You can hear it in Zaire Franklin‘s voice.
That one conversion still drives him crazy.
His Colts were hosting the Texans in Week 18, a de facto playoff game with a postseason berth on the line. It was the fourth quarter, a second-and-14 with 9:43 left. Houston ball.
That’s when rookie sensation C.J. Stroud dropped back, stepped up, rolled to his left and back to his right to elude the pass rush. Then he fired a pass off his back foot, with his body drifting backward. A diving Nico Collins made the scramble-drill catch for a first down.
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Franklin made eye contact with Texans running back Devin Singletary, whom he was covering on the play.
Singletary shrugged.
“‘That’s C.J.,'” he told Franklin, who recalled the story on his podcast “The Trenches.” “That just let me know like he be doing s— like that all the time.”
Stroud has made the incredible look routine. It’s why he’s already considered great, despite being a rookie. But we can no longer say he’s on track to becoming a superstar. The track has ended. That status was emphatically stamped when he guided the Texans to a 45-14 wild-card rout of the Browns.
Not only did he dazzle in his playoff debut — a 76.1% completion rate, 276 passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions — but he humiliated the league’s No. 1 defense in the process.
Stroud has made a case for the greatest rookie quarterback season ever. It’s becoming futile to argue against his ascent.
C.J. Stroud having the best rookie season ever?
The former Ohio State star joined Joe Montana and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks in the past 50 years to lead the NFL in pass yards per game and touchdown-interception ratio. Of the five rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for more than 4,000 yards — Jameis Winston, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck and Justin Herbert are the others — Stroud is the only one to have won a playoff game.
And he did so in historic fashion.
His 157.2 passer rating in the victory over the Browns marked the highest for a rookie ever in any game (minimum of 20 pass attempts). At 22 years old, he became the youngest starting quarterback to win in the postseason. He also became just the fifth rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least three touchdowns in a playoff game, doing so in just one half.
The Texans are heavy underdogs for Saturday’s AFC divisional-round showdown at the top-seeded Ravens. On paper, Baltimore is the easy choice. It has a superstar quarterback in Lamar Jackson — who’s poised to win his second league MVP — coupled with an elite defense, home-field advantage and rested players. But we can’t count Houston out because of Stroud. If he could embarrass Cleveland’s top-rated defense, what could he do to Baltimore?
Stroud has shined when the stakes are highest. In the past two games, with Houston’s season on the line, he’s completed 76.5% of his passes for 538 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions.
When the Ravens cruised to a 25-9 win over the Texans in Week 1, Stroud wasn’t the same player he is now. Houston wasn’t the same team either.
“Where his growth has shown the most to me is his calm and confidence,” coach DeMeco Ryans said Tuesday of Stroud’s growth since the season opener. “He’s been the same player, but I think just his demeanor and how he’s grown as a leader has … been big-time for us. When we need him most … he’s the leader that we need him to be. He’s the player that we need him to be. His demeanor on the field and off the field is exactly what you want out of a starting quarterback.”
Even if the Texans fall to the Ravens as many expect, 2023 will be regarded as a massive hit. Their Super Bowl window is officially open, with Stroud, tons of financial flexibility — Houston ranks third in the league with $71.4 million in salary cap space, according to OverTheCap — and eight 2024 draft picks to continue building around him, including the Browns’ first-round pick acquired in the Deshaun Watson trade.
Stroud is the best quarterback on a rookie contract.
Can C.J. Stroud lead Texans on a deep playoff run?
That rapid ascension that the Chiefs and Bengals had with Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, respectively? That’s become possible for the Texans.
“C.J. is the reason why we’re in this position,” Ryans said after Saturday’s wild-card win. “Our whole team is leaning on him. He has the shoulders to carry that weight.”
From the first time he played Stroud in Week 2, Franklin saw that the No. 2 pick didn’t play like a rookie. Stroud lies to defenders with his eyes, Franklin said. He lies with his drop. He lies with his shoulders.
“That’s some s— he isn’t really supposed to have until year six-seven,” Franklin said on his podcast. “Whoever is your trainer, slow down, gang!”
But there’s no slowing down.
The NFL’s next superstar has arrived.
Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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