Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud got off to a slow start against the Chargers. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

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

Houston had just 86 yards and no points right before the two-minute warning of their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Then it looked like another terrible play when a shotgun snap to 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, then finding Xavier Hutchinson downfield for 34 yards after rolling away from the Chargers rush.

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

Not much else had gone right before that weird play with the bad snap. Stroud’s late-season struggles continued into the postseason opener. But he and the Texans might have needed some wake-up call, and a play that started out looking so bad might have been it.