All about the Texans! The moment of truth is here. Interview w Todd Blackledge, Will Mathews and Adam Clanton

In this episode Dan talks about Texans and Astros from Alex Bregman to Patrick Mahomes. Joe Mixon, Dana Brown Hollywood Brown, Christian Walker, Xaview Worthy, Demeco Ryans. Now, that Alex Bregman is no longer an Astro where will he go? What games should the Texans have won and will they beat the Chiefs? Will Mahomes injury stop him from playing? Listen to see what Dan has to say about about this huge match up.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcomebore, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
All these great Houston fans here. We love you all.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
So finish up on that to do list.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Lout up the cooler because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Now bear me the eight.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is Space City Saturday's inae. Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.

Speaker 5 (00:44):
In away we go here from Cedar Creek Cafe right
here West twentieth Street in the Heights. What an awesome
day to be with you here from Cedar Creek Cafe
on the Space City Saturday. As we will be with
you from now until noon. A lot happening not only

(01:05):
here at Cedar Creek but also too. I mean, you
pray for days like this, you yearn for days like this,
and especially when you're waiting in anticipation, like for a
football fan, today is Christmas Day, like this is your
Christmas today, like you've been waiting. Remember that feeling when
you were a kid that it just seemed like that

(01:25):
less than a month between Thanksgiving and Christmas just took
forever and ever and ever to get here, and then
finally you were able to open up your presence under
the tree, and then Christmas was over and you're kind
of like, oh, well, that's what today is for a
football fan, because it is wall to wall, as you
heard me saying, dear, the promos will be here of
course during the next hour that's leading up to the

(01:49):
second College Football Playoff first round game SMU and Penn
State from up there in Happy Valley, that is going
to be coming your way. And then of course as
soon as we wrap up off the show, we will
have the Texans and Chiefs going on here. And not
only that, I mean later on this afternoon. As if
you can't get here in time for the game, well

(02:11):
you know that you can listen to it right here
on your home with Longhorns for football and basketball in
the City of Houston. Sports Talk seven to ninety is,
of course, the Horns and Clemson Tigers taking on each
other in the College Football Playoff, and concurrently with that,
you're also going to have another really good NFL game
today You'll have the Steelers and Ravens taking on each

(02:33):
other there in Baltimore, and of course tonight you get
Ohio State and Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
So I mean, this is what you live for. This
is the day.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
This is absolutely everything you could hope for as a
sports fan. So it is going to be awesome. And
I can't tell you very many better places to watch
the game than right here at Cedar Creek Cafe.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
It is TVs everywhere.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
Of course, it's a little chilly outside right now, not
gonna lie especially to you know. You get the wind
blowing a little bit and you're kind of like, oh, burr.
But then you know you're out in the sun. Once
the wind dies down, you're kind of like, man, it's
nice out. You know, I got my jacket on them. Okay,
I'm all good. So that's what we have out here.
And they've got just tons of great stuff happening out

(03:19):
here at Cedar Creek Cafe. Again, it's off West twentieth Street,
ten thirty four West twentieth Street, right here in the
Shady Acres area of town.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
But from now until.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
Two they got brunch and look at some of these
brunch items right here. I'm telling you, I mean, I
can't think of again a better place to be than
right here at Cedar Creek Cafe to get here in
time for the SMU game. You know, maybe get a
pop or two in before the Texans game kicks off
at noon and you've got your spot, you're ready to go.
Tell your friends to roll through and enjoy the afternoon.

(03:54):
And that is I mean, this is every bit of
an awesome setday afternoon and a great place to enjoy
it again right here at Cedar Creek Cafe. They've got
also other stuff happening today as well. I mean, look,
you know, for most of us, we want to watch
football today. I mean, you know, and that's the beauty
of it too, as well as I understand we're kind

(04:15):
of getting to a little bit of crunch time with
the Christmas shopping. For those of you who still do it,
I would say the old school way, because I think
most of us now you pretty much just go to
your phone or you go to your computer, and you know,
you go to certain businesses that will just drop it
off right at your front door, and then you hope
that whoever you got the present for doesn't grab the

(04:37):
box before and see where it's from and then say, oh, oh,
that's what they got me for.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Christmas. So there is that.

Speaker 5 (04:43):
So I know some of you still driving around heading
to Willowbrook gallerya Woodlands mall somewhere like that. So if
you're doing that, I appreciate you. Let me ride Shotgun
with you this morning. But that's the beauty of today
is that you're able to watch football today.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
No Texans.

Speaker 5 (04:59):
See if he is done tomorrow, I mean I would
probably say with no Texans, you're casual at best in
terms of football watching for tomorrow. So knock the Christmas
shopping out tomorrow, knock it out on Monday. See there
you go. So come on out and join us today,
watch some good football and you can do all the
Christmas shopping and do all the adulting stuff tomorrow. Like

(05:21):
I'm giving permission right now, if I can give permission
that I'm giving you permission to say, hey, today, today
is a.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Senior skip day for you.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
You're able to go watch some football, have some fun,
enjoy some good time with some friends. And then tomorrow
maybe you know you're a little groggy getting out of
bed because of you know, everything you did today, and
then tomorrow that's when you can start doing the Christmas
shopping and waiting in the long lines at the coffee
shops right there in the mall and doing all those

(05:50):
different types of things and everything that we absolutely love
about the holiday season, right But anyway, that's what we
have here. So, like I said, the Texans coming your
way at noon today out in Kansas City. As the
Texans relatively a healthy bunch heading in to this one.
As so, we had the final injury report that came

(06:11):
out on Thursday, and the Texans, you know, as we expected,
Joe Mixon probably going to be a go for this one.
He told us as much earlier in the week too
as well, and was on the practice field going through work.
And the only players that are either out or could
be questionable for this one as Christian Harris a little

(06:33):
bit of an ankle issue. He's questionable, but it does
sound like he's going to be able to go. As
Harris all week was either a full participant or limited participant.
As a matter of fact, I mean, even looking at
Wednesday's report, he wouldn't even on either of those lists.
So I think that probably it's just a little bit

(06:53):
of load management for him in terms of trying to
build up for this game. Although he didn't participate on
Thursday was the only day that he didn't do very
much work. But the Texans know that they will be
without four players today. Fully fun of Cossi, it did
sound like that was going to be the case. You
weren't really counting on him much to be a part

(07:16):
of today's game.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
John Metchi last week a couple.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
Of you know, targets to him and a couple of
football's careening off his hands. But he is going to
be out today with a shoulder. Jew Scruggs knew about
him in and of course Kate Stover. Yeah, just to
kind of, you know, go off of what Wex said. Yep,
there's that win. Do you hear it as what WEX
said I think on Wednesday show. Yeah, Usually somebody that's

(07:44):
a week removed from an app indctomy, they're probably not
going to be available. So you're not gonna have Kate
Stover again for today's game. But the Texans, of course,
anticipating as we probably expected it, he would that Patrick
Holmes will be a go for this one as Also,
the Chiefs will get to Hollywood brown Back as well,

(08:07):
so another weapon for Patrick Mahomes to be able to
work with. In addition to Isaiah Pacheco as well as
Travis Kelcey. Xavier Worthy has had a good rookie season
for them, although Juju Smith Schuster has been a good addition.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
For the Chiefs as well.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
So the Texans secondary will be challenged in this one.
And it's really going to come down to, you know,
which defensive line is able to cause more havoc in
this game, because we know about the Chiefs with you know,
with George Carloftis as well as Chris Jones, what they
can do to you upfront, that defense led by Steve Spagnolo,

(08:47):
they're fantastic. That's not going to be an easy day
for CJ. Stroud. I would expect him to be on
the move quite a bit. But also as well, I mean,
you were able to retool the offensive line last week
by kicking Titus Howard over the left guard and putting
Blake Fisher at the right tackle spot. And for the
most part, I mean listening to Bobby Slowik, listening to

(09:08):
Damiko Ryans, it seemed like the returns were pretty good. Now,
the run game wasn't great against a equally very good
defensive front in the Miami Dolphins last week, So that's
something that you would like to see improve because I
mean we've seen it numerous times this season. When you
are able to get Joe Mixon running and he is
able to be a huge factor for you on the ground,

(09:29):
then usually that means really good things for this team.
Because what was the record. I think they're five and
two when he goes above one hundred yards in a
game this season. So you know, we'll see if the
Texans are able to do that in this game. But
I mean it's no matter what, going to be a
close one. And it's so funny too as well, speaking

(09:50):
of the you know, close angle of this game is
if you really look at the way both of these
teams have played this season, it's incredibly similar. The Chiefs
have pretty much been by the hair.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
On their chin in most of these games this season.

Speaker 5 (10:06):
I mean, you know, the day after Thanksgiving, the Black
Friday game against the Raiders, incredibly lucky to win that game,
I believe a week or two before that when they
took on the Panthers out in Carolina, same deal. I mean,
this is a Chiefs team that kind of has won
game similarly to the way the Texans have. Now they
get the benefit of the doubt because well, they're the
back to back Super Bowl champions. So of course when

(10:27):
you're the back to back Super Bowl champion, you win
games like that, then of course people are going to say, oh,
they just find a way to win. Well, I mean,
you gotta give equal credit to the Texans. I understand
that some of those games have not gone their way.
I mean, Detroit is a game they should have won.
Tennessee you play slightly better, you beat a bad Tennessee
Titans team. So it's not to say that the Texans

(10:50):
are you know, not you know, with fault here in
terms of them being nine to five on the year.
But I mean it's also too a massive game for
the Texans in terms of playoffs. I mean, like I said,
you know, equal interest for you this afternoon, with all
of the great football that's happening, we're gonna be watching
that Ravens Steelers.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Game pretty close.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
Because let's just say, ideally the Texans are able to
go in the Kansas City today and get a huge win.
They do that, and you get a Ravens team that
maybe is able to pull off a win today, and
then let's just say you beat the Ravens here at
NRG Stadium on Wednesday. That puts you in prime position
to be the three seed. And I've said a numerous

(11:31):
times the Texans can get to that three seed. I
think you feel really good about your chances in the
playoffs because the Chiefs team again, I mean, you know
it also is too a little bit on us with
this with the Kansas City Chiefs. Fool us once, shame
on us. I mean remember last year there are people
thinking when they went up to Buffalo, oh, there's no
way they're not winning this game. They win, and then

(11:52):
they go out to Baltimore after the Ravens just absolutely
put it to the Texans in the Divisional round and
they were able to beat a really good race. And
then the Super Bowl it was the same deal. It
was oh man, San Francisco, I think San Francisco's just
got him, and the Chiefs said, okay, watch this, eat this,
and they did both of those things and they were

(12:12):
able to take over the Lombardi Trophy. So that's what
we got with the Texans game today. Like I said
too as well, we've got the college football playoffs in
a full swing today. Got started last night Notre Dame
and Indiana the Irish able to win that one twenty
seven seventeen, so they will move on take on at

(12:33):
Georgia in the next round of the College Football Playoff.
The Horns are trying to pick up a win today
over Clemson. If they do that, then Texas is Atlanta
bound to play against Arizona State in the next round
of the College Football Playoff at the Chick fil A
Peach Bowl, or actually, I don't think it's Chick fil anymore.
I think I just missponsored it. I think it's AFLAC now,

(12:56):
But it doesn't matter anyway. It's the Peach Bowl there
we can just go with. So that's where Texas would
go if they are able to take down Caid Club Nick, which,
by the way, too, I think I've told you all
this before that I'm actually friends with the Club Nick family.
His uncle John was my young life leader in high school.
Had a chance to go watch Cad when he played

(13:17):
at Westlake High School. And I mean, you talk about
the amount of players from that Westlake team a couple
of years ago that won the state title and oh,
by the way, beat quinn Ewers in South Lake, carol
to be able to win that state title, so you
had him, you had Jaden Greathhouse, who of course we
were able to watch last night with Notre Dame good

(13:39):
receiver for them, and also a couple of players on
the Texas roster from that Westlake High School team. So anyway,
a rematch of that, so that'll be cool. But anyway,
I was talking speaking of Caid club Nick with his
uncle last night, and I'm sure you were watching College
Game Day yesterday when they had Dabo Sweeney on and
he talked about probably about one hundred tickets and I

(14:02):
asked his uncle, I said, hey, is that accurate?

Speaker 2 (14:04):
He goes, well, I know the entire family.

Speaker 5 (14:06):
Like cousins, uncles, aunts, everybody is going to be there
in Austin for the game. And also to his uncle John,
I don't think I'm putting them on Front Street too
much with this. His uncle John is a diehard Aggie,
so it's not like today's rooting allegiance is gonna be
very hard for Uncle John. So anyway, Kate club Nick
a Texas guy taking on at quinn yours. So that'll

(14:28):
be a fun game to watch a little bit later
on this afternoon, and also too as so we get
through the show today, we are absolutely going to have
to get into the I would call it surprising news
in terms of the move the Astros made yesterday and
what that signals obviously for the future of Alex Bregman
in an Astro's uniform. Well, it's signals that he's no

(14:52):
longer going to be in an Astros uniform. So that's
a little tough to be able to come the reality with.
But the Astros now have their corner infield set. Are
they done yet? We can get into that a little
bit as the show goes along as well. And of
course if you want to hop aboard on the phone lines,
you can do so seven one three two one two

(15:12):
five seven ninety once again, that's seven one three two
one two five seven nine zero is how you can
jump aboard. And of course you can get at me
on Twitter at Dan Matthews Hou. That's one t in
Matthews at Dan Matthews Hou or of course, as always
Sports Talk seven nineties Twitter account at Sports Talk seven nineties.

(15:32):
So we'll continue to roll along here on Space City Saturday,
continuing the Texans conversation coming up next. Because the X
factor is so easy to understand who it is for
the Texans today. They're in Kansas City. We'll talk about
him next as we continue from here at Cedar Creek
Cafe again West twentieth Street, Shady Acres here in the Heights,

(15:55):
So come on out and join us. We will be
on the air from at ten to noon then I
think we God, you're gonna stick around for the game
also as well, So if you're out here a little
bit later on, come find us hand to hang out
with us for a little bit as we'll be watching
the Texans game here at Cedar Creek Cafe all that
much more as we continue right here Sports Talk seven
ninety seven nineties Matthews here live at Cedar Creek Cafe

(16:20):
in the Heights.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Roll on through, come join us.

Speaker 5 (16:23):
We're having a lot of fun out here already. And
like I said too, I mean, even though I'm out
here on the stage at Cedar Creek Cafe, you're probably
saying to yourself, Oh man, Dan, it's so cold outside now.
Actually out in the sun when the wind doesn't blow,
it's not bad so out here. Enjoy this and we'll
get a little bit warmer on in the afternoon, because
let's be honest here, we don't really have winter here

(16:46):
in Houston. I mean we get like maybe a week
or two of it and maybe like a day or
two where it's just like, oh my god, this is
what the Midwest and the Northeast deals with on a
daily basis from now until about late April. Yeah, no thanks,
I don't want to be anywhere a part of that.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
So anyway, come on out here.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
As I think I mentioned it in the first segment,
they've got brunch right now until two o'clock and a
lot of really great items here, tons of great you know,
chicken waffles, got a brisket Benny on the menu as well,
got breakfast tacos, and also to everything else. If you
want to go to the lunch side of the brunch menu,

(17:28):
of course you can do that here as well. And
also all of the great drinks they have out here.
I mean they've got tons on the tap wall. And
also if you want to get into the heavy stuff,
I mean, like I said, it's a little chillered out there,
so maybe you want to you know, who knows, maybe
invite Uncle Bourbon over to the party. Oh you can

(17:49):
do that too, So all of that right here, Cedar
Creek Cafe again ten thirty four West twentieth Street here
in the Heights, So that is where we are going
to be. You want to up a board, you can
do so SEB one three two one two five seven
ninety once again at Sebone three two one two five
seven nine zero. And the X factor for the Texans today,

(18:10):
it's very simple. It's number twenty eight. It's Joe Mixon.
And I think that probably a little bit earlier in
the week where you had anxiety from the standpoint of
is Patrick Mahomes going to play in this game or
will the Texans you know, possibly be playing against Carson
Wentz in this game. Well, also too on the Texans

(18:30):
side of things injury related, it was Joe Mixon where
on Monday when they had their Tuesday practice for the week,
it was excuse me, on Tuesday when it was their
Wednesday practice of the week, you were kind of looking
at Joe Mixon this situation, and they did a a

(18:51):
kind of anticipation an estimate of how players would have
a factored in practice if it wasn't just a walk
through which he did participate in.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
He was listed as limited.

Speaker 5 (19:01):
He was limited all week, and we had Joe Mixon
earlier this week.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Saying, no, you know, I'm good to go. I'm going
to play in this game. But it's just how much
he matters to this team.

Speaker 5 (19:12):
So we've talked about it numerous times already throughout the show.
Is how much he has factored for this team this year.
Let's just go ahead and take you through it just
a little bit. So of course, he had one hundred
and fifty nine yards on the ground against the Colts
and was able to help them win that game to
start off the season. Early on in the year, only

(19:34):
caught the ball three times for ten yards, but then
the following week gets hurt against Chicago. Doesn't come back
until about a month later when he came off that
high ankle spring and ran for one hundred and two
yards against New England. And of course the only loss
that he had up until that point was when he
went for one hundred and fifteen against the Packers, but

(19:54):
then able to get over one hundred and beat the
Colts at NRG Stadium the second time around.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
That was the clinching game for them. But it's also to.

Speaker 5 (20:03):
What they've been when he's gone south of one hundred
this season, and that just kind of goes to show
you is that people believe that the center point of
this Texans offense is c J.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Stroud.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
You're not wrong to a certain point, but the passing
game for the most part this season, and I know
a lot of people are going to put the blame
on the offensive line, not on c J. Stroud. There
is a little bit of a give and take in that.
I mean, there has been times this year that we've
seen c J. Stroud where probably all of us, even
some of us who aren't as football inclined in terms

(20:38):
of knowing the nuances of the game, would say, dude,
get rid of football. Just throw it away at this point.
It doesn't matter if you throw it about ten rows
deep in the stands.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Just burn the ball. And that's been a little bit
of an issue.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
But it's also been two, I mean times where you've
had inconsistency in the run game or even two protection
issues up front that have kind of not allowed for
Strout to get going. And also as well, I mean,
you've got teams right now without Stefan Diggs out there
and without really any other help for Nico Collins that
are zeroing in on Nico Bracket coverage, a time, double teams,

(21:14):
all of those things come into his way. So that's
where you start to even allow for Joe Mixon to
be more of the focus of this offense today.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
And it's not just running the football either.

Speaker 5 (21:25):
I We'll take you back to last week against the
Miami Dolphins. Obviously, running the football was not an easy
proposition for Joe Mixon. He did it twelve times twenty
three yards. But this is the effort that Bobby Slowik
had to say, Okay, maybe we're going to have trouble
getting him involved that way, but what's another way we
can get him involved? Bingo the passing game targeted six times,

(21:47):
caught the ball five times last week, thirty three yards. Again,
the stats right there not necessarily, you know, ones that
you would look at and say, oh, man, you know,
that's another weapon in his bag, but it is something
that I do expect to see today. And it's also
too as well. I think as you're going through the
game plan with CJ. Stroud, you really harp on that

(22:07):
if you're you know, Bobby Slower can draw Johnson and
anybody else on the offensive coaching staff is saying, hey,
you know number twenty eight He's not just.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
There for pass pro.

Speaker 5 (22:18):
He's also a guy that will be right there in
the flat or maybe right in front of you for
the checkdown, any of those things. And a lot of people,
i think, for the longest time in football have thought
that the safety route is a good tight end. Dalton
Schultz is fine. Dalton Schultz. It is who he is.
He's not going to be a reason that you win
a game. You can win a game with Dalton Schultz,

(22:39):
you don't win it because of him. But really, the
NFL over the last few years has kind of become
a league of saying, not only to their running backs,
your number one job, of course, can you run the
football well?

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Can you pick up yards? Do you have the speed?

Speaker 5 (22:53):
All right? That's number one. Number two, can you protect
my quarterback? Because I'm gonna need you to be able
to keep some of these rushers off the lap on
my quarterback. And the answer to that is hopefully you
check that box two.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
But three, and one of the.

Speaker 5 (23:06):
Most important of all, how good are you catching the
football out of the backfield. We had heard all off
season how good Joe Mixon was in terms of factoring
into the passing game and how much Joe Burrow had
used him when he was with the Bengals, and that's
something else today that is going to be a point
of emphasis for me in this game that I'm going
to be watching is how often is he targeted that way?

(23:27):
Because it is going to be a tough proposition to
run against this Chiefs defensive front. They've shown that numerous times.
I talked about it last year during the playoffs. They
showed you against Buffalo, they showed you against Baltimore, and
they've shown you pretty much all season two as well
that even when Patrick Mahomes has not necessarily been able
to put together the greatest offensive performance, you've at least

(23:49):
been able to count on that defense. And that's why
these two teams mirror each other so much. It's obvious
though the Chiefs have so much more success than the
Texans due to this point, but it's also winning the
games as closely as they have, the manner in which
they play the games where you can really count on
your defense and you hope that your offense is able

(24:10):
to really be able to take an even larger step
forward to be able to help you win that game.
So that's going to be something that I think is
a massive X factor in this game today.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Joe Mixon has to factor for you.

Speaker 5 (24:21):
I mean, if you're going to come out of there
with a win, I think that you're going to be
looking at the way that Joe Mixon plays in this
game and say, yeah, Number twenty eight was a massive
reason why the Texans were able to pull this off today.
So here's to hoping as again not only in the
run game, but you want to be able to get
mixing involved out of the backfield in that passing game

(24:42):
as well. Error on me, I didn't mention our guests
that we're going to have here on the show today,
as we will have coming up next hour speaking of
the Longhorns in the college football playoff. We are going
to be heading out to Austin and talking with my
good one, Will Matthews of the Longhorn Sports Network. He

(25:02):
does sidelines for Craig Way and Roger Wallace on the
football side. Of course, he is a Texas X on
the football field as well, former offensive lineman for Mac
Brown during his playing days there. So Will Matthews is
going to join us, but coming up next yesterday on
the A team, a man who's going to be on
the call today for NBC, former quarterback Todd Blackledge joined

(25:25):
Adam Lexler on the A team.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
That was a really good visit.

Speaker 5 (25:28):
Want to let you be able to hear that coming
up right here on Space City Saturday. So we'll do that,
and once again we are live out here Cedar Creek
Cafe right here on West twentieth Street, So roll on through,
come see us, and also to enjoy the great brunch options,
the great drinks that we have out here, and with

(25:49):
the win kind of dying down a little bit if
you're sitting outsign, it's not a bad day, So come
on out and enjoy a beautiful day out here at
Cedar Creek Cafe. So we'll do Todd Blackledge next right
here on the on the Space City Saturday. I was
about to say the eight team he was on with
the eighteen, but it's Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Space City Saturday continues on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 5 (26:16):
Ninety, Scorty dropping a big Lebowski line on me. Were
walking in here with a Pomerani. Of course, he dropped
a Walter soap check climb. It's a show dog. Dude
comes with papers great movie. Love that movie. But anyway,
we continue to roll along here on a space city Saturday,
Dan Matthews here with you until noon again Cedar Creek Cafe.

(26:39):
I mean, when you walk in here the patio area
here at Cedar Creek Cafe, of course you're gonna see
the seven ninety table skirt right there on the ledge
hanging over. So of course that's one that gives me away.
But just look for a massive, giant inflatable sena right
underneath a palmeadow tree.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
And yeah, that's me and staying right now.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
So that's how you know where we are here at
Cedar Creek Cafe. So come on out, roll through and
enjoy some great brunch options.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
I mean I went through some of them a little
bit earlier.

Speaker 5 (27:11):
Great drinks too, seasonal drinks going on right now. Peppermint
white Russian speaking of the Big Lebowski. There you go.
You get a little peppermint taste of this season right there.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
And one that's gonna be calling my.

Speaker 5 (27:23):
Name at noon right as soon as we get off
the air here and settle in for the Texans game.
The Brown Sugar old Fashion, let's go, let's have some fun.
But anyway, We're gonna be out here until noon on
the air, but we're gonna stick around watch the game,
So feel free to roll through, maybe take a break

(27:44):
from the holiday shopping, whatever it might be. We will
be out here, all right, Enough of me talking. Let's
now get to hey, man, you're gonna be hearing from
during that Texans game. Todd Blackledge gonna be on the
call for NBC today with Noah Eagle, and he hopped
on it yesterday with Adam Wesler on the A team,

(28:04):
So let's jump in to that visit here with us
now here on the A team.

Speaker 6 (28:09):
Former NFL quarterback and longtime college football and pro football analyst,
You're gonna be in the booth for this one, featuring
a team attempting to win a third consecutive Super Bowl,
something that's not been done before. They're thirteen and one,
and the simplest, albeit seemingly stupid question is how are
they thirteen and one?

Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (28:32):
I mean everybody seems to be picking down a part,
you know, and trying to say, well, they or not
as dominant as they've been there, don't have the same
kind of numbers offensively, and a lot of that is
true However, their defense has been pretty solid all the
way through. They've got some elite players on that side
of the ball, and they still have number fifteen, and
you know, there's some question whether he would play this

(28:54):
week or not. You know he's gonna go. He's a
great competitor, and he's he's rebounded.

Speaker 8 (29:00):
And so.

Speaker 7 (29:02):
The combination of defense and Patrick Mahomes playing his best
in critical situations of football games.

Speaker 8 (29:10):
And there's a.

Speaker 7 (29:11):
Lot to be said for teams finding ways to win,
and they gotten lucky some this year, absolutely, but they
also have made plays in critical parts of the game
that you have to make if you want to win.

Speaker 8 (29:22):
In this league.

Speaker 6 (29:23):
And they've made them in all sorts of possible ways,
with kicks dwinking, with other kicks being blocked, but more
often than not, especially when it's the offensive side, that
means your quarterback and your offense or at least getting
you in position to go ahead and make those plays.
That seems like kind of the bottom line with Mahomes
this year, And there actually is one stat that should
be pointed at that does stand out in their favor,

(29:46):
something no other NFL team has done in the last
several seasons, and that's convert better than fifty percent of
their third downs and they're doing it for the second
time in the last three seasons. They stay on the field,
they sustain drives. Is that what also helps them at
the end of the day be on the right end
of the scoreboard?

Speaker 8 (30:04):
Well, I think it certainly does, you know. I mean
the other side of that, they've not been.

Speaker 7 (30:08):
Very efficient in terms of scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
But you mentioned leading the leg in third down percentage,
but they also are leading the leg and it goes
hand in hand with this with the most ten play
plus drive. So they're staying on the field, their offense
is controlling the ball, they're converting on third down. And
again that if you get late in the ballgame, and

(30:31):
if you look at Patrick's statistic, his quarterback rating, his
touchdowns and interceptions, he is much better in the second
and fourth quarter in overtime of games, and he is
in the first and third quarter. And that's you know,
those are the critical parts of the game and he
plays his best.

Speaker 5 (30:46):
At that time.

Speaker 6 (30:47):
When you look at the Chiefs numbers, they're absolutely reflective
of that. I was figuring out the percentage of what
they're one hundred and thirty one second quarter points of
their three hundred and twenty nine were and it's a
big number. And the same thing in the fourth quarter
when as just as you just when they've got to
go out there and do it, they have been. That's
what hasn't changed about Patrick Mahomes. Everything else around him

(31:08):
has changed. Even though Kelsey's there, it's clearly not the
same Kelsey probably getting Hollywood Brown back this week. How
do you view the other ten players on offense, the
line play, and then the skill group that he's working
with at this point in this season.

Speaker 8 (31:22):
Yeah, well, I think where you have to start.

Speaker 7 (31:24):
I mean, if quarterbacks the most important position on the
field in the NFL, the second most important position is
probably your left tackle. If you have a right handed quarterback.
And the fact that they have played four different guys
or started four different guys at that position, you would
not expect that from a team that is buying for
their third Super Bowl and thirteen and one with the
best record in the NFL right now. So they've kind

(31:46):
of overcome that. However, he's gotten hit a lot more,
he's been pressured more, he's been sacked more, and a
lot of this has just been kind of the turnover
at that position in particular. I think, you know, it's
interesting because I look at this team and in a
very similar way that the Texans are When they started

(32:07):
training camp, Kansas City was kind of so excited to
be able to have Rushtee Rice and Hollywood Brown and
their first round pick Xavier Worthy out of Texas, you know,
coming in and really going to be able to build
their offense and their passing game around them, knowing they
already have Kelsey, and then they lose Rashi Rice, Hollywood
Round gets hurt the very first play of the first

(32:29):
preseason game, so he hasn't been involved at all, and
so now they kind of had to, you know, they
have still trying to.

Speaker 8 (32:37):
Find their identity.

Speaker 7 (32:38):
They go and get DeAndre Hopkins and kind of get
him in the mix, Juju Smith Schuster becoming more involved.
They were without Pacheco for several weeks, also their best runner.
So they they've struggled a little bit because of injuries
and because they have to keep trying to plug some spots.
And I look at the Texans the same way, you know,

(32:58):
you think of what they were looking at and training cam,
how excited they were having Tank Dell back healthy, Nico
coming off the year he had, adding Stefon Diggs to
the mix, and Joe mix into the mix, and then
you know, Diggs goes down with the injury, and so it's, uh,
you know, I guess that's part of the life in
the NFL. Hits next man up, and you gotta figure

(33:19):
a way out and to still be able to make
plays and be productive. But those are some key losses
to critical skill guys on both teams this year.

Speaker 6 (33:29):
Todd Blackledge of NBC Sports going to be on the
call for Texans Chiefs this weekend or on NBC Pete
Cock looking forward to it and appreciate you joining us here.
Sh shwift shifting over to the Texans. Just like you said,
is this the beginning of one of the next great
quarterback wide receiver duos? With what we saw last year
now into this year with CJ. Stroud Nico Collins.

Speaker 7 (33:52):
I think it's pretty obvious that they have a real
unique chemistry going right now. I mean, they they seem
to kind of have great trust in the each other
and it shows. I mean, it just shows in some
of the plays that they make. I mean, you look
at the two touchdowns last week. I mean, Niko only
had four catches, two of them were for touchdowns, and
in both cases they were off schedule plays. They were

(34:14):
not you know, it wasn't a timing throw, hit it
right as the guy's breaking.

Speaker 8 (34:19):
It was a play where in both cases CJ.

Speaker 7 (34:22):
Stroud extended the play and moved some of the pocket,
bought some time, and then got on the same page
with Nico Collmins for touchdowns. And one was in the
back of the end zone, the other was in the
front corner of the end zone. So I think it's
pretty obvious those two have an outstanding chemistry.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Right now, what do you think of CJ.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
Stroud here?

Speaker 6 (34:39):
He's going to make us thirtieth start of his NFL
career on Saturday. How do you assess all thirty of
those starts? Maybe not necessarily separating year one and year two,
just what you see as you head into this game.

Speaker 7 (34:50):
Yeah, I'm very impressed with him. I mean, you know,
I'm familiar with them from covering him in college. Always
liked his arm, his at curacy, his poise. I think
that's the thing that there's two things that jump out
when you watch him now as an NFL player one,
just his poise for a second year guy, he just

(35:11):
seems very calm, very under control, doesn't get, you know,
really wigged.

Speaker 8 (35:17):
Out on anything.

Speaker 7 (35:18):
And then the other thing that you see now with
him that you didn't necessarily see in college is his
ability to extend plays with his legs, to move in
the pocket and still being incredibly accurate with a quick
release throwing the football, whether he's rolling to his left
or is right. And I think that that's, you know,
that's a part of his game that he didn't have
to show or never needed to do that so much

(35:40):
at Ohio State, but had to do it here.

Speaker 8 (35:42):
In the NFL.

Speaker 7 (35:43):
And I think that he just has gotten better and
better at just the overall feel for playing the position.

Speaker 6 (35:49):
Do you think you can drift inside the Texans locker
room and kind of get a sense of what they
feel about maybe the meaning of this game or even
their game on Christmas Day against the Ravens. These are
two teams against the play against these next two days
over or two games in six days. They're playing to
win Super Bowls. The Texans want to get there. Are
these measuring stick games? Are these confidence building games? They

(36:09):
kind of need to win on their way into the playoffs.

Speaker 7 (36:14):
Well, I think there're certainly important games, and there's certainly
games that you want to win, you know. And I
mean the Chiefs would say the same thing because at
this point, now that you already know you're in the postseason,
now it's just a matter of how you're going to
be seated in the postseason, you know, and and what
that's going to look like when it comes time for
the playoffs. But you know, I think the fact that

(36:37):
there's a really good chance that in these next two
games that they play, they may turn around and face
one or both of these teams again at some point
in the playoffs. So I mean it's I think it's
important that they play well. And yes it's a measuring stick,
but but there are no moral victories.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
You know.

Speaker 7 (36:54):
They want to win the games and have as much
confidence going into the postseason as they possibly can.

Speaker 6 (37:01):
Well, I can't help myself since you're here with us,
and I know you saw these teams over the course
of the year on the college side, from the Big
Ten work that you do. We're about to start the
playoffs tonight. Indiana's playing. We still have got Penn State,
Ohio State Oregon. Can you handicap it in thirty seconds?

Speaker 7 (37:20):
I'll tell you what it's hard to do with eighteen
to twenty two year old kids, that's for sure. But
I think, look, I will say this about the playoffs
this year. I think it's phenomenal that it expanded to twelve.

Speaker 8 (37:34):
I think the fact that we're going to.

Speaker 7 (37:35):
Have four games over the next two days played on
campuses home sites in December is terrific. I just think,
you know, the game tonight in South Bend is going
to be really fun to watch, Penn State playing SMU
another home game.

Speaker 8 (37:51):
In Happy Valley.

Speaker 7 (37:52):
So I just think, you know, I think that's going
to be great for college football. I think it's going
to be a really fun weekend. You know, Oregon has
clearly been the best team in college football, the only
undefeated team, but they are certainly not an unbeatable team.
And that's the thing that stood out to me about
college football this year is there was in years past

(38:14):
you could look at maybe a Georgia or an Alabama
or somebody and say they just seem to be in
a different level of everybody else. It's them or those
two and then kind of everybody else there's no one
team like that this year. Even though Oregon is undefeated
and they've been number one since the sixth week of

(38:34):
the season, you know, they gave up almost three hundred
yards rushing to Penn State in the Big Ten championship
game and had to fight all the way to the
end to win that one. So I think it's anybody's
I think it's anybody's game right now.

Speaker 6 (38:47):
Certain you have to agree. Seems wide open. That's why
we're all excited about the weekend. Todd, really appreciate your time.

Speaker 8 (38:55):
You got it, man, Take care all right, there you go.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
Todd black Ledge again from NBC. Gonna be on the
call today with Noah Eagles. So that's gonna be a
fun crew to be able to have riding along with
us for the Texans and at Chiefs game. And like
I said, I think I said it earlier. Ac Up
there gonna be at the game. We actually might hear
from ac here in a little bit. He and the

(39:19):
family there at Arrowhead to take in the Texans game today.
So we'll have to see if we are graced with
the presidents. Because while we think it's cold down here,
I didn't even seen what the weather is in Kansas City.
But I think I saw it was gonna be like
in like the twenties and the thirties. Yeah, the TV
sounds so much better with that. So anyway, we'll see,

(39:41):
but we'll continue to roll along here on at Space
City Saturday. Coming up next. I gave you the offensive
X factor, what about the defensive X factor? For today?
We'll get into that here on the other side. As
like I've been saying all morning, we are live here
Cedar Creek Cafe, ten thirty four West twentieth Shady Acres
here in the Heights, So come on out join us

(40:02):
here on Sports Talk seven ninety seeing Matthews here Space
City Saturday with you until noon on your home of
the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Space City Saturday continues find Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (40:23):
It's like a hip Hoper of the Gridge, Okay, I mean,
you know, every single Christmas you learn that there are
new different versions. Like you know, we've been talking all
week about the iHeart Radio, you know, the new iHeart
Radio app, the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Was listening

(40:44):
to one of the Christmas channels on my way in
I never knew that air supply had a Christmas song
sleigh ride, So there you go. So that's how you
find out about new Christmas songs during the Christmas season.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
The iHeart Christmas.

Speaker 5 (40:57):
Channel, there is a way that you can and be
able to hear songs like that. But another one that
I learned about last week we did Brunch with Santa
with the fiance's nephews and the DJ played an EDM
Christmas song and I was like, I like this, this
is pretty good. So if you're of the EDM persuasion,

(41:20):
then there you go. But anyway, Dan Matthews here live
at Cedar Creek Cafe, West twentieth Street here in the Heights,
and see a lot of people starting to filter in,
already getting ready for the Texans game coming up at
noon here in about five minutes, gonna have the SMU
and Penn State game up in Happy Valley for the

(41:42):
second first round game of the College Football Playoff. And
of course you know, got game day on the TV
in front of us right here, seeing that at least
the panel already picking against the Mustangs for this one.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
So we've seen the.

Speaker 5 (41:55):
Panel be wrong quite a bit this year, so we'll
see if indeed Lashly's club is able to pull this
off today. So you're gonna have that one. And like
I said, I mean, this is the perfect time to
pull in here to Cedar Creek Cafe. You get your table,
as you know, they're telling me, oh yeah, we're gonna
be a packed house today, So get on in here.
Go ahead, order you up some brunch, maybe a pop

(42:17):
or two, watch the SMU Penn State game, and then
of course be settled in for the Texans and the
Chiefs coming your way at noons. So a lot of
fun to be had out here today. But of course
the Texans defensively today. I mean, you know, we've talked
about how good this Chiefs team is defensively, and for

(42:38):
the Texans, they're defensive X factor in this game. You
would probably think that it's daneil Hunter or it's Will
Anderson junior. They're incredibly important, and it's not to say
that they're not, but I think the X factor today
is Derek Stingley Junior and what he was able to
do last week and quickly how the perceptions of Derek
Stingley Junior have changed. I mean, I get his first

(42:59):
couple of years injured. You know, a little bit of
a slow start. There were a lot of people out
there saying, hey, why wouldn't you start hint or why
wouldn't you have taken a sauce Gardener over him? Oh man,
you completely lost out on that. And sauce Gardener is
incredibly good in his own right. But two at the
same time, Stingley has quickly shown you he is in

(43:19):
every sense of the word, a lockdown corner.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
And it's not only for the takeaways.

Speaker 5 (43:23):
It's not only for what he does in terms of
trying to take away the other team's best offensive weapon
in one of their top receivers. It's also too he's
showing you he's a guy that will come downhill. He'll
thump you. How many times last week we see against
Miami of those you know throws into the flat those
screens where you would see number twenty four right there
being the first guy and a couple of guys coming

(43:45):
over to help him to be able to take the
pass catcher down. I mean, that's something else that can
be huge for you today. And that's part of Kansas
City's game as well. I mean, I talked about Xavier
Worthy earlier. They really like to get him underneath in
space and be able to let him use his speed
to try to pick up some serious yardage. And that's
where Derek Stingley Junior and Kamari Lassiter and the crew

(44:08):
are really going to come into focus today. So we'll
see if the Texans are able to ride that part
of their defense to a huge win up there in
Kansas City. So only time will tell, as we will
see if indeed they are able to do that here
in about an hour, but coming up next we'll continue
the Texans conversation. Also here in hour two, got to

(44:30):
get into the news of yesterday with the Astros three year,
sixty million dollars deal with first Baseman Christian Walker.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
We will do that as well.

Speaker 5 (44:40):
If you want to weigh in on the phone lines,
do so seven one three two one two five seven ninety.
Once again, that's seven one three two one two five
seven ninety as it's s Ian Matthews here a Space
City Saturday. We continue to roll along here from Cedar
Creek Cafe right on West twentieth Street, So roll on through,
come join us, as we will be having a good
time out here. One more hour to go here, Space

(45:02):
City Saturday.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Welcomebore, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
All these great Houston fans here.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
We love you all, So finish up on that to
do list. Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink
in talk sports all day if you don't start. Now
bear me in the eight This is Space City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
It's in samee.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.

Speaker 5 (45:49):
Anyway, we go here our two of Space City Saturday.
We are live here at Cedar Creek Cafe, West twentieth Street,
here in the heights, roll on through as the college
football playoff game is going to be getting underway here
in just a second. And it's funny too, you know,

(46:10):
Like I said, got Gordy out here hanging out for
a little bit, and you know, College game Day just
wrapped up and it immediately kicked over to college basketball
and he's like, oh, wait a minute, like you know,
where we not having the college football playoff game. Of course,
it's T and T for the first couple of games
this afternoon and then later on tonight. Of course you

(46:32):
can be listening to it right here on Sports Talk
seven ninety four the Texas game. But later on tonight
it's Tennessee and Ohio State. That's when they kicked back
over to the ESPN, ABC family of networks. So that's
getting underway and speaking to the college football playoff. Here
in about thirty minutes, gonna be talking with my good

(46:55):
buddy Will Matthews of.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
The Longhorn Sports Network.

Speaker 5 (46:59):
He is going to be on the call sidelines for
Craig Way and Roger Wallace in the Texas Clemson games.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
So you've got that coming up. A little bit later on.

Speaker 5 (47:10):
You got the SMU and Penn State game about to
kick off, and of course we are under an hour
away from the Texans and the Chiefs from up there
in Kansas City as the Texans.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
I mean, kind of.

Speaker 5 (47:25):
A little bit of a roller coaster of emotions with
this game heading into it, because of course, last week
that game against the Cleveland Browns, you see Patrick Mahomes
kind of shades of the playoffs a couple of years
ago where he rolls his ankle and you're like, uh oh,
that could be bad for the Chiefs. Unable to finish
out that Divisional round game against Jacksonville, but then able

(47:46):
to come back and play in the AFC Championship game
against Cincinnati and then go on and win the Super
Bowl that season. But he had Mahomes even early in
the week when he met with the media saying, yeah,
it wasn't as bad as that one, and he was
able to go through practice all week. So he is
expected to give it a go against the Texans today.

(48:07):
And like I said, for the Texans, the only player
who is questionable right now is Christian Harris. So with
an ankle, but seems like he's going to be able
to go. He did not practice yesterday, almost wondering if
maybe that was a little bit of hey, get him
off his feet. We're really gonna need him on Saturday
against Kansas City, because I mean, you even saw it

(48:28):
last week how much of a difference maker Christian Harris
was on the field, especially too, given that you're going
to be for a couple more games without his ease.
Al Shai air In what he's been able to mean
to this Texans defense as been an extension of the
Demico Ryans out there on the field. But you know,
stepping into his stead was Henry Toto and he was able.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
To have a pretty big game for them.

Speaker 5 (48:53):
And you know the other part of it too with
Christian Harris is how much he factored in that game.
I mean, that was the biggest surprise I think from
last week, is how much he was able to play
in that one. And you know, I'm sure he's chomping
at the bit. He was ready to get going and
he really wanted to be part of what the Texans
were trying to do on the defensive end in that game.

(49:14):
But it was also to a question of you've been
out for about two and a half three months, I mean,
how much can you necessarily be able to factor in
the game. And he was absolutely able to do that.
So having him out there is going to be huge
for them. No fully fought Oficassi, No John Metchi the
third as well. Both of those guys are out for

(49:35):
this game. As for the Chiefs, I mean, their injury
report is light. It is pretty much everybody that they
need to count on for this game is going to
be out there. As there was questions about Mahomes, He's
not even on the injury report, so that shows you
what to expect. From him today and also to as
well a huge pickup for the Chiefs this week as

(49:58):
Hollywood Brown able to get back out on the field
and be able to be part of this Chiefs offense today. So,
I mean, it's going to be a game that, like
I said, I mean when early in the week it
was a question of whether or not Patrick Mahomes is
going to play. The Texans slight favorites at that point,
and then once it started to come out with practice

(50:20):
reports and injury reports everything else of the sort, that's
when you started to see the sharp money start to
go towards Kansas City. But I mean, you know, we
did so in cold locks yesterday on the A team,
I took the Texans three and a half. I think
that it is going to be a close game. I
think that it is going to be whoever wins this
one might be lining up for a game winner at
the end of the game, and you're hoping that if

(50:42):
you are in that situation, it's Kayey Fairbairn lining up
for a game winner at the end of the games.
So the Texans, I mean, you know, I've talked about
it too. I mean, it's a nine to five record
and I understand what the style has been this season
for this team and some of the game that you've lost.
I mean Detroit, that one's still herts screen Bay, same

(51:03):
deal Tennessee. A game that probably you know, usually you
will have a disappointing game or to a season as
the NFL schedule rolls along. That's to be expected. I mean,
you know, I think that you can, you know, expect
that soon enough you're going to have a game that
you come out of it.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
And you say, how the hell will we lose that game?
But that was one of them.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
I mean, you had it a couple of times last year,
both at Carolina and against the Falcons too as well.
Of I think that we were probably able to stomach
those a little bit with that Texans team last year
because we didn't have expectations. This year, the expectations were
added massively through the roof, not only locally but also
nationally as well, of people talking about this team of

(51:44):
being one that could be able to break through and
be able to possibly compete for the AFC title and
maybe even to get to New Orleans for the Super Bowl,
and all of that is still there, and I think
today would go a massive way towards being able to
get people on their side. I'm telling you, the Texans
win this game in Kansas City, you're going to have

(52:06):
the talking head shows on Monday morning talking about are
we talking enough about the Texans.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
I mean, let's get even more greedy right here.

Speaker 5 (52:14):
You come out next week and you beat the Baltimore Ravens,
an organization that you have not had much of any
success against since your existence as an organization, and you're
able to go out there and you're able to win
that game. I mean, all of a sudden, it's going
to be people saying, hey, this Texans team's getting hot
at the right time, and that's what you're hoping for.
I mean, you know last year when we were talking

(52:35):
about the expectations for the Texans, it was, hey, just
be playing in meaningful games in November and December, because
when you got to that final game of the season
against the Colts, it was if you win it, then
obviously you win the AFC South.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
If you lose it, there would have been disappointment.

Speaker 5 (52:54):
There would have been a typical Texans all of those
different types of emotions initially, but I think afterwards it
would have been people saying, hey, look, rookie quarterback, he
had a hell of a year. You had no expectations
for this team. Remember when I put out my season
prediction last year, I said a seven to ten football team.
I said seven to ten, be playing in meaningful games
late in the season, which they were, and see where

(53:17):
you go from there. And this year, obviously, the expectations
go even higher because you were able to actually spend money,
you wanted to spend money on your team, because you
had Nick Cassario and the rest of the organization in
position to say, we've got our quarterback, We've got our
defensive centerpiece in will Anderson Junior. Let's go out there,

(53:38):
let's add some more veterans to this thing, and let's
give it another run next year. First place schedule, damn
the torpedoes, let's go and the Texans have been able
to be successful more than they have failed this season.
So I think that's one that is a massive point
of encouragement for this team. But also to you know,

(54:00):
we have three games left here in the regular season.
I mean it is a couple of really tough games,
one today, one next week against Baltimore here at home,
and then of course you want to be able to
get revenge against the Titans, which this next time doesn't
look like you're gonna have Will Levis to contend with.
As you know, that was the other frustrating part of
that Tennessee loss, as you come out of that saying, really, guys,

(54:23):
you made Will Levis look competent today. You made him
look like, you know, a guy that some Titans fans
could say, see see, I told you he could be
a franchise quarterback and then he quickly showed you after
that he cannot so such as the league sometimes, I guess.
But we'll see what the Texans are able to put
together today up there in Kansas City. As I mean,

(54:46):
you know, if we've talked about it all week, pretty
healthy for this one. A handful of guys out, but
two at the same time, you know, you're guys that
you really count on, both offensively with Nico Collins, with CJ. Stroud,
also to Joe Mixon and you know, Dalton Schultz, all
of those guys you know, as well as Tank Dell

(55:08):
and then on the defensive end, you know, without fully
PHOTOCOSSI that hurts. But Tim Settle has really stepped up
for you this season. Mario Edwards Junior the same deal
as well. Denico Autry has been somebody that's been a
really good addition to this team. And of course you
know on the edges mintioned Willy Anderson Junior. But you
can't talk enough about Danil Hunter in what he means

(55:29):
to this team.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
So you're in good position today.

Speaker 5 (55:32):
We'll see if the Texans are able to capitalize on
that before we get into the Texas and Clemson conversation.
College football playoff first round game coming up a little
bit later on this afternoon here on your home of
the Longhorns for football and men's basketball in Houston Sports
Talk seven to ninety, we are going to talk with

(55:53):
Will Matthews of the Long Horn Sports Network. He's coming
up here in a little under twenty minutes. But I
do want to get into the Astros conversation with Christian
Walker as that news came down yesterday and what it
means in the overall moves for the Astros going forwards,
going about an hour and fifteen minutes and hadn't even

(56:14):
gotten into that yet, So I do want to do
that before we get back into more of the football conversation.
So we'll do that next right here Space City Saturday. Again,
we are live here Cedar Creek Cafe on West twentieth Street,
so roll on through and look as the sun continues
to get up in the sky. The wind is dying
down a little bit, starting out to.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Be a beautiful day out here.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
So why don't you come on out here and enjoy
somewhat great football action with us, as we're on the
air with you until noon, but me and Gordy are
gonna stick around, so please feel free come on through
and have some good time, some good eats, some good drinks,
all of that right here at Cedar Creek Cafe, as
we'll continue here on Space City Saturday on your home

(56:56):
of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talks seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
Welcome back to Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (57:09):
The other one's on its way.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
Christian Hawker has take it over Timeser Stadium.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
There is no explanation for this. It just goes on
and on and on. It's amazing. He's not even cracking
a spile.

Speaker 5 (57:26):
This defies all logic.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
My goodness, that bubble.

Speaker 5 (57:33):
Christian Walker, newest Astro as you always love when anybody
associated with the Astros takes it to the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
That was a couple of years ago.

Speaker 5 (57:43):
In the postseason, of course, the Diamondbacks able to go
on in reach the World Series against the Texas Rangers.
We don't talk much about that part of it, but
he's a new Astro two of three years, sixty million dollars.
As we know exactly what that means too. As the
earlier move that the Astros making this offseason, the trade

(58:04):
of Kyle Tucker, you get Eat SoC Perettis over from
the Cubs, and Eat SoC Pretis plays third base. Not
only does he play third base, but you also have
Cam Smith who can also slide in and play third
base for you. And that is going to be a
guy that is very much counted on in terms of

(58:25):
your prospect developments and trying to get him up here
to the major league level sooner rather than later. So
all that spells out Alex Bregman will be playing for
someone else in twenty twenty, for twenty twenty five and beyond,
and you know, of course, I mean that's part of
it as well. I saw the memes on social media.

(58:46):
I saw everybody you know pointing out that there was
the photo from one of the postseasons of the High five,
I believe between George Springer and Carlos Correa and in
Alex Bregman also in the frame, and then the next
frame they had it was only jose L two Bay
standing by himself. So it is a little bit of
an end of an era in that regard, but it's

(59:08):
also too. I mean, what the Astros have done all
throughout this run of making it to the postseason and
the amount of success they've had. I mean they've been
able to sustain losing George Springer, losing Carlos Korea, and
now losing Alex Bregman in addition to trade and away
Kyle Tucker. That you know, it just it looks different,

(59:30):
but it's also too as well. You've heard Dana Brown
say it numerous times of talking about remaining competitive this
year and being able to sustain going forward as an organization.
Because I talked about a little bit last week of
the fear that I think a lot of Astros fans
had of saying that, you know, this is signaling a rebuild.

(59:51):
I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're looking at it
all the wrong way. They're trying to avoid the rebuild
this way. That's why you make the deal that you
did for Kyle Tucker. That's why you, you know, make
this move yesterday. I mean because I think it got
painfully obvious to Dana Brown. I had talked about numerous
times that Dana had been in this situation before when

(01:00:12):
he was the scouting director and assistant GM there in Atlanta.
They went through it with Freddie Freeman, and it was
finally to a point where that front office decided, Hey,
we can't wait around for him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
We've got to be able to make a move.

Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
And that's when you had Oakland right at your front
doorsteps saying, hey, we've got Matt Olsen here for you
if you want them, and they said, yeah, let's do it.
We're gonna have an all star first basement. We're losing one,
and we'd take a step back a little bit offensively
with what we're losing there, but we also know that
we're getting in the middle of the order, really good bat,
a really good glove. And that's you know, kind of

(01:00:45):
the same deal here with the Astros. I mean, this
is their version of that of you know, you get
to a point with the Alex Bregman negotiations, and I
think that people are going to hold against Dana Brown
saying that he felt optimistic that they could bring back Bregman.
But look, optimism doesn't help you win games. Optimism doesn't
help you build your franchise and build your team towards

(01:01:06):
being a contender year in and year out. Reality soon
enough sets in, and I think the reality kind of
became that Bregman and you know his representation, Scott Morris,
they're very much entrenched in let's get the best deal
that we can possibly get. And obviously too, you know,
another thing with Bregman that I think was part of

(01:01:27):
these discussions was how with me part of this thing?
Are we going to remain competitive? And it's not to
say that the Astros didn't have an answer for him.
I just think that probably their answer was, we're going
to remain competitive because well, you're not going to be here.
And it's not to say that you not being here
makes us a better ball club, but it's also too

(01:01:49):
as well, you're not in position as a team at
this moment to be spending tons of money when you've
already spent tons of money. If this happened next year,
without Jose Bray, you and Rafael Montero on the books.
Then I think that probably yesterday's news and maybe even
the Kyle Tucker trade is not even made. But the
reality is you're not at that point. You're at a

(01:02:11):
point right now where you had to make some shrewd decisions.
And Dana Brown did warn us of that after the season,
where he talked about roster creativity, that they are going
to have to be flexible in certain areas and also too,
I mean, trades a possibility. He showed you that with
the Kyle Tucker move. We'll see if that is indeed
it for the Astros this offseason. I mean, you know,

(01:02:34):
you did have Dana talking last week and you know,
being asked about fromer Valdez his possibility, and he didn't
seem as inclined to move on a trade to send
away fromer Valdez, at least at this moment. I mean,
I think the Astros now kind of set themselves up
where I do believe an outfield option is still going
to be acted on. I do think that you know,

(01:02:58):
Dana can say what he wants about having Chaz and
Wright and Jake Myers and center and then a platoon
option out out left field. I would probably have to
venture to guess that the Astros, when the rumors continue
to heat up for Anthony Santan Dare or even ta
Oscar Hernandez, that you're gonna hear the Astros involved in that,
because if you are able to add either of those guys,

(01:03:19):
talk about lengthening your lineup two as well. I mean,
this was a pretty top heavy batting er last year,
and especially when you didn't have Kyle Tucker for a
massive amount of time, when you didn't have Alex Bregman,
even Jordon going down for some time, especially there late
in the season, and it was painfully obvious in the
postseason he was a shell of who he is because

(01:03:40):
of that knee issue. And I mean his answer pretty
much told you as much when he was asked a
sort of the regular season would you be playing, and
he gave kind of a little smirk and said, that's
a good question. The answer would have been no, he
would not have been playing. And if you probably had
a little bit more depth in your lineup that you
would have probably told Jordon, hey, let's let's sit out

(01:04:01):
for this one. Let's give it a look in the
Division Series and if we reach to the LCS, hopefully
you're in good enough shape to be able to give
it a run then. So obviously it didn't work out
that way. But with Walker, I mean, you add a
guy that is a multi time goal glove winner that's
massive in that regard, but also to a massive power

(01:04:23):
option there for you and right handed too as well.
I mean that's what's always kind of cracked me up
with all of this of you know, the yearning for
a left handed bat. My question is why you've got
the best left handed bat, one of the best in
the game and Jordan Alvarez, but yeah, you've got a
little short porch out there in left field, like maybe

(01:04:43):
plated that just a little bit. And Dana Brown I
think this offseason has kind of said, yeah, hey, look,
right handed and left handed, if we can get somebody
that can be able to take advantage of the shortest
part of our ballpark and they've got significant pull power,
then what are we doing here? And that's what they
decide to do with the trade to bring over eat
soak parritis as well as yesterday to be able to

(01:05:07):
sign Christian Walker, and one more part of all of
this too as well with what the astros are doing.
Is that I've told you this before of how I
could probably expect for Dana Brown to do his deals,
and you know what, Jim Crane where he stands when
it comes to long term contracts, The astros for veteran

(01:05:27):
players are not going to be in the market to
do the seven eight year deals. They're probably looking three, four, five,
maybe six in that regard. And also too, there's a
little bit of a number that I think Dana Brown
wants to be able to sit in between, and that
is that twenty to twenty five million per And it
goes back again to his previous employer, his boss, his

(01:05:49):
direct boss there in Atlanta had set numerous times that
they want to be able to have about seven eight
guys that are really good ballplayers on really good deals
instead of trying to go for the big fish that's
out there. And the astros probably for the most part,
are not going to be in the show Hey O
Tani Sweepstakes or you know, the bringing on Aaron Judge

(01:06:10):
or anybody else like that and the huge money that
they will command. Instead, they want to be able to
you even heard Dana Brown said earlier on this offseason.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
It will not shock me if you see a.

Speaker 5 (01:06:22):
Contract extension with the Iron Diaz, maybe even two. Jeremy
Pannia is able to put together a good season this year.
Is Jeremy Pania one of those guys that you try
to avoid arbitration with and you try to lock him
up on a long term deal. So I think that
all of those factors are in. But I mean that's
the way that this team wants to operate. And I
understand it's not necessarily the sexiest for you as a

(01:06:43):
fan because when it comes to, you know, the off
season in the hot stove, Yeah, you want to be
the team that won the off season.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
But it's also too as well.

Speaker 5 (01:06:52):
Sometimes running a team like this and the shrewd moves
that you have to make, that's not necessarily a realistic
opportunity unity for you to think that you're going to
be able to not only win that season but then
continue to sustain success with that model.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
So that playbook is being played out right now.

Speaker 5 (01:07:10):
And I mean in terms of being able to shore
up what was pretty much a massive weakness for you
last year. You had third base figured out clearly with
Alex Bregman, but first base ever since Yuli Guriell has
not been part of this organization, has been a little
bit of a hole for you over there, and at
least for the next three years, you feel like you've

(01:07:30):
been able to shore up that part of your offense
and your defense too as well. I mean, I've talked
about what you know Christian Walker brings you from a
defensive perspective, and what he brings you from the power
numbers as well. I mean, because you look at the
numbers that he has had over the last three seasons,
over an eight hundred ops the last three years, thirty

(01:07:52):
six homers a couple of years ago, thirty three last year,
and twenty six last year, thirty three in the year
in between, one hundred and three are that season two
for Christian Walker. So he has been able to not
only put it together at the plate, but also too,
like I said, multiple time goal Glove winner. Three of

(01:08:12):
the last three seasons, he has won a Gold Glove
over there at first base in the National League. So
that has been a huge addition for this team. If
you want to weigh in, you can do so seven
one three, two, one two five seven ninety. Once again,
that's seb one, three, two, one, two, five, seven nine zero,
as we will step away from the Astros conversation next

(01:08:32):
get into Texas and Clemson college football playoff and men,
that's gonna be on the sidelines with the Longhorn Sports
Network today, Will Matthews, he's joined us all throughout the
season here on Space City Saturday, and we will talk
to him next right here on your home of Longhorn
football and basketball here in Houston, Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 8 (01:09:00):
Christmas.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Interesting, Okay, I'm with it.

Speaker 7 (01:09:04):
I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:04):
I like it.

Speaker 5 (01:09:06):
Get us in the spirit here on Space City Saturday
at Dan Matthews here with you again live from Cedar
Creek Cafe on West twentieth here in the Heights.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
So come on through.

Speaker 5 (01:09:18):
Gordy just finished off some chicken and waffles, so be
able to get you some good brunch before the game
even during the game as well. You're able to do
all that. A lot of great drink options out here,
so swing on through at Cedar Creek Cafe.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
As promise, let's head out to the phone lines.

Speaker 5 (01:09:36):
Man, it's gonna be on the sidelines today, and he
is a part of the Longhorn Sports Network. He is
a lifetime longhornet. Will Matthews joining us here on Sports
Talk seven ninety Will As, I'm sure you're probably watching
the SMU Penn State game right now. You saw Notre Dame,
Indiana last night. You probably see what the weather's gonna

(01:09:56):
be up there in Columbus, Ohio tonight. How fortunate are
you feeling right right now to be the warmest of
the college football playoff games given your game day responsibilities.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
Yeah, you know, it's uh, it's pretty tough out there
right now.

Speaker 9 (01:10:10):
It's kind of cold in a bunch of places.

Speaker 5 (01:10:12):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
SMU had a tough time.

Speaker 9 (01:10:15):
Uh, and so it's just it's just so nice to
be somewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:10:19):
Where it's as well, just a bit of chill in
the air.

Speaker 9 (01:10:22):
But you know, this is good Texas weather, and it's
nothing like playing football down here.

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
In December for the first time.

Speaker 5 (01:10:29):
There you go, It's gonna be a lot of fun
there inside dk R for this one. Let's get into
the game a little bit. I mean, we've seen the
reports about Isaiah Bond two part with this one number one,
I mean, you know, what are you hearing in terms
of his availability for this game, and if he can't go,
what does that do to this Texans are this long
worn offense.

Speaker 9 (01:10:50):
Yeah, first of all, they're they're definitely taking it a
lot like they took it with how they took it
with with Kelvin Banks as well as Quinn Yours earlier
in the season, with the sense of, hey, let's see
what we can do in the week, let's get the
game day, and let's make a decision.

Speaker 3 (01:11:07):
And so far coach sark is just really.

Speaker 9 (01:11:09):
Done a great job of keeping the right guys on
the field as well as letting.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
Letting younger guys start to really blossom.

Speaker 9 (01:11:16):
It's been If he is not able to go, I
would bet that coach will really lean on that receiving
stat group, especially with Golden and Bolden. And would I
expect to see a lot more wingo.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
Too, especially if Isaiah Bond can't go. You've got to
make sure that you've got your weapons.

Speaker 9 (01:11:34):
On the field and the way that guy played earlier
in the season and what we expect from him moving forward.

Speaker 3 (01:11:40):
Got to see some wingo too.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Yeah, and you know the other part of it as well.

Speaker 5 (01:11:45):
Will again, Will Matthews, Longhorn Sports Network sidelines joining us here.
He'll be on the sidelines today with Craig Way and
Roger Wallace on the call right here on Sports Talk
at seven ninety. This is a Texas offense that's you know,
at times in the season show. Okay, there was that explosiveness.
We've expected that. I mean, tons of really good talent

(01:12:05):
went to the NFL last year from you know, the
receiver position with Jordan Whittington, Xavier Worthy and the crew.
But I mean, you know where I'm going with this
is we saw in the SEC Championship game twenty to
twenty they were outstanding. It was once they got into
the red zone that was a little bit of an issue.
How can they kind of rectify those issues and get
this offense on tracks starting today?

Speaker 9 (01:12:28):
Well, you know, a lot of it had to do
with this last week not really having an efficient and
activated running game.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
What we have seen from the.

Speaker 9 (01:12:35):
Longhorns, it's really the tell of two stories. When the
running game is activated, it's really hard to stop them.
And last week, two weeks ago, they were able to
move the ball in between the twenties, but once they
got into the red zone, it just was tough sledding.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
So I expect there to be some.

Speaker 9 (01:12:51):
Sort of package switching this this week. I mean, if
we're trying to save Archie Manning for something else, that's
that's not the way to go. Like, let's use everything
that we possibly had we can today win the game,
and then you reevaluate and you move forward. But that
big package with arch as well as really nutting down

(01:13:14):
and really focusing in on that short yardage in the
twenties running game is going to be paramount for Texas.
With the loss of Baxter, you don't really have that big,
imposing back.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
Wisner's come on strong, but I expect to see more
Jayden Blue and maybe a little Jack Gibson too.

Speaker 9 (01:13:31):
He's done really well, especially like Michigan game earlier in
the season, getting in the end zones, in the in
the red zone.

Speaker 5 (01:13:39):
Again. Will Matthews joined us here on at Space City Saturday,
and you you know, brought up the name that I
think a lot of people are going to be looking
to see where number sixteen is today and throughout this
hopeful playoff run for Texas and the College Football Playoff.
I mean, do you expect to see more of him
today than we did in the SEC Championship game, and

(01:14:00):
you know, follow up to that that, I think a
lot of people want to know about Arch and how
we could see him use this playoffs.

Speaker 9 (01:14:08):
Yeah, you know, so I think we're the coach Sark
would say it, We're we're crying from a yacht. You know,
We've got this incredible talent on the bench as well
as an incredible QB one with Quinn.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
You were starting how to Sark navigate that?

Speaker 9 (01:14:23):
And that's really I mean, that's why they pay him
the big bucks and I expect to see a bit
more of him. He really that zone read that, that
that little bit of the option run where he can
give it to Jayden Blue, Trey Wisner or take it
himself has just been so instrumental in that A and
M game. He really was the spark that pushed Texas

(01:14:45):
over the hump, especially when Texas really had tough tough
time scoring early on. He was that little he was
that little bit of fire. And so how to Sark
manage that and continue to cultivate that into the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
I guess that's why we pay him the big bucks
and I can't wait to.

Speaker 5 (01:15:02):
See Yeah, and like I said, too, will that follow
up is? I mean look, Sark, I can't remember. Actually
it was Brian Daboll that was the OC. Then Sark
was already in the NFL at the time, So I
think you know where I'm going with this. I mean,
we saw Alabama against Georgia and Messi era the National
Championship game where they said, hey, look nothing against you,

(01:15:23):
Jalen Hurts, but it's not working.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
We got to go to a tongue of Vailoa.

Speaker 5 (01:15:26):
You talked about it too, the line we're crying from
a yacht. I mean, does that kind of signal to
you that this is Quinn's show and he is going
to be the quarterback of this team, or could you
envision that it gets to a point where Sark, even
in the playoff, has to say, hey, I've got to
switch this up.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
Arch gives us an opportunity to do that.

Speaker 9 (01:15:45):
Yeah, and that's a really I mean, that's a really
important and relevant question to right now for Texas Longhorn fans.

Speaker 3 (01:15:52):
I mean, just from some of the chats over the
last couple of weeks, we really want Sark.

Speaker 9 (01:15:58):
To have a good handle on that to make sure
that if there is an opportunity for any sort of change,
that it's quick and you know, we don't miss a.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
Beat now doing that, He's got to be the right situation.

Speaker 9 (01:16:12):
I mean, really, Quinn yours is one of the best
quarterbacks in the country. So we're talking about taking out
one of the best quarterbacks in the country who's won
consistently and have played at a super high level.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Has he been perfect? No?

Speaker 9 (01:16:28):
And do we have a manning in the wings, yes,
but really relying on riding riding.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
The horse that that that that that one uh ride
in the back of Quinn yours.

Speaker 9 (01:16:41):
If he needs a bit of a change, I think
coach sark will will do what's necessary.

Speaker 3 (01:16:45):
We can see that from the Georgia game. But Quinn's
QB one man, he's he's our guy.

Speaker 2 (01:16:51):
There you go again.

Speaker 5 (01:16:53):
You can hear him on the sidelines a little bit
later on today right here on your home for the
Longhorn Football and men's basketball in Houston Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
He is Will Matthews.

Speaker 5 (01:17:04):
Will, Hey, appreciate the time, buddy, have a great day
there on the sidelines, and hopefully we're talking about a
college football playoff quarterfinal game coming up in Atlanta here
in about ten days.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
There you go, I mean That's really what it's about.

Speaker 9 (01:17:19):
I mean, and the whole point of today is really
an exercise of being.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
Present where you are. We of course we want to
be in the Orange Bowl, and of course.

Speaker 9 (01:17:28):
We want to go ahead and go away to the
National Championship. But you don't get there with looking past today.
You've got to focus on today. Get the job done.

Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
I'm excited to see the Horns do the thing today.

Speaker 5 (01:17:40):
There we go, will be a lot of fun again.
Will Matthews joining us here on Space City Saturday. Will
You're the best, buddy. We'll talk soon.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
Thank you, talkcoon later.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
All right, take care again.

Speaker 5 (01:17:50):
Will Matthews part of the Longhorn Sports Network here on
Sports Talk seven to ninety on the radio side doing
sidelines with Craig Way and Roger Wallace as they will
be coming your way a little bit later on So
got that's being part of a great day of football,
both on the college and pro side today. Speaking on

(01:18:10):
the pro side, they're about to kick off there in
Kansas City, and one of our guys boots on the beach,
Adam Clinton there inside Arrowhead. We're gonna check in with
him next right here on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews
here again live from Cedar Creek Cafe, West twentieth Street
in the Heights. Roll on through as we continue here

(01:18:30):
on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
Space City Saturday continues on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:18:40):
Sports Talk seven ninety, A few moments with you.

Speaker 5 (01:18:43):
Here on Space City Saturday, live from Cedar Creek Cafe,
West twentieth Street here in the Heights. As promise, let's
head back to the hot line. Our good buddy, my
good buddy. Everybody's good buddy from the A team. He's
one of the A's. He's Adam Clinton. He is there
at Arrowhead AC. How are we doing up there?

Speaker 4 (01:19:04):
Warmer than I was about two hours ago?

Speaker 5 (01:19:08):
I was gonna say, so, you know, so, I think
people who follow you on social media obviously know your
wife is from Kansas City, all been up there and here.
I thought y'all were going to the game. But then
I was like, wait a minute, Carson would not do
the outside elements for this game, like especially how cold
it is. So I'm guessing the families back home watching

(01:19:28):
in the warmth, watching it on TV, and you're.

Speaker 2 (01:19:31):
There working for us today.

Speaker 4 (01:19:34):
Yeah, forget Carson. Teresa is not going to do the elements.
She's a weakling now that she's been in Texas for
almost half her life. It's cool though, because I like
the cold weather, so I don't get that a lot.
And as I understand it, it's been disgusting back there
in Houston since we've been gone all week, so we've
enjoyed it, although it's been like in the fifties most

(01:19:56):
of the week until a couple of days ago is
when the cold air really came in and then we
woke up and it was like seventeen degrees, so it's like, uh,
I think it's around thirty right now with the sun,
so it'll be a nice brisk day there on a
field in the stands. But yeah, it's I'm looking forward
to it. It's it's you know, you get actual seasons

(01:20:17):
up here, and you get actual elements in December because
there's obviously no a roof on this stadium and so
now all it's about is getting down to business. Although
it does it does feel like a Sunday, it really does.
I'm like, I hear your your show intro saying it's
a Saturday, and I'm like, oh, yeah, it is Saturday.
I've lost all since of time. This whole week being
on vacation such.

Speaker 5 (01:20:38):
As the holidays, I guess, you know, the days just
kind of, you know, run together, you know, for this
game today, I mean I talked about a little bit
earlier offensively for the Texans, the X factor. I think
it's got to be Joe Mixon. I mean, is there
anything I'm missing there on the offensive side? I mean, everybody,
of course looks at CJ. But if the Texans do
come away with this one today, how do you think

(01:20:59):
the storyline plays out?

Speaker 4 (01:21:03):
Well? Protecting CJ is what I've always, you know, been
screaming about all year long. You guys are sick of
hearing me say it. But on a day like today,
where you're lining up against you know, Jones, it's gonna
be a factor. And so yeah, Joe Mixon has been
pretty much a godsend because you look at their record
and you think about how many games the Texans probably

(01:21:23):
should have won, and then you think about, okay, how
many of those games with the lack of passing protection
would they have even been in without what Joe Mixon
has done, And then you know, you factor in the elements.
It's not like it's snowing out there. It is a
sunny day, but cold Weather football just screams to me,
run the football if you've got a bell cow like

(01:21:44):
they do. And so yeah, give that ball to Joe Mixon.
Control the clock as much as you can, and if
you can get some traction, you know you're going to
be in good shape. I do think that you know
the the over under on Joe Mixon as I want
to take him in our stone cold war on the
A team. It kind of makes me nervous depending on
what that number is. And it's a little lower, so

(01:22:07):
I don't know if Vegas thinks that this defensive line
is going to stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:22:10):
Him or what.

Speaker 4 (01:22:11):
But either way, you're gonna have to move the football
to keep pace with what Kansas City does obviously on offense.
And I don't think there was any doubt from the
moment I watched in a Kansas City bar that Cleveland
ending for the Chief last week. I was like, he's playing.
I never thought for a second Patrick Mallins was going
to sit this out.

Speaker 2 (01:22:31):
Yeah, And you know it's funny.

Speaker 5 (01:22:33):
We had our good buddy James Palmer on with WEX
while you were going this week, and he had talked
about this Texans defensive front that they're gonna be able
to get home on Patrick Mahomes. Do you watch enough
Chiefs games too as well? I mean, is that something
that could be a real weapon for the Texans today?

Speaker 4 (01:22:52):
That has to be their weapon defensively? I mean, I
have faith in what their secondary can do at times
depending on the matchup, but you're going to need to
get home a lot on Pat Mahomes and listen if
they can, you know, hamper him in any way. I mean,
I don't know how bad that ankle is. He obviously
doesn't think it was as bad as it was, you know,

(01:23:12):
against Jacksonville, the one he mentioned. But I don't think
the Texans are thinking about that. They're just thinking about
how they can make his life miserable as quickly and
as often as possible today, And if they do, that's
going to give them the best chance to win defensively.
But man, what Derek Stingly has done recently, and that
that game ceiling pick last week, Just seeing that, especially

(01:23:35):
sitting here in Kansas City watching that game and just
thinking about this matchup this week, It's all I thought
about all week long is how the Texans defense is
going to potentially attempt to neutralize a weapon like Patrick Mahomes.
And that's honestly where this game is going to be
probably won and lost.

Speaker 5 (01:23:52):
So I see, like I said, you've been up there
in case all week. Have you seen any of Matt
Thomas's best friends, the traveling Texans? And how deep are
they rolling?

Speaker 4 (01:24:02):
You know, It's funny walking into the stadium there was
a smattering. You know, it might just be chance and
the way I walked in, but there's you know, a
few here and there, and I'm sure there's more that
I didn't see. This is Chiefs Kingdoms. I mean when
they call it that, it really is. I've got a
mother in law that's gonna set out a cardboard cutout
of Patrick Mahomes next to the TV today. I mean,

(01:24:24):
this is what they are all about here. It's it's
it is. When it's chief season, they are all about it.
When it's Royal season, they support them obviously. You know,
it's got that small town midwest field and they are
absolutely die hard and loyals. I got to the stadium
around eight thirty this morning and plenty of them had
already beaten me here and some of them, as I've
pulled camp out before, you know, the night before a

(01:24:46):
game to just get their spot up and running. So
it's a religion here, and you know they're back to
back defending super Bowl champions, so it's a it's at
its peak as far as standom here in Kansas City.

Speaker 5 (01:24:59):
All right, Well just make sure on your way out
of Kansas City before you come back here to Houston,
you tell them that brisket is best not burnt and
not cut up in little.

Speaker 2 (01:25:08):
Pieces that it actually should be enjoyed.

Speaker 5 (01:25:11):
Actually well cut right there in those slices that you get,
so please do that. But anyway, man, enjoy the game.
Appreciate you checking in with us for a few minutes,
and we'll see you back here next week.

Speaker 4 (01:25:23):
I'll be there Monday.

Speaker 5 (01:25:25):
There we go, Adam Clanton again from the A team
up there in Kansas City, joining us here for a
few minutes at the end on Space City Saturday. And yeah,
for everything he's talked about today, I mean, you know,
one of the priorities protect CJ. Stroud, but not only
trying to protect CJ. Stroud, trying to be able to
be in position that you can be able to run

(01:25:47):
the football.

Speaker 2 (01:25:48):
And I mean You've heard the Texans talk.

Speaker 5 (01:25:50):
About it numerous times, almost at nauseum, of staying out
of short yardage situations and being able to you know,
and not only you know, stay out those long yardage
but then also to not put yourself in position where
you're having to try to force the football down the field.
So I think all of that is in their disposal today.

(01:26:12):
That's gonna do it for us here on Space City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:26:15):
Don't forget though, Me and Gordy.

Speaker 5 (01:26:16):
Can be hanging out here at Cedar Creek Cafe for
a little bit, So if you didn't have a chance
to join us during the show, you can come on
through and join us while we watch the Texans game.
So that's coming up right here. I want to thank
Melvin Brown back in the studio. I want to thank
all of you who jumped aboard here today on Space
City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:26:34):
I'm Dan Matthews. Everybody, have a.

Speaker 5 (01:26:36):
Great Christmas holiday and we will talk to you all
next week right here on your home with the Astros
and the Rockets.

Speaker 2 (01:26:44):
Sports Talk seven ninety