Texans survive Raiders, Chandler Rome in studio, college football takeaways

Monday on The A-Team, Adam Wexler is joined by The Athletic's Chandler Rome to discuss the Texans' win over the Raiders, all the college football action from the weekend, and the latest on the Astros' offseason plans.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Back from the weekend. Here on the A Team. A
Monday afternoon edition of the program, full four hour ride
for you today and with lots to discuss and a
special guest channel Roma of the Athletic covering the Astros
in Major League Baseball and assorted other sports topics. Today
is live with us in studio. As I asked him
upon seeing him in the building today, how was your weekend?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
It was good, It was good. Can't complain, you know,
had a Christmas party. Recovered from the Christmas party, now I'm.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Here, ready to talk. Texans, can't lose.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Ready to talk, Rockets don't really know what direction they're
headed in.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Ready to talk.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
We got four teams eliminated from the postseason on a
somewhat entertaining Friday night. I don't know about the Saturday
slate of the college football postseason, and the Astros were
involved in a three team deal not too many hours
ago that you are all over.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, the Astros are like fifth on that list too,
so it'll be.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Interesting, and I wonder when they won't be. As you
have followed the Astros this offseason, knowing that changes need
to be made and watching the rest of the American league,
even the team that was the best in the American
League a year ago. A lot of changes for the
teams in the American League East, a lot of changes
for the teams of the Astros Division the AL West.
Obviously some headed in the wrong direction, probably the other

(01:19):
team in the state, and some not. But we'll get
into all those things. Obviously, we come in here today
after the Texans. Well, they did what they've been doing,
which is winning. That's the simplest way to put it.
But the manner in which they won. Obviously, inside the
locker room after the game, I was in there, and
that was definitely a topic of conversation. If they were saying,
our defense wasn't up to our standard last week and

(01:39):
their twenty point win over a team that's going nowhere, well,
they certainly don't think their performance as a team was
up to their standard. When it's a twenty three to
twenty one victory over a Raiders team, Oh, they just
don't beat anybody. They are on a long losing streak.
They're a bad football team. They're playing, players are playing,
but their organization is playing for draft position. And the

(02:00):
Texans had to come back from down in the second
half of that game, had some trouble with Ashton genty
and many other things that took place, and obviously, as
I alluded to, with the Rockets, in the last two days,
they had their most impressive win of the season and
one of their most disappointing losses of the season. Actually,
in their last three games they've had two of the

(02:21):
latter incredibly disappointing loss with a twenty five point second
half lead over the Pelicans and then yesterday a fourteen
point fourth quarter lead against another awful basketball team. There's
five teams in the West that are not inside the
top ten the so called playoff picture. The teams in
the play in tournament are better, and the Rockets have
lost to four of them. They'll have a chance to

(02:41):
make it five tomorrow night when they play the Clippers.
But I know your stance on the Texans. Normally when
you wrap up our brief interviews with us, always just
nothing but graciousness and appreciation for the organization that they've
built over there and the position that they're in. If
you want to look a consistent winner over the last

(03:02):
three years, then there's no better place to look than
the Texans.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
I watched the whole game yesterday, so I know it
was coming in here. I did my homework, I did
my prep. That was not impressive. That was not encouraging.
That that looked like a team that just I don't
want to say they were ill prepared, because I don't
think that's the case. I think it looked like a

(03:27):
team that knew they were playing a two win team
with a that's already fired like three of its coordinators
and could fire its coach soon like very much. Looked
like they knew they just had to get out there
and roll the balls out and they'll probably win, and
they almost didn't. That was It was not encouraging. I
hated the uniforms too. All read I usually look I

(03:49):
liked the Texans general layout aesthetic uniforms. Those were hideous.
Those uniforms were hideous.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
A lot of people disagree. I'm one of them. I've
said this before.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm not really usually a huge fan of the all
one color uniforms, certainly the ones that are the Texans
reds from head to toe, including their helmets. Actually like
their previous version of the red helmet better than this one.
But I'm not really too concerned with how they look
from a gear standpoint, much more like you said how
they looked in performance. Seven game winning streak, and this

(04:25):
is the fifth time it was a one score victory.
They had a one score victory over the Lowly Titans,
it was a sixteen thirteen victory. Now they've had a
twenty three to twenty one victory over the Lowly Vegas Raiders.
Two of the three teams or among the teams with
just three wins or fewer. It isn't that far out
of the ordinary for a team that still doesn't look
like they figured it out offensively. And I said it

(04:47):
yesterday to a couple people as we were covering the game,
and I'll say it here. Obviously, I have been looking
at Nick Cayley as the offensive coordinator this season, first
year as a play caller, first year here in Houston,
first year working with this offense, and I think he's
done nothing but get better all throughout the season. Thought
it was miserable ideas that he put out there the
first couple weeks, granted I think their offensive line was

(05:09):
matching those ideas.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
They were terrible.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
And then in the weeks that have come since, I
thought they're to have good game plans, good ideas, putting
guys in positions to succeed. Both Davis Mills did it
and then CJ. Stroud did it as part of this
winning streak, and I didn't see any of that yesterday.
I thought that was a terrible game called by Nick Cayley.
Whatever they saw during the week, whatever they planned on doing,
and then they tried to execute it. This just in

(05:32):
you're not gonna beat the Raiders to the edge. The
pitch plays over and over and over, and guys trying
to run outside the tackles against the Raiders with who
they had in front of them. I don't know if
I'm pretty sure Nick Cayley's at practice. I've been there,
He's been there.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
I'm joking.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
But blocking some of the Raiders front seven consistently with
your tight ends and your wide receivers, I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
CJ also played terror first half was awful. Like he like,
I get it, Like the OC is like the guy
that gets all the blame all the time. But like,
if you want to fancy yourself a franchise quarterback, if
you want to fancy yourself as you know, the leader,
the guy that can take the team, this suit like
that he missed just some open throw like he had
Nico Collins a couple times in the first half and

(06:18):
just just flat out and missed him. Like I don't
know what the OC needs to do on that, Like like.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
No, nothing.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
I think you're right, and my thought is, well, there
are so few guys running in those plays. What you're
talking about the first half, he threw Nico out of
bounds three times. They were they weren't the exact same
play calls, but it's such a low percentage play. And
then CJ was way off just like you're saying these
throws were uncatchable. These throws were well, he made one
of the catches, but he obviously couldn't stay in bounds,

(06:45):
and then two others just were nowhere near him and
way out of bounds. That was one of the least
accurate halfs of football with protection that CJ's had probably
all year.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
And they got I mean, they got bailed out on
that PI on four on third and twenty two. Like
I mean, you think about it, like that ball was
uncatchable and probably it's probably not a p I, but
you know what, you're at home, you're gonna get that call.
I get it, but it's uncatchable. But they get bailed
out like your third and twenty in your own end zone,

(07:18):
Like you don't get bailed out by that. I don't
know how that game looks because for as good as
the defense has been, Ashton genty certainly uh did not
show much respect for that vaunted Texas defense, that vaunted
Texans defense. You know, if Derek Stingley doesn't get the
pick six in the first quarter, how different is the game? Like,

(07:40):
I mean, yeah, we can do all the what ifs
and everything, but I mean, I guess the moral of
the stories they won, like, yay, they won, that's what
needed to happen, Like they needed to keep pace with Jacksonville.
Like I get it, but if if that is the
first time and I've watched I have not watched every
game they have played this year, but that's probably like
the third or fourth full game I've watch them play
this year. It was not I did not leave that thinking, oh, man,

(08:04):
like this they're ready for a deep run. I did
not look They did not look good.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
No, they didn't.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
And again that's you know, not necessarily want to come
in here and talk about, oh my god, these guys stink.
These are terrible. Take a look at the rest of
the AFC. While every team in front of them they're seventh,
they remain there. The six teams in front of them,
they all won except for one of the two teams
that played each other. The Broncos and Jaguars played each other.
The Broncos lost, so everybody else won. All the Texans

(08:30):
are doing week after week after week. All the Texans
moved into the seventh seed that was weeks ago. They
remained there because the Chargers and the Bills, and the
Jaguars and the Patriots, they just keep winning. Matters a
little bit less about the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to win
because they're somewhat locked into that last division winner spot
in the AFC seeding. They'll be the number four seed
that looks like they haven't clinched yet. A couple teams

(08:51):
at the top have clinched and nobody else has. The
Texans have not, and they cannot. Even with the Colt's
lost tonight. Technically, they don't necessarily have to win any
more games. Even if the Colts lose their next two
games or win their next two games and tie them,
the Texans could still make the postseason based on a
tie breaker. But yes, it's pretty simple now. I if

(09:12):
you get to two wins ahead of the Colts, if
they lose tonight, the odds of you missing the playoffs
are almost zero. And the Texans out the Chargers on Saturday,
a little bit of a short week, they'll get started tomorrow.
Their normal Wednesday will move up a day, obviously a
travel day Friday for them, and then they close out
the season with a Colts game that still yet to
be determined how much importance will be on that game.

(09:32):
Colts are really the only team, where technically literally the
only team that can keep the Texans out of the playoffs.
The Ravens lost last night eliminated them from a wild
card competition. So if the Colts don't pass the Texans,
then nobody will and they will be in the postseason.
And we'll take a look at how the other teams
while they all won. I'm sure Buffalo's sports radio sounds

(09:53):
a little bit like this. Today they played the Browns.
They won twenty three to twenty. Josh Allen had to
leave the first half early to get a minor injury
checked out. They did not look good, but they keep winning.
I don't know what to think about the Texans opponent
next week, because the Chargers got to play the Cowboys.
They looked awesome offensively, and as soon as the Cowboys

(10:14):
stopped looking offensive awesome offensively, that game was over.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, everyone looks good again. Every offense looks good against
the Cowboys. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Two more games with Matt Eberfliss as a defensive coordinator
for Jerry Jones Cowboys, and then he.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Would Yeah, what did Jerry say the other It's not
gonna be difficult.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
I've been looking for the actual audio of his availability
after games, which he almost always has, because different people
have made it out like he said it in a
way that well, yeah, that will be an easy decision.
I think he was more from what I gather saying,
this is what we do at the end of the season.
We evaluate everybody, and we'll make the decisions. I don't

(10:52):
know that it was quite as crushing a blow as
it actually should be because they've been terrible and he
is in charge. Their defense stinks. It's helping to prevent
them from winning. So yes, I do think we're going
to see the last two games for him. A lot
of things obviously for us to roll into today. Channel
will be with us for the next couple of hours. Obviously,
take your calls, your texts, your tweets. If you know

(11:12):
Channeler's number, feel free seven one three two one two
five seven nine if you want to jump in on
the conversation. We'll welcome you in here and get it
all of the things that entertained us over the weekend
here on the A Team, the eight we've got holiday
editions of the A Team. The rest of the year
began on Friday, and we'll run through well the rest

(11:33):
of twenty twenty five, though there aren't very many shows.
We'll go full for you tomorrow and then we'll take
the rest of the week off well, do the same
thing next week. I'll actually visit with you a little
bit on the thirty first, in advance of Longhorns Wolverines
Citrus Bowl. Get your cheese, it's ready. I'm not sure
how many players will be available for that game. As
we can continue to learn of more. Uh, I'm entering

(11:55):
the transfer portal players or the NFL draft players, those
teams that have players in bowl games that aren't playoff games.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
It happens quite a bit. It happened again.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Even just in the last handful of hours, we eliminated
four of the college football playoff teams. We have eight
remaining and they'll get back on the field a one
game on the thirty first, three more games on January first.
Anything stand out from the four games that we saw
Bama and OU Texas, A and M putting up three
points at Kyle Field against the U where I think

(12:28):
the biggest story from that game was the Michael Irvin
slobbery kiss to the head coach of Mario Christobal. The
second I saw it, I said, well, that should be
a meme in about five seconds with him violently wiping
the slabber off of his face.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
I mean, it wasn't great, but it was competitive. At
least it was like intriguing. You can't say the same
about the other two games, which is why we need
to all grow up and as a society understand that
like one group of five team is fine if one
group of five team earns its way in sure, But

(13:04):
I come on, like, would you have read I would
have rather watched b Why you try to go beat
Oregon or Texas? Try to go beat Oregon or Notre Dame.
Try to go beat ole Miss, like it just they're
not it's they're not on the same level. Like I
think Nick Saban went a little bit too far in

(13:25):
saying the triple A triple A in the World Series,
because I think that's it's a little insulting to the
the people that work there, the kids that try hard.
But like it's evident that like if you want competitive
games and if you want you want to determine like
the true champion, Like those two teams got buys like

(13:47):
ole Miss, that was a glorified scrimmage.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
And think about it this way.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Ole Miss regular season eleven and one don't make the
SEC title game, they get the six seed. Texas A
and M eleven and one don't reach the SEC to
same record they were ahead of them all season long. Obviously,
they lose to Texas at the end of the season
and they draw the seven seed. Well, that's a pretty
huge difference between playing two lane, which ole Miss got

(14:12):
to do for a second time, and playing Miami, who
just beat Texas A and M just because ole Miss
was six and Texas A and M was seven.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
I see what you did there?

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Oh my gosh, did I really I see what you
did there? I mean, that is where the breaking point
is when you see those teams five through twelve and
those are your matchups. Inevitably that that particular place in
the seedings could end up being a pretty big difference.
And that's exactly where it's gonna be if this is
how they decide to outfit the postseason. Most years, absolutely,
we got two no contest games. There are blowouts from
the jump. I don't think anyone's gonna say, oh my god,

(14:44):
jam you scored thirty four points. What do you mean
that game as a blowout from the moment they kicked off.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
And let's not act like A and M and Miami
with some work of art. It wasn't, But I agree
with you it was. It was compelling, right like because
they were like A and M had a good defense
all year. Miami's like they were playing good football, like
they like both of those teams deserve, like they were
on a level playing field.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
Like.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
It was not a work of art, and hell, Alabama
Oklahoma wasn't. Some wasn't some masterpiece either, but it was
compelling because Alabama got down seventeen to nothing. And I'm
not sure that the tweets fly and I'm I'm not sure.
I thought they were gonna come back and win the
whole thing. But I was like, you know what they're doing.
Seventeen nothing, But like it's Alabama, Like they got dudes,

(15:30):
Like they'll they'll make this competitive. Tulane gets down seventeen nothing,
You're like, they have no chance, Right, they have no chance.
James Madison got down what like twenty.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
To three, right, And we're not talking about the fifteenth
or sixteenth best team getting into the top twelve postseason
or the eighteenth or the twenty. I mean, that's that's
a big difference in the two teams this particular season
that made their way in the ACC, partially to blame
because of the lack of competitive teams in their conference. Obviously,
the team that won the Common didn't even make the

(16:00):
playoffs because of their conference title game featured a team
with five losses and Virginia couldn't even beat them. The
ACC's biggest news today is Bobby Petrino is going to
be on the same sideline next year as Bill Belichick.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
He's been hired as their new OC.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
I hope they do hard, and I hope they actually
go through hard. I hope Jordan lets hard knocks go
through this time because I'd love to see.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Can't Bill just say, don't you have a very very
important co ed cheerleader competition that starts in August and
ends in January that you need to go to and
you won't be around for that. I mean, I'll miss you,
and I'd love to have you around. But if you really,
if that's your focus and this is what you still
like to do in your mid twenties, then go ahead.

(16:41):
I mean, I'll survive. I'll have my football team, I'll
have my recruits, my other kids. If you will, and
maybe you're right, maybe they will let the cameras inside.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, he has to go to the co ed cheerleading competition,
so it just because.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
He has a good boyfriend. You're right, he has.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
To, just because he tells her like you have this,
like he's got to be there. So I don't know
that excuse will fly.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
It is quite a story never going away. I don't
think it goes away when they win. If they win,
and I don't think they're going to win, but we'll
stick to the games at hand. The matchup set for
the upcoming weekend, so a little bit of chatter about that,
but again, just as the postseason in college football does,
they have to play on the thirty, first and first,
So we are another ten days away basically from those

(17:22):
games happening, those games taking place, and then we'll get
to our final four. The four teams that were off,
including Texas Tech who now has the game against Oregon
this coming week. Being in the top four is great,
gets you an off week expand or extends you deeper
into the postseason. Probably would have been some kind of
scene in Lubbock had they been in a home game
situation this past weekend, but that's where we are in

(17:45):
college football. I'm sure there will be slight tweaks as
we move forward and get ready for us to complain
about teams thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen that make the
postseason in future years, not next year, but in future years.
So that football obviously those topics in front of it.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Just one thing on.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
The on the Aggie game, since we're talking about it
with CJ. That was just a bad day for Marcel Reid.
It wasn't his first bad day and more of them
have come recently. Is very much like the first half
against South Carolina. He had guys open too. I do
think Miami was pretty good at being in position to
prevent big plays, but they had no chance for gains

(18:22):
because he just missed his wide receivers too often.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
At least Marcel Reid has the excuse of the wind
was apparently wailing. It was, and I mean you saw
it with the kickers, like I mean it was.

Speaker 4 (18:33):
It was.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
We saw it with the kicking competition before the.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Game, right At least at least Marcel Reid could fall
back on that excuse. But yeah, he he didn't play well,
you know he. I will say though, that last drive
that they put together to get down to the you know,
ten yard, I when he threw the pick, I actually
texted a couple of friends and I said, I hope
they go for two, which I kind of wanted them
to go for two, just given how the kicking had gone,
and like look, you're you're at home, like you just

(18:56):
do it, like you've got them on back on their heels.
That would have been that would have been epic if
they would have driven down, scored and gone for two
and not gone overtime.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
And teams that have talents, athletic talents like Marcel Reid
at quarterback. I would be going for two non stop.
It's so difficult to stop. There's so many variations that
they can run at you, and so many ways a
play you can defend it perfectly, and then re just says, well,

(19:24):
there's nobody open, I'll just run over here and get
in the end Z and I'm only two yards away.
I would have absolutely loved to see that as well.
He had a receiver open at that on that final pass,
and he threw it behind him and threw it late
and it was picked off.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
So there you have it. That's how the Aggie season goes.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
I know there are plenty of long Horn fans that said, hey,
the Longhorns and the Sooners and the Aggies they all
had the same number of playoff wins this year. None,
but at least those two teams were there, so they'll
get too happy about it. Long Hoards, you were making
news anyway, bringing back screaming and yelling. Will must champion
of the Fold. As he continues to rec point himself

(20:00):
with more teams in the SEC, rejoining the Texas Longhorns,
you name it, if they're in the SEC, it feels
like he has been at that university doing something for them.
Over the past fifteen to twenty years, we hit best
of X. Never a shortage of things on social media
for us to pick apart, enjoy, or comment on ourselves
best of X.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Next here on the A Team.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
That way through our number one with special guest co
host Chanlo Rome in studio with us, we go through
the best of X. Sometimes it's comedy, sometimes it's a tragedy,
sometimes it's entertaining, and hopefully sometimes it's all of the
above best of X. Probably people learned for the first
time yesterday or over the weekend, I should say, maybe
even from you that Esach Parentis is playing baseball.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
He is. He is DHD and winter Ball of the
same team that says ourselves ours on. I think John
Singleton's in the league as well. Twoky Tussant pitched I
think in one of those games. But yeah, it falls
in line with what Dana Brown told us at the
winter meetings that they expect Deesak Paradus to be a
full go in spring training. If indeed he is in

(21:12):
astro spring training, I guess that's still up in the air.
But good for him, good to see him dhing back
as healthy as he can be for December twenty first.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
We'll keep it with you here for Best of X.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
The Astros trade obviously netted them one player sending out
to two others in that three team deal on their
prospect list, Yes, two of their top ten prospects, with
Anderson Brito on Jacob Melton being sent out in order
to bring in major league pitcher Mike Burrows has been
through Tommy John surgery, was a very productive major league

(21:44):
starting pitcher last season, despite not pitching deep into hardly
any of his pirates starts, though very effective and got
very very effective late in the season. But as you
broke that story and continue to figure out all the
pieces and where things were going, and who's coming out
and who's coming back, and why this was being done,
you got a lot of feedback on what people thought

(22:05):
from all angles of this deal. Why don't we start
with what you felt like people were saying on social
media about sending away Jacob Melton and Anderson Brito.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, I think in general, fans get attached to prospects.
I think that's just a general sentiment across every fan base.
It's not just the Astros. So I think initially there
were a lot of people that were like, oh, Jacob
Melton's the next great thing, and or they watched Anderson
Brito strike out the world in the airs on a
fall League and thought, you know, he's the next thing.
And then I think the funny dichotomy of that day

(22:38):
was like, we broke the Ashers three team trade, and
then the Shane Bose trade broke about forty five minutes later.
And I think when everyone saw what the Orioles had
to give up to get a guy with three years
of control left, not six like Mike Burrows, I think
everyone was okay. I think everyone was like, you know what,
if that's the going rate, if that's the market price

(23:00):
for starting pitching, We're okay giving up Jacob Melton, who
got passed over for Zach Cole in September. You're okay
with giving up Anderson Brito, who is just twenty one
years old and has never pitched above high A and
is not exactly the largest human being in the world.
Not saying that short, not saying that short guys can't

(23:20):
get it done, not saying that you know they've got
something in him, don't get me wrong. And I just
think that they traded two redundant prospects. You know, they
traded from a surplus in center field, and then the
Astros' pitching development infrastructure has gotten the benefit of the doubt,
like they can develop another Anderson Brito, Like I am
willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on that.
So to me, they traded two redundant prospects for a guys,

(23:43):
for a guy with six years of major league control,
I thought it was a good trade.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
So similarly, the feedback on a pitcher in Burrows, what
did you feel like? The initial back and forth on
social was about him, and then maybe as time, even
just two days passed by, people started to say about
Burrows being a part of this rotation, probably on the
front side of a five or six men starting rotation.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I don't think people I don't think people looked
at it and said, oh, he's he's a front line, he's
an ace, Like I certainly think they understand that this
is still a guy that is a work in progress.
He's throwing what ninety six big league innings. You know,
they wanted him to throw the two seamer more, and
you know, just the Astros propensity for this right, Like,

(24:28):
they get a pitcher and they are going to tweak him.
They're going to do some things different with either his usage,
with either his sequencing, where he's throwing pitches, what he's throwing.
So I don't know that the Mike Burrows you saw
in Pittsburgh last year is going to resemble much the
Mike Burrows you see in spring training this year. But
he's he's not a finished product, but he is the

(24:50):
sort of upside play that they were looking to get
all this was. This was the arc type of what
they wanted all winter. And believe me, they ran on
Shane bas They very badly wanted Shane Bozz. They were
never going to pay that price though. Shane Boz though
a little bit more of a you can see a
front line ace kind of potential there. I mean, former

(25:11):
first round pick, he has shoved against the Astros before. Like,
this stuff is incredible, which is why the Rays at
such a high asking price on him. I don't think
Mike Burrows is there yet, but you can see a
world where this guy morphs into a solid, above average
middle of the rotation starter.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah, very big, big, big time prospect was Boz out
of Concordia Lutheran here in Houston. I'm sure a lot
of people remember when he was drafted, why he was
drafted there, and then the length of time threw a
lot of injuries it took for him to establish himself
with the Rays. He made his major league debut with
the Rays in twenty twenty one. He became an established
major leaguer last year for the first time in twenty

(25:52):
twenty five, starting thirty one games. He was able to
stay healthy, he was able to give him a lot
of innings, and as you noted, with the prospect hall
that they got for him, I don't even know if
the Astros could say, do you want our top six
prospects and then go on the phone with the Orioles
and say, well, let's balance it against that deal, it
wouldn't have It would have been a worse deal.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
I mean, I can say this, like they offered the
Rays Anderson Brito and Jacob Melton for shame, and the
Rays essentially laughed at them. The Rays were like, yeah,
that's a start. What else do you have? And it
quickly became apparent that that was not going to uh,
that was not going to work all right.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
The Astros open the season with five starters, all of
whom are part of the organization right now. Obviously, Hunter
Brown gets the ball on opening day, what's your best
guess on who gets the ball the next four days?

Speaker 2 (26:42):
So it's weird. I think they're going to open in
a six man rotation because they played twenty five games
in twenty seven days to start the year, including a
stretch of thirteen in a row. So I think they
have a six man rotation to start there. But to
answer your question, if we're going with five, I'd say
Hunter Brown, Christian Xavier, Mike Burrows. I'm gonna say Lance
mccullors Junior. I'm gonna say Spencer Arraghatty. I think that

(27:05):
is your If you are going with five, I think
that's your five to start, and then I think you
get to the fascinating conversation to have is like the
Ryan Weiss Nate Pearson part of this, because in a
six man it makes perfect sense, like r you have
Ryan Weiss and then you have Nate Pearson stretched out
and you piggyback one of those days to save your
short handed bullpen and a six man. But yeah, I

(27:28):
think Lance mccullor's is gonna get an opportunity. I mean
he has afforded that at least like this will be
his first full healthy offseason in a very long time.
It is his last year under contract. He is being
paid as a starter. He is not a bullpen arm.
He never was a bullpen arm. He didn't want to

(27:49):
be there last year. It is that is not him.
He is a starting pitcher, and so he is going
to get every opportunity to, you know, prove that he is.
But I think you'll find out a lot the first
month of the season in that setup as to whether
how viable and how tenable it is to keep him
in that rotation.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Is number sixty nine aj blue Ball, a major league
pitcher for the Astros next season when they break camp.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
I think he's in the same boat as Nate Pearson.
I think you've got they will stretch him out in
spring training, because again, it's much easier to stretch a
guy out in spring training and then send him to
the bullpen as opposed to come in as a reliever
and then start to stretch him out in the last
week of March. It's just a lot easier and more practical.
To do it that way, I think I think it'll

(28:36):
may be tough for him to crack the opening day roster.
But I think, and I've said this since last year
when I would come in with you guys, wex like
internally they view him as a reliever. Internally they think
he is better out of the bullpen than as a starter.
So I think his future probably is in a bullpen roll,
but I think he will be I know he will
be stretched out in spring training and he'll be given

(28:56):
every opportunity to win a spot in that rotation because
I think the one thing I can say is that
there will be a lot of open competition in spring
training for the back end. For these you know, three, four, five,
the third, fourth, and fifth spot in rotation.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Should be entertaining to watch it unfold, and quite likely
they aren't done looking at starting pitching for this major
league ball club over the next couple of months before
spring training begins. We haven't even addressed the offense other
than to mention they have a glut still since peretis
in Korea and Altuve and Christian Walker and Jeremy Pania

(29:31):
are all still Houston Astros lots to get to still
Jandlerome in house, take some calls and roll through some
more of what we had from this past weekend.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Here on the eighteen.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Hey, here on the A team with Chandlerome sitting in
for AC. Be with us for the next five segments.
All the way through we get to four o'clock if
you want to jump in on the conversation, All fair
game SEC Football College football playoff. Texan's totally dominating the
Raiders yesterday and the most impressive game of their season,
the Rockets finding a way to have one of their

(30:03):
most impressive wins and two of their most disappointing losses
over the last four days, and of course, Astros Baseballs
they pulled off a three team deal and are still
looking to figure out exactly what's going to be the
look of this team as they roll through the twenty
twenty sixth season. Have overhauled some of the coaching staff
as well, So any of those things on your mind
will certainly weaight in on them. Seven one three two

(30:24):
one two five seven ninety seven one three two one
two five seven ninety Demico Ryans already meeting with the
media a little bit earlier today. Uh they have a
little bit different to media schedule this week because of
the short week and the trip out to La coming
up on Friday. Couple of injuries for the Texans in
the game yesterday, A couple of injuries for the Texans
that left both their starting running back and starting linebacker

(30:47):
middle linebacker off the field for Sunday's victory. So I'll
let you know what he had to say about those
four players as we continue. We want to work some
of you in on the conversation here and happy that
you are set to join us. We get out to
the phones and get Steve in here on the conversation
this afternoon. Hey, Steve, welcome into the program. What's on
your mind this afternoon?

Speaker 6 (31:07):
Good afternoon, guys, can.

Speaker 5 (31:09):
You hear me?

Speaker 7 (31:09):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (31:10):
Absolutely, yeah, mister Rome.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
It's a pleasure to listening to you. I like your
insight and you're always a very professional. My question is
this last year I was not have any problem with
our pitching. It was our hitting and getting people in
from from the bases. What avenue are they going to
Are they going to put Petis at first base and
leave Career at third? Are we going to get somebody

(31:36):
to replace whoever's playing in left field because we need.

Speaker 8 (31:40):
An arm out there.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
I'll two days, not the not the not the answer.
So if you could just maybe address those few few points,
enjoy your show, having Mery Christmas every New Year's y'all.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Thank you, Steve, Merry Christmas. Steve Well. I think that's
that's a big question right now, is like how is
their in field going to look because they have they
have five guys for four positions and Steve. The way
the offense is going to improve is Jordan Alvarez playing
upwards of one hundred and thirty games like they missed him,

(32:15):
so it is impossible to overstate how much they missed
him last year. He is when he is healthy, he
is a top five hitter in all of baseball. Just
having him there, having him able to stand up to
swing a bat, having him available will immediately make the
offense better. It will move everyone down a rung in
the lineup. It'll help, you know, hitting with runners in

(32:36):
scoring position, because guys that were coming up with runners
on base won't come up with runners on base because
they'll be knocked down the batting order a little bit.
And health is the same thing everywhere, Like East Ok
Paradis was the best hitter on the team for a
little while, he missed two months with a strain hamstring.
Jeremy Pania was had a breakout season, missed the last
two weeks because of an oblique got hit in the ribs,

(32:58):
broke his ribs, missed a month. Like, They've got to
stay healthy. The guys that took the most at bats
last year were Joseel Tuvey, who had a down year,
Christian Walker, who led the team in home runs but
had a down year, Mauricio Dubon who's no longer on
the team, and Cam Smith, who was going through a
lot as a rookie. Just a tough adjustment for him.

(33:18):
So health is going to be appre They changed the
hitting coaches and all that, and I get everyone's all
excited about that. But if these guys are healthy, then
that's the biggest key. But they still do have to
figure out the infield wex And I don't know that
I've gotten your I don't know that I've gotten your
thoughts on what they should do, because I've got my opinion.

(33:39):
My opinion is that it's not going to work if
you go to spring training and you try to convince
all these guys that, hey, you're not going to get
every day at bats, it's not going to work. They
may say all the right things publicly, they may be
team first guys in the media when they talk to us,
but that's not going to go well. When you're trying
to tell established big league players that thrive on routine,

(34:02):
that thrive on playing every day, and a lot of
them need counting stats to get paid, it's not going
to go well if you try to do this, Oh,
you're going to play four or five times a week.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
You got four spots in the infield, you got left field,
and you have the designated hitter spot, and you have
six players. You'd think there'd be a way to maybe
figure it out and make it work, which you have
very limited positional flexibility. With Esach Peretis. I think the
belief is, well, he could probably do this or probably
do that. There's actually less positional flexibility with Jose Altuve

(34:36):
because it doesn't matter where you put him, it's going
to be awful. He's a terrible left fielder. He's a
way below average second baseman, the designated hitter position. Based
on your conversations with Joe Espada seemed destined to be
the one. That's where Jordan Alvarez is going to be.
They don't know what else to do to keep him healthy,
other than ask him to do less baseball. Play less baseball,

(34:59):
meaning don't run around and chase fly balls, don't run
into the wall out in the outfield, don't use your
arm to throw it.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
Just go up to the plate and hit.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
He had seventy eight played appearances when he came back
in August and September, and he's had a ten thirty
one ops. He slugged five sixty nine, he hit three
sixty nine. He barely played last year, and he certainly
didn't play like that at any other point during the
season because at the beginning of the season almost assuredly
he was not healthy and couldn't hit because of the

(35:28):
injury that kept him out for most of the season.
That'll change everything they do. Two players aren't being moved.
Carlos corret is playing third base, Jeremy Pane is playing shortstop.
If Christian Walker is here, he has nowhere else to play,
He's playing first base. Obviously, that's the player they want
to move. That's the player. I'm sure they're most engaged
with with other teams, but they also know it's going

(35:49):
to take money, money from them going elsewhere, which may
in fact buy you a little bit better prospects, but
it's also difficult to make that deal work because they're
not the level of prospects you're gonna get even with money.
I just don't think is going to be much. But
I don't think the Astros are in it for that either.
I think they're just in it to say, not only
can we find spots for everybody, but there won't be

(36:09):
a twenty million dollar player at first base in twenty
twenty six and twenty twenty seven if Christian Walker is
playing elsewhere.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
And that's the other thing too, like it's been reported,
and I mean it's true, Like they don't they are.
They're having to be mindful of their payroll this winter.
Jim Crean is reluctant.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
You mean the big spending over the CBT twenty twenty
five Houston Astros.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Well, they don't want to be over the CBT anymore,
so can they're mindful about their pay They'll be mindful
about their payroll. They've already cut about sixteen million off
the payroll. They've said they wanted to reinvest it. It
just doesn't make practical sense to me to have a
player and Walker who's gonna get twenty million, Paradus is
gonna make around ten million, Alvarez's making around twenty. Like
all these guys are highly paid players, you're gonna have

(36:52):
that much into part time players, players that aren't getting
every day at bats. It's just not practical roster construction,
and it's not a pro it's not practical out location
of resources.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, saying it during the off season, as Joe did,
I totally get it, but that's not reality when they
get to the season. I said that the day we
heard from him, and I'll say it again today and
I think they know that as well. An hour end,
We've got another hour with Chandler. Three more hours of
this program for you throughout the afternoon. On a Monday
edition of The eight Team, Stick Around the A Team
on Sports Talk seven nineteen, third.

Speaker 9 (37:23):
Town in one, Gino is intercepted. It's Derek Stingley on
the return, Stingly with a TechTown. The Texans defense strikes again.

Speaker 8 (37:37):
Yeah, he shows up big for us every week, man
and teams scared to toad to him. And you see
when they told him that's the outcome they get. So
they're very it wasn't very smart today. But man, but
he's a baller man and he's he's who he is
for a reason because he works hard. He doesn't say
a lot. He loves the game, man, he loves his team.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
That's Will Anderson Junior talking about Derek Stingley Junior Andrew
Catalan on the call on TV side. As the Texans
scored first, we're able to get a victory over a
very poor record team in the Raiders. You are what
your record says you are. The Texans have won seven
consecutive games. We're into our number two of the A

(38:15):
team on a Monday. Adam Wexler here with you Channel
Room of the Athletic nice enough to sit in with
us for the first couple hours of the program.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Texans are ten and five.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
Five of the six teams ahead of them were victorious,
So the only team they gained any ground on was
the team that the Jaguars beat soundly. That's the Denver Broncos.
Everything else stayed as it was, and they'll go into
this game this weekend with the Chargers in LA with
likely a lot on the line. A little bit'll be
determined by a tonight's outcome. With the Colts and the

(38:45):
Niners getting together, several other teams waiting to clinch their
playoff berths. The Texans are among them because that has
not yet happened, but there's only one other team in
the running for a wild card spot. That's the Indanapolis Colts.
Texans still have an opportunity to win this division, but
it's going to take a tremendous amount of help from
bad football teams. With the last remaining good team on

(39:07):
the schedule for the Jaguars now being eliminated with their
victory over the Broncos yesterday, all that's left for the
Jaguars to finish out their season on an eight game
winning streak is going to Indianapolis and beating Philip Rivers
presumably and the Colts, and then finishing the season in
Jacksonville with a victory over the Titans. The two longest
active winning streaks in the NFL right now are in

(39:30):
the AFC South. Seven in a row for the Texans,
six in a row for the Jaguars. We got a
couple weeks left in the regular season. Chandler the NFC
probably looks like somebody out west is the best bet.
The AFC probably pretty wide open. When you enter a
raffle and win your tickets to the Super Bowl, what

(39:52):
two teams are you gonna be watching?

Speaker 2 (39:56):
I don't know, you know, you're right, Like, the AFC
is very wide open. I think.

Speaker 5 (40:05):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
The Chiefs being like mortal is such a such an.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Interesting pulling a Colts. Oh man, we're gonna win the
super Bowl. Oh, we're gonna have a terrible season. Let's
just lose every They're gonna finish six and eleven. They're
gonna get a reasonably good spot in every round of
the draft because of it, and then Mahomes will come
back next year.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
I generally go to the best player. I generally look
at like, what player can I see putting a team
on his back and carrying a team to a super
Bowl and these sort of situations, right, you bet on
the planets. I think the Buffalo Bills have the best
player in the AFC. I could that could be a
hot take, but I think Josh Allen is very very good.

(40:45):
I think Josh Allen is the sort of quarterback that
you know he has done it before. You have seen
him put a team on his back. He just ran
into Patrick Mahomes every time. So i'd probably, if you've
made me pick right now from the AFC, probably take
the Bills.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Seems like a reasonable pick the Bills. The last two
weeks he's gotten. He's got three hundred and twenty three
yards passing combined in the last two weeks, another sixty
five rushing. He has not been setting the world on fire.
He actually I don't think he played particularly well yesterday,
but both of those games are wins. The Bills had
a great start to the season. They kind of got
stuck in the mud in the middle of the season,

(41:22):
including their loss to the Texans, and they're just whatever's
been in front of them.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
The last four.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Weeks, they've beaten them. Pittsburgh and New England are playoff teams.
They beat both of them. They beat Joe Burrow in Cincinnati,
and how obviously this weekend they beat the Mighty Browns
and they have Josh Allen. Maybe Trevor Lawrence is going
to prove that this is who he could be moving forward.
Maybe bon Nicks and the Broncos just eventually were going
to lose a game, their eleven game winning streak was snapped.

(41:48):
As they make their way to the postseason, he got
to look at the Patriots in the manner in which
they won last night with two late touchdowns, with the
horrific decision by coach Harbaugh saying, we don't need Dereck Henry.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Why would I put him out there.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Let's put our third string running back out there with
our backup quarterback. Doesn't that make sense to everybody? Well,
if you're rooting for the Patriots, absolutely it makes sense.
If you're a Baltimore Ravens fan, it made absolutely no sense.
And at some point, even with the inconsistent offense that
the Texans have just shown once again from last week
to this week, from the first half to the second half,

(42:22):
from the fact that they really couldn't run the ball
at all one week after they had their first one
hundred and one yard one hundred yard day from any
running back this entire season. But they have the best
defense in the NFL and they just put another touchdown
on the board, the third time they've scored this season.
Sheldon rankins Will Anderson Junior, and now an interception return
for touchdown for Derek Stingley Junior. You have seventeen picks.

(42:44):
You got four players in the secondary with four picks
a piece. A defense carrying you to the Super Bowl
hadn't happened recently, even though the Chiefs defense was actually
better than their offense last year. But the difference between
the Texans offense and defense is much wise wider than
anything we saw from Kansas City.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Didn't they just give up twenty one points to Gino Smith?

Speaker 1 (43:05):
No, they gave up twenty one points to Ashton genty Well.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
I mean still they don't have a coordinator. They can
ship Kelly like three months.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
Ago, and it took them a couple of weeks. I
was saying this up in the press box yesterday. Watch
what they're actually doing now.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Watch that.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Clearly Gino Smith knows what to do on offense and
he's done that in the past. He hadn't done that
with the Raiders because Chip Kelly didn't know what he
was doing and it took him weeks to realize we
got to get rid of this guy. And now they've
been a few weeks away from Chip Kelly. And if
you look at what they were running against the Texans,
how they were scheming Bowers open how they were getting
the ball too. Genty clearly once in space when they

(43:41):
had him running around against Henry Totoa, they turned into
a sixty yard touchdown when he ran through the tackle
of Miles Bryant, and Totoa pulled up, thinking.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
Yeah, great effort on that one.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
I watched it a couple of times, and as several
people explained it to me, I realized I hadn't seen
it properly.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
The first time.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
He thought Bryant was gonna make the tackle, so he
just stopped running, and then when he didn't make the tackle,
he picked up speed again. And Demiko did mention that,
not specifically, but mentioned the fact that the other defense
basically a team's defense as good as how they tackle,
and this is one of the games that they didn't
tackle nearly as well.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
It happened on two huge plays.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
The best day in the NFL career brief is for
genty with one hundred and eighty eight yards from scrimmage,
a fifty one touchdown run, a sixty yard touchdown reception.
That was the majority of what they did, and just
they have two players that you're worried about, and they
both did you know, brock Bauer scored for one of
the three touchdowns and genty had the other two. So

(44:37):
this isn't the best defense the Texans have been playing,
But do you give them any grace and that one
of their most unsung important players wasn't out there obviously,
as he's all Shire. If you look at last year's
team without his ease and this year's team without his ease,
they are dramatically different in how productive they are.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
On those days.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
So penalties, now, see, that's unfair, especially on a day
where the person who was here at middle linebacker before
his ease is actually much dirtier. And he actually got
a two game suspension today for it. Denzel Perriman Texans fans,
I'm sure you remember him. He likes committing penalties. He

(45:15):
likes to hit guys in the head. It's been his
whole career. It happened in Houston, it happened before he
got to Houston, and it's happening now with the Chargers.
It could impact the Texans because he did appeal. I
don't know how he's going to win. He got a
two game suspension, and if you didn't see it in
yesterday's game between the Chargers and the Cowboys Ryan from
leinoit caught a pass, had given himself up. He never

(45:36):
got up because he caught it while he was down
on the ground somewhat of a seated position. And Denzel
Perryman just comes in guess what helmet first, like he
always does, even when he was on the Texans. I
was constantly talking about this is dangerous and dumb, and
players are getting hurt constantly because of how he hits players. Heck,
Jimmy Ward does the same thing. He just hadn't played

(45:58):
this year. And the announce uncers on the game actually
said it because Chargers Tony Jefferson had been ejected from
a game earlier, and they're like, what does it take
to get ejected? You hit a defenseless player seated on
the turf, helmet to helmet, and all he got was
a flag. The league came in today and suspended him
for two games. Dirtier than Aziz, I'll share. No matter

(46:20):
what you people say, there you go that hang the banner.
There you go, hang the banner. Texans do like to
do that. There are a couple wins away from Maye
haming another division banner, and obviously Woody March did not
playing yesterday's game, but I don't think Woody would have
had a lot more success running the football than Juar
Jordan or Nick Chubb didn't yesterday. A Demiko commented on

(46:42):
that after the game, and we'll hear from him a
little bit. They do get the twenty three to twenty
one victory, They do get a defensive touchdown. They found
their way into the end zone offensively once thanks to
a couple of penalties. One of the two pis that
Nico Collins helped to generate late in the game. And
I'm sure many of you were familiar with one of
those two players who committed it law long long time ago.
Lonnie Johnson was in the Texans secondary after they drafted

(47:04):
him in the second round out of Kentucky. Still playing,
He's had a very interesting path around the NFL and
a pretty significant injury prior to this season. But he
was out there, got a little too handsy and huggy
with Nico that got him inside the red zone and
then when they fall start happened. They got to the
one yard line, and that was actually a pretty good
play call. You had Dalton Schultz at the end of

(47:24):
the line to CJ's left. He released pretty quickly after
put his hands on one of the down linemen. Nobody
went with him, so it was very easy one yard
touchdown pass. And of course, who got a game ball
yesterday for the Texans none other than Kaymi fairbaron another
productive day. The NFL team that leads the league and
field goals made this year is Kayimi's team. Little help

(47:48):
from Matthew Bryant, who was with the team for a
couple of days. Matthew Wright, excuse me, that's how memorable
he was. But three more long field goals from Kaymi
and without them they.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
Probably don't win. They should put him in the long
snapper and the Ring of Honor. Long snappers knew, Oh
they got rid of the other. John Weeks is in
San Francisco. Oh wow, So Austin Brinkman doing such a
good job, you don't don't even notice. Well, put him.
They can all go in the Ring of Honor with Janis.
It'll be great.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
There we go. I know we would get there at
some point.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Janie, Bob, JJ Andre and John Weeks destined for the
Ring of Honor and the red jacket that goes with it.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
You think cal knew when he got to the stadium
yesterday at the Raiders. We're in Las Vegas.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
I mean, Vegas is a pretty fun place. You don't
think cal Nes knows about that.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I'm assuming he called them Oakland at least through the
first two quarters.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
I'm surprised I have not done that myself, but so
far I have not. I will get into more of what
happened in the NFL, a little bit more on the Astros.
If you want to jump in here, I know you've
got a few people waiting to get on all the conversation.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
We will do that.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
Next the eighteen on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Ninety of twenty twenty five. Here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
the A team here with if you back from the
weekend and everything was going on, Chandlerome sitting in with
us for the remainder of the hour, been with us
since two o'clock. Probably do the same thing next Monday.
So looking forward to that conversation. You guys are welcome
to be a part of it. Seven one three, two,
one two five, seven nine. And not just the Astros

(49:16):
making moves or a couple moves made in Major League
Baseball today, the White Sox announcing their highly paid international
free agent today. He brought out a white sock with
him at his press conference. It was neat uh the
Oakland excuse me, West Sacramento Athletics, Okay, Cal have see

(49:36):
in baseball it's much much much easier to do since
it's much much much more recent. The West Sacramento Athletics
have a new minfielder in Jeff McNeil, and I couldn't
help myself. The player being sent back to the New
York Mets is Jordan. He's a young seventeen year old.

(49:57):
I bet you the team that's trading him away knows
very very very very little about him and thinks he
want him out too much of anything when he goes
to the other organization.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
But we shall see.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
But yeah, a lot of other things have happened in
Major League Baseball this offseason with teams that are competing
with the Astros, especially in the American League East. I
mentioned earlier, kind of in a mean way. I think
one of the teams in the American League West has
also made some interesting moves that have made them worse
and could be the last place team the American League West.
We shall see, but let's get some of you in

(50:28):
on the conversation. Start with David here on the A
Team channeler Rome in with us today.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
David, what do you have for us?

Speaker 10 (50:36):
Well, I'd like to see East sac parades at second
base for two reasons. If they can take cam Smith
and infielder and make a gold glove outfielder out of him,
they could do it with parades and keeping him in
the infield. And second, because Parrey is going to get
hurt and you have a natural replacement if that happens,
Payne is going to get hurt. Slide Corey at a

(50:57):
shortstop and MoU parades to third. I mean, it's so
obvious to me. I have to be missing something why
it isn't obvious to the Astros.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Thank you so playing with a surplus knowing there's going
to be an injury.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I mean, there's certainly validity to like ensuring yourself against injury,
especially after last year. I keep going back to the
money that's tied up in all, like do you really
are you really you just traded your utility guy to
the Brave because you didn't want to pay him the
six million dollars. He's gonna get an arbitration. Do you
now want to have, basically, Paradis be a ten million

(51:33):
dollar utility guy. The question about Paradis at second base
is actually like, it's actually reasonable. It's one to think about.
But Joe A. Spotto just went to the Winter meetings
two weeks ago and said he wants Josel Tuv to
play second base most of the time. For what it's worth,
there are not many people in baseball that think Esoc

(51:54):
Paradis could handle second base. Defensively, he is, his side
to side movement is not good good Now. Granted, jose
al Twov is not a good second basement either, So
you're basically trying to pick here the lesser of two evils.
I would be on board with the conversation. For Paradis

(52:14):
to get some time at second base, you do a
platoon situation in left field with Alvarez and al Twove,
and then that opens the DH to where you can
make this logjam work. But the manager of the team
just told you two weeks ago that he wants Alvarez
to DH almost every day and he wants al Tuove
to play second base almost every day. Though it just

(52:36):
doesn't work like that doesn't work. So Yeah, in theory,
it sounds that would solve everything. Right. Just play Paradis
at second Understand that he's going to be not good there.
Understand that maybe they can make him a little bit better.
But he's not a good defensive second baseman. You have
left field as sort of a place that if you
do that, if you put Paradis at second base routinely,

(52:59):
that d and left field as place as you can
run people through. And without that, without the flexibility to
run people through the DH spot this this outfield, there's
infield collection of people just not gonna work.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Yeah, I think Eesach Perettis's second base is the range
you would have there. I do think he played third
base a little bit better than people may have expected.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
He has good enough hands.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
He obviously has a very good throwing arm and very
accurate and played perfectly fine. He's not a Gold Glove
caliber third baseman, and he wouldn't be that over at
second base either, And I doubt he would get to
pretty much anything that isn't hit at him. And that's
the advantage of playing third base. It's hit at you
and you get it. If it's not, it goes into
the outfield. It's like many third basemen, if you're not
Alex Bregman or Matt Chapman, that's normally the case.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
Second base position is a little bit different.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
That you should have the time necessary to go retrieve
something behind second base or in between first and second
and make a nice play, It's probably not gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Curious.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
I know that they do have a Nick Allen on
this team now, but with the not bringing back Ramona
Reus and moving on from Mauricio Dubon, is Bryce Matthews
very close to having the we're gonna use you wherever
we need you all season long at the major league level.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Again, that would go against you, know, Joe. Joe has
been pretty firm and that if they're going to carry prospects,
if they're going to carry young guys on the team
like Bryce Matthews, Cam Smith, Zach Cole, whomever, he's been
vocal in saying that he wants them to play every day,
That he wants those guys to play every day because
that player development does not stop at the major league level.

(54:43):
That there just doesn't seem to be a path to
every day at bats for Bryce Matthews. Now, you could
also say that he's gotten. He's played one hundred and
twenty four games in Triple A, he's about to turn
twenty four years old. He's moving past the whole point
of like you got to keep him down there to
develop and the nurture. Like at some point it's either
put up or shut up. So who knows, maybe they

(55:04):
get to that point. But Nick Allen's probably going to
be the guy that is takes over the Dubon role
right of just anytime anybody needs to day anybody, anytime
somebody gets hurt in the middle of the game or
anything like that, you can put him in. He'll catch
everything hit to him. He's not going to give you
much at the plate, but Dubon didn't either, so that

(55:24):
he's just that he's going to fill that role. I
don't see Bryce Matthews getting that role yet, but yeah,
Bryce Matthews is just another person in this log jam
of infielders and this roster construction that just doesn't make
a ton of sense.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Cam Smith will be what in twenty twenty six in
your estimation.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Ask me on March twentieth, because it sounds like he's
gonna have to come to spring training and win a
job from who. I mean, hey, Sue Sanchez is he's
on the roster. I mean, he's on the roster, and
you know what, Hey Sue Sanchez. It's left handed and
they don't have.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
He does swing from that batter's box. He hits left handed.
He was he was I don't know what word to
use if it's not awful. Oh, he was awful. I
mean he was awful after the deadline last year, Like
he did not play well after the deadline last year.
But this is a guy that in the last two
seasons before last year, twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four,

(56:20):
finished with a OPS plus above one hundred, like he had.
He has a track record of being a good major
league baseball player. He was not a good major League
baseball player for them for the two months after the deadline.
The fact that he's still around, the fact that they
tendered him a contract, the fact that he's going to
go through the arbitration process would leave me to believe
that he's going to be on the roster. And they

(56:41):
get to camp and he didn't look great anywhere defensively,
but his most natural position is right field, so they
could have it. They could even platoon it there too,
because Cam hits right handed and Hay Susanchez's left handed,
so they could platoon there.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
But I think, you know, the last thing they're worried
about with Cam Smith is the makeup, right they know
between the ears, it's he's great, like the everything about
what's going on in his head. He says all the
right things, he acts the right way, but at some point,
like you got to produce. And I don't think they're
holding last year against him just because he was put
in a situation that very few people have really ever

(57:19):
been in. And to be honest, I know the stats
didn't look great, but he held his own. I mean,
he was a Gold Glove finalist at a position he'd never
played before. You know, the at bats got worse toward
the end of the year, but like even like middle
of the season, he was struggling. You watched the at
bats and he never looked overmatched. It never looked like

(57:39):
man like he's he really just can't find it now.
It looked like that in September, and I wonder how
much of that was fatigue, how much of that was
just everything piling up on him, and it finally kind
of hit the wall in September. But you know, it's
it's a big spring for him. It's a big spring
for him to solidify a job because I think he's
gonna come into spring training this year with a little

(57:59):
bit from mindset. Remember last year he was just I
don't think anyone in the world thought he was gonna
make the team out of camp last year. And it's
just it's gonna be a different kind of mindset for
him coming in with a little bit of security, knowing
that if he just and goes and does what he's
capable of, he's gonna have a job.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Be interesting to see around this division.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
What's left for the moves for the Rangers and Angels,
what's left for the moves for the Mariners and the
other team and the A's that are obviously I think
in contention near the top of the division obviously, as
that balances against what the Astros might still do moving forward.
You see Hojror Hit Polanco go elsewhere for an absurd
amount of money to the Mets. Not sure where it

(58:40):
Suarez ends up. They obviously did bring back Josh Naylor,
I thought on a very good, reasonable deal for both sides,
and he was a huge part of why they did
win the division and why they did advance of the
postseason last year. So they're not going anywhere. By the
way they're pitching, it's still very very very very good,
both in the rotation and likely in the bullpen as well.

(59:00):
Got a lot of arms that the Astros will have
to overcome at some point if they're going to regain
their position atop the American League West. Will continue the
conversation with Chandler here, whether it's baseball or otherwise. Still
quite a bit more to discuss about your ten to
five Houston Texans, hottest team in the NFL, absolutely crushing
the Raiders by two number two with Chandler Rome in

(59:24):
the saddle in studio with us today for the first
couple hours of the program. Certainly appreciate his time talking
about everything though, whatever took place since we last visited
on Friday, whether it's the college football playoffs or the NFL.
With one more game here in Week sixteen, the Colts
and the Niners tonight, second start for Philip Rivers, who's

(59:45):
forty four year old grandfather playing NFL football and his
team is not yet eliminated from the postseason. Haven't talked
a lot about the Rockets, yet this afternoon, and quite
a weekend for them, Saturday's phenomenal victory over a very
good Nuggets team convincingly and Yesterday's embarrassing effort in the
fourth quarter. Probably earlier than that against Sacramento, they basically

(01:00:06):
held the lead the whole day and just simply never
put a run together to put them away, but rather
allowed the Kings to put a run together to force overtime,
Russell Westbrook forcing overtime, and Dennis Shrewder winning the game
in overtime on a very bad defensive mistake by the Rockets,
And now they've lost three games on this road trip,
all of them in overtime, or anything else on your mind.

(01:00:27):
The Texans obviously getting a seventh consecutive victory. They beat
the Raiders yesterday twenty three to twenty one, opened the
game with a defensive touchdown and not had a turnover
in the first quarter prior to that one. In yesterday's game,
something they actually talked about during the week, took care
of that, had a seven to nothing lead, got three
field goals from Kyamie Fairbairn and put one in the
end zone on the offensive side with the Stroud to

(01:00:49):
Schultz touchdown and twenty three points, twenty two points. Anything
over twenty let's usually a Texans victory if they're able
to do that, giving up twenty to the Cardinals and
twenty one to the Raiders in back to back weeks,
and now they face eight team with Justin Herbert who
has seen most of the guys around him get healthier,
with Omarion Hampton returning, with the receivers getting a little

(01:01:10):
bit healthier. Clearly their offensive line is not healthy and
isn't going to get healthy. We'll see if the Texans
can take advantage of that coming up Saturday again, that's
a three thirty Saturday kickoff for the Texans and Chargers
to open up this weekend after Thursday Night football seven one, three, five,
seven to nine. If you weigh want to weigh in

(01:01:30):
on any of those things. Major concerns for the Texans
coming out of that win. Major concerns for the the
Rockets coming out of there. One in three start to
this road trip. We get started out in Sugarland. Get
Keith in here, Yankees, Keith in here on the A team. Keith,
what do you have for us today?

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
Hey?

Speaker 7 (01:01:49):
Thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
Man. You bet I know.

Speaker 7 (01:01:54):
Me as well as of millions of fans, actually thought
that the Ravens had the best team for starting us
starting the season. I know that Lamar went out a
couple of times, but last night I think they got
eliminated and that was just stupid coaching. I heard you
say it earlier today. I said, it made no sense whatsoever.

(01:02:16):
Derrick Henry was running right through those people and they
didn't put him in the heist the game. That made
no sense whatsoever. Harball has done that about four or
five times this year. He needs to be fired.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
It's going to be interesting, because I do think I
can't say for certain, but I think I was with
you at the beginning of the year. I thought that
division was a given that the Ravens would win. It
shocked to see them start the season the way they did,
even though their loss on opening nights was a forty
one to forty loss to the Bills. But what happened
in that game actually is what happened in their most
recent game. They had a fifteen point late lead against

(01:02:52):
the Bills and let him come all the way back
and beat him, and they had a two score lead
against the Patriots last night when Derek was deemed unnecessary.
I'm aware that he fumbled. He has fumbled quite a bit.
He's fumbled quite a bit in some pretty important times.
I don't know that I would move into the well,
this is what our running back rotation was, so that's

(01:03:12):
why he wasn't out there. That seems ludicrous. They don't
have a one A and a one B. They have
a one and two other guys that also play the position.
It was ridiculous that he wasn't on the field. And
guess who said as much today, Coach Harbaugh, who basically
acknowledged yes, I probably should have had him out there
a little late.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
For that least do the thing where you throw your
assistance under the bus, be like, oh, like, that's what
the OC had or that's what the running backs coach had.
Ed Arsron did that pretty consistently at LSU would say
he needs to go ask a running back coach.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
Why you mean in the years they didn't go fifteen
to oh well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
That year Like, I don't think he did much of anything.
I think I think he's I think he just stood
there and smiled and said, go and.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
Look where it's got Look how famous and popular he
is to this day.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
Man, Look I'm more respect to that dude. Seventeen million dollars.
You didn't have to work a day again. Even though
he's now like floating that he wants to work, Like,
why would you ever want to work again?

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
I believe he's currently in a low stress atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Correct, and that's where he functions best. He functions best
in low stress atmospheres. And when you go fifteen to
zero and you have Joe Burrow on your team, that's
a low stress atmosphere.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Yeah, the Ravens were eliminated from wild card competition. They
have not yet been eliminated from the possibility of still
winning that division. Still have another game or another couple
of games, obviously to get in a tiebreaker situation when
there are some scenarios where they would win that and
be the last seed among those division winners. The spot
normally reserved for the Texans. The last two years they

(01:04:45):
were the four seed as the worst division winner in
the postseason, got to host a team with a better
record in both seasons, beat the Browns and Joe Flacco,
then last year beat the Chargers and Justin Herbert Well
that's probably going to fall in the lapse of the
Pittsburgh Steelers. This year, they did get another win. Is
it maybe time since Keith brought up the Ravens and
we're talking about the AFC North dk Metcalf saying hello

(01:05:09):
to a fan in Detroit yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Can't you can't put your hands on a fan, just
unless unless that fan put their hands on you first.
So you don't put your hands on a fan so
they can. Well, no, don't, don't. Don't do it under
no circumstance. I take back what I just said. Under
no circumstance.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
You put your hands on a fan, no matter what's
been said.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Under no circu like. You've gotta It's tough, I get it.
But as a player, as someone that's on like, you've
gotta understand that you're held to a different standard. And
while I completely empathize with what may have been said,
with what may have been like, you just can't do that.
You cannot put your hand If you are a player,

(01:05:52):
why would you And again it's hard to think about
this in the milliseconds in which it's happening, But why
would you risk your salary? Why would you risk your
standing in the league. Why would you risk, you know,
not being able to play for a Steelers team that
needs you to play that you need to play for
a Steeler team that's that's clinging to a playoff spot.
Like you just can't do that, Like you can't put

(01:06:15):
your hands on somebody just it's I feel very strongly
about that, Like unless again, unless this person has like
physically harmed you and put their hands on you, then
I would at least be open to talking about it.
But like, you can't put your hands on a fan,
just you can't do that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
So the fan in question, and there's some other details,
some things that DK had indicated took play, some things
that the fan in question now through an attorney, has
said took place there, grabbed him by the shirt hanging
over the railing, was obviously talking to him, and when
he was finished saying whatever it is he had to
say to the fan, which is brief two three second interaction,

(01:06:54):
grabbed him by the shirt, said what he ever wanted
to say, didn't like what the fan had to say
at that point, just kind of shoved him away, which
to a lot of different camera angles looked like he
threw a punch at him. I wouldn't say that in
my opinion, there was no punch thrown at the fan,
but he obviously grabbed him by his shirt. It's the
fan in the blue wig if you guys haven't seen
it yet, and then he was again. Essentially, when you're

(01:07:16):
done with the argument, when you think whoever you're talking
to is full of it and you've had it, just
wave him off.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
That's what he did.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
But he did it in the process of I was
grabbing him by the shirt and then tossed the shirt.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
Don't put your hands on anyone.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Yeah, there are some allegations about the word was said
or words that were said to him. That's what the
fan in question vehemently denies and said. Essentially, all that
took place was calling him by his legal government name,
which apparently got under his skin, and that there has
been an interaction before when he was with Seattle last

(01:07:51):
year playing in Detroit, which is where the Steelers were yesterday.
We'll see if the league is ready to make a
decision on that today or later in the week, but
something will be said or for o'clock here on the
eight team again. Chandeler Rome in studio with us for

(01:08:12):
one final segment here. As we get you the beginning
of your Christmas week, I imagine most of you would say, Nope,
don't have all my holiday shopping complete yet. Its don't
what is out there in retail land and how many
people are out there, I would say that is just
about everybody out there, So be safe out there these
next couple of days. Before we get to the twenty fifth.

(01:08:32):
Two days later, the Texans will play their sixteenth game
of the season. They'll be on the road in LA
to take on the Chargers, one of the few teams
in the AFC that still sits ahead of them because
everybody keeps winning. They are eleven and four, The Jaguars
are eleven and four, the Bills are eleven and four,
and now both the Broncos and the Patriots, who have
each lost their long losing streaks in the last two weeks.

(01:08:56):
They're sitting at twelve and three in the Texas, of course,
behind all of them at ten and five, sitting in
the number seven seed in the AFC playoff picture. Only
one other team even in the wild card race on
the outside looking in.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
That's Indianapolis.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
Only one team beyond that that has a chance to
get inside the top seven, and that is Baltimore, but
they're seven and eight. Last year, the final four were
in the AFC, the Texans with CJ. Stroud, the Chiefs
with Pat Mahomes, the Ravens with Lamar Jackson, and obviously
the Bills with Josh Allen. The Chiefs have already been eliminated.
The Ravens are under five hundred and John Harbaugh said

(01:09:32):
today that Lamar Jackson is day to day, but pretty
good chance they're not going to the postseason. So I'll
just leave Josh Allen and the Bills and CJ. Stroud
in the Texans as the two teams remaining in the
postseason when all seven teams get there to try to
make a third straight trip to the Final four. Because remember,
each of the last two years it's been the same

(01:09:53):
final four teams in the AFC. How are the Texans
gonna do more? Well, they're gonna have to beat the
Chiefs or the Ravens, the Bills. Not this year, They're not.
How are the Texans gonna have a better season? And
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you, Well, if
the Texans get to get their eleventh win, then they
had a better season not really about that, It's about
how you advanced in the postseason. Can the Texans advance

(01:10:15):
past their well, their franchise long stopping point. They've been
past the wild card round countless times. They've been in
the divisional round many times on the road. They've never
won that game. They've never advanced to the conference title game.
With a wide open AFC and a lackluster offense to date,
an elite defense and an absolutely unstoppable kicker, is this

(01:10:41):
the year that CJ. Stroud and Debiko Ryans go beyond
the Well we won ten games for the third year.
Nobody's ever done that before. Well, this team's totally turned
it around. After winning eleven games in three seasons prior
to Demiko's arrival, now they've won thirty with two games
to go. So that's a simple question. Is this the year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
They've got a defense to do it?

Speaker 11 (01:11:03):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:11:04):
That unit in and of itself is good enough to
carry them. I don't know if it's good enough to
carry them to a Super Bowl championship, but it's good
enough to It's good enough to make up for the
shortcomings they have on offense. And I suspect you were

(01:11:24):
a little tongue in cheek there with the kicker, but
like that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
It is a big deal.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
It was tongue in cheek, but not every kicker is
going to They're all gonna kick it far enough. But
making forty nine fifty five yard or in a game,
in a one score game throughout the day, for like
the fifth time this year, he's been unreal this year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
It's a big deal. The one thing that would give
me pause. And you watch this team a lot more
than I do, and you can tell me if I'm
off base. I don't. I have never been enamored with
Demico Ryans's game management, about how he manages his timeouts,

(01:12:04):
how he manages the clock. Some of his fourth down
decisions go against the book, some of them are very
I understand he's got a great defense and he does
not want to jeopardize that, but I feel like you
can get a little more aggressive when you have a
great defense, right, Like you don't have to settle for
field goals, you don't have to punt at the you
don't have to punt at the plus forty five to

(01:12:26):
pin a team back. I know, like you trust your
defense that much, Like you can put them in somewhat
precarious situations because you have that much trust in them.
I've never been a fan of just in the close
games I have watched, and I don't count yesterday. I
don't count yesterday in the close games I have watched
against good teams. His game management, the way they manage

(01:12:51):
to clock, the way they use timeouts, it has not
been impressive to me. And I think those are the
things in the playoffs that can get.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
It's interesting this year. I just ran through the teams
and the quarterbacks that will be there. Well, you're bringing
up to Miko Ryans, so he'll be matched up against
Liam Cohen, maybe Mike Tomlin, Sean McDermott, Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton,
Sean Payton. I mean, like, I think there's a probably

(01:13:22):
a mix right down the middle of coaches who've been
to the postseason quite a bit and not gotten it done,
especially recently, versus obviously there is a Harbaugh and there
is a Peyton there. I can't deny that these guys.
I would say Harball has gotten it done and taking
a team to the super Bowl I view as quite
an accomplishment. Some people think, no, up, they blew it.
I'm not with you obviously, Sean Payton. Maybe you think

(01:13:43):
he could have done even more during decades of Drew Brees,
But I think it's pretty safe to say is. But
I think it's pretty safe to say there's plenty of
respect for the coaching aspect of what takes place in
a Broncos postseason game is probably not what's going to
get the Broncos beat.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
Right, Like like Sean Payton adds value to the Broncos,
like Mike Tomlin adds value to the Steelers just by
virtue of their reputations, by virtue of what they have coached,
in what they have accomplished. Understanding completely that the defense
is Damiko Ryans is like baby, right, Like he is

(01:14:22):
the one that has this baby. It's it's excellent. What
other value does he add? And does it even matter.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
That Well, you're now making him sound like he's just
awful at all those things.

Speaker 2 (01:14:34):
No, no, no, no no, because you don't.

Speaker 1 (01:14:37):
You don't like Andy Reid was long thought to be
a disaster in two minute call, play calling and managing
his timeouts, and guess what fixed him, Patrick Mahomes, Yes, right.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
You got to have good play like good players, be
good coaching. I mean, good players, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
They can overcome any issues that they may.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Yeah, it doesn't matter. But I just think that it's
it's hard for me and the times that I have
watched the Texans have these these moments where you know,
last year, like against the Chiefs in the divisional round,
they're breaking the huddle with the play clock down, they
have to burn a time out, and it's like it's

(01:15:15):
things like that, and it's not just that one aspect,
like you've seen it, like you've seen the graphics, You've
seen the things about the fourth and the fourth down
decision making and how much he's gone against the book,
how much he's gone with the book. You've seen kind
of the net field position, things like there's just some
things that I'm not sure that that would be where
I'm most confident, Like, yeah, I think see CJ. Stroud

(01:15:37):
is going to have to play like a franchise quarterback.
The defense is going to have to keep doing what
it does because I don't think from the sideline you're
going to get much You're not going to get that
advantage there, Like I don't think I that is not
going to be as market of advantage as maybe Sean
Payton gives the Broncos, Mike Tomlin gives the Steelers or whomever.

Speaker 1 (01:15:57):
Yeah, the two postseason wins for the Tech with Damiko Ryans,
CJ Stroud and this defense obviously both at home. The
defense scored in both of those games multiple times. They
scored seventy seven points in those two wins, gave up
twenty six. Obviously, it's been quite the opposite they were
in the games on the road that they've lost in
Kansas City and in Baltimore in the postseason the last

(01:16:18):
two years, but just simply couldn't get enough done offensively.
Defense kept them in the game, didn't play nearly as
well as they had in the opening round games. Clearly
the competition and the quarterback play also got better on
the other side, So it'll have to be a little
bit different this time around. Chandler obviously appreciate the time.
Hope we can do the very same thing again next Monday.
Hopefully there will be even more Astro's movement between now

(01:16:40):
and then.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
No, there's gonna be a Texas Bowler recap.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
Lsu U of h. You can take to Twitter and
give your prediction. You can give it right here if
you want.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
If Willie Fritz loses that game against a team that
all everyone is opted out and they're being coached by
half of a coaching staff that has gotten fired all
r U, Willie should be carried off on shoulders and
they should win going away. Elis who does not care
about this game.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
You can hear that game right here on Sports Talk
seven nine.

Speaker 2 (01:17:08):
Please tune in.

Speaker 1 (01:17:09):
Though, see if they run it to use clock, or
if they pass and go for the win.

Speaker 4 (01:17:15):
On third down and eight, Stroud.

Speaker 9 (01:17:16):
Back to throw, taking a deep shot again for Collins.

Speaker 5 (01:17:19):
Adjessmen, was he in bounds? Yes, Collins delivers.

Speaker 12 (01:17:26):
He'd been doing that for I'm me shoot since out
of here, like you go back week one of the
Indie Game last year, like the same thing, like needed
a first down to kind of eyesight game, like him
and CJ on the sideline make it happen. So that's
all he does, man, and he goes a baller. I
don't think he gets enough, you know, credit enough love.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Cal I use the word interesting in a post on
the X platform yesterday, saying interesting that the Texans chose
to throw the ball on that's play right there, Essentially
one in the game essentially ended the game. You have
the ball, it's third down, the other teams out of
timeouts and they're losing. The other team can't score if

(01:18:09):
they don't get the football back. That's a play to
try to win the game.

Speaker 11 (01:18:13):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
I'm all for it. And when you have belief in CJ.
Stroud and belief in Nico Collins, you go for it.
And that's what Tamiko and Nick Cayley decided to do. There.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
The longest pass play of the game for the Texans
was third and eight. They were at the two minute
warning and they had forced the Raiders to call all
over their timeouts. You could have run the ball on
third and eight, got nothing and forty seconds goes off
the clock, or so you kick a field goal there,
maybe take a twenty six to twenty one lead. It's
pretty long field goal if you don't get anything on

(01:18:44):
the ground, probably in the forty neighborhood of a forty
forty five yarder. You also might get the first down
if you run the football, although the way they ran
the football in the game yesterday, probably not. If it
wasn't the thirty yard run for Nick Chubb his longest
carry of the season. Well, the Texans just did not
enjoy a whole lot of success running the football, so
he went to something he felt with work.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
Stroud's over all day.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
Talked about it a little bit with Chandler, who was
with us for the first two hours, Josh and I
will take you the final two hours. He was bad
in the first half. There's just really no other way
to put it. Just didn't put the ball where it
needed to be. He's been a very accurate quarterback pretty
much his entire career with the Texans, and not only accurate,
but putting a ball in a place where it's not
a turnover worthy throw. It's in a position where his receiver,

(01:19:32):
his target can go ahead and make the catch and
do something with it. And he and Nico have done
that more than anybody. But yesterday that just was not
the case. Not when the game started anyway. When he
started two for nine, when he started ten of twenty
in the first half, had eighty two yards passing after
a half football against the Raiders, had not been sacked,
had only been hit a couple of times. He ended
the day without being sacked. It's only the second time

(01:19:54):
all season he has played a full game and not
been sacked. Didn't happen hardly at all last year either,
And this is while the Texans actually unfortunately saw some
injuries to the offensive line late in the game. But
he had time to throw, he had time to go
through his progressions. They chose he ended. Nick Cayley essentially
chose to make a lot of throws to the sidelines,

(01:20:16):
and they were not very good. This one was among them,
But I think this particular play is a little bit
different than the others. Most of those were five ten
yard outs and basically you're just taking a couple steps
and you're firing it out there.

Speaker 3 (01:20:28):
But he was just off target.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
His ten of twenty in the first half turned into
thirteen of fifteen in the second half, and one of
those incompletions was on a play to Niko over the
middle where he probably has an opportunity to make the
catch if either of his arms were available. Neither was
because they probably should have been deep defensive pass interference
called it wasn't. That's how much better CJ was in

(01:20:53):
the second half. That's really all it took. The one
touchdown drive the offense put together the two throws, but
it did not go down as incompletions in the second half,
because they did draw pass interference penalties. Both of them
were throws to Nico Collins. Neither of them looked like
they were catchable, but with the ball in the air
and that much contact from the defender, you could maybe

(01:21:15):
argue that it's uncatchable. But I don't know how you'd
be able to argue your way out of having the
referee call holding if if nothing else, there needed to
be a penalty called on both plays, and there was,
and it got the Texans in extra forty four yards.
You look at Nico Collins' day overall, the twenty four
yard catch at the end of the game last, essentially
the last play of the game. They kneeled it down
after that gets them to fifty nine yards on four catches.

(01:21:36):
This is not an unbelievable day by any means. But
when you add he basically, I mean, if you draw
pass interference penalty on a deep throw and you get
twenty five thirty some odd yards and in his case
was two pass interference calls for forty four yards. Those
are statistics you just don't see, but they happened. And
they matter basically that it's one hundred yard day. For
Nico calls, you known'e Evenu'd have to catch the ball,

(01:21:58):
but he draws the penalty. He was difficult defend. I
thought the Texans were kind of half and half with
what they did up front. I thought they did a
very very poor job. I wouldn't say half and a half.
Here's three elements of their protection yesterday. They did a
pretty decent job in pass pro overall. Obviously, if you
see your quarterback hit only a couple of times and

(01:22:19):
not being sacked and you didn't have to move the
pocket all day, you did a pretty good job in
pass pro. They did an awful job with their run blocking.
And I think Nick Kyley really wasn't certain of what
would work against the Raiders. It's like he looked at
film all week and went through practice all week and
got to finalizing his game plan on Saturday night. It

(01:22:40):
just wasn't really sure what would work, because that's how
it looked like. They were calling plays constantly pitching it
outside and running behind tight ends and wide receivers. You're
running into running into a death zone basically, and when
those plays three of the four that I have in
mind were run to the side that Max Crosby was on.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
That's just done. That's just foolish.

Speaker 1 (01:23:02):
That's just losing play before you get started because tight
ends aren't going to block him there. And I got
Chip and they barely even got their hands on him. Well,
wide receiver is the same thing. It's why he's one
of the best at his position in the NFL. He
must have had three or four plays where whomever was
assigned to make initial contact with him just absolutely whiffed.
He just stronger than them. Their arms came out and

(01:23:22):
he knocked him aside and went about his business. So
not a good job run blocking and pretty good job
pass blocking. And I don't know how Max Crosby didn't
get to see j Stroud more often. He had a
bunch of tackles because he was all over the place.
And keep this in mind the thirty yard run for
Nick Chubb that included Max Crosby getting pushed off the

(01:23:45):
play in the backfield and then he chased down Nick
Chubb from behind and tackled him. CJ almost was in
position to block him off. Remember last week the Juir
Jordan fifty one yard run when CJ started chasing him
down the field, and he was the first person there
to pick Jawar up off his back after he'd been tackled.

(01:24:06):
He wasn't chasing him to get a block. But in
this instance yesterday, when Nick Chubb broke free, he broke
free behind the line, made a nice cut and forced
one mistackled, then ran through a second one that gave
CJ time to actually trail him. He and Christian Kirk
were the other two Texans players with Nick, and had
Chubb realized or excuse me, had Kirk realized that Crosby

(01:24:26):
was going to catch him, he was actually in a
pretty good position to prevent that from happening. He just
had to pull up, take a step to his left,
and he would have gotten right in his way. And
I'm sure Nick Chubb probably had at least another ten
to fifteen yards to gain even with the oncoming defensive
backs now not hit by Kirk. Kirk wasn't even able
to get there to hit them. But I think looking
in front of him, that's what he thought he could block.

(01:24:47):
And I swear CJ was maybe one step one beat
behind getting in front of Crosby himself. He obviously didn't
do anything and wasn't involved, thankfully, because I don't know
how much you want to see him involved with that.

Speaker 3 (01:24:59):
Max Crosby's a beast.

Speaker 1 (01:25:01):
Ashton Genty had his best game as a pro, and
I think if anyone was watching his production this year,
and it stinks, there's no way getting around that if
you're just looking at straight production. You know, a bunch
of games averaging less than three yards of carry, a
bunch of games averaging less than seventy five yards of offense,
when he's almost on the field for every play. They
were in fifty four plays yesterday the Raiders offense. He

(01:25:22):
was on the field for fifty of them, a couple
of red zone snaps for Raheem Mostert, thankfully, and some
third down situations where he was on the field.

Speaker 3 (01:25:29):
And that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
You know, Brock Bowers almost never leaves the field. Tucker
literally never left the field. He took every single snap,
and their offensive line with Helsey, so they took every
single snap. Seven players on their offense never left the field,
and Bowers and Genty were barely off the field six
seven snaps a piece. I think Bowers missed one snap
and four to four genty. Well, the big players had

(01:25:50):
good days. You know, I don't know if Gino Smith
had a good day significantly better than Kenny Pickett. If
you guys were listening last week, I tried to make
that as clear as possible. I fully recognize. Other than
their last game, it had been the Geno Smith show.
He'd gotten every start, he'd been out there every game,
and they were awful. They were a bad football team.
They were shut out earlier this year, they'd fired their
oc bad offensive football team, and Gino wasn't having a

(01:26:13):
great year. But the difference between Kenny Pickett and Geno
Smith is enormous. And Geno Smith's not even having a
good year. Do you realize how bad Kenny Pickett is
for them? Especially he was bad in Pittsburgh, he would
have been bad in Philadelphia, and he was awful in
his one start with the Raiders, and they did not score,
nor did they get one hundred yards of offense. Tried

(01:26:35):
to warn people that it is I don't want to
go and say this is a good football team, like
Demico did in his postgame locker room speech. But they
weren't as much of a pushover With a healthy Gino
Smith out there as their record went indicate Texans probably
shouldn't have played with them as long as they did.
Though that's on Houston. That's not a good football team.

(01:26:56):
Nobody else is losing to them because they're not a
good football team. Granted, the team with the best record
in the AFC has lost to them. That was the
opening game of the season when the Patriots lost to
the Raiders, and not everybody realized where the Raiders were headed.
Yesterday was a pretty important day for the Raiders. On
the other side of things, they maybe I don't know

(01:27:17):
if they score board watch, but when the Titans beat
the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday after Gardner Minshew left the
game very early. The report today, by the way, is
that he did not tear his ACL, but he does
have a fracture in his leg, so his season is over,
but a much shorter period of time for him to
recover this offseason. Not sure what his future plans might be,

(01:27:39):
but the Chiefs don't have a quarterback and the Titans
made him pay for it. Titans got their third win
of the season, so as the Raiders were readying for kickoff. Well,
there's only two teams in the NFL with only two wins,
the fast track to the number one pick in the
NFL Draft. What sits in their hands? They have two
wins and it remained there with their loss to the Texans. Yes,

(01:28:01):
and the Giants have two wins and guess who plays
each other next week? Raiders hosting the Giants. The Raiders
are two and thirteen, total disaster. The Giants are two
and thirteen and they fired their head coach. Sure, but
they're just gaga over Jackson Dart who's been starting the

(01:28:21):
majority of the season as they've piled up loss after
loss after loss after loss. Biggest game of the NFL
this weekend if you only care about the NFL Draft,
Giants at Raiders, NFL catch it Monday afternoon edition of
The eight Team. Appreciate everybody that's been a part of
the show already throughout the day and encourage you to
do the same this holiday season. Welcome into a couple

(01:28:44):
more of your calls here this segment seven one three
two one two five seven ninety. And also we will
hear from Demiico Ryans on the points I was making
last segment about the work from their pass protectors, their
run blockers and some of the issues with the injuries
I alluded to earlier what he marks and his e's
al Shaire not playing. The Texans now dealing with a

(01:29:05):
couple of injuries on what has been their most consistent
starting offensive line, with both tay Ersrie and Trent Brown
leaving the game late in the fourth quarter, Brown coming
off the field with a knee injury, missing the final
three snaps twelve miss snaps for tay Ersrie also late
in the game, his was a hand injury. So here
from Demiico on those items. But as mentioned, want to

(01:29:26):
get some of you into the conversation here. Always welcome
to participate, whether it's via social media, at Sports Talk
seven ninety or at Adam J.

Speaker 3 (01:29:34):
Wexler. Of course via the phone seven one three two
one two.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
Five seven ninety Gus patiently waiting to join the conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
We got you in here, Gus. What do you got
for us this afternoon?

Speaker 7 (01:29:45):
Well, I just wanted to get your opinion on the
college bowl system and is are the bowl games over?

Speaker 5 (01:29:52):
And how are the bowl games this year making any money?

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
Bull season is hardly over. It's far from over. It's
very much on the front side with a bunch of
days coming up where you're gonna see a lot of activity.
There's a bowl game going on right now that I'm
sure everybody is locked in on the Washington State Utah
State game with seven minutes still to go. Washington State
with an overwhelming twenty seven to fourteen league. The balls
have changed dramatically because of the playoffs. There are many years,

(01:30:19):
I'm sure Gus, like yourself myself, you grew up with
a bunch of bowl games that had tradition in history
and didn't necessarily determine the national champion. They determined who
was up for the national championship, and the winner would
be determined by a vote. Every once in a while
you had two different teams and the two different polls
voted as the number one team in the country. It

(01:30:40):
wasn't often, but it did happen. And it is not
where you're going to see one versus four and two
verses three, or in certainly not one versus two. You're
gonna see the Big ten champ and the Pack what
Pack eight champ playing one another, Packed ten champ playing
one another in the Rose Bowl, and the other matchups
that were everywhere else around the country.

Speaker 3 (01:30:58):
That's just who went.

Speaker 1 (01:30:59):
You win your conference, and there was no conference title game,
this is the bowl game you go to. They won
their conference, this is the bowl game you go to.
And there was just a lot more behind it from
the nostalgia, tradition, rivalry standpoint of it. And that essentially
is one hundred percent gone now. But what really changed
is everything in the college football landscape. I was talking

(01:31:20):
about with Chandler here off the air before he left,
and you know, look at these teams that didn't play
in conference title games that are now playing in bowl games.
And you of H and LSU are a perfect example.
LSU played their last game, when U of H played
their last game. When it's like a brand new, one
game season, you're a totally different team. You'd be a

(01:31:43):
totally different team if no players left, if no players
declared for the draft, and zero players hit the portal,
you would already have a totally different team because the
coaching staff would have had five and a half weeks
to prepare for this game. You got practice after practice
after practice for clearly you're looking at next year. That's
kind of one of the allures of bowl season is

(01:32:04):
you get all these extra practices that does hold value
for your twenty twenty six team, clearly, And you also
get to practice in the spring, which is really where
you get all that your game planning for one team.

Speaker 3 (01:32:16):
Do you even care?

Speaker 1 (01:32:17):
Does anybody look at a coach they may, and he's
won his last five bowl games. Nobody cares. I mean
it's fun for the players. I think it's fun for
some of the cities that host it. I think it
can be an entertaining game. I don't want to take
any other thing away from the actual event itself and
the players that are there. But you have h NLSU
are playing on December twenty seventh, Texas and Michigan are
playing on December thirty first. None of those teams played

(01:32:39):
in conference title games and they've been off from live
action football for weeks. Michigan is in an interesting situation
because they fired their head coach after the season because
of a scandal and everything that goes along with that.
The Longhorns on an almost daily basis, there have been
two more today are seeing players either enter the transfer

(01:33:01):
portal or announced they're declaring for the NFL Draft. Now
inside the program, I don't think it's coming as a
surprise to anybody. You know, DeAndre Moore player going into
the portal, Malik Muhammad player who's declared for the draft.
We had Michael Taff on the show thanks to sitting
down with Chris Gordy last week. He's obviously entered the
NFL draft. Seen a bunch of players do that. It's
totally normal. It's not good for football. It's perfectly fine

(01:33:24):
for the individuals to make these decisions. And then the
other part of it is just plain old opt outs.
I don't want to play in this game. Maybe I'm
headed to the NFL. Maybe there's just I'm looking at
my next season in college football and where I might
want to play and get paid elsewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:33:39):
So I'm just opting out of the game. I'm just
not gonna play.

Speaker 1 (01:33:42):
I don't know who's gonna play in this game on
the twenty seventh, or on the thirty first, or really
in any of these bowl games that have yet to
take place. Now, the playoff games are different, and we've
seen the first four get played. We've got the next
four coming on December thirty first, the one night game,
and then the three games that follow the on New
Year's Day. Players obviously play those games, but it's not

(01:34:04):
uncommon that there are also coaching changes that impact those games,
whether it's assistants that are going elsewhere, or James Madison
hiring a new coach because their coach is going somewhere else,
Tou Lane hiring a new head coach because their coach
is going somewhere else, and I know those coaches coach
those games. You obviously have the Lane Kiffin situation with

(01:34:25):
Ole Miss Similarly, I mean, they're definitely not like they
used to be. How do these bowls make money? A
lot of it obviously comes from the sponsor dollars, the
money from the television contract with ESPN essentially carrying almost
every single one of them, the ESPN, ABC Disney. I
wouldn't tell you that they're very well attended in some places,
and I do credit the Texas Bowl here. It has

(01:34:48):
pretty consistently been one of the more well attended bowl games,
basically outside of the playoff games which are at the
you know the venues, the Rose Bowl.

Speaker 3 (01:34:58):
The and Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (01:35:01):
Outside of those games, essentially the non old school BCS
bowls or playoff bowls, these are the most well attended
games pretty consistently. I think the LSU of H game
will be very similar to that. But yeah, you flip
on one of the games that's on today, one of
the games that's coming up tomorrow the next couple of days,
there won't be a lot of fans in the stands
at those places. I mean, this is the famous Idaho

(01:35:21):
Potato Bowl today. Tomorrow we've got the Boca Ratone Bowl
of Beans, thank you, Bush's, the New Orleans Bowl, the
Coffee Bowl. They're all coming tomorrow in Frisco, New Orleans,
and Boca, respectively. I don't know how ticket sales have
gone for Toledo, LSU, Western Kentucky, Southern, miss UNLV and Ohio.
By the way, Ohio another school with a coaching change

(01:35:44):
for a very different reason. They are probably dying, and
the other aspect of it is definitely worth mentioning. The
biggest Bowl news about a team saying no thank you
was clearly Notre Dame. Notre Dame was not selected to
be a part of the twelve team playoffs, so they
selected to tell any Bowl game that would invite them,

(01:36:06):
no thanks, We're not playing, We're taking our ball and
going home. Less discussed was how many other teams, eight
win teams, nine win teams, a couple of teams of
the Big twelve that had coaching changes, with Iowa State
and Kansas State just saying we're not going.

Speaker 3 (01:36:20):
We don't want to go to a bowl game.

Speaker 1 (01:36:22):
It cost them five hundred thousand dollars fines from the
conference for saying that, but they didn't feel like going,
and that opened the door for teams that didn't win
half their games to go to bowl games. You know,
five win team Rice Owls among them, five and seventeen
got to fill the slots. Are are there? Is the
money going to be there for these bowl games? Their sponsors,

(01:36:43):
the location, you know, the volunteer groups, and the you know,
the cities that want these games over the years to
continue doing it. When like I think you're suggesting that,
how can they be making money? I don't think they are.
We'll see the stories come out, I'm sure in the
next couple of weeks. Here are the bulls that lost
the most money, and there won't be quite a list.
Playoffs probably doing a lot to help kill that nil

(01:37:05):
transfer portal, and just the flat out ridiculous timing in
college football. I'm always like the idea of having holidays
filled with college football.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (01:37:14):
But when the season ends the first or second week
or third week of November and nobody's playing football for
four or five weeks, I mean, these teams are getting
four to five weeks off before they play in the playoffs.
My gosh, we need a couple weeks of playoffs to
get to the final. You got twelve teams, you got
eleven games to play, you got three rounds to the finals.
You got four games to win. Potentially, if you win
it all, and you played in the opening round, the

(01:37:36):
first round, it takes forever. Took them forever to get
to the first round of games last weekend. We're not
playing another one till the end of the year, in
the January first, and then we still have four teams left,
so there's still two more weekends or days of games
yet to play. None of it is ideal, and yet
we watch ratings are good. Money's flying in. Boosters are

(01:38:00):
filling the nil pools. Boosters are saying, yes, we can
fire our coach and spend the money on the buyout
and pay three coaches at the same time if the
money's there. I don't really think that there's gonna be
a change with some of these things. But yeah, there's
a lot of universities and their athletic programs. It's not survivable,
and the Bowl games are very similar. It's not survivable.

(01:38:22):
I don't think it's the worst idea for us to
see this number of Bowl games go down. Do we
need thirty five, thirty six, thirty eight bulls? Whol'd be
all right with twenty five twenty four more people interested
in a little bit better games, because now maybe seven
or eight win teams are the cutoff for Bowl games.
Not Hey man, you want half your games, you get
a bowl game. You went six and six? What a season.

(01:38:44):
Probably that's where we're headed. With that mentioned, we will
hear from Demiko Ryans on the Texans guys in the
trenches on offense.

Speaker 3 (01:38:53):
Did he like it? We'll hear from him next.

Speaker 5 (01:38:55):
Now, oh good, the bad, that's not good, and the
ugly don't make me good With the A Team.

Speaker 1 (01:39:04):
We put some of that to Miko Ryan sound on
hold and get to some other sound from the Texans
and said the good, the bad, the ugly for us
here on the A Team, our signature segment on a Monday,
we get through say what tomorrow, and we will figure
out how to make sure everybody out there knows what
we're doing with our Stone Cold Locks for this upcoming

(01:39:25):
weekend and that we do not have shows Wednesday, Thursday
or Friday. And congratulations to Adam Clanton, who is out
today and out for the remainder of twenty twenty five.
After a couple of very, very tough weeks on our
Stone Cold Locks, he came through big this week. He

(01:39:46):
actually got more correct than either of the two of us,
getting four out of his five selections correct. The team,
the A Team as Trio, finally back over five hundred,
maybe as many as ten wins, but we got to
ten and five this week with the Patriots coming back
and beating the Ravens. So kudos to us, Josh and
I will handle the good, the bad, and the ugly today.

(01:40:07):
I will start with a good and for something to
not have had happened the entire season until Game fifteen.
I usually know about these things, and I was aware
of it. I didn't think much of it, but I
now know that the Texans were aware of it. Coach
Diino Vasso apparently was one of the people who brought
it up last week in preparations for their game against

(01:40:30):
the Raiders, a team that had sixteen interceptions and was
sitting in the number two spot in takeaways or a
number two spot in turnover margin in the NFL defense.
That had been awesome. Well, how about a turnover in
the first quarter. Texans hadn't done that before. That changed
pretty early yesterday and it was good.

Speaker 5 (01:40:47):
Third down and one.

Speaker 1 (01:40:51):
Third down in one Gino is intercepted.

Speaker 9 (01:40:56):
It's Derek Stingley on the return. Stinglely due the Texans
defense strikes again.

Speaker 1 (01:41:07):
Derek Stingley Junior pick six. Credit to Denico Autry up
front with the pressure as Geno Smith forced out of
the pocket. Autrey was chasing him and was in front
of him, so had to make a throw over him
or somewhat around him. Stingley kind of saw what was coming,
jumped to where the pass was headed, and the receiver

(01:41:27):
that was the intended target made a really nice contorting
of the body to make the catch. And as he
described it after the game, well I saw those blockers
in front of me, yes, I felt like I was
going to score. And he did rather easily, and the
Texans took that seven to nothing. Lead Texans have had
to make some changes up front to their defensive line
because of back to back season ending injuries to Tim

(01:41:48):
Settle two weeks ago and then this past week with
Mario Edwards Junior. It's meant more pt more reps for
Tommy Togii. His thoughts on Sting's great pick six.

Speaker 4 (01:42:00):
Man, that was a man.

Speaker 11 (01:42:01):
Hell of a play by steam Man Crazy even that
he caught the bottom.

Speaker 4 (01:42:04):
He had to like turn his body back to get that.

Speaker 1 (01:42:06):
Man.

Speaker 11 (01:42:06):
It was crazy, So you know, crazy played by him.
Amazing play. And you know we talked about this week
like defense started fast in the first quarter trying to
get a takeaway. So we hadn't got a takeaway in
the first quarter. Yeah, and they pump it off with
a fixed six right then.

Speaker 3 (01:42:20):
Pretty good stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:42:22):
And he now joins talking about Derek Stingley Junior joins
Kayln Bulock, Jalen Peatree, and Kamari Lassiter. All of them
have four interceptions this season. The team has seventeen. They've
scored once. That was the one yesterday on the pick six.
The defense has now scored three times. The Sheldon Rankins

(01:42:42):
end of game touchdown against the Jaguars when Will Anderston
Junior forced the fumble which went right to Rank and
he found his way into the end zone for the touchdown,
and Will's touchdown when he got to Sam Darnold in
Seattle and forced a fumble in the end zone which
he then recovered. Three d defensive touchdowns this season for
the Texans. All those things and over all this season,

(01:43:05):
maybe not yesterday's total performance giving up one hundred and
eighty eight yards to Ashton genty and three touchdowns to
a Raiders offense, but I would say it was good
to get things started with a touchdown from the defense
to take a seven to nothing lead and ultimately a
twenty three twenty one victory. What do you have for
the bad two days, Josh, I.

Speaker 13 (01:43:25):
Had a couple things to pick from, but I think
I'm gonna go with the Texans getting booed at home
on their way to their seventh straight win. And I
certainly understand the frustration with the offense and on that
Crosby play where he blew up Jordan in the backfield
and nobody even really looked at him. I understand when
you look at some of these things you get frustrated,
but I mean they are on a seven game winning streak.

(01:43:47):
I understand they weren't at the time when some of
the booze were coming down, but I mean, that's kind
of bad, right.

Speaker 1 (01:43:51):
You're getting so bad for the team to play in
a way that tells the fans they should be booing them,
or it's bad on the fans for booing them.

Speaker 13 (01:44:00):
I don't I'm not gonna tell you how to fan,
but I'm just saying that's bad at home. When you're
on your way to your seventh straight win and you're
getting boo that's that's that's just that's not what you're.

Speaker 3 (01:44:08):
Looking for now.

Speaker 1 (01:44:09):
I think one instance was when the Texans got backed up.
The first down play was the snap that was just
to the left of CJ. And he didn't catch it.
I don't think it was a terrible snap. He'll probably
say he should have caught him. He didn't, and he
just went back and scrambled to get on top of
the football. And then they were backed up and they
were inside the five yard line and they ran it

(01:44:29):
and everyone's like, what are you doing one or something
like that, and that, I mean, I can I'm sure
there were other boos, but those stood out to me.
I was there in the press box, so again with
the windows closed, I can tell that the fans are booing,
but it probably sounds a whole lot different in the
stadium when you're not inside that glass in case press box.
I don't blame the fans, like you said, I'm not
gonna tell them how to fans. It's not like they

(01:44:51):
were in Detroit and they were trying to get DK
Metcalf to come over to them, Which brings us to
the ugly because the league handed down their suspension in
the last twenty minutes. It's two game suspension for DK Metcalf,
and they were very specific with the violated NFL player
conduct rule that they deem him to have committed and violated.

(01:45:14):
He will appeal, but, as the league worded it, two
game suspension without pay for contract detrimental to the NFL
for initiating a physical confrontation with a fan. So if
a player makes unnecessary physical contact with a fan in
any way that constitutes unsportsmanlike conduct or presents crowd control

(01:45:35):
issues and or risk of injury, he will be held accountable.
Players may not enter the stands or otherwise confront fans
at any time on game day that specifically is where
his actions violate league policy, so he'll appeal. If he
fails with his appeal, which I bet he will, then

(01:45:58):
he'll miss the final two regular season games for the Steelers.
He'll be eligible for their next game, which probably will
be in the postseason, but it doesn't make it any
easier for them to go ahead and clinch their division
with him not on the field. Is they are only
real legitimate pass receiving threat among their wide receiver group,
and the more he's been used in their offense, the

(01:46:18):
more successful their offense has been. Over the last couple
of weeks, as he and Aaron Rodgers have gotten closer
to being on the same page. But we talked about
a little earlier when Chandler was here. This is right
behind the Steelers' bench in Detroit, and for whatever the
fan had been saying to him, at whatever up to
point he felt necessary, the fans in the stands in

(01:46:39):
most stadiums are not very close to the players benches,
even when they're seated right behind him. There's a good
there's room enough for a camera truck to drive back
and forward the entire game, depending on which sideline you're on.
There is twenty feet twenty five feet in between the
literal bench, and then behind that there's usually electronic equipment,
your gatorade cup filling stations, and then another ten or

(01:47:03):
fifteen feet at least until you get to the stands.
And DK Metcalf casually walked over there and confronted the fan,
grabbed him by the T shirt, and I think violently
swung him away. I don't think he threw a punch
at him, but the confrontation in and of itself is
what they have deemed to be violation of league policy.

Speaker 3 (01:47:22):
Hill appeal.

Speaker 1 (01:47:23):
It was one of two two games suspensions handed out.
The other one was football related Denzel Perrman going helmet
to helmet on a defensive player who had already given
himself up, and a repeat offender former Texan suspended for
two games. A little bit here as we continue, obviously
a lot of football talk did the last couple of
segments here. With the Week sixteen coming to a close tonight,

(01:47:45):
we have the playoff bound San Francisco forty nine ers
and the Indianapolis Colts, who still have a chance to
join them, but probably not very likely. The only team
that can keep the Texans out of the playoffs is
the Colts playing with Philip Rivers quarterback. Colts making a
couple of changes today with their roster saying goodbye to
Brett Rippen, who had been signed to the active roster

(01:48:06):
in the wake of the injury to Daniel Jones, but
more much more importantly than that, especially in the fact
that the Texans still have the Colts on their schedule
the final game of the season they activated to Forrest
Buckner hasn't played since Week nine, makes them much more
formidable upfront. They actually played a tremendous defensive game in
the first Philip Rivers game when they played against the

(01:48:28):
Seahawks and nearly beat them. That is a big deal.
He makes their defense very good upfront, which I believe
they already were, certainly against the Texans.

Speaker 3 (01:48:36):
I think that they can be.

Speaker 1 (01:48:38):
So we'll see what the situation is when we get
there in two weeks if the Colts are still clinging
on to faint playoff hopes, and again if they are,
it's basically because they can pass the Texans. There's no
other path for the Colts to get in unless they
knock the Texans out, and that is the only way
the Texans don't make the playoffs because the Colts are
the only team that can do that to them.

Speaker 3 (01:48:58):
They can.

Speaker 1 (01:48:59):
Varying degrees of seatings still at play, but with everybody
in front of the Texans winning, other than the Broncos,
who played one of the teams ahead of them, the Jaguars,
Texans don't really make up any ground every week when
they keep winning because everybody else is doing the same thing.
Texans are won seven in a row. The Jaguars have
won six in a row. The Chargers are one of
the hottest teams in the NFL. They keep winning, you know.

(01:49:19):
The Patriots and Broncos had won ten and eleven games
in a row, respectively before In the last two weeks,
each of them have suffered a single defeat. And the Bills,
who started the season with four straight wins, well, they've
now also won four consecutive games. Issues for the Texans
yesterday were very easy to spot. Almost immediately, it looked
like it was gonna be a tough day for them

(01:49:40):
running the football, especially with what the Raiders probably figured
they'd better do to try to stop them.

Speaker 3 (01:49:46):
Juar Jordan and Nick Chubb both got some looks.

Speaker 1 (01:49:49):
Nick Chubb actually started the game technically, he was on
the field for the opening play, which was a pass.
Dwar Jordan came out of the field for the next play,
which was a run, so he got the first carry
of the game and actually got more snaps and bulk
of the workload. But even with the thirty yard run
that Nick Chubb had in the late stages of the
game yesterday to help catapult that drive into high gear,

(01:50:09):
the Texans only ran for eighty three yards and that's
on twenty six carries.

Speaker 3 (01:50:13):
That's awful.

Speaker 1 (01:50:14):
It's an awful day without it, it's an awful day
with it. And Tamiko Ryans was pretty certain of that
even when he spoke about it after last night's game.
Kind of addressed both aspects of the Texans blocking, both
pass pro and the run game last night.

Speaker 14 (01:50:30):
After the game, well, look at the film to see
you overall, how the offensive line did. I thought the
protection was good. You know, they sent a lot of
pressure at us. I thought we picked the pressures up
really well. It's just for me just watching in front
of sideline the run game. We got to create more movement.
We got to get a hat on a hat better.
Too many guys in the backfield.

Speaker 3 (01:50:49):
He said it perfectly.

Speaker 1 (01:50:50):
There were a bunch of plays where there wasn't a
hat on a hat, And it wasn't just the five
guys up front. It was occasionally, but a lot of
it was the stuff on the perimeter where guys were
whipping on blocks, guys where they were more interested in
getting to the route they needed to run, or just
flat out not in position to get. As he said,
a hat on a hat or their technique was no
good and it impacted them. The Texans had one carry

(01:51:12):
of over two yards on the first six times they
were credited with a rush, and that was with three
different people carrying the ball. Yet Darigan bowally getting a
carry he lost three yards on that Today, just as
the show was beginning, Demiko Ryans again addressed the run game.

Speaker 3 (01:51:28):
Let's see what he thinks about it a few hours later.

Speaker 14 (01:51:31):
And for summer, our runs that didn't work. We didn't
do a great job of handling the edge players thing.
They did a great job of really disrupting us on
the edge when we tried to get outside and run
some plays, it just didn't work for us.

Speaker 2 (01:51:43):
Credited those guys.

Speaker 14 (01:51:44):
We got to do a better job of just sustaining
in our box on the EDGs, tight ends, receivers, everybody
on the edge, not just the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (01:51:54):
Didn't even know what he said. Boy, did it sound
like I saw the same things that he did. And
if you were listening earlier to the show, I said
this also, And I think this is where sometimes we
have a disconnect with what they work on all week,
what they game plan for, what they do on the
practice field, and then trying to see it execute it
on game day.

Speaker 3 (01:52:12):
He was just talking.

Speaker 1 (01:52:13):
About guys got to hold their blocks. Guy's got to
do a better job. And I'm talking about the wide
receivers and the tight ends. We didn't do a good
job on the edge. Well that's who's there. So in
order to run the ball more effectively, he's basically saying,
I need our pass catching tight end Dalton Schultz and
our rookie rookie wide receiver Jayden Higgins to do a

(01:52:34):
better job blocking the edges on the Raiders, defense linebackers,
safeties and occasionally Max Crosby. It doesn't work. They didn't
have a bad day blocking them. It's a lou it's
a it's a bad idea. It's not going to work.
You're in a defeatist position when they've got elite level players,

(01:52:57):
all Pro caliber player in the case of Crosby, and
you have one of the players on your offense. It
could be anybody as long as it's not an offensive lineman,
which in this case it wasn't, especially, as he said,
trying to get out on the edges. They were running
into five raiders because none of them were blocked, because
all of them were having no trouble at all with
who the Texans decided to run behind. I really couldn't

(01:53:21):
tell you why they tried to do it so many times.
It didn't work the first time, the second time, the
third time, the fourth time, and it was for the
same reason every single time. Maybe they'll learn from that
with the next opponent. They didn't have immediate early success
running the football in between the tackles, straight ahead, blow
your guy off the ball, and let you are Nick

(01:53:42):
Chubb run through it. Later in the game, they actually did,
and it's where most of their big games five yard,
seven yards. You had a twelve yard game from Jordan,
and they all came through the middle. They actually almost
all came running behind ed Ingram. The twelve yard run
I just mentioned Juwar Jordan was twelve yards down the field.
Obviously when he got tackled, he had almost caught up
to ed Ingram. Ingram blew his guy off the ball

(01:54:04):
and just kept on going, and Jordan was basically able
to follow him down the field. And when he got tackled,
there was your guard standing right there with him. That's
that's a job well done. There just wasn't quite enough
of that now, aside from ed Ingram literally next to him.
I mentioned there were a couple of injuries on the
offensive line. You obviously know about what he marks and
as he's all share here also not participating in yesterday's game.

(01:54:28):
Earlier today, Demiko addressed those injuries for the Texans.

Speaker 14 (01:54:31):
Yeah, for the for the guys all right who got
injured in the game on this on yesterday, like, they're
still an evaluation process that has to go testing to
see where the guys are and we'll just have to
see how the week plays out. And for the guys
that did not suit up in the game, it was
you know, injury related. You know, we're not I don't

(01:54:53):
look at us in a position to rest guys just
to arrest them. Every game is important those guys were
able to go to would have went so as you
hope that we were able to get back to full
health and be at full strength for this game. This
is a huge game.

Speaker 1 (01:55:09):
The two guys he was referring to at the end
or Aziz al Shayer starting middle linebacker and they're starting
running back with he marks. So his explanation was, we're
not in a position to be resting guys just to
rest guys, and he's right, they're not. They still haven't
clinched the playoff berth. They obviously are still in the
running to win the division potentially. So I do think
the situation with both of those two players is pretty obvious.

(01:55:30):
They they're not gonna sit, especially in diseases case, because
that's a really really different look you got, you know, yesterday.
I don't know if people realize this. I kind of
realized that as we were watching the game. It was
confirmed with the game book that comes out every morning
the day after. Christian Harris didn't play on defense yesterday.
Every snap was taken by two linebackers the entire game,
and neither one of them left the field.

Speaker 11 (01:55:48):
E J.

Speaker 3 (01:55:48):
Speed and Henry Totoe.

Speaker 1 (01:55:49):
They're on the field for every single play yesterday, and
no other linebacker played. And that's because Aziz al Shier
wasn't out there. And I don't think it's a coincidence
that this was not one of their best defensive days
with I'll share here on the sidelines, Woody Mark similarly
not there in the backfield, probably could have at worst
been an emergency assistant to the cause. But a week's
worth of rest hopefully gets them ready for the next

(01:56:11):
big game, which is whomever they're playing happens to be
one of the teams in front of them Saturday in La.
The reason the final hour of the program, five o'clock hits,
and that means we bring you football at five another
hour without ac here on the a team on a
little vaca here this holiday season, but Wex and Josh
here with you. Want to get back into the Texans,

(01:56:33):
want to get back into the NFL at large with
postseason berths on the line. Hardly talked about the NFC
at all, so we'll do a little bit of that
here and also want to remind you of what the
networks have cooked up for everybody this holiday season. Christmas
games are back again this season happens to fall on
a Thursday. You got three games. You got a noon game,

(01:56:54):
you got a three thirty game, you got a seven
to fifteen kickoff. Now, who do we have feature in
those games? We got two game teams that have been
eliminated for the postseason in the NFC East playing one another.
Dak Prescott's Cowboys at six' eight and one are taking
on Josh Johnson's Commanders. Marcus Mariota was hurt in their

(01:57:15):
game yesterday, and I'd say it's pretty unlikely that he's
going to be available for it Thursday's game. Yes, the
same Josh Johnson has put on almost half of the
league's uniforms. Who did get into the game yesterday is
likely the starter. It's possible they could go a different direction.
They do have Sam Hartman. They just signed Texans legend
Jeff driscoll off of somebody else's practice squad. He's familiar

(01:57:39):
with their system, spend some time with the Commanders previously.
So any one of those guys first on the field
on Christmas Day. That's followed up by two teams that
are probably going to miss the playoffs. Vikings have already
been eliminated. Lions are dangerously close to being eliminated after
they lost yesterday in a rather controversial way four to

(01:58:01):
the Steelers, with those offensive pass interference penalties getting them
once again as the eight and seven lines in the
seven and eight Vikings. And I know you'll find this
hard to believe, but for the nineteenth time into two seasons,
JJ McCarthy has hurt again. So Max Sprosmer and Jared
Goff your two starters for the afternoon extravaganza when you're

(01:58:24):
having your Christmas afternoon meal, probably maybe playing with your toys,
those that you opened after Santa left them after he
came down the chimney. And then the big featured primetime game,
best record of the AFC, the twelve and three Broncos
on the road at the team that's been done crushing

(01:58:46):
their division for the last better than half decade, the
Chris Alodocan led Kansas City Chiefs. Yep, the six to
nine Chiefs. They're in the primetime game. I don't think
the network could have ever get that the Chiefs would
both be bad and be without Pat Mahomes. And they're
not even on their backup quarterback anymore. Loticun basically played

(01:59:08):
the entire game on Sunday, a loss to the two
win Titans, now the three win Titans. And this is
what your Christmas Day NFL slate has to offer. By
the way, they are five NBA games. The Rockets are
in one of them in prime time. They got the
Lakers seven o'clock right here on Sports Talk seven to

(01:59:30):
ninety your choice. A couple of Saturday games also this weekend.
As you know, Ravens and Packers go in the evening,
Texans and Chargers go in the afternoon. Twenty one wins
between them. That's matched only by the twenty one win
matchup between the Eagles and Bills and the twenty one

(01:59:50):
win matchup between the Bears and Niners. These are all
teams headed to the playoffs. Most likely most of them
have clinched. Texans have not, Chargers have not. Could change
tonight with the Colts result, but these are good matchups.

Speaker 3 (02:00:04):
I do think this is a.

Speaker 1 (02:00:06):
Much different test than the Texans have probably phased at
any time during this seven game winning streak. The seven
game winning streaks included a win over the Jaguars obviously
prior to their current six game winning streak, and that
was with Davis Mills, a win over the Titans, also
with Davis Mills, the Thursday night victory over the Bills,

(02:00:27):
also with Davis Mills beating the Colts, Chiefs, Cardinals, and Raiders.
Since those four teams not going to the playoffs, most
likely Indianapolis not yet eliminated, the Chargers are not only
going to the playoffs, they are starting to figure out
what they really are and how they can go about
winning football games because they've had to deal with so

(02:00:49):
many injuries, especially on offense this season, on offensive line obviously,
in their backfield, and even to the wide receiver group
for Justin Herbert.

Speaker 3 (02:00:57):
Now they're on a four game winning streak.

Speaker 1 (02:00:59):
They beat the Eagles in overtime, forced five turnovers. They
crushed the Cowboys yesterday, scored every time they had the
ball the first three times they had it, and pretty
much coasted from there because once their defense started to
stop the Cowboys, it was an easy victory for them.
Justin Herbert much better throwing the football in this game
than he has had in weeks. He had a three

(02:01:20):
hundred yard day. They got a pretty good day from Hampton,
who's now looking like the Hampton they had at the
beginning of the season. Tremendous early touchdown catch from Quinton
Johnston who ended up with one hundred yard day. They're
getting much better. This is the best football I think
they've played the entire season. That is a true test
for the Texas. That is a real, live, pre postseason game,

(02:01:43):
playoff game. It's playoff game, not necessarily eliminated with the loss,
but the competition against whom you're playing, that's what it
suggests there. So there's some things for the Texas to
maybe be a little bit better. At two weeks ago,
they were up ten to nothing right out of the gate,
scored on the second played from scrimmage on the long
touchdown pass Denico Collins got a special team's turnover, unfortunately

(02:02:05):
failed in the red zone and settled for a field goal.

Speaker 3 (02:02:07):
But up ten nothing.

Speaker 1 (02:02:08):
It was a two score game the rest of the way,
and they put forty on the board, all scored by
the offense. Wasn't the case yesterday at all. That was
a very very poor start for the offense. Everybody saw it,
everybody continued to see it because they just didn't get
it fixed. They just could not get out of it.
Essentially for the entire first half, even though they did
put more points on the board long field goals because

(02:02:30):
of stalled drives, not long sustained drives early in the game.

Speaker 4 (02:02:34):
CJ.

Speaker 1 (02:02:35):
Stroud commenting on the slow offensive start yesterday afternoon.

Speaker 15 (02:02:40):
Maybe just rush rush my timey, you know, And you know,
I'm a confident person. I think I could put it anywhere.
So some of them I just should progress, you know,
shouldn't just forced the ball. But you know, any throw
that I make, I think, you know I can't make
the throw. I just missed a couple when that's part
of the game.

Speaker 1 (02:02:56):
More specifically, his poor offensive start. He was awful throwing
the football to start the game. Not for the entire game,
not for his career, he's not awful, but in yesterday's
first I don't know, several drives he was awful, and
he just commented on it. Maybe he thought he rushed it,
maybe his footwork wasn't quite right. But these weren't contested

(02:03:18):
catches because nobody was close enough to the football to
contest for it, or if they were, they were out
of bounds. And that's a little bit of timing and
probably a little bit of mechanics and other things. But
he was high on a lot of his throws, and
just for a guy who's been pretty accurate his whole career,
I don't think it's a sign of things to come,
and I don't think it's a sign of a season
where the offense has been inconsistent. He just didn't have

(02:03:39):
a good start to the game. Eighty two yards passing
in the first half, ten of twenty. They couldn't run
the ball either, so that's why he threw the ball
twenty times in the half. That's not the ideal sweet
spot for how often you want to see them throw
the football, and they didn't have the greatest drives in
the fourth quarter, but they got the job done. It's
pretty hard to get any kind of rhythm for the

(02:04:00):
the other team's offense if they're not on the field.
The Raiders had the ball just four times in the
second half, and most notably in the fourth quarter, they
barely had it at all. They had it for less
than four minutes because the Texans had two five minute
plus drives, one of them ended the game.

Speaker 3 (02:04:15):
That is hard to do.

Speaker 1 (02:04:17):
That is something this offense would have loved to do
throughout this season. He got the ball back with five
minutes and twenty four seconds left in the game. The
Raiders had just scored on that gent fifty one yard
touchdown run. How many more possessions are left in a
game with five to twenty four on the clock and
the teams having their timeouts in a two point game.

(02:04:39):
The answer is one. The Texans never gave the ball back.
They had nine first downs on their final two drives
of the game. First one was obviously the touchdown drive,
the second one ended the game. You know how many
first downs they had the whole rest of the game,
seven seven on their first nine drives, and then they

(02:04:59):
had on their final two drives. So their fourth quarter
offense and their final drives specifically, that's why they won
the football game.

Speaker 3 (02:05:07):
Here's CJ on that final drive.

Speaker 2 (02:05:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (02:05:09):
I was just trying to go one to know, you know,
they were giving us some zero looks and some pressure looks,
so so I to get the mic point right and
then you know, go from there. And I thought Nico
ran a great route. I thought, you know, we had
on the zero program, you know, pretty decent. But yeah,
I think you know, when it's ending the game, you know,
I know where I want to go, and you know
I thought, you know, they even try to double them
a little bit, like try to run and help, but

(02:05:30):
feel like he had a good chance to win and
the had a heck of a catch and try to
give him a chance.

Speaker 1 (02:05:35):
Well, much like the last SoundBite, more specifically on the
final pass to Nico Collins, that's where he wanted to go,
that's where he did go. He was double covered. It
did take a spectacular Nico Collins like effort on the
play initially ruled out of bounds. Naked eye for me
eight stories up also thought he was out of bounds,

(02:05:55):
knew he got one foot in, and knew he didn't
get the second foot in. It's very difficult to see
what body part hits the turf first and where live
action and certainly sometimes even on the first live viewing
of it, whether you're watching it on TV or a
monitor in the press box. But as soon as they
went to replay, you could see very clearly that his body,
his elbow at least it was in bounds and that

(02:06:18):
is all it takes with the other foot ind to
have that marked as a catch, which is exactly what
replay said, because they blew the whistle on the play
They had to then run ten seconds off the clock
because also by the elbow coming down, the manner in
which that tackle exists is deemed in bounds, so they
had to do a ten second runoff.

Speaker 3 (02:06:38):
Game's over. Texas went in a kneel down mode after that.

Speaker 1 (02:06:41):
These guys on the day three catches for thirty five
yards until the final pass.

Speaker 3 (02:06:47):
That's where they went with it. Mentioned it earlier.

Speaker 1 (02:06:49):
This was a third and eight situation at the two
minute warning, with the Raiders having exhausted all of their timeouts.
Take a knee right there, and you waste forty seconds.
I'm not expecting them to, but I wasn't really certain
they were going to throw the ball there. That's an
aggressive play call. It's not necessary, it's a high percentage
play because Nico's involved. It's not really a high percentage

(02:07:09):
play because the margin for error is tiny. You're throwing
it to the sidelines, he's covered by two guys, and
you threw it twenty four yards down the field. It
also won you the game. It's an aggressive play call. It's
a play call where you basically take your two best players,
quarterback and his favorite target, one of the best receivers
in the NFL, who is phenomenal at these plays and

(02:07:31):
has done it many times before. He has ended games
with catches like this. Before you go back to the
Indianapolis game last year, it's this exact same thing that happened.
You threw the ball out and wide to him, got
his feet down, made the catch. Ball games over And
this is all at the end of a long five
plus minute drive. Converted one of the third and twenties

(02:07:54):
thanks to DPI. Converted a third and five on the
only catch of the day for rookie Jayden Higgins. So
they found a way to get it done. We'll hear
more from them. Tell you about the tickets we have
to give away today and tomorrow, and dip inside. As
I said the Texans locker room one more time here
on the A team put up with the final segment

(02:08:17):
of the show. Appreciate you listening, So I'll love to
get you hooked up. We'll have a pair of tickets
to Tody's Live on December twenty ninth, rapidly approaching. That
is one week from today. They're over at the House
of Blues. Tickets are on sale now ticketmaster dot com.
Should you not win them, here next segment which caught
up on a few items not yet discussed or need
a revisit when we get to in case you missed it,
but wanted to continue on the Texans and what they

(02:08:41):
did at the end of the game dramatically different than
what they did at the beginning of the game, even CJ.

Speaker 3 (02:08:46):
Stroud, I don't know if I've mentioned this.

Speaker 1 (02:08:47):
He went ten of twenty in the first half for
eighty two yards, completed all but two passes. In the
second half he went thirteen of fifteen. Totally different scenario
of what he was doing in the first half and
what they were doing the second half. And I do
think the direction of the passes and the plays that
they were calling definitely had a lot to do with it.
I think their pass pro was almost identical in the

(02:09:08):
first and second half, and credit to them for doing
it well. We heard from Damiica a little earlier on
the injury situation. I think it very specific into what
it all might mean. Aaron Wilson's reporting that the hand
injury for Ariante Ersrie is a broken hand, but I
don't know what that means for his availability. I don't
know what they will do to quote unquote fix it

(02:09:32):
or work around it or what over the next couple
of weeks. I'm sure it's something that will affect him
in some form or fashion or something that will have
to get corrected before he gets back on the football field.
I really don't know and the extents of it. Did
see him in the locker room after the game. And remember,
if you were aware, when he left the game in
the fourth quarter, he just was on the sidelines. He

(02:09:54):
didn't go back underneath. He didn't get immediate treatment or
diagnosis of it. Maybe off the field, the diagnosis is
very simple on the field. But he stayed out there
without his helmet and watched the Texans go to work
on the last twelve snaps that he was not there for,
so I'm not sure where this takes them. And remember
he's been at left tackle for nearly one percent of
the snaps since Week one. Week one, of course, he

(02:10:17):
was right tackle because they wanted Cam Robinson out there
at left tackle. Cam Robinson is now blocking very poorly
in front of Shudeur Sanders for the Cleveland Browns, but
Erser has been obviously steady, been out to able to
answer the bell the whole season, with two games remaining
not sure what this holds for him in the future,
and maybe tomorrow when we get over to the stadium,

(02:10:39):
we'll have a little bit better idea of where this is.
Trent Brown, he probably noticed that he went down during
the final drive and ended up missing the final several snaps.

Speaker 3 (02:10:49):
Of the game.

Speaker 1 (02:10:50):
Deemed knee injury by the Texans when they mentioned he
was questionable to return. Saw him as well, both limping
off the field and then limping through the locker room
after the game. Couldn't tell you is the severity of it.
All I could tell you is I've seen him after
a game when he had his foot injury also walk
in a very similar there's no way this guy can

(02:11:13):
play anytime soon kind of way, and then he was
back out there the next game, didn't miss any time,
didn't even miss snaps. We've seen him go through a
routine where he is not on the practice field on Wednesday,
Thursday on there a more strenuous practice and pads. He's
out there on the field and then he's ready for
game day, and I hope that will be the same situation.

(02:11:33):
It's pretty obvious this five player group is in the
best they've put together all season. They just finished up
a game where CJ. Stroud was not sacked. Noticed what
they did when Trent Brown left. Their backup right tackle
is already on the field. It's the player who's played
more at right tackle this year than anybody else, Titus Howard.
He slides over to right tackle, and the guard spot

(02:11:55):
that he vacates, Jared Patterson comes in for him. Every
lineman that was active yesterday played on offense except for
Juice Scruggs. They're your pecking order of things, so they
had to make a couple of different changes. Their final
alignment on the offensive line had three guys in spots
that weren't out there before. Blake Fisher got the reps
at left tackle yesterday when Ursery left the game. It

(02:12:17):
went along with his snaps earlier in the game where
he's tackled eligible. He did that again numerous times and
then got the work at left tackle. Didn't notice anything
stood out during his snaps, so I have to go
back and watch it again, but certainly during the game
he handled himself fine out there. I don't think it's
a great option, but it is the only option on
game day. So again, when the game finished, Blake Fisher

(02:12:38):
was at left tackle, Titus Howard was at right tackle,
and the interior of your line was at Ingram, Jake
Andrews and Jarrett Patterson. Not for very many snaps, only
three of them, but that's the alignment they went with
because of those two injuries which may impact their game,
which is a day earlier, Saturday afternoon at three point
thirty against the Chargers. To the play, we talked about

(02:13:01):
it already, not nearly enough, probably never stopped talking about it. It
was a game winning play. CJ to Nico for twenty
four yards. Was talking with Titus Howard after the game
in the Texans locker room and asked him. He was
asked specifically about knowing that they've got a guy that
can go do stuff like that in Nico Collins.

Speaker 4 (02:13:19):
He called ball man. If if you knew, I mean
everybody knew man.

Speaker 16 (02:13:26):
He always had a talent, you know, he first got
here in twenty twenty one, Like, you give him the ball,
he's gonna make plays. So I'm just so you know,
happy to see him, you know, be able to take
that next step every year and become a better player.

Speaker 4 (02:13:38):
And he's one of the bitt receivers in the NFL, and.

Speaker 16 (02:13:40):
We know that when when they come down to plays
like that, man, he goes a guy we can go to,
and he's gonna make a play for us every time.

Speaker 1 (02:13:47):
One of eleven receivers in the NFL with better than
a thousand yards, he's seventh overall in the league with
a two thousand and sixty. Also, in that group of eleven,
he's second in yards per k big play guy only
Jamison Williams. Williams has more at seventeen point six. In
the AFC, there's Jamar Chase and there's Nico Collins one

(02:14:11):
and two. Chase has forty two more catches than Nico.
Collins got a little less than two hundred more yards,
and Nico's been in the end zone six times. Nico
is not the Texans team leader in receptions. He is
the team leader in yards, but not in receptions. He
trails Dalton Schultz by seven, and Schultz set the Texans

(02:14:34):
all time record for receptions by a tight end in
yesterday's game. Went into the game tied with Owen Daniels
with seventy He now has seventy five. Obviously caught the
touchdown pass a one yard touchdown pass from C. J.
Stroud in the game yesterday, the loan touchdown pass or
touchdown period for the offense. The offense that's clearly was

(02:14:57):
different in the fourth quarter on those two five minute
drives that I've mentioned a couple of times. I did
ask Titus about that very specifically, if you felt like
anything changed or or what was it that made things
work better offensively as they put on their only touchdown
and ran the final five to twenty four off the
clock to end the game and win it.

Speaker 16 (02:15:17):
We've seen the Raiders, you know, trying to make some
players on offense, and we knew that the game is
gonna fall.

Speaker 4 (02:15:21):
On us to you know, move the ball and make
some players.

Speaker 16 (02:15:24):
So you know, everybody had to you know, you know,
you just buck up and just play good football, play football.
And we know we can play like we played good
football last week. So it just it's a matter of
you know, it's not like we don't have a talent.
It just amount of being consistent weekend and week out.
And I think that's the biggest thing for us, is
just consistently being good weekend, week out. And once we

(02:15:45):
started doing that in sconsin like it's for the team,
so we just got to work with that. Man.

Speaker 4 (02:15:49):
Man, I think it was gonna be just man.

Speaker 1 (02:15:52):
Fourth quarter of the game is sixteen fourteen Texans Raiders
in the middle of their possession when the quarter starts,
they end up punting and have the Techxan's pinned back
at their twelve yard line. The Texans get the ball
with thirteen and a half minutes left, thirteen to thirty
five exactly on the clock, and Texas put a ten
play eighty eight yard drive together. Was helped by a
couple of penalties, undoubtedly the Max Crosby penalty. Right out

(02:16:16):
of the gate, he was quite a ways off sides.
He tried to jump the snap count time the snapcount
a couple of times. He did not get it right there.
He got it right two other times and absolutely blew
up a play. But the Texans went straight down the field,
converted three or two third downs, and the penalty I
mentioned DPI got him down to the two yard line.

(02:16:39):
Then the former Texan Thomas Booker was off sides encroachment
on the defense got it down to the one yard line,
and that's when.

Speaker 3 (02:16:46):
The Dalton Schultz from CJ.

Speaker 1 (02:16:49):
Stroud touchdown pass happened, so that all took place with
thirteen to thirty five on the clock in the fourth
quarter of a two point game. Texans super long touchdown drive.
Raiders five plays later answered with that fifty one yard
touchdown from jenty took two minutes in seventeen seconds final
five to twenty four Gonzo Texans had a ten play

(02:17:12):
drive to end the game. Final thirteen and a half
minutes of a two point game. The Raiders got the
ball once and scored a touchdown, didn't win because the
touchdown had already been scored by the Texans, and then
they never got the ball back. The Texans offense can
absolutely do this way more often. There's no reason for

(02:17:32):
them to have three quarters of what they did and
then the final quarter like that. Gotta be in better
down in distance to make all that happen. And I
mentioned they converted those two third downs, well, two third
down conversions on a drive that long, then that obviously
means you were doing a good job. Here's what they faced.
They faced first and five and ultimately third and four.
They faced second and one, which they converted, second and eight,

(02:17:56):
which they converted. The only tough third down that they converted. Well,
that was on the pass interference call. Should they otherwise
wouldn't have converted. You gotta put yourself in better down
in distant situations, and in the fourth quarter they did.
In the first three quarters they didn't. This team can't
overcome it. Not particularly explosive, not particularly stout upfront where

(02:18:20):
they could just bully teams. This was a game where
they did have a good day protecting their quarterback, but
did not have a good day setting things up in
the run game. Usually don't have a game this particular
team where both are working tremendously well.

Speaker 3 (02:18:36):
Last week probably was that case.

Speaker 1 (02:18:38):
You were playing the Arizona Cardinals, a significantly worse defensive
team than the Vegas Raiders as you saw yesterday. In
case you missed it, it's next. They're on the A
team today. Wex and Josh here with you, ak day
for ac In case you missed that saying will be
true tomorrow. Chris Gordy gonna spend a couple of hours

(02:18:58):
with us on tomorrow's pros. We walk you through a
look ahead to week seventeen in the NFL. Comes to
a conclusion for Week sixteen tonight with the Colts hosting
the Niners. Colts loss would send a couple of AFC
teams into the postseason. The Texans essentially very much will

(02:19:19):
clinch with that loss. There's a very very very small
percentage chance that if the Colts lose tonight and then
finish with the same record as the Texans by winning out.
As the Texans lose out and then includes that season
finale against the Colts, there could be a strength of
victory tiebreaker that would go the Colts way. It's pretty
unlikely that that scenario plays out, so technically the Texans

(02:19:42):
cannot clinch tonight. But I've been telling you for a
couple of weeks. When they got into this final four
game stretch, it looked very very likely that if the
Texans win their next two games, they're going to the playoffs.
They have now done that would like to see them
also win their final two games. I don't care how
many wins in a row it is. I'm not worried
about them peaking too soon. To almost laugh to myself.
In case you missed it, last week, that question was

(02:20:05):
asked here on this show, the Texan's peaking too soon?
Is there any concern that they've already gotten to this
point and they're not peaking. Does it look like they
were peaking yesterday? They're winning, but I wouldn't say they
are peaking. But halfway through this final hour of the show,
we try to hit you with in case you missed it,
items we need to revisit or have not gotten to
at all.

Speaker 3 (02:20:24):
What do we have today, Josh?

Speaker 13 (02:20:26):
I thought this was pretty interesting because I like this
trade a lot for the Astros. But according to ESPN
dot COM's Bradford doodlittle Astros get a D plus grade
for their trade here of Burrows, which I like the deal,
and basically in his little write up, he thinks that
Melton was too much to give along with Brito and

(02:20:46):
the deal, where I think he's maybe valuing Melton a
little more than he should just because he's such a
high prospect in the Astro system doesn't mean he's that
high of a prospect. It's funny too, what is with
the Rays and the defensive outfielders they like from the Astros.
Jose Suri is another example there, but they just think
he's going to be a back of the rotation guy
with Burrows, whereas in this Astros rotation with how inconsistent

(02:21:09):
Christian Javier's been.

Speaker 2 (02:21:10):
He's great when he's great.

Speaker 5 (02:21:12):
The Burrows could be your second starter.

Speaker 13 (02:21:14):
I mean, I'm just saying so, I think they're a
little harsh on the Astros great here.

Speaker 1 (02:21:17):
Yeah, I would say Doolittle is a little harsh. We
talked about it quite a bit the day of the
deal went down, you and I in ac and then
today with Chandler Rome. It's pretty simple, I think, and
I think he just wanted to write it. The top
rated prospect in the Astros system for Baseball America is

(02:21:38):
Jacob Melton, and he went with Baseball America. I'm sure
to prove his point, calling Brito number three. He noted
that the system isn't as strong, but called it an
awful lot of future value. It's not those things can't
really go together. If like Jacob Melton. Right now, he's
the number one prospect in the Astros system. According to

(02:22:00):
Baseball America. There's thirty major League Baseball teams. There's a
top one hundred list that Baseball America has, So where's
Jacob Melton on that? He's got to be in the
top thirty right He's the Astros top prospect. There's thirty teams.
He's got to be in there. What about the top
fifty If he's not, maybe top seventy five. How about
this in the top one hundred period, there's no ways

(02:22:21):
on their top one hundred. If he is, it's a
terrible list. He is the Astros one of the Astros'
top prospects, widely panned as not an overall strong group,
and I agree with that, even though the Astros will
find players. Can't wait till Kevin Alvarez comes up and
he kills Just wait. You're not giving up future value.

(02:22:42):
You're giving up the player that's rated highly as a
minor league player by an entity that doesn't see him
every day but tries to evaluate those things. And I'm
not here to rip Baseball America or Keith Loaher or
anybody else. Oftentimes I will do that. Jacob Melton now
made it to the majors. I don't want to grade
him completely holy and fully write the book on Jacob

(02:23:02):
Melton as a major leaguer, but I do have his
minor league career to look at too. If he wasn't
considered a prospect the day he walked into the system,
then nothing that he did while he was in the
Astro system would have had him as a prospect at
the top of their list. When did he ever wow
you with what he was doing as an astro? Wow

(02:23:24):
you with what numbers? Wile you with what power? I mean,
I'm not trying to absolutely destroy the guy, but it's
all relative to what he might do in the future.
He's even forecasted to be a fourth outfielder. I think
every team in the majors would give up a fourth
outfielder for a starting pitcher with the promise whether he's

(02:23:46):
your second starter or your fourth starter or fifth starter.
D plus had to write something. Doolittle's actually somebody we
brought up on the show quite a bit, and more
often than not we've liked it. Not in this case, however,
what else?

Speaker 13 (02:24:00):
Yeah, just to piggyback on that for some contacts, he
gave the Pirates an as in the Rays of B
plus compared to the D plus for the Astro.

Speaker 1 (02:24:08):
So who did the Rays get in the deal? The
Astros players?

Speaker 2 (02:24:13):
Exactly?

Speaker 1 (02:24:14):
That's interesting, they only got a B plus.

Speaker 5 (02:24:17):
Funny how that works?

Speaker 4 (02:24:18):
Right? All right? Another word?

Speaker 13 (02:24:20):
Kansas City Chiefs announce Monday they will have they're gonna
leave their long term home, Arrowhead Stadium. They're gonna build
a new three billion dollar dome stadium that'll be built
across the Kansas Missouri state line and be ready for
the start of the twenty thirty one season.

Speaker 5 (02:24:34):
What do you think about that?

Speaker 1 (02:24:34):
Wex Well, I think we need to make sure we
know you know who you're dealing with. You've been here
for how many weeks here with us on.

Speaker 4 (02:24:42):
The A team.

Speaker 3 (02:24:42):
Yeah, cut a month or so for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (02:24:44):
So I don't know if you're aware of this or not,
but I am exceptionally bad with directions locations. I'm not
the worst in geography in general. But we could talk
about the Kansas City chief in the Kansas City Royals
and where they're going to be playing their baseball and
football for however many years to come, I would never

(02:25:06):
know what Kansas City you're talking about. You're talking about
Kansas City, Missouri. You're talking about Kansas City, Kansas. I
don't know. I've even been there. I've even been to
the stadium clueless. I don't know what any of it means.
Are they moving to the other Kansas City?

Speaker 13 (02:25:23):
Nobody knows, No, But all seriousness I think the thing
I took away was dome stadium. That's really jumped out
for me because we always think of going to Arrowhead
and the cold and that loud crowd, and now if
there's gonna be a dome, it's gonna be a little different.

Speaker 1 (02:25:38):
Well, one of us won't mind that, the person who
thinks everybody's a poverty franchise if they don't have a
dome stadium for their football and baseball teams, because you
don't want to play in the elements and you don't
want your games reigned out on the baseball side.

Speaker 3 (02:25:49):
But interesting, everybody knew this was coming.

Speaker 1 (02:25:52):
This was a good time for it, right up until
they have a six and eleven team, right up until
Pat Mahomes had a May A career altering injury. I'm
sure in twenty thirty one, I think is the date
they said they hope to open it by. Everything will
be just fine for whoever their head coaches and an
aging Pat Mahomes anything else.

Speaker 13 (02:26:14):
I just wanted to you hit on it a little
bit earlier. But those injuries to the Texans tackles, that's
a little scary. With Aaron Wilson reporting a broken bone
in Ursery's hand, it looks like and we know it's
a knee. With Trent Brown, So one of the biggest
games of the year coming up, and who knows what's
going to happen with your starting tackles.

Speaker 1 (02:26:32):
Yeah, and the Texans' depth that tackle is tested. There's
quote unquote swing tackle. Well, he's on the field. It's
Titus Howard. I don't think they would want to put
him at left tackle because that's the one spot this
year he hasn't played, but he's obviously started there in
the past. Their next best tackle is Blake Fisher, and
he's obviously up every week as an eligible receiver often

(02:26:53):
and he got the reps at left tackle. If the
Texans take on the Chargers on Saturday and Titus Howard
is starting on the right side and Lake Fisher is
starting on the left side, that also means almost assuredly,
Trent Brown and Tay Ursrier are inactive, So players that
are on the team or the practice squad would likely
be active and possibly on the field for the Texans

(02:27:14):
against the Chargers, a very very good team with a
vastly improved defense from earlier this season.

Speaker 3 (02:27:20):
Not ideal.

Speaker 1 (02:27:24):
First teams first in the final segment of today's Monday
edition of The A Team. I want to get you
set up for those tickets I mentioned we have to
give away. Have some more to give away tomorrow to
see Tody's got a pair of tickets to the show.
It's week from today over at the House of Blues.
Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster dot com. Always
like to give people that listen to the program the

(02:27:45):
opportunity to claim these sweet prizes. Throughout the last couple
of years, we've been given away prizes here on the show.
You listen to the show, you know it's something we
talked about earlier, and it's a very easy to answer question.

Speaker 3 (02:27:56):
Heck, sometimes I even give it away.

Speaker 1 (02:28:00):
Two seven ninety if you answer this simple question about
something we just discussed a whole segment ago. The Astros
pulled off a three team deal. They landed one player,
the Rays landed two players, the Pirates landed three players,
and the Astros landing Mike Burrows in that deal. ESPN

(02:28:20):
likes to analyze everything going on in the off season.
If there's a move that is made, well, they graded.
There's a trade today between the A's and the Mets.
The A's now have league.

Speaker 3 (02:28:32):
Average Jeff McNeil on their roster. Jordan is leaving town.

Speaker 1 (02:28:37):
You'reon Rodriguez, seventeen year old prospect that was in the
a system now in the Mets system, and there's great
for that. We never mentioned that Wilson Contreras is now
the Red Sox first baseman. That happened over the weekend.
Cardinals got three prospects, The Red Sox got Wilson Contrere's
grated out that deal bes for both teams. The deal

(02:28:58):
that these three teams may was graded out by the
worldwide leader. The Pirates, who landed Brandon Low and Jake
Mangham and Mason Montgomery awesome.

Speaker 3 (02:29:08):
They got an A minus.

Speaker 1 (02:29:09):
The Rays, who landed the Astros prospects Jacob Melton and
Anderson Burrito, they got a B plus. Astros got Mike Burrows.
What grade did they get for their trouble Dana Brown
and the personnel staff at the Astros, according to this
particular ESPN writer in their off season analysis, gave the

(02:29:32):
Astros what grade for this three team deal and the
massive haul they drew in one player? Right handed pitcher
Mike Burrows just discussed it last segment. If you know
what grade the Astros received for that, you'll be our
winner at seven one three, two, one two five seven
ninety also notes that both Josh and I disagreed with

(02:29:55):
the assessment on this particular deal. Still no home for
cayl to Tucker, Still no home for Alex Bregman, Still
no home for Victor Carratini, Still no home for from
Er Valdez. These are players that will prominently shift Major
League Baseball's off season. Bregman widely connected to the Diamondbacks,

(02:30:20):
the Red Sox, and the Blue Jays. A possibility of
the Cubs, but I think they're much not even a
dark horse way down the line. I think it's a
Diamondbacks or Red Sox in my opinion. Kyle Tucker, you
have money, you want to spend it.

Speaker 3 (02:30:35):
He's your man.

Speaker 1 (02:30:36):
He's going to get the biggest deal of a position
player this offseason, Bigger than the one fifty that Shorever got,
Bigger than the one fifty five that Orioles gave to
Pete Alonzo. Just don't know where it will be, and
not long from now, Kyle Tucker will also welcome child
number one into the family. He and his wife Samantha,
are expecting so very interesting offseason for Kyle Tucker after

(02:30:58):
a I don't know what word he use for his
one and likely only year in Chicago, a postseason team,
and he was healthy enough to play for them then,
but almost a season that was wiped out just after
a couple of months because he tried to play through
an injury and did not play very well and had
a long time to return from it, and another injury
that just kept him from being who he was probably

(02:31:21):
kept him from being who he was. I think it's
pretty clear that, like Jordon Alvarez, the first month of
the Astros season this year, he was out there, but
he certainly didn't look like he could drive the ball
or hit at all.

Speaker 3 (02:31:31):
He hit two h six.

Speaker 1 (02:31:33):
That's not Jordon, and I don't think what Kyle Tucker
did in the second hundred plus at bats or so
of his time in Chicago. He just basically stopped hitting completely.
Had a hand injury sound familiar, Jordon twenty twenty four,
unfortunate or twenty twenty five. I should say this was
just an unfortunate way for things to play out for
him for a team that probably would have been significantly

(02:31:55):
better if that had not happened, and maybe that would
have changed where he could be headed this year.

Speaker 3 (02:32:00):
The money that's being handed out so far in free agency.

Speaker 1 (02:32:02):
Last week we saw the deal for Michael King three
year seventy five million, although it's a one plus one
plus one deal, so a lot less money in the
first year he could opt out before a bigger guarantee
kicks in in year two and an even bigger guarantee
in year three, a thirty million dollars a year salary
in year three. He gets a five million dollar salary
this year, but a huge signing bonus. Easy on the team,

(02:32:25):
and he's obviously got very good options. He's coming off
a year It was hurt, but I thought that was
a heck of a lot of money on much more
money than I ever expected the Astros to want to
consider giving to him.

Speaker 3 (02:32:37):
We'll see what else is on the horizon for Houston.

Speaker 1 (02:32:40):
There's a couple other things they would need to do
regardless of their pitching staff, and we went through most
of those things. If you missed it earlier, chand Lerome
was in with us for the first two hours of
the show, so definitely encourage you to check the podcast.
For several Astros conversations obviously talked about the Texans and
college football with him of the college football playoffs from
over the weekend probably worthy of a little bit more discussion.

(02:33:01):
Not the All Miss game and not the Oregon game.
Blowouts as expected. Unfortunate, but that's the way the playoffs
are set up. I'm not gonna sit here and say
my and things would have been different with the best
twelve teams out there. If you were saying that the
best twelve teams were there, then you weren't paying attention.
They weren't even the best they maybe maybe they had
the best ten teams there. But even if if you're

(02:33:23):
a Texas fan or a BYU fan, I don't know
where the next two teams are. I personally think Texas
was among the top ten best teams in the country
this year. Even with results in mind, I don't think
the committee valued wins as much as they should have
while looking at losses in a way they probably shouldn't have.
And yes, beat Florida points moot, you played this, they

(02:33:45):
would have played this past weekend, no question about.

Speaker 3 (02:33:47):
SAME's true.

Speaker 1 (02:33:48):
If they beat Ohio State, they would have obviously played
this weekend, even with a loss to Florida. Interesting that
the two teams that would have helped to grade out
the Tech the Longhorns program, if wins were valued like
they should have been. They clobbered Oklahoma and they dominated

(02:34:08):
Texas A and M. Both of them did not win
their opening playoff games at home. The Alabama Oklahoma game
was just wildly entertaining and had massive swing, with OU
going up seventeen to nothing, the late pick six in
the first half, and ultimately Alabama just unable to be
stopped after they fell down seventeen to nothing. And even

(02:34:28):
though there were a lot of miskicks, and it was
a windy day at Kyle Field, and there wasn't a
lot of offense, and Carson Beck was just okay, and
they probably were foolish and how they were calling plays
until they finally started running the ball repeatedly later in
the game. In Texas A and M just got a
poor day from their quarterback. They didn't have a whole
lot else and unfortunately Le'Veon Moss, who'd been out for
so much of the season, was hurt again during the game,

(02:34:51):
and that certainly hurt. They also drove down the field
with the chance to tie the game through a game
crushing ending pick in front of their home fans? Did
I really make it almost an entire show without mentioning
Johnny Manziel at all. Johnny's been on the social media
is to try to explain things because people were curious

(02:35:11):
why he was announced as the college game day picker
at Kyle Field and then it's thunder Guard Alex Caruso
on set with Pat and the crew. Speculation ran wild.
Johnny essentially said it was out of his control. I'll
take him at his word today and look forward to
more details tomorrow. Almost everybody, of course, Johnny, this Johnny,

(02:35:35):
that the idea that that was the reason they lost,
which is what a lot of people on social media,
you know, eggs as Avatar's people and people that claim
to be Aggie fans people. Yeah, Johnny, how could you
do this to your university? You're the reason we lost?
Thanks a lot, oh Kinoki. Well, we'll see what happens

(02:35:55):
in the final eight games that come up. We got
days and days and days to get into that. We'll
see Week sixteen come to a close tonight and looking
forward to what Week seventeen has in story. Remember Texans
are on the field tomorrow, so I let you know
how things look when we get back into here tomorrow
at two o'clock.

Speaker 3 (02:36:11):
Chris Gordy will join.

Speaker 1 (02:36:12):
Tonight, we do have Longhorn basketball that comes your way
at six point thirty as they take on Maryland. For
the next half hour, we got the nightcap with Josh Shorten.
Come in your way next

Speaker 5 (02:36:24):
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