Houston, We Have A Problem: C.J. Stroud Needs To Play Better For Texans

The New York Jets hadn’t won in exactly six weeks, so Thursday’s 21-13 win over the Houston Texans will feel like a masterpiece.

In truth, it was a first half displaying exactly why they owned a porous 2-6 record and a second half showing they can still rally and make a playoff run.

Which way it goes is still to be determined, but New York must play like it did in the second half to have any chance at saving its season.

Aaron Rodgers looked horrible in the first half with a grand total of 32 passing yards. He threw three touchdown passes in the second half, two of those on superb one-handed catches by budding star Garrett Wilson.

Rodgers hasn’t reached 300 yards this season, and the 40-year-old version of him certainly doesn’t have the same skills as the player who won four MVP awards with the Green Bay Packers.

But the Jets (3-6) are all in on Rodgers and don’t have a quarterback of the future on the 53-man roster; veteran Tyrod Taylor is the backup. This is going to be Rodgers’ show barring injury, and New York needs him to at least approach his earlier form.

New York stands in 10th place in the AFC and needs to get on a roll. There is certainly hope when you consider the Denver Broncos (5-3) may not be able to maintain their strong start and the Indianapolis Colts (4-4) are having quarterback issues and have demoted Anthony Richardson in favor of Joe Flacco.

In fact, the Jets stand second in the AFC East, with both the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots faring worse.

The Texans (6-3) envision being a postseason force this season, but it was hard to feel they could win more than one postseason game by watching Thursday’s act. They also dropped to 2-3 on the road.

Star quarterback C.J. Stroud is allowed to have a bad performance, but his shoddy 11-of-30 effort really hurt. It was his second subpar performance in three games as he passed for just 86 yards on 10-of-21 passing in a 24-22 road loss against the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 20.

At the same time, Houston couldn’t protect Stroud, and he was sacked eight times. He was certainly hurried on other occasions.

Stroud will bounce back. His output will be something to watch in the Texans’ next road game, which is on the Monday Night stage against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11.

Stroud needs to be a lot better.

It didn’t help that wide receiver Stefon Diggs tore his ACL and is out for the season, and that big-play man Nico Collins is still sidelined with a hamstring injury. Tank Dell stepped up with six catches for 126 yards on a night when the rest of the team had just 65 receiving yards.

Houston also has Joe Mixon running like a runway Amtrak train. He had 106 yards against the Jets for his fourth straight 100-yard outing, and he looks like a cinch to record his fifth career 1,000-yard season.

The Texans are easily the best team in the AFC South. But where they stand in the pecking order in the conference and NFL overall became uncertain. The immediate schedule in front of Houston isn’t easy with the Detroit Lions coming to Houston on Nov. 10.

They have games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens in a five-day span in December that will be even more challenging.

But no matter how you cut it, their Halloween performance was scary in a bad way. That’s a problem, Houston.