December 3, 2024 • 11 mins
The Houston Chronicle's Texans beat writer- Jonathan M Alexander joins The A-Team to react to Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair getting suspended for three games, following his hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He talks about how surprised he was by not only the league's decision, but also how Texans general manager Nick Caserio reacted to the news. Plus, he talks about his thoughts on how the Texans have performed in their first 13 games of the season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Football at five, and as promised, we are
joined by the Houston Chronicles owned John Alexander, who, well, John,
I just wish there was more to talk about on
a day where Aziz Al Shaier gets a three game
suspension having never been suspended before for anything of this nature. Certainly,
I guess first thing out of the gate, were you
(00:21):
surprised at the amount of games when you heard the news.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I wasn't surprised at the number of games. You know.
I look at Dendelle Perriman last year for the Texans.
He suspended three games for you know, repeatedly violating the
NFL safety protocols. And you can make an argument that
Avisas has never been suspended and hadn't had many incidences
(00:48):
where he had repeatedly violated the NFL's protocols. But you know,
it seemed like it was consistent. What surprised me, really,
to be honest with you, was just the in John
Runyan's letter to these I say here that he lacked
respect for the game and that he was unsupportment like
(01:08):
that is what surprised me more than anything.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
That was one of several sentences that you could say
surprise me. I would use stronger words.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean you don't expect that, and quite honestly,
I thought that it added more to the visual that
we've seen from a disease and the rhetorics around and what,
in my opinion, is a play that happens. It's an
unfortunate play. You don't ever want to see that happen,
but it's the play that happens when you have two
(01:39):
guys moving as fast as they as they are.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I think one of the two of you just said
stronger words, and you guys were talking about being surprised.
Let's put that together. Were you surprised that the general
manager used the strong words that he did.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I definitely was surprised with Nick. You don't typically
see that from Nick SiO. You know, he doesn't tend
to the boat very much, but obviously he felt really
strongly about it. And you know, Cal and Hannaman Mayor
of course, I'm sure you are mentioned that we're in
attendance watching and to me that signal that everybody was
in one accord and felt the same about this that
(02:15):
you know, they didn't like the direction the conversation had
turned regarding as he's outside here, you know in the
WEX knows this, you know, being in the locker room.
He is one of the probably the nicer players who
does a lot out in the community. Uh, and he
has a great character. But the picture that was painted
(02:35):
from John Brillyam was that he's not and a lot
of conversation has been steered away from that.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I'm curious and you mentioned in the locker room because
I had already referenced it earlier this season with the
not late hit on Caleb Williams that resulted at him
being in a very similar position to what he was
in on Sunday that was on the Bear sidelines. This
hit on Lawrence was close to the Jaguars sidelines. He's covered,
surrounded in gulfed by the other team's players. And in
(03:02):
the Chicago incident, it was a perfectly legal hit went
unflagged as it should have. And yet after that he
did definitely get involved in an incident. He clearly threw
a punch across the face mask of for Shawn Johnson,
and in this instance, John Runyon is calling it an
escalation to the brawl with him pulling a player down
by his helmet without any context involved there. It's hard
(03:22):
to be a the bigger man, as someone who's not
trying trying to pull people apart. You're the one that
they're battling with, fighting with what. I'm not sure what
the expectations are at that point. It seems clear that
without having ever been suspended before, that incident maybe above
any of the others. Even the Tony Pollard late hit
(03:42):
from just a week ago seemed to be the impetus
for what was written about him and the three game
suspension from a previously unsuspended.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Player, right, yeah, and those in the letter. To me,
it's hard to you know, make judgments based on, you know,
those instances, particularly you know the Bears one, like what
do you like? You mentioned, you kind of mentioned what
do you expect? How do you expect someone to react
when a whole bunch of players are surrounding you and
(04:12):
kind of pushing you on the styleelines and you're by yourself, Like,
how do you expect someone to react? These obviously made
a mistake and he was in a heated moment, But
does that speak to who he is as a person?
Does that totally cloud who what he's done throughout his life?
You know, I don't think so. I think it was
a little bit unfair. He certainly made a mistake, and
(04:34):
and and he was apologetic for it, and and I
think that, you know, we should. I think there needs
to be a little bit more fairness in all of this.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I just wanted to read aloud from Wikipedia, which never lies.
In a Sports Illustrated magazine in October twenty, two thousand
and six, John Runyon was ranked second on a list
of the dirtiest players in the NFL. Bill's linebacker Sean
Merriman stated that Runyan was quote one of the dirtiest
players I've ever been against in my whole entire life.
He was real good at being dirty. End of quote.
(05:07):
Runyan did not deny the charges, criticizing the current game instead, quote,
that's the way the game is supposed to be played.
I think they've tried to change that over the years.
It's turned into a basketball game out there.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
What say you, John, Yeah, it's ironic that, you know,
the one of the people in the NFL's office handing
got punishments is had the reputation as.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
A dirty player. We could go on and on about that,
but you know what it's clear is that I think
the NFL went a step too far, and I do
think a plant appeal that the NFL should and likely
will reduce this suspension. But yeah, I definitely think I
(05:54):
definitely give credit to Nick ca Sarrio for for standing
up for the say or in that moment.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
What did you think of Demiko's comments yesterday and that
he clearly did blame an overreaction, his word of words
of the Jaguars bench reaction to it all, and he
clearly thought, as other quarterbacks have even said, we just
played something from Tom Brady, he thought that Trevor Lawrence's
slide and head placements needed to be more cognizant of
(06:21):
the situation.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I think I agreed with some of what he said,
and I disagree with some more so disagree with his approach.
You know, I think in that moment, you know, right
after Trevor Lawrence suffers an injury, he kind of his
his infanation kind of sounds like it's blaming Trevor Lawrence.
I'm sure that's not what he intended. And he definitely
(06:45):
said that he hoped Trevor Lawrence was okay, but it
kind of came off that way, and I think it
kind of hurt the rest of what he was saying.
What he was trying to do, obviously, was defend as
heass I hear, and I think he deserved being defended
in that moment. But I think I did think he
went a little bit of a step too far in
kind of blaming Trevor Lawrence for the slide. Now, you
(07:06):
could make a legitimate argument that he waited too long
to slide. The owners shouldn't be totally placed on defensive
players to protect quarterbacks. So you know, I agree with
some of what he's saying, but I did see how
he went maybe just a little bit too far.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
We could have gone this route with the interview Jonathan Alexander,
the Houston Chronicle, a beat writer for the Texans, joints
us here on the eight team on Sports Talk seven
to ninety and simulcast on Space City Home Network. How
about those eight and five Texans taking care of business
against the Jaguars, winning another road game and continuing to
pace the teams in the wildly exciting AFC South.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, I thought, you know, a lot of people were
kind of down on the win. It was underwhelming in
a sense. But I thought, to be honest with you,
if I was a technisan, I'd be a little bit
more excited about this win than the Dallas Cowboys win.
You know, when you look at those two games, you know,
the Texans were largely able to overcome a lot of
the issues that they had in the second half, and
(08:07):
they were able to get over the mental role block.
They scored seventeen second half points and I thought that
was huge for the Texans. Against the Cowboy they only
they scored that garbage time touchdown from offense. So I
really do believe the Texans took a step and they
just have to continue to build on it. The one
thing about the Texans before this game was just their
second half performances on offense, and I think they kind
(08:31):
of at least prove to themselves that they can do it.
And obviously Nico Collins is getting into a groove and
they really need him. He's shown that he's unstoppable. And
when Joe Mixon is running the football the way he is,
this offense can be an efficient offense.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Do you think did you expect Joe Mixon's offensive line
to get a game ball?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You know, I guess when you look at the totality
of everything, I think that really does kind of speak
to how bad the offensive line had been in previous games,
you know, only giving up two sets and then also
having one hundred yard rusher given c they try the
protection that they needed. I suppose that definitely, you can
I see why Demko will want to do that. They
(09:14):
need that consistency. They're probably trying to build up the
confidence of the offensive line, and they need the offensive
line for to be good for them to have any
chance in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I felt like it was a participation award, but that's
just me. You know, if you if you get this
suspension reduced, Let's face it, the big question is is
it one game or two games? And if I know
John running in company, I think they're going to protect
Patrick Mahomes and it's only gonna be it's gonna be
two games instead of a one game.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You look at the history of a lot of the
appeals that were made, you know, I see this similar
to the Denzel Pyramid situation. I do believe that it
will get reduced from three games to do two games. Uh,
you look at the ones that didn't get held up there,
Irwin James. You know, I think they still wanted to
suspend him. Kareem Jackson last year he was a multiple
(10:05):
time offender, as he's say, is not a multiple time defender.
I think they'll have a lot to point to and
they'll get it reduced to two games.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And it's going to be awesome when they pay play
Patrick Mahomes and he fakes like he's going to give
himself up and then he just jukes the defender and
goes for another thirty yard run, and.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
That would definitely be something.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's I mean, it's I mean, I'm joking, but it
is absolutely something that people have pointed to as a
reason why they hope this rule gets changed. We're gonna
have to leave it at that, but Jonathan, we appreciate
the conversation, good stuff as always, and we'll have to
catch up again soon.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Man. Absolutely thanks for having me, all.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Right, John Alexander of the Houston Chronicle here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety. He handled me very well.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
He got some good stuff. I'm sure he'll have some
other items on this writing about the team right there
in the Houston Chronicle, and the Texans have made a
lot of stories this year, the expectations that they had,
the you know what, we're just talking about with the
offensive line, the fact that they're essentially the same team
record wise, where they kind of stand on things as
(11:08):
they were a year ago, without like where yeah, this
new team, all these free agents and essentially in a
very comparable position to the one they were in a
year ago. They're not chasing anybody at this time as
they were with Jacksonville a year ago. They're being chased,
but the Texans are in great shape to be right
where they were all right when the postseason begins.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
We've established that John Runyan is an idiot. I've got
a bigger idiot for you when we come back.
It is Football at five, and as promised, we are
joined by the Houston Chronicles owned John Alexander, who, well, John,
I just wish there was more to talk about on
a day where Aziz Al Shaier gets a three game
suspension having never been suspended before for anything of this nature. Certainly,
I guess first thing out of the gate, were you
(00:21):
surprised at the amount of games when you heard the news.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I wasn't surprised at the number of games. You know.
I look at Dendelle Perriman last year for the Texans.
He suspended three games for you know, repeatedly violating the
NFL safety protocols. And you can make an argument that
Avisas has never been suspended and hadn't had many incidences
(00:48):
where he had repeatedly violated the NFL's protocols. But you know,
it seemed like it was consistent. What surprised me, really,
to be honest with you, was just the in John
Runyan's letter to these I say here that he lacked
respect for the game and that he was unsupportment like
(01:08):
that is what surprised me more than anything.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
That was one of several sentences that you could say
surprise me. I would use stronger words.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean you don't expect that, and quite honestly,
I thought that it added more to the visual that
we've seen from a disease and the rhetorics around and what,
in my opinion, is a play that happens. It's an
unfortunate play. You don't ever want to see that happen,
but it's the play that happens when you have two
(01:39):
guys moving as fast as they as they are.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I think one of the two of you just said
stronger words, and you guys were talking about being surprised.
Let's put that together. Were you surprised that the general
manager used the strong words that he did.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I definitely was surprised with Nick. You don't typically
see that from Nick SiO. You know, he doesn't tend
to the boat very much, but obviously he felt really
strongly about it. And you know, Cal and Hannaman Mayor
of course, I'm sure you are mentioned that we're in
attendance watching and to me that signal that everybody was
in one accord and felt the same about this that
(02:15):
you know, they didn't like the direction the conversation had
turned regarding as he's outside here, you know in the
WEX knows this, you know, being in the locker room.
He is one of the probably the nicer players who
does a lot out in the community. Uh, and he
has a great character. But the picture that was painted
(02:35):
from John Brillyam was that he's not and a lot
of conversation has been steered away from that.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
I'm curious and you mentioned in the locker room because
I had already referenced it earlier this season with the
not late hit on Caleb Williams that resulted at him
being in a very similar position to what he was
in on Sunday that was on the Bear sidelines. This
hit on Lawrence was close to the Jaguars sidelines. He's covered,
surrounded in gulfed by the other team's players. And in
(03:02):
the Chicago incident, it was a perfectly legal hit went
unflagged as it should have. And yet after that he
did definitely get involved in an incident. He clearly threw
a punch across the face mask of for Shawn Johnson,
and in this instance, John Runyon is calling it an
escalation to the brawl with him pulling a player down
by his helmet without any context involved there. It's hard
(03:22):
to be a the bigger man, as someone who's not
trying trying to pull people apart. You're the one that
they're battling with, fighting with what. I'm not sure what
the expectations are at that point. It seems clear that
without having ever been suspended before, that incident maybe above
any of the others. Even the Tony Pollard late hit
(03:42):
from just a week ago seemed to be the impetus
for what was written about him and the three game
suspension from a previously unsuspended.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Player, right, yeah, and those in the letter. To me,
it's hard to you know, make judgments based on, you know,
those instances, particularly you know the Bears one, like what
do you like? You mentioned, you kind of mentioned what
do you expect? How do you expect someone to react
when a whole bunch of players are surrounding you and
(04:12):
kind of pushing you on the styleelines and you're by yourself, Like,
how do you expect someone to react? These obviously made
a mistake and he was in a heated moment, But
does that speak to who he is as a person?
Does that totally cloud who what he's done throughout his life?
You know, I don't think so. I think it was
a little bit unfair. He certainly made a mistake, and
(04:34):
and and he was apologetic for it, and and I
think that, you know, we should. I think there needs
to be a little bit more fairness in all of this.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I just wanted to read aloud from Wikipedia, which never lies.
In a Sports Illustrated magazine in October twenty, two thousand
and six, John Runyon was ranked second on a list
of the dirtiest players in the NFL. Bill's linebacker Sean
Merriman stated that Runyan was quote one of the dirtiest
players I've ever been against in my whole entire life.
He was real good at being dirty. End of quote.
(05:07):
Runyan did not deny the charges, criticizing the current game instead, quote,
that's the way the game is supposed to be played.
I think they've tried to change that over the years.
It's turned into a basketball game out there.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
What say you, John, Yeah, it's ironic that, you know,
the one of the people in the NFL's office handing
got punishments is had the reputation as.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
A dirty player. We could go on and on about that,
but you know what it's clear is that I think
the NFL went a step too far, and I do
think a plant appeal that the NFL should and likely
will reduce this suspension. But yeah, I definitely think I
(05:54):
definitely give credit to Nick ca Sarrio for for standing
up for the say or in that moment.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
What did you think of Demiko's comments yesterday and that
he clearly did blame an overreaction, his word of words
of the Jaguars bench reaction to it all, and he
clearly thought, as other quarterbacks have even said, we just
played something from Tom Brady, he thought that Trevor Lawrence's
slide and head placements needed to be more cognizant of
(06:21):
the situation.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I think I agreed with some of what he said,
and I disagree with some more so disagree with his approach.
You know, I think in that moment, you know, right
after Trevor Lawrence suffers an injury, he kind of his
his infanation kind of sounds like it's blaming Trevor Lawrence.
I'm sure that's not what he intended. And he definitely
(06:45):
said that he hoped Trevor Lawrence was okay, but it
kind of came off that way, and I think it
kind of hurt the rest of what he was saying.
What he was trying to do, obviously, was defend as
heass I hear, and I think he deserved being defended
in that moment. But I think I did think he
went a little bit of a step too far in
kind of blaming Trevor Lawrence for the slide. Now, you
(07:06):
could make a legitimate argument that he waited too long
to slide. The owners shouldn't be totally placed on defensive
players to protect quarterbacks. So you know, I agree with
some of what he's saying, but I did see how
he went maybe just a little bit too far.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
We could have gone this route with the interview Jonathan Alexander,
the Houston Chronicle, a beat writer for the Texans, joints
us here on the eight team on Sports Talk seven
to ninety and simulcast on Space City Home Network. How
about those eight and five Texans taking care of business
against the Jaguars, winning another road game and continuing to
pace the teams in the wildly exciting AFC South.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, I thought, you know, a lot of people were
kind of down on the win. It was underwhelming in
a sense. But I thought, to be honest with you,
if I was a technisan, I'd be a little bit
more excited about this win than the Dallas Cowboys win.
You know, when you look at those two games, you know,
the Texans were largely able to overcome a lot of
the issues that they had in the second half, and
(08:07):
they were able to get over the mental role block.
They scored seventeen second half points and I thought that
was huge for the Texans. Against the Cowboy they only
they scored that garbage time touchdown from offense. So I
really do believe the Texans took a step and they
just have to continue to build on it. The one
thing about the Texans before this game was just their
second half performances on offense, and I think they kind
(08:31):
of at least prove to themselves that they can do it.
And obviously Nico Collins is getting into a groove and
they really need him. He's shown that he's unstoppable. And
when Joe Mixon is running the football the way he is,
this offense can be an efficient offense.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Do you think did you expect Joe Mixon's offensive line
to get a game ball?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You know, I guess when you look at the totality
of everything, I think that really does kind of speak
to how bad the offensive line had been in previous games,
you know, only giving up two sets and then also
having one hundred yard rusher given c they try the
protection that they needed. I suppose that definitely, you can
I see why Demko will want to do that. They
(09:14):
need that consistency. They're probably trying to build up the
confidence of the offensive line, and they need the offensive
line for to be good for them to have any
chance in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I felt like it was a participation award, but that's
just me. You know, if you if you get this
suspension reduced, Let's face it, the big question is is
it one game or two games? And if I know
John running in company, I think they're going to protect
Patrick Mahomes and it's only gonna be it's gonna be
two games instead of a one game.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You look at the history of a lot of the
appeals that were made, you know, I see this similar
to the Denzel Pyramid situation. I do believe that it
will get reduced from three games to do two games. Uh,
you look at the ones that didn't get held up there,
Irwin James. You know, I think they still wanted to
suspend him. Kareem Jackson last year he was a multiple
(10:05):
time offender, as he's say, is not a multiple time defender.
I think they'll have a lot to point to and
they'll get it reduced to two games.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And it's going to be awesome when they pay play
Patrick Mahomes and he fakes like he's going to give
himself up and then he just jukes the defender and
goes for another thirty yard run, and.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
That would definitely be something.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's I mean, it's I mean, I'm joking, but it
is absolutely something that people have pointed to as a
reason why they hope this rule gets changed. We're gonna
have to leave it at that, but Jonathan, we appreciate
the conversation, good stuff as always, and we'll have to
catch up again soon.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Man. Absolutely thanks for having me, all.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Right, John Alexander of the Houston Chronicle here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety. He handled me very well.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
He got some good stuff. I'm sure he'll have some
other items on this writing about the team right there
in the Houston Chronicle, and the Texans have made a
lot of stories this year, the expectations that they had,
the you know what, we're just talking about with the
offensive line, the fact that they're essentially the same team
record wise, where they kind of stand on things as
(11:08):
they were a year ago, without like where yeah, this
new team, all these free agents and essentially in a
very comparable position to the one they were in a
year ago. They're not chasing anybody at this time as
they were with Jacksonville a year ago. They're being chased,
but the Texans are in great shape to be right
where they were all right when the postseason begins.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
We've established that John Runyan is an idiot. I've got
a bigger idiot for you when we come back.
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