A new era of football has dawned on the city of Houston, and for the Texans' new head coach DeMeco Ryans, his first game couldn’t have gone much more smoothly.
However, less than five minutes into his NFL debut, rookie quarterback CJ Stroud wasn’t feeling the same way.
Facing a third-and-21 on the Texans' own 25-yard line, Stroud locked his eyes onto fellow newcomer Tank Dell. Holding onto the ball just a tick too long, tried to force it to Dell who made a break for the sideline but had his route undercut by Patriots safety Jalen Mills.
And immediately, he knew.
Stroud’s M.O. has already become one that players and coaches appreciate about him - in that he doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
It’s a testament to his preparation and ability to learn quickly. For Ryans and the staff, the mistakes that Stroud made last night, whether it be holding onto the ball too long or making a poor read, they’ve got the confidence that the former Ohio State standout will continue to improve.
“It was good to see him when the play broke down, see him operate outside of the play as it was designed, to see him move,” Ryans said. “That was good. It was also good to see him make a poor decision with the football, and he had to pay for making that poor decision, but it was good to see him learn from that.”
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Ryans speaks about his rookie quarterback with utmost confidence, which shouldn’t surprise anyone as the former linebacker turned defensive coordinator is an eternal optimist, that’s his M.O.
But with Ryans and his coaches approach to developing Stroud into a comfortable and confident player in the offense, they have to first make him believe that they’re confident in him.
Words without action are hollow.
The Texans are going to take a very systematic approach it appears to bring Stroud along.
While it would’ve been nice to see the rookie work with his first-team offensive line during those two series on Thursday night, Ryans just wanted to see his young signal caller get live reps.
Admitting that the backups needed to play better and protect the investment the organization just made just a mere four months ago, getting Stroud in and out of his first game was priority.
Now, it’s about growing and progressing from the baseline that was established at Foxboro on Thursday night.
“Just continuing to see improvement, continuing to see growth,” Ryans said. “That's what he's done from OTAs all the way through training camp. So next week, just looking to see him improve on his first game versus the Patriots, how can he improve in the second game? That's just what we're looking at. If you continue to improve over time, he'll be exactly where we want him to be.”
Meanwhile, while Stroud likely went to sleep Thursday night thinking of what he could’ve and should’ve done differently, he said he could rest easy knowing that he belongs because of the confidence his teammates have given him to this point.
“I have a bunch of vets in there to help me every day with that type of stuff, and all of them are having nothing but great things to say, that I handled it well,” Stroud said. “It’s not easy to come to New England as a rookie and go in there and try to execute. But they felt like I did a decent job at that, so I’ve just got to keep growing.”
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