The Houston Texans offense couldn’t do much of anything during the first quarter and a half of play on Saturday against the Los Angeles Chargers, but C.J. Stroud ignited them late in the second quarter with a wild drive that saw him pull off a feat that has only been accomplished by two other quarterbacks over the past 33 years.
With 6:15 to go until halftime, the Texans took over on their own 1-yard line and they ended up marching 99 yards for a touchdown. On the drive, Stroud ended up throwing for 101 yards. With an NFL field being only 100 yards long, it’s not often that you see a quarterback throw for more than 100 yards on a single drive, but Stroud managed to do it in the Texans’ 32-12 comeback win.
With his performance, he became just the third quarterback since 1991 to throw for at least 101 yards on a single drive in a playoff game, joining Aaron Rodgers (2015 divisional round) and Lamar Jackson (2019 divisional round).
Out of those three, Stroud’s drive might have been the most impressive and that’s mostly because it looked like it was going to end before the Texans even hit midfield. On a third-and-16 from his own 17-yard line, Stroud fumbled the snap and it looked like he had no chance to make a play, but he ended up grabbing the ball and completing a miraculous 34-yard pass to Xavier Hutchinson.
That play gave the Texans a first down at the Chargers’ 49-yard line.
A few plays later, the Texans were stuck in another difficult situation when they faced a third-and-11 from the Chargers’ 13-yard line. On that play, Stroud worked some more magic: This time he hit Nico Collins for a touchdown.
The score put the Texans up 7-6, which is a lead that didn’t seem possible after a first quarter where Houston totaled just 41 yards.
As for Stroud, the reason he was able to top 100 yards on a single drive is because the Texans got penalized 11 yards for tripping. Overall, Stroud went 6 of 10 for 101 yards and a touchdown. Including their rushing yards, the Texans totaled 110 yards on the scoring drive, which was almost twice as many as they totaled on their first FIVE drives combined (59).
Stroud ended up throwing for 282 yards and a touchdown in Houston’s dominating 32-12 win. You can check out our full takeaways from the game here.
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