Speaker 1: What's going on? Everybody, Welcome into a Wednesday day should
Speaker 1: Texans All Access sime here, John Harris, football sideline reporter,
Speaker 1: So glad that you are with me tonight, twenty four
Speaker 1: hours from departing for LA, or a little less than
Speaker 1: twenty four hours actually to go take on the Rams
Speaker 1: on Friday. So we'll be leaving on Thursday. But it's
Speaker 1: a Wednesday, but it felt like a Friday, especially at practice.
Speaker 1: So because it's Friday, practice is more like a Regulus
Speaker 1: in practice. So nothing really that I can report on
Speaker 1: or would report on. But if you want a little
Speaker 1: preview of the game against the Rams, I got that
Speaker 1: for you at Houston Texans dot com or the app.
Speaker 1: But what you can hear live right now. As I
Speaker 1: tweeted about it a little while ago, as Mark talked
Speaker 1: about it. This morning, Nick Cassario jumped in the Honday
Speaker 1: Texans Radio studio with us to give his thoughts about
Speaker 1: the preseason about LA and whether he would pick Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald or Matthew Stafford to face. He had a very
Speaker 1: diplomatic answer. You'll hear that in three two one go
Speaker 1: joining us now in the Hunday Texans Radio studio. It's
Speaker 1: Nick Kissario, general manager of the Texans. How's it going, Nick, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's good to see you. Great to see you. Okay,
Speaker 1: so big week, they're all big. But here we go
Speaker 1: with preseason game number two. It's a strange preseason Nick,
Speaker 1: We're all getting used to three games, plus you have
Speaker 1: this short week and then another short week on top
Speaker 1: of that dynamic going on. Can you speak to that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of factors that are involved. I would
Speaker 1: say relative to the Rams, it's a good opportunity for
Speaker 1: us against a new team, different scheme, both offensively defensively,
Speaker 1: have some familiarity just relative to haven't played them last season,
Speaker 1: Say they've had a lot of continuity. Say they're kind
Speaker 1: of the way they handle the preseason. They don't play
Speaker 1: a lot of players. But that's okay. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: still getting get an opportunity to work against another group
Speaker 1: of players. We can evaluate some of their players, and
Speaker 1: we can kind of see how some of our players
Speaker 1: doing a different setting. And then you mentioned a short week,
Speaker 1: which is kind of going to simulate really what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1: And on the Thursday night game, so play Friday night.
Speaker 1: I know it's a few days earlier than normal, but
Speaker 1: play Friday night come back and then really Monday, Tuesday
Speaker 1: practice Wednesdays the day before the game, and then we're
Speaker 1: playing Thursday night. So it kind of gives into the
Speaker 1: players an opportunity to simulate what that short week is
Speaker 1: going to look like. Nick, we played last week obviously here.
Speaker 1: Now you're on the road for the first time. How
Speaker 1: much does that become, as you call it, a different
Speaker 1: stimulus having to go into road. That's something you gotta
Speaker 1: get used to as Yeah, absolutely, kind of the travel process,
Speaker 1: some of the logistics that are involved with that traveling.
Speaker 1: We're to Howard, long flight, three hour flight, whatever that is,
Speaker 1: new time zone, just your body clock, have a long day,
Speaker 1: games in the evening, so just to kind of go
Speaker 1: through what's your road routine going to look like and
Speaker 1: try to simulate that as best as possible relative to
Speaker 1: what you do at home. So it's a good opportunity
Speaker 1: for all of us on a lot of different levels,
Speaker 1: from a playing from a coaching, from an operational perspective.
Speaker 1: It just gives us another bite at the apple, a
Speaker 1: little review. On Game one, you pulled it out at
Speaker 1: the end, that ninety yard drive. I know, not everybody's
Speaker 1: gonna make the fifty three nick, But what does that
Speaker 1: do for the entire team to see that happen to
Speaker 1: come through in the clutch like that. No, you can
Speaker 1: see the emotion in the players throughout the game. You
Speaker 1: had players jumping off the sideline after a big play.
Speaker 1: I mean Rivers had a big sack and JG was
Speaker 1: sprinting on the field doing a chess bumps. So the
Speaker 1: team is engaged, the team is into the game, and ultimately,
Speaker 1: when you step on the field, it's a competitive environment.
Speaker 1: You want to go out there and try to win.
Speaker 1: So I would say there's a lot of things that
Speaker 1: actually came up in that game situationally that we're going
Speaker 1: to have to execute in some way, shape or form
Speaker 1: against another opponent. So it was a good opportunity live
Speaker 1: to see what we can do and that chain of
Speaker 1: events terms of got the ball back on the ten, move,
Speaker 1: scored twenty five seconds left, covered the kick, pin them
Speaker 1: inside the twenty, and then we're able to get off
Speaker 1: the field with the snack excuse me, with a sack
Speaker 1: on the initial play there. So those situations, those plays matter,
Speaker 1: they matter to the players. They've invested a lot of
Speaker 1: time and energy, So it's nice to see them rewarded
Speaker 1: in the end. Nick playing a game, we talked about
Speaker 1: it before the game, tackling ball security, those kind of things,
Speaker 1: but you also get situational work. You got at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half and then you obviously got
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. How do you think
Speaker 1: overall you handled situations for the first time in live action, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there were certainly some positives. When you look at a
Speaker 1: game in general, you're gonna look at third down, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna look at the red area, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: look at end a half, end a game, two minute
Speaker 1: type situations. So if you were to just take a
Speaker 1: microcosm of that game and look at those situations, played
Speaker 1: pretty good in the ready area offensively, and then played
Speaker 1: decent two minute. You know, end a half. Probably couldn't
Speaker 1: have handled that a little bit better, but kind of
Speaker 1: had an end a half situation, end a game situation,
Speaker 1: and third down is probably in an area that we
Speaker 1: can certainly improve overall as a team. And then offensively
Speaker 1: taking care of the football the turnovers are a part
Speaker 1: of it, and then defensively the goal of three takeaways
Speaker 1: per game. That kind of came to fruition, so you're
Speaker 1: able to any end regardless if it's preseason, regular season, postseason,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, those elements are still gonna hold true
Speaker 1: in the game. Well, let's talk d line here, and
Speaker 1: that's a lot of fun right now. Not everybody played,
Speaker 1: but it was like last year in a sense that
Speaker 1: no matter who you played, last year felt like people
Speaker 1: were making plays. And on Saturday Night, no matter who
Speaker 1: you played, they were making plays. Get a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure on the opposing quarterback and it wasn't always perfect
Speaker 1: in terms of yards allowed, but you got the ball
Speaker 1: out and made the negative plays. Yeah. No, it was
Speaker 1: a great opportunity for some players that maybe hadn't played
Speaker 1: as much. I mean, guy like Kurt Heinenschhue, you know,
Speaker 1: as a rookie for agent, had an oportunity out there
Speaker 1: and make some plays. Even Dio played a little bit.
Speaker 1: Rivers should say continued kind of his offseason growth and
Speaker 1: development from last year to this year. I know love
Speaker 1: he talked about him a little bit earlier this week.
Speaker 1: Getting JG back on the field, kind of that real
Speaker 1: live game stimulus that's important just from a confident standpoint.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot that you can accomplish, even if
Speaker 1: it's for a handful of plays, but there's a lot
Speaker 1: that you can get accomplished, both personally and collectively as
Speaker 1: a team. Nick, what are these games ranked for rookies?
Speaker 1: Last week we saw Petrie and we saw Damien do
Speaker 1: some good things. Obviously, Kenyan coming back from what he's
Speaker 1: dealing with Sting didn't play. How important is it to
Speaker 1: get him some reps? Just to get NFL reps in
Speaker 1: before September eleventh gets to plays. Everything that we do
Speaker 1: is important. The meetings are important, practice is important, the
Speaker 1: game opportunities are important. So ultimately you want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're prepared for September that Sunday when we
Speaker 1: play the Indianapolis Colts here and NRG. So it's all
Speaker 1: geared towards that. So whatever you have to do in
Speaker 1: the interim up to that point, we're gonna try to
Speaker 1: go ahead and make sure the players are equipped and
Speaker 1: ready to go for that chance. What you see in
Speaker 1: the running game on Saturday night that you want to
Speaker 1: see more of and maybe you want to see improve Yeah,
Speaker 1: try to keep the ball moving forward more positive runs.
Speaker 1: Didn't have a lot of zero or negative runs. So
Speaker 1: anytime you run the football, you mean four yards of
Speaker 1: carry if you can get to that point. You know,
Speaker 1: we have a expectation when you call a run, you
Speaker 1: want to get to a certain number of yards in
Speaker 1: that play because it puts you in a manageable situation.
Speaker 1: So try to minimize the negative or zero runs. And
Speaker 1: then you're actually able to execute some of the blocks
Speaker 1: that double team blocks, that down blocks, the douce blocks
Speaker 1: in a real life setting against another defender where you
Speaker 1: can actually move or displace that defender. So and the
Speaker 1: fullback has an opportunity to front up on the linebackers well,
Speaker 1: whether it's an inside run or a play to the perimeter.
Speaker 1: So all those reps, all those players are important. Nick,
Speaker 1: you mentioned a guy earlier ended up with two sacks
Speaker 1: and Derek Rivers, and you had experience with him in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. He gets trapped by New England when you
Speaker 1: were there and we had fortunately were at the Greenbriner.
Speaker 1: We saw him go down. He ended up missing that
Speaker 1: year and he's had some injuries. But it really feels
Speaker 1: like when you watching at practice, you see growth each
Speaker 1: and every play and you keep thinking he's young guy.
Speaker 1: He's been around since twenty seventeen. What did you guys
Speaker 1: seeing him as a young player in seventeen and then
Speaker 1: the growth over the last few years to where he
Speaker 1: is now. Yeah, I'd say the overall stick tutedness and
Speaker 1: commitment to football when he very easily could have packed
Speaker 1: it in and said it's just too hard, it's really
Speaker 1: too much, given him the adversity that he's faced, So
Speaker 1: I think it speaks a lot to him as a person,
Speaker 1: as a human being, not necessarily as a football player.
Speaker 1: When he came out of Youngstown State, he was a
Speaker 1: fairly i would say active or productive edge rusher, and
Speaker 1: then he had an opportunity to go to the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: so you're able to see him against i would say
Speaker 1: better competition going from Youngstown State to what you see
Speaker 1: at the Senior Bowl. So and then really the early
Speaker 1: part of his career kind of got short changed there
Speaker 1: just from an injury standpoint. But knock on wood, he's
Speaker 1: been able to kind of keep himself healthy and give
Speaker 1: himself an opportunity to go out there and perform, and
Speaker 1: you're seeing some of the things manifest themselves that you
Speaker 1: saw really when he was drafted in twenty seventeen in
Speaker 1: New England. This time of year, it feels like the
Speaker 1: practices start to change a little bit less full padded
Speaker 1: go ones against the ones kind of stuff, maybe a
Speaker 1: little more scout team type of stuff. Anyway, just getting
Speaker 1: everybody in the proper spot. How does that affect how
Speaker 1: you see the players that evaluate them on the field,
Speaker 1: because you have to evaluate the roster constantly no matter
Speaker 1: what they're doing. Yeah, you're evaluating everything mark, So regardless
Speaker 1: of who it's against, we try to still do some
Speaker 1: good on good So the offense works against the defense,
Speaker 1: so you see a certain level of pace and competition.
Speaker 1: Eventually you're going to transition to some of the carded
Speaker 1: periods where you're trying to simulate what the opposing team
Speaker 1: is going to do. I'd say that's little bit more controlled,
Speaker 1: but you still want to do it at a high
Speaker 1: rate of speed. But what that players being coached to
Speaker 1: do are asked to do might be something different on
Speaker 1: the card than what we would ask him to do,
Speaker 1: So you kind of have to delineate between the two
Speaker 1: a little bit. So try to get is much good
Speaker 1: on good work, probably even into the season as well.
Speaker 1: But you're starting to transition you mentioned when you look
Speaker 1: at the course of a week one padded practice and
Speaker 1: then you're in shells for the next two days, and
Speaker 1: that's what a normal week is going to look like.
Speaker 1: How close is the roster to completely revealing itself? That's
Speaker 1: my favorite phrase the rock. I said this to somebody.
Speaker 1: I said, Yeah, the roster is revealing itself. And then
Speaker 1: what I said, ask Nick, because Nick knows, But how's
Speaker 1: the process changed, Nick? The fact that you had to
Speaker 1: go from ninety to eighty five this last week? Here
Speaker 1: I get from eighty five down to how's that process
Speaker 1: changed from the evaluation to get down to the fifty
Speaker 1: three man roster. Yeah, the league has kind of changed.
Speaker 1: It's come gone from ninety to fifty three, ninety to
Speaker 1: seventy five to fifty three, and now I'm trying it's
Speaker 1: eighty five to eighty. So you're just kind of managing
Speaker 1: your roster and you're managing your team. And I would
Speaker 1: say there's a lot of factors that can win. Do
Speaker 1: it necessarily. It doesn't necessarily affect how we evaluate the team.
Speaker 1: There's just certain timing and checkpoints by a certain number,
Speaker 1: by a certain time, you have to have x number
Speaker 1: players on the roster, So do you feel like it
Speaker 1: revealing itself to you. We're getting to a point where
Speaker 1: I think things are starting to manifest themselves a little
Speaker 1: bit to provide some level of clarity. So the one
Speaker 1: thing that's always unclear, So you're gonna be things pop up.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be players that sustain injuries that could potentially
Speaker 1: affect some of the decisions that you have to make.
Speaker 1: So try to take all the information and totality and
Speaker 1: then just utilize in and try to make the right
Speaker 1: decision for the team. Ultimately. I'll keep using that phrase though,
Speaker 1: credit every time. I'm gonna reveal my next question there,
Speaker 1: and that is when he's a very revealing interview. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you see players, you know make plays at the
Speaker 1: end of the game, Johnny Johnson or Jailing can't make
Speaker 1: it a big play. Whoever the player might be, it's
Speaker 1: not them specifically, but you know, if it's a tight
Speaker 1: fitted it always is. Fifty three is a pretty tight
Speaker 1: fit on the roster. Is part of you saying oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: don't show anybody that because you want to be able
Speaker 1: to maybe practice squad certain individuals or not. I gotta
Speaker 1: imagine it's happening all over the league with all these teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you really can't control that. You want the players to
Speaker 1: go out there and perform at optimal level and really
Speaker 1: make plays. I mean, that's what they're there to do,
Speaker 1: and there's a certain amount they have pride and they
Speaker 1: want to be able to do that. So regardless of
Speaker 1: one the play takes place, we're evaluating everything. We're watching
Speaker 1: these games. Everybody's going through the same thing. Like there's
Speaker 1: gonna be thirty seven players and everybody's roster eventually that
Speaker 1: have been in training camp that aren't going to be there,
Speaker 1: so we're all going through the same things. There'll be
Speaker 1: some i would say roster mechanizations that will have to
Speaker 1: go through and try to figure out how do we
Speaker 1: position it accordingly. Ideally, the goal is trying to keep
Speaker 1: sixty five seventy players in the building in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form. So how you do that. You know
Speaker 1: there's some mechanics that are involved, but ultimately you don't
Speaker 1: want to get too Q to can't get too Q.
Speaker 1: You can't really predict everything. Ultimately, just have to look
Speaker 1: at your team, try to make the right decision and
Speaker 1: then just keep moving forward, I do a segment with
Speaker 1: Mark called either or man, try and come up with
Speaker 1: the most difficult question to put them on the spot.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna do it. Nick Cassario, either or No?
Speaker 1: Watch this this I just thought of doing. Players. Sean
Speaker 1: McVay walks across and he says, Look, you're gonna face
Speaker 1: one of these two guys. Which one would be better
Speaker 1: for your team to face Friday night? Aaron Donald or
Speaker 1: Matt Stafford Neither. I mean, I would just say, speaking
Speaker 1: to those two players, I mean you're talking probably two
Speaker 1: of the better players at their positions, respectfully in the league.
Speaker 1: I mean, Aaron, you have to account for him on
Speaker 1: every play, like literally wherever he is. You have to
Speaker 1: account for him wherever, because he can literally wreck the
Speaker 1: game on his own. You're the biggest storian of the game.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the history of the game that
Speaker 1: he reminds you of? I would say, and I'm not
Speaker 1: saying they're the same players, but it's funny. We were
Speaker 1: in a meeting and love he's kind of had some
Speaker 1: exposure to these players, But guys like Sap, you know,
Speaker 1: get with that kind of size and stature and the
Speaker 1: way they impact the game. So even though they're short,
Speaker 1: they're powerful and compact. I'd say Sap was really athletic
Speaker 1: and move very well, even though he wasn't a real
Speaker 1: big guy. I mean, when you look at Aaron, he's short,
Speaker 1: but he is thick, dense, he's ripped, and he's strong
Speaker 1: and he just athletically does things at a three hundred
Speaker 1: pounder like realistically shouldn't be able to do. So every
Speaker 1: player is their own entity, so it's not like one
Speaker 1: players necessarily like the other. They all have their strengths
Speaker 1: and weaknesses. But you're talking about arguably two of the
Speaker 1: best players at their respective positions over the history of
Speaker 1: the game. We're going to talk to Levy about playing
Speaker 1: time and things like that, but what would you like
Speaker 1: to see? Because first team offense didn't get that many
Speaker 1: plays the other night, got a little bit of a
Speaker 1: lather going. But I got to imagine the whole staff
Speaker 1: wants to see a little bit more and let them
Speaker 1: take a test drive, so to speak. Yeah, I really
Speaker 1: think the big thing you're looking for is just good execution.
Speaker 1: So when you go out there offensively, can we shrink
Speaker 1: some plays together? Can we have some completions? Can we
Speaker 1: run the ball or we eliminated. The negative plays are
Speaker 1: not false starting, and we not turn the ball over,
Speaker 1: do not have penalties. So however many plays it is
Speaker 1: that they play for however long and they're on the field.
Speaker 1: You just want to see good execution over the course
Speaker 1: of that period of time. Niggas it pertains to special teams,
Speaker 1: how do you look at special teams in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Is it more about an evaluation opportunity of particular players,
Speaker 1: or is it this is the group that we want
Speaker 1: to start getting ready for September eleven, or is it
Speaker 1: this really intricate mix of both as you get ready, John,
Speaker 1: I think it's a combination of both. That's a fair
Speaker 1: way to look at it. So you're looking at different combinations.
Speaker 1: You may try this group these two players together, kind
Speaker 1: of see what that looks like. Everybody's going to kind
Speaker 1: of give an opportunity. And really, the special teams in
Speaker 1: a preseason, it's not necessarily about schematics or xs and os.
Speaker 1: It's just about can you block, can you run, can
Speaker 1: you tackle, can you avoid the block? Do you make
Speaker 1: the kicks? Can you feel the ball? Can you catch
Speaker 1: the ball. So really it comes back to basic fundamentals
Speaker 1: and techniques, and that's where the emphasis is. Well, we've
Speaker 1: talked about this a little bit, but you're scouting all
Speaker 1: the other teams to see who might be available, who
Speaker 1: could possibly help this team. So how does that work?
Speaker 1: Do you send scouts physically to be there? Is the
Speaker 1: tape readily available? How does all that operate? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we've made everything kind of in house because the tape
Speaker 1: is readily available really the next day. So game Friday night,
Speaker 1: you come in Saturday morning, So Buffalo Indianapolis, that tape
Speaker 1: is ready to go, so you can go through their
Speaker 1: roster and that one specifically, you're doing a twofold. You're
Speaker 1: evaluating their team and you're really thinking about some of
Speaker 1: your preparation and starting to play in here for the openers.
Speaker 1: So we we have done it, I would say historically
Speaker 1: both ways, Like I personally have done that a matter
Speaker 1: of found. Never forget. I want to say it was
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and Tampa Bay. They were supposed to play on
Speaker 1: a Friday or Saturday. The game thunderstorm they were lightning out,
Speaker 1: so the game was actually moved from Sunday to Monday,
Speaker 1: So I had to reorganize my schedule and go down
Speaker 1: there and actually scout, so kind of pushed back the
Speaker 1: schedule here a little bit, but those days of going
Speaker 1: to preseason, at least from our perspective, we're trying to
Speaker 1: be as efficient as we can with our time, and
Speaker 1: we've just found that it's more productive just to do
Speaker 1: everything in the house and then we can have constructive discussions.
Speaker 1: If you want to see something specific that you feel
Speaker 1: you need to do a game and see a live
Speaker 1: then that would be your rationale for doing so. Nick,
Speaker 1: the change from four games down to three in the preseason,
Speaker 1: has that in any way changed the way you approached
Speaker 1: the evaluation of the roster at that point, No material,
Speaker 1: because ultimately it's going to come down to what are
Speaker 1: the opportunities that players have on the field the actual game.
Speaker 1: So some play more than others, some play less, some
Speaker 1: players play the whole game that you maybe didn't anticipate.
Speaker 1: But it's really it's a great opportunity to evaluate those
Speaker 1: players and then when the final roster construction comes in place, everybody,
Speaker 1: when you watch a game on a Sunday basis, you're
Speaker 1: seeing them, you know, called eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen players
Speaker 1: that play in that side of the ball. Maybe some
Speaker 1: of the backups don't be an opportunity to play, So
Speaker 1: your evaluation is going to be based off what they
Speaker 1: do in the preseason. So all that information is valuable. Nick,
Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong. When the Texan started play,
Speaker 1: I felt like in the preseason everything was really vanilla
Speaker 1: as far as offense and defense. Especially on defense, you'd
Speaker 1: see for man front, whatever your front was, that's what
Speaker 1: you were doing. And over the years, more people sending
Speaker 1: an extra body or two blitzaying doing weird or not weird,
Speaker 1: but just more exotic things, if you will. Is that
Speaker 1: accurate you see it that way? It depends. I think
Speaker 1: it's philosophically what you're what you do offensive mean, defensive,
Speaker 1: and the coordinators beliefs. I would say, you watch the
Speaker 1: Giants played defensively, and Wink is a very aggressive defensive coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, he had some of the best defenses in
Speaker 1: the league in Baltimore. And you know, you watch the
Speaker 1: game the other night and it's blood zero, it's bloid zero.
Speaker 1: It's different mechanizations in blood zone. That's just what they do,
Speaker 1: that's who they are. So I think you kind of
Speaker 1: stay true to who you are You're not going to
Speaker 1: come up with like a brand new defense by the
Speaker 1: time you get to the regular season. Whatever you have,
Speaker 1: you've practiced it, you've done. You might want to see it.
Speaker 1: You want to want to put it on tape so
Speaker 1: you can actually talk through it. What are the adjustments,
Speaker 1: what happened here? You can coach off of it, and
Speaker 1: then the players can actually see themselves doing it and
Speaker 1: applying the defense the right way or the wrong way.
Speaker 1: Nick there obviously there are some veterans that didn't play
Speaker 1: last week, and even Derek didn't play last week. How
Speaker 1: important is it for a player to actually play in
Speaker 1: the preseason to get ready for the regular season. Because
Speaker 1: there's some guys that say, look, I just need to
Speaker 1: be ready for the regular season. Then some are like,
Speaker 1: now and I need to get some reps before I start.
Speaker 1: How important is it to actually players that a player
Speaker 1: by player sort of decision or fuel. Yeah, it depends
Speaker 1: who the player is. And I think you talk about
Speaker 1: it as a staff and if there's a reason, something
Speaker 1: specific or rationale that you need to do that, and
Speaker 1: if you think it makes sense, then you go ahead
Speaker 1: and do it. If you're comfortable with whoever the player
Speaker 1: is then no problem, and then you're going to communicate
Speaker 1: with the player and just say, look, here's our plan
Speaker 1: for the game. And I think it's you know, there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a constructive dialogue that goes both ways.
Speaker 1: So it's really what are you trying to accomplish? What
Speaker 1: are the goals? And I'd say it's a really player
Speaker 1: by player specific Okay, building, you're more looking forward to seeing,
Speaker 1: not team but building building. Is it so far or
Speaker 1: is it Vegas? What does that allegian? All right, so
Speaker 1: Vegas so far? Or we go to Atlanta again next year?
Speaker 1: Okay next year going to the new one in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Have you been to that one yet? Es, I've been
Speaker 1: to I think just about all. I'd say the most
Speaker 1: spacious press box in the league. We're actually going to
Speaker 1: see week two in Denver, so it's actually it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: You could literally have a walkthrough in the press box
Speaker 1: that place. So it's huge and it's loud as hell,
Speaker 1: and there'll be some challenges there outside of the crowd.
Speaker 1: They have a good team, so um, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of good buildings throughout the league. Fortunately been
Speaker 1: able to be in just a lot all of them,
Speaker 1: I think. But you haven't been to La yet. Have
Speaker 1: we played Yeah, we were at Guy, Yeah you back
Speaker 1: to back we did. We played oh yeah, Charters on
Speaker 1: Sunday and then we played the Rams Thursday night and
Speaker 1: follow up. So okay, great, great atmosphere, really great, great stadiums,
Speaker 1: and you'll just stayed out there for that week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we played the Chargers and we practiced at UCLA, so
Speaker 1: we were at UCLA. Coach Kelly I was able to
Speaker 1: accommodate us, so we have a relationship with him, so
Speaker 1: it worked out really well. All right, Well, let's have
Speaker 1: a great trip this week. Thank you very much for
Speaker 1: the time. Nick. Thanks, guys, appreciate it. It's that question
Speaker 1: that I asked about Aaron Donald and Matt Stafford a
Speaker 1: little either or then I'm gonna throw at Mark in
Speaker 1: different forms A souped up advanced edition of Either or
Speaker 1: next right here in Texas All Access. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Wednesday edition of Texans All Access. I am John Harris
Speaker 1: alongside the voice of the Texans Mark van Amir. Mark.
Speaker 1: I came up with that question that I asked Nick about,
Speaker 1: and either or which one? If you were asked by
Speaker 1: Sean McVay. Look, one of these guys will play, which
Speaker 1: one do you want to see such that your team
Speaker 1: gets good work against them? And he said neither. I
Speaker 1: think he danced away, but I would like to see
Speaker 1: this offensive line against Aaron Donald. I love watching Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald play. Who would you pick? I gotta see Stafford.
Speaker 1: I gotta see Stafford because I want to see how
Speaker 1: my defense is so and if he plays Stafford, he
Speaker 1: is going to play a bunch of other people who
Speaker 1: can protect Stafford, who can make plays for Stafford. So,
Speaker 1: in other words, your number one offense is playing. And
Speaker 1: this is an offense by the way, no O, b
Speaker 1: J No Robert Woods, Bobby Trees. He's in Tennessee right now.
Speaker 1: So they're gonna see how they're gonna be without those
Speaker 1: two weapons. Of course, they still have plenty to work with, Johnny,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be interesting. It is gonna be very interesting.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna ask you one question and then we're
Speaker 1: gonna flip it to the regular season, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: change the entire question. But a similar vein so Week three,
Speaker 1: the preseason, we play the San Francisco forty nine. Okay,
Speaker 1: so similar question. Kyle Shanahan comes to you and says, Mark,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you pick. I'm gonna play one of
Speaker 1: these two. Which one do you want to see for
Speaker 1: your team? But sorry, trying to predict where you were going,
Speaker 1: Nick Bosa or Deebo Samuel, which one would So you're
Speaker 1: not giving me Trey Lance. You're not giving me the quarterback? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I mean, I don't know whether I'm a
Speaker 1: planner or not. That he's out of the conversations. I'll
Speaker 1: take both. Deebo Samuel is a unique player, and yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna see Michael Pittman the following week. But it's
Speaker 1: not quite the same thing, is it. But they do
Speaker 1: use Pittman in some different ways. I would say Bosa
Speaker 1: would be the guy give me that blocking practice up front. Love.
Speaker 1: He said today that the first team would play a
Speaker 1: little bit more in the final preseason game. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: We'll see how that goes. You know, minds can change,
Speaker 1: and I'm not doubting him. I'm just saying we'll see
Speaker 1: how it goes. I'm looking forward to seeing this though,
Speaker 1: because we saw practice today and it was not your
Speaker 1: regular training camp type of practice, and that's what my
Speaker 1: question to Nick was about, basically, you know, how does
Speaker 1: he see it when they're working on where guys need
Speaker 1: to line up and how they need to execute execute
Speaker 1: against certain fronts in certain situations that they're facing. I
Speaker 1: thought it was an interesting practice that way, really good
Speaker 1: important practice for the team. Yeah, very much so. And
Speaker 1: it's you're right, it's reached. And he had said he said,
Speaker 1: this is like a Friday regular season practice, and may
Speaker 1: mean it's funny because as soon as I as soon
Speaker 1: as I saw stretching, I realized, oh, I knew exactly
Speaker 1: what it was. Yeah, I knew it was a Friday, right,
Speaker 1: So I just put my notebook behind. I just texted
Speaker 1: Amanda and I said, man, I guess what. No Harris
Speaker 1: hits today. So because it's that kind of practice, you're
Speaker 1: not the one that you report on. You don't report
Speaker 1: anything from that particular practice other than hey, this guy
Speaker 1: was at practice and that might have been it. And
Speaker 1: Kenny Green was at practice. He didn't really do much,
Speaker 1: but hopefully they they ramped that up in due time.
Speaker 1: So Debo or Nick Bosa, I think if Stingley's gonna
Speaker 1: play a little bit like him, see Debo okay, I'd
Speaker 1: like to see him. I like him to see Debo.
Speaker 1: If Laramie and Titus are gonna play an extended amount,
Speaker 1: I might want to see Bosa. I don't know that
Speaker 1: I want to see postings anybody else, but I want
Speaker 1: to see want to say bost against those two. I'll
Speaker 1: give you another one. Opening day. I'm going to allow
Speaker 1: you to sit a Cults player. You're stealing my game.
Speaker 1: This is your yeah, this is this is where I
Speaker 1: was going to, well, see you are not great minds,
Speaker 1: thinking like, are you go ahead? Okay, you ask me,
Speaker 1: That's exactly what I was gonna say. So Frank Reich says, okay,
Speaker 1: you've want you You've won an NFL lottery in which
Speaker 1: every single game this year you get to sit in
Speaker 1: opposing player. Let's go. But coach gets to pick the
Speaker 1: two players, because says, I get to pick these two.
Speaker 1: You get to pick one, and it's an either or okay,
Speaker 1: and it's an either worse yea fit in kind of
Speaker 1: like an expansion draft or the player unprotected yet so
Speaker 1: Frank Reich has left unprotected Shaquille Leonard or DeForrest Buckner.
Speaker 1: Which one are you eliminating it's a really good one.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people would just automatically go
Speaker 1: to Leonard. But DeForrest, Buckner is a monster upfront to
Speaker 1: deal and against us too, he has our number. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not good when you have those two guys. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of sports cliches go like this. You
Speaker 1: gotta be strong up the middle, no matter what the
Speaker 1: sport is. But it's true. Cliches are there for a reason.
Speaker 1: Baseball obviously, catcher, pitcher, up the middle, short second, center field,
Speaker 1: and then you look at basketball, you know the old school.
Speaker 1: Do you have a good center, do you have a
Speaker 1: good point guard? That kind of thing up the middle.
Speaker 1: Football is the same way. Man, those guys are really
Speaker 1: good up the middle defensively, and DeForest Buckner is you know,
Speaker 1: part of that deal, and so is Shack Leonard. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go Shack Leonard. Somehow I'll survive against Buckner.
Speaker 1: Shack Leonard is one of those guys. Yeah, Buckner is
Speaker 1: gonna be a problem all day, but Shack is gonna
Speaker 1: get the ball out. He's gonna rub it in your face.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be pretty. I want Leonard out of there,
Speaker 1: and he might be out of there anyway with the injury. Okay,
Speaker 1: two teams that we play this year, Okay, Denver Broncos
Speaker 1: and a Dallas Cowboys. You can eliminate either Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: or Dak Prescott. Who are you eliminating? Either Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott? Take one away. Oh that's a good one, Johnny,
Speaker 1: Because I started thinking about the Broncos. I was gonna
Speaker 1: go against you. No, no, oh yeah, yeah, against you.
Speaker 1: So I'll go with Russell Wilson. I'll take my chances.
Speaker 1: It's week two win or lose on opening Day, I
Speaker 1: gotta I feel like I gotta have that one. But
Speaker 1: I know you don't have to have that one, like
Speaker 1: half to in the must win game two since but
Speaker 1: I just feel like it would be so good to
Speaker 1: get it, to get some kind of momentum on your
Speaker 1: way to Chicago. And Dak is good. You've beating him
Speaker 1: once you're at his place, right, Gosh, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. I just think Denver is just not even
Speaker 1: close to being the same team without Russell Wilson. Dallas
Speaker 1: can manufacture wins without Dak Prescott with that running game
Speaker 1: at home, I guess Denver did it too, to the
Speaker 1: tune of seven wins. But I think Dallas can can
Speaker 1: win a football game without Dak Prescott. Absolutely. Okay, Cleveland's
Speaker 1: December fourth, and I'm not going to ask you about
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Okay, but you get to eliminate one an
Speaker 1: offensive player and defensive player. Would you like to eliminate
Speaker 1: that day, Nick Chubb or Miles Garrett? I'll go Chub.
Speaker 1: Is Kareem Hunts still playing, though I don't know he's
Speaker 1: asked for a trade. Maybe he's trade. But even dearest
Speaker 1: Johnson is a pretty good backup. I mean, he's a
Speaker 1: good solid number two. He's the three. You know where
Speaker 1: I started to get bad feelings as an opponent about
Speaker 1: their line during the COVID year. Of course, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: look I was doing that game off a monitor and
Speaker 1: you were there. But one thing I could tell with
Speaker 1: some of the tight shots that I was getting, because
Speaker 1: I got the ALL twenty two on one side. On
Speaker 1: the other side right next to it, I have the
Speaker 1: TV copy, which I really never look at while I'm
Speaker 1: doing a radio game, but you could see certain things
Speaker 1: on there that you can't see in the ALL twenty two.
Speaker 1: In my binoculars, and one of them was the nastiness
Speaker 1: of those guys up front in Cleveland. They have an
Speaker 1: attitude and an identity as an offensive line and they're
Speaker 1: upset that they didn't do well last year. And I'm
Speaker 1: not terrified of them, but it's not good. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go Chubb. I'd like Chubb out of the game, please.
Speaker 1: I'll deal with Miles Garrett. I'm with you, Laramie. Laramie
Speaker 1: was a little upset after the game because Miles was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they were chipping on me all day, but when they
Speaker 1: went to one on one, Miles Garrett didn't get to
Speaker 1: either of the Texans quarterbacks that day. So storing affair,
Speaker 1: I'll let Laramie. I'll let Laramie go one on one
Speaker 1: with him. I'll go I'll let Laramie go one on one.
Speaker 1: I trust it. But Chubb, Yeah, we can. We can
Speaker 1: eliminate Chubb. Okay, Texans will face two first round twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one NFL quarterbacks, Chicago's Justin Fields and Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1: You can eliminate one Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields. You
Speaker 1: can eliminate one. Luton's out of there. Who's the backup
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville right now? It is in Jacksonville CJ. Bethard
Speaker 1: and behind him e J. Perry from Brown Boy. You're
Speaker 1: dying to see him, kind and kind of not because
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like e J. Perry would compete
Speaker 1: his way throughout a ballgame and make it really tough
Speaker 1: on us, really really tough. In Chicago, the backup is
Speaker 1: Trevor Simeon and his backup is Nathan Peterman. So you're
Speaker 1: you're getting a big break either way. Yeah, which one
Speaker 1: you want? Or you want Bears or Justin Fields out.
Speaker 1: Simeon hasn't played well for a long time. I've seen
Speaker 1: Bethard play pretty well. But I gotta say it's Lawrence.
Speaker 1: I'll deal with Fields. I think that team is not
Speaker 1: very good now. They could beat the Texans because they're
Speaker 1: at home. They can beat anybody. Look, anybody can beat anybody.
Speaker 1: We know that. I'll take Uh wait, did I say so? Yeah, Lawrence?
Speaker 1: I want Lawrence out. Well. I'm eager to see another
Speaker 1: Davis Mills Trevor Lawrence showdown and see how that goes,
Speaker 1: and maybe you make it two and oh because I
Speaker 1: know they're two and oh against the Jackson but Tyrod
Speaker 1: Taylor started a week one last year. Okay, okay, you
Speaker 1: can see I'm a piece in these together. So we
Speaker 1: face both the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 1: this year. We play Philadelphia on Thursday night. Nick talked
Speaker 1: about that earlier. This is good preparation. A short week.
Speaker 1: You're ready for that November third game against the Eagles.
Speaker 1: We go to MetLife to take on the Giants. Each
Speaker 1: of those teams has an alum of Penn State sae
Speaker 1: Quon Barkley for the Giants, Miles Sanders for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: More underrated running backs in the league. You can eliminate
Speaker 1: one of them. Which one are you gonna I'll take
Speaker 1: Barkley out because I think look, as long as Hurtz
Speaker 1: is there, I feel like the Eagles can be effective.
Speaker 1: I feel like without a healthy Barkley, with Barkley completely
Speaker 1: erased from the equation, they're not going anywhere in New York. Now. Look,
Speaker 1: I know Dables there, They've changed the system everything. I
Speaker 1: saw a little bit of preseason action with them and
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones and one drive got hit three times. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's not good. That's not good At all. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I believe without Barkley they're doomed. Okay, we faced the
Speaker 1: Colts and the Titans this year, and you know exactly
Speaker 1: what I'm about to ask you. You're gonna go which
Speaker 1: running back would I'd rather not see? Wrong quarterback? No,
Speaker 1: you're right running back. Sorry, I couldn't think of an
Speaker 1: offensive line in a match up with Quinton Nelson. Um,
Speaker 1: you could take one out Jonathan Taylor, Derek Henry. Eliminate
Speaker 1: one for both games. Oh, for both games. Eliminate one
Speaker 1: for both games, Jonathan Taylor or Derrick Henry. Henry Henry. Look,
Speaker 1: I've seen the Titans. We beat them without Henry last year.
Speaker 1: Up there, Tyrod Taylor here. It came close in the
Speaker 1: second half of the comeback. I still got to see
Speaker 1: it to believe it. From Matt Ryan this year, I
Speaker 1: still think that and especially with the offensive line not
Speaker 1: being exactly what it was, this could be pretty interesting
Speaker 1: if you're able to slow down Jonathan Taylor and someone
Speaker 1: hits the snot out of Matt Ryan. Johnny, you know me,
Speaker 1: I want to see everybody play their third string if possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, you know I'm not big on if you
Speaker 1: want to be the best, beat the best. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: get that, but I'll play anybody weakened preferably. But with
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, I kind of want to see Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: in the cults. I want to see how this works
Speaker 1: out for them, and I want to be part of
Speaker 1: the demise. We both have seen Texans defenses stop Derrick Henry. No,
Speaker 1: we haven't seen We haven't seen a Texans offense stop
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor. We haven't seen that defense yet. A defense
Speaker 1: to stop Jonathan Tylor is that interesting? Yeah? But you
Speaker 1: know what? Yeah, but nineteen or purity salties, right, and
Speaker 1: you stopped Henry what up there in twenty nineteen late
Speaker 1: in the season, right, it's the one time based on
Speaker 1: big time, I mean since he became Derek Henry because
Speaker 1: when they were sort of doing the one two punch
Speaker 1: with DeMarco Murray and the exotic smash mouth wasn't exactly
Speaker 1: the same thing we're talking about right now. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: say I'll take Henry out though, okay, and I'll take
Speaker 1: my chances with Matt Ryan because I gotta stop Jonathan
Speaker 1: Taylor at some point. Maybe I can't. You know, it's
Speaker 1: funny because you stopped t Y Hilton like maybe one
Speaker 1: or two games in his career. You know, usually it's
Speaker 1: he stops himself, he gets hurt, whatever, has to pull
Speaker 1: himself out. That's what this Derrick Henry situation reminds me of.
Speaker 1: You did stop him in that one twenty nineteen road contest. Okay,
Speaker 1: face the Titans twice and you I just compared the
Speaker 1: running backs. But now we're sticking with the Titans. And
Speaker 1: the Titans alone, you can eliminate either Jeffrey Simmons up
Speaker 1: front or and I know they're not analogous players, but
Speaker 1: just think about how important they are. You can eliminate
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Simmons or Ben Jones at center. Oh Simmons Simmons.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know it sounds obvious, I know, but
Speaker 1: you're thinking Ben Jones, the quarterback of that old line
Speaker 1: and they depend on him, and they ran the ball
Speaker 1: pretty well without Derrick Henry. Let me change this, well,
Speaker 1: Leek Willis is gonna start against you Simmons or Ben
Speaker 1: Jones for both games because if Daniels in there, Simon,
Speaker 1: if Daniels in here, he can run everything in this sound.
Speaker 1: I feel like I can run on them without Simmons
Speaker 1: and make some plays, you know, maybe throw the ball
Speaker 1: a little bit. I feel pretty good. He's so good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's good. He's so oh. This division, all right, I
Speaker 1: get it. Last year they got one team into the postseason.
Speaker 1: That's the first time that's happened in a long time,
Speaker 1: since twenty sixteen. All right, so last year was the
Speaker 1: first time in five years they did not get two
Speaker 1: teams into the playoffs. This division's pretty good, and I
Speaker 1: think that when you look at having the two best
Speaker 1: running backs in the league in one division, that's strong
Speaker 1: stuff right there. Yeah. I know Minnesota's gonna have something
Speaker 1: to say about Dalvin Cook, but most gms, I think,
Speaker 1: would put Derek Henry and Jonathan tayl Are right on top.
Speaker 1: I know the quarterbacks don't scare you as much, but man,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a tough go and the Jaguars aren't
Speaker 1: getting any worse. I guess the division isn't what it
Speaker 1: used to be, Johnny. I mean when you look at
Speaker 1: the Jags in the Texans Lappers last year, and there
Speaker 1: have been some young players added to the division, Obviously
Speaker 1: we're improving. Young town over here. It feels that way
Speaker 1: because the Watson Titans are on top, and they don't
Speaker 1: should have made the playoffs. They don't have a Mahomes,
Speaker 1: they don't have a Josh Allen. They don't have one
Speaker 1: of those guys. If if if the Colts had Justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: I mean, oh, forget it. I mean that that image
Speaker 1: to me. Yeah, sorry, just mean you get to kind
Speaker 1: of take into account in some sets. Okay, what if
Speaker 1: it doesn't work with Matt Ryan, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: bad year. They go eight to nine, nine and eight,
Speaker 1: it's not working out. Where do they go from here?
Speaker 1: Dick Foles, well, apparently Foles has been all played by
Speaker 1: Sam Ellinger. But the training camp, if I'm Nick Folds,
Speaker 1: that really bothers me a lot. Because ellen Air was
Speaker 1: at the University of Texas for I think a total
Speaker 1: of seven years law. But it felt like that when
Speaker 1: you were watching Longhorn football, and although he seemed like
Speaker 1: a really good guy and made plays with his feet
Speaker 1: would make that occasional big throw, I didn't see a
Speaker 1: boatload of trajectory there headed toward an NFL career. But
Speaker 1: here he is, so more power to them. Okay, we
Speaker 1: will make two road trips to two very fun locations
Speaker 1: this year. And both of the NFL teams in those
Speaker 1: cities made a trade for a wide receiver. You can
Speaker 1: eliminate one, Okay, either Miami's Tyreek Hill or the Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Raiders Davante Adams. This is a good question. This
Speaker 1: is a good question because you don't exactly know how
Speaker 1: each one's gonna they're going to use that. Just getting
Speaker 1: this for the first time, Yeah, all right, so, and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm acting as if I really have a factor.
Speaker 1: You know, this is like I mean, think my in
Speaker 1: put is gonna make this happen. Yeah, off the top
Speaker 1: of my head, my gut says, get rid of Davante
Speaker 1: Adams with the Raiders. That's really gonna weaken them a lot.
Speaker 1: And you're at their place, You're at the Dolphins place.
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill does not scare me as much without two.
Speaker 1: I gotta see it to believe it. But I do
Speaker 1: believe Adams with the Raiders makes them that much better.
Speaker 1: You know, they don't have guys like Zay Jones went
Speaker 1: to Jacksonville and I saw him make some plays last year.
Speaker 1: You know, it's all about those plays at the moment
Speaker 1: of truth in this league. And I just think that
Speaker 1: Adams can really help Derek car a lot. I know
Speaker 1: people are listening thinking, well, Tyreek Hill should be able
Speaker 1: to help tah I don't know. I mean he should
Speaker 1: be able to I'm not saying he's gonna be a
Speaker 1: horrible year, but I don't know. I'll take Adams. I'll
Speaker 1: take Adams. You probably picked Tyreek Hill. I've always been
Speaker 1: afraid of Tyreek Hill, but I actually feel like if
Speaker 1: Tyreek's out, that just means more targets for Jalen Waddle,
Speaker 1: Chase Edmonds out of the backfield, Mike Asikiet wide receiver,
Speaker 1: slash tight end, whatever you want to call him. I
Speaker 1: just think it's more targets for those guys, and those
Speaker 1: guys are incredibly good. Now. The Raiders have got that
Speaker 1: talent too with Darren Wadder, but he's been banged up.
Speaker 1: You gotta hunter renfro But I don't know that they're
Speaker 1: convinced that there's any other weapons. So if you take
Speaker 1: Vante out of there, I think Derek Carr is gonna
Speaker 1: get in this mode of I'm going to seventeen as
Speaker 1: much as humanly possible, Like that's the guy I'm going
Speaker 1: to the flip side of this too, is the Raiders
Speaker 1: also have. They have Josh mcdanios now, and I think
Speaker 1: he is going to be instrumental in helping Car. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you don't have Adams, I can manufacture completions. It's
Speaker 1: for other players. And I think the receiver, the receiver
Speaker 1: trio between Darren Waller, Hunter Renfro and Vanta Adams is stout.
Speaker 1: But I think numbers two and three in Miami, Jayalen
Speaker 1: Waddle and Mike Asiki are are better than two and
Speaker 1: three in Las Vegas. So I would I would say
Speaker 1: Davanta Adams as well. I listen, you know, me to
Speaker 1: Tyreek scares the fool out of me. But Tyreek scared
Speaker 1: the fool out of me when he was with Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes because Mahomes is gonna get him the football in
Speaker 1: some way, shape or form where he was gonna make
Speaker 1: a play about Alex Smith with the ball in his hands.
Speaker 1: And yeah, with Alex Smith two, it's just Tyreek was
Speaker 1: that guy. Now Alex couldn't take total advantage of it
Speaker 1: because they were only together for you know, a year
Speaker 1: or two, but it really the Tyreek box was truly
Speaker 1: opened once Patrick Mahomes went out there. And so that's
Speaker 1: the last one. We play Kansas City and we played
Speaker 1: the Chargers. You can eliminate Mahomes or Herbert. We play
Speaker 1: the Chargers here, we play the Chiefs here, so that
Speaker 1: elements out Holmes or Herbert. Is it as easy as
Speaker 1: it is slam dunk that you're taking Mahomes. I will
Speaker 1: eliminate Mahomes. Yeah, I mean I think that's easy. But
Speaker 1: then again, boy, Herbert's got a boy. The Chargers without
Speaker 1: Herbert is probably not very good. You know, the Chargers
Speaker 1: with Herbert would remind me of who would be the
Speaker 1: Seahawks before Russell. Yeah, at all his talent there, and
Speaker 1: then Russell got plopped into it. It was like, look
Speaker 1: we got I think the Chargers would be the same
Speaker 1: way the Charger Omega Loody Reid is good at manufacturing
Speaker 1: wins with another quarterback his career. Speaking of Mega Loaded,
Speaker 1: you see the deal with Arma James got Oh baby,
Speaker 1: you got paid seventy six mill for the safety from
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Are a nice job, Mark, a nice job?
Speaker 1: Canymi Fairbairn. What do you mean? Oh yeah, he's next right.
Speaker 1: You are in Texas all access. This is all access.
Speaker 1: This is all access. We got a final segment of
Speaker 1: this this shit Texas All Access and we kick it
Speaker 1: off no bun intended with our pal Callimi fairband. Let's
Speaker 1: go exceded. You go back home, you venture over to
Speaker 1: the old haunts where you used to rule the UCLA campus.
Speaker 1: You can do that when we get there. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: excited to go to so far. It's not exactly home,
Speaker 1: it's my second home. Yeah, of course, I gotta can't
Speaker 1: forget about the islands. Yes, but yeah, it'll be fun
Speaker 1: to go to the West coast, see the new stadium,
Speaker 1: see the new setup, and um continue this journey to
Speaker 1: a preseason and getting ready for your regular season. How
Speaker 1: do you feel right now where you are going into
Speaker 1: the regular season, I mean for your specialty being ready
Speaker 1: to go on September eleventh. How much do you kind
Speaker 1: of kick leading up to it? How many days off
Speaker 1: do you get? You sure like a picture? Are you
Speaker 1: sure like starting picture? Sure like a reliever we gotta
Speaker 1: kick every day? Or starting pitcher where you do it
Speaker 1: every few days. Yeah, I think pitch count is important, Um,
Speaker 1: but honestly it's a lot to do with mental reps
Speaker 1: for me. Um, Physically, I feel good, Frank and Bake
Speaker 1: and the whole the whole coaching staff take good care
Speaker 1: of us. And you know, especially Weeks and Cam. It's
Speaker 1: just mental reps and seeing the ball and getting comfortable
Speaker 1: in those situations, getting called out on the field and
Speaker 1: going one for one with your special teams this year.
Speaker 1: Just looking at the team across the board. Obviously in
Speaker 1: preseason it may not be what you have going into
Speaker 1: the regular season, but just overall from a special team standpoint,
Speaker 1: you talk about Cam, you talk about Weeks, Bike and
Speaker 1: also Frank and then the group of players you've got,
Speaker 1: what's the outlook for you for this year? Looking at
Speaker 1: that group as a whole, I think we look good overall.
Speaker 1: There's there's not much let off across the board wherever
Speaker 1: we we whoever we put out there, you know, and
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be tough for you know, Frank and
Speaker 1: those guys to make those decisions, but you know, I
Speaker 1: think as a unit we're gonna be great. We put
Speaker 1: a lot of tension to detail into every thing we
Speaker 1: do and we just got to continue to do that
Speaker 1: every day and um go out there and execute it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you and I have talked about
Speaker 1: this at all. Last year against Seattle, you went sixty
Speaker 1: one yards. Now in practice, how far have you gone
Speaker 1: and how far do you think you could go in
Speaker 1: the perfect conditions at Energy Stadium? Oh, man, that's tough.
Speaker 1: I've I've gone back there to you know, sixty five,
Speaker 1: sixty seven, But honestly, I don't. I don't touch those
Speaker 1: numbers very often. To me, I'm, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: be perfect inside fifty. Um, that's one of my goals.
Speaker 1: And to me, being those those reps are the ones
Speaker 1: that are important that you know, hit game one of
Speaker 1: You might get one or two sixty yarders attempts in
Speaker 1: your career. So yeah, they're nice to hit, um, and
Speaker 1: they're fun. Um. But to me, there where you making
Speaker 1: money and help the team a lot is within fifty.
Speaker 1: Favorite field goal you've hit since you've been a tax
Speaker 1: could be the last one of Seattle, could be one
Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen to beat Dallas. Favorite field goal that
Speaker 1: you've hit in your career as a Texan. Oh, that's tough.
Speaker 1: You hit a few? Yeah, I hit a few. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It was kind of a team win. Um. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the game against Buffalo in the playoff game, um you know,
Speaker 1: it was a it was a chip shot, but just
Speaker 1: what it meant to the fans and um us as
Speaker 1: a team and moving on to the next round in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. It's it's that one that one sticks out
Speaker 1: in my mind, sticks out for a lot of people
Speaker 1: as well. Big thanks to Kaymi, to Mark and to
Speaker 1: Nick Cassaria. We'll see you tomorrow. Abody is always Go Texans.