Reaction To C.J. Stroud Press Conference Ahead of Houston Texans vs. K.C. Chiefs

Reaction To C.J. Stroud Press Conference Ahead of Houston Texans vs. K.C. Chiefs

Hey, CJ spoke to the media today and it was it was a fun one. It was fun. There was good energy here. There were a few questions that CJ just didn’t know how to respond or react to and and understandably so. Let’s start off with this one because it is relevant. We eventually get to it. But um CJ confused by Aaron Wilson’s question as were many of us front. What are some of the things you see from Caroftus and also Stone Cold followup? Who? What do you see from Carloftus and Stone Cold Jones? I don’t know. That’s what people call him. Yeah. Okay. So, he’s talking about Chris Jones, the defensive tackle. I I vaguely remember that he’s called Stone Cold. There’s no way in hell if he was just referred to as Stone Cold that I would I would get immediately. Uh that’s what people call him. Oh, yeah. Oh, cool. Uh yeah, he’s a heck of a player, man. He’s he’s a legend. He’s a Hall of Famer guy. U he’s really good. Carl is somebody I played against in college, you know. Um you know, played against him last year. really good game last year. So, you know, we got to be, you know, uh, really good up front. We know that every game. You know, the better we establish the line of scrimmage, you know, the better, you know, we play as as an offense. So, look, look, look, the Texans got George Carlus paid last year. Caroftus went off against the Texans in the playoff game. We remember that very well. A couple differences will be one that Blake Fischer is not going to be starting at right tackle, barring some kind of cataclysmic injury or something. If Trent Brown got injured, I think we would move Titus Howard back out to right tackle before we would put uh before they would put Blake Fischer up against George Carlus. I would hope. Caroftus is dealing with a hand. Chris Jones hasn’t been the same this year, but I like I’ I’ve had too many times in my life where I’ve watched Chris Jones for an entire game and think, “Ah, they’re handling him just fine.” And then all of a sudden, tackle for loss sack, whatever it is. Um, this Texans offensive line, which we’ll get to after one of these other questions, is better suited this year than they were last year. Um, for multiple issues that the Chiefs present, but it’s certainly nothing to be taken lightly, obviously. Uh, here is uh we’ll get the uncomfortable questions out of the way first. CJ had a couple questions about playing in cold weather. Um, this might sound dumb at first, but it actually is a valid question where where uh players like put on like um petroleum jelly or or Vaseline on to keep warm when it’s real cold. Like did y’all have at Ohio State, did y’all have any weird ways to keep warm or even here when y’all go to the cold? Uh when I was at Ohio State, we weren’t allowed to like really do that type of stuff. Um, but when you live in the cold, it doesn’t make it like when you’re playing in it, it’s kind of not as bad. And on the bench, you’re fine cuz you have the, you know, the heaters. But the the one thing that’s hard is like TV timeouts or like, you know, just sitting out there is when it gets kind of colder. And then warm-ups is always hard. But once you get past task kind of, you know, in your playing, it’s kind of normal as long as it’s not like super windy. But, um, I don’t have any like and plus I don’t think I think it’ll mess up my grip for the ball. So, yeah. Okay. So, the petroleum jelly. Now, back in the day, remember there were uh the uh I may or may not have uh participated in this, but back in the day, it was really common for players to put all kinds of substances on their shoulder pads or their arms and uh to make them slippery, but like so petroleum jelly was a tricky one cuz you have to as long as you put it on, but you rub it in pretty well, it’s supposed to give you some kind of insulating effect. Um sometimes people should put it on their lips when they travel up to New Jersey to see their sister over uh over Thanksgiving so they don’t get cold sores. So, it’s got a protective element to it. But, um, the, uh, as as far as it’s, it was cold. It got chapped. I didn’t have any I didn’t have any chapstick. Um, but then also, you know, people would spray silicone and everything on the jerseys allegedly, but they banned that. They fined a bunch of guys. Uh, ch I believe it was Chiefs. Chiefs players got uh, caught and fined and I perhaps suspended for it. I don’t blame the Chiefs for it. We were all doing it, man. Everybody was doing it. I never inhaled. Um, but uh, yeah, I think it’s not going to be so ridiculously cold or bitter cold that that’s going to be an element. CJ in the cold, it’s interesting. If we look at going into last year, there were articles before that Chief’s playoff game about the fact that CJ had, let’s see, at that point going into a game, which was going to be a cold game. He had played in the Ravens game in the playoffs where they lost 34 to 10. Straoud was 19 of 33 for 175 yards with zero touchdowns, zero interceptions. Um the 2024 last year, Straoud went 23 of 39 with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The regular season game, I would say Strad was I mean Straoud did some good things in that game. Once Tank Dell got injured, uh that was where things kind of went haywire and the dip to the the performance dipped. And then last year, I never thought that the cold or anything was an issue. And I thought CJ was plenty accurate. It was just simply the pass protection in the fourth quarter fell apart. And uh I I wouldn’t have attributed any of those performances to cold weather. The fact of the matter is those are the three games where CJ’s played in cold weather and the Chiefs were the better team. So there you have it. the Chiefs are the when CJ has played in cold weather in the NFL against teams that are better than his team. He’s lost those games. I’m not going to look too much into it. I’, you know, people point to the Northwestern game from when he was in uh college and that was more about the wind. It was ridiculously windy on that day. So, and and it’s not again going to be ridiculously cold. This is on lessons that he’s learned from playing the Chiefs before. like Spags is a heck of a DC. Somebody uh you know who, you know, knows what he’s doing, knows how to get his guys in one-on- ones and, you know, messes with your protection rules and things like that. Um so, I mean, you got to just be alert for that type of stuff. And, um I just think, you know, scoring in the red zone, you know, scoring touchdowns is going to be big. Um that’s every week, but I think even up there, you know, we made it to the red zone a couple times and, you know, didn’t punch in seven. So, I think that that got to, you know, be a goal of ours is to do that better. Um, so, um, I think that that some things that I can take from last year’s game. Yeah, the, uh, the Texans have done some things better in the red zone as of late, but they are still 31st out of 32 teams in red zone touchdown scoring. So, it’s got to get better versus the Chiefs and everybody else. The the difference in the way they’re running the offense this year compared to last year with CJ having more command behind the line of scrimmage, uh, more ability to perhaps adjust the play, adjust cover, uh, adjust pass protection and all of those things. If you think about it from the vantage point of the quarterback versus the center and a lot of the things that the Chiefs are able to do, they they disguise their blitzes really well, they show overload to one side, then switch to the other side. I I mean, I can remember last year, I think it was uh whichever quarterback was really getting crushed for not anticipating something pre- snap. I think it was Josh Allen. I I mean there were a lot of people that went back and in slow motion and from a bird’s eye view said well look clearly it was obvious that he should have gone hot here or whatever it was. I like I watched it over and over again. The Texans the like I don’t think Tom Brady could have diagnosed some of the blitzes that the Chiefs were running last year in critical moments. They just did such a good job of fooling quarterbacks, centers, whoever it might be that like there’s a certain element that’s just left to chance. Dak Prescott last week had some good moments versus the blitz. He had some bad moments versus the blitz, but I think a lot of it is just for one, playing the number numbers game. Sometimes you’re just not going to sometimes you’re not going to get the protection right and in those situations, how do you adapt and adjust to it? And the other is just getting things right pre- snap. CJ looked a little bit rusty last week in the first half. second half I thought it looked a lot better. The pre- snap execution from the offense awful last week was just atrocious. They can’t they can’t get away with all these illegal formation penalties. Um but that’s uh they’re better equipped this year than they were last year. This is let’s go up to the O line because you asked a question about the O line that’s relevant to what we’re talking about CJ on why the O line has been able to improve this year. a lot of talent I would say I guess and you know a lot of uh guys finally you know getting the offense getting the scheme um got some guys who you know have some experience up there so say just a multitude of those things and you know I think Tay’s really settled in you know knowing how he wants to play and um you know how to play in the NFL is a little different than college I think he’s done a good job at that and then you know the rest of the guys have been solid all year plugging and playing Titus you know I think he’s having a pro bowl year in every position he’s been playing and um so you know big Trent coming in there doing his thing. Um and then you know Ed you know coming back off injury you know doing really well up there moving guys has some crazy blocks and then you know Jake you know being super great with communication and then you know working to tell off each play to you know get his job done. So I think it’s a multitude of effort you know talent and then you know um experience and I think that’s why they’re doing pretty good and and I would credit Cole Pavich as well. I think if there’s one thing that’s been glaringly obvious even as the offensive line isn’t performing awesomely, whoever asked that question, I don’t know who it was, um framed it kind of, hey, how’s the O line been so good all year? And that that has not been the case. The right side of the offensive line has had been good while Titus Howard and Denny Grim were there. Um there it was everywhere else from Arante Ursery learning how to play in the NFL and taking his lumps in those first few games to the left guard position which was just an open try out for the first half of the season. neither of whom neither of the guys who were trying out for that spot ended up being full-time starters, by the way. Uh, and then Jake Andrews coming along. They’re a more fundamentally sound unit. There just aren’t as many glaringly bad technique errors. The footwork is in unison, guys. There’s cohesion there. This is just it’s night and day. what it like what it from what it is now compared to then is night and day in just terms of simple execution. The individual play of guys like Ed Ingram has been awesome. I didn’t expect this out of him. I didn’t think Trent Brown like I I I would have bet if I had to bet whether he played this year or not, I would have bet against it just because of his body weight and coming off a patellar tendon while he’s entering his mid30s. There was a lot working against him. So, so far it’s vastly improved. They still have a lot of improving to do. I would still say they’re they’re an average offensive line. Um the other thing that’s helped them is that the the Texans have been getting rid of the ball a lot faster. Both Davis Mills and CJ Strad. I know people people were noting how quickly Davis Mills was getting rid of the ball. CJ was getting rid of it uh at just at about the same, maybe, you know, a few hundreds or of a second or a tenth of a second slower than Davis Mills. But that’s been one thing that’s taken the level of difficulty down for the offensive line. It’s also helped CJ react and respond to the blitz and pressure as well. One of the questions was about how he’s been able to uh why he’s been so good versus pressure. Uh and I didn’t have that in here actually, but my first answer to that would be a him his completion percentage is the highest it’s ever been when being pressured. Um, I think his ability to make quick decisions and get the ball out quickly has been a big difference. The CJ went from being a guy that was probably in the lower third of the league or well the slowest third of the league in terms of time to throw. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but it did lead to a lot of times where he’s holding on to the ball when under duress or when under pressure. This offense this year has been the exact opposite. He’s in the upper third, the upper quarter of how quickly he gets rid of the ball. This is a question from Brandon Scott, I think, on what they need to work on offensively now. Is it more about mastery of what they do do or refinement or ma or uh or some new things? I’ll let it I’ll let Brandon ask the question. Mentioned after the game that Charlotte found y’all’s identity offensively. Do you feel like there’s anything that y’all are still trying to unlock offensively or y’all just trying to at this point master what you’ve already kind of found at this point? Uh, I mean, probably both, like more so on the side of mastering what we’re doing. Um, but every week, you know, you have game plan ideas and, you know, um, you got to just, uh, try your best to execute at the highest level because you’re not going to get a bunch of practice reps at them. Um, which is something I’m kind of used to, you know, being, you know, in Coach Day’s offense in college. Um, but I think now, you know, we’re we’re doing a little bit of both, which is which is really cool. So, um I think you know mastering you know what we’ve been doing is you know how you stay on the field you know execution on third down you know those type of things you know are is mastering the offense. So a little bit of both. Um, I would say immediately in terms of improving what they’re doing or introducing some of the new things, the tush push, the I thought, hey, good. I look, the Texans, after years of watching other teams take advantage of the rule that allows you to do the tush push, decided to try it two-thirds of the way through the season and probably what is the last two months of the tush push’s existence. It takes some work. You know, the Eagles and the way they do it, they have their O line coached up and practiced and drilled better than anybody else. So, it’s not as simple as just, hey, we’re going to run a tush push and it always works. It’s pretty it’s it’s been proven time and time again that some teams are better that at it than others. CJ had a good uh question from Cody Stouts here that had some fun with the the tush push. Did Kate ask you for any tips or advice on taking snaps? Yeah, he did. Yeah. You able to offer him some advice for that role in that situation? What you think? Is he Is he Is he a good student? Yeah. I mean K I mean I’ve been around K since I’ve been 18 years old, you know? So like he’s he listens to almost everything I tell him to do and I vice versa. Like that’s my brother, man. I he tells me to jump off the bridge probably for a good reason. So I will go do it. That’s loyalty right there. That’s a that’s something that you kids that’s what you uh you tell your parents when you tell then when they pull that whole uh jumping off a bridge thing. Um you know the other thing that I liked a lot I was think it was big Sarge that asked Woody Marx who’s didn’t practice today by the way so something to monitor. Um asked Woody Marks about uh you know that the end of the game there and he asked Woody Marks asked CJ whether he should go down if he had a breakout run. You know, as quarterbacks are increasingly doing these days, when you’ve got a lead at the end of the game, go down. Don’t elongate the game anymore. I love that Woody Marks even bothered to ask that question. It’s another sign of maturity out of a kid that’s also really good in pass protection. And earlier in the year, I was saying he was good in pass protection by rookie running back standards cuz usually they suck at it. Woody Marks was way better than most rookies and and he’s gotten better since then. So, that’s one of the most exciting things about Woody Marks is it opens up so much versat more versatility in an offense when the defense knows you’ve got a guy who can step back back in there and pick up the blitz or go out on a route and be a receiving threat. If you got a guy back there in pass protection that you know is no good, then you just like I it the defense knows more what to expect if they do blitz or if they play coverage and they’ve got a a pretty good idea that you’re not going to rely on that running back. So, him being able to pass protect makes him way more valuable than just the value of him as a runner, him as a receiver. Um, yeah, the run pass predictability, it matters for that as well. And that was all we had for CJ. I’m uh I’m excited about CJ this week and I know that I know that he started off rusty as he himself said last week. I I felt way better about it after that first touchdown drive. Um, some of the execution errors I I don’t put on him as terms in terms of the formation things. Uh, look, whether I, you know, you could argue that maybe Davis maybe Davis was executing some of the pre-nap motions and everything better. Davis had um Davis had to take a timeout to avoid a delay of game at one point. It wasn’t perfect. So the sum total of it is that the that by the second half things were humming and CJ was looking you know in terms of operationally the entire operation not just the accuracy of his passes or anything. I thought a lot more comfortable the first half I thought he looked uncomfortable in the pocket. Um you know it looked like he was consciously forcing himself to do the right thing in the pocket. And I know he still made a couple decisions that may have made sacks worse or um you know you know bailed out of the back of the pocket or sideways but there was also instances of stepping up finding Daltton Schultz. And I think this week it’s going to be a tough environment. Um not because of the cold but because Arrowhead is freaking loud. It’s I would say I think the Seahawks is the loudest outdoor stadium I ever played in. The Chiefs is it’s loud, but it’s also kind of cool because when you look up, it’s an old stadium and it just looks like a wall of red, like you’re playing the People’s Republic of China or something or the Ruskies back in the day, which is fun. You get to pretend you’re in the Cold War. As a child of the Cold War, I I I appreciated any chance I had to kill a Russian.

Former Houston Texans player Seth Payne gives his reaction to Houston QB C.J. Stroud’s press conference ahead of Texans vs. Chiefs.