Boy, are the Houston Texans stocks plummeting in Stefon Diggs’s absence. Regardless, CJ Stroud didn’t feel like his usual self on the Thursday Night Football game against the New York Jets. While this comeback game for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets ended on a sweet note, the Texans HC, DeMeco Ryans is left perplexed after the 21-13 loss.

Ryans took to the podium after the game and was asked about CJ Stroud’s underwhelming performance tonight. He knows what went wrong in the game but isn’t sure how to fix the issues the team has “up front.” Adam Wexler of the SportsTalk 790 gave us a glimpse into DeMeco Ryans’ mind.

Wexler took to X and posted, “#Texans HC DeMeco Ryans, “Not sure what’s happening up front, we’ll watch the film & see what it is…we give up 8 sacks & every drop back or pass situation it looks like we’re in scramble mode. It’s just not good enough & we can’t operate on time. We gotta get that fixed.”

So, what went wrong with CJ Stroud tonight? A couple of Texans got injured in the game and some were even questionable to return but that’s beside the point right now. He didn’t throw an interception tonight, but his pass completion rate was abysmally low. Completing 36.6% of your passes isn’t exactly a way to win football games.

Stroud completed 11 of the 30 passes he threw. He took 8 sacks and even injured himself on one of the plays. But most importantly, Kenyon Green, the Texans guard exited the game with a shoulder injury and that might have affected Stroud’s performance. Also, the Jets’ defense looked amazing tonight, which is the reason why they sacked Stroud 8 times in a game.

Stroud had an opportunity to win the game but blew it. Let’s talk about it.

DeMeco Ryans might have a fix on a few things about CJ Stroud

Stroud is reportedly the fifth-most-sacked quarterback in the league right now and has faced the third most pressured dropbacks in the NFL. It got clear as day during the 3rd and 7 play in the last quarter of the game. He was on the 10-yard line and very close to scoring, but he couldn’t escape Michael Clemons.

Stroud caught the snap and immediately dropped back. However, Clemons found his way through the Texans’ O-Line. Stroud saw this and started scrambling, but got sacked immediately. That play led to a loss of 15 yards and the Texans could have scored on that play.

Stroud clearly has a lot to think about and he might just be better in the next game. While we wait for the Sunday Night Football games ahead, check out how these two are changing the NFL on the latest episode of the Think Tank.