History was made on the first day of the NFL postseason, thanks to the presence of C.J. Stroud. Making his playoff debut at 22 years and 102 days old, Stroud became the youngest quarterback to ever win a playoff game in NFL history in the Houston Texans’ blowout victory over the Cleveland Browns.
Stroud has been the franchise quarterback Houston envisioned — and more. The Cinderella run of Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns unfortunately came to an end as a result. The Kansas City Chiefs dismantled the Miami Dolphins in the nightcap, known more for the freezing cold conditions (-4 at kickoff) than the play on the field.
With Saturday’s wild card games in the rearview, here’s what we learned from both contests and how that will carry over to the divisional round and next week.
C.J. Stroud had the best playoff game for a rookie in NFL history
With all due respect to Slingin’ Sammy Baugh throwing three touchdown passes in the 1937 NFL Championship Game (a 27-21 Washington victory over the Chicago Cardinals), Stroud arguably had a playoff debut that will be hard to top.
In his first career playoff start, Stroud completed 16 of 21 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns in the Texans’ 45-14 victory over the Browns. Stroud set the rookie marks for completion percentage (76.2%), passer rating (157.2) and margin of victory by a rookie quarterback in a playoff game (31). He tied the rookie mark for most pass touchdowns (three) in a playoff game.
Stroud is the first rookie quarterback to defeat a former Super Bowl-winning quarterback in a playoff game (rookies previously went 0-5 in such games). He finished with the fourth-best passer rating in a game for any quarterback in NFL history.
This was the best performance the NFL has seen for a rookie quarterback in the postseason. Just a continuation of one of the best rookie seasons ever for a quarterback.
Browns defense…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/what-we-learned-on-super-wild-card-weekend-day-1-dolphins-prove-narrative-right-c-j-stroud-adds-to-legacy/
Author : Jeff Kerr
Publish date : 2024-01-14 05:07:21
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