Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud will be competing in the fifth playoff game of his three-year career this Monday night on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In his postseason career, Stroud is 2-2. His wins have come against the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Chargers, and his losses have come against the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.

With his two playoff wins, Stroud already holds the record for most postseason wins by an individual quarterback in franchise history.

In the regular season, Stroud has amassed a 32-19 record, winning the AFC South in back-to-back seasons along the way (2023-2024). In 2023, he became both a Pro-Bowler and the winner of the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

He's helped engineer one of the all-time great franchise turnarounds in NFL history in Houston, and he's still only 24 years old. He's certainly accomplished a lot already in his short time in the league, but Stroud himself would mention that there's more work to get done if he really wants to help elevate his team and the city to heights never experienced before. 

That's why Monday's game against quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers can already be considered something of a "legacy game" for the young signal caller. 

For those not fluent in NFL media jargon, a "legacy game"  is defined as a turning point in a player's career that helps to construct/reconstruct the perceived trajectory and/or validation of said player's career according to the accounts of fans and media. 

It's a colloquial term, but its meaning holds weight nonetheless amongst those who analyze the game and each player's contributions to it. 

Stroud's rookie season is already regarded as arguably the "greatest rookie season of all time" by many credible analysts and former players.

Since then, his time in Houston has seen him switching offensive coordinators, losing teammates like running back Joe Mixon an wide receiver Tank Dell and playing behind one of the more unstable offensive line situations in the sport for a time. 

Through it all, Stroud has remained poised, professional and focused on doing all that he can to learn from his mistakes and grow into the leader that the Houston Texans envisioned him to be when drafted out of Ohio State in 2023. 

That's where the "legacy game" angle kicks in for Monday night. After an offseason of tinkering and replenishing the position group rooms through the draft, Stroud is now being asked to steer the ship towards the first Super Bowl appearance for the Texans in their 24-year history.  

This type of expectation may be considered "early" by some, but the reality is that Stroud is already positioned as one of the biggest success stories at the quarterback position in the 2020s.

He's already defeated the likes of quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. He's won playoff games against #1 defenses and took Super Bowl-contending teams to the wire in close losses. There's only one direction that he has yet to go since his 2023 debut, and that's to up the ladder to a Lombardi Trophy.

Stroud is capable of such an achievement, and he has his next opportunity to truly challenge for the league's top prize in only a matter of days. 

A run to Santa Clara could catapult Stroud into a whole different stratosphere of all-time conversation. This is especially considering him doing it for a team in Houston that had to wait six seasons since their inception for their first non-losing season, and 10 seasons for their first postseason berth.

Do you think Texans vs. Steelers should be considered a "legacy game" for Stroud and co.? Let us know in the comments section below and by mentioning us at @Texans_RTB on X!