Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is not shying away from the results of the season-opening loss or what led to it. On the whole, Stroud had a decent day, but he bookended the game the same way: with fumbles.
Stroud fumbled on his first drop back of the contest and the last, the latter sealing a 36-31 victory for the Bills, who had lost in each of the last two seasons against the Texans.
Stroud admitted the sack that preceded his final fumble contributed to their downfall.
“I thought did a good job, starting with a positive play in that 2-minute. Got down there. And then, just can’t get stalemated like that. I think that sack really kind of made it a little tougher. But even then, we still had a chance,” Stroud told reporters postgame. “I’m trying my best to protect the ball, but also to make plays. We needed 7 [points] right there.
“I can’t be super conservative. I gotta be able to take shots. But sometimes, it doesn’t roll your way. So, we’ll Try to fix that, and then, go forward.”
The Texans will be at home against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.
Notably, Stroud took no more than 3 sacks in any regular-season game in 2025, but he took exactly that many four times. The Texans went 1-4 in those games. Moreover, the Bills’ 36 points are more than the Texans allowed in any game last season.
C.J. Stroud Facing Heavy Criticism After Bills Beat Texans
Stroud finished the Texans’ loss with 274 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions on 68.4% completion. However, he also absorbed 3 sacks and his fumbles harkened back to a turnover-filled 2025 postseason run.
“CJ Stroud is betting on himself this season,” sports media personality Trey Wingo posted on X on September 13. “Week one off to a rough start. Took a horrible sack and then coughs it up once again in that final drive. Same issues we saw in the playoffs, Huge win for Buffalo in their house of horrors.”
This came after Stroud had already been a polarizing subject during the pregame programming.
“C.J. Stroud leads the NFL in taking sacks you just can’t take,” Fox Sports Radio’s Jon “Stugotz” Weiner posted.
“Texans Truth Serum” host Jayson Braddock posted, C.J. Stroud didn’t lose a fumble in the regular season last year,” adding, “He started & end the WK1 game with a lost fumble. The last with the game on the line.
“The critics won’t be silent this week.”
Not everyone was against Stroud, though, with Blogging The Boys’ RJ Ochoa posting, “Really feel for CJ Stroud. Obviously there is a lot of pressure on this season. He played so well for so much of the opener against Buffalo. Results oriented business. People will unfortunately not care about anything other than how it ended. Tough.”
DeMeco Ryans Gets Honest About C.J. Stroud
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans called the turnover margin–2-0 in the Bills’ favor–the key behind the loss, but the did not blame the defeat on Stroud.
“C.J. was very much in control the entire game. He took what the defense gave him, he made great decisions with the football. Man, I proud of the way he played today. Thought he showed what he’s been showing all camp, right? He’s been showing that confidence, he’s been showing that growth in his show today out there. He was very calm, great demeanor on the sideline, great demeanor on the field, just having the offense under control, putting us in a great position to win the football game.”
Ryans did not avoid the obvious, though, saying, “Unfortunately, we lost the football there two times. We don’t want those plays at all. But not gonna let that overshadow, the game that he had. Offense put up way waiting way more points than needed for us to win this game. So it’s not on [the offense]. We play together, right? But we could have definitely played much better defensively.”
Texans’ C.J. Stroud Sends Message Amid Heavy Criticism After Game-Ending Mistake