Texans 26, Titans 0
Q. ... getting the offense moving the way it did there in the fourth quarter?
CJ STROUD: I think the way teams are playing us and the way our offense is kind of built it's death by a thousand cuts. Taking what the defense gives me. You know, and then I think after you hit a big play or like a big play comes is when everything kind of opens up. I feel like that's what happens.
Q. CJ, towards the end of the third quarter you all had back to back penalties and then you found Nico for that 37-yard pass. How much of that reenergized that offense?
CJ STROUD: I think it did. Titus came to me and was like, be happy, bro. That was a big play. The sideline was turnt up. That stuff brings energy, big plays like that. Nico did a great job. A lot of respect for Sneed. He's a good corner in this league, one of the best.
I thought him and Nic battled and he got over the top. Just tried to give him a shot. Yeah, big plays like that definitely give us energy that we need going forward.
Q. What do you hope this win and how you all performed in the second half can...
CJ STROUD: I think it just, you know, sometimes it's that one play that like kicks it off to get everything rolling. We kind of had that my rookie year. I think I want to say like week three against the Jags. I hit Tank on a post, and after that it seemed like we were just rolling. Sometimes it just takes that one play, that one drive, that one point of emphasis to finally hit to finally get things rolling that we know that we can do.
So I think that's kind of the cool thing about playing football. It's different every year. It's different every game. You just got to find the niche. I think maybe hopefully I did that. We got to go back to practice and continue to get better.
Q. You guys have often talked about the run, get the run going, open up the offense. Talk about how much that meant today and the work of both backs, but especially the rookie that helped you do what you do?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, it's huge, especially in this style of offense. Running the ball is huge. Anything positive on first down helps. I think, you know, Woody and Chubb did a great job. Even in the pass game like they did a really good job. Yeah, that's what it's going to take to win, is just having a balanced game.
And I thought Caley did a good job keeping it balanced, just trusting me in some areas to get us in the right looks and checks and things like that. So I thought that every game that's huge. You got to be able to run the ball in this league. Chubb and Woody complement each other really well. Our O-line did amazing, both run blocking and pass blocking.
And then also our tight ends stepped in there and did their job. Receivers as well in the run game.
Q. What was it like to see Woody get his first touchdown, Higgins, to see the two rookies being able to make plays?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, I was a really big fan of Woody in college when he was at USC. Really elusive, really crafty. I thought he did a good job since those days in that Lincoln Riley offense. I thought today we kind of used him in that light: spread him out, gave him some familiarity running ball and some plays he's ran before. He's a very dynamic pass catcher.
Yeah, Higgs is a dog, somebody who is very elusive, grout route running. Him one-on-one a lot of times he's big, fast, tall; that's a mismatch. So he did a great job on that touchdown play. He just continues to get better every week.
I think Jay Noel, same thing. A lot of rookies doing great. Tae had a great game. A lot of the guys that are doing big things in their first year, it's going to be huge for us.
Q. CJ, you mentioned the Higgins touchdown. Can you talk you have walk us through what you saw coverage-wise and what made you go to that throw?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, they were in man and on film they showed like this man where they can help the best player, best receiver. So I felt 50 was about to go help Nico, so I just signaled in a route concept I thought would work. So, yeah, we executed it very well.
They did a good job of executing the route plan, but I just seen something and I called it and it worked. You know, it's going to go that way sometimes; sometimes it's going to go the other way. If we're all wrong we're right, and that was a big thing there. We were right that time and made them pay.
Q. CJ, as the offense has been struggling a little bit the first half of -- early portion of the third, are you guys kind of saying to yourself, hey, we're right there, a little closer, let's get this together, and then it kind of clicks like you said, or is there a little bit of like, here we go again?
CJ STROUD: No, I don't believe in that. No, I don't -- that's a terrible way to think. You'll be really bad if you are thinking here we go again. I don't look at myself like that, look at my teammates like that. I don't think we even played really bad in the first half. We just got to score points and get better opportunities on second down to be in the third and manageable.
I don't believe in that.
Q. CJ, every win is positive, but against a division rival it's more important you could say. Next division rival isn't until November 9th. Keeping tabs on other teams in the division, how important was this win?
CJ STROUD: We focus on one game at a time. When we play another division opponent they're always important. Every game is important in this league. We're focused on one game at a time. When you big scale things too early is when bad things happen.
So I'm just 1-0, trying to get 1-0 every week.
Q. Congrats on the win. In terms of how it was orchestrated, this team more what Nick Caley and you guys have been talking about how you want to manufacture drives and run plays. Would you agree with that, and if so why?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, I thought Cales did a good job of mixing it up: run, pass, play-action, misdirection. I think at the end of the day it's all about execution. He can call anything, but we got to go out there and make the plays work.
We handled it better today with route detail, me being good on my reads. Of course it's never perfect. There is plays we always want back. The overall big picture we kind of hit that point this week in this game.
I think it's -- we're going forward, and that's what you want to see.
Q. CJ, you have taken some hits this year, since you've been in the league. Today you took a couple that seemed to the naked eye significant. You seemed to battle through like you have been. Talk about your resilience and being able to withstand that and keep pumping it.
CJ STROUD: I appreciate you saying that. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I ever told this, but my dad, I remember we were at this basketball game when I was -- excuse me, basketball practice. I was really young, probably seven or eight.
I remember I got hit somewhere like probably in my face or something and I was on the ground. I was looking for attention kind of. My dad, he gave me a new one, like told me off. I needed it.
Since that moment, since I've been a little boy I always kind of like remembered that moment and always tried to -- it's not like playing tough. There is a difference between being hurt and injured. I think I can be pushed past being hurt; injured you can't play.
That point always -- my dad's voice always rings in my head every time I'm like feeling -- they hurt. Don't get me wrong. But it's like, I don't know, I think it's something that's instilled in me by my parents, by God, something that spirit in me that I don't like quitting.
But, yeah, thank you for seeing that. I don't try to like, oh, I'm tough, because I don't think I'm that tough. And I lift a lot of weights with Clint. Shoutout Clint and Mikey Banks and our strength staff.
Q. CJ, you all were able to get offensive rolling today. Can you talk about how good the defense played against that Titans offense?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, our defense played amazing. Starts with Azeez his play calling with DeMeco. Thought they did a great job mixing coverage and stunning with the D-line and things like that. Man coverage was sticky. Kamari played a great game. Calen, MJ stepped up and did a great job.
Yeah, I think like when you hold a team to zero points in the NFL, that's big time. That doesn't happen a bunch. Yeah, shoutout to them boys. They're doing a great job. Very grateful to have a defense like that.
Q. How much do you think a win like today where you guys took care of business on both sides of the ball, how much do you think that can help the team moving forward as you build momentum for the season?
CJ STROUD: Yeah, that's the game plan every week, is play three phases of football, special teams, offense, defense. Try to play as one. I thought today was a right step in that direction. You got to go do it again. That's the thing about NFL. You got to forget your failures and forget your successes and try to move forward.
It's hard to say, but -- it's easy to say but hard to do and we got to be able to do that. Flush this and go move on and try to win another game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports