C.J. Stroud becomes youngest QB in NFL history to win playoff game as Texans trounce Browns
C.J. Stroud is adding another accolade to his stellar rookie year.
The Houston Texans quarterback, who turned 22 in October, became the youngest quarterback to win an NFL playoff game following the Texans' dominant 45-14 win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday during wild-card weekend. The record was previously held by quarterback Michael Vick, who was 22 years and 192 days old when he led the Falcons to a win over the Green Bay Packers in 2003.
"I’m blessed to be in the position that I am in and blessed enough to be playing at a high level right now. We just got to keep it going," Stroud, who is exactly 22 years and 102 days old, said after the Texans' win. "There’s no me without my teammates… We put it together and when we play complimentary football, we are hard to beat."
In his playoff debut on Saturday, Stroud completed 16 of 21 attempts for 274 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Browns quarterback Joe Flacco, meanwhile, registered back-to-pack pick-sixes in the third quarter. The Texans jumped to such a large lead over the Browns that Stroud sat out a majority of the fourth quarter.
Stroud finished with a near-perfect passer rating of 157.2 in the Texans' first playoff game since 2019.
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Flacco, who turns 39 on Tuesday, completed 34 of 46 passes for 307 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He finished with a 80.6 passer rating.