Rockets Coming Up Short, Rivalry Week with Texans-Colts, Saleh Partnering with Packers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Talking.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Your team is.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the E team.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Straight up three o'clock here on the A Team Sports
Talk seven to ninety Space City Home Network.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Wex over there, ac over here as I was.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Trying to think of the words to muster up what
we saw last night over at Toyota Center.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
You saw it in person.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
You and Matt were on the call last night on
the radio side of things, and I was thinking about
how last season started for the Houston Rockets because last
night was the season opener, first time in five years,
they were opening at home for the year. And they
went to I believe Orlando last season to open up
the emy Udoka era and they got kicked by thirty

(01:00):
And then they lost a heartbreaker to the Spurs in
overtime the very next timeout, and that was about as
rough as start for a coaching tenure.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Then they lost another game. Did they lose three straight?
They lost to the Warriors. Oh, that's right. They had
to play the Warriors in Game three.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
So yeah, that's about as bad or as rough a
start as you could have hoped for if you're you know,
starting out coaching a new team.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thirty three point three percent of the way there.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Well, I'm still more bent out of shape about last
night as you should be, because there are expectations this
time around.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
How about?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
And they had an eighteen point lead on the worst
one of the worst teams in the league and definitely
one of the worst in the East.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
They'll probably be better than people think, but they're not going
to the playoffs. They'll win more than twenty one now,
they only have to win twenty one times to be
better than twenty one wins because they got one on
opening night. Yeah, this one's much much worse. They didn't
come to play last year. This year they did come
to play, so much so that they kind of easily
moved out to an eighteen point first half lead, but
they let the Hornets go on a run and the

(02:00):
first half. The Hornets continue that run into the third
and fourth quarters, and it all went away. All while
they're second or best player, depending on how you view
their team. Brandon Miller played zero minutes in the second
half due to injury, and the Rockets start their season
zhe to one. They are at home on Friday night
against the Grizzlies, who withstood pretty good effort from their
opponent in Utah to get their opening win of the season.

(02:22):
So they'll come to play the Rockets on Friday. Hopefully
the Rockets won't leave town without any wins, but definitely
a little bit tougher test although they're not at full strength.
Rockets essentially are, but will dissect a few of the
things worth noting from last night's game, which the Rockets
fell by five, A day closer to getting some clarity
on who might be returning to the field on Sunday

(02:45):
for the Houston Texans. Is Thursday practice a little bit
more significant than those that surrounded yesterday's Wednesday practice and
tomorrow's Friday practice Both teams, the Colts who are coming
to town and the Texans who are trying to sweep them.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Believe I know, we know.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
They started off very very poorly historically speaking against the Colts,
with the David Carr era matching up with the Peyton
Manning era rather one sided.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
It's remained that way for the most part.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
During the forty five games or forty six games they've
played against each other. The Texans have swept the Colts
once ever, winning twice in one season against the division
foe from Indianapolis only once.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
That's technically on the line on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (03:33):
If they do that, they will not only sweep them,
which earns them the tiebreakers, should it be necessary in
the division, it probably won't be. It also pushes them
to six and two and drops the Colts to four
and four. That's essentially nearly the halfway point in the season,
and you'd have a three game lead with nine games
to play, and two of those nine games are against

(03:54):
the Tennessee Titans, the Titans, who now officially no longer
have DeAndre Hopkins. Is that deal as well as the
other deal the Titans made to ensure they would be
worse we're finalized today they are definitely and we aren't
trying to win this year. I'm not sure why they
weren't there during the offseason, but they have some players
that might still get moved a couple of them did,
Hopkins and Jones among them, and other teams will be

(04:16):
in that very same boat. Curious if the Texans will
be a players at all in the trade market, and
that they have found a way to add players to
this team and each of the last two competitive seasons,
last year and now this year without having to necessarily
do it that way, and Devin White might be this
year's Derek Barnett. Devin White spoke with the media a
little bit today, so I'll have a chance to hear
from him.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
He's obviously been on the practice for the last couple
of days.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
All saw in his point to him not only being
here but being active to help them try to keep
Jonathan Taylor should he play, and Anthony Richardson from doing
anything offensively. To the point, Colts score twenty points pretty
much regularly, they don't always get all the way to
twenty seven, like they did against Houston the first time.
They've won four of five since losing their first two

(04:59):
games of the season. It's hard to say they're bad
when they have four wins in seven games and four
wins in five games. But they certainly don't look very
good when you watch them play. They don't look very
good when you watch them play from afar and now
you just need to go ahead and take care of business.
And I do think the Texans realize that. I don't
think anything from a hangover perspective, I don't really think

(05:20):
it exists for this team in this era with these players.
We'll see if it does for other teams that are
constantly being discussed here in the manner that they lose.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Not too concerned about that.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
You know, I was thinking about the whole Anthony Richardson
situation because we talked about this a lot in the offseason,
primarily just because it was going to be the first
game the Texans played of this year. I think that's
a big reason why it got talked about so much
on our show. And I, you know, I thought it
could go really one of two ways. I guess like

(05:51):
he's he's not injury prone from the standpoint of you're
always looking for something major to happen, but he is
just feels like more so than the normal. Hey, I'm
an NFL player, I'm dinged up all the time. When
you're a quarterback, the microscope is obviously more intense. But
I just I guess I'm feeling like we would have

(06:13):
had more of a All right, He's got some real competition,
does C. J. Stroud in this division at the quarterback position.
And I just don't think you can say that right
now if you're the Colts.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
You definitely can't say it. And in my opinion. But
it surprises me, is what I'm getting at. It surprises
me too, but it doesn't have anything to do with
injury in my opinion, and he absolutely is injury prone.
He's been nothing but hurt. And I don't mean that's
why I was hurting for that. I mean he was
hurt at Florida. He's been hurt in each of his
two NFL seasons. That's why Joe Flacco played this year.
That's why Gardner Minshew played nearly the entire season last year.

(06:45):
I do think there's a little caveat to last year's injury.
He probably could have played more last year after the injury,
but I think he and the Colts made the correct
decision for their future, both his individually and the team's future.
They decided to have a surgery that would prove that
from happening, rather than try to get him to return.
So I don't want to punish him so severely for

(07:05):
all those games missed. He only saw a little bit
of game time in four of their seventeen games. He's
now played in five of their first seven this year,
with Flacco taking the other two. Why he hasn't become
competition in this Division competition for CJ. Stroud or any
of what we presume are the uproll level quarterbacks. It's
because he doesn't throw the ball to his team often enough.
Nobody throws it to their own team with a lower

(07:27):
percentage than he does. And it's not even close. Everybody
in the league ten six to eight quarterbacks on any
given week over the course of the year at seventy
percent completion percentage. The other twenty twenty four whatever remains,
they're all at sixty percent or better.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
He's at forty eight and a half. It isn't even close.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
It's a disaster throwing the football this year for Anthony Richardson,
and the Texans should absolutely be embarrassed. They let even
nine of his passes be complete for the number of
yards he got against them in the opening game. The
Texans defense is very good this year. Yeah, the Texans
pass defense can be exceptional if all the pieces are

(08:06):
out there for them, and they might be this week.
We'll find out a little bit more about that with
the injury report and what everyone had to say about
Lassier's appearance for the second day in a row at practice.
But this is Game eight and they've already held two
starting quarterbacks who were healthy for the entire game to
nine completions.

Speaker 5 (08:26):
C J.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Stroud and the Texans offense were absolutely embarrassingly bad throwing
the football last week, and he still completed ten passes.
Twice the Texans have held a starting quarterback to nine completions. Obviously,
they won both games, and I do not expect it
to happen a third time. He gets the same quarterback
for a second time. But if he has a successful

(08:47):
day throwing the ball, if he's constantly moving the chains
with the pass, then something's gone dramatically wrong with the
Texans defense.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Define successful.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
He completes sixty to sixty five percent of his passes,
he throws for better than two hundred yards, and because
he's having success throwing the football, they're having a lot
more difficulty stopping him and stopping whomever is running the
football against him. They stopped the running back tremendously well
last time, Jeardy yards.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
I believe.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, you talked about them in the five o'clock hour yesterday,
but they still have had trouble keeping quarterbacks who like
to run from running. Jordan Love hates running. He didn't
run at all. He didn't do anything against them. They
held him to zero carries for zero yards last week.
That is not gonna happen on Sunday. Well, he was
too busy passing for all of the yards.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Well, two of his passes landed and Texans arms. That's true.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
That is true, And they managed to take away the
ball three times and lose. If they do that this week,
they're gonna kick the Colts by about fifty.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
Plus three is like I mentioned on Monday, you know
they got a lock. Well, they were fifteen and oh
in their last fifteen games when they were at plus three.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
That's the first time three.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yeah, well I've been ten years lost a game when
they were at plus.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Three, probably ten years. It's the last time they had
plus three in the turnover baut too, I mean maybe not.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
I think league wide it's neighborhood of ninety four percent
win percentage, or maybe that was the Green Bay franchise
because they were talking.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I think it's league wide it's in the nineties. But
now last week, well that's how you keep it from
being one hundred unbelievable. I still can't believe.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
I mean I can and I guess you know, games
like last week going into a game like this especially
are weird because I feel like you can look at
that it's such a glass half full or half empty
way to characterize that game.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Like some of the stuff you just get done saying,
well CJ.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Stroud couldn't really throw the ball very well and they
were right there to win it, and Joe Mixon was
a big reason for that, but so were the big ombers.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
You got, yeah, three turnovers, you scored off of them
short field, just that's where you scored the points off
of them. You do did need to put together a
good drive at the end of the game, and they did.
You know, they put together a long drive in terms
of time, getting the ball with over eight minutes and
giving the ball back with less than two. They just
didn't quite drive the final handful of yards to peyterrt.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
But isn't this a twenty twenty four Texans Classic game
win or lose? Because if they had won that game,
then you would still be you would It wouldn't be
whispers anymore, it would be a growing roar. Well, I mean,
they're lucky to be six and one, that's what people
would say.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
Well, I hope those people. We can't even say hypothetically
they would be here. I would love to hear from them.
The NFL is different. Calling these wins over and over
and over again, luck is foolish.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
It's hard to win in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
It might mean it's difficult to win in the playoffs
because you're playing nothing but those teams.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
But two of.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
Those wins, I don't know how many of them you
want to count as quality wins. That certainly is won
and Buffaloes and other these are playoff teams. Well, beating
them now means you probably have some confidence you can
beat them again, Yeah, or someone like them in the playoffs. Well,
we will have to beat someone in the playoffs by thirty.
You got to beat them by one.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
That's it. Well, that's actually all you ever have to
beat a team by.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
We'll have to keep people happy during the regular season,
apparently with how much you win by. That's one segment done.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
You know, we were talking about running backs, specifically Jonathan Taylor
and whether or not he'll even be available, and then
if he is available for the Colts, if he'll be effective.
He wasn't in Week one, which the Texans won obviously,
But did you see what Lamar Jackson had to say
about Derreck Henry today.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
First of all, Jonathan Taylor most likely will be available.
He was among the many full participants at practice today
that a bunch of guys missed yesterday, a bunch of
guys limited yesterday, and nearly all of them, including Jonathan Taylor,
including Josh Downs, including Michael Pittman, Lyneman, Ryan Kelly, one
of the best in the league, all full participants at

(12:45):
their Thursday practice. Likely every name I mentioned it's on
the field taking on the Texans.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Are the four that did not participate for the Texans today,
likely out now that it's Thursday. There's a one on
that list that you're thinking, maybe we see them?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Who is it?

Speaker 3 (13:00):
As he's Al Schaier, he's probably not playing, right D'Angelo
Ross hashtag illness.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
They didn't put a hashtag. I put that he's fine.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Henry to Toe he's not yet cleared to play concussion protocol,
and Jimmy Ward. Those are the four that did not
participate in.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
Jimmy Ward, I don't think as far away, but he's
farther away than Sunday.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
So they're all four out.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
In other words, yeah, I would be surprised if any
well No, Wells is going to probably play in place.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
I regret to I regret that I said that immediately. No,
But yeah, Jonathan Taylor playing is I mean, it is he.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
It's to me.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
It's actually as much as he didn't succeed the first time,
it's still a big deal because Sermon is an absolute
embarrassment as a running back. And I don't know why
the Colts keep giving him the ball, but I would
love it if they did that this week for no reason.
And they just haven't kind of siphoned things the way
of Ty Goodson yet and they should have. But now,
between Goodson and Taylor, I do think that's a much

(13:59):
more formidable duo than what their opponents have been facing
all these three weeks that Taylor's missed games. Even if
he doesn't succeed, just having him on the field is
a significant improvement from we don't have to add players
to the box, We don't have to do anything. If
they hand the ball to Trey Sermon, he's getting a
yard and then we can go to him second and
nine and be happy about it.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
So Jonathan Taylor glorified Dico. No, I'm just saying, even
if they hold him to forty eight yards. It still matters.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
They're a tougher offense to prepare for and succeed against,
just simply in the fact that he's out there. He's
also had some pretty good outings against Houston. Oh yeah,
not too much. Looking back again, the team they are
today and the team they are now, and who he
is now. Maybe he's fresh from a body standpoint, but
he's probably not one hundred percent from dealing with the
injury standpoint. I mean, just put the number right on it,

(14:49):
forty eight and a half yards. You think he's gonna
have more than that or less? He's gonna have more.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, but I thought Joe Mixon would have more than
sixty nine and a half that night against the Bears.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, and he got hurt.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well, I still think that even if he gets hurt
in a game in the second half or I guess
late in the first half, he would have had more
than that, just based on when he did the week before.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
I bring that up because what did Lamar say about
d Henry.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Thinks he can he can he can break the all
time rushing record.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Well, he's got an extra game. That's the thing.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Like when you say something like that, you know it
gets people's attention right away, but then you're like, yeah,
why how has somebody not already done it? It's well,
it just started. I don't care one game in this league.
I realize it's a passing league. I get that, but
come on, like, there are too many good running backs still, even.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Sitting next best running back in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
Who's in your mind to do this considering he's got
a massive lead in the rushing yards list already through
seven games.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Hold on, I want to make sure that I'm informed
when I say this.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Ezekiel Elliott, Well, see, this year is weird because you
know that Christian McCaffrey would be in the conversation if
he was healthy.

Speaker 4 (16:08):
Good luck breaking a total yardage mark. If you can't
stay healthy, it matters.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
Well, he's always been healthy until I drafted him on
my fantasy team.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
So boss bogus, it's not bogus. It's a fact.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
One of the biggest reasons why Carolina doesn't have him anymore.
He was hurt, so they got rid of him, and
then what did he do? Got healthy er? And after
that then he had.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
I'm saying, when he got healthier, what do you do
for the forty nine ers until this year. He killed,
he crushed, he destroyed people, He ruined people's lives. He's
a live ruiner in fantasy football.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
No, he's pretty good on the field too, like in
real life. I know.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
I mean, where do you think they would be without him?
We've gotten to find out they probably wouldn't have the
NFC leader in rushing, would they? Oh wait, I'm sorry
that was a bad, bad example, since they do well.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
But Saquon Barkley is a thing.

Speaker 4 (16:58):
Yeah, he's almost has almost as many rushing yards as
Christian McCaffrey's replacement, almost close.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
And the guy that the Texas is one for your
game to be bottled up.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
For the most part last week is is in fourth,
Josh Jacobs is fourth and rushing, and then Hubbard is
number five.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
But yeah, none of these guys are going to break
the all time record.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Well, Derrick Henry could, Yes, Derek j could, But Jordan
Mason's not that far off when you factor in the
extra game.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
What's the what's the all time record? Actual yardage? It's what.

Speaker 6 (17:32):
Ee?

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I love I want to hear that. I'm not gonna
do it. No, you are going to do it. You're
well on your way to doing it. I won't do it.
Yeah you will. I quit, Come on, say it, I quit.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Twive that's actually less than I thought it was.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
I thought it was twenty three hundred.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
In sixteen games, or if you were the juice fourteen.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Games, that was different.

Speaker 4 (17:52):
There have been eight two thousand yard rushing seasons. Derrick
Henry is the only active player with one of them.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
But he's like ripping off Andy yard.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
He had played a seventeen game season. The year he
did that and stayed healthy for the extra game, he
would have broken the all time record already.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
The reason this is said this year, provided he stays healthy,
of course, is because of Lamar, though, But he's already
done it.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
I I'm not going to dispute that this is helpful,
but he already did it. He already had the almost
the identical season when he was with Tennessee. And they're
in one person there that said, well he WHOA. I know,
Derrick Henry's good, but without Ryan Tannehill, I'm not so
sure the defenses would be allowing him to run for
all these yards. Like I'm not discounting Lamar because we've
gone on and on about it. Since the pairing was

(18:38):
made in the offseason. But Derek Henry's literally already done
this before. He's running for roughly one hundred and twenty
five yards a game that season that I've referenced, he
ran for one hundred and twenty six point seven yards
per game.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
He's done this already, So he's behind the scale. He's unreal.

Speaker 6 (18:51):
I know.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
He like the word freak is thrown around not enough
if you're having a conversation with or about him. Where
are all the biggest runs of the year, who's had
them him? He runs people over, He gets to the
edge and outruns everybody. I mean, the Zion McCollum chasing
him down last week was incredible, and I was glad

(19:12):
that during their post game Instagram live for Marlin Humphrey,
Derek Henry jumped on and acknowledged how upset he was
the he allowed that to happen.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Was there a coach in the background saying, hey, stop
posting that. Probably not okay, but yeah, that's the main
reason why I think it could not. I mean, the
main reason is that he already has nearly nine hundred
yards and we're going into week eight. But Lamar becomes
a decoy in that situation. And let's face it, if

(19:42):
the Ravens are being honest, and I'm about to have
a very hot take about the Ravens in general, I'll
hold that off for maybe the end of the segment
or even next second.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know what it is. I can feel it. What
do you think it is.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
It's one of those later in the season lines that
you save for. Well, they might not be the number
one seed, but nobody wants to see them in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Nobody wants to see them in the regular season right
now because of this very thing.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
Like I mean, I say it with my tongue in
cheek and I say it with the proper amount of
wex sarcasm. It's actually true. They're going playing the best
football of any team in the AFC.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
If they stay healthy, they're gonna win the Super Bowl
this year. And it's because of this edition that I
never thought was going to be this.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
Good, even with their quarterback who just had another five touchdown,
zero interception game, who can't get it done, as they say.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
But he can't get it done because he hadn't gotten
it done. That's why they say that. Very simply put,
it's not a shot. It's not throwing sh he just
simply hasn't.

Speaker 6 (20:40):
Well.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
He had gone to the Super Bowl those years that
the Chiefs knocked them off in those classics. In the
AFC Championship, he's probably They're probably the favorite too.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
I think there's a difference in comparing those two quarterbacks.
Kansas City's obviously in the way in both cases in
some of their postseason losses. Lamar Jackson's postseason career is
not tered with excellence, and I cannot believe they didn't
win that game.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
That's not on him.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
Josh Allens is not all of his games, but a
handful of the most important games of his postseason.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Career, plus the last time he played the Texans.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
He's just gone out and been I'm talking about his
playoff performance.

Speaker 7 (21:14):
I know.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
I'm just saying that he had a.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Near perfect postseason the year they left all eleven of
those seconds left on the clock. I mean, he was
the best, one of the best postseasons any quarterbacks final
two games, and his team got eliminated because while he's watching,
because they play defense and offense and he doesn't play
both ways. He's no Travis Hunter. He watched his defense

(21:37):
allow that game to get to overtime, and then we
have all the cry babies about the overtime rules after that.
Lamar Jackson's postseason career is okay. He has a few
too many bomb performances for some people's liking, and all
that being said, it doesn't even matter. Like can you
imagine having a conversation a GM to GM and an
owner to owner and saying, yeah, I think we need

(21:59):
to move on from him. We're just not gonna win
with it. They were having them in Baltimore. That's the
crazy thing, yep. But again we weren't.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
I wasn't at least talking like this until the X
factor came aboard.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
And that's what I mean.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
It's not to say that he couldn't later on in
his career if everything broke the same way, But it's
a couple of factors as we round things out here.
It's that they're that good this year and the Chiefs
just don't look impressive. And I realized they beat them
straight up, but it felt like it was the last
team that had the ball again. It kind of felt
like this Texans game this last week. That's that's kind

(22:35):
of how I look at that game and I just
have a feeling that if those two were to get together,
especially in the postseason, even if it was at Arrowhead,
I would like their chances. We'll continue to discuss all
things NFL when we come back. We will continue to
dissect the actual matchup between the Texans and the Colts.

(22:58):
At the top of the hour, Rick Venturi, who is
the Colts radio analyst and the host of Inside Football
on Colts dot Com, gonna be joining us for a
little peak behind enemy lines if you will, coming up
at the top of the hour, Texans and Colts. You
think just the familiarity is the main thing that makes
it so hard to sweep a team in a given season.

(23:21):
I'm old enough to remember when they couldn't even beat
the Colts in Indianapolis.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
Ever, so in this particular case, it's not a hypothetical.
The reason it's been so difficult to sweep them is
because you haven't been very good very often.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
They have and they have two I mean, that's you
can be a bad team and get lucky, but when
you have Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck back to back
for decades, essentially, it's tough.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
So twelve thirty two to one, all time against the Colts.
You're looking for a third consecutive win against the Colts.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
When you say that out loud, it's just so much fun.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
You've done that one time ever, beating them three times
in a row. I mentioned already, you have swept them
in a season series of two games once. Ever, obviously
that coincided with the one instance of them winning three
straight games. Won a game in twenty fifteen, then won
each of the games in twenty sixteen. All three of
those games were one score games. One of them was

(24:13):
even an overtime game. The Texans Colts as opponents, have
both had a winning record only ten times in these
previous forty five meetings.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
This will be eleven. I hadn't even I mean, that's
crazy because.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
Mostly it was due to the Texans, but on a
candful of occasions when they had a winning record, the
Colts didn't. But most of the time, if the Texans
had a winning record at the time they played, then
that was one of the instant winces.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
When the Texans came into the league, you had Peyton
Manning was already there and established, Steve McNair already there
and established. And was it Mark Burnell that was still
in Jacksonville. I mean, he wasn't like lighting the world
on fire. But those are three very very capable, very
good quarterbacks since then. I mean, Vince Young was was

(25:07):
a thing for a little while, but it just against you.

Speaker 4 (25:10):
And he did win thirty Yeah, Titans, And I believe
there's another winner too with another team.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
He won thirty.

Speaker 4 (25:17):
His team won thirty one of his fifty starts, which
is excellent. Thirty one and nineteen or thirty one nineteen
and one is really really good. The idea that he
was bad in the NFL, I still think is misguided.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
Like none of these teams and I'm I'm sorry, Matt Shab,
You're gonna be included here.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
They just this division.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Since then, the only team that's really had elite quarterback
play for an extended period of time has been the
Indianapolis Colts. Well, I don't, I don't think about all
the quarterbacks that have played for the other three teams.

Speaker 4 (25:48):
It's nice that you want to pedestal him like that.
Talking about Andy and Andrew Luck's career in Indianapolis, Why
is it any different than Matt Shabs. He had a
couple of seasons where he was near the league lead
and touchdowns?

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Was he really do anything?

Speaker 3 (26:03):
That statement is strictly in relation to the division on
the grand scheme of things, or the grand scale or
whatever you want to call it, versus other quarterbacks around
the NFL.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
No, I think he was a very good quarterback.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
All right, Even though this is probably an award not
worth voting on. There's a few quarterbacks and you pretty
much named him that are clear, far and away the
best guys this division has seen. If you were strictly
asking who was better in the AFC South, who did more,
who accomplished more, who played better football? I mean, is
there really that big a difference between Matt Shaw and
Andrew Luck?

Speaker 6 (26:34):
No?

Speaker 2 (26:35):
But but Andrew Luck would still be ahead of him.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
I think, yeah, maybe, But none of the packs or
have done anything. I mean, Peyton Manning's an all time great.
He's the only one that's been a part of this division.
Of consequence, I think McNair's still a step down from that. Clearly,
it's possible one of the current four quarterbacks is going
to be a part of that, but we.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Probably you know. I don't think there's anything wrong with
c J. Stroud.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
I don't think he's playing poorly. I don't think there's
signs of he's not as good as we thought.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
He was not at all.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
But he's not yet in a position he wasn't last
year either of every week he goes out there, he's
turning in one of the five best performances of the weekend.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
You know why it's not because of him? Well, some
of it's because of him.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
How much give me a percentage because it's going to
be a single digit in comparison to those other guys
that were great, elite Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
They protected them, yes, like they were.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
But some of what we're talking not Andrew Luck, and
some of what we're talking about isn't just You do
have to evolve a little bit, and I think you're
seeing Mahomes do it some more. He is still making
his mistakes, clearly he has eight interceptions, but you got it.
At some point it will click for everybody except for
Brett Favre. You gotta take what you can. Even though

(27:51):
you're the best player on the field, or you're the
great quarterback, or you are elite, you don't always have
to He is all he CJ. I think he still
is essentially all always looking for the better play. Oh
he's open, but he might get open here in one, two,
or I really should be looking there. I'm just gonna
stick with him a touch longer. I don't think it's
a lack of looking through his progressions when given time.

(28:11):
I just think he eyes the bigger, better play. It
pays off more often than not, so it's not gonna
completely be eliminated from his game. But there are instance
is certainly this year, probably more so than last year,
where second and eleven, second and fifteen, because you've got
a false start, Just take the seven yards you're gonna
get when you dump it off to Dary.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Just take it.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
Set yourself up for something a little bit more manageable
later on in that series or whatever the case may be.
He's talked about it more than once, and it's maybe
a couple of plays out of the twenty nine thirty
dropbacks he had last week. Maybe it's two or three
of them, maybe it's four or five, and they don't
always work out, but they're not even attempted because the
plans up being a scramble in completion or a sack.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
Because he's looking for something with this group. Remember the
Nico Collins list group.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
So it's a little bit more damaging when you try
that because the likelihood that you're going to find somebody,
especially it just happens to be, Hey, look, CJ scrambled.
Guess we threw the ball to it's Nico Collins. So
often over the last fifteen games or so, he's not
out there.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
But I still think going back to the line protection
and everything, I think that if you were to take
the worst Cult's offensive line of the last so let's
just say twenty years, I'm trying to kind of bridge
the gap between Peyton and.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
Their line play with Manning after his first couple of
years is light years better than anything CJ's played behind.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
There's no question about it.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
I do think again, the quarterback gets some of the
credit because he knows where to go with the football.
He's making a decision a little bit faster as a
quick release. He's doing this and doing that.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
CJ.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
All those things are part of his game. In his bag.
It'll all happen. It's just usually I mean Peyton Manning.
I don't know why I was watching his retirement speech
the other day, but he was talking about his first season.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Was on an on network and you were scrolling and
you saw it and you just stopped. What happened? Happened? No,
it's online. Never never on NFL network. Oh, I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
If they're not showing a game, I'm pretty and maybe
good Morning Football here and there, but otherwise it's not
a channel I'm scrolling.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Through very often. He was about his first season. He
threw twenty eight picks. Yeah, it was record setting. They
won three games. It was a point of contention for sure.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Well, I mean Troy Aikman's first season in Dallas, he
was one in fifteen. I believe that is accurate. He's
not the prolific passer of well anyone.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
He is a winner though. Yeah. So, I mean it's
not his receivers run good routes.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
They're not lazy Troy's Yeah, that's what he said about
the current group of Cowboys receivers. Oh well yeah, but
his his we as Cowboys faithful, think the team sucks
commentary has been buried behind the latest Jerry Jones telling
the coach that his plays are awful commentary that's gone

(30:56):
to the front of the line.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Why haven't you fired him yet? Err? Because he just
hired him. No, he didn't. We did a couple of
years of non stop winning thirteen games.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
I specifically remember doing the show in the old studio.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Dad. Hey, Jerry, I remember that.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
They were trying to well I don't want to say that,
but yeah, they were very close. They were looking at
each other like they were a nice chocolatey dessert treaked.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
How are they looking at each other now, Well.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Jerry's looking at him like he's something else that's brown.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
I couldn't I couldn't stop. I wanted to ps truck.
I get it. Yeah, what'd you think I meant?

Speaker 3 (31:28):
All right, we've got the end of the three o'clock
hour coming up next. You sometimes think that after a
game like last week against the Packers, you'd like to
hear from the offensive coordinators sooner than the Thursday following that.

Speaker 4 (31:44):
No, come on, why when they didn't make them available
during the week. You could just go to the pr
staff and hopefully it would work out. You say, the
Texans defense gave up a ninety five yard drive at
the end of the game to lose. Hey, can we
get Wade Phillips? Could we grab him before you know,
we leave today and he'll either walk through the locker room,

(32:05):
they'll say he'll talk now, or they'll find him out
in the corridor, and you usually would be able to
talk to him, or if you really needed to know,
what the heck were you thinking, Tim Kelly for some
offensive play they might have run or they could We
all we got to talk to the OC for a
lot of those years. Hey, Bill, how you doing? Or
George or Sean or any number of players. What were

(32:26):
people that were Yeah, it's a collaborative effort. He wouldn't
even answer who's calling play? So we all are what
was Bill's that's on me?

Speaker 3 (32:34):
He had a signature phrase, didn't he, because Gary's was
that's on me, and I got to do better and
we're battle fighting and blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Blah, got doing a better job coaching this football team.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
We're just you know, everything he said was best interested
in Bill Belichick stuff. We're gonna make decisions based on
what we think is best for the team, whether that's
player acquisition, play calls, whatever, And then he went with
the DTS nonsense, dependable, tough, smart.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
That's right, Well he did have that, but player acquisition,
that's funny considering he's the guy that traded for David Johnson.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Right, Well, he just got the ball rolling on time
to trade DeAndre Hopkins, as other teams have followed.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
So he was a trend setter, a pioneer. He knew,
he paved the way.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
He's like, look, this guy's really good, and then we
don't need him anymore.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
They had him longer than anybody. Obviously, he was younger
and awesome. Younger and awesome, that is how I would Yeah,
I hope.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
People realize I think DeAndre Hopkins is phenomenal. Well, yeah,
just as an unbelievable player. And I feel like some
of the numbers, unfortunately aren't there for some of his
time here, even though that were awesome. You know what,
they haven't been there while he's been elsewhere for other reasons,
whether he was playing without Kyler Murray because he wasn't there,
or obviously in Tennessee with awful quarterback play for the

(33:53):
whole time.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
That's the biggest feather in his hat, which is the
dumbest phrase ever, because no, I mean, who wears a
hat with a feather in it these days? But that's
the biggest feather in his hat is that he put
up the numbers he did with the quarterbacks he did,
and there were like twenty five of them.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, I just think his numbers would have been that
much better. It's if you're gonna be out there and
you're as good as he is. Like I look at
some of these teams like the Minshew O'Connell Raiders, the
Levis Rudolph Titans, the Steelers last year with Rudolph and
Kenny Pickett, and I actually think those just those three examples,

(34:30):
and there's several others, they're worse than what he had,
in my opinion, worse than Osweiler, Keenum, Fitzi, etc.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
I really do think that, Yes, but they're all all
those guys you mentioned are at least Minshew's.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
The only one I think maybe is outside of that
group because he's much more like each of the ones
like thee the Texas just weren't using Like Fitzpatrick's better
than everybody I just mentioned. It's none of these other
guys are gonna have six time down game or multiple
three hundred yard He just made too many mistakes. He
wasn't incapable of passing his teammates the football. He was
actually very good at that. He just did not illuminate

(35:09):
mistakes often enough, and to me, that one guy, and
he didn't have a career with DeAndre by any means.

Speaker 6 (35:14):
It was.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
It was just as much about every time he we
got something going here, all right, here's a new quarterback
that isn't very good.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
They were all just okay, they were.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
I mean, debating the levels of these non elite quarterbacks
is comical.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
As I'm saying it. It's a it's a joke in
and of itself.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
I mean, Andre playing as many years with Shaub that
he did is a significant advancement over the number of
years DeAndre Hopkins didn't play with a quarterback like that.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
The finny thing about Shab is I mean about Andrea
is that you knew when his tenure was over.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Because he was tired of shop. He walked off the field.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
One other thing on DeAndre, especially in the time that
he was on the field with both Will Fuller and
Deshaun Watson. That's a top three receiver in the NFL.
Unbelievable stuff. That's fifteen hundred yards that should have been
twelve to fifteen touchdowns, one hundred and fifteen hundred and
twenty catch caliber seasons. They're just weren't enough of them,

(36:10):
Like even his career with Watson far too brief.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Yeah, well Watson was good with him. Well he also
left first. Well, he didn't leave, he was sent out.
That's leading Bill is like, take your talent and go
to Arizona. We're done with you. We're gonna get a
ham sandwich back for you and David Johnson. None of
his seasons in somebody else's uniform have been better than
at least two, if not three, of his seasons in Houston.

(36:35):
Does he have any other years outside of Houston with
double digit touchdowns?

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Nope, that's what I figured.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
You three with Houston. None in the six years that
have followed. Though he was the first to do it
in Houston. He can still get there this year. What's
he got now he's got one? Well, I'm sure he
and Mahomes will hook up nine more times over the
final eleven games of the season.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Yeah, it's not happening. I mean, I guess it could.
But Mahomes is going to have to start deciding he
wants to throw two kids.

Speaker 4 (37:03):
I think he's thrown six touchdown passes so far in
six games. That's a pretty good pace. How many picks eight.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Okay, that's not a good pace unless you're looking to
set the all time interceptions record.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
We did talk to the OC, though, it just wasn't
on Sunday like you'd hope. Yeah, four days later you
asked him about the.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Just basically the situation in and of itself, the offense
in and of itself. Did you not I forget which
of these specific ones you wanted to get to.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Well, the offensive line was your whole point of conversation
over the first hour regarding the textans, let's hear what
Bobby Slowyck has to say about the caliber of coaching.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
His O line has been getting.

Speaker 7 (37:35):
I'm not doing something right. I'm not coaching something right.
I'm not saying things in a way that needs to
be interpreted the way it needs to be interpreted. Because honestly,
the things that we missed in the game are things
that Dimiko has been giving us day one and train camp.
So it's stuff that I know they've seen and they've
done and they've knocked out before. I mean, obviously you're

(37:56):
on the road, you're in Lambeau. Communication, it's gonna be hard.
You got a strain in that regard, But we've been
working on that part of it for four weeks, like
we've been working on what it's like on a road game,
even when we have a home game.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
I wasn't there today to hear or ask the questions
of slog That was one of his early answers, his
earliest answer. The next question likely should have been, did
Dimiko yell at you this week? Did he send you?
Were you sent to the corner? Are you telling you
to grab your stuff and go home?

Speaker 6 (38:22):
Like?

Speaker 4 (38:23):
That's he talked about it in a way that I've
been We've gone over this. How many more ways can
I tell you this? Dimiko to Bobby, whatever you're doing
isn't working. You better figure this out because we've gone
over this over and over and over again, and your guys,
your group keep doing it wrong.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
How about the.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
End of that SoundBite where he just snuck in and
said the quiet part out loud that they're a completely
different team on the road than they are at home.
I didn't expect him to at least address that. Well,
he's just you know, I think it. Well, he's running
through the facts of it, and we know the facts
of it are. Their offense has had many more problems,
both with the pre snap stuff on offense that they

(39:03):
had fallups earlier this year, and then the pre stuff
stuff pre snap stuff on offense that is more we
don't see what's coming, not the penalties, but pre snap
that the defense is executing that we're not recognizing.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Well, that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
Happened on the road. It's not necessarily because of crowd noise.
Two of the three best teams they've played happened to
be in their stadiums. When you talk about Minnesota and
Green Bay in loud stadiums, true, but they're where. I mean,
you've played seven games, but here's my thing, it may
be longer than one season though you've played twenty four

(39:37):
games with Bobby Sloak's offense.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yeah, I guess I was just shocked to hear that.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
And the pre snap stuff.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Well, I mean, if he said something otherwise, he'd basically
be putting his head in the sand.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Yeah. The team has.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
Definitely offensively been worse on the road. Case closed Atlanta, Carolina,
the Jets, Minnesota, Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Shall I go on?

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Yeah, and those were all very very miserable Sunday afternoons
for this guy in this.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Chair right here.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, we will we'll continue to talk about this matchup,
this time behind enemy lines. Rick Venturi coming up next
for his interview with us to start the four o'clock hour.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Talking your team.
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A team.

Speaker 4 (40:29):
It is Adam Wexler and Adam Clinton here with you
on Sports Talk seven to ninety and simulcast on Space
City Home Network. Time to visit Indianapolis. Texans have already
been there this year. Now Indianapolis is coming to Houston
for the return trip. Texans trying to beat the Colts
twice in one season for only the second time in
franchise history. To that end, from the Cults Radio Network,

(40:51):
Rick Venturi, who spent a lot of time with the Colts,
both on the field coaching and now in the booth
on the radio side and with Colts dot Com. Rick,
we certainly appreciate siate the time you're spending with us
in our listeners this afternoon. And maybe I'll just start
from the top. We obviously here in Houston introduced to
the Demiko Ryans air at the beginning of last season,
and it's been a pretty good one. How does Indianapolis

(41:13):
feel about the Shane Steichen Ara began at the same
time and in this division a game over five hundred
and Shane's first year a game over five hundred currently,
what's the thought about the job that he and his
staff have done thus far?

Speaker 6 (41:25):
Oh, I think I think Shane is really highly respected.
We certainly respect to Miko. I do you know I
had a defensive background as a coach. I think he's
done a fantastic job. The record speaks for itself with
a division championship. Shane took this over really at Low
Ebb two years ago, both of them did, and he's

(41:47):
done a terrific job, particularly offensively. You know, he was
the OC at Philadelphia, had a great effect you know
back there on Hurts in that offense. And yet he's
coached a lot of different quarterbacks, so you know, he's
proven to be what the doctor ordered here. You guys

(42:08):
watched that game. That game and in January could have
gone either way. You know, we were eighteen yards away
and you guys held on, made the plays and got
it done. But Shane has done a terrific job. He's
really good at the game. He stole the time out
the other day that proved to be really valuable. He
does some innovative substitution things and gets people off track,

(42:33):
you know, did it. I think one of his best
jobs so far has been he has gone from Richardson
to Flacco to Richardson seamlessly. And that's not easy. You're
talking about two quarterbacks that are, you know, diametrically opposed.
And I've been really impressed because I know that's really hard.
You know, it's one thing to draw up the plays,

(42:54):
it's another thing to call the game when you have
two different type of quarterbacks. So, you know, really as
perfect as it's been for us, we somehow have managed
a four and three and you know, come down there
against you know, the league leading five and two Texans,
and all of a sudden it's a kind of a
mid season classic here.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
Interesting that you brought up kind of the smarts of
your head coach. He's aware of game situations, he's taking
advantage of certain things. He's doing as good a job
as he can as a coach to put his team
in the right position. I'm curious what it sounded like
in your radio booth as the first half of their
first meeting came to a close with all that absurdity
from the officials and Shane calling a timeout, not calling

(43:36):
a timeout, not being granted a timeout, and essentially the
Texans ran to play with eighteen seconds left and then
nothing else happened.

Speaker 6 (43:44):
We couldn't believe it, and I, you know, I still
can't believe it, and I guess, I guess in the end,
the officials did not communicate with Demiko in terms of
what happened really, because you know, we just expected, you know,
the Texans would throw it out of bounds and kick
a field goal. I mean, that's in the mooth, That's

(44:06):
what I was talking about. And then all of a sudden,
you know, we run a play, it's over, we go in,
and it's just like anti climactic. So yeah, it was
really that was a really crazy sequence right there. There's
no doubt about it. But you know, I think the
most underrated thing in pro football. I think, you know,
we talk so much about strategies and and different things,

(44:29):
and you know, when you talk basketball, you talk about
you know, guys that coach that last four minutes. I
just think game management, Sunday management is really the you know,
it's not the most important thing game management on Sunday
and game adjustments. You know, anybody in the NFL can
draw off a playbook, but it's you know, it's the
guys that adapt, you know, adapt to injuries, adapt to liabilities,

(44:54):
you know, and somehow cover them up. That's you know.
I work for Belichick and I learned that from him.
You know, you got to be able to you know,
you know, take what your assets are, protect your liabilities
and attack that guy.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
What was Belichick like early in the morning.

Speaker 6 (45:10):
Well, you know there was no I mean early in
the morning, late at night. They ran into one another.
When I worked with them in the early days at Cleveland,
it was Nick Saban was the defensive coordinator and Bill
Belichick was the head coach and I was a secondary coach.
And I'll tell you those Knights just ran into the morning.
You weren't sure which one was which. But you know

(45:31):
what a great experience. Nineteen ninety four to me is
the greatest greatest year in coaching. I mean, can you
imagine sitting in and you know, being in between those
guys And I always say it was a kind of
b I before they were icons. But you know, going
through twenty twenty one game plans with those two guys.
One went on to be the greatest college coach ever

(45:51):
and one goes on to be the greatest pro coach ever.
So yeah, that was that was a hell of a
year in nineteen ninety four. But we didn't We couldn't
tell morning from night. I'll tell you.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
That sounds like a film room full of cheer at
all times between those two guys.

Speaker 6 (46:06):
Well, you know what, really and truly, you know, when
he got to football, I mean they were egoists when
it got to football and we put things together. Everybody
had to say. We were always curious. We are always
looking for a better way to you know, to do something.
Everybody had inputs, so you know it. You know, the

(46:26):
perception sometimes is not the reality. You know, did those
did those two guys drive people beyond what they expected
they could get? Yeah? They did, But you know, in reality,
we had a lot of success there in ninety four,
and then Nick went on to be the head coach
at Michigan State. We all went different ways, but yeah,
it's one of the best coaching staff ever assemble back then.

Speaker 4 (46:47):
But I'm not mistaken. The longest tenured current college coach
was also on your staff. Kirk ference, That's.

Speaker 6 (46:54):
Exactly right, Kurt. Kurt's desk was two steps away from
me and Nick was two steps the other way. So yeah,
it was a great experience. You know, they did that special.
It was a thirty for thirty on the ninety five
and I was in there ninety four to ninety five
Browns and that was the year of the move and
so they but we had six guys, six interns on

(47:18):
that staff, four of which became gms and two of
which became head coaches in the NFL. Just to tell
you the kind of talent that Bill had assembled back then, we'll.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
Talk with Rick Venturia of the Culture Radio Network and
the member of the greatest coaching staff ever assembled, as
you heard right here on the show. Already, let's get
to Shane's work, the real work that I know he's
focused on and everybody in the organization is focused on.
You already mentioned the really nice job he did with
quarterback Joe Flacco and quarterback Gardner Minshew. And I know
Anthony Richardson is all in on becoming the quarterback everybody

(47:51):
wants him to be. What needs to happen, what can
be done from an improvement standpoint as this season continues,
when he's just clearly not throwing the ball very well.

Speaker 6 (48:01):
Yeah, you know, when you look at him right now,
the things that he's doing well is the one hundred
and ninety seven yards rushing. You know, he's seven point
eight per rush. And you know when he puts the
ball in the air, when he puts it deep, you know,
he's seven point eight in terms of yards per So
what you're seeing right now is the guy that puts

(48:22):
tremendous run pressure on you. I mean, he is like
the twelfth Man at times. He is really a running
back when he gets his hands on the ball, and
he does throw an exceptionally good deep ball, and so
there have been explosive plays. We had three in the
first Texan game. If you guys, remember what has to
improve is everything in between that the intermediate game, the accuracy,

(48:49):
staying away from the turnovers. Those are the issues that
had this straighten out.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Now.

Speaker 6 (48:55):
Last week he played without an interception, which we were
all encouraged by. Past percentage way too low. It's not sustainable.
You can't be ten for twenty five and you know
it's not going to be sustainable for winning. But again
the things that he does is they're just there. Their unicorn.
I mean, he when he when he's got the ball

(49:16):
in his hands, he's different. He can throw the deep
ball and he can throw everything. I've been at every practice,
every training camp practice. It's but it's you know, it's
just putting it all together. And the only way he's
going to get it, really, guys, the only way he's
going to get it is to play. I mean he
has to play, and he has to learn game speed
on all those tight windows inside third down, red zone,

(49:39):
all those NFL tight windows. And you're only going to
get that bye bye bye by, you know, by working
in by by playing.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
How happy is that defense that they're not gonna have
to line up against Nico Collins.

Speaker 6 (49:51):
Well, you know he's been a Colts killer. There's no
questioning about it. He's just absolutely destroyed US. I mean,
you know, I think he got I think last year
I think I I did a study. I think he
had one third of his whole production in two games
against US. I mean absolutely. You know, the touchdown on
the opening drive last week last in January, which you know,

(50:12):
kind of set the tone for the whole game. There's
no question about it. I mean, you know, I'm really
happy not to see him out there. Terrific player. You know,
he suffered last week without him. I mean, you know,
he gives them that just that home run threat every
down on that week's side, and you know with Dell
and you know and Digs and of course the other

(50:34):
guy that really killed us in the opener and is
killing everybody is Mixing. I mean, he has really played
great for the Texans. I mean it's you know, they've
become run centric in a way. And if you let
him get going like we did in the first game
one hundred and fifty nine five point three, if we
let that happen, then Stroud can play in a rocking chair.

(50:55):
And so you know, you got to stop mixing. You
cannot let him him destroy you like he did in
game one, you know, and then you got a chance
to put some pressure on the quarterback.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
Certainly would be nice if all parties were fully healthy.
We'll see what shakes down. Really appreciate you Saren some
insight with our listeners here and hopefully we'll get a
chance to say hello on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Appreciate your time.

Speaker 6 (51:16):
Rick all right, looking forward to it, guys. Thanks for
having me on.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
You got it?

Speaker 4 (51:20):
Three hundred and forty one yards by the way, for
Nico Collins against the Colts last season.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Is that good?

Speaker 4 (51:26):
We'll just have to check on that. We've got a
research department on that. We'll come back with an answer.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, The A Team Now continues.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Is that the worst name for a podcast ever?

Speaker 4 (51:43):
No, because everybody talks about it. At least two hooligans
don't care, they're smart.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
What about the two hooligans that are on before us
to always talk about it?

Speaker 4 (51:51):
It's just for that. Why do people talk about It's
the same thing. It's all good. It's all a good
thing if you're talking about it, even though it is
comical that they want people to, you know, go sit
down at their work computers and fire up the iHeartRadio
site so they can search dudes on dudes.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
How about it was anybody other than Gronk, people would
be ridiculing it.

Speaker 4 (52:12):
And yet it's so we've seen some of what they've
already done, and some of it is not specifically on
this podcast, but in each of their forays and media
since they've been done playing football, you know, sitting down
they sat down or Julian sat down with Bill O'Brien
and Scott Pioli and a bunch of other people, coaches,
personnel that were with them in New England.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
We're getting all these unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (52:35):
Belichick stories, Gronk stories that they're just sharing because they're
just talking to each other. They will, just like all
a lot of the other podcasts that have been that
have gained a lot of traction that are run hosted
by former players, it's much more real than most other hosts,
even like ourselves would get from because they're already on

(52:57):
the inside.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
Then they're getting other people from the inside.

Speaker 4 (52:59):
You're sitting in a pod cast setting, which just absolutely
opens everybody up to saying, well, I can just say
anything you can. This is why a lot of people
have gotten It's like they don't realize, well, yeah, not regulate.
You can say anything. But if you were in an
interview at the podium when you were a player or
what you would never say this, but they do.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
You are you gonna listen to Joe Rogan tomorrow? What's
Joe Rogan doing tomorrow? He's interviewing me?

Speaker 3 (53:24):
What about I don't know, whatever comes up. I'm sure
they can talk about a few things. What fundraising, I
think that the time for that's probably past. There's like
less than two weeks. I'm sure that'll come up. Okay,
I'm guessing. I mean, do you realize how close we are?
It's it's almost almost over. It is that's how you

(53:45):
should say it. Well, I don't know what the what
it is? What is what is almost over? The build
up to the event of election day is almost over.
But all that means is that there's just a new
round of whatever or else you're going to be sick
of after it.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
Okay, Yeah, I won't be listening to Joe. I'll miss
his podcast for however many episodes he has in a row.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
Many many billions of other people will not among them.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
We brought up Royals Walt the other day. M HM
could have brought up one of his other posts where
he was clapping applauding the Astros. What appears to be
the only coaching change they're going to make this year
on the staff for Joe.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Aspotta, it is the only change officially now, yes.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
According to the release today, it is the only it's
the only newcomer to the staff. There's a little bit
of a shuffle in a role or two with those
that are returning. But we already were aware that Gary
Pettis would not be returning as their outfield coordinator and
their third base coach, and we had been it had
been reported that Tony Paris Chico would be taking on

(54:49):
that third base coach role, and Royal's Walt, familiar with him,
had said, oh, this is a great hire.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
A lot of other people have said the same. It's
being well received.

Speaker 4 (54:57):
He comes over from the Diamondbacks, where he's been for
nearly a decade, and I think all signs points to
him being very helpful to this staff, just like each
of the other members that remains, just like Gary would
have been if he had stayed, but they did not
renew his contract. Lopez, Centron, Miller, Snicker, Murphy, Collins, Kawamura,
Dave Clark, all back Jason bell Is one of the

(55:18):
only other significant changes.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
He was their QA coach last year. Quality assurance.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
He'll add outfield coach, major league field coordinator. Some of
those Gary Pettis responsibilities will now fall under the Belle umbrella,
but most notably, at least to me, Tony Paris Chica
has been hired as third base and infield coach. Slash
run prevention coordinator. I can't stop love the title anymore.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
Run prevention coordinator. It's that is elite title at its finest.
Do people expect us to take this seriously? I am.

Speaker 4 (55:58):
I'm taking it very very seriously. That's the Astros allowed
six for six and forty nine times last year during
the regular season an opponent touched home play safely. Only
six other teams had that happen less than they did.
They need a run prevention coordinator, I was at the

(56:20):
end of the year. Clearly it was quite poor at
the beginning of the year.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
But don't you feel like that's just a fancy name
for something that could be much less fancy in names?

Speaker 4 (56:30):
See what I'm gonna need you to do here, yin,
I'm gonna need you to position yourself here and hope
they don't review it because you're gonna prevent the run
if they cannot get to the play. All right, Josh,
I know you've worked with the other pitching coaches, but
come come into my office when you're done with your
work at today.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
What I'm gonna want you to do here?

Speaker 6 (56:47):
Now?

Speaker 4 (56:47):
I got twelve clips for you from last year. All right,
watch what happens when you throw this pitch? Oh, went
over the fence. Do you want me to show you
the other eleven home runs you allowed? Or do you
kind of get the idea already? Let's go ahead and
not do that anymore. That might that's probably good. Twenty
runs with the solo and two run homers he allowed.
I mean, how quickly are we going to see this

(57:07):
take effect? With the twenty twenty five Houston Astros run
prevention coordinator? That absolutely positively better be on his locker,
Better be on his office. It better be in the
seat he assumes on the team flights when he's getting
his room when they arrive at the team hotels. It
had better say that as well. I've got one more

(57:28):
set of keys here. Who's the run prevention coordinator? You're
in room seven to eleven seven floor.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
The equivalent to our job, as far as that kind
of fancy our.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Job, Well, what are we trying to limit? Therefore, sports
talk show hosts over our time here together about limiting anything.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
It's just what would be the fanciest name for what
we do? Conversation influencer.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
That sounds like we're on Instagram information expert, sports analysis,
oral coordinators. Well done.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
All right, Well, I just I just wanted to put
you wanted to bring it back to the opening of
the second right, Why not? I think I did no reason.
I mean, if we're scoring at home, I think I
just totally destroyed you in that.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
You win.

Speaker 4 (58:16):
No need for an instapule. It's a landslide. You will
win nothing. I win nothing.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
Well, hopefully the Texans do win something this week, like
the game against the Colts. By the way, thanks again
to Rick Venturi, who was a I did not see
that coming.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
Well, we didn't mention it when we introduced him, but
mentioned it for those watching on Space City Home Network
in the graphic twenty seven years as an NFL coach.
He was an interim head coach twice. He clearly was
on at least one staff for a couple of years.
That was elite in terms of who the Browns not
win more.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
It was a short lived time for many of your people.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
If you've ever doubted that that franchise is cursed. We
can complain all we want about the Oilers and now
the Texans and things that have happened. Come on, man,
Browns had that coaching staff.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
Do you know who their director of pro personnel was. No,
he's one of your all time favorite front office people.
And I'm not being facetious. Oh he's one of my
Ozzie Ozzi. That doesn't surprise me. And yet they still
lost because they were Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
I mean twenty Vinny Testaverdi. That's probably the best quarterback
they've had in twenty years. I mean, they won five games.

Speaker 4 (59:26):
According to the information page I'm looking at, it lists
their record, where they finished in the division and Pro Bowlers.
The record was five and eleven. They finished fourth in
the AFC Central. Their playoff finish says in italics, did
not qualify, and they're Pro Bowlers it says none.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
So it was not a successful season in large part.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
Now, five wins is still better than I would think
for all of those other categories you just rattled off.

Speaker 4 (59:53):
By the way, you may have heard about this. On
November sixth, the day after the Browns recorded their fifth law,
a thirty seven to ten blowout against the Oilers, owner
Art Modell announced that he intended to move the team
to Baltimore at the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
And owner Bud Adams said, you know, I might try
that someday, give me about another year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
And then he did.

Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Now inside on where they need to go. I great stories.
We're going to talk to him for thirty minutes easy
on just football stories. But you know, being it was
with the Colts for nearly half of that coaching career
and now he's obviously working with the Colts on the
media side, of the radio side and on their site.
But everything the Colts are going to do during the
first contract of both Anthony Richardson and Shane stike And

(01:00:38):
is solely tied to the quality of play they get
from their quarterback. As a passer. He is still dangerous.
They are still winning more often than they're losing. And
it's not because he can throw the ball, which is amazing.
He said it in a way that is very clear.
It's not sustainable. Can you win four out of five? Yeah,
a couple of those teams are absolutely awful. Can you win,

(01:01:01):
you know, nine out of seventeen, ten out of seventeen
to make the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Probably not.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
Three quarterbacks have played extensively during Shane Steikin's ten years coach,
starting in twenty twenty three, and it's not even remotely close.
Gardner Minshew was pretty good, Joe Flacco in his brief
time this year was pretty good. And Anthony Richardson's awful
when it comes to throwing the football, just throwing the football.

(01:01:26):
Can you win a game with Richardson because he's so talented, Yes,
Can you win a game with Anthony Richardson because it's
still hard to defend a Richardson led offense. Yes, but
he can't throw the football with any kind of consistency.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
They need to get after him, and they need to
not not make this a situation where it even turns
into a chance for them to because again.

Speaker 4 (01:01:47):
So unlike their first meeting, well, when they let them
stay in the game, that's not touchdown after touchdown after targe.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
I thought you were talking about getting to him. They
got to him.

Speaker 3 (01:01:55):
Oh, I just they had a change one of those
one of those passes, one of those deep passes. I
think it was a touchdown pass or did he get
pushed down on the sideline, Well, it depends which one
you're where he was, like he basically threw it from
his ankle.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
You remember the one I'm talking about, was that a
touchdown pass.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
Or one was not a touchdown? One was a shorter
pass turned into a touchdown, and then the other one
was a long touchdown.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
I was thinking the one that wasn't a touchdown is
the one where he but but he threw from his ankles. Basically,
all right, we will keep it right there as far
as that goes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
We will get to our signature segment when we come.

Speaker 8 (01:02:27):
Back back to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler the A
team on Sports Talk seven ninety where now.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
A new signature segment called What's up with that? What's
up with that?

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
What's ups it?

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Was with that?

Speaker 4 (01:02:56):
A signature segment that absolutely needs an introduction.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
That's why we played it for you. What's up with That?

Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
Here on Thursday on the eight team here on Sports
Talk seven ninety a simulcast there on Space City Home
Network Works in ac and Dan here with you What's
up with me? Essentially being one hundred percent uh ninety
eight point five percent correct, if you recall, had a
little conspiracy theory.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Conspiracy theory worked.

Speaker 4 (01:03:24):
Up just after I watched the Texans offense be completely bamboozled,
dominated and overrun with confusion by the Green Bay defense.
On Sunday, I came into work on Monday and gave
you my conspiracy theory and compared their offensive performance to
the game they played last year in the crappy conditions

(01:03:46):
in Jersey against the Jets, when you had CJ. Stroud
completing an identical ten passes, when he had the offense
converting on nearly the identical number of gross passing yards.
And my conspiracy, which essentially was proven true in the
last couple of days, was Robert Sala impacted this game

(01:04:09):
negatively for his good friend Dimiko Ryans, while impacting it
positively for his better friend Matt Lafleur. Robert Sala was
spotted at Green Bay Packers practice this week in advance
of visit with the media between the head coach and
the media, so obviously Coach Lafleur was asked about it,

(01:04:32):
and when they were talking about their relationship, he reminded everybody, Yeah,
he was my roommate in Eastern Michigan. I had reminded
our listeners that he had asked Robert if he wouldn't
mind maybe being his best man at his wedding. And
when they asked about Sala being there at practice, he
obviously does not live in Green Bay. He did not

(01:04:55):
travel with his entire family to Green Bay. They asked, coach,
is he staying with you and your wife? And he said, man,
you guys really want to know everything. Yeah, he is,
Like he said, he's helping them because of his vast
knowledge of defense. He said he was actually helping their offense,
helping Jordan Love, helping our offensive staff some things.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
We might see this, that and the other. And I
don't doubt that that.

Speaker 4 (01:05:21):
Is absolutely positively a truth telling moment for coach Lafleur.
But nobody's had a better performance against CJ. Stroud and
Bobby Slowick and the Texans other than Robert salas Jet's defense.
And if you believe the Packers personnel is fast enough,
smart enough talented enough to mirror it, don't you think

(01:05:44):
he offered some advice?

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
It sure looked like it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
I mean, that's I realize it's totally plausible, I guess,
but it just seems too easy. I mean, man, it's
not the reason they lost, but I just wouldn't help
the time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Yeah, this entirely different personnel.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
You know, what you said about the Packers defense is
why I don't think this is the thing. They don't
have a stud pass Rusher. They just have a bunch
of guys that did their jobs very well.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Honestly, they're, so to speak, quarterback of the defense. Kway
Walker got kneed in the head early in the game
and was out right, So it's not necessarily what you
would call a dominant.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
For the Texans defense has been out and probably will remain.

Speaker 4 (01:06:32):
Yeah, just they definitely have different personnel. But I think
the confusion they were able to put in front of
the Texans offensive line and coach Slowik if you were
listening earlier from his appearance today, kind of acknowledged that yes,
this is this is on us. This is all stuff
we should know, have worked on, have to be better
at our communication with our players. He was trying to
take a lot of the responsibility on the coaching staff,

(01:06:52):
which I think is either correct or both correct, and
the way to do it publicly that they just the
mental it was they were not prepared to handle what
the Packers did and they should have been.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
You know, uh, you mentioned Robert Sawa was at green
Bay practice. He else you can help in green Bay?

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Correct? They practiced on their home field, yeah, or their
home facility.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
That brings up probably the dumbest question I'm ever going
to ask on this show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
No, I don't care today.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
Maybe here's the thing. I've never really thought about this
until you just said that. Okay, I know it's not
year round. Do the players like live in Green Bay?

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Where do you think they live?

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
I don't know a real city outside of it? Like
they have for the games, Like Jefferson he was in
high school, Like yeah, but he didn't live there. They
just flew the games. I heard they just flew fly
him in already for games as a rumor. Well, like, seriously,
how far away? Like even the people?

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
You know what made me think that?

Speaker 6 (01:07:54):
Like?

Speaker 4 (01:07:54):
Do you think these players want to live far away?
And they happen to have a city.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
Forty five minutes in every direction? I don't know more
than one hundred people and indoor plumbing.

Speaker 4 (01:08:04):
In their situation up north in this metropolis, for example,
they get to focus.

Speaker 3 (01:08:09):
But he's the reason I even thought of this. The
reason I brought it up is because of what you said. Oh, well,
Robert Sala was at practice. You know how hard it
was for him to get there physically. I'm not even kidding.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
You have options Milwaukee, flying into Milwaukee and you drive
for two hours, what to watch practice, to do your
friend a solid, and to stay close to because he
loves he said. He told Robert the question was, you
know a coach like that in that situation, shouldn't he
just be on the beach relaxing and being with his family? Goes, well,

(01:08:41):
that's what I told him to do, and he said no,
and so that's why he was helping.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
So what game is he gonna help Demiko win this year?
What game do you think they need most the most
help with?

Speaker 3 (01:08:50):
Well, I can tell you this, whenever he does decide
to come to town to watch practice, he'll be able
to not take a horse drawn carriage.

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
To get there. I mean he literally there's there's hotels
right there.

Speaker 6 (01:09:02):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:09:02):
If he stays with the Miko, we won't be that close.
Like I want to go, and he's staying with his friend.
He just happens to be the head coach. Yeah, he's
staying with his friend in their log cabin.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Where you staying with Matt?

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
I mean it's I want to here's the thing. I
want to go to lambeau Field. It's a bucket list
place on me too. I I've already been there. I
don't like Okay, how big of a hassle was it
for you to get there?

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
It was not a hassle. That's not true.

Speaker 4 (01:09:29):
It was a hassle, but it was nothing had nothing
to do with what you're thinking.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
The hassle was airport problems in the real city.

Speaker 4 (01:09:37):
I'd say ninety seven point one percent of the airport
problems were mine and two point nine percent where the
people at the desk not helping me. Did you see
I arrived for my flight, which was going to need
a connection. Yeah, with I was just a solo mission.
I've got my camera equipment working a channel two. I've
got a guess a game multimedia journalist. Absolutely Thomas term

(01:09:59):
ever invented by people I somehow, I think I just
overslept or missed my alarm whatever. I got to the
airport way before the flight, but apparently I did not
arrive early enough to get some of my stuff on
the flight gear. Yes, and so that became a hassle.
Then I ultimately missed a flight and missed a connecting flight,
and wasn't even sure that I was gonna get there.

(01:10:21):
I was flying on Saturday, so I was gonna get
there eventually. But it turned into an awful, awful day.
So to answer your question, was very difficult to get there,
But not for the reasons you think.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
I just I.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
Can't seriously, how long was the drive?

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
I don't know that day. I can't remember. Was it
two hours? Sure?

Speaker 4 (01:10:42):
You don't know, people, I'm telling you, I feel like
I feel confidence saying I did fly into Milwaukee because
something about the airport and the signage is making me
think that, you know what, I cannot remember.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
Speaking of the Hooligan's the host to show before us,
Matt was making such a big deal because the Texans
allotment of tickets were given back.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Yeah, apparently they didn't want.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
To drive for two hours after they flew for three
even for a bucket list item. They're like, ah, we'll
go to Jacksonville or something in too easy, and they
have paved roads to get to their stadium. So yeah,
that's that's my take on that. I don't know if
I want to do it. Still, I'll probably go to
Lambo someday. Well, after we got our travel fear segment

(01:11:27):
out of the way, we can move on with the show. Finally,
it is Sports Talk seven ninety, so we should probably
talk about sports.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
Other than just venues we haven't been to. When did
you go to Green Bay? By the way, Texans.

Speaker 4 (01:11:38):
The last trip to Green Bay, if I recall, was
it cold. It was cold, and it was cold enough
that people made a big deal that a bunch of
the Texans went out to do their early workout sands
shirts like, oh, why are they doing that?

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Oh these tough guys. Oh they want to show them
twenty sixteen. Does that sound right? Definitely sounds right, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
Yeah, because that's that would be exactly eight years ago.
So I do remember that now because that was the
game where who is the guy Charles James? Yep, he
was the guy that did that. He was definitely one
of them. Yeah, I remember that now and they won
that game they did. I remember watching that game, not
in Green Bay with you because obviously, all right, we

(01:12:18):
continue to dissect this situation with the Cults. Second time
they're gonna be playing them this year. CJ is the
guy I know. I talked all last week about Joe Mixon.
How if Texan's are gonna win that game in Green Bay,
He's gonna have a big, big part to do with it.
I honestly, with the way things are going and I

(01:12:38):
know that Nico's not gonna be out there, and we
talked about that with Rick Venturi. I look for CJ
to have a like monster type statistical game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
So if he's gonna do that, what probably also happens
he has protection? Okay, what else?

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
Well, in a odd way, they probably have established the
run because I think they should be. I already think
they should be doing play action more than they already do,
but that would be a very good way to do that.
What else would it likely entail?

Speaker 4 (01:13:10):
CJ's having a very productive day, a lot of yards,
maybe some scores.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
Really, Nicel has a catch bingo because that didn't last week.
My bold or.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
Pick the bold prediction, pick to click key to the game.
That's definitely one of them. Take is going to have
his first uber productive game or some massive play. Maybe
it's not a nine catch day or one hundred and
fifty something of great. So I know he's had a
touchdown cast in the first game without Nico was pretty good.
But this, I think at home against this team, with

(01:13:41):
what's on the line, and there is something on the line,
considering they trail you by one game, I think this
is a game where they find tank Dell in space
and it works.

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
Why do you hate me because you have a game
up on me in our stone cold locks because of
your stupid Travis Kelcey prop pick. If it's on the board,
I might as well take it. I mean, what moron
did that last week and just gave you that? If
I have even looked at.

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
Harder on Travis Kelcey rush yards, yeah point five point
five wowed.

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
That's like, who did you steal money from a gunpoint?
That's the evalent of that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
Didn't really play it just for fun? You played it? Yeah,
for fun?

Speaker 4 (01:14:17):
I mean the smart play would have actually been moving
to another state very quickly so I could wager all
that properly.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
I'm sure how many people made a lot of money
on that last week.

Speaker 4 (01:14:28):
I'm serious, schizopan. Not everybody offered it, but this the
site we used.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Think about that if you would put a large sum
of money on that prop. And then for the like
the dumbest reason ever, which is any reason he has
a carry.

Speaker 4 (01:14:42):
You know, did you see the super feel good we
Love Saquon Barkley audio that came out during the week
this week, sitting on the bench talking with his coach
Hey you're thirteen yards away. Okay, now it wasn't the case.
But what if the over under on total yards is
part of this conversation, not the conversation, part of the result. Probably, Oh,

(01:15:05):
I know what the number is. I mean, everybody knows
what the number is. Oh, you want me to get
thirteen yard nicks, don't? I mean, all that stuff comes.
I think about it a lot with the Super Bowl props,
color of the gatorade.

Speaker 3 (01:15:15):
You know what, will this person be wearing that color?
Like somebody with the team knows how long the anthem is,
somebody the anthem singer knows. You can absolutely be somebody
fiddled with. I'm trying to think if there's a prop
where somebody doesn't know.

Speaker 4 (01:15:32):
Not very many, And honestly, even Jim and the person
who keeps yelling Jim in the bed with him, they
know what their props are. How many times will Taylor
Swift be mentioned in the first quarter or will it
will the name be said? Or if Trump's going to
be in attendant said one of the all that stuff
is part of your board of props.

Speaker 3 (01:15:51):
They know what the number is. Al Michaels knows they
can impact that. Why is it that Taylor Swift attends
a game and she's on TV approximately twelve billion times,
and Donnie t rolls up into Pittsburgh and they put
him on camera for all of four seconds.

Speaker 2 (01:16:10):
You can't tell me there's not bias there. So this
the Steelers game was what game this past weekend was
the Who were they playing?

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
I can't remember now, but it was at home obviously,
it was in Pittsburgh. And he rolls up, he's in
his suite and the crowd goes nuts. There's people in
the stands that were sharing videos of it. So immediately
the people are like, oh, he was being booed, like
it's so easy to debunk, like in two seconds.

Speaker 4 (01:16:38):
Yeah, but you can't on social media. You just like
the DeShawn they're chanting this. No they're not on social media.
It sounds like they're chanting it because it's audio too.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
It's AI. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:16:51):
This is a nationally televised Sunday night game. So there's
some similarities to the other games we're talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
Even Tarico, he just referred to him as the former president.
I don't even think did he use his name inaccurate?

Speaker 1 (01:17:01):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
No, no, but you didn't even use his name. I
think you know.

Speaker 3 (01:17:04):
It was like Brian Cashman saying, well, that other organization cheated,
so it was almost like a intentional slight.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Well, since you're you've brought her up. Huh.

Speaker 4 (01:17:15):
THEOC in Washington, the commi's OC he visited with the
media like OC's and DC's and special teams coordinators do
each week, one of their touchdowns. Last week with Marcus
Mariota involved because he's probably going to be involved in
the starter as Jaden Daniels is not going to play,
maybe not this or next week or the week after
with the rib injury. Ico Collins Timeline Mariota played pretty

(01:17:37):
well and it's pretty interesting to see the initial quarterback
who's a rookie and now the backup with some experience,
both playing well in Cliff Kingsbury's offense. He was asked
about the touchdown reception that they threw to rookie tight
end Ben Sinnott, and his quote was, his first catch
was a touchdown and the play was called Taylor Swift,

(01:17:58):
So you can't really beat that to start your NFL
scoring career. Cliff's playbook in Washington as an NFL OC
very hip, very with it, very cool, lots of swag,
has a play in his playbook called Taylor Swift.

Speaker 2 (01:18:14):
I mean, this probably happens more than we think it does.

Speaker 4 (01:18:17):
Right, Well, we heard one guy yell omaha all the time,
and we hear you can every once in a while
you're here hear something that so obviously has been put
in because of its popularity or cachet.

Speaker 3 (01:18:29):
I know it happened this past week, and I just
somebody hasn't played called Hawk two. Oh, I'm sure they do.
You know that kind of thing pop culture, wonder.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
What it is. I think it was Russell Wilson.

Speaker 4 (01:18:38):
I think some of the things he was yelling out,
something that he said was very much along the lines
of what we're talking about. But yeah, of course it does.
I don't think every OC does that. I think some
of them do, like Cliff probably, maybe Ben Johnson, maybe
Bobby Slowick probably this generation of OC's I might think
would do it, especially.

Speaker 3 (01:18:58):
With his hat on, Bobby slow Cloks like my father
in law. It kind of trips me out sometimes.

Speaker 4 (01:19:03):
Long time in and around the NFL, obviously for Green Bay,
with his dad being there for the time that he
was while he was growing up. This is probably pretty
he said it last week, pretty meaningful to him, and
I'm sure he wished the result would have been a
little bit different.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
Hurt a little bit from him earlier. He spoke today.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
The coordinator's day is Thursday, so a couple of things
from them that we could share with you when we
get back on the other side. For Football at five
literally didn't talk about the game tonight. The new week
in the NFL obviously begins. Oh yeah, I can't say
that about college football since sam Houston State has already
been winning games at different times during the week. This
is their month to play weekday games, and they qualified

(01:19:42):
for a bowl played on Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
They did. That's my point.

Speaker 4 (01:19:45):
I can't say out of the college football weekend started
because it's long ago already started. But we'll give you
a little insight on what to expect this coming NFL weekend,
of course, with a focus on your Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
Texans Adam Clinton and Adam went a DA teams.

Speaker 4 (01:20:12):
Just when you thought wex and ac here Football at
five here on a Thursday edition of the show. The
NFL Weekend will get underway with football this evening, and
that's stafford, although on a limited basis we'll see both
Cooper Cup and Ukanakua running routes in tonight's game. That

(01:20:34):
is a big difference than for most of the rest
of the season. For a team in dire need of
straightening their season out or else it's going to be
over very quickly. They're two and four, they host the
five and one Vikings. Vikings just suffered their first loss
of the season a week ago to the Lions, and
this is a totally different team if you have your

(01:20:56):
weapons with you, and this is quite obviously plagued this
team from the jump. As soon as those two players
went down and had some other injury issues, it just
became very difficult for them to produce anything of substance
consistently offensively. He's not had a good year, and that's
part of the reason. You know, Karen Williams has actually
had a pretty productive year all things considered. I think

(01:21:17):
teams know, well, if we shut him down, this game
is over. And they have for the most part. Again,
their division says no reason to shut the door on
the season at two and four, by no means are
as things are things over for them. A loss, though,
would have them with their worst start in ten years.
I do think they're gonna get one tonight. I don't
think the Vikings are coming back down to Earth or anything.

(01:21:38):
I don't think they're gonna end up not as highly regarded.
They're not gonna win every game, and they play in
a great division. But I think they actually are good
that good and will take care of business tonight. Games
of substance this weekend for the AFC South obviously the
matchup between the Colts and Texans. The Titans are at

(01:21:58):
the Lions. They should get smoked in that game and
remain as one of the league's one win teams. Is
Will Levis's career over I don't think so. A lot
of the reasons. He's played poorly, but he's also missed
time because of injury, and they're trying to not put
him out there before he's fully healthy. He's the second
round pick and they haven't invested either dollars or a

(01:22:20):
tremendous amount of time in him. So if they continue
on this path, they will be as inquisitive of the
future quarterbacks of the twenty twenty to five draft as
any other team out there. Brown's one of the other
one win teams likely going to stay there. They host
the five and two surging Ravens, and again, the Texans

(01:22:41):
situation gets better if they take care of their own business.
I'm not worried about the Jaguars, but the Jaguars are
two and six. If they don't win at home against
the Packers, who obviously just dispatched of the Houston Texans.

Speaker 3 (01:22:56):
They're not gonna win against the Packers. I agree. So yeah,
I mean, at this point, you win this game this week,
if you're the Texans, you're in a really good spot.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:23:09):
Just to point out the odds makers end of it,
the Lions are eleven and a half point favorites to
beat the Titans that games in Detroit. The Packers are
four point favorites to beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville, and
the Texans are five point favorites.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
Currently.

Speaker 4 (01:23:23):
We'll see what the number is tomorrow when we hit
it up for our stone cold locks five point favorites
to beat down the Colts.

Speaker 3 (01:23:31):
I'm trying to think. I mean, the Titans is obviously
the biggest line of the week. Yeah, and it's the
it's the almost no doubt about it. But this is
the NFL. Like I mean, they might cover, they're not
gonna win in Detroit.

Speaker 2 (01:23:48):
You're right, I just stupid stuff happens every NFL season.

Speaker 3 (01:23:54):
This is too stupid, very good, very good that you're
trying to tell me one of these two things will happen.

Speaker 2 (01:24:01):
I don't think it's good.

Speaker 4 (01:24:01):
Browns are gonna win at home against the Ravens or
the Titans are gonna win all the road against the Lions.
You're trying to paint that picture that weird stuff out.
Neither of those things are gonna happen. But just at
some point, the Chiefs will lose a game this year.
It's almost certain, especially with the way they've played. They
they've skated to their rivals this weekend in Vegas as
nearly ten point favorites.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
No, they have a terrible quarterback situation. That's too stupid.

Speaker 4 (01:24:26):
Well, it's now solidified again because O'Connell's out for weeks,
so Minshew will be back slinging the rock.

Speaker 2 (01:24:31):
In a weird way. I think that's a better chance
for them to win.

Speaker 4 (01:24:35):
I mean, there's a reason why they benched him four O'Connell. Yeah,
I guess Bryce Young gonna pull off a double figure
upset he gets his first start back.

Speaker 2 (01:24:45):
Hey, yeah, Denver. Hey, well, and the game there, it
could be worse.

Speaker 3 (01:24:49):
I mean, I guess they could have thrown him out
there against a real wolf. But Denver's probably better than
we're giving him credit for.

Speaker 4 (01:24:57):
This is the same thing that we talked about when
the Texans Patriots played. If you care about who your
team is playing because you're afraid of them, which is
basically what you're saying. It's the NFL. Man, Yeah, you're
not playing a team that has an enrollment of two
thousand kids. Well, you have an enrollment of fifty seven
thousand with a eight trillion dollars football budget and your professors.

(01:25:19):
You're on a level playing field. Parody is the name
of the game in the NFL. Clearly, there are good
teams and bad teams, well run teams and poorly run teams,
the teams and untalented teams.

Speaker 3 (01:25:29):
But come on, man, one team didn't pay the other
team a million dollars to get beaten by them either.

Speaker 4 (01:25:33):
Yeah, it's not a pay game, like the idea that
in college you can absolutely run up the score. And
some days we clearly see it. A lot of other
days they're saying, look, my fourth string quarterback is running
the ball in every play.

Speaker 2 (01:25:45):
I don't know what you want me to do.

Speaker 3 (01:25:46):
I don't really think you can do it in the NFL,
even with Dan Campbell classless Dan Campbell, Oh yeah, did
to the calbarynth.

Speaker 4 (01:25:54):
I didn't even feel like that was running up the
score at all. It was just you can't stop us.
This is fun, is supposed to be fun. You can't
run up the score in an NFL game. You're professionals,
you're paid, your coaches stay up all night.

Speaker 3 (01:26:05):
How about it's the Cowboys complaining when they're supposedly gonna
be good.

Speaker 2 (01:26:09):
The Cowboys weren't complaining.

Speaker 3 (01:26:10):
Someone who we still haven't figured out why, as a
Cowboys fan was complaining.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
Who was it? Chris Christy? Oh that's right, I forgot.
I knew it was I just couldn't remember who. The
stupid part.

Speaker 4 (01:26:19):
They do have a Sunday night game this week, of course,
because everyone wants to see America's team there Cisco or
in Santa Clara.

Speaker 2 (01:26:26):
America America's team lose, they're not favored.

Speaker 3 (01:26:28):
To win, they're not gonna win well, and then they'll
fire Mike McCarthy.

Speaker 4 (01:26:32):
I know people think it's a must win game for
the Cowboys because they've had a week off. They got embarrassed.
All this nonsense off the field is. We didn't even
talk about the fact that people former players were being
asked about their time in Dallas for how unprofessional it
is or circus like it is, because of all the tours,
because of people, you know, like your caged animal and

(01:26:54):
they're knocking on the glass while you're in meetings, while
you're lifting weights, while you're walking from your position.

Speaker 2 (01:27:00):
Mean well, Jerry Jones basically said, that's not changing.

Speaker 4 (01:27:04):
This is part of what we do to make the
franchise what it is and to have the popularity. He
just paraphrase and just it's something he believes in. And
the players who have been there and now play for
other organizations say, yeah, it's not.

Speaker 2 (01:27:15):
You know, I want to go to work to work.

Speaker 3 (01:27:16):
I'm not there to have the distractions that these things create.
I also believe in the ability to have our fans
ask me in hologram form questions.

Speaker 4 (01:27:28):
Point was it feels like this is a must win game.
The Cowboys Golboys are three and three. They can stomach it.

Speaker 2 (01:27:37):
It's the most panic ridden three and three team I've
ever seen.

Speaker 3 (01:27:40):
I think it's a must win game, even though the
division is the same one I just talked about with
the Rams for the Niners. I think because of what
was posted by that cry baby kid on social media
about his fantasy football team, I think Deebo Samuel's going
to be okay.

Speaker 2 (01:27:56):
What's wrong, buddy?

Speaker 8 (01:27:57):
Who injured?

Speaker 2 (01:27:59):
It's so true though he sounded like me.

Speaker 4 (01:28:01):
Yeah, twenty two minutes from now, when we get to
in case you missed it, you will hear that audio.

Speaker 6 (01:28:05):
Good.

Speaker 4 (01:28:06):
But I think Debo is gonna be okay. They hopefully,
if you're a Niner fan, they'll have Jennings back. Ayuk's
obviously gone. We're not yet ready for the return of
Christian McCaffrey. But can the Niners really fall to three
and five? They can still make the playoffs. There's plenty
of mathematical football left.

Speaker 2 (01:28:25):
Well, it's not just about something. Don't they want to
play good football.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
That's the thing. It's not just about Okay, Christian McCaffrey's healthy.
We've got him back.

Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:28:32):
You can't just assume he's gonna be that guy. I
know you should, because if he's healthy, he's healthy, If
he's healthy, he'll he'll be that guy.

Speaker 2 (01:28:39):
You think so.

Speaker 4 (01:28:40):
All three of their losses are excuse me, three of
their four losses parbt. Of last week's loss, we were
all by one score. Each of their wins has been
by double figures. But they're three and four going into
this game against the Cowboys again. It's at home. It
feels like they can't lose this game and really expect
to have the kind of season that I'm sure they
expected to win the year began. This is Kyle Shanan's

(01:29:02):
team that all they do essentially is advance of the
playoffs and then have some colossal.

Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
Man, I can't believe this happened again.

Speaker 4 (01:29:08):
They're the team that's handing it to the Cowboys in
the playoffs. This is a long standing with a big
gap in between rivalry game. They have tons of history together,
both previous and current. Like Mike McCarthy's seat got warmer,
Jerry Jones team got made fun of more strictly because
of the forty nine ers and how the Cowboys have

(01:29:30):
lost to them.

Speaker 3 (01:29:34):
Mike McCarthy's getting fired if they lose this game. I'm
not even at the end of the year. No, he's
not getting fired. Why in the next five days, Why
you had. You know why, I know this is gonna
happen because A, Jerry's gonna have to do something because that's.

Speaker 2 (01:29:49):
What he's thinking in his head.

Speaker 3 (01:29:51):
But B he's gonna feel even more pressure to do that,
and he'll be putting that pressure on himself. By the way,
because they're coming out of the bye week. You had
two weeks to prepare, and he fell flat on your
face in this national tea.

Speaker 2 (01:30:02):
You know they fell flat on their face. They already have.
That's why he's firing him. That's the whole point of this.

Speaker 4 (01:30:07):
What about a thirty one twenty eight loss on a
last second field goal by their eighth string kicker.

Speaker 3 (01:30:13):
You should have been better against a broken down Niners team.

Speaker 4 (01:30:17):
I don't anticipate of firing this week. I think if
it happens, it will be after the season.

Speaker 3 (01:30:23):
He's but he's that knee jerk guy. He's not gonna
wait that long they keep losing games. If they're not
gonna go to the playoffs, He's gonna go ahead and
get it done. And then I'll have some interim in
there whomever that Mike Zimmer probably takes over, probably and
then he hires Bill Belichick.

Speaker 2 (01:30:41):
This offseason.

Speaker 4 (01:30:42):
What we saw this week was the absolute final piece
to the It's definitely not happening.

Speaker 2 (01:30:49):
We talked about it with one of our guests.

Speaker 4 (01:30:51):
We talked about it throughout this time of Bill Belichick
being in the media and maybe he's still looking for
his next opportunity. He does have a good personal relationship
with Jerry. There's no way, mister keep it in the
house is working for Jerry Jones.

Speaker 2 (01:31:08):
No way.

Speaker 3 (01:31:09):
But in some ways, isn't that the ultimate challenge for
both of these guys with their huge legos to win?

Speaker 2 (01:31:15):
That's true? Oh maybe could All right, we'll continue to
discuss next.

Speaker 1 (01:31:21):
We now return to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexlworth on
Sports Talk.

Speaker 3 (01:31:39):
A team rolling along here on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (01:31:44):
Thursday edition of the program.

Speaker 3 (01:31:46):
I haven't talked a ton about the Rockets loss last night,
mainly because it was the first, you know, first game
of the season. It's it's gonna get magnified, because it
was opening night, and because it was the Hornets, because
they're terrible.

Speaker 4 (01:32:01):
And because there's no reason for it to have happened.
No matter what the circumstances were.

Speaker 3 (01:32:06):
They were up by eighteen, they were up going into
the fourth quarter, and then they were down by five
very quickly, and they lost by five.

Speaker 2 (01:32:14):
They shot the ball miserably and they started the game
both teams couldn't score. What was that about, I mean
expected that from the Hornets.

Speaker 4 (01:32:20):
Well, the Hornets shot fifty three percent in the second
half and the Rocket shot thirty six percent. They had
a bad night shooting in the basketball, and they didn't
do anything about it by doing something more at the rim,
which they were doing early in the game. They also
got smacked on the glass. First quarter, dominated handled business
okay in the second quarter. Second half they absolutely got
owned on the glass. Most of alprin shengoons twenty five,

(01:32:43):
eighteen and five evening took place in the first half.
Jalen Green really good in the first quarter, really good
in the fourth quarter, not very good in the second
and third quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:32:52):
Fred van Vliet miserable.

Speaker 3 (01:32:54):
All night long until the very very very very very
very very very last minutes of the game.

Speaker 2 (01:32:58):
Yep mate two.

Speaker 4 (01:33:00):
Three pointers in the game that came after he missed
his first seven.

Speaker 3 (01:33:05):
Had two turnovers, which doesn't sound like much, but it
is for him.

Speaker 4 (01:33:08):
The team took care of the basketball, but the Alpera
and Shangoon turnover late, completely unforced, and cannot happen in
a close game situation, regardless of how you arrived at
that point, and saying all those things doesn't even mention
the Hornets were playing without their best big in Williams
in my opinion, then they played the entire second half

(01:33:30):
without Brandon Miller, who did not return with a hip injury.
I think they should not be in this position against
Charlotte no matter what, and they got extra gifts throughout
the evening or in advance of the game with injury.
They weren't missing any of the Rockets are only missing
Stevens was so far given the Rockets the same number
of points as I have. I don't I wouldn't say
they were missing him. Rebounding was an issue, so I

(01:33:53):
guess you could say he could have helped, But that's
not that's ridiculous. You couldn't win a game because Steve
Adams was unavailable.

Speaker 2 (01:34:01):
Well, I'm say they got.

Speaker 4 (01:34:01):
Nothing from three starters there was. That's hard to overcome.

Speaker 3 (01:34:04):
There was a terrible turnover unforced by the way by
Alpera and Shingoon late, but since he had a double
double after like the end of the first quarter. I'm
not going to kill him too much for that.

Speaker 4 (01:34:13):
How to get all those offensive rebounds off his shots
at point play they.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
Usually end up finishing the possession with points. But here's
the problem, though, they just extended him. They just extended
Jalen Green. Yeah, they're two leading scores, genius fifty three
points combined.

Speaker 3 (01:34:28):
How many did Jalen finish with twenty eight? How many
do you leave on the table at least twelve? That's
four three point missus. I mean, why he.

Speaker 2 (01:34:39):
Thought he was going to shoot nine to fifteen.

Speaker 3 (01:34:41):
No, but I wanted him to like make some of
the wide open ones he was getting at crucial moments
in the game where it was dwink off the rim
every single time.

Speaker 4 (01:34:50):
And look, rest of the team was eight for twenty eight.
He was five for fifteen. As inn he outshot them,
I know, but he needs to shoot better. That's not
an excuse. He he got just the kind of looks
that he got in the preseason, just the kind of
looks he got post All Star Break last year, and
shot them with super confidence that everything was good about
it except the results. And again, very early in the game,

(01:35:11):
he and Alprin Schakoon had all their points very late
in the game. He got them the five points on
his own that got them back to a tie game situation.

Speaker 3 (01:35:18):
This is what drives me crazy about him, though, because
you know it's in there, the talent's in there, because
we see it one month every season, that one month
he's he's like a top five player in the NBA
almost well, i'll say top ten, And I just like,
I know it sounds simplistic and asking for a lot
to just do that the rest of the year. But

(01:35:40):
you don't have to do that every night, you know,
I know, you're not James Harden in his prime. We
get that. That's that was the last guy like that
that the Rockets had on their roster and they're still
looking for him. But I mean, I don't know. Sometimes
I'm just like, man, it is. It's brutal because he
is wide open and he just he could have the

(01:36:01):
exact same game. And if Fred van Vliet doesn't have
probably his worst game of the year four of eighteen,
he was pathetic.

Speaker 4 (01:36:09):
Dylan Brooks. He did make one shot, missed the other five.
Juari Smith Junior made a couple of late scores. He
hit two shots he contributed two baskets to the game.
Those three combined to go seven for thirty one. Yeah,
Jalen's now their highest paid player, I guess one of them.
And yes, he's one of their two leading scorers, just
as he was a year ago. Let's just say it's

(01:36:31):
his fault. I mean, at some point, the other players,
no matter how you regard them, they have to play better.
They've got to execute better, they have to finish more,
or they can't be on the court.

Speaker 2 (01:36:43):
A big part of that is that he was the
number two pick in the draft. It was fair or not?

Speaker 3 (01:36:48):
You think that's when do we care? Like, what does
that matter anymore? Well, because I'll tell you why it matters, because.

Speaker 4 (01:36:55):
Scottie Barnes is the only player from this draft class
that's made an All Star Game, and he got a
max deal.

Speaker 3 (01:37:02):
So the other two guys on either side, he's the
worst deal in the NBA in my agreed, agreed, But
I don't care when he was drafted. Why did he
get a max deal? Because he was picked number one.

Speaker 4 (01:37:09):
Let's see how he played. He played, I think individually
he played alright.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
Last night. They obviously found a way to be on
the short end of it. Uh, the Detroit Yes, and
then Evan Mobley is he he It's I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:37:23):
I just don't think that's relevant anymore. At some point,
I don't really care. Well, this is who you are,
this is what you put the work in for. He
could have been the twentieth pick. He could be in
the spot, he could be the second pick. He'd be
in this spot. I mean, Jabari Smith Junior was the
third pick. What's the standard on him? I know, I
I it doesn't matter anymore. He doesn't get nearly the
criticism that Jalen does.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
And he's been way less helpful to winning.

Speaker 2 (01:37:49):
Yeah, that's just the bottom line.

Speaker 3 (01:37:51):
And I hate it because I've said for a long time,
I just feel like they got some of these top
picks and it's not I mean, it's not a personal
shot at the players, but there was a you know,
can't miss prospect or the time there was. They didn't
get the number one pick, and I'm still not I mean,
I'm gonna be in the mind minority for the whole
remainder of his career.

Speaker 2 (01:38:11):
I just I think Victor winm bin Yama's gonna be
a good player.

Speaker 3 (01:38:15):
I'm not getting carried away with him like some I'm
hearing some stuff and I'm like, are you guys high
as a kite? They're trying to act like he's like
the next Kareem. I mean, just slow down, man. He's
he's decent, put up some big numbers in certain games
last year, but until he starts averaging thirty and twenty,
I'm not to talk about him.

Speaker 4 (01:38:35):
Unmistakable, it's he is. He is a tremendous talent. He's
got to They have to figure out how to put
talent around him. So it's not a big waste of
time for him to put up empty stats every game
all year, because this will be year two of doing that,
and then maybe it matters that he has all this talent.
It doesn't matter if you have a ton of talent
if you don't do anything as a team. And at

(01:38:57):
some point that has to change. It's been one whole year,
but no, I can't. I can't watch him play and
act like he's not gonna be awesome because I just
think that he is. You know, just to the draft
before that, you know, did the Rockets draft the third
best player when they drafted Jabari Smith junior third? You
probably could argue that they did not it's maybe the

(01:39:17):
fourth or fifth best player. That's just not a great draft.
But's the top two picks which you didn't get are
both much better yep than Himkylo.

Speaker 3 (01:39:26):
Bancaro and Chet Holmgren. Now that he's playing, they're I mean,
it's it's them, and then it's a very very distant
third in the rest.

Speaker 4 (01:39:34):
Yeah, nobody else has really stood out. I don't think
Jayden Durant, James Okay, that's.

Speaker 3 (01:39:40):
What I'm talking about. They're at the top of all
of these drafts because they sucked. That's what you're supposed
to be rewarded with. And what do you have to
show for it. You have some guys with some talent,
but they're not None of these guys are blowing not
even albern Schig.

Speaker 2 (01:39:56):
They're not blowing you away. That's why I think they're not.

Speaker 3 (01:39:59):
Pre shingun drafted sixteenth, That's why he doesn't get criticized
one of the top six players from that draft easily.
That was a better draft though, yeah than the one
we're talking about. Not buy a lot, but better.

Speaker 2 (01:40:13):
But that's what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:40:14):
We're just in this run of it's just not that
there's not I get it. There's only one Lebron, there's
only one Kobe, there's only one mj there's only one
Hakeem on and on and on and on. But unfortunately,
we're in a run of like several drafts in a
row where either there wasn't that guy in these drafts
or you didn't have the pick to get him one

(01:40:34):
or the other. So it's that's why I'm still stuck
in that. They just remind me so much of the
state of the franchise in the fall of twenty twelve,
and all of a sudden, it like eight o'clock at night,
what the Rockets just traded for James Harden. That's what
it's going to take to change the franchise's fortunes for real.

Speaker 2 (01:40:56):
They have twelve players probably that are tradable.

Speaker 3 (01:41:00):
Yeah, and they're gonna have to trade a lot of
them to get that guy, and he'll be there.

Speaker 4 (01:41:03):
Not only are their contracts movable, but they could be
desirable by different teams different.

Speaker 2 (01:41:10):
End of the day.

Speaker 3 (01:41:10):
When Jannie is no longer happy in Milwaukee anymore, go
ahead and find me a team that's going to offer
Milwaukee a better deal top to bottom than what the
Rockets will probably be able to come to the table with.

Speaker 2 (01:41:21):
With a combination of the Rockets have to offer them.
Phoenix still Phoenix.

Speaker 3 (01:41:25):
Well, if Devin Booker and company are winning, then they're
not going to try and go after him.

Speaker 6 (01:41:29):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:41:31):
One, whole game undefeated. If you had a between those two,
nothing but defeated, they're very defeated.

Speaker 3 (01:41:39):
If you had to choose between those two, what too,
uh Devin Booker and uh Jannie, It's pretty easy choice.
What is it? It's not Devin Booker. I mean, come on, man,
I don't even know how close they are in age.
I think Giannie has played a lot more, at.

Speaker 4 (01:41:57):
Least played a lot more. We were talking about this
the other day. Still not to He's just thirty, right,
just turn thirty or just about to turn.

Speaker 2 (01:42:04):
He's an old thirty though, right, it's been the lease
since he was nineteen. He's in it's twelve sex.

Speaker 3 (01:42:07):
He's a big man, so knee injuries, all that kind
of stuff you think about.

Speaker 2 (01:42:11):
Devon's only twenty seven. For another five days.

Speaker 4 (01:42:18):
There's the point in the show when we get you
caught up in a couple of items you might not
have heard abouts because we didn't mention it or we
need to revisit a couple of items that are worthy
of a little bit of extra time. Also a chance
to remind you gets tickets to give away, as we
have been doing throughout the week. Tickets go see the
Cougars the Hoopers on Saturday their exhibition game with Texas
A and M got tickets to that. And we also

(01:42:39):
have tickets to the Cougars and the Wildcats Kansas State
coming to town on the football side two saturdays from
now November second. So an opportunity to win those because
you've been listening to the show comes your way in
the final segment if you've been listening to Sports Talk
seven ninety over the course of this week, two hosts
have had enough, So I want to do a recreation,

(01:43:01):
little role playing of me driving the car and I
have both the host of the Matt Thomas Show with
Ross Matt and the co host of this show, you Adam,
in the back seat, and we're talking football, and we're
talking about the fun that most of us adults and
some youths have with football from a statistical standpoint, maybe

(01:43:24):
wagering as well that game called fantasy football. We're having
a conversation about that, and both you and Matt want
nothing to do with the Sports Talk seven to ninety
league anymore, any reasons why.

Speaker 2 (01:43:36):
And you've been.

Speaker 4 (01:43:37):
Literally on the air, both of you, crying about it
and saying that's it no more for me. So if
you want to know what that conversation sounded like for
both of these two, I can't take it Anymoores. This
is them in the back seat of my car. I'm
driving and filming and recording, and this is the two
of them talking about fantasy football and why it makes
them so sad. And as you listen see Jase Stroud

(01:44:00):
catching strays.

Speaker 2 (01:44:02):
Buddy, what's the matter?

Speaker 8 (01:44:04):
I'm gone with?

Speaker 2 (01:44:06):
Why? What? What? What happened?

Speaker 8 (01:44:10):
Everything?

Speaker 5 (01:44:11):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:44:11):
My players are getting hurt and they're like some of
the best ones.

Speaker 2 (01:44:16):
Who's hurt now?

Speaker 4 (01:44:17):
Grig Doblin's hurt, you know, was ce Lambs in the
I mean Devo Samuel's in the hospital.

Speaker 2 (01:44:25):
And c J Dowd can't do anything.

Speaker 5 (01:44:28):
C J. Stroud's sucking right now. Hey, you gotta look
at the waiver wire and keep it moving.

Speaker 2 (01:44:40):
That's all you can do.

Speaker 4 (01:44:44):
Still crying were literally the words that I said on
this show to you.

Speaker 2 (01:44:49):
Just hit the waiver wire.

Speaker 3 (01:44:50):
Man, there's nobody to get My players are hurt.

Speaker 4 (01:44:53):
I'm not playing. I'm taking my ball and going home.
In case you missed it, two of the charter members
of the Sports Talk seven to ninety Fantasy Football League.
I believe, each of whom have previously claimed the title.

Speaker 3 (01:45:08):
I want to Matt's never been a champ. Okay, I'm
a two time champ, back to back.

Speaker 4 (01:45:13):
On my head, you just want to walk away, not
even walking away on top.

Speaker 3 (01:45:16):
You just want to walk away me. I can't speak
for Matt and his reasoning. Matt threatens to quit every
single year. That's the difference between us.

Speaker 4 (01:45:23):
The only thing he succeeded in is quitting as commissioner. Yeah,
which again which we all applauded. I didn't applaud that
we have a perfectly competent, capable, and helpful You put
the commissioner to work this week doing what Our waiver
system runs overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, and then players that

(01:45:46):
then are dropped they go into waivers two day period,
two day waiting period. So if player goes, you drop
him on a Wednesday, is available at some point in
the day on Friday, you drop him later two day period,
so on and so forth. I happen to be checked
things to see if maybe there was a player I
wanted to add or maybe augment the roster a little bit,
do a little shuffle, maybe pull Tua off the IR

(01:46:08):
and slot Isaiah Pacheco into the IR slot. And I
glanced at the best available player in free agency. He
was on waivers, would not be available until Friday, and
he had been dropped so this team owner could pick
up tight end Hunter Henry. And I thought it seemed

(01:46:28):
like maybe a mistake had been made, since the player
that was now available via waivers to be claimed on
Friday was Derrick Henry. So I sent a text to
Ross and say, could you commission this mistake out of
this owner? Clearly this has to be a mistake, and
it was. It was an accident. It was an how

(01:46:48):
do you accidentally do that?

Speaker 2 (01:46:51):
Don't know you?

Speaker 4 (01:46:52):
But so the player the bad Ombres were number one
on the waiver wire. You if I hadn't seen this,
maybe you would have hit the waiver wire and kept
your mouth shut, because well, I'm just gonna pick up
Derrick Henry because.

Speaker 3 (01:47:08):
I get Derrick Henry. And then one of two things happens.
Either I keep losing because all of the other players
on the roster are injured, or suck past the.

Speaker 2 (01:47:20):
Oh no, no, no, it's it's an inordinate amount. Everyone's man.
I know I got players on IR.

Speaker 3 (01:47:26):
I just don't want to pay a set fee and
then on top of that fee, pay an additional fee
when I have the least amount of points rules I
bet you do. How many times have you gotten high
point total? How many times we've taken my money this year?

Speaker 2 (01:47:40):
I don't know yet. I'm sure I'll get it at
some point. I think I got it once this year done.
I don't need. I don't need.

Speaker 3 (01:47:44):
First of all, this league doesn't define me. But here's
the thing. I'm not in five leagues like Ross. I
do one league every year, this one, And.

Speaker 2 (01:47:51):
If it sucks the way it sucks like it does,
because it sucks right now, for all the sucky reasons
that it sucks, I don't want to play it anymore
if it's not fun.

Speaker 4 (01:47:58):
One of the reasons this audio was presented to you
guys was because it was floating around social media.

Speaker 2 (01:48:04):
And kid, he goes, he's so young.

Speaker 4 (01:48:06):
He was crying in demo Samuel's in the hospital, which
is a hilarious I mean, I'm glad he's fine.

Speaker 3 (01:48:12):
Like the sounds hilarious, true, but.

Speaker 2 (01:48:14):
It was true and the very ends the money.

Speaker 4 (01:48:16):
The reason why it's so popular, why everyone's seen it,
is because Debo posted on his feed, I'm okay, buddy,
and everybody put that post with the video together. So
he was aware that he was making this kid's life. Said, yeah,
what about CJ. He didn't say he was hurt. He
said he's not doing anything, which is.

Speaker 2 (01:48:35):
He didn't do anything last week, yes, this last week,
and he's not.

Speaker 4 (01:48:39):
He's probably been twelfth thirteenth best quarterback in fantasy football,
somewhere in the mid teens.

Speaker 3 (01:48:45):
He's better than He's still better than Pat Mahomes.

Speaker 4 (01:48:48):
So the Clippers played last night, in case you missed it,
a segment they played without Kawhi Leonard.

Speaker 2 (01:48:56):
He was unavailable injured.

Speaker 3 (01:48:58):
Wait wait, oh, I thought you were going to say
it was some other reason besides he was injured, but no,
it turns out he's still injured.

Speaker 4 (01:49:04):
He sort So the Clippers are facing a lawsuit from
a former strength and conditioning coach who says he was
hired way back in twenty nineteen, which is a fact.
He was hired back in twenty nineteen part of a
year's long campaign to recruit Kawhi Leonard. He's suing the

(01:49:25):
team over wrongful termination, and one of the things that
he brings up, one of the main things is he
had helped put together what was the he felt the
proper kind of timeline the plan for Kawai's return after
one of the injuries. And this is a very long, detailed,
hard to follow article because of what he's suing him

(01:49:45):
about is kind of hilarious. But he said he had
given them information that suggested the proper timeline for Kawai's
recovery should be seven hundred and thirty days.

Speaker 2 (01:49:57):
It's two years. They did not like that.

Speaker 3 (01:50:00):
I can't imagine why I did not like that report
that to suggestion.

Speaker 2 (01:50:03):
They wanted a second opinion. Yes, they called it unacceptable.

Speaker 4 (01:50:07):
Okay, So it sounds like this lawsuit is both They
didn't he questioned their methods of rehab, which got him fired.
And he's also it sounds like he's kind of trying
to tell the league and oh, by the way, they
did things that are completely tampering and trying to get
Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers, which probably makes no kidding.

Speaker 2 (01:50:31):
It's the NBA, I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:50:33):
But I'm not sure how that fits into his lawsuit
against the Clippers, but it's part of it.

Speaker 2 (01:50:38):
They won last night, but without Kawhi Leonard. How's their
new palace? Did they play at the new place?

Speaker 4 (01:50:43):
It was rowdy, The new section for fans was as
they'd hoped. But we'll see when the Rockets get there
won't be too long. A couple things as we roll
into the final segment, where mere moments away from your
opportunity to win tickets to either Cougar football or or
Cougar basketball. I need to add something correct something I

(01:51:04):
said closing out last segment. I had forgotten that Phoenix is.
Kevin Durant hit a game tying shot late in the
fourth quarter and the Clippers James Harden missed a game
winning shot late in the fourth quarter, and then we
went to overtime where Phoenix defeated the Los Angeles Clippers.
Also didn't mention it was the first NBA game since

(01:51:26):
he was a Rocket two years ago. For Kevin Porter
Junior is member of the Clippers. Earlier on the show,
for those of you that want to win tickets, Now
is your opportunity to do so. He got pairs for
both of those events that I mentioned last segment, Cougar
football against k State on the second, Cougar basketball against
the Aggies, the exhibition game coming up on the twenty
seventh Sunday. All you have to do is listen to

(01:51:49):
the show and you got a chance to win. The
number to call is seven one three two seven ninety.
I've got a question for you, and for those that
were listening to the show during our signature segment or
earlier this week, you will know the answer to the
question seven one three two one two five seven ninety.
I brought up a conspiracy theory earlier this week, and
I felt like during the week it was proven to

(01:52:10):
be true based on comments made by someone very close
to the game between the Packers and the Texans. The
subject of that conspiracy theory is the answer to the question,
who is the subject of that conspiracy theory?

Speaker 2 (01:52:23):
The X Files music, even though we can't play.

Speaker 4 (01:52:25):
It all rights, Yeah, who was I talking about? That
had a very I felt had a very large impact
on the outcome of the Packers and the Texans game.
Happens to be close with Demiko, happens to be close
with Matt Lafleur, and happened to be available. That's the
subject with the conspiracy theory that I brought up?

Speaker 2 (01:52:47):
Who is that person?

Speaker 4 (01:52:48):
Seven one three two one two five seven ninety seven
one three two one two five seven ninety seven one
three go Koogs as well, if you'd like to get
yourself tickets to either of those events.

Speaker 2 (01:53:00):
World Series begins tomorrow night. Supposedly, I don't know. He
got a full two hours before you leave tomorrow to
talk about it.

Speaker 3 (01:53:07):
This will probably be the last time we talked about
the World Series this week?

Speaker 4 (01:53:10):
Will you wear a pro I know you have a knockoff,
kind of parody Dodger shirt in your wardrobe? Will you
wear an actual Dodger shirt tomorrow?

Speaker 2 (01:53:20):
How do you not know what I'm wearing?

Speaker 4 (01:53:21):
I was just for the listeners you're wearing, and I
don't want to give it away.

Speaker 2 (01:53:24):
Shirt.

Speaker 3 (01:53:25):
Well, I've got a change though, because then I've you know,
you know, you do the game tomorrow. The game, I
have to wear something that has this logo on it.
I should, but I can't wear that to the game, certainly,
not with who's sitting next to you, Well on a
shirt that says that maybe he'll be wearing a Dodger shirt.

Speaker 2 (01:53:41):
Well, I wasn't talking about that guy.

Speaker 4 (01:53:43):
We're talking about Spanish broadcasting legend Adrian Chavarie.

Speaker 2 (01:53:47):
Noted Dodgers fan.

Speaker 3 (01:53:49):
He is a he hails from the City of Angels,
so he comes by it honestly. He's not just some
front running T shirt fan that wears Lakers, Cowboys and
Yankees gear.

Speaker 2 (01:54:00):
But in that vein, did you see what Aaron Boone
had to say? Whatd Aaron Boone had to say it?

Speaker 4 (01:54:05):
By the way, Aaron Boone is the manager of the Dodgers,
managed them to the twenty twenty four World Here.

Speaker 3 (01:54:10):
Then I think I should probably go ahead and make
a note of the fact that Dave Roberts manages the Dodgers.
So I said it, right, didn't I know? You said
Aaron Boone manages the Dodgers. You met the Yankees, but
we all knew.

Speaker 2 (01:54:20):
He No, I didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:54:21):
Actually, I'm just not smart person, and it's over for me.
It's fine, you're a little under the weather. I'm gonna
talk about that. You're clearly not on cold medicine because
you don't believe in that sort of thing. I've taken
some that witchcraft, all right. So they were asked. They
were asking Aaron Boone about his college playing days where
he was at USC Obviously Dave Roberts, if you know this,

(01:54:44):
played during that exact same time, even though Dave Roberts
looks like fifty years older for some reason, at this
point in his career, he was at UCLA. So yeah,
it's a rivalry LA type rivalry. And when asked about it,
Aaron Boone said, you're a Trojan for life, You're a
Bruin for four years. The problem with that is that

(01:55:07):
Aaron Boone's Game one starter is also apparently only a
four year guy. They're a little shade at him. And
so when he was told about that, Garrett Cole said, quote,
we don't agree on everything, perfect, but I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I totally screwed that up. Garrett Cole said, we don't
agree in everything. My bad, I'm sorry I messed that up. So, yeah,

(01:55:29):
looking forward to the Dodgers taking this series in five games.
So Cole on the road at the Dodgers against flarerty
f minus one and a half Dodgers and mean that
means if you want to bet on the Dodgers, not on.

Speaker 2 (01:55:47):
The money line, I love doing this. They need to
win by two runs.

Speaker 3 (01:55:51):
The Dodgers will put up more than two runs against Garrett.

Speaker 2 (01:55:54):
Well, if they win via to nothing, they would cover.
But there win a six and cover.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
Garrett Cole in Dodgers Stadium against Shoheo Tani.

Speaker 2 (01:56:04):
Ballgame.

Speaker 3 (01:56:05):
He loves giving up home runs in big spots when
he's not wearing Astros gear.

Speaker 4 (01:56:10):
I mean, I'll allow it since it's you know, prop
if you want to take the Garrett Cole over under
four and a half strikeouts.

Speaker 3 (01:56:19):
M I don't that lineup's really good. I mean, I
really I'm not. Even when I say Dodgers in five,
I sincerely mean that. I don't think it's going to
be a particularly competitive series, like a lot of people
do just because it's New York. You know, they that's
the only reason they think that. Like, I know what
you think, Well, oh gosh, look at what they've done

(01:56:40):
all season. Yeah, they did that during the regular season.
Aaron Judge has done next to nothing in the postseason,
and although gian Carlos Stanton and Juan Soto are really good,
they can get theirs and the Yankees still lose. It
happens all the time. Haven't you watched Yankees baseball for
the last fifteen years.

Speaker 4 (01:56:56):
So you truly, honestly baseball only believe the Los Angeles
Dodgers are going to win the World Series.

Speaker 3 (01:57:05):
Why would I have any reason to lie? I hate
both of these teams. I want I want a Daisy
cutter offlouded with more animosity. It's purely baseball. I mean,
did Brian Cashman say one of the dumbest things I've.

Speaker 2 (01:57:17):
Heard this week?

Speaker 4 (01:57:18):
Yes he did, Yeah, absolutely, But didn't Clayton Kershaw say
one of the dumbest things you've heard last week about
facing the vaunted Altuve Bregman won two punch at the
never at the top of the Astros lineup. Yeah, well,
but that still got whiplash out anyway because they cheated,
right right?

Speaker 3 (01:57:34):
So he does he have to worry about? Why is
he even addressing it? And by the way, I'm just
happy that he's out of the hospital. I see you
after getting whiplash from Yulie's home run that tied the game.
Curio has tied it. Clayton Kershaw is dead. Wow, that
was the call. I shouldn't have cut so much of
the plate. Clayton Kershaw pitches where next season it ain't.

(01:57:55):
It ain't in Dodger still here, He's not gonna pitch.
I don't think he gets a conciliatory offer from the
stupid Rangers because.

Speaker 2 (01:58:01):
They like that.

Speaker 4 (01:58:02):
I think he's going to retire. I think he's going
to be very sad, and I think it's going to
be very difficult because it.

Speaker 2 (01:58:06):
Was his career.

Speaker 3 (01:58:07):
He'll cry. I think he's going to retire, like it'll
be far of tears cry. Uh Peyton tears cry?

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
Did Peyton cry? Was it ugly? Crying?

Speaker 3 (01:58:15):
Though?

Speaker 4 (01:58:15):
Like like farv Is. His forehead got all scrunched up.
You could see the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:58:20):
Well, how could you not? You can see that from space?

Speaker 5 (01:58:23):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:58:23):
I think the Dodgers are going to win also in
a few days. I guess how many games? More than four? Six?

Speaker 3 (01:58:35):
Sure? Six sounds good. You know if they win in
six game matters is when does the series end? Because
that's when the Bregman window opens, and soon after five
days it closes. But they can do some work in
that time. I saw somebody say, hey, uh re signed
Bregman and Kakuchi and I signed Christian Walker, Sason.

Speaker 2 (01:58:55):
Corners are set. They would be if they just do
it cost your money. He's got money. He does have money.

Speaker 3 (01:59:02):
He's seen the price of beer. A minute made, Jim,
I love you. I mean they've got it though. It's
just GBC to concern yourself. Well, let's get it done,
because if you don't, then I think you've taken a
step back.

Speaker 2 (01:59:15):
Well we did.

Speaker 4 (01:59:15):
We got it done today here on the A team.
We'll do it all again tomorrow at three o'clock. A
Friday edition of the show Stonecold Locks, Chris Gordy, The Works,