C.J. Stroud shares what it meant to him to win as a rookie

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud made some noise during his rookie season, which led to a lot of wins for the team. He recently returned to his alma mater Ohio State for its Pro Day and spoke to reporters about what it meant to him to win in his first year in the NFL.

“It’s hard in the league,” Stroud said. “Every game counts because you only get 17 of them. Especially like those early games, you want to get on a roll and start building wins. That’s something we did. We got a good feel for each other. Didn’t start off good, but it’s not how you start it’s how you finish.

“A lot of games come down to the fourth quarter. Some fans get mad at me because I’ll take a check down or I’ll throw it out of bounds, You have to play field position. Field position is super important in the NFL because you’re not going to score every drive. It’s not possible.”

The Texans finished the 2023 regular season with a 10-7 record, the first double-digit win season for the team since 2019. As Stroud alluded to, the Texans began the season 0-2 but found consistency as the season progressed. Houston finished the season as AFC South Champions and defeated the Cleveland Browns in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Texans would then lose to the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round.

The Key to C.J. Stroud’s success

Stroud was named Offensive Rookie of the Year after throwing for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions with a 100.8 passer rating. Earlier this year, Stroud spoke to PopCulture.com about the key to his success.

“I would say just honestly coming from Ohio State, having just a lot of great coaching there,” he said. “And then coming into the league, just trying to be confident. I think that’s one thing that I really heard coming in is just it’s football. Just don’t treat it more than what it is and just really just be yourself. I would say those are the things that made me be successful.”

Stroud is disappointed the Texans fell short of the Super Bowl, but he’s happy with how things played out in 2023. “You want to be playing the Super Bowl and try to win that,” Stroud said. “But I mean, I had to look from what we came from last year and just really DeMeco [Ryans] and Nick [Caserio] and our front office did a good job bringing the right guys in. And we’re trying to do the same thing this year.”