C.J. Stroud is not playing his best football as of late. In The Loop talked about it following the Texans' latest loss, a 32-27 letdown at home to the Titans.
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00:00Alright, let's talk about the play of the quarterback of this Texans team CJ Stroud after a 32-27 loss to the Tennessee Titans at
00:07NRG Stadium pushing the Texas to 7-5. CJ Stroud
00:11could reasonably say
00:13It could be reasonably said about him rather that he was outplayed by Will Levis
00:17I understand the quarterbacks don't play against each other. They're not guarding one another like like it's hoop or anything. Mm-hmm, but
00:23Will Levis
00:25278 yards, two touchdowns, one interception. CJ Stroud 245, two touchdowns, two interceptions
00:31Both of them not very good interceptions either
00:35But not very good and Will Levis threw a horrible pick six
00:38But it's still the most yards than any opposing quarterback
00:43Including Josh Allen and Jared Goff and who knows what the ones that come has ever thrown in NRG this season and
00:50As many touchdowns as has been thrown at NRG in this season that I mentioned it was Will Levis
00:55Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah
00:57and
00:59look the thing for me with CJ Stroud in this game is when the you know conversations about all CJ Stroud sophomore slump or
01:07Whatever when those things have come up
01:08The easy way to kind of wipe that away has been talking about the pressure the offensive line has allowed and the pressure rate did
01:15Still go up. I think it was near 40% if not at 40% in this game. There was still definitely pressure
01:20Arriving for him, but in even in instances where he has been clean. He is clearly missing guys
01:26I mean as evidenced in a big way by the John Mechie or the one that was designated for John Mechie the
01:31Intended receiver and he just completely misses him. It seems like there was a
01:36Misunderstanding in there and you maybe you go was Mechie supposed to run a slam
01:40But no, there's a there's a mirrored route by Tank Dell on the same kind of sit down in that soft zone
01:45Yeah, maybe Mechie just didn't hit the mark
01:48But even then it just felt like CJ missed so far away the Mechie couldn't even get a finger on it
01:52It's not like it was out of position away from the you know
01:55The middle of his middle of his chest and it was just out a little bit
01:58It wasn't that this was well outside of his range of catching it directly to the defender and that's that's not an anomaly in this
02:04Game, it felt like CJ had a lot of misses
02:06Some of them were evidence or were affected rather by like pressure where he couldn't set his feet or he couldn't fall through
02:12But some of them was just poor throws that didn't get to the right place and it feels like it's obvious now
02:18That CJ Stroud is not making the most of even the little that is there for him
02:22You can say what you want about CJ Stroud's future and I think we all feel pretty good about it 100%
02:28I still I still think that he is the CJ Stroud that we leave him to be but in the present
02:33I mean if you'd be lying to yourself if you if you said he didn't look like a quarterback that got rattled
02:38I mean he got rattled and he gets rattled and misses targets was so uncharacteristic for a guy
02:45That's that that precise as a passer generally speaking and you still you still see the precision and sometimes there's that there's that pass down the right
02:51side to tank Dell where he just
02:54Fits it in the tightest of windows now
02:56Some of that is like just being maybe a a split-second like getting rid of the getting the football out there
03:01But even then like gets the ball there just in time and then you see other instances where he is just
03:06Flat out and his numbers and you were you were sharing with me
03:09Before the show like just his numbers alone. Some of them are not just like general stats yard touchdown
03:16It's how he compares in the last six weeks. Yes since week six and this this was dumbfounding
03:22I was just messing around with some statistics when it comes to
03:26His EPA per play right his efficiency on any play the you know, whether he's adding adding value
03:33He is very low and then when you compare this to what they call completion percentage over expected
03:38So what's your expected completion percentage? How much better or worse? Are you doing compared to that?
03:42he is by far in a way the worst quarterback in
03:47You know meeting his expectation or you know, he's under playing his expectation on completed passes, right?
03:53By a strong a very wide margin. I mean he is far ahead of Jameis Winston who is the next closest
04:01I'm talking about Aaron Rodgers been better at meeting his
04:05Expectations Caleb Williams Gardner Minshew Daniel Jones shows up on this way far ahead of him, right?
04:10Like CJ Stroud is not meeting the expectation of what is expected in these situations and that's understanding that you know
04:17whatever the play calling of the place drew the play a
04:20Place being drawn up or the inability to run the football which that one showed up in a big way
04:26Congratulations to the Tennessee Titans completely
04:28Figuring out how to handle Joe Mixon's ability to bounce off
04:31They're like hey
04:32These guys are gonna handle the middle the linebackers are gonna sit on the cutback and then what you gonna do and the answer was
04:36Nothing. Yeah, right all those understood even with that CJ Stroud's play itself has suffered and that's deeply concerned
04:43but that's a very scientific sort of
04:45Proof of what we're seeing and and I and you we can even move it back forward in the game
04:51Toward toward the fourth quarter and then the second half. I mean clearly Bobby
04:55Slow it is airs right now and and that that is undeniable
04:59But there there have been opportunities when you get the ball in good position and CJ Stroud is just a little bit off and
05:06And that matter and even you know, the clinching safety
05:09Was Titus Howard, you know getting put in CJ's lap in within a second or two
05:16Which that's not CJ's fault
05:19But the dude gets you know that rattled that quickly what you know
05:22I know I'm using that word deliberately because he looks like a guy that's just rattled in certain place and
05:27Runs out the back of the end zone
05:29Clearly he was kind of pushed as well
05:31but I'm not so sure he wouldn't run out of the back of the end zone if they weren't pushed into him because he was
05:36Just trying to anything to get out of the pocket and then of course, that's that's the safety
05:40Yeah, and I look I don't say this to put it entirely on CJ, right?
05:45But I think that that's some of what is happening here and it's one of the reasons why I'm okay
05:48I like I still feel strongly about CJ Stroud's aspirations as a as a quarterback in this league
05:54We've seen a lot of great quarterbacks have that moment where they're like, okay now it's the time to take on more responsibility
06:00Especially in a situation like this for CJ where you look around and you see that your team, you know
06:04There's there's there's deficits in the way that this team operates in various places, right?
06:09Offensive line is clearly one of those where you go
06:11Okay, maybe it now it means that I have to hold on to more this responsibility than shoulder more this responsibility myself
06:17And that's a lot to handle like it's a lot to juggle the NFL is not an easy thing for quarterbacks playing
06:22There's literally probably people that we have people that we think that do it
06:26well, what 12 13 14 in the world at this level like it's not very easy and
06:32Taking all of that upon yourself is difficult
06:35But with the responsibility he's having he's not it's not it's not manifesting. Well in the outside of it. Um, you know what?
06:42Seems like somebody's on the phone. Let's welcome in my guy Larry Larry staffer. Larry. What's happening, brother?
06:48What's going on?
06:51Great show today man, you know y'all are talking about a lot of things that fans have already expressed man and
06:58This isn't this isn't a CJ Stroud problem, man
07:02This is a this is a coaching problem
07:06with Bobby Slowick and that offensive line coach and
07:10And the issue with where we're all seeing and what we're watching is that CJ is trying to overcome something
07:18That we know is is almost impossible to do to make up for what they're putting out there
07:24If you look at the Texans offense Bobby Slowick is running
07:28Probably the most elementary version of the Shanahan Kubiak system and I and I say that to say this if you know
07:37That and I said this a couple weeks ago
07:39If you know a team like Detroit is here or the Titans are here to stop Joe mixing
07:44You don't have the wherewithal or the flexibility to understand that you have to rebuild your entire thought process
07:50To make this a passing game versus a run game and then that help open up the run game
07:55They were supposed to run to the Andre sweat ass from sideline to sideline with that passing game
08:01But he tried to force that ball down the middle of the field where they are the strongest there
08:07And I continue to sit here and I'm not out. Let me make sure everybody understand
08:13I am team D'Amico
08:15Riding I see the crowd
08:17What I am NOT is team D'Amico right keeping Eric Murray sorry ass on this football team
08:24Because we watch Eric Murray survive free regime and still can't figure out why the hell he does a bite on a tight end
08:33There's not a safety in the world at a fight on the site on the tight end like that, man
08:37And we were talking about Nick answer that went out and got justice Simmons and other
08:41Safety's out there
08:42That would probably a lot be a lot more veteran like to not have to have a subject to this kind of stuff
08:48Here's the thing J. Lo
08:51This is contamination over there on Kirby now
08:55Because everybody finna start having some questions. If I'm D'Amico rise, here's what I'm doing. I'm cutting Dalton Schultz ass today
09:04Then I'm gonna go over that Bobby Slug
09:06You're relieved of your duties as offensive coordinator and figure out who you want to put in a the Gerard or Ben McDermott
09:12I don't give a damn who it is
09:14And then what I'm going to do
09:16I'm gonna make Titus Howard big-ass figure out if he really want to play right tackle or not
09:22Because if he is going to continue to play right after the way he's playing right tackle his ass need to be gone, too
09:29Yeah
09:29I'm in the business now of
09:31Results now and if you're trying to tell me that we got three or four games coming up with the Dolphins the Chiefs and the
09:37Ravens and you go subject the fan base to this kind of crap that we watch for the last 12 games
09:42I am going to tell you I was gonna be in trouble and making a playoff
09:46I think if you think that seat is hot now
09:48You wait to your ass do something real stupid and not get us in the playoffs and I'll holler
09:53All right. So
09:56Look, yeah, I absolutely agree on some of those things for sure with with with
10:01Larry and and specifically yet you have
10:04You have to do everything you can to equip to equip CJ Stroud
10:09To not crumble anymore to to regain confidence
10:14Maybe it is something like a switch in play
10:17even if you don't announce it publicly if somebody impacting play calling difference doing something differently and
10:23They're also protecting CJ Stroud from an offensive line that really hadn't gotten that much better
10:28You know forget what the sack numbers are. He was pressured still a lot. Yes, you know, he was still on the run
10:32He was still rattled. You're still missing guys. So is that Strausser?
10:36Is that the end and Strausser is a conversation that needs to be had? Yeah, it's one of those it was one of those
10:41Questions just like hey, how did you end up hiring a guy who doesn't have an experience in this in this system?
10:46But it this is where I will push back on Larry and one of those things. It's not a CJ Stroud thing
10:51It's a coaching thing
10:51I think this game showed why it's in all of those things because it ends up being kind of
10:58What's the what's the more lamest her because the word that came to mind is confluence and then y'all gonna tell me I'm using
11:02Big words confluence is good, but it's kind of like it is a converging of all of these things, right?
11:07832 on the 5-hour energy fan line do the Texans own a quick pass game?
11:11They they do need to use more of that. Don't get me wrong
11:14But that intercepts that we were detailing earlier where you know, you had that that sit route to a matchy
11:19That's quick passing right? Like that was a quick game and you end up throwing interception
11:22If CJ Stroud is not going to be able to get the ball out accurately to these short passes
11:27That also hurts what you're doing here
11:29And so if you also then if you're not giving him enough of the situations opportunities to get himself in the short
11:36Situations and work from third and short or third and manageable that also hurts, right?
11:40it's just it is a is a
11:43You know kind of a vicious cycle of sorts that this offense is in and something has to shake to change it
11:49So many things man, it's it's so many things. It's it's part slow it obviously
11:54It's part
11:56CJ Stroud getting rattled
11:58It's part that offensive line, you know
12:00our guy Aaron engineer Aaron came in and I thought made a really really good point like
12:05When was the last time you saw any of these offensive linemen?
12:09Do something really nasty to an opponent like pancake someone or or get angry or play mean?
12:17And and and that's that's part of it too. It's also the personnel. I mean talk about difficult conversations
12:23Let me tonsil and Titus Howard at the end of the season
12:26You better you better make a decision because because they're there they're not nasty, you know, and that's so crucial
12:33So is that coaching is that them?
12:35This is how they're wired, you know
12:37I don't know but it all affects the two most important things and that's the bottom line and your quarterback real quick before we go
12:43How'd you feel about the Eric Murray thing?
12:44Because Eric Murray I I looked at that a Westbrook Akina touchdown of quite a few times and he he I was like
12:50What is he biting on and there is the slightest wiggle of Will Levis's shoulders that maybe he was he had his eyes in the
12:56Backfield and that's what got him. But even then man, you don't do that
13:00this this game in particular
13:02Eric Murray felt like the mark and that's something that you just can't have especially with like the history and I understand like over where
13:08He is here. You got to be on your P's and Q's and this one was far from it for him
13:12No, he had a he had a very bad day. And by the way last thing, you know, the whole approach running the ball
13:18Right at right at Simmons and sweat
13:22Consistently, especially late that Larry brought up. I mean I it's inexplicable
13:287 1 3 why is mixing not getting the ball 20 or 30 times a game?
13:30Well, first of all before he was he's getting like 20 24 carries and then in this game
13:35He got to 14 and he had all of let me make sure I get this number, right?
13:40so I'm not lying to y'all 22 yards 1.6 yards per carry that the the Titans had that thing completely eaten up and
13:48This is again. One of the things we've talked about with this running game man
13:50Like it has not been that you have opened it up in incredible ways
13:53It has been the Joe mixing has done a good job of bouncing and finding space
13:57Yeah
13:57And all those all those spaces that he would bounce into were clogged up and then there was nothing to go for him from there
14:02Which again points to the various issues that were there?
14:05Offensively in this game a really deeply frustrating game for the Texas all the way around but particularly
14:10Offensively and I got to imagine that this is one of those and Nico's looking at like he's like man. Yeah, I did what I could man