What happened on Texans tackle Tytus Howard’s strange forced fumble on C.J. Stroud? ‘He wasn’t trying to take the ball’

HOUSTON – It was a bizarre moment during the Texans’ epic collapse Sunday night against the Detroit Lions.

In the fourth quarter of what ultimately became a 26-23 defeat as the Texans failed to score a point in the second half and extended their streak of no touchdowns after halftime to four games, right tackle Tytus Howard was involved in a strange play that looked extremely awkward.

Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was under heavy duress and about to be sacked by Lions defender Josh Paschal when he spun out of the tackle attempt and ran into Howard’s midsection. During that sequence, Howard appeared to intentionally strip the football away from Stroud to try to run with the football. Most interpreted the action as if Howard had somehow gone rogue and intended to take off running to improvise with Stroud about to go down.

Howard wound up recovering the fumble on the 3rd-and-10 play and the Texans punted it to the Lions, who turned the opportunity into a game-tying 58-yard field goal from Tomball native Jake Bates.

After the game, Howard declined a formal interview request but did indicate to KPRC 2 it was simply an accident and it was unintentional and he was simply trying to hold Stroud up to protect him.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans emphasized Monday that he accepts that explanation as fact and explained a cadence issue led to Howard and left tackle Laremy Tunsil being late off the snap in protection.

“Well to start the play, we had an issue with the cadence,” Ryans said. “We all weren’t on the same page with the cadence. A guy got off the ball quick, we were late off the ball and they were able to get a sack on C.J. and I’m not sure what happened.

“From my perspective, it looked like Tytus was just trying to make sure he held C.J. It’s just, it’s just something that he wasn’t trying to take the ball, I would say, if you were speculating. He wasn’t trying to take the football, he was just trying to protect C.J.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

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