C.J. Stroud — Week 2: Fifty-Five Throws, No Touchdowns

C.J. Stroud threw 55 times Sunday for 353 yards, and Houston scored six points. The reason is a short list of snaps near the goal line. The Texans ran 10 plays from the Cincinnati 20 or closer, and those 10 were worth −15.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. Three first-half possessions reached the Cincinnati 16, the 18 and the 13. The first ended on fourth and four when Houston lined up for a field goal and the holder, Kroeger, kept the ball, lost eight, fumbled, recovered it and threw incomplete. The second ended on fourth and one, David Montgomery stopped for a loss of one. The third ended in a 37-yard field goal after a completion to Woody Marks lost six. Houston was zero for four on fourth down.

The last one was the end of the game. First and 10 at the Cincinnati 12 with 51 seconds left, down 20 to six: incomplete, a sack for −7, incomplete, and on fourth and 17 a sack for −19.

The line: 30 completions on 55 throws, two of the 55 spikes, 353 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, four sacks for 39 yards, −6.4 expected points on 59 pass plays. Before halftime, 15 of 24 for a hundred 82 without a sack. After it, 15 of 31 for a hundred 71 on 35 pass plays. All four sacks came in the fourth quarter, when 25 pass plays were worth −8.4 and the sacks alone −7.1. His best play was third and three at the Houston 15 with three 57 left in the first quarter: short right to Dalton Schultz, 35 yards, +3.2 expected points and 7.1 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, Houston's largest gain of the day by both measures. On third down he threw 16 times, completed eight and converted five. On throws that traveled 20 or more yards in the air, three of seven for 77. Three scrambles gained 14, 11 four, +2.2 expected points.

14 of the throws went to Schultz, who caught 12 for a hundred 40. Xavier Hutchinson caught three of nine and Jared Wayne two of seven. Nico Collins, who had 10 targets in Week 1, was on the Texans' inactive list, per the team's site.

Back in June the preview's read on Stroud was that the last two seasons, 20-first at the position by rate both years, are the sample now, and that a pocket-first profile prices in continuation. Week 1 was 274 yards and two touchdowns undone by two strip-sacks. Sunday was more yards, no turnovers and no touchdowns, and for the second straight week Houston's final possession ended on a sack inside the opponent's 40. Seven sacks in two games. Volume without points, one week with his top receiver and one without, is not yet an argument against the preview or for it. Houston is at the Colts on Sunday the 20-seventh.

_Data via nflverse._