Texans punch playoff ticket, Rockets vs. Pacers, Chandler Rome in studio

Monday on The A-Team, Adam Wexler shares his thoughts on the Texans' big win over the Chargers, the Rockets' upcoming clash with the Pacers, and The Athletic's Chander Rome drops by to discuss all things Houston sports.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Now that's what I call a nice, long weekend of
enjoyable sports. Welcome into the A team. Adam Wexley are
with you, Josh Jordan here with you. As you know,
an extended vacation for AC extends through this week as well.
We don't have a lot of shows too. I'm sure
you won't miss him. I will, but Chandler Rome nice
enough to sit in again this Monday, as he did
a week ago to roll us through the first couple

(00:23):
hours of this program. There was a lot of activity
this last week or so again our last show, leaving
us three days off last week. Back here this week
a lot of Rockets basketball. I think they broke the Lakers.
They definitely broke the Calves. The Texans did what they
needed to do, so this weekend's upcoming game to end
the regular season has seating on the line, but they

(00:46):
clinched their playoff berth by winning their eighth consecutive game
Saturday in Los Angeles against Justin Herbert and the Chargers,
and the Texas ball went off on Saturday night, splendidly nice,
red clad crowd for most of the seats, obviously a
huge LSU contingent, maybe more in the stands than in
the side on the sidelines in uniform, some might say

(01:07):
LSU fans mostly, but a very entertaining game, very high
scoring game. Offense is doing some good things and hopefully
again one of the better usually one of the better
non playoff bowls every year, and I would think this
year was no different. And we get started with all
those things with Chandler here this weekend. How is your
Christmas Holiday weekend?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
No complaints? It was chill, It was relaxed. I don't love.
Anyone that knows me, or anyone that's like listening to
me for a long amount of time, will be unsurprised
to know that I'm not a huge Christmas holiday person,
mainly because like we just I just think it becomes
it's just too much of an ordeal for me, like
it's it's just another day. Like but my family, luckily,

(01:50):
we were very chill. Like we we do like the
requisite you got to go to everybody's house and you
got to do that, but we don't go over the top.
And I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I vou so the gift giving is just part of it,
But is the meal the better part of it?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
The meal is the better I mean my last thing's room. Yeah,
we're pretty Italian. So uh, it's it's my favorite meal
of the year. I will say that.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
So is there something specific? I know this sounds like
a Thanksgiving question, but some bake zd of course, Okay,
some do you know what brucelloni is? Tell our listeners.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's a it's like a pound it out. It can
be a flank steak, it can be a pork, it
can be whatever. But you stuff it with uh proshoot
and you stuff it with mozzarella and you roll it
into like a spiral and then you like bake it
in sauce and it.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Is every part of that sounded awesome, exquisite.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
It's exquisite. There was there was some stuffed hard chokes,
it was it was it was everything you want.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
So sitting around eating, hanging out kind of chill day,
it sounds just like, yes, a great day.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, but none of this like put on like I
always I always like, I always like josh with people
that are that cover baseball that show up to like
opening day or like the first game of a playoff series.
They show up in suits and I'm like, we're cover
and baseball, We're not covering the White House, and I
kind of feel the same thing about like Christmas, Like

(03:04):
I wore sweatpants and a T shirt the whole time,
like dressing up for this, like going, we're dressing up
to go sit in someone's house, Like what are we doing?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Like, yeah, you should not be doing that. No, totally agree.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
So it all comes to say that it was very chill,
and I like that perfect.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Totally agree. It was nice. Couple of days, did a
little quick drive up to Dallas and back. Obviously hit
BUCkies twice, and you know, everything else took care of business.
Was at the Texas Bowl for the Cougar game and
their opponent and everything that has come after that, and
obviously taking into account that game's kick. I was telling

(03:41):
some of the people over with the Texans because the
Lone Star Sports and Entertainment crew at NRG Stadium, it's
basically an offshoot of the Texans organization. I still don't
understand why the Texans Chargers game out on the West
Coast wasn't the night game Saturday, but it was good
for the Tech Texans and that they weren't going up
against each other. They got to split their staffs to

(04:03):
a certain degree on the pr side. So I was
up at NRG Stadium for hours before the Texas will
kickoff because I was watching most of the Texans game
up there. I was home for the first two scores.
And you can't open up a game much better than that,
as the Texans did against the Chargers. Three plays into
the game. You got a third and one. You go
deep to Jayden Higgins basically just sprinted down the field

(04:24):
and the defender that had him as his assignment decided
and somebody else will get him. He just ran right
past him. That's a seventy five yard score. Added a
second long touchdown pass to Jalen Nole the two rookies.
Two series into the game and you're up fourteen. Nothing.
Never played from behind, although the offense obviously stalled after that,
getting just two field goals the rest of the way,

(04:45):
but they did what they needed to do. You win
eight games. There are going to be quite a few
games where that is the simple statement about what took place.
Just outscore the other team, Just do what's necessary to
keep winning.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, I mean we have enough of I cover a
sport that is a very SAMD size based sport. Like
when you have a sample side like when a team
tells you what it is, Listen, we have enough samples like,
this is how the Texans are going to have to win,
right Like there, Their offense is what it is like
they they're going to be schizophrenic. They can have some explosives,

(05:16):
but this is not going to be an offense. It's
going to carry this team. This is going to be
an offense. It's going to score just enough and hope
that the defense does what it did on Saturday, and
that is play elite and for them to for them
to do that, for them to do what they did
against a playoff team, against a team that is, you know,

(05:37):
contending and going to perhaps have they clinched.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
A playoff spot, clinched it with the victory they have no.
I mean the Chargers Chargers were already clinch the results.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
So they're they're in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
To do that against the playoff team is encouraging. To
be able to go on the road and do that
against And I mean I was here last week. I said,
you know, the head coach that the Texans have doesn't
provide much value aside from calling the defense. But to
do that against Jim Harbaugh, who is I mean, a
more established.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
You almost said what I hoped you were going to say,
a more ron I know I can respect the winning,
but holy cow, and I even like Michigan for the
most part. I think this guy's wacko.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
He I mean, he made a Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
He did?

Speaker 1 (06:21):
I said, respect he said as a coach. Yeah, he
also won a national championship. Totally above board.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
I am happy for Demiko, though two months ago he
was whining about negativity, whining about all the negative press,
and it was the media's fault and the media never
said anything good about the most underachieving team in the NFL,
and he was obviously paying attention to and focusing on
the right things. And it's just the American dream, right
you can ignore everything else, bash the media, and then

(06:47):
it turns around and you make the playoffs. So congratulations, Demiko.
You're whining did something? Uh?

Speaker 1 (06:52):
What they do with us? As I've said many times,
good and bad, especially during the Damiico era, he has
had some instances where what is I had to say
just either it didn't make a whole lot of sense
or lashing out against us makes zero sense. In some
of these instances, but doesn't have anything to do with
how they operate as a football team. And that's the
best part about what he's done. How he handles the media,

(07:12):
And obviously I don't think he handles it badly. I
just do think there have been some instances where it
could have been dealt with the mix and injury and
a few other things in a different way because what
he did was unnecessary. But it doesn't impact how he
coaches football. It doesn't impact how the team views themselves. Clearly,
when you're ozing three and three and five, there's got
to be somebody in the building that believes in what

(07:32):
you're doing. And somebody was every guy that wears pads
every Saturday or Sunday or Monday or Thursday.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
The one thing you I mean, you have to give
him obviously, like they started owing three. I think they're
the seventh team in the Super Bowl era to make
the playoffs after starting owing three. That's a testament to
the entire organization. But he leads the organization, so obviously
Di Miko gets a lot of credit for that. And
that was a lot of what I said. It was
talking in cheek, but you know, you look back were

(07:59):
they three and five when they were down by nineteen
of the Jaguars at NRG like that could have ended
their season.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, the way the season went was the timing of
how everything played out for the Texans, what they needed
to do and when they really had to If they
weren't going to start winning at some point soon, and
it was right around that time, then they weren't gonna
go anywhere. So the Texans had just lost to Denver
and lost CJ. Stroud in that game that dropped them
to three and five. It was an eighteen to fifteen

(08:27):
game where the best team in the AFC beat you
on a last play of the game field goal with CJ.
Stroud missing half the game. And then they won eight
straight games. So the first of those games was coming
back from down nineteen in the fourth quarter thanks to
Davis Mills leading three offensive touchdown drives and closing it
out with a defensive touchdown. They won every game since

(08:48):
they won. Five of those eight games have been one
score games, and the last two are among them. They've
figured out a little bit more about both teams are
in the same position when you get down to the
final five minutes. Either you've got to stop them from
scoring or they need to score or who next score
wins because of the what it says on them. And
they were not making those plays for the first eight weeks.

(09:10):
Of those five losses, in the first eight games, all
of them were one score losses. And now they've completely
flipped it.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
And I mean that's a culture thing. It's a testament
to the culture that they have instilled. That you get,
you go down, you lose your first three games of
the season, you're three and five with a backup down
nineteen points to what we now know is a very
very good team, and you come back and you win.
I mean, those are two culture things, right, and that
that is Demico Ryans has established a culture there that

(09:40):
they don't seem to be phased by much and that
is a good trait to have. And I think the
Chargers also reinforced point I made last time I was
here too, that having a good kicker helps.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
They really do. The Chargers do have a good kicker.
It just wasn't a good day for their kicker, and
that's all that really matters.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Well, the good Well, the thing is Kyane Fairbronh has
not had any any bad days this whole year, like,
his misses have not been like consequential misses.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
His only misses have come from beyond fifty.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Right like, and those are obviously you're in the NFL,
You're paid to kick fifty yard field you're paid to
kick long.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
He's made eight out of the eleven that were blocked.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Right, So, I mean it's you that is That is
such a luxury to have when you are when you
are as we said, and when the offense is gonna
have to do just enough, you're gonna have to every
point matters that the Texans put up offensively, and to
have something close to automatic when you run out of

(10:38):
field goal unit out there, that's a luxury that the
Chargers thought they had and they didn't have it on Saturday,
but the Texans have had that all year and that's
something that's going to really really benefit them going forward.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Top two scoring kickers in the AFC, top two field
goal kicking teams in the AFC, the Chargers and the Texans,
And it definitely was an impactful kicking day and that
a field goal, a short field goal was missed and
obviously basically the same length they missed a thirty two
yard field goal. They missed a three thirty three yard
extra point. They won by four. You math wizards out

(11:10):
there can tell me how many points they left on
the board just in the kicking game. We got four hours.
Maybe you'll figure out what that is by the time
we get there. We got Best of Ks coming up
in about half about twenty minutes. We actually have u H.
Cougar tickets hoops tickets to give away for tonight's game,
so we're gonna do that in a half an hour
final segment of this hour show. We will give those

(11:32):
tickets away, so listen in and we'll give you the
opportunity to win them. I have our signature segment coming
up at four thirty, as we always do, the good,
the bad, the ugly from the weekend, and plenty of
football discussion, rockets discussion, and now we're just a couple
of days away from the CFB playoff. Back on the
field discussion, all that ahead here on the EIGHTEAM.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Eight team.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
Back for our final week's worth of shows, two days
worth of shows here in twenty twenty five see on
VAK channeler rome in for the next couple of hours,
wexton Josh here with you, talking a little bit of
Texans and everybody else in the AFC that's in the
playoffs except for the AFC North champion. The league finally
got around to announcing the schedule for this upcoming weekend,

(12:17):
and there are a couple of interesting things to me
about how they did it as it relates to the
Texans and the AFC. Clearly, they had three teams or
three sets of games that they wanted to set up
in kind of isolated situations, and they were able to
do that pretty easily. How that affects everybody else is
limited because Carolina and Tampa, the winner there makes it,

(12:38):
the loser does not unless something ridiculous happens tonight and
next week with Atlanta Seattle in San Francisco obviously playing
for the top spot. Those are the two games Saturday,
and then the Sunday night game is that AFC North
game between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Now, the Texans made it
all the way up to the five spot with their
victory over the weekend and the results that then followed

(12:59):
yesterday with losing to the Eagles going for two with
five seconds left down one after they had just scored
the touchdown to draw within one, and they pretty much
had what they needed. Josh Allen missed his receiver, their
earlier conversion kick was missed, and just an interesting choice
of decisions for them.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
I disagree. I disagree with that decision completely so because
I mean, look, they should have gotten it, Like you
had the best quarterback in football with a wide open
receiver and he just missed it, which like that's part
of life. But if you, I mean you watch that game, obviously,
like the Eagles did nothing for the entire sike, all
of the momentum was on Buffalo's side, and it just

(13:38):
felt like if they the argument is like, oh, you've
got all the momentum, just stomp on their throat with
the two point conversion. But I don't know, man, like
that's that's.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
With the new overtime rules where both teams get the football.
I tend to agree because you know, I know you
want to believe it's one hundred percent on point after kicks.
It should be. I still, after all these years, think
it's stupid that they move the kick back. If you
want people to kick it, just put it back where
it was or put it somewhere in the middle. Missing

(14:08):
extra points is stupid. It doesn't mean the kicker's bad.
It just means he missed it, and I wish it
just wasn't part of how we have to figure things out.
That's that's the last thing I think we want to
factor into, you know, scoring points. I'm all for teams
going for two all the time. I would love to
see it. And when you have Josh Allen, you probably
should go for to way more often than they even do.
But the point you made is why would it change

(14:30):
in the second ten minutes. The Eagles literally had not
completed a pass in the second half. They've done nothing
the whole day. Even if they score, even if they
score a touchdown, they don't win the game if they
get the ball first. Obviously the other way around, you
know what I'm saying, Yeah, I would. I would have
probably gone that route. Also they missed the play.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
I've been more on board go to overtime and then
if what you said happens, see the Eagles get the
ball first, they score a touchdown, then you go score
a touchdown, then you go for two. I'm all for that.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
The idea that you don't want to play more football
with Josh Allen clearly not at one hundred percent probably
played into it a little bit because the less he
has to play before they reach the playoffs, the better,
and the scheduling that comes into play, which is what
I was referencing the Texans. The whole AFC South's playing
at noon. Texans can't still win the division, but obviously
the only way that happens is if the Texans win

(15:22):
and the Jaguars lose. The Jaguars are playing the Tennessee
Titans in Jacksonville. The Texans are playing probably a host
of reserves, certainly their quarterback, and with Indianapolis won't be
very good. Even if it is Philip Rivers. I'm all
for the fun story. I'm all for his entire family
filling up a suite all by themselves. I'm all for

(15:44):
the memes about one hundred person band singing the national
anthem or choir singing the national anthem and acting like
it's just kids of Philip Rivers. He wasn't He was okay.
He was three games, is you know, twenty percent of
an NFL season or eighteen percent? He was just alright.
He was maybe better than who they had. So I

(16:05):
am again I'm not saying it was wrong, but he
didn't play great football. He didn't come in and give
them a better chance to win. He just gave them
a better chance than the guys who we haven't even
seen play gave would have given them a chance. And
that's who the Texans are likely to see. Imagine, Riley
Leonard gets most of the work, so the Texans. According
to Dimico Rans who met with the media just a
few minutes ago over via zoom with them waiting to

(16:26):
figure out what their schedule is gonna be, he said,
they're playing their starters. He said, they're playing this game
to win. I don't know if that will change at
any point during the game. If you remember last year
at the end of the season, CJ. Stroud did start
the final game of the season, open it up, went
six for six on the opening drive, they scored a touchdown,
and he did not play again. I don't know if
he'll play it that way. They are fifth, and with

(16:47):
a win, there'll be no worse than fifth, and obviously
the division crown is still at play. But there is
a chance they could be six, and there is a
chance they could be seven if they don't win, and
if both the Chargers and the Bills do then they
fall the seventh. If one of them does, then they
fall the sixth. So I don't know that you'd want
to play with that opportunity. Yes, you could end up

(17:08):
playing this team in this division, Jacksonville a third time
in their building, if you're six and their three, which
is a likely scenario if you lose, or you could
fall all the way to seventh and have to travel
to somewhere that's probably cold in New England or Denver
for your opening playoff game, which I would call a
disaster scenario. Not that I don't think the Texans can

(17:29):
beat those teams. They definitely can. Don't hear what I'm
saying and say, man, why are you afraid of those teams?
Not afraid of those teams. The Texans should be afraid
of nobody. But you still would want to do what
you think is best for your team. If injuries are
a major concern and they are in one very very
very very specific area, if it's not quarterback, then you

(17:49):
play it accordingly. But being the three seed or the
five seed I think is very advantageous for the Texans.
So I think that's what Demiko's saying today is how
they're playing it.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
I mean if even the three sets you play a
home game.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
It's pretty simple.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
I mean, now the Titans aren't likely to beat the Jaguars.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yes, but no, And I mean, look, it could get
to a point where you know, like you you mentioned,
it could get I mean, Demiko's not gonna be isolated
on the side. He's gonna look up at the ribbon
scoreboard and see like, oh, it's twenty one to nothing Jacksonville.
Oh it's twenty one nothing before they even hit the
second quarter, like CJ. Go, Davis Mills, here's your reward
for winning us those three games.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
And that's the issue I have with why the NFL
did it this particular way. Both of the games that
also impact the Texans are three to twenty five kickoffs. Oh,
the Bills are playing at three twenty five and the
Chargers are playing at three twenty five, And I can't
I guess the Denver home it's the Chargers of the Broncos.

(18:47):
Was it impossible to put them at noon or was
it impossible to put all of these teams, all eight
of these teams at three twenty five? That's what I
have a question about. Bills are obviously playing on the
East Coast, they're the Jets Jets at Buffalo. But now
both of those teams have information before they kick off.
If the Texans have won, well, the Chargers know where

(19:09):
they stand. If the Texans have lost, the same thing
for both of them. I think that would have been
easy to avoid. And I thought that's why they waited
on when they put the schedule out to be fair, wex,
did you watch the Jets yesterday? The Jets are really
good at playing bad football.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
I don't think it back. I think the I mean,
if it was like another team that was going to
be competitive and that was going to like really give
a challenge, like I could see where you're coming from.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
But like, well, let's say the games that they're all
at three twenty five, even with Josh Allen. The way is,
you know, whatever the Chargers feel about their team, is
there any way they sit their players, they start them all,
they may watch the scoreboard and start taking them out.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
I mean, I'm coming from the baseball perspective where one
game one sixty two, all of the games that the
MLB did this a couple of years ago, where they
moved it to where the last day of the season
Game one sixty two. Every game starts at the same time. Yeah,
and it is. It's I mean, when you have races,
it's actually pretty compelling awesome. But like I mean there's
baseball teams that do that. This year there wasn't many

(20:10):
other there wasn't much of that. Like the Astros they
pulled al Tuove and Korea and all them, like that
was Game one sixty one. I think, yeah, they pulled
them after like two innings when they realized the Guardians
had won. But yeah, no, it makes it fun in
MLB because like if you have pennant races or if
you have like wild card races that come down to
the last day, like you've got every like you hope,
like the eighth innings line up and it's like, oh,

(20:31):
like we can watch like is this guy gonna give
it up? Like every it makes it so much more enjoyable.
But the NFL, I guess, is more into money and
more in.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
It's also different, like both of the eighth innings are
you know, first pitches at the same time. One game
is three to two, the other game is seven to one.
What doesn't mean the seven to one game is over.
It's baseball anything can still happen in a football game.
If you're in the fourth quarter and you're up, you know,
twenty eight to three, or you're up like the Patriots
were over the Jets yesterday, that game is over. There's

(21:01):
no possible way that. It's just not a scenario that
can play out. Baseball never liked that. That's the game
that is measured in outs and not time. That's why
I say it all the time. Why teams give away
outs in with the love of the bunt that some
people have. Luckily, this team doesn't have a huge love
for that, and hasn't for many years. It's gotten a
little bit worse over the recent years, and I hope

(21:22):
it doesn't continue. But man, they got to get you
out twenty seven times. Why are you giving them one?
Why are you just saying, here, take this one, we
don't need it. And usually when you do it, their
pitchers already in some sort of pickle. You're just making
it easier for them.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
You can't even use the adage anymore that baseball is
the only game without a clock anymore.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
I use it because it is not. The game is
not measured in time. They just have new clock rules.
You can play for you can pop a five hour
baseball game. Still it's harder, very hard to do that,
but it can't still happen.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
You can. You can run out the clock every time
you want, like make it really easy.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
That would be a horrible way to enjoy, not enjoy
a baseball game. We'll take it to the social media
streets next and give you the best of X free
repeats itself type bangils succeed.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
Never doubt that you're the one who pus for no
one building lead.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
You're the best of X. Nothing's gonna ever talk.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know you're the best of X.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Post an ever single day.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
You're the best of XX breaking the entire internet. All right,
what we got for you after a very long weekend.
I really could do the entire rest of the show
via best of X. All the people commenting on some

(22:44):
really great, great posts on social media, some good stuff
on IG as per usual. But sometimes we lean on
social media for things that have been on the air
somewhere else, been on TV here, during a podcast there,
and otherwise we would probably miss it. One of the
great great values of social media. If it happened, and
it's ridiculous, we will find it on social media. So

(23:08):
I'm gonna guess Chandler that you are. You're familiar with
Booger McFarlane's work.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
I am, I am.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
He knows it just means more right he does, you're
a fan of his broadcasting work.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
I'm gonna be honest. If we're comparing two former LSU
defensive lineman, I prefer Marcus Spears. Marcus Spears is probably
a better analyst in my opinion than Booger MacFarland. But
that's splitting hairs.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
I think you would be in a if one hundred
people were asked that very same question about those two individuals,
I believe ninety nine of them would likely say what
you just said. But nonetheless, Boogers more likely to deliver
something that finds its way to best of X. Marcus
is more likely to deliver best of X material if
he's talking about how awesome Texas volleyball is where his
daughter plays, or how awesome the SEC is where he

(23:53):
comments occasionally if he's not talking about the NFL. But
Booger was asked a question about Bolls this weekend about
Bowl season, and if he recalled his you know what
was maybe a memorable moment from when he went to
a Bowl games as a Tiger, and he responded with this,
My first.

Speaker 5 (24:11):
Experience in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, first time getting
per diem, nine hundred and eighty seven dollars, went to
one nice establishment and I gave it all the way.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
They got some good wings though, Lemon lemon pep that's
me and me and Lou Williams have somebody.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
He and Lou Williams have something in common. What would
that be? Because all I heard was he likes to
eat and he spent one thousand dollars on food. Right, Yeah,
that's what he said to the listening audience, who did
get a little bit of an explanation from Kevin de Gandhi,
who's there asking him that question. But again, if you
go to social media, there should be no question about

(24:48):
what he was talking about, since that particular post was
quote tweeted, quote posted by none other than Lou Williams,
who likes Magic City and likes lemon pepper wings.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Poor booger McFarlane his three Bowl games at LSU. He
played the nineteen ninety five Independence Bowl against Michigan State
and head coach Nick Saban. Okay, he went to that
Peach Bowl where you had a nice time and then
you had to go back to Shreveport nineteen ninety seven
to play the Independence Bowl. That's tough.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
One appearance at the Independence Bowl was probably plenty, and
for LSU to go to the Independence Bowl, that's one
too many, correct, he is I do enjoy that. It
feels like to me, I imagine you're the same. You've got
your christ Shitty Territory podcast. You have, Reddick is on
there quite a bit. A lot of other podcasts are

(25:35):
very very popular where current players are on a lot,
or current players are hosting them, or former players are
hosting them. And I still don't think everybody on a podcast,
especially athletes or former athletes or they don't care, have
quite grasped that if you say it there, it's just
like saying it anywhere else. It's not well, nobody's going
to hear this. Everybody's going to hear this every time

(25:58):
you open your mouth.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
I'll give Reddick credit as someone that has done has
done numerous podcasts with Josh Reddick for the last year.
He understands that because there are some things he has
tried to say before we hit the button, like you
know what, like I'm not gonna tell you what to
say or what not to say, Josh, like you do
you man, I want I want you to say whatever
you want, but just I want you to remember that

(26:20):
that you're you're live, that this is this is the
uh the Internet, and this is recorded word like the
receipts are everywhere, Yeah, receipts are everywhere.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
I think NBA players are probably still sitting at the
front of the line in this regard, especially with UH
Paul Pierce jumping on every now and then Gilbert Arenas
hosting regularly. I think All the Smoke is actually an
extremely entertaining podcast, great guests, and they really know a
lot about what has happened. A lot of it gives
you a little behind the scenes stuff because they've been
there and they've done that, and they've done all these
things and with so much when players like This weekend,

(26:52):
there was a ridiculous Jose Alvarado incident, yet again, as
a little Jose Alvarado was, he picked a fight with
Mark Williams, who wanted nothing to do with him. The
only reason Williams got suspended for a game is because
he was flailing at the little bug that was grabbing
onto him and punching him in the face. Williams really
didn't even throw a punch. He was like, get off,

(27:13):
but yes, his arms were moving around and making contact
with Alvarado. So a one game suspension for him, two
for Alvarado. But things like that, and then people who
like to grab audio from players on the court, what
was really said? What did Kevin Durant say to Bruce Brown?
What was said during this fight? And then former players
will go back and say, here's what gets said when

(27:34):
they're on these podcasts. And we have a little insight too.
How it does sound like, especially in the NBA front,
anything goes. You can say anything and it can be
categorized as trash talk.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Is it bad that you said Jose Alvarado in the
first I know who you thought of? Yes, and then
you said little. I'm like, well, Jose alvaradoin little, so
he must be talking about somebody else.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Here's Jose Alvarado. When you're listening to the A team,
if I say Jose Alvarado and I don't say it
with disdain, that means the guy who helped turn the
World Series upside down when he served it up to
Jordan Alvarez. If I say it with disdain, that's little pesky.
Get out of here, Jose Alvarado of the Pelicans, who
I mean every time, I feel like, why I talk
so negatively about him. He's just trying to help his team.

(28:17):
He's trying to, you know, do what he can. He's
you know, he's a scrappy little player. Maybe you shouldn't
be so negative about what he does. And then he'll
do something that shows exactly why I feel the way
that I do. And I can't believe more NBA players
don't feel the way that they do about him. But
he got a two game suspension. Again, like I said,
he basically just picked a fight and total silliness. One

(28:37):
other element of NBA basketball was on display this weekend,
and we come back from this segment. I'm curious if
you have a perspective on this because it doesn't really
play in every sport the same way. It does play
in baseball a little bit, and you'll see people get
ticked off about it. It definitely plays in the NBA
a lot, and like I said, it happened this weekend.
The NFL probably never plays, but so it happens in

(29:00):
college football all the time, and it has to do
with a lopsided scoreboard and what is allowed and what
is not allowed at the late stages of these athletic
contests usually played by the most skilled people on planet Earths.
So we'll get to that on the other side here
on the eighteam before I get into that conversation with

(29:23):
Chandler here sitting in for ac, I wanted to give
those tickets aways, give you an opportunity to make your
evening plans. We got tickets to give away to tonight's
Cougar basketball game. The eleven and one eighth rank University
of Houston Cougar's playing over for Tita Center this evening
Middle Tennessee in town for that one tonight. They're eleven
and one. We'll see if they can get to twelve

(29:43):
and one, and we'll see if we can get you
out there. If you're listening to the show earlier, you
know the answer to this question, and you might just
know the answer anyway, and you can call it and
win a pair of tickets to go see them play.
Two nights seven one three two one two five seven
ninety seven one three two one two five seven ninety
Just last segment we hit you with the best X.
We gave you some audio from this weekend's college football coverage,

(30:04):
and my question is which college football voice did you
hear mentioning that he recalled a bowl game experience of
his own in Atlanta, where he spent almost one thousand
dollars of his per diem enjoying lemon pepper wings. Who
said it? Who said it? Very easy to remember and
if you were listening, you will know seven one three

(30:25):
two one two five seven nine age give Josh call,
tell them the answer. We'll set you up with a
pair of tickets to get to Fortita Center this evening
to see U of H hoops in Middle Tennessee. So
I was referring to something that happened in a game
over the weekend between the Bulls and the Bucks. Fairly

(30:45):
competitive game, but down the stretch, final couple possessions, final
few seconds. Obviously one team was going to win and
the other team was going to lose. It was not
a one possession game, wasn't a one basket game. It
was actually one twelve to one to oh three game.
Bulls had the ball, they were losing, about twelve fifteen
seconds left. They take a three pointer, they miss, Milwaukee
gets the rebound, Gianna Sono Takumpo has it. He just

(31:07):
kind of ambles out to half court with it and
then picks up steam and goes down and throws this
unbelievably awesome win mill dunk. And of course the losers
that put on Bull's uniforms took offense to it. And
yes there's a little history, and yes, usually that's what
comes up. And there's a play between Phoenix and New
Orleans earlier this year and the same thing happened. I
contend that you're in the NBA. You can do whatever

(31:30):
you want. You can act like there's unwritten rules all
you want. Why are you asking the other team to
do anything other than play basketball? That's all they're doing.
You took a shot, They can take a shot. They're
gonna take a turnover, but you don't have to. I
think it's all stupid. Why are we even considering any
of this? So why do the players continue to care?
Just play basketball, go to the locker room after the game.

(31:54):
What are you wasting your time with these ridiculous, non existent,
in my opinion, unwritten rules.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
I tend to agree. I agree. The one thing I
think from I'm gonna come from a baseball perspective.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
They have them too, I mean, and base stop stealing bases,
stop trying to score.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
Yeah, that's the look I'm I think bunting, I think
stealing bases when you're up ten runs, I think that's
a little much that that's just my that's just my thing.
I think if you're gonna go up there like try,
Like to me, bunting is not trying, and I know
it's gonna be clipped and taken out of contact. But like, like,

(32:35):
for example, when Nick Kurtz was here last year and
he hit his four, he had the six for six
game four home runs, had one of the great like
not hyperbole, one of the greatest baseball games ever played.
He faced a position player, and his last at bat,
he faced Cooper Hummel, Like, I mean, what do you
want him to do? Like, do you want him to
go up there and like strike out against.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
A position maybe talking amongst the people covering the game
or hitting the clubhouse on either side, did you feel
there was some sort of he shouldn't have swung at
Cooper Hummels pitches.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
No, No, Actually I had some Jeffrey Springs who started
that game for the A's that night. Because I went
to the A's clubhouse after the games, I had to
write it from their perspective, because Nick Kurtz did what
he did. That's kind of the story, yeah, kind of.
Jeffrey Springs actually brought up something that I hadn't considered before.
He said, you know, for these guys, especially for young
guys like Nick Kurtz, the rookie of the year, hitting

(33:26):
off a position players harder because you're geared up to
face I mean, and is a bat before he faced
Cooper humbley faced Caleb Ard, who there was ninety nine.
You're geared up for ninety nine, you're geared up for spin,
and now you're getting fifty five, and you're also like
you're in your head. I bet Nick Kurtz went up there.
He didn't say this after the game, but I bet
he went up there and was like, I'm five for
five with three homers. If I strike out against a

(33:48):
position player, or if I like ground the second base
against a position player, like do I really like? So
you're probably more nervous facing a position player than anything.
I think the other thing that can't be overlooked here
and i'll, i'll this is This was an interesting conversation
that I had once with Aj Hinch, the former manager
of the Astros. There was a game, I think my

(34:09):
first or second ear on the beat. The Astros were up,
the answers were went in by like ten runs, like
it was. It was one of these games we're talking about,
just like just throw the pitches, get this thing over with,
like and Hector ron Dome was on the mound, remembering
some guys. Hector rond Dome was on the mound for
the Astros. And there was a fielder's choice hit and

(34:30):
it was a bang bang play at second was six.
They were trying to do a turn a double play
bang bang play at second umpire call them safe. Aj
challenged up ten runs in the eighth inning. To me,
if I was the other manager, that would pee me
off to no when it's like, are you really challenging

(34:50):
a call like up ten run? Let's just get out
of here. And so a couple of weeks later, let
I let it pass. And a couple weeks later I
asked as and it is just us talking, I said, hey,
why did you do that? We're always trying to get
out of here. And he looked at me. He goes,
he goes, where's Hector ron don in his uh in
his career? Arc I said, oh, he's a free agent
next year. Said, yeah, he's a free agent next year.

(35:10):
He said, if I don't challenge, and the Asher's won
the challenge. By the way he was out, he was right,
got out of the inning. He said, if I, if
I don't challenge that, and that run scores and his
earned run average going into free agency is a four
instead of a three to eight or a three to nine.
I couldn't live with myself, and I know he wouldn't
like me much at all. So you got to keep

(35:33):
that in perspective too, that like.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
I hope you guys are listening to the story and
hearing it clearly because I love it. Because what aj
Hinch is saying is what all managers and all players
should be thinking, which is why I think all these dumb,
unwritten rules make no sense and have no place in
these this level of sports. He cares about his guys
and his team, not the other team. He doesn't feel

(35:57):
sorry for them, he doesn't feel anything for them. He
cares about his players. It mattered to him because of
something that mattered to his player. That's how you that's
how you play. Like does Giannis care about the bulls
and their feelings? And he commented on it. I forget,
of course he doesn't. Why should he. That's for you
guys to deal with. You guys can wallow in your

(36:17):
losses and pretend like this is one more chip on
your shoulder. Agent. That is the right call. I assume
you felt like that explanation was a good one.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Right, it was, and it was. I had not considered
that because I mean my head, I'm just sitting now,
get me the f out of here, like or ten runs.
My game story is written like I got things to do.
But bringing it back to Krush City Territory, say about
the faul Territory Network. Did you know that Josh Reddick
co host? Did you know he gave up a home
run in Albert Pooles.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
There's a story. I don't remember this.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
But we're getting we're getting on our point here, like
Josh was. When Josh was playing for the Diamondbacks, they
were down, they were up. I think they were up, Yeah,
they were. They were down twenty to one. The Diamondbacks
were twenty to one. So Josh pitched the ninth inning
Albert Poohles, who hits how many homers? Six hundred and
something like he goes up there like he's not gonna

(37:09):
taken it bad off, like he's trying to like get
his name and etch it further into immortality, Like, yeah,
he hit a homer off, Josh Reddick, Like, you don't
lower your level of play. You don't lower your level
of focus just because the game is out of reach.
Now where I think things would cross the line, and
I think a lot of people would agree with me,
and maybe why Jannis drew so much higher. I don't

(37:32):
think Albert pooh Holes bat flipped his home or off,
Josh Reddick. I don't think Albert pool Holes took a
minute and a half to jog around the bases and
then you know, celebrated wildly. As it should be noted,
neither did Nick Kurtz when he hit the homer off
Cooper Hummel, like he's sprinting around the bases, got home
and that was it, Like you play and you just

(37:52):
you move forward. Now, maybe I did not see the
play that you're talking about with gianness, But if Jannis
went in there and just completely crammed on someone.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
And I mean, it's just that nobody was playing anymore.
Everyone had already quit because there was five seconds left,
and he went down there and threw in a highlight
real jam.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
I mean, I guess I can see where the ire
would come from in that, But I'm okay if you're
not like going out there and like showboating, like there
was a guy for the Orioles, Kobe Mayo, who's probably
gonna get traded, and since they've added all these new guys,
his first homer as a big leaguer came off of
a position player, yep, and he bat flipped the absolute

(38:29):
hell out of it. And it's like, I felt so
bad for this kid because like it's your first homer.
Is it's your first major league homer, like you should celebrate,
But then he's getting just destroyed by social media and
things because he hit it off. I think it was
a white Sox position player and he just bat flipped,
like went to his dugout like this, And I'm like,

(38:49):
I feel so bad, but also like that that's what
I would avoid. I would avoid like drawing extra attention
to it. Go up there, take your at bat, you know,
make your dunk if you're whatever sport, score your goal
in hockey, and then just kind of move on.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Yep, I'll give you an impossible trivia question. I'll leave
you with here. Josh Reddick came into that game. It
was twenty one to one and he came in in
the last inning because he had to relieve another pitcher
had given up six runs to the inning. It's a
former Astros pitcher, very very very short term recent Houston
Astros pitcher. No way you know that. I want to

(39:25):
ask you to name it here, but we'll come back
on the other side and see if you know. Hey, weekend,
Hopefully everybody enjoyed it. Here we are on the A
team on a Monday afternoon, December twenty ninth, and with you,
of course as well via the simulcast on Space City
Home Network, joined by Chandler Roman. Another hour with us
here in studio filling in for AC. You will hear
from AC this evening part of Rockets basketball. Tonight, we'll

(39:47):
get into coverage of Rockets Pacers at six o'clock with
Rockets launch Pad. AC will have Rockets countdown for you
at six thirty and then he and MT will bring
you what presumably and hopefully will be the rockets third
concent executive victory, hopefully in the same fashion they've gotten
their last two blowout victory over the Calves to open
up this brief two game homestand a Christmas Day blowout

(40:10):
victory over the LA Lakers, so a little bit of
balance for the Rockets in front of a national audience.
They were in LA for two games. The first of
those two games was the second game of a doubleheader
on NBC and Peacock and it was one of the
worst nights of the season for the Rockets. They were
embarrassed by the offensive juggernaut now that the LA Clippers are,

(40:30):
and they they just couldn't stop them. They effort was questioned,
and then they came out on Christmas Day and they
absolutely embarrassed the Lakers. The Lakers offered zero resistance and
the Rockets said, okay, we'll shoot fifty four percent. We'll
blow you out of the building. Your own building, and
now got to bring some of that momentum finally off
of their six game road trip back home for the

(40:50):
game against the Calves. Won that one handily and quickly.
According to Calves head coach Kenny Atkinson, who said this
game was over in the first quarter, and now a
six win team comes into town tonight, the only visit
of the season for the Indiana Pacers. Rockets will be
back out on the road to kick off twenty twenty six,
a game on the first against Brooklyn and then a

(41:11):
game against the mass before returning home, so plenty to
get into on that front. We'll probably visit to Kevin
Durant on social media as he was there this weekend
with some interesting comments as he always does. Want to
talk a little bit more about what we were talking
about as we close out the segment, and obviously want
to set the stage for what's on tap for the
Texans the rest of the AFC, And obviously there's one

(41:33):
more game here in week seventeen tonight. I'd like to
see the La Rams go ahead and take care of
their victory tonight so there's no contingency on the game
Saturday afternoon, Carolina and Tampa are getting together. The winner
wins the division unless it's Tampa and the Falcons went
out because a ridiculous three team tiebreaker could still send

(41:56):
the Panthers to the playoffs even if they don't win.
What we're going to call Saturday afternoons must win game
to win the division, so I hope that doesn't play
out that way. We got three games this weekend that
we'll send somebody to the playoffs and send another team
packing Ravens and Steelers. The game of interest to the
Texans should today land in the five spot, which is
where they currently are. The three teams of the wildcard

(42:19):
race have been there for weeks, the Texans, the Bills,
and the Chargers. This was the first weekend the Texans
gained ground on both of them, with them losing. Chargers
obviously lost to Houston in LA twenty to sixteen, and
the Bills lost to the Eagles thirteen to twelve. Not
a very good day for either offenses. Obviously, in a
game at thirteen twelve, temperature was low. I don't know
the conditions were quite as bad as a low scoring

(42:42):
game might have suggested, and the announcement on the schedule
for this weekend puts all of the AFC South teams
at noon two games, Texans hosting the Colts. Colts were
eliminated with Saturday's Texans win. They played Philip Rivers anyway,
and at least gave the Jaguars something to think about.
Jaguars even had to with stand a hail Mary on
the final play. Of course, that meant the Colts had

(43:03):
to take Philip Rivers out of the game, their starting
quarterback because his backup has a better arm than he does,
and Riley Leonard put a ball into the end zone,
it was intercepted, and that was the game. Colts eliminated
there here in Houston. Titans have long since been eliminated
there in Jacksonville. This weekend, a Jacksonville loss and a
Texans victory would put the Texans in the three spot.

(43:24):
They would then win the AFC South for the third
consecutive year. They have a twelve win season, and they
would head to the playoffs on a nine game winning streak.
Doesn't really play in baseball because nobody really flies into
the playoffs on some crazy winning streak. And if you're
having a winning streak like that late in the season,
you've probably are in a position where you're resting guys
or you need every single one of those wins to

(43:45):
put together some miracle run to get there. Happens a
lot in football. Happens occasionally in college basketball. You put
together a twelve thirteen game winning streak, and some are wondering,
do you really want to play three four games in
your conference tournament and have a seventeen to eighteen nineteen
game winning streak before you then have to win six
more to win the NCAA tournament In the NFL sixteen

(44:06):
at fifteen and oh, teams, do we play to get
a sixteenth win? Do we play to get a fourteenth
win when it doesn't really matter? Does anybody think that
is on the minds of the Texans at all? They
have an eight game winning streak. I don't think they
care one bit if the streak continues or it doesn't,
because they're just trying to win a game each week.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
No, and I don't think it's on their Well, let's
not act like they've played elite football throughout this eight
game winning streak either. Like the last time I sat
in here was after they played the Raiders, and I
think we both sat in here and said that was awful,
Like they did not play good football, but they won
the game. They won the game. I think it's different.
I think these winnings, like when you talk about like
these long streaks, I think it's different. In football as

(44:47):
opposed to all these other sports, because like baseball, you
play constantly, like the momentum is like tangible day to
day and like you can care you.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Take your starting quarterback out each day in baseball and
you put a new starting quarterback in it.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
But it's like it's just the rhythm of everything of
keeping like that that mood coming in and everything, and
you're in competition, like you're taking seven days off each
week in the NFL, and like that's that's even more
credit to the Texans that they've kept these eight game
winning streak going with kind of these lulls of they
they're not playing constantly like in the NBA and college

(45:21):
basketball and baseball, Like it's a little easier in my opinion,
in my like unathletic, uneducated opinion that's never been a
part of one of these, it's a little bit easier
because like you're like you know, you're playing the next day,
Like it's easy to just ride that momentum even though
again you're gonna have a new starting pitcher the next day,
or the NBA, it's it's you're gonna have the same guys.
But I mean, KD may not play back to back,

(45:43):
like may have different guys doing different things, but at
least like team just vibes. Wise, know, vibes are unquantifiable,
but the vibes feel like they're easier to maintain when
you have like competition so close together, like so much
competitive juices so close together in the NFL. To me,

(46:04):
that'd be harder when like you come off a big
win that it's like, all right, we gotta wait a week.
We got a week, wait a week to play again,
and you can like do all this stuff in practice
you want to. And I'm sure by this point, like
they're not hitting in practice, they're not doing anything in
practice that would even resemble like let's keep the vibes going.
But like, to me, it'd be harder just because like
you don't have those competitive juices flowing day after day.

(46:28):
You have it on a Sunday and then maybe the
next Saturday or maybe the next Sunday or Thursday or whatever.
Like to me, it's harder to do that in the NFL.
So that's more credit to the Texans.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, each and every week they've come out, they obviously
have belief in what they're doing. That's why they were
able to do this, and I do think you go
back to those first three games of the season, which
were all losses, and it's not as big a concern
if you if you look at how they played those
three games and certainly how they've played, say, their last
two games. These last two games were both wins. These
first three games were all losses. What was the big

(46:59):
difference between all the result what else? Pretty much nothing.
That was really the only difference. They had the ball
late in the game defensively, I should say the Rams
had the ball late in the game, up fourteen to nine,
and the Texans forced a turnover, so their offense went
on the field with a chance to win the game.
They drove all the way down the field and Darre fumbled.

(47:21):
What's how they lost. They had the ball at the
end of the game, trying to finish, so to speak,
and they lost a five point game. The next week,
they opened up the home schedule with the Bucks and
the Texans were trailing, and they drove all the way
down the field, and presumably the Bucks let them score
a touchdown to take the lead because they didn't want
to lose on a last play field goal, so they

(47:42):
let Nick Chubb score on a twenty five yard run
so they could get the ball and try to beat
the Texans defense, which they did and converted a fourth
and ten and they scored the game winning touchdown to
close out that victory. Like just those two games in
and of itself, how they ended. Texans had late turnovers
against Jacksonville trying to win the interception on the pass
thrown to Christian Kirk. That's the difference. I mean, their

(48:05):
little bits and pieces. Clearly, with CJ playing great football
then versus now, he's probably playing a little bit better,
even with how yesterday's or Saturday's game went. I don't
think a lot of people were fired up about his
overall play because he had a two interception game. One
was tipped and one was thrown right at a defender.
But the point is, it's not like they were so
down on themselves because they were getting run off the field.

(48:27):
They weren't losing thirty five to seven, they weren't giving
up points. They gave up twenty points to the Bucks
and seventeen to the Jags and fourteen to the Rams.
That's the same exact thing they're doing now, just winning.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Yeah, and they've played the same style all season, like
it's again like you said, it's just the results have
been different. But when you play that style, when you
play like it's going to be, you're gonna have to
win on the margins. You're gonna have to like not
turn the football over and like I mean Daria the
fumble and the I forget which game was Rams game.
In the Rams game, like they turned the ball over,

(49:02):
like if you've got, you know, a kicker that misses
some kicks, or if you've got if you're not like
getting third and shorts and fourth and shorts, like you're
not doing the small things, and like that comes back
to bite you when you play the style that they play,
because points are at a premium when they played like
that is something that we have enough sample size now
to know that when the Texans play a football game,

(49:23):
like if they score twenty eight points, it should be
considered a minor miracle.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
And it probably will be a lopsided victory. It'll probably
be a two score victory. And it is as simple
as you can see it with how they're trying to
do things after they got to fourteen, it's not like
they took the breaks or put the brakes on, but
the idea that we're in. This is a we couldn't
ask for a better position to now go win a
game in you're spotting us, so to speak, fourteen points.

(49:52):
We got to play fifty five minutes of defense. We
don't care who you are, We're going to stop you.
And they did. They allowed sixteen points to the rest
of the game. He needed six, they got it, and
they won the game by doing so. But what they
hadn't been doing is turning the ball over. And that's
what makes the difference. Even for this team, the Texans
can go out and play great defense against whomever they

(50:12):
see in the postseason and they'll beat them if they
don't turn the ball over. They're still among the best
teams in the NFL and the giveaway takeaway margin, they've
been one of the best teams and taking care of
the football. There's only one team in the league that
has turned it over less than them, and they're obviously
at near the top and the margin. Like I said, so,
everything about them is built in a certain way, which

(50:34):
makes it difficult at times to grade out your quarterback
because there are certain things they would prefer. They really
don't have anything to do with his abilities, but more
we're not trying to win thirty five to twenty one.
We're just trying to win. It does bother people, There's
no question it bothers people. And the comment you've heard
from me, I think throughout the season and probably all

(50:54):
of Demiko's time, is it doesn't have to be a
dramatic one score victory, does it? Demiko rhetorically answers, well, yeah,
sure it does.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
I may also add that fourteen nothing leads are not safe.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Wex and Chandler Rome Josh Jordan here with you on
the Monday edition of the Eight Teams we close out
twenty twenty five. Uh. Talk to quite a bit last
week when you were in about the Astros and their
off season, but there's always much much more to get into,
especially as you look around the rest of the Division
and the American League in general. Just curious from the

(51:29):
division standpoint, taking those other four teams or other three teams,
because I don't know that the Angels are active enough
to comment on, at least not outside the courtroom. Start
with the Rangers. Do you think the Rangers have made
some decisions, whether they're financially based or otherwise, that give
them an even lesser product in twenty six than they

(51:50):
had in twenty five.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
I think they're I think they're off. Seasons made a
couple things collect One, like their owner is on the
record saying that the payroll is gonna be lower, So
like they are cutting payroll. That's part of why they
traded Semeon. It's part of why they non well they
non tendered to Doley Scarci and Jonahim because they weren't
any good. But like they are cutting payroll. But the
other part is that, like their clubhouse was a mess,
Like it was pretty clear that they needed a shake

(52:13):
up in there, that just it wasn't working. Whatever the
personalities and there were not working. And you heard rumblings
of that even last like you you hear things obviously
through when when you when you're in the grind of
it for eight months, and you had heard that like
there was a leadership void there that Corey Seeger is
not gonna be the guy that's gonna, you know, stand

(52:34):
up and be the leader of that clubhouse. And you know,
Marcus Simeon does things a little like he does things
his own way, and they were times where they clash
a little bit, and you know, they they needed to
have a shake up. Their clubhouse needed a sort of
a shakeup. But it's pretty clear they're gonna be relying
on young guys. They're gonna be relying on younger, going

(52:55):
a little bit younger, they're gonna be relying on young
They're gonna be relying on you know, John Smith's the
guy that played really well for them last year, Wyatt Langford.
But the one thing they can still do they can pitch.
I mean they got Jacob de Grom. You know, it's
when you start with that guy. When you start with
de Gram. Jack Lyder had an exceptional rookie year. They

(53:17):
they can pitch, and when you can pitch, you you
you inherently have an invasion. Now they've got to rebuild
their bullpen. I think they've lost almost every member of
their bullpen from last year.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
So I think the guy from cold Play is back. Oh,
Chris Martin, I think so good for him.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
But yeah, I think it's it's gonna be a different
looking team. I don't think they're gonna I mean, they've
on record saying they're not gonna spend the sort of
money to where it's gonna make you go wow. But
I don't think this is a rebuild step back sort
of thing. They're still going to try to compete, and
they're still want to feeld a competitive team, but it's
just not gonna be the face as you're a customed
to seeing.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Over the past fourteen months or so, have decided that
some of their foundational pieces are just agreeing to deals.
Last year with Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler and this
offseason just recently Soderstrom. We obviously haven't mentioned where they'll
go financially with Nick Kurtz or Jacob Wilson, but everything

(54:15):
to me says they are absolutely players this year in
the postseason. I personally think if they get any kind
of pitching, and I don't know if that's gonna happen,
because it's gonna have to come from outside the organization
for the most part, which tends to mean you're spending
money or you're finding a trade that honestly a trade
that probably the Astros would be looking to make. They
have more to offer in terms of young talent, but

(54:38):
any kind of pitching with what could be an absolutely
outrageously talented group of offensive players, I think they're absolutely
in the mix for this Division and the playoffs right now.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Yeah, don't forget Shale Angeliers either. Yeah, he's a leadoff hitter.
I think he got he got an extension, didn't they. Okay,
that sounds right, But yeah, I mean Jeffrey Springs and
Luis Sevarino. That's a that's a solid when I mean
the Ashers have seen it when Luis Severino was on
like that is a front line type pitcher. And then
you got Jeffrey Springs, who who knows how to pitch.

(55:09):
He's a veteran. He had a nice year last year
through about one hundred and eighty innings. But yeah, they
need starting pitching depth. They need, you know, if they
want to be contenders. Look, I think you could very
easily argue they have the best offense in the American
League West, certainly one of the best offenses in the
American League. But I just don't know where they're gonna

(55:30):
get where They're gonna have run prevention. I think run
prevention is a big thing. You know, they who did
they sign? They signed a who they signed recently? I
should know this. They extended but the Jeff McNeil, Jeff
McNeil they traded for Jeff McNeil, so he'll play second,
but like they don't really know who their third baseman

(55:51):
is going to be. You know, they don't have Mason
Miller anymore. Uh so that's a big loss when you
don't have that bona fide shut down closer. Their bullpen
was kind of a mess, or not kind of a mess.
It was a mess that I mean. But really when
you look at that A's team last year, they had
that stretch where I think they lost like twenty two
of twenty three or twenty three of twenty four, and

(56:13):
I know you can't erase that. I know that happened
like that, that that is what happened. But around that,
like that was a good club, like a really good
club that playing an adverse circumstances, playing in a minor
league ballpark.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Like it's so the circumstances are clearly adverse, but are
they also able to take advantage of it because they
crush and the numbers didn't really say that it was
some overwhelming advantage there for them. I mean, both teams
are obviously playing in the same ballpan. If you look
at Louis Savarino's number, was a disadvantage. I can't figure
that one out.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
All year he was their ace, but he couldn't pitch
at home because he didn't like he couldn't go down
in the clubhouse. And then he hated the mound. I
heard from a couple of ashers guys, they didn't like
the mound, Like, yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Any reason it would be different this year. Will will
I steps be taken to try to make it better.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
So Evan Drelik at the Athletic he wrote he talked
to David forst And and their owner a couple of
weeks ago and wrote a story. And one of the
things they said is that they're going to build I
don't know if they're gonna build it, but they're going
to put like a room behind the dugout now where
starting pitchers can go to just like do their between

(57:22):
innings things. Because like some starting pitchers just go sit
on the bench and they're fine. They do that in
big league ballparks. But there's some starting pictures like Sevarino,
like I know Frombers was really big into this. There's
justin Burlanders big into this, Like they want to go
down the steps into the into the clubhouse or into
that tunnel leading up to the clubhouse and they want
to either change your jersey or they want to just

(57:43):
you know, do some different arm exercise. And if you
go to Sutter Health Ballpark and Sacramento that there's just
there's physically just not enough room because you're in the
dugout and the batting cages are in the center field.
So I don't know if they ever showed it on
Space City. Did they ever show like when it was
when the Ashers would play there, like Salazar and Tremmel

(58:04):
and Hummel, like they'd run between like after the third inning,
they'd all run through center field to go to the
batting cages to take hacks, like in the middle of
the game, and it's the only way you can get
to the clubhouse. So they're adding some stuff. But yeah,
I really I like the A's. I do like the A's.
I think if they can either develop some pitching or
if they can, you know, get on the free agent

(58:25):
market and like wait for some of these guys to
maybe fall into their laps, I think they're a sneaky contender.
I love mar Kotze. I think he's an excellent man.
I think he's one of the more underrated managers in Baseball.
I this is not a hot take, this is something
I've written. I think he would have been the Astros
manager after AJ Hinch was fired if certain people had
it their way in the Ashers organization. But they went

(58:47):
with Dusty Baker, and obviously that was a marvelous decision.
But Mark Kotze was very strongly considered for the Ashers
John then, and he is a really well thought of
guy in the industry, and the fact that he has
kept this thing on the rails with everything that has happened,
he is he's a key to their success as well. Well.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Before I get to the final team in the division,
the Mariners, just curious, because we're talking ballparks. Is everything
still apparently on schedule for Tampa to no longer need
the Yankees' assistance to play a major league season.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Yes, I think they're going to start. I think they're
gonna have a little bit longer of a road trip
to start the season, just to give themselves that little
wiggle room in case. But yeah, all plans are that
they're gonna be in the trop all year. And Troup's
are great. Trop's a I love that place. It's a
great place to work.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
Well, come.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
I mean there's no one there the.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Press like a bowl game, every game, the.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Press box is basically like like one of the lower
press boxes in baseball, and there's no one in the
press box. I mean there's people that are covering the game,
but like you have all this room and then like
the clubhouse, you go like down a set of stairs,
like right by the press box and you're at the clubhouse.
Like it's just so convenient. It's so convenient, it's quiet,
you have all this space, like I love going to
the trop.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Well, obviously are looking at their division just real quickly.
I only got about a minute here. The Mariners really
weren't expected to make a whole lot of changes, got
a great pitching staff. They do have young players still
on the rise and trying to establish themselves. They bring
back Josh Naylor. Unlikely that Suarez and any circumstances ends
up back there. But they have to be prohibitive favors

(01:00:20):
to win this division as we sit here today.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Yes, and what if they acquire could tell Marte from
the Diamondbacks.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
What would they be giving up anything on the major
league roster?

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Probably nothing on the major league roster, but a lot
from their farm system, which is very very good. It
has a lot of surplus in a lot of areas.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Yeah, it does seem like they're absolutely interested. It's an
interesting set of circumstances for all of these teams that
seem to be intertwined in involvement. Here, the Astros because
they have Esoch Perettas, the Red Sox because they don't
have Alex Bregman yet or maybe ever and could be
interested in Peretis, The Diamondbacks because they're absolutely interested in Bregman,

(01:00:55):
and that's obviously the current home of Marte. These are
all intertwined in some form of fashion I assume you believe.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Yeah, but and I mean it is worth knowing in
the Red Sox acquired Wilson Contreras, so that helps.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
To totally their first basement.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
Well he could dh some you know, but that does
make it more. You know, they have an opening at
third base, and so it would be if they acquire
e Stock Paradus, it would be it would to me,
now it would come down do they want Paradis or Bragmann.
I'm not saying Paratis is their only target. They have
a ton of targets. But the allure with Paradis before
they acquire Contreras, was play him at third or first.

(01:01:30):
Now that first base option's.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Gone, interesting stuff. Lots of weeks still to go before
six unnecessary overkill weeks in UH, Florida for the Astros,
the Nationals, and everybody else that trains during the spring.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Out there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
I gotten a chance to dive into fully with Channel
Rome here in studio with us on a Monday edition
end of twenty twenty five for the eighteen among them
will still hit on thoughts about baseball in general and
maybe the next couple of things to come down big
picture around Major League Baseball. There was a football game

(01:02:10):
here in town over the weekend, a tenth win of
the season for the University of Houston. Cougar's just the
tenth time in program history they have reached the ten
win mark ten and three this season. They were four
and eight a season ago. There were a lot of
teams all across the country clearly that played the transfer
portal very well. I'm not sure if any played it

(01:02:32):
much better, certainly offensively than University of Houston did. Connor
Wegman had an extremely productive season and arguably had his
finest game to close it out fifty six yards rushing,
an MVP performance throwing the football, four touchdown passes completed
seventy five percent of his throws tied the Texas Bowl record,
the long standing history of the Texas Bowl record four

(01:02:55):
touchdown performance that it was done in twenty fifteen by
current Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes, a game they trailed very
very quickly by a couple of scores, and we're right
back in business before they hit the half. Curious how
you view what we do with bowl games and results

(01:03:15):
that are not playoff games. It's a little bit different
every year, and certainly the last three or four years
with the launch of the massive transfer portal and obviously
nil funds. Interesting that we're looking at what I was
just going to ask about, like this is common. Oh,
the Secs two and four in the bowls, and the
Big Ten and the Big twelve haven't lost any of
their bowl games yet. I mean it's a second season,

(01:03:38):
Like these teams didn't play a game for five and
a half weeks. The team that we saw in the
field for U of H was almost identical to the
one they had all season. That's rare. The team we
saw in the field for LSU clearly was not.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
I covered the twenty fifteen Texas Bowl with Pat Mahomes
because they played LSU. Yeah, they played al Shoe and
LSU won.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Like they put a few points on the board.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
I think LSU scored like sixty Holmes was incredible, but
they couldn't stop anyone. I think I think we're getting
to this debate of like does this result meet like
that U of H won that game on Saturday. Does
that mean anything for twenty twenty six. I don't believe

(01:04:18):
it does. If LSU would have won a full disclosure
and LSU along, if LSU would have won that game
forty one to three, I would have probably said the
same thing, like because they're we're in free agency now.
When January second hits like that, you can say Connor
Wegman re signed to come back and whoever. But like,
if he gets or his agent between now and January
second gets the right offer, rip that up and he

(01:04:41):
can go somewhere else. You just don't know what the
team's gonna look like. I don't think you can take
much away from you don't You can't take much into
next year off of what happened on Saturday, But what
Saturday reaffirmed was that LSU was a bad football team,
like the twenty twenty five l ISSUE Tigers were a
bad football team. And they went seven and six, and

(01:05:06):
three of those wins were against Southeastern Louisiana, Louisiana Tech,
and Western Kentucky by three at home. They were a
bad team, and they were a bad team with the
six defensive starters that opted out of that game. And
they were a bad team without the six defensive starters
that opted out of that game. Willie Fritz, I know

(01:05:27):
his name mentioned on this station attracts a lot of
sensitive ears. I want to give him credit. I want
to thank him. I want to thank him for ending
that LSU football season so I don't have to watch
that team play anymore. If I never see Garrett nus
Meyer again, it will be for the best. He got
paid four million dollars to pout on the sidelines for

(01:05:48):
six weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Are you okay with President van Buren moving forward?

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
No, I'm not, because he was terrible. I couldn't. I
I'm gonna I'm trying to find the diplomatic way to
say this, and this is not like a controversial take
like LSU lapse you of H just in terms of resources,
in terms of the resources that they have. Yeah, in

(01:06:11):
no reality, in no reality, should you of H be
able to bully an LSU team on the line of
scrimmage like U of H did for sixty minutes on Saturday.
And that is full credit to Willie Fritz. It's full
credit to you, of H. But when you put that much,
that many resources into a football program like LSU does,

(01:06:33):
when you fancy yourself one of the best jobs in
the nation, one of the best programs in the nation,
and you do that like it's an excuse.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
Me, and I think you go back to the beginning
of the season or the dating point in time where
the decision was made to move on from Brian Kelly.
All those reasons are why that shouldn't happen. This team
shouldn't be doing the things they're doing. They shouldn't have
the issues that they're having. They have the resources available
to them so much so that they can finally finish
paying off at Ogeron, they can start paying off Brian

(01:07:01):
Kelly to not coach the team and obviously spend all
the money on the new coach all the money that
they will be spending starting Friday. Friday is January second.
That is when the new age of college football basically
hits you right in the face. The next season begins,
even though this season will not be over with for
many teams, the playoffs will just have gotten from eight
town to four because those games go off the thirty

(01:07:24):
first and the first, so four teams will still be
playing meaningful games when parts of their staff will be
helping with the portal and trying to make sure next
year's season goes the way it did. All that being said,
that's one side of it, and that's why this question
in general is hard to answer. Bowl game meaning and
what do you do with it? And how much practice

(01:07:44):
time is of value. That's really where you get value
for twenty twenty six, if you're able to utilize that
time with players that you know will be there. That's
also different because we don't even know that we're seeing
guys practice for bowl games, and then after the tenth practice, no,
I'm gonna head into the portal. And it's just very
difficult to get value out of this. Like you once did, I.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
Think what it does do Fans don't think like we're
talking right now, not at all. Like U of H
fans are ecstatic that they won that ball, and they
should be. What it does do is it starts momentum.
For that, it probably gets somebody to buy some season
tickets for next year. It probably generates excitement that they
need at this point to get people into that stateum.

(01:08:25):
For that, UH should be.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Lauded because big picture college football question for every team,
it's a different answer for each individual program. Yes, their
answer is this was a very important day of football.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
It was, and there's no denying that. And just like,
look like LSU's gonna sell out Tiger Stadium next year.
Whether they would have lost that game forty one to
nothing or won forty one to nothing, it would have
felt better if they'd won the game, but they didn't.
But also like I'll push back on the narrative of
like and there's a ton of people. If you listen
to Pander and Pete Burns on SEC Network, he'll feed

(01:09:00):
it to you that the SEC doesn't care, Like if
they don't, if they're not in the playoff, they don't care.
With this current era of college football, players cannot afford
to not care because you know, what you're now expendable.
If you go out there and you play like you
don't care, then Lane Kiffin can go pay somebody in

(01:09:20):
the portal to come replace you. This isn't like fifteen
years ago when you were guaranteed a spot here for
three years before you're draft eligible and you could afford
not to care. We're in an era right now where
like if you go out there in national television and
you put an LSU helmet, an LSU regalia on, and
you play with no effort, they will pay someone to
replace you. And if you're looking to go somewhere else

(01:09:43):
and you go out on a field and put on
tape that you don't care, then somewhere else you're looking
to go ain't gonna pay you, which you want to
get paid. So you're not in this era. You can't
afford to not care about games. They cared about that game.
They weren't fourteen to nothing and the sideline was going insane.
You're telling me they didn't care.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
The thing. These players are out there, they're playing, they're
playing a game, they're into it, they're trying to win,
they're playing to win. So I don't I think you
got to take it all with the grain of salts
of every different perspective on what it means and who's
out there and what they're trying to do. Individually speaking,
the players are out there trying to obviously win that
day game, and obviously they're getting recruited every single year.

(01:10:20):
Now that's the biggest difference ry whomever, including their own school.
Like you saw on Saturday night, the.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
First Crew.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
I hope you guys are as well, although from the
looks of the roadways earlier this afternoon, not that many
of you are. It seems like a nice little ease
our way into the new year. January first, a Thursday.
Presumably you have off, maybe you got the second off
as well. Maybe it's a half day on the thirty first,
So why bother coming in at all this week, as
many of you clearly did not. Wex and Chandler Rome

(01:10:55):
here with you this afternoon on the A Team. Week
eighteen of the NFL begins after tonight's Monday night football
game with the Falcons and the Rams. A lot of
seeds still left to be claimed, but most of the
playoff spots have already been so every team in the
AFC is in except for one. There's one spot available
that goes to the AFC North winner, and that comes

(01:11:16):
when the Ravens and Steelers get together this weekend. It
will be the last game of the regular season and
it is a winner, take all game. Coach John Harbaugh
today saying we'll see how the week goes. Basically on
Lamar Jackson, who did not play over the weekend against
the Green Bay Packers, and they scored forty one points
without him, with Derrick Henry going off and Huntley playing

(01:11:40):
very well in his place. You wonder what their season
might have looked like if they went with Tyler Huntley
from the jump instead of feeding Cooper Rush. Two teams
like the Texans earlier this year who walloped them forty
four to ten. Similarly, one spot in the NFC unclaimed.
Carolina and Tampa will get together one of those really
awful teams who's been playing some incredibly awful football lately.

(01:12:02):
We'll get into the postseason. Making the Texans loss to
the Bucks earlier this year look bad because the Bucks
just can't win anymore at all. And it even produced
this from over the weekend to extend our college football discussion.
The Bucks played the Dolphins the Dolphins benched to a
tug of I Loo a week ago. So we'll start
number two for Longhorns quarterback former Longhorns quarterback Quin Yours,

(01:12:25):
and the Dolphins beat them, I don't know, seemed rather
easily than clobber them. But that's how bad things are
going for the Bucks that they could not be the
team quarterback by rookie Quin Yours. I don't know what
his future will hold, but quite obviously I don't think
he had a was thought to be a great pro.
Maybe the same is true about Tyler Schoff in New Orleans.

(01:12:47):
He might be your rookie of the year after what
he's done with the New Orleans Saints. And he played
very good football, albeit against the Titans. We had a
couple of teams playing for the number one pick this weekend,
with the Raiders and Giants getting together. Giants screwed up
again one a football game. The Raiders are in prime
position now. Apparently Max Crosby is also back in the building,

(01:13:08):
and one of the things we kind of were talking
about at the open of the show was sit or start.
Not a fantasy football thought, but our team's going to
sit there players well, Apparently the Chargers are going to
sit Justin Herbert. They still have a spot at five,
six or seven at play and they're playing the Broncos,
and if the Broncos win, they are the number one seed. Well,

(01:13:30):
coach Jim Harbaugh said Justin Herbert will not be playing
this weekend. Just he does have a left hand.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
Playing with a broken hand right, and he's gotten the
absolute tar kicked out of him all season Right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
All season long, been among the most hit quarterbacks in
the league, and he was hit a lot in this
game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
Yeah, that seems that seems like a prudent move.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
They're going to the playoffs, right, you're traveling for the
opening round of the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Ye, you're in. They just don't know where right you're in, Like,
just protect the most important position on the field. That
seems like a prudent move by whatever harbaught was.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
That's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
I think that's reasonable way to point it out an
eleven and five team with issues on the offensive line.
Quite obviously, the Texans, I got to say, it was
a pretty remarkable performance. I think the Chargers have a
good defense. I don't think they have an unbelievable pass rush,
but Tuipulot, who is obviously something to be concerned with,
and the Texans had to start to basically new tackles.

(01:14:32):
Titus Howard has plenty of experience out there, but he
was out at right tackle. You had Jared Patterson in
on the interior as they finished their game a week
ago against the Raiders, and Blake Fisher made his first
start of the season at left tackle and grated out
well and did not have a lot of breakdowns, and
they were able to do, especially early in the game,
what they wanted. I do think they game planned around

(01:14:54):
possible issues, and quite honestly, the only would be sack
of the game, which got wiped off the board for
the legal contact penalty that was on the other side.
That was I think at the moment I saw it,
I said, that might be Titus Howard's worst rep of
the season, and he's been really, really good this year.
But that third and nine play at the end of
the game to put it away, and I like that

(01:15:15):
Demiko Ryans called a pass play because he was trying
to win the game. He was trying to keep his
defense off the field because just go ahead and play
to win, and that entire drive was how they were
playing now. They ran the ball pretty well on in
the final couple of minutes to get first downs to
make that a little easier. But they threw the ball
to Nico Collins on that nineteen yard completion that got

(01:15:36):
him on the other side of the fifty, and they
dropped back to pass on third and nine with the
Chargers already out of timeouts. Would have gotten into the
two minute warning. You would have punted with less than
two minutes to go with a four point lead had
you not run for a first down, he called. I
think they called the right play. I like the aggressiveness there.
You're trying to put the game away.

Speaker 2 (01:15:55):
I'm gonna ask like an answiquated question because I know,
like the days of establishing the run and running on
first and second down and throwing, like, I know those
days are over. I know we're like we're in a
football revolution now where it's spread and throw. But like,
does it surprise you if the Texans are able to succeed
with I don't want to say the absence of a

(01:16:17):
running game, and obviously like they don't have Joe Mixon.
I can't believe he's not back. They told us all
the year he'd be back.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
He did not say that, they just that they would.

Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
See I'm sure they're still saying, is it surprise you
that they've succeeded with the with the name some guys,
list of running backs that they have, and just kind
of or because again you watch, you watch this more
intently than I do. Do they run it maybe in
different ways with the easy dump offs, the screens, the things.

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
They should more than they do. Honestly, I think they
don't do that enough. But I think all of these
things we're talking about, I still think it's less about
not having Joe because Joe. The benefit of having Joe
was well, he can overcome our other problem problems better
than these guys can. So I'm not saying that's something
you should just dismiss. But if you had an opportunity

(01:17:06):
to have things blocked well up front or schemed up
well up front, or if you're six, I mean, look
at what they've tried to do this year. I don't
remember them twenty five plays or less. They probably had
a tackle eligible last year fifty plays or less. They
do it twenty times a game now because they have
to overcome their issues with the offensive line I don't
blame them. Heck, the Chargers were bringing two tackle eligible

(01:17:28):
in on some snaps, but clearly Woody Marks is not
Joe Mixon and obviously Jordan and Nick Chubb are not either.
It definitely changes things.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
It is hard.

Speaker 1 (01:17:37):
It should be factored into, Man, why isnt CJ doing this?
Or why is their offense scoring twenty five a game?
How many more reasons do you need to expect them
to be a top flight offense? And they do have
a first year play caller. I hate that it's an
excuse because it's not. It's a fact. The idea that
a first year play caller two years ago with Sloan

(01:17:58):
or a first year play caller this year with Kayley
was going to go tremendously, well, that's forgetting about the
issues they have to overcome. They're just a first time
play caller. That's not ideal.

Speaker 2 (01:18:09):
No, it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
It's not for a team at this level. They are
a playoff team. They are a intending to win, big
playoff team, and they kind of chose to go back
to the drawing board with a first year, first time
play caller.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
But I wont I'm will never know because I won't
tell us, but like, did they know the extent of
what they had with Joe Mixon's.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
I think during the offseason whatever happened that happened that
turned it into another direction is right around the time
they scrambled at the end of mini camp and signed
Nick Chubb because now they knew, Okay, this is he's
not going to be back anytime soon, and it might
be much longer than that. And if he does come back,
I don't know what he can do at that point
because they saw the timeline then pushing it deep into

(01:18:55):
the season. Like I said, I wish I could tell
you exactly what it is, but I do think some
sort of procedure or some sort of therapy or some
sort of treatment just didn't hit right. And that's where
they are where they are, and there's I think they
get accommodated pretty well for it. Woody Marks was an
extremely good draft pick. Jerard Jordan has come in and
done tremendous things for them. We shall see. Did I

(01:19:16):
close out your day here? You're gonna hang a little longer.

Speaker 2 (01:19:18):
Mysterious injuries, procedures not working.

Speaker 1 (01:19:20):
This guy knows.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
I'm real, I'm real familiar with this. I think stick
around for a segment.

Speaker 1 (01:19:25):
We'll do a proper goodbye sometime in the four o'clock
hour afternoon December twenty ninth, end of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:19:32):
Wex in ac out.

Speaker 1 (01:19:33):
Josh here with us and Chandler Rome continuing his guest
co hosting duties, and we certainly appreciate his time this
afternoon seven one three two one two five seven ninety.
The ongoing college football playoffs finally will be going on
again a couple of games, three of them on Thursday,
January first, one game the night before to close out

(01:19:54):
twenty twenty five, and then we'll have our final four
in college football. We'll see which of the SEC team
teams continue play. We've got college football for you on
December thirty, first, beginning at one pm, with coverage of
the Cheese At Bowl in Florida, the Longhorns and Wolverines
getting together. The Longhorns probably were the team. Maybe some

(01:20:17):
expected to be making some major changes on their coaching staff.
They did, but not their head coach. They'll have a
new DC this coming year, with very well traveled SEC
football coach Will Musschamp coming in. I don't know that
anybody expected Michigan to season to go the way it
did to this Bowl game, to a reasonably good performance

(01:20:37):
on the field, not among the best teams in the
Big twelve but are Big ten, but a reasonable season
for Sharon Moore. And we all know what has happened
since their new head coach is now in place. Most
believe that was a very good hire. I'm in that
group of most tink Todd Whittingham to an unbelievable job
with the Utah program over the years, considering what they're
essentially up against. I don't think it's a the most

(01:21:00):
competitive group of teams they have been up against over
the years. Obviously, they are now in the Big twelve
and performed well this past year, and he is there
now trying to stabilize things moving forward. There's pretty funny
posts on social media over the weekend about where they
were with their head coach and where they are with

(01:21:22):
their head coach. I believe somebody said, I'm gonna do
all the background check for the university. Todd Whittingham does
have an Instagram account. He follows eleven women, most of
which are family members, and hasn't posted anything in months.
Great hire, Love.

Speaker 2 (01:21:40):
It if you believe. I mean, and I have no
reason not to believe, like some of the reporting that's
come out about like what Sharon Moore was doing, right,
the fact that they went nine and three is pretty remarkable.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
He had a lot of time seemingly not spent on
game planning or recruiting.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
Like he must have had the best staff in the
world to like to go nine and now they're all
calling him out. The interim coach is basically saying this thing,
he's been ruthless, this thing is broken, Like somebody get
an adult in here.

Speaker 3 (01:22:06):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:22:06):
He's saying that he didn't just walk on campus, Biff.
He's been there for multiple seasons with them in this program.
And that's kind of where it's all gone. Like is
it Harbaugh's fault, Yeah, some of it. Is it Moore's
fault for sure? What about all these it's not a
new staff like this didn't just start happening. All of
the principle in all of their issues, whether it's sign

(01:22:30):
stealing or More's issues or Harbaugh's issues, the staff's been
there for all of them for multiple seasons. They're all
a part of all this, and yet one of them
is saying, yeah, yeah, this is bad. We gotta fix this.
You're part of it. You're you're not fixing it by staying,
and I'm sure he won't be. His last day probably
will be December thirty first, when they win or lose

(01:22:54):
a meaningful, meaningless bowl game to the Longhorns, which, of
course you'll get right here. Sports Talk seven to ninety
the football for o of the weekend on the NFL front,
with the Textans taking care of business on Saturday against
the Chargers twenty to sixteen. Opened the game with two
long touchdown passes to both of the rookies, and then
did not score a touchdown for the remainder of the game.

(01:23:16):
Got two more field goals from Kyami fairbearn. The Texans
are number one in the NFL in field goal attempts
this year.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
Ring of Honor, Baby.

Speaker 1 (01:23:24):
But if you look at that list, it's kind of
a who's who of really good football teams. Because scoring
points helps you win. Don't be so averse to kicking
field goals. Doesn't mean you're not an aggressive football team. Necessarily,
it means your kicker can make them, so you're going
to kick them. It didn't happen in that way for
the Chargers. They have the second most used and scoring kicker.

(01:23:47):
He actually has four more points than a fairbearon I
should say, so they're one and two.

Speaker 3 (01:23:50):
He had a bad day.

Speaker 1 (01:23:51):
He missed an easy kick and missed an easy kick,
thirty three yard extra point, thirty two yard field goal.
They obviously played heavily into how the result came out.
That's four points left on the board. The Texans won
by four points. Impressive that the Texans keep winning. But
as we talked about last week with you Chandler, the
way that they won their game against a clearly lesser opponent,

(01:24:12):
well then it turned out to be the exact same
way they won the game against a clearly superior opponent.
That's how they play their football. So I'll give you
this statement. And how does it make you feel. This
isn't gonna work when you play better teams. You're not
gonna be able to do this when you're in the playoffs. Well,
it's hard to say, because they just did it against

(01:24:34):
the playoff team. They just did it against this playoff team.
They just did it against Buffalo, another playoff team. Now
they didn't win the game against Denver, the best team
in the AFC. By record, and it was the exact
same game as all the others, except your starting quarterback
got hurt. That Broncos couldn't do anything on offense most
of the day. They got two touchdowns, they went for

(01:24:55):
two on the second one to tie the game, and
bo Nicks's legs got them in position to kick the
game winning field You lost eighteen to fifteen, beat the
Chargers twenty to sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
You beat the.

Speaker 1 (01:25:04):
Bills by less than a by field goal. They're all
every game is exactly the same when you get down
to the general, how do the Texans win? If they
play poorly and have turnovers, then it's probably gonna be
the exact same game. If they play a clean game,
don't have turnovers, get any kind of offense they can,

(01:25:24):
they're going to not only beat whomever's on the other
side in the playoffs, but they're probably going to win handily.
They have not done that to very many good teams
a sizeable win. Their biggest win over a good team
is an eleven point victory over the Niners, who also
had their backup that day, Mac Jones. But he obviously
played very well this year considering the position they're in.

Speaker 2 (01:25:46):
But that game.

Speaker 1 (01:25:48):
That game was here in Houston. It was one of
their probably the one of the if not the best
day for CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:25:53):
Stroud throwing the football.

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
But I say it in that we watch them have
two what I would call bad turn The turnover before
halftime is inexcusable and where the fault lies. I'm not
getting into it right here, but you just can't do
that there. They were very aggressive. They started inside their
own twenty and try to put points on the board
late in the half and through the pick and the
other pick was deep in their own territory and a

(01:26:17):
tip ball thrown to Dalton Schultz. Those are the plays
you feel like, okay, yeah, when those happened in the playoffs,
that's why you're gonna lose. Well, they missed a field
goal on one of them. Their defense stood on their head,
which they've done all season long, Like why won't they
keep doing that?

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
The thing that would give me trepidation or pause is
what offensive player aside like you have Nico Collins, who
we've established is the alpha, is the number one, the
go to guy, Like who else can be relied upon

(01:26:52):
like consistently? Like who else? Like do you just go
into a game knowing like this dude is gonna this
dude's gonna eat today. I don't think they like Noel
and Higgins have like had their moments. Dalton Schultz has
had his moments. There's been some whaty Marx moments, There's
been some Nick Chubb, but no one that has week
in and week out, you've been like, we can depend

(01:27:14):
on this dude to get us what we need.

Speaker 1 (01:27:16):
So outside of the quarterback, who's going to eat?

Speaker 2 (01:27:19):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:27:19):
So walk through the AFC and this is why the
Texans every year they've been to the playoffs with C. J. Stroud,
Demiko and Will Anderson. Obviously they've had a chance, but
they probably finished their season just where they should have.
They were the fourth best team in the playoffs, they
went to the final four, they lost their road game
in Baltimore and Kansas City. That's about where it seemed
like they fit. Now, could they have won?

Speaker 2 (01:27:39):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (01:27:39):
This year's different. There's no team, there's no Kansas City,
there's no Baltimore, and there's no Buffalo like they were
last year. That's why Buffalo lost yesterday. That's why Buffalo's
had the kind of season they've had, even at eleven
and five, so walk you through. Let's take it from
the bottom. Buffalo is the seventh seed. If the Texans
have Nico, he's gonna eat every game, had a huge
catch late in the game, has made big plays all year,

(01:28:01):
made huge He won the game for him against the
Raiders with the catch that he had. Okay, so the
Bills have James Cook. That's it. They have one guy
you know is going to eat on game day alongside
their quarterback. So it's just like Houston. Okay, the Chargers
are six.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
Do they have one? Probably not?

Speaker 1 (01:28:20):
Probably not mean Lad McConkie's pretty good. He's definitely didn't
eat in this game. He did in last year's playoff game.
And it's not Keenan Allen. It's probably not O'maronhampton. So
do they have one or none? Maybe none? The Steelers
and Ravens. Obviously the Ravens have Derrick Henry if they
get there. Steelers have nobody. I don't think DK metcalf

(01:28:40):
is quite at that level. He will have had three
weeks off. Very interesting situation because while the League handed
down their punishment and have heard the appeal and upheld
it the suspension, there continues to be more information that
seems like it's very vital to the case from the

(01:29:00):
league standpoint. So now you're up to the top three seeds,
You've got Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (01:29:05):
I like them. I'm not saying they have guys that
are gonna eat all the time, but Brian I mean
not saying because an LSRU guy, but Brian Thomas, Travis
ATN and I mean I like Jacoby Myers.

Speaker 1 (01:29:16):
I think the answer is Myers first. He if you
look at what they have done since he arrived and
what they do every week with him. Lawrence had Thomas
and Travis Hunter on the team when the year began,
and I think he learned very quickly. Maybe Liam Cohen
learned just as quickly. They didn't have a number one
wide receiver this year with this team, with that group,
and they hoped they found it in Jacoby Myers when

(01:29:39):
they acquired him, and they were so sure that they did.
They've already extended him to the tune of twenty million
a year, and I think they're one hundred percent right.
That offense is totally different now that he's a part
of it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:49):
You see now, I don't I think CJ. Shroud is
a better quarterback than Trevor Lawrence. I agree, but that's like,
but again, maybe Trevor has more weapons, he has a
more diverse offense and more people he can get the
football too than CJ does. Probably has to make more
happen than Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:30:06):
And maybe maybe by the time, you know, two weeks
from now, because of what happened in this game, there's
a little bit more confidence in Higgins. There's a little
bit more confidence in Noel. By the way, we're talking
about oh jaaln Knowle is a big part of the offense,
had the big touchdown, got a bunch of targets. He
still barely saw the field on offense. He had sixteen snaps.
Christian Kirk had twenty nine snaps.

Speaker 2 (01:30:25):
Christian Kirk plays for the Texans.

Speaker 1 (01:30:27):
Uh, yeah, I think I could. I think I've said
it on the air, so I'll say what I said
off the air. When they throw to Christian Kirk, bad
things happen. I don't like it. I don't think they
should like it, and I'd like to see less of it.
And you can see why at the Jacksonville game earlier
this year, that last pass of the game picked off

(01:30:49):
the game this week that Paul was picked off on
an attempted throat to Kirk, I'm not saying it's his fault.
I understand what I'm saying. I don't mean that at all.
I just kind of feel like there are better options
on the plays that they run with him, and there
might be better options of plays to run without him
entirely on the field. With your hear channel Ron back
here with us one final segment here on the Tuesday

(01:31:11):
edition or Monday edition of the A Team getting close
to the end of a twenty twenty five Is it
resolutions you make for twenty twenty six or do you
more just look back on twenty twenty five and say
this was great in sports, in baseball, the Astros, major
League Baseball, or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (01:31:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
We're doing a We're actually doing a pod tomorrow and
it's called We've titled the Best of twenty twenty five,
so we'll be looking back. But it's weird though, because
like this Astro season, I don't know if there's much
you want to look back on. They didn't make the playoffs,
which is like, in this era has been their ultimate goal.
It's been their ultimate.

Speaker 1 (01:31:49):
The emergence as an obvious plus level borderline star for
Jeremy Payne.

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
Yeah, i'd say that. Or Hunter Brown I'd say I'd
say Hunter Brown solidifying himself as a front line ace
when I don't want to say that was in question
last year, but he I mean the way he started
the season last year, you always kind of had that
in back of your mind, that is he just on
this unreal heater and is it gonna all come crashing down?
And no it didn't. I mean he was incredible this

(01:32:19):
year from beginning to end. Even the thing about Hunter
this year that impressed me so much, like his lows
were like one start lows, and the lows were not
like getting bombed. It was I can think of.

Speaker 1 (01:32:32):
Like unless he was at Steinbrenner Field, sure, which was
a joke.

Speaker 2 (01:32:36):
Yeah that was that was But still, like, weren't they
all solos? Like it wasn't like four solo homers, Like again,
what's the adage of solo homers won't beat you? But
I mean I can't, even without having his game log
in front of him, I can't think of one start
where he just got just absolutely demolished. I think there
was one at Dyken that he got really roughed up
and I think he may only last at three or

(01:32:57):
four innings, but just the consistency to come back and
you know, post every fifth day and just kind of
be that ace. I think that was maybe the biggest
the biggest revelation. And Jeremy too, Yes, you know Paania,
but the three.

Speaker 1 (01:33:16):
Years of Paynya being almost the exact same regular season
player to what he was this past year, I thought
was a pretty significant advancement.

Speaker 2 (01:33:24):
Well, the interesting thing with Paanya is and I may
have said this on here a couple of times, like
even in the last even in like twenty twenty three
and twenty twenty four, you looked at the underlying numbers
and they were all better, Like he was improving everything
they asked him to. His chase chase rate was down,
as WIF rate was down, his ground ball rate was down,
like but it wasn't translating to the counting stats. So

(01:33:46):
like it was one of those frustrating I would assume
from Jeremy and for the team, it was frustrating that
like they were looking at, well, he's improving everything we're
asking him to improve, but he still has a one
hundred ops plus and this year and obviously it all
clicked and it transferred to the counting stats, and you know,
you do wonder, like I mean, I had an al
MVP vote. If he wouldn't have missed as much time

(01:34:08):
as he did, he'd have probably appeared on my ballot,
But he appeared on he appeared on other al MVP ballots,
And that's a I mean, when you got a guy
getting MVP votes that that's not that's nothing to sneeze at.
And I think it means a lot for just the
overall trajectory of the franchise. And I think it I
think it underscores what now going into twenty twenty six,

(01:34:30):
I think is a big story that I don't think
has been talked about a ton, just given maybe more
of you know, player acquisition, like you want they want
to know who's coming in and signings and trades, but
like like they need to figure out like are they
going to break the bank for Jeremy Payna, because if
they don't, then we're going to be having conversations around
this time next year about who is the best trade

(01:34:54):
partner to give Jeremy Pania too, Because you know, there's
a a lot of similarities toward the Kyle Tucker arc
of you know, they know they're not going to extend him.
They know he's going to get the sort of money
that that they don't give, and their farm system to

(01:35:14):
this point to as we speak now, is still not
very good and there is no better trade asset on
the mark with one year of control left then there
would be for Jeremy Panya next year. So I think
it's a big deal going into this season like they
need to, and I don't think it's just a try
and spring training sort of thing. I think they're going to,
but I think it's you try in spring training and

(01:35:34):
if you don't get it, then then you always keep
the line of communication open and you try to do
it during the season, because I think there's a real
I think with Painia there's much more of like a
realistic path because they were close. They were very close
to extending him last year, very close, and so that
just tells you that they've at least talked and they

(01:35:57):
at least now the representation has changed, which will make
it a little more difficult obviously with Scott Boris as
his representative, but with Tucker, you never had that, You
never had that with Korea, you never had that. Well,
they extended Bregman once, but it wasn't this. It was
a pre ARB extension. But you never had it with
those guys where it was like, oh, like they've talked,

(01:36:18):
they've gotten close, and then it hit a snag at
the end. They have that with Payya, They've gotten that,
they have gotten down the road with him. Payna has
said on the record that he would that playing for
one team his whole career is something that intrigues him.
So it's obvious there's interest there. But I think if
I think you also get into you have a GM

(01:36:39):
in the last year of his deal. You have a
manager in last year of his deal is the GM
and the last year of his deal without any assurances
he's gonna be running the team beyond twenty twenty six.
Does he have the leeway to give that sort of contract.
I don't know. There's a lot of questions. It's a
fact it's gonna be a fascinating twenty twenty six beginning
of twenty twenty six, even for the Astros.

Speaker 1 (01:37:00):
Rush City territory. You're recording UPOD tomorrow, you say.

Speaker 2 (01:37:02):
Yeah, tomorrow, three o'clock, all right, it's good with Josh,
with Josh Reddick, very good Josh Reddick. Josh Reddick, what
a guy he is.

Speaker 1 (01:37:13):
He's great, he is a great guest. He is obviously
he's been in he was in the league for a
long enough period of time and also played in so
many different places, with so many different clubhouses.

Speaker 2 (01:37:24):
And has played with people in this clubhouse, which which
I think is the I think is the most valuable
part of having Josh on the podcast is like he
has He's shared a clubhouse with Josel Tuver for five years,
for however long four years, Like so he can give
us some insight as to what it's like to be
led by jose al Tuvey, or to what it's like
to be in a clubhouse led by al Tuve, or
he's been a teammate of Alvarez, like like stuff that,

(01:37:45):
like I'm in the clubhouse an hour a day, Like
I can't give you, like really what goes on in there,
Like Josh, There's some stuff Josh will keep proprietary, as
he should and as is his right. But Josh will
give you a lot more insight than I ever could
as to what goes on in there.

Speaker 1 (01:38:00):
Do you have a chance to formulate to any Rockets
theories about what the rest of the season will hold
for them. I know you've seen them at work quite
a bit this year. They I think they absolutely what
they did on Christmas Day was just a site to
behold to any and it absolutely has to do with
who they were playing. Doing that to that team in
front of all the eyeballs. That was just a fun afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:38:22):
It was. But is it is it bad that what
they did in the immediate beforehand.

Speaker 1 (01:38:28):
No, it was awful.

Speaker 2 (01:38:29):
That worried me. That worried me, and then I saw
that I was like, okay, Like that's a nice little
it evens out. I love him and Thompson, Like I
really really like him and Thompson. I've been critical, I
think on hero of re Shepherd before he has blossomed
in the I think what they really really need. So
kudos to him, Kudos to the development that they've gotten

(01:38:51):
from him. Katie is incredible. I just you know, when
when they had KD, when they added Katie, I should say,
and again I'm not going to sit here and claim
that I've watched every Rockets game. So if they're diehard
Rocket fans listening and this sounds absurd then plays feel
free to bump lambast me. But when when they got Kadi,

(01:39:11):
like you got the feeling that all right, Like they
have the closer, Like they have the guy that can
take over at the end of games, they have the
guy that can get a bucket when they need and
can take over. And there's just been some late game
situations with them. And it's been in some games that
they have ended up winning. It's been in some games
they've ended up losing, where like at the end of games,
like the ball is not in Kat's hands and he's

(01:39:32):
not really been that just take over the last minute,
like the guy you want the final shot to be
in his hand. I haven't seen as much of that
as I thought I would, And that's been a little
bit surprising, you know to me. Like it seems like
they've prioritized Shingoon a lot in the late indefinitely, and
sometimes it's worked sometimes.

Speaker 1 (01:39:54):
I mean, you could make a pretty sound argument that
in the clutch this year, the Rockets have just been
bad and it's cost him a lot of games, especially
the overtime games, with some of which they should have
never been in anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:40:07):
And it's so weird to me that that's been the
case when you have Kevin Durant on your team. Maybe,
like I just maybe I idolized Kevin Durant is something
he isn't. But like, you have like a top five
player of this generation on your team, and how have
you been that bad in clutch when like it should
seem simple in the clutch. And now I understand other

(01:40:27):
teams are going to defend Kevin Durant in the clutch.
It's not like he has a wide open lane to
the basket, But it just seems like they shouldn't be
that bad in clutch situations when you have Kevin Durant.
Maybe that's simplistic. Maybe that's simplistic from my point.

Speaker 1 (01:40:39):
I think, I bet you if you split the season
in half, their game thirty will be tonight. You're probably
going to see a team that clearly over the first
half did not perform particularly well in the clutch, and
I bet you it flips on the other side. KD
is eleventh and three point shooting this year. Reed Shepherd
is nineteenth. These are things that are to me the

(01:41:01):
biggest change individually. They didn't have anybody like that last year.
Now they have two guys who regularly are knocking down
open threes, and you probably should ad Jabari Smith Junior
to it. Even if this percentage isn't up at that point,
it's just night and day that they can do that. Chandler,
appreciate you jumping on with us for as long as
you did today. Always appreciate your work in the athletic

(01:41:22):
and of course crush Shitty Territory VIEA the podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:41:26):
Have a great new year.

Speaker 2 (01:41:27):
Thank you, Happy New Year to everyone. Hope everyone had
a happy holidays. This is fun. Thanks WEX you got it.

Speaker 1 (01:41:35):
It is signature segment time on a Monday on the
A team. Wex end Josh Jordan here with you, getting
you through until Rockets basketball this evening six o'clock. Our
coverage begins seven o'clock tip off from Toyota Center as
they've got the Indiana Pacers in town. Beat the Calves
the first of these two home games, beat the Lakers
on Christmas Day, so looking for a third straight victory tonight.

(01:41:57):
Obviously that could be good. That'd be great if they
made it a three point to our three consecutive victories.
But we got the good, the bad, the ugly for you,
and we'll save the Rockets longer winning streak for the
good at some point in the future. But so many options,
especially that particular Saturday with the Texans and the Cougars

(01:42:19):
and the Rockets all winning, probably put all three of
them together. Because my actual submission for the Good, Josh
is both good and bad, I'll explain. But clearly avoiding
playing Week eighteen with a playoff berth on the line
is a very good thing, and the Texans made sure,
very very quickly that would be their thing with how

(01:42:41):
they beat the Chargers.

Speaker 5 (01:42:44):
Stroud trying to get it through the air, he goes
deep for Higgins cut Higgins touchdown, Texans seventy five yards.
What a play up top to start it.

Speaker 1 (01:43:02):
What a play Kurt Warner. That was third and one.
What he Marx had gained five and four yards on
first and second down and they're sitting at twenty five
and the three seventy five yard touchdown pass absolutely wide
open Jadan Higgins well called play, good timing on the
call of the play, perfect execution, great pocket to throw from,

(01:43:22):
and it proceeded a second touchdown pass on their second drive.
First time all season the Texans have opened a game
with touchdowns on each of their first two drives, and
they had a fourteen tozhering lead five minutes five and
a half minutes into the game. Played for him in front,
took care of business, didn't leave everything on the line

(01:43:43):
against the Indianapolis Colts. You obviously eliminated them in the process,
and now you're just playing for seeding and possibly a
home game of this weekend. We know a few things
about some of the other teams. But before I get
in all that discussion, I said, this was kind of
a good and bad thing. It was good in the
the Texans did what they did. The only bad part
about it was what I just played for you. And

(01:44:05):
I like him personally. I have had him on the
show before, and I think he does good work in
every other role, especially his hosting roles studio hosting roles.
But I don't think rich Eisen is particularly good at
play by play on television. It's nice that you can
see what's happening, so you do not have to listen
to what he's saying very often, because it's not necessary,

(01:44:28):
no not here to just bash somebody just to bash them.
But I don't often get multiple texts or have multiple
conversations during the game with people where that becomes the topic.
So just thought that would be a part of our
good here. Sorry, Rich, I was probably not necessary, but

(01:44:48):
I was just telling you what I thought, what I feel.
Maybe I'm on an island, but based on the communications
I had with others that do what he does, doesn't
sound like I'm all out there. Texans won the game.
That's a good thing. We'll leave it at that. What
do we have for your bad from the weekend? Long weekend?

Speaker 2 (01:45:07):
Josh?

Speaker 4 (01:45:07):
Yeah, I split it up a little bit too like
you did. It's the bad is it's bad for the Chargers.
What Dick or the Kicker did, My Lord.

Speaker 1 (01:45:15):
Harry, I would not have expected that.

Speaker 4 (01:45:18):
No, I mean, this dude has been money, but just
the ghosts of Chargers passed, especially with the kicking game
to see them come out and I mean that's a
chip shot and an extra point. How many times have
the Texans kind of been bailed out with guys missing
extra points this year? But either way, good news for
the Texans, you needed that to win the game. Bad
news for the Chargers. And you know what's gonna be
in their back of the back of their minds as

(01:45:40):
they go forward. Is he gonna do something like this
again in a big, high pressure situation.

Speaker 1 (01:45:46):
You know, That's the thing. I wonder if that's Do
you consider it in how you coach it, because you shouldn't.
He has a long enough history, even this early in
his career. I wouldn't be concerned about it one bit,
not one bit whatsoever. Kymie fairbearn potentially misses a kick
in the postseason, which he has done in the past,
but I'm not concerned about it. I mean, I'd like

(01:46:07):
to play in pristine conditions. I think like to not
play out in the cold weather, but I don't really
think that should be. You have to be in a
group of kickers. This is this pretty small group where
that really wouldn't come up. Even if you say have
had a bad day and he had a bad day.
Kick in the football those were easy, makeable. He never
misses those kick type of kicks. And because you brought

(01:46:28):
it up, and I don't think we've mentioned it much.
This year, the Texans are number one in field goal attempts,
and remember Kaymie missed some time and they attempted four
field goals with matthew Wright one of which was necessary
to win, and he made all four of those. The
Texans are perfect inside the thirty. They're eight for eight.
Their opponents have only attempted three, and they made them all.

(01:46:52):
Texans are perfect inside the forty. They're twelve of twelve
between thirty and thirty nine yards. Their opponents have only
attempted eight, and they've only made six of them. The
Texans are perfect fourteen for fourteen inside fifty yards forty
to forty nine yards, perfect fourteen to fourteen. Their opponents

(01:47:12):
have only attempted eight such field goals and they've only
made half of them, four for eight, which is awful.
From inside fifty and for fifty plus, the Texans have
attempted twelve field goals. One was blocked and kind of
you missed the other three. So he's eight for eleven
on non blocked fifty plus yards, which is excellent. Their

(01:47:33):
opponents have only attempted five and they've missed three of them.
The Texans have blocked a couple kicks. They've obviously impacted
a couple of kicks. But as we talk about it,
Matt Thomas does it a lot. Craig Ackerman does it
a lot. On space City Home Network free throw defense.
The Texans field goal defense is incredible. Now there is

(01:47:56):
literal field goal defense, so it's not the same. It's
not apples to apple. There's no field goal free throw
defense in basketball, but you actually can defend a field goal.
But they've just seen kickers miss, just flat out miss
makable kicks, and as long as that continues into the postseason,
that would be fantastic. Dick or the kickers pretty good though?

Speaker 3 (01:48:16):
Come on, oh yeah, I mean obviously, but didn't look
good the other day.

Speaker 1 (01:48:21):
It just takes one day, and I hope that that
one day is not in the future. Just so you know,
Fairbairn is thirty six or excuse me, thirty eight to
forty two on a field goals and a perfect twenty
six of twenty six on extra points. The ugly, you
have anything you want to submit here before I throw
something out there.

Speaker 3 (01:48:41):
Nah, I didn't really have anything prepared to go for
it now.

Speaker 1 (01:48:44):
The ugly is just it's the way things unfortunately played out.
I don't mind that the Steelers make or don't make
the playoffs. I don't really mind that they lost to
the Browns. It's a very ugly loss. Absolutely ugly. I
still like, is this what's keeping people from or making

(01:49:05):
people continue to say? Yeah, I really think they might
make a change. I really think it's Mike Tomlin's fault.
I really think they need to find a new head coach.
It bothers me that the Steelers lost this game just
because now that will continue, and it's very possible it
goes all the way up into their front office and
they decide to make a change. Why what, I know

(01:49:26):
they haven't won in the playoffs. I think everybody else
knows who they've been trying to win in the playoffs with,
like Russell Wilson and Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett getting
them there. And now it's Aaron Rodgers who's played significantly
better than those guys. But then he, he and their
offense go and play like they did. The Browns are
a good defense with nothing to play for and turning

(01:49:49):
the ball over and you scored six points. That's Mike
Tomlin's fault. He can't get this team over the hump.
Give him a quarterback again. Let's see how their team
performs at that point. Be nice to play with TJ.
Watt Probably maybe that would be me helpful, or we
can keep acting like not having Mike Tomlin there is
the answer to all of their problems. I think that's

(01:50:12):
an ugly way to think about things. Get a bunch
of things still to get to on the football side
of things. We'll save that for football at five all,
but this one item I'll give to you here. The
NFL put the schedule out last night along with the
broadcast networks for week eighteen. Texans drew a CBS broadcast

(01:50:32):
for this weekend's game against the Indianapolis Colts. Just a
couple hours ago, the group over at CBS posted who
their broadcast teams are going to be? Texans at home
must mean another JJ Watt game Iron Eagle. JJ Watt
sideline reporter Evan Washburn will once again be working at
Texans Football. Texans have fared very well with JJ and

(01:50:54):
the booth his first year doing so, maybe yet to
lose with him standing or sitted there in the booth.
So that's what you'll have on the tube this weekend.
Noon start for them, Noon start for the Jaguars. Like
I said, a couple of things to lay out with
the scheduling this weekend and what it might mean for
the rest of the NFL Texans included. With all of

(01:51:17):
the seating items still to be discussed or to be
laid out, there's a bunch of stuff out there that
has already happened today that will play into where these
teams will likely be traveling or hosting, maybe with what
happened this past weekend, and obviously what is in front
of them. There's just one team left to make the

(01:51:39):
AFC playoffs. There's just one team left to make the
NFC playoffs. As mentioned, I will get to that when
we hit you in the five o'clock hour for Football
at five. I haven't had a chance to talk a
whole lot about your Houston Rockets played a couple of
games since we last spoke. They took care of the
Lakers on Christmas Day. They took care of the Calves

(01:51:59):
a couple of days to go, and we'll have the
Pacers tonight. I mentioned the Lakers game a couple times,
very specifically. Now, the Lakers are a good record team
that look like they are rapidly spiraling in the wrong direction. Well,
the Rockets did the other night was handle them rather easily.
They shot fifty three percent from the floor. Is that

(01:52:21):
good news for the Rockets or is it more bad
news for the Lakers because they can't defend anybody. Well,
I think it's good news for the Rockets in that
that's already the fourteenth time in twenty nine games they've
shot better than fifty percent. When they shoot fifty one
percent or better, they're undefeated if they put the ball
in the basket at that high clip. And remember this

(01:52:41):
year in the NBA, almost everybody shooting better. You know,
shooting forty seven, forty eight, forty nine percent is very
normal in the NBA, shooting fifty percent is still elite.
And that's what the Rockets have been hovering around for
much of the last fifteen to twenty games or so,
so about two thirds of the season, still among the
best three point shooting teams in the NBA at right

(01:53:03):
at forty percent. Part of that's Reed Sheppard going high volume,
high make thought you might get a good three point shooter.
And Kevin Durant, he's been elite forty four percent three
point shooting from him. And that wasn't even a factor
in the game against the Lakers because the Lakers would
not defend or rebound. This was another game with the

(01:53:25):
Rockets dominated on the glass and have not yet mentioned
today there will be no Alpha and Shinghun tonight. The
soliest strain on the left side for him will have
him sideline. They have been with or without one of
their two bigs, I should say, quite a bit. Over
the last handful of games. They've been able to rebound
pretty well when only one is not there, and I

(01:53:46):
assume that they will be able to do that again
tonight against their undermanned opposition. Pacers win the NBA Finals
last year. Tyres Halliburton hasn't played since the NBA Finals
last year and won't likely this season. Miles Turner has played,
but not for them since he signed with the Bucks.
There's not a very good basketball team. Very under talented,
play hard, love to shoot a lot of threes, but

(01:54:07):
not particularly good. The Rockets have not handled teams like
that very well. I don't know if the Clippers are
about to announce that they're not one of those teams anymore.
The Rockets faced them during their current and season best
four game winning streak, and Kawhi just scored fifty five
points the other night and was just named Player of
the Week. But the Rockets lost to that team that

(01:54:31):
had barely won any games. They lost to the Pelicans,
who had barely won any games. That road trip was
a disaster, and it also included their biggest win of
the year, and it wasn't a Laker game. It was
the Nuggets game, not their biggest in terms of literal points,
but their most important and impressive win of the year,
beating a team ahead of them in the standings. How

(01:54:51):
about that on that road trip, all of the teams
they played that were ahead of them in the standings
they beat, played Denver twice, beat them once, play the Lakers,
who sadly are ahead of them in the standings, and
beat them. The other teams are the ones that they
had problems with. Had a twenty five point lead against
the Pels in the second half, did not hang on
to win, a fourteen point third quarter lead against the

(01:55:13):
our fourth quarter lead excuse me, against the Kings, and
did not win and kept playing overtimes. Enough already, But
we're talking about their clutch time basketball a little earlier
with Chandler, and that is where they have not fared well.
And I don't necessarily think it's because they haven't gotten
what they wanted they just haven't put the ball in
the basket. They did put the ball in the basket
in the overtime loss against Denver. If you recall, with

(01:55:35):
just a couple seconds remaining, Alpern Shingoo went to the
basket and dropped in a little baby hook front rim
and down, and they took a one point lead. And
then you had the tim hardaway junior foul, and then
ultimately they lost in overtime. You had the game against
the Pelicans where the Rockets had the ball multiple times
late with a chance to either give them a two
score lead or win the game at the end with

(01:55:56):
the final shot, and they were unable to connect.

Speaker 2 (01:55:59):
Again.

Speaker 1 (01:55:59):
Clearly, they should never have been in that situation up
twenty five against a bad Pelicans team in the second half,
but nonetheless it turned into a clutch time game late
in the game and they just did not come through. Obviously,
in overtime, despite scoring first, they did not win. With
the Pelicans outscoring them by five. The Rockets had a
chance to tie late with a three again and were

(01:56:20):
unable to do it. That will, I think, based on
who they are, based on the way they play.

Speaker 2 (01:56:26):
It's just.

Speaker 1 (01:56:28):
I don't think that's a season long issue. It's been
a current issue. I don't think it's a season long issue.
I think they're gonna play a lot more close games.
I think they are gonna be a lot more teams
that start to play better basketball in the Western Conference,
and maybe you'll see some other guys shift out of
that position. These Spurs are clearly not going anywhere. FYI
for anybody that was wondering if they were, and if
they were a little bit of a flash in the pan,

(01:56:49):
and they've gotten off to a nice start. They're twenty
three and eight, and two of those twenty three victories
are against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They played them multiple
times in six game stretch and beat them twice. Nuggets
aren't going anywhere. The Rockets, I still think, are no
worse than the fourth best team. I still think they're
gonna end up in the top three. And I still
think it's Oklahoma Statedy, Denver and Houston with the Nuggets

(01:57:11):
and Rockets playing in the opening round. But the Spurs,
of again, they're three games better than the Rockets right now.
The Rockets are only a half game worse than the Lakers,
only a half game better than the Wolves. I also
think that is set barring injuries for those six teams.
None of the teams outside the top six are gonna
catch them. Matt says they could, but the Suns, the Warriors,

(01:57:31):
the Grizzlies, and whomever else. Is the last team right now,
it's Portland. They're just not good enough. They're not gonna
play well enough. They're not gonna put a win streak together.
There's not super big improvements to be made. They're not
teams that had too many guys missing due to injury.
Even if you think that could be Phoenix because of
how much they have not had Jalen Green, We'll see
Phoenix will also be in town after this next road trip. Monday,

(01:57:54):
a week from today, Phoenix visits town, not going to
see Jalen play that night. It doesn't appear after the
second occurrence of his hamstring injury. But I think what
we have is what we're gonna have in the West.
Those are the top six, don't I don't think there's
much to quibble with. I think Minnesota's firmly put their
basketball to keep them there. I think the Rockets are
going to show you that now that the schedule again

(01:58:16):
after this road trip. They're going to start to even
things out. I think I posted it the other day.
They were last in the league in home games and
they're currently fourth best in the league in winning percentage
at home. If you don't have any home games to win,
it's not gonna help you in the standings. Back home
tonight they Clabbord the Cavs two nights ago. Even things out.

(01:58:38):
They've only played eleven home games, Thunder have played sixteen,
the Timberwolves have played eighteen. Got to get that figure
back in line. I think you'll see it show up
in the standings as well. Football at five, we will
hear from your victorious Houston Texans on what went right
Saturday against the Chargers next as did somebody else on

(01:59:01):
the offensive line and what would have been the first
sack of the game for the Chargers would have given
the ball back to the Chargers following a sack, putting
the Texans in a much worse position two minute warnings still,
but they got the illegal contact penalty. I don't know
how many of you watched the explanation the following day

(01:59:23):
with Walt Anderson, who does a weekly hit on the
game day morning show on NFL network. If you want
to watch it and care about it, that's fine. What
he said basically was to me kind of nonsense. What
he said is essentially what they did this particular defensive back.
You got to give ground. You can't just stand there.

(01:59:44):
They have the right kind of the right away type
of deal, and that's not what happened here. So they
called the illegal contact penalty. It's essentially he said, don't
They could call it on every play. So I think
that's why everybody's asking, well, why did they call it
on this play when they don't call it on every play.
Happened earlier in the game against the Texans. I think
it was a fairly officiated game. It was a seemingly

(02:00:06):
lopsided game, if you noted, and we did penalty penalty, penalty, penalty,
penalty penalty through three quarters, all of them on the Texans,
not an overwhelming amount, but none of them assessed to
the charge. Nonetheless, they got the penalty there, so it
obviously extended the drive and the Texans then were able

(02:00:26):
to finish out the game because they got another first down.
They were still at two twenty seven, no timeouts, but
to twenty seven on the clock, you can't start taking
knees because of the two minute warning, So they ran
the football twice and got ten yards ball game over,
they had almost a minute and a half of kneel

(02:00:46):
downs in this game. That's a great way to treat
your defense by not forcing them to go back out
on the field. Now to what is ahead of them.
Announcement made by the Chargers about what they plan to
do with starting quarterback Justin Herbert. He ain't playing, probably
will be others. I'll tell you how that impacts the

(02:01:07):
AFC playoff picture. But here's what Tamiko Ryans had to
say earlier today about attacking this game and what they're
gonna do with their starters. Sunday against the colt noon
at NRG Stadium.

Speaker 6 (02:01:19):
Yeah, we're playing a game right now as it sits.
We still have an opportunity to win our division, and
that's always the goal each and every year to win
your division. So we know we need help from the
Titans to be able to do that. So we're going
and we're playing our guys.

Speaker 1 (02:01:34):
He says, we're playing our guys. Everybody that was in
attendance via zoom assumed that that meant we're playing our starters,
which it does doesn't necessarily mean we're playing them the
whole game. Could mean that we'll see you. Obviously will
have information on what's going on in the Titans game.
We also have information because of that announcement from the

(02:01:56):
Chargers earlier today. If Justin Herbert's not playing, that means
it's trailing Lants Sunday Trey Lance on the road at
the Broncos. What's on the line for the Chargers whether
they're fifth, six or seventh if they lose their six
or seven. If they win, they could still be six
or seven, but they could have moved all the way
up to five. If the Texans lose. They're gonna know

(02:02:18):
that before they play anyway, because if the Texans win,
then the only spots they can be here six or seven.
It's more about the other side. They clearly don't mind
the fact that they can't change their fortunes. It's just
where they're going. Do they care if they go to
New England?

Speaker 2 (02:02:31):
Do they care?

Speaker 1 (02:02:32):
If they go to Denver? They call care? If they
go to Jacksonville they care? If they go to Houston?
Do they care if they go to Pittsburgh or Baltimore?
They're saying no, we don't. We're going on the road
and that's that. But the Broncos need to win to
clinch the number one overall seed, which is, in my opinion,
about the biggest advantage they've ever had in the NFL postseason.

(02:02:52):
Every team in your conference that makes the playoffs, but
you has to win three times to reach the super Bowl.
You have to win twice, both of those games being
at home, huge, huge advantage. So now Denver's playing at
home against Trey Lance to try to sew that up.
I don't think Jim Harbaugh has some sort of long

(02:03:16):
standing beef with Mike Rabel. I could be wrong, because
he's just looking out for Justin Herbert. Herbert clearly is
not healthy. His legs are fine. I think his shoulders
are fine. I think his right arm is fine. His
left hand is in bad shape. It is painful, and
it is noticeable in games that it is a problem
for him, purely from a pain standpoint. I don't think

(02:03:38):
it affects his ability to catch a shotgun snap. I
don't effect think it affects his ability to hang onto
the football to get ready to throw a pass. Doesn't
affect his ability to run or throw, but it is
a factor, and so not playing him I totally get.
Then there will be others on the Chargers that do
not play. According to Harball, I just didn't really get
into all that today, But it does impact everything else. Jacksonville,

(02:04:01):
for instance, now they should be able to take care
of the Titans. Everybody else has, but three times Titans
are three and thirteen. The Jaguars have only lost to
the Texans inside the division. They're undefeated otherwise, and they've
even beaten the Texans. Both of them are four and one. Actually,
both of them are nine to two in conference play also,
so very similar seasons. While the Texans have won eight
in a row, they've gained one game on the Jaguars

(02:04:26):
because they beat them. Nobody else has last eight games.
Nobody's beating the Jaguars but Houston, and that came with
Davis Mills out there. Jacksonville could still finish first first seed.
They could have home field advantage throughout the postseason, but
not if Denver wins, So that decision by the Chargers
presumably is a pretty big impact on Jacksonville. Jacksonville can

(02:04:50):
actually finish in every spot except for four. Heading into
their final game. They've clinched a playoff berth, but they
haven't clinched to the division. They could be one, two
or three. They could still be five, six or seven
under certain scenarios, So there's still a lot on the
line for the Jaguars. Clearly, it's simple in theory, go
out beat the Titans, and then you don't really care

(02:05:10):
where you're seeded because everything's out of your hands. At
that point, you've sewn up at least the three seed.
You potentially could move up to two, potentially could move
up to one. But what's in their hands is preventing
the Texans from winning this division for a third straight year.
And it would be nice to play at home. That
would be the ideal scenario if you're Houston and your
truth serum, playing at home being the three seed, opening

(02:05:33):
up the door for more potential home games by being
the three seed as opposed to the five seed. Absolutely,
one hundred percent, that's what you should be playing for.
And the way that Tamiko described, we're playing for the division.

Speaker 2 (02:05:44):
We're trying.

Speaker 1 (02:05:45):
Yes, it doesn't even honestly, it doesn't even matter who's
on the other side. It could be Clearly, it's one
of the two wildcard teams currently or Jacksonville. Jacksonville at
twelve and five if they lose and lose the division
because of it. It's not many scenarios I don't believe
that have them at six or seven, but there are
some somewhat far fetched. So it's unlikely that that would

(02:06:07):
be your opening matchup, but not impossible. So it would
likely be against one of the two teams you've already beaten,
and for that matter, they will have beaten all the
wildcard teams. If the Texans win the division, they will
have wins over all of the wildcard teams, obviously, one
of whom will be their opponent. Beat the Bills, beat
the Chargers, beat and lost to the Jaguars. Very good

(02:06:29):
position to be in after the first eight games of
the season. The Texans have done everything they possibly could
to win this division. I don't know the answer to this.
Let's say what kind of work I can do on this.
It's probably not very often happened in the NFL, especially
when they had sixteen game seasons, and even more so
when they had fourteen game seasons. How many teams have

(02:06:51):
put together a nine game winning streak and not won
the Division Texans have won nine straight in a row
before that was the first of the two year years
now that they have started a year own three and
made the postseason, started own three and won their next
nine games under Bill O'Brien when they did that, and
they obviously are doing that currently, and a ninth straight

(02:07:14):
win stares under the face against likely Riley Leonard and
the Indianapolis Colts. But without a Jaguars loss, all that
nine game winning streak will do for them is send
to the playoffs at twelve and five as the five seed,
headed to Baltimore or Pittsburgh to take on a not
real good AFC North Division champion. There are a bunch

(02:07:38):
of scenarios, obviously, that are in play for the Texans
and everybody else this weekend back here with you on
the A team. It is pretty simple though, for Houston
if you follow along, if they win and Jacksonville loses,
the Texas on a number three seed and they will
host a playoff game wild card weekend. It's possible that
game is a three thirty Saturday game.

Speaker 3 (02:07:58):
We'll find out.

Speaker 1 (02:08:00):
If they win and Jacksonville also wins, then they are
the five seed. Those two simple scenarios are just that
very simple, only two teams impacting those things. If Texans win,
then they will be either the three or the five.
That's it all depends on then if Jacksonville wins or loses,
because if they lose, you win the division. You go
to the three seed. That's that. Now, the Texans can

(02:08:21):
still be the five seed with a loss if both
Buffalo and the Chargers lose. And again, the Chargers are
starting Trey Lance and who knows who else, and they're
starting them on the road at Denver where the Broncos
are trying to sow up the number one seed. The Bills,
on the other hand, are playing the Jets at home.
And if you saw the Jets this past weekend against

(02:08:42):
a pretty good Patriots team, that game was over very quickly.
A second game of a one p fifty five plus
passer rating this year for Drake May five touchdown passes,
they blew out the Jets. It was embarrassing, it was
one sided, and it has people wondering once again, even
though Woody Johnson has given some pretty significant votes of
confidence to Aaron Glenn in year number one, overly embarrassing

(02:09:06):
division losses don't usually play very well. I don't think
he's going to get fired. I don't think he should
be fired, but I can't tell you for sure he's
not gonna be let go at the end of the season.
So Bill's and Jets the other game. So again, the
Texans stay at five even if they lose. Provided both
the Bills and the Chargers lose, they bump to six
if either of those two teams win with the Texans losing,

(02:09:28):
and they would bump all the way down to seven.
If both of those teams win Buffalo in LA and
the Texans obviously lose, that's pretty much it. I think
you can figure out the ties because these teams would
then end with different records, and the team with fewer
losses is the one that has the better record. I mean,
it's pretty pretty simple. They're all sitting at five right now,

(02:09:50):
so ties will pretty self explanatory. I'm not gonna sail
that for you, nor should you care, because none of
these teams are gonna tie, I don't think. So that's
what what is in play for them this weekend, and
according to Demiico Ryans, they intend to play their starters. Now,
we brought this up earlier when Chandler was with us,
and I told you i'd have more on this later. Obviously,

(02:10:11):
you want as healthy as a team as you can
get when you get to the playoffs, and I do
think that influences coaches decisions on how they want to
go about a week eighteen games. For some teams, a
week seventeen game. Not this year in the NFL, Nobody
in Week seventeen, the week we're just now completing, really
had the option of resting guys because everything was still
in play for everybody that was playing all the way

(02:10:31):
through last night's awesome Sunday night football game, which didn't
end until the final snap with the Bears and the
forty nine Ers putting eighty points on the board. Rock
Purty was great, Bears offense was great, last play was
not very great, and the for the Bears, and so
the forty nine Ers remain in position to play five

(02:10:52):
consecutive games at home to win the Super Bowl. Last
night was at home. Next week there at home against
the Seahawks. Win there gets the number one seed, and
if they have the number one seed, that means they
have the off week in the opening round of the
playoffs and the wild card round they open up the
divisional round at home. Should they win, they would be
in the championship game in the NFC at home. Then

(02:11:14):
the Super Bowl is at home in Santa Clara. Remarkable,
got a lot of people talking about the coach a
year of the year discussion which we can get to.
But getting healthy for the postseason, Tamiko said, the starters
are going to be out there. If you were watching
this game on Saturday, you had to be incredibly concerned.

(02:11:38):
The Texans had a game with both of their starting
tackles not available to them. They then had one, two,
three four players leave the game due to injuries, and
Ingram left the game. He returned missed only three snaps.
As he's al Shire left the game, he missed just

(02:11:59):
a couple of snaps. Derek Stingley Junior and Kamari las
Yer both left the game again, though very fortunately they
only missed a couple of snaps. The idea of these
guys playing through it and we'll get into what should
they do with them moving forward was brought up to
Jamiico Ryans following the game on Saturday. Having so many

(02:12:20):
guys continue to put it out there on the line
when they're far, far, less than one hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (02:12:25):
Every guy on our team knew what this game was about, right.
We knew this was a game to punch our ticket
to get into the playoffs. And our guys, man, they
manned up. A lot of guys are dealing with pain, injuries,
Guys went down on the field. But like I go
talk to Kamari last year, he's coming out, Coach, There's
no way I'm coming out of this game.

Speaker 1 (02:12:45):
Like.

Speaker 6 (02:12:45):
That's the mindset of all of our guys. It's on
the line. We know what's on the line, and they
want to be out there to be the reason why
we're successful. And when you have young men who have
that mindset, right, that's so I love the guys because
everybody has that mindset down, it doesn't matter coach, I'm
getting back on the field. I'm gonna finish his game.
And when you have that heart, when you have that

(02:13:07):
passion and desire by your guys, we can go accomplish anything.

Speaker 1 (02:13:10):
Kamari Lasser has been playing through a foot injury, A
different injury cited in this case. Didn't look very good
when he had the towel hanging over his head and
was walking back through get looked at more, but like
I said, he came back and played. And who these
guys are is a lot about why these guys are
where they are. Talent is clearly a factor, maybe the

(02:13:31):
biggest factor, but who these guys are and what they
are made of matters to seven snaps missed by Kamari,
two steps missed by Sting, same Farrale Shire. Amazing that
they've continued to go out there, but that has to
be on the mind of Demiko Ryans knowing that they're
playing another game after the regular season ends, very well

(02:13:53):
could be a Saturday game. They very well might have
a short week. I hope they don't, but we shall see.
Certainly with the likelihood that they will be traveling for
that opening postseason game, be nice if they did not
have a short week. But they've played and survived on
Saturdays under Demiko in the playoffs before. Both of those
games were at home. Clapberd the Browns and clobbered the

(02:14:14):
Chargers in the last two postseasons. They won by thirty
one over the Browns. They won by twenty over the
Chargers a year ago. But the Texans cannot afford injuries
to their cornerbacks the biggest play of the game, a
sixty yard completion to Quinton Johnston. And I know there's

(02:14:34):
some Kaitlyn Bullock responsibilities there and probably was not over
in time. But treymont Smith the reserve corner. He's first
off the bench if Stingley is out, first off the
bench if lastener is out. He played eight snaps, that
was one of them. Defensive coordinators know this. They know
when eleven steps onto the field, they know when four
steps off they went twenty four steps off, and they

(02:14:55):
immediately look to attack them. Happens to every team that
is struggling a bit with dea traymont Smith was never
signed to be the first corner off the bench. I
don't even think Jalen Smith was drafted to be the
first corner off the bench. But after training camp that's
exactly where Jalen Smith was, and I thought he had
played every bit well enough to have earned it. Unfortunately,

(02:15:15):
he's been hurt for almost the entire season, two different
injuries that have had him sidelined and obviously unavailable to
the Texans. Currently on IR they don't really have much
to turn to. That being said, almost everything else they've
done this year and credit to Nick Cassario for finding
players over and over and over again. They've had issues
at safety almost the entire season. Signed CJ. Or traded

(02:15:37):
for CJ. Gardner Johnson, that obviously didn't work. He lasted
two games. They went to MJ. Stewart, he unfortunately had
a season ending knee injury and subsequent surgery, and they've
turned to Miles Bryant for the most part after that.
Miles Bryant didn't have what I don't think the Texans
would have called a very strong game against the Raiders,
not all, just the tackling issues that he had and

(02:15:59):
a couple of them against Astron genty just overall. And
so this week Myles Bryant played zero snaps defensively because
a couple of weeks ago, Nick Cassario brought Kevon Wallace
to the practice squad and subsequently he's been signed to
the active roster after being elevated on a couple of occasions,
and he played almost every snap of the game, all

(02:16:19):
but fifteen of them, as their fifth corner essentially, not
their fifth corner, their fifth defensive back, essentially their safety
that was on the field for the majority of the game,
with Bullock and he had a great game. He just
wasn't just out there, grated out very well, made a
couple of key tackles. Noted by the coach after the
game that this turned out. They found somebody for this week,

(02:16:39):
for this matchup, probably more for that in the future,
but all across this roster. And they made another roster
move today that I am scratching my head about. They
activated Justin Watson, who's missed almost the entire season after
getting hurt a couple weeks into the year and they
put him on our so they activate him off of

(02:17:00):
injured reserve today and they wave Solomon Byrd Bird had
been a practice squad player the last two years after
getting drafted, was added to the active roster a couple
of weeks ago, but limited impact if any on this team.
Watson is their seventh active roster wide receiver currently Braxton
Barrios gets made inactive on a regular basis, basically hasn't

(02:17:22):
seen the field, and now Watson's there, who's their seventh
wide receiver. Now he will play on the coverage teams
with special teams, so I imagine that's one place they could
use him. But a limited number of return to play
spots and there into the last week of the season.
You get a couple more designated to return spots once

(02:17:43):
you get to the postseason. So I'm not sure if
there was some other reason, because I don't imagine he's
in their game plan this week unless they're resting players,
unless they want more reserves at a position they intend
to rest players, but well otherwise be active for the game.
Just an interesting move that they made before the week

(02:18:04):
of practice begins for the Indianapolis Colts in week eighteen.
In case you missed it, very ironic that the last
voice you just heard before mine was that of Alprin.
Shangoon mentioned it earlier, but not too much in detail.
He's not available tonight for the Houston Rockets. Alpi will
miss this game, as he did the last game. It's

(02:18:26):
a calf injury. They're calling it a left soulius strain,
a muscle right there in the calf. There have been
a lot of calf injuries, yes, there have been a
lot of calf injuries that have led to other injuries
around this league and in the NFL, So trying to
be careful, cautious concern. I don't think they're overly concerned

(02:18:47):
with it. Ema Udoka, speaking with media just a few
minutes ago, as he usually does around five point fifteen
in advance of seven PM kicks. Will Gillery, who covers
the Rockets and Southwest portion of the NBA for The Athletic,
said e May said he doesn't believe the injury is
a serious one. They're just trying to manage some soreness

(02:19:10):
he experienced after they destroyed the Lakers on Christmas Day.
Did not play in the game against the Cavs. I
had mentioned the rockets rebounding prowess earlier on the show.
The Rockets were out rebounded in the fourth quarter of
that game seventeen to eight. Steven Adams didn't play in
the fourth quarter, neither did alp He didn't play at

(02:19:30):
all in the game. The Rockets were blowing them out,
largely because well they crushed them on the boards when
the game was in doubt, like before the final twelve minutes,
they still had a fifty one to forty two rebound
advantage after not doing anything in the fourth quarter. That's
one thing that usually travels. It usually plays well every night,

(02:19:53):
and it isn't only attached to Alprin and Steven, But
they're a good rebounding team pretty much any night. They're
an elite best all time caliber rebounding team, especially on
the offensive glass when both Steven and alb You are
out there, most notably Adams, who's one of the all
time greatest offensive rebounds. But just something to note. They

(02:20:13):
have a game tonight Monday night. They won't play again
until the first, but then they're pretty much playing every
other day for the rest of the season until the
All Star Breaker. Maybe just outside of the All Star Break, first,
the third, the fifth, the seventh, they got games on
all those nights. They've again played very few games compared
to the rest of the league, even fewer of them

(02:20:33):
at home. They start to balance that out moving forward.
What else do we need to get into or revisit here.

Speaker 4 (02:20:41):
Josh, The one thing I wanted to hit on was
kind of relates to the Texans here, and it's Nick
Sirianni of the Eagles talking about what they're gonna do
or they gonna play their starters, and he said, we've
done it both ways. We've had opportunities to rest, we've
had opportunities to get a better seat. You go through
that process and all those things. Every season is a
little different, and I'm starting to think if Demico's kind

(02:21:02):
of weighing those things too, because you're right, if one
of those corners, God forbid anything happens, Texans are in
deep trouble there.

Speaker 2 (02:21:09):
You know.

Speaker 4 (02:21:09):
He said we're gonna wind up doing what's best for
the team, obviously coach speak, but the big one is too,
we're still thinking it through. We don't have to make
the decision right now, which is true. Who knows how
Lasseter is gonna feel by the end of this week.

Speaker 3 (02:21:22):
We just don't know that right now.

Speaker 1 (02:21:23):
Yeah, they'll the practice field later this week. Again, they
don't know what the playoff schedule will be, but they're
on a regular week this week. Got an extra day
off from playing on Saturday. I hit the field on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
and then wait for the Colts to get to town,
specifically on the Eagles. Eagles scored a touchdown in the

(02:21:44):
first quarter and did not score a touchdown again. They
had thirteen points at the half. They ended up winning
thirteen to twelve. Jalen Hurt's first half, they had him
throw the ball twenty times. They kind of dominated the
time of possession and total plays. In the first half,
they threw the ball twenty times. He ran the ball once,
they ran the ball sixteen times. They had a big
advantage and how often they had the ball and what

(02:22:05):
they were able to do. They had a thirteen to
nothing lead over the Bills at the half. They're in
an important game for both teams to a certain extent.
So thirteen of twenty one hundred and ten yards wasn't
sacked and had a touchdown in the first half. Then
he came back for the second half and he threw
seven passes. None of them were complete, so zero completions

(02:22:26):
in the second half of this game finished thirteen to
twenty seven with that same one hundred and ten yards.
He got sacked once, so he dropped back I believe
eleven times, ran it twice, sacked once, and had the
incomplete passes all of them and they won again. It's
a second time this year the Eagles have had a

(02:22:47):
second half where Jalen Hurts completed zero passes. I don't
know if I would say, oh, man, we stink we
need to play I wouldn't. It's just remarkable what they've
done this year. They don't look good at all almost
every single week. And they're eleven and five and they
won the division easily. No challenge from the Commanders. With

(02:23:10):
how Jaden Daniel's season went and then the injuries. Obviously,
the Cowboys couldn't stop anybody. We are seven days away
from Jerry Jones firing Matt Aberfloss as their defensive coordinator.
But the Eagles in the NFC playoffs, outside of the

(02:23:31):
winner of the Panthers Buccaneers game that makes the playoffs,
I think they're the least feared team of all of them.
That includes the Packers, definitely includes the Bears. Least feared
team in the NFC playoffs. That isn't Carolina or Tampa,
the defending champs. That's what I would say. What else

(02:23:54):
do we have?

Speaker 4 (02:23:54):
Well, I mean that's the interesting The difference here between
them and the Texans is Eagles get a home playoff
game no matter what. Yeah, they're locked in. Yeah, so
I understand to a home game. Yeah yeah, they got
a home playoff game. So we'll see how that plays
out for them. The other thing I thought that was interesting,
Like we didn't know Andy Reid plans to return to
Kansas City if.

Speaker 3 (02:24:12):
They'll have me.

Speaker 4 (02:24:13):
But there were a lot of rumors after Mahomes got hurt, like, oh,
is he gonna come back?

Speaker 3 (02:24:18):
But here it is, he's coming back.

Speaker 1 (02:24:22):
Why rumors from who, real people or the egg avatars
all over social media. Andy Reid's gonna have this remarkable
head coaching career, and while in seemingly good health, while
seemingly still capable of doing his job just as well
as he ever did, He's just gonna say, ah, this
was perfect. We went six and eleven. Pat Mahomes is hurt. Great,

(02:24:44):
This is how I want to go. This is how
I want to leave my NFL career because he's not
coming back. When he's done with Kansas City, that's it.
He's not coaching anywhere else after this. He's gonna finish
with the Chiefs. He's not gonna coach any other quarterback
unless Mahomes is hurt. This is where people thought they
were gonna ask him to walk away, or he was
gonna decide to walk away. Never thought that for a
second he'll be back next year.

Speaker 4 (02:25:07):
I didn't either, But you know how it gets people
start speculating, like, oh, is he ready to move on?
Andy Reid just seems like a dude that loves football.
I just I don't think he wants to do anything else.

Speaker 2 (02:25:17):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (02:25:17):
Another one A lot of with the injuries and who's
gonna do what Lamar Jackson's status to be determined. I mean,
there's no way he's not gonna play, right, He's got
to be almost dying if he doesn't play in this game.

Speaker 1 (02:25:30):
Well, as long as Harbaugh doesn't go back and forget
how good Derrick Henry is. And I do think Huntley
played very very well. Yeah, but you gave the ball
to Derrick Henry thirty six times. It can't Huntly do
that again?

Speaker 2 (02:25:44):
No, I don't.

Speaker 1 (02:25:44):
I'm not saying they're automatically going to run through the
Steelers defense, not not far from it. But if he's healthy,
he plays, if he can. I agree, I think he's
gonna play. I just it's it's so hard to say
because we really don't have a much of a handle
on what exactly it is, what exactly the extent of
it is. We know he's missed practice, we know he
has been listed in the last several weeks. This has

(02:26:06):
been going on, even though he's played most of the
games other than this last one. This last week you
got a chance to make the playoffs, and you're probably
not gonna go anywhere without him, not very far, even
with Derek Henry doing whatever it eas he can do.
I think this is a pretty good likelihood he plays,
and I think this is more about Harbad just taking
advantage of the position that you're in. It's early in
the week, they haven't even seen the practice field. We'll

(02:26:28):
see how things go and we'll determine his status at
the appropriate time, which should be long before ninety minutes
before kickoff of the last game of the weekend Sunday night,
Steelers Ravens take two up here this segment, NFC side,
we haven't spent a whole lot of time on what
scenarios play out. Don't pay a whole lot of attention

(02:26:50):
to the NFC un till you have to Super Bowl time.
When the Texans get to Santa Clara, they'll be playing
one of these seven playoff teams from the NFC game
tonight between the Rams and the Falcons matters to the
Rams and that they will be the number five seed
if they went out they beat the Falcons tonight and
then beat the Cardinals in the final week. There's a
couple other scenarios where they can clinch the five seed,

(02:27:12):
but they will be five or six. The two teams
that aren't the top seed that have won their divisions. Obviously,
they're battling for two and three. That's the Bears and
the Eagles. Eagles get to win next week and a
Chicago loss or tie, then they will be the two seed.
Or if they time the Bears lose, same thing. Bears

(02:27:32):
just need a win or an Eagles loss. They've got
Detroit next week and they will be the two seed.
After losing to the Niners last night, forty two thirty eight,
Niners and Seahawks play this weekend. Very simple. Seahawks win
that game, move to the best record, then they will
be the number one seed. San Francisco win gets them there.

(02:27:55):
They'll have the same record as Seattle, but they will
have won the tiebreaker and they will be the.

Speaker 3 (02:27:59):
Number one seed.

Speaker 1 (02:28:00):
Each of them could be the five or six seed
based on a number of other results, and it's very simple.
With Carolina and Tampa, a winner is in. However, there's
one little caveat to that. They'll play Saturday afternoon, so
it doesn't impact them before they play. I said this

(02:28:21):
earlier Atlanta could play into this particular division winner. There's
a scenario where Falcons win Tonight over the Rams, and
then the Falcons win again on Sunday against the Saints
that puts the Panthers into the playoffs. Regardless of the
outcome of their game, their game will have already been played.

(02:28:44):
The outcome will have already happened. They will have won
or they will have lost. But if the Falcons win
tonight upset the Rams, and they are sizeable underdogs, then
if Carolina wins, they obviously are in the playoffs regardless.
But if they lose, Tampa's not automatically in the playoffs

(02:29:08):
just yet. They would then have to wait for the
outcome of the Falcons game on Sunday against the Saints,
who are playing great football. They're won four straight to
see if they get in the playoffs, so it's not
quite a winner take all game, but it's awfully darn close.
Green Bay, they are the lone wolf in the playoffs

(02:29:31):
and locked in to their seed. They go into the
final week of the season with nothing on the line.
They will be the last seed. They are the seventh seed.
The only thing they don't know is if they're traveling
to Chicago to play the Bears for the third time,
or they're traveling to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles.
They were the team on the other side of the
Derrick Henry rush fest this past weekend, the Saturday night

(02:29:54):
game after the Texans played and beat the Chiefs, who
ran for over two hundred yards, had another three touchdown game,
carried the ball thirty six times. They're not gonna be
up against that any other game this year, so I
don't think the Packers are too broken up about that.
What they are worried about is overall, they have not
had a good season, even at nine six and one,
even head of the playoffs, even as the seventh seed.

(02:30:18):
Just not a particularly smooth year for Jordan Love, not
a particularly smooth year for their defense, which at times
was very very good and at other times wasn't a
little bit of the NFC side of things, as we
had into the final weekend of the season after tonight.
By the way, Drake London is active tonight for the Falcons,
just in time for everybody who had him carrying their

(02:30:40):
fantasy team all year to not need him now as
the final game of week seventeen. I guess there's probably
a few people in their title games that they waited
all the way to Saturday our Monday night to figure
out if they were gonna keep him in their lineup.
You don't need him now, but man, that would have
been a pretty dangerous play to say, well, either he
goes or he doesn't. I guess I could play Darnel Mooney.

(02:31:02):
If he doesn't, you went and picked him up this week,
whatever the case may be. Nonetheless, that's the scenario. There
a few other things on the Texans game, and I'll
get to more of this tomorrow. Was just about going
out and taking a fourteen to nothing lead and then
doing nothing else offensively. I do think the Chargers made
some adjustments to what the Texans were doing. I also
think the Texans specifically game planned to expect them to

(02:31:27):
have more trouble upfront. Then maybe it turned out that
they had and they never really adjusted away from it.
No Tay Urserie, no Trent Brown. Instead, you had right
tackle Titus Howard, left tackle Blake Fisher. Blake Fisher not
played left tackle for this team all year, had limited
access to that position, experience of that position during his
rookie year, but a little bit of it would have

(02:31:47):
been the starting left tackle a year ago at Notre
Dame had he stayed in school, but he elected to
leave early. Was the second round pick by the Texans
and ultimately got experience, probably more than they expected him
to over the course of last year. This year has
been almost exclusively their tackle eligible filled in a couple
of snaps throughout the year as a tackle with some injuries,

(02:32:09):
but essentially hadn't played. And I posted this just at
kickoff of Saturday's game. They played their sixteenth game of
the year and they were using their ninth different offensive
line combination. I'm amazed at how well they played as
a unit, and credit to Cole Popovich, credit to Blake Fisher,
credit to Jared Patterson, credit to everybody and all parts

(02:32:31):
of the blocking scheme in between, and even Nick Cayley.
They have to make these adjustments on the fly, and
they have to compensate for what plays we can and
can't use this week. Again, I've said it all year,
and I think the game on Saturday is another reason
why I'll say it again. It's one reason why they
had to move on or felt they had to move
on for Bobby Slok. In my opinion, the adjustments that

(02:32:54):
are being made on a regular basis by Nick Cayley
by their offense, they just weren't getting made last year.

Speaker 2 (02:33:01):
Last year.

Speaker 1 (02:33:02):
If this had happened to last year's team with last
year's offensive line coach Chris Strasser, they would have gotten clobbered.
They would have done nothing offensively.

Speaker 2 (02:33:10):
CJ.

Speaker 1 (02:33:11):
Stroud would have been hit twelve times, they would have
had eight tackles for loss, and they would have been
coming back home as a loser. So they didn't make
any adjustments a week to week. They certainly didn't make
any adjustments in game. You have who you have? You
got five offensive linemen, these are our starters today. What
are we gonna do about it? And they would literally
not have an answer. These guys aren't getting it done. Okay,

(02:33:33):
we're gonna put them right back out there, and we're
gonna keep calling the same place. We're not gonna bring
any extra help. We're not gonna play a sixth offensive lineman.
We're not gonna bring in two tight ends to block.
We're just gonna keep going and see how many stunts
we miss, and see how many times people just flat
out get beat one on one. We'll just deal with it.
We'll go second and thirteen, we'll go third and seventeen.

(02:33:54):
We'll see how the day goes. This year's team has
been much more equipped and much more willing to acknowledge
we're not at our best. We're gonna have to take
this first fifteen pages of the playbook and we're throwing
them out because they're not gonna work today. We're not
gonna be able to run these plays. We're gonna put
different personnel groups out there. We're gonna have blocking schemes
that have C. J. Stroud dropping back to pass and

(02:34:16):
having two guys running routes because we're leaving our back
into block. We've brought in a tackle extra tackle eligible
to block, and we're leaving our tight ends in and
it works, not every time, not perfectly, not brilliantly, not
gonna run sixty plays of offense that way, but adjustments
to what you can and can't do based on who's
out there, and a little bit of credit to again

(02:34:38):
the coaches, and honestly, they're probably a little bit more
capable on the offensive line than maybe once suspected. Probably
after moving on from Cam Robinson and Lake and Tomlinson,
two players who started opening day and did not last
through the season. Didn't last through September. For Robinson, Tomlinson
let go at the beginning of the month. Texas have

(02:34:58):
a better group now than they had them and hopefully
a healthier group for next week and the playoffs. Considering
both Brown and Ursery missed the game, the first game
missed in the career of Ariante Ursery, lots more to
get to, obviously, lots more text and stuff to get to.
We'll do that tomorrow beginning at two o'clock. We'll have
Jeff Blum in with us for several hours of tomorrow's broadcast,

(02:35:20):
co hosting with me here on the A Team. Next
up Rockets Pacers on your home for Rockets Basketball Sports
Talk seven to ninety

Speaker 3 (02:35:30):
The A Team on Sport