FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud shouldered the blame Sunday after one of the worst outings of his career saw the Texans’ season end with a 28-16 loss to the New England Patriots.
Stroud threw a career-high four interceptions as Houston fell in the divisional round of the playoffs for the third straight year. He went 20-of-47 for 212 yards and one touchdown with a career-low passer rating of 28. One of the interceptions was returned for a touchdown, the first of his career.
The loss wasn’t all on Stroud, as the Texans’ defense gave up three touchdowns, the most from the starting unit since Dec. 21 against the Las Vegas Raiders. But Stroud had a minus-15.9% completion percentage over expected, the worst mark of any starting quarterback in the divisional round in the past decade, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
“I just feel like I let people down. … It hurts, and I’m not used to it,” Stroud said. “I didn’t play my best this year. But I’m gonna respond, keep my chest up, my chin up high and I’m gonna just keep battling forward. If God is before me, who can be against me? I’m just gonna rely on that.”
Despite Stroud’s four interceptions, all of which came in the first half, coach DeMeco Ryans said he never considered benching the former No. 2 pick in favor of Davis Mills.
“C.J. is our guy,” Ryans said. “I believed that he could come back out in the second half and flip it. I believed that he could play better, and he did that in the second half. He did play better. We had some positive drives there in the second half. I believed that he would do that, and he did that. As I always tell our guys at halftime, it really doesn’t matter what happened in the first half.”
Stroud’s turnovers were the most in the first half of a playoff game since Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence also had four in a 2022 wild-card matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Since the 1970 merger, players with four interceptions are 3-35 in the postseason. Since 2000, only Lawrence in 2022 and Russell Wilson in the 2014 NFC Championship Game were victorious despite being picked off four times.
After Sunday’s loss, Ryans told Stroud, “Keep your head up. I love you. I got your back.” The message from the coach trickled down to the players in the locker room. Defensive end Will Anderson Jr. and Stroud sat next to each other giving each other words of encouragement.
Anderson, who had three sacks and two forced fumbles, made sure to let Stroud know that he’s “the best quarterback in the league hands down.”
“There’s nobody better than [Stroud],” he said. “We are behind him, we rally behind him, we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but that’s why we have the offseason for, to get better and grow.”
Stroud finished the postseason with two touchdowns to seven turnovers (five interceptions, two fumbles lost). He became the first player with that many turnovers in a single postseason since Carson Palmer had eight, also in only two games, in 2015. Stroud also became the first player with five interceptions and five fumbles in a single postseason.
“I’m just being careless with the football, I’ve got to get that fixed, and it’s something that I know I can do. So I’m going to get that done,” he said.
Since Stroud finished as the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023 with historic numbers, he hasn’t reached that level of production. He finished the 2025 season with 3,041 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, down even more from last season, when he totaled 3,727 passing yards and 20 touchdowns.
Houston is now 0-7 in the divisional round, including 0-3 under the Ryans-Stroud pairing.
