Was the Scheme Change Stroud's Biggest Issue Last Year?

Summary

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Payne & Pendergast – “Was the Scheme Change Stroud's Biggest Issue Last Year?”

Date: July 6, 2026
Hosts: Luke Morrow (in for Sean Pendergast), Seth Payne
Guest: Andre Ware (audio segment)

Overview

This episode centers on the Houston Texans’ quarterback C.J. Stroud and the offensive challenges he faced last season. Highlighting insights from former NFL QB and analyst Andre Ware, the hosts debate whether offensive scheme changes were Stroud's biggest hurdle, and how much responsibility falls on the coaches, running game, and Stroud himself. The broader health of the Texans offense, particularly its challenges in the run game and adjusting to NFL defenses, leads to a discussion about expectations for the coming season and the need for improvement—or potential consequences.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Charity Radio Thon Success

• The show opens with acknowledgment of the “Reggie and Ron Radio Thon,” which raised $24,000 for the Houston Food Bank. The hosts highlight positive listener engagement and the competitive spirit during auction dinners (Seth and Sean's dinner drew the highest bid at $4,700).
  • [00:45] Seth Payne: "I enjoy these dinners that I do for charity because I get to text my mom and say, hey, I'm doing something. Sorry, Mom, I can't talk tonight. I'm doing a charity event for the Houston Food Bank..."

2. Andre Ware’s Perspective on Scheme Change & Stroud

• Ware, reflecting on his own NFL experience, empathizes with Stroud’s difficulties amid consistent coordinator and scheme changes.
• Ware emphasizes that young QBs struggle when learning new terminology and systems, repeatedly likening it to starting a new job:
  • [04:01] Andre Ware: "I think it's the offensive scheme change...it's like starting all over again. And so it's like starting a job for most listeners where you don't have a lot of experience in that job and you're kind of learning on the job, so to speak. And I think that's exactly what he went through last year at times."
• Ware notes that the Texans originally tried to tailor the offense to what Stroud ran at Ohio State, which led to success in his rookie year. Subsequent changes may have disrupted his comfort and performance.
• He adds that until Stroud gets comfortable and the offense incorporates more of what he likes, struggles might persist—even during their nine-game winning streak, Stroud didn't always look himself.

3. Young Coordinator + Young QB: Drawbacks and Expectations

• Seth Payne draws parallels with the Patriots’ handling of Drake May under seasoned OC Josh McDaniels, who simplified things for his rookie:
  • [05:27] Seth Payne: "...the coordinator is Josh McDaniels and Josh McDaniels did a lot of what Andre Ware was just talking about. Okay, like what can we do that Drake May is comfortable doing now?...Josh McDaniels has more experience doing that with more young quarterbacks..."
• Payne suggests that first-year offensive coordinators (like Kaylee with the Texans) get a grace period but are no longer new; both coach and QB must now deliver.

4. Unpacking the Texans’ Offensive Issues Beyond Scheme

• Luke Morrow asks about performance drop-off from Year 1 to Year 2, even before the major scheme change:
  • [07:32] Luke Morrow: "But I still wonder if, like, what about the drop off from year one to year two where that was the same system? I feel like this only answers half of the concern because I feel like Stroud's been on a decline since year one..."
• Payne elaborates that in Year 2, even though the system remained, the offense stagnated because:
  • Defenses began taking away deep shots.
  • The team lacked consistent answers and failed to run the ball effectively, both against light and heavy boxes.
  • Occasional big rushing games (e.g., Joe Mixon 100+ yards) were not sustained, methodical rushing attacks.
• The offense’s inability to "take what the defense gives them" (i.e., establish the run when needed) held the unit back.
• Payne underscores that entering Stroud’s fourth year, excuses are running out. It’s a results-based league, and another year of disappointment could mean changes:
  • [09:57] Seth Payne: "...you're in year four now and like nobody's got an appetite for, for after this year saying like, oh yeah, but it was only a second year in the offense. Yeah. Or hey, the offensive line wasn't adequate. Like they've gotta, they've gotta figure it out this year or heads will roll."

5. If the Run Game Improves, What Next for Stroud?

• Morrow poses the “now what?” scenario: how will Stroud and the offense be judged if the running attack improves but the offense still sputters?
  • [11:22] Luke Morrow: "What if they are able to run it early in the season but then the offense is still struggling or not quite clicking, like, then what do we say?"
• Payne believes that if the run game stabilizes and Stroud still regresses, then national and local skepticism will grow. This season is effectively a litmus test for Stroud and the offensive staff:
  • [12:30] Seth Payne: "...if they have a good rushing attack and CJ doesn't look like a better quarterback, then that's where the real, like the real hardcore doubt and skepticism is going to come in from outside of Houston. There's plenty of healthy skepticism inside of Houston right now...if you don't look more like you did your rookie year, then we got to have some super serious conversations."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andre Ware on adapting to new schemes:
  “It's like starting a job for most listeners where you don't have a lot of experience in that job and you're kind of learning on the job, so to speak.” — Andre Ware [04:01]

• Payne on coordinating QB and OC growth:
  “You give him a one-year grace period and okay, now you're in my eyes, you're a veteran quarterback and you're a veteran offensive coordinator. Figure it out. And please, I don't want to hear any about any more of these growing pains.” — Seth Payne [06:35]

• Ware’s wild NFL anecdote:
  “The offensive line coach would call the run plays... and the wide receiver coach would call the pass plays... There was no wonder we struggled.” — Retold by Luke Morrow from Andre Ware [06:52]

• On urgency for offensive success:
  “Nobody's got an appetite for, for after this year saying like, oh yeah, but it was only a second year in the offense…they've gotta figure it out this year or heads will roll.” — Seth Payne [09:57]

• On skepticism surrounding Stroud:
  “If they have a good rushing attack and CJ doesn’t look like a better quarterback, then that's where the real...skepticism is going to come in from outside of Houston.” — Seth Payne [12:30]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:45 – Seth on charity dinner and giving back
• 04:01 – Andre Ware’s take: scheme changes and their impact on Stroud
• 05:27 – Payne compares Patriots’ handling of Drake May to Texans’ approach
• 07:32 – Morrow and Payne discuss drop-off in Year 2, despite continuity
• 09:57 – Payne: This is a make-or-break year for Stroud and the offense
• 11:22–12:30 – What if the run game improves, but Stroud doesn’t? Litmus test for 2026

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Tone & Closing Thoughts

The discussion remains sharp but fair, mixing relatable analogies (new job, changing teachers) with the high-stakes reality of NFL careers. Both hosts exude urgency for results but maintain a respectful, sometimes self-deprecating humor, especially regarding Houston’s hopes and the recurring challenges faced by the Texans offense.

Takeaway:
The margin for excuses in Houston is gone. For Stroud and the Texans’ offensive staff, 2026 is the pivotal year: either the scheme, run game, and quarterback development finally mesh—or major changes could be looming.

Transcript

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[Luke Morrow]

S David I'm Dana Carvey.

[Dana Carvey / David Spade]

I'm David Spade.

[Luke Morrow]

Fly on the wall's back for another season now on audio and video every Monday and Thursday. So many incredible guests will be joining us. Follow and listen to Fly on the Wall everywhere you get your podcasts too good to be true. What did Andre Ware have to say about CJ Stroud and the Texans offense? We'll find out here in just a moment on Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean Seth Payne's alongside, of course. Appreciate you starting The Week with us, 713-572-4610 on the text line to join the conversation anytime or you can get to us in the YouTube and Twitch chats as well. This audio that we're gonna play from Andre in a moment comes from the Radio Thon on Friday, the Reggie and Ron Radio Thon benefiting the Houston Food Bank. And so props to those guys for the great work they did on the air for 12 hours to raise a bunch of money, I believe. I didn't see a final number. I believe close to the third to $30,000. So.

[Sean Seth Payne]

Okay, yeah, I couldn't, I didn't, I wasn't listening at the end of the show, so I didn't know how much. And they were waiting for maybe some of the auction items, everything to finalize.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, I didn't hear the end either, but I believe it. It was nearly 30,000.

[Sean Seth Payne]

So they started out last year in the inaugural one. Their goal was $5,000, I think. So the listeners have done an incredible job with that.

[Luke Morrow]

Absolutely. Yeah, both years. And I was just trying to look online. Well, first, by the way. So I came in in the afternoon and I hung out with them for a little bit and they said, man, you know, I asked like, how you guys holding up? Because at that point it was like after two o', clock. They'd been on the air for eight hours and they said, well, you know, it was a pretty easy start. We had Seth for two hours, then we had John Harris for An hour. Like, it didn't feel like we had to do anything until the fourth hour of the day. So they. They a head start. And they meant that, of course, in the best possible way of hopping on with you fellas in the morning. So. But I was just trying to look online. I'm curious what the final bids were for the dinners. I know.

[Sean Seth Payne]

Oh, I know. Sean and I went for, like, $4,700. I think we were the high watermark on that.

[Luke Morrow]

You guys were the leaders.

[Sean Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Okay. That's what I wanted to see, because I know Sean was talking about that, wanting to be number one. So I was curious.

[Sean Seth Payne]

I enjoy these dinners that I do for charity because I get to text my mom and say, hey, I'm doing something. Sorry, Mom, I can't talk tonight. I'm doing a charity event for the Houston Food Bank. I'm really going. I'm going to go out and have dinner bought for me and drinks bought for me and by people that donated a bunch of money to the well. Carras donates the. For us. It's going to be Carras donating the meal and the drinks and everything. But I. But I do it for, you know, I do it because I'm a good person. That's how. That's how I. That's how I give.

[Luke Morrow]

Absolutely.

[Sean Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

I get it. It's like, Kirby.

[Sean Seth Payne]

No, no, but seriously, I know. Thank you, everybody who donated. That was huge.

[Luke Morrow]

For sure. Yeah. On the text sign, somebody said it was 24,000. So, I mean, I should know, being in the building, I should have the exact number. But I'll be honest with you. I apologize. I don't know the exact number. Either way, it was a ton of money, and it goes to a great cause with the. With the Houston Food Bank. So I. Yeah, I hung out with them a little bit in the afternoon, and they're like, oh, Andre Ware's coming on. And I was like, okay, well, then I better get out of here. I don't need. I don't need to linger when you have a star like Andre hanging out. But they asked Andre about CJ Shroud and the offense and what he thought about everything we've seen from the Texans offense. So here's what Andre Ware had to say during the radio thon on Friday about the Texans quarterback and offense.

[Andre Ware]

I think it's the offensive scheme change. And with that, bear with me. I went through three. I think it was three offensive coordinators in four years when I was at. When I was in Detroit. You talk about a young player that that's tough. And so I think he's experiencing some of that. Yeah, he's a pro. Yeah, he said, but he hadn't been in it long enough to have played in a couple of offenses where you say okay, this matches with this. I think under Slowik the first two years they made a, an effort to get him some of the stuff that he was comfortable with at Ohio State. And so we saw arguably his best season his first year there. And then when you start the changes and the switching of terminology, it's like starting all over again. And so it's like starting a job for most listeners where you don't have a lot of experience in that job and you're kind of learning on the, on the job, so to speak. And I think that's exactly what he, what he went through last year at times. There were times even early in the season when the team started rolling on that nine game winning streak that he just didn't look himself. And I think it's the offensive scheme and until he gets comfortable in it and until they give him some stuff that he wants, then you might, the struggle may continue a little while.

[Sean Seth Payne]

And that's I think where again going back to having a first time offense coordinator working with a young quarterback, there can be drawbacks and there can be benefits. I think you don't always see the benefits all that quickly necessarily because the offensive coordinator is figuring things out alongside the young quarterback. You know, if it does work out then over time they'll have kind of built up this common knowledge base between the two of them. But if you, if you think about what the Patriots were able to do last year with Drake May young quarterback, new offensive coordinator. But the coordinator is Josh McDaniels and Josh McDaniels did a lot of what Andre Ware was just talking about. Okay, like what can we do that Drake May is comfortable doing now? We're not going to try to have him, you know, learn the whole syllabus right off the bat that you know, presumably Josh McDaniels has more experience doing that with more young quarterbacks and I'm not just talking about Tom Brady and that it stands to reason that it would be a smoother process because a guy has some experience with Kaylee. The like you got to gain that experience somewhere. But like all the, I think as it is with CJ A lot of the excuses for Kaylee being a first time coordinator last year, you can't you give him a one year grace period and okay, now you're in my eyes, you're a veteran quarterback and you're a veteran offensive coordinator. Figure it out. And please, I don't want to hear any about any more of these growing pains.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, which. Which I think is fair. And by the way, Andre told the a good story about when he was in Detroit and they had the offensive line coach would call the run plays and he was like, down on the field, I think it was. And the wide receiver coach would call the pass plays, and he was up in the press box. So whenever the coach wanted a run play, he'd go to this coach. Pass play, this coach. And Andre was like, I, I. There was no wonder we struggled. Like, I don't. I've never heard of a team doing that else. And Andre was obviously a young quarterback at the time, and he said it was a ridiculous setup. So, uh, obviously he comes from a place of experience and expertise and knows what it's like to change these different systems and whatnot. But I. I think that's fair for this past year.

[Sean Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

But I still wonder if, like, what about the drop off from year one to year two where that was the same system? I feel like this only answers half of the concern because I feel like Stroud's been on a decline since year one, and Kaylee hasn't been here for, you know, this was just the first year with Nikkale. So I get why that would be challenging this past season of changing offense and learning on the fly and all that sort of stuff. But wasn't. Wasn't some of these concerns already starting even before Kaylee came in?

[Sean Seth Payne]

No. Yeah, You're. It's. You're. It's. It's 100%. One of the things that kind of gets lost in the wash is that I. Right now I'm seeing a lot of people that are making arguments for Stroud and like, good arguments or solid arguments for Stroud, but they do kind of just gloss over as they. As they'll talk about. I'm not talking about Andre. I'm talking about some of the other people. Like, they don't kind of gloss over this last year by saying, well, there's a lot new and there's a lot of change and everything, but without bringing up that, okay, yeah, in year two of being in the same offense, he didn't look as good. I think a lot of that going back to having a young offensive coordinator going into the second year. Both CJ And Bobby Slowik talked at the beginning of that year about how they're probably going to Start seeing a lot of coverages that are trying to take away the deep shots. And we got to have answers for that. The problem was they didn't have any answers for it. And one of the things that you're supposed to be able to do when teams are trying to take away the deep ball is that you should be able to run the ball pretty consistently. And they weren't able to do that. They couldn't do it versus light boxes. They certainly couldn't do it versus heavy boxes. Like they just, they, they were incapable of taking what the defense gives them. And that's where on Slowik, whether it was Slowik's fault or the offensive line's fault or CJ's fault or whatever, they just, they weren't going to be able to operate. Going into year two. I kept telling Sean I would have to keep stopping. Whenever anybody would say like, hey, everybody thinks that the offense is going to be good this year, I'll say, no, I don't. I need to see that they can run the ball. If they can't run the ball because they couldn't run the ball effectively in the first year, if they can't run the ball effectively in year two, it's not going to be a good offense. And, and that's a huge part of what the issue was in year two. Even with Joe Mixon sometimes having hundred plus yard games, those hundred yard games were still not good rushing attacks. Like they weren't, they weren't, you know, continually just moving the sticks methodically. It was a whole lot of feast or famine. So I mean that's the. But you're also, you're in year four now and like nobody's got an appetite for, for after this year saying like, oh yeah, but it was only a second year in the offense. Yeah. Or hey, the offensive line wasn't adequate. Like they've gotta, they've gotta figure it out this year or heads will roll. Luke Morrow.

[Luke Morrow]

It's true. It's true. I'm with you 100%.

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[Sean Seth Payne]

Lemonade. Oh nuts.

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[Sean Seth Payne]

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[Sean Seth Payne]

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[Luke Morrow]

I liked when I heard you in on Friday with the radio thon I heard the point you making of and I would now use it to ask you a question of like what if they are able to run it early in the season but then the offense is still struggling or not quite clicking like, then what do we say? Or where do we go from there?

[Sean Seth Payne]

Yeah. No. And that's exactly how like a lot of the people that I respect that watch a lot of film and that still are bullish on CJ Stroud. If you talk about like Nate Tice or Robert May, some of these guys that they cover the whole league and they watch a lot of film and they know what they're talking about, they'll routinely bring up the lack of a run game for CJ and that's what the Texans did this year. They addressed that very heavily. They want to have a better rushing attack. Everybody's kind of talked their way into an either or scenario here where it's that, hey, if they have a good rushing game, then we're predicting that C.J. is going to look like the best version of himself. If they have a good rushing attack and CJ doesn't look like a better quarterback, then that's where the real, like the real hardcore doubt and skepticism is going to come in from outside of Houston. There's plenty of healthy skepticism inside of Houston right now. I think there's a lot of people on the outside that are kind of just in wait and see mode with CJ Stroud. But I think it's all built up to this being the year that man, if they actually did get everything in place and you don't look more like you did your rookie year, then we got to have some super serious conversations.

[Luke Morrow]

I referenced earlier some Aaron shots audio. We'll save that for tomorrow because I think there's some good stuff there and even from Kevin Clark. So call that a tease. We'll get back to that tomorrow. And also just to do a little housekeeping as people pointed out. Yeah, I saw the photo. I didn't even look at the number they in terms of I was wondering earlier how much money was raised for the Radio Thon. They have posted the photo, the big check online and I saw that photo but I never zoomed in. So they did raise 24,000 for the radio Thon. So great job done by certainly Reggie, Ron and everyone else that chipped in to help out the Houston Food Bank. Coming up, we'll catch up with the fellas from in the Loop. And also, we have to get to this story before we run out of time today, but Brandon Iuk continues to cause mayhem over the weekend. We'll talk about that next year. Payne and Pendergast the Second World War

[Dana Carvey / David Spade]

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[Andre Ware]

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[Luke Morrow]

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[Dana Carvey / David Spade]

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