C.J. Stroud Exposed: Texans Face a Franchise-Altering Reality

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.6 • 945 Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What we saw was a disgrace. C.J. Stroud imploded against the New England Patriots, throwing four interceptions and nearly seven in what was one of the ugliest performances of his career. This was not just a bad stat line. It was bad fundamentals, indecision, and mistakes that raised serious questions about whether Stroud is the same quarterback he was as a rookie. The conversation goes beyond the turnovers. From dropped passes to coaching decisions, coordinator changes, and a controversial late-game punt by DeMeco Ryans, everything is on the table. Add in Troy Aikman delivering a brutally honest assessment on the broadcast, and suddenly the Texans are facing a much bigger issue than just one bad game. Is this a temporary slump, a coaching problem, or real regression from a quarterback once viewed as the future of the franchise? And with extension talks looming, how close are the Texans to a true crossroads with Stroud?

Transcript

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0:00.0	What we saw yesterday was a disgrace.
0:02.9	I don't know what happened to C.J. Stroud, but his performance yesterday against the Patriots was an all-timer.
0:09.8	Yeah, I missed the first quarter and a half of this game.
0:12.2	And then when it popped up his stat line and it said four interceptions.
0:17.9	I was like, are you kidding me?
0:19.1	I thought it was a wrong stat because I missed the guy. I didn't see it. And so I had to go back and rewatch. He was bad. And he's been bad for two weeks. Not only were the stats like bad, they were misleading. He could have thrown seven. Yeah. Like there were so many interceptable balls that for for whatever reason, didn't fall into the Patriot's
0:39.1	hands.
0:40.0	He was bad, and it wasn't just him.
0:42.0	Like, you go back to the opening drive, Christian Kirk dropped a first down.
0:45.9	Like, it was right in his hands, and he dropped it.
0:47.9	So it wasn't just him, but his performance was so abysmal that it got me looking at his
0:53.8	stats from the regular season
0:55.1	and last year and saying, is he the same guy?
0:57.9	And then a credit to Troy Aikman because at the end of this game, Troy Aitman said, and
1:04.2	this is a part of why Troy is great.
1:05.6	Right.
1:06.6	Because we played a clip much earlier in the show, he could rewind it on the Odyssey app
1:10.0	when talking about the officiating and how after it was explained that, you know, they don't like to call PI. His answer was, someone should tell the bills. But Troy Aikman has become one of those broadcasters that just tells you like it is. Yeah. And so he had a real rough description of C.J.
1:27.7	Stroud at the end of the game.
1:28.6	I'll play it for you in a couple seconds.
1:30.2	But what the hell happened to him?
1:32.5	Yeah.
	...

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