The Houston Texans offense was stuck in the first half of the postseason. They hadn’t thought about setting up a shotgun snap to get the offense going, but it worked out pretty well.

Houston had just 86 yards and no points just before the two-minute warning before its wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Then it looked like another terrible play when a shotgun shot at Stroud was mishandled and went behind him.

No problem, Stroud made his best play of the day, staying calm to pick up the bouncing ball and then finding Xavier Hutchinson 34 yards down the field after escaping the Chargers rush.

It could have been a sack inside the 10-yard line or worse for the Texans, but instead Stroud got the Texans to about midfield. A few big catches from Nico Collins followed, including a touchdown catch, and the Texans had a 99-yard touchdown drive and a 7-6 lead.

Not much had happened until that strange play with the bad snap. Stroud’s late-season struggles continued into the postseason opener. But he and the Texans might have needed a wake-up call, and a play that looked so bad to begin with might have been the catalyst.