The Josh Innes Show - The Texans Are Fine..Is CJ Stroud?

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

I am not overly worried about the Texans. The defense was back in form Sunday. But, can CJ Stroud ever be that dude they need him to be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. Season, what are the Texans? Who are the Texans? Now, they're basically where they owe us. are, which is losing games early. And that's kind of who they are. I mean, I think there's this three out of four years or whatever it is for D'Amico where they've started out, O and two. They did it last year. They ended up setting a franchise record for wins, right, or tying a franchise

record for wins. So, you know, more power to them. But when you watch them, what are they? Like, okay, let's do this. Let's just get right into this show. Let's play a couple commercials and let's get into this shit about the Texans here. Who are they? Because you look around the division and the Jaguars. are one-on-one. I think the Colts had their moment last year. Like, I'm not, I'm never going to buy that Daniel Jones is going to win a bunch of games with the Colts. You can believe it all you want. You know, maybe they should have, coulda, would have beaten Kansas City great. They didn't. I'm not buying into the Colts, whatever. That division's still very ripe and you're in a position

where you should win that division. The defense came back around last week and played a lot better. Let's, okay, let's play a couple commercials and let's get into that. All right, who are the Texans. Are they closer to the team that played in week one where they're in a shootout with the bills and the defense is giving up 500 yards? Or are they closer to the team you're going to get that faced the Bengals that lost 20 to 6? But defensively was considerably better than they had been in week one. I mean, you look at the numbers if you care about such things. Look, you gave up 314 yards. That's 314 yards passing. You gave up 60 yards rushing. So all told, you gave up 370 yards.

You can live with, sorry, that's the other way around. My bad. You gave up 182 yards passing and 59 and, let's see, 2067 total yards. There's the fucking number I needed. 267 total yards. You gave up 267 total fucking yards. You lost 20 to 6, but you gave up 267 yards.

The defense was pretty fucking salty, right? They were still pretty fucking good in that game. You know, you didn't force any turnovers. that's kind of where you're going to win or lose a lot of games. You didn't turn it over. You didn't force turnovers. Fine. You got to the quarterback a lot.

Burrow had to throw the ball 31 times to get to 182 yards. Okay? So, like, you're closer. Now, the good part is the Texans are closer to the team that played on this Sunday compared to the previous Sunday. The bad news is that's also the flaws that you have on offense. Because I don't believe you're the team that scored. 31 points against the bills. No, by the way, the bills gave up 30-something points as well to the

Lions. The bill's defense may just give up a shit ton of points. That just may be who they are. So don't take too much from that. Buffalo gave up 31 points. What, they gave up 31 points to you. They give up 31 points to Detroit. But if you look at it, the Bengals had 12 first downs in the game. That's it. 12. You had 22. Again, I'm not going to sit here and try to break down the stats and try to tell you that you won the game. You lost by two scores. You sucked in the red zone again. That's who you are. You miss some field goals. The coach has made some bad decisions. When the game was 10 to 3, you opt to kick a 60 yard field goal. Like, I get dudes can drill like 900 yard field goals now and they'll have a robo legs, but you need one fucking yard. You got,

you've got, you brought in guys like David Montgomery to get you hard yards and you decide to opt for a 60 yard field goal in a seven point game in the third fucking quarter. What are we doing? Stupid. So you're closer to the team that we saw on Sunday, a team that's going to give up 20 points to a good offense, a team that's only going to give up 267 yards. Like, that's what you're closer to doing. You know, you committed some bad penalties. You had 78 yards of, or you had 83 yards of penalties you allowed. But it is what it is.

You're closer to that than you were in week one. And I think they're going to figure this out. they're going to start scoring enough points, and this defense is back to giving up fewer points. Like there was really nothing to be super pissed off defensively. There were a couple big plays, a couple of penalties that hurt. You have a touchdown catch from Jemar Chase that's one of the best catches you're ever going to fucking see. These things happen. You gave up 20 points to an NFL team.

You should never lose by two touchdowns when you give up 20 points in the NFL where dudes are scoring 40 easily, where the teams like the Panthers are averaging 40 fucking points a game. you should not lose by two scores in a league where you give up 20 points. All that said, you're closer to the team that we saw in week two than week one. But what does that mean in a big picture sense? Because you look at the schedule, and this is usually where the Texans turn it on and figure it out. You got to go on the road and beat the Colts. Colts are desperate just like you are.

You don't want to fall to 0.3 or maybe you do. That's where you shine. You go 0 and 3 and then rattle off. How many years have Houston teams, but just the Texans started out, 2, 0 and 3 and made the playoffs. Is there a team that's ever started more seasons 0 and 2, 0 and 3, and made the playoffs than Tech teams? I don't think so.

But look, your stretch here, Colts, you could win that, but that's a road game. And then you got the Cowboys at home. You know? But you do start finding stretches in here. Like, you should make the Titans life a living hell in Nashville in a couple weeks. That should be a game you should win. You can beat the Jaguars. Who knows what the Giants quarterback situation is.

But I like my chance of the Texans defense against Jackson Dart. The Chargers are an absolute waste right now, as we've talked about. Justin Herbert may just be cooked. He's been just defeated by the Vagin. He has been just like, look, and I don't blame him. Madison Beer, hot piece of ass. I don't blame him. But he might be cooked.

The Browns are god awful. Then you got the Colts again. Ravens are tough. Steelers stink. Commander stink. Jaguars are what they are. Eagles, we don't know. But I think they're just a solid team.

and that's a Christmas Eve game. That's a solid team. Hackers, we don't know. Titans stink. So you're not dead yet. You know, the disappointing part, like you lose a shootout to the bills. Josh Allen's going to score 40 on everybody.

Like, the Texans are one of the best defenses in the NFL, and Josh Allen did what he did against them. Then he did the same thing against the Lions. Whether you're a good defense or a bad defense, Josh Allen's going to go out there and carve you the fuck up. They're just a fucking juggernaut on offense. That's just the reality of it. So you look at that and say, okay, we gave up 36 points.

It happens. That's that team. You come back, you give up six to Joe, or 20 to Joe Burrow, and you lose by 14 points. All that said, like, I think they're fine. Like, are they flawed? Yes. But the division's flawed. And this is kind of who they are.

Maybe we're getting, maybe it's unfair because we're so blinded by the fact that they're a team that on a year and year out basis tends to start 0 and 2, 0 and 3, and then they figure it out. Like, is C.J. Stroud flawed, yeah. You know, we talk about how Jay Leland. Hurts is one of these guys that you look at and go, like, you look at Jalen Hertz and he's an anomaly. He's a different kind of anomaly than C.J. Stroud because Hertz has a lot more success. But they're similar in that, like, there are days where you don't know if they're good or if they're just not good.

You know, Jalen Hertz, there are days. You're like, I think this guy kind of sucks. But then you're like, he's been to multiple Super Bowls. He's won one. He's played in giant games. He's never seemingly rattled by anything. He's a leader. Like, all this shit. And it's kind of the same with Stroud, although you don't get those same kind of leadership vibes from Strouds. Stroud's a very kind of diminutive kind of guy in his personality. He doesn't know the difference between like a Jalen Hertz, outside of like going to Super Bowls and shit, but just like their overall demeanor. You know, Jalen Hertz never fucking waivers. Like this dude's just out there doing the goddamn thing.

And like whether you got a former teammate telling you that he sucks and you need to just make him a passing quarterback and take away his legs, no matter what happens, the dude is always even keel. And I think that's something that's admirable. You never hear about him in the news. Like every now and then he'll say something, but you never really hear about him in the news, you know, seeming shook by something. You look at C.J. Stroud, and this motherfucker seems shook a lot of the time.

Like, he just looks like, not scared, but rattled or, like, phased or frazzled by certain things. And maybe that's just the look of him. You know, how some people just have, like, Eli Manning just has a dumb look on his face all the time or there's resting bitch face. C.J. Stroud just constantly has this look of, like,

frazzled. But they're both interesting cases because C.J. Stroud has done nothing but have success for the most part in the NFL. Yet we're sitting here and we're like, should the Texans give him a big deal? And it's a legit case.

Like, we legitimately don't know. Yet all the guys done has had success. I mean, how many games is this guy won? They've been to the playoffs every year he's been there. He's 28 and 20. You know? So, I mean, you look at his career. He's been in the league for four years. Have they been in playoff games all four years that he's been there?

I think so. So it's pretty fucking crazy, man. Like, he's a fascinating case. And again, every week we're going to evaluate this guy and be like, should they give him a long-term deal? Should they not give him a long-term deal? Like, that's interesting to me. You know, is he the reason why they're 0-2?

I mean, guys thrown for 700 yards this year. but you could argue that he is. He's part of it. I mean, obviously not week one. I mean, but in crunch time, he didn't get the job done against the bills. Okay. He scored six points against Cincinnati.

I don't care that you threw for 353 yards. He scored six fucking points against Cincinnati. Too better. But I think the Texans are fine because defense will, to use the stupid line, defense will travel. Like, defense is always there. And I think we saw more of what the defense actually is. Like, they didn't just.

just forget how to play defense because in week one, they gave up a shit ton of points to a team that is going to score a shit ton of points every game. You will see very few games that the Buffalo bills don't score 30 plus. They're just a fucking unit. And they're doing it with a cast of dudes, none of whom are like really, if you look at Josh Allen what he's doing, like, is Shakir a special player? Not really. Go down the list of the guys. He's got his Dawson Knox a special player. No. Don Kincaid's pretty good. But like are they loaded with super mega talented dudes, all, you know, all world players, no, there's not a T.O. on that team. There's not a C.D. Lamb on that team or a Nico Collins on that team or a Chris Alave on that team. They don't have that. But they're just a

fucking unit and they've got the most special dynamic offensive player in the league. So they're going to score a lot of points. The question is, what are the Texans going to be able to do offensively? Because I don't think Buffalo or Cincinnati is not some special defensive team. We know this. They're They're not. So they're fine, but they're not special. They're not give up six points on the road special. They're not give up six points on 55 pass attempt special.

They're just not. So if the Texans figure out the offense, here's my problem. Is C.J. Stroud ever going to be anything different than he is? And if this is what Stroud is, if Stroud's always going to have this kind of demeanor and the Andre Johnson's body language stuff, and he's always going to kind of look frazzled, and he's going to cry on the sideline when his buddy gets hurt. And all this shit, is this a guy you invest in? Like, is this as good as it gets for Stroud?

And if it is, are you fine with that being as good as it gets? Because I watched Stroud, and while he had just as much, if not more success in terms of playoffs and playoff wins and playoff appearances than Deshaun Watson did, when you watched Deshawn Watson, you felt like you were watching a rock star. And he was. He isn't now. It's bizarre to watch what he was. what he is now. But when you watch Deshawn watch and you felt like you were watching somebody

who figured this shit out and was a beast. And, you know, his coach was right when he said he's Michael Jordan. Like, you felt that. I don't feel that when I watched Stroud play. Just to compare the two. And those are the most, the two most recent near all-world quarterbacks they've had. The two they, oh, the only two they've ever had. You know, and you look at those two guys and you look at the way they carry themselves. And you look at how you feel when one of them has the ball. when Deshawn had the ball. Go back to Monday night football in New Orleans. Was that 2018?

2018. I guess it would have been. 2019? Whatever year it was. They opened the season on Monday night football. And the Saints eventually kicked a long field goal to win that game. But late in the game, Deshawn got the ball on the road and you're like, this guy's going to figure it out. And bang, bang, bang, they go down the field and they take the lead.

Like, you felt that way. Do you feel that way with CJ? Stroud. And to me, if you don't feel that way, I have a hard time giving that guy that money. Because if you don't believe that this guy in every clutch situation is going to march you down the field and get you that W, like, I guarantee if you go back and look at most of Deshawn's games where they needed a drive at the end of a game to do something, he probably made it happen. Does C.J. Stroud do that. And does he give you that level of confidence that he can? No, didn't get it done against Buffalo, week one. And they never put together the big drive.

in that game last week. And then you look in his face and you're like, do I feel confident in this person? And is this person confident? Like I get that not everybody carries themselves the same way. But like I even look at like a Kirk Cousins. And while he's a goober and he shops at Coles and gets his hair cut at, you know,

sport clips and shit and, you know, looks like he's selling Bibles. Like I even look at Kirk Cousins and I'm like, I think this guy believes. Like this guy looks confident, you know? Even Kirk fucking Cousins. But then I look at CJ and I'm like, is this guy confident? Or is it just the look? Does he have resting dread face?

Like he just always, he never looks like a confident dude. And if there's a guy that never looks confident and then the clutch situations don't match up, do you pay that guy? Probably not. So I still think the team overall is fine, but they still have a bigger picture issue. They like the coach. They should like the coach. He's a good coach. He should be there for the rest of his life.

He's a great coach. but what do you do with this guy? You got a great defense, a Super Bowl level defense. But when the game's on the line and you need something to happen, do you believe in C.J. Stroud? And four years ago, I did. And they were going to the playoffs as a rookie. I did. And it's gradually kind of gone down. And now I don't feel that way. So that's where we are with the Texans.