Texans' keys to victory over Colts, Rockets-Suns preview, Josh Allen hate

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's straight up two o'clock on a Monday edition of
The A Team, It's Sports Talk seven ninetyx Ac and
Josh Jordan with you as we are on an abridged
week We're taking you to Thanksgiving, We're taking you to
Colts v. Texans. We're doing some leftovers from Thursday night.
We're certainly recapping what happened yesterday as Week twelve continued

(00:25):
around the NFL, and we'll get you ready for that
Titanic matchup that is suddenly looking sexier and sexier with
each passing week, and a lot other a lot of
other things to get to here on a Monday edition
of the show.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
It was a crazy, busy weekend. It was some.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Highs, some lows. Rockets took a tough one on the
chin on Friday night. They're back in action tonight. Well
whoever's going to be suiting up for them, because it
won't be Kevin Durant, And we'll get to all of that,
but yeah, it was a crazy weekend. Once again, I
love this time of year and I love this week
because I think for the first time in a long time,

(01:05):
meaning since the beginning of the season, I'm not saying
I'm coming around. But I feel like after maybe watching
what happened yesterday between the Colts and the Chiefs and
thinking about I was just picturing, you know, they've got
that twenty to nine lead, and I'm picturing the Texans
defense now again they've got to get the lead with

(01:27):
whatever is going to be their offense.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hopefully it's c J. Stroud, hopefully he's back.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
But I'm thinking about what the Texans defense would have
been doing in that situation against the chief or against
the Colts on the road. I guess I could talk
about the Chiefs two since that's the next two opponents
back to back, both on the road. But it was
a very interesting scene unfolding there at Arrowhead Stadium because
I do think, and I have said for a long time,

(01:52):
this Texans defense is super Bowl caliber. If CJ comes
back and he's healthy, and that offensive line holds up
the way it did, just just say, let's just say
it's like they did on Thursday night against the Bills.
I realize it's a different team that they're playing and
all that kind of stuff. Why can't they go to
Indianapolis and beat a Chiefs or a Cults team that

(02:14):
honestly looks pretty underwhelming.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
You stop Jonathan Taylor, you stop the Colts. Yeah, it's
pretty simple formula. It's definitely played out. They win half
their games when he doesn't go off. They win all
their games when he does one hundred and twenty yards
or one hundred ten yards of offense or more from him.
He's done that six times. They're six and zero in
the other games they aren't. They are a totally different
team when they're totally reliant on Daniel Jones to do something.

(02:38):
It looks a lot more like the Daniel Jones that
everybody remembers. The incredibly hot start they got off to
is definitely a thing of the past. And all those
things coming together for Daniel Jones in that offense to
go three and out one, two, three, four consecutive times
to end that game. That includes in overtime when they
took the ball first and went three and out and

(02:59):
made things in incredibly easy on the Kansas City Chiefs
from that point on. But just means everybody that was
in the race for the postseason remained in the race
for the postseason. The teams immediately behind the Texans when
you went into the week, both one and one of
them by doing so technically passed you. You got to
six and five before they did. But then they got

(03:20):
to six and five yesterday talking about the Ravens, and
in doing so, with the Steelers losing without Aaron Rodgers,
they moved into first place in their division. So the
Ravens are inside the playoff picture. The six and five
Chiefs are behind you. The seven and four Jaguars, who
obviously figured out how to somehow outscore the opponents while
playing bad football yet again, and Trevor Lawrence at the

(03:42):
center of that bunch of seven and four teams. The Texans,
at some point this season will play them all. They've
played two of them already, twice against Jacksonville and once
against Buffalo. They have the Chargers remaining on their schedule.
These six and five Steelers technically are still ahead of Houston,
as they were when the week began at six and four,
but at six and five they actually hold currently a

(04:04):
tiebreaker that would slide them into the eighth spot. So
all the work the Texans did on Thursday night helped
watch them drop in the standings to number nine. That's
how close things are. All of these teams in the race,
for the most part, are looking like they're desperate and
they know how important these wins are. The division is
absolutely still available to the Texans. It's absolutely still available

(04:27):
to freaking Jacksonville. If the Texans beat the Colts next
week and the Jacksonville Jaguar somehow managed to do what
every team in the NFL other than the Cardinals have
done and beat the Titans, a tiebreaker will actually have
Jacksonville in first place when we get into Week fourteen
of the NFL season. That's how close things still are.
Texans have just two division games remaining. They're both against

(04:49):
the Colts. They bookend the rest of the schedule. They
are in Indianapolis on Sunday, don't have a game time
yet for the finale. Things could very very easily work
out where that is the last game of the NFL
regular season, because it could determine who wins the AFC South. Specifically,
if the Texans win that game this weekend, that would

(05:10):
very very possibly be on the table. Jacksonville schedules pretty easy.
Half their games are against the Titans and Jets. The
other half are losable for them. A heck, any game
for Jacksonville is Losable, but into all of those games
we will travel, especially since the Texans did not have
a game this weekend. But we did just talk to
Demico Ryan's first question about c J. Stroud, will you

(05:30):
start this weekend? He is not out of concussion protocol.
Jalen Peatrie is not out of concussion protocol. My understanding
is this is merely how the concussion protocol works. It's
not a comment on whether or not he'll be available
for Sunday's start, which he will make when he is ready.
That was added by Demico Ryans not that it needed
to be, but he must have thought that it did,

(05:52):
so he said it. I do think the practice they
hold whenever, that is, if there is a practice today,
normally there would not be. I don't know that that's
something they might hold specifically so when they get on
the field Wednesday, there aren't any limitations. But potentially that's
the last hurdle to pass. I don't think there are
actually any medical protocol hurdles for CJ to pass, other

(06:16):
than when you finish your second practice and you practice
in full and you report no symptoms, you're cleared. That's
likely what's about to happen. We're just a couple days
away from it.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
If this were a Thursday night game, that would be
alarm bells going off, right.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
But that's why last week he didn't play.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Honestly, I think there was a possibility he could have
played in Sunday's game if it were scheduled on Sunday.
But they have not had any practices since Tuesday, so
if they had had a Sunday game, they would have
had a practice Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. They only had
one on field practice last week instead of the normal three,
so I do think that limited him, literally limited him

(06:53):
from taking part in the protocol clearing practices because they
did not exist. So I do think that's one reason
why I got on the field last week to help
move it along this week. But we don't, you know,
usually we talked to Demiko on a Monday after a game.
Now we talked to Dimiko for a first time this week,
without a game, but without a practice either. Dimiko, Ryan's Bunn,

(07:15):
b c Jay, and both all of their foundations took
part an event over the weekend, which CJ was there for.
I think, if nothing else and the fact that he
was on the field on Thursday night, Jamiko had to
say what was accurate. As of Monday at little after
one o'clock when we spoke to him about an hour ago,
he had not cleared the concussion protocol. I have no

(07:36):
reason to believe that this will be in any way
limiting him from starting on Sunday. He will practice in
full later this week, and he will start on Sunday
for the Texans, barring some sort of unforeseen setback.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, that's how I'm approaching it.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I think that's how the Texans are probably approaching it.
But like you said, protocol more than anything else, not concussion,
but rather how you present the facts of what's happening
right now with the situation is probably why Demko said
what he did. But basically, I mean, I guess when

(08:07):
I was looking at the Colts schedule and I was
seeing them rack up all these wins, and we do
this all the time, and sometimes it's accurate and sometimes
it's not because you fight.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Let me look at the Textans schedule.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
They were zero three out of the gate each passing
week that goes by, including last night. That Rams loss
looks quote better. I know you hate to hear that.
I know some people don't like to look at it
that way, but and I know it's not college, but
those three games they lost, if you take away the
Jacksonville won, because it's inexcusable. And I don't know other

(08:38):
than the Cardinals are just stupid. I don't know how
the Jacksonville Jaguars won that game yesterday, and I don't
know how they've won half of their games. They're awful.
They won that game in spite of Trevor Lawrence. And
that's the worst possible non compliment I could pay him.
And that's exactly why I'm saying it. He is terrible,
and every week that goes by, he gets worse. So
that scenario you mentioned where his team would be in

(09:01):
first place, and I say that emphasis on his team
because they're the race. He is absolutely terrible. And it
would be a travesty if the Colts somehow choked away
this division and it went to the Jacksonville Jaguars. I
can't believe the Texans split with them, Honestly, off.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
It'd be tough for the Jaguars not to get to
ten wins. Like I said earlier, they've got the Titans
twice their season, like the Texans and Colts bookend with
the AFC South games. They haven't seen the Titans yet,
so they'll play them this weekend and they'll finish the
season with them. They still have a game left with
the Jets. FYI, it's not justin fields. It's not to
Rod Taylor. They both do suck, but it's their team.

(09:37):
If you can change quarterbacks all you want, they don't
have a good football team. I would be shocked if
they jumped up and won in at Jacksonville in a
couple of weeks. So right there, Jacksonville today has seven wins.
That's three more if they don't fall to one of
the two teams who's very likely going to land the
number one pick in the draft, and then it's just
a matter of what do they do with the other three.
They have the Colts twice. They've only played two division

(10:00):
games so far. Those are the two Texans games, which
they split, and then their other game is on the
road at the Broncos. Obviously, anytime Jacksonville takes the field
technically they could lose. They are that bad even with
seven to four record, but the division race is absolutely on.
With six weeks to go, any of these three teams
could win it. The Texans have to do the most
to ensure they win it. They have to beat the

(10:22):
Colts minimum of once. I think it's almost impossible, but
not mathematically, but almost impossible to win the division if
they don't beat them twice. But that's in front of them.
Colts coming off a loss, Texans coming off a win.
Texans feeling like they've figured some things out, maybe with
the run game or who their best five linemen might be.
All that being said, the Colts are a hard team

(10:43):
to beat, but they are very beatable. They just each
of their losses could easily be wins, and they have
several wins that could easily be losses. They are just
by no means. I don't think the Patriots are either,
and clearly the Broncos aren't either. There are no oh
my god, how are we ever going to beat this team?
Teams in the AFC, despite the fact a couple of
them only have two losses and the Colts only have three.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
I know it's a couple of weeks from now, and
I know that they would still have to score points.
In a lot of senses, It's kind of like the
Texans formula. Although I'm not in any way comparing the
two defenses. But I actually would not be surprised if
the Jets defense harassed Trevor Lawrence enough to where they
squeaked out a win there. They I mean, they shut
down Lamar Jackson yesterday.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
They did a really nice job there, and they still
had no chance to win because their offense is embarrassing.
But the Cardinals did that to Trevor Lawrel Lawrence. The
team turned it over four times, and I think you
can blame Trevor Lawrence for them all since he threw
three picks and fumbled one away.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's probably on him.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
And they still scored twenty seven points and they still
won an overtime, and they still stopped the Cardinals from
tying it or winning it in overtime. So they are
finding a way. And as they said super loudly in
the videos they released from their locker room and super
loudly when they got to the podium with the media,
we're not apologizing for losses. Good philosophy, don't apologize for it.

(12:02):
But we still see them for who they are despite
their record.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, so a lot of leftovers to get too, so
to speak, but there is fresh, fresh reactions from Demico
Ryance today.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
We'll hear from him when we come back. It is
the A team.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
It's four socks, seven to ninety. It's a Monday edition
of the program.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Wex a c.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Josh Jordan with you as we get into nearly post
week twelve action. There is one more game tonight, Ye
have any desire? I mean I'm asking the wrong person.
Panthers forty nine ers Zach gets you going tonight?

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, it should get Panthers fans going considering they might
be battling with Teddy Bridgewater for the division championship.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
That's so crazy to me.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Now we have the same number of wins as the
Bucks as we sit here today, and we don't know
the status of Baker moving forward. It's a non throwing shoulder,
but it's obviously very painful for him. If you were
watching last night. Also find out what the Niners might
actually be with this quarterback. We know what they are
with Mac Jones. They pretty much beat everybody but Houston,
and we'll see what they look like with Brock Purty.
A little bit healthier team obviously Kittle's return for the

(13:04):
last couple of weeks and getting Purty back now maybe
for the rest of the season, as he continues, I mean,
maybe this is a legitimate contender. We'll find out, because
much like the AFC, outside of the Rams, you could
make a case for everybody else that they're the next
best team and on any given Sunday they're the seventh
best team.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Like the Eagles yesterday, Oh my gosh, nobody wanted to
win that game.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
In the fourth quarter. The Cowboys did. Nuhuh, they didn't. No,
they kept giving the ball away too. Oh.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
I thought their comeback was in the fourth quarter. It was, Uh,
they just did.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Listen, I'm saying, neither team wanted to win that game,
but the Cowboys finally were able to take advantage of
the Eagles trying to give it to them, even more
so than they had all day long. Have you stopped
Sakwon Barkley? Apparently you can stop the Eagles this year
or make him fumble? Yeah, I mean, that's basically what
it comes down to. I mean, he didn't do a

(13:59):
whole lot obviously offensively running the football. I should say,
but you know, you don't fumble the football, and I
don't know that that happens. The bigger fumble just for
where it was was the special teams fumble inside the
ten yard line and the Cowboys didn't even do anything
with it when they got there, Cowboys did that was
a season saving type of game, got them to five hundred. Obviously,
it turned everybody into is this a bigger deal for

(14:21):
the Cowboys or is this a bigger deal against the Eagles.
Let's discuss. We can get into that if you want
neither team's winning the NFC this year.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
I mean, if you think that the Rams are unbeatable,
then that's fair. If you don't, then it's a fair
game for everybody.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Well, if either one of those teams right now would
be going to Los Angeles to play the Rams right.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Arguably one of the least powerful home field advantages in
the NFL, they won't have their crowd, And that's correct.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
And I just don't think that either one of those teams.
I realized. I give the Cowboys offense all the credit
in the world. And again yesterday, Dak Prescott is awesome.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I think he gets entirely too much credit.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
I or a criticism, I should say, like most quarterbacks
do in the NFL. But I just yesterday was a
day where I'm like, see these are These are some
of the games that I would be defending him over.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
So I I mean, I understand it.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
I understand that he has not shown up when it
counted the most of the postseason, and so in that way,
he's he's kind of like a Donovan Mitchell type or
any number of quarterbacks in the past, just in that franchise,
by the way, that you could compare him to. But
and yeah, by the way, the four downs where they
did nothing with it is what I was talking about
when I said neither team wanted to win. I mean,

(15:38):
kick the field goal, man, it's fourth down, Just kick it,
take the points.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
I guess it's fourth down. It wasn't fourth and inches.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
And both teams did that at different times, deciding to,
you know, go that route. I mean, you can take
a three point lead with three and a half or
what three and a half minutes to go? I guess
three thirty eight, neighborhood of h I want.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
To take a touchdown. You're inside the red zone. Granted, the.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
Cowboys have one of the best offense in the NFL.
The Texans have one of the worst off or back
half of the NFL offenses.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
It's very different. Every team's different.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Their head coach is in oc I mean, I think
there's a lot of reasons why you should go for it.
I'd feel pretty good about it as long as you
don't throw it to Stonehands.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Which one.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
The guy who dropped all the balls yesterday, He's been
doing it all year. It's amazing how good he really
truly is. And yet it's got to be his worst
year for drops. Talking about Ceedee Lamb, it's awful. I mean,
it's killing their drives all the time. But it's hard
to do what they did yesterday. Down three touchdowns, three possessions,
three touchdowns for the Eagles, and they lost. Cowboys came

(16:43):
back and outscored in twenty four nothing the rest.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Of the way.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
That's to say, that's the kind of stuff the Cowboys
have been doing in recent seasons. So yeah, that was
that was crazy back here in Houston. Jamiko Ryans meeting
with the media today. We'll get the short one out
of the way first, just simply because this was five
seconds about his team's discipline on the defensive side of

(17:06):
the football.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, we are doing a better job of being more
disciplined than where we started the season. We can still
be even better.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
I guess it doesn't like me very much.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
I heard the question that was asked, and I heard
who it was you, and he hated you with that answer.
It's the shortest when he gave yes, it was stupid, Cranberry.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
I mean, you're we're.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Gonna talk to him again, presumably for those that are
still going to media veils on Wednesday, even though it's
the day before Thanksgiving. But asking that question today at
astring for you.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Why? Because he should have given you more.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Oh, it's okay, but you know what's funny about him
coming out of the Bills game is more specific to
why I asked it. Maybe if there was more from
I don't like to give him a question after sitting
there listening to me the thirty forty five seconds to
get the question out. I usually just get to the
question because we're not there for me, we're there for him.
But I guess I could have had more context that

(18:01):
the reason why they were so good against Josh Allen
is because they weren't undisciplined.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
They were disciplined. This is what the play calls were.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
This is your rush lane, stay here, force him to
do something that he can't do.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
If he wants to.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
Go up in the pocket, even wants to climb in
the pocket, Well, our tackles are going to be sitting there.
If he wants to try to escape to the backside,
well one of whichever direction he's going, the edge rusher's
going to be there. And they were. They ran one
stunt and I'll give Kirk hurt Street credit. He said
it immediately during the broadcast and he was right. There's
nothing wrong with that play call truly from a defensive standpoint,

(18:36):
what coach Burke wants to happen.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
It worked.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
Will Anderson came free, ran a stunt, but he came
up free up the middle, which left the edge open
and Alan immediately ran into the open space and was
able to create from there. There's certain things that you
can be successful at. From an end of it, I
want this guy to get in clean. Well he did,
but that's not what you want against the Buffalo Bills.

(18:59):
That's not what you want. Again, it's Josh Allen and
they really never did it the rest of the game.
So that was some of the discipline that I was
talking about, and he agreed, they've been doing a better job.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
Well, and again we appreciate that you didn't drone on
for forty five seconds with your question, because that is
absolutely obnoxious. But yeah, what I took from that five
second SoundBite, I mean, we could get better.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Really, that's terrifying.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
I mean, that's the same thing I think I said
this about the game they beat Buffalo in a year ago,
when Josh Allen went nine for thirty and you kicked
a fifty nine yard field goal as the time expired
to beat them because they still had twenty points on
the board. They still had nineteen points on the board. Now, granted,
seven of those nineteen came while Josh Allen and Will

(19:43):
Anderson Junior were both on the sidelines because I was
the kick return plus pat. So your defense did an
even better job this time, even though his numbers weren't
quite as bad. They had four hundred yards of offense
basically except you took seventy back on those sacks that
you had. You did, like we said it Friday, they
could play a better game. They're probably not going to

(20:05):
play a better game against a competent offense like Buffalo.
It's just hard to do. I mean, the Chiefs have
a competent offense. The Colts have a competent offense. The
Raiders don't, although I don't know what the Raiders are
going to look like now because they called Chip Kelly
to kick Rocks, you know, the guy that some people
wanted the Texans to hire as their new OC. He
lasted almost one season with Pete Carroll as their OC,

(20:29):
but they fired him after last night's embarrassing performance. There
are few offenses the Texans still face that are competent.
I don't know how much better they can play than
what they did on Thursday.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
We'll save Demico's thoughts for the Colts offense for a
little bit later in the show. But since you brought
that up here at the tail end of the segment,
how much of that was a function of he was
offensively coordinating for the awful Raiders.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
I think it's part of it. But that's your job.
I mean, this is what you have to work with.
They're getting worse every week.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
When you say that, it reminds me of some of
the conversations we would have about Nick Cayley. This is
what you have to work with. It seems like it's
getting worse every week. Didn't seem like it to me.
It's actually I mean, obviously you're not talking about more recently. Earlier,
I didn't think it was getting worse. I think he
was still trying to figure out, well, what am I
supposed to do? And then he would probably knock on
Popovich's off and say, dude, WT, you know what letters next?

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Brother?

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Next game is the twelfth game. It's the thirteenth week
of the season. I think there's a chance, small chance
that after all these other football games, the Texans might
know who their best five offensive linemen are.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Maybe there's a chance it's a long dress rehearsal.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
What the heck? I mean, they have no clue. I
mean they're starting guys off the practice squad one week.
Trent Brown's been on the sidelines all season. Titus Howard,
there's only five spots on the offensive line. He only
has two left to start this year, and he's only
played ten times. Let's see, he started at three of
the five spots already. I mean, I credit them for

(22:04):
trying something, because clearly they felt they could play better
at that position. And they got a couple of teams
during this three game winning streak that are not very
good rushing the passer, that are not very good upfront
and maybe they found something. Now can they do that
against much better teams upfront, many of whom they still
have to see how you feel.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
About Indianapolis's upfront defense going into this game, because that's
all I care about right now.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Not having Buckner's is nice, that's it. That's helpful.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
I'm telling you this has the makings of that little
magical run that you were hinting at when I.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Was saying a couple of weeks ago, I said, if
they go six and two to finish over their final eight,
I guarantee they will make the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
They haven't lost since there. It's just it's crazy to
think about. All right, we will speaking of crazy, and
that is the key operative word. Best of X is next,
and our favorite non Houston sports subject when it comes
to grow friends of much older head coaches is next.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Did you all see this?

Speaker 5 (23:06):
We should be putting out between five and fifteen posts, a.

Speaker 6 (23:09):
Four hundred people were arrested for things that they said
on social media.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
History repeats itself type and you'll succeed.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Never doubt that you're the one.

Speaker 6 (23:20):
Who pers for no one, Bill believe you're the best
of X.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Nothing's gonna ever top.

Speaker 5 (23:27):
You know you're the.

Speaker 7 (23:28):
Best of it.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Posting every single day, you know you're the.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
Best of X, breaking the entire Internet. This is a
bit of a two parter. I was not aware WEX
that at some point early on the powers that be
at North Carolina had strongly encouraged Jordan Hudson, the much

(23:59):
younger girlfriend of Tarhels head coach Bill Belichick, that she
needed to kind of simme it down, not say as much,
not be as vocal on social media, for example, not
be around.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
As much because she's a distraction.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
And I also hadn't realized that even though she's still
been a topic throughout this campaign, she has kind of
done that.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Then I guess.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Pablo Torre, who, by the way, he just decided to
become a total investigative journalist instead of hosting bad shows
on ESPN. When did that happen? Was he always a
journalist like this investigative variety?

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Well, he just realized there's a lot of public records
requests you.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Can make and was to go make them. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
No, I found a topic that people find salacious enough
to continue to dig in more and more. He keeps
feeding them, and then he keeps filling up their plates
and they keep eating it.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Well, I'll tell you this much about Pablo Torre. I'm
not a huge fan, at least of his TV persona.
I like this version of Pablo Tori. I mean, he's
doing real work.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
He is just I just kind of cold.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
He's doing real work on a head coach and his girlfriend. Well,
but that's real work. That's and even like I didn't
say anything, but I will now like I don't. I
don't get it. How is his girlfriend a distraction to
what they're not?

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Four and seven?

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Because he has a twenty four year old girlfriend, that's
probably somewhat fair.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Like she has nothing to do with why he's bad
at the first year of his college football job at
North Carolina. Absolutely positively, she's a distraction to him personally.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Not to the point that I think it has anything
to do with why they keep losing football games.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
They have bad talent, and I assure it with that.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
I agree with that, and I think it's worse talent
than they had a year ago with mac Brown.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Is her not being in the picture worth a winner? Two?

Speaker 3 (26:02):
No, it's not worth anything. It's not worth a winner too.
It's not worth a loss or to it's worth nothing.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
Well, Pablo torre Is brought up because he reported that
she was not welcome at UNC facilities. He suggested that
those associated with the university grew tired of the negative
attention and that they stepped in to put an end
to the drama that you don't think is there.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Apparently drama for everybody else in the We don't like
that she's doing this, and I'm the ad and I'm
trying to do that and I'm the president.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Man, it's a distraction to them.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
I mean, if you think it's a distraction to Bill
or any of the players or any of the coaches,
that's something else.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Because that's a byproduct, because it matters.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
I don't care if she is somehow a distraction to
the University of North Carolina operationally. It doesn't have anything
to do with the football program at all or the
play of their team in any way. If you think
Bill is not focused and like maybe if he spent
a little bit more time watching Duke's possible field goal
opportunities instead of cheering on his cheerleader co ed cheerleader

(27:05):
girlfriend during the week adult, then maybe he would have
snuffed that out. I'm of course, that's a stupid thing
to say. One has nothing to do with the other.
He didn't spend less time on Duke so he could
hang out and then, oh man, if we'd coached harder,
we would have seen that coming. But yes, the relationship
between Bill and Jordan and Jordan and Pablo has definitely
been something for months now. I know you have one

(27:26):
item because it's more recent. I never got to this.
Last week, Pablo Tory finds out named one of the
best shows and best episodes of twenty twenty five by
Apple Podcasts, and he posted that on his x feed
and said, couldn't have done it without all you sickohs.
And it got reposted by at Jordan Bella, that's Jordan Hudson,

(27:50):
and she posted you're welcome now, oddly in that we're
supposed to believe she's very savvy and social media savvy.
She replied to it initially and said you're welcome, and
realized after the fact, well, that's not going to get
any engagement at all. That's just buried in the replies
that nobody's ever going to see. So then immediately after that,

(28:11):
she quote tweeted it like you're supposed to do and
said you're welcome, and it got six million views.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
That's a bigger farm. That's which to farm engagement.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
Come on, I'll get with the program, Jordan. But she
has since also re engaged with Pablo I understand.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, well, I'll get to that in just a second.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
But the university itself had put out a denial of
the report that Pablo Torri said, while Jordan Hudson is
not an employee at the university or Carolina Athletics, she's
welcome to the facilities. She'll continue to manage all activities
related to coach Belichick's personal brand outside of his responsibilities
for the football program in the university.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Tory stood by his reporting.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Blah blah blah, and then it got spicy, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
She posted.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
A picture of her all access pass with her name
on it.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
That's a big no no.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
By the way, you're not supposed to Actually, a lot
of times we have been told this.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
I know you have. I know I have blur out
your credential.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
If you happen to take a picture at like say
the Rockets facilities.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Bigger the event, the more they care about your credential
being put out there.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Especially if it's postseason.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Blur this out for various reasons, or you know, flip
your credential round or just take it off all together.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
For the game day field pass or a game day
all access pass, or a pass for recruiting his family,
that's kind of a little less important.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, but this is a permanent all access has the
little badge on it has her name on it, and
she's holding it up with a necklace that had a
pendant with the name with the word band on it.
I can't imagine she's had that for a long long time.
What's it representative of? Well, that she was supposedly banned
from the of course, I thought you meant she was

(30:01):
in one. And she didn't put a caption other than
to say, PS, I'm suing you at PS toy with
the little heart fingers emoji.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
Are you aware that basically as this segment began, she
also took to the X platform. No, this is where
you come in. Well, she has posted in the last
ten minutes in reference to Pablo's May twelfth post, you
mentioned something about let's see what was he talking about?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Listener, enjoy this.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
It's not all I'm not really sure why she chose
this to respond with, But I think this is all
about why we're North Carolina, people wanting her to back
off a little bit, be less visible, do fewer things,
stop being around so much, stop being overbearing, whatever terminology
they felt was necessary or felt like she was doing
too much of, while all they thought they did was

(30:57):
hire a very established NFL and successful head coach, and
in fact they had done something else because he had
someone attached to him. She posted a screen cap of
a text she had or a I should say an
ig direct message she had with somebody that works inside
the North Carolina football program, their chief of staff or

(31:18):
personnel so works on the football side. She actually, I
actually know who she is because she used to work
here in Houston.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
She used to work for the Cougars, but.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
She works in the personnel department for the Bill Belichick
tar Heels. And it was just a friendly Hey, I'm
working on this list and putting together birthdays for everyone
in the staff directory and family directory. What's yours? And
is there an email so I can put it on file?
She said, oh great, here's this and that and here
you go. So as if you're trying to tell me,
they don't want me a part of the program and

(31:48):
to stay in the background and just pipe down versus Well,
it seems the other way. They're perfectly fine with me
being around and they want to celebrate the day of
my birth. And if they need to get a hold
of me now they now they can put me in
the old directory.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
I how long does this last?

Speaker 3 (32:06):
It's all about the football the Jordan relationship. Like you're
asking two different questions.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
I'm asking about the relationship because in light of his
daughter in law's just absolutely exploding on her, which was
the second part of the two parts that I just
never got to because there's too much on this first part.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
I can't imagine it lasts that much long.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, if this is where you are at the North
Carolina side, the football side, that seemed irrelevant to the relationship.
But if people close to Belichick and I would call
family members daughters very close to Bill Belichick, daughter in
law married to Steve, his son in law DC uh, Yeah,
I would think that's more likely to help end the relationship.

(32:46):
If people close to Bill tried to tell him, dude,
come on, man, do you not see what we see?
Is this is this working for you? And maybe it
will just create a family issue because he might disagree,
and we're you're asking me question the one of the
most difficult questions ever. How do you think Bill Belichick
feels about this? That's what you just asked me. How

(33:07):
would we ever know how Bill feels about anybody anything.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Maybe somebody should ask him at the press conference for
a football event.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Well, he'll have a few more.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
They still have another time on the field before they
drop their eighth game in twelve.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
All right, Kevin Durant is out tonight. We'll touch on
that when we come back. Talk seven ninety AC Josh
Jordan with you, taking you up until six o'clock tonight,
much much later tonight, although not as late as Wednesday
night's game. West Coast game suck eight thirty tip time

(33:41):
tonight for the Rockets the Suns.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
It's the reunion game.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Kevin Durant, Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, they're all getting together again.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Just kidding.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Kevin Durant out as he is going to be tending
to a family matter tonight and Wednesday night gonna lie.
When I first saw the news, I didn't do what
a lot of people on social media did, which is
totally make jackasses out of themselves, but I did think
that sucks. I want to see him play his last

(34:12):
basically two teams. I know Brooklyn happened in there somewhere,
but I don't really think about that. This was a
This would be his first game back in Phoenix. It
would obviously not be you know, Jalen Green taking part
either because of his hamstring injury. But I really wanted
to see him play against the Warriors. I wanted to
see the Rockets have full strength for the most part

(34:33):
play against the Golden State Warriors, and that's just not
gonna be the case. Now.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Is the least successful stop in the NBA Phoenix yep, Well,
he lost a lot.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Means the least to him and should mean the least
to their fans, and it has nothing to do with
why he's not playing, even though it worked out where.
Both of these two games are the two that we're
aware of. The Rockets have not made any announcement other
than the injury report is listed for this game and
he is listed as out for personal reasons. Jay Shaun
Tait is also listed as out for personal reasons. Steven

(35:03):
Adams questionable. He was available the other night when he
was listed in the same capacity. So we shall see
exactly who they have out there, and they may or
may not have a couple of two way players back
because of some of these absences.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
But hopefully it's nothing too serious.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Hopefully everything works out in a positive way for whatever
matter he is dealing to dealing with. But these will
be the first games the Rockets will play without him
since his acquisition. Obviously it means a whole lot of
change for what they're going to try to do on
any given night. I think the Rockets found out a
little bit about what if a team tries to keep
Durrant from beating us, because Denver did that. There's no

(35:40):
question about how much the effort they put into making
sure that he wasn't going to beat them, not only
with how he impacted the game with his own scoring,
but it's just his ability to handle a basketball and
kind of run the offense through him.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
They were blitzing him throughout.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
He had to get rid of the ball a lot
more than I think he normally would have, and I
think the shots that he ultimately attempted were as difficult.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
And he's so awesome.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
They've just been going in so awesome so many times
this year. You might not even notice, but I said
it during the broadcast. I thought they did an incredible job,
and I think Peyton Watson is definitely one of the
players who deserves a ton of credit for it.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
He was on him as much as anybody.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
And this all happened without Aaron Gordon, who left the
game a little over three minutes into it and he's
probably not going to be back for another five to
six weeks because of the reaggravation of the hamstring. But
it's the same thing that some teams have set about
the Rockets over a long span, both in the era
where they were flirting with winning the West and now
the current era with ema Udoka's roster. It's great that

(36:35):
Denver was able to do that. Well, Denver has the
personnel to do that. The Rockets have had that set
about them many many times. Well, it's great you have
a formula for beating this team because you're the Rockets. Well,
you have the players to execute that game plan. Not
every team, I don't think is going to be able
to execute that type of defensive game plan against Durant
and the Rockets. And unfortunately, Phoenix won't have to either

(36:57):
because he won't be out there, But more pressure on him,
in pressure on Alprin Shangoon, and you run down the roster,
more pressure on everybody to try to figure out how
to generate offense without Fred van Vliet, without Jalen Green,
without Dylan Brooks, and without Kevin Durant.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well, and you mentioned the way they defended Kevin Durant,
and I'm not saying that the way they defended Shan
Gun didn't have something to do with it. But he
had his worst game in like two plus years the
other night. It just was awful. He was turning the
ball over, he was missing shots, he was nearly airballing
shots that he was settling for at times.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
By the way, as bad as Jokic probably is regarded
as a defender because.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
It had a great job. He's huge. Because he's big, Exactly.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
It's hard to do some of the things that Alpi
likes to do unless he's beating him off the dribble,
unless he's getting around him, and that can't That was
difficult to do.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
I'll tell you this, you know how, you know how
last season I think I told you this when I
saw that the Thunder got Alex Caruso.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
I was like, oh, I don't like that, because I
know what he does.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Valentunis is a great acquisition for the Denver Nuggets. It's
a lot like the Rockets. We're gonna bring this big
ass dude on the floor who's just gonna body you
up and use his fouls. And oh, by the way,
he's also effective offensively in spurts.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
He's very Steven Adams for them in that way.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Look at us talking about the Denver Nuggets having a
good roster and putting a team together.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
I wonder why they're twelve and four.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Yeah, like this, this is a good basketball team, A
really really good team in any other year would be
among the three or four teams you're talking about constantly.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
This team's gonna win a title. I mean we would
say that.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
I don't know that anybody's gonna beat Oklahoma City, that's
the problem. But they're one of the teams like Houston
that you'd have to if you had to bet on somebody,
Those are two of your best choices.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
How is it that the Thunder and the Rockets played
on opening night, two days before anybody else started playing,
and somehow the thunder have played like five more basketball games.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
They've played eighteen gainst one all of them. Basically, tonight's
opponent has played seventeen games. The Warriors have played eighteen games.
It's gonna hurt when the Rockets catch up. Yeah, and
it's not soon either. The Rockets are only playing game
fifteen tonight. Then they have a day off, they get
to Golden State and they play that game, and then
they have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off. Granted it's Thanksgiving

(39:11):
one of those three days, but three days off in
the middle of the season is not common, so they're
not about to catch up either. And then their next
game is their first back to back up the fourteen.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
They will have the rest of the season good over
the final sixty six games.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah, I think they should still win this game tonight.
As a matter of fact, I think they should win
Wednesday night because I think they're that good. But it's
not going to be as easy without a walking decoy,
at the very least in Kevin Durant.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
But we shall see.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
It'll come on later on tonight and you'll hear it
right here on your home for Rockets Basketball Sports Talk
at seven to ninety.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
We'll take a quick time out.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Come right back, reset, get into the simulcast and hear
from Demiico Ryans. It's a Monday edition of the A
Team Thanksgiving Week Monday edition of the A Team Sports
seven to ninety Space City Home Network.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Hello, TV Land, WEX over there, AC right here.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Josh Jordan is our producer as we take you up
until six o'clock tonight. A lot of the first hour
talking about what went on in week twelve after the
Texans took care of Josh Allen and company.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
By the way, I was a little upset.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
I thought for sure the Texans defense would have the
most sacks in a game this weekend, and it took
like two whole days, three whole days for that to
go away.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Yeah, a team had more than that. They had ten.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
A player had the same number of pressures as Will
Anderson Junior. Also over the weekend, two different teams defenses
had had some pretty impressive performances over the last couple
of days. It was very helpful in one case that
the team that had ten sacks was the team defending
an awful outfit got their oc fired, and that was

(40:49):
Shedeur Sanders. Team that was Miles Garrett adding sacks sixteen,
seventeen and eighteen.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
He's being wasted.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
His tally just wasted, So Diana, he posted something about
the most sacks any player has had through eleven weeks,
or their first eleven games of the season, I should say,
and he's now sitting at eighteen. And the other three
players on it, Mark Gastono, Reggie White.

Speaker 8 (41:14):
And.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
I already forgot Michael Strahan, No specifically, not straight hand,
because being the record holder, you would think, well, of
course he's up there, but he's not. But I was
looking over all of their respective seasons, and it's likely
that he will do what they have done before him
and get to this ungodly total.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
He's five, right. They all have losing records, every one
of them. Crazy straighthand losing record. Reggie.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Oh, it was just those two. I didn't forget anybody.
Strayhan's team had a losing record. Reggie White's team had
a losing record, although you have to afford for a
caveat to that it was nineteen eighty seven. What happened
in nineteen eighty seven in the NFL A strike scabs
He only played eleven games that year or twelve games.
He didn't miss any games, but he wasn't asked to

(42:01):
play in all of the games because he was in
the Union, and didn't play in three of those games.
So his season is ridiculously remarkable. And then obviously the
player who has the actual sack record at twenty two
and a half is who you mentioned, Michael Strahan. He
was sitting at fifteen and a half through eleven games.
He added those seven sacks over the remainder of the season.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
Well, he added six and then Brett laid down for one,
but it's tied with TJ.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Right, didn't he have the tie? If he did, I
did not note to that.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
I was doing other things with TJ Watt this weekend
on social media, like what like.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
He was playing and his brother was in the booth.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
He had the Steelers game along with the Iron Eagle,
and he went into the end zone and well he
didn't have to go in the end zone, but dunb
Caleb Williams decided to go into the end zone with
the football while he was being chased, so TJ sacked him,
forced a fumble and a teammate landed on it for
a touchdown, and JJ immediately said, well, if you're going
to break my record most sacks in the family, which
he did on that sack, there's not much of a

(42:58):
better way to do it. So I had the you know,
kind of with a Thursday night game. The Wexler research
team is available on a Sunday much more than usual,
so I had him come on, hook me up.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
I need a little information here, and.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
So I quote tweeted the NFL's comment on that and
added some other commentary for JJ and TJ and of
course Derek and I said great stuff from JJ Watt.
Only thing that could have been cooler was if Williams
held onto the ball for the safety, so JJ could
have said, what a way to break my record while

(43:31):
finally joining me and Derek with one career safety.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
That is crazy. He's never had one.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
He's never had a safety. It's crazy error that his
offensive playing brother Derek does have one because he played
special teams and got one in that variety.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
What's Derek doing these days? Ice retired craising a family.
He didn't play that long, did he.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
He probably retired early because of concussions.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Okay, that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
He was a full back and usually made rosters because
he was an awesome special teams play, and maybe he
just felt like that lifestyle of playing a concussion heavy
style of football, maybe it was time to get out
of the game.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
I'll tell you what, that is a hard decision for
any football player to make at that level or any level. Frankly,
I mean, you love the adulation, you love the rush
that comes with playing whatever level of football you're playing,
but especially on Sundays. But then to have two brothers
like that and still decide I'm gonna step away earlier.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
I commend him for that.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Yeah, I don't know if that's all that had to
do with it. Was every year was a you know,
where am I gonna play? And how long is this
deal gonna go? And will I make the team? Because
like I said, he's a top flight special teams perform.
Most teams don't ask much, if anything out of their fullback.
So that was how he was making his living. It's perfectly,
you know, made a good living. He's like the two brothers,
he is raising a family.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Now he's married. Yeah, if you make it to the
NFL level, you probably made at least some money. They
were all there.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
Those guys were both there obviously, TJ was there playing.
Their family was there too.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
So yeah, a lot of Week twelve discussion and there's
plenty more of that, And as a matter of fact,
we'll get into that in the next segment about one
of the teams that beat the Texans in those first
three games. They could easily lay claim to the fact
that they're the best team in the NFL. It's up
for debate. It's all subjective, but they did nothing to
basically dissuade anybody who had that opinion last night. But

(45:16):
as it pertains to the Texans themselves, they've already I mean,
this started I don't know, fifteen minutes after they won
Thursday night, because that's just how Demiko Ryans is. They
were already focused on a colts team that had yet
to play and then did play yesterday and choked the
way a twenty to nine lead at Arrowhead against the
Kansas City Chiefs. And that's going to be the Texans

(45:38):
next opponent. It's going to be at Indianapolis. They have
to play them twice. So the final game of the
regular season here in Houston, as wex mentioned in the
first hour, could very well be flexed into this is
for the AFC Championship.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
Yeah, they basically leave the schedule open those last two
weeks for that specific reason of trying to set up
whatever they can on the Saturday before the season ends. Similarly,
the final weekend, they like to schedule it out. Last
year we got it is. You can't get much better
than what they had. Last year. The Vikings and Lions
played for the number one seed, with the loser drawing
the fifth seed, and obviously it helped the Lions a

(46:15):
great deal. And it goodness, gracious, Minnesota, wake the bleep up.
It ruined their franchise using that game ruined their franchise's
last game, because well, he did play in the playoffs.
They chose somebody else over the guy who won them
fourteen games, and the guy they chose he stinks.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
I don't want to be too mean.

Speaker 3 (46:39):
McCarthy just entered the concussion protocol after their game last night.
He actually took a pretty bad face first, helmet first
into the turf, hit very late in that game, and
then beyond that. Before today, when Kevin O'Connell, their coach, spoke,
he had been suffering some symptoms, so he's the concussion
protocol very unlikely.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
He plays.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Carson Wentz, his season already ended after he replaced McCarthy.
They're probably going with Max Brosmer for their starter moving forward.
So I don't know what their season is going to
end up looking like. Not good, but they're already four
and seven. Yeah, and that was the choice they made.
They made the draft pick. Obviously he missed the whole year,
and then they decided even though Donald played at this level,

(47:17):
we've already drafted him. I mean, the decision making process
at its core doesn't seem all that different from what
the Falcons did, except I'm talking from the outside. They're
making this decision from the inside. They watched Michael Pennock
Junior and Kirk Cousins practice all the time. The Vikings watched,
you know, Sam Donald and JJ McCarthy practice some remember

(47:39):
he was hurt all of Donald's year. But they made
a bad decision. That's just all there is to it.
Their team is not going to look the same whenever.
If ever, McCarthy plays good football. He just played an
entire NFL game yesterday and had eighty seven yards passing.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
He stinks, that's but that was the last game that
Sam Darnald played in front Vikings faithful.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Wasn't that in front of their fans?

Speaker 9 (48:02):
Was that?

Speaker 3 (48:03):
I don't even remember that finale was at home? If
he was the fifth seed, he has a record if
they had the best record of wildcard teams, so they
won't remember if it was they were on the road. No,
the playoff game was on the road in LA that
very hard to win, SOFI Stadium, as we established earlier.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
But what you were saying about the finale in the
regular season, I don't remember where they played that game.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
And Darnold was doing good things.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
I'm surprised yesterday's went over the Titans wasn't a little
bit more lopsided. I feel like they they put enough
gas in the car to drive them to victory, but
didn't really keep their foot on the gas throughout the entire.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
National team's touchdown, although it still would have gone over
without that.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I think I.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Finished thirty to twenty four quick math in my head
the over under was forty and a half, So yes,
that didn't push hate the Titans. But what this get
gets to basically, but looking at all these scenarios, Yeah,
I think that if if the Texans and Colts are
the only two teams in it, and that means we'd
have to eliminate the Jaguars somehow.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
Then.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
Yeah, I think there's a really good chance because because
the Patriots Division probably hasn't decided in the last week,
the Rams Division probably hasn't decided on the last week.
We'll see about the Eagles even after yesterday's loss. There's
a few other divisions that are still close. But I
think if that is a possibility, then that's what we'll see.
It does kind of start with Sunday, though. If the
Texans lose to the Colts on Sunday, the Colts moved

(49:19):
to nine and three and the Texans are six and
six with five games to go, you do not have
the tiebreaker, and your three wins behind them makes it
very difficult to catch them. Not impossible, but very difficult.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Let's see what Demiko Ryans has to say about that
very Colts team, specifically the offense. The starts and ends
with Jonathan Taylor, but also has Daniel Jones playing well
at times this year.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
Yeah, for the Colts, you can see they've been a
very explosive offense, like what's powered them this year. I
think Daniel Jones is playing the most productive that he's
played in his career. So Shane has done a good
job of putting him in positions, putting guys around him
to really make the plays he needs to make. So
you have explosive receivers on the outside, the rookie tight

(50:06):
end is doing a good job as well, and then
of course running the football Jonathan Taylor and can't say
enough good things about him as a running back, his balance, power,
the explosiveness, like you have to be able to set
the edge because he can take the explosive run fifty
plus yards and take it to the house. He can
hit cutback lanes right and make you pay. So it's

(50:29):
it's got to take everything we have, you know, defensively,
first and foremost stop in the run, but we know
that's not the only emphasis with this offense. They do
a good job of their play action pass game, like
really time timing it up at the proper time, really
catching a lot of defenses in off guard, and they're
creating a lot of explosives there as well.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
So we're obviously gonna react to what he had to
say there when we come back. You mentioned it it
can be as simple as stopping Jonathan Taylor and you
stop the Colts offense. But I think Daniel Jones is
going to factor into things because of what the Texans do.
And we'll get into that as well as are the
Rams really the best team in football?

Speaker 2 (51:10):
We'll discuss all that next time.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
It is the A Team Sports Talk seven ninety Space
City Home network. You heard from head coach Tamiko Ryans
from earlier today talking about the Colts offense and the
different parts of it that make it so such a chore.
I guess to tackle Daniel Jones might be just follow
me with this. He might be the easiest part of

(51:34):
that offense to contain. When you think about Jonathan Taylor's
at the top.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Of the list. I don't think we would disagree on that.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
But the receivers that they have there were there before
Daniel Jones, and they were not getting the ball to them.
And I realized that's a big part of what has
made this successful is that Daniel Jones has been able
to do that. But the Texans get after the quarterback
like better than anybody not named Denver, depending on what
week you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
Yeah, but they have to make it impact. They didn't
get after Matt Stafford really at all, same defense, same thing.
They you know, maybe they're better now than they were
in game one, but he didn't have any real issue
with their pressure, didn't force him into mistakes, didn't I mean,
maybe a handful of incompletions, but none of none of
the big mistakes. It kept them off the board, and
they scored fourteen points at the late drive in the

(52:19):
first half and similarly in the second half, and then
that was that they kept him off the board, but
they were also kept off of the board to the
tune of nine points. Daniel Jones is definitely benefiting from
Jonathan Taylor. And yesterday Jonathan Taylor didn't do a whole lot.
Kansas City was able with their personnel and with their
very strong defensive mind running things there. They held them

(52:40):
with fifty eight yards his three point six yards per
carry with the second fewest of the season. His sixty
six yards from scrimmage were his second fewest of the season.
And I kind of brought up that magic number of
where you need to keep him if you're going to
beat them. He's had seven games of ninety eight yards
or more yards from scrimmage. They're seven to zero in
those games. He's had four games of less than ninety

(53:01):
eight yards. It's a pretty high number. You average ninety
eight yards for scrimmage all year, you've got roughly a
seventeen hundred yard season, which will put you near the
top of the NFL, if not number one. Well, in
those four games, he's been under ninety eight, they've won once,
and they only win came against the Raiders and they
snuck by them by thirty four points. It didn't even
matter what he did that day, nor did he play

(53:22):
at the end of the game, which kept his number
that low. Loss of the Rams, loss of the Chiefs,
lost to the Steelers, all one score games. So while
this is the way to beat them, the Colts have
lost three times, all winnable games. Obviously, yesterday they had
a twenty nine to nine lead and had the ball
first in overtime before losing Steelers game. They certainly could

(53:46):
have won the Rams game. The best team in the NFL,
if that's the question we're asking, they were in that
game and right to the very end before coming up short.
This is a very hard team to beat, very very clearly.
But the formula is, at least in theory, it's simple.
Make Daniel Jones beat you. He's done that before, but
you don't want to make it easy on him, so

(54:07):
he doesn't have to because Jonathan Taylor, you know, ran
for eighty billion yards against you. Now, Demiko mentioned all
those fifty yard runs.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
He's had them.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
He's had one such run each month, which is troubling
because it's not like, oh, he had a bunch at
the beginning of the year and teams are kind of
figuring it out. No, not really. He's capable of doing
that at any moment. That's what makes him special. When
he gets to the edge or when he finds his
way through the hole, there's nobody left and the outruns everybody.
They've had trouble with him in the past. They've had
a few good games against him in the past, but
for the most part, he's He's had a good deal

(54:38):
of success in these recent meetings because I don't really
care what he did before Demiko and Matt Burke and
Will Anderson arrived because it's not really relevant. But that's
I don't think there's anyone that would say it otherwise.
The key to having a chance to beat the Colts
is forcing Daniel Jones to drop back a lot more,
forcing Daniel Jones into not being able to just turn
around on third and short and hand the ball to Taylor,

(55:01):
which they actually did yesterday in overtime and he got
smashed and they punted to Kansas City went right down
the field and kicked the game winning field goal.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
I yeah, I don't.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
I mean, stopping Jonathan Taylor sounds like it is the
most perplexing chore for any defense in the NFL this season.
And it's a big reason. I mean, you just laid
out the numbers. Is how black and white it really
can be. I this is a defense that I would
argue the Colts haven't seen yet. I mean literally, they

(55:32):
haven't seen them. But the type of defense that the
Texans are gonna bring provided they play that way.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
I mean they just played the player, the only other
NFL player who has a thousand yards rushing, James Cook,
and he had one hundred yard day against the Texans
SI total, right, yeah, combined yards.

Speaker 9 (55:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
But Jonathan Taylor. I think John's trying to say that
they're similar. I think no, no, no, the Texans defense is awesome.
I don't think they're unbelievable stopping the run, even though
they are near the top of the league, like they
are in every category. The Texans are allowing the thirteenth
most yards rushing per play. Their games have featured teams

(56:14):
running the ball less, so they're fifth in the NFL
in yards rushing per game. They average less than allowing
ninety three yards. If they're on either of those numbers
or both, that would be very good. Remember when the
Texans played.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Derrick Henry and basically stonewalled him in a season where
he was being his usual awesome self.

Speaker 3 (56:35):
They did that twice in recent memory with the Titans.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
M Yeah, I remember.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
I feel like it's not all the same personnel, but
as a lot of the same personnel, and I feel
like that could be the recipe for success on Sunday.
They're gonna have to score though, Like this whole the
CJ comes in and it's the same story as it
was before he got concussed. It's not gonna matter what
the defense does because they're just not gonna be able
to score enough.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
Yeah, just take a real look at what they just
did these three weeks. And if you want to add
the fourth game when he came in in relief, Davis Mills,
you can, I think that's a much different situation starting
a game and playing all week and practicing all week
as the starter, versus coming into the game as a backup,
as he did against one of the elite defenses against
the Broncos. So these three games weren't very successful for

(57:23):
three quarters against Jacksonville, weren't very successful for all of
the quarters against Tennessee, and did just enough even though
you did almost nothing in the second half. You had
your field goal to beat Buffalo. It's not like this
offense just started to click. They had fifteen minutes of excellence.
They couldn't be stopped. Jacksonville could not stop them from

(57:44):
scoring touchdowns for twelve and a half minutes, and they
scored three offensive touchdowns and then they got a defensive
touchdown and they had a twenty nine point quarter. Well
that's not really what they were doing for the last
three weeks against defenses that I would consider worse than
the Colts.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Yeah, but if you are able to provide the type
of pocket for CJ that Davis Mills has had in
a large part of these games, even when he wasn't
doing anything with the football, I like your chances. Given
the way the defense is playing right now at its peak.
There's no question. We brought this up immediately Friday. If CJ.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Stroud is his healthy self, hadn't missed any games, not
right back after a concussion, just normal CJ. If he
was their starting quarterback against Buffalo and that was how
he was protected, all other things being equal, they blow
the bills out.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I have no doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (58:36):
He would not have missed as many passes as we're
missed in that game. I brought it up last week
only because it's factual. If people aren't really watching, there's
almost no quarterback in the NFL. I think cam Ward
is now the only one currently starting that is as
inaccurate with his throws as Davis Mills. He's completing less
than sixty percent of his passes, and this day and
age in the NFL, sixty four sixty five is common.

(58:59):
Sixty seven sixty nine to seventy happens. Also, fifty nine
percent of completion rate is get out of here. You
can't play for us anymore.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Numbers.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
It's not Anthony Richardson numbers, but it's bad, which is
what they said. Well, his numbers were below fifty. It's
hard to believe that that was actually happened. Colts are
probably what I would call similar to Buffalo in that
there there's some things they do well, but they're kind
of an average defense.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
I actually thought the Bills were even worse than that.
When they were out there against the Texans, I saw
nothing of value. And I think there's a little bit
more to see with Indianapolis, but they're not a top
ten defense.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
No meaning you can if your defense does what I
think it's capable of doing, you should have a very
good chance to go, even on the road, and win
this football game real quick. In the NFC, I know
that there's this team, there's that team. But what the
Rams did yesterday I think is a big reason why

(59:54):
people are saying, all right, this is the best team
in the NFL right now, I would say it. I mean,
they don't even have the best record, but it's not nobody.
Nobody's looking at New England like, oh yeah, that's the
best team in the NFL, even though their record is indicative.
It's kind of like Kansas City played one more game.
They both only have two losses. Yeah, but this defense

(01:00:15):
and then the fact that he's having I don't know,
his best season as a quarterback in Matthew Stafford's having
his best season in a quarterback as a quarterback since
win probably since he was wearing a Detroit jersey.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
You don't have to say since when. Ever.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
He's having the best season ever of his career. He's
in year eighteen, which is crazy. What is he thirty seven?

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
Yep?

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
I mean, remember what we're saying. Because the Texans had
him and the Rams in the opening game. He's not
practicing today. He's got a back problem. He's still not practicing.
He's still not practicing. He's still not practicing. He basically
went into the season cold and has been insanely successful.
He threw a pick in game two, he threw a
pick in Game three, and he has not thrown a
pick since while throwing twenty seven touchdown passes. That's never

(01:01:04):
happened before the twentyel history. His overall numbers aren't twenty
seven or they are now, Yes, twenty seven and thirty
and two overall because he had a couple of touchdowns quicks.
He hasn't thrown a pick while throwing twenty seven touchdowns
over the last let's see two eight games.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
How many did games hejay finished with his rookie year,
because it was that's what I thought.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
That's insane.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
This is the best season of Matt Stafford's career. I
don't even think it's there's much to debate about. It
just feels like it's quieter than that. They're the best
team in the NFL and he's going to win the
MVP if this continues. I don't know how quiet that is. Well,
maybe because it's not they're not perfect. They're putting up
numbers that feel like they're ungodly offensively.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Maybe I don't know if that has a lot to
do with it. All Right, we'll take a quick time out.
We will talk about another quarterback next. He is not
the best quarterback in the NFL, and some people need
to be told that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Eight teams, Sports Talk seven to ninety Space City Home.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
We mentioned Miles Garrett in the Cleveland Defense a little
bit earlier on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
He's insane. He's a one man wrecking crew.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
Will likely obliterate the single sack single season sack record.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Wasn't he five to tire or pass?

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
He's at eighteen five would give him twenty three. That
would be the record by half a sack.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
With how many games left to play. They have six
games left. How does he not get it?

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
I mean, hopefully you know the answer and that doesn't happen.
But if he plays all these games, he very very
likely will get it. I don't even looked at their schedule.
But I mean, you called him a one man wrecking crew.
What about his Why are you doing his teammates like that?
They had seven sacks?

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Yeah, they have how many as a team in the game?
They had ten?

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
He only had three of them, Like, that's how easy it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Was to get to Gino.

Speaker 7 (01:02:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
The rest of the team had seventy percent. Yeah, I
mean there's ten of them, but exactly ten men. He's uh,
they got an OC fired.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
They did that OC, which is a good I'm glad
you brought that up, Shadu or Sanders, And just to
let you know, I have no dog in this hunt.
I don't care. I think it was I think there
was a lot of hubbub during the draft about the
fact that he was falling. I think it was a
lot of people said some dumb things about it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
It just was what he was.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
He wasn't that good, and it's hard for thirty two
teams to get together and conspire to make a kid
go to the fifth round because of whatever reasons people
were making up.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Yeah, conspiring to make that happen. I agree, totally ridiculous,
silly and nonsense and didn't happen. Giving NFL personnel departments
credit for their ability to evaluate college football quarterbacks, I
probably won't go that far because they're pretty bad at it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
I mean, we're talked about how bad they are at
evaluating offensive lineman here in Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Some teams aren't bad at it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
This team is, Yeah, But in general, evaluating quarterbacks is
still a it's very difficult to do.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
It's not a Chris Ballard problem. It's not name a GM.
It's it's an NFL problem.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
It's hard and nobody's really I mean, there's no code.
A lot of it is the individual. A lot of
it is who they how do they get there, who's
with them at the time, like an OC and a
head coach, what personnel is there at the time. Like
it didn't seem like this was gonna happen for CJ.
It seemed like what was gonna happen to CJ was
what happened to Bryce Young. If you'll afford that, I

(01:04:29):
mean somehow CJ. Stroud came into a situation that was good,
even though the team the prior year was embarrassing. But
most of the time, when you're draft at the top
of the draft and non trade, you're going to a
team that is dysfunctional. Is your coach is getting there
the same time you are. It's brand new to him.
You got a brand new OC or if you don't,
they're about to get fired. And that's what keeps happening

(01:04:50):
with all these other guys like Caleb Williams is in
his second year, right, mm hmm, he's playing for a
second head coach.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
I mean, this is totally common.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
That's one aspect of the whole CJ criticism thing that
actually gets under my skin, maybe more than anything else
that we haven't really talked about. Like you're dogging on
him for the last two well year plus whatever he's
played this year because he's been out the last handful
of games, and you're completely dismissing the fact that he
did do that. He did take them from and I

(01:05:19):
know that he had help, just like Miles Garrett had help.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
Yeah, they flipped their personnel, so ten, Yeah, they flipped
their personnel pretty significantly, and yes, the quarterback change was
the biggest change.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
His season, though as an individual performer was the number
one to ten reasons why that happened.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
And then it happened the very next year with Jayden Daniels.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
Yeah, and he's been hurt, so he has that excuse, right,
But he likes CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
I think benefited from of their some of their other
off season moves, and they were able to give him
at least an opportunity. It didn't mean he was gonna
be great. CJ was great because CJ was great. Jane
Daniels was great because he was great. But it's also
hard to keep them there. Yo Shuder Sanders much later
on pick much less of excitement about what this player

(01:06:04):
might do except for who he is. Like there's no
excitement in Cleveland for what Dylan Gabriel was going to do.
He's just the guy they drafted in the middle of
the draft because they don't have a quarterback because Deshaun
Watson's hurt and can't play very well. Because Kenny Pickett
was traded for even though he's awful, because Joe Flacco
was added because they had nobody else, and then these
this dumb general manager, took two different quarterbacks in the

(01:06:24):
middle too late rounds.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
It's just not a great way to do things.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
So even if you want to afford the fact that
he was very I think I don't want to say
humble because that's not the right word.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
But he was measured in the ladder or.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
The beginning stages, I should say of this interview, all
of that good will as far as how he answered
questions on the field after this win over the freaking Raiders,
I might add, probably went out the window right around
the time he gave this answer right here.

Speaker 10 (01:06:57):
Man, a win is it's amazing. You know, off for
one week of practice, you know what I mean, just
one week of practice. So imagine you know what a
full off season looked like. It get dangerous, But it's
just a one week of practice. So I'm just truly thankful.
You know that everything happened.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
Congratulations or all right?

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
Look that's Tiffany Blackman for those that don't know, formerly
if a sn Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Yeah, and she did a job in the interview, as
she always does.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
She does a great job. But like.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
I love it. I'm sorry, I love everything he said. Okay,
I can't get enough of it. Why, Because it's gonna
be so hilarious. When it doesn't happen, everybody's gonna have
all the ammunition they are dying to have. That's what
most of the media is trying to do. Is hear
us more, give us more? Please, please, I can't wait
for you to fail. Why it's so important for them
for him to fail? For them? I do know there's

(01:07:49):
more than meets the eye. Clearly there's more going on
here with him and Dion and things that they've said
or done.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
I get all that, But he is who he is.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
I said it about Davis freaking I'm gonna say the
same thing about him. He's not acting. This isn't some
bravado he just developed.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
I wouldn't expect who he is. I wouldn't expect him
to say anything else.

Speaker 3 (01:08:09):
But it was like the biggest storyline leading up to this, Well,
is he being sabotaged? Why didn't he have any reps?
Why hasn't he been working with the ones? Because all
these people somehow don't know how an NFL works. So
he's very aware of everything that you said. He somehow
to know how the NFL works. If he thinks that
a whole offseason is going to.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Be dangerous after you beat the Raiders. I'm sorry, Like
that has to be taken into account.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Well, what needs to be taken into account is he
just did something the Browns haven't had done since nineteen
ninety five.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
That says more about the Browns than him.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
Well, what it says also is they they're the Raiders.
They're a two win team. Yeah, beating anybody is an
accomplishment when you stink.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
This was two awful football teams going at it, albeit
with a very good defensive player and help on that
side of the football for Cleveland, Miles gear. I still
can't believe, like Miles Garrett was try trying to get
out of town and honestly probably should have gone that route.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
He got his money, That's all he was after. Wouldn't
you rather get paid and win?

Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
It doesn't seem to work that way. I think he
and agents and he's not different. I think players and
agents always believe get your money. Yeah, this is the team,
get your money, and when we need to, we'll figure
out an exit strategy.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
But look, I will be shocked if anything about Shador
Sanders is quote dangerous in the coming years.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
Was confirmed by his coach today, and I didn't hear
all of it. I don't know if it's still relative
to Dylan Gabriel's health. He's in concussion protocol, but he
did say he's getting the start next week, should or
will start again. He was eleven of twenty at two
hundred and nine yards threw a pick. The touchdown he
threw the first of his career, was on a short
pass then taken the rest of the way by Dylan Sampson.

(01:09:49):
Although he did a really nice job drawing, he did
what you're supposed to do as a quarterback, made them
think something else was coming. And he didn't just float
the ball over to Samson. He threw him a dart
so he could immediately ca and go. That's how plays
like that, screens, et cetera. That's how they work best.
So I do think he gets some credit for the throw.
But yes, it was a zero yard throw that went
fifty five yards for a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Has anybody done a wellness check on Yi? I really
haven't looked at.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
Neither because it's not important to me, but I will
for the purposes of our show and our listeners. I
learned to her, I love you guys, but I like it.
I'm okay. These thirty two guys do not have to
be robots. He does not fall into that category.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Speaking of nonsense, Thursday Night's loss to the Texans clearly
was not Josh Allen's only issue.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
I'll explain next the A team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 11 (01:10:40):
Football, basketball, baseball and spitball.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
I don't know. I'm just throwing stuff against the wall
and sticks.

Speaker 11 (01:10:48):
Load up your straws with more Houston sports The Matt
Thomas Show with Ross tomorrow ten to two on Sports
Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
Now to dry Sports Talk seven ninety. Traffic.

Speaker 12 (01:11:06):
So just about the forty five goal free way southbound
record waystside cleared, but we've got a new one in
the northbound direction at Scott only that right side getting
through to twenty five. We've got a delay eastbound heading
over towards Scarborough. There is construction closing down the right lane,
so that's stopping go from the loop and two eighty eight.
So we've got a southbound issue now moving past airport
toward aorum that's backing up from Belfort. I'm Katie London

(01:11:29):
in the twenty four hour Traffic Center.

Speaker 8 (01:11:30):
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Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
Our eighteen returned on Sports Talk seven ninety like Warney
exec Guess I Guess your Rockets?

Speaker 1 (01:15:43):
Play here eighteen, rolling along winding down at three o'clock
hour on a Monday edition of the program Wexac Josh
Jordan with you Okay, So Josh Allen had a rough

(01:16:03):
night Thursday courtesy of Will Anderson Junior, Daniel Hunter, Kylen Bullock.
A lot of reasons he had a bad night at
the office and probably I would guess a lot of
ice on Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
He just looked like he got the crap beat out
of him.

Speaker 1 (01:16:20):
There's getting sacked eight times and then there's being in
like nine hundred car recks.

Speaker 3 (01:16:24):
Yeah, he was down a couple of times because of
the sacks and also another play that was not a
sack because Will Anderson hit him so hard he went
forward like four yards and it was actually two yard game.
But that was one play where he landed on top
of him. He had another play where he was, you know,
flailing his legs because of the pain that he was in,
and then he was fined immediately after.

Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
That yeah, I thought he was out when I saw that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:45):
No, he definitely took a several games worth of hits
in one evening of football.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
But because that happened on a Thursday night, that opened
some things up for the schedule this weekend, and he
and his actress slash singer, slash model wife Hailey Steinfeld,
they went back to his alma mater, University of Wyoming,
and he had his jersey retired.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:17:12):
They were there front and center for yet another Wyoming loss,
four and seven on the season.

Speaker 2 (01:17:17):
Not great.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
She has a fan base much like Taylor Swift has
a fan base. It's not even the same Taylor Swift has. Honestly,
she has a cult.

Speaker 3 (01:17:28):
She has a fan base in that she's very popular
and has fans.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
Yeah, but I was just saying her fan base probably
isn't as big as Taylor wrecked. So they were there,
put on camera, put on social media, and her fans
don't like Josh Allen. And if you don't believe me,
you should read some of these posts. I hate when
beautiful women date ugly, horrible cheating men.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
That was one of them.

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
Ugly is pretty subjective. I'm sure this person who posts
that is not alone, and thinking that Josh Allen is
ugly might be closer to alone. Is there's not other
people that think he's horrible. And I don't know that
it's ever been confirmed that he cheated on her or
other I don't know. I mean, for I doubt he

(01:18:15):
cheated on her yet if he is going to.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
It all years something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
And then he did have a longtime girlfriend and seemingly
not a lot of time in between her and Hailey.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
But I don't know he cheated on her. I think
her name was Kimberly.

Speaker 3 (01:18:34):
Was she like famous? No, they were just together. They
were together for a long time. The other and most
many people who are in the comments are asking that
same question, like did he cheat?

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
Do we know that? Maybe we do, maybe you don't.
I don't know that that was out of left field
I thought.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
But another one that was picked up on genuinely amazes
me how bleeping ugly this creature is, Like, Haley, your
standards are in hell, I mean, these aren't just like
run of the mill. I'm upset about this comments. Do
you think there are people that think she's the ugly one? No,

(01:19:09):
or they're both ugly.

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
She is not ugly. It's not even subjective. She's not so,
but he's. It's a subjective about his looks.

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
I don't think he's ugly.

Speaker 1 (01:19:18):
I don't really think if that's subjective's of personal opinion. Yeah,
but he's not like grotesque.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
The way they're acting, well, yes, they're clearly taking it
pretty far.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
What do they call He's got a perfectly you know
his face.

Speaker 3 (01:19:30):
Is If you say doesn't do it for me, is
that calling them ugly?

Speaker 2 (01:19:35):
No, it just means doesn't do it for me. Okay,
but a category of people that think that about.

Speaker 1 (01:19:40):
Her, probably she's wondering where then I think she has
a pretty face. Though i've met her in person, I
should say non biased, but on man, Yeah, except for that.
She was like seventeen when I met her. How old
were you? It doesn't matter. It wasn't if you were
eighteen it would matter. But I wasn't gonna be like,
oh wow, she's hot, weird but like she you were

(01:20:02):
hoping to meet her a year later. No, I was
married at the time, and this was ten years ago.
There's no part of it. I was hoping to get
her to give my stepdaughter a shout out on video
and she very kindly, did that you like her? Yeah,
I'm a fan. Her last movie, which was I believe
called Center or Sinners. I can't remember which m M

(01:20:23):
was by all accounts like at least interesting, even if
it had like a row Tomato score.

Speaker 3 (01:20:27):
So part of the Thursday night broadcast and I don't
know if it made the cut on TV.

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
It obviously made the Ryans on social media.

Speaker 3 (01:20:34):
He sat down with Texans legend Ryan Fitzpatrick for an interview,
and Ryan's got several daughters and families or kids. Two
of his daughters were there. He brought him up to
the interview and had to ask him a question. Did
you see the question? They asked him his older daughter,
One of his older daughters said, is there going to
be a Pitch Perfect four?

Speaker 2 (01:20:53):
And is Haley going to be in it? Was she
and one of the other ones? Is that one of
her movies?

Speaker 14 (01:20:57):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:20:57):
Yes, very popular? Yes, she was like not the first one?
And then Josh said, I can't I have zero information
on that. I can't tell you if there is gonna
be one or there isn't. I can't tell you she's
gonna be in it because, like I said, I don't
know any of that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:10):
Even if he did, he wouldn't have said so because
he probably wasn't allowed.

Speaker 3 (01:21:13):
And then over the course the conversation was noted by
Fitzie that that daughter was born in Buffalo and he
is a huge Bills fan. She was wearing a Josh
Allen jersey. The other daughter that was with him was
born in Houston. So Josh said he are you a
Texans fan occupational hazard?

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:21:30):
So people's like picked up on this, and one person
was like, why do her fans hate him so much?

Speaker 3 (01:21:37):
I know, so people are trying to get to the
bottom of this. I did appreciate and I know it
was part of the article that you had us look at.
So I went to the actual source of the post
itself from at four verts, which is a little bit
of football for this particular person's account, but tried to
sum up all of this celebrity fandom nonsense swifties in

(01:21:58):
relationship to these actresses, popular celebrity types that have very
well known football playing boyfriends. This is how he kind
of thinks, thinks it goes swifties. Think go Travis Gough
and those fans of Madison Beer who is dating Chargers quarterback.
They think, let's go Justin and Hailey Steinfeld fans think,

(01:22:21):
I hope that bleeping monster dies in rots and hell
for eternity, like the scumbag he is, like that I
own And.

Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
That is a very very good because it brought in
Justin Herbert's girlfriend has a very perfectly, you know, normal
comparison of comments, just.

Speaker 2 (01:22:39):
Run of the mill like that was.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
And I went back and looked they really and there
are some theories on this, now, yes there are. There
are some theories as to why some of these people
that were making comments were so volatile. I think they
would like for Haley to, I guess, choose a different
life than the one she has chosen. She's not just

(01:23:02):
dating him, she's not just engaged to him. They're married
now and have been since well they got married in
May of this year. Their relationship began in May of
twenty twenty three, so they've been together for a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
But yeah, that was that was pretty volatile.

Speaker 1 (01:23:18):
That was a lot for Josh Allen like in some
of these another response, that is just a normal, conventionally
attractive man.

Speaker 2 (01:23:26):
I think you people are going insane.

Speaker 3 (01:23:27):
Josh Allen dumped his long term girlfriend to be with
a pretty actress. If any woman did that, man would
be writing New York Post articles about it for a decade.

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
That's true, and still are writing it.

Speaker 3 (01:23:38):
Maybe he broke up with his longtime girlfriend because things
weren't working out, and then randomly, Hey, I'd like to
maybe get to know this person a little bit. Maybe
I can get my agent and her publicist to get
a phone number for me, and I can see if
she wants to get some frozen yogurt or something frozen yogurt.

Speaker 1 (01:23:57):
Hey, Hayley, would you like to go out for some froyo?
I think that you know, maybe they think that he
cheated on that X They definitely do with her, and.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
Yeah, well he's a little more home wreckery. Well yeah,
but it like it did.

Speaker 1 (01:24:15):
They were, they married and he had children with her,
and that's all that was wrecking the home.

Speaker 3 (01:24:19):
You're right, but he was with her, and if you
believe he cheated on her with the person he's now with,
I don't think people are like, wait.

Speaker 2 (01:24:26):
To go, dudey Tayley Steinfeld.

Speaker 1 (01:24:28):
They might be all right. Four o'clock hour is coming
up next. We'll get back into some Texans and cults discussion.
It is the a team four o'clock hour here on
Sports Talk seven ninety Space City home Network WEX and
AC with you along with Josh Jordan on a Monday
before Thanksgiving. We'll get into that a little bit as

(01:24:48):
the week goes on, not too much. There was far
too much Cranberry discussion today at Miko Ryan's press conference.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
He tried to leave before the question was asked.

Speaker 7 (01:24:57):
I'd heard that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:58):
Well, he didn't expect it.

Speaker 1 (01:25:00):
I mean that happens every year softball gets thrown out
there at a press conference.

Speaker 3 (01:25:06):
You'll have the assembled media and the respective photographers there
representing usually representing.

Speaker 2 (01:25:12):
Every local TV station.

Speaker 3 (01:25:14):
Well, it's not necessarily what they need for their two
and a half minute sports report, but it is probably
something that the rest of the news operation would like
to have. So sometimes they're tasked with, Hey, can you
ask Dimiko a Thanksgiving question for us?

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
Is one of your favorite things, especially you as a
former TV guy, when they send quote news people to
do quote sports stories.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
That was always my favorite.

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
Umm, you'd have to define favorite for me. I think
you're setting it up the right way, because I don't
think favorites to the right word.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
It's just very obvious when you're in a setting where
everybody's at We're at the ranch every week, same thing,
same type questions. Just go at the subplots, and then
somebody inevitably for the door who has no idea about
sports and has completely been put into a deer in
headlight situation, and you can tell from there, and you
just I mean, I always felt bad.

Speaker 2 (01:26:11):
I'm like, oh, it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:12):
Was internally cringing, you know, depending on what the question was. Now,
some people that are put in that position do really well,
and I always respected them because they had chops, if
you will, or at least, I don't know, read for
five minutes about the team before they walked in the
locker room and made a total fool themselves. Otherwise, but
I also was highly entertained by the people who didn't.

(01:26:33):
For sure, always entertaining. But all right, let's get to
what happened yesterday. Because you asked me this question, I
believe Friday, maybe it was Thursday, but it was in
the midst of us, you know, getting ready for stone
cold Locks, I believe, And you were like, you asked
me point blank, who do you want to win between
the cults and the chiefs?

Speaker 2 (01:26:50):
And I think I said the Chiefs, because yeah, I was.

Speaker 3 (01:26:54):
I could understand both points of view, because it's all
about what you really think this Texas team can do.
Is simple answer is you're just trying to make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:27:03):
But that's the easy road.

Speaker 3 (01:27:05):
If you believe there's more and you want more, and
you're hey, look, why not just go for all of it? Then, yeah,
you wanted the Chiefs to win. Keep the Colts just
two wins ahead of you. You still have two games
against the Colts. Maybe there still is an opportunity with
six games to play to win the AFC South again.

Speaker 2 (01:27:21):
That obviously is what happened in overtime.

Speaker 1 (01:27:23):
And I was sitting there Thursday night and I hadn't
done it in a while.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
I looked up.

Speaker 1 (01:27:28):
I'm like, have they started to go over to the
other side of the stadium with these division championship banners yet?
And the answer is no, But it's gonna happen sooner
rather than later. They're running out of room.

Speaker 3 (01:27:39):
I bet you they would just re size them up
or just slide them over a touch. Well, they're on
the rafters, they're right above the Ring of Honor. Yeah,
there's seats or sections in between them. You don't think
you would start going on the other side.

Speaker 2 (01:27:51):
For now. It looks better until you really do.

Speaker 3 (01:27:54):
Right now, it's hard for me to say because I've
sat in the stadium for Heck, I've sat in the
stadium for March Madness games, whether it was regionals or
the final four. I wouldn't recommend that. And that's pretty
much it. Every other event I've gone to is I
think is a Texans game.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
You're always in a box.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
I'm in the box, so that's all I see. You've
never been to a TECH I guess you. You just
I'm trying to work. Haven't been a monster jam. I
haven't been to a concert there. You should win the
tickets today. You should go. I think you would actually
enjoy it. Well, see what happens.

Speaker 3 (01:28:24):
But yeah, I'm just used to looking at them over there,
so I feel like they fit over there.

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
Me and Carson would take you. That's cool, probably you
know the way.

Speaker 3 (01:28:31):
Yeah, So what did happen is the Chiefs got to
six and five. The Texans are at six and five.
The Ravens and Steelers are at six and five. Ravens
have the tiebreaker currently, so they are representing them as
the division champ and inside the playoff picture, the Steelers
are outside right above Houston, who's right above Kansas City.
The reality is what it does is it means all

(01:28:53):
ten teams are still in the hunt. I was trying
to start to get a little closer to eliminate the Chiefs.
If the Chiefs lose to the Colts and you, then
they're pretty much eliminated from your trying to make the playoffs.
And that's what I was looking at. But the reverse
has happened. So now it's just a different path you
have to take. Consider beating the Colts twice, consider winning
the division. The game against the Chargers, obviously is very important.

(01:29:15):
The Chargers are seven and four, the Bills are seven
and four, the Jaguars are seven and four. You've got
six wins. You don't seem much different than these teams anymore,
even though three weeks ago you were three and five.

Speaker 1 (01:29:28):
And I'm just I'm looking at so now I'm looking
at the Chiefs schedule because in addition to we're forgetting this,
they go to Dallas for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 (01:29:43):
Three games on Thanksgiving Raven Steelers is one of the
games we should talk about because of where they are
in the playoff picture, and obviously the Chiefs Cowboys game
is another.

Speaker 2 (01:29:52):
Yeah, who's gonna win that game? Right now?

Speaker 3 (01:29:54):
I know who I think should win. It's on the road, obviously.
I think everybody knows the Cowboys play at home on Thanksgiving.
So the Chiefs are going to the Cowboys. Means they
have a short week. It means any nagging injury that
might have popped up in this game become very difficult
to overcome. Tray Smith's is one of them, their elite
all pro level guard had his foot caught underneath a
pile and has a bad ankle sprain. I'm pretty sure

(01:30:17):
he is not playing in this game. I don't think
they've out and out said that, Oh it's these are
things that they have to consider. They are the team
that lands Damian Pierce. The Chiefs are via the practice
squad signed with them today officially. A bunch of other
teams had offers to him. Aaron Wilson reported that over
the weekend and the deal became final today. Teams that
had issues in the backfield they were one because of

(01:30:39):
Pacheco's injury. The Chargers were another because of multiple injuries.
The Colts don't have issues back there. But I do
not think it's a coincidence that three other AFC teams,
all of whom have games against the Texans and are
in the playoff. Hunt thought adding Damian Pierce might be
worth doing. Not that he's going to see the field

(01:31:00):
for any of them, but they had offers in front
of him.

Speaker 1 (01:31:03):
You're only one to snap away a lot of times. Well,
if you're active, I mean, he's on the practice squad.
He has to be elevated or signed to the roster
in order to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:31:11):
Well then, okay, but then what was the point? He
knows what the Texans playbook looks like.

Speaker 1 (01:31:19):
The Texans offensive playbook, Yeah, that has been trash most
of this year.

Speaker 2 (01:31:24):
Oh, the playbook's fine, their execution has been trash.

Speaker 1 (01:31:27):
Well, if you know the playbook and they can't execute
the plays, the original question still presents itself.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
What's the point?

Speaker 3 (01:31:32):
I mean, if you think teams don't care about stuff,
you know, teams care about this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:31:36):
I'm being unnecessarily aggressively argumentative.

Speaker 3 (01:31:40):
Yeah, they're not a good offense, but more intel on
their not very good offense is always appreciated. I'm sure
Damien will do the right thing and the right thing
is you help out your new team. As weird as
that might sound, they told you to beat it nicely.
Though we brought this up last week, they did not
have to do this, and Aaron also reported that there
were conversations between the Texans and the Eagles, who've worked

(01:32:03):
out eleven billion trades before, but they couldn't figure out
how to come up with a deal that would work
for both teams. I don't know if that meant more
people were involved, other players or multiple additional picks. It
would seem like a other players in a Damian Piers traded.
All that stuff is I mean, pure speculation. I don't
know why there would be If you're trying to add
Damian Pierce and you know the Texans are about to

(01:32:25):
release him, but when they do you might not get them.
Then you say, all right, which of our seventh round
picks can we give you, and let's make this happen.
I'm not sure what Nick was asking for, but apparently
that wasn't enough. And again, I don't know that those
were the only specifics of it, but there are. They
didn't have to release him at all. He's on the
active roster, he's been on the active roster every single

(01:32:47):
week this year. Now, he's not been active for the
games most of the season, and he's barely been used.
He's been a special teamer as a kick returner, and
he had handled a handful of carries earlier in the season.

Speaker 2 (01:32:58):
But that's it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
They clearly fell like they didn't need him, and that
was playing out week after week. But he is still depth.
You don't have to let him go. This was a
move made to better This is a deal for the player.
This was a good faith release because they knew he
would catch on with somebody. Look how many teams were
interested in him.

Speaker 1 (01:33:16):
I still can't believe that he had the season that
he had right out of the gate. And then just
I mean, it's more about the he was a middle
round running back. He did exactly what you The best
case scenario is you get something out of them.

Speaker 3 (01:33:30):
You know what he marks is no different. Now he
might be proving to be different, but the goal when
you draft him is, well, this way, I don't have
to keep paying somebody else. You just you're going to
be drafting running backs to do this over and over again.
If you never sink any real funds into him, if
you don't go out and free agency if you don't
draft someone particularly hide And even if let's say what

(01:33:51):
he marsh is really good for multiple years and you
want him to remain here for longer than just his
four year rookie deal, it still seems pretty unlikely. He's
a break the bank type of decision you have to make.
He's gonna get a nice raise on a length to
guarantee you think Damian Pierce thinks. So if you if
you had, you know, made your line better, maybe I'd
still be there.

Speaker 2 (01:34:10):
Well, he's just not better than Nick and Woody's. But
can you really But can you really say that?

Speaker 1 (01:34:16):
I guess in light of and I know what you're
gonna say, it's because they're they're playing behind the same
offensive line and he couldn't get on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:34:22):
But also, I mean, they've been consistently.

Speaker 3 (01:34:24):
That's one reason that they got Joe Mixon, It's one
reason why they got Devin Singletary. Every player they've added
since Damian Pierce had his awesome rookie season has been.

Speaker 1 (01:34:35):
Played in front of him. Yeah, he could, he couldn't
crack it. By the way, just in case you're curious,
as it pertains to this Colts game. ESPN's doing early
bets like a but not just bets, like an analysis
on it. And here's what And I believe this is
Matt Bowen.

Speaker 2 (01:34:54):
I don't know if you're.

Speaker 3 (01:34:55):
Very familiar with him, way way way back during the
Let's get wake up at five o'clock, six o'clock this morning,
like the radio. He was a weekly guest of ours.
He was really good. I'm a big fan. This is
what he says.

Speaker 1 (01:35:06):
And keep in mind that last week he said Bears
minus three versus the Steelers, and the Bears won thirty
one twenty eight. Bowen, I'll take Houston with the points
because of Demico Ryan's defense. The Texans rank sixth in
the NFL with thirty three sacks, and their ability to
generate pressure on Colts quarterback Daniel Jones will impact critical

(01:35:29):
game situations when pressured. This season, Jones's off target rate
jumps to twenty five percent. Bet on the Texans defense
to dictate the flow of his game, while the club
could also get a boost with the return of starting
quarterback CJ. Stroud, and he says Texans the cover plus
three and a half minus one point fifteen at Indy numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:35:51):
I think four and a half now, not sure if
it'll go up or down between now and kickoff.

Speaker 2 (01:35:56):
That last part. None of that makes any sense.

Speaker 3 (01:35:58):
I think the wording of the could get a boost
with CJ was more about if he returns, not if
he returns maybe they'll get a boost. They're getting a
boost in the same if they're starting quarterback returns. He's
better than their backup. Breaking freaking news.

Speaker 1 (01:36:12):
All right, So still plenty of time to talk about
this on a short week, I might add as we
continue here on the eighteen, I can always count on
Matt Thomas to send me something during a commercial break
that will absolutely make me want to spiral from a
sports standpoint. And I'm very, very very much considering playing

(01:36:33):
this audio in the next segment or two if I
if I thought we could turn it around right here,
I might do it. That's how disgusting what Matt Thomas
just sent me. What I'm not even playing it up?
I am. I am shooketh right now.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
Well, I would say, prepare the audio and let our
listeners enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (01:36:56):
I'm gonna send it to Josh right now. What would
make what could Matt Thomas send me that would make
me respond to him with and this is like I
put a little asterisk on either side of the sentence,
so it's an action. This is like a verb sentence
throws away my amend Jersey. Hm hm, that's deep tease

(01:37:16):
right there. I'm very upset right now with a Men Thompson, Oh,
my favorite Rocket.

Speaker 3 (01:37:22):
You must have said something about basketball you disagree with.
There you go, pretty good, guess who do you think
it would concern? The guy who's drafted a couple spots
ahead of him? There you go, another good guess. I
am so upset with him right now. If I could,
I would get a hold of it. Because it's a
late game. I think this is actually a fifty to

(01:37:42):
fifty chance of happening. I would reach out to Tracy Hughes,
who is the director of communications for the Houston Rockets,
and I would get a Men Thompson on the phone
right now to set him straight. That's how concerned I
am for the well being of a men's mental.

Speaker 2 (01:37:57):
Say games late, can you just let him prepare for
the Sun's game.

Speaker 1 (01:38:00):
He's fine, he's gonna he's gonna shut down Devin Booker.
The Rockets are gonna win by double digits and it'll
set up a great game against the stupid old ass Warriors.

Speaker 3 (01:38:09):
Do you know which of these two teams playing tonight
is one ten of their last twelve?

Speaker 1 (01:38:13):
Probably the Suns, both of them, Okay, trick question, Yeah,
but only one of them is going to the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:38:20):
Only one of them's going to the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:38:22):
I guess if they lose a playing game, that might
be true.

Speaker 2 (01:38:27):
Oh, I'll give you that. But at eleven and six,
they're in the top six.

Speaker 1 (01:38:33):
And they haven't even had Jalen for more than a
game and change at one game in seven minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:38:38):
What I do think has happened in the Western Conference?
The Pelicans, Kings, MAVs, and Jazz they're out. Those are
four of your five teams that are not making the
playing tournament. That is that is a lock. The Jazz
are gonna trade Lauri Markin in this season, believe it
or not. I can't believe it.

Speaker 1 (01:38:55):
You could get a I don't want to say King's
ransom for him, but I don't think put it this way,
and see tell me if you agree with me. This
is the most random topic. I did not think we
would be on this segment. Lauri Markinen is not just
a fill the stat sheets player on bad teams. Lauri
Markinen instead could be a missing piece to a championship puzzle,

(01:39:19):
provided you don't have to play the Thunder, because good lord, man,
they're never gonna lose.

Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
Everybody have Jalen Williams back yet at all. He's never played.
He hadn't played this year. That's stupid. Let's see, they're awesome.
I hate Sam Presty and you should too.

Speaker 3 (01:39:34):
Everything about market In does scream he's an elite player.
He's done no winning at all in Chicago, Cleveland and
now Utah.

Speaker 2 (01:39:40):
He's only in Cleveland for one year. I don't think
it's his fault. I don't either.

Speaker 3 (01:39:44):
But wherever he goes, if you're saying he's going somewhere,
he's probably not the best player on the team, is he. Well,
if he's the third best player, then that would be something.

Speaker 2 (01:39:54):
That's what I'm saying, though.

Speaker 1 (01:39:55):
If you're a team that has too a super duperstar
and you have a very good player star, I don't
even know who this would be. I'm trying to think
right now. I'll tell you who could use him. I'll
tell you what I do in a heartbit. If I
was a Utah Jazz, Okay, he would never go for it.
I'd trade him to the Lakers. You put butts in

(01:40:15):
the seats.

Speaker 2 (01:40:16):
What do you want that the Lakers have? That's the problem.

Speaker 1 (01:40:18):
They've already trade away like all of their first round
picks for the next decade. That's the only solace I
have in the fact that Austin Reeves is playing completely
out of his mind along with Luka Doncic right now,
because I don't know how they're going to build through
the draft. It's going to be all you just got
to sign free agents to be even competitive.

Speaker 3 (01:40:37):
Right, But you could believe, I can believe they have
two of their three stars for the future Reeves and
Luca Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:40:45):
Yeah, but I mean players always want to go there. Yeah,
they have the ultimate recruiting tool.

Speaker 3 (01:40:51):
And when you have two of your three stars, and
then Lebron is obviously still on the team this year
for now, like filling the gaps around him, which they
might have done a decent job this year. I'm not
solely sold on what they did, but adding DeAndre eight
and to Jackson Hayes was still much better than what
they had a year ago. It doesn't hurt them at
all in the future either. They have gotten off to
a surprisingly good start. I did not see that coming.

(01:41:14):
What I was saying about the West is I think
there's a pretty clear cut like the Wolves end up
the top seven are very good. The Warriors are gonna
make the playoffs or at least the play in tournament,
but their record probably won't be very good, just for
the same reason it currently isn't very good. That's not
what they're put together to do. They don't have an
eighty two game regular season team. They can't play these

(01:41:34):
guys that many times. These guys need rest. These guys
get hurt, and when they are hurt, they lose. They're
nine and nine. They've played a lot of basketball too.
Nobody's played more games than them. But there's still gonna
be a threat in the playoffs. But Portland is probably
right where they're gonna finish nine or ten. Memphis is
the team that should be blowing it up because they

(01:41:56):
started that last year or a couple of years ago
with what's going on with you yaw and then the
fact that they fired their coach.

Speaker 2 (01:42:02):
Do you not want to do? Are you pro clay
or pro jaw for this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:42:06):
I actually because of so many things that we've had
to get to today, it's not a surprise that we
haven't even mentioned that yet.

Speaker 3 (01:42:14):
I think Klay Thompson was wanted to be so negative
for this non playing, trash talking buffoon, but he loves
the game, and he's talked. He recognized him for how
good a player he is. He basically said, he's funny,
talking noise. He's not even playing out there, and he's
not even available for these guys. But as a we
want him out there. We want this guy out there.

(01:42:35):
These are the guys we want playing. But yeah, it
is pretty odd to have a player on the opposing
team's bench being the most vocally forceful after the game.

Speaker 1 (01:42:45):
Well let's I mean, we might as well do this
on the bench because he's unavailable to play for the
umpteenth time, and that can be for a variety of reasons.
This time it's an injury, sometimes it's a suspension. In
most one hundred percent of the time when it's been
a suspension, it's been for the dumbest part possible thing
he could have thought of to do.

Speaker 2 (01:43:02):
And that's multiple times.

Speaker 1 (01:43:04):
What happened was they were playing each other and Cooper
flag went back up the floor and a member of
the Memphis Grizzlies reached out with his hand and grabbed
his He want talk about reed Shepherd treat, but tripping
Desmond Bane and getting a flagrant, he reached out and
grabbed his leg.

Speaker 3 (01:43:20):
Yeah, Santae al Donald was down on the ground and
he grabbed Cooper's leg and he tripped him, and so
Clay Thompson gets up in his face. And the best
part was the Grizzlies broadcast where they're like, stop trying
to be an enforcer, Clay Thompson, You've never been an enforcer.

Speaker 1 (01:43:32):
You'll never be an enforcer. One hundred percent of which
is true, by the way, But he did the right thing.
He's taken out exactly. So terrible comments, well, terrible comments
from the standpoint.

Speaker 3 (01:43:42):
Not even the worst ones on a mini altercation. There
was a worst one in Phoenix.

Speaker 2 (01:43:47):
That the Grizzlies commentators made of No.

Speaker 3 (01:43:49):
A Phoenix Sun's Minnesota Timberwolves game. What happened Rudy Gilbert
Ball's whistled dead as it gets thrown to Rudy, who's
just standing at the basket. He just jumps up and
it's gonna dunk it, and a Phoenix Sun's player swipes
from behind him to not allow it, and he hits
him in the back of the head on his way through,
not overtly, he didn't fall over it. He hit him though,

(01:44:11):
there's clear contact, and so Rudy goes over to him like, dude,
this is a dead ball. There's no play we're not
even in live play. I have no idea what he said,
but that's the different. There's just no reason for you
to do that. And then you hit me in the
head on your way by trying to block a non shot, right,
And so the color analyst for the Sun says, Oh,
look at Rudy going to pick on the smallest player

(01:44:33):
on the other team.

Speaker 2 (01:44:34):
Wait a second, was this who I think it is? Yeah,
it was Eddie Johnson. That doesn't surprise me at all.

Speaker 3 (01:44:40):
He wasn't picking on him because he's the smallest player.
He was talking to him because this is the player.

Speaker 2 (01:44:45):
That hit him in the head. But I hate it.

Speaker 3 (01:44:47):
Why you're trying to make something that isn't there is
kind of a it's just silly.

Speaker 1 (01:44:51):
It pains me because he hit one of the biggest
playoff shots in Rockets history, and by all accounts, seemingly
as a decent dude like off the but he I mean,
I've gone back and forth with him and his stupid
co host to Justin.

Speaker 2 (01:45:06):
Whatever his name is, an idiot.

Speaker 1 (01:45:08):
They have a NBA show, national show. You could put
us on that that slot.

Speaker 2 (01:45:15):
It's serious. I think it's a satellite show.

Speaker 9 (01:45:17):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:45:18):
We would absolutely destroy it, worse or better than they
ever could have.

Speaker 2 (01:45:23):
I have just not those two.

Speaker 3 (01:45:25):
Got what Eddie has said, and totally respect the position
that he's in all the NBA basketball that he's played.
I haven't disagreed with everything, but I did disagree with
that comment.

Speaker 2 (01:45:34):
It rather routinely with he's I don't mind this.

Speaker 1 (01:45:38):
Usually it's mostly social though, oh not on a broadcast.

Speaker 2 (01:45:41):
I haven't paid any attention to what he says socially.
Oh you should do that something. It doesn't interest me
at all. Yes, it does not. Go back and look
at our interactions basketball. For me.

Speaker 3 (01:45:49):
If he's talking about what, well, then it's not social.
It was on social about basket social media. I've meant
like social issues.

Speaker 2 (01:45:57):
No no, no, no no no no no no.

Speaker 3 (01:45:59):
I would never said he's talking on social I miscalculated
your guy.

Speaker 1 (01:46:03):
I don't want to talk to Eddie Johnson about politics ever. No,
it was during the peak of the James Harden years
and he just he was a jerk.

Speaker 2 (01:46:12):
How about that guy over the weekend? Yeah, fifty five?

Speaker 1 (01:46:14):
Great, and then they lost their next exactly. That's who
they are. That's who he is now.

Speaker 3 (01:46:19):
Clippers, MAVs, Jazz. They all have five wins. Each of
those teams has.

Speaker 1 (01:46:26):
Revived really quick since you ran into him the other night.
Where did John Hollinger have the Clippers?

Speaker 3 (01:46:31):
Again, it's early. Where did he have them? Answer the question?
In the definitely in the fifties, probably second or third.
It's a couple of weeks ago. I can't remember. Yeah,
he's an I did not speak with John, but yes,
he was a medium memory rockets game. I did not
tell him anything. I didn't even even that. I didn't

(01:46:51):
even accost him.

Speaker 2 (01:46:52):
Did you know what I sent you? Right? I can
read it to the listeners later in the show Regulated Station.

Speaker 1 (01:46:58):
All right, we will get back into our signature segment
coming up, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from
over the weekend the eight We're.

Speaker 3 (01:47:06):
Selling you the good, our first of three signature segments
this week. We're on the air three days, so we
have three signature segments for you. This week would be
an awesome week to not do Friday's signature segment at
all because it was legendary.

Speaker 15 (01:47:29):
Dude.

Speaker 2 (01:47:29):
We saw absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:47:31):
Legendary what we did with Cole's final stone cold locks
of the week this past week, So we'll save that
for another day.

Speaker 1 (01:47:40):
My best opportunity to make some hay and I made nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:47:44):
Monday brings the good, bad and the ugly. Ac you
have the ugly, Josh will have the bad. I will
begin with the good, and as usual, as the uh
judge of all things on this show, I will go
back before the weekend began, because everybody knows the weekend
starts on Thursday.

Speaker 2 (01:48:02):
This was too obvious and I'll just use.

Speaker 9 (01:48:04):
It Allan throws off us back foot short picked at
the nine yard line. Pull ark, now they gotta call it,
but there's a flag down on the play at the
eleven yard line.

Speaker 2 (01:48:16):
We don't need that last part from you, Al, We
just need.

Speaker 3 (01:48:18):
The unbelievable excitement that you showed in the game clinching interception.
It was just as lively during all the rest of
the calls, all the sacks and all the great plays,
legendary stuff. The Texans needed to beat a good team
to show them they can beat a good team. I
know they beat the San Francisco forty nine ers earlier
this year, and they are currently inside the playoff picture

(01:48:41):
and probably will get even further inside of it when
they beat the Panthers tonight and moved to eight and four.
It's a good team, good record. Beating an AFC team
that you might need to have a win against when
it all comes down to where you're seated, or if
you're seated at all. It was huge. Absolutely had to
have it, and they have to have more. Can't lose
both games to the Colt quite honest. Colts probably need

(01:49:03):
to win both of those. They can't lose both games
to the Chiefs and Chargers. Chiefs in two weeks, Chargers
in week seventeen. Those four games you win, three man,
are you in good position? The other two games are
the Cardinals and Raiders. Cardinals have figured out how to
succeed offensively because Jakoby Rossett has played a thousand times

(01:49:24):
better than Kyler Murray. There's usually other things at play,
but he has played well enough to have them winning games.
They just don't ever win. Yesterday was a great example.
They turned the Jaguars over four times and still lost
in overtime, and then the Raiders fired their OC one
of two coordinators fired over the weekend. But winning a
third game in a row and all that goes with it,

(01:49:45):
that certainly helps. Getting over five hundred is obviously huge.
Racing the zero to three hole, all those things are good,
But the good was going out there and being the
better team against a good team in your conference, which
you now have four more games like that over the
final six. You're basically, I mean, clearly, if the Texans

(01:50:08):
went out, They're going to the playoffs. That's a given.
I'm not asking them for to win out. But they can,
even at six and five, essentially control their own destiny
without going undefeated. But you gotta beat some of these
good teams, and now they know for sure in the
AFC they can. I cite that as a good thing.
What do you have for the bad this afternoon, Josh.

Speaker 7 (01:50:30):
I think you're reading my mind there a little bit.

Speaker 16 (01:50:32):
Wes jacobyset the Arizona Cardinals. Why bad perset with the
Colts slap around the Texans present. With the Patriots slap
around the Texans. You have the chance to beat the Jaguars.
You're at home, Lawrence comes in your house. There's three picks.
The game goes to overtime, and somehow they can't get
it done. The Jags win would have helped out the

(01:50:53):
Texans a lot to gain some ground there, but no.
Jacoby Presett continues to be the bad luck charm for
your hues to Texans putting.

Speaker 3 (01:51:01):
A lot of things together very well. Like I said,
he's played well.

Speaker 2 (01:51:05):
He's dude.

Speaker 3 (01:51:05):
The guy's averaging fifty passes per game over his last
couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:51:09):
They don't have a run game.

Speaker 3 (01:51:11):
They're two and three deep on their depth chart because
of injuries with Benson de Marcado and the starter James Connor.
But they're also not playing with Marvin Harrison either. They're
so far down on their jatar they're not playing with
their starting quarterback either. And yet there they are with
the Jaguars into overtime and unfortunately the Jaguars had the

(01:51:31):
ball first, kicked the field goal. Cardinals got the ball
second and drove down the field about midfield.

Speaker 2 (01:51:38):
I don't think it was obvious.

Speaker 3 (01:51:40):
I kind of feel like the last play of the
game was defensive pass interference uncalled, but certainly would put
the Cardinals in position at the very least kick the
game tying field goal, though they did miss a thirty
eight yard field goal in this game also, so it
was bad.

Speaker 2 (01:51:58):
You really didn't get any help. I think you noted
that earlier. You know what, you need something.

Speaker 3 (01:52:04):
I mean, the Steelers lost and the Colts lost. That's
it now. You can't can't get much more than that.
Some of these teams will be playing each other pretty
soon and the rest of the way, and we probably
this weekend, with Joe Flacco being out there for the Bengals,
we probably saw that for the last time. Ye Joe
Flacco's Bengals play on Thanksgiving. Joe Burrows Bengals play on Thanksgiving?

(01:52:30):
Which Joe will it be? Joe Burrows Bengals play on Thursday.
They have the night game Bengals Ravens the middle of
the day, Chiefs, Cowboys early in the day, Packers, Lions.

Speaker 1 (01:52:42):
All right, what's the ugly I'm going to bring up
Sador Sanders again, But it's not what you think. It's
just did you see who is coaching him all weekend
on the sidelines.

Speaker 2 (01:52:53):
I did.

Speaker 3 (01:52:54):
I did on Mary Kay Cabot, one of the Cleveland
Beat writers, made sure to write about.

Speaker 1 (01:52:58):
That thirty five point nine million dollars to their quarterback coach.
And he's not even a lot, that's not even his title.

Speaker 3 (01:53:09):
It was written that a quarterback who's currently unavailable for
the Browns but on their roster just hurt was helping
Shador Sanders prepare for this start and throughout this start,
trying to help guide him along.

Speaker 2 (01:53:22):
That man is DeShawn Watson.

Speaker 1 (01:53:23):
I just it's just a reminder that that is the
worst contract ever given in sports, and it's not even
particularly close. Like remember how we had a whole rap
song written about Kelvin Cato after the Rockets gave him
a forty two million dollar contract following a preseason triple
double against the Cleveland Cavaliers by Carol Dawson. Why do
I know every detail of that deal because it sucked.

(01:53:45):
I for the remainder of all time, Cleveland or Cleveland
Brown fans are going to remember the two hundred and
thirty million dollar guaranteed.

Speaker 2 (01:53:57):
That's the key here. Guaranteed in the NFL is just
not that it's never that much.

Speaker 3 (01:54:04):
So the ugly has nothing to do with the Browns
current starting quarterback. It just has to do with the
fact they gave their unhelpful, injured quarterback a big, fat,
total guarantee.

Speaker 1 (01:54:16):
It's a reminder that they are paying a guy to
coach another guy to potentially take his job, and they're
want to know when he does that. Sure, if you
want to look at it that way.

Speaker 3 (01:54:27):
Facts, I want to know against the Raiders, Yeah, I
want to know against the entire NFL all one time
there making his job. Shoudhe or Sanders taking his job?
You're you're giving Watson too much credit, acting like it
is his job. That's true, but for that much money,
it should be. That's why we like teams like that,
very poorly run.

Speaker 1 (01:54:47):
Deshaun Watson getting paid a lot of money to train
his hopeful replacement.

Speaker 2 (01:54:51):
That's how some people characterized it.

Speaker 3 (01:54:54):
Will the Browns be in the market for quarterback this
offseason now that they have a healthy Watson again? And
Sho Sanders and Dylan Gabriel?

Speaker 1 (01:55:08):
Did I or did I not reach out to the
Rockets about these comments made by a men Thompson? Is
that what we're doing next to leave it or not.
You will find out when we come back.

Speaker 2 (01:55:16):
I think my uh.

Speaker 1 (01:55:19):
Blood pressure has settled significantly enough to bring this topic
back up again. There are a lot of things that
are subjective that we just I mean, we just got
done talking about a few of those things, and they're
not They're up for debate, you know, they're they're not gospel,
they're not fact, they're not set in stone. The people's

(01:55:40):
opinions matter because you can have debate and disagree on things,
especially when it comes to sports. But when I put
my neck out there on the line for a guy
like this happened with James Harden, James Harden, I would
defend to the death all the time, even though I
knew he was a piece of crap human being, even
though I knew he made life miserable for people in

(01:56:04):
the Rockets organization oftentimes. But he was our guy. He
was our MVP here in Houston, and I didn't want
to hear from the likes of, for example, Eddie Johnson
or anyone else that Jannis should win the MVP after
he completely threw a basketball at his head on purpose,
or that Russell Westbrook should win another MVP, even though

(01:56:28):
he was averaging the triple double on a six seed
thunder team that the Rockets ended up beating with James
Harden at the Helm. Geez, where would they be with
I don't know those val He probably should have won
the MVP and didn't. And look how upset I am.
And I don't even like the guy anymore. I don't
have to go on to the Hall of Fame. It'll
be okay, Yeah, it's great. I can't wait for the
Jersey retirement night at Toyota Center where I have to

(01:56:48):
act like I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:56:49):
Oh, yeah, that's so great.

Speaker 3 (01:56:50):
Can you imagine all those years? Look how awesome his
speech is gonna be when he addresses the crowd and
then he walks off. That was good, stupid anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:57:00):
Unlike him, Aman Thompson is by all accounts a great
human being. Forget the fact that he's an absolute demon.
I don't even know what you he's an alien on
the floor. Defensively, I want to call him. I know
his nickname is what Twin and he's got one other right, Well,
he's part of a duo, the Terror Twins. You should
probably resign Tari otherwise, that's not gonna work out as well.

(01:57:21):
Probably not. I want to start calling him quick twitch. Okay,
doesn't he play that way? He does, Like have you
ever seen That's a very athletic term. But like that
move he made. It might have been the Washington game
where he made he did the crossover, but then he
twitched in almost in mid air.

Speaker 2 (01:57:41):
He does that a lot. I really like that move.
He's like.

Speaker 3 (01:57:44):
It's when he goes up and unnecessarily but creatively double
pumps a dunk.

Speaker 2 (01:57:48):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 1 (01:57:49):
He doesn't have to, no, just like Jordan didn't have
to switch hands, but he did and Marvel lost his mind.
May or may not have had the very same member
of the Rockets communications staff say that I was quote
looking longingly at him in practice last week.

Speaker 2 (01:58:08):
Thanks Tracy. I mean it's true. That's more like the
I'm not even mad at her. It's true.

Speaker 3 (01:58:14):
It's kind of like the screen cap from the textans
Victorious Thursday Night locker Room and CJ. I mean, you
were standing there with everybody else doing an interview they
and your face was not showing a lot of emotion
other than staring at the subject of the interview.

Speaker 1 (01:58:28):
Yeah, except for it wasn't taken out of context, and
I absolutely was looking longingly at him. Okay, it's fine,
I admit it. I look at the camera. I love
him in Thompson, but I'm upset with him, and I
need you guys to understand, not only understand why, but
help me through this because right now I'm on the
verge of throwing Miamn Thompson jersey in the trash.

Speaker 2 (01:58:47):
So what's the context of this commentary here.

Speaker 1 (01:58:50):
First of all, I can only take so much when
it comes to the San Antonio Spurs. This, this organization
has been so it's not even luck. It's not that
luck when you're creating your own luck by cheating. Okay,
you can tell Melia Astro is cheating. Yeah, the San
Antonio Spurs set a healthy David Robinson for like one

(01:59:10):
hundred plus games so that they could get the number
one pick in the draft, and lo and behold, here's
David Stern.

Speaker 2 (01:59:17):
Here's your lottery. Yeah, you can have Tim Duncan.

Speaker 3 (01:59:19):
Every hour on the hour at these Spurs, at that
point in the NBA's history, were not asked to issue
their injury report like they are now.

Speaker 1 (01:59:27):
Never would have happened. Oh, this guy's healthy get him
out there, or we will find you anyway. Fast forward
to a few years ago. Oh, here's the San Antonio Spurs.
Rockets have been in the cellar. They've been doing it
the right way. They've been tanking like they should. Right, Yes,
they've been tanking like they should, being a good little soldier.

Speaker 2 (01:59:44):
Oh, you can have the second pick in the draft. Oh,
you can have the third pick. We'll even give you
the fourth pick. Here's another third pick. And they put
together a nice team.

Speaker 1 (01:59:51):
Never the number one pick, And even if they had
gotten it, it definitely would have been when that stiff
from France was available, who pumped his fist when he
found out that the Rockets were awarded the fourth pick
in the lottery so he wouldn't have to have to
come play here. But he had no problems at all
when the best player in franchise history was gonna train

(02:00:13):
him this offseason and teach him a bunch of moves.

Speaker 2 (02:00:15):
I'm actually upset with a team about that.

Speaker 1 (02:00:17):
While we're at it, I should probably have a conversation
with both he and aman Thompson after you hear these comments.
So it's the boardroom, it's Kevin Durant's thing. He's it's
great content. It's it's just everything. If you like Kevin Durant,
it's just only gonna make you like him more. He
and the men are playing two K and they have
a little conversation about who they would pick, and I'll

(02:00:37):
just let you hear it.

Speaker 5 (02:00:39):
Oh, your first pick though, my first pick. It depends
where I'm drafting though.

Speaker 10 (02:00:43):
If you got number one pick, I'm talking about we
gonna every player.

Speaker 5 (02:00:47):
I didn't want to say long pick why not. I'm
not gonna lie. I gotta pick one beat, I gotta
pick him. I'm lying gonna lie. It's like Wen beat
either me or bron. You use yourself. I never used myself.
It's a matchup problem in the game.

Speaker 13 (02:01:05):
I hear.

Speaker 5 (02:01:05):
I'm different in this game too. I never lose myself.
You have it. I never bad when Grain is shot
and it's talking about like f like not, I'm going Wemby.
I'll actually picked Shay too in the top five because
he's fine in them. No, he's different and he gets
a room.

Speaker 2 (02:01:25):
All right.

Speaker 1 (02:01:26):
They're clearly talking about current players. Yeah, they're putting a
team together current players and two K.

Speaker 2 (02:01:31):
What are you doing?

Speaker 1 (02:01:31):
Kevin Durant you're taking forty year old Lebron or for himself. Well,
he's better than Lebron from like every metric right now,
Lebron's just playing hashtag sciatica.

Speaker 2 (02:01:42):
This is two K. Is Lebron hurt on two K?
He should be anyway. Wimby can't draft a player because
he's injured. First of all, I refuse to call him
by his nickname.

Speaker 1 (02:01:55):
I like to call him VICKI if we're going to
shorten one of their names, I'm going to shorten his
first name while the rest of you guys shorten that
is the short one. No, they can both be shortened.
You just put a Y on the end of Wemby.
Wemby's the long one. No, you take four letters of
either name and you put a Y on the end.

Speaker 2 (02:02:10):
It's fine.

Speaker 1 (02:02:11):
Okay, So Vicky is who Amen Thompson would take after
I said on social Yeah, I know. I'm mad at
both of them, and Hakeem for working with him. So
I'm mad at three current Rockets members of the organization
for basically pumping up a spur.

Speaker 3 (02:02:28):
Drafting the seventeenth leading scorer in the NBA. First, he's
not even healthy right now. He's not currently playing, but
he's not hurt. On two K you can you can
manipulate health.

Speaker 1 (02:02:41):
So if you're playing in a like a Dynasty season,
on two K, he doesn't suddenly get blood clots and
he's out for sixty games.

Speaker 2 (02:02:48):
I mean, I'd rather you go with like a calf
injury or a hamstring.

Speaker 1 (02:02:52):
Why that's what he had. I know, listen when Chris Bosm,
would you draft number one right now?

Speaker 7 (02:02:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:02:58):
Probably? Shay did take him a little while to get there,
didn't it to draft the best player in the NBA?

Speaker 2 (02:03:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:03:04):
Who's gonna get fifteen free throws minimum on the game?
I didn't hear any I mean, does you push off
on the game too and get away with it?

Speaker 2 (02:03:10):
Yeah? For sure.

Speaker 1 (02:03:11):
I mean the reps are all digital, extremely realistic. Really
a man and I just first team All.

Speaker 3 (02:03:19):
NBA, provided he meets the threshold of games played, which
is definitely up for debate. Victor Wembinyama twenty five twenty
twenty six season.

Speaker 2 (02:03:28):
He'll be out of the league in six years. Oh
my god, this is already year three. Do you think
a bet? Happily?

Speaker 1 (02:03:33):
I said, six years from now he'll be out of
the log.

Speaker 3 (02:03:35):
Oh, six years from now he said, in six years
I could have understood you a little better.

Speaker 1 (02:03:39):
Lasted what seven eight seasons? Yeah, they're built exactly alike.
I'm just saying pretty similar. Yeah, seven foot four skinny,
he's like. Now, remember his wing span is like twelve feet.
Football at five? We ready, yep, let's do it next,
all right, Fresh off of publicly breaking up with them

(02:04:00):
in Thompson it is the A team Sports Talk seven
ninety Space City Home Network. I broke up with him.
Wexenhem are still together. Don't worry. I'm the one that
takes things too far. It is time for football at
five here, Thank you, Josh. What a weird, wild and

(02:04:22):
wanky Week twelve it was in the NFL. I'm trying
to think of a subplot that we did not get to.

Speaker 8 (02:04:30):
Well.

Speaker 3 (02:04:30):
Think about how if you were paying a close attention
the noon games as they were coming to a close,
there's a lot of them that went late, right down
to the wire. Yeah, Bears and Steelers went right down
to the wire. Somewhat surprisingly, this was an Aaron Rodgers
free zone. He was on the sidelines. His left wrist
did in fact have him sideline, So somehow Mason Rudolph
helped them score three times. Defense got the other touchdown.

(02:04:53):
The Bears are eight and three. The Bears are eight
and three, and they lead their division worst eight and
three team. I don't know about that. Lions had to
do what everybody does, come back from a ten point deficit.

Speaker 2 (02:05:08):
At home in overtime to.

Speaker 3 (02:05:10):
The Giants, the fifth time that has happened this year.
Giants lead by ten, Giants on the road, Giants lose.
They lost to the Lions when Jamiir Gibbs probably won
the fantasy game for every single team that has Jamior
Gibbs thirty four to twenty seven the final and that
was the other coordinator that was shown the door. Shane

(02:05:33):
Bowen told by their interim head coach Mike Kafka that
we don't need you here anymore. Was a fantastic evening
or afternoon even in defeat for Jameis Winston. Amazing that
Jamis Winston spent basically the entire year until Sunday as
the number three. They clearly made the right choice. He's

(02:05:55):
a lot better, a lot more capable of making things
positive happen for his team than Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (02:06:02):
He also cut a.

Speaker 3 (02:06:03):
Touchdown pass, by the way, if he didn't see that.
Their first touchdown of the game was a flea flicker,
and his touchdown reception included him shaking a defender after
he made the catch. Linebacker saw the play coming in advance.
He probably got held, which allowed for Jamis to have
a little bit of an opening. But when he finally
caught up to him right when the ball got there,
he was there to make the play and Jamis shook

(02:06:25):
him and got into the end zone. Patriots hung on
to beat the Bengals just by six, and again, that's
probably the last start for Joe Flacco. Joe Burrow is
expected to start on Sunday, and you obviously had the
Chiefs and Colts game going to overtime as well. That
was a twenty three to twenty game. Probably don't need

(02:06:45):
to talk about the Falcons and the Saints. No, probably
gave enough already to the lopsided game between the Rams
and the Bucks. Don't let the Bucks playing without Baker
Mayfield moving forward, which is a likely scenario. Cloud you
on who you were when you played them, who they
were when you played them. Texans played a good football team.
The Rams played a good football team last night. The

(02:07:05):
Rams embarrassed them. The Rams are the answer to the
question who's the best team in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (02:07:10):
It's them.

Speaker 1 (02:07:11):
By the way, low grade AC joint sprain for Baker Mayfield,
no additional damage.

Speaker 2 (02:07:16):
According to the MRI.

Speaker 3 (02:07:18):
They won't rule him out yet, which is fine. I
think it's unlikely that he suits up for them when
they hit the field again. They've got the Cardinals next
Sunday at home.

Speaker 2 (02:07:28):
That was like fifteen minutes ago.

Speaker 3 (02:07:29):
By the way, we'll see it looked pretty painful, and
when he was trying to do certain things last night,
but they also led twenty one nothing before. I think
he really we're down twenty one nothing before. This really
kind of manifested itself. And to the Rams, and why
I said that with such conviction. They're right there with
the Texans in a number of different places. If you
want to start grading out best defenses in the NFL,
they are another option. If for some reason you don't

(02:07:51):
want to say it's the Houston Texans, you could very
easily say, Okay, well I'll just take the Rams. You know,
Rams don't have quite as many eye popping numbers, but
their fifth and interception rate Texans are second. You saw
what they did in the backfield to both Mayfield and
to Teddy Bridgewater, who came in in reserve. By only
allowing seven points last night, they overtook the Texans. They

(02:08:15):
are now the toughest team to put points on the
board against. That's sixteen point three, Houston's at sixteen point five.
And the fact that their offense isn't awful or back
half of the league like the Texans is. They're number
one in the NFL in point differential. They are winning
convincingly consistently, and I do think they have the front
runner for MVP. There's a lot of football left and

(02:08:37):
that could certainly change if for some reason Stafford slows down.
We know Stafford has played with some good players, He's
won a Super Bowl in with this franchise, and we
know he played with Calvin Johnson for a number of years.
He's never played with this duo. This is the best
wide receiver duo in the NFL and they are feasting
because of it. DeVante Adams is like the best red

(02:08:58):
zone talent in the NFL this year because they keep
finding him and you can't stop. Nkud did for him
nothing in last night's game.

Speaker 1 (02:09:07):
There is somebody better out there, a better duo, No,
but a better receiver than Puka.

Speaker 3 (02:09:13):
I mean yeah, individually, I know this is the best
wide receiver duo in the NFL. No other quarterback has
the luxury of having two receivers. Next isn't even Seattle.
Next is Cincinnati when they're healthy. But in bad news
for Cincinnati, Jabar Chase served a suspension last week t
Higgins and that they're playing Thursday. He can't clear concussion

(02:09:33):
protocol before Thursday, nor would I want him to. He
suffered a concussion, he took a pretty nasty spill in
their game, and so he will not be playing at
least in their next game, if not more.

Speaker 1 (02:09:42):
I guess I just wasn't aware of either how fast Jackson,
Smith and Jigbow was climbing the charts for Seattle in
their all time receiving group, or I guess maybe even
better would be to say that they just haven't had
that many amazing receivers in the history of their franchise.

Speaker 2 (02:10:04):
They have one Hall of Famer, do they not? Yeah,
but Steve Largeen' is a Hall of Famer, Yes, But.

Speaker 1 (02:10:09):
What I'm sting overall like there are some franchises out there.
It's kind of like the Rockets with Sinners. It's just
name after name after name. There is like first ballot,
Hall of Fame, elite, top tier, top shelf at that position.
There are franchises like that. I just don't think of
Seattle that way. But what he's doing this season is incredible.

(02:10:29):
I mean, Steve.

Speaker 3 (02:10:30):
Largen is more than forty five hundred yards ahead of
everybody else in franchise.

Speaker 2 (02:10:35):
Here are two seasons.

Speaker 3 (02:10:37):
Jackson Smith and jig But before the end of the season,
if he's healthy the rest of the way, we'll probably
crack their top ten.

Speaker 2 (02:10:44):
And this is year what for him? Him there, he's
this third year.

Speaker 1 (02:10:47):
I mean, I know he's got to stay healthy, but
like that is I think this is why I was
so upset about DeAndre Hopkins being traded away from the Texans,
because he was on pace to shatter a lot of
Drey's marks. It weren't there just weren't that many guys
that have been here, or there's only one Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2 (02:11:09):
At that position.

Speaker 1 (02:11:10):
I mean, but yeah, Jackson Smith and Jigba provided they
re up with him, And I don't know why they wouldn't,
and they've got the quarterback to do it.

Speaker 2 (02:11:19):
He's gonna put up huge numbers.

Speaker 1 (02:11:21):
Well, he would be sixth on the all time list
in Houston behind go Ahead, dre DeAndre, Kevin Walter. Obviously, yep,
he was really he was able to walk. I was
left here Thursday night to go inside the game. So
I was there maybe six thirty and walked in about
between six thirty and six forty five.

Speaker 2 (02:11:42):
So there's tons of people heading into the stadium.

Speaker 3 (02:11:44):
He was headed out of the stadium to obviously just
get something before he went back in.

Speaker 1 (02:11:48):
Just the most down to earth normal and nobody stopped
him on the planet. Yeah, and they never will so
Kevin Walter. Yeah, these thievers or wide receivers, anybody who
caught passes, so Owen Daniels has to be ahead of him.
There you go, there's one more.

Speaker 2 (02:12:01):
Uh Is it obvious?

Speaker 1 (02:12:02):
It's very obvious to me. Corey Bradford, Oh man, come on,
I'm trying to remember he this will give it away.
I think, oh, Nico, Sorry, I'm thinking of like past
players in my mind. Yeah, so, but he's what right
behind Nico Nico's fifth No, I'm saying, like where would Jack,

(02:12:23):
he would.

Speaker 2 (02:12:24):
He would be he would pass him, but he would
be right there with him.

Speaker 3 (02:12:27):
This is year what for Nico four five? This is
his fifth year. He's about to crack four thousand yards
probably this week.

Speaker 2 (02:12:33):
And he's had a down year for his standards.

Speaker 3 (02:12:35):
First standards, and he obviously missed a bunch of games
and some other seasons, and also he's missed one here
this season. So in jigbas, yes, he's the best receiver
in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (02:12:44):
He's not even that big, but he's open and he
does have an elite Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:12:48):
I've actually been in the midst of a long discussion
here because it's actually been very pleasant.

Speaker 2 (02:12:53):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (02:12:53):
Dan Orlovski had said something about Trevor Lawrence on the
old X platform and and I responded to it. He
did not respond back, but a bunch of other people did,
mainly Jaguars fans, and I thought it was pretty interesting
the vantage point they have on who he is, Trevor Lawrence,

(02:13:15):
and all this time that's spent there. And I bring
this all up because we're talking about in jig but
why do you In my opinion, one of the reasons
why he's blown up this year is because he's playing
with one of the league's elite quarterbacks throwing the deep ball.
It's the same thing that actually happened in Seattle before
with Lockett and Metcap because they were playing with then
Russell Wilson, who was awesome at that and Jig but

(02:13:36):
just runs by his defender once a game and he
finds him and there's sixty yards because he's open, and
Sam Darnold is actually very good at making that throw.

Speaker 2 (02:13:44):
He did it again this weekend.

Speaker 3 (02:13:46):
Orlovsky said, Trevor Lawrence has throws on tape that look
like he's the best player at the position in football.
Then he has three or fourth throws a game that
looks like is his first start roller coaster ride? If
he ever gains consistency, dot that dot rationally, I responded,
when do people stop asking the consistency question and just
go with He's already given us the answer. He's thrown
twenty four hundred passes, he started seventy one games. Are

(02:14:09):
you giving him more time because Cohen just got there?
Do we respect Peterson as former coach enough to not
need to say that, you know what I do? And
a lot of Jacksonville fans have responded after the first
person who responded with some very simple back and forth,
let's decide what we all think here. Seth was the
first to respond, and his handle is at Seth Jack's

(02:14:30):
FSU and almost all of his reposts are something awesome
about Trevor Lawrence. So his response to me, a media
member in Houston, worry about Stroud?

Speaker 2 (02:14:41):
Brother? Why don't you worry about Trevor Lawrence?

Speaker 3 (02:14:45):
Brother, I'm not worried about Stroud as a member of
the media like you are as a Lawrence fan boy.

Speaker 1 (02:14:51):
I just like, I'm sorry, but that's just an another
layer of today's NFL discussion at the quarterback position, where
I'm like, like, why does Stroud keep getting like an
an inordinate amount of criticism when Trevor Lawrence exists and
is so much more highly touted coming out of college

(02:15:12):
than Shroud ever was.

Speaker 2 (02:15:14):
Do you ever think about that?

Speaker 1 (02:15:16):
Uh, he's still getting passes from jackasses like that guy
you just said, what was his handle Seth Jack's FSU.
I wonder where he likes his football, That's what I mean.
I mean, But again, I'm talking about analyst doing so
kind of a spin off of that. When is it time?

Speaker 3 (02:15:30):
When do you know, and this applies to number seven,
who should return this weekend against Indianapolis. This is a
season where they could extend him Will Anderson.

Speaker 1 (02:15:40):
It is the eighteen Sports Talk seven ninety Space City
Home network. You were talking about Will Anderson Junior going
into the break. I believe, if I recall my add
could completely be wrong on this.

Speaker 3 (02:15:52):
I was talking about the quarterbacks, and I was talking
about Trevor Lawrence, and he's already gotten his extension. They
made the decision that he'd has shown them enough to
say this is our guy for the long term future.
Usually number one overall picks get that lee way whether
the production has been there or not, and it clearly hasn't.
They have been to the postseason, they've even won a game,
but they have clearly not been the type of team

(02:16:13):
they would have wanted. Obviously, I'm trying to say this
as clearly as possible. This is not all on Trevor Lawrence.
He's playing for a third different head coach. When he
first got there was a total disaster and that continued
his first year with Ervin Meyer. They have changed the
entire management structure. Trent Balke was a terrible general manager
and he was there for much of that. Their new

(02:16:35):
trio of those in charge, James Gladstone the GM, Tony
Biselli the executive VP, and Liam Cohen the head coach,
is probably the best trio he's had the opportunity to
work with. But he's only had a chance to work
with them for an off season and now the partial
season ahead. So maybe there's a little more leeway for
a guy like that considering all those circumstances. A lot

(02:16:56):
of other players go in and out of town. That's
typical of an NFL team. The wide receiver group has
been very good at times, and I do go back
to a couple of years ago. I wasn't a big
fan of who they all were, but they went out
and signed an entire roster wide receiver target room of
legitimate NFL players, all in one off season. Brought in
Za Jones, brought in Christian Kirk, brought in Evan Ingram,

(02:17:17):
all because they wanted to do right by him. These
guys weren't going to set the league on fire. But
these are all established playmaking their NFL players, They're starting
caliber players. They needed that to help with the development
of the quarterback. But yet through it all it we're
kind of still at square one with his decision making
and other things.

Speaker 2 (02:17:35):
And I had mentioned.

Speaker 3 (02:17:36):
The series of posts I'd gone back and forth with
with a bunch of other rational people. My last response,
which I'm about to hit send on, was as follows
had a different response typed, but I'll go ahead with
this instead. COMA Brian, thanks for the criticism. I'll try
to be better now. I'll hit reply after I read

(02:17:57):
you what he wrote back to me. You clearly missed
the where he's had five different wide receiver rooms in
five years and for four of those seasons lost its
top three pass catchers for a good chunk. At some
point in your career, you'll stop watching stats and evaluate
the sport slash position properly.

Speaker 1 (02:18:13):
Well, he does not like your numbers intensive analysis.

Speaker 2 (02:18:17):
Apparently now, Brian does not.

Speaker 3 (02:18:19):
He does not feel like I can properly evaluate the
sport as a whole or the position properly. Five different
wide receiver rooms. Every quarterback has a different receiver room
every year.

Speaker 2 (02:18:31):
Guess what this is?

Speaker 3 (02:18:32):
Matt Stafford's first year with both DeVante Adams and Pukanakua.

Speaker 1 (02:18:36):
And DeVante Adams after eleven games is having more fun
with him than he ever did with Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (02:18:40):
His words, Matt Stafford is going through it with another
new wide receiver room. His connection with Brian Thomas is
disastrous and it has been from moment one. I don't
know why I've talked about it before. It would be
better if he was available, which he clearly wasn't the
past couple of weeks. But they clearly have not gotten
on the same page. All of this to say, the

(02:19:01):
premise was, do you give up on him if you're
Jacksonville not the NFL, because that's where the story changes.
The Browns gave up on Baker Mayfield, the Jets gave
up on Sam Donald, the Giants gave up on Daniel Jones.
It's possible all three of them are starting playoff games
this year, but not for the team that drafted him.
For a reason, you can't just send the same guy

(02:19:22):
out there year after year after year when that is
the one sure fire away to change your fortunes. It
might send you in the wrong direction first, but you can't.
We're not going to win with Baker Mayfield. That's the
decision the Browns made. We're not going to win with
Sam Donald. That's the decision the Jets made, and on
down the line, and then I still even afforded even
more grace. The three franchises we're talking about that gave

(02:19:46):
up on Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, and Sam Donald are
arguably the three worst franchises in football. So maybe they
made a terrible decision, but it's totally normal. Every franchise
goes through that and say, like the Dolphins chose otherwise,
did they make a better choice. I think they made
the wrong choice. They could have said, we're not going

(02:20:07):
anywhere with Tua. He's too injury prone, he's got a
bad history. We just don't like the football that he's
playing at this level of two hundred and seventy five million.
What about the Cardinals. They gave the money to Kyler Murray,
and it's obvious they're getting better football from Jacoby Brissett.
He's a run of the mill journeyman quarterback and their
offense is better with him out there with less talent
around him than Kyler had. At the beginning of the year, like,

(02:20:29):
it's okay to move on from your guy, especially that's
not going to work with your team.

Speaker 1 (02:20:34):
They moved on from that guy to get to Kyler Murray.

Speaker 2 (02:20:38):
Who was that?

Speaker 1 (02:20:38):
I'm talking about the Cardinals with Jacoby Brissett, But right
I'm just trying to remember who was it. Oh, I
can't remember his name. You mean the Cardinals had a
guy and move oh with Josh Rosen. I just could
totally be bringing Sure, I'm honestly trying to remember who
it was before Kyler Murray. But it was like they
had him a year and then they moved on. It wasn't
long at all.

Speaker 3 (02:20:57):
So it's not an easy to say on an obvious
decision and differing opinions on it, for sure, and I
don't think it. I'm gonna bring it to Houston, but
I still don't think it's similar. The Texans have more
time because this is only year three. They can re
up with CJ this year if they this offseason, if
they so choose, they also could do the same with

(02:21:18):
Will Anderson. I think it's also fair even if you
don't believe there are questions with CJ, and I don't.
I have zero issue with the team putting as much
money in front of him as they want its market
value and getting that done this offseason. If they can
make that work, no problem at all. I have no issues.
I'm not concerned. I don't think they're gonna end up
in a Kyler to a situation at all. Trevor Lawrence
don't feel that way at all. Totally confident, but I

(02:21:40):
still would say there's even less concern with Will. He
doesn't play the same position though. Will Anderson can have
a Miles Garrett like season and it won't matter. He
can have a JJ Watt like season and it won't matter.

Speaker 2 (02:21:54):
Jos answer they.

Speaker 3 (02:21:56):
Drafted him in the top ten. He couldn't play, and
he couldn't play anywhere else either. But I do think
there's a I don't know if it's greater likelihood, but
when you have zero questions about Will both in any
way you want to talk about him, football player person.
Will Anderson Junior Foundation, as he announced over the weekend,
was just created as he was a part of another

(02:22:16):
Thanksgiving event this past weekend.

Speaker 2 (02:22:19):
But there are no doubts.

Speaker 3 (02:22:21):
It's difficult in the same offseason, and there obviously are
other salary cap and cash flow things to concern yourself with,
but it's not going to cost you less money in
the twenty twenty seven off season. This twenty twenty six
off season. That's when the price will be the lowest
for you. Whenever you do it, it's always lower earlier
than later. If that makes sense to everybody, and it

(02:22:43):
should to Nick, who I do think is going to
be in charge of this offseason. There's no way neither
of them are getting extended. I think I would say
it's probably in the seventy thirty on Will and maybe
fifty five to forty five on CJ.

Speaker 1 (02:22:58):
I have I haven't even it's in fact, I've felt
strong more strongly about this than I did when I
said it on this show a few weeks ago. I
think Will Anderson's going to get his extension this offseason,
and I think CJ is going to get it after that,
like the next year or the next offseason, that kind
of thing.

Speaker 3 (02:23:15):
Saying it that way, just play out who knows what's
going to happen this year, but play out year four.
You know, the Texans won seven, eight, nine, ten games.
They may or may not go to the playoffs. He
goes into the offseason healthy. They make some changes on
the offensive line that are positive, and we all know
about it from day one because the players that they
add to the offensive line are definitely starting caliber players.

(02:23:37):
And then what does year four look like in advance
of the offseason, he signs his deal, They're back in
the playoffs, They're the best team in the division. He
puts up a season comparable to year one and their
offenses in the front half of the league, and you're
fine giving him market value. You make him the highest
paid quarterback for five minutes until the next guy gets
his deal.

Speaker 1 (02:23:56):
Yes, and you're doing this all after you've already likeded
up Will Anderson Junior to solidify the defense that's a
complete monster in has dominated the NFL.

Speaker 3 (02:24:05):
It's possible when CJ plays first game of his new
contractor after he signed it, he's no longer teammates with
Daniel Hunter.

Speaker 1 (02:24:15):
Well, yeah, but you knew that when you got him.
He's on the back end of his career, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (02:24:20):
He's crazy. He's definitely on the back end of his career.
He's not playing like that, and he's playing like he's
twenty two.

Speaker 1 (02:24:26):
Well, his arms are ridiculous, Like you look at him
and it's kind of like Lebron in that way. This
guy should not still be doing this, But yet he's
taken immaculate care of himself or whatever.

Speaker 3 (02:24:40):
I actually think we don't give him as much credit
as he deserves, because while the athleticism and the marvel
and what he is physically is clear, and we do
comment on that a lot, you got to watch him
more than well, you got to look at the stats
only to evaluate him, Brian, you actually have to watch
him play. Watch what he does to these poor tackles.
They don't know what's coming. He does this one play

(02:25:02):
that nobody else in the league can execute the way
he does, because there's a craft to the techniques that
these guys.

Speaker 2 (02:25:09):
Want to use.

Speaker 3 (02:25:10):
He's at the very very top end of his technique
league wide, not just a guy who pushes the pock
now bull rushes. You don't know what's coming, you don't
know which direction he's going. He gets off the ball
so quickly. He just does so many things technique wise
that are above everybody else, and he's doing it in
that body which sets him apart. These are the two
that I just gave so much credit to Puka and DeVante.

(02:25:33):
How about the Texans Easily the best pass rushing duo
in the NIAS.

Speaker 1 (02:25:38):
Simon close, It's not even close, all right? In case
you missed it is straight ahead. We will get to
that next.

Speaker 2 (02:25:46):
You know what that music.

Speaker 3 (02:25:47):
Means here halfways through the final hour of the program,
where I do in case you missed it, In case
you missed it, earlier mentioned this is in the open
of the show and a couple of times since, but
worthy of mentioning one more time since we caught up
with Dimico Ryans earlier today. Still in the concussion protocol,
both safety Jalen Petrie and quarterback CJ. Stroud, though with

(02:26:09):
both of them seeing the practice field last week, I
believe they have one step to pass in the concussion
protocol before they can be cleared, and they will do
that on Wednesday when the team practices, and they participate
there in full and will be cleared and might even
talk to the media following that practice session. We will see,
but I think that's really truly all that is remaining

(02:26:31):
for them to clear the protocol. But technically at this
point or when we spoke with Dimiko, they're not yet cleared.
He also made it clear, and I've said this before,
he didn't need to, but he did. When ready and
when healthy, they're going to go with CJ. Stroud as
their starting quarterback. So for those that did not know,
that's who they believe their starting quarterback is moving forward.

Speaker 1 (02:26:53):
And by the way, I know they're both coming off
of concussions, but should they both play, their bodies are
going to be a lot fresher than anyone on the
team with them. From that standpoint, I realized concussion is
a whole other set of issues, but physically they should
be super fresh.

Speaker 3 (02:27:10):
Yeah, Jalen Petrie has been spelled by a couple of
different players at different times because of other things that happened.

Speaker 2 (02:27:16):
MJ.

Speaker 3 (02:27:16):
Stewart going down and you know, Miles Bryant being added
to the roster, Jalen Reed being healthy enough to take
essentially a full game load worth of reps.

Speaker 2 (02:27:24):
That was last week.

Speaker 3 (02:27:25):
He was on the field for nearly every play. He
basically not played all year. He got hurt during training camp,
and it's just would not part of their active roster
for such a long period of time. But in both cases,
they were part of an awesome effort against the Buffalo Bills,
and now they will try to do similarly against a
probably a little underrated group of targets. For Daniel Jones,

(02:27:46):
I think between Pierce and Pittman and Warren. It's not
going to wow the rest of the league that has
some superstars out there more than capable, though they will
get open. And Pierce especially not because he's the best
of the Three's probablyrobably the worst of the three, but
he would be the one that might be the most
dangerous because he's the one that's gonna be running downfield
trying to burn you with a fifty yard catch. Pittman

(02:28:08):
is a thousand cuts death by a thousand cuts, gonna
catch seven balls in the slot and he's gonna go
for sixty five yards. You're gonna be like, I can't
believe he's open again. And Tyler Warren was a gift
from the Chicago Bears. I think Colston Loveland's a good
tight end. I think Tyler Warren might be a special
tight end. And the Bears chose the other first. So
that's just a couple of things to get you started

(02:28:28):
here with. In case you missed it, Josh, you have
the rest. What else do we need to either revisit
or mentioned for the first time entirely?

Speaker 16 (02:28:35):
All right, let's hit on this Geno Smith obviously, and
we know it's not a great season, But the way
to get the fans to stick by you is probably
not looking like you're giving them the bird.

Speaker 7 (02:28:46):
That seems to be what he did.

Speaker 16 (02:28:48):
They were not happy with the performance, and obviously Gino
is not happy with the performance. He's been way worse
this year. They're two and nine. They didn't score a
touchdown until the fourth quarter of this game. I know
they're playing the Browns, but still sacked ten times. Not
looking good for Gino. Smith and something else you guys
hit on with, you know, chip Kelly getting fired.

Speaker 7 (02:29:07):
It is just a mess in Oakland.

Speaker 16 (02:29:09):
And I heard Clanton talking about how much can we
really judge these guys based on hardly any talent being
around them.

Speaker 3 (02:29:17):
I do think the Raiders who were smart. Although it
hurts Gino smart to trade away Jacoby Myers. There's no
they're not gonna win any games with him. So if
you can get something for him, which they did sending
him to Jacksonville, that's a smart move to make.

Speaker 2 (02:29:28):
They're not wasting any time with Dashton Genty.

Speaker 3 (02:29:31):
He's been the RB one from moment one, and he's
out there so much that should help a little bit
of an injury issue on the offensive line, and for
much of this year, they're shocking.

Speaker 2 (02:29:42):
Is this for me to.

Speaker 3 (02:29:42):
Say it was smarked to draft Rock Bauers where they
did in the draft where they did.

Speaker 2 (02:29:49):
He's a difference maker.

Speaker 3 (02:29:51):
He is elite, and he's missed a huge chunk of
the year, but he totally changes the abilities of that offense.
Answer all of this is, Josh, I'm sure you'd agree.
Gino's just not having a good year. He's playing poorly
at the position. He had three good years in Seattle
and those might be the only three good years of

(02:30:12):
his career. It's a bad situation all the way around,
worst start to a season that Pete Carroll's ever had.
They're one of the worst teams in the NFL for
a lot of reasons.

Speaker 1 (02:30:21):
Seattle is looking like a genius for getting said years
out of him. And then I wouldn't even say poaching
Sam Donold from Minnesota. But if Minnesota was like, yeah,
we're done, they they'd made the perfect move right there.

Speaker 2 (02:30:35):
Absolutely what else do we have?

Speaker 9 (02:30:37):
Well?

Speaker 16 (02:30:37):
I just kind of wonder how that the Texans were
reportedly kind of interested in Chip Kelly. They thought, maybe, hey,
he can help out the run game. But you look
at Ashton genty three point six yards per carry. I mean,
for what you spent on a top running back, only
six hundred yards could have been a lot better. I'm
curious to see if Chip Kelly will get another shot.
But let's go back to the Texans again. Here this

(02:30:57):
Damian Pierce thing that you guys hit on. Aaron Wilson
reported that Howard Roseman the Eagles tried desperately to get
him after he cleared waivers, even called him personally try
and get him on the team. A lot of people
consider Howie Roseman to be the best GM in the NFL.
I mean, this guy knows his stuff. Reports that maybe
they tried to trade for him before he was waived.

Speaker 7 (02:31:18):
What do we think here is?

Speaker 16 (02:31:19):
Are we a little concerned that Howie Roseman sees something
in Damian Pierce that maybe the Texans don't. And of
course now he's, you know, signing on to the Chiefs
practice squad, two of the best teams in the NFL.

Speaker 7 (02:31:31):
They want some Damian Peers.

Speaker 2 (02:31:32):
Yeah, I saw.

Speaker 1 (02:31:35):
Will Metchi make a catch yesterday, John John Metchi, sorry,
make a catch yesterday for the Jets.

Speaker 3 (02:31:43):
Correct Texan to Texan to Rod Taylor to JOHNI it.

Speaker 2 (02:31:47):
Was red zone.

Speaker 1 (02:31:47):
So together I do and it's fantastic, but it makes
it hard sometimes when I'm doing this and you know,
that's a different situation.

Speaker 2 (02:31:57):
He was a trade versus a just outright let him walk.
They traded him to Howie Roseman traded him to the Jets.
That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (02:32:06):
I thinking about Damian Pierce and if anybody quote sees
something in him that the Texans didn't, well, they had
ample opportunities, day after day after day, as you mentioned,
to see if he could supplant anybody on the depth
chart in front of him, and he never did for
multiple seasons.

Speaker 3 (02:32:26):
He also didn't supplant anybody on the depth chart for
any of the teams that were offering him practice squad contracts.
He's technically not even on the roster. He's practicing with
the team. He can be elevated or he could then
ultimately be signed to the roster, but more likely than not,
he's behind the running backs that are already there. Several
of these teams that were interested at injury issues. I

(02:32:47):
think Philadelphia might be interested because I don't think they
know who's behind Saquon Barkley. They also went out and
got tank bigsby earlier this year. They haven't needed any
of them, but I think they're trying to make sure
if something does happen, we're better equipped. They also have
will Shipley, but that seems like the reason why the
Eagles might have wanted him. Where he ends up going,

(02:33:07):
they actually do have major issues. This is the first
week they've really run the ball pretty well with Kareem Hunt,
but Pacheco was obviously still hurt. They really haven't had
They have not had a very good running game all year,
so an opportunity might actually present itself here. But you also,
like I said earlier, three of them these teams that
were interested except for the Bengals, and I think the.

Speaker 2 (02:33:27):
Jets all play the Texans.

Speaker 3 (02:33:29):
Three of them play the Texans, and the other teams
are in the playoff hunt. So if we're trying to
protect ourselves, it makes sense to add a player who
we know we can feel confident putting on the field.

Speaker 1 (02:33:39):
You'll know if they whack him right after the Texans
play them in two weeks if.

Speaker 2 (02:33:42):
It was for real, I hope it is. For his case.
Lots of things that will fill the rest of our week.

Speaker 3 (02:33:49):
Wasn't sure how important this would be to everybody else
we get into the final segment of the show, the
American League West will have a different look to it
next year. The Astros are figuring things out quite obviously.
What maybe their big or biggest move of the offseason
will be beyond likely seeing from ber Valdez pitch somewhere else.

(02:34:10):
But think some of the things that they've already done
are pretty good indicator that they know who they aren't,
which is a team that has much pitching, and they
will be decidedly in search of that. And I think
they will land at least one pitcher, probably a pitcher,
and Justin Verlander, who was also a pitcher. But the
rest of the division around them, certainly the teams that

(02:34:30):
were competing with them the most over the last couple
of years, have clearly made some decisions. The Mariners re
upped with Josh Naylor neighborhood of one hundred million little
less over the next five years, still might have more
money to spend to go along with their very good
pitching staff. But yesterday these two sides have agreed to
terms on a deal, awaiting one player's okay because he

(02:34:52):
had a no trade clause, and he said, no problem,
they've sold me on the fact that they are trying
to win. That was Brandon Nima oh then of the
New York Mets, who said, by all means, I am
okay trade me to the Rangers because as far as
I know from what I've talked to them about, they're
not tearing it down. They intend to compete. And so

(02:35:15):
the deal was basically one for one, big contracts for both.
Brandon Nimo goes with his five years left on his
contract to the Texas Rangers he's an outfielder, and Marcus Simeon,
with the three years left on his original seven year,
one hundred and seventy five million dollar deal.

Speaker 2 (02:35:34):
Goes to New York.

Speaker 3 (02:35:35):
Simeon's a little bit older and has a little bit
less left on his contract. His slide has also further
pushed along his last couple of years at an advanced age,
having a noticeable drop off in offense. There is also
a noticeable drop off in Nemo's offense over the past
two years. Once he crossed over the I'm a thirty
year old ballplayer threshold. He hasn't fallen off the map

(02:35:58):
and he's still a very good player. And he's still
a very competent player, and he's a guy you want
in the lineup every day if those numbers continue. But
it absolutely screams of you just saw Marcus Simeon fall down,
so you're just waiting for this next guy to fall down,
and you took on two more years to do it.
I thought his contract that Steve Cohen gave him a
couple of years ago was insane. His numbers are good.

(02:36:20):
He is not a star. He's not a superstar. He's
one of the players that helps you compete every day.
That's That's pretty much it. And this is one of
the big moves I guess that the Rangers will make
this offseason.

Speaker 1 (02:36:32):
I've never seen a trade in which both fan bases
seemed perplexed as to who won the trade or who
lost the trade. I guess I just I don't feel
like either team got better, But I don't feel like
either team.

Speaker 2 (02:36:45):
Got worse either.

Speaker 1 (02:36:46):
I feel like it was just it was money for
sure that would probably benefit the Rangers just because of
the length of the deal left.

Speaker 2 (02:36:57):
Well, so why would it bet how much longer?

Speaker 5 (02:37:00):
Well?

Speaker 1 (02:37:00):
I know they chipped in what five million extra? I
didn't taken into account that, so you could be right
to do. I feel like that's all they're doing right
now is dumping salary.

Speaker 3 (02:37:09):
Well, they're taking on a player who's due one hundred
and two and a half million dollars over the next
five years, and they're getting rid of a player do
seventy two million over three years.

Speaker 1 (02:37:18):
Yeah, but they also just decided to non tender Adulas
Garcia to save money there and jonah Heim, regardless of
how you feel about how you I think he was
due to make some more money if he was.

Speaker 3 (02:37:28):
Yeah, this initially it will save them like a fire
snually because Simons do more than twenty a year and
Nimo makes twenty point five.

Speaker 2 (02:37:37):
Are you ready for this? For longer?

Speaker 1 (02:37:39):
I had a buddy who is a ranger's diehard. I
have a few of them. He said, I would not
be surprised if they dealt Seeger.

Speaker 3 (02:37:50):
It sounded like from one of the things I read
that that was not in their plans.

Speaker 2 (02:37:54):
Well, you've got us. If you do that, how are.

Speaker 3 (02:37:57):
You selling Nimo And you're trying to win right now
trading away your best.

Speaker 2 (02:38:01):
Player, and how you put butts in the seats?

Speaker 3 (02:38:04):
I mean, if you win, you'll be fine, I think
in Arlington, but that you have to convince me they're
going to win after the season they just had and
now you're going to go into a season without Seeger.

Speaker 1 (02:38:12):
I mean, I know he was hurt some, but they
are honestly setting up themselves, in my opinion, to be
not just Oh they're squarely in third. The Angels could
probably be better than them next year. The way things
are going.

Speaker 3 (02:38:25):
I can't give you a day, but I can tell
you that at some point during this offseason that I
said I think the Rangers are going to finish fifth
in this five team division. I mean, I don't think
I'm changing my mind after the Nemo acquisition.

Speaker 1 (02:38:38):
And the A's are like prime to take that next
step with their young talent, a whole season of which
would be on the major league roster.

Speaker 3 (02:38:46):
They have to get pitching, but they're going to score
a ton of runs again and they're going to be
hard to pitch too. In Sacramento, that is accurate, Yeah,
but the Rangers, it's tough because even without Simon now
and essentially you're just placing one twenty plus million dollar
player with another one.

Speaker 2 (02:39:02):
He just makes a little bit less.

Speaker 3 (02:39:03):
But you got four guys making twenty or more, and
de Graam is making thirty seven, and Seeker's making thirty three.
And if all these making twenty five, by the way,
do Gram's not gonna be healthy for a whole year. Again,
You're counting on players who are either have bad injury
history initially or they have that industry injury history, and
they're getting older all this everybody's getting older, you know

(02:39:25):
what I mean.

Speaker 1 (02:39:25):
Yeah, but all this did was make me more mad
about twenty three. That's all this did. I said it
over the weekend with a Doulas Garcia. Now that I
saw the Semian trade lightning in a bottle, fluke, whatever
you want to call it. They haven't done anything even
remotely close to that on either side of this for

(02:39:46):
ten years, on either side of twenty three.

Speaker 2 (02:39:50):
I mean, I know it hasn't been ten years since then.

Speaker 1 (02:39:52):
Yet what I'm saying, they haven't even come close to that,
And none of these moves tell me they're getting closer
to it.

Speaker 2 (02:40:00):
They're going further away, in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (02:40:01):
Yeah, A slumping offense last year. Their pitching was very good.
It's the only thing that had them winning games. Is
not something I see rebounding this year unless all of
these young players and I'm not even sure who what
that group will consist of this year.

Speaker 2 (02:40:13):
Is Evan Carter back? Is he capable?

Speaker 3 (02:40:17):
Maybe why Langford looks like he's going to be a
good player, and he ended up not having quite as
good a years as I think people.

Speaker 2 (02:40:22):
Thought he was going to. Josh Young's good.

Speaker 3 (02:40:24):
Josh Young's good, but he was also hurt for a
good chunk of the year. And I mentioned Evan Carter
who had a shockingly lost season entirely last year. He
was so bad at the beginning and then he also
got hurt. Josh Swifts and I player to kind of
fill in the gaps. They're not bad, but in this
division if the Angels, and I don't know what the
Angels were doing at the Taylor Ward deal, that was
a strange deal.

Speaker 2 (02:40:44):
I would have liked him.

Speaker 3 (02:40:46):
I can see that. And we talked about he and
Joe Adell potentially being targets as the Angels wanted to
move on from certain players and those might be two
of them. Angels probably a better bet to finish fifth.
I hope the Astros aren't in that conversation, but we
don't really know until they do something this offseason, a
lot of work ahead of them, and the Marritorers should
absolutely be the favorites as we sit here, to repeat, right.

Speaker 1 (02:41:07):
I can't argue with that, even though I don't think
that Big Dumper is going to do that ever again
unless he's you know, got a really good system, big
runner upper.

Speaker 2 (02:41:16):
Yeah, it's got to hurt, doesn't the Seattle fans. He
had a great season, whether he won the MVP or not,
not according to them, not as great as Aaron Judge.

Speaker 1 (02:41:26):
Yeah, and Aaron Judge didn't even go as far in
the postseason a regular season or are still more mad
about that than they are about losing in the ALCS
Like act like you've been there.

Speaker 2 (02:41:37):
Oh, I'm sorry, they can't do that. We haven't been
there before. We don't know what this is like.

Speaker 1 (02:41:42):
All right, We will have plenty of meat on the
bone to get to tomorrow. Obviously, a lot of the
things we did not talk about today, some of the
things the Miko Ryan's had to say, will be a
day closer to not only Colts Texans, but wex a
day closer to Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 (02:41:59):
Yeah, football games plus the Friday games on the college slate.

Speaker 2 (02:42:02):
No, no, no, Thanksgiving? Got the football games?

Speaker 5 (02:42:05):
Geez you?

Speaker 1 (02:42:05):
All the meals? Yes, I can't wait. And you notice
an S on the end of that. That's what I'm
talking about. I'll probably mixing two meals again this year.
Moist maker like Ross, what's the moistmaker? That's when you
take that. I'll explain it tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:42:18):
We got time my sandwich, You remember that, right?

Speaker 1 (02:42:22):
No, it's the piece of bread soaked in gravy you
put between the two layers of the meat and the
turkey that's left over, and somebody ate it and then
threw most of it away in the refrigerator. All right, Tuesday,
right around the corner. Rockets later on tonight

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