Rockets Beat Pacers 126-119, Texans Elite Defense, AFC & NFC Playoff Picture Outlook

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Morning Drive with Dan and Cole.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
There are a lot of NBA defenders need new cleats
after watching this game.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Free throw line, pull away sixteen footer, Yes, got it.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
There is nothing that Kevin Durant can't do from sixteen
feet inside. Little nerve wracking of the final ten seconds,
but nevertheless it is another Toyota Center Racket twin final score,
Houston won twenty six Indiana one nineteen.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, Matt Thomas wasn't wrong.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
It was a little nerve wracking late, but still you
heard the final score. The Rockets on the right side
of it and they win their third straight. With that,
we say away we go. Good morning here it is
the Morning Drive with Dan and Coles Sports Talk seven
ninety thirty out of Kevin Durant. I mean this is
a Rockets team too, Cole. That until the Laker game

(01:05):
to end their six game road trip. They were one
in four on that trip and then they went to
LA and seemingly broke the Lakers, which was nice to
see where you had JJ Reddick after the game calling
out effort. You had, of course Lebron James coming off
the floor looking angry.

Speaker 5 (01:23):
You just saw as JJ Redick in that matchup, say
I this could be the way that we play the
rest of the year. Just fire me now, just like,
just get me, get me out of here, man, I
wanna be here.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
This is the way that we're gonna.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
Look that that was priceless, like where he was just like,
I can't do fifty three more games.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
You know what I love about JJ Reddick being a
coach is that he still can't get out of his
medium mind skape, because that is what somebody would do
on first take when he was back on the Earth,
is like screaming about I can't watch the Lakers fifty
three more times. I can't be out here breaking down
games against the Clippers and against the Jazz. This is
how we're gonna show up. Like that's how he would
sound arguing with Steven A. Smith and now just carries
it over to the heart.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
I mean, in a way, he kind of has that
E May you doka at him because we were used
to E May being that guy. We're used to you
know the Rockets, you know, lose one late and you
know a couple of defensive miscues, whatever it is, and
after the game, it's one of those that you want
to watch and listen to the postgame press conference with
them because you're like, oh, he's going to go scorch start.

(02:22):
It would be something somebody, somebody or someones are going
to get it.

Speaker 5 (02:26):
Oh you mean that somebody is just going to ask
the wrong question. Then just the eyeballs go right to
the reporter because you know you're the one that's going
to get the brunt of it, not because of it's
your fault, but because if you asked the question.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Well, I mean there's a there's such a thing in uh,
you know media where it's you know, hey, you know,
just so you know, he's not he's not talking to you.
He's like it's more or less a media relations person
for the team coming to you and being like hey,
just so you know, like it wasn't you.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
I would tell him one hundred percent it's you. It's
your fault. You're the reason he's in.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
A bad mute.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
You will have that though, I mean you will have
some who you know, just for whatever reason the code
which the GM whoever it is, just doesn't like him,
and I mean they get it on a daily basis,
but more often and not with emy, Like I think
that he pretty much just has like an on the
level relationship with the media, Like I don't think he
even knows or cares enough to know like any of us,

(03:16):
which is fine, like he doesn't need to. But I mean,
that's what I love is like whenever you get those
like I remembered a couple of years ago they had
lost to Oklahoma City and chet Holmgren had a backing
down reverse dunk on someone and E may point blank
after the game goes we can't be getting bodied by
chet Holmgren.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
I was like, ooh, okay, well you didn't get bodied
last night by the Indiana Pacers one twenty six, one
to nineteen victory. Second straight thirty point game for Kevin Durant,
his tenth of the season at first since his first
in Houston since coming on over from Phoenix Sparksmith.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Last night, I dropped a twenty one with ten boards.

Speaker 5 (03:54):
I'm on Thompson drop at twenty points with eight rebounds,
seven assists overall.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
I'll tell you this, Dan that I took away from
this game.

Speaker 5 (04:02):
You're not losing the bad competition anymore because how many
times during that road trip against the bad teams in
the NBA where you're sitting here saying, really, this is
how we're gonna show up. This is what we're gonna
let this is our game plan, this is our execute.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Come on, We're better than that, are we.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
I mean, you heard what they said after they beat
the Lakers on Christmas Day, as they said that was
a wake up call? Is I mean, I think there
was a rallying cry for that game, and there was
a little bit of a circle the wagons here and
make sure that you don't go one in five on
this trip against really three bad teams, because I mean,
the Lakers are in the middle of the Western Conference

(04:41):
race right now. I mean, I think we can agree
that if you get them in the Rockets, which at
the moment, you would be faced up against them if
you were in the playoffs today, but you still got
about three months of basketball left until you get to
the playoffs. But I mean I came out of that
game and I was like, Hey, stay right here and
play against these guys, because it's gonna go well for you.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Last night, Rockets slid by twenty seven to start the
fourth quarter, game was closer than expected. Towards the end,
they were up sixteen with a little over two minutes
to go.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
You know, they cleared the bench at that point.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
That led to a forty one point run by the
Pacers to close out the game. I mean, I listen,
there will be some people who are nervous because the
score looks a lot closer than what it was. But
then you got to go into context clues. Guys, game
was over with three minutes left on the clock. They
were gonna have to play perfect. Yes, you did see
a couple of big time shots come off from the
Pacers bench. You saw a couple of guys making a

(05:34):
couple big Pascal Siakra had two big plays in the
fourth quarter. Aaron Nasmith dropped fourteen with two three pointers.
But it never felt like game was in jeopardy. I
always just felt like it was easy, cool breeze, moving
your way forward against a team that's now one and fifteen.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
On the rid.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Yeah, I mean the Rockets outscoring Indiana twenty five to
nine second chance points, you know, fast break points though,
I mean Indiana able to crush you on that. But
I mean you said it up as much as twenty
eight at one point in that game, and then the
fourth quarter, I mean that's that's what I gleaned from that.
I mean, because you had Jay, Shawn Tate, Aaron Holliday, JD. Davison,

(06:10):
and Jeff Green on the floor. I mean it was
he made a dooka at that point, just saying hey,
let's just get out of here. I mean, because you
got a couple of days off before you get New
Year's Day in Brooklyn against the Nets, and then over
the weekend you're gonna take on the Mavericks in Dallas
yet again. And I mean, you know, getting thirty three
minutes out of Kevin Durant, and he was really good

(06:31):
last night. I mean, at least from as you heard
Matt Thomas tell you in the open, sixteen feet and
in he's about as deadly as anybody is. I mean,
that's one of those where he's able to get that lift.
He's got the length on people that it's a good
luck trying to block them, cause you're gonna have a
tough time. That's why teams defend him the way that
they do is I mean they try to blitz them
and try to trap them, do all these things away

(06:53):
from the ball, and then once he gets the ball,
if you have one on one that is not gonna
go well for you. He was what thirteen to twenty
line something like that, exactly the number for you. So again, like, yeah,
is he gonna not be as strong.

Speaker 5 (07:07):
As defensively as you thought he may have been when
you brought him on in probably at this point. But
that's why you signed Dorian Finney Smith. That's why you
hope that you were going to see better play from
Joshua Kobe. That's why you keep Tara Easton in the
starting lineup because their defensive value.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Is so important to you. But the reason you brought
him in here was to be the closer.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
And again last night, you're shooting almost seventy percent from
the field, you're two to six from three point range,
you finished with six rebounds, you don't foul out, you
get a big time block, you're playing thirty minutes.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Like, I don't really think that you could be arguing
right now. Like Kevin Durant's performance.

Speaker 5 (07:40):
Now, don't get me wrong, there were some games on
the road trip, and there were certainly some games earlier
in the season to where he didn't meet expectations I.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Think to his standard or what people in Houston thought
he was.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
But you know, it's again, it's a last night game
against a lowly team that doesn't have its star player
because if he got hurt in the NBA Finals, they
lost Miles Turner to free agency. There were moves that
were made that like, this is not an Indiana Pacers
team to where you need to see Kevin de Rampy
dropping forty. You feel confident in your team, like you
should be seeing your role players have a bigger say

(08:12):
in the outcome. You should be seeing other guys who
you want to see on the bench to play more
meaningful minutes.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
And you kind of got that last night.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
Like if you take out Reach Shepherd, Clinton Polla played
thirteen minutes, Josh Kobe played thirteen minutes, DFS played sixteen minutes.
The points really weren't great, but you know what you
were more so getting their legs acclimated, to having more
reps to when you got to utilize them in the playoffs,
you got to utilize them against better teams. You feel
better about where they are.

Speaker 4 (08:38):
I think well, and then also too, I mean with
Kevin Durantz, if I'm not mistaken, has he missed a
game this year?

Speaker 3 (08:44):
He meant not by injury, I mean he's been out
for so they did they did, yeah, load management, Well
he's done a couple of load management days, okay.

Speaker 4 (08:53):
I mean, but aside from that, I mean, I think
that you've been pleasantly surprised by, you know, the amount
of times that you've seen him.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
I mean, that's nice to see.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
And then I mean there was a little bit of
preservation as I mentioned with going with those four guys
off the bench late in the game, and then you
mentioned Doriyan Finney Smith. He had the second most minutes
off the point off the bench, sixteen minutes out of
him and reached Shepherd thirteen off the bench to lead
the bench brigade, but six points out of Dorry and
Phinney Smith.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
You love to see that.

Speaker 4 (09:21):
A couple of three pointers knocked down, as those shots
all of his shots in the field from behind the
arc too, So I mean he's starting to get his
legs back underneath him. And one thing that you mentioned
too about having Tari Easton in the starting lineup, josh
O'koge did a fine enough job, but now you're starting
to see that josh Okogi's minutes are being diminished because well,
I mean, you've got a couple of guys back that

(09:43):
you're going to be counting on a lot more than
you're gonna be counting on him.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
Well, you got a guy that plays exceptional defense and
somebody who is potentially a part of your long term future,
and you'll want to make sure that he's locked in.
I think that's kind of where you.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Got to separate things.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Like a Kobe, if he was to ever be in
a package deal, nobody would miss him. You'd say thanks
for the two or three games that you got fifteen points.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Cool when you talk about.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
Tarry Easton, this is a guy that some people wondered
where you're going to move before the start of the
season because you knew you were gonna get him locked up.
And now it feels like because of his defensive value,
because of what he's able to do inside the inside
of the paint. You can't have those conversations entirely because
of what's gonna cost for a max deal, but you
at least have to entertain the idea of this is

(10:25):
somebody that we believe we can have a future with.
Now it's got to be able to make the money
work outside of things.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah, and I mean the rockets as mentioned able to
get the win one twenty six, one nineteen, and they're
off the next couple of days, which is nice, and
then you will get the Brooklyn Nets up there in
New York on at New Year's Day afternoon. But I mean,
just all around exactly what you would expect against a
team that's not very good, but also to uh, to

(10:53):
do this without Alprin Shingoon who missed the game with
the calf, and can I tell you, I mean, you know,
just with what we saw with you know, Denver's star
Nikola Jokic, which that looked bad.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
That looked really bad.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
I mean, they're gonna be waiting on an MRI for that,
and I really wonder if they're not going to be
getting bad news because I mean, if you see the
replay of Jokic's knee once he got kind of kicked
and it went one way. I watched it once and
I pulled the Gary Danielson when Nick Chubb got hurt
years ago playing for Georgia at Tennessee, where he said,

(11:28):
all right, no more replays, we don't get to see play.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
That was the Nick Chubb play.

Speaker 5 (11:31):
That was I remember watching it live and going play
and show the replay. It's one of those where you
know when you see it, it's already gonna be bad.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
We don't need to see it a second.

Speaker 4 (11:40):
I was there, and I was in the press box
at neil And Stadium, and I remembered, at first you
saw it, and I was like, Okay, he might have
rolled his ankle. And then they showed the replay in
the entire press box all in Unison. Oh yeah, Like
as soon as we saw that, and then that was
the thing that people were texting me and saying, yeah.
Danielson on the TV side was like, all right, no

(12:01):
more replays. We've seen enough. We don't need to see anymore.
He was speaking for America at that point.

Speaker 5 (12:07):
Losing Jokic, though, is big for the Rockets because of
where you come in the pecking order and to your
rankings of Western Conference contenders behind Oklahoma City. Like I
think that the capitalist and probably what was gonna be
the deciding factor forever was having Jokic over an agent,
Katie or even Alfred shangun Is deal with an injury
right now, now you know he's probably gonna miss multiple games,

(12:27):
if not weeks, if not even months, and may not
be back until the All Star break.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
It's a good team.

Speaker 5 (12:33):
The reason why you think that they're competitive to go
toe to toe with Oklahoma City is because of what
you got with fifteen.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
You won't have him out there anymore. Guess what you
still have.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
You have Kevin Durant, you have shehng Gun, you have
an emerging Aman Thompson. You feel good about having some
bet dept with Reed Shepherd and DFS, and you're getting
better play out of Tari East and.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
It And again, I don't want to put the wagon
for the horse.

Speaker 5 (12:56):
Because I've done this way too many times, especially with
this Rockets scene. Feels like, yes, there are still gonna
be some traps along the way, but if they can
get through all of the sneaker games, they're gonna be
able to be competitive in the bigger matchups.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
They'll end up being a top two seed.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah, that's why I was Shinghu and I'm like a
slow and steady is the race, man? If you got
to keep him out for the next couple of games,
is anyone going to care?

Speaker 6 (13:21):
Well?

Speaker 4 (13:21):
I mean it's not only that, but it's also too
I mean, a guy he's got on his own team,
Kevin Durant. Who I mean, remember in the NBA Finals
he had a calf injury and what that led to. Like,
that's what it almost made me wonder, is if Kevin
Durant was part of this, like where he was like,
hey man, knowing from experience, don't push it, like trust me,
do not push it.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Because I mean he even said it. He goes. If
I was told that this.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Could lead to a torn achilles, he goes, I wouldn't
have played even the NBA Finals or not, I would
not have played.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
Yeah, Rockets right now six and a half games back
by in Oklahoma City, they're only a game back behind
the Denver Nuggets, and there are two games back behind
the San Antonio Spurs. For the number two seeds Oklahoma City,
they're running away with it with twenty eight to five.
I mean, like, well, let's beak reroll. We knew that
was gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
Well, I mean, we might be fearful of the end
of football season, but that means that Rocket season is
firing up. Oh, by the way, to I saw this
on social media yesterday that yesterday marked the halfway point
between the end of the Major League baseball season and
the first spring training game. So soon enough we're gonna

(14:27):
be firing up baseball too, So you got a lot
more to look forward to. But the Texans still in action,
and they're taking on the Colts Sunday over at NRG Stadium,
a noon kick for that one. And I can't even
believe that this question was asked, but it was answered
the right way by Demiko Ryan just day.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
We'll talk about it as we just get.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
Going here on a Tuesday edition of the Morning Drive
with Dan and Cole Sports Talks seven ninety The.

Speaker 7 (14:52):
Morning Drive with Dann and Cole on Sports Talk seven ninety,
home of the Strolls, Rockets, and Houston's Bests.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Sports Talk.

Speaker 8 (15:02):
Cole.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
As we've talked about all yesterday, the Texans still with
the chance to win the AFC South. They've got Indianapolis
here in town, and then of course you're looking for
Tennessee to go to Jacksonville pull off an upset that's
able to happen. You win the AFC South. Bam boom bomb,
all of that right there. But there is precedent for

(15:22):
a question that was asked to Demico Ryans yesterday, and
I'm not surprised by his response, but let's just say
that the president that this question was asked on is
not the line of thinking that Demiko Ryans is going
to have for Sunday's game.

Speaker 6 (15:39):
Yeah, we're playing a game right now as it sits.
We still have an opportunity to win our division, and
that's always the goal each and every year to win
your division. So we know we need help from the
Titans to be able to do that. So we're going
and we're playing our guys.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
So the president here is that Jim Harbaugh and the
Chargers announced that they're resting.

Speaker 9 (16:01):
Well.

Speaker 5 (16:02):
Packers also announced that they're going to rest their starters
because they got nothing to play for other than the
seventh seed.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Right, So, I mean I think that it's also too.
I mean you're looking at, you know, say a team
like Los Angeles and you're like, well, wait a minute.
You know you can still get the sixth seed if
the Texans win, and then it's just like okay, sixth
or seventh. Six we go to Jacksonville, seven, we go
to New England. I mean again it now, yeah say it?

(16:27):
So nobody's afraid of New England.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
No, no triple. He didn't say it. He didn't say it.
I miss it. What see would they be? They would
be either the sixth or the seventh. Come on, it's
a fun bit. Yeah, sure, it's fun for the kids.
I'm a kid in heart. Come on, it's you. You

(16:49):
are for the kids. I mean, Trick loves the kids.

Speaker 5 (16:51):
Crazy phrasing, phrasing, phrasing, phrasing, raising on a Tuesday morning.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
It's frasing on Tuesday morning, last tripling that what I'm
talking about. Most people know what I'm talking about, don't
know what they do, So we're gonna phrase it differently.
On that one. Trick loves the kids. Drou and the wind.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
Texas right now, if they win, they so need help
from the Jacksonville Jaguars to lose, so then to guarantee
that they get a top three seed, which is why
they're not playing, which is why they're playing starters.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Of course they're playing starters.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
Like, I get where you're going with this, because of
it's important to understand why in the hell would you
wrest your starters when the top three seeds on the line.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
Well it's not only that, but it's also too I mean,
think of the momentum you've built up here over the
last few weeks and then you want to tell the
guys keep your foot on the pedal. But then to
go into this game and say, yeah, hey, keep your
foot on the pedal. Next week, you're gonna have a
bunch of guys looking at you seeing, well, wait a minute, no,
I mean, if we're gonna get better, you get better
by playing football, not not by sitting out. I mean

(17:50):
you do the load management in football during the practice week.
That's where you do the rest days. That's where you
do the limited's and all of the other things that
when you're on a like the Texans are eight straight wins,
you keep that moment.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
I'm going, man, yes, but at the same time, I
will push back and say, when there is something to
play for, you keep pushing forward, and you take the
low management day on a Wednesday and Thursday. If everyone
on the practice sport like like, let's say Thursday, we
go in happy, Happy New Year.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
Everyone starts off on a good note.

Speaker 5 (18:20):
We're all at the gym for the first time since September,
maybe it's April, whatever it is, and the Texans have
like fourteen dudes on the practice board for DMP.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
I take that as a low management day.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
But if I'm the Chargers and I have no shot
of winning the division, and I have no shot of
getting the five seed, I'm either going to be the
sixth or the seventh seed, and I'm not gonna be
able to go anywhere else besides those two. Why am
I risking justin Herbert's health before a playoff game? Why
am I risking putting a guy like Quinton Johnson, who
has been my best vertical receiver out there for a

(18:54):
potential injury that keeps him out a week later on
the road.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Why am I doing that if I'm the Rams?

Speaker 5 (18:59):
Why am I doing that if I am the Packers
when I need my team to be at full health,
if I want to be able to go on a
playoff run, and the Rams will fight back a little
bit because you got a quarterback still in the race
for the MVP. But outside of him, I mean Dan,
like Green Bay stuck at seven, they are going to
be the set.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
They win, lose, tie.

Speaker 5 (19:19):
They get a blown out by forty two, they win
by twenty eight. Right, they're gonna be at seven. I
don't see the value of having my guys out there
when I've already lost. Micah Parsons when I could be
down Jordan Love, when I could be down multiple receivers
going to face off against either a Bears, a Seahawks,
or a forty nine Ers team, or I need to
be perfect to guarantee a win. The Texans are different

(19:41):
than it seemed like LA because if they could host
a playoff game.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
LA stuck well.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
And it's also too, I mean for a couple of
those teams you mentioned, I mean the Rams being one
of them. I think that it goes the opposite way
of what I mentioned with the Texans. Sometimes you do
need a reset, like sometimes like you do need where
I mean, in certain ways, the games can away from
you at that point where the coach tells you, hey,
we're resting you this week, and I mean, you know,

(20:06):
then it's say, all right, I really want to get
back out there the following week. I think that that's
a real thing. I do think that, you know, when
you've kind of run into the recent weeks that the
Rams have, then you could use that. I mean the
Chargers too, same deal there where I mean, they looked
pretty good at times, but for the most part they
didn't even look close to being the best team on
the field on Saturday against the Texans.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Well, they're not healthy. That's the problem. They don't have it.

Speaker 5 (20:29):
They have a turnstyle of guys on the offensive line
of who's who. They're missing several defensive players, and Herbert's
been fine, but he hasn't been great outside that one
performance against the Dallas Cowboys. So yeah, I understand restling,
I understand resting stars in that situation. But for the
Texans standpoint, there's a reason why you're playing. If you
win this game in somehow some way, the Statasy Titans

(20:51):
pull off the upset of the AFC South this season,
then your host a playoff game against either Los Angeles
Buffalo or Jacksonville. But for teams that again, there's nothing
really to play for. The reason why we push back
with the Matthew Stafford one is because, like Stafford, right now,
people are saying that he just lost the MVP last
night first performance against the Atlanta Falcons. If that's the

(21:14):
lasting image that they have of you, then that's what
some people are gonna see.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Because if we live in a world where it's not
what have you done for me? You're missing a word,
what have you done for me lately?

Speaker 5 (21:25):
And if you have a guy like brock Perty or
you have a Drake May who is fighting for a
little bit more than who's fighting for the number one seed,
and they're playing in Week eighteen.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
Some people who have not been paying.

Speaker 5 (21:34):
Attention to the NFL all year long are gonna turn
on their television screen and see him drop for two
twenty two, three touchdowns, zero turnovers, and they're gonna say
that guy's the MVP. So it's like a different cataracts
depending on what you have. For Texans, it's simple, we
want to be division champions. For Matthew Stafford, it's simple,
I want to win the MVP for the Chargers, and

(21:56):
I would even go as far as say the Bills.
It's pretty simple, worldwhid car team, we have to go
play on the road the entire playoffs.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Let's rest our guys well.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
And this is also to a Texans team that is
five and three away from NRG Stadium this year. So
I mean, you've been able to find success on the road,
and I think that kind of feeds into what we're
gonna talk about next year, because we'll continue the Texans conversation.
You want to get in someone three two on two, five,
seven ninety I understand that you want one thing, but
really when it all comes down to it doesn't really matter.

(22:27):
We'll explain and discuss right here as it is the
morning Drive with Dan and Cole here on Tuesday, Sports
Talk seven ninety set up.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
You see two sports Talk seven ninety on any device
with a free AHAB radio app.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
See that shampoop.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
I I'm stit that Houston Sports in my ear hof.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
And we'll talk about that a little bit later on,
but we're talking Texans right now. You want in on
that someone three two on two five seven ninety against
someone three two one two five seven ninety. You know, Carl,
I was thinking about it last night. I mean the
division home playoff games. That's absolutely the ultimate goal for
the Texans. But sure, as I mentioned, I mean, you know,
going on the road. They're five and three this year,

(23:13):
and there losses a couple of them coming early on
in the season on the road, where of course you
lost in La to the Rams to open up the season,
you lost in Jacksonville and then the Monday Night which
you were never really competitive event. But I would love
to see that game played now between you and the Seahawks,
because I mean Seattle continues to get it done. Kind
of feel like that the Seahawks are almost the NFC

(23:35):
version of the Denver Broncos.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
So you want to go that far, yeah, I would
say Jacksonville in my opinion more so.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Okay, So you see you think they're that fraudulent. I
think that. I think that there's enough fraudulents there to believe.

Speaker 5 (23:47):
Much like Trevor Lawrence prove to me Sam Donald in
the playoff game, with your backs against the wall, gotta
have two minute drive, you can leave the charge.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
I feel like this is gonna be the ultimate playoffs
where experience is gonna win the day. Oh like where
the even being the sixth seed or whatever they might be,
they'll go on the road and they'll they'll handle somebody,
and they'll they'll beat somebody and another one too, which
I mean, unfortunately, it kind of washes out my argument
right here, because I mean, if I'm not mistaken, I
think the Rams would be going to Philly and taking

(24:15):
on the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
I mean I think the Eagles are another team that
you look at and say, don't want to face them
in the.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
Playoffskay, So let me ask you then, if that the
winner of that game, they get the they move on
to the divisional round gun to head right now, would
you expect them to move on to the championship round?

Speaker 4 (24:28):
It would be either of those two against whoever the
two seed is, assuming that they're likely take care of
Green Bay, Chicago or San Francisco. Oh, I would trust
the first two teams absolutely.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Philly over No. But what about San Francisco, Philly LA
or San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (24:46):
I mean, I mean it's also too interesting enough. And
somebody pointed this out. There's a chance that San Francisco
doesn't play a single road game, No, the rest of
this season, not a one.

Speaker 5 (24:57):
If they win on Saturday against and somebody else has
to lose.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
I'm trying to blak on who it is.

Speaker 5 (25:04):
But if they went on Saturday, number one, they get
the they get the NFC West, so automatically they get
a top two seed. If some I think it's Chicago,
lou Is it Chicago or is it uh South Philly?
Philly I think is locked in as the three seed.
Either way, if they win that, no, I'm wrong. They
just went on Saturday, they get the number one seed.

(25:25):
The winner head against Chicago, the winner of that game
gets the number one seed in the NFC, so like, imagine,
once again, you never had to leave your home.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
Well, and it's also too, I mean, San Francisco's got
a better record than the Bears already, so that would
be one. And then I guess you know you'd have
the head to head against the Seahawks too, So yeah,
I mean they would win the NFC West, which I
mean that's another feather in the cap for the Texans.
I mean, I understand that this is the San Francisco

(25:54):
team that was a little bit more banged up when
they came here, but still you handled the team pretty easily.
So I mean you want to talk about belief that
you can get it done in the playoffs. I mean,
that's case in point right there, where you know you
could have the Texans to everybody that's saying, well, the
NFC is so much better than the AFC, and they
could be like, Okay, fine, we beat your best team,
but are you.

Speaker 5 (26:13):
Not at least taking into some consideration Mac Jones played
in that game versus Rock Party.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
No, And that's that's exactly it. I mean, I think
it would be the same deal to what you just
brought up there. I think you could use the same
logic in that where it's all right, well, let's see
what you look like now against a team with Brock
Party and with George Kittle and with Christian McCaffrey. I mean,
we all know too.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Oh, don't forget about Ricky Piersow. He's been playing bolts
at recently.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
But I mean, I mean the point is though, in
that game, the reason why I think that it's a
little bit less of a concern, it's not even a
concern because I mean, the only way that you would
play them would be in the Super Bowl. And if
that's the case, I mean, the Texans had the game
plan that you needed to beat San Francisco. You stop
Christian McCaffrey, then you limit that offensive nificantly. Mac Jones,

(27:01):
you know, Brock Party, whoever it.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Is out there. Uh.

Speaker 5 (27:04):
I finished with sixty total yards of offense in that game.
Christ McCaffrey. By the way, the thing that we talked about,
I remember when we were doing the show that day,
what was the key stat that was so detrimental for CJ.
Stroud at over three eighteen I don't know, zero sacks,
one pressure. This is not a team that gets after
the quarterback. So you got to feel good if you

(27:26):
are the Texans to be able to put pressure on
Brock Party. You got to feel good if you are
the Texans offensive line with all the injuries that they
have right now. And remember they've gotten worse because at
that point they still had MIKEL Williams on the field,
so he's now out. They don't have a pass struss
to save their bleep in life. Like they are in
trouble if it comes up against you. But like, okay,
I brought this up a couple days ago, and you

(27:46):
weren't here. How many quarterbacks with how Brock Party has looked,
would you take over him in the NFL right now,
in the NFL as a whole, in the NFL as
a whole right now? Well, I mean, I know we
did the exercise yesterday with you know, Josh Allen.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
I mean he's one.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
I mean, as I said about Drake May, I don't
doubt where he could go. But again, it's one season
that he's had, Like I need to see a little
bit more, not taking Darnold. I mean, overall, this this
is gonna be hypocritical. It's what I just said about
Drake May. But I'm a big believer in Caleb Williams.

(28:22):
I think that Ben Johnson has unlocked something in him,
and I think that he is going to become a really,
really good quarterback in this league because of him having
Ben Johnson there.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
I would take eight quarterbacks in the NFL right now
over Brock Party.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
That would be it.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
I mean, and look, I mean it's it's what Brock
parties them has been about him. I mean, it's kind
of a little bit of he is one of those
guys that it's not about him, it's about George Kittle,
it's about Christian McCaffrey, it's about he's got Kyle Shanahan
as his offensive play caller. I mean, I think that
there's a lot of different layers you have to get
to you before the credit goes to Brock Purdy.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
But the problem is that at some point we can't
just continue.

Speaker 5 (28:59):
To say the credit's got to go to this person
and this person and this person when you're the one
on the field executing. I mean, Dan he had five
touchdowns against the number three pass defense in the NFL,
and he gave and he had one bad turnover against
the number one team in takeaways and he now has
his team a game away from never leaving Santa.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Clara in the playoffs. I mean, I get it.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
I understand the notion of yeah, he's in this prease
of product of the system.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, he's got a lot of help around him.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
He's been able to be benefiting from a good overall personnel.
But nobody would be talking about him in this way
if he wasn't a seventh round pick. They'd be talking
about him like he is a front runner for the MVP.
He is the best quarterback to come through since probably
Steve Young. And he is a guy that you believe
is going to be a reason your team is able

(29:49):
to hoist a B. Lombardi Trophy one day. And the
problem is is that we're so set in our ways
that we have to believe he is a seventh round pick.
Is simply just a a narrative that is derived from
the Kyle Shanahan experience. Like this, to me feels like,
remember when we were doing the Belichick and the and
the Tom Brady thing.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
What came first, Shagar to the egg? Who's more important?
Brandy Belichick? We found out who was?

Speaker 5 (30:14):
I think that we would find out that party is
just as important as Kyle Shanahan to this offense. The
forty nineers have lost one game with him this year,
and in that game, I might add in, he had
three touchdowns, two interceptions, a complete percent of a season
low fifty seven point nine, and he's still threw for
three bills.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
It's just again, you know, getting it back to the
Texans in the AFC side. I mean, it's not exactly
any sort of path towards advancing the playoffs that necessarily
scares me. I mean, okay, you got to go on
the road in the wildcard round. Does Baltimore or Pittsburgh
scare you? No, Baltimore a little bit.

Speaker 5 (30:52):
Sorry if you allow if you allowed Derek Henry to
do what he did on Saturday night, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
It's scary.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
But I mean this is also two a Sexans team
that's shown you that you can on the run, it
will stop the run.

Speaker 5 (31:01):
Yeah, And this also was a Texans team that bottled
up Dereck Henry in Week five when they probably needed
to use Derek. Like Kouba Rush was the starting quarterback,
you should have been force feeding twenty two all day.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
Well, I mean I think that the difference in that
and kind of what the Texans have shown you is
you get out to an early lead, then it's absolutely
advantage defense at that point. And that was the key
in that one, and that would be I think kind
of the key for them going forward. But then, okay, fine,
you get past that game. Are you really scared of Denver? No,
because that's the Texans team that I think goes into

(31:31):
that game and says, yeah, hey, we're at your place,
but we owe you one. I mean, we absolutely should
have been able to beat you that day. We had
you beat and then our quarterback went out with a concussion.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
Well, I think the more important part is we had
another gain of twenty six yards soundfield by a mobile
quarterback that was able to keep the drive alive for
a touchdown I mean, for scoringp.

Speaker 4 (31:49):
I just think that obviously playing at home would be nice.
Absolutely every single one of us, me and you and
Tripoli included, want to see the Texans play at home.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
But hold up, no, no, not me. I do not
want to see them play at home. And I have
a reason for it. There's a value, there's a valid
reason for it.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Interesting, well, it seems like we got to hold onto
that there is a valid reason why do not want
to see the Texans play at home in the first
round or the entire playoffs? If possible, there is.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
That's coming up right here Morning Drive Dan and Cole
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
They are Morning Drive. Here's Dan Matthews and Cole Thompson.
Would not like to see the Texans play at in
RG Stadium in the playoffs?

Speaker 3 (32:31):
Explain for the audience. Guys, share with the class.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
Okay, pipe down, ladies and gentlemen. Everyone just everyone, just
beat chill. I've seen this story play out before. I'm
backing away, seen the way the Texans have played before.
When they go start off a game at home. Happens
every single time in the Damica Ryans era, in the
Gary Kubiak.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Era, the Bill O'Brien era, they play the wall card
around at home. Yay, yay, we win a game. We
did it.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
We got the victory over the brown even though Browns
had never been in the planets to begin with.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yay, we beat up on the Chargers, Yay, we did
all that.

Speaker 5 (33:06):
Yay we beat up on a bad Chiefs team or
a Bengals seam or all these other teams.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
I've seen the story. And then what happens with the
next chapter. You turn the.

Speaker 5 (33:13):
Page and Oh, we get to go face off against
the number one seat on the road. Oh we get
to go face off against the number one seat on
the road. Oh we get to go face off against
the number one seat on the road. Because we're always
in the number four spot. We're always in the number four,
so that means we're always gonna go play against.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Top seed n We're three thirty on that Saturday loss
loss loss, loss, loss loss. Every single time, it's a loss.
So why not flip the script. Texans playing on the
road in the first game, Well, now they already have
Number one, the experience of playing in an environment on
where they will be viewed as the underdogs because they'll

(33:52):
be playing in the public enemy territory. Number two, it
allows you to test potential surroundings.

Speaker 5 (33:59):
Let's say the Texans are the number five seed. Well,
if they go, then they win, and they and they
would be the five seed. They'd be fans to faced
off against the number four seed. That means you're either
going to Baltimore or that means that you're going to Pittsburgh.
That is harsh weather conditions before you have to go
face off against either a number one seed or a
number two seed, which is Denver or New England. That's
gonna be in frigid temperatures below negative decrease, So you're

(34:22):
gonna get your body tested and mentally prepared for the
next round. And the third thing is we haven't seen
this before, the Texans having to be a road warrior
the entire pathway throughout the playoffs. So if you switch
the if you flip the script from what we've been
so accustomed to seeing them hosting a playoff game, them

(34:42):
being the early kick on Saturday, them beating up on
a wild card team, maybe things will be different this
year because if so far, the only thing I've seen
for the Texans in this era of football is they'll
go to the playoffs, they'll win the division, and then
they'll lose the divisional round to the number one seed.
I would very much not like to see that happen.

(35:03):
I would like to see a script change. I feel
better about you playing on the road against several of
these teams, especially getting kind of a tune up game
against Baltimore or Pittsburgh before you got to go face
off against New England and Denver.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
I mean it's kind of a break a few eggs
approach here a little bit. But I think that also too.
I mean, I've said it before, this is a fan
base that is used to division titles. They're used to
Wildcard weekend, They're used to winning and moving on all
of those things. I think you kind of get to
a point here where I had a really good buddy
of mine who played baseball for Wayne Graham at Rice,

(35:36):
and he was part of those teams that almost every
single year went to Omaha, and I remembered they had
beat somebody in the Super Regional at home over there
at Wreckling Park, and it looked like they just won
a regular season game. Handshakes, high fives, all of that,
and I go, dude, you guys just.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Went to Omaha.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
He looked at me and with a straight face, goes,
that's not the goal, man. Like I think the Texans
are kind of to that point where it's, hey, winning
a playoff game. It's nice, you can have the high fives,
you can maybe you know, be a little bit more
excited about it, but I think for the most part,
you would have the same reaction from them that whoever,
if indeed they did win the division and get there

(36:12):
and play against the Chargers or play against whoever in
the wildcard round. It would be that's not the goal.
The goal is now for us to well, we'll see
if somebody can handle New England and then if that's
the case, we get this game back here this following week,
something you've never had. Okay, fine, but I think that
that's the difference for the Texans here is it's not

(36:33):
about where they play or when they play. It's about
winning that wildcard round, getting to the next round and
getting somewhere They've never been sure.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
But let me push back and say, what have we
known about the Texans so far?

Speaker 3 (36:45):
What do they do?

Speaker 5 (36:45):
Dan they play at home in the wildcard in the
wildcard round? They always play at home in the wildcard round?

Speaker 3 (36:50):
I think, yeah, every single time.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Because this is this is potentially the first time that
they've ever made the playoffs where they haven't won the
AFC South.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
What would be the difference between that? And again, that's
the difference that is different. So what has been the
next narrative? You lose the divisional round, So why not
change the narrative? Why not play on the road the
entire time? Because if you're on the road. It's an
environment you've never been in before. We know what's going
to happen with the Texans when they host a wildcard game.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
We know what's gonna be the narrative. No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
We do they win, They win the wildcard game, they
lose the divisional round. We've never seen them have to
go on the road in the wildcard game. To me,
that's more exciting because of its uncharted territories in the
history of Texans football, and I'm tired of seeing the
same story pan on out. This city deserves a better
class of team, This city deserves a better.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Class of potential.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
This city has earned the right to say that they
belong in the playoff conversation, and they're not gonna do
that if they constantly are stuck doing the same narrative
over and over and over again.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
So change the bleep and narrative.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
I'm willing to give them the benefit of the day
out though, because I mean, as Demiko Ryan said yesterday
talking about the first two playoff teams in this one
really not comparable, and I think he kind of followed
up on that a little bit yesterday. For one really
huge reason with this Texans team. We'll share that with
you as we're getting at a seven o'clock hour. As it
is it's Tuesday here on the Morning Drive. You got Dan,
you got Cole, you got Triple Emmanuel Elmore hanging out

(38:20):
with you right here.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Sports Talk seven ninety ab E Houston ATVs E HD
to Houston, home of the Astro.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
And the Rockets.

Speaker 7 (38:30):
This is Sports Talk seven ninety, your home for your
home teams, an iHeartRadio station, guaranteed human.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
This is the Morning Drive with Dad and Cole.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
You also get the Texans off from the practice field today.
They're gonna get back to work tomorrow to get ready
for the Colts on Sunday to close out the regular
season in RG Stadium, and Houston quarterback Connor Wegman, wide
receiver and Marii Thomas and defensive end at Khalil Lafoul
are all coming back for the twenty twenty six season.
A source telling at Jonathan or Joseph to'rte with the

(39:12):
Houston Chronicles. So coming off a ten win campaign, nice
win over LSU in the bowl game, and U of
H gets their guys back. Before we get even more
into the Texans conversation. I feel like this needs to
be brought up because it wasn't a Twitter spat. But
be warned when it comes to two things with Brian McTaggart.

(39:34):
Number one of coming to them with complaints about the Yeah,
oh my.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
God, it was nothing. It's really it really wasn't. Because
here's the thing though, too.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
And I know that some people are going to say, well, Dan,
you're purple and golden clad, so of course you're gonna
agree with Gordy, but his point was valid. That absolutely
that came meant more to you of H than it
did to LSU. You had guys playing in that game
for LSU that most of them will not be there
next year. You also had guys that weren't playing in
that game that the same deal. There either going to
be transferring out, or they're moving on to the NFL Draft,

(40:08):
or just they're out of eligibility, any of those things.
If LSU had won that game, okay, you're eight and five, congratulations,
But for you of H, it's a program builder. So yes, absolutely,
I agree with Gordy that game didn't mean a lot
more to you of H than it did LSU.

Speaker 5 (40:22):
That doesn't mean that you shouldn't just not show up,
and that's the norm of college football.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
When to say LS, you did and they did.

Speaker 5 (40:29):
And that's the problem is that I lost money on
the game because I took I took Florida, I mean,
I took you of H to cover, and I also
took them to win outright, So I won some money,
but I lost the points differential in that matchup, and
it was embarrassing because of LSU junder to a fourteen
nothing lead before you ever saw the offense really get
momentum for Houston that game.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
So look, it was a great win for you of H.
And it's also too I mean, I think it's kind
of a reminder you're not there yet, Like that's fine, Okay,
you're not there yet.

Speaker 5 (40:57):
Yeah, But also, dude, it's the SEC and people just
love the crap on the SEC whenever they get an
opportunity to.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
I was waiting for that too.

Speaker 5 (41:04):
Most up their chests and say, well, it just means
more accept for bole season where you're.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Owing to at least in the section that I was in.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
I didn't hear what usually happens whenever another Conferences team
beats an SEC team.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
H they start training SEC SEC.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
Right, I didn't hear any of that, So good on you,
U of h fans for not taking the dumb cheese.

Speaker 5 (41:24):
By the dumb cheest other that they're taking the dumb cheese,
it's that they should have easily won this game, and
so I think that they're pissed off that the fact
that this came down to an on side kick to
determine if if LS she was gonna get one last shot.
And remember in that game, Damian Ramos misses a field goal,
so if he makes that field goal, it's thirty eight
to thirty eight going into the final fifteen seconds of action.

(41:46):
That like, and again, I think it also does show
you whether or not you want to admit it because
I'm unbiased here. I have not tize either either program.
I like both schools for a lot of reasons. But
it shows you that the Texas I mean that the
Houston Cougars, a fourth place team in the Big twelve,
had to go down to the wire with a shell

(42:07):
of itself tenth place SEC team.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
What this reminds me of is I remembered years ago
being around Dabos Sweeney, and funny enough, it was against LSU,
so maybe LSU is just one of those programs that
does this for other programs. But they were about to
play each other in the Peach Bowl and somebody asked
him about being a great program, and he stopped the
guy and he goes, We're not a great program, not yet.
I mean, they are a great program. They've won national titles,
they've done all of that. We can get towards being

(42:32):
a great program by winning a game like this. I
feel like it's the same thing for you, of H.
That's all the momentum now you have heading into twenty
twenty six. This is a schedule that sets up well
for you. Where on paper, and again I understand that's
not where games are played, but this looks like it
can be a special season for you of H. Where
eleven to one, twelve and OHO could be a real

(42:52):
distinct possibility for them.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
Well, it's the Big.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
Twelve, and so any single time that we talk about
the Big twelve, you have to take it with the
grain of salt, because of who you think is going
to be really good ends up being crap. Who you
know don't believe it ends up going on a run.
I mean, like that's just the norm of the conference.
And that's been the beauty of what this conference.

Speaker 4 (43:08):
I understand that roster retention does not mean what it
used to us now, but look at what, for example,
Ohio State had this season for a lot of the
guys that came back from last year's team. Georgia has
been one of those programs that's been able to hold
on to guys and been able to keep some roster
continuity and use the transfer portal but not rely on it.

(43:29):
I think that there is value in that, and there
have been examples of teams that have been able to
show you how to do that.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
Yes, but at the same time you just said that
they didn't need to rely heavily on the transfer portal.
Why is that though, Because they recruit incredibly well and
they develop. Where do they rank of their recruitings every
single year the top of the recruiting first, fourth, third, seventh,
that worse, Like, that's where you're at.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
And so the roster retention.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
The reason you can let a guy go that's a
four star that isn't on the field is because of
you got a transfer that's coming on in or a
five star that may be better than him and also
cheaper than him to be able to make it work
at a program like Houston. This is where it's great
to have your foot in the ground of the recruiting
hotbed and being able to flip some kids that look
at say a TCU, or say say a Baylor, or

(44:15):
say a West Virginia or Oklahoma State or even go
as far as Arkansas in the SEC. You're able to
now say come play here because of what we are
building is not only sustainable. You get to be a
part of the legacy that says we were that team
that went to the college Football Playoff. But at the
same time, this is a program that needs the transfer portal.

(44:37):
This is a program that has to target a lot
of names in the portal because if you don't do that,
there eventually will become a roster attention process of dude,
they're just better than you in every single way. Like
the reason why you believe in Texas Tech potentially winning
on Thursday morning not because of its Texas Tech and
not because of there have been an elite program with
historic backgroundings and overall great rapport recruiting.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Now it's because they got a booster spending.

Speaker 5 (45:02):
Thirty five million dollars to buy every single player that
fits the system to come on in and cohesively merge
together with a already foreign team that feels like, hey,
if we had this, this, this, this, and this, we're
gonna be a team that can make a run of
the Big twelve championship. Now they feel like a team
that can go to the national Championship, and that's what
Houston needs. It's a good foundation in place. Cottor Wigman's back,

(45:24):
Mari Thomas is back. I think they're going to kill
it in the portal at wide receiver, at adding in
another running back, at getting somebody to play tight end.
I think it'll be great in that spot. But you
need to be elite in those areas because of in
the Big twelve, there's no margin for error and be
able to go toe to toe with the Alabamas of
the world, the Ohio States of the world, the Michigan's,
the USC's, all those teams. You have to be able

(45:46):
to have money to spend when it comes to transfit portal.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Let's get back into the Texans here.

Speaker 4 (45:50):
If you want to get in someone three two and
two five seven ninety so. Talking about the other two
playoff teams, and again we had the Demiico Ryans this
day where he was like, you can't compare every seas
on its own, and I mean, this is a Texans
team that is different from the other two because we
by've virtue of you've already won one more game than
those other two and also two more than likely you're

(46:10):
going in.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
As a wild card team.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
But the other part of it too, of why it's
different is we've had good defenses the last couple of years.
It hasn't been the level of what this defense is
this season, and I think that that is a massive
reason to believe that this team has a chance to
be able to do something special once you get into
the playoffs. And Tamika Ryans talked about that defense yesterday
comparing to some of the greats that have come before.

Speaker 6 (46:34):
Once our offense gives us seven points, like you should
be a mentality that that's enough for us to go
win the football game and.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
We still have things.

Speaker 6 (46:43):
I feel like we can clean up and play even
better to not have some of the miscues, to allow
some of the touchdowns to happen.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
And you know, we continue to play with that edge
and play.

Speaker 6 (46:52):
With the mindset you have an edge, you have all
those great defenses that you mentioned, right, there was an edge,
it was a it was a mindset with all those
defenses physicality. Right, there is a pride level to those
defenses that you know you weren't going to get a
yard on us, and that's the mentality that you have

(47:12):
to have to play a great defense.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
Here is why, again, the pressure is not on the
offense in games, because it's pretty simple. You get the
ball early, you go downfield, you put together a good drive,
you score, You've already given yourself every single opportunity to
win that game. It almost kind of feels like Cole
If you score an opening drive touchdown and you get
out to an early lead, that's just as good as

(47:36):
scoring two of them.

Speaker 5 (47:37):
Yeah, at that point, I think that when you looked
at the match up against Los Angeles where they got
up fourteen to nothing, probably to the Chargers, it felt
like it was twenty to nothing or twenty one to nothing.
They were already playing down three scores because the Texans
defense is such a good job of forcing you into
rushing up your process, forcing you into making mental mistakes,
forcing you to have to call an audible at the

(47:58):
line of scrimmage, and not allowing many yards after contact.
So you have got to be pinpoint on demand, and
you can't afford to be able to go take a
playoff because the Texans are going to be able to
put you in an even longer situation where now it
is got to have moment on third and sixteen and
it actually feels like third and thirty three, like that's

(48:18):
what the Texans defense does. So you are right, this
is a team that they get seven points, it feels
like they're getting ten.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
And I mean, and that's why you know again you
get back to the wildcard. I mean the magic numbers
for the Texans. You said it yesterday. That's a little
bit more than twenty to twenty four points. You said
twenty six. They get to twenty six, they're definitely not losing.
But I mean they've already shown you this season that
they're probably not losing. Once you get to that wildcard

(48:47):
number of twenty or twenty four points, I.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
Still think that you need to get to see twenty
four feels fine. I still think twenty six is the
magic number at this point, and not because of you
can't move with twenty. But we're at the point of
the season where this defense is missing some elements. They're
banged up, they don't have all the starters out there.
They can only do so much on replacing talent on
the names that are available currently on the open market.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
They're gonna have a mulligan or two.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
So you gotta give yourself just that leniency of maybe
instead of giving up seventeen, it's gonna end up being
twenty three. Maybe instead of giving up the usual fourteen,
you're gonna give a twenty one that day. So I
feel like that you're gonna need to get to that
twenty six market. If feel pretty confident about yourself moving
into the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
Well it would be even more reason to feel confident
about their chances in the playoffs if you had these
two guys back.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
But if you're waiting, well, unfortunately gonna have to keep waiting.
We'll explain as we continue.

Speaker 4 (49:42):
Here on the Morning Drive with Dan and Cole right
here on a Tuesday of Sports Talks seven to ninety.
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Speaker 7 (51:38):
Back to the Morning Drive. Here's Dan Matthews and Cole Thompson.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
So Cole.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
On Sunday, there was at least a little bit of optimism.
I think most people probably knew that it wasn't going
to lead anywhere. But you had Tank Dell on Twitter
putting out a or actually it was on Instagram. Uh
and in the story where it looked like okay, like
is he going to start practicing? Is he going to
start getting ready for the season, because I can't remember

(52:08):
exactly what the caption was. I was trying to find
exactly what he said, but it kind of like led
people to think, like, oh, soon is the return of
Tank Dell Well Aaron Wilson yesterday on Twitter. Tank is
making outstanding progress, working extremely hard and preparing for next
season for the Texans per League sources, which was always
the medical.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Plan for his knee injury. No change there.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
Then he even follows because Joe Mixon was another guy
that I think people have been keeping an eye on
and wondering, hey, you know, could you start practicing, could
he start doing all those different types of things. Joe
Mixon is not returning the season for the Texans per
League sources. So both of those guys, I think that
most fans knew that we weren't going to be seeing
either of those guys that twenty twenty six, and you

(52:52):
believe that this is the end of the line for
Joe Mixon here, which will be interesting because I there's
part of me that wonders if the Texans want to
run it back and see what this offense looks like
with both of those guys out there.

Speaker 5 (53:02):
Sure, I mean, waters, what the sky is blue? We're
doing a radio show Tripley his team lost to my
team in the college football playoff.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
I mean, these are all just facts that felt unnecessary.

Speaker 4 (53:14):
I'm not gonna lie that that last part, that last
part right there felt unnecessary.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
These were all just facts that we all know.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Dan Like there was just that I'm just saying is
that everybody knew that they were going to not see
Tank Dell and Joe Mixon in the playoffs this year. Like,
I understand that people want to go ahead and think,
what could this team be? What could this team accomplish
If you're able to get back Tank, if you're able
to get back Joe.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
Joe is not practiced in over nine months.

Speaker 5 (53:43):
Tank Dell's injury status was gonna take fourteen months to recover.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
Like, we're only on month thirteen right now.

Speaker 5 (53:50):
So even if he was to come back, the earliest
that he could probably get to full speed practice would
be against the would be against whoever's in the Super Like.
That's the earliest that you can expect bad to get
Tank Tll. So you went into the season knowing that
you had to get better at wide receiver. That's why
you made it trade for Christian Kirk. That's why you
went and you used two of your top three picks

(54:11):
on wide receivers in the draft. That's why you went
out and you brought in Justin Watson. That's why you
decided to be so antithesized on going after big time
pass catchers like you did those things, because if you
knew that he wasn't gonna be made available. The Joe
Mixon one was it was always feeling like a setback,
something that was keeping him away from the field because
we never got any information. And thankfully, like after a

(54:32):
while we stopped getting Joe mixing questions because of everybody
knew what the answer was. They're not gonna tell us anything.
They're not going to bring it on up. They're not
going to say anything that is supposed to be is
that is gonna be any different than what we've heard
from Jane, I mean from April, or from June or
from August. So like you get to a point of
the season where you know who is your team, find

(54:55):
a way to wine with thoughts.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
Out there, and I mean, and that's what I think
everybody has believed from the beginning, that you're going with
the guys that you've got, and that's exactly what the
Texans have. And the good news is though, I mean,
you know, last year when Tank Dell got hurts, it
was you weren't in as good a position at the
receiver spot as you are now now. I mean, you

(55:17):
at least have different options to go with. I mean
the rookies alone that you've been able to add since
the draft last year and over the last offseason to
be able to bring in Jaden Higgins, Jalen Knowle, both
of those guys able to help you out. And with
Dell I'm looking at it right now. It was actually
it was on Twitter. I thought it was an instant story,

(55:37):
but it was just a picture of him with his
back to the camera walking out onto the field through
a tunnel. So of course people then took that to believe, oh,
he's close.

Speaker 5 (55:46):
Well, I mean, I think he is close to being
able to get back on the field for full time reps.
He's back on the field to be able to start
working out. So I go in mini camp is when
we'll see Tank got I mean, I would say probably
for voluntary workouts in the season, the first name in
the building every single day will be Tank Dell because
he's got to get caught back up to speed and
acclimated to what is the offense personnel, Like he's sensing

(56:08):
that we're getting toward the end. We're back at practice,
we're back going through drills, we're back going through routes,
we're learning the new styles, what Nick Kayley wants.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
We're building a rapport with CJ. Stroud. That's what I
think is going to be the case.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
I think that's a good thing because of now you
know that he is going to be able to at
least give it one more go before he hits free agency.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Well it's not only that, but it's also too.

Speaker 4 (56:28):
I mean, I think that it's going to be very
much a prove it for Tank Dell because I mean,
you're going to at this point with missing all of
this season and missing parts of last season at the
end of the year, and then missing a good amount
of his first season after he had the foot injury
in the Broncos game, that it's almost where he hasn't

(56:50):
even been able to play one full solid season since
being here.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
It's not almost, it is season.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
So I mean what those other games missed, it's pretty
much like he's missed two years during that time.

Speaker 5 (57:02):
Yeah, I mean, but on top of that, I think
the major point is is that you just want to
be able to prove that you can stay healthy for
a full season for the longevity of your career. Like
it's not even the fact of, hey, now we got
to be a one thousand yard playmaker. Now we got
to be a guy who is going to be able
to take the tops off of defenses and build a
great report with Stroud, Like now, it's just can I
get through a seventeen game stretch where I know that

(57:24):
I'm going to get a new contract. Because the thing
that we look at is I believe Tank Dell is
going to get the Brevin Jordan treatment where the Texans
will give him a contract on a one year deal
for let's say, like six million dollars, and then they'll
bring him back and they'll use that as like a
red shirt for this season to make up for lost time.
And I think they're gonna do that because of they
want to see Kenny stay healthy. If you are, if

(57:47):
you are Tanke Dell, your entire prognosis is just get
through seventeen. Don't worry about the stat line, don't worry
about what the numbers say, don't worry about what the
production is. Just get through seventeen. If I'm able to
get through that season, I feel pretty confident that I'm
going to be able to make my career continue to
last longer.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Well.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
I mean, and that's something that you would hope for
with him, but it's also too. I mean, I think
that the other question with him becomes, I mean, you know,
not only is he the same player, but are you
able to get over that mental hurdle? And I mean,
you know, a huge part of his game is his shiftiness,
is him being able to make plays out in space.
And you know it's also too. I mean, you know,
that's all fine and good, but this is a league

(58:26):
where you can't do that at the same regularity that
you did it in college. I think that's something else
that he's gonna have to try to pro well.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
The problem is that he weighs a buck fifty eight,
like he's under one hundred and seventy pounds.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
But there's small guys that have been able to stay
healthy in this game.

Speaker 5 (58:39):
But are they able to stay healthy through a seventeen
game stretch. No, that's the problem. They're going to miss
some time. The problem when it comes to Tank dell Is,
both of his injuries were season enders and they took
months of recovery. Now, one was a freaking accident like
the touchdown reception in Kansas City. That is a one
in a billion shot you can see on the NFL
field where you tear your ACL, your MCL, your LCL,

(59:00):
disliocated kneecap, you're not gonna see that.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
Broken foot's a different thing.

Speaker 5 (59:04):
But still it's back to back years of your season
has come to a close because of your size, was
not even to go up against bigger size.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
Yep, two times where it seemed like it was an unfortunate,
wrong place, wrong time for Tank Dell and unfortunately not
going to have him for this season. The same deal
with Joe Mixon two as well. So we'll see what
twenty twenty six has in store for either of those guys.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
In a Texans uniform.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
All right, So a lot of people are upset with
this guy, but his reasoning is pretty sound in terms
of why he went about doing business this way. We'll
have that for you here as we get in even
further to the seven o'clock hour. Here it is the
morning Drive with Danny Coles Sports Talk seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Touchdown Texas coach sark Here.

Speaker 9 (59:49):
Stay connected to the Longhorns on the free iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
Just search Sports Talk seven to ninety Booker.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Of course, you know you have eight conference mates with
them in the Big Twelve, and we'll see them at
some time this season. But they made news by signing
former NBA draft pick James Nagi. Now the huge part
of all of this too is that you know, I
think is being under reported in this never played in

(01:00:19):
an NBA game, right, But it's the whole thing. If
he was drafted, he went pro, he should be you know,
he should be disregarded in terms of not being able
to come back and you know, be able to take
advantage of what was at one time amateurism, which now
in name, image and likeness, everything.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
Else that's gone out the window. That's done.

Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
That's why you're seeing, you know, situations like this and
G League guys that are able to go back into
the system where they were either part of the system
or never took advantage of it and then went and
played in the G League and had made it to
the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
All of that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:55):
Well, since then, you've had Tom Izzo. Shame on the NCAA.
I know last night that John kel Party went nuts
about it, all of that, But in between all of that,
yet Scott Drew, Baylor's coach, talking about it yesterday, and
I got to say that his reasoning for this is
pretty sound.

Speaker 9 (01:01:11):
Until we get to collective bargaining, I don't think we
can come up with rules that are greoble and forceable.
And until that, I think all of us are got
to be ready to adjust and adapt to what's out there.
Early on, when it first came out with G League players,
I wasn't in favor of that either, But again, we

(01:01:32):
don't make the rules, and as we find out about things,
we're always going to adapt to put our program in
the best position to be successful, because that's what we
get paid to do.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
I always say, Cole, don't complain about the rules. Make
the rules work for you. That's exactly what Scott Drew
was doing right there where he's saying, Hey, look, we
don't have hard fast rules. And even if we had
hard fast rules, NCAA has shown that they're willing to
get into that fight with programs, so there's nobody that's
really enforcing these things.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
Why are we the bad guys here? You're not the
bad guys.

Speaker 5 (01:02:08):
If there is one caveat where do he plays college basketball?

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
He didn't, he went. That's the point.

Speaker 5 (01:02:15):
If you're somebody that played a year like let's say
you went to Marquette and you would up getting drafted
forty fifth overall, you were first, I mean, you were
one and done in college, you average a double double
per night.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
You never made it after the G League. You're done.

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
If you decide to give up your NCAA eligibility to
go pro when you still have multiple years left on
your deal, to potentially get an education, to go get
nil deals, to in this new day and age, work
with the work with other people behind closed doors, to
stick with your program. But you want to chase the NBA, Okay,
so be it. But then you're not allow back in.

(01:02:51):
If you're somebody who right now has never played a
single day of college basketball, and you went just through
the G League and I think they've been taking not
just from Nigeria, and he played in I think the
Spain League or something like that and then went to
the G.

Speaker 3 (01:03:04):
League, what's the difference here.

Speaker 5 (01:03:07):
I mean, I understand that there are rules and regulations
that go through it, but he's never used his academic eligibility.
Like part of me is kind of sitting here, like, listen, Lebron,
you're killing it in the NBA in the past, that's great,
but you still have your NCAA eligibility. Like does anybody
not want to see a forty two year old Lebron
James playing with his.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
Other kid that say USC? Well, and that is something
that people have thrown out.

Speaker 4 (01:03:30):
I mean it was more or less a joke, but
they were like, all right, so is Lebron's like retirement
where he says, fine, you know what I want to
finally realize what I didn't get a chance to do,
and that's go play at Duke or UNC or somewhere
like that and be able to play college basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
It's not gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (01:03:46):
We just saw Philip Rivers come out of retirement and
sling the football around for the last three weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Why can't we get Lebron to go play in Durham?

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
Well, I mean, havn't people talked about how college basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
Has been dying for years? So you know, be able to.

Speaker 4 (01:04:00):
Get some infusion of names involved in it again and
maybe you'll get people watching it a lot more before
the tournament.

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
The problem is that you brought this up.

Speaker 5 (01:04:07):
The NCUBLEA does not have rules and regulations set in place,
and the reason why is because the NCAA is a
coalition that is run by not just morons, but by
people who right now can't be in charge of one
specific sport.

Speaker 4 (01:04:20):
Well, I think what you eat, what you see overall
is that you've got I mean pretty much. The approach
to the NCUBLEA is that's great, you're gonna hear from
our lawyers. And every single time that they've gone to
the courts and tried to say amateurism, the courts have
looked at them and said, yeah, that's cute, that's really
funny that you think that you can continue this ruse. No,
not only do you not lose, you can now get

(01:04:41):
out of my court.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
Run.

Speaker 5 (01:04:42):
But the problem is is that right now you have
what's going on in college football where guys are applying
for their seventh or eighth year of eligibility because of
they had the COVID season and then an injury report
and then they only played in four games and because
of they didn't meet the threshold they can go ahead
and make the phone call out to the lawyers and
say bring me back for another Like Diego Pove is
playing on a seventh season, but he only played three

(01:05:04):
years of FBS football.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
So that's how you utilize it against you. So when
it comes to.

Speaker 5 (01:05:08):
These rules, and from an NCAA standpoint, people who have
been in college for five or six years, they're applying
to stick around for another season. That way they can
get a couple more bucks in their pocket before they
have to go.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
To the pro level.

Speaker 5 (01:05:21):
What makes you think of the NCAA in basketball, where
there are more schools, where there are more teams, there
are more conferences that all play in their own different
rule books, they're going to be able to solve this problem.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
Well, I think that also to what you're going to
see is it's going to translate to other sports. I
mean you're going to see guys that thought that they
were going to get drafted on day one, day two,
and they fall to day three and they're like, yeah,
you know what, I'm not about being a fifth round pick,
six to seventh round pick, because I mean you get
in the seventh you know, the later rounds, it's not
even a chance that you're going to make the team,

(01:05:53):
then what happens you can play in the UFL. I mean,
that's that's where I think you're going to see guys
that with that are go undrafted are going to say
I'm going back way.

Speaker 5 (01:06:01):
So you're saying guys who were Day three picks are
in college football now going to go enter a transfer
portal period where they go I don't believe that because
the problem is that you have a date and you
have a deadline to be able to go pro. That's
a decision that you have to make if you're an
undrafted free agent.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
It is what it is. You decide to give your
eligibility my entire ruling, and then I think we.

Speaker 5 (01:06:22):
Can all agree on this one seven, one, two, five,
seven nine.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
If you want to chime on.

Speaker 5 (01:06:26):
In, if you played one down of college football, college baseball,
college basketball, you were AUTI roster for a game, that
is your eligibility when you take away your eligibility rights.
Because if you want to go pro because you think
that you're ready for the next round, and the cold
does of reality wakes you one up and say hey,
point zero zero zero zero zero one percent of players

(01:06:48):
even make it to the NFL, and you're not in
that category. That was on you, That was on you.
This is a different situation because this is a guy
who never played a single down of college basketball. He
went for Nigeria, to Spain.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
To the G League.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
I just think that Scott Drew looks at it the
way that he should look at it. And you heard
what he said at the end, We're here to win
basketball games. I think that he says, Okay, fine, Well,
you know, maybe I'm not the most in favor of this,
but I'm also not in favor of losing basketball games.
And if this guy causes me to lose basketball games
and I could have got him, then why am I

(01:07:24):
even here. I'm not doing my job if I'm not
doing everything possible to be able to make sure that
we're winning and I'm able to stay here.

Speaker 5 (01:07:31):
I don't think that's a problem though, Like I've actually
in agreeance with Scotrow on this one because of you
want to do it's best for your team and at
the end of the day, and we've talked about this
when it comes to like conference commissioners, what about the
Big twelve and what about the ACC and the Mighty CC,
you take it on over. Greg Saki does not care
about what Brett your Mark is saying, or what Jim
Phillips is saying, or even what Tony Patiti is saying.

(01:07:52):
He's caring about his conference because he wants his conference
to bring home national titles.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
Scott Schrew's doing the exact same thing.

Speaker 5 (01:07:59):
He's saying, my is good enough to compete for a
Big twelve title alongside Houston, alongside Arizona, alongside.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
All these other teams. We believe that we are.

Speaker 5 (01:08:08):
Good enough to win a national title. I want to
guarantee I bring a title home to Waco. There's nothing
in the rule but that says they can't do this.
Screw it, I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:16):
Today's look at the Shield includes rest TBD in someone's
saying I'll be back. All three of those things coming
up right here as it is the Morning Drive with
Danny Coles Sports Talk seven ninety. But first I gotta
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(01:08:37):
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(01:09:55):
tell them Dan Matthews from Sports Talk seven nineties.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
Since you end.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Page down, the morning Drive continues.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Now here's Dann and Cole.

Speaker 4 (01:10:08):
It's time for us now to look at the shield,
all right. So we talked about this a little bit
earlier in regards to the Texans, where you heard what
Tamiko Ryans said rest.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
There's no rest. We're not doing that. We're playing the game,
playing to win the game.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
We're doing all of those things because while the division
is still in play, it's not the case for the
LA Chargers. You made sure that didn't happen by beating
them on Saturday, and they're locked into the wildcard round.
So Jim Harbaugh making it very clear yesterday, justin Herbert
dealing with that left hand injury, you ain't playing in
this finale against the Denver Broncos because there's nothing to gain.

(01:10:52):
Everything to lose in that regard for them. So Trey
Lance is going to get the start for LA against
Denver in the regular season finale.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
I don't have a problem with that.

Speaker 5 (01:11:01):
You're a team that right now was dealing with multiple
issues on the offensive line. You're running back missed a
couple of weeks because if he was dealing with the
lower body injury. Your wide receivers are probably banged up
at this point the season. You have some depth issues
when it comes to your defensive line, You got some
question marks when it comes to your cornerback play. And
what's gonna be the difference either you're playing on the
road against the Jaguarars, the Patriots, or the Broncos. That's

(01:11:26):
not gonna change just because if you end up winning
this game. Because remember Houston has a head to head
over you. So let's say you and Houston both lose, Okay,
well you're still gonna be behind Houston. Let's say Houston
loses and you win. Okay, Well, then you're behind Buffalo.
So Buffalo moves up, so you're either in the sixth
or the seventh spot regardless. I understand why a team
like the Texans, who maybe has a little bit more

(01:11:47):
to play for. Definitely wants to be able to close
out their season with the chance to host a playoff game.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Makes sense for them to play. But for Los.

Speaker 5 (01:11:55):
Angeles Green Bay I'll even go as far as say
the Rams at this point, if you know that your
team is so broken down and the only way that
you're going to be able to make a run in
the playoffs is by giving them a Sunday off, I'm
get sat with it.

Speaker 4 (01:12:09):
Well, not only is the quarterback not a question there,
it is a quarterback question in Baltimore at this moment
because again the Ravens taking on the Steelers on Sunday
night for who's going to win the AFC North and
John Harbaugh yesterday saying that it is going to be
a to be determined process for if Lamar Jackson is

(01:12:33):
able to give it a go. Of course, he sustained
a back contusion did not play in Saturday's game against
the Green Bay Packers, but trying to make a return
for their regular season finale and also to a chance
to be able to make the playoffs this season.

Speaker 3 (01:12:50):
Who do you like in this matchup Pittsburgh Baltimore With
it being in Pittsburgh, I like Pittsburgh. I like Pittsburgh.
This is not like a cop out answer.

Speaker 5 (01:12:57):
It is I don't also really care if you have
a backup quarterback on the field I don't want to
see in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:13:04):
I just don't.

Speaker 5 (01:13:04):
So if Lamar Jackson's playing in this game, by all means,
let Lamar go ahead and run a rampant and find
a way to go host a playoff matchup against the Texans.

Speaker 3 (01:13:12):
You'll lose in the first round.

Speaker 5 (01:13:13):
But if we find out like tomorrow, hey, Snoop's gonna
be starting the rest of the season, including the playoffs.
I'm pulling for Pittsburgh not because I'm an Aaron Rodgers
stand or not because I like the Steelers.

Speaker 3 (01:13:23):
It's because of I want to.

Speaker 5 (01:13:24):
See the better quarterback in the postseason, and I think
that Aaron Rodgers is a better quarterback than stup Hot.

Speaker 3 (01:13:28):
Late final one.

Speaker 4 (01:13:29):
Andy Reid visiting with reporters yesterday in Kansas City on
a video call. Being asked if he's going to return
next season, he responded, quote, I mean, I think I'm
coming back, right If they'll have me back, I'll come back.
You never know in this business. That's a tough one.
But I plan on it. Yeah, he's sixty seven, so
I think that probably from here on out, and especially

(01:13:52):
two with such a disappointing season. I mean, I can
understand asking the question because, yeah, I mean, Andy can
kind of get to this point where he's like, I've
done all, I've won the Super Bowls. There's nothing really
much more for me to accomplish. Now I get to
be a granddad.

Speaker 5 (01:14:05):
The thing is is that you want to go out
on top, and like that's always going to be the
conversation that you have to have. Like Nick Saban, rumors
started that he was going to call it a career
after losing in the losing a MESSICU in the SEC
championship game, and they played it, and I think it
was the Sugar Bowl against Kansas State that year with
Willia Anderson and Bryce Young. That was the year, right, Okay,

(01:14:26):
he won one more shot. He went to the playoffs,
they went to overtime against Michigan. They lose against Michigan.
If they would have won that game, they would have
been in the National Championship. And it still would have
sucked if you lost to Washington, but at least she
went out on top. I think Andy Reid wants to
get a go around one more time with Patrick Mahomes.
Maybe he'll convince Travis Kelsey to come on back in
better draft capital positioning, spending a little bit more money

(01:14:49):
in free agency, make that run to the postseason one
last time. He's on borrow time, but I still think
he got about two years left.

Speaker 3 (01:14:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
The Chiefs six to ten this season, going to have
the regular season finale against the Raiders in Vegas on Sunday, seven,
two on two, five, seven ninety. That's the way to
get in open the show with a little bit of rockets.
Let's get back into it because well they've got some
injury concerns of their own, but others have massive concerns
to deal with. We'll discuss that as we continue along

(01:15:20):
here on the Morning Drive with Dan and Cole Sports
Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 7 (01:15:24):
KB E Houston, KTVHD two Houstons A Rocket is Sports
Talk seven ninety your home for your home teams and
iHeartRadio stations guaranteed you mean.

Speaker 1 (01:15:43):
This is the Morning Drive with Dad and Cole.

Speaker 4 (01:15:52):
Texans getting ready for the Colts on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:15:55):
They're off from the practice field to day.

Speaker 4 (01:15:57):
They'll get back to work tomorrow and Kelvin SAMs Goog's
basketball winning last night over Middle Tennessee sixty nine sixty
over at Fortida Center. Apparently a little upset after the
win though too, of saying if I can't get my
guys to play hard, well, then I'll walk right out
that door. So a little bit of a pointed message
to his guys of yeah, nine point win over Middle Tennessee,

(01:16:20):
not what we want to be in business about, now.

Speaker 5 (01:16:22):
What you want to do when you're especially viewed as
one of the premier teams in college basketball and you
were what I'm minute away from winning a national title
last season, and like you should have that hunger to
go right back toward winning and put winning a title
and being the favorites in.

Speaker 4 (01:16:36):
The Big twelve sway, Kelvin Sampson has always been, for sure,
and it's part of the edge that U of h's
program has. So, as I mentioned, they're going to start
conference play coming up here on at Saturday at Cincinnati
seven one three, two point two five seven ninety is
the way that you get in on the phone lines.
Uh So the Rockets win last night, We talked about
it a lot earlier, but uh, you know, a couple

(01:16:56):
of different things, one rockets related and one elsewhere that
still affects the Rockets, but the one that's rockets related,
Alprin Shingoon has calf tightened up against the Lakers, and
they decided not to give it a go last night.
The hope is that he could be back for Thursday.
But I mean, me and you talked about this a
little bit earlier, Cole Slow and Stead. He is the

(01:17:18):
race if there is any remote issue with the calf
right now. This is the time of the year where
you say, hey, let's take the better end of caution
here and let's make sure that you're one hundred percent
on that because I mean again, you know, as I've
mentioned Kevin Durant recently, even talking about had he known

(01:17:39):
that his calf injury that he had that eventually led
to a torn achilles in the NBA finals years ago
when he was with Golden State, if that was going
to be a possibility, he wouldn't have played.

Speaker 5 (01:17:49):
But at the same time, sorry, there was I lost
traps thought. No, I mean I agree with you. See,
I hate when that happens, Like you're in you you
think that you know when you're going and then you don't.
It's the same thing when it comes to like the Chargers,
and when it comes to the Packers, and when it
comes to the Rams, like there's nothing to play for
at this point. For the Rockets, there's things.

Speaker 3 (01:18:07):
To play for.

Speaker 5 (01:18:07):
But you feel confident in Katie dropping thirty last night,
you got to be able to go ahead and win
with him. You can take a couple of days off
because if there will be a moment where Katie has
a low management day, so you can't have him out there.
So you'd much rather have shan Goon be the top
guy in that game than not have both them out there.
It's one to where your offense is doing enough without you,

(01:18:27):
your defense is getting on by. You just won, and
you should have won by over sixteen points last night,
but you did it. And the only reason why you
did it was because you allowed your bench to come
on in and then you got a couple of threes
off and then they started going on a run. But
I'm not worried about Shanoo because if I much rather
would have him for February, and much rather have him

(01:18:49):
for March, I'd much rather have him for April when
we're competing for a four seed.

Speaker 3 (01:18:54):
We're competing for a three seed.

Speaker 5 (01:18:56):
We're settling for a six seed, we're settling for a
five seed.

Speaker 3 (01:19:00):
You don't need him right now at this point. Well,
and that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (01:19:03):
I mean, the urgency is not high enough where you're like, man,
you know we can't continue to fall even more back.
I mean, just last night, you just played your thirtieth
game of the season. There's fifty two more of these
this year for you, So, I mean, you know you're
gonna get to February, the trade deadline, all of that.
We'll see what the Rockets do when it comes to
that time of the year. But I mean, yeah, once

(01:19:25):
you get into the later months, that's when these games
become a little bit more amplified. Right now, you're still
trying to find your footing. You're still trying to figure
out what you are offensively. We know what they are defensively,
at least what they try to be.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Well, the other thing is like who you faced off against.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
You played an Indiana team that comes on in with
a one and fifteen record again on the road on
Thursday's next game, right, Yeah, you pay us off against
a ten to twenty Brooklyn, that scene in Brooklyn, like,
these are games to where it's been worrisome and it
shouldn't be. Because the Rockets found a way to lose
despite blowing a twenty five point lead against the Pelicans.

(01:20:00):
They found a way to lose in overtime against Sacramento.
Teams aren't good right now. It seems to be the
Achilles heel for anybody in Houston. Like, hey, if you
have a sub five hundred record and one key player
on your team, watch them go off against our defense.
Besides that, this is one of those games to where
you should feel like we don't need she gun. But
this is also going to be like one of those
games where it feels like, hey, we actually kind of

(01:20:21):
do because of we haven't been playing our best ball.

Speaker 3 (01:20:23):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:20:24):
It also to underscores the reason why Steven Adams is
still here and why you went out and got Clint
Cappella is for both of those guys too.

Speaker 3 (01:20:32):
Are they outproaching Goon? No they're not. Did they give
you what he gives you offensively? Same deal?

Speaker 10 (01:20:37):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:20:37):
But at the same time though too, I mean two
guys that probably could be starting fives elsewhere in the league.
So you've got that at your disposal, where even in
some cases when you've got all three of those guys available,
you can't even get Capella minutes.

Speaker 5 (01:20:51):
Well, I think about this for a second. What's the
one rule that we always talk about in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:20:57):
I don't know many many big linemen. You want as
any big lineman as possible.

Speaker 5 (01:21:01):
It never hurts to have an extra offensive lineman, never
hurts to have an extra defensive pack.

Speaker 4 (01:21:05):
So you mean there's not a coach out there that says, gosh,
what am I gonna do with all these offensive and
defensive line.

Speaker 3 (01:21:09):
Well, well, I mean I wonder why.

Speaker 5 (01:21:10):
I mean, I mean, we'll think about it from this perspective.
Why would you like, remember that Joshua James trade a
few years ago, not josh James, who.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
Was a Jones, Josh Jones Jones, he went for a
third round pick. He was terrible.

Speaker 5 (01:21:25):
But offensive linemen are such a quality regiment to have that,
even for a death piece perception, you're gonna have to
spend some money.

Speaker 3 (01:21:31):
So like for me, what it comes down to is
you got two bigs.

Speaker 5 (01:21:35):
You got two dudes that can play the exact same
position defensively, is what you're getting from scheng Gun. You
got two dudes that are gonna be able to lock
up in the paint and slow down offenses from being
able to get second chance rebounds. They may not offer
you the same offensive success, but hell, that's why you
have Jabari Smith. That's why you have it on Men Thompson,
That's why you have Atari Eason.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
That's why you.

Speaker 5 (01:21:53):
Brought in KD for them to pick up the lack
of production when Alfred hing Goon is out, because if
you have to have a secondary element, So I feel
content with that. It never hurts to have an extra
big dislaying on the bench and playing ten to twelve
minutes a night, just like it never hurts to have
an extra offensive or defensive tackle.

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
Yeah last night too, I mean you mentioned Jabari Smith Junior,
twenty one to ten out of him, So nice double
double performance including a couple of assists thrown in there
in three block shots too, So you love to see that.
And then a Men Thompson, I mean somebody else that
you've thrust into the point guard role this year. I
mean kind of being the facilitator for you. Although I
mean we've said it before and Michael Shapiro has been

(01:22:31):
on with us and he you know, he called Shingoon
a point center almost because I mean he really is
the guy that kind of facilitates everything for you on
the offensive end. But still twenty points out of a
men Thompson last night. So you got depth for a reason.

Speaker 5 (01:22:49):
We got I know, who's playing quarterback for the Indianapolis
Colts on Sunday?

Speaker 3 (01:22:54):
Is it Philip Rivers? It's le ah see there.

Speaker 5 (01:22:57):
So the Texas are gonna win the game. They're gonna
finish the year off twelve and five. They're going to
beat the breaks off of the Notre Dame quarterback. They
couldn't have a forward pass the national championship. Congratulations are
in order, Dan, Like, we're almost there.

Speaker 3 (01:23:09):
We're right there, ladies and gentlemen. We're gonna fitas twelve
and five on the season.

Speaker 5 (01:23:13):
Now, we are all fans of the Houston Oilers, better
known as that sadly sacked team the Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (01:23:20):
Titans against Jacksonville. No real surprise.

Speaker 4 (01:23:23):
I mean, you know, of course Rivers was asked about
if that was the last game.

Speaker 3 (01:23:27):
I mean, you usually win.

Speaker 4 (01:23:28):
A reporter asks it's probably somebody that's already said, hey,
if we lose this game, like, there's no reason to
play him in the final one, so we'll go with
the young guy.

Speaker 5 (01:23:36):
Well, you were the one that said yesterday that it
what's the harm of playing Riley Loonder in this.

Speaker 3 (01:23:40):
That's exactly it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:41):
I mean, it's not like you're necessarily counting on him
to be a future for your organization, but at least
you want to see what he looks like before he
makes said determination.

Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
I think that the big difference is.

Speaker 5 (01:23:53):
We know that Philip Rivers has done everything that he
possibly can and it still isn't good enough. We don't
want to get him hurt. Like this is again the
best defensive duo that the Colts will go up against
with Philip Rivers on their team, daneal Hunter coming off
one side, Williamson coming off the other side. This is
a team that last week they recorded five sacks. I
think they had seven, like I thought the number was

(01:24:15):
off off on the metrics by NFL SATs still the
pressure rate, they're number two in the NFL, their top
ten in sacks, their top five and tavers for loss.
You really want a forty four year old to be
trotting out there having to make these throws with a
Willy Anderson junior who was the same age as his kid,
running down his throat, like, do you really want to

(01:24:35):
see that?

Speaker 3 (01:24:35):
Don't the anybody in that organization does no?

Speaker 4 (01:24:38):
And I mean again, you know this is a cold
team that you know once you get to Black Monday too.
In terms of who's going to be in or out
as head coaches. I don't think that Sheen Stiking has
to look over his shoulder.

Speaker 3 (01:24:51):
You can't fire him. I wouldn't think so. I would.
I would consider the GM though. No, Ballat's gone. I
think that Ballard has to be gone.

Speaker 5 (01:24:58):
You trade away two first round picks for cornerback that
still isn't on your asser, and you haven't been able
to win since he got here. Did you see wait,
did you see the saut of Saucegarter this year? If
you combine his games with the Colts, and you combine
his games with the odd Job I did see this
was two and fourteen. Yeah, teams with him on it
are two and fourteen. The Colts have won one game

(01:25:19):
since they got Saucegarter.

Speaker 4 (01:25:22):
All of a sudden, too, all of the people here
who are upset about the Texans taking one guy over
the other.

Speaker 3 (01:25:27):
I don't think that they're so upset about it anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:25:29):
The reason they were upset was because of one dude
was coming off of another season ending injury and the
other one was fully healthy playing in a college football
playoff appearance. So out of side, out of mind. Again,
it's the what have you done for me lately? Approach
is that people see one number and then they look
at the other number and they go, well, X person
did really good in year one of his college career,
Like I mean, Stingham was an All American player, like superstar

(01:25:50):
for that defense for twenty nineteen. Then he did nothing
the next two years, and it was because of injury.
But Sauce was front the center. He was coming off
of winning a Jim Thorpe Award. He took a G
five team to the college Football Playoff. So like, of course,
when you have similar measurable, similar speed, similar skill set,
you're gonna argue because if you took the guy with
less production. But that's what you do when you play

(01:26:11):
the long game, is sometimes you got a bank on
the traits that fit better for a team. And it's
not to say that Sauce is bad. He's still a
top ten cornerback in the NFL. He's just he's not
the number one cornerback in the NFL anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:26:22):
That's what singlely is real quick here back to the Rockets, though,
one thing that before we got the breaking news that
I was gonna mention wait and see on Nikola Jokicic
who left last night's Nugget Scheme against the Heat in
Miami with a knee injury. So they're gonna get an
MRI on that, but at least the replay that we
saw it did not look good for him.

Speaker 5 (01:26:44):
Now that's one where you just say, we're content, we
saw it one time, move on with it, and it's
wonder where you can see it on camera.

Speaker 3 (01:26:51):
Let's just say, let's just say that legs aren't supposed
to bend the way that it did.

Speaker 5 (01:26:54):
But when you see it on camera the first time,
you're like, hey, you know what, I'm good Like, I
don't even need to see the replay. I can I
can understand where where this like, I can understand this
is gonna be a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:27:03):
But all of a sudden, too, I mean, it clears up.
You were talking about trying to get inside the top
four for the Rockets. I mean, you know, you hate
for it to come by injury, but I mean whatever
way it comes, you take advantage of it. I mean, Conlin,
we were talking about with Scott Drew earlier. You know, look,
I can't, I can't necessarily, you know, be too concerned
about your situation because well you're in front of me

(01:27:24):
and you're trying to beat me out for certain spots.
So now it's a chance for the Texans or excuse me,
for the Rockets to be able to gain some ground
in the Western Conference and maybe get inside that top
four in the Great Words.

Speaker 3 (01:27:36):
Is Shaquille O'Neil.

Speaker 5 (01:27:37):
There's no I in team, but there is an Emmy,
and that's son of a gun. So again, I mean,
you got to look out for me first. I don't
care what's going on in Denver. I don't care what's
going on in San Antonio. I could care less what's
going on out in Los Angeles with Lebron and JJ
Reddick and Luca all hate each other and like basically
standing in a standoff like the Haffields of McCoy's.

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
I care about my team.

Speaker 5 (01:27:57):
I care about what I can do to guarantee that
we're gonna be good and that we're moving on to
the next round. Damn whatever happens out in Denver, Damn
whatever happens out in LA. Because you're in my way
to winning a title. You're in my way of being
a team that I don't want to I can face
off against in the playoffs en route to going to
the Western Conference finals.

Speaker 3 (01:28:14):
E A M.

Speaker 4 (01:28:15):
Yeah, no, there is an EM and E. No, Shack's
not wrong, you see. That's that's why Shack is who
he is. I appreciate that you don't hear that. You
don't hear that A bunch you hear a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (01:28:24):
I actually missed the quote that was on Kobe.

Speaker 4 (01:28:26):
Oh okay, well, well Kobe was Kobe was brilliant in
his own right. Yeah sure, I mean talking trash to Luka,
Doncics and Slovenian I still face talking trash to Luis
Scola and the Olympics in Spanish. My still favorite one
to this day is when he went in Italian.

Speaker 3 (01:28:43):
He went up against.

Speaker 5 (01:28:43):
Emon Shumpert, and Emon Sheppard was having a great game.
I think he'd like dropped twenty one, and then Kobe
looks him right before the fourth cour and goes hey, man,
you had a real good game. You had a real
good game. And then he goes off and he drops
like twenty three and the fourth.

Speaker 3 (01:28:56):
He was one of the best. Nice it was so
fun to watch.

Speaker 5 (01:29:00):
I won't listen to the argument that he is the goat.
What I will listen to is that if he's not
your top five, we have a serious problem.

Speaker 4 (01:29:05):
I was gonna say, I mean he definitely was there,
and I mean gone way too soon for sure. Anyway,
let's get back into the Texans conversation. If you want
to jump in seven one three two one two five
seven ninety against seveone three two one two five seven ninety.
Some might think that the temptation is there to do this,
but I'm telling Demiko, Ryans and everybody fight it at

(01:29:27):
all costs. We'll discuss right here. So we continue. It
is the Morning Drive with Dan and Cole. Here on
Tuesday Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 7 (01:29:36):
Dan Matthews, Cole Thompson, This is the Morning Drive with
Dan and Cole.

Speaker 4 (01:29:44):
You get the win against the Colt switch again. You're
facing a rookie quarterback on Sunday. You should feel good
about your chances to be able to win this game,
Vegas feels good about your chances to be able to
win this game. Your ten point favorite for this one,
and you also need the tennis See Titans to be
able to help you out by going to Jacksonville and
beating a team that is currently at least last check

(01:30:06):
twelve and a half twelve and a half points in
the favorite column against you. So a little bit of
a taller task for Tennessee to be able to do that.
But all that being said, the Texans are a playoff team,
so I can kind of understand why a question was
asked to Damiko Ryans that led to this answer yesterday,

(01:30:26):
but Tamiko Ryans saying emphatically there will be no load
management on Sunday.

Speaker 6 (01:30:31):
Yeah, we're playing a game right now as it sits.
We still have an opportunity to win our division, and
that's always the goal each and every year to win
your division. So we know we need help from the
Titans to be able to do that. So we're going
and we're playing our guys now.

Speaker 4 (01:30:47):
I think that also a part of this too is
from Demico's side. Let's just say that the Texans in
the going into the fourth quarter have a thirty to
ten lead. But then they look up at the scoreboard
and they see it's thirty five to ten in Jacksonville
and the Jaguars are in front at that point. Do
you wonder if Demiko then looks at CJ everybody else

(01:31:09):
and says, hey, you've put together a good performance today.
It's Davis Mills time, It's Jawar Jordan time, it is
Xavier Hutchinson and Christian Kirk any of the other guys
that I mean, Kirk has been factoring.

Speaker 3 (01:31:22):
For you a little bit more lately.

Speaker 4 (01:31:23):
But get my point here that you start to see
some of the other guys where you say, hey, you
know we're in that territory now where there's nothing to gain.

Speaker 3 (01:31:30):
Are you leading by ten? I said they were up
by twenty at that point.

Speaker 5 (01:31:35):
No, No, I thought you were saying that the Jaguars
are up by twenty at that point, that the Jaguars
would be up by twenty five in this scenario, yeah, no,
one hundred percent. There is no scenario to where you
think that you are going to win the division and
there is not a comeback in the horizon, and there
won't be against Tatasey team. If you're if you're up
by twenty five games over like it's done deal. I
would agree with you. Yes, you are going to take

(01:31:55):
out your back You're got to take out your starters,
go put your backups. If you're up by ten, no,
I still the stars are staying in. And the reason
why is because, let's just say you lose. Let's just
say randomly, Okay, we go eleven and six on the year.
It's still a good season. It's a great season. It's
the most wins in the Demiko Ryans era. It's the
second most win since Gary Kubiak has been here. You're

(01:32:16):
gonna be a wild car team no matter what, so
it doesn't really matter. But then comes the Buffalo Bills
effect of everything, and Buffalo if they are to win
their game and you are to lose your game, you
drop down to six. That's the case at this point.
You can't afford to give up. I think that's six
spot because if you want to have the easiest pathway

(01:32:37):
throughout the playoffs, and I think right now it's Baltimore
and Pittsburgh. I do have my tripe to I do
have my reserves when it comes to facing off against
Jack's fall.

Speaker 4 (01:32:44):
Round one, Here's the thing though, too, that I talked
about don't change a thing, because I do agree, don't
change a thing. You're on an eight game win streak,
you're playing your best football that you have all season long,
and you want to be able to carry that momentum
into the playoffs. But the reason why I bring up
that scenario too is you can still accomplish all those
things and not have CJ. Stroud and your starters playing

(01:33:06):
into the fourth quarter. If you're up by a good amount.

Speaker 5 (01:33:08):
Yeah, if you're a by but that's the thing. What's
the good amount in your mind? You say twenty.

Speaker 4 (01:33:13):
If you're up by twenty, twenty one, twenty four something
like that, then absolutely, I mean, because you're not gonna
give up twenty four twenty five unanswered points and lose
the game.

Speaker 3 (01:33:23):
That's not gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (01:33:24):
I mean, we saw starters for Jacksonville give up sixteen
points to give lose the game, and that was against
you know, a really good defense. And by the way,
that's why they're fraudtilant. So just don't out there. No,
I mean nineteen nineteen points, my bad, it was sixteen
point differential. You are right, though, twenty points ten minutes left.

Speaker 3 (01:33:41):
You're fine. You can coast.

Speaker 5 (01:33:43):
Run three plays, run down the clock. Let Tommy Thompson
come out here, show off what kind of a leg
he's got. Pin them back inside their own fifteen. Get
three plays, let them run down the clock. Go ahead
and punt it the other way. Get three plays, maybe
get a fourth and get a first down. Run down
the clock with a two minute warning. Games over like
that shouldn't be the mindset. And if it isn't, I
understand because if you're the Texans and you want to

(01:34:06):
be able to kind of end your season on a high,
But if you're up by twenty, you're not letting Riley
Leonard come back.

Speaker 3 (01:34:10):
In this game. I just go I would say seventeen.

Speaker 5 (01:34:14):
If you're up by seventeen going into the fourth quarter
and your offen is about to take the field, I'm
Mutton Davis Mills playing this game.

Speaker 4 (01:34:21):
But one thing that I mean, I'd be curious to know,
and maybe I'll go over and ask Demiko Ryans this
tomorrow is I mean, I know what probably his answer
is going to be. But I also think that you
get to a point here where you've got to be
smart about this.

Speaker 3 (01:34:34):
You've got to have a measured approach to this.

Speaker 4 (01:34:36):
As I know he's going to say that they're not
looking at school boards and doing all of that, but
somebody on that sideline will be. Somebody there is going
to finally, you know, after they get off the field
on you know, a touchdown something like that, be like, hey,
coach Jacksonville's up twenty five.

Speaker 5 (01:34:51):
Every single person is watching the sidelin it Like every
single they lie to you. You and I both know this.
They have somebody watching the game. Somebody is in there
saying Brian Thomas Jenior touchdown twenty four to ten, Trevor
Lawrence air reception twenty four to ten, Like they're they're
letting them know because of they have to. They have
to just because of seating purposes. What do you need

(01:35:12):
to do when it comes to your next game plan
making adjustments? Every team has this happens. It's common theme, dude,
Like I mean, aren't you and you're in the press
box checking the score of other teams around the league.

Speaker 3 (01:35:23):
Just for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:35:25):
Coaches are the exact same. They're focusing on the game plan,
but they got to know what's going on.

Speaker 3 (01:35:29):
Again.

Speaker 4 (01:35:29):
It's one of those where you know, we get into
the territory where coaches, oh, I don't hear it. I
don't do all that. Somebody there does and then they
give it to them secondhand. That's what it is, right,
you don't hear it.

Speaker 5 (01:35:39):
That does not mean that somebody on your staff doesn't
hear it. Is it relaying the information over to you.

Speaker 4 (01:35:44):
And yes see, it's not like Damiko Ryans is in
you know, the huddle there during a timeout and being like, oh, hey,
they're showing the highlights, so hold on, guys, let's let's
look all right. They're up by twenty five. Yeah, CJ, you,
you and you, you're all coming off the field. You're
you're done.

Speaker 5 (01:35:57):
No, no, no, no, no, they're waiting for the other fourth quarter
high like they're waiting for a travesy t In touchdown.

Speaker 3 (01:36:01):
Because if he's in the other fantasy league to where week.

Speaker 5 (01:36:04):
Seventeen actually got married to him, So I mean like
he's one hundred percent paying attention.

Speaker 3 (01:36:08):
Mikey see you right there. We'll bring you in also too.

Speaker 4 (01:36:11):
I will continue the Texans conversation because the Rock famously
said it doesn't matter. Well, that is the case with
the Texans when it comes to the playoffs. We'll discuss
right here as we continue on the morning drive, Dan
and Coles Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 6 (01:36:25):
Say mate, Trilo g bump be here make seven ninety
pre said one on that.

Speaker 1 (01:36:30):
NOID approved iHeart Radio app.

Speaker 6 (01:36:33):
You'll be riding dirty with Astros or Rockets games plus
eight sounds.

Speaker 1 (01:36:36):
Most of the kit sports sound download a update that
free iHeart Radio today.

Speaker 5 (01:36:41):
Baby got two a head, which is going to be
the best for the four games.

Speaker 3 (01:36:47):
I think that the Tech in Oregon game is gonna
be the Miss in Georgia.

Speaker 5 (01:36:51):
Okay, I appreciate that actually triply because I am not
I am not convinced that guy.

Speaker 4 (01:36:57):
I need Georgia to be able to just absolutely pants
all miss so then I can stop hearing about what
a savior Pete Golding is.

Speaker 3 (01:37:05):
What if they end up what if they end up
win in that game, then they're going to be even
more insufferable. They're already insufferable. They're eleven to one and
they're in the college football playoff. Meanwhile, their coach love
to go to a seven and five team. You and
I know the reason he wanted to go to a
seven and five team, But I'm just saying of course
there are.

Speaker 5 (01:37:21):
I will meet you in the middle and I will
say it's actually gonna be Miami Ohio State.

Speaker 3 (01:37:25):
I just I think that's gonna be a good one.

Speaker 4 (01:37:27):
But I just want him or I just want all
miss fans to keep that same energy and when he
goes back to going eight and four, seven and five.

Speaker 5 (01:37:34):
And if they do, then that's fine. But you also
have to realize Lanky has got a hold up his.

Speaker 3 (01:37:38):
Into the mark.

Speaker 4 (01:37:38):
I just realized that there was a guy that made
that happen, and for you to just act like that,
that all goes out the window because he's not there.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
It's not true.

Speaker 5 (01:37:46):
But again, the expectations are completely different down to bat
Rouge compared to Oxford. So sure, if you're seeing a
nine to three season from Lane every single year, they
ain't gonna cut.

Speaker 3 (01:37:54):
It for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:37:55):
Speaking of the playoff, it's the playoffs in general. In
the Texans have their own path that's still to be determined.
Will continue to talk about that. First, I want to
get some of you in on the phone lines against
someone three two one, two five seven ninety head to
my own stopping grounds, bell Air.

Speaker 3 (01:38:12):
Mikey wants to wait.

Speaker 10 (01:38:13):
Good morning, Mikey, Good morning, fellas. So, yeah, this is
a great Texans time right now. I'm wanting to get
y'all's opinion on playoff Texans. If we go down in
the playoffs, okay, in my opinion, you know, I'm wondering.

(01:38:34):
My question to y'all is, what's it gonna be that
takes this down. As far as the weakness of the Texans.
I don't think it's our defense. Our secondary is is tremendous.
Our front seven, all those guys are are. We've put
a lot of pressure on the quarterback. We've been doing
it consistently. It's not our special teams. Those guys are
are beast mode tacklers. Man, I love watching special teams tackles.

(01:39:00):
I've been watching that for a while and enjoying that.
Kickers doing good, It's not going to be our receiving cores.
It just seems to me like our run game is
the weak link here. I looked at Woody Marks. He's
averaging three point five, which is wouldn't put him in
the top fifty in the league. Nick Chubb has lost.

(01:39:23):
He doesn't seemed to be running with the kind of
intensity he used to be running at I love that
we like to focus on the run game because then
that opens up our passing game. But you got to
have an effective run game to open that up. And
it seems like if we go down, man, it's gonna
be the run game that takes us out. I wanted
to get y'all's depinion on that. Love listening to y'all,

(01:39:46):
I'll hang up and continue to do that.

Speaker 4 (01:39:49):
I appreciate the call, Mikey. I mean, look, when Joe Mixon,
you knew that he was done for the season. You
knew that anything he got out of the run game
was going to be bonus. Only that was it. I mean,
and for what he Marx to do, what he's done
this season has been a nice, pleasant surprise, But I
don't think that we can count on that being the
case for his entire career. What he marks is at

(01:40:09):
best a number two back in any offense in this league,
at least if you have a good offense.

Speaker 3 (01:40:15):
That's the case.

Speaker 4 (01:40:16):
So it's not like you're gonna come out of this
season and say, hey, we got what he Marx, We're good. No,
the Texans are going to look to upgrade at that position.
If indeed Joe Mixon is not back next season.

Speaker 5 (01:40:26):
To me, what would be the downfall is the same
thing that we have seen all season long, Lays and gentlemen,
Texans calling it Texans offensive game plan, That's what it
would be.

Speaker 3 (01:40:36):
And a defense being.

Speaker 5 (01:40:37):
Able to take away that first quarter success and that
fourth quarter success, two things that I've noticed throughout the
entire season. And eight minutes into the second quarter until
the end of the third quarter, things just go awry.
It does not feel like the offense is connected. It
does not feel like that there is any rapport. It
feels like the play calling is a skew miscommunication from CJ.

(01:41:00):
With this wide receivers, that's where a lot of the
turnovers happen. That's where the three and outs happen, That's
where the punts start piling on up. So that's gonna
be the game plan for Houston, and a defense is
able to make that happen in the first fifteen minutes
or in the final fifteen minutes, that is a majorable
favor against the other team. So it's gonna be Houston
looking like Houston offensively as they do in the second

(01:41:23):
and third quarter.

Speaker 3 (01:41:24):
In the first to fourth quarter well, and then it
also too.

Speaker 4 (01:41:27):
I mean it, you know, just at least in current times,
in the present, it's preparing for the playoffs. And I
mean this is a team that we've seen it where
it's not only just the run game as opponus. The
offense is apponus just because of how good your defense
has been.

Speaker 3 (01:41:42):
And I mean that's.

Speaker 4 (01:41:44):
The reason why going on the road, staying at home,
either of those scenarios that you feel like that this
is probably the best shot that the Texans have had
to be able to advance.

Speaker 5 (01:41:54):
Ever, well, for me, the things are experienced number one
and number two, there's.

Speaker 3 (01:41:58):
Not a team that you feel like that you can
be three.

Speaker 4 (01:42:00):
With seeing that's exactly it, because you're going to face
the winner again assuming that Tennessee doesn't handle Jacksonville, and
you're able to win the AFC South if you handle Indianapolis.
So I mean, let's just go ahead and just go
off what we know right now. You're the five seed.
You're facing the AFC North, so that's either the Ravens
or the Steelers in the first round, and either of

(01:42:23):
those teams a banged up Lamar Jackson who is not
even close to being one hundred percent. I like your
chances there, and then it's the you know, real focus
goes on Derrick Henry. You've stopped them before, You've stopped
them numerous times. Stop them again. You win that football game.
It's it's it's really that simple. The path to victory
for the Texans is a lot more clear than it
is for anyone else.

Speaker 3 (01:42:43):
Okay, fine, you win that game. Then you move on
and face Denver.

Speaker 4 (01:42:47):
You feel like you own the one that's that is
a game that I guarantee you probably the room of truth.

Speaker 3 (01:42:52):
You know there are rules in the side of the refrigerator.

Speaker 4 (01:42:54):
Don't you know. Don't complain about the rules. Make the
rules work for you. Another one of mine is put
people in the room of truth. I guarantee you. You
put Will Anderson Junior, you put C. J. Stroud, any
of the other guys on this team that have been
part of playoff runs before, you put them in a
room and you say, hey, how much would that Denver
rematch mean to you? They'd say, oh, it means everything.

Speaker 5 (01:43:12):
That very single person I think looking inside that locker
room wants to face.

Speaker 3 (01:43:16):
Off against the Denver Broncos. And it's not.

Speaker 5 (01:43:18):
Because they would be the number one seed and to
be the best, you gonna beat the best nuts because
of the reason why you're not in the conversation for
the number one seed is because of that game, and
it was because of three major instances that led to
a Will Let's game winning field goal.

Speaker 3 (01:43:32):
That was it.

Speaker 5 (01:43:33):
If you take away those three plays, just like you
take away three plays in the Los Angeles game, just
like you take away three plays in the Tampa game,
just like you take away three plays in the Jacksonville game,
you probably are putting yourself in a position to where
you're looking at fifteen to two, sixteen to one. I mean,
that's quite lowly. What is the difference so far in

(01:43:54):
the season. And so from this standpoint, that Denver game
is a little bit different because you were starting to
roll at the right time, went off a really good
win against San Francisco. You then come up a little
bit short against Denver. Then the winning streak starts. If
something just goes one data point different. Houston sitting on
a nine game win streak, which should be tied for

(01:44:14):
the team's record in wins, and they'd be a game
away from finishing on a ten game win streak and
getting the number one seed. They think they are the
number one seed, and you know what, there's a reasonably
that with this defense, they should at least be considering that.
But the problem is they came up short. They're salimating
to go to Denver, They're salmating to play against a
team like the Broncos.

Speaker 4 (01:44:35):
One of football Twitter's biggest trolls was put in the
body bag because he talked about someone's son, and the
dad responded, I'm sure a lot of you can be
interested to hear exactly how this all played out. We'll
have that for you right here as we continue on
the Morning Drive with Dan and Coles Sports Talk seven
to ninety. But real quick here, after the holiday season,
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(01:46:03):
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Back to Danny cole as the Morning Drive Cruise is on,
Danny Canell.

Speaker 3 (01:46:19):
What are you?

Speaker 4 (01:46:20):
What are your thoughts? On Danny Canell. He's a person,
So I mean, like, no real reaction to a Dan,
like if.

Speaker 5 (01:46:26):
I enjoy my job too much to go say what
I really feel about him on FCC regulation.

Speaker 4 (01:46:30):
So I mean, it's okay, all right, so you do
have a strong opinion. I mean, you know, I'm sure
you get I just at this point, I'm used to
the stick, like I'm used to like what he tries
to do, and you know, I know that he knows
that he can get under the skin of SEC fan basis,
so he does it like it's just it's it's it's
the same playbook that he's been running for a long time. Well,

(01:46:51):
then he decided to go because Danny is a former
Giants quarterback, so you know he probably watches the Giants
a little bit close. So he went NFL with a
take over the weekend and Danny throwing this out on Twitter.
I don't know if Jackson dor is a long term
answer for the Giants. When I think of a first
round draft pick, I think of somebody you should picture

(01:47:14):
for ten to twelve years is going to be your guy.
I still haven't seen development as a passer, and talking
about Jackson Dart of course he is. He's still running
the football and they're designing runs for him. But I
want to see him take the next step as a
passer and I just haven't seen that yet, Canal saying, well,

(01:47:38):
then you got Jackson Dart's father, Brandon, responding with a
very direct response, bro eat a fat one.

Speaker 3 (01:47:50):
I love it so childish, but it's also so true.

Speaker 4 (01:47:54):
That's one of those two where I think, like most
people who are still drawn off sides by Danny Cane,
by Danny Canell, are like, dude, you win the internet today.

Speaker 3 (01:48:03):
You like that? That is the answer.

Speaker 4 (01:48:05):
We have all had some sort of response that's in
that neighborhood. But you're the one that absolutely took it there,
and you're the one that absolutely hit the nail on
the head.

Speaker 3 (01:48:14):
You just really The.

Speaker 5 (01:48:16):
Thing that's so funny is it's like I constantly am
fighting with my brain on how can I make a
snarky comeback in Danny Cannell that's also gonna sound smart.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
That is probably the best comeback you can just do.
Just dude, shut the hell up. I hate you. Just
just be.

Speaker 5 (01:48:29):
Honest with it, and like the problem is like here,
here's where I lose it.

Speaker 3 (01:48:32):
With Danny.

Speaker 5 (01:48:33):
Dude, your head coach is fired. It's gonna be a
new offensive staff. You got your average coordinator now serving
as your pleasure head coach. He's got a ton of
other things to go with. There's no offensive line help,
there's no wide receiver help. There's nothing going right for
the Giants organization. And you're openly just saying I don't believe.

Speaker 3 (01:48:50):
In this kid. I wonder why what score did he
play at dan and then he played an SEC SQUO.
I was gonna say, you played an ole miss? What conference?
Does that belonging in the Sea?

Speaker 5 (01:49:00):
So if he played it anywhere else, if he was
at Utah, he was at Florida.

Speaker 3 (01:49:03):
State, he's stayed at USC.

Speaker 5 (01:49:05):
Oh my goodness, imagine, ladies and gentlemen, this kid, just
wait until you see him in year two. You get
him an offensive personnel, you get him a coordinator that's
going to be elite. You go bring in another wide
receiver that's not from a school that goes in the
Southeastern Conference of the United States, because we all know
that they're just liars and cheats and they're scam artists
and they stink and they're never gonna be good at

(01:49:26):
the NFL, because if God forbid that you ever bring
an SEC player in, watch Jackson Dart flourish.

Speaker 4 (01:49:31):
You know, Danny also owes me for saving his life.
I mean I didn't literally save his life, okay, but
I saved his Twitter life. Is that where I used
to work at we had extra studio space, so we'd
have people coming through all the time to do their
serious shows. Maybe even people who are in from out
of town. They knew our studios were right there, so

(01:49:53):
then they do their show from there. Even a couple
of friends of mine from Atlanta or from here doing
the shows from Atlanta. Because I was able to set
him up there. But he left his Twitter open and
he left other things open on the computer when he
took his daughter to the area around our studios to
grab breakfast. Mature enough, and I told him when he

(01:50:14):
came back in, I said, hey, you know, nobody as
far as I know, did anything, but you left your
stuff up. So I just want to let you know that,
like I closed it out for you. He was like, yeah,
you know, all u SEC guys around here. I got
I gotta be on my toes. I gotta be better
with that. So Danny you're welcome.

Speaker 5 (01:50:29):
I see he really make that comment afterwards? What are
you do when you ass haat moron? My goodness, I
understand that you hate again. See again, You've got the angle.
Just play the angle. I mean the Rock's dad famously
said it. You live the gimmick. He's living the.

Speaker 3 (01:50:45):
Gimmick I always doing.

Speaker 5 (01:50:46):
I understand he's living the gimmick I do. But you're
not allowed to talk Matt Smacker out the SEC when
your conference champion is an eight and five duke crosster.
I'm sorry, I'm not gonna sit here and act like that.
You get to go ahead and puff out your chest
and act like that. The SEC is this overrated, inflated
ego conference when your best team, based off of your

(01:51:07):
conferences record is a seven and five duke roster that
I might remind you lost to Illinois that went eighting
for lost to Yukon that got molly wopped against Army
in the finn I mean in the Fenway Bowl, lost
multiple other non conference games and lost to a g
five to two lane roster.

Speaker 3 (01:51:24):
Sit down and shut up your papa's ass.

Speaker 4 (01:51:26):
Just every time I think of Danny Canell, always think
of the old Dan Lebotard show what he looks like
and his what he looks like was does Danny Knell
look like a guy that would say, hey, buddy, how
you doing and then give you a couple of fake
punches to the gut.

Speaker 3 (01:51:39):
He does look like he would be that guy.

Speaker 5 (01:51:41):
Yank Canell looks like a guy that smells his own
farts and gets a joy out of it.

Speaker 3 (01:51:45):
I don't know. I think he's too clean cut for that.
What do you mean?

Speaker 5 (01:51:48):
Those are the ones that absolutely love to smell their
own farts. The people who are so profine and reserved
and look like the part of like, oh I'm too
I'm too good for you. They're the ones that go
into the bathroom and then nick a giant waft afterward.

Speaker 4 (01:52:03):
It's quite a sight to have, and not very good for,
you know, if you're trying to eat, or you know,
if you're sensitive to smells.

Speaker 3 (01:52:10):
Who is eating at eight fifty six in the morning.
List a lot of people. It's a holiday week, so
of course no, no, there, you're you're in the weekday
brunch territory. I mean, it's too too early for that bunch.

Speaker 5 (01:52:20):
I was just saying, it's eight fifty six in the morning.
Brunch starts at ten.

Speaker 4 (01:52:23):
I can almost guarantee you there's probably somebody out there
that's listening that is either going to or going soon
to a breakfast that's going to include well.

Speaker 5 (01:52:33):
That's lovely, but data canal still looks like the dude
that probably is going to get it needs to get
number one pants in public, and number two probably also
enjoys some muffazon farts.

Speaker 3 (01:52:42):
He's got that, he's got that crap eating smile.

Speaker 4 (01:52:45):
He does he I mean, look again, he he know,
he knows what his place is and he definitely plays
into it. And then of course you think you get
Brandon dark Jackson Dart's dad who comes along and smacks
some downs. It's fine, it's fun, it's it's it's what
it's what we love about social media.

Speaker 3 (01:53:00):
Playing to the role. I'm totally fine with you playing
into the role.

Speaker 5 (01:53:02):
But when you get ready to go ahead and get
burned by a parent, just go ahead and understand it.

Speaker 3 (01:53:05):
That was your kid. The situation. Guess what's gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (01:53:07):
Get back, get back into the Texans conversation. Because Demiko
Ryans has lofty expectations for this group, and there's reason
why he has those lofty expectations. We'll discuss what you
hear from him right here as we get into the
nine o'clock hour on the Morning Drive with Dan and
Coles Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:53:24):
At Houston atv HD two Houston.

Speaker 7 (01:53:27):
As the Rockets Rockets basket fall your home for your
home teams. This is Sports Talk seven ninety and iHeartRadio
Station Guaranteed Human.

Speaker 1 (01:53:44):
This is the Morning Drive with Dadd and Cole.

Speaker 4 (01:53:52):
It also looks like, according to reports that Riley Leonard
in not Philip Rivers, is gonna be the starting quarterback
for that one. So that Sex And of course need
to win, and they need the Tennessee Titans to help
them out in Jacksonville against the Jags. You do that,
then you're AFC Style champs and you are playing at
home to open up the playoffs this year. Someone three two, one,

(01:54:14):
two five seven ninety is the way to get in.

Speaker 10 (01:54:17):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:54:17):
We talked about this a little bit earlier, Cole, that
you're not so concerned about if the Texans indeed have
to try to make their march towards Santa Clara all
three games on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:54:29):
Nope, You're You're good with it.

Speaker 4 (01:54:31):
Because as you've laid out before, that you've done the
wildcard round game at home, and then you've gone on
the road in the divisional round and it hasn't gone
your way. But I would say that the time it's
different just because of how really good this defense is.
And this is a defense that has shown you that

(01:54:52):
not only are they good at being able to hold
on to leads, but they're also to a defense that
can put you in position to get a lead your
And they've also shown you that most importantly of all,
that if you give them a lead, then it's almost
as good as you're keeping set lead.

Speaker 3 (01:55:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:55:08):
I mean, at the same time, though I'm not sitting
here and asking for hey, we got a touchdown there,
for our defense should be good enough to be able
to handle business for the rest of the day. Like
I mean, I'm not going that far, but you do
have an elite defense, which is fair. The thing that
I look at though, from a standpoint of why you
can trust the Texans enough going into the playoffs has
nothing to do with I think even them.

Speaker 3 (01:55:27):
I think it's everything to do with who's your competition.

Speaker 5 (01:55:29):
Yeah, Denver team, for the first time really gonna have
pressure and expectations with a quarterback in bow Knicks that
needs every single week it feels like to get a
fourth quarter comeback. You got a Trevor Lawrence Ledge Jaguars team.
Spare me if you've heard this one before, dude can't
win in the playoffs. You got a Los Angeles Chargers team.
Spare me if you've heard this one before, dude can't
win in the playoffs. You got a Baltimore Ravens team

(01:55:52):
that's hobbling toward the finish line, or a Pittsburgh Steelers
team that quite literally does not have a legit number
one receiver because of he got an argument with And then.

Speaker 3 (01:56:01):
You have who from the AFC.

Speaker 5 (01:56:03):
I mean, you have the Patriots, who first time playoff team,
Like experience matters at this point, which is why if
you told me right now, gun to head, who do
I think I was going to go represent the AFC?
I would say it would be the Bills of the Texans.
And the reason is because they've been here before. They've
been here the most times, and I think the only
thing for the Texans that would be different this time around.

(01:56:24):
You're playing in a road environment to start off the playoffs.
Versus playing in a road environment to go in the
next round.

Speaker 4 (01:56:30):
All right, So, I mean we talk about the magic
number for the Texans all the time of what you
need your offense to give you. It's that twenty to
twenty four points and anything more than that you feel
like you're going to win the game. But Damiko Ryan's
talking with the media yesterday asked about this team and
their defense stacking up against some of the historically best
in the league.

Speaker 3 (01:56:48):
Let's just say he.

Speaker 4 (01:56:50):
Believes that that magic number is a lot lower from
what they need out of their offense.

Speaker 6 (01:56:54):
Once our offense gives us seven points, like you should
be a mentality that that enough for us to go
win the football game. And we still have things. I
feel like we can clean up and play even better
to not have some of the miscues, to allow some
of the touchdowns to happen. And you know, we continue
to play with that edge and play with the mindset.

Speaker 3 (01:57:14):
You have an edge.

Speaker 6 (01:57:15):
You have all those great defenses that you mentioned, right,
there was a there was an edge. It was a
it was a mindset with all those defenses, physical physicality, right,
there's a pride level to those defenses that you know
you weren't going to get a yard on us, And
that's the mentality that you have to have to play
a great defense.

Speaker 4 (01:57:35):
And the question came from Aaron Wilson, and I'm not
sure what defenses he compared him to, but we all
know of the historically great one.

Speaker 5 (01:57:42):
You thought, there's two thousand and one ravens, twenty thirteen
leagues to boom.

Speaker 3 (01:57:45):
Those are the things that most people say, Okay, so
there you go.

Speaker 4 (01:57:48):
I mean, and you know, Damiko Ryan's saying what those
teams said in common, and I mean, and this is
something too. You know what he said about you know,
some of the miscues that they've made and you know,
trying to clean up the mistakes all that kind of stuff.
I mean, you know, we played the audio for you
a few weeks ago of Kamari Laster when he was asked, hey,
can this defense get even better?

Speaker 3 (01:58:07):
And he said, yeah, absolutely it can.

Speaker 4 (01:58:09):
And I mean that was something too that you know,
textan fans hurt at the time and they're like, man,
how seriously, like how can that be the case?

Speaker 5 (01:58:16):
Because of your ability to play where you keep teams
out of the red zone entirely and they don't even
find a way to get inside of the thirty is
probably the best answer for that. Their ability to win
in the interior past rush, their ability to make plays
in the open field against when it comes to tackling,
their ability to make plays when it comes to forcing

(01:58:38):
third down, third out, stops on third and short situations,
like all little details that go into that can make
this defense better. What I just say is that I'm sorry,
I'm gonna push back on this one. Your mindset should
not be through seven points.

Speaker 3 (01:58:52):
That's enough.

Speaker 5 (01:58:53):
Should you want to give yourself a bumper, you have
to give yourself a bumper. You say ten points, I
can understand that, But anything can happen on a play,
one mistake, an injury occurring where you're going one on
one against a wide receiver and he ends up falling
down because of it and he's off to the house.
You can't say seven. Seven to me, is on a

(01:59:14):
good enough answer. I gotta say ten.

Speaker 4 (01:59:16):
Well, I mean, and that's the thing is, the Texans
have been able to win games this year, at least
one of them where they didn't score at least twenty points.
And I mean it's for the most part, you don't
want to have to live that way, because I mean
it is something too where you know, you talk about
balance all the time and you want to be able
to see the offense be able to play complimentary football.
I mean, I know that that word is thrown out

(01:59:38):
there and people are like, yeah, we get it. You know,
all three phases sure are great, But I mean that
is something that I think has people holding back in
their belief in this team.

Speaker 3 (01:59:50):
Is CJ. Shroud in this offense being able to be
exactly that for this team.

Speaker 5 (01:59:54):
Well, I'm not asking for much. I'm just asking for Hey,
give me six, give me fourteen. If you can give
me fourteen, I like you and I have said multiple times,
twenty is the number.

Speaker 3 (02:00:04):
Twenty is the magic number. You get twenty, everything should
be good.

Speaker 5 (02:00:07):
All go as far to say fourteen with the way
the defense has been playing as of late, forcing turnovers
inside the red zone, being able to get pressure on quarterbacks.
But you can't say seven because seven, to me, it
doesn't leave any margin for error. Everyone is susceptable to error.
It's human nature, Dan, It's the way that we just
are as a society. J. Ladies and gentlemen, We're always
gonna make a mistake. It happens on the football field.

(02:00:29):
Nobody backs a thousand, so you have to give yourself
a little bit of leniency. That's where the seven mind
set is. Yeah, you can go ahead and say seven
is a good number. I'm saying fourteen, I'm saying ten.
You give me that I can trust that this defense
knows that they have one shot. They get one mulligan,
they can use that mulligan on the opening drive, but
then they're done.

Speaker 4 (02:00:48):
It's fine and into the game. That comes to mind
for me is the Kansas City game. That third quarter
when you were just you were nothing on the offensive end,
you were absolutely nothing right, and it almost was the
turning point in that game. Then you put together the
fourth quarter drive to start things off and you score
the touchdown there where then you're able to pull away
at that point. So then it's like, okay, again, I'm

(02:01:09):
not asking you to be, you know, the greatest show
on turf.

Speaker 3 (02:01:12):
That's not where we're asking you to be.

Speaker 4 (02:01:14):
But at least be capable, at least stop having us
go out there after three and out, after three and out,
after three and out, because soon enough, I don't care
how strong you are on the defensive end, that damn
is gonna break.

Speaker 5 (02:01:24):
I'll tell you the thing that is bothering me is
that don't be playing for the field goal, play for
the touchdown.

Speaker 3 (02:01:29):
Settle for the field goal.

Speaker 5 (02:01:30):
And there are times, especially late in games, I would say,
probably midway through the third quarter, and you're up by ten,
you're playing for the you're playing for the field goal,
you're accepting the touchdown, you want the touchdown, but you're
really just playing for the field goal to continue to.

Speaker 3 (02:01:45):
Tack on your lead.

Speaker 5 (02:01:46):
That's where I will push back and say, that's kind
of w the difference to spend at.

Speaker 3 (02:01:49):
And here's the other part of it too. I mean,
you know where I've talked about it.

Speaker 4 (02:01:52):
That's you know, at times people are Nick Kylee, Nick Keylee,
I'm like, again, I think you're getting mad at the
wrong guy. I think in this case, I initially believed
that it was Demiko telling him, hey, don't turn this
football over. Do not put my defense on a pat
spot here. Now I think it's Nick Keyley just saying, oh,
if I want to keep this job, I can't mess

(02:02:12):
with what that guy is most passionate about. I cannot
even remotely put myself in that position, because then you've
got somebody else that joins the fans and says, yeah, hey, Nick,
I know that this is one of your buddies from
John Carroll and from the Patriots, but he ain't my
guy anymore.

Speaker 5 (02:02:30):
But the problem is that you can't sit here and
say that the offense can just be idle when it
comes to the third and fourth quarter.

Speaker 3 (02:02:35):
They have to still be aggressive. And I think that
more so.

Speaker 5 (02:02:39):
And going back and listening to that quote that we
played yesterday when it came to CJ. Stroud calling out
the offense and you said there was a little bit
of shade, I think that that was more so on
the as an offensive personnel. When we have an opportunity
to strike, Let's not play for the field goal, Let's
play more so for the touchdown.

Speaker 4 (02:02:56):
And I think that there is a little bit of
accountability there though, too. I mean, because CJ knows with
a couple of interceptions in that game on Saturday that
he wasn't as sharp as he could be, and he
hasn't been at times this season. I mean, I think
that that's part of it is if okay, if it's
going to be perceived that you're doing that, then you
need to also have a lot of the thumb pointing
back at you, yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:03:15):
Because of At the same time, there have been moments,
and again, there have been moments throughout the entire season
where you look at Houston and yes, the offensive play
calling is terrible. Yes, I don't understand why you're running
it on third and seventeen. No, I don't understand why
you're making wide receivers run these type of concepts like
it happens.

Speaker 3 (02:03:30):
It does.

Speaker 5 (02:03:31):
But execution is the other side of things that you
have to look into. And there have been moments throughout
this season where CJ not being able to execute properly
makes the play look a lot worse. There were moments
in that game on Saturday where CJ did't execute properly.
I think the play was actually ran perfectly. Either that
his timing and his delivery was the difference of a
game of sixteen or a turnover.

Speaker 4 (02:03:52):
Well, the defense has been fantastic and this guy maybe
a bit of a bit player, but he's been just
as fantastic. We'll tell you exactly actly who that is
as we continue here on the Morning Drive with Dan
and Cole Sportstocks seven ninety.

Speaker 7 (02:04:06):
Good Morning Drive, with Dann and Cole on Sports Talk
seven ninety, home of the Strolls, Rockets and Houston's best
sports talk.

Speaker 4 (02:04:16):
Someone three two one two five seven ninety is the
number to get in. Do you follow Texans Jacob on Twitter?

Speaker 10 (02:04:23):
No?

Speaker 3 (02:04:24):
So?

Speaker 1 (02:04:25):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (02:04:25):
Texans Jacob sharing this stat yesterday He's at Texans Jacob.
One of the craziest Texans stats of the season to me,
defensive tackled Tommy Togii currently tied for thirteenth and run
stops of all defensive linemen this season according to NNGS.

Speaker 3 (02:04:41):
I'm not sure what next gen stats say. See you
really that's impressive.

Speaker 4 (02:04:47):
And his point that even makes it even more impressive
is every other player inside the top twenty has played
at least five hundred and thirty nine snaps this season,
while Togii has played just four hundred and six.

Speaker 5 (02:04:58):
That was the reason it was so impressive is because
of how few snaps he played to.

Speaker 3 (02:05:02):
Begin the season.

Speaker 5 (02:05:03):
Like he's become an anchor of this Texans defensive line
because of injuries, but he didn't start really rotating on
in out a full capacity until about week five, Week six,
Like he was getting four snaps, five snaps, two snaps
against Jacksonville against Tampa, Like, it's beyond impressive to see

(02:05:24):
how a guy who and this is where again scheme
fit truly matters. And I argue that more than anything
else when it comes to draft purposes. I remember when
Tommy togy I was coming out of Ohio State and
there were a lot of people saying that he was
going to be one of these steals of the draft.
And he went to Cleveland and the defensive formation that
they were running did not suit him whatsoever, because if
he is a guy that uses his agility and smaller

(02:05:45):
frame to be able to work up feel and he
ended up bouncing around the league for a little while,
and he was on the Texas practice squad. Well, he
comes to Houston and now we're seeing much like Derek
Barnett and what we're seeing from guys like I would
even go as far as ay Tremon Smith, the what
we saw when he was here. Why am I blanking
on it? Not Eric Murray who was the other Toyy

(02:06:07):
or Thomas when he was here. Like guys who were
able to fit in a certain brand of defense that
ends up making them a more valuable asset to their
team and why that might end up being the reason
why a career goes south instantaneously, and why sometimes you
can't always just bank on what you have seen through
the first season or two.

Speaker 3 (02:06:25):
Is what is going to be the narrative long term
for their careers.

Speaker 4 (02:06:28):
Well, it's also too I mean with a guy like TOGII,
it's not like you look at him and say, oh,
you know, defensive stalwart.

Speaker 3 (02:06:35):
He's going to be a guy that sticks around here
for a while.

Speaker 4 (02:06:37):
He's somebody that I think could probably be a little
bit like his offensive line mate from a couple of
years ago, which they weren't teammates, but at least George
Fant when he came here. Then you get an opportunity
somewhere else. I don't know what his contract situation is,
but you've got to believe that if there is a
chance for him to be able to go make some money. Now,
he's made himself some money because I mean, he's shown

(02:06:58):
that he can be effective on the defensive line. And
I'm sure the Texans probably now look at it and say, no, no, no,
no no.

Speaker 3 (02:07:03):
We're not in the.

Speaker 4 (02:07:04):
Business of letting good guys onni of the offensive or
defensive line walk out the door, so they probably try
to keep them.

Speaker 5 (02:07:09):
Yeah, But the problem is is that when you have
a guy like him, similar to Sheldon Rankins, who's going
to be the one to outpit shop. Because the deal
for Sheldon was like in place, they wanted him for
a long term. Cincinnati came up and they said, we're
going to give you an extra one point five million dollars.

Speaker 3 (02:07:23):
Okay, can you match that? Nope?

Speaker 5 (02:07:25):
See you later walking to Sincy Like like that's the
narrative here. You like, the Texas do a good job
of retaining talent when it's in their budget. Like Derek Barnett,
he probably thought the market was going to be booming
for him after last season.

Speaker 3 (02:07:37):
It wasn't.

Speaker 5 (02:07:38):
So he signs another one year deal and he has
become a major factor for the team. And that's a
good thing because it's great for depth, but at the
same time it's also great in terms of valuable positioning.

Speaker 4 (02:07:48):
I think the difference here though, is like Derek Barnett
has not proven that he can be one of the
two guys that you have in front of him, Willie Anderson.

Speaker 3 (02:07:57):
Junior and Daniel Hunter.

Speaker 4 (02:07:59):
I mean, you know that he's able to probably just
through wearing down opposing offenses that he's able to benefit
from one on ones and things like that. But Togi,
I now, I think is kind of in the same
thought that you know, we're talking about the Astros bullpen with.

Speaker 3 (02:08:14):
With Brian a Bray.

Speaker 4 (02:08:15):
You now, Brian a Bray's agent when it comes to
contract renegotiation time is going to say, hey, my guy
has shown that he can be a closer in this league,
so we're gonna go prove it. I think that Togi
I could probably be the same way, where it's like,
now I've proven that I can get starting reps in
this league and I can be really good.

Speaker 5 (02:08:30):
Yeah, I think he's under a contract for another year.
That's the thing because they extended him beforehand, which is,
by me, what's a smart thing to do, because of
before when you see the value of a player and
you think that they're about ready to go off, you
guarantee that they're locked up for the long term.

Speaker 3 (02:08:43):
That way they can continue to prove it.

Speaker 5 (02:08:45):
But then they also get to prove it by being
on a team friendly contract that doesn't hurt your salary.

Speaker 4 (02:08:49):
Cap well, I mean just being able to have him
and especially too, I mean you know, we talked about
a little bit yesterday losing Mario Edwards Junior and Tim
Settle Junior and at least I mean not having Aziz
al Shaier behind them. In that game, that Ashton gency
was able to go off and started to make you
kind of worry about the effect in this this Texans
run defense. But again, you have Tommy Togii out there,

(02:09:12):
and for the numbers we gave you, I mean tied
for thirteenth and run stops this season, he's been really
good there. He's also been really good just in opposing backfields.

Speaker 5 (02:09:20):
There is one point three five million dollars next year
for Tommy Togi all right, So I mean you're keeping
them around for relatively cheap. That is a that's a
bargain bin price for a dude that's been valuable to
not only the runs defense.

Speaker 3 (02:09:31):
He brought up like.

Speaker 5 (02:09:32):
The Texans they don't get they don't get numbers for
this because if it's this dumb stat you gotta look
it up on next Gen. But like the Texans are
top three pressure rate and they're top fourign pressure rate
on the interior, so they do such a good job
being able to make quarterbacks at the maneuver outside the
pocket and not feel comfortable with their feet being planted
and having to you know, kind of rush some throws.

(02:09:53):
And he's been a big reason for that over the
over the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (02:09:56):
I think there's also guys in this league that are
seeing for your supper, guys that it's like, you know,
all right, hey, great stuff, do it again. Like I
think that he probably would fit into that category of like,
you know, not a high draft pick, not somebody that
was entrenched somewhere and maybe had a down year or two,
but somebody that again, you know, if you're another team

(02:10:16):
out there that'd be looking for a guy like him,
you'd say, all right, hey, you know, we'll pay you
this much, but you know, still got to see you
on a one year.

Speaker 3 (02:10:23):
Deal seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (02:10:25):
I want to bring this up to you, who's the
guy that you need to see them sign right now
before the.

Speaker 3 (02:10:29):
End of the season, because he already did that with
Tommy Tog. Yeah, that was a smart move.

Speaker 5 (02:10:33):
And you've done that in the past with Derek Barnett
and it's been a smart move, and you've done that
with several other players on the offensive side. Because if
you think that they're going.

Speaker 3 (02:10:40):
To be back.

Speaker 5 (02:10:41):
Brevin Jordan gets another deal even though he didn't play
this past season, Like, who's the guy, who's the next
guy for you?

Speaker 3 (02:10:49):
I mean, without knowing exactly who would be up for,
you know, a chance to be able to walk at
the end of the season. I can't think of anybody else.
I'm on Derek Barnett.

Speaker 5 (02:10:59):
I want him sign up for a long term deal
because then that solves your problem of having a number
four pass rusher.

Speaker 4 (02:11:04):
And it's also too I mean, you would think that
he's gonna be a lot cheaper to Daniel Hunter, because
I mean Hunter's on what two more?

Speaker 3 (02:11:11):
Is that what he's saying?

Speaker 4 (02:11:12):
Okay, I mean because then you're getting into the territory
where you're gonna have to pay Willy Anderson Junior.

Speaker 3 (02:11:16):
You're gonna have to pay CJ. Shrouds.

Speaker 4 (02:11:17):
So once you do that, then that's when you have
to be a little bit more selective in terms of
who you pay and who you keep around. And if
that's the case, maybe at that point then you feel
good about, you know, Derek Barnett being the guy that
can be opposite of Will Anderson Junr as opposed to
keeping around Daniel Hunter for a pretty high price.

Speaker 5 (02:11:39):
I know, you draft a dude and then you let
Derek Barnett be the number three, that's the rotation guy,
because again, like his value is two point two five
million dollars, Like, can you name me twenty other defensive
linemen who are getting paid two point five million? I
mean two point two five million dollars as a situational
pass rusher that has five sacks, has eleven tackles for losses,

(02:12:00):
and is actually number two on the team in pressure rates.

Speaker 4 (02:12:02):
I can't name you another one, much less twenty of them.
So I can't. I can't even give you nineteen.

Speaker 5 (02:12:07):
More, Like, you got a dude who is so dang
good at what he does in a defense that has
catered towards his strengths that he'll never meet the expectations
of a top fifteen pick, but like he'll be a
player that you know is going to add tremendous value
to a Demico Ryan's defense, and you can trust him
to kind of play that role of hey, stopgap dude.

Speaker 3 (02:12:25):
Like Woody Marks in my opinion.

Speaker 5 (02:12:27):
And I know that I'm like, oh, kind of going
all over the place, But like Woody Marks, I think
he could be a very solid, stable number two running
back in the NFL for a decade plus and nobody
would miss him.

Speaker 3 (02:12:39):
You know what he reminds me of.

Speaker 5 (02:12:40):
He is a Jamal Williams type player. You love him
as a number two. You can tep with him being
a number one for a few games. That's like Derek Barnett, Like,
if you got to start.

Speaker 3 (02:12:49):
Him for two games.

Speaker 5 (02:12:50):
Cool, I got a guy that's gonna get me a
sacond half in a game. I also know that there's
somebody else out there that I would love to be
seeing more SAPs.

Speaker 4 (02:12:57):
Again, that gets back to functional depth is what really
is at play there. I mean, because you know, if
if you've got guys that can be able to step
in and fill those roles, then you've got a good
football team. If you've got guys that you have to
ask around and wonder, hey, you know, is he well,
I don't know. I guess we'll find out, then you've
got a few more questions. And I mean it's it's
one of those that year to year you want to

(02:13:18):
be able to have as much uncertainty as possible. But
the nature of the beast is in the NFL roster
turnover is going to hit you whether you like it
or not.

Speaker 5 (02:13:25):
But the other thing that you got to remind yourself
of is that what you think is your value is
completely even what the NFL thinks is your value. Because
I thought Derek Barnett was going to get paid two
years fifteen million dollars, market said, Hey, go back to
Houston for a one year, two point five million dollar deal.

Speaker 4 (02:13:41):
Call it a day, Anthony Ray. See you guys right
there working into the conversation.

Speaker 3 (02:13:45):
You want to join them.

Speaker 4 (02:13:45):
Sed one three two one two five seven ninety against
seOne three two on two five seven ninety. It's not
a look at the shield, but it's a couple of
shield items that involve audio because well TV could be
in the future. But then also as well, you're blaming
the wrong people when it comes down to blaming these guys,
we'll discuss and let you hear those as well as

(02:14:06):
working in on the phone lines again Someone three two
on two five seven ninety Seve one three two on
two five seven ninety's the Morning Drive Dan and Cole
Sports SOX seven ninety.

Speaker 7 (02:14:15):
The New iHeartRadio on I Love the New Preset, Make
seven ninety your number one preset and get Houston Sports.

Speaker 3 (02:14:22):
You certainly don't want to miss instantly promise works. Some
of you in right now, Ray in Miami wants to
get us started.

Speaker 10 (02:14:29):
Good morning Ray, Great, Good morning guys.

Speaker 11 (02:14:33):
I have a question asked about the contracts. We can
play owner for a second. You know, you got Miles
Garrett and the other guys, Chris Jones making under thirty,
and you have Dad Prescott making sixty he's not worth sixty,
and you have trevorn Him making fifty five. What do

(02:14:54):
you legitimately offer CJ? And what do you offer you know,
Will n and Jr? Because Will Anderson junior agent gonna.

Speaker 8 (02:15:03):
Have a good argument. CJ strous agent may not have
a good argument. But i'd pay I'd mask DJ out
much as I can give HI because I'd want to
keep him. And but what are you legitimately offer them?

Speaker 10 (02:15:15):
Guys?

Speaker 3 (02:15:16):
That's my question, and I appreciate the call. I don't
know offer CJ. You don't, no, I don't not until
I see him the playoffs. That's not a conversation for
me right now. It's not.

Speaker 5 (02:15:29):
Will Anderson is the priority in my opinion going into
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (02:15:32):
Well and The good news is for CJS. I mean,
you could very easily this offseason. Hey, we'll pick up
the fifth year option. Give yourself another runway. Focus on
Will Anderson Junior first.

Speaker 5 (02:15:40):
Yeah, no, I'm not saying that you don't eventually sign CJ.
But I want to know before I see what is
gonna be the actual dollars and cents of a deal.

Speaker 3 (02:15:49):
I want to see him be able to do it
a little bit more.

Speaker 5 (02:15:51):
I want to see more of what we witness in
twenty twenty three, whether that be a sensational playoff run,
whether that be him bawling on out against Indianapolis and
then arning off next season four and zher with you know,
an average of two hundred and eighty passing yards and
an eleven to one touchdown interception ratio.

Speaker 3 (02:16:07):
Like, I want to see more.

Speaker 5 (02:16:08):
Like I'm seeing Will Anderson blossom into one of the
next great pass rushers in NFL history. I'm watching as
the dude is picking apart offensive tackles and making them
basically grob out of his feet. I'm watching as this
guy is constantly winning his battles. I've seen CJ be
a good quarterback. I'm not paying great quarterback money to

(02:16:30):
a good quarterback right now, I'm just not I.

Speaker 3 (02:16:33):
Mean, I understand it's also too.

Speaker 4 (02:16:35):
I mean, you just don't want to spend from a
situation of desperation because I mean that kind of would
seem like what it is. So it's like, all right, hey, look,
we know you want your money. We'll give you your money.
It's just not gonna happen just yet. It's going to
be a guy that we've i mean honestly gotten more
out of these last couple of years. And you've gotten
out of Stroud rookie year, you got that out of
Stroud last couple of years. I think it's probably had

(02:16:57):
some questions for some people. I don't think there's any
doubt about that.

Speaker 3 (02:16:59):
I think that.

Speaker 5 (02:17:00):
CJ again is a top twelve quarterback in the NFL.
I think that you're arguing, where do you want to
place him? Twelve, eleven, nine, Okay, whatever, I'm gonna care
until I see him consistently be able to put up
the numbers in the playoffs where he is able to deliver,
where he is able to not be in the situation
of bad offensive play calling or bad situational spots where

(02:17:21):
why does he ever drop in place.

Speaker 3 (02:17:24):
I'm not paying you money because here's the problem. In
today's NFL.

Speaker 5 (02:17:28):
It's not about how good you are, it's about how
good was the last contract. And every agent is fighting
for their player to go ahead and reset the market.
So if CJ is going to reset the market, I'm
totally fine with that, and I think that he is
the long term.

Speaker 3 (02:17:42):
Quarterback for this franchise. But you got to show.

Speaker 5 (02:17:44):
Me more than just simply oh, you know, we're gonna
go ten and seven and I'm gonna have eight interceptions
and I can place some percent it's gonna be around
sixty two percent. I gotta see more from you because
I know I can't replace well Anderson Junior. I know
I can't replace Derek Singland Junior. I know right now
I don't have a Nico Collins coming on in the building.
I do think that you can replace EJ. Strowd.

Speaker 3 (02:18:06):
I think it'd be extremely hard to replace J. Stroud.

Speaker 4 (02:18:09):
Some one three, two, one, two, five, seven ninety is
the way to get in.

Speaker 3 (02:18:13):
Anthony, what's to wi? Good morning, Anthony, Hey, good morning
tell us.

Speaker 12 (02:18:17):
Hey, So I got a guy that I think that
the Texans should make a priority. Guy that I think
that the Texans could get on a team a very
team friendly deal consistently plays ninety of the snaps on defense,
and I think is actually an anchor for this defense
is Henry to To. I would love to see the

(02:18:38):
Texans extend him. I think he does a lot of
the dirty work and he's a very consistent player, and
I think he could be a mainstay on that defense
for a long time.

Speaker 3 (02:18:49):
Appreciate Anthony.

Speaker 4 (02:18:50):
I mean, he definitely was a huge part of last
week for you. I think that probably with to Toe
just at times it's been some questions about the Coveragabille
has been a little bit of an issue. But in
terms of run defense, he's as good as there is.
I mean that you're gonna find.

Speaker 5 (02:19:07):
Last two games, he's been pretty damn good, especially when
it comes to open field tackling. And he's up for
a contract extension. So if you know, for my main
question is what do you do long term? Are you
content with that being your second linebacker, because he's gonna
want to getaid at least second linebacker money, and I'm
not saying that'll be a big time deal. Probably you're
going to add two year, eighteen million dollar contract, so

(02:19:28):
you know, base salary is seven million dollars. If you're
content with that pair alongside his HEAs al Shier cool,
so by all means make it work. If not, do
you view him as a number three that you want
to upgrade from him? Because Christian Harris is gonna be
out the door of this offseason, I think EJ. Speed
will probably get paid on the open market. So now,
no matter what you're gonna have to bring in a linebacker,

(02:19:48):
do you view him as a number two? Or is
linebacker a priority when it comes to moves to making
the off season, whether it be the draft of free agency.

Speaker 4 (02:19:56):
I mean, I think these are questions that have to
be asked because I mean it's it' also too. You know,
do you go draft wise with that, and do you
go rookie? Do you go younger at that spot? Or
you know even too, I mean, anybody that you have,
you do you want to go that route? Which I
mean I'm trying to think who would be behind him
that you'd be able to plug in. I just I
can't think of anybody you know that that fits that

(02:20:18):
mold so he can be able to go and get
some money. I mean, especially too as you mentioned the
way he's played these last couple of weeks. But I
also think that, you know, would you say that he's
one of the glue guys of this team?

Speaker 3 (02:20:30):
No, I think that.

Speaker 5 (02:20:31):
Okay, if you're going down like a pecking order of names,
like guys that are important to your defense, because I
remember doing this when we were talking about CJ.

Speaker 3 (02:20:38):
Gardner Johnson, you released him. CJ.

Speaker 5 (02:20:41):
Gardner Johnson was like number eight out of guys that
were important to your defense, I'd probably put heavy Toto
at ninth, maybe tenth, Like your defense tackles are more important.

Speaker 3 (02:20:50):
I think that Willy Anderson and Neil Hunter more important.

Speaker 5 (02:20:53):
Caleb Block's been playing Avis Mine, Kamar Last has been
playing abs Mine, Derek Sidony Junior is probably number two
on the team importance of defense. So where isy a
lot like nine ten? Would that would that be where
you kind of put him Toto.

Speaker 3 (02:21:06):
U in terms of just like the overall pack of
importance and pecking order. Yeah. Probably.

Speaker 5 (02:21:10):
So, So that's a guy that I think is replaceable.
If you're not in the top seven, you were replaceable
at that point. That doesn't mean that I want to
replace you. I think Henry toto has earned the right
to compete for a contracted extension. I think he's done
his part to where people want it back next season
and they want.

Speaker 3 (02:21:26):
It back for the long term.

Speaker 5 (02:21:27):
But it's not like I'm sitting here and saying when
Derek Sington Junior walks out that door, we're in deep
trouble when Will Anderson Junior gets signed to a big
time deal, because if we don't want to match him
in terms of pound for pound money, we are gonna
be in We're gonna be in a world of hurt.
We're gonna be fine if is he's I mean, we're
gonna be fine. If Henry Totoa has decides to leave
it in two.

Speaker 3 (02:21:46):
Years, well, I mean, and that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (02:21:48):
I mean for the other two guys you mentioned, No,
you can't lose those guys. I mean, Stingley has shown
yet he is the best corner in the league right now,
and that Willy Anderson Junior is showing you that he's
one of the best ed rushers in the game. Those
are both things that are not easily replaceable. See inside linebacker.
I can find somebody they'll be able to rack up tackles.

Speaker 3 (02:22:05):
See the thing though.

Speaker 5 (02:22:05):
Is and this is again me probably looking at it
just from the perspective of how well he's played this year.
And I'm not saying that you needed to not sign
him to a deal because if you did, and I'm
fine with signing him to a deal because if he's
been elite, he's been the best cornerback in the NFL.
You're right, But with how kamarao Lasser's been playing this year, man,
I mean, like, I'm content signing him too a shorter
contract because if he is going to cost you less

(02:22:27):
money and he's done a good job covering number ones.

Speaker 3 (02:22:29):
Kind of reminds me of the conversation that Will Compton
and Clay Matthews had where Clay Matthews said playing inside
linebacker was easy and Compton was like, no, it wasn't.
He was like, yes, it was, yes, it was yes,
and one thousand percent was we had.

Speaker 5 (02:22:44):
I remember growing up, we had one of the dumbest
guys on the team play inside linebacker because here's what
he was told. Guard goes left, you go right, guard
goes right, you go left. That's all you gotta do.
That's the only thing that we ask of you when
you're on the outside and you're going up against a
six foot eight, three hundred and thirty pound offensive tackle
and he's trying to break your soul.

Speaker 3 (02:23:06):
As a pass rusher, it's completely different.

Speaker 5 (02:23:08):
Like Brian Cushing sucked so bad as an outside linebacker,
they moved into inside. Guess what happened. One of the
best inside linebackers in of the twenty tens.

Speaker 3 (02:23:17):
Like it just works that way.

Speaker 4 (02:23:19):
Him and Dimiko rans that was quite a pair. Especially
when Wade Phillips got here. You saw just how good
those guys could be together.

Speaker 5 (02:23:25):
Like it was such a good understanding of Hey, dude,
you can't rust the passer. You're gonna get your ass
kicked on every single play. Let's move he inside.

Speaker 3 (02:23:33):
I'll look at that. You get one hundred and twenty.

Speaker 5 (02:23:35):
Five tackles, you have two sacks on the year, you
go to the Pro Bowl. Congratulations, I'm playing so well
at this position.

Speaker 4 (02:23:40):
And defensive Rookie of the Year too. Seem to work
out well. You know, sometimes it's the moves that pay off.

Speaker 5 (02:23:45):
Wasn't Tomika Ryan's an outside linebacker in Alabama and then
moved to inside. I don't know, I know he moved in.
I know he moved inside when he got to camp.
I'm not sure if he was practicing with the outside
linebackers and then shifted inside, but again perfect move.

Speaker 3 (02:23:58):
Guess what he end up beat a pro bowler.

Speaker 4 (02:23:59):
Here, all right, So maybe a TV move for either
or maybe even both of these guys.

Speaker 3 (02:24:05):
And then also two we're blaming the wrong people.

Speaker 4 (02:24:07):
We'll have both of those for you as we close
things out here on a Tuesday edition of the Morning
Try with Dan and Coles Sports Talk seven ninety The
Matt Thomas Show with Ross coming up next two. But first,
I want to talk with you about my good friends
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Speaker 3 (02:24:38):
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Speaker 4 (02:24:41):
Because if you have one thing to focus on, then
you've got a better chance at success then if you
have Hey, I want to do this, I want to
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(02:25:26):
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Dan Matthews from Sports Talk seven ninety sent you by.

Speaker 7 (02:25:42):
They are on Morning Drive. Here's Dan Matthews and Cole Thompson.
But I love the New Year's Day slate this year
because it's what I grew up on. Because remember when
you were a kid, it was the Citrus Bowl, got
the day started, Yeah, and then you got the Rose
Bowl and the Yeah, and then that night you have

(02:26:03):
the Sugar Bowl.

Speaker 3 (02:26:05):
Yes, but at the same time, there's not the Citrus
Bowl this year. It's the Orange Bowl. Well, I mean yeah, So,
I mean look, so.

Speaker 5 (02:26:10):
You're just saying you would like to have high. You
would just like to have high Seniors.

Speaker 3 (02:26:13):
It's it's it's in the it's in the citrus family,
so it still works out. But yeah, the one's a
lemon and the lime, and the other one's just an orange. Well,
I mean, no, citrus is all of them lemons, limes, line,
you know. The orange. Well, it's just the orange. It's
only one, Okay, but it's it's it's part of citrus. Yeah,
but it's not the Citrus Bowl. It's the problem. Okay,
you're getting into the weeds here.

Speaker 5 (02:26:32):
Because if it's not the same, I get it. It is
the same because of.

Speaker 3 (02:26:35):
Its three bowl games that involve fruit with one of them,
but it's not the same bowl game anyway.

Speaker 4 (02:26:40):
You're gonna have the Orange Bowl that's gonna lead things off,
and then you get the Rose and then you get
the sugar. So I was like, it's got me nostalgic
because when I was growing up, we did friend family
friends of ours used to throw what was called rib
rama every year. They would get ribs shipped in from
Rendezvous Ribs in Memphis, smoke them up and it would
make just be a chance for the parents to have

(02:27:02):
a few cocktails, watch the games, and we.

Speaker 3 (02:27:04):
All just basically your family creedy.

Speaker 10 (02:27:07):
No.

Speaker 3 (02:27:07):
Yeah, absolutely, So it's like Festinus pretty much. Okay, I
appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (02:27:11):
So, I mean, you know, and and I've already talked
with a couple of buddies of mine and we're going
to reprise Riberama where I've said I will bring some
barbecue over and we'll watch games.

Speaker 5 (02:27:20):
So you're just bringing the barbecue over. You're not setting
it in for Memphis this time. No, okay, where.

Speaker 3 (02:27:24):
Are you going though?

Speaker 4 (02:27:25):
Uh, still to be determined on that. Really, it's it's
it's just it's about no free plugs. But it's just
about who's open that day. Oh so you're just going
based off of who's open.

Speaker 10 (02:27:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:27:36):
Yeah, so if I you know, if I know someone's open,
then then I'll go to there.

Speaker 3 (02:27:39):
See I am.

Speaker 5 (02:27:40):
I would be game planning this, like I'd be scouting
out the territory. I'd be having them present me arguments
pros and cons on why you should be my ribs
for Riberama, like I would.

Speaker 3 (02:27:48):
Be that person. The pros and cons are going to
be what the prices are. That's that's what the pros
and cons. That's actually you know what, you know what.

Speaker 5 (02:27:54):
I'm not even going with the joke about well that's fair,
that's a percent factual.

Speaker 3 (02:27:57):
All right.

Speaker 4 (02:27:58):
So as mentioned, you know with the Texans, if indeed
they are a wildcard team, then Sunday night, it's gonna
matter and that's going to be the Steelers and the
Ravens taking on each other. But might it also be
the end of the line for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh
and with John Harball in Baltimore. That very topic came

(02:28:18):
up yesterday with Adam Schefter when he was on the
Pat McAfee show.

Speaker 13 (02:28:22):
Mike Tomlin and John Harbor, for all they've done, for
all they've meant to their respective organizations, for all they've
meant to the National Football they will have a big say.
You mentioned owners, I didn't say owners. I think these
guys will go in there and say, okay, you know what,
it's been a great One of them may go in
there and say it's been a great run. Might be
time to go try something else, whether that's TV or

(02:28:45):
another job somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (02:28:48):
Like those things are possible.

Speaker 4 (02:28:51):
It'd be interesting to see either of those guys doing TV,
because I mean, I don't necessarily see them as booth guys.

Speaker 3 (02:28:57):
I would see them as in studio guys.

Speaker 4 (02:28:59):
And I mean CBS they seem like they're pretty internched
right now. Same deal with Fox, although I mean you
wonder how much, you know more that Terry would want
to do this. Isn't this the last year for Jimmy?
Isn't Jimmy stepping away after this?

Speaker 3 (02:29:13):
Not? Not? Yeah, I think he's got one more year.

Speaker 4 (02:29:15):
Okay, So I mean, you know, but soon enough he's
gonna want to say, hey, you know what key West
works for me?

Speaker 3 (02:29:19):
I'm good. But I mean it could also be to
the point where I mean, yeah, I mean, oh, you
said Jimmy my bad, Jimmy's already done.

Speaker 4 (02:29:26):
Okay, Yeah, I thought you said Terry for Oh okay,
all right, So it shows you how much I watch
pregame shows. But I mean Tomlin has been in Pittsburgh
what sixteen years?

Speaker 3 (02:29:37):
Okay, nineteen years and same deal. So the longest tenured.

Speaker 4 (02:29:40):
Coaches at their spots, it's those two yeaheah where Harbaugh
has been there since two thousand and eight.

Speaker 3 (02:29:44):
I believe this was his first season in Baltimore. Okay,
But one would get hired immediately. The other one may
take a year off. Like Tomlin if he became available,
would be the most sought after coach in the NFL
my opinion.

Speaker 4 (02:29:55):
Here's another name to keep a team to keep an
eye on, because coaches cove at jobs like Tampa Bay.
Like if Tampa Bay runs out, Todd Bowles, look for
that run out Todd Bowles.

Speaker 5 (02:30:08):
Like, if you're asking me right now, who is the
one coach that I would love to see get fired?
Because if I think the he's the reason the team
is being held back, it's Todd Bowles. It's one hundred
percent him. So if I'm Harbaugh, I'd go on there, Tom,
and I'd go on there. I think of some reason
the Pittsburgh Steelers move off of my Tom.

Speaker 3 (02:30:23):
When he goes to New York.

Speaker 4 (02:30:24):
Well, didn't have time to get to Troy Man. But
here's the beauty of radio. You get to do it
all over again tomorrow, so we'll have that for you tomorrow.
And oh, by the way, it's gonna be five hours
of me and you tomorrow because the Matt Thomas Show
is so huge that you have to have three sets
of people.

Speaker 3 (02:30:40):
That's the show exactly. So you're gonna have us for
the ten to eleven and then you're gonna have Adam
Wexler from eleven to one, and then you'll get Longhorn football.
Do you have an early gauge on that game yet?

Speaker 5 (02:30:51):
No, don't really care, you know what. That's how we're
out of the show. How dare you say you don't
care about the Citrus Bowl? How dare it's the cheese
at Bowl you wake up feeling the cheesiest man.

Speaker 3 (02:31:01):
Well, I'll leave that for you.

Speaker 4 (02:31:03):
He's Cole Thompson, Triple Emmaniel Elmore, Dan Matthews, Matt Thomas
Show with Ross come on your way next and we
will talk to you in twenty hours.