Believe or not, CJ Stroud wasn’t the first to fumble five times and win. This future Hall of Famer did it

There is something called winning ugly in sports, and it’s not always the most desired result but in the playoffs sometimes it’s a necessity. Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud found that out against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

Stroud struggles, defense doubles down

Let’s not pretend that it was Stroud who led his team to victory from Acrisure Stadium. He didn’t. It was the DeMeco Ryan’s top rated defense that made the difference and ended up saving Stroud from an embarrassing elimination.

We knew it was going to be a defensive chess match between two teams that are powered by protecting their own end zone. The Steelers weren’t exactly the same intimidating unit they have been over the last few years, but with TJ Watt and Cam Heyward as their anchors and Jaylen Ramsey and Joey Porter Jr. in the secondary they proved that they were up to the challenge on Monday night from Acrisure.

They forced CJ Stroud into three turnovers and had Aaron Rodgers and the offense in great position to put points on the board but Pittsburgh could only manage to turn those three turnovers into three points. Stroud was strip sacked twice in the first quarter, picked off once and had three muffed snaps to add up to a grand total of five fumbles on the night.

Stroud looking to follow in Eli’s footsteps

On Monday night Stroud became just the second player in the history of the NFL (regular season or playoffs) to win a game after fumbling the ball five times. Eli Manning became the first player to do so back in 2007 when the Giants beat the Buffalo Bills in Week 16. Manning fumbled five times, lost two of them and threw another two INTs but the Giants still won the game 38-21 and would go on to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl to spoil their undefeated season.

Stroud, like Manning, lost two of his five fumbles and threw a pick, but it was the Houston defense that won the game for the Texans. They forced a fumble that was scooped and scored by Sheldon Rankins. A few minutes later Callen Bullock capped the game with a pick six on what could be the future Hall of Fame QB’s final throw of his career.

The Texans now set their sights on the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs hoping to share the same fate as Eli Manning and the New York Giants following that five fumble game. The Texans take on the Patriots from Foxborough on Sunday the 18th of January at 3:00 p.m. ET and you can follow all the action right here on AS.com.

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