Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n“That\u2019s literally all I\u2019ve been thinking about. And everybody\u2019s gonna pin it on CJ, it\u2019s not, it\u2019s not his fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schultz, who finished second in receptions and receiving yards this season, left after the first scoring drive with a calf strain and did not return. He was expected to be an x-factor in the game, having caught a 42-yard pass from Stroud earlier in the drive to set up the offense inside the red zone.<\/p>\n
With Schultz out, that marked two key names for the Texans missing the game. Pro Bowl wideout Nico Collins also did not play after suffering a concussion in the third quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night. Combined, the duo was responsible for over 60 percent of Houston’s passing production and totaled eight touchdown receptions.<\/p>\n
Schultz sticking up for his teammate is one thing, but he also brought up a promising point. The Texans were already limited at tight end with Brevin Jordan being out for the season. Cade Stover, who left in the third quarter with a knee injury, missed multiple weeks because of a foot injury earlier this season, thus costing him reps to build a rapoort with Stroud.<\/p>\n
At times, Schultz was the only tight end with actual consistent reps in the passing game, so the loss of his role certainly didn’t help the case. Add in Collins’ injury and the Texans were relying on rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, along with Christian Kirk, to take a jump ahead.<\/p>\n
In the end, both parties being off-point led to the demise of Houston’s playoff run. The good news? Schultz plans to run it back with Stroud in 2026, usuing the road trip to Gillette Stadium as a pause in the story instead of the ending.<\/p>\n
The Texans own the No. 28 pick in the upcoming NFL draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 9:04 a.m. CT Following a 28-16 loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[95878,7,221,253,2368,6,96520,96521,95882,96676,100664,97624,95953,96682,95896,95888,96683,96685,95895,96681,96686,96680,96687,96684,96678,95897,96177,95883,222,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-736542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sstssportsnfltexans","15":"tag-sstsntexans","16":"tag-tagamerican-football","17":"tag-tagc-j-stroud","18":"tag-tagcade-stover","19":"tag-tagdalton-schultz","20":"tag-taghouston-texans","21":"tag-tagmadden-nfl","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-draft","25":"tag-tagnfl-films","26":"tag-tagnfl-hub","27":"tag-tagnfl-junkies","28":"tag-tagnfl-mvp","29":"tag-tagnfl-overreactions","30":"tag-tagnfl-playoffs","31":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","32":"tag-tagnico-collins","33":"tag-tagoverall-negative","34":"tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","35":"tag-tagsports-news","36":"tag-texans","37":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}