December 11, 2025 • 45 mins
What affects the Texans outside of their game against the Cardinals on Sunday? Marc and John bring in John McClain to get the scoop on everything that could move Houston up or down the playoff hunt.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we go on Texans Radio with segment two of
tonight's program. It advanced of Thursday Night Football, Mark vandermir
and John Harris with you, and instead of more likely
to happen or who's better, I just have questions for
Johnny that we're gonna ask. Okay, Okay, here's the first one,
Johnny biggest concern about the Cardinals coming in here on
(00:21):
Sunday other than Jacoby Brissett or Trey McBride. What's the
biggest concern other than those two guys that connection.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I think Buddha Baker.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I think Buddha can impact the game from any spot
on a field. Secondarily, I would say Waltern Nolan. Walter
Nolan's a rookie defensive aligneman from out Old miss missed
the initial part of the season due to injury. The
first game he was back, he just tore people up.
So we saw Sunday night. When there is an athletic
(00:53):
freakazoid from the state of Mississippi that the Texans have
to account for, sometimes it can be tough. So I
would say Buddha Baker first because I just have the
utmost respect for Buddha and just everything he can impact
and then Walter Nolan after that.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay, next question, better chance? So this is kind of
a who's better better chance to win this week?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
At home? Denver facing the Green.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Bay Packers, and I guess they're underdogs in that game, yeah,
as the Jenerer said. Or New England underdog at home
against Buffalo. So both these vaunted AFC new money juggernauts.
I mean joking when I call them that, but they're
new money teams Denver and New England are underdogs at
home Denver and green Bay, New England facing Buffalo. Better
(01:41):
chance to win their home game this weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Okay, let me read you something.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
At Atlanta lost twenty four to fourteen, at Miami, lost
thirty to thirteen at Houston, lost twenty three to nineteen
at New England.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Think, so you're saying they're not as good as I think.
It's the Bill on the road, That's right. I think
on the road, I think it's gonna be. It's gonna
be tough for the Bills. Not what it surprised me.
If Josh Allen just puts the cape on, it goes
to work. No, But I think the Patriots are well coached,
They're disciplined, Drake May has gotten better and better.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
This is this is the test. If you go and
sweep the Bills.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I mean, that is such a feather in the cap
for Drake May and for Mike ray Buls So I
think it is. I think the Patriots do it, although
I think the Broncos are gonna struggle with the Packers.
I think if the Packers show up, and that's not
always a guarantee, but if the Packers show up to play,
I think the Broncos will struggle with them. I think
(02:44):
the Packers are not listed amongst the top three teams.
That's a lot of times reserved for Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots,
et cetera. I think when the Packers are on, they're
one of the top three teams in the league.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So the Patriots, it's almost unfair if they get good
this fast, and look they're good this year, I mean,
you have ten wins, Yeah you're good, But I need
them to get bad again fast. Johnny Now, in twenty
twenty they had a down year with Cam Newton at quarterback,
right right right.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Twenty twenty one, they made the playoffs. Matt Jones, Matt Jones.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Bill Belichick was coaching. They made the playoffs with Mac Jones.
So Belichick has made the playoffs with Matt Jones. He
made the playoffs. He should have made him with Matt Castle.
He made him with Vinnie Testaverdi and Cleveland. Okay, you
know he can coach.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, maybe not in North Carolina, but he can coach
a little bit without Brady. That's my point here. But anyway,
the Patriots shouldn't be allowed to be this good this fast.
But if the Bills win, Johnny, check this out. Let's
say the Bills pull this off. Okay, they have a
game at Cleveland home Philly home Jets. All right, they
(03:51):
still need the Patriots to stumble at least one more time.
The Patriots after this have Ravens on the road. Ooh,
Jets on the roads at home. I would never put
it past the Dolphins to beat New England. That's a
weird rivalry where weird things happen, And.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
They did it a few years ago with FITZI. The
Dolphins were not good and they went to New England and.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
The Tang for two a game.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Get Intang, that's right, And they ended up beating beating
the Patriots at that at that point. This this Patriots
team is really interesting because when you look at there,
you just they started the season losing to the Raiders.
They lost twenty to thirteen to the Raiders at home.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So they started on one and it looked like, okay,
everything's fine, right, they lost to the Raiders at home.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
They're terrible.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Then they go to Miami and win, They're like, okay,
But then they lost to Pittsburgh twenty one to fourteen.
It was like, now they're one and two. They're they're
kind of what we expected. And then they just went
on a roll. They hammered the Panthers, that led to
them beating the Bills, and then they you know, they
beat the Bills by three, They beat the Saints by six.
You know, they hammered the Titans, hammered the Browns, beat
(05:00):
of Falcons by one on a missed extra point, beat
the Bucks by five. The Bucks were banged up, but
that was a good win still for them. Jets, Bengals, Giants.
So there's two things that stand out. Number One, they've
beaten the best team on their schedule, that's the Bills. Yeah,
and they beat them in Buffalo. Other than that, they
(05:20):
haven't really beat anybody where you go. Yeah, there it
is now that winner Tampa Bay is a good one.
But the Tampa Bay team was beaten up badly and
right exactly. So I think these next two teams have
a great chance to pop them and give them a
couple of losses and then make that sprint to the
(05:41):
finish between them and the Bills gets to be very interesting.
But I just think playing on the road, the Bills
are a little different. Here's the other thing to keep
in mind. Patriots are coming off a bye.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
We had the same by last year, and I know
you and I talked about this. One of the things
that I was fairly convinced of just looking around this building.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
People were tired.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, team was tired that going thirteen straight games, no
matter whether wins or losses, it took a toll. When
we came out of the bye. We played better against
the Dolphins, but you could see it against the Chiefs,
you could see it against the Ravens. We just weren't
the same team. We didn't have the same obviously, we
didn't have some of the same personnel. We lost tank,
we lost digs, so that took away from some of it.
(06:28):
But I'm curious to see how the Patriots come out
of this by whether they've got juice, whether they're ready
to go. I'm sure Raabel will have them ready. But
that Week fourteen by always gets kind of tricky too.
So this one with the Bills and Patriots on Sunday
at twelve noon kickoff two. I have thought that game
would have gotten flexed like weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yeah, you're right, it could have, but I think they've
got some attractive games.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Let me see what they got.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, they flexed the Ravens Patriots game to Sunday night
next week game, right, so they did Sunday?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Oh my gosh, Oh no, this Sunday is Vikings Cowboys. Really,
I mean, I know, I know, but it's the Cowboys.
You can put the Cowboys against anybody unless the Cowboys
are two and ten Monday night. I like this Dolphins
at Steelers.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I love this game. They've made it interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
If the Dolphins win, they're both seven and seven and
the Dolphins are still alive. How about absolutely incredible things
that you wouldn't have expected a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But here we are. All right, let's get to the next.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
One factor fiction Schauduur Sanders will be the starting quarterback
for the Cleveland Browns next year.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yes, I think? Why not? Fact, Yes, Look, if we
didn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I said this before before the draft. If Shadur Sanders
name was Jimmy Smith, he wouldn't have been He definitely
would have been drafted, wouldn't have been talked about as
a first round prospect, would have gone two, three, four,
whatever it would have been. Right now, I'm gonna use
it in the opposite way. If his name was Jimmy Smith,
I could say, Hey, Jimmy Smith looks pretty good and
(08:02):
he maybe should be the starter for a team that's
been struggling to find any human life form that can
play the position adequately, and he's at least doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So I think Sador Sanders should be the starter next
year for Cleveland. I don't know what happens with Watson,
but that's my thought.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think he's played. He's played well.
He's managed things very well. He's gotten some good yardage
on screens and things like that, but he's made some
really good throws. He had throw Jerry Judy up the
seam that was incredible against the Titans and the touchdown
passing through to Harold Fannin. I hate the fact that
(08:39):
Stefansky took him off the field on at two point play.
There's a lot to learn, But I could see them saying, yeah,
let's continue to build with this. I mean it appears
as if the guys love playing with him, I mean
being alongside him, So it's not that issue. I think
(09:00):
the Browns will look back at some point and go, man,
we're kind of glad that he and his dad handled
this draft process as badly as they did. It gave
us the opportunity to find him in the fifth round.
And when you look at that draft class for the Browns,
it was outstanding. And they've got Jacksonville's first.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Round pick next year. Oh my god, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
How the fact that only two teams for our division
at first round picks next.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Year absolutely incredible And good for Cleveland for trying to
get some talent back. Yeah, after losing all those picks
in the Watson deal, that's not worked out well for
them all. Right, next one, Philip Rivers, assuming he starts,
how many victories give me the win total for all
four next four games? How many does he win for
(09:44):
the Indianapolis Colts one.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Is it the right one? Yep?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Jacksonville because they're staring at Philip Rivers.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
They can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It's an AFC South crucial matchup for the Jags, but
they blow it.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It's so beautiful. I'd love to see that.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I'd love to see it too that I wish. I
wish that that game against the Why am i johnald
Blak because they played forty nine ers on Monday night.
I just wish that game against the Jaguars was the
one following the Seahawks. Okay, going back home, just riding
(10:23):
the crowd, riding the environment. They're gonna do it against
the Niners. I'd rather than do that against the Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
But that being said, plus, the more snaps for Rivers Rivers,
the more chance that he gets hurt. Yes, so you
don't want to see that obvious that that could be
a bit.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Of a problem. Yeah, So either way, I think it's one.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I think it gets one, and I would love to
be able to make Week eighteen and moot point honestly,
So if you got one, then two, I don't want
that to happen. But okay, I just I don't think
I think there are gonna be some moments. We watched
Philip and you know the old guys, the old heads
are gonna watch it.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Go.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, see there it is.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
But over the course of time, you're gonna go. I
don't know if this is the right move.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Okay, let's do this one.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Let's fix the college football format right now, No, right now,
I got it.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Okay, twelve teams.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
We're going to use a combination of the AP the
coaches poll, which is always wonky, but we'll combine those
with an agreed upon formula computer poll. My problem with
the computer polls back in the day, and this goes
back aways because I've experienced with this with the Miami Hurricanes.
My problem with the computer polls is always we don't
(11:39):
really know what's in them.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
We don't know what's in the.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Sauce, that's true, And what are we doing with all
these different computer polls?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Anyway?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Right, you know, you had Sagarin and you had all
these weird ones from.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
You couldn't It was just like, well, let's just go
this one terrible.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
This one takes strength of schedule into account. This one
doesn't really look we got to come up. These are
the ingredients, come up with what you want in the
recipe for the computer poll. Then plug everything in and
have that be a component with the AP and the coaches,
and that's our twelve.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And conference champion.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I don't know how you do this, but in the
case of the ACC this year, let Miami in. If
they're in the top twelve, you just let them in.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You let them in.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Now if your conference champions ranked higher than they get in.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
That way you can still play these games.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And look, we had a crappy season where Duke not
a crappy season.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It's pretty decent for Duke.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's not Elko good, but it's pretty decent from any Diaz.
They win the ACC, congratulations, you get to hang a
flag that said you won the ACC, but you're not
going to the playoffs because Miami's ranked higher.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Is that wrong?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
No?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I mean, there are so many different ways to look
at this that when I was asked this by David
Dunior the other day, I said, the first thing I
would do is I would I would go back to
geographically aligned conferences.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Eight conferences, that's number.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I just came up with conferences of ten right and
nine game schedules across the board, so homeo homeo stasis
across the board and need balance. You have it, So
nine games, everybody plays everybody.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You take the eight.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Conference champs and they all get in, and then you
take eight at large. But are you gonna mix them?
And I'm gonna get sixteen? Are you gonna mix the
Mountain West Cross pollin eate well with the old PAC
ten schools?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So it's more even.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
It's eight conferences, ten teams, they're eighty teams.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
At the FBS level everybody else.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Sorry, I agree, else sorry, group of five top fcs whatever,
but maybe creating a second championship with those others. Oh,
here was the other one that David Dunio came up with.
As we were chatting this through, he said, okay, take that.
Now he had fewer teams in the top tier. But
he's like, and this will this will never happen, but
(13:53):
I mean it would make it would make college football
absolutely incredibly crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Create a top tier, right, have your playoff.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
However, you're sixteen whatever that middle tier I guess between
FBS and FCS that middle tier. Let them play for
a championship. That championship team then gets promoted like soccer
gets promoted up to the big boys.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I would love it.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
There's a way, there's a way that championship now becomes
really freaking important.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yep, hugely important. There's a way you could do it.
There's absolutely where you can. I think the relegation thing
is really interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
That would be really fun. I think that you gotta
take that fun.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Take that que from our boys overseas who do that,
and it's really interesting. All Right, one final one. I
don't know if you heard, but Michigan has a vacancy
at head coach. Let's throw them back into the mix
and say everything's still open, right, Penn State, LSU, Florida, Arkansas.
(14:59):
I guess I'll throw virgin and your tech in there.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Why not? Okay, but what becomes the best job? Now?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Is Michigan a better job than LSU? Or is that
just a subjective thing at that point because they're both
national powerhouses.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I think it's it's quite subjective at that point.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
If you ask me, like, hey, you can have the
LSU job, you can have the Michigan job. I take
the LSU job because the first and foremost for a
college coach, it's.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Recruiting, right, Yeah, Now, guys, want to stay warm, close
to home. South Southeast plays South Southeast in California play
the best football I know, Ohio.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I get all that, and Michigan has some pretty good
high school football. It is not like it is down
here in the South. And because I'm the established university
in state Louisiana where they've got tremendous high school football,
I just feel like I'm gonna be able to recruit.
I'm confident in my ability to go recruit, and I'm
confident in my ability once I get those players to
tournament to NFL players and go win some championships, and
(15:56):
I could sit there and be at LSU for a
very very long time.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay, taking Elli's used the one so Penn State doesn't
enter into it.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Nope, No. And now here's what's interesting. Okay, And I had.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Somebody this the Matt Campbell situation going to Penn State.
Somebody threw this out there, and I thought this was
interesting that do you think Matt Campbell knew that there
was something going on at Michigan because this has kind
of been out there, maybe not to.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
This extent that he was going to be fired and
then he got himself rested et cetera.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
But do you think Matt Campbell was waiting for Michigan
and he kind of had Penn State just kind of like, yeah,
you know, hey, I'm really interested. And then he just said,
you know what, I got to make a decision.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That's why it took so long to get the replacement
filled or that job filled to Penn State.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Interesting.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I mean, it's interesting one because I would pick Michigan
over Penn State. So from that standpoint, I don't know
Matt Campbell would or not. He's in a great spot
at Penn State. I know that, so good for him.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
The Michigan story is absolutely crazy, all right, coming up
Injury Information and Houston Methodist Minutes. It's all happening next
here on Texans Radio. Hello Texans, Welcome to the show,
as we are gearing up for another big game, this
time back at NRG Stadium after a couple of weeks
on the road, and they were good weeks at the
Colts at the Chiefs, a win, another win, five wins
(17:14):
in a row, and back to NRG where when we
last left the scene, the Texans were dismantling the Buffalo offense. Yeah,
another close game, but it felt like a butt kicking
for the opponent because of the Houston Texans number one
defense in the NFL. Mark vandermir and John Harris with
you and the General. The Hall of Famer John McLean
(17:34):
joins us tonight. So, General, what do you make of
this thing? This five game winning binge? The Texans are
on eight and five now and gunning for a postseason berth,
but they got to keep it going.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Good evening, Good evening, guys.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
I thought the Kansas City game was the biggest regular
season game in history that didn't mean a playoff clinching
situation or the original game against Cowboys. I thought it
was one of the best clutch performances I've ever seen
on the road place where they couldn't win since twenty
nineteen but seemed to play every year twice last season.
(18:11):
And the defense was magnificent. I love I tweeted a
bunch of great defensive stats today, the first team in
forty years. That's I think it was that it was
allowed lesson two hundred and twenty five yards a game
passing in each of the first thirteen games. Just so
many there they are giving up sixteen points a game,
(18:33):
and if they can keep it up.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And they got.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
Three teams they ought to do really well against. That
would be the Cardinals, the Raiders, and the Colts. Then
the break the team record of seventeen point one in
twenty eleven, which was Wade Phillips's first season as defensive coordinator.
JJ Whitt was a rookie, and this defense certainly has
(18:57):
a good chance to do that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah, and incredible.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Now the offense needs still a little bit more work general.
I know Sunday Night was pretty solid in the first half,
then the third quarter hit like oh. But they did
finish with a touchdown in a three pointer, and I
know that came after some fourth down decisions by Andy Reid.
But going forward offensively, now CJ's back in the fold,
(19:22):
what would you like to see this offense be better
at each and every week they step on a field.
What would you like to see them do better going forward?
Speaker 6 (19:31):
They lead the league in field goals, and that's because
they've been so bad in the red zone. So I'd
like to see him be better in the red zone
with touchdowns. Only New Orleans is worse. And another thing
I'd like to see him do better is at the
end of the first half the last two games, they
could have done a lot better. I know Demikos said
(19:52):
he wanted to see more urgency. You know, at this
point of the year, you know that shouldn't be an issue.
But mainly you get down close Gordon touchdowns, don't settle
for Kynye fair beary field goals. And I think these
next two games are going to be get well games
for the offense. It'll be explosive, it'll be more consistent,
(20:13):
and it will be.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Ready to go.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
When they returned to Sofi Stadium to play the Chargers
after losing by five to the Rams in the opening
game of the season, our Bard. The Chargers probably think
they owe one to the Texans, but they're certainly capable
of winning out, especially when your defense plays as great
as this one is. I looked up today, only one
(20:38):
guy on offense and started every game. Ariontae Ursery started
the first game, and left tackle was Cam Robinson, but
he was an extra tackle the formation that Nick Cayley
loves to run so much, and he was in on offense.
But there's six players on defense wi've started every game,
(20:58):
and that would be the twos al Shire in the
three DBS Stanley, Lazard and Bullock, and so I think
this defense shows no signs letting up. It's based really
healthy right now for this time of season, and I
think the offense is gonna play a whole lot better
(21:19):
in the next two.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
General Jacoby Brissette has been just a complete thorn in
the side of the Texans. But this Cardinals team has
won one game in the last ten and that was
over the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas on a Monday evening.
Now they've gotten throttled a couple times since. But early
on they were losing games by one, three, four, seven.
They were playing one score games. They were losing kind
(21:43):
of like the Texans were they would be in defensive,
hard fought battles. But it feels like recently, as the
injuries have started to pile up more and more that
they've struggled, including last week against the Los Angeles Rams. So,
on a scale of one to ten, how worried are
you about Jacoby Brissett, scale of one to ten, how
(22:03):
worried are you about the Arizona Cardinals?
Speaker 6 (22:06):
The Rams just put forty five on him in Arizona,
and the Rams to me, are the best team in
the league. With MVP in Matthew Stafford. I'm not saying
that Texans have scored forty five, but I think I'm
going to pick this.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
One like thirty to thirteen.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
And yes, Bresetta has done well against the Texans, but
he hadn't played against this pass rush, and this pass rush,
especially with the ends, has been phenomenal. I talked to
Kenny Houston, the first ballot Hall of Fame safety with
the Oilers and the Redskins. He watches all the Texans
games and he started talking before I could bring up
(22:45):
about how much he loves the defense, and he said
one of the things he likes is they don't do
a lot of fancy stuff.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
They just play great defense.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
They know what they're doing, they tackle well, they rush well,
they don't have to blitz.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
He said.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
The secondary, if there's a better one in the NFL,
I haven't seen it. And he said they got great
athletes and they're relentless. And I said, well, that's what
to me. Dimko talks about all the time, that relentless mindset.
And he said, well, they are fun to watch and
they have been, and I think they're going to dominate
(23:21):
the next two games.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
General the Bills and Patriots get together in Foxboro this weekend,
and that one's worth watching. The Texans have beating the Bills,
and these are both playoff teams in all likelihood, or
maybe not for the Bills if they slide. But what
do you make of that matchup? What do you think
goes down on Sunday?
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Well, looking at two games Buffalo and then Denver, those
teams have ten game winning streaks and they're underdogs at
home the Patriots and are underdogs to the Bills, and
the Packers are favored to beat the Broncos. I want
to see the Texans play the Broncos again in the
playoffs if they don't win the AFC South, because I
(24:00):
think if CJ.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Strouded that was the game.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
He got the concussion right Denver, I think that game,
which came down to a field goal, Texans would have
won that game if he had not suffered the injury.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
So I want to see him.
Speaker 6 (24:15):
Play the Broncos again. Denver has got a great defense.
What a great defensive game that would be, as was
the one we saw this season. But I think Buffalo
is going to beat the Patriots. One thing I'm interested
in as far as Drake May has played at North Carolina.
He is not played in playoff games in January, in
(24:39):
the middle of January where it's freezing, snowing, raining, wind
blowing and bo niggs.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
He didn't neither last year.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
So those guys that are with those red ex teams,
I'm going with the more experienced quarterbacks when they play
against them, who have proved they can play in those
kind of conditions.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Okay, get your dollar out, both of you. Okay, Okay,
here is the one dollar question. You get to go
put it on. Not the Texans because they are kind
of a hot team out there. They're kind of flavor
of the month for a lot of analysts nationally. What
is the one team in the AFC you do not
(25:22):
want to see in the playoffs? Man, I mean the
best team right now? I May, I'd be I don't
know who's the number one seed right now, Broncos or Patriots, whatever?
Which team do you put your dollar on in the AFC?
General you get to go first, and they.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Beat the Patriots up there with Drake May was a
rookie and he had some interceptions, but he finished that
game great. But there's still an inexperienced team in New
England and Mike Rabel's doing a great job.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
So I think it would be.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
New England just because they know they can beat the Broncos,
because they so close to it.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Yep, those would be the two.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
Now, it's not I wouldn't want to see him have
to beat the Bills again.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
You know, I know Joves Allen.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Theyvet his number of these last three, but man, he's
still a great quarterback, and he's great in January.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
I wouldn't want to have to see him play him again.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
And truthfully, if the Chiefs were to get in the
playoffs and somehow play the Texans, I wouldn't want to
beat them. I wouldn't want the Texans to have to
beat them again because it was really close and Andy
Reid blew it, and so maybe it would I would
say the Chiefs because that game was so physical and
(26:39):
so close. I wouldn't want the Texans to play the
Chiefs again.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Well, if you're making me give you a dollar, yeah,
we have to give you a dollar.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, you just and I put it on the team
that scares you most. Well, how about we phrase it
like this, what team?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
You could pick a team now to knock out other
than the Jaguars because they're in front of you the Jaguars.
I agree, it's the Bills because of what the General
just said exact, because they have the most dangerous quarterback
among the teams that are most likely to make the playoffs.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
You know, you could argument Lamar if he's healthy and
Patrick if he's.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
In, but Lamar's not healthy and she could get bounced
this weekend.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yes, so I would say it's Josh Allen because every
other team that's good in the AFC right now in
terms of good record. You have Bo Nicks, you have
Drake May, you have Trevor Lawrence, you have Aaron Rodgers,
and you have Justin Herbert. My gosh, I would love
Josh Allen to be out of that lineup.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So I'm dealing with one of those guys instead.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So Philip Rivers put him in there. All right, General
Phillip Rivers, what was your reaction? What are your thoughts
moving forward?
Speaker 5 (27:44):
I was stunned.
Speaker 6 (27:46):
I know cam Newton said on ESPN he was a
slap in the face because you know, he wish they
called him. But the fact that Shane Stiken worked with
him for six years with the Chargers and they know
each other real well and they talk on the bone
every week. I guess it seems like a naturalist Sam
Mellinger turned them down. He stayed on the Broncos practice
(28:10):
squad and he spent four years with adults, and he said,
we got a great thing going there. And I loved
Andy and everything about it, but I just he said,
I wanted to stay here. So he had a shot.
It is a desperation. Moved and he's there. You have
a brutal schedule beginning with Seattle, and I see all
(28:31):
these people on TV, former players, think he'll be able
to pull it off.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I do not.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
I think.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I mean, if it were the Jets, then the Titans,
then the Seahawks, maybe, But when you're throwing right into
the fire against the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
On the road, on the road, go for I mean
you can. You could forget about it about Ellinger telling
them no, come on. Ellinger looked at the schedule, he
saw what was coming.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
He did because that's a chance to be a starting
arterback in the NFL. Right, you know what you're not
gonna get at Denver, that chance, right, You're not gonna
be a starter.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
He looked at the schedule and went, nah, I'm good.
I mean he's got to face the Seahawks. He would
have to face the Seahawks, the Niners, the Jags, the Texans, Davis.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Mills traumatized him in the twenty two finale and he'll
never start again.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
So General, along those lines well Mark mentioned Davis Mills
made me think.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I asked this question.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I heard Sean and Seth talking about this in the morning,
and I think this is a fascinating question, to be honest,
Because this I went and looked at the archives of
some of the power rankings and to see where the
people had the Texans after week three, twenty five, twenty eight.
I think lows is twenty nine. Anyways, there's a turning
(29:46):
point in the year, whether it's off the field, whether
it's on the field, a moment, a play, something. I
have one that we haven't talked about. Mark, What would
you say is that herning point thus far in this season?
Speaker 6 (30:03):
General Davis Mills led rally to beat the Jaguars in
the fourth quarter That turned around the whole season.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Okay, you want to hear mine, Well, hang on, I'll
give you mine. It is that.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
But the moment that changed everything is third and goal
at the freaking fourteen yard line. I don't have to
remind you of the challenges the Texans have had scoring
when they get inside the twenty yard line. This is
third and goal from the fourteen. Yeah, you get two
downs here in two down territory, but come on, really,
and Mills on the run runs back. That's the moment
(30:36):
of the season right there. And I know this is
a defensive team and the defensive signature season, but that's
the moment that turned everything around. When he hit the
pilon or just inside the pylon, that was it. The
whole world opened up to the Houston Texans.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I agree with both of you, but I'm gonna throw
this one at you. It's kind of a two pronger.
The release of CJ. Gardner Johnson, that's a subtle one.
And and Demico Ryans handing play calling duties over to
Matt Burke. Wow, because I think that unlocked an even
(31:13):
bigger box for the Texans defensively. But it also I
think helped the offense general because Demico is able to
look at it through his defensive eyes and so he
gave that play calling to Burke.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And I know that was tough for him. I know
it was tough for him, but he did.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
That, and Matt has taken that and run with it
and done a great job with it. And Tomko can
still kind of help out the offense at that point.
I don't think we make enough of that move by
Demiko Ryans to give play calling to Matt Burke. But
also you think about going zero to three, you know
there was some busts in the secondary. You know, you
don't see a lot of lately bust in the secondary general,
(31:54):
what do you think about my two?
Speaker 6 (31:56):
Well, I think that's a good one and Gardner Johnson
who had that in Jacksonville that Brian Thomas Junior got
wide open for a humongous gain. And I think Mark's
on the quarterback run touchdown by Mills was pretty fantastic
because Davis is not known as a runner. And I
(32:19):
saw in Sports Illustrated today when they were talking about
assistant coaches who are head coaching candidates, Matt was on there.
I'm surprised Matt's not getting more love attention because most
people still think Dimiko's making the calls. But Matt Burke
has done a tremendous job, so is Demko, of course,
(32:39):
to get this team to bounce back from an OH
three start with all those one score losses. But I
think Matt is doing a tremendous job and I hope
it pays off for him and being a head coaching candidate.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Well, if this season ends where we all wanted to,
let's not go the ultimate, but let's just say it's
a really positive season run.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Let me just define it that way.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Okay, do defensians lose any assistance this offseason?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
General?
Speaker 5 (33:07):
Well, I don't think.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
I think I was looking and the best prospects are
defensive coordinators right now. You know, it's all been about
offensive coordinators, and now the pendulum is swinging back, and
I think that would hurt Matt because I think you
need to have another season like this next year where
he got a whole lot of attention.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
And you guys know what a good talker he is.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
If he's sitting down for an interview with owner the
general manager, they're going to.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Be impressed with Matt.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
One of the first things they mentioned in these things
I said about him is he went to Dartmouth and
that shows how smart he is. And so they could
lose some but I don't see them losing anybody they
want to keep because number one, money won't be an issue.
The McNair's always pay the money it takes to keep people.
(33:58):
And by the way, I thought dead video with Cal
was tremendous us getting so much attention. I thought it
was so funny and anybody had seen it. Check it
out Cal McNair, SA Sleep, CJ Strauden social media department.
That was I think that was the best ever.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
But I think you win.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
If somebody leaves, it's gonna be about a better opportunity,
not about money.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
General, the NFC is loaded. Everybody's got a nine to
four record or better. Other than two division leaders, I'm
talking about the top seven playoff seeds Philadelphia eight and five,
Tampa Bay seven and six. Let me ask you this first,
who's gonna win the NFC South? You got the Buccaneers.
You have the Carolina Panthers also at seven six breathing
(34:47):
down there. Next, they have a matchup coming up in
the final four weeks, don't they these two? I do
believe that they do.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, yep. So what do you think who's gonna win
that division?
Speaker 6 (34:56):
When I'm trying to make a decision on something like
you just asked. I look at the quarterback and I
see Baker Mayfield's getting Mike Evans back. He's getting another
couple of his good offensive players backs, and they've been
through the wars.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
The Panthers have not. So I'm going with the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Okay, now we all know how good Seattle is first hand.
Ten and three and the Rams are ten and three,
forty nine ers just watching, No, they're nine to four.
They're right there with him. So NFC West, it's easy
to say the Rams, But what do you think of
that division? How it all shakes out, and is the
super Bowl champion or let's just say the NFC champion
(35:35):
going to come from that division.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
I think it's going to come from that division. And
I also believe that it's the best division. You know,
not nobody's got really good teams from top to bottom.
And the Cardinals, of course are terrible, but those first
three Seattle may be the best team. I hope that
the season. Clint Kobiac's having Gary z Old the son
(35:57):
as the coordinator, working with Sam l I'm open that
helps Clint get first head coaching job, and he's certainly
worked it, and they.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Have got balanced but men on men.
Speaker 6 (36:11):
Matthew Stafford has thirty eight touchdown passes. He had one
bad game against Carolina, probably got it out of his system.
So I still think the Rams are the best team
in Seattle is the second best team general.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
The Steelers ended up winning at Baltimore, but I still
hear the noise about Mike Tomlin not being back in
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
You buying that, No, that's just fans some members of
the media. I saw Ryan Clark this morning talk about it.
He doesn't have to be there forever. A lot of
people are down on him, and their team is not
very good now.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
They got TJ. Watt who had.
Speaker 6 (36:48):
To go to hospital with lot some long issue today
that happened in the locker room. So they've got a
lot of issues. But I don't see the steady most
stability of any ownership group getting rid of a coach
who's probably gonna have another winning record.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
No question.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Green Bay wins the NFC North, the Black and Blue Division.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Oh yeah, I think the Bears.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
It's supposed to be wind chill minus fifteen on Sunday.
Caleb Williams, We'll see how he plays.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
In that kind of weather.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
There's a reason the Bears have never had a four
thousand yard passer, and that.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
Is because you guys know you've been to Soldier Phil.
Speaker 6 (37:32):
It's right Carroll Lake, Michigan, and a wind blows like crazy,
just like it does in Cleveland, which is at one
four thousand yard passer. So I can't wait to see
out the Bears and Caleb Williams and that offense perform
under those conditions. Yes, I think it's the Packers. They're
heating up at the right time.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
General.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Maybe the best retro jersey matchup ever tonight when the
Creamsicles take on the Atlanta Falcons black and red helmet
throwbacks in Tampa Bay. Do you give the Falcons a
shot on Amazon Prime to beat the Bucks in their creamsicles?
Speaker 6 (38:12):
You know, Kirk Cousins is gonna be starting, and he
hadn't done squat, but you know what he could. But no,
I'm going with Buccaneers. Those crane sickle throwbacks bring out
the best in these guys like they brought out the
worst in the old guys, the expansion guys.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah, good point, excellent point. College football playoff? What's your
thought on Alabama getting in Notre Dame left out the
whole mess. Two teams that really shouldn't be playing in
this thing. Let's be honest, that are playing in this
thing in James Madison and Tulane. Sorry alums of those schools,
but come on, this is a ridiculous system.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I think we all admit that.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
In fact, those games are gonna be on what is it,
TNT and True TV or whatever, Johnny True TV. A
Shawshank replay would get as good a number as those
games they're going up against the NFL. Are you kidding
anyway your thoughts on the subject.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
They're gonna change the format they're gonna Alabama does not
deserve to be in. Next year, they'll have sixteen teams
and at some point they're getting rid of.
Speaker 5 (39:16):
The group of five.
Speaker 6 (39:17):
I don't think anybody who wants to see two teams
like you don't get to see Vanderbilt and Diego Pavia
because you got two Lane or James Madison.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
And I think that's too bad, because he's the one
I would pick to.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
Win the Heisman, even though I think Bernando Mendoza is
gonna win it.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Man, I would be fine with one or both of
those schools being in if they were undefeated. You gotta
go undefeated in those conferences. That's what this whole thing
was designed for. You have an undefeated team, they get in,
they ranked high. Okay, got it. But if you have
won two losses, are you kidding? Enjoy the bowl game? General,
thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
We appreciate it, guys, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
As always, there's our buddy, the General, John McClain joining
us on Texans Radio. Now coming up, We've got questions.
Johnny's got answers we usually do. Who's better, more likely
to happen? We're gonna have a hodgepodge of pope pourri.
Hodgepodge sounds bad. Let's go potpourri, Let's go cornucopia, let's
go variety pack. Let's go with anything else but and
we'll attack some big questions around the league. Questions about
(40:18):
the Texans in Arizona, questions about some other games going on,
Buffalo and New England and Philip Rivers and all this
other stuff that we will diagnose, dissect, define. It's all
coming up here on Texans Radio. All right, final segment
here tonight on Texans All Access before Thursday night football.
Let's get to the injury situation status report now. The
(40:39):
full status report is tomorrow. As far as who's in
and who's out, but today here's the news. Did not
participate Titus Howard, but not injury related personal reasons.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Let's hope everything's okay.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
But Titus, it's not a help situation for him, so
he should be back. Limited participation today. Denico Autry and
Woody Marks. That was an upgrade from not participating yesyesterday.
They both have knee situations, but really trending in the
right direction. Good to see. And full today. Disease Trent Brown,
Harris and Bryan Jamal Hill, Sheldon Rankins and Justin Watson.
(41:12):
Interesting to follow the progress of the receiver's been out
for a while, so we'll keep it posted there. As
far as the Cardinals, three guys back at practice today
who had rest days yesterday, Kelvin Beacham, Josh Sweat, and
Dalvin Tomlinson. Buddha Baker missed practice with personal reasons, but
also has some sort of thumb situation, but you would
think he would go. And Max Melton did not participate
(41:35):
a corner because of a heel situation. That's your injury
report today now, let's get to Houston Methodist minutes with
Monica Bearden, director of Sports Nutrition at Houston Methodist, about
holiday eating.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Yeah, we did this once a year.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
I wanted to talk to her about do's and don'ts
holiday eating, what to watch out for, and there's some
good information here. Let's start off with some of the
things you should do and not do.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
One of the biggest missa we make when we know
we're going to be eating a lot of holiday fair
is we try to fast all day so that we
kind of save those calories. And what ends up happening
is we end up overeating. So eating healthy foods throughout
the day, not starving ourselves so that we can overeat
at a meal is really a good way to go.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
All right, So give me some general tips here breakfast
and this is maybe year round doctor, you are director
of sports nutrition, so it's a good opportunity to get
some feedback here breakfast.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Do people overdo it? Should they downplay it a little bit?
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Have we been sold a bill of marketing goods that
this is the most important meal of the day?
Speaker 2 (42:41):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Absolutely not. It is the most important meal of the
day When you eat breakfast. This is when we are
breaking the overnight fast, and that's extremely important not just
for your ability to think and your body to be productive,
but a major, a major benefit to eating bread exos
is that you start to increase muffle metabolism, and you
(43:03):
want healthy muscle metabolism throughout the day because you end
up burning more calories throughout the day the more muffly
you have.
Speaker 7 (43:09):
So the firth and very important rule that we have
when it comes to the morning is within an hour
of waking up, you should be breaking that fast with
a good healthy protein.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Protein filled quality carb breakfast. So it could look something
like this. It could be a Greek yogurt with some berries,
so some healthy Those are some healthy carbs that you're
getting for the berries, they're also antioxidants, and then throw
in some granola.
Speaker 6 (43:36):
If you want.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
All right, well what about and I'll go through all
of them here lunch. Do you want to heavy up
on lunch and go lighter on dinner or how do
you want to handle this?
Speaker 4 (43:45):
You tell me, Yeah, So what's really important to realize
is that you need your energy during the day. So
we start with a healthy breakfast and then about three
hours to four hours later, you should be having a
health the well balanced lunch again with high quality carbs,
so it should have soluble fiber. We want fruits and
(44:06):
vegetables in there along with our lean proteins and plant
based fats, so think avocados, nuts and seeds for example.
Speaker 7 (44:14):
And then when it.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
Comes to dinner, when we're starting to wind down, we're
not going to be as active, We're not going to
be expending as much energy at dinner. That's when we
start to decrease the amount that we're going to be eating.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
There's Monica Beard and director of Sports Nutrition at Houston Methodist.
Will up part two of this conversation next week. It's
the official healthcare provider of the Houston, Texans. Houston Methodist
Leading Medicine. Want to give a shout out to everyone
at the Lombardi Award, the fifty second presentation of the award.
It's been going on for a long time since the seventies,
of course, and it was the fourth time I hosted it.
(44:46):
M seed it last night, Gray Moore and everybody did
a terrific job and it was tremendous to raise money
for cancer research and give the award to Jacob Rodriguez
of Texas Tech. All the finalists were awesome them to
work with last night, so I had a lot of fun,
all right, Texans and Cardinals Sunday at noon tomorrow's show,
we are going to feature, among other things, Damico Ryans,
(45:09):
a player to be named later. Also definitely a visit
with Trent Brown. You are not going to want to
miss this on tomorrow night's show at six. Have a
great night, everybody, go Texans,
Here we go on Texans Radio with segment two of
tonight's program. It advanced of Thursday Night Football, Mark vandermir
and John Harris with you, and instead of more likely
to happen or who's better, I just have questions for
Johnny that we're gonna ask. Okay, Okay, here's the first one,
Johnny biggest concern about the Cardinals coming in here on
(00:21):
Sunday other than Jacoby Brissett or Trey McBride. What's the
biggest concern other than those two guys that connection.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I think Buddha Baker.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I think Buddha can impact the game from any spot
on a field. Secondarily, I would say Waltern Nolan. Walter
Nolan's a rookie defensive aligneman from out Old miss missed
the initial part of the season due to injury. The
first game he was back, he just tore people up.
So we saw Sunday night. When there is an athletic
(00:53):
freakazoid from the state of Mississippi that the Texans have
to account for, sometimes it can be tough. So I
would say Buddha Baker first because I just have the
utmost respect for Buddha and just everything he can impact
and then Walter Nolan after that.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay, next question, better chance? So this is kind of
a who's better better chance to win this week?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
At home? Denver facing the Green.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Bay Packers, and I guess they're underdogs in that game, yeah,
as the Jenerer said. Or New England underdog at home
against Buffalo. So both these vaunted AFC new money juggernauts.
I mean joking when I call them that, but they're
new money teams Denver and New England are underdogs at
home Denver and green Bay, New England facing Buffalo. Better
(01:41):
chance to win their home game this weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Okay, let me read you something.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
At Atlanta lost twenty four to fourteen, at Miami, lost
thirty to thirteen at Houston, lost twenty three to nineteen
at New England.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Think, so you're saying they're not as good as I think.
It's the Bill on the road, That's right. I think
on the road, I think it's gonna be. It's gonna
be tough for the Bills. Not what it surprised me.
If Josh Allen just puts the cape on, it goes
to work. No, But I think the Patriots are well coached,
They're disciplined, Drake May has gotten better and better.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
This is this is the test. If you go and
sweep the Bills.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I mean, that is such a feather in the cap
for Drake May and for Mike ray Buls So I
think it is. I think the Patriots do it, although
I think the Broncos are gonna struggle with the Packers.
I think if the Packers show up, and that's not
always a guarantee, but if the Packers show up to play,
I think the Broncos will struggle with them. I think
(02:44):
the Packers are not listed amongst the top three teams.
That's a lot of times reserved for Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots,
et cetera. I think when the Packers are on, they're
one of the top three teams in the league.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So the Patriots, it's almost unfair if they get good
this fast, and look they're good this year, I mean,
you have ten wins, Yeah you're good, But I need
them to get bad again fast. Johnny Now, in twenty
twenty they had a down year with Cam Newton at quarterback,
right right right.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Twenty twenty one, they made the playoffs. Matt Jones, Matt Jones.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Bill Belichick was coaching. They made the playoffs with Mac Jones.
So Belichick has made the playoffs with Matt Jones. He
made the playoffs. He should have made him with Matt Castle.
He made him with Vinnie Testaverdi and Cleveland. Okay, you
know he can coach.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, maybe not in North Carolina, but he can coach
a little bit without Brady. That's my point here. But anyway,
the Patriots shouldn't be allowed to be this good this fast.
But if the Bills win, Johnny, check this out. Let's
say the Bills pull this off. Okay, they have a
game at Cleveland home Philly home Jets. All right, they
(03:51):
still need the Patriots to stumble at least one more time.
The Patriots after this have Ravens on the road. Ooh,
Jets on the roads at home. I would never put
it past the Dolphins to beat New England. That's a
weird rivalry where weird things happen, And.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
They did it a few years ago with FITZI. The
Dolphins were not good and they went to New England and.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
The Tang for two a game.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Get Intang, that's right, And they ended up beating beating
the Patriots at that at that point. This this Patriots
team is really interesting because when you look at there,
you just they started the season losing to the Raiders.
They lost twenty to thirteen to the Raiders at home.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So they started on one and it looked like, okay,
everything's fine, right, they lost to the Raiders at home.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
They're terrible.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Then they go to Miami and win, They're like, okay,
But then they lost to Pittsburgh twenty one to fourteen.
It was like, now they're one and two. They're they're
kind of what we expected. And then they just went
on a roll. They hammered the Panthers, that led to
them beating the Bills, and then they you know, they
beat the Bills by three, They beat the Saints by six.
You know, they hammered the Titans, hammered the Browns, beat
(05:00):
of Falcons by one on a missed extra point, beat
the Bucks by five. The Bucks were banged up, but
that was a good win still for them. Jets, Bengals, Giants.
So there's two things that stand out. Number One, they've
beaten the best team on their schedule, that's the Bills. Yeah,
and they beat them in Buffalo. Other than that, they
(05:20):
haven't really beat anybody where you go. Yeah, there it
is now that winner Tampa Bay is a good one.
But the Tampa Bay team was beaten up badly and
right exactly. So I think these next two teams have
a great chance to pop them and give them a
couple of losses and then make that sprint to the
(05:41):
finish between them and the Bills gets to be very interesting.
But I just think playing on the road, the Bills
are a little different. Here's the other thing to keep
in mind. Patriots are coming off a bye.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
We had the same by last year, and I know
you and I talked about this. One of the things
that I was fairly convinced of just looking around this building.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
People were tired.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, team was tired that going thirteen straight games, no
matter whether wins or losses, it took a toll. When
we came out of the bye. We played better against
the Dolphins, but you could see it against the Chiefs,
you could see it against the Ravens. We just weren't
the same team. We didn't have the same obviously, we
didn't have some of the same personnel. We lost tank,
we lost digs, so that took away from some of it.
(06:28):
But I'm curious to see how the Patriots come out
of this by whether they've got juice, whether they're ready
to go. I'm sure Raabel will have them ready. But
that Week fourteen by always gets kind of tricky too.
So this one with the Bills and Patriots on Sunday
at twelve noon kickoff two. I have thought that game
would have gotten flexed like weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yeah, you're right, it could have, but I think they've
got some attractive games.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Let me see what they got.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, they flexed the Ravens Patriots game to Sunday night
next week game, right, so they did Sunday?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Oh my gosh, Oh no, this Sunday is Vikings Cowboys. Really,
I mean, I know, I know, but it's the Cowboys.
You can put the Cowboys against anybody unless the Cowboys
are two and ten Monday night. I like this Dolphins
at Steelers.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I love this game. They've made it interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
If the Dolphins win, they're both seven and seven and
the Dolphins are still alive. How about absolutely incredible things
that you wouldn't have expected a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But here we are. All right, let's get to the next.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
One factor fiction Schauduur Sanders will be the starting quarterback
for the Cleveland Browns next year.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yes, I think? Why not? Fact, Yes, Look, if we
didn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I said this before before the draft. If Shadur Sanders
name was Jimmy Smith, he wouldn't have been He definitely
would have been drafted, wouldn't have been talked about as
a first round prospect, would have gone two, three, four,
whatever it would have been. Right now, I'm gonna use
it in the opposite way. If his name was Jimmy Smith,
I could say, Hey, Jimmy Smith looks pretty good and
(08:02):
he maybe should be the starter for a team that's
been struggling to find any human life form that can
play the position adequately, and he's at least doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So I think Sador Sanders should be the starter next
year for Cleveland. I don't know what happens with Watson,
but that's my thought.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think he's played. He's played well.
He's managed things very well. He's gotten some good yardage
on screens and things like that, but he's made some
really good throws. He had throw Jerry Judy up the
seam that was incredible against the Titans and the touchdown
passing through to Harold Fannin. I hate the fact that
(08:39):
Stefansky took him off the field on at two point play.
There's a lot to learn, But I could see them saying, yeah,
let's continue to build with this. I mean it appears
as if the guys love playing with him, I mean
being alongside him, So it's not that issue. I think
(09:00):
the Browns will look back at some point and go, man,
we're kind of glad that he and his dad handled
this draft process as badly as they did. It gave
us the opportunity to find him in the fifth round.
And when you look at that draft class for the Browns,
it was outstanding. And they've got Jacksonville's first.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Round pick next year. Oh my god, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
How the fact that only two teams for our division
at first round picks next.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Year absolutely incredible And good for Cleveland for trying to
get some talent back. Yeah, after losing all those picks
in the Watson deal, that's not worked out well for
them all. Right, next one, Philip Rivers, assuming he starts,
how many victories give me the win total for all
four next four games? How many does he win for
(09:44):
the Indianapolis Colts one.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Is it the right one? Yep?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Jacksonville because they're staring at Philip Rivers.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
They can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It's an AFC South crucial matchup for the Jags, but
they blow it.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It's so beautiful. I'd love to see that.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I'd love to see it too that I wish. I
wish that that game against the Why am i johnald
Blak because they played forty nine ers on Monday night.
I just wish that game against the Jaguars was the
one following the Seahawks. Okay, going back home, just riding
(10:23):
the crowd, riding the environment. They're gonna do it against
the Niners. I'd rather than do that against the Jaguars.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
But that being said, plus, the more snaps for Rivers Rivers,
the more chance that he gets hurt. Yes, so you
don't want to see that obvious that that could be
a bit.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Of a problem. Yeah, So either way, I think it's one.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I think it gets one, and I would love to
be able to make Week eighteen and moot point honestly,
So if you got one, then two, I don't want
that to happen. But okay, I just I don't think
I think there are gonna be some moments. We watched
Philip and you know the old guys, the old heads
are gonna watch it.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Go.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, see there it is.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
But over the course of time, you're gonna go. I
don't know if this is the right move.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Okay, let's do this one.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Let's fix the college football format right now, No, right now,
I got it.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Okay, twelve teams.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
We're going to use a combination of the AP the
coaches poll, which is always wonky, but we'll combine those
with an agreed upon formula computer poll. My problem with
the computer polls back in the day, and this goes
back aways because I've experienced with this with the Miami Hurricanes.
My problem with the computer polls is always we don't
(11:39):
really know what's in them.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
We don't know what's in the.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Sauce, that's true, And what are we doing with all
these different computer polls?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Anyway?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Right, you know, you had Sagarin and you had all
these weird ones from.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
You couldn't It was just like, well, let's just go
this one terrible.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
This one takes strength of schedule into account. This one
doesn't really look we got to come up. These are
the ingredients, come up with what you want in the
recipe for the computer poll. Then plug everything in and
have that be a component with the AP and the coaches,
and that's our twelve.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And conference champion.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I don't know how you do this, but in the
case of the ACC this year, let Miami in. If
they're in the top twelve, you just let them in.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You let them in.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Now if your conference champions ranked higher than they get in.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
That way you can still play these games.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And look, we had a crappy season where Duke not
a crappy season.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It's pretty decent for Duke.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's not Elko good, but it's pretty decent from any Diaz.
They win the ACC, congratulations, you get to hang a
flag that said you won the ACC, but you're not
going to the playoffs because Miami's ranked higher.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Is that wrong?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
No?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I mean, there are so many different ways to look
at this that when I was asked this by David
Dunior the other day, I said, the first thing I
would do is I would I would go back to
geographically aligned conferences.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Eight conferences, that's number.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I just came up with conferences of ten right and
nine game schedules across the board, so homeo homeo stasis
across the board and need balance. You have it, So
nine games, everybody plays everybody.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You take the eight.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Conference champs and they all get in, and then you
take eight at large. But are you gonna mix them?
And I'm gonna get sixteen? Are you gonna mix the
Mountain West Cross pollin eate well with the old PAC
ten schools?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So it's more even.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
It's eight conferences, ten teams, they're eighty teams.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
At the FBS level everybody else.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Sorry, I agree, else sorry, group of five top fcs whatever,
but maybe creating a second championship with those others. Oh,
here was the other one that David Dunio came up with.
As we were chatting this through, he said, okay, take that.
Now he had fewer teams in the top tier. But
he's like, and this will this will never happen, but
(13:53):
I mean it would make it would make college football
absolutely incredibly crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Create a top tier, right, have your playoff.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
However, you're sixteen whatever that middle tier I guess between
FBS and FCS that middle tier. Let them play for
a championship. That championship team then gets promoted like soccer
gets promoted up to the big boys.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I would love it.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
There's a way, there's a way that championship now becomes
really freaking important.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yep, hugely important. There's a way you could do it.
There's absolutely where you can. I think the relegation thing
is really interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
That would be really fun. I think that you gotta
take that fun.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Take that que from our boys overseas who do that,
and it's really interesting. All Right, one final one. I
don't know if you heard, but Michigan has a vacancy
at head coach. Let's throw them back into the mix
and say everything's still open, right, Penn State, LSU, Florida, Arkansas.
(14:59):
I guess I'll throw virgin and your tech in there.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Why not? Okay, but what becomes the best job? Now?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Is Michigan a better job than LSU? Or is that
just a subjective thing at that point because they're both
national powerhouses.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I think it's it's quite subjective at that point.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
If you ask me, like, hey, you can have the
LSU job, you can have the Michigan job. I take
the LSU job because the first and foremost for a
college coach, it's.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Recruiting, right, Yeah, Now, guys, want to stay warm, close
to home. South Southeast plays South Southeast in California play
the best football I know, Ohio.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I get all that, and Michigan has some pretty good
high school football. It is not like it is down
here in the South. And because I'm the established university
in state Louisiana where they've got tremendous high school football,
I just feel like I'm gonna be able to recruit.
I'm confident in my ability to go recruit, and I'm
confident in my ability once I get those players to
tournament to NFL players and go win some championships, and
(15:56):
I could sit there and be at LSU for a
very very long time.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay, taking Elli's used the one so Penn State doesn't
enter into it.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Nope, No. And now here's what's interesting. Okay, And I had.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Somebody this the Matt Campbell situation going to Penn State.
Somebody threw this out there, and I thought this was
interesting that do you think Matt Campbell knew that there
was something going on at Michigan because this has kind
of been out there, maybe not to.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
This extent that he was going to be fired and
then he got himself rested et cetera.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
But do you think Matt Campbell was waiting for Michigan
and he kind of had Penn State just kind of like, yeah,
you know, hey, I'm really interested. And then he just said,
you know what, I got to make a decision.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That's why it took so long to get the replacement
filled or that job filled to Penn State.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Interesting.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I mean, it's interesting one because I would pick Michigan
over Penn State. So from that standpoint, I don't know
Matt Campbell would or not. He's in a great spot
at Penn State. I know that, so good for him.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
The Michigan story is absolutely crazy, all right, coming up
Injury Information and Houston Methodist Minutes. It's all happening next
here on Texans Radio. Hello Texans, Welcome to the show,
as we are gearing up for another big game, this
time back at NRG Stadium after a couple of weeks
on the road, and they were good weeks at the
Colts at the Chiefs, a win, another win, five wins
(17:14):
in a row, and back to NRG where when we
last left the scene, the Texans were dismantling the Buffalo offense. Yeah,
another close game, but it felt like a butt kicking
for the opponent because of the Houston Texans number one
defense in the NFL. Mark vandermir and John Harris with
you and the General. The Hall of Famer John McLean
(17:34):
joins us tonight. So, General, what do you make of
this thing? This five game winning binge? The Texans are
on eight and five now and gunning for a postseason berth,
but they got to keep it going.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Good evening, Good evening, guys.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
I thought the Kansas City game was the biggest regular
season game in history that didn't mean a playoff clinching
situation or the original game against Cowboys. I thought it
was one of the best clutch performances I've ever seen
on the road place where they couldn't win since twenty
nineteen but seemed to play every year twice last season.
(18:11):
And the defense was magnificent. I love I tweeted a
bunch of great defensive stats today, the first team in
forty years. That's I think it was that it was
allowed lesson two hundred and twenty five yards a game
passing in each of the first thirteen games. Just so
many there they are giving up sixteen points a game,
(18:33):
and if they can keep it up.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And they got.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
Three teams they ought to do really well against. That
would be the Cardinals, the Raiders, and the Colts. Then
the break the team record of seventeen point one in
twenty eleven, which was Wade Phillips's first season as defensive coordinator.
JJ Whitt was a rookie, and this defense certainly has
(18:57):
a good chance to do that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah, and incredible.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Now the offense needs still a little bit more work general.
I know Sunday Night was pretty solid in the first half,
then the third quarter hit like oh. But they did
finish with a touchdown in a three pointer, and I
know that came after some fourth down decisions by Andy Reid.
But going forward offensively, now CJ's back in the fold,
(19:22):
what would you like to see this offense be better
at each and every week they step on a field.
What would you like to see them do better going forward?
Speaker 6 (19:31):
They lead the league in field goals, and that's because
they've been so bad in the red zone. So I'd
like to see him be better in the red zone
with touchdowns. Only New Orleans is worse. And another thing
I'd like to see him do better is at the
end of the first half the last two games, they
could have done a lot better. I know Demikos said
(19:52):
he wanted to see more urgency. You know, at this
point of the year, you know that shouldn't be an issue.
But mainly you get down close Gordon touchdowns, don't settle
for Kynye fair beary field goals. And I think these
next two games are going to be get well games
for the offense. It'll be explosive, it'll be more consistent,
(20:13):
and it will be.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Ready to go.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
When they returned to Sofi Stadium to play the Chargers
after losing by five to the Rams in the opening
game of the season, our Bard. The Chargers probably think
they owe one to the Texans, but they're certainly capable
of winning out, especially when your defense plays as great
as this one is. I looked up today, only one
(20:38):
guy on offense and started every game. Ariontae Ursery started
the first game, and left tackle was Cam Robinson, but
he was an extra tackle the formation that Nick Cayley
loves to run so much, and he was in on offense.
But there's six players on defense wi've started every game,
(20:58):
and that would be the twos al Shire in the
three DBS Stanley, Lazard and Bullock, and so I think
this defense shows no signs letting up. It's based really
healthy right now for this time of season, and I
think the offense is gonna play a whole lot better
(21:19):
in the next two.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
General Jacoby Brissette has been just a complete thorn in
the side of the Texans. But this Cardinals team has
won one game in the last ten and that was
over the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas on a Monday evening.
Now they've gotten throttled a couple times since. But early
on they were losing games by one, three, four, seven.
They were playing one score games. They were losing kind
(21:43):
of like the Texans were they would be in defensive,
hard fought battles. But it feels like recently, as the
injuries have started to pile up more and more that
they've struggled, including last week against the Los Angeles Rams. So,
on a scale of one to ten, how worried are
you about Jacoby Brissett, scale of one to ten, how
(22:03):
worried are you about the Arizona Cardinals?
Speaker 6 (22:06):
The Rams just put forty five on him in Arizona,
and the Rams to me, are the best team in
the league. With MVP in Matthew Stafford. I'm not saying
that Texans have scored forty five, but I think I'm
going to pick this.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
One like thirty to thirteen.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
And yes, Bresetta has done well against the Texans, but
he hadn't played against this pass rush, and this pass rush,
especially with the ends, has been phenomenal. I talked to
Kenny Houston, the first ballot Hall of Fame safety with
the Oilers and the Redskins. He watches all the Texans
games and he started talking before I could bring up
(22:45):
about how much he loves the defense, and he said
one of the things he likes is they don't do
a lot of fancy stuff.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
They just play great defense.
Speaker 6 (22:54):
They know what they're doing, they tackle well, they rush well,
they don't have to blitz.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
He said.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
The secondary, if there's a better one in the NFL,
I haven't seen it. And he said they got great
athletes and they're relentless. And I said, well, that's what
to me. Dimko talks about all the time, that relentless mindset.
And he said, well, they are fun to watch and
they have been, and I think they're going to dominate
(23:21):
the next two games.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
General the Bills and Patriots get together in Foxboro this weekend,
and that one's worth watching. The Texans have beating the Bills,
and these are both playoff teams in all likelihood, or
maybe not for the Bills if they slide. But what
do you make of that matchup? What do you think
goes down on Sunday?
Speaker 6 (23:38):
Well, looking at two games Buffalo and then Denver, those
teams have ten game winning streaks and they're underdogs at
home the Patriots and are underdogs to the Bills, and
the Packers are favored to beat the Broncos. I want
to see the Texans play the Broncos again in the
playoffs if they don't win the AFC South, because I
(24:00):
think if CJ.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Strouded that was the game.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
He got the concussion right Denver, I think that game,
which came down to a field goal, Texans would have
won that game if he had not suffered the injury.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
So I want to see him.
Speaker 6 (24:15):
Play the Broncos again. Denver has got a great defense.
What a great defensive game that would be, as was
the one we saw this season. But I think Buffalo
is going to beat the Patriots. One thing I'm interested
in as far as Drake May has played at North Carolina.
He is not played in playoff games in January, in
(24:39):
the middle of January where it's freezing, snowing, raining, wind
blowing and bo niggs.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
He didn't neither last year.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
So those guys that are with those red ex teams,
I'm going with the more experienced quarterbacks when they play
against them, who have proved they can play in those
kind of conditions.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Okay, get your dollar out, both of you. Okay, Okay,
here is the one dollar question. You get to go
put it on. Not the Texans because they are kind
of a hot team out there. They're kind of flavor
of the month for a lot of analysts nationally. What
is the one team in the AFC you do not
(25:22):
want to see in the playoffs? Man, I mean the
best team right now? I May, I'd be I don't
know who's the number one seed right now, Broncos or Patriots, whatever?
Which team do you put your dollar on in the AFC?
General you get to go first, and they.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Beat the Patriots up there with Drake May was a
rookie and he had some interceptions, but he finished that
game great. But there's still an inexperienced team in New
England and Mike Rabel's doing a great job.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
So I think it would be.
Speaker 6 (25:55):
New England just because they know they can beat the Broncos,
because they so close to it.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Yep, those would be the two.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
Now, it's not I wouldn't want to see him have
to beat the Bills again.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
You know, I know Joves Allen.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Theyvet his number of these last three, but man, he's
still a great quarterback, and he's great in January.
Speaker 5 (26:16):
I wouldn't want to have to see him play him again.
Speaker 6 (26:18):
And truthfully, if the Chiefs were to get in the
playoffs and somehow play the Texans, I wouldn't want to
beat them. I wouldn't want the Texans to have to
beat them again because it was really close and Andy
Reid blew it, and so maybe it would I would
say the Chiefs because that game was so physical and
(26:39):
so close. I wouldn't want the Texans to play the
Chiefs again.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Well, if you're making me give you a dollar, yeah,
we have to give you a dollar.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, you just and I put it on the team
that scares you most. Well, how about we phrase it
like this, what team?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
You could pick a team now to knock out other
than the Jaguars because they're in front of you the Jaguars.
I agree, it's the Bills because of what the General
just said exact, because they have the most dangerous quarterback
among the teams that are most likely to make the playoffs.
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
You know, you could argument Lamar if he's healthy and
Patrick if he's.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
In, but Lamar's not healthy and she could get bounced
this weekend.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yes, so I would say it's Josh Allen because every
other team that's good in the AFC right now in
terms of good record. You have Bo Nicks, you have
Drake May, you have Trevor Lawrence, you have Aaron Rodgers,
and you have Justin Herbert. My gosh, I would love
Josh Allen to be out of that lineup.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So I'm dealing with one of those guys instead.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So Philip Rivers put him in there. All right, General
Phillip Rivers, what was your reaction? What are your thoughts
moving forward?
Speaker 5 (27:44):
I was stunned.
Speaker 6 (27:46):
I know cam Newton said on ESPN he was a
slap in the face because you know, he wish they
called him. But the fact that Shane Stiken worked with
him for six years with the Chargers and they know
each other real well and they talk on the bone
every week. I guess it seems like a naturalist Sam
Mellinger turned them down. He stayed on the Broncos practice
(28:10):
squad and he spent four years with adults, and he said,
we got a great thing going there. And I loved
Andy and everything about it, but I just he said,
I wanted to stay here. So he had a shot.
It is a desperation. Moved and he's there. You have
a brutal schedule beginning with Seattle, and I see all
(28:31):
these people on TV, former players, think he'll be able
to pull it off.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
I do not.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
I think.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I mean, if it were the Jets, then the Titans,
then the Seahawks, maybe, But when you're throwing right into
the fire against the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
On the road, on the road, go for I mean
you can. You could forget about it about Ellinger telling
them no, come on. Ellinger looked at the schedule, he
saw what was coming.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
He did because that's a chance to be a starting
arterback in the NFL. Right, you know what you're not
gonna get at Denver, that chance, right, You're not gonna
be a starter.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
He looked at the schedule and went, nah, I'm good.
I mean he's got to face the Seahawks. He would
have to face the Seahawks, the Niners, the Jags, the Texans, Davis.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Mills traumatized him in the twenty two finale and he'll
never start again.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
So General, along those lines well Mark mentioned Davis Mills
made me think.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I asked this question.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I heard Sean and Seth talking about this in the morning,
and I think this is a fascinating question, to be honest,
Because this I went and looked at the archives of
some of the power rankings and to see where the
people had the Texans after week three, twenty five, twenty eight.
I think lows is twenty nine. Anyways, there's a turning
(29:46):
point in the year, whether it's off the field, whether
it's on the field, a moment, a play, something. I
have one that we haven't talked about. Mark, What would
you say is that herning point thus far in this season?
Speaker 6 (30:03):
General Davis Mills led rally to beat the Jaguars in
the fourth quarter That turned around the whole season.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Okay, you want to hear mine, Well, hang on, I'll
give you mine. It is that.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
But the moment that changed everything is third and goal
at the freaking fourteen yard line. I don't have to
remind you of the challenges the Texans have had scoring
when they get inside the twenty yard line. This is
third and goal from the fourteen. Yeah, you get two
downs here in two down territory, but come on, really,
and Mills on the run runs back. That's the moment
(30:36):
of the season right there. And I know this is
a defensive team and the defensive signature season, but that's
the moment that turned everything around. When he hit the
pilon or just inside the pylon, that was it. The
whole world opened up to the Houston Texans.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
I agree with both of you, but I'm gonna throw
this one at you. It's kind of a two pronger.
The release of CJ. Gardner Johnson, that's a subtle one.
And and Demico Ryans handing play calling duties over to
Matt Burke. Wow, because I think that unlocked an even
(31:13):
bigger box for the Texans defensively. But it also I
think helped the offense general because Demico is able to
look at it through his defensive eyes and so he
gave that play calling to Burke.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And I know that was tough for him. I know
it was tough for him, but he did.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
That, and Matt has taken that and run with it
and done a great job with it. And Tomko can
still kind of help out the offense at that point.
I don't think we make enough of that move by
Demiko Ryans to give play calling to Matt Burke. But
also you think about going zero to three, you know
there was some busts in the secondary. You know, you
don't see a lot of lately bust in the secondary general,
(31:54):
what do you think about my two?
Speaker 6 (31:56):
Well, I think that's a good one and Gardner Johnson
who had that in Jacksonville that Brian Thomas Junior got
wide open for a humongous gain. And I think Mark's
on the quarterback run touchdown by Mills was pretty fantastic
because Davis is not known as a runner. And I
(32:19):
saw in Sports Illustrated today when they were talking about
assistant coaches who are head coaching candidates, Matt was on there.
I'm surprised Matt's not getting more love attention because most
people still think Dimiko's making the calls. But Matt Burke
has done a tremendous job, so is Demko, of course,
(32:39):
to get this team to bounce back from an OH
three start with all those one score losses. But I
think Matt is doing a tremendous job and I hope
it pays off for him and being a head coaching candidate.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Well, if this season ends where we all wanted to,
let's not go the ultimate, but let's just say it's
a really positive season run.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Let me just define it that way.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Okay, do defensians lose any assistance this offseason?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
General?
Speaker 5 (33:07):
Well, I don't think.
Speaker 6 (33:08):
I think I was looking and the best prospects are
defensive coordinators right now. You know, it's all been about
offensive coordinators, and now the pendulum is swinging back, and
I think that would hurt Matt because I think you
need to have another season like this next year where
he got a whole lot of attention.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
And you guys know what a good talker he is.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
If he's sitting down for an interview with owner the
general manager, they're going to.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Be impressed with Matt.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
One of the first things they mentioned in these things
I said about him is he went to Dartmouth and
that shows how smart he is. And so they could
lose some but I don't see them losing anybody they
want to keep because number one, money won't be an issue.
The McNair's always pay the money it takes to keep people.
(33:58):
And by the way, I thought dead video with Cal
was tremendous us getting so much attention. I thought it
was so funny and anybody had seen it. Check it
out Cal McNair, SA Sleep, CJ Strauden social media department.
That was I think that was the best ever.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
But I think you win.
Speaker 6 (34:19):
If somebody leaves, it's gonna be about a better opportunity,
not about money.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
General, the NFC is loaded. Everybody's got a nine to
four record or better. Other than two division leaders, I'm
talking about the top seven playoff seeds Philadelphia eight and five,
Tampa Bay seven and six. Let me ask you this first,
who's gonna win the NFC South? You got the Buccaneers.
You have the Carolina Panthers also at seven six breathing
(34:47):
down there. Next, they have a matchup coming up in
the final four weeks, don't they these two? I do
believe that they do.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, yep. So what do you think who's gonna win
that division?
Speaker 6 (34:56):
When I'm trying to make a decision on something like
you just asked. I look at the quarterback and I
see Baker Mayfield's getting Mike Evans back. He's getting another
couple of his good offensive players backs, and they've been
through the wars.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
The Panthers have not. So I'm going with the Buccaneers.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Okay, now we all know how good Seattle is first hand.
Ten and three and the Rams are ten and three,
forty nine ers just watching, No, they're nine to four.
They're right there with him. So NFC West, it's easy
to say the Rams, But what do you think of
that division? How it all shakes out, and is the
super Bowl champion or let's just say the NFC champion
(35:35):
going to come from that division.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
I think it's going to come from that division. And
I also believe that it's the best division. You know,
not nobody's got really good teams from top to bottom.
And the Cardinals, of course are terrible, but those first
three Seattle may be the best team. I hope that
the season. Clint Kobiac's having Gary z Old the son
(35:57):
as the coordinator, working with Sam l I'm open that
helps Clint get first head coaching job, and he's certainly
worked it, and they.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Have got balanced but men on men.
Speaker 6 (36:11):
Matthew Stafford has thirty eight touchdown passes. He had one
bad game against Carolina, probably got it out of his system.
So I still think the Rams are the best team
in Seattle is the second best team general.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
The Steelers ended up winning at Baltimore, but I still
hear the noise about Mike Tomlin not being back in
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
You buying that, No, that's just fans some members of
the media. I saw Ryan Clark this morning talk about it.
He doesn't have to be there forever. A lot of
people are down on him, and their team is not
very good now.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
They got TJ. Watt who had.
Speaker 6 (36:48):
To go to hospital with lot some long issue today
that happened in the locker room. So they've got a
lot of issues. But I don't see the steady most
stability of any ownership group getting rid of a coach
who's probably gonna have another winning record.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
No question.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Green Bay wins the NFC North, the Black and Blue Division.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Oh yeah, I think the Bears.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
It's supposed to be wind chill minus fifteen on Sunday.
Caleb Williams, We'll see how he plays.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
In that kind of weather.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
There's a reason the Bears have never had a four
thousand yard passer, and that.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
Is because you guys know you've been to Soldier Phil.
Speaker 6 (37:32):
It's right Carroll Lake, Michigan, and a wind blows like crazy,
just like it does in Cleveland, which is at one
four thousand yard passer. So I can't wait to see
out the Bears and Caleb Williams and that offense perform
under those conditions. Yes, I think it's the Packers. They're
heating up at the right time.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
General.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Maybe the best retro jersey matchup ever tonight when the
Creamsicles take on the Atlanta Falcons black and red helmet
throwbacks in Tampa Bay. Do you give the Falcons a
shot on Amazon Prime to beat the Bucks in their creamsicles?
Speaker 6 (38:12):
You know, Kirk Cousins is gonna be starting, and he
hadn't done squat, but you know what he could. But no,
I'm going with Buccaneers. Those crane sickle throwbacks bring out
the best in these guys like they brought out the
worst in the old guys, the expansion guys.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah, good point, excellent point. College football playoff? What's your
thought on Alabama getting in Notre Dame left out the
whole mess. Two teams that really shouldn't be playing in
this thing. Let's be honest, that are playing in this
thing in James Madison and Tulane. Sorry alums of those schools,
but come on, this is a ridiculous system.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
I think we all admit that.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
In fact, those games are gonna be on what is it,
TNT and True TV or whatever, Johnny True TV. A
Shawshank replay would get as good a number as those
games they're going up against the NFL. Are you kidding
anyway your thoughts on the subject.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
They're gonna change the format they're gonna Alabama does not
deserve to be in. Next year, they'll have sixteen teams
and at some point they're getting rid of.
Speaker 5 (39:16):
The group of five.
Speaker 6 (39:17):
I don't think anybody who wants to see two teams
like you don't get to see Vanderbilt and Diego Pavia
because you got two Lane or James Madison.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
And I think that's too bad, because he's the one
I would pick to.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
Win the Heisman, even though I think Bernando Mendoza is
gonna win it.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Man, I would be fine with one or both of
those schools being in if they were undefeated. You gotta
go undefeated in those conferences. That's what this whole thing
was designed for. You have an undefeated team, they get in,
they ranked high. Okay, got it. But if you have
won two losses, are you kidding? Enjoy the bowl game? General,
thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
We appreciate it, guys, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
As always, there's our buddy, the General, John McClain joining
us on Texans Radio. Now coming up, We've got questions.
Johnny's got answers we usually do. Who's better, more likely
to happen? We're gonna have a hodgepodge of pope pourri.
Hodgepodge sounds bad. Let's go potpourri, Let's go cornucopia, let's
go variety pack. Let's go with anything else but and
we'll attack some big questions around the league. Questions about
(40:18):
the Texans in Arizona, questions about some other games going on,
Buffalo and New England and Philip Rivers and all this
other stuff that we will diagnose, dissect, define. It's all
coming up here on Texans Radio. All right, final segment
here tonight on Texans All Access before Thursday night football.
Let's get to the injury situation status report now. The
(40:39):
full status report is tomorrow. As far as who's in
and who's out, but today here's the news. Did not
participate Titus Howard, but not injury related personal reasons.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Let's hope everything's okay.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
But Titus, it's not a help situation for him, so
he should be back. Limited participation today. Denico Autry and
Woody Marks. That was an upgrade from not participating yesyesterday.
They both have knee situations, but really trending in the
right direction. Good to see. And full today. Disease Trent Brown,
Harris and Bryan Jamal Hill, Sheldon Rankins and Justin Watson.
(41:12):
Interesting to follow the progress of the receiver's been out
for a while, so we'll keep it posted there. As
far as the Cardinals, three guys back at practice today
who had rest days yesterday, Kelvin Beacham, Josh Sweat, and
Dalvin Tomlinson. Buddha Baker missed practice with personal reasons, but
also has some sort of thumb situation, but you would
think he would go. And Max Melton did not participate
(41:35):
a corner because of a heel situation. That's your injury
report today now, let's get to Houston Methodist minutes with
Monica Bearden, director of Sports Nutrition at Houston Methodist, about
holiday eating.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Yeah, we did this once a year.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
I wanted to talk to her about do's and don'ts
holiday eating, what to watch out for, and there's some
good information here. Let's start off with some of the
things you should do and not do.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
One of the biggest missa we make when we know
we're going to be eating a lot of holiday fair
is we try to fast all day so that we
kind of save those calories. And what ends up happening
is we end up overeating. So eating healthy foods throughout
the day, not starving ourselves so that we can overeat
at a meal is really a good way to go.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
All right, So give me some general tips here breakfast
and this is maybe year round doctor, you are director
of sports nutrition, so it's a good opportunity to get
some feedback here breakfast.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Do people overdo it? Should they downplay it a little bit?
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Have we been sold a bill of marketing goods that
this is the most important meal of the day?
Speaker 2 (42:41):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Absolutely not. It is the most important meal of the
day When you eat breakfast. This is when we are
breaking the overnight fast, and that's extremely important not just
for your ability to think and your body to be productive,
but a major, a major benefit to eating bread exos
is that you start to increase muffle metabolism, and you
(43:03):
want healthy muscle metabolism throughout the day because you end
up burning more calories throughout the day the more muffly
you have.
Speaker 7 (43:09):
So the firth and very important rule that we have
when it comes to the morning is within an hour
of waking up, you should be breaking that fast with
a good healthy protein.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Protein filled quality carb breakfast. So it could look something
like this. It could be a Greek yogurt with some berries,
so some healthy Those are some healthy carbs that you're
getting for the berries, they're also antioxidants, and then throw
in some granola.
Speaker 6 (43:36):
If you want.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
All right, well what about and I'll go through all
of them here lunch. Do you want to heavy up
on lunch and go lighter on dinner or how do
you want to handle this?
Speaker 4 (43:45):
You tell me, Yeah, So what's really important to realize
is that you need your energy during the day. So
we start with a healthy breakfast and then about three
hours to four hours later, you should be having a
health the well balanced lunch again with high quality carbs,
so it should have soluble fiber. We want fruits and
(44:06):
vegetables in there along with our lean proteins and plant
based fats, so think avocados, nuts and seeds for example.
Speaker 7 (44:14):
And then when it.
Speaker 4 (44:15):
Comes to dinner, when we're starting to wind down, we're
not going to be as active, We're not going to
be expending as much energy at dinner. That's when we
start to decrease the amount that we're going to be eating.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
There's Monica Beard and director of Sports Nutrition at Houston Methodist.
Will up part two of this conversation next week. It's
the official healthcare provider of the Houston, Texans. Houston Methodist
Leading Medicine. Want to give a shout out to everyone
at the Lombardi Award, the fifty second presentation of the award.
It's been going on for a long time since the seventies,
of course, and it was the fourth time I hosted it.
(44:46):
M seed it last night, Gray Moore and everybody did
a terrific job and it was tremendous to raise money
for cancer research and give the award to Jacob Rodriguez
of Texas Tech. All the finalists were awesome them to
work with last night, so I had a lot of fun,
all right, Texans and Cardinals Sunday at noon tomorrow's show,
we are going to feature, among other things, Damico Ryans,
(45:09):
a player to be named later. Also definitely a visit
with Trent Brown. You are not going to want to
miss this on tomorrow night's show at six. Have a
great night, everybody, go Texans,
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