The Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns lit up the scoreboard in the first half of their wild-card showdown at NRG Stadium on Saturday.
With quarterbacks C.J. Stroud and Joe Flacco leading the charge, the two teams combined for an incredible 465 yards, 19 first downs and 38 points through the first 30 minutes of action.
In the first half of his first career NFL playoff start, Stroud completed 11 of 16 passes (69%) for 236 yards and three touchdowns. Stroud's three touchdown dimes tied the NFL rookie record for touchdown passes in a single game—and the quarterback did it in just two quarters with a chance to break the record in the second half.
CJ Stroud’s 3 passing touchdowns has tied the rookie playoff record for a game.
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 13, 2024
There’s still another half of football to go 👀
11/16 C/Att
236 Yards
3 TD
151.0 Passer Rating pic.twitter.com/w6hMJPElls
On the flip side, Flacco was up to the task, completing 15 of 19 passes (79%) for 172 yards and one touchdown.
The NFL world was buzzing in awe of the production of the starting gun-slingers that resulted in the Texans taking a 24–14 lead into halftime:
That's THREE TDs for CJ Stroud in the first half. 🚀
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 13, 2024
(via NFL)pic.twitter.com/cT4IuBfusn
joe flacco, cj stroud, nico collins trending 1-2-3 #CLEvsHOU pic.twitter.com/alTvpsJrYc
— Sports (@Sports) January 13, 2024
This game is so wild that they just introduced the Cleveland Defense with 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter 😂 pic.twitter.com/AU0PKXWdSK
— Dylan Powell (@PowellAnalytics) January 13, 2024
Watching the Browns and Texans go back and forthpic.twitter.com/3VJPsDWfOP
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) January 13, 2024
Joe Flacco and CJ Stroud going throw for throw 🥹 pic.twitter.com/jQ53D3g7fZ
— #RingerNFL (@ringernfl) January 13, 2024
Kareem Hunt and Joe Flacco dominating what year are we in
— Tommy (@tommyob95) January 13, 2024
CJ Stroud is the best rookie QB I have ever seen!! PERIOD
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) January 13, 2024
CJ Stroud in his first half of playoff football:
— PFF (@PFF) January 13, 2024
🔺11/16
🔺236 YDS
🔺3 TDs / 0 INTs
🔺151.0 PASSER RTG pic.twitter.com/8b8I8PFy6B
The rookie playoff record for passing TDs in game is 3.
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) January 13, 2024
CJ Stroud has 3 in the FIRST HALF 😱
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/AQ6fPBwOmB
Joe Flacco is ELECTRIC 🔥
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) January 13, 2024
🎥: @NFL | #CLEvsHOUpic.twitter.com/Oh10TA31mQ
