Stroud vs Love: Which Young Quarterback Performed Better?
The highly anticipated matchup between the Texans and Packers occurred at Lambeau Field today. CJ Stroud, the former number two pick last year, has turned into an absolute superstar and has brought the Texans back to relevance with his performances. Jordan Love sat behind Aaron Rodgers for three years and finally started his first entire season last year. He has slowly solidified himself as the Packer's next franchise quarterback. Each quarterback has significantly impacted their team, and this could be a preview of a Super Bowl matchup one day.
The Texans and Packers had four wins and two losses coming into this game. Cj Stroud has been solid this season, with ten touchdown passes and only four interceptions. Love has fifteen touchdown passes and eight interceptions while missing two games. In this game, each quarterback had a different kind of performance. Stroud could not get it going early in the game, and it did not change in the second half. He missed some easy passes, threw mostly check-downs, and needed to throw the ball deeper. He mainly relied on Joe Mixon to run the ball effectively, which he did, but Stroud could have attacked the Packer's defense more. Stroud finished with eighty-six yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions and a passer rating of 58.8. It was very anticlimactic for a quarterback who has played well against good teams, especially against the blitz, but today, he seemed confused and rattled by the Packer's defense.
Jordan Love had a very different performance than Stroud. Jordan finished with three passing touchdowns, two interceptions, two hundred and twenty passing yards, and a passer rating of 95.5. Love attacked the Texan's injured secondary and took what the defense gave him, which kept the Packers in the game. Love had incredible passing touchdowns with Tucker Kraft, Dontayvion Wicks, and Josh Jacobs. His first interception was not his fault as the wide receiver dropped it, and the Texans caught it, but the second interception was a momentum killer for the Packers. Love needs to take better care of the ball, as he has thrown an interception in his last five games. Otherwise, he has played great since returning from injury, and fans can only imagine how great his stats would be if he had played the other two games.
Jordan Love outplayed CJ Stroud today. CJ Stroud should bounce back next week, but he arguably has better weapons than Love, so it was surprising to see how rarely they used the passing game. Love should continue to improve, and if he keeps performing well, there is no limit to what the Packers can achieve. It would be great to see these two teams have a rematch in the Super Bowl with both fully healthy.
