Stroud 🔥

Forget the stats. CJ Strad was remarkably good in Houston’s win over the Chiefs in week 14. And it wasn’t just this early throw to Nico Collins, which actually was technically a little bit underthrown. It was the way he moved inside the pocket throughout this game. And if you watch the second half, Stout was under pressure on seemingly every drop back instantly. But even when he was protected well, he did a great job staying patient and getting through his reads across the entire field and finding his targets like he did here. Clean pocket, but this is a super accurate throw to the sideline to get a big first down. But let’s go back to the pocket navigation from Stout, which I think really is his best attribute as a quarterback. The Chiefs are bringing seven rushers on this play. And Stout is immediately flushed to his right. He buys time, throws across his body like a shortstop to find Nico Collins for the biggest play of the game. And when Stout originally took off, there were no receivers on that side of the field. Now, this was one of the first amazing pocket navigation plays from CJ Stout. Chris Jones is going to be in his lap to the left and mostly unfaz. Strauss steps up into the pocket and has Chris Jones hanging on his feet as he makes that throw to pick up a big first down in the second half to Nico Collins. Jones destroyed Ed Ingram all game, but like on a play like this, it didn’t matter. Strauss steps up, dips that shoulder, and then right before he runs into his own blocker, delivers that throw to Jaden Higgins for a huge third and long conversion from deep in his own territory. That play was made by Stout’s pocket drifting. And then here to essentially end the game, Chris Jones is in his lap immediately. Straoud avoids him by stepping back and rolling to his right. And I still don’t know how he fit this pass into his receiver, but he got another first down here. The stats weren’t necessarily pretty, but CJ Straoud’s pocket navigation was huge in this Texans