Turn the Page Tuesday: Texans Fall to Bucs, Sark Updates Longhorns, NFL QB Chaos, Astros Injury Woes & Tom Brady Controversy

Today is “Turn the Page Tuesday, the Houston Texans took a 20-19 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. University of Texas Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian spoke with the media, providing updates on the team’s injury status and Arch Manning’s performance. A ton of NFL quarterbacks are injured, and teams start to look at unsigned free agents and players on other teams’ practice squads. Who are the winners and losers after the second week of the NFL season? Tom Brady is involved in more controversy. Major League Baseball is entering its final stretch, and the Houston Astros are suffering a major injury. “The World’s Strongest Take!” Plus, conversations with Joe Cook of Horns 24/7 and the Voice of the Houston Texans, Marc Vandermeer. You can hear it all here on “The Morning Kickoff Show!”

Episode Transcript

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(00:58):
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(01:19):
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Speaker 3 (01:25):
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Speaker 1 (01:27):
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Speaker 3 (01:32):
Just know that he's behind the boards.

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(02:11):
that's been good enough. Let me tell you somebody that
was not good enough, and that's the Houston Texans last
night as they fall to the Tampa Bay but marks
twenty to seventeen. It was one of those games that
it was ugly Number one two teams that were battling.
For Texans, they needed this win more than anything, and

(02:33):
they were battling throughout the matchup. But the story of
the game is that offensive line again for the Houston Texans.
We've been talking about it, We've been going after it.
We've been trying to figure out is this offensive line
going to be formidable to protect CJ.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Stroud.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
You talked about him gaining weight, not very good right now.
He was sacked three times. He was running for his life.
They have no sign of a running game. They ran
the ball nineteen times for eighty four yards and they
got that on a big run by Nick Chubb as
he scored the touchdown that twenty five yard run near

(03:13):
the end of the game. And this team just looks
to be out of sorts.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's not only is it out of sorts, but there's
no rhyme or reason to the flow of the way
that they're play calling.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
And first time play caller too. By the way.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
I'm not trying to say that he's an EPT, but
most we talked about this with coach Shottenheimer, we didn't
know what he has, you know, like what his style
of offense is.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Right, well, we do have a history of it because
he has been a play calling This guy is no
play This is his first time. This is this guy's
first time ever calling plays, and you see him on
the sideline, he looks like he's panicking on the play calls.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, that's that's what I was getting to the fact
that when the preseason they didn't do anything that they
did in that first game against Philly, Like that is
what happened with Houston. The first game they played, it
was so sporadic. They kept doing everything like they're just

(04:22):
trying stuff. And then last night there was no float,
Like they went to a gap scheme at one point
on defense when that's not the defense that they normally run.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Then they on offense, they tried to do some.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
Uh some.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's kind of pseudo rollouts and and and waggle type plays,
and then they would go to drop back and zone
read like they were doing everything.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
You gotta do something.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Good, you gotta stick your offensive line it's gonna get
confused if you run three different offenses and and one drive, Like,
how do.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
You expect the guys to get like together? They're so
just is such disarray.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Man.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
They gotta they gotta pick something hard.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
And they they they're not doing very well at picking
any of them. We'll see how it ends up playing out.
But I want you to hear from Demico Ryans as
he was talking after the game about this, and he
just basically said, we couldn't make any plays when we
needed to.

Speaker 5 (05:30):
Yeah, we tried to run the ball in, we got
knocked back there, couldn't get the ball in, and we
tried to, you know, find Nico there a couple of
times to get the ball, and we just we didn't connect, right.
We didn't make the plays we needed to make. And
that's the summation of this game, all right. The NFL
is about it's gonna come down to a two minute
drive in the fourth quarter. Are you making plays or not?

(05:50):
Like we are, guys, A lot of guys gave us
a chance right to win that game. Special teams played
out standing, all right, blocking the kick, getting an explosive return,
forcing the missfield goals. So it's got showed up and
made plays to give us an opportunity.

Speaker 6 (06:07):
Now, how do you capitalize on that?

Speaker 3 (06:08):
Right?

Speaker 5 (06:09):
How do you put a team away? He let a
good team like this stick around for too long.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
It's what we did.

Speaker 5 (06:13):
And they ended up making a play there Baker scrambling
on fourth down, which we knew. That's that's who he is,
that's how he make the players of scrambling. He made
a big time play on fourth and ten. You know,
we got to find a way to tackle and get
him down and stop him there. Even on the goal line,
we're in position to make a tackle. We got to
knock the guy back and make a tackle to win
the game.

Speaker 6 (06:34):
That's what the game comes down to.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
We had multiple opportunities to win that game, and we
didn't make the plays we needed to make.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
And he was hot after the game because that was
a good composure for him.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yep. But I can see they.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Thought they had won that game too, and the defense
let them down. The defense let Baker. Well they didn't
let Baker because Baker took it. But I'm like, Baker
or make Bak or make play. Yeah, but they knew
they won that game and they played good enough to
win the game, even with all the disarray, but when

(07:11):
it comes down to the last two minutes, whoever has
the ball, that offense or defensive unit, it's got to
step up.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
And Houston just didn't step up. Yeah, Houston has had
an issue with that here lately.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
And just like the Cowboys giving up plays deep and
watching guys run across the middle and not you know,
knocking them on their behind. It is Uh, it has
been tough for him, But you gotta win games. They're
oh and two, you're oh and two, and he says,
you just gotta play better to win these games.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah, it's no hole, it's it's we lost the game, right,
We lost two games games we should have won. But
for to win games, you gotta play better. You gotta
coach better. So it starts with me. I gotta coach better,
we gotta play better, we gotta execute better.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
You gotta go win games.

Speaker 5 (07:58):
You're not just gonna be given games, right, So we
got to find a way to make those plays.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Got to got to I mean, the leadership. This is
a team that has pretty much owned the South. They
have been able to win in the South. And we'll
talk about some of these other teams a little bit
later because the Colts don't look like they're going backwards.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
No, they I don't know if I've ever seen Daniel
play better. Daniel Jones is playing like he's out of
New York. I mean, why everybody that leads going they
just go and shine some exactly.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
They're on the move, man, They're on the move. We
have to play George Michael freedom in a little way.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
And you think about how these teams are starting to
look a little bit different in the shape and of it.
That's why I'm concerned about the Houston Texans because they
have a first time play caller, new offensive line, you
have a new running back in Nick Chubb.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
None of that goes again.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
You have those rookie wide receivers Christian Kirk. You don't
have somebody that's a threat. I don't even think CJ.
Stroud looked at those guys yesterday. You had Xaviel Hutchison.
You had a tight end, he scrambles out. The tight
end falls on his face that if he catches that ball,
he might be able to make a guy miss and
score a touchdown. You had so many opportunities to win

(09:23):
this game, and you drive down the field you get
the big play. And I'll give my son DJ credit.
He said they score too fast, you know what Baker does.
I was like, with this defense, they got to stop him. Nope,
they didn't stop him. They had their chance, Yeah, they
had multiple and.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
They just let him run, scrambled, let him off the hook, yes, yes, and.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Fourth down and he scrambles to get the first down
in that and Baker Mayfield talked about how he you know,
just finds a way.

Speaker 7 (09:56):
Yeah, me and my buddy Chauncey in the open field. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (10:00):
Just obviously they did a good job adding on on
the press. It wouldn't make it all out zero blitz,
but when the back blocks the backer and man coverage
adds on. So fortunately I was able to get out
of that one.

Speaker 7 (10:11):
And get through.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (10:12):
And then yeah, just seeing seeing green grass and fourth down,
two minutes drive, trying to do anything it takes to
get a chance to win.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
And that's all he does. Man, do whatever it takes.
And guys, how the hell did he get out of Cleveland? Well,
they didn't want him. I don't understand that. I don't
understand that he was such a gamer.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Also as Cleveland, that's what they do Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
They decided they wanted Deshaun Watson over Baker Mayfield. They
made a move that is haunting them to this day.
He's a haunting man. I mean because desh DeShawn, by
the way, looks like he's closer to being ready to
go than anybody could ever imagine. So there's gonna be
even more of a controverte in Cleveland than there is

(11:02):
now with the Joe Flocko, Dylan Gabriel and Shador Sam.
You Fiel got it. It's not a matter if he
still got it. He's still got that paycheck and the
big paycheck. So you're gonna you're just gonna let that
sit there. Now, you got to, Yeah, you're gonna have
to play him, at at.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Least playing and hope that he does great so you
can get rid of him. You possibly can get rid
of him because of all the injuries in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
There might be a possibility there you go.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Something like that. But we'll talk about it. We got
so much to get into. But coming up next, we're
gonna talk about Texas football. We met with coach Shark yesterday.
I got to hear from some of the players, and
it's time to move and turn the page right here
on a Turn the page Tuesday edition of The Morning
Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome

(11:54):
back to the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio
A thirteen hundred The Zone. Coming up in the next second,
we'll have our guy, Joe Cook of Inside Texas talking
all things Texas Longhorns as he breaks down what he
took away from the game and of course what we're
about to talk about from the press conference yesterday. Coach

(12:15):
Starkesian and his weekly press conference, which you can hear
right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone
on Mondays starting at eleven o'clock to eleven thirty.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
It is his weekly.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Breakdown, good, bad and ugly, and he kind of lets
us know what his thoughts are after watching the film
and seeing how he graded out on his players. But
one of the things that start was always asked about, obviously,
is going to be about the quarterback adversity. What do
they gonna do with him? Because the offense is murdering,

(12:54):
moving a little bit slow. They're not where they need
to be at this particular time, So it's just always
one of those things where it's like, all right, where
we as a football team going to be, and that's
what Start continues to talk about. But here's his opening statesments,
and he will also give you some update on some
injured players.

Speaker 6 (13:15):
A tremendous turnout from our fans.

Speaker 9 (13:17):
As we said, you know, you think about those midday
games in September, those aren't easy, and so over the
turnout by the fans the students over one hundred thousand
two straight games in September have been awesome.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
We'll talk about the next game here in a minute.

Speaker 9 (13:31):
On an injury note, obviously, you know Cedric got hurt
first play of the game. Hamstring injury, you know, significantly.
We don't think it's it's overly significant, but he'll be
out this week just from a precautionary standpoint to hopefully
get him ready for SEC play. Obviously, Cole Hudson, Kobe
Black went down in game. We'll monitor those guys throughout

(13:53):
the week. We'll see they're questionable. And Xavier phil Samie
did not play in the game of the shoulder. He'll
be questionable this week as well. So just some things
to touch on that, and I think as the game
goes and you watched it, we really had an opportunity
early in the game to really seize the game, you know,
when you when you look at I think three of
our first four drives ended on on downs.

Speaker 6 (14:17):
In Utep territory and the other drive was a touchdown.

Speaker 9 (14:19):
So we had an opportunity in that game to really
seize momentum, to really swing the game to go in
the way that I think everybody expected it to go,
the beauty of it. For us, it didn't go that way,
and we had to respond, and we had to respond
differently to different things in the game, and you learn
a lot throughout a game like that. I thought there
were some highlights. Obviously, Ryan Nibblett punt return that was

(14:39):
huge for us. A couple of returns he got were big.
I think Jack boomeiaster getting back to you know, punt
in the way that he can punt the football on
special teams, and Mason Shipley another really good game for
him on that front.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
You know.

Speaker 9 (14:53):
Defensively, I thought our defense was stellar throughout three and
a half quarters. You know, I think we held them
to just over one hundred yards through through three and
a half quarters and then their final two drives. You know,
we give up one hundred and forty two yards on
the final two drives and the one touchdown, and so
we're really harping on our ability to finish defensively and
not give up that late drive and get back to

(15:15):
playing red zone defense the way we were capable of
playing naturally. You know, we missed a few things in
the passing game and it was like, we're so close,
And part of me is really excited about that because
I know how close we are to this thing hitting
on all cylinders. But that's our job as coaches and
as players to get us to that point, and I
believe we will. We've done it before and we'll do

(15:36):
it again. And then lastly is the penalties. You know,
we had eight penalties again, and some of them are
definitely correctible. You know, we can't have two holding penalties
again on punt return. We had one a week before
and we had two this week, and so in that aspect,
we got to clean that up. Some of them are
are real penalties where they're kind of aggression, and again

(15:58):
I don't want to take our guys stinger on on
some of those things, but we've got to be smarter
on some of the double moves, which again we grabbed
a guy in a double move on the perimeter. So
things to clean up, But more importantly for us, it's
kind of exciting because I think the things that we
need to clean up are very fixable, and that part's
exciting to me because I can envision what it's going
to look like when we.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Do clean it up.

Speaker 9 (16:19):
Fired up to be back at home here one more
time Saturday night, first night game in dk R, with
all of the bells and whistles and fireworks and all
the things.

Speaker 6 (16:30):
And so I know for our fans, our players, that's exciting.

Speaker 9 (16:33):
We won't be back home again until November one against Vanderbilt,
So we got to make the most of this opportunity
at home this week. And that'll be our emphasis throughout
practice is to improve and to play a brand and
style of football.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Think about that.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Think about that, we're about to the last home game
for the whole month of October. They're going to be gone.
They're going to be gone for the whole month of October.
Star said it like they never come back.

Speaker 10 (17:00):
Man.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
The month is a long time. That's a long time.
It's a lot of road.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Games, and adversity and challenges that this team, which is
a young football team from the looks of the way
that they're playing, the challenges are going to face them
head on because they haven't proven to be an experienced
team when it comes to togetherness all the time. The

(17:26):
offense isn't moving the way that it should, defense is
playing it's behind all special teams were starting to see
them go in the right direction. So you got two
of the three phases of the football game that you
need going in the right.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
PLA running game is not suffering.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
So it's not like they're completely in that, you know,
but the consistency of the quarterback is key.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Could that be what they need is to get away?
Could have those four roun Maybe the pressure and.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
I think that some of this heaped on overwhelming pressure
on Arch when we were like wow during the summer, man,
they don't even look like it's facing him. It's not like, man,
he looks unbothered. He looks bothered now.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Because they weren't facing anybody.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Right, you know, like the defenses they know because they
talked to the coaches, Hey, don't hit him, right, you know.
Now people are trying to hit him and he's feeling
that pressure. So you know, just like we talked about
these NFL quarterbacks not playing in the preseason and now
they're getting all these injuries because they're not ready for

(18:36):
what is going with the ontaking of what the season brings,
the same thing is happening with Arch right now.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Well, one of the questions I was asked was how
to coach a quarterback that has been struggling. You've this
is uncharted territory in some instances. Yes, he's had some
guys that weren't hitting on all cylinders. But what do
you do to try to help coach him while he's.

Speaker 6 (19:00):
Just coach him? Just coach him. You know that that's
our job to coach.

Speaker 9 (19:04):
And you know, different scenarios call for for different measures
right of what you need to do. And you know,
I didn't you know, if if if Arch was having
a bunch of mental errors and and not operate in
the offense, well then that might have maybe would have
required to taken out.

Speaker 6 (19:20):
I didn't feel like that was the case.

Speaker 9 (19:22):
So you know, different different things require different things to
to to get your point across, and so you know,
we handled it accordingly, We'll handle it accordingly. This week
and expect him to come out and have a great
game Saturday.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
At least he's optimistic.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
And sometimes when you have the yips, you're like, well,
we don't know what's going on.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
We don't know what's going on with him.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
He still sounds like he knows what's going on, and
Arch has just got to go out and perform.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
And this is this is one of those questions that
was asked that I was like, this is a great
question because of going back to your point, the success
that he had, the conversations, the the optimism, and the
hype sounding are around him. He was asked, is adversity

(20:12):
a good thing for Arch Manning? And this answer is money.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I
think some of this is really good. You know, here's
a guy who's had an awesome life.

Speaker 9 (20:23):
You know, he's he's you know, the way he's grown up,
where he played, the school he went to, the people
he's been surrounded by. But but I think you learn
a lot about yourself through adversity and and and overcoming
adversity and getting on the other side of adversity.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (20:38):
And so to have some of this adversity that he
has right now, and when he gets on the other
side of it, I think all of this is going
to serve not only well for him, but well for
us as a team.

Speaker 6 (20:47):
And so.

Speaker 9 (20:49):
Love the challenge for him, love the challenge for us.
And you know, he's a he's a strong minded guy.
He's got great work ethic, great poise, great composure. He's
an awesome teammate. And so I love I love the
end of the movie for him, when he gets on
the other side of this. So looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
Man, that's beautiful right there. I loved it. I can't
wait for the ending of the movie. You know how
steel is made? Yeah, Like you know, you smelt the process,
and they do something called tempering where they heat it
and then they cool it, and then they heat it
and then they cool it. And once you've done that
for a certain amount of times, the stealers you can't

(21:28):
bend it no more. It's the way that it is,
is the way it's gonna be. Arch is just now
starting his tempering process as a starter. So we just
gotta wait the course. Hopefully he makes it, but there's
a chance that he won't. He won't get to go
He's not the guy. There's a chance, but I think

(21:51):
that it's gonna be very difficult for him, not too hard.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, I still believe he's the guy. To believe it,
he's gonna be a good position.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
And coming up next, we're gonna talk to Joe Cook
of Inside Texas as he breaks down what he saw
this weekend and what he heard yesterday right here on
the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone.
Welcome back to the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
In the next segment, we.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Will be talking about the NFL and the injuries. Last night,
the Houston Texans lose twenty to nineteen. I seen seventeen
twenty to nineteen. But I'm gonna go to h Town
via Austin and talk to our guy, Joe Cook of
Inside Texas. You can follow him at Joseph Cook eighty nine. Joe,

(22:47):
I'm not gonna even ask you about your astros. I'm
not gonna ask you about your Texans. I'm gonna ask
you about your Texas Longhorns. You guys over at Inside
Texas do a great job, bang up job about covering
the University of Texas, and I know that your message
boards have been going nuts when it comes to one

(23:09):
QB one and of course this offense.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
What's the latest over at inside Texas.

Speaker 10 (23:15):
Yeah, it's you know, looking at maybe a little bit
of his family history, and our guy Eric Nealene looked
and saw what Peyton and saw what Eli did, and
you know, I can see why there can be a
little fatigue about comparisons. But at some point, you know,
you look and see, you know, basically through his uncles,

(23:37):
that more reps help. I know I mentioned a lot
how having a being a third year quarterback is going
to be something that gives him a little bit of
a leg up.

Speaker 7 (23:47):
Well that didn't.

Speaker 10 (23:48):
Really just counteract the fact that he's still only played
in ten games and only had two full time starts.
Like there's maybe and maybe you know, the Texas media
sphere discounted this, but he doesn't have as many quarterback reps,
and you know, maybe we should have seen that as
being important when quinn Ewers decided to come back for
his junior year, to get more quarterback reps, to get

(24:11):
more pass attempts. So the whole point I guess we're
inside Texas was that Hey, as this guy gets more
and more experienced.

Speaker 7 (24:19):
He's more than likely going.

Speaker 10 (24:21):
To show progress, show the ability to do what we
all expect them to do. The growing pains are here
right now, but that's what they are. They're growing pains,
and not some indication of just gigantic bust or anything
like that. It's it's it's tough to watch a little
bit right now because our expectations were so high. And yeah,

(24:42):
maybe we we fed into that. I'll take take ownership
of that, but their expectations were high nationally, locally, internationally
with very good reason. And Manning has to get to
get to the point that I think so many people
believe he can get to.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Joe, we've talked about tempering expectations and allowing him to
grow into the quarterback that he's going to be. There
was a time when I wasn't good like It took reps,
it took development, it took time, and Arch has not
really been afforded that time this year to Actually, I

(25:21):
think that even when it gets to the hot part
of the season in about three weeks, I think that
he's going to shine then because he's been through the
fire already.

Speaker 10 (25:32):
What do you think yeah, I think the fact that
he had his stumbles against Ohio State, against you know,
San Jose State except for a little five minute stretch,
and against Utepa are going to turn out to help him.

Speaker 7 (25:48):
And the thing that is good for Arch is.

Speaker 10 (25:51):
That the non conference games have gone in a decreasing
order of difficulty.

Speaker 7 (25:57):
Saint Houston may be the worst team on the schedule
this year.

Speaker 10 (26:02):
So hey, okay, you know what, this is a good
opportunity for you to go figure out what's what's ailing you.
You know, the offensive line has had their own struggles,
but this should be a team that they could block
pretty decently against, give you time to throw, and give
you time to make the throws. So I think that's
gonna help You'll. They'll have a bye week as well

(26:22):
to work out some more kinks and with how much
Stark places on the quarterback not just offensive responsibility wise,
but you know by calling it the most important position
in sports, you know, Start's not gonna let this just
go to chance like this is someone It can't be
a personal pet project because he's got a whole team
to overlook. But the idea that Steve Sarkisian is gonna

(26:45):
let his quarterback, you know, die on the vine for
you know, just for the term. I don't see that happening.
I think we'll see some more progress happened this week.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Talking to Joe Cook of Inside Texas, make sure you
follow Matt Joseph Cook eighty nine and get over there
inside Texas dot com to check out all the latest. Joe,
one of the things that continues to stand out is
this defense. I know that the numbers at the end
of the game were not what they were at the
beginning of the game. I think it took them forever
to get into the twenty yard line.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Utub.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
This team continues to get better and better on defense,
but they're bringing out a lot of guys on that
defensive line that are getting a chance to show out.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah, they did it again in.

Speaker 10 (27:31):
The portal, you know, three years in a row for
them to go there and either find some frontline guys
or find you know, second level guys.

Speaker 7 (27:40):
But they got a little bit of everything. And here at.

Speaker 10 (27:44):
Canoe, Travis Shaw Coprabard have been playing great ball.

Speaker 7 (27:47):
They've been doing this without Alex.

Speaker 10 (27:49):
January, who you know, I think was either a starter
or played starter level snaps. This past of these past
couple of weeks when he's been active. So it starts
up front, you know. I think what we're seeing this
year with the defensive ends and the sack totals is
teams know they can't just drop back and wait against Texas.

Speaker 7 (28:09):
They are they're trying to get that ball out quick.
It's hard to.

Speaker 10 (28:12):
Get past a three hundred pounds man in one point
three seconds. So I think as we see more and
more opportunities for Texas by stuff in the run, we'll
see those.

Speaker 7 (28:22):
Sack numbers come up.

Speaker 10 (28:24):
And then I just think there's there's no question that
they struck Gold and Grayson Littleton.

Speaker 7 (28:29):
I know there's four.

Speaker 10 (28:30):
Other guys around him who are doing their thing, but man,
to see a true freshman play the way he has
and to even you know, luckily for him have some
bad reps against San Jose State and not get punished
for it, I think was you know, valuable in multiple
senses and that it didn't really cost Texas any points

(28:51):
or yards. Yet, you know, you go to the film
room and you look and you see like, oh, buddy,
you you had a bad rep. And he came back
this past week and got his hands on the ball
that's in response. So lots of great things happening in
that defense, and it's gonna be what we watched to
carry this team at least until we see the offense
maybe get it a year a little bit better.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Hey, Joe.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Since we're on defense, the UTUB Miners, they weren't a
bad defense either. They were a defense that actually gave
Texas some really really good looks and had some tackles
for losses and some sacks.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
So that defense.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
But getting to Texas's defense, who do you see outside
of Littleton being a young player or a newer player
in the system that we need to really focus on.

Speaker 10 (29:43):
Yeah, I think even though he's a third year guy,
you know, he's seeing his most more extended action in
last year and he still got a good amount of run.
And that's Chilany McDonald. He got his hands on the
football as well. He's someone who they they they tried
to figure out how to get his athleticism on the
field this year, and some of that was maybe at nickel,

(30:04):
some of that was maybe at safety, but they looked
at him at about six y two one ninety something
and thought, like, you know what, that's.

Speaker 7 (30:11):
Someone who is too valuable to be on the bench.

Speaker 10 (30:14):
Like we're we're not going to, you know, make him
play a position. We're gonna tailor a position to him,
and that's what they've done. Oftentimes plays kind of in
the box at safety, sometimes will play that nickel role,
and it's just someone who not only is you know,
able to throw a little bit of more of that
weight around compared to maybe some of the one eighty

(30:34):
five one ninety pound guys that play safety, but he's
athletic and he make plays on the ball. So that's
that's the one I'm I'm really been impressed with, you know,
wearing number four.

Speaker 7 (30:46):
They were talking yesterday about how.

Speaker 10 (30:48):
You know, that's still Macouba to them, but Jelana McDonald's
making his own name for himself.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Well, the one thing that is always cool is talking
to you every Tuesday. Make sure you too in every
Tuesday seven point thirty four with our man Joe Cook
of Inside Texas breaking it down.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Thanks Joe, absolutely, thank you. All right, man, there.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Is Joe Cook of Inside Texas letting you know all
things Texas Longhorns. Coming up next, we're going to talk
about the NFL. Man, oh man, there's some injuries that
are out there, and some opportunities that are being presented
to some of these backups that are now getting their chance.
Right here on the morning kickoff on a turn to
page Tuesday edition on Sports.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Radio A thirteen hundred.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
This is all great stuff from Joe Cook of Inside Texas.
You can follow them at Joseph Cook eighty nine. Coming
up at the top of the hour. We'll talk more
INFL as we break down the NFL as teams are
looking to make some moves and what I mean by that, well,
stories have come out yesterday and continue to fly under

(31:58):
the radar.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
There's a lot of backups that are needing to play.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
As you saw Joe Burrow, we talked a little bit
about him and how long he's going to be out.
It's going to be a long time for one Joe Burrow,
and so his backup, Jake Browning, is going to have
to lead the way. We found out yesterday that Jaden
Daniels hurt his knee in that game on Thursday against

(32:30):
against the Green Bay Packers, and now it looks like
Marcus Mariota will be going in to play quarterback.

Speaker 7 (32:40):
J J.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
McCarthy had his ankle rolled now looks like Carson Wentz
is going to be going in to play quarterback, justin
fields of the New York Jets got a concussion.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
The other day.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Now it looks like Tyrod Taylor is going to be
in to play quarterback, and Brock Party is dealing with
a turf toe not as bad obviously as one Joe Burrows,
but he's also was dealing with a shoulder injury non throwing.
But now Mac Jones is in there as the starting quarterback.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
So investment.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
I've always said you need to invest in a backup
quarterback throughout time, and now two games into the season,
all these teams are playing with backup quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
When you were just saying that one of the most
valuable positions is a backup quarterback and who would be
the next up guy?

Speaker 3 (33:41):
With the Giants having an air appearent.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
That everybody's already was calling for still they still calling
for him even after the rest.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
Showing that fifty they're like, we still want him. Yep.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
That makes Jameis Win been a valuable commodity, Like he's
kind of the next step quarterback that's on the bench
that's actually not being used as being you know, relegated
to third quarterback rather than the second.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
The only one that I think, the only team that
I think will need a quarterback like a Jameis Winston
because of the time spent, would be the Cincinnati Bengals. Now,
Jake Browning has played in the NFL, has started in
the NFL, has been an important part of Joe Burrow's
backup because Joe Burrow seems to get hurt every other year.

(34:38):
So they've invested in Jake brown and he's won games,
and he's won a lot of games. He's won a
lot of games in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
But you don't bring him into Cincinnati unless Browning gets
hurt because if you bring him in now, it's gonna
rattle Brownie.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
I don't think it'll rattle him. I just think this
is a guy that's been around. He knows the system.
But you need a backup to him. You still need
a backup.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
You're gonna need one because now he's the guy.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, he is the one that is going to be
the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. Until they say
that he's that, Joe Burrow is going to be back,
there's no telling. It's a turf toe there's no telling.
You talked about it the other day, the nerve damage
and what could happen to that. So when you look
at their roster and their depth chart, you've got to

(35:26):
get there's no other quarterback listed on their depth chart.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
So who was the emergency quarterback the other day?

Speaker 1 (35:34):
We don't know, don't you know? It's it's It's definitely
something that they need to look into. I'll be interested
to see who they signed this week, well, to see
who the phone calls are being made to, to find
out who's got the best backup quarterback around the league,
who might even have some experience with this squad.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well, you just went down the list of teams that
actually need one, So if you're going to get him,
you better hurry up. Yeah, because there's four of the
teams that they're gonna need a backup quarterback.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah, you know who might be a name to look
out for, Case Keenum. Case Keenum is somebody that's been
around the league. He's the third string quarterback on one
of the teams, so he may be getting a phone
call as well. He's an experienced guy, legend in the league.
And I'm not being funny, I'm being for real. Like
everybody that ever says anything besides my thread of ky Town,

(36:34):
everybody else loves Chuck Chuck Keenum.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
So Chuck yeah, Chuck Chuck Wagon.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
But case Keenum has been able to do it for
a long time in the NFL. So there's some guys
that might get an opportunity. But the fact, and you
mentioned something earlier and I wanted to go a little
bit against that, like you were talking about the guys
that were playing in the preseason. This is the ones
that didn't play and the injuries. These injuries are not

(37:04):
ones that are are like hamstrings or anything like yeah this.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Is this is.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
There and getting your head but getting popped during these
types of moves.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Baker needs to be careful.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Last night he put himself in harm's way about three
or four times that if I was the coach, I
would be like, come on, man, we need you. Like
I'm gonna tell you right now, I'd rather punt than
you do that.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Baker Mayfield has played like that his entire life.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
That is not changing. You don't know how to play
any other way.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
He wouldn't be able to do the things that he's
capable of doing by by going in there and slide.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
Yeah, you can't.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
There's none of that going on, So it'll be interesting
to see how it all finishes up. But these these
quarterback situations, because you need a quarterback to continue to win.
And when we come back, we're gonna talk about some
of the teams that are kind of standing out and
are in a good position versus those that are not
now looking uphell cause not very many teams come back

(38:04):
from an zero to two record to make it to
the playoffs, I mean to the super Bowl, let alone
make it to the playoffs. So a lot of folks
have some work that need to be done.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Our number one is in the books.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Coming up, in our number two, we will talk a
little bit more about the NFL. We'll also speak to
the voice of the Houston Texans and get his bird's
eye view of what he saw last night. Mark Vandermire
will be joining us at eight seventeen. You got the
world's strongest take, And of course we'll close out the

(38:38):
show talking MLB baseball. It's a turn the page Tuesday
edition of the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome back to our number
two of the Morning Kickoff. Right here on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone and our number one. We
talked about the Texans losing to the Buccaneers the nineteen

(39:00):
Baker Baker touchdown maker making it happen. We also got
a chance to hear from Coach Shark because he talked
about arch the struggles and all things that go with
it to clean it up. And we got a chance
to hear from Joe Cook of Inside Texas. But I'll
be remiss if I didn't give you an opportunity to
win a pair of tickets to go see Alice Cooper

(39:22):
and Judas Priest the October to twenty fifth at the
Germania Insurance Amphitheater. All you got to do is get
over to AM thirteen hundred The Zone on that always
free iHeartRadio app and leave the key word of the
day Judas.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
Judas is the key word of the day.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
For a chance to win a pair of tickets to
go see Alice Cooper and Judas Priest October to twenty
fifth at the Germania Insurance Amphitheater. Be listening to the
Craig wait Show this afternoon from two to five is
Craig cam Parker and Jake Herman, give you a chance
to win some more tickets, and of course break down
all things Texas longhorns this conversation because the NFL has

(40:02):
some teams that are doing some amazing things, and then
they've got some teams that are struggling. And when I
say struggling, i'm talking about they are not very good
and teams are I'm not saying they're tanking. But it's
two games into the season and people are not happy.
People are not happy with their football teams. And one
of those football teams that is looking really good and

(40:24):
we can talk about them all day long is the
Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills continue their stretch of excitement
for what they've been able to do. Josh Allen keeps
getting better and better every week. James Cook the running back.
They good thing they signed him because all he does
is make plays. You also have the Cincinnati Bengals. We

(40:46):
talked about them just a second ago. They're two and zero,
but now they have to try to live without Joe Burrow.
The story of the offseason and now the season is
the Indianapolis Coats in the AFC South. They are too
and oh behind Danny Dimes making things happen. And of
course the LA Chargers, who defeated the Raiders last night

(41:08):
twenty to nine after a big performance by Cameron Dicker
the kicker. He now has become the most accurate kicker
in NFL history at ninety four percent.

Speaker 6 (41:22):
Yeah, Watson, that point is good.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
He's real good and now he is the most accurate
kicker in the NFL. So kudos to him for what
he's been able to do. Shout out to Casey Stutter,
you know how much you love him. And a bunch
of things that are going on. But I'm gonna continue
the conversation about what's going on in the NFL. When
you look at the NFL standings and you see these

(41:50):
teams that are.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Two and oh.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
You look at the Philadelphia Eagles, they don't look like
they're breaking stride. They continue to touch push their way
to victory. You look at the Green Bay Packers, who
I believe is the best team in the NFL right now.
They're plus twenty three in their scoring differential. The Tampa
Bay Buccaneers are two and zero in the NFC South.

(42:12):
In the NFC West, Man check it out. The NFC
West forty nine ers two and Oh Cardinals two and
O Rams two and Oh Seahawks onon in one. But
you look at the NFC West, you like that because
they won and one. They're running what's going on in
their division. So everybody's good over there in the NFC West,
this is gonna be a tight race. I still got

(42:33):
the Rams winning it. But forty nine ers now they're
dealing with the backup quarterback Kyler Murray. He's staying off
the video games. He's playing well right now. So it's
been impressive to see which those teams that are two
and oh, who is the one that is the most
unlikely for you, Mark.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
I'm going I like Seattle Man.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
I think that they have a tough defense, they have
a great running game.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
The quarterback is.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Even though he's he's new there, he's grasping the system
and they just have that history of toughness. And I
know Pete Carroll is not there, and there's no Marshawn Lynch,
and there's no legion of Boom.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
There's no legion of Boom.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
But you know who I just asked to be traded
in my fantasy is I wanted.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
Coop shut that you needed somebody to be traded. I
want to know.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
I wanted Cooper, but there's a trade that has to
be involved. Mark is gonna be in the middle of it.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
Yeah, you know, to keep moving, man. But Cooper Cup
looked so good in that system. They threw the ball
to him nine times and he caught seven of the nine.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
He didn't score, but to have around.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Sixty five and seventy yards and you're really your first game,
full game because the first game he only played like
fifteen to twenty plays. So I think as the season
warms up, Cooper Cup is gonna be a dog in
that system. You know, I'm spilling the beans because.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
It sounds like it. No, he's gonna be horrible. So
you believe that.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Out of all those teams, you like the Seattle.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
So I like Seattle for whatever reason.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
I think it's just a toughness thing and a consistency thing.
Like they they they're battling tough teams every week, and
I think that division is gonna eat at each other.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
It's gonna be just like the East.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
I think that the Washington Commanders and the Eagles and
the Cowboys are gonna struggle.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
Because they have to fight each other every week.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Well, when I look at this too, I start to
understand that all these things do not look the same, right,
Like you look at all these teams at two and oh,
I think the Buffalo Bills in the Green Bay Packers,
even though I like what Philly is still Philly because
they're the defending champ and I normally say, you gotta
beat them to be the champ. But Buffalo is tough,

(45:00):
Buffalo is physical, Buffalo is all the things that you
were just talking about when you watch them play. But
the story is all the teams that are owing to oh.
In two teams and I'll lead with the Kansas City Chiefs. Sure,
this is the one that I said. It's hard for
them to wear that crown because they have played so

(45:24):
long for the last four years, year in and year out.
They're deep into the playoffs, playing playing for championships, getting
to the Super Bowl, physicality, the work ethic that they
have to go through to get back, back and back.
This is a scary moment for them because I also
said that the Chargers are the team that I got

(45:48):
McMahon Jim Harball being the coach of the Year, and
I think that what he's showing with the growth of
Justin Herbert. Justin Herbert is only looking like that quarterback
franchise has been waiting for, like we've been waiting for
this moment. Johnson is actually catching him from them all,

(46:10):
and I'm keeping them on my bench for no reason
because I still have flashbacks that I think even though
he's too Yes, yes, it's a difference in there. But
then you also got to look at the other teams
that are owing to if you stay in the East,
the New York Jets new coach.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Now they're dealing with a with a.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Quarterback that's got a concussion, and the Miami Dolphins. TUIs
Not only did TUIs sound confused on what was going on,
Mike McDaniel continues to sound like a dead man walking.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
Why why is he even talking to the media right now?
He should just say, hey, I don't have any availability.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Well he'll get he'll get fined, and he you have
to Yes.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
He needs to save all his money because that employment line,
an employment line is called name here in the next up.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Well, we hate Mike once you come out here and
stand by ass exactly he's Their team is minus thirty
one in point differential.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
They are getting beat down and it's not even close.
You saw Tyreek Hill last week, he looked like he
wanted to fight to it on this Well, he's an
abusive person. He wants to fight all the time. He
always but so we gotta watch out for him. But
you start looking at these teams and you're like, wow,
this is where we are. You look at the Houston Texans.

(47:31):
Didn't expect them to be at OZ and two to start.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
How many losses do you give Miami before the five seal?

Speaker 1 (47:38):
I think he should have been gone already, I honestly do.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
I'm talking about the getting the tradeotek.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
I thought ty Reek should have been gone.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
You can tell he doesn't want to be and I
think I think he's done with tour because remember to
haven't forgiven him exactly exactly. He criticized him openly last
year during the season.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
But when he first got there, he said that two
of throws a better football than Pat Mahomes. When they
got him. That's what he said, Man, two is better
than Pat. He throws the ball perfect. Yeah he did.
Now he don't, and now things are different for you,
and now you're looking crazy. Then you look at what
the Giants were. The Giants could have won both of

(48:23):
their games, and they're zero and too.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
As a coach, you're the coach of the Miami Dolphins,
don't you go to your star quarterback and you tell
him listen, I don't care what beef you got with
Terik Hill threw them the damn ball because they have
an issue. I told you this is happened in my
high school. Our quarterback and wife receiver had a fight

(48:47):
over girl and it ruined everything. It's not over a girl,
it's over pride and them struggling in their relationship and
him saying they took Tarik off being captain.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
They've delegated him.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
As a team a gadget. Well, it's a team thing.
It's a team vote. But you know what, everybody sides
with the quarterback with the other leaders. There's a lot
of in football, you know, hard there's leaders and his followers,
and Miami is no different than any teams that you
and I have ever been on. The leadership command is

(49:25):
basically telling everybody else where to fall in line, and
Tarika is on the outside of that bubble.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
He created that for him. He did it himself.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
You're right, he did that himself. That's that's how that happens.
But should you hold it against the team. He the
best weapon they got and they won't throw him the ball.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Well, to your point, he doesn't need to go over
there and say you need to throw them the ball.
He's over there saying we both need to keep our job,
me and you to a good point, get it to
our best players because this is not happening, or you
need to try to Are you trying to get me
firing on purpose? If you want to win, put yours in.
If you want to win, put yours in. That'll change

(50:05):
everything exactly.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
He knows where his bread is buttered.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
Coming up next, we're gonna talk to the voice of
the Houston Texans, get his thoughts on what he saw,
Mark Vandermir. Next right here on a Turn the Page
Tuesday edition of the morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred The Zone. It's a Turn to Page Tuesday,
but it also can be a Texans Tuesday whenever we

(50:31):
take the trip to h town and talk to the
voice of the Houston Texans, which you can hear right
here on Sports Radio AM thirteen one hundred The Zone.
He is Mark Vandermir and Mark, let's just get right
into it. The Texans come up short at home, had
an opportunity to win the game, seal the game, but

(50:52):
yet the defense let Baker Baker touchdown maker drive down
the field. And I can hear it in your voice
when he called you just a second ago. There's a
lot of frustration in this loss in there.

Speaker 11 (51:06):
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean you had a game right
there and multiple ways to win it, guys, I mean
your offense, and let's just start there. This is the
part of the team that is still under construction. We've
talked about it, and it's not done yet, not nearly done.
They don't have the identity they're looking for. And when
you can't execute, when you have second and goal inside

(51:26):
the one, and when you get a blocked punt but
can't move the ball an inch basically and have to
settle for a fifty three yard field goal. These things
both happen in.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
The fourth quarter.

Speaker 11 (51:36):
And you had those two situations and came away with
net three points. Second goal inside the one, ball at
the thirty five, with four downs to do something with
it following a block punt, and you only get three
points out of both of those collectively. That means you're
not doing the job in a game in which you'll
lose by one. So they have to get the offense together. Now,

(51:58):
credit that for getting down inside the one second in goal,
but they failed obviously and they can't move the ball
the way they need to. Too many mistakes again, a few penalties, yes,
but I just think lack of execution on third down.
They were two for nine and third down for the
second consecutive week. I'm okay with the defense. Not perfect. Yeah,
should have made the stop on the final drive. But

(52:18):
I think the offense really has a lot of work
to do before they hit their stride mark.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
They haven't put one offense together. They're running like three
different offenses. Like what is their bread and butter or
do they even know?

Speaker 11 (52:36):
Yeah, it's a great question. I think that when you
look at the way this thing's supposed to be constructed,
it was supposed to have Joe Mixon. Well he's not available,
and who knows when he's going to be around. He's
on ir right, So you signed Nick Chubb somewhere along
the way. Now that was a long time ago. Okay,
that was at mini camp. You had Nick Chubb, so
you knew you're going into training camp like this. I

(53:00):
do think they have some good ball carrying skills and
Woody Marx and I bet they use him more. But
they need to run the football to make this thing work.
At least have the threat of running the football and
pass catching. Christian Kirk not available. You hit the starting
line with no Christian Kirk. I'm not saying Christian Kirk
is an All Pro, but he's a good receiver and

(53:22):
he's unavailable at the starting line. Now you cannot have this,
but you've gone through two games without him. They've targeted
Nicocollins a bunch in this game. In the Monday night game,
nine targets, he ends up with four catches. That beautiful
touchdown reception on the opening drive. You thought you were
off and running, but they didn't score again until much
later in the fourth quarter. So to me, all of
this adds up to a situation where the offense has

(53:45):
to get it going, and I don't know how you're
going to do it. You've got Jacksonville right now in
a short week.

Speaker 7 (53:50):
This is going to be tough.

Speaker 11 (53:51):
They're certainly capable of beating them. I said to you,
guys from the get go, these two opponents, you're opening
up with are the wrong two to have that they
could owing to and still have a great season. I
still believe that, But you're gonna run out of time quickly,
and margin of victory or you know, margin of error
is really dwindling here going into these next two AFC

(54:12):
South games.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
How healthy is Stingley?

Speaker 2 (54:15):
He played good last night, but he was a questionable decision.
What are they saying about him going forward?

Speaker 11 (54:25):
I think he's fine. He had the hip thing or
whatever it was that knocked him out of the game
for a bit against the Rams last night. He played, Look,
they're gonna target Mike Evans a bunch. Mike Evans didn't
kill them. There were a few pass attempts going his
way that were either broken up. I mean Stingley had
a couple of breakups as the ball was targeted to Eavans,
So I thought that was okay. I mean, but you

(54:46):
know Ryan Miller, who's he Well, he killed them with
the first touchdown and then at the end Baker spreading
the ball around great, And isn't he the toughest guy.
I mean, Baker midfield, he gets hurt on a play,
then he's talking trash as he gets up I mean,
he's that tough and he got away from that fourth
and ten would be sacked. They had him corraled, he escapes.

(55:06):
It was a nightmare. I've seen it before. You know,
some of the great ones do that. You know, do
we call them one of the great ones. I don't
know what we call them, but you can call them.
The guy who's throwing more touchdown passes than anybody else
in the NFL since the start of twenty twenty three.
That is a fact. Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, name your quarterback.
Baker Mayfield has more touchdown passes than any of them

(55:27):
since the start of twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
It's amazing.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Baker amaze me. In that sequence that you just talked about.
I'm not a master lip reader, but he said, you
want to fight me, you want to fight me, and
I'm just like, will you go back to yohuddle please?
To lead your offense.

Speaker 11 (55:46):
He had their instigating the fight, right, But you know
what that does to your team. That pumps up your team.
They've got his pass, They've got something special brewing there.
They're going for their fifth consecutive division title. Tip my
hat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And they did to
the Texans last night what the Texans did to them
two years ago, a last second ish touchdown drive to

(56:09):
break their hearts, and now Texans zero and two. I
have to find a way to get it together with
limited time to get ready for Jacksonville. And Jacksonville wants
this one so bad. I mean they would sell their
soul to win this game on Sunday in North Florida.
So it's going to be huge.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
Sound like Jerry Jones a little wow everything.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
We're talking to the voice of the Houston Texans, Mark vandermir.
You can hear all the Texans games right here on
Sports Radio A thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
Where did the Texans go from here? Because CJ.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Stroud looks like he's had about enough of getting squashed
every single time he goes back there and running for
his life. You mentioned the fact that they tried to
target Nico last night nine times. They did get the
touchdown three only four receptions, but the defense was some
of their penalties in not being laying disciple when is

(57:00):
something that is kind of frustrating as well. And I'm
sure that Demico Ryans is not very happy when he
goes back and watches that film.

Speaker 11 (57:11):
Yeah, I think defensively they can fix whatever ails them
pretty quickly. The time of possession was out of whack.
What alarmed me even more than the final drive maybe,
was that the Bucks were starting to get some gashing
runs and I didn't like seeing that.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
Nobody did.

Speaker 11 (57:27):
That was really disturbing to me. When both backs were
combining for over one hundred and twenty, over one hundred
and thirty, it was a terrible situation for them. But
I go back to the offense. You got to find
a way to beat these blitzes. I mean, they're coming
in fast and you gotta throw hot. Do they have
somewhere to go with the football? Sometimes it looks like
to me that they don't have the answer to the

(57:48):
test when the blitz is coming in, and they got
to figure that out, because what are teams going to do.
It's a copycat league. They're going to send the kitchen
sink after CJ. Stratt and the Texans, and you got
to find a way to pick it up. Now, running
the ball does help. If you do that does help
you keep the defense off balance, But can you do
it consistently enough? We'll find out. I mean this is
the NFL. Every week. You got to get better. If

(58:09):
you don't, you're dead. So they have to find a
way to improve.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Well, I don't think that that's an option right now.
I think that they're so confused that they're gonna have
to either just live it out and get some experience,
or they're gonna have to let the take the power
away from the coordinator because he looks confused. I think
that this is too big for him. Like this job

(58:36):
hard reminded me that this is his first time being
an offensive coordinator on a play caller, a play caller
in any system.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
He's never done it.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
So you put a guy that's never done a job
in the NFL.

Speaker 11 (58:54):
Well, he's got the credentials to be an offensive coordinator.
And they all got to come from somewhere. Everybody get
their first shot at some point, so this is it.
I'm with you that it is hard to do something
anything for the first time and be in the pits
there and have to come up with creative play calls
at the moment of truth and you have maybe four
seconds to make up your mind what you're gonna do.

(59:15):
I'm with you, it is tough. Some guys are better
than others. I think that you know, most of the
guys who started in their jobs, it probably took them
a bit. Maybe they had more talent, maybe they had less,
maybe they did better. But this is what you got
right now, and you got to find a way to
get better in a hurry. So it's their ability to
learn and correct week to week. They were a little
better this week than last week. And remember they're playing

(59:36):
two playoff teams here, two contenders. Really, if you will,
two contenders to start out the season. Now, I'm not
saying it softens up that much. With Jacksonville. It should
be a little better. And then you have the Titans.
Let's see, let's see if they can improve. But yeah,
I'm with you. It is tough when you're the first
time guy. And Tamiko Ryans took a risk because he
had a first time coordinator and Bobby Slow. It worked

(59:58):
out great two years ago. Last year had slipped a bit,
they still won the division this year first time coordinator
Nick Kelly, Let's see what happens. This is the world's
greatest reality show and it's in the rock before we.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Let you go, I'm gonna let you go with this
with something that's positive because I try to bring some
positivity this share. The special teams looked really, really good
last night. Got a pump block the punter Townsend buried
them inside the twenty twice.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
You got fair bear being able to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
But you also got a key punt return yesterday. So
there was some positive things that happened.

Speaker 11 (01:00:29):
There's no question. I mean, how about that statistically, guys, Analytically,
if you get a punt block in the fourth quarter
and you get a fifty plus yard punt return in
the fourth quarter, you're gonna win that game. You're gonna win.
It's gotta be like ninety five percent or something like that.
If you get those two things to happen, and they

(01:00:50):
got a bunch of good kickoff returns too. When you're
getting it near or at or beyond the thirty five
yard line on two returns to start this game out,
that is awesome. But not as we see offense. I
hate to put all the blame on them, but a
lot of it does go there. Yet you look up
at the end of the day, you lost by five,
you lost by one, combine six points for two losses.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
Do better.

Speaker 11 (01:01:12):
Let's see where it goes.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
As always, we appreciate you taking the time. I know
it was a long night for you, but as always,
the true professional that you are, you made it happen.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Thanks Mark, and uh talk to you next week.

Speaker 11 (01:01:26):
All right, thanks guys, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
No problem.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
There is Mark VanderMeer, the voice of the Houston Texans.
Where you can hear the Texans right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. But coming up next,
you got the world's strongest man bringing you his world's
strongest take right here on the morning kickoff on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. You heard the be
You know what that means. WWE Hall of Famer and

(01:01:50):
the world's Strongest Men brings you his world's strongest take.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Take it away, big fellow, Art, what's up? You know, Thomas?
It's time for the world's strongest take by the world's
strongest man.

Speaker 10 (01:02:08):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
Guess back then they didn't know me. Now I'm hot,
They're all on me, guys. This is another case of
where they do that. I know that this is the
world's strongest take, but for today it's where they do that.

(01:02:34):
The NFL is tripping. If I was the owner of
an NFL team. I would be very disappointed in the
NFL right now because the Raiders have a minority owner,
Tom Brake, and Tom is Tom is abusing his power.

(01:03:01):
Tom is abusing his positioning. You know that Tom is
a you know, Hall of Fame quarterback, arguably the best
quarterback that's ever lived. I mean, I don't think so arguable.
I mean the guy. He's Michael Jordan of football, and.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
He was. If you watched the Raiders game last.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Night, you saw Tom Brady in the coach's booth with
a head.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Said on listening to all the calls.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
Not only was he listening to all the calls, but
he also was seen talking at times.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
Tom shouldn't be talking to the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
Offense coordinator during the game, and he's calling games, he
should be doing his other job. Tom is also privy
to being in the production meeting.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
I hate to.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Tell y'all this, but football, basketball, golf, marbles. Tillley winks
they all have a production meeting to handle the flow
of the game, all the commercial breaks, all the coaches timeouts,
what is going to be shown and in the timeouts?
In and outs is what they call it in production,

(01:04:23):
the in and outs. Tom Brady is privy to that information.
He also gets to go into the coach's scrums and
they have a pre scrum and a post scrum. In
a pre scrum, they talk about game plans. Why should

(01:04:44):
Tom Brady be allowed to do that? And he's a
minority owner of a team, because he can go back
to his team and say, hey, well, Jacksonville, they said
they wanted to do this, and that's what they did.
He can keep a lot with all the teams planning
on doing That's not fair.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
It's not fair.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
I think that they need the real like pull the
reins in because this is not fair. Next week, the
Cowboys and the Bears game, he's calling that game. He's
gonna know what the Cowboys plan to do. He's gonna
know what the Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:05:26):
Plan to do.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
If he plays, If the Raiders play against that team,
those teams in their season, they will have insider information.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Didn't want the steward go to jail for insider information.
I guess she was the sacrificial lamb. Well well yeah,
but you know what.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Nonetheless, it happened, Tom Brady. They have to change these rules.
He should not during the season. He should not be
allowed to be in the coach's booth. He should not
be allowed to be on his sets. He should not
have to have direct communication with the team, with the
Raiders while he's doing Monday night football and other jobs.

(01:06:10):
What say you, Well, he didn't call the game last night,
He didn't call it, but he was on the headset.
But he was talking to the people on the headset.
But I'm not making it up.

Speaker 1 (01:06:20):
I'm not well, I'm just saying, there's the owner of
the of the Colts.

Speaker 3 (01:06:27):
She's now sending on the sideline.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
She's got a headset and she's writing down plays on
every call that is being made. So she's taking notes
for herself. Now, as far as the production meetings, when
the coaches are talking to him, they don't have to
tell Tom Brady anything. They don't have to say nothing.
If they go into those meetings and Tom Brady asked
them certain questions, you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
Don't have to with all. You don't have to give
out that information.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
But they do know Brady. They're gonna talk to him.
But if they feel like that they don't have to.
They have the right to say no. You have the
right to say, look, I'm not doing that. If to
ask the question. He just sits there and somebody else
is asking the questions. I mean, writing it down.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
You don't have to adhere to any of that. You don't.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
So it's a question of if you don't try, if
you don't trust him, you don't give him the information.
If you were at a meeting and you know what
Tom Brady is, do you care or do you say,
I'm not giving you our game plan so you can
go up there and act like you know everything that's

(01:07:38):
going on, and then you're keeping your own notes.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
Not doing that. You're a good man. Hard why.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
I'm so glad that you see the silver lining that
you that you see the good in people, because the world.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Is not good. But I'm confused on what you mean
by that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
I'm saying that in a perfect world, what you're saying
is going to work. This is not a perfect world,
like people will manipulate the system. They will they will
go into those Hey man, ask this question because it
could come from me and they might not answer that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:10):
I'm just telling you, if.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
Tom Brady got caught cheating twice, you don't think that
he's gonna Oh he miractually is a new guy.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
He's not gonna do it in the booth. But what
I just say I said, I'm not telling you what
I just say? Who scaring me?

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
I'm like, I don't if Tom Brady were to walk
into the room and we're getting ready to oh you're
gonna tighten up, It's like I'll tell him to his face,
what is he gonna do to me nothing. I'm like,
I'm not fixing to give you my game plan so
you could have it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Oh, I'm not gonna do that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
To your point, I would wave left twice. No, he
shouldn't be allowed though, and I think the leadue should make.
My point is the lead should do something about it.
It shouldn't be left up to you having the honor system.
Are you having to dial back your dialogue with the

(01:09:09):
media is hurting us?

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
I'm not. He can't do it, won't do it. He
ain't getting no other information from old Hardball. I promise
you that you're gonna have to do your digging.

Speaker 1 (01:09:18):
Luck y'all, always do your cheetah, cheeta cheetah, Tom Brady,
We'll close out the show and send you to damn Patrick.
MLB Baseball astro fans, you might want to turn away
or turn off the radio when I get ready to
talk to you right here on the morning kick off
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
What a great, great show wants again.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
I want to give a shout out to Joe Cook
of Inside Texas, and I also want to give a
shout out to Mark Vandermere, the voice of the Houston Texans,
where you can hear all Houston Texans games right here
on Sports Radio and thirteen hundred Zone. If you missed
any parts of the show, get over to the podcast
ass page wherever you get your podcast, but of course

(01:10:03):
you should always have it on the new and improved
and always free iHeartRadio app. Mark, you were talking about
Tom Brady before we went to break him. I thought
your World's Strongest Teach was gonna be about the fact
that Tom Brady. Brady is joining Sakwan Barkley, Rob Gronkowski
and others to participate in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic

(01:10:29):
in Saudi Arabia. It'll be the first time he played
in three years. So Tom Brady will be playing flag
football coming up in March.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
It's funny that Grunk is on his team. I mean,
you gotta go to your number one receiver.

Speaker 2 (01:10:45):
Yeah, he Listen, they the cheatahs. They stick together, man,
they got to They just keep.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
On getting together.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
And you know, I don't want to go back to that,
but I'm just saying, like, the league has got a
responsibility to the league, and you cannot play favorites, regardless
of how special somebody. Yes, and we give Tim a
lot of flack, but he's special and it's hard to
deny his greatness and nobody wants to run him off.

(01:11:14):
You were like, you know, Tom, get out of here.
Nobody wants to do that, but it has to be
done hard for the fairness of the league. It has
to be done or let everybody do it right.

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):
Well, here, here's we're gonna transition to the NFL, I
mean to MLB.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
The baseball season is coming to an end.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
The Toronto Blue Jays got a five.

Speaker 3 (01:11:39):
Game lead in the Al East.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
And somebody asked me yesterday who I thought was going
to be the World Series matchup, and I brought up,
I think Toronto is playing the best baseball right now.
The Detroit Tigers, they are eighty five and sixty five.
They are playing good too, but they're starting pitching. He
got their ace is dealing with a side injury. He's

(01:12:03):
gonna be able to pitch this coming week, but we'll
see how he finishes it up in Seattle and Houston
are still going at each other. But Houston fans, last
night you got a w against the Texas Rangers, but
it did come with a price.

Speaker 11 (01:12:21):
Corea taps one in front of the mound, slipping his.

Speaker 4 (01:12:25):
Lighter, his throats over the head of burger.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
It's gonna score at least one run.

Speaker 4 (01:12:29):
Here comes Jordan alvi Rush trying to score a second run.

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
And he is going to be safe. Turn nothing, astrugs.

Speaker 4 (01:12:35):
Look alijord on Man slipped on home plate. Oh man,
he went in standing and he slipped on home plate
and started hobbling after he had it towards the dugout.

Speaker 6 (01:12:52):
As exciting as that play was, it did not end
promising for your dumb.

Speaker 3 (01:13:01):
That's just slid right across home plate.

Speaker 10 (01:13:09):
And then that was not what you were hoping to
see at any point, especially early in this series and
early in.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
This homestand we're not hobbles.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Yeah, that's not a good look for what you were
expecting to see from your starting DH left fielder, somebody
who is been often injured.

Speaker 3 (01:13:32):
I didn't see what I didn't see it. So did
he hyper extend it or no? He rolled his ankle.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
His ankle rolled And here's the deal, like, yeah, yeah,
laid down and laid it laid down. You slide at
home plate quick the first off. As a base runner.
You can see the ball in front of you as
you're running. He's rounding third base. You pick up the
ball at first and you look at you look and

(01:14:00):
see where the ball is so you see the throw
coming in. You're not the fleetest foot number one. Jordonid
slide on automatically at home play.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
You slide unless that ball is off the wall.

Speaker 1 (01:14:16):
You don't go into home play, and then you're trying
to avoid a tag on top of that.

Speaker 3 (01:14:23):
So all you do is slide. And now you putting
your team in.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
A position that they've got to win games, and you're
an integral part of what this team is all about.
But they did bring up a young man from the
minor leagues. His name is Zachary Cole. He has been
in Fuego since he's been up in the big leagues.
He's been in four to sixty two. He came in
for Jordon and he ends up hitting the home run

(01:14:47):
and getting two knocks yesterday. So he came in and
jumped right into the fray. But the thing about it is,
Jordon is a valuable part of this team's future, not
just today.

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
I'm talking about maybe maybe it's.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
A blessing in disguise that let him get in here now,
so next season you'll know what you got and you
can make moves and help your cap and all of
that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
So I don't know. I'm ready for baseball to be
over with.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
I mean, and I'm gonna tell you why, because I'm
a Yankee fan and the schizophrenia in which they play.
They'll go out and play somebody that's the top five
team and drive them in the dirt, and then the
next three games they play against teams.

Speaker 3 (01:15:33):
Under five hundred they lose. What is the deal? It
is a It is a baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:15:40):
You came in here to day fired up, you round
rock express out, got the hat, got the shirt, the
wrist bands, the head, I'm even wearing my undergrodunts. Oh
my gosh, see to tm I man, I we ain't
ask that, Marcus.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
Did we ask for that?

Speaker 7 (01:16:00):
You talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
Too much? Hey man?

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
You was talking about my wardrobe. So I'm like, hey,
I'm full Uni man. I can't go out there and play.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
Repercussion. That rock need to give you a special seat
behind the home plate with a helmet, and they gonna
make sure I get a helmet too. I'm gonna be
right there, ready to go.

Speaker 1 (01:16:28):
You're gonna be ready to play exactly. I'm always a
ready hard You're dead, I'm ready. I gotta stretch. Give
me an hour.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
I need somebody to come run for me. I'll give
me an hour and I'll be ready to go. I'll
make that happen for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
I want to think, uh Joe Cook of Inside Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:16:46):
I want to thank Mark Vandermere.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
And tomorrow we'll have Danny David something else, a American Statesman.
We'll hear from the head coach of the Sam Houston
State bear Cats as they get ready to come in Texas.
This weekend. We'll also preview some games, and we'll give
out our final grades on what we took from this
last week of games. For Mark, for Marcus, I'm harbaugh

(01:17:11):
hard and just remember, don't believe everything you see, because
even salt looks like sugar.

Speaker 3 (01:17:16):
Peace