Tuesday: Marc Vandermeer Returns to Preview the Game vs the Chargers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Time to visit with Mark Vandernier, the voice of the Texans.
Big win against the Raiders, continuing to evolve as a
playoff team in the AFC. Mark, what a gutty grinded
out maybe ugly win, but it still counts as a w.
On Sunday against Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, and and I think in this winning streak, you know,
they've burned a lot of jet fuel winning seven in
a row. And when you think about the really tough
ones at the Colts against Kansas City Buffalo wins like that,
when you get into a segment where you get Arizona
than the Raiders and they're not good teams, you still
got to be at your best because they're going to

(00:42):
gun for you. I mean, they can really make their
season or really make big headlines by beating you. You're
the hunted now. And they got the best out of
the Cardinals. They took care of them by twenty. The
Raiders obviously a close game. They trailed in the second
half by a point and they had to overcome that.
It wasn't their best day, but they won the game.
And now they're gonna have to wrecked a bunch of
things in a short week to get ready for the

(01:02):
Chargers on Saturday. But I thought, hey, you got to win.
It's always better to learn while winning, if you know
what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, he talked about Jahar Jordan, and here's a guy
that I had fifty three yards on fifteen carries. I
like the fact that he's getting carries a little bit younger,
I guess than the other guys. But is this somebody
that Houston can really look forward to the future as
a marquee back and obviously of Mixing is not able
to come back or is limited in the future. Is

(01:30):
this the next good running back for the Texans.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I'd love to say yes, but we'll have to let
time tell that story. You know, Woody Marks, I think
is the guy that they're going to want to rely on.
And he missed that game. Hopefully he's back on Saturday
and you'll get a chance to see both of them,
or all three of them. Because Nick Chubb in the
game against the Raiders had that big thirty yard run
in the fourth quarter. That's huge. So I like Jaar

(01:53):
and I think that there's something there. I'd like to
see them get him the ball more as a receiver.
Just get him the ballance because when he gets in space,
good things are gonna happen. He's gonna make guys miss
one on one matchups, that kind of thing. So he's
a good player. He's in the mix. It's a matter
of and you mentioned the numbers. That wasn't a high
volume of yards. It's a matter of repetition and getting

(02:16):
him the ball in a good situation. I think that
they stuck with that ground game no matter what. The
Raiders were bottling it up, but they were getting a
hard two to three yards. You know, we talked about
this from time to time. The Texans end of the
day pretty decent and third down CJ wasn't that good
in the first half, but in the second half he
was thirteen or fifteen and got to the game winning
or game feeling drive, if you will, when they killed

(02:37):
the clock at the end.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
The receiving court way better. When Christian Kirk's on there
to complement Nico Collins and then Dalton Schultz is having
a good season.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Two.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
That guy that I don't want to compare him to
Travis Kelcey or to some of the great but he's
in the conversation for Houston. I think because when you
need to find somebody to get you three or four
yards on third down and three. He's able to do
that quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt he's a top
five receiving tight end in this league. Right now. Dalton
Schultz is doing that. He's the leading receiver on the
team in terms of catches. Nico leaves them in yards
and you know, Nico Collins didn't have a lot of
catches in the last game, but he had some big
catches like that one at the end. But I love
what Dalton's doing for this football team. As long as
those two guys stay healthy, those are your one and

(03:24):
two receivers. And I don't know how to put him
in what order because they do different things for this team.
Schultz is very reliable on third down or short yarded situations,
so is Nico, But Nico can get you the big
play more often. And yeah, Kirk's been good. I think
they've got to get the other guys in the mix
a little bit more. Higgins had to catch on that
final drive. Stover had to drop early. It wasn't a

(03:45):
true dropping, the ball got knocked out, but he had
a good catch on that final drive for a first down.
It has to be a bit of an ensemble. But yeah,
those one and two guys have to do the job
as well. Look, they're gonna have to get it from
everywhere because the line is challenged. They some injuries, and
I think that this might be a reconfiguration on Saturday,
we'll see. The week is still semi early here, so

(04:07):
we'll see how they put it together against the Chargers
in LA.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
So talk about that matchup with the Chargers. This is
a team that Jim Harbaugh has completely turned around in
two years and has them playing good football. And Herbert's having,
if not an MVP type, ear close to that. So
how do you tackle the Chargers this weekend?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, and the Texans beat him in the playoffs. Last year,
Herbert had three picks in the entire season. The Texans
picked him off four times in one game. But this
is a different Herbert. I think he's definitely better. He's
playing with a broken left hand and they put an
oven mid on it. I don't know what that thing is,
one of the gloves they use in the deadliest catch.
I don't even know. But it's working for him and

(04:46):
he's still taking big runs for them. You know, two
of the last three games, he's had some big scrambles
where it's a real difference making element of the game.
CJ hasn't run it as much. Conversely, since he's come
back from the concussion, So we'll see where that goes
they hit the postseason or maybe even this weekend, because
they view this weekend as a playoff game for sure,
because win and they're in. But the Chargers are tough,

(05:08):
They've got two good running backs, they've got a top
five ish defense, and they're at home, so it's going
to be very dangerous. And the Texans are coming off
a game where they didn't play great offense consistently throughout,
so they're going to have to do that if they're
going to beat the Chargers Saturday.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Against the Chargers and the Colts to end the season,
do they do the Texans feel like the offense has
to be more productive or can the defense keep them
in the game enough to where the offense just has
to not make mistakes.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
I think they feel like, Okay, the defense is a
really good defense, number one in the league, no doubt,
but with the injuries they have in the defensive interior
on the line, that's an issue for their rotation, and
they're still looking for the mix. You know, they're still
trying to pick up players on the practice squad, try
guys out so they can see what they can bring
to the game because they want to rotate those defensive

(05:54):
tackles as much as possible keep everybody fresh. And that
was a weakness against the Raiders. Raiders had a good
ground game with Ashton genty going nuts, had one hundred
and eighty eight yards from scrimmage, and Aziz Al Shier
didn't play, so they were kind of weaker up the middle,
if you will, as Ease will be back and hopefully
they get a good rotation going again. I mean, and
the good news is you still have the best two

(06:16):
defensive ends in the league as far as the combination
goes a tandem. And the corners, I mean Derek Stingley
Junior's All World, Kamari Lassiter Pro Bowl alternate himself, so
they have a lot going for them, Jalen Petrie, the
Nickel Pro Bowl alternate. Those were all announced today, so
they're loaded. They feel like it can carry them a
long way, but the offense still has to get better. Andy,

(06:37):
because you're gonna have games against good quarterbacks on the road.
You're going to give up some things. The offense has
to match the opposing offense.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
All right, Mark, Mery Christmas, and enjoy the trip to
the Chargers and we'll talk next week.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
All right, Thanks a lot, Andy, Go Texans.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
All right, that's Mark Vandermier. He's the voice of the Texans.
And you'll hear that game on Saturday when the Texans
take on the Chargers. Up more NFL forty nine Ers
and Colts from last night. Dak Prescott says he's gonna
play no matter what. And the landscape of the NFL
playoffs is we roll on. It's the Andy Everage Show
on the ticket.