For the Houston Texans, who seem well-positioned for serious contention with strengths on both offense and defense, it’s clear that pass protection issues are putting quarterback C.J. Stroud in more difficulty than any elite quarterback can realistically handle.
This was clearly displayed in Houston’s 21-13 Thursday night loss to the New York Jets. Stroud completed just 11 of 30 passes for 191 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, eight sacks, and a passer rating of 59.2.
The eight sacks he suffered in the game were a career high. Stroud has been sacked 30 times and he’s on pace to be sacked a career-high 56 times. This was a performance Coach DeMeco Ryans says is unacceptable.
I’m not sure what’s happening upfront. We’ll watch the film and see what is, but obviously we give up eight sacks, and every drop back or pass situation, it looks like we’re in scramble mode.
So it’s just not good enough and we can’t operate on time and we got to get that fixed.
While Stroud struggled even when he had time in the pocket, Ryans pointed to pass protection as the main issue, not the quarterback.
“Any quarterback would be affected by that much pressure and those hits,” Ryans noted. “The defensive plan is always to fluster the quarterback, and the Jets executed that well.”
Despite the loss, the Texans still lead the AFC South with a 6-3 record. However, Ryans understands that if his team hopes to make a playoff impact, they’ll need to perform at a much higher level than they did Thursday night.
