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ESPN NFL analyst Troy Aikman was not impressed with CJ Stroud’s playoff performance.
On Sunday, Stroud threw for four interceptions during the Texans’ elimination loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs.
After the game, Aikman gave his brutally honest assessment of Stroud’s NFL career.
“C.J. Stroud has been chasing his rookie success for the last two years. He’s not been the same player. We’ve not seen the development from him. There’s a reason for that, and it has to be addressed.”
Troy Aikman: “C.J. Stroud has been chasing his rookie success for the last two years. He’s not been the same player. We’ve not seen the development from him. There’s a reason for that, and it has to be addressed.” 🏈🎙️ #NFL #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/nmAgXfxItQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2026
During his postgame press conference, an emotional Stroud addressed the loss while speaking to the media and promised to get better next season.
“Yeah, I’ll look back at the season and once again, I can’t just be anything but grateful for the teammates I have, the coaches I have, the organization, the city of Houston, the fans. I look back and I just feel like I let people down, and I’m not happy with that.
“It hurts, and I’m not naïve to it. I didn’t play my best this year, but I’m going to respond. I’m going to keep my chest up, my chin up high, and I’m going to just keep battling forward.”
“I look back and I feel like I let people down. … It hurts.”
–C.J. Stroud after the loss to the Patriots pic.twitter.com/oUVVmnRhbV
— ESPN (@espn) January 19, 2026
Texans head coach Demeco Ryans showed support for Stroud and said he wasn’t considering benching him.
“No, C.J. is our guy. I believed that he could come back out in the second half and flip it. I believed that he could play better, and he did that in the second half. He did play better. We had some positive drives there in the second half. I believed that he would do that, and he did that. As I always tell our guys at halftime, it really doesn’t matter what happened in the first half.”
“You have to flush it, remove it, and you just have to go out and finish the right way. We’ve been there before. We’ve been in situations much more dire than this, and we were able to bounce back. In my mind, there was no doubt in my mind that we would be able to overcome that.’