C.J. Stroud wasn’t the only problem in the Houston Texans’ 14-9 loss on Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams, but one chart certainly is painting him as part of the problem in the overall outing for the offense at SoFi Stadium.
Perhaps the biggest issue was the offensive line, which again, factored into the downfall of Houston’s offense, resulting in three field goal attempts.
According to Ben Baldwin’s QB weekly pass-blocking chart, the Texans’ offensive line ranked third-to-last in both Pro Football Focus’ offensive grading and ESPN’s pass-protection win-rate. The only two worse were the Tennessee Titans and Rams, who allowed 14 pressures and three sacks against Matthew Stafford.
For Stafford, an aging quarterback with little mobility, certainly factored into the outcome of the performance. For Cam Ward, it was his first start going up against a top-three defense in the Denver Broncos. For Stroud, it was just another poor day behind an offensive line still unable to work out the little details.
Penalties didn’t help the cause, either. Houston was flagged 11 times, including five pre-snap calls, for a loss of 80 yards. As for Stroud, he was pressured on 41% of his dropbacks (according to Next Gen Stats) and hit seven times, including three for sacks.
“The things you can control, for me, are the pre-snap penalties. Making sure we’re in the right formation, no illegal shifts, no jumping offsides,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “So, it’s just the pre-snap things, those are the ones that are unacceptable to me because we fully control those. So, let’s get those out of the way and then let’s see how we are. But aggressive penalties are going to happen. We’re not losing our mind over that.”
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: One graph shows an overall horrendous look for Texans’ pass protection in loss to Rams
Reporting by Cole Thompson, Texans Wire / Texans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
