The day, the game that Carolina Panthers fans have potentially been dreading more than any other on the schedule. It is the rookie quarterback bowl CJ Stroud has played arguably maybe better than anybody could have expected at the beginning of this season for the Houston Texans. They've won some games. He has looked every bit the part of a future franchise quarterback and Bryce Young, I think not necessarily through any fault of his own, has not. Maybe it's the coaching staff.
Maybe it's the pieces around him, but I don't recognize any of the pieces around CJ Stroud. Jonathan Alexander covers the Houston Texans and he joins us on the Adam Gold Show. My friend, nice to have you on. Hope you're enjoying life in Houston. We miss you here. We miss you here. Talk to me about CJ and what he has done well so far.
Yeah. What's up, Adam? It's good to be back on the show, man. I'm glad to be talking this game, but yes, CJ. What's he done well? First, it started with how he kind of rallied this team. This team was one of the worst offenses in the league last year. He comes in and he's thrown the football accurately, deadly accurately, hitting his receivers in stride with precision.
I was talking to Dan Orlowski a few weeks ago and he said, on film he looks kind of like Joe Burrow. This is before the season. This is after the preseason and he's done nothing but that. Before the bye week, he was top five in the NFL in passing yards and he's doing this without a running game. He's instilling a belief in his team and he's making the throws necessary to be a great NFL quarterback.
He can hit at all levels, short, intermediate, and long passes. He's one of the biggest reasons why it takes us three and three this year after they finished 3-13-1 last year. Yeah. They got the second pick in the draft. Sometimes that takes a little pressure off the guy who was selected second. I'm not saying that maybe is why, but there's also a chip on the shoulder for a guy like CJ who maybe thought that he should have been the first pick.
What is his personality like? Yeah, I think that's a huge thing, right? The number one pick always has the most pressure to live up to the hype. I think CJ thought he should have been the number one pick, but he's always thought that way.
That's his mindset. You talk to people around him who knew him kind of growing up in high school. He's the one of those guys who, Oh, you don't believe in me?
Let me prove you wrong type of guys. And, and his whole, his whole life, like even in high school, he was number two to Bryce young and well, number three, technically the, in the, in the LA area to Bryce young and, and DJ, how do you pronounce DJ's last name? He was number three to those guys. And, and he was always the afterthought and he didn't really prove it. He didn't really get a chance to really prove himself to get college offers until his senior year. When he went to the elite 11 camp, he was, he was a late entry because DJ DJ got hurt and they put him in this elite 11 camp for the top quarterbacks in the country and he won MVP.
So he wasn't even supposed to be there. So all his, his, his life, he's been the underdog and he's wanted to prove people wrong and, and he's getting a chance to do that. And he's doing that in his NFL career too. At John M Alexander, J O N M Alexander on Twitter, Jonathan Alexander covers the Houston Texans. And so here, here's, what's funny to me about CJ Stroud.
And this, I guess, is how the, the position has evolved in, in years past. It would have been, well, we're not sure he's, he's a great athlete, but we're not sure he's that he could throw enough. CJ Stroud, the knock on CJ Stroud was, well, we know he can throw. We're not sure he's mobile enough to, to play quarterback in the NFL. He didn't show it a ton during the regular season last year.
He showed it in the bowl game. And maybe that's just, I don't want to run. I don't know if I don't have to run. I don't want to run. I want to throw.
And if you had the weapons that he had at Ohio state, I wouldn't have run either. Yeah. I mean, you hit the nail on the head. Yeah.
Well, yeah. Marvin Harrison, a junior crystal live day. He had Garrett Wilson.
Yes, exactly. Like he had literally on guys who probably all four of the guys are probably going to be all pros at one point in their NFL career. If they continue on channel, that's how good those guys are. Garrett Wilson and guy from Seahawks. Who's going to be good. I can't remember his name either.
Yeah. Recently drafted. He didn't even play last year, but he just has guys, you know, you can just throw in and he didn't need to run. He said, I didn't need to run. I didn't need to run because I had guys who were consistently open.
It was almost a pick your poison type of thing. So when I got to the Georgia game, he decided to expand his, what he was able to do. And he showed that he can make plays on the run and he carved up Georgia and him not for that miss Philgo by somebody who we know dearly from North Carolina, formerly played from North Carolina, Nora Ruggles, good kid, but it's not for them to still go. Well, CJ might've been in the national championship game and could have won.
But yes, CJ shrouded this. He can basically do it all. And even though he's not super fast, he does make plays and plays and he can make any throw that you ask him to make.
Yeah. You don't have to be fast. You just need to be able to buy time. Um, yeah, the, all the, I look, I know the, the Tom Brady, the five one or whatever in the 40 time is legendary at this point. Uh, but Brady could move in the pocket and buy himself some time. And if he needed to run to make a play, he did it.
CJ Stroud can do that as well. What role John Alexander from, uh, Houston is joining us covers the Texans. What role does D'Amico Ryan's a first year head coach play in all of this? Uh, he plays in a tremendous role.
Um, you know, I wrote about this, uh, this morning. Um, he changed the culture of this franchise. There was, there was little belief in this Texas franchise prior to him getting there.
People wondered where the Texans were heading. They hadn't had a winning season in three years. And now he has them believing that it's quite possible. They've won already matched their win total from last year. They're three and three and they won. And two of the wins, uh, came in dominating fashion against teams who are playoff caliber Pittsburgh Steelers and the Jacksonville Jaguars holding right now. Um, and he implemented a physical saw, he told them when he came here, he wanted them to be physical and to go after the ball.
And they're doing that. And D'Amico had a reputation in San Francisco and, um, he had at least number one defense and they were our nose, one of the best defenses ever. And so, you know, the players were willing to listen to him and he, he also previously played for the Houston Texans. So he had that credibility come in as a coach and as a former player. And, uh, so they were willing to follow him and, um, he, uh, left his imprint on this organization and, and, and he, uh, you know, one of the big reasons along with CJ Stroud and we'll answer that they're flourishing right now. One of the things that strikes me about D'Amico Ryan's and his impact on that franchise is that you mentioned it, he played there. So he like, that's, I think he looks at it as this is my franchise. Uh, and in many ways, uh, our hockey team here, rod, Brenda Moore, the head coach is the, you know, arguably the best hurricane player ever. And the franchise matters to him. So I wonder you're being around the team. Does that translate, does that belief, does that, does it, the fact that it means more where he's the head coach, as opposed to that he is a head coach, is that translating? Absolutely.
And that's a great analogy. Um, D'Amico Ryan's was, he was drafted to the Texans in 2006, and he was a voter to team captain is Ricky year. Um, they nicknamed him cap and, uh, he played there for six years. So he, he was part of the, one of the original, one of the first teams team was, um, created before he got there, but it was in the early years that D'Amico Ryan's was there and was a captain and he was part of the first playoff team. So he means a lot to the franchise and this franchise means a lot to him. The Carolina Panthers wanted to interview D'Amico Ryan's, but D'Amico Ryan's had his eyes set on the Houston Texans coaching job and, and they really wanted him.
Um, so he didn't do many interviews. Um, and, uh, it just kind of fell into place and, uh, you can just tell, you know, he wants to bring the excitement back to Houston because, uh, they definitely lost that in the years where, um, you know, they started to have, uh, those losing seasons and Deshaun Watson situation happened. Um, and now he's kind of bringing that excitement back. The Deshaun Watson situation happened, man. It's amazing how long ago that feels. It just, it feels like it was forever ago and maybe it was to be perfectly honest. Uh, it's gotta be four years removed at this point. Uh, no franchise is probably happier to be out from under all of that. Has any of that been repaired in the community? With SOTIC-2 for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, you could show off your skin again.
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Call 1-888-SOTYKTU to learn more. You know what? I don't know that it exactly has. I think people have tried to move on, but it still lingers there. I think people are still upset with how things ended, how they felt like Deshaun Watson was supposed to be the face of the franchise for many years to come, and then he is accused of all these serious allegations.
I don't know that it has properly been repaired yet. I think it still lingers on, but I think people have tried to move past it as much as possible. I think football fans, more than any other sport, only think about this year.
Yeah, whatever happened last year, heck, we don't even remember who was on our team last year. All right, John Alexander, before I let you go, give me a scouting report on how the Texans approach their offense. I know they don't have a great running game, and that's probably putting it mildly, so obviously they try to run off the pass. Yeah. What do they do well?
Who are the main threats? I know Robert Woods gives them a veteran presence, and they have a good tight end in Dalton Schultz, but give me a scouting report on the way they attack the game. Yeah, they've recently started to use the pass to try to open up the running game because the running game was struggling, and that was a big emphasis in Bobby Flug's offense.
He had to run the football to be successful, but somehow he's figured out a way to overcome that. They're still going to try to run the football, but try to use a little bit more Devon Singletary and Damian Pierce together. But two guys will watch out for Negro Collins, big wide receiver, fast, long strides, can make the deep play and tank. They'll small guy, five foot eight, 165 pounds, who was another big play threat. Ricky, those two guys are guys who want to watch out for it because they can make the big play in a hurry, and then that can get CJ Stroud going. So, Negro Collins and Tank Dale are guys to watch for. A big play threat, that is something that Bryce Young would love to have, but does not. I mean, honestly, I know Bryce has gotten a lot of heat, but other than Adam Thelen, there's just not anything there, and that is a major problem. I wouldn't worry about down the field either.
If my opponent couldn't get down the field, I would just crowd the line of scrimmage and swallow everything up, which is what most teams do. Jonathan Alexander covers the Houston Texans for the Houston Chronicle at John M Alexander on Twitter. Thank you very much, man. It's good to catch up. We'll talk to you soon. Definitely, thanks for having me. You got it. You got it. John Alexander here on The Adam Gold Show.
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