Not many people experience their first interception the way C.J. Stroud did.
Chiefly no one gets to pass attempt 196 on their career — which is where Stroud was when he chucked the turnover with 6:05 to go in the first quarter against the New Orleans Saints Sunday at NRG Stadium.
Secondly no gets an immediate do-over and keep the drive alive. Thanks to receiver Nico Collins’ strip of linebacker Zack Baun, the Texans were able to keep possession as left guard Tytus Howard dove on the loose ball at the Houston 41-yard line.
Stroud attributed the giveaway to part of the “ups and downs” of the sport. On the sidelines and in the huddle shortly thereafter, Stroud found encouragement from the staff and teammates.
“My teammates were like, ‘You’ve got this, let’s go,'” Stroud said. “I looked back, and [coach] DeMeco (Ryans) was like, ‘You’ve got it.’ I could see it in his eyes, that he cared about how I was going to respond. For me, that meant a lot just for them to have trust and faith in me. And, I’m going to have trust and faith in myself too.”
The No. 2 overall pick was able to learn immediately from his mistake within the drive rather than going to the bench and watching a replay on his tablet. Stroud was able to make the necessary corrections to keep Houston’s drive going. Six plays later, Stroud connected with tight end Dalton Schultz for a 1-yard touchdown to give Houston a 7-0 lead with 3:45 to go in the first.
“Excited that we went down and scored,” said Stroud. “I thought that was really big. A lot of other things I can clean up, like some things I probably did worse than the interception that wasn’t really highlighted. So, for me just getting better.”
Stroud finished the game going 13-of-27 for 199 yards, two touchdowns, an interception, and posted an 82.2 passer rating.
