Rockets Shred Jazz, Caserio not Trading Stroud, Astros Spring Training

Tuesday on The A-Team, Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton react to the Rockets' commanding win over the Jazz, discuss Nick Caserio's comments from the NFL Combine, and share the latest from Astros Spring Training.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
WEX Chamber of Commerce Weather on a Tuesday in Houston.
I did that just for WEX. He and maybe five
of you know why that's funny, but it is. It's
a Tuesday edition of the show Sports Talk seven night.
Josh probably knows why that's funny. In fact, Josh Jordan
definitely knows why that is funny. It is the a

(00:21):
team he's WEX. I may see. Josh Jordan is our producer.
We're taking you until six o'clock tonight. No Rockets basketball tonight.
They were at the office last night turning the ball
over ad nauseum again. But they got away with it
because they played the awful, no good, very bad Utah Jazz,
who not only were continuing their tankathon, but they actually

(00:42):
got some help in the form of an injury during
the game.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
That sounds terrible, but no, it's true. You didn't get
any help. They did. Vince Williams Junior, Are you kidding?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hey, anybody that's an active player that then goes down
furthers their cause just happens. It's just the way it
is right now. That's why the Commissioner was talking about
them specifically at the All Star break because they liked
a tank and boy did they do it last night.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
How many the turnovers of the Rockets have last night again.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Twenty six before the one that shouldn't count. Wait a second,
I thought it was twenty three.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Doesn't really matter. I mean it's insane.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, they did a terrible job right out of the gate,
and it had nothing to do with Utah. And that's
what we kept talking about during the broadcast. At some
point we'll get to the good stuff. How about now.
The Rockets offense probably the best it's been all year.
That's probably the best night of offense they have played
for an extended period of time, maybe the entire season.
Moved the ball quickly. People were moving without the basketball,
not just a shooter, not just a men, but everybody.

(01:39):
Everybody was finding spots and they were finding them with
the basketball when they didn't turn it over, and they did.
I know, it's against a very weak offensive team when
multiple players that would make a huge impact on the
impact on the game are unavailable. But they did play
the kind of defense that you want to play against
a team like that. And the team is probably not
going to shoot very well, so make them shoot and

(02:01):
they did, and the Jazz kept shooting, and the Jazz
kept missing, and they weren't not getting a lot of
offensive rebound opportunities. The Rockets rebounded the basketball well for
the first time in a while for an extended period
of time, and you obviously got a nice boost after
you got off the slow start with five turnovers in
the first couple seconds of the game. It seemed like
Jabari Smith Junior was open, and they kept passing in

(02:22):
the ball and he kept ripping the cords off the net.
He had a sensational night both ends. It's been a
long stretch of time. Talked about it yesterday and didn't
give you the numbers, and now today's numbers will be
even better because of what he did in last night's game,
making twelve of seventeen shots and hitting six of eleven threes.
He was already in an unbelievably strong stretch of offensive basketball.
And as I mentioned yesterday, he had a tiny stretch.

(02:45):
In the big picture, he got an eighty two game season.
If all goes well, he's probably gonna play in seventy
eight seventy nine games with your team this year, and
he's gonna have a stretch of about ten games that
you're like, man, this is I don't know what they're
doing out here. This guy can't make a shot, And
the other sixty nine or seventy games he will be
a super plus offensive player, not a star, not an

(03:06):
all star, not carrying the team on his back, but
every single night he's gonna make open shots. He made
his first three threes in last night's game, and so
going back from the nine games prior to that point,
in last night's game, he was a fifty percent three
point shooter on fifty two attempts. He'd made twenty six
of his last fifty two threes. He got three more blocks,

(03:26):
he got three more steals. He if you hadn't noticed,
his minutes have crept higher and higher, and now almost
as much on a per game basis over the last
twenty some odd games. As Ben Thompson and Kevin Durant
not that that's ideal. Last night's a perfect night to
not need that, and that's why the turnovers and the
way they didn't just keep the pedal to the medal

(03:46):
unfortunately forced too many of their players to continue playing
basketball on a night where Utah was not competitive.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
It was a sixteen point game after the.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
First quarter and a superlatives all the way around outside
of category that against a good team. Consider it wasn't
Utah forcing the turnovers, it was the Rockets committing the
turnovers repeatedly over the course of the game. And we
know that'll bite them. They know it'll by them. It
has bitten them, and they've not gotten rid of that
bug yet. With twenty some odd games to go, it

(04:14):
doesn't seem likely that they will just to have to
again overcome it in a game or series that matters
a lot more than trying to beat the Utah Jazz
and taking a turnover in the last possession of the game,
because that's what NBA teams do for no reason.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
How about the fact that the two teams that were
caught up in the whole tanking fiasco over the All
Star break, and obviously most of the press centered on
the Utah Jazz, but the Sacramento Kings were the other
team and they're coming into town.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
For us, the Pacers or the other team that got
crushed by a fine Oh I forgot away with it.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I forgot about the Pacers.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
But yeah, the Kings were written about as one that
is obviously tanking gloriously.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well, why was last night's Rockets game a national broadcast
because a the league only allowed three games to be
played less than a week after the All Star Game.
I was talking to somebody before the game last night,
that was an odd scheduling situation on a night where
you're gonna have a national double header. The first night,
first game of the doubleheader was awesome. Two of the

(05:13):
best teams in the NBA. It's exactly what you want
with your partners. Well, then the other two games, and
the Rockets Jazz was originally scheduled there, and you'd think
a team that had been fined for tanking and had
multiple players out and Kante George was among them along
with Nurkic and Walker Kesseler has been out for the
year and then recently acquired Jaron Jackson junior. Okay, well
that's you know, two weeks ago or ten days ago.

(05:36):
We could flip another game and change their star time.
They can start at eight thirty. The Rockets and Jazz
can go ahead and start their game at seven o'clock
in Houston. Everything will be great. The other game was
the Sacramento Kings and the Memphis Grizzlies. Oh, my god,
that's two teams not trying to win. The Rockets game
only had one team not trying to win, so obviously
got remained in the national TV spot. Obviously we had

(05:58):
the game here. It was also on Space City Home Network,
so they know what they have to do. And all
that being said, like I could just walk down the list,
it was a good night for Alpi obviously a men
Thompson I said it twice during the broadcast early and late.
That was one of the best games he's played, if
you allow for the fact that, yeah, having too many
turnovers is a part of it. It's the way he played,
It's the way he moved out the basketball, so the

(06:19):
way he attacked the basket. He could he could go
eight for eight on or eight of his first eight
many times if he keeps going to the basket like
that and his teammates are able to get him the
ball where they should and how they should, and then similarly,
you'd pick a player I haven't even mentioned Kevin Durant yet.
That's a I don't know, seventeen to eighteen assist game

(06:40):
if they don't have all those turnovers because guys were
wide open all over the place. When he had the basketball,
and he was very determined last night. I thought to
find them nine assists in the first half. Hadn't done
that before with the Rockets.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
No, you know what that is?

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Why again for all the criticism, you know, we didn't
talk about yesterday, the fact that all that stuff may
or may not have happened involving burners and then he
magically fired like everybody at his boardroom.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
What we really didn't talk about is what nobody wants
us to talk about because it's too fun of a
story everywhere else. Man, the impact that that has had
on the Rockets is unreal.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Look at the turnaround.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
I don't know how they're going to be able to
get over this. How is he able to How does
he even show his face in that locker room? It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Did you think I've been to practice. I've been to
you know, their pre games.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Now that they've been at home here there, I mean,
I don't know how they're hiding it if it does
impact them in any way. It's just it was from
the very beginning. He didn't even deny it outwardly when
we talked to him just after the All Star break,
and I just don't think it has anything like Jabari

(07:50):
Smith Junior, just for instance, he didn't just start playing
well because of anything that we think happened on social media.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Inside the locker room.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
This is his longest stretch of good basketballs entire career,
so it's much longer than whenever any of this might
have come up. It probably comes from the team understanding
this guy can really help us. He's not our best players,
not our second best player. Maybe some nights he is,
but not every night. But if we can just find
a way to get him more successful, get him where
he shoots well, how he shoots well, what part of

(08:19):
the possession instead of the end of all those things,
Pick him, pick out, pick anybody else you want. You
think was a part of the burners and the public
nature of them recently, it's just the impact on it,
at least on the court. Had nothing to do with
why they fell apart in the fourth quarter against the Knicks,
had nothing to do with why they blew out the
Jazz last night.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was a much neat.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I actually almost said to you on your way out
the door, well go get me a win by thirty tonight.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Now, you basically asked me on the air to guarantee
the victory, which I don't often do, but I did.
I said we'd be here in here at two o'clock
tomorrow talking about their thirty fifth win at the season,
which they secured.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
How do you feel about tomorrow? Then?

Speaker 3 (08:55):
I feel similarly, they're a little bit more athletic. I
think that the Kings are, or then the Jazz are.
I think the Jazz just they like to play big,
so they're physical and they're capable, They're more capable of
doing things. They're basically the opposite, you know, the one
big that's left there with the Jazz that he are
with the Kings. He had a really nice game against

(09:16):
the Rockets up there in Sacramento, Renat and outside of that,
there's there's very little for them to come. This is
a game where the Rockets need to severely out rebound
the opposition, but they can't let the rest of the team,
like Westbrook and Monk and anybody else in their back court,
force them into the things they don't like to do,
which is why they lost their close game there. They've

(09:39):
been beaten soundly there, but they lost the game in
overtime there because that's what they allowed the other team
who wasn't as talented as them, but they played harder
and they pressed the Rockets into some mistakes. They're capable
of doing that again, but the Rockets are significantly more
talented than they are.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
By the way, low key hot type take.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
For next season, I think the Utah Jazz have a
chance to be really good.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
We talked about that a lot during the broadcast last night.
So loaded with guys that aren't playing right now.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
This is why it's so important for them to in
this upcoming draft. A star could be coming, and it
could be coming from this draft. They don't know if
they have a star in Ace Bailey, but I like
the idea that he's going to be a lot more
significant player in year two than he was here in
year one. I don't know if they'll keep all these bigs,
but Walker Kessler missed the entire year. He's one of
the league's premier rim protectors. And you've got a couple

(10:32):
of weeks of Jaron Jackson junior. Well now he's under
contract for several more years and should be ready to
go when the season begins. It doesn't look like Lori
Markinin is going anywhere. And you know how many players
on this list of bigs, like Kyle Philipowski is an
awesome rotation player. He's a starter right now, but you
bump another seven foot to the bench who has an
inside outside game. They didn't see Keyante George last night.

(10:55):
The Rockets are very aware of what he can do.
Either score zero points when you beat them, which they did,
and then the very next night he carved the Rockets up.
I totally agree. And Yusuf Nurkic is getting his nose fixed.
I don't know what their plans are for him, but
he's a bit of future. I don't there's only they're
not gonna that's too many.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
I was throwing them on the pile. Yeah, but there
all those players aren't gonna be on the Jazz, No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
But I think they've got some depth and that gives
you options. As we know here in Houston, when you've
got a when you've got a like a glut at
the same position.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
So I think the Jazz are gonna have to trade Peretis. Yeah,
they got a glut.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
The infield is too crowded for the Utah Jazz. So
speaking of the Astros, we will get to them. They're
in action again today in spring training. We will also
when we come back, ask you this question, are you
a moron? Texans GM Nick Cassario has thoughts on that,

(11:53):
and that is straight ahead.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Part of me.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Thinks we should play the breaking news sounder even though
it's not really breaking news anymore because it happened several
hours ago. But we knew, wex that today was a
big day for your Houston Texans.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
So what's the breaking news. We'll go ahead, play the
sounder and I'll tell you I'm happy to the Texans
will not trade c J.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Stroud? Yep, non news. Come on, man, it's funny.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
It is funny because people don't understand words. Very often
they just don't language. Are words language they don't understand.
There they like to make things up. It's it's not wrong,
and I don't think it's bad reporting. I don't think
it's bad podcasting. Now, teams are gonna call about c J. Stroud,
and what are the Texans gonna say? Teams are gonna

(12:52):
call about Joe Burrow. What are the Bengals gonna say?
Maybe maybe they will.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
I don't know. Are the Texans going to trade c J. Stroud?

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Even with what was said today, which we're about to
let you hear from the general manager, Nick Casario.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
This is what he said publicly.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
This is how he went about addressing the questions he
got at the combine. What happens at the combine is
the players come in sectioned off four groups in four days.
They go through interviews and measurements over the first couple
of days that each of their groups are there, and
meet with teams, etc. And then ultimately the last thing
they do is they get on the field, and so
they stagger those appointments and different groups come in each

(13:30):
day and over a four to eight period and now
eight day period they get through all the position groups.
So there's still several days away from field work, but
the teams have sent their representatives they feel necessary to
make the trip up there. We used to have even
more general managers and coaches with press availabilities at the
start of the combine, but not everybody is there for it.
Demiko rans no media availability, but he is going to

(13:53):
be there mainly for the interviews, the face to face,
the meet and greets, the character part of it. I
want to see this person, I want to speak with
this prospect, I want to get to know them more
than I need to sit in the RCA Dome and
watch them run forty yards or watch them turn around

(14:13):
and see if they can catch this ball before it
hits him in the face, or maybe this quarterback can
throw against air, or all the things that they can
watch from anywhere. I'll have access to it, so they
won't necessarily be there in the stands the next couple
of days or when those workouts start, and you'll get
to see them up there, and you go, man, I
guess the Texans aren't serious about the draft because they're
not there. Well, they're there for what they deem the

(14:34):
important part of it. Nick Casseario did have his media
availability today. We learned a couple of things from some
other gms, probably more than we did from him, but
we also hear from him and we understand where the
Texans are coming from. About twenty minutes at the podium
and then the Texans always do this and most teams
do allow the media there locally. That's also made the
trip up to Indianapolis to catch him off to the

(14:56):
side for some additional questions and much more of the
pertinent to the team questions, because if you were locked
in for Nick Cassario's podium session today. Clearly there were
questions about their two first round picks from a couple
of drafts ago that are now a both extension eligible
and fifth year option eligible this off season, Will Anderson

(15:16):
Junior and c. J.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Stroud.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
He gave the answer, everybody knows, we can play it
for you, but I could recite it for you, and
I could have done that a week ago, because you
know how he's going to address that. And he did
questions about their offensive line, a couple players in particular,
questions about his quarterback quite obviously with what I'm leading into,
and then a lot of questions that are super generic
league wide, how do you guys do this, What do

(15:39):
you guys do with this data? What do you deem
most important? So he got to answer, well, yeah, that's
a data point about fifteen different times today because it
kept getting asked questions about you know, he said, offensive lineman,
I need to know how they run a forty They're
never going to run forty yards. Yeah, it's a data point,
but we don't how important is it to you? What

(16:00):
important is it to this team? We don't ask our
you know, offensive lineman to run forty yards. Nobody in
the NFL does so he had did as usual, but
obviously a pressing question for any team expecting to win
big is what kind of quarterback player you're getting and
what kind of quarterback play do you expect? They expected
to have the best year of CJ. Stroud's career. They
expect that probably every year he plays, considering the level

(16:22):
he's at, he hasn't had this unbelievable big time year
with winning attached to it at the level they think
they have a roster to accommodate. So next year will
be the same as his second year. Next year will
be the same as his third year as he went
into it. They expect him to be the best. It
to be the best season he's had if they're behind him,
and all indications are that is exactly where they are.

(16:43):
Took the question on the podium about you know CJ.
Stroud and shot it down and then with the local
media off to the side, John Alexander Aaron Wilson assorted
others there asking these questions. We asked you in the teas,
are you a moron? I think that's what Nick thinks
you might be. If you believe CJ. Stroud won't be
here in twenty twenty six for Texans Football's.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
Like, we're not trading to go quack. So he's gonna
be playing quarterback.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
He's the Texans in.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
Two twenty six, So anyday beyond that, I mean, yeah, like,
that's that's your world.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
You guys can expect you of that.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
But we're not trading CG. Shield.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
It's moronic. We're not trading c J. Stroud.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
He's going to be our quarterback. And then he also
acknowledge what we do every day. That's your world. We
have well hours and hours of conversation. We scour the
interwebs for the nonsense that's out there. We take phone
calls of people wondering aloud and it's okay to wonder aloud.
We do the same. It's our world. But publicly again,
CJ is our quarterback. We're not trading CJ.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
A couple things I and I'm glad you translated, since
there was a lot of back background noise there. It
is interesting that he said beyond that, because you can
take that many different ways if you really want to.
And I'm not trying to start bleep here, but it
is interesting that he would use that phrasing when you

(18:09):
consider that they could play him next year and he
could be their quarterback, and he will be their quarterback
in all likelihood.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
They don't have to extend him for that to happen.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, beyond that, I don't think it's I mean, I
don't think I think it was literal. I think he
was saying, beyond that, you guys can talk about whatever
you want to talk about. Because he did not say
we're exercising the fifth year option. He did not say
we expect to extend him.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
That's where we want.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
He didn't say those and he's never said those things,
and I never expect him to say those things. So
this falls right in line. I'm glad you selected that
to note because it is noteworthy.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
He's not I.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Don't think that personally. I don't think that's in their
plans for this offseason. And you can still be super
supportive of the player. You can still be super supportive
of what you think is future holds. You could believe
in him one hundred percent. It doesn't mean you have
to financially do something that isn't necessarily necessary at this
point in time. I mean, you still have an entire
football team and cap to consider. Yeah, we got a

(19:06):
question about the idea that we all present and most
general managers seem to believe in it. Man, look how
easy it is to win during the first five years
of your rookie quarterback contract. Hue, draft a guy that
you can win with. We got five years before he's
making crazy money. That's when you can really do something.
He basically says, whatever, I don't believe in that at all,

(19:26):
and I'm glad he did, because that's kind of how
I think you can always, always, always figure it out.
Kicking the can is what should be written in the
back of the end zone on NFL fields, because that.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Is what they do every year.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
I would love that so much more than what's currently
written there. But taking the can down the road, it's
so easy. The void years, restructures extent. You keep bringing
them up. They're operating like every NFL team show. But
I keep bringing them up because they have the best
quarterback in the NFL, and if they can do it
fill in the blank.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Right, But every other team who has the same caliber
quarterback or very close to it, does the exact same thing.
Here's Josh Allen's new contract until we restructure it. Here's
Lamar Jackson's new contract until we restructure.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
I guess I bring him.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
He just signed it less recently, so the restructure arrives.
But what I'm saying multiple times, it's not so much
about you know, Cleveland's going to restructure to Sean Watson.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Oh my gosh, they should restructure him to the scrap heap.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
If you can save thirty five million just by restructuring
a contract, you do it.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
It's common sense.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
You know, it's not common sense giving a guy two
hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed. But then again, I'm
not the Cleveland brown so I wouldn't know about that.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
Well it Shuldar Sanders is their starter anyway, as they
as talks about.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
You know what, I don't want to belly aching from
Texans fans about anything from here on out. You have
it so much better than so many different teams. You
could be a Jets fan, you could be a Browns fan,
you could be a Saints fan.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
You clearly have it better than all those teams. The
concern is, and it's always been for me this way.
Cincinnati won a lot of games with Marvin Lewis and
Andy Dalton. There's a bunch of other Buffalo to a
certain extent. I know Josh Allen is elite, but man,
are they not getting what they want out of him?
And you clearly are better often ten to fifteen teams

(21:18):
minimum at the quarterback spot. But if you're not in
the top, top, top, upper echelon of NFL teams with
that quarterback, then are you just spinning your wheels? I
don't think the Texans are there. You don't spin your wheels.
And when playoff games three straight years, reach the final
four of the AAFC three straight years, and not so
coincidentally to say that while you're in the first three

(21:39):
years of your quarterback the idea that they have turned
things are about to turn in the wrong direction versus
they got to figure out how to take the next
step and they have a roster that they can do
it to much much much better place to be than
a host of other teams, little less than half of
the AFC probably now. But you heard it quite clearly,
and we'll have more from Nick Casario on how he

(22:01):
addressed that very similar question in a long form way
when he was at the podium, because, in addition to
saying yeah, he's our guy. He went into a lot
of the reasons why and only the way he can.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
It's awesome.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
No, I actually like but you know, normally I would say, yeah,
it was very Nick Cassario speak. I actually liked what
he had to say after he gave the initial response
about CJ being their quarterback. Like most of the time
I would be like, here we go. I actually enjoyed it.
Maybe I'm just in a good mood today.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
I'll be in a really good mood next segment. You
know why, it's the best of X. We do it
every day at this time.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Yeah, there'll be some very interesting viewpoints on sports fans
coming up next to the Best of X. Here halfway
through this first hour of the show, if you're feeling
good and feeling sharp, I'll ask you this fan bases.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Of sports, Can I compliment you on something you said
last segment? Real quick?

Speaker 1 (22:58):
I would love that the rcame reference. Yeah, wait, you
didn't want to go with a huge who's your dome?

Speaker 2 (23:04):
While you're at it? What building? What do they call it? Well,
it's different building, now what do they I mean? I've
been in Lucas Stay that's why I said, yeah, I can,
you know, but.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
It's not the same building like those other two names were,
and it's a really I've been to Lucas Oil for
both Texans games and the Final Four and it's it's
I like where it is, even though one side of
it there's nothing. The other side of it is where
you walk from from the nice l area of downtown,
or nice enough for me to be there a couple
of days over ten and fifteen years. I like it

(23:35):
and it's a great place as great venue for all
these events. I still think, and you listen to some
of these coaches and gms today, if it's up to them,
and I think it is. Even though they the league
think there's maybe a little money to be made, they
don't ever want to leave Indianapolis for the Combine. They
want it to be their own little bubble of This
is freaking Indianapolis. This is perfect. We don't want to

(23:56):
go somewhere where people are well.

Speaker 3 (23:58):
We don't want to go to a major city where
there are other things there and other people. We want
to go to our hotels, that's just us. We want
to go to our restaurants that just us.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Want to go.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
Absolutely it's a very private, intimate. They have everything we need.
It runs like clockwork. Everybody's used to it. I don't
have to think about it. I have our people that
set us up here. We do this this it's so eat.
They don't want to change it, just for the league
to integrate fans into it maybe or have cities bid
on it in a different way, and clearly Indianapolis is
in that mix. But two best of ks here. After

(24:29):
you pat me on the back, I'll try to do
the same for you. It's one of your most favorite topics,
and I'm gonna ask you what you think you know
about it, and then what best of X is usually
all about. I'm just here for the comments, just a
random site, doesn't matter who they are, but it just
puts something together that people are gonna comment on. Top
twenty most annoying fan bases in sports. Oh boy, it

(24:50):
obviously generated a lot of eyeballs. It's top twenty. You're
not going to likely guess Arsenal. They came in at twenty.
You might not guess some of the other college related
fan bases nineteenth Tennessee. But I'll just take those two
off the board and you can guess to your heart's

(25:11):
desire to try to nail down the top eighteen. Number
eleven is the maple leafs. I'll take them off the
board as well.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
How random. That's why I'm taking them off the board
for you. I'm hooking you up.

Speaker 3 (25:22):
You can see what you can do with the other
seventeen Red Sox A red Sox. Wow, I guess I
have to turn to Josh now since you missed, already missed,
you missed, you had seventeen seventeen. That's what see, that's
what I'm trying to avoid. I shouldn't have gone about
it this way. It's not really about it's so obvious
who these fan bases are. You literally picked the right city.

(25:44):
But the only team of the three that didn't make
the list. Oh, okay, the Patriots are sixteen, the Celtics
are eight.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
What about the Bruins? Okay?

Speaker 3 (25:53):
There are no other hockey teams that play in the NHL,
all right that are on the life. No other NHL
hockey teams are on this list. No other NHL hockey
teams are on this list.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
What other league am I supposed to talk about?

Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's not really a league, and it's probably for recency
bias that they make the list.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Canadians Canada is five.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Five most annoying fan bases in sports Canada, the whole
country is five. That's so stereotyped and awesome. Yep, all
in one. All right, Yankees? Yankees are number three. Lakers
they are number two Laker girls. Wow. I thought one
of those would be number one for sure. We have

(26:39):
imaging for the Yankees.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah? Do we have imaging or should we for the Lakers? Yeah?
Do we have imaging for the number one? There you go.
I still thought that one of those two would be
number one.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
But the other NFL teams that make the list, The
Eagles are at four, Okay, hold on, there's only two
more in one of them. You'll never guess. The Steelers
are fourteen. Raiders Nope, most annoying current fan bases of
the team that Jason Kelsey's brother plays for, all the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, that should have been a go to. What about
the Packers? There's no other NFL teams? Again?

Speaker 3 (27:17):
Random most you might we can totally disagree with some
of this, but again, I just wanted to eventually get
to the comments Black college athletics.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Here.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Bama's at six Ohio States at nine, Michigan's at fifteen,
LSU listen up in the hallways here at iHeartRadio, Eddie
and Paul, they're twelve forty. This is a most annoying
fan base. Duke makes it at thirteen. Certain Duke and
the University of Texas Longhorns make it in at seventeen.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
I thought you were about to say seven. I was like,
give me a break.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
The only other NBA outfit beyond the Lakers and the
Celtics big city team just beat the Rockets. The Knickerbockers
or Knicks fans insufferable, most annoying. Exactly, So, yeah, people
commented just in the way you did. According to whom
someone else said, I feel like a lot of these

(28:11):
can be bundled as the same person.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
That whoever wrote that comment is my hero for today.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
Late this college football season, I think this is where
coronation comes in. Notre Dame literally took over Twitter for
two solid months to claim college football's hypothetical victories, rank
themselves twenty twenty six preseason number one, and swear that
quitting was noble.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
You know what, I'm kind of surprised about. The Longhorns
are on that list. It's seventeen of the top twenty.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
I like that people think they're still winning so much
that they're annoying.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
It doesn't take winning to annoy Just ask the Aggies.
They're not on the list. They should be. It's not localized.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
Again, the Aggies would have to matter on a grand
scale to make a list like this. You just undercutting them,
even during their time in the SEC where they're playing
in the on the biggest stage all season long.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
They don't create that nationwide disgust.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
They should.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Way to go Texas, you do. It's not about winning,
it's about being annoying. And they're annoying. And I can
say this and for the Dougs of the world that
are listening and might call in all that this isn't personal.
I know this because I've lived it. I've got a
whole family of them on my dad's side. Let me
and it's it just is. They've got yell leaders, they

(29:30):
have male cheerleaders, and an effing.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Dog as a mascot.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
They should be among the best cheerers in the country.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Dogs Lassie last SE's their mascote.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
I gave you all of the baseball teams on the list.
I'll reread them for you. The Yankees. Okay, I love that.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
I well love that.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Many people commented, hello, you forgot the Dodgers and Red
Sox belong on this list.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
See this.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
I'm an equal opportunity and I'll give Red Zone threat
a little credit here. A and M should definitely be
top fifteen. There's a comment on their behalf.

Speaker 6 (30:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
I mean, come on, everybody, this is why we love it.
This is kind of in college sports.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
There's nothing better than that because of the rivalries and
the grown up this whole way and painting your faces
and your chest and going out to games and tell
it is different and it is awesome.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
And just a few months away.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Uner when Rome would talk about Aggie fans, Oh, look
they scored a touchdown and now they're going to tongue
their girlfriend on live television.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Tradition.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
True, Yeah, that was the one word I left out.
Rivalries and tradition. They have great traditions.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
What is the tradition about not walking on the grass
or something like that? It's sacred there where what grass
is sacred? The grass you're not supposed to walk off?

Speaker 6 (30:48):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Saint Augustine Winner Rye d Away so sacred. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
You know, it's bad luck if you take the sand
away from the beach in Hawaii, supposedly like bottle it
and take it home with you. Yeah, I did that.
Bad luck for you or for the whole country, for
the whole sist honeymoon.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
I did that, so.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Poor country for that matter, is bad and luck for
you the United States of America.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
If you do that, you know right now, if you're
planning a vacation in Mexico, you might want to reconsider.
The Cartail's very angry right now, very very angry.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Definitely agree with the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
If you want to find a cartail head, you go
find who he's sleeping with.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
That's how you track him down.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
There's a lot of that going on off of our airwaves,
and likely we'll stay that way. We get you next
with a little back look back again with last night's game.
Mentioned it in the open and definitely worthy mentioning it again.
I will talk about the basketball that Jabori Smith Junior
is playing. This is the best you ever played? Is
this the best Jabari Smith has ever looked as an
NBA player? Hit on that next, then we'll get to

(31:47):
the top of the hour with more of your general
manager supporting his guys.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Nick Asario fan reheal his weight in.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Honestly, us not being in the top five of most
annoying fan bases goes to show how fall how far
the Longhorns have fallen.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
I had to fix it on the fly.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
And I responded with, or it's a totally random list
made by somebody who probably doesn't even know what they're
talking about.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
I don't like I don't like the omissions that were
obvious I feel, and I don't necessarily like the order
of the list, but it's still a good list for
discussion on shows like this.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, exactly, it's not that serious.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
All right, real quick, before we get to Jabari Smith
and I know you've probably already seen this. Our good
buddy Aaron Wilson tweeting, I would say obvious stuff about
the running back situation for your Texans. Texans running back

(32:47):
Joe Mixon undergoes off season surgery.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
I wouldn't say it's obvious at all. I would say
it was newsworthy the way that information was delivered by
Nick today.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Uh yeah, okay, I'll go with that. Unresolved situation called
quote moving target by Nick Cassario. Texans expected to explore
high end free agent running back market per NFL sources,
and at Nick Casario. He goes on to say, discloses
that mix and off season surgery, and that they're ultimately

(33:20):
expected to part ways with him and release him from
his three year, twenty seven million dollar contract.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
We'll hear from Nicks so you can hear how he
delivered that information a little bit later on the show,
because I do think it's significant how he said that,
said that off to the side with the locals like.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Eron Well, and this isn't a slight at Joe Mixon
because I thought he was super effective in the one
year that he did play for the Texans, But I'm
far more excited about the part where he says they're
expected to explore the high end free agent market.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Oh, the one without Breece hallin it. Yeah, that sucks.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
It was pretty clear, even though it could easily be
GM speak. The general manager for the New York Jets
took to the podium his second year there and said,
we'd like to do what we.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Can to have him here.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
You know, Yes, the franchise and transition tags are at play,
and you know, he my indications from him are that
he wants to be here and we'd love to get
something worked out, but you know, we'll see how things go.
Obviously they have a small window to kind of make
the initial decision tagging him in some way versus getting
a longer term agreement in place, but at least publicly

(34:28):
and out there out front. And he indicated their intentions
are again, whether they're true or not, you can always
decide for yourselves. But it does sound like and I
thought this going in, I really was uncertain why they
would hold onto him that last year's deadline unless they
wanted to remain in the Breese Hall business. There's no
reason to hold on to him last year at all.

(34:49):
You're gonna lose games whether Brise Hall carries the ball
forty times or zero times, whether he catches one hundred
passes or zero passes the rest of the season. Once
you get to the deadline, it made no sense in
less you want Brice Hall carrying the football in twenty
twenty six for you, which what was said today publicly
makes it sound like that's their intention. Yeah, and they
do hold the cards to a certain extent, he's not

(35:10):
allowed to go and play wherever he wants next year
if they so choose to exercise their rights to drop
one of the two tags on him. Now, he could
still reach the stage where he gets to negotiate with
other teams and then they come back to them and say, well,
we can work this out and you go there and
we get this in return, or he's franchise tagged and
does not have that opportunity, or they don't do either,

(35:31):
and four years after he was a second round pick,
he does actually hit free agency, but it doesn't seem likely.
You know, Kenneth Walker is probably next in line in
terms of talent, along with the Travis Etien. I don't
believe either of those teams, either of those two players
are carrying the football for somebody else next year. Aten's
only carried it for the Jags. I think that's true.

(35:52):
In twenty six, Walker's only carry for the world champion Seahawks.
I don't think that changes in twenty twenty six. So
now where are you on the high end running back market?
I mean, the options if those things play out, and
it's purely speculation on my part, you're limiting there's only
so much you can do to truly impact your position

(36:14):
in a very positive way while spending value money. Because
if you're signing the best player on the market, now,
if those three players aren't in it, I mean, I
hope it's not an overpay like Javonte Williams could have
been in it. Not anymore. He's going back to the
Cowboys on a multi year deal. These are all players
who had successful seasons last year to certain degrees, thought

(36:35):
maybe they'd be available this offseason. It's quite possible none
of them are available.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Who's going to be the top guy out there that
is actually obtainable if these I mean, because it's kind
of a down now that you've kind of listened off
some of these names that you would have at least
liked to have been able to explore. You can't do
that if they're not available. That's the most obvious thing
of all. So it makes me think that even though

(37:02):
Aaron just said that they're gonna explore, such a convenient
word to use, it's kind of like CJ. Shroud and
talking about beyond this season. You can explore, it doesn't
mean you're gonna sign one, and it could mean that
you're gonna draft one.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah, Rico Dowdell'll probably be the name at the top
of the list for me. I think Carolina probably thinks
they can get away with it.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
You had him on your fantasy team this year, did
you not? I did not. I would have liked to. Oh,
it was Matt Tomas.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Very few people did until later in the season.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Watering teams with him.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Well, Chuba Hubbard was their number one when the year started,
and you had doubtell kind of most people thought he'd
kind of get in his way from being a true
number one, and they're a little of that happened, and
then Hubbard got hurt, and then Dwell went for two
hundred yards and everything after that was very, very different.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
I thought it was.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
I was remember last offseason, I thought the Cowboys made
a mistake in not signing him, and I thought they
compounded it by making a mistake and signing Javante Williams.
Turns out they both had really good years where they went,
and now the Cowboys are in the Javonte Williams business.
So that's probably who I'd have at the top. And
as you indicated, and I would agree, I think it
falls off so much immediately after that? Are you taking

(38:16):
a chance with a guy like JK. Dobbins kind of
like you did this year with Nick Chubb. Does that
do anything for you? I know it doesn't excite you,
but does that actually do anything for your team? Is
Atlanta finally gonna move on from Tyler Aljier? He's a
free agent and he's been a backup his whole career.
There very effective short yardage back. Do you envision some
larger role for him? Does some NFL team? I don't

(38:37):
think so. The injury last year with Najee Harris in
LA has people wondering what he is in the future.
But an available player, I mean, it sounds much more
like they're maybe just sign a veteran and hope for
the best and get one in the draft and see
what competition looks like. They have three running backs under contract.
Knows something else that Nick did discuss today, Juwar Jordan

(38:59):
and what obviously, both of whom had at least or
only one hundred yard game last year. Jordan in the
regular season and then first game of the postseason. You
got it from what he marks daries a free agent.
Nick's a free agent. The interesting situation I guess you
could say with Joe technically currently under contract.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
But offseason surgery, and it's just a huge giant question mark.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
I don't think it's a question mark at all. I
think what Aaron alluded to is exactly what's going to happen.
Joe Mixon will not be on this team next year.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
No, I'm just talking about question mark as far as
like his health moving forward for wherever he lands. It's
not gonna be here though. That part is not what
I am referring to as a question mark. Okay, when
we come back, we'll start the simulcash. We're gonna hear
more from Nick Cassario specifically on the free agency market.
And yes, Jabari Smith Junior did have the best game

(39:50):
of his career last night against the Utah Jazz, and
I just don't care because I was so angry about
something else that went on all night long, particularly early
in that game as the Rockets blew out the Woebegone Jazz.
All of that more coming up as we get our
number two underway. Next the A Team on spr in Houston, Texas.

(40:13):
It is the A Team Sports Talk seven to ninety
Space City Home Network simulcast underway he's wex im Ac.
Josh Jordan is our producer as we take you up
until six o'clock tonight. Rockets basketball against the Jazz last
night blowout. Fashion turnovers are just continuing to be an

(40:35):
epidemic with this team. So we're gonna talk about that
for a little bit here. We're also gonna get into
more of what Nick Cassario had to say today at
Day one of the NFL combine up in Indianapolis, not
at the Hoosier Dome, not at the RCDA Dome, but
at the Lucas Oil Stadium facility in beautiful Midwest America.

(40:57):
By the way, I was thinking about this earlier, I
thought that the reason they had it in Indianapolis wasn't
so much the fact that the downtown area and just
Indianapolis in general is rather quaint.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Is that the right word here?

Speaker 1 (41:10):
I just thought it was because it was a very
central location, at which point I was like, that's part
of it.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Why don't Toshville. It's way more fun there.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
They don't want it. That's not what they're going for.
They don't want other people going.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
They're boring.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Well, other people go to Nashville because it's fun. Yeah,
well they don't. They keep going the building. Nobody's going
to Indianapolis. They can go to all the restaurants and
everywhere else they like to hang out for a week.
They don't want them there. They want this is us.
Let us have the whole city. There's very few NFL
cities that can offer that and be centrally located because
most NFL cities.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Why do we always lament Hey man, this is awesome.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
You work at Channel two, you cover the Texans, you
get to travel to all their road games. Yeah, we
get to go to Jacksonville every year, and we get
to go to Indianapolis every year.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
It's awesome. It's super fun.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Some some cities and some some divisions present better options
centrally located, not a tourist destination to a degree that
most many other NFL cities can match. So it's also
it's the same reason they also have super Bowls there.
Indianapolis really well, they have events there because the logistics,

(42:18):
I mean, Jack Easterby would love this place, the logistics
of handling this particular NFL event, It's ready made for it.
It sound like you're talking to the consultant at Innotech.
It is like the combine in Indianapolis. Come back to
Indianapolis will bore you to death again. And every NFL
GM and owners like, where do I sign perfect?

Speaker 2 (42:39):
What would you say? You do here? Nothing? And that's
why we have it here.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
The people that work at fifty of the restaurants, seventy
five of the restaurants and bars or thirty of them.
I don't know that they keep it so tight, but
they know everybody. They go there every year, they do
the same stuff they meet here every year. The media
that goes there nowhere the agents are going to be,
and the agents know where the GM's are gonna be.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
It's And I'm sure if I.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Get yourself a great steak in Indianapolis, just like you
can in every mid semi city in America.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
They intentionally are open for business as late as possible
in light of this event.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
But I'll tell you this, and I've said this for years,
and I'll I'll never change it. The AFC South is
by far the worst tour in the entire NFL. And
the only reason it's even salvagible is because you come
to Houston. Because the restaurants here as better for the
other people the other cities.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
They get to come to Houston and I live here
like Nashville, I do. Yes, Nashville doesn't bring it down.
It just can't overcome Jacksonville and Indy. Matter of fact,
Indy's not bad, it's just not exciting. Matter of fact,
I would live in Nashville. My sister does live in Nashville.
It's a great.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
In fact, the only thing about Nashville I don't like
is the stupid football team is the AFC West.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
If you're in Kansas City the best. Yeah, but Kansas
City is highly underrated.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
So just anywhere if you live it, if you cover
the Raiders, you get to go to k C LA
and Denver. If you work in Denver, you get to
go to LAKC in Vegas.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Yeah. AFC West is top notch.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
Arizona, San Francisco, LA. And Seattle, well some of those
are underrated. But you got Los Angeles, so that's awesome obviously.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
The NFC East, Wow, you get to go to New York.
NFC East really going, You're going to New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
It's hey, man, look at our big city Philly, DC,
New Jersey, York, SY and Arlington and Fort Worth.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Well, no, that's honestly.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
That's a disservice to Formula, which is thirty minutes down
the road.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
If they had the combine in the Home of the
Cowboys like they have it at the Home of the Colts.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
It's the equivalent. But here's the thing. Why don't they
have it in a southern city. Indianapolis is in the
NFC South. That's a southern city. Where's it located in
the south? Read the title? Yeah, of the division exactly.
The city is in the north. Like again you've been

(45:13):
it's insanely cold and wintry conditions at times while they're
trying to do all this work.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Middle of February. It's fine. Yeah, it's usually fine here
where it's seventy five degrees.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Usually the weather's fine in Indianapolis right now. If I
recall not that long ago, there was like a monsoon, tornado,
snowstorm during the combine. Okay, and it's in the high thirties.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
It's too cold for us. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
I just figured they'd find a more southern city. They
like it where it is good for them.

Speaker 6 (45:51):
All right.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Before we get to Nick Sarah, I do want to
talk about last night's game and the fact that Jabari
Smith Junior did have the best game of his career
thirty one points you mentioned, and he hit his first
three point or first three three pointers, and first quarter
was awesome from that standpoint, except for they had nine
turnovers in the first frame.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Yeah, I think what I said coming back from the
first quarter break was I don't know what they would
be on right now.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Forty five fifty fifty five points.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Yes, the way they shot the basketball in that first quarter,
the way they were getting anything they wanted, the way
they had runouts, the way they were finishing fast break,
the way they were rebounding, and obviously they were getting
to take the ball off of the rim because they
were creating all these misses. They were never taking the
ball out of the basket because the Jazz couldn't put
anything in the basket without those turnovers. That was arguably
their finest scoring quarter since they had fifty However, many

(46:43):
years ago that was when they did it in Minnesota.
But thirty eight was enough to give them a sixteen
point lead. We can lament the turnovers and dissect the
reasons why they threw passes directly to defenders. They threw
passes directly out of bounds, They dribbled the ball off
their foot in traffic when the only traffic was created
by their own teammates. It's just like, you know, I

(47:04):
was thinking this, and I never said it last night
with Reed Sheppard, and a little bit unfair to single
him out.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
Everybody was doing it last night.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
But I feel like he passes the ball like he's
playing at Kentucky, like he's in college, Like I can
get this through here, or this guy's not tall enough
to get that, or he's not athletic enough to be
in the passing lane, or I see a sliver of
an opening. I've been getting that pass there for the
last three years when I played at Kentucky and in
high school before that, the one year before that.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Still looks like he's He's just.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
I don't think he's quite caught onto some of the
things that it just looks that way.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
I could be way off base, but it looks like
he does that.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
The other guys just I mean, I look at them
and how many times in a game, Katie's probably the
biggest culprit, and then I'd probably say Jabbari then alp
than a man. How many times in a game does
that player I just mentioned have to pat himself on
the chest. Not pat himself on the back for a
great play, but pat himself on the chest. So everybody

(48:02):
in the arena and his teammates and his coaches know, Yeah,
that's on me. I just koobiac that basketball. That's on me.
That's my fault. I made a bad decision, I made
a bad pass, I made a bad read. I screwed
us over on that play. They do it constantly because
they make that type of mistake so often, Like they're not.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Utah.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
Did they play any defense last night? Not the kind
worthy of creating that number of turnovers. The kind of
defense they played last night was worthy of creating nine turnovers,
maybe ten. The Rockets shot lights out they had they
were missing wide open players because they just threw it
to where The Jazz defenders were no excuse for what
they did last night because they had nothing to do

(48:41):
with their opposition. And that's where the problem really lies.
You're gonna have ten to eleven turnovers most nights because the
defense has done some good things. You got to eliminate
all the other ones that they don't have anything to
do with. Those are the ones you really do control.
And again, the live ball turnovers. You're throwing the ball
to Alpi who's thirty five feet from the basket and

(49:01):
not open. Well, then why are you forcing the ball
to them? They get stolen and turns into a runner.
Isaiah Collier had a pair of dunks on runouts because
it's just made passes that make no sense. I know
they practice, I know they watch film. I know they
have a whiteboard, and I know Eme wants to tell
them what to do. But they're fifty plus games in
fifty six last night. They make a lot of mistakes

(49:25):
that even with a point guard handling the ball more
would not get rid of.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
These types of mistakes that these guys are making. Yeah,
it's just I kept I mean, and again they were
never Endeavy were blowing them out and I was mad,
and I'm like, I shouldn't be this mad. But it's like,
good lord, they weren't just turning the ball over. It
was just dumb turnovers. Oh I dribbled the ball off
my foot. Oh I just, I mean, it was just

(49:51):
they were they were dumb. They were legit not smart
turn Sometimes you turn the ball over in the course
of a possession and you're like, yeah, it's gonna happen.
Sometimes they were just making stupid mistakes, like the kind
that they had made to allow the Knicks to fuel
that fourth quarter comeback. It was like the game had
just picked up for a fifth quarter.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Yes and no. I mean the numbers were definitely matching them.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
But you know, I thought that the Knicks they brought heat,
They pressured the Rockets, They forced them into doing things
and missing shots. It's exactly what Utah did not do.
They didn't force the Rockets to miss any shots. The
Rockets did whatever they wanted, which included turning the ball over.
The Knicks game third quarter, Rockets had one turnover. They

(50:34):
were phenomenal, and then the Knicks turned up the pressure.
They also brought in a different lineup. I hated to
do it, but I had to giving credit to Jose
Alvarado for how he impacted that game and kind of
changed the pace of everything. Hit his shots on occasion.
That's just it's a much better team that's much more
capable of doing that. I mean, the Jazz cut into

(50:54):
the rockets thirty three point lead, they cut eighteen points
off of it, just like the Knicks did. But the
Rockets were up by thirty three against the Jazz And
like I said, even though the Rockets unfortunately were forced
to Kevin Durant played twenty eight minutes and checked out
of the game with a few minutes left in the
third quarter. And I said it hopefully, hopefully they won't
need his services again. MTSA, Yeah, you don't need to
come back in this game. And they started the fourth

(51:16):
quarter three minutes later he was back on the court.
They should have made that much easier for a long
night of rest for men, Jabbari and Katie no matter
what special numbers any of the three of them were
putting up.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
All right, Nick Cassario's thoughts on free agency and the
by far worst part of Team USA winning that gold
medal against the Canadians. The worst part of winning That
should be interesting. Oh yeah, it's all coming up next
here on the eighteen Horse Talks seven to ninety Space

(51:49):
City Home Network Tuesday edition. The program moving along here
throughout the three o'clock hour. So Nick Cassario met with
media today at the Combine and cleared the air on
all of the rumored trade. Uh, you know, the acquisition

(52:10):
of c J. Stroud for teams all over the national
Football League. He just put it to bed. There were
so many teams coming after him, There's so many trade
proposals out there, and he just said, no, I'm not
doing this or I'm really drumming it up because it
was a nothing burger, as Jeff Passing will call it.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
We just answers the questions that have been asked of
him real quick.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
You know, I was looking at the the transcripts and
when he's asked about c J. Stroud or when he
when he started talking about that, and you may have
this audio in the system already where he goes on
to talk about, you know them, the amount of games

(52:49):
they're going to lose. I thought was the part that
really got my attention.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Well, we had a stretch of about four consecutive comments
about any NFL season that he wove into his answer
about c J.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Stroud.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
Now you can fire up my computer and I will
launch this sucker. And he was specifically asked about CJ.
But it included all of those bits of information. Now
you're gonna win some games, you're gonna lose some games.
He actually gave a number that's give or take a
little bit on each side.

Speaker 5 (53:14):
He's our quarterback, he ain't going anywhere. We have a
lot of confidence, a lot of belief. I mean, i'd
say the philosophy of Demiq and I have. We're gonna
support our players and do everything we can to kind
of help them. And this leagus about ups and downs.
I mean nothing's perfect. I mean, there's no team that
does undefeated unless I missed something this year, So that's
not gonna happen. You know, buying larger probably gonna lose
five or six games, gonna be some mars on either side.

(53:35):
You're gonna have some good plays, You're gonna have some
bad plays.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Were gonna have some good games, You're gonna have some
bad games. Okay, how do you bounce back? How do
you handle that?

Speaker 5 (53:41):
So it's just I mean, this league is a one
game at a time proposition, and how you handle it
every situation ultimately is gonna termine your success and your longevity.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
So no lost comment.

Speaker 5 (53:51):
I mean, look, the stock market has been going down
for five days, so everybody's probably panic selling. So you know,
really what you're doing is you invest in more so.
But anyways, we have a lot of confidence in TJ.
We got a lot of confidence in our players and
our quarterback.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
First of all, this doock market is absolutely on fire.
He gave you stock market advice, which you should really
be doing here.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
If we're gonna sit here and make fun of me.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
And the sun's gonna go up, the sun's gonna come down,
The door's gonna open, the door's gonna close. You're gonna
go forward, You're gonna go backwards. You're gonna turn to
your left, You're gonna turn to your right. Guys are
gonna open, your eyes are gonna close.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
If you're gonna sit here, if I'm gonna sit here
and make fun of him for being so bland vanilla,
then I am going to give him credit where it
to do. And I think that's why I liked that answer,
even though he went into the cliche speak at the end, O,
you're probably gonna lose five or six games.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
If you're the text insane to me. If you're the
Texans under Nick Cassario and Demiko Ryans, that's pretty much
the starting point. Last year they lost five games ultimately
at the bar what's that? Some might call that the
bar well for their three years, that is it because
he said, give or take either way, this is who
they have absolutely been. The total number of losses at

(54:57):
the end of each season was eight eight, and but
they also played nineteen games in each of those seasons.
They basically were a five or six lost team when
the year began, and let's see how we alter that number.
They got to the playoffs as a five loss team,
ultimately ended with six. They were just outside that five
to six window the first two years, and we're sitting
at seven. Obviously ended at eight. Everybody probably doesn't look

(55:18):
at it that way. He should because of who they are.
It would be nice if they did a little bit
better than that, because obviously there were teams at the
top of the standings and both the AFC and the
NFC who did not lose five or six games during
the regular season. The Seahawks didn't lose four games over
the course of the regular season and playoffs, So it
can be done. And that's also an indication of the

(55:40):
unfortunate obvious.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
They're not them.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
They aren't as good as those teams, you know, Kansas
City and Baltimore the previous seasons and Buffalo at times.
Those are your thirteen to fourteen win caliber teams in
the AFC. Sexans aren't they aren't that team. He can't
go up to the podium yet and say, look, you're
gonna lose three or four games and give or take
either way.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
He has to say five or six. That's who his
team's with, Tamiko have Din. Yeah, it's just funny because
I think back to ninety seven is not the bar
Brian and all that kind.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
It shouldn't be hanging banners for being better than Indianapolis,
Jacksonville and Tennessee. Should not be the bar for your franchise.
If it is, your goals aren't very lofty.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Except for with this team, I feel like it should
be even loftier.

Speaker 6 (56:24):
Is that.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
I mean, that's again, I wish he was in a
position to say it. He's being realistic. I wish they
were a four lost team when the year began, and
maybe they stay there because they're awesome and they win
the division and they have the number one seed or
they have the number two seed. They just haven't proven
to be that good. They haven't proven to be quite
at that level. They've entered the playoffs three straight years

(56:46):
with the fourth best record. Last year they had the
fourth best record, but as a non division winner, they
were the five seed the previous Take it back the
two years prior they did not have the fourth best record,
they had the four seed and played a team with
more wins than them in Cleveland the first year, and
then the Chargers the last year, so they're pretty much
been in the same boat all three years. They ended

(57:08):
this year in much more disappointing fashion for two of
the most obvious reasons. They clearly had a better team defensively,
the best team they've ever had, best unit they've ever had,
and the manner in which they lost that particular game
was such a gut punch because they made it so
easy for the other team to not need to really
have to go out and beat them. They made it

(57:28):
too easy for them with all the mistakes that were made.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
What do you say about free agency? Though? That's all
anybody cares about.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
Right, all anybody cares about is free agency. What he
said about free agency, Josh, if you would enlighten us, Nick,
what do you think about free agency?

Speaker 4 (57:45):
We're always going to.

Speaker 5 (57:46):
Be smart with the decision that would make with the
goal as trying to do is create flexibility and optionality
for ourselves, and if there's an opportunity out there that
makes sense. Now we're going to pursue it and show
them part ability to do that. I mean, I think
the hundred situation going back a few years probably a
good example. So it's always going to be case by case,
and it's like what we're talking about, what's he fit?

(58:07):
There's a cost associated with it doesn't make sense. We're
not playing fantasy football. So we're just fine trying to
find guys at what they fit our system, and whatever
the cost is, you got a way. Okay, if we
out hit resource in an area, that's probably gonna come
with the expensive another area.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
That's why it's unnecessary. Hey, what do you think about that?
I work in the NFL. My title is VP and
general manager. That was his answer. I mean it's very
Nick Cassario. Well, every general manager in their own certain way,
answers the same way. Yeah, some of them do give
some information. Look, we've got three free agents a wide receiver,

(58:44):
and the likelihood that they're all coming back is basically
it's not going to happen. And those players know that,
and we've had conversations with them. We love what they've
done for us. That's the situation we're in. We'll work
through that. He basically said, here's how the NFL works.
We hold a draft, you could acquire players this way.
I'm not even knocking him, it's that that's how he
delivers the information when he's not in the he doesn't

(59:04):
want to tell you anything. And there's really no GMS
that really, at this point in the offseason go about
it any differently.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
He doesn't. Free agencies not underway.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
They don't have answers on multiple running backs, whether or
not they'll even be in free agency. There are players
that obviously could end up re signing. We had a
little bit of information. We talked about it with Breese Hall.
We know a little bit more about Linderbaum from the
Baltimore angle. There are a few other players we got
some details on, and it's not even definitive on the
players we talked about yesterday. Regarding franchise tags, the Cowboys

(59:34):
have indicated their leaning towards franchise tagging George Pickens and
there's a likelihood and almost a certainty that Kyle Pitts
will get it in Atlanta, but those aren't done yet.
In Atlanta today with their new GM said basically, we're
gonna do what we've discussed with Kirk Cousins these league
year is going to begin and he is going to
be available to any team. He is going to be

(59:56):
released at that time and go ahead and find a
home elsewhere. You know, the they're not saying it in
this is such a negative way, but Sarah, Yeah, this
is the plan all along, and that's what's gonna happen
with him, and he will end up being maybe right
behind Daniel Jones if he gets there, and Malik Willis
who will be a free agent. I mean, if you
really are desperate to sign a quarterback that has NFL

(01:00:17):
experience this offseason, Kirk Cousins is probably relatively high on
your list. And that's why your favorite find a quarterback
unless you draft him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's it is. I was actually going to
bring that up later on the show, because he is
your favorite whipping boy in the NFL as far as quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
He had another season just like all the others. Like
it's unf I mean, Pennix wasn't great, but they certainly
weren't better without him because Kirk Cousins. He actually one
thing he did well this year, he helped get Kyle
Pitts franchise tagged.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
So Kyle Pitts should have. He's a team he's a
team player.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
He knows what it's like to steal money from organizations,
so he wanted to help Kyle do the same. You
like he is I don't even know, and he's like quarterback,
nicest guy ever who is not even about that? Like
when he screamed into the cameras with Washington, like so
awesome because of who he.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Out of character? Yes, yeah, now I like that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
And they've they've we've seen him on obviously with the
Quarterback program. The fact that he's one of the people
we've now gotten to know a little bit better because
he's been micd up so often and bit bartis to
all these Yeah, here's what went down on this play
interviews very much.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
So okay, I didn't get to the worst part of
Team USA winning the gold. It won't take long next
segment because we also need to hear from our boy,
Ryan Hollins. He joined the Matt Thomas Show earlier today,
had high praise for Kevin Durant and you're not gonna
want to miss that. So all that is coming up
next here on the program. Here's the deal, what's the

(01:02:01):
first thing you wanted to do, not you after you
saw Team USA win the goal against Canada. I'll go
ahead and answer that question. I wanted a freaking jersey
that they were wearing. I wanted that thing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
And I'm not calling it a sweater, by the way.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
You know why because when you go to look it
up on any of the sites where you buy those
sorts of things, they're called jerseys, all right, They're not
called sweaters, okay, So that elitist, snobby way of looking
at a garment that people wear while they play hockey
can just go away. So why is it so bad
because they didn't make enough Nike an ongoing issue. Well,

(01:02:38):
here's the deal. Would you agree that Nike made some
amazing jersey slash sweaters for this event or they're just
running the mill for you? Nothing impresses you because you're wex.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
I didn't even notice. I've seen Team USA play hockey
a lot. They look like Team USA jerseys.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
You're just the worst, you know that. I'm being dead serious.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
I didn't even notice they were different than the last
time they played in the Olympics, or the time before that,
or the time before that, or the time before that
they were tapped.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
To design the jerseys for this tournament.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
So when you try to go get one, they were
either agreeted by sold out messages. And according to the Athletic,
the supply issue was a self inflicted wound. Nike was
unable to meet demand because quote, it did not produce
enough stock because Canada, not the US, was expected to

(01:03:33):
win Olympic gold. And it added the company has historically
attempted to forecast the exact number of jerseys that will
sell and only make that amount for events like the Olympics.
And I can speak firsthand of this because I believe
it was twenty fourteen Summer Games when Team USA Soccer

(01:03:55):
was sewing coots. I got one of those things and
it was hard to find, but it wasn't like this.
I was looking after they hit the gold. That's the
first thing I did. I want to see if I
couldet a jersey that day. And you were not alone, obviously. Yeah,
but he's the point.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
It's just good.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Yeah, I problem to have the money for four hundred dollars,
and I would presume some people will be less likely
to do that now that they've had to wait, like
and not an impulse buy, but super fired up to
go do that, and maybe a little bit less fired up,
and maybe you do not follow through. Wearing one on
Monday after they win the gold is a lot better
than wearing one, say next week on Tuesday, because you

(01:04:34):
like the country less.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
Yes, I like the country. They haven't won a gold
medal in over a week.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Every day that goes by, you like living here less
and less. I mean, I could have worn Rockets gear
on camera today. They got a big win last night.

Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
But instead you wore the gear of a team that
couldn't even outscore the Mets or get outscored by the Mets.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Hasn't even won a spring training game. They haven't lost
them all, though that's true, they've tied.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
Hear about it tonight on sport Stock seven to ninety
on tape delay. We won't have many of those. Most
of the games will be live. To any game that
you won't necessarily see, like tomorrow's, you can catch it
right here live. We've got the rest of the week
live coverage of the Astros. A pair of noon first
pitches or spring training Noon could be twelve o five,
could be twelve ten, and then Friday's game is actually

(01:05:19):
an afternoon start, a five five first pitch, So the
Astros and their opponent wanted to hook the A team
up with an early trip to the weekend. We will
take it and you get to enjoy Astros baseball. But yes,
today's tilt and we'll hold Aaron Ryan Hollins conversation on
why he thinks Kevin Durant is the best ever till

(01:05:41):
next segment or maybe at the top of the four
o'clock hour lengthy bit of the Ryan Hollins visit with
Bat Thomas earlier today, since he spent two full segments
with him. Yeah, the Astros had two guys that are
fighting for roster spots on the mound today another who
should make their opening day roster, but that wasn't necessarily

(01:06:02):
a given when they added him. Talking about their bullpen,
which we haven't talked much about because on a day
to day basis, it's not really that kind of update,
but two players who would have otherwise been in their
bullpen on opening Day without question, are probably not even
healthwise going to be available. I don't know definitively on
Anyelde Los Santos, but they're almost two weeks into camp

(01:06:24):
or spring training. He's not pitched yet because of the
injury he has, so he's likely going to be behind
even when he returns healthy whenever, that might be so
behind enough that he probably is not truly in consideration
to hang on to one of those bullpen spots, and
obviously the closer a different situation, but similar in that
he's clearly well behind, and hopefully in the next day

(01:06:46):
or two something more definitive from an update from him
or from Joe Spotter or whomever speaks if Dana Brown
has another availability to see where things stand. The latest
with Josh had trying to kind of re ramp up
after he was shut down during the offseason ten or
eleven days before getting back on a throwing program right
when spring training started.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
By the way, Hunter Brown, tomorrow in that game that
you can't see but you can hear.

Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
You can hear his appearance tomorrow. You can hear Tatsuya
EMI's first appearance as an Astros pitcher against opponents I
for that's coming up on Thursday, and we're at the
time where those that have not played are about to
get sprinkled into the lineup. We saw Jeremy Pana, We've
seen Jake Myers, Jose Altuve, Christian Walker next probably to

(01:07:33):
be a part of the lineup, A yard on Alvarez,
maybe a little bit beyond that, maybe this weekend. I
haven't really put a definitive date on that. Per Joe Aspata,
but just about everybody else I would imagine as the
way that they have treated yord on the last several
spring trainings for very different reasons. This year is no different,
but it's a different reason. I'm sure he'll be among

(01:07:54):
the least used in game regulars this spring training and
Yannerdy after his off season in game foot injury while playing,
he is in good shape and he should get some work,
probably as early as Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
Can I say one more thing about the Team USA
debauchery post gold medal. That was a good thing, the
only Okay, yeah, sure. What if I were to tell
you that, not only did they enjoy more than one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in champagne, sprang it into
the crowd for the most part at the eleven night

(01:08:33):
club in Miami, What if I were to tell you
that when they when they played the national anthem in
the club, the entertainers there stood at attention for it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
What do that mean? Well, by entertainers, I mean strippers.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
Yeah, but what does that mean to stand at attention
if that's your job and you're at work.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Well, they weren't dancing on a pole when it happened.
Do you mean they just stopped working?

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (01:09:03):
I mean, I don't know what standing in attention means,
even if you're trying to make a euphemism out of it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Strippers were spotted standing in attention and pledging for the
national answer. You go, okay, so, yeah, this is one
of the most American videos of the decade. That's what
one's opinion of this was.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
Yes, so they did what we same thing we do
at rockets games. Well, we're not strippers, but we stand
at attention and stop working. Yes, just like that, just
wearing more at the time. All the things I was
wearing when I got to work were still on. Why
nobody wanted otherwise it's breezy. They weren't coming to see
anything I was doing there, rather than unless they were

(01:09:38):
listening on the radio and in house, which are more
than welcome to do. By the way, in house. Uh
don't know if you've seen it yet. I'm sure you've
seen some of the videos now. I took several videos
of it. The overhaul of the seating bowl. Oh my
gosh at Toyota Centers well underway. The entire upper bowl
has their new black seats in.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
I saw this on Saturday night at UFC.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
The several rows in front of our broadcast location and
the lower bowl have them done. And row on the
opposite side from us, and so soon enough they have
a three game East Coast trip coming out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
I can get a lot in there.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
We will hear from Ryan Hollins, Like I said, very specifically,
he says Kevin Durant is the greatest of all time.
He explains in an extended visit here on Sports Talk
seven to ninety coming up top the hour and jump
back into some more items. Wanted to share with you
a visit that Ryan Hollins made to the station today.
Of course, you know him right here on Space City

(01:10:30):
Home Network as the Rockets analyst for Hoops with Craig
Ackerman and Vanessa Richardson in the building last night and
joined the Matt Thomas Show for half an hour today
and among the things he discussed you're gonna hear about here.
Some of the things from last night's unfortunate turnover, count
ball handling for the Houston Rockets and what I teased,
and I don't disagree. Where is Kevin Durant the elite

(01:10:52):
of elite in the NBA. As this interview continues with
Ryan Hollins with Matt Thomas, you will hear exactly what
he's talking about, but begin with thoughts about last night's
game and what did not go well.

Speaker 6 (01:11:04):
There was a lot of complacency at the end of
the day, there was good and bad. Like you saw
a sense of urgency, you saw a carry over that's
a frustration from a tough loss that fourth quarter up
in New York. What it should look like, Matt. But
at the end of the day, I've been a player
in the locker room before, and I felt like there's
a lot of like, well, Utah is not taking this
game serious. You know, a lot of moments where the

(01:11:29):
focus definitely lacked, but the urgency in the hustle was there.
So there was a mix of both. And again he
may has given responsibility to essentially almost all four to
five players on the floor to handle the basketball and
make good decisions. So we'll see how he handles that
at any time, he could strip that those abilities from

(01:11:50):
the guys and see what he does there. But I
think as a player, that's your responsibility to take care
of the basketball. And sometimes we saw a lot of
last night looking for the home run play than the
simple play, and some of those a lot of those
home run plays paid off. Matt.

Speaker 7 (01:12:04):
Somebody asked me yesterday about why Alpie brings the ball
up so much into front court. Give me the biggest
positive about that, and then also tell me what that
ultimately could be from a detrimental standpoint. If he's not
forgetting about turnovers, what hindrances come into play if he
is doing so much ball handling, and what are the
positives on both sides of that.

Speaker 6 (01:12:26):
I see, you're you're locked in today, Matt. You're you're
with the details. First off, for Houston, sometimes there's a
group that struggles to get the ball across half court.
A lot of times we just spoke of he's got
four or five guarding him, so he's probably more equipped
to get across the half court with five man guarding him.
Who's going to struggle to pressure the basketball? Remember in

(01:12:47):
early in the season in Milwaukee, who was. It was
Giannis at the coupo trying to pressure full court and
he got broke down and Alpie went to the basket
and scored one of the more impressive buckets in the
clutch time that we saw this season. So you know,
he's gonna get the defender that's not going to be
all over his jersey at the end of the day.
And if you put a small guy on him, you
know he'll just run to the post. You know, you

(01:13:09):
don't like to see those mismatches ultimately, so that's why
you can argue that he's better at doing that. Now
here's a challenge. If I'm a team and I'm playing
against when you play against another team's best player, sometimes
you know your your best defense for him is your
offense or making him work. So now if Houston another team,
let's say Oklahoma City, they know Shingoons bringing the ball

(01:13:30):
up port. I'm gonna pressure him up port when he
gets the ball. I'm gonna double team him. When he's
on defense, I'm gonna run him into picking rolls. I'm
gonna make him have to work and move his feet.
So you know you would attack those really great guys.
You know, if it was you know Tim duncan you
know or certain guys like that, like you want to
make him work it with Shaquille O'Neill for years. You know, hey,
pull him outside of paint, make him have the slightest feet,

(01:13:52):
see if you can tire him out. You know. So
again you like to attack stars because it's extremely hard
to spot the basketball. Go on the other side and
defend Ryan.

Speaker 7 (01:14:03):
A lot of conversation with Ima and I and media
ask it as well about the number of minutes of
Durant and men Thompson aren't playing, especially more for Katie.
You didn't feel like there was enough of a separation
because there were so many turnovers that you could give
Durant a lot of the fourth quarter off. He those
two guys are two and three in the league in
minutes played per game. Is that just gonna be the

(01:14:25):
norm and the rest of the way because the bench
is now shriveled up with no Adams, no Fred all
year long and now Jayshawn's gone for a while, or
it was just a men Thompson built because of the
way the team is built, that he's going to be
out there thirty seven thirty eight minutes a night.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
We should stop working about how many minutes he's playing.

Speaker 6 (01:14:42):
Well, for one, it's nice to be young. I'd be
lying to you if if I told you didn't scare
the heck out of me. And I think Kevin understands
that the schedule is a lot lighter going down the
stretch and like it's go time. You know, it's time
for him to step up. But he steps into the
season with a mindset of saying like, hey, I want
everybody else to flourish and make plays. And it's a

(01:15:04):
real case in point.

Speaker 8 (01:15:05):
Last night, Desne stepped out and like, here was going
for this.

Speaker 6 (01:15:09):
Career high and assists and Matt, due to my notes
which I would love to share with you, his career
high sixteen assists. You know, I was all tired of Matt. Okay,
you're gonna have to lock in, And it looked like
he was going for it last night. And he knows
that any time I can go get his twenty. I
think when he ended up with eighteen or twenty last night,
he can walk to twenty points. So Kevin's is so
unique in that fashion. But he was definitely going for

(01:15:32):
the assist, looking at past the ball and get guys involved,
and that becomes extremely instrumental because you're asking me, how's
he going to play those minutes? You know, how he's
gonna play those minutes because his teammates are going to
step up and make plays. And he's like, Jabbari, I
go for thirty or forty. Jabari, like, I want you
to like, that's what I want to see from you.
And some of his frustrations at times, and don't quote

(01:15:52):
me on this is because he's like, I want you
guys to take the next step. He believes in these
guys and there's a reason that he came to Houston,
you know, and as great as he is, he's willing
to sacrific some of that because he knows there's a
bigger picture. Because if I can get Jabbari or men
or Red or these guys that come around, we're going
to be paid for success. I Matt and then Memorrong.

(01:16:15):
He knows he can get forty. Yes, I don't know
if I know anybody like I played with Paul Pierce, Chris, Paul,
Kevin Garnett, Dirk Naviski, like Dirk was probably the second
closest guy, and maybe Paul that like Nah probably Dirk
Dirk fight only got I played with it against anybody
knows that I can go get forty. Now I'm not

(01:16:35):
saying it's going to turn into a win, but he
knows he can go get forty. And Kevin still has
that type of game.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
And he's thirty seven years old too.

Speaker 7 (01:16:43):
I mean, that's one of the thing is most incredible
is that look that slide step to the baseline. Maybe
has taken a step back, maybe that dribble dry penetration
that he lived on early in his career.

Speaker 2 (01:16:53):
But to me, Ryan, he might be the greatest.

Speaker 7 (01:16:56):
Elbow jump shooter in the history of the NBA and
maybe been betgirter than that. But I mean, at those elbows,
it's about ninety percent accurate.

Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
It really is.

Speaker 6 (01:17:06):
He's the He's the greatest national scoring talent we've ever seen.
With all due respect to Michael Jordan, uh, to Steph Curry,
to whoever you want to, he's Michael was not seven
feet dude. And then he's got he's got the Kobe
Bryant Michael Jordan baseline package fade away. Then he's got
the dark one legger. Then he's seven feet, Then he's obsessive.

(01:17:27):
Then the guy has a chip on his shoulder, like.

Speaker 8 (01:17:29):
He's just he's just trying to get under his.

Speaker 6 (01:17:31):
Own shoulders, okay, and and and poke at himself.

Speaker 8 (01:17:33):
And sometimes Kevin's just poking at himself and.

Speaker 6 (01:17:35):
Get himself going. And I'm sorry it's not pretty at times,
but it's part of greatness.

Speaker 3 (01:17:41):
The greatest natural score ever. Those are the words uttered
by Ryan Hollins, and he took into account a couple
of other players that might immediately come to mind. And
this totally fine with that statement. I think I've used
this phrase before. Kevin Durant was on this planet to
score baskets. And while you could say the same thing

(01:18:03):
about Michael Jordan, there's so many other facets of his
game I think that come into play and get highlighted
over his career on both ends of the floor. I
might add, I mean he won a Defensive Player of
the Year award Kevin Durant. What Ryan Hollands said, pure scoring,
that's what you think of, and there's not a lot
of guys that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:21):
Are better at that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Or you could say that about over the course of
the entire history of the league, or you could just
say they're none. Are you afraid is that too much? Well,
I don't want to. I don't want to misconstrued that
I'm putting KD ahead of Jordan.

Speaker 3 (01:18:37):
In this very clear and deliberate and specific description.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
But he could take it personally. And what is he
gonna go will win another race as a team owner?
He might. I think we'll be okay with that.

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
And interesting you bring that all together KD and his
eighteens part of MS Taylor and the UNC volleyballs teams gifts.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
I'm gonna get some, Katie.

Speaker 1 (01:19:01):
They were really really cool, really nice gesture.

Speaker 3 (01:19:04):
Info coming up to open up the four o'clock hour
from Nick Cassario on Joe Mixon an interesting tidbit and
on Kevin Durant's teammate one in particular.

Speaker 9 (01:19:16):
Next the A team on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 3 (01:19:21):
Ninety team in the rearview, Maratu more still come in
your way. We'll have to take the late Astros Baseball
from earlier this afternoon with Jason Alexander, JP Frantz and
a host of others throwing the pill for your Stros
Live Astros Baseball the remainder of the week. Here a
little bit into our show on Wednesday and Thursday. That noon,

(01:19:41):
first pitch will bleed into and then they will take
over for our show on Friday in the late going
for fifty for the five h five first pitch to
get us into the weekend. But lots of show today
and until we get all the way through the end
of the week.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
It's only Tuesday, after all.

Speaker 3 (01:19:55):
Last night here on Sports Talk seven ninety we had
Rockets basketball for you, and of course similarly on Space
City Home Network. They took care of the Utah Jazz
by a twenty point margin, with a billion turnovers but
with a billion made shots. If not for how the
fourth quarter ended, it could have been one of their
best shooting game, or the best shooting game of their
entire season. To a man, offensively, with no regard for

(01:20:16):
the turnover count. Amn Thompson, Alper and Shingoon, Kevin Durant,
Jabari Smith Junior all had spectacular offensive games. Should probably
say the same about Reed Sheppard. Nine attempts, all from
three to five went in and he had fifteen points
off of the Rockets bench. One note to pass along
for tomorrow night's game against the Kings, and quite possibly

(01:20:37):
for the game the next night when they start their
three game road trip. I noticed he left the game,
but didn't notice it without information from our broadcast colleague
on the Spanish side, Adrian Chavaria, who's seated right next
to us during Rockets basketball broadcast there at Toyota Center.
Then Thompson checked out of the game last night in
the fourth quarter, with the Rockets up by twenty eight,

(01:20:58):
still eleven to fourteen left.

Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
In the game.

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
I wouldn't necessarily have expected him to return, but Adrian
noticed and made me aware that when he left the game,
he actually just went right back into the back, went
back the tunnel behind the Rockets bench to the locker room,
did not return to the game. But presumably you don't
do that unless there's something to get looked at, or
there's a reason for it, and I'm assuming at least
part of the reason is right there on the injury report,

(01:21:21):
as he has listed as out for tomorrow night's game
against the Sacramento Kings. Quad tendonitis couldn't tell you that
I noticed anything in particular in the game. Certainly, if
it happened, it probably happened moments before that, probably in
the first forty six seconds of the period. Although tendonitis
not necessarily this incident happened, but he looked awfully spry

(01:21:43):
in the game, getting into the paint for eight makes
on eight attempts, finished eight of nine at his first
twenty point game in some time, and overall, just played
a really outstanding game, the kind of way that I
hope he plays more of. Where he's off the ball
quite a bit, He's finding spots, he's helping his teammates,
and he's doing he must have stolen the ball on

(01:22:04):
plays that nobody else in the NBA would. It seemed
like three or four times whatever his steel count turned
up as but Kings tomorrow and three Eastern Conference teams
after that. The Rockets already going to be without jay
Sean tait emy Doka before yesterday's game said it was
a Grade two MCL spraying normally associated with four to
six weeks of missed time. Said they'll reel evaluate it

(01:22:26):
in two but he's out obviously. Steven Adams and Fred
Van Vliet's extended injuries continue, and Tomorrow and Friday is
a back to back. Dorian Finney Smith will play or
be available in only one of those games. Presumably Tarry
Easton is available for both. The last back to back
they had, which were their last two games going into
the break, were back to backs, and he played in

(01:22:49):
both for the first time in a while.

Speaker 1 (01:22:50):
By the way, I wasn't crazy yesterday. Sacramento has beaten
the Rockets twice this year.

Speaker 3 (01:22:55):
They beat him in overtime once and beat him soundly
the other time.

Speaker 1 (01:22:59):
It was and those were in Sacramento. The Rockets won
back here home teams are three and zero. Yes, so
hopefully the Rockets can even This is like last year
when they got swept by that.

Speaker 3 (01:23:09):
I don't hope they even up the series. I just
hope they win. Yeah, I even though it's the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:23:14):
I just like it was weird because last year we
mentioned this yesterday, they got beaten. They got swept by
the Nets, and the Nets were probably awful last year
than this year.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
I don't know which do you think?

Speaker 3 (01:23:24):
Oh, yeah, they were worse last year, Okay, but now
they don't have Cam Thomas, so they might be trending
to worse this year.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
Yes, I was just like appalled. But there wasn't a
litany of those types of losses last season, which is
crazy because I would think this team would be better
this year.

Speaker 3 (01:23:39):
The Rockets, like their record as we've watched it, probably
the last maybe eight or nine games. One game better
last year, one game better this year. There's really not
much difference in the record. There's a tremendous amount of
difference in the way the Rockets have played this year
and last year. They are more offensive team this year,
quite obviously. At the beginning of the season, they were
right there at the top of the league, the top
five an offensive rating for most of the year. That's

(01:24:01):
changed a little bit. They were really good, best in
the NBA rebounding team and offensive rebounding team last year.
They were actually significantly better this year. Before Steven Adams
went down, they had an even bigger gap between themselves
and the rest of the league. But they were significantly
better defensively last year in most areas than they are
this year. And that's again trending in the wrong direction recently.

(01:24:23):
It's kind of taking a turn for the better. I
don't know if it's competition or in what they're trying
to stress and then pace now. They weren't a good
team regarding pace last year either. They're basically last in
the NBA this year. Yeah, you could argue, I don't
really think you can argue, I can, what is it.

Speaker 1 (01:24:47):
On brand outside of Kevin Durant? And again, I really
do mean this with everybody else on the roster. I
think outside of Kevin Durant, the Rockets have suffered the
injuries to the two people they could least have had
those injuries occur with.

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:25:05):
So let's let's see. The best player on the team
is who Ken and the next best player?

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
Just pick one.

Speaker 1 (01:25:11):
It's fine, it doesn't matter who, you say, Okay, well
then it does matter.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
Well, he's not.

Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
He's not the next best player. If we get into semantics,
he might now be regarded as the next.

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
Most important, the best defender.

Speaker 3 (01:25:24):
But if I sat here and said the actual best
basketball player on the Rockets and I told you Fred
van Vliet was fifth, is that even crazy? He just
plays a position. They have no answer for it. They
don't have anybody backing him up. They can't turn to anybody.

Speaker 2 (01:25:37):
To his status from higher than fifth.

Speaker 3 (01:25:39):
No, it has to do with more of it has
to do his importance, not how the basketball player he is.

Speaker 10 (01:25:44):
Like.

Speaker 3 (01:25:44):
Look at last year's postseason series. He was awesome at
the end of it, and it impacted them certainly as
they got it to a seventh game.

Speaker 1 (01:25:53):
Right now, I know he's not playing, but say he
was everything given. You think he's behind you, Barie Smith Junior. Well,
just I mean that's a pretty big leap.

Speaker 3 (01:26:03):
And I think everybody listening understands what I'm saying, because
I totally agree on the general premise, if Fred Vanvlee's
healthy and he's played fifty of their fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:26:11):
Six being the other guy that you could not afford
that injury.

Speaker 1 (01:26:15):
Again, like how you just say's best offensive rebound until
he went down, Okay, put him on the team. Nope,
You've got fifty games from Steven, you got fifty from Fred,
and now I'm gonna take instead less important guys. I'll
take Alpern and Amen away. They're much worse. It depends

(01:26:37):
on what night it is. I'm not even kidding when
I say that. What do we talk about at the
beginning of the show, how everybody was moving without the ball?
And by the way, that was kind of a tongue
in cheeks slight at shingoon. I have soured on him,
I admit it. It just is what it is. I
I don't even know that he's reached his potential, but
I do know that too many times I'm like, what

(01:26:58):
are you doing? And while I can stomach swallow whatever
you want to call it, the turnovers that KD makes,
they're no less important, they're no less aggravating. I just
think that Shingoon does some dumb stuff sometimes, And I'll
just go ahead and say it right now, because I've
told you this off the air. If there's a scenario

(01:27:20):
this summer where Yannis wants out and the Rockets have
to package Alpa and Shingoon, I know the age, I
know the ceiling, the potential, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:27:33):
I'm probably looking hard at making that deal an they'll
be coming back.

Speaker 1 (01:27:38):
Well, look again, I don't even know if it's the
best fit him in KD side by side, but I
know this that defense that they're missing that's gonna come
back in a big way.

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
You need a rim protector, I mean Yanni's.

Speaker 1 (01:27:51):
I think people are sleeping on what he does on
that end when you're thinking about what you're gonna be
having come back.

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
I wanted to get you what specifically that Nick Cassario
had to say about Joe Mixon today because I was
not expecting to hear what he had to say, spoke
both at the podium and off to the side. This
from the chat with the local reporters that were there.
A couple of questions about Joe Mixon in particular, beginning
with kind of an overview of where things stand with

(01:28:16):
Joe Mixon.

Speaker 5 (01:28:17):
We we've talked to Joe and you know, his representatives,
So honestly, it's it's day to day. So looking back conversations,
trying to get a little bit more information. You know,
he's had Peggy had a surgery here his off season
some capacity, so you know, trying to get some followed
after that. So again it's again I've said this multiple times.

(01:28:38):
I'm not trying to be evasive. It's a movement's target.
So we kind of see what the availability is going
to be, what the prognosis is for the season, and
then ultimately try to figure out like what makes sense
for everybody involved.

Speaker 2 (01:28:50):
One more time quickly.

Speaker 4 (01:28:52):
Peggy had a surgery here his off season some capacity.

Speaker 2 (01:28:56):
So you think you're the GM of the team.

Speaker 3 (01:29:01):
I think the nature of this injury, which we do
not have definitive facts on, continue to display themselves.

Speaker 2 (01:29:09):
I don't think there's any other player.

Speaker 3 (01:29:11):
I can recall with this team with Nick Cassario as
the general manager, where there was this much unwillingness to
share what they might know and won't share, or if
you take him at his word, clear uncertainty on exactly
where things stand when we spoke to him at the
end of the season. He hasn't been around as much.
We need to catch up with him and kind of
see where things stand. And now saying it's had some

(01:29:33):
sort well, what did he say again, I think.

Speaker 4 (01:29:35):
He had a surgery here this offseason some capacity.

Speaker 3 (01:29:38):
So I think he had a surgery here this offseason
some capacity, because he has again, if you take it
for where his future is, it makes the information he
just gave much more palatable and understandable. I think he
had a procedure of some kind of some capacity this
offseason of lesser consequence to us as a football team,

(01:30:00):
obviously personally concerned about. I'd love to see him playing
football again. I just already know without telling you it
isn't going to be for us, and our plans are
being made without him. I could understand that type of
answer more and that maybe they're just already with that.
Another question asked from our standpoint a year ago, Where
where did things stand?

Speaker 2 (01:30:19):
Where did you find out?

Speaker 3 (01:30:21):
Where'd you feel like you knew that significant time was
going to be missed last offseason?

Speaker 2 (01:30:25):
When did you know about mixing?

Speaker 5 (01:30:27):
We knew it's we're probably you know, last spring through
the summer is probably a chance he was going to
miss a period of time here.

Speaker 4 (01:30:34):
I don't think we knew the extent of how long
it was going to be.

Speaker 5 (01:30:37):
It was touch and go, so you know, there was
again it was again I'm not trying to create you probumts.

Speaker 4 (01:30:44):
It was just a moving target.

Speaker 5 (01:30:45):
So we were just trying to figure out, all right,
where are we in the scheme of things and just
try to all right, what do we got to do
moving forward?

Speaker 3 (01:30:51):
Same messaging we heard from Nick again at the end
of the season about the uncertainty of what this injury
would entail from a timeline standpoint, how do they address
the ross or because of it, which they ultimately only
did basically with the addition of Nick Chubb during their
OTAs during mini camp actually in early June. One more
thing from him will get you that on the other
side and get into our thoughts of exactly what was said,

(01:31:12):
exactly where they're headed with the running back position in
advance a free agency in advance of the NFL Draft,
and a decision likely coming on Joe Mixon.

Speaker 2 (01:31:21):
That's next. I mean more clarity or a lack there?

Speaker 1 (01:31:28):
Uh, running back Joe Mixon.

Speaker 3 (01:31:30):
Well, there is clarity, it's just not the specific clarity
I think people are concerned about. And obviously I would
wonder if Joe and his side have any clarity themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:31:40):
Again, this is a player who missed an entire season.
It's not normal.

Speaker 3 (01:31:45):
Obviously, something of very catastrophic nature took place, and it
did not take place visually in front of us on
the football field, and so it's not your typical time missed.
It's part of the reason why we are where we
are with this lack of information. But again, his football career,
could can it continue?

Speaker 2 (01:32:05):
Can it continue?

Speaker 3 (01:32:05):
Here there's kind of two separate questions that brings us
to the last thing from Cassario on mixing about a
timetable for kind of the information needed to make a
decision as the league year is rapidly approaching and all
the opportunities to alter the roster, free agency, trades, draft,
et cetera. Are afoot, very very soon, starting in early March.

Speaker 5 (01:32:28):
Yeah, I think there's a lot of things between now
and you know, start the league year, maybe right around
the league year, to try to figure out we're planning
whatever the result is, so you know, whether it's Joe
or other players in supposed category. We've got twenty five
ish or twenty something players that are going to be
for agents, so all those conversations are pretty fluid.

Speaker 3 (01:32:49):
Guiney expanded it to all of his free agents, all
of their free agents. The league year begins March eleventh,
right here on the A team at three o'clock in
the afternoon, and the two the two days prior to
that is our fun period of describing it. However, you
see fit your negotiation window, your tampering window. That's the

(01:33:11):
March ninth through eleventh portion of the season, and we're
just around a week away of the franchise and transition
tag window closing opened up last week. It closes on
March third, again right here on the A team at
three o'clock in the afternoon. Doesn't appear relevant to the
Texans current roster, but clearly with what the Jets said

(01:33:33):
today and others, it will impact what is available in
free agency, and I believe in free agency this off season,
Joe Mixon will be among the running backs available to
the other thirty one teams.

Speaker 1 (01:33:46):
Yeah, I don't know who's going to pick up. Doesn't
He kind of in a way feel like this year's
Nick Chubb off injured or at least coming off a
major injury, and and you don't really know what to expect.
But he could be some nice depth for you if
you're a team out there that considers itself a contender.

Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
Uh, I would say similar.

Speaker 3 (01:34:08):
Yes, I think his last year was very, very very good, right,
and Nick had actually two different injuries that were both
supremely significant. I think the new team will have the
same information that we don't have, And that's why I
can't even answer it. The Texans have some information, we
don't know what it is. Joe has some information, we
don't know what it is. And if he is signed,

(01:34:29):
obviously that medical information will be in the hands of
the other teams and they'll have a better idea of
what to expect. If Joe Mixon can return to full health,
he is a better player than Nick Chubb. The Nick
Chubb the Texans had in twenty twenty five isn't the
player that Joe Mixon, if healthy, would be for themselves
or any other team in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:34:48):
We don't know if he will be.

Speaker 3 (01:34:49):
I just don't think there's any financial reason to be
the team that hopes he can play. He's just you
have an eight million dollar reason to not be that team,
because that's how much you can save on your cap
by just taking the two million dollar hit instead of
the ten million dollar hit and have him here and
address the running back position with outsiders.

Speaker 2 (01:35:09):
So, going back to what.

Speaker 1 (01:35:12):
Nick Cassario was saying about this, we think he might
have hat can you play it again?

Speaker 2 (01:35:16):
I just got to hear that.

Speaker 1 (01:35:17):
It's just incredible, and he might not have even meant
to say it this way.

Speaker 2 (01:35:21):
I think he did. I think think he might have
had surgery, Like, come on, man, you.

Speaker 5 (01:35:27):
Had a surgery here his off season in some capacity,
so you know, trying to.

Speaker 4 (01:35:31):
Get some fault.

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
Maybe that had nothing to do with the injury.

Speaker 1 (01:35:33):
There are two things about that that are just like,
oh my gosh, here we think and to some extent,
keep in mind who you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:35:42):
You're talking about Nick Cassario. Do you think there's any
way mister detail, mister minutia, mister robot, mister information, mister
data point, mister plan, doesn't know if Joe Mixon had
a procedure, So then.

Speaker 1 (01:35:56):
Why say we think, what good does that to accomplished?
I don't know, because if you're that guy that you
just described all those it's just very acidic his numbers.
If you're that guy, then you you would you would
answer that question in absolutes, and you wouldn't then further
compound the answer by saying, to some extent he might

(01:36:17):
have had surgery, we think, and we don't know what.

Speaker 3 (01:36:20):
It was, because maybe maybe it is such a small
procedure and maybe it's not related to this directly, that
it wasn't a timeline situation where well, we'll see how
he does from this, or this now pushes our timeline
back because he needed to have this. Again, I'm just
playing the other side. There's no argument for what you're saying. Uh,

(01:36:41):
it is a it's hard to make two plus two
equal four here because I'm describing who he is accurately,
and yet the words coming out of his mouth don't
match who I'm describing.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
You gotta pump those numbers up of those or rookie
numbers in this racket. It is very o.

Speaker 3 (01:36:56):
It was that was I don't know, startling, but when
I heard that answer and I did take a it's
just so not I mean, for real, step back.

Speaker 1 (01:37:04):
It's weird because it has the ability that one answer
played again, come on, do it one more time, do
it for me, and told me.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
I want all people to realize something after you hear
it again.

Speaker 5 (01:37:14):
Pick he had a surgery here in this soft season
in some capacity, So you.

Speaker 3 (01:37:18):
Try Are they sunk without Joe Mixon? Without Joe Mixon?
This they just played a whole season without your answer.

Speaker 1 (01:37:28):
Is fascinating because it is both the most Nick Cassio
answer ever and the most non Nick Cassario answer ever.
He doesn't really say a lot that's very Casario, and
he doesn't sound sure one way or the other, which
is not Casario.

Speaker 3 (01:37:44):
There's also the element of public perception that I think
you would add here, and I think it's a lot
of how the Texans because he keeps saying, I'm not
trying to be evasive, I'm not trying to be evasive.

Speaker 2 (01:37:52):
I'm not trying to make this bigger than it is.

Speaker 3 (01:37:54):
Because I think there's a little bit of deference trying
to be given to the players and the potential that
he is available to other teams.

Speaker 1 (01:38:01):
Trying to have to put him in a bad spot
pr wise, if well in just a public wise. I mean,
I think GM's never available. He's going to be ready
to go, just not for us.

Speaker 3 (01:38:10):
Just say that though, well he doesn't know, he can't,
but he doesn't want to give details of a surgical
procedure to the extent that it makes Joe's injury situation
sound worse for somebody else. It doesn't matter how it
sounds to Houston because their decisions already made. So he's
trying to do right by the player by not making
it sound worse publicly.

Speaker 1 (01:38:30):
The one explanation for this that makes a thousand percent sense.
And yet it still frustrates that, you know what out
of me because I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:38:39):
I guess today you knew Joe Mixing was going to
have zero carries for the Texans, right, Yeah, we all did, Okay, So.

Speaker 2 (01:38:45):
It's it is I'm just I'm getting upset for one
day and then I'll move on.

Speaker 3 (01:38:48):
No, it's I look for the normal person here, which
I am. I also talk on the radio. We also
cover the teams. We also have fans listening, and they're
also very invested in the team. Would love Joe mix
and have fourteen hundred yards next year. There's no There's
no reason I wouldn't want him to see wouldn't want
to see a player get back from injury. I'd love
to see Nick Chubb run for eight hundred years next year.
It's just not going to be here. What I personally speaking,

(01:39:12):
I don't I would love guys to get healthy and
be healthy and not have the issues.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
That's the biggest question here.

Speaker 1 (01:39:17):
If he's if he is healthy for some other team
out there, why not just hang on to him.

Speaker 3 (01:39:23):
Because you don't have the ten million dollars to hope
and you're just ready. Maybe how the situation went behind
closed doors you weren't very happy with.

Speaker 2 (01:39:30):
I don't know that well.

Speaker 1 (01:39:31):
But what I'm saying is if it's just down to
his health, because if it's about money, then why are
you in the same breaths talking about looking at high
end free agency running backs. They didn't say that, but
it's reported from sources that's different. He's the source. Maybe
in my mind I doubt it. Yeah, You're just you're
sitting here, You're in the off season. The season ended

(01:39:54):
for you two months ago, month and a half ago.
The league year starts two months after the Rock Texans.
He's an end it, And again I only have to
take him for his public word. I don't know if
Joe Mixon is healthy enough to play football in twenty
twenty six. Their decision is made.

Speaker 3 (01:40:09):
I think the financial part of it is made, and
I think they're ready to allocate that money elsewhere, not
even necessarily at the running back position. Are you afraid
of going into next season with an undetermined run of
the mill veteran running back that you add along with
Woody Marks, Juwar Jordan and twenty twenty six draft pick
insert name here? Are you unwilling to hit the season

(01:40:32):
with that as your backfield? So I'm not trying to
tell you the free agent is of great significance. Maybe
it's better than Nick Chubb, but not the obvious RB one.

Speaker 1 (01:40:42):
Well, my thing is, regardless of your cap situation, which
is fluid, you can make more. You can kick that
can that we've been talking to.

Speaker 3 (01:40:49):
Your cap situation is perfectly fine and completely not in
their way.

Speaker 1 (01:40:53):
But okay, what's the point in going out and spending
a lot on a running from a monetary standpoint, if
your offensive line isn't for sure going to be able
to not only block for that quarterback that's gonna throw
behind it, but then open up lanes for you, whether
you're this guy that you've spent money on or drafted,

(01:41:17):
or your Woody Marx or combination of it.

Speaker 2 (01:41:19):
Because I just feel like, if this.

Speaker 1 (01:41:22):
Is how they're going about it, I don't think they're
gonna go after some marquee because we just got talking
about all the big names and the drop off between
the ones that aren't gonna be available and whatever's left
in the scrap heap, Because that's what it's gonna be.
Why don't you go draft a kid who's awesome and
by the way, mel Kiper thinks they should and that money,
I know mel Kiper spend that money. Well, he has

(01:41:43):
them taking a running back in the first roun.

Speaker 3 (01:41:45):
I mean, you've said all these words here closing out
this segment, and I promise you I'm listening. But after
you talked about why don't you, you know, quote unquote
fix the offensive line, I stopped listening because I know
you and everybody else wants to hear Nick Cassario's opinion
on the Texans twenty twenty five offensive line performance. H
you're gonna be well, you're seeing around. I don't know

(01:42:05):
if you're gonna remain seated after you hear what he
had to say.

Speaker 11 (01:42:08):
Lord, this is Adam and Adam sweekly changed through mind
barckling moments that make you goday, what what?

Speaker 9 (01:42:19):
What?

Speaker 4 (01:42:20):
What?

Speaker 8 (01:42:21):
Type?

Speaker 10 (01:42:22):
What is here? What are you talking about?

Speaker 2 (01:42:25):
On a Tuesday?

Speaker 11 (01:42:26):
Pay what O? Dain?

Speaker 6 (01:42:28):
I dare you now say what?

Speaker 3 (01:42:32):
Sounded like we were just carrying over some more Nikossario sound,
but we're not, because if it's perfectly here, it was intentional.
Say what our signature segment on a Tuesday, we were
talking about the Houston Texans running back situation without Joe Mixon,
which is where we expect it to be and possibly
as early as right around the new league year.

Speaker 2 (01:42:50):
What kind of designation that release is given?

Speaker 3 (01:42:53):
Obviously, Uh, the Texans will appropriately address that they have
an issue that needs to be corrected.

Speaker 2 (01:43:00):
They do not run the ball very well.

Speaker 3 (01:43:02):
They have had issues that they might think they've corrected
in terms of protecting your quarterback, but overall they have
not had a good offense during the only three years
that matter to Nick Casario, CJ. Stroud, Will Anderson Junior,
Demico Ryans and Houston Texans fans. No relation to what
they did in twenty twenty two with Lovey Smith and
Pep and relation to twenty twenty one what they did

(01:43:24):
with coach Cully and Nick in their first year together
and only year together. It's all about what's happened since
they tried to become an actual NFL football team, and
when they did, they've been great. They've been to the
playoffs three straight years, They've won the division twice. They've
won a playoff game in three consecutive seasons. And it's
why people care so much about this particular offseason, because

(01:43:44):
the desire for more is warranted. Because of the roster
they've put together. They arguably were the best defense in
football during the regular season. They return nearly all of it,
presumably and tweak here, a tweak there. A second season
with the same oc maybe we'll see if things are
a little bit better. Offensive line has been an issue

(01:44:05):
for this team throughout Nick Cassario's time here. Again, during
those three seasons, he was asked about well he was
at the podium. He was asked about at the scouting
combine the idea of an offensive line addition to the team,
best available players, certain things you're looking for. How do
you kind of address that when you are looking at
the offensive line relation to what you have and when
you get to the draft, And he answered thusly.

Speaker 5 (01:44:27):
Yeah, we're typically taking the best players. I would say,
is it pertains the offensive line? I mean, honestly, it's
probably one of the best years we had since I've
been there. We played, you know, I think we gave
up the least amount of sacks in our second in
the history of the organization, and we have the most
an improvement from a sack production from one year to
the next.

Speaker 4 (01:44:45):
I think it was us in the Bears.

Speaker 5 (01:44:47):
So I'll say offensive line actually played pretty good last year.
So maybe I was looking at different film, But you know,
we're gonna look at who we feel are the best
players and we think are gonna help us, and you know,
try to put together a good team.

Speaker 3 (01:44:58):
A bunch of things in there to obviously have issue
with statistically speaking, thirty one sacks allowed last year, a
big number difference from one year to the next for CJ.

Speaker 2 (01:45:08):
Specifically, but he also missed three games.

Speaker 3 (01:45:11):
He was personally sacked, less than half the times he
was sacked the year before. But thirty one sacks in
Texans franchise history. It is the best during the three
years that matter. In twenty twenty three, forty seven sacks
of Texans quarterbacks, in twenty twenty four, fifty four sacks
of Texans quarterbacks, and they got that number all the
way down to thirty one last year, the fifth best

(01:45:33):
number in Houston Texans history. Four other times they've allowed
twenty eight sacks or fewer. So it's definitely in that
ballpark to what he said, and it was very noticeable
over the course of the season. He drops in the
line about I don't know if I was looking at
different film, and that's where he knows he was, because
that's why everybody is looking at what they actually did

(01:45:54):
and saying, I just don't know how it can be
graded that way. This isn't like Major League Baseball's different
grading for Major League umpires on balls and strikes, where
we're looking at say umpire scorecard an auditor, we're saying
this guy was at a sixty nine percent clip. He
was terrible and there were twenty two calls missed in
this game blatant. Ten of them were way outside the zone.

(01:46:15):
But Major League Baseball grades that umpire out with a
ninety six, and we give him a little leeway on
both sides of the play more so than maybe you
would think. Whatever the case may be, I'm not sure
what was on display from this offensive line from a
film standpoint that you could think that. So if he
thinks that's the case, it was the rest of the

(01:46:36):
offense that was no good. It was the running backs
that aren't capable. It was the wide receivers they couldn't
get opened more quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:46:42):
It was c. J.

Speaker 3 (01:46:43):
Stroud and Davis Mills. They couldn't throw the football. That's
not reality.

Speaker 2 (01:46:48):
No, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:46:51):
Going back to the very very very very first thing
he said, it's so on brand for Nick Cassario.

Speaker 2 (01:46:56):
Well, it's because people.

Speaker 3 (01:46:58):
I don't know why these questions are asked of any GM,
but this is national media asking a generic question, going
to get a generic answer from a general manager at
an availability like this, the focus on the offensive line,
or do you take the best available player. We've had
the best available player discussion with Nick before he doesn't
even know what that means. He's going to say, usually

(01:47:21):
we take the best players, like he's he personally in
this reporter who asked it, I don't know who it was,
might not know that from him, but he has said
that they take the players they think best fit the team,
using his words, and we think guys that can help
our team win, those are the players we like.

Speaker 2 (01:47:37):
So Jendarium Price, I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (01:47:42):
When I was watching Notre Dame football this year, I
was watching their games and thinking they had a healthy
Jeremiah Love and thinking, why do you keep giving the.

Speaker 2 (01:47:51):
Ball to Price? He's just clearly not as good.

Speaker 3 (01:47:55):
And now Price is basically regarded as the second best
running back in this draft class quite possis pssibly a
first round pick, and according to mel kiper Junior, not
only a first round pick as the second best running
back available in the NFL draft, but the selection of
Nick Cassario at number twenty eight in Mel's latest updated mock.

Speaker 2 (01:48:15):
Draft five I'm counting.

Speaker 3 (01:48:20):
Five proposed trades didn't turned down to stay at twenty
eight and take a running back.

Speaker 1 (01:48:24):
Five offensive linemen that went before this pick, including the
pick before which he has as Caden Proctor out of
Alabama going to the forty nine ers. So per ESPN research,
mel Kiper says this would be the fourth time two

(01:48:44):
running backs from the same school both went in Round one,
and the first time since two thousand and eight when
Darren McFadden and Felix Jones out of Arkansas were Day
one selections. But just because Price was second on the
Fighting Irish's depth chart, to Jeremiah Love you just were
talking about, doesn't mean he can't be an RB one
in the NFL. Powerful runner, plays a one cut and

(01:49:06):
go brandon football ball security concerns, Oh good, four lost
fumbles over three years? Is that really a concern? Four
lost fumbles in three years at the college level, that's
not that bad to me.

Speaker 3 (01:49:21):
Um for a guy who had the limited workload. It's
probably limited in terms of he wasn't the clear guy
for all those seasons.

Speaker 1 (01:49:28):
He also says we haven't seen a ton from him
as a pass catcher, but he's dynamic. Ran for eleven touchdowns,
caught two touchdown passes, and scored two more times on
kickoff returns. Texans lacked juice in the run game. What
he mark's probably more of a change of pace guy
Nick Chubbs, a free agent. Joe Mixon's future is uncertain. Well,
it's certain here in Houston. Just keep this in mind.

Speaker 3 (01:49:46):
For that figure on fumbles over three years, some context helps,
right with that, two hundred and eighty carries over those
three seasons, fifteen receptions, So two hundred ninety five touches fumbles.
That's a little bit more than what you'd expect from
a little bit more touches. A few more touches then
you'd probably get in a regular season. Not gonna have

(01:50:07):
two hundred ninety five touches maybe any years of his career,
but probably to fifty if he's at RB one or
close to it.

Speaker 2 (01:50:13):
That's too many fumbles.

Speaker 1 (01:50:14):
By the way, another pick after the Texans an offensive tackle.

Speaker 3 (01:50:19):
Yeah, the Texas, I would say, with near certainty my
best guess, they're not drafting a running back at number
twenty eight, and certainly not this particular running back that
you're already trying to make a case.

Speaker 2 (01:50:29):
Well, he could do this, he could do that.

Speaker 3 (01:50:31):
Well, if these kids all apply to him, then the
Texans are gonna sit at twenty eight and pick him.
If they like him that much, they might honestly trade
up for a running back in him, but more likely
they will look elsewhere at that spot. If they trade
out of it, could he be their pick at thirty
seven or forty two or whatever pick they end up with.
That's a little bit more believable, But I don't think
there's any way they're drafting this particular player at that

(01:50:53):
particular spot in this upcoming draft.

Speaker 9 (01:50:59):
The eight.

Speaker 1 (01:51:03):
A team winding down the four o'clock goer here on
a Tuesday edition the program.

Speaker 3 (01:51:09):
One revisit of the conversation about the running back position
why it actually makes some sense, and I think that
may be why mel kiper Junior places this player there
with the Houston Texans. I don't think there's much to
look at at the running back position, and I never
would have expected the Texas draft what he marks a
year ago. So there are always players that certain teams

(01:51:30):
like and feel like there's a good value for them
and fight away for them, find a way to utilize
them and make great use of that selection.

Speaker 2 (01:51:36):
That's exactly what Nick did a year ago.

Speaker 3 (01:51:38):
But in saying that, if love is going early, and
he will, and Jadarian Price is next off the board,
whether he's off the board at twenty eight, or you
decide to leave him on the board until you select again,
or you've traded back and ultimately he's not available to you.
There is a little bit of a then what. I'm
not sure what. There's no way to know what Nick
thinks of the rest of the class. I don't think

(01:51:59):
too many people think much of the rest of the class.
And I'm not saying they can't find another player again.
But what I am saying is, but have they improved
the position? And that's ultimately what they're trying to do.
You know, their position took a turn for the worse
in twenty twenty five. There's no question they were in
a worse running game running back situation than they were

(01:52:19):
the year prior, and it showed. And they aren't helping
out the rest of their offense with their inability to
run the football. Remember their short yardage in twenty twenty four,
for the most part, was Joe Mixon, and their short
yardage in twenty two eighty five, for the most part,
was Cade Stover. I applaud Nick Kayley for being creative,

(01:52:42):
and at some point I don't really care what they
use as long as it's successful. So, like I said,
that is a good thing, but they had to get
creative because they didn't have necessarily the right other pieces
in place, whether it's strictly a line or a combination
of a line. And running back to the fact, they
turned to their tight end for what turned out to
be pretty much most of the year, especially if they

(01:53:03):
would have challenged one of the spots on one of
the well Stover didn't get their plays where he actually
did it was extremely successful. But again stick with what
I said last segment, I don't think Price is the
play for the Texans at twenty eight. After Mendoza goes
number one to the Raiders, which I think we're all
good with, I really couldn't tell you what's gonna happen
after that. David Bailey's gonna be one of the top picks.

(01:53:26):
I think Caleb Downs is probably the player that's most
intriguing to what is actually going to unfold in the
top ten, because there's probably teams that think he's the
next best player on the board, and the teams that
love what Kyle Hamilton did for the Baltimore defense are
the teams that might be thinking Caleb Downs can do
the very same thing for their defense moving forward. The

(01:53:47):
Texans obviously aren't the mix for any of this, even
with all their arsenal. Trading up to the teams is
definitely something they can do if they would like, and
it obviously it just cost some of their surplus of
draft picks both this year and upcoming years. We'll make
a minimum of four and a half is what I'll

(01:54:07):
set the over under at on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Draft
Day moves four and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:54:13):
Set it at four and a half. Oh, I'm taking
the under.

Speaker 1 (01:54:16):
Oh my god. He always goes over how many deals
has he made the last three years? Hundreds thousands? Stop it, seriously,
what's the most he's made in a single draft?

Speaker 2 (01:54:27):
More than that?

Speaker 1 (01:54:28):
More than a thousand, more than four and a half.
Did we play the one on Titus Howard specifically?

Speaker 6 (01:54:36):
Yet?

Speaker 2 (01:54:37):
I don't even know which one that one would be.
That would be twelve, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:54:41):
I just want to make sure that we specifically get
his thoughts on Titus Howard.

Speaker 4 (01:54:48):
We're trying to figure out, all right, what are our options.
We're the best of five guys. They might not be here.

Speaker 5 (01:54:54):
And then once we come to get everybody together, which
is kind of how that manifests itself. In this past season,
you were sitting here, I kind of munch moving targets
at its employers weren't really sure what it was going
to look like.

Speaker 4 (01:55:05):
And then eventually it kind of evolved into a poor group.

Speaker 3 (01:55:07):
If you will, all right, now play the SoundBite on
Titus Howard seriously.

Speaker 12 (01:55:13):
He was asked about Titus's role right there.

Speaker 1 (01:55:18):
Yeah, like I mean, I don't I don't believe it
was mislabeled. I just believe that's how he answered it.
But I've said the same thing. Yeah, I don't think
they should.

Speaker 3 (01:55:28):
I think he has played well enough now this past year,
specifically as an interior offensive lineman, that it has to
be considered if that's where they're best served moving forward,
depending on the other four. And he's clearly multiple seasons
last year also has played well enough at tackle now
right tackle for sure that they should consider that moving forward.

(01:55:48):
He doesn't know who they're going to sign in free agent.
He might know who they're targeting, he doesn't know that
they're going to succeed. And the same thing holds for
the NFL Draft. They'll have to wait and see. Now,
it's kind of important from his contract situation, because he
is definitely someone who will likely see his contract changed
for the upcoming season, and extension is the most likely path.

(01:56:10):
But all he's probably in a position to even say
with certainty is the same thing I would have said
Titus Howard is he's going to be a starter for
us next year. We love what's tired. If Titus is done,
he's a part of what we're building. Love what he
and Cole Popovich and everybody else put together last year.
And I don't know what film you were watching. I
thought we played pretty well in the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (01:56:29):
What I'm trying to think of what article it was
I read where he could actually be a cap casualty.

Speaker 3 (01:56:34):
Oh, that a cap casualty for their options. That's just
not something they should really be considering.

Speaker 7 (01:56:42):
You do not.

Speaker 3 (01:56:43):
I don't know how you can figure it out. Why
you're trying torture His deal is totally different. That's why
he is not going to be playing on the same
contract he's currently working with two day regardless. I think
they're going to restructure his deal, But actually I think
they're going to extend his deal. That's probably the way
I would say, But do you have the option. I
think at your disposal, but Titus Howard not on the

(01:57:03):
Texans in twenty twenty six. Seriously, I mean, I know
it's just Titus Howard for some people out there, So
tell me what it is gonna look like. Your most
trustworthy lineman is nursery in year two? And then what
I'm not saying he's bad, but this is so Texans

(01:57:24):
of them.

Speaker 1 (01:57:25):
Look at how much we've talked about him, and I
know it's because of where he was taken, that's a
big part of it, but it just seems like we
talk about some of the most mid players.

Speaker 3 (01:57:38):
I think that's not fair. Well, Titus Howard would start
on every offensive line in the NFL in my opinion,
including this one. Every one of them that doesn't make
him good starters are good players. I can be in
a group setting. I don't Titus Howard again is a
good player. He's a plus player. They would be best
served if he wasn't their best offense lineman, which he

(01:58:01):
probably you could argue maybe he was last year.

Speaker 1 (01:58:03):
It sounds like when you're trying to say he should
be the third player, third best player on championship NBA team.

Speaker 2 (01:58:09):
You know what I mean? Like like you're talking like
a compliment.

Speaker 1 (01:58:12):
No, I'm not players, though, but you're gonna have one
all pro maybe two.

Speaker 2 (01:58:18):
I just said he's not bad.

Speaker 1 (01:58:19):
When I say this, I'm just all I'm saying is
I feel like we've done more hand ringing over this
guy who.

Speaker 6 (01:58:28):
He's just.

Speaker 2 (01:58:30):
Average to good at best. He's not elite.

Speaker 1 (01:58:35):
He's not somebody that you have to game plan for
every week if you're I mean, it's just I don't know.
I just don't. I don't look at him that way.
I'm not again, I'm not saying he's bad, but I
just don't. I definitely don't think he's as good as
you do.

Speaker 3 (01:58:47):
You can't have a better offensive line next year if
you're letting players like that go.

Speaker 2 (01:58:51):
You can't. You can if you replace them with better players.
How are you gonna do that? I'm just saying you can.

Speaker 3 (01:58:56):
No, No, I'm saying literally, I think it's too hard
to do financially. If that's what, If you're letting that
player walk out the door, yes you have some savings
from it, but you're you're not gonna be able to
put better player. You're only just replacing him. How about
putting somebody really good with him. That's how you make
the line better.

Speaker 1 (01:59:12):
No, that's and that's that's a fair point, and I
think that's probably the avenue they could go down. But
if they didn't, and they drafted a replacement, it wouldn't
shock me if he was better.

Speaker 2 (01:59:21):
Right, so Titus Howard can just play guard, then I
just but you're just making my point about him, Well, we'll
just move him.

Speaker 1 (01:59:27):
I guess I don't be good to move forward without.
But you're yeah, but if you're able to just move
him to a different position, how good is he to
begin with? Why don't you get a good player at
that position so you're not always having to like piece
meal it.

Speaker 2 (01:59:40):
I feel like that's what they've been doing.

Speaker 3 (01:59:42):
They're peacemeiling the rest of the offensive line because they
stink they're playing him up agree because they've been doing
such a bad job of finding talent. They're forced, well,
we know Titus can play well here, so we have
to move him because this guy can't play anywhere except
this one spot, and even only at iMedia ocre level
offensive line talk. I guess that's what gets us going

(02:00:03):
over five o'clock hours Next.

Speaker 13 (02:00:07):
The AE on Sports Talk seven ninety I.

Speaker 10 (02:00:19):
Feel like with all the football we talked about the
last hour, we should do like hockey at five or
something like that, but we won't, especially when you consider
that there's some big names that could be on the
move this offseason.

Speaker 1 (02:00:32):
One of them is your favorite. We talked about him earlier.
Falcons GM has informed Kirk Cousins he'll be released on
March eleventh. Where does he land next season, so that
you can pile on him there in that city.

Speaker 3 (02:00:44):
One best case scenario for the team that signs him,
as he never plays, that means they're starter. Who's better
than Kirk Cousins doesn't get hurt? You really hate him,
like he's back up this year. You're committed to the
bit as a football player. I know one thing. If
he is my core, we got nothing to play for
this year. If he's starting, yeah, he's my quarterback, my

(02:01:06):
starting quarterback, then I know how the season's going to end.
What if he started disappointing fashions?

Speaker 1 (02:01:10):
What if he starts for like what if he started
for the Steelers next year?

Speaker 3 (02:01:18):
Same same as Aaron, I'd say, probably pretty comparable. The
option will probably be there. I you know, they haven't
gotten too definitive in Pittsburgh. I think Omar Khan was
speaking today about an Aaron Rodgers' decision timeline. It didn't
sound like it was a pressing matter. It didn't sound
like they were concerned. They again, they're they're left with

(02:01:39):
very few options, Kirk Cousins being one of them if
he does not return, because I think they have a
pretty good vibe that he will return and they won't
be left with I guess we got to kick the
tires on this guy.

Speaker 2 (02:01:50):
Do you think Max Crosby's going to return to his team?
I do.

Speaker 3 (02:01:53):
I think Max Crosby is the type of player as
their GM today that said.

Speaker 2 (02:02:00):
By Tech is the best general manager, last name in
the league.

Speaker 3 (02:02:04):
It's one of them. He's friends with Tom. That's one
of the reasons why people think he's Tech. But they
got together in Tampa too, and I do think he's
a pretty good GM. And he said, he said, what
not's just the right thing. I think it's the right
way to think as a GM. We like good players,
we want more of them, Like we're not looking to
get rid of a good player. He said, we need

(02:02:25):
a lot more of them in their case, right, they do.
I mean, honestly, if you guys were paying attention watching
in the stadium. I listen to us talk about it
after the game, the Raiders game here in Houston. He
was awesome, Oh he was. He was every problem. He's
a huge problem. That's just one of that's what he
does every week. And what's crazy about him? And I
think this is kind of true. I was probably playing

(02:02:47):
against Titus probably since he's mid.

Speaker 1 (02:02:50):
So the thing about Max Crosby and Will Anderson Junior is,
and you've you have noted this before about Will.

Speaker 2 (02:02:58):
They don't look that big. In fact, Max looks skinny.

Speaker 11 (02:03:03):
He's not.

Speaker 1 (02:03:04):
He looks menacing and he plays menacing. Maybe it's the tattoos,
maybe it makes him look thinned out. So Miles Garrett
is ridiculous. Yes, size wise, he's he looks like he
would be coming after your quarterback.

Speaker 2 (02:03:16):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (02:03:17):
Watt is not No. Will Anderson Junior is not No.
I mean, there are plenty of players currently playing, and
a lot of them do to take reps inside Crosby
among them, and they just they're just good at what
they do. They obviously worked on it. Their strength is
a non issue, as it's usually actually a strength of
their game and then everything about it. Their technique, their quickness,

(02:03:38):
they're smarts, they're savvy, all these things, and in Will's case,
which is the best part about it. Here in Houston,
he gets to do what none of those other guys
get to do. I think Wat is close, but he's
playing with the best partner. Nobody's got a better off
side rusher than he does. He's working with the next
best player, one of the mean, and they could be

(02:04:00):
almost equals there, and there's not another team with a
better duo. I think the pass rushing edges in Pittsburgh
are awesome, but not as awesome as Houston.

Speaker 1 (02:04:08):
Max Crosby six five fifty five Will Anderson Junior six
four two forty three.

Speaker 3 (02:04:14):
Yeah, I'll say Max Crosby looks much bigger than that.
In my opinion, I knew he was not, and I
knew the numbers would probably be around what you said.

Speaker 2 (02:04:22):
It looked like tight ends.

Speaker 3 (02:04:23):
But watching him play, it feels like he's bigger than that.
It seems like he's actually playing at a lighter weight
than he has been. Although we're going off numbers, we
know we're not supposed to really trust, Like, for example,
I'm just doing this for you know the reasons. Can
we just get to what commanders GM had to say
about Laramie Tunzel.

Speaker 2 (02:04:42):
Travis Kelsey six five two fifty.

Speaker 3 (02:04:45):
Uh, The GM, Brent Viach in Kansas City kind of
said the same thing about Travis that I was alluding
to what Omar said about Aaron Rodgers. Not really a
specific timeline. Feel like he's playing at a good level
and kind of sounded like they expect it back.

Speaker 2 (02:05:00):
I don't know if I'm waiting so much into it.

Speaker 3 (02:05:02):
I do think this is his last year in the NFL,
especially for he's a tight end and you travel to
places that hate you. I mean, it's a last year.
There's no farewell tour for tight end Travis Kelcey.

Speaker 1 (02:05:15):
Well, the tour is going to take place in Kansas
City for half the schedule. Yeah, and then when they
missed the playoffs, you won't have any more sendoffs.

Speaker 3 (02:05:22):
I mean, if you asked me to guess wager is
Kansas City going to the playoffs in twenty twenty six,
I would say no.

Speaker 1 (02:05:30):
I don't think they are either. I don't even think
they're going to be second in their division.

Speaker 3 (02:05:34):
You can make the playoffs as a third place team. Obviously,
that's pretty much what they were going after most of
this year behind La and Denver, which I think will
be the same next year.

Speaker 1 (02:05:42):
I know he had like I know, he was carted
off the field and went right into the surgery he did,
and he's been rehabbing since the moment he could get
People are just assuming he's going to be hunky dory.

Speaker 3 (02:05:54):
Yeah, it's not even about the timeline he's playing in
talking about Pat Mahomes. He's going to play and probably
i'd say within the first six games. I wouldn't be
surprised if he came back. But now, how it is
he playing when he comes back. Is not an arm injury,
It's not a shoulder and an elbow anything like that.
But if he gets hit there, he will get hit.
He'll be probably wearing a brace.

Speaker 2 (02:06:15):
And a lot of padding.

Speaker 3 (02:06:17):
And I mean quarterbacks can play. Heck, he probably could
have played. Will hurt?

Speaker 1 (02:06:22):
I bet, I bet he doesn't do his a little
shimmy thing on the sideline.

Speaker 3 (02:06:27):
That's where it could very easily affect him dramatically. Instead
of avoiding hits and gaining six yards when it's third
and five, he's gonna avoid hits and throw the ball
away because I don't think he's going to be able
to get have that get off and have that quick
first step and be able to I mean he's he's
out running defensive players enough to get out of bounds
and avoid the hit or to tease them with I'm

(02:06:48):
going to get out of bounds. So you think, yeah,
I think Travis returns. I think Aaron Rodgers returns. Kirk
Cousins will land somewhere. He'll be a backup quarterback somewhere,
and again his backup quarterbacks go. He's really good option.
I just would prefer him three games are less.

Speaker 2 (02:07:03):
That's that's all. Like Davis Mills or Kirk Cousins go.

Speaker 3 (02:07:06):
Kirk Cousins is gonna make more money than Davis next year,
so I'll take Davis.

Speaker 2 (02:07:10):
Don't say anything about the money.

Speaker 1 (02:07:13):
Who would I rather have, Well, okay, CJ's out, you've
got to start one of them.

Speaker 2 (02:07:16):
I'd rather have Kirk Cousins. Yeah, see, I need you
didn't hate him that much.

Speaker 3 (02:07:20):
I would make me ladic. It would make me mad
when he goes out there and leads them to a
twenty one to three league with one hundred and eighty
yards passing three touchdowns, and then they can't even kick
a field all the rest of the game because he's
playing so poorly. And then the last ditch effort to
save the game, he throws his first pick. So you
leave the game and you look at the numbers. He's

(02:07:40):
got two hundred and forty two yards, he threw three touchdowns,
he completed seventy two percent of his passes, and he.

Speaker 2 (02:07:45):
Only had the one turnover.

Speaker 3 (02:07:47):
Yeah, but what happened between what they were doing so
well for thirty minutes and then they couldn't do anything
for the other thirty minutes. If his team is up
after at the half, then he's gonna have a terrible
second half, or the reverse is going to happen. But
either way, sixty good consecutive minutes of football on one
in afternoon or evening didn't happen very often.

Speaker 2 (02:08:04):
Yeah, you got Kirk.

Speaker 1 (02:08:05):
Last segment about how I was talking about Titus Howard
very upset. This is how now you know how I
feel when you talk about Kirk Cousins like he's dog
bleep the wait you talk about him, he's a backup level. Currently,
Cousins to the quarterback position greater than Titus Howard to
any offensive line position.

Speaker 2 (02:08:25):
You're gonna put him in that Sunday.

Speaker 3 (02:08:26):
Well, I'll leave it with what I said last segment.
I believe Titus Howard would have a spot among the
five starting linemen for every NFL team, even the Kirk
Cousins would not.

Speaker 1 (02:08:37):
I guess I shouldn't say I should go the other direction,
even the Chiefs. You got, hey, you gotta protect that knee.
He just had it resurgically repaired. We're putting you in there.
We are completely confident in your ability to keep it
from happening again for Patrick Mahomes, go Titus Titus Howard.

Speaker 6 (02:08:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:08:57):
Again, We'll have this conversation again down the road. Titus
Howard and tay Erceri are the I'm most confident, like
ndred percent, they're going to be starting on the Texans
offensive line next year. I still feel confident that they're
gonna get a deal done with Ed Ingram. I do
believe they're going to draft a player that has a
chance and probably should be in position as a top

(02:09:17):
seventy five pick to win the job, because he's just
better than who they have at one of the other
offensive interior offensive line spots, and then now it comes
down to which player did they also add in either
free agency or the draft. If it's a tackle and
Titus Howard starts at the guard opposite ed Ingram.

Speaker 2 (02:09:34):
If it's a guard, then he starts.

Speaker 3 (02:09:36):
At the same position he should have finished the year
at right tackle, or did with the Trent Brown injury.

Speaker 1 (02:09:41):
So in your perfect scenario, he's the starting right tackle
and doesn't move. It's not perfect. I would have said that.

Speaker 3 (02:09:48):
I would have said that for sure before I watched
Titus Howard on the interior last year. He's played on
the interior prior to twenty twenty five. I did not
think he played well. I thought they were playing in
numbers that's backed that up, and just flat out watch.
I just did not think that was a a great
spot for him, and I thought it ultimately meant they
were dramatically overpaying for him. They're giving him tackle money
to begin with, and now he's playing at a not
the level you need at guard. And to be fair,

(02:10:10):
but he played at both spots last year enough and
at a high enough level in this very same offense
they're gonna have next year, same coaching staff, same oc.
I don't care where he plays next year. I think
he's a plus player at both spots.

Speaker 1 (02:10:24):
Now, to be fair, I'm freely admitting that that aforementioned
tackle money is probably jading my opinion of him overall.

Speaker 3 (02:10:32):
Yeah, he makes he It was probably for what he
has accomplished, and for you to our description of him
is to be real. We don't ever think, man, he
got jobbed. How was he not selected to All Pro?
Or how is he not given consideration? I don't think
that's inaccurate. I don't think he's played at a level
that warrants that kind of consideration. But he plays at
a level that he's a plus offensive lineman. And if

(02:10:53):
you only if you had zero All Pro caliber players,
players that get zero Pro Bowl votes, zero All Pro votes,
but they're all above average, you probably have a good
offensive line, and then specific you can then figure out
what is the best way to make it happen. I
wish they didn't have to go that route. And that's
your point. Why are you trying to make it work?
You're great players, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:11:17):
I mean it sounds like I hate Titus Howard. What
I'm really saying is, go get me an elite offensive line.
So we can be a badass football team on that side,
just can't do five spots at once.

Speaker 3 (02:11:26):
Why not draft draft an elite level player this year
and play them alongside Titus Howard and Tayersary and then
get another elite level player.

Speaker 1 (02:11:35):
You can rehaul your offensive or overhaul your offensive line.
And one offseason the Chiefs did and they won a
Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (02:11:41):
They drafted two players who have been awesome in one draft.
The Texans are lucky when they get one offensive line.

Speaker 2 (02:11:48):
Regime is going to do it this time. Sure you are.

Speaker 1 (02:11:53):
Quick updates since we're almost to March, which means it's
spring break season, right and then before you know it,
our ten months summer will be around the corner.

Speaker 2 (02:12:04):
So it's basically always vacation.

Speaker 1 (02:12:06):
Season here in Houston, and people go places, and right
now people are like, well, should I go to Mexico
because of you know, the cartel situation down there? What
if I were to tell you that during the break
I came across an article this I can't believe.

Speaker 2 (02:12:26):
This is our lives, this is real life.

Speaker 1 (02:12:29):
So this guy El Mencho, the cartel kingpin that was
killed by Mexican army forces, I believe.

Speaker 2 (02:12:38):
Apparently, Yeah, that's the one. Bless you.

Speaker 1 (02:12:44):
It was the Mexican military deployed special forces. And remember
how they found him, right, don't know how they found him.
They found him because they followed or were tipped off
to his lover. He was with a female. Okay, like
a lot of the other guys like this have been caught,

(02:13:06):
like the movies and in real life. What if I
were to tell you that during the break, I came
across an article highlighting whether or not some social media
influencer who has three point five million followers on Instagram.
They're trying to debate whether or not she's the one

(02:13:26):
that he was with. What do you want How do
I answer that, Yes, it happened. Do I believe that
you came across an article like that? Yes, I believe
that it happens. OnlyFans model denies she's girlfriend who led
cops to Elmentho after Ai Pick showed them together.

Speaker 3 (02:13:43):
Do you have the name of this OnlyFans model that
I've definitely never heard of or seen?

Speaker 1 (02:13:47):
Uh, Maria Julissa Okay correct, three point five million followers
on Instagram. I want to make it absolutely clear I
have nothing to do with that situation. I take her
at her word listen AI as it pertains the sports
or just in general.

Speaker 2 (02:14:07):
I mean all these I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (02:14:10):
This is why I keep saying Terminator is going to happen,
and that video, No it's not, man, because all it
takes is what Just yesterday I got duped on social media.

Speaker 2 (02:14:22):
No you didn't. Yeah I did. Uh huh you effort.
You knew it all along.

Speaker 1 (02:14:26):
No, I doubled triple down because I wanted it to
be I want this to be true, so let me
have what they have this exactly. Some guy was like,
you're a complete idiot, and I was like your mom
with your fourteen followers.

Speaker 2 (02:14:37):
Always the way. I didn't say that.

Speaker 1 (02:14:39):
I just thought a winning comeback twenty eighteen me would
have actually written it out. But no, like it just
reminds me like AI can apparently be really good, even
though there's some people that think, oh, it's going to
replace other of our jobs, including this one.

Speaker 3 (02:14:56):
But like I think, guaranteed human right, that's what human
right here at iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (02:15:03):
Or you can do it like the lady that does
it on all the podcasts that I listened to.

Speaker 3 (02:15:07):
Guaranteed you come mad, well, I would be even better
if it was a generated voice.

Speaker 2 (02:15:12):
Then it would kind of would into what we're talking about,
would be.

Speaker 1 (02:15:17):
But I do think that since I know you're such
a fan of the franchise, this is just again why
I keep saying what I've said a long long time.
Skynett Terminator, come with me if you want to live
all of it's happening in real life.

Speaker 2 (02:15:31):
Soon?

Speaker 12 (02:15:32):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (02:15:32):
By the way, soon?

Speaker 1 (02:15:33):
Isn't the year in the in Terminator two? Isn't it
coming up? Isn't it like twenty twenty nine?

Speaker 2 (02:15:37):
Wasn't that the date? I don't know, you're all dead?
Mercy starts screaming, you're.

Speaker 1 (02:15:44):
I mean what we need to play that sometime just
to shock our audience. Sarah Connor screaming that we're all
dead because Skynett took over.

Speaker 2 (02:15:52):
It's all good. I just feel like it's gonna happen,
and I don't know how to feel about it, cause
again like, okay, are we gonna see another?

Speaker 3 (02:16:01):
What are you gonna do about it? That's more like, well,
here's how you know how to feel about it.

Speaker 2 (02:16:06):
What are you gonna do about it?

Speaker 1 (02:16:07):
Well, we already know there's not gonna be a baseball
season next year, which has little to do with AI. No,
it has a lot to do with it. That's one
last year that we're gonna have before AI kills us
all in order for the champions season. Yeah, yeah, right,
we already have limited chances. Now you're taking one away
because you can't get your act together owners and players.

(02:16:28):
Probably it's we are not having a season next year.
More likely to happen what you've been talking about this
whole segment. Or a baseball season in twenty twenty seven. Yes, well, no,
not gonna have. I thought you were gonna say a
baseball strike. No, that's the season. I don't want to strike.
I want to see the strike. Then we all die. Okay,
because of terminator, I think we'll be all right. Are

(02:16:52):
you gonna watch the USA Hockey team star in their
cameo appearance at.

Speaker 2 (02:16:59):
The State of the Union tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:17:01):
They'll be seated somewhere and he'll recognize them.

Speaker 2 (02:17:04):
I think so they've already been in the Oval office.

Speaker 3 (02:17:07):
Now, in the old days, that my answer would be yes,
and that every channel would have it, and that's it.
We would have our six channels and it would be
on all of them. Think, oh, now I have options yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:17:18):
You can watch freaking Top Gun Maverick for the eighty
third time with.

Speaker 6 (02:17:22):
I did that?

Speaker 3 (02:17:23):
Will you keep saying that because you do it? I
have I have a cable television. I have a satellite provider.
This is what I have movie channels. You pay for controls.

Speaker 1 (02:17:34):
I get to watch movies with no commercial in those remotes.
I want to show what you look like. Come on,
give me one watch this. Here's the remote control.

Speaker 6 (02:17:43):
Right.

Speaker 1 (02:17:43):
You're sitting there, you're scrolling. It's getting late, you should
go to bed, and you're like, oh, look, Top Gun
Maverick with commercials on T and T boom.

Speaker 3 (02:17:53):
I don't even go through those channels. Uh huh, it's
five oh one to five fifty six. Whatever's there. If
it's good, I'm there. Or I hit the ESPN family
of networks.

Speaker 2 (02:18:05):
How many?

Speaker 1 (02:18:06):
I mean the four right next to each other. We're
you and News. Oh my gosh, News is the only
one that does what it used to do.

Speaker 3 (02:18:14):
Occasionally I'll make it into say, well, are they running
a marathon? I'll paramount marathon with Yellowstone. Maybe I'll catch that, Okay, maybe,
I mean way down the line. I'll probably end up
on Bravo is there a below deck marathon going on,
maybe a little southern charms.

Speaker 2 (02:18:30):
Why don't you just.

Speaker 1 (02:18:30):
Come over to the house and sit on the couch
next to Teresa, who's like, I have so much laundry
to get done. Well, then stop watching stupid Andy for
three hours straight when he comes on him As soon
as he comes on, that's when it's that's you're done.

Speaker 3 (02:18:45):
I don't ever watch what happens next because he's now
on TV. He's very in but I'm just not interested
in having all them talk about it.

Speaker 2 (02:18:53):
It's not fun.

Speaker 1 (02:18:54):
But the people you're watching on the shows then come
on his set to talk about the shows. I would
think you would like. But it's not scripted like reality shows.
So that's what you enjoyed most, the obvious script Oh
it's so obvious.

Speaker 2 (02:19:07):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (02:19:07):
They didn't get mad at each other. We need to
make them more mad. Let's get these people together because
they definitely hate each other. But I can't believe anything
happened here. Why don't we send them all on a vacation.
They haven't had nearly enough alcohol yet.

Speaker 1 (02:19:19):
She had me watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills once
upon a time, And who is the one that owns
all the restaurants, the really rich one. They're all rich
because their husbands do things. But who's the one that
actually has money. I don't know, the Beverly Hills. She
has the British accent. Pump Vander Pump, least Vanner Pump.

(02:19:40):
You're talking about how it's all scripted, and then all
of a sudden, magically, because of this friction, she's like.

Speaker 2 (02:19:45):
I'm out. I'm not on the show anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:19:47):
That's real, because why would she leave this show that
gives her so much money to spend on her restaurants?
Good question? You really watched that stuff? I mean occasionally,
like you can't find time to watch movies that you
need to see without commercials.

Speaker 3 (02:20:01):
You want to a goat a couple of minutes before
this extremely important segment comes to a conclusion.

Speaker 2 (02:20:06):
This is the best segment of the show today.

Speaker 3 (02:20:07):
Are there two movies, just two that you know I
haven't seen and you know I'm missing out And it
ticks you off that it's been as long as it's
been since they've been out and I still haven't seen them.

Speaker 2 (02:20:22):
Well, you took care of Tombstone. Took care of Tombstone.
Took care of training day. Yeah, the Ethan Hawk movie.
I saw that. Stop it. He's not the one that
won the Academy for his role in that film. He
also lived.

Speaker 1 (02:20:34):
I'm sorry I'm having to expose you to this, but
this is this is real. I can't think of there's
like there's that. Okay, so there's one that always comes up.
Take your time. Doesn't have to happen today. I just
want you to watch a movie without commercials for once.
I will probably not respond to that anymore. I thought
I took care of that already. That's not something that
I do. I'm not sure how that I have done

(02:20:56):
it before. That's not not a goal not a usual currents. Well,
so the Team USA did visit don Donnie t in
the Oval office. And who's the goalie that made all
the stops except for the one he had? I took
a picture with what I don't I really don't know
his name. These are Canadian hockey players. I don't know

(02:21:18):
who they are, or in this case, American hockey players.
You go, they play in a Canadian game?

Speaker 2 (02:21:23):
Hella Buck? Yeah, that guy.

Speaker 1 (02:21:27):
They they were taking photos and Halibuck took a picture
with the crest of the Secretary of Defense.

Speaker 2 (02:21:33):
You know, get it, Hazy, there's secretary of defense. Because
he built a wall around the goal.

Speaker 1 (02:21:41):
He made some great saves, great paddle saves, over forty
by my count. Yes, it does make me want to
watch hockey, and it does make me want Houston to
get a team. And I don't want to just keep
talking about it or following that NHL the Houston Twitter account.

Speaker 2 (02:21:56):
Come on, man, let's get this done. Tillman, do I
have to talk to Patrick about this?

Speaker 3 (02:22:00):
Wouldn't hurt. I don't want the WNBA, and I shut
it all together. Where were the Olympics Milan? And who
is there with them? In Milan?

Speaker 2 (02:22:11):
At the Olympics, he was posting photos.

Speaker 3 (02:22:13):
He was very with them, very much involved as they
ascended to the throne of the Olympics.

Speaker 1 (02:22:18):
Probably had to get his jones on since he can't
own the rockets while he's an ambassador.

Speaker 3 (02:22:23):
We'll give you a line on the tickets we have
to give away. This hour will do that giveaway. Of course,
in the final hour of the show. We'll always hit
you with in case you missed it halfway home in
the final hour that is next.

Speaker 2 (02:22:37):
Don't have the final.

Speaker 3 (02:22:37):
Segment of the show fifteen minutes out. We got a
pair of Godsmack tickets. They're on the Rise of the
Rock World Tour twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (02:22:46):
Yeah, be stp and.

Speaker 3 (02:22:49):
Dorothy be part of that show. May thirtieth, Woodland's Pavilion
will give you all the dats on that. You'll have
some information. You'll need to answer a question the final
segment of the show so you can win those tickets
coming up in fifteen minutes.

Speaker 2 (02:23:02):
But it is time for a case. You missed it today.
Less of us, more of you, Josh, What do we
have today? Hold on, Josh, what you got? Just kidding?

Speaker 1 (02:23:11):
John Weeks extended by the forty nine ers yet another
year he could have been playing in Houston.

Speaker 2 (02:23:17):
Stupid Texans.

Speaker 1 (02:23:18):
I'll say this, hey, Nick Assario, you wanted the best
player available at that position, right you had him?

Speaker 2 (02:23:25):
Is you right there on your team?

Speaker 3 (02:23:26):
So what did you not like about? I dare you
to tell me who the Texans long snapper was last
year because he wasn't John Weeks in person? Yes, I
would agree. John Weeks legendary Texan.

Speaker 1 (02:23:39):
You're gonna sit here and tell me now that the
numbers tell you that whoever they had one numbers, the
number was zero long snapping statistics that you're gonna give
me the only law for the Texans that it was
better in Houston that it was in San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (02:23:55):
It's the best part about long snapper. The numbers are
very simple. Did you screw up or not? Did he
catch the ball? Did you snap it?

Speaker 1 (02:24:03):
Well, that's it, okay, So I'm glad you said that. Like,
who's snap Let's put our Nick Cassario hat on. He's
looking at the analytics, he's looking at the numbers, and
he's saying to myself, you know, someone could not screw
up less than John Weeks, who never screwed up.

Speaker 2 (02:24:20):
Go that's what he said.

Speaker 3 (02:24:22):
Now, there are some teams that do think there's something
to be gained by having a long snapper who can
also run and tackle.

Speaker 2 (02:24:31):
He's a gunner or he's a a gunner.

Speaker 3 (02:24:33):
He's someone who can give you a little bit more
as one of the eleven players on the field.

Speaker 1 (02:24:38):
By the way, FRANKI or Brett, could you pull this
so I can send it directly to John because he's
got to laugh his ass off when he sees this.

Speaker 2 (02:24:43):
No, I'm just telling you what they think.

Speaker 3 (02:24:45):
You've heard me before saying I think that's utterly ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (02:24:49):
It is utterly ridiculous, almost as utterly ridiculous as saying,
you know what, we're good, go ahead, move on.

Speaker 3 (02:24:56):
You're you're literally only talking about punts because you don't
need your long snapper to do anything else on a
field goal. If he's involved in the play additionally to snapping,
then somebody else has probably screwed up, or he did
have a bad snap and you got to chase somebody down,
or you've called a fake name?

Speaker 2 (02:25:13):
How many times?

Speaker 1 (02:25:13):
On one hand, that happened with John Weeks in his
fifty years as being the long snapper as a Texan.

Speaker 3 (02:25:18):
So I'll leave it at this. The Texans long snapper
last year was excellent. Austin Brinklan was great. They didn't
have any issues. Obviously, both of their kickers, the punter
and the kicker had good seasons. Part of that is
their connection. Part of that is the snapping. They had
good years. The counter to that is what I had
said for all the years that Weeks was here. You

(02:25:39):
have it, you don't have to guess, just keep doing
it until he tells you, or there's visual physical evidence
that he could no longer do it. Then that's when
you move on. It costs you the exact same amount
of money. I don't know if people realize the range
from the lowest paid long snapper to the highest paid

(02:25:59):
long snapper is nothing. It's virtually nothing.

Speaker 2 (02:26:03):
In the end. I'm gonna write the forward for his
book someday. I can't wait. But good for John Weeks.
I forget which team it was.

Speaker 3 (02:26:11):
Some thirty eight year old long snapper signed for like
the eighteenth season earlier this offseason. So they're doing it
the way the Texas did it for a number of years,
and it sucks as a long snapper because most of
the time you're on a one year deal.

Speaker 1 (02:26:24):
By the way, no one wants to live in California.
He could have steadier in Texas. No state income decks.

Speaker 3 (02:26:30):
Hopefully the girls in America will enjoy waking growing up
in California as much as they initially enjoyed growing up
here in Houston.

Speaker 1 (02:26:39):
Well, let's face it, he's not really playing in San Francisco.
He's playing in Palo Alto or San Jose or wherever
that place is next to the power plant that keeps
degenerating George Kittle's soft tissue.

Speaker 2 (02:26:52):
Yep, the substation. I hopefully won't get the week. I
miss you, John, I miss you very badly. Now are
we done? Go ahead? All right, Josh? What do you got? Okay?
This is this has kind of a ripple effect. This
is why I'm bringing this up.

Speaker 12 (02:27:05):
Kyle Pitts gets franchise tagged by the Falcons, right, but
that also limits the amount of tight ends. I'd like
to see the Texans upgrade at tight end. So David Najoku,
Isaiah likely, those are the guys that are out there
they might have a chance at I just I know
you have Dalton Schultz, but you're getting almost nothing from
your other tight ends. I know they have Brevin Jordan
on their contract, but show me when he's healthy.

Speaker 3 (02:27:26):
So are you suggesting as an addition to Dalton Schultz
or as a replacement for Dalton Schultz?

Speaker 2 (02:27:33):
It depends on which guy you go with.

Speaker 12 (02:27:34):
Likely he's much younger, and Dadjokhu's an older player, and
Schultz is only under contract for one more year, So
it depends on which way they go. I just like
to see them get c. J. Stroud some targets, you know,
mid level of the field stuff where he doesn't have
to push it down the field as much a bigger
body receiver.

Speaker 2 (02:27:49):
I think that would help them out tremendously.

Speaker 3 (02:27:51):
Yeah, I don't disagree about the quality of talent that
they could use at the tight end position. It is
to me a little bit like Titus Howard. Schultz is
a an extension candidate like Howard. If you want to
get a player that's better than him, Okay, but now,
how does that help your team? Because how much better
can that player really be? Just production wise? We mentioned

(02:28:13):
it the other day. He was six in the NFL
and yards receiving among tight ends. Unfortunately, he had very
few yards receiving in their final game.

Speaker 2 (02:28:19):
Of the season.

Speaker 3 (02:28:21):
I think that position needs to be upgraded. I doubt
it is without Dalton Schultz being a part of it,
and I think likely and the Djoku unless Joku's just
looking to maybe he's so soured by playing his NFL
football life in Cleveland, He's okay with not going and
breaking the bank. He just wants to make sure I
don't end up there. I think both of those two

(02:28:42):
players could be big winners in contracts in free agency,
which likely means they're not coming here.

Speaker 2 (02:28:49):
Do you look at Dalton Schultz the way I look
at Titus Howard.

Speaker 3 (02:28:52):
Well, that's why I kind of comped the situations like
it's not bad, but it could be really really good. Right,
But how we like, who are the better? Who are
the best better tight ends than Dalton Schultz? And how
do you acquire them? How did those teams acquire them? Well,
are you going to commit that much money to the
position or have you committed a draft pick to that position?

Speaker 1 (02:29:11):
You would I think in this case it's probably more
likely draft because if you are that good at that
position and you're established, well, you're probably one of the
big money players in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (02:29:22):
So just remind me, because it's been so long, I've
already forgotten. The Super Bowl just got played. Who were
the two tight ends and how would they rate if
they were Texans? A second year guy to Michigan, aj Barner.
Barner's just in the end zone. He was there, he
caught a touchdown. And Hunter Henry, who was in the
free agent class originally with or two years ago when

(02:29:44):
they extended Dalton Schultz with that three year, thirty six
million dollar deal. Henry was signed by the Patriots that
very same offseason. Is there really any difference between how
you know, did they do it more, did they commit
more to it? Did they care more? Hunter made less money,
a lot less money. He's perfectly fine there. I mean,
you could probably save money. But now you're taking a
chance on a new player, a new offense.

Speaker 2 (02:30:06):
A new offensive line.

Speaker 3 (02:30:08):
Dalton Schultz is going to be the Texans lead tight
end next year, and I do think they'll address it
free agency, but not kind of like the running back,
probably not with a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (02:30:17):
And they'll still be playing six offensive line.

Speaker 3 (02:30:19):
I'm sure Luke Lache will be in their number two
tight end twenty twenty five seventh round pick. Look at
your recall on that year, Stover, Jordan, Leche, and Schultz.

Speaker 2 (02:30:32):
I'm rooting for Brevin Jordan. You should.

Speaker 3 (02:30:34):
He He's a unique player. It can be helpful in
more ways than just that. But yeah, Kyle Pitts, we
figured that would be the route. I'm not sure what
Baltimore's offense will look like moving forward with all the
changes they've made, and Isaiah, Likelely probably is, has earned
a number one role, which I'm sure is what he's
looking for. We talked a little bit about Bresall and
some quarterbacks beyond Kirk Cousins this offseason, changing addresses will

(02:30:59):
giveaway tickets and hit on that next Here on.

Speaker 9 (02:31:01):
The eighteen, the eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (02:31:09):
Let's hit.

Speaker 1 (02:31:11):
Final segment of a Tuesday edition of the program Sports
Talk seven ninety quex tell the beautiful boys and girls
out there what we are giving away tickets to again,
So is this the Rod Roddy job that I'm doing?
Is that what we did? First of all, if this
was Rod Roddy, then the music selection would be very different.
But yeah, it would be. And if I were Bob

(02:31:35):
tell them what they won, he wouldn't say it like that.

Speaker 2 (02:31:39):
We got a pair of tickets.

Speaker 3 (02:31:39):
See Godsmack, I told you was the rise of the
Rock World Tour twenty twenty six. I also told you
sold tuple Pilots and Dorothy were performing with them. It's
May thirtieth. It's at the Woodlands Pavilion. Tickets are on
sale right now at ticketmaster dot com. Should you not
win them here, we'd love to have you out there
if you want to purchase your own, but we'd also
love for you to be listeners of the show and
when the tickets here with us. We asked you a

(02:32:01):
question pertaining to a conversation we had here on the
airwaves on today's episode of the eight Team. Recently, we
had this conversation seven one three two one two five
seven ninety If you know the answer to the simple question,
and you will know the answer because you were listening.

Speaker 1 (02:32:15):
And we also want to remind you to help control
the pet population. Have your pet spader neuter whatever. No,
we were talking last segment. As a matter of fact,
there's your first hint about a long time Texan who
just got extended by another team and the fact that
his stats are clean as a whistle. He just does
not screw up in his role with that new team,

(02:32:37):
and he didn't screw up with his role here in Houston.
Just got another contract, another year of employment in what
Bracos Whiler would refer to as the National Football League.
Who was that player? Seven one three two one two
five seven ninety seven one three two one two five
seven ninety You give the answer to Josh, you're going.

Speaker 2 (02:32:55):
To the show with the tickets.

Speaker 1 (02:32:59):
Yeah, yesterday we were talking about that article that Jason
Stark wrote about the ABS system.

Speaker 2 (02:33:06):
Actually, that's like saying ATM.

Speaker 3 (02:33:08):
Machine automated ball strike system is correct ABS system. But
don't you think they're using the S twice for two
different words. Automated teller machine machine, that's different. I still
feel like I'm it's redundant. I thought about that yesterday
because I was typing it up somewhere and I thought,
what you thought.

Speaker 2 (02:33:28):
You automatically think it's system for the S, but but
it's not.

Speaker 1 (02:33:32):
Um. Then we were watching on Instagram while I was
watching on Instagram, and you were like, Ala that, like
you always do a challenge in a spring training game
today And it was incregiously obvious this was.

Speaker 2 (02:33:48):
It wasn't just a strike.

Speaker 1 (02:33:49):
It was like it wasn't right down the middle, it
was just due south. Yes, right down the middle. If
I'm not mistaken. This is the fourth pitch of the game.
So it was in the first inning. That's better, and
it caught all of the plate.

Speaker 3 (02:33:59):
And it was very obviously like the catcher got up
out of his stance with a you know, kind of
the excitement of I know, we got that pitch and
was gonna fire it back to he's and he immediately
goes up to he basically didn't even break his his
momentum from rising up to throw the ball. His hand
just kept going up to his hat and then he
threw it back to the pitcher. He knew the ball
was going to be changed to a strike, and it was.

Speaker 1 (02:34:21):
By the way, you know, the best part of all
this that we have not even like touched the surface
of what's the best part When this happens at Dyke
and Park, that means we get more Bob Ford, your attention, please,
this dumb ass call is being challenged.

Speaker 6 (02:34:36):
Now.

Speaker 3 (02:34:37):
When you visualize it on a strike, they don't give
you any other additional information. It's just right there in
the pink strike zone. On a pitch that is out
of the strike zone, they note how far out of
the zone it is, or if it is on the fringe,
you'll see the ball like catching the corner of the
of the strike zone, so you'll see how much of

(02:34:58):
it was there, like paper thin mark djins. But if
it's not a paper thin margin, they will also indicate
by one point two inches this call was not a strike.
And now we have to it was correctly called or
it was incorrectly called. Just where the ball came in
teams will be a lot more judicious during the regular season,
I believe, But on calls like the one we're actually

(02:35:18):
referencing here, there isn't any If you're the catcher I
think can be that confident on that particular call. You're
not wasting the challenge. You're getting the call right. You're
putting your pitcher in an one situation instead of one. Oh,
you're putting your picture in an O two situation instead
of say, one to one. It's of great significance. How
many times have you said that about in it bat
the last golden era of Astros baseball? Man, that is

(02:35:41):
so awful. Jake Myers is up there and it should
be two oh. Jose Altuve should be looking at a
two to oh pitch now, and instead he's missed both
calls and it's O two, which you might not have
even challenged anyway. I would hope that with the thread
of the challenge, couldn't this tighten up their ability to
get this right more often? Shouldn't they be better because

(02:36:02):
of the pressure of what if they can be made
to look bad by missing as often? You're right, I'm
I'm probably just kind of guessing that the mental side
of it is going to fix this problem, which is
probably probably not pressure, probably not at all. First home
game is their first game of the season on the
twenty sixth of March. Presume that the battery is Hunter

(02:36:24):
Brown and yer das so YANR. Diaz will most likely
get the first challenge for the Astros. Maybe it's not
Opening Day though.

Speaker 1 (02:36:33):
Well, I mean, I don't I don't doubt it's going
to be. I disagree with that. I think opening day
we're going to have our first challenge. It's not going
to take long. I mean this, These are major league umpires.
They are brutal. The only worst officials in all of
sports are NBA referees.

Speaker 2 (02:36:53):
Everything seemed fine last night, yeah, because they were down
thirty in the first five seconds.

Speaker 6 (02:36:59):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (02:37:00):
Well yeah, but like, what was the NBA? What were
the officials going to do last night?

Speaker 6 (02:37:04):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (02:37:05):
Could you stop turning the ball over? They did have
to talk to the fans on the multiple challenges that
were made in the game. Who's the crew chief last night?

Speaker 3 (02:37:14):
Again, Tony Brothers, Oh, that's right, you know for you,
I know this is you. You're a scoreboard watcher right
post All Star Breaks? Scoreboard watcher?

Speaker 2 (02:37:22):
Sure, and standings watcher.

Speaker 3 (02:37:24):
One game separates the Rockets.

Speaker 1 (02:37:28):
And the Nuggets, and the Rockets Lakers in to that
third seed last night.

Speaker 2 (02:37:33):
And the Timberwolves.

Speaker 3 (02:37:34):
They're the same number of games over five hundreds, and
the Nuggets are fourteen. Nuggets have played two more games,
so the one in one mark in those two games
leaves them percentage points behind Houston. On tap tonight, Phoenix,
who's in seventh and will be playing many weeks moving
forward without Dylan Brooks. They they're hosting the Celtics, the

(02:37:54):
Wolves are at the Blazers.

Speaker 2 (02:37:57):
Celtics, Gon spank the Suns.

Speaker 3 (02:37:58):
And the Lakers are hosting the Magic. What was the
game you just said before the Lakers game?

Speaker 1 (02:38:03):
Minnesota is at the Blazers.

Speaker 2 (02:38:06):
Ooh, that's a good game. That's a sneaky good game.

Speaker 3 (02:38:08):
Actually, I mean it kind of is only in what
Minnesota just put out there in their most recent game,
though it was played without Rudy Gobert, and these Sixers
shot fifty two percent overall, fifty seven percent on threes
and clubbed them in. Minnesota beat him one hundred and
thirty five to one oh eight without Joel Embiid. But

(02:38:30):
it shows you even though I treat Rudy Gobert like
Kirk Cousins, you really do. It does matter that you
have a rim protector and he your drive to the
basket and you keep on dribbling right back out of
the pay because he's standing there.

Speaker 1 (02:38:44):
Do have him until he gets another flagrant foul and
gets suspended again.

Speaker 2 (02:38:48):
That is also true.

Speaker 1 (02:38:49):
How does that guy get that many flagrant fouls because
he's just towering over peoples. He can't control himself, I
mean physically, not most no, especially around microphones. But if
you're the Lakers and you don't uh, I don't want
to say annihilate, Yes, I'll say it. If you don't
annihilate the magic, you really are bad the magic we're

(02:39:11):
supposed to be.

Speaker 2 (02:39:12):
Ooh, look they got Desmond Bane. They suck well. They're
playing without arguably their best player.

Speaker 1 (02:39:17):
Sometimes I wonder with front Yeah, but what would the
Rockets be like if they were able to get Palo
Bancaro's talents.

Speaker 2 (02:39:23):
I don't know nothing, because I think it sucks too.

Speaker 3 (02:39:26):
I think that's the sound effect I made yesterday when
we were talking about it.

Speaker 2 (02:39:29):
Such an empty, hollow stat guy.

Speaker 1 (02:39:30):
He's just, unfortunately for the team that drafts the number
one overall. He's like, that's it. He's just stat patting
to get stupid records. What a pathetic attention seeking you
know what.

Speaker 2 (02:39:41):
Well, he is available tonight along with the other two
super song defenders of the Lakers. Yeah, good luck Lakers.

Speaker 3 (02:39:47):
All right, Well, got a nightcap coming your way next.
We look forward to visiting with you again tomorrow, probably
a little bit more on what was said at the
combine into Day two and more from what really needs
to actually get get done by the Texans at the
combine and putting together to their draft board to replace
all their mid players.

Speaker 2 (02:40:07):
We'll do it tomorrow, starting it too