Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew Hey, John Harris, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm well, Drew Doerty, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm pretty good, but I could be better.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Because we did about three four minutes of radio without
hitting a forward button.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
That happens, man, it happens. How many times you have
we done that over the years. Don't text each other like,
oh dude, sorry, man, I didn't record. Oh that's just
a it's a brutal feeling. Or when you go to
save the file. This happened to you the other day.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We were doing this.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
You went to go save the file and it was
like there's no more room on the disc, like wait,
what what do you mean?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And then you go through and then you start. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Mark Mark had to blast out his twenty fourteen Curtis
Thrummend interview recently. There's no more Max Bullah yeah on ones
on the.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Share drive anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
So behind a curtain, Well, we're literally three feet away.
This is kind of our you know, when market I
do radio this is this is where we sit.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I sit in the spot and you're sitting where
you know.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Mark usually says, So Mark and I were doing radio
and we're kind of in between a couple, you know,
doing some segments, and he starts just reading off the
list of interviews that have been on that computer, and
it was Keith Mumphrey interview.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
A team Hunt, Time to go, a team.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Hunt, Jonathan Grimes.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
I mean, name blasts from the past that were really
that were good interviews, but you just haven't heard those
words and the names in a long time, and they're
still on the computer. There are certain ones that we
would we would hang on to, like there was a
there was an interview that I was able to do
back in twenty seventeen of a former quarterback of this
team that I just kept in that file just to have.
(01:56):
You'd never know when you might you need it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Look back. I remember thinking when we did an.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Interview, like, man, if he makes the Hall of Fame,
we'll play this. This is his first day into building
all that. But I don't think it's gonna happen. But yeah,
there's a lot of stuff on our computer, so.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
You're right, I don't think Tom Savage will make the
Hall of Fame. That's no, not on you, Tom.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
You're a guy.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I don't think Brandon Whedon will make it either, So I.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Think that interview with Tom Savage is going to be
he played in Union with his gold jacket.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I can't so anyhow. This is in the lab. It's
presented by Infinity.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Yesterday was the final day of Texans Mini Camp. We're
recording this on Thursday, and yesterday JJ Watt was also
in the building. It was cool to see him checking
out the camp. He is gonna be a color commentator
along with play by play voice Iron Eagle for CBS
this year. That's a pretty powerhouse duo, right. They're gonna
(02:50):
be fun to see how he does. Just like everything
he's done in his life, JJ's done it at a
high level. I expect nothing changes in this instance either.
But it made me wonder, how many games do you
think they'll have that are Texans games? How many Texans
games do you think that duo is gonna call. I'm
gonna set the over under a three and a half.
(03:12):
You think they go more than that, you think they
go less than that?
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Okay, so here's one of the weird things about uh,
you know, JJ's at CBS and typically and I remember
before the schedule came out, I started thinking, yeah, I
think we could get JJ for for a few games.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
I know the math is a little bit different now
that Fox and CBS kind of crossover a little bit more,
but it had typically been the AFC Texans are in, right,
that would be CBS, NFC would be Fox.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, I just looked at the schedule.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
If my math is correct, If my math is correct
as it sits right now, there are fifteen games. The
last two with the Chargers is TBD Colts TBD, So
fifteen games.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
I kind of get the sense that Chargers game it's late,
and see, I bet that's a primetime game.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I think it is primetime. It it could be like
a Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
That's the only one on that's exactly considered that a
prime time So my guess.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Is that one will not be CBS.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
My hope is that Week eighteen won't matter and that
might just be CBS to get it in at Nut
against the Colts.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
But there are seven games on CBS.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Oh wow, that's okay, that's I didn't do that advanced
math yeah, yeas tough.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
So I think the number is a little bit lower, right,
But when you start looking at the games that potentially,
you know, he could do at the Colts week thirteen,
that's a CBS game I could I could see that
and that that would be great. It's a Jaguars game
we play at home week ten. I think that that
(04:49):
could definitely.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Then maybe maybe Lawrence starts playing better and maybe the
Hunter's excited.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
You know that maybe that Jaguars game before Evens week five,
I could see that, you know, because they're the number
two crew. You know, this was the Charles Davis Iron
Eagle group. And I love Charles Davis.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
He's awesome.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
I loved him and I think he'll be great on
college football. But it's gonna be weird to not hear
Charles doing games and he might just think he might
do him a different way this year. But miss Charles Davis.
But the fact that JJ's replacing him is perfect. I
think JJ and I and are gonna be fantastic. That said,
they're the number two crew, so it's gotta be a
relatively large sized game at Ravens.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
That could be one of those that could definitely be
one of.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Those number one that could be a Nance Roman one.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, it definitely could so. And that's the hard part.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Like at Jaguars early in the season Titans week four,
are those teams gonna be at a level that it's
gonna draw the number two crew in those games earlier
in the season, So yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
That's gonna be a little bit tougher.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Now I'm just looking at our schedule obviously, what impacts it.
What's the rest of the schedule for that week, you know,
when we play the Ravens in Week five, what's the
rest of the NFL doing? What else does CBS have,
Because you're right, it might be a Nance Romo game
at noon, Typically they'll do an afternoon game. My hope
is there's a Chief something game going on in the
afternoon and the Chiefs will end up, you know, getting
(06:22):
Nance Romo and we'll get JJ and I and for
at Ravens, maybe that's the way to break the streak
there in Baltimore, to have JJ call in the game
for us on CBS. I don't know, there's got to
be a way to break it. But I'm I feel
like I'm like you and Mark and you guys are
like me in a sense that kind of intrigued by
all the broadcasting stuff. You know, who calls what game?
(06:43):
How do they figure it out? We CBS, were Fox,
you know what time the game is, all that kind
of stuff. Like, all that stuff kind of intrigues me.
I don't know how much fans like it. I think
come do. But I think it's the fact that it's
ninety nine that we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I think that matters to a lot of fans.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
The fact he was in a building on Wednesday that
matters to a lot of fans.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And no good reason.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
I don't know who asked it, but it was a
good question, but essentially it was a you're gonna be nervous,
and he said, Well, the way I look at it
is half of the people watching and listening are gonna
hate whatever I say because it's not complimentary of their team,
and the other half are gonna like it because I'm
saying good things about their team. It's all gonna depend
so and he's got that's a good perspective to have,
(07:26):
you know. It's here's the other thing I play. Guys
don't really give a crap about your team one way
or the other. Though, we like to think they do.
They don't. You know, they're pretty unbiased for the most part.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Here's the other thing, too, People are gonna have preconceived
notions and preconceived biases of what they think JJ is
gonna be biased towards. Like, for example, if J last year,
JJ called a Steelers Chiefs game, well, what's everybody thinking, Well,
JJ is gonna talk about TJ, and he's gonna prop
TJ up. And I listened to a good two quarters,
two and a half quarters that game and he barely
(07:59):
mentioned TJ. It came up a little bit, but it
was really I in and I think Nate Burlson did
a game that were kind of goating him into it.
And I think as he gets more comfortable with that, Yeah,
TJ's guy, and we know how much JJ loves loves TJ.
And and that's you know, I'd love that that brothers
can you know, fin for each other in the way
(08:20):
that they do and feel for each other the way
that they do.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
That preconceived notion and.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
As soon as he says something good about TJ, oh, look.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
At JJ, he's a homer for TJ.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Well, yeah, because he just beat a triple team and
made a sack, right, you know, but people aren't gonna
hear that. It's the same thing with the Texans. Oh, well,
the Texans are his team. He's definitely gonna give credit
to the Texans. And I know, we know JJ, we
know that's not always gonna be the case. JJ is
gonna tell it like it is. You know, if if
guys miss the block, if CJ misses a throw, guys
(08:51):
miss tackles, he's gonna say it. He's gonna call them out.
But there's gonna be that thought of well, JJ's a textan.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
He's gonna be bias towards the Texans.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
I mean, you fight, you find that, you know pretty
much everywhere. You know, Troy had to deal with that
Trayman when he was calling Cowboys games and they called
a lot of them and Troy was very fair.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
But it's on the Cowboys. Traman has never held back.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
No, he's never held back and it but it still
took a while for fans to think, Oh, Troy's gonna
be so biased towards the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I think the last I don't know, last ten years,
I don't think it's been like that.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
I forget when I'm listening to Troy call a game
that Oh yeah, he's former cowboy. You know, JJ will
will have to he'll have to fight those biases. But
if he just calls the game as he sees it,
he's gonna you know, he's gonna be fantastic. He's got
good pop culture references. He can fly off the cuff
(09:47):
a little bit. He'll be fun. You've interviewed him numerous times.
I have as well. He can go with the flow
on anything. But those are the things that he's gonna
have to fight, but he can't think about fighting them.
He just has to call the game the way he
sees and just let the rest. Let the rest go
and let people think he's got biases.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
We know he is.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
He loves TJ. We know that he loves Houston, loves
the Texans. But we know he's going to do the
job he's asked to do because that's that's just him.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
He came on the Goat Talk with Andre Johnson and
Johnvin Joseph a couple of months ago and they asked him,
They're like, Who's who's better? You were TJ, And he said, Hey,
career wise, you got to give TJ the nod. Yeah,
he's done it longer and more consistently than I did it.
But then he added the caveat. He's like, but man,
I'll put my four year stretch up against anybodies, including
(10:37):
his that twelve thirteen, fourteen, that stretch three Players of
the Year defensively, the Comet year of fourteen where he
had MVP votes. What do you fit a second to
Aaron Rodgers that year in THEE Yeah, and he's like
JJ has said, Rogers deserves that MVP. He touches the ball.
It's for the quarterbacks. It's a quarterback award. But man,
(10:58):
he scored five touchdowns, twenty and a half sacks.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
It's if a defensive dude was gonna win it. And
on a team that didn't make the playoffs, that was
that was the year.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
He probably needed one more touchdown the Texans to make
the playoffs. Yep, two more, maybe break the sack record.
I think I think that would have got it.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The sack. You're a straight hand sack record yep.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So yeah, I mean, and you say it took all
of that and he pro and he probably wins. Yeah,
Yet he he was that close.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He was that close. I mean, he had people's attention.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
It was just every single week and fourteen watching what
he was doing. And I still my favorite moment one
of his great games. I think a lot of people
forget and got kind of brought up the other day
because I think I think Seth Payn and Sean Pendergass
were talking about Sports Rato six ten.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
They were talking.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
About, you know, CJ, did you get injured in the
weight rooms? Get injured in the weight room? Talk about
injuries in the weight room, And when that comes up,
immediately Ryan mout pops into my head because Ryan got
injured after the Cleveland game. But in that game people
forget is the person who caught Ryan malluts first touchdown
pass ever was JJ Watt at wide receiver on a
(12:17):
fade route against former text At Christian Kirksey, and it
was just amazing. But in that game JJ also had
packed the back fifteen yard roughing the parner penalties and yeah,
he was this close to he was that close, and
I know, and you know at the time, I remember thinking, Okay,
well that's why he was out there that day because
(12:38):
they they felt like he could block it and he
got cold close. He just he just couldn't finish it,
and I just remember seeing him on the field and
Bill O'Brien is just steaming because its two fifteen yard penalties.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
One of them led to a Browns touchdown.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
The Brown's really come with the ball that day, but
they got a short field and they ended up scoring
a touchdown one of them, I think the other one,
I can't remember exactly what happened, but they didn't score
on the other one.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So I was like, ah, no harm, no foul.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
But he had two and JJ after the second one
walks over the sideline and JJ JJ would get tired.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I always remember this.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
He would put his hands on his hips and just
kind of his elbows would go out. He would kind
of just stand there and it was almost like he
was looking like, you know, Bill O'Brien, come get mad
at me, like get this out of the way or whatever.
And so JJ was over there on the sideline for.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Like two plays. I'm like standing ten yards.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Away, just clear as day, and finally I see O'Brian
kind of stewing, and O'Brien walks over and he's like good.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
He kind of.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
Signals JJ goes back in there. In that game, Wat
had the catch for a touchdown. He also had four
solos and assist for five combined tackles, a sack, three TFLs,
forced to fumble, and had a fumble recovery. And this
was the game. When we came home, we got on
(13:57):
a flight. For some reason, this flight took a long time.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
I don't know why. And I remember I was looking
at his working out. I was riding on the way home.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
It's dark, it's you know, because we played in November,
and I just remember thinking, you know, JJ's got a
number in almost every one of these defensive columns.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yep, he hit the buffet, as Sean Pendergast likes to say.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
And it's like I'm looking at going Jesus h he
hit everything here.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
You know one thing he didn't hear it was quarterback curries.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
And it really got me started thinking about the rest
of the year, like looking at the stat sheet, how
many of those columns did he hit? And it got
to a point where nearly every game he was hitting
every column.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
With a number.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
He did not like to pass that.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Yeah, he didn't have a quarterback hurry or pass defense
in that game, but he did have three TFLs And
I Remember those TFLs came in big in the third quarter,
but that's it was this game when I realized he's
hitting every single freaking category in the defensive stat sheet.
And that's when I realized this dude is a day.
He's a different dude, and I think he's do you
(14:58):
know different on the air. I'm different. It's not the
right word, But I don't think it's gonna be cookie cutter,
because I think you're gonna get a little bit more
like you do when you know when Madden called the game,
and then he's not gonna be Madden. But Madden looked
at the offense defensive line and would point those things out. Now,
when you think about who's calling games, it's all quarterbacks.
(15:19):
You know, it's Troy, it's Tony Romo. You know Collins
Word tries to do some of the offensive line stuff,
but he's a former receiver. I think with JJ, he's
gonna give you some of that trench talk that I
think intrigues a lot of people and point things out
like hey, this run play hit, not just because this
running back is a great dude, but watch these blocks.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
This is what they're trying to do. Look how good
this is.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
I think he's gonna have that element and add that
element to the game that's really gonna be fun to watch.
So I think it's gonna make him sound a little
bit different, and I think that's gonna be a really
good thing.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
It's gonna be awesome. Can't wait to see it, can't wait.
He's gonna thrive, He'll be successful, He'll be great. You
and I are not gonna do this next week. I'm
going to Turks and Caico.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Yeah you're gone, dude, million You're done for a fight.
That's gonna be a nice one too. I'll come back,
uh sneak in your suitcase. I'd love to, but I
just don't think that it will happen. So, but I'm
gonna go from being translucent to I'll just be pale.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
A little bit of little tan. That's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
But I'll miss you. I'll miss this podcast.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, be fun.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
But yeah, it's good good.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Seeing JJ out there made me think about what was
going to be next with him on TV and how
much you'll see him calling Texans games. But no, he'll
be great. And I know you're great as well, and
you too watching it and listen you're great. The three
of us, we had fun. This is Texans in the Lab,
presented by Infinity. Will be back, like we said, in
two weeks, and that'll be a doozy.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So long