Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was celebrated all last season, and rightfully so. He had one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time.
And the normal conclusion was that Stroud would be even better his second season. The NFL doesn’t always work that way.
Stroud has been good, but short of great in his follow-up to that rookie season. It hadn’t mattered much because he and the rest of the Texans had done enough to start the season 6-2. But against a 2-6 New York Jets team on Thursday night, Stroud needed to carry his team to a win, and he couldn’t.