Join Marc Vandermeer and John Harris for a special edition of Texans All-Access from the scenic Greenbrier in West Virginia, where players enjoyed a lighter practice focusing on end-of-game situations. Get exclusive insights as they break down their initial 53-man roster projections with tough decisions at receiver, running back and offensive line. Plus, hear compelling interviews with ESPN analyst Ben Solak discussing Calen Bullock's rise as an elite safety, CBS sideline reporter Evan Washburn on working with JJ Watt this season, and conversations with OL Jaylon Thomas and WR John Metchie III as they prepare for Saturday's preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Texans, Welcome to the show. Another one coming your
way from the heart of West Virginia, at least one
of the organs of West Virginia. It's White Salt for Springs,
home of the Greenbrier Resort where the Texans are holding
training camp this week. And another reminder, when we say resort,
they're in a sports performance center, a different building than
the actual resort facility. But it doesn't prevent you from
(00:24):
walking around the grounds and join the scenery. It's beautiful
here in the mountains. The weather's great. We've said it
all and we're still at Slam and Sammy's Sam Sneed's
Sports Bar on the golf course. Old White here at Greenbrier,
the eighteenth hole, the par three overlooking it doing silly
commentary for the golfers who try, at varying degrees of
(00:45):
difficulty and excellence to get to the green in one.
So anyway, here we are, Johnny, how you doing tonight?
Another day in the books of camp. This was hat day,
as Andre Johnson would call it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, hat day. It was good to have a hat day,
I think for the guys. It was a beautiful It
was overcast the entire time. It would have been one
of those where the guys are like, man, we had
traded one of these days for a day in Houston
to be in pads.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
But it was as we said.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I think it was day three or day four when
they had one of these back at home and it
was definitely needed. I don't think there was any question
about it. It was definitely needed. Then they went into Bubble,
got their work done, did some stuff today that I
think will help them in the long run. It worked
on a lot of situational stuff at the end of games,
which I think if you can be really good at
(01:30):
the end of games, it saves you three points, it
maybe saves you seven. I mean, if you're able to
be really good at the end of a game, I mean,
I guess maybe it's a measurable whether it's three or seven.
I mean, it's just what you're able to do. So
they worked on a number of different situations at the
end and executed him talk through them. There was a
time where near the end of it, Nick Cayley, Jamika
(01:52):
Ryans and CJ and I think Frank was there too.
Frank helps with the situationals off at the end. You know,
one to time call time out, all that kind of stuff.
So they all kind of kind of huddle about. It
was like a minute or so where they just literally
were talking and trying to figure out kind of the
situation that they were in at the time and how
they wanted to handle it. And I thought it was
(02:13):
it was interesting because they did it one They did
the situation one way where they got a first down
down inside the five with about seven eight seconds left,
and then they they waited to spike it until they
were like two seconds left, kind of could kick a
chip shot where you go. When they did the drill.
Second time, they came back around and they spiked it early.
They spiked it immediately, so they had eight seconds left,
(02:36):
and that was when they started talking to one another.
And I thought that was interesting because I guess the
thought at that point is, hey, we can let's take.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
A shot for the end zone.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You know, we're down three, we know we have the
field goal pretty much in hand. Let's see if we
can go ahead and get a touchdown here win a
game instead of have to kick it going overtime or
you know, go to halftime.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Tied instead of up by four or whatever it might be.
So they have a certain amount of time on the
clock where they will not do that.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I don't know whether it's six in a it's in
that range. I felt like with eight, you think about eight,
what are the things you can do? You obviously have
to throw the bonnie in zone. There's no question.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
I can't take a sack.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You can't take a sack, and you cannot scramble one
of them because that's gonna kill your time. And so
they were gonna quick slant Jade Higgins. In the end
you caught it touchdown. Great job, But you're right, there
is a limit at which you look up there and
go bah, And that I think is you kind of
that's why you do that drill.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
You get the feeling out process.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
And I think you know, that's why it was interesting
to me when they did it two different ways. How
they did it to okay, hold up, you know. CJ
was kind of like, hey, you know, let the clock run. Okay,
now we'll take the snap sat hut boom like it
two seconds left, Kymie Banks of.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Field go you're tied.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And then they did it the other way, and that
was the one they spent a lot of time talking about.
So it was good to getting that situation work done,
which you this is the perfect perfect time to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Tomorrow, my guess is the way back in pads. We'll
fly to Minnesota on Friday and play football. We will
play a football game on Saturday at three.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Now, they did all this with the starters, I'll put
that into air quotes, and against the Minnesota Vikings late
in the game, you're gonna have threes fours whoever they
are out there, and you might have these situations come up.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
So they all watched this.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But tomorrow you gotta work on some of this stuff again,
getting on the field for you know, quick field goal situation.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
End of the half.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You know, those situations do come up in preseason games
and you want to execute them properly. So they'll probably
work on a few more things like that. But yeah,
beck in Pat's probably tomorrow a good good practice lathered up,
and then you look at maybe a lot of guys
who won't be playing Saturday.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
We don't know for sure yet, but we might know
more tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Obviously we'll know three o'clock Saturday, and you'll hear it
right here alive. I'm eager to see who's gonna be
out there, we all are, whoever it is. I'm just
popped up to see some football, a football game, ball
in the air, actual competition, another team that's eighty m
let's go preseason or not.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I'm ready to go. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And obviously last year Week three was we've not won
in Minnesota. I'm correcting that, and preseason we have. We
have not won a regular season up in Minnesota. And
so I feel like it was funny because in twenty
twenty three we went up to Foxborough. We actually won
the preseason game up in Foxboro. Yeah, and I kind
of feel like, yeah, maybe that was a precursor for
what we did in twenty four against them, but it
(05:26):
was nice. It was nice to like we got that
winning feeling, and then we went back and won in
the regular season and pretty much dominated that game. So
I don't know, we won't go back up to Minnesota
for a little while, maybe next year, maybe next year
being twenty twenty six, because you could if you both
end up in the same place, which hopefully Texas will
be in first, the Vikings would have to win a division,
but we would go back up there, and man, that's
(05:46):
one hell of an environment to go up there.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, that is one hell of an environment to go
up there at top play year for the first half.
I'm sure. I'm sure it'll have some juice.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I'll have some skull going out. I want to see
JJ McCarthy for sure. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, that's right.
They want to see JJ. That happened to be the
talk of Minnesota. Right now, did we do the right thing?
The fans, the media? All right, let's do this, okay,
loose look at the initial fifty three Oh boy, okay,
so and this is talking about our children. Really we
kind of tough.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, we talked about this leaving lunch today. We're like,
all right, and we haven't done we have done our
fifty three man rosters, so like, okay.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Let's sit down and do it.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So you did yours, and then we walked over here,
and you know, right before the show started, I'm like,
all right, let me see, let me see how close
I can get. And I wrote down what I would
like to see happened, and I had fifty eight.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Now, I don't think you're a dick fight.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I don't think the NFL is gonna allow the Texans
just because I want them to have fifty eight to
fifty eight.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
But then I started, I tell picking the NCAA tournament. Yeah,
I know.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And so then I was like, Okay, there are some
things I gotta do that I don't want to do.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
There's one move in particular, I do.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Not want to do, and I'm trying to think of
any which way to not have it happen. But I
also with mine, I also factored in. Guys, I think
we'll start the year and I are yet me too,
so I factored in.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
But you don't know that. We don't know. No, no, no,
that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
It's again, we have no insight info into this, yes,
just you know, seeing what we've seen and kind of
projecting forward. We have no idea like, for example, is
Joe going to be ready for LA We don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I'm gonna go on for this exercise.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I'll say no because if Joe's ready, Yes, that's awesome,
I said, And that makes some painful things happen as
a result, But it's good pain because you have Joe
mixing back.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But let's go broad stroke here, because you know, doing
a fifty three man roster on the radio. I want
to keep it radio friendly. So some broad stroke stuff here. Okay,
I'm keeping two quarterbacks, it's not keeping three. You and
I have not discussed what we were doing. I did
the same thing.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, I kept two because I kept looking for more
offensive spots.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
At first I had three. I said I don't have
the luxury of keeping three. Exactly, I can't do it.
And the other thing is this slowvis Mertz.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
We love you.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I got a feeling that you're going to be available
for the practice squad, both of you. I can make
a decision about it later based on preseason performance. Now,
if one of these two just lights it up and
somebody's got quarterback problems, yes, you expose one of them
and it could be an issue, right or God forbid,
you have a quarterback injury situation.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Probably no, you're not. So let's see. I did that.
I did two quarterbacks as.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, two quarterbacks, and one's gonna end up on the
practice squad of the other two. All right, O, line,
I had nine. Okay, I wanted ten. I wanted ten,
but I had nine.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
But this is dang it. I got nine as well.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, this forced a painful cut because I figured, you know,
you look at the guard situation right now. Juice is
running with the ones. They make a big deal out
of this. He wasn't last week. Who knows what next
week brings. But you know ed Ingram, Lake and Tomlinson,
these veterans you brought in in the offseason.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Do both of them make it for sure? Does your
boy Jaylen Thomas? Is he a lock? We're gonna hear
from him later on the show.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Is he a lock? So one of those three might
be on the outside looking in or end up on
a practice squad.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Here's here's the thing that's wild about that position. I
have the five quote unquote gouds written down. Yeah, and
I'm not sure that I'm looking like that. I kept three.
I'm not even sure that the two that I didn't keep.
One of them may not may not be a starter
for this team. You know, it could go all the way, right,
(09:16):
you know.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I was I was on with uh.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I was on Paul Allen h during practice the other
day and he asked me about ed Ingram and I
was like, you, Ed's a kind of interesting dude, because
there were days he's with the threes, then he would
be with the ones. He had a day was Monday
or Tuesday here where he ran almost the whole day
with the ones.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Uh, and then the other day he's then back to
the twos.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So like you don't, those guys can go from off
the roster to starting at that position.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm going to say this about the guards.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I'm going to say this about the guards, especially if
Titus is playing right tackle right.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
They don't know. They don't know yet.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You're right cold Popovich, Nick Cayley, Demiko Rans I think
you're Nick dead on Cassario.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
They don't know yet.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
They want to see it the next few weeks, joint practices,
whatever ends up happening the games, they want to see it,
and they'll make a decision.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
If there is a position I look at and think
trade possibility guard, I don't know who.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That would be, but I could. I could see that.
I could. I could like late acquisition labor day, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
You know thee Well, let's just go with nine, nine ols.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
That's why I have nine as well.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
All right now, I got gluttonous at receiver and I
kept seven. Okay, because Barrios is my putt returner and
I think he's gonna play anyway. And I couldn't cut X.
So that just put me well, and I couldn't cut
Justin Watson. And I had the top four. I have
the Cyclones and the top two Nico and Kirk. So
I've got seven and I'm just gonna live with it
(10:42):
for now.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I couldn't do it. I could not do it. I
had I went six, and I went with six. I
had to win with Barrios being one of them, and
you know the guy that I love the most, X.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, I just I couldn't. I couldn't find space for
it because I just feel like Justin.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I feel like Justin Watson has got to be on
his team with everything that he has in his being
of playing in championship games, playing in super Bowl games,
I mean just having that resource, and he's still damn productive.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So I just I had to find something. And I
felt like X was my fifty four.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I think if X is not on the fifty three initially,
he's gone. He is gonna get picked up, get picked up.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And I worry if the teams that are hurting for receiver,
somebody's gonna put But.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
If okay, But but here's the thing. If and Braxton's
had a good camp at receiver. But I know that
My biggest thing with Braxton is I feel very comfortable
back there with him on the punt returns. But if
I don't, If I don't have Braxton, who's returning punts?
Does it end up being Jalen Knowle And all of
a sudden you got a rookie back there, Yeah, returning punts,
(11:49):
And you don't want Kirk to do it because he's
back there and practice doing it, but you don't want
him to have guy there. If God willing, something happens
and Christian Kirk just has to catch the ball before
it goes in the end zone. He has to be
that guy for you. Okay, fine, I'd rather not have
Christian back to returning punts. And to me, I feel
like Barrios because he's so comfortable catching it and he's
(12:09):
got some wiggle left that he with these special teams,
I think he can be really good as my punt returner.
So I ended up keeping six and X is that guy.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And you're right. If X is exposed to waivers, he's gone.
And I don't even want to do that. I don't
want to do that.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And if you remember last year, the first Hall of
ex was having one hell of a training camp. Then
the Hall of Fame game, he was outstanding, and it
was like, to me, that's when you really kind of
solidified his spot.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
And I just ends up making the Player of the Year.
I struggled with that.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
By the way, receiver injury bug has bitten, Jared Wayne
waved injured, Johnny Johnson waved injured, and you get quit.
Deceifa's back here, has been here before, so getting a
little depth there for preseason game purposes. And he's got something.
I mean, we were talking about it last year. Unbelievable talent,
incredible athlete. I want to get to the tough ones here.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Tight ends.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Okay, I wanted four, you know, I wanted four, but
I had to go with three. It's some funny how
we didn't. They come up with the same thing. And
I got poor Luke coming back on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Poor Luke. Maybe maybe he might get picked up, who knows.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Now again, he could light it up in the second
half of these preseason games, and all of a sudden
you got a different problem.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
And look, we're we've got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We have three preseason games, two joint practices, that's five
really heavy physical contact meeting coming up in the next
two three weeks, and that doesn't include padded practices. So
you don't hope for guys to get hurt, but sometimes
guys get hurt and then that ends up making the
decision for you.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
But that's what I said. Three.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And you know that you already have a player hurt
here at this position group. So I know that Jake
Moreland would love to get five on the fifties. It's
not going to happen though, in all likelihood. All right,
running backs, this was tough too, man. I went four.
I went, if Joe's on, ir whatever he's on, and
you go, Chubb Damian dare you.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Gotta have what he marks? I gotta have what he
marks with that? Also, tell like what am I gonna
do about Brums exactly? Like without British?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Like, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Like He's gonna be tremendous on special teams, can play
both fullback and tailback. But I I did the same thing.
I'm like, I gotta go with four running backs. Oh
my gosh, Well, so did you keep did you on yours? I?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Did you know? I couldn't? I did? Well, what do
you got, all right, let's go to defense. But I've
got one less receiver than you do. Yeah you do.
Yeah that ex so's that's where that's where extra spot
comes in. I just think they're gonna but you let
British walk. I know, but I but I had to
keep Yakab.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I mean, I feel like he's he's a more complete
full back. Okay, so that's that's why I went in
that direction. Okay, all right, let's go defense. Here is
the most painful cut on the team. Most painful cut
on the team is on the D line because on
the D line, obviously you know your top two ends
are and you know Barnett is on Pop right now.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
But I'm gonna assume he's back. Okay, I did. I
didn't for this one. See, you took the easy way out.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No, you took the easy way I did. Everybody's gonna
be on Pope this season.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
We've got four weeks. That's a pretty deep ir list,
right that. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I've seen it before that way, you've seen it before. Now,
I don't want it to be that way, but I
do know. Well, I'll tell you this, if if I
did add Barnett to the mix.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yep. Then I got a really tough decision.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I got to I mean, I've got a So I
kept fifty one fifty five yep. Darryl Taylor's definitely in
fifty two Autrey. So there's and obviously you can go
inside outside.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I thought Autrey is on ir okay, So you went
with A.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Went Barnett, I did, okay, So then d Line, I
went Sheldon fully hopefully full you can get back here soon, Rio,
Tim Settle and Togy.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I went five inter defenseive linemen.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Because there's if training camp matters in some sense, and
it has to, then Tommy Togia has to be honest
team at least through the first four weeks, because he
has been one of the top five players.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
In his camp.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
He has been outstanding, and he was outstanding the last
half of the year Sack Mahomes in the AFC Championship.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Tommy is on the team, you know, so I feel
like you gotta have Toga. I can not let Tommy
walk out of the building.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
So that does put a lot of pressure on you, though,
because I are you know, you've got to look at
who's going to be in, who's going to be out
fully could be on ir, but maybe he's not.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I don't know that. That's another difficult decision. So a.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Lack of information that you have here when you're coming
up with an initial fifty three at this point, which
is ridiculous. Anyway, we're just doing it because it's fun
to do.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah. Uh wait, did you have Bird and or No
or making it at end?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I could, I couldn't. I think those two would be
the next in line if if Donko, if Deniko is
not ready to go, and it comes down to that,
and then it comes down a decision of Horton and Bird,
and I think thus far in camp I would probably
give the edge to Solomon Bird.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Right now, how many linebackers do you have?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I have six? I have six because five see I
went five here. Oh I want to see who you
let go? I want to see you so hurt.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So the zero c Harris, Henry E J. Hanson. I
kept Hanson. So you cut Niemen, didn't you? Oh? Nieman? Yeah?
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And Neiman's probably gonna make it because you need him
on special teams special and they like Osai and they
like Wood are two and Jamal Hillsman making Hill.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I mean, this is a lot of play, but you
do have practice squad capability.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Here.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You get to elevate from the practice squad and you
can do swap seas if you have multiple lineers on
the practice squad. This week, we're bringing in this guy,
bringing up this guy to help on special teams.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
You know, you work it like that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Because I look at my initial fifty three and then
I think, well, geez, who am I bringing to the
game on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
That was That was the That was the next question
of all right, well some something's got a ghost when
I get to the DVS.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I ended up keeping ten.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, But it came down to and this is the
decision that I had to make, and I'm not totally
sure that I have this decision the way I want
it right, But I kept I kept Russ Yeast at
safety and D'Angelo ross at nickel and let go Miles Bryant.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Oh. More I think about it, the more I'm like,
you know, I think Miles makes it with the Angelo
because Miles can play safety if you need him to. Yeah,
and he plays that nickel. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I think I think that's probably you know what, I'm
changing my mind. I think that's the that's a probably
better way to go with Miles. Miles has had one
hell of a training camp, not that Russ hasn't, but
I feel like.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
We don't have no idea what's gonna happen with Jimmy
Ward at all. But I assume it's a I think Miles.
I think so too. I think Miles. That's where I
put him. Initially, I think my can play safety, he
can play nickel. I think he's he's the ball player. Okay,
so I changed my mind. I put Brian in there.
That still gives me my fifty three. I just I
swapped that out of it. J. Yeah, MJ's gotta make it.
(19:12):
MJ's had a hell of a camp at safety man.
So he's a captain on special teams. Yeah, yeah, ye know,
he's a personal protector. He gets them all lined up.
I mean, he's you gotta have hm J.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Stewart.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I mean he said it the other day. To me,
is like aging like a fine wine, Like dude, I
hope I aged that way because he's played really, really well.
He's had a number of interceptions, he has made a
number of plays. He feels really he just looks and
feels comfortable in his defense. So he's that piece at
safety that I think you got to have to go
along with CJ. Gardner, Johnson and Kaylen Block.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I had Treymont making it because I've got Derek Stingley,
I have Kamari Jalen Smithsehel o'ross.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
And Treymont Tremont. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, and I feel like pe Tree, Miles Bryant. Then
I went Kaylen, CJ. Gardner, Johnson, and Stewart yep. So
I went with ten DB's total.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
That's why, Yeah, that's why I have. Yeah, you guys
that can play multiple positions.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, exactly, And I think that's what you you'd like
to have as many of that in the secondary as
you possibly can. But then you get your three specialists,
Austin Bringman, Kymie Fairbairn, and Tommy Townsend. That was where
I screwed up the first time because I had twenty
nine offensive.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Players twenty six defenses, like, oh man, I only gotta
cut two. And then I was like, oh crap, I
forgot this special So I always put them up first.
But here's my question, and I don't know if anybody
can really answer it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Oh, yes, they probably can Frank Ross could tell us
why is it so difficult? He's got to have a
reason to teach somebody. Two guys on the team who
are definitely gonna dress on Sunday to long snap, is it?
I guess it's that hard and you have to be
totally focused.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
On that and nothing else. Yeah, but you gotta have
there's there's a backup. There is.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
We don't know who that is, but there is there
is a backup because if something were happened to Austin,
you gotta have. You gotta have some bad un answer,
which my guess is one of the centers. Maybe that
might be tight end. Tight End, could be.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Tight end type guy.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
You know Luke Joel Jason, you know how exactly you
know how Luke was shake could end up making a
sucker right there. He's he's the backup.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I haven't seen him do it, No, I know I have.
I'll tell you what if you've seen anybody else do it.
If I'm one of these young guys, I'm coming out
early and I'm practicing.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
If i know I'm in a position battle, Yeah, I'm
going out there. I'm going right in front of Frank
and I fire and bullets I'm gonna make Frank.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Think about it.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Sorry, Austin, nothing personal here, It's business, not personal, aus Brinkman.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I mean, if you had a roster player that could
long snap, I mean that's the ultimate because then you
don't have to keep a spot for a specialist. But
us is pretty damn good. I mean, he fis some
fastballs back there, and he'll get better and better. You know,
we just for over years. I'm not we never took
weeks for granted, no we didn't, but we knew that
it was gonna be a good snap every time.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So we knew that was not gonna that's gonna be
a big issue.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That's a moment. That's a moment on Saturday, the first
non John Weeks long snap. I don't think we've had
anybody else do it in this whole time, even in
the preseason.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I don't think so. We might have once, I don't know.
I know we've had other guys in camp. Yeah, but
I feel like it's happen, but not often. Yeah, not often.
Forty six was stepping over. Let's just put it this way.
In a regular season game, it's gonna be a big.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Mom he he is tweeting John Weeks's tweeted some pictures
or posted pictures on Instagram from San Francisco, and it's
the weirdest thing. It is the weirdest thing to see
him in a forty nine jersey like odd as like
there there have been Texans and other jerseys that it
wasn't odd. It was just kind of frustrating. Like when
hop first went to the Cardinals, it was like, that
doesn't look right.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
From any lot. What Johnson to fall thank you? That
was one.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
The other night we had a we had a dinner
with you know, our internal I wanted to think about that,
what's the weirdest athlete in a different jersey that.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
You ever saw? For us, just anybody. There's so many
examples of that. I mean Andre Andre and he was weird.
Andrea in a Colts jersey. I was like, I don't
like it.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Andrea Ina Titans jersey look bizarro. That looked bizarro world.
Keimlija wanted the Raptors is the one that I always
think about like that. That was just crazy, That was
not right, all right?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Coming up Evan Washburn, He's been on the sideline for
numerous Texans games. He's gonna work with JJ Watt. He's
next here among others on Texans Radio. Back to the
Green Briar Texans Radio, Mark Factor, Mair and John Harris
with you and training camp will wrap up here after
tomorrow's practice. They won't travel till Friday, so they'll meet
(23:45):
and do things like that to get ready for preseason
game one Saturday and three. It'll be live right here
now on the TV calls this year when the networks
really get rolling in the regular season, JJ Watt's gonna
be a color commentator with Iron Eagle as his play
by play guy, and on the sideline in that crew
will be Evan Washburn and Evan stopped by practice this week.
(24:08):
I had a chance to catch up with him and
ask him his impressions of Texans practice.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
I think there's some real issues on the defensive side
of the ball, a lot of concern there. No, it
was impressive to see that group getting ready to come
out here. Obviously, I'm consuming as much of the content
from you all, from everybody who's here day to day
and what they've been saying about. That unit lived up
to the billing in what was a pretty competitive practice.
I mean, you're seeing guys taken to the ground in
(24:34):
certain periods, so I thought that was a great indicator
of what that group can be. And then just getting
a sense and then more so talking to guys like
CJ after practice about where this offense is and what
is a developmental stage of bringing in an entire new scheme.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
How helpful is this time of year to your job
during the regular season on the sideline.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
I would say it's foundational in a lot of ways.
Not to say you're really referencing something I saw today
if I were to have you week three or five,
because so much of this will not be irrelevant but
old news. But I just feel much more comfortable talking
to a head coach talking to players being able to reference. Hey,
remember when I saw you out in the Greenbrier. It
(25:16):
was cool to see a player make a play here
and then see where they are or maybe aren't when
we're catching them in the middle of the season. So
I just find it a really useful practice. Just also
get caught up on who's on what team and how
are things feeling.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
How about being on the sideline? What's important about being
a great sideline reporter, Evan, I.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
Think you have to be the editorial consultant chief of
a broadcast crew, because if you think about it and
you know this, you do it at the highest level.
Pay by play and analysts are talking for the entire
three hours. A quality sideline person is basically making sure
we're not missing anything. Now, the obvious things are, hey,
(25:58):
this player got injured, but the little things from like
a storyline standpoint, Hey, it's the second quarter and we
haven't hit something that we talked about last night because
they're so caught up and literally play to play. So
I really think, outside of covering injuries, covering things that
happen on the sideline, what are we missing? What is
the viewer missing that we have context on that we
(26:19):
should be delivering usually early in a game, because we
like to do it. First and second quarter we're set
in the menu, and then third and fourth quarter the
game dictates where we're going.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Have you met much yet with JJ Watt, new color
commentator on your crew with Iron Eagle.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Well, thankfully JJ has been in the mix with us
for a couple of years doing the studio at a
part time capacity, so we've crossed pass at seminars some
of the times they've come out on the road for
playoff games. And I don't have to tell you this
or your listeners or fans.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
I mean, he's the best.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
He's such a easy guy to be around, and I
think what he's going to bring to our group is
not just the football acumen in the knowledge, but just
a level of energy that's going to be exciting. So
we've had a couple zooms we're gonna get together next week.
It's really it's something we're all looking forward to and
(27:12):
pumped forward. But now he's the rookie again, so I
think he's got to recognize that as well.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
How many rookies have you worked with as color commentators
or play by play people at the network level for NFL?
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Great question.
Speaker 7 (27:23):
This will be my first.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
I came in with Dan Fouts, who was anything but
a rookie Hall of Famer both as a player obviously
and in my opinion a broadcaster. And then Charles Davis,
who is as professional, prepared and honestly as good as
anybody at doing the job. He's been with us the
last four or five years. He was anything but a rookie.
So JJ's the first, and I like to say it's
(27:45):
the first time for me that I'm not the youngest
guy on a crew, so it's good to have somebody
that's a fellow millennial on the crew.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So how did you get started?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I know you went to Delaware and my good friend
Mike Corey used to be voice of the Blue Hens
and I was with him at U MASS He was
a student when I was the play by play announcer there.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So Delaware to what how did you get started in
this business?
Speaker 7 (28:07):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
How much time do you have one?
Speaker 7 (28:09):
Mi?
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Core is a great guy. I really enjoyed his friendship
and getting home over the years.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
The best way or the fastest way I should say
to describe it, went to Delaware, played lacrosse, lacrosse stream
ended because I got injured final game, and then it
was what are you going to do next? I love sports,
played every sport growing up. I like entertainment TV. Maybe
these two things can marry. Was fortunate enough to get
an internship at a TV station in Washington, DC, live
(28:35):
in Baltimore, and that kind of gave me my master's
degree and all the things you need to do, whether
it's editing, shooting a game with a camera, writing scripts,
all those things. And then in conjunction with that, I
actually started calling lacrosse games collegiately locally because in Maryland
the DC area, it's a big deal, so college games
(28:57):
are on TV cable access. So I was the analyst
and that got me an opportunity the following year at
CBS Sports Network, our cable station as a color analyst
doing college lacrosse games. Once I had that relationship, I
started sending them clips of me doing one man band.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Stuff in Baltimore.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
In DC, they had a last second opening in twenty
twelve for a college football sideline reporter. They were, I
don't know, crazy enough to give me that chance, and
that sort of opened the door to be a sideline reporter.
Within two years, I got bumped up to NFL and fourteen,
and now twelve years later, this is where we are
and it's now a career. So I'm fortunate. But I
(29:38):
also say, as you know, in this business, everybody's kind
of got their path and just kind of have to
find it.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
People always ask me what's my most memorable game or moment,
but it's often something that would be under the radar.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Something.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Do you have anything like that, A couple of memories,
moments and games or games themselves that will always live
with you.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
It's a fun exercise and and do it because I
do appreciate what we get to do every week. I
think the two that come to mind. One is a
big time moment. It was I always mix this up
because it was the twenty nineteen Super Bowl, but it
was the twenty eighteen season. It was whenever New England
beat Kansas City overtime AFC Championship game, going to beat
(30:20):
the Rams in the super Bowl. So I was on
the Patriots sideline for that game. Tracy Wilson on the
chief sideline they win in overtime, we do on the
field post game with Tom Brady and to have that
moment with that legendary player, he had kind of lost
his mind in a good way. He maybe dropped a
couple le f bombs on the broadcast, which you know,
(30:43):
maybe isn't the right thing, but I enjoy it because
we root for authenticity. So that was that was special.
And then the second one, more so just because of
where I came from. When I got to be on
the sideline for the Ravens Chiefs AFC Championship game, I've
lost real rooting interest, but for that city where I've
called home now for ten plus years growing up down
(31:05):
the road in Annapolis. For them to have their first
AFC Championship game and to be part of the broadcast
to experience that environment, didn't go away. They wanted to go,
but that was pretty special.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Awesome. Evan, thanks a lot for your time.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
You sure man. Always good to see you.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Evan Washburn's sideline reporter extraordinary for CBS now Let's shift gears.
Ben Solac also had practice this week. He's of ESPN
big time digital reporter for them. Is he a reporter?
Not really, He's an analyst, yes, sort of uses a
lot of analytics as he breaks down the NFL.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
He's basically a football nerd in a very good way.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I talked to Ben Solac, all right, Ben, tell me
your general thoughts here of observing Texans practice Day one.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Texans defense pretty good. I think that's been that kind
of that. That's the running jock I've heard from everybody else.
But it's just a reminder. In training camp, you're installing
a new offense. You're dealing with offens the line of
rotations because you're trying to figure out who you guys
are going to be, and meanwhile they ain't rotating.
Speaker 9 (31:58):
This is Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter every time.
Speaker 8 (32:00):
Stare e seemly Kamar Lasser every time, you know, And
that's that's a good way to cut your teeth. That
they're rotating a lot of wide receivers as well. So
it's always going to be a situation that is advantageous
to the defense that's going to show out. But you
still see cg making good reads against the blitz, right,
you still see uh giden Higan's getting a separation.
Speaker 9 (32:16):
And then there's those pockets of brightness.
Speaker 8 (32:18):
So it's what August first, August second, there's you know,
there's there's weeks and this this offense is going to
be a discovery thing.
Speaker 9 (32:23):
It's gonna be something that gets figured out and ironed
out over time.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
All right, So tell me doing what you do?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
What are you observing here? Most of all, what angle
are you looking for when you come to a practice
like this?
Speaker 8 (32:34):
So all right, you're bomping from training camp, training camp
to training camp. The first thing you want to do
is you want to see how some of the positional battles,
some of the snaps are being distributed. Right, it was
like a big rotation, a tight end. I didn't know
coming in that I was going to see a lot
of cads over with the ones. Brevin Jordan had a
cup with the ones. You know, you're seeing that Daria
Anglebiwalle is still clearly you know, their third down back,
and then what marks gets opportunity with the second team? Right,
(32:55):
so you're you're kind of learning, okay, where are they
shuffling right now at their positional groups, and a lot
of time you're specifically looking at the rookies, right. You
want to see how these guys look, how they physically
are put together, and then how they behave do they belong?
Are they lining up the right spots and they getting
in and out of the flow. I felt like Jalen
Noel is walking out like a veteran right away. He's
lining himself up, he's pointing things out, he's winning on
routes to say, okay, like you can start to get
(33:15):
a sense that these guys belong. And then the other
thing you're always looking for is operation right, especially when
you got like a first time offense. There was I
think one moment where Jaden Higgins was lining up little
bitning correctly and they had to fix him. But other
than that, really smooth operation. And a lot of what
coaches can control in training camp is the prestab stuff.
And then the ball is snapped and a guard goes
the wrong way and it's an immediate pressure and okay,
(33:36):
we gotta throw.
Speaker 9 (33:36):
That play out. But presa break the huddle effectively? Do
we get through the most effectively? Do we lineup correctly?
Speaker 8 (33:41):
Everybody know their jobs and so you know, I was
in Cleveland, I got like four quarterbacks goaling. There's a
lot of pre snap issues. You're here in Houston. The
pre snap operation was very, very good offense and defense.
That leads you to believe that the install's going well
and the team's being to understand what's expected of them.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Your impressions of Demico Ryans entering year three, I know
he's breaking in a new offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (34:01):
I think Demiko Ryans is the most underrated head coach
in football. I've been an enormous fan since the San
Francisco days. You cannot find a player with something less
than glowing to say about what Demiko has been to them.
You see how quickly he rows up through the ranks.
You see how effectively he wins on the chalkboard. They're
great against elite quarterbacks not named Lamar Jackson. They got
to figure out the Lamar Jackson problem. I'm sure they're
working on it, but they're really good against the elite quarterbacks.
(34:22):
He's won two postseason games in two seasons, one in
each season. He's the eighth head coach NFL history to
do that at least one playoff win in each of
his two seasons. You go and you look at the list,
like the last guys to do it were Matt Lafleur
and the Harball Brothers. Right, is just a good list
to be on. I think that there are a few
coaches in the league I would trust more from a
culture perspective, from an intensity perspective to get the team
(34:44):
ready for a Sunday than Damiko Ryans. And there's few
coaches that I would trust more in a playoff environment,
in a well off chance against a really good team
to at least have the defense really show up there.
We're going to see what the offense looks like again
excluding the Ravens because they have a raven problem to
figure it out.
Speaker 9 (34:57):
But the other guys that are really good against.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Him and so like with as ESPN.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
So tell me, I saw some tweets you talking about
Kaitlyn Bullock, but he wasn't the guy that you were
initially looking at. Besides him, Well, tell me about your
thoughts regarding him and then some other players that don't
get as much publicity.
Speaker 8 (35:14):
Yeah, I'm here working on a big Derek Stingley piece.
So you're watching a lot of the secondary and I
already knew I like Bullock. His rookie season was great.
This guy's clearly good washing back to the second times
on these most is not just extremely fast and has
really really remarkable range, which we should pause for a
second and say that. You know, in the late twentyds
and early twenty tens, Ed Reid ORL. Thomas, we thought
(35:36):
this is how safeties worked. Like the league was like, right,
you got to find more deep middle safeties, find these
post safeties, find these guys with range, And we tried
to have a bunch of imitations of those guys, and
we couldn't do it because it's actually a really rare
skill to have that sideline a sideline range that's fallen
out of favor. It's all too high defenses now, right,
Bullock is one of like legitimately five guys in the
league who you can actually just put back there in
the middle and say, you know, make a play against
(35:59):
the Hashes on the right sideline, and they make a
play against Ashle on the left sideland he has that
legitimate range to him. And it's not just the speed.
He sees it fast right, he's moving before the quarterback
separates his hands and his angles are great. That was
really the thing that's set out on rewatch is that
his first step takes him exactly where he's supposed to go.
A lot of times he's young safety, they gotta weave
and they gotta adjust to the ball and whatever. He's
(36:21):
straight as an arrow to where he's supposed to be
really really good angles. Bullock is gonna quickly become one
of the best safeties in the league if he keeps
this up.
Speaker 9 (36:27):
He's got to stay healthy. He's a little bit thinner.
Speaker 8 (36:28):
You know, there's some run defense stuff to do, but
from an impactful perspective in the secondary, it's clearly a
rising star. Kamara Lass was the exact same thing. I
think this is the best secondary in football. And then
you know, I think as he's al sho here probably
doesn't receive the credit he's due at the linebacker position.
Highly physical player, good taking on poland guard, stepping down there,
playing with the trees.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
That's a player that gets underappreciated.
Speaker 8 (36:48):
And then Tim Settle was the other guy in that
defense who just every single game one or two run
defense plays, one or two penetration plays, because this is
always going to be a front that prioritizes the pass rush,
and accordingly, they can lose a little bit and run defense.
But if you get one, make a little bit of
a splash and get to that second and twelve, then
the dogs can eat and Tim Settles that guy who
makes those plays for them.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It's hard to tell right now in August. But what
do you think of Nick Chubb being on this team
and what he might be able to do?
Speaker 9 (37:11):
I think it's hard to tell in August.
Speaker 8 (37:12):
You know, it's the big question because Nick Cayley could
be a wizard. But if they can't chop a first
intend into a second and six with a handoff, then
you're climbing an uphill battle, right that's a long road
to hoe. And so their number one question over the
next month is figuring out, Okay, if we don't have
Joe Mixon for let's say at least a four week period,
six week period.
Speaker 9 (37:33):
I don't know where he's gona be out with the
injury thing.
Speaker 8 (37:34):
I don't want to get yelled at by Demico, and
so whatever it ends up being, if he's out for
an extended period, how do we want to get our
running game touches to whom we want to give them,
and how do we want to line those guys up.
You're never gonna be able to see what Chubb's full
athletic profile looks like until we get to September, because
there they're you know, they will still be rehabbing him
and onboarding him and preparing him athletically to kind of
(37:55):
peak when the season starts, and so you don't want
to make big assumptions there. But yeah, we haven't seen
Chubb looked the way he looked pret injury since the injury,
and so I think it's still a riddle for them
to solve with a Goomba Walle, with Woody Marx, with
whatever running backs might be available in for agency, and
then obviously with Joe Mixon, what does he look like
when he comes back their running back touches is the
biggest question for them on offense.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Where else have you been on your training camp tour
other than Cleveland?
Speaker 9 (38:18):
Did Detroit? Cleveland? Buffalo, Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore? This is stout
number seven.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Okay, So who has impressed you or surprised you among
those stops? What team Texans played Baltimore? Obviously it'll be
on the road. They've never won in Baltimore. They've never
beaten Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
It's time. What do you think of the Ravens.
Speaker 9 (38:37):
I think the Ravens are gonna be really, really good
this year. There's no two ways around it.
Speaker 8 (38:40):
They did not have huge substantive moves in terms of
personnel or coaching staffs this year. But the secondary is
the big question right where Nate Wigans now moves into
the corner one spot and I're gonna continue to play
Marlon hump For on the inside, and then corner two
is a conversation between Chidobea Woozier and Jay Alexander, whom
they added in free agency. And that's that last year
for them, there was a they were really bad defense
(39:02):
to start of the year and they got really really
good late in the year because they made changes in safety.
They have Pyle Hamilton now and the rookie Malachi starts.
They expect to be good there again. But you still
you're gonna leave your corners in isolation. You have great safety,
that's gonna happen. And Wiggins was a player who statistically
was great. Advanced stats love him, but they were still
you know, he was their corner too. They were pulling
them off the field. He was a little bit of
a rotation, right. They got a lot of penalties last season.
(39:23):
This is like a young player who they want to
you know, sharpen his skills. Now he's an NFL guy.
And then, like I said that, right now, they have
a battle at corner too. And so if there's a
question mark for the Ravens, it's at that position. But
I mean offensively, defensive line, schematically what that team is. Yeah,
they're gonna be good.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Okay, tell me what do you have going on on
the website or wherever people can get your content.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
Yeah, So, like I said, I have a big piece
coming out on Stingley. I'm doing a series this year
at the beginning of the season on underappreciated stars and
what makes them so good. So probably speaking to to Texans.
I think that there's no under appreciation there on Derek
Stanley from the fan base, but nationally, you know, you
obviously hear a lot about certain You've heard a lot
about Sauce, but you know Stanley more than holds his
own against those guys, and it's important to talk about why.
Speaker 9 (40:04):
So that peace will be coming out sometime early September.
Speaker 8 (40:07):
But you know, if you got the app and you've
said to the app you're Texans fan, it'll get sent
right to you.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Awesome, Ben, thanks to left for joining us.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Thanks sir, all right, it's Ben Solac from ESPN coming up.
Final segment on the Way, you're gonna hear from John
Metchi and also Jalen Thomas. Both those guys are gonna
play a bunch this weekend at Minnesota. Thomas a bunch
of guard and he could be a big surprise on
this old line. We'll hear from those players next as
Texans All Access continues. Final segment here, Let's get right
(40:35):
to it, Jalen Thomas making some noise on the offensive line.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
John Harris visits with him. All right.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Trenny Camp twenty twenty five continues on a wonderful here
at the Greenbrier. Jalen Thomas, do you agree wonderful day yesterday?
Speaker 4 (40:48):
It's honestly beautiful, honestly beautiful. Take a plain.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
You played SMU, so I'd imagine we didn't. You didn't
have many days like this when you were in.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
College, did you?
Speaker 7 (40:59):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (40:59):
No, I think it's houston.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
To get used to that.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Maybe had a pretty good camp thus far. I asked
Jake this morning I saw him.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
I said, how's the body feel on day twelve?
Speaker 4 (41:11):
Definitely not like day.
Speaker 10 (41:12):
One, I'll tell you that, but I mean still feel good, honestly, yeah,
still a little early in the camp, though still feel good.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
How's the offensive line coming together?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Obviously different combinations day after day, all that kind of stuff,
But how do you feel like it's coming together when
you guys go back and watch film at the end
of the practice. How do you guys feel about how
the unit's coming together.
Speaker 10 (41:28):
I think it's coming up good or good. I think
everybody's putting in work. Everybody's coming out here just to work.
I think that's the big emphasis in the off season
is that you know, we're gonna work this, this, this,
this preseason, and that's all we're gonna worry about.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
And it feels like you guys have that camaraderie too.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
I think this is one of the closest groups I've
been around.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
Yeah, but for sure, very cool. I'm glad you're here now.
In college, you play tackle.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
You probably played all over the line throughout your career,
but she feels like more you're at guard now. How
do you feel playing inside? Do you feel like that
suits your skills? I mean, you've got to build to
play guard. How do you feel How do you comfortable
do you feel playing that spot inside?
Speaker 10 (42:03):
I feel comfortable. I feel like guard. Is it fits
me best, especially in the league. Yeah, don't have the
longest arms. Yeah, And I think I'm a pretty strong guy,
and who can who can move, who can move a
little bit in the middle.
Speaker 4 (42:15):
So I think I'm guard really fits me on in
the league.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
I thought it was interesting when it was posted this
summer that guys that got extensions that played tackle had
some of the shortest arms at tackle.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
So I thought it was interesting when you said that.
I kind of chuckled at that point. Okay, let's go
inside the the old line room for this one.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
I need you to be honest. There are times at
the end of practice where coach will call up a
player and if you catch the punt, you get out
of meetings that night. You got a sprints or whatever
it might be. So if the team had to bet
on one offensive lineman to catch the punt to get
out of meetings, who would it be?
Speaker 4 (42:49):
Like? Have you really been?
Speaker 3 (42:51):
I feel like?
Speaker 10 (42:52):
I mean he was a quarterback in high school and college,
so he has very good ball skills.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Definitely, say Titus, Okay.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Where would you be on the list? Would you be
one of the guys up front to make that catch?
Speaker 4 (43:04):
Top three?
Speaker 3 (43:07):
Okay, Saturday we go to Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Well, Friday we go to Minnesota, but Saturday we play
in the Minnesota Vikings. To see a different color jersey,
you've been going after the same guys you've been seeing
in practice. How important is it and how much do
you desire seeing a different color jersey On the other.
Speaker 10 (43:22):
Side, I desired it a lot, especially not being able
to play last year. So yeah, definitely, it feels good
this time to finally hit somebody other than my teammates.
So it'd be amazing get out there and play.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
It'll be amazing to watch you. Jaylen, you had a
really good camp man, it's been fun watching.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Thank fore time, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
There's Jalen Thomas with John Harris. Let's get to John
Metsche Now my visit with the receiver entering year four? John,
what are your impressions of the Greenbrier so far?
Speaker 7 (43:45):
It's nice, man, It's definitely different. You got the mountains.
The weather is different, that's for sure, all the greenery,
you know what, second third day out here, so just
still soaking it in.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Yeah. Does the practice feel different out here? Afterwards? You
feel like you might have a little more left or
something like that.
Speaker 7 (44:03):
I mean, you're always trying to exhaust yourself in practice. Yeah,
that's how you build. There's more air out here, you know,
there's more air in the air, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
How's it going for you so far? What's your assessment?
Speaker 7 (44:13):
It's going well. It's trying to get better every day.
That's really the process. Just be better today than you
wear yesterday and take it like day by day.
Speaker 4 (44:21):
Honestly.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
How tough is it against this defense? They look pretty good?
Speaker 7 (44:25):
Yeah, said, defense looks good. Offense looks good. It's that
iron Sharper's iron mentality that coach Ben Harbin.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
On how is the offense different for the receivers.
Speaker 7 (44:38):
I think it's kind of like just a dynamic you know,
it's kind of we always have a dynamic group. Everyone
can play everywhere, right, there's a lot of talent. Kind
of seems like always. But I think that's good because
we all help each other and it's just that iron
sharper and iron in the room.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
I see you lining up all over the place. Do
you have a favorite spot to line up.
Speaker 7 (44:58):
Or is it just whatever happens, whatever happens or wherever
the ball's going.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Yeah, you don't mind either.
Speaker 7 (45:03):
I don't mind anyway.
Speaker 3 (45:05):
What about downtime here? What do you guys do? How
do you bond or spend your time whatever it is?
Speaker 7 (45:09):
Yeah, yeah, guys just hanging around a lot more, whether
they're walking back and forth. There's stuff to do, just
green Brian, you know, bowling, a lot of team bonding
stuff like that. Guys go bowling or golfing and stuff.
So it's definitely it's definitely really good from that aspect.
We got to spend a lot more time with each
other off the field.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
You good at bowling? Yeah, can you spend the ball properly?
Speaker 7 (45:28):
I just learned this offseason. That wasn't my style, but
I just learned this offseason.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
What we do before rolling, it's straight, hoping it hits
the gap.
Speaker 7 (45:34):
Yeah, I'm a straight line shooter. Straight shooter.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
It's tough, isn't it.
Speaker 7 (45:38):
Yeah, I mean not straight. It's easy for me. I'm
straight spending the ball, spinning the ball.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
That's tough.
Speaker 7 (45:43):
That's a whole different game, but I picked it up
and it's kind of it's kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
What's your favorite game to play, whether it be cards, chess,
backgam They have so many different things here and you
guys play Uno and all of that.
Speaker 3 (45:54):
What do you like.
Speaker 7 (45:55):
Yeah, UNO's a good one. I just started playing cards recently,
but I like to who know that we play as
as a team.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
Cool, John, Thanks a love for joining us. Good le.
I always love catching up with John Metchi. All right,
that's the show. It's over.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Area forty five is next shot of seth back at
practice tomorrow with their show, and we'll be back here
at slamming. Sammy's doing the nightcap and letting you know
what happened at practice that particular day, which would be tomorrow.
Have a great night, enjoy Area forty five Go Texans,
Hello, Texans, Welcome to the show. Another one coming your
way from the heart of West Virginia, at least one
of the organs of West Virginia. It's White Salt for Springs,
home of the Greenbrier Resort where the Texans are holding
training camp this week. And another reminder, when we say resort,
they're in a sports performance center, a different building than
the actual resort facility. But it doesn't prevent you from
(00:24):
walking around the grounds and join the scenery. It's beautiful
here in the mountains. The weather's great. We've said it
all and we're still at Slam and Sammy's Sam Sneed's
Sports Bar on the golf course. Old White here at Greenbrier,
the eighteenth hole, the par three overlooking it doing silly
commentary for the golfers who try, at varying degrees of
(00:45):
difficulty and excellence to get to the green in one.
So anyway, here we are, Johnny, how you doing tonight?
Another day in the books of camp. This was hat day,
as Andre Johnson would call it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, hat day. It was good to have a hat day,
I think for the guys. It was a beautiful It
was overcast the entire time. It would have been one
of those where the guys are like, man, we had
traded one of these days for a day in Houston
to be in pads.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
But it was as we said.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I think it was day three or day four when
they had one of these back at home and it
was definitely needed. I don't think there was any question
about it. It was definitely needed. Then they went into Bubble,
got their work done, did some stuff today that I
think will help them in the long run. It worked
on a lot of situational stuff at the end of games,
which I think if you can be really good at
(01:30):
the end of games, it saves you three points, it
maybe saves you seven. I mean, if you're able to
be really good at the end of a game, I mean,
I guess maybe it's a measurable whether it's three or seven.
I mean, it's just what you're able to do. So
they worked on a number of different situations at the
end and executed him talk through them. There was a
time where near the end of it, Nick Cayley, Jamika
(01:52):
Ryans and CJ and I think Frank was there too.
Frank helps with the situationals off at the end. You know,
one to time call time out, all that kind of stuff.
So they all kind of kind of huddle about. It
was like a minute or so where they just literally
were talking and trying to figure out kind of the
situation that they were in at the time and how
they wanted to handle it. And I thought it was
(02:13):
it was interesting because they did it one They did
the situation one way where they got a first down
down inside the five with about seven eight seconds left,
and then they they waited to spike it until they
were like two seconds left, kind of could kick a
chip shot where you go. When they did the drill.
Second time, they came back around and they spiked it early.
They spiked it immediately, so they had eight seconds left,
(02:36):
and that was when they started talking to one another.
And I thought that was interesting because I guess the
thought at that point is, hey, we can let's take.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
A shot for the end zone.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
You know, we're down three, we know we have the
field goal pretty much in hand. Let's see if we
can go ahead and get a touchdown here win a
game instead of have to kick it going overtime or
you know, go to halftime.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Tied instead of up by four or whatever it might be.
So they have a certain amount of time on the
clock where they will not do that.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I don't know whether it's six in a it's in
that range. I felt like with eight, you think about eight,
what are the things you can do? You obviously have
to throw the bonnie in zone. There's no question.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
I can't take a sack.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You can't take a sack, and you cannot scramble one
of them because that's gonna kill your time. And so
they were gonna quick slant Jade Higgins. In the end
you caught it touchdown. Great job, But you're right, there
is a limit at which you look up there and
go bah, And that I think is you kind of
that's why you do that drill.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
You get the feeling out process.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
And I think you know, that's why it was interesting
to me when they did it two different ways. How
they did it to okay, hold up, you know. CJ
was kind of like, hey, you know, let the clock run. Okay,
now we'll take the snap sat hut boom like it
two seconds left, Kymie Banks of.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Field go you're tied.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And then they did it the other way, and that
was the one they spent a lot of time talking about.
So it was good to getting that situation work done,
which you this is the perfect perfect time to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Tomorrow, my guess is the way back in pads. We'll
fly to Minnesota on Friday and play football. We will
play a football game on Saturday at three.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Now, they did all this with the starters, I'll put
that into air quotes, and against the Minnesota Vikings late
in the game, you're gonna have threes fours whoever they
are out there, and you might have these situations come up.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
So they all watched this.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But tomorrow you gotta work on some of this stuff again,
getting on the field for you know, quick field goal situation.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
End of the half.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You know, those situations do come up in preseason games
and you want to execute them properly. So they'll probably
work on a few more things like that. But yeah,
beck in Pat's probably tomorrow a good good practice lathered up,
and then you look at maybe a lot of guys
who won't be playing Saturday.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
We don't know for sure yet, but we might know
more tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Obviously we'll know three o'clock Saturday, and you'll hear it
right here alive. I'm eager to see who's gonna be
out there, we all are, whoever it is. I'm just
popped up to see some football, a football game, ball
in the air, actual competition, another team that's eighty m
let's go preseason or not.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I'm ready to go. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And obviously last year Week three was we've not won
in Minnesota. I'm correcting that, and preseason we have. We
have not won a regular season up in Minnesota. And
so I feel like it was funny because in twenty
twenty three we went up to Foxborough. We actually won
the preseason game up in Foxboro. Yeah, and I kind
of feel like, yeah, maybe that was a precursor for
what we did in twenty four against them, but it
(05:26):
was nice. It was nice to like we got that
winning feeling, and then we went back and won in
the regular season and pretty much dominated that game. So
I don't know, we won't go back up to Minnesota
for a little while, maybe next year, maybe next year
being twenty twenty six, because you could if you both
end up in the same place, which hopefully Texas will
be in first, the Vikings would have to win a division,
but we would go back up there, and man, that's
(05:46):
one hell of an environment to go up there.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, that is one hell of an environment to go
up there at top play year for the first half.
I'm sure. I'm sure it'll have some juice.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I'll have some skull going out. I want to see
JJ McCarthy for sure. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, that's right.
They want to see JJ. That happened to be the
talk of Minnesota. Right now, did we do the right thing?
The fans, the media? All right, let's do this, okay,
loose look at the initial fifty three Oh boy, okay,
so and this is talking about our children. Really we
kind of tough.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, we talked about this leaving lunch today. We're like,
all right, and we haven't done we have done our
fifty three man rosters, so like, okay.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Let's sit down and do it.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So you did yours, and then we walked over here,
and you know, right before the show started, I'm like,
all right, let me see, let me see how close
I can get. And I wrote down what I would
like to see happened, and I had fifty eight.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Now, I don't think you're a dick fight.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I don't think the NFL is gonna allow the Texans
just because I want them to have fifty eight to
fifty eight.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
But then I started, I tell picking the NCAA tournament. Yeah,
I know.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And so then I was like, Okay, there are some
things I gotta do that I don't want to do.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
There's one move in particular, I do.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Not want to do, and I'm trying to think of
any which way to not have it happen. But I
also with mine, I also factored in. Guys, I think
we'll start the year and I are yet me too,
so I factored in.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
But you don't know that. We don't know. No, no, no,
that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
It's again, we have no insight info into this, yes,
just you know, seeing what we've seen and kind of
projecting forward. We have no idea like, for example, is
Joe going to be ready for LA We don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I'm gonna go on for this exercise.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I'll say no because if Joe's ready, Yes, that's awesome,
I said, And that makes some painful things happen as
a result, But it's good pain because you have Joe
mixing back.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But let's go broad stroke here, because you know, doing
a fifty three man roster on the radio. I want
to keep it radio friendly. So some broad stroke stuff here. Okay,
I'm keeping two quarterbacks, it's not keeping three. You and
I have not discussed what we were doing. I did
the same thing.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, I kept two because I kept looking for more
offensive spots.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
At first I had three. I said I don't have
the luxury of keeping three. Exactly, I can't do it.
And the other thing is this slowvis Mertz.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
We love you.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I got a feeling that you're going to be available
for the practice squad, both of you. I can make
a decision about it later based on preseason performance. Now,
if one of these two just lights it up and
somebody's got quarterback problems, yes, you expose one of them
and it could be an issue, right or God forbid,
you have a quarterback injury situation.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Probably no, you're not. So let's see. I did that.
I did two quarterbacks as.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, two quarterbacks, and one's gonna end up on the
practice squad of the other two. All right, O, line,
I had nine. Okay, I wanted ten. I wanted ten,
but I had nine.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
But this is dang it. I got nine as well.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, this forced a painful cut because I figured, you know,
you look at the guard situation right now. Juice is
running with the ones. They make a big deal out
of this. He wasn't last week. Who knows what next
week brings. But you know ed Ingram, Lake and Tomlinson,
these veterans you brought in in the offseason.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Do both of them make it for sure? Does your
boy Jaylen Thomas? Is he a lock? We're gonna hear
from him later on the show.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Is he a lock? So one of those three might
be on the outside looking in or end up on
a practice squad.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Here's here's the thing that's wild about that position. I
have the five quote unquote gouds written down. Yeah, and
I'm not sure that I'm looking like that. I kept three.
I'm not even sure that the two that I didn't keep.
One of them may not may not be a starter
for this team. You know, it could go all the way, right,
(09:16):
you know.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I was I was on with uh.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I was on Paul Allen h during practice the other
day and he asked me about ed Ingram and I
was like, you, Ed's a kind of interesting dude, because
there were days he's with the threes, then he would
be with the ones. He had a day was Monday
or Tuesday here where he ran almost the whole day
with the ones.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Uh, and then the other day he's then back to
the twos.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So like you don't, those guys can go from off
the roster to starting at that position.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm going to say this about the guards.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I'm going to say this about the guards, especially if
Titus is playing right tackle right.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
They don't know. They don't know yet.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You're right cold Popovich, Nick Cayley, Demiko Rans I think
you're Nick dead on Cassario.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
They don't know yet.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
They want to see it the next few weeks, joint practices,
whatever ends up happening the games, they want to see it,
and they'll make a decision.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
If there is a position I look at and think
trade possibility guard, I don't know who.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That would be, but I could. I could see that.
I could. I could like late acquisition labor day, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
You know thee Well, let's just go with nine, nine ols.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
That's why I have nine as well.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
All right now, I got gluttonous at receiver and I
kept seven. Okay, because Barrios is my putt returner and
I think he's gonna play anyway. And I couldn't cut X.
So that just put me well, and I couldn't cut
Justin Watson. And I had the top four. I have
the Cyclones and the top two Nico and Kirk. So
I've got seven and I'm just gonna live with it
(10:42):
for now.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I couldn't do it. I could not do it. I
had I went six, and I went with six. I
had to win with Barrios being one of them, and
you know the guy that I love the most, X.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, I just I couldn't. I couldn't find space for
it because I just feel like Justin.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I feel like Justin Watson has got to be on
his team with everything that he has in his being
of playing in championship games, playing in super Bowl games,
I mean just having that resource, and he's still damn productive.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
So I just I had to find something. And I
felt like X was my fifty four.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I think if X is not on the fifty three initially,
he's gone. He is gonna get picked up, get picked up.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And I worry if the teams that are hurting for receiver,
somebody's gonna put But.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
If okay, But but here's the thing. If and Braxton's
had a good camp at receiver. But I know that
My biggest thing with Braxton is I feel very comfortable
back there with him on the punt returns. But if
I don't, If I don't have Braxton, who's returning punts?
Does it end up being Jalen Knowle And all of
a sudden you got a rookie back there, Yeah, returning punts,
(11:49):
And you don't want Kirk to do it because he's
back there and practice doing it, but you don't want
him to have guy there. If God willing, something happens
and Christian Kirk just has to catch the ball before
it goes in the end zone. He has to be
that guy for you. Okay, fine, I'd rather not have
Christian back to returning punts. And to me, I feel
like Barrios because he's so comfortable catching it and he's
(12:09):
got some wiggle left that he with these special teams,
I think he can be really good as my punt returner.
So I ended up keeping six and X is that guy.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And you're right. If X is exposed to waivers, he's gone.
And I don't even want to do that. I don't
want to do that.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And if you remember last year, the first Hall of
ex was having one hell of a training camp. Then
the Hall of Fame game, he was outstanding, and it
was like, to me, that's when you really kind of
solidified his spot.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
And I just ends up making the Player of the Year.
I struggled with that.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
By the way, receiver injury bug has bitten, Jared Wayne
waved injured, Johnny Johnson waved injured, and you get quit.
Deceifa's back here, has been here before, so getting a
little depth there for preseason game purposes. And he's got something.
I mean, we were talking about it last year. Unbelievable talent,
incredible athlete. I want to get to the tough ones here.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Tight ends.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Okay, I wanted four, you know, I wanted four, but
I had to go with three. It's some funny how
we didn't. They come up with the same thing. And
I got poor Luke coming back on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Poor Luke. Maybe maybe he might get picked up, who knows.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Now again, he could light it up in the second
half of these preseason games, and all of a sudden
you got a different problem.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
And look, we're we've got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
We have three preseason games, two joint practices, that's five
really heavy physical contact meeting coming up in the next
two three weeks, and that doesn't include padded practices. So
you don't hope for guys to get hurt, but sometimes
guys get hurt and then that ends up making the
decision for you.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
But that's what I said. Three.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And you know that you already have a player hurt
here at this position group. So I know that Jake
Moreland would love to get five on the fifties. It's
not going to happen though, in all likelihood. All right,
running backs, this was tough too, man. I went four.
I went, if Joe's on, ir whatever he's on, and
you go, Chubb Damian dare you.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Gotta have what he marks? I gotta have what he
marks with that? Also, tell like what am I gonna
do about Brums exactly? Like without British?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Like, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Like He's gonna be tremendous on special teams, can play
both fullback and tailback. But I I did the same thing.
I'm like, I gotta go with four running backs. Oh
my gosh, Well, so did you keep did you on yours? I?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Did you know? I couldn't? I did? Well, what do
you got, all right, let's go to defense. But I've
got one less receiver than you do. Yeah you do.
Yeah that ex so's that's where that's where extra spot
comes in. I just think they're gonna but you let
British walk. I know, but I but I had to
keep Yakab.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I mean, I feel like he's he's a more complete
full back. Okay, so that's that's why I went in
that direction. Okay, all right, let's go defense. Here is
the most painful cut on the team. Most painful cut
on the team is on the D line because on
the D line, obviously you know your top two ends
are and you know Barnett is on Pop right now.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
But I'm gonna assume he's back. Okay, I did. I
didn't for this one. See, you took the easy way out.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No, you took the easy way I did. Everybody's gonna
be on Pope this season.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
We've got four weeks. That's a pretty deep ir list,
right that. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I've seen it before that way, you've seen it before. Now,
I don't want it to be that way, but I
do know. Well, I'll tell you this, if if I
did add Barnett to the mix.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yep. Then I got a really tough decision.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I got to I mean, I've got a So I
kept fifty one fifty five yep. Darryl Taylor's definitely in
fifty two Autrey. So there's and obviously you can go
inside outside.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I thought Autrey is on ir okay, So you went
with A.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Went Barnett, I did, okay, So then d Line, I
went Sheldon fully hopefully full you can get back here soon, Rio,
Tim Settle and Togy.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I went five inter defenseive linemen.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Because there's if training camp matters in some sense, and
it has to, then Tommy Togia has to be honest
team at least through the first four weeks, because he
has been one of the top five players.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
In his camp.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
He has been outstanding, and he was outstanding the last
half of the year Sack Mahomes in the AFC Championship.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Tommy is on the team, you know, so I feel
like you gotta have Toga. I can not let Tommy
walk out of the building.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
So that does put a lot of pressure on you, though,
because I are you know, you've got to look at
who's going to be in, who's going to be out
fully could be on ir, but maybe he's not.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I don't know that. That's another difficult decision. So a.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Lack of information that you have here when you're coming
up with an initial fifty three at this point, which
is ridiculous. Anyway, we're just doing it because it's fun
to do.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah. Uh wait, did you have Bird and or No
or making it at end?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I could, I couldn't. I think those two would be
the next in line if if Donko, if Deniko is
not ready to go, and it comes down to that,
and then it comes down a decision of Horton and Bird,
and I think thus far in camp I would probably
give the edge to Solomon Bird.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Right now, how many linebackers do you have?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I have six? I have six because five see I
went five here. Oh I want to see who you
let go? I want to see you so hurt.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So the zero c Harris, Henry E J. Hanson. I
kept Hanson. So you cut Niemen, didn't you? Oh? Nieman? Yeah?
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And Neiman's probably gonna make it because you need him
on special teams special and they like Osai and they
like Wood are two and Jamal Hillsman making Hill.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I mean, this is a lot of play, but you
do have practice squad capability.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
Here.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You get to elevate from the practice squad and you
can do swap seas if you have multiple lineers on
the practice squad. This week, we're bringing in this guy,
bringing up this guy to help on special teams.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
You know, you work it like that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Because I look at my initial fifty three and then
I think, well, geez, who am I bringing to the
game on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
That was That was the That was the next question
of all right, well some something's got a ghost when
I get to the DVS.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I ended up keeping ten.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, But it came down to and this is the
decision that I had to make, and I'm not totally
sure that I have this decision the way I want
it right, But I kept I kept Russ Yeast at
safety and D'Angelo ross at nickel and let go Miles Bryant.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Oh. More I think about it, the more I'm like,
you know, I think Miles makes it with the Angelo
because Miles can play safety if you need him to. Yeah,
and he plays that nickel. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I think I think that's probably you know what, I'm
changing my mind. I think that's the that's a probably
better way to go with Miles. Miles has had one
hell of a training camp, not that Russ hasn't, but
I feel like.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
We don't have no idea what's gonna happen with Jimmy
Ward at all. But I assume it's a I think Miles.
I think so too. I think Miles. That's where I
put him. Initially, I think my can play safety, he
can play nickel. I think he's he's the ball player. Okay,
so I changed my mind. I put Brian in there.
That still gives me my fifty three. I just I
swapped that out of it. J. Yeah, MJ's gotta make it.
(19:12):
MJ's had a hell of a camp at safety man.
So he's a captain on special teams. Yeah, yeah, ye know,
he's a personal protector. He gets them all lined up.
I mean, he's you gotta have hm J.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Stewart.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I mean he said it the other day. To me,
is like aging like a fine wine, Like dude, I
hope I aged that way because he's played really, really well.
He's had a number of interceptions, he has made a
number of plays. He feels really he just looks and
feels comfortable in his defense. So he's that piece at
safety that I think you got to have to go
along with CJ. Gardner, Johnson and Kaylen Block.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I had Treymont making it because I've got Derek Stingley,
I have Kamari Jalen Smithsehel o'ross.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
And Treymont Tremont. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, and I feel like pe Tree, Miles Bryant. Then
I went Kaylen, CJ. Gardner, Johnson, and Stewart yep. So
I went with ten DB's total.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
That's why, Yeah, that's why I have. Yeah, you guys
that can play multiple positions.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, exactly, And I think that's what you you'd like
to have as many of that in the secondary as
you possibly can. But then you get your three specialists,
Austin Bringman, Kymie Fairbairn, and Tommy Townsend. That was where
I screwed up the first time because I had twenty
nine offensive.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Players twenty six defenses, like, oh man, I only gotta
cut two. And then I was like, oh crap, I
forgot this special So I always put them up first.
But here's my question, and I don't know if anybody
can really answer it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Oh, yes, they probably can Frank Ross could tell us
why is it so difficult? He's got to have a
reason to teach somebody. Two guys on the team who
are definitely gonna dress on Sunday to long snap, is it?
I guess it's that hard and you have to be
totally focused.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
On that and nothing else. Yeah, but you gotta have
there's there's a backup. There is.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
We don't know who that is, but there is there
is a backup because if something were happened to Austin,
you gotta have. You gotta have some bad un answer,
which my guess is one of the centers. Maybe that
might be tight end. Tight End, could be.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Tight end type guy.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
You know Luke Joel Jason, you know how exactly you
know how Luke was shake could end up making a
sucker right there. He's he's the backup.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I haven't seen him do it, No, I know I have.
I'll tell you what if you've seen anybody else do it.
If I'm one of these young guys, I'm coming out
early and I'm practicing.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
If i know I'm in a position battle, Yeah, I'm
going out there. I'm going right in front of Frank
and I fire and bullets I'm gonna make Frank.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Think about it.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Sorry, Austin, nothing personal here, It's business, not personal, aus Brinkman.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I mean, if you had a roster player that could
long snap, I mean that's the ultimate because then you
don't have to keep a spot for a specialist. But
us is pretty damn good. I mean, he fis some
fastballs back there, and he'll get better and better. You know,
we just for over years. I'm not we never took
weeks for granted, no we didn't, but we knew that
it was gonna be a good snap every time.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So we knew that was not gonna that's gonna be
a big issue.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That's a moment. That's a moment on Saturday, the first
non John Weeks long snap. I don't think we've had
anybody else do it in this whole time, even in
the preseason.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
I don't think so. We might have once, I don't know.
I know we've had other guys in camp. Yeah, but
I feel like it's happen, but not often. Yeah, not often.
Forty six was stepping over. Let's just put it this way.
In a regular season game, it's gonna be a big.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Mom he he is tweeting John Weeks's tweeted some pictures
or posted pictures on Instagram from San Francisco, and it's
the weirdest thing. It is the weirdest thing to see
him in a forty nine jersey like odd as like
there there have been Texans and other jerseys that it
wasn't odd. It was just kind of frustrating. Like when
hop first went to the Cardinals, it was like, that
doesn't look right.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
From any lot. What Johnson to fall thank you? That
was one.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
The other night we had a we had a dinner
with you know, our internal I wanted to think about that,
what's the weirdest athlete in a different jersey that.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
You ever saw? For us, just anybody. There's so many
examples of that. I mean Andre Andre and he was weird.
Andrea in a Colts jersey. I was like, I don't
like it.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Andrea Ina Titans jersey look bizarro. That looked bizarro world.
Keimlija wanted the Raptors is the one that I always
think about like that. That was just crazy, That was
not right, all right?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Coming up Evan Washburn, He's been on the sideline for
numerous Texans games. He's gonna work with JJ Watt. He's
next here among others on Texans Radio. Back to the
Green Briar Texans Radio, Mark Factor, Mair and John Harris
with you and training camp will wrap up here after
tomorrow's practice. They won't travel till Friday, so they'll meet
(23:45):
and do things like that to get ready for preseason
game one Saturday and three. It'll be live right here
now on the TV calls this year when the networks
really get rolling in the regular season, JJ Watt's gonna
be a color commentator with Iron Eagle as his play
by play guy, and on the sideline in that crew
will be Evan Washburn and Evan stopped by practice this week.
(24:08):
I had a chance to catch up with him and
ask him his impressions of Texans practice.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
I think there's some real issues on the defensive side
of the ball, a lot of concern there. No, it
was impressive to see that group getting ready to come
out here. Obviously, I'm consuming as much of the content
from you all, from everybody who's here day to day
and what they've been saying about. That unit lived up
to the billing in what was a pretty competitive practice.
I mean, you're seeing guys taken to the ground in
(24:34):
certain periods, so I thought that was a great indicator
of what that group can be. And then just getting
a sense and then more so talking to guys like
CJ after practice about where this offense is and what
is a developmental stage of bringing in an entire new scheme.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
How helpful is this time of year to your job
during the regular season on the sideline.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
I would say it's foundational in a lot of ways.
Not to say you're really referencing something I saw today
if I were to have you week three or five,
because so much of this will not be irrelevant but
old news. But I just feel much more comfortable talking
to a head coach talking to players being able to reference. Hey,
remember when I saw you out in the Greenbrier. It
(25:16):
was cool to see a player make a play here
and then see where they are or maybe aren't when
we're catching them in the middle of the season. So
I just find it a really useful practice. Just also
get caught up on who's on what team and how
are things feeling.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
How about being on the sideline? What's important about being
a great sideline reporter, Evan, I.
Speaker 6 (25:36):
Think you have to be the editorial consultant chief of
a broadcast crew, because if you think about it and
you know this, you do it at the highest level.
Pay by play and analysts are talking for the entire
three hours. A quality sideline person is basically making sure
we're not missing anything. Now, the obvious things are, hey,
(25:58):
this player got injured, but the little things from like
a storyline standpoint, Hey, it's the second quarter and we
haven't hit something that we talked about last night because
they're so caught up and literally play to play. So
I really think, outside of covering injuries, covering things that
happen on the sideline, what are we missing? What is
the viewer missing that we have context on that we
(26:19):
should be delivering usually early in a game, because we
like to do it. First and second quarter we're set
in the menu, and then third and fourth quarter the
game dictates where we're going.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Have you met much yet with JJ Watt, new color
commentator on your crew with Iron Eagle.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Well, thankfully JJ has been in the mix with us
for a couple of years doing the studio at a
part time capacity, so we've crossed pass at seminars some
of the times they've come out on the road for
playoff games. And I don't have to tell you this
or your listeners or fans.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
I mean, he's the best.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
He's such a easy guy to be around, and I
think what he's going to bring to our group is
not just the football acumen in the knowledge, but just
a level of energy that's going to be exciting. So
we've had a couple zooms we're gonna get together next week.
It's really it's something we're all looking forward to and
(27:12):
pumped forward. But now he's the rookie again, so I
think he's got to recognize that as well.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
How many rookies have you worked with as color commentators
or play by play people at the network level for NFL?
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Great question.
Speaker 7 (27:23):
This will be my first.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
I came in with Dan Fouts, who was anything but
a rookie Hall of Famer both as a player obviously
and in my opinion a broadcaster. And then Charles Davis,
who is as professional, prepared and honestly as good as
anybody at doing the job. He's been with us the
last four or five years. He was anything but a rookie.
So JJ's the first, and I like to say it's
(27:45):
the first time for me that I'm not the youngest
guy on a crew, so it's good to have somebody
that's a fellow millennial on the crew.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So how did you get started?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I know you went to Delaware and my good friend
Mike Corey used to be voice of the Blue Hens
and I was with him at U MASS He was
a student when I was the play by play announcer there.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So Delaware to what how did you get started in
this business?
Speaker 7 (28:07):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
How much time do you have one?
Speaker 7 (28:09):
Mi?
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Core is a great guy. I really enjoyed his friendship
and getting home over the years.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
The best way or the fastest way I should say
to describe it, went to Delaware, played lacrosse, lacrosse stream
ended because I got injured final game, and then it
was what are you going to do next? I love sports,
played every sport growing up. I like entertainment TV. Maybe
these two things can marry. Was fortunate enough to get
an internship at a TV station in Washington, DC, live
(28:35):
in Baltimore, and that kind of gave me my master's
degree and all the things you need to do, whether
it's editing, shooting a game with a camera, writing scripts,
all those things. And then in conjunction with that, I
actually started calling lacrosse games collegiately locally because in Maryland
the DC area, it's a big deal, so college games
(28:57):
are on TV cable access. So I was the analyst
and that got me an opportunity the following year at
CBS Sports Network, our cable station as a color analyst
doing college lacrosse games. Once I had that relationship, I
started sending them clips of me doing one man band.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Stuff in Baltimore.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
In DC, they had a last second opening in twenty
twelve for a college football sideline reporter. They were, I
don't know, crazy enough to give me that chance, and
that sort of opened the door to be a sideline reporter.
Within two years, I got bumped up to NFL and fourteen,
and now twelve years later, this is where we are
and it's now a career. So I'm fortunate. But I
(29:38):
also say, as you know, in this business, everybody's kind
of got their path and just kind of have to
find it.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
People always ask me what's my most memorable game or moment,
but it's often something that would be under the radar.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Something.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Do you have anything like that, A couple of memories,
moments and games or games themselves that will always live
with you.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
It's a fun exercise and and do it because I
do appreciate what we get to do every week. I
think the two that come to mind. One is a
big time moment. It was I always mix this up
because it was the twenty nineteen Super Bowl, but it
was the twenty eighteen season. It was whenever New England
beat Kansas City overtime AFC Championship game, going to beat
(30:20):
the Rams in the super Bowl. So I was on
the Patriots sideline for that game. Tracy Wilson on the
chief sideline they win in overtime, we do on the
field post game with Tom Brady and to have that
moment with that legendary player, he had kind of lost
his mind in a good way. He maybe dropped a
couple le f bombs on the broadcast, which you know,
(30:43):
maybe isn't the right thing, but I enjoy it because
we root for authenticity. So that was that was special.
And then the second one, more so just because of
where I came from. When I got to be on
the sideline for the Ravens Chiefs AFC Championship game, I've
lost real rooting interest, but for that city where I've
called home now for ten plus years growing up down
(31:05):
the road in Annapolis. For them to have their first
AFC Championship game and to be part of the broadcast
to experience that environment, didn't go away. They wanted to go,
but that was pretty special.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Awesome. Evan, thanks a lot for your time.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
You sure man. Always good to see you.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Evan Washburn's sideline reporter extraordinary for CBS now Let's shift gears.
Ben Solac also had practice this week. He's of ESPN
big time digital reporter for them. Is he a reporter?
Not really, He's an analyst, yes, sort of uses a
lot of analytics as he breaks down the NFL.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
He's basically a football nerd in a very good way.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
I talked to Ben Solac, all right, Ben, tell me
your general thoughts here of observing Texans practice Day one.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Texans defense pretty good. I think that's been that kind
of that. That's the running jock I've heard from everybody else.
But it's just a reminder. In training camp, you're installing
a new offense. You're dealing with offens the line of
rotations because you're trying to figure out who you guys
are going to be, and meanwhile they ain't rotating.
Speaker 9 (31:58):
This is Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter every time.
Speaker 8 (32:00):
Stare e seemly Kamar Lasser every time, you know, And
that's that's a good way to cut your teeth. That
they're rotating a lot of wide receivers as well. So
it's always going to be a situation that is advantageous
to the defense that's going to show out. But you
still see cg making good reads against the blitz, right,
you still see uh giden Higan's getting a separation.
Speaker 9 (32:16):
And then there's those pockets of brightness.
Speaker 8 (32:18):
So it's what August first, August second, there's you know,
there's there's weeks and this this offense is going to
be a discovery thing.
Speaker 9 (32:23):
It's gonna be something that gets figured out and ironed
out over time.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
All right, So tell me doing what you do?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
What are you observing here? Most of all, what angle
are you looking for when you come to a practice
like this?
Speaker 8 (32:34):
So all right, you're bomping from training camp, training camp
to training camp. The first thing you want to do
is you want to see how some of the positional battles,
some of the snaps are being distributed. Right, it was
like a big rotation, a tight end. I didn't know
coming in that I was going to see a lot
of cads over with the ones. Brevin Jordan had a
cup with the ones. You know, you're seeing that Daria
Anglebiwalle is still clearly you know, their third down back,
and then what marks gets opportunity with the second team? Right,
(32:55):
so you're you're kind of learning, okay, where are they
shuffling right now at their positional groups, and a lot
of time you're specifically looking at the rookies, right. You
want to see how these guys look, how they physically
are put together, and then how they behave do they belong?
Are they lining up the right spots and they getting
in and out of the flow. I felt like Jalen
Noel is walking out like a veteran right away. He's
lining himself up, he's pointing things out, he's winning on
routes to say, okay, like you can start to get
(33:15):
a sense that these guys belong. And then the other
thing you're always looking for is operation right, especially when
you got like a first time offense. There was I
think one moment where Jaden Higgins was lining up little
bitning correctly and they had to fix him. But other
than that, really smooth operation. And a lot of what
coaches can control in training camp is the prestab stuff.
And then the ball is snapped and a guard goes
the wrong way and it's an immediate pressure and okay,
(33:36):
we gotta throw.
Speaker 9 (33:36):
That play out. But presa break the huddle effectively? Do
we get through the most effectively? Do we lineup correctly?
Speaker 8 (33:41):
Everybody know their jobs and so you know, I was
in Cleveland, I got like four quarterbacks goaling. There's a
lot of pre snap issues. You're here in Houston. The
pre snap operation was very, very good offense and defense.
That leads you to believe that the install's going well
and the team's being to understand what's expected of them.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Your impressions of Demico Ryans entering year three, I know
he's breaking in a new offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (34:01):
I think Demiko Ryans is the most underrated head coach
in football. I've been an enormous fan since the San
Francisco days. You cannot find a player with something less
than glowing to say about what Demiko has been to them.
You see how quickly he rows up through the ranks.
You see how effectively he wins on the chalkboard. They're
great against elite quarterbacks not named Lamar Jackson. They got
to figure out the Lamar Jackson problem. I'm sure they're
working on it, but they're really good against the elite quarterbacks.
(34:22):
He's won two postseason games in two seasons, one in
each season. He's the eighth head coach NFL history to
do that at least one playoff win in each of
his two seasons. You go and you look at the list,
like the last guys to do it were Matt Lafleur
and the Harball Brothers. Right, is just a good list
to be on. I think that there are a few
coaches in the league I would trust more from a
culture perspective, from an intensity perspective to get the team
(34:44):
ready for a Sunday than Damiko Ryans. And there's few
coaches that I would trust more in a playoff environment,
in a well off chance against a really good team
to at least have the defense really show up there.
We're going to see what the offense looks like again
excluding the Ravens because they have a raven problem to
figure it out.
Speaker 9 (34:57):
But the other guys that are really good against.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Him and so like with as ESPN.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
So tell me, I saw some tweets you talking about
Kaitlyn Bullock, but he wasn't the guy that you were
initially looking at. Besides him, Well, tell me about your
thoughts regarding him and then some other players that don't
get as much publicity.
Speaker 8 (35:14):
Yeah, I'm here working on a big Derek Stingley piece.
So you're watching a lot of the secondary and I
already knew I like Bullock. His rookie season was great.
This guy's clearly good washing back to the second times
on these most is not just extremely fast and has
really really remarkable range, which we should pause for a
second and say that. You know, in the late twentyds
and early twenty tens, Ed Reid ORL. Thomas, we thought
(35:36):
this is how safeties worked. Like the league was like, right,
you got to find more deep middle safeties, find these
post safeties, find these guys with range, And we tried
to have a bunch of imitations of those guys, and
we couldn't do it because it's actually a really rare
skill to have that sideline a sideline range that's fallen
out of favor. It's all too high defenses now, right,
Bullock is one of like legitimately five guys in the
league who you can actually just put back there in
the middle and say, you know, make a play against
(35:59):
the Hashes on the right sideline, and they make a
play against Ashle on the left sideland he has that
legitimate range to him. And it's not just the speed.
He sees it fast right, he's moving before the quarterback
separates his hands and his angles are great. That was
really the thing that's set out on rewatch is that
his first step takes him exactly where he's supposed to go.
A lot of times he's young safety, they gotta weave
and they gotta adjust to the ball and whatever. He's
(36:21):
straight as an arrow to where he's supposed to be
really really good angles. Bullock is gonna quickly become one
of the best safeties in the league if he keeps
this up.
Speaker 9 (36:27):
He's got to stay healthy. He's a little bit thinner.
Speaker 8 (36:28):
You know, there's some run defense stuff to do, but
from an impactful perspective in the secondary, it's clearly a
rising star. Kamara Lass was the exact same thing. I
think this is the best secondary in football. And then
you know, I think as he's al sho here probably
doesn't receive the credit he's due at the linebacker position.
Highly physical player, good taking on poland guard, stepping down there,
playing with the trees.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
That's a player that gets underappreciated.
Speaker 8 (36:48):
And then Tim Settle was the other guy in that
defense who just every single game one or two run
defense plays, one or two penetration plays, because this is
always going to be a front that prioritizes the pass rush,
and accordingly, they can lose a little bit and run defense.
But if you get one, make a little bit of
a splash and get to that second and twelve, then
the dogs can eat and Tim Settles that guy who
makes those plays for them.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It's hard to tell right now in August. But what
do you think of Nick Chubb being on this team
and what he might be able to do?
Speaker 9 (37:11):
I think it's hard to tell in August.
Speaker 8 (37:12):
You know, it's the big question because Nick Cayley could
be a wizard. But if they can't chop a first
intend into a second and six with a handoff, then
you're climbing an uphill battle, right that's a long road
to hoe. And so their number one question over the
next month is figuring out, Okay, if we don't have
Joe Mixon for let's say at least a four week period,
six week period.
Speaker 9 (37:33):
I don't know where he's gona be out with the
injury thing.
Speaker 8 (37:34):
I don't want to get yelled at by Demico, and
so whatever it ends up being, if he's out for
an extended period, how do we want to get our
running game touches to whom we want to give them,
and how do we want to line those guys up.
You're never gonna be able to see what Chubb's full
athletic profile looks like until we get to September, because
there they're you know, they will still be rehabbing him
and onboarding him and preparing him athletically to kind of
(37:55):
peak when the season starts, and so you don't want
to make big assumptions there. But yeah, we haven't seen
Chubb looked the way he looked pret injury since the injury,
and so I think it's still a riddle for them
to solve with a Goomba Walle, with Woody Marx, with
whatever running backs might be available in for agency, and
then obviously with Joe Mixon, what does he look like
when he comes back their running back touches is the
biggest question for them on offense.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Where else have you been on your training camp tour
other than Cleveland?
Speaker 9 (38:18):
Did Detroit? Cleveland? Buffalo, Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore? This is stout
number seven.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Okay, So who has impressed you or surprised you among
those stops? What team Texans played Baltimore? Obviously it'll be
on the road. They've never won in Baltimore. They've never
beaten Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
It's time. What do you think of the Ravens.
Speaker 9 (38:37):
I think the Ravens are gonna be really, really good
this year. There's no two ways around it.
Speaker 8 (38:40):
They did not have huge substantive moves in terms of
personnel or coaching staffs this year. But the secondary is
the big question right where Nate Wigans now moves into
the corner one spot and I're gonna continue to play
Marlon hump For on the inside, and then corner two
is a conversation between Chidobea Woozier and Jay Alexander, whom
they added in free agency. And that's that last year
for them, there was a they were really bad defense
(39:02):
to start of the year and they got really really
good late in the year because they made changes in safety.
They have Pyle Hamilton now and the rookie Malachi starts.
They expect to be good there again. But you still
you're gonna leave your corners in isolation. You have great safety,
that's gonna happen. And Wiggins was a player who statistically
was great. Advanced stats love him, but they were still
you know, he was their corner too. They were pulling
them off the field. He was a little bit of
a rotation, right. They got a lot of penalties last season.
(39:23):
This is like a young player who they want to
you know, sharpen his skills. Now he's an NFL guy.
And then, like I said that, right now, they have
a battle at corner too. And so if there's a
question mark for the Ravens, it's at that position. But
I mean offensively, defensive line, schematically what that team is. Yeah,
they're gonna be good.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Okay, tell me what do you have going on on
the website or wherever people can get your content.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
Yeah, So, like I said, I have a big piece
coming out on Stingley. I'm doing a series this year
at the beginning of the season on underappreciated stars and
what makes them so good. So probably speaking to to Texans.
I think that there's no under appreciation there on Derek
Stanley from the fan base, but nationally, you know, you
obviously hear a lot about certain You've heard a lot
about Sauce, but you know Stanley more than holds his
own against those guys, and it's important to talk about why.
Speaker 9 (40:04):
So that peace will be coming out sometime early September.
Speaker 8 (40:07):
But you know, if you got the app and you've
said to the app you're Texans fan, it'll get sent
right to you.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Awesome, Ben, thanks to left for joining us.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Thanks sir, all right, it's Ben Solac from ESPN coming up.
Final segment on the Way, you're gonna hear from John
Metchi and also Jalen Thomas. Both those guys are gonna
play a bunch this weekend at Minnesota. Thomas a bunch
of guard and he could be a big surprise on
this old line. We'll hear from those players next as
Texans All Access continues. Final segment here, Let's get right
(40:35):
to it, Jalen Thomas making some noise on the offensive line.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
John Harris visits with him. All right.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Trenny Camp twenty twenty five continues on a wonderful here
at the Greenbrier. Jalen Thomas, do you agree wonderful day yesterday?
Speaker 4 (40:48):
It's honestly beautiful, honestly beautiful. Take a plain.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
You played SMU, so I'd imagine we didn't. You didn't
have many days like this when you were in.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
College, did you?
Speaker 7 (40:59):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (40:59):
No, I think it's houston.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
To get used to that.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Maybe had a pretty good camp thus far. I asked
Jake this morning I saw him.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
I said, how's the body feel on day twelve?
Speaker 4 (41:11):
Definitely not like day.
Speaker 10 (41:12):
One, I'll tell you that, but I mean still feel good, honestly, yeah,
still a little early in the camp, though still feel good.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
How's the offensive line coming together?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Obviously different combinations day after day, all that kind of stuff,
But how do you feel like it's coming together when
you guys go back and watch film at the end
of the practice. How do you guys feel about how
the unit's coming together.
Speaker 10 (41:28):
I think it's coming up good or good. I think
everybody's putting in work. Everybody's coming out here just to work.
I think that's the big emphasis in the off season
is that you know, we're gonna work this, this, this,
this preseason, and that's all we're gonna worry about.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
And it feels like you guys have that camaraderie too.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
I think this is one of the closest groups I've
been around.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
Yeah, but for sure, very cool. I'm glad you're here now.
In college, you play tackle.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
You probably played all over the line throughout your career,
but she feels like more you're at guard now. How
do you feel playing inside? Do you feel like that
suits your skills? I mean, you've got to build to
play guard. How do you feel How do you comfortable
do you feel playing that spot inside?
Speaker 10 (42:03):
I feel comfortable. I feel like guard. Is it fits
me best, especially in the league. Yeah, don't have the
longest arms. Yeah, And I think I'm a pretty strong guy,
and who can who can move, who can move a
little bit in the middle.
Speaker 4 (42:15):
So I think I'm guard really fits me on in
the league.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
I thought it was interesting when it was posted this
summer that guys that got extensions that played tackle had
some of the shortest arms at tackle.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
So I thought it was interesting when you said that.
I kind of chuckled at that point. Okay, let's go
inside the the old line room for this one.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
I need you to be honest. There are times at
the end of practice where coach will call up a
player and if you catch the punt, you get out
of meetings that night. You got a sprints or whatever
it might be. So if the team had to bet
on one offensive lineman to catch the punt to get
out of meetings, who would it be?
Speaker 4 (42:49):
Like? Have you really been?
Speaker 3 (42:51):
I feel like?
Speaker 10 (42:52):
I mean he was a quarterback in high school and college,
so he has very good ball skills.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Definitely, say Titus, Okay.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Where would you be on the list? Would you be
one of the guys up front to make that catch?
Speaker 4 (43:04):
Top three?
Speaker 3 (43:07):
Okay, Saturday we go to Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Well, Friday we go to Minnesota, but Saturday we play
in the Minnesota Vikings. To see a different color jersey,
you've been going after the same guys you've been seeing
in practice. How important is it and how much do
you desire seeing a different color jersey On the other.
Speaker 10 (43:22):
Side, I desired it a lot, especially not being able
to play last year. So yeah, definitely, it feels good
this time to finally hit somebody other than my teammates.
So it'd be amazing get out there and play.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
It'll be amazing to watch you. Jaylen, you had a
really good camp man, it's been fun watching.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Thank fore time, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
There's Jalen Thomas with John Harris. Let's get to John
Metsche Now my visit with the receiver entering year four? John,
what are your impressions of the Greenbrier so far?
Speaker 7 (43:45):
It's nice, man, It's definitely different. You got the mountains.
The weather is different, that's for sure, all the greenery,
you know what, second third day out here, so just
still soaking it in.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Yeah. Does the practice feel different out here? Afterwards? You
feel like you might have a little more left or
something like that.
Speaker 7 (44:03):
I mean, you're always trying to exhaust yourself in practice. Yeah,
that's how you build. There's more air out here, you know,
there's more air in the air, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
How's it going for you so far? What's your assessment?
Speaker 7 (44:13):
It's going well. It's trying to get better every day.
That's really the process. Just be better today than you
wear yesterday and take it like day by day.
Speaker 4 (44:21):
Honestly.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
How tough is it against this defense? They look pretty good?
Speaker 7 (44:25):
Yeah, said, defense looks good. Offense looks good. It's that
iron Sharper's iron mentality that coach Ben Harbin.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
On how is the offense different for the receivers.
Speaker 7 (44:38):
I think it's kind of like just a dynamic you know,
it's kind of we always have a dynamic group. Everyone
can play everywhere, right, there's a lot of talent. Kind
of seems like always. But I think that's good because
we all help each other and it's just that iron
sharper and iron in the room.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
I see you lining up all over the place. Do
you have a favorite spot to line up.
Speaker 7 (44:58):
Or is it just whatever happens, whatever happens or wherever
the ball's going.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Yeah, you don't mind either.
Speaker 7 (45:03):
I don't mind anyway.
Speaker 3 (45:05):
What about downtime here? What do you guys do? How
do you bond or spend your time whatever it is?
Speaker 7 (45:09):
Yeah, yeah, guys just hanging around a lot more, whether
they're walking back and forth. There's stuff to do, just
green Brian, you know, bowling, a lot of team bonding
stuff like that. Guys go bowling or golfing and stuff.
So it's definitely it's definitely really good from that aspect.
We got to spend a lot more time with each
other off the field.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
You good at bowling? Yeah, can you spend the ball properly?
Speaker 7 (45:28):
I just learned this offseason. That wasn't my style, but
I just learned this offseason.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
What we do before rolling, it's straight, hoping it hits
the gap.
Speaker 7 (45:34):
Yeah, I'm a straight line shooter. Straight shooter.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
It's tough, isn't it.
Speaker 7 (45:38):
Yeah, I mean not straight. It's easy for me. I'm
straight spending the ball, spinning the ball.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
That's tough.
Speaker 7 (45:43):
That's a whole different game, but I picked it up
and it's kind of it's kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
What's your favorite game to play, whether it be cards, chess,
backgam They have so many different things here and you
guys play Uno and all of that.
Speaker 3 (45:54):
What do you like.
Speaker 7 (45:55):
Yeah, UNO's a good one. I just started playing cards recently,
but I like to who know that we play as
as a team.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
Cool, John, Thanks a love for joining us. Good le.
I always love catching up with John Metchi. All right,
that's the show. It's over.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
Area forty five is next shot of seth back at
practice tomorrow with their show, and we'll be back here
at slamming. Sammy's doing the nightcap and letting you know
what happened at practice that particular day, which would be tomorrow.
Have a great night, enjoy Area forty five Go Texans,
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