Cover 32: C.J. Stroud's 2 INTs help put nail in 0-3 Texans' coffin, plus Week 3 game balls, biggest gaffes

Fork, meet the 2025 Houston Texans. Coming into the year, the franchise stood as the betting favorite to win the AFC South once again, claiming the division for what would be the third consecutive year. Fast forward through the first three weeks, however, and not only is the division slipping out of their grasp, but reaching the playoffs in any capacity has turned into a pipedream.

A nightmarish scenario has unfolded with the Texans, who are now 0-3 on the year and are coming off a torturous loss at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Opportunities were in front of them late to either go ahead or knot the game, and they continuously came up short in gut-wrenching fashion. Training 10-3 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, the defense was able to force an interception off of Trevor Lawrence. That handed the offense the ball back at midfield, and in the blink of an eye, C.J. Stroud uncorked a 50-yard touchdown to Nico Collins, knotting the contest at 10 apiece. 

Brand new game, right? Not quite. 

The defense again stood tall against the Jags offense, forcing a turnover on downs, once again giving the offense the ball at midfield. Instead of Collins becoming the hero, however, he became the goat (and not the good kind), fumbling the ball deep in Jacksonville territory on the ensuing possession. That turnover sparked a touchdown drive by Lawrence and Co. and put the Texans back down by a touchdown. 

Then all eyes shifted toward Stroud. This is where a franchise needs to be able to lean on its star quarterback. Down a touchdown with less than two minutes to play in regulation, Stroud took the field at his own 26-yard line. For a minute, he seemed poised to pull off a game-tying drive, pushing Houston all the way to the Jacksonville 28-yard line with just under 30 seconds to play. But then the issues that have been the thorn in the Texans' side for the last few seasons jabbed them once again. Stroud was pressured on his blindside, Josh Hines-Allen was able to get into the backfield and disrupt his throw, which then wobbled down the middle of the field for Antonio Johnson to pull off the game-winning interception. 

That was the nail in the coffin for the Texans in Week 3, and could very well have been the nail in Houston's season as a whole. After dropping to 0-3, the franchise needs to go on an unprecedented run to make the playoffs. Since 1990, only 2.4% of the teams that started the season 0-3 made the playoffs. More recently, no 0-3 team has gone on to make the playoffs since the NFL went to a 14-team playoff format (since 2020). 

While that's concerning in itself, a big picture concern is starting to percolate: C.J. Stroud. 

Yes, Houston's offensive line has been horrendous and a large part of the struggles for the Texans in recent years. That said, the former first-round quarterback hasn't exactly looked great even while acknowledging the deficiencies around him. While his second of two interceptions in Week 2 was tipped, his first pick came with a relatively clean pocket, and he simply didn't put enough on the throw to Christian Kirk. 

Yuck. He also overthrew an open Kirk down the left sideline on that final drive for what could've been a game-tying touchdown, but the ball flew over the receiver's head. 

And this goes beyond a poor game, as Stroud has struggled throughout the early goings of this season, which should have alarm bells faintly going off in the distance. His 76.9 passer rating, 4.5% turnover-worthy-throw rate, and 15.7% off-target throw rate are all on track to be career lows. 

Meanwhile, his pressure percentage and time to pressure have all remained relatively the same, so we can't simply throw up our hands and say it's entirely on his poor O-line. 

Again, there are a lot of factors that have the Texans in the situation they're in, but let's not ignore Stroud being one of them. While he's destined to receive a record-setting contract extension this upcoming offseason once he becomes eligible, he'll make that an uneasy endeavor if he doesn't turn his play on the field around, no matter if Houston makes the playoffs or not. 

Game balls

Isaiah Rodgers

Have a day, Isaiah Rodgers! The Vikings defensive back went nuclear in Week 3. In the first quarter, he returned an interception 87 yards for a touchdown in Minnesota's blowout win over the Bengals. And he didn't stop there. Rodgers scooped up a fumble and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown. That made him just the second player in NFL history with a fumble return touchdown and a pick six of 60-plus yards in a game (Eddie Jackson, 2017). 

Here are other tidbits from Rodgers' day courtesy of our CBS Sports Research team: 

• First player with a fumble return touchdown and a pick six in a game since Samson Ebukam in 2018 vs. Chiefs
• First player in team history with two defensive touchdowns in a game
• First player since at least 1991 with two defensive touchdowns and two forced fumbles in a game

Not a bad day at the office. 

Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown

I feel like Andy Dufresne when he escaped Shawshank and raised his hands in the air in the pouring rain. FINALLY! Yes, Philadelphia's comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams was sensational. However, arguably the biggest development was the Eagles' passing game finally getting off the ground. Specifically, Jalen Hurts' connection with A.J. Brown finally got rolling as the two connected on six of their 10 targets for 109 yards and a touchdown. All of that production came in the second half. Should it have taken falling behind by multiple scores to force Philly's hand into dropping back more? No, but they got there nonetheless. And if that's what greases the wheels of this Eagles offense, the winning should continue to come in bunches for the defending champs.

Tre Tucker

It came in vain as the Raiders were throttled by the Commanders, but the receiver's insane day is noteworthy regardless. Tucker finished with eight receptions for 145 yards and three touchdowns. Naturally, all of those were career highs. 

Oddly enough, Tucker is also the only Raiders player with a receiving touchdown (four) this season. 

Troy Horton

The Seahawks fifth-round rookie was making plays whenever he was on the field in Seattle's thumping of the Saints. Horton made it a two-score lead midway through the first quarter when he took a New Orleans punt 95 yards to the house for a touchdown. Then, the Colorado State product produced as a receiver, hauling in a 14-yard touchdown from Sam Darnold. He finished with three catches for 32 yards and those two scores. 

Horton became just the third player with a receiving touchdown and a punt return touchdown in franchise history.

Justin Herbert

Herbert continues to make an early-season MVP case and now has the Chargers 3-0. After trailing by a touchdown, he led an insane 76-yard game-tying touchdown drive that concluded with a tremendous 20-yard score to Keenan Allen. He then followed that up with a 43-yard drive to set up the game-winning field goal as time expired. On the final two drives, Herbert led the Chargers to 10 total points and connected on all eight of his passes for 93 yards passing, and that touchdown to Allen. 

2025 NFL Week 3 winners and losers: Jerry Jones' Cowboys have big issues; Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams deliver

Cody Benjamin

Gaffes

Field goal units

What a day on special teams. Where to begin? Per CBS Sports Research, this was the first day in NFL history with multiple blocked field goals returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

Let's start with the Green Bay Packers because that resulted in the most stunning loss of the season, let alone Week 3. Cleveland blocked Green Bay's go-ahead field goal with 27 seconds left in regulation and then kicked its own field goal to win the game as time expired. 

That gave the Browns their first win of the season, and Green Bay its first loss of 2025. 

Next up, we have the Los Angeles Rams. Not only did they let the Eagles come back from a 26-7 deficit, but they also coughed up a last-second chance to win the game at the buzzer. Matthew Stafford led the offense to the Philly 26-yard line to set up a game-winning 44-yard field goal. Instead, the attempt was blocked and recovered by Jordan Davis, who returned it 61 yards for a touchdown. 

Not only did that clinch the win for the Eagles, but that last-second return also covered the spread. 

Lastly, the New York Jets also seemed like they were on their way to an upset after blocking a Bucs field goal attempt and returning it for a touchdown with two minutes to play in the game. 

While impressive, Baker Mayfield led a game-winning drive in the final moments following that scoop-and-score, lowering its impact. 

Titans special teams unit

We're going to stick with special teams, but lowlight the Titans on their own. They had a sequence that may break your brain. After Tony Pollard ran up the middle on third down, and failed to get the first down. Here's how the game unfolded before the following fourth-down snap: 

• Colts timeout
• Titans timeout
• Titans penalty (Delay of game)

To cap it off, Joey Slye's 62-yard field goal attempt was subsequently blocked and recovered by the Colts, who set up a field goal of their own before the end of the half. 

The definition of a comedy of errors.

Rhamondre Stevenson's goal-line fumble

Oof. In all, New England had five turnovers in its Week 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Two of them came from Stevenson, which included a demoralizing turnover at the goal line. Just before getting to the end zone, Stevenson fumbled the ball and Pittsburgh recovered to eliminate the scoring opportunity. In what proved to be a one-score defeat, the Patriots left a lot of points on the table, with this one being the most glaring example.

Two-minute drill

Here are some of my quick-hitting notes/takeaways from Week 3:

• The Michael Penix Jr. experiment isn't going well in Atlanta. The Falcons QB has looked bad thus far and may have hit rock bottom this week, completing 50% of his throws for just 172 yards and two interceptions.  
• As much as Daniel Jones' rebirth in Indy has captured headlines, Jonathan Taylor has been lighting it up. After rushing for 165 yards last week, he tallied 102 yards on the ground in Week 3 to go along with three touchdowns. 
• Aaron Rodgers broke his tie with Brett Favre for fourth-most passing touchdowns in NFL history. He now sits alone at fourth overall with 510 passing touchdowns. He also passed Philip Rivers for sixth-most passing yards in NFL history with 63,538. 
• If the Bengals are serious about staying in the playoff conversation while Joe Burrow is sidelined, they may need to look for a better option than Jake Browning, who had two interceptions in the loss to Minnesota. 
• Jordan Mason -- 16 rushes for 116 yards and two touchdowns -- was a tremendously savvy and underrated move this offseason by the Vikings' front office. 
• Cam Ward is the fifth No. 1 overall pick QB since 2019 to begin his career 0-3. 
• Indy's first punt of the season came on its 20th offensive drive. The 19 prior drives without a punt were the longest streak since at least 2000. 
• Quinshon Judkins is a monster. The Browns rookie back posted 94 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries this week. Remember, this is coming after Judkins barely participated this summer. He's only going to get better. 
• Yes, the Rams blew their lead over Philly, but I still think this team is going to be a massive factor in the NFC going forward. 
• The Buccaneers are the first team in NFL history with a game-winning score in the final minute of the fourth quarter in three consecutive games to start a season. 
• Marcus Mariota recorded his first win as a starter since November 2022 (Week 11 vs. Chicago). 
• The numbers from Week 3 don't exactly show it, but Panthers rookie receiver Tetairoa McMillan is flashing. He's going to be a Pro Bowl wideout in short order. 
• Ben Johnson was in his bag as the Bears lit up (31 points) the Cowboys, who have former Bears coach Matt Eberflus as their defensive coordinator. 
• The San Francisco 49ers are 3-0 and atop the NFC West despite a boatload of injuries. If they can get even remotely close to fully healthy, look out. 
• The New York Giants are going to turn to Jaxson Dart sooner rather than later ... maybe as soon as Week 4. 
• Kansas City notched its first win of the year, but this offense still has plenty of issues. I'll reserve final judgement until they get key pieces back, but it's hard seeing them go toe to toe with the elite teams in the conference with this current cast. 
• Still unbeaten: Chargers, 49ers, Bills, Colts, Eagles and Buccaneers
• Still winless: Jets, Dolphins, Giants, Texans, Titans and Saints