(SportsRadio 610) - On the heels of a special day at NRG Stadium where the Houston Texans inducted J.J. Watt, into the Ring of Honor, C.J. Stroud might've helped catapult the Texans back into the hearts of fans.
A Texans franchise that turns 22 years old this season has seen its fans beaten down to a pulp in recent years.
Once beloved, they became beleaguered.
Not even bringing back one of its all-time fan favorites and one of the hottest coaching commodities on the market this offseason in DeMeco Ryans as their head coach, while drafting not one, but possibly two cornerstones of the team has repaired all of the self-inflicted wounds.
Inducting J.J. Watt, the greatest player and ambassador in the organization's history into their Ring of Honor wasn't even enough to pack NRG Stadium with the majority of its own fans.
But are you believing what you're seeing, Houston?
You better be listening. This kid is talking the talk and walking the walk.
Stroud is growing up before your very eyes. Day by day, week by week.
Asked to speak directly to you, the fans, after Sundays first home victory since December 26, 2021, a 30-6 demolition of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 21-year old Stroud laid it all out.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time," Stroud said. "Y'all deserve to feel special. Y'all deserve to root the Texans on. Not winning since 2021, I think it was around Christmas, that is not flying for anybody in this building."
"Those Steelers fans came and showed out today in our stadium, and we sent them home," Stroud said. "I think our fans felt the energy, 'Man, we aren't playing today from the get-go.' I just want to say, we're going to keep fighting every day just so y'all can walk around with that swag. I think that's huge for this team. That's something that we want to keep building on, and it's a blessing to be able to be in Houston, a great town with a lot of stuff to do, great people, Southern hospitality to its finest, and I'm falling in love with the city little by little. It's a blessing."
He's intelligent, he's passionate and he's endearing.
He's your quarterback, Houston.
Stroud, leading the Texans (2-2) to their second-straight victory, completing 16-of-30 passes for 306 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions has amassed 1,212 yards in four games, passing the likes of Justin Herbert (1,195), Andrew Luck (1,208), Patrick Mahomes (1,180) and Marc Bulger (1,149) for the second-most passing yards in NFL history by a quarterback through their first four games.
Stroud has completed 62.3% of his passes, thrown for six touchdowns, and has as many 300-yard games in the air through four weeks as the Texans have had in the last two seasons combined, two.
The numbers a good. Really good.
Though, it's just as much about the drastic shift in culture Stroud has helped bring in as well.
"When I was at Ohio State, we used to say Buckeyes against the world," Stroud said. "Now I'm bringing that swag here, Texans against the world. It is not about what they write about us. It's about what we put on the field on Sundays, the work we put in. There's a lot of football to be played still, but we're going to walk around with that swag. We know what we can do."
The season is young, as is the quarterback. However, the level of toughness, poise, composure and maturity the rookie has shown thus far has been contagious.
Ryans is already seeing an early return on the team-wide 'swarm' mentality that he's helped instill and is getting a lot of help from his young and veteran players.
For Stroud, sending Steelers fans on a long, disappointing flight back to Pennsylvania or wherever they came from is sweet, but continuing the grind to prove to the city that they've got a football team to be proud of once more, is of utmost importance.
"We're just getting started," Stroud said. "Just getting started. It's only the beginning. There's a lot of football to be played still. It's early. We don't want to get too high, too low. Stay right on 50. I think that's the thing to get us over the hump and get us a win each and every week is just doing that one thing.
"So for us it's staying an even-head, even-keeled, and coming back to work with a relentless mindset, ready to get back to work. But we have to enjoy this one, for sure."
You should too Houston, you deserve it.
