C.J. Stroud led the Houston Texans to a last-second victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. The rookie quarterback broke the NFL record with 470 passing yards and threw for five touchdowns in the 39-37 win.
Legendary Texas sportswriter John McClain of the Audacy original podcast “Houtopia” has seen a lot of football in his days and called Sunday’s win one of the best in Houston’s pro football history.
“By the way, Sean, you called this one of the most historic wins in team history,” McClain said (28:50 in player above), “this is one of the most historic wins in Houston’s pro football history.”
Mcclain has been covering Houston sports for 50 years. He covered the Houston Oilers until they moved to Tennessee and the Texans for the Houston Chronicle.
Sunday’s back-and-forth affair was one for the ages. The Texans lost a few players to injuries, including their kicker, and Stroud didn’t have much help on the ground.
“Rookie quarterback. No running game. No kicker. A lot of players going out with injuries,” he continued. “All the odds are against them.”
The Texans trailed by as many as 10 – 17-7 and then 20-10 – before coming back to take multiple fourth-quarter leads. It looked like the Buccaneers had them on the ropes with a touchdown to take a 37-33 lead with 46 seconds remaining, but that was more than enough time for Stroud.
“The circumstances were so crucial,” McClain said. “As we talked earlier about not having a running game for a rookie quarterback and they’re losing all those players on defense.”
Houston started the season 0-2 but the Texans are now back to .500 at 4-4, including 3-1 at home.
Sunday’s win will be remembered for a long time.
“I’ve seen a lot of great victories in this city’s history and I know about the ones I haven’t seen, and this was definitely one of the best in Houston history.”
The Texans hit the road for a battle with the Bengals in Week 10 before returning home for their next three games.