Texans Offseason Focus Turns to Fixing C.J. Stroud

While the national focus will continue to fixate upon the four teams still left chasing the Super Bowl title, the talk surrounding the Houston Texans will home in on quarterback C.J. Stroud almost exclusively.

Stroud's turnover count flamed out at seven by the final gun in Foxborough– with the New England Patriots ultimately receiving a very late Christmas present which helped propel them to the AFC Championship game against the Denver Broncos.

Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans has always preached organizational unity; a stoic mission statement which bled over into his reflective press conference after the conclusion of Houston's season.

That being said, there was a little room to read between the lines if you really looked for it– all of which makes for an interesting offseason pending in H-Town.

"It's just about him flushing this one," Ryans said of C.J. Stroud. "Gonna be a lot of negative talk, a lot of attention on him. Can't listen to it all. Just gotta get back to work in the offseason, the fundamentals of the quarterback position, understanding how we need to play the game, to win the game."

Texans QB C.J. Stroud Has a Huge Offseason Ahead

Of course, Ryans' declaration that the multiple offensive disasters which doomed the Texans on Sunday need to be flushed were somewhat par for the course.

On the flip side, the underlying theme is that this offseason is going to entail breaking down the fundamentals of Stroud playing quarterback in its entirety. And as a direct consequence, it all points the finger straight at the stagnating career development of Stroud under center.

Jan 18, 2026; Foxborough, MA, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) runs with the ball in the third quarter against the New England Patriots in an AFC Divisional Round game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

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The truth is, rebuilding the core fundamentals of any quarterback is a process which is traditionally fraught with danger, and even more so as Stroud moves into year four. As far as Ryans is concerned; he maintains the personal belief that Stroud did indeed make progress during an injury-interrupted year three.

"Throughout the season I thought he [Stroud] did a really nice job," Ryans continued. "New offense, new scheme, thought he picked it up well. We got better as the season went along. He made some plays to allow us to win a lot of football games. I'm not gonna let the bad plays there in that game dictate to me who C.J. is, what he's capable of doing. No one feels worse about the situation than C.J."

Irrespective of Ryans' more supportive take, there's always going to be the school of thought out there which says maybe Stroud's tendencies to put the ball in danger too frequently are already just embedded too deeply in his core DNA. His poor decision-making and itchy feet in the pocket only point toward an alarming collapse in his own confidence levels.

Improving the protection upfront, another basic fundamental which similarly crumbled under pressure when faced with the Patriots' furious pass rush, must surely provide another no-brainer for Ryans and Co. when it comes to the draft and free agency. Stroud hardly helped himself much either; throwing lame ducks in the shadow of his own end zone not only served to deflate the offense, it punctured a hole in a defense that had manfully kept the Texans in the game.

Kudos to coach Ryans for admitting a lot of work needs to be done to get Stroud into more fundamental shape; it's just a pity that he feels he has to tiptoe around the tough love he clearly needs to dispense to his own quarterback.

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