September 8, 2023 • 11 mins
Former NFL OT Andrew Whitworth: CJ Stroud Needs To Do This In Order To Succeed
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Talking more about the NFL. Pleaseto be welcoming in our guest Andrew Whitworth,
NFL analysts, obviously long time formerNFL player, will work the Thursday
night football games again on Prime Video, including their first game of the season
Thursday with the Vikings and Eagles.Of course they're coverage beginning here locally,
it's six o'clock, seven o'clock Eastern. Andrew, we really appreciate the time,
(00:22):
and because of what happened last night, I have to believe that you
and Fitzy and Scherm and Tony andeverybody in the production department has to think,
man, we should talk about JuwanTaylor's performance next Thursday, especially you
for the position that you played.What did you think of that last night?
Yeah, that's interesting. You know. I get less into the false
(00:45):
start part of it, as faras people think he's leaving early and all
that, just because I think thatsometimes as far as I do think it's
difficult for the lineman, for theline judges, all those people, I'm
more into. I think the alignmentand that is like, I don't remember
a time in my career where youwere ever able to line up quite that
deep. I mean he was prettydeep on a lot of plays most of
(01:07):
the entire game, and usually likethroughout the game, you're having an argument
the entire time with the line judge, like he's always kind of telling you,
hey, that was too deep,or you know, you've got to
look over there and kind of confirmwith him that you're on a lot of
scrimmage. And it was just interestingto me that it didn't seem like that
was ever a thing or I neversaw him like move up some like because
he's worried that guy's gonna call it. Because usually that I mean from the
(01:30):
jump of the game, like you'regetting worn by the coach, like hey
man, they're telling us you're toodeep, you know those type of things.
It didn't seem to be happening,and that that really is more alarming
to me because a lot of peopledon't understand, like, especially in loud
stadiums from a noise standpoint, liketackles are leaving a lot of times,
you don't hear a lot of thecadences anyway, so you're guessing the snaps.
So that's why I don't get reallyinto when they leave early as much
(01:53):
as that true alignment is what reallystuck out to me. Well, I'm
glad you said it that way,because that's a favorite my point of view
with my co host here. Becausethe tackle here at left tackle here in
Houston is Laramy Tunsil. He's oneof the two or three best left tackles
in Houston. And yet there arepeople here and elsewhere they go. Man,
but he's just a false start waitingto happen. I don't care at
all. He get have fifteen ofthem in fifteen weeks. I just don't
(02:15):
believe in that because of exactly thereasons that you said. It's it's a
little bit of a guessing game,and I think the officials often have to
just basically recognize that. Yeah,I think that's the tough part. Is
it mean a lot of times theinflection of voices and everything else, like
you don't know if it's the quarterbacksvoice or not, depending on who the
quarterback is and how good they arewith that kind of stuff, And you're
(02:38):
guessing a lot of times, butyou think that's what you heard, and
then you know. Then you goin silent counts, you're guessing when the
centers based off his head movement,when the ball's moving, so you're gonna
leave early at times, you're gonnabe late at times. There's gonna be
all those type things happen. Andthat's why they think that's a tough things,
slowdown film and whatever. It's like, Okay, then let's make it
where d lineman can't move. It'slike you'd be messing with something that's just
(03:01):
silly. Like. But when youtalk about a lineman, I am huge
on that. I think that onboth sides of it, tackles shouldn't be
allowed to line up deep, butd liman shouldn't be able to be off
sides because you know, I knowthese d liman we're all on Twitter,
give me in our ex whatever theheck it's called these days. You know
all their opinions on social media lastnight about you know where what should be
(03:23):
happening. But the truth is,you can turn on tape and there's a
lot of nose guards, there's alot of d tackles that their head has
crossed the football on a lot ofNFL snaps. So they can say whatever
they want, but that's the truth. And so to me, that's always
the part of it. I've alwayssaid, man, as long as the
d liman or behind the football.I'll line up wherever you want me to
the rest of it, I thinkwe're asking the rest to get involved in
(03:44):
something that's really hard to officiate.NFL analyst Andrew Whitworth joining us here on
the A Team Sports Talks seven ninety. All right, so let me lay
out a scenario for you with regardsto the Texans. I'm the psychopath that
said just take the defensive rusher,wait another year on the quarterback because I
want Caleb Williams. That bad Wexis the even killed guy that said that's
not how the NFL works O.By the way, everybody else told me
(04:06):
that too, which I know.But having said all that, CJ.
Stroud is now under center for theTexans and we're not expecting a ton here
in Houston, although I think someof us are picking more wins for them
simply because of their schedule, bothinside and out of the division. What
have you seen, forget preseason,but going into the NFL, what do
(04:28):
you see in CJ. Stroud thatwould make you know the Texans say,
all right, that's our franchise quarterbackgoing forward. Well, let's think you
look at him. I mean he'sproven winners. He's a guy's big and
athletic and has the arm strength tobuild a football anywhere he want, make
any throw he wants. He didit in college. So I think there's
plenty of like As far as hey, what are the attributes of a quarterback?
(04:51):
I mean, I think there's plentyof like there. I think the
biggest thing that I take away fromit listening to his teammates Listen, hilarity
tongues will talk about him. There'sconfidence in y'all going to find out who
he is and y'all gonna find outhow why we like him. That you
know, I've heard those guys talkwith that. That makes me excited because
to me, I always say this, at the quarterback position, you can
(05:12):
be really good. You can haveconfidence that you're pretty good. You got
the ability to walk in a huddle, get out of play call, and
make the guys around you think thatyou're pretty good and make you think that
they think that the offense can begood. That's the dudes that you want
in your huddle, because that's reallywhere it sticks out. I always give
this example. You look last yearSan Francisco forty nine ers. This guy
brock Purdy shows up in the huddle. You didn't hear that San Francisco forty
(05:35):
nine or guys talk that much abouthow good he was playing him Though he
was playing good, they would talkabout Man just his command of the offense
is understanding, his ownership of whatour motions and everything getting us are lined
up and checks and all that.That was what impressed them so much that
they were so confident with him inthe huddle. And if you give your
your huddle confidence, then you've gota chance to be really good. And
(05:57):
I think that's something c J.Stroud does right now. Just hear those
guys talk, So I'm excited.Plus Demiko Ryans, we have the same
draft class. That's my guy,so I can't wait to see him at
the Helm. I don't think anybodyin the organization that follows the organization around
the organization, or just anything froman observation standpoint, I've never seen someone
(06:18):
be more universally liked as far asa higher goes and or someone that everyone
wants to see succeed like the MikoRyans. It's actually fascinating it is.
Man, He's a rare dude,rare personality. Man there's just specially humans.
So I can't wait to see hisimpact as well, because that's the
(06:39):
greatest part of coaching too, right, it's you know, it's not what
you know, it's what you're ableto replicate and reproduce. And I think
he's a guy that is going tobe able to do that because who he
is every day. Guys are gonnafeed off of that. And I can't
wait to see his career as ahead coach, and I hope it's a
really long one. Did you actuallybutt heads with him at all? On
the field. You are with theBengals, he was with the Texans,
(07:00):
as you mentioned, both second roundpicks in two thousand and six. Obviously
you played against each other you wereon the field. Is there even a
player two or three that you recallwhere you're like, get this guy out
of here. Uh, you know, I don't know if I remember as
much like true encounters. Definitely rememberplaying each other, you know, and
listen at that time, you know, between Mario Williams and then J.
(07:25):
J. Watt everybody else that Ihad to play here in those years,
I wasn't as worried about the linebackersthat much. I mean, that would
be kind of the that'd be theyou know, not that those guys weren't
great players, Amy, Cushy andeverybody else, but I was a little
more concerned with those big fellows rightin front of me first and foremost,
so I remember way more of thoseencounters. Yeah, one other thing from
(07:45):
a teammate standpoint, since he's yourteammate again, Andy played here in Houston.
FITZI one of the guys you guyswork with with your game schedule Amazon
Prime Thursday night football games. Wegot to get to know him a little
bit here. You've obviously gotten toknow him over your time together as teammates,
time together now again on set.The cleanest, funniest story about Fitzy.
(08:07):
Could you offer that to our listeners? Yeah, I don't know how.
Well, here's the thing about Fence. You know, I always say
that this guy can talk football justas easy as he could be on Satday
and that live you know tomorrow.I mean, he literally like he's just
a funny, incredibly intelligent guy tobe around. And you know I think
(08:28):
is that it doesn't even have tobe a story. It can be a
Tuesday at eleven am, you know, and It's just like, if you're
around him, he's gonna do somethingwhere you're just dying laughing or you're incredibly
impressed. It's just how smart andwitty he is. I mean, he's
just a rare guy. It's alot of fun to be around. But
so it's Sherm and Tony and Chrissaand I mean, our whole team,
(08:48):
and we have a blast. That'sthe biggest takeaway I took from I was
excited, obviously because I knew fitswell and they've been around TT. So
I'm here in La and Sherman Iplayed against each other, and Tony way
back in the day he would haveremembered me, but I played against the
two. You know, it waslike, Man, I had no idea
what I was going to walk into, but then experiencing it and being around
(09:09):
our NFL Prime team, there's beenone of the honestly most fun things I've
ever done in the game of football. And I am so excited to be
a part of this and can't waitfor this year. Well, in a
recent Super Bowl, we had achance both to cover. We did have
a chance to catch up with Tonyand Carissa and a lot of the crew
you're now working with, and wewould absolutely concur So I'll lead you out
with the question about this Thursday nightAmazon Prime game that you guys have Vikings
(09:33):
and Eagles. There's sixteen teams overthere in the NFC. If I told
you this first matchup between these twoteams will produce the NFC champion, or
you could take the rest of thefield any of the other fourteen NFC teams,
would you say, yeah, I'lltake that one of those two teams.
I think that if you went pureodds, you'd probably say that's a
(09:56):
pretty good bad. I mean,I like you, but I'm actually I'm
kind of on the forty nine ersright now, so I I you know,
I might would take the field.I might would do it. I
think I would. But I'm excitedabout the game because I think these two
teams are really special. How reallyexcited to what Brian forres As impact is
on the Minnesota Vikings and how they'regonna play defense, because I think it's
(10:18):
gonna be interesting. And then alsoyou look at Philly, I mean incredible
roster. I mean honestly, whatthey've been able to put together there is
out of this world, you know, not just from how their talent level,
but even depth is really special.I think that you've got to be
excited about it. But you dohave two brand new play callers that guys
at the Helm, they're going tobe calling it. And so will there
(10:39):
be a little bit of hey,some you know, hey, we gotta
get on the same page or goodunderstanding a certain situational football together, you
know, we'll see. And soI think it's gonna be a great matchup
of two teams that without question orin that top you know, three,
four or five conversation of who's gonnawin this conference. I think that's what
makes it great. And then shoot, we're going to next the next week
(11:00):
to San Francisco for the Giants andDiners. So we get a great taste
of what the NFC is gonna beright off the bat. To schedule on
Amazon Prime Thursday Night Football is definitelysalty right out of the gate again seven
o'clock Eastern, six o'clock centrals whencoverage begins this Thursday for Vikings at Eagles
on Prime Video. Andrew Whitworthy prehalving post analysts along with that great crew
(11:22):
we talked about Andrew, we certainlyappreciate the time this afternoon. Hi,
thank y'all so much for having meon man, I can't wait. Football
is back, baby, let's goBingo Andrew Whitworth. I love that guys
gets good stuff right there, gettingyou ready for a whole a lot of
pig skin.
Talking more about the NFL. Pleaseto be welcoming in our guest Andrew Whitworth,
NFL analysts, obviously long time formerNFL player, will work the Thursday
night football games again on Prime Video, including their first game of the season
Thursday with the Vikings and Eagles.Of course they're coverage beginning here locally,
it's six o'clock, seven o'clock Eastern. Andrew, we really appreciate the time,
(00:22):
and because of what happened last night, I have to believe that you
and Fitzy and Scherm and Tony andeverybody in the production department has to think,
man, we should talk about JuwanTaylor's performance next Thursday, especially you
for the position that you played.What did you think of that last night?
Yeah, that's interesting. You know. I get less into the false
(00:45):
start part of it, as faras people think he's leaving early and all
that, just because I think thatsometimes as far as I do think it's
difficult for the lineman, for theline judges, all those people, I'm
more into. I think the alignmentand that is like, I don't remember
a time in my career where youwere ever able to line up quite that
deep. I mean he was prettydeep on a lot of plays most of
(01:07):
the entire game, and usually likethroughout the game, you're having an argument
the entire time with the line judge, like he's always kind of telling you,
hey, that was too deep,or you know, you've got to
look over there and kind of confirmwith him that you're on a lot of
scrimmage. And it was just interestingto me that it didn't seem like that
was ever a thing or I neversaw him like move up some like because
he's worried that guy's gonna call it. Because usually that I mean from the
(01:30):
jump of the game, like you'regetting worn by the coach, like hey
man, they're telling us you're toodeep, you know those type of things.
It didn't seem to be happening,and that that really is more alarming
to me because a lot of peopledon't understand, like, especially in loud
stadiums from a noise standpoint, liketackles are leaving a lot of times,
you don't hear a lot of thecadences anyway, so you're guessing the snaps.
So that's why I don't get reallyinto when they leave early as much
(01:53):
as that true alignment is what reallystuck out to me. Well, I'm
glad you said it that way,because that's a favorite my point of view
with my co host here. Becausethe tackle here at left tackle here in
Houston is Laramy Tunsil. He's oneof the two or three best left tackles
in Houston. And yet there arepeople here and elsewhere they go. Man,
but he's just a false start waitingto happen. I don't care at
all. He get have fifteen ofthem in fifteen weeks. I just don't
(02:15):
believe in that because of exactly thereasons that you said. It's it's a
little bit of a guessing game,and I think the officials often have to
just basically recognize that. Yeah,I think that's the tough part. Is
it mean a lot of times theinflection of voices and everything else, like
you don't know if it's the quarterbacksvoice or not, depending on who the
quarterback is and how good they arewith that kind of stuff, And you're
(02:38):
guessing a lot of times, butyou think that's what you heard, and
then you know. Then you goin silent counts, you're guessing when the
centers based off his head movement,when the ball's moving, so you're gonna
leave early at times, you're gonnabe late at times. There's gonna be
all those type things happen. Andthat's why they think that's a tough things,
slowdown film and whatever. It's like, Okay, then let's make it
where d lineman can't move. It'slike you'd be messing with something that's just
(03:01):
silly. Like. But when youtalk about a lineman, I am huge
on that. I think that onboth sides of it, tackles shouldn't be
allowed to line up deep, butd liman shouldn't be able to be off
sides because you know, I knowthese d liman we're all on Twitter,
give me in our ex whatever theheck it's called these days. You know
all their opinions on social media lastnight about you know where what should be
(03:23):
happening. But the truth is,you can turn on tape and there's a
lot of nose guards, there's alot of d tackles that their head has
crossed the football on a lot ofNFL snaps. So they can say whatever
they want, but that's the truth. And so to me, that's always
the part of it. I've alwayssaid, man, as long as the
d liman or behind the football.I'll line up wherever you want me to
the rest of it, I thinkwe're asking the rest to get involved in
(03:44):
something that's really hard to officiate.NFL analyst Andrew Whitworth joining us here on
the A Team Sports Talks seven ninety. All right, so let me lay
out a scenario for you with regardsto the Texans. I'm the psychopath that
said just take the defensive rusher,wait another year on the quarterback because I
want Caleb Williams. That bad Wexis the even killed guy that said that's
not how the NFL works O.By the way, everybody else told me
(04:06):
that too, which I know.But having said all that, CJ.
Stroud is now under center for theTexans and we're not expecting a ton here
in Houston, although I think someof us are picking more wins for them
simply because of their schedule, bothinside and out of the division. What
have you seen, forget preseason,but going into the NFL, what do
(04:28):
you see in CJ. Stroud thatwould make you know the Texans say,
all right, that's our franchise quarterbackgoing forward. Well, let's think you
look at him. I mean he'sproven winners. He's a guy's big and
athletic and has the arm strength tobuild a football anywhere he want, make
any throw he wants. He didit in college. So I think there's
plenty of like As far as hey, what are the attributes of a quarterback?
(04:51):
I mean, I think there's plentyof like there. I think the
biggest thing that I take away fromit listening to his teammates Listen, hilarity
tongues will talk about him. There'sconfidence in y'all going to find out who
he is and y'all gonna find outhow why we like him. That you
know, I've heard those guys talkwith that. That makes me excited because
to me, I always say this, at the quarterback position, you can
(05:12):
be really good. You can haveconfidence that you're pretty good. You got
the ability to walk in a huddle, get out of play call, and
make the guys around you think thatyou're pretty good and make you think that
they think that the offense can begood. That's the dudes that you want
in your huddle, because that's reallywhere it sticks out. I always give
this example. You look last yearSan Francisco forty nine ers. This guy
brock Purdy shows up in the huddle. You didn't hear that San Francisco forty
(05:35):
nine or guys talk that much abouthow good he was playing him Though he
was playing good, they would talkabout Man just his command of the offense
is understanding, his ownership of whatour motions and everything getting us are lined
up and checks and all that.That was what impressed them so much that
they were so confident with him inthe huddle. And if you give your
your huddle confidence, then you've gota chance to be really good. And
(05:57):
I think that's something c J.Stroud does right now. Just hear those
guys talk, So I'm excited.Plus Demiko Ryans, we have the same
draft class. That's my guy,so I can't wait to see him at
the Helm. I don't think anybodyin the organization that follows the organization around
the organization, or just anything froman observation standpoint, I've never seen someone
(06:18):
be more universally liked as far asa higher goes and or someone that everyone
wants to see succeed like the MikoRyans. It's actually fascinating it is.
Man, He's a rare dude,rare personality. Man there's just specially humans.
So I can't wait to see hisimpact as well, because that's the
(06:39):
greatest part of coaching too, right, it's you know, it's not what
you know, it's what you're ableto replicate and reproduce. And I think
he's a guy that is going tobe able to do that because who he
is every day. Guys are gonnafeed off of that. And I can't
wait to see his career as ahead coach, and I hope it's a
really long one. Did you actuallybutt heads with him at all? On
the field. You are with theBengals, he was with the Texans,
(07:00):
as you mentioned, both second roundpicks in two thousand and six. Obviously
you played against each other you wereon the field. Is there even a
player two or three that you recallwhere you're like, get this guy out
of here. Uh, you know, I don't know if I remember as
much like true encounters. Definitely rememberplaying each other, you know, and
listen at that time, you know, between Mario Williams and then J.
(07:25):
J. Watt everybody else that Ihad to play here in those years,
I wasn't as worried about the linebackersthat much. I mean, that would
be kind of the that'd be theyou know, not that those guys weren't
great players, Amy, Cushy andeverybody else, but I was a little
more concerned with those big fellows rightin front of me first and foremost,
so I remember way more of thoseencounters. Yeah, one other thing from
(07:45):
a teammate standpoint, since he's yourteammate again, Andy played here in Houston.
FITZI one of the guys you guyswork with with your game schedule Amazon
Prime Thursday night football games. Wegot to get to know him a little
bit here. You've obviously gotten toknow him over your time together as teammates,
time together now again on set.The cleanest, funniest story about Fitzy.
(08:07):
Could you offer that to our listeners? Yeah, I don't know how.
Well, here's the thing about Fence. You know, I always say
that this guy can talk football justas easy as he could be on Satday
and that live you know tomorrow.I mean, he literally like he's just
a funny, incredibly intelligent guy tobe around. And you know I think
(08:28):
is that it doesn't even have tobe a story. It can be a
Tuesday at eleven am, you know, and It's just like, if you're
around him, he's gonna do somethingwhere you're just dying laughing or you're incredibly
impressed. It's just how smart andwitty he is. I mean, he's
just a rare guy. It's alot of fun to be around. But
so it's Sherm and Tony and Chrissaand I mean, our whole team,
(08:48):
and we have a blast. That'sthe biggest takeaway I took from I was
excited, obviously because I knew fitswell and they've been around TT. So
I'm here in La and Sherman Iplayed against each other, and Tony way
back in the day he would haveremembered me, but I played against the
two. You know, it waslike, Man, I had no idea
what I was going to walk into, but then experiencing it and being around
(09:09):
our NFL Prime team, there's beenone of the honestly most fun things I've
ever done in the game of football. And I am so excited to be
a part of this and can't waitfor this year. Well, in a
recent Super Bowl, we had achance both to cover. We did have
a chance to catch up with Tonyand Carissa and a lot of the crew
you're now working with, and wewould absolutely concur So I'll lead you out
with the question about this Thursday nightAmazon Prime game that you guys have Vikings
(09:33):
and Eagles. There's sixteen teams overthere in the NFC. If I told
you this first matchup between these twoteams will produce the NFC champion, or
you could take the rest of thefield any of the other fourteen NFC teams,
would you say, yeah, I'lltake that one of those two teams.
I think that if you went pureodds, you'd probably say that's a
(09:56):
pretty good bad. I mean,I like you, but I'm actually I'm
kind of on the forty nine ersright now, so I I you know,
I might would take the field.I might would do it. I
think I would. But I'm excitedabout the game because I think these two
teams are really special. How reallyexcited to what Brian forres As impact is
on the Minnesota Vikings and how they'regonna play defense, because I think it's
(10:18):
gonna be interesting. And then alsoyou look at Philly, I mean incredible
roster. I mean honestly, whatthey've been able to put together there is
out of this world, you know, not just from how their talent level,
but even depth is really special.I think that you've got to be
excited about it. But you dohave two brand new play callers that guys
at the Helm, they're going tobe calling it. And so will there
(10:39):
be a little bit of hey,some you know, hey, we gotta
get on the same page or goodunderstanding a certain situational football together, you
know, we'll see. And soI think it's gonna be a great matchup
of two teams that without question orin that top you know, three,
four or five conversation of who's gonnawin this conference. I think that's what
makes it great. And then shoot, we're going to next the next week
(11:00):
to San Francisco for the Giants andDiners. So we get a great taste
of what the NFC is gonna beright off the bat. To schedule on
Amazon Prime Thursday Night Football is definitelysalty right out of the gate again seven
o'clock Eastern, six o'clock centrals whencoverage begins this Thursday for Vikings at Eagles
on Prime Video. Andrew Whitworthy prehalving post analysts along with that great crew
(11:22):
we talked about Andrew, we certainlyappreciate the time this afternoon. Hi,
thank y'all so much for having meon man, I can't wait. Football
is back, baby, let's goBingo Andrew Whitworth. I love that guys
gets good stuff right there, gettingyou ready for a whole a lot of
pig skin.
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