C.J. Stroud Gets NFL Shoutout After Texans’ Historic Win Over Ravens
Posted October 6, 2025
This season began rocky for C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans, as they dropped three close games to begin the campaign. After their second straight win, though, this time beating the Baltimore Ravens, Stroud has seemingly hit his stride, and he drew a mention from the NFL.
Stroud and the Texans performed so well, in fact, that the No. 2 overall pick of the 2023 draft did not even finish the game, ceding duties to backup Davis Mills.
In the end, the Texans left Baltimore with a 44-10 victory over the Ravens.
C.J. Stroud Sends Clear Message After Texans Make History vs Ravens
Stroud finished with 244 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions on 85.1% completion against the Ravens in Week 5. The 2023 Pro Bowler and Offensive Rookie of the Year added another 30 yards on one carry.
It was Stroud’s second career game with at least four TD passes. It was also the Texans’ first win in Baltimore in franchise history, and Stroud earned recognition from the league for it.
Stroud was clear about the win, his performance, and what made it all possible.
“Our O-lineman did a great job, and that’s where it starts. I think I’m one of the best when I get the time and I can deal it out, and our O-line did amazing this game. And when that happens, Cales [offensive coordinator Nick Caley] is calling a great game, and our receivers running really good routes. We’ve been getting better at practice every week, and I think that’s where you see the growth. But yeah, it really starts with them,”
“Still got to clean some things up, but I’m happy with the win. Very grateful just to really have an opportunity to play in Baltimore again, get a dub. First time in our organization’s history to win up here. So, God is great, man. It’s just amazing to be on this team, in his locker room. And so, all the things that we need to get better, we’ll get better. But it’s good to enjoy it.”
C.J. Stroud Kept 2024 Loss to Ravens in Mind
Stroud had faced the Ravens twice before Sunday. He lost both previous meetings and posted a 427-0-1 line on 60% completion while absorbing 10 sacks. The Ravens beat the Texans 31-2 in Week 17, and Stroud said he had not forgotten about it.
Stroud acknowledged that the Ravens entered Sunday’s contest incredibly short-handed, but noted the Texans were in the same position last season.
Texans rookie Jaylin Smith, who is on injured reserve, shared a GIF of Stroud postgame.
Stroud enjoyed the measure of revenge he and the Texans got.
“I think in the back of your mind, it’s always there. That we really haven’t had success against these guys in a long time. But I think it’s the preparation that gets the win,” Stroud said. “We prepared our tails off this week. I thought our preparation – from practice to meetings to walkthroughs, everything – was really crisp, on point.
“It doesn’t matter who’s out there when you have that type of preparation. Of course, they’re missing guys. That’s obvious. And I think they’ll be just fine once they get their guys back. But I think it’s just big because we had the same problem last year when we played them. We had a lot of guys out on Christmas Day, and they gave us a old-fashioned [whooping]. So, I think it’s cool to kind of come back here and kind of do the same thing. But I think the motivation is just to prepare the right way, and then play each play [like you’re trying to go] 1-0.”
Texans Send Message About C.J. Stroud
Stroud said after the game that spreading the ball around was part of the Texans’ “keys to victory,” not just in this game, but every week.
“Just gonna leave this right here,” the Texans posted on X, with a graphic of Stroud’s stats.
“That was one of our keys to victory: Sustain drives and score in the end zone, and in any way we wanted to score points,” Stroud said. So, I thought we did a good job, really, on first down and giving Cales a good opportunity to call good plays, and second-and-short, and third-and-short, and then we managed those situations really well.
“I thought those are the keys to victory every week, you know, is to be really good on first down, and you get those opportunities when you got the third-and-shorts, and you can execute a little easier when it’s third-and-short.”
Up next, Stroud and the Texans will travel west for an interconference showdown against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6.
Chiefs Share Big Birthday Surprise for Travis Kelce
October 5 is always a significant day for Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, because, of course, it’s his birthday. Kelce was born in 1989, the same year as Taylor Swift, so he turned 26 on Sunday. Even though Kelce has actually said that he’s not someone who likes celebrating his birthday, the Kansas City Chiefs still took the time to do a special tribute for Kelce.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Kelce go way back. Kansas City drafted Kelce in the third round, 63rd overall, out of the University of Cincinnati, during the 2013 NFL draft, and he’s been with the team for his entire NFL career. It would be really impossible to imagine Kelce with any other NFL team at this point, even though there’s always talk about what would happen if he decided to retire from another franchise. But, it just likely won’t happen.
Considering the deep, rich history that Kelce and the Chiefs have together, it makes sense that they would want to properly celebrate his birthday, even if he isn’t a big birthday person. So, the Chiefs made it a point to pay tribute to Kelce on his special day.
Kansas City Chiefs Pay Tribute to Travis Kelce
The Kansas City Chiefs shared not one, not two but three tributes to Kelce on his birthday. They certainly went above and beyond. The first was a simple “happy birthday” post, with the caption, “Wishing the happiest of birthdays to the human exclamation point” with some photos of Kelce on the field. The post’s comments were filled with gifs of Kelce and Swift, so there were obvious quite a few Swift listeners in there.
The second post from the Chiefs was a video montage of Kelce on the field. “Nobody does it like The Archer,” the Chiefs said on that post.
Finally, the Kansas City Chiefs also shared a photo gallery of Kelce throughout the years, from a photo of him as a kid with his brother, Jason, to Kelce today. “36 years of Travis Kelce,” they stated.
“How does one get hotter with age? Asking for literally everyone else,” one commenter stated on the post. All of the posts also contained a lot of references to the song “Wood,” which appears on Swift’s new album, “Life of a Showgirl,” and discusses her romance with Kelce.
Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs Talks Birthdays
Swift is busy promoting “Life of a Showgirl,” and if she didn’t have time to celebrate Kelce’s birthday today, he won’t be too upset. That’s because he talked about his birthday with his brother Jason on the Wednesday, October 1 episode of New Heights about how he doesn’t like his birthdays, ever.
“It’s not a good day, it’s just an annoying day for me,” Travis explained. “I don’t want to get into the Grinch of birthdays but I’m just not in on birthdays.”
Kelce is off to a great start this season. During the first four games of the season, the Chiefs tight end has notched 15 receptions for 182 yards over four games. Let’s up the team’s game Monday, October 6, against the Jacksonville Jags brings similar stats.
