numerous season-ending injuries in the past, but this momentary comeback was sparked by the special teams unit of the Texans.
First, after getting booed off the field by their own home crowd after failing to score a touchdown on three consecutive plays from the 1-yard line, the Texans blocked a punt with just over six minutes left in the game. After going three and out and being booed off the field once again, Ka’imi Fairbairn hit a 53-yard field goal to bring Houston within a point.
Then, on the very next possession, Tampa Bay was forced to punt again, and this time it was rookie receiver Jaylin Noel who returned the punt deep into Bucs territory, putting Houston in field goal range with just minutes to play.
Had Chubb not busted off the 25-yard touchdown run — the third Texans play of 25+ yards in the game after failing to register one explosive play last week — and Houston been able to milk some clock and not have to give Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers offense the ball back with over two minutes to play, perhaps we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Maybe Houston emerges with the win, and our questions about the competency of their offense wouldn’t matter as much.
(Full disclosure, that’s the postgame column I immediately started writing after Chubb’s touchdown run, but that will never see the light of day.)
But now it matters. The Texans are 0-2 and even if the AFC South doesn’t boast the strongest competition, to make the Playoffs at this point is something only about 12 percent of 0-2 teams have done since 1990. Yes, the 2023 Texans were one of those teams, but until C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins start connecting as frequently and dynamically as they did two years ago, there’s legitimate cause for concern in H-Town.