The Broncos and Texans will play one another this weekend in a battle of 6-5 teams looking to push into an AFC playoff seed.
The obviously favorite for offensive rookie of the year, Houston rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud has been one of the keys to the club’s 2023 resurgence after several years at the bottom of the league. On Wednesday, Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Stroud’s play has been “unique.”
“He’s playing well,” Payton said in his press conference. “When you watch him play, you feel like you’re watching someone who’s savvy and experienced. You don’t feel like, necessarily, you’re watching someone in their first year. He’s confident.
“It’s a dangerous team that way. You’ve got young players and I’ve been through it before with a draft where they have the young receiver, Tank [Dell], who’s playing well, the defensive end from Alabama [Will Anderson] is playing well, the quarterback — and they’re having success and they’re 6-5. And so, you definitely see the explosives on tape. They’ve been down late, come back. There’s a confidence they have that certainly is contagious and you can certainly see it on film. But he’s been impressive.”
In his first 11 games, Stroud has completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 3,266 yards with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions — good for a 100.8 passer rating. Stroud is leading the league by throwing for 296.9 yards per game while he also has a league-low 1.3 percent interception rate.
The Broncos have picked up a whopping 15 takeaways in their last four games, so we’ll see if Stroud can continue to protect the football against a Denver unit that has dramatically improved since the early weeks of the season.
