Full Transcript for Can the Texans Start Their Run in L.A.? John McClain Breaks Down Texans-Chargers

you label it with one thing? Get things down to one number, as Jonah Hill said in Moneyball. Can you get things down to one thing, or is it just all the little things adding up? 00:06:20 Speaker 2: What is the problem every year that gets all kind of attention in the draft, in free agency, two draft picks this year, two veteran free agent signs, It's the offensive line. And until they get an offensive line with stability that can run block, maybe it's Cole Proctor, maybe it's Nick Caley. But when you can't run block, and they're worse than they were last year at this time, then that puts so much more pressure on the quarterback. And Stroud's handling it great. But at some point, it's going to bite them in the butt. I don't know what the answers are. They can keep changing coaches. They can keep signing players, trading for players. And yet, guys who are playing, Ariante Ursary, you guys know the biggest improvements usually between your first and second year, and he's not done that. And, you know, Rutledge, my goodness, we all thought so highly of him. I saw yesterday, based on one rating, he was the third lowest rating starting guard in the league. And I know those ratings don't mean anything, but we can see he's not kicking butt like he should have been. And so that's the thing, the mystery of the Texans' offensive line. Casario and Ryans have done a great job bringing in defensive players. Despite the way the defense is playing, they've done a great job on that. Receivers, quarterback, but the offensive line, I don't know the answer to it, but you asked me about one problem area. It's that. 00:07:54 Speaker 1: I think you worded that right. It's a problem area. The performance of the line, whatever is contributing to that, because I'm going to say that, all right, you've brought in a lot of different players, and I know Kenyon Green didn't work out once he left, but I'm looking at the Texans offensive line problems over the years. I'm looking at Yeldy Frohold in Arizona in the most viral offensive line clip I've seen in years. And he was here under this umbrella and I'm look, I'm not going to kill him for that, but I'm saying that they got a lot of guys. They brought in a lot of guys. And for whatever reason, I don't know if it's coaching scheme, whatever. I believe that there's a greater level of performance for these particular players that they are not reaching. And, Everybody's got to look at themselves in the mirror. Okay, so along those lines. 00:08:40 Speaker 4: Yep. 00:08:40 Speaker 1: Along those lines. 00:08:41 Speaker 3: And I just saw this before we started this interview. 00:08:44 Speaker 1: I think it was PFF put together for all 32 teams. Trade needs. Right, trade needs. 00:08:51 Speaker 3: If the Texans were to win on Sunday, and hopefully they do win, and get to 3-5 and General show that they're still in the mix. 00:09:00 Speaker 1: Do you think. 00:09:01 Speaker 3: They would be a buyer of an offensive lineman to come in and

help this group, whatever it might. 00:09:08 Speaker 1: Be, for the rest of the year? Do you think that's on the table, or do you think the. 00:09:11 Speaker 3: Marvin Harrison Jr. trade was their quote-unquote trade deadline trade for this year? 00:09:17 Speaker 2: I would think that Casario's not going to sit still, but I don't think it would be a major deal. I think it'd be more like if they needed another running back. You know how bad is David Montgomery's groin injury was keeping him out. Juar Jordan played one game, looked good. He hadn't been back because of an injury. Bruce Brooks has been hurt, and they had to sign Dargan Wiley. I would think if there was a veteran running back in there, he might be interested. The Texans, you know, it's some of the– like Tunsell. Tunsell's out for the year. They trade him. They trade Titus Howard. Titus goes to– Cleveland and was doing well. I can't remember if he's hurt or not, but he's playing our first place team jews scruggs is playing with a winner somebody says because the lions that scruggs was drafted for a specific scheme here and then when they switched to it he wasn't as good now he's back in that scheme, and I look like just because Lakin Tomlinson gets signed off the street doesn't mean he's any good. But I'll ask you guys a question, and this is something that just boggles my mind. In 2023, everybody who can breathe talked about how great Stroud was as a rookie, and it was historic. He did that with Chris Strasser as the offensive line coach who was fired, with Bobby Sloat as the offensive coordinator who was fired, with starters like George Fant, Michael Dieter, Kendrick Green. Who was the Jones guy that started? 00:10:58 Speaker 1: Oh, Josh Jones. 00:10:59 Speaker 2: Josh Jones. 00:11:00 Speaker 1: Cougar. 00:11:00 Speaker 2: Austin Dekula started a game. The other green, Hubert, what was his name? There was two greens that started games. 00:11:09 Speaker 1: Well, there's Kenyon and Kendrick. Yeah, Kenyon and Kendrick. 00:11:12 Speaker 2: Kendrick, I thought there was another one that started. Kenyon, I don't even count him. And they had these guys who were backups come in here and be forced to start. So how did that offensive line do well enough for Stroud to look great? And with a line coach and a coordinator being fired, and they haven't come close to matching that performance, even though you guys are a lot more talented. 00:11:37 Speaker 1: Pick me. I'm like Horschak. You got it, Horschak. Go for it. That is such a dated reference. I need to be fined for that one, Mr. Cotter. All right, so my answer is they leaned into Stroud that year. They knew what they had in the second half of week two when Stroud lit up Indy in the loss to the Colts as they went 0-2. But then they realized, wait a minute, this kid can throw the football. Let's lean into that. They weren't running the ball well in 2023. They ran it, but they weren't running it well. They played that year the way I want them to

play more this year. Let's lean on the arm of Stroud and run the ball. Don't abandon the run, but know that Stroud has got the goods. The following year, they get mixing. They're like, we got to run the football. And I don't know what happened to Stroud in 2024 and 2025, but it wasn't horrible in the regular season at all. I mean, you won games. You played well. some reasonable offensive football. And this year you're playing much better offensive football as far as the passing game goes. But I think that it dropped off because they weren't leaning as much into Stroud as maybe they could have. 00:12:44 Speaker 3: And I think, yeah, I think the other part of it, too, is the way that that line was constructed with Fant, with Laramie, with Dieter. 00:12:54 Speaker 1: Titus, Dieter. They were better pass protectors than they were run blockers. So, good. No, I know, but that's what I'm saying. 00:13:01 Speaker 3: It kind of played into their strength a little bit more. The next year, they threw a lot of different schemes. I remember it started in Minnesota in particular. That year, 2024, where Minnesota, and you know it's Brian Flores, so he's throwing everything at them. 00:13:21 Speaker 1: Right. And I think... Who did you lose early in that game? Brev? You lost somebody that you liked early in that game. We lost Brev the week before. Oh, okay. You lost him the week before at the Bears game. I feel like we lost somebody at Minnesota. I don't know. 00:13:32 Speaker 3: But the Vikings game, what I felt like it did, and then you remember the Packers game. Those games, they saw some blitz schemes and they didn't pick it up. 00:13:42 Speaker 1: And I think they were like, uh-oh. So I think they flipped it and said, look, we got to help CJ out by running the ball a little bit more. But the fact of the matter was that line was probably. 00:13:52 Speaker 3: made to be a little bit more of a pass-blocking offensive line than a run-blocking offensive line. 00:13:57 Speaker 1: I don't know. We just started talking about it. I'm thinking of the pieces that were there. Look, Laramie was never a great run-blocker. 00:14:06 Speaker 3: But he was a good pass-blocker. But he was a great pass-blocker. Titus was kind of in between at times. At times, he could be a pretty good pass-blocker. But when he was next to Laramie, that pass-block over there did a pretty good job. But I think 2024, for some reason. 00:14:21 Speaker 3: That thing just went sideways. I think they saw CJ getting hit with the way they were trying to pass protect, and it wasn't great. So I think they tried to pivot the mix in a little bit more to try and take some of that heat off of CJ. 00:14:32 Speaker 1: I don't know. 00:14:32 Speaker 3: It's mystifying, General. So I go back to my question. It's actually for both of you. We won this game, get to three and five. 00:14:39 Speaker 1: Who is it going to be? Do you think. 00:14:41 Speaker 3: They would look at offensive linemen to bring to this organization, including, and I don't know what his contract situation is, The guy you brought up, Yeldy Froholt. 00:14:52 Speaker 1: No, they're not going to get rid of Yeldy Froholt. You don't think? If I'm in Arizona, I want to use this guy for the future. Not build around him, but on my line, maybe. That's just one option I'm saying, but would they look at other options? 00:15:04 Speaker 4: Yeah, I know. 00:15:04 Speaker 1: They got to be kicking themselves sometimes about players who leave and do well. But I get it. It happens in this league to everybody. It happens to the good teams. And look, the Texans have been a good team. I'm not going to take that away from them. General, any more thoughts on the trade deadline next week? I'll give you another one. I don't want to go there. I'm not going to go there. Johnny, don't let me go there. Don't let me go there. Where are you going? To the dark side. To the dark side of the trade deadline. No, if something goes wrong on Sunday, horribly in the one loss ledger. You want me to ask it? You want me to do it? Yeah, you go ahead and ask the dark side. 00:15:35 Speaker 3: All right, so if we don't beat the LA Chargers, then all of a sudden, on a Would the Texans be a seller in your opinion, General? 00:15:48 Speaker 2: No. No, I don't think they would. I think they got, you know, if you could have an offensive line, pick one, get what you can get. 00:15:58 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:15:58 Speaker 2: They got too many tackles as it is. The rookie from Oklahoma, he hadn't even been active. They drafted him in, what, the fourth round? 00:16:06 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:16:06 Speaker 2: At some point, let's see what he can do. 00:16:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, good point. 00:16:09 Speaker 2: And I could see him not getting rid of, but guys where they have an excess of for six, seven, something like that, nothing with anybody big. And I'm hoping that Nick Cayley, during these two weeks, will be more like Jacksonville when they won and it was Stroud played a great game. And we talk about this every week. Use the pass to set up the run. The mumbo jumbo, you know, that one drives me crazy. And all the times they run when when the defense knows that the Giants were terrible against the run. So Kaylee wants to run it a lot. Giants shut it down. Texans are really good against run. They can't stop the run. And so I'm hoping Nick will do like you guys just talking about 23. They realize what they had. They had a star young quarterback, let's win or lose with him throwing the ball all over the place. They got so many talented receivers, you know, spread the field with those receivers that will help the running game. And so that's what I would like to see. And Les is the mumbo jumbo. 00:17:19 Speaker 1: So I'm good. 00:17:20 Speaker 3: That's what I'm going to call it from now on. General, you know, I'm always in Mark's ear during a game. And I give him kind of a heads up on personnel and stuff. Next time, I'm going to call it mumbo

jumbo in the game. 00:17:30 Speaker 1: That's terrible. It'll break you up. It'll make you laugh. It will. It will. Sometimes, I'll tell you what, sometimes Andre can get me to crack up. 00:17:37 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:17:38 Speaker 1: I'm holding it back. He's way funnier than people ever think. He has this subtle sense of humor about him. Anyway, yeah, I think you're right, though. In any case, almost, Fabechi Wiwu on the O-line, Marlon Klein. I want to see what these guys can do, but. They're not playing them for whatever reason. So we'll see if that changes this week. We don't know. We'll all watch together. And it is tough to take. It's tough to take two and five. But we'll see if they can start the run this week. 00:18:07 Speaker 2: Especially since all those losses, except since it was so winnable right at the end. That's what makes it frustrating. And that's what makes D'Amico and his coordinators and Casario. You know, it's not like we've been getting beat by 14 teams. Every game we're losing games, we should be winning. And so I think a lot of that is coaching and a lot of it's confidence of the players. And if they win a game or two like that, it'll get them on a roll. And I think it'll start with the Chargers. 00:18:37 Speaker 1: All right, General, the Jaguars and the Ravens tonight. And gosh, the Jaguars have it made. They just took on the dead Colts. The horseshoe just smashed going in. And then the Ravens with Fagnano. playing quarterback tonight. My gosh. They're 4-4 going in. The Ravens heading in the wrong direction fast with no quarterbacks. I know they traded for Jacoby Brissett. Is that done yet? Not that I've seen. 00:19:03 Speaker 3: There's some financial wranglings going on. 00:19:06 Speaker 1: But anyway, obviously tonight it's Vignano. Thoughts on this one? Any snowball's chance for the Ravens to help us out and derail the Jags? 00:19:19 Speaker 2: Ravens defense is probably going to play really well. But the offense and a quarterback like that, Derrick Henry may get 40 catches. I was watching Nick Saban's miniseries, and there were two games when Henry was at Alabama and they needed to run. He carried 90 times, two games, six days. And they won both, and he was great. How he was a second-round pick is still beyond me, but that's a different story. So they're going to run Derrick Henry until his tongue's dragging the ground. I think it'll be closer, but I think the Jaguars are a legitimate Super Bowl contender, a team the Texans could sweep But, no, I don't give him a hub. Now, when Jacoby Brissett gets there, you know, he's capable of beating just about anybody. By the time the Texans play him, he'll be going against them. He knows the Texans. The Texans know him. It's too bad the Texans couldn't get this guy. I don't even know his name. 00:20:12 Speaker 1: Fagnano. Fagnano. 00:20:13 Speaker 2: Fagnano. 00:20:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, Fagnano. I guess that's the way you say it. It seems Italian. All right, General, let's talk

politics. I mean, no. 00:20:22 Speaker 3: The games this weekend are all kinds of interesting. But I'll ask you this, and I ask you guys this all the time. I have finally found it. I've been waiting to ask this question. I probably asked it once before maybe. But get your dollar ready because you're going to put it on the best team in the NFL right now. I know exactly where I would put my dollar right now. The best team in the NFL is who you put in your dollars for both of you. 00:20:50 Speaker 1: Actually, we'll do all three of us. General, who is it? 00:20:54 Speaker 2: It's still Buffalo that won three in a row. Okay. And I saw today watching ESPN that the 49ers have the best chance to win the Super Bowl, and I don't think so. I think they're going to break down because they're older and they could lose a second game in a row. But I'm sticking with the Bills because they have Superman playing quarterback. 00:21:13 Speaker 1: Okay. I'm going with my choice last week, the Bears. After what they did, Monday Night Football, they've got the vibe. Simmons. The depth. They've got Jeffrey Simmons. Did you see the analytics on when he's in the lineup for them? My gosh. And I know the 49ers look good right now, but nobody trusts them. They think that the electrical substation is going to take effect at some point during this season. And nobody trusts the 49ers to stay healthy at the moment of truth. As Kevin in the office would say. 00:21:41 Speaker 3: Get minus 10,000 on anything where you place that bet. So minus the Chargers. So I'm going with that. Hopefully their run starts after the Texans. 00:21:50 Speaker 1: Wait, wait. To go. I'm joking. It's the Bears. I'm joking. It's definitely the Bears. No doubt about it. 00:21:57 Speaker 3: General, do you give the Colts a shot at all to beat Dallas in Indianapolis? I asked Mark this. What were we doing? We were doing a show. And I said, oh, Texas Monday. We're doing Texas Monday. And I said, is a Colt fired or traded before the end of our show? 00:22:17 Speaker 1: So, General, I'll ask you this. 00:22:19 Speaker 3: Is a Colt fired or traded before the November 10th deadline? 00:22:26 Speaker 2: Because Arizona proved anybody's capable of beating Dallas. It's just got to gall at Texas if they lost that game. What they allowed C.D. Lamb to do. But the Colts are playing at home. Now, if Jonathan Taylor doesn't play, he's gone. And I think that Carly Irsay Gordon doesn't want to trade him because she likes him. He's under contract. They're trying to get multiple teams. Is it Dodd or Dodds? 00:22:55 Speaker 1: Dodds. 00:22:56 Speaker 3: Dodds. 00:22:58 Speaker 2: They're waiting to see if he can get multiple teams bidding against each other. Minnesota ought to go all out to get Jonathan Taylor. But could they beat them? Sure they could. Will they? I don't think so. But the Cowboys defense, Wink Martindale, the longtime defensive coordinator, did a podcast that I saw today. He said, when I watch the Cowboys, I

need to have a trash can next to the screen because that defense is trash. 00:23:25 Speaker 1: General, Packers at Patriots. The Texans will play the Packers January 4th, Monday Night Football at Green Bay. And both teams are 5-3. This looks like a good one going in. Late window game on Sunday. We'll be playing ours, so we'll just keep an eye on it. But what are your thoughts on this matchup? We'd like the Packers to pull this one out because everybody hates the Patriots, and by everybody I mean me. So what do you think? 00:23:48 Speaker 2: The Packers are in last place in their division in their two games over. 500. That division is historic. Never been a division where every team went to the playoffs. They could. It's so much fun to watch. I don't pick against the Patriots at home. I didn't expect much of them because they lost the Super Bowl. I still don't think they'll make the playoffs, but I'm still going with the Patriots. Micah Parsons is supposed to be back. That'll give him a lift, but I can't imagine he's going to be able to play the way he did when he was a premier pass rusher with so much inactivity. 00:24:21 Speaker 3: General, I can't believe we haven't talked about this because we saw this news come down earlier today. 00:24:26 Speaker 1: Give us 30 seconds. Kymie Fairbairn named AFC. 00:24:29 Speaker 3: Special Teams Player of the Month for October of 2026. 00:24:34 Speaker 1: Your thoughts? 00:24:34 Speaker 2: It's been fantastic. I saw a kicker's chart today, and he was number two by it. Chase McLaughlin with all these categories that they have. When I see other teams have so many kicking problems, like the Rams, who have two on their roster, you wonder how in the world can they screw that up and not do whatever it takes to try to find a Kami Fairbairn, who wasn't he signed by Rick Smith, the former general manager? 00:25:05 Speaker 3: Yep. 00:25:06 Speaker 2: And what a great deal that was that Rick Smith pulled off. But when he comes in, everybody goes to the restroom because they know he's going to kick it and he's going to make it. He's missed one field goal this year. 00:25:17 Speaker 1: Gosh, that is amazing. 00:25:19 Speaker 2: What do you guys think? I got to ask you this. I've been wondering. Last year, Davis Mills had a one-year extension with so many backup quarterbacks having to play. And we saw Davis, what he had to do last year when he was perfect. He won that Jacksonville game. Do you think they're trying to sign him to an extension and he wants to see if he can get a starting job somewhere? Because to me, it is paramount that they get him back. 00:25:47 Speaker 1: Well, I was wondering why he was willing to extend to begin with when he is so marketable. And I wasn't sure because C.J. Stroud should be around here for a long time. And is Mills okay with that, being the backup? Or does he want to become a starter somewhere? I'm a little perplexed over that, but I'm very happy that he's here. Because isn't he extended through next year, Johnny? I think he's got next– but they could always work something out. 00:26:14 Speaker 2: Is he extended through next year? 00:26:16 Speaker 1: I thought he was. I thought that it was– this is not the last year. 00:26:20 Speaker 2: Because there's so many quarterbacks coming out. The teams are going to jump all over. If you're a free agent, it doesn't mean you're going to get a lot of offers. 00:26:28 Speaker 1: Okay, so wait a minute. It's just for this year. 00:26:30 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just for this year, but you had to restructure– There was a restructure of his contract. 00:26:35 Speaker 1: I think it was just recently. All right, so this is the guaranteed salary. 00:26:38 Speaker 3: Okay, so along these lines, because this has kind of been brought up, if you're a Minnesota Vikings fan, who do you think, all things considered, who do you think would give you a better shot of going and winning the NFC North and doing something? 00:26:51 Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz, or Davis Mills? 00:26:54 Speaker 2: Carson Wentz by far. He played really well there early in the year. Kyler Murray has been a humongous disappointment. I predict Wentz will win this game coming up, and he will start the rest of the year for the Vikings, and they'll make the playoffs, and Murray will be looking for a job next year. 00:27:11 Speaker 1: Do you think the J.J. McCarthy performance here is an aberration, or is he the goods, or at least good enough, to help the New York Giants as they'll take on the Eagles this weekend? And did they make a big mistake in Minnesota? Is it the scene in The Hangover where Bradley Cooper says, we effed up? 00:27:27 Speaker 2: You know, the thing is, I'm not sold on the Giants. I want to see them do more, and I want to see him do more. He had a couple of good games when he was in Minnesota. He'd done that before. It's not like he was trash the whole time, but right now they're looking at a quarterback controversy next year. But I'm guessing it is an aberration, and he's going to be up and down like he was before. But, I mean, he sure looked good against the Texans, didn't he? Ugh. 00:27:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, he did. Mike Florio put this one out there with the weak NFC South. You look at what's going on there, and the very strong NFC North, like you mentioned, why not go, this is his suggestion, to four divisions in the NFL, four eight-team divisions. The four-division winners get automatic bids, and then you have ten wild cards across the league, and you just play it out that way, no more AFC, NFC. Thoughts on a restructuring? Would it happen? Do you think it should happen? 00:28:27 Speaker 2: It's the most popular sport in the country. TVs are ratings are through the roof. The owners are making billions of dollars. Why would you mess with something like that? That's too radical for the owners. The coaches would go ballistic. They want to win their division. They want to get a home playoff game, and

they don't care if it's 16-1 or if they're 8-9 like Carolina was last year. And every once in a while, there's a bad division. We've seen it before, and we'll see it again. So that ain't happening. 00:28:57 Speaker 1: General, anything to report as far as documentaries, any other projects you have going on? What can you share with us? 00:29:03 Speaker 2: Well, we have a bunch of travel plans for the one we're doing on Dan Pastorini, where we're going to be going all over California, his hometown, Santa Clara, as we continue to work on that one. And we showed our PVIL story up in Cleveland last week. And so we're still working on these like crazy. We've got another one we're working on about wine. I have to be told to ask what questions to ask because I don't know jack squat about wine other than what I like to drink. The director, Mark Burns, is driving to Napa. He was at North Carolina shooting a wine connoisseur. flying fishing. And then he'll talk about what wines he likes with the fish he caught. And we're supposed to be going to New York City to do several things. But it's another stop on our wine tour for that documentary. 00:29:54 Speaker 1: Sounds amazing. General, thanks so much for the time. We'll catch up on Monday. 00:29:58 Speaker 2: You guys do not come back from L.A. without a victory. Okay. 00:30:02 Speaker 1: We'll just stay out there. No, we're going to get it. We're going to get it. We're going to come back, and we'll talk about it Monday. Thank you, General. Coming up on the program, John Harris and I. I've got questions. He's got answers. I'll chime in. You love this segment. And if you don't, come on. Come on. Give it another shot. It's next here on Texans Radio. We continue with the program here on the Hyundai Texans Radio Studio. Mark Vandermeer and John Harris with you as the Texans take on the Chargers Sunday. Back from the bye, 305 kick, 1205 Texans countdown presented by Modelo Especial. Make the appointment as you're listening to Sean and Seth getting ready for the game, and then we will have the call for you, the Texans. Obviously, desperately need this one, Johnny. You ready for some questions? 00:30:44 Speaker 4: Of course. 00:30:45 Speaker 1: Always. Let's go. Okay, so this is going to be pretty easy stuff today, I think. We'll see. Here's the first one. Okay. Okay, Amari DiMarcato. People are thinking, who's that? Is he on the Food Channel? No, he's a running back that the Texans acquired because... They're banged up at running back. Obviously, Jawar out, and David Montgomery not back in yet. You've got Woody Abdare, but DiMercato. Give me a picture of the production, potentially, of DiMercato on Sunday. What are you expecting out of this guy? I really don't know, but I do think there could be a possibility. 00:31:21 Speaker 3: Obviously, Woody has become the number one back with David Montgomery out. 00:31:26 Speaker 1: You're probably going to take him off kick returns. 00:31:29 Speaker 3: So I could envision Di Mercato being on kick returns. I could see him back there with Tremont Smith or Xavier Hutchinson. 00:31:39 Speaker 1: I could see, I mean, he's got speed. 00:31:42 Speaker 3: What else they do with him, I think, depends on how much he can pick up the third down package. Because we know Dari goes into the game on third downs and has for a number of years because he understands pass protection, where to be, all that kind of stuff. How much can Imari pick up? in the short amount of time in that pass protection package. I think we'll see a lot of him on special teams to start. And then, kind of similar to Jawar Jordan, you know, Jawar didn't run a ton. Now, he knows the offense. But Jawar didn't execute a ton of plays. When we went to London to play Jacksonville, They tossed it to him. 00:32:19 Speaker 1: Yeah. It's like, here, run toss. 00:32:21 Speaker 4: Right. 00:32:21 Speaker 3: And just basically take three steps and read it and go. And I think I could see that being kind of a same, similar formula for DiMercato to do that. Like, hey, we're going to run toss left. How would the Texans call it? You read it after three steps. You want to cut it back? You cut it back. 00:32:35 Speaker 1: You want to stick with it and stay with it? Stay with it. 00:32:37 Speaker 3: But keep that kind of simple for him at that particular point. 00:32:43 Speaker 1: I do think they'll try and get him some touches. 00:32:45 Speaker 3: I think that's going to be important because I don't know that Woody– I don't know that I want Woody to have 20 touches in this game because you've got this game. Then you go to Cleveland to face a really good defense. And then on Thursday night, you play the Colts. So you start getting 20 and 22, 20 and 22. Now you've got to play a third game against the Colts, and he's beat up. So they've got to find some production between Darre and DiMarcato for sure. 00:33:07 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:33:08 Speaker 1: I asked you a similar one last week, but let's ask this again. Second leading wide receiver for the Houston Texans this week. It's Nico Collins to go first. You're not even letting me finish the question. Okay, but go ahead. Okay. I think Dalton Schultz might end up second in receptions or first in receptions like he was all of last year. We talked about him having that 12-catch game against Cincinnati earlier this year. But you think it's Tank Dell? No question. He's the number two guy now. Let's go. Yeah, I don't know if there's a... As far as wide receivers. Yeah, I don't know if I would say there's no question about it, but seeing Tank. 00:33:45 Speaker 3: Going back, I talked about this a little bit on Texas Matchup the other day. We are all curious if Tank were to get out in the open, what it would look like. Because that was one of the things that Nick Casario discussed, you know, about Tank feeling comfortable with his downfield speed. 00:34:00 Speaker 4: Right. 00:34:01 Speaker 3: And feeling like he was back with that downfield

speed. So when he got the ball in his hands, I think everybody was... A, excited, but B, okay, let's see how this does when he opens it up a little bit. 00:34:12 Speaker 1: How does he look? And you look at it and go, oh, pretty good. Pretty darn good. 00:34:16 Speaker 3: When he had that kick return or the punt return, when he cut back and went the other way, same sort of thing. You saw him going at a different rate of speed than everybody else, and you're like, okay, that's the tank I remember. 00:34:27 Speaker 4: Okay. 00:34:27 Speaker 1: Okay. We need to. 00:34:29 Speaker 3: Probably get him a little bit more involved in the offense in some way, shape, or form. We've lost Jalen Noel. We've lost Jaden Higgins. Those guys, obviously, last year in L.A. showed they could be deep downfield threats. You're without those two, so who steps up? And I think it ends up being Tank. No, I think Marv's going to get his touches, and then Kayshaun's going to get his. And you know X, they always find a way to get X touches. Return game, passing game, even in the running game, I just think it's Tank that's going to end up getting a few more touches from for this offense, and at that point, putting some pressure on defenses because of the explosiveness being back. 00:35:05 Speaker 1: Okay, let me ask you this one now, because this is a little bit different, or maybe not. I was saying this earlier to you. Did the Texans beat the best team they played this year? They beat the Jaguars. Is that the best team they played? Is Buffalo better? Only one loss for Buffalo. Is Denver better? The Jags lost to Denver, but the Texans didn't play them. Right. But I'm getting to this. Who's the best team in the AFC? Steelers are on a bye. They have two losses. But the Jags, let's start with the first question. Did the Texans beat the best team they played, or is Buffalo better than Jacksonville? Jacksonville's better than Buffalo. 00:35:41 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:35:41 Speaker 1: So they beat the best team they've played this year. I think so. Yet they're 2-5. Yeah. 00:35:47 Speaker 3: I think beating Jacksonville, obviously, that was a big statement. I said it throughout the week following the Giants game. And I think if the Texans kind of get on a roll, like a lot of us not only are hoping but expecting, I think we're going to look back at that week of the Giants and go, you know what? 00:36:05 Speaker 1: Should have had the bye after London. 00:36:07 Speaker 3: Now, I don't know if you have that opportunity to choose or if the NFL tells you. 00:36:11 Speaker 1: I don't know. 00:36:12 Speaker 3: But I would have liked to have had that bye after London. I still think a game with the Giants at any other point was going to be really, really difficult. But I would have liked to have that bye after London because I think we're going to look back and say, you know what? That was a horrible matchup on that day to face a team that physical coming to our house after obviously losing to the Saints the week before and the Texans are coming off a game against you know London where Scadaboo is now back in the lineup and of course Scadaboo's hurt right now but they don't have Scadaboo I don't know what kind of offense they can generate but I think we're gonna look back at that Giants game and I bring that up because I think the Giants were really really good and I think that that game in London was looked as if it was going to be the one that turned a corner. I still think it can be that game that people look back at the season and go, you know what, we turned a corner in London. Yeah, but you lost the next game to the Giants. Yeah, that's a weird game. It's a strange game in some sense, but we got hot after it. So I think of the teams that Texas have faced, I think the most complete team that they have faced is Jacksonville. And I thought it was the best game that Texas played, maybe not defensively, but I feel like that is the best team. That Jacksonville team played Buffalo down in Jacksonville in the playoffs, and Buffalo has Josh Allen, and he made the difference in that particular game. I think if that game were to happen again in the playoffs, down in Jacksonville, I think Jacksonville would beat them by 10. 00:37:34 Speaker 1: Okay. Well, Jacksonville plays tonight. We'll find out more about them later. Hall of Fame coaches. You get five coaches whittled down to one name by November 17th, and that name is going to go into the mix for the Hall of Fame finalists and see who gets in. And the list is? You're ready for this. I'm ready. 00:37:55 Speaker 3: Bill, this is an alphabetical order. Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Dan Reeves, Mike Shanahan. 00:38:03 Speaker 1: All right. So the obvious one is Belichick's got to get in. 00:38:05 Speaker 3: Right. 00:38:06 Speaker 1: But they didn't put him in the first time they had a chance to put him in. 00:38:09 Speaker 2: No. 00:38:09 Speaker 1: Which is absolutely insane. It led to massive reform. That's correct. With the Hall of Fame voters. But you and I were doing this. We were ranking these guys. Yep. So we both agree Belichick number one on that list. And who are the others? Holmgren. 00:38:24 Speaker 2: Holmgren. 00:38:25 Speaker 1: Dan Reeves. Mike Shanahan. Tom Coughlin. Now, tomorrow night, we have linebackers coach Billy Davis on. 00:38:31 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:38:32 Speaker 1: You asked him about Dan Reeves. Yeah, I did. It's a fascinating answer. Yeah. It is a fascinating answer. Reeves. And remember, he was the consultant for the Texans in 05. We have to put that in. This is Texas radio. This happened. And the one game he showed up for in person, the Texans won. It was against Arizona. David Carr called his own plays in the first half. I think they put up 24 points. Oh, wow. What a revelation. I think quarterbacks should be allowed to call their own plays more often. Don't get me started. So I'm looking at this like Mike Shanahan has two Super Bowl wins. He

won a third with San Francisco before those as the offensive coordinator. Gary Kubiak was the quarterback's coach. Kubiak was his coordinator when he won the two Super Bowls with Elway late in Elway's career. We all know that. I think Shanahan over Coughlin because Shanahan is more influential. We talk about the Shanahan offense. It's not Kyle. It's Mike. And I know it's been tweaked and tweaked and tweaked, but it's Mike. It's Mike. It's a West Coast thing. And you could trace it back to Bill Walsh, whatever. But Mike Shanahan is the If we talk about post-Super Bowl, modern era, that's one thing. If we talk about 90s and later, that's Mike Shanahan. That's his offense. And we'll always look at it that way, I believe. So I think he gets in ahead of Coughlin. So I think it's Shanahan 2, Coughlin 3. Do you agree with me? Yeah, I think the one thing with Coughlin. 00:39:49 Speaker 3: You mentioned he was the offensive coordinator for the Giants in 1990. 00:39:52 Speaker 1: That won a championship with Parcells. 00:39:54 Speaker 3: Very nice. He's got one as a coordinator to go with the two that he won with the Giants. I think with Coughlin, the question becomes, as we go through this, how much is it worth... that a second-year expansion franchise gets to an AFC championship game because that's what Coughlin did. It's also what Dom Capers did with the Carolina Panthers, but it's what Tom Coughlin did with the Jacksonville Jaguars. 00:40:20 Speaker 1: So you add in. 00:40:23 Speaker 3: One as a coordinator with the Giants, then he went to his head coach of the Giants, then in Jacksonville he gets that team, or actually the Giants stuff happened after, he builds the Jaguars... They get to an AFC championship game in year two. They get to an AFC championship game in year five. 00:40:39 Speaker 1: Yep, in 1999. I mean, I think that's worthy. I would put Shanahan ahead of Coughlin. 00:40:46 Speaker 3: I agree with you because I think Shanahan, it's funny because I think, and this is the way football to me goes, the West Coast offense is, you know, there's just pure West Coast offense. 00:40:57 Speaker 1: Right. I think Shanahan took that and went, yeah, let's tweak this a little bit. 00:41:02 Speaker 3: And so he took it down a different path. 00:41:03 Speaker 1: Like, he went down a different alleyway. Whereas a lot of the guys, like Holmgren, Holmgren. 00:41:07 Speaker 3: Took the West Coast offense and kind of stayed down that particular path. I think Shanahan took it and kind of went down a different path. Very similar, but a different path. And I think that's where the Shanahan offense, you know, sort of evolved. And then there's the true West Coast offense that, you know, continued from Walsh to Mike Holmgren and obviously Disciples of Holmgren. 00:41:28 Speaker 4: Wow. 00:41:29 Speaker 3: I like, you know, here's Jordan Schultz tweet. And I think this is a good one. And I think it's interesting. And I'd like to get your take on it. It's not really

a hot take, but I want you to assess this with our hot take rankings. 00:41:39 Speaker 1: Okay. Jordan Schultz quote tweeted the Hall of Fame's tweet. Yep. And he said, all five should be in the Hall of Fame. Interesting. One through five. What would you give it? Rate it. I would say that's a three and a half. I think guys with one Super Bowl win are not necessarily Hall of Fame coaches. That's not a slam dunk. And I know that you have, for instance, Don Correale in the Hall of Fame, and he'd never been to a Super Bowl. AFC Championship games, yes, but no Super Bowl. But I think he's an innovator. And we have to look at it that way when we're evaluating Hall of Fame inductees. Okay, so let me ask you this. 00:42:15 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:42:16 Speaker 3: Because I think when you stop and think about it, I think these two guys end up being very comparable. It's one guy from this class, Mike Holmgren. 00:42:24 Speaker 1: Right. And Mike Tomlin. 00:42:27 Speaker 3: Mike Tomlin is eventually in this group. 00:42:29 Speaker 1: Yeah. Because they've each got one title. He went to two and he won one. Right. Holmgren went to three and won one. Right. I don't think that gets you in the Hall of Fame. Not if you're Mike Holmgren. 00:42:41 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:42:42 Speaker 1: It doesn't. Now, it doesn't mean you're bad. 00:42:44 Speaker 3: Right. 00:42:44 Speaker 1: You're awesome. You went to a Super Bowl game. You went to three, rather, and you won one. That's phenomenal. It doesn't make you a Hall of Fame head coach. It just doesn't to me. So there has to be something else. 00:42:55 Speaker 4: Right. 00:42:56 Speaker 1: Did you bring in an element of the game that wasn't before there? 00:42:59 Speaker 2: Right. 00:42:59 Speaker 1: I think you have to have something. 00:43:01 Speaker 3: Don Correale never won a Super Bowl, but because of the offense that is actually named after him. 00:43:06 Speaker 2: Yes. 00:43:06 Speaker 1: Eric Correale. It's an innovative offense. 00:43:08 Speaker 4: Right. 00:43:10 Speaker 1: I have to look at it like that. So you have Holmgren, and who was the other one in that list? Who was the fourth? We had... Reeves, Dan Reeves. Dan Reeves. All right, so Dan Reeves. Here's another one. If we were doing the Basketball Hall of Fame, you'd look at contributor. Dan Reeves played in the Ice Bowl. That's right. He played in the freaking Ice Bowl. This is one of the top... Through a touchdown pass as a running back in the Ice Bowl. Top five NFL games ever. 00:43:33 Speaker 3: Ever. 00:43:34 Speaker 1: And he played in it, and he also went to, what, four Super Bowls, but he never won one. 00:43:39 Speaker 3: And he was also in, I think, the front office of teams at some point. 00:43:42 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:43:43 Speaker 1: At some point. And he was also a Texans consultant. So that should have some. Never mind. 00:43:47 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:43:47 Speaker 2: Okay. 00:43:48 Speaker 1: That's it for that segment. Next up, Houston Methodist minutes. Final thoughts on the way out. Thursday Night Football coming your way. It's Texans Radio. Wrapping it up tonight on Texans Radio before Thursday Night Football with the Jaguars and the Ravens. My gosh. Can we get some help, please, from the Ravens? They're down to their third quarterback. We need help. We need the Jaguars to lose. Okay, we'll watch it together, see what happens. You can listen to it on 95.7 The Fan. Enjoy it. Now, injury report, nothing weird on that. I love getting Petrie back. Let's keep that going in the right direction, and we'll talk more about the game status report tomorrow in the program where we will feature D'Amico Ryans. We will feature Bill Davis, linebacker's coach. What a story. He is so many different connections around the National Football League and beyond. He was also Urban Meyer's best man at his wedding back in the day. My gosh. So a lot to talk to Bill Davis about. Yeah, we're going to go there. We're going to go there with him. I decided. We decided. Anyway, let's get to this now. Houston Methodist Minutes, sports psychology. What about the yips? What about when you get those on the golf course or the professional athletes get those? And we've seen them manifest in a variety of ways. Dr. Larry Baillet of Houston Methodist. talks about them. 00:45:05 Speaker 4: So when I have these conversations with athletes, whether, you know, you mentioned a few sports and even track, I'll see this, which is not a contact sport and it's typically an individual sport. And we'll talk about utilizing the resources that athlete has and a lot of teams. So when you're at the university level, professional level, or even semi-professional level, you have a behavioral health specialist with you. And this is just an example, track athlete, distance, stress injury, coming back, still having pain. We re-scanned that athlete. I told them there's no stress fracture. And the athlete kept saying, but it hurts, but it hurts, kept coming back to that. And, you know, reluctantly they agreed, but I suggested we visit with behavioral health to learn about some of the coping mechanisms and realize objectively there's nothing there, but there's a whole other part of this to get back into your sport or your activity. And so visiting with that behavioral health specialist, they can often talk about coping mechanisms and pushing through the discomfort you're having and if it's safe and you're not going to have a further injury. And it takes often multiple conversations, not just, Hey, we should do this because most people don't want to hear, Hey, this might be, you know, in my head. 00:46:14 Speaker 1: Dr. Larry Baie of Houston Methodist, the official healthcare provider of the Houston Texans, Houston Methodist leading medicine. And I love that topic. I think we'll have a little bit more on that next week. If you play golf, if you play any kind of sports whatsoever, pressure is a thing. And so many people deal with it differently, and I love talking about that kind of stuff. All right, that's going to do it for the show tonight. We mentioned Thursday Night Football on the way and tomorrow's show as well. And don't forget about Saturday night after the late news, which is after the college game on ABC 13, that you will get to watch Texans Playbook with D'Amico Ryan's Nick Casario. Some iron sharpens iron on there. And the most important thing is game day. 12.05 with Texans Countdown presented by Modelo Especial. 3.05 kickoff from SoFi. Texans, Chargers, got to get it done. Have a great night, everyone. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 6. Go Texans!