C.J. Stroud sends message to Texans' offense after 'SNF' win over Chiefs

The Houston Texans improved to 8-5 on the season via a 20-10 win at the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. 

Houston's defense did well to pitch a shutout over the final 15 minutes of play after Kansas City tied the game late in the third quarter. Following the victory, Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud sent somewhat of a message to the rest of his offense. 

C.J. Stroud knows Houston offense must improve

"I just tried to bring the guys up and say that our defense was holding us together," Stroud explained, per Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston. "We’ve got to go score some points. We know how dangerous we are when we’re doing the right things. Our defense got the stop. We moved the ball and ran the ball great."

Stroud was referencing how the Houston defense produced a massive fourth-down stop when Chiefs head coach Andy Reid kept his offense on the field for a 4th-and-1 at the Kansas City 31-yard line with 10:27 remaining in regulation of Sunday's game. The Texans subsequently went down the short field before Dare Ogunbowale tallied what became the game-winning touchdown. 

"It’s not always going to be pretty," Stroud continued. "It’s not always going to be perfect, but whenever your numbers are called, you try to make the play." 

Texans wanted revenge on Chiefs

In the end, Stroud completed 15-of-31 passes for 203 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions versus the Chiefs. To compare, Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes connected on 14-of-33 pass attempts for 160 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions while facing what may be the league's best defense. 

According to ESPN stats, the Texans ended the weekend leading the NFL with an average of 266.3 total yards surrendered per game and an average of 16.0 points allowed per contest. As of Monday morning, the ESPN Football Power Index gave the 9-4 Jacksonville Jaguars a 56.1 percent chance to claim the AFC South division title. Houston was at 32.5 percent odds, followed by the 8-5 Indianapolis Colts at 11.4 percent odds. 

The Colts lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to a season-ending torn Achilles on Sunday. 

"We ended our season here last year," Stroud said in reference to Houston's divisional-round loss to Kansas City in January 2025. "You kind of have that bad taste in your mouth. We were all motivated to win this game and do the right things to win the game. It’s a blessing. There are always things to clean up. Offensively, we need to be better in the second half. I thought we played hard. In December, you want to get wins, and that’s all that really matters. The pressure, the blitz. We just have to be better with identifying it and with trying to make plays. We have to be better on first down. That is really the key."

As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Houston as a 9.5-point favorite for its home game against the lowly Arizona Cardinals (3-10) on Dec. 14. The Texans can't afford to fall victim to a trap game as they attempt to leapfrog the Jaguars in the standings before Week 18 wraps up.