After the opening 30 minutes of football on Sunday night, it looked like the Houston Texans were well on their way toward cruising to one of the biggest statement wins of the 2024 NFL season. Despite Kansas City's undefeated status, the general consensus seemed to be that it was the Detroit Lions who were playing the best football in the league, and for one half the Texans thoroughly outclassed Detroit in front of a primetime audience.
But games aren't won in 30 minutes. It takes the full 60 to get the job done, and the Lions proved that on Sunday night. The one-loss Lions overcame five Jared Goff interceptions and a 16 point halftime deficit to squeak out a 26-23 win in front of a stunned crowd in Houston.
Following the game, CJ Stroud shouldered the blame, saying that the loss was on him. After all, Stroud threw two costly interceptions in the 3rd quarter, and was held to under 250 yards passing for the fifth time this season. However, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans wasn't ready to pin the entirety of the loss on his young quarterback. It was the entire Texans offense and its play-caller, Bobby Slowik, that Ryans was pointing the finger of blame at.
“We have to look at the play calling. Have to look at everything,” Ryans said after the game, per Cody Stoots of Houston Football.
Specifically, DeMeco Ryans had a problem with the way the Texans offense operated in the 2nd half, and for good reason. After scoring 23 points in the opening two quarters, Houston was blanked in the 2nd half. In total, the Texans produced just 82 yards of total offense, four punts, two interceptions and one missed field goal after the halftime break.
“We talked about getting started in the second half, and we talked about being better in the second half,” Ryans said, according to DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. “But to come out and turn the ball over on the first play of the second half and to get in the red zone where we have points and to turn the ball over, that's not winning football.”
The Texans haven't scored a 2nd half touchdown since Week 6, and for the season, they're 31st in the league in 2nd half point differential.
CJ Stroud's sophomore slump continues as Texans fall to 6-4
Most second-year quarterbacks would dream of having the sort of season that CJ Stroud is having, but because of the impossibly high standard that Stroud set for himself during his prolific rookie season, it's fair to say that the reigning Rookie of the Year is indeed in something of a slump.
Through ten games, Stroud has thrown 12 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Last season, Stroud threw only five interceptions in fifteen games. Additionally, the former Buckeye is throwing for over 30 yards fewer per game, and his passer rating has dropped from 100.8 to under 90 this season.
“My job is to lead the offense to score points, and I didn't do that today,” Stroud said after the game.
How much of that is on Stroud, compared to how much is on Bobby Slowik remains to be seen.
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