December 8, 2025 • 47 mins
Marc and John examine the historical significance of this victory—the Texans' first-ever road win of this magnitude at Arrowhead against a defending AFC champion. They compare it to 2011's playoff breakthrough and discuss how this triumph positions Houston (8-5) as legitimate contenders while putting Kansas City's playoff hopes in serious jeopardy at 6-7.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Monday. Everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome into Texans All Access from the Hyundai Texans Radio studio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
John Harrison, Mark Vandermiir with you.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Sorry we couldn't make it for Texans Monday, but we
had basically just arrived as the show was starting, so
we needed a couple hours, a couple I think that's
what we're on right now. It is about two or
three hours of sleep. But it doesn't matter because twenty
to ten over the Kansas City Chiefs defending AFC champions
makeshift feel pretty good?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
How about that? Mark Vandermiir.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
The Texas are two to zero against last year's AFC
Championship game combatants, the Bills and the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good evening, how are you? Yeah, I'm doing great, Johnny.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
And when you look at the two MVPs, right he
get faced.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And you didn't face Lamar Jackson this year obviously when
you played the Ravens. But the numbers against those two
are amazing for the Houston Texans defense. But the macro
thing is this, and I've gone through my memory banks
and I don't think, in fact, I know the Texans
have never won a game like this.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
They've never won a game like this. In their history.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Look, we've had taken gigantic steps over the years, and
the first one was twenty eleven getting into the postseason.
In twenty twelve, you had a shot at New England.
That's what I comped this one too, exactly because you
went into that game with.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
A better record than them.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
You were playing a primetime Roady, Mikey and Night football game,
and you came up way short. They kicked your butts yep,
and you were never the same after that, really. And
in twenty fifteen you got a big win in December,
winning at Indy for the first time, but you weren't
playing a full deck Indianapolis team, and you weren't a
full deck team yourself. Okay, you were down to your
(01:43):
third fourth quarterback literally in that game. So you got
the job done, though, and it was a gigantic step
at the time, it was a big step. Twenty sixteen,
you did it again up at Indy. But Johnny, when
have you won a game like this? Twenty nineteen, you did,
in twenty eighteen, you didn't. Twenty eighteen, you went to
Philly face the defending champions, right and you took your shot.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
But you missed. You had them on the ropes and
you let them up. You let them up.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yep, twenty nineteen, there's really no comp You want some
big roadies down the stretch. You beat the Titans, You
beat Tampa Bay when they were going good.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
They had won four in a row at the time.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It's not the Chiefs at Arrowhead, and so at night,
let's take it to last night, that moment. Look, the Chiefs,
this is not the best Chiefs team we've ever seen,
although the locals and the Chiefs themselves will tell you
they're more talented than last year's team. They're just not
winning the close ones. And I know they had linemen out,
but no one's going to sing the blues for the
(02:36):
Kansas City Chiefs, including the Houston Texans, who had to
go three and a half games without CJ. Stroud, who
have had to deal with numerous injuries over the year
and had to retool the offensive line on the fly
until they found their best five. So the Chiefs are
playing with whatever they've got and you lit them up defensively.
I know the scoreboard doesn't reflect that, but you lit
them up. The stats sheet does. It looks like a
(02:59):
rap sheet that you put together facing Patrick Mahomes in
that offense. You took it to them on the road
in December. They're the kings of the AFC.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But no more.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Look they can still get into the playoffs and who
knows what happens, But for now, you've done your job.
Let's go four games left in the regular season. Yeah,
she set four left.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
They very easily could go four and oh, and they
would need to go four and oh to get to
ten and seven.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Ten and seven probably gets them in easily.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Not easily.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I mean they've got the Broncos and Chargers at Arrowhead,
and you don't look Arrowhead. They know the Eagles beat
them there this year. We beat them last night. So
Airhead is not the house of horrors. It is for
other teams for a number of reasons. But when you
look at last night, and I go back to training camp,
and it was hard in training camp, because especially in
(03:55):
training camp, to tell people exactly how good and almost
more importantly.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
How ferocious this defense looked.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
In training camp, you they just looked different like I've seen.
I didn't see, you know, Seth and Gary Walker in
that initial defensive crew, which was very very good. But
I've seen every defensive Crew basically since with the eleven crew,
I wasn't the building yet, but I watched that group,
you know, as JJ was a young player. Then JJ's
(04:28):
in his prime with you know, with Romeo calling the
defense for a while, fifteen and then sixteen is number
one without JJ. I've seen good defense, as Mark, but
I don't know that I've seen a defense like this.
And I'm having a hard time when I I was
trying to stay away, trying to get back to the
house this morning, and I was thinking about the defense,
(04:50):
and I just thought, it's just different. It's not enough
to go get an interception on one drive. It's not
an to get a stop on fourth down. It's to
do it again. It's to do it again. It's to
knock somebody, you know. Basically you know those like air
(05:11):
blow up thingies. Yeah, you know that all right, like
rental car used car places. That's what Jalen Petrie turned
Rashi Rice into. Yep, Like watch him land in his
alarms and legs flail like there is a ferocity in
a ferociousness with this defense that is just hard really
to put into words, like you almost have to say
(05:33):
just watch them.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And here's the other thing that stood out really with
the defense.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
If you go back and look at the wins this
team has had this year, you can point out somebody,
you know, the star of the game being somebody different.
Just think back to you know, go back to the
Ravens game on the road. Petrie has the two interceptions. Yeah,
(06:00):
he has the big hit on Derrick Henry, which it
was funny because somebody it may have been Figgy, you know,
the neo DiCaprio meme where he's sitting once upon a
time in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And he points at this. He gets a many points
at the screen.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
He said, Derrick Henry right now, and he put the
video over Rishi Rice. It was Jalen Petrie in that game.
And then it gets the Jaguars when we got to
make a comeback, it's Daniel Hunter. Daniel Hunter takes over
the damn game right, completely takes over. Against the Buffalo Bills,
Kaylan in the back end forces three turnovers. Will has
(06:33):
the two and a half sacks against the Colts last week.
It's it's kind of everybody at that point on the defense,
and then last night it was really you know, everybody defensively,
but it was the secondary Kamari played out of his
freaking mind.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Petrie was incredible.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Kaylan has the big hit on the receiver on Petre's interception.
Sting knocks down the fourth down throw because nobody throws
its sting.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So Kelsey getting hit by Miles by Here's the other
thing too.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
This team has no chill, Like if you wear a
different color jersey, you're gonna get the hell.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Beat out of you. Right, They're coming after you. They
are coming after you.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
If you it's almost like a challenge to them, like, oh,
you think you're gonna catch a pass in my area, right,
You're about to get smoke.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And Seth was talking about that this morning. I heard
bits of their show on delay because I was sleeping
for much of it. Yes, of course, but he mentioned
that that, believe me, the offensive players know what is
going on and they're aware that they are going to
get clocked by this Texans defense. You've got to be tough.
You're getting if you're playing this defense. This is no
(07:42):
finesse group. They play with finesse when needed, but they
come after you. The Petrie hit last night, that Miles
Bryant hit I just described that was on the disease
pick the juggling pick where Kelsey takes a tremendous shot.
That's why he was on the ground and it looked
bad for a split secon or two.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I love watching them operate.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
We talked about it during the Demico Ryans show that
it is a group. Your stats will come, don't worry
about it. Play within Demiko's system. Do what he wants
you to do, and you'll get yours. You'll get his,
He'll get your. You know, you're all going to fill
up the stat sheet in some way, shape or form.
Like you mentioned in the different games, different guys will
(08:24):
shine at different times. Hell, you're going into last night's game.
Kamari Laughstter is your second leading tackler on the number
one defense in the league.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
A cornerback is the second.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Leading tackler, and if you look at Disease as tackle
numbers leading the team, it's not like he's with the
league leaders. It's not coming from one spot. They are
getting you from all over the place. So that is
a wonderful thing to see. It's a team unit, beautiful
to watch. The whole world is noticing. Now you've had
two out of the last three games in prime time
where you with the show, your defense was the show,
(08:55):
and you won both of them. And look, this is
the Houston Texans, Johnny look at great in prime time,
Buffalo at home on a Thursday, yep, Sunday night at Arrowhead,
and you're gonna get a national standalone game on Saturday,
the second to last week of the season, in all
likelihood against the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
All yeah, yeah, I think that's the You know, it's
interesting getting on the plane and you and not get
a chance to know these guys on this roster. And
if you were to tell, if we were to tell people,
people you know, ask from outside, you know, different areas
you know about these guys.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
You know Azaz I mean, look at the way he
played on in the field.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It's like they put their helmet on and it's like
there's a whole different persona Like we know Aziz.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Al Shire, sweet guy.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
But whoever is out in the field that's agent zero,
you know, Like Kamara Lasser has got a smile that
brightens up this entire building, but he goes on the
field he's K three, you know. Like Jalen Petrie is
the nicest I mean, the stuff that he does for
working in the food Bank of Houston. He's unbelievable. He
(10:05):
is beloved by Baylor Bear fans. But you put him
on a football field and you put that helmet on
and he becomes five. Like it's just this different mindset.
And there's all that joke about JJ McCarthy becoming nine whatever.
These guys transform themselves into heat seeking missiles. But off
the field, I take one of those as my son
(10:27):
in law, Like I love them that much.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
It's because they're such good dudes.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
But man, when they are out there together, and dare
I forget to mention my guy? In training camp, there
was a guy talked about if I went back and
looked at every single Harris Hits article I wrote during
training camp, there was a guy mentioned every day, Tommy.
Every single freaking day, it was Tommy togiuy And last
(10:54):
night when there's no Tim Settle, man, what are you
gonna do? And and hey, guy got in for about
four or five plays, what are you gonna do? You've
only got three of the rotation? Now you know four
Tommy has ten tackles, he gets a sack, He's all
over the place.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
They can't block him.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Like, what in the world is going on and back
in training camp, we said it, We're like, man, I know,
they got a lot of bodies, they got a lot
of people in the interior, but seventy two is having
the best training camp of anybody at any position. He's
dominating every time he goes in the field. He's inactive
for the first two games. He then is active for
the third game, and he has been not only a
(11:34):
key contributor, you might even go above and beyond that
with what Tommy Togiai has given you. And at the
beginning of the year, like I said, he's inactive in
the first two games, and it's so interesting with his
defense as good as we knew it was and how
good it was going to be. The first few games
were a little bit of a struggle. Then a couple
(11:54):
of key things happened, well three three key things happen.
Number one, they made Tommy toki I regular.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Right number two, no more CJ. Gardner Johnson.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That helped, and I'm glad for CJ having a good
year with the Bears.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
They have picked yesterday, had to pick against the Packags.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
He's really fit in well with the Bears, but it
just wasn't a fit in third, Demiko Ryans made a
decision that I know, I know he up at night.
I know it had to just. I can't do this,
but I've got to do it. I just and he
handed over to play calling to Matt Burke. And in
doing those three things, this this defense has gone to
(12:31):
a completely different level. Since that point. They have not
giving up. They have not given up over two hundred
yards passing in a game.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
That's crazy, and the highest amount is Stafford's at two
twenty four.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Well, think about this, Stafford MVP candidate. Yeah, what did
Mayfield have?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Mayfield had two oh three two?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Running was a bigger problem.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And if you would have stopped him on fourth and ten,
he doesn't even get to that.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
That's crazy. Yeah, because he threw the ball after that.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Uh, then you look at the guys you played lately, Mahomes,
Josh Allen, Daniel Jones when he was still walking. It's impressive,
Trevor Lawrence when they had the big lead, but they're
unable to get anything done after.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Getting it in nineteen yards. He had that game.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's it, that's it, because you were jinking the ball
all over the place, making the mistakes to get that
big lead, you had to bring up the doint, didn't you. Well,
speaking of doint, that was beautiful. I want to turn
that sound effect into a hot key. That is the
most lovely sound when it's happening, you know, to help
your team.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I mean it was loud.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I was underneath the right up right for that one,
and I'm watching it and I'm like, I knew he
didn't hit it well. I thought it was going to
end up outside the upright just the way the ball
was tracking the ball and then all sudden pulling.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
I mean it was so I mean, that sound is
so brutal. And he hit that thing square. Oh yeah, flush,
he hitted what's like right on it.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
When you know, when you have that golf shot where
it's just like the tuning fork and your loins. As
Kevin Costner were describing tin Cup, that was beautiful to hear.
I loved it because save your three points. Yep, later
on what would have happened? Who knows? Things change? The
universe changes when you make a kick like that. Now
let's talk about the offense. Okay, first half, you got
(14:23):
some things done, Yeah, no question about it. Oh but yes,
you had moments. Now late in the half. I know
that there's a lot of frustration. What are you doing
late in the half? You're not able to execute the
way you need to. We can go over some of
those finer points, and we will as the week goes on.
I do believe this though, when you look at again
zooming out, when you look at Mahomes stat line and CJ.
Stroud stat line, both quarterbacks throw for under fifty percent.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
This is not what you want to do in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
However, Stroud avoids turning the ball over, no strip sacks,
no picks, and avoids the deep sacks more.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Often than not.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I mean, you were behind the sticks sometimes, but you
had some penalty and I get it. You hat a struggle.
They get paid too. This is a good defense. It's
not one of their best defenses. But Chris Jones was
taking over the game in the third quarter and we
were on the edge of a cliff. Everybody watching that
game wanting the Texans to win. You're thinking, it's not
gonna happen tonight?
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Is it really not gonna happen tonight? Is there any
way you can overcome this?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
The fourth quarter begins with you can call it on
arm punt by Mahomes, but you know what he's preferring
to complete that pass yep. So it's a pick by
Lassiter and you start to get going a little bit.
You get a first down on that drive. I think
later on they go for it on fourth down. We
can talk about that, Thank you very much, Andy Reid. Look,
he's trying to make plays, Johnny. I feel when he
(15:41):
went forward on fourth before you know it's a stop.
I don't like that. As a Texan. I'm thinking, Oh,
it's just short yard. It's the first, one, fourth and one.
It's got so many different plays. It's Mahomes, it's how
many times we've seen it a million times? And he
finds Kelsey and it's just like the drive continues and
who knows what happened after that, but the fact that
(16:01):
you got to stop it showed you the universe is
changing for the Kansas City Chiefs. They're not the same team.
They can't do everything they used to do. Kelsey's getting
a little older. Look, Kelsey's been playing a long time.
He's phenomenal. He's phenomenal. I mean, come on, he's one
of the greatest tight ends he's ever played. The game,
he's in a top three or four conversation, however you
want to slice it.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And I know there are a lot of narratives that said, oh,
he's lost the step, he's lost this. He actually had
gone back to averaging twelve point two yards per catch.
He had almost sixty catches going into that game. He
kind of look the run when he was in his
prime with Mahomes is untouchable.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I mean, it was incredible. He's not that.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Athlete, but he still was hugely important to the offense
and he had what one catch for eight Yeah, that
was our.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Best Kelsey game since had the Texans do in twenty
nineteen against him. Not as good as the Week two
game in twenty sixteen when locked him up.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
That was good, But I thought that was Mahomes.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I thought last night was interesting because every time that
he went out for a pass, I looked to see
who covered him, and it was a mix of guys.
It was never the same guy. There was one time
it was last year. There's one time and it was Henry,
there was one time it was I think Kayln maybe
Myles Bryant had him a few times. They just didn't
have one guy completely and totally devoted to him. They
(17:24):
spread the wealth on who was going to cover him,
and I think that that helped. Like there was one
time where he was trying to get isolated on last
year and Kamari was just in his jock and I
think Mahomes had to throw it away or scramble there.
But over all the years, I mean, I think about,
you know, because we're playing the Chiefs, that twenty nineteen
(17:45):
playoff game would pop up on my timeline and you'd
see all those highlights and Kelsey catching a ball and
it's spiking it in Zach Cunningham's face and doing all
those kind of things. And I've gone on record as
saying that I I that stuff really kind of bothered
me with kel See in some sense, I don't like
the antics getting mad on the sidelines with his coach
and all that. But I'm not a Kelsey hater, But
(18:07):
because of what he's done to us so often, I
just want to see him stopped and shut down. So
when that ball is juggled, I'm probably about ten yards
away from it, and I see the ball up in
the air, and then I see these two hands reach
out and just take it away and it's disease. And
I realize he finally caught one because he had one
(18:29):
in a Buffalo No, he had one of the San
Francisco game that hit his hands, could hang on.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Then he owe a Jacksonville game. Then he had another
one down the road.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I can't remember, maybe he's Indie, can't remember, but he
had a second one that I knowed. It hit his
hands and he couldn't catch that one. And so when
he was on with Sean and Seth, all right, Seawn
and Clinton postgame, he talked about how he was getting
rass by his teammates about catching the ball. So in
the locker room, when you hear the locker room speech,
that's why Demko emphasizes A Z's getting intercepts at the
(18:57):
end of the game, and the whole place goes nuts
because they've all been get him a lot of grief
about it. But it was just a team effort. Now
back to the offense in a sense you mentioned it
didn't turn the ball over. Coach talked about sack saving
just throwaways. Yeah, and I know people will panic again
about the offensive line, and look, it was not the
greatest offensive line performance, there's no question, but it got
(19:19):
to a point where Spags See Spagnolo, the defensive coordinator
for the Chiefs, was like, this is the only answer
I got. I'm bringing as many guys as I got
and forcing the.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Ball to set. It was working, and it was it
was working.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And then seven put the cape on for a number
of throws in the fourth quarter. And then Andy Reid
made that decision. And the thing about it was is
as crazy as it sounds. I had a feeling he
was going for it. I just could see. I just
was watching the whole thing. I was like, I think
he's going for this. In fact, I may have said that,
you guys, so, I think he's going Well. They needed
a spark.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
They needed something done what he was trying to do.
They could have punted, gotten to stop. But you never
know when the Texans might get it going on offense again.
Now they got it going enough in the fourth quarter,
how about dari coming in for one play. You're at
the five yard line. I mean, this is not exactly
a money gimme putt for the Houston Texans. This is
(20:09):
not a sixteen inch just pick it up.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
We're good.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
It's in the leather kind of situation at the five
yard line. We know the struggles the Texans have had
in the red zone. One play bang touchdown in your face.
I mean, that was beautiful for Dary to do that.
I was so happy for him. Was Darry is a
folk hero for the Houston Texans. Field goal made two
years ago, game winner against the Jags last year, the
(20:36):
fake punt against the Dolphins, all of it.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Special team's tackles.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
He had another special teams tackle last night where Thornton
tried to cut across the field and if he makes
it a foot race, that's the fastest dude.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
In the building, and Dari cut him down. Now here's
the other thing worth watching.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
On a little side note, running back health, Nick Chubb,
how's he gonna be? Do you have to do something?
We'll see as the week goes on. Of course we're
going to talk about that. But Johnny, I feel like
Dimico's philosophy here is, don't turn it over, CJ. Don't
take the sacks, don't force it. If it's not there, fine,
punt will be okay, even at Kansas City, even in
(21:13):
that house of horrors, will.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Be all right. And they were all right when they
got their opportunity.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
They scored the go ahead touchdown and they got the
later field goal, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
It was absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Now, Mark and I were not on Texans Monday this morning,
an nd clue stepped in and did a hell of
a job. He sat down with Texans All Pro offensive
lineman Wade Smith, our good pal. They had a great
conversation while that for you. Next right here on Texans
All Access. What's up and everybody there, welcome back to
this edition to Texans All Access on a wonderful Monday evening.
(21:46):
A wonderful one because your Texans are eight and five,
they've won five in a row. And think back to
the first game of this streak, three and five, down
twenty nine to ten going into the fourth quarter against
the Jacksonville Jaguars, the AFC South leading Jacksonville Jaguars. It
was not to be for the Jaguars on that day,
as that Texas would win that game thirty six twenty nine,
(22:07):
win four in a row after that, and now sit
eight and five, the number seven seed. If the playoffs
were to start today, if the Chargers lose tonight, so
go Berts, the Chargers would fall behind the Texans. Texans
would move to the sixth seed, and if the playoffs started,
they would go to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars
into opening round playoff game. That's down the road. Let's
(22:31):
focus on the task at hand. Because Mark and I
got just a few hours sleep. Indy Kalu was nice
enough to step in and do a tremendous job on
Texans Monday, and he chatted with Wade Smith. This is
a great conversation between and D and Wade.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
And the guy that used to lead block for many
great running backs in this league and protect quarterbacks. One
of my favorite offensive linemen. Most of them are trashed,
but this guy's good. Dude, Wade Smith, what's going on,
big Wade?
Speaker 5 (23:00):
I'm good man.
Speaker 8 (23:01):
I appreciate being one of the few offensive linemen that
you don't consider trash. I appreciate that, indeed, uh and
I also appreciate that that that comeback audio of that
played the Woody Marks. I thought that was an excellent
job by Woody Marks of a flashing and showing that
he was going to protect and block that linebacker and
then slipping off of him and find himself wild though
(23:21):
before a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
That was good ball up and down for the Texans offense.
Speaker 7 (23:25):
You know, Waite, I'm glad you brought that up because
as a player, you're very detailed. As a businessman, you
and I've talked and I've seen you at work, you're
very detailed and specific. Kind of talk about that because
a lot of guys, a lot of casual fans, they
just think about blocking, catching running, but talk about the
details of what Woody Marks did on the play to
help him get open, to help him hit pay dirt.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
Well, that that was definitely something that was a play
called or technique that was taught to like, Hey, we
want to we want to show that we're going to
block this guy and get him to try to defeature
block and get to the quarterback. You see c J
strung out after what he Marks went to go block
that linebacker. He kind of slides a little bit to
the right to buy himself a little bit of times
(24:07):
because he knows that the rusher is gonna come free
and he's wide open. You know, to me that you
talk about some of the things that the Texans have
been trying to do to be more successful in the
red zone. To me that I thought that was a
great job of executing something that I'm sure they worked
on on practice that that we can saw something out
of Kansas City is like, hey, I think there's gonna
(24:28):
be an opportunity to make a play off of that
because they're so aggressive, and you saw throughout the game
they did a good job of blitzing the Texans, but
that one was a big time play for the Texans
to score a touchdown based off of the fact that, like, hey,
that's the same guy that has you and coverage that linebacker,
(24:48):
he's also the guy that's rushing. He's supposed to rush
to cover, and it's tough to be able to know
right at that moment if this guy's actually blocking me
or if he's running a route. And you know something
that I was always taught as an offensive lineman when
you talk about play action passing that if you believe,
they'll believe if I come off the ball hard and
(25:09):
I drive into Indie Kolu or Seth Paying or whoever
that d tackle is, they're gonna sit down and expect
that they're getting double team And when that happens, those
linebackers are gonna bite up and they're going to think
that it's a run and then there's a play action
pass right behind it, and you see he Andrew Johnson righting
running wide open over the middle. It's the same kind
of concept for that running back to sell it on
(25:30):
that play of like all right, I'm gonna sell it
like I'm gonna sit down and what he marks, you know,
he's he's shown throughout this this rookie year that he's
an excellent pass protector and he'll drop you. I'm sure
those linebackers saw the like, I ain't gonna let this rookie,
you know, run me over in pass protection, so that
I think plays into it as well. And so he
(25:51):
used that against him, use that against the.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Linebacker slipped him, and he's wide up before a touchdown.
Speaking with way Smith from a Pro Ball offensive lineman,
played over a decade in the NFL, and one of
those stops in Kansas City. Talk about because when people
ask me, you know, the proverbial where's what are some
of the toughest stadiums to play in? I always bring
up Kansas City because I remember playing in Kansas City
(26:13):
at times and it would get so loud. I would
have to be reminded, like, oh, we're outdoors, like that's
how great the fans are over there, and that's how
loud they get. Just talk about going into Kansas City
and still in a victory when they have their backs.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
Against the wall.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
I think that's the biggest part of it, when you
said that they have their back against the wall. They
have been the boogeyman in the AFC and in the
NFL since Pat Mahomes have gotten there pretty much the
past ten ever many years that Pat Mahomes has been
in the league, the Kansas City Chiefs, that's a very
difficult place to go out there and get a win,
and they've been the boogie man, and they've been somebody
(26:49):
that you know has been very difficult to beat and
for you to go on the road and beat them
when they know they needed to win that game. If
they lose that game, they're out of contention for winning
their division in there, and severe disadvantage of trying to
get into the playoffs. And when you have you think
about scary movies and you think about villains. Those villains
(27:11):
don't just die off the first time when you when
you when you stab them or shoot them or whatever
you do to them, you push them down some stairs.
All of a sudden, they're gonna pop back up again,
and that's what you saw out of them in the
third quarter. But for the Texans to overcome that, regardless,
going against that crowd, going against the fact that you're
playing against champions. A lot of those guys on that
team have won multiple Super Bowls. For you to go
(27:34):
in there and get a w that's that's a huge
deal and a great credit to Demiko and what he's
done over there, and this the entire organization and those
players going out there and making plays and beating the
team that you know, you got to knock out a champ,
and that's what the Texas did last night.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
They knocked out the champ.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Well said, now, you talked about Kansas City, and you
talked about the ultimate goal for anybody that steps on
in the NFL field is super Bowls. So right now,
all excited that Houston Texas one of the hottest teams
in the league. Five straight victories, but we still can improve.
When you look at the third quarter of the Houston
Texas and that offense getting negative two yards in the
(28:13):
third quarter. As a guy that excelled on the offensive
side of the ball, what are some of the things
the offense can still work on to get better on
that side of the ball.
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Well, you noticed in the first half of the game,
the Texans did a pretty good job of picking up
the blitzes Kansas City try to heat them up. They
did a good job of kind of getting outside of
the pocket and making some throws down the.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Field to Nico Collins. CJY did a good job with that.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
In that third quarter, the KM City Chiefs were desperate
and they were bringing the house and they were getting
home and there there's a lot a lot of penetration.
They played a very physical brand of ball in that
third quarter, and you could fill the momentum shifting and
I thought that the Texas did a good job in
the fourth quarter of actually shifting that momentum and starting
(28:59):
to make a plays and CJ begin to make some
more plays throwing the ball down the field and converting
on some third downs to allow them to get some
points to kind of put the game away. But there's
definitely a lot of room for improvement on all sides
of the ball, but especially on the offense side of
the ball.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
Getting into the red zone, like, hey.
Speaker 8 (29:17):
Let's make sure that we're not getting the legal shifts
in motions. That was a legal shift that was called
early in the ball game. It was a touchdown to
Dalton Schutz. That type of stuff when you're get in
the red zone you can't do when you want to
go and you want to get and you start start talking.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
About that Super Bowl thing, like that stuff has to
get cleaned up. You have an elite defense.
Speaker 8 (29:36):
The special teams has been excellent the last few weeks,
and historically they've been excellent. That offense has continued to
improve and you're starting to see things especially compared to
what was going on earlier in the season, and so
you're starting to get more and more confidence.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Watching them go out there and operate.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
But those little things, those you know, those false starts
in the red zone, getting yourself behind the eight ball.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
You don't want to I have to convert.
Speaker 8 (30:01):
Third and fifteens and third and twelves, although CJ shows
that he can do that, and that's another kind of
a mark of a championship caliber ball club. It's like, hey,
can you convert on those situations that most teams can't,
But you don't want to put yourself in that situation.
You don't want to put the defense behind the eight ball.
You don't want to have a situation where you're having
(30:22):
multiple three and outs in the third quarter. Now the
defense starts to get tired. That's when Kansas City ended
up scoring and getting back into it. So I'm excited
about what I've seen out of the Texans offense, but
I know that their ceiling is higher and there's plenty
of opportunities for growth on that side of the ball.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
You talk about growth, can you make these improvements in
season this season? You know you've played thirteen games, you
have four more regular season games to go. Can you
make the improvements that you think this team needs to
make to be a true contender this season?
Speaker 5 (30:57):
For sure?
Speaker 8 (30:57):
Like some of the stuff that I'm talking about is,
you know, legal shifts, guys not getting set long enough.
That's a matter of the QB making sure everybody's set
before you snap the ball, or get in the plays
called quicker or getting a place called quicker so you
can get lined up and see how everything is developing,
what's going on the defense side of the ball. There's
(31:17):
a lot of things that are correctible mistakes that happen,
But some of the things that encourage you is Hey
for some reason, the Texans are finding ways to get
the ball to multiple receivers, multiple targets, big targets. Higgins
is making plays, Hutchinson is making plays. Of course, Nico's
making plays. Dalton Schultz is making plays, Woody Marks, Jalen Noel.
(31:39):
There's guys making players all over the place, and it's
very difficult to stop and shut down the defense when
there's multiple guys that are able to convert on third
downs and CJ. When they gave CJ Stroud time, he's
a problem man. He's one of the most accurate quarterbacks
in the league.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
And you saw that.
Speaker 8 (31:57):
You've seen that since he's come back from his from
his cushions, and you've seen multiple guys, young guys, a
young receiving court making plays, and so there's definitely a
lot of excitement when you look at the ceiling. You've
got young players that are making plays and winning ball
games and figuring out ways to win ball games in
different manners. Back to back weeks, the Texans needed to
(32:19):
run the ball to put the game away, and they
did it. That's such a huge quality of championship ball clubs.
The defense knows if we don't stop you we lose
this game and it's over for us, and you're still
able to run the ball down their throat. That's what
championship ball clubs do. That's what competent offenses do. And
(32:40):
that's what you saw the last couple of weeks out
of Houston, Texans.
Speaker 7 (32:43):
As a guy that's been a leader in the locker room,
and if you're in this locker room coming off your
fifth straight victory and you're fixing a play Arizona Raiders
Chargers calls, let's just focus on Arizona. What are you saying,
Wade Smith, pro bowler, leader in the locker room, to
make sure the rest of the team, the young guys,
don't try to overlook Arizona. Who's sitting at three and
(33:04):
ten right now.
Speaker 8 (33:06):
This is the league, man, anybody can get any given Sunday,
this is the league. Any those guys are playing for
their jobs, they're playing for their careers. They're going to
go out there and play well. What you do is
you get on a team like that early. You get
on that team early and have them looking for ways
out instead of ways in, and so you don't want
you don't want to allow them to hang around and
(33:26):
start to have belief. That's the most dangerous thing that
you can have in sports, especially in professional sports. Like, hey,
if you give a team that you're playing belief and
that they can actually pull it out when they're a
lesser team, that gives them confidence, and that gives them
the ability to start making plays that they might not
otherwise make. So you want to just continue to improve
(33:46):
on what you're doing yourself, Like, it's not like the
Texans played a perfect game. We just talked about it.
There's things out there that they need to improve on
in order for them to play the complete game that
they want to play. So if you're focusing on getting
better every day, you're focusing on improving on the things
that you made mistakes on, you're not worrying about the
(34:06):
fact that your opponent, whatever their record is, that stuff
doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
And then when you.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
Look at the players on the field, they're gonna have
players that are high level players that will embarrass you
if you allow him to. And so that in itself,
just being a competitor of like, hey, I want to
put away whoever's lined up across from me. That's the
type of stuff that will get you in the right
mind frame and in the right temperament to go out
there and execute and get another w at home.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
Speaking with Wade Smith's former offensive lineman, when you talk
about the best offensive lines in Texan history, it's always
going to be the units that way Smith played on.
We're gonna go a little off track. That's what I
do when I get in front of a mic. December nineteenth,
are you going to be in Tampa, Florida? Do you
even know why I'm asking you that? And if you don't, Wigh,
I'm putting you on the spot. If you don't, there's
(34:51):
gonna be some folks that like, we might have to
take his card away from him, and I'll explain. December nineteenth, Tampa, Florida.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 8 (35:00):
Yeah, I'm not gonna be there, but I'm gonna be
watching it for sure, And I'm interested to see why
you would bring that up. If I was playing the
if Memphis was playing against Rice, then I would get
the question. But seeing that we're playing NC State, it's
kind of like, I don't know the connection there, but
I'm definitely gonna be watching it on TV. Uh, the
Memphis Tigers, you know, in a Bowl game again for
(35:22):
I don't know how many years in a row, which
is something that you couldn't say when I was there.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
But congratulations to the Right Rights Ours. Man.
Speaker 8 (35:29):
You guys are going to a bowl game going into
the season. I'm sure that's not what I thought was
gonna be on Jimmy, you got a new head coach,
but I thought coach Scott Abell has done a great
job with that program getting them to five wins this year.
I'm sure that they and I think I just saw
that they had a really nice recruiting class. So things
are on the up and up and looking good over
(35:50):
there for those Rights hous And you know, I got
loved for the Rights House.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
You know, my daughters are Rice volleyball players.
Speaker 8 (35:55):
So shout out to the Rights Ours volleyball team, and
shout out to the Rights House football team, and hopefully
you guys can go out and get the w against
Jexas State.
Speaker 7 (36:04):
Wade is part of the Rice war Owl family. He
sent his beautiful daughters and talented daughters to Rice, so
we appreciate that. I'm impressed, Wade. I thought I was
gonna catch you slipping and I was gonna have to
remind you that your Memphis Tigers made a bowl game,
So I appreciate that though you've played over a decade
in the NFL, though you've had success after the NFL,
(36:26):
you still keep up with your Memphis boys. So that's
why I wanted to put you on the spot, but
you passed with flying Colors. I will say this, and
like I said, I'm getting off track, but that's what
we do. I'm talking to a football player that had
success in college and in the NFL. The state of
college football. Yesterday, I'm sitting there with my son, who
plays a Baylor and you know, he's looking at his
phone like all people under thirty, and he's telling me, Oh,
(36:49):
this team opted out of a ball game. This team
opted out of a bowl game. And I finally said, like, man,
I asked my son Wade. I was like, y'all even
enjoy playing football? Or is it just about the transaction
and trying to get the nil money and trying to
you know, transfer to greener pastors. And do you have
(37:10):
an issue with what we're seeing in college football today?
Speaker 8 (37:15):
It's very difficult to look at what's going on and
be excited about just the state of college football. There's
too much. There's too much going on that it's just
not right. It's not the way we were raised playing
the game. It's not the way that you feel like
things necessarily should be done. You feel like you feel
(37:35):
good about the fact that your players are able to
have nil and to make money when that wasn't the
case when we were there. But it's too it's too
much wild wild West. There's not enough regulation. When you
talk about the movement of coaches, the movement of players
opting out of bowl games, it just it's got to
be kind of a downer if you're a fan. But
(37:57):
I tell you what, there are certain programs where you
can tell those programs the number one thing is not
that it's not in il. It's not you see Indiana
just won the Big Ten. You listen to that coach,
you listen to those players. They're bought in on trying
to be the best versions of themselves and the best
players they can be, and so you know, and everything
(38:17):
else comes after that. And that's I think if you
can just prioritize, you know, being the best version of
yourself winning ball games, all the other stuff have come
will come. And I think if you do it, that way,
then a lot of the movement and a lot of
the the extracurricular stuff that comes along with it could
be minimized somewhat. But it's tough right now. It's crazy
when you think about the fact that, you know, Notre
(38:39):
Dame they didn't get into college football playoffs, so instead
of doing that, you're gonna just not play at all,
Like you're taking your ball and going home. I don't
I've never seen that before. I get some of the
reasons why people say, like, you know, guys are going
to be not wanting to get hurt and guys are
going to be transferring, and so the rosters aren't going
to be the same, and I get it. But at
(39:02):
the end of the day, how it's interesting, it'll be
true to see and I think they talked to Nick
Casario about this, like how do NFL teams evaluate that
if you have a if your guy that's trying to
play in the NFL, how you handle the situations I'm
sure is being looked at by NFL rosters, whether it's
in a good way, bad way, or indifferent, it's being
looked at. And so you just have to make sure
(39:24):
that you're you're you're prioritizing things right as far as
a player, and I think that coaches really have to
be held accountable as well.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
It's like, hey, the whole.
Speaker 8 (39:33):
Laanen Kiffin situation that was crazy, like and the fact
that his team is in the College football playoffs and
he's not going to be coaching his team, that in
itself is crazy. So I think I've heard people say
that the college football is broken.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
I can't disagree with that.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
It is definitely not in a in a great state
right now, and hopefully they can come up with some
things that have some more checks and balances so that
it will make.
Speaker 5 (39:57):
It more of a palatable product.
Speaker 8 (39:59):
And you can get the best play the best teams
in the in the UH in the college football playoffs,
and you get the best players in the best situations
to where they're taking care of themselves, but they're also
putting the team first. And if you can find some
type of happy medium there, I think things.
Speaker 7 (40:13):
Will be better for everybody. This is why I love
bringing you on. You hit so many important points. And
just real quick, this is Texans Monday. But all day
we're gonna hear about the Texans game, and we're gonna
hear about the greatness of the Texans. But I'm so
glad you brought up because the things that I don't like,
I'll tell you what I like seeing these guys get paid.
So I'm not one of those old get off my porch.
(40:34):
I don't like seeing them get paid. They need to
be struggling. Hell, now that's not what I don't like.
Well what I don't like. And again, when I talk
to the youngsters, they kind of look at me like
I'm crazy. With all this movement, they don't really get
to form that bond. Like, you know, I turned fifty
this year and I still talk to my Rice brothers
like we're in our twenties and we still kept that
(40:54):
connection because we grinded, we fought, we you know, well,
sweat lead cry together for four year. So it creates
that bomb. But now these guys just bounce around and
I'm like, man, y'all are missing out, and they're like,
what's this fool talking about. I just got five hundred
g's to sign somewhere else. I'm not worried about these bonds.
But that's the part that I love the money, but
I just feel like they're not getting the experience. But
(41:16):
I love what you said, because it's not just the players,
it's the coaches, like, how in the hell are you
gonna make the college football playoffs? And you're like, oh,
I'm gone. Good luck guys, Good luck guys as I
head to LSU. So I'm with you. That's why I
love getting you on the airways. Wade as always appreciate
everything that you do.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
I appreciate it, man. It's always real fellers.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Awesome stuff there from nd Kalu and Wade Smith. Those
guys have been through the fire, They've felt the pain,
They've been exhilarated with wins.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Throughout the NFL.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Last night, I know for everybody that wears the bullhead
logo as a fan of follower, analysts, whatever the case,
might be very excited about what the Texans were able
to do, especially defensively. Look, the offense has got some
room to grow. Still, offensive line had a tough night.
And look, I give a lot of credit to Kansas City,
to Chris Jones. He opened up a can of whoop
(42:09):
aass at some point. And when Chris Jones has turned
up the volume ten, he's arguably the best interior defensive
linean there is. And I say that interior, but he
will go to the outside. He rushed from the edge
a lot on Sunday night. He was all over the place.
He is just a really tough guy to account for.
But the Texans got to handle it a little bit
(42:31):
better and keep working at it, keep porking at it,
keep working at it. But it's better to work at
it after a win, especially when in that building gets
that team, that coach, that quarterback, that tight end that
whole organization. Then to come back and go, ah, man,
we were so close. Now finally got the win twenty
to ten. Texans, get that win. Okay, there's a lot
(42:51):
of news happening in the NFL, and a lot of
it for an AFC South foe the Texans beat a
couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
We'll discuss us Indianapolis's plight.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Oh boy, it just got real interesting in Indianapolis for
the Colts for December and January. We'll discuss that next
as we go around the NFL. Right here at Texas
All Access. What's up and everybody? We got one final
segment of this Monday edition of Texans All Access from
the Hundai Texans Radio Studio. I am your host, John Harris,
(43:22):
very weary and tired, yet very very happy John Harris
after last night's twenty to ten win over the Kansas
City Chiefs. Texans hold Mahomes to his lowest point total
at Arrowhead Well at Arrowhead.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
Gh GEHA Stadium or GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, held
him under two hundred passing yards a nineteen point eight
passer rating.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
I think of those passing yards he got probably about
twenty five or thirty on the last drive where the
Texans just kind of let them go up the field
for a couple of catches, so he didn't even have
that much. He ran for fifty nine and that was
almost half the total they ran for. Thirty four hunt
thirty four p checko run game really shut down. Tommy
(44:13):
TOGII a big factor in that, but just great all
round team defense. Woodie Marks receiving touchdown, carried it twenty
six times. CJ did not turn a ball over and
made some key throws. He knew when to cape up
on Sunday night, got it done. Petrie a pick, Kamari
a pick, played his butt off all night long as
he's a pick. Just a great performance and very happy
(44:36):
to come home with that win. Now eight and five,
in one game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars. Because the Jaguars
yesterday beat the Colts. The Colts are now eight and five.
They have lost four out of the last five. Things
are not looking up in Indneapolis. And it got worse
because Daniel Jones, or starting quarterback, who had played very
(44:56):
well in the first six to seven games, torez it.
He'd had the fibula injury on his left leg. Then
he tore his achilles on his right leg. He he
is done for the year. That is awful news. Then
Riley Leonard, the rookie out of Notre Dame, came in,
(45:17):
had a couple of moments.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
But he is banged up as well.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
And the Colts have to go to Seattle this weekend ouch,
so they have Bret Rippon on the practice squad and
they have nobody else, so they don't know whether Riley
Leonard is going to be ready to go.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Jones is out for the year, and they got Brett Rippon.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
That's it, And they got to face the Seattle defense
that a lot of people in Seattle think is better
than Houston's.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
I don't agree.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I think it's very good though it's a tremendous defense,
and it's going to a different level because Nick even
Worry is an absolute animal. What he did yesterday blocking
a fuel goal interception, he did something only three other
players have done since the merger unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
So yeah, the Seattle defense is legit.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
But Daniel Jones being out, possibly Riley Leonard being out,
and they gotta go to Seattle. Seattle is a ten
and a half point favorite as a result.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Wow wow.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
Oh and by the way, the Colt schedule does not
get better over the next few weeks because they've got
to play the Jaguars, the Seahawks, the Niners, and the Texans.
They may not win a game, they may go eight
to nine and it'll be just a complete meltdown for
the Colts, which I'm here for. But we'll see how
(46:42):
it goes. But they got the Seahawks and that's not
great for them. Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnata Bengals edge rusher is
going to have surgery core muscle surgery six weeks out.
Seasons only four more weeks unless the Bengals somehow pull
up out and get a miracle and go to the
(47:02):
playoffs somehow. Winning the AFC North Hendrickson could come back,
but as it sits now, Trey Hendrickson has played his
last game as a Bengal as he becomes a free agent.
Zach Ertz fortunately tore his ACL, the future Hall of
Fame tight end towards ACL against the Vikings and a
blowout win for the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
And that is all the news that is fit to print.
I guess is that the way we used to say it.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
Either way, appreciate you being here, Thank you so much,
We'll see you tomorrow and as always, go Texans.
Happy Monday. Everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome into Texans All Access from the Hyundai Texans Radio studio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
John Harrison, Mark Vandermiir with you.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Sorry we couldn't make it for Texans Monday, but we
had basically just arrived as the show was starting, so
we needed a couple hours, a couple I think that's
what we're on right now. It is about two or
three hours of sleep. But it doesn't matter because twenty
to ten over the Kansas City Chiefs defending AFC champions
makeshift feel pretty good?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
How about that? Mark Vandermiir.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
The Texas are two to zero against last year's AFC
Championship game combatants, the Bills and the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good evening, how are you? Yeah, I'm doing great, Johnny.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
And when you look at the two MVPs, right he
get faced.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And you didn't face Lamar Jackson this year obviously when
you played the Ravens. But the numbers against those two
are amazing for the Houston Texans defense. But the macro
thing is this, and I've gone through my memory banks
and I don't think, in fact, I know the Texans
have never won a game like this.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
They've never won a game like this. In their history.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Look, we've had taken gigantic steps over the years, and
the first one was twenty eleven getting into the postseason.
In twenty twelve, you had a shot at New England.
That's what I comped this one too, exactly because you
went into that game with.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
A better record than them.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
You were playing a primetime Roady, Mikey and Night football game,
and you came up way short. They kicked your butts yep,
and you were never the same after that, really. And
in twenty fifteen you got a big win in December,
winning at Indy for the first time, but you weren't
playing a full deck Indianapolis team, and you weren't a
full deck team yourself. Okay, you were down to your
(01:43):
third fourth quarterback literally in that game. So you got
the job done, though, and it was a gigantic step
at the time, it was a big step. Twenty sixteen,
you did it again up at Indy. But Johnny, when
have you won a game like this? Twenty nineteen, you did,
in twenty eighteen, you didn't. Twenty eighteen, you went to
Philly face the defending champions, right and you took your shot.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
But you missed. You had them on the ropes and
you let them up. You let them up.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yep, twenty nineteen, there's really no comp You want some
big roadies down the stretch. You beat the Titans, You
beat Tampa Bay when they were going good.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
They had won four in a row at the time.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It's not the Chiefs at Arrowhead, and so at night,
let's take it to last night, that moment. Look, the Chiefs,
this is not the best Chiefs team we've ever seen,
although the locals and the Chiefs themselves will tell you
they're more talented than last year's team. They're just not
winning the close ones. And I know they had linemen out,
but no one's going to sing the blues for the
(02:36):
Kansas City Chiefs, including the Houston Texans, who had to
go three and a half games without CJ. Stroud, who
have had to deal with numerous injuries over the year
and had to retool the offensive line on the fly
until they found their best five. So the Chiefs are
playing with whatever they've got and you lit them up defensively.
I know the scoreboard doesn't reflect that, but you lit
them up. The stats sheet does. It looks like a
(02:59):
rap sheet that you put together facing Patrick Mahomes in
that offense. You took it to them on the road
in December. They're the kings of the AFC.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But no more.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Look they can still get into the playoffs and who
knows what happens, But for now, you've done your job.
Let's go four games left in the regular season. Yeah,
she set four left.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
They very easily could go four and oh, and they
would need to go four and oh to get to
ten and seven.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Ten and seven probably gets them in easily.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
Not easily.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I mean they've got the Broncos and Chargers at Arrowhead,
and you don't look Arrowhead. They know the Eagles beat
them there this year. We beat them last night. So
Airhead is not the house of horrors. It is for
other teams for a number of reasons. But when you
look at last night, and I go back to training camp,
and it was hard in training camp, because especially in
(03:55):
training camp, to tell people exactly how good and almost
more importantly.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
How ferocious this defense looked.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
In training camp, you they just looked different like I've seen.
I didn't see, you know, Seth and Gary Walker in
that initial defensive crew, which was very very good. But
I've seen every defensive Crew basically since with the eleven crew,
I wasn't the building yet, but I watched that group,
you know, as JJ was a young player. Then JJ's
(04:28):
in his prime with you know, with Romeo calling the
defense for a while, fifteen and then sixteen is number
one without JJ. I've seen good defense, as Mark, but
I don't know that I've seen a defense like this.
And I'm having a hard time when I I was
trying to stay away, trying to get back to the
house this morning, and I was thinking about the defense,
(04:50):
and I just thought, it's just different. It's not enough
to go get an interception on one drive. It's not
an to get a stop on fourth down. It's to
do it again. It's to do it again. It's to
knock somebody, you know. Basically you know those like air
(05:11):
blow up thingies. Yeah, you know that all right, like
rental car used car places. That's what Jalen Petrie turned
Rashi Rice into. Yep, Like watch him land in his
alarms and legs flail like there is a ferocity in
a ferociousness with this defense that is just hard really
to put into words, like you almost have to say
(05:33):
just watch them.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And here's the other thing that stood out really with
the defense.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
If you go back and look at the wins this
team has had this year, you can point out somebody,
you know, the star of the game being somebody different.
Just think back to you know, go back to the
Ravens game on the road. Petrie has the two interceptions. Yeah,
(06:00):
he has the big hit on Derrick Henry, which it
was funny because somebody it may have been Figgy, you know,
the neo DiCaprio meme where he's sitting once upon a
time in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And he points at this. He gets a many points
at the screen.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
He said, Derrick Henry right now, and he put the
video over Rishi Rice. It was Jalen Petrie in that game.
And then it gets the Jaguars when we got to
make a comeback, it's Daniel Hunter. Daniel Hunter takes over
the damn game right, completely takes over. Against the Buffalo Bills,
Kaylan in the back end forces three turnovers. Will has
(06:33):
the two and a half sacks against the Colts last week.
It's it's kind of everybody at that point on the defense,
and then last night it was really you know, everybody defensively,
but it was the secondary Kamari played out of his
freaking mind.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Petrie was incredible.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Kaylan has the big hit on the receiver on Petre's interception.
Sting knocks down the fourth down throw because nobody throws
its sting.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So Kelsey getting hit by Miles by Here's the other
thing too.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
This team has no chill, Like if you wear a
different color jersey, you're gonna get the hell.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Beat out of you. Right, They're coming after you. They
are coming after you.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
If you it's almost like a challenge to them, like, oh,
you think you're gonna catch a pass in my area, right,
You're about to get smoke.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And Seth was talking about that this morning. I heard
bits of their show on delay because I was sleeping
for much of it. Yes, of course, but he mentioned
that that, believe me, the offensive players know what is
going on and they're aware that they are going to
get clocked by this Texans defense. You've got to be tough.
You're getting if you're playing this defense. This is no
(07:42):
finesse group. They play with finesse when needed, but they
come after you. The Petrie hit last night, that Miles
Bryant hit I just described that was on the disease
pick the juggling pick where Kelsey takes a tremendous shot.
That's why he was on the ground and it looked
bad for a split secon or two.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I love watching them operate.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
We talked about it during the Demico Ryans show that
it is a group. Your stats will come, don't worry
about it. Play within Demiko's system. Do what he wants
you to do, and you'll get yours. You'll get his,
He'll get your. You know, you're all going to fill
up the stat sheet in some way, shape or form.
Like you mentioned in the different games, different guys will
(08:24):
shine at different times. Hell, you're going into last night's game.
Kamari Laughstter is your second leading tackler on the number
one defense in the league.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
A cornerback is the second.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Leading tackler, and if you look at Disease as tackle
numbers leading the team, it's not like he's with the
league leaders. It's not coming from one spot. They are
getting you from all over the place. So that is
a wonderful thing to see. It's a team unit, beautiful
to watch. The whole world is noticing. Now you've had
two out of the last three games in prime time
where you with the show, your defense was the show,
(08:55):
and you won both of them. And look, this is
the Houston Texans, Johnny look at great in prime time,
Buffalo at home on a Thursday, yep, Sunday night at Arrowhead,
and you're gonna get a national standalone game on Saturday,
the second to last week of the season, in all
likelihood against the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
All yeah, yeah, I think that's the You know, it's
interesting getting on the plane and you and not get
a chance to know these guys on this roster. And
if you were to tell, if we were to tell people,
people you know, ask from outside, you know, different areas
you know about these guys.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
You know Azaz I mean, look at the way he
played on in the field.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It's like they put their helmet on and it's like
there's a whole different persona Like we know Aziz.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Al Shire, sweet guy.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
But whoever is out in the field that's agent zero,
you know, Like Kamara Lasser has got a smile that
brightens up this entire building, but he goes on the
field he's K three, you know. Like Jalen Petrie is
the nicest I mean, the stuff that he does for
working in the food Bank of Houston. He's unbelievable. He
(10:05):
is beloved by Baylor Bear fans. But you put him
on a football field and you put that helmet on
and he becomes five. Like it's just this different mindset.
And there's all that joke about JJ McCarthy becoming nine whatever.
These guys transform themselves into heat seeking missiles. But off
the field, I take one of those as my son
(10:27):
in law, Like I love them that much.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
It's because they're such good dudes.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
But man, when they are out there together, and dare
I forget to mention my guy? In training camp, there
was a guy talked about if I went back and
looked at every single Harris Hits article I wrote during
training camp, there was a guy mentioned every day, Tommy.
Every single freaking day, it was Tommy togiuy And last
(10:54):
night when there's no Tim Settle, man, what are you
gonna do? And and hey, guy got in for about
four or five plays, what are you gonna do? You've
only got three of the rotation? Now you know four
Tommy has ten tackles, he gets a sack, He's all
over the place.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
They can't block him.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Like, what in the world is going on and back
in training camp, we said it, We're like, man, I know,
they got a lot of bodies, they got a lot
of people in the interior, but seventy two is having
the best training camp of anybody at any position. He's
dominating every time he goes in the field. He's inactive
for the first two games. He then is active for
the third game, and he has been not only a
(11:34):
key contributor, you might even go above and beyond that
with what Tommy Togiai has given you. And at the
beginning of the year, like I said, he's inactive in
the first two games, and it's so interesting with his
defense as good as we knew it was and how
good it was going to be. The first few games
were a little bit of a struggle. Then a couple
(11:54):
of key things happened, well three three key things happen.
Number one, they made Tommy toki I regular.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Right number two, no more CJ. Gardner Johnson.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That helped, and I'm glad for CJ having a good
year with the Bears.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
They have picked yesterday, had to pick against the Packags.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
He's really fit in well with the Bears, but it
just wasn't a fit in third, Demiko Ryans made a
decision that I know, I know he up at night.
I know it had to just. I can't do this,
but I've got to do it. I just and he
handed over to play calling to Matt Burke. And in
doing those three things, this this defense has gone to
(12:31):
a completely different level. Since that point. They have not
giving up. They have not given up over two hundred
yards passing in a game.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
That's crazy, and the highest amount is Stafford's at two
twenty four.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Well, think about this, Stafford MVP candidate. Yeah, what did
Mayfield have?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Mayfield had two oh three two?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Running was a bigger problem.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And if you would have stopped him on fourth and ten,
he doesn't even get to that.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
That's crazy. Yeah, because he threw the ball after that.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Uh, then you look at the guys you played lately, Mahomes,
Josh Allen, Daniel Jones when he was still walking. It's impressive,
Trevor Lawrence when they had the big lead, but they're
unable to get anything done after.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Getting it in nineteen yards. He had that game.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's it, that's it, because you were jinking the ball
all over the place, making the mistakes to get that
big lead, you had to bring up the doint, didn't you. Well,
speaking of doint, that was beautiful. I want to turn
that sound effect into a hot key. That is the
most lovely sound when it's happening, you know, to help
your team.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I mean it was loud.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I was underneath the right up right for that one,
and I'm watching it and I'm like, I knew he
didn't hit it well. I thought it was going to
end up outside the upright just the way the ball
was tracking the ball and then all sudden pulling.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
I mean it was so I mean, that sound is
so brutal. And he hit that thing square. Oh yeah, flush,
he hitted what's like right on it.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
When you know, when you have that golf shot where
it's just like the tuning fork and your loins. As
Kevin Costner were describing tin Cup, that was beautiful to hear.
I loved it because save your three points. Yep, later
on what would have happened? Who knows? Things change? The
universe changes when you make a kick like that. Now
let's talk about the offense. Okay, first half, you got
(14:23):
some things done, Yeah, no question about it. Oh but yes,
you had moments. Now late in the half. I know
that there's a lot of frustration. What are you doing
late in the half? You're not able to execute the
way you need to. We can go over some of
those finer points, and we will as the week goes on.
I do believe this though, when you look at again
zooming out, when you look at Mahomes stat line and CJ.
Stroud stat line, both quarterbacks throw for under fifty percent.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
This is not what you want to do in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
However, Stroud avoids turning the ball over, no strip sacks,
no picks, and avoids the deep sacks more.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Often than not.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I mean, you were behind the sticks sometimes, but you
had some penalty and I get it. You hat a struggle.
They get paid too. This is a good defense. It's
not one of their best defenses. But Chris Jones was
taking over the game in the third quarter and we
were on the edge of a cliff. Everybody watching that
game wanting the Texans to win. You're thinking, it's not
gonna happen tonight?
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Is it really not gonna happen tonight? Is there any
way you can overcome this?
Speaker 3 (15:18):
The fourth quarter begins with you can call it on
arm punt by Mahomes, but you know what he's preferring
to complete that pass yep. So it's a pick by
Lassiter and you start to get going a little bit.
You get a first down on that drive. I think
later on they go for it on fourth down. We
can talk about that, Thank you very much, Andy Reid. Look,
he's trying to make plays, Johnny. I feel when he
(15:41):
went forward on fourth before you know it's a stop.
I don't like that. As a Texan. I'm thinking, Oh,
it's just short yard. It's the first, one, fourth and one.
It's got so many different plays. It's Mahomes, it's how
many times we've seen it a million times? And he
finds Kelsey and it's just like the drive continues and
who knows what happened after that, but the fact that
(16:01):
you got to stop it showed you the universe is
changing for the Kansas City Chiefs. They're not the same team.
They can't do everything they used to do. Kelsey's getting
a little older. Look, Kelsey's been playing a long time.
He's phenomenal. He's phenomenal. I mean, come on, he's one
of the greatest tight ends he's ever played. The game,
he's in a top three or four conversation, however you
want to slice it.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And I know there are a lot of narratives that said, oh,
he's lost the step, he's lost this. He actually had
gone back to averaging twelve point two yards per catch.
He had almost sixty catches going into that game. He
kind of look the run when he was in his
prime with Mahomes is untouchable.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I mean, it was incredible. He's not that.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Athlete, but he still was hugely important to the offense
and he had what one catch for eight Yeah, that
was our.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Best Kelsey game since had the Texans do in twenty
nineteen against him. Not as good as the Week two
game in twenty sixteen when locked him up.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
That was good, But I thought that was Mahomes.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I thought last night was interesting because every time that
he went out for a pass, I looked to see
who covered him, and it was a mix of guys.
It was never the same guy. There was one time
it was last year. There's one time and it was Henry,
there was one time it was I think Kayln maybe
Myles Bryant had him a few times. They just didn't
have one guy completely and totally devoted to him. They
(17:24):
spread the wealth on who was going to cover him,
and I think that that helped. Like there was one
time where he was trying to get isolated on last
year and Kamari was just in his jock and I
think Mahomes had to throw it away or scramble there.
But over all the years, I mean, I think about,
you know, because we're playing the Chiefs, that twenty nineteen
(17:45):
playoff game would pop up on my timeline and you'd
see all those highlights and Kelsey catching a ball and
it's spiking it in Zach Cunningham's face and doing all
those kind of things. And I've gone on record as
saying that I I that stuff really kind of bothered
me with kel See in some sense, I don't like
the antics getting mad on the sidelines with his coach
and all that. But I'm not a Kelsey hater, But
(18:07):
because of what he's done to us so often, I
just want to see him stopped and shut down. So
when that ball is juggled, I'm probably about ten yards
away from it, and I see the ball up in
the air, and then I see these two hands reach
out and just take it away and it's disease. And
I realize he finally caught one because he had one
(18:29):
in a Buffalo No, he had one of the San
Francisco game that hit his hands, could hang on.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Then he owe a Jacksonville game. Then he had another
one down the road.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I can't remember, maybe he's Indie, can't remember, but he
had a second one that I knowed. It hit his
hands and he couldn't catch that one. And so when
he was on with Sean and Seth, all right, Seawn
and Clinton postgame, he talked about how he was getting
rass by his teammates about catching the ball. So in
the locker room, when you hear the locker room speech,
that's why Demko emphasizes A Z's getting intercepts at the
(18:57):
end of the game, and the whole place goes nuts
because they've all been get him a lot of grief
about it. But it was just a team effort. Now
back to the offense in a sense you mentioned it
didn't turn the ball over. Coach talked about sack saving
just throwaways. Yeah, and I know people will panic again
about the offensive line, and look, it was not the
greatest offensive line performance, there's no question, but it got
(19:19):
to a point where Spags See Spagnolo, the defensive coordinator
for the Chiefs, was like, this is the only answer
I got. I'm bringing as many guys as I got
and forcing the.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Ball to set. It was working, and it was it
was working.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And then seven put the cape on for a number
of throws in the fourth quarter. And then Andy Reid
made that decision. And the thing about it was is
as crazy as it sounds. I had a feeling he
was going for it. I just could see. I just
was watching the whole thing. I was like, I think
he's going for this. In fact, I may have said that,
you guys, so, I think he's going Well. They needed
a spark.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
They needed something done what he was trying to do.
They could have punted, gotten to stop. But you never
know when the Texans might get it going on offense again.
Now they got it going enough in the fourth quarter,
how about dari coming in for one play. You're at
the five yard line. I mean, this is not exactly
a money gimme putt for the Houston Texans. This is
(20:09):
not a sixteen inch just pick it up.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
We're good.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
It's in the leather kind of situation at the five
yard line. We know the struggles the Texans have had
in the red zone. One play bang touchdown in your face.
I mean, that was beautiful for Dary to do that.
I was so happy for him. Was Darry is a
folk hero for the Houston Texans. Field goal made two
years ago, game winner against the Jags last year, the
(20:36):
fake punt against the Dolphins, all of it.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Special team's tackles.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
He had another special teams tackle last night where Thornton
tried to cut across the field and if he makes
it a foot race, that's the fastest dude.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
In the building, and Dari cut him down. Now here's
the other thing worth watching.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
On a little side note, running back health, Nick Chubb,
how's he gonna be? Do you have to do something?
We'll see as the week goes on. Of course we're
going to talk about that. But Johnny, I feel like
Dimico's philosophy here is, don't turn it over, CJ. Don't
take the sacks, don't force it. If it's not there, fine,
punt will be okay, even at Kansas City, even in
(21:13):
that house of horrors, will.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Be all right. And they were all right when they
got their opportunity.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
They scored the go ahead touchdown and they got the
later field goal, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
It was absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Now, Mark and I were not on Texans Monday this morning,
an nd clue stepped in and did a hell of
a job. He sat down with Texans All Pro offensive
lineman Wade Smith, our good pal. They had a great
conversation while that for you. Next right here on Texans
All Access. What's up and everybody there, welcome back to
this edition to Texans All Access on a wonderful Monday evening.
(21:46):
A wonderful one because your Texans are eight and five,
they've won five in a row. And think back to
the first game of this streak, three and five, down
twenty nine to ten going into the fourth quarter against
the Jacksonville Jaguars, the AFC South leading Jacksonville Jaguars. It
was not to be for the Jaguars on that day,
as that Texas would win that game thirty six twenty nine,
(22:07):
win four in a row after that, and now sit
eight and five, the number seven seed. If the playoffs
were to start today, if the Chargers lose tonight, so
go Berts, the Chargers would fall behind the Texans. Texans
would move to the sixth seed, and if the playoffs started,
they would go to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars
into opening round playoff game. That's down the road. Let's
(22:31):
focus on the task at hand. Because Mark and I
got just a few hours sleep. Indy Kalu was nice
enough to step in and do a tremendous job on
Texans Monday, and he chatted with Wade Smith. This is
a great conversation between and D and Wade.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
And the guy that used to lead block for many
great running backs in this league and protect quarterbacks. One
of my favorite offensive linemen. Most of them are trashed,
but this guy's good. Dude, Wade Smith, what's going on,
big Wade?
Speaker 5 (23:00):
I'm good man.
Speaker 8 (23:01):
I appreciate being one of the few offensive linemen that
you don't consider trash. I appreciate that, indeed, uh and
I also appreciate that that that comeback audio of that
played the Woody Marks. I thought that was an excellent
job by Woody Marks of a flashing and showing that
he was going to protect and block that linebacker and
then slipping off of him and find himself wild though
(23:21):
before a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
That was good ball up and down for the Texans offense.
Speaker 7 (23:25):
You know, Waite, I'm glad you brought that up because
as a player, you're very detailed. As a businessman, you
and I've talked and I've seen you at work, you're
very detailed and specific. Kind of talk about that because
a lot of guys, a lot of casual fans, they
just think about blocking, catching running, but talk about the
details of what Woody Marks did on the play to
help him get open, to help him hit pay dirt.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
Well, that that was definitely something that was a play
called or technique that was taught to like, Hey, we
want to we want to show that we're going to
block this guy and get him to try to defeature
block and get to the quarterback. You see c J
strung out after what he Marks went to go block
that linebacker. He kind of slides a little bit to
the right to buy himself a little bit of times
(24:07):
because he knows that the rusher is gonna come free
and he's wide open. You know, to me that you
talk about some of the things that the Texans have
been trying to do to be more successful in the
red zone. To me that I thought that was a
great job of executing something that I'm sure they worked
on on practice that that we can saw something out
of Kansas City is like, hey, I think there's gonna
(24:28):
be an opportunity to make a play off of that
because they're so aggressive, and you saw throughout the game
they did a good job of blitzing the Texans, but
that one was a big time play for the Texans
to score a touchdown based off of the fact that, like, hey,
that's the same guy that has you and coverage that linebacker,
(24:48):
he's also the guy that's rushing. He's supposed to rush
to cover, and it's tough to be able to know
right at that moment if this guy's actually blocking me
or if he's running a route. And you know something
that I was always taught as an offensive lineman when
you talk about play action passing that if you believe,
they'll believe if I come off the ball hard and
(25:09):
I drive into Indie Kolu or Seth Paying or whoever
that d tackle is, they're gonna sit down and expect
that they're getting double team And when that happens, those
linebackers are gonna bite up and they're going to think
that it's a run and then there's a play action
pass right behind it, and you see he Andrew Johnson righting
running wide open over the middle. It's the same kind
of concept for that running back to sell it on
(25:30):
that play of like all right, I'm gonna sell it
like I'm gonna sit down and what he marks, you know,
he's he's shown throughout this this rookie year that he's
an excellent pass protector and he'll drop you. I'm sure
those linebackers saw the like, I ain't gonna let this rookie,
you know, run me over in pass protection, so that
I think plays into it as well. And so he
(25:51):
used that against him, use that against the.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Linebacker slipped him, and he's wide up before a touchdown.
Speaking with way Smith from a Pro Ball offensive lineman,
played over a decade in the NFL, and one of
those stops in Kansas City. Talk about because when people
ask me, you know, the proverbial where's what are some
of the toughest stadiums to play in? I always bring
up Kansas City because I remember playing in Kansas City
(26:13):
at times and it would get so loud. I would
have to be reminded, like, oh, we're outdoors, like that's
how great the fans are over there, and that's how
loud they get. Just talk about going into Kansas City
and still in a victory when they have their backs.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
Against the wall.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
I think that's the biggest part of it, when you
said that they have their back against the wall. They
have been the boogeyman in the AFC and in the
NFL since Pat Mahomes have gotten there pretty much the
past ten ever many years that Pat Mahomes has been
in the league, the Kansas City Chiefs, that's a very
difficult place to go out there and get a win,
and they've been the boogie man, and they've been somebody
(26:49):
that you know has been very difficult to beat and
for you to go on the road and beat them
when they know they needed to win that game. If
they lose that game, they're out of contention for winning
their division in there, and severe disadvantage of trying to
get into the playoffs. And when you have you think
about scary movies and you think about villains. Those villains
(27:11):
don't just die off the first time when you when
you when you stab them or shoot them or whatever
you do to them, you push them down some stairs.
All of a sudden, they're gonna pop back up again,
and that's what you saw out of them in the
third quarter. But for the Texans to overcome that, regardless,
going against that crowd, going against the fact that you're
playing against champions. A lot of those guys on that
team have won multiple Super Bowls. For you to go
(27:34):
in there and get a w that's that's a huge
deal and a great credit to Demiko and what he's
done over there, and this the entire organization and those
players going out there and making plays and beating the
team that you know, you got to knock out a champ,
and that's what the Texas did last night.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
They knocked out the champ.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Well said, now, you talked about Kansas City, and you
talked about the ultimate goal for anybody that steps on
in the NFL field is super Bowls. So right now,
all excited that Houston Texas one of the hottest teams
in the league. Five straight victories, but we still can improve.
When you look at the third quarter of the Houston
Texas and that offense getting negative two yards in the
(28:13):
third quarter. As a guy that excelled on the offensive
side of the ball, what are some of the things
the offense can still work on to get better on
that side of the ball.
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Well, you noticed in the first half of the game,
the Texans did a pretty good job of picking up
the blitzes Kansas City try to heat them up. They
did a good job of kind of getting outside of
the pocket and making some throws down the.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Field to Nico Collins. CJY did a good job with that.
Speaker 8 (28:36):
In that third quarter, the KM City Chiefs were desperate
and they were bringing the house and they were getting
home and there there's a lot a lot of penetration.
They played a very physical brand of ball in that
third quarter, and you could fill the momentum shifting and
I thought that the Texas did a good job in
the fourth quarter of actually shifting that momentum and starting
(28:59):
to make a plays and CJ begin to make some
more plays throwing the ball down the field and converting
on some third downs to allow them to get some
points to kind of put the game away. But there's
definitely a lot of room for improvement on all sides
of the ball, but especially on the offense side of
the ball.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
Getting into the red zone, like, hey.
Speaker 8 (29:17):
Let's make sure that we're not getting the legal shifts
in motions. That was a legal shift that was called
early in the ball game. It was a touchdown to
Dalton Schutz. That type of stuff when you're get in
the red zone you can't do when you want to
go and you want to get and you start start talking.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
About that Super Bowl thing, like that stuff has to
get cleaned up. You have an elite defense.
Speaker 8 (29:36):
The special teams has been excellent the last few weeks,
and historically they've been excellent. That offense has continued to
improve and you're starting to see things especially compared to
what was going on earlier in the season, and so
you're starting to get more and more confidence.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Watching them go out there and operate.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
But those little things, those you know, those false starts
in the red zone, getting yourself behind the eight ball.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
You don't want to I have to convert.
Speaker 8 (30:01):
Third and fifteens and third and twelves, although CJ shows
that he can do that, and that's another kind of
a mark of a championship caliber ball club. It's like, hey,
can you convert on those situations that most teams can't,
But you don't want to put yourself in that situation.
You don't want to put the defense behind the eight ball.
You don't want to have a situation where you're having
(30:22):
multiple three and outs in the third quarter. Now the
defense starts to get tired. That's when Kansas City ended
up scoring and getting back into it. So I'm excited
about what I've seen out of the Texans offense, but
I know that their ceiling is higher and there's plenty
of opportunities for growth on that side of the ball.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
You talk about growth, can you make these improvements in
season this season? You know you've played thirteen games, you
have four more regular season games to go. Can you
make the improvements that you think this team needs to
make to be a true contender this season?
Speaker 5 (30:57):
For sure?
Speaker 8 (30:57):
Like some of the stuff that I'm talking about is,
you know, legal shifts, guys not getting set long enough.
That's a matter of the QB making sure everybody's set
before you snap the ball, or get in the plays
called quicker or getting a place called quicker so you
can get lined up and see how everything is developing,
what's going on the defense side of the ball. There's
(31:17):
a lot of things that are correctible mistakes that happen,
But some of the things that encourage you is Hey
for some reason, the Texans are finding ways to get
the ball to multiple receivers, multiple targets, big targets. Higgins
is making plays, Hutchinson is making plays. Of course, Nico's
making plays. Dalton Schultz is making plays, Woody Marks, Jalen Noel.
(31:39):
There's guys making players all over the place, and it's
very difficult to stop and shut down the defense when
there's multiple guys that are able to convert on third
downs and CJ. When they gave CJ Stroud time, he's
a problem man. He's one of the most accurate quarterbacks
in the league.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
And you saw that.
Speaker 8 (31:57):
You've seen that since he's come back from his from
his cushions, and you've seen multiple guys, young guys, a
young receiving court making plays, and so there's definitely a
lot of excitement when you look at the ceiling. You've
got young players that are making plays and winning ball
games and figuring out ways to win ball games in
different manners. Back to back weeks, the Texans needed to
(32:19):
run the ball to put the game away, and they
did it. That's such a huge quality of championship ball clubs.
The defense knows if we don't stop you we lose
this game and it's over for us, and you're still
able to run the ball down their throat. That's what
championship ball clubs do. That's what competent offenses do. And
(32:40):
that's what you saw the last couple of weeks out
of Houston, Texans.
Speaker 7 (32:43):
As a guy that's been a leader in the locker room,
and if you're in this locker room coming off your
fifth straight victory and you're fixing a play Arizona Raiders
Chargers calls, let's just focus on Arizona. What are you saying,
Wade Smith, pro bowler, leader in the locker room, to
make sure the rest of the team, the young guys,
don't try to overlook Arizona. Who's sitting at three and
(33:04):
ten right now.
Speaker 8 (33:06):
This is the league, man, anybody can get any given Sunday,
this is the league. Any those guys are playing for
their jobs, they're playing for their careers. They're going to
go out there and play well. What you do is
you get on a team like that early. You get
on that team early and have them looking for ways
out instead of ways in, and so you don't want
you don't want to allow them to hang around and
(33:26):
start to have belief. That's the most dangerous thing that
you can have in sports, especially in professional sports. Like, hey,
if you give a team that you're playing belief and
that they can actually pull it out when they're a
lesser team, that gives them confidence, and that gives them
the ability to start making plays that they might not
otherwise make. So you want to just continue to improve
(33:46):
on what you're doing yourself, Like, it's not like the
Texans played a perfect game. We just talked about it.
There's things out there that they need to improve on
in order for them to play the complete game that
they want to play. So if you're focusing on getting
better every day, you're focusing on improving on the things
that you made mistakes on, you're not worrying about the
(34:06):
fact that your opponent, whatever their record is, that stuff
doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
And then when you.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
Look at the players on the field, they're gonna have
players that are high level players that will embarrass you
if you allow him to. And so that in itself,
just being a competitor of like, hey, I want to
put away whoever's lined up across from me. That's the
type of stuff that will get you in the right
mind frame and in the right temperament to go out
there and execute and get another w at home.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
Speaking with Wade Smith's former offensive lineman, when you talk
about the best offensive lines in Texan history, it's always
going to be the units that way Smith played on.
We're gonna go a little off track. That's what I
do when I get in front of a mic. December nineteenth,
are you going to be in Tampa, Florida? Do you
even know why I'm asking you that? And if you don't, Wigh,
I'm putting you on the spot. If you don't, there's
(34:51):
gonna be some folks that like, we might have to
take his card away from him, and I'll explain. December nineteenth, Tampa, Florida.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 8 (35:00):
Yeah, I'm not gonna be there, but I'm gonna be
watching it for sure, And I'm interested to see why
you would bring that up. If I was playing the
if Memphis was playing against Rice, then I would get
the question. But seeing that we're playing NC State, it's
kind of like, I don't know the connection there, but
I'm definitely gonna be watching it on TV. Uh, the
Memphis Tigers, you know, in a Bowl game again for
(35:22):
I don't know how many years in a row, which
is something that you couldn't say when I was there.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
But congratulations to the Right Rights Ours. Man.
Speaker 8 (35:29):
You guys are going to a bowl game going into
the season. I'm sure that's not what I thought was
gonna be on Jimmy, you got a new head coach,
but I thought coach Scott Abell has done a great
job with that program getting them to five wins this year.
I'm sure that they and I think I just saw
that they had a really nice recruiting class. So things
are on the up and up and looking good over
(35:50):
there for those Rights hous And you know, I got
loved for the Rights House.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
You know, my daughters are Rice volleyball players.
Speaker 8 (35:55):
So shout out to the Rights Ours volleyball team, and
shout out to the Rights House football team, and hopefully
you guys can go out and get the w against
Jexas State.
Speaker 7 (36:04):
Wade is part of the Rice war Owl family. He
sent his beautiful daughters and talented daughters to Rice, so
we appreciate that. I'm impressed, Wade. I thought I was
gonna catch you slipping and I was gonna have to
remind you that your Memphis Tigers made a bowl game,
So I appreciate that though you've played over a decade
in the NFL, though you've had success after the NFL,
(36:26):
you still keep up with your Memphis boys. So that's
why I wanted to put you on the spot, but
you passed with flying Colors. I will say this, and
like I said, I'm getting off track, but that's what
we do. I'm talking to a football player that had
success in college and in the NFL. The state of
college football. Yesterday, I'm sitting there with my son, who
plays a Baylor and you know, he's looking at his
phone like all people under thirty, and he's telling me, Oh,
(36:49):
this team opted out of a ball game. This team
opted out of a bowl game. And I finally said, like, man,
I asked my son Wade. I was like, y'all even
enjoy playing football? Or is it just about the transaction
and trying to get the nil money and trying to
you know, transfer to greener pastors. And do you have
(37:10):
an issue with what we're seeing in college football today?
Speaker 8 (37:15):
It's very difficult to look at what's going on and
be excited about just the state of college football. There's
too much. There's too much going on that it's just
not right. It's not the way we were raised playing
the game. It's not the way that you feel like
things necessarily should be done. You feel like you feel
(37:35):
good about the fact that your players are able to
have nil and to make money when that wasn't the
case when we were there. But it's too it's too
much wild wild West. There's not enough regulation. When you
talk about the movement of coaches, the movement of players
opting out of bowl games, it just it's got to
be kind of a downer if you're a fan. But
(37:57):
I tell you what, there are certain programs where you
can tell those programs the number one thing is not
that it's not in il. It's not you see Indiana
just won the Big Ten. You listen to that coach,
you listen to those players. They're bought in on trying
to be the best versions of themselves and the best
players they can be, and so you know, and everything
(38:17):
else comes after that. And that's I think if you
can just prioritize, you know, being the best version of
yourself winning ball games, all the other stuff have come
will come. And I think if you do it, that way,
then a lot of the movement and a lot of
the the extracurricular stuff that comes along with it could
be minimized somewhat. But it's tough right now. It's crazy
when you think about the fact that, you know, Notre
(38:39):
Dame they didn't get into college football playoffs, so instead
of doing that, you're gonna just not play at all,
Like you're taking your ball and going home. I don't
I've never seen that before. I get some of the
reasons why people say, like, you know, guys are going
to be not wanting to get hurt and guys are
going to be transferring, and so the rosters aren't going
to be the same, and I get it. But at
(39:02):
the end of the day, how it's interesting, it'll be
true to see and I think they talked to Nick
Casario about this, like how do NFL teams evaluate that
if you have a if your guy that's trying to
play in the NFL, how you handle the situations I'm
sure is being looked at by NFL rosters, whether it's
in a good way, bad way, or indifferent, it's being
looked at. And so you just have to make sure
(39:24):
that you're you're you're prioritizing things right as far as
a player, and I think that coaches really have to
be held accountable as well.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
It's like, hey, the whole.
Speaker 8 (39:33):
Laanen Kiffin situation that was crazy, like and the fact
that his team is in the College football playoffs and
he's not going to be coaching his team, that in
itself is crazy. So I think I've heard people say
that the college football is broken.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
I can't disagree with that.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
It is definitely not in a in a great state
right now, and hopefully they can come up with some
things that have some more checks and balances so that
it will make.
Speaker 5 (39:57):
It more of a palatable product.
Speaker 8 (39:59):
And you can get the best play the best teams
in the in the UH in the college football playoffs,
and you get the best players in the best situations
to where they're taking care of themselves, but they're also
putting the team first. And if you can find some
type of happy medium there, I think things.
Speaker 7 (40:13):
Will be better for everybody. This is why I love
bringing you on. You hit so many important points. And
just real quick, this is Texans Monday. But all day
we're gonna hear about the Texans game, and we're gonna
hear about the greatness of the Texans. But I'm so
glad you brought up because the things that I don't like,
I'll tell you what I like seeing these guys get paid.
So I'm not one of those old get off my porch.
(40:34):
I don't like seeing them get paid. They need to
be struggling. Hell, now that's not what I don't like.
Well what I don't like. And again, when I talk
to the youngsters, they kind of look at me like
I'm crazy. With all this movement, they don't really get
to form that bond. Like, you know, I turned fifty
this year and I still talk to my Rice brothers
like we're in our twenties and we still kept that
(40:54):
connection because we grinded, we fought, we you know, well,
sweat lead cry together for four year. So it creates
that bomb. But now these guys just bounce around and
I'm like, man, y'all are missing out, and they're like,
what's this fool talking about. I just got five hundred
g's to sign somewhere else. I'm not worried about these bonds.
But that's the part that I love the money, but
I just feel like they're not getting the experience. But
(41:16):
I love what you said, because it's not just the players,
it's the coaches, like, how in the hell are you
gonna make the college football playoffs? And you're like, oh,
I'm gone. Good luck guys, Good luck guys as I
head to LSU. So I'm with you. That's why I
love getting you on the airways. Wade as always appreciate
everything that you do.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
I appreciate it, man. It's always real fellers.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Awesome stuff there from nd Kalu and Wade Smith. Those
guys have been through the fire, They've felt the pain,
They've been exhilarated with wins.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Throughout the NFL.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Last night, I know for everybody that wears the bullhead
logo as a fan of follower, analysts, whatever the case,
might be very excited about what the Texans were able
to do, especially defensively. Look, the offense has got some
room to grow. Still, offensive line had a tough night.
And look, I give a lot of credit to Kansas City,
to Chris Jones. He opened up a can of whoop
(42:09):
aass at some point. And when Chris Jones has turned
up the volume ten, he's arguably the best interior defensive
linean there is. And I say that interior, but he
will go to the outside. He rushed from the edge
a lot on Sunday night. He was all over the place.
He is just a really tough guy to account for.
But the Texans got to handle it a little bit
(42:31):
better and keep working at it, keep porking at it,
keep working at it. But it's better to work at
it after a win, especially when in that building gets
that team, that coach, that quarterback, that tight end that
whole organization. Then to come back and go, ah, man,
we were so close. Now finally got the win twenty
to ten. Texans, get that win. Okay, there's a lot
(42:51):
of news happening in the NFL, and a lot of
it for an AFC South foe the Texans beat a
couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
We'll discuss us Indianapolis's plight.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Oh boy, it just got real interesting in Indianapolis for
the Colts for December and January. We'll discuss that next
as we go around the NFL. Right here at Texas
All Access. What's up and everybody? We got one final
segment of this Monday edition of Texans All Access from
the Hundai Texans Radio Studio. I am your host, John Harris,
(43:22):
very weary and tired, yet very very happy John Harris
after last night's twenty to ten win over the Kansas
City Chiefs. Texans hold Mahomes to his lowest point total
at Arrowhead Well at Arrowhead.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
Gh GEHA Stadium or GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, held
him under two hundred passing yards a nineteen point eight
passer rating.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
I think of those passing yards he got probably about
twenty five or thirty on the last drive where the
Texans just kind of let them go up the field
for a couple of catches, so he didn't even have
that much. He ran for fifty nine and that was
almost half the total they ran for. Thirty four hunt
thirty four p checko run game really shut down. Tommy
(44:13):
TOGII a big factor in that, but just great all
round team defense. Woodie Marks receiving touchdown, carried it twenty
six times. CJ did not turn a ball over and
made some key throws. He knew when to cape up
on Sunday night, got it done. Petrie a pick, Kamari
a pick, played his butt off all night long as
he's a pick. Just a great performance and very happy
(44:36):
to come home with that win. Now eight and five,
in one game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars. Because the Jaguars
yesterday beat the Colts. The Colts are now eight and five.
They have lost four out of the last five. Things
are not looking up in Indneapolis. And it got worse
because Daniel Jones, or starting quarterback, who had played very
(44:56):
well in the first six to seven games, torez it.
He'd had the fibula injury on his left leg. Then
he tore his achilles on his right leg. He he
is done for the year. That is awful news. Then
Riley Leonard, the rookie out of Notre Dame, came in,
(45:17):
had a couple of moments.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
But he is banged up as well.
Speaker 2 (45:22):
And the Colts have to go to Seattle this weekend ouch,
so they have Bret Rippon on the practice squad and
they have nobody else, so they don't know whether Riley
Leonard is going to be ready to go.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Jones is out for the year, and they got Brett Rippon.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
That's it, And they got to face the Seattle defense
that a lot of people in Seattle think is better
than Houston's.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
I don't agree.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I think it's very good though it's a tremendous defense,
and it's going to a different level because Nick even
Worry is an absolute animal. What he did yesterday blocking
a fuel goal interception, he did something only three other
players have done since the merger unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
So yeah, the Seattle defense is legit.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
But Daniel Jones being out, possibly Riley Leonard being out,
and they gotta go to Seattle. Seattle is a ten
and a half point favorite as a result.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Wow wow.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
Oh and by the way, the Colt schedule does not
get better over the next few weeks because they've got
to play the Jaguars, the Seahawks, the Niners, and the Texans.
They may not win a game, they may go eight
to nine and it'll be just a complete meltdown for
the Colts, which I'm here for. But we'll see how
(46:42):
it goes. But they got the Seahawks and that's not
great for them. Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnata Bengals edge rusher is
going to have surgery core muscle surgery six weeks out.
Seasons only four more weeks unless the Bengals somehow pull
up out and get a miracle and go to the
(47:02):
playoffs somehow. Winning the AFC North Hendrickson could come back,
but as it sits now, Trey Hendrickson has played his
last game as a Bengal as he becomes a free agent.
Zach Ertz fortunately tore his ACL, the future Hall of
Fame tight end towards ACL against the Vikings and a
blowout win for the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
And that is all the news that is fit to print.
I guess is that the way we used to say it.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
Either way, appreciate you being here, Thank you so much,
We'll see you tomorrow and as always, go Texans.
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