Penalties, turnovers leave bad taste for QB Stroud, Texans

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — After just two snaps, the Houston Texans had a good indication of how Sunday’s game against the Vikings was going to play out.

On the first play from scrimmage, Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud connected with wide receiver Nico Collins on a 17-yard pass, giving the Texans the ball near midfield. But tight end Cade Stover was flagged for holding, negating the big gain.

On the next snap, Stroud was looking for wideout Tank Dell on a crossing pattern. But his pass was tipped by defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, and linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill picked it off, giving the Vikings the ball at the Houston 21-yard line.

Six plays later, the Vikings had a 7-0 lead and were on their way to a 34-7 blowout of the Texans.

The holding call on Stover was one of 11 penalties against the Texans on Sunday, a week after they committed 12 penalties in a victory over the Bears.

“You can’t win that way, when you have something positive going, and you negate it by the penalty. That just saps the energy out of everyone,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “And turning the ball over — a lot of miscues today. You can’t do that and expect to win in this league.”

Quarterbacks turning the ball over isn’t necessarily a rare thing — unless you’re Stroud. He’d thrown 266 passes without an interception, a streak that went back to Nov. 19, 2023, and covered a span of nine starts, including two playoff games.

His next streak lasted just 26 throws, as Vikings safety Camryn Bynum logged a fourth-quarter interception that the Vikings promptly turned into their final touchdown.

Stroud finished 20 for 31 for 215 yards and one touchdown along with the two interceptions. He also was sacked four times. After the game, Stroud gave credit to the Vikings, even while admitting that many of the Texans’ mistakes were self-inflicted.

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“I was making the right reads all day,” Stroud said. “I felt like I played well other than the turnovers, especially the one at the end. I was seeing it well. I tried to stay in the pocket and deliver it as best I could, but they had some coverages and some pressures that they did at a very, very high level, so kudos to those guys.”

The Texans outgained the Vikings 296 to 274 yards, but with running back Joe Mixon out, they could not establish a running game. That put more pressure on Stroud and the passing game.

“I’ve dealt with games like this before, where it’s like, ‘Man, we look terrible!’ But that’s not the truth,” Stroud said. “They kicked our butts today. They are a great team and they’ll continue to do great things, but we know what we are and that’s not what we put on the field today.

“Once we fix the negatives, we’re going to be rolling. I’m excited because the only way we can go now is up,” he added “It’s something to learn from. I’m glad it happened early. Now it’s time to go to work.”