As the Texans’ plane descended upon Los Angeles ahead of their Week 1 game against the Rams, C.J. Stroud’s eyes gazed downward. Stroud is forever indebted to the area that raised him. “I love where I’m from,” the Rancho Cucamonga native said in the hollows of SoFi Stadium after his first NFL game in LA. For better or worse, Stroud’s local upbringing shaped him into a jaded 23-year-old, a third-year quarterback who might as well be a veteran after all he’s overcome.