Astros Updates on JV, Tucker, and Rotation, Excitement Surrounding Texans Camp

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Two lifelong Houston Sports guys named Adhamraised my Earl Nolan multi by the magnificent
roller coaster ride that is Houston Sports. Chill late down for the only homegrown

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afternoon team is talking your teams.Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the a
team. As we opened up ourtwenty twenty four camp and for this season,
everything starts new for us. It'sabout building a solid foundation. Right.

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If you want to do anything great, it starts with the foundation.
You want to build anything great andgrand, it starts with the foundation,
and that's what camp is about.So I'm truly excited out being able to
get started. Today is day one. As I told our guys, we
have a lot of room for improvement. And there you have it. It
is day one of year two forthe Houston Texans to meet call Ryan C.

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J. Stroud, Will Anderson,Nick Cassio and the other eighty eight
players on the Houston Texans on thefield this morning in extremely un training camp
like conditions. Even the training campthey didn't have in Houston was hardly this
comfortable. While it was sprinkling alittle bit over the course of a what

(01:34):
was a brief opening practice no pads. It was the coolest it's ever been
cool breezy wins and they played alittle football out there again, not in
pads yet, be a couple ofdays before they do that. The stands
are awaiting the fans' arrival, butthey won't be in yet until next week,
the first of several open practices forthe fans coming up on the twenty

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third. But yes, a fullnotebooks worth of notes from the first practice
during training camp of Stefan Diggs,Houston Texans career, Daniel Hunter, Joe
Mixon as He's Elshair, and manymany others. Nearly full attendance for the
Texans today. I know nothing ofnote on the injury front either, so

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a lot of good things coming outof there, albeit on a day where
only a limited amount of work gotdone. We welcome you into the Thursday,
July eighteenth edition of The A Team. Adam Wexler here with you in
our Houston studios. Dan Matthews withus from the last of the four day
SEC Media days sessions and the lastfour teams in the SEC to have their

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coach and players meet with the mediataking place and wrapping up this afternoon.
Texas A and m among them.So we'll dip in a little bit of
the conversation that was held there,including hearing from former Houston Texan turned ESPN
college football analyst Randall Cobb, alittle bit from him over the course of
our show if you missed that alittle bit earlier, some thoughts on his

(03:01):
former team, both the current versionof his former team and the version of
the team that he left when hewas a brief, short term, one
year multi millionaire Houston Texans. Solooking forward to that conversation. Clearly some
comments from the players we spoke withtoday, a full a list at the
podium, both the offensive and defensiveleader of this team, CJ. Stroud

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and Will Anderson Junior, along withthe recently rich Nico Collins, and of
course the head coach and the generalmanager, all a tap for a conversation
today and again Dan, Unfortunately,Day one is as expected. I'm not
gonna sit here and tell you,oh my god, wait till I tell
you what happened on this play.I'll do that about one or two plays

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and a little bit of the overallfeel of the day. But it was
in addition to being day one,in addition to not being in pads.
It was a relatively light workout forthe Houston Texans. Yeah. I mean
that's always a funny thing, isyou know people who try to glean from
training camp practices of oh so andso just beat so and so in a
one on one it's practice. That'swhen that's supposed to happen. So good

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on you for that. I mean, you know, it's more or less
just you know, you just takeattendance. Who's there, who's not.
You kind of went through a littlebit of those names that fit in both
of those categories, And I mean, I also appreciate the Texans for bringing
out the guys that they did totalk with the media. Don't waste people's
time. Everybody knows that we wantto hear from the quarterback, we want
to hear from the top edge rusher, we want to hear from the guy

(04:31):
that got broke off this season.And in addition to them, the two
be able to hear from the headcoach and the GM. So you know,
it's a good day all around.And I just appreciate they that they
don't go the college football route ofdon't have the decals on the helmets.
You have to earn your way.I mean, let's not get ridiculous here.
They're pros. After all, theNFL Houston Texans did that and they

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took names off their jerseys the oneoff set where they did that because they
were a rinky dick organization at thetime. And I don't want to dismiss
what happens at practice. I'm justsaying today was a light practice. I'm
not going to kill somebody first seeinga ball go over his head. I'm
not going to say bench CJ.Stroud went on his third pass of the
day, he overthrew Nico Collins,who was being defended by Derek Stingley Junior.

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Even though it happened, I'm notgoing to burn him for it,
but I am going to tell youwhat happened. And I don't think anybody's
fighting for a job today, butI do know who lined up with the
ones today and the things that haveto happen between now and the start of
the season for those things to fallin place. And aren't that many rookies
that are expected to have an impacton the team this year, but a

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couple of their early picks, theirtop two picks very well could and at
least based on today, one dueto injury and one due to a wide
open spot. They were both onthe field with the first group talking about
Kamari Lassner and Blake Fisher both gettingreps alongside what would be considered the starters,
and Lassner's case, they really don'thave a whole lot at the other
cornerback position other than off side ofDerek Stingley Junior. Is something we talked

(06:00):
about all off season since Stephen Nelsonwas not retained, and we talked about
it yesterday and now seeing it inevidence today, just as I saw over
the off season at all signs pointedto him getting that opportunity. He was
being given that opportunity during much ofthe off season to try to claim that
cornerback spot, and he's certainly gettingfirst chance to beat that guy. Jeff
Acuda obviously was there. CJ.Henderson was there, Mike Ford was there.

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The whole crew of corners, likeI said, or just about everybody
was there and practicing today. Onlyabout five or six guys, most of
whom were on a list, theNFI list or the pop list, et
cetera. We're not out there,so that this is the group that Lasseter
will be competing with, and inthe case of Fisher, he would not
likely be out there with the onesif both starting tackles were at practice and

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practicing today, technically they were bothin attendance, one in pads or one
in uniform. Nobody was in pads, one in uniform talking about Titus Howard,
and he was at his familiar righttackle spot, a next two shack
Mason, and on the other sideof the line, Jeremie Tunsel was working
on the side. He had aminor procedure during the off season. I
sit here in a radio studio andcall it a minor procedure, but an

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arthroscopic procedure. He's healthy, He'sready to go. I think they've got
a specific plan for how he's goingto be used this training camp in preseason,
and my guess is the plan isa handful of practices, zero game
reps, and the starting nod againstthe Indianapolis Colts coming up when the season
opener gets here. But that doesopen the door for somebody to line up

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with the ones, and it wasn'tany of the veteran players. It was
Blake Fisher, and I think that'sa good sign certainly if he holds his
own and again the handful of repsthat he took, which some of which
we could see if you're standing wherethe media is allowed to stand and the
entire team is standing in front ofyou, and then the offense is on
the other side of them, andBlake Fisher's at left tackle off to our

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left, has a lot of bodiesto look through to see who he's even
up against, whether or not he'shandling his blocking assignments or working in tandem
with Kenyon Green who was lined upnext to him, and Jew Scruggs,
who was lined up in the middle. So if you're listening closely, that's
Fisher, Kenyan Green, Juice Scruggs, Shaq Mason, Titus Howard along the

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line for the Texans, among thefirst teamers today. But nonetheless, these
are the things we'll bring you eachday as they get closer to the real
one that counts against the Colts thenext seventeen. For CJ. Stroud and
for Demiko Ryans, and for WillAnderson Junior, and really everybody else who's
a part of this team, evenguys like Nico Collins and a few others
who have been here through either multiplecoaches or multiple coordinators, or quite frankly,

(08:35):
just a lot of losing. Thisis really, I think a year
two for everybody else because last yearwas a clean break from the disastrous three
seasons that preceded it. Well,it's also too, I mean for you
know, both of the young guysyou talked about Kamari last year and Blake
Fisher. It's kind of something thatreminds me and for the second straight day

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after I've crapped on Hard Knocks,it reminds me of the Texans season of
Hard Knocks And I can't remember whatrookie that Mike Vrabel was talking to and
they were on the blocking sled andhe was like, you need a million
of these reps. That's what TmikoRyans is doing with both Fisher and with
Lassiter is I know what Jeff Okudacan do, I know what CJ.

(09:16):
Henderson can do. They can goin there, they can do the job,
but we don't one hundred percent knowwhat this guy can do. And
the same deal with Blake Fisher.You think you do because offensive line play
is at such a premium and sohighly touted at Notre Dame that you feel
like, all right, this guy, he knows how to be physical,
he knows how to take on thoseone on one matchups and be able to

(09:39):
win those one on one matchups.So let's see if he can do it
here at this level, because theycould put anybody else in at that spot.
I mean you talked about, youknow, in the past, of
Charlie Heck and any other guys onthis roster that could possibly be able to
step in. But no, Imean again, it's the same deal.
You know what those guys go see. I think there's a little a difference

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and Charlie Heck, you know whathe can do because he's actually played for
you, played in the NFL,played the position as a reserve and held
his own I think the difference betweenhim cj Henderson Jeff Acuda. Two other
teams have seen Jeff Acuta play andthey were uninterested in resigning him, and
they did not want him out therecompeting for a job, certainly not at
the level he and his agent thoughthe was worth. And so he was
available to any team in the NFLbecause teams have seen him on the field,

(10:24):
and the teams that have actually playedhim, well, they're looking to
keep him off the field. AndCJ. Henderson's even worse. Even though
he was only with the two teamsover the last four seasons, there are
reasons why those teams don't want himanymore as a part of their starting group.
So I wouldn't necessarily say, youknow that CJ. Henderson per se
can do the job. I thinkit's actually the opposite. You actually have

(10:45):
to find out if he can dothe job. He's just not giving them
a better chance, probably during theseason than Lassiter. So I think that's
why they're going this route. There'ssome merit to both of the things.
I think we're pointing out. Youcan't get enough reps for a rookie,
so by all means, let himgo out there. But I think there's
even with the so called clean slate, we don't look at what guys did
elsewhere. We know what kind ofplayers we have here, and we think

(11:09):
this guy can play for us.I think that's a little bit of spinning
it in as positive a manner asthey can. And I know they spent
six million on jeff A. Kudapotentially, but I think they truly believe,
well, the guy that's gonna giveus the best chance to win.
We're not just giving him reps tofind out if that's the case. Where
we're giving him reps because we trulybelieve that is the case, because it's
not the case for a guy likeKaylen Bullock. Bullock's not running with the

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ones, quite honestly, he's notrunning with the twos either. And I
know they have their two starters inplace, Jalen Petrie and Jimmy Ward.
Neither of them are coming off seasonswhere you cannot replace these guys. They
were so good and on the fieldso much you shouldn't be looking to improve.
They actually just didn't do anything rosterwise to improve that spot, essentially,
other than bringing Bullock into the fold. Talking Texans football finally excited about

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it. We'll continue with that nexthere on the eighteam. Back to Adam
Clinton and Adam Wexler, the eighteenon Sports Talk seven ninety Thursday edition of
the A Team wex And Day andhere with you this afternoon. I'm in
Houston, he's in Arlington. SECMedia Days wrap up today, the last

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day without Major League Baseball on thecalendar around the league. We also found
out the twenty twenty five calendar foryour Houston Astros. We'll see if it's
for the ragining twenty twenty four WorldSeries champion Houston Astros over the next several
months. Also know the rotation thatis in place for both the Astros and
Mariners beginning tomorrow night, of courseright here on Sports Talk seven to ninety

(12:43):
evening baseball Friday and Saturday, andthey'll get out of town with their Sunday
afternoon game on their way to Oaklandto get the second part of the season
underway. It'll be game sixteen ofthe second half of the season. They
already at game ninety seven, andthat's what they'll have first pitch for here.
As I mentioned tomorrow night, righthere on Sports Talk seven to ninety.

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So a couple of different things fromall that we're gonna hear from Dana
Brown coming up in the next segment. As weekly visit was this morning on
the Sean Salisbury Show, Ross VIrial sitting in and chatting it up with
Dana. A couple of updates fromhim, and he thought about the possibility
of them expanding their starting rotation,which currently sits at a maximum of five,
because those are the five healthy majorleague starters that they currently have at

(13:28):
their disposal, including Jake Bloss andSpencer raic Getty, who are set to
pitch for the first time in thesecond part of the season, the post
All Star Break portion of the season, when they get to Oakland. We
wanted to lock back in on theTexans on day one about three pages worth
of WEX notes today. I've seenpractice, I've written a little bit about

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it. I've talked to the fansof the Matt Thomas Show earlier today to
give my early assessments of it.Why don't you just tell me what you
want to know about Dan and I'lllet the listeners find out about that.
Tell me what where do you wantme to start camp? Wex. I
like this. It's almost like ourown Texans version of AI. Here,
let's hear about let's go the runningbacks. What did we glean from the

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running backs? Well, as youknow, running backs really have a difficult
time separating from one another before theyput the pads on. But I quite
honestly don't think there is much ofa competition going on other than at the
back end of their six player group. Six players the Texans have brought to
camp at the running back position.Of course, the new starter Joe Mixon,
he is certainly running first, followedby Damian Pierce and Daria Goombawally,

(14:37):
both of whom were with the teamlast year. JJ Taylor was also with
the team last year for much ofthe season on the practice squad, and
then the two rookie running backs,one via undrafted free agency British Brooks.
I guess you would technically say hewas sixth on the sixth man chart,
as they do at least take theirreps on the drills in that order one

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through six, And obviously that leavesJuwar Jordan, the rookie they drafted out
of Louisville, in so called spotnumber five. But after the first two
there's definitely going to be a competition. Be interesting to see how the Texans
and how special teams head coach FrankRoss wants to deploy his coverage units and

(15:18):
his kickoff teams and his punt coverageunits, et cetera, specifically on the
kicking side, because that's where therules have been changed, and Dary plays
such an important role on those units. I think it's almost a given that
he's going to make the team,whether or not he's technically the next guy
in line to carry the football orcome in on certain third downs, or

(15:39):
certainly spell someone due to injury.I couldn't say just yet on day one
and after watching this offseason, butthere's going to be a competition for the
next person, and all those otherthree players I mentioned are certainly in it,
probably Taylor at the back end ofit, even though he has a
little bit more experience, because Ithink they're probably more excited to see what
they can find with the two rookiesthat they've brought in a couple of handoffs

(16:00):
for each of them. There weren'tmore than fifteen, sixteen, seventeen total
plays today in either seven on sevenand in seven on seven there aren't any
running plays, and in eleven oneleven, where yes, there were a
handful of handoffs, none of significance. I mean, if I wanted to
tell you that, say Steven Simmscaught a pass and scored a touchdown,

(16:22):
I probably wouldn't be a lie,although I don't really know that it would
work out that way. Nobody's goingto the ground, nobody's in pad,
so the blocking that you could dothe both down the field and in the
trenches. It's a little bit different, but certainly in the running back room,
you're trying to create some chemistry.You're working on handoffs, you're working
on the plays that are gonna comewhere Mixing's in motion, where he's coming
out of the backfield, where theswing pass to them, and these are

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all the things that they started workingon the moment he stepped on the field
during offseason workouts, during their OTAsand recent mini camp, we'll find out
exactly what's different about both their runninggame and their passing game with Mixing,
And maybe just as important and nevergets discussed, is the blocking abilities of
these running backs. It matters.I know the Texans offensive line is probably

(17:07):
regarded or should be regarded as abetter pass blocking unit than a run blocking
unit. But I think the runningback blocking they've gotten from who whomever's been
back there, both Damian Pierce andDevin Singletary was good. I'm not gonna
call it elite. I don't knowwho would grade a running back as an
elite pass blocker that's a starter,but it was. It got the job

(17:29):
done, and we got to makesure that Joe Mixon will do the same.
He's got nine years of experience doingit in Cincinnati, and I would
assume it will be. But again, these are things day one at training
camp, and they'll have another dayTomorrow and Sunday Saturday before they really truly
are ready to get the pads onin front of the fans early next week,
and that's when we'll see some ofthe some of this at least to

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start to separate from one another.Anything to glean from the linebackers well in
that, I still am looking tofigure out what the issue or if there
even is an issue with Christian Harris, because I don't believe there is.
But unless my eyes deceived me,I think he was literally the only player

(18:10):
that was not at practice today,and I know he was just recently working
out with several teammates and others preppingfor the season. Our crew over at
Channel two, Aaron Wilson, ChancellorJohnson literally just had a conversation with him
a couple days before training camp started. So I don't believe there's any reason
for it. Just did not getan answer for it. And like I
said, if I just simply missedhim, which I'd be fairly surprised by.
I try to do as thorough ajob as I can, and the

(18:33):
binoculars are in hand everybody else that'son the team, even if they are
on the pup list, the NFIlist, Like I said, they were
all there. Saw Andrew Beck,saw Deal, Sean Phillips, saw Dylan
Horton. Obviously I already mentioned JeremieTunsel, who was not on any list,
but he was not practicing today,but he was attending practice today.
Every other player was both in uniformand practicing. So that one thing about

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the linebackers is just a small note. I'll try to get clarification on it
before we wrap things up here today. Other than that, again it's a
little bit difficult with the limited numberof reps. They'll probably run some sort
of hybrid of a four to twofive, which is essentially if you run
a four man front, that's whatyour look is going to be the majority
of snaps in the NFL. SoAl sha Here and Christian Harris as a

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twosome will be among the fastest linebackersthey've had on the field together and will
be playmakers. I think we're goingto see some impressive tackle totals from both
of them, and I think ChristianHarris was an okay player as he rolled
through year one, a little bitbetter player as he rolled through the beginning
of year two, and an exceptionalplayer as he got to the end of

(19:45):
year two. We all have seenhis conversation with Demiko Ryans during and through
the Cleveland game and the postseason wherehe picked off that pass for a touchdown,
and that's the wow play that everybodyremembers. There were about fifteen plays
from each of their last handful ofgames end of the season where he was
just the one making him. Hewas dissecting plays, he was reading plays,
he was reacting properly, he wasleading that defense. And I just

(20:07):
think that gets enhanced and augmented withwhat Asis brings to the table. Absolutely,
a Demico guy, a guy he'swanted multiple times. They hoped to
get him last year when he wasleaving San Francisco, and this time they
do get him when he's leaving Tennessee. So I think of all the position
groups, say the O line dueto injury, the defensive line due to

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their intent on changing the group,their cornerbacks because of what we don't know.
Opposite Stingley Junior and the linebackers ofgroups that are clearly different, different
personnel, different looks than what wegot a year ago. This is the
one I'd be most confident in beingbetter than the group they had. And
I think Blake Cashman was awesome lastyear, but I think year three Christian

(20:53):
Harris and year one in Houston foral Shah here could be spectacular. Yeah,
it's kind of hard to, youknow, figure out what you have
on the defensive line when all you'regetting today is just sleds. Maybe you
know, well, if you're gettingsleds, as you know, it doesn't
mean anything to us because it's fivebillion miles away, as far from us

(21:14):
as possible and as through as manypeople as we could not see through.
And that was a little bit ofthat on the far side of the field,
all right. So I mean you'vegot that, and then maybe if
there is a you know, quicklittle offensive defensive line drills, you're not
gonna go too hard when you're notin pads. I mean, there's no
reason to be reckless, especially onday one. The other part too,
that I wanted to, you know, kind of circle back to, is

(21:37):
what you said about is zis allshare here, you know, and it
kind of ties into what Demico Ryanssaid the cut to start the show today
of building the foundation. I meana lot of people might look at it
and say, year two, well, wait a minute, isn't that foundation
already built? No, this isfortifying it and building on it even more.
Of to the point you brought up, I mean the familiarity that he

(21:57):
has of hey, my lieutenant outthere, like be somebody that can be
the extension of me. We hearabout it all the time for the head
coach and the quarterback. We don'thear about it as much for the linebacker.
But no, it's something to keepan eye on this season for sure.
Looking forward to Aziz being the LieutenantDan of the Houston Texans defense should
be a fun matchup between a marriagebetween he and Demiko for those very reasons,

(22:22):
and he truly will be running thedefense, so that's definitely a point
to note things will run through himand how things kind of play out this
year. They aren't trying to getworse defensively, but they have changed their
personnel. They're trying to be moreaggressive, more disruptive, want to create
more turnovers. If you were justtuning in, yes, I could be
talking about all thirty two NFL teams. To be sure mentioned, we're gonna

(22:45):
hear from Dana Brown on an updateon the Astros. Well, that is
next here on the A Team Houston, it's you're a home team, lifelong
fan here anytime, anywhere. Yeah, I love your whole team. We'll
go to Roger to go. Justtell your smart device Spice Sports Top seven
ninety on iHeart Radio playing Sports Topseven ninety on iHeartRadio. Thursday edition of

(23:11):
the A Team is here with you. One other item on the sporting landscape
not yet mentioned, we'll probably getto it in case you missed it.
The Open Championship ongoing Tiger is playing, I assume, much to Colin Montgomery's
dismay. Remember the most recent Majorwhere Rory McElroy came up just a bit
short, probably gonna come up wayshort this time. If you've already been

(23:37):
made aware of how his round wenttoday, We'll get into that a little
bit later on the show. We'llget into some more of the football side
of things. Texans again are firstin the NFL in getting to practice.
They have the entire team in house. They were on the practice field today
and they're the only team in theNFL that's reached that stage of training camp.
Most of the others will fall overthe next five to six days,

(23:59):
including the Chicago Bears, who willbe their foe on August first at the
Hall of Fame Game, Astros,and the rest of Major League Baseball except
for the Brewers and Twins for reasonsunknown, they'll all play tomorrow and get
started on the second part of theirseason. The Brewers and Twins start a
series on Saturday and have tomorrow alsooff. Interestingly, but the Astros,

(24:22):
Dana Brown, their general manager,has a weekly visit with the Sean Salisbury
Show. This morning, he wasable if if you call it one,
I think he's doing his best,but an update on three pitchers that the
Astros would love to see provide themwith something over the final sixty six games
of the season. Justin Verlander,Lance mccullors, Junior, Luis Garcia.

(24:44):
What is the update, Dana,Yeah, I mean Verlanders starting to throw
sides. You know, that's agood thing with no issues. So that's
a you know, like I said, that's a really that's a good thing.
McCullers has had somewhat of a setback, so he's not throwing that right
now. He's been evaluated each day, and Garcia is, you know,
he's throwing seventy five feet and youknow he's going to get back on the

(25:10):
throw it back on the mount ina couple of days here. So he's
back to making some more progress.So, you know, I was looking
at the light, delight's looking alittle brighter for verbland Or and Garcia,
we're still, you know, sortof day to day trying to figure out
the colors. Yeah, two monthsof baseball left, essentially sixty six games.
Unfortunately, time does start to runout for a return to the mound

(25:33):
this season for Lance mccullor's junior.Hopefully they'll have some more concrete information either
from them or from Lance himself whenthey get back into town after the six
game road trip. Would imagine thatgives them at least a little time to
analyze things, maybe go through aplan, or certainly come up with what
they hope is the next step.Obviously, personally speaking, I'm sure Lances
is just he's probably is beside himselfand can't believe that this continues to something

(25:59):
keeps continue him from getting back onthe mound. Positive signs for the other
two, but again just signs.I don't think we're particularly close on July
eighteenth to seeing Justin Verlander throw apitch in an Astro's uniform. And similarly
with Luis Garcia, I'm sure Iwould guess, and I'm no doctor,
but neither one of them is probablypitching for Houston until at least early August,
and that means if things are goingto change in the rotation, which

(26:22):
Dana will get to in a moment, it might have to be other guys.
Kyle Tucker also hopeful to make areturn to the Astros. Any timetable
on Kyle no, not a cleartimeline, but I would say that,
you know, he's playing catch andhitting in the cage, so he's playing
catch on the field, hitting inthe indoor cage and outside, he's doing

(26:42):
a little bit of light baseball activityas far as baseball movements, so he's
getting there, not feeling as muchof the issue as before, and so
you know, hopefully we can gethim back here soon. We're definitely going
to need him here for stretch runon the second half, so he is

(27:03):
making progress. Thirty five games missed. Astro's offense was excellent without him,
but clearly if you extend the lineupby pushing everybody back a spot after one,
two and three, Janner Diaz hopefullystays hot as he moves into the
five spot. Again an assumption onmy part. Kyle goes in at four.
You got Jeremy Payinna and John Singleton. You figure out day to day

(27:23):
who you want six and seven presumably, and then you also have whatever the
rest of the outfield alignment would beon any given day. Most days that
has been Jake Myers. You canstill with Tucker back. Gives a little
bit more flexibility, I think,DH wise on the days where you'd like
to have Jordon in the lineup,but not necessarily in the field. Joey

(27:44):
low Perfito obviously plays multiple outfield positions, as does Chas McCormick, and at
some point it would be nice ifChas McCormick provided more offense to this team.
Last thing from Dana on Kyle beforeour discussion continues, is about is
there a re assignment in Coyle's future. Yeah, it's probably gonna be a
rehab assignment so you can get histiming right. That's probably know he's been

(28:07):
out for a while since the beginningof the June So it's gonna it's gonna
require you know, some some somerehab games, maybe in sugar Land,
but yeah, I would definitely foresee, uh, you know, a few
games at least just to get astiming back. One thing to note Dan
as we continue this discussion, theSpace Cowboys schedule essentially mirrored that of the

(28:30):
Astros and Major League Baseball. They'reall Star break or their break in time
puts them off the field these lasthandful of days, and they'll be back
on the field is the weekend approaches, if there's an opportunity for them to
get out there. The Astros obviouslyon the road for the next six days.
The Space Cowboys are in El Pasostarting tomorrow, but out of this

(28:51):
break it's only a three game seriesconsidering it didn't start on Tuesday. Their
Tuesday series that begins next week hasthem back here in Houston for six games
against Sacramento. I don't again believefor sure Dana is saying we're that close
to some sort of rehab assignment withKyle Tucker, but it sure would be
nice if he was on the field. If he has to rehab for The

(29:12):
Space Cowboys in Houston sugar Land fromthe twenty third through twenty eighth, or
if not, they're not too faraway. Their next series after that,
albeit on the road, is inRound Rock. Yeah. I mean,
I'm kind of hoping that during thesefour days off that Kyle Tucker used the
Rice method, you know, restice compression. Doctor Dan making appearance on

(29:32):
the show Health Class kind of paidoff for us a little bit, But
that's what you're hoping. That's whatyou do for fractured legs. Well,
I mean, oh, I'm sorry. Deep bone bruises, right, And
that's I think the question that peoplehave now it's kind of like, you
really expect me to believe that thisis a deep bone bruise and that it
was nothing more than that. Ithink we're kind of getting a good idea

(29:53):
there's something more with this. Sothat's the frustration of that. But you
hope that he is able to geton the field here either this weekend or
in the early part of the homestandwhen they come back, would be nice
to be able to get him there. In terms of mccullors, I know
that Dina kind of put the questionablemoniker on him, I'm gonna go ahead

(30:15):
and rule him out. He's donefor the season. I mean, as
we said, maybe there's a possibilitythat we get Garcia back in early August.
If that's the case, then Lancewould at best be the middle of
September. At that point, what'sthe point. I mean, you go
ahead and just try to give itanother go next year, and hopefully he
is healthy and ready to go forspring training. I just don't see it

(30:37):
being a possibility this season. Ijust I think the track record tells you
that it's a long shot at best. Well, I mean, in terms
of the season, I think it'sstill more of a timeline thing than anything
else. The track record obviously ispoor from it. Can he pitch against
standpoint? But yeah, you're intothe final two plus months of the season.
The timeline obviously suggests he isn't throwingcurrently. He's then obviously clearly not

(31:02):
throwing off the mound or flat ground, and he certainly is not on track
for any kind of rehab assignment.So yes, the timing of it suggests
that it would be virtually impossible.I don't know that I would frame it
as what's the point. If hegets healthy and he can pitch and there's
an available spot on the roster priorto the postseason, certainly think it would
make some sense to see if there'sanything there. I don't think it would

(31:25):
be putting any of his future anymore in jeopardy by doing so. If
they feel otherwise, I'm sure theywill act otherwise moving forward, and it
leaves them in an interesting position withthe rest of their group because I know
one thing that they have to consideris lengthening the rotations so pretty much everybody
in it doesn't get overextended before theystill have to win their final thirty five

(31:47):
games of the year, before theypotentially do get to the postseason and still
need to win those games, They'regoing to run into guys throwing on fumes
if they get to the end ofthe season and they have been unable to
add anybody else into the starting rotationmix. And again, Justin Verlander from
a current forty man roster is thefirst in line, but it could be

(32:08):
others in their minor league system,just as it has been for Arraghetty,
just as it is for Jake Bloss. Rotation for the series against Seattle been
announced by both teams. Hunter Brownis going to get the ball first for
the Astros. I think that makesa lot of sense from a rest standpoint
with when he last pitched. RealBlanco obviously pitched in their last game on

(32:30):
Sunday. He'll pitch again on Sundayin Seattle, so he gets a full
week's worth of rest in between starts. The Saturday game will be started by
from ber Valdez. The Mariners aregoing to go with Luis Castillo, George
Kirby, and Brian Wu. Astroshas seen a ton of Castillo, a
ton of Kirby. They have notyet seen Brian Wu so far this season,

(32:50):
but that's who they will get inthe Sunday game. As we take
it to a break here, swingback into some Texans talk here from some
of the Texans out there at practicetoday. As we continue here on the
team, back to Adam Clinton andAdam Wexler the A Team one Sports Talk
seven nineteen two Hay Flush three pointers. The shut clock expires. Home of

(33:10):
your ruckets. Almost ready for theweekend edition of the A Teams. We're
here on a Thursday afternoon. Wexhere with you in Houston and with us
from Arlington as they wrap up SECmedia days. I've not talked a whole

(33:30):
lot about that. We will doso in the four o'clock aurn that we
have all sixteen SEC teams meeting withthe media. This is the final day
of it, and then a littleless a little bit of the offseason still
remains, the final tune ups andthen they're on the practice field. Then
school starts, then they play footballgames at the end of August, and

(33:51):
the season is on. Season numberone for Texas and Texas A and M
to get back together again on Novemberthirtieth. Season one for Texas and Oklahoma
to be inside this SEC, thislatest version of the SEC, and some
fun matchups for some of their opponentsover the course of this upcoming year when

(34:12):
they visit Arkansas among other places,and two huge games on their schedule which
you'll hear right here on your homefor Longhorn Football. The game in week
two against Michigan in ann Arbor andthe game in week seven after the Texas
OU game when they visit or whenthey play Georgia in what could be depending
on how things go for each team, a matchup of the best in the

(34:34):
country and the odds on favorite.I don't know if they've released the media
poll yet to reach the tournament,conference final, the conference title game.
They're in the SEC this year,Georgia and Texas. But I did want
to get to something from the Texanstoday and before Texans practice starts at training
camp at least so once Nick Cassariohas been in charge, he usually addresses

(34:58):
the media that morning at as theymake their way out of the field.
He did that again this morning.And Demiko Ryans obviously will talk after most
practices, handful of days over thecourse of the next several weeks and even
during the season. One of thosedays he'll have off from us, you
know, our extremely hard hitting,headache inducing questions, and they'll give us
the coordinators instead, and we'll getthat this week also with Bobby Slow,

(35:21):
Frank Ross and Matt Burke, buteach of the two of them obviously met
with the media today. And onething from over the weekend just havn't talked
about it a whole lot here,although I did on social media, and
you saw a lot of people thatknew him very well talking about it.
From an extremely sad weekend of eventsall across this country and certainly on the

(35:42):
sporting front, with passing of JacobyJones at age forty far too young,
and I was lucky enough to behere throughout the entire Texans franchise, so
I was certainly here in covering theteam from two thousand and seven to two
and eleven when Jacoby Jones was drafted, made this team to mark for this
team. Was obviously a part ofsome very good Texans teams and then went

(36:05):
on to even greater notoriety and spectacularfootball plays. Here's a player who scored
two touchdowns in the Super Bowl andis known for a different postseason play with
his catch against the Broncos on thereceiving end of a I'll just chuck it
up there and see what happens JoeFlacco, which he's done his entire career
and won a Super Bowl, aswe obviously know doing that, But very

(36:30):
sad news in so many of histeammates, I hope so many of them
were remembered. Just about everybody thatplayed with him at some point here in
Houston and in Baltimore had the same, roughly the same things to say about
him. His personality that was infectious, the energy and enthusiasm he did for
what he was doing the story thathe could tell for coming from where he

(36:51):
did, tiny, tiny, tinyLane College and on into the NFL.
Nick Cassario, who didn't have astrong personal relationship with Chacoobe, was never
on a professional football team with him, but he did tell us in two
thousand and seven it's part of thepersonnel department with the New England Patriots.
He went to Lane College prior tothe two thousand and seven draft and he

(37:13):
worked him out, and so hehad a pretty good idea of what he
was like. He commented on howsmall everything was. The tenth that we
do media in over at the Texanspractice facility, he said, was roughly
the size of the office there atLane College. He gets drafted by the
Texans. As we've noted, he'dcarved out a pretty successful NFL career,
was about to begin a head coachingcareer in Beaumont, and he was teammates

(37:36):
with Tamiko Ryans Dimiko Rans. Beforehe took questions from us this morning,
had some words for Jacoby Jones,his family and obviously some of his sadness
for seeing his friend be gone bad. I just started, first off,
I just extended my since here condolencesto the Jones family. Miss Emily Jacoby
Junior on the passion of Jacoby.Jacoby was a teammate of mine here for

(37:59):
five years. And when you talkabout a guy who was, I mean
fun, fun, spirited, right, loving, caring, right, a
great teammate, the dance machine.He was a fun guy to be around,
and he lit up any room thathe walked into, just with his
great spirit. And he'll be trulymissed. I was very saddened to hear

(38:20):
the news of him passing. Justtruly feel sorry for the family and for
all of his teammates, all thelives that he's touched. Kobe, I
remember he always did a great jobof working camps and working with kids,
and he always did an excellent jobof doing that, and he'll be missed.
My last time seeing him was actuallyour playoff game. We were with

(38:40):
the Ravens and he was honored asa Ravens legend. So that was a
proud moment for me to see himthere honored rite another organization in Houston,
right, and to see him doingthat with his son, it was a
very special moment. And just mindprayers with him and praying for God the
comfort for their family, pretty importantstuff from Dimiko, who knew him obviously

(39:05):
and spent time with him here inthat locker room. There were a bunch
of other players comments that I hadsent back out and quote tweeted Darius Butler
saying, if you knew him,you loved him. Always a man that
showed up with incredible energy and asmile. And to me, going in
the locker room as often as wedid back then and certainly covering him,
there was no question that it wasexactly who he was. And you just
kind of heard the same words fromDebiko. Yeah, he was one of

(39:30):
the go tos in there. Imean you always if you saw Jacoby,
you wanted to try to get him, or also too, as players are
apt to do all the time ofhey let me borrow your microphone, and
they want to jump in on thescrum and you know, ask a mock
question to the player there that's oneof their locker mats and a good friend
and a teammate of theirs. Sono, I mean, Miko hit it

(39:51):
right on the head. He wasalways really a joy to be around.
I mean, you always enjoyed wheneverhe was in your presence, and you
know you're able to kind of spendinga little bit of time with him in
that regard. But you know,the unfortunate truth is though too. I
mean, you know, his timewith the Texans ended on a little bit
of a sour note. I mean, Texans fans were pretty upset with them

(40:12):
for how things went in that AFCDivisional round game against the Baltimore Ravens.
But then you mentioned it, he'sremembered incredibly fondly up in Baltimore for what
he did in the playoffs in thatSuper Bowl run. So yeah, I
mean forty years old, that's meat thirty eight. That's pretty scary to
hear that being thrown out there rightnow. Yeah, I mean, I

(40:35):
understand the plays that weren't made inthat particular game that you're talking about,
and I still I was obviously onthe air at the time, and I
thought he got way way too muchgrief for what took place in that game
when other things were also, Idon't know, potentially a part of that
loss, like the first, second, third, or fourth interception throne either

(40:55):
quarterback that day, granted their quarterbackthat day was the TJ. Yates,
so I get it, or threeinterceptions that he had that day. There
were a lot of plays to bemade. It was so early in the
game, there was plenty of timeto overcome it. I don't even think
it was again, this was notnecessarily the end of the football game.
Their defense kind of came to playin that the Ravens had seventeen points after

(41:17):
the first fifteen minutes. They didn'thave but three points the rest of the
afternoon. Plenty of time to comeback, turn it around, win the
game, and move on, evenwith TJ. Yates trying to throw every
pass to their future Hall of FamerAndre Johnson says in the book that he
was targeted fifteen times on Yates's thirtyfive throws. I remember thinking it was

(41:37):
more like fifty times on fifty throws. Almost every single time it seemed like
he was trying to force the ballinto Andre Johnson and just didn't happen that
day. And some of their playoffteams and pushes have been derailed by things
like, well, they had toremember TJ. Yates, who helped get
him into the playoffs, wasn't thebackup to Matt Shaub. He was the

(41:59):
backup to the backup who was MattLiinert who played a half before he got
hurt and his season ended. Hewas literally Willie Beaman, he was.
He was pretty far down the list, to be sure. We'll get into
a few other things, including JamicoRyans on his quarterback, Peyton Manning on
the Texans quarterback, Randall Cobb onthe Texans quarterback. That's next here on

(42:22):
the eighteen two lifelong Houston sports guysnamed at him talking your team. Adam
Clinton and Adam Wexler are the AEAMAinto our number two here on a Thursday

(42:43):
edition of the eighteen day one forHouston Texans to be on the field for
training camp. Do so again tomorrow. We'll do so again on Saturday.
Won't have more than three practice daysin a row throughout this long training camp.
They'll be off on Sunday before beginningagain at the beginning of next week.
Was out this morning, plan onbeing out there each of the next
couple of days. Gets you everythingI possibly could share with you from what

(43:06):
was seen there, but also wantedto share with some of what was said
there. Adam here with you inHouston, Dan with us here from Arlington
at SEC media Days, and theinteresting part about what's being said about CJ.
Stroud Is, it sounds a lotlike he's in his fifth year,
both from him, from people aroundthe league, from former quarterbacks, and

(43:30):
certainly from the guys that know himthe best here in Houston. He is
only in his second NFL season.This was his first NFL off season as
an NFL player, learning about thingsyou can do a little bit better,
figuring out how to manage his time. It certainly seemed like he was incredibly
busy this offseason doing things pretty mucheverything, although you also know that again,

(43:52):
social media can tell you a lot. Either he just took pictures with
his teammates or he actually worked outwith him. We saw videos too,
We know that he There's plenty ofstuff going on and a guy who came
off arguably the most impressive rookie seasonfor a quarterback, certainly than we've seen
in a long long time. Sixthin passer rating, eighth in yards total,

(44:13):
but more importantly first in yards pergame, being that he missed a
couple of games just under two hundredand seventy four yards per game, led
the league in an interception rate,only had five of them a season ago.
Against his twenty three touchdown passes.He participated in the Pro Bowl games
in his first season as an NFLquarterback, and we're going to hear something

(44:36):
about that momentarily. Here's what afew have had to say today about c
J Stroud, the quarterback heading intohis second season. Don't expect too much
to change because it doesn't have to. According to Demico ryans Man, for
him, now is your second year, and now it's you know you.
I say, there's a comfort levelso you can be a little bit more

(44:58):
vocal right to the entire team,not just speaking to the offense, but
the team has his ear and hecan lean on that a little bit more.
And just CZ doesn't have to changeanything. CJ just has to be
himself right and has made CJ isspecial players just him being himself. He's
great, family, raised the rightway, does all all things the right

(45:19):
way. He just continues to behimself and guys will follow him because of
how he works right, how heshows up with the great attitude. That's
why guys will follow him. Certainlyhelps when you play well and have those
built in characteristics of a leader.Yeah, I mean, and it's something
that when he was coming in,they weren't so sure that he had it
wex. I mean, I talkedwith somebody that said that, you know,

(45:44):
they believed he could develop that,they just weren't sure that it was
going to come this quickly. Andthat's why they brought Will Anderson Junior aboard
as well, because they both knowthey could handle expectations. I don't think
that they really necessarily knew that hecould handle not only the expectations but also
too. Hey, guys are watchingme, Guys are paying attention to what

(46:05):
I'm doing, and it's because ofmy play on the field that everybody wants
to see. Hey, is thisguy doing everything to back it up?
And I've got to tell you,I mean, it seems like this offseason,
aside from some people being upset abouthim talking about other quarterbacks and leaving
games with Amber Rose, aside fromthat, CJ's pretty much said, there's

(46:27):
no reason to believe this is goingto drop off anytime soon, because,
if anything, he looks like he'sworking even harder than he did going in
the last season. So you thinkthere was some question about his ability to
lead his teammates. I think thatit was is he willing to draw that
out of himself? At such ayoung age, or does he need somebody
to kind of help him with that? And that's what was told to me

(46:50):
that it was that somebody's gonna haveto kind of shepherd that out of him.
But I don't really feel like therewas ever a point last year that
it was, oh, hey,you know, Will Anderson Jr. Is
really bringing this out of CJ.I think that CJ kind of himself just
read the room and said, Okay, hey, you know there's a guy
that there is a need for aguy like me to say and do the

(47:12):
things that I do, and I'llgo ahead and do it. One rookie
helped another rookie with his leadership.That's that's what was conveyed to me,
at least that they felt like theyneeded that out of him because of what
Anderson Jr. Was when he wasat Alabama. And I mean had a
chance to talk with him when hewas at Alabama at this very event just

(47:35):
two years ago, so you knowthat he definitely has the moxie to have
that. But for CJ, itwas all right, is it more or
less? Are you a guy thatwants to do the work first, show
the production first, and then youcan start being vocal or do you want
to kind of have those go tandemhand in hand, and he decided with
the second option. Interesting, itcertainly didn't appear that way, just from

(47:59):
being out there and following this team, the things that they did and the
way that he did things. AndI think, if you'll remember, as
I think everyone else does, theydidn't give him the job. We thought
it was kind of ridiculous, andwe wasted our time for three or four
weeks durning training camp fielding questions frompeople wondering, well, why won't they
just say he's the starter when heso clearly will be. I was telling

(48:20):
people, of course he's starting,of course he'll be the one. Of
course he's starting against Baltimore. Ican't believe we're still asking ourselves this,
but they wouldn't acknowledge it. Theydid not name him the starter until so
far into camp, so far throughpreseason games, and again not that they
were exclusively splitting reps between himself andDavis Mills all through that time, though

(48:40):
there were elements of that. Ithink that that kind of showed me he's
going to be able to take thisleadership role from the jump because he's proving
that this should be his offense,proving that he's the guy that can do
us. And I also think whathe did at Ohio State, despite the
he has nothing to do with whohe's throwing to. You know, some

(49:00):
quarterbacks come to the league and peoplewonder, well, how did he ever
get that done? With this group? None of those guys are NFL talents.
He had the other thing working againsthim. How could he not get
it done. He's throwing to nothingbut elite level NFL talents, four or
five guys deep that are gonna probablyhave strong NFL careers, be drafted highly,
be highly touted. And we haven'teven seen what Marvin Harrison Junior is

(49:20):
going to do. And we're alreadyhearing things from his Cardinal teammates about what
a freaky will be this season asa rookie that somehow, I felt like
unnecessarily took away from CJ's ability totell the teammates the ten offensive Ohio State
teammates per se on the field withhim, just follow my lead, let's
go. I felt like one ofhis strongest attributes was his ability to lead,

(49:45):
and maybe that was confused with himnot being I guess quote unquote loud,
not someone who's in people's faces orbeing the so obviously, I mean,
you're a leader by nature because youplay that position, but not every
quarter is a good leader. They'rethey're forced to be the leader because they
play that position. They don't necessarilyhave some of those attributes, and then

(50:07):
the play that comes with it usuallyforces it. I just never thought that
the team, certainly not the players. Maybe this is more of a we're
not unsure yet because we just haven'tseen him yet management side, and I
don't know why, especially the onewho would know as his coach, he's
watching him closely every day. Allof it seemed to come so naturally.
And we're four weeks into the season. They've started two and two, losing

(50:30):
two and then winning two, andI thought, well, we're done with
this. This guy is the unquestionedsuperb leader of this team. Well,
I mean, I think it's reallyleading back to he's genuine. I mean
that's what really I think is theroad that leads to what is CJ.
Shroud is that he's just uniquely himself. I mean, it's not going to

(50:52):
be putting on airs for anybody outthere. It's going to be that he's
just going to be himself and ifthat's maybe having to raise the voice a
couple of volume notches, then sure, why not. But I think that
more than anything, the guys aroundhim will respect it because they know it's
coming from a place of that's whohe is. I think the other part
as well, kind of you know, you mentioned about the competition, and

(51:15):
we'll do that in air quotes becauseit really wasn't a competition. He was
more than likely going to be thestarter regardless, remember too, I mean
I think if nothing else, that'skind of knowing your personnel. There wex
is Dimiko obviously knew he'd already doneit. I mean he had to sit
behind Justin Fields when he was atOhio State, then he had to earn
the job when he was at OhioState, and then he struggled a little

(51:37):
bit when he was the starter inhis first season at Ohio State, and
eventually then became the CJ. StroudThat we've gotten to know who he is,
and a good one at that.All those leadership parts are there,
and I think Will Anderson, sinceyou mentioned it, probably gets less credit
for his leadership abilities, did sayduring his session today, he's learning to

(51:59):
kind of talk more, not beafraid to talk. And I think that's
more in a locker room setting ora huddle setting versus when we see him
out there on the field, butwith his teammates, with the information that
he has, with the way hewants to lead this team. That's why
I keep you know, I thinkeverybody does the same thing I do.
You go back to draft night,and you could not have imagined anything from

(52:19):
a cornerstone standpoint, from a foundationalstandpoint, to go any better than that.
In a span of twenty minutes.You built your franchise with the leader
of your offense and your leader withyour defense. It's great that they both
happen to win offensive in the defensiveRookie of the Year, but that's not
even the point. The point isclearly they're excellent players. They're going to
arguably be the best and most importantplayer on both sides of the football.

(52:44):
But they happen to also be fantasticleaders. Their conversations with each other,
which is something you also noted,are important to where this team is going.
A lot of good things, alot of good things about this team
and they haven't even played. Butone season together. We'll hit you with
our signature segment next here on theA Team, as we do each and
every day Thursday, at this timeAdam Clinton and Adam Wexworth, the A

(53:08):
Team now continues. Why am nowa new signature seven called What's What's up
with that? What's up with that? What's up? I say, what's
up with that? You bet youtime for our signature segment on a Thursday,

(53:35):
and there are plenty of things tochoose from wex and Day in here
with you this afternoon. I stillam having a hard time and trying to
figure out why we mentioned uh ForrestGump earlier, So I will say this
now. I am not a smartman. Please help me out with this.
Help me understand why the team thatis among the most poorly supported in

(54:00):
Major League Baseball has said absolutely yes, let's go ahead and help build a
one point three billion dollar ballpark inthe same area of our ballpark. Currently,
the Rays and the s Petersburg CityCouncil votes to approve a new one

(54:22):
point three billion dollar ballpark with themassive, massive capacity of thirty thousand people.
Why are they saying yes to spendingwhatever their part of one point three
billion is for a team they alreadyhaven't and will not under any circumstances.

(54:45):
It does not appear support. Imean, I'm kind of with you on
just the location of it all,because that seemingly sounds like that's what the
issue is from everybody I've ever talkedwith that's there in that Tampa Saint Pete
Clearwater area, that it's not amatter of, hey, the building sucks,
which it's not great. It's prettymuch like the old Georgia Dome,

(55:07):
or if you went and watched abaseball game in the Alamodome, which I
know if the Rangers have played therea couple of times before the regular season,
and it is, you know,not an issue of people, you
know, not supporting this team.It's just from everybody I've talked to with,
they said, it's just a painto get to if you're in Tampa

(55:29):
itself. You have to go acrossthe bridge, you have to fight traffic,
you're going against you know, allof the things that most major cities
run into in terms of five o'clockin the evening, getting off work and
trying to get over for a game. I don't think it's necessarily going to
be for people, Oh, hey, let's go support this because we have
a shiny new toy. Maybe initiallythey will, but after that, what

(55:52):
are you necessarily going to have tosell them? So I can't quite tell
from a mileage standpoint exactly how farawesome Tropic Cana Field is and the soon
to be new stadium which they hopedto open in twenty twenty eight in Saint
Petersburg historic gas Plant district. Butconsidering it's again in Saint Petersburg, how

(56:15):
much different could it possibly be?I mean, for all the reasons that
I just gave you, I mean, that's kind of why. To me,
I was surprised by all the peopleI talked with, even some on
our iheartstation. They're in Tampa,who has the raised games of why not
clear Water? Why not Tampa itself? And I think that, you know,

(56:37):
nobody really had a good answer onthat, almost to the point where
you had the raise themselves trying tosay, what are we gonna do here?
Or are we going to continue tospin our wheels and maybe get some
traction on getting a new home stadium, or do we need to finally go
ahead and call their bluff and dowhat Bud Adams and others have done to
their former cities before and say,you know what, it's been awesome,

(56:59):
But with this, you guys aren'tcoming with the things that make me,
you know, feel like you're seriousabout keeping us around here. So Montreal,
do you want baseball back? Nashville, do you want baseball's? That's
where we're going next. They've donea lot to develop really good players for
most of the other Major League teamsto use, and nobody regards them quite

(57:20):
like they do Oakland. And yetthey could. They certainly could with how
many players they have not brought back, they have not given big money contracts
to, and thus they're playing elsewhere. Most of the time. It's worked
out. Obviously, there's some playerslike Tyler Glass now and Blake Snell most
recently, who are performing for otherteams for the first time. Glass now
very well before he got hurt andhas an incredibly large contract, and Blake

(57:45):
Snell pitching very poorly when he hasn'tbeen hurt for the San Francisco Giants.
So I'm not saying they're necessarily doinganything wrong with their talent, but they
certainly don't keep a whole lot ofthem. They'll be committing about six hundred
million from the public sector for theone point three billion dollar stadium. Hope

(58:05):
to break ground on it here beforethe end of twenty twenty four and end
of twenty twenty five, and beready to play baseball there in twenty twenty
eight. Again, I understand theneed for something that might draw more fans
and will have bells and whistles,very very small stadium. So when they
continue to have among the lowest attendancein baseball, which is almost a given

(58:28):
with a thirty thousand steet stadium,I can't say, well, they should
be drawing more because there's no wayto get more people in there. And
I thought it was crazy to dowhat they're doing with Oakland in the size
stadium that they anticipate building on theTropicana site there in Vegas. We'll see
how many fans they draw at theiralternate site in Sacramento, where the capacity
there for Major League Baseball will beway under fifteen thousand, and it does

(58:52):
seem like a large contingent of thosefifteen thousand people, as their own owners
suggested, we'll be going to gamesto see the other team play well,
I mean, and that's usually whatthe case is especially there. I mean
it is how many times you're buildinga brand new stadium so the other teams
can be the ones that your fansroot for. Well, not expressly,
but I mean that's in the realityof the situation. What draws people to

(59:16):
Tropicana Field. I mean, let'sbe honest here, Florida and the state
of New York and New Jersey areabout as synonymous with each other as any
place in this country. And sothere's a ton of Yankee fans down there.
Well they spring training down there.Don't you think that has something to
do with it? That that helpsas well? So you get a lot
of people who once the Yankees arein town, saying, hey, we're

(59:38):
gonna outdraw the Rays because well,there's more of us down here. So
where were when you go? Whatdo you do with the other seventy five
games? You try to be ableto have as competitive a team on the
field as you can, and theyhave done that to some point, but
to your point as well, seemslike when there's a good amount of some
of those players that get up toa level where there are arbitration eligible or

(01:00:00):
they could have a chance to geta long term deal. Then they're shipped
off and traded elsewhere, and thesystem has worked for them to a certain
point. I guess if you wantto say that, because aside from two
thousand and eight and twenty twenty,there's not really much success there in Tampa.

(01:00:21):
But I mean, you know,the one guy that they did give
a long term contract to Wex,he's going to prison. Yeah, the
Wander Franco saga was and is extremelysad for the people that were involved,
not for Wander himself, but forthose that were involved with him, and

(01:00:43):
it is shocked. I'm sure clearlythe Rays, had they had information anywhere
near this, would not have donewhat they did. A lot of players
around that time, and it stillhappens get contracts very very early in their
career, on the front side ofmultiple arbitration years ahead of them, and
it's hard for the play to sayno. And Franco's case, again,
how much money he'll actually gets quitedifferent the amount of money he was potentially

(01:01:07):
going to get. But yes,that was the one player they went that
route with. Was there something outthere from sec media days that might fall
into this category of what's up withthat? Say from the appearance that Lane
Kiffin made on the show with Paulf That was definitely. You know,
it's so funny too, because normallythere is always something from SEC media days

(01:01:30):
that again, it's almost like we'reback in high school again. Hey did
you hear what? So and sodid? Hey, did you hear what?
Yeah? Everybody heard it right.And sometimes it's about, you know,
somebody's goofy question in the main roomor something of that variety. But
in this case, right here,it was Yes, it was Lane Kiffin

(01:01:51):
telling Paul finebaumb straight up, Hey, you got me fired at USC.
Oh, come on, Lane,No, I'm serious. You were talking
about what a joke I was andwhat an embarrassment I was for the program
that the chancellor in whoever else atUSC said, hmm, do we want
this representing us now? So,thinking back to that time and it was

(01:02:13):
his path to where he is today, I think pretty much everybody agrees on
one thing about Lane Kiffin from afootball standpoint. He's pretty good offensive mine
and is a pretty good coach offootball. He's had so many odd stops
in his career. The super younghead football coach of an NFL team with
the Raiders, his time at SChis time between where he was then and

(01:02:35):
now being among one of the five, six, seven eight teams that really
truly believe they have a national championshipcaliber football team. If you're not picking
Texas as the team to meet toGeorgia in the SEC title game, you're
probably picking all Miss. Do youthink there's any merit to what he said?
He had won twenty five games inthree seasons there and had a winning

(01:02:59):
record in the early portion of thatfourth season when s he said, yeah,
Paul's right, this guy's a joke. You're fired. Well it's also
too, I mean, he didn'tdo himself any favors because remember at the
time what Lane was thought of being. I mean, even when he got
to Alabama, you still had Danieltosh on Tosh point zero making fun of

(01:03:19):
ganger position. Yeah exactly, butyou know, making fun of him,
saying, hey, you're in thisposition because of who your daddy is.
And it wasn't until he went togo work for Nick Saban and took his
lumps and took his humility and thencame back and people were like, well,
this guy can actually coach some offense. And then he went to FAU
and then ended up at Ole Misswhere people are like, Wow, you

(01:03:43):
know this guy actually has grown upa lot. He's actually a pretty darn
good coach. Maybe we should listento him. Yeah, Lane on The
Fine Bomb Show said you were wrongabout this, and you were wrong about
Miley Cyrus, but thanks for gettingme fired. Great times at SEC Media
Days. It's the fun that isthis time of the year. There's no
doubt about it. And you know, this year a little bit tame.

(01:04:03):
We didn't have any conference realignment,news breaking or anything else, so you
know, all in all, arepretty easy. Four days here catch quick
break here on the A Team Shadeafter four point thirty of the eighteen wex
here Dan Matthews there at SEC MediaDays. Someone they caught up to We're

(01:04:25):
going to hear from here in justa minute, and wanted to mention there
since we just heard from Jalen.Rockets will wrap up their non tournament portion
Vegas Summer League with their ballgame tonight, their fourth game that was already schedule.
We'll find out their spot in thetournament following the result. Everybody plays
in the tournament. It's just amatter of how many times you will play

(01:04:45):
Rockets also have seen more than enoughfrom Cam Whitmore at his second tour of
duty at Summer League. Probably notgoing to be repeat champion MVP as he
was a year ago, but I'meven he played three games, let alone
two games, and now he andmost of the rest of the expected rotation
for the Rockets hed get ready fortraining camp, which is still a month's

(01:05:09):
away reached. Shephard probably is goingto be a part of that rotation.
It'd be interesting to see if there'sany time needed for him to be spent
away from the team. More onthe Rockets as the days presents. The
Rockets obviously taken quite a bit oftime off before they get to camp,
their Summer League portion, free agencydraft, all happening in very short order.

(01:05:30):
The NBA season just ended in midlate June. We're still in mid
July and all of those things tookplace, and then basically it's the cold
zone for the NBA after that.We were talking about c J. Stroud
when we last visited the NFL Chatterbefore What's up with that? Wanted to
pick back up on some of thethoughts about c J. Stroud, Dan
and Chris at SEC Media days ableto find a former Texan turned media member.

(01:05:57):
Finally for Randall Cobb had been inthe NFL up until about five minutes
ago and has now landed work withESPN. Gonna hear his interview in full
a little bit later on in thisshow coming up at five thirty. But
comments from Randall Cobb about c J. Stroud, Yeah, they're good.
What I love to hear is himtalk about the game. When he talks

(01:06:18):
x'es and o's, you know,he knows what he's talking about, the
way he talks about protections, theway he talks about picking up blitzes and
being able to get people in theright position and making the plays when they're
there. And he's very efficient.He moves around into pocket really well.
I really enjoy his style of game. Pretty good stuff from a former NFL

(01:06:42):
wide receiver. Yeah, it's alsotoo. I mean, you know,
it's a lot of the same thingsthat you hear from people when they don't
get to see a certain player allthe time. And I'm not saying that
Randall Cobb doesn't watch a ton ofTexans games, but I mean, you
know, it's some of the thingsthat we get to know. I've told
you what it's it's called Peter Kingtheory, where he knows a lot about
the league as a whole, butyou probably know more about your team than

(01:07:06):
he does. And you know,I mean, I'm sure he's able to
kind of catch up as much aspossible on the team that is drastically different
than the last time that he lefthis team. I mean me and Cordy
were talking about a little bit earlier, wex didn't he compare the Texans at
the time to a startup business?Uh? Yes, And that will be

(01:07:27):
broached in the conversation with Randall coplater this evening, about an hour from
now. He probably has some knowledgeof CJ, considering he was on the
field with him last year while theJets were embarrassing the Texans to the tune
of thirty to six. He caughta pass in the end zone scored against
the Texans. But yes, onthe offensive side, I'm not sure how
much intel he was truly getting frompart of a day's work, arguably the

(01:07:53):
worst day's work during CJ. Stroud'srookie season. I gonna say, I
mean, it'd be kind of atough toss up right there, that one
or the Carolina game, where itseemed like Frankie Luvu was everywhere, that
CJ. Stroud tried to throw thefootball that day, and yeah, just
it was one of those weeks thatwas not a great one, but that
one in particular was incredibly frustrating allthe way around, where the Texans just

(01:08:17):
had zero chance of winning that game. I mean, I'd have a hard
time considering he also got smashed inthis game and lost for two games because
of it. I mean, theydid lose to Carolina on the last play
of the game, and they didlose both to Baltimore and Indianapolis to open
this season. But I don't reallythink anything's close to both his and the

(01:08:40):
team's performance against the Jets defense.For not the entire game, obviously,
like I said, he was hurt, but he got hit as often as
he did in any other game,if not more, at the fewest completions
he had in any game, theworst percentage, the fewest number of They
couldn't move the football, He couldn'tthrow the football, they couldn't complete passes.
To me, it was far andaway the worst performance by the offense

(01:09:01):
and CJ. Well it's also too, I mean, I think if nothing
else for a young football team.It's kind of a do you believe me
now kind of scenario that can bebrought up by Demico Ryans after that of
don't just go somewhere and think,oh, well, hey, number twelve
is not playing in this game,or I guess he wears number eight.
Now they're in New York, soyou know, just because you don't have

(01:09:25):
Aaron Rodgers playing in this game,but he didn't play defense. This was
about the offense getting embarrassed. Well, it was both though. I mean
it was a nothing, nothing gameat the half, but then the second
half, that's when you had ZachWilson starting to look like huh man,
maybe looking should cut him. Welleventually, yes, but he at least

(01:09:45):
looked somewhat capable that day. Iwould say somewhat is the operative term.
I mean, I can't deny thenumbers. This is probably the best game
statistically he's had in his entire career. But yeah, again we can.
The good news is there aren't manygames to compare it to, and hopefully
there aren't any games this year.I would think very strongly about saying he's
not gonna have any games that looklike that of this season that are that

(01:10:09):
showing the offense that much of aninability to move the football, put drives
together, put yourself at least inposition to score points, and that I
thought was one of the ways wherethis offense was very good, despite not
necessarily ranking among the top of theleague and EPA and other certain statistics as
an offensive whole, or even inscoring, although significantly better than what we'd
seen in recent years, just theconsistency of having drives go somewhere, not

(01:10:32):
opening games with a three and outfollowed by a three and out, not
opening games looking for points on intothe second quarter because you just haven't gotten
anything going. I think that's somethingwe saw differently both at the beginning and
then throughout the year, pretty muchafter Week two. C J. Stroud
on CJ. Stroud from earlier todayafter his first practice in training camp this
year, on dealing with the expectations. Guess what they're high. Just work,

(01:10:57):
you know, That's all it's about, is just working. You know,
either you do it or you don't. You know, we're the ones
on the field that got to gofigure it out, and you know,
I think we'll do that where we'replaying ball. Since we've been kids,
and you know it's not gonna beeasy. It's gonna be harder. You
know, we have a target onour back this year, and you know
that's how you should want it,you know, And that's what I'm used
to playing at the High State.And you know, I'm just I'm really
you know, honored and blessed howthe teammates that I do to want that

(01:11:18):
challenge and for guys that want tocome and play here, because you know,
this is if this second team isn'tfor everybody's hard here and you know
we're we're blessed enough to play agame that we've been playing since we've been
kids. So you know, Idefinitely do think that all the expectations,
we just work. I mean,everything will take care of itself. Stories
already ridden. So two things fromCJ. I'll ask if you agree with

(01:11:40):
he said we've got to target onour backs, you believe that is accurate
here in twenty twenty four. Definitely, I mean I think that there are
probably some defensive players out there,at least individually for him, that want
to say I can pick them,I can get to them, I can
I can sack them. I mean, that's just the element and that's just

(01:12:00):
the nature of what this league isso for him for sure, because now
it's the rest of the league,those who have or have not played him
saying oh that was nice what youdid as a rookie. Do it again.
And I mean, and he's notonly getting that from outside the building,
he's getting it from inside the buildingas well. What do you mean
by inside the building? Well,I mean in terms of no complacency,

(01:12:21):
build off what you did. Andnot only that, I mean, I
think that he is a type ofguy that probably worries about, all right,
what am I doing that can beperceived as a weakness, Like what
am I doing that can come backto hurt me on the field. And
honestly, I don't think there's aton of them. I mean, just
because of how advanced he was asa rookie last year. And I mean,

(01:12:45):
I don't think you have to lookany further than the play he had
for that touchdown. I think itwas right before the half that he had
where it was a fake boot tothe right. He gets so much of
a misdirection of the defense able tothrow them off of him at that point
that it was good enough to haveDalton Schultz on a crossing pattern and he
was able to hit him in stridefor the touchdown. The Browns game,

(01:13:08):
the playoff game, the playoff game. Yeah, that's right, that was
a play to shoot, I meanin the playoffs, in that situation to
get a guy that wide open.It was I'm sure Dalton remembers it a
little differently as he caught it kindof twice. It was a perfect pass
right in his hands. He wasso open. I think it as sometimes

(01:13:28):
it will do. He wasn't surehanded with it. He didn't drop it.
He did get into the end zone. But yes, those are the
things that make me look back attheir OC and say, man, it
is an awesome, awesome thing thatthere's a year two in Houston for Bobby
Sloweck and this Shanahan type of offensebecause guys are open all the time.
Another segment here this hour, moreon and from C. J. Stroud.

(01:13:51):
Next back to Adam Clinton and AdamWexler. A play Sports Talk seven
ninety for the cut home of yourAstros Summer of fun. Love you here
on the A team here on SportsTalk seven nine, and we know you

(01:14:12):
love your music and your concerts,so let's send you there continues here thanks
to you listening to the program sevenone three, two one two five seven
nine of the number you can callto give us the answer to this question,
which you will know the answer tobecause you've been listening to today's show.
Tickets to go see three eleven WallNation. It's the Unity Tour Neon

(01:14:33):
Trees also performing live on August twentieth, seven to one to three music.
Oh, We've got a pair oftickets to go see the show. Tickets
are also on sale now at ticketmasterdot com. If you are listening today
to our signature segment, it's what'sup with that? Each of us had
something to discuss that's I guess alittle bit over our heads, or what's

(01:14:54):
up with what was going on there? What did each one of us have
for that topic or what did eitherof us have? You only need to
remember one. I know it's hardto remember what you heard at you know
four nineteen and again at four twentyfive, since you were listening the whole
time. But if you remember eitherone of them, then just call in.
Trey, our producer will handle hisbusiness and get you those tickets.

(01:15:15):
What were either of the two topicsof today's What's up with that hurt a
little bit earlier here and every Thursdayduring our signature segment on the eight team
seven one three two one two fiveseven ninety and tickets to go see the
Unity Tour will be yours. Obviouslytalking a lot about the Texans who just
got started with training camp today,a little bit extended because of their involvement

(01:15:39):
in the Hall of Fame game,and cool that they are involved in the
Hall of Fame game, and thatit will bring the entire team to Canton,
Ohio a couple days before induction ceremonies, their first ever to be a
part of in earnest with Ed Reidbeing a Hall of Famer. Yeah,
he put on a Texans uniform.Look, it's a tiny bit different when

(01:16:00):
Andre Johnson is going into the Hallof Fame. So it's gonna be an
extended stay away from Houston. Setup their preseason schedule also to take them
to Pittsburgh for their next game,two road games then two home games in
the preseason for Houston, so theywon't come back in between, but rather
stay for the induction on Saturday afterplaying Thursday, remain in Ohio for a

(01:16:20):
couple of days of practice and thenmake their way to Pittsburgh to take on
probably justin Fields, possibly Russell Wilsonand the Pittsburgh Steelers, and whatever else
they throw out on their field.Hopefully get an idea from Demiko over the
next few practices what their plans arefor their team and who's going to be
used in these preseason games. Wealready have questions now every year about how

(01:16:45):
teams view preseason games one, two, and three. Which games are treated
like the start of the season,which games aren't, how much are the
ones going to play at all?And last year the Texas had a rookie
quarterback going through those three games anddid not play him very much, which
I add and thought was perfectly fine. Season played out as if that certainly
was Now with four preseason games,they actually do have four quarterbacks in camp,

(01:17:09):
Davis Mills, I would assume we'llplay in the majority of the games,
if not all four of the games. Case Keenum is still here,
Tim Boyle is still here and nodifferent from last year, at least in
practice. That's the order they're runningthem in. Remember, case Keenum was
the third string quarterback based on howhe was deployed in practice all season long,

(01:17:30):
except for the week preceding the twogames after the Jets game, where
it turned out he was starting thosegames. He wasn't used as the one
throughout camp, It wasn't used atthe one at any point when CJ.
Stroud was out, wasn't used asa two at any point during those times,
and there was somewhat a surprise starteras they got into the first of
those two games after CJ. Stroudwas hurt against the Jets, and they

(01:17:53):
come into the season acting in thevery same manner. I'm not sure that
they carry three quarterbacks again in thisyear. Would you advocate for doing it
the same way they did a yearago in that that quarterback room actually seemed
to have some value in helping CJ. Stroud do some of the things he
did. The younger player who's alittle bit in competition with him at the

(01:18:15):
beginning, but still on that sideof things, in Davis and the clear
veteran who I think helped a greatdeal, especially in the way that the
I guess the families of case Keenumor a significant other in Davis's case at
the time, they're now married andCJ. Kind of built a relationship,
hung out together, and we heardnothing but good things from all three of
them about each other all year.No. Absolutely, I don't want to

(01:18:39):
have any uncertainty whatsoever in my quarterbackroom. I mean, you know,
we saw it play out last yearand it worked out just fine in Cleveland
with Joe Flacco. Hey, Joe, are you retired? Sort of well,
I mean, as long as thedoor is still open, would you
like to put on a jersey andthrow footballs? And for much of the
season he did. Okay, We'veseen that happen other times. I mean,

(01:19:01):
I'll never forget walking into the Texanslocker room after both Shob and Matt
Liner got hurt and saw a versionof Jeff Garcia that I was like,
how old is he? What ishe sixty? Like, I mean,
completely gray all the way through.And even Jake Deloam where he straight up
said I was fine being done playingfootball, but then they called, so

(01:19:25):
I said, hey, what thehell, I'll drive over from Lafayette and
he ended up getting action in alate game later on in that twenty eleven
season. Yeah, do you thinkthere's value in having Keenum here all season?
Value and having that quarterback room ofthree essentially remain unchanged. For sure.
I think there is. I meanbecause you have playing experience, and

(01:19:46):
with playing experience, in a pinch, if I need you to come into
the game, say I don't know, CJ. Stroud's helmet comes off or
just like what happened last year inthe Meadowlands, he's got to be evaluated
for a concussion. So put somebodyout there that at least you can feel
like, hey, they're not goingto be completely reckless with the football.
They're not going to if we're losing, make us lose by even more,

(01:20:09):
maybe even give us a chance thatif we can make a play here defensively,
we can climb our way back intothis game. So no, I
want experience. I want people Ican count on in those spots, and
both of those guys can do that. Yeah, I'm curious if they view
it in a football sense or moreof a comfort sense. And these guys
are working on game plans all week. They provided assistance, guidance, knowledge

(01:20:32):
and the away from the Sunday actionof it part of it. It certainly
seemed to do wonders for him.Again, I'm not giving them too I
hope not too much credit for helping, but I do think it mattered that
they were there. I think itmattered how they built the rest of the
staff around the quarterback, not justwith Bobby Slowek the OC and their quarterback
coach, Jarrod Johnson, but specificallygoing out and bringing in a long time

(01:20:54):
offensive coach like Bill Laser, havingShane Day in the building last year,
for all of these people to besurrounding CJ to try to make sure whatever
we can do to make this playingfootball basically as easy as possible, few
other things that he has to concernhimself with the better and I thought it
was very smart to do. Ididn't know how it would play out,
and obviously played out tremendously well.Shane Day is not returning to the Texans,

(01:21:17):
He's gone back to the Chargers towork with Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert.
But for the most part, therecan be continuity this year, and
I think from the football side ofit, there are some real thought about
what will football games and Sundays looklike if CJ isn't the quarterback. Because
they were forced into looking at itlast year and because they felt so strongly

(01:21:38):
about Case's ability to win a gameor two. He won one, the
team was trounced by Cleveland. Inthe other game, offense wasn't real good,
defense was really bad. And obviouslythey managed their way in and out
of that Tennessee game with a victory. Huge catch from Dalton Schultz late in
the game and a big play fromKeenum and Devin Singletary late in the game

(01:21:58):
helped to make that happen. ButI do think there could be a situation
where if CJ is not playing,they might consider both of them are going
to be needed in a game.Moving forward, both of them might be
needed on the same Sunday. Soif I were to guess, and as
I did in my blog post beforetraining camp, I do think all three
quarterbacks will be there. We'll probablysee a bunch of Tim Boyle in the

(01:22:19):
preseason before he's ultimately told you you'renot needed here. Don't think they'll add
any quarterback to the practice squad ifthey're carrying three on the regular roster,
and the NFL did slightly change therules on how you can utilize players on
the practice squad if they're quarterbacks,third quarterback, et cetera. On game
day. Looking forward to all ofthat football at five. On the other

(01:22:40):
side, haven't heard from Will Andersonyet, Ornico Collins. We'll hear from
both of them when we come back. Five o'clock means football at five on
the A team. Adam Clinton andAdam Weckler are the eeam. You're right
if Russell Football's five o'clock, somefive o'clock football. Professional football in America

(01:23:12):
is a special game, and that'swhy HIT is top at number one at
five o'clock each and every day onthe A team, other than when Chandler
Rohan joins us as he did yesterday. Let's talk some football here on the
A team. Wex here with youon a Thursday afternoon. It is day
one for the Houston Texans at trainingcamp, and there was plenty to see.
There will be more to see lateron in training camp, but the

(01:23:34):
first opportunity in season, so tospeak, see Stefan Diggs out there and
his number one jersey. He wasobviously here during much of their off season
program and we had already had achance to talk to him, but nice
to see him out there. Somethingyou wouldn't see unless you were there or
somebody talked about it on social media. So you took it from there.

(01:23:55):
He does a lot of talking,and I mean that in the best way
possible after he's finished a rep,even in wide receiver drills where they're literally
lined up behind one another on bothsides of the four quarterbacks that are throwing.
You'll run arout, you'll catch yourball. You go back to the
opposite side of the field and lineup again. Whoever joins him Shortly thereafter,

(01:24:15):
he's talking to them. When theones come off the field in a
seven on seven or eleven on eleven, he is talking to Tank Dell,
he's talking to Nicole Collins, he'stalking to Steven Simms, any one of
the other wideouts. If he's nottalking to CJ. Stroud or case Keenum,
Who've all had lengthy conversations in themidst of practice today. Talking with
Derek Stingley Junior, in the middleof going from one drill to another,

(01:24:36):
the two of them are basically ona midfield on practice field two just having
a conversation, undoubtedly about something oneof them had seen in a route or
vice versa from the offensive versus defensiveside. And I think we're just gonna
see much much more of that andit certainly sounds like the players his teammates
have value in it. I knowhis departure from Minnesota first after five season,

(01:24:59):
Buffalo more recently after the last fourseasons. People wonder about things that
I think there are really far offbase about him. A bad teammate,
a me first type of player,which almost inevitably has dropped on any wide
receiver who's awesome and doesn't stay inone place. You name it, It's
been dropped on all of them.There are different reasons for it, and

(01:25:21):
I'm not saying it's all misguided.I just don't think it's a proper way
to look at this particular player,or for the most part, any of
them, because what they're trying todo is usually help the Teamterrell Owens,
I think, in the same waywas his handling of his own teammates.
I think kind of put him ina position where you weren't you were going

(01:25:42):
to have the hard time being onhis side. I actually was throughout the
most part, and he was justtrying to you, I don't have to
have the ball on every play.I'm not the only good player out here,
but I bet you if you getme the ball, we're gonna be
better off for it. And asthings went away from that in Buffalo this
past year, and it was kindof a mid season thing when they change
those seas and changed the direction oftheir offense a little bit more run heavy

(01:26:05):
and a lot less digs heavy.He could see the riding on the wall.
It wasn't him asking out, itwas him saying, well, you're
not using me in the way Ithink I can help this team win games,
which I've done for the last threeseasons, three Pro Bowl seasons.
Last year also was a Pro BowlGames season for him. But he's super

(01:26:25):
productive and a really big reason whyJosh Allen and that offense had been so
successful. Interesting in that he comesto this team with Tank Dell, with
Nico Collins, and the most recentprojections from a betting standpoint over unders for
Stefon Diggs I don't disagree with,but they certainly will point him in a
much lower direction than he's been inthe last three seasons. An over under

(01:26:46):
of eighty six and a half receptions. He's had better than one hundred each
of his four seasons with Buffalo,one of his five seasons in Minnesota more
than that, and nine hundred andfifty and a half yards, which would
be his first non one thousand yardseason since twenty seventeen. Also shows you
he's been healthy throughout his career,healthy enough to play at least fourteen games

(01:27:09):
for seven consecutive seasons. He's onlymissed one game in the last three seasons.
I keep looking at the numbers forhe and Nico and a Tank Dell
from a betting standpoint, an overunderstandpoint, and I want to bet the
over on all nine of the figures, the over under on receptions for all
three, the over under on yardsfor all three, the over under on

(01:27:30):
touchdowns for all three. I'll seeif I pull through with that, or
if I just watch and see whathappens. A lot of talk about Stefan
Diggs there today over at Texas trainingcamp because he's one of the new parts
of this offense. This particular teamcan benefit from a lot of different aspects
of what their group has to offer. So let's go to the whiteouts for

(01:27:53):
this first comment on it. NicoCollins on what he's gotten from Diggs and
other veterans in there. Extremely talentedand deep wide receiver room, a lot
man, He's a fit I've beenwatching Diggs man for a while, you
know what I'm saying. Like,Dude, when I was in middle school,
he was Minnesota making players. Soit's just crazy that he's he's part
of the squad, the squad ofthe team. Man and a vet in

(01:28:14):
the room, something like lean onasked questions him, Woods or everybody.
I feel like it's always room forimprovement, always, you know, picking
brains, knowledge you know from avet, you know that's been in the
game for a minute. You know, you know how to go about his
businessman and great he probably is init. And he shared that I feel
like it's just too many, toomany. I feel like it's just playing
ball, you know, just differentplayers, different routes, you know,

(01:28:36):
with the linebacker or the corner outside, you know, just different stuff.
You know. Just I feel likewe all just learning from each other talking.
You know, he asking us,we're asking him. You know,
just we all just lean on eachother. Man. I feel like that's
that's what you need, you know, as a team. You know,
if you want to go to whereyou want to go. Love that last
part of what he said, he'sasking me to. Nico Collins earned his

(01:28:56):
contract with his play. Granted,one great season was is what he has
currently on his resume, and Ido regard last season is great. I
would hope everybody else does. Twonearly thirteen hundred yards, eight scores,
eighty catches, and a clear numberone who was also able to answer the
bell essentially all season. He wasout there for seventeen of their nineteen games.

(01:29:16):
The other receivers that he played withthis past year weren't able to say
that, and the dynamic of whatthey had last year changed dramatically when Tank
Dell was no longer out there,and that was for the majority of the
second part of the season and obviouslyon through the playoffs. To think that
they could draw up a play onthe opening play of what essentially was a
playoff game against Indianapolis to have himbeat his man deep directly down the middle

(01:29:40):
of the field and you put along seventy five yard touchdown on the board
immediately and kind of show the Coltswhose boss. That was phenomenal And I
do think there's something to learn.Each of these three guys is a little
bit different in specifics to their size, specific to their skill sets. Dell,
Diggs and Collins and quite honestly,the progression of size is also there,

(01:30:00):
Dell Billing being on the low end, digs right there in the middle,
and obviously Nico Collins the true bigwide receiver, big target. I
wouldn't consider any of them exclusively likethe term of red zone target. They're
all going to catch touchdowns from CJ. Stroud for all the different reasons I
just talked about. It isn't aleague that says, oh, we got

(01:30:20):
a six to four receiver, soat least one of these three plays,
if we have to run three insidethe ten, the fifteen to twenty is
gonna be the awful low percentage fadeto our big receiver. Just let him
go up and get it. Iknow it seemed to work quite well with
a guy like DeAndre Hopkins. Youknow what worked better than that. It's
the play they ran last year withNico Collins that they should have run even

(01:30:42):
more often with DeAndre Hopkins. Justrun a slant. You're gonna beat the
guy off the jump. You gotthe quickness to beat him, You're gonna
shield him with your body, andyou just trust your quarterback to put the
ball right in your gut, basicallyright in your your numbers and the play's
over, it's a touchdown. You'rea five yard inside slant this ball game
with a receiver with that body.I think the Texans recognize that and will
employ that play quite a bit thisyear because of the group that they have.

(01:31:06):
So that's what Nico had to sayabout Stefan Diggs. Others obviously talking
about him as well, including hisquarterback on Stefan, really, it's how
hard he works, man. Youknow, he's somebody who you know,
loves the game and doesn't cheat it, you know, and that's why he's
been successful, and you know,I think he'll continue that success. You

(01:31:27):
know, I'm blessed enough to hopefullybe a part of that. And you
know that's some things that just stickedout for me is just how personal he
is, how relatabil he is.He's really friendly and very vocal, so
it's really nice time around you.Hear that from his current teammates, and
honestly, if you listen to anythingthat Josh Allen has said publicly, his
most recent quarterback, it just doesn'tsound like the player that I don't know

(01:31:50):
if it's the media or whomever,is saying that he is and it's certainly
not anything we've seen. We've seensome sideline outbursts from Stefan Diggs. I'm
not trying to pretend those things don'thappen and haven't happened, and haven't happened
with a quarterback who's one of thebest in the league, with an offense
that's one of the best in theleague, with a team that's advanced in
the postseason more often than not,despite running into the Chiefs almost every time

(01:32:15):
and seeing their season end. Heck, their season ended at the hands of
the Texans not that long ago whenJosh Allen had his first postseason game.
But until it goes a different way, and it's possible it never will.
Because Diggs has just the one yearcontract to play here in Houston, many
think it's a it's not a proveit year, it's a I can still

(01:32:38):
do it, so I get onemore big contract type of year, And
both he and the Texans agreed tothis formation of the new deal with him
having deals years left on his dealwhen he arrived and they decided to go
this route instead. So it isa little bit of a I want one
more big deal, so I'm goingto go out there, and I think
still first and foremost help this teamwin. He's probably not going to break

(01:33:01):
the bank with some crazy contract ifhe posts moderate numbers. I understand that.
I'm sure he understands that. ButI don't know that it is even
possible like a one hundred and fifteencatch season for Stefan Diggs here unless there
are injuries all over the place onoffense, I don't even see how that's
possible. And it's no knock onhow he can still play, no knock

(01:33:24):
on helly, he can still getopen, no knock on his downfield speed
that some people think he's lost.I just don't think that's possible in this
offense. Of course, it waspossible in Buffalo's offense when they're number two
receiver or their number one tight endwas well, first of all this past
year. There were such kids thelast two years at the tight end position,
albeit very talented knocks and then Kincaidas well, but gave Davis is

(01:33:47):
downfield threat, and that's pretty muchit. I'm not too dismayed that it's
Jacksonville who spent the money on GabeDavis. You were throwing the ball to
Stefan Diggs. Because he was yourbest weapon. He was a reason you
were going to win games. Hewas the guy you wanted to get the
ball to. It's just it's notas barren here in Houston, Schultz,
Mixon, Dell Collins, and StefanDiggs at the disposal of quarterback CJ.

(01:34:12):
Stroud this year. In case youmissed it, we got that next.
We now returned to Adam Clinton andAdam Wexler on Sports Talk seven ninety that
music means time to revisit a coupleof things we've talked about but not in
quite some time, or hit youwith a few things we've not yet gotten

(01:34:35):
into worthy of our time. Incase you missed it, here on a
Thursday edition of the A Team Bythe Way, Tomorrow's program on a Friday
will include a visit with Jeff Blumas per usual, beginning at three o'clock,
and look ahead to the second partof the baseball season, which finally
will get back up and underway tomorrowfor nearly everybody. Astros and Mariners go

(01:34:59):
to Tomorrow Luis Castillo for Seattle andHunter Brown for the Astros. The Astros
announced Hunter Brown from ber Valdez andRenel Blanco will make the first three starts
of this second part of the season, the three game series with Seattle games
eight nine to ten. Of theirseason series with Seattle, they have lost
five of the first seven. Theyjust played games eight, nine to ten

(01:35:25):
against the Texas Rangers going into theAll Star Break, losing two of three,
which leaves them even for the seasonin their ten games with Texas,
five up and five down. Ifyou missed it earlier today, Major League
Baseball and of course, the HoustonAstros announced their twenty twenty five schedule,

(01:35:45):
and that was one of the firstthings I noticed what I just mentioned.
The Astros wrapped up their pre AllStar Break portion of the season with three
games against the Texas Rangers here inHouston, and they're going to open up
the second part of their twenty twentyfour post All Star Break season on the
road at Seattle. The exact samething will take place in twenty twenty five.

(01:36:10):
Wrap up the pre All Star Breakportion with three games on July eleventh
through thirteenth against Texas, and openup the post All Star Break portion of
their season with a road trip thatstarts with three games in Seattle. It's
also pretty noteworthy that eighteen of theirfinal twenty seven games next year will be
inside the American League West, andsix of their games against Texas fall in

(01:36:32):
that range. The final twelve gamesof the season are all inside the Division,
A three game series each against thosefour teams, though the six games
against Texas and Seattle come first andthey're in Houston, and the six games
that end the season come in Oaklandor Sacramento next year and against the Angels

(01:36:54):
on the road, so that mightbode well for Houston. They began the
season this year with New York inHues. They'll almost do the same next
year. They will begin the seasonwith New York in Houston, but this
time it's the Mets. First sixgames of the Astros twenty twenty five season
are National League games played here inHouston. Their first two weeks of the

(01:37:15):
season will include a series broken upby an off day, three games against
the Mets Thursday, Saturday, andSunday off day Friday on Day two of
the season. The following week they'llgo to Minnesota to play Thursday off Friday,
and then the final two games ofthat series. Very odd for you

(01:37:38):
to see that right out of thegate, do have an off day at
least one day each week for thefirst seven weeks of the season. Usually
bodes well for a team trying tomaybe figure out what their starting rotation is
going to be like. Then theyhave a long stretch of games twenty games
in the next twenty one days,and they really don't have another stretch like
that until the second part of theseason, and no stretch quite as long

(01:38:00):
as twenty in twenty one days.But those are the things that stood out
most. They play everybody, justlike they did this year, thirteen games
inside the division and against everybody inMajor League Baseball at one point or another
over the course of the season.They'll be in La to take on the
Dodgers on America's Birthday July fourth,fifth, and six. They'll play Colorado

(01:38:23):
in Colorado this year instead of seeingthem in Mexico City. The Open Championship
taking place this weekend, today,Tomorrow and for some Saturday and Sunday.
Who is leading the way is whatmost people are asking. Today's name is
Daniel Brown? How many cuts hadhe made in his last eight starts one?

(01:38:49):
How many major championships has he playedin before he teed off today?
None? And he leads the way. The only player to hit six under
today. Justin Thomas was in thelead early as one of the early tea
times he shot three under. He'snow three shots off the pace, and
Shane Lowry sits between Brown and Thomasat top. The leader board told you

(01:39:12):
Tiger Woods wasn't having a particularly goodday and Rory McElroy had an awful day.
Turned out, McElroy's plus seven wasnot good, but one shot better
than Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods twobirdies, six bogies, two double bogies.
He sits at plus eight, onehundred and thirty eighth place. He
outplayed thirteen of the one hundred andfifty seven golfers out there. As much

(01:39:36):
as I applauded Tiger Woods, rippingColin Montgomery to set shreds, I thought
with his comment about having the exemptionbecause he's a major champion at the Open,
which Colin is not. I haven'theard anything from Colin today, but
I wonder if we just might.I'm the last player to win their first

(01:39:56):
start ever in a major when itis their first major start. He's the
new Ryder Cup captain. Happened backin twenty eleven Kegan Bradley, who is
playing in this tournament. He wentfor plus three today. Something on the
football side, since we've been talkingabout Hall of Fame weekend coming up.
One player who has yet to getthe call for the Hall of Fame despite

(01:40:17):
having a stellar career among the bestat his position for essentially his entire lengthy
career. Willie Anderson thinks as aright tackle, he's got an unfair bias
against him. He doesn't play lefttackle. It's regarded as the position of
need. If you're not awesome,then well they'll just shift you over to

(01:40:39):
right tackle and they'll play their awesometackle over on the left side. And
since you're not good enough, you'reover there, and you can make all
the Pro Bowls you want, beAll Pro all you want, but you're
not a left tackle, so wecan't find you in the Hall of Fame.
That's essentially the point he makes whenhe thinks the movie The Blind Side
created an unfair bias against right tackles. Majority of his thirteen year career was

(01:41:04):
played over on the right side.As I mentioned, he was great regardless
of why he was over there.What are you supposed to do? You're
supposed to outplay the competition, andhe did that for better than a decade,
which is why he was recognized yearin and year out with some form
of accolade, whether it's All Proor a Pro Bowl nod each year,
he has Hall of Fame credentials.I tend to believe it's probably not true

(01:41:29):
that there's a bias against them.But if there's five offensive tackles in the
finalist list of twenty five or fouroffensive tackles in the semi finalist list of
fifteen, it's probably true that thevoters would believe that the left tackle is
better only because of I think afalse sense of they're blocking tougher players.

(01:41:50):
I mean, the blind side refersto the quarterback, almost all of them
being right handed, So if you'reon the left side, you're protecting quarterback
who can't see what's coming. Presumablythat's the best the other team has to
offer. But that's not always thecase, and I think his time has
gone on, especially the last fiveto seven years. That's not really what
the NFL is. I mean,these defensive ends and defensive ends that line

(01:42:14):
up inside, they're not exclusive toone side of the football. There are
lining up everywhere they are running.I mean, stunts have been a part
of the NFL and games have beena part of the NFL for a long
time, so I'm not pretending likethey're new. But I think it's foolish
and I hope he's wrong, andI hope voters maybe take a little bit
of a listen to what he's sayingand maybe rethink things. If you're a
tackle, you better be able tobet to block the best, fastest,

(01:42:38):
twitchiest defensive ends in the NFL.Your quarterback's gonna either get hit or the
play's going to be ruined. Andwhile the stat sack won't show up in
the box score, when plays getblown up, plays get blown up.
That's what coaches film is for.That's what the coaches are looking at.
That's what third and fifteen is allabout. When you're getting hit with the
intentional grounding. There's no set beinggiven to a defensive lineman when he gets

(01:43:02):
an intentional grounding, but he's gonnaget the other team off the field because
he's put him in a horrible downand distance situation. I didn't really like
the line at the bottom of thestory that read like this a three time
Hall of Fame finalist. Anderson receiveda consolation prize of sorts in twenty twenty
two when he was inducted into theCincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor. I'm having

(01:43:26):
a hard time calling that a consolationprize. Well, I didn't get into
the Pro Football Hall of Fame,didn't have a weekend in Canton and celebration
and a bust and everybody knows.And it's a great night for everybody in
the country. And I get tohave family and friends out there. It's
like the coolest thing ever. It'swhy you play. But I'm okay,
I get into my team's Ring ofHonor. It's fine. That's a nice

(01:43:47):
consolation prize. I mean, whatcolor jacket is that? Orange? For
the Bengals, Orange and black.Don't think it carries the same kind of
weight. But what do I know? Willie Anderson probably looking at another time
on the finalist's list again, Andlike I said, I think they may
be really even though some of whatwas said there might sound foolish, but

(01:44:10):
I think there's a little bit ofmerit to how right tackles are viewed.
And again, we know what guysget paid. Also, if you're paying
attention. Guys that play guard aregetting paid now. Guys that pay play
right tackle are getting paid now.And it isn't just exclusive to the left
tackle position. They are still protectingthe blind side of your right handed quarterbacks.
And for the most part, that'swhat's in the NFL. Among the

(01:44:32):
quarterbacks expected to lead their teams tosomething really great this year or sometime in
the very near future, they're allright handed except for Tua right so it
is still pretty exclusive to it.And yes, Laramie Tunsel makes a touch
more money than Titus Howard despite bothgetting big fat extensions again from the Houston

(01:44:55):
Texans, and they should be backin place for this upcoming season protecting CJ.
Stroud getting this offense rolling into aposition I think more befitting of the
talent that they have. This shouldbe a top eight offense at worst.
We'll hear about their offense from aformer Houston Texan, Randall Cobb on his
former team and other things that isnext here on the A Team, continuing

(01:45:24):
on the five o'clock hour. Herelast half hour of today's program and an
opportunity to hear from a former Texan. He was here under several previous regimes
ago. He was here a coupleof years back when the general manager signed
into a three year fifteen million dollardeal. That was a three year seventeen
eighteen million dollar deal Randall Cobb signedby GM Bill O'Brien. And remember the

(01:45:49):
this morning, I was over attraining camp and players come across the bridge,
walk across the back end zone.When they get across the street and
on into the bubble and get someof their pre practice routine stretching things like
that out of the way. Mostof the players already made their way over
before Demiko o'rians did, and I'mthinking and watching him walk across the field.

(01:46:13):
Obviously, this is training camp numbertwo for Demico o'rians. It's also
the first time since Bill O'Brien wasthe head coach way back in the very
early portion of twenty twenty, thatthe coach has returned for training camp number
two. He got fired after fourgames. Romeo Crenell replaced him for the

(01:46:35):
final twelve, winning four times onan interim basis, was not asked to
come back, and David Cully becamethe head coach, who you heard from
earlier this week from SEC media dayscame back for his one season gone,
Lovey Smith one season gone, andnow Demico gets two season. What does
Randall Cobb have to say about theHouston Texans. Chris Gordy finds out.

(01:46:59):
We had in Houston with the Texans, and it was a weird year.
Man. I had Deshaun Watson stuffgoing on. You had the COVID stuff
happening. It just was. Itwas a weird time. But it's funny.
There was a comment you made,you know, you went back to
the Packers. You so it's likegoing to a fortune five hundred company,
and so the Texas were like astartup and people criticize you for that comment.
But in hindsight, random four yearslater with c J. Stroud and

(01:47:21):
Will Anderson, I think you wereright. I saw it, you know.
Unfortunately I came in at a timeright before h the b Hop trade.
Yeah, so d Hop trade happened. I come in during training camp.
Bill O'Brien gets fired four games intothe season. We don't have a
head coach, we don't have aGM. It was a very weird landscape.

(01:47:45):
We end up four and twelve andthen all the stuff with Deshaun comes
out that offseason. The higher Kallyas the head coach. There was a
lot of movement pieces, but theglue was Nicko Sario And you could tell
from day one when he had aconversation with us as players that it was
gonna be different. You know,I was able to get traded back to

(01:48:09):
Green Bay, where my career startedand where you know that was like home
for me. Uh So. Butbut I've enjoyed watching Houston continue to grow
as a as an organization, isas as a team. I think he's
built an incredible roster uh In CJ. Stroud, I mean him being at
the leadership role that he is andbeing able to have the success he had

(01:48:30):
early in his career. I'm lookingforward to seeing that continued growth for him.
Were you shocked, like all ofus to see the how I mean
he just so mature and poison fora rookie quarter because we thought, you
know, he's gonna go through normalrookie grun pains. But I mean from
day one, the kid was arock star to want to play, get
that, get to the players,but win a playoff game and you're one.
I mean, the sky's the womenfor this kid, I believe so

(01:48:51):
and what I love to hear ishim talk about the game. When he
talks x'es and o's, you know, he knows what he's talking about.
Uh, the way he talks aboutprotections, the way he talks about picking
up blitzes and uh, being ableto get people in the right position and
making the plays when they're there.And he's very efficient. He moves around

(01:49:12):
in the pocket really well. Ireally enjoy his style of game. And
now they already had Nico Collins orat one thousand yard season. He gets
paid. They get Tank Dell outof University of Houston in the third round.
He's was awesome as a rookie.And now they go get Stefan Diggs
with Joe Mixon in the backfield.I mean that's huge. That's off,
Oh for sure, I think.I think without a doubt, that's a

(01:49:33):
that's a lot of explosive plays.You got a great quarterback that can feed
everyone and give them a plethora ofopportunities. You know, bringing in a
guy like Stefan dis he's gonna needhis catches. You're gonna have to find
a way to get him the ball. Uh, but you have every piece.
It's gonna be hard to cover thatmany guys on the field, and
when you start getting those two highsafeties, that's when they're gonna start holding

(01:49:55):
handing off the Joe Mixon and he'sgonna be able to have a lot of
space with like black boxes. Imean you could make a phone call.
I mean number four Ron put youin that. That's slide. I'm gonna
let I'm gonna let the young boyshave it now. Tuger the Randall Cobby
is joining the SEC network, SoI talk talk us through I guess with
the planets in studio analysts, isthat where we're gona say? Yes,
Yeah, So I'll start as anin studio analyst. I'll be covering college

(01:50:19):
football, uh alyssa Lange out ofPocket a show on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Uh SEC. Now, I'll bedoing a little bit of I'll have a
few opportunities on NFL Live, souh just having a little bit of crossover.
I gotta like I said, Igot a lot of catching up to
do in a college game and thecollege product and and and I'm really looking

(01:50:40):
forward to diving into the film reallybecause that's that's what I am. I'm
a film junkie. I like towatch film. I like to learn about
guys and and and see how theyplay. We've had so many great SEC
players come through and we're here atSEC Media Days. You've had so many
different players throughout the years. RoQuand Smith, Calvin Ridley, dudes who
were studs in college went on tobe studis in UH at the pro level.
But how difficult is it as apro player to keep up with your

(01:51:01):
college team of watching because so usuallyon Saturdays you get ready for your game
the next day it's a little rightand then you add kids to the mixed.
My saturdays are at are a littlepack. We're normally at the park
excuse me, or we're out doingsomething with the kids. So I've missed
a lot of college football over thepast thirteen years. But you know,

(01:51:23):
whenever it's on, I'm able towatch it. I love to sit down
and keep up with SEC play andwith my team, especially Kentucky being able
to get back, I'll have theopportunity to get back a little bit more
now that my season's freed up.It is great though, I mean we
I'm thinking the analysts we've had,you know, Chris Doring representing Florida,
I mean, it seems like wehave so many schools represented Kentucky. It

(01:51:45):
was with Tony Delk to basketball,but relevant haven't had a Kentucky football analyst.
So you get to be that guynow talking. I look forward to
being that and then you know theBig Blue Nation. I know they're out
there and they're excited, and Ilook forward to being able to come back
and be around a little bit more. It's crazy too talking about Mark Soop's
now one of the most tenured headcoaches in the SEC. Been around a

(01:52:05):
while, and they got some talent. I mean they bring in the kids
from Georgia, Brock, Vandergriff,but the receivers danme Key, Barry and
Brown. I mean, these kidsare back again and you start to look
at go can they take that nextup? And if they do, Kentucky's
gonna start to be a player hereand make some noise. And that's what
makes the SEC so difficult because youhave your heavy hitters. You have your

(01:52:27):
Georgia just in nown Texas and Oklahomacoming in. I have a dark horse
and Connor Wigman from Texas, Aand M. I think that across the
board, you have so many teamsthat can really have an opportunity late in
the year, and it's really justsetting yourself up for success early in the
season. They give yourself an opportunitylate in the year. But I think

(01:52:50):
that's what it's going to be atransition for Texas and Oklahoma coming into the
league. Is there's no down week. The Kentucky's will sneak up on you.
The Arkansas will sneak up on youif you play down a little bit.
Yeah, I keep telling those people. It's same Baylor and Kansas.
Man, it's different. You know, you roadstrip pad Arkansas. You may
be Pennsylvania w but man, ifyou if you don't bring your a game

(01:53:12):
every week, you're gonna get beatin this league. Uh. Talking with
Randall copy here or the SEC network. Uh okay, so we talked football
in Houston. Didn't go well.But did you at least enjoy your time
in Houston? Oh? Man,you didn't get to do anything. I
mean we were able to go toa few restaurants, but at that time

(01:53:33):
exactly, and we were getting testedevery day. And I don't know if
you remember, but during that time, it was like you could get fined
if you're out in public and getcaught out in public doing stuff I wish,
I wish we could redo it,and we get to redo it,
gets come back a visit is Randall. Thanks a bunch of the time.
I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me. One more

(01:53:54):
right after this. We will haveright after this my run through of my
notes from today at Texans training camp. If you missed it Day one for
the Texans on the field play ofthe day, that's next. Last chance
today to look in on day numberone or the Houston Texans training Camp twenty

(01:54:15):
twenty four. Another practice tomorrow andSaturday mornings, off day on Sunday,
and then three more next week,including the twenty third, which is the
first open practice to the fans.Everything's all set up and ready to go.
Some of the new look for theTexans this year, the logo which
was atop the dome of Tamiko Ryan'stoday wearing the new look hat, and

(01:54:36):
other places around the practice facility.You will see me if you're among those
fans planning to make your way onout to some of the open practices here
this off season. One more SoundBitefrom CJ. Stroud to get us going
into what you'll find in my notebooktoday that I want to share with you
from practice number one. As CJtalks about his group of talent that he

(01:54:59):
has to work with this year,Amidi who definitely can open up your playbook.
And but we have all of thoseguys around, he'll say that too,
you know. So it's it's uh, it's five headed monster, you
know. So it's definitely a superdope to have, you know, just
a bunch of options. Five HeadedMonster was initially talking about Stefan Diggs,

(01:55:21):
who can help open up the offense. Diggs, Dell Collins, Schultz,
Mixon, five headed Monster. Whenthe Texans got set up for their first
round of drills today, seven onsevens beyond the position drills, they usually
have the quarterbacks and running backs together, the linemen are off together, the

(01:55:41):
defensive line are off together, thelinebackers together, the safeties and cornerbacks together.
When they get the team together,seven on seven's what they will knock
out first. And it's not exclusivethat five men group around him, but
the group that was out there initiallywith him, Steph Tank, Adulton,
Brevin Jordan, and Joe Mixon behindhim. Interesting the group that they were

(01:56:04):
lined up against again, this islineman free. That's what seven on seven
essentially is. There was no ChristianHarris out there today, so Toatoa and
Hanson along with al Shai Ear thelinebackers, the ones which I expect will
be the ones when they open upagainst the Colts. Kamari Lassiter, Derek
Stingley, Junior Petrie and Jimmy Wardthe group they were all going up against.

(01:56:28):
And right out of the gate wesaw the best pass of the day
in drill setup, whether it's sevenon seven or eleven on elevens when CJ.
Stroud dropped back, scanned over tohis right, look back over the
middle of the field and fired adart long before about twenty five yards down
the field, or so twenty twentyfive yards down the middle of the field,
long before Tank Dell, who hadlined up on his left side,

(01:56:50):
long before he'd even made his break. The ball was in the air and
Tank Dell turned around a step maybea step and a half beyond Kamar Lassa,
who was in coverage. Again,I don't think the coverage was poor,
but it wasn't a huge space.As soon as tank Dell turned around
for the football, it hit him. It hit him right in the gut,
basically impossible for the dB to getthere and essentially impossible for Tank Dell

(01:57:14):
not to haul it in. Itwas a great throw. It split some
other defenders on its way there.Considering the depth on the body of Dell
where it hit obviously wasn't one hehad to go up and get, so
it had to make its way througha few defenders, and it did perfectly.
He made the nice catch. Twoof the three balls that he threw
in that set of seven on sevenswere complete, the last of which was
a throw to Mixon coming out ofthe backfield Jake Hansen in coverage, something

(01:57:40):
that probably I would think will alwaysbe there the guys on the field there
Noah Brown mixing Schultz, del anddigs again probably worth noting. Noah Brown
practiced in full today. Again whatthat means because they ran so few plays.
He just practiced like everybody else did, with no limitations. And he
had not been part of the workoutsduring this offseason. Program. Signed a

(01:58:01):
one year deal before twenty three,had a couple of huge games when guys
were down. He himself unfortunately misseda lot of time due to injury,
but Casaro and this team decided anotherone year deal was warranted and brought him
back. Brings tremendous depth and abilityto the back half of what's probably their
expected group to head out on theseason. So it's good to see him
healthy and ready to go at theonset of camp. And that probably was

(01:58:26):
a storyline that might not get discussedenough. I'm not sure how long it
will last because that's just the natureof training camp. But this is a
pretty healthy team considering some of theinjuries that ended seasons for players, the
surgeries that went with it during theoff season. You know, the timing
of everything has worked out very well, even though it costs some guys a
lot or all of last season.You have almost a fully healthy group of

(01:58:47):
ninety players ready to go this season, and all but Laramie Tunsel was practicing
today. He was there and hewas running on the side and working out
on the side and is expected tobe ready for the season. Probably will
get a bunch of work in duringcamp, just a little bit on a
veteran and smart basis, according toTabiko Ryans today. Obviously Davis Mills was

(01:59:09):
taking the reps after that, justa couple of plays for him, two
plays for case Keenum, and thenthey go into another set of drills.
A lot of time spent on specialteams today with their punt return group.
Stephen Simms, Tank, Dell desKing, Robert Woods, and MJ.
Stewart among the group that were backthere returning. I'm not sure who they

(01:59:30):
will end up on in that group, Miles Bryant, not m J.
Stewart, excuse me, but beinteresting to see when they get to more
of the kick return work who theyactually have back there. You know,
Nick Casario made a comment about itfrom a roster construction standpoint. My guess
is teams when we get to theregular season are gonna have so little information

(01:59:50):
about exactly what is going to work, both in coverage and in the return
game. When you basically have twoguys back to return and the other nine
to block, it's very different.It's extremely unique and attempt to not eliminate
the play but still try to limitthe inability to stay away from injuries.

(02:00:13):
I think teams are just gonna sayI'm just gonna kick the ball where they
don't return it and they can havethe ball. I don't want to risk
the return. I don't want torisk the likelihood of a negative play for
my kicking team, So I'm justgonna give them football and kick it where
they will not return, to kickit to one of the non return zones
and just be done with it.We shall see, and I'm not sure
what's going to look like during thepreseason. You know, Digs Collins among

(02:00:35):
the only players that really looks likein the wide receiver group that won't necessarily
have a role or an opportunity tomake this team as part of their special
teams unit. And because they're sodeep at wide receiver, that's definitely something
to note to figure out who mightbeware. Nice opening day of work for
Xavier Hutchinson made a nice catch atthe sideline with a defender draped all over

(02:00:56):
him, got his feet down andmade the catch. There just weren't many
plays that were literally run, sothere's not a whole lot to glean from
it. Stefan Diggs a couple ofplays lined up against Derek Stingley Junior of
note. I think I mentioned thisearlier. One of those three incompletions that
CJ. Stroud On had on thefirst set of seven on sevens was a
play with Nico Collins lined up tohis right. Opposite him was Derek Stingley

(02:01:20):
Junior. Just ran down the sideline, ran to the corner of the end
zone right at the pylon. Hadbeaten Stingley by again a very small margin,
but in CJ's case, enough ofa margin to be there and open
ready to catch a touchdown pass.CJ overthrew them by five ten yards probably.
Ball looked like it might have alsokind of leaned out of bounds,

(02:01:41):
so even had it been a littlebit short, I'm not sure that the
pass was going to be received.There's always some good, always some bad.
This was day one. There wasa bad snap today against Juice.
Scruggs was running with the ones atcenter, with Kenyon Green and Shack Mason
to his sides at the interior positions. Mason at his right guard spot.
Green the initial opening starter at theleft guard spot. That left tackle today

(02:02:04):
with no Laramie Tunsel rookie Blake Fisher, who stands to get a lot of
time there if he shows he canhandle it and potentially earn that job as
the swing tackle. We saw lastyear their starting right tackle missed ten games.
Titus Howard odds are you gonna needthat swing tackle at some point in
time, whether it's for games orin a Game'd be awesome if Blake Fisher

(02:02:27):
showed that was what his ability brings, and maybe they found somebody that is
a long term answer at a tackleposition, even with both of these guys
under contract for additional time, longerfor Howard shorter for Tunsl. Tunsl the
much more accomplished of the two.Another show in the books. Appreciate everybody
with us obviously appreciate Dan's time fromSEC media days. We back in the
saddle tomorrow at three o'clock, daytwo of training camp. We'll talk more

(02:02:51):
about it tomorrow on Fridays A Teamthanks to Trey as well producing the show
The A Team