Stroud faces Tampa Bay for second time after leading Texans to win as rookie with epic performance

In that 2023 game, C.J. Stroud threw a career-high five touchdown passes with a rookie-record 470 yards to lift the Texans to the 39-37 win.

“It was an outstanding game, probably one of the most memorable games of my head coaching career,” Ryans said. “It was just unbelievable to have such back-and-forth play.”

Houston trailed with less than a minute to go before Stroud led a six-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 15-yard TD throw to Tank Dell, who was also a rookie, to complete the comeback.

“What a memorable play, one that always resonates in my mind, just when you see rookies who made the plays they were able to make at that time,” Ryans said. “You knew we had something special in those guys.”

Stroud said that game was fun because “they just kept calling my number and I like that.” It also helped boost his confidence in leading the team as a rookie.

“In 2023 that was a big game for me personally just like fighting back and seeing the will to win that some guys we still have on the team have,” he said.

Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans, who grew up about an hour from the stadium in Galveston, Texas, said that loss still stings.

“I’m seeing all the (No.) 13 jerseys. I see some of my family in the crowd," Evans said. "We’re about to win this game and then it broke our heart … it hurt. That’s one of the worst losses I’ve had in my career. Hopefully we can get some payback.”

Dell remains out with a severe knee injury he suffered last season, but Stroud has plenty of other playmakers as he and the Texans look to bounce back after they failed to score a touchdown in a season-opening 14-9 loss to the Rams last week.

Stroud was asked about staying positive despite the team’s struggles last week.

“What are we gonna do? Sit around and cry about it,” he said. “It’s the NFL. It’s part of the game. We played really bad and we still had a chance to win. That shows to our team how talented we are and how good we can be.”

While Houston dropped a close game last week, Baker Mayfield threw a 25-yard touchdown pass in the final minute to help the Buccaneers rally for a 23-20 victory over the Falcons in Week 1.

Coach Todd Bowles loved the resiliency his team showed against Atlanta.

“Those guys didn’t blink whether it was penalties, a bad play, or anything else,” he said. “This is the first time they’ve played that many plays in a ball game with a limited preseason so I knew there was going to be some fatigue in the second half, but mentally, they didn’t fall off. They believed in each other and that was the biggest take out of the game.”

Stopping the run

The Buccaneers picked up where they left off last season when they finished fourth against the run. Led by 347-pound nose tackle Vita Vea, they held the Falcons to 69 yards on 24 carries, limiting Bijan Robinson to only 24 yards.

Bowles said he switched up the defensive alignment from 3-4 to 4-3 at times, moving edge rusher Haason Reddick around to confuse Atlanta.

“We tried to run a little bit of base that looked like a nickel, a little nickel that looked like base and move him around some so he wouldn’t be stuck, and he could be an active player,” Bowles said.

The Bucs face another challenge against Nick Chubb, who led Houston with 60 yards rushing in the opener.

Calling on Collins

The Texans are looking to get top receiver Nico Collins going after he had just three receptions for 25 yards in the opener.

“Throw it to Nico as many times as we can, of course,” Ryans said. “Everybody knows. That’s a question everybody wants to answer. Of course we want to get the ball to Nico. He’s one of our best players.”

Collins, who has had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, has been great at home in his career and 13 of his 15 touchdowns in the past two seasons have come in Houston.

Baker’s buddy

Veteran receiver Sterling Shepard doesn’t get much attention because Tampa Bay is loaded at the position. But with Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan sidelined, Shepard is the third receiver along with Evans and rookie Emeka Egbuka. Mayfield trusts Shepard because they have history. They played together at Oklahoma in 2015 when Shepard had 86 receptions for 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns. He caught three passes for 39 yards in Week 1 and heaped praise on his quarterback.

“He is just a special player,” Shepard said. “You talk about all those throws, but nobody really knows what that man has to go through throughout the week and all the preparation that he goes through. He is on his P’s and Q’s all day."

AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.

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