There were questions about how well the Houston Texans would perform in their Wild Card playoff game against the Cleveland Browns. While they had a fine regular season in winning the AFC South and they had homefield advantage, they also were lining up with a rookie quarterback under center. If that was supposed to be a problem for the Texans, nobody told CJ Stroud.

The Texans rolled to a 45-14 victory over the Browns, and Stroud had a brilliant performance in his postseason debut. He  completed 16 of 21 passes for 274 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans continues to be impressed by his star rookie quarterback's performance. “C.J. is the reason we're in this position,” Ryans said. “He has the shoulders to carry this weight.”

While the quarterback was in charge and had a remarkable performance, Stroud got a major assist from the Texans defense. That unit intercepted passes from Cleveland quarterback Joe Flacco and returned them for touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter.

Those pick-sixes allowed the Texans to stretch a 10-point halftime lead into a 24-point margin. Flacco and the Browns were unable to cut into that margin.

CJ Stroud threw touchdown passes of 15 yards to Nico Collins, 76 to Brevin Jordan and 37 to Dalton Schultz.  Stroud, 22, became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game. He passed Michael Vick, who was three months older than Stroud when when he led the Atlanta Falcons to a playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers following the 2002 regular season.