'Nothing Changes!' C.J. Stroud Reveals Texans' Attitude Before Do-or-Die Week 18

C.J. Stroud made a triumphant return to the Houston Texans in Week 17, but he'll need to beat the Indianapolis Colts to make the playoffs. How has he reacted to the challenge?

Surely, those cardiac kids have one nail-biter left in them, right?

The Houston Texans have exceeded every expectation on the way to a Week 18 regular-season finale against the Indianapolis Colts. Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud has been the biggest part of that ascension. While the team went 1-1 in his concussed absence, they returned to their potent selves in Week 17, beating the Tennessee Titans 26-3.

Now, two 9-7 teams face off for a spot in the AFC playoffs. It’s a do-or-die game in every sense of the word, and it’ll be on Stroud to once again lead Houston to victory.

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean-USA TODAY NETWORK

On Tuesday, Stroud spoke about his mentality ahead of the biggest game of his NFL career.

“It is what it is, you don’t want to make it too high, make it too low, just a regular game,” Stroud said. “Told my teammates earlier, it’s the same game we’ve been playing since we were young. Nothing changes, got to just prepare hard and do everything we need to do to try to win this game and I think that’ll take us home. But try to make it too big and that’ll psyche you out, make you nervous.”

Stroud’s makeup has helped the Texans buy-in, but few aspects of Houston football have been as invigorating as his performance.

He’s thrown for 3,844 yards, 21 touchdowns, and five interceptions on his way to producing the ninth-most win probability amongst quarterbacks in 2023. Stroud has been stellar, and for much of the season showed legitimate development week-over-week.

“I think I’ve grown a lot in a lot of different places,” Stroud said. “I think our team has grown as a whole. I think we’ve put multiple games together for our team to stick like glue. We’ve come into a great situation, now we’re starting to pick up our chemistry better than ever. So, it’s like night and day from Week 2 to now.”

Week 2 saw the Colts visit Houston and beat the Texans 31-20. Stroud threw for 384 yards and two touchdowns but spent most of the game playing from behind. Houston will look to flip the script in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Texans 'Completely Different Team' Since Week 2 Loss to Colts

A win would likely put the cherry on top of an Offensive Rookie of the Year-caliber season and, more importantly, bring the Texans to the playoffs. It would come in the form of a Wild-Card berth unless the Titans upset the Jacksonville Jaguars. Even so, it’s inspiring football and a meaningful late-season came far earlier than most anticipated for this Texans rebuild.

They’re playing with house money, though Stroud’s words and the culture he embodies would never let that slip. Houston has already won, but preseason expectations don’t matter when anymore. The only thing that does is beating Indianapolis.