Following the Houston Texans’ 28–16 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round, head coach DeMeco Ryans has made his position clear on quarterback CJ Stroud, despite widespread belief that he should have been benched in the second half. Despite the loss and Stroud’s four first-half interceptions, Ryans never considered benching him in favor of Davis Mills, showing full faith in his young quarterback.

“CJ is our guy, I believe that he could come back out in the second half and flip it,” he said during the post-game conference. “I believe 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 believe that he would do that and he did that.”

On Sunday, the Patriots took control of the game early on with a touchdown. While the Texans did bounce back with a touchdown and a field goal of their own, their opponents ended up holding a 21-10 lead at halftime. At the heart of their offensive failure was quarterback CJ Stroud, who recorded one of his worst postseason performances with four costly interceptions. One of the passes was intercepted by cornerback Marcus Jones, who returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.

After the ghastly errors, many expected Ryan to bench Stroud and let Davis Mills take on the starting role in the second half. But that never happened. While Davis Mills hasn’t proved his mettle as an elite backup QB, he has served in the starting role before. He took the field as the starting QB in three games in the 2024 season and 15 games in the 2022 season. With 26 interceptions in his career, Mills has also faced issues with turnovers.

However, Stroud clearly cracked under pressure, so opting for Mills could have lifted some pressure off the offense. Nevertheless, when diving deeper into the benching question, the coach revealed how he encouraged his players to move on. 

“As I always tell our guys have time 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,” he said. 

Moreover, he highlighted how the team had faced more “dire” situations before and still found ways to fight back. The experience allowed him to put his faith in Stroud and believe the Texans could overcome the deficit. However, the comeback never materialized. Meanwhile, Stroud finished the contest going 20-of-47 for 212 yards, along with one score and three sacks. After the game, the player owned up to his mistakes while reflecting on his journey. 

“I let people down and that hurts,” he told reporters. “I take full responsibility.”

Despite Stroud taking the fall, DeMeco Ryans knows exactly where they fell short.

DeMeco Ryans aims the offense for the divisional loss

After a poor 0-3 regular-season start, the Texans found their rhythm on the back of a powerful defense. It’s the very unit that ranked first all year, allowing just 277.2 total yards. Unfortunately, they hadn’t witnessed the same success on the other side of the ball. And the offensive struggles didn’t even let them respond properly this time, sealing their fate against the Patriots. While speaking to the reporters after the game, Ryans didn’t mince words in calling out the unit.

“And when you’re in a game of… this magnitude, we’ve done a great job all year of protecting the football, running the ball well, that’s been our formula, and to come here when we needed it most, we didn’t protect the ball,” he said. “It’s tough to think that you’re gonna win a game when you turn a ball over five times. We still had opportunities…I love this team even though you should have been able to come back from five takeaways.”

While the Texans averaged 108.9 rushing yards per game before the playoffs, the ground attack disappointed big time on Sunday. The unit posted just 48 yards on the ground without a touchdown and also witnessed five turnovers throughout the game. Houston’s offense delivered in the other two phases in terms of yards gained. However, limited touchdowns and mistakes kept them from dominating New England. Despite the loss, DeMeco Ryans praised his team’s fight and resilience.

“We’re still fighting, we’re still scratching the claw and be in that position,” he said.

Now, the Patriots move on to face the Denver Broncos on January 25. Meanwhile, Houston heads into the offseason with its belief in Stroud firmly intact.