It's time to have a conversation about Texans QB C.J. Stroud

After knocking off the Buffalo Bills in Week 5, it appeared the Houston Texans were ready to assert themselves as legitimate contenders. They followed that win over a top AFC team with a 41-21 victory over the lowly New England Patriots, giving them a record of 5-1.

Since then, thngs have fallen apart.

Houston is 2-4 over the past six games with their latest loss in Week 12 happening against the Tennessee Titans. During that defeat, Houston had a lot of issues, including giving up several deep shots for Will Levis.

Still, nothing damaged their chances more than the mistakes from C.J. Stroud.

The 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year was responsible for two interceptions and ran the ball out of the back of the end zone to end their final chance at coming back. It was a frustrating ending but sadly, the mistakes from Stroud have been commonplace over their past six games.

Stroud has thrown more touchdowns than interceptions since the win over New England, all five of which have been in the past three weeks.

While he didn't throw an interception in the loss to the Green Bay Packers or New York Jets, he finished with just 86 yards against Green Bay. On Halloween, he completed 36.7 percent of his attempts against New York with just 191 yards.

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Stroud proved during his rookie campaign that he can get the job done. This season, he's tried to take his game to the next level and early in the year, it appeared he was doing so.

That's no longer the case and it's past time to figure out what's going on. He's already thrown more picks than he did his entire rookie season and at this pace, the Texans are going to open the door in the AFC South. A door that should have already been shut.

It's easy to blame the blocking woes, which is a concern. But there's more going on, and this team won't get where they need to unless it's figured out.