August 11, 2025 • 47 mins
Join John Harris for a packed episode of Texans All-Access featuring expert analysis of the Vikings preseason game from Andre Ware, Andy Kalu, and John McClain. Get insider reactions to rookie tackle Ariontae Ursery's impressive debut, Davis Mills' sharp opening drive, and standout performances from running back Dare Ogunbowale and receivers Braxton Berrios and John Metchie III. The crew discusses tough upcoming roster decisions at key positions, the defensive line's strength, and the concerning injury to fan-favorite tight end Brevin Jordan during Monday's practice. Plus, hear Kalu's pronunciation guide for international pathway player Ndubuisi Okoli who recorded a sack in his NFL debut. Essential listening for Texans fans preparing for Thursday's joint practice against the Carolina Panthers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Typing. Everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Welcome to Monday edition that Texans All Access from the
Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John Harris, football analyst,
sideline reporter of the booth for preseason TV games, and
glad to be with you on a day that well,
we'll get into a little bit of this. We're gonna
hear from our guys Andre ware, d Clue and John
(00:22):
McClain a little later in the show, But a little
bit of news first. We don't know the status at
this point of anything, and obviously we found out when
we were in West Virginia. Never jumped to conclusions on things,
but Brevin Jordan injured at practice been reported by a
number of different sources. That's basically what we know at
(00:43):
this point. I don't really want to get into what,
you know, what it could be, what it might not be,
what everybody else is saying. I don't really give a
damn about what everybody else is putting out there, because
last week is put out there and is wrong, and
so we're not going to do any of that. But
just seeing Brev have to leave practice was just a
gut punch for a lot of different people. People in
(01:06):
a building that know Brev really well, you know this,
this stinks and I am one of those it's been
kind of hard to talk about this. This is kind
of practiced before the show what I was going to say,
and I know there's no good way to say it,
but I love Brev, love him, just love him as
a person, player, whatever it might be. But I just
(01:28):
love that man, and I hope he's going to be
okay and back as as soon as he possibly can.
But that's the news on brevit George. So we got
to continue, just like they did it practice day. We
got to keep going, and we're going to start with
the man we always start with on a Monday after
a game over the weekend, Andre where now two of
(01:49):
the three of us have had a back issue, a
similar back issue to the one that Matt Stafford's dealing with.
We wanted to get Dre Stotts because he's kind of
going through it right now, and we started off asking
him about this report about Matt Stafford's back and what
Dre thought about it.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Let's get back injury expert in here, Andre Ware, who
also happens to be our color commentator in the nineteen
eighty nine Heisman Trophy winner, but he also knows about
back injuries. Drake, good morning. How do you think stafore
feeling he's gonna practice? But what is the long term
for this doctor ware in your opinion with the disc
problem that Stafford has.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, I know a little bit about that, and uh,
I know that it can feel one way one minute,
and then all of a sudden it flares up and
it's a totally It'll do a oneint eighty where you
feel like you can play, you feel like you're making
all this progress, and then all of a sudden one
day you wake up and there's no rhyme or reason
to it. It just happens. And if it's if it
(02:49):
happens to be something along the lines of sciatica, uh man,
that that is, that's gonna be tough for him to
deal with all season oouch.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Two of the three of us have had this back issue,
and two of the three of us have had the
epidural shots.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That Matt Stafford's taken.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Now, none of the three of us had surgery that
alleviated my pain, So I just imagine what it's like
when you have that epidural shot. Hey, you got a
couple hours you feel good and then all of a
sudden it flares back up. And that's kind of my
that was my experience with it. I know Dre had
that same experience, Trey. Let's get to this.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
He could go ahead, Johnny, feel good for a while.
It could go right around a month. But I just
don't understand. I just don't comprehend anyone trying to play
play aff in the NFL. There's any football game, but
in an NFL game dealing with that and if it's
if that's what it is, it's gonna be a long, tough,
(03:46):
tough year for him because, like I said, that epidural
shot could last him a month. It could last him
a couple of hours, it might last a week. You
just don't know. Everybody responds differently to it.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, the one thing that I'm pretty sure of is
it won't last seventeen weeks. Uh So, if I'm playing
the rams we tested this before Dre, I would just
I would blitz him all day long until he just
like I can't take it anymore. It was interesting on
Saturday because my girlfriend was in one booth and my
wife was in the other booth, and it was just
odd that I'm in between the two of them.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
But how much did y'all miss me on Saturday?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And what were your big takeaways from the game on So,
what's the biggest takeaway you took out of Saturday? Dreh.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah, it's funny that you use that analogy. I was
watching something the other day where a reporter was asking
an NBA player, and it's a true story why he
played so bad. I mean, he couldn't hit anything, couldn't
even get it to the rim, missing free throws. That's
a pretty good player. And then all of a sudden
he looked up after the game, sitting in his locker
(04:51):
and he said, Man, my wife was sitting next to
my girlfriend in all game long. So so yeah, during
the game, and so you can't hit you can't throw
it in the ocean, man. But I enjoyed. I enjoyed Saturday.
I thought there were some really good parts in the game,
(05:12):
especially early offensively. Ursery is going to be a player,
and I was pleasantly surprised. He has just got to
get on the voyage of getting better, a little bit
better every single day. He's gonna want to see it
in leaps and bounds because he's a young player, but
it's gonna come in short spurts, and he's got to
(05:32):
be willing to just accept it as that learn from it,
try not to make the same mistake twice. But I
think they were onto something. This second round pick from Minnesota,
him having gone back to the city that he was
playing in, so it was a good start from a
comfort standpoint from him. Higgins I thought did some good things.
(05:52):
There are some young players who did a lot of
good things. EJ. Speed, a free agent signing in the offseason,
played his butt off in the first half, so made
several big plays. Three that come to mind right away.
So all the new pickups, new being rookies, free agents,
a lot of them made play Saturday.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, let's talk about the receivers here, Drake, because Jalen
Nole had had that screen catch and run where he
broke the tackle you talked about Higgins, he had a
couple of catches in the game. Burrios had three at
the touchdown when he went with a pilon pilon. Yeah,
what about this group because they showed some things that
we didn't see Nico or Kirk.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
There. You know, there's some excitement there because you didn't
see the top end guys, but other guys were making plays,
and so they're just gonna fit right in along with
the guys who didn't play. And there's competition, isn't There
Always a guy that kind of flashes during camp, early
in camp and he wind up being becoming a fan
(06:56):
of this guy? Does he make it? And you're, you know,
holding your breath for him through the entire camp, and
then all of a sudden, you know, either either makes
it or doesn't, and you feel one way or the
other about it. But there's always one guy, and I
think Barrios is that guy for me this year. He
just you just sense the energy in which he plays
the game with and by that his love for the
(07:18):
game is genuine. It just exudes uh confidence. Uh he
bounces around. You just see it in every route that
he runs, every time he touches the football. So he's
a really really fun young man to watch play.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You know who that was for me last year?
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Who was British Brooks.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, British Brooks is that guy because every time he
touched the football it was like he did something, you know,
like he ran somebody over, he ran through a guy
in the end zone and then Saturday.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
He dropped the hammer.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
On Tyfeld on that kickoff, I mean flying down and
our our ground mics, uh, that field level mics must
have been cranked up to ten because every time there
was a collision it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
A bomb going off in our ears. And that sounded like.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
A bomb going off when British landed that hit on Felton.
So that leads me to running backs. Dray Nick Chubb
a little banged up at the Green Brier, should be okay.
We should see him soon, but we haven't seen Joe Mixon.
Damian Pierce is kind of ramping up a little bit.
I know Jure and wood he didn't do a lot
on the ground, but I thought their pass protection was
(08:26):
pretty solid. And then Dari gave you what you got
out of Dara on that first drive and then you
went what fifty something yards on eight or nine carries
or whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
How do you look at this.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Running back position? If Joe and Nick are healthy, is
it really just them as the one too? Do you
think Juar or wood he could get a part of that.
Darry has he remained a third down back or has
that turned over to Woody? How do you kind of
look at the running backs right now and throw Bernish
in there because he could play full back too, So
he's got a little bit of that. What do you
think of this running back position right now?
Speaker 4 (08:56):
And we know Damian Pierce can play special teams. You
know that's true. Yep, you know you've got a tremendous
amount of competition that is the position group this year
that you don't want to have to make a decision
all that you know you're going to, uh do you
keep four? Do you keep just three? He is the guy?
Is the fourth guy fullback? Or is he you know,
(09:17):
one of these running backs that can maybe do both
like British Brooks did last year's War. I thought was excellent,
excellent in pass protection. I mean there are a couple
of times that the ball didn't come out if his
block doesn't happen, and then he follows that up with
the screen pass, you know, so it's it's it's fun
to watch him compete. You know, there are a lot
(09:39):
of young guys after that third spot behind Joe Mixon
and Nick Chubbs. So it it's gonna turn into something
Damien is gonna have to you know, I think, you know,
work his way back into this thing. Who knows, but
it's fun to watch. It's gonna be a tough, tough cutdown.
And I know they're being coached well because one of
the best coaches that have ever been in this organization
(10:02):
is Danny Barrett, and he just knows his stuff. He
knows running backs. He can take guys that, you know,
if they've got to come in here because of injuries,
he gets them prepared and ready. And you see his group.
That happened with his group during the preseason based on
pass protection, because that's how you get on the field fastest.
If you want to impress a coach and you're a
(10:24):
young running back, know the pass protection of every single
play or every pass play, because if they know you
can you can protect the quarterback. Now you've earned some
trust and you're gonna get other things thrown on your plate.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And I saw dB.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I saw Danny on the sideline from our vantage point,
which is long ways away. I saw him get really
excited when Ja Ware cut down one of those linebackers
one time, because we you know this better than anybody, Dray,
because that running back was right in front of you
protecting for you.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
If you can't protect. You want to see the field.
Forget it.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
That's why tych Chandler is sitting at number three for
the Vikings. Ty Chandler is as talented as any back
goes on a field, as talent as many backs, but
he can't pass protect. You don't know where to go.
I don't know what to do. He doesn't hold up.
That's why he don't. They doesn't play. But these guys
that were stepping on a field, they pass protect. And
that's the thing. And I said this on the broadcast.
With a competition as tight as it is, you miss
(11:15):
one pass protection in a game, you go the wrong way,
you block the wrong guy, you get knocked on your wallet.
You don't protect your quarter It could be one time
and they don't trust you. All of a sudden you
drop and man, that could be the difference you making
the team. Missing the cut.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Wow, you're on the bus to the house.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Either buses are playing, you know, out of here. Because uh,
you know, most running backs, especially you see it on
the collegiate level. They come out of high school. They've
all they've run is toss right and toss left. They
haven't been asked to protect the quarterback. And so you know,
that's why parents really have to kind of settle in
to this thing and don't give me on my soapbox
(11:51):
with this. But they think he's play. No, he's not
ready to play, because, yeah, he can run it half
the time, he could maybe catch it fifty percent of
the time, but he has not been asked to pass
protect And there are three key you know categories and
being a complete running back, those are the three.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
No, please go on about the parents, dray, I love this.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Yeah, you don't want me going there. You want me
going there this morning now. But seriously, in all honesty,
this year my group of parents were the best that
I've had every I mean, they allowed me to just
be me. They allowed me to coach tough. They you know,
they won't come to me. They would come to me
(12:35):
behind players backs. Hey he's screwing up in school, can
you run him a little extra? You know, just things
like that, and it's like, oh, yeah, I can. I
can do all those things for you.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Not a problem.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
But it was a pleasure. This year. We finished I
think seventh, ranked seventh in the city, in the Greater
Houston area, So that was kind of a straw in
our hat as well.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Oh very nice, Yeah, very nice, very nice andre Ware
joining us.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
What is this week like in camp?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
I mean, we have another week to go after this
and then the two week prep for the rams for
the veterans to ray. How do you handle this because
you're asked to practice, You need to practice, you want
to get better, you don't want to get hurt, you
want to get better. But you're really in the kind
of dog days here. I guess looking forward to a
joint practice on Thursday helps in another game.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
How do you see it?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
All those vets that have these little soft tissue is
injuries or some things that have been nagging them, this
is the week they come back because they know they're
going to hit a different uniform during practice, and they
also understand that it is kind of wind down time
in terms of training camp. You're not going to do
anything in that final preseason game, but there are a
(13:46):
lot there's a lot of stuff as you just mentioned
and described this week with the joint practices with the
Panthers and then obviously the preseason game on Saturday. So
this is the week that most veterans will get some work.
Most will probably want a little bit of work going
into the season because you know me, I don't believe
(14:07):
that you can go from zero to one hundred. And
that's when injuries happen, is when you start holding guys
holding them and then you're asking your body to go
from zero of not doing anything to one hundred miles
an hour. In an NFL game, something usually gives, and
so you want to ramp your body up. That's what
most vets this week are thinking, though, even those that
(14:29):
may be a little bit hurt and have set out,
but then they'll start making their ways back this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
This week, Dre, I was watching Hard Knocks and I'm
going somewhere with this with the Buffalo Bills, and the
Buffalo Bills go to Saint John Fisher College for their
training camp. They stay in dorms still for training camp.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Did you ever have to do that?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Did you, guys ever go away for camp when you
were playing and you had to go stay in the dorms. No.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
I think Detroit does now, but I'm not sure we
never did it. It was a hotel down from the
Silverdome is where we were housed for training camp, and
we had camp right there at the Silver Dome. The
only place I think that we would do to go
away with was a mini camp every March. The first
week of March, we would go down to Tampa, Florida,
(15:19):
where Wayne's hometown was, or where he lived most of
the off season. That's why we ended up in Florida.
But the excuse was it was still too cold in
Detroit to host a mini camp. So we would go
down there, coaches would party, we'd practice a little bit,
and then about a week or so of that, we'd
come on back to Detroit.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Okay, So this past June, the la Rams decided to
go away for mini camp.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Oh geez.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
They went to Maui.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yes, Now, it was a cool thing because they did
some fundraising and things for the people that suffered the
fires a couple of years ago in Maui, and so
it had a.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Good reason attached to it.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Oh yeah, but if you could go away for training camp,
not training camp, for mini camp, where are you in
training camp for five days? Where would you go, dre,
where would you go if you could go for five
days training camp? We're just pulling up steaks and we're going.
Now you gotta stay domestically anywhere? Oh okay, let's keep
(16:21):
it domestically, Where would you go?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Where would you go?
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Get five?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Take you to Italy man on the southern coast of
Italy and hang out. Now, it's gonna be a little
bit hot there, especially during the times that you're talking about,
unless it's like early in the spring or something. But uh,
you know, you get into the summer months or in
that June area of a mini camp and then it's
gonna be a little bit hot there. But I mean
(16:45):
here at home, I'm at that point I'm thinking weather wise, right,
and so you send me somewhere that's that I can
really unplug and and really focus on what I'm doing.
Maybe Montana, that's what I was thinking. Somewhere in Colorado,
maybe those two states.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I was thinking, it as good as you could have.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
It is as good as you want it because it's
cool and it's sequestered. You are, you're not doing anything
else but being at the Green Borough.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
I think they have a good year. I think they
go back.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
We'll see dre quick note here and I know it's early,
but Texas, Ohio state here we go and one and
two battling. What are your thoughts on that one? Just
an early peak for us?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Please My thoughts overall in college football is we used
to stop ranking teams come into the season and play
it the way the College Football Playoff does it, where
you give it a couple of weeks and then you
go back and prioritize and rank because there is no
way you can tell me with all the Texas lost, Okay,
all the draft picks, I think thirteen two starting right now,
(18:00):
two starting tackles on the offensive line and some others.
They're rebuilding in front of arts, and I think they're
ranked number one because of arts. Let's let's just be honest.
Where's Ohio State ranked? They lost about as much as
as Texas has. I think everybody on their defensive line
was drafted. Uh, and so they're they're ranked high. It's
(18:20):
a great start to the finish, but you have no
idea if this is you know, the type of matchup
that you you're going to be talking about in say October?
Is it? Does it have the same cachet? Does it?
Did it that it had to start the season because
of one of the two teams and the brands and
two where the team's finished last year, and so uh,
(18:43):
I don't want to be Debbie Downer it's a great
matchup to start college football, but we have no idea
who should be ranked where, and we won't know that
until we get out of this somewhat preseason schedule. For
most college football teams to start.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
The year, it better be a great matchup because there
will be some alumni that have They're gonna be very
mad about the checks they wrote to the universities for
the NIO money paid to the athletes for those two
teams because their salary cap. I say that air quotes
is quite high, even though Sark is like, Nah, it's
(19:18):
not that high. It is high, and it's high at
both places, but that's still that's gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
There'll be some some sweet NFL talent there for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
If you want to know what I'm impressed with Sark
About Sark, I'm impressed with of his ability to keep
Arch at Texas. I Mean, I know there's some components
in that, but I think he just got what a
young man that is wired right. But my grip for
the season is no head coaches in college or most
major college programs don't have to develop quarterbacks anymore. He
(19:48):
just go to the portal and find the next best guy,
plug him in, and the next year we're going to
do the exact same things. If you're able to hold
onto your guy and continue to recruit, convince a guy
like arch Man that it's in your best interest to
come here and learn, and then it's yours for a
couple of years if you choose to go past the
one year. I think is outstanding and and Sark has
(20:11):
done a hell of a job with that, convincing him
to sit behind yours and learn and then you know yours.
It says a whole nother story, but he was kind
of ushered out the door, but with having another year
of eligibility. But I think that's a hell of a
deal because in this day and age, you just don't
see development. You see replacement, not development. On the college
(20:33):
level when it comes to quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Dre' is certainly not wrong about that. There is no question.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
All we get back my partner up in the booth
on Saturday, nd Kloud jumps in with Mark and myself
looking forward to hearing from the Rice Owl. All American
at least, that's why I believe in my head, I
think you've made an All American in one time in
d so I'm giving it to you.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
We'll talk to nd next right here in Texas All Access.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Just going on, everybody, walking back to Monday ed issue
of Texas All Access from the Hoday, Texas Radio studio.
I'm John Harris foot playanals sideline report, getting ready to
take on the Panthers in a joint practice on Thursday
in a game on Saturday. Carolina coming here Wednesday, and
that's gonna be fun. In the joint practice, We'll see
how that's gonna go against the NFC South Folk Carolina
(21:19):
Panthers on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
It's gonna be a good time.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
It's the last open practice of the year, so hopefully
you got your tickets and you are ready to go
on Thursday. Now, I know a guy that enjoyed practice
or in a game, was ready to get after it
at all times. He gets after it on the radio
with us and with me up in the booth on
preseason games, and that's Indie Klue. We had a lot
of things to talk about with nd Klu, but he
(21:45):
basically set us straight on our newest ipp player. And
I'm not even gonna try and pronounce hey guys name.
I'm gonna let ind tell us how to pronounce.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
It, rip it out of the gun, gets the snap.
He's got a little time. Now he's in problem.
Speaker 7 (21:59):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Two Hill has him for a sacked on third.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Down, big sack at a big time Texans down three about
to get the rock back. I got two Hills name
right of course into b C UNDBC.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I like Kevin handle that one. I was about to say, guy,
you guys got it. He got he got I mean,
I'm not saying it.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I think I got it.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
But it was like, is that the right way to
say because it just happened so fast?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
When I looked at the phonetic spelling of him, like
that's easy, und b c.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Oh, it's easy, No, I know, butatically, yeah, it doesn't.
Names take a while to roll off the tongue second nature.
But undeb C is the international pathway player that got
a sack in that game. Great to see he blocks
out the sun my goodness. In fact, I want to
get into his opinion on him. How you doing, my friend?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
And is intobuis? And the reason I know this is
we're from the same tribe. And if you look at
his last name, his last name starts in du. My
first name starts in du So. As soon as I
saw his name when I was getting ready for the game,
I was like, oh, okay, so he's an Ebo man.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So yes, this is Oh that's right.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
The boo is in there too. Yeah, my bad, the
boo is in there. I forgot about the boo.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I mean, it's almost as if you just as you
look at it, when you hear the you're like, oh,
just kind of pronounce each you know, exactly, valve as
you go through.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
In some sense, it's true, you know, and you're right.
The Nigerian names are largely phonetical. It's kind of like
if you just follow along, but you know, when you
look at consonants jammed together, sometimes it can feel like,
oh what am I getting into here?
Speaker 6 (23:36):
So even for me when I when I see some
of these names, I'm like, oh, I'm about to have
my Nigerian card revoked if I don't pronounce yeah, just
pronounced every letter, and I is always pronounced e.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
So okay.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It's like smolling names. Sometimes the G is an N
or a like punga.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Put ups this name n D and give us your
thoughtssery arian erser.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
What'd you think of the big fella on Saturday.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
Initially, John, I was like, when I heard about what
his potential play count was gonna be, and I've heard
them rave about him throughout camp. I've heard and read
from you about him. So when I saw him play
and he only did the first you know, play the
first drive, but I saw his movement, I saw the
athleticism and the technique and this guy is a rookie,
(24:29):
but he plays and he approaches the game like a
vet and I see it. It's it's it's amazing, and
I'm looking forward to see him in the regular season
where he has to pick up different line stunts that
he may not see in the preseason. But everything that
I saw, he's lived up to the hype. I only
saw a couple of practices, so I was really anxious
to see him in a game. And this is a
(24:50):
guy that you just feel confident even though he's a rookie,
and that doesn't mean he's going to shut down every
pass rusher. You know, in the regular season, there's some
great pass rushers that he's gonna but man, I just
feel like, unlike, it feels very similar to back when
Dwayne Brown was on this team, where you say you
know what, even though he's a rookie, I'm expecting him
(25:11):
to play and play well in his first season.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
What about the running game in general on that opening
drive and what it's set up through the air as
they scored to answer the Minnesota field goal.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
And here's the thing about that running game. You know,
you want to give credit to all the running backs
who touched the ball and they were picking up the
positive yards, but what I noticed a lot of those
guys weren't getting touched until two three yards down the field.
And just overall versatility with the play calling. And it's
easy to be versatile with the play calling when you're
having success throwing the ball, when you're having success running
the ball, when your offensive line is protecting the quarterback
(25:44):
and opening up small holes for the running backs that
first drive. If it was your first team offense that
had that first drive, I would have felt good about
it and I would have stated, Okay, get him out
of the game. But it coming from your second team,
mainly your second team, Davis Mills, it just makes you
feel that much better about the depth and the offensive
line competition.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Indy Clue with us, Indy, you know, the defensive line
better than anybody. You and Seth can see things that
a lot of people aren't gonna see. Tommy TOGIAI we
pointed out a couple of times during the broadcast what
he was able to do. And he almost doesn't even
look like a defensive lineman because he's like six to
one and a half.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I mean, he's lucky if.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
He gets the six to two, but he's stout. He's
very strong, like upstairs, like he is built. I mean
he's big upfront up top. But he had a pretty
solid game after that. I don't know that anything was
really excitable about the defensive line, but just Togia and
what you're able to see from a guy that plays
on the interior that kind does it look like an
(26:46):
interior guy, but played really really.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Well the other day. What'd you think of him in
the defensive line?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
You know, he's a guy that is gonna add depth
and look, it's a long season. Guys are gonna get
nicked up. He's one of those guys John that when
you find out or you look like, oh he's starting
this week, you don't expect to drop off. And it's
because of his consistency. It's because of his hand placement.
It's because of his leverage. You know, you and I
talked about during the broadcast that it's annoying that these
(27:14):
NFL scouts and they're always talking about we want six
six six y five defensive linemen, but once they get
on the team, they're preaching leverage, and then we talk
about low man wins. He does a great job utilizing
his leverage, and I just like his versatility. And you
know you talked about not really seeing the other guys
that stood out. Casey two Hills is another one that
I really like. When you talk about depths, when you
(27:36):
look at the starting four, I think this starting for
a defensive line may be the best in the AFC South,
And I hope that's not hyperbole. I would have to
kind of juxtapose it with some of the other d lines,
but just off the top of my head, especially when
you factor in Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter, I think
this is the best defensive line in the in the division.
And then when you look at guys like Casey two
(27:58):
Hill with the experience that he has, I love his technique.
I love his motor and no, I'm not saying motor
because he's a white guy. I'm saying motive because this
guy does go all out every single play regardless of
his race. That he's just a good football player. I'm
excited about those guys. So there's a lot of depth
that's been added to an already great front four.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
You went there with motor. See that's the thing.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
You know. As soon as I said it, I was like, oh, geez.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
It's funny to bring that up because these conversations come
up and I like to say Will has a relentless motor,
and it's like, are you just doing that to prove
that you're No. No, Will has an amazing owner. It
just doesn't stop right. He does got the game face.
But and I'll go with you on that D line.
Take when you look at the depth of this defensive line,
it's one of the top two or three in the league.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
It's got to be.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
When you look at bringing Barnett off the bench and
last year he scores two touchdowns for you, I mean,
there are things that happen that are magical with this
front four. And it's all coached by Jamiico, Ryans, Matt Burke,
rod Wright.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
So tell me this ND.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
We have the privilege of having the production meeting the
day before the game for the broadcast, and this happens
every week around the league. It's usually CBS, Fox and
other networks ESPN where they have a production meeting with
the coach, maybe the GM, maybe a couple of players.
But we had a chance to visit with Demiko, Nick Caley,
Nick Assirio, Titus Howard.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
So that was really good.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Tell the listener a little bit about what your takeaways
were from that, because it's off the record, yet stuff
is delivered to help amplify the knowledge of the broadcasters
about the team and things they can share with the audience.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
So what did you take away?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Give me a couple of takeaways from that meeting that
we had on Friday with the staff.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
The one big one that resonated with me didn't have
anything to do with football. It didn't have anything to
do with x's and o's and I don't know and
did not know anything about Nick Hayley. But there was
a question and I wasn't sure if I should bring
this up on air, but fin you know, I'll bring
it up here when I say on air during the
television during the game. But they asked Nick Kayley about
(30:06):
Aziz al Shaire and his story and you know where
he came from, from being homeless to going to fau
to where he's at now, and he got emotional. He
had to stop talking, he had to, you know, kind
of gather himself. And what that told me is a
former player, this guy cares about his players. I mean,
(30:27):
as these is not part of his position group, he's
not on the offensive side of the ball. He did
recruit him in college and he knows his story and
apparently he kept in touch with him even after their
past went in different directions and now they're back on
the same team. But when he broke down and not
like a punk. You know, I don't want anybody tweeting
at him calling him a punk, but you know when
he broke down because he truly cares for that guy
(30:50):
and he's amazed at where he's, where he's at and
where he's come from. He just told me, like, man,
this guy cares about his players. And you know who
else notices that the player, Like when you hear about
guys saying they're going to run through a brick roll
for a certain coach, is a guy like Nick Kayley.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, that that moment kind of come because I know
last year when we were in a production meeting with Disease,
when he was done, I mean, we went Typically you
go with the player eight ten minutes, maybe you get
to get a few good nuggets, and if the guy
is good, you know, you might go a little bit
longer than that because he's enjoying the discussion. We're enjoying
the discussion. We went for about forty five minutes last
(31:26):
year with Disease. It was before the Giants game. I
don't think he played in the Steelers game. Maybe he did,
but he got him for the Giants game and he
was in there for about forty five minutes with us,
and when he left, I just was I want to
hug this guy. I want this guy to stay with
this organization.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
I wanted to read you my life.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, as long as humanly possible, I wanted that guy
near me. And here's the thing, Indyan, and this is
what I think this organization.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
We talk about swarm all the time.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
We talk about the things that Texans players that come
in here, you want them to be able to do.
And indeed, you probably have known many of these You
were this way off the field. You are a teddy bear,
You're like the nicest guy we've ever seen. But on
the field, you flip the switch and a Ease is
exactly that way. Off the field, you got a discussion
(32:16):
with Disease about anything, and when he starts telling you
his life story, you're like, oh my goodness. He is
off the field the most gentle human being like you arend.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
But on the field that switch flips.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
It goes from being high I'm azz too, I'm gonna
bleep your bleep up like in a moment, and it
feels like that's what this team has really, Yeah, all
the swarm and all that.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
It feels like they've got more of.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Those guys than they've ever had in d What are
your thoughts?
Speaker 6 (32:44):
None? You love that? I mean, if you really want
to see what this team's about, what this defense is about,
just come out to a practice. I mean, you mentioned
Azase and that's why it hurts me when he's been
branded or painted as this bad guy, this dirty player.
He's just intense. He's playing football the way we were
taught to play football. And I know it's a new
day and age and you have to kind of adjust
(33:05):
to it, but when you know his story. When you
know him as a person and then you see some
of what you may call questionable plays. I don't think
any of them are questionable. He just plays, you know,
full speed. You know you hate to hear the way
and see the way he's kind of been vilified around
the NFL. But a lot of those guys, you know
Danil Hunter, I had a chance to talk to him, and,
(33:26):
like you said, just a nice guy, just a great guy.
Then you see him out there, he's a maniac. Jalen
Petrie might be the nicest human beings that you've ever met,
but he's just a tackling machine. He wants to knock
your head off when you get him on the field.
And guess who was really like that? Tmiko Ryans. I mean,
this was a guy when I played with him for
three years, he was in the locker room before anybody
(33:47):
reading his scriptures. But then when we get on the
field on Sunday, he seems like he's deemon possessed and
he was a cursing I'm just talking about the way
he plays and the way he had joy in knocking
people out. That's the Miko Ryans And it's pretty cool
to see this entire defense take that same personality. If
that can carry over to the offense, man, it's gonna
(34:08):
be a special, special season.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Okay, what is this week like for the team? Here
we are, this is the middle of it all. Really,
I know we're several weeks in, but you played a
preseason game, you have a joint practice Thursday of another game,
and then you have all of next week another joint practice,
another game on the road. Get a long way to
go yet, it's gonna all happen very quickly at the
same time, kind of two things happening at once.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
Here.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
What is this week like for the players?
Speaker 6 (34:34):
Indeed, Well, it's cool what you brought up to the
joint practice. That's what breaks everything up, because now you're
starting to feel like Groundhall Day, you know the movie
where you wake up and everything's the same day in
and day out. Now that you've had a chance to
get back from West Virginia, a lot of the starters
they didn't play, so they're gonna be kind of a
little bit anxious to get back on the practice field.
(34:54):
And then Thursday you have the Panthers stepping on your
practice field. This is something you don't see because the
hammers aren't really out there. There'll be a couple of
fights and scuffles, but your practice field that means more
to you than your actual stadium, and just go ask
the player because that's where you're at every day of
the week. So when you see these these yahoos with
(35:14):
different uniforms actually walking onto your practice field and throwing
their orange slices onto your you know, onto the grass
where your guys have to go pick it up, like,
you want to defend that as much, if not more
than the home stadium because that's that's like your every day,
that's your second home. So it's gonna be pretty intense,
and it's pretty cool just to kind of that break
(35:35):
in the day where you're like, oh no, we're not
gonna let these panthers come in here and out practice
us on our practice field. So that's gonna give them
something else to look flok forward too. Then you have
the game, and then you mentioned then you're getting ready
for the last preseason game, and we all know leading
into that last preseason game, you're really just getting ready
for Week one. So it's gonna move pretty fast here
(35:55):
for the players.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Cut your arn slices off my practice seal.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
How dare you.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
They're all chewed up, the peals are there. It's disgusting.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
It's the best ever.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
That's one of the things I remember as a kid
my mom in the kitchen. My dad coached at a
small school in Wisconsin before we moved here, and my
mom would be slicing orange slices for his players and
they would just have buckets of them, and I always
thought that was the coolest thing. I associated for the
longest time orange slices with football, like they just kind
of go hand in hand. And then I got here
(36:28):
to Texas and it was like, they didn't even give
us water. The first year I was here, we got
ice chips.
Speaker 5 (36:33):
Oh you did. Junction boys.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
They were junction boys styles, Like, we got to change this.
Luckily we had a new trainer coming the next next
year and Coach d was like, no, no.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
No, we drink water. Water's good, sleep is good. Orange
slices say, we didn't have as many.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
And I had to explain to some of the younglings
here what the junction boys were. Okay, but it's okay
because that's just part of history anyway.
Speaker 5 (36:53):
And d how is the TV broadcast?
Speaker 6 (36:57):
Oh, it's always good. It's always a great time, especially
now you know with John up there. There was one
little hitch from what I remember was when CJ was
being interviewed and what I loved about it, and we
didn't have a chance to talk about it. He's so
in tune with what's going on on the field. He
was being interviewed in the third quarter, but his attention
(37:18):
was on the field, and I was just thinking to
myself as I was watching it and shout out to
Shelby for trying to keep it all together. That's what
I want my quarterback to be, a guy that's so
in tune with the team that in the third quarter
of a preseason game, his focus is on the drive.
So I thought that was funny. It was hard for
the broadcast crew, but it was pretty cool for a
(37:39):
football fan to see how in tune your quarterback is.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Indeed, Klue one of my favorites man. I love getting
to stand next to him. Kevin Coogler up in a booth.
We had a great time this past week, and we'll
have another one on Saturday, kickoff noon NI against Carolina Panthers.
You can see in OKTRK channel thirteen if you're somehow
traveling and you're going somewhere else. Our game because it's
home game, and our broadcast will then be featured on
NFL Network, so you can see that. If you're out
(38:04):
in traveling and you don't have a way to see
the game live, well you can watch on NFL Network.
I don't know if you can see it at noon
on Saturday, but you'll eventually be able to see it
on NFL Network if you haven't put it on your
DVR up in the cloud or however you do it nowadays,
because we all do things differently nowadays. Then we used
to do them when we just had to hit the
VCR button and hope it recorded, and then you recorded
over friends, and then.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
You were really mad. So there you go.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
All right, Coming up next, John McClain, the General, the
Hall of Famer, He will join us, gave us his thoughts.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Next right here on Texans All Access.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
All right, here we go, final segment of Monday edition
of Texas All Access before we turn it over to
Area forty five. I'm your host, John Harris, Football on
a sideline reporter. Tough day for the Texans, one of
our favorites, and I'm not alone when I say this,
Brevin Jordan injured at practice. Don't know the status. I'm
sure there will be reports coming out, but as we
(38:56):
found out last week at the Greenbrier with CJ. Garner Johnson,
take it all over the grain of salt until you
get some sort of formal announcement if you will, about
what happened with Brev. I just the scene itself was tough.
It's tough to talk about. I love the man and
I hope he's able to come back sooner than what
(39:18):
many people may expect. So that was tough news to hear. Okay,
let's finish the show up as strongly as we possibly can.
That means we bring in the Hall of Fame with
the General John McClain, who sat down with me and
Mark and gave his thoughts about what he saw right
off the bat Texans versus the Vikings.
Speaker 7 (39:35):
I thought that first series with Davis Mills at quarterback
was as crisp as you could get. Boom boom boom,
straight down the field top Mills looked great. Started to
think after the season, I think did he is his
extension this year or did he sign for next year?
I think his contract is up.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Right after this just this year, one year was finished.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
I think that Nick Serio has got to do some
serious thinking and Dimiko and then Davis Mills has got
to do some serious thinking. Does he want to sign
a multier extension here? To back up CJ. Stroud? He
and his wife are very comfortable and happy year. Does
he want to try to catch on with another team?
(40:22):
He knows what it's like to play for a bad
team like he did when he was a rookie who
had some good games. So I just think right now,
if you're a Texans fan, that you are very comfortable
that Davis Mills has to play. And I thought there
were a lot of players that stood out. You know,
you guys talk about speed. There were a bunch of
(40:44):
defensive players and John Tewett. One of the reasons I
I like, let's see, how can I not offend Mark
like watching you and Andy, but especially you, is because
you've seen everything every day and you know football, so
I like hearing your opinions about the technical stuff and
(41:07):
the players. And you do a great job not just
on this show but also on TV. But watching those guys.
You said two weeks ago when we were sweating over
at practice, that you said, I don't know which side
he's going to be on, but Ersery's going to be
in the lineup. And I think the more we see
of Ursery, the more impressive impressive he is. Every year
(41:32):
they're a rookie offensive lineman who play well and stand
out and they don't have to be taken in the
first round. And I think based on the early returns
of the offseason practice and now preseason games, arionte Ersery
is here to stay. And you know, Kenyon Green didn't
(41:54):
work out, Juice scrubs third year, don't know if he's
gonna play or not, and Blake Fisher really struggled. Maybe
Ursery's a second round pick that they've hit on, and
this kid is going to play maybe right backle as
a rookie. When Cam Robinson comes back. Robinson's on a
(42:15):
one year deal, we'll move to the left side. It
was fun watching the offense go down the field and
the offensive line look good. Now I realize both teams
held out a lot of starters before what you're looking
at at a time like that, they look good. Darry Gumberwally,
he's made. They're gonna have a tough decisions to make
(42:37):
and running back. Now, if Joe Mixon isn't available to
start the season, then it'll be won't be as difficult.
You know, what he marks is going to make the team.
You know, Nick Chubb and Joe Mixon are going to
make the team. And darry because he is so versabile
and so valuable in that role and he averaged five
(42:58):
point eight yards carry that he's gonna force his way
onto this roster. But I can't wait to see the
difficult decisions that Nick Casario Dimiko Ryant's are gonna have
when they have to cut it down. And one more thing,
I can't remember the experts I was watching. It might
have been bro Football Focus talking about Detexans that could
(43:20):
not are not good at defensive tackle and they're gonna
have to think about making a trade. And I'm like,
have you not watched this team defensive tackle? It's gonna
be one of the toughest cuts on the team. The
defensive line is gonna be one of the toughest toughest
cuts on the team. And so I love watching those linemen,
(43:41):
love watching the dbs. You know Yeast. Yeast has come
out of nowhere and is making big plays. We knew
all about speed. But the better these guys do, the
harder they make it on Caserio and maybe instead of
cutting guys, he can get low picks for him. And
we know how he likes to use those low picks
(44:03):
on draft day.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, it definitely does, and can package him to move
up higher. He can package him to get something next
year as well. So you're right, John, One position that
you didn't mention, I think got more interesting on Saturday
with the performance of Braxton Barrios and John Metchi. Now
we've seen both of them have pretty solid camps, but
Braxton really popped with the Braxton had three targets one
(44:26):
touchdown catch first down, first down, with each of the
other on third down, so he had a number of targets.
Mechi led the team with five receptions. This receiver room,
it just gets more difficult who they're going to keep.
Exavier Hutchinson had a really good week at the greenbri
Jade Higgins on Wednesday at the Green Bar was tremendous.
(44:47):
Receiver seems to be getting just as difficult as a
lot of other positions.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
General.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
What do you think about Barrios and Mechi and kind
of how that maybe makes a decision that much more
difficult a receiver.
Speaker 7 (44:58):
The top four or said, and that's Collins, Higgins, Kirk
and Noel and so. Then because Barrios shows no signs
of the injury he had last year, he can return
kickoff and punts, and he can catch. I would say
that unless he just bombs out, which I don't expect
(45:21):
him to do, he's gonna make it. Because he can
do both returns and he can catch, and he has experience.
Then you know, I think they could get a pick
for John Madgie before they could get one of Xavier Hutchinson.
Hutchinson had two catches, and he's big and he's good
on special teams. That's the one that's gonna be tough.
(45:45):
Now Watson, you know Watson two years ago every seventeen
yards of catch for the Chiefs. Last year, I think
it was almost fifteen. And Kenny Kenny forced his way
into the conversation. But if they do, we think they're
keep five or six.
Speaker 5 (46:02):
That's that's the question.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
At least six maybe I would think at least six,
maybe seven if you count Barrios as a return guy
who can do other things.
Speaker 5 (46:11):
Although if.
Speaker 7 (46:13):
All right, I'm counting Barrios as five, then it would
come down to Matchie and Hutchinson and special teams. I
don't see him keeping seven receivers because they'd have to
cut back in another spot and uh so and I
do think they could get a pick or uh Matchie
before they could get a pick for Hudgenson.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Well, last year they kept seven, but Steven Sims was
one of them as a return guy.
Speaker 5 (46:40):
So we'll see. And those Mechi was I mean not Mechi.
Speaker 3 (46:43):
Metchi had five catches you look good burios receptions where
he just kind of ran along the line, just very
shallow route. Nice throws, good catch, got around, got a
little yack, got the first down, like you said, Very
good to see.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
All right, I'll do.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
That'll put our game in Minnesota to bed. Final thoughts
all done, preseason game out of the way. Now we
look forward to the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
All right.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Big thanks to John McClain, to Ndcollude, to Andre Ware,
to my man Mark Vandermir, to all you for listening,
Thank you so very much, and as always, go Texans.
Typing. Everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Welcome to Monday edition that Texans All Access from the
Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John Harris, football analyst,
sideline reporter of the booth for preseason TV games, and
glad to be with you on a day that well,
we'll get into a little bit of this. We're gonna
hear from our guys Andre ware, d Clue and John
(00:22):
McClain a little later in the show, But a little
bit of news first. We don't know the status at
this point of anything, and obviously we found out when
we were in West Virginia. Never jumped to conclusions on things,
but Brevin Jordan injured at practice been reported by a
number of different sources. That's basically what we know at
(00:43):
this point. I don't really want to get into what,
you know, what it could be, what it might not be,
what everybody else is saying. I don't really give a
damn about what everybody else is putting out there, because
last week is put out there and is wrong, and
so we're not going to do any of that. But
just seeing Brev have to leave practice was just a
gut punch for a lot of different people. People in
(01:06):
a building that know Brev really well, you know this,
this stinks and I am one of those it's been
kind of hard to talk about this. This is kind
of practiced before the show what I was going to say,
and I know there's no good way to say it,
but I love Brev, love him, just love him as
a person, player, whatever it might be. But I just
(01:28):
love that man, and I hope he's going to be
okay and back as as soon as he possibly can.
But that's the news on brevit George. So we got
to continue, just like they did it practice day. We
got to keep going, and we're going to start with
the man we always start with on a Monday after
a game over the weekend, Andre where now two of
(01:49):
the three of us have had a back issue, a
similar back issue to the one that Matt Stafford's dealing with.
We wanted to get Dre Stotts because he's kind of
going through it right now, and we started off asking
him about this report about Matt Stafford's back and what
Dre thought about it.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Let's get back injury expert in here, Andre Ware, who
also happens to be our color commentator in the nineteen
eighty nine Heisman Trophy winner, but he also knows about
back injuries. Drake, good morning. How do you think stafore
feeling he's gonna practice? But what is the long term
for this doctor ware in your opinion with the disc
problem that Stafford has.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, I know a little bit about that, and uh,
I know that it can feel one way one minute,
and then all of a sudden it flares up and
it's a totally It'll do a oneint eighty where you
feel like you can play, you feel like you're making
all this progress, and then all of a sudden one
day you wake up and there's no rhyme or reason
to it. It just happens. And if it's if it
(02:49):
happens to be something along the lines of sciatica, uh man,
that that is, that's gonna be tough for him to
deal with all season oouch.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Two of the three of us have had this back issue,
and two of the three of us have had the
epidural shots.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That Matt Stafford's taken.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Now, none of the three of us had surgery that
alleviated my pain, So I just imagine what it's like
when you have that epidural shot. Hey, you got a
couple hours you feel good and then all of a
sudden it flares back up. And that's kind of my
that was my experience with it. I know Dre had
that same experience, Trey. Let's get to this.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
He could go ahead, Johnny, feel good for a while.
It could go right around a month. But I just
don't understand. I just don't comprehend anyone trying to play
play aff in the NFL. There's any football game, but
in an NFL game dealing with that and if it's
if that's what it is, it's gonna be a long, tough,
(03:46):
tough year for him because, like I said, that epidural
shot could last him a month. It could last him
a couple of hours, it might last a week. You
just don't know. Everybody responds differently to it.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, the one thing that I'm pretty sure of is
it won't last seventeen weeks. Uh So, if I'm playing
the rams we tested this before Dre, I would just
I would blitz him all day long until he just
like I can't take it anymore. It was interesting on
Saturday because my girlfriend was in one booth and my
wife was in the other booth, and it was just
odd that I'm in between the two of them.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
But how much did y'all miss me on Saturday?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And what were your big takeaways from the game on So,
what's the biggest takeaway you took out of Saturday? Dreh.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah, it's funny that you use that analogy. I was
watching something the other day where a reporter was asking
an NBA player, and it's a true story why he
played so bad. I mean, he couldn't hit anything, couldn't
even get it to the rim, missing free throws. That's
a pretty good player. And then all of a sudden
he looked up after the game, sitting in his locker
(04:51):
and he said, Man, my wife was sitting next to
my girlfriend in all game long. So so yeah, during
the game, and so you can't hit you can't throw
it in the ocean, man. But I enjoyed. I enjoyed Saturday.
I thought there were some really good parts in the game,
(05:12):
especially early offensively. Ursery is going to be a player,
and I was pleasantly surprised. He has just got to
get on the voyage of getting better, a little bit
better every single day. He's gonna want to see it
in leaps and bounds because he's a young player, but
it's gonna come in short spurts, and he's got to
(05:32):
be willing to just accept it as that learn from it,
try not to make the same mistake twice. But I
think they were onto something. This second round pick from Minnesota,
him having gone back to the city that he was
playing in, so it was a good start from a
comfort standpoint from him. Higgins I thought did some good things.
(05:52):
There are some young players who did a lot of
good things. EJ. Speed, a free agent signing in the offseason,
played his butt off in the first half, so made
several big plays. Three that come to mind right away.
So all the new pickups, new being rookies, free agents,
a lot of them made play Saturday.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, let's talk about the receivers here, Drake, because Jalen
Nole had had that screen catch and run where he
broke the tackle you talked about Higgins, he had a
couple of catches in the game. Burrios had three at
the touchdown when he went with a pilon pilon. Yeah,
what about this group because they showed some things that
we didn't see Nico or Kirk.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
There. You know, there's some excitement there because you didn't
see the top end guys, but other guys were making plays,
and so they're just gonna fit right in along with
the guys who didn't play. And there's competition, isn't There
Always a guy that kind of flashes during camp, early
in camp and he wind up being becoming a fan
(06:56):
of this guy? Does he make it? And you're, you know,
holding your breath for him through the entire camp, and
then all of a sudden, you know, either either makes
it or doesn't, and you feel one way or the
other about it. But there's always one guy, and I
think Barrios is that guy for me this year. He
just you just sense the energy in which he plays
the game with and by that his love for the
(07:18):
game is genuine. It just exudes uh confidence. Uh he
bounces around. You just see it in every route that
he runs, every time he touches the football. So he's
a really really fun young man to watch play.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You know who that was for me last year?
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Who was British Brooks.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, British Brooks is that guy because every time he
touched the football it was like he did something, you know,
like he ran somebody over, he ran through a guy
in the end zone and then Saturday.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
He dropped the hammer.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
On Tyfeld on that kickoff, I mean flying down and
our our ground mics, uh, that field level mics must
have been cranked up to ten because every time there
was a collision it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
A bomb going off in our ears. And that sounded like.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
A bomb going off when British landed that hit on Felton.
So that leads me to running backs. Dray Nick Chubb
a little banged up at the Green Brier, should be okay.
We should see him soon, but we haven't seen Joe Mixon.
Damian Pierce is kind of ramping up a little bit.
I know Jure and wood he didn't do a lot
on the ground, but I thought their pass protection was
(08:26):
pretty solid. And then Dari gave you what you got
out of Dara on that first drive and then you
went what fifty something yards on eight or nine carries
or whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
How do you look at this.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Running back position? If Joe and Nick are healthy, is
it really just them as the one too? Do you
think Juar or wood he could get a part of that.
Darry has he remained a third down back or has
that turned over to Woody? How do you kind of
look at the running backs right now and throw Bernish
in there because he could play full back too, So
he's got a little bit of that. What do you
think of this running back position right now?
Speaker 4 (08:56):
And we know Damian Pierce can play special teams. You
know that's true. Yep, you know you've got a tremendous
amount of competition that is the position group this year
that you don't want to have to make a decision
all that you know you're going to, uh do you
keep four? Do you keep just three? He is the guy?
Is the fourth guy fullback? Or is he you know,
(09:17):
one of these running backs that can maybe do both
like British Brooks did last year's War. I thought was excellent,
excellent in pass protection. I mean there are a couple
of times that the ball didn't come out if his
block doesn't happen, and then he follows that up with
the screen pass, you know, so it's it's it's fun
to watch him compete. You know, there are a lot
(09:39):
of young guys after that third spot behind Joe Mixon
and Nick Chubbs. So it it's gonna turn into something
Damien is gonna have to you know, I think, you know,
work his way back into this thing. Who knows, but
it's fun to watch. It's gonna be a tough, tough cutdown.
And I know they're being coached well because one of
the best coaches that have ever been in this organization
(10:02):
is Danny Barrett, and he just knows his stuff. He
knows running backs. He can take guys that, you know,
if they've got to come in here because of injuries,
he gets them prepared and ready. And you see his group.
That happened with his group during the preseason based on
pass protection, because that's how you get on the field fastest.
If you want to impress a coach and you're a
(10:24):
young running back, know the pass protection of every single
play or every pass play, because if they know you
can you can protect the quarterback. Now you've earned some
trust and you're gonna get other things thrown on your plate.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And I saw dB.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I saw Danny on the sideline from our vantage point,
which is long ways away. I saw him get really
excited when Ja Ware cut down one of those linebackers
one time, because we you know this better than anybody, Dray,
because that running back was right in front of you
protecting for you.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
If you can't protect. You want to see the field.
Forget it.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
That's why tych Chandler is sitting at number three for
the Vikings. Ty Chandler is as talented as any back
goes on a field, as talent as many backs, but
he can't pass protect. You don't know where to go.
I don't know what to do. He doesn't hold up.
That's why he don't. They doesn't play. But these guys
that were stepping on a field, they pass protect. And
that's the thing. And I said this on the broadcast.
With a competition as tight as it is, you miss
(11:15):
one pass protection in a game, you go the wrong way,
you block the wrong guy, you get knocked on your wallet.
You don't protect your quarter It could be one time
and they don't trust you. All of a sudden you
drop and man, that could be the difference you making
the team. Missing the cut.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Wow, you're on the bus to the house.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Either buses are playing, you know, out of here. Because uh,
you know, most running backs, especially you see it on
the collegiate level. They come out of high school. They've
all they've run is toss right and toss left. They
haven't been asked to protect the quarterback. And so you know,
that's why parents really have to kind of settle in
to this thing and don't give me on my soapbox
(11:51):
with this. But they think he's play. No, he's not
ready to play, because, yeah, he can run it half
the time, he could maybe catch it fifty percent of
the time, but he has not been asked to pass
protect And there are three key you know categories and
being a complete running back, those are the three.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
No, please go on about the parents, dray, I love this.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Yeah, you don't want me going there. You want me
going there this morning now. But seriously, in all honesty,
this year my group of parents were the best that
I've had every I mean, they allowed me to just
be me. They allowed me to coach tough. They you know,
they won't come to me. They would come to me
(12:35):
behind players backs. Hey he's screwing up in school, can
you run him a little extra? You know, just things
like that, and it's like, oh, yeah, I can. I
can do all those things for you.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Not a problem.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
But it was a pleasure. This year. We finished I
think seventh, ranked seventh in the city, in the Greater
Houston area, So that was kind of a straw in
our hat as well.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Oh very nice, Yeah, very nice, very nice andre Ware
joining us.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
What is this week like in camp?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
I mean, we have another week to go after this
and then the two week prep for the rams for
the veterans to ray. How do you handle this because
you're asked to practice, You need to practice, you want
to get better, you don't want to get hurt, you
want to get better. But you're really in the kind
of dog days here. I guess looking forward to a
joint practice on Thursday helps in another game.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
How do you see it?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
All those vets that have these little soft tissue is
injuries or some things that have been nagging them, this
is the week they come back because they know they're
going to hit a different uniform during practice, and they
also understand that it is kind of wind down time
in terms of training camp. You're not going to do
anything in that final preseason game, but there are a
(13:46):
lot there's a lot of stuff as you just mentioned
and described this week with the joint practices with the
Panthers and then obviously the preseason game on Saturday. So
this is the week that most veterans will get some work.
Most will probably want a little bit of work going
into the season because you know me, I don't believe
(14:07):
that you can go from zero to one hundred. And
that's when injuries happen, is when you start holding guys
holding them and then you're asking your body to go
from zero of not doing anything to one hundred miles
an hour. In an NFL game, something usually gives, and
so you want to ramp your body up. That's what
most vets this week are thinking, though, even those that
(14:29):
may be a little bit hurt and have set out,
but then they'll start making their ways back this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
This week, Dre, I was watching Hard Knocks and I'm
going somewhere with this with the Buffalo Bills, and the
Buffalo Bills go to Saint John Fisher College for their
training camp. They stay in dorms still for training camp.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Did you ever have to do that?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Did you, guys ever go away for camp when you
were playing and you had to go stay in the dorms. No.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
I think Detroit does now, but I'm not sure we
never did it. It was a hotel down from the
Silverdome is where we were housed for training camp, and
we had camp right there at the Silver Dome. The
only place I think that we would do to go
away with was a mini camp every March. The first
week of March, we would go down to Tampa, Florida,
(15:19):
where Wayne's hometown was, or where he lived most of
the off season. That's why we ended up in Florida.
But the excuse was it was still too cold in
Detroit to host a mini camp. So we would go
down there, coaches would party, we'd practice a little bit,
and then about a week or so of that, we'd
come on back to Detroit.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Okay, So this past June, the la Rams decided to
go away for mini camp.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Oh geez.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
They went to Maui.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yes, Now, it was a cool thing because they did
some fundraising and things for the people that suffered the
fires a couple of years ago in Maui, and so
it had a.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Good reason attached to it.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Oh yeah, but if you could go away for training camp,
not training camp, for mini camp, where are you in
training camp for five days? Where would you go, dre,
where would you go if you could go for five
days training camp? We're just pulling up steaks and we're going.
Now you gotta stay domestically anywhere? Oh okay, let's keep
(16:21):
it domestically, Where would you go?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Where would you go?
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Get five?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Take you to Italy man on the southern coast of
Italy and hang out. Now, it's gonna be a little
bit hot there, especially during the times that you're talking about,
unless it's like early in the spring or something. But uh,
you know, you get into the summer months or in
that June area of a mini camp and then it's
gonna be a little bit hot there. But I mean
(16:45):
here at home, I'm at that point I'm thinking weather wise, right,
and so you send me somewhere that's that I can
really unplug and and really focus on what I'm doing.
Maybe Montana, that's what I was thinking. Somewhere in Colorado,
maybe those two states.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I was thinking, it as good as you could have.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
It is as good as you want it because it's
cool and it's sequestered. You are, you're not doing anything
else but being at the Green Borough.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
I think they have a good year. I think they
go back.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
We'll see dre quick note here and I know it's early,
but Texas, Ohio state here we go and one and
two battling. What are your thoughts on that one? Just
an early peak for us?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Please My thoughts overall in college football is we used
to stop ranking teams come into the season and play
it the way the College Football Playoff does it, where
you give it a couple of weeks and then you
go back and prioritize and rank because there is no
way you can tell me with all the Texas lost, Okay,
all the draft picks, I think thirteen two starting right now,
(18:00):
two starting tackles on the offensive line and some others.
They're rebuilding in front of arts, and I think they're
ranked number one because of arts. Let's let's just be honest.
Where's Ohio State ranked? They lost about as much as
as Texas has. I think everybody on their defensive line
was drafted. Uh, and so they're they're ranked high. It's
(18:20):
a great start to the finish, but you have no
idea if this is you know, the type of matchup
that you you're going to be talking about in say October?
Is it? Does it have the same cachet? Does it?
Did it that it had to start the season because
of one of the two teams and the brands and
two where the team's finished last year, and so uh,
(18:43):
I don't want to be Debbie Downer it's a great
matchup to start college football, but we have no idea
who should be ranked where, and we won't know that
until we get out of this somewhat preseason schedule. For
most college football teams to start.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
The year, it better be a great matchup because there
will be some alumni that have They're gonna be very
mad about the checks they wrote to the universities for
the NIO money paid to the athletes for those two
teams because their salary cap. I say that air quotes
is quite high, even though Sark is like, Nah, it's
(19:18):
not that high. It is high, and it's high at
both places, but that's still that's gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
There'll be some some sweet NFL talent there for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
If you want to know what I'm impressed with Sark
About Sark, I'm impressed with of his ability to keep
Arch at Texas. I Mean, I know there's some components
in that, but I think he just got what a
young man that is wired right. But my grip for
the season is no head coaches in college or most
major college programs don't have to develop quarterbacks anymore. He
(19:48):
just go to the portal and find the next best guy,
plug him in, and the next year we're going to
do the exact same things. If you're able to hold
onto your guy and continue to recruit, convince a guy
like arch Man that it's in your best interest to
come here and learn, and then it's yours for a
couple of years if you choose to go past the
one year. I think is outstanding and and Sark has
(20:11):
done a hell of a job with that, convincing him
to sit behind yours and learn and then you know yours.
It says a whole nother story, but he was kind
of ushered out the door, but with having another year
of eligibility. But I think that's a hell of a
deal because in this day and age, you just don't
see development. You see replacement, not development. On the college
(20:33):
level when it comes to quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Dre' is certainly not wrong about that. There is no question.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
All we get back my partner up in the booth
on Saturday, nd Kloud jumps in with Mark and myself
looking forward to hearing from the Rice Owl. All American
at least, that's why I believe in my head, I
think you've made an All American in one time in
d so I'm giving it to you.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
We'll talk to nd next right here in Texas All Access.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Just going on, everybody, walking back to Monday ed issue
of Texas All Access from the Hoday, Texas Radio studio.
I'm John Harris foot playanals sideline report, getting ready to
take on the Panthers in a joint practice on Thursday
in a game on Saturday. Carolina coming here Wednesday, and
that's gonna be fun. In the joint practice, We'll see
how that's gonna go against the NFC South Folk Carolina
(21:19):
Panthers on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
It's gonna be a good time.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
It's the last open practice of the year, so hopefully
you got your tickets and you are ready to go
on Thursday. Now, I know a guy that enjoyed practice
or in a game, was ready to get after it
at all times. He gets after it on the radio
with us and with me up in the booth on
preseason games, and that's Indie Klue. We had a lot
of things to talk about with nd Klu, but he
(21:45):
basically set us straight on our newest ipp player. And
I'm not even gonna try and pronounce hey guys name.
I'm gonna let ind tell us how to pronounce.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
It, rip it out of the gun, gets the snap.
He's got a little time. Now he's in problem.
Speaker 7 (21:59):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Two Hill has him for a sacked on third.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Down, big sack at a big time Texans down three about
to get the rock back. I got two Hills name
right of course into b C UNDBC.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I like Kevin handle that one. I was about to say, guy,
you guys got it. He got he got I mean,
I'm not saying it.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
I think I got it.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
But it was like, is that the right way to
say because it just happened so fast?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
When I looked at the phonetic spelling of him, like
that's easy, und b c.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Oh, it's easy, No, I know, butatically, yeah, it doesn't.
Names take a while to roll off the tongue second nature.
But undeb C is the international pathway player that got
a sack in that game. Great to see he blocks
out the sun my goodness. In fact, I want to
get into his opinion on him. How you doing, my friend?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
And is intobuis? And the reason I know this is
we're from the same tribe. And if you look at
his last name, his last name starts in du. My
first name starts in du So. As soon as I
saw his name when I was getting ready for the game,
I was like, oh, okay, so he's an Ebo man.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So yes, this is Oh that's right.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
The boo is in there too. Yeah, my bad, the
boo is in there. I forgot about the boo.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I mean, it's almost as if you just as you
look at it, when you hear the you're like, oh,
just kind of pronounce each you know, exactly, valve as
you go through.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
In some sense, it's true, you know, and you're right.
The Nigerian names are largely phonetical. It's kind of like
if you just follow along, but you know, when you
look at consonants jammed together, sometimes it can feel like,
oh what am I getting into here?
Speaker 6 (23:36):
So even for me when I when I see some
of these names, I'm like, oh, I'm about to have
my Nigerian card revoked if I don't pronounce yeah, just
pronounced every letter, and I is always pronounced e.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
So okay.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It's like smolling names. Sometimes the G is an N
or a like punga.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Put ups this name n D and give us your
thoughtssery arian erser.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
What'd you think of the big fella on Saturday.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
Initially, John, I was like, when I heard about what
his potential play count was gonna be, and I've heard
them rave about him throughout camp. I've heard and read
from you about him. So when I saw him play
and he only did the first you know, play the
first drive, but I saw his movement, I saw the
athleticism and the technique and this guy is a rookie,
(24:29):
but he plays and he approaches the game like a
vet and I see it. It's it's it's amazing, and
I'm looking forward to see him in the regular season
where he has to pick up different line stunts that
he may not see in the preseason. But everything that
I saw, he's lived up to the hype. I only
saw a couple of practices, so I was really anxious
to see him in a game. And this is a
(24:50):
guy that you just feel confident even though he's a rookie,
and that doesn't mean he's going to shut down every
pass rusher. You know, in the regular season, there's some
great pass rushers that he's gonna but man, I just
feel like, unlike, it feels very similar to back when
Dwayne Brown was on this team, where you say you
know what, even though he's a rookie, I'm expecting him
(25:11):
to play and play well in his first season.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
What about the running game in general on that opening
drive and what it's set up through the air as
they scored to answer the Minnesota field goal.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
And here's the thing about that running game. You know,
you want to give credit to all the running backs
who touched the ball and they were picking up the
positive yards, but what I noticed a lot of those
guys weren't getting touched until two three yards down the field.
And just overall versatility with the play calling. And it's
easy to be versatile with the play calling when you're
having success throwing the ball, when you're having success running
the ball, when your offensive line is protecting the quarterback
(25:44):
and opening up small holes for the running backs that
first drive. If it was your first team offense that
had that first drive, I would have felt good about
it and I would have stated, Okay, get him out
of the game. But it coming from your second team,
mainly your second team, Davis Mills, it just makes you
feel that much better about the depth and the offensive
line competition.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Indy Clue with us, Indy, you know, the defensive line
better than anybody. You and Seth can see things that
a lot of people aren't gonna see. Tommy TOGIAI we
pointed out a couple of times during the broadcast what
he was able to do. And he almost doesn't even
look like a defensive lineman because he's like six to
one and a half.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I mean, he's lucky if.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
He gets the six to two, but he's stout. He's
very strong, like upstairs, like he is built. I mean
he's big upfront up top. But he had a pretty
solid game after that. I don't know that anything was
really excitable about the defensive line, but just Togia and
what you're able to see from a guy that plays
on the interior that kind does it look like an
(26:46):
interior guy, but played really really.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Well the other day. What'd you think of him in
the defensive line?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
You know, he's a guy that is gonna add depth
and look, it's a long season. Guys are gonna get
nicked up. He's one of those guys John that when
you find out or you look like, oh he's starting
this week, you don't expect to drop off. And it's
because of his consistency. It's because of his hand placement.
It's because of his leverage. You know, you and I
talked about during the broadcast that it's annoying that these
(27:14):
NFL scouts and they're always talking about we want six
six six y five defensive linemen, but once they get
on the team, they're preaching leverage, and then we talk
about low man wins. He does a great job utilizing
his leverage, and I just like his versatility. And you
know you talked about not really seeing the other guys
that stood out. Casey two Hills is another one that
I really like. When you talk about depths, when you
(27:36):
look at the starting four, I think this starting for
a defensive line may be the best in the AFC South,
And I hope that's not hyperbole. I would have to
kind of juxtapose it with some of the other d lines,
but just off the top of my head, especially when
you factor in Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter, I think
this is the best defensive line in the in the division.
And then when you look at guys like Casey two
(27:58):
Hill with the experience that he has, I love his technique.
I love his motor and no, I'm not saying motor
because he's a white guy. I'm saying motive because this
guy does go all out every single play regardless of
his race. That he's just a good football player. I'm
excited about those guys. So there's a lot of depth
that's been added to an already great front four.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
You went there with motor. See that's the thing.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
You know. As soon as I said it, I was like, oh, geez.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
It's funny to bring that up because these conversations come
up and I like to say Will has a relentless motor,
and it's like, are you just doing that to prove
that you're No. No, Will has an amazing owner. It
just doesn't stop right. He does got the game face.
But and I'll go with you on that D line.
Take when you look at the depth of this defensive line,
it's one of the top two or three in the league.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
It's got to be.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
When you look at bringing Barnett off the bench and
last year he scores two touchdowns for you, I mean,
there are things that happen that are magical with this
front four. And it's all coached by Jamiico, Ryans, Matt Burke,
rod Wright.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
So tell me this ND.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
We have the privilege of having the production meeting the
day before the game for the broadcast, and this happens
every week around the league. It's usually CBS, Fox and
other networks ESPN where they have a production meeting with
the coach, maybe the GM, maybe a couple of players.
But we had a chance to visit with Demiko, Nick Caley,
Nick Assirio, Titus Howard.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
So that was really good.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Tell the listener a little bit about what your takeaways
were from that, because it's off the record, yet stuff
is delivered to help amplify the knowledge of the broadcasters
about the team and things they can share with the audience.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
So what did you take away?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Give me a couple of takeaways from that meeting that
we had on Friday with the staff.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
The one big one that resonated with me didn't have
anything to do with football. It didn't have anything to
do with x's and o's and I don't know and
did not know anything about Nick Hayley. But there was
a question and I wasn't sure if I should bring
this up on air, but fin you know, I'll bring
it up here when I say on air during the
television during the game. But they asked Nick Kayley about
(30:06):
Aziz al Shaire and his story and you know where
he came from, from being homeless to going to fau
to where he's at now, and he got emotional. He
had to stop talking, he had to, you know, kind
of gather himself. And what that told me is a
former player, this guy cares about his players. I mean,
(30:27):
as these is not part of his position group, he's
not on the offensive side of the ball. He did
recruit him in college and he knows his story and
apparently he kept in touch with him even after their
past went in different directions and now they're back on
the same team. But when he broke down and not
like a punk. You know, I don't want anybody tweeting
at him calling him a punk, but you know when
he broke down because he truly cares for that guy
(30:50):
and he's amazed at where he's, where he's at and
where he's come from. He just told me, like, man,
this guy cares about his players. And you know who
else notices that the player, Like when you hear about
guys saying they're going to run through a brick roll
for a certain coach, is a guy like Nick Kayley.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, that that moment kind of come because I know
last year when we were in a production meeting with Disease,
when he was done, I mean, we went Typically you
go with the player eight ten minutes, maybe you get
to get a few good nuggets, and if the guy
is good, you know, you might go a little bit
longer than that because he's enjoying the discussion. We're enjoying
the discussion. We went for about forty five minutes last
(31:26):
year with Disease. It was before the Giants game. I
don't think he played in the Steelers game. Maybe he did,
but he got him for the Giants game and he
was in there for about forty five minutes with us,
and when he left, I just was I want to
hug this guy. I want this guy to stay with
this organization.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
I wanted to read you my life.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, as long as humanly possible, I wanted that guy
near me. And here's the thing, Indyan, and this is
what I think this organization.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
We talk about swarm all the time.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
We talk about the things that Texans players that come
in here, you want them to be able to do.
And indeed, you probably have known many of these You
were this way off the field. You are a teddy bear,
You're like the nicest guy we've ever seen. But on
the field, you flip the switch and a Ease is
exactly that way. Off the field, you got a discussion
(32:16):
with Disease about anything, and when he starts telling you
his life story, you're like, oh my goodness. He is
off the field the most gentle human being like you arend.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
But on the field that switch flips.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
It goes from being high I'm azz too, I'm gonna
bleep your bleep up like in a moment, and it
feels like that's what this team has really, Yeah, all
the swarm and all that.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
It feels like they've got more of.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Those guys than they've ever had in d What are
your thoughts?
Speaker 6 (32:44):
None? You love that? I mean, if you really want
to see what this team's about, what this defense is about,
just come out to a practice. I mean, you mentioned
Azase and that's why it hurts me when he's been
branded or painted as this bad guy, this dirty player.
He's just intense. He's playing football the way we were
taught to play football. And I know it's a new
day and age and you have to kind of adjust
(33:05):
to it, but when you know his story. When you
know him as a person and then you see some
of what you may call questionable plays. I don't think
any of them are questionable. He just plays, you know,
full speed. You know you hate to hear the way
and see the way he's kind of been vilified around
the NFL. But a lot of those guys, you know
Danil Hunter, I had a chance to talk to him, and,
(33:26):
like you said, just a nice guy, just a great guy.
Then you see him out there, he's a maniac. Jalen
Petrie might be the nicest human beings that you've ever met,
but he's just a tackling machine. He wants to knock
your head off when you get him on the field.
And guess who was really like that? Tmiko Ryans. I mean,
this was a guy when I played with him for
three years, he was in the locker room before anybody
(33:47):
reading his scriptures. But then when we get on the
field on Sunday, he seems like he's deemon possessed and
he was a cursing I'm just talking about the way
he plays and the way he had joy in knocking
people out. That's the Miko Ryans And it's pretty cool
to see this entire defense take that same personality. If
that can carry over to the offense, man, it's gonna
(34:08):
be a special, special season.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Okay, what is this week like for the team? Here
we are, this is the middle of it all. Really,
I know we're several weeks in, but you played a
preseason game, you have a joint practice Thursday of another game,
and then you have all of next week another joint practice,
another game on the road. Get a long way to
go yet, it's gonna all happen very quickly at the
same time, kind of two things happening at once.
Speaker 7 (34:31):
Here.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
What is this week like for the players?
Speaker 6 (34:34):
Indeed, Well, it's cool what you brought up to the
joint practice. That's what breaks everything up, because now you're
starting to feel like Groundhall Day, you know the movie
where you wake up and everything's the same day in
and day out. Now that you've had a chance to
get back from West Virginia, a lot of the starters
they didn't play, so they're gonna be kind of a
little bit anxious to get back on the practice field.
(34:54):
And then Thursday you have the Panthers stepping on your
practice field. This is something you don't see because the
hammers aren't really out there. There'll be a couple of
fights and scuffles, but your practice field that means more
to you than your actual stadium, and just go ask
the player because that's where you're at every day of
the week. So when you see these these yahoos with
(35:14):
different uniforms actually walking onto your practice field and throwing
their orange slices onto your you know, onto the grass
where your guys have to go pick it up, like,
you want to defend that as much, if not more
than the home stadium because that's that's like your every day,
that's your second home. So it's gonna be pretty intense,
and it's pretty cool just to kind of that break
(35:35):
in the day where you're like, oh no, we're not
gonna let these panthers come in here and out practice
us on our practice field. So that's gonna give them
something else to look flok forward too. Then you have
the game, and then you mentioned then you're getting ready
for the last preseason game, and we all know leading
into that last preseason game, you're really just getting ready
for Week one. So it's gonna move pretty fast here
(35:55):
for the players.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Cut your arn slices off my practice seal.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
How dare you.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
They're all chewed up, the peals are there. It's disgusting.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
It's the best ever.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
That's one of the things I remember as a kid
my mom in the kitchen. My dad coached at a
small school in Wisconsin before we moved here, and my
mom would be slicing orange slices for his players and
they would just have buckets of them, and I always
thought that was the coolest thing. I associated for the
longest time orange slices with football, like they just kind
of go hand in hand. And then I got here
(36:28):
to Texas and it was like, they didn't even give
us water. The first year I was here, we got
ice chips.
Speaker 5 (36:33):
Oh you did. Junction boys.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
They were junction boys styles, Like, we got to change this.
Luckily we had a new trainer coming the next next
year and Coach d was like, no, no.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
No, we drink water. Water's good, sleep is good. Orange
slices say, we didn't have as many.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
And I had to explain to some of the younglings
here what the junction boys were. Okay, but it's okay
because that's just part of history anyway.
Speaker 5 (36:53):
And d how is the TV broadcast?
Speaker 6 (36:57):
Oh, it's always good. It's always a great time, especially
now you know with John up there. There was one
little hitch from what I remember was when CJ was
being interviewed and what I loved about it, and we
didn't have a chance to talk about it. He's so
in tune with what's going on on the field. He
was being interviewed in the third quarter, but his attention
(37:18):
was on the field, and I was just thinking to
myself as I was watching it and shout out to
Shelby for trying to keep it all together. That's what
I want my quarterback to be, a guy that's so
in tune with the team that in the third quarter
of a preseason game, his focus is on the drive.
So I thought that was funny. It was hard for
the broadcast crew, but it was pretty cool for a
(37:39):
football fan to see how in tune your quarterback is.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Indeed, Klue one of my favorites man. I love getting
to stand next to him. Kevin Coogler up in a booth.
We had a great time this past week, and we'll
have another one on Saturday, kickoff noon NI against Carolina Panthers.
You can see in OKTRK channel thirteen if you're somehow
traveling and you're going somewhere else. Our game because it's
home game, and our broadcast will then be featured on
NFL Network, so you can see that. If you're out
(38:04):
in traveling and you don't have a way to see
the game live, well you can watch on NFL Network.
I don't know if you can see it at noon
on Saturday, but you'll eventually be able to see it
on NFL Network if you haven't put it on your
DVR up in the cloud or however you do it nowadays,
because we all do things differently nowadays. Then we used
to do them when we just had to hit the
VCR button and hope it recorded, and then you recorded
over friends, and then.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
You were really mad. So there you go.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
All right, Coming up next, John McClain, the General, the
Hall of Famer, He will join us, gave us his thoughts.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Next right here on Texans All Access.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
All right, here we go, final segment of Monday edition
of Texas All Access before we turn it over to
Area forty five. I'm your host, John Harris, Football on
a sideline reporter. Tough day for the Texans, one of
our favorites, and I'm not alone when I say this,
Brevin Jordan injured at practice. Don't know the status. I'm
sure there will be reports coming out, but as we
(38:56):
found out last week at the Greenbrier with CJ. Garner Johnson,
take it all over the grain of salt until you
get some sort of formal announcement if you will, about
what happened with Brev. I just the scene itself was tough.
It's tough to talk about. I love the man and
I hope he's able to come back sooner than what
(39:18):
many people may expect. So that was tough news to hear. Okay,
let's finish the show up as strongly as we possibly can.
That means we bring in the Hall of Fame with
the General John McClain, who sat down with me and
Mark and gave his thoughts about what he saw right
off the bat Texans versus the Vikings.
Speaker 7 (39:35):
I thought that first series with Davis Mills at quarterback
was as crisp as you could get. Boom boom boom,
straight down the field top Mills looked great. Started to
think after the season, I think did he is his
extension this year or did he sign for next year?
I think his contract is up.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Right after this just this year, one year was finished.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
I think that Nick Serio has got to do some
serious thinking and Dimiko and then Davis Mills has got
to do some serious thinking. Does he want to sign
a multier extension here? To back up CJ. Stroud? He
and his wife are very comfortable and happy year. Does
he want to try to catch on with another team?
(40:22):
He knows what it's like to play for a bad
team like he did when he was a rookie who
had some good games. So I just think right now,
if you're a Texans fan, that you are very comfortable
that Davis Mills has to play. And I thought there
were a lot of players that stood out. You know,
you guys talk about speed. There were a bunch of
(40:44):
defensive players and John Tewett. One of the reasons I
I like, let's see, how can I not offend Mark
like watching you and Andy, but especially you, is because
you've seen everything every day and you know football, so
I like hearing your opinions about the technical stuff and
(41:07):
the players. And you do a great job not just
on this show but also on TV. But watching those guys.
You said two weeks ago when we were sweating over
at practice, that you said, I don't know which side
he's going to be on, but Ersery's going to be
in the lineup. And I think the more we see
of Ursery, the more impressive impressive he is. Every year
(41:32):
they're a rookie offensive lineman who play well and stand
out and they don't have to be taken in the
first round. And I think based on the early returns
of the offseason practice and now preseason games, arionte Ersery
is here to stay. And you know, Kenyon Green didn't
(41:54):
work out, Juice scrubs third year, don't know if he's
gonna play or not, and Blake Fisher really struggled. Maybe
Ursery's a second round pick that they've hit on, and
this kid is going to play maybe right backle as
a rookie. When Cam Robinson comes back. Robinson's on a
(42:15):
one year deal, we'll move to the left side. It
was fun watching the offense go down the field and
the offensive line look good. Now I realize both teams
held out a lot of starters before what you're looking
at at a time like that, they look good. Darry Gumberwally,
he's made. They're gonna have a tough decisions to make
(42:37):
and running back. Now, if Joe Mixon isn't available to
start the season, then it'll be won't be as difficult.
You know, what he marks is going to make the team.
You know, Nick Chubb and Joe Mixon are going to
make the team. And darry because he is so versabile
and so valuable in that role and he averaged five
(42:58):
point eight yards carry that he's gonna force his way
onto this roster. But I can't wait to see the
difficult decisions that Nick Casario Dimiko Ryant's are gonna have
when they have to cut it down. And one more thing,
I can't remember the experts I was watching. It might
have been bro Football Focus talking about Detexans that could
(43:20):
not are not good at defensive tackle and they're gonna
have to think about making a trade. And I'm like,
have you not watched this team defensive tackle? It's gonna
be one of the toughest cuts on the team. The
defensive line is gonna be one of the toughest toughest
cuts on the team. And so I love watching those linemen,
(43:41):
love watching the dbs. You know Yeast. Yeast has come
out of nowhere and is making big plays. We knew
all about speed. But the better these guys do, the
harder they make it on Caserio and maybe instead of
cutting guys, he can get low picks for him. And
we know how he likes to use those low picks
(44:03):
on draft day.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yeah, it definitely does, and can package him to move
up higher. He can package him to get something next
year as well. So you're right, John, One position that
you didn't mention, I think got more interesting on Saturday
with the performance of Braxton Barrios and John Metchi. Now
we've seen both of them have pretty solid camps, but
Braxton really popped with the Braxton had three targets one
(44:26):
touchdown catch first down, first down, with each of the
other on third down, so he had a number of targets.
Mechi led the team with five receptions. This receiver room,
it just gets more difficult who they're going to keep.
Exavier Hutchinson had a really good week at the greenbri
Jade Higgins on Wednesday at the Green Bar was tremendous.
(44:47):
Receiver seems to be getting just as difficult as a
lot of other positions.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
General.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
What do you think about Barrios and Mechi and kind
of how that maybe makes a decision that much more
difficult a receiver.
Speaker 7 (44:58):
The top four or said, and that's Collins, Higgins, Kirk
and Noel and so. Then because Barrios shows no signs
of the injury he had last year, he can return
kickoff and punts, and he can catch. I would say
that unless he just bombs out, which I don't expect
(45:21):
him to do, he's gonna make it. Because he can
do both returns and he can catch, and he has experience.
Then you know, I think they could get a pick
for John Madgie before they could get one of Xavier Hutchinson.
Hutchinson had two catches, and he's big and he's good
on special teams. That's the one that's gonna be tough.
(45:45):
Now Watson, you know Watson two years ago every seventeen
yards of catch for the Chiefs. Last year, I think
it was almost fifteen. And Kenny Kenny forced his way
into the conversation. But if they do, we think they're
keep five or six.
Speaker 5 (46:02):
That's that's the question.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
At least six maybe I would think at least six,
maybe seven if you count Barrios as a return guy
who can do other things.
Speaker 5 (46:11):
Although if.
Speaker 7 (46:13):
All right, I'm counting Barrios as five, then it would
come down to Matchie and Hutchinson and special teams. I
don't see him keeping seven receivers because they'd have to
cut back in another spot and uh so and I
do think they could get a pick or uh Matchie
before they could get a pick for Hudgenson.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Well, last year they kept seven, but Steven Sims was
one of them as a return guy.
Speaker 5 (46:40):
So we'll see. And those Mechi was I mean not Mechi.
Speaker 3 (46:43):
Metchi had five catches you look good burios receptions where
he just kind of ran along the line, just very
shallow route. Nice throws, good catch, got around, got a
little yack, got the first down, like you said, Very
good to see.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
All right, I'll do.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
That'll put our game in Minnesota to bed. Final thoughts
all done, preseason game out of the way. Now we
look forward to the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
All right.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
Big thanks to John McClain, to Ndcollude, to Andre Ware,
to my man Mark Vandermir, to all you for listening,
Thank you so very much, and as always, go Texans.
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