Rockets gut punch, DeMeco and CJ speak, Tomlin talks Texans

Thursday on The A-Team, Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler share their thoughts on the Rockets' heartbreaking loss to the Trail Blazers, react to DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud's latest comments, and go behind enemy lines to hear from Steelers HC Mike Tomlin.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
For the winds.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is a front rim Tampa.

Speaker 3 (00:03):
Is there that? To reason, they put it in.

Speaker 4 (00:08):
They're gonna check the sceve.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
It's good to Reason's.

Speaker 5 (00:12):
Right hand got there.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
That ball is.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 6 (00:22):
One side says it's good, one doesn't says it's no good.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's going to.

Speaker 6 (00:31):
Turn take the points off the board. The Blazers went
it one O three, one O two. Rockets lose.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
I don't know in the history of watching Rockets games
if I have ever rode the roller coaster of the
last forty eight hours. Well, a game winner back to
back with a game winner, just kidding, game loser, that's
how you.

Speaker 5 (00:58):
Would say it. Right on Thursday, We've only had four
shows this week and we have opened with a Rockets
game from the previous evening twice they played twice, we've
had the opportunity to utilize that sound for unfortunately different results.
Last night, Matt and I were doing the game and
it was not one of their finest. I don't think
it was one of the finest for Portland. Both teams

(01:19):
missing players that would obviously have made huge difference. Portland
was missing a host of players, three probable starters obviously
the Rockets are continuing to play without Alprin Shngoon, though
it sounded like ema Udoka was very positive about his
progress when he spoke before the game, saying, the pain
has gone down, the swelling has gone down. He's still
maybe over a little over a week away, but maybe

(01:41):
getting back a little bit sooner than we had originally anticipated.
And they should know more as the days continue. But
they just could not get shook by the Blazers, and
they not could not get past the Blazers. That was
an extremely tight game in the fourth quarter most of
the second half. The Rockets didn't hold a lead in

(02:02):
that game for about thirty minutes, and at no point
during the fourth quarter did they hold a lead. Even
though as I was wrapping up the memorial Herman post
game show last night, I made reference to our listeners
that as I look at the official digital running box score,
at the bottom line says zero colon zero zero dot

(02:23):
zero one four one three Rockets plus one. They won
the game. It still said that because that's how it
was mentioned on the court. It had to be overturned.
I hate it, and I do think they got that
one right. Unfortunately, I think the amount of time that
the leather stayed in contact with the palm and fingertips
of tarr Eason was enough to have the red light

(02:45):
on prior to it departing his hand. A really nice,
well drawn up play. It's a pretty tough situation to
defend when it is a one point game because the
obviously the offensive team can do anything they want and
any shot they get is going to put them over
the top and they're going to win. Kevin Durant even
said after the game he did see a men Thompson

(03:06):
open under the basket and thought maybe he should have
passed it to him, and watching it many times since
I was calling it with Matt Live, yeah, I think
he probably could have. I think it's hard to go
like that. He wasn't aggressive taking it to the basket,
he wasn't foul bating, he wasn't just looking to get
to the free throw line, which is not a bad
play either. But he got a pretty good look, and

(03:26):
in considering what night he took it, he made that
particular shot from this elbow or the other elbow pretty
much the entire night. It was one of his finest
offensive nights as a rocket. It tied his season high
and you got a very good look and it was
taken with enough time you thought to get a tip
and opportunity, which the Rockets obviously are fantastic at. That
was offensive rebound number twenty four in the game last night,

(03:50):
but they lost.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
So wait, did you just say that somebody that scored
in the range of forty points ish was not hunting
for free throws last night on that court because one
guy was and it wasn't on the Rockets. He's a
jump shooter. I hate that guy. New entrant to the
We need to get some imaging done for this because
I know the list is long.

Speaker 5 (04:10):
Distinguishing.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, exactly, that'd be good something that we can because yeah.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
You're on TV. This will been a lot better.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Listen, stop biting John seene as gimmick, you loser.

Speaker 5 (04:22):
Euro trash is what that guy is. Euro trah. He's
going to be spending some time getting the rest of
the NBA to know him a little bit. He'll be
participating in All Star weekend festivities.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (04:33):
The Wizards were very busy last night. This is one
of the players. They said, I didn't have it, we
can't use him, and then they obviously made the trade
last night during the evening, so interesting has advanced past
the Wizards and into an All Star.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
I don't know what's more fascinating to me that that happened.
The Wizards said, see it? What did they do? Did
they trade him? How did that deal go? They traded
him to Portland? After how many years?

Speaker 5 (05:00):
It's hard to get a handle on what kind of
player you have for the amount of time he was there.
I mean he was like thirty some odd games he
was in a Wizard's uniform. I'm sorry, two hundred and
eighty seven of them. What was his more full seasons
as a Wizard? And they thought, well, even though he
had an improvement after year one and after year two
and after year three, uh naw, this is this is
what we can use to make our franchise better, just

(05:22):
like they think they can use Trey Young to make
their franchise better. He was part of the offseason trade
prior to last season.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Give me his numbers over those first four seasons in Washington,
like just his general averages, points, assists, rebounds. Well, he
got himself over in shooting percentages. He was a fifty fifty.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
One percent shooter his last year there, thirty seven percent
from three point land and average fifteen points a game.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Those are awesome numbers in today's NBA and seven Why
I heard of him until this season is the question.

Speaker 5 (05:50):
Because he got a little bit better with a little
more use last year, not much of a change, and
then this year he's playing five more minutes a game,
he's taking five more shots per game. Percentages have not
changed at all, but he's scoring almost ten more points
per game purely out of use. But he had already
become a useful player when Washington said, let's utilize him

(06:11):
in a trade, that's not gonna help our team at all.
And again, he plays for a team just outside the
playoff picture or just inside the playoff picture, just depending
on what your day is.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
I think I think the West is too crowded for
them to ultimately be making much of noise this year,
just like I think if the if Alpura and ching
Gun is out there last night, it's probably none of
this happens.

Speaker 5 (06:30):
Yeah, I mean, because the Rockets beat themselves.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
This wasn't about I joke, and he is a free
throw merchant, yeah, but that's not The Rockets shouldn't have
been in the position where Tari Easton's tip in should
have been waved off, which, by the way, I mean,
that's the only angle we have to review this thing
that was ruled on the floor as a good made basket.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
Yeah, I don't know because of what I watch, what
we watch when we're doing games at home. I don't
know one hundred percent of what was given only to
television the first though, Right, the first several replays they
showed were not definitive because they're just not the right angle,
especially the one over the top of the basket, where
you can't see the red lamp. Yeah, it doesn't help you.
It's useless. And then the one that's directly behind Targist

(07:11):
and the one that's from the other basket, well, you
can't see when the ball leaves his hand because your
but the hand and the ball are right in front
of each other. You can't see that. But they did
have a couple of other angles from the angle where
you could see the ball gets one little last push
or touch with his finger tips. I think that was
the last part of his hand and the lights on
and the light was on all right, So it was

(07:32):
a good call, you guys. It didn't take them very long.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Yeah, which means they saw something that they thought was
conclusive in order for them. I tell you what, though,
if that if that game had been in Houston. I'm
not saying they make a different call, but man, security
should have been all around them.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
That is it. It reminded me of forget Paris. I mean,
it's a regular season game and it's a it's a
tough call one way or the other.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Where Mickey made the right call and he was right Mickey.
You mean Billy, Well, Billy's his real name. But wasn't
his name Mickey in the movie. Yes, Okay for those
that have seen it. I mean, I know it's a
basketball movie. There's a lot of NBA talent in. There's
a lot good cameos. Deborah Winger was funny. But anyway,
that's how it all went. Rocket shouldn't have been in
that position.

Speaker 5 (08:14):
Well, if they make their shots, but now we're running
through a stretch of games where they're not making them.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Not making your shots. So I was texting last night,
was someone we both know that is an Avid. Avid
All of a sudden, Rockets observer just kind of out
of nowhere. I didn't expect it, but I don't I
don't want to give him away, and he was just like,
I'm gonna kill these guys, That's what he said. And
I was like, yeah, because the usual suspects were rearing

(08:38):
their heads last night, the misshots that are suddenly a
thing with this offense. Not coincidentally, right as Alpern Shingoon
is no longer in your lineup regularly. I know you
have Kevin Durant, but the plan is to put Kevin
Durant and Alpera and Shangoon on the floor together, not
have one and not the other. For stretches and the turnovers.
There wasn't a ton turnover night, right.

Speaker 5 (08:59):
It's the types again, it's the one they're scoring offvol
because of the laziness that they handle basketball with. These
these out top turnovers, turnovers out of timeouts, turnovers on
inbounds plays, just these are the ones that are killers
because immediately you're at the negative side of the numbers.

Speaker 7 (09:16):
Game.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
They got a two on one break, they got a
one on nune break. Obviously they're gonna score off. That
allowed them to get a bunch of fast break points
early in the game, allowed them to get points off
turnovers all throughout the game. Both teams had fourteen turnovers,
but the Blazers scored six more points off of the
types of the Rockets turnovers.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
How about this, He darn near did it for two
straight games. And by he I mean a men Thompson. Yes,
Kevin Durant hit the game winner the other night and
got all the accolades. They're not in that position if
a men Thompson doesn't play basically the second half that
he did and primarily the fourth quarter that he did.
He was doing it again last night, and I'm here

(09:53):
to tell you if that ball drops on the and
one his final trip to the foul line, this is
a completely different It definitely is a completely different situation.
They play overtime at the very least.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah, they needed eighty one percent free throw shooter amentom
so he did not show up last seven of eleven
and that that obviously hurt them the team. He wasn't
the only one that miss free throws. Even Durant he
shot under his percentage. He made seven out of nine
one free throw matters. Danny avdiam missed a free throw
late on yet another three point play opportunity. We got
a lot to talk about regarding the Rockets. They've got
another game with Portland coming up tomorrow night, same tip time,

(10:27):
so we'll set you up for that one. Obviously, there
is some Astros news to discuss before we get to
Astro Line, which comes on immediately after we conclude. Newest
pitcher will be on the horn with Astro Line tonight.
Robert Ford sat down with I forty five and Jeff
Blum and Jeff Kent will be part of your evening's entertainment.
This is also a deadline day in Major League Baseball,

(10:48):
with the arbitration figures the last day to send them
and agree on or send them to the player and
then head to arbitration. So in other words, it's the
last day to avoid arbitration, and the astra have been
working throughout the afternoon to do so with a bunch
of their talented players, including the two most talented players
that could have otherwise gone to arbitration. So we give

(11:08):
you an update on both of their situations and in
the rain over at NRG Park, the Texans got on
the practice field for the first time this postseason. Today,
Tomorrow and Saturday. They will have their three practices of
the week to prep for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was
out there and we'll give you an update on what
was seen in terms of attendance. And there is one

(11:29):
very important note on who was available for the Texans
today and likely available for them coming up on Monday night.
So we'll set the stays for all of those items.
We'll hear from the Rockets head coach a little bit
later on the program. We'll hear from one of the
voices calling the game this Monday nights between the Texans
and the Steelers coming up a little bit later on
the program as well, and of course the usual parts

(11:51):
of our day here on Sports Talk seven to ninety
with the eighteen, we'll hit you with best of X
in about fifteen minutes, hitch with our signature segment at
four point thirty, and looking forward for you to join
us along the ride today.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
So the other thing, I'm just trying to determine what
I could not believe less that that happened last night,
and a big reason why the Rockets lost that game
is because of the discarded Washington Wizards player yes you
heard that right, or the fact that Trey Young, with

(12:27):
a straight face, his preferred trade destination was that very
same Wizards organization, of all the places he could go to,
of all the teams out there that need a point guard,
no Rockets, It wasn't ever going to happen.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
Fans, No that does bet and you're not afraid of
the team that has Trey Young.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
I don't want what he does on the court, and
I don't want what he does to the salary cap here.

Speaker 5 (12:51):
Well, this is I don't know if he'll be able
to get what maybe he ultimately wants, but he's going
to get what he initially wants. He's going to get
a contracted sension. Look around the ena. Who's gonna give
you one? Washington will who has almost no money committed
for next year, especially because they just traded for you
and we're able to unload a couple of contract Washington,
Who's gonna let you do pretty much whatever you want
on the court, which is what you've been doing in

(13:12):
Atlanta for your whole career and going nowhere, Washington. But ultimately,
when you continue to lose fifty sixty games a year,
maybe you'll want out and then you'll realize now nobody, nobody, really,
nobody wants you because your contract situation's even worse. He's
headed into the final year of his deal. That's why

(13:33):
he wants his extension. Well, once he gets his extension,
then you'll have one of the least helpful players towards
winning being paid an absolutely outrageous amount of money. I
actually truly want to say this and can't believe I
ever got to this point. I think there is some
talent in Wizards uniforms. Finally, I think people are paying
no attention to Alex Sar because he plays in Washington.

(13:54):
But he's having an unbelievable second season both ends of
the court, both as a rim protector and as an
offensive talent. I do think their pick this year, Johnson,
is going to make a big difference for them moving forward.
I think they actually might be able to build something.
I think it's kind of like what Atlanta built and
realized awesome. We can't have any less use for Trey Young,

(14:16):
so I don't know that Young's gonna help augment that
in any way or assist in any way. And I
don't mean to crush the guy that hard. I can't
help it because that's just what I see. I recognize
the numbers, they are what they are. He's gonna end
his career with some of the most eye popping totals
you've ever seen. I mean, he's the active leader and
assists per game. He's always up there, always he helps

(14:37):
teammate score baskets, but he also helps his team loose.
You can't have a high volume shooter shooting such an
awful percentage. You can't have your number one player be
an awful postseason player, which is what he's been for
most of his career. It's also why they don't advance
ever in the few years that they advanced to the playoffs.
Even so, it's Eastern Conference nonsense basically, unless it opens

(14:59):
the door for the Alanta Hawks to pursue Dallas Maverick
Center Anthony Davis.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
And I think that's the second part of this, which
I think Rockets fans on the surface might love initially.
But what is Dallas then after this entire time that
first round draft pick via the Pelicans. I believe that
the Atlanta has.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
It's something they could get and I'm sure would want
from this deal, which is also why I don't know
why Atlanta would want just don't make the trade at all. Right,
I mean, again, helps the West great if it helps
the Rockets, sure, go for it. They're trying to balance
out the age of their star. I mean, as soon
as they won the lottery, the face of the franchise
became not Kyrie Irving and not Anthony Davis, It's Cooper Flag.

(15:44):
They're gonna build everything they have around him. And if
a player at an advanced age that's often injured doesn't
really fit that plan. And I think Anthony Davis and
Rich Paul might think that, or see that, or perceive that,
or are in agreement with that, I think they're gonna
help try to facilitate him making it way out of there,
possibly at the trade deadline.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, But at first and foremost, what we care about,
obviously is your Houston Rockets. And I was thinking this
again last night. I thought it throughout the game against
the Suns back here in Houston two nights prior, and
I'm gonna continue to think it even though we got
I guess the best news we could have gotten just

(16:22):
prior to the game from Ima Udoka. Yeah, outbringching Gun's
ankle situations coming along a lot faster than we initially thought.
But he's still gonna be out for a while.

Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah, it's hard to gauge what it all means. And
we're gonna, like I said, we're gonna hear from Emay
in a little over an hour replace some of what
he had to say on The Mat Thomas Show with Ross.
But as I mentioned the opening segment, he just said,
it was a little bit better than anticipated. I don't
know if the initial thought was, well, we're gonna re
examine it, expect him to be out two weeks, but
then it could be three or four, and maybe that
part is not what happened more than a week's time

(16:54):
before he returns, but pain and swelling had both gone down.
They were pleased with the workouts he'd already been able
to do, and we're hopeful to get him back sooner
than initially anticipated. Whatever the exact date on that was
obviously a little bit unknown, but nonetheless that's definitely a
better situation than the opposite, and hopefully everybody else can
stay healthy so when he comes back, they have a

(17:14):
chance to do the things that you can clearly see
without him are a lot harder to do. He's an
All Star level player this year. Kevin Durant's an All
Star level player this year, playing without them, especially how
they're built. You would like for Tarry Eason, Aman Thompson,
Jabari Smith Junior, Reed Shephard to not look like they're
super reliant on him. But that's exactly what we've seen

(17:35):
over these last couple of games. A man is so good,
he can still find other ways to do it. But
when you're going through a game and you're getting in
the ball and he's able to dunk it, and you
have to say, as Matt did last night, well that's
his first dunk in several games. Well, it's because when
he's playing the dunker spot and Alpera and shongoons on
the court, it's a dunk festival. Because teams are committed
to defending Alpi as a post player, as a high

(17:57):
post player, and he's an excellent passer, they don't have
any of that. He's not getting a pass from Steven
Adams out of the high post for a dunk. He's
not getting a pass from someone else who's driving and
dishing because nobody else is driving and dishing. They're just
sitting out at the three point line with less open
shots and missing them all.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
So, okay, going back to how long you're gonna end
up having to be without what he provides, primarily offensively.
But I'm not saying Albrn shing Gun's a good defender.
Far be it from that. I'm not gonna say that.
But I do think he's a good rebounder at times,
just depends on what night it is. And he's a
great passer.

Speaker 5 (18:31):
Yeah, they're missing his passing more than anything else, and
that's kind of what I was alluding to with all
of those players, but specifically a men Thompson, because they
hit the shots he's getting. A men are like ninety
five percent of the time they're going in because they're
dunks passing out to a three point shooter. Well, when
they're shooting thirty nine percent, they go in. When they're
shooting thirty percent or twenty five percent, then they're not.

(18:52):
They dominated the glass, they owned the offensive boards, and
they were perfectly fine all things considered. Defensively, they lost
to a team that scored one hundred and three points
and forty three of them came from one guy. They
left some other guys open intentionally because that's how they
wanted to rotate their defense. Their only defensive issue last
night was specific to that one player. And he may

(19:12):
set it right after the game. Here's they just basically
didn't follow the game plan. And it's not that easy
with a talented player, and it's not that easy to
defend without fouling. But I think there are things that
they wanted their defenders to do that they just simply
weren't doing. He was able to drive the way he
wanted to, He was able to go to his right
as often as he did. He was able to get
into the lane without enough resistance too often. The second half.

(19:33):
They forced him to take a few more jumpers, especially
in the fourth quarter, and then at the end of
the game they didn't and he was back driving to
the basket and getting fouled again. So he had a
great night. They did not have a great night trying
to defend without fouling, which is something they've done really
nice job of most of the year. But Portland shot
a poor percentage. Portland scored one hundred and three points.
That should be a victory.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah, everything about last night should have been a victory
if you do what you do best in all assets
or facets, I should say of the game, and they didn't.
I mean, they're fortunate. It's like That's why I said
yesterday when we came in here, or the day before,
they didn't really have any business winning that game against
the Suns, primarily from an offensive standpoint, for the same

(20:16):
reason they didn't win last night. They just couldn't put
the ball in the basket. And I'm sorry, but like
Jabari Smith Junior and Reached Shepherd and guys like that,
having complete no shows offensively all of a sudden, all
the time is not going to cut it. Like, if
you want to keep up with the Joneses in the
Western Conference, you had a perfect opportunity last night. I

(20:40):
know they were playing each other, so one of them
you weren't going to get over on. We knew which one, well,
not me. Everybody knew the Spurs were going to win
last night. No, I don't think everybody knew the Spurs.
Everybody knew this.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
The Lakers can't win without their team on the court,
and they barely win at all.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
Now, you don't listen to the show.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
I listened to the show. I was here yesterday.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
He was fully aware they could have played down to
their competition.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
Except for the players on the Spurs, everybody else in America,
everybody else that's an NBA fan. All of our listeners,
one of our hosts, maybe two, we all knew that
the fact.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
That the Lakers are currently right now still a top
four seed in the West is embarrassing to the Western Conference.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Well, come on, they suck. I believe they're gonna get worse.
They've had eight games where all three of their best
offensive players, Austin Reeves, Lebron, James, and Luca have been
on the court together. I think they're five and three
in those games, which means they've won a bunch of
other games where one or two of them are out.
Two of them were out last night. And I don't
really think of this as an NBA record, but they

(21:37):
mentioned it after their broadcast last night. They're the first
team in NBA history to lose their first twelve games.

Speaker 3 (21:44):
By double figures, all twelve of them. So they either
are competitive or they get blown out. And here's the thing.
I know everything you just said makes perfect sense, and
it's by the numbers and all that I disagree. And
here's why they won a bunch of games a win.
Lebron was not playing and screwing everything up, and Austin
Reeves was by the way because he hasn't been Luca

(22:05):
and Austin Reeves, plus the second part of this terrible
competition that equals a bunch of wins you can get.
You know what, they're the anti Rockets. They've gotten fat
and happy against a bunch of bad teams, and they've
played far more home games because everybody has. The Rockets
have the fewest home games of anybody in the NBA.
That's why, in my opinion, they're currently still on the

(22:26):
top four even after last night's loss. But again, that's
a team in front of you that you could have
gotten a game on or whatever if you took care
of business in Portland, and now you get to play
that team and that free throw merchant again.

Speaker 5 (22:37):
Well hopefully. Like Kadi said after the game, he said
he kind of likes it a little bit like a
playoff atmosphere when you have these series, these two games
against the same teams. The way the league has now
put it together quite a bit obviously saves on the travel,
but the basketball side of it is all that is
in front of them now. Friday night against Portland, they'll
finish up the road trip with the Sacramento Kings. It
will be game number thirty six. When they do that,

(22:58):
twenty eight of the final fourty six Rockets games are
at home. Nothing changed. We already knew this because now
that he's been played out. Keep in mind that's how
often it's twenty eight versus eighteen. You have ten more
home games remaining as soon as this trip, ten more
home games than road games remaining as soon as this
trip comes to a conclusion, hopefully it includes two more wins. Obviously,

(23:19):
both of those teams aren't as good as Houston. We'll
see if that's what it says on the court when
they get together. Best of X comes your way next,
we'll get a chance to hear from Dimiico Ryans and CJ. Stroud. Shortly,
Demiko underway with his meet and Greek debriefing with the
assembled media on site over there at the facility did
make a comment about the return of one player of

(23:39):
significance I believe coming up this weekend Monday Night against
the Pittsburgh Steelers will get to all of those things
when the Best of X hits next.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Did you all see this?

Speaker 8 (23:51):
We should be putting out between five and fifteen.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Posts a day.

Speaker 9 (23:55):
Four hundred people were arrested for things that they said
on social media history.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Re PiZZ itself type banguls succeed. Never doubt that.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
You're the one to pers no one Bill believe you're
the bests. Nothing's gonna ever top you know, you're the
best post an ever seen.

Speaker 7 (24:17):
Day.

Speaker 5 (24:17):
You're the best of X breaking the entire Internet. All Right,
it's that time of day.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
And look, I know we've gone very rockets heavy in
the first two segments. We will get to some Texans conversation,
I promise you. In fact, the very next segment we will.
But for the purposes of today's Best of X. Well, frankly,
I was not going to let this one slide, but
I thought it would go good in this segment because
we do have audio and we do have some responses.

(24:55):
Last night, Tarry Eason was asked, you know went wrong
when it came to defending the free throw merchant. I'm
hesitant to even say his name on the show at
this point. That's where I'm at, right, He's he is
actually worse, worse than SGA. He goes to the foul

(25:15):
line more, because there's no one that goes to the
foul line more than him.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
In the league.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Right, you look at it well per game, right, per game, No,
but more pure attempts. Lucas still has more. No, the opposite. Oh,
so he's absolutely the number one free throw merchant. Is
what you're saying by the numbers, depending on how you
want to say it. Yes, that's how I want to
say it.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Luca goes to the free throw line more than twelve
times per game. Denny goes there nine point nine. Oh okay,
I thought you were saying has played ten more games,
so he's taken more free throw I.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Thought you were saying Denny was ahead in both. Well,
you know you could answer a question like this any
number of ways. This is how Tarry Easton chose to
answer on what makes Denny so hard to defend?

Speaker 7 (26:07):
Defend?

Speaker 5 (26:10):
Hey, Josh, make sure you have that recute.

Speaker 10 (26:12):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (26:13):
I think it's easier to understand what we're talking about
here if we hear it again, but we get a
little context from what question was initially asked to get
Tari to offer that response, The first question that we
did not include in that SoundBite. Although it's an odd
one to get in a post game after you lose
one o three, one oh two when your tipping doesn't
go in. But the question was when you visit Portland

(26:34):
and you visit their uh, their awesome zoo, what animal
do you like to see the most.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
The first comment on that video, which was, by the way,
posted by Brick Center, it's a parody account.

Speaker 5 (26:51):
You mean it's a parody an NBA parody account. When
it's late in the game, like last night, they probably
would have, uh, they could have captioned that Kevin Durant
another game winner. They do that a lot. Lebron James
beats the Spurs and he throws a shot off the
side of the backboard. Yes, those are the favorite kind.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yes, this was about, you know, basically a member of
the Rockets who was tasked with trying to defend a
guy who scored forty plus points in a loss the
Rockets suffered, not really wanting to hear about it, and
giving his assessment on Hey, this guy got a lot
of help from the whistles last night. Just in case
you're wondering. The first comment underneath it is from someone

(27:36):
who asks Groc what does he mean by zebras and
Groc is always there to respond.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
Grock was too busy these days with requests from people.
I guess who are going to the beach?

Speaker 3 (27:50):
In basketball slaying quote, Zebras refers to referees due to
their black and white striped uniforms. Tarry Easan is jokingly
implying that the refs make Denny hard to defend by
calling fouls or favoring him. Note this seems to be
from a parody account. That's all accurate except for the

(28:11):
part where he is jokingly implying this.

Speaker 5 (28:14):
He's dead serious. Well, how about the part that's no
longer accurate? Because unless you're playing in the NFL professionally,
I mean, I guess you could say they are still stripes,
but they're not black and white strip accurate. Yeah, they
don't wear that uniform, right, The NFL referees are absolute Zebras.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Now, Jake had a concern here off of this exchange.
Should he expect to fire this is to groc again,
by the way, Grock's having quite the day. Should he
expect to find for that comment? Or is he just
saying Zebra's a loophole of on or is saying just
saying Zebra's a loophole on ref criticism rules? Grok replies
NBA finds players for public criticism of officials, as seen

(28:58):
in cases like Ty Jerome twenty twenty five, calling refs
quote bad.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
I don't think he's gonna get fine. Personally, I don't either,
and I honestly we get into these silly conversations here
and this is almost inevitably going to be another one.
If you go to the free throw line a lot,
is that the only and the number one thing that
you need to call you a free throw Merson? Is
that it if you shoot a lot of free throws,
then point blank you are one. Or does it have

(29:26):
to do with why because you're constantly flopping because you're
the one creating the contact and then you're the one
falling over. Is because you're screaming and yelling and whining
and complaining and being a baby about it like Luca does?
Or do you just play? Is the ball just in
your hands a lot? And you are a basket attacker,
which obviously Denny is balls in his hands all the time,
and when they don't have anything else good going on offense,

(29:46):
and they don't hardly have any teammates that can do that.
Right now, with who's hurt, he's taking the ball to
the basket and there is contact. He's not falling over
and flopping. I don't think he was saying much to
the officials last night. Didn't look like he was throwing
his hands up in the air all night long. Far
from it. I think it's more about the Rockets didn't
realize how he plays the way he does, even though
they've played him already this year. He only scored twenty

(30:07):
two points the first time they met, in a twenty
four point Rockets blowout victory of Portland. But again, both
of these teams are in totally different situations. Who with
who was that night? Yeah, it's it's very it's hard
to even comp them. But free throw Merchant, he's their
number one usage rate player. He dribbles and drives, It's

(30:28):
going to happen. Here's what I think about. It's not
Jalen Green, basically because only Jalen Green could drive and
draw contact constantly for all of his career and not
get fouls called. Oh it happened all the time. I'm
glad it's not our problem anymore here.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
That's nobody's problem. Now Han been on the court. Unfortunately,
street clothes is a problem. But no, there was somebody
that chimed in on this who was basically, yeah, Denny
cooked him last night, and then he's like, here's the
full highlights of the game.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
Go back and watch those highlights.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
What Denny does that, in my opinion, is better than
SGA at this horrible, abhorrent thing he his baiting, i e.
His contact that he is creating, initiating, doing whatever you
want to call it, is far more slick, far more slight,

(31:16):
and yet just as if not more effective. He's not
fore arming people and just not getting called for it.
That's SGA's bag, That's what he does. This guy is
actually like if you watch some of these these moves
or these these drives to the basket, he's doing it
out in front far before he even gets into the lane.

(31:38):
He's pushing away the defender's arm so that he can
get that initial burst and then if contact happens after that,
he's typically gonna get it.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
That should be an offensive foul.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
There's two occasions I'm watching right now on a loop
where he's clearing out the player's offensive or the player's
arm and it's an offensive foul, but they're not calling
it offensive.

Speaker 5 (32:00):
Player like KD does the same thing, don't do you
think they all do that.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
Kd does do the same thing after he's been fouled
fifty times before he even can get the ball into
the position he wants it because they grab him, they
tug on his jersey and all that kind of stuff.
So we do to Steph Curry, James Harden. Danny's not
dealing with that. Denny's like, here, I go, get out
of my way. Arm you're in my way of scoring,
and I'm gonna get you called for the foul. I
don't like it.

Speaker 5 (32:22):
We'll see him again tomorrow night. We'll see if the
animals that are on the court with him, the three
of them, the Zebras, we'll comply more. Great night for Kad,
great night for Denny. Not a great night for the Rockets,
as unfortunately the last of Kevin Durant shots did not drop,
and the tipping with just a touch late. That would
have been a remarkable way to open up this West
Coast trip game. You did not play particularly well. You

(32:44):
obviously shot the ball extremely poorly and just made too
many mistakes to leave yourselves with just that position. All
that being said, we've been on the air forty plus minutes.
Didn't even mention why they were actually in that late
game position because Tarry Easton stole the ball on the
ends play to give them the ball back and a
chance to win the game, and it had to be

(33:05):
reviewed to get it right. He was initially called for
a foul, but he had tipped the ball away from
over the top of Caleb Love. Love had fallen to
the court after that, and there was contact between he
and Tari east and Easton had an elbow or an
arm in his back, but the referees deemed it marginal
contact was I was actually surprised by that, if you
were listening late last night, I did not think they
were gonna overturn it, but they did so that defensive

(33:27):
play by Tari late in the game giving the team
a chance to win, just like the late game defensive
play he made on Devin Booker prior to Kevin Durant's
game winning shot just a couple of nights ago. I
still think there's a long way to go for this team,
and what we're seeing now, especially without Alpi, is nowhere
near what they're going to look like even this year,
even later this year, even when they get to March

(33:49):
in April, when they get back on the road to
where are we going to fall in the playoff standings?
And one last thing about this schedule. They'd play this
West Coast game against Sacramento on Sunday night. They don't
have another West Coast game or trip out West until
March eleventh, and they only have three games out West
the rest of the season. Good because I'm sick of

(34:09):
staying up to watch this crap. Yeah, one in March
and two more in April, and that is it. After
they get through this weekend, which is full of football.
We got a game tonight, we got a game tomorrow night.
Those are playoff games. We got two games on Saturday,
playoff games. We have three games on Sunday. Those are
also playoff games. And then it finally comes to a
conclusion with the Texans and Steelers, a five days slate

(34:31):
with eight awesome playoff games in front of you college tonight.
If these two guys were not aware, obviously, that means
your selection for the full unveil of the stone cold
locks tomorrow. If you want to play tonight's game, better
tell our listeners about it. On today's program. We'll get
to all those things as we continue.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
It is the eight Team Sports Talk seven to ninety
Thursday edition of the program. You kind of had a
feeling that the first week back would fly by for me.
It's probably going very slow for you.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
No, not at all. I mean, all the weeks without
you went by slow. The week's with you go by tremendously.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Aw.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
You almost sound like you mean it.

Speaker 5 (35:07):
I do mean it. I mean it.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
You said it was raining out there today, was raining
out there on the practice field for the Texans.

Speaker 5 (35:14):
Was not too concerned. On my drive over there, there
were a little couple of droplets, but I got the
umbrella in the car.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
If needed, and the heavy stuff's not going to come
down for a while until tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (35:23):
It's time to head on inside the facility. Practicing on
fields two and three today, And of course I don't
take my umbrella with me, and not two seconds after
we reached the field, it starts coming down and I'm like, okay,
so it's water. I'll be fine, And I am fine.
It did not rain for a very long time where
we were out there anyway, although there was one umbrella
that was taken out by a media member. He struggled

(35:47):
to get it to operational and then with the wind
he struggled to keep it operational, and he'll join us
from Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon. He covers the Texans for
the Houston Chronicle. Their beat writer Jonathan Alexander, set of
time for you but sometime mid afternoon before kickoff, because remember,
we will hit the weekend this weekend, knowing that when

(36:07):
we return on Monday at two, everybody else will have played.
I just mentioned these eight awesome playoff games we have
between now and Monday night. Well, the other seven games
will be completed by the time we get in here
on Monday, but not. The Texans game on the practice
field today was the return of Trent Brown, missed the
last two games with his assorted injuries. I think it's

(36:29):
a pretty good indicator that the Texans will for the
fourth consecutive game have a different starting offensive line, presumably,
though they'll be able to go back to the line
that played most often this year. And I say presumably
because while he did return, until we see the injury
report or get an exact comment from a Damiko, I
don't know if he addressed it, Titus Howard was not

(36:50):
practicing today. If you recall, during the game there was
an instance where he took a little bit more time
than usual to rise to his feet. There was a
play for the Colts that was already down receiving some attention,
so there wasn't really a stoppage and play for him.
He was able to get up, able to get back
to the line, able to continue playing throughout that series,
and then ultimately, like all of the offensive linemen but

(37:11):
Ersrie and Andrews, he took a bulk of the second
half of the game off. But I'm not sure what,
if anything that has to do with a veteran player
could easily be arrest day. If Trent Brown returns, that
likely means Titas Howard returns to his former spot, which
is back inside as the guard duo with Ingram surrounding
Jake Andrews. But with Erstrie and those players, that's the

(37:33):
offensive line. They kind of found their way a little
bit this year with so hopefully that continues. There was
no Kamari last year at practice today, although indications are
that he should be able to go. I would expect
to see him on the practice field either tomorrow or
Saturday or both. Dereck Singley Junior out there. He played
throughout the expected amount of time in the final game
of the regular season before he and most of the

(37:53):
other defensive starters had the game off. Juwar Jordan unfortunately
hurt in the third quarter or second quarter of their
game against the Colts. I knew it was an ankle injury.
Aaron Wilson reporting earlier today that it was a high
ankle sprain and he was not out there at practice.
They're running back group as whole as it can be
with him out. Nick Chubb was out there. He obviously
didn't play in the finale, but I think that was

(38:16):
a situation more about rest than any particular injury. Chubb
Wood he marks Dariagan bowally and British Brooks again if needed.
He is a tailback, he is their full back, and
he's a great special teams player. But he's a good
player to have up on game day because of the
things he can help you with. If it is that's
what it's come to. But those are the four backs

(38:38):
that were out there. Jamal Hill who missed the game,
he was back at practice today and most everybody else.
I think the expectations are the health of this team
is pretty good. I mentioned very specifically though one player
returned to practice. That could bode well for the Texans
coming up now in the playoffs. And that's rookie Jalen Reed.
He's had a couple of injuries that have sent him

(38:58):
to the sidelines from most of what would have otherwise
been his rookie season. When he returned from injury the
first time, he got a lot of playing time. And
if he's healthy, he goes right to the front of
the line. I think he'll be the safety that's on
the field if it's deemed that he's healthy enough. We
mentioned Kevon Wallace was released earlier this week after starting
the game against the Colts. A lot of that ends
up being procedural with how they want to manipulate the

(39:20):
roster to a certain extent. He's at practice today because
he was resigned to the practice squad today. One of
their other safeties, Keevon Merriweather, saw his first action as
a Texan on Sunday. He got hurt in the game,
so he was placed on He was elevated for the game,
so he's still a practice squad player and now he's
on practice squad IR. But the safety position, not Petrie,
not Bullock, the other safety all season long has been,

(39:43):
we don't really have an answer of who the permanent
player will be, and it looks like there's a chance
Jalen Reed will be the next person to try to
solidify the position, which he was on his way to
doing before he hurt his arm, had the surgery, and
now hopefully is ready to return. So he was back
on the practice field, designated to turn, not currently on
the roster yet, doesn't have to be before this game,

(40:04):
but I think it's trending towards that as a likely scenario.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Nobody is one hundred percent this time of year. I mean,
the calendar has flipped to January, so you've already played
your seventeen games.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
You have.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
If you've qualified for the postseason, you have likely had
to do it shorthanded at times in various way, shapes
and forms.

Speaker 5 (40:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
I haven't looked enough at all of the rosters, and
they're said injuries out there to I guess unequivocally say
this with confidence, but I would I would venture to
guess that unlike this time last year, I mean completely
the opposite, the Texans are probably one of the healthiest
units top to bottom, regardless of what side of the

(40:44):
ball or what aspect of the team you're talking about
heading into the tournament. As they can put their they
can put their roster of health up against anybody's out there.

Speaker 5 (40:53):
I would assume every team in the playoffs this year
had their quarterback play fifteen or more games. That's unheard
of except for Houston. Yeah, well he's playing now and
that's all that matters. It's just interesting that that is
almost always one of the biggest determining factors. Just yeah,

(41:17):
keep your quarterback healthy, that's it, and your Kansas chances go.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
What up Indiana couldn't do. I mean, Lamar Jackson had
his issues, but they were early in the season. But again,
how many I don't know what was the what was
the Ravens record when Lamar was out? I know what
it was when he was in.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
But well, they'll have to figure that out with their
next head coach. And we now have eight head coach openings.
We obviously need to address that and we will. As
we go off the three o'clock hour, get you into
what was said over the facility today with CJ. Stroudebiko Ryans,
and the players in the locker room. Three o'clock hour,
with your Texans Talk Front and Center.

Speaker 3 (41:53):
Next, welcome in to our number two. Have you been
listening all along on Sports Talk seven nine, and welcome
in to the show on Space City Home Network. If
you are just tuning in on the camera side of things,
AC wex with you. On a Thursday edition of the program,
we got Josh Jordan producing, as per usual, talk a

(42:14):
lot and I mean a lot of Rockets basketball in
that first hour, especially in light of how things went
so well at the very tail end of last night's
game before they didn't. I fully expected the NBA official
to come over to the microphone and say psych because
that's exactly what happened. Rockets won on a tip end
by Tari Easton until they didn't. And as you mentioned

(42:34):
last night, and I can almost guarantee you at least
saw more angles than the TV broadcast allowed for, just
because they didn't show much of anything and people were
complaining about it.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
They were just saying, how could you be conclusive about
again something?

Speaker 3 (42:50):
That was the reason I thought the Rockets were gonna
walk off, even though it looked to me like Tari
Easton still had his fingertips on the ball. Maybe was
that the ruling on the floor had been the basket
was good and unless you can get conclusive evidence to
prove that it wasn't, which I never saw, but they
did apparently. I thought the Rockets would hang on for

(43:11):
a one point victory. That probably for the second night
in a row, they didn't have any business taking with them.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
I mean, you got to do the things necessary to win,
and last night that wasn't making threes. Only they did
a lot of other things necessary to win. They obviously
played better defense down the stretch, They got several stops
that they needed, They got the huge steal late, and
they were right there. I mean they'd never led, they
only tied it briefly in that second half, and yet
there they were with the ball Kevin Durantz on the court,

(43:39):
you're down one nice inbounds play. Wasn't all that difficult
to get the ball inbounds to him facing up against
a single defender. They did essentially put a second defender
in his direction, but the shot had aradily already kind
of been lined up and launched. But it also meant
the paint area was available, and that's why Tarry Easton
was in there. They did a lot of things to
at least allow tell them that, and I give them

(44:01):
credit for that. That that's a game where their focus
wasn't great. Their shooting was disastrous, and I still don't
have much of an answer for it. The more they
shoot and miss, the more they shoot and miss in
these last several games, it's just becoming a lot for
them to overcome, because they turn into empty possessions, and
possessions that get you one, two, three, four offensive rebounds

(44:24):
without scoring any points, even though you took five open shots,
a tip in, a wide open three in the corner,
a wide open three up the top, just couldn't make them.
And so driving into the mid range or driving all
the way the basket wasn't even seemingly a better answer.
They just didn't play well enough to win. And it
was close, awfully close there at the end. Same two
teams tomorrow night, right here on Sports Talk seven ninety

(44:46):
nine o'clock tip so eight o'clock coverage four Rockets and
Blazers wrap up the road trip Sunday evening with the
Sacramento Kings. That game tips off a little bit earlier
out west at eight, and then finally a few games
at Toyota Center on the other side of the that
Bulls will be first in line for the Rockets back
at home for a handful of games, and again we
already mentioned how slanted it will be in their favor

(45:07):
with home games versus road games. They're eleven and two
at home, have yet to get to twelve games over
five hundred. Last night was another opportunity to do so.
I'll have to sweep the remainder of the road trip
to get back to that point. Twelve wins. Well, that's
what the Texans did for just the second time in
team history. Seventeen game season allowed them to get that
twelfth win and take a nine game winning streak into

(45:29):
the postseason into Monday night's football games. CJ. Stroud just
a few minutes ago, asked, what changes when you get
to the playoffs? He's got four games of experience now,
he's played two games each of his two seasons. He's
won at home, he's lost on the road. They've played
good enough football probably to win either of those road games,
certainly well enough to win both of the home games.

(45:50):
But asked, like, you know what changes for you? How
to do you approach it difically? What changes in the playoffs? Nothing?

Speaker 3 (45:55):
You're playing to win the game, just like every other game.
That was basically his response today.

Speaker 5 (45:59):
He could not be more correct, and Demiko Ryans essentially
said the same thing. You know you're one and done. Okay, great,
Well what do we do when we're not one and done?
In Week five? We're doing everything we can to win.
We're putting everything on the table to go out there.
Maybe there's a play you've held onto all year. You
wouldn't necessarily run out there in game five or game

(46:21):
ten because you think it's so highly likely to succeed,
you don't want to show it until you get to
the postseason. So maybe something like that is out there,
But that's more on the coach's side than even Demiko's.
Either's more on Nick Cayley's side or Frank Ross's side
or something like that.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
And CJ similarly, unlike the Chargers, who are always one
and done with Justin Herbert, the Texans are trying to
avoid being two and done because that's the only thing
they've ever been in the postseason when they have won,
it's always been two and done and or less. Well,
that's what I'm saying. Most of the time they get
in they win their first game, and then that's been it, because,

(46:57):
as you've pointed out many times.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
Every time Brian Hoya or Deshaun Watson has not started
their first game, they've won the Colts and the Chiefs.
Brian Hoyy, though you do have a win in your
first game with Deshaun, also the Bills, Josh Allen's rookie year.
As long as brock os Weeler starts your first playoff game,
that particular playoff season, just book, it's a it's a dump.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
Remember the other night when you were not really offended
because we both love him and he does a great
job about what Mike Turco had said that he left out,
which was what c J.

Speaker 5 (47:31):
Stroud. He was talking about how much experience Josh and
Aaron have with postseason starts, and he said, Earl, everybody
else has one or no wins.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
That's not even the only thing that he said that
was offensive. If you're a Texans longtime fan, do you
know what the other one was?

Speaker 5 (47:47):
I don't know what other piece of information he was
handed that he read that was not properly. Really, it
was not a situation that he was This was off
the cuff.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
He would have to watch every play in NFL history,
although this was a playoff, so I would think he
would have he would have at.

Speaker 5 (48:03):
Least registered it.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
You remember when Lamar Jackson got free to make that
throw and seemingly escaped to incoming Pittsburgh defenders to do so,
you remember.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
That Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
Yeah, unless I'm not really, unless I'm mixing up quarterbacks,
it doesn't matter. One of the quarterbacks in this game,
and I think it was Lamar was able to complete
a pass as they escaped two defenders. And since we're
on TV now, I can do this coming in like this,
and Tariico exclaimed, I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
Well, Deshaun Watson did it against the Bills. I don't
think he was on the call when Malolano and the
other Bills defender both smashed into him and he said,
get off me. I see Taiwan Jones open in the flat.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
That's what's funny about just thinking about the Deshaun Watson era.
There were some happy times.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Suit.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
He has almost all of the greatest quarterback highlights in
this team's history.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Yeah, because the other quarterbacks were bit.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
How about getting kicked in the eye and still completing
the touchdown pass. You did that? How About when he
bowled his way into the end zone in that game.
Earlier in the game he took on not secondary players,
he took on I think it was one of their
linebackers at the two or three yard line and just
ran him into the end zone. How a many years
he kept getting concussions when he's trying to fly in

(49:26):
the end zone at the pylon, like It's.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Why, Honestly, it's why I was angry at him more
than anything else. If this was just a dude that
was functional, a game managed r he was that guy,
and he didn't do it. From the moment he stopped
playing from the Texans, He's never even come close. Even
when he was quote unquote good his first year in Cleveland,

(49:50):
and I'm talking about from an individual standpoint. They didn't
win a lot of games.

Speaker 5 (49:53):
So he hasn't approached that he wasn't good as like
Brown's quarterback. Is enough of the statement, Well, he was
not good his first year.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
I'm talking about relative to his other seasons in a
Browns uniform, which have.

Speaker 5 (50:05):
Been his best. Brown season was terrible, but it was
better than the other terrible seasons. I mean, if you
want to call in again like he did four or
five years ago and say it's not he played well.
I mean, look at their win loss record. They were
winning when he was starting. He was freaking terrible.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
Remember that awful? And yes, you know where that is
were one, you know who that is. You're you're describing
Tim Tebow.

Speaker 5 (50:26):
All they do is win.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
He sucks.

Speaker 5 (50:28):
I mean in that it's a pretty small sample size
with him just that year. He just wasn't throwing the
ball very well yet and it never changed. He threw
the ball well with Houston, He's thrown the ball well
with Cleveland. Is that not fascinating?

Speaker 3 (50:39):
Like they got to do a case study on this
because I know that guys have off the field baggage
all the time.

Speaker 5 (50:44):
But you know, we're going to get this offseason happens.
What We're going to get this at the next Browns
press conference with their new head coach, hopefully an offensive
head coach, what do you think about Deshaun Watson this year?
What are your plans to how do you want to
utilize him this year? You know you're coming in here.
You got your first opportunity as a better be asked
way before a press conference. Well, I'm just saying from

(51:07):
the media, I know that's a huge discs It might
not even get to that because they might have already
decided what they're going to do. The GM and the
head coach might have already said, look, this is where
we're headed with this. We can even discuss it like
he's not going to be funny about there, or we're
going to give him every chance to start. We finally
have a healthy Deshaun Watson. We can't wait to see
what he can do.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
You know what's funny about that whole scenario is that
you have two situations right now that are absolutely polar opposites.
There are two openings of eight, which we'll get to
in a second. There's now eight, not seven, but two
of these openings, one of which I have no idea
how much more murky you could make the quarterback situation

(51:47):
that would be Cleveland, and the other one, I mean,
I know Lamar has his flaws, and there's a lot
of people out there saying that you got rid of
the wrong guy when John Harbaugh got fired. But whatever
the case, there is not going to be a better
quarterback waiting on you in this round of coaching carousel.

Speaker 5 (52:03):
Then what is waiting for you in Baltimore? He's a
two time MVP. Can we stop? Yeah? Got rid of
the wrong guy.

Speaker 3 (52:11):
Really, I think that as time goes on, I'm not
saying that anything Lamar will or will not do is
gonna bear it out as proving this point. But I
do think I think, and I could be wrong, it's
not gonna be the first time I think the Baltimore
Ravens will regret doing this.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
I do.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I don't think if you're gonna find somebody that's gonna
come in, it's gonna be better than John Harbaugh, because
a that's gonna have to be somebody that's probably proven
in the NFL. Well, who's that gonna be? Is it
gonna be one of the guys that just got fired?
Because who else is out there that's not coaching right
now that fits that bill? And then secondly, I mean,
if John Harbaugh can't win with Lamar Jackson, what makes
you think you're going to.

Speaker 5 (52:51):
To hire John Harbaugh? Why wouldn't you say the same thing,
Yeah you had Lamar Jackson, you shouldn't win.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
That's true enough, but you know he would say that
win Joe Flacko. That's what he'll say to you. Yeah,
I mean, that's that's the ultimate comeback.

Speaker 5 (53:02):
Yeah. I'm not here to just pretend like Lamar Jackson
is the greatest thing ever. But his regular season performances
and he gets you to the playoffs pretty much every
single year. Had he been out there all year. This year,
even with all their other problems, I have no doubt
they win that division this year. And this is like
his worst year of his career, and I still think
they could have gotten to ten wins and won this
division and outlasted Pittsburgh. But nonetheless they're one of the

(53:24):
eight teams. There was a firing earlier today in the NFL,
obviously not over at at Kirby with the Houston Texans,
and we like our We will give you a little
bit of the flavor of how they prepare for this
week's game, very very specifically about one of the best
players on the team. We've talked about him this week
and we never talk about him enough, that's how shockingly

(53:46):
underrated he is. We will talk about him next.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety says he's
catching stone Colt Steve Austin Vibes from my wardrobe today,
doubled up on it. Well, obviously I understood the assignment. Gosh,
I was just telling you to the break and you
really cared. He just turned sixty two. Do you know
how old that makes me feel? I was watching him
in his very very short, relatively speaking prime from like

(54:15):
late nineties to early two thousands, when I was in
high school, in college. Just a sweet spot in my existence.

Speaker 5 (54:21):
Man, those are the ones you remember the most.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
There is nothing like blowing the roof off the Astrodome
because unlike all of the teams that played there before him,
he came in there and won a championship there.

Speaker 6 (54:33):
First.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Of many were many, Yeah, he had done he had
done it a lot before. What were you doing on
April first, two thousand and one? Do you remember two
thousand and one? M hm, so not married obviously not
a dad so no dad jokes on April?

Speaker 5 (54:46):
Were you and Robin dating then? Two thousand and one?

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Yeah, godly, that's a long courtship. Got married in two
thousand and three. Okay, how long were you together before
you got married?

Speaker 5 (54:57):
Three years? I think?

Speaker 3 (55:00):
And she still said yes when you pop the question,
that's amazing.

Speaker 5 (55:04):
I mean, maybe it was longer though.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
Good for you.

Speaker 5 (55:06):
Oh my god, as I tell her all the time. Now,
I've probably even told her in the first eight days
of twenty twenty six, you're the one who said yes.
How many times do you say that a week? No, No,
it's not that often. Every time I get a look
or Ryan does something that is so obviously only happening
because he's my clones, she's like, oh my gosh, it's
like we made two of them. There are two of

(55:28):
them now that what do you want me to do?

Speaker 3 (55:30):
That's on you.

Speaker 5 (55:30):
Well, but that's what Samantha's for. She balances it out. Yeah, well,
one more day of that and she's out too.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
I'm just kidding. You have a beautiful family. I love
your entire family. I even love me too.

Speaker 5 (55:40):
I love you too, I love myself. I love you
some you all right?

Speaker 3 (55:44):
You know who didn't love Mike McDaniel The Dolphins said
beat it.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
You're number eight.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
Now.

Speaker 5 (55:50):
I brought up something yesterday that it seemed like NFL
teams and owners are showing a little bit of respect
to the coaches that are working and actually take in
a little bit of a step back. Let's take some
time to evaluate our own situation. Then the immediate you know,
I know, we got four coaches fired within twenty four
hours of the season ending, but we're not also seeing

(56:12):
all these twelve coaching staffs that are playing this weekend. Oh,
this guy's got a balance. Is he getting ready for
an interview next week? He probably is. He might be,
His agent might know, the team might know. He might know,
but we don't know, and it's not being reported that.
Obviously he can't talk to these teams until Monday. If
you play Saturday or Sunday and you can't talk to
him Tuesday, if you're on the Texans or Steelers staff,
the two coaching staffs of Seattle and Denver can go

(56:34):
ahead and do that. Vance Joseph has already completed one
of his expected head coaching interviews, as he will then
also get prepared for the Broncos first game against the Texans.
Maybe we shall see. But it also gives some of
these owners, if they choose to take it a little
bit more of an opportunity to really, you know, analyze
things postseason. Clearly they've been thinking about it all season.

(56:57):
We were about four or five weeks into the season
saying there's no way Mike McDaniel is going to last
this season. He did last the season, and they even
lasted Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the offseason, but did
not last through Thursday. He had met with ownership Stephen
Ross in Miami earlier this week, and based on those
discussions and the day that followed, they decided it was

(57:17):
time to make a change. So that opened up the
eighth coaching job in the NFL. That's twenty five percent
of the teams. We'll have a new head coach.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
At least.

Speaker 5 (57:25):
We might not be finished yet. I don't know that
any of the fourteen playoff teams coaches need to be
looking over their shoulders, but there's still a possibility and
other changes could be made. I guess with some of
the other teams that have currently not yet decided to
move on, that's not a particularly clean situation. They do
not have a GM, they do not have a head coach,
and I think it's very likely they do not have

(57:46):
a franchise quarterback in the minds of either of the
two new hires. I don't think a coach is going
to come in and do a dumb Gary move and
say no, no, I think we can win with Tua,
I think you can probably extend to it. I know
he's only been in the league four years, but I
think we can win with dating you. I don't think
the new head coach is going to say that Tua
is light years ahead in talents. Oh yeah, acumen all

(58:09):
that then David car was no question about it. I
still can't believe Gary Kubiak did that.

Speaker 11 (58:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (58:14):
I just don't think that's where they're headed there. I
do think a clean break is probably best for everybody,
but you never know what the coach and what the
off season brings, what your alternatives are, and how willing
the owner is to they're they're going to take a
step back. Most likely if Tua is not their quarterback,
they're not gonna go anywhere. If Tua is their quarterback
and pick for him, it's it's just a I don't

(58:36):
whatever you're gonna get. It's gonna be hard to kind
of quantify because it's relative to how much money he's
making and how much money the other team has to
figure out how to handle and what it costs you
in terms of well, can you do this for us?
Can you do that for us? Like when you know
there are teams that are willing to it just became fancy.
I think Rick Smith was among the first to do it.

(58:56):
To include things in your trade like we see eat
all day every day in Major League Baseball. Right, you
wanted us to take on part of the contract. If
the player we're sending you, well, that means we're buying
better prospects. That means we're buying a better deal for us.
If we're going to pay for the player to pitch
for you, well, then you have to give us a
little bit better lot. You're not trading for Tua to

(59:17):
have him be your backup, of course not, and you're not.
You're not going to be able to not Still, even
if I don't know how it works in the NFL
as much as in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
There's always money going out with some of these high
dollar pitchers, and then the rental aspect of it. He
is under club control, so to speak, for multiple years
at a very high dollar. So not only is the
team that's saying yes, because again the other side of this,
Miami is not going to just cut him. There's no way,

(59:50):
right If they do, that is a big, big time booboo. Well,
what's the difference.

Speaker 5 (59:56):
Either he's on your team eating up your cap and
you don't want him to play, or he's off your
team eating up even more of your cap, because it'll
be the biggest cap hit of all time, and then
there'll be another one that's even bigger. Currently it's Russell
Wilson's cap hit, and they'll get to spread it out
over two seasons, but the total figure will be the
biggest we've ever seen. But the point is you can't
have him there because he's not your starter. You just

(01:00:19):
can't be there.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
And as soon as I said that, as soon as
I said what I said, immediately it comes into play.
Every single time anybody's wanting to trade anybody in the NFL, well,
we know they don't want this player. Why don't we
just wait and see until they have to let him
go because nobody's gonna give them anything of value for him.

Speaker 5 (01:00:38):
Yeah he is, Obviously he played himself into a position
where it was a reasonable debate. Trevor Lawrence did the
same thing. Kyler Murray did the same thing. Happens all
the time. It's hard to have your guy in a
maybe he is, maybe he isn't situation and turn your
back on that. It's rare that you go the franchise
tag route, and I think teams ought to do that more.

(01:01:01):
The quarterback would be unhappy, his agent would be unhappy.
I'm not sure who else would be unhappy. But instead
of making the decision after year three, like the Texans
could do this year with CJ. Stroud, he's under contract
for year four, you pick up his option for year five,
and there's a huge bump in salary in year five.
Then there's an enormous bump in salary when you franchise
tag him in your six, and an even bigger salary,

(01:01:23):
not as big of a bump, but a bigger salary
in your seven if you do it again. Of course
he's ticked off. Of course it's a terrible way to operate,
but you probably have your answer by then, not necessarily
after the first fifty one games, which is what every
other This is what nobody's doing it. Kirk Cousins played
franchise tag football and that's mostly it. Hardly any other

(01:01:43):
quarterbacks are ever subjected to that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
This is why it is always terrifying for any franchise
to commit this kind of money to a guy who
you aren't one hundred percent sure is your franchise game.
I mean, Lamar Jackson had to wait because and he
was far more talented and far more accomplished than any
of these names we've mentioned, and that's what brings us

(01:02:07):
to here. I like CJ.

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
Stroud.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
I don't think anybody in the Texans organization is questioning
whether or not he can lead this team or be
the franchise guy. But at the same time, it'd be
hard if I was trying to argue against him, and
or if I was trying to argue for him. Let's
put it that way, somebody's saying, hey, he's not the guy.

(01:02:31):
I mean, it's hard for me if somebody says, you know,
he's really regressed since you're one, it's hard for me
to like argue that with numbers, with games play, any
of that stuff that you would just on the surface,
let alone the numbers you get into that say no,
he's actually not the franchise guy, and you haven't committed
that money to him yet.

Speaker 5 (01:02:49):
I don't think he's like.

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
I mean, if the Jags are going to commit that
money to Trevor Lawrence, then the Texans could definitely commit
it to CJ.

Speaker 5 (01:02:56):
Stroud.

Speaker 3 (01:02:56):
And I think they would still wind out ahead, wind
up ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:02:59):
But ever player we brought into the discussion, Kyler Murray, Trevor,
Lawrence Tua, every one of them all less accomplished in
the early portion of their career than CJ. All lesser
players at that point in their career than CJ. I
think by quite a good margin in my opinion at least.
And they all got extended, they all got the big

(01:03:21):
fact contract. They all were competing for the highest paid
quarterback at the time they signed their deal. I can't
imagine that will be different with him other than they're
winning big, they have a big payroll, they have a
second player also entering his off season on that same
timeline who's played at an incredible, even more undoubted level.

(01:03:43):
Still get a crack out of a crack up out
of the fact that Arizona fired their head coach because
they I like to say it this way, It's probably
not totally true. It's basically because they didn't want will Anderson.
All they had to do is send the card in
with his name on it. That's all they had to do.
But instead they orchestrated a trade so he would not
be an Arizona Cardinal ever Bird Gang guy. It's not
his fault totally, although it certainly seemed like on draft

(01:04:04):
day because the video that we have he was excited
about it. But that's Monty's fault. Nonetheless, the Texans are
in a little bit different situation because of how good
they are and how much money, how much financial commitment
they've already made to making sure they're that good. And
we also don't know how the next three weeks, four weeks,
five weeks are gonna go for CJ. Stroud And that
begs the question how important is this postseason, this Monday

(01:04:27):
night game even maybe specifically how important is it to
Cjy's future here in Houston and again soon including a
visit with the head coach of the Houston Rockets, Emadoka
of visit with Kevin Harlan, the voice of most everybody's
childhood and beyond. But want to get some of your
thoughts in on this conversation, You're always welcome to join
us in seven one, three, two, one, two, five seven
ninety review of the Socials at Adam J. Wexler or

(01:04:49):
at Adam Clanton. Roger has phoned us up so we'll
get Roger in on the conversation here. Appreciate joining us
as per usual. Roger, what do you have for us today?

Speaker 10 (01:05:00):
Well, I was just going to share with you something
that is kind of in my bucket of reasons why
I'm cynical about the Texans, and you had mentioned David Carr.
But as I recalled back after Peyton Manning had next
surgery and the Colts had let him go, I just
thought it was absurd that Kubiak said we got a quarterback,

(01:05:21):
meaning the smart, but lead footed and noodle armed Matt Shaub.
They could have done better. They could have pulled Peyton
in and of course written the contract in such a
way that if he had not been able to play,
then they would not have been on the hook for
all that money. It just it would have given Peyton
a chance to get back at the Colts. And I

(01:05:42):
remember that very vividly, where they could have at least
invited Peyton to camp, and I wanted to get your
thoughts on that.

Speaker 5 (01:05:50):
Yeah, I mean that did happen. It was a real
thing that they possibility Peyton Manning quarterback Houston Texans was
something that could have happened. He wanted to come here
by the way those otherwise, I mean, there's not really
much to debate. We can't say what would have definitely
happened if he played quarterback for Houston, clearly, But there
was more good quarterback play in Peyton Manning's body, clearly,

(01:06:11):
and they just chose not to do it. And it
was most likely and should probably be viewed as a mistake.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
See Roger brings up something that makes it in even
more dreary rear view mirror picture. The Texans did do
this twice, and they did it twice with Gary Kubiak
at the helm. For all the good that Gary did,
you kind of summed it up the other day. Organizationally,
all that kind of stuff. I mean, you can't really

(01:06:38):
quantify all the good things he did do, even if
he didn't win. At the highest level. The offensive line
has never been as good as it was under him.
I mean, that's a clear influence on him making it
a priority to not only ran things totally differently.

Speaker 5 (01:06:51):
It's not like they were running out these awesome players
like Chris Myers turned out to be a good player. Yeah,
you know, they had some nice talent, but they weren't
They didn't have an overwhelmingly talented line. Quite obviously, they
had his own blocking scheme and his offense is still
being used in the NFL to this day and everywhere
he went after Houston, his offense continued to work.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
In my opinion, what they had on the off I
know that, I know what you're gonna say about the
talent level. In my opinion, though, the Texans offensive line
under Gary Kubiak is to what the Texans currently have
on defense. From the standpoint of every player has not
only you know, performed, they were hand picked because they
fit the role of what that unit was trying to accomplish.

Speaker 5 (01:07:30):
You indicated, Roger, you are cynical, little hesitant to say, yay, go,
they're gonna win Texans. Why is that?

Speaker 10 (01:07:38):
Well, they all these years, they haven't won a road
postseason game ever, have they?

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
They have not?

Speaker 10 (01:07:46):
Okay, well, there's part of it, and I know that
Kobiak's not the coach anymore. But I think back to
the day where they played the second round playoff game,
the divisional round at Baltimore, and that's one where Jakobe
Jones muffed the punt inside the ten and gave the
Ravens a touchdown. But with about a minute and a
half left and the Texans needing a touchdown to win,

(01:08:09):
they were near midfield and Kubiak said that TJ Yate
see he wanted him to throw deep when Ed Reid
is back there. Number one, Ed Reid is back there.
I just don't think you can throw it in his
direction when you got a minute and a half. And
also if that had worked, then I think Joe Flacco

(01:08:32):
would have led the Ravens back down the field. But
then when they asked Kubiak, would you have done anything differently,
you know, since you you know, the interception just kind
of killed your chances to when Noah wouldn't do anything different. Ah,
it's just things like that. Now I have a lot
more faith in Demko. But I just want to see
the Texans win a playoff game on the road, which

(01:08:55):
they're going to have to do from the first round
to this time. And I guess if that happens, then
I might have a little more hope and less cynicism.

Speaker 5 (01:09:05):
All right, fair enough, I'm glad you were able to
get that last part about this year's team in because
Gary Dom, Bob bill Rick, how many other names would
you like me to mention that could not matter any
less to Monday night.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
Well, and if you want to start talking, if you
never won a road playoff game, they've also never started
on the road.

Speaker 5 (01:09:27):
They've played two of them. They've been on the road
in the playoffs two times. That matter. The two times
they've done it in the last three years with Tamiko Ryans,
Will Anderson Junior and c. J. Stroud, etc. None of
those other games have any bearing on this. The franchise
can't win a road game is a nonsense statement to me.
This team, the current team, the group of players that

(01:09:47):
lead this team, have not won a road game. That
is significant. That matters also the fact.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
That every time they would go on the road after
winning that first game, they would get unceremoniously ousted by
Tom Brady, who he also not in the league anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:10:01):
And last time they've they've gotten beaten on the road
by every team they've played, not just Tom.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
But he beat them more on the road than any
other team. I feel like three of those years were
losses of the Patriots. I think they have two of
those in his building. Okay, but that's the other part
of it. They were never good enough as a division
champion to host. They were What else does that mean?
It doesn't just mean you're on the road. What else
does it mean? Well, it means the other team was
better than you and he is favored to beat you

(01:10:27):
in which they're about to do. Gordy and I were
talking about this earlier today. It's like a lot of
things that aren't really off the beaten path can happen,
and all of a sudden, that second playoff game you're
playing at home. And if you're playing that second playoff
game at home, you mean, like when you're up twenty
four to nothing, I don't say that the Titans are

(01:10:48):
coming to Houston to finish off the postseason.

Speaker 5 (01:10:50):
Is that what's gonna happen? Oh, well, you gotta still
win this game. And that was also on the road.
We were watching that game. You're up twenty four to nothing.
Two losses on the road at New England, two losses
on the road at Baltimore, lost Kansas City two times over.

Speaker 3 (01:11:05):
Never should have lost that game, Like that was the
beginning of the end of that era of Texans football.
You just didn't know it yet.

Speaker 5 (01:11:11):
Yeah, just because it's entertaining conversation. So I appreciate Roger
bringing it up. Honestly, that was one of the times
I thought very clearly, even with TJ. Yates at quarterback,
the Texans weren't the second best team on the field
that day. I thought they were a better team.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
Thought.

Speaker 5 (01:11:30):
I just thought that was a game, even with having
to play a game with TJ. Yates at quarterback at
that stage of his career, he threw three picks. He
basically threw the ball to Andre Johnson on every play.
He was just targeting him over Everybody knew it, and
he just that was what he did and that's what
they did. Obviously, some other things that happened with the team,
as Roger brought up, were all part of it. This
is a twenty to thirteen loss in a game that

(01:11:52):
TJ threw three picks on the road at Baltimore. Like,
how one play here, one play there. TJ.

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
Yates is taking this team is on the team as
they play in the conference title game. That's why when
Jacoby Jones may he rest by the way and a
great dude, I've always.

Speaker 5 (01:12:08):
It's just a little saddened to watch these seven and
a half minute Baltimore Ravens produced tribute video because all
The best times for Harbaugh were the season where Jacoby
was with them helping them win it all.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
This season after he so he was in it a
lot fun against the Ravens. That's what was such a heartbreaker.

Speaker 5 (01:12:27):
What about the mile high miracle against the Denver Broncos when.

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
Oh my god, he got behind the defender, the Ravens
are gonna win.

Speaker 5 (01:12:38):
And that was Jacoby on the end of the receiving
end of that Flacco hurl, and.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
Nobody felt worse about him helping the Texans lose that
playoff game on the road in Baltimore than he did.

Speaker 5 (01:12:49):
We will table the conversation for one segment. You will
hear from Ima Udoka about the Rockets and the finish
the last night's game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
Next.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
I would be curious to see or I would be
curious to be a fly on the wall in that
locker room last night, because if I know em Udoka,
I know he's probably saying some of the things that
we have already said today to his team in the
immediate aftermath. Yeah, that sucks how it ended, but look
at all the things that we didn't do to win

(01:13:20):
that game, the first of two straight in Portland last night. Now,
it's probably not the way he said it, nor in
the manner in which he said, although he didn't strike
me as much of a yeller, I don't know, like.

Speaker 5 (01:13:31):
You're maybe to his team. He was yelling pretty loudly
at the officials last night when he got his technical.
He and Thiago Splitter had that yeah, both of them
with four on the season, like like a coach like
mentor yeah. And again, by all accounts, and you know
this and you probably agree with it, Thiago Splitter is
one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:13:51):
He's so nice that he's gotten eighteen wins for Chauncey
Billups this year. Chauncey Billups his house still on the market.
I haven't paid attention to the real estate sitch.

Speaker 3 (01:14:01):
You know, Cash Betel got after him and now he's
no longer coaching the Blazers. Sorry, it's just what I want,
you know what. Credit to the Blazers for having that
distraction going on. But at the same time that happened
like in what the first week of the season, it's
in total, it's in the rearview mirror.

Speaker 5 (01:14:20):
Now definitely it doesn't matter at all. Now this is
their coach. This is their team. This is Chauncey Billis
is not coaching, is not coaching them in the future.
They're not waiting for him to come back. They're now, well,
he's here for the time being, but Chauncey should be
back anytime. That's not happening.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Whatever plea deal happens, that will be the next chapter
of Chauncey's life. Which I never thought i'd be uttering
that phrase. But watch Tiago Splitter have this like long
successful coaching career. Now I could totally see that they
play hard, they play good basketball. They were playing without
a lot of players, and they are hovering around five
hundred now after last night's victory, and they're on the
fringe of being inside the top ten, which obviously affords

(01:14:53):
you extra basketball on the current format in the NBA.
But last night we heard from both of those coaches
during the game as they drew technicals. Their teams played
to a one oh three, one oh two score with
five seconds remaining, and then five seconds later that was
still the score after review. And that's where the conversation
with Imay Doka picks up here in full. You can
catch it on the sports Stalk seven nine to review

(01:15:14):
the iHeartRadio app from his appearance on The Matt Thomas
Show with Ross in part you can catch it here,
and it begins with his thoughts about how things ended
last night in Portland.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Obviously wanted to get in Kevin's hands. You know, he
was on the hot streak with thirty seven points and
knew he would get a good look and you know,
had confidence to him. And then as always, we wanted
to send everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
To the glass.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
And you know, Ty made a great effort, you know,
point point one second too late.

Speaker 8 (01:15:44):
Basically, did you think it went in or was in
the back of your mind going I got to look
at replay.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
I definitely had to look at replay because when you
when you look live and you have some and it's
it's you know, he's going to be closed for sure.
And my initial looking live was looked great, didn't look good,
but from of the video guys behind the bench, I
thought he got rid of it, and obviously the other
anguish was still on the finger.

Speaker 8 (01:16:09):
I don't know if you saw it like I did
from up where I was calling it, but literally half
the court was with elation on one side and half
of the other court was yeah, we got it. I
mean I have never seen it. We've seen buzzer beaters,
and you've been obviously been a few of them. It
felt like both sides thought they had won the game
on the final play.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
Literally, Yeah, that's how close it was. And even a
replay showed that. And so you know, he made a
good effort. Like I said, you know, Kevin got a
quality lookoff. You know, heavily contested, but he's gonna shootover guys.
And yeah, but overall, you know, regardless of that last play,
I said to the group that we probably didn't deserve
to win that game. You know, we didn't really show

(01:16:47):
up and played our standard for three and a half
quarters and the last half of the fourth quarter we
really buckled down.

Speaker 8 (01:16:54):
Yeah, it was literally a tale of two games when
it came to that. Something that has happened didn't look obviously,
you're right there in front of it. You're still crashing
the offensive boards with great regularity. That's no surprise, even
without me being gone. You got Adams out there and
even Clint helping you on the three point shot has
gone away the last three games. So what do you
chalk that up to? I mean, this is a team
that has been forty ninety percent of the year, but

(01:17:18):
January has not been kind. From beyond the arc, what
do you think is going on?

Speaker 1 (01:17:21):
Just a normal slump that teams go through during the season.
At times you hate that. You know, everybody other than
Kevin really is is kind of going through it at
the same time. But to your point that starting with
the Dallas game, in Phoenix, last game and yesterday, if
we shoot anywhere close to one know him, it's a
comfortable fifteen point win. And so but at times you

(01:17:43):
know that's going to happen during the season. Guy is
going to miss overshots, and yesterday it really stood out
obviously the amount of wide open looks we had, but
you still have to do the other things and you
know nobody's trying to miss shot on purpose. You get
great looks and you live with the result. But you
know what we can control is, you know, following the
game plan, guarding specifically the way we want to and

(01:18:04):
taking care of the ball, and so those things can
always happen. You're going to miss shot at the times,
but you can still lock in onto the game plan
specifics and specifically on the Vida, we didn't guard him
anywhere close to the way we wanted.

Speaker 9 (01:18:16):
To Kevin Durant taking the last shot and the last
two games went in on Monday, unfortunately did not last night,
but he was brought here to be a closer. What
is it like for you just as a coach as
opposed to last year? Does it make your life that
much more easy? But also you know the other team
knows that Kevin Durant is probably gonna get the ball
as well.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
Yeah, I mean regardless, if he gets to a spot,
it doesn't matter you know who's guarding him or how
they're guarding him. You know he's going to get a
quality look. And the maker misses has nothing to do
with the defense, honestly, and so you know, he made
a pull up the other night and got a great
look here that kind of rolled off the rim. And
you know, you bring guys in for their efficiency, for
their consistent scoring, and then obviously their closing, which we

(01:18:58):
had struggled with their times last year, and so it's
good there, But at the same time, you don't want
guys to fully rely on him. You want other guys
to continue to play throughout the game. And last night
it was more so of him doing what he did,
and we would have liked to feel the guys that
joined the party offensively.

Speaker 9 (01:19:12):
Rocket head coach Imo Adoka with us here on Sports
Talk seven ninety how is alprea shingoon feeling and do
you have any idea as far as a possible timeline
for him coming back?

Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
Doing much better, much better than we thought. You know,
he has the swelling, has kind of getting gun pushed out,
had a really good workout yesterday post shoot around and
just got to move it around and getting up and
down and you know, jumping around, jump rope, doing some
things on the ankle just to see the flexibility. And
we're happy with the progress. I'm not sure when he'll

(01:19:41):
be back, but you know, it looked a little more
bleak initially and now he's moving well. Pain tolerance is
pretty good, and so hoping to have him back definitely
in the next few games.

Speaker 8 (01:19:52):
He may is a guy who scores nearly twenty points
a game most night's over, gives you seven or eight assists,
seven or eight rebounds. It's an obvious question, but tell
me from a strategy standpoint, the things you have to
adjust the team, the team things your team has to
adjust with Alpi being out of that lineup, not only
not on the floor, but you know, missing as much

(01:20:13):
time as he's missed a lastka, a handful of games or.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
So, he just takes away one one leg of your offense.
And then this is really the post up threat, the
isolation thread around the elbows and the things he's really
good at, and so you kind of you kind of
go to other actions, other players, other personnel, and it's
a little bit more limited because of the post up threat.
You know, Kevin in Jabari can get some posts, but
not to the extent of al brind And just like

(01:20:37):
Kevin draws those attention, Alpi does the same thing. And
I think overall guys get more clean looks with those
two on the court.

Speaker 3 (01:20:46):
All right, there's a little bit of the reaction from
ima Udoka following the loss last night, or knowledge that
replay indicated the shots should not have counted. I still
think he was hesitant in the back of his mind.

Speaker 5 (01:20:59):
He said, they looked at it and they thought it
was good, and then they looked at another angle and
saw that his fingertip was easer thin. I still wonder
if they would have made that. Colin Houston, I know
what the answer. I mean, the perfect time to be
bringing that up, since the Texans and Steelers are getting
together this weekend, and yet I've watched it probably five
times already. It's only Thursday. The Renfro catch and the

(01:21:21):
ex officials getting together and discussing things when he so
clearly got both feet inbounds, clearly, but game was in Pittsburgh,
Steelers fans, no good, no catch. Four o'clock hour, it's next.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
It is the four o'clock hour here on the A
Team Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Home Network. WEX
over there ac right here Josh Jordan with you as well,
producing the program. We take you up until six o'clock tonight.
Rockets off in between two straight games in the Great Northwest.

Speaker 5 (01:21:51):
One did not go so well for them last night.

Speaker 3 (01:21:53):
We'll see what happens tomorrow night, both of those happening
in Portland. You just heard a bit of what Email
Udoka had to say on The Man Thomas Show earlier today, admitting, yeah,
it was probably late Tarry Easan by a fingernail not
getting that tip in back in off the Kevin Durant miss.
How about the prospect of two straight game winners from

(01:22:15):
Kevin Durant that was also in play, but it did
not go there the rockets way, as a lot of
things didn't.

Speaker 5 (01:22:20):
For the second game in a row.

Speaker 3 (01:22:21):
Probably would have been roughly the same amount of time
left had it gone in one point one neighborhood of Yeah,
because in order to have enough time almost to tip
it back in, he shot it a little bit earlier.

Speaker 5 (01:22:35):
I think I saw somebody say that last night.

Speaker 3 (01:22:37):
They wished he would have actually shot it sooner before
the help came over, and maybe he would have had
a cleaner look or at least a better chance of
it going through.

Speaker 5 (01:22:44):
Once the help did come over, it was probably too late,
but once the help was on its way over, he
probably could have thrown it inside to him n Thompson,
and he acknowledged that after the game. I'm not saying
he should have or he's wrong that he didn't, but
he did know it as it unfolded, and probably their
design of the play they knew this could be an option.
And as he flashed through, because his defender was the

(01:23:05):
one that was angling towards doubling Kevin, there wasn't opening
for him.

Speaker 3 (01:23:10):
It's it's getting a little buried in light of the
fact that they just haven't been playing their best offensive
basketball of late. But a man has been playing sensational
on both ends. I mean, like again, almost a second
straight game where his play on both ends of the
floor is willing them to victory. Now, he did miss
more free throws than you would have liked from an
eighty one percent free throw shooter last night.

Speaker 5 (01:23:32):
But just four of them.

Speaker 3 (01:23:33):
He's not going to be the reason they lost that
game when Jabbari has suddenly gone into the tank and
he's having his best season as a rocket by far.

Speaker 5 (01:23:41):
Well, it was kind of I wouldn't say he was
a non factor in last night's game because that would
indicate a better performance. He was a negative factor in
last night's game and was in the previous game similarly,
and that's just unfortunate, And there are openings for him.
It's he's like everybody else without Alpi, like they have
a They got a player that can any time he wants,

(01:24:02):
generate his own shot, which is usually a very good
shot because he can make just about any shot, and
that's Kevin Durant. But they still have a roster full
of other players, especially when Alpi is not out there.
Specifically when Alpi's not out there of players who are
less capable of doing that, I think Amend's actually the
next most capable of doing it, and they just don't
utilize that enough. When he's in paint, when he's twelve

(01:24:25):
to fifteen feet from the basket and facing his defender,
that is a plus play for the Rockets. Whatever happens next.
He can break them down, he can get to the basket,
he can draw a foul, he can finish. All of
those things are in front of him, and especially when Alpern,
who would otherwise kind of be in that spot, isn't there.
I think they should do it a little bit more often,
and they just haven't played a lot of games with

(01:24:45):
that al alprint. Maybe that's something they'll implement a little bit.
But he has been very, very good. He's made steps
to get better this year like we all thought he would.
Still not a threat. He's Draymond Green from three point distance.
Every team in the league will give him space and
beg him to shoot. He's not shooting often and he's
not making often, but the rest of his game continues
to get better. He's he's spectacular. If he ever gets

(01:25:08):
a jump shot. Well, that's the thing. I actually think
there are two different things. I think a jump shot.
I think he has one, he doesn't. I don't want
him to take. I don't want any player taking mid
range shots except for Katie. But I think from twelve
feet and in you'll see a lot of his the
end of his one on ones will be fade away
ten footers, they'll be you know, it was the game
winners Boston and drops in a ten to eleven foot shot.

(01:25:32):
I think that shot is there. Technically, we all think
of every shot outside the paint as a jumper, but
those three point shots, to me, are just those are
shots he knows he's not gonna make very often and
doesn't usually take them unless he's so wide opened, or
he's in the corner, or the shot clock is winding.

Speaker 3 (01:25:48):
Now, yeah, it was a It was a frustrating night,
especially in light of the fact that the games tip
off at nine o'clock. But as you mentioned, not a
lot of that after this West Coast trip and not
a lot of road games.

Speaker 5 (01:26:00):
As a matter of fact, they still have a few
later tips, they just won't be on the West. They
got one on Sunday, but it's only eight o'clock. Well,
that is a West Coast game. Next week they have
an eight thirty tip from Houston when Minnesota will be
in town. But that obviously means they're one of the
primetime feature games. You probably don't notice it as much,

(01:26:21):
not seeing the changes, because I don't really as soon
as the schedule comes out, the NBA tells you, well,
here are all the national games. Everybody gets to see them.
But then when the season begins, unless it's your team,
you don't really pay attention to what national games are
coming up. They're not promoted a month out, they're promoted
a couple of days out. They they make changes every
year to the schedule in season, and in the last

(01:26:42):
three weeks we've probably gotten more schedule changes than in
most years because of the surprise performances of a handful
of teams. I think at the beginning of the year,
having Indiana on for a couple of national TV games,
no problem. They're the Eastern Conference champs. They aren't clearly
as good, but there's somebody to watch every the NBA
has gotten the last couple of weeks, they've taken them

(01:27:02):
out and they're adding this game. I mean, any team
that wasn't already at the max. Well, San Antonio wasn't
at the max. We can get another game of theirs.
You know, Minnesota's got an opportunity here they're playing Golden State.
We can get another one of theirs. They make changes
to that schedule all throughout the year based on the
relevance and the equality of the teams that were originally
on it, and other matchups that are already scheduled for
that night that they can sub in, because they do

(01:27:24):
try to give the networks that are paying all this
money and hopefully the fans that are watching it the
best they possibly can on those nights.

Speaker 3 (01:27:31):
Meanwhile, we were talking about not only the Texans now,
but the Texans fan base.

Speaker 5 (01:27:39):
I guess a lot of them then.

Speaker 3 (01:27:41):
I don't know how many people converted over and consequently,
I don't know how many people followed the Titans to Nashville.

Speaker 5 (01:27:49):
Like to this day, converted over from what to what.

Speaker 3 (01:27:51):
Oiler fan to Texans fan, and I don't know how
many people stayed in oiler fan and became a Titans fan.

Speaker 5 (01:27:57):
I don't know what the numbers are, but everybody else
think that there's almost no Oiler fans that are only
Titan fans. There's got to be almost none. If you
were an Oilers fan. Why were you an Oilers fan
because you lived in Houston and that was your team.
You don't, presumably you. I'm not telling you not to

(01:28:19):
be a Titans fan. That is your team. I said
that for years, I was not rooting for Bud Adams.
I was rooting for the players wearing the jerseys. And
they're still the same players for a few years anyway.
But even saying that, well, you now also have a
team in Houston, another team in Houston. You don't have
to give up on the Titans. I'm not telling you
how to roote. I would think eventually you probably would anyway,
because you have a team here. Why did you root

(01:28:41):
for the Oilers because it says Houston on their jerseys
on their gear. Well, what's the same thing you have
with the Texans. I think we have lots of people
who converted, and lots of those people don't want to
forget what the Oilers did, which is why Oilers Steelers
still means something to people in the playoffs. When the
Texans and Steelers get together on Monday.

Speaker 3 (01:29:00):
And it should this Monday night, because Houston football fans
whatever you want to call them, that are old enough
to remember they were robbed.

Speaker 5 (01:29:11):
The best opportunity to win a Super Bowl so far
for the Texans pales in comparison to multiple opportunities for
the Oilers to win a Super Bowl, and most specifically
that particular team, because the last team in between the
Rockets and a championship was in the Conference finals when

(01:29:35):
they lost to Golden State with Cleveland waiting. The last
team in the way of the Oilers winning the Super
Bowl was in the Conference championship when they lost to
the Steelers. Made that game, the Oilers weren't going I mean,
who knows the Oilers were not going to lose the
Super Bowl. They were going to beat the Steelers on
the road, go to the Super Bowl, and they were
going to win, and you would have had your championship.

(01:29:57):
The Texans have never ever gotten. I mean, I don't
even think their teams were as good relative to the
rest of the league. They've had teams that have made
it to the Divisional round, and so obviously there's just
one went away from playing for the AFC crown. But
I really do think that Oilers team, clearly there are
a bunch of Warren Moon led oiler teams that were
also at least as good as any Texans playoff team,

(01:30:19):
including this one. Even with the defense this team has.
Which defense have we brought up in the last couple
of weeks. We've brought up one of JJ watts defenses. Clearly,
we also brought up Sean Jones and Ray Childers and
Wilburg Marshall's defense. That was the again, two different franchises,
same city. Hello, Lawrence Marshall, I can say that because

(01:30:41):
they're defunct now.

Speaker 3 (01:30:43):
I mean, what Ray, it's that clever line.

Speaker 5 (01:30:46):
Just making sure we got that uttered there you go.
Why did he again?

Speaker 3 (01:30:50):
I always say this, he picks up the phone, he
answers it, and then he just puts it down and
starts talking to the camera.

Speaker 5 (01:30:57):
Magic television, rude. Whoever was on the other line, Well,
he's down there at the end of the line, oftentimes
on the football field, wreaking havoc at the edge position.
We talked about Daniel Hunter earlier this week and the
lack of respect for him and the underrated nature of
his career and certainly his time here in Houston. JJ
Watt pointed it out, had another one hundred thousand plus

(01:31:19):
views on the completely what I thought was innocuous repost
of what his comments were, myself pushing seven hundred thousand views. Why,
I don't know, but Tomiko is curious about one thing,
why people don't see him, maybe for what everybody else does,
but more specifically Tomiko Ryans on Daniel Hunter and what
he means to their team.

Speaker 4 (01:31:39):
Danille has met. You know, everything to our defensive success
is with him. You know, we added a guy to
our team as a free agent, you know, two years ago,
who already had success as a past rusher when he
was in Minnesota. Minnesota, I mean, he was always getting
out through the quarterback, you know, double digit sack guy.
So to add him, you know, with the guy and Will,

(01:32:01):
we added a guy who's not only is productive, but
he's also a selfless guy who is willing to teach
the other young guys of how it's done, how he's
had success in his career. And so that's the biggest
thing guy I've seen from him is just his willingness
to share.

Speaker 5 (01:32:18):
Twenty twenty one, the seasons that have come since then,
he's played in seventy five of those available games. Miles
Garrett's played in eighty three, TJ. Watt seventy three, Daniel
Hunter's fifth on the sack list since that time since
twenty twenty one, Miles Garrett, who added twenty three sacks
this year.

Speaker 3 (01:32:35):
TJ.

Speaker 5 (01:32:35):
Watt, Michael Parsons, Trey Hendrickson and Daniel Hunter the only
five players in the NFL with sixty or more sacks
since twenty twenty one, and he had another fourteen plus
this year.

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
They're very, very good, and this was talked about in
an article by Bill Barnwell. It's fascinating as it pertains
to not just the Texans defense, but how the Texans,
how their offense will fare against the Steelers defense, and
some of the other numbers that go into it. But
I know this isn't gonna surprise you. He doesn't have

(01:33:09):
the Texans going much further. We'll discuss that. We will
discuss a number of football related issues, but we're gonna
get to Kevin Harlan, who joined the station earlier next.
You know, it's not often that I get jealous of
Matt Thomas, but one of those times is when he
gets to talk to his good buddy Kevin Harlan, and

(01:33:29):
we don't.

Speaker 5 (01:33:30):
His good buddy. Kevin Harlan is the voice of many
many things, including radio play by play for NFL postseason football,
which will be the case for Texans Steelers this weekend,
so a good chance to catch up with him. Which
if you were listening earlier to Sportstock seven ninety you
might have heard the interview with Kevin Harlan on the
Matt Thomas Show with Ross, but specific to some of
the things we thought you might want to hear, we

(01:33:51):
brought you a portion of it to the airwaves on
our end. Full interview always available right there at Sportstock
seven ninety dot com or via the iHeart Radio app
subscriber to our programs at our station. In general Sports
Talk seven to ninety. Conversation begins in part here for
you about his thoughts about what this Texans defense has
been doing to other quarterbacks and now who they get

(01:34:13):
to do it against, probably and at least in his mind,
coming up on Monday night.

Speaker 2 (01:34:19):
And they're about ready to make life miserable. I think
for Rogers Monday night, I think he's going to be
pinched all night long. And these kids are excited about
the platform on a Monday night standalone game, not in
a busy weekend, but standalone game. The weather's not going
to be like it is in Houston and not going

(01:34:39):
to be indoors. It's going to have a frigid feel
to it. But I think that when you get to
this stage and you've got the momentum that the Texans
have right now, I don't think anything's going to stop him.
I think Rogers is a historically special player, and I
think getting DK metcalf going to help them. And I

(01:35:01):
think the third component is the Texans stopping the run game,
which showed life against Baltimore in Week eighteen and that
big win on Sunday night. Those two kids are special,
Warren and Gainwell, and the quarterback has a very good
He's playing exceptional football right now. Rogers is. So that's

(01:35:25):
the matchup. Nothing against CJ and what that offense does,
and not a shot at Watt and what he means
to the Pittsburgh defense. But to me, the game centers
around how effective can Rogers be? Is though momentum strong enough,
is the confidence great enough that they can contend with
those two ends? That will just cause I think havoc

(01:35:47):
all night long from the Texans defense, and of course
we know about the glitter and the secondary and what
they mean, how they can change a game. I love
this game, love it for many reasons, being outdoors, Hall
of Fame quarterback, rising young quarterback in CJ. This defense,

(01:36:08):
which has just been a terrific It checks every box
and what you want in an early playoff game like
this one.

Speaker 9 (01:36:17):
Ross with you here as well, Kevin Harland with us
here on Sports Talk seven ninety and keeping with that matchup, Kevin,
you mentioned CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:36:24):
Stroud.

Speaker 9 (01:36:24):
I'm just curious your perspective of somebody who's called a
lot of his games and watched him, of course on
fire in his rookie season. Since then has gone down
and shown flashes of that franchise quarterback elite level play,
but just not consistently enough.

Speaker 2 (01:36:41):
Yeah, you know, hard to figure out whether it's it's
always a combination of a lot of things, right, It's
probably he's reacting to these defensive coordinators who have watched
a lot of tape on him, have a good feel
for what he did as a rookie, and they counted it,
you know, the last couple of years, and and and

(01:37:03):
maybe not the the eye opening numbers, but to me, Uh,
he is incredibly effective. Still best years are ahead of him.
They've surrounded him with some talent at wide receiver clearly,
and listen, I I we did. We did a game
with him uh uh often last year, one in New

(01:37:26):
England and other places along the way. So I'm I'm
a fan of his personally and and professionally. He has
sat next to me at a rocket scheme uh and
loves basketball and we talked during commercial breaks. So I've
got a real affinity for him, and he's he's become
one of my favorite players. But but you know, listen,

(01:37:49):
this is this is a big stage and a playoff
game on the road in Pitts for that place will
be bananas on Monday. But I think we're gonna see
the best version of him. And I'm still a huge
fan upside as gigantic, and I'm I'm clearly on his
side on that conversation. I listen, these these coordinators spend

(01:38:14):
so much time figuring out what's what they've got to
deal with, and uh, the regression is probably not the
right word, but just make maybe that the rocket was
too heavy off that off that launch pad and and
he had to you know, probably just feel, you know

(01:38:34):
what now is going to be a more complex, a
more studied version of what he was going to face
on Sundays. And but I like what he's done this year.
Clearly they're winning, they're in the playoffs, and I think
I think, like I said, I think we're going to
see his best version on Monday Night.

Speaker 8 (01:38:51):
So I don't know if you make predictions, but you're
going to be calling another super Bowl. This will put
you in with thirteen fourteen, fifteen range somewhere in those
super Bowls on radio?

Speaker 7 (01:38:59):
Is that correct?

Speaker 10 (01:39:00):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:39:01):
This will be my sixteenth?

Speaker 3 (01:39:02):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (01:39:03):
Okay, so who's going to be there?

Speaker 2 (01:39:06):
I think the NFC Championship is a Seattle, Philadelphia one
or the other. I think it's hard to knock out
a defending champion. Thank you Rudy for that comment from
years ago. The heart of a champion could never be extinguished.
It can't be, it can't be second guest. And the
Eagles have it, but the Rams appear to be you know,
like like like, but Seattle's number one and they're gonna

(01:39:28):
sit and watch this weekend. And but but I like
the Eagles or Seattle out of the NFC, And I
guess in my heart, i'd love to see a Josh
Allen Super Bowl for the Bills. Their fans deserve it.
This guy's had an he's a reigning MVP. I'd love
to see him in there. I don't know if there's

(01:39:49):
a team in the AFC right now that you'd have
to say is the front runner. I think they're all
going to be in their fighting and I think it's
going to be terrific to watch h And then you know,
there's a part of me about about Aaron Rodgers. I
don't know that Pittsburgh's got enough, but uh, we could
be watching his final snaps as a Hall of Fame quarterback.

(01:40:11):
Be fun to see what he can do. But I
don't want to be at the expense of the Texans
because I love the team in that quarterback so and
and Dimiico is just as good as they come. So
I don't know. I'll go Philly in the n C
and the a f C. I'll go Buffalo, I and
and and and or Chicago's got a tough one against

(01:40:32):
green Bay coming up. I'll go Philadelphia, and I'll go
and I'll go Buffalo. But we're just beginning, and I
think it's gonna be a roller coast. I think it's
gonna be a wild ride.

Speaker 7 (01:40:43):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:40:43):
You gotta gotta harness yourself in on this one because
it's gonna be There's no Ma Homes, there's no Lamar.
We have some new new teams in there. Jacksonville's in.
Houston's gonna make some waves. It's gonna be a thrill
and I cannot wait to get it started on it.

Speaker 3 (01:41:01):
No clear cut favorite wide open in the AFC sounds
like all of us.

Speaker 5 (01:41:07):
Will he call CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:41:09):
Stroud a flamethrower at any point on Monday Night, I'm
gonna say no. I would love nothing more than like
I think the Texans defense will take care of business
like it always does, even against Aaron Rodgers, all that,
even on the road and the cold, all that kind
of stuff, the crowd being bananas, like he said, I
would just love for CJ to just break the mold

(01:41:30):
of what everybody thinks he is this season end at
this point and just start flinging it like the guy
who was doing that in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 5 (01:41:39):
It'd be nice and it can happen. And his postseason
performances have been good. We've brought this up a couple
of times. With Baker Mayfield not reaching the postseason, that
bumped up CJ. Stroud one more spot on the list
because Baker would have otherwise been the active leader in
passer rating in the postseason, but he's not there. Instead
it is Josh Allen and CJ. Stroud and Aaron Rodgers

(01:42:01):
then comes in right behind. How much stock you put
into that for Allen and Stroud probably a lot. They've
just played in many postseason games the last two years.
How much stock do you put in that for Aaron Rodgers?
Maybe a little less, maybe a lot. I don't know,
because he hasn't been consistently playing in the playoffs. This year,

(01:42:22):
he's back in the playoffs. Obviously, his two years with
the Jets were not postseason seasons. His last season in
Green Bay the same, so his last postseason appearance was
twenty twenty one. Also won the MVP that year. He's
still not even that far removed from it. And I
think there was a pretty clear uptick in Aaron Rodgers
quarterback play this year from last year. There's not a

(01:42:44):
tremendous oh my gosh, he's a totally different player last
year to this year. But he's most of his numbers
almost across the board. Had slight improvements, a little bit
better interception rate, a little bit better yards per game,
a little bit better completion percentage, a little bit less
often sacked. Was only sacked twenty nine times this year,

(01:43:06):
was sacked forty times last year. He did play one
fewer game this year than last year, but he played
for the Steelers this year and winning organization he played
for the Jets last year, a opposite of winning organization.
Also threw four fewer touchdown passes this year than he
did a year ago. When I was saying, you can
take a chance on him, he's clearly better than most

(01:43:27):
teams' other options, and that was a no brainer. In Pittsburgh.
He improved their quarterback position a ton. And he also
might be the worst quarterback in the AFC's postseason based
on some numbers, not saying he's bad and not saying
they were overwhelming, but put all the AFC quarterbacks together,
there's not a whole lot of difference between them for
a number of different reasons, And like Kevin said, one

(01:43:48):
of those is, well, there's no Mahomes, There's no he's
just clearly head and shoulders above everybody else based off
of this last season's performance. I think that is a
reasonable statement to make. So in all the match we'll
see this weekend, your quarterback could be the better player
and thus your team could win. Like Houston on Monday Night?

Speaker 3 (01:44:09):
What's up?

Speaker 6 (01:44:11):
Say it was?

Speaker 1 (01:44:15):
Who was that?

Speaker 5 (01:44:17):
I'll give you a choice. What are my choices?

Speaker 3 (01:44:26):
Obnoxious former Longhorns take on the Texans or the other
What are you doing, Bills organization?

Speaker 5 (01:44:37):
I mean, I know what you're trying to do. So
they're tearing down their stadium. They had a very emotional
goodbye to their stadium already, even though they didn't know
for sure then and still don't. They're the sixth seed.
It's possible there could be one more game. Very unlikely,
but yeah, at the end of the regular season, they
had a heartfelt, emotional time and video played and some

(01:45:00):
players who've been there a long time, the fans that
have gone there and jumped through fiery tables for a
long time, they had a one last go with it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:06):
It first opened their current stadium that they're moving out
of in nineteen seventy three under the name rich Stadium.
I know you remember that vividly as a negative year
old sad Rich Stadium memories. That's for sure. Beginning next
year they will move into the new high Mark Stadium
currently under construction. Anytime you saw a Bill's game, they

(01:45:27):
would show up prominently because it's just massive in comparison.
When Buffalo finally does move out, it's going to auction
off a number of parts.

Speaker 5 (01:45:37):
Smart It's not uncommon for teams to do this.

Speaker 3 (01:45:41):
I have two astrodome seats collecting dust in my garage
as we speak, because I just haven't put in the
time to restore them.

Speaker 5 (01:45:50):
Here's the difference.

Speaker 3 (01:45:51):
You remember when they and actually it was very streamlined
organized when the Astros or the Astrodome or whoever was
in Chargears, they sold these pairs of seats I believe
it was two hundred and fifty a pop.

Speaker 5 (01:46:05):
And I remember vividly waiting in a.

Speaker 3 (01:46:07):
Line outside of actually I think it was the Astra
Arena at the time, and you would go through and
they had them stacked in there. You had what color
you had already chosen and paid for, you had your certificate,
all that stuff loaded in the back of whatever vehicle
you're in. Boom, get out of here. Very very streamlined
to the best of my knowledge, and you'll have to
remind me of this. Did the Astrodome have troughs?

Speaker 7 (01:46:28):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:46:29):
Absolutely, Did anybody try to I've used them auction those off?

Speaker 1 (01:46:34):
Or uh?

Speaker 5 (01:46:36):
I don't know that if they did that.

Speaker 3 (01:46:38):
I mean, I know we're still in flux as to
what's going to happen with the dome ultimately, but I
don't think I've read anywhere where the Astrodome or the
powers that be at the Harris County Sports Association or
whatever saying hey, take some urinal troughs.

Speaker 5 (01:46:52):
Well, I mean it's not. Do you feel like there's
a difference in attempting to get longtime fans to be
desirous of a trough versus a toilet? I don't think
there'd be the reason to auction off the toilet either. However, why.

Speaker 3 (01:47:12):
The auction group Collectible Exchange is teaming up with Buffalo
to allow fans to get their hands on parts of
the stadium, even parts that far too many hands and
other body parts may have already touched.

Speaker 5 (01:47:27):
It's the article. I didn't say it no hands. Presumably,
why would your hands touch it?

Speaker 3 (01:47:31):
Because you might have lost your balance because you were
taking a drunk, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (01:47:36):
That's I mean for a Buffalo fan. But that's the
whole point of the trough. You're anywhere here's good, this
tiny little hole, but anywhere in this area is fine.

Speaker 3 (01:47:50):
Collectible Exchange founder Brandon Steiner quote, there's definitely some tross
or there's definitely the troughs in the back room. There's
some stuff in some of the suites that are interesting,
great photos. Stuff maybe in the locker room that could
be kind of quirky, one off, that sort of thing.
But yeah, the Bills are taking the old school trough

(01:48:11):
urinals from their men's bathrooms and selling them to fans.
They're not just giving these or these are sold. So
wipe your mind clean and now just think of this.
There are thirty two NFL franchises. There are thirty stadiums
because two teams share a pair, and there are in
these all these respective NFL cities. And I come to

(01:48:33):
you and I say, every team in the NFL is
getting into stadium this year. It's amazing, and what we've
done in construction all of a sudden, but that means
every single old stadium in the NFL, they're gonna you
know they've got stuff to sell. What cities would you
put at the top of the list where their fans
are most likely to want to purchase troughs from the

(01:48:54):
old stadium Buffalo and Philly, Like they're going to have
exactly zero problems selling these troth These people have no future.

Speaker 5 (01:49:05):
Well, they might actually like, do you have somewhere to
put it? But that's the thing. I might be able
to figure out somewhere to put it.

Speaker 3 (01:49:14):
Any house could.

Speaker 5 (01:49:15):
But I feel like in maybe in Buffalo, maybe with
this being your team, in this area of the country
you live in, and maybe you're not, maybe they're not
a city lifer, maybe you have the space for it.
I mean it certainly is really presumably more there for
sentimental while I'm not actually asking someone to purchase it
and then put it to its proper use. Got to
call the plumber and get this installed, Like.

Speaker 3 (01:49:36):
You can have it, but it can just be I mean,
it seems like it would fit in a man cave unused. Okay, again,
I know that you have cleaning products.

Speaker 5 (01:49:47):
You can absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:49:50):
You can. I already know that by this old top
nineteen seventy three is worth of you know what going
in there?

Speaker 5 (01:49:56):
Why would I want that house? And between nineteen seventies
three this past Sunday, how many thousands of times has
it been washed?

Speaker 3 (01:50:07):
Not as many as the thousands of times it's been used.
And by thousands, I mean billions.

Speaker 5 (01:50:12):
On Sunday when they play it played at home? It
was used one time that afternoon it got on. But god,
it's one day's worth of use. Who cares how many
people used it. It's assumption that all parts of it
were used, So all parts of it get cleaned, and
now it can be yours for the lo low price

(01:50:33):
of what would you pay for a trough?

Speaker 2 (01:50:35):
So?

Speaker 5 (01:50:35):
Would you eat out of it? Because what you're saying asking.

Speaker 3 (01:50:39):
You to eat out of it?

Speaker 5 (01:50:40):
Why it's clean? I mean would I? It's clean?

Speaker 8 (01:50:44):
Stuf?

Speaker 5 (01:50:44):
Like you said, stop it? What do you want me
to eat out of it?

Speaker 3 (01:50:48):
It's the.

Speaker 5 (01:50:51):
Hey, can you go out and feed the animals and
put their food in the trough? I mean it wasn't
a hay trough. I don't currently eat out of a trough?
Why would I begin to? Just the name itself is
not attractive to even talk about. I think it's it's
it's an it's a no brainer. Yeah, for Buffalo people
because they're Buffalo people. He was in the stadium, man, Okay,

(01:51:15):
then I want it signed fans.

Speaker 3 (01:51:17):
Although you know what, that trough presumably is probably a
lot cleaner than the condition I got the astrodome seat
in when I got it all these years ago. I
seriously doubt they extensively cleaned a place where somebody sat
for years observing oilers losses.

Speaker 5 (01:51:39):
I mean, we've seen people clean the seats before. I've
been in stadiums long enough where they actually not just
picking up the trash but actually cleaning white down, spraying
them all.

Speaker 3 (01:51:49):
Talking about old school astronome seats which have the mesh,
These are not smoothing surfaces, the surface, what all is
in there?

Speaker 5 (01:51:59):
And then when you mash your hand on it a
few times, when all the dust and everything comes back
out of it and your hand is no longer than
you think color what it's actually smotty oils.

Speaker 3 (01:52:11):
Gross. I'm gonna go sell my astronom seats after the show.

Speaker 5 (01:52:15):
I am looking forward to the future social media posts
of Bill's fan purchasers of these troughs.

Speaker 3 (01:52:21):
And yet I would kill in all likelihood for a
Summit seat exactly anybody's got one.

Speaker 5 (01:52:26):
Get a hold of me.

Speaker 3 (01:52:27):
That sounds awesome. You know where to find me on
social If you know me and you know that, get
at me. We will get to the other thing I
wanted to get to because it's still Texans related when
we come back. I gave Wex a choice last segment,
and he went with the Buffalo Buffalo bells fans, they're troughs.

Speaker 5 (01:52:48):
I can't imagine you can remember what you even offered
as the other option, and how you said it. Here
are your two options. One of them is and if
you could repeat what you said, that'd be awesome. I
immediately took the others along the lines of a.

Speaker 3 (01:53:02):
How did I phrase it?

Speaker 5 (01:53:03):
I mean it was an ex Longhorn that you love
to hate just a little bit from the media side now,
but almost exclusively from his football playing days.

Speaker 3 (01:53:14):
Here's the thing, though, his media side is just as
annoying to you.

Speaker 5 (01:53:19):
He's gotten us to a point where we always look
forward to his off season top forty quarterbacks list because
it's so laughable. Well, that's the problem, But on the field,
it was I can't believe they're playing this guy. Here's
the problem with this.

Speaker 3 (01:53:35):
You typically don't agree with what he's saying from an
analysis standpoint correct.

Speaker 5 (01:53:39):
And yet on the program that he often is on daily,
he's the much more less insufferable one because the alternative
is Mike Floria exactly. He's a lawyer.

Speaker 3 (01:53:53):
You know, he's told me, gosh, anyway, that's bad news
because well, if you don't agree with what his analysis
typically says, that's going to be a problem for Texans fans.

Speaker 5 (01:54:04):
Take a listen.

Speaker 7 (01:54:06):
The only thing you worry about, I think in this
one is just CJ. Stroud, don't hold the ball too long,
don't get stripsacked, right. But I do think they'll be
able to throw the football. I think they'll have They're
getting better at throwing the football. Their offense has been
somewhat good and really closer lately it's gotten better. And
I think a little bit like what you talk about
the defense, as we've talked about, it's a Super Bowl defense,

(01:54:27):
But you know, did they fall asleep at the wheel
a little bit the last few weeks because like, hey,
we're in the playoffs, does it really matter?

Speaker 2 (01:54:37):
Right?

Speaker 7 (01:54:37):
You know, you don't maybe play with the same type
of intensity you're going to see a Texans defense in
this one that is going to go all out.

Speaker 5 (01:54:44):
They're pretty strong. So yeah, I clearly like the Texans.

Speaker 2 (01:54:46):
I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (01:54:47):
That was one of the easier ones to pick right there,
easy money for Chris Simms. Yikes, that means they're definitely
losing by twenty.

Speaker 5 (01:54:54):
Well even within the analysis you heard, they're, oh, we're
in the playoffs, maybe we're not playing for thirty minutes. Well,
he's like, they took the week off the week before
when they won to clinch their playoff Berth.

Speaker 3 (01:55:06):
I think, though, if you're being honest, you would say, ah,
the Texans defense had didn't have the same intensity as
prior to say, the Raiders game and the Colts game.

Speaker 5 (01:55:18):
I don't agree, Like, was there was there not enough
intensity when they played the Chargers in between those two games?

Speaker 3 (01:55:25):
No, I think week seventeen, I think the Chargers game
was probably the outlier of what he's trying to say,
which is basically down the stretch they weren't as intense.

Speaker 5 (01:55:32):
Well, I'm not affording him an outlier, and actually was
their playoff clinching win.

Speaker 3 (01:55:38):
Actually, the Arizona game probably would be even more arguable,
just because McBride carved them up.

Speaker 5 (01:55:43):
But he does that to everybody. Yeah, in a twenty
point loss, who cares? He put up big numbers, so
Alex pears they doubled their score. Well, I would argue
that if anybody DK Metcalf, et cetera. Are putting up
those kinds of numbers on Monday Night, that's not a
good thing. Well, yes, well they're not playing Trey McBride.
That's as simple as I can put it. Like Trey

(01:56:05):
McBride did that all year for the last three years,
against almost every team he played. He's not on the
Steelers roster. But if you're I'm not saying it's the
sole and reason. Getting him all of his numbers was
neat and he did score twice, Yeah, great, as did
Pierce and that's it. The rest of the team did
absolutely nothing. So you clabbered him, which happened to Arizona

(01:56:26):
for an entire season.

Speaker 3 (01:56:28):
But what I'm saying is, if Aaron Rodgers is putting
up those numbers against you with any or all receivers
running backs for example, Like I'll tell you this, as
good as the Texans defense is, I am a little
bit worried about Kenneth Gainwell being a receiver. I'm not
so much worried about the running game. I think they
can shut down anybody that they want to, but I

(01:56:49):
just think that in space that's what Honestly, Travis Kelcey
killed them in that very same game plan last year
and he hadn't done anything all season.

Speaker 5 (01:57:01):
Yeah, Friar Ruth could do that again. I don't think
it costs them the game.

Speaker 3 (01:57:04):
Well, I'm just talking about anybody who gets in space
against this Texans defense, and specifically, one of the things
that this article that Bill Barnwell wrote that I do.
I don't even say it worries me, but he's talking about,
you know, if you get the ball off in two
point five seconds or less against this Texans defense, that's

(01:57:26):
when you're gonna be at your best because they do
get after you so quickly. And then I think that
Aaron Rodgers is near the top of the league. I
think it's like two point six seconds is the ball's gone.
That's gonna have to be the only way that offense
can produce against this Texans So, in other words.

Speaker 5 (01:57:42):
What they do all year against everybody else is what
you would want to do against Houston. So I said
this the other day. This is not some overwhelming matchup
for the Steelers to be facing. They've played this way
the entire year. This is what they want to do.
They don't want Aaron Rodgers sitting back there waiting and
looking and Okay, he's going to his routes developing, he's
gonna get open. Let's see if DK can do this

(01:58:03):
because he's not scrambling out of trouble and their offensive
line is good. I don't think some of the numbers
reflect I think that it's not a match of how
good their offensive line is. They're so good that he
was hardly pressured. It's a combination of this is why
we want to run our offense this way. This is
why we utilize our two backs the way we do
this is why we throw the ball to them and
our tight ends as often as we do, very close

(01:58:25):
to the line of scrimmage. Why do you think they
have so much yak in Pittsburgh Because the passes are
eight yards, five yards, six yards, four yards, and they're
making first downs because they're getting it to them quickly.
They're getting it to them with room to run. They're
not throwing thirty yards down the field for a seventy
yard play and just a quick question for you about
these quarterback performances, Say against the Texans. Give me the
two quarterbacks that threw for the most yards against the

(01:58:47):
Texans defense this year. I'm guessing Sam Darnold's one of them.

Speaker 3 (01:58:50):
Uh No, he wasn't.

Speaker 5 (01:58:52):
He threw for two hundred and thirteen yards. He did
not have a good day against the Texans. Baker, No,
Baker may feel through for two hundred and fifteen yards.

Speaker 3 (01:59:00):
Am I looking at three? Am I looking four to three?
How about the top two? I'm talking about three hundred
instead of two hundreds. Nobody threw for three hundred yards
against the text I didn't think so two of the
top three, any of the top three, anyone more than
Matt Stafford's two forty five he was fourth. I can't
think right now.

Speaker 5 (01:59:17):
You just have mister beat up. Josh Allen threw for
two fifty three. I don't think we would say he
had a good day, right, I.

Speaker 3 (01:59:24):
Wouldn't have guessed that at all, because of the eight
sacks they had on him.

Speaker 5 (01:59:27):
Kobe Brissett threw for two hundred and forty nine yards
in a game they lost by twenty, all right, and
Riley Leonard just threw for two hundred seventy yards, the
most yards any quarterback to because he has a stupid face.
It's it's they have done what they want to do,
basically against everybody, even Matt Stafford, who had an otherwise

(01:59:47):
statistically speaking one hundred nine passer rate and didn't throw
any picks through for two forty five completed seventy two
percent of his passes, and they scored twice the whole game,
two touchdowns. So now they're playing Aaron Rodgers, it can happen.
I'm not guaranteeing anything, but they've played seventeen games worth
of why it's not going to happen.

Speaker 3 (02:00:08):
Yeah, No, listen, I'm not favorite. I just I am
just maybe I'm being cautious in my confidence.

Speaker 5 (02:00:16):
How about that?

Speaker 3 (02:00:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (02:00:17):
Fair?

Speaker 5 (02:00:18):
Yeah, all right.

Speaker 3 (02:00:19):
We will start the five o'clock hour next. You know
what we normally do at five o'clock. We talked football,
and so we'll do football at five and a new
wrinkle in the offseason coaching carousel, not just who got
whack today, but where he might be going next.

Speaker 5 (02:00:33):
Thursday edition of the program.

Speaker 3 (02:00:36):
Only two shows and one hour between now and the
Texans taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 5 (02:00:43):
For us should be joined by Sam Warren tomorrow early afternoon.
Covers the Houston Texans for the Houston Chronicle. Have had
him on many times throughout the season, so we'll check
in with him tomorrow. We'll check in with Jonathan Alexander
on Monday afternoon from Pittsburgh with the Tech and Steelers
getting together, and I would presume by that point in

(02:01:03):
time we will know very very clearly about the situation
of the Texans. Twelve players that were listed on today's
injury report, four players did not practice. I mentioned three
of them earlier. I was out there at practice and
only did not recognize that Denico Autry should have been
added to the I did not see him at practice
during the open portion to the media, but he did

(02:01:26):
not practice today. That has been a typical set of
circumstances for him for most of the second half of
the season with his knee injury, and then goes out
there and plays on game day. Titus Howard did not
practice today. It's listed with an ankle injury. I imagine
that's the injury that he suffered in the game on Sunday.
Didn't take him out of the game, but obviously he
and three other offensive line starters did not finish the

(02:01:46):
game by design. Juar Jordan high ankle sprain did not
practice today, and Kamari Lassiter with the ankle and knee injury.
The knee injury suffered a week before that. The ankle
injury has been playing through since about the eleventh to
twelfth week of the season. I would guess, and it's
only a guess, that Audrey Howard and Lassiter are probably
in good shape to be ready to play. I wouldn't

(02:02:09):
say they're in good shape period, but in good shape
to play. I wouldn't be quite as certain, and it's
probably the exact opposite for Juwar Jordan. Five players were
limited today, and Derek Stingley Junior among them, saying oblique
injury will not prevent him from playing. Jamal Hill returned
to practice. He missed a bunch of time late in
the season, first with a hamstring injury and now with
the current calf injury that had him sidelined in week eighteen.

(02:02:31):
Sheldon rankins with the elbow injury and a return to
practice for Jalen Reed. Players who returned to practice from
the injured reserve when the practice window opens almost always
are listed as limited, and he is the forearm injury
that he suffered in the Colts game earlier this excuse
me the Bills game or earlier this season, which we

(02:02:51):
were watching right here in studio and enjoying the all reds.
But I think the odds are pretty good that he
will give the Texans good reason to activate him off
of IR and make the necessary roster move to get
him on the roster and full participation for their long
snapper who has not missed a game or a snap,
Johnny Carter, Austin Brinkman, by the way, he's got a

(02:03:13):
knee injury, but he's playing through a knee a Johnny
Carter who had immediately made an impact on special teams
before his injury, but he is a full participant with
a hamstring injury he's playing through. And tay Ersrie, who
took every snap in the game on Sunday. He and
Jake Andrews did not get relieved because they only carry
so many offensive linemen into a game, but his thumb injury,

(02:03:33):
which had him missing only one game during his rookie season,
he practiced in full I think again, odds are extremely
high that he's going to be back out through without
any concerns coming up on Monday night for this game.
The Steelers list is very light and almost insignificant, which
is wild. Jalen Warren didn't practice today, but that was

(02:03:54):
due to illness. Cameron Hayward was limited but that is
rest related, and four other players listed on the port well,
they all practiced in full. Their long snapper, their edge
rushing watt brother TJ. Mor rushing Watt brother, former Houston
Texans tight end, wide receiver Ben Scorronic who made the
Pro Bowl Games this year as the special teamer, and

(02:04:17):
Aaron Rodgers and Rogers injursury is a wrist. The wat injury,
as we all know, is a lung. It's extremely rare,
and I bet you I could pull every injury report
maybe ever for the Texans. I could be wrong, but
I don't remember any of them ever being listed with
a lung and got a lung you don't really want

(02:04:38):
to be and we know why because of the dry
needling incident that took place. But it doesn't appear that
any player on the active roster for the Steelers is
a threat to miss the game.

Speaker 3 (02:04:48):
By the way, so many things about that are absolutely horrifying.
The phrase dry needling.

Speaker 5 (02:04:55):
Don't want that. Well, it's only in reference to the
literal nature of what you're using the needle or when
you go get shots. Well, the needle's not dry. It's
got an opening at the end. It sucks out these
medicine that they want to put into your body and
shoots it in. It is not a dry needle. This
is literally just a needle. There's no substance going in.
It's an effort to stimulate the area that it's going into.

(02:05:18):
So's it's dry, which brings me to my next point.
The area it's going into was apparently his luck.

Speaker 3 (02:05:24):
I don't think it was intended to know, but it did,
and then it collapsed. That was an accident. I don't
even want to know what it feels like. When your
lung collapses for any reason.

Speaker 5 (02:05:35):
Can be great. I can recall one scene in a
movie where the patient questioned exactly what the doctor was doing,
and I would imagine maybe TJ felt similarly like this
is not right. The doctor probably also knew at the
moment it happened. I hope so or the administrator of

(02:05:55):
said treatment, and if.

Speaker 3 (02:05:57):
There's any if there's any team that could find a
way to recollapse along. It's the Texans now, I'm just kidding,
that's the offensive lines. I'm just they're not duct taped together.
But I'm not feeling like if any situation was to
become of TJ. Watt, He's usually gonna be the one
doling out punishment as opposed to taking it.

Speaker 5 (02:06:16):
I mean, I know he missed a few games late
in the year, and the Steelers were in the top
five in sacks this year, But I'm not sure how
people view his season. I didn't, you know, watch it
closely and pay attention week to week. But obviously week
to week I was aware of kind of his standing
as it related to the rest of the elite edge
rushing players in the NFL. And he played fourteen games

(02:06:40):
this year, and he had seven sacks and he had
ten TFLs. Both of those figures in seasons of fourteen
or more games would be the worst of his career.

Speaker 3 (02:06:51):
How old is he now? He's in his early thirties,
right around the Times.

Speaker 5 (02:06:56):
Turned thirty one during this football season.

Speaker 3 (02:06:59):
Right around at the time his brother started to decline.
I mean, and everyone else who does that for the
most part.

Speaker 5 (02:07:05):
Okay, so his birthday is October eleventh, nineteen ninety four.
Good grief, that's after the Bronco Chase already, and eighteen
days later Daniel Hunter was born.

Speaker 3 (02:07:20):
Yeah, he's younger. Duh, Like I said, Clanton gets the point.
Thank you, younger player.

Speaker 5 (02:07:26):
I've got to spin it. A thirty one year old
Daniel Hunter just produced a fifteen SAX season, after a
twelve SAX season, a sixteen and a half SAX season,
a ten and a half SAX season, and has not
missed a game in any of his last four seasons.

Speaker 3 (02:07:40):
No disrespect to anybody in the Watt family, least of
all TJ. But if you were to go into a
lab and develop a specimen, specifically four pass rushing, and
you were to tell a sample size of one hundred
different people, all right, I'm gonna put two guys in
front of you. You tell me which one is an
absolute cyborg that eats quarter for breakfast based on their appearance.

(02:08:02):
Only Danielle Hunter is taking one hundred out of one
hundred surveyors said.

Speaker 1 (02:08:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:08:06):
There's a bunch of times over the course of the year,
whether it's the social media team or just ourselves, when
we interview him during the week most of the time,
because after games when we interview danil he's usually extremely
well dressed. Aaron Wilson did a story in fact on
how well dressed and how much he likes to put
it all together. But during the week, maybe, and certainly

(02:08:28):
maybe when he's you know, going into the locker room
and we're not in there and the social media team
has something they need from their team to produce the
great content, we'll catch him in a shirt that is
clinging for dear life. If dying you can't a tank top.
Let's say his say this the softest right way, Let's

(02:08:49):
blurt it out. There's no Texans player has ever looked better.
He is like Corey Bradford actually would be in the
conversation because he had a sixteen pack. It was insane,
Like that's not normal. And think about it. There there
the vast majority of the players in the locker room
and you don't even notice necessarily, especially when they're in uniform.

(02:09:11):
They're of course they're rocked up. The only way you
survive in the NFL is because you're so muscular you
can handle getting smashed into the ground and smashed by
other players and smashed by helmets because they're hitting steel.
If you want to make it build to your body, if.

Speaker 3 (02:09:26):
You want to make it super uncomfortable, we can and
start listing best Texans without their shirt on.

Speaker 5 (02:09:32):
I don't think we're gonna do that. Yeah, I set
all that up to not to go that route. I
of course I've seen Daniel Hunter without his shirt on,
but that's not really the point. I'm thinking.

Speaker 3 (02:09:40):
There is a subcategory which is Texans who most liked
being naked in the locker room, and Bernard Pollard is
numbers one through a thousand exactly.

Speaker 5 (02:09:50):
Nobody else is on the list du every year of
Texans ever, and the list you have to.

Speaker 3 (02:09:58):
Do that since you're is right by the door. I mean,
come on, man, put a stitch of clothing on every
day I see you. I saw Bernard Pollard naked more
than I saw my wife naked. Probably, it's ridiculous. They're different.
It's a little extreme very But going back to Daniel Hunter,
Hey J.

Speaker 5 (02:10:15):
Watt had an okay season, Hey Daniel Hunter had an
incredible season. They're both thirty one, perfect segue into who
you saw naked? Awesome stuff.

Speaker 6 (02:10:23):
That is what it is.

Speaker 3 (02:10:24):
Unreal His arm veins should have their own endorsements. Daniel
Hunter and TJ.

Speaker 5 (02:10:30):
Watt is similar like these guys are if you have
a similar body type on the edge, and many of
them do well.

Speaker 3 (02:10:37):
Anderson doesn't look like I say, neither of them. Bring
in the terminator nickname to this football game.

Speaker 5 (02:10:42):
That's crazy. It's Will Anderson Junior that is the terminator. Honestly,
is coming off a fantastic game against the Colts, most
of it in the run game and pregame speech. He
has done that a lot this year. Aziz and Will
Frson are very popular. Let's get ready to leave the
field for the last time before intro and get ready
to play football.

Speaker 3 (02:11:01):
You know what I was thinking about when I was
watching that pregame speech, because of course the Texans social
media department was awesome, took it and ran with it
and made it public and all that. They tend to
clean up the language. You know, I was thinking about
when I was watching that the time that me and
you interviewed him at a downtown hotel in an dissipation
of the Lombardi Awards and drinking coffee. I'm like, man,

(02:11:22):
Sextant should really take you.

Speaker 5 (02:11:23):
That was me asking about his life at Bama with
his OC Bill O'Brien.

Speaker 3 (02:11:29):
H And then we were talking about, you know what,
had the Texans hired Demiko yet when we interviewed him,
it was it would have this would have been January
or February, right.

Speaker 5 (02:11:40):
Well, the Lombardi Award being that it's already been handed
out us December.

Speaker 3 (02:11:44):
Never mind, I'm thinking of Bear Bryant. That's this month, right, So, yeah,
they hadn't hired Demko yet.

Speaker 7 (02:11:51):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (02:11:51):
I just practically traded to the Texans yet either.

Speaker 1 (02:11:54):
No.

Speaker 3 (02:11:55):
I just sat there on air on this station and
just basically lobbied for both the Textans to draft him
and for him to somehow find his way to Houston.

Speaker 5 (02:12:02):
And by the way, to his credit, he was like,
I'd love to stay here in Houston. I like it already.

Speaker 3 (02:12:06):
Well that did he know?

Speaker 5 (02:12:07):
Yeah, Demico Ryan's head coach of the Texans headed into
playoff game number five all of the seasons of his
head coaching career. We will take a little bit into
the other coach in this matchup and that wrinkle you
mentioned on the off season coaching carousel that's on the horizon.
That's next segment here on the A team.

Speaker 3 (02:12:26):
If you could create a Lego set out of anything
in your life, what would you make it out of?

Speaker 5 (02:12:33):
Probably with a removable top.

Speaker 3 (02:12:36):
The dome, yep, they already have that. Yeah, but it
would be what you answered your question, that's it would
be the dome. Really like, is there something else you
should put that first house? I don't know, No, I
like I was telling you I have a Lego magazine
I was looking at during the break because I'm twelve.

Speaker 5 (02:12:55):
That's part I was parting up stuff on my computer
to talk about. Well, go ahead, yayport sports sports.

Speaker 3 (02:13:01):
As just asked, I told him I would make things
like eighties fantastic, like you can get the what's the
car called? And back to the future again? The DeLorean?
Yeah but what but what did they didn't they have
a name for it in the movie. Maybe it was
just the DeLorean, I don't remember. You can get that.
You can get the the scene from Jaws where the

(02:13:22):
shark is actually biting the boat. Well, that's step that one.
I know people that got that this holiday season already
built it before what's his face gets slides into his mouth?

Speaker 5 (02:13:32):
Robert Shaw? Yeah, but what was his? Quint quint man?

Speaker 3 (02:13:36):
Your recall is amazing.

Speaker 5 (02:13:38):
Now what year did it come out?

Speaker 3 (02:13:39):
It was late seventies, right, nineteen seventy five or six,
I think it was five. That's Steve Guy made it
because it won Best Picture, didn't it? And Rocky was
seventy six and did win Best Picture the next year.
I'm with you, I'll look it up because people care.
As it pertains to what we were going to talk
about here before we get to Mike Tomlin did mention
a wrinkle in the offseason coaching carosself. Mike McDaniel got

(02:14:02):
whacked today, but Ian Rapaport tweeting something we actually talked
about yesterday.

Speaker 5 (02:14:09):
This was two thirty or so.

Speaker 3 (02:14:11):
The Lions, who apparently I don't know if they have
a record. Like, when was Mike McDaniel fired today? What
time was it? What did he find out? He was
telling reporters on Monday, Yeah, I'm gonna be in the
GM search. No you're not well.

Speaker 5 (02:14:26):
He also had a meeting with ownership Tuesday, and Wednesday happened,
and then Thursday the official statement and reports had come
out just earlier, just a minutes earlier from the Dolphins
twisted in the Windo a little bit uh in that way.
After his meeting on Tuesday, he probably knew there's probably
a pretty good sign, and they might have even told
him last night and then expected or knew the news
would be out first thing in the morning.

Speaker 3 (02:14:47):
But whenever that happened to the time where the Lions
reached out according to the Inner Rappaport, of course, it's
gotta be a record time. We just talked yesterday about
how much the Lions had lost, specifically on the offensive side,
from what was Ben Jones went to Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson,
I'm sorry, Ben Jones, the former Texans offensive lineman, you know,

(02:15:09):
went to Chicago and they're right there in the postseason
where the Lions aren't. And how much his staff in
general talking about Dan Campbell was decimated by being poached. Well,
I'm sorry, but to me, and I said this, when
he got hired, you were much higher on him initially
as a head coach. There are head coaches and then

(02:15:31):
there are coordinators that masquerade.

Speaker 5 (02:15:33):
Well, we didn't spend a whole lot of time hearing
from him when he was doing all of his assistant
coaching and even on his head coaching interview circuit, and
then he got hired and has one press conference. The
more you hear him speak to a big group of people,
media or otherwise, football team or otherwise, you wonder, as
a leader of a football team, how's that going to play?
You shouldn't. I don't think there's much a question about

(02:15:53):
his offensive ability, which is why I write, like Brian Dabole,
same thing. Guys, those will be OC's next year if
they want to be. I I meant to bring this
up kind of the first time the conversation needed to
be had about the Lions' coaching losses and then ultimately
them missing the playoffs this year without Ben Johnson and
Antoine Randelel and several others. They scored four hundred and

(02:16:14):
fifty three points in twenty twenty two, four hundred and
sixty one points in twenty twenty three. Last year, in
Ben Johnson's last year, in the first year after it
was clear he had multiple head coaching job offers which
he said no to, so he returned for one more year,
and they had five hundred and sixty four points, over
one hundred points more than they had in twenty twenty three. Well,

(02:16:38):
they had four hundred and eighty one points this year,
more than two of those last three seasons with Johnson.
It wasn't just he was gone. They scored a ton
of points, but they weren't as good of an offense,
and they weren't as good of a team, and they
weren't as good of a defense. There were a lot
of things that went into dropping to nine to eight.

Speaker 3 (02:16:56):
Having said all that, and you see this in the
comments below, Mike McDaniel, this is I'm just reading the
first one, Mike McDaniel cooking with Jared Goff, Jamiir Gibbs,
i'man Ross, Saint Brown, Jamison Williams, David Montgomery, and Sam Laporta.
And then of course there's a gift with a humongous
pan that is over humongous burners.

Speaker 5 (02:17:16):
Like this is pretty simple as wheelhouse. Best head coaching
opening is the team that has Lamar Jackson on it.
The best offensive coordinator opening is the team that has
Jared Goff on it. Unless way to fire another OC.
If the Texans fired Nick Cayley would not be a
better job than the Lion's job. Why Because the Lions

(02:17:38):
have better offensive players and you've done nothing but win
under Dan Campbell.

Speaker 3 (02:17:42):
That's easy to say based on the numbers, But what
if they just have had the wrong go see this
whole time the Texans.

Speaker 5 (02:17:48):
I mean, I know they've got to get a running back.

Speaker 3 (02:17:50):
And all that, but just if you want to go
position by position, it's really not close.

Speaker 1 (02:17:55):
I know.

Speaker 3 (02:17:55):
But how many times this season have we been like,
why is this offense? Just the play calling in general
so unimaginative, so vanilla. And it's gotten better obviously as
time went on, and yes, Davis Mills was in there
and all that kind of stuff. What I'm saying is
we've talked so many times about how coaching can change.

Speaker 5 (02:18:14):
A situation, but they're not magicians.

Speaker 3 (02:18:17):
No, But Mike McDaniel day one has an enormous resume
compared to the last two offensive coordinators, and it's not
even close.

Speaker 5 (02:18:27):
I'm sure could you upgrade to Mike McDaniel. I guess
you could. I mean, I'd be silly to think you wouldn't.
He has offensive coordinator experience, He's been on the same
coaching staff as Demico Ryans. He was also on the
same coaching staff when Demiko o'ryans played football for the Texans.
And he's got Tony It's been all over the place
he's been in Shanahanson, He's got absolutely that would be

(02:18:50):
an upgrade. I think that's totally fair. The Texans aren't
going to move on from Nick Cayley because Mike McDaniel
is available. I don't think.

Speaker 3 (02:18:57):
I actually think if Mike McDaniel's choices are between the
Lions and the Texans, presumably in this weird fig made
up thing we just did.

Speaker 5 (02:19:04):
Maybe he wants to work for Demiko. Who knows, I don't.
I don't know. I think he has a really good
chance to enhance his resume by working in either situation.

Speaker 3 (02:19:12):
But one of them is open, right and one of
them is not. He definitely wants to live in Houston
over Detroit though. Hashtag winners, Yeah, I mean the Jared
by higher for the Lions though the Lions.

Speaker 5 (02:19:25):
It's it's the same. That's why I painted the Ravens picture.
The Ravens should be able to here's the twenty five
person pool of head coaches. We pick the one we want,
and that's who's coming here. The Lions and their ROC
It's the same thing. Everybody should want that job if
they're not going to be a head coach.

Speaker 3 (02:19:44):
Speaking of head coaches, versus coordinators. I think Mike Tomlin
and Demico Ryans have the same thing in common in
that they are both known as defensive guys, yet nobody
questions the fact that they are absolute leaders that you
want to have in a head coaching role, simply from

(02:20:05):
a leadership standpoint, even if their emphasis is on one
side of the ball versus the other. John Harball is
that kind of guy too. And I say that because
these two are going to meet up, and so naturally
the defensive minded head coach in Pittsburgh was asked about
what jumps off the page to him, what made him

(02:20:28):
take notes if you will, about this Houston Texans defense
going into Monday night's wildcard matchup.

Speaker 11 (02:20:34):
That's rush tandem and that cornerback tandem are both special.
You see why they're number one in the league in
defense when you got guys that can rush the pass.
So like those two Hunters got fifteen, Will Anderson's got
twelve collectively, they got twenty seven, and you got two
corners man that are very aggressive play close, bump and

(02:20:55):
run coverage. I think both got four more interceptions in Stateley.
And last, there's no secret why they're kicking a lot
of butt. If you're rushing and covering, you're gonna play
good defense.

Speaker 5 (02:21:07):
There's no secret why they're kicking a lot of butt.
I mean, I'm not a genius, and I just happen
to be sitting in this chair. I think any number
of people in the city of Houston could have been
sitting in this chair and said the same thing. What
you just heard from him is what I've been saying
for weeks. Nobody else in the NFL has what the
Texans have. The top best edge rushing duo and the

(02:21:27):
best cornerback duo on the same team. There's only seven
other players out there. Defensively, they have the best possible combination.
If you picked any two edge rushers from any other team,
you would have lesser talent than what the Texans have.
And the same holds true. If you picked any two
corners from any other team together and put them here,
you'd be downgrading. No other team can do what they do.

(02:21:47):
Then those guys are out there. To me, what makes
them the best is that what you just said.

Speaker 3 (02:21:52):
A lot of times you have to pick one or
the other on any given season with some of the
best defenses or in this case, teams out there. Oh,
they got a really great defense. Some of these guys
just play above their heads all the time. Or this
team over here, they've got so many star name players
on that defense, but it just didn't get the job
done as much as you thought it would this year.

(02:22:13):
In the Texans case, they have the star name value
and they play like you would expect. And it's basically
at every position on that side of the football.

Speaker 5 (02:22:24):
The other thing that makes it work financially because one
of them is in year two, one of them's in
year three, one of them's in year four. It's almost
impossible to believe one after the other after the other.
Starting in the Stingley Draft, they arguably drafted the best
player to play that position from that draft in three

(02:22:47):
successive years in three different spots. And that's why Cassario
is still employed. Incredible lots of things going on that
we might not have gotten to or need to revisit.
That's why final segment or the final hour of the
show includes in case you missed it, By the way,
we do have tickets to give away. We'll mention what

(02:23:08):
those are and when you can win them. Right now,
they are monster jam with pit passes four pack of
tickets for the February fifteenth show at NRG Stadium. We'll
give those away in the final segment of the show.
So listen up something that was said here, upcoming or
over the course of today's program, likely in the five
o'clock hour, we'll ask you something about that. Hopefully you
don't know the answer, because you love the show. You

(02:23:30):
listened to the show, you love participating in the show,
and you can't get enough of the show, and you
can't wait till tomorrow two o'clock when we start it
all over again. We'll do that in the final segment
of the show. Something else we have not discussed the
astros getting busy today with the deadline for agreeing to
figures for the upcoming season's contract arbitration avoidance today basically

(02:23:50):
hitting today. They've been very, very very busy trying to
avoid arbitration with some pretty talented players. I think Josh
is going to up date to you on how that's
gone so far today.

Speaker 12 (02:24:03):
Yeah, no doubt, they have been busy. So let's start
with the big ticket items. Jeremy Paania. This is according
to bo Chandler Rome and Brian McTaggart. They've both been
reporting on this stuff today, So Jeremy Pania. They settled
at nine point four to seven five million dollars avoiding arbitration.

Speaker 5 (02:24:18):
Jeremy was spending time this past weekend, I believe, if
not the weekend prior with his fiance at their family
wedding sister got married. Payne is basically part of the family,
so they were out there, and then he and his
agents this week who's his agent again, agreed to avoid
arbitrary Mister Dad joke himself by playing for one season

(02:24:39):
next year at nine point four seven five million. How
about the other Boris client that finished third in the
cy Young voting. Where do things stand with Hunter Brown
in the Houston Astros? Pretty reasonable deal if you're the Astros.
Five point seven to one million for mister Hunter Brown agreed.
That's again, I think the Astros and most execs in
Major League Baseball porters as well, have a pretty good

(02:25:01):
range of where these places are, range of where these
figures likely will land, especially if you avoid arbitration, where
you might find a sweet spot. Now, there was one
other player that agreed to a one year deal to
avoid arbitration that is going to be paid more than
Hunter Brown. Less than Jeremy Panya. Who is that player, Josh.

Speaker 12 (02:25:23):
That is going to be Hey, Sue Sanchez, six point
eight million dollars in your favorite I get it.

Speaker 5 (02:25:30):
He is going to be given a chance. It appears
to show that his partial season with the Astros was
not indicative of the player that he can be.

Speaker 3 (02:25:41):
He was awful.

Speaker 5 (02:25:42):
He was not good in the field, he was not
good at the plate. They basically couldn't play him. He
was a very specific addition to the team, a left
handed bat that crushed right handed pitching, and he just
was unfortunately terrible.

Speaker 3 (02:25:56):
Let's just say both he and Christian Walker play twenty
five percent better than they did last season, a big
enough turnaround for the Astros offense, given health and everything
else that you assumed to have.

Speaker 5 (02:26:10):
Happen, Especially when the assumption and what you presented is
everybody else has at least the same season. Well, some
of those guys didn't play basically well, that means you're
also adding one hundred and fifty game or one hundred
more games to what Jordan did last year. That's a
big you're telling me Jeremy Paania's improvement last year will
be repeated this year. You're telling me Esoch Peretis will

(02:26:32):
give you another fifty games at very very plus level hit.

Speaker 3 (02:26:36):
I mean, see how many different things it is? Yeah,
because last season was so ridiculous, That's what I'm saying.
If if twenty five percent is not much.

Speaker 5 (02:26:43):
So what about the other work done today by the
Astros and arbitration.

Speaker 12 (02:26:47):
Yeah, the salary they were maybe trying to move. Reportedly,
Jake Myers, he's gonna take three point five to five
million dollars.

Speaker 3 (02:26:57):
May interesting to see how much another team picks up
or whatever win.

Speaker 5 (02:27:00):
I mean, it's trade. That's a very movable contract obviously,
and not having him here on your books at three
fifty five is one of the I mean, the player
that would be playing center field if he's not here,
makes the major league minimum in Zach Cole, which could
still very well happen, Hunter Brown, Jeremy Pannijjesu Sanchez, Jake Myers,
Hayden Wiznesky, Nick Allen Bennett's SUSA Stephen Okert all agreed

(02:27:22):
to one year deals today to avoid arbitration, and as
of five point thirty seven PM, I believe there are
a couple of players still without an agreement. I think
that's Jainer Diaz, Brian Abreu and esach Peritis.

Speaker 3 (02:27:37):
Why did so many people attach Brian A bray you
to trade scenarios where the Astros would be like, yeah,
we'd like to trade you, Brian abraid the Astros.

Speaker 5 (02:27:44):
They didn't say the Astros were saying that. But it's
because he's a desirable talent who makes again, you don't
have control of his contract for much more time, just
this year, but for five million dollars six whatever figure
he ends up getting for one year of the elite
lightening non closer.

Speaker 3 (02:28:02):
One idiot man Mets fan do it and one idiot
Dodgers fan.

Speaker 5 (02:28:05):
I mean, would the other team want him?

Speaker 2 (02:28:07):
For sure?

Speaker 5 (02:28:08):
He should be one of the most desirable targets out
there for his talent. But that's why the.

Speaker 3 (02:28:14):
Year, yes and the Mets were just a disaster overall.
I think, what else do we have?

Speaker 12 (02:28:19):
I thought the number for Steven Okert was interesting two
point three two five million dollars he was very good.

Speaker 5 (02:28:24):
For them last year, and that it's basically nothing right.

Speaker 12 (02:28:28):
Yeah, and the big picture, but when you look at
Jake Myers, your starting outfielder, not a huge difference there.

Speaker 5 (02:28:33):
No, I mean, having Steven Okert, if he's anything like
it was last year, five is totally worth it shit
to me.

Speaker 3 (02:28:39):
He's the latest example of guys come to the Astros
and just pitch their behinds off.

Speaker 5 (02:28:45):
They do it right here. He'd had some moments where
it looked like that was what he could do, had
had some injury problems and just simply wasn't. He's one
of those pitchers who probably has, Okay, this is a
plus pitch and everybody seems to not know it. And
then when he comes to Houston, like, you need to
throw this more. You have a great pitch here, utilize

(02:29:05):
it and we know how to help you set it
up so it'll be more effective.

Speaker 1 (02:29:09):
And it was.

Speaker 5 (02:29:10):
So Yeah, I do think that is a very good
situation for the Astros. Huge part of their bullpen last year.
I think benesusa the same providing health for this year
along with Brian King. And it's a good thing they
have some lefties in the bullpen. They don't have any
in the rotation, just one right hander after the other.
I know all the left handers on the team are
in the bullpen now, Dusty, sorry, all.

Speaker 12 (02:29:31):
Right, guys, switching over to the NFL Chris ballor committing
to Daniel Jones looks like he's the future as Colts quarterback.
I mean, at this point, what's he gonna say after
the Sauce Gardner trade.

Speaker 3 (02:29:46):
I am cautiously optimistic that this will be the latest
example of you know, a one hit wonder. If you
will at quarterback again, this is there's no reason for
me to be sure one way or the other.

Speaker 5 (02:30:02):
But I just I don't know. I feel like after
a season of A having film on him and B.

Speaker 3 (02:30:09):
Even before he got hurt, it was starting to be
exposed that they got fat on a soft schedule.

Speaker 5 (02:30:14):
I'm just not convinced that Daniel Jones is going to
be this huge threat.

Speaker 3 (02:30:19):
And between them and the Titans, I think, you know,
unless the Titans are going to have several rounds of
very high picks, it's not to say they do the
right things with them, because you have to still make
the picks happen.

Speaker 5 (02:30:31):
But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:30:32):
I just think that it is a more of a
two horse race next season in the AFC South.

Speaker 5 (02:30:37):
If I had a guess, if I were really mean,
I would say that in games the Daniel Jones started
this year, they went two to four against playoff teams,
but that would include his very short performance against Jacksonville
when he got hurt and obviously missed the rest of
the season. But lost to Houston, lost to Pittsburgh, lost
the Rams, while beating Denver and the Chargers, and obviously

(02:30:59):
they didn't win any games after they got their eight
win Overseas in overtime in Atlanta with the Falcons basically
giving the game away. All that being said, the quarterback
of the Indianapolis Colts has a good line in Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 3 (02:31:16):
But to me, they were just the first fraud team
to actually go down, and I think more will happen
this weekend. That's how I look at the Colts and
the AFC. Let's give away some tickets Monster Jam coming
up at inn RG Stadium. Four pack of tickets with
pit party passes. It's just not the same without them.

(02:31:37):
February fifteenth, NRG Stadium. We have tickets to all three
of these events, do we not?

Speaker 2 (02:31:45):
We do not?

Speaker 5 (02:31:46):
Like I said, February fifteenth at NRG Stadium, only yea
tickets to just the show on the fifteenth.

Speaker 3 (02:31:53):
Yeah, they are also on sale at ticketmaster dot com.
But why would you do that when you could get
them for free right here, knowing the answer to this
question earlier out of nowhere, because this is what I do.
I was asking Wex if he could build anything from
his entire life in a Lego set form, what would

(02:32:14):
it be?

Speaker 5 (02:32:15):
And I immediately said, the bar in Dallas where I
proposed to my wife, I'll never forget it.

Speaker 3 (02:32:24):
I've got to have a Lego set of that. You
know that didn't happen.

Speaker 5 (02:32:27):
That never happened. I didn't say that's opposed in Dallas,
we're home for the holidays. The family would be there afterwards.
That is an actual, that's more of a truth. He
did ask me that question. What I just told you
is not the answer. I gave an answer, What would
I build from my lifetime? If I could get the
old company to say, hey, we're personalized a Lego set

(02:32:49):
of whatever it is you'd like to build, what would
that be? And I gave a what I thought it
was a very nice answer.

Speaker 1 (02:32:54):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (02:32:55):
And if you remember what I said, you'll know the
answer to the question. You can call in it seven one, three, two,
one two five sets ninety and we'll get you hooked
up with the four pack of tickets with pit passes
to Monster Jam on February fifteenth over at NRG Stadium.

Speaker 3 (02:33:07):
You know, since we're on the subject, I did something
actually on New Year's Eve. Didn't mean to it, just
kind of it was spur of the moments, spontaneous, yes,
for that. For whatever reason I was looking at I
was looking up a landmark of some sort in Dallas,
and I was I had Google Maps open, and I'm like, seriously,

(02:33:29):
because every time I'm in Dallas, traffic is sucky, no
matter what time of day it is, doesn't matter what
day of the week it is, it sucks.

Speaker 5 (02:33:36):
Now we have our own problems of that nature here
in Houston. I get that.

Speaker 3 (02:33:40):
But because it was New Year's Eve, and because of
the time I was looking at it, I just did
a compare and contrast because we had just been there.

Speaker 5 (02:33:47):
I mean, it was wreck wreck, wreck wreck.

Speaker 3 (02:33:49):
Every direction around Dallas's downtown area was red on the map.
I said, let's just take a look at the Houston's
downtown area at this exact time, perfectly green all the way.
Because again, Houston is better than Dallas. We rule, we
do rule, all right.

Speaker 5 (02:34:05):
We actually have some business to take care of Okay, possibly,
I don't know this for a fact, but I keep
talking about are awesome. Five days ahead of us Thursday night,
Friday night, Saturday all day, Sunday all day, and Monday night,
we've got eight playoff games, two on the college side,
six on the NFL side. We will do our usual
signature segment tomorrow at four point thirty, but the parameters

(02:34:26):
of this week's part of the year long competition include
you must pick something from one of the two college
football playoff games. Can do this one well, one of
them is tonight, So if you would like to make
a play on two night's game, then now is the
time to do it. Tonight we got Miami and ole Miss.
Tomorrow we have Oregon in Indiana. Obviously, all six NFL

(02:34:46):
games could be among your wild card selections, but specifically
you also have to make one selection regarding the Texans
and Steelers. Ole Miss is a three point underdog tonight
with the Miami Hurricane, and tomorrow Indiana is a three
and a half point favorite against Oregon. The over under

(02:35:07):
on this game is fifty two and a half. Put
me down for the over.

Speaker 3 (02:35:11):
I'll go ahead do this game and in that vein
now that I got that out of the way, Pat
McAfee actually just tweeted this, this is kind of interesting.
So Ole Miss doesn't win tonight for whatever reason, what
is the conference? That just means more the Southeastern Athletic

(02:35:32):
Conference is they don't win tonight Ole Miss. You're talking
about the SEC not being in the national championship for
three straight years and that hasn't happened since I was
in college nineteen ninety nine through two thousand and two.

Speaker 5 (02:35:49):
That's crazy. When you beg for and make tremendous amount
of money off of a playoff, that's what happens. Yeah,
you can't guarantee these really good SEC teams are going
to win against other really good teams multiple times to
reach the final, and.

Speaker 3 (02:36:08):
Yet they have for the most part at least been
in the mix, if not winning out right, they've been
in the mix. It's never been more than three straight years.
So if my I mean, kind of makes me want
to root for Miami just because well, I.

Speaker 5 (02:36:22):
Mean, all those years with Nick Saban's titles and the
fact that multiple different LSU coaches were winning titles, he
obviously was the first of them, and it's just not
gonna be a lot, I'll burn. It's just different because
I mean, the twelve team playoffs was plenty full of
SEC teams, but these teams aren't separated by enough anymore.

(02:36:43):
And I do think the nil era and the transfer
portal is also actually making these teams more equal, because
not only is the SEC only chance of winning a
title is ole miss. Only chance of reaching the final
is an ole miss victory. Obviously, but they're all trying
to do what beat in the They're not trying to
beat Michigan, not trying to beat usc not trying They're

(02:37:05):
trying to beat Indiana. Get on their level, Indiana's level.
It's unreal.

Speaker 3 (02:37:10):
That's good though.

Speaker 5 (02:37:11):
I think it's plenty entertaining. We're going to see something though.
Are are the viewership numbers because that does impact how
much money will come in in the future on future
TV deals a little bit? Are they going to be
the same. We're going to see that unfold obviously this weekend,
also on every weekend for the next several in the NFL,
because as much as we're not here for the crazy

(02:37:32):
whining about oh, the Chiefs aren't in the.

Speaker 3 (02:37:35):
Playoffs, nobody's whining about that except for people in Kansas City.

Speaker 5 (02:37:39):
But the NFL knows for a fact the ratings will
be lower. It's just a fact. What if they're not
we brought well, they will be there's no chance. No,
why go look at what just even this year, the
most viewed NFL games I believe seven out of the
ten or five out of the eight Chiefs games. Yes, okay,
but and this is when they were just block Yes.

Speaker 3 (02:38:01):
Is the are they although the Cowboys numbers are they hold?
Are they hanging in there? Still?

Speaker 5 (02:38:06):
You're you're pretty good at this, So I don't mind
asking you what was the highest rated NFL game this
regular season?

Speaker 3 (02:38:14):
Cowboys Eagles, Cowboys Chiefs? Oh I forgot they played each other? Yeah,
but that was Thanksgiving?

Speaker 5 (02:38:21):
Right, huge numbers? Yeah, but again now we're just relegated
to watching Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (02:38:30):
If rake may if the opening round of the playoffs
is this is tantalizing, don't doesn't that because of the
way the NFL is, because of the it's the NFL,
So there are you've had that baked into it. But
then because people want to see something new or what,
don't you think there is the potential for you to

(02:38:54):
get some big numbers that maybe you, Adam Wexler, are
not expecting.

Speaker 5 (02:38:58):
I mean, I'm not sayingantastic, it'll be involved two Los
Angeles teams and a New York team Buffalo make that happen.

Speaker 3 (02:39:07):
Yeah, But that again, you're you're arguing against the point
because you're saying, oh, it's well, the Chiefs aren't in
a big market.

Speaker 5 (02:39:13):
It's not about market size. Great, So you're telling me
people are gonna lock onto Jordan Love's Packers. They're gonna
love the Bears Packers game so much this weekend that
they're gonna keep watching Bears football moving forward and keep
watching Caleb Williams. I mean, it's still a little bit
about the logos.

Speaker 3 (02:39:28):
Anytime exactly, and anytime the Bears are in the postseason,
that's an event in and of itself. Plus, yeah, it's
the third largest city in the country. So if you
want to talk about market size, fine, But like Buffalo
is not a big market at all. No, but Josh
Allen is star power. He is, so we'll get into
those games. Even though he's not that interesting. His wife's

(02:39:49):
way more interesting than him, right.

Speaker 5 (02:39:52):
I mean, he's a place quarterback in the NFL. Yeah,
and he's not Tom Brady. Yeah, who is interesting like
Peyton Mann as an NFL player, boring. Now he's now,
he's in every commercial ever made, and now he's on YO.
Now he's all over the place. He's way more interesting now.
But as a player, he was Bone Nicks justin to Herbert, Trevor,

(02:40:14):
Lawrence Drake, may all rolled into one. Just another guy.
All right, we'll do it again to Gastro line. Coming up,
if we haven't mentioned it enough, you got an interview
with Jeff Kent and the newest Astros pitcher. As I've
been told to tell you. I forty five coming your
way with Robert Ford. Next the AED on Sports Talk
seven ninety