On Monday night, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be starting his 23rd career Playoff game, tying the enigmatic future Hall of Famer with Joe Montana and Ben Roethlisberger for the 4th-most starts by a quarterback in postseason history. On the opposite sideline, Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud will be starting his 5th career playoff game, putting the 3rd-year signal-caller at something of a disadvantage, at least in terms of experience.
But within a very confident and prepared Houston Texans locker room, you won't find even the slightest bit of doubt that Stroud, who is 18 years younger than Rodgers -- and has 18 fewer postseason starts -- isn't ready to lead the Texans into the Steel City and emerge with a Wild Card Round win for the third consecutive year.
“I know a lot gets to be made about playoff experience,” DeMeco Ryans said this week, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Houston. "I think C.J. is as prepared as anybody. He’s locked in and he’s focused, he’s ready for this moment. He’s doing all the things it takes for him to play the quarterback position well, and that’s all he needs to do.”
Thus far in his postseason career, that's mostly what Stroud has done. Yes, he's only .500 in his four prior Playoff starts, but even the greatest quarterbacks in league history will tell you it's awfully hard to win in January and February. Even Rodgers, a four-time regular season MVP and one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever sling the pigskin, is only 12-10.
In those four games, Stroud has performed incredibly well, completing 66% of his passes for nearly 250 yards per game, with a 4-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio and a 100.5 passer rating. It's about all you could ask for from a young quarterback, and if Stroud reaches these sort of numbers in Pittsburgh, it's possible that the Texans could cruise into the Divisional Round.
“Man, seven, he’s built for these moments: calm, collected, ready to lead,” Texans wide receiver Nico Collins said of Stroud, referring to the quarterback by his jersey number. “He’s the reason why. He’s the leader. He’s built for these moments."
Collins would know better than anyone that Stroud is built for the postseason, because like his quarterback, the Pro Bowl receiver has played some of his best ball when the lights are brightest. In those four Playoff games, Collins has averaged nearly 6 receptions per game for 91 yards per game.
“That’s one thing I ain’t worried about," Collins continued. "I just can’t wait to go out there and have fun with him, go out there and have fun with the guys, man, and go out on Monday Night Football and just have fun.”
In the end, it'll only be fun if Houston emerges with a win, so for now, Stroud isn't thinking about the fun. He's thinking about the opportunity in front of the Texans, and he believes his team is ready.
"I think it’s a heck of an opportunity to play in a legendary stadium against a legendary coach, a legendary team," Stroud said this week. “This is going to be a great challenge. We’ve got to be ready. It’s going to be cold and it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be a lot of elements that are not for us but are against us. But we’ve been in this before. We’ve played plenty of cold games, plenty of loud games, been in silent operations. A lot of experience in a lot of different ways. I think that will pay off when we go up there on Monday night.”