ATLANTA — Early in the third quarter against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud set an NFL record.
The Houston rookie QB has now thrown more passes without an interception to start a career than any other player in NFL history, passing Dallas' Dak Prescott, who previously held the record with 176 pass attempts to start his career without a pick.
Stroud threw his 177th pass of the season (and his career) just after halftime.
In last week's game against the Steelers, Stroud became only the sixth QB in NFL history to throw for at least 1,200 yards with no picks in the first four games of the season. The others all have Super Bowl rings: Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
If you were curious about the record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception at any point in a career, Stroud’s got a way to go for that one.
Rodgers holds that distinction with 402 straight passes without a pick.
Stroud was selected No. 2 in the draft after many experts predicted he would go first to Carolina. The Panthers chose Bryce Young. After reports emerged that Stroud scored poorly in the S2 Cognitive Test — which measures perception speed, search efficiency, tracking capacity, visual learning and more — there was even some thought he would slip into the latter part of the first round.
The Texans are grateful they didn’t pass him up.
“As a rookie, I would say that he’s really good because he knows when and why, which I think is rare for a rookie,” Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said of Stroud’s ability to read defenses with his eyes. “A lot of times — like in college, he definitely did it. Without a doubt, it showed up on his college tape. It was really neat to see him do it on his (top) 30 visit and our Zooms and stuff with him.
