FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Houston quarterback CJ Stroud took the blame Sunday after the worst outing of his career saw the Texans’ season end with a 28-16 loss to the New England Patriots.
Stroud threw a game-high four interceptions as Houston fell to the divisional playoffs for the third straight year. He went 20-of-47 for 212 yards and one touchdown with a career-low 28 passer rating. One of the crosses was returned for a touchdown, the first of his career.
The loss wasn’t all for Stroud, as the Texans’ defense gave up three touchdowns, the most from the starting unit since Dec. 21 against the Las Vegas Raiders. But Stroud had a completion percentage of minus-15.9% above expectations, the worst mark of any first-round quarterback in the last decade, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
“I feel like I let people down. … It hurts, and I’m not used to it,” Stroud said. “I didn’t play very well this year. But I will respond, keep my chest up, my chin up and I will keep fighting forward. If God is in front of me, who can be against me? I will rely on that.”
Although Stroud had four starts, all of which came in the first half, coach DeMeco Ryans said he never considered benching the 2023 No. 1 overall pick. 2 in favor of Davis Mills.
“CJ is our guy,” Ryans said. “I believed he could come back in the second half and throw it. I believed he could play better, and he did in the second half. He played better. We had some good drives there in the second half. I believed he was going to do that, and he did. Like I always tell our guys at halftime, it doesn’t matter what happened in the first half.”
Stroud’s turnovers were numerous in the first half of the playoffs as Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence also had four in the 2022 wild-card game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Since the 1970 combine, players with four interceptions are 3-35 in the postseason. Since 2000, only Lawrence in 2022 and Russell Wilson in the 2014 NFC Championship Game have won despite being selected four times.
After Sunday’s loss, Ryans told Stroud, “Keep your head up. I love you. I got your back.” The message from the coach went down to the players in the locker room. Defensive end Will Anderson Jr. and Stroud sat next to each other offering words of encouragement.
Anderson, who had three sacks and two forced fumbles, made sure Stroud knew he was “hands down the best quarterback in the league.”
“There is no one better than him [Stroud],” he said. “We’re behind him, we’re following behind him, we didn’t get the result we wanted, but that’s why we have an offseason to get better and grow.”
Stroud finished the postseason with two touchdowns to seven turnovers (five interceptions, two fumbles lost). He became the first player with that many turnovers in a single postseason since Carson Palmer had eight, and in just two games, in 2015.
“I’m just careless in football. I have to fix that, and it’s something I know I can do. So I’ll do that,” he said.
Since Stroud finished as the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023 with historic numbers, he hasn’t reached that level of production. He finished the 2025 season with 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, down even further from last season, when he totaled 3,727 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Houston is now 0-7 in the divisional round, including 0-3 under the Ryans-Stroud pairing.
