The Houston Texans’ playoff misery has gone from bad to worse after the team became embroiled in travel chaos following their defeat to the New England Patriots.
The Texans were sent crashing out of the playoffs on Sunday evening after falling to a 28-16 defeat to a Patriots side led by quarterback Drake Maye.
Still reeling from the crushing defeat, C.J Stroud and his teammates have reportedly been unable to touch back down in Houston – over 12 hours after the game ended.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Texans team plane suffered major ‘weather delays and other travel complications’ due to the snowy conditions.
The report claims that, at 8am ET, the team plane was still in the air. The game in Foxborough, Massachusetts ended at around 6:54 PM EST the day prior.
The travel complications that the team faced only compounded their misery as the dust settled around their disappointing defeat to New England.
The Houston Texans reportedly faced a travel nightmare after their defeat on Sunday
The team’s flight was significantly delayed due to frosty conditions in Foxborough
With the context of the game in mind, many fans couldn’t help but poke fun at the team’s misfortunes as they reacted to the travel news on X.
One fan wrote: ‘So you are saying their trip is incomplete or it was intercepted by weather? CJ Stroud the pilot?’
‘Gotta be an all time bad day for these guys,’ another said.
‘They decided to just go straight to Cancun, one fan joked.
The brutal quips came after NFL fans were left shocked by CJ Stroud’s performance during the Texans‘ playoff loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Towards the end of the forth quarter, the former No. 2 overall NFL draft pick had completed just 16 of his 37 passes and threw four interceptions. He threw for 178 yards and just one touchdown.
It was the latest in a poor run of playoff games for Stroud since he entered the NFL in 2023.
Under head coach DeMeco Ryans and with Stroud under center, the Texans have lost in the divisional round in each of the last three years. The franchise has never progressed past that round in its history.
The New England Patriots put in a dominant performance to send the Texans out the playoffs
Texans quarterback CJ Stroud came under particular scrutiny for his performance on the day
The game’s other quarterback, Maye, threw three touchdown passes and Marcus Jones returned one of Stroud´s four interceptions for a score as the Patriots advanced to the AFC championship game for the first time in seven years.
The Patriots will make their 16th conference championship game appearance and first since their run to their sixth Super Bowl title under Bill Belichick in the 2018 season.
Maye finished 16 of 27 for 179 yards, but had an interception and fumbled four times, losing two in cold conditions in which snow and rain fell throughout the game. One of Maye´s fumbles set up Houston´s first touchdown.
The eight combined turnovers – Woody Marks also lost a fumble for Houston – were the most in a playoff game since 2015 when the Cardinals and Panthers combined for eight in the NFC championship game.
