September 10, 2026 • 4 mins
Thursday on The Dan Mathews Show, Dan and Josh reacted to recent comments from former Texans safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who avoided questions about his former team in an effort to avoid giving Houston any bulletin-board material. However, when asked about C.J. Stroud’s performance last season, Gardner-Johnson simply responded, “Next question,” which Dan believes was a form of disrespect toward the Texans quarterback. Be sure to listen to the audio as the guys explain how Gardner-Johnson may have unintentionally given the Texans exactly what they wanted heading into Sunday’s matchup.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
TJ Gardner Johnson clearly is a guy that used to
be a Texan and is now at the Buffalo Bills.
And yesterday he practiced for the Bills. So it does
look like he's going to play in this game. And
he was asked of anything about his former team. And
he said that he was not going to give any
bulletin board material. However, with him kind of sideswiping those questions,
(00:25):
there was one that he was asked of what he
thought about C.J. Stroud last season. And he said, next question,
which in the NFL, a player saying next question is
either they don't want to, in a sense. make themselves
guilty of talking trash or doing any of these things
(00:46):
like it's, they, they just, they don't want to answer
the question. So they just say next question. And it
seems like this is done in the NFL much more
than any other. But what that perceives to me is
that he doesn't respect CJ Stroud whatsoever. I mean, if
nothing else, you can give the obligatory, well, good player,
you know, he, he he's a, he's a young player.
He's trying to find his way in the NFL, did
(01:06):
some really good things. I enjoyed being around him, any
of those things. But I mean, If you next question
just an innocent, innocuous question like that, that's what that
tells me. But the part that's laughable to me about
all of this is the perceived self-importance to believe that
anybody cares what you think about the Texans from your
(01:28):
time here. CJ, you were here three games. Three games.
And clearly it got to a point where the Texans said,
we can't have this guy on our defense. Because you
want to continue to freelance, you're going to continue to
get us beat. So see you later. Goodbye. It's been
nice knowing you. We're not going to know you anymore.
(01:49):
They don't care. You could say whatever you want. It's
not going to add any fuel to this game. It's
not like the Texans are going to win and in
the locker room afterwards, they're going to say, yeah, we
wanted to do this to shove it to CJ Gardner Johnson.
I mean, that's a mouthful enough to be able to say,
but I can almost guarantee you that unless there is
some sort of Um, maybe, you know, fight like Javon
(02:11):
whims a few years ago with them, something like that
on the field that CJ Gardner Johnson won't even be
mentioned in the post game locker room scrums win or
lose in this one. He's just not even going to
be at the front of anyone's mind. It's just going
to be about what they either did or didn't do.
And that's as far as it's going to go.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah. He's an afterthought. He was traded for Kenyon Green
by Howie Roseman, who's basically the best GM in football,
traded him away for Kenyon Green. That should tell you everything.
And when I think of the next question thing, I'm like,
was that Drew Rosenhaus that started that?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I think it was because, I mean, he did it.
And again, I mean, the NFL is the ultimate copycat
league where somebody hears or sees something and they're like, oh, hey,
I'm going to start doing that. Cause yeah, I want
to say that he did it with Terrell Owens.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's what I'm thinking too.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah. And it was like when Terrell Owens was going
through his whole thing in Philadelphia. So that's where I
think that started. But I mean, you do have, and
a lot of times too, it's usually done in a
joking manner. Like I'm trying to remember, was it Derek Ward?
Was that the running back? That the Texans had for
a time.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that sounds right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
And players every once in a while during scrums with
the media will jump in and ask like a funny
question or do anything to kind of like, you know,
play along with it. And I think it was Jacoby
Jones that asked one and he goes, next question. You just,
you know, just playing along with the joke right there.
But I mean, but like, why do you even need
to next question that? I mean, I, you, you asked
(03:45):
me how I feel about somebody that maybe I'm not
the biggest fan of, but at least I can go
ahead and be professional enough to say, yeah, you know,
they're good at their job. They're fine. I mean, clearly
I've been very critical of certain people in this business,
but I mean, if, if I actually don't have a
problem with the way that people do their job, I
don't necessarily personally like them, then I'll, I'll let, I'll
(04:07):
leave the personal side out of it. I'll just say, yeah,
you know what? They're really good at their job. That's
as far as I leave it. He's disrespecting him.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You're right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
No, that's 100% what that was. I mean, and that's
so in effect where you're like, I'm not going to
give any bulletin board material. You just did. Like you
just did. But I can also guarantee you that the
person who could care the least is number seven.
TJ Gardner Johnson clearly is a guy that used to
be a Texan and is now at the Buffalo Bills.
And yesterday he practiced for the Bills. So it does
look like he's going to play in this game. And
he was asked of anything about his former team. And
he said that he was not going to give any
bulletin board material. However, with him kind of sideswiping those questions,
(00:25):
there was one that he was asked of what he
thought about C.J. Stroud last season. And he said, next question,
which in the NFL, a player saying next question is
either they don't want to, in a sense. make themselves
guilty of talking trash or doing any of these things
(00:46):
like it's, they, they just, they don't want to answer
the question. So they just say next question. And it
seems like this is done in the NFL much more
than any other. But what that perceives to me is
that he doesn't respect CJ Stroud whatsoever. I mean, if
nothing else, you can give the obligatory, well, good player,
you know, he, he he's a, he's a young player.
He's trying to find his way in the NFL, did
(01:06):
some really good things. I enjoyed being around him, any
of those things. But I mean, If you next question
just an innocent, innocuous question like that, that's what that
tells me. But the part that's laughable to me about
all of this is the perceived self-importance to believe that
anybody cares what you think about the Texans from your
(01:28):
time here. CJ, you were here three games. Three games.
And clearly it got to a point where the Texans said,
we can't have this guy on our defense. Because you
want to continue to freelance, you're going to continue to
get us beat. So see you later. Goodbye. It's been
nice knowing you. We're not going to know you anymore.
(01:49):
They don't care. You could say whatever you want. It's
not going to add any fuel to this game. It's
not like the Texans are going to win and in
the locker room afterwards, they're going to say, yeah, we
wanted to do this to shove it to CJ Gardner Johnson.
I mean, that's a mouthful enough to be able to say,
but I can almost guarantee you that unless there is
some sort of Um, maybe, you know, fight like Javon
(02:11):
whims a few years ago with them, something like that
on the field that CJ Gardner Johnson won't even be
mentioned in the post game locker room scrums win or
lose in this one. He's just not even going to
be at the front of anyone's mind. It's just going
to be about what they either did or didn't do.
And that's as far as it's going to go.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah. He's an afterthought. He was traded for Kenyon Green
by Howie Roseman, who's basically the best GM in football,
traded him away for Kenyon Green. That should tell you everything.
And when I think of the next question thing, I'm like,
was that Drew Rosenhaus that started that?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I think it was because, I mean, he did it.
And again, I mean, the NFL is the ultimate copycat
league where somebody hears or sees something and they're like, oh, hey,
I'm going to start doing that. Cause yeah, I want
to say that he did it with Terrell Owens.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's what I'm thinking too.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah. And it was like when Terrell Owens was going
through his whole thing in Philadelphia. So that's where I
think that started. But I mean, you do have, and
a lot of times too, it's usually done in a
joking manner. Like I'm trying to remember, was it Derek Ward?
Was that the running back? That the Texans had for
a time.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, that sounds right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
And players every once in a while during scrums with
the media will jump in and ask like a funny
question or do anything to kind of like, you know,
play along with it. And I think it was Jacoby
Jones that asked one and he goes, next question. You just,
you know, just playing along with the joke right there.
But I mean, but like, why do you even need
to next question that? I mean, I, you, you asked
(03:45):
me how I feel about somebody that maybe I'm not
the biggest fan of, but at least I can go
ahead and be professional enough to say, yeah, you know,
they're good at their job. They're fine. I mean, clearly
I've been very critical of certain people in this business,
but I mean, if, if I actually don't have a
problem with the way that people do their job, I
don't necessarily personally like them, then I'll, I'll let, I'll
(04:07):
leave the personal side out of it. I'll just say, yeah,
you know what? They're really good at their job. That's
as far as I leave it. He's disrespecting him.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You're right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
No, that's 100% what that was. I mean, and that's
so in effect where you're like, I'm not going to
give any bulletin board material. You just did. Like you
just did. But I can also guarantee you that the
person who could care the least is number seven.
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