CJ Stroud has been setting franchise records all year.

The rookie has been one of the very best at his position and has stepped up in big moments.

But no moment was bigger than this weekend in the rookies first ever playoff game, and when the lights were shining the brightest, Stroud was at his best.

Stroud stepped up and led the Texans to their biggest win of the season on Saturday, with the Texans beating the Cleveland Browns 45-14 in the wildcard round as Stroud threw for 274 yards on 16 of 21 passing, becoming just the fifth rookie to ever throw for three touchdowns in a playoff game and tying the record for most touchdown passes by a rookie in the playoffs.

“For CJ to go out and have the type of game he had tonight is unbelievable,” said Texans head coach Demeco Ryans. “I’m just so proud of him and all of our guys. I could see they were ready on Tuesday of this week, they were locked in and they put the work in to beat a really good team. We made every play we needed to win the game.”

Both teams took some time to settle in on offense as they traded punts to start the game, and the Texans defense came up big on the Browns second possession, forcing a three and out inside the Browns 10-yard line and getting the ball back for the offense in Browns territory after a punt. Which the Texans took advantage of by getting all the way down to the 3-yard-line before having to settle for a 21-yard field goal.

The Browns had an responded, going right down the field and taking the lead on a 1-yard Kareem Hunt run, but Houston answered right back, going on a 4-play, 75-yard drive that was capped of with a 15-yard pass from CJ Stroud to Nico Collins, making it 10-7 in favor of Houston shortly before the end of the first quarter.

Cleveland got another score early in the second quarter as Joe Flacco continued to carve up the Houston defense before throwing an 11-yard touchdown to Kareem Hunt, but it took Houston just one play to retake the lead with Stroud throwing a 76-yard touchdown to Brevin Jordan. Houston added one more touchdown shortly before the half to take things 24-14 on a 37-yard touchdown from Stroud to Schultz as Houston went into the locker room with all of the momentum.

We wanted to throw the ball early and be aggressive and everyone just did a great job of making plays,” Stroud said. “The offensive line did amazing and we had great play calls and we were just aggressive with it. That’s a recipe for success and then we showed we could run the ball today too. This is the best we’ve played so far this year.”

It was the defense that came out fired up and ready in the second half and they made one of the biggest plays of the game on the Browns first possession. Derek Barnett got to Flacco, who threw up a prayer of a throw that Steven Nelson came down with before returning 82-yards for a touchdown, and Houston did it again on the next drive with Christian Harris intercepting a pass and returning 36 yards for another score. Devin Singletary added another touchdown early in the fourth quarter as the Texans pulled the starters with over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.

“We needed our defense to step up tonight and they did a fantastic job,” Ryans said. “Flacco had a great game against us a few weeks ago and we knew it was going to be a challenge but we had to attack the football. For us to get two takeaways and attack the football and then go and turn that into points, that changes the game. It was huge.”

Collins ended the day with 96 receiving yards and a touchdown on six catches, while Jordan had 76 yards receiving and a touchdown on his one catch.

The playoff win was Houston’s first since 2020 when they beat the Buffalo Bills in the wildcard round. Houston will look to go further than it ever has next week when they play in the Divisional Round with a chance to get to the AFC Championship.

“It’s one week at a time,” Ryans said. “We’re confident coming in and you have to be confident in all of these moments. We believe in each other and we have a special group here in the locker room. We just have to keep taking it one day at a time and keep going out and playing relentless football every day.”