C.J. Stroud and Brevin Jordan’s Texans Joy Shows What the Cowboys Sorely Lack — Dallas Fights Fear, Houston Plays With Belief

Brevin Jordan brings the sheer enthusiasm of a Mary Kay salesperson or a YouTuber breathlessly sharing their morning routine. The Houston Texans’ third year tight end is joy brought to life, an infectious personality who fits perfectly on a team that plays with exuberance rather than fear. In other words, the exact opposite of how the Dallas Cowboys play.

If you’re wondering why the upstart Texans and not the power player Cowboys are the only Lone Star State team still alive in the NFL playoffs, you need to look at that joy and that fear. DeMeco Ryans’ Texans are still playing because the rookie head coach convinces his guys of how great it can be to keep winning for each other. The Cowboys are out early again because Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons and company play like they are terrified of the possibility of losing.

If this first weekend of the NFL playoffs taught anything, it’s that teams playing tight have no chance. The three favorites that lose — those Super Bowl scheming Cowboys, last year’s so-close Super Bowl runner-up Eagles and the Joe Flacco-cursed Cleveland Browns — get swallowed up by the moment. Uncertainty, dread and any fear are season killers. Both the Cowboys and the Eagles seem to bring plenty of that to the playoff table.

The Texans of DeMeco Ryans and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud counter with excitement and joy. A joy that Brevin Jordan fittingly brings to life on a 76-yard catch-and-run touchdown that gives the Texans the lead for good. It is a play that almost no one in the NFL — at least no one outside of Houston’s locker room — expects Brevin Jordan to make.

After all, Jordan is not a CeeDee Lamb, a Amon-Ra St. Brown or a Puka Nacua. He’s a fifth round tight end who caught 17 passes during the entire regular season. The Browns’ top ranked defense didn’t game plan around Jordan. They all but certainly didn’t understand the extent of Jordan’s sneaky speed.

“I felt like an extra boost,” Jordan says of his big sideline dash. “. . . If you go on YouTube, I was a running back my whole life. I really moved to receiver my freshman year of high school. I was a running back my whole life. So I feel like that’s one of those things that I really carries me as a tight end.

“I’m a different type of guy. I’m a smaller sized, fast and stuff.”

How fast? Next Gen Stats clocked Jordan at reaching a speed of more than 20 MPH during that 76-yard touchdown sprint.

A team’s stars don’t just have to perform for it to win in the NFL playoffs. They have to make their teammates believe too. C.J. Stroud certainly does that in becoming the youngest quarterback to ever win a playoff game. Dak Prescott, who is now just 2-5 in playoff games, is still trying to figure out how to do that himself eight seasons into his pro career.

The Cowboys seem to feed off of Prescott’s stress while imploding in Jerry World against the too-young-to-worry Green Bay Packers. The Texans grow stronger with every assured C.J. Stroud throw.

“We’re hungry,” Texans cornerback Steven Nelson says. “That’s all I’ve got to say. We hungry.”

22-year-old C.J. Stroud will have to wait for the future for any official MVP trophy validation. But he’ll make his Texans teammates better today. Brevin Jordan is fast for a tight end. But Stroud and DeMeco Ryans make him feel even faster.

Nelson is confident enough that he wears a Steven Nelson caricature T-shirt home after returning an interception for a touchdown in that 45-14 playoff blowout of the Browns. Hey, if you’re not going to rep yourself, how can you expect anyone else to do it?

Texans Confidence, Cowboys Dread

These Texans pack their own confidence. They brought it to the first playoff game in four years at NRG Stadium last Saturday and they’ll won’t leave it behind when they play at the AFC’s No. 1 seed — and the favorite to win the Super Bowl — Baltimore this Saturday. Few outside of Houston expect the Texans to keep winning (Stroud and Co. are almost 10 point underdogs to the Ravens). All the pressure is on league MVP super favorite Lamar Jackson and Co. to dominate and validate their No.1 seed.

Still, this Texans team does not do fear. Not with his coach and this young quarterback.

“DeMeco has led this team with great confidence and that has rubbed off on everybody,” Stroud says.

There is no fear about the possibility of losing, No Cowboys or Eagles like paralysis at the thought of what could go wrong. This is the difference between playing to win and playing afraid to lose. It’s a fine line, one the Cowboys and Eagles careened over. The weight of the moment dragged Dak Prescott down. The chance to grab one seems to lift C.J. Stroud up.

When the NRG Stadium crowd starts chanting “MVP! MVP!” at Stroud during that playoff return party at NRG, it doesn’t sound absurd as so many of these MVP sports chants do these days. It sounds appropriate. And so right to his teammates.

“I agree with them,” Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. says.

“Rightfully so,” Jordan says of that “MVP” chorus. “I understand the NFL’s big on not handing the MVP to rookies. But whew. . .  You guys just saw what that guy did to the best defense in the NFL. He’s a beast. I don’t understand why he’s not in the conversation.

“Honestly, I think he should be the frontrunner.”

“I felt like an extra boost. If you go on YouTube, I was a running back my whole life. I really moved to receiver my freshman year of high school. I was a running back my whole life.” — Texans tight end Brevin Jordan

22-year-old C.J. Stroud will have to wait for the future for any official MVP trophy validation. But he’ll make his Texans teammates better today. Brevin Jordan is fast for a tight end. But Stroud and DeMeco Ryans make him feel even faster.

This is what playing with joy and belief can do for you in the NFL playoffs. Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy had the Cowboys playing with fear and dread instead. Now there are even reports of anonymous Cowboy players declaring that Prescott “panics” when the preferred first read isn’t there on offense. That is a long way from basking in sweet MP chants.

Maybe which Texas team is still standing in the NFL’s second season really shouldn’t be such a surprise after all.