The Houston Texans can only wish to have a redo of Sunday night’s AFC Divisional Round showdown against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
With quarterback CJ Stroud misfiring on his passes, the Texans dug themselves a hole that they ultimately couldn’t climb back out of, as they suffered a 28-16 loss to Drake Maye and company.
Stroud was an absolute wreck in the pocket against the Patriots, who intercepted him four times in the first half. He was also sacked three times for a loss of 19 yards, while compiling 212 passing yards and a touchdown on a highly inefficient 20-of-47 pass completions.
Despite Stroud’s brutal playoff outing, he drew the full support of defensive end Will Anderson Jr. following the contest.
“I told him, ‘I still think you’re the best quarterback in the league,’” Anderson told reporters, via DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.
“‘Hands down, there’s nobody better than you.’ We’re behind him, we’re rallying behind him. Obviously, we didn’t have the outcome that we wanted, but that’s what we have the offseason for, to get better and to grow.”
Stroud can appreciate such words from one of the Texans’ most important players, but there is no denying that his disasterclass under center held Houston back from advancing to the next round of the playoffs.
With Stroud, the Texans have been to the postseason three years in a row, but have yet to survive past the divisional round.
