Texans' DeMeco Ryans talks quick improvement of C.J. Stroud

First-year Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans sounds unsurprised that C.J. Stroud is already silencing doubters just three games into the rookie quarterback's NFL career. 

"For him, it's just been every week," Ryans said about Stroud during a chat with NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. "From Week 1, seeing the improvement, seeing how teams are trying to attack him, he studies his butt off. He studies more than anybody on the team. He's prepared as he goes into the game. He continues to improve. The things that he needed to correct, he corrected those things. He makes plays. It's just cool to see a young kid make improvements each and every week."

Ryans waited until late August to officially name Stroud the Week 1 starter over Davis Mills, and the second overall pick of this year's draft performed admirably across his first two starts that Houston lost. Stroud then completed 20-of-30 passes for 280 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in Sunday's surprising 37-17 victory at the 1-2 Jacksonville Jaguars, and Breer noted that the 21-year-old connected on 42-of-62 attempts for 564 yards and three scores over his last six quarters of action. 

"It's just fun to watch, and it's what he did at Ohio State—how you just saw improvement from game one to the end of the season, continuing to see improvements," Ryans added about Stroud. "It's fun to watch someone grow right before your eyes and so quickly, growing from week to week. … To be a really good quarterback you have to continue to improve, and he has."

Per ESPN stats, Stroud entered Monday's NFL action ranked fourth in the entire league with 906 passing yards and 11th among qualified quarterbacks with a 98.0 passer rating on the season. He's thus far matched four total touchdown throws with zero picks, and he'll look to continue his overall improvement when the Texans host the 2-1 Pittsburgh Steelers this coming Sunday.