Texans-Steelers Finally Upon Us, Wild Card Weekend Reaction, Rockets Struggling

Monday on The A-Team, Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton give their final predictions for Texans-Steelers, share their takeaways from Wild Card weekend, and much more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do o'clock on game day? Do you know where your
your family is? I'm just kidding, Hey, I have never
been so excited for a Texans playoff game for non
traditional reasons. Let's just put it that way. Everybody's excited
about this game tonight because it's the final game of

(00:20):
the weekend. What was increasingly with each passing game until
last night's dud, a fantastic, maybe best ever Wild Card
weekend just from an entertainment standpoint. But man, it has
all culminated in this game here tonight in Pittsburgh, in
the Steel City. You've got the legend, the grizzled old

(00:40):
Vet Aaron Rodgers across the way. You've got the best
defense in the NFL. I don't care what the numbers say,
they are, pound for pound the best. Wouldn't want any
other unit on the Texans side heading into a game
like this and all of the talk is almost over.
I say that because we've got four hours to Phil
come on now, but shortly after we sign off at

(01:02):
six o'clock, before you know it, they'll be kicking things
off in Pittsburgh. And I am just of all the
narratives and the subplots and the you know, everything that
goes into a game like this that you talk to
death until it happens because of both what it is
and where it is, and in conjunction with all the
games this weekend, I'm just so fascinated to see how

(01:26):
it actually unfolds. If for no other reason, then I
don't know that any of these games unfolded the way
a lot of people thought they would this weekend. Well,
I take that back. The Jacksonville game definitely unfolded the
way I thought it would. Frauds, absolute frauds in Jacksonville.
At least Trevor Lawrence is a fraud. Do you know

(01:47):
that he probably should have thrown two more picks in
that game, at least at least from what I was
watching yesterday. But you know, everything kind of went according
to how I thought it would. As far as the results.
Carolina put a real scare into the Rams. Not surprised
that Chicago beat the Packers. I am surprised that they

(02:07):
scored twenty six points in the fourth quarter to do so.
But just a crazy, good weekend of football.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, you did use the word unfolded, and that makes
it very very accurate how the games unfolded. This weekend
is why we love sports, It's why we love football.
It's why it was an unbelievable weekend. But the Bears, Niners, Rams, Pats,
and Bills won this weekend. I believe those are the
five teams we picked to win this weekend. How it
happened good is why it's awesome that it happened was,

(02:38):
at least in this room expected, but definitely want to
get into the whys and what, if anything, it means
for tonight's game. And I do think it means what
we saw over the past. We're really six games honestly
matter for tonight's game. So if you think real hard,
maybe you'll figure out what I'm talking about before I
tell you. But the games themselves, and it took until
yesterday for us to get any line on what was

(02:59):
going on with the AFC. Obviously, the NFC had the
two games on Saturday, both finishing very very entertaining fashions,
especially the night game with the Bears and the Packers.
Last night, you had the Patriots handling the Chargers rather easily,
just overwhelming defense against the still bad Chargers offensive line
and quarterback in the playoffs, and the Bills did need

(03:21):
to go back and forth with the Jaguars on the
road in order to come out victorious. Josh Allen with
an opportunity to take his team down the field in
the playoffs late in a fourth quarter from behind and
lead his team into the end zone to win the game. Well,
he's done that before, only this time his defense also

(03:42):
did their job and intercepted Trevor Lawrence and that was
the ballgame. Lawrence had a couple of passes like you
mentioned in and out of the hands of several Baltimore
or Buffalo defenders early in the game and late in
the game and throughout the game. One of two interceptions
for him on the day. You have three postseason games
in the careers for both Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert.

(04:05):
As we just kind of look at the AFC side
of things. Initially, the first playoff game in Drake May's career,
and I think he acknowledged it as much as everybody
else did. Watch in the game pretty up and down,
very much like you'd expect out of a first playoff game,
even though not every player has it that way. Some
are all on one side, like Herbert and Lawrence for
the most part, or some are all on the other side.

(04:26):
Like CJ. His first playoff game was anything but that.
He was very good. He was very good in both of.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
His home games.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Drake May was good enough for them to win, made
enough plays and obviously the touchdown pass three was spectacular,
like the tenth most spectacular touchdown pass of this weekend.
Because Matt Stafford had a few, Rock Purdy had a
few or one, Juwan Jennings had one. In Caleb Williams
it seems like he had about fifteen only in the

(04:54):
second half, though, What an unbelievable flip of a switch.
The storyline of the Bears and Packers' rivalry a lot
more chapters come from it. All that has taken place
this weekend. There are only a handful of teams left.
I think there were almost three full handfuls of teams
in the playoffs. When we last spoke to you, there
were fourteen teams. Now there are two handfuls left, and

(05:17):
we'll be left with eight after tonight. Texans have already
made the final nine. They're one of the last nine
teams standing with a chance to win it all. If
you look at it this way, there were sixteen teams
in the AFC that had a chance to win the
Super Bowl. When the year began, then there were seven
that had a chance. Now there's five that have a chance.
There's only five teams left that are going to make

(05:38):
to the super Bowl out of the AFC, and obviously
for scheduling reasons, the Texans and Steelers are among them, Broncos, Bills,
and Patriots. Await, I'm sure many of you figured it
out last night if it wasn't already posted for you
to read it from my feed on social.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
They know what's going to happen, and we knew this.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Would be obviously be the case, with the other three
teams already waiting for them when we get here on Monday,
we knew what would be in front of them. You know,
the Patriots lost last night. We knew the Texans were
then in line for a home game, but that didn't happen.
You had one upset on both sides. Both two seeds won,
both six seeds won. So the fifth seeded Rams are
playing at the second seeded Bears. Should the fifth seeded

(06:18):
Texans win, they'll be playing at the second seeded Patriots.
Seahawks and Niners get together again. They've already met a
couple of times here late in the season, and they
will meet in Seattle, and now the Broncos and Bills
will get together again. We also know the dates of
next week's games, and you already knew the date of
the Texans game. Obviously, if the Texans or Steelers advanced,
neither of them were going to play on Saturday because

(06:40):
they're already playing on Monday. So the Texans game, if
there is another one, will be next Sunday in New England.
Bears and Rams also play that day. Really not sure
what the league wanted to wait for, unless they think
it's gonna keep people watching postgame tonight. They know the matchups.
I don't know how the Steelers going to New England

(07:00):
or the Texans going to New England matters at all
to them TV wise or scheduling wise, but they've decided
to wait and announced kickoff times for Sunday's games and
Saturday's games until after that. But yes, the waiting is
almost over. A couple of things that the Texans were
expected to do between now and then have happened. They
did activate Jalen Reed earlier today. They did that. They're

(07:24):
also obviously needed a roster spot in order to do that,
and that roster spot belonged to Daryl Taylor, who had
been on ir throughout the last half of the season.
Basically was activated earlier in the week, was out of
practice all week, and then waived for this roster spot,
and Lakey Fotu, for the third time, has been elevated
to the active roster because of their defensive tackle issues.

(07:46):
From an injury standpoint, he's filled in very well for
the last couple of weeks. Also, yesterday learned that Davis
Mills did not fly with the team. The day before that,
if you weren't already aware, you learned via his social
media that he and his wife Tory, had a young
baby boy, and so that was the reason for it.
Spend a little bit more time with the newest member

(08:06):
on the outside of the family, and then made his
way on up to Pittsburgh today. He will remain the
Texans active backup quarterback for tonight's game when in actives
come out later on our show.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Hopefully, hopefully he doesn't participate.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, even the backup quarterbacks don't usually participate when you're
in a kneel down mode. Up thirty five at the
end of a playoff game.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Now occasionally the starting quarterback is the holder for a
botched snap in a playoff game to lose in Seattle.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
But that's only if you're the Cowboys. That's it, doesn't
it never again. It's never gonna happen again. It's too
bad for tem The only way it can ever happen
again is if your punter gets hurt during the game.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
That's true. No quarterbacks hold.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
There's one. There's not one quarterback in the NFL, and
it's been years since a quarterback served as the holder.
Every team in the NFL got away from it, made
the idea of a fake field goal or fake point after,
like I think of the past, right, But quarterbacks used
to regularly hold, and now none of them do. They
got to practice. Remember what we talked about last week.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
They have to.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Practice football while those guys are off on the side,
and now, no, come on over to practice. We need
we're gonna work on some special teams. You're doing non
football activities, Yeah, they do their football activities. Yes, you
snap it, I'm gonna kick it. You yeah, told it?
What do you call it?

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Which is ironic since it's involving the foot. What do
we actually call it? Special teams? It's the kicking game.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Okay, that's literally what we call it.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
All right. We have a ridiculous amount of meat on
the bone from wild card weekend to get to and
not surprisingly, I mean, I'm not running the show, but
I am fifty percent of the on air product. I'd
really really like to talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars and
get that out of the way in the next segment,
just because it's hilarious to me how it all went down. Now,

(09:52):
we could come in tomorrow and Texans are in the
very same boat. But as it pertains to the twenty
twenty five AFC South champions, their season lasted all of
sixty additional minutes and they are now home. And the
reason they're at home, well, it has a whole lot
more to do with I think their quarterback than anything else.

(10:13):
Because their head coach, he had a fantastic debut. He
should keep his head held high. Yeah, we'll talk about that.
And their defense gave him a chance to win, as
did their receivers.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, held the Bills on the road to just twenty
seven points strong day. Yeah, all right, So we'll get
into what they force one turnover. Oh no, none, that
was a special team's turnover kicking game.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
WEX will be WEX as usual when we come back
to discuss one of and all of the games from
Wildcard weekend that weren't Texan Steelers. I hesitate WEX because
what I want to do. I'll give you a display.
Here's what I want to do.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
You want to you.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Want to break down the Texans exclusive for the next
fifteen segments without talking about anything else in sports, Like.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
I'm kind of tired of doing that, to be honest
with you. I mean, I have not played yet, but
that's what I'm saying. I just rather like them play
the game. But but the other side of me is
I don't want to gloat because that is what precedes
really really bad, ironic karmic heartbreak. But I'm sorry, like
you can't. Here's here's what I struggle with when it

(11:27):
comes to the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think they did make
a good hire as their head coach. I think they
finally got it right, and I think the biggest proof
of that is how the season bore itself out. I
never looked at the Jacksonville Jaguars as fraudulent like I
did the Colts, for example, because the Jags were getting
signature victories along the way, and you could even argue

(11:47):
that part of the reason they were getting these victories
is because of their quarterback, which I do have a
ton of problems with. But I just thought that matchup
was bad for them. Wherever they play. They could have
played it on the Moon. They certainly would have been
bad if they played it in Buffalo, but in Jacksonville.
You're gonna give josh Allen. You know, first of all,
this was Josh Allen before this year. Yeah, what I mean,

(12:11):
Trevor Trevor Lawrence. I mean, I mean Josh Allen was
in Lawrence's spot. What did Lawrence do wrong? Lawrence was
down three nothing, then he put him ahead seven three.
Lawrence was down thirteen ten, then he put him ahead seventeen, thirteen.
He was down twenty to seventeen, then he put him
ahead in the final five minutes, up twenty four to twenty.
That's too simplistic, and I'm I'm not insulting.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
He wasn't the better quarterback, yeah, and neither was Alan
all those times he lost to Mahomes.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
As he was putting those touchdowns up he was getting
lucky as all get out.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, he wasn't perfect by any means, so that comparison
now is over at lost. Josh Allen has had some unbelievable,
legendary performances where it was near perfection and you can't
believe there's any way he lost.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Very believable.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
To watch Trevor Lawrence in their game either yesterday or
currently like we're doing right now in studio and see
where the mistakes were made. He had three touchdown passes.
He clearly made some plays. He used his legs like
he always does and made some plays, but he threw
too many passes into harm's way. And even though some
will use a tipped ball as well, that's a tipped

(13:13):
ball as some sort of excuse. It means we probably
should have thrown the ball somewhere else or there probably
had to be a better decision to be made if
the way it was tipped, because the guy wasn't even
remotely open, which is what happened on the final play
of the game, you just probably didn't didn't do the
right thing. He had two hundred and seven yards. He
was only sacked once. There was clearly some pressure, but
he's able to get out of it because he is

(13:35):
a good scrambling quarterback and there are a couple of
designed runs in there, but for the most part against
a not very good pass rush, he wasn't under duress.
You know, thirty You know I don't. I have not
seen the pressure it. I apologize, but I watched the game,
so I have a pretty good idea of what it was.
He had time to pick them apart, and there were
times when it looked like he was doing that. But

(13:55):
the end of the day, with that much time left
at the end of the game, when your field goal
kicker can kick it that far not necessarily accurately. See
end of first half, which was hilarious. First play game
over interception. That was what was I mean, that's the
part where I want to do the laughing thing. Your
first snap.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
That's it. It's over and again. I think the Jags
have done a lot of things right in light of
all of the things they did wrong leading up to this.
Let's not we're not gonna let them off the hook
for urban Meyer. We're not gonna and yeah, all those
things factored into why Trevor Lawrence is the way he
is today. Probably, I mean new coach every year and
new coordinator every all that kind of stuff that goes

(14:35):
into it.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
But like, just like Baker Mayfield, Yeah, you neither of
may managed to be the Lemonade rated quarterback in the
postseason among all active players.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, it's not like Trevor Lawrence was banished to Cleveland
to start his career.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Like, yeah, they've They've had some good teams. They've tried
to do personnel things to help him. We talked about
that several years ago when they brought in Evan Ingram
and Christian Kirk and really tried to give them him
some weapons. They obviously have a good running game. I'm
not sure why they hated it so much in that game.
After Tooton ran for ten and ten and ten and
twelve and twelve yards on three consecutive carries, he barely

(15:10):
touched the ball anymore. Trevor Etzien should have seen the
ball a whole lot more. Essentially, it's getting the ball
into your playmakers when you have them, and he has them.
Parker Washington had an awesome game and he missed part
of the game due to his concussions. Check out and Lawrence,
like I said, what you said as well, and we
said it going into this game. It just it happens.

(15:32):
This is more big picture stuff. Look who's in the playoffs.
Josh Allen's in the playoffs, Matt Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, some
other players with pedigree, other players who is he a leite?

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Is he not elite? Or was he a former number
one overall pick?

Speaker 2 (15:46):
And there's a bunch of them there just the general
sense all of these guys are in the playoff, all
these quarterbacks, and thirteen of them are going to be
in that group of Yeah, but he didn't win a
super Bowl, like Jalen Hurts, who didn't even win a
game this year. Does he suck? Is he useless? Is
he no longer among the better quarterbacks in the NFL?
And granted, after twenty twenty four five's regular season and postseason,

(16:09):
if you want to evaluate that, and you do, that's fine,
But everybody can't win the Super Bowl. There's only one
quarterback who's going to win the Super Bowl this year,
and it's not Pat Mahomes. So all these other guys
are all trying to do the exact same thing. Trevor
Lawrence virtually no postseason success he's had three games. He's won,
one of them, was spectacular for half of it, and

(16:30):
has been very poor in the other ten quarters. That's
the exact same story for Justin Herbert Now first two
quarters of his postseason careers, offense scored twenty seven points
and two of their drives for touchdowns went less than
twenty yards. One of their field goal drives went less
than five yards, but they scored twenty seven points and
then lost. Because the ten quarters of postseason football from

(16:52):
Justin Herbert after his first two have been awful. There
are plenty of reasons why, but that is where those
two quarterbacks are, and CJ. Stroud's in a different spot
because he's been there a little bit more often than
almost everybody else except the guy he's playing tonight.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
So as it pertains to that, because again, I don't
want the Karmik gods to rain down upon Like if CJ.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Stroud has a Trevor Lawrence like performance, what's the outcome
of the game. Three touchdowns, two hundred yards thirty yards rushing,
two picks, The Texans probably blow them out. So two
picks versus three touchdowns with the Texans defense, you think
they'll be able to withstand the turnovers wherever they are
on the field. The thing is, and your offense is

(17:35):
giving them three touchdown passes presumably twenty one points just
right there in and of itself. I would tend to agree. Yeah,
and you're talking.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
If you're going to include all the bad stuff, you
do have to include what you mentioned, which is that
there were a lot of tip passes. I think that's
going to happen tonight because that's what the Steelers front
likes to do. I'll put it this way. I'm not
saying it's gonna happen, but there's a very good chance
it could happen. It's definitely in play.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
I was hoping to see something that I didn't actually
see when I was looking over what the Steelers defense
has done just all week long and even more over
the weekend. Knowing that the Texans, like the Jaguars and
the Steelers, these are the teams that basically forced the
most turnovers among all the teams in the AFC. They
were first, second and third. Jacksonville force thirty one, the

(18:21):
Texans forts twenty nine, the Steelers forced twenty seven. I
was hoping to see, Yeah, but the Steelers had six
turnovers this year. When they played the Browns, it's not true.
They only had two. Yeah, they had another five. When
they played the Jets they had one. They actually had
five when they played New England. They actually had six

(18:41):
when they played the Good Colts halfway through the season
and Daniel Jones was out there. Those are eleven of
their twenty seven takeaways. So they did have some good
numbers against some better teams. If you afford me to
call Indianapolis a good team, because at that time of
the year they were a good team. Didn't force sending
when they lost to the Chargers. They didn't force any

(19:03):
a couple of weeks ago and Detroit was trying to
get into the postseason. They only forced five over their
final five weeks. But much like Houston, they never turned
the ball over. The Steelers turned the ball over one
time in their last five games of the season. They
won four of those games. Could they play They played Baltimore, Miami, Detroit,
and Cleveland Baltimore twice. Baltimore wasn't good this year. Both

(19:29):
games were against Lamar. I don't know. I mean, yeah,
you can rate that out, but we're only looking at
their offenses. Cleveland's offense is awful, Miami's offense is not
very good. Baltimore with Lamar and Detroit with Jared Goff
is at least in not stylistically but comparable.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Although Jared Goff will turn the ball over, as the
Texans will tell you, yes he did.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
He did in that game. That was like a turnover
free season was different completely. Season two, Yes, because they
were awesome year. They've managed it for the most part.
That that is what they've done. They only had had
four games this year where they didn't have any takeaways.
It's very similar to the Texans defense. I don't think
it's an equalizer one way or the other because I
think both teams have defenses that do that so well.

(20:10):
They make the opposing team's quarterback a little bit uncertain,
They make them do things they don't normally do. And
that's really more about what the Texans need to do
Aaron Rodgers and make him do things this year with
the Steelers he hasn't normally.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Done all right, Speaking of the Jaguars season coming to
an end, there's no cheering in the press box or
even the postgame interview room, or is there. This is
the dumbest debate I've seen in quite some time. So
of course we're gonna talk about in the Best of
X next. Hey, you're the.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Best of X breaking the entire Internet.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Well by now you've all probably seen it. The postgame
presser following the Jacksonville Jaguars thirteen win season coming to
a rude and abrupt end at the hands of Josh
Allen and the Buffalo Bills on their home field yesterday.
By the way, proud of Jacksonville for untarping the upper

(21:10):
decks and having people in the stands. That's really a
strong for a change. There was the usual questions being
asked of head coach Liam Cohen, and then there was
a woman from the Jacksonville Free Press who decided to

(21:32):
not really, I wouldn't call this so much a question
as it is a statement, And it sounded something like this.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Twin Tailor, you congratulations on your success, young man. You
hold your head up, all right, You guys have had
a most magnificent season. He did a great job out
there today, So you just hold your head up, okay,
And ladies and gentlemen, duvall you don't want all right,
you keep it going.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
We got another season.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Okay, appreciate, take care of much continued success to you
and the entire team.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Thank you, Man duvall. I did not say that afterwards,
but it would have been funnier if he had. First
of all, I thought Liam handled that spectacularly. And right
then and there you get blowback handled what you should

(22:16):
just being nice. Why does everything have to be negative connotation?
Why is everything? Who are you? How miserable are you? Journalist?

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Guy?

Speaker 1 (22:24):
And here's my thing, I've got no dog in the
hunt when it comes to this, because I don't consider
myself a journalist. And I will go a step further,
and wex knows I would go so far as to
say sometimes I am a cheerleader at times, because I've
come in here millions of times and said I am

(22:46):
a fan with a microphone. Some of the videos I've
produced for the local teams in town aren't exactly unbiased.
In fact, they're quite the opposite. But there is, in
my opinion, such a thing as press conference to Korum.
And if that makes me an old fuddy duddy, traditional

(23:06):
blowhard journal what are all the names that people that
have kind of pushed back against this thing playing out
the way it did. If that makes me one of
those things, I'm fine with that, especially in light of
what I just established or re established about my own persona.
I just there is decorum, or at least there used

(23:26):
to be in these situations there.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
I did not realize that at the time, probably should have,
how unbelievably large an overreaction would be to this both sides,
both the sides of people that think this is completely
out of place, and both the people that think this
was awesome. And then they went so far as to
just blanket statement the whole world of journalism, which.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
Again is just outrageous.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
So before I get into all that, I did post
a version of this I thought very simply on TikTok
for people, well, because I thought there was one it was.
It was very easy to present it in this way
to kind of represent both sides of it, coming from
the exact same entity. ESPN reporter Adam Schefter posted the

(24:13):
video and said, this is an awesome postgame exchange between
a reporter and Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen and Brooke Pryor,
another ESPN reporter. She actually covers the Steelers, so you
might want to give her a fall if you haven't
done so already between now and hopefully about nine o'clock tonight,

(24:33):
when the Texans have already sewn up victory, I hope,
but probably more like till ten thirty at least.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
She wrote.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Look, it's a kind sentiment, but it's not the job
of a reporter to console a coach in a postgame
press conference. Presses are to ask questions to gain a
better understanding what happened, to figure out what's next, and
do it in a limited amount of time. Again, it's
not one hundred percent of the sides. There's a little
nuance to both sides quite clearly. But I thought it
was just interesting that two people that pull checks from

(25:01):
the exact same employer that is in bed with the NFL,
one of their largest groups of people that have their games,
including tonight's, had an extremely different, basically a one eighty
viewpoint of what took place, which is essentially what I
think we found out from everybody else. There as plenty
of comments on that post I made. No, it's not
the job of a reporter to console the coach, but

(25:22):
sometimes you can read the room and tell when someone
needs encouragement. I don't think there's any reading of the
room that normally takes place in a press conference in
terms of, well, I want to be nice to them,
because if you have a question to ask, you think
we'll help you do the job that you were sent
to the game to do, then you ask it. And
in that setting it's normally related to whatever you're writing about,

(25:43):
whatever you're going to talk about. Not everybody there is
a writer. Everybody there is usually either a writer or
somebody on television or somebody like us here on the radio. Obviously,
having podcasts and blogs is also a huge part of
the new media game, and it's not that new anymore.
Wes said, she's very clearly the most local newspaper reporter
they have. She's probably been covering this team for decades.

(26:04):
She has more of a right to say this than
anyone else. Austin says, to be fair, it's her time
she got called on and she could say what she wants.
Joe said, it's okay to be human and say good job.
Just because you lose in the playoffs doesn't diminish a
good season. All those things are like, especially that last part,
no question, that kind of goes back to what I
said in the first segment just this game specifically, Trevor

(26:26):
Lawrence is in the playoffs again, so third time his
team's been in the postseason or a third opportunity for
him to play a postseason game. And he's six years
in news. He's heading into his first year with Liam Cohen,
and he won eight games in a row and they're
headed to the playoffs and they want a division. They
won thirteen games. Well, gow on the other side, Josh Allen,
one of the two of them, was gonna have their

(26:47):
season end and all of the well what do we
think now, Josh Allen's supposed to win the Super Bowl?
Now that Pat Mahomes isn't in his way, and if
he doesn't, here we are. Trevor Lawrence finally has his coach,
his team, a thirteen win team, bulldozing their way to
the playoffs. But they lost. Well, then I guess he's
no good. And I guess this, I mean, somebody's going

(27:08):
to lose the game, and in this case it was
Liam Cohen in his first ever postseason game. People do
not have a very good understanding of the job that's
done by most of the people that are there. And
I definitely recognize that it's changed over the years, especially
with how many other people non traditional which soon will

(27:28):
become traditional media are there and are doing whatever it
is that they do for their job. But it is
a very limited amount of time, and the fact that
I think so many people here are press conferences here
locally in full so often, especially postgame press conferences. Every
team live streams, and if you care to watch the
whole thing, you can. You can go back and watch it,
or sometimes we have it all for you here too,

(27:50):
and you do know, and now you know even more. Yeah,
it does seem like some of the oh my god,
I'm in the media, I'm a journalist, listen to my
awesome question. It's not an awesome question. It's just a
what do you expect him to say? Or it wasn't
even a question, it was that you tell me this
or talk about this. But sometimes there is something that
you need and you do get something out of it,
and you can't because you didn't have the opportunity to

(28:12):
do it because more things like this were happening there. Clearly,
I hope nobody thinks there's something wrong with her feeling
that way, because there isn't, and there's really nothing wrong
with her even saying it to the coach at any
time other than this. In my opinion, I think it
makes the most sense if she's been covering the team
a long time. She probably has at least even for

(28:34):
a year, because the coach has been only been there
a year, and that's how she feels go ahead, tell them.
There'll be an opportunity to do that, maybe just not here,
but the way that it is now and the way
that fans are so much more in tune with all
of it because they have access to all of it,
I think people believe that it's all the same, like
you're just an Everybody in there is just anybody, anybody credential,

(28:56):
not credential, fan on the street, fan doing their blog,
fan pointing a camera at their own face, sitting on
their couch, wearing a headset and screaming, yelling about a
game and then posting it on their YouTube channel and
drawing views and maybe even creating a brand for themselves.
It is viewed as as all the same. It just
it really isn't all the same.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
I got a lot of you know, she said this,
it was uplifting, it was positive, and everybody in the
media that's that's down on this is entitled or everybody
in the media that is against this is taking their
too their job too seriously. Like well, okay, first of all,

(29:34):
it's not a typical job like from by the letter
of the law, like a very finite amount of people
on the planet do that job. And so if there's
if they have an opinion on something like this, it's
not like it's as common as this job over here,
this job over here, this job over here, all of
which these jobs over here that I've put in this
imaginary category, all of which have decorum of their own,

(29:58):
you know, way to ways to go about your business.
That if somebody came in and did it the other way,
it gets some criticism, and it's just you're not allowed
to though, because it's not a real job anyways, right,
which of course is funny because I say that all
the time. We don't work here, we're not curing cancer,
we're not doing something other than just talking sports for

(30:20):
a living. But we do talk sports for a living.
And I don't know, maybe you can call it my
journalism school that I went to, maybe you can call
I don't know what you want to call it. I
just think there's a time and a place, and I
thought she came off like a cheerleader in a professional
environment and people are losing their minds over it. Like

(30:40):
you said, both ways, I think it's funny. Yeah, I
wish it was more funny. I don't think people are
finding it as they are. They're taking it too seriously.
That's on both sides of the people that are calling journalists,
if you want to call them that, people who are
credentialed media. The people that are calling them entitled sound
awful entitled when they say that.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
Presumably everybody in that room that is asking a question
occasionally have a press conference where it's full of staff
members and team because it's more of a like you're
introducing Jamiko rans as the head coach. Everybody in the
room isn't necessarily credentialed media, but in this particular instance,
everybody is. So everybody there has been granted the rights
to cover the game in this way and ball themselves

(31:20):
in press conferences, going to the locker room, presumably whatever
it is that that they need to do to do
their job.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Like, again, there's nothing wrong with saying what she said
at all in any way, what like why are we
asking the coach questions at the end of the game.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
To get answers about things you want to know?

Speaker 2 (31:39):
So why was she telling him that at the end
of the game, not to get an answer, not to
get anything. That's all. There's nothing wrong with it. I mean,
I'm trying to not and there's nothing. There's nothing to
I don't want this. This is not mean spirited in
any way, No nothing. I have no problem with what
she said on its face. It's where she said it
and the uh.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
And I don't know.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
If people just find it on the people that are
on one side of it, I don't know if they
would find it worse if she followed that statement up
with a so tell me what you think's next for you?
And Trevor Lawrence like something that would you know, maybe
there's an awesome answer to come. And maybe the manner
in which she set him up for it with the
niceties could have elicited an answer that because everybody gets

(32:21):
something from everybody else. I mean, there's ten people in there,
let's say fifteen, twenty, whatever the number is, I might
ask three questions and whatever I planned on writing about
talking about needed it for if I'm a writer or TV.
I got nothing from the subject, and then three other
people in the media ask a question and that is
exactly what I wanted to know, and I didn't what
was enable to ask or didn't ask it in a

(32:41):
way they got that answer and now I'm going to
use it. We all use stuff like that, but it
was it was just very surprising having been to a
few of these in the last thirty years, and I'm
trying to get be fully cognizant of things are changing.
Things are a little bit different, The interactions even are different,
and there's definitely a difference in who is a group
of credit media now because it's just not like it

(33:02):
is very very different, not good or bad. I'm just
saying it's clearly very different.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
If fill in the blank reporter, Adam Schefter, Ian rapper,
I'm taking a national very visible guy went into a
press conference of let's just say John Harball wherever he lands,
he's gonna get the next Giants head coach. And Adam
Schefter shows up tomorrow to the press conference where they're
going to introduce him. Because they're doing this in the
middle of the wildcard weekend. I'm this is all theoretical

(33:29):
and he's wearing like giant gear from head to toe.
I'm not saying it's wrong or right. I am saying
people would notice and say things about it, and they'd
be well within their rights to do so. And you
know what, that doesn't make them entitled.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, And if that's says.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
I wear a Texans jacket and I'm about to wear
it on live television in Houston.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
And if the same reporter, either Adam or Lynn in
this case, has a you know, been granted a fifteen
minute interview, one on one interview with the head coach,
and she sits down and says exactly what she said,
or he sits down and is wearing what you're it's
a little bit different scenario, it's a little bit different setup.
It's a little bit different than this, and it would
be viewed, I'm sure dramatically differently. But again, I hope

(34:10):
everybody realizes, I think it doesn't need to be taken
quite this seriously. It doesn't really. I think everybody in
Jacksonville that wrote a story or when on television or
talks on the radio now still had the ability to
do their job yesterday. But it definitely was not It's
something I would have expected, and I don't don't need.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
It one more thing on this when we come back,
because we've already gone way over just to put a
bow on it. And yeah, we'll get into what Pat
McAfee had to say, just because it was so it
was entitled on its own, in its own way. I thought,
when we return, just a little bit more on this
very all of a sudden, crazy hot topic coming out
of while taking us away from the football. I know, alright,

(34:54):
this guy, it was not the last time. Since he's home.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Now today's our last day. I like the offseason is back.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
I know it's It's probably not popular in these parts
to say this. I like Liam Cohn. I hate that.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
I like Liam Cohn right because now you have, I mean, honestly.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Good coaches in this division.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
We don't know who the Titans coach will be, but
probably I would say, without much pause, they will hire
the worst head coach in this division already. I think
Shane Steichen should not be on the hot seats. What
if they get harball. That's a possibility, it's not a possibility.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Why he spent all weekend looking at tape of cam
Ward supposedly and other quarterbacks. He's gonna go the Giants,
isn't he.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
I mean, if there was one job open and it
was only Tennessee's job, I'd still give him fifty to
fifty of even wanting it.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I don't want to work for Amy Adams. I look
like a thumb strung. That's the thing, you know.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Do you want cam Ward as your quarterback for the
first couple of years at the very least of your
tenure there you're in this division you're working for, You're
harbor roster, and that's a realistic possibility. You can't maybe
get the GM and the president of Football Operations now
that they have each in their place, you can't get
them fired.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
You want to work with them? How about just calling
up your buddy John Mike Vrabel and asking him what
it's like to work for her and wanting to leave.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah, there's too many. He left the job that probably
is the most desirable. He didn't leave on his own,
but the Baltimore job is very desirable. So there's still
seven places for him to go. I think Tennessee would
rate pretty low, but I'm probably higher on Shane Stike
and than most. I think he's an offensive coach, and
that's the only reason they've been able to piece it
together with the quarterbacks that they've allowed him to play,

(36:31):
and this was the first year he had a legitimate
quarterback before he got hurt. And obviously they were head
of the playoffs. Maybe they would have been able to
write the ship that was already headed in the wrong
direction when he went out for the year. Talking about
Daniel Jones. Maybe not, but for half of the season,
this was the best team in the AFC and there's
something to be said for that. Obviously, Like you were
starting the segment off with, we both think Liam Cohen certainly.

(36:52):
All we know is he can coach Trevor Lawrence better
than anybody else has. They do have plenty of offense.
I do think James Gladstone is going to do a
good job as their GM. I think it was a
terrible trade to go get Travis Hunter, who wasn't even
on the field half the year, and look at where
they still are. So yeah, I think Liam Cohen next
Shane Stike and third Titans head coach, fourth all behind

(37:14):
Demiko Ryans as the head coaches in this division. So yeah,
Liam Cohen being in Jacksonville I'm okay saying this. I
think the Texans and Jaguars will finally have an awesome
rivalry which started in twenty twenty five because the Jaguars
were good and the Texans were good, and they played
every week for the last five weeks of the season

(37:35):
battling for the division title. Both teams won every game
the rest of the season, basically the only you know,
the Texans winning streak started with a win over Jacksonville.
Their winning streak started after they're lost to Houston. And
I do think they're going to be the class of
this division. I'm hopeful for it because it's more fun
when you're battling with somebody. What the Patriots did all
year in the East was a joke. It was a cakewalk,

(37:58):
It was a gif.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
How could you ever live news?

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Maybe Drake May and Josh Allen will actually have a rivalry,
but Brady ran the division for a decade. Alan ran
the division for immediately after Brady's departure. Maybe there's a
rivalry that was on the outs now. I mean two
is just not there's not a very good team. Of course,
Mike McDaniel's like the hottest OC candidate out there. Now
because everyone respects what he can be as an OC

(38:21):
and a little less respect. But he's gonna go a
ton of interviews as head coach. But you obviously wanted
a little bit more to flesh this last thing out,
and we've almost used the whole segment to not do that.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Well, I can save it for next segment, because well,
I have to God, how long can we go on this? Well?
I have to, I know.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Plus, we haven't gotten a chance to talk about my
other favorite punching bag when it comes to quarterbacks in
the NFL. I said it in August, maybe even July.
When do we start going through those quarterback lists? I
mean it had to have been late July. We went
through those quarterback lists when Justin Herbert's right tackle was
healthy and his left tackle was healthy, and then he

(38:57):
played no football games where.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
That was true this year. What are you the national media?

Speaker 2 (39:01):
One has nothing to do with the other, but it
is still a fact.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
All right, We'll get to excuse making for that guy,
and I'll put a button on that other topic because
it is something that I've shared a little bit about
this before, but not this aspect of that situation as
it pertains to telling an athlete or in this case,
a coach, to keep his head up after a debilitating
playoff loss. Our number two and the simulcast on Space

(39:27):
City Home Network, next the eight Sports Talk seven ninety
and now Space City Home Network. It is the a team.
On a Monday edition of the program, Game Day edition
of the program, Texans and Steelers will finally speaking of
put a bow on things. They'll do just that on

(39:48):
an electric wild card weekend. That was well, except for
that game last night where Justin Herbert and the Patriots
were just it was a slugfest, absolutely awful.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
I mean, I guess if you're a Patriots fan, you
enjoyed it. But the playoffs, all you really care about
is winning.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
It's true, even if it's winning ugly.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
But I mean, if you looked at what happened only
after the game, and you're a Patriots follower, and you
know you won fourteen games during the year, and then
you come out of that game and they say, I
mean Drake May did complete seventeen of his twenty nine passes,
He did throw an interception, he did have a touchdown.
He also fumbled twice and lost one, and the team

(40:32):
scored sixteen points, then you probably would have said, yeah,
what do you think they should do in the off season.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
He also set the franchise record for rushing in a
playoff game with sixty.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
Six How did he do that? Sweet happen running for
his life? How did you pass Tom Brady?

Speaker 1 (40:47):
I know right?

Speaker 2 (40:49):
How did you ever do something he could never do?
When did he eclipse that number? When he got to
seven yards, ten yards, eleven yards? The funny thing is,
which is long ast run? I'll go look because it's own.
But Drake May was not great by any means. Their
offense was not great, and the Chargers have a good defense.
But if I gave you all those numbers for Drake May,
even with his sixty six yard rushing, I'm sure the

(41:10):
expectation will be you in a playoff game against a
playoff team, clearly, well you probably lost. The funny thing
is convincingly yeah, and we'll get to that.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
Just going back to the last segment, we were talking
about the whole press conference thing with Liam Cohen. I'm
sure you probably heard that by now. The woman who
told him to keep his chin up all that kind
of guests that she had her pomp poms out at
the time, and you have.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
It was more personal, like she was trying to be personally.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
If I told you she was decked out from head
to toe in Jacksonville gear when she was saying it
as I sit here in a Texans jacket, would you
have believed me?

Speaker 2 (41:44):
No?

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Yes, you would have. No, I would not. I told
you that she was, you would go look at her
social media. I know you have. I haven't. She's I mean,
it's fine, but just in a press conference room, there's
just ways to go back. And here's here's an example
I was going to give you. She's telling a member
of that organization after a debilitating painful what I mean,

(42:05):
all losses in the playoffs are painful, Bunce your season's over.
It's painful. It's just varying degrees of how it went down.
Can you think of a more grotesque way for the
Astros season to end than twenty nineteen, though, given all
the givings like.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
The World Series loss to the Walgreens team.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
There you go, the Walgreens logoed team who hasn't done crap.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Yeah you are awesome and there's no way you shouldn't
have won the title. And the way you lost the
World Series, though presumably if you get one more, you
got the title. Lose every home game Game seven at home,
it is game seven. Everything about losing a game set well.
We've had some heartbreaking Game seven losses in this town.
We've had some that are lopsided too.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
We've had Game sevens in this town the Texans or
the home team has won. But in that moment, I'll
tell you this. I was in every single one of
those locker rooms that ended at home in various ways,
shapes or forms over the last run from the Astros
last decade or so. You were in there. It looked
like a morgue. It sounded like a morgue in that

(43:07):
there was nobody talking. I mean, the Astros lost Game
seven to the freaking Rangers three seasons ago. Now, god,
it's been three years already, and there wasn't music playing.
But Jose al Tuve was like signing autographs for somebody
had brought in jerseys. It just was different because it

(43:28):
was kind of like a been there, done that. The
Astros had one season that they had won a World championship,
and two years later it had the most dominant team
that had ever been built in the history of Major
League Baseball. That was a juggernaut that had just lost
Game seven on its home field to Walgreens. As you
mentioned players, I'm not gonna name names. Players were visibly

(43:51):
crying red eye. Some of them were on the floor
back to back, leaning against each other. They looked like
they were at a funeral. It was a wake, and
it was for their season. And I'll tell you who
was one of the most emotional ones. The newest member
of the Cubs organization, Alex Bregman, was a wreck that night.

(44:12):
I don't think he would mind me saying this. I
went up to him off to the side after everything
interviews were done.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
I'm one of the last ones in there, and you
told him to keep his head up. Remarkable, I said,
Harris County like that. No, I didn't, but I you know,
I just it was maybe fifteen seconds. Because I had
gotten to know him that year, and he then and
since then had done some really nice things off the
field that people don't know about to this day, like

(44:40):
for people that were in need. And I respect the
guy as a man, and.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
I'd gotten to know him a little bit as a person,
not just oh he's the third baseman for the astros.
And I know there's probably media members that are listening
right now that I would agree with this because they've
experienced this side of him too. So it was just
a quick you know, basically, I didn't say keep your
head I would never say keep your head up. It's
just too that's not my style. But you know, in essence,

(45:07):
you guys are gonna be back. And they were went
to multiple World series after that, so but that was
off to the side, in a private moment, not in
front of cameras and microphones and a room full of people.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
And most of the time, the only things I've said
to players on the whatever last day it is, we're
talking to them, the regular season's ended, it's locker clean out,
or it's a massive postseason loss or whatever it is,
usually just appreciate you. Yeah, thanks for all you know
exactly doing you know, making my job available, you know.
And it's a similar synth to get in contact right
over the off season and might do that if that's cool.

(45:42):
It's stuff like that part of what get your head
up guy.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Yeah, but kind of part of what she said to
him was in essence, I like the way you've carried yourself,
like I'm proud of you as a guy that came
in here because again I hate to say it, but
it's true. Jacksonville started over and started over and made
some really big messes of themselves.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
I do think it's interesting that you brought that up
because she did say that, and I think she may
be in position to feel like she can say that.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Because she's been there through the bad times. Well yeah,
to a certain sense.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
I just maybe mean from just from a personal standpoint,
I've which team that's been down. Do you want me
to talk about the Rockets, the Astros of the text.
I don't want to talk about the Rockets right now.
We're in a butt any one of them. I don't
imagine me talking to a coach, a player, a member
of the organization, any of them, and ever me personally,

(46:32):
ever saying to any one of them that I was
proud of them? Like who am I like? I feel
like she I mean, I'm very different than this reporter
clearly delivery, But I don't get the I could never
say because I'm thinking about in my head. It doesn't
make any sense for me, and I think she may
be different. She may be in a different position, and
there may be a little bit more of a personal
relationship where it actually makes more sense for me to

(46:54):
say that to a player like it as locker or
the coach walking down the hallway after the game, like
I think he would look at me like what who?
I don't think they look at me weird. I just
think I would never say it.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, And look, it's a testament to this topic today
that we're talking about, Well it's my fault, but that
we're talking about it still on the day of the
final playoff game of the wild card weekend that includes
the hometown football team, because I think it has just
become that much of a and that kind of sucks
because this was a great weeknd a football. There are

(47:27):
a lot of subplots to talk about. Justin Herbert still
looking for his first playoff victory. Yeah, his three games
have been pretty underwhelming. Kind of ran through some of
the things that have happened in his postseason career. First
game was against Trevor Lawrence and he and his team
just bolted out of the gates. Their defense picked Trevor
Lawrence off four times in the first half, and they

(47:47):
put the Chargers in unbelievable position. They had two drives
start inside the twenty. They scored touchdowns on both of them.
They had a third drive that started inside the ten.
They got only a field goal off of that. But
then they shut her down, not intentionally, Trevor Lawrence or
Justin Herbert, and that Chargers offense just could not do anything.
They were averaging less than a yard perp snap for

(48:09):
most of the second half of the game. Then in
the fourth quarter they put a drive together and kicked
a field goal, and they ended up losing thirty one
to thirty in a game they led twenty seven to
nothing in the final minute of the first half. In
just oh my god, Justin Herbert's in the playoffs for
the first time, and this is what we're gonna get.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
This is unbelievable. He's everything we thought he was gonna be.
Well after that first half, they've played ten more quarters
and he and their offense, because it's a group issue,
have been just flat out awful. They've scored here the
touchdowns they've scored since then. They had no touchdowns in
yesterday's game none. They scored three points. They had one

(48:44):
touchdown against the Texans, and that was when they were
down big in the second half and he threw a
ball over the middle that like five Texans kind of
ran into each other, missed the football and Lad mcconckie
picked it up and ran eighty six yards for a
touchdown with it on that reception. It was an eighty
six yard touchdown pass on a day where he was
fourteen of thirty two. His career passer rating is under

(49:05):
sixty five. It's awful. Yesterday he was under dress almost
the entire day. The pressure rate was through the roof,
and I think he and his OC are to blame.
I think, having been there all season for it, it's
shocking that this is the game plan they went with. Well, yeah,
you're gonna be under pressure. There's gonna be unblocked rushers,
and our offensive line is going to be confused. If
you were watching last night's game and didn't have Texans

(49:27):
offensive line flashbacks, I don't know where you've been because
the amount of stunts, Oh my god, how did they
not see him well? Because they don't communicate very well,
and they're not very good at their jobs, and they're
not starting caliber players, one partly due to injury, and
one partly due to the fact that these are the
players their GM gave them and they're not very good.
Succeeding with that is virtually impossible. Having that level of

(49:51):
lack of success is on you in the playoffs that
I don't know how to do this, and you could
hear it from I think coach Harbaugh after game not
a ringing endorsement for I don't really have any answers
right now. Well that's on you too, not just your
OC Greg Roman, who I very seriously doubt will be
back next year, but three postseason games six years into

(50:12):
your career, and having what they have to show for it,
not to mention they've missed the playoffs in the other year,
so something else might also have been wrong. That's a
lot of love for a quarterback who's just simply he
and his team have done absolutely nothing during his time there,
and he's clearly.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Good and he hasn't done anything in the playoffs. Yeah,
and again, if CJ, you know, doesn't have a great
night tonight, if CJ's throwing into outstretched arms of defensive linemen,
for example, if all that kind of stuff's happening, then
we'll be right here tomorrow talking about that as well.
But it's just that's that's what I and again we'll

(50:48):
get to this a little bit later. Apparently whatever I
tweeted last night really confused some people because it was
a pro CJ tweet and people are like losing their
minds over it. I'm comparing these two I've done. It's
kind of like a bit at this point on the
show because it's been going on since this summer when
he was routinely put ahead and vastly ahead of c

(51:08):
Jan a bunch of quarterback lists. But not everybody's a
believer in the Texans. And when we come back, we'll
let you hear from a couple of ex players who
are wet blanketing the Texans winning tonight in Pittsburgh. It
is the A team, it's Sports Talk seven ninety, it's
Space City Home network, Texans and Steelers tonight. Now we'll

(51:28):
give our predictions and all that the very last segment
of the show, because that's what we do. Right, are
you feeling without giving away your answer, WEX you're feeling
good about tonight? Aren't you? You're feeling confident? Uh huh?
I feel like the Texans will win? Can you say
that here? In the uh second?

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Say whatever I want? We did unveil our stone cold
locks last Friday.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Details for the effect of this segment, I need you
to give me a definitive answer. Yes, Alex Smith and
Teddy Bruski have taken Rex Ryan and flipped him completely
one to eighty from last year at this time. You
remember what Rex Ryan was saying about this.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Weekend's game between the Chargers and the Texans this time
last year, Remember what he called it.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Yeah, they had a buye Chargers did, Chargers did. Chargers
were coming to Houston for a bye week, and then
Justin Herbert threw four interceptions and they got torched. He's
now the voice of reason if you're a Texans fan,
at least so. On the set of one of those
shows where they have like fifty people around a desk, it's.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
Called NFL Couptown.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
Sure, Rex Ryan's trying to say, Hey, this defense pretty good.
Steelers might have some issues on offense, and Alex Smith
and Teddy Bruski were having none of it. Rick, I
kind of disagree with you.

Speaker 5 (52:52):
Actually think this is a tough matchup for the Texas.
I love him. Their defense is unbelievable, but listen, you
know all size a good defense.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
The Steelers.

Speaker 5 (52:59):
I mean, this is going to be baseball, especially at home.
And I agree with you ready with DK back like
this element of down the field, make a play, get
a p I call. I mean, they have to make
a couple of plays on offense and they might win
the ball game. Maybe you don't have to do it
all day. Aaron doesn't hold.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
On to the ball.

Speaker 5 (53:15):
We just watched Josh run around for eight seconds to
get sacked.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
The ball is gonna come out.

Speaker 5 (53:19):
I think, say thick in the gate negative plays and
if he hits a couple of these downfield right again,
that's all it's gonna take in this. You don't you
aren't gonna have to do much on the other side
of the ball. It's not like this Texans offense has
been liking the scoreboard up.

Speaker 6 (53:32):
Yeah, we tell him talk Stroud at all because Stroud
is one that I feel you can take advantage of.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
I feel this.

Speaker 6 (53:38):
Rush can get pressure on Stroud. I mean when the
play breaks down, that's when you got Stroud.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
In my opinion, and.

Speaker 6 (53:45):
I think the Pittsburgh Steelers with Cam Heyward up front,
two these guys, they are very ball disruptive, getting their
hands up, which we showed earlier on film while about
getting batted balls very good in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Teddy Bruski hates the Texans.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
I mean he should hate them. He enjoyed some success
against them. But there's part of what he said that
all of what the all three of them, we didn't
hear from Rex what you mentioned what he said. All
three of them have points to make. But first of all,
Alex Smith opens it up that you know this could
be a problem for them, and this is a good defense.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
You no kidding.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Unless you're playing the Panthers. The thirteen other teams are good.
They're the best thirteen teams in the NFL. You're going
to play somebody good. That's what the playoffs are. The
other team should give you problems, or at least on paper,
should be a challenge for you. It is a challenge
to keep Aaron Rodgers from beating you tonight.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Absolutely positively.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
It's a challenge to keep Kenneth Gainwell and Jalen Warren
from doing things to your defense that very few teams
running backs have done. Absolutely, it's a challenge to keep
dk Metcalf from doing any of those things that Alex
Smith said. I think the Texans defense is up to
that challenge, and then you get to the other side
of the ball some of what Teddy was talking about,
and he's still to a certain degree, right. I don't

(54:59):
know about taking advantage of CJ is the way I
would have put it, But trying to utilize the strength
of who's on your team. How many different edge rushers
would you probably mention in this game, or pass rushers
or just ruptors before you mentioned the guy that led
the NFL according to ESPN's Metric on pass rush win
rate end of the year, Will Anderson Junior fourth in

(55:22):
the NFL, Daniel Hunter nineteenth in the NFL, first, Nate
Herbig Pittsburgh Steelers number one in the NFL, winning as
a pass rusher on pass rushing plays more than anybody
else in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Anybody else.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
He's going up against the Texans offensive line, CJ's drought
and the rest of their blocking team that matters. They
are good upfront. They are very good upfront. And I
don't think it's a given that there's some advantage for
the Texans against the Steelers defense to the point that, oh,
if they just get sixteen, seventeen, twenty points, this ball
game's over. That's really not. It didn't play out in

(55:59):
any the games this weekend except for the Chargers Patriots
game that was a low scoring game. Every other game
was you better have an answer for their offense, no
matter what defense you're up against. You know, the Packers
went up twenty one to three, and you have up
thirty one points in the game. You had a thirty
four to thirty one five, you had a thirty one
to twenty seven five, you had a twenty seven to
twenty four final. And even in the Eagles game with

(56:21):
the Niners that wasn't nearly as high scoring. Both teams
were on the field late in the game trying to
score the game winning touchdown. The Niners had the first
crack at it and succeeded, and the Eagles had the
last crack at it and failed.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Yeah, in the red zone. I think that I'm struggling
between whether or not I think these And I talked
about this with Ross, this cerebral side of Aaron Rodgers,
because like this was actually talked about recently. You know,
these stupid goat debates between MJ and Lebron, Like when
Michael came back after that eighteen month layoff to play baseball,

(56:56):
slash whatever was going on with the whole gambling thing.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
When he stopped playing basketball and then came back.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Yeah, he was still athletic, still dunked, but he wasn't
the high flying, you know, mid to late eighties, early
nineties guy that he had been before, and he became
a lot more cerebral. Tom Brady did the same thing.
After about a decade of getting pummeled. He started trying
to play a lot smarter that side of Aaron Rodgers,

(57:25):
who's never been mobile against this Texans defense. It makes
it to me, It does in some ways if he's
able to do it, put a little bit more pressure
on that pass rush getting I mean, we all remember
JJ Watt being this close to getting to Tony Romo
up in Arlington, but he got rid of the ball
and it was a game winning touchdown. Pass Getting close

(57:48):
is not good enough, and they're gonna have to get
to him tonight, I think in order for them to
do what they want to do. Yeah, I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
I think getting close is kind of we lose sight
of that sometimes. Oh my god, he escaped that sack
and made a great play. We're not gonna miss that.
We're not gonna gloss over it. But if you're pressuring
Aaron Rodgers and the Blitzes, the few that the Texans
might dial up. Heck, maybe they spend an entire eighteen
week regular season schedule sandbagging and they're gonna be blitz

(58:16):
heavy tonight. They're just gonna get after it. They're never
gonna see what's coming. But facing the blitz. Aaron Rodgers
has not had a particularly good season. It doesn't mean
he's throwing picks on every play. Doesn't mean you've sacked
him on every play. It means you've won the play.
You got from second and ten to third and ten,
you got from second and eight to third and thirteen.
You know you forced an intentional ground it. There's all
sorts of good things that still happen when a sack

(58:38):
is not involved, just because you pressured them into doing
what they didn't want to do. You had a guy
break wide open, absolutely got behind Derek Stingley Junior and
Kaylen Bullock fell down, So what Will Anderson flushed him
out of the pocket and he had to throw it away.
You know, it all works hand in hand. I think
if they get four man pressure, same pressure that they've

(58:58):
gotten all Yurgs, just about every team this year.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Then they're going to put.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Aaron Rodgers in a situation where he's not doing what
he wants to do, and they're going to have to
go off script a little bit because they just can't
if their offensive line can't handle it. They actually do
have a very good offensive line, very good offensive line.
It's all worked hand in hand. They've tried to create
a short pass game, they've tried to create a get
rid of the ball, quick offense, and they still do

(59:24):
have a good offensive line. But they just don't want
him sitting back there all day. Sometimes when he sits
back there all day, he still thinks he can do
things he used to do and he can't. And I
think he might have actually learned that in his full season.
Remember he played all year last year for the Jets,
played all seventeen games, they won five times. His numbers
weren't atrocious, but I think he thought he was still

(59:45):
the same quarterback he once was, and I think he
needed to be on the field for a whole year
and realized that he wasn't.

Speaker 7 (59:51):
Like.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
One of the reasons why Green Bay got rid of him,
so I think he was still trying to play that way.
I think this year he played in a much more
this is who I am now kind of way, not
a totally different player and not totally incapable of throwing
the ball down the field. Obviously, he played all but
one game this year, and he had his fewest pass
attempts in a season since twenty ten. Wow, a season

(01:00:15):
that he played in full Oh okay with yeah, I
mean I'm not counting his season where he had one
attempt in twenty three. That's or his half season in
twenty seventeen. The Jets never happened, right, I just told
you why. I think there was some value in it
for him. His season last year, I mean last year
was sixty three percent completions twenty. You know, he got

(01:00:35):
a little bit better this year, almost up to sixty six.
His touchdown percentage last year was four point eight. His
touchdown percentage this year four point eight, exactly the same.
There's not a lot of difference in how he did
things last year and how he's doing them this year.
But I think there are some small changes to his
game that might have increased some of the other numbers
and most of the other numbers just slightly up.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
But more to the.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Point, he's he's doing fewer things that hurt his team.
He has better players, quite obviously. He honestly had a
better receiver Garrett Wilson, than any of the guys he
has in Pittsburgh, even DK Metcalf. But they just weren't
a very good offensive team. He wasn't a very good
quarterback to help make up for that. Still, through twenty
eight touchdowns last year for a five win team, that's
not that doesn't happen that often.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
All right, there is a lot to get too. Still,
we need to talk about this matchup. Continue to as
we get you ready for it. It kicks off at seven
point fifteen later on tonight. I think it's fair to
start asking some real questions about the forty nine ers
practice facility, and no, we don't have to play the
X Files music over it. And the most uninspiring pro

(01:01:39):
sports team in America they play right here in Houston.
We'll probably get to them as well. It's all coming
up as we continue here on a Monday edition of
The A Team. The last three games for your Rockets
have not been fantastic. Various ways to come to the
same conclusion. But they hadn't lost three games in a

(01:01:59):
row until last night, and to do so against a
at the time eight win Kings team who's one of
their wins before that of those eight was against you
in overtime. Oh and the guy who owned you that night,
Dennis shrewder Wex's favorite X Rocket, was not available last
night because he decided to go try and pick a
fight with Luca back on the twenty eighth of last

(01:02:21):
month after the game, forty minutes after to be specific.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
Allegedly, Yeah, but enough to warrant a three games. I
don't think it was a legend he's sitting out for it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
I mean that was that was tough, Like if if
Wednesday and Friday were tough watches for you doing the game.
I don't know, man. It was just they were so uninspired.
They're the most uninspired pro sports team currently.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
He sucks the life out of you when you're bad
at something, and that's why I think they were so
good for so long. I mean, missing every go back
to the Rockets twenty seven in a row, like you
miss every single three you take practically in an entire
week's worth of games, like they were shooting thirty nine
point nine percent. They were shooting forty percent at times
this year for a twenty five thirty game stretch. Now

(01:03:09):
they've just played five games they where they aren't just
the worst three point shooting team in the NBA, they're
the worst three point shooting team in the league by
a lot. They made twenty three percent of their threes
in their last five games, obviously the last three on
this road trip, just over and over and over, and
they never figured out, we'll stop shooting them. You can't
get you can't make them if you don't take them.
So I understand that. But against teams that really shouldn't

(01:03:30):
be keeping you from getting to the basket, you might
as well just go to the basket. You don't need
Jabari Smith Junior taking ten threes and missing them all,
and taking seven threes in the fourth quarter and missing
them all. They had, they had the game. The last
game that I did was Friday's game. You did last
night's game. They were seven of thirteen on threes in
the third quarter. They made a single three point shot
in each of the first, second and third quarters. Our

(01:03:53):
fourth quarters, excuse me, they went three of thirty one
combined in those other three quarters, and they just kept
shooting them. And their highest number of takes from behind
the three point line is all during this stretch. While
they were at the top of the league in percentage,
they were near the bottom of the league in attempts.
And as their percentage just gone in the toilet, they've
gone up that ladder. They're among the most off shooting

(01:04:13):
three point shooting teams, and they can't make any of them,
and they just don't seem to want to shake away
from well, the only way to break out is to
keep shooting them. And I'm not saying they're they're bad
shots in theory because they're open for the most part.
They're not end of shot clock. Well, we don't have
anything else. They're early, they're middle of the shot clock.
They are after an offensive set where they passed the

(01:04:35):
ball around, but they got they got to take the
ball to the basket. And the energy from them as clear.
I think it's been sucked away because of the lack
of success, which is hurting their confidence, which is hurting
their juice, which is why now multiple times they don't
look like a team that's inspired on the glass. They
were leading the NBA in rebounding by such a large margin.
They got smoked in the fourth quarter of last night's

(01:04:57):
game on the offensive glass by the The Kings were
outscored them in second chance points by a wide, wide margin.
And that's even though both teams had roughly the same number,
because the Rockets are getting offensive rebounds now and they
don't know how to put the ball in the basket.
They had multiple possessions, once last night in your game
and once on Friday night in the Portland game, where

(01:05:18):
they had five shots yeah on a single possession and
miss them all. And both of those five shot missed
possessions were followed by a three point make on the
other end of the court, a wide open, left unattended
rando player for either the Blazers or the Kings. They
just decided they weren't going to rotate or they weren't
gonna get back, and they were just and they they've

(01:05:38):
made so many defensive mistakes. Emay is absolutely beside himself
with that, and that's what he keeps coming with when
he's asked about it after the game. You're gonna miss shots.
It's a make or miss league. We all get it,
and they all say it, and it's all true, But
you got to do all the other things that prevent
you from losing games. When you miss, you can win
games when you shoot low percentages. If you do the

(01:05:59):
other thing, you're capable of controlling better. You know what else,
They're the worst in the NBA in their last five
games free throw shooting. The worst team in the league
again by a good margin. They're at sixty eight percent
in change. It looks like for these five games.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
All the work they had done this offseason talking to you,
Alpah and Shingun, the only guy that did has really
looked like he's turned it around, and he was missing
him Last night too, was a men Thompson.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
He won five of six in the fourth quarters. Teammates
went five for twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
Yeah, I'll give him the one. A man Thompson is
the only guy during this road trip that looked every
game like he didn't want to lose. I mean, and Kevin, Yeah,
but Kevin makes some really dumb turnovers this trip.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
I know he does it all the time, but it's like, man, like,
what are you looking at with some of these passes?
The Rockets and KD are doing the same thing. The
rockets teammates when throwing it to KD and KD when
throwing it to them, they're kind of taking for granted
who they are.

Speaker 1 (01:06:56):
Reach.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Shepherd's passes to Kevin Durant are embarrassing, but it's Kevin Durant.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
He'll get it. No, he won't. He doesn't work hard.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
Enough to find the right passing angle to get it
to Durant, and Durant similarly needs to make himself more
available sometimes for these guys who otherwise don't know how
to get him the ball, and then his passes away
when he's doubled or they blitz him. He's just too
lazy with them sometimes and you see him beating his
chest after he knows it too. There's no way those
should be turnovers, and he's just letting guys deflect his passes.

(01:07:24):
He's not getting himself in good position. He knows what's coming.
Teams are pretty sure that if we stop you, especially
before Alburn came back, they're sunk, so they're gonna blitz him.
They're gonna get the ball out of his hands. And
he's just been far too I don't know if lazy's
the right word. Just not focused in the way he
wants to be, and I think he said it after
one of the games that he just can't do that
and it's cost him big time.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
How shocked were you when you got that text message
confirming that Shingun was gonna be in the starting lineup
last night.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Well, when they started the road trip and Eme said
that they thought he would be back sooner than they
initially thought, and the swelling had gone down and the
ain't have gone down, that made me think he was
going to return tomorrow night against the Bulls. I knew
he was on the trip, but I didn't think they
would have him back quite that quickly. So yeah, I
was pretty surprised to hear that. Once he was listed
questionable during the day, I thought, well, obviously there's a

(01:08:14):
chance they probably don't want to lose a third game
in a row. They don't probably don't want to have
another bad road trip. But they did anyway, even with him.
He made a bunch of mistakes in last night's game,
just basketball wise, not just missing all but one of
his fourth quarter free throws. And maybe you know, I
don't know that they brought him back to early because
he looked fine, and I'm sure he'll play tomorrow night

(01:08:35):
against the Bulls, but that was that was nice to
get him back. So I just think I don't know
what it is because these teams stink except for Denver,
that they're playing these West Coast games or trips out west.
I don't want people to say, you know, Denver's not
on the coast. Yes, I hope in a sports sense
you understand what I mean. They lose them all. Like
since December one, when they were in Utah, they've played

(01:08:56):
nine West Coast games, teams against that they have to
travel out west to go play. They've won twice. They're
two to nine. They've lost just the Kings twice. They've
lost to the Blazers twice. They've lost to the Jazz,
the Nuggets, the Clippers, just games that are scheduled in
that time zone or further from the Central time zone.
You can't play good basketball unless you're playing the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (01:09:18):
It's weird, and it like we're all we've all been
looking forward to this exact moment in the calendar where
it finally flips. They're finally gonna play more than one
random home game against the Pacers or the Suns before
they go out from multiple games on the road. Again,
this just in some of these teams that are coming
in for this home stand, they're gonna beat the breaks

(01:09:40):
off the Rockets if they've played the way they are lately.
I mean, it's not like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
They're gonna lose a lot of games that they keep
playing this way. No, Yeah, it doesn't matter who the well,
these three to the Pelicans. They don't play on the West, right,
But it doesn't matter who you're playing games. It matters
how you're playing. They just lost to two teams that
are not gonna matter in the playoffs, and they lost
all three games to those two teams. It's not about

(01:10:05):
the other team, it's about them.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
Yeah, I just be some interesting practices over at the
facility this week.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
I'm guessing if they have any that's true. They only
played Tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
That game against the Thunder is looking right now. All right,
we're gonna get back to the Texans conversation That will
include a conversation with John Alexander at the top of
the hour as well. He's in Pittsburgh. But we're getting
you ready. Texans Steelers wild Card game tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
The eight Home Network John Alexander coming up at the
top of the hour as he'll be joining us from
Pittsburgh to break down this matchup, and we'll be finally
getting close to kickoff.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
I mean, we've been closer than we've been all week.
But just again, I like the fact that they've had
the layoff in between. Part of me wishes it. And
by the way, they have to play on Sunday, right,
you were talking about the schedule earlier.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Yeah, they're the Monday game for the Steelers, and Texans
automatically made them the Sunday game next week, which obviously
one of the teams is going to win and play again,
and they were never going to schedule them for Saturday.
They made the announcement last night of what the matchups
are and which days they will play. They just did
not give the kickoff times for any of the four games.
I still don't know why, because there's only one game

(01:11:23):
left and I don't know how it could impact anybody's
decision and what networks want this game in that game,
And nonetheless, the Texans or Steelers will play the Patriots
and that game will be on Sunday. The Bears matchup
is also the other Sunday game, and obviously the other
two games they're going off on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Where do you think, like, just for the sake of argument,
that Texans win. So it's Texans Patriots. Which one's getting
prime time next Sunday?

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Well, Texans Patriots or Bears Rams. Those are the two
games you got Matt Stafford against Chicago.

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
Does Marcus Sis have anything with it?

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
That's kind of why. I don't know what you're waiting for.
And I'm not sure if again, this is more of
a network thing versus something else. And then you know,
they get their selection of games and their time slots
already chosen. So maybe there's a couple of things at
play here. But if none of that was at play,
Saturday you have the Niners and the Seahawks and the
Broncos and the Bills. I would put the West Coast

(01:12:22):
game in primetime. You don't have to, but I am
sure they will, and then the Broncos and Bills will
be the first game of the weekend, and then on
Sunday you got Bears, Rams and Patriots. As you said, hypothetically, Texans,
I would probably think they would have the NFC game
as the later games a little bit earlier kickoff on Sunday.
It's two and five thirty on Sunday, about three thirty
and seven on Saturday, and then Patriots and Texans. I

(01:12:46):
would think they would be the first game of the
day on Sunday, just to guess.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
Okay, that's kind of what I I just base it
solely on market size.

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
Current lines have two of the three road teams as favorites,
Bills point and a half over the Broncos, Rams three
and a half over the Bears. Seahawks are a touchdown
favorite at home over the Niners.

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
I really want the Bears to upset the Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Well, if the Bears are leading before the fourth quarter,
they probably haven't in the back because they've been killing
teams in the fourth quarter, but mostly because they had
to because they were down total magic. I mean, there's
some bad numbers that go along with Caleb Williams. There's
some really bad numbers. But if you don't think that's
your frand I hope nobody is questioning that anymore. And

(01:13:33):
I think, come on, even you know, he's only two
years in and one year with Ben Johnson, even with
trouble on offense throughout the year, trouble with consistency throughout
the year. You had a ton of games just like this,
where I mean you're going into halftime thinking, can we
do anything on offense tonight or is the season gonna end?
You said that for a bunch of other games, and
then most of those other games the answer was, yes,

(01:13:55):
we can do something tonight because the game is on
the line, or last night, our two nights of Garcia
is on the line, and they just keep coming through
with great plays, and most of it is just it's Williams.
I mean, he had a couple of teammates obviously step
up quite obviously. Lovelin had the game of his season.
He's only a rookie, and you had a lot of
good plays from DeAndre Swift coming out of the backfield.

(01:14:17):
Defense clearly did the job on Jordan Love and the
Packers in the second half. But man, that's a guy
that you drafted number one overall after giving up the
number one pick the year prior in trade and hoped
and probably we're curious if you got it right when
he was playing with somebody not named Ben Johnson. And
I don't know how many of you watched all nearly

(01:14:39):
six minutes of the Bears postgame locker room celebration, the
speeches part the Ben Johnson and everybody gets their game
balls park because they posted all of it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
I didn't watch Ben Johnson's ever gonna work for the Packers.
We'll get to that in one second.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
So he talked about he went into the locker room
and immediately had a Packers anti Packers sentiment.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
He's the one way to push the F word. And
then he.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
Talked about what it means and all the stuff. He
gave game ball to Montes Sweat, He gave you know,
a couple of game balls out, and then he gave
one to Caleb Williams, and then Williams gave his speech
and kind of went back to his spot and then
grabbed another game ball so he could give it to Ben.
And he was getting emotional. Caleble was talking about what
he's meant to him because of where things were a
year ago, and what kind of team are we, what

(01:15:22):
kind of quarterback do we have? Where are we headed?
And they knew it, they weren't headed anywhere with their
head coach, and now they are. And I do think
all that stuff actually means something. And you know, some
teams have it, and some teams without an offensive head
coach can't have it. You don't have to have it,
but they clearly do have it. And I think that's
something far less emotion but it's something that could be

(01:15:46):
happening in Jacksonville with Trevor Lawrence and William Cohen.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
Yeah, except for that quarterback didn't perform well. He did,
but he didn't. It's like he did put up numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
But Trevor Lawrence was not in the twenty for most
of his career prior to Liam Cohen, and even just
for one stretch of this year, this back half of
the year, he was one of the five most effective
quarterbacks in the NFL. That's never happened in his whole
career for any stretch of time.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
Yeah, Look, he had some awful coaching staffs around him.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
Two he had an awful head coach. And I know
the people in Jacksonville don't like Doug Peterson. I don't,
I'm I'm I learned a little bit more about that
over the years and then listening to some of them
complain about him. But at some point, it's not like
how bad can they be? That's what I kept saying.
Until Liam got there, and I'm like, come on, man,
some of it is you, and even yesterday some of

(01:16:41):
it was him. Like your coach can only do so much.
I'm not ready to annoint Lawrence at all. And if
you want to look at who's in and who's out,
and you've only had two teams eliminating in the AFC,
But if you went into the play if you looked
at this these seven quarterbacks right now and how they
played in twenty twenty five, you know, Lawrence probably it's
a little bit of a bump for how he finished

(01:17:01):
the season. But if I told you ranked those quarterbacks
in order, and the three quarterbacks at the bottom of
the list are going to be out of the playoffs
after their first game, well, Rogers would be on the list,
Herbert would be on the list, and it'd probably be
between Lawrence and Stroud of who the next quarterback on
the list was for how their whole season went. Because
Lawrence did not have a great season. He had a

(01:17:22):
great finish to his season. And Lawrence is out, and
Herbert is out, and presumably tonight Aaron Rodgers is out.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
I still can't believe the Texans loss to the Jags
earlier this year, and I also can't believe the way
they beat them the second time this year.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
Well, if you had a chance to think about where
they were and djb enemy of ESPN, wrote a really
really interesting article, a very good article, and an article
that shed some light on the situation regarding CJ. Gardner Johnson.
Not to rehash all that, but it's pertinent to the season,
which is why I wrote about it. One of the
plays that helped them lose that game was the long,

(01:17:58):
nearly fifty yard pass play to Bryan Thomas Junior where
you see they break the huddle and then they snapped
the ball and all of a sudden, Thomas Junior is
running almost unguarded down the field and Kamari Laster's chasing
after him and he catches him and tackles him. It
was in the article it notes how that was miscommunication.
That was miscommunication is probably not the right. That was

(01:18:18):
a missed assignment by c. J. Gardner Johnson according to
the play call, what should have happened there. He didn't
do his job, and Laser then tried to make up
for it and may it looked like it was on
him and it really wasn't and this created and DJ
talked about the discourse on the sidelines after it happened,
extending into the locker room after it happened. And this
is just one more thing of why CJ. Gardner Johnson
did not fit in with this team because of the

(01:18:41):
lack of being a team guy. For one thing, that
he wasn't here, and things did definitely change after that.
The Texans might not lose that game at all. You
wouldn't be able to sit here. I can't believe they
lost to Jacksonville. Yeah, well they did. That's one of
the reasons why.

Speaker 1 (01:18:54):
And that division championship got them a date on the
couch for tonight and the remainder of the postseason. We,
as we mentioned earlier, are going to talk to John
Alexander on the phone from Pittsburgh. That's coming up next here.
As we get the Finder joins us on the phone
lines from Pittsburgh, and I guess, Jonathan, in light of
you know, the wins that were blowing papers and other

(01:19:18):
debris across the field in Philly yesterday, I bet I
guess the first thing I should ask you is what's
the weather like in Pittsburgh right now?

Speaker 7 (01:19:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:19:26):
I mean it's a little bit cold, but it's nothing
that you know, a lot of people haven't experienced before.
It's definitely not as cold as how Kansas City was
earlier in the season and last year, and that was bad,
But seems like it's manage able to me.

Speaker 2 (01:19:42):
Only one other weather related postseason related question out of
the gate here for you, Jonathan considering what started last
Sunday night, first with Boswell, then with Tyler Loop and
apparently is going to continue through the Wildcard round because
kickers have been missing lots of kicks this postseason. Do
you think, if anything, and it's impossible to predict in

(01:20:02):
that stadium, the weather might impact maybe some decision making
because the Texans attempted more feelals than anybody in the NFL,
most of them were climate controlled attempts, but that obviously
will not be the case tonight.

Speaker 7 (01:20:15):
Yeah. I figure that if it's a super deep kick
fifty five player then and something is on the line,
I'd figured that the tective wouldn't try to make that case,
or if they have to, they would, But I don't
see it really affecting Chinese Fairban. He's been in a
lot of these moments. He has made a lot of
game winning silvos. So while it's affected the other people,

(01:20:38):
I don't see it affecting the Texans.

Speaker 2 (01:20:39):
Jalen Reid was, as expected, put on the active roster
in advance of tonight's game, practiced in full essentially throughout
the week, coming off of IR for the second time
this year. They have had an ever changing lineup of
players at that other spot in the secondary, that other
safety spot all year. What kind of role do you
think is destined for him tonight? The rookie who obviously
they liked, got in a bunch of work in between

(01:21:01):
those two I are stints and this again is an
arm injury he's returning from, so presumably they're not any
really concerned health wise about him. But what kind of
role do you think he has in line for him tonight?

Speaker 7 (01:21:13):
Yeah? I assume he'll get a ton of times. I mean,
just because of the uncertainty they've had a safety, whether
that was the injury to and they stoo earlier in
the year, Jimmy Warren not playing, and then a couple
of guys with pregnice buy guys who really haven't played
well by frankly, So you know, I believe that Jenden Reid.
If he's not starting, he'll get playing Commas Trump at

(01:21:34):
some point because they want somebody who can play well,
who they trust, and Dylan Reed was really starting to
do that mid season when he began to.

Speaker 1 (01:21:42):
Start talking to Jonathan Alexander. He covers the Texans for
the Houston Chronicle. Pittsburgh is the site Texans Steelers is
the matchup tonight to wind down what has been a
wildly entertaining wild card weekend. Here to start twenty twenty six,
it's easy to just say, well, this is going to
be about the Texans elite defense against the perhaps more

(01:22:04):
cerebral than ever before, Aaron Rodgers, because that's how he's
got to get the job done at the age of
forty one. Is that kind of how you see this
matchup or how do you how do you envision it
going down given the strengths and weaknesses of both these squads.

Speaker 7 (01:22:20):
Yeah, I do think it's all about the Texans in
many respects. I think they're more talented team than the Steelers.
I think this was the ideal matchup they wanted. But
you know, obviously I think they have to win the
turnover battle. I don't think CD Shroud can throw interceptions
and give more possessions to the Steelers to take chances.
I think that the Texans defense has to do what

(01:22:41):
they've done all year and take away to football too,
So I think those are the key to the game.
But I think to me that just says it's all
about the Technicans because they're just a much better team
than what the Steelers are.

Speaker 2 (01:22:55):
Assumption is that Trent Brown not only is returning, but
he's returning to a starting spot, bumping Titus Howard back inside.
Tell me if you don't believe that's going to be
the case. With Blake Fisher is the back to tackle eligible.
Maybe Jared Patterson's available if needed if things don't work
out with Trent Brown. But assuming that's the way they go,
how do you feel like they will hold up against
what is probably a little bit underrated Steelers front because

(01:23:17):
I think people think TJ. Watt don't realize he maybe
is their third most effective player this year, and that's
not even bringing up Cam Hayward both. How do you
think they'll hold up against them from a pass blocking perspective?
And similarly, do you think Woody Marx and or Nick
Chubb without Juwar Jordan can successfully move the football on
the ground.

Speaker 7 (01:23:37):
See, that's the thing. The Steelers probably have arguably one
of the best defensive lines at this point. So it's
not just their head dressers. And while Alex Highsmith and
TJ wy are phenomenal players, especially TJ. Why you know,
they got some big guys up the middle, and I
think for that reason they'll need type Tallard at left guard,
which I expect them to play. I think they have

(01:23:59):
enough trust in Brown. He's experienced, he's won a Super Bowl,
He's a massive human being. He's not easy to go
yet he hasn't made a ton of mistakes. And then
you got Arianta Ursery, who he is the future at
left tackle, and while he's made some mistakes, he's held
his own and he's done a good job for a rookie. So,
you know, I fully expect that certain offensive line group

(01:24:19):
to play together, and they haven't given up a back
in three games, and that should give them some confidence
moving forward.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
Yeah, the fact that they have kept CJ upright, the
fact that that was such a sticking point earlier in
this year, and the fact that CJ missed three games
that concussion.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
All of that factors into things. I mean, CJ's saying
all the right things and it's been I guess uneven
this year in year three for him, but he's he's
kind of hard to read in that way because he
always kind of seems to say the right things. What
do you think his mindset is going into facing specifically
that kind of defense on top of this just being

(01:24:55):
year three where he's looking to add to his total
of playoff wins.

Speaker 7 (01:25:01):
Yeah, I think some of the struggles early on was
the offense. It was new guys were figuring out. It
puts a lot of responsibility on the wide receivers to
be on the same page with uh c J. Stroud
and and you know the rookies Jaden Hickins and Darren
all had to get adjust But as far as c J.
Stroud goes, you know, I wrote a story addicts who's
have been agree with him last week and wrote a

(01:25:21):
story about it. And he's probably the most confident he's
ever within and he's comfortable and that offense is coming together.
The offensive line is protecting them, and we know when
the offensive line protect him, well, he's one of the
better quarterbacks in the league. So you know, the offensive
line can protect him. I fully expect him to have
a good game, and you know, he seems to be
built for these moments, especially these first round games. So

(01:25:45):
you know, I expect CJ. Strowd to play well.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
So in that article you wrote if you may has
missed it, obviously it's there to via the Houston Chronicle.
Do you think that they look he looks at this
game more like it's our first game, it's our wild
card game. You've dominated in our wildcard games. I've played
well enough for us to win in our wildcard games.
Or now we're on the road in the postseason, went
to Baltimore and played a good half, not a good

(01:26:08):
second half. Went to Kansas City. We're in the game,
but it really wasn't a one score game. We didn't
fare very well. Do they look at it more like,
this is our wildcard game, this is what we win
already we know we can, or we're playing out to
wearing the elements on the road and it hasn't gone
well well.

Speaker 7 (01:26:23):
You know, I think with a lot of playoff teams,
you know, a lot of times it's their first especially
road teams, you know, it's their first foray in the playoffs.
So there might be nerves there and that's why the
home helps them. But I think with the Texans, they've
been to the playoffs the past two years. They know,
you know what it's about ce Stroud and knows what

(01:26:45):
is about He's been in these moments, and they won
road games in their nine game winning straight. I think
winning at Kansas City probably relieved some of the pressure
that they would have had. And if you go to
that game, they didn't look like we're feeling that pressure.
So I think they'll take on the mindset of let's
take this one game at the time. That's what they
did during that nice game, winn the streak, and it

(01:27:07):
paid off for them.

Speaker 1 (01:27:08):
Yeah, I think it's interesting that, you know, some of
the national prognosticators have talked about how the Texans defense
and the Texans in general struggle away from home and
they can't win in cold weather, and they're like completely
overlooking that game in Kansas City. And I know this
wasn't Kansas City season, but Mahomes was out there that
night and they were the reason why he could not

(01:27:31):
do his usual Mahomes stuff.

Speaker 7 (01:27:33):
Absolutely. Now, Like I just think sometimes when people look
at records and say Oh, they haven't won, blah blah blah.
I just think they totally missed the context of it.
You look at the Texans two losses in the playoffs
last year, they were going to get better teams, So
I think that context should be added as well. And
in many of the Texans losses in the Division round

(01:27:55):
have been teams that are better than them, so it's
not like they've been upset a lot. Context is needed.
I think context in this situation. I still think the
Texans are the favorites here, despite the weather elements, despite
where they're playing.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
Yeah, I think that's a huge part of it. Talking
with Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle beat writer, for
the Texans, they just are the better team. There's a
reason why they came into this game favor they're on
the road, they won more games, two more games. They
are the better team. And that is unlike what happened
in Baltimore or Kansas City. We found out the Pro
Bowl selections not too long ago there were seven different

(01:28:28):
Texans defensive players that drew votes and you only vote
for first and second team. And that's how talented this
defense is. Who's the player you think's most important if
you only pick an individual, and who's the player you
think does their job so well tonight to help ensure
the defense plays.

Speaker 7 (01:28:46):
Well, yeah, I'm looking at Kamari Laster. You can just
tell the drop off and play when he's playing and
when he's not playing, and he gets a lot of
the attention because quarterbacks have shown to be a little
bit afraid to goill on their singley side, and that
opened up our opportunities for Kamaro last year. And I

(01:29:06):
think he's been significantly better at past coverage. Not that
he was bad last year. He was really good last year.
This year he's just been at an elite love when
he's the best tackling cornerback in the league. I really
believe he's a top six cornerback and he got voted
seventh best among cornerbacks, so I think he's really important.
I think we undersell his important.

Speaker 1 (01:29:29):
Well, we got to ask you before we let you go,
what do you think is going to happen to night
you're there. You kind of have as good a feel
for it as anybody because you're actually in the building.
How do you think this one turns out?

Speaker 3 (01:29:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:29:40):
I could easily see it being closed. I mean, tj
Y and Alexi spent a really good Addressers. They can
the Steelers can stop the run, but I just would
worry about the Steelers secondary, and I think Texans offense
can have still have a good game against them, and
their defense is going to make things tough for Aaronron Beers.
I just don't see this version of Aaron Ryders beating

(01:30:01):
the Texans sefense.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
There you have it, Jonathan Alexander in Pittsburgh. He's with
the Houston Chronicle, he's with us here. We appreciate the time,
enjoy the steel City, and hopefully you're headed to New
England next week.

Speaker 7 (01:30:15):
Absolutely, thanks for having me, all.

Speaker 1 (01:30:16):
Right, Jonathan Alexander here on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
I wish I had a feel like I agree with him.
I agree with you. I think the Texans defense will
ultimately help them prevail in a close game. But I
can't think that it's just gonna be as chalky as
this weekend seemed like.

Speaker 2 (01:30:36):
It was not necessarily chalky. It's just that we know
what we're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:30:40):
Well, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
We're us it's our chalk, It's not the chalk it's
not Vegas is Chalk. Eagles were favored by five and
a half points. Yeah, but I and I think I
said this on Friday afternoon, I would not be surprised
if the forty nine ers win that football game because
the Eagles have been off all season.

Speaker 1 (01:30:55):
I think that was exactly how I phrased it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:57):
That's why the play was forty nine ers plus five
and a.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
Half over unders were a disaster for me.

Speaker 2 (01:31:03):
Well, a lot of that was a little bit unforeseen,
and we kind of opened the show with that. What
happened in the fourth quarter of most of the games
was just wild awesome, totally awesome, but pretty unexpected. The
Bears game, there are barely any points over boards cruising
for the under. Like I picked, they just couldn't stop scoring. Obviously.
They went back and forth in the Jacksonville and Bills
game the game before that. I mean, it's I really,

(01:31:25):
I know I watched the game. I know a lot
of other people watched the game that were forced to
the first game of the postseason this year. The crappiest
of the matchups the three thirty game. It was Panthers
and Rams.

Speaker 4 (01:31:36):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:31:36):
You almost did it, And it's why You cannot give
these teams a home game. It makes them better. We
don't want this. You don't want the bad teams winning
playoff games?

Speaker 7 (01:31:44):
Do you?

Speaker 1 (01:31:44):
NFL?

Speaker 2 (01:31:44):
Do you other owners? Do you teams that have done
a better job with your roster? Do you really want this? Well,
putting them at home makes it more likely. I mean,
I don't know what happens if that game? Is it
daunting Sofi Stadium for the Rams? I'm pretty sure it's
not going to be thirty one miracle victory over the
Carolina Panthers. The Panthers aren't good. Don't make them better,

(01:32:06):
don't give them a home game. We almost were deprived.
And I'm not forget the Rams in McVeigh. It's not
their fault. It's it's it's on the league. A Rams
don't have any issue with this. I mean, it's off
a Rams fault. They almost got beat at all. I
know you think it probably is, but it isn't. Maybe
they shouldn't put themselves in that position more gamesh No,
not at all makes too much sense. I mean almost

(01:32:26):
got deprived of seeing more of their offense and more
of their team. Yes, they gave up thirty one points
to Bryce Young's team, which is crazy. They just finished
their their first playoff trip with Bryce Young, and so
they played an additional game, and he and Dave Canalis
are going back into their locker room and back into
the offseason and thinking how awesome their eight and ten

(01:32:47):
season was.

Speaker 1 (01:32:49):
Yeah, Yeah, that's what they did.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
They played eighteen games that count and they won eight
of them, and they were three point shy of winning
a ninth game, getting their five hundred team into the
final four of the NFC. We don't want this. Don't
make it likelier to happen. Please, This is just as
much on the other teams in their crappy division. Looking

(01:33:13):
at you, Bucks, You're gonna go ahead and come here
to Houston and win him on Monday Night football on
a daunting fourth down play, and then you're not even
gonna make the postseason. The Bucks were the reverse Colts
came out of the game like the playoff team. Baker
Mayfield's playing, well, they're obviously gonna win this division. And
are they weren't. They were the opposite of the Colts
because they were in the NFC. Nothing opposite about it.
I mean, they were the carbon copy of the Colts.

(01:33:34):
They fell apart. They couldn't win, they couldn't do anything offensively.
They fired I mean, I don't know what the percentages
they six coaches on their staff are not coming back
for Todd Bowles in the Bucks, and they've been. They
had been to the playoffs his first two years there
together with Baker, and obviously this year they were not.
They had to make changes losing that crappy division, like
you said, where three teams won eight games, but luckily

(01:33:57):
that did not happen the better team one. And that's
the most simple item to take away. There's a lot
of good stuff there. From what Jonathan told us. That's
as simple as it gets. The better team should win.
It doesn't always happen, but it has for the most part,
and the Texans have it four for four in the

(01:34:19):
Texans playoff games. The better teams won all four times.
When the Texans went on the road against Kansas City
and Baltimore, they were not the better team. I don't
think many people could debate it either. I just think
they had a chance because they were there, they belonged there.
They were the fourth best team in the AFC. But
they weren't the better team. And when they got to
host the Browns and Joe Freakin Flacco and they got
to host Justin Herbert with a better record. But here

(01:34:41):
in Houston, I thought they were the better team. Is
why we took so much umbrage at those people like
Rex Ryan calling it what it wasn't and they went
out and showed it. I thought they were the better team.
They are the better team, and there's no better example
of that. One of the things I just brought up
with Jonathan I hadn't mentioned before on the show. I
didn't know it because they hadn't released the information all
over the weekend. How many players do you start on defense?

(01:35:04):
And how many of the Texans starting defensive players got
onto a All Pro ballot?

Speaker 1 (01:35:10):
Seven of them?

Speaker 2 (01:35:11):
Seven of their eleven starters all pro consideration. Three got
first or second team, Will Anderson and Derek Singley junior
first teamers, and Daniel Hunter was second team or they
had three edge rushers on both the first second voters
hate Daniel Hunter or just because he's not Miles Garrett, Well,
only three guys make it. It's league wide, it's not AFC, NFC,
it's a small group, so he can't two guys he

(01:35:34):
was in the top six. He just wasn't in the
top three. But sacks are all that counts wex and
he had more than will Well. He finished thirteen. He
finished third in the league in sacks, finished in the
voting to sixth. There was second team, and like you said,
Will Anderson fewer sacks, but obviously people recognize what he
did this year.

Speaker 1 (01:35:53):
Speeches those three guys.

Speaker 2 (01:35:54):
I could be wrong, but I don't think Daneil Hunter's
ever given that walk off the field speech.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
By the way, if he does tonight, it's a rap
Texans by fifty, I would agree, Holy cow, they'll be
during their coverage.

Speaker 2 (01:36:08):
Of the game tonight. It's on the ESPN ABC. Michelle
Bisner sat down with Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Junior
together and interviewed them, and snippets of that I'm sure
will put the put together in a packe. I say
snippets of it because I've already watched the whole twenty
minute interview with them.

Speaker 1 (01:36:26):
I do think the part where they talk to Daniil
about him talking to Will about how to take on
Aaron Rodgers, seeing as how he's so familiar with his
work being in the division for several seasons. That sounds
like it's a nice little storyline for an interview and
all this kind that's legit, man, that's recon. That's it's
not just playing him, it's being successful against him. Yeah,

(01:36:47):
he's something to play him every year.

Speaker 2 (01:36:49):
He told him, dude, don't get frustrated if it just
doesn't happen. You missed him on this player. He gets
away and he makes a play. Just keep doing what
you're doing. Because Will thinks he's gonna get a sack
on every snap he does. She also asked Daniel, all
the time you played against him, how many times do
you think you sacked Aaron Rodgers? And he goes he
thought for a second. He goes, uh, probably about ten.

Speaker 1 (01:37:08):
That's what I was gonna say.

Speaker 2 (01:37:09):
She goes six and a half. It's crazy, and.

Speaker 1 (01:37:11):
So she goes, that's close to ten.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
But you know, point being those three players, Daniel Will
and Derek Stingley junior first team or first and second
teamers Daniel the second team or four other defenders were
on ballots. You only vote for two players. That those
you vote a first team. You vote not two players.
You vote a first team and you vote a second team.
Caitlyn Bullock, Jalen Peatree as He's al Shire, Kamari las Yer,
all of them are recognized for being that's that's your

(01:37:34):
whole defense practically. It's why they are the best defense
in the NFL. And I do believe they are the
best defense in the NFL. Some other defenses might do
this better than them. There's a couple of areas where
they could be better, but only one team you can
consider the best. And I don't envision them being a
part of a team that loses to an inferior team,
even if again it's not impossible, and they're not overwhelming

(01:37:57):
favorites by any mean, and the Steelers are absolutely capable well.
And I do think Aaron Rodgers is much better than
people have given him credit for. And I'm in that
people group, but I'm trying to watch him for what
he is this year, and I think he's just a
much better quarterback than the version of him we saw
in New York and the version we saw in his
last year in Green Bay.

Speaker 1 (01:38:13):
And that actually was I know plays in the swamp.

Speaker 2 (01:38:17):
Those funny, funny New Jersey story you sent along my way.
If Trevor Lawrence's departure from the postseason that somebody had
sent you it's Sopranos related. Do you think you guys
can figure out what Sopranos related meme has to do
with Trevor Lawrence. It's pretty obvious after we tell you the.

Speaker 1 (01:38:34):
Characters on the show were to have a kid and
it looked like Trevor Lawrence. Who would those two.

Speaker 2 (01:38:39):
Characters be and they did allegedly get together on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:38:43):
I wouldn't have wanted to mess around with Tony like that.
That's playing with fire.

Speaker 2 (01:38:47):
Yeap Furio and the missus Carmela. That is that's Trevor
Lawrence if you put those two together, not that Tony
didn't have multiple ton and then well if he was,
if he was unfaithful, they never showed on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:39:01):
Never, never, nor did he talk about wanting to be
more unfaithful with his therapist.

Speaker 2 (01:39:05):
He was bad news.

Speaker 1 (01:39:07):
He was awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:39:07):
Yeah, he was in the best way possible.

Speaker 1 (01:39:10):
By the way, I'm gonna just say this, and it's
just this is one percent being honest and transparent about
my emotions on this show. Alex Bregman signed with the
Chicago Cubs over the weekend, and I felt nothing should I.

Speaker 2 (01:39:28):
Have no he's removed from the team now, I think
it's the same. What are you gona feel Aboutkyle Tucker
whenever he signs his deal?

Speaker 1 (01:39:35):
This matchup tonight between the Steelers and the Texans, longtime
Houston fans still feel some way about that city. I
should feel more about a Cubs organization that was a
rival of this baseball team for so long, and yet
I feel nothing.

Speaker 2 (01:39:50):
Not arrival of him anymore. Obviously, they probably not gonna
play them much in the future. I don't know that
they're gonna meet in the World Series anytime soon. In
the occasional regular season matchup obviously a but the way
it was played a Boris client forty million dollars for
one year, one hundred and seventy five million dollars for
the following five, so six years, two fifteen. Obviously, if
you did not read, there are a lot of deferrals

(01:40:12):
in there, so the present day value is a little
bit less than that. But that's what you would have
sought if you were the player. I'd love a six year,
two hundred and fifty million dollars deal. It wasn't there
a year ago, and two years into free agency he
gets playing.

Speaker 1 (01:40:23):
That long game.

Speaker 2 (01:40:24):
It's except it turned out yeah for a year and
he got to play in Boston and Chicago.

Speaker 1 (01:40:28):
But again, his free agent off season last summer was
supposed to be where he hit it big, and he
he still did by the letter of the law, forty million.
But he he got what he wanted, he just had
to wait an extra year.

Speaker 2 (01:40:42):
There are some some some specifics about how this went down.
Apparently aj Persinski with some intel on it, so I
wanted to share a little bit of that with you.
We will following our signature segment, the Good, the Bad,
the Ugly. That's next, the ugly don't make me good?

Speaker 3 (01:40:57):
Up with the a T.

Speaker 1 (01:41:06):
All right, it's time to review the weekend. And boy,
wasn't that a weekend to review for the good, the bad,
and the ugly. I have the good, Wex is bad,
and Josh is just downright ugly. And since there's so
much to get to, let's not waste any more time.
And I know this sounds easy, it might even sound.

Speaker 2 (01:41:25):
Lazy, but the wildcard weekend was what was good about
this weekend because it certainly wasn't the Rockets.

Speaker 1 (01:41:31):
See what I did there? So I'm done. We've talked
about a lot of the storylines. I mean, probably talked
the least amount about the Carolina game, but.

Speaker 2 (01:41:41):
Even that game that is also good. Yeah, no, I agree,
I agree talk the least about it. I even said
this Friday, I have no desire to even watch that game.
It just looks awful. Is worthwhile to note, and it's
been going on for weeks. You can call them the
favorites or the second team most likely to come out
of the NFC, but the Rams have shown some obvious
holes of late, and defense is one of them, even

(01:42:04):
with all the players that they have, even with what
we believe their front can do, and even with me
telling you before the season started, this is probably the
best front, maybe the best defense the Texas will play
all year, and they were at times. They've also been
what they were this weekend at times, which was easy
enough for Carolina to put thirty one points on the
board against them, and that is not a good thing
as they head into their game this weekend. They have

(01:42:25):
a Sunday date with the Bears. But yeah, I think
overall the five games that we saw, certainly the first
four they were just awesome, four to one score games,
a lot of activity in the fourth quarter of all
of those games, a lot of remarkable plays, I think,
some of the stuff we saw last night from the
Niners and bringing out some really old plays from the
Shanahan playbook on the Jennings to McCaffrey pass, how brock

(01:42:46):
Perdy looked what seems like a totally imploding Super Bowl
caliber Eagles team, and everything else went on to the weekend.
I would agree that that was pretty good. I don't
know if this is I mean, there's two things to
me that were ugly, so I'm going to say hopeful
that I get one of them, and Josh already had

(01:43:08):
the other one for it. I mean, I'm just gonna
say the Rockets, I don't know if they're ugly or not,
because I think this was a sign of things to come.
So I'll just call them the bad And that's all
of their performances on this road trip, two games in
Portland and the game last night in Sacramento, the bad
things that I think will take care of themselves. They're
not a forty percent three point shooting team. They're not

(01:43:29):
a twenty five percent three point shooting team. But that's
all their season has been. The first thirty one games.
They were at the top of the league, the last
five games the mid of the bottom. There needed to
be some evening out, and I think that's where we
started to see these last five games. Their quality of play,
their ability to get on the boards and finish, their
ability to take care of the basketball, and their ability

(01:43:50):
to play aggressively. That's what's bad, because that's all those
things are controllable, All those things are on them. All
those things I think will get corrected. And it's only
so bad as certainly at the end of the year.
Everybody's schedules the same. Everyone's got forty one home dates
and forty one road dates. Every team in the NBA
has played seventeen home games so far this season except

(01:44:11):
for the Rockets, and they haven't played sixteen or fifteen
or fourteen stupid, they've played thirteen. There's teams that have
played twenty three home games already. The Rockets have played thirteen.
When you imbalance the schedule like that, some of that
plays into your record. The Rockets have the same number
of wins at home as on the road, and they've
played twenty three road games. They have eleven wins in

(01:44:34):
both places. The Texans are number two in the NBA
in home winning percentage. They're tied for thirteenth in home wins.
Nobody wins more often at home than Oklahoma City. Twelve
other teams have won more times at home than Houston
because they simply played more games in Houston. They just

(01:44:55):
have to make sure they keep that type of pace up.
I don't expect them to win thirty four thirty five
games at home, which is almost the pace that they're on,
but they are gonna win a heavy percentage of them.
And that starts Tomorrow night with the Bulls, hopefully continues
Thursday night with a thunder, and then is extended to
Friday night's late game with the Wolves, and then when
both the Rockets and Texans play on Sunday. I don't

(01:45:18):
know what time the Texans are playing yet on Sunday.
We'll find out later tonight. What's the ugly, Josh Man?
There's a few ways I could have gone with this.
The Chargers offense, that's ugly, but I'm going back to
those Jags man.

Speaker 9 (01:45:30):
I just Liam Cohen, what are you doing? Run the ball?
It's working? Etn six point seven yards per carry, but
only ten carries for sixty seven yards. Touton had twelve
point eight yards per Carrie, but only had four with
fifty one yards. Both of these guys had to run
over twenty yards and because you waited to really lean
on the run game, you had to count on Trevor

(01:45:50):
Lawrence at the very.

Speaker 1 (01:45:52):
End to try and get you in field goal range.
And what's he do throws a pick on the first play. Ugly.

Speaker 2 (01:45:57):
Yeah, it was ugly, and I brought up the run game.
I totally agree. Don't know why they didn't lean on
it more. It also helps you keep Josh Allen off
the field. They were dominated in time of possession partially
because of it. And I did want to go back
to the first half because I don't know how many
more times we need to revisit teams that are out
of the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:46:12):
Monday is a good day to do it, so today's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:46:15):
But what happened at the end of the half was
just absolutely hilarious and falls right into the ugly Jacksonville
made this incredible completion. Everybody scrambled to get the ball snapped,
so they didn't have any timeouts left, but they wanted
to give their kicker, who's made a sixty eight yard
or and a sixty seven yard Oh my god, they
could probably make it from here. The dumbs in the
booth were saying on their first snap from about eighty

(01:46:35):
yards away. But they made the play, they made the completion,
they ran down, they did get everybody set, and it
looked like the snap had begun before the clock hit zero.
The officials met for a while. They ended up giving
them that one tick left and an additional five yards
because the Bills had not gotten back to the line
of scrimmage. They were obviously off sides. So then they

(01:46:56):
bring out cam little awesome. They made a great They
did all the things they needed to do, and that's
they got their three points. And he missed and he
hit it off the upright. It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:47:07):
I think he's in a range when he gets off
the bus.

Speaker 2 (01:47:09):
I thought people have got to realize this, especially this
weekend with all I mentioned. All these missed kick McManus
was an embarrassment for the Packers in that game. You
have the extra point missed in the Eagles game, and
then this like, yeah, you can kick it super far,
and yeah, you made some long kicks, but we're starting
to act like and the Ravens are no different a

(01:47:29):
week ago last Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:47:32):
All these kicks.

Speaker 2 (01:47:33):
Of course, all the kickers can get it there now
with these ridiculous caballs, but they're not always going to
make them, just because they now the range has been
taken out of the equation. No one's worried that. I
don't know if he's gonna have the distance on this
fifty five yarder. Everybody knows their kicker is gonna have
the distance now. But Pro Bowl voting is the same thing. Great,

(01:47:53):
you made some sixty eight yard, sixty five yard, sixty
one yard kicks this year, but how about the other
forty that were inside that you attempted. Oh wait, you
didn't try as many because you didn't have the opportunity
because your coach did. Like, there's no way with what
you missed, no kicks, Kyam, he should have gotten way
more love. People are in love with that. But you
got to make the ones that are makeable. He missed,

(01:48:15):
and kickers are missing all over the place this weekend.
I brought it up with Jonathan Alexander from the Chronicle
when we had him on at the top of the
arm And I'm still concerned even though everything he said
is true. He's been here before, he's made kicks. He's
obviously he was their kicker in each of their two
outside playoff games here he was with the playoff teams
and the Bill O'Brien era. Also, he's been on the

(01:48:35):
field for all of these kicks. I wouldn't say he's
made all of these kicks, and that there's a little
bit of concern not only that whether he will make
them or not, more concern about will the head coach
who asked this team to kick fifty two field goals
this year, will he continue to ask them to kick
field goals when maybe you should be going for it,
when maybe you should treat third down like we've got

(01:48:57):
two more plays to go with. I don't think he
did a bad job with it, because when you're outside
the red zone, you got a longer way to go
to even get the touchdown kick your forty some odd yarders,
especially in controlled climate.

Speaker 1 (01:49:08):
They don't have that tonight, by the way, just speaking
of that, because the Texans like to get down there
and then settle for three sometimes. Did you like Harbaugh's
decision to go for it on fourth down at the
very beginning last night? After they got that pick. Yeah,
I did too. I didn't think they would fail so spectacularly,
but they did. All Right, we will wrap up the

(01:49:28):
five o'clock hour or four o'clock hour, I should say,
coming up next as we continue to count down the
minutes until kickoff between the Steelers and your Texans.

Speaker 3 (01:49:40):
The ad on Sports Talk SEP.

Speaker 1 (01:49:43):
Now, of the two of us on this show, I
would venture to guess most of you would believe I
would be the more likely of the two to be
the conspiracy theorist. Gee, I would hope so, and that
you don't ever talk about any of that stuff ever
unless I make you.

Speaker 2 (01:50:00):
I mean, or Yeah, what conspiracy theories would you like
to discuss here?

Speaker 1 (01:50:03):
Well, let's start with JFK.

Speaker 2 (01:50:05):
Okay, what are we gonna finish with?

Speaker 1 (01:50:08):
Well, there's lots of different choices to finish, So why'd
you bring it up? Well, there are some that think
that the forty nine ers practice facility and where it's.

Speaker 2 (01:50:17):
Located, the one that helped them win another playoff game. Yeah,
without their star tight end who tore his achilles in Philadelphia. Yeah,
but they practiced all week next sun.

Speaker 1 (01:50:28):
And he was fine. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (01:50:30):
They practice all week where people might not know this.

Speaker 1 (01:50:33):
So the forty nine ers practice facility, which is right
next to the stadium, by the way, is next to
what is considered or described as low frequency electromagnetic fields
that are emanating from a massive electrical substation. And what

(01:50:56):
those low frequency electromagnetic fields can do, as I'm sure
you're already a ware wex, they can degrade collagen, weaken tendons,
and cause soft tissue damage at levels regulators which we
all listen to what they say call safe.

Speaker 2 (01:51:14):
So where what's the source of all this information that
you're giving our listeners?

Speaker 1 (01:51:18):
Oh, some substack.

Speaker 2 (01:51:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:51:21):
People are, in.

Speaker 2 (01:51:22):
Fact San Francisco, pseudo natural authentic media presence? Is it
a NFL presence? Is a fan? I'm just trying to
give you a reason why they lost and I've had
so many injuries this year because they have had a
lot of injuries this year, San Francisco.

Speaker 1 (01:51:41):
I've seen this in different areas. This particular thread, which
kind of painstaking the breaks it down, is from a
guy named Peter Cowan, who is a board certified clinician
circadian science and photobiology and biophysics. You know, I don't know,
I don't know his background and all that kind of stuff.

(01:52:03):
I just know that it's not the first place I've
seen this. And since moving to Levi Stadium in twenty fourteen,
the forty nine Ers are statistically the most injured team
in the NFL over the past decade, top five and
adjusted games lost for ten of eleven seasons, seven to
eight full Achilles slash Poteller ruptures when the league average

(01:52:26):
is two to three a year. Total forty plus hamstring,
major hamstringer, calf tears, high ankle sindezmosis injuries every single year.
No other franchise comes close, and none of the usual
explanations turf scheme, bad luck hold up. Only one variable

(01:52:47):
is unique and the players know it in their guts.
In early twenty twenty five, Joe Feliciano let it slip.
Players have joked around that they're being an electrical substation
right next to the practice field and how that has
led to the Niners' injury problems.

Speaker 2 (01:53:04):
Can I play the role of the doctor that thinks
this is a wild claim?

Speaker 1 (01:53:09):
Oh do you think so? Doctor?

Speaker 2 (01:53:10):
Somebody actually sent this to me earlier this morning. The
doctor said there are some laboratory studies that have shown
that high levels of acute exposure to electromagnetic fields might
cause some cellular damage. But guess what, this isn't a
lab setting. You can't look at a lab data and
then make a claim that's happening in real human activity,
in real time. That's a massive leap. There's a lot

(01:53:33):
of This is a thread. It's one of those threads
you have to unravel. In fact, it's official because it
has the thread emoji in the original tweet. There's a
lot of stuff. As he puts it, there's science that
goes into this. All I know is that this like
just go back to the original one. The statistics, that's

(01:53:53):
a lot compared to everybody else in the league of
those types of injuries in that small sample size, only
where they've been practicing and working around that situation. Because
you're right, that's first thing I thought, Well, the game
was in Philadelphia, But if these tendons and all this
kind of stuff, what I said is couldn't matter less.

(01:54:14):
It could have happened anywhere because the damage from the substation,
the electromagnetic stale damage has already been done. This whole conversation,
I've tried to stay focused, But the moment you brought
it up, I was only thinking about Springfield and the
nuclear power plant next words. Yes, of course, the three
three three eyeballs on the fish, multiple heads on the

(01:54:34):
on the other.

Speaker 1 (01:54:35):
Water brought home a piece of the radioactive material that
had slipped into his shirt.

Speaker 2 (01:54:39):
Right. Yeah, part of the open, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (01:54:41):
I think? So, you know, I don't know I've been
to that stadium. I didn't really look. I did remember
thinking the.

Speaker 2 (01:54:50):
Layout of the land that he included with his original post.
If anybody is wondering, oh, how closed I mean, I
mean is it's next door?

Speaker 1 (01:54:57):
Is right next door and having there, That's the first
thing I noticed. Like, you know, you go to different
stadium and the venues you've never been to before, and
you'd notice certain things. First of all, it's nowhere near
San Francisco. It's in San Jose.

Speaker 2 (01:55:10):
So if the Niners are smart and they either make
the Super Bowl themselves or they don't get to that point,
will they If they make the Super Bowl, will they say, hey, man,
we don't want any unfair advantage. It's our home stadium.
We can't change that. But you you can practice at
our facility if you want, or if they missed the

(01:55:32):
Super Bowl, they'll say to the NFC champion, Hey, Seattle,
listen to this hookup.

Speaker 1 (01:55:37):
We're gonna get you. Well, don't not.

Speaker 2 (01:55:39):
I don't worry about the electromagnetic field. Just practice here.
You want to come early. I mean, I'm sure the
team that you played the week before just bow out
and you can send a few of your players up
there early. Just get it as much practice time as
you can get.

Speaker 1 (01:55:51):
The Chiefs played the forty nine Ers famously in twenty
twenty for the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:55:56):
Right, No, come on, man, right, are you looking at me?

Speaker 1 (01:56:02):
I'm just trying to remember because we went to Miami
for that trip and then I went to Vegas. It
was very blurry, but yeah, they beat the forty nine ers.
That was the Jimmy Garoppolo start. They also went to
the to the Super Bowl in twenty twelve or after
the twenty twelve season when they played the Baltimore Ravens,
so like that was before this time period. So it's

(01:56:22):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:56:22):
They basically, yeah, it's not about it has there's no
relevance to these success they have or haven't had. There's
that's really not The point is merely the number of
this type of injuries he believes could be caused by Yeah,
which of thee.

Speaker 1 (01:56:37):
But if you're if you're the forty nine ers and
you're not lacing him up with George Kittle for the
rest of this playoffs and oh, by the way, none
of next year he's not playing, we'll see torn achilles.

Speaker 2 (01:56:46):
Probably the timetable on that would have that very very
hard to do that a bunch of injury items, and
I mean they're moving on without him. Christian Gonzales is
in concussion protocol. Won that the Patriots winning their game
last night, but he left the game because of that,
and Mike Rabel said today that's where he is and
is in it. They'll have till Sunday to see if
he's available. They play the winner of tonight's game, so

(01:57:08):
obviously that would impact that. Michael Parsons was in the
Packers locker room and he obviously had some thoughts about
the idea that Matt Lafleur's job was not safe and again,
that's ridiculous, and he said as much, but he also
indicated his goal is to be backed by the opener.
Thinks maybe it's more realistic to be back by Game three,

(01:57:28):
and you can't ignore the facts are they didn't win
without him, and their defense was awful, awful, awful without
him over these last four game losing streak to end
the year, and obviously the most of the second half
and obviously the whole fourth quarter against the Bears. In
this game, he was incredibly impactful to helping them win,

(01:57:49):
and the loss of him was incredibly important to why
they then started losing.

Speaker 1 (01:57:54):
Five o'clock hour coming up next, it's the final hour
of the show before Texan Steelers. We should probably start
the hour with football at five conversation, which we would
have done anyways. It's straight up five o'clock on game
day and two hours and fifteen minutes away. You know,

(01:58:18):
I like saying that because I know that's exactly when
the ball will go in the airs. The NFL is
on time there. If it's going to be seven fifteen,
that's when the ball is going to be kicked off.
So two hours and fifteen minutes away from this thing
finally mercifully kicking off, and all the talk can go
away and the players can determine the outcome, and we

(01:58:38):
can come back in here tomorrow and talk about what
did or did not happen and everything that goes into it,
and I just hope. I know we keep talking about
the baseball score. I know we keep talking about the defenses,
and those lend themselves to obviously not scoring points, but
I would like it to be like a little bit
more compelling from that standpoint.

Speaker 2 (01:59:00):
Well, let's talk about streaking and see where we land
on this. Texans have a nine game winning streak heading
into this game. None of them were playoff games. Texans
have a franchise long losing streak of road playoff games.
They don't have any wins. The Pittsburgh Steelers and head
coach Mike Tomlin have been to the playoffs quite a bit.
Theyd be looking for their first win in forever. They've

(01:59:23):
lost their last five playoff games, most of them have
not been close.

Speaker 1 (01:59:27):
You want another conspiracy theory as it pertains to streaks
that you're talking about. Sure, why did the NFL put
this game on Monday night? Where the Steelers never lose?

Speaker 2 (01:59:36):
So that's what I was getting to. What do you
mean they never lose? Tell me what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:59:40):
I think they're like twenty two or twenty three wins
in a row. On Monday Night or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:59:45):
There's a headline that was dated today Monday, January twelfth,
from Teddy doesn't know anything Son and it says Steelers
record on Monday Night football inside Pittsburgh streak of twenty
three straight home wins since nineteen ninety one. What was
his name, Peter doesn't know anything Son? It changed from
Teddy already listening? Wow, it was Teddy and in the

(02:00:07):
article Pittsburgh is on an unreal run with home games
played on Monday Night. In fact, the Steelers go into
this game having won twenty three consecutive Monday night home games.
And then here is more on their impressive spreak streak
that runs thirty four years. So we could get into
all that. And obviously when I was made aware of
this the second this game landed on Monday night, and

(02:00:28):
actually before that, because I think most people anticipated this
would be the Monday game, the new format of the
playoffs wild Card Weekend two on Saturday three on Sunday
one on Monday, and as we were getting to the
time where they would decide when it would be, it
seemed like this was the likely spot. In the article,
it runs through all of the games that goes all
the way back to nineteen ninety two, bunch of games
against the division. So the Bengals are on there a bunch,

(02:00:50):
the Ravens are on there a bunch, the Browns are
on there a bunch, especially recently. It is funny and
interesting that the third of those twenty three consecutive Bogus
Monday Night wins bogus was against the Houston Oilers back
in nineteen ninety four. In nineteen ninety four, you repeated
one word that I just said.

Speaker 1 (02:01:09):
What was it? Uh, Teddy?

Speaker 2 (02:01:12):
No, you just repeated it moments ago in nineteen ninety four, bogus.
You said the word bogus. What's the definition of bogus?

Speaker 1 (02:01:18):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (02:01:19):
Not?

Speaker 1 (02:01:19):
Legit? False?

Speaker 2 (02:01:21):
Yeah, a lie, yeah, incorrect, misleading. All right, now, I'm
going to show you this piece of video. It's from
December seventh, twenty twenty. If you can do me a
solid and just tell me what time of day you
think this video is from, not so you can time
when the ball lands in Logan Thomas's hands, you can
see the behind him, and you can see outside of

(02:01:44):
then Heinz Field, And what do you see in the
sky outside Heinz Field? Nothing because it's well color dark black.

Speaker 1 (02:01:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:01:51):
So what time of day is it? Roughly in wordy
terms without it giving me a number?

Speaker 1 (02:01:56):
Night?

Speaker 2 (02:01:56):
It's nighttime, right, yes? Do you know December twentyth December seventh,
twenty twenty. What day of the week do you think
that is? Based on what conversation we're having, I'm guessing
it's not Tuesday through Sunday. That's correct. It's Monday in
twenty Now. Did you all also notice something when I
showed you that video of Alex Smith throwing a touchdown
pass to Logan Thomas.

Speaker 1 (02:02:15):
Yeah, nobody was there because it was twenty twenty. It
was twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (02:02:18):
Now, there were some random days where games were played
that year for obvious reasons, when they tried, ah, we
gotta have this, we gotta play games, but they don't
have any players, and they play some weird days. But this,
in fact was Monday, December seventh, twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (02:02:33):
And as you just.

Speaker 2 (02:02:35):
Saw, and those of you that catch it on the
old TV screen, as I showed it to you, the
sun was clearly not shining on the stadium. You think
it's okay for me to say that was at night?
Does that sound reasonable. Yeah, well, Monday, December seventh. I
just told you it's Monday, December seventh. We play multiple
Monday night games, now, don't we.

Speaker 1 (02:02:56):
M hmm.

Speaker 2 (02:02:57):
That was the first of two Monday night football games played. Now,
I believe the morons like Teddy Doesn't Know anything, Suns
and everybody else that continues to promote this are going
off of the semantics version of their idea of what
this game was. It was played on Monday, the sun's down,
it's Monday night.

Speaker 1 (02:03:18):
That's right. I guess it's a five o'clock kick.

Speaker 2 (02:03:22):
And you just said it yourself when the NFL says
this is one we're kicking off, this is one. We're
kicking off five o'clock Eastern. That's five o'clock in Pittsburgh
where the game is, so that's nighttime. No sun might
have been out for a few minutes of the game,
part of the game, a small portion of the majority
of that game's played in the dark, So can I
call that a night game?

Speaker 8 (02:03:43):
Now?

Speaker 2 (02:03:43):
The game aired on Fox, and I think that's why
people are trying to run with this, because you could
argue that it wasn't in the truest sense of what
we call Monday Night Football and the theme song that
goes with it, and the networked own the rights to
Monday Night Football because whether it was ABC for decades

(02:04:04):
and decades or now ESPN and ABC for the more
younger crew that's listening to us, that's Monday Night Football.
But the game was played on Monday, and the game
was played at night. Are you kidding me? With the
stupid ass regular season streak, It's the dumbest thing I've
ever heard. If you really a do you think it

(02:04:26):
matters that they won random regular season games against the
majority of non playoff caliber teams well over a thirty
four year Do you think that matters at all?

Speaker 1 (02:04:37):
How many of these.

Speaker 2 (02:04:37):
Games were won by Aaron Rogers Steelers with head coach
Mike Tomlin. If it's one, then that's relevant. If it's five,
that's relevant. We know it's not none of that. That
could not matter any less, And I still had to
disprove it. No, no, no, I get where you're going. And
it's the same as talking about the Texans for on
the road in the playoffs. That's then see the Texans

(02:05:00):
over on the road losing with Deshaun Watson and Bill O'Brien,
losing with bros Jswiler, losing with TJ. Yates, losing with
the showber now is during the day all irrelevant, even
though Demko has a little bit of hand in some
of that.

Speaker 1 (02:05:16):
It matters that they've lost with C. J.

Speaker 2 (02:05:17):
Stroud on the road and Will Anderson Junior complaining about
the officials on the road, and the rest of the
group that's been there for the last two trips or
even the last one trip, and obviously Demiko and Matt
Burke who've been on Frank Ross and the coaching staff,
many of whom have been on the road in the
playoffs basically with this core of a football team and
have come back very disappointed. A thirty four to ten loss,

(02:05:38):
a twenty three to twelve loss. These weren't one score games.
They were close at times. Clearly, I think the Baltimore
game goes very differently if Kaymi makes his kick at
the end of the first half, but they didn't do
anything in the second half, so who knows how much
differently it could have gone. Bottom line is they haven't
played very good football on the road in these two
road playoff games, and it was just twelve months ago

(02:05:59):
for one of them twenty four months ago. For the
other that is relevant.

Speaker 1 (02:06:02):
It's a whole new ball game at seven fifteen for
both organizations, and you know we can. This is why
you always laugh because I'm like, gosh, taking so long.
And then when they played the Buffalo game on Thursday night,
I was excited when we got to that game. Then
I was very sad after that win because I knew
it was going to be ten whole days before we

(02:06:23):
would see them again. And that's where we're at here
at five eight on the day of the game. I
cannot wait for that ball to go on the air
it might be, because it might mean that that's the
start of a very miserable night in Houston sports fandom,
because lord knows, we've had many of them. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:06:42):
I was asked quite a bit over the weekend if
I thought the Texans were going to win, and it's
half cop out half confidence. I said, if they win,
I think they're going to the super Bowl. But I
do think this is difficult to win. I think the
first game, the new you're in the playoffs, the idea
that they just played all these games where they really

(02:07:04):
need to win a lot of them, as it turned
out they won so many of them at the end
of the year, it wasn't a must win situation anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:07:10):
That's why they rested.

Speaker 2 (02:07:11):
Guys, So they did have a little bit of a
backoff vision was the only thing on the line, right,
but they got it at some point during the season.
You're row and three, you're three and five. I mean,
you can lose today and you're mathematically still available, You're
mathematically not eliminated. But now you just have your sixth loss,
I mean, how many more can you afford? And turned
out they could have afforded one more. They could have

(02:07:32):
lost their last game, but that really turned out to
be it. You know, Luckily, the North Division team that
could have been in it, and the Chiefs that could
have been in it, and the Colds that could have
been in it, they all had unbelievably bad finishes to
the season, so there wasn't anybody left to knock them
out of the playoff picture. But the mindset of playing
every week for just that week. They used it during

(02:07:53):
the first three games, which is why I don't think
it carried over into the next nine wins that they
had at the end of the season, because they were
still doing a lot of the things that or a
mark of how they're supposed to win games. They just
didn't win the first three, and they didn't win any
of their first five one score games, and then they
won every single one of them, seven consecutive one score games.
Over their final nine wins, seven of them were won

(02:08:13):
score games.

Speaker 1 (02:08:14):
They won them all. Yeah, article you talked about by
Djbenemy has some quotes from CJ. Stroud where he said
he was talking to a member of the offensive line, Jake. Yeah,
it was Jake. He was like, I think we're gonna
win out. I think we're gonna go fourteen to two.
He's like, it's not like these were getting blown out.
These were close.

Speaker 2 (02:08:31):
It was what we were saying here every day on
the show after these games, and it's like, but you know,
once you start zero to three, well you're going to
have to repeat history with like, say, seven other teams
or whatever it is, and one of those is you
back in twenty eighteen.

Speaker 1 (02:08:45):
It just didn't look likely even with all those things.
But yeah, they were one score games, and yeah it
was close, and we could have won this game in
that game. But nobody wants to hear that stuff. And
until you go out and do it. And then again
they still lost more games after that. They didn't go
four teen and two. They lost two more games after
those three. But if you to look back and what
you just uttered, you know, putting it out into the

(02:09:08):
universe is to happen if we look back, like twenty
years from now and the Texans went, you know, they
won the Super Bowl. This year, they get it done,
and you just look back, you don't know anything about
this team and you see, oh they were twelve and
five with the number one defense in the NFL. You'd
be like, of course they won the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (02:09:26):
Yeah, don't know what's going to happen after that, but
it clearly if you beat the Steelers, then you're going
to New England. Obviously, I'm now saying that I think
they go and win that game. And then if the
Bills have beaten the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (02:09:37):
The AFC Championship game is in Houston.

Speaker 2 (02:09:39):
Oh, it's a ways off and a lot of things
would have to happen for the Texans to.

Speaker 1 (02:09:44):
Make that happen. And ject that into my veins, and the.

Speaker 2 (02:09:46):
First things first on that couple other notes specific to
the game, especially what I think the Texans are going
to look like when they first hit the field defensively.
We'll get to that coming up.

Speaker 3 (02:09:57):
The ad on Sports Talks a Nike.

Speaker 1 (02:10:00):
It's better because I can see how they put it
all together.

Speaker 2 (02:10:03):
Max and Ty and the whole crew over there absolutely
killing it along with Justin.

Speaker 1 (02:10:06):
Well, I saw something that just made me. It's it's
a quirk, and I want to know what you think
of it. There are a lot of I mean, this
happens all the time where coaches who used to be
players are now you know, the head coach of a team,
not necessarily the team that they played for, but sometimes,
like in Tamiko's case, that happens. Well, when players arrive

(02:10:27):
these days, what are some of these staples As they're
walking off the bus and into a facility of any kind.
They've got their bag. Sometimes they have an insanely expensive
type of bag that's say more of a carry versus
a roller luggage variety, eh, Louis, yeah whatever. Some of

(02:10:47):
them are very very sharply dressed at times. Some of
them like to go more casual comfortable, But a lot
of times, what do they have on their heads or
in their ears? Headphones? Yeah, cans. How many coaches do
you see do that? Most coaches, I would imagine when
they if they're even highlighted on the video because most

(02:11:11):
of this is about the players.

Speaker 2 (02:11:12):
Because the players are in the game, and the players
are the ones who are they find worthwhile to show
what did they wear to the game? Which this matters
to people they care The coaches don't definitely don't care
about that aspect. That's it's never been a part of
this is why we need to have our cameras in
place and ready to go when the bus arrives, so
we can get a shot of the coaches outfit.

Speaker 1 (02:11:33):
That's sometimes well, a lot of times, especially in a
nationally televised game, and especially in a playoff game. Bill
Belichick's customary hoodie get up or whatever it was always
how many times did you see Bill Belichick with headphones on?
Eleven zero? Dimiko had headphones on walking into the building tonight.
I just thought that was funny because he still looks

(02:11:54):
like a player from that standpoint. He still looks like
a player anyways, but I guess I just thought, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:11:59):
He's really not that far removed obviously, but yeah, he's
the physique is that of a player, you know some
of the other guys who are former players that are coaching,
and heck, you forget about this, you know, I don't
know if you saw this. A lot of people did,
and it was pretty awesome, and they had all the NFL,
had all the coaches sit down for whatever it is
they do with all of them. But in the process

(02:12:20):
of that, they asked them this question, this trivia question,
and nobody knew the answer to it, and they were
all like, I don't want you to tell me. I
definitely should know, and you know, I can't believe I
can't figure this out. And again they're all just like
everybody else. But you realize as they're going through the list,
they're trying just to do the simple part first, because
there was a question about a current coach that was

(02:12:42):
a former player, and so the only way to get
to the answer, because they clearly didn't know it. They
were just racking their brains for who played in the league,
who's a coach that played in the league. And as
they go through it, you start to realize more and
more of them did play, and whether they made it
to the league, is that when? And then where they
were starting to question it did I did? Jerry Jones
played football at Arkansas? Right, So they the question was

(02:13:09):
which current head coach has more rushing yards in the
NFL than Bo Jackson? And Harbaugh is the first one
they show John and then they roll through all the
other coaches and Sean McVay is like, you better not
tell me, and I know this, and you see you
know Liam's in it, and Demiko's like he's stumped. He's like, hmm,

(02:13:29):
obviously he played in the league, so he's probably thinking
of what contemporary mine did I tackle or do this too?
Seems like it should absolutely be obvious, right.

Speaker 1 (02:13:39):
Well, Bo Jackson probably rushed for a few yards than
you'd think. He rushed for twenty seven and eighty two yards.
That's like a season these days, it's.

Speaker 2 (02:13:47):
Not that many, So clearly it's more about but just
think about it. Is the answer immediately coming to you
now and afterwards, even as it didn't come to you,
it seems so obvious, like who played in the league,
Just start with the division. To me go Shane Styke
and Brian Callahan and Liam Cohen was none of them
to Miko's defensive player and the other three guys didn't
play Vrabel. Well, I know he caught a lot of

(02:14:09):
touchdown passes. There's no way he ran for almost three
thousand yards, So it's certainly not him and Sean McDermott
and Aaron Glenn. Did Aaron Glenn get in on eight
thousand offensive plays so he could get to three thousand
rushing yards? No, Like you walk your way through it
and you're like, there weren't Dan Campbell. Okay, there were
a lot of who've played running back, who played wide receiver,
who played quarterback. There's an NFL head coach that was

(02:14:32):
an NFL quarterback. Yeah, and he's the answer, and it's
freaking John Harbor's brother, and he couldn't even remember. He
didn't even get the answer, right, Wow.

Speaker 1 (02:14:44):
Yeah, I wouldn't have thought of him. How many was it?

Speaker 2 (02:14:47):
Two seven and eighty seven as a square?

Speaker 1 (02:14:50):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (02:14:50):
Barely five more yards? God, that's but yeah, I would never.
I mean, there's probably a few head coaches that come
into the game.

Speaker 1 (02:14:57):
And that's over his entire how many year career.

Speaker 2 (02:15:00):
Thirteen years, fourteen years, scrambling, but coaches wearing earbuds probably
happens quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (02:15:06):
We don't, but we don't even see them.

Speaker 2 (02:15:08):
We don't hardly see them at all because they're not
featured as often they need to beat Like, are they
gonna show like if Mike Rabel walks into the game,
I could imagine them showing him, if Sean McDermott walks
into the game, or are they are they gonna show him?

Speaker 1 (02:15:20):
Well, if Mike Rabel walks in in a bomb Phillips
get up, they're definitely gonna show him.

Speaker 2 (02:15:27):
He had to do something out of the ordinary to
get featured, and then what happened.

Speaker 1 (02:15:32):
Happened building with an l that the Texans.

Speaker 2 (02:15:34):
Gave him, and he's super excited that that was part
one of the many losses he suffered in Tennessee that
that got him. Mouse died if I saw the number
correctly today, because I think Jonathan Gannon is now lined
up for an interview with the Titans. I think that's
sixteen coaches on their list of coaches to interview head coaches.
They have a head coach opening and they're they're going
to line up sixteen interviews, thirteen of which are former

(02:15:57):
head coaches. Mikelin's coaching tonight. There's nine teams left in
the NFL's race for the Super Bowl. Are there any
more openings coming from teams in the playoffs? I have
to assume if you've won a game or you won
the number one seed, you're happy there and they're happy
with you there. But just this last weekend plus tonight,

(02:16:18):
maybe people are still thinking Mike Tomlin's going to make
his way out and going to TV. Yeah, and I
brought up the l floor nonsense earlier. I think it's
total nonsense. But I can't automatically assume there's two guys
right there.

Speaker 1 (02:16:31):
Mike Tomlin very well could the Texans very well could
usher both Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin out of the
building for different scenarios. That would make sense.

Speaker 2 (02:16:42):
Unless Aaron Rodgers' wife wants him to retire like Jaselle did.
I can't imagine him watching what unfolded this year and thinking, yeah,
that's enough for me. Well he's too good still. I mean,
I can't know if I'm saying that about him. He's
on a one year deal or is it too he
does not have a deal for next year? Okay, well,
I mean does It might have been a two year deal.
But even if he does that doesn't it's not relevant.

Speaker 1 (02:17:03):
I mean, you're not entirely not fat like him, but
you're a you're approaching Philip River's status if you keep
playing mid forties.

Speaker 2 (02:17:11):
Without any break in between, and not with that kind
of you know that that boiler. I mean, then the
other thing that you mentioned. I lost my trant thought,
what was he the Tomlin tending his career with? You know,
if the season? I mean, but it couldn't at any point.
I don't see it. I don't know him. I don't
know if there's people in Pittsburgh that cover him that
have some real legs to why he would want to

(02:17:33):
walk away from coaching. Oh, I get into TV because
I don't know why I'd want to walk away from
the Steelers to go coach somebody else.

Speaker 1 (02:17:40):
You mentioned Matt Lafleur. I look, I I believe, I
know it was like a little bit of six degrees
of separation, connected dots, all that kind of stuff. But
the stuff floating out there about Harbaugh's agent having ties
to the Packers and being a midway and all that.

(02:18:01):
I mean, if there's some coaching opportunities out there, fine,
but if the Packers called up John Harball, it'd be
pretty hard to say no to that.

Speaker 2 (02:18:10):
In my opinion, John Harball is not a better coach
than Lafleur, and I think Lafleur is not blameless for
how things went in their last game.

Speaker 1 (02:18:19):
I think Ben Jones disagrees with you.

Speaker 2 (02:18:22):
Ben.

Speaker 1 (02:18:22):
Why am I doing this with him? Not Ben Jones?
Why am I doing this with I did this the
other day Chicago's head coach, oh, Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson,
I keep doing, Ben Jones.

Speaker 2 (02:18:35):
So when the Packers had the football, that handshake was
awesome and they were trying to score win the game,
bleed the Bears out of their timeouts, what have you?
This was before the Bears scored their touchdown.

Speaker 1 (02:18:47):
To take the lead.

Speaker 2 (02:18:48):
They continue to I like the idea of being aggressive
and trying to win the game and throwing the ball
and getting your first downs and all that stuff, because
the Bears were down to one time out with three
eleven on the clock. But in that situation, you probably
should not have done that on second down. I don't
know if you should have done it again on third down.
But you also had the delay of game, which they
never should have allowed to have happened, and it all

(02:19:10):
led to a missed field goal. I don't think they
managed the clock particularly well before the Bears got the
ball back. Probably would have helped his case. But just
general thought is, you don't win that many games. Even
though he's only coached games with Aaron Rodgers and Jordan
Love is his starting quarterback. That's a nice advantage to
have over everybody else. You're still trying to make your
team better. So now you're saying what he did winning

(02:19:33):
division championships in thirteen games and making the playoffs, and
we need we're going to be better than with somebody else.
You're aware of who's out there in the coaching circles
right now, the carousel and the interviews. I don't think
there are coaches better than him out there. I believe
very very strongly they're going to reach an agreement on
a contract extension because he is without one currently, and

(02:19:54):
he'll remain their head coach.

Speaker 1 (02:19:55):
But I'll tell you what, though, they did take a
step back from what I thought they would do this year.

Speaker 2 (02:20:00):
Yeah, as soon as Michael Parsons went out and their
defense became one of the worst in the NFL, and
they give up another thirty one points in this playoff game.

Speaker 1 (02:20:08):
I mean, they were awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:20:09):
Before that, I gotta get you out to your SPEC's
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Speaker 1 (02:20:15):
Love talking to you about this.

Speaker 2 (02:20:16):
The playoffs are ongoing, there's plenty of time to enjoy
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and you always will. It's what I do is I
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(02:20:37):
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gave you the stone cold Lock.

Speaker 1 (02:20:55):
You hear it right now.

Speaker 2 (02:20:56):
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(02:21:17):
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Speaker 1 (02:21:41):
The fun starts here.

Speaker 2 (02:21:44):
The ad on sporting case you missed it, there will
be Monday Night football next week. It's a college football game.
It's the college football game. It's the final college football game.
It's tenth seeded Miami against Indiana. It's basically a home
game to the Miami Hurricanes. It's not okay, but what

(02:22:06):
you missed this weekend? And I thought that's what I
was saving the other ugly for for Josh about an
hour ago, but he felt it wasn't ugly enough. I
guess Indiana's beatdown of Oregon, absolute woodshed beat down of Oregon,
and then the very very very good game that preceded
it between Miami and ole Miss. But Miami as a

(02:22:28):
I don't know if they should be in or not.
This is what you get when you're trying to figure
out who deserves it and who doesn't. It should show
you that the team that was fourteenth could have maybe
done this, the team that was ninth could have done this.
If you flip flop, there's That's what playoffs are about.
Miami went to Texas A and m held into a
field goal on one. They beat down Ohio State by ten,
and they came up with to play at the end

(02:22:49):
of the game to beat all Miss and now they
are headed for what I think will be a beatdown
in Sodas, Vegas. A larger spread for this game for
Indiana than the one they just had against Oregon, even
though they beat them by thirty four beat Bam by
thirty five in the game before that. As of today,
they're eight and a half point favorites Indiana to complete
their sixteen and oh season and win the national title.

Speaker 1 (02:23:12):
It's it's a story that in my opinion, can only
be made possible by the current.

Speaker 2 (02:23:20):
Conditions of college football for sure. And well, I mean
it shows you that really anybody can do this. Anybody
can do this, shows you it's possible.

Speaker 1 (02:23:31):
Right.

Speaker 2 (02:23:31):
I don't know that anybody can do what coach Signetti
has done at Indiana and the oh they only got
this many three stars and now just the money and
all that. It is amazing what they've done. It's been major,
major portal news over the last really forty eight seventy
two hours, including today, So we'll get to some of
those things as we continue. One last thing on an
item we've talked about a few times it really didn't

(02:23:53):
delve into is Alex Bregman has a new home. He
left Houston and went to Boston for what turned out
to be just a year, and now he will be
a Chicago Cub for the next five seasons unless it
doesn't work out. But there's no options on this. It's
not a player option or team option. You got a
five year deal to play there. A. J. Perzinski on
their podcast Foul Territory earlier today described a situation that

(02:24:15):
essentially had Boris and Bregman believing that the Red Sox
were ready to give them more, and the Red Sox
were believing that the idea that there was another suitor
for them that was offering more money did not exist,
so they just basically never increased their offer, and it
is sent. I don't know that it created a bad

(02:24:35):
blood or bad negotiating situation, but it almost sounds that way.
The bottom line is they didn't believe they had to
up their offer and didn't believe he was leaving, and
he took more money and went elsewhere, and now.

Speaker 1 (02:24:47):
He's the Chicago cub.

Speaker 2 (02:24:49):
So most people over the weekend were just taking the
very simple part of it, and it's all true. They
spent last offseason looking for a third baseman while they
had one, and Rafael Devers, they went over the top
with deal he couldn't refuse. We'll give you forty million
for the next three years if you want it, and
you get to choose if you want one year of
it or two years of it or three years of it,
and he did, he said, I'll take it. And then

(02:25:10):
Rafael Devers didn't want to be there and they didn't
want to be there, and it saved them from his contract.
They got out from under it. Great now neither of
them are there, and what you have in return for
them is far less than what you had before any
of these deals were made. Last thing, it also possibly
means it means the Red Sox are in need of

(02:25:31):
a corner infielder or quite possibly and quite likely a
third baseman. You Houston Astros have he sacked. Perettis long
been rumored to be interested by the interested in acquiring him.
Are the Red Sox they still need him? Is there
a package of players they could give you that makes
it worth your while? I think the Astros would have

(02:25:53):
to definitely be considerate of that offer, if there is
one to be made, even though I don't want to
see Perettis go, and I think he's a part of
their lineup and I think he makes their lineup work,
and I don't want him moved. But you really don't
have an answer with the roster you currently have. You
got too many players. Nobody wants Christian Walker. Well, the
amount of money you'd probably have to kick in, or
the amount of prospects that it would take for them

(02:26:14):
to maybe, I don't know what else you'd have to
add in personnel. I meant just simply that you're just
not getting anything in return, and it's not going to
say are you quite as much money as you wish
it would, because you're gonna have to eat some or
pay for some of that, pay down that money if.

Speaker 1 (02:26:29):
You decided to go that route. Are you looking for
starting pitching from the Red Sox or.

Speaker 2 (02:26:33):
A young if you're trading partis, I'd be willing to
listen to almost anything. I would love young starting pitching.
Even though I like what the Astros have done in
the short term, you still don't have a long term
answer with Hunter Brown, which I hope they are working on.
Same thing with Jeremy Pana. Paynya is one year earlier
to arbitration or out of club control that Hunter is.
But they have so much young talent there, I'd be

(02:26:54):
willing to listen on just about any of it. But
they do have good young starting pitching talent, and they
do have good young position laer talent as well. All right, Josh,
what else do we have? In case you missed it?

Speaker 1 (02:27:04):
All right?

Speaker 9 (02:27:04):
John Harball completed his interview with the Atlanta Falcons. According
to Schefter, he's been having conversations with the Giants, the Titans,
the Browns, the Raiders, the Cardinals, and now the Falcons. Now,
of course we have Matt Ryan as the president of football.

Speaker 1 (02:27:18):
That's official.

Speaker 9 (02:27:19):
That happened on Saturday, So I wonder how that'll plan
into all this.

Speaker 2 (02:27:22):
A lot of people were talking about the Harbaugh situation,
a lot of reporters trying to make sure what they
were saying was clearly understood. And I still don't clearly
understand it. You mentioned you just rattle off all the
teams he's spoken with to. They're trying to create a
distinction between interviewed with and spoke with. It sounds more
like he's doing a lot of the necessary work to

(02:27:43):
get an idea of what is it that you want,
what's your pitch? What can we do, rather than this
is a straight up interview. Other than and again timing
of these reports, I just wanted to clarify he's reached
out to these teams and he's just trying to get
a feel for what their pitch is. And but he
has an inn with anybody in person, like right at
that moment or fifteen minutes prior fifteen minutes after the

(02:28:05):
Falcons pushed this tweet out that he has we have
interviewed John Harbaugh for our open head coaching position. I
don't know that he met in person, so again, the
semantics of it is part of it. There may be
a team where he really likes what they're doing, even
though it's not the best quarterback situation. I don't know
why Matt Ryan being there would matter to him, same
thing as like I don't think Liam Cohen cared a

(02:28:27):
great deal that Tony Boselli was part of the Jacksonville group.
I think he cared more that he was able to
get their last GM fired so they can hire James
Gladstone and he apparently wanted to work with Trevor Lawrence. Also,
it's a head coaching job, and I think he wanted it.
This is not a first head coaching gig for coach Harbaugh.
I think he can absolutely pick and choose, name his price,
and probably create the front office however he sees fit.

(02:28:50):
He probably has that much.

Speaker 1 (02:28:51):
Power, and Matt Ryan is the latest example of I
was talking with somebody we both know about this. It's
not a new trend, but it's becoming more and more.
It's happening more and more often former players going into
the personnel side, and not just that, but having success.

(02:29:15):
I wonder if like he would never I don't know,
would you think of Matt Ryan as a guy that
would have gone into team building.

Speaker 2 (02:29:23):
I think when you're the owner of the only team
other than the Colts that you ever played for wants
to give you tons and tons of money to help
him run his entire football operation, you usually listen and
ultimately say yes.

Speaker 1 (02:29:35):
But didn't TV give him tons and tons of money
for much less work.

Speaker 2 (02:29:40):
I bet it isn't his much. I bet he got
more for this.

Speaker 1 (02:29:42):
He didn't get Brady money.

Speaker 2 (02:29:43):
Oh no, he definitely did not get Brady out.

Speaker 3 (02:29:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:29:47):
Hey, he knows this franchise. Well, I don't know that
it's automatic that it works. That's the one franchise basically
that he does know. Unless he's bringing some intel from
when he was with the Ursays in Indianapolis, But I
doubt it.

Speaker 3 (02:30:03):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (02:30:08):
Texans and Steelers tonight, they're inactive lists ninety minutes before
a game are out. Not too many surprises, probably none.
The Texans don't really have any injuries other than Juwar Jordan.
He's obviously inactive tonight, though I was not expecting to
see Christian Harris's name on the inactive list or Juice Scrugs,
but they both are inactive for tonight's game. Hopefully it

(02:30:30):
doesn't matter. Both of them are reserves. Scrugs has been
part of their kick unit at times, but for the
most part, he's the last lineman on the active roster
each week. Instead, that'll be Jared Kingston. Obviously, it means
Trent Brown is good to go, and we knew that
going into the weekend, so that's what their offensive line
availability be for this game. Christian Harris doesn't take snaps
as a linebacker pretty much ever, and certainly when everybody

(02:30:52):
is healthy, he's only a special teamer. But Jamal Hill
was healthy, so he will be in that role tonight.
Braxton Burrios, who survived the roster move that needed to
be made to get Jalen Reid on the roster for tonight. Instead,
they let Darryl Taylor defensive end go. Barrios is, as
has been the case almost the entire year, inactive for

(02:31:13):
tonight's game. Same with Elijah Huzzy. Graham Mertz is your
third quarterback, as has been the case all year. So obviously,
Davis Mills has made it to the game and is
QB two for tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:31:24):
It has come down to this our final segment. I
thought we'd never get here all of this so that
we can wait another hour and fifteen minutes following the show,
But we're getting closer and closer. It comes down to
if the Texans do what they do best, they win

(02:31:45):
this game, even on the road, even in the conditions,
even the crowd. By the way, we've talked zero minutes
and zero seconds about terrible towels, I don't think they're
that intimidating anymore.

Speaker 2 (02:31:55):
I think the atmosphere is going to be awesome. It's
a night game in Pittsburgh, it's cold, A terrible towel,
I mean, I mean maybe kind of a small thing,
but the yellow and gold of Pittsburgh Sports is awesome.

Speaker 1 (02:32:07):
I think every seed should do that.

Speaker 2 (02:32:09):
I think it's cool and I think it I mean,
I think it's impactful in that it's the atmosphere you want.
It's not going to prevent the Texans from communicating. I
don't think it's not going to prevent them from doing anything.
It really won't. Teams usually play better at home. It's
why home teams have great records not quite as pronounced
often in the playoffs. And we had two teams, both
of these six seeds, winning.

Speaker 1 (02:32:30):
On the road.

Speaker 2 (02:32:31):
So two home wins and our three home wins and
two home or whatever's left two teams that weren't expected
to win by being on the road. I guess you
could say winner, but that's it. I don't think it matters, honestly,
having home field matters. I don't think we just were

(02:32:51):
intimidated by their fans is a part of NFL football.

Speaker 1 (02:32:54):
You think they'll try any funny stuff Like was it
Chicago where the heaters were mysteriously broken for the road team?
Can't remember which it was a regular I think it
was a Packers Chicago game late in the year, like
right before Christmas, where I.

Speaker 2 (02:33:07):
Don't think there will be any Shenan against Night. There's
no notable changes to what I think everybody expected for
the inactive lists for these Steelers either. And something I
brought up Friday, when you look at the Steelers and
their yards per rush offensively, and you're looking at it
and oh, that doesn't make any sense. How did Kenneth
Gainwell and Jalen Warren both average over four and a

(02:33:28):
half yards per carry, but the team only averaged four
point three yards per carry. Aaron Rodgers didn't have that
many lost yard his runs, did he And the answer
is no. But they did have other running backs throughout
the year. Caleb Johnson's was one of them, and he
averaged less than two and a half yards of carry. Well,
he's not going to play tonight. I told you that Friday.
These guys that were part of their team during the year,

(02:33:48):
this is just one game. The two running backs they
are going to have the ball in their hands both
average four and a half yards per carry. Their team
average is based on that. Now, there are a much
better ground game team than I think people are giving
them credit for. The Texans are awesome stopping the run,
and I think that's step one to putting the pressure
on Aaron Rodgers. I don't mean the pressure to win.
I mean literally putting pressure on Aaron Rodgers so he

(02:34:11):
is not successful.

Speaker 1 (02:34:12):
Yeah, and a guy who gets rid of the ball
as quickly as he does, that is going to be
paramount even more so than it has been against well,
any quarterback they face this year, judging on the little
amount of time it takes for him to get rid
of the ball relatives to every other quarterback they've gone
up against, twenty four to sixteen, twenty one to seventeen,

(02:34:34):
I said, under thirty eight and a half.

Speaker 2 (02:34:35):
So if they keep them out of the end zone,
and sixteen presumably is a touchdown in three field goals
that the Steelers get, then I think they're in very
good shape. One touchdown, it's fine. Sixteen points, that's fine.
Twenty four to twenty seven points. I think you're starting
to look at a team that's wondering who they really
are now. The Texans need to score thirty to win,
and they gave up twenty seven and when they had

(02:34:55):
hardly done it all year. The last game notwithstanding, because
obviously is not their full defense. They played half of
a football game, not a very good half with Riley Leonard.
But I just think they are ready for this. This
is who they are. Who they are is a good defense.
And I keep going back to the fact that it's
not just this guy or that guy, or that group
or this group. There's no weakness in terms of personnel

(02:35:16):
on this team. I do think Jalen Reid is starting
tonight and probably taking every snap. Their personnel asks for
whatever groups they're gonna have out there. Most of the time,
that's two linebackers and five dbs. Occasionally, I think he'll
come off if they want a little bit different look
with totoa speed and Aziz al Shire on the field,
and against the Steelers and their heavy tight end usage,

(02:35:39):
they actually would be even a more tight end use
team if Washington hadn't gotten hurt. They went away from
it a little bit with his injury, but it's still
a team that puts a lot of size on the
field strength on the field with their personnel group. So
I think the Texans may look at that a little
bit more. But I think getting Jalen Reid back matters,
But he's the eleventh best player on their starting defense.

(02:36:01):
I think the top seven are the ones that matter
the most. Well, you got to make sure that one
doesn't get picked on so the other ten or seven
or five dominate.

Speaker 1 (02:36:10):
We talked about DK Metcalf coming back for them, and
I think were I can't remember which game it was,
we were talking about his stat line, but I wonder how
much of an impact, how much of an impact does
he have to make to where it's a problem for
the Texans. I guess is the best way to put it.

Speaker 2 (02:36:30):
They don't have an answer for him if he's successful
in the red zone, so they don't have to kick
a field goal because they were able to get the
ball to him. If he's able to outrun the Texans
defense and get behind them, things that have given them
problems times and certainly in their last game. I just
don't envision that happening. And usually deep balls require the
quarterback to hold the ball a little bit longer. That's
the thing, as much as it is.

Speaker 1 (02:36:51):
It does honestly, even at the age of forty one,
strike a little bit of concern in me that he
might try and do that in order to pass to
an open receiver, or even he might get loose with
the ball get it out of his hands in time.
But is the receiver going to be there waiting to
catch it relative to how fast it takes those two,

(02:37:13):
those two frothing at the mouth guys to get to him.

Speaker 2 (02:37:15):
Yeah, week offer Kamari Laster to get even more healthy,
and he's good to go. Obviously. Those are the things.
The two edge rushers being good to go, the two
cornerbacks being good to go, and Jonathan Alexander when he
joined us, and I put him on the spot with
and pick me a player, and he picked Kamari Laster
as the guy who may make the biggest impact on
the game or is the most important player. They've got
the two best corners in the league, and I think

(02:37:37):
that plays into how they're able to defend anybody, doesn't
matter what the offenses do. Jalen Petrie is one of
those seven players that drew all pro voting consideration from
the Associated Press, and for good reason. He very nearly
made first or nearly made second team. That's just one
more added benefit to this defense. And like I said,
I really feel good about the way that they have

(02:37:58):
played at their best, and that's what I think we
will see tonight. I think we saw that in both
of their games on the road in the playoffs in
the past, just not for the entire game, just not
for well, at some point, the offense has got to
do something. The offense has done almost nothing on the
road in the playoffs in back to back years.

Speaker 1 (02:38:18):
Name your anytime touchdown tonight. Kay Adams says Niko.

Speaker 2 (02:38:22):
That you didn't have to tell me that. I would
have guessed that, and that's who I would play as well. Yeah,
no question about it. I already I said last week
that's somebody I think goes off tonight, like off hundred plus.
You know, obviously the most heavily targeted player, Dalton Schultz
is probably a little bit of a wild card to
be more of an impact than we usually think. He
did have eighty two catches this year, which easily led

(02:38:43):
the team. Uh, those are the two guys that he's
leaned on the most. Talking about CJ, the offense has
leaned on the most in the past game, and I
don't see any reason why the Steelers defense suggests they
have to do something differently, And it can't be ignored
that it's it's We've I've seen it too many times.
And I love it that the Texans have been able
to bust off something huge in these games that seemingly

(02:39:07):
whether they're playoff games or late season must win game
types of scenarios, They've had some pretty awesome stuff out
of the gate, opening drive, opening play, something massive and
would shock me if we saw that tonight. Maybe a
big night for Woody Marks wouldn't hurt either. Not expecting it,
but I do think there are gonna be some opportunities
for him to take a short game and actually get

(02:39:29):
a bigger explosive play out of it for their run game.

Speaker 1 (02:39:32):
He's been sneaky, effective and is the traditional. As the
game goes on, it feels like he gets better guy
I would say about what he mark. So we shall see.
We'll have it all to discuss tomorrow afternoon when we
get back in here to talk about it. For now,
enjoy the Game Nightcap with Josh Jordan to get you
a little closer to kickoff. Coming up next