Catching up with HC DeMeco Ryans, Jerrod Johnson, and Jonathan Alexander | Feel Good Friday

Ease into the weekend with our interviews with Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans, QB Coach Jerrod Johnson, and Jonathan Alexander from the Houston Chronicle

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Friday, everybody. We are about forty eight hours away
from Chiefs v. Texans for the eleventh time since twenty fifteen.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome into Texans.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
All Access John Harris alongside the voice of the Texans,
Mark vandermir Yeah. How's that sound. I got on the
sidelines in twenty fourteen, which you know because you hired me.
Twenty fifteen, we faced the Chiefs in the opener and
the closure. Then we faced them in sixteen seventeen, twice
in nineteen started the season the COVID year, played them

(00:36):
here in twenty twenty two, twice in twenty twenty four,
and we are back at Arrowhead in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
The Texans PR staff does not list the results of
the entire series.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Now.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
They list the record Chiefs lead the all time series
regular season eight to five.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
They list regular seasons regular season.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
They list all the games from twenty sixteen on when
the Texans won nineteen to twelve. That was the Week
two game, as Waller, that was a hell of a game.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
That was he the twelve physical game. I remember that
we got beat up in that game.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
This could be like nineteen to twelve on Sunday night.
This could be one of the Coast games. It could
also be in the twenties somewhere, because who knows. We'll
find out together on Sunday night. But it's interesting how
they do that. They don't want to list the entire series. Now,
before that, you had a nice victory in two thousand
and four. Yep, that was the Coast to Coast Marcus

(01:30):
Arrowhead at Arrowhead.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Right, you had the two thousand and seven Week one
that was job debut.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
You want to know a little house debut. Yeah, my debut.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
That's my very first game, my very first Texans game
I ever saw. We had actually driven from Baton Rouge.
We saw Saturday night in Death Valley, we saw LSU
Virginia Tech.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
And it is a funny story.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Can I guess the size of John Bernado's hangover during
the game? Wait a minute, did he work it? No,
he was done by then on the sideline because he
was with the station.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Well so Saturday night, the game's seven o'clock.
We had done our show Friday in a driving thunderstore.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well that's when you're in the trailer or something.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
We were just outside this RV and it is lightning
popping everywhere. Mark, we stayed on in a miracle of
all miracles, at fifteen sixty we somehow stayed on until
I stepped on like the last thirty seconds of the show.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
I stepped on the power strip and cut it off.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Oh no, So we go to the game, and then
of course you can't move in Baton Rouge after the game.
So it isn't until we get back to where we
were staying till like two in the morning, and all
of a sudden, we get this call at like seven
thirty in the morning from the aforementioned John Granado, Hey,
you to need to be a Texans game.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
We're like, dude, we're in Baton Rouge.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, he had already taken off from Baton Rouge to
go to the game.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
So we're like, all right, I guess we're the Chiefs game.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
My wife is ready to kill me at that point
because I've been that weekend in Matton Ruge and how
I gotta go to Texas game. And we got there,
I think just about the time when Andre caught a
deep ball yep, the lock caught a deep perception in
his career in the first half of that game, and
that's about when we got there, and then we watched
the Texans win. I think it was like twenty to three.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
I mean that's pretty.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Chiefs were enjoyable. They were enjoyable because we beat them
a lot. Twenty ten Week six beat them on to
come from behind her shot, finding Andre Johnson and then
stopping Trent Green. And well, Travis Johnson Trent Green game
was earlier than that. That might have been the two
thousand and seven game.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, Trent Green. The Trent Green Travis Johnson game was
a Dolphins game.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
I thought, oh, you're right, I'm thinking Trent Green as
a Chief You're right he was with Miami.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, what am I saying?

Speaker 4 (03:51):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
That was two thousand and six, then Kubiak's first win.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
I would think no one trapped the way that.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
We also played them in seven though, and in eight
three years in a row. Did we please an Archie state.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
We've had periods of, yeah, of playing the Chiefs, like
my first time he gets the Chiefs is you open?

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Fifteen?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Then we played in the playoff game here, Then sixteen
we played them here too. Then seventeen we played them
here Sunday night football, and then eighteen we didn't play
them and then nineteen played them in nineteen that's when
we started going there. So it's twice nineteen there, twenty there,
twenty two was here, but then twenty four twice there.
So we've gone to Arrowhead a few different times.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Now.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
I know people like, well, why every three years we
alternate back and forth with divisions in the AFC. But
if you match up with them at the top ear division, right,
then you have to play them. And the way it
works is you played like Buffalo. That's why Buffalo has
come here twice, right, Because now I think the twenty
twenty four game were we playing the AFC?

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yes, we Welayland up there, ye Dolphins, So that was
a scheduled Bill's trip. I explained this to somebody this week,
and I said, just think of it like this. Why
did Brady and Manning play each other every year? They
were finishing first every year?

Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Why do Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes have
a round robin every year? Because they always win the
division at least lately. So there it is, so Arrowhead
it is again, yeap, and this time it's December. Oh
wait a minute, last time it was December and January.
So I like that, Johnny. I like that they're used
to the cold. I like that they're used to the fans.

(05:25):
They're used to it. I feel like it was just
a few months ago, because it basically was, you know,
in our lifespan, it's a shorter percentage, right, they're younger,
but still I remember being on the field prior to
the playoff game in January like it was yesterday. It's
just so fresh in my mind. It was freezing cold
and getting ready for a big one. Anybody who played
in that game, those games last year, they will not

(05:48):
be swayed by the environment. They're fully prepared for that.
So in that way, it's almost like you're in the division.
What do we always talk about when you're in somebody's division.
You're not scared of going to their place. Now, they
might beat you, they might be better than you, but you're
not intimidated by the environment like you would be.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Oh, we never go to Seattle.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
We never go to New England when they had Brady,
and maybe may will turn it into that as well.
Kansas City if you don't go there much, My gosh,
Arrowhead is so intimidating. But our guys are gonna be
ready for that part of it? Will they be ready
for the game part of it? The x's and the
o's and the Jimmy and Joe's that the Chiefs are
going to present on Sunday night.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
As long as they don't turn it over, that thing's
going to be a sixty minute ballgame.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
At worst.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's gonna be a sixty minute ball game. Now, if
they turn it over a couple times to us, we
have a good shot, I think of beating them by
fourteen to seventeen if they turn it over to us.
If we turn over to them, this thing is going
to be a nail bier all the way through. Oh gosh,
all the way through. Yeah, you'd be hard pressed to
stay in it. You cannot give them short field. You
did that last week against the Colts. Think about this
winning streak. You gave the Colts a short field, they

(06:51):
scored a touchdown. Right now, you responded right away, that correct,
But think about the other games. Two of the other
three you gave up return for scores and you fumble
a kickoff return in the Jags game. You made some
mistakes in this four game winning streak, and they're all
close wins, and they could have been a lot more

(07:13):
lopsided in your favors had you not made those errors.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
So don't make those errors.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Now. It's easier said than done. They're a really good
team phases, they're going to be all over it. I mean,
this is their circle the Wagons, last house on the
left game. They've got to get it done. And for
the Houston Texans, it's a chance to make a statement.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Okay, So how about this little nugget? You ready for this? Ready?

Speaker 1 (07:34):
On Sunday, the Broncos go to Las Vegas take on
the Raiders. You'll see why this is important a second. Okay,
that would seem like a win for the Broncos because
the Raiders like it. Hot Raiders a win. But going so,
if we beat the Chiefs, Yeah, and the Broncos beat
the Raiders, it's not a guarantee it the Broncos win

(07:55):
the division, but it is a guarantee that the Chiefs
will not, so.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
They're eliminated from the division title.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
They are eliminated from the division title if we beat
them and the Broncos win, because the Broncos at that
point would be eleven and two, that would move the
chief to six and seven.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's five games are only four left. Now.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
It doesn't mean that the Chargers can't catch the Broncos,
but it would mean that the Chiefs would not be
able to win the division for the first time since.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, twenty fifteen, because they won it
in twenty six sixteen.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
They came here for the playoff game as a wildcard
to fifteen. Then they started winning it with Alex Smith
in twenty sixteen, won it again in seventeen but lost
to the Titans, and then the Mahomes zero took over
in twenty eighteen. They have been to the AFC Championship
Game every single year in the Mahomes eero.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
This is you know, people talk about this as a
pivotal game, playoff wise, of course, of course, narrative wise,
it's so pivotal because if the Chiefs lose this game,
everyone's gonna say it's over.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
It's over for them, and what kind of team are
they really?

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Are they game for making another big run or are
they really on the edge of the cliff and they're
gonna fall off the cliff on Sunday night, And that's
really going to be it. They could still make a
run late, but they'll need a ton of help and
the odds are very much against them.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I expect their best effort, Johnny. They're coming off the
Mini by they will be good to go. Now do
they have playoff fatigue? Super Bowl fatigue? All these extra
games they've played over the years, wear and tear. Does
that affect them? I think it does affect some teams.
I think the Eagles are feeling the heat of that

(09:43):
because they've had these postseason runs, but maybe not to
the degree that the Chiefs might or could. The Chiefs
have responded very well throughout this run. They're the Houston
Astros with this run, right, It's exactly right. I mean
they've won three rings, the Astros won two. But you
get my drift. The Astros were permanent residents in the
ALCS in the league semi finals, as the Chiefs have been.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
So look the least just look at it this way.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
It's interesting you brought that up to two thoughts number
one at the playoff games for twenty eighteen. Now, I
don't want to do it on the air, but it's
close to another whole season. Yeah, another whole season. When
you count all the game when you called it, count
it all up, it might be more than seventeen games.
I'm pretty sure it is, because it's it's eighteen, nineteen,

(10:27):
twenty twenty one, two twenty three, twenty four at seven,
and you probably it was at least two to four
games in every playoff because you got the DFS Championship game.
So they played at least two playoff games. I know
in eighteen it was two, twenty nineteen it was three,
twenty twenty it was three at least, so they've played
at least another full season. And I go back to

(10:50):
one of my I can't believe I'm saying this, but
one of my favorite documentaries from the thirty for thirty
series was about the bad Boy Detroit Pistons. It was
I hated that team. I hate team, but I loved
the storytelling amongst.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
The four teams. I love that story as well.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
And one of the things that got brought up they
asked each of the guys kind of in a you know,
at the end, why did this thing?

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Why did it die? You guys are so good.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
You know you're building to eighty seven, you get to
the Eastern Conference Finals, you lose to Celtics. But then
eighty eight you make it, you win the turn, you
win the whole thing. Eighty I'm sorry. Eighty eight, you
get a step closer. Eighty nine you get there and
you win it. Ninety you get there and you win it.
Ninety one you get all the way to the Eastern

(11:36):
Conference Finals. I remember them all saying the cumanive effect
of all that finally got to us.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
I saw a game with them in ninety two, fall
of ninety two. So the decline is online, and you
can just tell they were an old beat up team.
Mark acguire was still there, Isaiah was still there. They
were an old beat up team. Andy Reid, by the way,
has coached in forty five playoff games in his career.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Forty five forty five. That's nearly three seasons.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Of playoff football. Now, he's incredible. Nineteen in Philly, twenty
six in Kansas City. He's eighteen and eight in the
playoffs with the Chiefs. Eighteen and eight includes that includes
everything from twenty thirteen.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
That includes fifteen, nineteen, twenty four, I missing one. We've
never beaten Andy Reid in the playoffs at that point
of that beating Mahomes, Kelsey or anybody wearing red and
white in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
That stinks. You face them a bunch.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
It just feels so different facing that twenty fifteen Chiefs
team than facing the one facing Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah, going into twenty nineteen game is very confident.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
It was funny you and I were talking about that
kind of during practice because Shawn and Seth were talking
about that game being kind of a seminal turning moment
for both franchises, and Seth was talking about how they'd
done the pregame showed the rustic and then when it
was twenty four to nothing, he decided to drive home,
and he said by the time he got home, he
was twenty eight twenty four and knowing a lot of people,

(13:07):
knowing Bill O'Brien the way that we all did, and
we were doing our halftime interview a little different.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
I would get him coming out of the locker room.
I'll never forget how.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Calm I know what I really how calm and how
upbeat he actually was. He's like, Johnny, we're fine, we're
down four, we got the running game.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
We beat these guys here last time. We'll be okay, boy,
all right.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
He was the only one who felt that way, and
I'm glad I was felt that way. You know, I
didn't know that story, Johnny, because at the half I
felt like, this is an insurmountable four point exactly the
way I felt like four points might as well be
forty at this point, we cannot do anything now. I
was open to the possibility of doing something in the
second half very much.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
It just didn't happen.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, And I thought, well, we have this quarterback, we
got all these assets, we are who we are. We're
in a ten win team right that year. Come on,
we'd beaten them before by possessing the football. Can we
run the ball the second half like he said? But
they just I think having blown the leads psychologically was
too much for them to overcome.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yes, yeah, I agree, and that's why I was so
I was. I was feeling that way. And it's funny
because Sean says talking about this morning and I just was.
I remember walking off the field. I remember one thing
that I don't know how many people know this, and
I don't know. I think years after the fact, I
can say this. I remember after I before I talked
to Bill the the X ray room is right near

(14:30):
the locker rooms, and the locker rooms are kind of
right right.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Across from what I had to squeeze.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
It's really tight. And as we're walking in, I remember thinking, okay,
we're down. Like I like to be positive, but oh god.
I see Hop walking in. He's got his right hand
across his ribcage. Yeah, not good, and like on his
on his side is obleak. And I see him walking
into the X ray room and I'm like, oh no,
because remember the year before twenty eighteen gets he be

(14:56):
He got beat up in that game too, actually had
come out of the game, I think it a second
and half.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
So I'm like, oh gosh.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Then I talked a Bill and I almost almost.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
To a point. He was cheery. He was kind of
you know, hey, Johnny, Yeah we're good.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah twenty twenty four, Like, look, we just get back
on the horse, stop them, get the ball back, we run,
you know, we'll control the clock.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
We'll be okay. Huh.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
So I remember that that little story. It was just
kind of it was kind of odd. Now the man
I will speak with at halftime this time is Dmiko Ryans.
He's got his thoughts in the game. He sat with
Mark to give those thoughts.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
All Right, coach a game of this magnitude, how important
is it to keep the main thing the main thing?

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Stay focused?

Speaker 5 (15:37):
Yeah, we have to remain focus. That's the key. We
have to be dialed into our preparation. Doesn't matter about
the atmosphere, the weather, like, we just have to go
out and execute football as best as we can possibly
do versus a really good team.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
How much does it help that you were there just
last year a couple of times.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
Our guys are familiar with it. It's not new to
our guys.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
We understand the environment, we understand the team that we're
up against, we understand how they play. So it's not
a matter of being new to us. It's a matter
of going out and let's change how the outcome has
happened in the past two times.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
I want to start with special teams on the field
because field position is so important in this one, every
game really, but especially at Kansas City.

Speaker 5 (16:14):
Yeah, it'll be huge, Right if we understand for our
return units, it's gonna be key to us, like getting
our blocks so we can get an explosive return. That's
the key for us, you know. In the special teams game,
and also for you know, our guys in the in
the coverage aspect, like can we cover with the relentless
mindset and can we go and take the football away?

Speaker 4 (16:34):
Like that'll be the key.

Speaker 5 (16:35):
Our guys have to kick away emy all right, and Tommy,
they have to do a great job of their directional kicks.

Speaker 6 (16:41):
We have to make all of our kicks count.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
How tough is it to deal with their defense up front?
Not just the players, but the creativity that they sometimes show.

Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yeah, they do a lot of different things where you
have a lot of different stunts twists up front, you
have a lot of different guy linebackers being up in
a D line position and a two point stand. So
you just have to have your eyes up from the
O line position because they can fire backers at any
given time. So if we have our eyes up and
we play with awareness, we can get the guy's block.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
Your ground game has been improving. That's really gonna help
in this one.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
It's improved a lot with the variety and we've added
to the scheme. I think it has helped us a ton.
Now it's can we get some even bigger explosive runs?

Speaker 7 (17:20):
Right?

Speaker 6 (17:20):
I think we've been blocking it well.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
Been challenging the backs this week is can we make
those eight to nine yards run? Can we make them
explosive and go score.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
A lot of people don't talk about Mahomes as a
running quarterback, and they have a ground game that you
have to deal with, but Mahomes is their second leading rusher.
He's on pace to have his best season running with
the football. How important is it to lock in on that?

Speaker 5 (17:41):
And we have to lock in on We know he
can escape the pocket at any given time, so we
have to do a really good job of not allowing
him right to get out in the A and B gaps.
On the interior gaps, that's where he gains a ton
of yardage. We have to make him go back in
the pocket and our d line has to relentlessly pursue him.
And we can do that and play smart around the
quarterback when he is near the sideline or he's slide

(18:02):
and we got to play smart, no penalties, play clean.
We can definitely chase him down and get him stopped.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
How much does it help that you've had primetime games
already this year? You know what it's like to sit
around the hotel and prep and do whatever you need
to do to be ready for a prime time.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
Yeah, it's tough sitting around. We don't like sitting around
all day, but that's part of it. Right As our
guys have been there, we've done that, we understand. I
will let our guys go through a little walk through
earlier in the day to make sure they're still focused.
We can clean up some last minute details and we're
ready for this moment.

Speaker 6 (18:32):
And our guys.

Speaker 5 (18:33):
Prepared great all week, so I'm excited to see him
cut it, lose.

Speaker 6 (18:36):
And go play.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Great stuff. Thanks a lot, coach, Thanks Mark, all right,
great stuff for Demiko and Mark.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Let's get to Greg Bailey, who is going to speak
with a Kansas City native going back home, rookie Ariante Ershrie.

Speaker 8 (18:50):
So going home to Kansas City, Man, you told us
shuld never played an Arrowhead, but I know you've played
in front of your mom before.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
What will that moment.

Speaker 8 (18:57):
Be like for both of you to share that NFL
dream come true back in Kansas City.

Speaker 9 (19:03):
It's gonna be a good feeling.

Speaker 5 (19:04):
Man.

Speaker 9 (19:05):
I ain't seen my dukes in a while, so for
her to be at the game, it's gonna definitely mean
a lot. And I know it's gonna make me play better.
My heart gonna be full seeing my whole family then them,
you know, being able to see me get this far
at this point in my life, knowing that it you know,
it took a lot of focus and determination and uh

(19:27):
just hard work really and the will to do it. So,
like I said, I'm happy that I'm going back home
and playing in front of my family.

Speaker 8 (19:35):
You smile when you talk about Mom. What what role
has she played in your life and in your career?

Speaker 9 (19:39):
Mom is like superman man. She did everything. She took
care of me, she guided me, told me right from wrong,
and she's just a strong woman, you know what I'm saying.
So seeing that as a young man, seeing her work
so hard, it just makes me want.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
To go harder.

Speaker 8 (19:54):
I know that you want to go back and play.
You guys want to play well. You want to win
as a team. What will that take against a really
good cam the City team.

Speaker 9 (20:01):
I mean really, its just take you know, us believing
in each other, just sticking to the game plan, just
being confident going out there and playing free, believing in
the game plan and the coaches put in front of us.
And what better way to do it? Than the whole
in front of the whole world in Kansas City, Arrowhead,

(20:22):
So a really big game for us.

Speaker 8 (20:23):
You have come a long way since your first NFL game.
Where do you think you've made the most progress along
that offensive line? For you individually?

Speaker 9 (20:31):
Uh, I think just mentally, just getting acclimated, understanding the
different schemes, Understanding what defense are trying to do, Understand
what I need to do, how I need to play
at my best and.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
What does that look like.

Speaker 9 (20:43):
So I put some good tape out there, I got
some bad tape out there. So I just want to
continue to go up and keep it sending as a player.

Speaker 8 (20:50):
And what do you have to do to be successful
against that Kansas City front that has caused so many people,
so many problems.

Speaker 9 (20:58):
I mean, all of our guys have fit physical, So
I mean, we just gotta come with it. We know
they're gonna play hard, they know we're gonna play hard.
We know it's gonna be a physical game. We know
it's a big game because it's the next one. So
you know, kudos ol guys. They've been doing good, you know,
the linebackers, everybody in the secondary. So we're definitely looking
forward to it all excited about the game.

Speaker 8 (21:18):
Every time we talk to you, you mentioned the brotherhood amongst
the offensive line, amongst your teammates. Describe that for fans,
what is that inside this Texans locker room.

Speaker 9 (21:26):
I mean, it's what you see when we go out there,
we play, and you see those big plays. You see
those the big runs that Woody or Chubb or those
guys make out. There really just five guys playing playing
as one. You know, when you listen to a band,
everybody's playing on the same accord, playing on the same note,
and you can kind of hear somebody is not doing that.

(21:47):
So just having each other back mentally, and uh, going
out there playing for each other, playing for htown, playing
you know, just playing hard.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
I know it's a special night for you. Man. Have fun.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 10 (22:00):
Man.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
All right, great stuff there from Ariante and Greg Bailey. Okay,
we got to dive into this game in depth. We
kind of scratched the surface, but now it's time to
dive into double matchups, matches, firms, sleepers. We got it all.
If you want to watch it, go to YouTube because
then you can see our pretty faces. You want to listen,

(22:21):
but keep it right here for our game preview.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Game preview the Texans at Kansas City. This is the
big one. Houston seven and five, Chiefs six and six,
and Johnny, I'm gonna say it, throw the records out.
We know what this is about. This is a playoff
game in that it's more like a double elimination tournament
at this point. Now the Chiefs might look at that differently,

(22:46):
but I really feel like you're in a mini tournament
down the stretch here with so many AFC teams and
the Texans looking to keep the momentum going, riding a
four game winning streak in a place that's very tough
to play at, and you're battling.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
The rulers of the AFC, and I think that's the
biggest thing.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
You're playing at a place, say you traditionally basically you're
oer for Mahomes other than twenty nineteen, the one game
in October. Other than that, when you've gone up there,
and I want to I mean nineteen went up there twice,
lost the second one, twenty we lost, twenty three, we lost,
I'm sorry, twenty four. We lost both. When we have
faced the Chiefs, it's not gone well. And in large

(23:22):
part hasn't gone well because fifteen starts pulling out of
his bag of tricks some of the things.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh we thought he was down, but no, he throws.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
He throws a touchdown last year, I mean Mario Edwards
had him. His knee was inches from the ground. He
finds Kelsey for a backbreaking touchdown. It's playing him against
eighty seven and Andy Reid in that building in the
cold at night. Now, of those things I just mentioned,
all of them have been thorns in our side, right

(23:53):
between Mahomes, Kelsey Reid at night on the road, Arrowhead
against that particular just the team in general. All those things,
they're not the demons aren't completely.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Exercised if you win.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
But getting a win shows hey, we can go beat
anybody anytime, anywhere.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Just spot the ball and we're ready to go.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Let's go Modello matchup. Now, let's start here. You're gonna
talk about facing their defense because of all the things
you mentioned, Steve Spagnulo is one of them that you
can add to the mix because it's very tough to
deal with that defense.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, the defense is tough to deal with.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
My Modela matchup with this game, the two guards ed
Ingram and Titus Howard against Chris Jones. And I said
this before, I said it going into the Tennessee Titans game,
if Titus had to move into guard, I'm okay with that,
because Titus loves the opportunity to go against Jeffrey Simmons.
He loves going against Chris Jones because he knows a
he's as commid as anybody you've ever met, and he

(24:54):
knows he can go toe to toe with those guys,
and he knows what the reaction will be if he
shuts one of them down. Chris Jones in a game
in twenty twenty two, albeit Sick didn't register a stat
against Titus Howard didn't register a stat and I tackled,
not an assistant.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Tackle, nothing. And then there's edding Ram on the other side.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
If you think about last year, Titus had moved into
left guard. But I don't know if Titus was all
the way in if you know what I mean, at
left guard, and then Shaq Mason was coming back from
the injury, or it was Kendrick Green having to go
against Chris Jones. I like the matchup better with Ed
playing the way he is against and Titus against Chris Jones.
So that to me is the Medela matchup to two

(25:33):
Texans guards against Chris.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
Jones, my Medello matchup everybody against Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
I mean, come out. You gotta set the edge here.
You gotta keep him in the pocket.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
The guys in the interior can't let him take off
up the middle either, because Mahomes is their second leading rusher.
As we speak, he is gonna have his all time
high in rushing yards. He's about forty two yards away
from breaking his all time mark, and we got a
lot of games to go, so.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
He's running the ball more than ever. Now he's got
to Kareem Hunt has some nice yardage. We all know
what Pacheco can do. And guess what.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
The receivers have fifteen carries among them, so watch out
for that stuff as well, all that jet sweep stuff.
Everything they'd like to do to get the ball in
the hands of Rashi Rice and company. But let's face it,
it's all about slowing down Mahomes. But here's some good news.
Last year when you took him out, especially in the playoffs,
who wasn't available for the Houston Texans and in the

(26:25):
December matchup, noa iss al Shire, no p Tree. Right,
You've got these guys playing now against that offense, and.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
That's gonna be big, having Petrie and all that he's
able to do and his he's played in the playoff game.
But that wasn't a ease. He had banged up his
knee earlier. He was not at full strength, and if
his ease congratulation disease. Twenty twenty five Texans Walter Paton
Man of the Year nominees a fantastic, fantastic representative of

(26:52):
that award, just like Jalen was last year. Having those
two guys in what they give you defensively is fantastic.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Here's a number for you.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
We talked about this on radio on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Twenty three, so Michael George's number, who a lot of
people think Patrick Mahomes kind of is liking too in
the football world. Twenty three is a number of first
downs that Patrick Mahomes has scrambled for this year. They
played twelve games, so I'm got him do some math
for you. Twenty three close to twenty four. That's like
two scrambles per game that he's picking up a first

(27:21):
down or two first down scrambles.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
He's picking up per GAMEZ.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Think about how many drives that keeps a lot sure,
and how many times have we seen that guy scramble
for a first down or scramble and then toss the
ball and Kelsey's there, toss the ball in Hollywood's there.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
You've got to bring him down when he scrambles.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
You cannot allow him to get a throwoff. He did
it against Dallas. He's being brought to the ground. He's
practically on the ground, and he controls himself, gets himself
back up, finds his balance and then hits a big
throw down in the field to get them back in.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
So to me, his scramble ability, you mentioned it. You
hit it right off the bat.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
Everybody's involved in stopping him. Even if you're not thirty
yards from him, you might be involved in having to
plaster a receiver to make sure he doesn't hit that
throw on.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Everybody sees that.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
Everybody feels frustrated with that Kansas City there on TV
more than Friends reruns. Yep, so we all know what
they can do. Mattress firm sleepers of the game. I've
got Jalen Petrie. We're like an X factor in this one.
We mentioned he didn't play in the match ups last year,
but here's Petrie at arrowhead able to make a difference

(28:30):
because he can go into the backfield, bring down ball carriers,
bring down mahomes, or make plays in the secondary and
watch the tip balls because they are going to be
all over the place. The Texans are very long on defense,
like a basketball team. That's why Bullock gets the carum
Sometimes disease. Is it time for disease to get a pick?
Fine lined out? Yeah, but I've got Jalen Petrie is

(28:52):
my mattress firm sleeper.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Tips and overthrows. Got to get those, yep, that's what
Tomiko sign that out. Mine's gonna be Jayan Higgins. And
there's a major reason for that. First of all, I
think Higgins has really turned a corner of being a
big time factor for this offense. I feel like with
Kansas City, McDuffie is gonna go find Nico. That has
been kind of their m O. McDuffie goes and finds Nico.

(29:14):
Not a playoff game that was definite because really at
that point the receiver Cord was kind of beat up, right,
and so yeah, Hutch had a really good ballgame, and
Metchi had a couple of good plays in that playoff
game as well, but they knew it was about stopping Nico. Well,
now you've got Nico, but then, okay, what do we
do with Higgins? So if you want to go McDuffie

(29:35):
on Nico, all of a sudden, Jade Higgins is gone,
what are you gonna do with him?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Because he can beat.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Anybody else that Chiefs have over there to play man
against him.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
What I'd like to see for Higgins this week? How
about a deep shot. I'd like to see Higgins with
a deep shot.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
And I've said this before back in Ota is watching
a practice, Higgins burned a corner. Football staffer turned to
me and said, hey, you know that corner is our
fastest guy, all right, And I got the message, which
was that rookie just ran away from him. So he's
got the speed to be able to do it, but
you gotta have the protection you gotta at the right moment.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Jadan Higgins can provide that moment.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Big shot Jayden Higgins, And he's a popular pickup on
a lot of fantasy teams because he's available in a
lot of leagues. So Higgins's getting a lot of love
on that circuit and the Texans they'll get a lot
of love if they win this one at Kansas City
Sunday night. Go Texans.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
All right, it's excellent stuff as always from the two
of us, and it's excellent stuff from Girard Johnson, quarterbacks
coach for your Houston Texans.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Girod is next right here in Texans All Access.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Welcome back to this Friday edition of Texans All Access
from Monday Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John Harrison
Football and on All the Sideline Reporter. It's time to
catch up with quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson, Mark and I
sat with him this week, talk about CJ. Stroud, Davis Mills,
everything going off to the quarterback position, including this the
skuys is in coverage. They're all the rage in the NFL.

(31:03):
How do you handle those drad handles? All that right
here with this two on one with me and.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
Mark Quarterbacks coach Jaron Johnson joining us now Texans Radio.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Hows it going, coach, going good?

Speaker 4 (31:12):
Going good?

Speaker 3 (31:13):
So let's talk about the last game, the return of CJ.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Stroud. How did you see how things went?

Speaker 7 (31:19):
Yeah, I mean, ultimately, you know, he came back and
it was off for a couple of weeks. You know,
I'm glad he was healthy. I'm glad he was clear mind,
you know, But he came back.

Speaker 4 (31:28):
He led the group.

Speaker 7 (31:28):
You know, he did a lot of things for us
in the run game, lot a lot of things for
us and protections. I mean, it was probably one of
his better games handling the blitz, But just from a
maturity standpoint, I mean, he led the team, you know,
and that made it a place to win. So I
was happy to get him back out there, happy to
have some success, happy to get the win, and happy
to keep going.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Coach.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
When you're coming up as a quarterback, learning coverages and
those kind of things, I would imagine it's probably the
first thing because you're throwing the ball all that kind
of stuff. How long did it kind of take you
to understand the run game and how the run game
goes together with what's called and all that, and how
is kind of picked up on that over the years.

Speaker 7 (32:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think every year is different, every
system is different. I've been fortunate enough to play in
a lot of different offensive systems, and you know, everybody's
doing similar things, but maybe how we target the runs,
how you you know, the terminology that you use, how
you kind of set the table for everybody who to
block and when to block.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
It's different every place.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
But uh, you know, I think he's he's getting that point,
you know now to where like it's all it's all
coming together for him where he can have a you know,
control out there and so you know, it's it's for
a player, you got to dive into it every year,
and you know, you there's always more to know, Like
even as a coach, I'm learning more every every single
day as well. But you know, he's a sharp kid,
and he works really hard, and you know he's he's

(32:42):
definitely trending in the right direction of kind of finding
that mastery, you know, but us he's given it's hard
every days. He's he's he's working his tail off and
he's doing a good job.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Trod how much in general of playing the position is
all right, I got to run what's called versus Okay,
that might not be there, and now I've got to
create some things. If you can't go through your progression
or you have to move around that sort of thing.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
Yeah, And I joke with the I joke with the
guys all the time.

Speaker 7 (33:07):
It's like that's why they pay them, you know, the
big bucks, you know, And I think I I would say,
for lack of better terms, a quarterback, everything's we're going
to pull the trigger or progress league. You know, like
it's up to your decisions, is up to your instinct
whether I got to pull the trigger and let the
ball go or I got to progress on to the
next one. And you know, we we have reads, we
have progressions. But but the more time you're out there
is the more you know instinctively you decide I have

(33:29):
another second in the pocket to hold on to it,
the wait for this to develop, or on this play,
on this you know, in this scenario, like the play
is over, I got to get us to the next
down and throw the ball away. Or you know, I
have time. I can I can make this guy miss,
I can scramble. Especially when you're really talented. I think
sometimes talent is a blessing and a curse, because the
more athletic you are, the stronger your arm is. Like

(33:49):
you can do really cool things. But it's a matter
of kind of risk reward, give and take on how
and when the implement the tools that you have, and
you know, in this league, it's like a week by
week and like you know, the great ones figure out
what that threshold is of risk and safety. And I
think CJ has done a good job with that because
I mean, he can make special plays that not many
guys can make. I mean, all of our guys are athletic.

(34:10):
It's why you like quarterbacks with strong arms. That's why
you like guys who are athletic, because they can do
some things as coaches that we can't coach, you know,
And it's just a matter of reps and instinct and
when it's the right time to do it and when
the right time to be safe.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
Could you sense and feel draught on Sunday the Russ
kind of shaking off of CJ? Could you kind of
see it as as his as the quarterbacks coach? Like, Okay,
I could see some of it, you know, early in
the game, maybe ah, he's trying to kind of shake
this off, because it felt like by the time he
got the second half, like he's a pretty good rhythm.
Did you kind of sense and feel like, okay, shaking
the rust off, Let's stay with it and you'll end

(34:42):
up being Okay, what was that kind of like Sunday?

Speaker 7 (34:45):
Uh yeah, I mean I actually thought he came out
and played you know, I thought he came out and
played good kind of like through the entirety of the game.
And we had some unfortunate things that you know, us
collectively as an offense, you know, we had some kind
of self inflicted penalties that you know, there's a bunch
of places where we could have corrected something there collectively
as a group. But yeah, I mean I think he
was on time with the ball. You know, he was
accurate with this throws. You know that every game you're

(35:07):
gonna go out there, quarterbacks is gonna have a couple
of throws they want back. I mean, even the best
in the world, you're gonna go out there, you're gonna miss.
Wanted to throw the game, That's just part of it.
But I do think that he kind of settled in
and kind of got back into his rhythm and and
you know, won the game.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
How about the job Davis Mills did filling in for
CJ when he was out.

Speaker 7 (35:24):
I mean, Davis is I mean, I think Davis is
a great player. I've set in this chair before and
said I think Davis is a starting caliber quarterback in
the NFL. You know, I think I'm very fortunate to
have guys that are really good in my room. I
think we have a really good talent. I think Graham
Mertz is a really good player, a young player that
has a lot of potential as well. But just Davis,
you know, he's worked really hard these last couple of years.
He's been through some adversity when he was playing. He's

(35:45):
been through some adversity, you know, not wanting the starting
job when CJ got here and kind of falling into
the backup role. But man, behind the scenes, he's worked
really hard. He's a voice in our room. He's always
what can I do to help mentality? So for him
to get an opportunity and play well, you know, that's
all you as a coach, that's all you hope for
is that, you know, you know, you coach the guys
and you hope that when their opportunity comes, they seize

(36:06):
the moment. And he did that, you know, And so
I'm super confident in our room. You know, CJ is
our quarterback, you know, but I feel that Davis, you know,
anytime he goes in there, you know, he has a
skill set to you know, do whatever you need to
do as well.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
What's going through your mind?

Speaker 3 (36:19):
Third and goal at the fourteen against Jacksonville and he
takes off and starts running the football for the pilot.

Speaker 7 (36:25):
You know, I'm just like, you know, just just you know,
at this point, just go make a play, you know,
and you know, they they we always talk about in
our room that you know a lot of these teams
play these match coverages if they cover everybody, and we
command the pocket forward and generally there's not anybody accounted
for the quarterback, you know, and so like we go
through our progressions and we run when they cover everybody.
So these linebackers are going to match match running backs.

(36:47):
You know, it's a coverage. Coverage can dictate our aggressiveness
to run. And they played some match coverage there and
you know, and at the last line of defense is
he's using your legs and he did that and made
a play.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
I've kind of come up with it saying that a
quarterback can be his best checkdown in some in those situations,
like you're the checkdown, just go, you know, instead of
you know, everybody's kind of trying to protect and it's.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Like you're they got their back to you, just go
You're you're your.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Best checkdown at that particular moment. Try you kind of
alluded to it talking about you Graham. What's he what's
he bring? You know, he's not a guy that we
talk a lot about because you know, we had him
in here a few weeks ago and that was great.
It was so fun to catch up with him and
you understand why he is the NFL and why he's here,
what he's gone through at Florida and all that.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
But you've seen him grow throughout this year.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
And I know to talk about you know, Davis wins
three games as a starter and your CJ comes back,
he's you know, kep one.

Speaker 7 (37:35):
But what about Graham? What have you seen in his
rookie year and his growth? Yeah, I just see his confidence,
you know, his physical confidence. You know, he had that injury,
so getting back out in the field again and just
kind of being comfortable and confident with his lower body
and moving. But you know, I work with Graham you
know a couple of times a week and and and
just try to still pour it invest into him as
well because for me, like my job is to make
sure every guy in the room is being developed to

(37:56):
try to maximize their own individual potential right version themselves.
And you know, and so you know, Graham's in the room,
and and you know, he's really smart. He asked good questions.
I mean, he hasn't once again he has what can
I do to help mentality? But I think just his
confidence and feeling like, you know, I belong here, I
can do this. I think that last preseason game really
kind of gave him some validation to who he was

(38:17):
as a player because he went through Smith Versity of Florida.

Speaker 4 (38:19):
You know.

Speaker 7 (38:19):
But we're we're we love having Graham around, you know,
We're confident in him, and you know, I'm glad he's
here and we'll see, you know, how far he can
take this thing as well.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
You called plays early on in that final preseason game
at Detroit with Graham at the controls.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
How was that for you?

Speaker 4 (38:34):
It was fun?

Speaker 7 (38:34):
You know, Demko and Nick gave me the opportunity to
do that, you know, and so I had out of
blast doing it, you know. And so it's something that
you know, I think as a coach and even as
a player, you inspire to do these things. And so
anytime you get an opportunity to call the plays on
the game day at any level, I think it's special.
And so I was very thankful for that opportunity, and
I'm glad Graham has some success.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
How much were you fighting York should throw it every play?
Grahams fire at thirty times?

Speaker 7 (38:59):
Yeah, you know, I think all all quarterback guys you
want to throw it around the yard. But I think that,
you know, the older I get in this game, and
the and the more like the older I'm the more
I'm around the game, you understand that, you know, the
quarterback's best friend is a run game and play pass
and tight ends and and and bass personnel and all
the things you know. And so I think just my
whole thought process is you want to try to get
as many clear pictures for the quarterbacks as possible, and

(39:21):
running the ball is the best way to do that.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
Okay, this Sunday, it's the Chiefs. Pretty good defense. We've
seen them, saw them last year for a couple of times.
Going up there a little bit colder, but apparently wins
not gonna be bad. It doesn't look like precipitation. What
are your thoughts about going up there Sunday and what
your guys got to do, what CJ's got to do
going up against that chief defense.

Speaker 7 (39:41):
Yeah, I think just collectively as a group, I mean,
they just make you be disciplined. You know, it's it's
a it's a group that's been that they've been in
that defense for a long time.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
It's a really good coaches.

Speaker 7 (39:49):
But I think the biggest thing is, like every snap,
the way their scheme is is they're going to test,
you know, your ability to identify what front there, and
you know they're gonna send pressures one through first down
through fourth down. You know, it's protection rules, our side adjustments,
our hots, you know, our ability to can we get
into the plays that we want to get into. The
secondary is going to move every play, you know. So
we're just gonna test our discipline and so it would

(40:09):
be a good challenge for us. They're a really good
team and a really good environment, and I think we'll
be up for it.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
How hard is it to simulate those things in a
practice environment or whatever you can do in meeting rooms
or I don't know if you use virtual reality or whatever,
but to process all of that very quickly and make
plays creatively on the fly.

Speaker 7 (40:25):
Yeah, I mean, you try to put it into buckets,
you know, you try to frame it for the guys,
and we're going to try to give them every look
that we've seen on tape. But I think the cool
part about of kind of how our season's gone and
as you get to this part of the year, is
you hope you equip the guys with the knowledge to
where they can make educated decisions when they see things
they've never seen before, because inevitably, like they're getting paid
to over there. And that's what this league, as you

(40:46):
get into this kind of winter football, as you get
in these meaningful games, as you get to the playoffs,
is is we're coming up with stuff that they've never seen.
The defense is going to show us that things that
we've never seen. And so it's really a test of
our rules of our discipline to where ideally you whip
the guys enough to word when they see something they
haven't seen before, they pull from something, you know, whether
it's from training camp, and a lot of time that
comes from our base rules of how we do things

(41:08):
that given that look, they can make an educated decision
because it's inevitable to see something on Sunday, you know,
you haven't seen before. But as coaches, we try to
give them every look that they put on tape, and
then every look we think they're going to do. And
we go back years to try to try to find
that think tank of these coordinators. But at the end
of the day, you know, ideally, we hope we've equipped

(41:28):
these guys with the way of a process and a
way of thinking that they can operate when they see
things they haven't seen before.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Coach, how much of disguise usage have you seen increase
over the last you know, five, ten, fifteen years since
you were playing. How much how much more disguise is
being used now in the league versus years ago.

Speaker 7 (41:48):
It's it's night and day. It's every team has some
version of disguise. I think the league has gone to
InVogue to where you know, you pay the pass rushers, right,
you pay the pass rushers, and you want those guys
to get home. That's your If you can get to
the quarterback with four, maybe five guys, you know, you
can keep all your guys in coverage. And so the
league has gone to a lot of shell defense. But

(42:08):
the whole purpose of that, if I can move the picture,
force the quarterback to hold the ball for a second longer,
my odds of the rush getting home gets there. So
every team you play now are always constantly trying to
move the picture on the quarterback. It's something we talk
about in our room of like, you know, where do
my eyes start? Where do my eyes finished? Like who
am I keying to? Kind of give me the accelerated
vision of that. And I do think that the defenses

(42:30):
have affected the way we teach reads with quarterbacks. You know,
all the teams I've been on, and here's because you know,
these really good decordinators just spent a lot of time
making coverages look the same, and sometimes a quarterback won't
know what coverage it is until you know, a couple
of seconds into the down and then now we got
to operate. So the defense has done a really good
job of disguising is kind of in vogue in the
league right now, and I think that the offenses are

(42:51):
responding with our versions to kind of beat that as well.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
I'm curious about your opinion with the Aggies, Okay, because
here we are in a really different.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
College football world. It's weird you missed the SEC championship game,
but you know, you rest up and get ready for
the playoff. You're in it anyway. Your thoughts on the
overall situation.

Speaker 7 (43:09):
Yeah, I mean I think they've done a heck of
a job up there. I mean I always follows Texas
A and M, and it's always has a special place
in my heart, you know, being a second generation Aggie.
But uh, you know, it's always unfortunate to lose to Texas,
you know. But I think the cool thing is is
they put themselves in a position to where they can
learn from that loss and still play meaningful football. You know,
I think you're always trying to win a championship. I
think SEC championship is special.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
You know.

Speaker 7 (43:30):
I think as you talk to young men, as you
talk to teams, like your goal is to always is
to always win, you know what I'm saying, And so
losses are lessons and that's how they got to be.
But I think they would rather have beaten Texas and
you know, been suiting up for the SEC championship.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
But football's football. You get knocked down.

Speaker 7 (43:45):
You got to get back up, and you know, we
still got an opportunity and I'll be rooting for him
and I wish them the best.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
What's it like playing in that rivalry game and and
m in Texas. I mean, obviously we lost it for
what a dozen years or whatever the case might be,
but when it came back, it was like, man, it's
as spicy as ever.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
It's feels what's it like playing in that game.

Speaker 7 (44:02):
It's it's just special, man. I mean, the emotions that
are involved, you know. I know, for me, it's like
a culmination of kind of you know, I've lived my
whole life on holiday weekends looking at this game and
the guys who played before me, you know, doing it,
so get an opportunity to do it. It was almost surreal,
like it's like watching it on TV. Sometimes they're like, man,
I can't even believe I played in that game, you know.
But at the same time, man, it's just I have

(44:22):
so much respect for University of Texas.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
It's a great school. You know.

Speaker 7 (44:25):
I love my Aggies. But I think the respect is
what makes the rivalry what it is. You know, respect
that university, respect that team. They've they've been good for years,
we've been good, and I think it's one of those things.
It's a test for you, but also my family members
back home and to have those conversations wrapped around Thanksgiving
and emotions of that. I think it's you know, special,
and I was very fortunate to get a chance to
play it.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
So we're rotten frank all over you on Saturday after
it happened.

Speaker 4 (44:49):
I mean, I gotta admit, I got to eat some crow,
you know.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I was.

Speaker 7 (44:51):
I was, I was peacocking around and all my I'm
fully decked out in all the maroom.

Speaker 11 (44:56):
You know.

Speaker 7 (44:56):
I got a whole corner of my closet that uh
you know, I just pressed by on all these things
that pop up on my phone of all the A
and M stuff. So I was decked out and all
my A and M stuff here, and they just kind
of quietly, you know, just like all right, we see
how it is.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
And then, uh, I you know, I had to eat
a little crow. They got us.

Speaker 7 (45:12):
You know, I'm a man of my word, and uh
you know they got us, and uh you know so
but uh but no, I love where our program is going.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
Man.

Speaker 7 (45:18):
I'm always proud to be an Aggie man, and I
wish us the best in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Coach good luck this weekend. Thanks a lot for joining us,
all right, thank you.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
All great stuff from Girard Johnson.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
Okay, coming up, as we do it every Friday, the
Status Report. We got a few things to discuss as
it pertains to both sides of Texans Chiefs on Sunday Night.
We'll do that next on Texans All Access. Yes, sir,
here we go.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
Friday Night.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
All Access got youa covers Houston, Texas getting ready to
take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. Last night,
not a good night for the Dallas Cowboys. Dak Prescott struggled,
George Pickens struggled a lot. Richard Sherman called him out.
Then George Pickens had something to say, Then he deleted
his Instagram posts. So yeah, it's another typical day in

(46:09):
cowboy Land as the Cowboys lose.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
Last night. They fought a six six and.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
One forty four to thirty, climbed back into it, got
it to thirty twenty seven.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
But defense was pretty good against the Chiefs. That great but.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
Good, could not hold the Lions in check. The Lions
are all over the place. But a big piece of
news for the Lions they lose Brian Branch with a
torn achilles. He went down on a kind of controversial
offensive pass interference, calling the end zone, and while people
were kind of arguing that, they went, hey, hey, hey, hey,
one of your better defensive players is down in the

(46:43):
end zone. And then a concern obviously went to Brian Branch.
Some controversial stuff last night officiating wise as well, the safety.
A lot of people barking it wasn't then they saw
a final angle. Oh then Terry McCauley said, oh yeah, yeah,
yeah it was. It was not a safety. So a
lot of things going on. Hopefully Sunday will be without
controversy either way. It's a Texas take on the chief

(47:05):
from an officiating standpoint, But you know, a.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Man can dream. All right, let's get to the status report.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
It came out today as it always does with a
Sunday game on Friday, and I don't know if I'm
surprised by anything. The Texas will have two players out,
Jamal Hill Jalen Reid. Jamal has been dealing with a
hamstring for a little bit now and Jalen Reid with
that forearm. And if you remember it's been talked about,

(47:32):
Jalen apparently had an issue at Penn State where he
had a plate put in his arm, and so when
he came up on the tackle the other day. Apparently
he got hit, so something in that plate snap, a
screw snap, something kind of got off kilter. So hopefully
they can get that fixed and done for Jalen Reid
and he can get back as soon as possible because

(47:55):
the Texans do have a little bit of a.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Safety issue without him.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Look, Jalen Petrie being back helps a lot because I
can put Miles Bryant back at safety, so you at
least can feel confident because Miles knows what he's doing
back there. I mean last year when he plays played
the Kansas City Chiefs, you didn't have Petrie, Jimmy Ward.
You had to go Miles. Brian and Miles been in
a couple of nice plays in that game. But it's
nice that Petrie and Bryant in the game.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Now.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
The big question we already know Tim Settle has gone
to ir who missed the rest of the year with
a foot issue. I don't know how they'll handle that,
coach said. In fact, I think he said to us
and the coaches show early this week they like to
take nine d linemen to the game. Well, they've got
eight right now. Three on the inside. They've got five

(48:44):
on the outside, and depending on how you classified an
Eco Autry inside outside combo, he's kind of the inside
outside combo.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Now they added Solomon Byrd to the fifty three man roster,
we'll see if Solomon ends up being active on Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
He is, it might mean that Dylan Horton.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Nico Autry played a little bit more on the inside
to kind of make up for the loss of Tim Settle.
Now they are not Tim Settle, but Niko's played a
lot on the inside. Dylan in college did play some
of the inside, so we'll see how they handle that.
But Corner is the one we got to keep an
eye on. Kamari Lassiter was a limited participant at practice today.
We did see him out there. He's dealing with that

(49:22):
foot issue. He's listed as questionables, pretty much what I
thought it was gonna be. He's questionable. But Will Hamson, Junior,
Nico Autry, Trent brown Wood, he marks all full participants.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
They have no game status. They are ready to go.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
So Jamail Hill, Jalen Reid out impact your special team,
So let's keep an eye on that. Kamari Lassiter questionable
if he's not able to go. It's probably gonna be
Tremont Smith. You have a mere speed who's got some
good length. He's tremendous on special teams. In fact, he
was one of the Texans Special Teams Players of the
Week last week. A mere speed. So if he's got
play corner, he'll play corner. He is big and long

(49:59):
and that could help. Okay, Now the Chiefs. Chiefs only
had two players out, Chris Roland Wallace, a dB and
Nico Romeo, who had that return last year against the
Texas to start the game. He was limited today in
practice after being a full participant on Thursday and a

(50:21):
full participant on Wednesday. But they added a concussion, so
he apparently had Friday got a concussion, so he is
out of the game. So we'll have to keep an
eye on the chief returners without Romeo. Roland Wallace special
team of defensive back. Now here's where it gets interesting.
Trey Smith doubtful. Pro Bowl guard doubtful. Juwan Taylor starting

(50:45):
right tackle doubtful. Now I've said this before and I'll
say it again, and I'll say it for these two.
I have never seen doubtful turn into active on game
day since twenty fourteen. Since I've been doing this, I
cannot remember a doubtful finding a way to the field
on Sunday more on game day.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Never seen it.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
So if that is indeed the case, that Tray Smith
Juwan Taylor doubtful more than likely out That means no
Josh Simmons, no Tray Smith, no Juwan Taylor. We kind
of talked about it all week. It means they'll have
two tackles, jan Ye Morris and Jalen Moore. They'll have
Kliendo at guard again. Texas faced him last year when

(51:28):
he was at guard, and then everything else will be
the same. Suama Taya will be at the other guard,
Creed Humphrey at center now Sumataya still getting used to
playing guard. Caliendo is definitely a backup. And you've got
the two guys on the outside and Jaylen Moore and
Janya Morris.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
This could be tough with the chiefs now cry my
beer about it.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Just let you know it could be tough for them. Okay,
we gotta talk to Josh and Alexander the Chronicle. I
will ask him about his grade that he gave C. J.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Stroud. It's a good answer.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
I think it was a great answer, kind of put
them on the spot, but he answered, well, we'll have
that for you.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Next to Texans All Access.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
We're gonna want our down one our left to go
right here on Friday, isshear of Texans All Access. I'm
your host, John Harris, Football on a sideline reporter for
your Houston Texans.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
It's time to catch up with one of our good friends.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
Great reporter from the Houston Chronicle, Jonathan Alexander.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Joining us right now.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Jonathan Alexander from the Houston Chronicle. And Jonathan, let's start here.
It's a rhetorical question, but I want you to answer it.
How big is this game?

Speaker 12 (52:33):
It's their most important game in the season. I feel
like I've told myself this every.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
Week, but it's true.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
But it is true. Particularly with this game.

Speaker 12 (52:43):
The Chiefs are a game behind the Texans, and if
they win this they'll have the same record, but the
Chiefs will have the tiebreaker and is a very close
AFC race for these frontal wildcard spots. So that's what
makes this game important. And then the other is the
Texans haven't really beaten the Chiefs in recent years, definitely
not in the Demico Ryans era, and a win like this.

(53:07):
He kind of helps with the psyche, the mental block
that could persist when you lose to a team over
and over.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Okay, I'm gonna bring up something and I know you
might get mad at me for this, and you know
you're my guy.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
I think you're fantastic. I'm glad you're in Houston.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
When you went back and watched the Colts game, did
you have a different thought on the grade you gave
CJ after the game because you game a C after
the game When you went back and rewatched it, did
you think differently about it?

Speaker 3 (53:33):
Could CJ visit you during office hours as the professor
and like beg for a better grade?

Speaker 2 (53:38):
Right?

Speaker 4 (53:38):
How could you d knowledge?

Speaker 12 (53:41):
I guess it depends on like how you agree, Like
would you graded on a curve considering this is his
first game back from the concussion. If you do grade
it on the curve, I'd easily give him a B. Now,
if you graded according to CJ. Strouds standards and the
standards we expect from him, I would bump it up
to a C plus. Yeah, you know, I thought he
played very well in the second half, made a lot

(54:02):
of clutch throws on third down, I think I saw
some stat that he was six of seven on third
down and those weren't small third downs, right. I thought
the interception was a little bit careless, like it was
open at first. He was late on it. You could
tell he was rusty in the first half. But he
did enough to help the Texans win and that was important.
So if I had if we're wearing on the curve,

(54:24):
you to be if we're not, it's a C plus.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Yeah, Okay, fair enough. Now what about the Chiefs?

Speaker 3 (54:30):
Patrick mahomes this version of Kansas City that we are
seeing six and six, but they're all still there. Kelsey's there.
You got Rashid Rice there, you got Carl Loftus and
Chris Jones on defense, you got McDuffie. You have the Chiefs,
the coaching staff here, you are at their place and
they're coming off the mini by what do you think?

Speaker 12 (54:51):
Yeah, the Chiefs to me are still one of the
most dangerous teams in the NFL. You know, they might
have a six and six record, but they have a
plus seventy six point differential. You know, it says a
lot that they may be in their losses just a
few points one or two plays here, from winning it,
and we were saying that about the Texans. You know,
early in the season, so we know what Patrick Mahomes is,

(55:14):
cap love. He was playing at the MVP level earlier
in the season, still.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
Playing at a high level.

Speaker 12 (55:19):
Had a really good game despite their loss last week
to the Cowboys, their defense's experience, giving Steve Spagnola and
what he's been able to do. Andy Reid is an
experienced coach. I take them as serious as I take
them any other team. I still think they're one of
the more impressive teams in the league, even though they've

(55:39):
had a rough go and just haven't really finished well
at the end of games this year.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
Okay, Johnathan, I give you either worse situation. Either you
can only have one of these. Either you're completely and
totally shut down the running back run game. Completely shut
down the Chiefs running back run game like they get
nothing maybe thirty yards, just shut it down, or you
completely shut out Chris Jones defensive tackle in twenty twenty two.

(56:06):
He had no stats. Now he's sit going in the game,
but the Texas did a pretty good job on him.
Texas took that game to overtime with the team that
wasn't that great at that time. So you can either
completely shut down the Chiefs running game nothing, or you
can completely shut down Chris Jones. Now it doesn't mean
you to stop everybody else, but you shut down Chris Jones,
which one.

Speaker 12 (56:25):
Yeah, I think the Chiefs running game is not that
good at all. I think they have one of the
worst rush in the Texan the league. I mean, they're
solid in the red zone, but I think Chris Jones
can wreck a game and he could provide problems for
this offense if he gets going, if they don't focus
on him. It was interesting two years ago or three
years ago, when Levie Smith was a coach, they put

(56:46):
Titus Howard at guard to take care of Chris Jones,
and he did a great job against it. And I
remember that off the top of my head. But yeah,
I think the key is stopping Chris Jones. Don't let
that defensive line beat them again to prest pressure. We
saw what happened when they gave up eight secs. I
think the defense is going to handle this business. I
don't think you're able to beat this Texans defense without

(57:07):
a complimentary offense. So the key for me, most important
for me is stopping.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
Chris Jones, how would you characterize the Texans defense? You
have five games to go and they're getting a lot.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Of love right now.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
This could be, as far as the Texans go, historically
great relative to themselves, but it could be historically great
relative to this century of NFL defenses. They could be
right up there with the very best. But where do
you put them right now, Jonathan, And where do you
think it's going?

Speaker 12 (57:36):
Yeah, this is one of the best defenses definitely of
the past decade. Like they're up there with the Legion
of Boom in how you know, elite they've been because
they have weapons at every level, whether that's on the
defensive line, the secondary, those two groups are elite. And
then the linebackers have played very well this year. They've

(57:56):
improved significantly too, is easy Alshai here is al Shire
is having a great year this year as well. So
you know, I think this is one of the best
team defenses that we've seen come out of Houston in history,
and definitely one of the best in the past two
decades that we've seen.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
So I'm gonna ask you another kind of either or
question to degree you can't pick like this game is
eliminated Texas Chiefs. You can't pick either one of those
teams who wins the AFC and goes to the super Bowl.
But you can't pick either one of the two teams
playing Sunday Night.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Which team wins the AFC and goes to the super
Bowl If it's not one of these two teams playing
Sunday Night.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
It's a really tough one. It's really tough.

Speaker 12 (58:42):
I know, I know exactly, I honestly, even though I
don't have the biggest faith in bo Nicks as a quarterback,
I think the defense is elite and can carry the
Broncos as long as Bonnicks doesn't do anything crazy, which
he doesn't have a tendency to do anything crazy. He's
just not in the elite quarterback But I think he's

(59:02):
good enough. And with the Broncos defense, I definitely think
they're top three defense in the league. So if I
had to say from the AFC, I picked the Broncos.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Okay, how about this hot take? Okay, rate this hot take?

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Kind of going along with what I just said, The
winner of Sunday Nights game wins the AFC.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
I mean, that's at least well, Kansas City has the
pedigree here.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Yeah, if Kansas City gets in, who's going to want
to play them?

Speaker 3 (59:27):
But I'll tell you what, the winner of Sunday Night's
game is going to get a lot of love on
the hot take shows to win the AFC, including the Texans.
Of course, if the Texans win this game, there are
going to be a lot of people saying they can
ride this thing all the way through because it'll be
impressive that they beat the Chiefs in that environment. Rate
my hot take, I would give it a two and
a half. OK to Jonathan, how would you rate the

(59:48):
environment at Arrowhead Stadium versus other stadiums you've been to?

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Is this the toughest? And not just because of the
team you're playing, but just in general? How do you
see it?

Speaker 12 (59:59):
I think is top three, maybe number two. You can
switch it off with the Seattle's crowd. In Minnesota's crowd
is definitely number one, and maybe that's just because you
can hear that loud horn the open air press box.
But the Kansas City is definitely top three. You know
the weather effects games as well, is super cold, loud.

(01:00:22):
Those fans are are are die hard fans, especially with
Patrick Mahomes being there is definitely one of the top
stadiums in the loudest stadiums and the hardest environment is
to play in.

Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Okay, Jonathan, I'm just gonna read you a statement. I
want you to take it wherever you want to go.
Whether the statement is just crazy to think about, whether
it'll stay this way.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Whether you think this is you know, the future.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
The Chicago Bears are the number one seed in the
NFC right now.

Speaker 12 (01:00:55):
Go I think that they're the hottest team in the NFC.
Are they the best team? I don't think so, but
I do believe I think the Packers are a more
talented team than them. There's another team I'm forgetting off
the top of my head, Rams, the Rams. I think
the Packers and the Rams are more talented than the Bears,

(01:01:17):
and if I saw them in the head to head matchup,
I would pick both of those teams ahead of them.
But they are the hottest team right now, and they're
feeling really confident and Ben Jackson is doing a tremendous
job as the head coach there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
Jonathan, who wins between the Colts and the Jaguars in
North Florida on Sunday.

Speaker 12 (01:01:33):
You know, I think the Colts might win that game.
I think those two teams are gonna split, but I'll
pick the Colts to win that game. I think coming
off that loss to the Texans, they'll probably be a
little bit fired up. I think Jacksonville has had a
few close games recently and a few games against some
not so great talented teams, so I think they'll the

(01:01:54):
Colts to catch them off guard and beat them.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
So I know you're asked this on other shows you're on.
Can the Texans do it? Can they win the AFC South?

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
Absolutely? I mean, especially if they win this game.

Speaker 12 (01:02:04):
If they win this game, I'm picking them to win
the AFC South without a doubt. And then if you
look at it, if they win this game, the Jaguars lose,
They're in the AFC South League. So what's the only
thing keeping them from really winning is if they have
a hiccup against the Cardinals or the Raiders, which I
don't think will happen, or they lose to the Colts

(01:02:25):
in Week eighteen, and Demiko Ryan's record against the Colts
since he's been here pretty good, they ain't good, So
you know, I really believe if the Texans win this
game against the Chiefs, I'm calling it.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
They win the AFC South.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Okay, I'm gonna go with me on this one because
this is kind of one of those kind of hot
take moments.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Okay, I don't I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Not sure that totally believe it. So you guys gotta
kind of talk me into this or talk me out
of this. But Joe Burrow is back. Went to Baltimore
Thanksgiving night hammered the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
I know they're four and eight, but the Steelers in
Ravens are both six and six. There's just two games
left now. They ended up beating the Steelers once and
lost to the Steelers once, so they split with the Steelers.
They right now have the head to head against the Ravens.
The Bengals have at Bills home, Ravens at Miami Sunday

(01:03:24):
Night home, Arizona home Cleveland. Hot take, the Bengals are
gonna come back and win that thing. At eight and nine,
the Bengals will win the AFC North.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
Is that crazy?

Speaker 12 (01:03:35):
I don't know if it's crazy, but I don't think
it'll happen.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
It's a lot to ask.

Speaker 12 (01:03:39):
Yeah, the Bengals defense is not good. I mean, they
did a good job against the Lamar Jackson, but they've
had some really bad games that have so I don't
see them being consistent across the final stretch of the season.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
This Buffalo game could be forty two to forty. This game,
for sure could be that kind of shootout.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Burrow's beating them in at Buffalo.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
Yeah before Look, I wouldn't put it past him. It's
such a long journey through the final five games, but
that game against Baltimore impressed me. Lamar Jackson cannot move
the way he usually does.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
And he misspracticed earlier this week.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
That's a big problem for him.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
That's a big problem because.

Speaker 3 (01:04:17):
If he can't run, Henry's not exactly who he was.
They know that everyone's making a big deal about the
lack of carries for Henry last week. You can't carry
the ball if your team is off the field on
third down, you know you lose those downs. Anyway, Jonathan,
what do you have going out of the Houston Chronicle
for us?

Speaker 12 (01:04:33):
I'll continue in my mental health series that I've been
writing in the past three weeks or so, so please
check that out. And then on Thursday, who posted a
story on how players keep warm again. So that was
a pretty fun story right there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
Trust me, I'm gonna be reading that Friday night Saturday
morning before we leave. Make sure that I am good
to go, because this could be cold for me. I mean,
I'm not going to getting a chance to move around
as much as the guys do on the field, and
I don't know big.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Pads to cover me so I can stay warm, y'all.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Someone else who's got to stay warm is number seven
in both warmth physically but also staying hot throwing the football.
CJ was on with Pat McAfee. Some good stuff came
out of that. We'll have for you next right here
in Texans All Access Stepping everybody, Welcome back to Friday
edition of Texans All Access as we are just under

(01:05:30):
forty eight hours from kickoff Texans Chiefs. We got the
game for you on Sports Radio six ten, Mark, Andre
and myself will carry you through the game pregame, Texans Countdown,
Sean and Seth through a hell of a job. I'll
jump on there about four point thirty five, Mark and
Andre a little bit later. We got all kinds of
guests on that show, and Shawn and Seth dough a

(01:05:50):
hell of a job with it. Then game broadcast, postgame
got Sean and Clint take you through. They take calls,
you get kind of interesting. Never get a chance to
hear them because we are on the bus going to
the plane, getting on the plane, flying home. So we
won't get home till dark thirty. But yeah, it is
what it is. As we come home with a W.
Won't matter now we have not flown home from Kansas City.

(01:06:12):
Would they win in a long time? October of twenty nineteen,
we went there on a wonderful, wonderful weather day, find
a cloud, not one in the sky. Got bumped a
little bit early. Tyreek Hill made a couple of great plays.
I remember him coming off of injury that the Texas
fought back. Carlos Hyde a uappo. He had a great game.

(01:06:35):
He ran the ball, stuffed it down her throat, took
over the fourth quarter. I remember they had like three
drives in the fourth quarter, like three to three and
outs or something like that, and took over. And then
Sean hit hop on fourth down. So we keep the
ball running out at the two minute warning and went home.

Speaker 4 (01:06:49):
With a W.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Now we've only gone Arrowhead and won twice once in
two thousand and four and that game in twenty nineteen.
Overall regular season RAC is eight and five had the
playoffs in there. Texas at Las, says we I talked
about earlier twenty fifteen, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty four. Not

(01:07:10):
in the mood to go up there and lose on
Sunday night with all that is on the line. Now,
Chiefs got a lot on line too. Chiefs lose, their
playoff hopes are eh, not great. I said it's to
mark earlier. If we win and the Broncos win, then
the Chiefs cannot win the AFC West for the first

(01:07:33):
time since twenty sixteen. If we win and the Broncos win,
then that would put five games a distance with only
four to play. Now, the Chargers could still catch the Broncos,
but hopefully we'll have a we'll have the hand and
knock it off the Chargers a couple of days after Christmas.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Well, I guess we don't even know what that game
is gonna be.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
But after Christmas, and keep the Chargers away from the Broncos,
and we'll have the Broncos win that division, which would
be the first time for them since twenty fifteen. That
we won't know, but if we win, we'll know Sunday
night we walk off that field whether the AFC West
can be won by the Kansas City Chiefs or it's
still an uphill battle. Whether we lose or winning that game,
it's still an uphill battle for the Chiefs. Broncos have

(01:08:16):
got some toughies. They got to play the Jags. They
do have to play Kansas City again, they got to
play the Chargers. But all that being said, the Chiefs,
I think I basically gotta win out and hope for
a lot, a lot, a lot of help to win
a division. It's gonna be tough. I'd like to put
them out of their misery. Let them think about wildcard
and wildcard only. But even at that point Texas win,

(01:08:37):
their playoff probability is about ten percent, and that would
be kind of nice. Knock them out of the playoffs basically,
and then go take care of business as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Get the eight and five.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Ooh man, stop me having too good a time, Okay.
CJS Drive was on with Pat McAfee earlier this week.
We pulled a snippet out of there, and we started
here with CJ's respond to bouncing back.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
And how it started not so great.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
It started to bounce back and starting to play some
good football and get in rhythm.

Speaker 13 (01:09:08):
Yeah, of course, you know, we didn't start off, you know,
the way we wanted to. You know, we lost you know,
five games you know in between one score. But I think,
you know, other than you know, looking down on ourselves
about it, you know, as a positive, you know, to
fix some issues and then we start winning these close
games against these really good teams. You know, we'll be
able to you know, take the next leap to you know,
get to where we want to go, and that's the
playoffs and then go from there. So you know, I thought,

(01:09:31):
you know, yesterday was was a really good start for us,
you know, at least for me coming back. And I thought,
you know, we answered the bell against a really you know,
really good team with the coach there, you know, have
a really good defense, and you know we're playing really
well offensively. But like you said, our defense man has
you know, been you know, a rock and you know, just.

Speaker 6 (01:09:48):
The best in the league.

Speaker 13 (01:09:49):
From you know, I practice against them, so I know
how hard it is to go against them.

Speaker 9 (01:09:52):
Go ahead, Yeah, see, j Obviously it's actually about the
Stroudhouse that we just saw this picture.

Speaker 6 (01:09:57):
What is it about?

Speaker 14 (01:09:58):
Like you seem to play very well in the confines
of Lucas Oil. What is it about that good sight lines,
like a good bit, Like what is it? It seems like
you just obviously you play well all the time, but
whenever you come into the Loudhouse, as Pat likes to
call it, you seem to do, you know, take it
to another level.

Speaker 6 (01:10:13):
It's the name of the place.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:10:16):
I always just saying, like the level of focus, you know, uh,
maybe it goes up a little more just because it's
the divisional opponent. And you know, my boys, I hear
you know, he's always mad at me and he always
talking crazy, so maybe turn me up just a little bit.
And so I know he's gonna hear this and he's
gonna hate it. But you know, after the game, we're
always cool, but daring it. Me and him go at

(01:10:38):
it pretty good. But it's just odd of competition. So
you know, I think it turns me up a little
bit more. And I think, you know, my old line
hears it and they want to play harder. So you know,
it's just a division rival, you know, and in those games,
you know, you're gonna be talking back and forth and
you know, having worse for one another. And I think
maybe that you know terms of sub but yeah, I
just try to, you know, just be focused every play.

(01:10:59):
You know, don't want to know every play, and you'll
take it from there.

Speaker 6 (01:11:02):
It's something sleep baby.

Speaker 10 (01:11:03):
We gotta play you guys again. We gotta play you
guys again. It's it's gonna mean a lot. And let's
just let sej strologist go a little bit. You got
this moxie about you know, you're duck footed and you go.
He'll tell I was watching you walk because you're right
in front of our suite. Whether it's a touchdown happening
on the other side, you got a full seut. You're
by yourself. You're over there, just have your time. That
old lineman comes running over to you. Your walk is

(01:11:24):
just that filled with or. I mean, you are your
franchise QB brother, It is uh, it is cool to
watch you kind of do your thing. Now, let's talk
about the quarterback position and everything that you've gone through
this year.

Speaker 6 (01:11:35):
Go ahead, de bud.

Speaker 11 (01:11:35):
Yeah, on that note, being a franchise QB, obviously you
were banged up and you had to kind of watch
the game from a different perspective you used to being
out there. What's that relationship like with Davis Milby call
him Dougie Mills, But what's the relationship were like with
him off the field with you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
That's my brother, bro.

Speaker 13 (01:11:51):
Like he's He's been a really great leader for me
come into the league. I thought, you know, coming in,
you know, fighting for the same position. You know, he
always showed me love still and I try to do
the same, and he's made me better. I feel like
I made him better. We have our QB dinners that
we do, you know, and we had a lot. His wife,
you know, is a really good friend of mine as well.

(01:12:12):
And his family, you know, I meet them, you know,
every time they come to the games and stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
So that's my brother man.

Speaker 13 (01:12:17):
I always support him always, you know, him on and
I just think it's funny that people ask these questions now,
just you know, because he's you know, he had you know,
some really good games, and you know it's something that
like I root that on.

Speaker 4 (01:12:28):
I want.

Speaker 13 (01:12:29):
I think he's the starter in the NFL, you know,
and I think, you know, he's proven that.

Speaker 6 (01:12:33):
It feels like you guys have a great culture down there.
On that note, Connor has a question for you.

Speaker 15 (01:12:37):
Yeah, CJ. Yesterday and throughout this four game win streak,
Jayden Higgins and Woody Marks have really come alive.

Speaker 6 (01:12:42):
Two rookies.

Speaker 15 (01:12:43):
Nick Cassio once again in his bag, How what have
you seen from them as the season has gone on,
just developing as a wide receiver and running back and
their contributions to the offense during this win streak.

Speaker 4 (01:12:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:12:57):
I always remember my rookie year and like being thrown
on the fire and kind of just thinking of a
lot like time on task. You know, it's like some things,
you know, are better when you just get thrown in
the fire. You have to figure it out. And I thought,
you know they've they've figured it out pretty early. So
you know, wood he has been an anchor, you know,
in a running game, and you know it's created a
lot of you know, big, big time running.

Speaker 4 (01:13:17):
Plays for us.

Speaker 13 (01:13:19):
And then on top of that, you know Higg is
out there, you know, and he's he has a lot
on his plate blocking and you know, running routes, and
I thought he's done a great job of that and
you know, clean body language, and you know, it hasn't
been overnight. A lot of conversations that I have with
those guys, just you know, being that I was just
a rookie you know, two years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
You know.

Speaker 13 (01:13:35):
It just shows that you know, like I understand, you
know what they're going through. And I think the main
thing is like confidence, you know, with that being a rookie,
you know, so you can keep your confidence. Man, this
is the same game plays since we were ten eleven
years old. It's just you know, at a different scale.
So the confidence that you bring each and every day,
you know, and the preparation you know, all you know
as up to you know, how you play on Sundays.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
Rookies have played with a lot of confidence, especially offensively.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
Jalen Read.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
It was great to get him in there and would
have loved to have seen him continue to play because
I think he's just gonna send now he's off the
previous injury, but now he's got to deal with this
forum injury. And we'll see how the Texans go about
it with their secondary especially the Kamari Lassiter banged up.
But you can see it offensively and you can see
how the confidence is growing at Jade Higgins.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
How it's and I hope it continues with.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Jalen Knowle getting him a little bit more reps, try
and get him the ball a little bit more, especially
going back to his hometown. Areata Erstreet going back to
this hometown and plus Graham Mertz going back to this hometown.
So three of the Texans rookies came out of Kansas,
the Kansas City area, even though they went to three
different schools, that all said their confidence is showing no
doubt out on the field and hopefully that'll continue on

(01:14:46):
Sunday evening. Okay, it's a feel good Friday. You know
what that means. We got to hear from the man himself.
Cap Number fifty nine, Tbeka. Ryan's your head coach, my
head coach. The only way we can finish a show
on Friday. We'll do that next in Texas All Access.
Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:15:04):
It's a feel good Friday ed issue of Texans All Access.

Speaker 1 (01:15:07):
And you know what that means. I'm your host, Steenie
John Harris Football on the Sideline Report. I appreciate you
being here and I want to leave the show happy.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
I want to feel good and to do.

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
That as we have basically started last year and continued
on last segment of my two hours tonight. We got
more coming up, Kate Stover, You're gonna hear from you
here from Yakub Johnson. Mark'll have you for the next hour.
But I want to feel good. I want to leave
the studio feeling good. And that means Tamiko Ryans right
here with.

Speaker 3 (01:15:38):
Us in studio, head coach, Tamiko Ryan's coach. Great to
see it, Congratulations on the victory.

Speaker 6 (01:15:42):
Thank you, Great to see you. Guys.

Speaker 3 (01:15:43):
All right here we are. It's Chiefs Week, big one,
and we'll talk about that. But let's talk about the
Colts game first, going up to Indianapolis, and you got
accomplished what you needed to You got the victory and
made the big plays at the moment of truth.

Speaker 6 (01:15:57):
Now that was the key to the game.

Speaker 5 (01:15:59):
I thought we did a great job on third down,
the critical down, third down offense and defense. We made
plays we needed to make and defensively get into two
big fourth down stops. Those were the plays of the game.
Right they're in position to score, there to go for it.
We stopped them in their own territory. That was huge
plays in the game and just how we also how

(01:16:20):
he finished the game offensively being able to run the
clock out. Just thought, overall, we did what we needed
to do. I thought CJ's first game back, he stepped in,
did some really you know, good things with the football,
finding a lot of different receivers. He did a really
nice job of managing the game. Like I said yesterday,
if some throws he probably won't back, and that's also

(01:16:41):
the russ from being out for three weeks.

Speaker 6 (01:16:44):
That happens.

Speaker 5 (01:16:45):
But I felt like he also grew in a sense,
so he had some as I call him, sack saber
plays or the defender is on him and he just
dirted the ball like he's he's growing, he's making good decisions,
and he's continuing to progress and get better. So I'm
excited for where he started and now looking forward to
his next week to see how how much of a
step he contained.

Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
Could you talk about CJ from the physical aspect and
the rust, how much from the mental aspect? Is the
rust having to shake off as well? Because one thing
you said your press conference stood out to me, and
you said that you spied their blitzes, so change protections
to get those stopped and they stop blitzing.

Speaker 2 (01:17:22):
Because you were starting to pick them up.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
How much of the rush shaking off part is the
mental part of Okay, I got to go back to
reading defenses on the regular with them about to come
sack me.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
How much of the is the mental part for CJ
getting over that?

Speaker 6 (01:17:38):
Yeah, the mental part is, Hugh.

Speaker 5 (01:17:39):
I also think our coaches did a really great job
Kaylee and his staff. They did a great job of
working on those things in practice and our walkthroughs when
we're slowing it down and we're truly just teaching, like
in our meetings, how we go through the protection meetings
and I think we just we handled it really well
this week, and the guys were locked in. They're attentive,
and the same things that we talked about in the meetings.

(01:18:02):
They came up on the field and it's like it's
that final exam, like you have to pass it. You
gotta be on it, and they did a great job
of communicating. O line did a great job in Our
backs did a great job picking up the blizzers as well.

Speaker 3 (01:18:13):
And speaking of the backs, coach the running game, it's
not like a high volume yard per carry average, but
you're stuck with it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:19):
You ram for over one hundred yards. You did what
needed to be done.

Speaker 5 (01:18:22):
Yeah, it's funny, you know some of those runs where
they got guys running through, like they got linebackers running through,
you got possible TFLs.

Speaker 6 (01:18:31):
It's easy to say, oh, we.

Speaker 5 (01:18:32):
Got to scrap the run right and start just throwing
it more. But I like how Kayley continued to stay
with the run. We changed up some of the runs
we had some schematically, like we started to go outside
zone a little bit more, started to go more toss plays,
trying to get on the perimeter. So even though it
doesn't look great on some a couple plays like, you
still have to stay with it and keep the variety

(01:18:53):
there to keep the defense on the heels. And that's
what we did and we were able to turn out
some really good yard it's by getting the ball on
the per a little bit more. What he did a
great job on a perimeter run of cutting back, so
we got Nico a run for a first touchdown, first
wrestling touchdown. So it was just really cool things of
how we mix it up in the run game. Getting
chubbed in a wildcat formation allow him to run. So

(01:19:16):
I just like the variety of things that we're doing.

Speaker 1 (01:19:19):
Coach, I know if we were to sit here and say, hey,
what do you like about your team, and you'd say toughness, physicality, resilient,
those are all traits. I think you'd want to see
your team, and you have seen your team. Yesterday might
have been the best case of resilience. When they came
down and score a touchdown, boom, turned right back around
and went score a touchdown. Then they tied it at

(01:19:41):
thirteen after the interference, and then Warren's touchdown, Boom, you
go right back down and score again. Offensively to bounce back,
and then the defense after they'd scored, okay, we're gonna stop.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
Him twice holding to the field going the last two drives.

Speaker 1 (01:19:54):
Resilience seemed to be kind of the key offensively, all Right,
you're gonna score, we're gonna answer, and we're gonna show
our resilience to go back and take the lead from you.

Speaker 6 (01:20:01):
And it was cool to see. It was cool to
just feel it too.

Speaker 5 (01:20:04):
From our sideline. It was everybody was just even q.
You felt the confidence amongst our sideline, like the offense did.
They moved the ball really really well, fairly, had a
lot of chunk plays. Defense was getting off on third
down making some stops. We were attacking the football. Jalen
had a couple passes he was so you felt like, okay,

(01:20:25):
we're kind of in control here of the game. And
you know when you feel that way, it's like, okay,
no matter what happens, I feel like we made plays before,
We'll go do it again.

Speaker 3 (01:20:37):
What about your new reserve quarterback Cade Stover? Very interesting stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:20:42):
It worked.

Speaker 3 (01:20:42):
I know it didn't work at the end on the
third and fourth down, but on the third it looked
to us like you had it but whatever. But it
was creative, it was different, and it was effective.

Speaker 6 (01:20:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:20:50):
That goes to also just coaching. You try to switch
things up. Things haven't worked that we tried before, so
you gotta not keep doing the same things. And so
that was a play that we wanted to do. Kate
had done it before, he was on the center before,
so try to throw that in and it worked.

Speaker 6 (01:21:07):
It was effective for us. I'm with you.

Speaker 5 (01:21:09):
I think we got the we got the first down
our third and this I was like, no, do that again.
If that that wasn't the yard, like, let's try that again.
So I really liked just changing it up, giving given
the defense something else to you know, try to defend
that they haven't seen from us.

Speaker 1 (01:21:26):
We're you're a little worried that they tried it beforehand
and they watched it because he's.

Speaker 6 (01:21:32):
No I said, we're going to do it better.

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
Don't worry, no worries because you've always I've always wondered this.

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
And as a defensive coach, team wins the coin toss
and they say we want the ball. I would think
for your guys yesterday when they said that, I would
imagine it's like, whoa, they want the ball against us
to start the game. What's the feeling like for you
and the defensive staff and the defensive players like, oh,

(01:21:59):
is it?

Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
Is it? Oh? They want to test us? Or is
it just okay? We got to go play ball? Or
mix the both.

Speaker 5 (01:22:04):
For us, it was let's go play ball. It's something
that Shane has actually done a lot, you know, throughout
the season where he's taking the ball and it's kind
of it's been their game plan of how they've gotten
the lead on a lot of teams. They take the
ball early and they try to get up a school early.
They try to have you playing from behind. So that
was that's been as strategy.

Speaker 6 (01:22:24):
It's work form before.

Speaker 5 (01:22:25):
But our defense did a really nice job of shutting
that down very quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:22:31):
I know you like seeing great defense, but also great
defense is thirteen play drives. Fourteen play drives to keep
the other team's offense off the field. And even if
you don't get a touchdown, you held the ball for
a long time, and you've done it numerous times this year.
You're a very high time of possession team in this league,
top three or something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
So what about that part of things?

Speaker 6 (01:22:51):
Coach? I love that bar.

Speaker 5 (01:22:53):
You know, it's uh where we control the game, and
we control it just not by being in a rush.
As I tell our guys, I want to methodically just
drive down the field, take our time, methodically drive down
the field, just get positive plays, whatever that looks like.
We don't have to always go for the chunk play,
explosive play, just throwing it up a fifty to fifty ball. No,

(01:23:13):
Let's let's methodically get guys open, Let's make great decisions
with the football. Let's mix in our run, our play
action pass, and let's just drive down and once we
get across man field, now we're in striking.

Speaker 6 (01:23:25):
This is now let's go score.

Speaker 5 (01:23:27):
I feel like, we can also finish some of these
drives better by finishing in the end zone. They're doing
a great job of driving controlling the game, but now
it's even better when you can control the game and
finish the drive with seven points.

Speaker 2 (01:23:39):
We talked all last week.

Speaker 1 (01:23:41):
We knew what job number one was for the defense,
so was stopping twenty eight. When you look back at
the film, coach A, how well do you think you
did in that regard and b holding him twenty one
to eighty five feels pretty good.

Speaker 6 (01:23:54):
What was the key in doing that and the key
to stopping the raw? It was tackling.

Speaker 5 (01:23:58):
I thought everybody tackled really well, even on the Probably
my favorite player of the game is the fourth down
one that they fumbled the snap on the tight end sneak.

Speaker 6 (01:24:08):
They fumbled the snap, and.

Speaker 5 (01:24:10):
Just watch how all of our guys just finished and tackled,
Like that's what the defense looks like, right, And that's
Jonathan Taylor Again, I would say he's one of the
better best backs in our league because he's just so elusive.

Speaker 6 (01:24:23):
He starts the ball frost side and he can cut
back in any gap.

Speaker 5 (01:24:27):
So you have to remain patient, remained disciplined, and I
thought our guys did that for the most part. A
couple of runs got out on us when we weren't
disciplined in our gaps, but when we were where we
were supposed to be and we tackled well, there was
nowhere for them to run the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:24:39):
What about second and two when you come up with
a big TfL with Mario and Will and now it's
third and seven and they don't get it.

Speaker 5 (01:24:46):
Yeah, that's that's where we wanted to be. You wanted
to create some negative plays on the early downs. Get
them in third and seventh plus. That's where they didn't
live much where they've been successful as an offense. They
lived in third and two to five a lot. When
you had third and two to five, you have everything
at your dispose. You can run the ball, you can
do play action, you have everything. So for us getting
him in third and seven plus making him have to

(01:25:09):
drop back, we felt like that would be our a
vanas in his game.

Speaker 6 (01:25:13):
And you know, our defense did a really nice job
with third down.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
And you only ended up with one sack. Yeah, that's
kind of normal.

Speaker 1 (01:25:22):
We've talked about this for a long time, coach that
you know sometimes the defensive story isn't told through sacks
when guys are dropping back. How did you feel like
the pass rush was effective with Daniel knowing that he
was a little banged up watching warms, didn't look like
he's moving around all that well. Was that something that
you guys, I don't want to say, pray to palm.
Was that something that you guys took into account as

(01:25:44):
you were rushing him that it wasn't going to quite
be like Josh Allen the week before, that you could
do some different things against him because he maybe wasn't
moving as well as he had before in the season.

Speaker 5 (01:25:52):
Yeah, knowing he wasn't moving as well, so we probably
fired a few more pressures than we would normally run,
and so we didn't get the sacks per se, But
I felt like we got the pressure on it to
make him speed up his throws, and that's what we
wanted him.

Speaker 6 (01:26:05):
To do, speed up the throws. It worked for us.

Speaker 5 (01:26:07):
Our guys are in position, they were making plays on
the ball, tackling when we needed to tackle. But uh,
and I feel like also it's just when we had
some one on one opportunities on the early downs in
the play action passing game, Like, we got to be
able to win those one on ones a little bit better.
So it's still there's some improvements to be made on
our d line when we have the one on one rushes,

(01:26:29):
there are some opportunities where I felt like we could
have closed it out a little bit better.

Speaker 3 (01:26:32):
Coach, in your press conference, you talked about your central
message this week and maybe a lot of weeks, which is, yeah,
you're happy you won, but you feel like there's more
meat on the bone there.

Speaker 2 (01:26:40):
You can play better than.

Speaker 6 (01:26:42):
You have no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:44):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:26:44):
You always want to get to win first, and that's
the first thing. So we got the win great, and
now is to come back. And as we're really dissecting
the tape and looking at it, it's like, man, we
can be so much better, Like how do we give
this play up when we work this or how can
we have this penalty where we're not It's like so
many little things I know we can improve upon as

(01:27:07):
a team, which we as a coach is that we're
just talking is low hanging fruit. It's small things that
we can just nip in the bud that I know.
We have a really great team and they're still even
better out there. For us, we just got to make
sure we're locked in every single time we line up,
make sure we're locked in, make sure we're doing all
of those little things, because that's what's gonna happen the

(01:27:28):
bigger these games get down the stretch, it is gonna
come down to the fine details.

Speaker 2 (01:27:32):
As a coach, you're the teacher.

Speaker 3 (01:27:34):
So the students, if you will, are doing better than
they did earlier.

Speaker 2 (01:27:37):
This season, you see a trend getting better.

Speaker 5 (01:27:41):
Grades are getting better. I'm grading is getting better. We're
doing a great job. So we gotta gotta keep going up.
And that's one thing you want to see in a season,
right you. It's not about how you start, but it's
about who are you becoming as a team, how you grow,
and how you getting better. And I really love the
growth of our team. Uh O line and sell In
doing some really good things. I mean CJ the quarterback,

(01:28:05):
Davis playing well. CJ's playing playing goods first game back.
So our receivers, they're playing, different guys making huts, making plays.

Speaker 6 (01:28:14):
Higgins nak.

Speaker 5 (01:28:15):
It's like a lot of different guys making plays. And
I see the growth of our team. I see where
we are and now here down the stretch is just
about remaining locked in, just one at a time, controlling
what we control one at a time, finishing with the win.
Whatever it takes, however it looks, it doesn't matter, just
finish with the win.

Speaker 1 (01:28:33):
Could you know I'm contractually obligated to ask you about tackling,
but we already got into it a little bit about
this one. So I'm gonna ask my question looking forward.
Because the guy we play Sunday night we all know
very well, and one of the things that he does
best is exploit bad tackling. And that's Patrick Mahomes when
he gets out of the pocket, whether it's escaping and
tackle to make a throat, escaping a tackle to scramble

(01:28:55):
for twenty how important does the tackling become just I
know the running backs are good, but on him in general,
how big is the tackling got to be and how
good is the tackling have to be to slow him
down from making those type plays.

Speaker 5 (01:29:07):
Yeah, the main thing with the tackling with him is
you never never assume right, Never assume that you know
he's throwing the ball, never assume that he's like, just
go finish. You're a play like if he's scrambling out
of the pocket, and make sure you just have body
on body, making sure you're clean with him going out
to play, always understanding he can throw the ball at
any given time. He's not really looking to scramble and

(01:29:30):
run the ball like he is looking to throw the ball.
His eyes are always downfield, so secondary has to be
aware of that, making sure you're sticky on your covers
and the guys who are rushing, you know, kind of
similar to the Josh Allen piece. He's a bigger player,
strong guy. Just have to make sure you finish.

Speaker 3 (01:29:47):
Coach, I know that you played them twice late last year,
December and January. It's cold, it's going to be cold
this weekend. It was cold last year. You're used to it,
going up to Arrowhead Stadium in a good way. How
does that help you knowing the environment, knowing what you're
gonna be dealing with on Sunday night.

Speaker 5 (01:30:04):
Yeah, I'm excited for it because, like you said, Mark,
like we're used to you know what it is. You
know the environment. We've been there before. We were just
there last year two games. It shouldn't be new to anyone,
Like what the how that environment is gonna be and
if we can just focus on playing better football in
Kansas City and finishing like that last game we had,

(01:30:25):
we just we're close. The closes is gonna map. Those
games are always going to be close. Kansas City really
great football team. They've won a ton of Super Bowls
here over the past few years. Like it's gonna be
about playing four quarters of football, discipline, fundamental focus, and
finishing the right way.

Speaker 1 (01:30:43):
Yeah, these guys, I mean, they've got so many different
guys we could ask you about, but I want to
ask you about a group that I think everybody's talked
about for a long time, and it feels like this
group is kind of settling in Coach and you mentioned
them a little bit. I want to talk about the
offensive line and what that group coming together and playing
together and what you're seeing with them having some continuity
kind of game after game being that same five.

Speaker 5 (01:31:05):
And what you see is you can see, you know,
just better communication up front, whether it's handling a game,
whether it's Tightest and Tay on the left side, Like
if you sense an alignment, Tightest can communicate with Tay
and on Hey expect that this te game is coming
and we can pick it up the right way, whether
it's on the right side.

Speaker 6 (01:31:24):
You know, you have Trent and.

Speaker 5 (01:31:26):
Ed they're working double teams just being on it, or
Jake and Ed in the middle working doubles. It's just
when you work with a guy consistently, you would expect that, hey, I.

Speaker 6 (01:31:35):
Know how we're playing.

Speaker 5 (01:31:37):
We have that kind of you know, unsaid communication or
it's non verbal. We can just say I know how
we're fitting this, I know where we're going to And
the more and more we can do that, the better
we can be. And again, offensive line wise, I think
we've done some good things the past two weeks, but
again there's still some better things we can do when
it comes to getting up to the second level on

(01:31:59):
the line.

Speaker 3 (01:32:00):
Coach, every few weeks, you know, I like to ask
you how you handle practice, because here we are in
December now and five weeks to go in the regular season,
So how do you handle practice? The physicality of such
being later in the year.

Speaker 5 (01:32:13):
Now, Yeah, the physicality it tones down right now at
this point of the season. I got they know how
to tackle, they should, they should, they better know how
to tackle now, but don't really want that physical grind
on their bodies. The seasons are long, as we know it,
so as we get later in the season, how handle
practice is just more mentally focused on understanding what are

(01:32:36):
you facing like trying to get those plays. Not so
much of the physicality of putting on the past block
and tackling, but it's just understanding mentally where you need
to be and get in as many reps as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:32:47):
Okay, I remember hearing Peyton Manning have done this many
many years ago when he anticipated rain.

Speaker 2 (01:32:54):
He would go out and he dunked.

Speaker 1 (01:32:55):
The balls in water and then you throw water log
passes throughout just to get used to it.

Speaker 2 (01:33:00):
What can you do for cold, especially in.

Speaker 1 (01:33:02):
The environment we live in, Coach, is there anything to
mimic the cold? Can you put the put the balls
in the freezer? And that's what CJ and the receivers
you know, practice with. But what what can you do?
Is there anything that you can do to be prepared
for a decently cold night?

Speaker 6 (01:33:16):
Hey?

Speaker 5 (01:33:16):
If anybody has any tips, let me know. Well for me,
I'm inntally this. Hey, you got a man up three hours,
let's go to work. No matter what the conditions are,
you man up, especially with the cold weather. Hey, put
on something warm, not too warm, put on enough where you're.

Speaker 4 (01:33:33):
Not worried about it.

Speaker 5 (01:33:34):
And my mindset is always, Man, you go in the game,
it's like you got to psych yourself out mentally. Also
it's like, I'm not worried about the weather, Like put
that behind you is going to be cold, get over it.

Speaker 6 (01:33:46):
Now, what are you going to do? It's cold for
them as well.

Speaker 3 (01:33:48):
Coach, we know you like to make these videos every week,
and sometimes you tell us what you put in these
videos for the players because you like to teach with video, right,
it helps people's attention spans and whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:33:57):
It gets the message across.

Speaker 3 (01:33:58):
But from the game against the Colts, I think the
Ingram block.

Speaker 2 (01:34:02):
Okay, there are certain.

Speaker 3 (01:34:04):
Moments we talked about the TfL on second down and two.
What other things stood out to you is moments from
that game where you might say, hey, Tim, show this.

Speaker 6 (01:34:13):
Man, that is a good one.

Speaker 3 (01:34:14):
There's anybody else help you with that? Like coaches have
suggestions and things like that.

Speaker 5 (01:34:18):
When I go up, the coaches will have some suggestions
of plays that they have and I already have my
list of plays that I want to show, and then
they kind of pare it down with all the coordinators
will give me clips, but it's a I think a
mere speed showing up his first like his first rep,
you know as a text and showing up splitting the

(01:34:38):
splitting the double team on the pun and going down
and making a play. I thought that was that was
a huge play show of course, is I mean hughes
block he knocks the go off his feet.

Speaker 6 (01:34:48):
Definitely showing that one.

Speaker 5 (01:34:49):
Uh some of the CJ the keeper rolling to our right,
rolling to our sideline and the throw to cast over. Yeah,
great kids, right, So it's a it's a lot of
good there's a lot of nice plays in there, a
lot of physical plays as well.

Speaker 6 (01:35:05):
Kamari always showing up. I got the heat.

Speaker 5 (01:35:09):
He fired and blitzed on one play and hit hit
Daniel Jones and see their sideline they're looking like, oh
what happened with the corner blitz Like. So it's some
really good things that happened all across and there's always
some fine details that you can see also with you know,
how guys are celebrating people on the sideline. May see

(01:35:29):
Johnny over here celebrating yeah man.

Speaker 1 (01:35:33):
The team meeting as well, Yeah yeah, I got so
I got my celebration.

Speaker 2 (01:35:36):
Can I make it? Can I make one suggestion?

Speaker 6 (01:35:38):
Bring it on?

Speaker 2 (01:35:40):
There was a there was a new linebacker that played
the other day.

Speaker 1 (01:35:43):
I had not seen him play a linebacker throughout this year,
Number fifty one, new linebacker.

Speaker 2 (01:35:49):
Oh yeah, from the middle. Can we put that one
on there as well?

Speaker 1 (01:35:52):
Yeah? That on that damn right, it's on there, and
hopefully there's more of that coming on Sunday night. We'll
see you then, everybody, and as always, go Texans.