The Ultimate Case Of The H-Town Mondays

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Raised by Earl.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Nolan, multify the magnificent roller coaster ride that.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Is Houston sports.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Sheill lge down for the only homegrown afternoon team is
talking your teams? Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the
a team.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
A straight up two o'clock It is a Monday edition

(00:56):
of the eighteen Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
You'll be able to see, how you know, disenfranchised and
downtrodden one of us is in an hour when the
simulcast begins at three o'clock over on Space City Home Network.
But you can pick your poison as an over Houston weekend.
And I do mean the entire weekend just completed, not
late last night, but later than usual on a Sunday

(01:22):
for an Astro series to wind down, nice fat sweep
at the hands of a team that you fancied yourself
better than I guess going into that. I don't know
if you did or not. But a lot of people
for several years have been like, yeah, Seattle's cute, but
they'll never never overtake the Astros.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
They've done just that.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
There's no reason to think that the Astros are going
to win this division now, especially when you look at
the respective schedules over the final handful of games in
the regular season, all of which will be on the
road for your astros, And it's gonna be weird looking
up and seeing the Mariners having actually accomplished something for
a change during this run, because I feel like that's

(02:02):
been the theme at least between these two teams. It
was different with the Rangers because they ended up actually
not only accomplishing something but offering you in the process
to do so. And now it looks like the Seattle Mariners,
at least with regards to the AO West, may have
done just that. But again, that's on the heels of

(02:22):
what happened yesterday in North Florida where the Texans. I
wasn't surprised at all. I don't know if you were.
I don't know if any of the listeners were. It's
not just the offensive line, but it just felt like
the same stuff that we talk about over and over
and over again was at play and the way that

(02:44):
game ended with the interception of CJ. Stroud and then
they fall out, and by fallout, I mean the same
over and over stuff that we keep hearing each and
every week now three weeks in a row from this
version of this organization.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
It just I.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Mean, they've got the Titans on the schedule. I'll give
them that, so they might not go winless for a month.
But I'm not guaranteeing they're gonna beat the Titans.

Speaker 6 (03:08):
Why would I Yeah, guaranteeing anything about the Texans other
than them playing in a close game seems silly because
that's pretty much what they've done since the Miko took
over in twenty twenty three. They played a ton of
close games, don't blow a lot of teams out, don't
get blown out very often, but are stuck in the well.
We made the play, so we got the win, or
we didn't make the play. It's twenty twenty five that
made the play in twenty twenty five, or the plays

(03:30):
necessary in the fourth quarter or leading up to the
fourth quarter. So they're zero and three. It is pretty
simple just in terms of how they got here. The
fixing it, obviously is the more difficult part, because it
is fixable. I do believe it is a situation that
should not be wasted. There's too much talent, too much
money being spent, too much invested, and too much time
wasted if you don't take advantage of it. Obviously, when

(03:52):
you have somebody you believe in at the quarterback position,
you'd like to put a team around them and take
advantage of the four to five years where you're not
overspending at the position. And pretty much every good quarterback
is being overspent on if you really get down to it.
That is the nature of the NFL. And the Texans
are not one of those teams. Their quarterback is on
a rookie deal. No matter where you were drafted, if
you're on a rookie deal, you're not being overpaid like

(04:15):
so many others. Like his counterpart yesterday who completed half
of his throws and beat the Houston Texans by doing so,
Trevor Lawrence. He's in the I've already gotten my extension
and the team is wondering if I'm the guy. And
that's like the worst place to be unless you're the
team that just lost to them.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
That is Houston.

Speaker 6 (04:31):
Houston has owned three Houston has been any each of
the three games. Houston has had the ability to win
those three games. Had they made any assortment of plays
in any of them, they'd beat three and oh potentially
they'd be one and two, they'd be two and one.
It would not fix the problems on this team. And
I do not think the Texans would have been fooled
had they been three and oh, you just have better vibes.
You'd have a better plane ride twice, you'd have more

(04:53):
good feelings about where you have to go. Because you're
three and oh, you have the opportunity to go some
you have the opportunity to win the division, You have
the opportunity to get better, and it matter for the
rest of the season. Now they just have to get
better else it's a completely lost season. And the third
year of your coach, the third year of your quarterback,
the third year of Will Anderson, the last year for
some guys who are on one year deals or deals

(05:15):
that are expiring, All those things are at play when
you're sitting at one and three because the record does matter,
and their record is equal to only five other teams.
There's only six teams that have not been able to
win a game, and they all have their reasons why,
and none of them match the reasons the Texans. Because
none of those teams are coming off the season where
they won more than they lost. The only winless team

(05:36):
in the NFL this year that had a winning record
last year is Houston at ten and seven. Obviously, they
were also a playoff team and a division winner. Also,
things not shared by the other five winless teams, and
the quarterback situations only really matched by one, so we
can get into that. Obviously, we expect a lot more
angst about what took place Friday through Sunday, although it

(05:56):
should not have been too crazy to believe what happened.
And I mean this with total sincerity, just like I
have for several months. You know, the best team in
this division has been Seattle for several months, and at
this point I'm actually convinced the best team in the
American League is Seattle. Quite honestly, possibly the best team
in baseball is Seattle. They don't play like it. For

(06:17):
some reason, they should be way out in front of
this division. Ye not just because of what they acquired
at the deadline, but it certainly helps something I'm actioning last.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
Not on TV.

Speaker 6 (06:26):
The Astros made these moves at the deadline. They added
Correy and it's been a very good addition defensively and offensively,
but he's a replacement player. Carlos Correa replaced your most
consistent offensive player, so getting better by adding Correa was
nearly impossible. And then the other two editions they've made
have actually not done much of anything to help the

(06:47):
team ureus because he hasn't played very much in Sanchez,
because he's played too much for someone who is as
awful as he is at hitting a baseball. In the
case of the Mariners, they didn't replace anybody. They took
week week, week, week week spots on their team and
put all stars in those spots. And while aju Haaneio
Suarez thinks Christian Walker doesn't strike out a lot, he

(07:09):
has hit ten home runs in his six weeks there
with the Mariners, and Josh Naylor has been every bit
the All Star that they hope they were getting. It's
amazing that the Arizona Diamondbacks are sending players away all
trade deadline long, and they're possibly going to be the
wild card team in the National League. But the Astros
just got beat pretty soundly, pretty convincing ly by a

(07:29):
team who is significantly better than them. And Friday, while
you were out one thing, we got into a couple
of different instances and it was brought up to Joe Espada.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
They haven't seen this Mariners team.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
The Astros went five and five against a worse Mariners team,
playing all ten of those games before the deadline. This
is the first time they've seen them since then. They
also happen to be playing well, which is not a coincidence.
Two best teams of the American League are the Guardians
and the Mariners since the beginning of the month. So
he ran into a hot team probably, but you just

(08:01):
ran into a team you hadn't seen this strong, and
they showed it, scoring first in every game, never trailing
in any game, hitting home runs at the crazy pace
they were hitting going into this series. Just every time
you looked, another ball was going over the fence. And
the Astros unfortunately, got one good start and it was
matched by an even better start despite Wu leaving with injury,
and then the other two starting pitchers, both of whom

(08:23):
are considered front end of the rotation pitchers for how
they've performed either over their career in Valdez's case, or
over the last two and a half months in Alexander's case,
they both just came up empty. Valdez had yet another
start that matches his last two months. The rafl over
six and a half for the past two months, and
Alexander needs to be incredible with his location and execution,

(08:47):
and he definitely was not in yesterday's game. Those were meatballs.
He's been throwing meatballs all year, they just haven't usually
been over the heart of the plate. And when he
did that to the Mariners hit a grand slam continued
peppering him to the point that he could not throw
a thirty eighth pitch had to be taken out after
four outs in yesterday's game, seven runs already on the board.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
The Astros did not match that. Yeah, I think that
that is the house money.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
I guess you may have been playing with this entire
season at times catching up with you, But I feel
like that's it's not really being fair to what you know,
a guy like Jayson Alexander, for example, and a guy
like Brandon Walker before Walter before him, with the injury
that he suffered. I think it's almost not giving them
enough credit. But at the same time, if they were

(09:35):
these guys all the time, then they wouldn't be where
they are right now, or they wouldn't just be contributing
to an Astros team that only could turn to them
because of the injuries to other guys in the rotation.

Speaker 6 (09:45):
Yeah, I might look at those two guys a little
bit differently. I think Jason Alexander's stuff is extremely below par.
Every time he goes out there and strikes guys out
and guys are swinging at pitches that aren't on his own,
I'm amazed, Biden, So I apologize for misreading him. I guess,
but I just don't. I think he has very good stuff.
I don't think he's a major league caliber pitcher. I
acknowledge what he accomplished. I don't expect that to re replicate,

(10:06):
and I would be shocked if he were in the
rotation next year, maybe even on the team. In Walter's case,
I actually think he has good stuff. I think he
has the kind of stuff that suggests he will be
a viable major league starting pitcher. The problem is we
don't know when, maybe not at all in twenty twenty six.
And there are plenty of questions about twenty twenty six,
what the roster might look like and what injured pitchers

(10:28):
have as far as the timeline, but clearly the focus
should still be on twenty twenty five. I do not
have any illusions about who this team is. They're twelve
games over five hundred, they got beaten soundly by a
team that's clearly better than them, and they head into
Tuesday's final six games, and beside the American League West,
everybody in the American League is off today and everybody

(10:49):
starts their final two series of three games a piece
six games total on Tuesday. The Astros, as crazy as
it sounds, and that they are outside of the playoff
picture looking in as we sit here right now, they
still control their own destiny. If the Astros win six times,
they're in the playoffs. They're probably in the playoffs. If
they win five times, they could still make the playoffs.

(11:09):
If they win four times, and on down the line.
The schedule helps because Cleveland and Detroit are playing one another,
so clearly they can't both keep out winning. You because
there's three days where they play each other. Detroit has
two playoff caliber teams on their schedule over the final
six and they've been significantly worse than Houston over the
past month's time, trying to match the Mets for a

(11:32):
massive September collapse. So as much as it's painful to
even think it, And I don't know what I even
want to see in the postseason, because we already know
Hunter Brown, if things work out, would start a game one,
and then we have the and then what don't even
know what the series probables will be. When they get
to the first series against the Athletics, it appears they
will probably go Javier Brown Valdez. But we'll talk about

(11:56):
what took place on the field this weekend. Also the
additional in for the Astros at shortstop heading into Tuesday's game,
and obviously a lot of thinking about what does really
remain for the Houston Texans. What does it mean when,
as ac noted, it's the continued message because it is
a fact, not because it means anything.

Speaker 5 (12:15):
What is the continued message?

Speaker 6 (12:17):
The mathematical message from the Houston Texans coming out of
a third consecutive Mathematically we did not outscore the other team,
but the margin wasn't far Apart the mathematical words they
keep using over and over again, what do they mean
by that? Well, we actually got an answer today from Dimigo
Ryans You're gonna love it.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
We'll have it for you.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Next The Age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
Oh good Cole here's another reminder that this is like
the first time in probably eight years. I wasn't able
to use this song in a video this morning. You
know why because they got a win to make and
they didn't do that all weekend. Neither did the Texans.
I was talking to somebody today. This is where Wex
and I differ because he loves the stuff. He loves

(13:10):
being tortured to death.

Speaker 5 (13:11):
He wants to.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
Oh, it was a bad weekend of Houston sports. I
want to relive it. How many press conferences, how many
times you watch the games?

Speaker 5 (13:20):
I don't know. I would.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
I could literally sit here for the next three and
a half hours and talk about anything other than the
stupid ass Texans and the stupid ass Astros. That's how
I feel right now. I, however, cannot, I know. That's
that's why there's two of us on the show. Otherwise
this thing would be off a cliff.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
What do you want to talk about? I don't know
anything we can talk about.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
Ut we'll talk about UTENX segment that was there was
actually surprise.

Speaker 6 (13:41):
You less compelling what the Longhorns and they're winning this
weekend over a team that can't compete with them.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
I will say that, since you, since you brought that up,
I will try and sum it all up in one sentence.
Nothing sports related that I watched this weekend was remotely compelling.

Speaker 5 (13:59):
And it wasn't even get You know.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
Sometimes people lose in excruciating ways, so that's I mean
they had the Astros did that this weekend. How they
ended one of those three losses to the Mariners, if
you want to call it wasn't compelling to me. I
just laughed to keep from crying the whole time, like
this sucks.

Speaker 7 (14:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (14:14):
And the six or four game where they had countless
opportunities and the game ended on a spectacular defensive play
with a pair of runners on base, one of which
was doubled off.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
Because I don't know, why do you intend to happen?
I guess we could talk about that.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
Because he's a younger player, and he probably got convinced
a couple of years ago that it'd be a good
idea to go ahead and send in his one hundred
and seventy five dollars to Nina Altuve so she could
get him registered for Jose Altuve's.

Speaker 5 (14:37):
Base running camp. And that's what they charge now.

Speaker 6 (14:39):
So Jake Myers decided to go ahead and do that.
I mean, that's I'm not surprised that it generated so
much discussion, even though the situation of it is so
cut and dry. And then the execution the same. There's
your run in that situation, what are you doing?

Speaker 5 (14:58):
Go ahead?

Speaker 6 (14:58):
Score? Why go go ahead? Stay at third? Go ahead
and stay at second. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
It's a run game. You can't do that.

Speaker 6 (15:05):
And then the second part of it is, and Joe's
I really don't understand. Honestly, I don't understand what the
third base coach is there for. I really really don't.
And Joe a spot It basically said as much himself
this a couple of weeks in general, he just said, well,
this third base coach, he's had an awful season as
a third base coach. It's why they continually, whether it's
Robert and Steve or it's Todd and Jeff, constantly saying,

(15:27):
oh he just ran through a stop sign. Oh he
just got held up at third for some reason. He's
just had an awful year there. He's really good at
teaching infield, but other than that, he's really terrible at
coaching base runners on what to do at third base.
But he was not really at fault here, even though
he just compounded it by saying, yeah, why don't you
head on home, Jake, He's already caught the ball and
he's about to toss it to second. But I'll just

(15:49):
want I'll just wave you on. But Joe, earlier in
this was this month, it was a couple of weeks ago.
He was talking about another runner in that situation. I
think it was jan Or Diaz. He'd already kind of
picked up the play behind him, and so I already
had in his mind how to angle to the bag,
how to make his turn, how to decide kind of
on his own what was coming next exactly. So what
is the third base coach for if you're actively teaching

(16:12):
your players to not pay attention to them and do
it yourself.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
I'm not saying it's right or wrong.

Speaker 6 (16:16):
They're major leaguers, they've been running the bases for somewhere
between fifteen and twenty years. But yeah, that was just
one of the many, many things. But yeah, that was
super dramatic. That should have absolutely held everybody's intention. I'm
sure everybody listening on the radio and watching it on TV,
watching the Astros trail six, nothing for such a long
period of time, and then get a grand Slam to
make it six to four. Have runners on base each

(16:38):
of the ensuing innings, and obviously that's the ninth inning
with Korea hitting what looked like could be at worst
a basis loading single, probably a single that made it
six to five.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Maybe with runners at first and third.

Speaker 6 (16:50):
Jeremy Paine, you probably gets to second in rounds and
heads for third. He was the runner on first who
saw what Jake saw, but reacted in the right way.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
He went back to first. When back to the base
he was on, Jake just kept on running.

Speaker 6 (17:03):
But yeah, that looked like another at bat was coming
with the go ahead run on base and the tying
run ninety feet away, and then they could have said, yeah,
well we were close. We just got to make the
plays at the end of the game to win it.
That would have made sense for one of their games.
They weren't close enough on Friday night, four solo homers
from the Masters from the Mariners and nothing for the Astros,

(17:25):
and then yesterday was similar. That was a blowout victory,
even though the Astros bullpen was a valiant in their effort,
getting all but the first four outs, twenty three outs
from your bullpen without allowing anything to come across.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
That's that's pretty awesome.

Speaker 6 (17:39):
It could have allowed the Astros to come back, but
a couple of solo homers and one other run you
still lost seven to three. It wasn't particularly drama filled.
The Texans have been nothing but drama. And it's the
worst kind, the kind you do not want to torture
yourself with. And I'm sure the players feel somewhat the
same way. And it's, you know, the constant messaging. It
does fit. They are literally mathematically close. They've only been

(18:03):
outscored by a couple of points. They have never trailed
by more than one score.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
They are in.

Speaker 6 (18:08):
Position, and if either had the ball or been on
defense with the other team having the ball in the
final minutes of each of these three games, and any
sequence of one play in this game, one play in
that game, one play in this game, forget about the
first fifty seven minutes, just at the end of the game,
if any of those one plays goes their way, they
make the play, they could have won all three games.

(18:29):
They have not made the play at all in any
of those games. Quite obviously, the other team has made
all those plays, so they are zero and three. But
after the second game, when you hear we're close from
multiple people, including the head coach, and you hear it
again yesterday from a similar group of people. Jamiico Ryans
makes himself available to the media on Mondays or the
day after games Tuesday last week, Monday Today, was asked

(18:51):
that question about kind of the meeting behind it. What
does he mean literally when he says we're close. He
addressed that today.

Speaker 8 (18:57):
But we were closed in our three games, right, we
were there in the fourth quarter. Right, We're close to
finishing and closing those games out. There are plays in
each game that we've had these first three games that
we didn't finish and win the game. So I'm not
talking about close as a team, talking about winning the
football game.

Speaker 9 (19:16):
That's what we're here to do. We're here to win
football games.

Speaker 8 (19:19):
We've been in position to win those games and we
have not won the game.

Speaker 9 (19:24):
So we got to find a way to win the game, right.

Speaker 8 (19:27):
We got to make the plays in the fourth quarter
of the games we've been and we've got to make
those plays to put us in position and to just
ultimately to win the football game.

Speaker 9 (19:35):
That's what we're here to do.

Speaker 8 (19:36):
Right, That's what we work tirelessly and hard for is
to win football games.

Speaker 9 (19:41):
So the games have been closed.

Speaker 8 (19:44):
We've been right there in the games, right, So we
just got to find a way to get it done.

Speaker 6 (19:49):
Gave you the full fifty two seconds just so we
could let you hear him basically repeat himself five or
six or seven different times. They're very close to outscoring
the three teams that they have played so far. Is
still not one word about are you close to being
good at football? Because that's where I think most of
us would differ. All you have to do is win
on that given Sunday, and your record matters more than

(20:09):
anything else.

Speaker 5 (20:10):
For sure.

Speaker 6 (20:11):
They're just not a good football team, and their record
is in this case, very indicative of that.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to have a
full segment for this, which we'll do to wrap up
the hour, because in essence, there's nothing wrong with what
he said. I mean, and you can go with the
what do you want him to say?

Speaker 6 (20:27):
No, I mean, that's why I mentioned it before we
even played it. It's just in the literal sense, he's accurate. Yeah,
they are close to outscoring each of the three teams
they've played. They've held them down enough to where they're
in offense has still been in position to win. They
held them down enough where their defense could have made
a stop and they would win. They would outscore the team,
the final score would be posted, they'd have more points.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
That is mathematically accurate.

Speaker 6 (20:51):
They have been mathematically close, and math does matter when
you're talking about the scoreboard, and so that part is accurate.

Speaker 5 (20:58):
But that's not really.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
What the I don't think we want the answer to
be more literal, Like, man, if we just connected on
this play, I think our offense is about to get rolling.
I think this is about to happen. That's what I
think people should be looking at and are looking at it.
And that's more to the point of it. I think
our conversation will continue on a Texans team that is
as they are. I mean, that's why in the NFL,

(21:20):
more than any other sport, I think it's a very
accurate thing to say you are what your record says
you are. You know, if the Chargers play three division games,
they beat all three of those teams, they're awesome. They're
three and oho the clear best team in their division.
If the Texans play, we're really close three straight weeks,
but end up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

Speaker 5 (21:37):
They're bad. They're on three.

Speaker 6 (21:38):
Your record is what you said, what it says you are.
It's very literal, and in this case, it's very accurate.
Bunch of things for us to get to today. Each
of our signature segments, it begins on a Monday. We
got the good, bad, the ugly, four You at four thirty,
We've got best of X coming your way. Next, we'll
revisit Tmiko, Ryan's comments there, and more of what he
had to say today in general. An update on Derek

(22:00):
Stingley Junior. Got fifteen snaps from him yesterday. Unfortunately that
was it with the abdomen injury. And Steve Sparks's weekly
visit on The Sean Salisbury Show came this morning, his
last regular season visit, and that the regular season is
over on Sunday. What he had to say about the
Houston Astros coming up at three point thirty here on
the eighteen.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 10 (22:28):
Did you all see this should be putting out between
five and him posts a day.

Speaker 6 (22:32):
Four hundred people were arrested for things that they said
on social media.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
History repeats itself type.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
Ben, You'll succeed.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
Never doubt that you're.

Speaker 5 (22:42):
The one of us, for no one will be lead.
You're the best.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
X.

Speaker 5 (22:48):
Nothing's gonna ever top you know you're the best X
posting every single day. You're the best of X breaking the.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
Entire all right. It is one of many signature segments.
We do this every day right around this time, the
best of X, check out what's going on on social media,
bring it to you, and there are a lot of options.
But I after attending my first Longhorns game since I

(23:23):
believe a West Virginia matchup in the fall of twenty twelve,
I think that's where the last time I set foot
in DKR. That's way too long, but it is the
last time I went up there, took in my alma mater,
getting it smacked around by the Longhorns. And when I

(23:44):
say smacked around, I mean it was not particularly competitive, close,
whatever you want to call it. And so everybody is like,
even Cole texted, well, I guess it took Clinton going
up to the forty acres to fix arch.

Speaker 5 (23:56):
I don't look at it that way. Clinton's school.

Speaker 7 (23:58):
Maybe, Yeah, don't, I don't look at it that.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
There you go, what a comment. I am. He is
not fixed.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
He is still I mean, I see what you were
seeing last weekend. He throws, the manner with which he
throws the football, the inaccuracy that is kind of I
don't even want to say camouflaged by some of the
catches these receivers make. It's just it's who you're playing

(24:26):
more than anything. In my opinion, I mean, it was
like one of those typical cupcake games. They looked like
they were twice the size of the bearcats out there.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
Eighteen of twenty one.

Speaker 6 (24:33):
Man, Yeah, that's can't get much more accurate that three
more completions.

Speaker 5 (24:37):
That's that's it. The numbers don't lie.

Speaker 6 (24:40):
He did look significantly better, and I do not obviously,
I don't need to tell you guys that from a
result standpoint, that goes without saying. I do mean, from
standing in the pocket, throwing it to the right receiver,
throwing it where it's supposed to be to the receiver,
not looking like the football weighed nine billion pounds and
it was all he could do with all of his

(25:01):
might and strength just to get the ball five to
ten yards down the field, which is what it looked
like over the first three weeks, not wincing or making
a face. Well, passes were thrown, all sorts of things
that were much more apparent the last three weeks were
a little less apparent this week, and I guess no
time like the present considering the SEC schedule, the twenty
twenty five SEC schedule, because today was also the day

(25:23):
the SEC released the rivalry game, so to speak for
the next four seasons. The entire nine game SEC schedule
for next season will be sent out tomorrow. But arch
Manning had a lot of moments in this game. Many
of them came on the sidelines, and one of them
at least came after a rushing touchdown.

Speaker 4 (25:43):
Yeah, I look standing over an opponent. I don't know
how anybody feels about that in any situation. I'm sure
there are strong feelings one way or the other. Some
people are very traditional, you don't taunt your opponent. Other
people are like, yeah, taunt more kill that guy. And
it's all relative, it's all subjective, it's all however you

(26:04):
want to divvy it up. But in this particular case,
you are playing Sam Houston State and at the risk
of belittling my alma mater, it is what it is.
In this situation, they're not even on your level, even.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
You Arch Manning.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
So when you run for a touchdown and you're standing
over I mean, I.

Speaker 5 (26:26):
Don't even know how to characterize the defender.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
He's on a team that is just not even in
the stratosphere of the Texas program because it's the Texas program.
But when you combine that with how it's gone for
Arch up until this point, and then you have the
official Texas Football x account put a still shot of

(26:48):
him standing over this opponent in the end zone with
the caption arch Ara. I mean, that's that's something that's
certainly a decision.

Speaker 6 (26:58):
Yeah, it reminds me of we are Texas. This is
who they are, This is who I am. I'm a Longhorn.
I mean, this is why people have their opinions about
certain fan bases around the country, this one in particular.
And whether you like it or not, and whether it
sounds like I'm, you know, dogging them for it, this
is just the reality of it. It fits right in

(27:20):
with how I believe they're perceived. So sometimes you just
jump right into it. Sometimes you just say, well, we
might as well. Now, a still shot also tells you
very very little of what took place on that particular play,
and of course it's now out of context for what
took place earlier in the game, and those that cared
to look into that was pretty easy to find and
many people posted it. Earlier in the game, the same
two players were involved, and the other player had the

(27:43):
upper hand absolutely smashed into Arch Manning and brought him
down on a run play, and it appeared that you know,
I don't think he ai Tyron lute him, but other
people say, and then he walked right over to No,
he didn't.

Speaker 5 (27:55):
He just got up.

Speaker 6 (27:55):
He got up around him, and then I do believe
the two had words, which is fine. It was very
early in the game, as was this play. But this
particular player is why, in my opinion, it happened. It
wasn't any player on Sam Houston just happened to be
the player that had run him over, tackled him earlier
in the game, won the matchup earlier in the game,
so Arch won the matchup, and on this play he

(28:17):
also scored it. And he has had a an extremely frustrating,
unsuccessful season for being a starting quarterback in this conference.
He's played about as badly as anybody in this conference
for three weeks, even though they only lost one game.
So yeah, I think there was It was a lot
about him and very very little about the sam player.
But when it's presented like that from the school's account,

(28:38):
not only will it get a ton of eyeballs, but
because it got a ton of eyeballs, it got a
ton of chatter.

Speaker 11 (28:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
Well, I mean justly negative. For sure.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
Jad's saying didn't see him ploying this stun at Ohio
State LMAO. Tracey said, embarrassing. The word I used was lame.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
I just thought it was kind of lame, And I
was even when I said that the first time to somebody,
I was aware of what had taken place.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
I mean, it's not a big deal at all.

Speaker 6 (29:05):
It's gonna be completely forgotten about the moment they hit
the field for the first SEC game at the beginning
of October or tomorrow. But it's not a not a
compelling storyline. It's just is for the very short time
period that takes place between that game and the new
week beginning, and for them with the off week, maybe
it lingers a little bit longer, but most very few
people outside the organization since they're professionals now thought, man,

(29:30):
that was awesome.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
Way to go Arch, Yeah, and real quick just for
the purposes of this show. Probably our favorite account handle
that commented on this at just memes More had a
it was a SpongeBob flex, it said, Arch flex. SpongeBob's
very very, very very skinny arm flexing with no muscle whatsoever.

Speaker 6 (29:52):
But there's a few other clever ones in there. Texas
tech fans said how Arch Manning felt after staring down
a future accountant's a picture of an angry dog.

Speaker 5 (30:01):
I mean, there's some good ones out there. But you
know who really noticed and didn't like it? Mommy? Yeah,
Mom was not a fan. I'm sorry. Who noticed?

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Oh, Arches Cooper's mom. Yes, on Cooper's wife, Cooper's wife,
Archie Mom. This is what Arch said that she had
to say, Oh God, they get.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
Back wien Zone. Probably a little much there.

Speaker 11 (30:19):
My mom was pretty mad about that, a little immature,
but I think it's some built up frustration the past few.

Speaker 6 (30:25):
Weeks at all that we just said, we could have
just played you that and we'd have been done with it.
He's one hundred percent right, Yeah, a little immature, but
a lot of pets up frustration.

Speaker 5 (30:33):
It's football game.

Speaker 6 (30:34):
You're intense, you're wound up, there's things going on, there's
emotions in it all. He displayed them and he said
it was probably a little much and it was immature.

Speaker 4 (30:42):
He's right, yeah, absolutely everything about that was one hundred
percent accurate. All right, speaking of frustration, revisiting Demko's close comments.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
When we come back.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 12 (31:08):
Well.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
Down itsy eight team Sports Talk seven to ninety winding
down the two o'clock hour, we will have the simulcast
begin over on Space City Home Network when we come back.
A lot of handwringing here in Houston over two of
the sports teams in towns. I did what I've done
now two weeks in a row. Yesterday it was more so,
it was more aimed at the Texans last weekend. This weekend,

(31:35):
it was just strictly aimed at whoever's not the Rockets.
Just reminding everybody that Kevin Durant a week from today
will be introduced for the first time as a member
of the Rockets. And no pressure, but you might have
to kind of save the state of Houston sports by
then not guaranteed. But let's just say Monday morning, we

(31:57):
wake up and it's hours away from media Day beginning
at around eleven o'clock, and somehow, some way, the Titans
have sent the Texans to zero to four and the
Astros have been ousted from postseason competition. M He's gonna
get some pressure. It's not even his fault. I mean,

(32:17):
I suppose. I mean, I know what you're saying. They're
the most positioned team right now to do anything of
significance in major sports in Houston and it's not even close.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
Yeah, that's what we say now. And I'll speak for myself.
Four weeks ago, I didn't think that poorly of either
of the other two teams.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
It was kind of a miracle what the Astros were doing.

Speaker 6 (32:36):
And I think at the end of the day, everyone
would have to look at it that way. And I'm
not looking at it like they cratered. I'm not looking
at it like they blew it. I'm looking at it
like at some point you got to look at who
they are, and you gotta look at who's even out
there for him. As soon as Jordon Alvarez came back.
He left again. Oh great, he saw pretisis back to
not play games with Jordon because he's out. I sure

(32:58):
hope the Astros can get a second straight day of
Jeremy Pana driving in four runs.

Speaker 5 (33:03):
No, you can't.

Speaker 6 (33:03):
He's not even playing today. He has another injury and
he may be out again on Tuesday. Don't know for sure.
I don't think players are intentionally saying I can't go today.
I think every player that's on this team that especially
the ones who've been through everything over the last handful
of years, they're all about trying to get it done
and just saying, look, everybody has the same record. When
you get to the postseason in baseball, you might not

(33:25):
have the same outlook, and you might not have the
same talent, you might not be at the same level
of health. But getting there is still even though fourteen
or twelve of their thirty teams will get there, still
an accomplishment and a big one for a team that
has missed so much time from so many different players.
And they're at this point in the season, but they
were sitting. They were the first place team going into

(33:46):
the weekend.

Speaker 5 (33:48):
All they had to.

Speaker 6 (33:48):
Do was outplay Seattle they're just not better than them,
So they didn't and there's so much not better than
them that they're in a terrible spot.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
And I don't think anybody sat here. I know I didn't.

Speaker 6 (33:57):
Again, speaking for myself, there's no way I forecasted the
Texan coming up this lamee offensively to the point that
they couldn't beat anybody. They've only played three games. They
haven't beaten anybody. They can't beat anybody. That is an
accurate statement to this point in the season. Close enough
on the scoreboard to have managed to play dramatic finishes,
but not good enough to outplay any of the three
teams on the scoreboard that they've played. And they've definitely

(34:17):
played a bad team. Jacksonville's bad. Jacksonville might get better.
Jacksonville might have some wins, they might be not inept,
and they might not be at the top of the draft.
But that's not a good football team, certainly not in
Week three. Well, Texans aren't either, and they certainly can
get better. Day one Rockets are certainly in a better
position to your comment. They're definitely better positioned as the

(34:38):
season begins, their media day begins than either of the
other two teams were. You know, we had no idea
what to think of the Astros because two of their
best players were gonna put on somebody else's uniform this
year in Chicago and in Boston. We're not certain that
the Texans got any better from last year, and that
means they were going to be the same division winning
one home playoff game, winning walk away from the playoffs,

(34:59):
because we're still not better than any of the good
teams in the AFC with really good quarterbacks, and we're
just kind of in the same spot. The Rockets are
coming off of the season where it was absolutely almost
unforgivable that they lost in the postseason, even as it
being their first postseason. And I said this to somebody
again this weekend. I've said it on the show many times.

(35:19):
They were in a no loose situation with the biggest
off season decisions. They could have gone out to get
Kevin Durant, and I would have thought, especially now knowing
what it cost, that was a big win. They could
have not done anything of great significance, maybe shipped out
Cam Whitmore and brought something in, maybe added another big
any number of things, but not gonna get Kevin Durant

(35:40):
and said a man and Jalen and Alpi and Fred
and everybody else.

Speaker 5 (35:43):
That's just run it back. And I would have thought
that is a winning situation.

Speaker 6 (35:47):
They clearly have the best outlook as any of their
three seasons begin.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
And their media day is in fact one week from today.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
Yeah, and it's in a weird way. And I told
you this earlier this summer. I actually, the more I
thought about it, didn't mind. You know, he was supposed
to have a scheduled press conference to introduced him, and
they wanted to bring the fans in and it was
going to be this huge production, not unlike they did
with Chris Paul back in twenty seventeen, but it didn't

(36:15):
happen because mainly of his schedule talking about Kevin Durantz.
So this will be the first time that not just
the media, but the organization outside of the Principles that
made the deal. And I don't even know if at
that point they did anything in person. It was probably
all over the phone because remember when when Kevin Durant
found out that he was traded to the Rockets, he
was at that FanFest thing in New Jersey. So this

(36:38):
will probably be the first time. A lot of principal
pieces of the organization not named Steven Adams on a
fishing boat have been in direct contact.

Speaker 6 (36:47):
With KD as a rocket, right right, right right, because
they all the organization really run littered with connections, teammates,
played against, coached, really good friends with.

Speaker 5 (37:00):
I own him for twenty five years.

Speaker 6 (37:01):
There are a lot of people in this organization that
already have that relationship. He's played against so many of
these guys so many different times. Also, that are his
new teammates. He's been inside this building many many times.
He's been in the league long enough to have plenty
of memories in every building, and this one is included.
They'll just be different ones and now they suit it
up for them. So yeah, that is pretty exciting that
that will be there for us. I am still firmly believing,

(37:23):
and we'll say it as many times as it can't
be untrue. I don't believe we're going to get here
on Monday with only the Texans and Rockets still playing
their respective sports. The Astros need to win, clearly to
make that all true. They're on the outside looking in.
If they lose every game, they're definitely out. They can
win one time potentially and still make the postseason, but

(37:44):
hopefully they will win much more and make it a
little bit easier on what they want to do to
get there. Finish the home stand very disappointing fashion, started
the homestand in very impressive, very hopeful fashion. They have
not played really good baseball against these two teams that
they're up against. They've gone ten and ten against the
Athletics and the Angels, a losing record against the A's,
a winning record against the Angels four and six and

(38:06):
six and four. Barely anybody that will be on the
mound for the Astros to start these games against the
Athletics has even seen them. Only Javier and Hunter Brown,
who actually will both start in this series, have the way.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
What's not good, Well, the A's lineup is just better
than anybody has seen since the last time anybody faced them.
And the last time anybody faced them from the Astros,
they lit them up.

Speaker 6 (38:29):
If only they could dial up whatever the last team
that faced them was throwing at them. Back to back
shutouts of the Athletics heading into the series on Tuesday,
three o'clock has arrived.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
In the Sports Talk seven ninety two lifelong Houston sports
guys named Adam talking your teaed, Adam Clinton and Adam
Wefler are the eighteen all right?

Speaker 5 (39:05):
It is the three o'clock hour.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
The simulcast has begun over on Space City Home Network
because apparently the Houston sports gods needed to see my
face when I informed some of you who aren't aware
of the very rocket season we were just talking about
last segment.

Speaker 5 (39:24):
Just took a very very big blow.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
According to Shams just in Houston, Rockets Fred van Vliet
has suffered a torn acl sources tele ESPN, a devastating,
potentially season ending loss for the Rockets with their starting
point guard and leader. And I just want to say
this very eloquently as best I can, coming off the
weekend the Astros and the Texans just had. Can the

(39:49):
sports gods just absolutely bleep all the way off? Like
I get it? The Astros cheated. Everybody's mad at Houston
for you know, several seasons ago. Have we not paid
our pennant here? As Houston sports fans like, is there
is there a reason for this? With the injuries the
Astros have just gone through and the absolute dog bleep
that the Texans had been through three weeks on offense?

Speaker 5 (40:12):
Why? Why?

Speaker 10 (40:13):
God?

Speaker 5 (40:13):
Why WEX? What did I do? Did I do something?

Speaker 4 (40:15):
Is this because I got somebody been out of shape
up there? Why does Fred van Vliet have to tear
his ACL like a week before media Day?

Speaker 5 (40:23):
Just explain it to me.

Speaker 6 (40:25):
Yeah, hard not to feel bad for the player himself.
In addition to that, this is a season for him.
He came to Houston to try to put them in
position to do what he has once already done, that's
win an NBA championship. And I think he knew, like
everybody else in this organization, including the newcomers to the
organization like Kevin Durant, like Dorian Finney Smith, that they
had a really good chance to put something together immediately

(40:45):
this season.

Speaker 5 (40:45):
They're not building anymore.

Speaker 6 (40:46):
They are built, and they wanted to see what would
transpire with this group this season and now that group again.
A torn ACL in late September suggests the timeline for
him to not play any basketball for the Rock. It's
until twenty twenty six, twenty seven, should that be the case.
And that is really unfortunate. Really feel bad for him
and that this was, like I said, you know, he

(41:09):
finished his postseason last year that the best player on
the team just from a performance standpoint. He was that
good to close out the series against Golden State, and
this year was going to take on a role that
probably saw him being leaned on a little bit less
leadership aside that would be the same, but maybe not
needing him to be a thirty five six seven minute
a night player for them throughout a season. And now

(41:31):
they won't get anything and he won't be out there
for them. Not sure what this will mean for, you know,
how he'll go about his season, where he will be,
how much time he'll spend around the club, And obviously
the team and the player or his agency hasn't confirmed this,
but I don't doubt it's accuracy, and it is, you know,
it's kind of the kind of thing that is a
It is a gut punch to the team, the organization,
and more so to the player. But the excitement to

(41:54):
a certain extent obviously gets damp into a little bit.
You maybe have an eight or nine player rotation, Well,
he's in it. He firmly in it as your starting
point guard. No matter how much talent, you still have
a board, no matter what you think the future was
going to hold for say Reed Shepherd or Amen Thompson
as more primary ball handlers. Is it's pretty devastating, certainly

(42:14):
for Fred and obviously for the team.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Jimmy Ward has been removed from the commissioner's list. I'd
rather have Fred van Vliet just saying they are separate.
That's my trade off in Houston sports. I mean, for
the love of God, you have a record amount of
injured list participants for the Astros this year, which we
haven't even pointed. I think we've done a pretty good
job of while talking about the injuries because they're unavoidable,

(42:37):
to not point to them as an excuse for whatever
shortcomings have been the Astros twenty twenty five campaign. But
their main reason for that is because they've been in
first place for much of the year, and so I
just think that that narrative goes by the wayside. Fred
van Vliet was going to be a huge saying it
in the past tense is so depressing already was going

(42:59):
to be a huge part of and was a huge
part by the way I think of why Kevin Durant
would have wanted to come here.

Speaker 5 (43:07):
He's not going to be part of that now, and
this is a.

Speaker 4 (43:12):
This is a potentially really big problem because I don't
know that you can look at I mean, just look
at the Vegas odds once the news of this trickles down.
I don't know that you can look at the Rockets
the same way. I know they got Kevin Durant, I
know they have him in Thompson. I know they've got
a great core. We just had Rafelstone sitting in that
chair last week in here to talk about all the

(43:33):
good vibes for the Rockets season.

Speaker 5 (43:36):
But you saw it last year.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
I you and I disagreed on how effective Fred was
on the floor in a variety of different ways for
this Rockets team, because his shooting last year, particularly from
the three point line at times, was abysmal, and then
like he practically dragged him to a Game seven the
way he was shooting in the postseason, but like it

(43:58):
when he went down with that, I think it was
an inkle injury in February. Basically he missed all of February.
That was I don't think it was a coincidence. That
was the Rockets worst month of the year. As I recall,
record wise, that was when they had their roughest patch.
They got swept by the Nets during February. I mean,
things were bad. And you know Jabari Smith Junior breaking

(44:19):
his hand prior to that about a month earlier, early
days of January.

Speaker 5 (44:23):
That didn't help.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
But Fred's such a steadying force on the floor, even
if his shots aren't falling, even if this, that and
the other isn't going his way, this is this is bad,
bad news for the Rockets.

Speaker 5 (44:37):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (44:37):
It's, like I said, a very key component. It's unfortunate
for him, unfortunate for the team. Obviously, at this point
of an offseason, you're about to start practicing, you're about
to start playing your preseason games, and you know, we're
less than a month away from the season opener on
the twenty first of October for the NBA, So there
isn't much else to go out there and do to
accommodate for that. There may be opportunities later in the

(44:58):
year and teams, obviously l score will be in different
positions and maybe you'll see something that it could augment
the ask or excuse me, the Rockets roster in.

Speaker 5 (45:07):
This very particular area.

Speaker 6 (45:09):
But it's amazing how things will change, and it was
never the intention when the Rockets left the court leaving
their Game seven loss and wondering what their future held
and players that you know may have been a bigger
part of it and may have been a lesser part
of it, but the guys that helped you in a
number of different ways, specifically in the back court. Cam

(45:32):
Whitmore's obviously not here, wasn't the part of their postseason
roster for all intents and purposes. Jalen Green not here,
and now Fred van Vliet not able to participate with
a torn acl and you know, obviously that's straight out
that's your starting backcourt. Jalen started every game in the backcourt.
I am aware you've replaced him with Kevin Durant, but

(45:52):
in instead of making the Kevin Durant deal, specifically with
the other signings and Mindslan Brooks is going out, Jalen
Green is going out, so we're bringing in Dorian Finney Smith.
We've got this for Brooks and we've got that for Jalen.
They had a starting backcourt that led them to fifty
two wins last year, and neither of them will play
for the Rockets next year. Obviously, Jalen is in Phoenix

(46:15):
and now Fred is unavailable.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
It's just coming on the heels of the type of
weekend Houston sports fans just went through. I mean, we
all remember what happened with Deshaun Watson his rookie year,
and then the Astros promptly went to win the World
Series a few weeks later, and we all joked about
it being a sacrificial ACL at the time. I don't
know what this would be a sacrifice for. Whether the

(46:39):
Texan's gonna win their first game next.

Speaker 6 (46:40):
Week, Well, think about the other main difference that I
would say, so Fred van Vliet out for the year
with a torn ACL for a fifty plus win team,
they were gonna win fifty plus. I think that's pretty
easy to say. They'll probably still win fifty plus. They'll
they'll be in the mix. They'll be I think, just
a very potent team and a very likely team that
is tough to eliminate. But they clearly got worse. This

(47:02):
is a really, really good team. This is a team
with legitimate, believable championship aspirations. Deshaun Watson was playing like
somebody you were pretty excited about in the future. But
he was playing for a bad football team.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
Yah.

Speaker 6 (47:15):
He was playing for a team that was not ready
to go anywhere that year, and obviously they absolutely went
the tank after that.

Speaker 5 (47:22):
That was not you weren't losing it.

Speaker 6 (47:23):
I mean, all the excitement about how he played was
great and warranted. They didn't even win half the games
he played. He's putting up unbelievable numbers. They couldn't stop anybody.
They were in all these shootouts, and it was the
first year of his career. It was just getting started,
and you hope that it wouldn't impact it moving far forward,
and that's not what impacted it far moving forward. He

(47:43):
still reached a Pro Bowl level and still was what
was the caliber of a franchise caliber quarterback. This to
me is just, you know, this is a championship team.
This is a team that should be playing in the
last series in the Western Conference, potentially certainly in the
last eight teams, the last four team standing in the world,
no question about that.

Speaker 5 (48:01):
Absolutely.

Speaker 6 (48:02):
Prior to the season beginning, no doubt that would have
been my prediction. At the very very least, they would
have been one of the final four Western Conference teams standing.
I'm not sure what I would have thought after seeing
a little bit of everybody else, maybe I'd have projected
them to make it to the conference finals, or beat
Oklahoma City or reach the finals. It's gonna be tough
to look at them in the same way. I just
don't think it's possible. Even though he's not their most

(48:24):
important player, probably not their second most important player. He
might not be their third or fourth most important player,
but he's pretty important.

Speaker 5 (48:32):
He's the ball handler.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
And if you're wondering some more details trickling out, Kelly
Eco reporting that he suffered the injury during a team
mini camp in the Bahamas and is scheduled for surgery
this week. I had forgotten they were going to do that,
but I just and Kelly lists his age right there

(48:54):
at thirty one. I kept coming back to this last
season because he just seems like he's older than he is.
Not because he looks older or he's slow or anything
like that, just I think he's He had such a
run in Toronto, you know, kind of spearheading along with
Kawhi Leonard, that championship run, and.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
He was that guy.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
He was the captain, He was the hard and soul
of that team that pushed and won that NBA championship,
and he immediately was that guy here in Houston for
a team that needed, alongside Dylan Brooks, veterans that have
at least had some sort of high level winning to
influence this young core. And man, I just I can't

(49:39):
feel It's like you said, I can't feel the same
way about this upcoming season if he's not a part
of it.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
Even with Kevin Durant.

Speaker 6 (49:45):
Yeah, there was no doubt that the Rockets had high
hopes for year two of Reed. Shepherd that definitely this
changes a lot about what they might be considering what else. Again,
I'm not saying they can't make a move and they
can't find a player and they can't do something for
this spot on their roster, but they clearly will be
starting something very very unlike they had intended when they

(50:06):
send out their first five on opening night. And we'll
have it here for you, of course on Sports Talk
seven ninety and very much looking forward to it. Still,
it also brings a little bit different tone to a
week from Monday when we ask everybody, unfortunately about this
very unfortunate news that Fred van Vliet towards ACL working
out with the team just before they get ready to
start practicing for the upcoming season. So a very big negative,

(50:29):
unfortunately for us to discuss here along with the other
two very big on field negatives from both the Texans
and the Rockets. Continue with that here on the A team.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
The Aged on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
All right, so nothing's going to replace Fred van Vliet
in the Rockets' plans for this upcoming season, because he
was a big part of them. I think it's telling
about at least where we are right now with the
expectations of Reed Shepherd, that no one is saying, all right,

(51:10):
it's the kids got to step up now.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
I mean some people are I mean you mean on
the in the Twitter verse.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Yeah, okay, I haven't talked to anybody from the Rockets
organization because this is a shop in five minutes.

Speaker 6 (51:21):
I mean, there's nothing to say at this point. I mean,
we've kind of there's only so many options. Do you
really want to dig into some of your depth again,
if you did not hear the news sham Serrani reporting
that a torn acl for Fred van Vliet while working
out with the team a little training camp mini camp
before the season began in the Bahamas, something they've done
and many teams do each year before they get together,

(51:43):
players will get together and put that together and make
it happen, and he's gonna miss the upcoming season due
to that. Do the Rockets dip into their front court
depth their depth in other spots, because, as we noted
both with Rafel earlier this month and with everybody else
since the off season, maneuvers were made. I mean, I'm
amazed at how many guys they brought back, with how

(52:04):
much else they brought in, and they really they have
helpful players all across their roster, from probably down to
the twelve thirteenth, fourteenth spot. If there's an opportunity for
them to maybe put something together again. I don't know
that they can trade anything inside the rotation, but it
might take that in order to fix a position if
they believe it's broken. Now it clearly is broken to

(52:26):
a certain extent, but they have one ball handler, one
point guard, true point guard, the only position he's going
to play in the NBA. The one is Reed Shepherd
that sits on the roster in addition to Aaron Holliday.
When the season rolls around, if they haven't made any
changes to the roster, I don't know which one of
the two of them starts, but it would be down

(52:47):
to those two. I would not want a roster or
a five man starting lineup that did not include one
of them, even though I don't think anybody argues that
they're one of their top five players. But I do
think you have to put a group together that helps
everybody else out. I don't think you want a men
Thompson and Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Junior handling all
the ball handling and setting up the offense for you

(53:09):
for the first five to seven minutes of every single
game and for thirty minutes a night with those I
just don't think that's a way that they can put
this team together on the court and be what they
want to be. They can't be what they wanted to be,
but I do think there's still a possibility they could
be what they want to be. They want to be
competitive for the NBA Championship, and it's going to take
a lot. And this is a lot to overcome, and
there isn't again an off season to address it.

Speaker 10 (53:30):
Now.

Speaker 5 (53:30):
The off season's over.

Speaker 6 (53:32):
The NBA season is set to begin, and training camps
will be underway at this time next week. A trade
is always an option I'm not sure what other teams
are willing to part with at that particular spot that
can play and fit into what you're trying to do financially.

Speaker 5 (53:47):
But yeah, it's pretty devastating blow.

Speaker 6 (53:49):
I hope we echoed that properly in the opening segment
when we talked about this when the news broke just
as we began this hour. But again, no moves made.
There's no one player that this means more too, from
a they're counting on you standpoint, than Reed Shephard, alpertn
Chin Grewund was probably set to have another big step
next year, same for amend same for Jabbari, same for

(54:11):
Tari and on down the line. And Kevin Durant hopefully
remains at least as good as the player he was
last year, and I have no doubt and had no
doubt that he would. That leaves other players and other
players like Reed Shepherd who now without a big step forward,
and I mean a very big step forward. I think
the Rockets are going to be searching for answers to
that position if he's not it. I don't actually to

(54:33):
disagree with you a little bit. I don't hate the
idea of Amn Thompson handling the ball. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (54:38):
I don't know if they would go that direction.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
I'm just saying if they did, I don't hate it
because I think he's while not your I think he's your,
your prototypical and Scotty Pippen did it all the time
for the Bulls in a very different era. I get
all the things everybody's gonna say already. It's just that
I've I've kind of I've looked at them similarly in

(55:02):
what they are expected to do for this team. I
just think that when you're talking about, like, for example,
if it were Read Shepherd or even Aaron Holliday at
the point, but especially Read Shepherd, the defense that Fred
van Vliet would play at times is going to go
right out the window with either of those guys. And
I'm not saying it was elite level, but he's a
good defender for a point guard of his size, especially

(55:26):
there would be no drop off there from a men Thompson.
But he was gonna be on the floor anyways. He
was gonna start regardless of whether or not he's handling
the ball. I'm just saying there are probably worse options.

Speaker 6 (55:37):
Yeah, I don't I'm not trying to diminish what he's
capable of. I just would prefer not to have him
do that. That's not the best way to have a
men Thompson help your team win basketball games.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
I mean, I.

Speaker 6 (55:47):
Would never, ever, ever, ever, ever want to see him
walking it up the court to get the offense set up.
That's just a waste of his abilities. And I don't
want to see him setting up the offense for other players.
I want him involved in the offense. I want him
work away from the basketball. I want him in the
dunker spot. I want him capable of catching the ball
and just breaking his man down and going after it
and scoring and doing things that I think are going

(56:09):
to be a part of his game. He absolutely could
run a basketball team. I just don't know that that's
even with the whatever roster deficiencies they still have. I
don't know that that is the best way that I
would outfit them. He will do it at times. I
have no doubt he would have done it at times anyway.
Presdent a forty eight minute a night.

Speaker 7 (56:26):
Guy.

Speaker 5 (56:26):
Hey, we were talking exactly.

Speaker 4 (56:29):
We were talking to Rafel last week, and I knew
he would say it at some point or I knew
it would probably come up, but it's very consistent what
the organization has at least publicly said about how they
feel about Reed Shephard. So if you really believe in
what you keep saying, and that's why you took him
with the number three pick in the draft and all

(56:50):
that kind of stuff, well, then if he was already
planning on being such a big part of what you
were trying to do this year, his next step forward
and all that kind of stuff, well he's about to
be violently shoved into that position.

Speaker 6 (57:03):
Yeah, wouldn't we say, you don't lose a whole lot
if Amen Thompson is replacing Fred defensively, and again they're
both on the court at the same time, So that
really wasn't what was going to happen. It could happen
now in the future, but that's the biggest difference to me,
and I don't that's not even saying Reed Shepherd's point
guard game, his ability to finish, score, do all those
things offensively, you are going to have a very very

(57:24):
very very difficult time playing a very heavy switching defense,
which they did not do all year last year, but
they definitely did at times last year. I don'tly even
think it's possible with Reed Shepherd on the court. I
think as a one on one defender of guards six
and below, he can manage that just fine.

Speaker 5 (57:44):
I think he's actually a pretty good defender.

Speaker 6 (57:45):
I think he'll turn into a guy that will help
the offense with the steels here and there and do
things with his feet to stay in front of guys.
But as soon as you've switched him on to anybody
else who's a wing player or a big which they
did countless times with Fred, I just think it's totally different.
He cannot he doesn't have the strength, he doesn't have
the lower body strength. He's just not a big enough person.

(58:07):
He's no different than Steph Curry in that regard. Golden
State doesn't switch Steph Curry into you know, holding guys
in the close to the basket if they can avoid it.
They don't want to do that. Nobody wants to do that.
The Rockets don't want to do that. But that's just
something other teams will force them into changing their defensive
philosophy for at times when they would not have had
to do that when Fred was on the court. And
believe me, I'm well aware of all the times Fred

(58:28):
got taken down in by the block and taken advantage
of and it, you know, a good eighteen seconds of
Rockets defense turned into yeah, that was an easy basket
for the opponent because they worked it until they got
the advantage and the mismatch that they wanted. That doesn't change.
But just overall, I think everybody understands that this is
a team. It's not they have Kevin Durant. They are
not built on offense. They are still not built and

(58:51):
even with Fred healthy, they were not built to run
up and down the court and outscore other teams. That's
not their intention. It wasn't that last year, and it's
not wasn't gonna be that this year, and it does
not change.

Speaker 5 (59:01):
They're trying to keep you from scoring.

Speaker 10 (59:03):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (59:03):
They're trying to make it unfun to play against them.
They're going to try to outwork you. And he was
a big part of that. For a thirty one year
old player, he still gave everything he had and then some,
more so than a lot of younger players, and it
was the hallmark of what this team was. It changes
a lot in that regard. They still have to be
a strong defensive team. There's no way they're going to
win unless they're a strong defensive team. They're incredibly lengthy.

(59:27):
That did not change. They have all sorts of defensive
mismatches to take advantage of pretty much everywhere on the court.
When Tari's out there, Jabbari's out there, are men out
out there, Phinney, Smith, you name it. There's so much
they can do defensively, but it dramatically changes one spot,
and that dramatically changes your overall defense.

Speaker 4 (59:45):
Yeah no, you're I mean, you're dead on accurate about
what their identity is. They are not now, while scoring
will become immensely more easy, especially if you need a
bucket at crunch time. And how about this, how about
the the fact that in that scenario, whereas you could
not really know what was coming, if if Alprin Shingoon

(01:00:08):
got the basketball and got fouled for some reason, Kevin
Durant's gonna make his free throws. So that from that standpoint,
you know your offense and everything that when you have
to get a bucket and all that kind of stuff
that comes into play, that's going to be a much
easier sledding situation. But you're right, their their identity, emails, identity,
their their mentality, whatever you want to call it, has

(01:00:28):
been entrenched in defense from the time he got here,
because if you don't play it, you don't play.

Speaker 5 (01:00:33):
On either end of the floor.

Speaker 6 (01:00:34):
Woe is me will not be heard from the Rockets,
So when we meet with them next week, you're home
for the Rockets on media Day, not at all. They'll
recognize the unfortunate nature of this injury and most likely
for the individual himself. Fred van Vliet not expected to
be healthy for the upcoming season with a torn acl
reported earlier this afternoon. We've been talking about at the

(01:00:57):
last half hour or so, a pretty significant blow to
a team that absolutely was in the mix for a
late long season run towards a potential NBA championship for
this franchise. Continue on that three point thirty also comes
mentioned we would hear and talk a little bit more
about the Astros and here from Steve Sparks.

Speaker 5 (01:01:14):
We'll do that when we continue.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
The eight on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
Oh Houston sports fans taking one on the chin. Over
the last let's say seventy two hours, Ish Astros getting
swept out of their own gym by the Mariners in
a highly contested divisional race until the weekend was over,
the Texans losing to fall to zero to three in
another divisional game out in Jacksonville yesterday, and now the

(01:01:51):
Rockets have lost Fred Van Vliet, probably for the season.
That's not being said yet, but it's a torn acl
and media Day is a week from today.

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
Yeah, you're not.

Speaker 6 (01:02:01):
He's not likely to recover from that in time to
even play if they were playing all the way, super
super deep into the postseason. Not to mention, if they're
playing super super deep into the postseason, the group they
have must be pretty good.

Speaker 5 (01:02:13):
Yeah, you don't need him, that's what you're saying right there.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
No, not really, but yeah, it's not promising. And in
that vein look, that was one of the more frustrating
sports weekends in recent memory. That has now bled over
into Monday. But going back to the Astros, it was
the same old story, Like I know this. The pitching
wasn't great, but that hasn't been really your issue most

(01:02:36):
of the year. Most of the year it's been oh,
we get guys on base, but we can't get them over,
we can't get them home, and the offense for the Astros,
you know, betraying them yet again. As the most important
series of the season was unfolding, and Steve Sparks stopped
by for his weekly visit earlier today, and that was
one of the first questions. It was asked, what's wrong
with these bats against this Mariners team in this weekend series?

Speaker 5 (01:02:59):
They just lost?

Speaker 10 (01:03:00):
Well, they're they're very aggressive, and they're very aggressive early
in the accounts and you face Wu and you face
George Kirby, and you face Logan Gilbert, and you look
for some advantage you might get. And with all those
guys hitting, the first pitch is part of the advantage.
I mean, if it's a decent pitch, but you got
you got to still be very selective on that first

(01:03:22):
pitch to be aggressive. So I don't know, man, for
whatever reason, they just go in these cold spells at
home so often that it just really scares you thinking
about what you're pitching had to do to stay in
these ballgames. So you know, they've got to figure it out.
You know, they're on the road for six games here

(01:03:42):
and they've got to finish a game ahead of a
bunch of teams because they they don't have the tiebreaker
against them. So it's a very important wing. I mean,
minimum four games, four out of six, but probably more
likely you've got to win five out of six.

Speaker 13 (01:03:57):
Steve, you got Christian Hobber are going on to and
then after that it's sort of anyone's call on how
they're going to set up with four real starters. And
you know that you are likely, given just the lack
of starting pitching, gonna have to use fromber Valdez at
least once in these next six games. Is there is
there anything that is giving you confidence that you can

(01:04:18):
rely on fromber Valdez for a game right now?

Speaker 10 (01:04:21):
Whatever you're working on in between starts, you know will translate,
and it's just a quick cook you know, for everybody
right now, it's just all hands on deck. You've got
enough guys, I think Dan pitchwell in the bullpen to
cover it. They've had a couple off days down the
last five days, and that's that's gonna be helpful. But
guys like blue Ball and Murray and Denis Santos and

(01:04:44):
those guys they're pitching, they're pitching well, and you know
you're gonna get them in there, just like with Jason
Alexander yesterday he ran into a rare horrible inning and
they got somebody in there very quickly and they were
able to shut the door. But sometimes it happened so
fast that you don't, you know, shut that door quickly enough.
And that's what happened Seattle was just they just came

(01:05:08):
in loaded for Bear and they just put a big
time butt whooping on the Astros. So you know, you
just figure out what to do over this off day
and get back at it and play good baseball. And
I don't think it's the end of the world when
you think about what's going on in the playoffs the
last few years, so the last three years now that

(01:05:30):
they have the extra teams in the playoffs, the home
team is actually under five hundred. I believe there's sixty
and sixty four. And even the wild card team is
worse than that. They're ten and sixteen I think the
last three years in the playoffs, So home field advantage
isn't that as great as it is probably in the
other sports as far as wins and losses.

Speaker 12 (01:05:51):
Sparky when it comes to the offensive struggles. I mean,
people have talked about the injuries. Obviously, no yord On
and you know, you didn't have Jeremy Pagney last night.
So when it comes down to it, are you looking
more at the guys who are not here, or is
it on the guys who are still in the lineup
just not producing at the level that's needed for this
team to be able to win.

Speaker 10 (01:06:12):
Well, there's only one thing to do. It's to rely
on the guys that are playing, and you're trying to
put them in the best positions you can, and you know,
trying to make out the lineup the best you can,
thinking about who's going to get on base before this
guy gets on and things like that. So you know,
they're not even really able to get a whole lot
of traction here in the last few games. And it

(01:06:34):
just feels so lethargic when the other team is pitching well,
it feels like your team is lifeless whenever that happens.
And that's not the case. I mean, guys are playing
as hard as they can. But you know a lot
of times you look across the way and you look
through your face, and sometimes that has more to do
with it.

Speaker 13 (01:06:52):
One bright spot they've seen the past couple of weeks
that Cole, what have you seen from him? And do
you feel like this is a guy that probably just
needs to be in the lineup until he cools down.

Speaker 10 (01:07:04):
I certainly think, and you can't say this about everybody,
but I mean he hits velocity. Well, he's super twitchy.
The balls just jumping off of his bat, and it
gets you excited about what's in store. It doesn't seem
like this situation is going to overwhelm him. It looks
like he's making pretty good decisions as far as what

(01:07:25):
the swing at. So for me right now, I mean,
I mean, he certainly looks like he's going to be
one of the guys you're going to count on in
the next six games to go out there and help him.
And that's the reason why they brought him up to
begin with, is to provide a spark, and he did
that beautifully. And he did it last night too. I mean,

(01:07:45):
he gave him a spark when they hadn't scored and
it looked like they were going to have a pretty
good inning and it just got stalled again with runners
in scoring positions. But he's added a little dimension that
I think the askers have needed. So now you're holding
out hope, Dan, I think is man I hope this
isn't going to be too long lasting with Paynya. Danan

(01:08:08):
Brown came on the show before the game yesterday and
said he was pretty optimistic that it wasn't too serious,
and he held out hope that he was going to
be available for the Athletics series, and he was also
holding out hope, you know the way things are trending
right now, that Jordon might be available in the last
series of the seasons, that.

Speaker 6 (01:08:26):
Right there is pretty much the story of the entire
Astro season. Possibly maybe could he be back said it
about Parretis. He ended up coming back still saying it
about a hater and don't know if he'll be making
another pitch for the Astros this regular season or postseason.
Most likely not not sure about Jordan Alvarez does not
fly with the team to start this road trip, but

(01:08:47):
they wouldn't confirm or say at this point the decision
has been made about the remainder of the road trip.
He obviously isn't even eligible to play until they get
to LA as his ten day i EL stint would
not yet have expired, but will by the time they
get to the final series. And obviously, now adding Jeremy
pany and that oblique injury suffered in game running from
first to second trying to apparently avoid a tag at

(01:09:08):
second base. Did not play yesterday. Team wide and actually
league wide day off today. No al games being played today,
and they will be in West Sacramento for the first
of three starting tomorrow late late evening. Here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety, we'll find out maybe when the
lineup comes out if he's playing, because remember yesterday he
was in the lineup and then had to be scratched

(01:09:29):
because of that oblique injury. Who's available for the Astros.
They've got six more games. Can they win enough to
extend their season once again and maybe maybe keep it
a little more golden era of Astros Baseball love to
give you some positive news. We still got two hours
plus to go. I guarantee you we'll find something.

Speaker 1 (01:09:50):
The age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:09:58):
Well that Steve Sparks inspire you.

Speaker 6 (01:10:00):
That last snippet, well, all that's talk about what they
couldn't do against the Mariners pitching becomes irrelevant. They're not
facing the Mariners pitching anymore. They're facing the Athletics pitching.
They're facing the Angels pitching. There's always the chance you
could see the Mariners again in the postseason. The Mariners,
by the way, along with everybody else in the American
League other than the Blue Jays not yet in to
the postseason.

Speaker 5 (01:10:20):
Blue Jays able to pop bottles.

Speaker 6 (01:10:23):
But Detroit and Cleveland now are separated by only one game,
and that will change over the next three days.

Speaker 5 (01:10:30):
They start a three game series on Tuesday.

Speaker 6 (01:10:33):
Boston and Detroit have the same number of wins at
eighty five. Houston and Cleveland have the same number of
wins at eighty four. There's a lot still left to
be determined, and that's why these games still carry such relevance.
It would be nice if, at the very least, especially
if they're facing right handed pitching. The rest of the way,
not every game will be that, certainly not their next game.

(01:10:53):
Would love to see Zach Cole in the lineup every day.
I was uncertain of why he wouldn't be in the
lineup every day.

Speaker 5 (01:10:58):
They don't.

Speaker 6 (01:10:59):
They definitely do not have better options. I think that
at this point we can see that very very clearly.
You saw one day this weekend when Heyesus Sanchez, was
in the lineup. It's a pretty easy way to get
him out of it, although I don't know why you'd
want to if you're the opposition. He just put a
left hander on the mound and it really didn't matter
because then that means Sanchez will be pinch hit four
And on that particular day, Christian Walker had been kept.

Speaker 5 (01:11:21):
Out of the lineup, so he was available to pinch hit.

Speaker 6 (01:11:23):
He did, and three pitches that were all on the
zone that were thrown very fast were not hit by him,
so he struck out again. But yeah, if you're facing
a left handed pitcher, there's really no question about it.

Speaker 5 (01:11:33):
Zach Cole should be in the lineup.

Speaker 6 (01:11:34):
He does have a lot of swing and miss profile
from his minor league and it's absolutely been on display here.
But for the most part his swing and miss, he's
seen some nasty sliders slide out of the zone that
he swung and missed at. But I do think he's
shown pretty good plate discipline for somebody who could absolutely
be overwhelmed, considering a month ago he's facing double A
pitching and then spent fifteen days facing Triple A pitching.

(01:11:57):
It was immediately thrown in there against Jacob de Grom
and then the group that they just faced this weekend
against the Mariners. They hit three balls over the fence.
I don't know if you've noticed this, as much as
it stinks that this is how it is. It's winning baseball.
Hit homers win games. It is that simple. Playoffs, maybe
it will be a little bit different. But the teams,

(01:12:19):
outside of one of the teams they're playing this weekend,
which is crazy, the Angels hit home runs and they
haven't figured out how to win. That means it's to
them problem. They strike out a ton more than anybody
else in baseball. That's the kind of the only way
to counteract all the homers. They strike out so much
more than the Yankees, especially this last month.

Speaker 5 (01:12:37):
But the Yankees hit homers. Not a great baseball team.

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
They actually play the game very very badly, but they
hit the ball over the fence a ton. The Mariners
are the number one home running hitting team in baseball
coming into and obviously coming out of this series this month.
They hit the ball over the fence all weekend long.
It's a very easy way to win. They got four
good swings against the Astros and nine innings on Friday
night homer homer, homer, homer, and they won four nothing.

(01:13:04):
It is that simple. The Astros hit two home runs yesterday,
also both solos.

Speaker 5 (01:13:08):
They only scored.

Speaker 6 (01:13:09):
They had one one run scoring swing combined Friday and
Saturday against the Mariners. It was the Grand Slam from
Jeremy Pana. All but one of the Astros runs that
scored in three days came via the home run. And hey,
far be it from me to say I missed on
everything or I'm right on everything by weekend predictions.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
You are not here for on Friday? Oh, what's that
we have to talk about? The are you talk about
stone cold locks or just weekend predictions? Has nothing to
do with stone cold locks. Those are always bad. Just
looking at the weekend ahead. The yeah for you.

Speaker 6 (01:13:46):
Basically, we all have the same record four weeks into
the season, a couple games over, a couple games under,
the Astros would be in first place when we got
here on Monday. That was very wrong. The Texans would
have their first of the season, also very wrong. And
the much much less important and simplistic and not even
all that bold prediction was correct. Hesak Pretis Woul hit

(01:14:09):
his twentieth home run of the season this first weekend
back after missing fifty five Astros games with the hamstring injury.
He did that he also was very paratius, and that
he had at least one other ball home run distance
but foul, a staple of his season.

Speaker 5 (01:14:23):
But he put one into the Crawford boxes.

Speaker 6 (01:14:25):
Everything he did at the play, even though there weren't
tremendous results, looked like he is just as capable at
any other point in the season. Not sure how healthy
he truly really is, but I'm sure he will be
out there for all six games that remain this season
and near the top of the lineup, so hopefully that
will be the case. We don't usually when we're not
crushing it with our Stone cold Locks, go through a
review of it until Friday, and I'm fine with waiting

(01:14:48):
until Friday to say how things went this week. Also
a judge's ruling needing on one of the games, but
we've already had multiple one in four weeks. We've now
gotten our first zero for week, and like I said, nobody,
that's what to me makes it fun, even though it's
the complete opposite. We call it stone cold Locks. I'm
familiar with what's going on in our country on in

(01:15:09):
the gambling front, with our you know, two minutes for
the first minute or two dollars for the first minute
after you get my free play. You're not gonna want
to miss these calls. My stone cold five star lock
of the week. That's why we call it that. We
should be fifteen and five and fourteen and six. At
least we know sports. We don't know this quite like
we think we do. So it's a fun exercise when

(01:15:31):
we get to it on Friday, so we'll have a
review of what went on. And it's only Monday, so
the extremely exciting upcoming weekend of college football. The selection
for our college football Game of the Week has not
yet been made, and we don't have a final line
on what the Texans Titans will look like. But the
Titans are winless, the Texans are winless. The game is

(01:15:53):
here in Houston.

Speaker 5 (01:15:54):
Something's got to give that the.

Speaker 6 (01:15:55):
Texans are a sizeable probably will come in it right
around a touchdown.

Speaker 5 (01:15:59):
Fame for their game this Sunday at noon.

Speaker 6 (01:16:03):
Better win, better win. Do you know who they play
next week? If you don't, I'll tell you they play
Baltimore this upcoming week. They'll catch Baltimore in a short week,
Baltimore playing this evening, but I don't think that matters
a whole lot. Baltimore is one of the teams that
the Texans have seen the last couple of years with CJ.
Stroud and would very well not like to see them.

(01:16:25):
If there's no win against Tennessee, and then when the
Texans hit the off week, their season will have ended.
They will be looking at OH to five and they'll
be getting their first week off after five consecutive playing
weeks off. OWN five teams in a seventeen game season
era are not going to the postseason. OWN three teams
in a seventeen game season era have not yet made

(01:16:45):
the postseason. But it is a little bit easier, and
it was interesting this weekend. Knew it would some things
would maybe show themselves. There are five teams that had
to play their backup quarterback due to injury. One of
the games included two of them. The maximum number of
wins these reserve quarterbacks could get this past weekend was four,

(01:17:05):
and they got four. All of them won, except for
Jake Browning, who was playing against a backup quarterback Carson Wentz.

Speaker 5 (01:17:12):
Teams one.

Speaker 6 (01:17:14):
I take that back, I kept saying that to Rod
Taylor's team could have won, should have won, but like
the Texans though that Baker Mayfield beat them down the stretch.

Speaker 5 (01:17:22):
So three of the four that could did.

Speaker 6 (01:17:25):
The Texans, playing awful Trevor Lawrence and their drop happy
wideouts could not get a victory despite stopping the run
and being in position yet again to win for the
first time. I'm sure they'll be in position to win
for the first time this weekend. Also, can they get.

Speaker 5 (01:17:43):
It done against the Titans?

Speaker 4 (01:17:46):
I mean yeah, I think because look, their defense is
still playing well.

Speaker 6 (01:17:52):
They're still doing the same things that they've done all year.
They're playing well enough to keep their terrible offense in
the game. And I hate being down on them, but
you know, win the turnover battle once. That's something they
have not done. You know, make the stop when you
need to. You didn't have to give Brian Thomas his
only significant catch of the game at the end. They
did the smart thing by letting at ten score. After
that they probably lasted or should probably let Tomas. There's

(01:18:14):
no debate about them letting them score, no debate whatsoever,
no need for even a question about it. But that
was a stop their defense needed to make and they
couldn't right after that turnover and the Jaguars turned into
the go ahead and ultimately the winning score. Four o'clock.
A few more items on the Texans. Yeah, we got
a week's worth of items on the Texans. We'll hit

(01:18:35):
on some of those as we continue the AE.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
On Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:18:40):
Ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adham talking your team,
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A team.

Speaker 4 (01:19:00):
Four o'clock you out, We're underway here on Sports Talk
seven ninety Space City Home Network. It has been quite
a doozy of a Monday show. We only thought coming
in here today that we would have the depressing antics
of both the Astros and the Texans to discuss for
the majority of the four hours we were here, and
then the Rockets were like, Hey, we want to join
the party. Fred van Vliet tearing his ACL I don't

(01:19:24):
know when exactly this happened, but I do know that
surgery is scheduled for this week and I wouldn't look
for him in this upcoming Rocket season, which just adds
to the sports misery that fans are dealing with. After
a sweep at the hands of the Mariners for the Astros,
and of course the Texans falling to zero to three
over the weekend. I want to start right dere wex

(01:19:44):
as we get our number three under way. Because Demiko
had some comments that we played earlier in the show
before we found out anything about Fred van Vliet, and
we were kind of talking about this in the first
hour the he kind of explained himself and we'll play
it again here real quick, the Texans being close and
what he meant by that yesterday and the week before that,

(01:20:07):
as he continued to say, hey, we're right there, we're
gonna and fans don't want to hear that when you're
owing three. Fans don't really want to hear anything, but
they certainly don't want to hear like what they I
guess are interpreting as excuses, but just it just it
sounded I think maybe like coach speaking a way. So Demico,

(01:20:28):
meeting with the media today, wanted to kind of explain
what he meant when he said the Texans are close
at own three.

Speaker 8 (01:20:36):
What I mean by close? We were close in our
three games, right, we were there in the fourth quarter. Right,
We're closed to finishing and closing those games out. There
are plays in each game that we've had these first
three games that we didn't finish and win the game.
So I'm not talking about close as a team, talking
about winning the football game.

Speaker 9 (01:20:54):
That's what we're here to do. We're here to win
football games.

Speaker 8 (01:20:57):
We've been in position to win those games and we
have not won the game. So we got to find
a way to win the game, right. We got to
make the plays in the fourth quarter of the games
we've been and we've got to make those plays to
put us in position and to just ultimately to win
the football game. That's what we're here to do, right,
That's what we worked tirelessly and hard for is to

(01:21:18):
win football games.

Speaker 9 (01:21:19):
So the games have been.

Speaker 8 (01:21:21):
Close, We've been right there in the games, right, So
we just got to find a way to get it done.

Speaker 4 (01:21:28):
The only thing that was missing is for him to
say literally, they've been close, because he's making the differentiation
between the games actually being close on the scoreboard and
whether or not his team is close being a good
football team, which I don't think he was trying to say.
And there's certainly they're not on the offensive side of things.

(01:21:48):
But my thing is, okay, if the offense was even
a little better then you wouldn't have to maybe rely
so much on a defense to keep the games in
that literal sense as close as they've been, because you
mentioned in earlier WEX, even when they've been ten and
seven in back to back years, all these games for
the most part have been close. There's not a lot

(01:22:09):
of lopsided scores you can look at in Demico Ryan's
brief tenure.

Speaker 6 (01:22:13):
Yeah, working with a rookie quarterback and a rookie play
caller in year one, I would not have expected them
to have, you know, tremendous offensive success, better offense that
year than he's had neither of the two years that followed.
I definitely wouldn't have expected that either, Right, And that's
the real unfortunate part about it. So don't I don't
think he and I hope it's not what CJ means
when he says it, although I tend to believe it's

(01:22:33):
a little bit more of what CJ's thinking, only because
he's speaking more from an offensive stance and Demico's speaking
for more a this is where our team is stance,
you know, CJ? Are we close to getting more success
on offense? Are we close to finishing more drives? With touchdowns?
Are we close to having fewer three and outs? Having
thinks that's what I do think CJ's comments on that

(01:22:54):
same word. I think they've been more along those lines,
and I don't think that there's accuracy behind it. I
don't think they're getting closer. I don't think they're close
at all. They've scored three times in they've been in
the end zone three times this year.

Speaker 5 (01:23:08):
They've played three football games. That's an absurdly low total.
Absurdly low.

Speaker 6 (01:23:12):
It doesn't matter who you're playing, it doesn't matter who's
in and who's out, doesn't matter what conditions are going
on out there, and they haven't had to deal with
any conditions. That's absurdly low. It's embarrassingly low. It's losing football.
It's going nowhere football. Its heads will roll football. Unfortunately,
I already rolled a bunch of heads for this very
reason a year ago. This offense is significantly worse currently
through three games in every which way you want to

(01:23:34):
look at it, than it was last year, and they
fired people over what happened last year. I don't think
Nick Kayley is even remotely close to being considered to
be fired, and honestly, don't think he's remotely close to
being removed as the play caller. And if you look
at the way the at least the coaching staff has
been outfitted, and it's more about on offense because if
Demiko's here, they don't have to worry about who's calling

(01:23:56):
plays on defense. I don't think there's any point in
time where he would take that away from himself so
he could manage the team.

Speaker 5 (01:24:03):
If the defense was the problem, that would be different.

Speaker 6 (01:24:05):
Maybe you would take defensive play calling duties away from
the head coach. But the defense, well, it definitely needs
to be better and could be better. It's not problematic
to where you can't go where you want to go
because of the way they're playing. You can't go where
you want to go because the way the offense is unsuccessful,
completely unsuccessful. Three touchdowns thirty three offensive drives that weren't

(01:24:25):
end of halves or non real drives, and one of
those three touchdowns was in question because some people believe
once you got to the twenty five yard line thanks
to the special teams, twenty six yard line before the
first down run that netted them one yard, Jalen Nole
put you in position to have the Bucks give you
that touchdown. The other touchdown they scored, the more recent

(01:24:47):
touchdown they've scored. The one that they earned, well, that
came after the Jalen Peatrie interception. And for some reason,
Tyson Campbell, who's very very good, he bit that was
a winning play. That was a Texans earned touchdown. It
looks so easy you'd want to blame the Jacksonville defense
for it. But if you made them do it, and
I think the Texans Nico Collins specifically made them do it.
Watching the way Campbell bit on that, and I'd seen

(01:25:10):
the playoff right, and I'm like, CJ didn't even pump fake,
what are you biting on? He bet on the double move,
playing it simple from the lead wide receiver, an elite
wide receiver. It was good enough of a move. Or
maybe he was just being uber aggressive. So Nico just
ran right by him. And there was time to throw.
And mind you, a lot of the second half, probably
the last twenty twenty five minutes or so, there was

(01:25:31):
time to throw. Even though they were in passing down
after passing down, after you know, the clock was telling
them they needed to throw. There was time for CJ
to throw the football. Unfortunately, the last throw that he
made while there still was time, there just wasn't enough time.
He didn't realize that even though Ersery had pushed tines
Allen pretty far off of his path and unusually around

(01:25:53):
what would be considered the pocket hins, Allen made a
good enough play and CJ did not step up or
step to his to his left where there was wide
open spaces.

Speaker 5 (01:26:01):
It was third and one.

Speaker 6 (01:26:02):
There's a number of different ways they could have continued
the game. He thought he saw Christian Kirk open in
the end zone, and unfortunately the ball was tipped because
Kirk was tackled before the ball got there. And there
is no way the defensive back who tackled him had
any idea that ball was tipped. You can see from
his reaction Kirk knew the ball was off course. For

(01:26:23):
whatever reason, he might have not known it was tipped.
I would say he didn't because he had to change
his path. He basically stopped when he got to the
goal line and tried to run back towards the five
to go catch it, and he got tackled. He threw
his arms up in the air, like where's the flag?
I got tackled. The dB threw his arms up in
the air like why did he run into me? Which
forced me to tackle him. Well, when the ball gets tipped,

(01:26:45):
all those flags are not applicable anymore. And unfortunately it
ended in the third turnover in the game, interception on
a ball not properly lofted to Kirk that interception and
unfortunately Nico Collins, like Daria agoonbo two weeks ago, as
they get into the red zone, I play that put
them in the red zone against the Rams, and they

(01:27:06):
play that put them in the red zone against the Jaguars,
results in a fumble, ball knocked free.

Speaker 5 (01:27:11):
Texans don't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:27:12):
It's just that when Demiko says they're close it and
when people are writing and saying that they could be
three and oh just as easily as they're zero to three,
to me, you strip all that away.

Speaker 5 (01:27:27):
That is, if nothing else.

Speaker 4 (01:27:28):
It's not it's I don't it's not necessarily the sign
of a bad football team. But it's certainly not the
sign of a good football team, because those aren't the
type of things that are being said. I mean, look
at the Eagles yesterday. They they're finding ways to win.
In that case, anybody that's three and oh. There's a
lot of teams that are three and oh at this
point that you look at, and I think the Eagles

(01:27:49):
are maybe one of them, because the Rams looked like
they had that game until they didn't.

Speaker 5 (01:27:53):
And it was funny because.

Speaker 4 (01:27:55):
You look at the the reaction of the quarterback as
that play is unfolding, and he's just like, yeah, I
expected to win, even though it wasn't really in hand
until like the final seconds.

Speaker 5 (01:28:10):
And you're talking about Jalen, Yeah, Jalen hurts for the Eagles.
Excuse me.

Speaker 6 (01:28:14):
I mean, that's a pretty lofty right point of your
special teams, and I know they had done it earlier
in the game, but expecting a kick to be missed
on the final play of the game, that's not a
fifty plus yarder or to be blocked.

Speaker 5 (01:28:26):
In this case, As he said, that's just how he looked.

Speaker 4 (01:28:28):
It's not necessarily what he was thinking, but that's what
his body language said.

Speaker 6 (01:28:32):
I think he might have been feeling pretty good about
all that they had done to get to that point.
They were down nineteen points, they'd come all the way
back to take a one point lead, were unsuccessful on
a two point play to try to take a three
point lead. But yeah, good football team can do these things.
If Texans fall behind by nineteen points, which they've not
done this year. I've been even been down by two
scores in a game this year, I don't expect them
to have the ability to come back. They had to

(01:28:53):
throw the ball all day yesterday. The Eagles, and the
last starting quarterback to have a touchdown pass this year
plays for the best team. Jalen Hurts through his first
and second and third touchdown passes of the season in
helping them get their third win of the season. Flukiest
three and oh team. It's not the Chargers, it's not
the Bills, it's not the Eagles, it's not the Colts,

(01:29:15):
the Niners maybe, who have won two games with Mac Jones,
And I'd hate to call it the Bucks who have
a plus six point differential and they're three to oher
because they're doing exactly what Demiko wants to pretend the
Texans could be doing or should be doing. Why are
the Bucks making the winning plays at the end of

(01:29:35):
the game because they're better than you, because they have
a quarterback who can make those plays even when they
break down. He had a thirty three yard run in
this game. He had the play of the game against
the Texans. I'm not saying CJ's awful, it's not. The
point is he's just not doing what they're doing for
whatever reasons they are, and that's all that ultimately matters.

(01:29:56):
Quarterbacks have to overcome everything to be big time winners,
and that's what the quarterbacks for these six teams are doing.
Probably other than Daniel Jones, he's not having to overcome
hardly anything.

Speaker 5 (01:30:09):
I mean, the Broncos gave.

Speaker 6 (01:30:11):
The game away to them, and the other two games
would blow out cakewalks. He's playing good football, but they're
not having to make some crazy play at the end,
except for when the Broncos said, hey, look at this
leverage play.

Speaker 5 (01:30:21):
Kick again beat us. The opponent hasn't hurt in those
last two.

Speaker 6 (01:30:24):
Yeah, because the Colts are way better than them, and
he's played flawlessly. So what the Texans could be doing
when they're good and they're not now, they're making it easy.
They don't need to make a play in the fourth
quarter because it's a two or three score game. The
Colts are doing this with Daniel Jones.

Speaker 1 (01:30:41):
The A seed on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:30:52):
Kind of lost in the shuffle of everything is the
fact that Derek Stingley Junior did not play a ton
yesterday because of a rib. I feel like he and
Jeremy Panier like the flying under the radar injuries of
the weekend.

Speaker 5 (01:31:06):
There's a lot to handle.

Speaker 6 (01:31:07):
Yeah, Painia having a fractured rib from getting hit by
a pitch was rather unfortunate, and now an oblique injury
which I don't know if is related. Derrick Singley Junior
injured a couple weeks ago basically on the wrong end
of a teammate hit Henry Totoa involved in a play
that looked like it hurt quite a bit on his teammate,
and then this week leaving the game after just fifteen snaps.

Speaker 5 (01:31:29):
He played fifteen snaps.

Speaker 6 (01:31:31):
All the remaining snaps were given to Tremont Smith, who
is behind Jalen Smith on the pecking order, but Jalen
Smith was placed on injured reserve before this game, so
he bumped up a spot. They actually had two cornerbacks
up from the practice squad and neither of them played
any defensive snaps. They both saw the field on special teams,
but it is pretty significant. I don't know how much

(01:31:52):
of an impact it had in the overall game when
you're playing. I mean, I know they just lost to him,
and it may seem silly to say it. In this season,
I'm also aware that there were plenty of his passes
that his receivers in the hands, but man be less impressive.
That's what Trevor Lawrence still looks like as an NFL quarterback,
and I'm fully aware of what happened on the other side.

(01:32:14):
And comparing the two of them is like the Spider
Man meme. If you want to know how Trevor Lawrence
and c. J. Stroud are playing this season, you don't
really care about the reasons. Why just go look near
the bottom of the quarterback rating passer ratings. They're right
there with each other. Both of them are having extremely
unsuccessful seasons throwing the football.

Speaker 5 (01:32:32):
The results are not there.

Speaker 6 (01:32:34):
Demiko ryans a brief snippet on the condition of Derek
Stingley Junior moving forward, continuing keeping in mind it's Monday
after a Sunday game. They play again on Sunday, but
he did give a brief comment about Sting's situation.

Speaker 8 (01:32:50):
Stanley is we're evaluating his oblique He heard his oblique
in the game early in the game yesterday, tried to.

Speaker 9 (01:32:58):
Push through it. He couldn't pushed through it. So we're
still evaluating him, probably be day to day with where.

Speaker 5 (01:33:04):
He's day to day.

Speaker 4 (01:33:07):
I mean, it's like down the list of things that
I'm super super concerned about, even though I probably should
be more than I am, just because his side of
the ball has, if not been fantastic, at least they've
they've I think, done their job more often than not.
I just my focus is completely on the offense right now,

(01:33:28):
and I guess the question hasn't been asked. Last play
the game, the interception to effectively seal it, well, it
did seal it.

Speaker 5 (01:33:37):
One kneel down result is required effectively is not needed
here on CJ.

Speaker 4 (01:33:42):
On the line not giving him enough time, mainly on CJ.
How would you characterize that, because I'm not look. CJ's
past days are over him getting a past day, as
I should say, they're over because he's making enough mistakes
this year now that even though the line is absolute
garbage and he's still holding them onto the ball too long,

(01:34:05):
he's still making passes that are just questionable. He had
another one yesterday before that. How would you characterize the
final play, though.

Speaker 6 (01:34:15):
I'm a little surprised that's what they were going after.
I know, the clock is winding down and you've already
you've run down to where you're just sitting on one
time out.

Speaker 5 (01:34:23):
There's only so much you can do there.

Speaker 6 (01:34:25):
I don't really think they needed to go for that
another almost everybody running way down the field on a
third and one. You're really limiting your plays if you
don't go for it there. But there are the sidelines,
there are other options. It's a long developing play. You're
basically asking me to throw the ball twenty five yards
down the field or thirty yards, depending on where he
sets up in the pocket. And so he drops back

(01:34:46):
and waits for Kirk to make his move and head
over the middle, and is expecting to have the time.
And he had had enough time to make pretty good
pocket throws for the last you know, probably ten to
fifteen throws of the game.

Speaker 5 (01:35:00):
For the most part, there was a pocket to throw,
and there was time to throw.

Speaker 6 (01:35:03):
He probably, like I said this earlier, I think there
was room for him to recognize how long he'd been
in the pocket and how much room there was to
his left. It doesn't take much, but just a touch
more feel from him, maybe that a little slidestep to
his left and Urcery who has pushed Alan out heinz
Allen out wide away from and around the pocket. But
these are what makes special players special, and I do

(01:35:26):
absolutely believe heinz Allen is a special player. The second
time in three games that he's been exceptional against the Texans,
and obviously the last time.

Speaker 5 (01:35:35):
If he was lined up over the Texans left tackle.

Speaker 6 (01:35:37):
It was not Ursery, a rookie playing in his third
game and only second game at left tackle. It was
against one of the best pass protectors in the NFL
on the left side, and he won that matchup handily
the last time. But it was, you know, assessing blame
really hard to do because they all deserve it. It's not
because of any other throws that he made. Just to
play in particular, you know, there has to be it's

(01:36:00):
you have to have a clock at some point. You've
got to, especially with this line. There's no way he's
ever been comfortable this year back there. Watch how he
threw the ball the rest of the game. But on
that particular play, with what's online, I think maybe just
a little movement on his part or one additional shove
from Ursery before he's so called no longer engaged with
heinz Allen.

Speaker 5 (01:36:18):
The play gets made.

Speaker 6 (01:36:19):
Maybe CJ makes his decision to throw it to Kirk
a touch earlier because he had beaten his man there
was space. I'm not sure if the player who actually
picked off the ball was also going to be in
position to make a play on the ball. Because you know,
we haven't talked about it much. It was brought up
today to Tamiko, and it should have been.

Speaker 5 (01:36:36):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:36:37):
They ran a lot of plays yesterday where they were
begging extra defenders to be in the way because the
receivers were all in the same place. I mean, you
got to play late in the game when the Texans
had the whole field in front of him, two guys
running comeback routes five feet from each other.

Speaker 5 (01:36:52):
That's when CJ.

Speaker 6 (01:36:53):
Stroud scrambled on third and long and was obviously He's like,
I'm not running for twenty yards, I'm not running for
the needed fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:37:00):
Need somebody here.

Speaker 6 (01:37:01):
But the two guys were in the same place with
multiple defenders there because they didn't run the same route,
but they were sent to the same place unless they
did something wrong, and I did. Dimiko indicated that there
were some routes that could have been run better. I
don't know if he flat out said they were wrong,
but they certainly looks like they must be wrong with
how many times it happened over the course of the game.

(01:37:22):
This play, maybe or maybe not was was one of
those such plays because of the defender in the middle
of the field. Once the ball was tipped, he was
close enough to it he was the one able to
make a diving catch. I don't know if he would
have been able to make a diving play on the
ball with where it was intended to go, because it
would have led Kirk Moore, which is the path that
this defender was already in. That reminded me of the

(01:37:42):
first interception. The guy who intercepted the ball was not
in coverage on Christian Kirk. He just dropped off of
coverage because CJ either didn't think he would be there,
or the route that Schultz ran should have taken him
further away, or is just an unbelievable play by the defender.
But I think all those things, plus it just wasn't
a particularly good throw I think Kirk would have caught it,
but he didn't really put it where he was supposed to,

(01:38:04):
and he definitely didn't put enough air underneath it. Heck,
he missed Kirk on a deep route inside the ten
yard line earlier.

Speaker 5 (01:38:09):
Same thing.

Speaker 6 (01:38:10):
Ball's not quite in the right place with time to
throw with an open receiver. The connections where there are
a ton in year one, less last year and even
less this year.

Speaker 4 (01:38:20):
I think I have seen a lot of people say, Ah,
he's whatever, happy feet decision, indecisive, all that because of
the offensive line not giving him giving him enough time
to throw. Is there a scenario where that wasn't necessarily
happening in year one? And it happened a ton last year?
And that's why you get year three version of CJ.

Speaker 6 (01:38:42):
Your three games in this season, and I don't know
that we can point to many. Oh my god, CJ
just got absolutely annihilated there right because he knows it's
about to happen this year, so he's playing accordingly. I
actually think they're calling more plays accordingly. I was charting
it at the beginning and got bored with it so
fast yards down the fields from CJ. Stroud's passes two

(01:39:06):
yards behind the line of scrimmage, three yards behind the
line of scrimmage, one yard behind the line of scrimmage, and.

Speaker 5 (01:39:10):
There's nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 6 (01:39:11):
Heck, Baker mayfield behind the line of scrimmage, of scrimmage
to death the Texans a week ago, but not in
the same sense. That was his last option. That was
a running back in the flat eight ten fifteen yards
away from him. This is the Texans snap drop throw,
two step drop throw it, immediately, throw a quick screen,
you know, have woody marks come out of the backfield
and throw it at his feet. They just weren't executing

(01:39:34):
very well, but there were certainly calling plays that indicate
they know they're not going to be able to keep the.

Speaker 5 (01:39:38):
Rush off of him.

Speaker 6 (01:39:39):
I would say probably the biggest hit he took came
early in the game. They put sent two guys out
in a pass pattern, which means they left eight in
to block. And this was the play where he overthrew
Nico Collins down the right side. Oh, Collins was open
and it would have been a nice play, but he
just overthrew him a little bit. He absolutely got clobbered
when the Jacksonville Jaguars. I don't think they sent anybody extra,

(01:40:01):
and the Texans had eight of his teammates, and to
keep people off of him, he got slammed to the
ground after making that throw. He didn't get ahead a ton,
and they obviously don't have a ton of sacks. But
he's now definitely playing like he knows he's not gonna
get protection. And I definitely think Nick Kayley is at
least attempting to call plays that will develop a little
more quickly. But there's no success, unfortunately, in those plays

(01:40:25):
yet this year, so they've had limited offensive success. The
most three and ounce they've had all year was in
this game yesterday, five of them.

Speaker 4 (01:40:32):
I wonder if the Houston Texans being zero to three,
and the Astros being swept by the Mariners, and Fred
van Vliet being lost to a torn acl I wonder
if any of those things will be part of the
bat or the ugly.

Speaker 5 (01:40:46):
None of them are good.

Speaker 4 (01:40:47):
But the good, the bad, and the ugly our signature
segment every single Monday that we have right here on
the a team that is straight ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:40:55):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:40:58):
Ninety now, the good, good, the bad that's not good,
and the ugly.

Speaker 9 (01:41:06):
Don't make me good?

Speaker 2 (01:41:08):
With the A team. We're showing you.

Speaker 10 (01:41:10):
The bad.

Speaker 6 (01:41:14):
Halfway through this third hour of the show each and
every weekd afternoon. That means we bring our signature segment
to the table on on Mondays. That's the Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly. The first two and a half hours
of the show has been dedicated to the ugly, but
Cole will have the option of adding to it. Sure
that will be fun. You've got the bad, I've got
the good. I will be taking liberties with the good.

(01:41:36):
On a weekend where the Astros played three times, it
did not win. The Texans played a bad football team
and did not win. The news of Fred van Vliet's
ACL injury hit during the early portion of our show today.
None of those things are good. They're all exceptionally bad.
They're also very ugly. But we'll be over Toyota Center
next Monday for Rockets Media Day the Kevin Durant Era

(01:41:57):
Underway Toyater Center will be out there plenty of times
throughout the season calling games for you right here on
Sports Talk seven to nine. Of course, Space City Home
Network also your home for Rockets basketball. The good this
weekend for me was at Toyota Center on Friday Night,
Shane Gillis killed.

Speaker 4 (01:42:16):
Okay, we haven't talked about this whole show because well,
of course, but he had to be awesome, and kay,
I just it's not a critique.

Speaker 6 (01:42:24):
You took a great picture there. I did, like, you're
pretty serious?

Speaker 7 (01:42:28):
Yes, why didn't you post it's you and the misses?
I don't know people like that kind of stuff. You
should have posted it. I mean everybody else was posting there.
I'm here at Shane Gilli's picture. Where was yours? I
posted that I was there. I just wasn't in any
of the pictures that I posted. I posted a picture
of him and the crowd and the scene, and I'll
put the album. I'll make a later gram. Tell you
the people out there hashtag it or it doesn't count.

Speaker 5 (01:42:49):
I know that he was very funny. I expected to
be very funny.

Speaker 6 (01:42:52):
I just think when we see comedians on the snippets
of social media or hosting comedy shows that are in
their fifty first seasons come out up on October eighteenth,
they're pretty funny. And I expected him to be played
a little bit to the Houston crowd. I've got to
believe it or not. For you two guys here who
were not there with me. Unfortunately, the college football came

(01:43:12):
up believe it or not.

Speaker 5 (01:43:15):
Believe it of course, name guy exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:43:18):
The flag that was not called at the end of
the Texas A and M Notre Dame game came up.

Speaker 5 (01:43:23):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 6 (01:43:25):
Du He goes, come on A win A great I mean, Doug,
I can't take anything away from Texas A and M.

Speaker 5 (01:43:29):
I come on, man for that old we all saw it.

Speaker 6 (01:43:32):
That's that's definitely his mannerisms are pretty easy to get
because he kills with those. That's all part of his act,
especially when he said when he I do like something
that he does, and it's pretty common with the comedians,
but usually at an earlier stage of their career. He
gives the impression as he continues on this path of

(01:43:53):
a borderline, how many people am I going to offend
with this joke joke? And he acts like he's just
trying it out. If you're seeing how it goes here,
I don't, Hey, man, I went too far with that one.

Speaker 5 (01:44:03):
It's like you did last week before that exactly. It's
just like you will next week.

Speaker 6 (01:44:06):
Yeah, I expected it would be good, and there was
a nice crowd. It was a good audience. The three
comics that were out in advance of Shane were also
very funny. Appreciate them giving us a little bit of
their time. So my good from this totally lost sports
weekend took me to to Toyota Center for some fun
the comedy variety.

Speaker 4 (01:44:25):
I am jealous that everybody, everybody that got to go
to that show. As we were out of town, which
is where the bad comes in. It was sorority family weekend,
parents weekend, however you want to describe it. Austin for
as amazing as the stadium looks with everything they've done

(01:44:47):
to it, game was packed.

Speaker 5 (01:44:48):
Obviously, that game, Drone Show, all good things, all that
stuff is so good. I Austin is an absolute cluster.
That's a little bit of a traffic problem.

Speaker 6 (01:44:57):
Traffic is like the the bridge construction right by the
we need this for stadium traffic bridge. That's a little
bit troublesome here in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:45:08):
All you need to know about what you just said,
which is the overflow of population for the city that
it is. I mean there's what basically one major freeway
that runs up and down the city.

Speaker 6 (01:45:18):
Yeah, every time I drive in and we drive in.
Its just who knows when. It could be three in
the afternoon, it could be nine thirty at night, it
could be even later. Like what why now? There's right
always it's always red.

Speaker 4 (01:45:29):
And you know why because when you get to just
outside of Austin to where you can finally I mean
you're passing the airport essentially, you can finally see the
skyline crane crane, crane, crane, crane.

Speaker 5 (01:45:39):
Yes, because they've.

Speaker 4 (01:45:39):
Cut up like fifty skyscrapers. I mean, I'm serious. I
don't know when Austin, I don't even know what the
population is there, but it feels like it's gonna be.
It acts to be bigger than San Antonio. Right, it's
grown pretty rapidly.

Speaker 6 (01:45:51):
And you know Moody Center built right there next to
the football stadium, and then the Irwin Center, which was
not far from that, it's been torn down completely. The
Convention Center is in the process of being torn down
all while they're doing all this other construction. And there's
clue in construction on campus. I will appreciate. This is
more of a good thing this week the game this weekend.

(01:46:13):
Chase Daniel, who just joined ESPN for this college football season.
He was the analyst for the game, and he went
with like the most obvious. I almost think he was
joking when he asked, when he asked on social media recommendations,
is this place any good? Terry Black's Barbecue? What about
this place? Anybody been there? Matt's El Rancho. I'm like,
come on, dude, he's.

Speaker 5 (01:46:34):
Like the most popular places in the town. Yeah, Austin
is great. But the for people visiting for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:46:40):
Yeah, Austin has I mean so many different things that
are great about it. It really is a It doesn't
feel like a college town at all. Feels like a
major city that a college just happens to be slapped
down in the middle of. But man, even that hotel
we were at, I mean, the valet was awful. These
are first world problems. That is awful because you know
why it was downtown? Yes, everything downtown with it. I've

(01:47:03):
had some sound backs and meltdowns over that.

Speaker 6 (01:47:05):
I'm like, come on, guys, you pull in here, you
pull out there, like, you got to give us the
space to go because I'm not sitting here in the
street another thirty minutes waiting for you to run one
hundred billion miles away to go get the car.

Speaker 5 (01:47:14):
You park nowhere near on the site.

Speaker 4 (01:47:16):
They're like, oh yeah, you might want to go ahead
and text ahead because it's going to be a minimum
of fifteen minutes every time.

Speaker 11 (01:47:21):
And it was all right the ugly Cole. I could
go with more Houston stuff. I could say things about
the Texans that were beyond disgusting. I can talk about
the Astros and how of our listener base, not all
of it, but a lot of it pathetic the offense is,
and how basically might as well throwing the towel for
the season. You can talk about the Rockets and how
at this point you're a playoff team, nothing more, but

(01:47:42):
all I decide it. At least I'm not a Green
Bay Packers fan who had to watch as my team
led ten to nothing with three minutes left in the
game and said, okay, what we're gonna leut from score
They'll sell for a field goal. All we gotta do
is just, you know, kneel it down and be run
out the clock a little bit. No, Jordan Love wants
to throw an air reception and then that leads to a

(01:48:03):
Quinn Shawn Junkins touchdown with literally less than three minutes
on the clock, so then we're gonna have to go
ahead and be tied. And you know what, it's okay.
We have a good kicker and Brada McManus. We feel
really good about where we are. There's only twenty seven
seconds left on the clock. We should win this football game.
Oh no, Greg newsoon wants to block the kick and
then set yourself up right at midfield. And then, of

(01:48:24):
all people, Joe Flacco decides to finally learn how to
throw a football once again, connects beautifully with David and
Joku for an eight yard game to set up a
fifty five yard field goal right down the middle. As
the worst team in the NFL, simply based off of paper,
finds way to be the team that many envision to
win the Super Bowl thirteen to ten with three minutes

(01:48:46):
left on the clock. That, my friends, is straight up
ugly football. Two things on that front.

Speaker 6 (01:48:52):
We'll get to on the other side of it quickly,
because we need not discuss it at length. They have
a good defense, clearly through three weeks that's been on too,
and I think their personnel suggests they would, so I
think that puts them at least one notch above these
Saints who have nothing and no quarterback and.

Speaker 5 (01:49:07):
No future and beat down.

Speaker 6 (01:49:10):
It seems about fair and they have one win and
the Texans and the Titans are among those that have
no wins. But something that actually should matter to the
NFL for the rest of this season and on into
the future happened in that game. In this portion of
the game, Cole just commented on. So we'll touch on that.
We'll come back here on the eight Team.

Speaker 1 (01:49:31):
The ad on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 6 (01:49:38):
It was a full weekend in the NFL, which is
Monday night game closing things out, we'll get to some
of what took place around the rest of the league.
The fact that the Texans not only fell to own three,
but fell three games behind division leading Indianapolis, who won
easily again three touchdowns from Jonathan Taylor. The Cleveland Browns,
who arguably did have the worst team in the AFC.
I can't really argue anymore. They went out and made

(01:49:59):
play and won a game, so they're not the worst
team in the AFC. But because we brought it up there,
it definitely to me needs to be addressed because they
do so many things wrong, and I guess we pick
and choose when we care about it. What happened at
the end of the Cleveland Browns game should not be
okay with everybody, definitely not okay with the Packers, and
shouldn't be okay with anybody in the NFL except the Browns,

(01:50:21):
who did it, and it helped them get their kickoff
and get that field goal attempt with three seconds left.
Last play that they ran from scrimmage was the catch
Tonjoku threw the ball over the middle with twelve on
the clock, with no timeouts. He caught it and essentially
immediately was tackled and went to the ground. Clock was
ticking seven six'. Five he immediately gets. Up the operation

(01:50:42):
of what The browns did is, flawless, awesome, tremendous got,
up everybody on the offensive, line ran into the. Position
he handled the ball to his, center who put the ball,
down and the official did come over and put his
hand on the, ball WHICH i do believe is all
that the referee is required to, do and so they
let him snap the, ball spiked it and got the

(01:51:03):
kicking unit out there and kicked the game winning field.
Goal but that shouldn't be all that the referee is
required to. Do And i've seen a bunch of people mention, This,
oh what a great Job cleveland. Did AND i thought
you had to hand the ball to the. Referee, well
he gave to the, center who put it down in
the spot where it needed to. Go and so when
the referee put his hand on the, football that meant
it was good for. Play our eyes still. Work if

(01:51:24):
you're able to describe all those. Things then you saw
the other part of the play that wasn't even remotely
close to where the ball should have been, spotted at
least a yard. Off but nobody. Cared The browns didn't
care that the center put it a yard further. Away
they just wanted to put the ball. Down and The
packers really wouldn't care technically where the ball is a yard,
closer a yard. Further they're more care that you shouldn't

(01:51:47):
be able to do. That we got so bent out
of shape for fifty nine minutes and seven. Seconds you
have the ability to challenge spots because the officials sometimes
are so unbelievably bad at. It and, here whatever wherever
the center wants to put it is fine with.

Speaker 5 (01:52:03):
Us that should not be the.

Speaker 6 (01:52:05):
Way that definitely is something that the LEAGUE i, MEAN
i don't think it matters when they make a comment on,
it but they should. Care so when they do make
a comment on it this week and say this should have,
happened maybe it will apply to future, games because that
can't be the. Way that's just that's just not how
a football game is supposed to be, officiated because otherwise
you just let teams do whatever they want with the,
spot WHICH i wish they would because.

Speaker 5 (01:52:27):
They know where it should be spotted half the.

Speaker 6 (01:52:28):
Time, ANYWAY i, MEAN i don't blame the ref so
much because they're. Guessing we have the technology to make
it a little bit. Better but you're watching these guys
get oh my, god and the. Punts that's the. Punts
that's WHAT i was about to ask, you guys like
the biggest guess in the, world have no.

Speaker 5 (01:52:44):
Idea that's. OKAY i saw one LAST i think it
was in last night's.

Speaker 6 (01:52:47):
Game they also had Some Tommy townsend punts out of.
Bounds they had to guess.

Speaker 5 (01:52:51):
All that was what that might have been the.

Speaker 4 (01:52:53):
One i'm, like, well, okay the referee standing at her
around the five or six yard line and he just keeps,
running keeps.

Speaker 5 (01:53:00):
Running i'm, like how do you know where that? Was he's,
Trying he's trying his. Best don't you think.

Speaker 4 (01:53:04):
That the same technology that is now used for first down,
measurement which is essentially a bird's eye, view shouldn't you
be able to incorporate that into a stadium so that
you can see exactly where that ball crosses over the
out of bounds line if that.

Speaker 6 (01:53:20):
Happens if you wanted to get it, right you, could you,
know nobody really can have this is that's an unchallengeable.
Play nobody, has nobody, knows nobody knows that he's, right
nobody knows what he's.

Speaker 5 (01:53:28):
Wrong, Nobody, Hey god only.

Speaker 6 (01:53:29):
Knows, yeah there's the only one wherever you want to
be able to put your foot down that that's, fine
but it is something worth noting on that particular. Play
that's we've seen teams get kind of you, know The
cowboys obviously famously kind of burned by, that not having
the ball where it's supposed to, be and the official
fumbling over everybody trying to get between the players so
they could spot it before The cowboys could line up on.
It they were lined up on the ball, already and

(01:53:50):
then the referee moved it because this is.

Speaker 5 (01:53:52):
Where you thought it was supposed to be.

Speaker 6 (01:53:53):
Spotted so they had to reset, themselves and that's obviously
why they're no play was able to get. Off that's
honestly what should have happened in this. Game they would
have had to go forward because they actually took yards
away from. Themselves but again on that, kick they did
not care at. All just something to note during that particular.
Game i'm amazed That Joe flacco's quarterbacking a team in
THE nfl at, all more amazed that he's quarterbacking a

(01:54:14):
team that has a, victory even more so that they
beat a very good football. Team they beat The Green Bay,
packers who they kept from doing almost anything offensively almost
the entire, day and The browns did nothing offensively until
the fourth, quarter when they kicked a field goal twice
in the final four minutes and had their only touchdown
all in the final four minutes of the, game didn't

(01:54:36):
score all, day and then scored on each of their
last three times touching the football to beat The. Packers
huh making plays down the stretch in the fourth. Quarter
Tennessee titans come to town at zero to three and
rightfully so with the way that they played in this
one like they have played in their, others a very
much no contest game for, THEM i would hope The

(01:54:58):
texans can do to that what The colts just did to.
Them this game was In, nashville and The colts were
up early big and just coasted on to, victory put
up forty one. Points this team has basically been flawless
somehow offensively against each of the three. Opponents The colts
punted in this. Game that is a big. Deal they

(01:55:19):
have now punted this season one, time didn't punt In week,
one didn't pun In week, two only punted once in this,
game scoring on their eight drives seven times and scoring
forty one.

Speaker 4 (01:55:33):
POINTS i got a bad feeling about the first time
and the second time The texans played The.

Speaker 6 (01:55:37):
Colts later in the, year when they'll get, together, obviously
things could be a heck of a lot different. There
maybe The texans on the injury or front will be
in a better situation at running. Back by the way
The texans at running back In week three of The
Nick Chubb Woody Marks, era it's basically a fifty to fifty.
Split it looked like it AS i was watching the.
GAME i wasn't charting snap, counts but you, know thirty

(01:55:58):
three snaps For Nick, chubb thirty For Woody. MARX i
Think marx has Been there's WAYS i think they can
help him help both tackles with, chipping WHICH i don't
know why they're not asking these guys to chip more
often or they're just not doing it the way they're supposed.
To the same thing with their tight. ENDS i Think
Harrison bryant has blocked Very Dalton schultz like as in
not very, good not real happy with, that and they

(01:56:20):
continue to PLAY nfl football games with only two tight ends.

Speaker 5 (01:56:24):
Active not sure what THE i.

Speaker 6 (01:56:26):
Know Brandon bates has been here for five, minutes but
he better be active next, WEEK i, mean or else
there's no. Reason then they don't know what they're doing
with their roster, count which has been a constant problem
for them for, many many, times many many years Under Nick,
cassio AND i just don't think they should only have
two tight ends when it doesn't look like either one
of them can be counted on to handle their blocking.

(01:56:46):
Assignments there's a play in particular On, schultz but probably
need the whole hour to get to that, one but
those both of those. Games that was the WHOLE Afc
south this. Week The chiefs got their first win of
the year last, night and The giants played their second
game this year Where Russell wilson was an absolute. Disaster
they only have one more game left with The, cowboys
the only game where he wasn't a. Disaster and, Finally

(01:57:08):
Brian dable earlier today wouldn't commit to saying he's our.
Starter quit asking me because they asked him and asked
him and asked. Him he, said we're evaluating. Everything, well
usually On, monday well On mondays we evaluate.

Speaker 5 (01:57:20):
Everything.

Speaker 6 (01:57:21):
Well in the, past you've already had your starting quarterback,
name but you. Don't now that seems. Different we're evaluating.

Speaker 4 (01:57:26):
Everything welcome to Having Russell wilson and to a lesser,
Extent Aaron rodgers as your starting.

Speaker 6 (01:57:31):
Quarterback Russell, wilson let me, say IF i can get
the exact, verbiage he compelled me to do. Something you,
know every once in a, while you'll fire something off
on THE x platform knowing that everybody will understand it
even though there's basically no context. WHATSOEVER i sent one
out On russ's behalf last. Night what Is russell doing

(01:57:51):
those passes at the end of the game into the,
tunnel off the, crossbar into the.

Speaker 5 (01:57:56):
Stands what are you, doing thankfully not playing for a
team that.

Speaker 4 (01:58:00):
Matters, Sorry New jersey they had lots of.

Speaker 6 (01:58:04):
Those you get to the flour an extended edition looking
around THE nfl and Your Texans football at five is Next.

Speaker 2 (01:58:12):
THE A team On Sports talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:58:15):
Ninety Adam clinton And Adam wexler are the eighteen all.

Speaker 4 (01:58:29):
Right football at Five as we get our number four
underway here on A monday edition of THE A Team
Sports talk seven Ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:58:37):
Space City Home. Network you know one thing we have.

Speaker 4 (01:58:41):
Not talked, about and we were talking about this a
little bit during the break couple segments.

Speaker 5 (01:58:45):
Ago wex with regards to The, Texans Trevor lawrence had
all day to.

Speaker 4 (01:58:54):
Throw Trevor lawrence had a ton of his. Receivers admittedly,
REALLY i mean it was. Ridiculous at one, point there
was like an epidemic breaking.

Speaker 5 (01:59:05):
Out Treyl lawrence is not a good.

Speaker 4 (01:59:08):
Quarterback LIKE i Just I'M i have offensive line envy to.

Speaker 5 (01:59:13):
See, okay what WOULD.

Speaker 4 (01:59:14):
Cj stroud look like if he had the amount of
time to throw the ball that That Trevor lawrence has
and brings us to the other thing we were talking,
about what if The texans ran that kind of.

Speaker 5 (01:59:28):
Offense.

Speaker 6 (01:59:29):
Yeah the idea that The texans have done it wrong
both times in hiring AN oc With Tamiko ryans pretty
much stems from one simple. Fact they hired a first
time play. Caller did so With Bobby slowick so and
obviously With Nick. Cayley so for one season Of dimiko's
three he's had an experienced play.

Speaker 5 (01:59:46):
Caller that was a year.

Speaker 6 (01:59:47):
Two Bobby sloan had already been here one year calling
play so it was just last year the only year
he felt he needed an experienced play caller or at
least simply had.

Speaker 9 (01:59:55):
One.

Speaker 6 (01:59:56):
Look At, Jacksonville Liam, collin first time head coach and
calling play his. Team he's got a first TIME, oca
he's got a first TIME. Dc and There's their football
is not very outrageously, good And i'm not sure where
you believe their talent level. Is but there's nothing wrong
with how they're operating. Things they're not running into a
bunch of pre snap. Issues they seem, like you, know
they were penalized quite a. Bit but the offense that they,

(02:00:19):
run doesn't look Like, MAN i can't believe what are
they doing? Here that's a weird. Look that's a strange
place to send out.

Speaker 5 (02:00:25):
Your routes or your route.

Speaker 6 (02:00:27):
Distribution it's an interesting place where you think you, can you,
know lead block for this guy or what is THESE
i just didn't feel like that at.

Speaker 5 (02:00:33):
All and it's always that.

Speaker 6 (02:00:34):
Way it seems like it's always that way with whatever
team's out there on the. Field with The, texans one
thing in particular stands out that maybe will help explain
that a little. Bit both tight ends were humongous parts
of their respective offens's game plan or usage in yesterday's,
game and neither one of them would be considered top
end tight, ends even Though schultz is being paid like.
One Brett strange on one, side Adult schultz on the.

(02:00:57):
Other shultz targeted six, times made five. CATCHES i s
targeted seven, times had six. Catches it seemed like every
Time strange had the, ball it was on the move
and right where he needed to, be and the timing
of when the catch was made allowed him to do
something with the. Football gain another three, yards get a first,
down gain some momentum into the tackler and gain an

(02:01:17):
extra three yards on the move where it's supposed to
be and you just keep on running your.

Speaker 5 (02:01:22):
Route now you just have the.

Speaker 6 (02:01:23):
Football there probably were none of, those and Maybe i'm
forgetting one With Dalton, Schultz And i'm not Blaming. Schultz
i'm just saying the way that it's, run he's catching
the ball flat footed like one hundred percent of the.
Time he has the ability to do something with the
football like zero percent of the. Time because of that simple,
fact there's nothing else to do with the football except
basically get tackled and fall. Down and that's not the

(02:01:46):
fault of the. Player most of the, time that's the
fault of either the scheme or the timing has been thrown,
off or the quarterback's not getting rid of the ball in,
time or maybe it is the fault of the receiver
tight end in this case just not running the route effectively.
Enough BUT i really don't think that was the issue,
There and it seems like it's a constant thing week to.

Speaker 5 (02:02:02):
Week it could have been strange this.

Speaker 6 (02:02:04):
Week it could have Been parkinson in week, one it
could have been Kay otten in week two for The
bucks in The, rams, respectively just it's an every week.

Speaker 12 (02:02:11):
Thing.

Speaker 5 (02:02:12):
Now you had a slot receiver for the first.

Speaker 6 (02:02:14):
Time all, season and he immediately got a massive percentage
of the snap. COUNT i wasn't expecting to do this this,
year BUT i guess The wexler research team was. Bored
they're actually charting these snap counts throughout the, season SO
i can compare who's doing what and what changes week to,
week and you wouldn't know it by the amount of
looks That Jayden higgins has. Got he's played essentially the

(02:02:36):
exact same amount of snaps every single week this.

Speaker 5 (02:02:38):
Season they're rookie wide.

Speaker 6 (02:02:40):
Out from a percentage, Basis he's played either forty three
or forty four percent of the snaps every. Week Jalen,
knowle who was explosive with the football in his hands
In week two as a, returner still is just completely
absent on this. Offense he had nine. Snaps you brought
your slot receiver back this. WEEK i can understand why
his snapcount would be, limited BUT i didn't understand why

(02:03:01):
he was basically unused the first two. Weeks, similarly and
The texans are saying it loudly and clearly now that
all of their wide receivers are healthy enough to be.
Active barrios has yet to play because he was inactive
this week despite having no injury. Designation their top three
receivers do not include either of the. Rookies their top
three receivers Are Xavier, Hutchinson Christian, kirk And Nico, collins

(02:03:25):
at least based on how they're using, them and it's
extremely Clear Christian kirk comes back and plays sixty two
percent of the, Snaps Xavier hutchinson has never seen less
than fifty seven percent of the snap sixty eight percent
at his high, point and Obviously nico's coming off the
field on, occasion but he's a clear number one playing
in the neighborhood of you, know he's missed less than
ten snaps in each of the three.

Speaker 5 (02:03:44):
Games i'm a.

Speaker 6 (02:03:45):
Little bit surprised that that is, happening AND i wonder
if there's more than meets the. Eye and Maybe demico
indicated a little bit of that with his comment today
on you, know the routes being needed to be run more.
Precisely maybe there's something to, it especially when what He
marx is doing nothing but getting more involved in the.
Offense and good for those that were wondering if he

(02:04:06):
has ascended past anybody on the depth. Chart, yeah he's
ascended past everybody on the depth chart except maybe one.
Guy dariagunbowale, active played special teams, only did not see
the field on offense in this, game second straight. Week
Damian pierce inactive but. HEALTHY i don't think there's much

(02:04:27):
to be, gained And i'm not sure what The Arizona
cardinals would even.

Speaker 5 (02:04:30):
Offer but no, offense no heartlessness on my.

Speaker 6 (02:04:35):
End But Nick cassara should have been on the phone
with The Arizona cardinals one second after The James connor.
Injury just offer him and offer anything you have in
surplus to anybody that you might think you can get
some asset of, need even if it's not for this,
year but, anything you. KNOW i wonder what will happen
in the second area with The. Texans we mentioned it

(02:04:56):
earlier with THE nfl putting word out that the commissioners
exempt list no longer includes The texans Safety Jimmy. Ward
he's not, healthy so The texans procedurally essentially do nothing
with their. Roster they just shift him from The commissioner's
exempt list to the pupp, list which is where he
was the entire camp and would have started the year
on that list, anyway which doesn't impact your fifty three man,

(02:05:17):
roster but one more week from now he'd be eligible come.
Off Aaron wilson's been consistently reporting that he's progressing the
way that they'd expect at this, point and it could
come to a point in time very, soon maybe after
this week where he is.

Speaker 5 (02:05:30):
Healthy if he's. HEALTHY.

Speaker 6 (02:05:33):
Mj stewart's been their third string tight end since the season.
Began he's played five plays this. Year you don't want
to leave yourself too thin And Jalen reed is not
yet off the injured list to put on injured reserve
designated to return before the season the rookie out Of
Penn state and there has to be at least one more,
week but they haven't even opened up his practice window.
Yet would they consider Putting Jimmy ward on the field

(02:05:56):
if they could get something of value for this season
in the final year OF.

Speaker 5 (02:06:01):
Cj Gardner johnson's. Contract he's been a heavy.

Speaker 6 (02:06:05):
Hitter he has blown up a bunch of people in
the last three weeks with his. Tackling he's not been
hardly involved in anything positive from a passing. Front he
hasn't given up any huge, plays but just hasn't really
been a part of any turnover opportunities. Either AND i
know from where he's playing versus Where bullock, plays that's
asking a lot from him because he's not in that
center fielder so to speak position very. OFTEN i wouldn't

(02:06:28):
feel great ABOUT i think it would make their defense.
Worse but if somebody was it really wanted to do
something for their, team get a plus level starter for their,
defense WHICH Cda Gardner johnson still, is knowing that there
wasn't a long term commitment if things didn't work out
for some, reason Although i'm not sure that they would
see it that. Way could you get somebody that could

(02:06:49):
actually help you this year on the offensive. Line could
you get something as an asset in the future For
Damian pierce or whomever else if you feel like you
have Because Damian pierce is never gonna see the field
again barring.

Speaker 4 (02:07:00):
Injury it's an interesting question to, ask BUT i keep
going back to the same answer that we we've been
saying since essentially free agency was, Over like who's out.
There it's, like say you wanted to go get an
Offensive lineman to.

Speaker 6 (02:07:14):
Help, well you're making me say it because you're presenting.
It just waived today from the best team in THE,
Nfl Kenyan green will be available for any any team
that wants. It why would you say that because you
made me say? It because he just got released. Today
he's been on the roster and off the, roster and
on the roster and off the roster for The eagles

(02:07:35):
ever since The texans traded him. There he was on
the active roster twice so far in their three, games
and he was made inactive for both of those. Games
he's yet to play a snap this, year and, NO
i do not truly believe that's an. Answer does bring
us to something much more. Real The texans know they
have a problem at left, guard so they started a.

Speaker 5 (02:07:53):
Rotation he Got Cho scrugs on the.

Speaker 6 (02:07:55):
Field he actually ended up playing a slightly higher percentage
Than lake And tomlinson was in the game at the
end of the game for some of those, drives which
tilted it in his. Favor THAT i can only say
this after two weeks of Watching lake And tomlinson play
at an extremely unsatisfactory. Level they relatively quickly third game
of the season decided to make some sort of, change

(02:08:16):
AND i don't. Know he was asked about it today
but gave no answer on it of any. Consequence could
you actually See scruggs playing. HIM i don't want him
to start Because tomlinson. STINKS i want him to start
because he can. PLAY i want him to get all
the reps because he's making the team better to the
point where they actually have something.

Speaker 5 (02:08:33):
There that's what actually shockingly happened with Ed.

Speaker 6 (02:08:36):
Ingram, mean two games, IN i haven't noticed anything of
great consequence negative from, him AND i know he grated
out very well in week, two his first, game But
Jake andrews was back at. CENTER i noticed zero difference
between him And. Patterson their, problems for the most, part
are still on the. Edges And Titus howard. Wasn't he
didn't have an awful. Game six pressures on the number

(02:08:59):
of dropbacks The tech had in this game probably a
bit too many for, ursery but you're.

Speaker 5 (02:09:03):
Right it was where it.

Speaker 4 (02:09:04):
Is it was not one of those weeks WHERE i was, like,
oh this offensive line is just because he's not getting,
killed or at least he didn't this week.

Speaker 6 (02:09:11):
Made he drop back forty plus. Times he got sacked.
Twice obviously at the end of the game with the
ball going. Forward normally that's a strip, sack but he
didn't hit the ball hard enough or cg not to
complete the.

Speaker 4 (02:09:23):
Throat it's not like they were playing a defense that
doesn't have its fair share of name pass.

Speaker 6 (02:09:28):
Rushers their edge rushers are probably among the most underrated
because everyone hates On Trayvon walker because he's Not. Hutchinson
he's had a good career so. Far he is a disruptive.
Player he's just not burst onto the scene and made you.
REALIZE i, mean he was the wrong, player let's just
put it that. Way he's not better than hutch but
he was drafted before. Him he's still been. Good And
Josh Heines allen's just flat out a good. Player he's

(02:09:49):
how he's hurt The texans in the, past and he's
the one who Made it's all about playmaking. Right he
made the play on the final important snap of the,
game and it won the game for The.

Speaker 1 (02:09:58):
Jacks the a seed On Sports talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (02:10:11):
All, Right i'll give you three Choices Wex, Texans Astros,
rockets which one has depressed you? More on this Particular.
MONDAY i don't think there's any question about.

Speaker 6 (02:10:25):
It, honestly The texans win or lose, yesterday that's, okay
there's fourteen more. Games they've already played like this for
two weeks to the middle early in the regular. Season
they're definitely not the. Answer they're definitely not depressing me
OR i wouldn't expect these sports fans the, most even
the most harden football, fans The.

Speaker 5 (02:10:43):
Astros were they the better.

Speaker 6 (02:10:46):
TEAM i, mean maybe you expected different, results but nothing
really suggests you should. Have if it means they don't
go to the, playoffs it's pretty. Disheartening it. Doesn't they
actually still control their own. Destiny they have the opportunity
With Hunter brown And Christian ivier most likely being the
first two starters in this series Starting. Tuesday avier, first
just get if they get five wins, there in my,

(02:11:08):
opinion they're definitely and if they get, six they're automatically
in four probably so this has also been their entire,
season all, right he's How paratis's, back but obviously Jrd
on's now. Out, Okay Jeremy panne is back and Hitting God,
god he was the driving force between being The rangers
three straight times and now he's hurt, again so that's

(02:11:29):
basically been their whole, season so it's not.

Speaker 5 (02:11:30):
Them. Mmmm.

Speaker 6 (02:11:34):
See that leads to The rockets and The fred van
Vliet acl, injury WHICH i, MEAN i hate to put
it this.

Speaker 5 (02:11:40):
WAY i don't know that there's any other way to put.

Speaker 6 (02:11:42):
It, WELL i guess it's a huge downer and a
huge bummer leading right into YOU'VE i don't know exact
phrasing of. It i'll do my. BEST i think you've
called it the most excited you've been for A rocket
season in a. While and then, again it wasn't that long.
Ago they were playing for really important things With James
harden playing at AN mvp, Level but for the depths

(02:12:02):
that they, sunk and for the years of sticking with
them as many fans did through all that and getting
to the other side of. It they're on the other
side of, it and they were hoping to go way
on the other side of.

Speaker 5 (02:12:12):
It, well this.

Speaker 4 (02:12:13):
Hurts So i've Heard cole kind of allude to. It
i'm kind of hearing it. Now is the answer to this, Question,
No can The rockets still win a championship this year
Without fred Van VLIEK.

Speaker 6 (02:12:25):
I don't think that you can answer, that because what
was going to set them? Apart in my, opinion it's
the same THING i said when they Signed fred And
dylan and everybody else they brought a. Board those guys
weren't going to win them. Championships they when they got,
good it wasn't because of the basketball from those. Players
now it's doubly difficult that they're losing both of the

(02:12:46):
biggest this is who we are identity players on their
team the last two. Years Now dylan And fred will
both be off the court for the twenty five to
twenty Six. Rockets but it's the same thing THAT i
said when they got those guys. Arrived this team's going
to be great if they're great Because jalen's, great Or alpi's,
great or A men's, great Or jabbari's great Or tari's
great or at that point in, Time Cam whitmore's. Great

(02:13:08):
and the same thing is true. Today you just don't
have two of those six. Players you have four of
those six. Players when The rockets are winning a playoff
series this, year If fred Van vliet were, healthy would
you have Expected fred Van vliet to be the driving
force behind a twenty twenty six playoff series.

Speaker 5 (02:13:24):
Victory absolutely.

Speaker 6 (02:13:25):
Not now he'd be a huge part of, it but
it would Be, durant or it would be A, men
or be An, alpi or be a combination of those
three and four other. Guys in advance of you maybe Saying,
fred but you're now asking for a Men thompson not
to make a, leap make a huge leap consideration For
ALL nba type. Stuff he's already all. Defense you're asking
For Alburn shangoon to do at least that he was

(02:13:46):
actually there last, year strong consideration to nearly draw a
spot on third Team ALL. Nba but he's got to
make a bigger. Step and for crying out loud as
you will say at, Nauseum i'm sure out, throats you
gotta make your free. Throws you'renna have the ball in
your hands at the end of the game so many,
TIMES i, know And durant is, here but come, on,
man if these things, happen If jabari takes a step
now that he's gotten his, extension that's what's going to

(02:14:07):
push this team into the greatest stratus. Roam my only
concern in saying it all that way is still looking
back at last year's postseason a little, bit and then
fast forward to This, April may And.

Speaker 5 (02:14:18):
June hopefully who's on the court at the end of the.

Speaker 6 (02:14:21):
Game If fred's one of your five that's on the,
Court CLEARLY kd is also one of those, Five so
who are the other? Three what would it have looked?
Like and now what does it look? LIKE i, mean
a men's gonna be out there Out he's gonna be out.
There so It's jabari and those. Guys so with the
five that's now likely on the court at the end
of games five minutes left and you don't know who's
gonna win five minutes, left you got to make a

(02:14:42):
comeback five minutes, left and you got to hold them.
Off whatever the case may. Be don't they still have
the firepower and the ability to run their team properly
even If fred's not a part of.

Speaker 4 (02:14:53):
It, YEAH i, mean if you, like if you wanted
to go down the list of the principal pieces around
on this Upcoming rockets twenty twenty five twenty six, campaign
now you have to choose one of them to take
out FOR i guess we would have to determine who
the principal pieces are like Is Jabari smith junior or

(02:15:13):
a principal piece or is he just a role?

Speaker 5 (02:15:15):
Player well he needs to.

Speaker 6 (02:15:16):
Be you can't FOR i don't think you can construct
your roster with him a part of, it with where
he's going to be, paid you, know the even though
it's not a max, Deal, like he's got to be
good enough to warrant a.

Speaker 4 (02:15:27):
Bigger part of What Katie, alpern Shingoon A Men thompson
And fred Van vliet all would have easily been in
front of, him right.

Speaker 6 (02:15:35):
RIGHT i think it's looking away from the actual statistics
behind it. All but If jabar is on the court
and he's still say he's getting you twelve and, eight
well maybe he's getting that at the right. Time maybe
he's taking six shots eight shots, again but they're all
the ones you want him to. Take he's made us two,
threes he's finished around the, basket he's. GREAT i, mean
maybe there's more twelve and thirteen fourteen rebound nights for.

(02:15:58):
HIM i mean they still should Be fred or No.
Fred this the rebounding this team should do and the
ability to defend in and around the basket should be just.

Speaker 5 (02:16:06):
Elite it has to.

Speaker 6 (02:16:07):
BE i, mean the longer we've been away from the
news which came about three o'clock About fred Van, vlietz
where we are now at about five point, thirty it
sounds like we're paying it as less and less of an.
Issue it's a big. Issue and you know that last
five minutes of the. Game while the talent you'll have
on the court is, great but what do we always,
say you, know coming out of timeouts or that last,

(02:16:27):
possession did they get into what they? Wanted did they
run what they wanted? To are they doing what they
need to do to at least get the possessions the
shots that they? Wanted and that is some major concern
when you're not even sure who's running things Because fred's
Now i'm not a part of.

Speaker 4 (02:16:41):
It, yeah AND i think that you, know there's never
a good time for this to, happen but happening a
week before essentially training camp starts actual training, CAMP i
guess would be the most ideal if it had. To it's,
AGAIN i can't stress enough how this is not. Good
BUT i would rather them learn to start playing without

(02:17:02):
him from day one than it, happened say In, march
or as you're pushing for a playoff seed or.

Speaker 6 (02:17:08):
Whatever, yeah you're not figuring it out on the, Fly
you're figuring it out from the. Jump and they would
have already had some, ideas AND i and the, Coaches
i'm sure have worked on. Things and this happened while the,
team the players themselves were working out together in The.
Bahamas So i'm sure that they have to rethink things
and do a handful of things very very. Differently but
it still comes down to how much talent do you
have on the. Team AND i think we applauded him

(02:17:30):
while he was sitting, here just like we applaud him
while we're sitting here without. Him they put together an
awfully talented, roster And i'm still amazed how deep this
team truly. Is you're not getting the same talent the
deeper you. Go but there are list of players who,
will other than injury play.

Speaker 4 (02:17:46):
Not play at, all have. Talent these guys are. Good,
yeah Called Cam. Whitmore he's out In.

Speaker 6 (02:17:50):
Washington Cam whitmore couldn't even be here. Anymore BUT i
mean some of the more a veteran play Like Aaron
holliday would not have. Played he would not have been
a part of the rotation this, year AND i think
thing For Jeff, green same thing For Clint, cappella almost.
ASSUREDLY i, mean they have guys down And Jayshaun tait's
never going to, play like these are all guys at
the end of their bench that continue to maybe be

(02:18:10):
needed in certain.

Speaker 4 (02:18:11):
Situations Aaron holidays reupping, here WHICH i never thought he
would go anywhere. ELSE i still, say is a such
a good insurance policy in light of the position you're talking.
About there's so much pressure on Reach shepherd to now produce.

Speaker 5 (02:18:25):
Like how how much do you? Hate what you?

Speaker 6 (02:18:27):
Said is too concise and to the, point he's a
great insurance. Policy like they have to go to their insurance.
Policy they don't even started the season.

Speaker 4 (02:18:36):
Yet and they get. One by the, way they do
get one one point. FIVE i want to, SAY i.

Speaker 6 (02:18:41):
Think it's between twelve five and maybe fourteen to, Five
but it doesn't change how the cap would if they use.

Speaker 5 (02:18:47):
It then we FIVE i guess is what he was
gonna get this.

Speaker 6 (02:18:49):
Year, yeah he had a two, year fifty million dollar
deal with a player option on year. Two but if
they use it this injury, exception it would still push
them over that first, apron which they're not likely to.

Speaker 5 (02:19:02):
Do and for who For that's the?

Speaker 6 (02:19:04):
Thing Aaron holiday nice insurance policy as a, Rocket he's
shot thirty nine percent from three point. Land last year
was a forty. Percent he's a career thirty eight percent
shooter from three point. Land the two guys that will
be Replacing Fred fred had a pretty bright green shoot
threes whenever you want, light so do Most hays on this.

(02:19:24):
Team it will be the same For aaron And reid.

Speaker 4 (02:19:27):
Movie, yeah who revers in that? Position you because of that.
Number that's a great. Numbers fantastic, man and especially in
today's by the, way has nothing to do with the
point guard. Situation it does have to do, with you,
know some of these guys that are actually going to
get playing, time not the ones you mentioned That Wan
Dorian Finney smith still could wind up being a very
very sneaky good.

Speaker 6 (02:19:47):
Signing, yeah it was going to be utilized in a
Way i'm sure similar to To Dylan brooks for all
sorts of different defensive, assignments shoots a very good percentage
of three point. Land And dylan did that In, memphis
but then here In, houston especially last year's three point
percentage was, outstanding right at forty. PERCENT i, mean here's,
mean mean, mean wex with the, heart heart of. Cold

(02:20:08):
the two players that started in the back court last
year were not good three point.

Speaker 5 (02:20:13):
Shooters the two.

Speaker 6 (02:20:14):
Players that will start in the back court this, year
Presuming durant is technically one of, them are much better
three point, shooters.

Speaker 4 (02:20:21):
Like insanely, better like elite level. Better so, yeah that
is definitely something to look forward. To we'll give away
SOME u OF h tickets before the end of the
five o'clock hours we continue here on A monday after
a lot of depressing news for Your houston sports teams
on the eighteen.

Speaker 2 (02:20:37):
The age On Sports talk seven.

Speaker 5 (02:20:39):
Ninety let's get right to. It in case you missed.

Speaker 6 (02:20:44):
It halfway through the final hour the show gets us,
there we do have tickets TO u OF.

Speaker 5 (02:20:48):
H just LIKE.

Speaker 6 (02:20:48):
Ac, mentioned their game Against Texas tech announced earlier, today
will in fact be in the. Evening It's october fourth
well of pairs of tickets over the course of to give.

Speaker 5 (02:21:00):
Away we'll do that in the final segment of the.

Speaker 6 (02:21:02):
Show but in case you missed, it there's been quite
a bit of it because we've been largely focused on
the losers At dyke And, park the losers AT Nrg,
stadium and unfortunately of the team that plays At Toyota.

Speaker 5 (02:21:15):
Center what do we have, Today, Cole.

Speaker 11 (02:21:16):
Let's just stick with losses The Houston. Texans In week,
eight we'll welcome in The San francisco forty Nine. Ers
they will not See nick bosag is he TOYS acl
and yesterday's win over The Arizona cardinals and is now
out for the. Year this is now the third time
in his, career dating back to his high school, days
that he has suffered ATTORNEY, acl and the second time
within the month Of september back in twenty twenty TOYS

(02:21:37):
acl In week two's win over The New York. Jets
the tear was, clean but he still is going to
require season ending. Surgery bosa's contract on his new deal
will now give back seven million dollars because of an
insurance policy in favor Of San. Francisco he finished the
year with two, sacks eight, pressures fifteen, tackles and twenty
one point nine pass rush rin success, rate but the

(02:21:57):
forty nine ers sid at three and, zero so it
may not.

Speaker 6 (02:21:59):
Matter, Yeah. Niners, note since we brought him up now
a couple of. Times they had kicking issues early in the,
season And Jake moody had kicking. Issues Brady sicklely his
entire career went To Eddie, paniero who is now working With.
John weeks last two, weeks they've been absolute. Brilliance they
kicked a game winning field ball on the final play
of the game thanks To.

Speaker 5 (02:22:20):
John's perfect snap to the holder and Then eddie's. Pick
there you. Go johnny should be, Here he could be.

Speaker 6 (02:22:26):
Here The texans have not had any issues thus. FAR
i would not believe on any of their long. Snaps
haven't had a chance to Ask Tommy townsend if he
felt like it was the. Snaps it's obvious the missing
element three consecutive punts of thirty five yards or less
in The texans game.

Speaker 5 (02:22:45):
Yesterday what else do we?

Speaker 11 (02:22:46):
Have THE sec is moving to a nine gay conference,
schedule which means that they're also moving to three permanent.
Rivals for The university Of, texas they're gonna face off
against BECAUSE a AND m The Retort shootout and In
Old Southwest Classic arkansas For, TEXAS a AND.

Speaker 5 (02:23:03):
M Lsu missouri.

Speaker 11 (02:23:06):
And texas will be their permanent rivals and FOR lsu
say goodbye to face and off Against alabama every single
year you get All Miss, TEXAS a AND m In.
Arkansas now remember that these rivalries are the three games
that are guaranteed to be played for the next four.
Years you still had to play six more conference, games
which could always alter depending on how they're going to
do the, schedule which is announced tomorrow. Night and then

(02:23:28):
you can throw in one Other power for non conference
game to go along with your two other non conference.

Speaker 6 (02:23:34):
Matchups so two gimmes basically the One power four matchup
you mentioned in nine conference games moving. Forward in those,
nine like you said it will be announced tomorrow, night
gave out the local most local interest teams those. Three
did something jump out at you positive or negative about
the three teams any of the other THIRTEEN sec teams
got as their permanent three and you said it will

(02:23:55):
be over four. Years they'll revisit this in four years
and make a determination on how they wanted to do
the scheduling moving. Forward most LIKELY i would think it'll
it'll turn out.

Speaker 5 (02:24:04):
Okay but did anything jump out to.

Speaker 11 (02:24:05):
You Tennessee depending on what happens With vanderbilt moving. Forward
Clark leae's got the program headed in the right, direction
but they're probably gonna hit reset In lexington after this
year or in the next two years because Of.

Speaker 5 (02:24:17):
Mark soops is not the.

Speaker 11 (02:24:18):
Answer you get one game Against alabama and then depending
on what the rest of your schedule, is how much
money they are investing into the football, Program tennessee should
catapult its way.

Speaker 5 (02:24:27):
Into the top tier conversation because of the.

Speaker 6 (02:24:30):
Rivals so Basically tennessee stood out as This these are
three games a little bit easier overall than what maybe
somebody else. Got Did auburn slide In on the other
side of things With, Vanderbilt georgia And BAMA e.

Speaker 11 (02:24:42):
Three it all depends on what happens With vanderbilt moving,
forward but two of those rivals were never gone.

Speaker 5 (02:24:46):
Away The Iron bowl.

Speaker 11 (02:24:47):
Is a staple in the in The Southeastern, conference and.

Speaker 5 (02:24:50):
People forget about the rivalry With.

Speaker 11 (02:24:51):
Georgia you, know they've had that long standing animosity and the.
End the other thing that's really important is people in
the state Of alabama who root for The crimson And.
Tied they always Call Auburn West georgia because the border
of where the school is is literally less than an
hour away from The georgia state, line so it's almost
like an in house rivalry.

Speaker 5 (02:25:12):
Game those two are always going to stand on.

Speaker 11 (02:25:13):
Out georgia Getting South carolina's ARRIVAL i thought was a
little interesting because of those two usually weren't known for
having hospital. Animosity and then of Course florida Against South carolina's.
Arrival you take away a game THAT i thought was really.

Speaker 5 (02:25:28):
Important which is The tennessee.

Speaker 11 (02:25:30):
Matchup, tennessee regardless of how good of a team that they,
are has not won in The swamp since two thousand and,
three and this may be the year where it finally
comes to an end because of just how bad the
quarterback play has been WITH Dj. Lagway but, also are
we going to see this rivalry continue as one of
those games that is.

Speaker 5 (02:25:48):
An unwritten rule rivalry And.

Speaker 11 (02:25:50):
Alabama not facing off Against georgia OR lsu every single
year a little.

Speaker 6 (02:25:53):
Interesting, yeah and again this is just the games that are.
Permanent doesn't mean those teams don't fall on their. Schedule
i'm not sure if they can get more than twice
in the next four, years but we'll find out a
little bit more about that moving. Forward, honestly these are
sixteen teams in one, conference varying levels of current. SUCCESS
i actually thought they did a pretty remarkably good job

(02:26:14):
of trying to keep as many rivalry games as possible
and still having these three games not so dramatically unfavorable
or favorable for just about. Everybody and obviously the local
interest GAMES i think are going to be fantastic to.
Keep obviously they were going to but knowing that it's
a done, Deal TEXAS, Ou, Texas TEXAS a AND M
lsu And TEXAS a AND, m these are all very

(02:26:35):
very good. Things and then the fact That arkansas And
texas will, PLAY i, MEAN i think the first time
they will meet will be one of the first times
Whoever arkansas's new head coach will be will be on the.
Field but, nonetheless there's a lot of history there for
a lot of, fans and it's two very good. Programs
Currently TEXAS a AND m And oklahoma are having maybe

(02:26:55):
a surprisingly good, season or maybe some people saw it this.

Speaker 5 (02:26:58):
Way what else do we have.

Speaker 11 (02:27:00):
Trail see of CEEDEE Lamb because we don't know when
you're gonna see you, next maybe in three, weeks maybe in,
four maybe next. Season But Jerry jones has officially announced
That Ceedee lamb could miss up to a month after
suffering in left ankle spring And sunday's lost To Chicago.
Bears cowboys will face off against The Green Bay packers
This sunday in the reunion Of Micah parsons AT at
AND T, stadium follow by games against The New York,

(02:27:21):
jets The Carolina, panthers who won emphatically over The Atlanta,
falcons and The Washington commanders before they would welcome back
In lamb to the. Offense currently the number one Receiver
George pickens and number Two Camante.

Speaker 6 (02:27:37):
Turpins, no, yes top receivers as in wide. Receivers the
most popular. Target My bowl prediction is sometime During Ceedee lamb's,
Absence Jason WITTEN'S nfl record of eighteen catches will be
eclipsed By Jason, ferguson who had thirteen receptions in their
game after ITS Cd lamb left and has been the
most popular target basically in the ENTIRE. Nfl and they're

(02:27:59):
gonna keep throwing. Ball the other thing you, mentioned we're
running through all those. THINGS i had me wanting to
say one other, thing AND i can't remember where it.

Speaker 5 (02:28:08):
Was Ceedee lamb out throwing the. Football wasn't about the.
Comedies it was About. Dak wasn't About. Dak it was
About Micah. Parsons wasn't About Micah.

Speaker 6 (02:28:19):
Parsons that is going to be all we hear about
as soon as This monday night football game is played,
tonight because because of what is coming at us this coming.
Week But i'm sure it'll come to Me Ceedee lamb's.
Injury he actually did try to come back on the,
field got the ankle taped and went back out.

Speaker 5 (02:28:35):
There one.

Speaker 6 (02:28:35):
Snap they were in the red zone and he ran
a route into the end zone and pulled up before
the play was even.

Speaker 5 (02:28:40):
Dead it took him out a bounce and he just,
said that's. It the WAY i think.

Speaker 6 (02:28:45):
It was a, stomach rib peak something like, that maybe a.
Groin he couldn't kick very, well so The giants did
him a solid and said we don't need, you we
won't even let's.

Speaker 11 (02:28:57):
Just Not.

Speaker 5 (02:29:00):
That was not a game THAT i predicted. Well of
my five THAT i didn't predict well.

Speaker 1 (02:29:10):
The age On Sports talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (02:29:17):
Back here on THE a.

Speaker 6 (02:29:18):
TEAM i do remember WHAT i wanted to mention last,
segment BUT i first want to tell you that you
can win a pair of tickets to see Uh koog's
in Their houston blue uniforms does a take On Texas.

Speaker 5 (02:29:30):
Tech It's Family night Next.

Speaker 6 (02:29:31):
Saturday age announces a six pm kickoff over AT Tdcu
stadium that Is october. Fourth you can get your tickets
To uhcougars dot, com slash tickets or call seven one
to Three Go koogs to get tickets or win. Them
here come, early be, loud where Your Houston blue for
The cougars And Texas. Tech Texas tech was half of

(02:29:54):
Our College game of The week on our Stone cold.
Locks ac was not here On friday to Hear cole
belittle of the two of us about how stupid we,
were and he was absolutely. Correct taking the over on
a game with two good defenses was, silly BUT i
still thought maybe there was a chance on the nine
billion turnovers somebody would just return it for a touchdown

(02:30:15):
and they would go and have him ahead and put
more points on the. Board it was a turnover fest
for about the first forty five minutes of the, game
and Then Texas tech pulled. Away so Undefeated Texas tech
and currently Undefeated university Of. Houston we'll see where they
are when they get. There, OBVIOUSLY u of h. Off
this week they are going to Corp vallis to take

(02:30:36):
On Oregon state On friday. Night but our question to
win a pair of tickets to go see them Play
Texas tech On october, fourth stems from something we mentioned
last segment seven one three two one two five seven.
Ninety if you know the answer to this, question what
player DID i say was now set to break the
all time record of eighteen receptions in a game by

(02:30:56):
a tight? End you can give me his last name
WHICH i mentioned last. Segment you can give me his
actual first name WHICH i did not mention last, segment
or the butchered first name THAT i did mention last.

Speaker 5 (02:31:07):
Segment just kind of kind of goofed it. Up but
you know Who i'm talking.

Speaker 6 (02:31:11):
About so if you know the answer to that, question
and it does definitely related To Ceedee lamb's injury seven
one three two five seven, ninety who DID i say
is now in line to have a nineteen or twenty
or twenty one reception game as a tight. End you
know the, answer give us a call win those. Tickets
in the midst of your in case you missed, it

(02:31:32):
you noted that The Carolina panthers put it to The Atlanta.

Speaker 5 (02:31:36):
Falcons they.

Speaker 6 (02:31:37):
Did The Atlanta falcons did not, Score they did not
have a good offensive. Day Michael Pennix junior and his
group of receivers just and they just didn't really seem
like they're on the same. Page it was just a
drive after drive after drive of uncomfortable football to the
point that eventually they, said enough is. Enough this game
is out of. Reach let's Get Kirk cousins out. There

(02:31:58):
they haven't made a change of starting. Quarterback, however they're
only in year two of offensive Coordinator Zach, robinson very
highly thought of background In New, england a little bit
Of rams and he's THE oc That Raheem morris chose last. Season,
well they're gonna move. Him he's no longer gonna be

(02:32:18):
in the spot he was in coordinating for this football.
Team they feel maybe his expertise can be better served
by moving his game. Location and it's not the only
thing that's changing for The. Falcons so OC's gonna move
from the coaching box down to the. Field Nick keley
has spent his time on the. Field he did a

(02:32:40):
preseason game in the. Booth he did a preseason game
on the field and decided moving, Forward i'm gonna be
on the. FIELD i want to be close to my.
GUYS i want to be able to see him face to.
FACE i don't want to make my moves from. There
The falcons just announced a little while ago they also
fired wide receivers coach and are Allowing texan's former starting
quarterback and hero of their first playoff, Off berth Tj.

Speaker 5 (02:33:00):
Yates he was their passing game.

Speaker 6 (02:33:03):
Coordinator he remains, that but he will now also add
receiving coach duties as. Well, normally the head coach telling
the offensive coordinator you're gonna do your job from here
now is step one towards fixing it or firing, him
and The texans should not be there yet. Again Nick

(02:33:23):
kyley's about to call plays for the fourth time next
week against The titans at Nrgy.

Speaker 5 (02:33:28):
Stadium the fourth game is AN. Oc he has.

Speaker 6 (02:33:30):
Plenty of experience as AN nfl offensive. Coach this is
a totally normal timeline for a coach to take a
promotion to become an offensive, coordinator but you're always taking
that risk when you hire a first time. Coordinator everybody
was once a first time coordinator and you don't know
how it's gonna work. Out To, Meko ryan's was the
first TIME dc and was not a second TIME dc

(02:33:51):
until he was THE dc here In houston after only
two years there of running the forty nine ers. DEFENSE
i don't have any issue with how he runs this
defense to the point Where i'd consider moving on from,
Him AND i don't think play calling duties as THE
dc along With Matt, burke have done anything to limit
his ability to run this football. Team but it is
an interesting path of decision making that's been made to

(02:34:12):
who's run the offensive side of. Things he Brought, basically
he Knew Bobby, slok who's a very good friend of.
His he obviously was there From San francisco with, him
made him his NEW. Oc so many other hires on
this coaching, staff Including Nick, cayley have pretty Extensive New
England patriots, ties AND i think everybody remembers earlier this

(02:34:33):
year when we were talking TO. Cj stroud and he
talked about some of the things they've been working. On
this is during training, camp a, preseason and he said
they've looked at a lot of old. Film they've looked
at Old patriots, film and there are a lot of
people looking at this Current texans offense that don't like
what they, see and do think it is, old and
do think it Has patriots, tendencies the one that worked
so well for arguably the best quarterback to ever set

(02:34:54):
foot on the football, field but maybe it won't work
so well for everybody. Else i'm surprised at how little
motion was still even seen this week and overall during
the course of the. SEASON i don't know if we
were sold to bill of goods or just didn't see
everything we were, seeing OR i personally can't say that
EVERYTHING i saw in camp is What i'm seeing. Now
but there are multiple parties and multiple people and multiple

(02:35:17):
areas of this football team to blame for The texans offensive,
ineptitude and that is a proper. Term there aren't any
other teams scoring at a less effective clip than The.

Speaker 5 (02:35:28):
Texans there was a low scoring team in THE.

Speaker 6 (02:35:30):
Nfl they had a touchdown against The bucks or excuse,
me against The jaguars. Yesterday they had no touchdowns against
The rams in the opening, game and they had one
for sure touchdown to open the game against The. Bucks
and maybe one gimme, touchdown WHICH i also wouldn't hold against.
Him mind, You i'm talking about all they let them. Score, Maybe,

(02:35:50):
well if they wouldn't have let them, SCORE i wouldn't
have sat here and said they only have two. Touchdowns
they never could have scored. Another, well that means they
probably would have held the ball until the final moments
to kicked the game winning field. Goal that is a
little bit different than the situation there are kicked a
field goal to prevent The bucks from coming back and beating.
Them you, know obviously they were down by fourteen thirteen

(02:36:12):
scored a, touchdown so presumably the opportunity to run out
the clock and kick the game winning field goal was
taken away from.

Speaker 5 (02:36:18):
Them but three touchdowns at thirty three drives is. AWFUL.

Speaker 6 (02:36:21):
Cj stroud's numbers from his first seventeen starts to his
last seventeen starts are dramatically.

Speaker 5 (02:36:28):
Different AND i know he's.

Speaker 6 (02:36:29):
Made thirty five, starts But i'm gonna go ahead and
throw out the start he made at the end of
the last year when it was week eighteen and he
played six plays and left after the first. Series, well
if you'll afford me that his last seventeen starts are
the statistically, speaking those that get you taken out of your.
Job AND i know there's lots of reasons, why so

(02:36:50):
this commentary is not STRICTLY cj, based but these are
the only numbers we have to go by the starting
quarterback on this. Team so, yes if a starting quarterback
produced these, results even wins in seventeen, games eighteen, touchdowns fifteen,
interceptions a passer rating that would have him in the
bottom eight of the league in any given, year if
not the bottom. Five those are things that have a

(02:37:11):
team moving on from you or letting somebody else get the,
starter benching you for a short period of.

Speaker 5 (02:37:15):
Time way more complicated than.

Speaker 6 (02:37:17):
That, luckily we have full shows all throughout the week
to get into it even more some specifically.

Speaker 5 (02:37:23):
Why they are where they, are some potential.

Speaker 6 (02:37:25):
Solutions, yes we'll actually offer some solutions to what The
texans can, do And Astros baseball will take us through
the other nights of this. Week tonight No Astros baseball
late games also against The, athletics so several additions of
the nightcap coming your way this, week including, tonight and
that comes your way.

Speaker 2 (02:37:43):
Next The age On Sports talk seven ninety

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