Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was a wide receiver's best friend Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts the way he distributed the football.
Stroud threw for 384 yards — the second most in franchise history by a rookie behind Deshaun Watson's 402-yard performance in 2017 — while completing at least six passes to three different receivers. The receivers who were the beneficiaries — Nico Collins, Robert Woods and Tank Dell — all had good things to say about Stroud's performance.
"(Stroud) was able to control all the pre-snap stuff, call the huddle, get the call in, get us all lined up pretty quickly and swiftly," Woods said. "Was able to make some great throws, great decisions. When he was in the pocket, being able to make the right throws, the right reads. When he was able to leave the pocket whether it was throwing or running it or throwing out of bounds, I think he played pretty well and kept improving."
The No. 2 overall draft pick completed his first-career touchdown pass to Collins in the first quarter to cap off a 13-play, 68-yard drive that spanned almost six minutes to cut into the Colts' two-touchdown lead. Stroud stood tall in the pocket and lofted a pass only where Collins could get it.
Collins had seven receptions for a game-high 146 receiving yards and the one score.
"C.J. did his thing," Collins said. "It's the second game. We're going to keep building. As an offense, when we get in the red zone, we got to score."
In the second half, Stroud helped the Texans outscore Indianapolis 10-3, completing 21-of-31 passes for 266 yards and a 23-yard touchdown pass to Dell.
Stroud was sacked six times for 47 yards with the Texans missing Laremy Tunsil in addition to Tytus Howard, Kenyon Green, Juice Scruggs and Scott Quessenberry.
However, Dell didn't lay the blame on the offensive line for the Colts' defense getting after Stroud. Instead, he took the blame on behalf of the receiving corps for not getting open quickly enough.
"Just try to be there for C.J. as best we can, get open faster, don't play at the line," Dell said. "We got to get in and get out of our routes so he can deliver the ball with precision and on time, so I'd just say get open faster."
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