May 5, 2025 • 47 mins
The Texans Radio Crew compared the Rockets and Texans over the recent years...and also offered up some intriguing Over/Unders to consider for the 2025 NFL season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:01):
Welcome into a Monday edition of Texans All Access, A
special one because the Texans Invitational Texans Tournament today was
a great day. You know, my man Mark Vandermiirer was
out on the links hitting him and I know he
hit him pretty well.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So it's a big day for the Texans. Appreciate you
guys being here on.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
John Harris, your host for this evening, Mark, I know
all of us Houstonians got kicked into teeth last night,
but how.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You feeling well?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
First, you mentioned the Texans Charity Classic presented by BMW,
and I got to say that I've played him in
all of them, Johnny, And this started back in two
thousand and three. My goodness, but they've raised This was
a record. They raised over five hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for the Houston Texans Foundation in this year's tournament,
(00:46):
and since the inception, they've raised over fifty million for
the Houston Texans Foundation.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So it is awesome. I mean, in general, it is awesome.
This is there.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I don't know if this is the biggest fundraiser I
no season premiere, what used to be the kickoff lunch
generates a lot as well, but it's just huge, and
you know, huge in the flag football for girls and
all that right now.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And other things that the foundation does.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's not the only thing, but it's just great to
be involved in it and see everybody out there.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So that's cool.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
And what else is cool is you know, I was
in the building this morning and they're doing a little
bit more every week, aren't they. In this ramp up
period off season conditioning. OTAs will be out there before
you know it. Can't wait to report on some things
we see. Nothing strategic, of course, but man, I'm so
fired up because you could just feel it in the building,
(01:37):
and I wish everybody could experience this. You feel it
in the building that it's coming, the season's coming. I
mean they're here, they're working out, they're doing their stuff,
and we're not getting to see a lot of that,
and by a lot, I mean any of it, but
we will at some point, so that'll be cool.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, Yeah, it definitely will be cool. It's I'm trying
to do the math.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's May fifth today, O Sinko to Mayo, Happy sinking
to my everybody, to those who celebrate so June July,
you're talking two months and you're into July, and then
god knows when we're gonna start when.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Now we're not going to Hall of Fame game. I
saw that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I saw the two teams that are in the Hall
of Fame game. I want to say the Chargers are
one of them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
We're not. And that's the most important thing.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Just as far as timing goes, we won't be starting
ten days before everybody else as we did last year.
I think we started July seventeenth last year. So let's
say it's the twenty fifth ish, talking about two months
and twenty days, you know, eighty some days. That's not
that much to get to the start of training camp. Man,
So that's I mean, it's I don't want to say
(02:44):
it's almost here, but two months and twenty days gets
here pretty quickly before you know it. And of course
we've got OTA's and mini camps coming up that'll satiate
us all. We'll have our Texas Media Day at some point,
hopefully in June, which we'll have a lot of content
comfort and then it's a desert for a few weeks,
and then before you know it, we're in training camp
and we're often running on the twenty twenty five season
(03:06):
and this sucker's going.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah. Two things about that.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
First of all, Hall of Fame game is Detroit and
the Chargers. Yes, and this is good because the Texans
play the Chargers, and you want them to be all
worn out by the Hall of Fame game by the
time you see them whenever. That is yeah, because I
do think that there's a wear and tear effect that
the team endured last year based on starting camp early.
We've talked about that many times, especially since you went
(03:30):
thirteen consecutive weeks without a buye and it just got
to be you know, every team goes through it, the injuries,
limping along, and you know, it's funny when another team
loses a guy you don't, I mean you think something
of it, yet you're not living with them and through them,
and it's not your team. But when we suffer any
kind of injury, and it's usually not just one and
(03:53):
it could be to any kind of player, you're thinking, oh,
now you got to go this and you know you
and I know all the little nuances of what it
effects special teams wise, and now this guy's got to
be a gunner. Because of that, it doesn't have to
be a major player in order to have an effect
on your team.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Anyway.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
The other thing about this is and you reciting things
about the calendar and where we're headed here with the
Rockets losing.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
For the sports fan in Houston, it's oh, okay, okay,
what do I gotta know? I got the astros. Okay,
look that I.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Looked at the standings in Major League Baseball. I don't
do this every day. I used to do it every day,
but I don't do it every day. And I'm thinking,
all right, they're you know, five hundred ish, they're right
in there. You know they have a chance if they
start playing really well to do something. But you know,
just be in the mix and see what you can do.
Their division does not look insurmountable. A lot of divisions
don't look insurmountable in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
But the point is this, we're ready for football now.
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
It was great paying attention to the NBA playoffs, and
I still will. I love basketball and I love the playoffs.
But to have the Rockets out of it, the Houston
sports fans like, let's go, oh, come on, training camp,
let's have it.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, no doubt, So let's discuss because I know a
lot of people like, well, you guys are Texans. No,
we both had we both had radio shows in the
city of Houston in which we were full time radio
hosts and we had to talk about all the sports.
And we've been around here long enough and people that
know us know that we are sports fans and we're
(05:23):
definitely fans of Houstonian teams. So I'm gonna make this
question as easy and yet as difficult as possible. Your
thoughts of what you saw last night, Well, I think there.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Are a lot of Texans comparisons and analogies here, and
unfortunately for the Rockets. You know, the Texans were able
under Jamico Ryans to get to the second round in
their sport. Each of these sports has four rounds, right,
and I know with the top seed in the NFL
you get to buy.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But you know what I'm saying here, so you're able
to get to.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
That divisional round of the NFL, and the Rockets weren't
able to get to the Conference semis, which I thought
was I'm not going to say minimal for them because
it's hard.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
We see it. It's hard, and we'll go through this.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
But there are a lot of different analogies and comparisons,
and we'll go through some of them, but by and large,
you know, I'm watching Game seven last night and I
thought one thing, it's too bad for the Rockets that
and I know they were the two seed and Golden
State had to go through a playoff, but it's still
Golden State. I'm sitting there watching the game in the
fourth quarter, I'm thinking, you know what they have on
Golden State's team. They still have one of the greatest
(06:26):
players to ever play this game. And he's sitting there
making plays, not sitting. He doesn't sit, he plays. And
one thing that jumped out to me was this is
the team with three pointers galore and all that other stuff.
And they really mega popularized the three in a way
that you know, we'd never seen before in the teams.
(06:47):
But in the fourth quarter when they needed something done,
you know, they needed first downs to put a football
analogy on it, they needed to move the ball.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
They he went to the basket.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
You know, oh, you're gonna wrestle me and disable my
ability to shoot the three. I'm going right to the
rack and blow him by. You him going to the rack,
he had two or three layups that were really key.
When they needed to keep that scoreboard total going, they
needed to up the eddy, you know, just get more points.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Anything helps here.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
They knew that, and I thought, you know, with all
the talk about analytics and the threes and everything when
Toronto won the title. Remember when Toronto won the title,
I thought, hmm, you're using some mid range here because
they know, like sometimes you just need to score.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You just need a bucket. It doesn't matter if it's
a three or a two.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Screw the analytics at that point, because you got to
be able to just get the ball in the basket
and answer whatever threat you're receiving on the other end.
So I thought Golden State did that really well. And
the Rockets, you know what the football equivalent is for them,
they don't have a quarterback. They just you know, Van
Vliet great, but they disabled him last night.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
They just got to him last night.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
And when I say great, I know it's been hot
and cold in this series and at times good in
times not where you want it to be.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
They don't have the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
They don't have the guy, and you need the guy,
even if the guy, you know, is not like CJ.
Stroud He's not a top three guy in the league
yet and we want him to be.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But he's your guy.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
And what happened last year in the playoffs when you
needed to make a play, he made a play.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
He made two huge plays.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
He had to play to x and the one we
talk about where he ran it in a field goal range,
and those two scores late in the first half really
took that game to a different place for the Texans,
and I thought, that's what the Rockets are lacking. Somebody
just kind of take over when you need it, when
you need him to.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
It's a five on five game. You have to have that,
don't you think.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I thought there were Yeah, you're dead on that.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
I feel like that's lacking, Like, hey, guys, we need
a basket immediately.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Who gets the ball? Now?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Look, I think Aman Thompson's on his way to being
one of the most exciting players in this league on
a lot of different levels. But his offensive game is
still I say dementary, but it's not not where it
needs to be to be that guy you're talking about.
I thought it was really frustrating for a team that
could be so good defensively to have given up so
(09:10):
many layups to Butler and to Steph Curry last night
it was maddening. I mean, I think Steph had four
or five layups in the second half, and like, wait
a second, it was almost like they got to a
point on the floor, like they were really all over
him out by the three point range, and then it
was like when he went inside the arc, they all
just went okay, like almost stopped. And I'm watching the think, wa,
(09:33):
wait a second, No, they should be beating him up
like bad Boys Piston style when that dude goes inside.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And look, I know Steph is put together more than
people know. And CJ. It's funny.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
CJ mentioned that when he was questioning about going to
Game one and he talking about how he talked to
Steph after the game, like he knows Steph. They had
a long conversation when they first met, and so he's like, man,
steps swollen and he's a big guy, but still you
gotta you gotta pound him in a submission, like you
gotta him not want to go in there. But the
other aspect of it, too, for me, goes back to
(10:06):
something I learned a long long time ago.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I was ten years old.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Never forget I was ten years old, my dad was
coaching basketball.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And I remember them saying there was a game and.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I was kind of I was on the bench with
my dad and this kid just was going off. Their
best player is just he'd making a bucket here, bucket there.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And I kind of was like, why is he scoring
so much?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Like?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I got really mad, and I remember my dad saying,
what we want him to and I was like, what
do you mean.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'll tell you later.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, we end up winning the game, and I didn't
understand it as a kid, I was like, what's going.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
On, daddy?
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Was We didn't mind that such and such hurt us.
We didn't want everybody else to hurt us. And let
Steph get fifty. I don't give a damn what he gets. Buddy,
hell can't go for thirty three. They're in no way,
shape or form, can Buddy. He'll go for thirty three
against you in a game set situation. And he shot
(11:01):
the lights out, Don't don't get me wrong. Like I
knew the Rockets were in trouble when it was twenty
to nineteen. There's four seconds left and he launches one
from about forty and rips it, and I thought, oh boy,
this is not good.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
But that thought of.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Let the star be a star, Let the star get his,
But man, you shut everybody else down. Let Jordan get
forty five, but Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant aren't gonna
add six.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
You're gonna win that game.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
And it wasn't until Jordan figured it out, like, hey,
they all got to have twelve to fifteen. At least
I'll get mine, But they gotta have twelve to fifteen
each if we're gonna win. That's when the ball start
turning the corner. Last night, if you were to let
Steph get forty and Heal gets you know, five, you're
much better shape.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And look, I know he's a catching shoot guy.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I get all that, you know, but it just felt
like they were chasing their own tail all night long.
And does that come about because they don't have a
lot of experience in the playoffs, Maybe that the guys
they expected to step up Shanoon and Jalen didn't.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Really.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
They missed so many layups, I mean the number of
times that miss layps, A number of times they'd missed
an easy layup on a foul and one yep potential
for three points and they'd missed two free throws and
didn't get anything out of that possession.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It was maddening from.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
That perspective to go kind of through that sort of
situation watching that game last night. So the Rockets lose,
and now we're talking about and I'm sure they're going
to be talking about Durant Booker, Are they making a trade?
Is this team good enough? Who do they have to move?
Why didn't Jalen Green play?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Well? It's like, oh, I did not want to wake
up Monday, especially after game Friday night.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Friday night was as fun a game watching the Rockets
as I've had in years, and I'm sure a lot
of Rockets can say that.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
That was awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And I just remembered it's still game seven back in
Houston and Golden State's already beating them there before with
this crew, relatively speaking, Stephan Draymond in particular, I thought,
I just don't feel comfortable, and then when he hit
that three at the end of the first quarter, I thought,
this is going about the way that I thought it
was going to.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
You know, if you're not a Golden State fan, you
probably don't like Draymond Green. Who likes Draymond Green, who's
not a Golden State fan, But I respect the daylights
out of Draymond Green for what he is.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Now, he's a hothead.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
We all know this. When he gets inside the lines.
It's funny because I was thinking this. I was thinking,
you know, certain guys and I'm not comparing his ease
al Shire to Draymond Green, but there's a similarity here
in that yeh, when they're between the lines, things sometimes
happened where you're like, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Right with Raymond, you know the Golden State people.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
There was one instance in the game last night where
a butler was on the floor.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
A couple of guys are on the floor.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Draymond wasn't in this, and legs were getting tangled and
they called the foul on Steph because he pulled he
pulled somebody down.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It looked like he did.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, And I thought, oh, if Raymond Green is in that,
there are legs flying and people getting kicked perhaps and
he might be gone. He might be gone now, who knows.
But I just think that certain guys have that I
don't know, there's a wire and they just go nuts.
And but it can be very good that edge is
(14:20):
very good for your team. He's this is a multi
champion player, and you could argue that he's as important
to their legacy as any of the other players, as
Steph as Klay Thompson was. You could argue Draymond Green
is as important as those guys because he's the enforcer, yes,
(14:40):
but he's also the steadying force in a way out
there for them. I think, you know, he's a very
important part of a championship team. And I was like,
you know it, just that part of it reminds me
of his ease. Though he's so good and maybe other
teams don't like him and other fan bases don't like him,
but he's great for your team, and you know.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
He might be a great guy behind the scenes. I
don't know if Draymond is or not.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
He said nice things about the Rockets last night in
the post game, Seawan and Seth played a cut this morning.
I thought, oh, he's very complimentary of the Rockets, especially
Jabari Smith, who I agree should have played more in
this series. But it's fun to compare the sports sometimes
and the development because the Texans are where they are,
young team on the rise. Rockets, Hey, they had a
hell of a regular season. I mean they beat the
(15:25):
beat the doors off a lot of teams this year
ended up as a two seed. I know it was close,
but they ended up as a two seed. Awesome, great
step forward, bad playoff draw, I think for them because
they got a veteran bunch that responded at the moment
of truth and I felt like you did, Johnny. After
Friday night, I was like, how are they gonna lose?
I mean, they got it all go over themselves. Now,
(15:47):
Golden State's gotta feel like they totally blew this game.
And remember they're the ones, well I know it's different people,
but some are the same who blew the series to
Lebron back in the day in what was that twenty
sixteen sixteen?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I think sixteen, yeah, because that's.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
When we got brock because I remember, I remember I
was literally at the Golden Nugget.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
I was at the Golden Nugget.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
For the Lebron block right that game, and and Wade Phillips,
Wade and Laurie were there and had dinner with them
just like it was well, actually it's post dinner. We
just sat together and just talked for two hours because
they had just won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Waited just won the.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Super right, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So I said, I forget I forgive you, Coach Phillips,
I forgive you winning the Super Bowl. Rock aggravating super
Bowl when I ever witnessed. I'm like, wait a minute, those.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Are all our guys.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
They are literally winning the Super Bowl with our guys
and the formula that we could have should have won
it with where you're not putting too much on the quarterback,
you're just running the football and played outstanding defense, just
totally disruptive defense. But you know what, we can play
that formula right now. I mean we got the chops
to do that right now with this defense, yep. And
if we can run the football, we can go deep
(17:09):
because CJ is CJ. You give CJ toime, you give
CJ a great running game, productive running game. In the postseason,
let's go.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This Rockets offseason is gonna be really really interesting, and
it's there's been so many parallels to the Texans and
the Rockets in so many ways, shapes and forms, and
this feels like that offseason, like ours going into twenty four,
(17:40):
where we signed a Zase. We went out and got
Daniel Hunter, traded for Stefan Diggs, trade for Joe Maxon.
This feels like it could be that offseason for the
Rockets that they've got some foundational pieces in one in particular,
I think Ama Thompson.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
But do they need a score to any of a
bucket getter?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
If so, who is it? And if it's Devin Booker,
how much they have to give up? You know, they
got all these draft picks. You know, maybe they end
up getting lucky again with the lottery.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Maybe not.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I mean they've got the suns amount of ping pong balls,
and so you know, there's no telling what they can
come up with, you know, from that and build. You know,
what does Reached Shepherd do next year? All that kind
of stuff. It makes for a really interesting offseason, you
know for the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And here's the other thing.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
The Rockets are no longer gonna be that oh that
nice little plucky story. Now everybody's gonna gear up and say, oh,
we're playing the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
We got to have our stuff together.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
But in a sense for the Rockets facing the Warriors
in its first round, I mean, I'm not gonna sit
here and tell you it's unfair.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Nothing's unfair.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But that's the best seven seed I've ever seen. You know,
if they get any other team, they probably are moving on.
But they get the Warriors, a team that adds Jimmy
Butler that was really really good defensively after they added
Jimmy Butler and they had everybody relatively healthy. In this series,
the Rockets did too, for the most part that I
know of. It's just unfortunate that that team continues to
(19:00):
just jamb into the side of the Rockets in the
city of Houston.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
How about this, Johnny.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
They went through everything they went through with the Warriors,
the Rockets did and Harden and it feels like ten
years ago and it wasn't right, but it feels like
so long ago where they could have would have should
have beat the Warriors and Chris Paul and Hamstring and
all that stuff. Rockets go through a complete astros like
bottoming out period, I mean, just subterranean, and now here
(19:27):
they come back up again and the Warriors are still here,
y know, I think in the docuseries, and there will
eventually be one if there's not one already on the Warriors.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
This era will be like and they had a nice.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Little couple of flashes in the playoffs and they won
against it. Like, I think they're out now, probably, but
it's it's still notable. How you have you know, two
of the big three, of their Big three still around
and they're still making noise. But don't you agree with
me in their docu series, I think they're done winning
championships now. Maybe I'm totally wrong because Draymond bra did
(20:01):
it at the All Star Game that they would win,
and maybe they do. But to me, this is like,
oh yeah, and that's the end of that era and
then they'll go on from there. In the Warrior Docus.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I think, I think anything is possible. I think getting
swept by the Timby's as possible. I think getting all
the way to the NBA Finals as possible. But I
just you know, when you think about you know, playing
teams like the Celtics, Knicks, Calves, you know, even the Pacers.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I don't know Pacers too much. I think the Calves
will come back and win that.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
But even the Thunder I think the young, the how loaded,
especially the Thunder are with stud young players that they
can go get buckets too. And I think that's the
one thing that we'll see. And I think the Timberwolves too,
Like how do they try and stop Anthony Edwards? You know,
if Edwards gets hot, you know, they can bang up
(20:54):
the Warriors two places and physical ball. So I'm curious
to see how that goes for them in this next series.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
It's funny with Oklahoma City because I think the world
is about to see a lot of casual fans are
about to see them for the first time, you know,
as they get deeper into this playoff run here and
be like, oh wow, these guys are that good? Like
how did they have the best record in the West.
I'm still getting over them losing their Big three. I'm
still thinking about Durant and Harden and Russell Westbrook and
(21:21):
that Oklahoma City thunder.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
What is this?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
You know, I think a lot of casual fans are
like that. So that'll be interesting. And before people call
me out, I'm gonna call myself out because I said
the Rockets went through this astros like bottoming out period,
and I think the natural response is, well, what about
the Texans. Did you have astros like bottoming out period.
I'm like, yeah, we did, we did. We had three
years of total bottom out. Now, the good thing is
(21:45):
you're you're back in the playoffs and making noise there
and you got the I mean, the players that they have.
But we can all hope that you have the success
that the Astros did after they're bottoming out. And that's
the hope here with the Texans having their bottoming out.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Are we gonna get there?
Speaker 4 (22:01):
We're gonna get to the championship level multiple times would
be great.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Rockets are hoping for that as well.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
And the Astros are the Astros in the Astros docu series.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Is it like, ah, the end of the era, that
kind of thing. Stay tuned. It's sports. We love it.
It is it is.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
We do, absolutely love it.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Congrassler rocks on a great regular season, tough playoff, ending
some tremendous moments, and what's gonna be one hell of
an offseason. All right, when we get back, it's time
for over under or earlier later. You know, you'll see
what I'm talking about next right here in Texans All Access.
Welcome back to this Monday night edition of Texans All
Access from Monday Texans Radio Studio, John Harris alongside Mark
(22:40):
Van Ruir. Mark, I know you like to play over under,
and I'm throwing in a new wrinkle called earlier or
later and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. But
it's just an off youto over under. But it has
to do with the schedule. A reminder May fourteenth, that
is is Wednesday Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Is that right? Wednesday? Next Wednesday? Next Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
The fourteenth, we will unveil the twenty twenty five schedule.
Actually we'll have Texans All Access which is the schedule
release pregame, but then we'll have our thoughts at seven
o'clock that evening on the schedule, it is an exciting one.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
We have nine home games this year, we have eight
road games.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
We also find out what the preseason games are, so
that's gonna be exciting. But Mark, are you ready for
over under? I got some simple ones to start off. Well,
I think they're simple. I think they're simple. And you'll
see how I've phrased this first one because unfortunately it's
a guy who's had injuries the last couple of years.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
The number is four and a half.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Christian Kirk catches per game now at four and a half.
If he played seventeen games, that would be seventy six
and a half receptions in total, four and a half
catches per game. So if you played ten, it would
be forty five. Five would be twenty two and a half,
(24:09):
et cetera, twenty three, et cetera. So for a frame
of reference, I just pulled up what Nico did last year.
Nico had five point six receptions per game.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Five point was healthy. Yeah, so that's why I said
per game.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
I said that per game because they've been they've been injured,
and so it suse it a little bit. So that's
why I went with receptions per game. Christian Kirk four
and a half catches per game, you're going over or under.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
So you're saying, if Kirk plays in only ten games,
it's still four and a half per games played.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, four and a half per games played.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I'll go over. I'll go over that.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
He's gonna have some games where he catches eight ten
balls and Nico has five for ninety. Right, But Kirk
is more of a go to short yardage on occasion.
I know he's not all that, but I could see
him well over four and a half per game per
games played. Now, you know, it's hard to predict injuries
(25:13):
and things like that, but games he appears in. I
like the over on four and a half for Christian Kirk. Now,
we don't know how the rookies are gonna be. And
it's funny with the draft. I go over a week
now since the draft, you see all the videos and
all the analytics or all the analysts weighing in on
how Higgins is gonna do. They're all nuts for Higgins
(25:34):
now and I love all this stuff, you know, because
it gets me all fired up. But every team has this,
right Yeah, it's like, oh, receiver wide receiver X. They're
so good and it's gonna be great for us, the
Cardinals or whoever we are. So I just love it
for the Texans. But I'll go over the four and
a half Johnny without knowing what the rookies are gonna do.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I'll say that right now.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Okay, So Christian Kirk for six seven he's been in
the league seven years. How many of those years did
he go over four and a half receptions per game?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Four?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Three?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (26:12):
He had five point two one year in Arizona. He
had four point nine in Jacksonville in twenty two. He
had four point eight in Jacksonville twenty three. Then last
year he had a career low three point four, So
I think four and a half is actually not a
bad number, and I hope it's more. I would hope
he'd be that guy that, like you said, he'll have
a consistent three, four five every game, but then he'll
(26:35):
have that game where he has seven, he has eight.
He has plenty of those kind of games as well,
so you know, hopefully that's that's where it ends up going.
But yeah, he's only had three of the seven where
he's over four and a half catches per game.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
If he doesn't go over four and a half, I
think it's gonna be Noel or Higgins becomes this really
reliable threat. Right now, I have a hard time seeing
Barrios up that much of Kirk's potential production.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Or Watson.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I would think, justin Watson, folks, I would think that
it's going to be one of the rookies who comes
in and really splashes or think.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I think, yeah, okay, are you ready for an earlier
or later?
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
This do early and laters have to do with the schedule.
We talk about this a lot earlier or later. Both
Colts games completed earlier or later than Week twelve. Now,
last year we played them week one, we played them
(27:40):
week eight. We were well before Week twelve. But most
every other year it's.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Been one early, one late, one early one late.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
There's been a couple other times where it's been in
and around, you know, week two, week ten, somewhere in there,
both Colts games completed earlier or later than Week twelve.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
And well, you know how I feel about this.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
I think the league really screwed up last year by
having both Colts games completed before November hits. I mean,
what are you doing? You know what this division's gonna
come down to. So and look, I know last year
it didn't, but it had the potential. It had the
potential to be big had there been a Colts match
up late.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
That gives them more hope.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Not that I want to see them have hope, but
that gives them more hope to unseat the Texans late.
And you want that because what did you have last year?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
When were we through with the Jags? Last year.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Titans, I know was the last week of the season,
and that tit week thirteen.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
We thirteen because it was the last game for the bye. Yeah,
we're thirteen.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Crazy that's right, the last game before the by the
worldroad game. That's crazy talk, Like, come on, what you
need to do is have the potential for a division showdown.
That means something because no one would have predicted going
into twenty twenty three that the last game of the
regular season Texans Colts would be a playoff game. That's
exactly what it was. It was awesome on a Saturday.
(29:02):
It was a really entertaining game for the national audience.
You know, I know these aren't like national household brand names,
but they are compelling when you have that kind of
that kind of prize on the line. So go ahead
and put the Texans in the Colts late. I don't
think they're gonna make that mistake again. And I know
people are saying, well, what do you what do you
do with the Titans, What do you do with the Jags?
(29:22):
I would say the Jags, you got to give them
a later one too. Most divisional games, you know you're
gonna have at least two division opponents in the last
three weeks of the season most of the time.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
That the Texans didn't have that last year.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah we didn't.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
That was kind of weird, Okay, Leading sack artists on
the team.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Now, we don't know who it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
We got candidates, but the number of said sack artists
over under is eleven and a half. Now, for reference,
last year, Danil had twelve, Will had eleven. Everybody else
beyond that could be one of those two, It could
be somebody else. But whoever it is, the number is
(30:07):
eleven and a half over or under.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Oh, totally easy over here, because okay, all right, yeah,
I'll go over with that, because look, you mentioned Danil
and Will's numbers last year. I think it's not anybody else.
It's one of those two guys. And at some point
Will well, at some point Danil, I don't want to
say he gets older, but I mean, can he keep
(30:31):
can he keep doing this?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
This is crazy? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
He is the most how he's built I know, I
know he's built over this thing. Yeah, he's like a robot.
And now he's living in Houston on a playoff team.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
He's happy. I mean, not that he was unhappy in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
He's probably happy up there too, but but even happier.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
But Will, I think this is year.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Three, Johnny, this is where you really start to come
into your own. You know, think about what eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen was Wat's best year.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That was his fourth year in the league.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Okay, and I just and how many defensive player that
he had two Defensive Player of the Year awards after
O'Brien shows up. Correct, Yeah, he did win fourteen, fourteen, fifteen.
I think this is it for Will. He's he's going
to come into another level here. So I would say, Will,
(31:25):
and it's over eleven and a half sacks.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Okay, you mentioned the draft. We're we're we're out of
the you know, the.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Wave of the draft, so to speak. There's still a
little bit of ripple there. Always says, oh, by the way,
we're going to table this discussion for another day. But
PFF did a redraft of two thousand and six, and
when I saw it, it made me think of the
butterfly effect of one thing happening in two thousand and six.
(31:55):
They redrafted, and they redrafted Andrew it Worth to the
Texans at number one overall, And I started thinking about
the butterfly effect of that one thing going forward, and
it was like.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Whoa, they don't draft Charles Spencer if they draft Whitworth.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Right, And at that point do they draft Winston?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
You know, they've already gotten their guys, So at that
point they've got their left tackle, do they you know,
they don't draft Dwayne Brown at two thousand and eight,
and who do they draft?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
You know? So there's so it's a butterfly effected in
my head. It's just spinning.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
I was like, okay, we got to talk about that,
but we'll do that for a little bit later. But
we're still staying with the rookies here. Rookie starters, Now,
the word starter can.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Be kind of.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Especially at a guy, you know, a receiver, because Nico.
There were times they would start at certain personnel group
and Nico wasn't part of that, and they would start
the game that way. So Nico doesn't get a start,
but Nico would play eighty five to ninety percent.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Of the place.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
So I use the word starter loosely.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Rookie starters on a relatively consistent basis for this team
in twenty twenty five, I set the number at one
and a half.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Oh all right, Well the half is interesting because you
figure one of the receivers is gonna break through, right, okay,
all right, And it's regular basis starters. So on defense,
do any of them become that? Based on what you
have already? It's hard to say. I would say no.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
I mean, Jalen Smith, Jalen Reid. As long as you
don't have injuries, I don't think so. I think they'll
be especially special teams, right, but there's.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
No vacancy in the hotel for a Kaitlin Bullock to
come in here and wreck shop or you know, or
come on.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You wouldn't think so. You would think it's on offense.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Right, So are there two?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I'm gonna go under.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
I'm gonna okay, well, hold on, hold on if I'm
feeling aggressive. If I'm feeling aggressive, maybe I think Ursery
finds a way to crack into the starting lineup eventually,
you know, whether it be injury forcing him in because
he's the next best thing, or he actually wins the job,
or or shows enough promise where like, you know what,
(34:12):
we got to play him.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
It's not that much of a drop off. Let's go
with it. Let's just do it.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
I don't know if they'd think that way, but it
sounds good in May, Yeah it does.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I'm gonna go under. I think it's one even though
I'd like for it to be Ursery.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
But I, boy, that's a good number, I said, I'm very,
very proud of that number.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Okay, that says something about this team, Johnny. You're talking
about a ten win team and we're talking about no
rookies getting a start and exactly one even one means that, Hey,
either your plans a wide receiver aren't going according to plan.
Although I do think there's a carrot there for one
of these guys to win a job. I do think
there's a good carrot there. Go ahead and take it.
(34:52):
And I don't know how it's all gonna look X,
Y and Z and all that stuff, and I don't
even know.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
If they know.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
But there's a chance, there's a chance. Okay, let's go
back to the schedule for this one.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Now. It's still an over under.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
International games on the twenty twenty five schedule. The number
is set at a half.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
You know, I don't know what to think.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Here, International games on the schedule.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Over I'm gonna say, is a half.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I'm going under. I don't think it's happened.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Okay, you know what I'm gonna get.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Under would be a big favorite. Under would be a
big favorite, but.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
It would be.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
But you know, Mexico City didn't happen, and it would
have happened this year because you have nine games and
if as Teca was ready, they would be there.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So it's not ready, They're not going to be there.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
But I still feel like the league wants to stick
it to the Texans and they're gonna send us somewhere. Now.
When I say that, it's like it should be a celebration.
You're going international. But the football people know that this
is a big hassle and it's really difficult to play
overseas for anybody.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
And I know there's a winner and a loser and
all that.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
And if you win, you feel great, but it's still
a major logistical and what in football, coaches and players
like routine, and it's a major disruption to your routine.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
And it's great for the league. I get it. I
get it. I get it.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
I would say over because the league wants to stick
it to us.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
That's yes, Okay, earlier or later, I could see this
going any number of ways. The game in Kansas City
against the Chiefs earlier or later.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Then Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Thank god they didn't win the Super Bowl, so we
don't have that possibility of opening, although maybe that would
be a good thing.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
I don't know. Detroit beat them there a couple of
years ago.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Worked out well for them. Earlier or later than Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Now, we have played them at different times. In twenty nineteen,
we played them in October. This past year, we played
them the week before Christmas. That was that last game
we played before we went through that game against the Ravens.
So we played them at different times. Most of them
have been before Thanksgiving. But now that both teams are
(37:11):
pretty good, where they put the game on Christmas Day,
would they do that earlier or later Texans Chiefs than Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
I'm going to say earlier only because the bulk of
the schedule is earlier than Thanksgiving, and I'll say earlier.
And what's interesting is, so the Chiefs aren't going to
be the Christmas staple or one of them, because we'll
have a triple header on Christmas. They've just completely stepped
on the NBA and said, you know what, we're taking
over Christmas too.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
We are going to hijack the whole day.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
I kind of like that, but a triple header on
Christmas means this is another question. Odds of the Texans
playing on Christmas again. I know it didn't go well
last year except for the concert and Kamario lastater is Safety, Yeah,
which is still one of the great plays of the year.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You know what's funny?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Is that so.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
Good at a corner, a rookie corner tackling Derrick Henry
in his own end zone?
Speaker 1 (38:04):
I mean, what is that?
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Doesn't happen anyway? The rest of the game, sorry, missus Lincoln,
did not go well. I would say earlier than Thanksgiving.
There's a lot to talk about with the schedule. I
know we'll get into it before May fourteenth, a week
for Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
I think it's earlier than Thanksgiving at least I'm hoping that.
And then hopefully the playoff game happens at Houston and
not Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Okay, we get back it. We go around the NFL.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Plenty of things happening on a Monday over the weekend.
We'll discuss them all next right here on Texans All Access.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
What's happened everybody?
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Welcome back to this Monday editition of Texans All Access
from the Monday Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John
Harris football analyst sideline reporter for your Houston Texans And
as I teased, we'll go around the NFL, but we're
going to start right here in h Town where obviously
Texas Charity Classic was taking place today and before every
(38:59):
year of the tournament. The McNair's president in this case,
Mike Toeman, also Nick Sero, Deique Ryans, they all speak
to the media on hand.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
One of the.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Big items that came out of that is the potential
of moving our building as we call our building, out
of the NRG area.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Jonathan Alexander of the Chronic our buddy. We'll talk to
him about this later in the week.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Reports that the team is interested in moving away, is
moving from the stadium and building a facility that could
include an entertainment district, So building kind of a facility
with restaurant shopping, like a like this cool district in
and around where the facility is now. The Cowboys moved theirs,
(39:55):
as Pro Football Talk mentioned, up to Frisco, that's like
thirty five miles away from where the stadium is. And
I've talked to some Cowboys employees. They've talked about that situation,
about how they've moved and had to move, and you know,
they were kind of all situated in one area and
then they moved up the frist go and they're like,
oh man, we gotta move. So anyhow, that would make
(40:15):
things a little bit problematic for me, considering I have
not moved to a southern location to the city. If
they end up going north to the city, that's a
long haul. But I'll still do it, my Texans, I'll
do it. Calvin Gahir said today via johnh Alexander, where
we wind up with a practice facility, I'm not really sure,
(40:37):
not really quite sure yet. We have a lot of
options and we'll sort through that sooner rather than later.
Cow was asked building around an RG it's an option,
but so is a move elsewhere. Cal responded, would we
move out, Yeah, we would move out and do a
brand new one somewhere in the Greater Houston. Now, according
(41:02):
to the article, we have a lease that goes through
twenty thirty two. We've talked about are they gonna build
a new stadium, are they gonna stay, do the renovations,
et cetera. People ask me this all the time.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Now, this is a practice facility it would be a
facility for people in business ops, football ops away.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
From the stadium.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
I've talked about the issues with being in the stadium
at all times and looks.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Some people have said, well, that's just you know, you
dealing with it.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
But I would ask you if you worked in a
certain situation, if every month or so you had to
go park in a totally different location, if you had
people that were in your building at all times as
you were trying to teach algebra, you know, if you
had Disney on ice rolling through your hallways and you're
going up there, so three X minus six equals twelve,
(41:50):
how do we solve for X? And you got, you know,
Disney on ice flying down the hallways. It doesn't make
for the easiest situation and of itself, but that being
what it is. That was a big topic today and
the entertainment district is kind of an interesting thought about.
And I'm trying to think of places where we've been
where we've seen this. Obviously up at Frisco where we
(42:12):
were for Hurricane Harvey, we got a chance to kind
of see what that was all about.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
It's a really cool place.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Title Town in Green Bay is kind of like that
my cousin lives in Green Bay and she would say that.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
She told me that her kids who are.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
I think oldest is a sophomore, but like they go
to Title Town just to hang out.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
That's where they go.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
So never know what this entertainment type district could end
up being for the Texans. But obviously there's a lot
of momentum around that, and there are a lot of
talking points today at the golf tournament, and you knew
they were going to be If the McNair's were speaking,
that obviously was going to be something that they were
going to talk about.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
So we'll obviously talk about.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
It from from time to time because it does. It
doesn't you know where the Texans practice versus where they play.
We're all in the same building right now, and we're
on a few teams.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
That are that way.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
I think it's like four teams that are the same way.
So training facility, that obviously is one thing to discuss
down the road. Okay, that was a discussion point today
about potential new headquarters. Other news in the NFL, the
Baltimore Ravens did it. I didn't think this was gonna happen.
(43:32):
I just didn't. I did not see this coming. I
know it was talked about, but I'm like, it's Justin Tucker.
I gotta think they're going to find a way to
keep them around. No statement came out from the Ravens
today from Eric to Costa, executive vice president, general manager.
Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one
(43:53):
of those instances. Considering our current roster, we've made the
tough decision to release Justin Tucker. Justin created any significant,
unforgettable moments of Raven's history. His reliability, focused drive, resilience
is extraordinary talent made him one of the.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
League's best kickers for over a decade.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
We are grateful for Justin's many contributions while playing for
the Ravens. We sincerely wish him and his family the
very best in this next chapter of their lives. Justin
Tucker no longer a Raven Now he has been accused
by more than a dozen massage therapists at various Baltimore
(44:27):
areas spas of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
During massages in the twenty tens.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Now Tucker has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, but the
Ravens saying his released as a football decision. They did
draft a kicker, Tyler Loop. I believe Tyler Loop.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
I know it's Loop. I think it's Tyler Loop. So
they drafted him.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
And when I saw that, I thought, oh, this might
be the end of Justin Tucker in Baltimore, or maybe
it's competition for whatever happens. And it looks like it
is going to be Tyler Lup replacing just Sin Tucker
as he is released, released and now continues to have
to fight the allegations, whatever they might be. And look,
(45:10):
I've talked about this many many times. I even said
it with the whole of Shaun thing. You gotta let
it play out. Don't know who's right who's wrong.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
When you have more.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Than a dozen in Tucker's case, more than two dozen
in the Shawn's case, something happened. You don't have that
many people colluding on a certain situation or a certain
particular individual.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
But let all that stuff play out.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
I didn't stay at a holiday in last night, so
I do not know legalities in all this situation. What
I do know is what Adam Schefter has put out,
and that's the statement from the Ravens EVP and General
manager Eric Tkasa saying Justin Tucker seemingly on a Hall
of Fame trajectory.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Now released by the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
He has, as they noted that statement, He's had so
many of the Big Ravens moment throughout his career. I
mean he was, I mean I was deathly afraid of
him on the field.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
So this is a it's.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
It's been a tough situation, gonna get even tougher for
Justin Tucker, but he is no longer with the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
All right, that's all the news that we have for
you this evening on Texans All Access. I appreciate Mark
for being here. I know it was a long day
for him with all the golf that he had to play,
had to play, and then hopped in. We talked a
little over unders and talked about the Rockets last night.
Tough situation for the Rocks, Rockets losing in game seven
(46:41):
to that franchise again. And I hate it because I've
always been to Steph Curry guy. My family on my
wife's side, all Davidson grads except for my wife. She's
the only ones not but man, they love Steph Curry
and I fell in love with Steph Curry when he
was at Davidson, and you know, obviously I don't love
it when he beats the rockets, but damn they're good.
And that is not a seventh seed, as we said earlier.
(47:03):
So there you go. Big thanks to Mark for being here,
to all of you, to everybody that participated in the
golf tournament that was we really appreciate. Obviously from a
Texas perspective, Thank you so much. We'll see you tomorrow everybody,
and as always, go Texas
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:01):
Welcome into a Monday edition of Texans All Access, A
special one because the Texans Invitational Texans Tournament today was
a great day. You know, my man Mark Vandermiirer was
out on the links hitting him and I know he
hit him pretty well.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So it's a big day for the Texans. Appreciate you
guys being here on.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
John Harris, your host for this evening, Mark, I know
all of us Houstonians got kicked into teeth last night,
but how.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You feeling well?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
First, you mentioned the Texans Charity Classic presented by BMW,
and I got to say that I've played him in
all of them, Johnny, And this started back in two
thousand and three. My goodness, but they've raised This was
a record. They raised over five hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for the Houston Texans Foundation in this year's tournament,
(00:46):
and since the inception, they've raised over fifty million for
the Houston Texans Foundation.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So it is awesome. I mean, in general, it is awesome.
This is there.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I don't know if this is the biggest fundraiser I
no season premiere, what used to be the kickoff lunch
generates a lot as well, but it's just huge, and
you know, huge in the flag football for girls and
all that right now.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And other things that the foundation does.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's not the only thing, but it's just great to
be involved in it and see everybody out there.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So that's cool.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
And what else is cool is you know, I was
in the building this morning and they're doing a little
bit more every week, aren't they. In this ramp up
period off season conditioning. OTAs will be out there before
you know it. Can't wait to report on some things
we see. Nothing strategic, of course, but man, I'm so
fired up because you could just feel it in the building,
(01:37):
and I wish everybody could experience this. You feel it
in the building that it's coming, the season's coming. I
mean they're here, they're working out, they're doing their stuff,
and we're not getting to see a lot of that,
and by a lot, I mean any of it, but
we will at some point, so that'll be cool.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, Yeah, it definitely will be cool. It's I'm trying
to do the math.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's May fifth today, O Sinko to Mayo, Happy sinking
to my everybody, to those who celebrate so June July,
you're talking two months and you're into July, and then
god knows when we're gonna start when.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Now we're not going to Hall of Fame game. I
saw that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I saw the two teams that are in the Hall
of Fame game. I want to say the Chargers are
one of them.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
We're not. And that's the most important thing.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Just as far as timing goes, we won't be starting
ten days before everybody else as we did last year.
I think we started July seventeenth last year. So let's
say it's the twenty fifth ish, talking about two months
and twenty days, you know, eighty some days. That's not
that much to get to the start of training camp. Man,
So that's I mean, it's I don't want to say
(02:44):
it's almost here, but two months and twenty days gets
here pretty quickly before you know it. And of course
we've got OTA's and mini camps coming up that'll satiate
us all. We'll have our Texas Media Day at some point,
hopefully in June, which we'll have a lot of content
comfort and then it's a desert for a few weeks,
and then before you know it, we're in training camp
and we're often running on the twenty twenty five season
(03:06):
and this sucker's going.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah. Two things about that.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
First of all, Hall of Fame game is Detroit and
the Chargers. Yes, and this is good because the Texans
play the Chargers, and you want them to be all
worn out by the Hall of Fame game by the
time you see them whenever. That is yeah, because I
do think that there's a wear and tear effect that
the team endured last year based on starting camp early.
We've talked about that many times, especially since you went
(03:30):
thirteen consecutive weeks without a buye and it just got
to be you know, every team goes through it, the injuries,
limping along, and you know, it's funny when another team
loses a guy you don't, I mean you think something
of it, yet you're not living with them and through them,
and it's not your team. But when we suffer any
kind of injury, and it's usually not just one and
(03:53):
it could be to any kind of player, you're thinking, oh,
now you got to go this and you know you
and I know all the little nuances of what it
effects special teams wise, and now this guy's got to
be a gunner. Because of that, it doesn't have to
be a major player in order to have an effect
on your team.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Anyway.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
The other thing about this is and you reciting things
about the calendar and where we're headed here with the
Rockets losing.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
For the sports fan in Houston, it's oh, okay, okay,
what do I gotta know? I got the astros. Okay,
look that I.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Looked at the standings in Major League Baseball. I don't
do this every day. I used to do it every day,
but I don't do it every day. And I'm thinking,
all right, they're you know, five hundred ish, they're right
in there. You know they have a chance if they
start playing really well to do something. But you know,
just be in the mix and see what you can do.
Their division does not look insurmountable. A lot of divisions
don't look insurmountable in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
But the point is this, we're ready for football now.
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
It was great paying attention to the NBA playoffs, and
I still will. I love basketball and I love the playoffs.
But to have the Rockets out of it, the Houston
sports fans like, let's go, oh, come on, training camp,
let's have it.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, no doubt, So let's discuss because I know a
lot of people like, well, you guys are Texans. No,
we both had we both had radio shows in the
city of Houston in which we were full time radio
hosts and we had to talk about all the sports.
And we've been around here long enough and people that
know us know that we are sports fans and we're
(05:23):
definitely fans of Houstonian teams. So I'm gonna make this
question as easy and yet as difficult as possible. Your
thoughts of what you saw last night, Well, I think there.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Are a lot of Texans comparisons and analogies here, and
unfortunately for the Rockets. You know, the Texans were able
under Jamico Ryans to get to the second round in
their sport. Each of these sports has four rounds, right,
and I know with the top seed in the NFL
you get to buy.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But you know what I'm saying here, so you're able
to get to.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
That divisional round of the NFL, and the Rockets weren't
able to get to the Conference semis, which I thought
was I'm not going to say minimal for them because
it's hard.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
We see it. It's hard, and we'll go through this.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
But there are a lot of different analogies and comparisons,
and we'll go through some of them, but by and large,
you know, I'm watching Game seven last night and I
thought one thing, it's too bad for the Rockets that
and I know they were the two seed and Golden
State had to go through a playoff, but it's still
Golden State. I'm sitting there watching the game in the
fourth quarter, I'm thinking, you know what they have on
Golden State's team. They still have one of the greatest
(06:26):
players to ever play this game. And he's sitting there
making plays, not sitting. He doesn't sit, he plays. And
one thing that jumped out to me was this is
the team with three pointers galore and all that other stuff.
And they really mega popularized the three in a way
that you know, we'd never seen before in the teams.
(06:47):
But in the fourth quarter when they needed something done,
you know, they needed first downs to put a football
analogy on it, they needed to move the ball.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
They he went to the basket.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
You know, oh, you're gonna wrestle me and disable my
ability to shoot the three. I'm going right to the
rack and blow him by. You him going to the rack,
he had two or three layups that were really key.
When they needed to keep that scoreboard total going, they
needed to up the eddy, you know, just get more points.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Anything helps here.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
They knew that, and I thought, you know, with all
the talk about analytics and the threes and everything when
Toronto won the title. Remember when Toronto won the title,
I thought, hmm, you're using some mid range here because
they know, like sometimes you just need to score.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You just need a bucket. It doesn't matter if it's
a three or a two.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Screw the analytics at that point, because you got to
be able to just get the ball in the basket
and answer whatever threat you're receiving on the other end.
So I thought Golden State did that really well. And
the Rockets, you know what the football equivalent is for them,
they don't have a quarterback. They just you know, Van
Vliet great, but they disabled him last night.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
They just got to him last night.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
And when I say great, I know it's been hot
and cold in this series and at times good in
times not where you want it to be.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
They don't have the quarterback.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
They don't have the guy, and you need the guy,
even if the guy, you know, is not like CJ.
Stroud He's not a top three guy in the league
yet and we want him to be.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But he's your guy.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
And what happened last year in the playoffs when you
needed to make a play, he made a play.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
He made two huge plays.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
He had to play to x and the one we
talk about where he ran it in a field goal range,
and those two scores late in the first half really
took that game to a different place for the Texans,
and I thought, that's what the Rockets are lacking. Somebody
just kind of take over when you need it, when
you need him to.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
It's a five on five game. You have to have that,
don't you think.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I thought there were Yeah, you're dead on that.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
I feel like that's lacking, Like, hey, guys, we need
a basket immediately.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Who gets the ball? Now?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Look, I think Aman Thompson's on his way to being
one of the most exciting players in this league on
a lot of different levels. But his offensive game is
still I say dementary, but it's not not where it
needs to be to be that guy you're talking about.
I thought it was really frustrating for a team that
could be so good defensively to have given up so
(09:10):
many layups to Butler and to Steph Curry last night
it was maddening. I mean, I think Steph had four
or five layups in the second half, and like, wait
a second, it was almost like they got to a
point on the floor, like they were really all over
him out by the three point range, and then it
was like when he went inside the arc, they all
just went okay, like almost stopped. And I'm watching the think, wa,
(09:33):
wait a second, No, they should be beating him up
like bad Boys Piston style when that dude goes inside.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And look, I know Steph is put together more than
people know. And CJ. It's funny.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
CJ mentioned that when he was questioning about going to
Game one and he talking about how he talked to
Steph after the game, like he knows Steph. They had
a long conversation when they first met, and so he's like, man,
steps swollen and he's a big guy, but still you
gotta you gotta pound him in a submission, like you
gotta him not want to go in there. But the
other aspect of it, too, for me, goes back to
(10:06):
something I learned a long long time ago.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I was ten years old.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Never forget I was ten years old, my dad was
coaching basketball.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And I remember them saying there was a game and.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I was kind of I was on the bench with
my dad and this kid just was going off. Their
best player is just he'd making a bucket here, bucket there.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And I kind of was like, why is he scoring
so much?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Like?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I got really mad, and I remember my dad saying,
what we want him to and I was like, what
do you mean.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I'll tell you later.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, we end up winning the game, and I didn't
understand it as a kid, I was like, what's going.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
On, daddy?
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Was We didn't mind that such and such hurt us.
We didn't want everybody else to hurt us. And let
Steph get fifty. I don't give a damn what he gets. Buddy,
hell can't go for thirty three. They're in no way,
shape or form, can Buddy. He'll go for thirty three
against you in a game set situation. And he shot
(11:01):
the lights out, Don't don't get me wrong. Like I
knew the Rockets were in trouble when it was twenty
to nineteen. There's four seconds left and he launches one
from about forty and rips it, and I thought, oh boy,
this is not good.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
But that thought of.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Let the star be a star, Let the star get his,
But man, you shut everybody else down. Let Jordan get
forty five, but Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant aren't gonna
add six.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
You're gonna win that game.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
And it wasn't until Jordan figured it out, like, hey,
they all got to have twelve to fifteen. At least
I'll get mine, But they gotta have twelve to fifteen
each if we're gonna win. That's when the ball start
turning the corner. Last night, if you were to let
Steph get forty and Heal gets you know, five, you're
much better shape.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And look, I know he's a catching shoot guy.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I get all that, you know, but it just felt
like they were chasing their own tail all night long.
And does that come about because they don't have a
lot of experience in the playoffs, Maybe that the guys
they expected to step up Shanoon and Jalen didn't.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Really.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
They missed so many layups, I mean the number of
times that miss layps, A number of times they'd missed
an easy layup on a foul and one yep potential
for three points and they'd missed two free throws and
didn't get anything out of that possession.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It was maddening from.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
That perspective to go kind of through that sort of
situation watching that game last night. So the Rockets lose,
and now we're talking about and I'm sure they're going
to be talking about Durant Booker, Are they making a trade?
Is this team good enough? Who do they have to move?
Why didn't Jalen Green play?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Well? It's like, oh, I did not want to wake
up Monday, especially after game Friday night.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Friday night was as fun a game watching the Rockets
as I've had in years, and I'm sure a lot
of Rockets can say that.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
That was awesome.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And I just remembered it's still game seven back in
Houston and Golden State's already beating them there before with
this crew, relatively speaking, Stephan Draymond in particular, I thought,
I just don't feel comfortable, and then when he hit
that three at the end of the first quarter, I thought,
this is going about the way that I thought it
was going to.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
You know, if you're not a Golden State fan, you
probably don't like Draymond Green. Who likes Draymond Green, who's
not a Golden State fan, But I respect the daylights
out of Draymond Green for what he is.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Now, he's a hothead.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
We all know this. When he gets inside the lines.
It's funny because I was thinking this. I was thinking,
you know, certain guys and I'm not comparing his ease
al Shire to Draymond Green, but there's a similarity here
in that yeh, when they're between the lines, things sometimes
happened where you're like, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Right with Raymond, you know the Golden State people.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
There was one instance in the game last night where
a butler was on the floor.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
A couple of guys are on the floor.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Draymond wasn't in this, and legs were getting tangled and
they called the foul on Steph because he pulled he
pulled somebody down.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
It looked like he did.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, And I thought, oh, if Raymond Green is in that,
there are legs flying and people getting kicked perhaps and
he might be gone. He might be gone now, who knows.
But I just think that certain guys have that I
don't know, there's a wire and they just go nuts.
And but it can be very good that edge is
(14:20):
very good for your team. He's this is a multi
champion player, and you could argue that he's as important
to their legacy as any of the other players, as
Steph as Klay Thompson was. You could argue Draymond Green
is as important as those guys because he's the enforcer, yes,
(14:40):
but he's also the steadying force in a way out
there for them. I think, you know, he's a very
important part of a championship team. And I was like,
you know it, just that part of it reminds me
of his ease. Though he's so good and maybe other
teams don't like him and other fan bases don't like him,
but he's great for your team, and you know.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
He might be a great guy behind the scenes. I
don't know if Draymond is or not.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
He said nice things about the Rockets last night in
the post game, Seawan and Seth played a cut this morning.
I thought, oh, he's very complimentary of the Rockets, especially
Jabari Smith, who I agree should have played more in
this series. But it's fun to compare the sports sometimes
and the development because the Texans are where they are,
young team on the rise. Rockets, Hey, they had a
hell of a regular season. I mean they beat the
(15:25):
beat the doors off a lot of teams this year
ended up as a two seed. I know it was close,
but they ended up as a two seed. Awesome, great
step forward, bad playoff draw, I think for them because
they got a veteran bunch that responded at the moment
of truth and I felt like you did, Johnny. After
Friday night, I was like, how are they gonna lose?
I mean, they got it all go over themselves. Now,
(15:47):
Golden State's gotta feel like they totally blew this game.
And remember they're the ones, well I know it's different people,
but some are the same who blew the series to
Lebron back in the day in what was that twenty
sixteen sixteen?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I think sixteen, yeah, because that's.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
When we got brock because I remember, I remember I
was literally at the Golden Nugget.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
I was at the Golden Nugget.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
For the Lebron block right that game, and and Wade Phillips,
Wade and Laurie were there and had dinner with them
just like it was well, actually it's post dinner. We
just sat together and just talked for two hours because
they had just won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Waited just won the.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Super right, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So I said, I forget I forgive you, Coach Phillips,
I forgive you winning the Super Bowl. Rock aggravating super
Bowl when I ever witnessed. I'm like, wait a minute, those.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Are all our guys.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
They are literally winning the Super Bowl with our guys
and the formula that we could have should have won
it with where you're not putting too much on the quarterback,
you're just running the football and played outstanding defense, just
totally disruptive defense. But you know what, we can play
that formula right now. I mean we got the chops
to do that right now with this defense, yep. And
if we can run the football, we can go deep
(17:09):
because CJ is CJ. You give CJ toime, you give
CJ a great running game, productive running game. In the postseason,
let's go.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This Rockets offseason is gonna be really really interesting, and
it's there's been so many parallels to the Texans and
the Rockets in so many ways, shapes and forms, and
this feels like that offseason, like ours going into twenty four,
(17:40):
where we signed a Zase. We went out and got
Daniel Hunter, traded for Stefan Diggs, trade for Joe Maxon.
This feels like it could be that offseason for the
Rockets that they've got some foundational pieces in one in particular,
I think Ama Thompson.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
But do they need a score to any of a
bucket getter?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
If so, who is it? And if it's Devin Booker,
how much they have to give up? You know, they
got all these draft picks. You know, maybe they end
up getting lucky again with the lottery.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Maybe not.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I mean they've got the suns amount of ping pong balls,
and so you know, there's no telling what they can
come up with, you know, from that and build. You know,
what does Reached Shepherd do next year? All that kind
of stuff. It makes for a really interesting offseason, you
know for the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
And here's the other thing.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
The Rockets are no longer gonna be that oh that
nice little plucky story. Now everybody's gonna gear up and say, oh,
we're playing the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
We got to have our stuff together.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
But in a sense for the Rockets facing the Warriors
in its first round, I mean, I'm not gonna sit
here and tell you it's unfair.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Nothing's unfair.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But that's the best seven seed I've ever seen. You know,
if they get any other team, they probably are moving on.
But they get the Warriors, a team that adds Jimmy
Butler that was really really good defensively after they added
Jimmy Butler and they had everybody relatively healthy. In this series,
the Rockets did too, for the most part that I
know of. It's just unfortunate that that team continues to
(19:00):
just jamb into the side of the Rockets in the
city of Houston.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
How about this, Johnny.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
They went through everything they went through with the Warriors,
the Rockets did and Harden and it feels like ten
years ago and it wasn't right, but it feels like
so long ago where they could have would have should
have beat the Warriors and Chris Paul and Hamstring and
all that stuff. Rockets go through a complete astros like
bottoming out period, I mean, just subterranean, and now here
(19:27):
they come back up again and the Warriors are still here,
y know, I think in the docuseries, and there will
eventually be one if there's not one already on the Warriors.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
This era will be like and they had a nice.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Little couple of flashes in the playoffs and they won
against it. Like, I think they're out now, probably, but
it's it's still notable. How you have you know, two
of the big three, of their Big three still around
and they're still making noise. But don't you agree with
me in their docu series, I think they're done winning
championships now. Maybe I'm totally wrong because Draymond bra did
(20:01):
it at the All Star Game that they would win,
and maybe they do. But to me, this is like,
oh yeah, and that's the end of that era and
then they'll go on from there. In the Warrior Docus.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I think, I think anything is possible. I think getting
swept by the Timby's as possible. I think getting all
the way to the NBA Finals as possible. But I
just you know, when you think about you know, playing
teams like the Celtics, Knicks, Calves, you know, even the Pacers.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I don't know Pacers too much. I think the Calves
will come back and win that.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
But even the Thunder I think the young, the how loaded,
especially the Thunder are with stud young players that they
can go get buckets too. And I think that's the
one thing that we'll see. And I think the Timberwolves too,
Like how do they try and stop Anthony Edwards? You know,
if Edwards gets hot, you know, they can bang up
(20:54):
the Warriors two places and physical ball. So I'm curious
to see how that goes for them in this next series.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
It's funny with Oklahoma City because I think the world
is about to see a lot of casual fans are
about to see them for the first time, you know,
as they get deeper into this playoff run here and
be like, oh wow, these guys are that good? Like
how did they have the best record in the West.
I'm still getting over them losing their Big three. I'm
still thinking about Durant and Harden and Russell Westbrook and
(21:21):
that Oklahoma City thunder.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
What is this?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
You know, I think a lot of casual fans are
like that. So that'll be interesting. And before people call
me out, I'm gonna call myself out because I said
the Rockets went through this astros like bottoming out period,
and I think the natural response is, well, what about
the Texans. Did you have astros like bottoming out period.
I'm like, yeah, we did, we did. We had three
years of total bottom out. Now, the good thing is
(21:45):
you're you're back in the playoffs and making noise there
and you got the I mean, the players that they have.
But we can all hope that you have the success
that the Astros did after they're bottoming out. And that's
the hope here with the Texans having their bottoming out.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Are we gonna get there?
Speaker 4 (22:01):
We're gonna get to the championship level multiple times would
be great.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Rockets are hoping for that as well.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
And the Astros are the Astros in the Astros docu series.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Is it like, ah, the end of the era, that
kind of thing. Stay tuned. It's sports. We love it.
It is it is.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
We do, absolutely love it.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Congrassler rocks on a great regular season, tough playoff, ending
some tremendous moments, and what's gonna be one hell of
an offseason. All right, when we get back, it's time
for over under or earlier later. You know, you'll see
what I'm talking about next right here in Texans All Access.
Welcome back to this Monday night edition of Texans All
Access from Monday Texans Radio Studio, John Harris alongside Mark
(22:40):
Van Ruir. Mark, I know you like to play over under,
and I'm throwing in a new wrinkle called earlier or
later and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. But
it's just an off youto over under. But it has
to do with the schedule. A reminder May fourteenth, that
is is Wednesday Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Is that right? Wednesday? Next Wednesday? Next Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
The fourteenth, we will unveil the twenty twenty five schedule.
Actually we'll have Texans All Access which is the schedule
release pregame, but then we'll have our thoughts at seven
o'clock that evening on the schedule, it is an exciting one.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
We have nine home games this year, we have eight
road games.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
We also find out what the preseason games are, so
that's gonna be exciting. But Mark, are you ready for
over under? I got some simple ones to start off. Well,
I think they're simple. I think they're simple. And you'll
see how I've phrased this first one because unfortunately it's
a guy who's had injuries the last couple of years.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
The number is four and a half.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Christian Kirk catches per game now at four and a half.
If he played seventeen games, that would be seventy six
and a half receptions in total, four and a half
catches per game. So if you played ten, it would
be forty five. Five would be twenty two and a half,
(24:09):
et cetera, twenty three, et cetera. So for a frame
of reference, I just pulled up what Nico did last year.
Nico had five point six receptions per game.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Five point was healthy. Yeah, so that's why I said
per game.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
I said that per game because they've been they've been injured,
and so it suse it a little bit. So that's
why I went with receptions per game. Christian Kirk four
and a half catches per game, you're going over or under.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
So you're saying, if Kirk plays in only ten games,
it's still four and a half per games played.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, four and a half per games played.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I'll go over. I'll go over that.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
He's gonna have some games where he catches eight ten
balls and Nico has five for ninety. Right, But Kirk
is more of a go to short yardage on occasion.
I know he's not all that, but I could see
him well over four and a half per game per
games played. Now, you know, it's hard to predict injuries
(25:13):
and things like that, but games he appears in. I
like the over on four and a half for Christian Kirk. Now,
we don't know how the rookies are gonna be. And
it's funny with the draft. I go over a week
now since the draft, you see all the videos and
all the analytics or all the analysts weighing in on
how Higgins is gonna do. They're all nuts for Higgins
(25:34):
now and I love all this stuff, you know, because
it gets me all fired up. But every team has this,
right Yeah, it's like, oh, receiver wide receiver X. They're
so good and it's gonna be great for us, the
Cardinals or whoever we are. So I just love it
for the Texans. But I'll go over the four and
a half Johnny without knowing what the rookies are gonna do.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I'll say that right now.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Okay, So Christian Kirk for six seven he's been in
the league seven years. How many of those years did
he go over four and a half receptions per game?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Four?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Three?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (26:12):
He had five point two one year in Arizona. He
had four point nine in Jacksonville in twenty two. He
had four point eight in Jacksonville twenty three. Then last
year he had a career low three point four, So
I think four and a half is actually not a
bad number, and I hope it's more. I would hope
he'd be that guy that, like you said, he'll have
a consistent three, four five every game, but then he'll
(26:35):
have that game where he has seven, he has eight.
He has plenty of those kind of games as well,
so you know, hopefully that's that's where it ends up going.
But yeah, he's only had three of the seven where
he's over four and a half catches per game.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
If he doesn't go over four and a half, I
think it's gonna be Noel or Higgins becomes this really
reliable threat. Right now, I have a hard time seeing
Barrios up that much of Kirk's potential production.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Or Watson.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
I would think, justin Watson, folks, I would think that
it's going to be one of the rookies who comes
in and really splashes or think.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I think, yeah, okay, are you ready for an earlier
or later?
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
This do early and laters have to do with the schedule.
We talk about this a lot earlier or later. Both
Colts games completed earlier or later than Week twelve. Now,
last year we played them week one, we played them
(27:40):
week eight. We were well before Week twelve. But most
every other year it's.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Been one early, one late, one early one late.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
There's been a couple other times where it's been in
and around, you know, week two, week ten, somewhere in there,
both Colts games completed earlier or later than Week twelve.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
And well, you know how I feel about this.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
I think the league really screwed up last year by
having both Colts games completed before November hits. I mean,
what are you doing? You know what this division's gonna
come down to. So and look, I know last year
it didn't, but it had the potential. It had the
potential to be big had there been a Colts match
up late.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
That gives them more hope.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Not that I want to see them have hope, but
that gives them more hope to unseat the Texans late.
And you want that because what did you have last year?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
When were we through with the Jags? Last year.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Titans, I know was the last week of the season,
and that tit week thirteen.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
We thirteen because it was the last game for the bye. Yeah,
we're thirteen.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Crazy that's right, the last game before the by the
worldroad game. That's crazy talk, Like, come on, what you
need to do is have the potential for a division showdown.
That means something because no one would have predicted going
into twenty twenty three that the last game of the
regular season Texans Colts would be a playoff game. That's
exactly what it was. It was awesome on a Saturday.
(29:02):
It was a really entertaining game for the national audience.
You know, I know these aren't like national household brand names,
but they are compelling when you have that kind of
that kind of prize on the line. So go ahead
and put the Texans in the Colts late. I don't
think they're gonna make that mistake again. And I know
people are saying, well, what do you what do you
do with the Titans, What do you do with the Jags?
(29:22):
I would say the Jags, you got to give them
a later one too. Most divisional games, you know you're
gonna have at least two division opponents in the last
three weeks of the season most of the time.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
That the Texans didn't have that last year.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah we didn't.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
That was kind of weird, Okay, Leading sack artists on
the team.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Now, we don't know who it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
We got candidates, but the number of said sack artists
over under is eleven and a half. Now, for reference,
last year, Danil had twelve, Will had eleven. Everybody else
beyond that could be one of those two, It could
be somebody else. But whoever it is, the number is
(30:07):
eleven and a half over or under.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Oh, totally easy over here, because okay, all right, yeah,
I'll go over with that, because look, you mentioned Danil
and Will's numbers last year. I think it's not anybody else.
It's one of those two guys. And at some point
Will well, at some point Danil, I don't want to
say he gets older, but I mean, can he keep
(30:31):
can he keep doing this?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
This is crazy? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
He is the most how he's built I know, I
know he's built over this thing. Yeah, he's like a robot.
And now he's living in Houston on a playoff team.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
He's happy. I mean, not that he was unhappy in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
He's probably happy up there too, but but even happier.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
But Will, I think this is year.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Three, Johnny, this is where you really start to come
into your own. You know, think about what eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen was Wat's best year.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That was his fourth year in the league.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Okay, and I just and how many defensive player that
he had two Defensive Player of the Year awards after
O'Brien shows up. Correct, Yeah, he did win fourteen, fourteen, fifteen.
I think this is it for Will. He's he's going
to come into another level here. So I would say, Will,
(31:25):
and it's over eleven and a half sacks.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Okay, you mentioned the draft. We're we're we're out of
the you know, the.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Wave of the draft, so to speak. There's still a
little bit of ripple there. Always says, oh, by the way,
we're going to table this discussion for another day. But
PFF did a redraft of two thousand and six, and
when I saw it, it made me think of the
butterfly effect of one thing happening in two thousand and six.
(31:55):
They redrafted, and they redrafted Andrew it Worth to the
Texans at number one overall, And I started thinking about
the butterfly effect of that one thing going forward, and
it was like.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Whoa, they don't draft Charles Spencer if they draft Whitworth.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Right, And at that point do they draft Winston?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
You know, they've already gotten their guys, So at that
point they've got their left tackle, do they you know,
they don't draft Dwayne Brown at two thousand and eight,
and who do they draft?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
You know? So there's so it's a butterfly effected in
my head. It's just spinning.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
I was like, okay, we got to talk about that,
but we'll do that for a little bit later. But
we're still staying with the rookies here. Rookie starters, Now,
the word starter can.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Be kind of.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Especially at a guy, you know, a receiver, because Nico.
There were times they would start at certain personnel group
and Nico wasn't part of that, and they would start
the game that way. So Nico doesn't get a start,
but Nico would play eighty five to ninety percent.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Of the place.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
So I use the word starter loosely.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Rookie starters on a relatively consistent basis for this team
in twenty twenty five, I set the number at one
and a half.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Oh all right, Well the half is interesting because you
figure one of the receivers is gonna break through, right, okay,
all right, And it's regular basis starters. So on defense,
do any of them become that? Based on what you
have already? It's hard to say. I would say no.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
I mean, Jalen Smith, Jalen Reid. As long as you
don't have injuries, I don't think so. I think they'll
be especially special teams, right, but there's.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
No vacancy in the hotel for a Kaitlin Bullock to
come in here and wreck shop or you know, or
come on.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You wouldn't think so. You would think it's on offense.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Right, So are there two?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I'm gonna go under.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
I'm gonna okay, well, hold on, hold on if I'm
feeling aggressive. If I'm feeling aggressive, maybe I think Ursery
finds a way to crack into the starting lineup eventually,
you know, whether it be injury forcing him in because
he's the next best thing, or he actually wins the job,
or or shows enough promise where like, you know what,
(34:12):
we got to play him.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
It's not that much of a drop off. Let's go
with it. Let's just do it.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
I don't know if they'd think that way, but it
sounds good in May, Yeah it does.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I'm gonna go under. I think it's one even though
I'd like for it to be Ursery.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
But I, boy, that's a good number, I said, I'm very,
very proud of that number.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Okay, that says something about this team, Johnny. You're talking
about a ten win team and we're talking about no
rookies getting a start and exactly one even one means that, Hey,
either your plans a wide receiver aren't going according to plan.
Although I do think there's a carrot there for one
of these guys to win a job. I do think
there's a good carrot there. Go ahead and take it.
(34:52):
And I don't know how it's all gonna look X,
Y and Z and all that stuff, and I don't
even know.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
If they know.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
But there's a chance, there's a chance. Okay, let's go
back to the schedule for this one.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Now. It's still an over under.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
International games on the twenty twenty five schedule. The number
is set at a half.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
You know, I don't know what to think.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Here, International games on the schedule.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Over I'm gonna say, is a half.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I'm going under. I don't think it's happened.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Okay, you know what I'm gonna get.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Under would be a big favorite. Under would be a
big favorite, but.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
It would be.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
But you know, Mexico City didn't happen, and it would
have happened this year because you have nine games and
if as Teca was ready, they would be there.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So it's not ready, They're not going to be there.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
But I still feel like the league wants to stick
it to the Texans and they're gonna send us somewhere. Now.
When I say that, it's like it should be a celebration.
You're going international. But the football people know that this
is a big hassle and it's really difficult to play
overseas for anybody.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
And I know there's a winner and a loser and
all that.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
And if you win, you feel great, but it's still
a major logistical and what in football, coaches and players
like routine, and it's a major disruption to your routine.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
And it's great for the league. I get it. I
get it. I get it.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
I would say over because the league wants to stick
it to us.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
That's yes, Okay, earlier or later, I could see this
going any number of ways. The game in Kansas City
against the Chiefs earlier or later.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Then Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Thank god they didn't win the Super Bowl, so we
don't have that possibility of opening, although maybe that would
be a good thing.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
I don't know. Detroit beat them there a couple of
years ago.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Worked out well for them. Earlier or later than Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Now, we have played them at different times. In twenty nineteen,
we played them in October. This past year, we played
them the week before Christmas. That was that last game
we played before we went through that game against the Ravens.
So we played them at different times. Most of them
have been before Thanksgiving. But now that both teams are
(37:11):
pretty good, where they put the game on Christmas Day,
would they do that earlier or later Texans Chiefs than Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
I'm going to say earlier only because the bulk of
the schedule is earlier than Thanksgiving, and I'll say earlier.
And what's interesting is, so the Chiefs aren't going to
be the Christmas staple or one of them, because we'll
have a triple header on Christmas. They've just completely stepped
on the NBA and said, you know what, we're taking
over Christmas too.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
We are going to hijack the whole day.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Sorry.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
I kind of like that, but a triple header on
Christmas means this is another question. Odds of the Texans
playing on Christmas again. I know it didn't go well
last year except for the concert and Kamario lastater is Safety, Yeah,
which is still one of the great plays of the year.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You know what's funny?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Is that so.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
Good at a corner, a rookie corner tackling Derrick Henry
in his own end zone?
Speaker 1 (38:04):
I mean, what is that?
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Doesn't happen anyway? The rest of the game, sorry, missus Lincoln,
did not go well. I would say earlier than Thanksgiving.
There's a lot to talk about with the schedule. I
know we'll get into it before May fourteenth, a week
for Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
I think it's earlier than Thanksgiving at least I'm hoping that.
And then hopefully the playoff game happens at Houston and
not Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Okay, we get back it. We go around the NFL.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Plenty of things happening on a Monday over the weekend.
We'll discuss them all next right here on Texans All Access.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
What's happened everybody?
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Welcome back to this Monday editition of Texans All Access
from the Monday Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John
Harris football analyst sideline reporter for your Houston Texans And
as I teased, we'll go around the NFL, but we're
going to start right here in h Town where obviously
Texas Charity Classic was taking place today and before every
(38:59):
year of the tournament. The McNair's president in this case,
Mike Toeman, also Nick Sero, Deique Ryans, they all speak
to the media on hand.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
One of the.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Big items that came out of that is the potential
of moving our building as we call our building, out
of the NRG area.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
Jonathan Alexander of the Chronic our buddy. We'll talk to
him about this later in the week.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Reports that the team is interested in moving away, is
moving from the stadium and building a facility that could
include an entertainment district, So building kind of a facility
with restaurant shopping, like a like this cool district in
and around where the facility is now. The Cowboys moved theirs,
(39:55):
as Pro Football Talk mentioned, up to Frisco, that's like
thirty five miles away from where the stadium is. And
I've talked to some Cowboys employees. They've talked about that situation,
about how they've moved and had to move, and you know,
they were kind of all situated in one area and
then they moved up the frist go and they're like,
oh man, we gotta move. So anyhow, that would make
(40:15):
things a little bit problematic for me, considering I have
not moved to a southern location to the city. If
they end up going north to the city, that's a
long haul. But I'll still do it, my Texans, I'll
do it. Calvin Gahir said today via johnh Alexander, where
we wind up with a practice facility, I'm not really sure,
(40:37):
not really quite sure yet. We have a lot of
options and we'll sort through that sooner rather than later.
Cow was asked building around an RG it's an option,
but so is a move elsewhere. Cal responded, would we
move out, Yeah, we would move out and do a
brand new one somewhere in the Greater Houston. Now, according
(41:02):
to the article, we have a lease that goes through
twenty thirty two. We've talked about are they gonna build
a new stadium, are they gonna stay, do the renovations,
et cetera. People ask me this all the time.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Now, this is a practice facility it would be a
facility for people in business ops, football ops away.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
From the stadium.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
I've talked about the issues with being in the stadium
at all times and looks.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Some people have said, well, that's just you know, you
dealing with it.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
But I would ask you if you worked in a
certain situation, if every month or so you had to
go park in a totally different location, if you had
people that were in your building at all times as
you were trying to teach algebra, you know, if you
had Disney on ice rolling through your hallways and you're
going up there, so three X minus six equals twelve,
(41:50):
how do we solve for X? And you got, you know,
Disney on ice flying down the hallways. It doesn't make
for the easiest situation and of itself, but that being
what it is. That was a big topic today and
the entertainment district is kind of an interesting thought about.
And I'm trying to think of places where we've been
where we've seen this. Obviously up at Frisco where we
(42:12):
were for Hurricane Harvey, we got a chance to kind
of see what that was all about.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
It's a really cool place.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Title Town in Green Bay is kind of like that
my cousin lives in Green Bay and she would say that.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
She told me that her kids who are.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
I think oldest is a sophomore, but like they go
to Title Town just to hang out.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
That's where they go.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
So never know what this entertainment type district could end
up being for the Texans. But obviously there's a lot
of momentum around that, and there are a lot of
talking points today at the golf tournament, and you knew
they were going to be If the McNair's were speaking,
that obviously was going to be something that they were
going to talk about.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
So we'll obviously talk about.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
It from from time to time because it does. It
doesn't you know where the Texans practice versus where they play.
We're all in the same building right now, and we're
on a few teams.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
That are that way.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
I think it's like four teams that are the same way.
So training facility, that obviously is one thing to discuss
down the road. Okay, that was a discussion point today
about potential new headquarters. Other news in the NFL, the
Baltimore Ravens did it. I didn't think this was gonna happen.
(43:32):
I just didn't. I did not see this coming. I
know it was talked about, but I'm like, it's Justin Tucker.
I gotta think they're going to find a way to
keep them around. No statement came out from the Ravens
today from Eric to Costa, executive vice president, general manager.
Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one
(43:53):
of those instances. Considering our current roster, we've made the
tough decision to release Justin Tucker. Justin created any significant,
unforgettable moments of Raven's history. His reliability, focused drive, resilience
is extraordinary talent made him one of the.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
League's best kickers for over a decade.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
We are grateful for Justin's many contributions while playing for
the Ravens. We sincerely wish him and his family the
very best in this next chapter of their lives. Justin
Tucker no longer a Raven Now he has been accused
by more than a dozen massage therapists at various Baltimore
(44:27):
areas spas of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
During massages in the twenty tens.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Now Tucker has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, but the
Ravens saying his released as a football decision. They did
draft a kicker, Tyler Loop. I believe Tyler Loop.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
I know it's Loop. I think it's Tyler Loop. So
they drafted him.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
And when I saw that, I thought, oh, this might
be the end of Justin Tucker in Baltimore, or maybe
it's competition for whatever happens. And it looks like it
is going to be Tyler Lup replacing just Sin Tucker
as he is released, released and now continues to have
to fight the allegations, whatever they might be. And look,
(45:10):
I've talked about this many many times. I even said
it with the whole of Shaun thing. You gotta let
it play out. Don't know who's right who's wrong.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
When you have more.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Than a dozen in Tucker's case, more than two dozen
in the Shawn's case, something happened. You don't have that
many people colluding on a certain situation or a certain
particular individual.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
But let all that stuff play out.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
I didn't stay at a holiday in last night, so
I do not know legalities in all this situation. What
I do know is what Adam Schefter has put out,
and that's the statement from the Ravens EVP and General
manager Eric Tkasa saying Justin Tucker seemingly on a Hall
of Fame trajectory.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Now released by the Ravens.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
He has, as they noted that statement, He's had so
many of the Big Ravens moment throughout his career. I
mean he was, I mean I was deathly afraid of
him on the field.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
So this is a it's.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
It's been a tough situation, gonna get even tougher for
Justin Tucker, but he is no longer with the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
All right, that's all the news that we have for
you this evening on Texans All Access. I appreciate Mark
for being here. I know it was a long day
for him with all the golf that he had to play,
had to play, and then hopped in. We talked a
little over unders and talked about the Rockets last night.
Tough situation for the Rocks, Rockets losing in game seven
(46:41):
to that franchise again. And I hate it because I've
always been to Steph Curry guy. My family on my
wife's side, all Davidson grads except for my wife. She's
the only ones not but man, they love Steph Curry
and I fell in love with Steph Curry when he
was at Davidson, and you know, obviously I don't love
it when he beats the rockets, but damn they're good.
And that is not a seventh seed, as we said earlier.
(47:03):
So there you go. Big thanks to Mark for being here,
to all of you, to everybody that participated in the
golf tournament that was we really appreciate. Obviously from a
Texas perspective, Thank you so much. We'll see you tomorrow everybody,
and as always, go Texas
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