OL Ephraim Salaam | Where are they now?

Ephraim Salaam spent four of his 13 NFL seasons with the Texans. The former left tackle is now a producer/writer in Hollywood, and he shared some memories of his time in Houston, why he thinks Andre Johnson belongs in the Hall of Famer and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right. If he's not the most fascinating former Houston Texan,
he is certainly in the argument for it. It's the one,
the only from Salaam, an offensive lineman for the Houston
Texans at the end of the first decade of the century.
And you pop by a little bit later as well.
You spent thirteen years in the NFL from It's great

(00:20):
to see you. How you've been. What's going on. I'm
great man, It's great to see you two. Drew. Yes,
you were just back in Houston recently, and you've got
that shirt on San Diego State. You're a proud Alam
played football for the Aztecs. You also played hoops for them,
so that was extra special for you. I imagine coming
back you're a place where you live for a little bit,
but also supporting the program that you called home. You know.

(00:43):
It was one of those things. Well, it was very surreal.
I remember I came to the stadium really early Saturday,
right and I was coming into the stadium when the
workers were coming into the stadium. The mcnaires were gracious.
They gave me access to the stadium what I call
my second home, and I was I was walking around

(01:04):
the concourse and it dawned on me. I had never
been up there to that part of the stadium. Why
would you? So it was it was so surreal because
I was thinking, I was like, wow, I spent five
years of my career in this building and I've never
been up here before. And so I was walking down

(01:27):
on the floor where at the basketball court, and then
back in the back where the locker rooms were, and
it just it was kind of like the perfect storm
where my alma mater, San Diego State Aztecs one hundred
and twenty five years, the first time they'd ever been
in this position in the final four, playing in a
place where I called home for so many years. It

(01:49):
was very emotional and and and and very heartfelt, and
I felt really grateful to be a part of a
moment so big. Talking with former Houston Texans offensive lineman
from salam you played basketball for them for how many years?
I mean one year my junior year in basketball. But
when I was recruited, just said for a lot of

(02:10):
the schools that recruited me, they agreed to also allow
me to play basketball. Was pretty good basketball player coming
out of high school, and so that was their rooting page, Like, hey,
you can even play on our basketball team. At the time,
coming out of high school, I only waited one hundred
and eighty five pounds, So being an offensive lineman really
wasn't what I was going to college for. I was

(02:31):
an outside linebacker in the defensive end, and so, I
mean I gained one hundred pounds at San Diego State
and became a left tackle. But outside of that, that
was the recruiting pitch. Hey, you can play on both,
and I was able to fulfill that the dream my
junior year at San Diego State. Now with former Houston

(02:52):
Texans offensive lineman from salam Now, obviously you played football
professionally and you did it for a long time. But
was football your first love? It was a basketball But
it's just which was it? Basketball is my first love? Okay?
All right? I was just really good at football. Really,
so taking mind, I didn't play football until my ninth

(03:13):
grade year in high school, which that's not a typical
I mean, there's a lot of guys, well it's not
it's not a good friend of mine, John Hellman was
on the football team and he asked the coach can
I play? And and it that's you know, that's how
I really got introduced to football. I played my freshman year,
then half of that got moved up to JV and

(03:37):
the next year I got my first college letter. So
I was when I was fourteen years old, I got
my first recruitment letter from Illinois University the Fight in
the Lion on after playing football for one year, and
I was and this is pre internet, this is pre

(03:59):
so I didn't even that meant something back then, but
it means a little bit more. Back then. It was
a brand new school as well. Sure when we my
freshman year, we only had ninth and tenth graders, Oh wow,
because it was brand new school, just open Sacramento, right
in Sacramentramento, Flooring High School in Sacramento. So to be
able to be found by colleges that early. I just

(04:24):
had a love for football. It was just was It
really was easy. It was easier than basketball. Basketball took
a little bit more coordination, like you want me to
dribble and fute and right like, so it was a
little bit more nuanced to basketball. But football really came
naturally to me. Former Houston Texans old lineman from salam

(04:46):
with us. Let's fast forward and we're gonna rewind. We're
gonna bounce all over in this interview bound. I'm good,
just bounce, are you? The stuff I've heard about what
you're doing now fascinates me. I've said that word a
few times now. But what are you up to these days?
Because you've got a lot going on? Man, I do
have a lot going on. Well, I'll start with the
producing in movies. When I was eighteen years ago, my

(05:10):
brother and I started a movie company film company. We
got our first foray into producing films, and that just
became my love. I loved the entertainment aspect of production.
I love you know, scripts and being on set. I
was fascinated by all of that, like a lot of
us are, and so we created a film company, changed

(05:33):
names over the years, but that was my really my
passion outside of football and sports were films. I love films.
That's my happy place. When things weren't going well, I
go sitt in the movies by myself. Yeah, So we
started making films. I started producing seventeen years later, and

(05:53):
for a film company that's done extremely well independently, over
one hundred and fifty million dollars office independently. That led
me into writing. I wrote my first screenplay about five
and a half years ago. I was a romantic comedy
and it was called The List, and I was speaking

(06:13):
to one of my close friends about it and what
I was about to do next, and he just so
happened to be a showrunner for a television show. I
was explaining these movies that I had in my mind
that I was going to write. He said, what, I's fascinating.
I want you to come and be a part of
my television show. And I was like what he was like?
His name was Chris Collins and he had gotten his

(06:35):
start from the sopran He's been doing it for a
long time, the Sopranos Man in the Highcastle Son ZERVANICKI
the wire like, he's you know, he's been in this.
I mean you just named like two or three mount
Rushmore TV shows. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's the real deal. Yeah.
And coming from him saying he told me, he said, look,

(06:56):
you've lived a life and you have a perspective that
no one in the writer's room will have. You've seen
things and done things and been and have had access
to that. These kids from Harvard or Yale or Stanford
who who become writers or in this writer's room, they don't.
They've never experienced anything like that, and I need that perspective.

(07:17):
You mean, they've never seen Kyle Turley or the Dirty Birds,
or Chester Pits or Ryan Cushing or they've never seen that,
You don't think, just a lot of names that I've
just left off. Oh it's it's it's a lot, but
it's the way. It's the lens which I've viewed life
having reached that level of success. Right, So it's a

(07:38):
professional athlete, the realization of less than zero point one
percent of the world's population can become professional athletes. That's
just what it is. You can't buy your way into it,
you know. It's it's something that takes an extremely rare
amount of skill, and that's for any professional sport. What
comes with that is a different lens to view life through.

(08:00):
Once you've exceeded exhaled and you've gotten to a point
and something that's almost impossible to do, you begin to
look at life and have different life experiences that others
can't have. And to take that and then to pour
that into a character or to a story. That's what
he wanted. He saw the value in that and that
first show that I was a part of was called

(08:23):
The Continental, based on the Hotel and the John Wick movies. Okay, yeah,
it had nothing to do with sports, which I really
liked because once you play football or basketball and he
sport at a high level, people would like to put
you in a box and now you can only write
about sports, or you can only do this, or and
so me having my first foray into writing television as

(08:49):
writing for assassins, you know that to me, he was
I was exciting because when I walked into that writer's
room with these writers who've been in there for years,
I didn't feel like they had an upper hand because
no one in there wasn't an assassin, like so we all,
we all were creating this world from you know, from

(09:12):
from Make Believe, our own thoughts, in our own minds.
So it really made me feel like I belonged. And
it kind of resembled being in the locker room and
being on the team because it was very collaborative. Talking
with former Houston Texans offensive lineman e From Salam e
From also been involved. You helped write on bell Air,
which is a kind of a you know, fast forward,

(09:34):
you know, three years from then. I had been on
three other shows, and they got an opportunity to be
a part of the remake of the Freshmans of the
bell Air called bell Air on Peacock Right now, it's
the number one show on the channel. And I've been
there since the Genesis since twenty twenty. Oddly enough, Chris

(09:54):
Collins was the original showrunner of that show, and he
called and said, Hey, I want you to meet this kid,
Morgan Cooper, who had a reimagining another French fresh Prince
of bell Out. I think you guys would get along.
I meant Morgan and asked me to be a part
of the project, and we're going on our third season
now and I am the only writer who's still a

(10:16):
part of it that's been there since the genesis of
the show. That's got to feel good, know, Well, it's
about It's about value. It's about the value you bring
to a project, to a room, to a show. And
it's the same way I felt about the NFL as
a seventh round draft pick. The only way I last
thirteen years is if every year I bring value into

(10:39):
the locker room right onto the team. So I use
that same mentality, that same muscle that allowed me to
have a long career in the NFL and everything I do,
especially in writing to qualify things. You just said, Hey,
I was a seventh rounder, and there's some seventh rounders
who they hang on and they have a thirteen your career,

(11:00):
but they don't really play much. Their swing guy or
you out of the gate. You start nineteen games. You
start that Super Bowl that you're with Atlanta against Dan Roels,
A hell of an Atlanta team. You took down the Vikings.
Everyone says, oh that that Vikings Kings should water all.
They only won one more game than you guys did.
It was an excellent team that you guys beat. And
then you started a lot of games in the NFL

(11:22):
for a seventh rounder, for a first rounder, it doesn't matter.
I started a lot of games. Yeah, my first pretty
much first ten years in the league, I was a starter. Yeah.
And so that rookie year, coming in with the mentality
of I belong I should have been drafted earlier and
having just getting an opportunity to showcase my talent in
training camp. That was the beginning of I start that

(11:45):
those nineteen games. I make the All Rookie team. I'm
the youngest player to ever start in the Super Bowl.
At the time, that was the beginning of my career.
So when the opportunity presented itself for me to have
a chance to start, I took it and it It
came down to the last preseason game, the fourth preseason game.
Art Shill, the Great Art Schell, who was my offensive

(12:07):
line coach, was me and another player aside and say, hey, Corey,
you're going to start e from You'll play the second quarter, Corey,
you'll play the thirty from, you play the fourth. Whoever
plays the best, it's going to be our starter opening
day next week. Wow, that's all I mean, that's just
an opportunity. That is a flat out you versus him

(12:28):
who and just go out there and put it all
on the line. And having that opportunity was what got
me my start in my career. I went out there,
I played well enough for them to pimcil me in
as a starter that year and that I never looked back.
That was the beginning of the rest of my football career.
Like having that opportunity, and that's the value I talked

(12:51):
about bringing to something whatever you're part of, if you
can bring value as a seventh round draft pick or
some one who has never been in the writer's room,
or as someone who's never produced a film. If you
can be if you can bring value, there'll always be
a place for it, right, And it's it comes from

(13:14):
from the belief in yourself. Like I never feel like
I'm in above my head. I never feel like something
is too big. Now with former Houston Texans offensive lineman
from salam From, how much of that belief was helped
by what you did as a rookie? How much of
it was already there and allowed you to do that

(13:36):
as a rookie. You want to understand what I'm saying,
I mean, did that? Yeah, I get it. Well. Even
to get to that point, to even be drafted, you
have to be a little You have to have the
belief in yourself that maybe others don't. Right. Um, so
many times kids are told, um, you know, don't put

(13:56):
all your eggs in one basket. Don't do that. That's
too hard. I was told that, you know, being a
professional football player was almost impossible. Like once you can
grow up hearing no and no and you shouldn't, then
you you can either succumb to it or you can
become a product of it. And I was a product
of no. I refused to take no. So moving forward

(14:18):
after football, I refuse to let anyone tell me what
I can and can't do. But you can't tell me
I can't write or a television show, or produce a movie,
or be a CNN correspondent, or have my own radio show,
my own television show. You can't tell me that because
I've already accomplished things that no one on the planet
Earth would drink possible. Former Houston Texans old lineman from

(14:42):
salam with us to the production company. You've written what else?
Because that's not it. I mean we've only covered, like
we scratched the surface on what you are doing? Now?
What where you are? Now? Where are you physically? You're
in LA I take it. I'm in Los Angeles? Yes, students, okay,
and you're you're in addition to what we just mentioned,
what are you? What else are you doing? Because you
you're a talking head quote unquote from time to time,

(15:02):
you're in the media. What the laws going on? I
do a lot of I have a weekend radio show
Saturdays and Sundays on Serious X eighty three. I also
am a correspondent for CNN. How did that come about.
You know what, A lot of things happen for me,
like you get one chance, right, somebody had canceled or something.

(15:24):
My publicist call and said, hey, CNN wants we want
you to know if you can make it down to
the bureau, which is not ten minutes away from my
house years ago, And so I go and I can't
even remember what we were talking about, and I'm sitting
on there with one of the hosts and had a

(15:45):
you know, I'm just being me, right, I'm just And
after that the producer called me and was like, hey,
that was amazing. We're getting a lot of great feedback.
Would you like to do this more often? We'll appolutely.
And so it just and I never know when I'm
going on and that's the beauty of it. So the

(16:08):
unfortunate events that happened between Buffalo and Cincinnati and tomorrow Hamlin.
Literally ten minutes after that happened, CNN calls, can you
get on in five minutes? Yes, I can put my
suit jacket on, came into my office and like, so
it's one of those things to where when people know

(16:29):
that they can depend on you, and you're you make
yourself available for things. I love doing it. Yeah, I
love doing. I love giving. And it's not just about sports.
I've done you know, political things. I've done all of
these things on that platform. But the main reason I
really do all of this, Drew, is to show people,
not only professional athletes, but to show people you don't

(16:54):
have to just do one thing. You don't have to
be known for this. So many times my contemporaries don't
get an opportunity to explore other things because people just
look at them as an athlete, right. And you know,

(17:15):
I purposely didn't take a job at ESPN coming out
of when I retired because they wanted me to like
join NFL Live and then you know, do those shows,
which are great. Look, I love the NFL. It's opened
up all of the doors for me. But I didn't
want to retire from football and just talk about football.

(17:37):
There's so many other things that I'm fascinated with. Like,
we had already had our film company up and going,
so I didn't want to just go be relegated to
talking about the x's and ohs. So when Fox launched
FS one Fox Sports one, they said, look, it just
won't be football. You can talk basketball, baseball, whatever it is.

(18:00):
We want to talk about all sports. And that was
attractive to me because I'm like, you know, I'm a
basketball fan, So I'd rather give you my in depth
you know, breakdown of the play ins that are coming
in and then our first round of the NBA playoffs
that start Saturday. Like, I'd rather give you that then
break down what happened on third down and yeah, yeah,

(18:23):
you know what I mean. Talking with former Houston Texans
offensive lineman e from salam from Pardon me because I
don't know everything about your production company, but I sure
do hope that you're at least providing in some instances
some narration because you got a hell of voice. I mean,
you need to be a voice actor as well. You
need to add that to the arsenal. So you got
that good voice going, well, you know what that might be?

(18:44):
That might be something that I'll look into. The only problem.
The only problem is, and this is something that I
really take pride in. I'm a coach as well. So
I'm coach. I coached my sons and we have a
game today. I coach my son in base all and
I coached both of my sons in basketball. What are
their ages? Eleven and eight. Okay, I coached. They're in

(19:07):
different age groups, so in basketball, I'm coaching two separate teams. Normally,
I don't know if you have kids or not, but
just imagine coaching a bunch of nineteen year olds and
eleven and twelve year olds in practice then in games.
By the end of the week, it's gone. I just
recovered getting my voice back because basketball has ended. The

(19:30):
San Diego States run hit and I had in zero
voice that Sunday, after that miraculous shot by Lamont Butler,
I did a show from Houston. I did my radio
show from Houston, and it was it was gone. It
was good, right. So I am so hard on my
voice because I'm active. And to me, that's the biggest

(19:53):
sports accomplishment I've ever had was coaching these young people.
I never wanted to be a coach, dad, I never
wanted to be that guy, right, And a couple of
years ago I started it and then I fell in
love with it, and I just love to watch the
growth from when you know, I get some kids who've
never played before, some kids who've played years, and trying

(20:15):
to combine them and create a team, and I really
really love it. It wears me out, but it's so fulfilling.
We had an opportunity. Park I coach had asked me
to coach their minors all star team for the entire
San Fernando Valley fifteen teams. It was sort of like
a March Madness style tournament, and we made it all

(20:37):
the way to the championship game. We lost by four,
but my kids played their butts off and that was
the first time the park had gotten there in eight years.
That's awesome. So just that those type of accomplishments from
me outweigh anything that that me person that I personally
accomplished in sport. I know what you mean about the

(20:57):
voice thing on the head you're looking with your talking
with the head coach of the seven and eight year
old bes the baseball team coach pitch baseball. My voice
is gone two Mondays ago, with the pollen in the
air and yelling. So yeah, I think coaching youth sports
is the new smoking two packs a camel, unfiltered game.
Make your voice nice and temporary. Yeah, so I know

(21:20):
where you're coming from exactly right. Okay, let's talk about
your time with the Texans for a bit. You're you're
here in a very interesting era because they were coming
out of those first few years where they're losing as
an expansion team and they're starting to go five hundred
and they're starting to get close to making the playoffs.

(21:41):
What was that? Like? What brought you here? You you've
got that background. You you played under Dan Reeves, he's
obviously the Broncos guy, and then you do play with
the Broncos, You've got the Kubiak. How much did that
play into you coming here? Well? I played everything into it.
I had left the Broncos and went to Jacksonville for
two years, which was not a good fit. Just didn't
you know Bronco different Bronco offensive linemen were very light

(22:04):
at the time. I was about two eighty five and
I as a left as a starting left tackle, and
I leave and go to Jacksonville and they're tight end
was two eighty five. So it was a situation where
you know, their offensive lineman with three twenty five, three thirty.
It just wasn't the right fit. And so at the

(22:26):
end of the old five or six season, Gary Kubiak
gets the head coaching job at Houston and I'll never
forget I was like, Wow, I love to go play
for Gary again. One day later, my phone rings. It's Gary.
He says, Hey, what's going on? I said, Hey, Gary,
what's He said? Are you going back to Jacksonville? I said,

(22:47):
I don't think so. He said, how about you come
to Houston and help me show these guys what we
do on the offensive line, because you know much maligned
the sacks, the number of sacks in the number of
hits David Carr was taking. He was like, I need
you to come help me teach these these guys how
to play together as an offensive line. I said, I one,

(23:09):
sign me up. I'm in the number one reason. And
this is I'm gonna tell you this story. And I
don't know if you know this Drew. That year, the
NBA All Star Game was in Houston. I came out
to Houston. I was at some events. Chester Manchester had
some poker event and we were sitting there talking and
laughing and Chester and I, as you know, go way
back to college. He was the left tackle, the starting

(23:32):
left tackle at the time. And I said, hey, man,
and this is pre Gary Kubiak, this is this is
I said, I'm gonna end up coming here and you're
gonna have to move to left guard because I'm playing
left tackle. And he said, no, no, no, no, I'm
the left tackle. You're gonna have to play guard. A
you're gonna have to play right tackle. I said, all right,

(23:53):
watch just watch as forward to that phone call and
I get here and sure enough, they Jester down to
left guard, which was a better fit for him, and
put me at left tackle right next to him. So
that was kind of like a like a dream for
me to me for me to be able to play
with one of my close friends outside of football right

(24:14):
become friends because of football. He was one of my
close friends outside of football, and to be able to
play next to him for that amount of years, that
was just like a dream come true for me. Former
Houston Texans old lineman from salam with us. You talk
about Gary saying, hey, I want you to help teach
these guys take the money out of it. How much
did that aspect, Hey, I want you to help me

(24:35):
be a kind of a coach on the field, help
install it because it was a different no blocking scheme.
Not many other teams were doing that, and so they're
coming from a spot that's where they did at the best.
How much did that mean to you And how much
did that kind of plant that seed of coaching deeper
into your brain, because I'm sure it was there. Anyways,
it was great because I could speak to the guys
on a pier level, right, and it was a tangible

(24:58):
no like this, watch me coming from a coach. Sometimes
you just tuned coaches out. It happens. You get tuned out.
I get tuned out. Sometimes the athletes just tuned the
coaches out. But when you have someone who can teach
from within, it just hits different. It resonates different because
now you can watch and you can say, like, see

(25:20):
how I opened up with that step, if you load
this foot, Now they can see it actually happening as
they're learning it, which is an easier way to learn,
especially when there's so many moving pieces and everything has
to be aligned and together for that offensive line for
the zone blocking natural work. Okay, so you bring up Chester.

(25:40):
You guys famously were on the amazing race together. Didn't
go didn't end the way you wouldn't liked it, But
that's cool that you're on and it's you're on it.
That's awesome. We were there. You were in a super
Bowl commercial with him, and I want to know ay
how true it was and be how much fun it
was making it. But first, let's play. In San Diego

(26:03):
there was this grocery store we all went to. Every
time I went in there, there was this big round
I mean he was huge. And I asked one day.
I was like, you ever played football? And football? You know? Certain?
I was like, come on, man, what do you what?
I know you had to play something. I play the oilball?
What it's a member of the Woodwind family. Oh kid,
you should play football. He was like really, And I
was like, play football. So he goes to the coach,

(26:24):
played the oboll, play the whole ball. He walked on him,
said what do you know? He ends up starting gets
drafted in the second round. He was backing grocery. I
got drafted in the seventh round. Wow, this is about
my man Chester Pitts. He's my starting love guard for
the Houston Texas. I mean, here's a guy living a dream.

(26:46):
Listen to me even have the dream until I told
him the dreaming. And now we're in the super Bowl
kind of certainly statute of wations is over because we're
fifteen years on the line and I've I've talked with Chester.
I'm friendly with him, account them as a friend. That's
not a zillion percent true. What went down? Is it?

(27:10):
The gist of it is true. Okay, he did work
at a grocery store, right he did. I did walk
me out to the car vent that I had. Okay.
He asked me how I guided him what he should do.
I did tell him he should probably play some football.
He was a big kid. All of that's true. So
the foundation of it is true. He told me he

(27:33):
went to a math and science high school. Right, Okay.
The Obo part's that was embellishing a little bit. I'm
a story tem a writer, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I
knew what the story needed to make a good script, Okay,
to make a good commercial. So I embellished a little
bit on the Obo part. But for the most part,

(27:57):
the commercial was spot on. Outside of you know, I
took liberties with the instruments and and things like that.
You got me in trouble, not in trouble, but you
made me look like an idiot one time. Because often
once a year, twice a year over the last decade,
at the half Texans will have the University of Texas
Marching Band come at Texas Southern's Ocean of Soul or

(28:19):
you of h they'll come and play. And one time
I kind of casually on camera in the on the
video board, I was like, hey, Chester, you know a
thing or two about the woodwind instruments and the oobo
and he's like, uh yeah, and then after he's like,
none of that's true, man, I'm sorry. I was just
trying to make a good story. Man. I liked it.
It was. It was. It's one of the reasons I
feel like I know you better than I actually do.

(28:40):
But yeah, that was. That was a good good time.
So Chester's obviously one of your best pals. Yes, who
else do you keep in touch with? Texans wise? Still today?
I know a lot of y'all are on texts chains together,
But who are some of your old Texans friends that
you still keep in touch with? My favorite is Andre
Love Andre Johnson. I was so good in him when

(29:01):
the final fours in town and a lot of people
don't notice, like Andre doesn't talk right, right, he doesn't talk.
So when I first got to Houston, I am me,
of course my personality, I'm talking and I would try
to engage with Andre and nothing he wouldn't give me anything,
and I'm like, okay, all right, So I took it

(29:22):
upon myself. It was a challenge and I told him.
I said, hey, man, oh you're gonna talk to me.
I could problem, You're you're going to talk to me?
And a year year and a half at practice in
the locker room, in games, we would be in games
in the huddle and I'm just giving it to him.
I'm just just anything, and I'll never forget. It was

(29:45):
my second year with the Texans and I think We're
playing the Colts and it was a timeout and I'm
just messing with him. And he looked at me. He
was like, I fan, why you're always messing with me? Man?
And I said, because I'm gonna make you like me.
And from that moment on, Andre's doing one of my
closest friends, like my I remember seeing right, I got him.

(30:10):
I got him. I remember seeing Andre in Vegas in
the off season. I was with my wife. I saw Dre.
He was like e and we stood outside talking for
like an hour. My wife had to come back outside
because that is the most she had ever heard Andre
talked before. He just is very and he's an introvertise
to himself. He's one of the best receivers that ever

(30:31):
played his sport. So Andre is one of my all
time favorite teammates. You know, Fred Weary, of Mike Brazel,
Drew Hodgden, David Anderson, Oh, Daniel, Eric Winston, all of
those guys. Man, we really you know, stay connect, Matt Shop.
These are my guys, man. We were there, We were there.

(30:51):
That was a special moment when you can have that
type of bond with a team like that. I really
loved my time and my teammates in Houston. Yeah, and
it's no surprise that you and the guys you just
mentioned you're part of the shift from being losers into
being competitors and being you know, winning division titles. He didn't,
you weren't all there for it, but you guys help

(31:12):
make that happen. That process. Yeah, we are the culture.
You know, it's about changing the culture. And you can
only change the culture with a good core group of guys.
And you know, it starts with the head coach and
then trickles down to the rest of us. And it's
our responsibility to help shift the narrative. Right now, the
Texans are on a little lower right now. But like

(31:33):
I said, it starts with the head coach. You got
coach Ryan's coming in who I know personally, who I
was there his rookie year and after, and I believe
he is the type of person that can shift and
rebuild that culture. Yeah. And if this isn't a surprise
the success he's having and this fit with this team,
I imagine, right, No, no, no, no no, no, no. Look,

(31:55):
you can tell early on who's in it and who
has it. And when he touched down from Alabama and
to Houston, we saw it. We saw it in and
we saw it. He was our leader on defense right
out of the gate, defensive rookie of the year, and
he just carried himself higher and bigger than his stature
as a rookie. Right, you can tell that he brought
something that intangible that a lot of other young players

(32:18):
don't have at the time. And now I can see
that that same intangible as a young head coach, he
has it. Talking with former Houston Texans offensive lineman from
salam from we got a backtrack again, but you brought
up Andre Johnson. No, I know it. You don't have
to convince me of it. But for those who are
kind of on the fence about it. Hall of Fame?

(32:39):
Why yeah, Why does he belong in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame? Number One, He was the first receiver
to go back to back fifteen hundred yard receiving seasons.
He was a dynamic pro. The yards and the numbers
speak for themselves. And when you really look at it
and you look at the quarterbacks he had, he never
really had an elite, top tier quarterback. He ever really

(33:00):
had a lot of help. It was just Andre Johnson.
And to be able to put up those amount of
numbers when you're double teams and teams are trying to
take you away, not everybody can do that. Not everybody
can do that. I've been able to be on on
teams with some tremendous, tremendous receivers. And I tell you what,

(33:22):
brother like his work ethic, his ability to just show
up and go and play, no diva, no complaining, no anything,
just I'm going to outwork you and there's nothing you
can do to cover me. That in itself is special
and that's why Andre Johnson belongs in the Hall of Fame.
He'll get there, He'll be there, Yeah, no doubt he's

(33:43):
definitely deserving of that gold jacket. All right, let's wrap
things up. Final two questions. Favorite memory as a Houston texts,
I know you got a bunch, but what stands out
hands down? Beating the Colts on Christmas Eve? Okay, that's easy.
How come that's the first time that the Texans that
ever beat the Coats. This is the Peyton Mannings Coats. Okay,
So we were the little step brother, a little you know,

(34:06):
the little brother to them, and they had been beating
up on us a lot. And the way we we
the onus was on the offensive line in that game.
You gotta remember Ron Dane had over one hundred and
fifty three yards rushing. And I remember preparing that week about, look,
it's going to be on you Eve from guys Chester, Fred,
We're going to put the onus on you if you

(34:30):
if we're going to win this game, it is because
of you. And we took that to heart, and we
took it personal, and we went out there and executed
and we won with that late Chris Brown kicked that
fifty four yard field goal, and that was just a
tremendous feeling. Doesn't hurt that it's on Christmas Eve either.
I remember the announcement. It's a Christmas miracle. It was

(34:52):
one of those situations where it was it was tremendous.
That's great. Last question, what's next for you? Oh? And
I'm going to be a showrunner, which means the creator
and the runner of a show. I have a it's
a big, big deal. Yeah, it's a huge deal. I
have a few shows that I've created that I'm out pitching.

(35:13):
So what's next for me is I'm going to take TV,
the world of TV over all? Right? Can you tell
us what show that is? You say, do you? But
I cannot? All right, Well, listen, you're getting good. You're
gonna get hit up by you know, Entertainment Weekly and
Slate and all that. I want Texans TV. I want

(35:34):
to be in the mix. I got the line. Okay,
I got anything you need for me. It's just that
we got to talk about it. Okay, just just know
that's going to put us in the order. There. I
got you, all right, I from Salam. We really do
appreciate the time. It's wonderful catching up with you. Congratulations
on all these successes, best of luck coaching TV the

(35:56):
rest of it, and come back and see us again
sometime soon. Man I definitely we will thank you so much.