Quarterback sensation Stroud escapes hell
C.J. Stroud is one of the great discoveries of this NFL season and the reason for the Houston Texans' upswing. But in addition to his athletic brilliance, the quarterback has experienced many dark, private years - without a father and in poverty.
There is only one quarterback this season who has thrown for 470 passing yards in a game. And as if that wasn't outstanding enough, this quarterback is also the only one who has thrown five touchdowns in a game this season - in the same game. This quarterback is a rookie and has only played in ten NFL games. His name is C.J. Stroud.
The Houston Texans playmaker is one of the discoveries of the season so far - and his performances are the reason why the Texans are so surprisingly strong. Last year, Houston won only three of its 17 games. Now the Texans are in the thick of the playoff race with a record of 6:4 wins after ten games.
Already three rookie quarterback records
This Coleridge Bernard "C. J." Stroud IV has only been in the league for just under two and a half months, but Stroud has already left his mark. His 192 pass attempts without an interception at the start of the season, for example, are an NFL rookie record, as are the aforementioned 470 passing yards and five touchdowns in a 39-37 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 5. "Are you kidding, C.J. Stroud?" asked "NBC Sports" afterwards.
In a thrilling game, the playmaker had connected with wide receiver Tank Dell with a 15-yard pass for the winning touchdown six seconds before the end of the game. Shortly before, the visitors had been celebrating when they scored a touchdown in the final minute to take a 37:33 lead with just 46 seconds left on the clock. However, Stroud only needed 40 seconds to lead his team 75 yards down the field with five accurate passes and bring the attack - and therefore the game - to a successful conclusion.
At times considered a possible MVP candidate
He was "probably the most gratifying story of this NFL season", wrote "sports.yahoo.com" afterwards. After his historic performance, his name was even mentioned as a possible MVP for the season - albeit in the absence of a clear favorite. However, as is sometimes the case in this league, nothing is as old as the statistics from the previous game, or in Stroud's case, the game two weeks ago.
In Sunday's 21:16 home win against the Arizona Cardinals, the 22-year-old threw touchdowns number 16 and 17 - but also three interceptions. This time it was not his strong passing that enabled Houston to win its third game in a row, but the good defense. None of the interceptions resulted in points for the visitors.
Comparison with NBA superstar Steph Curry
Other rookie quarterbacks might have been a little unsettled after such a performance. Stroud, on the other hand, reached for the highest shelf and compared himself to arguably the best long-range shooter in the NBA basketball league. "Steph Curry never stops shooting. And I won't either," he said on the club's website.
At the end of April, the Texans drafted the 1.91-metre, 99-kilogram Californian second overall in the draft. New coach DeMeco Ryans initially wanted to wait a long time in the summer before announcing his starting quarterback. Stroud and the number one from the previous season, Davis Mills, were to compete for the position. But Ryans soon noticed how the older players followed newcomer Stroud. That's when the decision was made - and no one in Houston regretted it.
Not a rookie, but "a brilliant quarterback"
In the ten games so far, Stroud has thrown passes for a total of 2962 yards. Only Andrew Luck (2965), Justin Herbert (3015) and Patrick Mahomes (3185) had better numbers in their first year in NFL history. "C.J. Stroud doesn't look like a rookie in my opinion, he looks like a brilliant quarterback. Hats off to him, very impressive," said Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield.
When the Texans started the season with two defeats, nobody in the oil metropolis on the Gulf of Mexico was really bothered. After all, expectations were extremely low anyway. Houston had worn out four coaches in the previous three seasons - and still only won eleven out of 50 games.
First win and first wow moment
The first win came on the third matchday. It was a rather surprising 37:17 win at the Jacksonville Jaguars - and it was Stroud's first wow moment. He threw the football 53 yards towards the Jaguars end zone. The only teammate there was wide receiver Tank Dell, but he was surrounded by three defenders. But Stroud's pass was so precise that the defenders had no chance of getting to the ball and Dell just had to grab it with his ready hands.
"I still can't believe it," says Dell even today. All of the Texans' wide receivers have since learned, Dell emphasizes, that they don't have to follow the trajectory of the football on Stroud's throws, as it almost always falls right into their arms.
Life imprisonment for the father
Even when the pass rushers are rushing towards him and the spaces into which he can throw the football are only a few centimetres wide, Stroud keeps his cool and thus his precision. "Making those throws in practice is one thing. But in the game. Every pass. Over and over again. I've never seen anything like it from a rookie," says tight end Dalton Schultz. "Every week he has a throw that's my new favorite," adds Case Keenum. He may only be the backup quarterback now, but he's seen just about everything at his position in his now ten years in the league.
As glamorous as the athletic side of C.J. Stroud is, his personal side was just as sad. He spent most of his 22 years, at least the ones he can remember, without a father. When C.J. was 13 years old, Coleridge Stroud III was sent to prison. He had pleaded guilty to carjacking, kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault. And he was a repeat offender. Although the crimes had been committed decades ago, the past had caught up with him in 2014. The sentence: 38 years to life imprisonment.
Little money, small apartment, angry son
His father was gone - and with him the breadwinner of the family. Money was always tight, the apartment in a suburb of Los Angeles, where mother Kimberly had to raise her four children alone, was far too small for five people - and C.J. was furious with "Pops", as he always called his father.
He had once taught him how to throw a football properly. So that it spiraled through the air. He had always been the one to catch his son's balls. The one who praised him, gave him high fives and positive feedback, so that C.J. wanted to throw even more footballs.
No contact with his father for many years
But when Stroud Senior went to prison, the two had no more contact. For six years, the son had ignored all calls from his father. Coleridge III is one of around 2,500 inmates in Folsom State Prison, just under two hours' drive north-east of San Francisco. The online portal "The Athletic" recently wrote about it in detail.
"I've been through hell - and back," C.J. Stroud once said in his college days. But those years also taught him to "scratch and bite." He has since forgiven his father and the two speak regularly on the phone. Coleridge Stroud III follows all the games on TV and, says C.J., is now considered something of a celebrity because of his son and has turned all the inmates in his cell block into Texans fans.
Thanks to an app on his phone, the father can receive photos and videos of C.J. and thus follow his son's first NFL season a little more closely. The relationship between the two is now "like it used to be", emphasizes C.J. He has fulfilled his biggest dream of making it to the NFL. But he has a second dream: that his father will be released early and be able to watch him play live. C.J. Stroud says he is praying for that.
Despite his impressive rookie season in the NFL, C.J. Stroud's path to stardom wasn't always easy. He's the only quarterback this season to have thrown for 470 passing yards and five touchdowns in a single game.
Furthermore, his NFL record of 192 pass attempts without an interception at the start of the season is a testament to his consistent performance and accuracy. His performances have significantly contributed to the Houston Texans' strong performance this season, shocking many with their 6:4 wins in ten games, contrasting their 3-wins record from the previous year.
Source: www.ntv.de
