Texans All-Access: Nick Caserio Exclusive, Seattle Scouting Report & Seahawks Voice Steve Raible

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up? Everybody?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome into Texans All Access from the Monday Texans Radio Studio.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
I am your host, John.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Harris, Football Hoinals sideline reporter for your Houston Texans. So
glad to be with you on this evening's show as
we get ready for a trip to Seattle, just the
third one in Texans history to take on the four
and two Seattle Seahawks.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Monday night football. Lots going on.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It will kick off nine o'clock Central, seven o'clock if
you happen to be out in Seattle going to the game.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
So body clock's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
All screwed up and all that kind of stuff, But
can't play and gotta go do it. Gotta go beat
the Seahawks, need a big win to get the three
and three before coming home for three straight home games.
Time to go make a statement. So we got a
lot of people on the show this evening. A ton
British Brooks is gonna join us a little later. Grid
iron legend in former Texans Steve McKinney is gonna join

(00:58):
us to talk about the of being a good iron
legend for the Kinners Texas Bowl. He and a number
of others voted in just recently, so we ste mckinning
on the show. We're also gonna have Steve Rabel play
by play man, longtime play by playman of the Seattle Seahawks.
Mark sat down with him, so we have little men
behind the mic. So a little later in the show,

(01:19):
but kickoff.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
A Wednesday's show. As always, the.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Man himself, Executive vice president general manager of your Houston Texans,
Nick Casario, sat down with Mark and myself.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Right here joining us now.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
It's studio executive vice president and general manager Nick Cassio.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Back from the bye. Nick has a going fella.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
It's good to be here, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
So the buye is over, back into a work week.
What was it like for the organization having a few
days off, and I know, not everybody gets the entire
buy off because you have guys coming in here, maybe
reh having injuries and that kind of thing too.

Speaker 5 (01:48):
Right, Yeah, it's a productive week, it's just not as
fast paced and you don't have anything at the end
of the week. There, So we practiced Wednesday whatever that was,
or had you know, workday there and a Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
I mean, the players are kind of on their own.
Had some players out of rehab and working themselves back
from injury. So there was a treatment period from like
nine to noon Thursday, Friday, and then Saturday Sunday, everybody

(02:09):
was kind of on their own, and then brought the
players back in on Monday just to kind of reindoctrinate
to football walk through start the preparation for Seattle. Understanding,
we still have an extra day here this week with
the Monday night game. So for the most part, it
was business as usual, and then you had a couple
extra days maybe a little more flexibility.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Mark and I talk about this all the time. We
very much enjoy the Sunday being able to just send
on the couch. But there's that moment of wait. You
just have like this quick two second thought of I
should be somewhere because your body is so used to
in a fall being at a football stadium, you kind
of have that moment on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (02:43):
We were busy over the weekend, so girls are very
busy involved in a number of different things. So I
didn't feel that way because I was moving, I was
doing something.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, but it's got to be special to be able
to do that.

Speaker 6 (02:54):
Though.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
Right now, it's awesome it was great. I had a
chance to see one of my best friends as well
because our daughters. Their teams actually happened to play one
another over the weekend, so we kind of miss So
things really work themselves out.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
That's good, good box stuff.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Okay, so we'll get into the Seattle scouting report in
just a few moments here, But as far as the
Texans scouting report goes, coming off back to back wins,
things certainly headed in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
What else are you looking for here?

Speaker 5 (03:17):
Yeah, the big thing is continue to build on the
things that we've done well, kind of taken inventor where
we are as a team, Identify what are some of
our strengths, what are some of the errors where we've
had some gaps. Is that a personnel related thing is
a scheme related thing, so kind of look at the
big picture. We try to keep the focus on us
as much as possible, because if we do the things
that are conduced with the winning relative to the Texans,
it's going to at least give us an opportunity of
regardless of who the opponent is understanding, there's going to

(03:40):
be things that are specific to the opponent in this
case Seattle. So think we have a decent idea of
where we are done some good things in all three phases.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Hopefully we can continue to build on some of those areas.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Nick, this trip, I know for you guys when you
were at the Patriots going all the way to Seattle,
I mean that that was a hell of a trip.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
It's not an easy trip from here to Seattle.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Give Seattle such a great home field advantage just from
that standpoint, just to travel and all that.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
How difficult is a trip up to Seattle?

Speaker 2 (04:06):
And what are kind of the keys of kind of
getting through that to make sure that you focus on
the sixty minutes you're playing against them.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
Yeah, there's a timey element involved, and we actually are
in a decent spot because it is a Monday night game,
so we kind of have the full day on Monday.
Sometimes when you're traveling long distances, there's a quick turnaround.
So the big thing for the players is just staying
on your routine. So staying on schedule, obviously you're gonna
have to adjust your body clock a little bit, but
go through your routine, make sure you're hydrated, make sure
you're rested, go through your preparation, and then whenever it's

(04:34):
time to kick the ball off. Just make sure that
you're physically and mentally ready to go.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
It's strange because some years you won't go west at all,
others you might. And for the Seattle Seahawks themselves, they
go east some years a whole lot, so they've got
to get ready for this kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
It's different for every team.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
For sure, and you have to figure out what works best.
Sometimes it's go early, sometimes a day or two early.
Sometimes if you match up you're playing another game on
the East Coast, you stay as opposed to going back,
just trying to figure out what gives the players the
best opportunity for success on Sunday, having.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
It early by I know there's nothing you really can
do about it, Nick, but having an early buy, do
you wish in some ways you could have just kept
going with some of the offensive confidence and especially that
you built in the last couple of games that you
could have kept playing. How do you get back to
that level after having that disruption of the buy.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
Yeah, we can't control when the buy is to your point,
So I think big thing is just practicing well, going
out there and executing in practice, and then hopefully that
cares over to the game. So I think if you
keep the focus there and focus on the things that
you can actually control, then that's all we can really do.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Nick, there's so much talk around the league, outside the
league about trade deadline and teams try to improve themselves
and that kind of thing. But you have possibility of
guys coming back to improve the team.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
You got to weigh all that out as these opportunities
come up.

Speaker 6 (05:50):
Right.

Speaker 5 (05:50):
For sure, some of the players that are going to
help us are in the building. They're just in a
different category on the reserve list, and we've had some
players that are started practicing.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
I would say when you look across.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
The league, the reality is if trades that take place
is probably to improve or upgrade or overall depth, are
you really trading for an impact player? It's probably hard
this time of year. Then there's some things that have
to match up from a contractual standpoint. There's always opportunities
to improve your team. You just have to figure out
what's the right mechanism, what's the right fit. And to
your point, we have some players that we feel are
going to be able to help our team that haven't

(06:20):
played for us at this point.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
If and when teams call you to inquire about certain players.
What is that like?

Speaker 3 (06:26):
What can you tell us about what those conversations are?

Speaker 6 (06:29):
Like?

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Hey, so it's so available for what what do you
guys got.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
It's very simple.

Speaker 5 (06:34):
It's just teams look at where they are, where they
have a need, Maybe they have some injury issues. Hey,
we're looking for X, Y and z. Maybe you have
a position or player that matches up. Then is there
a commensurate interest in that particular player. Are you willing
to part with that player? If you move on from
a player, what's your replacement, what's the opportunity cost? So
that's kind of a calculus.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
It's fair.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
I mean, I think what we've found, what I've found,
it's pretty straightforward. Like nobody is trying to Hey, is
where we are? What are you looking for? Okay, yeah,
you know we might have something. Take a look at
these three or four players. Doesn't mean that there's a
for sale sign. It just means we would consider it,
and then ultimately we have to make the decision that
we feel is best for our team.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
So is there a name that pops up on your phone?
You're like, I'm not talking.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
To this guy that doesn't happen. We'll talk to anybody.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, I know you will.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
I know.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
I'm contractually obligated to ask what the rookie, so I'm
gonna ask it this way. Through five games and now
gotten their proverbial feet wet, we've seen some growth. We've
seen Jayden and Jalen both get in the end zone.
What he obviously has done some good things and the
ariontea started at either tackle spot from from week one on.
What have you seen from your rookie class in the
growth that they've made, Nick.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
Yeah, they've taken advantage of their opportunities. And the big
thing is it's still football. Just go out there and
just the big thing for younger players or rookie players
especially is your weekly process and your routine understanding from
Sunday to Sunday. You have to figure out what works best,
what makes the most sense, and stay on track stand schedule.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
So take care of.

Speaker 5 (07:59):
Your body, whether you have a stretching routine, your lifting routine, nutrition,
your rest, all those things are important. You have to
figure out what works and then what does your weekly
preparation look like relatives the opponents. Some guys like to
do it on their own. Some guys like to do
it in groups, some guys like to do it off
their iPad. Some players would rather be in the film room.
So that's the big thing. For younger players, they played

(08:20):
a lot of football. At this point, they played in
five games. We've had three preseason games, so you're talking
about eight games of NFL football including training camp. So
at this point you're no longer a rookie. You have
a certain level of experience. Then it's just about your
weekly preparation of going out there and getting ready for
the opponent.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Something I like to ask veterans about is how they
changed taking care of their body throughout their career. They
come in maybe eating burgers, and as they evolve, they're
eating other things. But you have a whole staff here
that helps them along with that, and that's really evolved
as a position or as a staff itself over the
last twenty years.

Speaker 6 (08:54):
Right.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
Absolutely, the players are more cognizant, and typically what you'll
find as younger players may look at more experienced players
to kind of see what are some of the things
that they do, understanding it might not be apples to apples,
And then our responsibility from a staff standpoint with the rookies,
we'll have somebody from nutrition staff sit down with each
player and go through what do you eat, what's your

(09:16):
typical habits, what are you putting in your body?

Speaker 4 (09:18):
What time?

Speaker 5 (09:19):
When do you want to have your pregame meal, When
do you want to have your shake? So we're educating
ourselves about how the individual player operates, and then we
might be able to drive behavior. You know what, you
need a little bit less of this, folks, a little
bit more on that. There's a timing element, make sure
you don't do it too close to the game, those
types of things.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
So there's definitely more discussions.

Speaker 5 (09:38):
There's more resources that have been allocated from a team standpoint,
from a league standpoint, because it does make a difference
on your performance, nutrition, your rest, what you put in
your body ultimately affects your performance on the field. So
if there's anything that a player can do to enhance that,
then that's we have an obligation to try to provide
the resource and help them as much as possible.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Okay, you've had plenty of time to prepare for the
scout and report to the Seahawks team. We don't face
off in facing them every four years, so this is.
It's been eight years since we've gone to Seattle, so
only be our third time up at Seattle. It's definitely
a different team than we've seen over the even the
four years ago. Give us a scouting report on Seattle, Nick,
what do you what do you think? What concerns you?

Speaker 6 (10:17):
What do you like?

Speaker 1 (10:17):
What do you don't like? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (10:18):
For sure, really good football team, really good organization.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
I mean John's been there kind of for the duration,
so I mean he's seen They've built a number of
successful programs. He and coach Carroll worked together in number
of Super Bowl teams. Made the coaching change and hired
Mike McDonald. You know McDonald last year. Mike's a really
good coach. He did a really good job in his
first year. Has more of a defensive background, but Mike's
a really good coach. Their defense is playing as good

(10:42):
as any any defense in the league. And then they
made a change offensively from a coordinator standpoint, and moved
on from coach Grubb who's down here at Alabama with
coach to Boor and then hired Clinton Kubiak, who you
know we're familiar with, or you know a lot of
Texans fans are familiar with. And then Jay Harbaugh is
the special team's coordinator. So really good staff, really good
old we're all program, they're they're well built, they've drafted well. Defensively,

(11:05):
everything starts with their front. This is probably as good
of a front as we're gonna face here over the
first five or six weeks of the season. You know,
everybody talks about Leonard and rightfully so he's one of
the best defensive players in the league. You know, Murphy's
playing really good football. So they have a pretty good
group inside. And then they really roll four guys there
on the edge and Wusu. I think Hall might have

(11:26):
got hurt there the other day, but they roll a
number of players on the edge, Jeron Reid inside, so
very formidable front. That presents, you know a number of problems.
Linebacker position they kind of turned over, but they kind
of settled on a group under healthy, you know, two
guys in. There's kind of a nickel oriented team in
the secondary. It's interesting we look at the safeties, you know,
talking about Love and Brian, those are two former college

(11:48):
corners we've talked about this that have kind of transitioned
to playing safety. You know, drafted em and Morey from
South Carolina who's big, fast, hasn't really played that much,
but when he's on the field, he makes an impact.
Six four, two hundred and twenty pounds, runs four to
three and good in the perimeter. They've gotten good play
from Joby Wollen, they drafted a number of years ago,

(12:08):
big long corner and spoon, you know, gives them some
flexibility between nickel and playing outside the formation. And they're
really good against the run. I mean, I think they're
one of the top run defenses in the league. So
they really put a lot of stress and a lot
of tacks on the offense and an offensive league.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
You know.

Speaker 5 (12:24):
They signed Donold in the offseason, who Sam's kind of
bounced around a little bit, but Sam's played good football
to take care of football. Have one of the best
young receivers in the league. I mean, Jasen Lee's a
league and receiving yarded so he's certainly a problem signed
company offseason. And the kid that's kind of had an
impact kind of more than a return game offensively, he's Horton,
a kid from Colorado State.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
So good skill group. Three really good tight ends.

Speaker 5 (12:45):
Sawbert who we have experience with aj Barner's playing really
good football. Drafted ar Royal in the second round, two
really good backs, and Walker and Charbonnay in the offensive line.
It's a young group. They've kind of homegrown, if you will,
have drafted and the center's undrafted. So they've built a
good overall team. Two really good specialists. You know, Dixon
and Myers are two of their respective better players at

(13:07):
their position.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
So well constructed football team. They're four and two.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
The two games they lost essentially they lost at the
end of the game or the last possession of the game.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
So certainly present a lot of challenges.

Speaker 5 (13:17):
Then when you combine that with the environment, so it's
going to be a pretty tall task, but you know
it'd be a fun environment to play in, no question
about it.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
So is this system in line with Kubiak Shanahan Kubiak
Shanahan the whole lineage Nick or is young Kubiak going
rogueing around here?

Speaker 1 (13:33):
But how similar is?

Speaker 4 (13:34):
Yeah, there's elements that carry over.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
I think there's some things that are specific to Seattle
and what they do well. Anytime you put a system together,
offense together, you're kind of looking at your personnel and
trying to figure out all right, who does what well
and then try to build the offense accordingly. But you're
going to see some elements that carry over. I would
say the systems. You know, coach Kubiak ran here, but
Clint's done a good job. He did a good job
down there in New Orleans last year. I think the

(13:56):
one thing that they've done a really good job of
creating explosive place when you go back whether it's Seattle
tape this year, go back to New Orleans tape last year,
they had the ability to create chunk plays and it's
really seemingly showed up in every game this year for Seattle,
and Jasn has been at the point of attack on
a lot of those plays. So Clint's done a good
job and they're they're playing well offensively.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Okay, so we've talked about the history of this system,
but who should get the credit here?

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Should it be?

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak, Bill Walsh? We talked about Paul Brown's.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
All the way back.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
It probably starts with coach Sanahan and the coach Kubiak.
They kind of filed on it, and then we've had
kind of roots and branches throughout the throughout the years
at different points.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
They all put their stamp on it in different ways.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
It seems we talked about this as Actually as you
walked in, Nick, we were kind of dropping some some
pretty cool stats. Sam Donald will now face as a
starter for four different teams. We've only come up with
two other quarterbacks that fall in a category, Kerry Collins
and Fitzpatrick. And I remember the twenty eighteen game because
he was a rookie with the Jets, and I remember
he almost carried them to a win, like, this kid's

(15:00):
gonna be good. And then he kind of hit a
valley with Carolina, bounce around with the Niners. He ends
up with Minnesota last year we saw, and then we're
gonna see with Seattle.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
What have you seen with Sam?

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Not so much through his career arc, but especially the
last couple of years where he's really kind of gone
to a different level.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
What have you seen with Sam?

Speaker 5 (15:16):
Yeah, Sam's played. Sam's always been a talented player. There's
a reason you're the top two or three pick or
wherever he was drafted. So he's got good size, got
good arm strength, he's got a quick release, he's mobile.
He's not necessarily a running quarterback, but you can move
the launch point with him. He can get the ball
to all parts of the field, and a lot of
this is time and place, and sometimes there's circumstances that

(15:36):
are out of your control. But over the last few years,
what he did for Minnesota last year and we played
against in Week two or three, played really well against us,
and then what he's done in this season very efficient.
I think he's completed seventy percent of his passes, doing
a good job of taking care of football, hasn't turned
the ball over, which I'd say that's probably an area
that he's probably improved the most relative to maybe some
previous seasons. But there's a reason he was highly drafted

(15:57):
because he's a very talented player and he's played the
position at a high level for sure.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
So seventy percent completions last year, at the end of
the year, there were four quarterbacks seventy plus now there
are nine. I know it's relatively early here, but what's
the evolution of that, the higher completion percentages because you
wouldn't see this twenty years.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Ago, of course.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
Yeah, I mean it's a combination of coaching and players
making the right decisions. You know, we look at our situation.
I mean CJ has completed what eighty percent of his
passes ish or seventy five eighty percent of his passes
over the last few weeks. So a lot of times
just playing a position is just making smart decisions, getting
the ball to the open receiver, taking what the defense
gives you. And I think the way defenses are playing offensively,

(16:37):
you have to be able to respond accordingly. You're not
always going to have the opportunity to launch the ball
down the field. It's low percentage as it is, so
take the higher percentage of play and you're really just
trying to create as many positive plays in succession as possible,
so that you're putting yourself an advantageous position from a
down a distance standpoint. So I think more players understand that.
Obviously coaching staffs understand that. So it's a cat and

(17:00):
mouse game back and forth, but I'd say that's probably
a big part of it.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
As we were talking about Sam and then Kubiak, I.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Kept thinking, Man, that bit is really good.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
It feels like Sam's skills really fit with Kubiak. And
as I watched the league this weekend, I know you
were out doing things. I'm watching all these games. I'm
looking at these quarterbacks that were highly drafted and you
look and go, man, I don't know that he fits
in that particular system or fits with that coach or
that team. How important is that, Nick, to a quarterback's
eventual success, the fact that the fit has to be

(17:32):
right for him.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
No, it's critically important, and sometimes it takes a little
bit more time relative to others. And the more stability
and continuity you have, it's a lot easier than each year.
You're kind of building on some of the things that
you've done previous years, as opposed to going back and
started starting from scratch and implementing a new system or
a new offense.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Some of the playmaking we've seen here over the last
few years. I think about X and the playoff game.
I think about some of the catches Nico has made.
You coached receivers too, Nick, How important is it for
a receiver to adjust when things break down and just
get open? Is it that simple? Sometimes hey, go to
an open spot where he can find you.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
No, that's absolutely the case.

Speaker 5 (18:08):
And you tried as best you can in practice simulate
the scramble drill, and there is a strategy involved when
the quarterback is on the move, you want to make
sure you have somebody, whether it's in front for the
short throw, maybe that another player is a little bit
deeper and behind the defense. So you're just trying to
create spacing and displacement, and you're seeing more mobile quarterbacks,
more agile quarterbacks that can kind of get out of

(18:29):
trouble and keep plays a live longer. So in turn,
as a receiver, you want to make sure whatever or
a skill player, you want to make sure that you're
available for the quarterback. And then on the other side
of the ball, it forces you to plaster and match
routes and not lose sight of the receiver because of
the ability to quarterback to make some loose plays.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Guys, Samstar on the ball to a lot Burn Jacksonville
deep ball eight for one sixty two leads league in
receiving as Jaysn Jackson Smith and Jigba. When he was
coming out, I means last year you Ohio State, I
think you played maybe a game.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
If if that.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
But then he gets himself healthy is great testing and
one of the things that stood out to me was
the three con he did, like a three nine to five.
You're like whoa change the direction. Okay, let's see see
that manifest itself in his route running. And you watching
run routes, you're like, oh, yeah, it's there.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
What have you seen? Wich asn Nick.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Yeah, he's a really good player.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
And even going back to Ohio State to your point,
he got injured the first week of that year, first
or second week, tried to play, and then he was
essentially out for the duration of that season. But then
you go back to the previous year whatever it was.
I mean, he had over three hundred yards in a
Rose Bowl game against Utah, So you're looking going, bloy,
this guy's a pretty good football player. Now fast forward
to our league, and he leads the league in receiving.

(19:37):
He's got really good size, he's got really good hand
eye coordination. He's a very fluid mover, and he's got
really good short space quickness, so he can stop and
start and create separation and he's gotten behind the defense.
I mean, whatever his time speed is, it doesn't really matter.
He plays fast, and he plays with good route tempo,
and he caught a hundred passes last year and he's
kind of built on some of the things that he

(19:58):
did and in the twenty four season.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Nick, when you evaluate other teams and how they're doing
this early in the season, I think people from the
outside looking in get carried away with record and try
to find these trends. But it's really tough because the
competition varies team to team.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
How do you look at it?

Speaker 4 (20:14):
No, we've talked about this.

Speaker 5 (20:16):
Our league is as competitive as any league in the world,
and you see that in a week to week basis.
There's a reason that so many games go down to
the wire and are won or loss in the fourth quarter.
So the big thing from from your team perspective, you
want to make sure that you have an opportunity to
put your team in a position to win in a
fourth quarter because ultimately it's going to come down to
a handful of winning plays. And we've seen that in

(20:36):
our situation. And you look around the league to your
point mark and that's really been the case. So keep
yourself afloat and everybody's got good players. There a lot
of good coaches. Can you do some things on the
margins or sort of separate yourself and you just got
to take it week to week and at the end
of the year kind of look up and then see
where you.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Are, Nick, I know that you know you'll make a
trip to see college players in college games and that
throughout the year. Now that we've getten, basically second half
the college season, and there are probably some guys that
may be popping up that are like, oh, man, that
guy's pretty good, or he transferred from somewhere, but man,
we might need to go get a look at this guy.
You change kind of your plan a little bit because

(21:12):
you want to, Hey, I want to make sure we
get to see this guy.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
In person, or we see these guys in person.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
You kind of change the plan, not change a plan,
but just the plan so that you make sure you
see some of those those guys that may have transferred
or maybe younger guys to get eyes on.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
For sure, just as needed. So the information comes into
a database.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
There's a player that pops up, maybe he didn't have
a lot of tape in twenty four and he has
a bigger role and potentially in twenty five, and maybe
he's potentially going to be in the draft. So all right,
if there's an opportunity to see that player, to get
more of an exposure to understand, we're gonna have opportunities
down the road, whether it's in January or an All
Star game or.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
At the scouting combine. So let's say it's case by case.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
From a process standpoint, that process is pretty consistent, but
if a player does pop up, then you might alter
kind of your course of action what you're gonna do
that week.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
All right, Nick, I have a special announcement here, and
this is good because it's one did I football. Pizza
Hut is actually putting their fifty percent discount in play
on Monday for the game, So Nick, you can load
up on those carbs that I know is so important
to you.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
I'll bring one on the plane for you.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Then ask me what my favorite pizza is.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
What your favorite topping would be?

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Okay, well, sausage, pepperoni, anything else, mushrooms, I.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Don't know, what do you know?

Speaker 5 (22:19):
So when we were younger, we actually had a place,
sorry Pizza Hut, but there was a kid called Master
Pizza and we got pizza every Friday night. So tipical
I was a mushroom fan. I like mushrooms, so okay,
mushroom would be my topic of choice.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
I was expecting meat or something. I don't know, but
this is good.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
I kind of expected mushrooms. So I'll ask what meat
would you put on pizzas? You gotta be pepperoni sausage
or do you not even do that?

Speaker 4 (22:43):
I'm not a fan. I'm either cheese.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Your pizza have crusts, It just cheese.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
I like thin crust.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Cheese. So the detroitgo Okay, Okay, thanks a lot, Nick,
good luck this.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
No, I'm hungry, very very hung All right, it's time
to talk about this game against the Seattle Seahawks, and
Sam Donald's gonna do something on Monday night against the
Texans That's only happened as Mark and I can kind
of recollect only two other times. I was surprised to
receive it two. But we'll talk about that next. Right
here in Texans all Aca, looking back to this Wednesday

(23:19):
insie of Texans All Access from the Hoday Texans Radio studio.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
It's game week. Finally, oh finally it is here.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
It was good to catch up with Nick Casario, John
Mark with you Mark. We asked them scouting report on
Seattle Seahawks. I spent my lunch watching the Seahawks against
the Jags again, kind of watch a lot of the
game on Sunday and kind of bits and pieces throughout
the week, but it's like, Okay, it's game week, so
I gotta check it out.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's a good football team we're playing Monday night.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
However, it's not the Patriots of Super Bowl years. It's
not the Bill's Chief Ravens. It's a really good football
team that's a lot like so I like us in
some sense. Defense, very aggressive, really good front. I think
our secondary healthy is better than their secondary healthy, but

(24:11):
their secondary isn't healthy. I think offensively, when they move
the pocket and give Donald some different looks, get him
out away from the fray a little bit. They do
some good things running the ball. They have moments. They've
got power guys, and Kenneth Walker and Zach Sharbonay. It's
a really evenly matched football game. With two evenly matched

(24:32):
football teams on Monday Night.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
I think it's gonna be really fun.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
It kind of reminds me in a way of the
Rams game, when you're going into a place on the
West Coast where you don't go very often. You're going
up against a good team on both sides of the football.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Here's a big difference.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
They've adjusted to this new era of Kubiak and Darnald
very well because it was brand new, so the Texans
can have the alibi well Nick, sorry, Nick Cayley, new
offensive line relatively just different configuration and breaking in some
new guys and CJ. Stroud year three, new system all that.

(25:07):
But here comes Darnold who has spent time in similar systems,
if not the system. When you look at San Francisco
and then you look at Okay, there's some familiarity there
and there's some good weapons there, and the old line
has done a good enough job for him. So they've
adjusted very well. The Texans growing pains. But the difference,

(25:27):
the other difference is with that Rams game is that
now you kind of know who you are, and the
last couple of games you're able to stretch your legs,
hit your stride against teams that you could would should against,
but you did it in a very lopsided positive way.
And now you take your show on the road to
take another shot against a team of this ILK.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
So let's see how it goes.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
It's very similar to LA in the sense that the front,
you know, the defensive front for the Rams, it didn't
have you know Von Miller, you know, explosive edge rusher,
Miles Garrett right kind of guy. Jerry Versus really really good,
but he's more a power guy. Byron Young probably a

(26:11):
little bit more of a power guy. He's got some speed,
there's no question. But I think Seattle's built that way.
I think Uo Suit and Boye Mafe are really good athletes,
but I don't know that they're the kind of guy
that can just the kind of guys that can just
go right around you. And there are a lot of
times where they move Letter Williams out to go rush
on a tackle. That's what they did against Jacksonville a

(26:31):
little bit. And Letter Williams at three hundred pounds or
whatever he is, it's kind of like JJ, kind of
like JJ. Watt is funny when you walked in before
this segment, you asked me what I was doing, and
somebody had posts the video somewhere on Twitter X about
JJ's twenty ten game when he's at Wisconsin against Ohio State.
They upset Ohio State was number one in the country

(26:52):
through out prior quarterback.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Wisconsin upset them.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
They ran back the opening kickoff and then from that
point on they dominate Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
They showed every highlight.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
JJ lined up in every single spot you could on
the on defensive line. He made one sack from the
left defensive end. He had one TfL he lined up
over the center. He had another sack where he came
from the right defensive tackle spot. He had a sack
from the right defensive end spot. He was amazing that game.
And Leonard Williams is similar in that he can rush

(27:21):
from the inside. He didn't go outside and then rushed
against your tackle. He had one sack where he just
took walker little and literally walked him right back in.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
To Trevor Lark. So big, he's so thick, and.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
You got to handle that power. Yes, ouch, and he
can move. He's agile like JJ. That was the That
was the hard part. You start bracing for JJ's power
and then he just slippy or swim you and go inside.
And I think Leonard Williams is a lot of the
same things. Look, Leonard Williams is not the player JJ was,
but he's at a high level in the style of JJ.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
Wall because JJ pushed the three hundred when he played,
and as the rookie he still had that baby fat.
Can't call it because the pictures of JJ, when you
look at a picture of the pick six and the
playoff game. Very different body than he would eventually have.
He got a lot more chiseled.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
As the guys. I was gonna say, the word Dowie
comes to mind. I mean it's strong. It's like country
strong or whatever.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
All right, So when JJ was drafted, we were doing
a draft show, but you weren't part of the draft
show show.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
It was not It was going to be a few
more years.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
So I remember Meltzer, who's a huge, big ten guy,
saying this is a good pick because there.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Was some hey, why are you drafting Watt?

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Because he needed the outside Russia and the Wade Phillips
system and all that.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
What was your reaction when they drafted JJ? That was
the exact same reaction you.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
My parents live in Wisconsin, and my parents any ties
to Wisconsin were always, you know, keeping her eyes on it,
and so my dad, every time I would kind of
talk to him, he's like, hey, you've seen his Wat guy,
And I'm like yeah. So my parents were all about, oh,
we want Watt to come to Houston.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
My only thing was I didn't know how they were going.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
To use him, because at Wisconsin they did they moved
him around a lot, and Connor Barber when was here,
Mario Williams was here, Wade was taking over.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
So You're like, Okay, you're going to three to four.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
He's got ability to rushing me outside, but they're gonna
playm an they inside. So I was kind of like,
I don't know if is this the right fit? How
are they gonna do this? So that was it. But
from a player standpoint, I remember what happened. I was
I was doing. I actually was doing the national radio
broadcast that day, but for the local draft show, they

(29:27):
wanted to get my thoughts, and so I jumped on
and I said, I have no qualms with this pick whatsoever.
I'm just curious how they're gonna fit them together. How
are they gonna fit all these pieces together? And Wade
Phillips did a fantastic job, in large part because you
really couldn't miss with him. You couldn't miss with J.
JJ lineup on the left defensive end, got it, JJ
lineup over the center, got it. JJ lineup in this

(29:49):
three technique, got it.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
You think the college they let him roam around where
he thought he could be best used.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
No, I think college they planned it. I don't think they.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
I don't think they him down here, you go over there.
I'll never forget. That's the problem, right he could.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
Yeah, you can pick your spot, but what about the
guy who was going to be there and now he's
got to go somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
That's what I was going to say. I can't remember
who we were playing.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
This is like in this was fourteen or fifteen, and
we were playing and may have been the Jaguars.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
We were playing.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Somebody at home and they had a banged up tackle,
and I think it was the Jaguars because they put
in a backup tackle and the Texas defense broke the
huddle and JJ literally looked and sprinted out to the
spot where that tackle was. And I remember Whitney merciless

(30:38):
looking at the sideline like he kind of pointed like wait,
like he took my spot, Like he took my spot
like and I saw somebody just kind of wave over
and Whitney went to the other side. And I think
Whitney ended up getting a sack eventually on that particular
guy you went against. But I just thought it was
funny because JJ sprinted to that spot, and over the years,
in different miked ups and things you would hear. I

(31:00):
remember Vrabel on the sideline talking to DJ Reader and
I can't remember. I think may have been DJ Reader
and Benargort McKinney, and you could hear them and the
three of them having a conversation, and one of them said, well,
when JJ did this, I did this, And so Rabel's like, yes, yes, exactly.
If JJ does that, then you have to adapt. And
so I thought it was the genius of both Wade

(31:20):
Phillips and Romeo Cornells, the fact they took JJ and
said you just go, just go, and we'll adapt. If
you jump into the gap, we'll make somebody, make sure
somebody's there in.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
It sit interesting how JJ played with Clowney and Mario,
but only Mario for five games, right because Mario got
hurt after the Week five game or during the Week
five game in twenty eleven. Had Mario stayed healthy that year,
that's one of those what ifs in Texans history. What
would the whole thing look like? Because they were number
two in the league. Would they have been even better
with Mario? Probably because Mario was kind of thriving in

(31:52):
that Wade Phillips system himself, So that would have been
an interesting development.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah. I always think of Mario too in that same vein.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
I remember being Buffalo in fifteen and we talk about
this all the time, communication between the front and the
linebacker's linebackers in the back and all everybody's all communicating,
and so linebacker was trying to get Mario's attention in Buffalo.
I'll never forget this, and Mario's kind of looking him like, eh,
you know you're speaking Spanish. I speak English. You had
kind of throw his hands up whatever, and Mario would rush,

(32:21):
and I realized the linebacker kept getting mad.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Mario was supposed to be dropping into coverage, oh the lockpacker,
which is like yo.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
And I saw him one time like go like this
with his thumb over his shoulder, like you're supposed to
be back there, and Mario was just like man.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
He correct Ryan Bills. Yes, he's just gonna rush.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
So it was always interesting from that speaking of what ifs,
and speaking of our recent opponent, is a top five
what if for this organization? What if they don't blow
the lead to the sel Seahawks in twenty thirteen, is
that one of the top five what ifs.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
I've thought about that and it's funny how you know,
leave it to you and I to talk about this game.
The Ivant listen to every show, so maybe it's been
brought up. But when you look at the history of
this particular series, and I won't call it a rivalry
because it's not, but it's a series. You beat them
at nine here by the way, But obviously we all
know what happened in twenty thirteen, which was a return
home visit. We went over this last week. Why you

(33:17):
weren't going to Seattle in twenty thirteen?

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah? Why was that?

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Because you had too many West Coast games already. The
league just decided to put it in Houston and then
double up. Not double up, because just twenty seventeen we
go up there. Yeah, twenty one, they're here, and you
just keep going on and now it's twenty five and
we're up there. But that twenty thirteen game, Johnny, look,
we all know the wheels were starting to get wobbly.

(33:40):
The lug nuts were loose, right, they had already seen
pick sixes. You threw a pick six in the Titans
game but won in overtime the week before against the Chargers.
Not a pick six, but a pick in your own
end that they scored off of on the next player
or two against the Ravens of pick six. That was
week three, So you're coming home week four to face Seattle,

(34:01):
and that was the big pick six that defines the
era of Richard Sherman running it back when that just
tied the game, right, true, that just tied the tide
because you were up a touchdown. Russell Wilson had this
incredible drive. This is peak performance Russell Wilson at twenty thirteen.
He looked like Doug Flutie and Fran Target to the

(34:22):
Michael Vick all in one body, running around, scrambling, making plays.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
He hadn't done anything all game, basically.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Got him within a touchdown and then I'll never forget
Andre on the broadcast saying something like, Matt Shob's got
to show you what he's all about. Right here, He's
got to step up and take this ball down field
and score at least get a two score lead back
Ye up only one score, and the Texans had up
until that point played very well, but they allowed the touchdown.
Now they're up seven driving and Shob throws the pick

(34:50):
six to Richard Sherman with the pressure by Cam Chancellor.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
We all know the play.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
It was intended for Owen Daniels, but a wobbler Sherman
goes to the house, it's tied, and the Texans are
never the same after that. That is the game they
lost in overtime, and they made numerous stops, had their chance.
I don't know about numerous, but whatever, they had their chances.
I mean, you went to overtime, you had a chance
to win the game. They couldn't do it, And I
just remember feeling so deflated after that one. That is

(35:17):
certainly a top three, top five loss at the outside
in the history of this franchise. In fact, I'll put
it top three for sure. I think it'll be hard
for me to ever eclipse the pain non playoff losses
of what you saw against Seattle, Van Vince Young, thirty
nine yard running, over time and Rosencopter. Those three are

(35:39):
the top three losses in Texans history.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Just the way you.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Felt after the game or as it happened, nothing like
it now. Playoffs are playoffs, a right twenty four to
nothing lead. We all know that, et cetera. That's so painful.
I think I've kind of blocked it out and formed
this enamel around my.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
Built up around now.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yes, exactly, But anyway, that's interesting to bring that up.
This is an interesting series in that way. Russell Wilson
was here in twenty twenty one and looked good enough,
you'll win over the Texans. I think it was a
pretty competitive game actually in that David Well.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
I remember was Kaymie hitting the sixty one yarder and
I remember staying right into the upright and that thing
made it by about three or four yards, and I was.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Like, man, he hit a bomb, Like, oh man, sixty
one yarder.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
I remember it being a beautiful day and the roof
was open and he hit that, and I thought, are
we gonna beat these guys?

Speaker 1 (36:32):
And Seattle wasn't great in twenty twenty one. They were not.
They were not very good.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
But in the second half, Russell Wilson did Russell Wilson things,
and we just couldn't hang with him, and they ended
up pulling away in the second half at that point.
But it that, you know, I use my benchmark for
what I'm about to say is always two thousand and
seven Michigan. Michigan brought everybody back for a national championship run.

(36:58):
The first game of the year they get knocked off
by this upstart apt Latch and State, and you thought,
oh my god, it's terrible. Well, the next week they
played Oregon at home, and nobody realized how good Oregon was.
A quarterback named Dennis Dixon, one of the greatest what
if he stays healthy kind of guys, and he runs
all over him. But you could tell Michigan was flat,
and so it was like Oregon beat them twice. Well,

(37:21):
that twenty thirteen season, the Seahawks beat the Texas twice.
I don't think they were going to be able to
beat the forty nine ers out in San Francisco, but
thirty four to.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Three on Sunday Night football, Oh that was brutal.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
The very next week, yeah, I feel like in thirteen.
It happened on October thirteenth of twenty thirteen, So you
should have known at that point when Saint Louis came here,
the rams for people, for the young people. I remember
watching a game in the first quarter, going, they can't
lose this man. They're two and they're two and two now,
or they are two and another two and three at that

(37:53):
point sounds familiar. They can't lose this game. To Seattle,
not at home. Let Sinka happened, and then the Ram
ran them out of the building. I thought this is
going to be bad.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, really really showed you that there was something different
about this team in a bad way. And I'll never
forget the feeling, because remember that they were coming off
twelve and four, and the feeling was, you have to
be of that nature again, something like eleven, twelve, thirteen
wins at the very least, right, you have to be
better than you were the year before, at least as good.

(38:26):
And they weren't clearly with that start, and you thought,
you can't accept a nine and seven, ten and six.
But you could have, Johnny, you could have taken a
step back in record, as long as you have a
winning record and find a way to weasel your way
into the playoffs somehow despite a bad start and pick
sixes or whatever. But at that point, I've talked about
lug nuts. The lug nuts were off, the wheels were off.

(38:47):
You were just going into the ditch. When they started
keinging against the Kansas City Chiefs. That felt like a
breadth of fresh air. Oh man, here we go. Yeah,
he threw a deep ball to Hot Gins. Oh my gosh.
You know, this quarterback's incredibly throwing the ball in a
way that we really haven't seen much of that style.
But he couldn't protect himself well enough. That was his
first year as a starter. We all know what happened
the following week. I mean, I don't want to relive

(39:07):
all this stuff, but when you talk about Seattle, this
stuff comes to mind, and you're gonna play them up
there another place where you have never won.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
You've only been there twice. You know, it's not like
you have this thick history that it was like Indianapolis
or even the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Yeah, that's what I was getting to because we just
talked about this with the last game. It's weird you
have road game by road game, but you'll take it.
And you mentioned it. This is not the New England
Patriots of the teens and o's. This is not the
Cults of the o's. This is not that kind of team.
But they are a good team and they can certainly
beat you, and you have to prove that you go

(39:43):
toe to toe and pull it out at the end.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
One thing I don't know, this made me as we
were thinking about it, I pulled up the the twenty
thirteen schedule on Jesus GSIS.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
That's the game information system. We just call it NFL Jesus.
And so I forget what it stands for. Thanks.

Speaker 6 (40:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
So they when they give you this schedule for that year,
there's so it's I love it because it gives you
all the information you need, what day it was, the time,
you could figure out it was a Monday night game, whatever.
And so when I pulled up the twenty thirteen schedule,
they always have the wins in green and the losses
in red. Yeah, So that's how they put it on
this schedule. So it's just this long run of red.

(40:23):
And I was like, wait a second, let me go
pick twenty twelve. So what I did on my computer,
I'll show you as you're looking at it. So I
juxtaposed them against one another, and it's like all this
green on the other side and then nothing but red.
And so how bad was that Patriots game in twelve?
That Monday night game? So ten and one up it
to that point, then finished one in three, followed up

(40:44):
by two and fourteen. You called three wins out of
twenty games, mark three and seventeen. Over the next twenty games,
after that, Patriots. After that, when you beat the Titans,
beat the Titans at Tennessee, setting up the Monday night
game against the Patriots, and then it was three and seventeen,

(41:05):
three wins in twenty games, Johnny.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
That's why I'm so happy.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
When O'Brien got here and they get all those takeaways
and they carve out a nine and seven season, I
felt like it was a playoff season, even though they
didn't make the playoffs that year. They needed help and
couldn't do it. But then they had three nine and
sevens in a row. And look, I'm not thrilled over
the moon about nine and seven, but compared to where
you were at two and fourteen or any kind of
losing season, I'll take a winning season. So I took

(41:30):
nine and seven, and I was happy with it because
they were digging themselves out of that hole. Now, that
two and fourteen team was a better team than its
record would indicate.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
You are what your record says you are. I get it.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
But they had a lot of talent on that team,
a lot of talent that just wasn't playing together for
a variety of reasons, and it was heartbreaking to see
the Kubiak era end. And that's another thing about this game.
You have Demiko Ryans versus Clint Kubiak. Yeah, that's wild.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
To that, it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
You know that you had Kubiak's son facing Demiko' Ryans
and how to was Kobiak when Ryan's was playing here man,
and all of that stuff comes into play. You know,
this is a one of those family affairs, if you will.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Here's my favorite stat about this game, and we figured
this out during studio. Sam Donal will start for the Seahawks. Yeah,
that means he was faced the Texans as a starting
quarterback for four different teams. We faced him in twenty
eighteen as a rookie with the Jets, we faced him
on Thursday Night here in twenty twenty one with the Panthers,

(42:30):
then he moved on to the Vikings in twenty twenty four.
We faced him then, and we will face him a
member of the Seahawks. And I remember thinking, Okay, there's
only got to be one of those, And then my
first thought was if it wasn't Jacoby Brissett, then there
are no others. Then Jacoby played with three teams, and
then we find out now there's actually four carry.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
There's two others.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Kerrie Collins did it four times with four different teams.
The Giants, the Titans, the Colts, and the Raiders played
started against them, started against the Texans. And then one
that might be the ultimate ended up being a Texan
was Ryan Fitzpatrick because he actually became a Texan. Now
he gets a lot of credit for the Rams game,
but he didn't start that one. So it was Bill's Jets, Bengals, Titans.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Right, but Donald can beat the Texans, No, he can't,
not as a jet. Didn't do it, didn't do it
as a jet yet, so wait but he but he
can do it as a panther. Beat the Texans a panther,
a Viking, Viking.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
And he and j Kobe Brissett would be the two
because Jakobey's beat us with three teams, Colts, Dolphins.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Money with the games though, because Kerrie Collins man, he
was everywhere. He's all over the place. I didnt realized
he had been that many places.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
So in the very first NFL contact the Texans ever
had well preseason game you could call the Cowboys scrimmage content.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Oh yeah, the tree season game. He started the Hall
of Fame game.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Yes, the New York Giants, and played with the Giants
in two here and they went to the playoffs that year.
But the Techson's beat Kerry Collins in this building as
a but they weren't a playoff team yet, but they
were on their way to the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
And it was a nasty loss for the Giants. It
was a very close game.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Oh two seasons, Texans made stop after stop. I'll never
forget that game. I think it was Thanksgiving weekend and
it was just a thrill. I mean, any win in
that era, Yeah, of course, I still feel like any
wins a thrill, of course, but that was one of
two playoff teams you beat in the inaugural season that
in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
So Sam Darnold, Kerry Collins, Ryan Fitzpatrick, four different teams
to look started against the text.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
We had to look.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
We did have to look because we thought about it.
We're like, is there somebody forgetting? And I immediately said
FITZI because I remember Jets and Bills.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
But I was like, he's been with so.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Many teams, Cincinnati, Cincinnati, I mean so many. The thing
is is we played like he was the Dolphins, right. Oh,
he was with the Bucks the year before we played
the Bucks. He was with the Dolphins for a couple
of years before we played the Dolphins. Fitzy would have
taken a cake, but he did not.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
So Sam donold.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
It'll be the fourth team that he will have started
against the Texans with, and hopefully after it's over he'll
be two and two in not three and one.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
I have to give Kevin O'Connell credit for this, And
I know Kevin O'Connell.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
What list was it that anointed me the best coach?
There was a coaching list that had him number.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Three in the league. We lost our minds still too
it was like three or four, still too high.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
But he is kind of a quarterback whisper Now he's
got a whisper very hard for JJ McCarthy and whisper
for his health and for his playmaker playmaking ability. Yep,
And maybe it's just a Minnesota thing. Who is coaching
When Sam Bradford went there and resurrected things in twenty sixteen,
he lit up the Texans. Yeah, and it was his

(45:47):
Zimmer coach team and look, he looked terrific for the
Vikings first, it was like his last great game I
guess it was. It was his last gread.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
I'm sure it was. I don't remember him doing a
whole heart.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
That's a lot other category for an offseason show. Quarterbacks
who have had great games against the Texans.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
That shouldn't have, like Zach Wilson, Oh you're forget, Oh
my god, twenty twenty three in the rain up there,
CJ can.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Cushy Ultimate, the Ultimate his well, there are two. Tim
Tebow three, three hundred yards, three hundred yards, Johnny guys, Yes,
that's a blockout game.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
That's a toy.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
Will not remember this, give me the man in black panther.
I cannot remember this. And JaMarcus Russell.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Oh man, that game in two thousand and eight was
just a killer. Oh god, brutal memories.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Hope you Sam Darnold doesn't do to us this time
what he did last year, what Tim Tebow and JaMarcus
Russell did to the Texans. All right, we get back.
We'll hit on some Texans news on the other side.
Right here a Texans All Access Welcome back this edition
of Texans All Access from the Hundai Texans Radio Studio.

(46:57):
I'm your host, John Harris, football analyst, side reporter, for
your Houston Texans has dawn on me during a break.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
It's October fifteenth.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
That's one of the greatest sports days of all time.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Nineteen eighty eight.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Catholics Versus convicts Number one Miami at number four Notre
Dame thirty one thirty, The Irish get a win, go
on to the National championship that year. Later that night,
out in Los Angeles, Kirk Gibson, hurt basically able to
walk on one leg, hits a walk off bomb against
the Oakland Athletics whatever they're called now, and Dennis Acrasley,

(47:35):
one of the greatest relievers of all time, to win
Game one of the World Series. That all happened in
nineteen eighty eight. Then seventeen years later, twenty years ago today,
future Houston Texan.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Supposed to be Reggie Bush pushed.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Matt Lioner over the goal line in one of the
greatest college football games of all time thirty four to
thirty one.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
USC beat Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
The fact that those two great games happened at Notre
Dame on October fifteenth, pretty special. Pretty special. I just
thought about that during the break. Plus this is a
short one, so I figured i'd throw it in there.
Speaking of Notre Dame, one of Notre Dame's most famous
players goes by one name, Rudy. Our next guest actually

(48:21):
has a connection to Rudy. Steve Rabel play by play
man long time for the Seattle Seahawks. He's got a connection.
Mark Vandermere got out of him. Make sure you stay
tuned for that next right here in Texans. We got
one our down, one hour left to go. Right here
on a Wednesday edation of Texans All Access. Appreciate you
being with me, John Harris football on a sideline reporter

(48:41):
for your Houston Texans. And in the previous segment, I
told you about a couple of October fifteenth milestones, big
time dates in college football that included the University of
Notre Dame. October fifteen, nineteen eighty eight, Miami versus Notre
Dame were the greatest college football games of all time.
Then twenty years ago, October fifteenth, two thousand and five,

(49:03):
what was supposed to be future Houston Tech's and Reggie
Bush scored three touchdowns for USC, but he's more known
in that game for pushing Matt Lioner over the goal
line to be Notre Dame thirty four thirty one. And
as I read that out loud, or say that out loud,
I know Sean pender Gash is like, yeah, No, like
the ups and downs for Notre Dame. Well, one of

(49:25):
the other great games at Notre Dame included a guy
that we know now just by one name because they
made a movie about Rudy Rudiger. Well, a certain individual
who will be in Seattle on Sunday night was actually
on the field that day against Notre Dame. Notre Dame
was playing Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech had a wide receiver

(49:46):
by the name of Steve Rabel. Rabel ended up graduating
Georgia Tech, going to the Seahawks, the expansion team, and
not doing a ton but playing for a few years
for the Seahawks. He started doing some broadcasting where you
know it. He took over as the play by play
voice and he has been so for a couple decades.
Love hearing his voice. Obviously, no one matches up tomorrow

(50:09):
Vandom here, but I love hearing Steve ra Abeill call
the Seahawks games. He is fantastic at his job, and
I love when Mark and Steve sit down and talk
about all things Seahawks, but stick around for the real
Rudy story. Steve was on the field that day when
Rudy has his moment against Georgia Tech. Make sure you
stick around. Here's Mark and Steve. It's men behind the.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Mics joining us now, Steve Rabel, voice of the Seattle Seahawks.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Steve, how's it going today?

Speaker 7 (50:36):
It's great. It's a sunny day here in the Northwest.
You can't ask for much more than that in October.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Absolutely, and it's gonna be a late night Monday affair
with the Texans and the Seahawks. What do you think
of the later start time? From the Pacific Coast perspective?
Seven o'clock's not bad, but it is still weird for
Monday night football on the West Coast. It's a ten
Eastern start, nine Central here in Houston thoughts.

Speaker 7 (51:01):
Yeah, it is different, but we play several preseason games
at that time, so it's it's not like the guys
are used to it. And Mike McDonald is a really
good and and smart coach about how to get the
guys ready, how to prepare them, how to rest them,
how to how to peak at that time of day.

(51:23):
So they'll be they'll be ready to play. I know
when I played, which was a thousand years ago, and
we did play in a several Monday night games and
just sitting around all day about drives you're crazy. So
you had an extra hour or two to that, and
the guys will be really ready to go out there
and play, really ready to go out and hit somebody.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
How would you characterize this year's version of the Seattle Seahawks,
Steve Well, I.

Speaker 7 (51:48):
Would I would say that they are physical. That's that'd
be the first word i'd use. I'd say there and
these are a couple of awards that Mike McDonald are
head coach all so uses they're very connected. And in
that I mean, it's not like I'm just going out
there and doing my job. You remember the old NFL

(52:10):
films Bill Belichick talking to his players on the sidelines,
just do your job. Well, football is a lot more
complicated than that now quite frankly, And it's not that
you're trying to do somebody else's job, but you have
to know what the guys around you were doing. And
so that connection of our players, both all the defensive
guys together all the offensive guys together and then across

(52:34):
the two so offensive tackles learning from the defensive lineman.
It's a really tight ball club. They're very smart and
they have to be to play in Mike's system. I
just think it's they're as good a team as we've
had in one place together for a while now, maybe
going back to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
Year, Sam Darnold has looked so good. Steve your thoughts
on his performance and the risk keyness for lack of
a better way of putting it in Moving on from
Gino Smith who did have success in Seattle.

Speaker 7 (53:05):
Yeah, there was a lot of kind of senses outside
the building that wow, is this something we really want
to be doing. But John Schneider and his guys and
Mike they knew that Listen, if Gino feels disrespected or
if he feels like he's not getting a fair shake
in a contract negotiation, the same thing that DKA said,

(53:30):
basically that maybe they should go someplace else. That was
their feeling, and so the management said, Okay, you know,
if you don't want to be here, we don't want
guys that frankly don't want to be here. So they
immediately turned on their heels and started looking at those
opportunities out there, and Sam was the perfect guy for

(53:50):
what the new offensive coordinator wants to do. The Kubiak
Van Donald knows that system, played in it, understands it.
I think it was just a great choice. I don't
think any of us, though Mark, had an idea that
he would be as good as he is has been
so far. So he's just been outstanding. He's, you know,

(54:11):
completing over seventy three percent of his passes. He got
sack one time this game against Jacksonville. They've got a
really good defense. He just he throws on timing. He's smart,
he knows where everybody's going to be. I just think
he's been remarkable, and I don't think that we've seen
the best of him yet.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
Steve Rabel joining us voice of the Seattle Seahawks, So
tell me this system, Steve, having played the game, is
this a Kubiak system, a Kubiak hybrid with some Shanahan
and McVeigh like, how would you describe this? And can
you discuss what you think the oranges of this thing
really are? Is it Bill Walsh, is it Mike Shanahan?

(54:51):
What do you think?

Speaker 7 (54:52):
Yeah, well, you know, everything goes back probably to Bill
Walsh ultimately, and then you know Mike Holmgren who was
here for many years, and that system then blossomed under
all those assistant coaches, and you take a look at
the coaching trees that Mike Hombren had and how many
of those guys went on to be head coaches and

(55:13):
pushed that system out further. And then you know Shanahan.
He was under that system for a while, so he
took it and he kind of tweaked it his way.
I think it's probably more the Shanahan system. McVeigh does
things his way. I think every one of these assistant
coaches who have used this, the kubiaks, they've all been

(55:34):
kind of to a certain extent, and then they all
make their tweaks. A lot of those tweaks, you know,
depend on the people that you have, the players that
you have. Can they do what you're asking them to do?
Do you have not every team has a wide receiver
with the like we had last year, the last few
years in Dk Metcalf the side of the strength to speed,
or now this year our number one receiver Jackson Smith

(55:55):
and Jigma who is so smooth and so so surehanded
and run great routes, and he's so smart at understanding defenses.
So you also have to apply that offense to your
to your personnel. But I think probably it goes back
to the Shanahan tree ultimately, and then the guys kind
of do with it what they think is best, how

(56:17):
they think it best works. I know that Shanahan liked
to run the ball. He never got a lot of
credit or as much credit as he should have for
running the football back in his days with the Broncos.
But you know, this offense is really based around the
running attack, and we haven't run it quite as well
as we like to yet. We're getting there, but it
takes a little time.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
Jackson Smith and Jigba, you brought him up and Dk
Metcalf similar question to the Donald and Gino Smith situation.
Now you still had Jackson Smith and Jigba in the building,
of course, and he was great last year, but what
about him and what he brings especially this year he's
exploding and no Metcalf on the other side. I know

(56:58):
you have Cooper Cup and others helping out, but what
do you think there?

Speaker 7 (57:02):
Yeah, I just think it was I love Dk and
all that he could do. One of the things that
you have to remember too. You know these guys, he
and Gino, they've been with the team for a while,
so the coaches knew him. John Schneider knew him. They
kind of knew what maybe the ceiling would be for
those players and where that ceiling was. And then you

(57:23):
then it becomes a matter of economics. Can we afford
to do this with this player of this age at
this point in his career, when in fact, we could
get someone younger and perhaps a little more athletic to
do it, you know, for a little less money, at
least at this point until their big contract comes up.

(57:45):
So all of those things figure into it. I think
JSN is as good as I've seen. I think he's
as good as anybody out there right now. He's got
the speed to run past you. He's such a terrific
route runner. It gets just finds the to get open.
He understands spaces in defenses and working with Cooper Cup

(58:06):
Cooper is an amazing receiver and again another guy who
understands how to read defenses, how to best leverage guys,
get him on the wrong foot and then make his
his cut, make his break. Both of them have very
sure hands. And then the final part of that equation
is Sam Darnold has just been so accurate in throwing

(58:28):
the ball. So it makes those guys really look pretty
good too, because you got a guy that's throwing the
ball on him and if they're not completely open, he
throws them open. And he's he's not afraid to throw
it into small windows or lay it up over the
top and drop it in the bucket, as he did
against Jacksonville the other day. So JSN and he's just
a you know, you've met a lot of players as

(58:50):
if I over the years. He's just such a quiet,
very introspective kid who all he wants to do is
become better every single day. And that's pret admirable.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Steve Rabel joining us voice of the Seattle Seahawks. Steve
defensively so good against the run, so good rushing the
passer too in key situations. What about that side of
the football your general thoughts on the defensive side.

Speaker 7 (59:17):
I think they had a bit of an awakening, And yeah,
we won the game against Jacksonville and the defense played,
you know, just lights out, especially upfront. The awakening game
the week before against Tampa Bay, and I don't know.
I've heard the stories from kind of inside the locker room.
Mike McDonald is is smart's he understands players. He is young,

(59:41):
he can speak their language, and he can also let
him have it when he feels like they've underachieved. And
he was not happy about the Tampa Bay game, and
we asked the question of him, and we brought it
up on our broadcast on Sunday in Jacksonville. The way
the defensive front was playing. They obviously got out dead
that morning, really angry, and Jared Reid said as much afterwards.

(01:00:04):
He said, Yeah, we were angry because we knew and
we got yelled at about it, but we knew we
didn't play well against Tampa Bay. Did not get any
pressure on Baker Mayfield this time, seven sacks on Trevor Lawrence.
I mean, that's just an unbelievable game. And most of
it came from those guys up front. That's where the

(01:00:24):
I don't want to say the leadership in total, but
that's where it all starts on both sides of the ball, frankly,
offensively and defensively. It starts up front. And when you
got guys like Leo Williams and Jared Reid, two veterans,
Byron Murphy in the middle, and then DeMarcus Lawrence, who's
come back from an injury here. This was his first
came back after a couple of weeks and he was

(01:00:45):
just outstanding. So you can't say enough about the kind
of job those guys have done. And tied in with that,
the linebackers and the edge rushers trying to take a
little bit of the pressure off of that secondary because
the secondary has been so beat up and missing players
since the very first game, and this has been a
big help for the defense too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
Steve playing there, what makes the home field advantage so good?
Besides noise? Maybe, what do you attribute it to. I
know that this year you got a couple of losses
at home, but they're very close games and these things happen.
What about the home field overall in Seattle and it
seems to be a citywide thing because you dub has
that craziness going for them as well over the years.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
What are your thoughts there?

Speaker 7 (01:01:31):
Yeah, you know what's interesting about that because we had
it going back to the days, you know, when I
played in the Kingdome. We got here in nineteen seventy six,
with the inaugural team, and I mean they sold fifty
seven thousand season tickets in a couple of days, and
the fans started screaming the moment they walked into the
Kingdome and they never stopped until they blew the building

(01:01:52):
up and build a new one. It's just a remarkable area.
I guess they love their football out here. And then
there's this a tradition. You know, they call our fans
the twelves as relates to the twelfth Man. I know
for a while that was Texas A and M's deal too,
but it's it's something that that now is almost passed

(01:02:12):
down from generation to generation that Okay, your granddad took
me to the games when I was young, and we
screamed and yelled until we couldn't talk on Monday. Now
you and I son are going to do the same thing,
or you and I daughter are going to do the
same thing. It's it's just it's it's terrific. Now. We
have not been as good at home as we should

(01:02:33):
have been, especially last season. I mean we were terrible
at home, and even John Schneider, the general manager, said
we got to win our fans back. He told us
in pre season. We got to get them back in
the building. By the end of the season, there were
a lot of our fans selling their tickets to the
opposing team, and so we had you know, it seemed
like several thousand, maybe maybe five thousand Vikings fans and

(01:02:55):
Packers fans here last year and they made a lot
of noise for their teams. We don't want to see
that this year. So it's a great place to play football.
When Paul Allen had the building design, he wanted it
to be an outdoor stadium. There was talk of making
it an indoor stadium, you know, a covered stadium. He
wanted it outdoors because when he was a kid, his
dad took him to U dub games. And it's an

(01:03:17):
outdoor stadium. But they designed it so that the sound
would roll up and then it's caught in those overhangs
over the top of the upper decks and rolls back
down onto the field, and it's just so loud down there.
You can't hear yourself think, especially when you're on defense
for the Seahawks. So it's a great place to play.
The fans are terrific and now I know the team

(01:03:38):
just says to themselves. We just have to keep winning
these home games, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
This is one of those.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
Other than that, how is the play missus Lincoln questions?
But when the uniforms were on display with the Buccaneers
and Seattle, and I know you played the old uniforms
and I know they wore those uniforms for a long time,
But what were your thoughts, what were your emotion and
as you relive some of those memories.

Speaker 7 (01:04:03):
Oh, it was great to see.

Speaker 6 (01:04:04):
I love that.

Speaker 7 (01:04:05):
You know, you don't know it when you're when you're playing.
Of course, back in the day, Uh, there wasn't any
such thing as throwback uniforms or even you know, a
different set of jerseys. That's all come along later.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:04:20):
And and it is a great way to sell paraphernalia
and to sell apparel. But we always, you know, just
for the same thing. That's just what our uniform was.
But I just always loved that. I always loved to
look at the silver helmets and the and the silver
pants and the U blue jerseys. And but then again,
you know, I'm old now and I was used to

(01:04:41):
that then. Uh. I loved seeing them come back. I
wasn't crazy about the cream sickles on the U on
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but I didn't like them, particularly
when when they wore them back in seventy six either.
So I think it's nice. I think it's great. I
I like that throwback better than I do the We
have an action green outfit as well that kind of

(01:05:05):
looks like a limesickle. I'm not crazy about those. But yeah,
I have my old jersey someplace. I don't know where
it is. My wife and I just moved into a
new place here about two months ago, so I think
it's in a box, buried in a story block or someplace.
But yeah, that old jersey might find its way out

(01:05:26):
here one of these days.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
All right, A couple more for you, Steve, Steve Rabel
joining us voice of the Seahawks. I know you played
in the Rudy game, So how often do you get
asked about that? How many people realize that you were
a Georgia Tech player in that game? And I know
you're not featured in the movie, but Georgia Tech is,
and the game is portrayed I know, not quite accurately,
but your thoughts on.

Speaker 7 (01:05:48):
That, Yeah, it is funny. I do get asked about
that a lot, and yeah, I played in that game.
I think it was nineteen seventy five, up to Notre
Dame's play against against the Fighting Irish, and we had
a pretty good team that year. Pepper Rodgers was our coach.
We ran the wishbone, so I was alternately either split

(01:06:13):
out on the right side or lined up as a
tight end a lot of the time, and we were
getting our butts handed to us up there. There's one
thing about the wishbone. If you've got a really good
like outside linebacker slash defensive ends who were real physical
and real athletic, you know, you can defeat the wishbone
by stretching out that play and then making the tackle.

(01:06:33):
And that's what Notre Dame did to us. So finally
we decided to throw the ball toward the end of
the game, and I lined up wide and just ran
a go route and the quarterback threw it up there,
and it was I could tell it was just sailing
over going to be over me. But I looked up
and Notre Dame was playing deep thirds and their cornerback
was now she was twenty five yards off the ball,

(01:06:55):
so my thought was just race to him and try
to make a play on the ball, and I in
and I ended up knocking it down, so at least
he didn't intercept it. But the very next play, the
young man named Rudy got in the game and sacked
our quarterback. Well, if I don't knock that ball down
and they intercepted, they off don't. So But all that said,

(01:07:19):
and I've said this many times, his story is remarkable.
I was lucky enough to be able to play all
my years in you know, college and now the pros
or then the prosh. This young man played for the
love of the game, and he never got into games
and he just helped the other guys get prepared as
part of their you know, practice team. I admire the

(01:07:41):
hell out of him and the story that he has. Yeah,
it was embellished a little bit for the for movies,
but that's just the way they are. But and I
don't think they carry him off the field. I think
he'd probably even admit that. I think that was kind
of added for the movie. But all in all, it was,
you know, just not a great day for us, and
so I kind of forgot all about it once we

(01:08:02):
got beat by Notre Dame, and you know, there's touchdown,
Jesus standing in the end zone. You know, he's overseeing
all that. I didn't think again about it until I
started to hear this thing about well Rudy played in
that game. Well, okay, if you say so. So that's
that's the story, and it's fun to be kind of

(01:08:23):
associated with it. And I'm really happy for him, and
and you know, now, I'm happy that my Jackets are
what five and six and Z right now, they're having
a heck of a season.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
It's funny because in the movie it's one way, but
I saw a YouTube video of the actual TV call
and your name is definitely mentioned in that second or
last play, and I think it's criacky on the call,
if I'm not mistaken, but it's It's an amazing thing
to see. And I was watching it because my son
wanted to see it. He saw the movie and we

(01:08:54):
were watching the real thing. I said, I know that guy.
He calls Seahawks games. So that was pretty cool stuff. Anyway, Steve,
it's so great to catch up as always, and I
really appreciate the time.

Speaker 1 (01:09:05):
Look forward to seeing you on Monday night.

Speaker 6 (01:09:07):
Monday night.

Speaker 7 (01:09:08):
That's right, all right, Mark, Thanks so much. I appreciate
it to.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
The best dudes you ever gonna find right there, Mark
vanderm Me, the voice of the Texans and the voice
of the Seahawks, Steve Rabel. All right, coming up, we
got to catch up with our dude, British Brooks, who
stopped by studio recently. We had a good time talking
to the second year man on North Carolina. That's next
the Texans All access' Zevan. Everybody, welcome back this Wednesday
edition of Texans All Access from Monday Texans Radio Studio.

(01:09:32):
I'm your host, John Harris, Football Analyst Sideline Report. Two
years ago, undrafted free agent out of North Carolina made
an impact on this particular coaching staff, this organization. Fortunately,
British Brooks got hurt early in the twenty twenty four season,
but he came back with vengeance in training camp at
twenty twenty five. Was even better on special teams, was

(01:09:53):
even better in short yardage, was even better at fullback,
even better at tailback. He does a little bit of
everything for this team, and he's been hot lately. These
fourth down runs that he's been able to make at
full back have really given the Texas a jolt and
we had a chance to talk to him all about it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:08):
Right here, British Brooks joining us at studio. Welcome British.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Thanks you all for I having me.

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
It's not your first visit here, it's not your first
rodeo here. Okay, we had you right before Mini camp.
We had your last year, so it's great to see.
How's this season going for you personally so far?

Speaker 8 (01:10:23):
Uh, personally, I feel like it's well. I'm always trying
to get better each and every week, each and every day,
with every repute I can get. So I feel like
I'm just trying to learn as much as I can still.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
British, how many different positions do you play? How many
did they ask you to play? Because you're on all
special teams. You can line up at full back, which
we've seen, you've taken snaps at tailback.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
When somebody says, hey, they don't know football much, they're like, hey,
you play for the Texas. What position do you play?
What do you tell him? Offense?

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
The best way to put it's like pe Tree places
defense play offense.

Speaker 8 (01:10:56):
I don't know how to explain it because, yeah, y'all,
saund the line up at fullback.

Speaker 1 (01:10:59):
I might be at the hip or something. I might
be doing something crazy, so I just play off.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
Man, what's the mentality you have to have that full back,
not just understanding the play call, but what you have
to do physically.

Speaker 8 (01:11:12):
It's definitely a different mindset going and running. Like as
a running back you go through the like through the trenches,
but like as a quarterback you in the trenches, it's
a lot of you have to find somebody, yeah exactly,
and if ain't nobody there, hit something. I mean, and
it's like I said, the trenches, it gets literally crazy,
like you're gonna get up, you might get stepped on,

(01:11:33):
You're gonna.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
Get a pile on you.

Speaker 8 (01:11:36):
Is like, oh my gosh, like it's this is definitely
a different mindset.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Bottom of the pile is the craziest place on the
face of the earth because anything and everything can happen there.
I want to talk about your I think was the
first run you had the other day against Baltimore. Going
back and watching on tape, I remember thinking at the time, oh,
we were all talking about during a break, Like, oh man,
I thought, breaks is gonna break that one for because.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
You slipped through there pretty quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
And then I saw Malachi Starks was pointing at you
the entire time he was pointing. He was like trying
to get his teammates attention, and he kept pointing at you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
He's the one that ends up making a tackle.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
Did you feel like, Man, I slipped this, I'm going
to the house or did you think I slipped this
gap I could take this one all the way?

Speaker 1 (01:12:15):
Did you think you might have that?

Speaker 8 (01:12:16):
My first thought was take care of the ball and
get the first So yeah, So like as soon as
I got the ball and see where I was going,
I was all right, I see a defender, I'm gonna
try to run through his tackle. But I didn't think
that I would just like end up coming out the
backside of it. And I was like, I just would
have looked up. I could have just veered to the
left real quick and everybody would have been touched down.
But it was a great play.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
It was a great play offensively. What's practice like for you?

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):
Because you have to also engage in the special team sessions,
so you go from one to the other, and it's
full back, its tail back, it's a little bit of everything.

Speaker 1 (01:12:47):
So what's practiced like for you?

Speaker 8 (01:12:48):
British h I was telling somebody's like especially like listening to,
like to huddle calls, like as a running back, Like
last year, I would just listen to like the running
back stuff, and then when I went to start playing
f and full back, it was like I listen to
the whole call. So now I can't just sit there
and listen to if I'm at running back, just the
running back call. I literally like hear the entire play,
the concepts of formation, and I'm like, I can be

(01:13:11):
at running back, but I'm sitting here saying all the.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Titan has this, this, this and that and that.

Speaker 8 (01:13:16):
And then sometimes that's a little bit of mental gymnastics
because you got to be like, all right, I'm not
playing full back or this. Now I'm a running back,
so I gotta lock in on what I'm doing. And
then special team is always like hectic. I don't want
to say like all over the player, but it's always
like intense and hectics, so like you always want to know,
all right, I'm at right wing or the kicks out five,

(01:13:37):
Just let me focus on what I'm supposed to do
right now, and then we can coach everything up or
else on the back end.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
What's it like special teams with coach Ross.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
I mean, do you do you feel like you have
to have like three cups of coffee to kind of
match his intensity every single day when you're going there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
I don't know if you can even match it. I
don't I don't think.

Speaker 8 (01:13:56):
I don't know if coffee is like I don't know
that that might be all like off the strength, like
just waking up like he's intense, like crazy. So I'm
like me, I'm like, I tried, I hid myself up personally,
but it don't look like it, like I would just
look like I'm chilling, but like I always feel like
I'm on edge a little bit, right, So.

Speaker 3 (01:14:16):
We want to personally thank you for making our off
season shows more significant and better. And I'll explain because
last year you come in as an undrafted rookie and
you're in rookie camp and we're talking about you on
our show. We have shows in the off season and
we're saying, hey, this British Brooks guy's out there, looks
pretty good, and you know, people are thinking, well, what's
what's really going to happen here? Well, you end up
making the initial fifty three man roster in twenty twenty four.

(01:14:39):
What was that like for you when that was announced?
When you got the news that you were on that
fifty three. You know, it's the NFL and everything's kind
of fluid, but you made it that day.

Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
What was that moment like for you? British? What's the word?
I would rather say like relieved? Relieving, Yeah, because it's
more relieved than ecstatic.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:14:57):
Yeah, I would just like, alright, we're good, cool, cool, cool,
because like it was either go hard or go home,
and I was like, I know, I lived it all
on the field, so it's not in my hands at
this point.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
But you right now seem to epitomize what a Texan
is all about because you'll do anything on a field
the player guts out.

Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
You're definitely swarm material.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
Like you said, you you get hype, but it may
not look that way.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
You hit anything that moves.

Speaker 6 (01:15:24):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
You seem to embody what a Texan is all about
in a sense. I mean, you just continued playing the
way that you always have in your life. But it
just seems to fit. Were there other places that you
were looking at other than Houston?

Speaker 1 (01:15:35):
Oh yeah, hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (01:15:36):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:15:37):
I think the Raiders, Giants. Yeah, in Houston obviously was
like my top three.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
What made Houston the best choice for you?

Speaker 8 (01:15:47):
Just hearing how they talk to me on the phone, Yeah,
and just hearing how like you can tell when Frank
talks like he's passionate and I.

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
Knew, like, all right, he's that's gonna fit.

Speaker 8 (01:15:55):
Yeah, they're gonna they want me to develops, not just
one thing.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
So since you've been here, do you since that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
Man, this is the place I belong because of all
those things that you embody.

Speaker 8 (01:16:06):
Oh, like they encourage all of that. Sit right there,
and I'm not having somebody tell me to like chill,
you don't need to do that, like go play, go go.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
Just do you do downtime with the bye? What did
you do?

Speaker 6 (01:16:19):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:16:20):
Stay here man? With my girlfriend?

Speaker 8 (01:16:22):
We went horseback riding, did a couple activities and.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
Just check you know how to ride horses or you
knew first time? First time? Really? Where'd you go? Is
that in your contract you were allowed to do? Never mind? God,
just kidding.

Speaker 8 (01:16:37):
I think it's called like cypress trills or something.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
Okay, how her first time? Was it her first time?

Speaker 8 (01:16:42):
I'll say it my first time on a longe with time?
I think it might have been both our segment time.
It's a weird question.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
We're nervous, Was it like kind of anxiety feel or
you just get up there and just okay, I know
I'd be nervous as hell.

Speaker 6 (01:16:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:16:55):
I feel like I was more like nervous when they
just like, right here, here's the horse. It just handed
me the horse and it was like a bigger horse,
and I.

Speaker 1 (01:17:02):
Was just like, yeah, you need a big horse.

Speaker 7 (01:17:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:17:05):
And there was a whole bunch of horses around us,
and I'm just sitting here like I'm getting close to
my horse because I don't want to get kicked. I'm
just like, I don't know what's about to happen, so
I'm just sitting there. But as soon as I got on,
me and the horse were locked in.

Speaker 3 (01:17:16):
So okay. So when you're just chilling out, is it?
Do you watch TV shows? You listen to music?

Speaker 1 (01:17:21):
What do you like?

Speaker 6 (01:17:23):
Man?

Speaker 8 (01:17:24):
By the time I get done chilling, this almost time
for bed, Like I get home, Ye deal, the dogs
my girlfriend, I mean a couple of TikTok swipes.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
And that's on the phone and then that's it pretty much.
She rode.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
Can you sleep on planes? Because we have a little
bit of a road trip coming up.

Speaker 8 (01:17:41):
I can sleep before. I literally can't sleep at their games.
I've never been able to sleep out of their game
since high school. Like I'll stay up too, Heed, Yeah,
Like my heart's literally pumping.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:51):
So whether you're home on the plane doesn't matter.

Speaker 8 (01:17:53):
We had a loan flight, but I didn't even play
the Rams game and I still couldn't even sleep.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:00):
Man, we've got our longest flight now going out to Seattle.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
I would actually the longest play you have been on
have been a long one. How long is this playing?
Almost five hours? I don't think when you're at North
Carolina you didn't fly far. That was before you're playing
Stanford and stuff, as they called the All Coast Conference.
Now that's nuts. All right, British, thanks a lot for

(01:18:25):
joining us. Good La.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
It's a great young man right there. I love having
him on this squad, no question about it. He is
a true football dude. Speaking of football dudes.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
Steve McKinney is one of those, but you can also
call him. What has happened? Everybody?

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
Welcome back to this final segment of Texans All Access
on this Wednesday evening. I'm your host John Harris Football
on a sideline reporter started my career at a different
radio station and when Steve McKinney retired from the Texans,
he would join us on the radio and we had
a little jingle that we played courtesy of two my

(01:19:00):
great friends, Frankie the Bull and Chance and it was fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:19:04):
So before we bring on Steve McKinney, we.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
Got to introduce him the right way. It's the Inside
Skinny with Steve McKinney.

Speaker 1 (01:19:18):
We're Steve, he's not. He's down the middle and the
old white marsh bit.

Speaker 4 (01:19:26):
Oh my gosh, he's absa, the Hawsey Tobasa is in
the trenches pipist when you make sincetin cheese.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
He's proud too, bey and he's on prow Tooby like
him nineteen It was.

Speaker 1 (01:19:39):
A woman, no kid, like a fat stack. But the
boys ton't get on his tins all right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
Now introduced the proper way. Let's bring on Steve McKinney
with Mark and myself.

Speaker 1 (01:19:57):
Steve McKinney joining us.

Speaker 3 (01:19:59):
The Inside Skinny with Steve McKinney, Texas Gridiron legend just
named to the list. Steve, welcome. It's so great to
have you with us? And congratulations? How does it feel
to be named a Texas Gridiron legend for the Texas Bowl?

Speaker 6 (01:20:14):
That's pretty cool, man, you don't you know, as an
offensive lineman, you don't ever get too many accolades. So
I'll take them, take them when I can get them, man,
So it's real honor.

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
It is definitely an honor.

Speaker 2 (01:20:24):
Okay, I want to ask you this, what was most
likely to happen with your roommates in college that Billy
Lucci become the unofficial mayor of College station or Dan
Campbell would end up being a superstar NFL coach? Which
one was most likely to happen with your roommates at
A and M.

Speaker 6 (01:20:45):
I mean from from when I knew them at that point.
Neither of those run No, no, nowhere in my mind
that I ever think either of them would become those
those things. But you know, I'm very proud of both
of them. Honestly, they're still great friends and doing very
very well in their different fields.

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
What about Campbell, Steve, because he's the kind of guy
who delegates, He's not a coordinator. He's a head coach,
and he hires people to run both sides of the
ball and special teams, but he's highly involved at the
same time. What do you think of his leadership style
and how that works in general?

Speaker 6 (01:21:21):
I mean, I think it's obviously has been very successful.
I mean, he's a he's a culture builder. You know,
he's a he's a player's coach. He's going to push you,
but at the same time make you feel appreciated respected.
What he's done up there is just really been nothing
short of amazing. I mean, I'm I couldn't be more
proud of him, and you know, love that they're having success,

(01:21:41):
and I wish they'd wish they'd have won the other night,
but you know, it's it's it's still a good, good
football team that's going to definitely compete this year for
a championship.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
Steve, you have so many different accomplishments and things that
you have done in your football career. Is there one
that stands out more than any other for you? I mean,
I know you're an offensive lineman, so you're probably not
going to, you know, say hey, I did this, I
did that, but I'm asking you to do that right now.
Was there something that you're probably most proud about your
football career?

Speaker 6 (01:22:10):
Well, I would say, you know, as far as little
accolades go, you know, I'd say two probably stand up.
One is when they retired my jersey at clear Lake
High School. I thought that was pretty cool. You know,
never never thought that was something like that would happen
for me, but that was a big honor. And then
the other one I thought was pretty cool was when
I made the All Joe Team in the USA. Today,

(01:22:32):
I think I don't remember what year it was, but
I like that. I was like, yeah, that's me, man,
I'm a blue collar lunch pail guy. Yeah, I like
being on the All Joe Team.

Speaker 3 (01:22:41):
What about what about Top one hundred Aggies in twenty
fifteen you were put on that list. That's a nice list, Steve.

Speaker 6 (01:22:48):
Yeah, that was pretty cool too. Yeah, that was pretty
neat to you know. It's cool because when you grow
up like I did as an Aggie, your whole life
going to football games is I think my first one
was I was six weeks old. So I've been going
to A and M games since I since basically I
could see, and you know, to make a list like that,
as you know, if I could have gone back and

(01:23:09):
told my you know, ten year old self that I
would have never believed it, So that was that was
pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
Growing up as an age would imagine that that obviously
is such a big thing. But was there something Steve
playing at Kyle Field, Just playing in front of that crowd.

Speaker 1 (01:23:21):
I mean people that go to A and M games.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
I've talked to some friends that were, you know, from
the SEC, and they've gone to games at A and M.
They're like, man, this is like no other place. What
was that like playing in front of that crowd, those
traditions and everything in College Station.

Speaker 6 (01:23:36):
Well, you know, when when I played there, it was
a little different. It was still a huge crowd, and
you know, they were loud, as loud as any other
stadium in the country at that point, but just such good,
cool traditions with the band and the core and the
sawing the horns off, you know, just the yells. Everything
like that was was pretty awesome. Man, It's a dream

(01:23:57):
come true. And you know, now I go back with
my son who's coming to play there as well. Wow, Hunter,
which is obviously another dream come true. I'm excited about that.
But you go to these games now and it's like unbelievable.
The atmosphere. I mean it compared to like even an
NFL game. It's it's not even comparable. The way the atmosphere,
especially at night, and the crowd and the music and

(01:24:20):
the lights. I mean, it's just a whole four hour performance. Man.
If you haven't, if you haven't been to one, you
got to go. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:24:26):
Steve b.

Speaker 3 (01:24:26):
Kinney joining us. Steve, He's a Texas gridiron legend. Just
named to the list. Steve, you came over from the
Colts as a free agent for the first Texans team,
so you were with the Horseshoe, but you came over
from the from the dark side, and I appreciate that.
You tell us though, did you not play center at all?
Did you play some in college? Saw at Indie because

(01:24:48):
you became the center for the Houston Texans in the
early days.

Speaker 6 (01:24:54):
I never I'd never snapped the ball in my life,
not even in practice. When when they signed me and
told me I was going to play center, I was like, oh, wait,
are you sure you got the right guy. I've never
played center, and I'll never forget. You know, the first
time anyone even never taught me how to snap a
football was in the Astronome down in the some dirty

(01:25:16):
locker room in the Astrodome, Chris Palmer was teaching me
how to snap the ball. It was it was surreal. Man,
it's crazy to think back in that and but I
figured it out. You know. We had a few fumbled
snaps that first year, but you know, after that we
got it rolling. We were good.

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
Steve playing for an expansion team like the Texans in
two thousand and two where there was so much excitement
back in Houston because a you know, professional team was
back in Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:25:43):
I know it probably wasn't the team success that you probably.

Speaker 2 (01:25:45):
Wanted to have, But when you look back on Tho
those few years, you look back at him finally, do
you what do you think about the first few years
of the years with the Texans.

Speaker 6 (01:25:54):
Man, it was for me, it was just it was
so much fun. I loved it. Yeah, we didn't, you know,
we didn't have a ton of success, but it was
just so cool being back in your hometown, playing in
front of your friends and family and your home home
city that you know, every fans were just so excited,
even even if we weren't winning, they were just so
happy to have us there and so welcoming everywhere you went.

(01:26:18):
I don't know. I loved it. I have very fond
memories of the Texans and my time there.

Speaker 3 (01:26:22):
All right, Steve, everybody talks about the Dallas game September eight,
two thousand and two. That date will live forever with me,
and I'm sure with you and anybody was part of
that thing. So what is number two in terms of
Texans memories? What's the second thing that comes to mind?
Second game?

Speaker 6 (01:26:38):
If you will, Man, I that's a tough one. I
can think of about three, but I would say I'd
have to go with the I don't remember what year
it was, but we were playing Jacksonville at home and
the game, you know, came down to like a I
think it was a fourth and one on the goal line,
and I think, if we kick, we go to overt

(01:27:00):
or we go for the touchdown, we win. And we
called time out, went over to the sideline, and I
remember coach Dom Capers was like, we're gonna go for it.
We're calling quarterback sneak. And I was like, in my mind,
I'm like, I got John Henderson on one side, I
got Marcus Stroud on my other shoulder. I'm like, okay,
I'm getting out weighed here. About about you know, four

(01:27:22):
or five hundred pounds, So this could go pretty bad
if I don't come off the ball here. But yeah,
we got We got the ball over the end zone
and won the game. And that was that was an
exciting win. I'll never forget that one either.

Speaker 3 (01:27:33):
Week four, two thousand and three. Yeah, and you went
to two and two because you beat the Dolphins on
opening day, lost to then won that one. Two and
two at the time felt like going to the super Bowl.
I mean that was pretty strong.

Speaker 6 (01:27:46):
Yeah, no kidding. In those days, it was Steve.

Speaker 2 (01:27:50):
When we were at a computer radio station, you always
used to join us, and also Joel Dreeson used to
join us. And Joel used to tell us about this
ongoing battle he had with Kyle Vandenbosch. And we know
about Andre Johnson's running battle with Courtland Finnegan. Now, those
just happened to be Titans, so it may not the
answer to this might not be a Titan. But did
you have a running battle with anybody in the NFL,

(01:28:13):
like when you saw him, like Ritchie Incognito and Ninja
Antonio Smith, those two were gonna throw down. There was
always something between them. Did you have Steve McKinney and
someone that it was always just, you know, a little
testy when you two went after it.

Speaker 6 (01:28:28):
Yeah, I would say, I'd say I had that you
with the with the Colts, you know, me and Daryl
Gardner when he was at Miami, yep. And then you
know when I was with the Texans, me and John
Henderson and and even Albert Hainsworth with the Titans. You know,
those are some big dudes. They were. They were out
weighed me about probably thirty forty pounds. But you know

(01:28:49):
when I when I go against those guys, you know,
I knew I had to bring my a game and
be ready to fight for four quarters because it was
gonna be a battle. And uh yeah, it definitely got
a little chippy at times, but I think I came
out ahead on most of them.

Speaker 3 (01:29:02):
Steve, what was the relationship like between Peyton Manning and
the offensive line in Indianapolis? How that worked and how
he helped you guys, if at all I would imagine
he did. What was that like working with him?

Speaker 6 (01:29:15):
It was, uh, you know, he definitely made you. He
held you to a pretty high standard, I'll say that,
and a lot of accountability, a lot of expectations as
far as understanding the playbook and and not missing assignments,
and because you know, when Peyton came up to the
line of scrimmage, he basically had the whole playbook at
his disposal, So you had to know your stuff and

(01:29:36):
be ready to switch plays in your head real quick.
Because if he saw something in the defense that he
wanted to exploit, he was he was going to call it.
So that was that was you know, it makes you
raise your level of play and you know, preparedness going
into a game because you know, you don't you don't
want to let anybody down, especially him. So he was, Uh,
he was a hell of a quarterback man. And you know,
there's there's a reason he had as much success as

(01:29:57):
he had. It's it didn't happen by accident.

Speaker 2 (01:30:00):
Steve not counting your home facilities, whether it's A and
M in college or any of the NFL teams you
played for, did you have a favorite place to play
on the road where you just loved to shut up
the fans or just you love the environment, or you
just loved the stadium. Was there always a Was there
a place that you loved going and playing that wasn't
kind of your home facility.

Speaker 6 (01:30:21):
Oh, I mean, any any place in California. It was
fun to play because it was always about seventy something
and sunny, and you know, anytime you're leaving Texas for
that kind of weather, it's it's not a bad thing.
I can tell you. The worst places to play would
be anywhere in Chicago, Green Bay, or Buffalo in December.

(01:30:41):
Those are the opposite of California. And I'll never forget
the worst. The coldest game that I can remember playing
in was uh was Chicago.

Speaker 1 (01:30:51):
That was just gonna ask if you were in that game.
I thought you were in that game.

Speaker 6 (01:30:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:30:54):
Mark talks about that one a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:30:56):
Yeah, Mark me. It was so cold it was clear
negative ten. I thought I'd be tough and not wear sleeves,
and you know, I realized that was a stupid decision
five minutes into the game. It's just like you can't
you know, you get you get through a series and

(01:31:16):
then you go sit down for you know, fifteen minutes,
and then you're just frozen again. You go back out
there and you can like barely move. For the first
player too, It's just it's brutal.

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
That was wild and that was a Texans victory. That
was a great win at the time, beating the Chicago
Bears up there. Lovey Smith was a head coach of
the Bears in that one, Steve, you got involved with
business while you were still playing.

Speaker 1 (01:31:39):
So what drew you to that?

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
What made you want to do that get involved in
ownership and running businesses.

Speaker 6 (01:31:46):
I'll tell you I started looking at businesses probably my
after my first year in Indianapolis, because as soon as
I got there, you know, it's just a constant, you know,
basically preaching to you that NFL stands for or not
for long. So you learn pretty quickly you better, you
better be prepared for your second career because very few
people are going to retire from the NFL and do nothing.

(01:32:10):
So I was always kind of had a business mindset
of what was my next move after the NFL. And
it wasn't really until I got to Houston that you know,
I signed, you know, a pretty decent contract and starting
to get a little bit of money, and that's when
I got into a few different businesses. It did the
Velocity Sports Performance for a while, and got into Free
Bird's Burrito for a while, and you know, looked at McDonald's.

(01:32:33):
And you know, McDonald's was was a franchise I really
loved and wanted to get into, but you know, it
required you to give one hundred percent of your efforts
to it, and I was like, well, I can't do
that while I'm playing football. So basically, as soon as
I got done playing football, that was the first place
I looked. And it took me a couple of applications
to get in, but finally got accepted and became an

(01:32:54):
owner operator for McDonald's and twenty ten, been doing it
for fifteen years now. It's been great.

Speaker 1 (01:33:01):
So Steve, how many do you have?

Speaker 2 (01:33:02):
I remember, I remember we actually talked about this way
back when You're saying, yeah, man, I'm gonna I'm gonna go, uh,
you know, get with McDonald's. And I was like, oh, okay, wow.
And then the next time I talk to you like yeah,
I've got like twenty McDonald's or I'm like, oh.

Speaker 1 (01:33:16):
My god, how many do you have? Now? How many
you running? And how's that business going?

Speaker 6 (01:33:21):
Yeah? I've been running. I think I think we're like
twenty six now, and you know, we've been growing, you know,
slowly and trying to grow grow steadily. But yeah, I mean,
you know, business is business is good. I mean it's
you know, times are a little bit tough right now
in the economy, and you know, people are stressed about
different things. But you know we're surviving, doing doing pretty well,

(01:33:41):
and you know, I still love the brand, and you know,
I think I think the future is bright. So it's
a it's a good way to uh, good way to
get out of my energy. You know. It keeps me busy,
that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:33:53):
Well, I know, and we've talked about this before. I know,
they made you or they make you work at a
McDonald's for an extensive period of time to understand what
people go through working at McDonald's and share something about that.
Plus this, Steve, I've always thought, if you can manage
a shift at McDonald's successfully, you could probably run a
lot of things in life.

Speaker 1 (01:34:14):
Am I right?

Speaker 6 (01:34:15):
Yeah, No, you're right. I mean there's a lot, a
lot to manage, a lot going on, you know, from
you know, operations to people and customers and product and equipment.
I mean, there's there's a million different different things that
can go wrong on any given shift. So it's a
it's a ton to manage and very difficult for our people,
but you know, they do the best they can. And
I think when I first started. In fact, it's funny

(01:34:37):
Mark Berman, it texted me that last night even about
the fact that one time he came through when I
was going through my training and it was it was
an evening, I was working in the drive through at
this location and he came through and looked up at
me and kind of kind of looked at me and bewildered,
like while I was working to drive through at McDonald's. Man,

(01:34:59):
it went downhill this in his eyes.

Speaker 1 (01:35:03):
We've seen We've seen a few people.

Speaker 2 (01:35:05):
Tony Levine, former University Houston coach, he got a Chick
fil A.

Speaker 1 (01:35:09):
I want to say, it's over Missouri City area. So
there are a few people that have done it. All right,
I got to ask you, because your.

Speaker 2 (01:35:16):
Beloved Aggies are undefeated in one of the top five
teams in the country, how you feeling about the Aggies
and what Mike Elko's doing.

Speaker 6 (01:35:24):
I'll tell you what man Elko has done a great
job down there as far as just building the culture,
building the roster.

Speaker 8 (01:35:29):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:35:29):
You know, you look at what they have right now.
I mean, they got they got a very explosive passing game,
great receivers on the outside. They got a good running game,
they got a very experienced offensive line. It's doing a
great job defensively. I think they've the last three SEC games,
they're like two for thirty four on third down. Just
an incredible statistics. So they got him rolling right now.

(01:35:52):
I know, you know they're running back Levon Moss, their
their main back, gets got hurt. He's gonna be out
for a little while. But I think they got some
guys behind him that'll that'll help pick up the slack
and you know, with a passing game like we have
right now, I think we'll be okay. But it's a
it's a great season so far. Man. I hope they
can keep this thing going because this looks like a

(01:36:12):
special team.

Speaker 1 (01:36:13):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:36:13):
It was great to catch up with Steve McKinnie. Appreciate
having him on the show. Steve Rabel from the Seahawks,
British Brooks and general manager Nick Assaria appreciate all of
you out there for listening.

Speaker 1 (01:36:22):
Thank you so much for see tomorrow and as always,
go Texans.

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