June 26, 2024 • 22 mins
Of all the Texans who've suited up for Houston since 2002, who's the most underrated? Texans TV's Drew Dougherty and Team Analyst/Radio Sideline Reporter John Harris pondered that question. Some prominent names were brought up, as well as some less prominent ones.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello, friends in the Lab. Time need Drew Doherty, John
Harris and you. Not y'all but you. It's the three
of us. We're enjoying this and we appreciate you watching,
appreciate you listening. But John, first things first, it's good
to be with you. How are you, my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
What's new doing? Okay? Getting? Man, I'll tell you this.
It's so funny because in the last probably two three days,
I've had Hey, can I get a lunch with you? I?
Can I get Can I get a meeting with you?
Before you know camp starts? I'm like, man, this Hall
of Fame game has just put a crypt in my
style for meetings, which is good and bad. I mean,
(00:54):
I can't, I can't get anything done. I'm like, well, okay,
you want to do it. After the fourth I go
to Big twelve Media Days for three four days. Then
the next week I go to SEC Media Days for
a couple of days, and then we have camp starting
on that Thursday. So I'll let you figure it out.
So it's been tough trying to get anything done, which
(01:14):
is kind of good. So it's kind of a calm
before the storm. So I'm good with that.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How are you doing, I'm good. You just brought up
Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Hall of Fame game,
and I'm I'm gonna be a jerk. I'm gonna be
I'm gonna tease something I can't I can't live to
the public. But Andre Johnson, obviously he's going to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame, gets inducted third. We got
(01:38):
something cooking with him, and we got something fun that
I think a lot of people are gonna like. So
I'm just gonna leave it at that, just like, yeah,
there's a little something extra you're gonna see this fall
with Andre Johnson. But john on social media, that's right
on social media. On Twitter recently the Houston Texans team
(02:00):
account and what I thought was a really good tweet.
It just was underrated in quotes, which former Texans player
comes to mind? And I had an I had one
name that came to mind immediately, and I was curious,
who did other people think Mark put up put A
(02:21):
response was a good one, and it's funny seeing some
of the stuff that's popping up, like how many people
remember the Ninja Assassin. That's a good one, Antonio Smith.
Until Jonathan Joseph came along. That's the greatest free agent
signing in team history. Antonio Smith and.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I reacted to that because Ninja will join our buddy
Indy Kalou on Texas All Access on Friday. That is
the plan. Those two set down for a long form interview,
and so Ninja will be on Texas All Access on
Friday with India. It's gonna be awesome, an hour and
a half interview.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Was he in studio or was he on Zoom?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
No, he was on zoom. He was on zoom. But yeah,
we got a couple of In fact, I don't know
when you're listening to this, but Tuesday night we will
have or we did have, depending on when you heard this.
Y I'm on Green. I'm on Green, came in studio
to chop it up with ND So we'll have that
for you on Tuesday. So Ninja Antonio Smith on Friday,
I'm on Green on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
That's awesome. You know, I want to stick with Antonio Smith.
There for a sec because he was I mean, he
was really good for these Texans.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
He was.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
He came in two thousand and nine, coming off a
Super Bowl run with the Cardinals the year before, and
we got to do a radio show with him for
a season in twenty thirteen, and he was just so
much fun. But he was a Pro Bowler in twenty eleven.
People forget that he made the Pro Bowl. There were
three pole Pro bowlers on that first Houston Texans playoff team.
(03:46):
It was him, It was Jonathan Joseph. Yeah, and now
I'm forgetting I can't remember who the third was, Chris Myers. Yeah,
Chris Myers the center. So those three were your Pro
Bowlers from a team that had Andre Johnson and Arian Foster.
But those guys were kind of tagged teaming in and
out all season long with hamstring injuries and stuff like that.
(04:08):
But those were your three. And Antonio Smith was a big,
big reason for a lot of the successes, you know,
kind of turning the corner, you know, first year he
gets there, Texans are a winning team for the first time.
That went nine and seven, and then he was here
through the thirteen season, came back for a stint a
couple of years later, and it was fun seeing that
and hearing that and seeing the reaction from some of
(04:28):
the younger guys and all that. And then it was
really cool about a month or two ago at the
JJ Watt Charity Softball Classic, you know, that game, he
was out there. It was good seeing him in the
dugout and good tako with Antonio. He is a fun person.
He was a fun player to watch, fiery, very good,
(04:50):
you know, and definitely I think that's a great call.
He is underrated. He was underrated as a player here
for the Texans.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, you know. The hard part to me is like,
how do you how do you assess the word underrated?
You know somebody? Yeah, exactly, because everybody's got their their
version of underrated. So like for you and me, you know,
we've seen all these guys up close, you know, for
you since two thousand and nine, for me twenty fourteen,
(05:18):
but even before that, we were covering the team, So
we saw these guys and we know these guys intimately.
So some guys we feel like, oh they might this
guy maybe didn't get enough credit. I don't know. We're
gonna look at it a little bit differently, maybe than
some fans will. Because the fans are like, well, national
media didn't talk about this guy, and so Arian Foster
should be underrated. It's like, I don't know if that fits,
(05:41):
but look, it's everybody's personal definition. I think Ninja falls
into that category for a number of reasons. I think
maybe the first one is the fact that he lived
up to a large free agent contract. And I know
that sounds bizarre in some respects, but that was not
something First of all, it's not something that's done a
lot in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Secondly, it's not.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Historically or currently historically or correct and b or two
it hadn't been done here in Houston.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And for Ninja, I go back. I go back two
thousand and nine, very first practice and pads and so
it's one on ones, it's D line, O line, one
on ones. And this was before the collective baring agreement,
so you could bang first day and they're banging. But
Mario Williams, Antonio Smith and I'm trying to remember who
else was part of that part of that mix. In
(06:29):
two thousand and nine, they're all jumping off side. I mean,
how not when they're jumping off side D line coach
at that time was Bill Colar, and you know Bill
was feisty. So after about the third time or fourth
time of those guys collectively jumping off side, you know,
(06:49):
Colar could be heard everywhere, but I could hear Colar
say something. I couldn't make out what he said, but
he said it a little bit more reserved because there
were like ten rows of fans and I'm sitting there
nexttar By Lance aer Line and we're just kind of
kind of sitting there, kind of arms crossed, you know,
this front row watching this, and Coolard says something as
Ninja jumps off side, and all of a sudden, Antonio
(07:13):
goes to an anger level I've never seen. You want
me to bring the dogs the and he's just going
off and like they're having to hold him back, like
he's losing it, and I just remember it just goes
oh no, because that was our thought, like, oh my gosh,
(07:35):
you paid all this money for this guy and now
he's blowing up on the first day. And the thing
was is he was worth every flipping penny. Yeah, he
was worth every penny on and off the field. He
was so valuable for this team. I think Ninja goes
in there. I'll give you mine real.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Fa old No, no, let me let me add a
corollary to that. That's a great story. I love hearing
that story. And you talked about Bill Kohlar. Bill Kolar
was a really good player in his own right, excellent
assistant coach for a long long time. And you mentioned
him and Antonio Smith being an odds that day that
all got mended up. Those guys I think are friends now.
I know Colar and a lot of former Texans defensive linemen.
(08:13):
They still get together on a I got about a
yearly basis and get together with I will always remember,
I can never be able. I'll never be able to
forget the stay up Bill Cohlar always yelling stay up,
don't fall down on the field, because bats runs in
practice when you're on the ground, if you're a football players,
and then that's the idea him yelling, that's the idea
(08:35):
when you get something right. But you can hear him
above above everything else at practice fields over at the
Houston Methodist Training Center. Good call. I like that.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I like that as it pertains to that if we're
talking about underrated, maybe Bill Colar doesn't get his due
as a defensive line coach and how good he actually
was sure the guys that he got a chance to coach,
So maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
He can think about think about that he survived and
was here for three different coordinators. He was a Frank
Bush defensive line coach, Wade Phillips kept him on, and
then Gary Kubiak the transition to Bill O'Brien, and then
Romeo crenelbi in the defensive coordinator and a Bill O'Brien
Kolar was here for a year with crenell. So and
(09:18):
that's that's a four to three to two different type
of three fours. Yes, Wade and Romeo ran three fours,
but they're different. So it's pretty I think it's a
measure of who how great he is as and was
as a coach that he stuck through those That was
pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, Okay, so mine that I had tweeted or boasted
this guy that wasn't here for a number of years.
But I start thinking about there's there's a position for
the Texans that historically has not been fantastic. It's been
okay at times.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
M hm.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
This guy when you think about man, ultimately he might
be one of the three best at this particular position,
and I kind of in my head started doing a
math that I'm like, well, I think I know one
that I would put in there. I might put a
second one, but I didn't get a chance really to
see him. And he's got to be a good buddy
of mind, but I didn't really get a chance to
see him play. So I went with Quintin Demps at safety.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Good one.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Now if people are like, oh, well, Quentin like underrated,
yet he was underrated. Nobody's just talked about him. He
was absolutely fantastic when he came back in twenty fifteen
after being here for a few years left, came back
in fifteen, he walks into third week of camp, and
by the end of that season he was starting at
safety and playing very, very well. In his twenty sixteen
(10:38):
year at safety is one of the best safety seasons
in the history of the Texans. In that twenty sixteen season,
in thirteen games started, he had six picks, he had
two fumble recoveries, he had one that went for a touchdown.
He had nine passes defense in that particular year. I'm
(10:58):
sorry the pune recovers of the year before that was
in twenty fifteen my bad, you know, with fifty five
tackles TfL quarterback hit. But it was those six picks
that he had with nine passes defense, which is just
I mean, that was I mean, you threw the ball
in his area. Now, he had a great pass rush
with and Clowney were incredible, But when it came to safeties,
(11:20):
he just really didn't get his due. I thought, And
when I talk about the top safeties in this organization's history,
obviously d man comes to my. Daniel Manning and Marcus
Colemick comes to mind. And I got a chance to
see Daniel Manning play. I mean I knew of Marcus
and i'd watch him a little bit with the Jets.
I really didn't get a chance to see Marcus play
(11:40):
with the Texans. Now he played some at corner and
some at safety. That's the other part. But Quinin Demps
was instrumental in that the twenty sixteen defense was number
one in the NFL. QD was absolutely fantastic, and so
I kind of wanted to go off the beaten path
a little bit with mine because I kind of figured
that's what people expected, you know, so I did so
I went with Quentin Demps plus I fighted safety. It's
(12:01):
my favorite position, so I always want to see the
safeties do well. And I always love QD. I just
felt like he he was feisty in all the right ways,
but he was competitive and he was a really good
leader for this team. And like I said, I don't
know how many more safeties you can put above him
as greatest in Texas history.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, maybe Glover. Quinn Glover, I mean, yeah, started somebody
that I would put on this I would put on
this underrated list because look what absolutely look what he
did while he was here. Started as corner for the
first two years. He started out as a corner and
started in twenty ten at corner opposite Kareem Jackson, and
(12:40):
things did not go well there. But then Wade Phillips
and Company had the bright idea to move Glover to
safety and he, I mean, he flourished there in eleven
and in twelve, and the Texans kind of it's a
mistake in franchise history letting him walk and go to
Detroit and he brought in Ed Reid instead. You know,
Glover went on to goodness. You know, he's got more
(13:03):
career interceptions. I think he's got high twenties, which I think.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He had nineteen in Detroit, he had five in Houston.
He got three of those his second year when he started,
and that got awful twenty ten defense, which was bad,
and then Wade comes in and it was just like
everything got turned. It's like one of those kind of
you know, those medicine bottles where you got to push
down and turn Yep, Well that's what happened. Wade came
in and pushed down and by pushing down, he pushed
(13:31):
guys into different positions, drafted JJ Watt, and by pushing
down and then turning it made it that much easier,
and that defense became one of the best in the league,
if not the best in the league. So yeah, GQ
was a big part of that.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It really was like you can't say, oh, this changed it.
In particular, it was a combination of Wade Phillips masterminding
a lot of things, Glover Quinn switching positions, JJ Watt
coming in and doing some nice things as a rookie,
but it was just JJ. I mean, he wasn't JJ Watt,
you know, as a rookie. Connor Barrowin got healthy because
the year before, basically first quarter of the first game
(14:06):
his lower leg exploded. You know. So he was back
and he was healthy and he was very productive that year. Yeah,
just a lot. Brian Cushing had a fully healthy year.
People forget he was the team MVP. The team MVP
in twenty eleven. He was excellent that year. Jonathan Joseph
comes in, Daniel Manning stabilizes things at the back. It
(14:28):
a lot went into that as far as that team
getting better. Okay, I want to peel off a few
names that have come up on the tweet and then
I'll get to mine at the very end. But there's
some obscure stuff. There's some pretty obvious ones. But here's
a good one from our guy. Let's see VT. So
(14:51):
it's brown Chubby Barry. He said this might be random,
but I never understood why they got rid of Chad Hanson.
Chad Hansen had one hundred yard game and did some
nice things the COVID years. That's a pretty good choice
because COVID year, not many people were paying attention to
the Texans after about middle of October. It was a
tough Texans team, didn't do well. Fuller Will Fuller went
(15:13):
healthy with Watson, our buddy Landry Locker put that one up.
That's a good one. That's a really good one. Big
Ron two eight one. Here's a solid Chris Myers and
Wade Smith do the most consistently solid text. That's an
excellent one. I throw in Mike Brizel. That's another good
one there, Yep, biscuit.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, for sure. Those linemen probably, I think because it
was such a good group collectively, Drew, maybe we didn't
appreciate them individually. If that makes.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Totally, totally, totally makes sense. Female real deal. I like
this one a lot. Tyler Milner Owen Daniels. Owen Daniels
is absolutely underrated pro bowler and the greatest tight end
in franchise history. He was an excellent Texan man. That's
a great choice. I like od That's a good one.
But you know the one I'm gonna go with john
(16:02):
It's pretty obvious to me that he was a Pro
Football Hall of Famer. I know it was obvious to
you that he was a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
But if it took him three years to get into
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think Andre Johnson
was underrated. He did it in anonymity a lot of
his career. Think about it, three, four, five, six, he
(16:25):
was doing it with David Carr throwing in the ball
and he's pumping out great numbers. Shob Rosenfels, they you know,
they take turns and seven and eight. Things get better.
He starts to take off, or things start to take off.
In nine ten with Shab he has the hamstring. Year
and eleven he has a monster twenty twelve, Monster twenty twelve,
(16:51):
good in thirteen, good in fourteen. Yeah, so I'm gonna
go with Andre Johnson just because if it took him
that long to if you watch this guy play, there
was no doubt he was a Hall of Famer. But
he didn't sail on in in his first year of eligibility.
By a definition to me, that's you're underrated. You know,
people don't realize that you're rating you should he should
have gotten in sooner, any think I know there, Yes,
(17:11):
there was a lot of other worthy players. I'm not
saying that the guys that got in ahead of him
are undeserving of the profoble Hall of Fame, not saying
that at all. They are profoball Hall of Famers, deservedly so.
But that guy Andre, in my mind, he should have
been in first ballot, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I'm going to give you one that he's still playing
in the league now and not playing with the Texans,
So I wasn't totally sure I wanted to do it,
but I remember the day that he was drafted, and
I even remember more being at the Senior Bowl because
that was my second I think it was my second
(17:48):
season at the Senior Bowl. I think I think it
was right, Uh, yes, second or third, second or third,
either way, I'm over at fair Hope High School and
I'm watching and basically what they did is they lined
up line against d line and it was just I
used to call it's funny. When I was going to
high school. He us to call it a street fight. It
actually would go on the on the practice schedule street fight,
(18:09):
and it was essentially just one on one of its
lineman drive defensive line just trying to defeed it. There
was a defensive lineman and either his agent or his
publicist or somebody was standing behind me, and every time
he would go, this guy would just start screaming out
like right behind me and telling everybody how great he was.
(18:30):
And I just remember him dominating the entire Senior Bowl,
and I remember thinking, Man, why at Clemson did this
this not happen as much as I thought it was.
I went back and watched a couple of Clemson game.
It was good, but it was not like the Senior Bowl.
And then I started reading the story of DJ Reader
great days, and you know, his dad had passed away
(18:51):
and he was dealing with that. And when we got
to know Dj, it all made sense. All of it
made sense. But I just kind of fell in love
with the story of fell with the guy he came here.
And I'm telling you right now, when DJ Reader would
go against Quentin Nelson, it was worth the price of admission.
I would watch those two live. I would then go
(19:14):
back and watch him on film, and it was ali frasier.
It was two heavyweights landing blows on one another, just
one after the other. And Nelson at that point that
was his superpower years. I mean, he was dominating. I
mean he's still dominating, but he was dominating early in
his career, and DJ was the one guy that seemingly
(19:35):
held up to him because of his strength. Is leveraged
all of that. I'd love DJ Reader. It killed me
when he left his team. I was destroyed. I loved
that guy. I did not want to see him go.
And I remember being told some nonsense about, oh, you know,
he he was, you know, subject to injury in the
(19:56):
future years and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, he
got hurt the very next year, but in twenty twenty
one he was a huge piece of taking the Bengals
a Super Bowl. Now he got to face him again
with the Lions. And here's the one last thing about DJ.
He never forgot he was warming up or they were.
They were in a warm up line, stretching lines last
year and I was kind of hanging around and he
(20:16):
happened to see me, and he put his helmet down
and he came over and just gave me a big
old bear hug, and I was like, I did catch
my breath because he was kind of amped up for
that game. But I just feel like our run defense
has never been the same he left, Yeah, ever been
the same. And when he was in there his rookie
year with Will Fork, you couldn't sneeze three inches against
(20:38):
those guys. Those guys ate everything up. So I'm gonna
go underrated because I don't think DJ has made a
Pro Bowl. And I think that is an absolute crime.
And now he's with the Lions, so see him at
Energy Stadium. I think it's the first time back at
Energy Stadium for him as a player. He's never made
a Pro Bowl because you know, he's never really had
the numbers. You know, sacks won two, two and a half,
all that kind of stuff, TFLs. He's got a few
(21:00):
here and there, but he did all the dirty work
and he always did it with a smiless face, and
he was just one of the most stand up individuals
you'd ever want to mean, I love that dude, man.
I wish him the best in the Detroit except for
one week this year, and I'll root for Detroit solely
because of him. So I'm going underrated DJ Reader.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I like that. I'm glad you got to hug him
at the game because I was.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Also, you don't always get that chance, you know, because
you become friends with players right that wind up leaving.
And I got it. I was going. I was sort
of in the same situation. I was down at the
end of the field watching them as they're stretched and
he was sort of on the corner and I'm in
the like as close as you can get but I
was like, well, he's not gonna he's not gonna be
(21:39):
able to come over. He's too busy. And then and
then Brad Wilson are paramedic, longtime paramedic. You see him
on the Astros bench, you see him on the Texans sideline.
Great at what he does. He's you know, he's close
to the field, he's on the field. He just like
walks right over about two yards from him, like waves
and hej gets up and gives him a hug. And
(21:59):
as he's doing so, I'm in I'm in DJ sideline
and I just kind of said what's up and he
came over and gave me the bro hug too. But
it was good. We had a lot of fun doing
radio shows with him at fund Rockers over the years
and doing fun interviews with him, and yeah, he's he's
underrated man, totally underrated in the capital. You all right, man,
well it's you're underrated, dude. You're come So we'll put
(22:25):
that out there. But we we had fun doing this one.
We back at it again in a week. Like I said, Man,
the guy that I chose is underrated. Andre Johnson. We
got something cooking with him, trust me. You're gonna like
what you'll see. You in particular, I believe you will
like it. John, have a good one, bro, Yeah, we
have
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello, friends in the Lab. Time need Drew Doherty, John
Harris and you. Not y'all but you. It's the three
of us. We're enjoying this and we appreciate you watching,
appreciate you listening. But John, first things first, it's good
to be with you. How are you, my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
What's new doing? Okay? Getting? Man, I'll tell you this.
It's so funny because in the last probably two three days,
I've had Hey, can I get a lunch with you? I?
Can I get Can I get a meeting with you?
Before you know camp starts? I'm like, man, this Hall
of Fame game has just put a crypt in my
style for meetings, which is good and bad. I mean,
(00:54):
I can't, I can't get anything done. I'm like, well, okay,
you want to do it. After the fourth I go
to Big twelve Media Days for three four days. Then
the next week I go to SEC Media Days for
a couple of days, and then we have camp starting
on that Thursday. So I'll let you figure it out.
So it's been tough trying to get anything done, which
(01:14):
is kind of good. So it's kind of a calm
before the storm. So I'm good with that.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How are you doing, I'm good. You just brought up
Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Hall of Fame game,
and I'm I'm gonna be a jerk. I'm gonna be
I'm gonna tease something I can't I can't live to
the public. But Andre Johnson, obviously he's going to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame, gets inducted third. We got
(01:38):
something cooking with him, and we got something fun that
I think a lot of people are gonna like. So
I'm just gonna leave it at that, just like, yeah,
there's a little something extra you're gonna see this fall
with Andre Johnson. But john on social media, that's right
on social media. On Twitter recently the Houston Texans team
(02:00):
account and what I thought was a really good tweet.
It just was underrated in quotes, which former Texans player
comes to mind? And I had an I had one
name that came to mind immediately, and I was curious,
who did other people think Mark put up put A
(02:21):
response was a good one, and it's funny seeing some
of the stuff that's popping up, like how many people
remember the Ninja Assassin. That's a good one, Antonio Smith.
Until Jonathan Joseph came along. That's the greatest free agent
signing in team history. Antonio Smith and.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I reacted to that because Ninja will join our buddy
Indy Kalou on Texas All Access on Friday. That is
the plan. Those two set down for a long form interview,
and so Ninja will be on Texas All Access on
Friday with India. It's gonna be awesome, an hour and
a half interview.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Was he in studio or was he on Zoom?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
No, he was on zoom. He was on zoom. But yeah,
we got a couple of In fact, I don't know
when you're listening to this, but Tuesday night we will
have or we did have, depending on when you heard this.
Y I'm on Green. I'm on Green, came in studio
to chop it up with ND So we'll have that
for you on Tuesday. So Ninja Antonio Smith on Friday,
I'm on Green on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
That's awesome. You know, I want to stick with Antonio Smith.
There for a sec because he was I mean, he
was really good for these Texans.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
He was.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
He came in two thousand and nine, coming off a
Super Bowl run with the Cardinals the year before, and
we got to do a radio show with him for
a season in twenty thirteen, and he was just so
much fun. But he was a Pro Bowler in twenty eleven.
People forget that he made the Pro Bowl. There were
three pole Pro bowlers on that first Houston Texans playoff team.
(03:46):
It was him, It was Jonathan Joseph. Yeah, and now
I'm forgetting I can't remember who the third was, Chris Myers. Yeah,
Chris Myers the center. So those three were your Pro
Bowlers from a team that had Andre Johnson and Arian Foster.
But those guys were kind of tagged teaming in and
out all season long with hamstring injuries and stuff like that.
(04:08):
But those were your three. And Antonio Smith was a big,
big reason for a lot of the successes, you know,
kind of turning the corner, you know, first year he
gets there, Texans are a winning team for the first time.
That went nine and seven, and then he was here
through the thirteen season, came back for a stint a
couple of years later, and it was fun seeing that
and hearing that and seeing the reaction from some of
(04:28):
the younger guys and all that. And then it was
really cool about a month or two ago at the
JJ Watt Charity Softball Classic, you know, that game, he
was out there. It was good seeing him in the
dugout and good tako with Antonio. He is a fun person.
He was a fun player to watch, fiery, very good,
(04:50):
you know, and definitely I think that's a great call.
He is underrated. He was underrated as a player here
for the Texans.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yeah, you know. The hard part to me is like,
how do you how do you assess the word underrated?
You know somebody? Yeah, exactly, because everybody's got their their
version of underrated. So like for you and me, you know,
we've seen all these guys up close, you know, for
you since two thousand and nine, for me twenty fourteen,
(05:18):
but even before that, we were covering the team, So
we saw these guys and we know these guys intimately.
So some guys we feel like, oh they might this
guy maybe didn't get enough credit. I don't know. We're
gonna look at it a little bit differently, maybe than
some fans will. Because the fans are like, well, national
media didn't talk about this guy, and so Arian Foster
should be underrated. It's like, I don't know if that fits,
(05:41):
but look, it's everybody's personal definition. I think Ninja falls
into that category for a number of reasons. I think
maybe the first one is the fact that he lived
up to a large free agent contract. And I know
that sounds bizarre in some respects, but that was not
something First of all, it's not something that's done a
lot in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Secondly, it's not.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Historically or currently historically or correct and b or two
it hadn't been done here in Houston.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And for Ninja, I go back. I go back two
thousand and nine, very first practice and pads and so
it's one on ones, it's D line, O line, one
on ones. And this was before the collective baring agreement,
so you could bang first day and they're banging. But
Mario Williams, Antonio Smith and I'm trying to remember who
else was part of that part of that mix. In
(06:29):
two thousand and nine, they're all jumping off side. I mean,
how not when they're jumping off side D line coach
at that time was Bill Colar, and you know Bill
was feisty. So after about the third time or fourth
time of those guys collectively jumping off side, you know,
(06:49):
Colar could be heard everywhere, but I could hear Colar
say something. I couldn't make out what he said, but
he said it a little bit more reserved because there
were like ten rows of fans and I'm sitting there
nexttar By Lance aer Line and we're just kind of
kind of sitting there, kind of arms crossed, you know,
this front row watching this, and Coolard says something as
Ninja jumps off side, and all of a sudden, Antonio
(07:13):
goes to an anger level I've never seen. You want
me to bring the dogs the and he's just going
off and like they're having to hold him back, like
he's losing it, and I just remember it just goes
oh no, because that was our thought, like, oh my gosh,
(07:35):
you paid all this money for this guy and now
he's blowing up on the first day. And the thing
was is he was worth every flipping penny. Yeah, he
was worth every penny on and off the field. He
was so valuable for this team. I think Ninja goes
in there. I'll give you mine real.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Fa old No, no, let me let me add a
corollary to that. That's a great story. I love hearing
that story. And you talked about Bill Kohlar. Bill Kolar
was a really good player in his own right, excellent
assistant coach for a long long time. And you mentioned
him and Antonio Smith being an odds that day that
all got mended up. Those guys I think are friends now.
I know Colar and a lot of former Texans defensive linemen.
(08:13):
They still get together on a I got about a
yearly basis and get together with I will always remember,
I can never be able. I'll never be able to
forget the stay up Bill Cohlar always yelling stay up,
don't fall down on the field, because bats runs in
practice when you're on the ground, if you're a football players,
and then that's the idea him yelling, that's the idea
(08:35):
when you get something right. But you can hear him
above above everything else at practice fields over at the
Houston Methodist Training Center. Good call. I like that.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I like that as it pertains to that if we're
talking about underrated, maybe Bill Colar doesn't get his due
as a defensive line coach and how good he actually
was sure the guys that he got a chance to coach,
So maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
He can think about think about that he survived and
was here for three different coordinators. He was a Frank
Bush defensive line coach, Wade Phillips kept him on, and
then Gary Kubiak the transition to Bill O'Brien, and then
Romeo crenelbi in the defensive coordinator and a Bill O'Brien
Kolar was here for a year with crenell. So and
(09:18):
that's that's a four to three to two different type
of three fours. Yes, Wade and Romeo ran three fours,
but they're different. So it's pretty I think it's a
measure of who how great he is as and was
as a coach that he stuck through those That was
pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, Okay, so mine that I had tweeted or boasted
this guy that wasn't here for a number of years.
But I start thinking about there's there's a position for
the Texans that historically has not been fantastic. It's been
okay at times.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
M hm.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
This guy when you think about man, ultimately he might
be one of the three best at this particular position,
and I kind of in my head started doing a
math that I'm like, well, I think I know one
that I would put in there. I might put a
second one, but I didn't get a chance really to
see him. And he's got to be a good buddy
of mind, but I didn't really get a chance to
see him play. So I went with Quintin Demps at safety.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Good one.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Now if people are like, oh, well, Quentin like underrated,
yet he was underrated. Nobody's just talked about him. He
was absolutely fantastic when he came back in twenty fifteen
after being here for a few years left, came back
in fifteen, he walks into third week of camp, and
by the end of that season he was starting at
safety and playing very, very well. In his twenty sixteen
(10:38):
year at safety is one of the best safety seasons
in the history of the Texans. In that twenty sixteen season,
in thirteen games started, he had six picks, he had
two fumble recoveries, he had one that went for a touchdown.
He had nine passes defense in that particular year. I'm
(10:58):
sorry the pune recovers of the year before that was
in twenty fifteen my bad, you know, with fifty five
tackles TfL quarterback hit. But it was those six picks
that he had with nine passes defense, which is just
I mean, that was I mean, you threw the ball
in his area. Now, he had a great pass rush
with and Clowney were incredible, But when it came to safeties,
(11:20):
he just really didn't get his due. I thought, And
when I talk about the top safeties in this organization's history,
obviously d man comes to my. Daniel Manning and Marcus
Colemick comes to mind. And I got a chance to
see Daniel Manning play. I mean I knew of Marcus
and i'd watch him a little bit with the Jets.
I really didn't get a chance to see Marcus play
(11:40):
with the Texans. Now he played some at corner and
some at safety. That's the other part. But Quinin Demps
was instrumental in that the twenty sixteen defense was number
one in the NFL. QD was absolutely fantastic, and so
I kind of wanted to go off the beaten path
a little bit with mine because I kind of figured
that's what people expected, you know, so I did so
I went with Quentin Demps plus I fighted safety. It's
(12:01):
my favorite position, so I always want to see the
safeties do well. And I always love QD. I just
felt like he he was feisty in all the right ways,
but he was competitive and he was a really good
leader for this team. And like I said, I don't
know how many more safeties you can put above him
as greatest in Texas history.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, maybe Glover. Quinn Glover, I mean, yeah, started somebody
that I would put on this I would put on
this underrated list because look what absolutely look what he
did while he was here. Started as corner for the
first two years. He started out as a corner and
started in twenty ten at corner opposite Kareem Jackson, and
(12:40):
things did not go well there. But then Wade Phillips
and Company had the bright idea to move Glover to
safety and he, I mean, he flourished there in eleven
and in twelve, and the Texans kind of it's a
mistake in franchise history letting him walk and go to
Detroit and he brought in Ed Reid instead. You know,
Glover went on to goodness. You know, he's got more
(13:03):
career interceptions. I think he's got high twenties, which I think.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He had nineteen in Detroit, he had five in Houston.
He got three of those his second year when he started,
and that got awful twenty ten defense, which was bad,
and then Wade comes in and it was just like
everything got turned. It's like one of those kind of
you know, those medicine bottles where you got to push
down and turn Yep, Well that's what happened. Wade came
in and pushed down and by pushing down, he pushed
(13:31):
guys into different positions, drafted JJ Watt, and by pushing
down and then turning it made it that much easier,
and that defense became one of the best in the league,
if not the best in the league. So yeah, GQ
was a big part of that.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It really was like you can't say, oh, this changed it.
In particular, it was a combination of Wade Phillips masterminding
a lot of things, Glover Quinn switching positions, JJ Watt
coming in and doing some nice things as a rookie,
but it was just JJ. I mean, he wasn't JJ Watt,
you know, as a rookie. Connor Barrowin got healthy because
the year before, basically first quarter of the first game
(14:06):
his lower leg exploded. You know. So he was back
and he was healthy and he was very productive that year. Yeah,
just a lot. Brian Cushing had a fully healthy year.
People forget he was the team MVP. The team MVP
in twenty eleven. He was excellent that year. Jonathan Joseph
comes in, Daniel Manning stabilizes things at the back. It
(14:28):
a lot went into that as far as that team
getting better. Okay, I want to peel off a few
names that have come up on the tweet and then
I'll get to mine at the very end. But there's
some obscure stuff. There's some pretty obvious ones. But here's
a good one from our guy. Let's see VT. So
(14:51):
it's brown Chubby Barry. He said this might be random,
but I never understood why they got rid of Chad Hanson.
Chad Hansen had one hundred yard game and did some
nice things the COVID years. That's a pretty good choice
because COVID year, not many people were paying attention to
the Texans after about middle of October. It was a
tough Texans team, didn't do well. Fuller Will Fuller went
(15:13):
healthy with Watson, our buddy Landry Locker put that one up.
That's a good one. That's a really good one. Big
Ron two eight one. Here's a solid Chris Myers and
Wade Smith do the most consistently solid text. That's an
excellent one. I throw in Mike Brizel. That's another good
one there, Yep, biscuit.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, for sure. Those linemen probably, I think because it
was such a good group collectively, Drew, maybe we didn't
appreciate them individually. If that makes.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Totally, totally, totally makes sense. Female real deal. I like
this one a lot. Tyler Milner Owen Daniels. Owen Daniels
is absolutely underrated pro bowler and the greatest tight end
in franchise history. He was an excellent Texan man. That's
a great choice. I like od That's a good one.
But you know the one I'm gonna go with john
(16:02):
It's pretty obvious to me that he was a Pro
Football Hall of Famer. I know it was obvious to
you that he was a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
But if it took him three years to get into
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think Andre Johnson
was underrated. He did it in anonymity a lot of
his career. Think about it, three, four, five, six, he
(16:25):
was doing it with David Carr throwing in the ball
and he's pumping out great numbers. Shob Rosenfels, they you know,
they take turns and seven and eight. Things get better.
He starts to take off, or things start to take off.
In nine ten with Shab he has the hamstring. Year
and eleven he has a monster twenty twelve, Monster twenty twelve,
(16:51):
good in thirteen, good in fourteen. Yeah, so I'm gonna
go with Andre Johnson just because if it took him
that long to if you watch this guy play, there
was no doubt he was a Hall of Famer. But
he didn't sail on in in his first year of eligibility.
By a definition to me, that's you're underrated. You know,
people don't realize that you're rating you should he should
have gotten in sooner, any think I know there, Yes,
(17:11):
there was a lot of other worthy players. I'm not
saying that the guys that got in ahead of him
are undeserving of the profoble Hall of Fame, not saying
that at all. They are profoball Hall of Famers, deservedly so.
But that guy Andre, in my mind, he should have
been in first ballot, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I'm going to give you one that he's still playing
in the league now and not playing with the Texans,
So I wasn't totally sure I wanted to do it,
but I remember the day that he was drafted, and
I even remember more being at the Senior Bowl because
that was my second I think it was my second
(17:48):
season at the Senior Bowl. I think I think it
was right, Uh, yes, second or third, second or third,
either way, I'm over at fair Hope High School and
I'm watching and basically what they did is they lined
up line against d line and it was just I
used to call it's funny. When I was going to
high school. He us to call it a street fight. It
actually would go on the on the practice schedule street fight,
(18:09):
and it was essentially just one on one of its
lineman drive defensive line just trying to defeed it. There
was a defensive lineman and either his agent or his
publicist or somebody was standing behind me, and every time
he would go, this guy would just start screaming out
like right behind me and telling everybody how great he was.
(18:30):
And I just remember him dominating the entire Senior Bowl,
and I remember thinking, Man, why at Clemson did this
this not happen as much as I thought it was.
I went back and watched a couple of Clemson game.
It was good, but it was not like the Senior Bowl.
And then I started reading the story of DJ Reader
great days, and you know, his dad had passed away
(18:51):
and he was dealing with that. And when we got
to know Dj, it all made sense. All of it
made sense. But I just kind of fell in love
with the story of fell with the guy he came here.
And I'm telling you right now, when DJ Reader would
go against Quentin Nelson, it was worth the price of admission.
I would watch those two live. I would then go
(19:14):
back and watch him on film, and it was ali frasier.
It was two heavyweights landing blows on one another, just
one after the other. And Nelson at that point that
was his superpower years. I mean, he was dominating. I
mean he's still dominating, but he was dominating early in
his career, and DJ was the one guy that seemingly
(19:35):
held up to him because of his strength. Is leveraged
all of that. I'd love DJ Reader. It killed me
when he left his team. I was destroyed. I loved
that guy. I did not want to see him go.
And I remember being told some nonsense about, oh, you know,
he he was, you know, subject to injury in the
(19:56):
future years and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, he
got hurt the very next year, but in twenty twenty
one he was a huge piece of taking the Bengals
a Super Bowl. Now he got to face him again
with the Lions. And here's the one last thing about DJ.
He never forgot he was warming up or they were.
They were in a warm up line, stretching lines last
year and I was kind of hanging around and he
(20:16):
happened to see me, and he put his helmet down
and he came over and just gave me a big
old bear hug, and I was like, I did catch
my breath because he was kind of amped up for
that game. But I just feel like our run defense
has never been the same he left, Yeah, ever been
the same. And when he was in there his rookie
year with Will Fork, you couldn't sneeze three inches against
(20:38):
those guys. Those guys ate everything up. So I'm gonna
go underrated because I don't think DJ has made a
Pro Bowl. And I think that is an absolute crime.
And now he's with the Lions, so see him at
Energy Stadium. I think it's the first time back at
Energy Stadium for him as a player. He's never made
a Pro Bowl because you know, he's never really had
the numbers. You know, sacks won two, two and a half,
all that kind of stuff, TFLs. He's got a few
(21:00):
here and there, but he did all the dirty work
and he always did it with a smiless face, and
he was just one of the most stand up individuals
you'd ever want to mean, I love that dude, man.
I wish him the best in the Detroit except for
one week this year, and I'll root for Detroit solely
because of him. So I'm going underrated DJ Reader.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I like that. I'm glad you got to hug him
at the game because I was.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Also, you don't always get that chance, you know, because
you become friends with players right that wind up leaving.
And I got it. I was going. I was sort
of in the same situation. I was down at the
end of the field watching them as they're stretched and
he was sort of on the corner and I'm in
the like as close as you can get but I
was like, well, he's not gonna he's not gonna be
(21:39):
able to come over. He's too busy. And then and
then Brad Wilson are paramedic, longtime paramedic. You see him
on the Astros bench, you see him on the Texans sideline.
Great at what he does. He's you know, he's close
to the field, he's on the field. He just like
walks right over about two yards from him, like waves
and hej gets up and gives him a hug. And
(21:59):
as he's doing so, I'm in I'm in DJ sideline
and I just kind of said what's up and he
came over and gave me the bro hug too. But
it was good. We had a lot of fun doing
radio shows with him at fund Rockers over the years
and doing fun interviews with him, and yeah, he's he's
underrated man, totally underrated in the capital. You all right, man,
well it's you're underrated, dude. You're come So we'll put
(22:25):
that out there. But we we had fun doing this one.
We back at it again in a week. Like I said, Man,
the guy that I chose is underrated. Andre Johnson. We
got something cooking with him, trust me. You're gonna like
what you'll see. You in particular, I believe you will
like it. John, have a good one, bro, Yeah, we
have
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