Rockets vs. Pelicans Preview, Texans Final Stretch, Kelly in Vegas & John Michaels Join 790

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the morning drive with Dad and Cole.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Also, the rocket's going to be back on the flour
tonight taking on the Pelicans in New Orleans. And yesterday
finally happened, Imo Udoka dinged by the NBA twenty five
thousand dollars coming out of the direct deposit for him.
Although I already told you, Cole, I don't think that's
going to be the case. If I had to guess,
I'm guessing that the rockets are going to say, you
know what, let's go ahead and save you from that one.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Sorry.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
I'm pretty sure that Zach Zabi has gotta be the
one to actually pay that fine, because if he was
the moro on that allowed his crew to make those
dumb ass decisions.

Speaker 5 (00:40):
Or Zach Zarba would be the one.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
But Tomato, Tomato, Zebra still suck. The officials are just
tear what they're chops, as evident by what we have
seen so far in the NBA for the last year
and a half. Can't get the story right, can't do
anything to go ahead and convince us that they know
what they're doing. But congratulations, sure, whatever your name is,
Zach will go ahead and give you the fine as
long as you want to pay up here.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, so that's some just some of the things that
have been happening overnight.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
But you earn his name when he learns how to win,
when he actually is good at his job.

Speaker 5 (01:09):
That's fine. Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, remember I've said it before. Buddy of mine had
a saying, you know, there's the right way to do it,
there's the way that you're doing it. That's that's pretty
much what zach Zarba.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
My mom does this all the time. But she doesn't
like somebody, she purposely says their name wrong by like
one letter. Really yeah, so like let's say that your
name was Dan, she'd call you Don if she didn't
like you, okay, a zach Zarbia, zach Zebra, that's what
I call.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I appreciate you giving me her tell on that. You know,
I always appreciate people who do that. And then like
once you catch.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
On, what does she say to you?

Speaker 4 (01:41):
All? I, oh, your your your co host Don is
fantastic mom and Stan oh I know yep, because she's
totally gonna go out of her way to make sure
she says those things.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's almost like what's her name? On Landman By calling
Nate Neil.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yeah, but Neil is a forgetable character.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I mean, I think because she does explain it
this most recent appisode where she's just like, he just
doesn't look like.

Speaker 5 (02:02):
A Nate, he looks like a Neil, to be fair,
because he does look like a Neil. See Okay, she.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
Is right though on that, Like real, they really should
have thought about this. We're trying to because there are
some sometimes where they go out of their way to
be like, oh, let's name a character. This No, Neil
actually would have fit him a lot better than.

Speaker 5 (02:17):
You don't get a lot of Neils anymore either, you know, like.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
That Neil feels like such a nerdy name, and having
a lawyer that's working alongside both Cammi and with that
Billy about Thornton, it feels like that that's a pretty
good fit for him.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, I mean, the most famous Neil around here was
the former kh Ou eleven Neil Frank meteorologists. See I
think of Neil de grass Tyson. That's the first one, Yeah,
Neil de grass Tyson. I would say that probably that's
the most widely known.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
For sure scientist webs, somebody who is probably going to
be involved with numbers that I don't care about guess
what Neil works with numbers when it comes to the
oil rig And we're.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Not talking about the you know, last names like obviously
Shaquille O'Neill.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
No, it's gotta be first names, right, Why would why
would last name make you feel like a nerd?

Speaker 5 (03:01):
You have?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
It was funny to see probably about like the early
two thy tens or so, that you started to see
Shaquiels playing college football Jack Griffin, Jack Mason.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Yeah, okay, so you're saying the kids born in the
nineties were now shock at that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, that's where you started to see that name kind
of come along. But anyway, the Texans' final three games here,
and I mean, you know, as we've talked about all week,
we're not too concerned about this one.

Speaker 5 (03:32):
I don't think anybody is. I mean, was it.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
I think I heard a Wex say on it the
other day on the A team that there's been multiple
times this season that the Raiders have had just over
or right at one hundred yards of total offense.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Dan Matthews, Ladies and gentlemen, the Las Vegas Raiders have
pulled off the impossible feat of losing two games by
the exact same score on four different occasions this year.
It's never happened in the NIA where the same score
and nearly the same identical stat line has appeared. They
have lost two games thirty one and nothing this year.

(04:07):
They have also lost two games by a differential of
twenty eight points, and they nearly had the same offensive numbers. Like,
I'm not spending time talking about what happens if the
Las Vegas Raiders come on in on a three point
thirty kick, because for some reason, CBS decided to go
ahead and push the game back to make our lives
pure hell, to go ahead and see what happened if

(04:27):
they lose, because they're not going to lose, Like the
Texans are going to be able to play their backups
by the third quarter, They're going to be able to
see what Davis Mills can do if need be in
a pinch, and they're going to be able to figure
out where are we defensively depth wise heading into the playoffs,
Like that needs to be a priority, Like that's a
non negotiable for me if we want to continue to
have the conversation about them being a legit playoff contender.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, and you know, we had joked all along that
this was going to be a Spirodidas in Adam Marchialtta game.

Speaker 6 (04:54):
PLA.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, it's Andrew Catalan, who is calling his two hundredth game,
by the way, and I think his very first one
was the Texans, if I was reading it correctly.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
So why did that the punish him with this two
hundred game calling this one?

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Well?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
I mean maybe they were like, hey, you know, this
is a milestone for you, and let's go ahead and
have it with the team that you started against with
with with.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
The team that also is fighting for the number one
overall pick. I feel like that's a slap in the face, Like,
what do you think of me? Texans are one of
the hottest teams in the NFL right now. He's probably
he's probably excited to have this one. Good food in
this town, so a nice little dinner on Saturday night.
I guarantee you he is probably miserable having to go
call Raiders games and looking at the stat lines of
an organization that's gonna have yet another one and done.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
Coach.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
No, I mean, at least he's a guy that has
played by play chops. I mean, that's something else that
maybe we won't get into today, but Chris Gordy alerted
me to this that, well, I mean, that's that's something
we can get to another time. We're talking Texans right now.
Far be it from me to get off track at times,
but I mean, you know, just after this one, I mean,
you've got you know, the Los Angeles Chargers coming up,

(05:54):
and then you've got the Colts to finish out the season. Now,
I mean, We've said it numerous times, and Adam Wexler
again pointed this out on Twitter the other day. The
Texans cannot clinch, but they would be in position where
it's pretty much two out of these next three they're
in even if they go zero for three, which is

(06:15):
not going to happen, but even if, just for the
sake of argument, that were to happen, they would need
a lot for the teams that are behind them, which
only two other teams and only really one of them
has a chance to catch them for a wild card spot,
right exactly. And I was trying to think who the
other one was, because I mean Baltimore, well, I mean Baltimore.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
Baltimore's fighting more so for the AFC North.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Because Baltimore in a sense also has to make up
an extra game against the Texans because they beat them.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, but what I'm saying is that they need to
win on out and the Texans need to lose on
out for that even to become a discussion. And at
that point, wouldn't that become a Pittsburgh Steelers thing for
the Texans because it feels like at this point, the
only thing that we're wondering about when it comes to
Baltimore and Pittsburgh is who's hosted a playoff game Round one.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, So, I mean the teams that are on the
bubble right now, Indianapolis is one of them. If they
get to win on Monday Night against the forty nine ers,
they have a twenty six percent chance to make the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (07:08):
According to NFL dot.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Com, with Philip Rivers right exactly, They're currently at twelve percent,
and if they lose, it's all the way down the
six percent, which would basically mean that one more Texans
win after Sunday, then the cults are completely out.

Speaker 5 (07:22):
Okay, not out of curiosity.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
If the Texans were to win both of their next
two games and the Jaguars were to win both of
their next two games, does that automatically mean that the
Texans are a wild card team requests in week eighteen.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yes, yeah, because I mean it just depends on what
would happen in week eighteen. But of course, you know,
week eighteen, Jacksonville plays against Tennessee and I think they
could probably play their.

Speaker 5 (07:45):
Backups, and then Houston plays against Indianapolis. But that at
that point it doesn't matter because if Jacksonville were to
be they have twelve wins at that point, right.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
So you really would like for Denver to be able
to handle business against the Jacks this weekend because if
they do, and that knocks them to ten and five
and the Texans are at ten and five, I mean,
I think you've laid out the tiebreakers. The Texans would
currently be in first place. They would be in first
place going into next weekend. Now, depending on what happens
between the Chargers and the Colts, they still could not

(08:13):
click both the Texans and the jaguarsers clinton wild card spot.
But the Texans still would have to beat Indianapolis because
if they finished five and one in the division, then
they have the head to heads. Well, I mean, I
think it's pretty simple here. Just went out. I mean
you went out your division champs. Oh no, I don't
think there's any doubt about that, because.

Speaker 5 (08:29):
You need help.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
You still need Denver to beat up on Jacksonville. You
need Denver to beat up on Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
And then I'll tell you what I mean from what
we saw last weekend with the Colts, I mean that
defense pretty salty, and you obviously know what Jonathan Taylor is.
That game next week's at home for them against Jacksonville.

Speaker 5 (08:46):
Okay, can I ask you, out of curiosity, what would
you rather see happen from a perception of the AFAFC
playoff race? Would you rather see Jacksonville beat Denver but
loose Indianapolis, or loose Indianapolis and beat jackson and beat
Indianapples and losing Indianapolis and beat Denver.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Well, you mean, like, so the first one beat Denver,
lose to Indianapolis, or lose to Denver beat indian There
you go. I mean I would say that probably lose
to Indy because that would be the divisional record because
if you.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
Lose to Indy, even if that that tiebreaker happens, then
you have the Texans at five and one, and you
would have the Jaguars at Bordorn two.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
So then you get the head to head.

Speaker 4 (09:28):
If you are in a tiebreaker regardless because of division records,
so that gives you the advantage at that point.

Speaker 5 (09:34):
Well, I'll tell you what too.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I mean, just uh, you know, I don't know how
I happened upon this, but apparently Broncos Twitter really wants to,
you know, try to get after Texans fans, which I
don't really understand.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
Because of their salty right now. They're very salty about
the way the NFL looks at them as an actual franchise.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Well, I mean, it's it's hard to look at them
as anything other than being a successful franchise with the
Super Bowls they have. But I mean and at the
same time though, too, I mean, you just watched this
team and you're just kind of like, doesn't it feel
like that this luck will eventually run out?

Speaker 5 (10:07):
Because that's the point is that's why they're so annoyed.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
It's because if they're saying it's not luck, they're saying
that we've earned the right to be considered a top
tier team in the AFC.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
It's almost kind of like the twenty eleven Green Bay Packers,
who are fifteen and one going into the playoffs, and
then they faced a hot New York Giants team that
year and the Giants absolutely just crushed them in that
game at Lambeau.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
Okay, but to ask you in return, you do have
a team that's sitting at twelve and two. You're still
viewed by many in the public eye as like the
fifth or sixth ranked team in all the NFL.

Speaker 5 (10:35):
We don't trust your quarterback, we don't trust your offense.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
Seeing me one that I'm not arguing with you. I
think you're one hundred percent right. Why would we trust
a team that needs a fourth quarter comeback every other
week to guarantee a win. But there are people saying, well,
we think that Green Bay is better than you, despite
being nine and four. We think this Chicago's better than you,
despite basically having a similar approach to what is with you.
Second year quarterback, needs a lot of comebacks, needs the
defense to force some stops. We think that's Yattle is

(11:00):
miles better than you, Los Angeles miles better than you,
New England, Buffalo. We'll even go as far as say
the Texans and the Jaguars have a better case than you.
And it's like, but we're sitting at twelve and two,
but we're the only team in the AFC that clinchedest
spot in the playoffs. Like, at some moment, drop the
other shoe and give us at least a little bit
of credit for what we've been able to accomplish this year.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
I mean, even though it was a one score win,
they did control that game last week against green Bay.
I mean, I will give them that. I mean, green
Bay did have a lead for a little bit of it,
but it wasn't one of those where they had to
have a miraculous fourth quarter to come back like that.

Speaker 5 (11:35):
That was a pretty impressive win by Denver. I'll give
him that.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
I will say because and here's the reason why I
would love to see what you just brought up when
it comes to Indianapolis getting.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
The win and Jacksonville beating Denver.

Speaker 4 (11:44):
Denver being the two seed, honestly, to me, seems more
like a better fit for if you're the four seed
with the Texans or if you're a wildcard team, because
I guess what would happen if you were end up
beating the team that was as a wildcar team, you
would go face off against New England. I do believe
that there's enough with Denver to Buysock that they will
at least make it a game at home. Again, I

(12:08):
think New England is fools goal. I'm not sold on
them in what in any capacity. I think that they're
the team that the other shoe is going to drop
at some point. They are going to show their true
colors when against the playoffs, not been here before, not
being able to ever handle the pressure of playing in
the postseason, and they're gonna crumble underneath it where Denver
I think could at least make it a battle. So
let's say that you end up get in the five

(12:28):
seed and you end up not winning the division. I
think your pathway to the AFC Championship game is miles
better faced off against either Baltimore or Pittsburgh on the
road and then having to go face off against a
team in Foxborough, then facing off against Denver.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I mean, maybe you wouldn't have a home playoff game,
which I know a lot of Texans fans want, and
I mean also too, I mean, winning the division, you
would be pretty much locked in, not pretty much, you
would be locked into that three seed if the Texans
were able to pull that off. So then you're really
rooting hard for either Buffalo or for LA to go
to New England and win that game, because I mean,

(13:04):
you're able to do that. You're able to, you know,
hopefully take out whoever you have in that wildcard round.
Then you know what that would mean for the divisional round,
you'd be home.

Speaker 5 (13:13):
Okay, do you really worry about anybody that you would
face off as if you were the five seed? No?

Speaker 2 (13:18):
No, Either either Baltimore or Pittsburgh. Those are teams that
the way that you know, wild card games have gone. Now,
granted they've been at home in this case, you'd be
on the road. But I mean the way that Baltimore
is this year, Lamar Jackson's not having a good season.
I'm not worried about Baltimore whatsoever. And then the same deal,
Aaron Rodgers is a shell of who he used to be.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Now, let me ask you, how would you feel about
if you were the sixth seed and Jacksonville was the
three seed?

Speaker 5 (13:45):
Would you like that matchup? Oh?

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I would, because I mean I think that this is
a team that realizes that they let one slip away there.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
They're not afraid of the Jags.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
And remember too, I mean you came back from nineteen
points down with Davis Mills as your quarterback in that game,
the Texans would be ready for that one. And I
mean for all of the oh we're being disrespected that
you heard from Liam Cohen and from Trevor Lawrence and
from Travis etn that's all fine and good.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
You're just not as good as the Texans, Okay. I
want to bring this pure and simple. I want to
bring this up with you at the when we come back.
I want you to blind rank these teams that you
would face off against in the first round of the
playoffs based off how likely you think they're going to win.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Well do that will also lay out a challenge that
Demiko Ryans has for this group on his team, and
also too as the show goes along. Yesterday, Demico and
c J. Stroud speaking with the media get to them.
Couldn't Astros deal be imminent?

Speaker 5 (14:39):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (14:39):
So we will also have that as the show goes
nine o'clock, we're gonna have Kelly in Vegas talk a
little gambling with her.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
And also to.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Nine thirty today, my good buddy John Michaels from the
Caine Gang Radio Show on Sirius XM focused on the
Miami Hurricanes. We'll get that side of Saturday's matchup against
Texas A and M. So we got all of that
right here. So we're just getting going here on a Thursday,
we're finally to that point in the week, right here
on the Morning Drive with Dan and Cole Sports Talk

(15:08):
seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
Back to the Morning Drive. Here's Dan Matthews and Cole Thompson.

Speaker 5 (15:18):
Blind rankings. Go ahead and throw them at me, all right.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
So we got five teams that you have an opportunity
to face off against, either in the wild card around
as in a way opponent or at home. So no thinking,
just a shrouded dumb Number one. Pittsburgh Steelers one through five?
Where are you putting them?

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Number one? Okay? Number two, New England Patriots. Number two,
you want to face them? Second? Yeah, okay, Jacksonville Jaguars.
I am in number two. I'm gonna go with them.
Number two, you can't. It's blind, right, I got all right?
So number three okay, Number four, Pittsburgh Steelers, I mean
I Baltimore Ravens about number four?

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Hi?

Speaker 4 (15:54):
So number five? You want to face off against the
Indianapolis Colts?

Speaker 5 (15:57):
Oh yeah, So.

Speaker 4 (15:58):
You want the indianapp You think the hot is going
to be the hardest scene that you would face off
against in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
I don't think they'd be the hardest, but I mean, again,
just as I said, I mean, this is a Baltimore
team that has been banged up for much of this season.
Lamar Jackson, same deal there. I mean, I have to
probably guess that this is going to be one of
those that once the Ravens are eliminated, you're gonna hear
about some surgery or something for Lamar, Like there's going
to be because he had the ankle, that he had

(16:22):
the hamstring early on in the season. That it's going
to be kind of what you hear in situations like
this whenever a team has a down year. Oh yeah,
you know, he was battling a foot or something like
that through the season. You know, probably if we were out,
he shouldn't have been playing any of those different types
of things that's gonna be in play.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
Okay, So you do realize that if you were to
face off against the New England Patriots as you ranked
at number two, you'd be probably hosted. I mean, you'd
probably be traveling to Foxborough as the sixth seed.

Speaker 5 (16:49):
No, you definitely would.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
I mean, and that's the thing, is the way that
the playoff standings are at this moment. I mean, I
don't know what the tiebreaker would be with them, but
they've got a lot of wins. Yeah, so I mean
they they would they would have to lose at least
three more games.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
They would have to lose out for them to be
not in the number two seeds, right, and then to
also go ahead and follow their way eat into the
number three spot.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Right, And they've got the They've got Baltimore, So I mean,
you know, you've got at least one team who's trying
to fight to still make the playoffs, and then you've
got the Patriots who are trying to lock themselves into
that number two. So I mean kind of like the
Texans where you can't, you know, get in with a
win this weekend, but you also then set yourself up
for another one then then you're in. I mean, it's

(17:30):
for the Patriots, I mean, just to be able to
get that one and go ahead and get it out
of the way.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
So for me, the order would have been number one. Pittsburgh.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
I don't believe in Pittsburgh, we all know that if
they make the playoffs, they're going to be the worst
team out there. That's just my opinion. Number two would
be Baltimore. I don't think Baltimore is healthy offensively. I
think that if you could shut down Derrick Henry like
you did in round one, even though they have a
great defense, you would be kind kind of content. Number
three I actually agree with you. I think that New
England is still fools goal to a certain extent. Number

(17:59):
four is Indianapolis because I just don't think that Philip
Rivers can sustain this long enough. Number five Jacksonville, because
again it's a divisional round. It's a divisional opponent. You've
already faced off against them twice. On one hand, you
need a sixteen point comeback, I mean nineteen point comeback
to guarantee a win. On the other hand, you let
the game slip away. But now we have two different
dividends of how games have gone. And I do think

(18:21):
that even though you could say, on one hand, yeah,
Jacksonville their fools gold, I don't believe in them. It's
a divisional matchup, and to me, that's always just going
to play a factor into it to where you've got
to expect the unexpected.

Speaker 5 (18:33):
And Jacksonville, I don't believe that Trevor Lawrence is is
as good as advertised.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
I think that they aren't actually going to be able
to do much in the postseason if they were to
play Houston. But still, the thing that I look at
is their defense has kind of turned the corner enough
to where you can believe it will be a low
scoring affair. And Jakobe Myers, we have not given enough
credit to really smart pick up by Jacksonville outside of
that Houston game.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Well, and here's the thing too, is I mean this
is a Jaguar team that only a month ago had
to take the Arizona Cardinals. Granted it was on the road,
it'd take them the overtime to beat them. And I
mean we're able to win that game. On the flip
side of that though, too, I mean able to handle
the Chargers at home pretty easily. And then the last
couple of weeks have been pretty much walks in the
park for them. Seventeen point win over Indianapolis. Of course,

(19:20):
Daniel Jones goes down in that game, and then able
to take out a hapless Jets team.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
Close of the year with games against the Broncos, Colts,
and Titans. Do you think that three of those possible?
I think they lose one of those games. So you
are sold that they are going to fish.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, they're gonna be a twelve and five football team
because Denver's a tough enough place to play, and I mean,
Denver just finds a way. So it's gonna be a
fun game to be watching, you know, side by side
with the Texans. I gotta believe I'll probably have that
up on some monitor near me, you know, just being
able to keep up with what's happening in that one
while the Texans games going on.

Speaker 5 (19:55):
Are the Texans going to go twelve and five, therefore
making it a headhead? I think they will.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
I think this is a team that is playing their
best football obviously right now, and I mean this weekend's
not gonna be an issue. It's next weekend against the
Chargers team that I'm not one hundred percent sold on.
You've got a banged up quarterback who had a surgically
repaired left hand.

Speaker 5 (20:14):
I mean, you have a crappy offensive line right now
in that too.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
I mean it's just your defensive front against that patchwork
yet group. I mean They are a really advantageous defense
though too. They they're not as good as you overall,
but they are a team that probably is a little
bit better than you in terms of getting turnovers.

Speaker 5 (20:31):
See.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
But to me, that's where I will push back and
say the reason why'd rather face off against Los Angeles
in the playoffs. The Jacksonville is Jacksonville. As you met
just mentioned their defense, I mean, live with Los Angeles.

Speaker 5 (20:42):
Their defense.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
Yeah, it's not elite, but it's good enough to get
the job done and keep you in games. I feel
that way about Jacksonville right now because, yes, common opponent.
You look at the numbers and what they've been able
to say so far. It doesn't make you feel as
if they've absolutely turned the corner and made themselves a
favorite in the division race. But it is good enough
to say, hey, we're holding you to three points, we're
holding you to a Kyami Fairbrand field goal, we're keeping

(21:04):
you out of the red zone, therefore allowing their offense
to do just enough behind Traves etn and maybe a
bit pass downfield over to Jacobe Myers that ends up
being a winning, a ten to seven affair.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, and then you know in week eighteen against the Colts.
You're probably getting Riley Leonard time in that one.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
So you don't think that we will see Philip Rivers
make his debut one last time.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
I think once they're eliminated from the playoffs, Styi'll just say, hey,
let's see what we have in Riley Leonard, and who knows,
maybe even Anthony Richardson gets a little bit of a peny.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
Hear you, sir, I am praying begging for the Texans
to be able to send Philip Rivers out in style,
in a hearst in a body back.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Just just playing these next couple of weeks, and then
once you get to week eighteen, he can basically start
his NFL coaching journey.

Speaker 5 (21:52):
So you wanted to be on the sidelines for this one, Yeah, No,
I want him on the field. You came back to
set a statement about who you are as a and
why the dissolvement of coaches right now, because I'll tell
you right now who's suffering the most when it comes
to the entire Philip Rivers scheme. These private quarterback coaches
who are all about like I'm working with these guys

(22:12):
side by side. We got a forty four year old
that literally came off the couch and has looked better
than a billion.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
Backups over the last five years. Make him plays against
a good defense in Seattle. You brought him back. You
bring him back to faceoff against this defensive front.

Speaker 5 (22:26):
You ays hear you use him. You do not get
to go ahead and find a way to pony on
out and say, oh, it's it's Houston's defense. Thanks, but
no thanks, Rivers. You signed up for this. You're going
down with the ship.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
In my opinion, you don't get to go ahead and say, oh,
this is where I retire again. Guys, Sorry, Will Anderson
and Neil Hunter. Thanks, but no thanks. I enjoy life
too much. You knew what you were signing up for.
This was the one you were signing up for.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Now.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
You heard what he said the other day, you know,
being scared about what might happen. You know the easy
thing is to duck and run. And he didn't duck
and run, so he better.

Speaker 5 (22:58):
Not duck and run.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
When you have a front set two all Pro defensive
linemen and a secondary that is making plays left and
right and basically shutting down quarterbacks in the back end,
you don't get stuck and run from that. You don't
run from adversity because of it's a it's a lowly
team like Jacksonville or a team like Seattle. You gotta
face it head on with the defense that's good enough
to win you a super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
No, and they definitely he would be definitely facing a
defense that fits that criteria because that's what the Texans
defense is right now. But what about another group on
this Texans team? Miko Ryan's shooting a little bit of
a challenge to said group.

Speaker 5 (23:31):
What you hear from him?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
As we continue here in the six o'clock hour on
this Thursday edition of The Morning Drive with Dan and Coles.

Speaker 5 (23:38):
Sports Talk seven ninety Matt Brin shingoon, Hey, Solpi turns left,
Spens Rise stay clutched with the iHeart Radio Sports Doll
seven to nine palm all Ruckus basketball.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
That the NBA just realized that they messed up. But
still we're like, you know, yeah, hey, we're gonna gaslight
you by by saying, how dare you criticize our officials?
Although I mean, you know, we know that, and he
actually appealed out or no, I'm not sure about you know, fines,
I mean suspensions.

Speaker 5 (24:10):
Obviously you can, but fines, I don't know if you can.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
Because then don't come out with the comments saying, hey, guys,
we royally messed up and then drop a twenty five
thousand dollars fine afterwards, Like you can't advocate and eat
it too either, fully embrace being the villains of basketball
and never admitting that you cost a team a game,
or go ahead and say, hey, are bad, We're gonna
rescind this offer. How about you go ahead and pay
us one thousand dollars and just say you're sorry next

(24:33):
time your next guy.

Speaker 5 (24:34):
Just pay us nothing. Or okay, listen, just apologize for
what you said about our officials. We'll call it even steved. Yeah, apologies,
you know where I see.

Speaker 6 (24:43):
In on that.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
And wait, so why is it okay for them to
then say, oh, our bad, but here's a twenty five
thousand dollars fine, But it's not okay form to say, yeah, okay,
I probably should have kept my mouth shut.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
He should do the Connor McGregor tell him he's gonna
apologize and just be like, you don what I apologize
for nothing?

Speaker 5 (24:59):
Yeah, I mean these these officials were terrible.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
And I'll say it again, it's kind of like one
of those that you know, A buddy of mine once
said that if he caught an assault charge against somebody
that he couldn't stand, you know, had to answer for
it in court that at the judge asked if he
had any regrets, he would say, yeah, that I didn't
do it again.

Speaker 5 (25:15):
You mean, because he has the money to build himself
out of trouble. Sure, so you're gonna go to jailings
because if you want to say yep, my man, I
mean no, I want to keep doing it.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
Well, I mean, just to kind of prove a point
of you know, going to jail. Dan Oh, I'm not
saying that. I'm just saying that in this case, you
know what, you're gonna suspend him because he says something
that we all know and you even admitted no.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
But at this point, I'm saying that this that zebra
needs to pick up the check.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
It would be nice, but it would be nice, it
should be it should be the way it happens.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Well, but if you're waiting for accountability, trust me, brother,
you're gonna be waiting, all right.

Speaker 5 (25:48):
Tamika Ryans.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
He's got a challenge out there for not the defense,
not the special teams, So the process of elimination, you
know who it is, it's the offense. Demiko is saying
as much with the Texans in house media earlier this week.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
I know we scored forty four.

Speaker 7 (26:04):
I know that's a great job, great plays on special teams,
but man, like, shouldn't have been over fifty, like we
see like when you have opportunity to do that. No
slight against the Cardinals or anything, but just talking about
us and how we operate, how we function. How do
you what do you expect of yourself? Like do you
expect greatness of yourself? Not comparing yourself to another opponent,

(26:27):
but man, how do you really chase greatness? And that's
what I want our guys to see, Like you're chasing greatness,
You're chasing excellence. You're not just satisfied with yeah, we
got the win. You should expect to win every week,
But how are you chasing that excellence?

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Music to my ears, brother, Music to my ears, Because
I mean, as I've said with Demiko, I mean I
think I look at him mostly like I look at
a lot of defensive minded coaches where it's you have
a little bit of a blind spot to the offense.
But I appreciate that where he's saying, yeah, you know what,
you should have converted a couple of those field goals
into touchdowns, and then we're talking about what forty nine

(27:05):
you know, or however many. Let's see, you had forty
So if that was take away six and add fourteen
right there, you've got forty four or fifty four points
in that win. I mean, that's that's what we had
been looking at.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
So you take away three field goals inside the red zone,
which would have meant instead of nine points, two of.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Those, two of those so just two. Yeah, you just
take away two of those and two of those are touchdowns,
so then you would be at fifty two fifty four points.

Speaker 5 (27:34):
Okay, so there you go.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
I mean, and that's what he's saying right there, and
I appreciate that, Like where it's you know, challenging that
group to say, take the next step, have a little
bit more killer instinct, didn't.

Speaker 5 (27:44):
You It sound about the killer instinct, dude.

Speaker 4 (27:46):
It's about understanding that this is a crappy team and
you should be able to handle business against them, just
like you have this upcoming weekend with Las Vegas. I mean, like,
let's be real for a second, two teams that rank
in the bottom ten of red zone defense. Do you
really think for one second you should be struggling to
put up points when you're inside the fifteen.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
No, you shouldn't. But they have all season long. So
that's the reality.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
So my point is is that when he is frustrated
and says, yeah, I want to challenge this team to
be able to run at the score, it's not because
of oh, we just want to be able to show
our dominance. It's because he wants to show that at
some point this red zone offense malarkey that we constantly
bring up on shows across this platform, the other one
across the street, the other one across the street nationally
about why the Texans could slow down and not be

(28:30):
actually making it to the super Bowl, it's because of
their red zone offense. There's no longer that excuse, because
think about this, from every single step week one, I
mean week three on, the Texans have been able to
answer at least one question about where they come up short,
whether that be on special teams, whether that be on
third down efficiency, whether that be at quarterback play, whether
that be at finishing the assignments, whether that be at turnovers,

(28:53):
they've been able to go ahead and answer the call.
They haven't been able to answer this one. And you
have two teams that right now can't stop a cold
inside of the fifteen.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
You're still settling for Kayimi.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Fairbearn kicks versus putting up touchdowns with the quarterback that
is playing his best version of football close out twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
No, and you definitely showed that last week. That's something
else we'll talk about later on the show. But I mean,
it's just it's been the issue of either at times
you self inflicted on yourself with which I mean I
just did a double negative right there. So obviously it's
self inflicted. So that's penalties, that's the illegal motion, that's
you know, false starts, all the things. Trust me, We've

(29:31):
seen enough Texans games to know what I'm talking about.
But I mean then it's also too of you know,
a couple of stuffs at the line, and then it's
on third down, Well those didn't work, so then we've
got to throw for it. I mean, it's just you'd
like to kind of along with what he was seeing there,
like you'd like to have a little bit more rhythm
with it of all right, you get stopped on first down,
no huge deal, It's it's all good. Let's let's maybe

(29:54):
switch it up a little bit here, Let's try to
stretch it out, Let's maybe even try to throw a
pass in there, any of the these other things. I
think that's more than anything what the crux is with Demiko.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
Sure, but at the same time, I look at it
from the standpoint of you're trying to show the rest
of the NFL that we have changed everything about our
identity to where we now know you're not going to
be able to throw your first, second, third, fourth, fifth, six,
or seventh punch at us before you go and finally
go ahead and land and connect, like that's where we are.
And so what is the thing that right now is

(30:24):
missing with the Sextons team? The inability to finish drives
inside of the twenty. So I look at the standpoint
of this is a team that is trying to prove
to the rest of the NFL the thing that you
constantly bring up about where we come up short is
no longer going to be an issue, and that needs
to come on to page this weekend. When you take

(30:44):
on a defense that has two players that you worry about.
Devin White, who is a resurgence story as you like
to put it, but he wasn't good enough to make
a text and squad. So to me, it says you're
playing for a bad organization. Therefore they're outlining you as
the big storyline because they have to find some positive
track record. And Max Crosby, who's probably gonna demand to
trade this offseason when.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
It comes to this game this weekend for the Texans,
it's one for good, two for bad. We'll explain right
here as we continue here on the Morning Drive with
Dan and Coles Sports Talk seven to ninety stalk that
holiday shopping. How you doing right now? Gonna lay out,
go ahead and tell me how's the progress going. Okay,
well there you go. Well, if you need a quick fix,
Kobe Stevens dot com, Kobe Stevens dot com. Because you

(31:27):
got somebody that is a huge golfer in your life,
Kobe Stevens dot com. You got somebody that loves to fish,
same deal there. Look at those fishing shirts at Kobe
Stevens dot com. The go along with the great polos,
that high roller collection that they've got. They just rolled
out there, go ahead and have that on because maybe
you got that trip planned out for the desert out there,
you're gonna try to win some money coming up this

(31:47):
spring and summer. Well, if you're heading out there, look
good in one of those new high Roller collection shirts
that they have right now at Kobe Stevens dot com
where you got Polos T shirts, hats, shorts, pants, ladies
in uthop available to you as well, and I'm giving
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That's twenty five percent off when you enter the code

(32:09):
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that gets you twenty five percent off your entire order
at Kobe Stevens dot com.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
That's Kobe Stevens dot.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Com, Coobby Stevens dot com, cob Y Stevens with a
VS at the end, Kobe Stevens Apparel, Kobe Stevens dot com.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
H Town Belt Morning Drive continues.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Now, now here's Dan and Cole.

Speaker 5 (32:36):
You talking about Florida International on that show. Yeah, right,
you know the Panthers.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
That's that's that's what the which I mean, their head
coach used to be the head coach at Florida International.
So I could understand how you how you can make
that mistake.

Speaker 5 (32:47):
I always forget that Mario actually coached somewhere before O're again. Yeah,
he coached at Florida International and then stuck there. I
remember that.

Speaker 6 (32:54):
Well.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
He started off okay, and then he tapered off and
then like three games over his last two years or something,
and then he ended up going to the Nick Saban
coaching rehabilitation program and from there he was able to
go to Oregon and be there for one single solitary
year before the U called his alma mater.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
No, he was there at Oregon, I think for three years.
Was there He was the OC for one year and
then Willie decided to go down to Florida State and
they just did in an internal promotion.

Speaker 5 (33:18):
Gotcham okay, I was trying to remember, but no, he was.
He was in Eugene for like four years or something
like that. See it all runs together, is the point.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
But anyway, we'll have John Michaels coming up at nine
thirty seven, one three, two, two five seven ninety is
the number to get in. As I mentioned, one for good,
two for bad. Remember that from the movie rain Man. Well,
the gooid is that you might not have Max Crosby
on Sunday, didn't participate yesterday with the knee injury.

Speaker 5 (33:48):
What do you think I'm falling into a trap again?

Speaker 4 (33:50):
No, just why show up? I'm sorry, Like, I mean
this with the utmost respect. Why you bother coming to
this game, Las Vegas. Seriously, you have a better shot
of probably winning the Mega millions on a casino slot
game than you do winn this football game.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
I mean, I'd like to take that luck, that's for sure.
You throw that my way, I'm all about it. Which,
by the way, did you know, because I mentioned we
had the white Elephant party the other day, sure that
somebody gave us a gift lottery tickets, which I mean would.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
Have been great. I almost wonder though.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
It's like they should have written their information on the
back though, too, and been lying, hey, yo, you hit.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
This, We're split. That's not how it works. That's nice
that you play, that's true. I get it, I get it,
trust me, I get it.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
What if you okay, what if you were the one
that ended up going and winning the tickets and they
threw their number on the back and they said, whatever
you win, You hit the split with me and you
win two bucks.

Speaker 5 (34:44):
Are you really going to give them a dollar? Yeah? Absolutely?
Why would you give them a dollar?

Speaker 4 (34:49):
No, it's your money at this point, it's there tom
foolery that lodged to go ahead and get the money.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Well, because you made it happen. And I mean, I'm
a generous person.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
Sucks to suck you. Give me the card. Guess what
it's about?

Speaker 4 (35:01):
Ten million dollars? You know, give you ten million? No,
I'm keeping all ten million. I'm telling you and Triple
E peace out boy scouts. Later on in life, don't
don't live the door hitch on the way out. We
as as the country music song said, you find out
who your friends is.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
You know what, I'm not even telling you.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
I will tell TRIPLEY and I'll go, Hey, Tripley, guess
what best of luck in your future endeavors.

Speaker 5 (35:18):
Call me if you ever need anything, Dan, see you later, buddy.

Speaker 4 (35:20):
What are you letting them go? I mean no, I'm
quitting on the spot. But I'm telling you the Hey,
I got another job.

Speaker 5 (35:28):
You're doing it wrong.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
See if you win, it's one of those that you
want to draw as little attention to you as possible.

Speaker 5 (35:33):
I'm not telling you I'm but it's it's the meme.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
It's it's it's the meme of you know, nobody will know,
but there will be signs.

Speaker 5 (35:39):
I'm not telling you I want.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
I'm telling you at this point that I'm leaving for
future endeavors. Best of luck with you, and you're gonna
eventually find out ten years later.

Speaker 5 (35:48):
Oh he won the ten million. I gotta have something
to do though, that's the thing.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
But I mean, I guess we're just saying, you know
you have all that money, Well, you can find things
to do.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
I say, are you kidding me? I could find things
to do with ten million dollars. I'll be on a
road trip for like the next seven years. She'll never
hear from me again.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
So I mean Max Crosby again. I mean, this could
also be a lot of like we've seen with the Texans,
which I mean they had a lengthy list, but not
as lengthy as it has been the last couple of weeks,
as he's Alshaier dealing with an ankle and a knee.
He doesn't practice yesterday. Deniko Autrey, same deal. I mean,
he's been pretty much that guy. Trent Brown with a hand.

(36:21):
Kamari Laster, same deal. I mean where they've really gotten
through with last the last couple of weeks have been
able to have him off to the side, and then
you know that Friday is when they usually get him
back out there when they practice inside stadium.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
So he should sit this week.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Well that's where I'm getting to in just a second,
because you got what he marks.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
Sheldon rankins E J. Speed. I think that you're gonna
sit Derek.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Stingley Junior this week because really he's got the oblique,
and I think that you would like to give yourself
every single chance for him to play next week. But
this is something that he dealt with earlier on in
the season. And if I'm not mistaken, did he miss
a game or two? Because who uh Stingley singlely that
I think he's played in ever game this year. I thought, well,
I just I know that he was dealing with an

(37:06):
oblique earlier one early.

Speaker 5 (37:08):
In the game. I remember that. But he I think
played the next week.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
So I mean, it's something to think about though with him,
because I mean that might be one of the bads
in this one, is that you might not have him.
So you've got two of your you know, it's not
two of your best to your best two corners banged.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
Up, so the best corners in the NFL, and.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
You've got that too, So I mean, I just think
that you're gonna want to have at least one of
those guys out there because if not, it's Tremon Smith
and who else would play the other corner.

Speaker 5 (37:35):
Jamon Arnett getting caught up in the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Probably so, So I mean, maybe we'll see if that's
the case with some of the roster moves. To kind
of give you a little bit of a hint of
where the Texans could be leaning heading into this weekend.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
Here's a good one, though limited participation yesterday one Nick Chubb.
So I do think that you will see what he
Mark said this week and Chubb come back and return
in that world.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
And then along with you are Jordan, So maybe that
gives you a little bit of flexibility, cause I mean,
Mark's it's been a tale of two things. A lot
of mispractices later on the season, but also two. I
mean it's every single game he's coming off for something.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
Well it's not just that, well, dude, I mean, like
he's supposed to be your number two running back and
you're giving him reps that probably teams that have two
running backs wouldn't even give their first strenth.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
The ideal setup would be if that were the case,
is that you would have him touch into football maybe
ten to fifteen times if you really want to stretch
it about twenty.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
They've used him a lot this year.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
Now twenty, but that includes also catches out of the backfield. Sure,
so I'm not saying that it ought to be all runs.
I think anywhere between seventeen carries to twenty carries. I
would go as far as say twenty three carries, twenty
three reps per game.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
And Pete Carroll saying yesterday that they expect that Gino
Smith will be back for this one, so I mean,
doesn't really matter at that point.

Speaker 5 (38:49):
So it's merchant.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
I guess a team that right now is number two
in the NFL and turnover differential is going to be
back playing fantastic.

Speaker 5 (38:56):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
So that's just some of the news, and know it's
from this matchup this weekend in terms of the injury side.
So we'll continue the Texans conversation a little bit later
on in the show, but coming on next, let's get
into a little bit of Astro's discussion. Because our good
buddy Chandler rome sitting in with Matt Thomas yesterday and
you might be asking yourself, Hey, Astros, what's going on?

(39:19):
Chandler has some thoughts on those. We'll share those with
you as we continue here on a Thursday edition of
The Morning Drive, Dan and Cole Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
Kbm E Houston, a TV EHD to Houston, home of
the Astro.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
And the Rockets and Sports Talk seven ninety your home
for your home teams and iHeartRadio station guaranteed Human. This
is the Morning Drive with Dad and Cole.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Rockets are in New Orleans taking on the Pelicans tonight.
They'll get the When the Night off tomorrow and then
get a rematch with Denver in at Denver on Saturday,
and then of course the College Football Playoff. We are
a little over twenty four hours away from the College
Football Playoff getting underway for a second straight season in

(40:16):
the expanded format, So we get the Friday night. Last year,
you had Notre Dame in Indiana in it, and it
was all of those games in that first weekend were
kind of snoozers. The only one that was kind of
competitive was Texas and Clemson, and still it wasn't even
that competitive.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
No, it was they were up by twenty one before
you finally saw any life come from clemsonside. The only
difference was that Kay club MC three for three hundred
yards and that was the only quarterback that was able
to connect that way against Texas defense.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, because SMU they got doors blown off by the
State and then of course Tennessee, even though they were
trying to do the hey, we're going to intimidate you
by coming out for warm ups shirtless.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
And that against a team that lives in the cold,
it doesn't work that way, bro.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Well, it didn't work that way, and obviously for Ohio
State it ended up being the way went because they
were national champions. But anyway, that's what we got starting
up tomorrow night. Seven one, three, two and two five
seven ninety is the number to get in. Let's get
into a little bit of astros here, because if you're
listening yesterday that the Matt Thomas Show with Ross, you
notice that, I believe for the first couple of hours

(41:15):
of the show you had the athletic chandler Rome hanging
out with Matt. I gotta tell you know, it's one
of those. And keep this in mind too, although during
the season, I'm probably sure if you you know, or
either of us are out during a summer show, that
if we reach out to Chandler and ask, hey, can
you do six am, He'll be like, you mean when
I got home at one am? Yeah, sure I'll be there.

(41:36):
But Chandler, that's the point. Chandler does a fantastic job.
Whenever he fills in with either Matt or with the
A team. I know that Clanton will use him a ton.
He does a great job, and he was in yesterday.
And of course Chandler, I mean, you know, when it
comes to being able to break news regarding the Astros,

(41:57):
he's on top of it all. I mean seemingly if
it comes from Chandler, and you can go ahead and
put it as good as Bible. So you know, one
thing that we've talked about this offseason with the Astros
is that we haven't seen a ton of movement. We've
seen some minor pitching deals made here and there, but
there's been nothing really of substance. So Chandler says that
here in the next few days, be on the lookout

(42:19):
because a deal could be getting done.

Speaker 8 (42:22):
I wouldn't be surprised if something gets done before the holidays,
before they like shut the office down for the holidays,
just because you know, that's that's kind of been Dana's mo.
Remember they they signed Christian Walker like around this time
last year, and the press conference was the day before
Christmas Eve. I remember that, So Dana's got there's precedent

(42:44):
here of Dana wanting to maybe get something done before
the holidays.

Speaker 5 (42:48):
And I do remember that too, because Christian Walker was
signing in December twenty third.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Well, I mean that's when they hit Like you said,
they had the press conference. He was signing December twenty third. Oh,
so that's when they because I mean I was trying
to remember it was a Friday, because I was on
the golf course at the time, and I remember that.

Speaker 5 (43:05):
I'm you know, getting this, you know in the cart
and I'm like, all right, what the hell is happening?
You were getting zapp by a cart? Would you have
a Takeeh? No, I had it.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
I had the phone on vibrate, so I'm hearing it
right there in the cart holder you know this, you know,
doing all of that, and I'm like, Okay, fine, why.

Speaker 5 (43:19):
Do you have it on vibrate because I'm playing golf?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Well, you put it on do not disturb? Well I
get that, but I mean, you know it's also too.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
Have you ever seen somebody not lose their mind because
of it they hear any sound in their backswing?

Speaker 5 (43:30):
Well, but if you can, if it's in the cart,
you're not going to hear. We've got music playing anyway, too,
so I mean, trust me, you're not going to hear it.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
So so you have why not have just the phone
on actual on loud If you're going to have music
playing in the background, Well.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Because you have it playing at like a reasonable enough
level that you can just kind of.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
Tune it out while you're having your backs Like hearing
a ding is not is going to now destroy your backswing.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
I have one time, you know, and trust me, we're
still talking astros.

Speaker 5 (43:57):
Don't worry.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
But I I at one time played golf with somebody
who I pulled out my bow speaker and they're like, oh,
could you please not?

Speaker 5 (44:02):
I'm like, why no, I agree? Can you please not?

Speaker 2 (44:07):
It makes it a little bit more fun, Like I
enjoyed it. It's it's that I enjoy a little bit
of music playing in the background.

Speaker 5 (44:14):
That's great. Are you playing a solo game? Are you
playing with people? Playing with people? Usually I want to
play with people who want to have fun.

Speaker 4 (44:20):
So what if I'm having fun enjoying a conversation by
just belittering everyone else's golf game?

Speaker 2 (44:25):
So what are you like a too handicap? I mean,
like if you're a too handicap and you're trying to
fall see me play golf. It's not a fun sign.
But that's the thing though, too, Like none of us
are that good. None of us are trying to qualify
for the US Open. So what does it matter if
I've got like a little bit of Kenny Logins playing
in the background or whatever the hell I have playing?

Speaker 9 (44:42):
See?

Speaker 5 (44:43):
Why are you play Kenny Loggins?

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Because I usually put it on a golf playlist on Spotify,
and Kenny Loggins, of course, who was the theme song
for Caddyshack is one of the songs that's on there.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
See now that to me, that's where you got you
put on nineties Rocky called it dingy okay.

Speaker 5 (44:56):
I mean, that's that's in play too.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
I mean a little bit of Huey Lewis anything country
just kind of depending on what I'm feeling that day.
I mean, it's just you know, going with good music
regardless anyway, So that move was made. Then I want
to say that Victor Carrottini a couple of years ago
was the same deal. I want to say they got
that done around this time too. And in remember it
was after the Winter Meetings had ended last year, and

(45:22):
it was on another Friday that you got a deal
made by the Astros.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
But in Karsene was signed in December sixth, Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
So I mean a little bit before, but it was
still like right there, right around Winter meetings time. So
you had Nana Brown saying that they felt like they
were in the neighborhood, you know, nothing necessarily close, but
that they could at least feel like that the deal
was progressing for them. So those are just some of
the things that Chandler talks about as he continues here
of explaining why the Astros haven't really done anything of

(45:52):
substance yet.

Speaker 8 (45:53):
What's going to happen, Like definitively, I don't think they
know yet. I think they have a lot of irons
in the fire. I think they're talking to a lot
of different teams about a lot of different possibilities on
the trade market. As I have reiterated, and as basically
everyone that covers the team is reiterated, I would imagine
that most of their off season work will come via trade,

(46:16):
and so because of that, I mean it, it's it's
harder to pull off a trade than it is to
just sign a guy to a free agent deal. Like
if you if you give the guy what he wants,
like you sign the guy, it's done. When you're negotiating
a trade, like the other side can can counter and
things like that, Like it's a little more difficult to
pull off a trade when you've got another team involved.

Speaker 4 (46:37):
Okay, can I push back and just say I understand
why they're not making signings and for all Astros fans
seven one three two ninety, I think it's become abundantly
clear with looking at some of the moves made over
the last week and a half, why the Astros are
not interested in going after a free agent versus making
a trade.

Speaker 5 (46:56):
Have you seen some of the prices that they're going
out for right now?

Speaker 4 (47:00):
Kelly's getting twenty million dollars over two years, I mean
over every year for the next two seasons.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
With I think does he also have an option for
a third I think he has an option for one year.

Speaker 5 (47:09):
I think it's but still twenty million dollars for a
guy that's a number three.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
How do you have to feel if you're the Rangers
for that of you gave up what you gave up
for him and he all along wanted to either stay there,
I mean enough to be able to go back, because
that's exactly what he did. You basically you got the
best of both worlds if you're the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Speaker 5 (47:28):
The prospect, and then on top of that you got
you got your your player black who want to come
back to night Nice move there, Chris Young holier than now.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
Chris Young works on Kim goes back to the Braves
twenty million for one year.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
He's not worth twenty million dollars coming off of injury.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
That's that's the Braves and the Braves are a lot
like the Astros and vice versa here where they they
both will act in similar fashions when it comes to
signing deals. You're not going to get a ton of
long term deals. The only long term ones they've done
were they're young superstars that they knew that they could
get at a cheaper price, and it could be able
to avoid arbitration and be able to take the money

(48:05):
now as opposed to later on, like Akunya I think
was an eight year deal.

Speaker 5 (48:09):
I think Alby's was the same deal.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Riley Spencer, Stryder, a bunch of those guys like similar
to that. And the Astros have done that too, and
they did it with Jordan before him. They did it
with Bregman. They've done it too with Christian Hobber. I mean,
the Astros are willing to do that for some of
the young guns. That's why it's kind of interesting that
they haven't done that with Jeremy Penny yet.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
But like you look at some of these deals, like
Kenley Jansen one year eleven million, to me, that feels
like a pretty good deal for a pitcher that still
has enough juice. Maybe you don't want to be a
full time closer, but a good enough closer. You get
Kyle fin Again two years ninety million. Do you think
that's a little bit of an overpay for the Detroit Tigers,
it's probably fine. Brad Keller two years twenty two millions,
so eleven millionaire for a relief pitcher that probably does

(48:50):
not fit into anything other than that long term.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
And for a Phillies bullpen then ended up costing them
last year. So I mean he needed some bullpen help
and he was able to find a good role with
the Cubs last year.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
Tyler Rogers thirty seven million dollars three years.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
See, I mean I get that Rogers, you know, it's
just that it's a different army angle all of that.
But like, I've just never really understood the appeal of
Tyler Rodgers.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
We talked about this guy yesterday, Adrian Hauser, guy that
you could have at the back end of your rotation.
A number four, number five, two years, twenty two million
dollars by the San Francisco Giants.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, as we're seeing, and
that's why it was almost a foregone conclusion, not almost
that it was a foregone conclusion that Fromber is not
coming back. I Mean, the only thing I can wonder
right now if Fromber is he not getting the years
that he wants, because I'm guessing that he's probably on
the free agent side kind of with what Chandler was
talking about right there, that he's getting offered like three

(49:39):
years is that a five year deal, and then that's
what he probably was set out to do, was no,
we want five, we want six, we want we want
something like that.

Speaker 4 (49:47):
My point is, though, you look at some of these
contracts that are being handed out to players who, in
my opinion, have not shown me enough to where if
I'm Dana Brown, I'm going to spend that price. I'm
gonna let other teams maybe have the buyer's remorse. And
that's why you're waiting for a trade to happen. Because
Number one, you've already talked about it. You want years
of control.

Speaker 5 (50:05):
Probably.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
If you want the years of control, that either means
you want somebody before they hit arbitration or you want
somebody that's already kind of locked on up. Number Two,
you want to feel like that you're truly upgrading your team.
I don't think right now the moves that we're seeing
being made right at this moment are upgrading teams. They're
just moves that keep a team interested in making themselves
better for next season. But really it's neutral. I don't

(50:27):
feel any different about what I do with the Braves.
I don't feel any different how I do about the Giants.
I don't feel any different how I do about the Mets.
I don't feel any different about how I do when
it comes to the Blue Jays. Right So, until you're
able to get that move, and you talk about this
all the time, don't just make a trade to make
a trade right now. The Astros don't need to be
making these free agents signings because oh, we haven't made

(50:49):
a move yet.

Speaker 5 (50:49):
Let's go bring in somebody to keep the fan base enticed.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
And you can take comfort in that too, I mean,
because I mean to the point that you just brought up,
this is at least the part of the off season
market where you do see some desperation kind of show.
You do see where teams are willing to do the overpay,
and I mean for teams like the Giants and the Braves.
I mean, they're trying to get back to the postseason.
So I mean I think there's a little bit with
that with the Braves.

Speaker 5 (51:13):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
The funny thing is is for all of the criticism
that people have here of the Astros and Jim Crane,
I mean, imagine that in that town, because I mean
they have the entertainment complex out there that they have
full control of. So the revenue is coming in, so
people are looking at him being like, dude, what are
you guys gonna finally do the I don't know, the
Shoho Tani deal, the Manny Machado deal, something like that,

(51:37):
of being able to go out and get a high
price free agent. And I mean their GM is a
lot like Dana Brown. It's just not really the world
that he works in.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
Yeah, but at some point you have to be able
to get the fan base back on your side, and
that does include making a deal for at least somebody
with five years of control. The Astros don't do that,
and the Astros never really do that, so to me,
that's not surprising Atlanta does. And they watched his really
good players have gone out the door because of what
one year toentials. I mean, we're talking about Freddy Freeman
being not coming back there because of they couldn't agree

(52:04):
on the on the length of the contract. Dance By
Swanson want to get out of there because of they
could agree on the length of the contract. And now
look at your team two with the better players that
were a part of your run to the World Series
are playing elsewhere and they're playing for teams that are
constantly going to the playoffs. You're fighting to stay relevant
in an NL East where the Marlins are starting to
get better, or at least they think that they have
a good game plan in place. Philly's not going away quietly.

(52:27):
The Mets right now are a joke and at some
point fire is going to strike with all the young
prospects out in Washington.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
Let's continue the astros conversation.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
You want to get in someone three two one, two
five seven ninety because when it comes to these two astros,
they've said one thing, but our good buddy Chandler Rome, Oh,
he's skeptical of that being the case. We'll have that
for you and discuss as we continue here on a
Thursday edition of The Morning Drive with Dan and Cole
Sports Talk seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Dan Matthews, Cole Thompson. This is the Morning Drive, Wind
and Cole.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Here on the seventh floor here at iHeartRadio, Mattress Mac
hanging out up here.

Speaker 5 (53:07):
Is he coming to talk to us?

Speaker 2 (53:08):
I thought about thought about asking him, but you know,
I know that he just did something with our friends
over at Sunday ninety nine point one, and so I
don't know. Maybe maybe maybe I could see after the
break he's a big Astros guy. He had his he
had his Astros what's the city connect the city connectad on,
So he's a big astros free advertisement.

Speaker 5 (53:29):
He's got to be able to come out here for
fifteen minutes ago.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
But the other shout out is, uh, I guess you
of H's graduation is today my cousin, my cousin Reese
graduating from you of A. Congratulations, Congrats to my cousin Reese.
Good on Reese for being able to get his degree.
Just making sure that that's a very ambidexterous name. So
just making sure, Yeah, he's going to go to he's

(53:51):
going to go to a seminary after this too.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
Very nice. Now let's go back to the Astros conversation.
Let's do it so Chandler Rome.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
You know, one of the things that he talked about
last week when he was at the Winter Meetings was
just the skepticism of despite what Joe Spottas said, despite
what Dana Brown said about how they could use esok Perettis,
because right now the infield currently constructed, especially with what
they've said about jose Al Tuove. First over all the
way to the third, you're probably gonna go Walker at first,
al Twov at second, Panete short, and then Carlos Korea

(54:21):
over there at third base. So then the question is,
all right, well, what do you do with Esok Perettis
you got to have that bat in the lineup every
single day? Is it necessarily efficient for you to be
able to keep both guys around. That's where Chandler is
a little skeptical when it comes to the Astros going
into the twenty twenty six season with both of those
guys on the roster.

Speaker 8 (54:42):
What happened at the Winter meetings didn't really change my viewpoint.
It only reinforced that I'm just not sure there's going
to be enough at bats to go around. If, as
Joe spottas said at the Winter meetings, Jose al Tuove
is playing second base more often than not, and if
jord And Alvarez is dahing more often than not, But
I just don't know how you spread enough that ba's

(55:02):
around the escoc Paratus and Christian Walker.

Speaker 5 (55:04):
Here are the facts.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
The facts are that Christian Walker for this year and
for next year gonna be making twenty million per If
you're paying somebody twenty million per and they're still able
to be productive, maybe not as productive as you hope
they would be, but still productive. They're your everyday first baseman.
So then the odd man out in this scenario would
be Estoc Perettis. And I think that the Astros really,

(55:26):
if it came down to it and trying to make
a deal happen for a starting pitcher, a frontline guy.
If that's really you know what you're hoping for, then
I cole, As much as it pains me to say it,
I think you got to consider Estok Perettis.

Speaker 5 (55:38):
I really do you have to trade Esoc Parreatis.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
I mean, I hate to be the very bad news,
but nobody's taking on Christian Walker's contract. You need to
get better when it comes to your pitching. You need
to be able to add in someone who can be
a number two starter. It feels like that that's the
inevitable move. And I'm sorry, but like Chandler, I fight
back sometimes when people say dumb things.

Speaker 5 (55:58):
It's not dumb to say that there's enough bats to
go on.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
The at bats go around between the two because the
problem with all this is you all set the factor
in now having jord On Avarez as your permanent DH,
you also have a whole and left field at this point.

Speaker 5 (56:12):
So at a certain level, I would much rather.

Speaker 4 (56:16):
Spend money on a spend money in the open market
to go get a Ranger Suarez.

Speaker 5 (56:20):
I don't think that the askers are doing that.

Speaker 4 (56:21):
I don't, but I'd much rather spend money to get
someone on the open market to be my number two starter,
and then package a deal together with Estoch Predes as
the front line guy to bring in something that I
can use as a platoon outfielder and a number five
in the rotation.

Speaker 5 (56:35):
Because whether or not you think that that's a fair price.

Speaker 4 (56:38):
That might be the only way for you to get
a deal in this motion and then solve the problem
with what you have with the third.

Speaker 5 (56:43):
Base and the at bats.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that you
would have somebody who's willing to take our Christian Walker,
which probably not going to happen unless you're eating a
significant amount of money, which again I just don't think
that Jim Crane would be very much a huge fan
of doing. You wouldn't be getting a frontline guy. I mean,
you would be getting value back in return that does
not match the value that's going out the door. I

(57:07):
think is probably what you would be looking at in
that scenario, because you'd have a team that says, well,
we're not going to take on most of, if not
the majority of that, which means both of those things.
You get my point, of that forty million that's remaining,
So this is what we're willing to offer you back
in return. And I just don't think the Astros would
be a fan of doing that because it would, in

(57:27):
a sense make your team even less productive than you
were even before when you weren't even that productive.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
The problem is, and Chader was bringing this up yesterday
when I was listening to Matt Thomas Show. He mentioned,
like Cole Reagan's scene could be in a possibility because
like remember Chris Bubich was one that we got brought
up in tried packages to Atlanta. Cole Reagan's you just
can't simply say, oh, East soak peredes for Reagan's big
got a deal. They're not taking that. And I don't
blame them for taking that because of Cole Reagan's when
he's on point, that's a top ten pitcher in Major

(57:56):
League Baseball. That's a guy that you can trust with
years of control to end up being a number two
or a number three in a rotation and arguably one
of the better number twos and number three is in rotation.
So you're playing this game of what are we going
to be able to get back in return for a
player that we really don't want to trade, But we
also don't want to give up more compensation than escoch
parettes to land somebody to better our team, because in

(58:18):
a sense, we are still worsening our team by making
our farm system depleted in some capacity and losing a
bat that has been so detrimental towards our success.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
Well, if you do have Esok parrettis here in twenty
twenty six, The question about him is how is the
hamstring holding up? Is going to be good to go?
Dana Brown has said doesn't foresee any setbacks. Chandler Rome
at least agreeing with Dana Brown in that regard.

Speaker 8 (58:41):
Every indication that Dana Brown gave us at the winter
meetings is that he will be a full go when
spring training starts. We did ask whether he'll play in
the WBC for Team Mexico. It sounds like that's a
little more up in the air. I wouldn't be surprised
if just out of an abundance of caution, they don't
allow him to do that. But every I asked straight
out will he be ready for spring training and said

(59:02):
they expect him to be a full go when they
report to West Palm Beach in February.

Speaker 5 (59:07):
Sure, I mean that's good. It's just I mean, it's
again Cole.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
I mean, we get back to the issue at hand
here of are you really going to play lineup roulette
every single day of Hey one day, one day he's
playing second, and we've got Jordan and left, and we've
got how two V's the DH, and then you know
he's at second, he's the DH and Jordon's and left.
I mean, just you know, just this kind of you
know roulette that I mean, Joe Spata has been on

(59:31):
record both years saying that he didn't want to do that,
but last year, injury it made it necessary to do that.

Speaker 5 (59:38):
I just I.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
Can't see number one, the player wanting to do that,
but number two the manager wanting to do that almost
every single game.

Speaker 5 (59:46):
Now, how do you want to make this work?

Speaker 4 (59:48):
I mean, like that's my big question, because somebody's gonna
be pissed off every day that they're out of the lineup,
and the.

Speaker 5 (59:52):
Way that this works is one of those two guys
is not here, right. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
You can't make a situation work with the current status
you're in because if you don't don't have an outfielder,
like if jose Al two Bay killed it in left
field last season. Cool, we have a solution here, and
some days we can try Jeremy pang yad second. We
can move Correa to short, we can try eat HiPE
Prees at third, we can try Parreta's at second. We
can move Christian Walker to the D eight spot. Then
we can move out two Bay down a second. We
could play you're not in left field, but that didn't happen.

(01:00:18):
He was a liability in left field, and so because
of that, you have to play him at second base
because he signed on to the long term contract and
every once in a while you're gonna put him at DH.
That doesn't solve the problem in what you have with
the two corner spots, and you're not moving Carlos Correa
outside of third base.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
Trying to play tetris.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
The only problem is those tetris pieces are coming fast
and furious, so trying to find the right fits and
the astros I think just kind of in a certain
way of squares where they need to have circles.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but i am going
to bring this on up seven one three, two, one
two five seven ninety. Do you have any remorse buyer's
remorse on making a move for Carlos Correa at the
trade deadline?

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
We can discuss that, and then also too, I get
back into a little bit of NFL, because it's not
just the NBA that has people upset with the officiating.
Another sport where one guy says, yeah, they just want
to see themselves on TV. Who exactly that is We'll
discuss right here as we continue. It is the Morning
Drive with Dan and Cole here on Thursday Sports Talk
seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:01:19):
Hey is coach Udoka here every Rockets game on Sports
Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 6 (01:01:26):
And on the iHeartRadio app Home of your Rockets.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
I mean, you brought back a guy that is a
lynchpin in that clubhouse. You brought back a guy that
can still be productive with the bat. Is he what
he was when he was here the first time? No,
but I've also said that a full season of him
at third base, I think is going to pay dividends
because you're not going to be physically taxing him like

(01:01:52):
you were when he played at shortstops, So the injuries
could probably subside a little bit. He can have a
little bit more longevity in the season. So I think
you're gonna see a more productive Bath this year because
of that move over the third for Korea. So no,
I think both of those things. Absolutely, you benefit from
having him here over not the hindsight of all of
this is again, I mean it was the move before that.

(01:02:15):
I understand at the time what you needed with Christian Walker.
Nobody's gonna, you know, sign somebody to a three year,
sixty million dollar deal and think that they're gonna hit
less than two fifty and you know, end up leading
the team in home runs in RBI. But when it
comes to runners in scoring position situations, be a liability
for you.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
Nobody sees that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
But that's the crux of all of this is that
you've got an absolute anchor and albatross over at first
base as opposed to Carlos Carea over at third.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
Yeah, no, I agree, I don't think I have you
have buyers from worse whatsoever. I just want to get
your opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
On it well, I mean, and others can weigh into
again someone three two one two five seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
But like the reason why is because I still agree
with you that the move to third base probably elongates
his career. He has a good feel about what is
the ballpark. My only concern at this point is just
is there a way that you can move somebody else
out of a position to get them to get the
most value out of them. And I don't think you
can do that when it comes to eastcoc Predi. So
it's like, here'd be the easy thing, Perettes, You've already

(01:03:09):
brought this up. He's more nimble than people give him
credit for defensively, but you know he's still as slow.
He is a donkey on the base path. He's not
gonna be much better in the outfield. So you can't
teach him to learn left field just because you want
his bat in the lineup. And al two Ba has
made it clear that you can't teach him how to
play left field because if he is a very big
liability in that standpoint, and Jamie Panga can't move out

(01:03:30):
a short stop because if you just want him in
the lineup. So you're caught in a situation where that
left field conundrum is very much the is very much
the issue, because if you could put your on out
there consistently and say he's playing one hundred and thirty
games and left and we're gonna d h everyone in
a platoon type of formation, then that solves a lot
of your issues. But that's not the case. You can
have your on out there for probably more than forty games.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Well, I mean, I think the ideal scenario here is
you're gonna have Hazus Sanchez out there and left. Now,
I mean the thing is with that is you've got
to have more production out of that bat. I mean
you just aside from the Baltimore series last year, you
got nothing out of him, absolutely nothing, which one hey
Zeus Sanchez.

Speaker 4 (01:04:08):
Well yeah, but at the same time, this was a
move that you want to get a left handed, power
hitting bat that could fill in in the gap, which
I actually understood at the time. Now my question is
why are you still holding out hope that things are
going to turn the corner.

Speaker 5 (01:04:19):
Well, that is the hope with the new hitting coaches.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
So see if Dana, you know Anthony Iposi, and you
know Victor Rodriguez can be able to help him out
with that only time we'll take.

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
He was the most disappointing of all the free ball
the acquisitions outed at the trade deadlines.

Speaker 5 (01:04:33):
I agree with that, No, I mean, because what was
it he had him? He had Correa.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
I mean probably if you could even argue that the
most productive that he had is the guy that you
just efa'd and sent on his way, Ramoni Reus.

Speaker 4 (01:04:44):
No, Korea was more productive, but it's not by much.
It's not to where you could say clear cut Korea one,
Arius two, Sanchez three.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
He would have made the playoffs if they were even better.
And that's exactly what ended up sinking you last season.
Real quick here before we get to looking at the
shield in the KOA. Did you see some of his
comments about NFL referees. No, so, he was on with
Aiden Ross on kick dot Com and his quote was,
the refs are the worst. These guys are lawyers. They

(01:05:13):
want to be on TV too. You don't think he's
texting his friends in a group chat, like yo, you
just saw me on Sunday Night Football. That wasn't p I,
but I called.

Speaker 5 (01:05:22):
It Yeah, I don't really know how to feel about
that way.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
I just I feel like, I mean, because NBA referees
you know who they are. Major League Baseball umpires you
know who they are. Like, I don't know who some
random back judge is. I don't know who some line
judge or some side judge is. Like the only the
only people you know are the guy that's on the mic,
the referee.

Speaker 5 (01:05:44):
I don't I know one. And he's not even coach,
he's not even there anymore. His son's Knowedge Sean Hawkley
was the only one I knew because if he had
the he had freaking the He had forearms that were
like the size of like a candalog.

Speaker 6 (01:05:54):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
Well, I mean I also remember Mike Carrey just because
of his his emphatic calls, and he was one of
the first that they tried to bring on as a
former official to try to explain things, and people were like.

Speaker 5 (01:06:05):
This is awful, Like you're explaining nothing. Who's the one
that does it for Fox? Mike Pereira. I think they
both do.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
They like you'll have some games where it's got Perreira
on it, and you've got some games where it's got Blandino,
You've got Gene Sterotor doing it for CBS. The best
of all of them is Terry McCauley. I feel like
whenever NBC brings them, Marty was actually a ref wasn't
it right? And I mean, and so was Sterotor.

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
But but yeah, but what's his name? Wasn't I think
he was at one time?

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Really, usually that's the way it goes, is usually your referee,
then you become head of officials.

Speaker 5 (01:06:40):
Because he was for the NFL. I can never see
Dean Blandino wearing the zebral fit though.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
I mean, I'm assuming he probably was if you're in
that role like now, that role for the NFL, at
least it was was Albert Alberto river On.

Speaker 5 (01:06:53):
Sure, I'll pretend to know who that is. He was
a former official.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
I'll take you for your word for it, so I mean,
but it's just, you know, I just don't. I don't
see it as much like I would probably venture to guess.
And even though there is criticism of them in the NFL,
that probably the ones that you look at and you're like, no,
they seemly get it right.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
The most is a NFL officials see, But if NFL's
officials get it wrong, in my opinion more often than not.
The problem is is that I don't really care because
if they've already told us from.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
The get go that they're going to get it wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:07:21):
Like the problem with officiating in the NBA is there
are times that it does feel like they're Tiki tacky
and they do as he may said, go for the
star power. In the NFL, it's clear as day that
either you're going to allow fighting to go on in
between reps when you're trying to get a pass interference
call and you'll know pretty quickly in the game, or
you're going to go ahead and get every single call

(01:07:42):
to be in favor of you, to where if you're
a defensive back, you have a better shot of forcing
a turnover by just getting the interception than getting a
pass breakout.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
All right, now, let's look at the shield, because some
light shed on the future for this NFL quarterback, a
move out of the city, and also this guy wants
to say, hey, all three of those things right here,
as we take a look at the shield on the
Morning Drive with Dan and Cole Here on Thursday, Sports
Talk seven ninety come back.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
To Danny Cole as the Morning Drive Cruise is on.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
We do it at this time every single show. It's
time for us to take a look at the shield Indian.
All right, So Joe Burrow, we talked about him a
little bit yesterday. There was a Diana Russini report that
this is not a Andrew Luck two point zero because

(01:08:36):
of what he said about, you know, he wants to
have fun playing football, and people are like, oh, he's
not having fun, So that must mean that he's thinking about,
with all of the injuries everything else, he's thinking about
having an early exit from the game.

Speaker 5 (01:08:47):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
He was asked to reiterate on that yesterday by the
media in Cincinnati, and his initial response, a lot of
crazy things happen every year. He continues to go on
by talking about, you know, some of the things that
he shared with those closes to him that certainly have
some texts that didn't make a lot of sense to
me at the time, and also adding, this is one

(01:09:11):
of the interesting ones here, Cole. I feel like everybody's
trying to do everything in their power to make me
not play football, and I feel like I'm fighting it.
I'm fighting everybody else. I just want to play ball.

Speaker 5 (01:09:21):
That's all. I want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
So that almost kind of feels like a shot at
the Bengals because I mean, remember this was supposed to
be from the turf toe injury, a four month recovery.
He cut the cast off himself, got back out there early,
played on that Thanksgiving night beat the Ravens. So people
were like, well, you're still in the playoff push. But
now that the Bengals are out of the playoffs, maybe

(01:09:43):
it's a little bit of the Bengals coming to him
and saying, hey, don't play the rest of this season.

Speaker 4 (01:09:48):
Tell me you're unhappy with your relationship without telling me
you're unhappy with your relationship.

Speaker 5 (01:09:53):
That's the read view it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:55):
Every single team right now that has multiple first round
picks that feels like it can upgrade it quarterback room
without giving up too much in return, and feels as
if they're a quarterback away from competing alongside other teams
in their conference for a playoff bin, for potentially a
Super Bowl bin. They need to be all in on
trying to trade for Joe Burrow this offseason.

Speaker 5 (01:10:15):
And it's also two people.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
All the time they throw out the l word loyalty,
and that was something that Burrows asked about and you know,
he also noted how the Cowboys ended up sending Micah
Parsons out the door, one of their most productive players.
That's something I hadn't seen in a long time. In
the NFL, crazy things can happen. And even though he
missed nine games this season with turf toe, the two

(01:10:37):
time Pro Bowler even adding that he has some of
his best years yet to come, noting that Tom Brady,
Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Flacco were
all successful at an advanced age as NFL players. I
want to be in the conversations with those people, and
I do everything that I need to do to make

(01:10:57):
sure that my body is prepared for these games in
for long term success. So I plan on doing it
for a long time at a high level.

Speaker 5 (01:11:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:11:05):
But the problem is is that with Brady and with
other opponents, they were able to realize the faulty errors
of the coaching staff or of the offensive line or
other areas of weakness, and they said, Okay, we're gonna
make sure that our quarterback is beyond happy with the situation,
so we'll upgrade, We'll bring in a new play caller,
we'll bring in somebody to now be an all Pro
in the offensive line. We'll go get them a tight
end that's really lucky. We'll get them a dependable wide

(01:11:26):
receiver number three. And it doesn't feel like that Cincinnati
wants to do that. Cincinnati held out hope for sixteen
years that Marvin Lewis was eventually gonna be the guy
to win a playoff game. They every single three years
said us, he gonna be on the hot seat. Oh,
I just want us a division title. Asker, We're gonna
bring him back for another year, like they delayed the
inevitable so long, and they never were willing to go

(01:11:48):
ahead and spend money elsewhere other.

Speaker 5 (01:11:50):
Than just some highlight names. They're gonna let go a
Trey Hendrickson this offseason.

Speaker 4 (01:11:54):
They're gonna have the field phone calls for either t
Higgins or Jamar Chase. They're not upgrading their offensive line,
and there's still is a conversation of Zach Taylor sticking
around for another season.

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
Well, I no, he is sticking around for another want
to sign an extension. And that's the thing too, is
that Joe Burrow is going to request a trade, like
we're we're going to see that come across. He's going
to request a trade. And some of these words would
even say that he's talking outwardly to other teams, not
like one on one talking with them, but like saying, hey,

(01:12:24):
come get me because I will make no. He absolutely
is with with some of those words that he said,
because I mean, it's exactly it. He wants out and
usually in those situations it's the player that wears the
brunt of it from the fan base. But I think
that Bengal fans, if he wants out there, they're gonna
be like, we get it. We understand.

Speaker 4 (01:12:43):
They are the most petty organization in the NFL. They
are the cheapest organization in the NFL, and they have
no signs of stopping anytime soon. So why would you
want to stick around with this mediocrity? Let me ask
you if you could pick where Joe Burrow goes next,
for what you're.

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
Saying, HM, next, I will go with Arizona.

Speaker 5 (01:13:06):
Really bold, strateche count and let's sew that plays out.
I go Minnesota.

Speaker 10 (01:13:11):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:13:12):
I think that if you get him in Minnesota, that
automatically makes them the best team in the NFC North.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
Maybe even Miami. I think is somebody that. But at
the same time, though, I mean, why would you want
to go to that is McDaniel getting fired? I mean
that I probably not okay.

Speaker 5 (01:13:26):
So you're telling me that McDaniel's is sticking around. No,
I'm not going there. You know I had to, I
had to pick if I was Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
I'm not going to do it within the division because
you know that the Steelers are gonna be interested, but
they're not going to trade with all.

Speaker 4 (01:13:35):
I would do, without question, get him out of the AFC,
put him in a conference to where it feels like
it's more competitive, but you still have an opportunity to
improve Minnesota with a stable offensive line, feeling pretty good
about their defense, and a wide receiver number one that
already has a good rapport with him.

Speaker 5 (01:13:53):
Yeah. Absolutely, that feels like a match may Heaven Atlanta. Yeah,
but you gonna have to give up so much to
go ahead and get him, and you won't have a
first round pick to the didn't go in and have that
conversation to start, just seems like he wants out.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
There's the earliest time possible the Bears might move to
Northwest Indiana.

Speaker 4 (01:14:10):
Can't wait to see him playing Gary. Oh, it'd be
so funny because.

Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
I mean that part of you know, Indiana is considered
to be the Chicago land area.

Speaker 5 (01:14:20):
It's like East Saint Louis is over and my dad
was born in Gary, Indiana.

Speaker 4 (01:14:24):
He has not stepped foot back in there since probably
two thousand and one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
So the Bears, the Bears continuing to try to find
a place to play because I mean, it seems like
the city of Chicago is not gonna make it happen.
I think Arlington Heights was like, oh yeah, maybe not.
We don't really want to do you know, we already
tax our our residents out of the gourds, so we
don't really want to do that even more for a
football stadium.

Speaker 5 (01:14:45):
Come pay tolls to watch a seven and ten roster every.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
Since exactly it You got it right, because I mean
if you go that way, because that's the way that
you go to go to South Bend down to Chicago,
and then you've got to pay tolls going to and
then from two.

Speaker 5 (01:14:58):
Just a complete and tottal crap show.

Speaker 4 (01:15:00):
I mean, listen, when you think about sometimes where the
Texans are dealing with stuff when it comes to their
status of finding a long term location for a team facility.
Just remind yourself you're usually not paying tolls to be
able to get there.

Speaker 5 (01:15:11):
No, probably not.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
And then Cam wore it says he wants to be
involved in the Titans head coach search.

Speaker 5 (01:15:18):
Can you really make that demands? Yes, you can. You're
the number one overall pick.

Speaker 4 (01:15:22):
If you are supposed to be the franchise guy and
you're on the same course with Amy Adams Drunk and
whoever the GM is, whatever his name is, you should
be able to say, I would like to see an
offensive guy come in here. That is going to elevate
my status. Now that doesn't mean that you get to
have finals say on the pick, but you should at
least be able to have be in locks up with
them when it comes to making this decision.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
As a look at the Shield, we do it every
single time here on the morning Drive with Dan and Cole.
We'll get back into the Texans conversation because the final
push is here and what exactly does that push look
like for the Texans we'll discuss as we get into
the eight o'clock hour here on a Thursday, Sports Talk
seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:16:00):
Houston at EHD two Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
Yes, as a rocket. This is Sports Talk seven ninety
your home for your home teams and iHeartRadio station guaranteed.

Speaker 3 (01:16:14):
You mean.

Speaker 1 (01:16:18):
This is the morning Drive with Dad and Cole.

Speaker 5 (01:16:27):
Rockets.

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
They're in New Orleans taking on the Pelicans. Six o'clock
Rockets launch pad coming your way for that. Ima Adoka
fine twenty five grand by the NBA for criticizing officials.
Someone three two, one, two five seven ninety is the
number to get in with the Texans talking about them
a little bit, and you know this is clearly a
situation here is it's been laid out. Can't clinch a

(01:16:49):
playoff spot this weekend, although I mean it gets you
into a point where you're already in great position. Like
I don't think anybody expects that the Texans are going
to lose to out of their next three games, but let's
just say, for the sake of argument, that they did.

Speaker 5 (01:17:03):
You'd probably non believer right here. Well, well, I'm just
saying I'm just laying gentlemen, non believer. I'm laying out
a scenario, is what I'm doing it to even be
a real scenario. Dat it's not a.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
Real scenario, but it's just for the sake of argument,
let's go for the sake of argument, all right, So
I for the sake of argument, that happens.

Speaker 5 (01:17:20):
It's going to take a lot for the Texans to
miss the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (01:17:23):
The what's their point to get in? Their percentage right
now to get in the playoffs ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
Two ninety where they ninety six currently if they lost,
it would be down to eighty six.

Speaker 5 (01:17:35):
If they win, which they will, it's going to be
up to ninety eight. So basically, if they win, they're
a lot to get in.

Speaker 2 (01:17:41):
Pretty much, yes, pretty much, I mean, and then just again,
the worst case scenario there you're a wild card team,
because I mean, the only way that you really have
a chance to be able to get in is if
you as a division winner. Is if you went out
and that's going to LA next week beating the Chargers
and then coming back home and beating the Colts, which
you should be able to at least win one of
those two.

Speaker 4 (01:18:01):
Games, but you also need to have Jacksonville lose at
least one game for you to get the tie.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
Yeah, yeah, I mean one to get the tie, and
then two to be able to ensure that even with
a loss in either of these next three games that
you'd be able to get in as the division winner.

Speaker 4 (01:18:15):
Wait, I thought you would have to win out and
Jacksonville would have to lose a game just for you
to be in the division race, because Jacksonville still has
one fewer loss than you.

Speaker 5 (01:18:22):
At this point.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
Now, you're right, they would have to Well, actually, no,
if they only lose one more, then they're at like
if they lose this weekend, for example, they're ten and five.

Speaker 4 (01:18:31):
So if that happens, Jacksonville is Yes, that's what I'm saying.
If Jacksonville wins out and you win out, Jacksonville gets.

Speaker 5 (01:18:36):
The division because did they have the tiebreaker?

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
No, they would be thirteen and four. Texas would be
twelve and five. No, if you lose one of these
next two games, they would have a fifth loss.

Speaker 4 (01:18:44):
No Jacksonville, I'm saying, but do you still need Jacksonville
even if you went out. Jacksonville has to lose one
game for this to be an argument.

Speaker 2 (01:18:50):
Right, right, right, But I mean, I'm just saying though that.
You know, again, I mean a lot of different scenarios
for that. I mean, it's just the moral of the
story is you went out, more than likely you're giving
yourself a great shot at being able to win the Diviate.

Speaker 4 (01:19:03):
The moral of the story for me is that you
cannot afford a loss because you can't bank on Jacksonville
losing right now, whether it be because of you trust
that Denver is a better team, whether it's because if
you think that they'll be able to find the fault
faulty of the errors of their ways against an Indianapolis
roster that maybe be playing with nothing to lose. They
faced off against who they are. Just play the Jets,
whos the last thing they play?

Speaker 5 (01:19:24):
Titans? Yeah, they played Tennessee lost And.

Speaker 4 (01:19:26):
If you're not winning the division, probably starters aren't resting
in that game. So the bottom line is that even
if you think that Jacksonville is going to lose a game,
which I do, I think they could lose two games,
you cannot afford to drop a game just to even
have that to be a conversation starter.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
So I mean, in terms of just the overall just
standings in the playoffs at the moment, you've got the
Chargers who are currently fifth and they're they're the first
wildcard team. And then you've also got Buffalo, who you beat,
and they are also in front of you at ten
and four. I mean, but the good news is for

(01:20:01):
the Texans. I mean, you went out either of those
teams lose, like the Chargers have the Cowboys this weekend.
And I mean you've already got people asking Brian Schottenheimer,
Jerry Jones, everybody, Hey, you guys gonna sit Dak because
you know the rest of the season and it's not there,
And they've both said no, without a shadow of a doubt.
Dak Prescott is playing. We're gonna try to win football games.

(01:20:23):
We don't care about draft standing.

Speaker 5 (01:20:24):
But why would you sit Dak?

Speaker 4 (01:20:25):
And I say this because of the status when it
comes to Tua and when it comes to Kyler, the
writing's on the wall. Your tenure is being the quarterback
for the future is basically done. You gotta find a
trade partner and be able to cut ties because you
don't want to pay that price. But still you're making
it clear that their tenures running the program it's over.

Speaker 5 (01:20:43):
Are you using Alison?

Speaker 2 (01:20:44):
Hey, Minnesota, we see you need a quarterback? Yeah, hey
that cap number? And then also to the overall production,
Yeah we're good. Thanks, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna call Cincinnati.
I will push back and say that for Dak Prescott.
If you're Minnesota, I make that phone call. If you're
signaling that this is the end of Dak Prescott era,
I'm making the phone call. But they're not signaling that.
I mean they're they're they're saying that they're trying to

(01:21:06):
be able to continue building on this offense, which this
season it's been the issue for the Cowboys. Hadn't been
the defense. It's been the offense that's been the problem. Well,
I'm saying the other way around. It's been been the defense.
It's been the problem, not the offense.

Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
But what I'm saying is that they said, hey, are
you benching Dak? And if they said, yeah, we're benching Dak,
then that means that they're signaling the end. Therefore I
would be calling I from Minnesota to go get him,
because the second that he leaves Dallas, watch him finally get.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
The respect he deserves. Well, not necessarily in terms of
you'd be signaling. I mean, I think that the only
thing you're signaling is that you're just trying to be
able to tank for a better draft.

Speaker 4 (01:21:37):
So would you say right now that that's what they're
doing with them what they're doing with Kyler.

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
No, with with Kyler, it's that they've had enough, they're
over it. And in Tua it seems like that's the
case too, at least this head coach.

Speaker 5 (01:21:50):
But to me, if you if at any point you're
benching a franchise quarterback that's getting paid forty plus million dollars,
that signals that they're no longer the franchise guy onno
Grafft's for draft compensation, Auto Grifferts for a better positioning,
or you think that he's too good to win.

Speaker 4 (01:22:05):
The fact is that you as a franchise should never
be benching the guy that you're paying a lot of
money to at any point other than the fact that
you want to move off from.

Speaker 2 (01:22:13):
Here's why it's different though in Dallas with Jerry is
because I understood this when they continue to extend Tony
Romo and extend Tony Romo, is that I was told
at the time that Jerry was deathly afraid of living
life without a capable quarterback just because of the life
that he had to leave live for years before they
got to Tony Romo between him and Troy Aikman.

Speaker 4 (01:22:37):
Right, But now what I'm trying to say, is is
that if you're going to bench DAK, that's a sign
whether or not if you're DAK or if you're the Cowboys,
that something is wrong here because regardless, I should be
playing every single day today. If you're paying for me
to be out there, I need to be on the field.
So if you ever think about benching me, why in
the hell would I want to come back to this organization?
Like if I'm DAK, I'm demanding a trade because there's

(01:23:00):
no reason why I need to be sitting on the
bench at any point during this tenure.

Speaker 2 (01:23:05):
Well, I just again, this isn't going to be, you know,
a scenario even we're talking about just because of what
Jerry and Brian Schottenheimer have talked about. But we say
all that just because you know, talking about them playing
against the Chargers, and I mean that's this is a
scenario too for the Texans where you've already been able
to play a little bit of whack a mole here
of being able to knock teams out of the playoffs.

(01:23:26):
You did it against the Chiefs, and you're not going
to knock Sandiego, excuse me, Los Angeles or Buffalo out
of the playoffs. But I mean you also have a
chance to if you are able to win out and
you've got similar records to both of those teams at
the end of the season, then you're the five seed.
If you don't win the division.

Speaker 4 (01:23:45):
Yeah no, if you end up beating Los Angeles, you
get to have the head to head battle just like
you do over Buffalo to where if you're all have
the same record, guess who gets to play against either
Baltimore Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (01:23:54):
And that'd be the best case scenario if you don't
win the division, because I mean, as it currently is
right now, the Texans would be taken on the Patriots.
Me and you were both not Patriots believers, huge Mike
Vrabel fans. But when it comes to this team being
able to do anything in the playoffs, we just don't
see it. Plus, I mean, this is the Texans team
that is playoff battle. I mean, they've been through It's

(01:24:15):
they haven't been able to win on the road in
the playoffs, but at least this is a team that's
been through the experience, and also too, with this defense
playing the way it is, you feel really good about
that matchup.

Speaker 5 (01:24:24):
If then the if indeed that's what you get.

Speaker 2 (01:24:27):
If it's you and six and it stays the way
it is, you're going to Jacksonville again. You feel really
good about that that matchup, I think any of the
matchups you have, because the other one would be whoever
wins the AFC North, which.

Speaker 5 (01:24:38):
Will be Pittsburgh. So then you'd be taking on Pittsburgh
and Pittsburgh.

Speaker 4 (01:24:41):
Do you think for any reason Pittsburgh can have a
shot against any team in the playoff? No, so you're
fully soil that Pittsburgh has no shot of winning a game.
They will be fourteen out of fourteen of ball players.

Speaker 2 (01:24:51):
Aaron Rodgers is not the same guy, That defense is
not the same, and you don't know when you're gonna
get TJ.

Speaker 5 (01:24:55):
Watt back up.

Speaker 4 (01:24:56):
I'll push back and say, if the Los Angeles Chargers
were to make a trip up to Stadium come early
January as the five seed, I could see a scenario
where because of how bad their offensive line is and
the fact that they are going to have to put
all the pressure on Justin Herbert to deliver.

Speaker 5 (01:25:10):
Yeah, I would say that Pittsburgh has a shot.

Speaker 2 (01:25:12):
Here, and then the following week, either of those teams
go to Denver and they lose.

Speaker 5 (01:25:15):
That's what I said.

Speaker 4 (01:25:15):
I said one playoff game, Yeah, I said, could you
win one? Yes, I believe that you could beat the
Chargers if you are the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't think
you could beat anybody else but the Chargers.

Speaker 5 (01:25:24):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:25:25):
Well, I mean it's also to a team that hasn't
mentioned to me. Very good defensively, not as good as
you are, but I mean just with all their offensive
line injuries that's been an issue for Justin Herbert this year.

Speaker 4 (01:25:36):
But I'd argue that at the same time, you're talking
about basically in cop carbon coffee formula, just with a
forty one year old quarterback versus twenty eight year old
quarterback with the Steelers. Steelers defensively still very good Steelers offensively,
decent enough offensive line weapons that can make plays if
you get the ball into the right situations. They can
move it on the ground just enough to skip escape

(01:25:56):
by on the scale of their teeth. Like you're basically
describing the Chargers of the North, but a team that's
gonna win the division versus sitting as a wild card.

Speaker 2 (01:26:04):
Let's continue that Sexans conversation, because Demiko Ryans has a
challenge for this group on his team. We'll let you
hear from him as we continue here on a Thursday edition.
It is The Morning Drive with Dan and Cole Sports
Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:26:18):
The Morning Drive with Denn and Cole on Sports Talk
seven ninety, home of the Strolls, Rockets, and Houston's best
sports talk.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
So yeah, you're calling it right now. So are you
rolling this Rocket scheme to night in New Orleans against
the Pelicans in or are you saying that the Rockets
beat the Nuggets in their return to Denver?

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Yes, okay, all encompassing. So then it was.

Speaker 4 (01:26:42):
It's a winning weekend for everyone here in the city
of Houston that rolls with me. Now for Triple Lee,
he will go three and won this weekend. It's okay,
life is fine, man. That's tough, man.

Speaker 2 (01:26:53):
Those are the breaks we work with sometimes. The Texans
who we continue to talk about back on the practice
field getting ready for the Raiders in town on a Sunday,
Demiko Ryans does a hit every single week with the
in house media over there at NRG Park and one
of the things they talked about is you scored forty
points last weekend against the Arizona Cardinals. I think everybody

(01:27:14):
expected this team wasn't gonna have a tough time in
that game, and that's.

Speaker 5 (01:27:17):
The way that it played out.

Speaker 2 (01:27:18):
I mean, Arizona was able to get it within thirteen
at one point, but that's as close as they got
after the opening of the game. But in terms of
this offense in general, we touched on it four field
goals and four touchdowns in this game. I believe I
have the math right there, Yes I do. Hey, how
about that finally?

Speaker 5 (01:27:35):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:27:36):
But Demiko talking about putting up those forty and even
issuing a challenge to his offense saying, hey, guys, we
could have done more.

Speaker 5 (01:27:45):
I know we scored.

Speaker 7 (01:27:47):
I know that's a great job, great plays on special teams,
but man, like, shouldn't have been over fifty like we
see like when you have opportunity to do that. No
slide against the Cardinals or anything, but just talking about
us and how we operate, how we function. How do
you what do you expect of yourself? Like do you
expect greatness of yourself? Not comparing yourself to another opponent,

(01:28:09):
but man, how do you really chase greatness? And that's
what I want our guys to see, Like you're chasing greatness.
You're chasing excellence. You're not just satisfied with Yeah, we
got the win. You should expect to win every week.
But how are you chasing that excellence?

Speaker 4 (01:28:25):
No, I'm sorry, but there is a shot at the Cardinals,
and you know what it should be a shot at
the Cardinals. One team is sitting with an opportunity to
finish with twelve wins, and the other team doesn't have
a quarterback long term, they don't have a good defense,
they don't have any weapons outside of Michael Wilson and
Trey McBride, and they were able to put up enough
points against you to make it look closer than it
actually was. And they have one of the worst red

(01:28:46):
zone units in the NFL. You're supposed to take advantages
like this. I mean, damn, we're going into this weekend.
The Raiders are one of the worst defenses in the league.
They currently are giving up twenty five point nine points
per game. They're giving up over three hundred forty yards
per game. They're giving up over five point two yards
of play. Teams are converting at a forty eight point

(01:29:07):
nine percent efficiency rate.

Speaker 5 (01:29:08):
That's dead last in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (01:29:10):
They're in the bottom ten in red zone efficiency, they're
in the bottom ten in red zone scoring opportunities. They're
allowing three point one touchdowns per game, which is twenty
six in the NFL. You should, when you're inside the fifteen,
feel as if you're in control with how well Cig's
been playing, with how well this offensive line has been
looking in pass pro that you're going to end up
getting six instead of settling for three.

Speaker 2 (01:29:32):
Well, I mean it's also too. I mean, I think
that Demiko's point here is fighting complacency. And I'm not
saying that he's saying that his group is complacent, but
that it's you know, never being satisfied.

Speaker 5 (01:29:41):
There's there's always more. I mean, what do we hear
from this defense?

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
Remember we played the cut a couple of weeks ago
from Kamari Laster. You know, hey, can this defense getting
even better? He's like, yeah, yeah, we can. I mean
that's that's That's what I think that Demiko is getting
at here, is that, you know, never being satisfied, satisfactory.
Satisfaction is holding the Lombardi Trophy. That's satisfaction.

Speaker 4 (01:30:02):
No, I think what he's getting at is you're at
a point of the season where you're supposed to be
able to handle business and leave no shred of doubt
against bottom dwelling teams. The Cardinals are a bottom dwelling team.
They're gonna be picking somewhere in the top ten. The
Raiders are gunning for the number one overall pick. People
are talking about you like you are supposed to be
the favorites in the AFC constantly.

Speaker 5 (01:30:23):
What do we hear?

Speaker 4 (01:30:24):
This defense is the last opponent that anybody wants to
go up against. This offense has turned the corner, and
it feels like that Nick Cayley is starting to get
into his own element. The offensive line is doing its job.
They're fighting an identity. When it comes to passing attack,
when you have the opportunity to put boot to ass,
you should be kicking the crap out of teams because
if you're meant to be able to go handle this
type of business, and when you leave a shred of

(01:30:46):
doubt like, oh, they're still in inefficients at the red zone. Oh,
they still aren't able to be able to execute properly. Oh,
they still have some issues. When it comes to third
noun play designs, those are areas to where it's like, hey, yeah,
our defense isn't satisfied with where they are, but our
defense has been able to deliver on every single check
that we've asked them to. You guys are still fumbling
the bag in one key area, and that leaves a

(01:31:07):
reason for teams out there to guess we may not
be good enough to be I mean, we may be
able to beat them at their own game, therefore giving
us an opportunity to pull off the upset of the year.

Speaker 5 (01:31:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:31:16):
I mean, and you know, I think that the other,
you know, part of all of this is I mean
just really wanting to have your offense playing at the
best clip that they have all season long heading into
the playoffs. I mean, you hear it all the time, Hey,
play our best football in November, December and January. Okay,
well fine, I mean a way that you can do
that is have an offense that feels even better about
themselves heading into a more challenging game next week and

(01:31:38):
then trying to finish off the season against the Colts
and then wherever you go in the playoffs. You want
this that that group feeling like, yeah, we can be
able to at least get closer to matching what the
other side of the ball is giving us.

Speaker 5 (01:31:49):
Let me ask you.

Speaker 4 (01:31:50):
We've seen the last four games, including against a couple
of teams that were viewed as playoff contenders last month
with Kansas City, with Buffalo and with Indianapolis.

Speaker 5 (01:31:58):
So I'm ee gonna throw out not even CJ. Stroud.

Speaker 4 (01:32:01):
Have you seen a change in the offensive perspective overall
from a general standpoint in the last four weeks offensive perspective, how.

Speaker 5 (01:32:09):
Just like that?

Speaker 4 (01:32:09):
You see more continuity, The play designs for the most part,
are at least being able to be consistent. You're finding
more of an ideaity when it comes to passing attack,
You're doing enough on the ground. Things that looked like
at the start of the year that were going to
be a hindrance toward you are now at least improving.

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Yes, But I mean, I don't think that it's necessarily
on Nick Kyley for that. I think that it's more
of you're not seeing as many of the pre snap penalties,
You're not finding yourself in as many third and long situations.
I mean, because that was part of what the problems
last year with Bobby Slowick is that it just seemed
like no matter what you were putting yourself in position
with penalties added to it to be in third and twelve,

(01:32:45):
third and thirteen, whatever it was in those situations, and
it was putting so much pressure on CJ. Stroud that
he just wasn't able to be able to be effective
in those spots.

Speaker 5 (01:32:54):
Okay, continue, Do you think that CJ.

Speaker 4 (01:32:55):
Stroud over his last three games has been playing the
best version of football going into the postseason?

Speaker 2 (01:33:00):
The last game, Yes, the other two at times. In
the other two. The first one, first one, I'll give
him a pass. It was the first game back after
three away, so I can understand a little bit of
rust there. The third quarter. That was the one that
I think kind of overshadowed the rest of the game.
In the pocket, he wasn't good off schedule. Out of
the pocket, he was amazing in that game.

Speaker 4 (01:33:21):
Do you think that this defense has been playing even
better than advertised from what we expected going into the year.

Speaker 2 (01:33:26):
I think they kind of leveled off a little bit
these last few weeks, especially with getting to the quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:33:31):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
I mean, I think that a lot of that is
they're a victim of their own success in their own production,
because I mean, you're not going to sack the quarterback
eight times.

Speaker 5 (01:33:39):
So let me ask you, you have at least seen
changes either they did. So you've seen changes.

Speaker 4 (01:33:42):
Either good or bad for most areas of the Texans
team over the last month.

Speaker 2 (01:33:46):
Yeah, and I think that defensively, it's a little bit
of I mean, you know, we went through the injury
report a little bit earlier. You got some guys that
are banged up over there, and that's to be expected.
You play a physical brand of football. You're going to
feel it too.

Speaker 4 (01:33:56):
What's the one thing that has not changed from Week
one to week fifteen?

Speaker 5 (01:34:00):
Overall consistency? Red zone offense. It still is a problem.
And this is where you are right.

Speaker 2 (01:34:05):
See that was I overthought myself and this is where
again I apologize to you.

Speaker 5 (01:34:08):
I apologize to the audience. That is what Demiko Ryans
is probably pointing at. Guys. Everything has been able to
be has been able to be flexed. Either.

Speaker 4 (01:34:16):
We've seen more growth with the offensive personnel with CJ.
We've seen more growth of pass protection. We got our
five starting offensive linemen that we feel comfortable with. The
defense has allowed us to kind of take a step
back when it comes to winning at the pass rush.
They've a lot, a couple of touchdowns, but you know what,
we've seen them at their peak. What are we constantly
still seeing as a kryptonite in an Achilles heel that
is going to keep us out of a Super Bowl

(01:34:37):
red zone offense. We couldn't score on an efficient rate
against one of the worst red zone defenses in the
NFL last week. This is our last shot to prove
that we can be efficient inside of the twenty because
you're not going to do that against Indianapolis at a
high rate, and you're definitely not doing that on the
road against Los Angeles. So now it is time to

(01:34:58):
actually lay down fifty points because if you're not going
to get the other opportunity to ever say that our
red zone offense is changing, and I don't think that
they will at this point of the season, but that's
what he's signaling at We're supposed to score fifty because
they suck in the red zone. We cannot have this
linger over our heads going into the playoffs now.

Speaker 5 (01:35:14):
I mean especially too.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
I mean, as I've said in the playoffs, I mean
you know it's I mean literally, you know, do or
die at that spot. So when you have a chance
to put up six. You got to put up six,
and if you don't, I mean that's you know, just
the margin of era that you just can't have. And
that's been something that at least the last couple of years,
at least last year in Kansas City, that was the
case because you found yourself in those spots. And then

(01:35:36):
Kaymie fairbam miss is a field goal and you're even
worse offt than.

Speaker 5 (01:35:40):
World And that's kind of where you're at at this point.

Speaker 4 (01:35:41):
The last thing that you want to do is feel
like that you're at the fifteen and regardless of if
you even get into the into the end zone, you're
now putting a pressure on Kyami Fairbrin have to deliver.

Speaker 5 (01:35:50):
You asked about c J.

Speaker 2 (01:35:51):
Stroud these last few games, and I said that it
was the last game was the one where he was
able to put it together the most. Just how good
was he? Some numbers would say he is fantastic. We'll
share those with you as we continue here in the
eight o'clock hour. It is the Morning Drive with Dan
and Coles Sports SOOX seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:36:09):
The Babine. Listen to every game on any device with
our free iHeartRadio app outing sports talk seven ninety Home
of Your Rockets.

Speaker 3 (01:36:18):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:36:20):
This according to PFF Pro Football Focus. We had Trevor
Sikama on with us last week. From there, they do
good work over there.

Speaker 5 (01:36:28):
CJ.

Speaker 2 (01:36:28):
Stroud had his best game since coming back from injury
as the Texans won their six straight. He had an
eighty eight percent adjusted completion rate, which I don't even
necessarily know what that means, seventy four percent completion percentage
or accuracy percentage overall, making him the only quarterback to
rank in the top five for both of those in

(01:36:49):
Week fifteen, So he was not only completing passes, he
was also on the money. What said, passes two things
at times that have been issues for CJS. So maybe
we were talking about trying to get the most out
of this offense. Maybe you're starting to see c J.
Stroud round into shape at the right time.

Speaker 1 (01:37:08):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:37:08):
You've talked to a lot of people around the league
and they've all said that so far the last two games,
even with the bad third quarter, which again we can
admit it was a very bad third quarter for the
offense against Kansas City, Stroud has looked more like himself
from how he played back in twenty twenty three, and
I don't think that there was ever a reason to
believe that he couldn't get back to that level. I
than the reasoning that was always so frustrating was people

(01:37:30):
decide to over overvalue and probably kind of.

Speaker 5 (01:37:35):
That's right word. Why am I playing on the word today?

Speaker 4 (01:37:40):
They tried to oversell the idea of CJ. Straw being
a top five quarterback after one season when you need
to get more film underneath him.

Speaker 5 (01:37:46):
So they overrated him.

Speaker 4 (01:37:48):
Sure, they overrated him, like I never understood putt him
at like top five or number six in the league
after his first season.

Speaker 5 (01:37:53):
I said that you probably.

Speaker 4 (01:37:55):
Want to say he is a top ten to twelve quarterback,
which I thought was fair. And then last season they
undersold CJ because of everyone said sophomore slump and they
all put all the attention on him missing throws or
not looking at you know what was the reasoning? That
there was inconsistency in the passing game and you're like
guys wide receivers dropping like flies. They had no offensive
identity when it came to running the football after I mean,

(01:38:17):
they had no offensive identity when it came to pass protection.
They were constantly having a carousel of names fill on
in at the interior of the offensive line, so you
kind of over you know, you kind of said that
it was a terrible performance, but it really wasn't all
on him. And now we're kind of in that middle ground,
which is, yeah, he probably is a top ten quarterback

(01:38:38):
at most stages. If not, you would say, no worse
than top fourteen. He's good enough to be able to
win you games. You probably need a little bit of
help around him, but every quarterback needs that. So you're
now getting back to the level of, Hey, we probably
always knew that he was going to be one of
the one of the better names or the top half
names in the league. We didn't have to go ahead
and say, oh, superstar for the get go media plug

(01:39:00):
and play, gonna be an MVP.

Speaker 5 (01:39:02):
For the second he touches down. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:39:03):
He almost kind of reminds me of when we talked
about him a little bit earlier, Dak Prescott.

Speaker 5 (01:39:07):
Same deal.

Speaker 4 (01:39:07):
That was the comparison when he was coming out of
school was he was going to be a Dak Prescott
ESQ quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:39:12):
Well, I mean, but that was the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:39:14):
I mean, his first season, Dak was fantastic, a huge
help in that was that you had Ezekiel Elliott at
the time, who was amazing and obviously, I mean, was
able to help the Cowboys have the season they did
that year. And you know after that, that's when he
started to see some of the interceptions from Dak and
you know, the oh, you know he's overrated, all these
different things. I mean that was I think a little

(01:39:36):
bit of the concern that people had with CJ last
year was that you started to see what he didn't
do his first season. I mean, how many starts did
he have before he finally threw an interception his rookie season.
I mean I want to say, like we yeah, I
want to say we even got in like December, and
then he finally threw one, and and I don't even
think that it was his fault, Like I think it
was one like glanced off a receiver's hands and got picked.

(01:39:58):
So it's just like, right, well, I mean, you know,
do we even necessarily need to like put that on
the quarterback or you know, can we have a stat
for receivers where it's just like, yeah, you know, it
was too of them, But you get my point here.

Speaker 5 (01:40:09):
Their reception was against the New Orleans Saints October fifteenth.

Speaker 4 (01:40:12):
Okay, so I mean later on the season, still remind
yourself of this. He had five interceptions that year, one
against New Orleans, one against Cincinnati on the road, and
then he had the three in the one game against Arizona. Right,
So really he only had two interceptions. That, if you
take away, the worst performance of the season for him,
and that was in so many ways because of Yeah,
he did throw for three to thirty six, but he

(01:40:34):
had four turnovers in that game.

Speaker 5 (01:40:35):
I mean, but that's the thing though, I mean, interceptions
are going to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:40:37):
I mean, passes, there are many of them, but they're
not all created equals. Sure, you know, it's kind of
like in baseball, he hit one right on the barrel
and it goes right to someone. I mean sometimes that
can happen where you know you had a good thrown ball,
maybe the route was off or anything like that.

Speaker 5 (01:40:52):
Again, it's not necessarily your fault. It was one of
those interceptions I remember that was like dead on hitting
the hitting Buddhabaka in the chest. So that was on him.

Speaker 4 (01:40:59):
Sure, but again, you'll take one bad interception for three
highlight touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (01:41:05):
Sometimes you look at strike three. I mean, you didn't
mean to do it, but sometimes you do. I mean,
it just happens.

Speaker 5 (01:41:09):
Yeah, but if it's right down the middle, you can't
take it. That'll happened. Sometimes you guess the wrong pitch
and you got beats.

Speaker 4 (01:41:15):
Well, no, the problem is that now you're becoming so
passive aggressive to go swing because if you swung too
early at a pitch that was well outside the zone.

Speaker 2 (01:41:22):
I think if nothing else, I think, if nothing else
would it gives you confidence from the last game, and
we'll see if it carries over this week. It should
for everything that you just threw out, and we'll see
what happens with Max Crosby that that confidence is coming back,
because you felt that confidence waning with him last year,
and I think he kind of felt like it carried
over a little bit to the early part.

Speaker 5 (01:41:40):
Of this season.

Speaker 2 (01:41:41):
It was about the middle point of the year where
you had that Monday night game against Seattle and I
remember that fourth quarter, and I've probably up numerous times
that I kind of started to see twenty twenty three
CJ emerge again, Like it was like a little bit
of not reckless abandon but it was a little bit
of you know what, look I'm not gonna be afraid anymore.
I'm gonna throw it, and if it gets picked, he
gets overthrown, so be it.

Speaker 5 (01:42:01):
It's all part of it. Just move on to the
next play. Yeah, But see the thing about CJ in
twenty twenty three Dan was he was willing to throw
it out of bounds and hit reset before he actually
was going out to try to make it.

Speaker 4 (01:42:11):
And he did that last week, right, but he didn't
do that in the Seattle game. The Seattle game, it
was just like, screwt. If I'm going to throw it
and it goes ahead and hits the target, so be it.
But at least I'm going to try to force it downfield.
So I'll push back on that, like like last week,
is exactly what you said, And then I would say
the numbers won't justify it. But the worst game of
the season for CJ this year was Can't sit the
game based off of production two hundred three passing yards

(01:42:32):
forty eight point four, completion percentage, one touchdown, sack three times,
passer a QBR thirty three point six. But in that game,
that third quarter when he was under durest and they
were going cover zero and Spagnola was trying to force
the ball out of his hands. He was at least
throwing it toward the sidelines to go ahead and hit
reset rather than try to force it across the middle
of the field.

Speaker 2 (01:42:51):
And I think also to another thing that you saw
that was positive with him was benefit to going underneath.
I mean it was, you know numerous times where you'd see, well,
he's got that guy, he's that guy, and he's just like, yeah,
maybe I do, but I know I've got that guy,
so I'm gonna go with the sure thing.

Speaker 5 (01:43:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:43:05):
And I think that last week was a good understanding
of getting back to the we know what's open, we
know what's not. If there's something there, let's just go
ahead to hit reset rather than put the ball on
arm's way. Cuz seventy five point nine at please percentage
nine point zero yards per play by for past ten.
That's season high three touchdowns, second only behind the game
against Baltimore, passer rating of one thirty seven, second only

(01:43:26):
behind the Baltimore game, QBR ranking of sixty one point six,
second only behind the Baltimore game. Zero turnovers, So again,
really solid overall performance and what you want to see
from a quarterback that right now could be the difference
of you making it to the super Bowl or not
playing his best version of football to close out the season.

Speaker 2 (01:43:43):
It's getting a little bit of the college football playoff
because the Aggies are not short on confidence. But could
it cost him on Saturday. We'll discuss right here as
we continue here on the Morning Drive on a Thursday
Sports Talk seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:43:58):
They are Don Morning.

Speaker 5 (01:44:00):
Here's Dan Matthews and Cole Thompson.

Speaker 2 (01:44:05):
We noticed that at least a couple of different Aggie
players have been very vocal about how they feel about
going up against this Miami defensive front that's got who
a lot of people believe is going to be the
number one pick overall, and Ruben Bain that should be
the number one pick overall, so at least a lot
of prospect rankings have him as such. So they're really
good edge rusher for the Keynes and just a really

(01:44:27):
good group up there upfront. That's been the major difference
this year for Mario Christoball's team is that they actually
seem like they've got both sides figured out on the lines.
But we'll storry it off first with Aggie's left tackle,
Trey Zoon. This was last week when being asked about
this Miami run defense and just this Miami defensive line
as a whole going up against them.

Speaker 10 (01:44:49):
I don't think he'll be a threat that we need
to worry about too much.

Speaker 9 (01:44:52):
You know, we have great players, We've got a great
offensive line, so we'll be able to handle them.

Speaker 4 (01:44:55):
So there you go, quick and to the point, stop,
stop listen. Okay, to be confident. It's okay to think
that you're the more complete team, and it's okay to
think that you're going to be able to deliver in
front of your hometown crowd. Do not crap on a
player that you're giving free motivation to on how he
can just go ahead and unmercilessly lay waste on a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:45:16):
We'll get to him in a second, because it continues.
Ruben Owens the El Campo product running back for Texas
A and M. He was asked about this Miami run defense,
and needless to say, he is not too worried.

Speaker 10 (01:45:30):
I wouldn't say as much as much of the challenge.
I know my guys they're ready for the challenge. You know,
it's been like that a couple of games Maszoo game.
They said that was a good run defense. We put
up over two hundred rushing yards. So I just feel
that once we just aligned us, do our assignment put
it for, then we'll get to jump done.

Speaker 5 (01:45:50):
So again, I mean you bring it up.

Speaker 2 (01:45:52):
I mean they're confident, they believe that they've got a
good offensive line and also too, I mean this is
an A and M offense and just an A and
M team in general that you would think has been
stewing for the last few weeks because they did not
have a good finish of this season.

Speaker 5 (01:46:05):
How they sucked to close out twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:46:06):
Yeah, you're able to come back and beat South Carolina,
which you were lucky enough to be able to do that,
and then you absolutely lay an egg in Austin against Texas, which, look,
I'll say it, this is not twisting the knife. You
can say what you want about. You know, Hey, we're
eleven and one, we're in the college football playoff.

Speaker 5 (01:46:22):
That burns.

Speaker 2 (01:46:23):
That burns because this was probably the best chance that
you will have had for a long time to be
able to not only beat them, but then go to
their house take away any hopes of a college football
playoff at that point send them to eight and four
on the season. So you can try to couch at
all you want, but I know that losing that game
meant a lot more than winning that game.

Speaker 5 (01:46:44):
TEXA and M fans, knock, knock, he.

Speaker 4 (01:46:47):
Is there, car mom, because last season all I heard
from Texas A and M fans was Texas damn belonging
the playoff because if they couldn't handle business against quality
teams that they faced off against, and they got the
bottom dwellers at the conference.

Speaker 5 (01:46:59):
Well A and M.

Speaker 4 (01:47:00):
Right now, they only faced off against two ranked teams
all year.

Speaker 5 (01:47:03):
They got one win over Notre Dame.

Speaker 4 (01:47:05):
They got another loss in embarrassing fashion against your rival
in Texas. So now you can't use that as an
advantage against you to go ahead, And now Texas fans
are allowed to say you don't belong in the playoff either.
So yeah, it does sting for a lot of reasons,
but the main one is you had an opportunity to
actually deliver in a game that was ranked.

Speaker 2 (01:47:23):
You couldn't even do that, right, So you got both
of those guys seeing what they said. And then Ruben
Bain yesterday said player for Miami asked about some of
the words being said by Texas A and M players
about their defensive front.

Speaker 5 (01:47:35):
The text A M has been talking a little bit,
and I know you had your own little notebook there,
you know, coach says, is on out all the outside noise.
But is there some.

Speaker 6 (01:47:44):
Maybe something inside you that says, hey, you know that
sort of gets your attention with some of this stuff.

Speaker 11 (01:47:51):
Oh no, man, man, God bless those guys. They just
play football. They play it.

Speaker 5 (01:47:57):
So taking the high road there. He ain't taking the
high road.

Speaker 4 (01:47:59):
He's he's quite literally saying, all right, Bett, all right,
you want to talk your mad game? Cool back it
on up number seven run defence in college football this year,
they're giving up less than ninety yards per contest. Yeah,
I think for sure they're pretty much understanding. Okay, talk
mad game, bear deliver because I am.

Speaker 2 (01:48:19):
Here's where maybe everything can kind of be coming into
place where again, you said the K word karma, which
it's not one of my favorites to throw out there,
but regardless, I just think it's dumb where something something
happens and.

Speaker 5 (01:48:31):
It's, oh, hey, that's karma for all of this.

Speaker 2 (01:48:33):
No, there's there's no magical karma that's over something that
happened off the field that then carries over and hey,
that's why you know, some some sort of you know,
higher power that's that's making something else happen. There is
a higher power, don't get me wrong, but they're not
they're not influencing what happens in a game.

Speaker 4 (01:48:54):
College football gods have got a humble people. Sometimes it
happens all the time in the world of sports.

Speaker 2 (01:48:59):
Great well, Christopher ber Filica, a guy that we had
on the air with us here before the season got started.

Speaker 5 (01:49:05):
He's got his own podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:49:06):
And when it comes to you know, this Miami defensive
front facing off against Texas A and m well, he
you know, I can understand the confidence of both Bain
or at least Trey Zoon and also Ruben Owens. But
Christopher the bear Filica says, buyer, beware, guys, be careful.

Speaker 9 (01:49:24):
Marussell Reid is not done well when teams haven't needed
to blitz. And I think one of Corey Heatherman's like
biggest traits this here is to be able to get
pressure with that defensive line, not half the blitz like
we saw against Texas in the second half. Reid really
kind of struggled completing passes and had a lot of trouble.
Interesting chess match there between the Miami staff and the

(01:49:45):
A and m staff.

Speaker 2 (01:49:46):
Here's the interesting thing I think with all of this,
Cole is that I think, for at least Marcel Reid,
the game plan was shown in that Texas game. They
did a fantastic job of saying, you don't allow him
to r you make him throw, You've got a real
shot to limit him.

Speaker 5 (01:50:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:50:04):
But the thing I will push back on is from
Miami standpoint, if there's a way to beat him, and
so it's making sure that he stays in the pocket
and finish the job behind the line of scrimmage, because
the secondary is hit and miss for Miami, like it's
been drastically improven what it was a season ago. And
I was on the record saying this last season, Miami
had an offense good enough to win a national championship.
They had a defense that kept them out of college

(01:50:25):
football playoff. They're better underneath Corey Heatherman. They are they
lock step better, they do a good job of adding pressure.
They're not having a lot of mistakes. They're in the
right place at the right time, forcing turnovers. But if
there was a weak point, it's the explosive plays allowed downfield.
And in a matchup where you have two dudes who
could absolutely torch at the line of scrimmage a case
of Conceptsion and Mario Kraver, all you need to do

(01:50:48):
is just make sure that you're in lockstep with him
on the throw. And that's again of forty and that's
gain a sixty and that's a house call.

Speaker 5 (01:50:56):
So if you are.

Speaker 4 (01:50:58):
Miami in this game, the the plan should be make
sure that Marcel Reid the play ends with him losing
seven yards, not trying to force it.

Speaker 5 (01:51:07):
Into the middle of the field.

Speaker 2 (01:51:08):
Well see how it all shakes out on Saturday again,
that's gonna be an eleven o'clock game.

Speaker 5 (01:51:12):
They're in college station and the Aggie's.

Speaker 2 (01:51:15):
Trying to be able to move on for a chance
to take on Ohio State in the next round. Speaking
of all of that, the NFL everything of the sort.
Kelly Stewart known as Kelly in Vegas. She's gonna hop
on with us here for a few minutes, as we'll
get into the gambling side, and also maybe even give
you a chance to earn real money when it comes
to college football Playoff. We got that coming up right

(01:51:35):
here as it is the Morning Drive with Dan and Coles.
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:51:40):
A, HOUSTONHD two Houston, the Astross, the Rockets, Rockets Basketball,
your home for your home teams. This is Sports Talk
seven ninety and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human. This is the

(01:52:00):
Morning Drive with Dan and Cole.

Speaker 2 (01:52:07):
As promised, let's set out to the phone lines and
a chance for you to make some serious money. Literally,
a chance for you to make some money. As we've
got Kelly Stewart hopping on with us here as she's
joined us with Splash Sports. And Kelly will talk about
that here in just a second, because I mean, like
I said, you've given away a chance for people to
make some serious money this college football season. But we

(01:52:30):
were just talking to Miami and Texas A and m game.
I guess just kind of a thousand foot broad view.
How do you feel like this game is being looked
at from the sharp perspective?

Speaker 11 (01:52:41):
You know, it's a really interesting because I'm not sure
there's a sharp perspective here from me. I bet against
both these teams this year and I was wrong. And
that's that kind of humbling thing about sports betting, right,
you got to say, all right, I was wrong about
Mario Christobal, I was wrong about Mike Elco. How are
we going to look at this game of jack actively
instead of saying I want to bet against both these teams,

(01:53:02):
because that's not possible. The real reality is I do
not think that Miami should have got in. I also
don't think Alabama should have gone in, but that's a
whole nother argument in itself. I think this is going
to be a really physical matchup between both of these teams.
As you know, the Aggies ran the table there until
the last week versus Texas, but from a betting perspective,

(01:53:23):
they were only five and seven against the spread. Remember
that South Carolina game, they got really out of control.
They had to come back early, and that was because
of turnovers. Miami, on the other hand, has benefited plus
nine turnovers their way this year and that has kept
them in games. The biggest thing why people liked Miami
this year is because they brought up fifteen starters. They

(01:53:44):
got Carson back from Uga, and so they when they
opened five and zero, including that win over Notre Dame,
everybody thought, oh, they deserve to be in this playoffs,
and I said, I'm not done betting against Miami. I
went against them with Louisville. I went against them with SMU,
but they ultimately ended up getting in even though they
didn't have to play in the AC title game. I
think that A and M has been at playoff contender
though since Week one there has not been any questions.

(01:54:07):
Even though they did lose at Texas, this was a
team that fought hard all season long. We know colin
clients staying, we know the defensive coordinators stand these guys
want to win this game. I think you either lay
the three and a half year with A and M,
are you stay away.

Speaker 4 (01:54:21):
Well, let's talk about that Alabama team that's going up
to have a rematch against Oklahoma. Oklahoma has been a
thorn in Alabama side since the two thousands. Even Nick
Saban lost to the Sooners in the past. And we're
talking about a team that right now has constantly found
ways to shoot itself against the spread. You said they
don't belong in, but yet somehow they're favored as a
one and a half point row on the road. So,

(01:54:41):
overall thoughts on that game and what you expect to
see between Ty Simpson and Jometier.

Speaker 11 (01:54:47):
Yeah, listen, you lose to Florida State to start the year,
we can overlook that you lose a couple more games.
It is what it is. Notre Dame should have been in.
But I think what the Alabama betters are going to
argue is say, well, look at the game that we
played on November fifteenth. We outgained Oklahoma by almost two
hundred yards, we had the first down edge, YadA, YadA, YadA. Well,

(01:55:07):
the reality is they took their best shot against Oklahoma,
not only this year but last year and still lost.
John Mattier is my only question mark here. We know
he has not been fully healthy since that hands surgery
in late September. But if he doesn't turn the ball
over runs the football, I think that they're going to
be able to beat up on Alabama. Here's a fun

(01:55:27):
tip for you guys from my friends over at the
Gold Chief that I had to steal. So last year
we had twelve teams college football playoff opening round campus sites.
All four of those home teams won by double digits
and the average margin of victory nineteen point three points
per game. So look for looks at that for what
you will, but I'm going with both home teams here

(01:55:49):
at least in the SEC with Oklahoma and A and.

Speaker 5 (01:55:52):
M Kelly and Vegas again.

Speaker 2 (01:55:54):
Join us here on the Morning Drive with Dan and
Coles Sports Talk as seven to ninety. Finder on Twitter
at Kelly in Vegas and when you find her on Twitter,
well you'll see that she's pretty much never not working.
I mean, it seems like I don't know how many
current jobs do you have along with talking with us today?
Cursy of Splash Sports, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:56:13):
I do it.

Speaker 11 (01:56:14):
The commissioner stuff with Splash Sports keeps me very, very busy.
I also own a company called wager talk dot com,
which is pretty much what I'm always doing. But I've
got lots of fun partnerships with tons of different places.
The Super Book in Las Vegas. Those guys pay me
money to say, Hey, do this podcast with your best
friend who's a book maker, and just have a great

(01:56:36):
time for one hour a week. So I'm pretty blessed
in the fact that I get to talk about sports
gambling for a living, and you know, every once in
a while I got to make a little money doing so.

Speaker 5 (01:56:45):
Man, busy's good, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:56:47):
Let's flip it over here real quick, because the Texans
have been on a run lately and a lot of
people are real believers that they can make a run
this year in the postseason.

Speaker 5 (01:56:56):
Do you see the.

Speaker 11 (01:56:56):
Same thing, you know, quinc When I said, hey, guys,
I'm gonna do all these radio spots for Splash this week,
I gave out Texans as my best bet on Monday.
I did not realize until this morning that you guys
are Houston base. So I don't want anybody to say, oh,
she's just coming on here telling us her best bet
is Houston because.

Speaker 2 (01:57:14):
We can feel play cad and we don't fail the playcation'.

Speaker 11 (01:57:17):
You're good, Okay, But here's the reality, guys. I've been
betting against the Raiders for weeks. Fine, they got the
back door there versus Denver because Pete Carroll decided it
was a football move to try to kick that field
goal to get the on side kick whatever. We can
all speculate what that was. But Vegas had no business
covering that game, and they had no business covering last week,

(01:57:39):
and frankly, they have been an atrocious offense for a
better part of the season. If you guys look at
their last couple of games here. They're responsible for two
of the worst offensive games in the NFL over the
past decade in the last two months, so versus Kansas
City and then last week again versus the Eagles. We're

(01:58:00):
talking seventy five offensive yards. Ninety five offensive yards. I
mean a high school football team playing a college team
might be able to put up more yards. But Houston,
you guys mentioned, won their last six games, covered five
of those six. This is a great spot for Houston
and that defense to absolutely throttle and offensively an op

(01:58:21):
Raiders team.

Speaker 4 (01:58:22):
Kelly, Let's look at it from a broader perspective. If
I was just a simple gambler trying to win on
a long shot bet for a team to go hoist
up the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara, you.

Speaker 5 (01:58:31):
Can't name the Texans.

Speaker 4 (01:58:32):
Who is that one team that people need to be
paying more attention to going into the month of January.

Speaker 11 (01:58:38):
Yeah, that's probably an NFC team. And that's the real
reality here. And we're kind of seeing the NFC West
jockeying for position right now on Thursday Night?

Speaker 10 (01:58:47):
Right?

Speaker 11 (01:58:47):
Is it the Rams? Is it Seattle? I've got a
Niners twenty to one ticket in my pocket. It doesn't
look so good right now as they were played with
the injury bug. There early long shot team, if you
want to say that, I think that it's going to
be the Broncos or the past. It's not going to be.
I'm a Broncos fan. I grew up in Kansas, so

(01:59:09):
my two options were awful Kansas City Chiefs team or
Broncos team. I think the Broncos are a little fraudulent.
I've been screaming from the mountaintops that the Patriots are
fraudulent and up twenty one nothing last week, I sure
didn't look very smart. We'll see how they come to
play against the Ravens this weekend. But I got to
go with the team out of the NFC. I'm gonna

(01:59:29):
stick with the Niners. I think that they can make
a push here late and surprise some people in the playoffs.
So even though I didn't get the best of the
number because I bet it prior to the season starting,
I think there's some still some real value here on
San Francisco.

Speaker 2 (01:59:41):
Careful of Broncos twitter, though, Kelly. I mean, it's just
I haven't been a victim of it and don't want
to see you become a victim of it. But apparently
the things are out when it comes to Broncos Twitter
right now in defending this team.

Speaker 11 (01:59:53):
Listen, here's the real reality. Twitter gets mad at me
no matter what team I criticized, so I like to
criticize them all, and it varies week to week. Bear's Twitter, though,
I will say, has been the worst, worst out of
every single group. Patriots slightly behind, but Broncos Twitter doesn't
really bother me too much.

Speaker 5 (02:00:12):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (02:00:12):
See you know the struggle again, Kelly and Vegas hopping
on with us here for a few minutes. As I mentioned,
she's given you a chance to make some serious money.
You mentioned your work with Splash Sports in downloading the
Splash app, and it all involves the college football playoff
coming up here starting tomorrow. What can our audience learn
and how can our audience possibly benefit from taking part

(02:00:33):
in this contest?

Speaker 11 (02:00:36):
So you guys probably have never heard of splash, but
you've definitely heard of the Vegas contest that I used
to do when I was a proxy when I lived
in Vegas for years, and that's kind of how I
got into this contest world. So I'd have a run
your pool office football pool. Well, Splash bought both of
those sites, so now all of your contests are on
one platform. And it's awesome because I used to get lost.

(02:00:59):
I used to things you can get convoluted. Did I
put in these picks? Did I not put in these picks?
Now it's all in one secure place. So becoming a
commissioner on Splash has been absolutely awesome. They let me
do whatever I want. And last year we said, all right,
we're going to do a college football playoff survivor. And
it's tough, Don't get me wrong. It is because you've
got to have two double pick weeks, first round quarterfinals.

(02:01:20):
It's one hundred bucks to enter, two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to the winner, whether the whether the contest
goals or not. Right now, got a little over one
thousand people in there. For it to not fill, we
need about twenty seven hundred people. So there may be
what I like to call dead money in the contest,
which means that Splash is guaranteeing it whether the amount

(02:01:42):
of people in it or not, which is as my
gambling brother and no plus eb so plus expected value
is something we always look for. But you're going to
pick two teams for the first round. Then you go
in pick one team, two more teams. Play it accordingly, guys,
because just like a regular survivor, you only get to
pick each team once. So personally, I worked it backwards.

(02:02:04):
I have Georgia as my national champion, and so I
kind of did three. I did three so far. If
there's going to be a really big overlay, I might
do up to five or six hundred bucks to enter
two hundred and fifty thousand guaranteed.

Speaker 2 (02:02:16):
There you go, as mentioned splash sports dot com, download
the Splash app, and you enter with that hundred bucks.
You get a chance to be able to take home
the grand prize of two hundred and fifty thousand as
part of the CFP Survivor pool that Kelly is in
charge with over at Splash.

Speaker 5 (02:02:31):
All right, Kelly gets you out the door on this one.

Speaker 2 (02:02:33):
Going to kind of put you on the spot here,
because anybody that's ever put action on games, you know,
this feeling parlays straight up whatever it might be. I
always love to ask people who are in the industry,
you know, what's the one that you remember the play
that hurt you the most? Because it seems like it's
the losses Kelly. Those are the ones that, like we
remember if you had one team and that three team
or that five team or that lost, you're just like, gosh,

(02:02:55):
that that win was just right there.

Speaker 5 (02:02:57):
So the one that you remember that was a loss,
but all so the.

Speaker 11 (02:03:00):
One that you hit, well, I'm going to tell you
that I try to have a really short memory, and
that is just the reality. You have to have a
short term memory when it comes to losing, because if
you sit there and draw on it, you're you're gonna
be in a lot of pain. So the one that
comes to recent memory is Mississippi State going a double
digit lead to Texas. I had Mississippi State in my

(02:03:22):
three team moneyline parlay that I do every single week
that I put out on X That was painful. It
was really that was I saw it coming. I saw
it coming from a mile away, Mississippi choking away that game.
The best one is probably the first one. I hit
an eighty five to one ticket back in twenty thirteen,
and I think that's kind of what put me on

(02:03:43):
the map. So I have to give that one. It's homage.
I did work for Barstool Sports for a couple of
years and the week that I hit back to back
underdog parlays, one was around seventy five to one and
the other was around forty to one. That was a
really good two week Times Fan. So hard to pick
just one, but there's been some really prolific ones that

(02:04:04):
have really helped catapult my career and help me pick
some more outright underdog winners.

Speaker 2 (02:04:10):
Well, as we've mentioned, you stay very busy with wager talking.
Of course, joined us today talk about the Splash Sports
app Splash sports dot com again take part in that
college football playoff survival pool. She is Kelly and Vegas. Hey, Kelly,
really appreciate the time. Been following your work for a
early long time. We're really glad that we had a
chance to finally connect with you.

Speaker 11 (02:04:29):
Absolutely. Thanks guys, Go Texans.

Speaker 2 (02:04:32):
There we go, There we go, Kelly and Vegas again
hopping on with us here for a few minutes. Well,
I mean, obviously it's one of those that she's feeling
good about the Aggies, So Aggie fans, you know she's saying, Actually,
I guess it was one of those where she said,
either take the Aggies or just stay off the.

Speaker 4 (02:04:48):
Stay from the game in my opinion, like, that's one
of those matchups to where, yeah, I think that the
Aggies are gonna win, but I'm not gonna put money
down on it. She probably was just brown nosing Tripoli
because if he got to talk to her beforehand, that
was why. Oh yeah, because she's total I guarantee you
that she's one hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (02:05:06):
She was not enjoying the conversation. You didn't sneak in
that that the co host was an Alabama.

Speaker 2 (02:05:10):
Hey, look, she's prepared. But at the same time though too,
I mean we we talked through it. She's not placating
the audience.

Speaker 5 (02:05:16):
See.

Speaker 4 (02:05:16):
I used to sit in his chair though, and I
remember speaking to guests as I was lining them on up,
and I would try to throw a curveball at them.
That way, when Adam and Adam and Adam had to
listen to the phone call, they would be thrown off card.
So I guarantee you that triple he mentioned, Hey, I'm
a Sooner guy. You want to throw something out there
to my Alabama anything.

Speaker 5 (02:05:31):
I can see it in your face. You're lying to us,
You're lying to the audience.

Speaker 2 (02:05:36):
Good, Yeah, let's leading the witness and that what it
is now, Materier is not going to do Jack squad tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (02:05:44):
And that's the problem is that if they had anyone.

Speaker 4 (02:05:46):
Else playing quarterback, Okay, if anybody else is playing quarterback,
I would say that Alabama was losing by double digits.
That's the problem because it's because of its two materials
bits is the surgery.

Speaker 2 (02:05:57):
Well, anyway, Kelly and Vegas again and hopping on with us.
You can find her on Twitter at Kelly in Vegas
and again one hundred dollars take part in that splash
sports dot com or also the splash app CFP survivor
pool that they are running and you have a chance
to win two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Speaker 5 (02:06:13):
So appreciate her time with us this morning.

Speaker 2 (02:06:15):
Let's continue the college football conversation because boy, I mean,
the l's this offseason for this one program just only
continue and it's somebody that's going out the door that's
causing them to lose even more. We'll discuss right here
as it is the Morning Drive with Danny Cole right
here on a Thursday of Sports Talk seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (02:06:34):
Back to the Morning Drive. Here's Dan Matthews and Cole Thompson.

Speaker 2 (02:06:41):
You have the Rams and the Seahawks up there in Seattle,
so two of the literally the two best teams in
the NFC right now record wise, taking on each other.
It's just a little bit of a more extreme to
the Texans and Jaguars situation.

Speaker 4 (02:06:58):
I will say something that is probably gonna get me
in trouble, and I'm okay with it.

Speaker 5 (02:07:02):
One ninety.

Speaker 4 (02:07:06):
The winner of the night's game is supposed to be
the favorite to win the Super Bowl. Okay, I I
am not gonna change my paining on that one. The
winner of the night's game, I think right now is
the favorite to win.

Speaker 5 (02:07:16):
The Super Bowl. It's necessarily like that controversial in this town.

Speaker 4 (02:07:19):
Apparently I hate the Texans because if I still need
to see more from their offense, and therefore I say
that they can't.

Speaker 2 (02:07:25):
I mean like, it's just like I don't think that,
Like you know, oh my god, we're gonna have a
bunch of Rams and Seahawks fans that are gonna be
coming after you and your mentions and on the phone.

Speaker 4 (02:07:34):
Line, We're fans are gonna lose their mind when I
say tomorrow morning, the team that won last night should
be in line to go play in Santa Clara because
of right now, I don't think there's many questions about
either roster. You both can trust your quarterback to do
just enough to get the job done.

Speaker 5 (02:07:49):
Both of you have one.

Speaker 4 (02:07:50):
Wide receiver that is elite, another wide receiver that's pretty good.
You're each gonna be down one key starter on the offense,
Charles Cross the offensive tackles not playing tonight, Devonte Adams
been playing for Los Angeles. Both have a top ten defense,
both have a top ten red zone offense. Both can
trust their special teams to make plays. I feel like
tonight the winner of the game is in the driver's

(02:08:11):
seat to not only be inside of the matchup against
anybody in the NFC, and they're gonna have home fell advantage.
But I would say that any team that comes from
the AFC, as Kelly mentioned, and I agree with her
right now, the winner from the winner the Super Bowls.

Speaker 5 (02:08:25):
Coming for the NFC for a second straight year, well
I mean.

Speaker 2 (02:08:27):
And I also think though too, that most Texans fans
who are honest with themselves do not believe that this
is a Super Bowl winning team this year, and the
offense is the reason. And look, I mean you know,
you can be upset about it, but it's like you
also need to realize that you've got another step to
be able to get the Hell you've got two more
steps to be able to get there that you hadn't
even done yet ever in your history, not once.

Speaker 5 (02:08:48):
What playing an AFC chavor Tip game and win. That's round.
That's both of them.

Speaker 2 (02:08:52):
Yes, the fact that you hadn't even you know, it's say, hey,
you know they got a chance to get to the
AFC Championship Game. Well, you've got to be able to
do that. You've never been able to do that. Hey
they got a chance to get to the super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (02:09:02):
Well you hadn't even done the step before the step.
Let's get worry about step one before we go jump step.

Speaker 2 (02:09:06):
So there you go, man, Like, I don't think you're
gonna have a ton of people who are gonna, you know,
beat you up about that. I mean, maybe Larry will,
but you know, I can't control Larry. Larry is who
he is.

Speaker 4 (02:09:16):
If he costs it tomorrow when you're out, I'm not
going to pick up the phone, don't do that. He's
part of the family. What do we do do We
let him come on and now of course you do.

Speaker 2 (02:09:25):
Okay, of course, come on, man, the man's about good
cigars and good drinks too.

Speaker 5 (02:09:31):
It's a good man ashtag a hollo. I'm telling you
we're gonna make this happen. Let's see what Dave wants
to say. Yeah, let's let's get to Dave and then
we'll get to the Notre Dame point here, Dave, what's
going on?

Speaker 6 (02:09:40):
Man?

Speaker 5 (02:09:41):
Good morning?

Speaker 2 (02:09:44):
I guess the phones are doing that again. Go ahead, tripley. Hey, Dave,
we got you. Now, what's up man, Dave?

Speaker 5 (02:09:52):
Maybe we don't I day five four three?

Speaker 2 (02:10:00):
Yeah, I guess again. Yeah, I guess Dave is talking
with somebody else. All right, Hey, get to the Notre
Dame thing. So Jeremiah Love announced a couple of days
ago that he is declaring for the NFL draft future
Houston Texans running back. Yes, that would be nice. So,
I guess, you know. Met with the media up there
in South Bend, and Mike Bernardino with Indieinsider dot com,

(02:10:22):
sharing about Love, talking about rival athletic directors who are
reportedly threatening to freeze Notre Dame out of future schedules,
said quote, they're scared to play us. They don't want
to play Notre Dame because we're Notre Dame. You're leaving
us out of your schedule. It's not a good look.
Why not play us? That's how I think about it.

Speaker 4 (02:10:42):
Okay, cool, join a conference then we can have this
conversation on the regular.

Speaker 2 (02:10:46):
Well, I mean, I just I think that, you know,
that's part of it, because I mean you do have
you know, ades out there, university presidents, everybody the sort.
It's just like, well, wait a minute, why why do
they you know, why why do they get the preferential
treatment on this? And of course the answer is, well,
they're Notre Dame. They've got the national TV you know,
the national TV rights with NBC, and I mean there

(02:11:07):
is a little bit of preferential treatment there.

Speaker 5 (02:11:09):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (02:11:10):
But two at the same time, I mean that also
works both ways, because I've seen Notre Dame fans talking about, oh,
it's the sec bias of ESPN, that's what got them
in and our good buddy Chris Marler pointing out, says,
fans of a fan base of a team that has
had their own network devoted to them for about forty years.

Speaker 4 (02:11:27):
There was a person who was defending, defending Notre Dame's
chances of going to the College Football Playoff. And I
won't name her because if I don't respect her, and
if I don't respect you, I don't ever give you
credit on air. She works for a company that currently
is the broadcasting rights to Notre Dame. Why do you
think that she is going out of her way to
demand excellence of Notre Dame getting on in. Let me

(02:11:48):
just remind everybody of who Notre Dame faced off against
this year and why we say when you go ahead
and bring up you're scared to take them on. Miami
a loss, the only ACC representative Texas A and m
A winner, a team that went to the College Football Playoff.
Purdue ranked dead last in the Big Ten, Arkansas ranked
dead last in the SEC, Boise State, which is a

(02:12:09):
G five program, NC State which finished in the bottom
half rankings of the ACC rankings. One ranked team in
USC which should have a good year. Boston College dead
last in the in the ACC, Navy, a G five program,
middle of the pack, pit second to last Syracuse and
second and third to last Stanford. We're their competition and

(02:12:29):
you're now asking for the ACC or you're asking SEC
teams and big ten teams, ones that are now moving
to nine conference game schedules.

Speaker 5 (02:12:37):
Hey, why don't you go face off against Notre Dame.

Speaker 4 (02:12:40):
But only if you're also in the conversation of being
in that six and six range, because if you're nine
to three, they already know that nor To Dame is
going to lose that game, and they can't hurt their
schedule if they're not going to join a conference.

Speaker 2 (02:12:49):
This has much to do about nothing because it's a
money maker for them and other schools to be able
to schedule home and homes. I mean, I still go
back to twenty seventeen going up to South baych and
when Georgia played up there. I mean, the stadium was
filled with Georgia fans because it is a pilgrimage to
go up to South Bend.

Speaker 5 (02:13:07):
It's one of it's it's one of the right of
college football.

Speaker 2 (02:13:11):
And then of course, you know, then they make the
return trip to you and you get to see the
gold helmets all over again. So like all of this
is just gonna be much ado about nothing. It's a
lot of prisoner of the moment stuff. It's all we're
never doing this, and then all of a sudden. Oh hey,
there's money involved in this. Okay, yeah, hey we we
finally see your side now, So that's all. It's all
going to shake out, Dave. We'll give you another shot here.
Good morning.

Speaker 3 (02:13:32):
I do apologize. I do a pologast.

Speaker 5 (02:13:36):
No distractions, Dave, No distractions me. I'm answering the question.
You're distracting him. See you look at the state.

Speaker 2 (02:13:43):
I'm sure man appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (02:13:49):
Tonight's prediction, Uh the la what is it? What is
Matthew Stafford's record?

Speaker 5 (02:13:56):
Uh on the road this season or over or all
time this season? Uh? Put me on the spot, man,
I can't believe you off side?

Speaker 2 (02:14:06):
Yeah yeah, I mean he's playing at an MVP level
for a reason this year. So, I mean, obviously he's
been able to do well both. That's so far in
a way, and while Cole continues to try to find that, I.

Speaker 5 (02:14:19):
Mean, you know there's a reason why, and SAMs are there, you.

Speaker 3 (02:14:21):
Go, what's the record for two four and two?

Speaker 6 (02:14:28):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (02:14:28):
Well, I think that the final score would be uh
la rams uh twenty eight and uh the Seattle Seahawks
twenty three in a tight game.

Speaker 2 (02:14:46):
Yeah, I mean it's gonna be a fun game. There's
no question about that, Dave. Hey appreciate the call. We
got to get to John Michaels of the Kinge Gang
Radio show, so let's do that. But no, I mean,
it's just something else to be able to enjoy tonight
and head you into the weekend too.

Speaker 5 (02:15:00):
So we'll do all of that as.

Speaker 2 (02:15:01):
We'll get you ready for A and M and Miami
part of the CFP, and we'll get the Miami side
of things with us next right here as it is
the Morning Tribe with Dan and Cole Sports Talk at
seven ninety. But real quick, gotta tell you about my
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Speaker 5 (02:15:30):
You got the Woodlands office.

Speaker 2 (02:15:31):
You got Chris and uh you know the crew over
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Speaker 5 (02:15:35):
You've got the Champions office too.

Speaker 2 (02:15:37):
That's available to you, all of those right there when
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Speaker 5 (02:15:48):
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Speaker 5 (02:16:10):
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Speaker 5 (02:16:45):
Hey it's a man, tough sawn Man for all free.

Speaker 10 (02:16:50):
Every Rockets game on Sports Talk seven ninety and streaming
on the iHeartRadio Home of Rockets Basketball.

Speaker 2 (02:16:57):
A man who's gonna talk to Miami side of this
game between the Canes and Texas A and M at
eleven o'clock there in Kyle Field in college stations. John
Michaels again from the Cane Gang radio show also on
six A of the Fan in Atlanta as that's where
I know this guy the most, but does a lot
of work covering the Canes. John, you're the best, buddy.

(02:17:19):
It's great to hear from you again. Let's start off first,
we played it earlier, a lot of trash talk coming
from A and M. We were kind of used to
hearing that out of the Miami program though, But it
seems like Mario Christobaul has his guys kind of on
the straight and narrow this week.

Speaker 5 (02:17:33):
Is that accurate?

Speaker 6 (02:17:35):
Yeah, it absolutely feels that way, and Dan is good
to hear your voice as well. It's been a while.
First and foremost, be careful what you wish for, Aggie fans,
keep calling out Ruben Bain and a keen Mesador. There's
reasons those guys are mocked inside the top first round
of the NFL draft. Ruby Bain and a lot of
mock drafts inside the top ten. They're the best two
defensive linemen that A and M will see all year long.

(02:17:56):
And it's not even close. And I know LSU have
really good defense in Texas has a good defensive line.
Bain and Mesador are dogs. But what people sleep on
with Miami's D line is they've got really good explosive
defensive tackles. And Justin Scott, who's just a sophomore, former
five star recruit, David Blay who's a kid who transferred
over from Louisiana Tech. He's back healthy, miss the last

(02:18:19):
couple of games, and a mod Moten. Plus Miami's going
to bring in some young kids on the d end
as well, Marquis Lightfoot, who's an absolute menace coming off
the edge. So keep talking, keep running your mouth, keep
thinking that Miami's not what you're looking for in the SEC.
You're gonna find out real quick on Saturday afternoon.

Speaker 4 (02:18:36):
Let me get your pint on this Keyante Scott really
blisted on the injury report as probable has been out
since November fifteenth. What is his addition to the secondary
do to put pressure on Marcel Reid.

Speaker 6 (02:18:48):
He is the best blitzer Miami has on the team,
and they have used if you go back and watch
early on in the year, whether it's against Florida State
with Thomas Castellanos who can run around, whether it was
Cjkarr at Notre Dame, you know you name it, DJ
Lagway when Miami played Florida early on in the year,
Byron Brown of USF Keiante Scott. They're going to use
him everywhere and Hill a lot of times line up

(02:19:09):
in the slot looking like he's going to cover, and
he comes off the edge and when he comes off
the edge, he doesn't miss. I think he would have
been a finalist for the Thorpe Award had he not
get hurt over the last couple of games. I was
there when he got He actually got hurt against Syracuse
on that November I think it was November seventh game.
I was at the games down on the field and
he came off and he was kind of limping around

(02:19:30):
and it didn't look good and they had to move
some pieces around when he wasn't there, Jacoby Thomas, the safety,
had to play some nickel. They brought in Bryce Fitzgerald,
who was really good. But Keante Scott if kind of
the jack of all trades that Corey Heatherman, our defensive
coordinator wants to use. And I'm going to tell you
A and M better find where Zero is on the
field because he is a game wrecker when he's out

(02:19:50):
there again.

Speaker 2 (02:19:51):
He's part of the King Gang radio show that can
be heard Nashale on Fridays eleven to one eastern on
channel one forty five on Sirius X SAM. He's John
Michaels join us here for a few minutes. John's it's
safe to say that, you know, one of the charges
for Mario christ Ball when he took over at Miami
was trying to be able to solidify the offensive end

(02:20:13):
defensive lines. And this is finally the year that he
was able to do it.

Speaker 6 (02:20:17):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You think about his first real
recruiting class, his big fish with Francis malanoa the right
tackle that Miami has who's going to also be a
top ten pick. The second big fish was Ruben Bain,
who we already talked about. You go back and look
at the twenty twenty two game. I think it was
the first year Mario was there. That was a college
station between Miami and A and M and I get

(02:20:38):
at A and M wasn't very good. Miami ended up
finishing five and seven. Go back and look at Miami's
offensive line. You had guys that were like six one,
three hundred pounds. It wasn't the most athletic group. You're
now talking about Malano, who's going to be a top
ten pick. The guy that's right next to him and
Ness Cooper is one of the nastiest offensive linemen you'll
ever meet. And I'm talking about he's going to hit

(02:20:58):
you right at the edge of the whistle. You'll probably
see him standing there at midfield at Kyle Field on
Saturday trying to hype everybody up. You got James Brockermeyer,
who made some All American teams at center, who was
a transfer from TCU. The left guard is a rotation
either between five star offensive lineman Samson Okinlola or four
star in Matthew McCoy who's really good. And then their

(02:21:21):
left tackle is six foot nine, three hundred and thirty
pounds on Markel Bell. He had a vision when he
took the job at Miami to make Miami look like
every SEC team he used to coach as an offensive
line coach under Nick Saban. He understands the importance of
offensive and defensive lines from his time at Miami as
a player and a coach as well. And Mario finally

(02:21:42):
has that vision and it's part of the reason Miami's
won ten games back to back years for the first
time since two thousand and two and two thousand and three.

Speaker 5 (02:21:50):
John, let me get your opinion on this.

Speaker 4 (02:21:52):
I made a Bowl prediction earlier this year on one
Malachi Tony. I think that he is the most dangerous
player on the field and either sidne in this. I
believe that if everything goes according to plan, this is
going to be a kid that we talk about making
it to New York City and potentially hoisting up the
Heisman trophies. So let me ask you, how do you
slow down what number ten is able to accomplish this season.

Speaker 6 (02:22:12):
You've got to get him off his spots and a
lot of so Miami's going to do a lot of
different things with Malachai Toni, and it's crazy to think
that a couple of losses may have been the best
thing that ever happened to Miami. Now, we didn't figure
out it was the best thing until last Saturday or
last Sunday at noon, when we were announced that we
were in the playoffs but losing to SMU. There was
a lot of talk about how vanilla the offense had become.

(02:22:33):
It was a lot of a gap runs and it
was a lot of bubble screens, and they weren't really
using the weapons that they had. And I think somewhere
in about the second quarter of the Syracuse game, Shannon
Dawson the handcuff came off of him and he realized
Number ten might not only be the best freshman on
the field, he might be one of the five to
ten best players in all of college football. And they
started diversifying how they got him the ball. It was

(02:22:55):
jet sweeps, it was putting him in the wildcat, it
was allowing him to throw the ball. I'm sure you've
seen the story. He was a high school quarterback his
senior year. Based on necessity, and what even his senior
year is. His junior year, he reclassified. He's supposed to
be a senior in high school. But in order to
stop him, you got to find ways to tackle him
at the point of attack. Miami's going to get the
ball to him quick. And one of the great things

(02:23:17):
Malachi Toni does is he makes that first guy miss,
and then when he makes the first guy miss, all
bets are off. But look for Shannon Dawson to move
him around. He's going to be in motion again. He's
going to line up in the backfield. They've had him
at fullback a couple of times. He's going to play everywhere.
But the first tackler for a and m has to
get him to the ground if you want to flow
him down.

Speaker 5 (02:23:37):
It spending a couple more minutes again.

Speaker 2 (02:23:39):
John Michael's part of the Kane Gang radio show on
Sirius sex Sem. You can find him on Twitter at
John Michaels. You talking the Miami Hurricanes ahead of Saturday's
game against Texas A and m Carson Beck. You know,
I know that he's had a lot of experience both
at Georgia and then also at Miami. A couple of
losses this year where he looked a little shaky. What's

(02:23:59):
the belief and Carson Beck and his ability to be
able to put together a run.

Speaker 6 (02:24:05):
Really, and if you go back Dan and look, the
Louisville game was terrible.

Speaker 5 (02:24:09):
He threw four.

Speaker 6 (02:24:09):
Interceptions and was the sole reason Miami lost that game.
The SMU game, and I know people say I was
a bad game. He had two picks. The first interception,
he threw a steam ball right down the middle. Jojo
Trader has it hit him directly in two hands, bounces
it up in the air and it gets intercepted. Never
should have been a pick. The last one, obviously at
the end of overtime. You can't make that throw. That

(02:24:29):
ends up being a bad throw. But for the rest
of the year, Carson has been lights out, seventy four
percent completion. He's got i think twenty five touchdowns to
ten interceptions, six of them being in those two games
we just mentioned. He's been super accurate, he's been super
decisive with the ball, and I think as the year's
gone along, he's gotten healthier. People tend to forget this

(02:24:50):
guy had major arm surgery in the offseason. He didn't
have any spring ball. He came back right at the
start of fall campus started throwing. Really was kind of
thrown into the fire, obviously with a schedule that they
had starting the year with Notre Dame and Florida. A
couple of weeks after that, he's gotten more comfortable and
over the last four games where Miami had to win decisively,
he had over eleven hundred yards, eleven touchdowns and one interception.

(02:25:13):
And the one interception Miami was trying to run up
the score against Pittsburgh and he threw a ball in
the coverage late trying to run up the score. He's
been great. I can tell you our fan base we
love him. He's got us back in the playoffs. Miami's
got a chance to go and win a national title.
Things to Carson Beck and I think a lot of
the stuff that people talked about off the field were

(02:25:33):
complete folicies. I talked to him personally at ACC media Day.
We had him all on six eighty the Fan for
twenty five minutes, and we asked him about some of
the negativity and Carson was like, dude, my teammates loved me.
He goes, I don't know where that came about. I
had a chance to talk to Carson's mother before the
Syracuse game. She goes, I can show you group text
where people still ask about Carson. If they really didn't

(02:25:55):
like him, thought he was a bad teammate, they would
never say these things about him. Chance to talk to
our running back Mark Fletcher. I did an hour web
show with him and he said Carson is one of
the greatest people he's ever got to know, because Carson
is about one thing and one thing only, and that's
winning football first. In the locker room, wants to stay
late once. All he wants to do is throw the
ball to his receivers and get better. And I trust

(02:26:18):
Carson Beck is going to prove a lot of people
wrong over this next month of football, because yes, I
do think Miami's making a deep run.

Speaker 4 (02:26:24):
So let's say that Miami doesn't make a deep run.
What is the reason that Texas A and M is
able to get the wool over their eyes and with
an eleven am kick on Saturday?

Speaker 3 (02:26:32):
Yeah, you know what.

Speaker 6 (02:26:33):
A and M's good football team. I'm not going to
knock anything. I know people have tried to downplay who
A and M is and they didn't play the top
SEC teams.

Speaker 5 (02:26:39):
Look, they're dangerous.

Speaker 6 (02:26:40):
And where I think they could give Miami problems. They
have two receivers in Craver and obviously conception own. Go
back and watch the Louisville game. What they did to
beat Miami a lot was quick crossing routes where Miami's
linebackers a lot of times in coverage we're having to
chase underneath receivers and they're just not fast enough to
do so. If they can block Ruben Bahn and the

(02:27:02):
King Bezidor and those guys and let Marcel Reid stand
back there and throw, it could be a problem. And
a few times, very few times, is your Miami's run
defense could get leaky. It got leaky a little bit
against Isaac Brown at Louisville. It got leaky a couple
of weeks ago when they played Virginia Tech with a
mobile quarterback in kyrone drones. I think those are some
things where they can attack Miami. But Corey Heatherman has

(02:27:25):
done a really good job. Like even the Louisville game,
it was fourteen to nothing in two possessions and then
they shut them down the rest of the way outside
of the Carson Beck turnovers, I think they would have
won that football game. But mobile quarterback maybe find some
run game. If Le'Veon Moss ends up playing that's an
added edition, and I think your two receivers are going
to give us trouble underneath, especially if you get the

(02:27:45):
ball out quick and Miami has to.

Speaker 2 (02:27:47):
Tackle Gainn's John Michaels part of the King Gang Radio
show as well as on six Ay of the Fan
in Atlanta. You can find him on Twitter at John
Michaels you Johnny, Hey, it's great to hear from you again. Man,
tell all the boys I said hello, and also to
say out to Ronnie for me.

Speaker 6 (02:28:02):
Okay, absolutely, congrats by the way, Dan on having the
morning show. It couldn't happened to a better dude. I
know the grind you went through for a long time
to be where you're at. Super proudy and super happy
for you. And go Caines.

Speaker 5 (02:28:15):
Hey, you're the best man. We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (02:28:17):
John Michael's again from six to A of the Fan
and also the Cane Gang Radio show. All right, so
let's wrap it up with something that's a little industry related,
because I know that some people are not the hugest
fans of these guys, but you can't knock their hustle
and they were rewarded for it yesterday.

Speaker 5 (02:28:34):
We'll discuss right here as we.

Speaker 2 (02:28:35):
Close things out here on a Thursday is the Morning
Drive with Dan and Cole Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (02:28:41):
Age Town.

Speaker 1 (02:28:42):
The Morning Drive continues now now here's Dann and Cole.

Speaker 4 (02:28:50):
If you were to be a betting man right now
and there is something, there's a phone call that goes
on down starting pitcher trade or sign no trade?

Speaker 5 (02:28:58):
Okay, yeah, trade.

Speaker 4 (02:29:00):
I think it's given the Justin Berlanders signs a one
year contract to say that he's done with after the season.

Speaker 5 (02:29:04):
I think that comes like in January February, I think
right before.

Speaker 2 (02:29:08):
First spring training. You see how he is and all
that kind of stuff. Yeah, maybe all right, so still
waiting on that. You got the Texans on the practice
field getting ready for the Raiders on Sunday. And then
also you got the Rockets tonight in New Orleans taking
on the Pelicans six o'clock Rockets launch Pad for that.
A huge shout out to Kelly and Vegas and John
Michaels today for hopping on with us. Really appreciate them.

(02:29:30):
What do you think about barstool their company?

Speaker 5 (02:29:33):
So, I mean you just not really much of an
opinion about Barstool. I mean they're sellouts apparently a corn
to the medium.

Speaker 2 (02:29:39):
That's true, and Dave Portnoy did address that because Netflix
announcing yesterday that they're going to be adding three new
Barstool video podcasts pardon my take of course, with Big
Cat Dan Katz and PFT Commenter, as well as Spitting Chicklets,
which is a hockey podcast actually, and then the Ryan

(02:30:00):
Roscillo Show.

Speaker 5 (02:30:01):
It's going to be also added. But I mean it's
also too.

Speaker 2 (02:30:04):
I mean, Barstool's been doing this for a minute now
because they had the initial foray with ESPN and then
yeah that last week. Yeah, I think it was one
show and then that went away. But they've been doing
stuff with FS one, obviously really involved with Fox because
Dave was involved with the big new kickoff this year.

Speaker 4 (02:30:25):
So again, if you want to pay the streaming price
to go watch your favorite show, can I still listen
to it on podcast form?

Speaker 5 (02:30:30):
Is the only question. Here's the only difference is that
they're going away from YouTube.

Speaker 4 (02:30:33):
If you just don't watch the show and you listen
to the show, nothing changes for you.

Speaker 5 (02:30:36):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (02:30:37):
So they're gonna be starting in early twenty twenty six
on that. I'm a fan. I love Barstool. I think
their work is fantastic. I think they're funny. I enjoy it.
I just I just appreciate that. It's a bunch of
dudes and people who don't take themselves that serious, and
that's refreshing.

Speaker 5 (02:30:51):
I like that. I like people who don't take themselves seriously.
You take yourself way too seriously. I do. Yeah, that's
why you're take it off tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:30:57):
Well, that is true. That is true. You know, you
get time, you gotta take it, that's for sure. As
Cole just said, I'll be out tomorrow, but be back
on Monday. He's Cole Thompson, Triple Emmanuel Elmore. I'm Dan Matthews.
We here on the show. We'll talk to you in
twenty hours. I'll talk to you on Monday.