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DJ Bien-Aime, ESPN
HOUSTON — There’s only one NFL team that hasn’t named its starting quarterback for Week 1: the Houston Texans.
But the No. 2 pick, quarterback C.J Stroud, isn’t bothered by it. Stroud says that’s not his responsibility.
“I ain’t tripping. Just do what’s on my plate. I’m not worried about anybody else’s plate. I got to focus on what we got going on in this locker room,” Stroud said. “And just getting better every day. It’s not about any of that stuff. It’s about competing every day and just getting better. That’s not my job. My job is to go out there and play. I got the fun stuff to do.”
The Texans are the last team to announce their starting quarterback, and on Wednesday, coach DeMeco Ryans declined to name the starter for Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens.
“In everybody’s case, we’ll see who earns what, and you’ll see our starters in Baltimore,” Ryans said.
Ryans declared there would be a quarterback competition going into training camp between 2021-2022 Texans’ starter Davis Mills and Stroud.
But throughout August camp practices and two preseason games, Stroud has exclusively run with the first-team offense while Mills has operated with the second team. The rookie quarterback started against the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots and will start the finale against the New Orleans Saints.
Through two preseason games, Mills has played 50 snaps and has completed 55% of his passes for 193 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Stroud has played six series and completed 56% of his passes for 73 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.
“They all have steps they can take,” Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said. “They all have places they can go with their game that they haven’t quite got to yet to be more efficient and just cleaner with the operation and with the footwork and some little things like that. We’ll just keep grinding through that.”
