Ryan Clark’s Surprising Defense of CJ Stroud’s 4-INT Game Against Patriots Irks Fans – “Everything is Black Against White”

Ryan Clark watched as CJ Stroud's first half turnovers gifted the Patriots a path to the AFC Championship game.

Ryan Clark’s Surprising Defense of CJ Stroud’s 4-INT Game Against Patriots Irks Fans – “Everything is Black Against White”

Ryan Clark and CJ Stroud (Image via Imago/Fanduel Sportsbook/X)

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As part of his job as a football analyst, Ryan Clark watched CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans crumble against the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round.

The game started off on the wrong foot when the third-year QB threw his first interception in the very first quarter, when trying to continue his newfound connection with veteran wide receiver Christian Kirk.

Thankfully for his team, the Patriots did not score, and instead, created their own turnover to give the away team another chance. Stroud managed to finally find Kirk on the next drive to score what would end up being his only touchdown of the game.

That is because on two back-to-back drives, the Ohio State alum threw two interceptions. This time, the Patriots converted the first with cornerback Marcus Jones returning it for a pick-six.

After they could not score off Stroud’s third, they picked him again, as the clock struck the two-minute warning. During halftime, ESPN’s Ryan Clark had this to say about their signal caller:

The second half has legit ramifications on whether or not CJ Stroud is the quarterback for the Houston Texans going forward. Three years in a row, he’s gotten you into this game.

Clark said during ESPN’s halftime show

The Super Bowl champion went on to say that the second half was going to prove how important Stroud is to the Houston Texans and why he is their future.

Fans tear into Ryan Clark for hypocritical opinion on CJ Stroud

As soon as the clip of this analogy went viral on social media, fans clearly felt that Ryan Clark was being a hypocrite on national television.

In the past few days, he has been the loudest proponent of how Josh Allen should finally be blamed if the Buffalo Bills do not win the Super Bowl this year. Fans pointed out that in CJ Stroud’s instance, the analyst did not follow a similar line of thought.

They felt it was clear racial bias that made the former safety hold this opinion, even though the Texans’ loss was squarely due to their QB’s mistakes. Check out examples of those reactions below:

Stroud was apologetic after the game and took accountability for the loss. He might not have had two of his best receivers, but he knew it was his mistake that he threw four interceptions.

Backlash forces Ryan Clark to change his tune on CJ Stroud

Clark has not been having a good time this past year. His controversial opinions have led to calls for ESPN to fire him, and in some instances, he has had to issue apologies.

Drake Maye and CJ Stroud after the game
Drake Maye and Stroud after the game (Image via Hater Report/X)

An all-time awful day for CJ Stroud. Bad decisions, bad balls, & never got it going. Collins’ and Schultz’ absences were huge. You can’t win football games against good teams when you throw four picks. The defense gave all they could. Eventually, the Pats broke the dam.

Ryan Clark wrote on X

This was the 46-year-old’s tweet where he initially seems to have changed his opinion on how Stroud played. However, he still talks about how not having his two primary receivers cost the Texans’ QB.

This could mean that Clark changed some of his opinions after facing backlash, but continued to give the 24-year-old passer that little bit of leeway as fans have accused him of having.

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