Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Matt Thomas Show continues with Ross here from New Orleans.
Rockets off tonight. Tomorrow night, we'll take on the Pelicans.
Hold the broadcast before you, beginning at six o'clock with
Rockets launch Pad. I'll have the play by play here
at seven o'clock. Speaking of play by play, one of
the most versatile and talented sports broadcasts we have today
is joining us on the show, about to call his
two hundredth game NFL game on CBS. Andrew kntalong with
(00:27):
us here on the program. Andrew, it's Matt. It's a
pleasure to have you on. I'm a big fan of
your work. And by the way, I think Texans fans
love when you and Spirodidas do games because I think
Texans have a winning record with you two guys calling action.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, I appreciate the conn words and it's great to
be with you. And yet it's been a while I
haven't had the Texans this year, so I'm excited to
see him. Obviously, I think they're one of the hottest
teams in the league right now for sure.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And I'll be birdly honest with you, Andrew.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We're not gonna spend a whole long time breaking down
Texans and Raiders, because let's face it, you're gonna have
to probably have some storylines ready for the second half.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
But that's a for an issue for a different time.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Let me go back to last week because I begged
the local CBS affiliate here in town to broadcast the
Indianapolis Seattle game for obvious reasons, because the Colts are
still competing with the Texans at AMC South, and oh,
by the way, Philly Rivers was going to perhaps be
on the practice squad.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
He winds up starting. Take us through last week.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
When you've officially got the word that Rivers was going
to start, you get the chance to talk to him.
But the night before and then as you're calling the game,
did you feel like you were in twenty fifteen all
over again?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, no doubt. I mean it was Soria when he
walked into the meeting room in the hotel the night
before in Seattle, just say I called so many of
his games over the years, and to hear him say
I'm back in twenty twenty five was just absolutely wild.
And you know, when we met with him the night before,
I was fascinated by his perspective because he was so
honest with us. He said, Look, I could get hurt
(01:55):
on the first play of the game, pop my calf,
I might stink out there, throw four in or sets.
You know what. None of that bothers me, he said,
I'll never know what could happen if I don't try it.
And to me, this was just bonus football. It's an
opportunity to play for a coach and an organization that
I really respect and love, and why not why not
(02:15):
give it a try and send that message to his
high school football team which he now coaches, that you'll
never know what will happen if you don't give it
a shot. So I absolutely love that perspective from Philip.
He did not care if he was embarrassed or got hurt,
that that was not going to bother him. And then
you fast forward to the game the next day, and look,
I thought Shane Stikin did a really good job of
(02:37):
calling plays for Philip. We talked a lot on the
broadcast about his inability to really push the ball down
the field. Now maybe that'll change this week. Maybe now
that he has a week under his belt, they can
kind of, you know, try to stretch it a little
bit more. But I thought he controlled the line of
scrimmage and gave them a chance to win, which they
almost did. And that's exactly what that organization was looking for.
(02:58):
Now they're hoping just to turn corner and get a
couple of wins here coming in.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
All right, you are doing a little bit of prep
on for this Texans team. Uh, you know, we always
hear the narrative andrew the teams that go oh and
two on to make the playoffs certain length of time
oh and three, which the Texans began. It's even lesser
percentage and less things completely crater here. The Texans not
only are going to make a playoff spot, but they
could win this division. And from what your brief study
(03:23):
is about them so far, you'll see them for the
first time this year. It goes down to, obviously the
outstanding defense. You're not we're not speaking out of turn here.
It's the offense that people still want to know how
good they can be. You obviously have seen the numbers
the last few weeks. It is getting steadily better, but
you also have seen other teams around the AFC. Can
(03:43):
the Texans make a legitimate Super Bowl run? If thet
Texans basically give you an average offensive output the next
handful of weeks and obviously come playoff time.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, I mean I think they can. I have not
overwhelmed by what I've said in the AFC compared to
previous years. Now, all these teams we want to throw Denver, Buffalo,
New England, Jacksonville, the Chargers, I think are a good team.
You know, are they gang? You know, it's not like
the year's pass We have a dominant team. I mean,
you can make a case for all these teams. If
(04:17):
I'm a Texans fan, would I like to see the
offense play a little bit better?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I would. Now, they did look good last week. I
thought obviously the opponent was not, you know, the seventy
two Dolphins. But at the same time, you know, I
think that maybe they're trying to, you know, get their
stride a little bit, find some momentum. CJ's now back
in the mix. Jordan was a nice little bonus last week.
You know, it sounds like Chubb practice today. Those are
(04:41):
all good signs. But I just think this is the
year where you know, you don't have to be a
great team. You just got to get hot at the
right time. And it seems like they're headed that way
right now, which is a tremendous sign for Tamiko and
the Texans.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Andrew Kettle on CBS Sports joining us. He'll be on
the call this Sunday for the Texans and Raiders at
three twenty five. With your schedule and the fact that
you've not seen the Texans, you've seen everybody else. You've
seen Jacksonville, you've seen Buffalo, you've seen New England, you've
seen Denver. And I threw this at Iron Eagle a
handful of weeks ago. I'll ask you, because now we're
even deeper in the season than we are now today,
who do you like in AFC? And I'm not asking
(05:18):
going to make a grandiose prediction, but there's all warts
among everybody in this top seven, So you give me
the complete package.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Wor do you like the most at this point?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I mean, I think the best player left is
Josh Allen And for that reason, I think the Bills
are scary. I feel like they're a team that could
win on the road if they don't get home field
advantage or don't get a couple of home games. Their defense, though,
is certainly their award and their weakness and I don't
know if that defense is good enough to overcome, you know,
making a run here in the playoffs. A team I've
(05:50):
also seen a couple of times now is the Chargers,
and they've been so beat up along their offensive line. Obviously,
the Texans will see them next weekend, but I think
there's a lot of nice pieces there with Los Angeles.
They're not blowing teams out there. You know. Again, it's
it's not a dominant team, but there's enough parts where
if Herbert can stay healthy and they can put things
(06:11):
all together, I'm really fascinated by that game next weekend
with the Texans out in LA. So those are two.
But as we said before, you can make a case
for any team, and I think the Texans are just
as good as both those teams I just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Andrew, you do the Bills preseason games. You lived in
Buffalo for quite a period of time, correct, I.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Went to Syracuse, and I lived in Albany, New York
for quite some time, so not too far down the road.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I was going to say, I don't know how those
people in Buffalo do it. They're such die hard fans
and I respect the hell out of them, But that
Lake affects no and that new stadium, which you'll be
calling games in next year open air.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I do, what the hell? What are they thinking up there?
I don't I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, first of all, I love doing the preseason games
because it's August, so it's a nice time to us
spend a couple of weeks up there. You know, I
think that's part of their advantage, that's part of their charm.
You go to a game there and the tailgating scene
is second to none, and you know they they love
that at Firement. Now they will have a canopy over
a good portion of the seats at this new stadium,
(07:15):
so that'll help in terms of you know, rain and snow.
But yeah, it's gonna be cold there and that's that's
just the way they love it. So, you know, you
might see the NFL. You must see the NFL Draft
go there. But I don't know if you'll see a
super Bowl there.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That might be a little tough probably. So Andrew call
on in a cople more minutes with us here from CBS.
And Andrew does not only the NFL on CBS, he
is a huge part of their NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
He works with Steve Lapis, I want to say.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And I'm a University of Houston alum and have gone
to games I called their games many years ago before
joined the Rockets. So as matter of fact, I flew
to San Antonio for the National Championship game in between
a Rockets game. So you working with Steve and first
of all, very entertaining. The accent though, is incredible for him.
Do you have to sometimes catch it in rewind to
say what he said and maybe comprehend it like five
(07:59):
cent is that after he said it?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
He's the best. We had Houston in the Eliteate last year.
That was a ball out in India, and what a
performance they put on. And Steve and I have called, man,
it's got to be between three and four hundred games
together now. I mean we've been doing this for a
long time. As you know, when you have continuity with
one person, it makes a huge difference on the air,
(08:23):
so you know, certainly, And I'm from New Jersey and
he's obviously from New York, so I kind of can
speak the same language as him. But he's the best.
We have a lot of fun together and I'm looking
forward to getting with him here soon after the NFL
season ends.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah, it's a highly entertaining crew and look forward to
you hopefully calling many University Houston tournament games, and then
after that you get to go golf and work the
masters on other CBS events. And I always we always
make fun of golf announcers on our show about how
you have to whisper and nuts do you catch yourself
leaving the booth, getting in your car, going to the
hotel and ordering food and having that master's whisper voice
(08:58):
still going.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I can speak it for if I need to.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You know, it's funny last week called a sixty yard
field goal and then a fifty whatever by Myer's fifty
six yard field goal late, and I felt that the
next day with my voice, I was like, wow, I
really kind of blew it out there, and that doesn't
usually happen after, you know, a golf tournament. So I
love going to New Orleans where you are for the
the Zurich Classic. But it's definitely a little bit of
(09:23):
a different field than calling an NFL game. I love
it just as much, but there's no doubt that it's
a different voice, a different tone, and it's really enjoyable.
It's a great time and I'm fortunate to be a
part of it with CBS.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
To wrap it up, let's go back to football.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
It feels like to me, and I've been telling this
to the audience because look, the Texans have only gone
to the divisional playoffve never been in an AFC championship game,
as you know. But it feels as wide open as possible.
And I know that people are some people are bemoaning
Kansas City's not in it, and how are we going
to live without that? But if I'm Buffalo, I feel good.
If I feel like I've got all healthy Lamar Jackson,
(09:58):
I think Baltimore's got a shock as been there and
done that. You've got the Chargers you mentioned playing well.
The Texans defenses is obviously.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Super Bowl kuntib Worthy.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
It feels like to me, Andrew, of all the years
you've been working these games that every week. Now for
the next couple of weeks before the end of the season,
you're gonna have some meaningful matchups. And no one should
go into January thinking we're the series favorite to win
the AFC, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I mean, a seven seed in the AFC or NFC,
especially the AFC has a really good chance to make
a run and get hot and get in to the
super Bowl. So I think if it's one of those
years you just said, you get into the you get
into the tournament, you can certainly dream about the super Bowl.
It is realistic. You know. The home field advantage, I
don't know how much that'll come into play. There's some
(10:43):
younger qbs in the AFC outside of you know, Allen
and Jackson, and who knows if the Steelers get in
with Rogers, you know, but I don't know how, you know,
other than like maybe Buffalo in the snow, I don't
know how big of a deal home field advantage is
going to be. I think any one of these teams
can go in and get hot and win, and I
can't wait to watch. It's going to be a phenomenal Playoffs.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Pleasure having you on the show. Hope we can bug
you once a year.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Safe travels to our community and again and really enjoy
your work and looking forward to your broadcast on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Thanks for the.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Time, Yeah right back at you. Thanks so much.