Speaker 1: What's happened? Everybody. Welcome to Wednesday of Texans All Access
Speaker 1: from the Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John Harris,
Speaker 1: football analyst, sideline reporter for your Houston Texans, and we
Speaker 1: got plenty to do on Titans Week today. You know,
Speaker 1: Wednesday's our day with Nick Cassario. Uh So we'll have
Speaker 1: Nick here in a little bit. We'll have little Cutlet
Speaker 1: with Juice Scrugs as well. Stephan and Zalez a newcomer.
Speaker 1: You saw her on Texans three sixty, but she's new
Speaker 1: to the slant. Formerly a deep slant, but now the slant.
Speaker 1: She sits down with Walter Payton Man of the Year candidate,
Speaker 1: the Texans representative John Weeks. One of the best dudes
Speaker 1: you're gonna find on and off the field, and obviously
Speaker 1: that's what it recognizes. We're also gonna hear from Mike Keith,
Speaker 1: the longtime voice of the Tennessee Titans. He and Mark
Speaker 1: they've been calling games since two thousand and two. Mike's
Speaker 1: been calling him in Tennessee since the team formerly known
Speaker 1: as the Oilers moved to Tennessee. Had it from there. Longtime. Boys.
Speaker 1: These guys know each other. That's a great conversation. A
Speaker 1: little bit later, Drew, Dory and I go in the
Speaker 1: lab and man, we went all over the place with
Speaker 1: this one. This is a true in the lab because
Speaker 1: Drew and I were, boy, we are feeling it. It
Speaker 1: started with one question that led to something else, that
Speaker 1: led to something else, that led to something else. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on in that in the lab.
Speaker 1: We'll have that a little bit later. We gotta look
Speaker 1: at the injury report and see where it stands. And
Speaker 1: I can tell you right now not going to be
Speaker 1: something we love seeing. Not at all. CJ Stroud not
Speaker 1: at practice today. Still in the concussion protocol. Now, there
Speaker 1: are different stages or phases in concussion protocol, and you've
Speaker 1: got to meet certain standards to be able to move
Speaker 1: on to the next phase. So we'll see if CJ
Speaker 1: is out there on Thursday. He was not out at practice.
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, he and a number of others were not
Speaker 1: at practice. We'll get to injury report a little bit
Speaker 1: later in the show, but we got to kick it off.
Speaker 1: Executi Vice President and general manager of your Houston Texans,
Speaker 1: Nick Cassario. We always get Nick going a little bit,
Speaker 1: So here's Nick with me and Mark.
Speaker 2: And now with us in the Hunday Texans Radio studio,
Speaker 2: it's Texans executive vice president and general manager Nick Cassario.
Speaker 3: Nick, welcome, good to.
Speaker 4: See you, to see you guys.
Speaker 3: Titan Week, big week back in the division.
Speaker 2: Let's recap the Jets a little bit before we get
Speaker 2: into Tennessee.
Speaker 3: What did you see on Sunday?
Speaker 2: I know it did not go as well as you
Speaker 2: wanted at all, but what needs to be worked on
Speaker 2: coming out of this game?
Speaker 4: Yeah, bottom line.
Speaker 5: Is we just didn't execute the things that we needed
Speaker 5: to execute in the game. Give the Jets credit, they
Speaker 5: made more plays than we did. And you kind of
Speaker 5: look and identify some of the keys that we did
Speaker 5: Mark going into the game offensively, defensively, and we really
Speaker 5: came up short in all two or three areas or
Speaker 5: the bullets that we identified, So credit to them, but
Speaker 5: we really didn't deserve to win because we didn't play well.
Speaker 5: So we have to make some corrections and it's just
Speaker 5: like any week, kind of have to flush it regardless
Speaker 5: of the outcome, and then prepare for the opponent, try
Speaker 5: to make some adjustments and modifications. We'll look at where
Speaker 5: we are with some of the players that may may
Speaker 5: or may not be available for this week. So just
Speaker 5: kind of get ready for this week, kind of understand
Speaker 5: what happened. Maybe I do some things that we can
Speaker 5: maybe fix and there'll be some maybe some carryover. Otherwise
Speaker 5: we kind of have to flip and focus on the
Speaker 5: Titans and what they do.
Speaker 1: Nick. All year, you and de Maker two have talked.
Speaker 1: Whenever we've asked you about injuries, you've albably said, we'll
Speaker 1: figure it out. I mean, there's really no other attack
Speaker 1: you can take. But someday it felt like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: they're really kind of piling up. How tough and how
Speaker 1: difficult does that make the week for you beyond what
Speaker 1: it's been already this year?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you sort of have to react to what happens
Speaker 5: during the course of the game and just understand the
Speaker 5: nature of the player's condition and what is availability is
Speaker 5: really you want to look in the short term, is
Speaker 5: he going to be available for this particular game. So
Speaker 5: the sooner we have that information, the better then we
Speaker 5: can plan accordingly. So injuries are part of football. We
Speaker 5: see it all around the league. Essentially every team has
Speaker 5: to deal with something on some level. What it does
Speaker 5: it creates another opportunity for another player that maybe hasn't
Speaker 5: played as much. So we feel comfortable with the players
Speaker 5: that are in the building. Some players have shown up
Speaker 5: consistently week to week in practice, they haven't really had
Speaker 5: the opportunity in the game, so maybe this is the
Speaker 5: week where they get that opportunity. So you never know
Speaker 5: when it's going to happen, why it occurs. You just
Speaker 5: have to be prepared and then go through the week,
Speaker 5: go through the process, and get ready to play football.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it always points out, and we're two
Speaker 2: and a half months away from the combine right now,
Speaker 2: but it always points out how people get obsessed with
Speaker 2: the starting lineup. But as you just pointed out, in
Speaker 2: this league, that could not be less relevant. It's about
Speaker 2: the entire depth chart and beyond right mark.
Speaker 5: It's interesting, Waver, just actually having this conversation James Lotfert
Speaker 5: and I, and I think there's a propensity league wide.
Speaker 5: Everybody kind of focuses on quote unquote the stars, but
Speaker 5: there's fifty three players on a roster and there's eleven
Speaker 5: players on the field on a snap on each play,
Speaker 5: So we have to look our responsibilities, look at the
Speaker 5: the roster top to bottom, one through fifty three, plus
Speaker 5: the practice squad, which we've talked about, I would say excessively.
Speaker 5: So that's the reality. That's the truth. And you've seen
Speaker 5: a lot of players who maybe they're not highly thought of,
Speaker 5: they get an opportunity and they become more of a
Speaker 5: household name. I mean, Tommy DeVito is a good example
Speaker 5: of a player who really nobody even was talking about,
Speaker 5: and he's had an opportunity to play here and the
Speaker 5: Giants have won three games. It's credit to you know,
Speaker 5: coach Dable and you know Joe and what they've done.
Speaker 5: But that's the NFL. That happens to everybody. Every team's
Speaker 5: dealing with it. I mean, you just look around the league.
Speaker 5: It's inevitably each game something happens. You're looking and we'll
Speaker 5: talk about the Titans here in a minute, but you
Speaker 5: talk about the best player in the league. One of
Speaker 5: the best players in the league didn't play last night
Speaker 5: and they went down to Miami and won.
Speaker 4: Anyways, So that's just the NFL.
Speaker 5: So our responsibility to try to identify players that we
Speaker 5: think have the right traits and characteristics come in here
Speaker 5: with the right mindset and the right work ethic and then.
Speaker 4: Go out there and prepare to play. Everybody has to
Speaker 4: prepare to play.
Speaker 5: We're gonna make players inactive, and there's gonna be players
Speaker 5: that a man in the practice squad.
Speaker 4: At some point you're gonna need everybody. That's the truth.
Speaker 2: Do you have any players represented by Tommy DeVito's agent?
Speaker 4: We have his Actually, his agents are really good.
Speaker 5: Dude, Sean, we've had a good Shawn still is his agent,
Speaker 5: but we've had a good relationship going back to our
Speaker 5: time in New England. I would say he's Italian through
Speaker 5: and through to the nth degree. So, but Sean's a
Speaker 5: great guy and it's done a good job obviously identifying
Speaker 5: a pretty good player.
Speaker 3: Are you inspired by what he wears?
Speaker 1: Nick?
Speaker 4: I don't have a fedora like that.
Speaker 1: If you wear a vest version of that.
Speaker 5: With the yeah, with the fedora, yeah, I don't think
Speaker 5: the vest go over the Italian heritage very well.
Speaker 1: So nick I feel like the poster child, if you will,
Speaker 1: for what we've been talking about, being ready for your
Speaker 1: moment at any point and then capitalizing on it as
Speaker 1: a guy you know well and everybody got to know
Speaker 1: because of the interception he has the Super Bowl, and
Speaker 1: that's Malcolm Butler, a guy that when he gets the
Speaker 1: opportunity finally in the Super Bowl, he makes the most
Speaker 1: of it. In a situation like that, How when did
Speaker 1: you guys feel like, Okay, he's ready for that opportunity,
Speaker 1: Because I feel like that's one of the key things,
Speaker 1: when you feel like a guy is ready for that
Speaker 1: opportunity that could come at any point.
Speaker 4: No, it's a great question.
Speaker 5: I mean, just going back, we had a lot of
Speaker 5: players that were in a similar category in New England,
Speaker 5: I would say, specific to Malcolm, Malcolm was a player
Speaker 5: who came to New England on a rookie tryout rookie
Speaker 5: mini camp weekend, so he wasn't affiliated with the team,
Speaker 5: so he wasn't we didn't even know who he was,
Speaker 5: let alone, whether or not he'd be able to make
Speaker 5: somewhat of an impact. But he came in, he worked
Speaker 5: out rookie mini camp weekend, we signed to the ninety
Speaker 5: man roster. He ended up making the roster and I
Speaker 5: think he was the fourth or fifth corner for most
Speaker 5: of the year, and then we had some things that
Speaker 5: happened and took place. But Malcolm was a player who
Speaker 5: showed up in practice, had a knack for getting his
Speaker 5: hands on the football. He just had a good he
Speaker 5: was natural just playing the ball. So I mean there
Speaker 5: were multiple examples, not only New England league wide where
Speaker 5: players aren't drafted, they just get another opportunity. Sometimes it
Speaker 5: changes the scenery. So that's the beauty of this league.
Speaker 5: It's in I think the way we approach it here
Speaker 5: and Demiko and I have talked about it. We don't
Speaker 5: really care where you come from, how you got here.
Speaker 5: It's really about what you do with your opportunity when
Speaker 5: you're there, and we have a responsibility to equal the
Speaker 5: playing field. And the reality is that some teams say,
Speaker 5: well this guy was drafted here.
Speaker 4: You know we're going to hold on as long as
Speaker 4: you can.
Speaker 5: I mean, at some point if you have to cut
Speaker 5: your losses, I mean, then you just have to cut
Speaker 5: your losses and move on. So uh, you need to
Speaker 5: have thick skin, no hard feelings, and try to make
Speaker 5: good decisions and just to understand if a player doesn't
Speaker 5: work out, just understanding the rationale and the reasoning behind it,
Speaker 5: and then make sure that if you get into a
Speaker 5: situation moving forward, you don't want the you don't want
Speaker 5: to happen in the same way.
Speaker 2: Nick, I'm always shouting out about people who make too
Speaker 2: big a deal about sacks, except now, because Jonathan g
Speaker 2: Renard has ten and this has only happened double digit
Speaker 2: sacks five times in the history of the franchise or
Speaker 2: five players have done it?
Speaker 3: What did it multiple times? Of course? But what about
Speaker 3: the kind of year Jonathan Garnard is having for you?
Speaker 2: I know it's not just about the sacks, it's about
Speaker 2: pressure and other things, but what about his game?
Speaker 5: Yeah, John's had a good year, and I think the
Speaker 5: one thing about John he's been available. And I think
Speaker 5: when you kind of look at the arc of his career,
Speaker 5: when he's been available and he's been out there, he's
Speaker 5: been productive. You know, his rookie season really didn't do
Speaker 5: that much. His second season had a pretty good year.
Speaker 5: Last year he had some bumps in the road, and
Speaker 5: this year, you know, he's been able to stay, be
Speaker 5: available and be out there on the field.
Speaker 4: So has a good attitude.
Speaker 5: He works hard, he has a good skill set, and
Speaker 5: he's got a good playing strength. He has an ability
Speaker 5: to bend and get the edge and think the defensive
Speaker 5: line as a whole. We've gotten good production from that group,
Speaker 5: both on the perimeter and inside. So it's a credit
Speaker 5: to Jacques and you know Coach Wright and we play
Speaker 5: eight nine players at the game each week. But you know,
Speaker 5: John's taken advantage of his opportunity, and you know he's
Speaker 5: receiving the recognition that you know he deserved. It's based
Speaker 5: on what is his performance has enabled him to receive
Speaker 5: some other recognition that he's receiving.
Speaker 1: Nick, I'm reminded as I look over at our other
Speaker 1: set and I see his name, Brevin Jordan over there.
Speaker 1: You draft him in the fifth round of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: We've seen in the progress of Bread has another couple
Speaker 1: of big catches last week in the rain, making some
Speaker 1: things happen. What have you seen from Brevin? And what
Speaker 1: more do you want to see, in particular, if Dalton's
Speaker 1: unable to go and you really need to continue to
Speaker 1: rely on Brevin in the passing game, what do you
Speaker 1: want to see even more from him?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Brevan's been able to help us in the passing game.
Speaker 5: He's made some plays. And think when you just look
Speaker 5: at the arc of his career and he's showing the
Speaker 5: ability to do that, And I think one of the
Speaker 5: things that we liked about the player coming out of
Speaker 5: Miami was his ability with the ball after the catch.
Speaker 5: And there's some players that once they get the ball
Speaker 5: in their hands, they do good things. You have some
Speaker 5: players that are more catch at contact or you know,
Speaker 5: yards at contact, yards at catch point. But Brevin's got
Speaker 5: good playing strength for his size. He's athletic, he runs well,
Speaker 5: he runs strong, he has ability to break tackle, He's
Speaker 5: got good lower body strength. So I think the big
Speaker 5: thing is consistency. Any young player looking for consistency, you
Speaker 5: like Brevin, will tell you he probably hasn't always been
Speaker 5: as consistent with his performance. There's been a myriad of
Speaker 5: reasons for that. But it's got a good attitude. He
Speaker 5: works hard, He's caught the ball, catching the ball at
Speaker 5: times he's had and he had to drop the week before,
Speaker 5: but he came back, made some catches and you know
Speaker 5: the difficult conditions. So but braviits worked hard and you
Speaker 5: put himself in a position to help a team, and
Speaker 5: that's all you can really ask.
Speaker 2: Nick Davis gets into the game late against the Jets.
Speaker 2: We don't know what's going to happen with CJ and
Speaker 2: the protocol and everything. But what can Davis learn? What
Speaker 2: could he learn all this time watching CJ? Absorbing whatever
Speaker 2: he can absorb about this system, having played in the preseason, that.
Speaker 3: Kind of thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, It's say when you have an experience in the system,
Speaker 5: it always helps. And I may say he's actually an example,
Speaker 5: played ten to eleven games and they didn't play for
Speaker 5: two or three games. And sometimes when that player goes
Speaker 5: back on the field for whatever reason, he's more comfortable.
Speaker 5: So I'd say that room overall, our room overall, like
Speaker 5: we feel good about all three players. So obviously CJ
Speaker 5: has done a great job here this year. Kind of
Speaker 5: see how the week goes. You know, Davis has played,
Speaker 5: He's played well with his opportunities. Case has a lot
Speaker 5: of experience, you know, not only here in Houston over
Speaker 5: the course of his career, but he's played winning football.
Speaker 5: So we'll do what we feel makes the most sense
Speaker 5: for our team here, try to look at our options.
Speaker 5: Just whoever we have to put in a position he
Speaker 5: gives us the best chance to win a Sunday against Tennessee,
Speaker 5: and that's what we're gonna have to do.
Speaker 1: Nick. You know, the fans in this town if there's
Speaker 1: one team I know Mark would want to beat the Colts.
Speaker 1: I think most everybody else would want to beat the Titans.
Speaker 1: So let's get into scouting report. We haven't seen him
Speaker 1: all year, We're gona see him twice in three weeks.
Speaker 1: You're scouting report on Tennessee Titans as they are right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, improving football team they've gone through.
Speaker 5: I'd say a lot of change, injury related, some personnel related,
Speaker 5: but the hallmarks of the team.
Speaker 4: They run the football well.
Speaker 5: I would say, in addition to Derek ty Spears has
Speaker 5: done a great job. He's really complimented. Derek very was
Speaker 5: good player at Tulane, so a good running game. Chig
Speaker 5: Coronquo to tight end is an explosive player at tight end,
Speaker 5: has some similarities to Brevin And I'd say d Hops
Speaker 5: playing probably as well as he's had in any point
Speaker 5: in his career. He is one of the most targeted
Speaker 5: players in the league his positioned, so wherever he is,
Speaker 5: you certainly have to be cognitive. And d Hopps been
Speaker 5: a good player for a long time and he's certainly
Speaker 5: not slowing down. And will's played better the more he's played.
Speaker 5: So big strong arm, I mean he has the ability
Speaker 5: to get the ball down the field and create exposive plays.
Speaker 4: He's very tough.
Speaker 5: You can make plays with his legs and I think
Speaker 5: you kind of saw a little bit of everything in
Speaker 5: a Miami game there the other night. So offensively, they've
Speaker 5: got good skill. They've had a lot of change on
Speaker 5: the offensive front. On the offensive line shuffle with some
Speaker 5: guys in and out, and then defensively, it's one of
Speaker 5: the best red area defense in the league and really
Speaker 5: starts with the front.
Speaker 4: So I mean, Jefferies, he's a badass.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's one of the best players in the
Speaker 5: league whether or not he plays, but you always have
Speaker 5: to count for him. But I've gotten good production from
Speaker 5: Key Landry's back this year's giving him some good rush
Speaker 5: production off the edge. Azas has done a good job
Speaker 5: an inside linebacker. They signed him, you know, played with
Speaker 5: Demiko and the group out there at San Francisco leads
Speaker 5: him and tackles in the secondary is where they've probably
Speaker 5: had the most I would say change of variability to
Speaker 5: trade and bayered claim some players off of waivers. But
Speaker 5: they play fairly disciplined, very sound. They make you earn yards.
Speaker 5: So good run defense good in the red area. They
Speaker 5: haven't taken the ball away as much, and then offensively
Speaker 5: have the ability to create explosive plays and.
Speaker 4: A kicking game.
Speaker 5: The center's actually put in there now times with this
Speaker 5: earlier in the year put of the ball well against Miami.
Speaker 5: So they're a team that is going to keep the
Speaker 5: game close and then gives themselves an opportunity in the
Speaker 5: fourth quarter. And I think you saw everything kind of
Speaker 5: come to fruition there in the Miami game, all the
Speaker 5: way to the end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they came back. You saw several upsets in the
Speaker 2: league this weekend. We're getting late in the year. I
Speaker 2: guess nothing surprises you anymore because the line, the margin
Speaker 2: is payper thin, right.
Speaker 4: Very thin.
Speaker 5: And the reality is, if if you don't play the
Speaker 5: game the right way, it doesn't matter who you play.
Speaker 5: Demiko has mentioned this, We've talked about it. Records in
Speaker 5: the end really don't matter. A record is really a
Speaker 5: snapshot of where you are present time. But you still
Speaker 5: have to go out there and play the game. So
Speaker 5: you have sixty minutes of football in front of you.
Speaker 5: So whoever executes better that day is probably going to win,
Speaker 5: and the team that doesn't probably won't and as you
Speaker 5: get later in the year, you just run out of opportunities.
Speaker 5: So our focus right now is try to put everything
Speaker 5: we can into this week and then getting ready for
Speaker 5: a good heightens football team on the road who's playing well.
Speaker 5: So we'll see if we can make some improvements and
Speaker 5: adjustments relative to what we put on the field against
Speaker 5: the Jets.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I know the answer this question on
Speaker 1: my ask anyways, it is December and playing important football.
Speaker 1: Do you sneak a peek at the scoreboard at times?
Speaker 1: Do you kind of pay attention to what's going on
Speaker 1: at times like teams that are around us at the time, Nick,
Speaker 1: Or is it just we got to focus on our
Speaker 1: job and what we do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think you just take a quick
Speaker 5: snapshot to kind of get an idea of what's going on.
Speaker 5: But in the end, you have to focus on yourself
Speaker 5: because if you don't take care of your business, nothing
Speaker 5: else really matters. So focus on our job. Players internally
Speaker 5: have to focus on individually what they can do to
Speaker 5: help the team, so their preparation, their practice, their process,
Speaker 5: and be able to go out there and execute the
Speaker 5: game playing the right way. Those are the things that
Speaker 5: are going to matter. The rest of it is for
Speaker 5: the fans, and I'm sure they'll have fun with them
Speaker 5: when they're doing it.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I want to bring up the running the football topic
Speaker 2: this week, Nick, because in the first half it looked like, okay,
Speaker 2: there's some things going on, and then the second half
Speaker 2: kind of slowed down. Then the game kind of changed
Speaker 2: to roll with a lot or whatever the case is.
Speaker 2: What about the state of the art or the state
Speaker 2: of the union rather with the running game and where
Speaker 2: you're headed going into Tennessee.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's probably indicative of kind of where we've been
Speaker 5: all year. We've got our moments, you know, if you
Speaker 5: had some opportunities where there's been some run lanes and
Speaker 5: we've able to churn out some good runs, and there's
Speaker 5: been some other plays where either we don't get a
Speaker 5: hat on the right guy, or the back misses the
Speaker 5: cut or a combination. I think we miss a block
Speaker 5: on the second level, or there's just a myriad of things.
Speaker 5: So it's gonna be hard to run a football against
Speaker 5: his front. I mean, this is one of the better
Speaker 5: things that they do. So see if we can carve
Speaker 5: out some you know, positive yards and I think the
Speaker 5: big thing with the running game, and sometimes it's volume
Speaker 5: and then just putting yourself in a position where it's
Speaker 5: second in six or seven. It's not so much about
Speaker 5: getting a thirty or forty yard run, it's just getting
Speaker 5: incremental progress and kind of putting yourself in a position offensively,
Speaker 5: you know, where you can manage the sticks a little
Speaker 5: bit better.
Speaker 1: I felt like we were behind the sticks with a
Speaker 1: number of a number of times against the Jets on Sunday, Nick,
Speaker 1: you brought it up earlier. He's the one guy that
Speaker 1: I in the division that I always I I hate
Speaker 1: seeing Jeffrey Simmons. How do you prepare It's been said, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's probably not gonna play, but you can't take that
Speaker 1: for granted. How do you kind of prepare for Simmons?
Speaker 1: Because I would imagine he's the kind of guy that,
Speaker 1: not that you have special game plans for, but he's
Speaker 1: a guy that can completely wreck the game in certain
Speaker 1: ways if he's playing and he's not totally account for.
Speaker 1: How do you kind of go about that preparation with Simmons?
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, absolutely.
Speaker 5: I mean they have a good front, so they have
Speaker 5: a lot of players that can But when you have
Speaker 5: a player that can potentially impact the game in all areas.
Speaker 5: And Jeffrey's a three down player and he has front versatility.
Speaker 5: So I think the big thing you have to have
Speaker 5: an awareness of understanding of the player, and thereous things
Speaker 5: that you can do to mitigate, let's say, his impact
Speaker 5: on the game. Then you have to address those during
Speaker 5: the course of the week. So maybe it's the way
Speaker 5: you design a running game, or in certain protections, there's
Speaker 5: gonna make sure that you get extra presence there. But
Speaker 5: if you do that, then you're gonna be a little
Speaker 5: bit lighter on a guy like Landry or a guy
Speaker 5: like Key. So when you have a player that impacts
Speaker 5: the game that much, you just have to make sure
Speaker 5: that you don't let that player becomes such a large
Speaker 5: impact on the game where he completely wrecks the game
Speaker 5: or ruins right. So it's a credit to him, and
Speaker 5: I think his consistency and just his toughness and his
Speaker 5: playing strength and his ability to be a good run
Speaker 5: player and still impact the passing game. That's what kind
Speaker 5: of makes him unique because not everybody can do that.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: I hate that guy. I mean, I'm sure he's a
Speaker 1: great guy. I hate seeing him on the other side
Speaker 1: of the field. I mean he's as No, he's actually
Speaker 1: a great guy. I think he's there, Walter guy. I
Speaker 1: mean I just hate seeing him because you I mean,
Speaker 1: last year we ran that gauntlet of all those guys
Speaker 1: we're seeing, from Dexter to uh Simmons who saw him
Speaker 1: twice and then drawn paint to John Allen. So all
Speaker 1: those guys. Of course, Quinn we thrown there from last week.
Speaker 1: I can't stand well, how about Den Dexter.
Speaker 2: Lawrence didn't play Monday night, his team won, Jeffrey Simmons
Speaker 2: didn't play his team one, so you never know what's
Speaker 2: going to happen.
Speaker 5: Well, it kind of goes back to what we talked about,
Speaker 5: like the depth of your team. You're going to need
Speaker 5: everybody at some point, and everybody has good players. So
Speaker 5: just because you don't have one said player doesn't mean
Speaker 5: you don't have an opportunity to go out there and
Speaker 5: play good football. You have to figure out of way,
Speaker 5: and that's what our job is is to figure out
Speaker 5: it way each week to put ourselves into position to
Speaker 5: have success.
Speaker 3: Nick, there are seven bowls on Saturday, only seven.
Speaker 4: There's seven. Realize they already started.
Speaker 2: Yes, how do you deploy people this time of year,
Speaker 2: if at all, because these are not the power programs
Speaker 2: playing in these early bowls. I don't know how you
Speaker 2: handle all that because there might be some diamonds in
Speaker 2: the rough there.
Speaker 5: Very selectively, there's probably a good chance that we've probably
Speaker 5: seen just about every player and these respective teams throughout
Speaker 5: the course of the fall. So unless you may there's
Speaker 5: something specific that you need to see live, then you're
Speaker 5: probably not going to go watch the Blue Bonnet Bowl
Speaker 5: or the Liberty Car My Ex Tax Bowl or now
Speaker 5: we have the Bowl coming in n RG the twenty seven,
Speaker 5: so definitely being the tendance for that one. Two pretty
Speaker 5: good teams, so the ability to actually we haven't seen A,
Speaker 5: and I haven't seen A and M this year saw
Speaker 5: Oklahoma State play against Houston. But it's really you have
Speaker 5: to be selective kind of pick and shoes and if
Speaker 5: there's really a reason that you need to be at
Speaker 5: the game.
Speaker 3: You brought up or it came up.
Speaker 2: The Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee that is
Speaker 2: John Weeks for the Houston Texans, who's been here for
Speaker 2: a thousand and years and does a very important job.
Speaker 2: And I liken him to a utility. It's the lights,
Speaker 2: it's the plumbing. If it goes off, everything's going to
Speaker 2: go wrong. But you kind of take it for granted,
Speaker 2: sometimes not you, but people that that job has done
Speaker 2: extremely well for so long.
Speaker 5: If you want to be going the kicking game, it
Speaker 5: all starts with the specialists. And nobody's done a better
Speaker 5: job over the course of his career with his craft
Speaker 5: and his job than John Weeks. And this award isn't
Speaker 5: about what he does on the football field. Is his
Speaker 5: impact that he's had in the community. But I think
Speaker 5: what it speaks to is just John's consistency and just
Speaker 5: week after week a year after year, and he's reliable
Speaker 5: and you could count on him to do the right thing,
Speaker 5: to be a great teammate and go out there and
Speaker 5: perform his job. And we've been fortunate to be fairly
Speaker 5: productive in the kicking game. And it all starts with
Speaker 5: the good specialists, and John is certainly at the forefront
Speaker 5: of that.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this nick last weekend because I'm
Speaker 1: watching You're a Boss put on a helmet on college
Speaker 1: game day as the game day picker, and he puts
Speaker 1: on an old Navy helmet, which was freaking awesome to see.
Speaker 1: But it made me think about the Army Navy game.
Speaker 1: Have you ever been to that game? Have you ever
Speaker 1: been to it and seen it up close? Because it
Speaker 1: wasn't last.
Speaker 5: We have not seen it live, just watched it from afar,
Speaker 5: But there's nothing like it, and everybody that's either been
Speaker 5: to it or experienced it just speaks to the impact
Speaker 5: that it's had. And I think the one thing I
Speaker 5: haven't had the ability to do I haven't done yet
Speaker 5: is actually see a game on campus at West Point.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, So.
Speaker 5: It's that the academy experience. There's nothing like it in
Speaker 5: college football. But even just the pageantry and everything associated
Speaker 5: with that game, when you watch it, it just has
Speaker 5: a different feel and it's it's very unique and there's
Speaker 5: really nothing like it.
Speaker 2: All Right, So, Nick, we're going to Nashville, I know
Speaker 2: of an open mic night. Maybe that's not where you're
Speaker 2: gonna be.
Speaker 4: You guys will be there for the karaoke, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I might know he will.
Speaker 2: But speaking of it's the music capital of the country
Speaker 2: really and country music of course, but have you ever
Speaker 2: put on a cowboy hat here at the rodeo or
Speaker 2: something like that, because I think I don't know if
Speaker 2: you've enjoyed the road deo or gotten to do it
Speaker 2: yet here have you.
Speaker 5: I have not been on a cowboy hat. We've seen
Speaker 5: the rodeo because they they're here during March, during our
Speaker 5: i'd say off season if you will. So there's a
Speaker 5: lot of traffic, there's a lot of dirt. Yeah, there's
Speaker 5: a lot of activity.
Speaker 4: In the building. So we get displaced.
Speaker 3: So concerts partake and yeah, so I think the girls
Speaker 3: would like it.
Speaker 4: They probably will.
Speaker 5: We probably will have a conversation about now, as you
Speaker 5: brought it up, Mar.
Speaker 2: Wear that hat, get the boots. That's good stuff, all right, Nick,
Speaker 2: thanks a lot of good luck this week.
Speaker 4: Thanks fellas.
Speaker 1: Now, we had that conversation with Nick on Tuesday, as
Speaker 1: we always do, always sit around around lunch time with Nick,
Speaker 1: and so we have that conversation. So sometimes transactions happen,
Speaker 1: things happen. Well, something happened as it pertained to Tommy DeVito.
Speaker 1: He won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. How about
Speaker 1: that NFC Offensive Player of the Week, Tommy DeVito, his
Speaker 1: agent shaunts the leto. I just love how Nick, just
Speaker 1: Nick just jumped right into that question. Man, that was
Speaker 1: that was pretty cool? Uh? But yeah, how about the
Speaker 1: two New Jersey quarterback Zach Wilson for the Jets got
Speaker 1: it against us AFC Offensive Player of the Week Tommy
Speaker 1: DeVito NFC Offensive Player of the Week. So some good
Speaker 1: things happening up in New York with their quarterbacks both
Speaker 1: playing in MetLife on Sunday and Monday. Okay, one of
Speaker 1: the guys that would be instrumental on Sunday is Juice
Speaker 1: Scruggs playing that left guard position. See some good things
Speaker 1: from Juice. I know people are the offensive line has
Speaker 1: been very good to be giving up sacks and et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera, And I I'm trying to make sure that
Speaker 1: with Juice, you give him a little bit of a chance.
Speaker 1: The guy who's only played a few games of football,
Speaker 1: especially at left guard the NFL. So he's handling some
Speaker 1: business and he's gonna be standing on business against Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Now we'll see if Jeffrey Simmons ends up being part
Speaker 1: of that, but it doesn't sound as if you will.
Speaker 1: At least this game, the game of Houston. Potentially Jeffery
Speaker 1: Simmons is there and he'll give lessons to everybody. Well,
Speaker 1: Quinn Williams gave lessons last week, and Juice did some
Speaker 1: good things against Quinny Williams. There are also some times
Speaker 1: that Quentin got his So let's talk to Juice. Drew
Speaker 1: already caught up with him for a little let in
Speaker 1: the locker room today.
Speaker 7: Juice Scruggs left guard joins us. Juice, tell me about
Speaker 7: the challenge that awaits with this front seven of the
Speaker 7: Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, they're a good group, definitely another challenge for us.
Speaker 8: Just got to come out and play our game and
Speaker 8: I should take care of itself.
Speaker 7: Tough one on Sunday, But this is a bounce back
Speaker 7: team all season long. Outside of those first two weeks
Speaker 7: after loss, Texans have played really well this year, haven't they.
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, we've been playing our ball, but last week
Speaker 8: it wasn't our ball.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 8: The results, the score says it all. But we just
Speaker 8: got to come back this week and get back to
Speaker 8: playing our ball.
Speaker 7: In watching the tape of your work these first few
Speaker 7: weeks and then being in the game, are you recognizing, Hey,
Speaker 7: I'm growing in this area. I'm getting better here. This
Speaker 7: is getting not easier, but I'm advancing us so to speak.
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, definitely, just as a whole. I feel myself
Speaker 8: getting better like each game and just trying to stack
Speaker 8: days and really just like you said, just trying to
Speaker 8: take a little things and just get better at the
Speaker 8: little things and then eventually it will show up in
Speaker 8: a bigger picture. But just focus on the little things,
Speaker 8: little details, and hopefully that would lead me to a
Speaker 8: bigger success.
Speaker 7: What are some of those little things that you're working
Speaker 7: on focusing on right now?
Speaker 8: Yeah, right now, just footwork technique and just really at placement.
Speaker 8: And it's those little things. I know it sounds simple,
Speaker 8: but those little things that can making you a very
Speaker 8: successful office alignment.
Speaker 7: I asked this of your fellow rookie, Xavier Hutchinson, your
Speaker 7: rookie also, But clearly you know this is not just
Speaker 7: some normal rivalry with the Titans and Texans. Correct.
Speaker 8: I don't know too much about it, but I definitely
Speaker 8: know this is like a big rivalry game for sure.
Speaker 7: Last thing, what are you asking for for Christmas? From Santa?
Speaker 8: What I'm asking I don't really got nothing, to be
Speaker 8: honest with you, I'm not a big I don't really
Speaker 8: like attention, So like I'm not a big GIF guy.
Speaker 8: But if I had to ask for something, probably just
Speaker 8: just some work on my truck.
Speaker 7: For real, work on your truck.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and work on my truck. Man, can't go wrong
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 7: There you go, all right, Well, Juice Scruggs, appreciate the time.
Speaker 7: Best of luck on Sunday, so I appreciate you.
Speaker 9: Well.
Speaker 1: Of course, the man's got a truck. He's living in Houston.
Speaker 1: Now he's gotta have a truck. Man players coming to
Speaker 1: the Texans here in Houston, they're like, I gotta get
Speaker 1: a truck. Ben DeAndre Hopkins had one. You know. JJ
Speaker 1: Watt immediately got one. But it fit for JJ. But
Speaker 1: I don't quite see hopping a truck, but he loved it.
Speaker 1: So we'll see hop on Sunday right there at Nissan
Speaker 1: Stadium wearing oh boy, the Oilers jersey number ten. Listen,
Speaker 1: those things are sweet. Just be honest, those things are sweet,
Speaker 1: and just hate seeing them on those guys on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Speaking of sweet, sweet, Stevanie Gonzales is gonna join us next.
Speaker 1: She's a newcomer to the Slant. She sits down with
Speaker 1: Walter Peyton Man of the Year candidate the Texans Representative
Speaker 1: long snapper longest tenured Texan, John Weeks. That's next right
Speaker 1: here in Texans All Access. What is up, everybody? Welcome
Speaker 1: back to a Wednesday edition of Texans All Access in
Speaker 1: Hunday Texans Radio Studio. I'm John Harris, football Analyst, sideline
Speaker 1: reporter for your Houston Texans and it's time for the Slant. Now.
Speaker 1: If you know the history of the slant, you know
Speaker 1: this was the deep Slant for a long time. Dpcity
Speaker 1: or our good friend, did such a great job sitting
Speaker 1: down with the players, getting to know them a little bit,
Speaker 1: get to know them further. And she was such a
Speaker 1: great listener when she would do interviews with players and
Speaker 1: there would be some things that would come out of
Speaker 1: her just listening to the guys. Well, we've had a
Speaker 1: number of people do the slant last few weeks. Brandon
Speaker 1: Scott did it for a few weeks. Kennedy Smith was
Speaker 1: last week. Well, this week we go to Stephanie Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: She sat down with Walter Payton Man of the Year
Speaker 1: candidate Texas Representative John Weeks, one of the best dudes
Speaker 1: in the building. Stephanie could not have had a better
Speaker 1: person to sit down and chat with check that conversation
Speaker 1: out right here.
Speaker 10: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Slant. I'm Stephanie Gonzalez and
Speaker 10: our next guest needs no introduction, but I'm still going
Speaker 10: to do it anyway. Texans long snapper John Weeks Welcome.
Speaker 6: Thank you, thank you very much for having me. I'm excited.
Speaker 10: Thank you so much. And I know you've been so busy.
Speaker 10: It's been crazy last few months for you. But first
Speaker 10: of all, how are you great?
Speaker 7: Great?
Speaker 11: We just got off the practice field. We had a great,
Speaker 11: great practice, you know, getting ready for a really good team.
Speaker 6: Coming up this weekend.
Speaker 10: And we have to mention this little thing right here. Oh,
Speaker 10: Walter Peating Man of the Year nominee. That's amazing, that's huge. John.
Speaker 10: So I saw the video that the awesome media team
Speaker 10: put together for you. But what did you feel when
Speaker 10: you found out about this nomination?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 11: What a great question. I I was taken away. You know,
Speaker 11: it is something that I don't really have words as
Speaker 11: you can tell, you know, I don't really stutter too
Speaker 11: much over My words are fumble, but it just it
Speaker 11: meant the world to me for the organization to nominate me.
Speaker 11: First of all, incredibly grateful, especially because I know the
Speaker 11: men that we have in that locker room and how
Speaker 11: giving all those men are in the community. So to
Speaker 11: be nominated for that award was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 10: Anytime for me, when I hear your name, John Weeks,
Speaker 10: I think football and community because you're always out there,
Speaker 10: You're always doing something. And with my years working in sports,
Speaker 10: you know, like ten plus years, I've learned that as
Speaker 10: an athlete you can make such a difference off the field,
Speaker 10: making people smile, making a difference. It's like its own
Speaker 10: superpower and you're using it for good. So what is
Speaker 10: it that keeps you doing stuff in the community.
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, something I've brought up many times since
Speaker 11: I've been you know, since I was nominated, people have
Speaker 11: asked me, and something my parents and my grandparents always
Speaker 11: told me was that if you're in a position to
Speaker 11: give back into better someone's life, it's your job to
Speaker 11: do it. And that's something that the organization has done
Speaker 11: an amazing job allowing me to do. They've been great.
Speaker 11: Anytime I've asked them or had an idea of something
Speaker 11: I wanted to do to try to help, They've been
Speaker 11: fully supportive. They've been one hundred percent Hi me trying
Speaker 11: to get get involved, and you know, it's it's those
Speaker 11: little things that make uh, you know, you can go
Speaker 11: out there and make a make a kid's day, right,
Speaker 11: just something so simple, just by spending time with them
Speaker 11: and and just talking to them and.
Speaker 6: And that stuff so important.
Speaker 11: And it's stuff that I value and stuff that the
Speaker 11: guys in this team value.
Speaker 6: And I'm proud to be a part of it.
Speaker 10: And we were just talking before we started recording about
Speaker 10: JJ Watson. Oh yeah, upcoming event at Consolation Field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so.
Speaker 10: I'm guessing you will be part of that.
Speaker 6: I'm hoping to be a part of it.
Speaker 11: Yes, But yeah, JJ is having his charity softball event.
Speaker 11: I believe tickets just went on sale the other day,
Speaker 11: so you should go get those because it's going to
Speaker 11: be a fantastic time as always.
Speaker 10: Yeah, and you and I met years ago at a
Speaker 10: charity event. I mean we didn't really talk, but I
Speaker 10: became friends with your WiFi Amanda shout out yes. And
Speaker 10: it's so cool because I I see her posts, right,
Speaker 10: I see you as the dad, the husband, you know,
Speaker 10: sprinkled with a little football. So I'm excited to get
Speaker 10: to know you more and talk about football. And life
Speaker 10: and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So let's go back in time a little.
Speaker 6: Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1: So let's talk.
Speaker 10: About you know when little John, no boy, not the Rapper,
Speaker 10: but you What was it like, you know, kind of
Speaker 10: getting introduced to football. How did that happen? How did
Speaker 10: you fall in love with the game?
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, so I was a military brat growing up.
Speaker 11: My dad was in the Air Force. We moved around
Speaker 11: a bunch, and I was a very active kid.
Speaker 6: My parents kind of.
Speaker 11: Realized that they needed to get me out and they
Speaker 11: needed to kind of get me under control because I
Speaker 11: was one of those little kids that just ran around
Speaker 11: like a crazy person. So they put me in every
Speaker 11: sport they could possibly put me in. So I think
Speaker 11: that's kind of how I got so involved with sports
Speaker 11: and then just kind of fell in love with it,
Speaker 11: fell in love with every sport I played. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 11: it just it was it was fun. I think I
Speaker 11: started playing football, was introduced to football and a funny play.
Speaker 6: We were in stationed in Turkey.
Speaker 11: Oh, and my dad was my football coach, my flag
Speaker 11: football coach. That was probably the first time I think
Speaker 11: I ever played.
Speaker 10: Oh that's awesome. And then you ended up playing at Baylor.
Speaker 6: I did.
Speaker 10: Yeah, did you ever imagine that you would be playing
Speaker 10: in the NFL let alone for as long as you
Speaker 10: have been?
Speaker 11: You know, It's one of those things when you look back,
Speaker 11: it's always a dream, right. But when I picked up
Speaker 11: the skill of long snapping, I picked it up because
Speaker 11: a coach of mine told me he could give me
Speaker 11: a skill that would get me to college. And I
Speaker 11: knew I wanted to go play college football. I knew
Speaker 11: I wanted to do everything I could to help my
Speaker 11: parents try to earn a scholarship, and he told me
Speaker 11: he could give me a skill to do that.
Speaker 6: So that's how I actually picked up long snapping.
Speaker 11: And then once I got to Baylor and I was
Speaker 11: playing in the Big twelve and we were playing really
Speaker 11: good Oklahoma teams and Texas teams and at the time
Speaker 11: Kansas was good and I was going through that process,
Speaker 11: I kind of started to think maybe I had a
Speaker 11: shot because I knew I was playing against guys that
Speaker 11: were going to be playing on Sunday and I was
Speaker 11: holding my own So that was kind of when it
Speaker 11: started to creep in. I mean, I'm completely blessed to
Speaker 11: be where I'm at today. With the journey that I've
Speaker 11: been on with it and incredibly grateful.
Speaker 6: But yeah, that's kind of how that that all happen.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 10: And it wasn't an easy journey getting here. You've been
Speaker 10: through so many changes, right since twenty ten, there's been
Speaker 10: a long which is what has it been about this
Speaker 10: season that's made it so special.
Speaker 11: It's just, you know, sometimes there's just a feeling, right,
Speaker 11: I guess that's the best way to put it. And
Speaker 11: you know, with with the beginning of the season, starting
Speaker 11: off with the hiring of you know, coach, getting Dimico
Speaker 11: back in the building, and then what Demiko and the
Speaker 11: entire front of the front office and Nick and all
Speaker 11: those guys were able to do bringing in the talent
Speaker 11: they did through the draft, and then just getting all
Speaker 11: those guys in here and.
Speaker 6: The immediate.
Speaker 11: Process of like kind of coming together as a team
Speaker 11: started to happen. And I think that was kind of that, Okay,
Speaker 11: this could be something special as long as we put
Speaker 11: our head down and we keep working for it. And
Speaker 11: I think that's what we do. We got a great
Speaker 11: group of guys in there that just kind of put
Speaker 11: their head down and work as hard as they possibly
Speaker 11: can and understand, you know what's in front of us,
Speaker 11: and don't take anything for granted and work their tails off.
Speaker 10: What is your secret? We all want to know to
Speaker 10: just being here for this long, but it's the training, Like, like,
Speaker 10: what do you do?
Speaker 6: I don't know if there is a secret, you know.
Speaker 11: One thing one of my vets always told me was
Speaker 11: that once you get comfortable in this league, you're done.
Speaker 11: And I don't think I've ever been comfortable, you know.
Speaker 11: Unfortunately my journey started a little bit later and I
Speaker 11: was out of football for two years, so I do
Speaker 11: know what life without football was like and where I
Speaker 11: did find something I was passionate about and was able
Speaker 11: to to get back into football. So so things kind
Speaker 11: of worked out for me. I don't really want to
Speaker 11: feel that anytime soon. I love being around the guys,
Speaker 11: I love being in Houston, Texan. I love playing football,
Speaker 11: and I'm going to continue to keep doing it as
Speaker 11: long as I can.
Speaker 10: And I was talking to Mark Andrew Mayer earlier and
Speaker 10: he described you as the glue who's kept the team
Speaker 10: together so many changes. So what do you think it
Speaker 10: is that keeps you just being that team player that
Speaker 10: you know keeps the team together.
Speaker 6: I don't know if you. I mean, I think Mark's
Speaker 6: been a little too nice to be honest with you.
Speaker 11: I think, you know, when it comes to where I
Speaker 11: am now, I want to be as consistent as possible.
Speaker 11: I think as long as I can stay consistent and
Speaker 11: I can be there for these young guys and explain
Speaker 11: to them and try to help them and guide them
Speaker 11: through the ups and downs of a tough NFL season,
Speaker 11: that's that's what I'm lucky enough to be able to do.
Speaker 11: That's kind of my job right now, and I'm just
Speaker 11: trying to do that to the best of my ability.
Speaker 10: Yeah, and what is your goal? This will for the
Speaker 10: remaining of the season.
Speaker 11: Oh man, The goal for the remainder of season is
Speaker 11: probably make it through practice tomorrow.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: Again, I try not to look too far ahead.
Speaker 11: I try to be in the moment as much as possible, because,
Speaker 11: you know, being in the moment is where you need
Speaker 11: to be at in this business because you just never know,
Speaker 11: right anything can happen. So just try to be in
Speaker 11: the moment as much as possible. You know, we understand
Speaker 11: the task that we have in front of us. We
Speaker 11: have a really good team that we're preparing for right now.
Speaker 11: You know, none of us are not aware of what
Speaker 11: we could do if if we put our heads down
Speaker 11: and really work towards it.
Speaker 6: And I think that's what we're doing.
Speaker 11: And again that's why this group is special, because this
Speaker 11: group understands that and they're willing to put the work in.
Speaker 10: Yeah, and what about a goal off the field, like
Speaker 10: something that you would like to call goal.
Speaker 6: Off the field?
Speaker 11: You know, I have been lucky enough, and I've talked
Speaker 11: about this with my wife. I've been lucky enough to
Speaker 11: be in this business for a while now, and I
Speaker 11: have got to accomplish a lot of things in my
Speaker 11: time here with the Texans. The only two things that
Speaker 11: have escaped me in my career so far are an
Speaker 11: AC championship game in the super Bowl. And the ultimate
Speaker 11: goal is to bring a Super Bowl to Houston, and
Speaker 11: I want to be a part of that.
Speaker 6: So that's the ultimate goal.
Speaker 11: But right now, the goal is to make sure that
Speaker 11: I prepared properly for tomorrow's practice and get ready to
Speaker 11: roll for a good team.
Speaker 10: Also, we touched a little bit on this earlier about
Speaker 10: just community and whatnot. So do you have any events
Speaker 10: or anything coming up that you would like to mention
Speaker 10: I have.
Speaker 11: A couple of things in the works, a couple of
Speaker 11: things again that the Texans are being amazing with and
Speaker 11: helping me with. Nothing that's completely iron down yet I
Speaker 11: am excited. I will be joining Kirsten and her Kirsten's
Speaker 11: Crew tomorrow for her shopping spree, so I'm going to
Speaker 11: go attend that. You know, her foundation and her group
Speaker 11: do a fantastic job with taking kids Christmas shopping, so
Speaker 11: I'll be happy to be a part of that and
Speaker 11: be there for that. But you know it, when when
Speaker 11: an opportunity arises, I try to be there for it.
Speaker 11: And our team does a great job of presaying those
Speaker 11: opportunities for us. And if I can be there, I'll
Speaker 11: be there.
Speaker 10: And what is the best advice that you've received?
Speaker 6: The best advice I've received as a.
Speaker 7: Player as go with as a player.
Speaker 11: The best advice I ever received I probably got when
Speaker 11: I was struggling to get back in, and.
Speaker 6: That was just never let someone else's perception of you
Speaker 6: be your reality. And it was at a.
Speaker 11: Time where there were some rules that were kind of
Speaker 11: keeping me from getting in because a couple teams said
Speaker 11: I was a little too small so I just kind
Speaker 11: of had to keep that in my mind that you know, yes,
Speaker 11: there are going to be teams that think that, but
Speaker 11: I just need one team to give me a shot
Speaker 11: and the rest will take care of itself.
Speaker 6: And thankfully it was Houston.
Speaker 10: And you're awesome both on and off the field, and
Speaker 10: truly I applaud you for everything that you're doing around
Speaker 10: the and for the team. And I'm telling you when
Speaker 10: you're When I say you're a fan favorite, you absolutely are.
Speaker 10: And we'll make sure to vote. Pple can vote by
Speaker 10: going on x which was Twitter and also going to
Speaker 10: NFL dot com slash Man of the Year.
Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man go vote for WEEKSI if anybody deserves it,
Speaker 1: that man deserves it. He's been here since twenty ten, thirteen.
Speaker 1: I think it's a fourteenth season. I'm doing the math correct.
Speaker 1: Fourteenth season. Week sees the absolute best. He's the best.
Speaker 1: So glad he was able to step into studio with
Speaker 1: Stephanie Gonzalez and knock the interview out and give us
Speaker 1: the opportunity to hear it right here on Texans All
Speaker 1: Access now coming up. I said this earlier today at practice.
Speaker 1: It was probably one of the most well attended practices
Speaker 1: in season that I've seen in a while. And I
Speaker 1: would tell you more cameras at practice to see if
Speaker 1: or if if not a particular player was there at practice.
Speaker 1: CJ Stroud I mentioned earlier. CJ notin at practice today,
Speaker 1: still in the concussion protocol, will probably be in concussion protocol.
Speaker 1: I think it's up in the air as it pertains
Speaker 1: to Sunday's game against the Titans. We all know it's
Speaker 1: an important one. But there's a reason that football has
Speaker 1: eleven guys on the field and you know, forty eight
Speaker 1: on a game day roster. If CJ's unable to go,
Speaker 1: then Davis Mills in case Keenum are gonna have to
Speaker 1: carry that mantle for who's gonna play quarterback? But no
Speaker 1: CJ Stry to practice. He was not alone in not
Speaker 1: participating in practice. The part of me that thinks, oh
Speaker 1: my god, did they have anybody able to practice today?
Speaker 1: Because you know, Wednesday is a rest day for a
Speaker 1: number of the veterans. Let's check that out next to
Speaker 1: injury report what it all means next right here on
Speaker 1: Texans All Access. All Right, welcome back to Wednesday edition
Speaker 1: that Texans All Access I'm your host, John Harris, Football
Speaker 1: and a sideline reporter. Before we get into that injury report,
Speaker 1: let's hear from Xavier Hutchins Sin who caught up with
Speaker 1: Drew Doriday in the locker room.
Speaker 7: All right, wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson another test coming up
Speaker 7: this week? What do you know about this Titans secondary
Speaker 7: is Tecans defense as a whole?
Speaker 12: They kind of scheme from the Patriots a little bit obviously.
Speaker 12: You know, they run, you know, certain things that you
Speaker 12: know for their personnel that they have, but you know,
Speaker 12: it's a very good it's very good back end. You know,
Speaker 12: they have a really good offense, defensive line, got really
Speaker 12: good linebackers, their corners and safeties. You know, they fly around,
Speaker 12: they play hard. You can definitely tell on take that.
Speaker 12: You know, they give their everything, and you know that's understandable.
Speaker 12: You know, they're head coach Mike Brabel. You know that's
Speaker 12: how he is. So you know, we expect it to
Speaker 12: be a gritty game. We expect them to play hard
Speaker 12: and fast, and you know, we just have to match
Speaker 12: that energy.
Speaker 7: And I'm guessing you guys are expecting to bounce back
Speaker 7: after what went down in New York, right.
Speaker 12: Yeah, for sure, for sure that wasn't us. Everybody you
Speaker 12: know accepted that that that wasn't us. Can't keep putting
Speaker 12: that up there. You know, this lay in the season
Speaker 12: with you know where we're trying to head to. So
Speaker 12: you know, we just have to put back our head down,
Speaker 12: get back in our books. You know, really just come
Speaker 12: out this Sunday a lot better than we did last Sunday.
Speaker 7: Season high three targets for you last Sunday. You think
Speaker 7: you're growing. How are you growing as a receiver in
Speaker 7: this offense?
Speaker 12: Yeah, I'm definitely growing.
Speaker 9: Really.
Speaker 12: You know, my first you know, real game with real action,
Speaker 12: had a lot of ups and downs in that game,
Speaker 12: obviously going against a great secondary with what you know
Speaker 12: the Jets had, but really just you know, learning again
Speaker 12: where I can make an impact in the game. It's
Speaker 12: definitely different from college. You know, you have to find
Speaker 12: your knicks and next. Everybody's good in this league, so
Speaker 12: you know, you have to find the little things that
Speaker 12: you can win at. I mean, you also have to
Speaker 12: find the little things in which you can excel that
Speaker 12: can help you with everything. So, you know, really just
Speaker 12: learning that and taking everything with the positives, putting everything
Speaker 12: in perspective, trying to just keep going forward, don't want
Speaker 12: to take any steps back, So you.
Speaker 7: Bring up learning the little things, I mean, and doing
Speaker 7: well at some of those things. Saw that on special teams.
Speaker 7: We've seen it on the end of rounds as well.
Speaker 7: I'm guessing kind of like the previous questions happening, they're
Speaker 7: catching the ball.
Speaker 12: Right, Yeah, yeah, no it for sure? Is it for sure?
Speaker 12: Is got to catch it more confidently. Of course, I
Speaker 12: had a few body catches out there. I mean a
Speaker 12: part of it was, you know, the conditions, of course,
Speaker 12: but also you know, just be more confident out there.
Speaker 12: And I think you know that happened over the course
Speaker 12: of the game. I got more confident really, you know,
Speaker 12: believe that, you know, in myself and my abilities to
Speaker 12: go out there and make plays. Really, just trying to
Speaker 12: add on top of that again this week.
Speaker 7: Last thing. I know you're a rookie, but you kind
Speaker 7: of have at least a little understanding of this rivalry
Speaker 7: and this sort of history of these two teams, don't you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely do.
Speaker 12: Of course, you know, in any teams in your division,
Speaker 12: it's going to be a rivalry game, and I know
Speaker 12: this one is a little bit more. It would be
Speaker 12: very nice to come out with the win this week,
Speaker 12: just for everybody, for us, I mean for you know,
Speaker 12: the fans of course as well. You know, I'm really
Speaker 12: looking forward to it. Let the best man.
Speaker 7: Win, I guess always get to talk with the exabers.
Speaker 7: Thanks so much, thank you, appreciate you man.
Speaker 1: Now, Xavier Hutchinson does not show up on the injury report, thankfully,
Speaker 1: because he's probably about the only one. Now. I thought
Speaker 1: that the Texans injury report would look really bleak, especially
Speaker 1: in comparison to the Tessee Titans, but that's not the case.
Speaker 1: These are actually really tough on both sides. Start with
Speaker 1: your Texans peas today, boy, Will Anderson, Junior ankle, Blake
Speaker 1: Cashman hamstring, Nico Collins, Calf, George f Hip, c J. Stroud.
Speaker 1: As we mentioned, concussion, Tabio Thomas hamstring, Laramie Tunsel, Knie
Speaker 1: ohoh boy. That's not a good list. A lot of
Speaker 1: heavy hitters there. Hopefully we'll be able to see some
Speaker 1: of those guys getting back now. Limited participants Noah Brown,
Speaker 1: maliek Collins, Shack Mason, Henry Totoa and Robert Woods was
Speaker 1: a not injury related rest day, full participation. How about this.
Speaker 1: Kyemie Fairbairn is back. That's great, And Dalton Schultz was
Speaker 1: a full participant in practice today. Now on the Titan side,
Speaker 1: well boy, the Titans conducted to walk through on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: December thirteenth. Injury report is only an estimation of a
Speaker 1: player's participation if there was a full practice, So I
Speaker 1: would imagine some of these guys will be able to
Speaker 1: get back. But there's some pretty heavy hitters here as well.
Speaker 1: Denico Autrey outstanding underrated defensive lineman knee issue, did not participate.
Speaker 1: Aaron Brewers starting center, deal with the next. Jack Gibbons said,
Speaker 1: linebacker has played very very well. He with a back issue.
Speaker 1: Kyle Phillips thought receiver hamstring. Kevin Raider tight end was ill.
Speaker 1: Terry Tart was a personal day. Jeffrey Simmons is the
Speaker 1: big one now. The thought is that he's going to
Speaker 1: be out for well, it was two to three weeks.
Speaker 1: Two weeks ago, so it sounds as if he'd missed
Speaker 1: this one, but you never know. He did. DMP and
Speaker 1: Josh Wiley the tight end DNP, both with knee issues.
Speaker 1: Limited participants. Daniel Brunskill guard hop got a rest day,
Speaker 1: Will Levis dealing with an ankle issue, Sean Murphy bunting
Speaker 1: with a knee, and came on Wallace with a quad.
Speaker 1: So again that was the Titans side of things as
Speaker 1: they conducted a walk through on Wednesday, having played the
Speaker 1: game Monday night in Miami, so coming back from that
Speaker 1: with a twenty eight twenty seven win. But these injury
Speaker 1: reports are robust, a lot of heavy hit on both sides,
Speaker 1: Will Anderson Junior, obviously, CJ Stroud, and Nico Collins, Larie Tunzel.
Speaker 1: Now Larmie is taking Wednesdays off, I should say taken
Speaker 1: Wednesdays off. He has gotten Wednesday's rest day to get
Speaker 1: ready for the rest of the week. You could argue
Speaker 1: that Blake Cashman has been the best defender for the
Speaker 1: Texans this year. He's dealing with a hamstring and I
Speaker 1: think it's reported by Aaron Wilson that it's probably a
Speaker 1: game or two for cash probably a game or two
Speaker 1: for tav and that's not great news. So we'll learn
Speaker 1: a little bit more about CJ through rest of the
Speaker 1: week and obviously Will Blake and Nico as well, so
Speaker 1: we'll keep it on on that. But good news Doult
Speaker 1: Schultz and Kymie Fairbairn both back full participants in today's practice. Okay,
Speaker 1: we get back. We're gonna go. Men behind the mics,
Speaker 1: Mark Vandermir, you know, and you know, well, Mike Keith.
Speaker 1: You may not know, but the voice shoot here and
Speaker 1: going Wait a second, that sounds familiar. Yes, he's the
Speaker 1: Titans play by play man. That's next on Texans All Access.
Speaker 1: We want our down. One hour left to go. Right
Speaker 1: here on a Wednesday edition of Texans All Access from
Speaker 1: Monday Texans Radio Studio. I'm your host, John Harry, football analyst,
Speaker 1: sideline report for your Houston Texans, and it's time to
Speaker 1: go to our men behind the mics, the two men
Speaker 1: that will call the game on Sunday in Nashville. You know,
Speaker 1: on the Texans side, it's my pal, Mark Vandermir. On
Speaker 1: the Tennessee side, you've probably heard this name before and
Speaker 1: heard this voice. It will sound familiar. It's Mike Keith. Now.
Speaker 1: Mark gave me a little preview of this before, you know,
Speaker 1: sometime today, and I thought it was pretty interesting. They
Speaker 1: they have a conversation about the Oilers jerseys and kind
Speaker 1: of the whole deal that went with it. And all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff and give you some background on it,
Speaker 1: so people in Houston are a little bit more informed,
Speaker 1: if you will. I know, there's a lot of intense
Speaker 1: emotions as it pertains to the jerseys, the fact that
Speaker 1: the Titans will be wearing them. I asked Drew In
Speaker 1: in the lab. But you'll hear a little bit later
Speaker 1: to Houstonians doing in the lab. How are we gonna
Speaker 1: feel when we see the word oilers in the end
Speaker 1: zone and we see those jerseys. I mean, we grew
Speaker 1: up that was our team. I mean I still have
Speaker 1: Oilers hats in gear, so that's gonna be kind of weird.
Speaker 1: But Mike Keith gets into that with Mark Vandermire right
Speaker 1: here on men behind the mics, let's go, Mike.
Speaker 3: Great to have you on.
Speaker 2: Congratulations on the win, mind and I football knocking off
Speaker 2: the Dolphins, and I know it's a short week, but
Speaker 2: it's got to be a week filled with energy for
Speaker 2: the Titans as they get ready for this home game.
Speaker 9: First of all, Mark, good to be joining you in
Speaker 9: the Happy holidays to you and yours. It is good.
Speaker 9: It is good. We've had certainly a tough run on
Speaker 9: the road for over a year, and so to go
Speaker 9: to Miami and to surprise a lot of people and
Speaker 9: win in a very strange way was a lot of
Speaker 9: fun and it kind of built on some things this
Speaker 9: team's been working on for quite some time, and now
Speaker 9: they see if they can keep it up. The team
Speaker 9: did some good things in the Indianapolis geme lost that
Speaker 9: game in an unusual manner, and then they win this
Speaker 9: game in an unusual manner, and so now they're going
Speaker 9: to try to see if they can play a normal game.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, let's start with Will Levis as far
Speaker 2: as the Titans go. I know it's not all about him,
Speaker 2: but he is a focal point right now as you
Speaker 2: start the rookie quarterback, What are you seeing so far
Speaker 2: in the development? And everybody noticed that for a touchdown
Speaker 2: pass game to launch his career, and I know it's
Speaker 2: been a little bit of a rocky road since then,
Speaker 2: but what a great performance against the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: What do you see in Mike?
Speaker 9: He's growing up and I think this is probably a
Speaker 9: little sooner mark than they wanted to get him in there.
Speaker 9: But when he finally became the starter on October the
Speaker 9: twenty ninth, he had been with the organization for six months,
Speaker 9: and so he had been in that quarterback room. He
Speaker 9: had been around Ryan Tannehill. They had been able to
Speaker 9: take their time with him. He had a quad injury
Speaker 9: at the end of training camp, which sort of slowed
Speaker 9: his progress, but he had been working very regularly. They
Speaker 9: had an idea of what they had in him. They
Speaker 9: had gotten to know him. They'd certainly worked on some
Speaker 9: things with him about understanding that in the pro game, hey,
Speaker 9: you're gonna make mistakes, You've got to get over it.
Speaker 9: You've got to be even tempered. And that was something
Speaker 9: at Kentucky. He would get down on himself. You know,
Speaker 9: he would make a mistake and then he would take
Speaker 9: it very hard, which you like in a way because
Speaker 9: you know he's a guy who cares deeply. But at
Speaker 9: the same time, you have to be able to let
Speaker 9: it go. And I think Monday Night was a great
Speaker 9: example of Betty to a bad interception in the first quarter,
Speaker 9: he made a bad pitch in the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 9: yet he just kept playing. And his physical talent is undeniable.
Speaker 9: Now teams have tape on him and so they're able
Speaker 9: to make adjustments to him. He's having to adjust back,
Speaker 9: but Mark, I would say, so far, so good. I
Speaker 9: don't think anybody's you know, proclaiming anything or saying it's
Speaker 9: all fixed or it's all great, or you know, whatever
Speaker 9: the case may be. In a world where we like to,
Speaker 9: you know, sort of make snap proclamations about anything, you know,
Speaker 9: hot takes whatever. I think the Titans are quietly, very
Speaker 9: pleased with where he is and understand there's more work
Speaker 9: to be done. And I think Will Levis is the
Speaker 9: same way, Mark, And that's the best part of this
Speaker 9: story so far.
Speaker 2: Mike Keith, voice of the Titans, joining us Derrick Henry.
Speaker 2: What are we getting out of Derrick Henry? Now he
Speaker 2: looks pretty much the same to me. Maybe you're not
Speaker 2: getting as many long runs whatever. He's just so keyed on, Mike,
Speaker 2: Yet he still manages to gain a ton of yards,
Speaker 2: averaging four point one eight seventy five on the year.
Speaker 9: Yeah, he's doing fine. And you're right, they're keying on
Speaker 9: him and this offensive line has issues. But here he
Speaker 9: was the other night, and that the Titans are in
Speaker 9: a situation where he rushes seventeen times for thirty four yards.
Speaker 9: But you know what he did. He scored two touch
Speaker 9: He scored the game winning touchdown, and he was as
Speaker 9: happy after that game as any of his one hundred
Speaker 9: and fifty two hundred yard games because he knew he
Speaker 9: contributed in the way he could help. If he's lost anything,
Speaker 9: it's not much. He can still really play and he's
Speaker 9: in a bit of a different role. He understands that
Speaker 9: with Taja Spears, because Taja is the best partner he's
Speaker 9: ever had since he became the lead back. He gets it.
Speaker 9: I think he understands where he is. But guess what,
Speaker 9: He's going to finish the year with twelve thirteen hundred yards.
Speaker 9: And I think most teams would be happy to have
Speaker 9: a twelve or thirteen hundred yard back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2: And when you drafted Spears in Nashville, we were all
Speaker 2: bummed out because we all really liked Taja Spears. And
Speaker 2: I was also bummed out when DeAndre Hopkins signed with
Speaker 2: the Tennessee Titans, because you know, we love hop here
Speaker 2: and to watch him as spry as he is right now,
Speaker 2: he looks about as good as he could possibly look
Speaker 2: at this age. And it must be a little freaky
Speaker 2: for you because he's had some big games against the
Speaker 2: Titans and now he's having some big games for you.
Speaker 9: It's funny. I mean, it is a it's a funny
Speaker 9: world that we live in because he absolutely tortured us
Speaker 9: for years. I mean, he didn't just play good against us,
Speaker 9: he tortured us. And then he went to Arizona and
Speaker 9: his first game with the Cardinals, he tortured us. So
Speaker 9: I finally got a chance to sit down with him
Speaker 9: not long ago. We were talking about he goes, yeah,
Speaker 9: he goes, it's kind of freaky, he said. It's a
Speaker 9: little different. But I think he's having a good time
Speaker 9: on this team. He likes Rabel and you know, they
Speaker 9: knew each other from their time together with the Texans,
Speaker 9: and so they have a good personal relationship. The Titans
Speaker 9: manage him very well, which is something that they do
Speaker 9: well with veterans. They do it with Henry, they do
Speaker 9: it with Hopkins, They've done it with Jeffrey Simmons, on
Speaker 9: and on and on. You just see that. And so, yeah,
Speaker 9: he's playing well. He had a good game the other night,
Speaker 9: seven catches for one hundred and twenty four yards and
Speaker 9: a what a breath of fresh air for a guy
Speaker 9: like Will Levis to have a receiver that's going to
Speaker 9: the Hall of Fame that you can count on in
Speaker 9: this way, and I think to me, that's the part
Speaker 9: that DeAndre Hopkins is enjoying the most. Is much like
Speaker 9: his time with Deshaun Watson where he sort of broke
Speaker 9: him into the league in that way being his guy.
Speaker 9: He's doing the same thing for Will Levis, which is
Speaker 9: really cool to see it. It's interesting to watch a
Speaker 9: professional in this way do it the way he does
Speaker 9: it every single day and you understand why he is
Speaker 9: the special player that he is. You know, from Afar
Speaker 9: being tortured by him, we knew he was good, but
Speaker 9: to watch him work every day in practice, it's really
Speaker 9: fascinating and gives a lot of insight into why he's
Speaker 9: the career he's head.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, always a quarterback's best friend, Mike. What about that
Speaker 2: defense because we see some of the names we know,
Speaker 2: oh so well. You see Harold Landry, Jeffrey Simmons. I
Speaker 2: know we missed the last game, Daniko Autry. There are
Speaker 2: some new guys as well.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 2: What are you getting out of that Titan D They've
Speaker 2: had a pretty good year.
Speaker 9: Yeah, the statistics will tell you it's not been bad
Speaker 9: and if you saw them on Monday night with how
Speaker 9: they contained Miami, that's pretty much the story of their season.
Speaker 9: They've rushed the passer pretty well, They've kept teams out
Speaker 9: of the end zone pretty well. The disappointment in this
Speaker 9: defense is we thought they had a chance at the
Speaker 9: beginning of the year to be dominant, and they have
Speaker 9: not been. They have not had the number of takeaways
Speaker 9: that we had hoped. They've just not had the big
Speaker 9: plays that we had hoped. But they've been very solid,
Speaker 9: and had the Titans offense been better, I think that
Speaker 9: might have given the defense a chance to be better
Speaker 9: because I think some teams offensively have been able to
Speaker 9: keep things more basic due to the fact that the
Speaker 9: Titans have had problems until the last two weeks scoring
Speaker 9: And you know this mark You've been around the league
Speaker 9: for a long long time. When an offense and opposing
Speaker 9: offense doesn't have to take a lot of chances to
Speaker 9: win the game, they're not going to. So the end
Speaker 9: result is the opposing defense has less chances to make
Speaker 9: things happen, and I think that's been part of the
Speaker 9: issue for the Titans this year. But you know, the
Speaker 9: defense did a great job the other night, they essentially
Speaker 9: did not give up a touchdown an offensive touchdown to
Speaker 9: the Dolphins, one was on an interception return, and the
Speaker 9: two late ones came when the Dolphins only had to
Speaker 9: drive nineteen yards for the fourteen points. So pretty good
Speaker 9: job by them overall.
Speaker 2: Mike, let's look at the division here for a moment,
Speaker 2: then we'll get back to this game. What are your
Speaker 2: thoughts on what you're seeing from the Colts now, because
Speaker 2: to me, it's pretty disturbing that they're still very much
Speaker 2: in this thing and they've suffered through everything they've suffered
Speaker 2: through with Jonathan Taylor, losing Anthony richardson, all of that,
Speaker 2: yet here they are still very much in the mix
Speaker 2: heading into the final four games.
Speaker 9: They're good on defense. You know, they've had good people
Speaker 9: and they've kind of continued to put that together in
Speaker 9: particular with their rotation in the front four on defense.
Speaker 9: And then Zire Franklin is having a monster year at linebacker.
Speaker 9: I mean he's taken over for Darius Leonard and he's
Speaker 9: now that guy for them, which is why they could
Speaker 9: let Darius Leonard go offensively. I think at this moment
Speaker 9: they're probably better off with Garner Minshew Now we'll see
Speaker 9: what happens next year, because Anthony Richardson will almost have
Speaker 9: to start all over again. I think they wanted him
Speaker 9: to battle through that rookie year and learn and grow
Speaker 9: and all those sorts of things. And then he gets
Speaker 9: hurt and ironically in the game against US, and they'll
Speaker 9: go back to him next year, but he'll still have
Speaker 9: a ton that he will have to learn, having just
Speaker 9: basically played a month, and Minchew manages them better now.
Speaker 9: I think does a good job with with all of that.
Speaker 9: He he gets who he is and he understands who
Speaker 9: he has to be in that offense, and you know,
Speaker 9: he's got a guy that can that he can lean
Speaker 9: on in Michael Pittman, and the rookie Downs is a
Speaker 9: really good player. He was a guy that you know,
Speaker 9: I was sitting there thinking, oh, man, if the Titans
Speaker 9: could get him, that would be a really good player.
Speaker 9: Josh Downs is really nice and gives them a kind
Speaker 9: of a different element. And I think Steiken gets where
Speaker 9: they are too. Mark I'm pretty impressed with the way
Speaker 9: he has coached that team. You know, that's one of
Speaker 9: the things you see in the league. It's easy to
Speaker 9: be a good coach, But you've got to coach the
Speaker 9: team you have well, and he has coached the team
Speaker 9: he has very well, which I think, unfortunately for both
Speaker 9: of us, that doesn't bode well for what he's going
Speaker 9: to do with them moving forward as they get better.
Speaker 2: Mike Keith's voice of the Titans with US Jaguars have
Speaker 2: lost back to back. Texans had a field goal attempt
Speaker 2: bounce off the crossbar that would have tied the game
Speaker 2: at the end of regulation with a chance to maybe
Speaker 2: win an overtime. Who knows you're going to host them
Speaker 2: to end the regular season here. How much trouble are
Speaker 2: they in, Mike, and how good can they be?
Speaker 9: I think to worry for them right now more than
Speaker 9: anything else is they're having some injury issues that they
Speaker 9: haven't had the last two years. And last year they
Speaker 9: were so healthy. They were amazingly healthy. They did not
Speaker 9: lose a starter until Week eighteen when they played the
Speaker 9: Titans on Saturday night to get into the playoffs, and
Speaker 9: Robinson got hurt and couldn't play in the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 9: you have some of this that you see as we
Speaker 9: go through November and get into December, the injuries chip
Speaker 9: away the guys who've been having to play are not
Speaker 9: quite as good, and they're a little banged up having
Speaker 9: to play more snaps. And I think that's kind of
Speaker 9: where Jacksonville is right now. I think they're trying to
Speaker 9: fight through this tough period. The question with Lawrence too
Speaker 9: and the ankle, and he's had the knee all year,
Speaker 9: and you know, where is he at this point? He
Speaker 9: played very well against US, really really played well against
Speaker 9: US last month. But we'll see, you know, down the stretch,
Speaker 9: we'll see exactly what they look like and are they
Speaker 9: able to maintain the pace with where they are health wise?
Speaker 9: They they're probably the most talented team in the division,
Speaker 9: but you know, as we know, that doesn't always win it.
Speaker 3: Who's the best team in the AFC? Not record wise,
Speaker 3: but who would be your pick? If it's not the Titans, Mike,
Speaker 3: you know, I think.
Speaker 9: It's probably going to end up being Baltimore. The team
Speaker 9: that I think is really interesting is Cleveland though you know,
Speaker 9: if they and I don't know if Flack Oak can
Speaker 9: hold up or you know, who's going to play quarterback
Speaker 9: for them, But their defense is so good, Mark, I mean,
Speaker 9: they are so good. You know, they're one of those
Speaker 9: teams in that one off situation in the playoffs, you
Speaker 9: do not want to play. Ironically, they're almost like the
Speaker 9: Ravens were back, you know, fifteen twenty years ago. You
Speaker 9: just you just don't want to play them because, I mean,
Speaker 9: you could get a day where they can hold you
Speaker 9: to one hundred yards. They're that good. So I don't know.
Speaker 9: I mean, I think it's more wide open than it
Speaker 9: has been. I think on the other side, San Francisco's
Speaker 9: the best team. I think that's going to become clear.
Speaker 9: Dallas may be taking a step. But in our conference,
Speaker 9: I think it's more wide open. If you ask me
Speaker 9: today to give you an answer, my best answer is Baltimore.
Speaker 3: Okay, I've got one more for you. Here.
Speaker 2: As the Texans and Titans meet on Sunday, I was
Speaker 2: thinking about all the moments in this rivalry. I was
Speaker 2: thinking of the eight game here mostly Texans wins, Mike,
Speaker 2: because it's my perspective, thirteen twelve victory against the thirteen
Speaker 2: and three Titans team team that would go thirteen to three,
Speaker 2: That oh nine game Week two that was wild with
Speaker 2: the bench brawl and everything like that. I think of
Speaker 2: all it at Cortland Finnegan, and then I zoom it
Speaker 2: into today because Dimiko Ryan's played in this rivalry and
Speaker 2: now it really feels like it's on again and the
Speaker 2: Oilers uniforms will be worn on Sunday. What about that vibe?
Speaker 2: Because you've been through it once already this year. Do
Speaker 2: the Nashville fans embrace that. It's kind of a weird
Speaker 2: dynamic to me, the way the whole thing is, but
Speaker 2: it is what it is, and we're going to enjoy
Speaker 2: it and see how it plays out.
Speaker 9: They just more than anything else, they love the look,
Speaker 9: you know, because everybody loves retro in everything now. And
Speaker 9: when they came out and they had a chance to
Speaker 9: see them, people just went wild over the look. Ironically,
Speaker 9: in the two years that we played in Tennessee as
Speaker 9: the Oilers, we never wore the blue jerseys at home.
Speaker 9: We only wore them. This is very strange. We wore
Speaker 9: them in a game Miami in September when they wore
Speaker 9: their whites, and then we wore them on Thanksgiving ninety
Speaker 9: seven at Dallas because Dallas wears white at home, and
Speaker 9: they chose the organization chose to wear the white jerseys
Speaker 9: in ninety seven and ninety eight, because from a mental standpoint,
Speaker 9: they wanted the team to always think, hey, we're the
Speaker 9: road team. You know, we're at We're not in our home.
Speaker 9: We're having to play away. We're going to be strong,
Speaker 9: and we're not going to make any excuses whatever. So
Speaker 9: when people walked into Nissan Stadium on October twenty ninth
Speaker 9: and saw the jerseys, they went crazy and they really
Speaker 9: do look fantastic, and so the kids are buying them
Speaker 9: like crazy. I mean, the team store can't keep them
Speaker 9: all of that, and I think that's been more of
Speaker 9: the overall vibe than anything else. You know, it's not
Speaker 9: about I mean to our ownership group and to the
Speaker 9: people who I was an oiler, so I know, and
Speaker 9: it means something to me. But from the fan perspective,
Speaker 9: it's just, man, this is cool that we're getting to
Speaker 9: live in the retro, and the retro is so cool.
Speaker 9: So we'll see, you know, it's been It was fun
Speaker 9: that day and we'll see exactly how the stadium looks
Speaker 9: come Sunday. Will they do the oil Derek in the
Speaker 9: middle of the field like they did for the earlier
Speaker 9: game and things like that. I don't know, you know,
Speaker 9: I don't know was that was homecoming weekend, and so
Speaker 9: with all the Oilers back in town, they decked out
Speaker 9: Nissan Stadium in o Whilers.
Speaker 2: Mike Finally, former Oiler and Tennessee Titan, Frank Wichek, passed
Speaker 2: away last weekend.
Speaker 3: I know you worked with him in the booth, you
Speaker 3: knew him well.
Speaker 2: My condolences to you, and I know that he had
Speaker 2: a great career on and off the field for the organization.
Speaker 9: Yeah, thanks for saying that, Marks, It's been a rough week.
Speaker 9: Frank is probably the most popular player in this part
Speaker 9: of our history because when the team moved to Tennessee,
Speaker 9: he was the guy who got out in the community
Speaker 9: the most early on, and he was doing all of
Speaker 9: those community events at a time that he was one
Speaker 9: of the best tight ends in the NFL, and so
Speaker 9: he combined that sort of big personality with a guy
Speaker 9: who was catching sixty passes for six hundred yards and
Speaker 9: go into Pro Bowls. And then after his playing career ended,
Speaker 9: he immediately went into the talk show business and he
Speaker 9: was very good at that. His talk show was hilarious
Speaker 9: and was the topic of everybody every day. And then
Speaker 9: you know, he was on Titan's radio for twelve years
Speaker 9: as well as our as our analysts, and so Titans
Speaker 9: fans had him for twenty seasons as a player and
Speaker 9: as a broadcaster, and that bond with him is such
Speaker 9: that we've we've never had, even with Steve McNair and
Speaker 9: Eddie George and some of our other grades, there was
Speaker 9: nobody as close to the heart of the of the
Speaker 9: player or of the fan base as Frank Whycheck. And
Speaker 9: I don't know if this is an app comparison, but
Speaker 9: it feels like how the Texans fans feel about JJ Watt.
Speaker 9: And that's that closeness, that love, you know, just more
Speaker 9: than anything else, not only loving the player, but loving
Speaker 9: the person and loving the personality. And you will still
Speaker 9: see eighty nine jerseys at games, You'll still see him
Speaker 9: everywhere you go because he meant so much to people.
Speaker 9: So for the Titans family to lose him, it, I mean,
Speaker 9: it is just crushing. And this week has been in
Speaker 9: many ways just awful. I mean, you hear the great
Speaker 9: stories about him and there it's fun, but just the
Speaker 9: shock that he's not with us anymore. I really don't
Speaker 9: know how to describe it other than there's a hole
Speaker 9: in our hearts.
Speaker 2: Very well, said Mike, and once again our sympathies and condolences,
Speaker 2: and we'll see what happens Sunday. I'm sure they're going
Speaker 2: to honor Frank and we look forward to that and
Speaker 2: seeing you in the booth on Sunday, my friend, as
Speaker 2: the Texans and Titans get together. Thanks so much for
Speaker 2: the time, Mike, appreciate the visit.
Speaker 9: My pleasure, Mark, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Frank Whitcheck alrip, what a great dude. And obviously when
Speaker 1: it comes to football, in football memories, everybody remembers the
Speaker 1: Music City miracle, which Mike called in his famous call
Speaker 1: that there are no flags on the field and Tennessee
Speaker 1: was gonna win that game. Frank Whitcheck makes that lateral
Speaker 1: pass across to Kevin Dyson, and I mean, I can
Speaker 1: still see it in my memories. Frank fifty two years old,
Speaker 1: and that obviously hits close to home because I am
Speaker 1: one year I'm actually a few months away from being
Speaker 1: fifty two. So thoughts and prayers to the White Czech
Speaker 1: family and just a sad situation. And they'll honor him
Speaker 1: on Sunday with us in the building. That's that's my guess.
Speaker 1: I imagine they would. He was just a beloved figure
Speaker 1: there in Nashville. Frank Whitecheck passing at the age of
Speaker 1: fifty two. All right, we get back. We're gonna go
Speaker 1: in the Lab right here with Drew Doherty and myself
Speaker 1: on Texans All Access day right where you are, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: It's on Texans All Access from Moday, Texans Radio Studio.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, John Harris, Football on the Sideline Reporter
Speaker 1: and one half of the In the Lab podcast crew.
Speaker 1: The other half of that, the better half is Drew Doherty,
Speaker 1: Texas TV host all around great dude. And we started
Speaker 1: in the Lab a long time ago, and our mission
Speaker 1: on in the Lab, and why it's called in the
Speaker 1: Lab is that we get a little wacky. We'd like
Speaker 1: to throw some combinations together, you know, like you would
Speaker 1: in a science lab. You know, Hey, let's throw this together,
Speaker 1: let's put this with this, Let's see what happens. What
Speaker 1: if we just got really nerdy and geeky like you
Speaker 1: do in the lab. And trust me, I'm an engineering major.
Speaker 1: I've seen geeks. I am one. I know it. I'm
Speaker 1: fine with it. I'm okay with it. So this one
Speaker 1: kind of went in that direction. We kind of threw
Speaker 1: some stuff on the wall, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: this thing took a left turn and then it circled back,
Speaker 1: and then you turned and we got it all in.
Speaker 1: This is it great? In the lab? It starts with
Speaker 1: Drew asking this.
Speaker 7: To talk you and me, John Harris, and normally the
Speaker 7: table of contents goes like this. We do a what
Speaker 7: if I told you?
Speaker 1: What I told you?
Speaker 7: We do a cream of the Crop award winner the crop,
Speaker 7: and then we get going, I'm not doing it what
Speaker 7: if I told you because I don't want to remember
Speaker 7: what just happened Sunday. I was there, I saw it.
Speaker 7: I don't need to see it again. I don't you're
Speaker 7: talking about again. That was ugly. You g l y
Speaker 7: and got no alibi whatever you want to say. That's stunk,
Speaker 7: and you lose some players that game. So John Harris,
Speaker 7: we're going to do a vintage in the Lab right now,
Speaker 7: and I'm hitting you with this. There is no what
Speaker 7: if I told you this week. Instead, we will do
Speaker 7: a cream of the Crop award winner for next week's game.
Speaker 7: But we're going to start out with this. Texans have
Speaker 7: some injuries that they're gonna have to deal with maybe
Speaker 7: a lot, maybe not, but probably a fair amount. To
Speaker 7: be conservative, you can take two players from their prime
Speaker 7: any position in NFL history. They can both be on defense,
Speaker 7: they can both be on offense. You can do one defense,
Speaker 7: one offense. So whatever you want. You can add any
Speaker 7: two players in their prime to this team this week.
Speaker 1: Who you're adding, John, I am going to add one
Speaker 1: player that actually played for the Tennessee Titans, okay. I'm
Speaker 1: going to add another player that actually played with this
Speaker 1: particular player okay. And I'm going to add two players
Speaker 1: that became famous and successful when a particular person in
Speaker 1: the building was working for a particular organization. So I,
Speaker 1: not knowing CJ's hrout status, not knowing Nico Collins status,
Speaker 1: am going to add Tom Brady, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: add in his prime Randy Moss. So give me two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven Tom Brady and Randy Moss for this
Speaker 1: weekend against the I've almost said Tennessee Oilers hate me
Speaker 1: for that. No, Tennessee Titans. I'll never hear me say
Speaker 1: Tennessee Oilers. They can man.
Speaker 7: That's who they are this weekend, John, You're playing the
Speaker 7: Tennessee Oilers.
Speaker 1: I thought about let me hold on. I gotta ask
Speaker 1: you this. I gotta ask you this, because this is
Speaker 1: gonna happen when you and I to Houstonians walk in
Speaker 1: that stadium and you look at the field and there's
Speaker 1: an oil Derek painted at midfield and there's oilers in
Speaker 1: the end zone. Have you thought about what you're going
Speaker 1: to feel when you see that.
Speaker 7: I've built up enough of a tallous that it just
Speaker 7: doesn't affect me anymore. I love the oilers. No woman
Speaker 7: will ever break my heart like the Oilers broke my
Speaker 7: heart in the early nineties. I was born during Lovely Blue.
Speaker 7: I don't remember it. I don't remember I don't you
Speaker 7: know that was all going on while I was a
Speaker 7: little kid and a baby. My first memories of the
Speaker 7: Oilers were not good ones, because they were really bad
Speaker 7: in between Love You Blue and the Run and Shoot Days,
Speaker 7: so bad that you know you sign Warren Moon. All
Speaker 7: those first round picks kind of come to fruition and
Speaker 7: develop around him. During some awful seasons, games blacked out
Speaker 7: locally on a pretty routine basis, and so I got
Speaker 7: into the Oilers when they were really good eighty seven
Speaker 7: through ninety three, but then in ninety four they showed
Speaker 7: and that organization showed they were not serious about winning.
Speaker 7: You know, they got rid of Warren Moon. You're not
Speaker 7: serious about winning if you go from Moon to God
Speaker 7: bless him. I love Cody Carlson, but he's not a
Speaker 7: Hall of Fame quarterback. And everything fell apart, and I
Speaker 7: think I kind of checked out on him after they left.
Speaker 7: Let Warren Moon go. I don't remember. I think so
Speaker 7: they were two and fourteen and I think they went
Speaker 7: eight and eight the rest rest of the time there here.
Speaker 7: But I was checked out, and I think a lot
Speaker 7: of other people were too.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 7: There's this revisionist history, like people didn't wear jerseys and
Speaker 7: as much oilers gear around town in at least in
Speaker 7: the eighties and the nineties, that was not a big
Speaker 7: thing like you see now with no matter where you live,
Speaker 7: NFLT that that was not a huge deal.
Speaker 1: That was not also a Houston thing, you know, that
Speaker 1: was that was pretty much generational. We were starting to
Speaker 1: see the explosion of you know, T shirts, gear things
Speaker 1: of that. Jerseys You didn't wear jerseys, you you couldn't
Speaker 1: get you couldn't get a jersey to wear. Now you
Speaker 1: see jerseys at games. I'd like to know the numbers
Speaker 1: of people that would end up wearing the jerseys at
Speaker 1: a particular game. So if we have seventy one thousand
Speaker 1: in the building for a game, how many of them
Speaker 1: are wearing.
Speaker 7: A jersey of a particular player, Say what, thirty thousand?
Speaker 1: Probably, I would probably say it's a decent number. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a really decent number. Now there are some
Speaker 1: people that wear like the other day we were we
Speaker 1: were going into the stadium and as I was walking
Speaker 1: into the stadium, I saw a guy in a Josh
Speaker 1: Dobbs number fifteen minutes at a Viking's jury. So we
Speaker 1: started this with Chris Jones, our former engineer on the
Speaker 1: radio broadcast. And Jones was great and we had to
Speaker 1: leave game. He still is. It's fantastic. Jones's doing great.
Speaker 1: And Jones and I would try and pick out It
Speaker 1: was a kind of challenge between us to pick out
Speaker 1: the most obscure and stupid jersey at a particular game,
Speaker 1: whether it was for that particular team or most of
Speaker 1: the time it was for a team that wasn't there.
Speaker 1: Like you'd see there was one time there was a
Speaker 1: guy in a Roberto clemeny Jersey, and as much as
Speaker 1: I love Roberto Clemene, like you had a football game
Speaker 1: and you were Roberto Clemene twenty one Jersey, Like, what
Speaker 1: are you doing? So we always used to do that.
Speaker 7: So it was tough for Sunday that a lot of
Speaker 7: people were in raincoats and stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was hard to tell. It was definitely
Speaker 1: hard to sell because everybody was covered up by the
Speaker 1: by the rain.
Speaker 6: It was.
Speaker 1: It was a bit much. It was a bit much
Speaker 1: of rain that I didn't enjoy and nobody did. And
Speaker 1: maybe that was a part of it. Drew on Sunday said,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't talk about it, don't really want to talk
Speaker 1: talk about it. But yeah, give me, going back to
Speaker 1: the question, give me Tom Brady and Randy Moss. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't mind Randy Moss with our receiver group. Yeah, throw
Speaker 1: him in that mix. Man, You've got the mix of
Speaker 1: Nico Collins and Tank Dell all on one individual.
Speaker 7: You can never go wrong putting Randy Moss in any
Speaker 7: wide receiver group, no matter how depleted or full strength
Speaker 7: it is. I mean, it's gonna be fine. I actually
Speaker 7: had Randy Moss as one of my choices. Yep, and
Speaker 7: I went with the challenge of just rolling with either
Speaker 7: Mills or Keenum as quarterback. And we don't know, we haven't.
Speaker 7: Everybody's asking about when Stroud coming back, and I doubt
Speaker 7: he comes back Sunday. I would not expect to see
Speaker 7: him Sunday. And then the next question was one's Nico
Speaker 7: Collins coming back? And that's a legitimate question. Nothing has
Speaker 7: been said really in a major manner about Will Anderson.
Speaker 7: How healthy is he? Is he coming back, whether he
Speaker 7: comes back or not, Let's give some more fangs to
Speaker 7: the pass rush. How about Reggie White? Did I interested
Speaker 7: you Reggie White?
Speaker 1: You could interested me in a Reggie White?
Speaker 7: The guy you can't go wrong ever putting him in
Speaker 7: any defensive front seven.
Speaker 1: JJ Watt has said on record, and in fact, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you said that because there's a thirty for thirty
Speaker 1: called the Minister of Defense. Yeah, we were discussing that
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night. That's gonna be awesome and JJ, I
Speaker 1: think JJ does an interview for that for that. Uh
Speaker 1: here hero, Yeah, I mean he grew up in Wisconsin, Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: Wisconsin at the time, where Reggie was. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is blasphemous, and I know Reggie would get mad at me.
Speaker 10: He was.
Speaker 1: He was a use of football god to those people.
Speaker 1: You know, he came to Green Bay at a time,
Speaker 1: you know, free agency had just kicked off, really and
Speaker 1: so who's who's choosing to go to Green Bay? Well
Speaker 1: Reggie White did. And because Reggie White did, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, that team started turning the corner, and then
Speaker 1: more players wanted to go play in Green Bay. And
Speaker 1: it's and I'll be honest, it's not always easy for
Speaker 1: Packers to be in Green Bay. It's it's the smallest city,
Speaker 1: it's not the most diverse area of the country, and
Speaker 1: so that always plays a role. But Reggie White chose
Speaker 1: to go there. He chose to go play for Mike
Speaker 1: Holmgren and alongside Brett Farvan. I've been a lot to
Speaker 1: Packers fans. And on top of it, he was just
Speaker 1: you know, a smile, brighten up the room. And JJ
Speaker 1: is on record he said he's the greatest defensive player
Speaker 1: there's ever been, bar none. And for JJ to say that,
Speaker 1: a player that people in Houston think is the greatest
Speaker 1: defensive player of all time, for him to say that, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll roll with that because Reggie was nasty. Reggie was
Speaker 1: absolutely nasty. He had he had one of the greatest
Speaker 1: pass rush moves of all time. He had what was
Speaker 1: called a hump move, and so what he he was
Speaker 1: really the only guy that could do it because he
Speaker 1: was fast enough to beat you on the high side.
Speaker 1: If he's rushing defensive end, he was fast enough to
Speaker 1: beat you on the high side. So he would get
Speaker 1: he would beat a guy with some speed, then the
Speaker 1: guy would anticipate that, and at the last minute he
Speaker 1: would take his inside arm and literally club a guy
Speaker 1: out of the way, lost out of the way. So
Speaker 1: this two minute vignette that JJ is talking to during
Speaker 1: the interview, they're showing b roll of Reggie White using
Speaker 1: the hump move. On three hundred and fifteen plus. I mean,
Speaker 1: hun big was Larry Allen. Larry Allen was like.
Speaker 7: Three forty benched like EUNDs, and he did that.
Speaker 1: To Larry Allen, who many think is the greatest guard.
Speaker 1: I think he's the greatest guard's ever played. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was incredible, and he did that to Larry Allen
Speaker 1: and you're just watching them. Oh, okay, maybe JJ's right.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Randy Moss and Reggie White for for damn sure,
Speaker 1: I think we're we're definitely sure on Randy Moss. Yeah,
Speaker 1: without a dime, we could have. You know, look, there's
Speaker 1: a there's a there's a ton we could have gone
Speaker 1: with at that point.
Speaker 7: Matthews would be a nice one, just as a screw
Speaker 7: you to Tennessee. Oh good, Yeah, Laro Campbell, it's ad
Speaker 7: one I just popped into my head. Earl Campbe would
Speaker 7: have been a good one.
Speaker 1: I think Bruce would have made some sense, you know,
Speaker 1: rolling with Devin and Damien, but having Bruce Matthews. Here's
Speaker 1: your question, where would you play Bruce Matthews? You wouldn't
Speaker 1: play my left tackle, I.
Speaker 7: Don't think no.
Speaker 1: But where would you play him?
Speaker 7: Any place? Any of the other four?
Speaker 1: You could be up for a I think I would
Speaker 1: take the experience at center.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he was good there.
Speaker 1: I think center would have been a great, great spot.
Speaker 1: I think he was great there as his career. It's
Speaker 1: just interesting how go He just kept moving inside tackle
Speaker 1: to guard to center, and he ended up I think
Speaker 1: he was all proed up three different positions, wasn't he
Speaker 1: any He got a.
Speaker 7: Pro bowler at all five? Yeah, all pro Yeah, like
Speaker 7: you said, that's amazing. Indulge me just a little bit
Speaker 7: more about Reggie White. Okay, So, final college season nineteen
Speaker 7: eighty three at Tennessee. Yep, he doesn't show up what
Speaker 7: he didn't play in nineteen eighty four. His first stats
Speaker 7: in the NFL nineteen eighty five, comes into the league,
Speaker 7: only starts twelve games in nineteen eighty five, gets thirteen sacks,
Speaker 7: has one hundred combined tackles. John but eighty four, I
Speaker 7: guess just he wasn't any good. He was out on
Speaker 7: the street. No, he was playing in the us USFL USFL.
Speaker 7: So imagine if he just show boats he was good
Speaker 7: enough to have better than a sack per game as
Speaker 7: in his rookies true rookie season in eighty five and
Speaker 7: eighty four. Let's just conservatively say he's not gonna do that,
Speaker 7: but he's still gonna be pretty good. Let's say he
Speaker 7: still gets another twelve thirteen sacks that year. So from
Speaker 7: eighty five his first season, he has thirteen sacks, Next
Speaker 7: year eighteen sacks, next year twenty one, Next year eighteen eleven, fourteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen.
Speaker 7: You gotta go to nineteen ninety four, his second year
Speaker 7: in Green Bay. Find the first season of his career
Speaker 7: that he doesn't have double digit sacks. Nine straight seasons
Speaker 7: to start his career with ten sacks or more on
Speaker 7: two thirty four, five, six, seven, How many after that straight?
Speaker 7: Then he had a twelve sax season in ninety five
Speaker 7: on eleven sacks season. In ninety seven and ninety eight
Speaker 7: he hit sixteen sacks. And then he retires in ninety nine,
Speaker 7: comes back, plays two thousand with the Panthers, gets five
Speaker 7: and a half there, finishes with one hundred ninety eight
Speaker 7: sacks John, and one more thing, one more thing. Nineteen
Speaker 7: eighty seven, Regi only played twelve games.
Speaker 1: What's the deal?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 7: Exactly in the strike season, he only plays twelve games.
Speaker 7: He's still he still has twenty one sacks. John. The
Speaker 7: best best JJ Watt ever did when he was a
Speaker 7: freaking comet. JJ Watt in twelve and in fourteen he
Speaker 7: had twenty point five sacks. Of those seasons each each year.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty seven, the strike year he had, he
Speaker 1: had twelve games.
Speaker 7: Twelve games, twenty one sack sacks. Had a fumble recovery.
Speaker 1: For sanity, that's absolutely insanity.
Speaker 7: Four fumbles.
Speaker 1: Well, he stole one from Doug Williams. I remember that.
Speaker 1: I mean he literally stole the ball. And I can't
Speaker 1: remember if that was eighty seven or eighty eight, but
Speaker 1: he literally stole the ball from him. He went to
Speaker 1: sack him, and all of a sudden, big dudes running
Speaker 1: the other way, and it was Kelly Green jerseys, which
Speaker 1: they should have those full time. Yes, those are those
Speaker 1: are fantastic jerseys. But Reggie was and the fact that
Speaker 1: he could win as a three hundred pound four to
Speaker 1: three defensive end and then jump inside like like JJ
Speaker 1: would like JJ, JJ would do that. Now JJ did
Speaker 1: a little bit more of his with his quickness and
Speaker 1: his agility. As you always called him a jungle cat.
Speaker 1: Reggie had that power because that helped move. I mean
Speaker 1: he had some speed, don't get me wrong, but his
Speaker 1: was power and strength and leverage. He was so damn powerful.
Speaker 1: And it's just, you know, it's interesting, like thinking about
Speaker 1: players like that Reggie White as I'm growing up and
Speaker 1: you're watching him and you're like that dude's like he's
Speaker 1: crazy good. And then you're like, well, I ever, you
Speaker 1: don't think this at the time. I guess you're like
Speaker 1: I guess everybody just is like Reggie White, right, You're no, no,
Speaker 1: not everybody is like Reggie White. In fact, nobody is
Speaker 1: like Reggie White. And I think that's because you feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. Maybe if I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: young adult, I mean college and I'm watching him do things,
Speaker 1: maybe I cherish it a little bit more like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: This dude's a freakazoid. He's doing things that nobody should
Speaker 1: be doing, and yet he's still doing them.
Speaker 7: Reggie White, Rest in peace, Gone too soon the age
Speaker 7: of forty three. Man, he died back in two thousand
Speaker 7: and four. Crazy stuff. But that's who we would add
Speaker 7: if we could, in our prime or in their prime,
Speaker 7: put somebody out there, two players or the Texans this Sunday. Okay,
Speaker 7: let's talk in the real world. Back to reality on Monday.
Speaker 7: After the Texans beat the Tennessee Oilers. Who are you
Speaker 7: going to say is you're a Cream of the Crop
Speaker 7: award winner for Houston, John.
Speaker 1: Melik Collins. I like that, Malik Collins. It's a tough,
Speaker 1: tough task against Derrick Henry and rushing Will Levis, and
Speaker 1: that puts a real tough onus. I think on the
Speaker 1: inside guys, and on Monday night, I felt like the
Speaker 1: Titans controlled Christian Wilkins and Siler. But I feel like
Speaker 1: Maleak is more explosive than Siler for sure, and I
Speaker 1: think that he's on par with Wilkins. But they've got
Speaker 1: to create pressure up in will Levis's face. Lewis did
Speaker 1: a really nice job of delivering the ball at the
Speaker 1: very last minute half second. It was crazy, like, man,
Speaker 1: he wow, he got rid of that ball. How did
Speaker 1: he do that? He had probably four or five big
Speaker 1: throws where it looked like a dolphin was about to
Speaker 1: sack him and or get a hit on him. And
Speaker 1: right as they're hitting him, the ball's getting out. Malik's
Speaker 1: got to get there a half step faster and make
Speaker 1: sure that he's getting the sacks on will Lewson. Here's
Speaker 1: the other thing. Levis is a big dude. He's a
Speaker 1: strong guy, so you got to bring him to the ground.
Speaker 1: But the flip side is you also have to get
Speaker 1: off blocks and help on Derrick Henry. It's going to
Speaker 1: be one thing for the defensive lineman. It's one thing
Speaker 1: for the defensive lineman to occupy blocks, but against Henry,
Speaker 1: you've got to help on tackles because it's that much
Speaker 1: more difficult to tackle.
Speaker 7: Good choice. We were just talking about guys with lots
Speaker 7: of sacks. Reggie White was one of them. JJ Watt,
Speaker 7: we brought him up. JJ had double digit sacks for
Speaker 7: the Texans five different times. Mario Williams did it twice
Speaker 7: two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight. He also
Speaker 7: had Connor Barwin hit like eleven and a half and
Speaker 7: twenty eleven, and then Whitney twenty sixteen, Whitney merciless, he
Speaker 7: had double digit sacks. So it's the only four until
Speaker 7: Jonathan Garnard Sunday got too. So my guy for this Sunday,
Speaker 7: I want Grenard because we don't know, like we said,
Speaker 7: we don't know if will Anderson's gonna suit up if
Speaker 7: he is certainly not at full strength, and nobody's at
Speaker 7: full strength ever, I know that, but he's diminished a
Speaker 7: little bit. So John, let's get after like you're saying
Speaker 7: you need him leak up the middle for the dual
Speaker 7: action of getting after the quarterback but really also stuffing
Speaker 7: up Derrick Henry not getting a full out of steam.
Speaker 7: Let's see you, Jonathan Garnard, keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 7: Get two sacks.
Speaker 1: Facing a rookie, facing a rookie Jalen Duncan from Maryland
Speaker 1: facing a rookie. So uh JG. You're right, he's got
Speaker 1: to have a big one for sure. Good ones.
Speaker 7: Been fun to see him, you know, succeed the way
Speaker 7: he has because he had the eight sex season a
Speaker 7: couple of years ago, only played in a dozen games.
Speaker 7: And yep, he's been healthy. He's been flourishing this year.
Speaker 7: I always love doing this with you.
Speaker 2: John.
Speaker 7: Don't want to talk about the Jets anymore. Let's get
Speaker 7: a win in Tennessee. I didn't ask you, you know,
Speaker 7: how are you are you gonna feel about seeing.
Speaker 3: The I don't know.
Speaker 7: I always, like I said, I'm callous to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just I think I'm kind of the same.
Speaker 7: I think it'll probably they're doing this just a jab
Speaker 7: at us.
Speaker 1: I know, And that's that's probably the biggest reason why
Speaker 1: probably riles me up a little bit. But because Tennessee
Speaker 1: fans don't care exactly, I really would like to. I
Speaker 1: would like to just stuff a win down their throats.
Speaker 1: That would that would be kind of nice, That would
Speaker 1: be kind of nice. But I just want to see
Speaker 1: us go play well and play much better. For here's
Speaker 1: what I here, there's what I'd like, Drew. I don't
Speaker 1: want to see perfect, but I want to see sixty
Speaker 1: minut it's of consistent solid football from this team on
Speaker 1: both sides at the ball. Yeah, and we've not gotten that.
Speaker 1: We've gotten a good half here, We've gotten a good
Speaker 1: game from one side of the ball. The last time
Speaker 1: we really saw all phases come together was against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: and we what four It came together on both sides
Speaker 1: for sixty minutes. It needs to come together, all of
Speaker 1: it for sixty minutes. I'm not saying you gotta go
Speaker 1: down to score touchdowns every drive, but you know, put
Speaker 1: points up on the board as many drives as possible.
Speaker 1: Don't turn the ball over and then play your ass
Speaker 1: off on defense. But do it for sixty minutes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sixty flip in minutes. No breakdowns, no going on on
Speaker 1: your own doing things. Just play solid, smart football for
Speaker 1: sixty minutes and see where you are.
Speaker 7: I like that.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 7: One more thing, this offense. I think we can agree
Speaker 7: for a variety of reasons for at a variety of
Speaker 7: different levels. It's better than last year. Superior to the
Speaker 7: offense we've seen the last couple of years. But really
Speaker 7: I think the last decade this is a better offense.
Speaker 7: I also think natural progres ession wise, Davis Mills is
Speaker 7: probably a better quarterback than what we saw last year
Speaker 7: in his rookie season. I think being in this scheme,
Speaker 7: being around these guys, case Keenum, this coaching staff, I
Speaker 7: think Davis Mills has also had a gig of improvement
Speaker 7: there as well. I think you're going to see better
Speaker 7: Davis Mills when he goes out there. I don't know
Speaker 7: what that means. I don't know how how much better
Speaker 7: that that makes the team perform, But I do think
Speaker 7: you're going to see a better Davis Mills in this
Speaker 7: offense than what you're accustomed to seeing over the last
Speaker 7: few years. And don't don't forget Davis Mills had a
Speaker 7: pretty good game last time he suited up and played
Speaker 7: in a real game that week, a team victory at
Speaker 7: Indianapolis last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And he beat Tennessee on Christmas Eve Day
Speaker 1: as well. So it's it's a better defense I think
Speaker 1: for Tennessee since. But if there's no Jeffrey Simmons, you
Speaker 1: know who's to say, who's to say? So, you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully he will remain out of this one. That'll be
Speaker 1: a big side relief. And then you know, we'll wait
Speaker 1: for Wednesday and see what the injury report brings and
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen with the squad.
Speaker 7: Amen, John always enjoyed talking with you.
Speaker 1: Well, I thank you, Drew. I enjoyed talking with you
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, there's some good stuff in there, but
Speaker 1: we we went all around it. And yet tonight I
Speaker 1: can't wait the Minister Defense thirty for thirty on ESPN
Speaker 1: about Reggie White and apparently it dives into more of Reggie,
Speaker 1: you know, behind the scenes, off the field, our religion
Speaker 1: really impacted Reggie. Really sounds like a really good thirty
Speaker 1: for thirty. Can't wait Head thirty for thirty Saturday night
Speaker 1: after the Heisman the Great Heisman Race of nineteen ninety seven,
Speaker 1: which was kind of interesting how they did that one.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see how they do this one. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you will see our favorite textan or a lot
Speaker 1: of your favorite text and JJ watt on there. He
Speaker 1: was born in Wisconsin, lived in Wisconsin while Reggie was
Speaker 1: wrecking shop, and was very easy to look up to
Speaker 1: Big number ninety two. And the one clip I saw
Speaker 1: on social media today or yesterday, I can remember which
Speaker 1: one it was, but it showed JJ talking and then
Speaker 1: the b roll was Reggie White using his hunt move,
Speaker 1: which is absolutely awesome. Quinn Williams through that hump move
Speaker 1: on a Texans offensive lignment on Sunday and it was gross,
Speaker 1: like like gross. It was so powerful and so cool,
Speaker 1: and I've seen very few people that can do that.
Speaker 1: John Allen does that. Jonathan Allen with the Commanders does that.
Speaker 1: Hardly anybody else does it. Reggie White started at thirty
Speaker 1: years ago, so I can't wait to see that. All Right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go around the NFL some of the stories
Speaker 1: that are hitting in the league, including AFC, NFC offensive
Speaker 1: players the week. Texans somehow well found themselves in the
Speaker 1: midst of at least one of them. We'll touch on
Speaker 1: those next right here on Texans All Access. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go round the NFL. Right here on a Wednesday
Speaker 1: edition of Texans All Access. I am John Harris, shows
Speaker 1: appreciate you being here with me. A couple of non
Speaker 1: week game game week items. The NFL is gonna play
Speaker 1: a game in South Powell, Brazil. How about that twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. Now, apparently the Dolphins are like areas of
Speaker 1: the world are tied into certain teams, like we are
Speaker 1: connected to Mexico City. The Dolphins are connected to Spain
Speaker 1: and Brazil. Now they're the only team connected to Spain.
Speaker 1: Now to Brazil. Sorry, they've got another team that's connected
Speaker 1: to Spain. But in twenty twenty fourth they're playing that
Speaker 1: game there. It's more likely an NFC team. My guess
Speaker 1: is they'll want the Cowboys. Now there's a chance that
Speaker 1: Texans could play the Cowboys next year. I know you're like,
Speaker 1: wait a second, every four years, No, it's remember the
Speaker 1: seventeenth game is you play the team that finishes in
Speaker 1: the same spot as you in the standings from two
Speaker 1: years prior or the year before, the year before. We
Speaker 1: play the NFC East. So if the Cowboys win a division,
Speaker 1: we win a division, will play. If the Cowboys finished second,
Speaker 1: we finished second, will play. I don't know, maybe that
Speaker 1: game will be in South Powlo, Brazil, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: My guess is it's an MC team, but the Dolphins
Speaker 1: are the one that's tied there, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens. But there will be a game
Speaker 1: in South Palo Brazil. There will also be a game
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, California, in twenty twenty seven. It's called
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Yes, LA gets it, five years after
Speaker 1: having their last Super Bowl at SOFI Stadium over there
Speaker 1: in Inglewood. So the super Bowl going back to LA
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, that'll be Super Bowl sixty one. Good god,
Speaker 1: super Bowl sixty one. The first one I remember is
Speaker 1: Super Bowl eleven. Good man, Holy smokes. There are teams
Speaker 1: that can clinch playoff berths this week. The Ravens, the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: the Lions, and the Eagles can all clinch a playoff
Speaker 1: berth this weekend. For the Ravens, they are all kinds
Speaker 1: of there's like not scenario night scenarios that have got
Speaker 1: to happen, or nine things that could happen they clinch
Speaker 1: a playoff birth. For example, Baltimore wins, Denver loses or ties,
Speaker 1: Buffalo loses or ties, that gets him in. We're actually
Speaker 1: mentioning here too, the third scenario. Baltimore wins, Denver loses
Speaker 1: their ties, Pitts, I'm sorry, Denver loser ties, Houston loses
Speaker 1: their ties. That gets them a playoff berth, so I
Speaker 1: don't know. Clinching playoff berths in week fifteen would be
Speaker 1: kind of cool. That will not happen for your Houston Texans,
Speaker 1: even if they're able to win in Tennessee, which hopefully
Speaker 1: they do big Thanks a lot of people on today's show.
Speaker 1: We gotta thank Mark Vanderberg, I think Nick Cassario, gotta
Speaker 1: thank Stephanie Gonzalez and John Weeks, Walter Peyton, Man of
Speaker 1: the Year candidate Texans Representative Drew Doherty of course, and
Speaker 1: Titan's voice Mike Keith. We'll see tomorrow everybody, and as always,
Speaker 1: go Texans.