Speaker 1: What is going on? Everybody?
Speaker 2: Happy Wednesday to you, New Year's Day. My gosh, I
Speaker 2: buried the lead. It's New Year's Day. Happy twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five to all of you out there. I'm your host
Speaker 2: for this evening, John Harris, football analyst, sideline reporter, and
Speaker 2: I know there are a lot of people hurting, not
Speaker 2: only in this area, but obviously in New Orleans with
Speaker 2: what transpired very very.
Speaker 1: Early this morning.
Speaker 2: So our love, thoughts and prayers go out to everybody
Speaker 2: New Orleans, everybody affected. Just an incredibly horrible situation. Sugar
Speaker 2: Bowl that was supposed to be played tonight will be
Speaker 2: moved till tomorrow. Don't know if we played at night,
Speaker 2: but they're treating us as a terrorist situation there in
Speaker 2: New Orleans. So Georgia and Notre Dame will end up
Speaker 2: playing tomorrow as it appears right now.
Speaker 1: We'll see if things change.
Speaker 2: But man, what a difficult way to wake up this
Speaker 2: morning to see that news of what happened in New Orleans.
Speaker 2: And I know Sheriff Houston Sheriff's office commented about the
Speaker 2: work that they're doing in Houston to make sure something
Speaker 2: like that does not happen here in our area. I
Speaker 2: just hate that it happened in New Orleans. It's a
Speaker 2: place that I love dearly. My wife and I took
Speaker 2: our honeymoon there when we were teachers and we weren't
Speaker 2: making squat for money, and that place meant and means
Speaker 2: a lot to us, and I know it means lots
Speaker 2: of people here in the Houston area. So thoughts out
Speaker 2: to everybody in New Orleans. Now, as we always do
Speaker 2: on this show, we talked football. We try and take
Speaker 2: you away from whatever and bring you into our football
Speaker 2: world for just a little bit and talk ball, have
Speaker 2: some fun, stay on the radio, and that's what we're
Speaker 2: gonna do here this evening, and on a Wednesday, we
Speaker 2: start that off as we always do with general manager
Speaker 2: Nick Casserio. Now, when we talked with Nick this on Tuesday,
Speaker 2: you guys always know we talk with Nick on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: So this was probably up on YouTube last night. Some
Speaker 2: of you've heard it, some of you saw it. But
Speaker 2: if you're listening and going, wey, why aren't they talking
Speaker 2: about what happened to Ne Orleans. That's why we definitely
Speaker 2: would have asked Nick's thoughts on it, because I know
Speaker 2: he probably feels the same as I.
Speaker 1: Do, but we did this on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: So this is Nick Casario, general manager your Houston Texans
Speaker 2: on with Mark and.
Speaker 1: Myself joining us in studio now.
Speaker 3: Executive vice president and general manager, Nick Cassario.
Speaker 1: Nick, Happy New Year.
Speaker 4: How's it going, Jen, It's good to see you. Happy
Speaker 4: New Year?
Speaker 3: All right, here we go with a typical week. I
Speaker 3: would say, even though you have New Year's now, but
Speaker 3: after all the rigamar role of three games and eleven days,
Speaker 3: back to a typical work week. Probably good to have
Speaker 3: this and then the playoffs next week.
Speaker 1: You know you're in.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Look, we got two weeks in front of us,
Speaker 5: so first and foremost and focus will be on Tennessee.
Speaker 5: Kind of go through a normal week, out the extra
Speaker 5: day yesterday with the kind of the bonus Monday, if
Speaker 5: you will. Tuesday, you know it was a normal off day,
Speaker 5: and then we'll finish out the week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, travel, Saturday,
Speaker 5: play Tennessee on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Have an idea we're playing when we're playing.
Speaker 5: After the Tennessee game, so back to work, back to business,
Speaker 5: and that's where we are.
Speaker 2: So I know we always talk about advanced prep. So
Speaker 2: in advanced prep, we know it's one of three teams.
Speaker 1: One of them we just played last week, or I
Speaker 1: guess that's what it is.
Speaker 2: One we have played this year, the other two trying
Speaker 2: to think we played that we played the other two.
Speaker 1: So do you do advanced prep for all three teams? Nick?
Speaker 1: At this point?
Speaker 2: Do you wait until Saturday night to see Rabs and
Speaker 2: the Steelers? How do you kind of go with the
Speaker 2: advanced prep for the playoffs? No, it's a great question.
Speaker 5: You sort of have to start some of the work
Speaker 5: here a little bit, because what you want to be
Speaker 5: able to do is after the Tennessee game, transition to
Speaker 5: whoever the next opponent is. So number of the pro
Speaker 5: scouts will be assigned specific teams. So of the teams
Speaker 5: that we could potentially play, put together the advance scott
Speaker 5: and report, and then the idea would be after the
Speaker 5: game on Sunday, whoever we think it is or if
Speaker 5: it's definitive, then we'll just be able to get that
Speaker 5: information out to the staff. So then we come back
Speaker 5: coming on Monday. We're sort of ready to go. Even
Speaker 5: though we haven't played. We're somewhat familiar with some of
Speaker 5: the teams, other than maybe LA that's probably the one
Speaker 5: team that's a little bit of an X factor here.
Speaker 5: So but other than that, we do we have to
Speaker 5: put a separate from the coaches in the playing preparation.
Speaker 5: We have to from a advanced scouting standpoint, just put
Speaker 5: some work in place.
Speaker 3: Coach Ryan saded like he wanted to get back to
Speaker 3: the basics here. Let's play some good football. Let's get
Speaker 3: back to playing the game that we love and we
Speaker 3: know how to play well.
Speaker 1: You see it that way as you face Tennessee on Sunday.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's really a big summation of our season. We've
Speaker 5: kind of sat here multiple weeks and we've played good
Speaker 5: football at times. Other times we just haven't executed him.
Speaker 5: We go back and look at the Tennessee game week twelve,
Speaker 5: it's kind of some respects the synopsis of our season.
Speaker 5: Gave us some explosive plays, turn the ball over a
Speaker 5: little bit. I think we were penalized eleven times, so
Speaker 5: just trying to minimize some of those bad plays. Tennessee
Speaker 5: played better than we did. We understand that this is
Speaker 5: a challenging opponent that has a number of skilled players
Speaker 5: in a lot of different areas. So focusing on Tennessee
Speaker 5: trying to play a good football game, doing the things
Speaker 5: that are conducive to winning. Put on ourselves in a
Speaker 5: position where we can go ahead and go out there
Speaker 5: and play good football as a team, which this time
Speaker 5: of the year, that's the most important thing.
Speaker 2: We've had this yere nick before where week seventeen. I
Speaker 2: don't want to use the word irrelevant, because any game
Speaker 2: is relevant, but it's not going to change seeding. We're
Speaker 2: into playoffs. We want to be seemingly as healthy as possible.
Speaker 2: How much does that become a part of it, Like, Hey,
Speaker 2: we want to be as healthy as possible. Yeah, we
Speaker 2: won't play great football, but man, we got to have
Speaker 2: the guys. We need to be able to play that
Speaker 2: playoff game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, every game takes on significance whenever it is, whatever
Speaker 5: the circumstances are. So fortunately been kind of in this
Speaker 5: situation multiple times and the last week, you know, we've
Speaker 5: handled it differently at different points. So I think ultimately
Speaker 5: you have to do we have to do. Demico has
Speaker 5: to do what you know, we feel as best for
Speaker 5: our football team. What do we think we need understanding
Speaker 5: of the cognizant If a player has a health issue
Speaker 5: or concern then maybe are we better off waiting another
Speaker 5: week or whatever the case may be. So in the end,
Speaker 5: we're gonna need our whoever we have, whoever is available
Speaker 5: to us this week and next week, Like those are
Speaker 5: the players that we're gonna win with.
Speaker 4: Can't worry about who we don't have. Also're gonna do
Speaker 4: his focus on the players that we do have.
Speaker 5: So each week is going to be different, each team
Speaker 5: is going to be a little bit different, and you
Speaker 5: just have to have it, take inventory of where you
Speaker 5: are as a team, and ultimately make the decision that
Speaker 5: you feel makes the most sense no.
Speaker 3: Matter who you facing the postseason. This is good prep.
Speaker 3: I know you want to be better at stopping the
Speaker 3: run than you were against Derek Henry. You got Tony
Speaker 3: Pollard here, had a good game last time. He's a thousand,
Speaker 3: thousand yard backs, so it's a good test.
Speaker 4: Yeah, really good back.
Speaker 5: I mean ran for one hundred yards over one hundred
Speaker 5: yards in the first games. A thousand yard rusher, and
Speaker 5: he's really kind of a multipurpose back because he's just
Speaker 5: not a runner. He's a very capable receiver as well,
Speaker 5: so good athlete, good with the ball in his hands,
Speaker 5: capable of making explosive plays because of his speed. So
Speaker 5: the run game will be important, I'd say this time
Speaker 5: of year in most games, like the ability to run
Speaker 5: the ball, stop the run, and cover kicks like those
Speaker 5: are the things that you're gonna have to be be
Speaker 5: able to do in order to be a good physical
Speaker 5: football team.
Speaker 2: Are you trying to sneakily steal my scoutez?
Speaker 1: You got it?
Speaker 4: Here with it, joh the gun.
Speaker 3: I'm just my last.
Speaker 4: Report because we've already but we can. Let's start in there.
Speaker 1: Week twelve, we got a chance to see these guys.
Speaker 2: We didn't see Taj Spears uh and he was part
Speaker 2: of the mix this past couple of the past couple
Speaker 2: of weeks and look pretty good doing it. How have
Speaker 2: they changed from Week twelve? Nick, I know it's not
Speaker 2: gone exceedingly well for them. There is talk about them
Speaker 2: playing both quarterbacks Mayson Rudolf and Will Levis. What what's
Speaker 2: changed most about the Titans in the Scotland report that
Speaker 2: you see, Yeah.
Speaker 5: The big thing, it's always personnel related more than anything
Speaker 5: else schematically, like from the start of the season until now,
Speaker 5: you know, the run game they do a really good job.
Speaker 5: Coach Coach callahan square. They both do a really good
Speaker 5: job in a running game. They ran the ball effectively
Speaker 5: and have two really good backs who are capable of
Speaker 5: gaining the yards. And their ability to create explosive plays.
Speaker 5: We saw that, you know, with Chick on the big
Speaker 5: play there in the third quarter or whatever it was.
Speaker 4: And Ridley is always a factor.
Speaker 5: So they do a good job schematically in a running
Speaker 5: game and then creating some explosive plays as well. You know,
Speaker 5: they've turned the ball over a little bit, you know,
Speaker 5: probably more than they would like, So the ability to
Speaker 5: take the ball away in an r N control of
Speaker 5: the football or take care of the football is going
Speaker 5: to be important. But it seems like they've kind of
Speaker 5: solidified the offensive line, which is a little bit of
Speaker 5: a moving part, and think Latham has kind of been
Speaker 5: to one constant there from the beginning of the year.
Speaker 5: They've had a number of young rookie players who have
Speaker 5: played well for them this year on both sides of
Speaker 5: the ball, but they present challenges offensively because of their
Speaker 5: skill more than anything else.
Speaker 3: All Right, what about this streak you have going on
Speaker 3: on the road in the division, because you have to
Speaker 3: go back to what twenty twenty one, twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: when the Texans last lost an AFC South game on
Speaker 3: the road. Is there anything too that I know it
Speaker 3: spans different coaching eras and that kind of thing, but
Speaker 3: you've been here the whole time time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean each week it's really one game at
Speaker 5: a time, one week at a time, and just doing
Speaker 5: enough that particular week, so you can't necessarily worry about
Speaker 5: I mean, streaks are streaks, but all streaks are made
Speaker 5: to be broken. It's ultimately about playing good football. So
Speaker 5: that's what it's going to take. So can't really get
Speaker 5: too caught up in But we've talked on this show.
Speaker 5: Everything starts with a division, so we're in a position
Speaker 5: fortunately we continue to play football because of what we've
Speaker 5: done in the division. So we think we just want
Speaker 5: to go out there and play good football against division opponent,
Speaker 5: like he'll beat us in week twelve, So we just
Speaker 5: want to try to play better football and make sure
Speaker 5: we're doing the things that are conduced with the winning
Speaker 5: This week against Titans.
Speaker 2: Nick, have you seen Tovandre get better and better each week?
Speaker 2: I mean he's a guy obviously big. There were some
Speaker 2: questions about conditioning. Oh, he's not going to be able
Speaker 2: to make in the NFL because he can't play that much.
Speaker 2: It's almost as if he's got in the NFL, and
Speaker 2: it's really not bothered him.
Speaker 1: I think he's played every single game. What have you
Speaker 1: seen for the big fella.
Speaker 2: And how tough is he to account for just because
Speaker 2: of sheer size and athleticism.
Speaker 4: No, he's played really well.
Speaker 5: So when you look at the combination of him and Jeffrey,
Speaker 5: Jeffery is a problem by himself, regardless of where he
Speaker 5: lines up, and it's about his skill AND's about how
Speaker 5: hard he plays as well.
Speaker 4: But deve Andre has done a good job.
Speaker 5: He's obviously a factor in the running game, but he's
Speaker 5: done a decent job with some power rushes because once
Speaker 5: he gets going vertically, it's just hard to sit down
Speaker 5: and block a guy and fifty pounds. So you had
Speaker 5: the fumble recovery kind of the second man strip there
Speaker 5: a couple of weeks ago. That's stiff arm. So you're
Speaker 5: talking about a big, strong, athletic player who presents problems
Speaker 5: on the inside part of the defense. So sov Andre
Speaker 5: has played well and going back to the rookies and
Speaker 5: Brownlee has done a really good job from start to
Speaker 5: finish at corner. Then they've had a bump them inside
Speaker 5: a little bit and play some nickel with McCrary being out.
Speaker 5: So they have a number of good young players who
Speaker 5: have given them a lot of good plays during the
Speaker 5: course of the year.
Speaker 3: We haven't had a chance to catch up since the
Speaker 3: back to back with Kansas City and Baltimore. And I know,
Speaker 3: two very different games, very competitive against Kansas City and Baltimore.
Speaker 3: How do you look at that one? Do you look
Speaker 3: at it as well?
Speaker 1: That just wasn't our day.
Speaker 3: We got to get it out of our minds because
Speaker 3: obviously you want to correct those things, but you want
Speaker 3: to move forward and get momentum for the postseason.
Speaker 4: And really both games we had opportunities.
Speaker 5: So going back to the Kansas City game, we kind
Speaker 5: of had the was seventeen sixteen. You get the fourth
Speaker 5: down stop and then we're at midfield and then we'll
Speaker 5: go three and out, and then we just couldn't garner
Speaker 5: enough momentum and then any end, they just made a
Speaker 5: few more plays than we did. The same thing against
Speaker 5: Baltimore as well. It's ten to two, we have the
Speaker 5: ball down there in a three yard line. We went
Speaker 5: four on fourth down, which you know, Tomico, you know,
Speaker 5: wanted to get points. Was the right decision, you know,
Speaker 5: to try to play aggressively, and you know we didn't
Speaker 5: convert it, you know, and we weren't able to keep
Speaker 5: him off the long field. They hit the explosive play
Speaker 5: to Mark Andrews and then it's seventeen to two, and
Speaker 5: then it just kind of was hard to catch up.
Speaker 4: So say, both games we had our opportunities.
Speaker 5: Which goes back to what Tomiko talked about, like this
Speaker 5: game is just going out there playing good football, executing
Speaker 5: from start to finish, and I think that'll be the
Speaker 5: challenge for us here this week.
Speaker 2: Nig I don't know if we've had a chance to
Speaker 2: talk to you since claiming Deontae Johnson, and I know
Speaker 2: we talked about the trade deadline and one of the
Speaker 2: things that you mentioned which was true, is that you
Speaker 2: made a number of waiver claims. I mean, Derek Barnett
Speaker 2: coming here was huge over the second half of the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three season. This one was later than I
Speaker 2: think any of the others getting him in week seventeen.
Speaker 1: As you go out to week eighteen.
Speaker 2: The expectations are different for everybody in this bill at
Speaker 2: the thought of a guy coming in, what he can learn,
Speaker 2: what he can do. What's your thoughts about bringing in
Speaker 2: Deontay this late in the season, and what do you
Speaker 2: think he can provide for the team.
Speaker 5: Yeah, our philosophy is always just look to take advantage
Speaker 5: of opportunities when they present themselves. You don't really know
Speaker 5: when that's going to happen, whether it's week eight, week twelve,
Speaker 5: week sixteen. So we look at the waiver wire every day.
Speaker 5: Pro scouting staff does a great job and then we
Speaker 5: have discussions about it. We talk about it as a staff.
Speaker 5: Ultimately you make a decision, well this makes sense or not.
Speaker 5: I think the situation with Tank maybe you know said, hey,
Speaker 5: he missed some opportunity for us to bring in a
Speaker 5: good football Player's a lot of experience. So Deante's been
Speaker 5: a productive player in this league for a number of years,
Speaker 5: a skilled player, even going back to his Toledo days.
Speaker 5: I mean, this is a player you know actually had
Speaker 5: the opportunity to work him out and spend the day
Speaker 5: on campus with him when he was coming out. I
Speaker 5: think it was near him in Woodside, I think, or
Speaker 5: around the same time. So he's got a good skill set,
Speaker 5: he's athletic, he's fast, he's got good quickness, he's been productive.
Speaker 5: So when you get a player this late, obviously you
Speaker 5: can't teach him everything. You just want to try to
Speaker 5: give him some small doses so he can go out
Speaker 5: there and actually practice and then if he has an
Speaker 5: opportunity to play, go out there and perform at a
Speaker 5: you know, at a high level.
Speaker 3: It really puts a test on your wide receiver group overall, though,
Speaker 3: the injury to Tank, and again that's not something we
Speaker 3: talked about since the last time we got together. So
Speaker 3: as a group, what are you thinking here moving forward?
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, that's a group that's been taxed here at
Speaker 5: different points. So we kind of played without and played
Speaker 5: without Digs for a period here. I play without Tank
Speaker 5: even Nico missed a few games there. But we've talked
Speaker 5: about this, even going back to beginning of the year.
Speaker 5: We felt that, you know, the depth in that room
Speaker 5: was really good. Was the strength of the team. You know,
Speaker 5: Metch has had his opportunities, he's taken advantage of them.
Speaker 5: Hutch seemingly in each game when we throw them the ball,
Speaker 5: he makes it play. So it's about other players getting opportunities.
Speaker 5: You know, jay Wayne had to be he was elevated
Speaker 5: a couple of times. So we feel comfortable with the
Speaker 5: players that are here at Deontae to that mix. So
Speaker 5: we'll take four or five receivers to the game, however
Speaker 5: it is, and then see if we can go out
Speaker 5: there and just take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.
Speaker 2: We've also had injuries at this seemingly the nickel position
Speaker 2: where Jaylen's been banged up, then Jimmy gets banged up.
Speaker 1: Nick, What can you tell us about Miles Bryant.
Speaker 2: This guy's since his days back to Washington, you always
Speaker 2: felt like a guy when you watch him in the field.
Speaker 2: He might have been the smallest guy in the field,
Speaker 2: but it felt like he was a playmaker, like he
Speaker 2: was gonna make a play no matter what. What can
Speaker 2: you tell us about Miles and what maybe he can
Speaker 2: bring to that nickel position when he's there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's a very smart, experienced, instinctive player, has position versatility.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think he played I don't know, seven
Speaker 5: hundred and eight hundred snaps last year New England between
Speaker 5: safety corner, slot corner, so he's taken some snaps there
Speaker 5: inside the formation, so has a good awareness, has a
Speaker 5: good understanding of how to play football. Here's another player
Speaker 5: who's made the most of his opportunities in his career.
Speaker 5: Wasn't drafted, but he's a great kid, works really hard,
Speaker 5: he's very smart, he's instinctive, runs well, so he has
Speaker 5: a good skill set. So he's gone in there. He
Speaker 5: went into the other day against Baltimore log some snaps.
Speaker 5: So we'll kind of see what makes the most sense here.
Speaker 5: Kamari's been in there, Miles was in there. We'll just
Speaker 5: figure out, you know, who makes the most sense. But
Speaker 5: we've had multiple players in there, and I think we
Speaker 5: kind of felt this was a position you're probably going
Speaker 5: to need multiple players, and that's really kind of come
Speaker 5: to fruition.
Speaker 3: Well, Kate Stover, Johnny and I have visited with him
Speaker 3: a couple of times this year and recently as a
Speaker 3: matter of fact, since the appendectomy recovery. He got out
Speaker 3: there pretty quick Nick and he says he likes playing
Speaker 3: that fullback, h back whatever it is, that extra role
Speaker 3: because you can move around a lot. And that's a
Speaker 3: player who spent a lot of training camp just learning
Speaker 3: how to play tight end.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Kaid's a smart, tough, versatile, instinctive player. He's improved
Speaker 5: continually as the years progressed. The more you give him,
Speaker 5: the more he can handle. And that's where you always
Speaker 5: start with kind of a baseline of whoever the player
Speaker 5: is and then add small doses as you go. But
Speaker 5: Kade's ability to kind of play multiple spots enhance his
Speaker 5: overall value.
Speaker 4: And we've talked about this.
Speaker 5: He's made some plays in the kicking game as well,
Speaker 5: and you're probably not going to find a tougher player
Speaker 5: on a football team, you know than Kate's Stover.
Speaker 4: So glad he's here.
Speaker 5: He's helped us, you know, in a number of different
Speaker 5: areas here this season. Looking forward to finishing year strong
Speaker 5: with him and what the future holds, you know, for
Speaker 5: him in our program.
Speaker 3: And if you ever want to learn more about beef production,
Speaker 3: he's the expert.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's the expert in that.
Speaker 2: Candi absolutely, Nick, I don't know if you've ever been
Speaker 2: completely persuaded, but thinking a kid, maybe think of I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously you had us with the Patriots where you guys
Speaker 2: looked at players like Julian Edelman, You're like, I don't
Speaker 2: really know what we're gonna do with him. We'll find
Speaker 2: something that dude ends up playing nickel. He played punt
Speaker 2: return to it obviously settles in to be one of
Speaker 2: the best solid receivers.
Speaker 1: What best receivers we've ever seen.
Speaker 2: Have you ever been persuaded by a guy's second sport,
Speaker 2: Like you see him play football and you're not totally convinced,
Speaker 2: But do you see him play a second sport or
Speaker 2: he's in a different sport and you're like, man, maybe
Speaker 2: there's something there. I like the way he plays basketball, Man,
Speaker 2: he's a wrestler, or whatever the case might be. I've
Speaker 2: ever been persuaded by a guy because he's had kind
Speaker 2: of a second sport.
Speaker 5: That really you think can help him. It's interesting that
Speaker 5: they bring that up. There's never a direct correlation. While
Speaker 5: you see a player do this in this sport, it's
Speaker 5: going to translate over to the NFL, because the reality
Speaker 5: is they're all kind of starting from scratch. It's really
Speaker 5: about their mindset and then the combination of the player
Speaker 5: in and of itself, and then the coaching staff and
Speaker 5: just the ability to kind of think outside the box
Speaker 5: a little bit. Fortunately, been a part of some situations
Speaker 5: like that. Going back to Chris Hogan, you know, cross
Speaker 5: player ended up being a pretty good receiver for a
Speaker 5: number of years. Steven Neil, who was a very accomplished
Speaker 5: amateur wrestler didn't play college football, signed him in a
Speaker 5: practice squad and then he ended up having an eight
Speaker 5: to nine year career, you know, and he worked hard,
Speaker 5: took coaching, got better. So I think if you have
Speaker 5: a player with the right mindset who's willing to put
Speaker 5: the time in, you really never know how it's going
Speaker 5: to turn out. And you're seeing multiple examples throughout the league,
Speaker 5: even looking at the Chargers using Matt Locke the defensive
Speaker 5: tackle at fullback. Ricard has kind of made that transition
Speaker 5: even with the Eagles and Jordan Malatta, who had a
Speaker 5: rugby background, wasn't really a football player. Now he's become
Speaker 5: one of the best left tackles in the league. So
Speaker 5: it's not always going to work out all the time.
Speaker 5: But I think if you have an open mind and
Speaker 5: then just take the individual player and just their mindset,
Speaker 5: their thought process, how they work, how they approach it,
Speaker 5: and see if they make some progress along the way,
Speaker 5: then ultimately you just kind of let let you know,
Speaker 5: nature run its course.
Speaker 4: A little bit.
Speaker 1: You ever played lacrosse.
Speaker 5: I've played with my daughters throwing the ball, but I
Speaker 5: never actually played lacrosse.
Speaker 4: So it's a great sport. Yeah, honestly, I wish I would.
Speaker 6: Have learned it.
Speaker 1: You're good at it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was too consumed by baseball, playing baseball since
Speaker 5: I was six years old, so I didn't even know
Speaker 5: what lacrosse was. We actually had at our high school
Speaker 5: and I was trying to figure out what this sport was.
Speaker 5: But it's a great sport, honestly. Not to get into
Speaker 5: lacrosse discussion, but I think what Paul Rabel has done
Speaker 5: for the sport of lacrosse has been phenomenal. His impact
Speaker 5: and the way they've grown it, both on the male
Speaker 5: and female side. I think there's a professional women's lacrosse
Speaker 5: team that he are, a league that like they're promoting
Speaker 5: that he started. But his impact on the game has
Speaker 5: been significant. So had the good fortune of you know,
Speaker 5: meeting Paul on the way. But I mean, look, it's
Speaker 5: a tremendous sport and a couple of our my daughters
Speaker 5: have actually just experimented with it, and I think it's
Speaker 5: a great sport for all young kids to try if
Speaker 5: they have the opportunity.
Speaker 3: And Jim Brown played it at Syracuse about that I
Speaker 3: was to the.
Speaker 2: Sport that we had here, because that's the sport I
Speaker 2: would have thought about, probably in front of baseball, because
Speaker 2: I mean, I love baseball too. I get to Brown,
Speaker 2: I had never seen the cross and I see some
Speaker 2: of the lacrosse players, I'm like, whoa these guys A
Speaker 2: lot of them played football in high school but then
Speaker 2: decided to focus on the.
Speaker 4: Cross running, changed direction, hand eye coordination, coordination.
Speaker 2: It's amazing to see what those guys can do with
Speaker 2: a stick and direct the ball, make people missing space.
Speaker 1: I mean, once I saw Hogan sign with you guys,
Speaker 1: I thought this is going to be interesting because I got.
Speaker 2: A feeling he's a pretty good athlete, and it turned
Speaker 2: out he was a really good athlete.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 3: So there's something called the scepter and it's handed out
Speaker 3: from Good Morning Football Kyle Brandt for Angry Runs.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: Damian Pierce won Angry Run of the Year two years ago,
Speaker 3: but this week he just won another sceptor for his return. Yes,
Speaker 3: this is breaking news, we saw it in the Morning show.
Speaker 3: But he had that tremendous kickoff returned go all the way,
Speaker 3: but he knocked over several people along the way, and
Speaker 3: it could have been a game changing play at that point.
Speaker 3: But he's found a way to If he gets his
Speaker 3: hands on the ball, it's going to be exciting and
Speaker 3: he's trying to make a difference even though he doesn't
Speaker 3: get all the carries.
Speaker 5: No, he's shown that over the course of his career
Speaker 5: when he gets the ball in his hand, good things
Speaker 5: can happen. And he's worked really hard, talking about like
Speaker 5: a skill he necessarily didn't have, but he's worked really hard.
Speaker 5: You Frank has spent a lot of time with him,
Speaker 5: and there's some nuances that are involved and understanding how
Speaker 5: the returns blocked and what we're trying to accomplish. But
Speaker 5: once you get the ball in your hands and you
Speaker 5: let your run instincts take over. Damien's hard to tackle.
Speaker 5: He's got good lower body strength, he's slow center of gravity,
Speaker 5: he's strong with the ball in his hands.
Speaker 4: And there's been multiple examples.
Speaker 5: Not only were the kickoffers in the other day, but
Speaker 5: even going back to the touchdown run against the Patriots
Speaker 5: and then the kickoff returned last year with the Browns.
Speaker 5: So it's a skill that he's learned and acquired, and
Speaker 5: he's embraced it and he's helped our team in that
Speaker 5: particular area.
Speaker 2: Nick, we talked last week before you said, you guys
Speaker 2: are starting your draft meetings. How does that work with
Speaker 2: playoff games? Are you are guys at playoff games? Are
Speaker 2: you are are you sending to certain guys to playoff games?
Speaker 2: Are certain teams or just players that you still have
Speaker 2: questions about? How you kind of handle the playoff situation
Speaker 2: for your draft scouts.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's interesting sometimes those games are like off limits
Speaker 5: relatively like the normal scouting protocol. Normally during the season
Speaker 5: you get a credentially get the sideline for the game.
Speaker 5: You know, when they're playoff games, it takes on a
Speaker 5: little bit of different significance. But you know, with the
Speaker 5: Texas Bowl here and in our stadium, so it's not
Speaker 5: definitely actually I saw I've seen LSU and Baylor play
Speaker 5: a couple different points.
Speaker 4: But it's always good to get another look.
Speaker 5: You're not necessarily looking for anything new, maybe just a
Speaker 5: follow up from something from earlier in the year. So,
Speaker 5: but as far as specific to the playoff games, you know,
Speaker 5: there's probably not too much you can glean, you know,
Speaker 5: from a live look, you're just continue to gather information.
Speaker 4: So but it's creeping up on us.
Speaker 5: So I mean, we're going to be the Senior Bowl
Speaker 5: before we know it, and then the middle of February
Speaker 5: we're going to have our next round of draft meetings.
Speaker 4: So the train keeps moving, there's no question about it.
Speaker 3: Johnny was saying warm ups. Sometimes he sees scouts looking
Speaker 3: at the players in warm ups as opposed to well
Speaker 3: in addition to being in the game and at the combine,
Speaker 3: this comes up to you like to watch them milling
Speaker 3: around and interacting and going through whatever they're going through
Speaker 3: to get ready.
Speaker 5: No, really, you're just looking for an opportunity to observe
Speaker 5: the player in a different environment or maybe there's something.
Speaker 5: Pregame is usually interesting too, because you can see how
Speaker 5: they approach their warm up, what are they doing, what's
Speaker 5: their process. Maybe you haven't seen a player catch live
Speaker 5: or they're doing a drill, reactually able to see something
Speaker 5: a little bit different, or to go back there at
Speaker 5: pregame and catch punts. So it's always an opportunity to
Speaker 5: learn and gather more information, so it not necessarily earth
Speaker 5: shattering but it's just more part of the information gathering process.
Speaker 3: Okay, now we have a question here, and this is
Speaker 3: a big development. Okay, well, Demiko, we gave them this
Speaker 3: situation with the new year, New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 5: He asked me about New Year's resolutions, because I've never
Speaker 5: really had any.
Speaker 3: We must say, all four hang on a second, Okay,
Speaker 3: all right, I had to give my hypothetical here. He
Speaker 3: has to give up one thing, one of these four
Speaker 3: barbecue text mes, pasta, or fish, and he took barbecue,
Speaker 3: and we couldn't help but thinking this is your influence
Speaker 3: on him. Maybe Nick, I don't know. So he said
Speaker 3: he needs to work out. He could beat my ass.
Speaker 3: So like whatever he says, like he's b.
Speaker 1: Because he was trying to like, all right, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to watch myself. We we both said pasta. We know
Speaker 1: you can't give up pasta.
Speaker 5: There's no way, not a big pasta consumer necessarily.
Speaker 4: I have it maybe once or twice a week, so
Speaker 4: our kids love it.
Speaker 1: Carbs and things like that.
Speaker 4: You're just a little bit of variation.
Speaker 1: You're not giving up fish, so forget about that stand.
Speaker 4: So I have to give up one of those.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for you this is easy, but probably would give.
Speaker 5: Up the text mechs even though I don't eat text mes.
Speaker 1: That's easy. I'll give it up. Quit smoking, I don't
Speaker 1: stop drinking. You stop drinking on.
Speaker 4: Actually, when we go out to dinner and that ridge,
Speaker 4: she loves ribs. So it's great. They all have different.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot of good luck this week.
Speaker 4: Thanks fellas.
Speaker 1: I love our interviews. I love Scott and Rport.
Speaker 2: I love just getting to know some of the BTS stuff,
Speaker 2: behind the scenes stuff. I love with preparation. But when
Speaker 2: we ask Nick things about food, things you would take
Speaker 2: out of your Christmas meal, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: I just love where that discussion ends up going. We
Speaker 2: always have a blast with him. Now, a guy that
Speaker 2: we have not had in studio often. I think we
Speaker 2: had him back in May or June. Could play a
Speaker 2: big role on Sunday against the Titans. That is former
Speaker 2: Washington Husky, former New England Patriot Miles Bryant Nickel safety corner,
Speaker 2: defensive back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Miles Bryant plays them all and he's on with us. Next.
Speaker 2: Right, you're in Texas All Access. Yes, sir, you heard
Speaker 2: the man. It's Texans All Access. John Harris Foot playing
Speaker 2: all the sideline reporter still trying to kind of calm
Speaker 2: myself down after watching one of the greatest college football
Speaker 2: games I've ever seen, Texas and Arizona State. If you
Speaker 2: missed it, my god, you missed a great one. An
Speaker 2: incredible comeback by Arizona State. The little engine that could
Speaker 2: just kept fighting back camp Scatabo Heisman finalists.
Speaker 1: Was an absolute you.
Speaker 2: Know, he wasn't a Heisman finalist, should have been a
Speaker 2: Heisman finalist, was an absolute dude. He threw a touchdown,
Speaker 2: he ran I think he ran for two. He caught
Speaker 2: a huge pass to the fourth quarter. So Arizona State's
Speaker 2: down by sixteen. It is twenty four to eight. They
Speaker 2: tie it at twenty four. Texas comes down, kick afield.
Speaker 2: What's gonna be over right? He misses the field goal,
Speaker 2: so Arizona State now has a chance, and on third
Speaker 2: and ten, sever.
Speaker 1: Catches the ball in Arizona State across the middle.
Speaker 2: It is definitely targeting. Definitely Texas fans, you could miss
Speaker 2: me with it. Whatever you're gonna say that, it is
Speaker 2: definitely target It's the definition of targeting. He got the ball,
Speaker 2: he's defensives receiver and hit him in the head. That's
Speaker 2: the definition of targeting. Go read the rule book, and
Speaker 2: they didn't call it. They said it was no targeting.
Speaker 2: That would have been a first down. Arizona State could
Speaker 2: have kept the drive together but didn't. Texas couldn't score.
Speaker 2: They went in overtime. Arizona State scores first thirty one
Speaker 2: to twenty four, lead, fourth and thirteen. Quinn Ewers throws
Speaker 2: a touchdown in Matthew Golden kicked extra points ty to
Speaker 2: thirty one. You flip it the other way, Gunnerhilm first
Speaker 2: play of the drive, touchdown, then yours to Golden for
Speaker 2: the two. Thirty nine thirty one, and then Sam Levit's
Speaker 2: pass quarterback for Averzonla State is picked off by Andrew
Speaker 2: micaba At, an Austin native. Austin Micabo who usually played
Speaker 2: who played for Clemson and transferred back home to Austin.
Speaker 2: Had a great ball game that would steal it. Longhorns
Speaker 2: win thirty nine thirty one, and now the Longhorns play
Speaker 2: in the Cotton Bowl and they will play the winner
Speaker 2: of the Rose Bowl Oregon v Ohio State. So you're
Speaker 2: gonna get Oregon Texas or you're gonna get Ohio State.
Speaker 2: Texas in the Cotton Bowl. That is tremendous. And Texas
Speaker 2: has been to a Cotton Bowl since two thousand and three.
Speaker 2: I think it's two thousand and three season they played LSU.
Speaker 2: Roy Williams was a receiver for Texas. I remember that,
Speaker 2: but things have changed since then. So Texas gonna play
Speaker 2: the winner of Oregon Ohio State from the Rose Bowl
Speaker 2: in the Cotton Bowl. Congratulations to Sark didn't have the
Speaker 2: greatest game. Texas was a two touchdown favorite and Arizona State
Speaker 2: played its guts out. I mean, that was one of
Speaker 2: the greatest college games I have ever seen. Now, our
Speaker 2: next guest played in the playoff. Our next guest played
Speaker 2: in a playoff game. He played in the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 2: That is going on with Oregon Ohio State as a
Speaker 2: member of the Washington Huskies. Miles Bryant, defensive back, was
Speaker 2: a freshman. He played in the playoff and I asked
Speaker 2: him about that. Here we talk about his time in Houston,
Speaker 2: what he thinks about playing the Titans on Sunday. Here's
Speaker 2: Miles Bryant one on two with Mark and.
Speaker 3: Myself in studio with us. Now, Miles Bryant, Texas defensive
Speaker 3: back Miles, how's it going?
Speaker 7: Happy New Year, Good, Happy New Year.
Speaker 3: All right, here we go training, getting ready, practicing for
Speaker 3: the Tennessee Titans regular season finale. What's it like to
Speaker 3: get ready for a game where you know you're already
Speaker 3: in the playoffs and this doesn't really affect seating, but
Speaker 3: you want to play well. You want to show up,
Speaker 3: do a good job. How's it going for you getting
Speaker 3: ready for this one?
Speaker 7: It's going well. I'm excited for it.
Speaker 8: You know, opportunity to go out there and play, and
Speaker 8: like you said, you want to go out there perform well.
Speaker 8: I think even though, like you said, there's no kind
Speaker 8: of consequence with winning or losing in terms of seating,
Speaker 8: I think at this point of the year, you want
Speaker 8: to roll into the playoffs with good momentum.
Speaker 7: You want to, you know, play some of your best ball.
Speaker 8: Are your best ball at this time of the year,
Speaker 8: so it's very important, Miles.
Speaker 2: Most players will have a designation offensive tackle, wide receiver.
Speaker 2: For you, it's this dB Nickel safety corner. I mean,
Speaker 2: you've played them all throughout your career. Watching you from
Speaker 2: your days in Washington till now, it feels like you're
Speaker 2: most comfortable at the nickel position, and it feels like
Speaker 2: that's a position where you got to take all of
Speaker 2: those defensive back assets and kind of put them into
Speaker 2: play at that position. What's it like kind of playing
Speaker 2: inside the formation at that spot as opposed to maybe
Speaker 2: playing deeper at safety or playing outside of corner.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's kind of like you said, taking
Speaker 8: all those qualities and then I think you also.
Speaker 7: Got to add in the linebacker.
Speaker 8: That's that's certain things that you know, our defense may
Speaker 8: ask you to where you got to get in there
Speaker 8: play the run.
Speaker 7: So I mean it's a lot of fun. You get
Speaker 7: in there. You know, you're always around the action.
Speaker 8: You know, a lot of offenses they like to attack
Speaker 8: the middle of the field, right, So the nickel plays.
Speaker 8: Sometimes you play corner, you might not have a target
Speaker 8: at that game. Sometimes you play safety. You might just
Speaker 8: you know, be in the deep part of the field.
Speaker 7: And that's why you're doing guests all you're doing.
Speaker 8: So, I mean in the nickel, at the nickel spot,
Speaker 8: you're always around the action, You're always at the point
Speaker 8: of attack.
Speaker 7: So I think it's a lot of fun. Yep.
Speaker 3: Well, and in the situation the team is now Jelen petreout,
Speaker 3: Jimmy Ward out. What's happen like for you to see
Speaker 3: those guys go out and now you're gonna get more
Speaker 3: playing time in all likelihood, I know they're going to
Speaker 3: movie around and everything. And how is that for you
Speaker 3: to approach that and practice and in games?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean it was tough losing those guys, but
Speaker 8: I think I learned a lot from them. I mean,
Speaker 8: even you know, Jalen being younger than me, I just
Speaker 8: sat back and then you know, we would be in
Speaker 8: the meeting room out of ask him what he saw
Speaker 8: here or what he thought here, you know, how he
Speaker 8: made that play or what he could have done better.
Speaker 7: And then same with Jimmy.
Speaker 8: So I mean it's an opportunity to go out there
Speaker 8: and you know, just play the game. I love go
Speaker 8: out there and just perform and you know, try to
Speaker 8: get a win against Tennessee.
Speaker 3: You feel like you want to lobby for blitzes because
Speaker 3: I would think, if I'm playing that position, coach, come on,
Speaker 3: let me go get the quarterback, let me let me
Speaker 3: go to the backfield, hand off or whatever. I want
Speaker 3: to go attack the backfield. How is that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I mean it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 8: You know, getting being able to you know, get penetration
Speaker 8: in the backfield or you know they want you to
Speaker 8: cover a guy in the slot. I think, no matter
Speaker 8: the opportunity, I think it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: Last week it's Derrick Henry, I mean Derrick Henry. This
Speaker 2: week it might not be a guy's size like Derrick Henry.
Speaker 2: Uh with Tennessee and don't know whether the two backs
Speaker 2: they have.
Speaker 1: Are going to play or not.
Speaker 2: What's kind of your scattering report thus far, Miles and
Speaker 2: what you see from Tennessee, especially the running backs.
Speaker 1: Let's start about, you know, stopping the run, because that's
Speaker 1: one of.
Speaker 2: The first parts you've got to do playing that role,
Speaker 2: playing the running backs, playing the run.
Speaker 1: Game for Tennessee. What's the key against those guys this week?
Speaker 8: I think it's just having everybody at the point of attack,
Speaker 8: you know, no matter who's you know, carrying the ball
Speaker 8: for them, just you know, making sure guys are you know,
Speaker 8: in the right gaps. And then once we're in the gap,
Speaker 8: you take care of what you gotta do, whether that's
Speaker 8: getting off a block or you know, just setting the
Speaker 8: edge and doing that, and then you know, just coming
Speaker 8: off and making attackle so I think it's just you know,
Speaker 8: having guys swarm to the ball.
Speaker 3: So, Miles, you are undrafted, do you feel like when
Speaker 3: you're undrafted it's a different mindset and you're fighting to
Speaker 3: make the team. You're on practice squad sometimes sometimes not
Speaker 3: on the active roster. What is the approach and how
Speaker 3: does that affect the way you go about your business?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think initially coming into the league, it was
Speaker 8: kind of like felt like the the odds were against
Speaker 8: me in a sense, and then once you get into
Speaker 8: the league, you kind of see, you know, how things happen.
Speaker 7: And I think it's a very week to week league.
Speaker 7: So I mean, for me, just.
Speaker 8: Coming in since day one, I just tried to make
Speaker 8: sure I was prepared whether I was playing that week
Speaker 8: or whether I was just you know, helping out on
Speaker 8: the scout team. And I think that's been my mindset,
Speaker 8: you know, the past five years, just whether I was
Speaker 8: starting that week, you know, just trying to be prepared
Speaker 8: to go help the team win.
Speaker 2: So, Miles, did you have that moment earlier career where
Speaker 2: you're like, yeah, I wasn't drafted, but man I could
Speaker 2: play with these dudes. Like did you have that kind
Speaker 2: of moment, whether it's earlier, your first training camp or
Speaker 2: a preseason game or whatever the case might be, where
Speaker 2: you're like, I can't play with these guys, man, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I deserve to be here.
Speaker 1: Did you ever have kind of that moment early in
Speaker 1: your career?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it was the first play of my
Speaker 8: training my rookie training camp. I ended up getting an
Speaker 8: interception and seven or seven. Yeah, so I was like,
Speaker 8: you got kind of yeah, that kind of could show
Speaker 8: them that I could play. And then from there, just
Speaker 8: you know, each day, each moment, you know, each rep,
Speaker 8: just try to get better, no matter who I was
Speaker 8: going against, whether I was on scout team going against
Speaker 8: Julian Edelman at the time, or I was on the
Speaker 8: defensive team and I had a scout receiver going against me,
Speaker 8: just you know, trying to get better, trying to you know,
Speaker 8: sharpen the craft.
Speaker 3: Miles Bryant with us, we talk about swarm. What a
Speaker 3: swarm mean to you? What's the message to the players
Speaker 3: about swarm?
Speaker 8: I mean special work ethic, relentless mindset. I think just
Speaker 8: going out there and you know, just playing fast, playing
Speaker 8: physical and just trying to trying to everybody coming together
Speaker 8: to you know, get get the gold done.
Speaker 1: Very good.
Speaker 2: So you're from Pasadena if I remember crack right, yep,
Speaker 2: But you go to University Washington and while you're at Washington,
Speaker 2: you guys ended up playing in the playoff while you
Speaker 2: were there, right, was that correct?
Speaker 1: Yeah? That was my freshman that was your freshman year.
Speaker 1: What was that like?
Speaker 2: Because we got the playoff going on on New Year's Day?
Speaker 1: You know, they played Boise State and Penn State. What
Speaker 1: was that like?
Speaker 2: Because Washington at that point had not been in the
Speaker 2: playoff mix and all of a sudden, you guys have
Speaker 2: this tremendous year and you make that run and I
Speaker 2: know you ran into Alabama, which is a really good
Speaker 2: team at that point.
Speaker 1: But what was it like being in that college football playoff? Miles?
Speaker 6: Man?
Speaker 7: The atmosphere was crazy. I think.
Speaker 8: We played in Atlanta, Yeah, and the what was it
Speaker 8: the Georgia doing with Georgia Dome?
Speaker 7: I think it might have been the last game there.
Speaker 8: But the atmosphere was crazy, just you know, going out
Speaker 8: there and kind of felt like it was all Alabama
Speaker 8: versus US. Ye granted the location, yeah yeah, yeah, so,
Speaker 8: but no, it was crazy. I think the atmosphere was
Speaker 8: like second to none. And then I think you look
Speaker 8: back at that game and then you see all the
Speaker 8: NFL players from both sides, both sides of the game side, Yeah,
Speaker 8: and it's just like it's ridiculous. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 8: from their side, like Jalen Hurts, Marlon Humphrey, Minka Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 8: I think Jonathan Allen, Deron payin like a bunch of guys.
Speaker 1: So there was that was a load. That was a
Speaker 1: loaded team.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 2: That twenty sixteen team was Ruben Foster linebacker. I mean,
Speaker 2: that dude was scary. I mean, that was That was
Speaker 2: an incredible team. But that was such a great run
Speaker 2: by Washington. What was it like kind of going through
Speaker 2: that season and at that time, there's only four teams
Speaker 2: in the playoffs, right, so there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1: Now you got twelve, you guys probably would have gotten in.
Speaker 2: But what was it like kind of going through that
Speaker 2: at Washington where you guys are trying to build a
Speaker 2: program back up where.
Speaker 1: It needed to be.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean for me,
Speaker 8: it was my freshman year. I actually walked on that
Speaker 8: year and I was able to get you know, a
Speaker 8: lot of plays, a lot of snaps because we were
Speaker 8: beating teams bad, so I was able to get in
Speaker 8: that late third quarter and get some reps in.
Speaker 7: But no, it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 8: I think the guys that were before me, like Buddha Baker,
Speaker 8: Kevin King, Sidney Jones, just learning from those guys, seeing
Speaker 8: how they practice, seeing how they prepared, and then I
Speaker 8: mean each each game day it was a lot of
Speaker 8: fun because I mean we knew we were going to
Speaker 8: beat the other team across from us, and I mean
Speaker 8: each week, I feel like it was I don't know,
Speaker 8: I feel like every every game we had like a
Speaker 8: collective one. It wasn't like it was just one guy,
Speaker 8: you know, John Ross, Dante Pettis, Miles Gasking, our big
Speaker 8: special teams play just yeah, guys, guys just making plays.
Speaker 7: It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: Miles Bryant with us. You left college football before COVID,
Speaker 3: So now when you look at college football and all
Speaker 3: the craziness, the NIL stuff, the portal, the way it's
Speaker 3: all set up right now, what's your action to the
Speaker 3: state of college football today.
Speaker 7: It's kind of tough. I feel like for.
Speaker 8: I don't know, fans and players, it's kind of it's
Speaker 8: kind of hard to necessarily. I mean, you have your
Speaker 8: team if you if you're an Arkansas fan or Missouri
Speaker 8: Michigan State fan, like that's your team. But it's kind
Speaker 8: of like you don't become enamored with the players how
Speaker 8: we once, did you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like you had a guy for four years?
Speaker 8: Yeah, you had a guy three four years to where
Speaker 8: it's like, all right, I grew up like even Robert
Speaker 8: Woods when I was in high school and Woods at
Speaker 8: s S, so like I got to see him grow
Speaker 8: and become you know who he was at SC. So
Speaker 8: I think I think you lose that kind of aspect
Speaker 8: of it, which I kind of don't like. And then
Speaker 8: you also got the business aspect of it to where
Speaker 8: the nil people you know might stay at an extra year.
Speaker 8: I saw quinn Ewers got offered six million dollars from
Speaker 8: whatever school to stay next year. So I mean it's
Speaker 8: kind of I don't know, I feel like it's kind
Speaker 8: of tough to follow just guys moving year to year now,
Speaker 8: But I don't know, it's it's the current state. You
Speaker 8: gotta you just gotta weather as a player, coach, a fan.
Speaker 2: So you're talking about Robert and obviously from Pasadena, California
Speaker 2: where the Rose Bowl being played, Oregon, Ohio State. Who
Speaker 2: did you grow up watching? Who were your guys growing up?
Speaker 2: Was there like somebody you looked at and thought, Okay,
Speaker 2: I want to be like him, I want to play
Speaker 2: like him. Was there anybody that that you really love,
Speaker 2: that that was a guy you whatere, offense, defense, whatever
Speaker 2: it might be, but it's the guy that you just
Speaker 2: loved watching and that was your guy growing up.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's mostly offensive guys. But growing up,
Speaker 8: you know USC had that run, Yeah, Carrol Lendale, Lionert Brendale.
Speaker 8: So I think mainly it was Reggie Bush. Everybody wanted
Speaker 8: to be Reggie Bust.
Speaker 1: Why you wore the five? Uh?
Speaker 7: In college? I wore it because it was the best available.
Speaker 8: But when I was when I was in Pop Warner,
Speaker 8: I ended up wearing five because of Reggie Bush.
Speaker 7: So I think Reggie Bush was like the pinnacle. He
Speaker 7: was like the main one. And then I mean it
Speaker 7: was mainly.
Speaker 8: Guys from USC, like Woods was one, Marquise Lee, Nelson, Aguilore,
Speaker 8: Dwayne Jarrett, Mike Williams.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we're bringing up some names now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think teams were ridiculous too. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: let's not get it twisted. I mean, Vince Young beat
Speaker 2: them by himself, but that was it. Other than that
Speaker 2: Lendale and Reggie, I mean that those teams were unbelievably good.
Speaker 7: Thunder and lightening, those two. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Matt Leoner was a Texan for a few minutes back
Speaker 3: in twenty eleven, so Myles Bryant. A couple more forty
Speaker 3: quick ones. Houston. What do you think You grew up
Speaker 3: in southern California, you went to you dubbed, you spent
Speaker 3: four years with the New England Patriots Organization? What do
Speaker 3: you think of being in Houston? I love it as
Speaker 3: a place to live.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I love the food. Everybody always asking me about it.
Speaker 8: I'm like, the food is second or nothing you could
Speaker 8: just it's ridiculous. Whatever you want can't go wrong. I
Speaker 8: think when I first got here the weather was tough.
Speaker 4: It was like a little warm than.
Speaker 8: May May June, and then going into camp it was hot,
Speaker 8: like right when you step outside, just walking to the car,
Speaker 8: you sweat.
Speaker 7: But coming from New England, it makes me.
Speaker 8: Appreciate Like today I was out there practicing just a
Speaker 8: T shirt on, no long sleeve or hoodie. This time
Speaker 8: here you got to layer up out there. So I mean,
Speaker 8: I'm loving Houston.
Speaker 2: It's like you put the deposits in in the summer
Speaker 2: and then you get to reap the benefits of it
Speaker 2: in December. You know, all that interest comes back to
Speaker 2: You're like, yeah, check it out, shorts, a T shirt. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: they've got blizzards and snow and all that kind of
Speaker 2: stuff going on. So yeah, weatherwise, you get through the
Speaker 2: tough part of well basically what may through September.
Speaker 1: Even longer this year, maybe longer. Yeah, you're golden at
Speaker 1: that point. It's awesome. It's awesome after that, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's why you live here.
Speaker 2: But then in August it's one oh five, and you're like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, how am I gonna make through? When
Speaker 2: you've got that long practice in pads, the first one.
Speaker 2: I always feel for you guys when you go through
Speaker 2: that first one in pads, I'm like, how are they
Speaker 2: gonna make it through?
Speaker 7: Today?
Speaker 1: There's no way to make it through to I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know how you do it.
Speaker 7: No, I just take it to play at the play
Speaker 7: at a time.
Speaker 1: That's true. Time.
Speaker 3: One more, what's your excitement level for the postseason, because
Speaker 3: no matter what happens on Sunday, you're in next week
Speaker 3: at this time we'll be talking about playoff game and
Speaker 3: the opportunity to move on.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 7: Very excited.
Speaker 8: I've been to the This will be my second out
Speaker 8: of my five years going to the postseason, so it's
Speaker 8: been for me like a two year drought, and I
Speaker 8: mean that's one of the reasons I came here because
Speaker 8: we have a competitive team and we got a you know,
Speaker 8: chance to go far in this thing. So I mean,
Speaker 8: I'm very excited just to go out there and you know, compete,
Speaker 8: compete in January and hopefully feverbrwhere outstanding.
Speaker 1: Miles, thanks a lot for joining us.
Speaker 7: Good luck, I'm proud, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you saw guys at the age of Miles
Speaker 2: Bryant from LA we're number five.
Speaker 1: It was all about Reggie Bush, who was supposed.
Speaker 2: To be the first round pick of the Texans in
Speaker 2: two thousand and six, but it didn't turn out that way.
Speaker 1: So there you go. All right, injury report is out.
Speaker 1: What does it tell us anything at all?
Speaker 2: Can we glean from this injury report that came out
Speaker 2: this afternoon. We'll talk about that next right here in
Speaker 2: Texans All Access. Welcome back Wednesday edition of Texans All
Speaker 2: Access with me John Harris, football Analyst sideline report for
Speaker 2: your Houston Texans. We are getting ready for the Tennessee
Speaker 2: Titans on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Kick is at noon.
Speaker 2: I know they had to wait until Sunday night to
Speaker 2: be able to put all that news out, but we're
Speaker 2: playing at noon on Sunday. There's no consequence either way.
Speaker 2: The only consequence of this game really is well, I
Speaker 2: know a lot of you might have over nine and
Speaker 2: a half, so there's that, but it doesn't affect the
Speaker 2: Texans seed.
Speaker 1: You heard Miles talk about it. This game has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with seeding.
Speaker 2: But you want to play well, There's no question you
Speaker 2: want to play well anytime you go out and it's
Speaker 2: against the Titans, a team that beat you earlier in
Speaker 2: the year. Now, they only consequence really is that Tennessee wins,
Speaker 2: they might drop as many as six to seven spots
Speaker 2: in the draft, and that's massive in this draft, absolutely massive,
Speaker 2: especially if you're looking for a quarterback, which it might be. Now,
Speaker 2: the first piece of news as it pertains to this
Speaker 2: game pertaining to the quarterbacks is that Brian Callahan isn't
Speaker 2: totally convinced of his quarterback rotation yet. They're both getting
Speaker 2: first team reps in practice. With Mason Rudolph we started
Speaker 2: last week and Will Levis. There's talk about, well, you know,
Speaker 2: we still want to see what Levis can do. We
Speaker 2: still want to see this, We still want to see that.
Speaker 2: I gotta think their mind is made up and their
Speaker 2: mind is telling them we don't have a quarterback for
Speaker 2: the future because Mason Rudolph is a really good backup.
Speaker 2: He's not a great starter. Will Levis is really kind
Speaker 2: of neither of those. He's a really good athlete. And
Speaker 2: the Levis career has kind of gone exactly like I
Speaker 2: said it was going to go a couple.
Speaker 1: Of years ago. So pat me on the back. How
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 2: No, I'm kidding, but we're probably gonna see about them,
Speaker 2: Brian Callian said, Now a guy we may not see.
Speaker 1: It's ta J Spears.
Speaker 2: Now we missed Spears the first time. I want to
Speaker 2: say he was dealing with a concussion then too, but
Speaker 2: he was not. He did not participate in practice today,
Speaker 2: as it appears he's still in a concussion protocol now.
Speaker 2: With Tony Pollard, we did see him. He's dealing with
Speaker 2: the ankle issue. He's limited, but kind of just number
Speaker 2: of people I follow from Tennessee, there's not a whole
Speaker 2: lot of positive feelings about either one of them playing.
Speaker 2: And I mean not about them being good or bad,
Speaker 2: just they're not thinking either one of them is going
Speaker 2: to play. So we could maybe not see Spears and Pollard.
Speaker 2: We might see Julius Chestnut for the Titans this Week
Speaker 2: eighteen game.
Speaker 1: And obviously back a few years ago this Week seventeen.
Speaker 2: I'll then forget when we went to Indianapolis at the
Speaker 2: end of the twenty seventeen season and there were guys
Speaker 2: starting in that game on both sides, and it was like,
Speaker 2: who are these guys that could be the Titans lineup.
Speaker 2: I don't think Texas line up because we all know
Speaker 2: the Texans, but it could be the Titans lineup on Sunday.
Speaker 2: So for the Texans, I don't know if I'm gonna
Speaker 2: get too hot mothered about guys that didn't practice on
Speaker 2: Wednesday for this one. Danika Autry's been dealing with a
Speaker 2: knee for Anish for a while. Fully fought Acossi dealing
Speaker 2: with ankle still, Kamari Lasser with a quad and Shaq
Speaker 2: Mason's been dealing with that knee issue since he got
Speaker 2: hurt against Kansas City. So I, in all honesty, I
Speaker 2: don't know that I want to see any of those
Speaker 2: four on Sunday anyways. But again, you still got to
Speaker 2: fill out a forty eight man roster. Nico Joe Laramie.
Speaker 2: Those are all rest days for the veterans. Christian was limited.
Speaker 2: They were all limited. Christian Harris limited with the ankle,
Speaker 2: Jeff Acuda limited with a concussion. Juice Scruggs. Nice to
Speaker 2: see him back at practice for a bit. He's dealing
Speaker 2: with that foot issue. He missed a couple of games.
Speaker 2: He missed three games, Yeah, because he got hurt in
Speaker 2: the Jacksonville game, so he missed Miami, Kansas City, Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Good Seed.
Speaker 2: Juice at least back at practice, limited capacity, full participant,
Speaker 2: Will Anderson Junior, Nick Broker, both of them dealing with
Speaker 2: hand issues now on the Titan side, a couple of
Speaker 2: these guys, I mean they sit out this game. I'm
Speaker 2: okay with it, Tyja Spears being one of them. Arden
Speaker 2: Key outside linebacker edge rusher deal a hand issue. He
Speaker 2: did not participate at the walkthrough that the Titans had today.
Speaker 2: Nick Folk the kicker deal with the abdomen issue, Tyler Boyd.
Speaker 1: Whider she were dealing with the foot. Tony Polter was a.
Speaker 2: Limited participant in practice dealing with an ankle issue, and
Speaker 2: a couple of linemen were back Jalen Duncan and Dylan Raidns.
Speaker 2: But I'd like to see, like Jeffrey Simmons did not participate,
Speaker 2: reason doesn't want to play on Sunday, and I'd be
Speaker 2: okay with that, but that's that's not gonna happen. Jeffer
Speaker 2: Simmons gonna play against the Texans. He loves to play
Speaker 2: against the Texans. He'll have an opportunity on Sunday. So yeah,
Speaker 2: both teams a little banged up. It's interesting from the
Speaker 2: Titans side, all the talk there from their media, you
Speaker 2: gotta lose this game because if you win it, you
Speaker 2: could drop from one or two in a draft all
Speaker 2: the way down to eight or nine, and that's a
Speaker 2: big drop.
Speaker 1: But you know, the Titans are gonna want to win
Speaker 1: this game. They're gonna want to beat us.
Speaker 2: But we'll see, depends on how healthy are certain guys.
Speaker 2: Can they get some out of this guy and then
Speaker 2: maybe some down for I don't know, it's gonna be
Speaker 2: an interesting play on Sunday, to say the least. Now,
Speaker 2: the guy calling the action for the Titans on Sunday
Speaker 2: is our good friend Mike Keith coming up. It's men
Speaker 2: behind the mics, Mark Vannermier the Voice of the Texans
Speaker 2: with Mike Keith, the voice, the longtime voice of the
Speaker 2: Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: That's next to Texans Auxis.
Speaker 2: We got one hour in a book, says We start
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five Texas All Access shows and we will
Speaker 2: take you all the way through the Texans seasons.
Speaker 1: Where are All Access shows?
Speaker 2: Are Texans Monday Shows Texans All Access Matchup Edition. So
Speaker 2: we'll take you all the way through for however long
Speaker 2: the Texans play, and we know it's longer than this week.
Speaker 2: We just don't know the opponent as we get into
Speaker 2: the playoffs. We do know this week it's the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2: And since the Titans have been in Tennessee, there has
Speaker 2: been one voice for that organization, and that is the
Speaker 2: Voice of the Tennessee Titans, Mike Keith. We always have
Speaker 2: a blast talk with Mike. He's become a good friend
Speaker 2: over the years. I love his voice. I love listening
Speaker 2: to him well when the Titans aren't playing so good,
Speaker 2: because yeah, it's better when they're not played so good
Speaker 2: when they were great with Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill.
Speaker 2: But I love Mike. He is a fantastic broadcaster, fantastic dude.
Speaker 2: And he sat down with Mark to discuss this matchup
Speaker 2: on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Titans Texans joining us now in Texans Radio. It's the
Speaker 3: voice of the Tennessee Titans, Mike Keith, and we just
Speaker 3: caught up a few weeks ago. Mike, and that game
Speaker 3: that we preview did not go well for the Houston Texans.
Speaker 3: It went extremely well for the Tennessee Titans. And I
Speaker 3: know not every other game has, but what went well
Speaker 3: in that game that you feel like can be duplicated
Speaker 3: for the Titans. I know there's only one game left
Speaker 3: in this season, but they've done some things well despite
Speaker 3: the record.
Speaker 6: You know what was interesting about that game, Mark, is
Speaker 6: that was the Titans' best performance of the year, and
Speaker 6: yet they still had a turnover that resulted in a
Speaker 6: touchdown for the other team. They still had a turnover
Speaker 6: on their way into scoring on the fumble that happened
Speaker 6: with Levis and Pollard. They still gave up a bunch
Speaker 6: of sacks in the ballgame. They still had a lot
Speaker 6: of the problems they've had all year, but they made
Speaker 6: so many big plays during the course of the ballgame
Speaker 6: they overcame the mistakes, and that's what it would take
Speaker 6: to win again this week. This team has thirty three
Speaker 6: turnovers on the season, so an average of two per games.
Speaker 6: They're minus sixteen in turnover ratio. And what's really fascinating
Speaker 6: when you break down numbers is if you take the
Speaker 6: Titans and the Texans, the Texans are plus ten in
Speaker 6: turnover ratio eighteen turnovers. The Titans are minus sixteen in
Speaker 6: turnover ratio thirty three turnovers. If you look at all
Speaker 6: the numbers between the two teams, there's not an appreciable
Speaker 6: difference in a lot of areas, particularly total offense, total defense,
Speaker 6: things of that sort. But that's the appreciable difference is
Speaker 6: the turnovers. That's the difference in being a nine win
Speaker 6: team and on your way to the playoffs and being
Speaker 6: a three way team whose season is going to be
Speaker 6: over at three point fifteen on Sunday, and I think
Speaker 6: that's what they would have to find a way to overcome.
Speaker 6: December has been just disastrous for this team, and in
Speaker 6: so many different ways it has happened. At moments for
Speaker 6: this ball club. They'll be playing well and then all
Speaker 6: of a sudden, the bottom will fall out in run defense,
Speaker 6: or suddenly penalties crush any chance they have, or red
Speaker 6: zone mistakes. I've never seen a season quite like this
Speaker 6: that a ball club has not been able to get
Speaker 6: in any sort of rhythm at all because in large
Speaker 6: part of penalties, turnovers, and unfortunately for the Titans quarterback play,
Speaker 6: You're just not going to win with twenty one touchdowns
Speaker 6: and twenty one interceptions. It's just not going to happen.
Speaker 3: So Brian Callahan has said that Will Levis and Mason
Speaker 3: Rudolph would both play in this game.
Speaker 1: What about Levis?
Speaker 3: What do you need to see from Levis in a
Speaker 3: half a player, whatever he gets to make you feel
Speaker 3: better about the offseason, and just talk about him in general,
Speaker 3: Mike and his progress or lack thereof, or whatever you're
Speaker 3: seeing this year out of Will Levis in his second season, it's.
Speaker 6: Just been up and down. Mark, I mean That's what
Speaker 6: it comes down to. It's been up and down. Everything
Speaker 6: about what's happened with Will Levis has been all over
Speaker 6: the road. And early in the season he made some
Speaker 6: horrific mistakes. He came back after an injury and started
Speaker 6: to play better, and then in the first Jacksonville game
Speaker 6: he missed two open receivers in the end zone and
Speaker 6: a ten to six loss had been the following week,
Speaker 6: he just had a disastrous stretch and a performance against
Speaker 6: Cincinnati and you know, four turnovers. They had to take
Speaker 6: him out of the game. And so Mason Rudolph's played
Speaker 6: and Mason's been okay. But the thing is Will is
Speaker 6: a much more spectacular talent. I mean, you saw in
Speaker 6: the game in Houston. He can throw it now, I
Speaker 6: mean he can flat wing when he's on, he's really on.
Speaker 6: But then he'll throw the interception, He'll make the mistake,
Speaker 6: he makes an incorrect read at an inopportune moment. My
Speaker 6: feeling on Will is that Will is not done. That
Speaker 6: Will could be a real candidate to be one of
Speaker 6: those quarterbacks who continues to develop through the course of
Speaker 6: his career and becomes a more stable player as he
Speaker 6: goes That you can count on. Remember this too about
Speaker 6: will Will's under contract for two more years and Mark
Speaker 6: because he was a second round pick, he doesn't cost
Speaker 6: that much money. I mean, he's not a thirty million
Speaker 6: dollar player. I think there's a very good chance Will
Speaker 6: Levis is back on this roster next year. So what
Speaker 6: will it be like for Will Levis for the first
Speaker 6: time in five years to potentially be playing in the
Speaker 6: exact same system two years in a row. His last
Speaker 6: two years, it can touch it didn't happen, and it's
Speaker 6: certainly coming from Penn State to Kentucky had made a change,
Speaker 6: So you can go back even further, and then it's
Speaker 6: two years in the NFL. It's been something different in
Speaker 6: two seasons. So what would it be like for him
Speaker 6: to have this opportunity. The Titans have to fix the
Speaker 6: quarterback position. Will Levis is not going to do anything
Speaker 6: on Sunday to make them decide that he's the guy
Speaker 6: for twenty twenty five, but he could certainly give himself
Speaker 6: some confidence. He could give them a little more confidence,
Speaker 6: and he could put himself in the mix to compete
Speaker 6: going into the twenty twenty five offseason.
Speaker 3: On the bright side, Tony Pollard the pickup. I know
Speaker 3: he's fumbled a couple of times, but thousand yard season,
Speaker 3: four point three per carry, had a good game against
Speaker 3: the Texans last time. This looks like a pretty good pickup.
Speaker 3: I know he's not Derek Henry, but it's not his fault,
Speaker 3: so to speak, that things aren't going as well as
Speaker 3: you want them to. He's had a pretty nice campaign.
Speaker 6: He really had. He really really has a good pick up.
Speaker 6: He's from Memphis and so he's got a lot of
Speaker 6: following here, much like the you know, the guys from
Speaker 6: the state of Texas are popular with the Texans, guys
Speaker 6: from the state of Tennessee are popular with the Titans
Speaker 6: fan base. So people really really were pulling for him
Speaker 6: to do well. And then he's done that on a
Speaker 6: bad team. He has been a bright spot and he's
Speaker 6: played with a painful ankle injury for the second half
Speaker 6: of the season, and last week they just had to
Speaker 6: tell him, you're not gonna play. We just can't play.
Speaker 6: You're gonna have to sit down. Otherwise I think probably
Speaker 6: what would have happened Mark and he may play this week,
Speaker 6: we don't know yet, but his numbers probably would have
Speaker 6: equaled Derrick Henry's numbers with US a year ago, and
Speaker 6: you know, that's a pretty good standard. Last year the
Speaker 6: Titans won six games, and this year they're going to
Speaker 6: win either three or four. And to have him put
Speaker 6: up those kind of numbers on a football team that
Speaker 6: has not been that good would be really, really impressive,
Speaker 6: because you know, the issue with the run game when
Speaker 6: you're losing is how many times do you have to
Speaker 6: go away from it in the second half or how
Speaker 6: many times do you have to go away from it
Speaker 6: when you fall behind in the first half. So if
Speaker 6: this is a football team that's got eight or nine wins,
Speaker 6: I think you're probably talking about a guy who's a
Speaker 6: thirteen hundred and fourteen hundred yard rusher and probably a
Speaker 6: Pro Bowl caliber selection. Tony's Tony's been a highlight. I
Speaker 6: think if you made the case he was the Titans
Speaker 6: offensive MVP for this season, I think that would be
Speaker 6: a very fair case to make. But you know, and
Speaker 6: there have been several of those free agents who have
Speaker 6: certainly not been disappointments on this ball club. He would
Speaker 6: be at the top of the list of a free
Speaker 6: agent signing who has been a plus for the Titans
Speaker 6: this year.
Speaker 3: Well, and it seems like Ridley, if he's healthy, he's
Speaker 3: a thousand yard guy and he's just about there with
Speaker 3: a game to go. And he's been a pretty good
Speaker 3: pick up as well. I mean, he gets solid numbers.
Speaker 1: I know that.
Speaker 3: Again, it hasn't been the passing attack you hope for
Speaker 3: with the turnovers, but Ridley has done some good things.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Ridley's really good play. He's explosive and the Titans
Speaker 6: had not had that since the trade of AJ Brown
Speaker 6: and so to get an explosive player in that mix,
Speaker 6: and to do it that way with Calvin being able
Speaker 6: to run the way he can, he's a guy another
Speaker 6: good pre agent pickup. I think they'll try to get
Speaker 6: him the ball enough to Sunday or on Sunday to
Speaker 6: get him to one thousand yards. Got off to a
Speaker 6: really rough start and decided to kind of bear down
Speaker 6: and do things the right way and do the extra
Speaker 6: and he's been a really good player over the last
Speaker 6: ten games. So I think from from that standpoint, you've
Speaker 6: got ian We're talking about Tony Pollard and Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 6: They're both going to be back next year, and so
Speaker 6: I think you've got some good building blocks there. Now
Speaker 6: the Titans need another explosive receiver, They need another player
Speaker 6: who can really make things happen. But to have him
Speaker 6: already on board and doing the job that he has, Yeah,
Speaker 6: he's been what they hoped he would be, no doubt.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 3: So defensively, Landry has the eight sacks. He had the
Speaker 3: sack on CJ. Stroud late in the last game. Simmons
Speaker 3: is Simmons, you have a lot of pieces to work
Speaker 3: with moving forward. Who are some of the players you're
Speaker 3: excited about, not necessarily Sunday, but moving into the future
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five and beyond.
Speaker 6: That's Andandre Sweat is where you have to start. He's
Speaker 6: been more than anybody could have hoped. You know. The
Speaker 6: reputation was that he was out of shape and that
Speaker 6: you know, he'd be hard to motivate, and he's than
Speaker 6: none of that. He's played really good football for the
Speaker 6: Tennessee Titans. And at three hundred and seventy pounds, he's
Speaker 6: an amazing talent. And so knowing that they have he
Speaker 6: and Jeffery going together in the future is very exciting.
Speaker 6: On that interior, Harold Landry just I mean, he's just
Speaker 6: a workmanlike player, Harold is probably not ever going to
Speaker 6: be a fifteen sacked guy, but if he gets double
Speaker 6: digit sacks, if he gets two sacks on Sunday, then
Speaker 6: he will have double digit sacks in his last three
Speaker 6: complete seasons. Of course, he did not play in twenty
Speaker 6: twenty two because he tore an ACL and training camp,
Speaker 6: so he's done a lot of good things. He plays
Speaker 6: the run too, and so he's that complete guy. You
Speaker 6: can use him as a defensive end, you can use
Speaker 6: him as an outside linebacker. Taydan's big question is they're
Speaker 6: going to have to figure out what they're going to
Speaker 6: do at linebacker because they're very thin, and there's a
Speaker 6: real possibility that they'll use their seventh different combination at
Speaker 6: inside linebacker this week. Very possible that happens. Safety having
Speaker 6: to figure out a lot of things about what they're
Speaker 6: going to do there going forward with a Moni Hooker,
Speaker 6: Money's going to be there, but who's going to be
Speaker 6: with him at the other spot. And some of the
Speaker 6: young corners have come on. Brown Lee has come on,
Speaker 6: Darryl Baker has come on, but guess what, they're young
Speaker 6: corners and so Chido Owouse need more from him going
Speaker 6: down the stretch here, and they got a little more
Speaker 6: last week and then hopefully get la Jerious Snead back
Speaker 6: next year because they just got very little out of
Speaker 6: him due to an injury that turned out to be really,
Speaker 6: really bizarre.
Speaker 1: Mike Keith, Voice of the Titans with us.
Speaker 3: All right, let me reach back for a moment, because
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw the Steve McNair show
Speaker 3: on Netflix. I want to know what the reaction was
Speaker 3: in the city about watching that. See a lot of
Speaker 3: disturbing stuff there, but I'd like reliving some of the
Speaker 3: good stuff with Steve McNair. I wish we had a
Speaker 3: little bit more of that, but it was what it was.
Speaker 3: What was the reaction in Nashville when people watch that.
Speaker 6: Well, I think you get into a lot of the
Speaker 6: things that people are interested in as far as documentary
Speaker 6: style things and podcasts and people like all the true
Speaker 6: crime stuff. You know, so you knew you were going
Speaker 6: to get a lot of that. There was nothing in
Speaker 6: that that people here didn't know, So I think it
Speaker 6: was designed a great deal more for the broader audience
Speaker 6: that you know. You if you didn't know the Steve
Speaker 6: McNair story from fifteen years ago, which most people around
Speaker 6: the country didn't. Then I get where it was probably
Speaker 6: very very interesting. But from here and having lived through
Speaker 6: it and lived through the subsequent investigations and the people
Speaker 6: who have conspiracy theories about all of it, which quite
Speaker 6: frankly have been debunked, and you know, all of it,
Speaker 6: it's just still incredibly sad. And Steve was a different guy,
Speaker 6: you know. He was a different guy from the standpoint
Speaker 6: that he grew up so poor, and I think there
Speaker 6: was a little bit of a Mickey mantle to him
Speaker 6: that he didn't know that he was going to probably
Speaker 6: be around until he was seventy, so he didn't always
Speaker 6: make the best choices about his life. And yet when
Speaker 6: he came back here after his couple of seasons in Baltimore,
Speaker 6: I had a conversation with him that was easily the
Speaker 6: deepest conversation I had ever had with him, And it
Speaker 6: was like, you know, two grown ups. It wasn't like
Speaker 6: a broadcaster and a player. It was like two guys
Speaker 6: who were dads. And I really enjoyed it, and I
Speaker 6: thought to myself, Man, I really looked forward to seeing
Speaker 6: him around over the next few years and watching his
Speaker 6: boys grow up and all of these things, and just
Speaker 6: a few months later he was gone. And it's a tragedy,
Speaker 6: I mean, the whole thing in so many different ways,
Speaker 6: a tragedy about a guy who was very complicated but
Speaker 6: is still the guy who is seen as this franchise,
Speaker 6: at least this incarnation of the franchise's fates, and Eddie
Speaker 6: George has taken over a lot of that because he
Speaker 6: knew he needed to. He knew it was he and Steve,
Speaker 6: But once Steve was gone, Eddie really felt like he
Speaker 6: needed to be that face and that voice at critical moments.
Speaker 6: But I think Eddie would tell you that to the
Speaker 6: fan base, it was Steve because of how he played
Speaker 6: and how tough he was, and you know, kind of
Speaker 6: everything that went with him. He's what people probably in
Speaker 6: thirty two NFL cities would want their guy to be.
Speaker 6: You know, he had so much of that for people,
Speaker 6: So wrong answer your question, but you know, it's been
Speaker 6: fifteen and a half years and we still haven't recovered
Speaker 6: from the loss of statement there.
Speaker 3: Well, it's been even longer since losing the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: I wanted you to weigh in on this.
Speaker 3: Debate we were having, and I don't know what it's
Speaker 3: like to do either one. But Charlie Casly always said
Speaker 3: it's worse to lose the Super Bowl than any other game,
Speaker 3: and I would figure it's got to be worse to
Speaker 3: lose the championship game because at least you go to
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl. Now you went to one of the
Speaker 3: most dramatic Super Bowls ever, Tennessee Titans versus the Rams.
Speaker 1: You'll lose by a yard.
Speaker 3: It's an incredible ending, really, and I got to imagine
Speaker 3: the feeling in the moment was awful.
Speaker 1: But what do you think of that?
Speaker 3: Would you rather lose in the AFC Championship Game or
Speaker 3: go to the Super Bowl and lose it.
Speaker 6: So the twenty two days that we had from the
Speaker 6: Music City Miracle game to the Super Bowl. It's the
Speaker 6: twenty fifth anniversary of that, by the way, which is
Speaker 6: hard to believe. So January January will be the twenty
Speaker 6: fifth anniversary of the Music City Miracle. And moving forward
Speaker 6: to Super Bowl thirty four, winning a game in Indianapolis
Speaker 6: that everybody picks you to lose, beating Jacksonville for the
Speaker 6: third time in Jacksonville in a season where they lost
Speaker 6: to nobody else, and then going to the Super Bowl
Speaker 6: without a week off. I mean, we went almost straight
Speaker 6: from Jacksonville to Atlanta. There's a massive ice storm that week,
Speaker 6: and so for what we do, it's crazy. It's the
Speaker 6: greatest twenty two days of my life. And if I could,
Speaker 6: if I could give that as a gift to every broadcaster,
Speaker 6: that's the gift I would give them. So I disagree
Speaker 6: with Charlie Cashery wholeheartedly. He's a much more refined football
Speaker 6: man than I will ever be. I'm just a broadcaster.
Speaker 6: But as a broadcaster, that experience was life changing. It
Speaker 6: was you had everything. I will say this, I have
Speaker 6: never felt after a loss ever back when I was
Speaker 6: a player in high school, covering college, being involved with
Speaker 6: the NFL, I have never felt the way I did
Speaker 6: after losing a Super Bowl. I'm almost ashamed to say
Speaker 6: how crushed I was after losing that Super Bowl because
Speaker 6: it is just a game, right, you know, it's just
Speaker 6: a football game. But you literally do want to cry.
Speaker 6: And I don't know how much of it was that
Speaker 6: game or just the fact that that ride was ending.
Speaker 6: You know, we had a parade here, We had a
Speaker 6: parade here two days after the Super Bowl, right, you
Speaker 6: think about that, despite I mean, have you ever heard
Speaker 6: of that ever? I mean, so that whole experience was
Speaker 6: just fantastic. And again, if I can hand that off
Speaker 6: to the people that I love in this business, I
Speaker 6: would so do it because it's it had everything in it.
Speaker 6: It was the ultimate story of what you never expected
Speaker 6: in every way shaping.
Speaker 3: Form well said, and I always thought that I'd love
Speaker 3: to go, love to be there, want to win it,
Speaker 3: of course, but would love to be able to have
Speaker 3: that opportunity. And I love what you said about giving
Speaker 3: a gift to the other broadcasters. I wish you could
Speaker 3: do that, but we can't. We just have to see
Speaker 3: how it plays out on the field.
Speaker 1: Mike.
Speaker 3: It's always so enjoyable to visit. And we want to
Speaker 3: thank you for the time.
Speaker 6: Mark, thank you so much for the time.
Speaker 2: I can't tell you the number of times now Mark
Speaker 2: Vannery and I have sat in this studio or the
Speaker 2: one next door since I got this building at twenty
Speaker 2: fourteen and talked about that what will it be like
Speaker 2: to go to Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: What would it be like? What would this town do?
Speaker 2: I Mike makes a great point there, talks about a
Speaker 2: parade two days after or the Titans ended up losing.
Speaker 2: I think that would happen in Houston. I think there
Speaker 2: would be a parade for us going to the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: I think there would be a parade for us regardless
Speaker 2: of the outcome after the super Bowl. That's how much
Speaker 2: I think this town, this city wants to go to
Speaker 2: a super Bowl no matter what. I don't want to
Speaker 2: go there and lose forty nine to two. But I
Speaker 2: wouldn't think that would happen because I think this team,
Speaker 2: no matter what, can compete with anybody.
Speaker 1: You gotta bring your a game to do it, and
Speaker 1: it would be tough.
Speaker 2: But that said, just getting to the super Bowl and
Speaker 2: experiencing that, seeing your guys on NFL Network, everybody at
Speaker 2: podiums talking about the season, I mean, it would just
Speaker 2: be It would be fantastic. But it's got taking one
Speaker 2: at a time. And this week it's the Tennessee Titans,
Speaker 2: who are voiced by and all their games voiced by
Speaker 2: Mike Keith. So it's good to catch up with Mike.
Speaker 2: Can appreciate he stepping up to Mike with Mark. When
Speaker 2: we get back, Drew Doherty joins me as we go
Speaker 2: in the lab. We get a little geeky with this one.
Speaker 2: Of course, and who are gonna be our cream of
Speaker 2: the crop players now Drew and I recorded are in
Speaker 2: a lab earlier on Wednesday before the injury.
Speaker 1: Report came out. So my guy was listed on the
Speaker 1: injury report. It's a killer.
Speaker 2: But you'll hear who I have to say if he plays,
Speaker 2: because he has been fantastic as a rookie for this
Speaker 2: team this year.
Speaker 1: That's next up, Texas Axas.
Speaker 2: It is time for the SLB stats Challenge. I'll give
Speaker 2: you the number. The number is ten now twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: stick with me two, twenty twenty two, three, twenty twenty three, three,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four two two three three two adds up
Speaker 2: to ten. That's ten straight wins over the AFC South
Speaker 2: on the road. That is an incredible number. I wonder
Speaker 2: if Peyton Manning and the Colts did that back in
Speaker 2: the day. Maybe, but they're looking for win number eleven
Speaker 2: on the road in a.
Speaker 1: Row against the Vision opponents.
Speaker 2: It's incredible to have won that many games, especially when
Speaker 2: you had two teams at twenty twenty one to twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two that want to combine four and three makes seven.
Speaker 2: He won seven. Five of those were in the division
Speaker 2: over those two years. So that is your stats challenge.
Speaker 2: Go to Houston Texans dot com to learn more about
Speaker 2: the SLB Stats Challenge. Now, if we want to get
Speaker 2: even more geeky on this show, staper Drew Doherty nine
Speaker 2: to go in the lab.
Speaker 1: Take a listen.
Speaker 9: Happy New Year, John, How you doing?
Speaker 2: Oh? Happy New Year twenty twenty five to everybody out there. Man,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, it seems so longer. I remember my
Speaker 2: son was born in two thousand.
Speaker 9: It's like, man, that's twenty five years ago as.
Speaker 1: Twenty five years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I ho was hear twenty five and January eleventh,
Speaker 2: it was just like, where did the time go?
Speaker 1: Where did time go? I know you feel that way too,
Speaker 1: because I.
Speaker 2: Remember when I remember seeing your twins my first summer,
Speaker 2: first training camp with the Texans. They were in a
Speaker 2: two twins, they were in a twin troller, and now
Speaker 2: they're just out and about living.
Speaker 9: Like k the aircraft carrier. Yeah, exactly, we need to turn.
Speaker 1: I think was enormous, but it had to be yet.
Speaker 4: Yeah, get two kids in there, a sweethearts.
Speaker 9: Yeah they are.
Speaker 10: They're eleven now and they'll be amazing twelve at the
Speaker 10: end of May, happy near to you, Happy near to you.
Speaker 10: Watching listening the three of us, John, Me and you.
Speaker 10: We're gonna have a nice little time here today because
Speaker 10: the end of the regular season is here. You have
Speaker 10: at least two more football games to go, and if
Speaker 10: things go your way, you're gonna play much deeper into January,
Speaker 10: maybe even February. So rest is on the docket. Whether
Speaker 10: it's a full game, a half game, a quarter game,
Speaker 10: doesn't matter. You've gotten more rest because you play it
Speaker 10: on a Wednesday and you've had those extra three four
Speaker 10: days to get some time for you. So that's been
Speaker 10: a good thing. I think that's gonna help help things out.
Speaker 10: But by the way, this is in the lab presented
Speaker 10: by Exfinity in case you're wondering anyways the value of
Speaker 10: a mini buy. We say that mini by term usually
Speaker 10: when you're playing on a Thursday and you get that
Speaker 10: weekend off.
Speaker 9: Oh, it's like a mini bye.
Speaker 10: We've said it many many times over the last decade,
Speaker 10: really longer than that, even But what do you think
Speaker 10: the benefit of that mini buye might be?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 10: It coincides with the holidays, but I imagine some self
Speaker 10: scouting has continued to go on and you get a
Speaker 10: little bit more time to do that. Some scouting for
Speaker 10: who your potential playoff opponents might be has happened as well.
Speaker 10: Could be the Steelers, could be the Chargers, the Broncos.
Speaker 10: Maybe we don't know, but those are the likely candidates,
Speaker 10: likely suspects. But self scouting over this many by, because
Speaker 10: there's a lot of things you can fix, John, there's
Speaker 10: a lot of things you can get better.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: I mean you should be self scouting all the way
Speaker 2: to the super Bowl. And I think the biggest thing
Speaker 2: for the players drew at this point of the year.
Speaker 2: And you and I have talked about this at times
Speaker 2: over the years. You're in this building in week fifteen,
Speaker 2: on week fourteen on stand on a service level. When
Speaker 2: the offensive line and defensive line are getting out of
Speaker 2: their meetings and walking to the locker room, they are
Speaker 2: barely able to get down a hallway like it is.
Speaker 2: I mean, they've got to think to take a step.
Speaker 2: I mean it's they're beat up that much. I'll never
Speaker 2: forget seeing DJ Reader in his second year. So his
Speaker 2: second year was twenty sixteen, and he and will Folk
Speaker 2: were playing together. But now DJ was a true starter
Speaker 2: and he was staying on the field for probably eighty
Speaker 2: eighty five percent of snaps, and he was getting double
Speaker 2: team down almost every snap. And I just remember seeing him.
Speaker 2: He had slides on. He was going on a hallway
Speaker 2: and it was taking him. I was all the way
Speaker 2: down by the radio studio. He was a way by
Speaker 2: the auditorium team auditorium. Yeah, And there wasn't much room
Speaker 2: from the team auditorium to the cafeteria. There's a little
Speaker 2: distance from here to cafeteria. I nearly beat him to
Speaker 2: the cafeteria. I could see him, so I kind of
Speaker 2: picked up my walk a little bit so I could
Speaker 2: say hey to him.
Speaker 1: And I got near him.
Speaker 2: And I was just like, man, you're beat up. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: but I'm playing on Sunday, Like he just he was
Speaker 2: gonna play.
Speaker 1: I was respected him for that. But those guys are
Speaker 1: so beat up.
Speaker 2: So if you give them three extra days of rest, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean that's enormous to even get your body back
Speaker 2: to just some sense of normalcy. I mean, even getting
Speaker 2: to get back to eighty five.
Speaker 1: Percent down from sixty five percent, I think is big.
Speaker 2: So for the players, I think there's definitely that rest
Speaker 2: aspect for the coach.
Speaker 1: I think it's a mental break.
Speaker 2: Coaches need to have that mental break when you have
Speaker 2: when you've had the games that Texas have had, the
Speaker 2: close finishes against good teams and the intense game in
Speaker 2: short weeks and primetime games, you need a mental break
Speaker 2: for a couple of days.
Speaker 1: You need to check out.
Speaker 2: And I know what, and I mean not even not
Speaker 2: even coaching or playing, but just being around the team.
Speaker 1: When we had that weekend.
Speaker 2: Last weekend was the first weekend for me that I
Speaker 2: had Saturday and Sunday off. There had been probably seventy
Speaker 2: five percent of the weekends this fall where I worked
Speaker 2: both Saturday and Sunday with a college game that I
Speaker 2: was calling and then our game or try to have
Speaker 2: or I was moving, you know, And that was always
Speaker 2: tough because that was obviously self inflicted when we traveled
Speaker 2: to Way games. But last week was the first time
Speaker 2: I had a Saturday and Sunday and I literally I
Speaker 2: just checked out. I just I watched Red Zone, I
Speaker 2: watched NFL games, I went and got went to my
Speaker 2: favorite bakery and got my Sardo breett. I mean, I
Speaker 2: did all those kind of things that I just just
Speaker 2: checked out and there's a part of me that would
Speaker 2: love for this team to just check out for a
Speaker 2: couple of days, and how much you feel refreshed from
Speaker 2: that to charge into the last part of this season.
Speaker 10: You took us off in a tangent, and I'm gonna
Speaker 10: go tangent off of that tangent because you brought up
Speaker 10: Grave Dave DJ Reader, my favorite Texans ever. Yes, he's
Speaker 10: now a Detroit line an important part of that defense, and.
Speaker 9: They're they're coming along. Man, they're really really good.
Speaker 10: But anyways, before they the game that they played here,
Speaker 10: which Texans.
Speaker 9: Had so much.
Speaker 10: They were so much that game, but pregame, but pregame,
Speaker 10: I'm on our sideline, the Texans sideline round about the twenty,
Speaker 10: and I see him come out to stretch and he's
Speaker 10: doing the high legs and I just kind of get
Speaker 10: in a spot where I know, like I can see
Speaker 10: him and he can see me. And when I see
Speaker 10: him kind of scan the crowd to see I just
Speaker 10: go like a nice four scump type of wave and
Speaker 10: he kind of smiles and stop and does this yeah,
Speaker 10: And so it was nice to see DJ. And then
Speaker 10: I got a video from deep our old pal Dp
Speaker 10: city about two days later because they come towards that
Speaker 10: end zone and I was like, Okay, I'll get over
Speaker 10: there and maybe i'll you know, we'll get.
Speaker 9: A bro hug or whatever.
Speaker 10: And I get kind of close and they're doing these
Speaker 10: one on one drills with their coach, and off to
Speaker 10: the side, Melissa Stark is interviewing. So she was interviewing somebody,
Speaker 10: and I'm like looking like this looks like I'm looking
Speaker 10: at Melissa Stark like total creep.
Speaker 9: And hey, she's very good at what she does. She's
Speaker 9: very pretty.
Speaker 10: Yeah, but I was just trying to get a uh
Speaker 10: like a bro hug from DJ Reader. But she, she shaid,
Speaker 10: deeply clipped this video that somebody else had taken and
Speaker 10: then like zoomed in on the corner where I was,
Speaker 10: and it's like the leering Drew Doherty looks.
Speaker 1: We used to say that about our friend Billy Ucci.
Speaker 9: You're lurking, leering, lurking.
Speaker 10: But it was all for DJ Reader because I'm a
Speaker 10: bit because I you and I both saw him in
Speaker 10: Cincinnati a year ago when Texans won that one and
Speaker 10: got to say hello to him. Then, so ingrats to
Speaker 10: DJ Hope you go all the way to the Super
Speaker 10: Bowl and you lose to the Texans in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But yeah, second time around, Yeah, that's a game.
Speaker 2: You know, I feel like that Detroit game is one
Speaker 2: that left the stain that hasn't completely it's gone. You know,
Speaker 2: you think about what that could have meant. Probably you
Speaker 2: win that game. You're definitely not losing to Tennessee. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you're you know, you're probably going a little bit of
Speaker 2: a little bit of a run maybe and see where
Speaker 2: you are at that point. But you know what you
Speaker 2: are what you are right now, You're nine to seven
Speaker 2: and you've got the division wrapped up, and now you
Speaker 2: play the Tennessee Titans who beat you in your building.
Speaker 2: You've got this road division streak going on that has
Speaker 2: been phenomenal, and you have no idea who's.
Speaker 1: Gonna play in that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you think everybody, But are there guys that are
Speaker 2: are just are playing through nicks and bumps and bruises
Speaker 2: that could use a week and off. Probably could every
Speaker 2: guy use the weekend off? Probably, But you gotta fill
Speaker 2: out a forty eight man game day roster. So it's
Speaker 2: gonna be interesting on Sunday.
Speaker 9: Yes it is.
Speaker 10: We're gonna talk about Sunda we're gonna get into our
Speaker 10: Cream of the Crop award winners who we think will
Speaker 10: be a Cream of the Crop award winner.
Speaker 9: But before we do, John, we got to raise a glass.
Speaker 9: So let's raise the medelo to.
Speaker 10: A new year, new beginnings, and the promise of many,
Speaker 10: many good things. We don't know where this year is
Speaker 10: gonna take us, where this postseason is gonna take us,
Speaker 10: but it's good to be in the postseason because you
Speaker 10: and I and Texans fans for many, many years, most
Speaker 10: recently twenty twenty one, twenty two didn't get to worry
Speaker 10: about January football.
Speaker 9: That's right, So I'm all for it. I'm raising a
Speaker 9: glass of that.
Speaker 10: Now let's move on, our good pal, Randy macho Man,
Speaker 10: Savage the crop. Thank you, macho Man. Yes, it is
Speaker 10: time for that Cream of the Crop award winner. And
Speaker 10: you know, interestingly enough, we took a break for Christmas
Speaker 10: last week and there was no Cream of the Crop
Speaker 10: award winner because didn't do it, and maybe that's why
Speaker 10: the Texans lost. So we can get the mojo back, John,
Speaker 10: and this week cream of the Crop my choice will
Speaker 10: be the interior offensive line. You've made that choice many
Speaker 10: times this season and they've got to come up big
Speaker 10: because you are facing a pair of monsters if they
Speaker 10: do play in. Jeffrey Simmons and Devandre Sweat, those guys
Speaker 10: wrecked you in this last game that they played here.
Speaker 10: The Titans beat the Texans. They beat them up, and
Speaker 10: it was bad. Those two were key reasons why. So
Speaker 10: you got to keep them free and clear of CJ.
Speaker 9: Stroud.
Speaker 10: You got to keep them free and clear of your
Speaker 10: run game because you want to generate some run game,
Speaker 10: get that thing going as you get into the playoffs,
Speaker 10: because I would imagine Bobby Slok wants to show some
Speaker 10: things that are different to opposing defenses and maybe hold
Speaker 10: some things back as well. But you got to get
Speaker 10: things going forward in a forward direction, and that doesn't
Speaker 10: happen without your guys guard center guard, whoever they may be.
Speaker 10: Like we mentioned resting, starting and so on and so forth.
Speaker 4: Whoever they may be.
Speaker 10: You gotta play really, really well there to get things
Speaker 10: cracking for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: You are on it. You know how, I you know how.
Speaker 2: I think we've been around each other to know enough
Speaker 2: to know that Jeffrey Simmons and Devandre Sweat have been
Speaker 2: absolutely awesome. Awesome together, awesome individually, and they're a tough uh.
Speaker 1: They're tough out.
Speaker 2: So no matter who's playing in there, those two have
Speaker 2: got to be controlled. And the crazy thing was they
Speaker 2: really weren't getting loose on you in the game against
Speaker 2: the Titans until the fourth quarter. Yeah, and then they
Speaker 2: started doing things inside and reckon your pass rush and
Speaker 2: sack and CJ and then the whole thing kind of
Speaker 2: fell apart.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the guy that if we did.
Speaker 7: So.
Speaker 2: After the game against the ravens Omar Majub who came
Speaker 2: who's our pr superstar came over and was like he
Speaker 2: looked at me and always going to play. After the game,
Speaker 2: he knew that he looked at me and he was
Speaker 2: like Townsend, Yeah. I was like, nah, don't worry about
Speaker 2: it's not gonna have one. Because it was that kind
Speaker 2: of game. The only two points were scored by the
Speaker 2: guy that I am making my Creamy the cropper this
Speaker 2: week and as Kamara last ye and I think Kamara Laster.
Speaker 2: I just remember back the draft night and I remember
Speaker 2: they said his name, and I just I got excited
Speaker 2: about what he could do in this defense. I thought
Speaker 2: eventually I thought he'd played the nickel and Corey Onunlin
Speaker 2: defense pass game coordinator sat in with me and Mark
Speaker 2: two weeks ago, I think, and we were asking abou Kamara,
Speaker 2: and I asked him, I said, was the plan basically
Speaker 2: got to the point of was the plan originally put
Speaker 2: Kamara at the nickel and then let him play there
Speaker 2: and then eventually he might go out the perimeter corner
Speaker 2: or maybe leave at the nickel. He says that was
Speaker 2: a plan, and then he just was like, we had
Speaker 2: to have him on the field every single play, and
Speaker 2: so then we moved into the perimeter corner and obviously
Speaker 2: the rest is history. But he's played some nickel as
Speaker 2: they've kind of moved some things around, and he does
Speaker 2: a hell of a job because he's a tremendous cover
Speaker 2: corner and he is really really physical, Like he he's
Speaker 2: the prototype Nickel in this defense because he blitzes pretty well,
Speaker 2: He tackles exceptionally well. He can cover man and man
Speaker 2: on guys inside where which is where you think you
Speaker 2: lose with a kind of linebacker mentality like Nickel, but
Speaker 2: he tackles well and covers well. So there's a part
Speaker 2: of me that thinks you know, maybe this offseason Texans
Speaker 2: look at a guy that can play the perimeter corner
Speaker 2: they feel comfortable with, and they just leave Kamara at
Speaker 2: the nickel, or they get Jalen Petrie back healthy, Camara
Speaker 2: can stay outside. Either way, I think they've got some options.
Speaker 2: Wants to get everybody healthy. But for me, Kamara Laster
Speaker 2: is gonna be that guy. He's got to help on
Speaker 2: the run game. You know, covering Calvin Ridley is always
Speaker 2: a challenge, and we go back to I don't know
Speaker 2: how many guys are gonna rest, how many guys you
Speaker 2: want to rest. You know, Derek Stingley has played. I
Speaker 2: think I think Sting's played every single game. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe sting sits a half well, that puts you know,
Speaker 2: Kamari on in the field for the full game with
Speaker 2: Jeffacuda or whomever.
Speaker 1: So I'm going with Kamara Laster. I think it's a
Speaker 1: good one.
Speaker 2: These rookies have played extremely well this year, probably better
Speaker 2: than anybody. Imagine the fact that you've got for your
Speaker 2: top four draft picks end up being starters basically on
Speaker 2: your team, and not the starters, but can retribute ralid
Speaker 2: impact contributors. So I'm gonna go Kamara Laster for this one.
Speaker 10: John, I wish you could measure I wish there was
Speaker 10: a unit of measurement you could use for confidence. There's not,
Speaker 10: you know, but before the season started, had a chance
Speaker 10: to I think it was I think it was during
Speaker 10: OTA's had a chance to interview Kamari one on one.
Speaker 10: I wasn't at the draft and he wasn't. He wasn't
Speaker 10: really at the draft either, because he was not a
Speaker 10: Day one pick, but I just remember being struck by
Speaker 10: his confidence and a lot of times, look, you don't
Speaker 10: get to the NFL if you're not confident. Every guy
Speaker 10: we've ever talked to has got confidence in abundance, but
Speaker 10: his is different and his is not any false bravado either.
Speaker 10: I can't remember what the question was, but it was
Speaker 10: something along lines of when did you know that you
Speaker 10: belonged and you could play in the NFL? And he
Speaker 10: he was not being cocky when he said these, but
Speaker 10: he said probably my freshman year when I got to campus,
Speaker 10: at my first practice at Georgia. Because I looked around
Speaker 10: and I was starting and everybody else around me, I
Speaker 10: knew would be playing in the NFL and probably be in.
Speaker 4: A pro bowler.
Speaker 10: I'm paraphrasing what he said, but basically, he's known since then,
Speaker 10: and he thought he was good going in. But that's
Speaker 10: cemented and solidified because think about who he.
Speaker 9: Was playing with back in the day.
Speaker 7: I mean that the.
Speaker 1: First time across that rock.
Speaker 10: Stars, but he was holding his own with those guys,
Speaker 10: holding his own against those guys. And I just remember
Speaker 10: when he walked out of that meeting, I don't know
Speaker 10: he's gonna do on the field. I had no idea,
Speaker 10: but I thought that guy's really confident guy. I mean,
Speaker 10: I've seen confident guys, but not like that. Yeah, it
Speaker 10: was it was herts and I wish you could quantify
Speaker 10: like he's got ninety eight rampules of you know, confident.
Speaker 9: I mean you can't.
Speaker 10: But whoever, if you, if you had to put everybody
Speaker 10: side by side, he's probably up at the tippy top
Speaker 10: on the Texans as far as confidence.
Speaker 9: What's funny you say.
Speaker 2: About that is I remember talking to him felt.
Speaker 1: The same way.
Speaker 2: Then we talked to Kaylen Bullock when Kaylen was drafted.
Speaker 9: I believe it's block block. He pronounced it block.
Speaker 1: He did pronounced it block thought block. Yeah, So Kalyn
Speaker 1: Bock Kaylen Block.
Speaker 2: Anyways, Kaylene is drafted, and I remember talking to him
Speaker 2: and I asked him about being in Houston meeting. What
Speaker 2: was it like all that kind of stuff, and you
Speaker 2: did you get on the board drops some places? Oh yes, sir,
Speaker 2: man I killed that. I mean like I was like
Speaker 2: a boy. He is supremely confident.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and then it's sort of way like hello.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like, yeah, you know, hey, I'm gonna be
Speaker 2: in the Pro Bowl nine times, think six years. It was,
Speaker 2: you know, just but very self assured. And then I
Speaker 2: thought about Kamario. I was like, that could be kind
Speaker 2: of fun. And those two are Kareem and Jjo like
Speaker 2: they travel everywhere together, the two of them together, best
Speaker 2: of friends.
Speaker 10: That's really when I was walking in today it's New
Speaker 10: Year's Day. I was walking in running thirty is sure
Speaker 10: and I'm not flexing like I'm some hard you know
Speaker 10: lunch paale worker. Anyways, when I was walking in down
Speaker 10: the hall, those two were walking in the locker room together.
Speaker 10: Kimer what they're saying, but they're just they're with each other,
Speaker 10: hanging out.
Speaker 1: All the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll leave where you see four you see twenty
Speaker 2: one and vice versas.
Speaker 1: It was like the same thing with Kareem and j Joe.
Speaker 2: Wherever you saw twenty five, you saw twenty four all
Speaker 2: the time for years.
Speaker 9: What a nice young secondary those two.
Speaker 7: Yep.
Speaker 10: Petree Stingley, cooking scot and still gotta keep everybody healthy.
Speaker 9: Amen.
Speaker 10: All right, so those are our cream of the croppers Tennessee.
Speaker 10: Gonna be a fun trips. Close out the season with
Speaker 10: a bang. Lots of Texans seasons have and regular seasons
Speaker 10: have ended in Nashville. This one will end in Nashville
Speaker 10: regular season wise. Let's end on a high note. And yeah,
Speaker 10: let's get twenty twenty five started the right way. Hey,
Speaker 10: always love doing this with you, John, I always love
Speaker 10: doing this with you. Thank you for listening and for watching.
Speaker 10: We appreciate it. Couldn't do without you yourself. So until
Speaker 10: next time. We're talking about a playoff game next week.
Speaker 10: But until then, so long, and this is in the
Speaker 10: Lab presented by Exfinity.
Speaker 1: All right, we get back.
Speaker 2: We will go around the world of football, American football.
Speaker 2: Of course, a lot of things going on, news about
Speaker 2: the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, all of that, and
Speaker 2: what's going on in the NFL. Next right here in
Speaker 2: Texans All Access. We got one final segment of this
Speaker 2: edition of Texans All Access from London, Texans Radio Studio.
Speaker 2: I am your host, John Harris, football analyst, side line reporter,
Speaker 2: and then we'll turn it over to you. Area forty
Speaker 2: five coming up after me, and I always hesitate, who's
Speaker 2: going to be honest, No, it's Area forty five. I
Speaker 2: know that on the holidays you just never know who's
Speaker 2: stepping in what's going on. But either way, Area forty
Speaker 2: five will be on Sports Radio six ' ten coming up. Okay,
Speaker 2: around the world of football in the NFL, I'll bring
Speaker 2: say the world of football because college football. I'm kind
Speaker 2: of taking a stage on January first, as it typically does.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: There was supposed to be three games today, but because
Speaker 2: of the tragedy that occurred on Bourbon Street, Bourbon and
Speaker 2: Canal last night and early this morning, fifteen.
Speaker 1: People have died.
Speaker 2: At this particular moment, that game the Superdome is just
Speaker 2: literally a driver in, you know, three wood away from
Speaker 2: where that took place. And because of the incident being
Speaker 2: considered a terrorist incident, the game tonight will get moved
Speaker 2: the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia will move
Speaker 2: to tomorrow. Now there's been talk about whether that game
Speaker 2: will move up in time. I think there's one of
Speaker 2: the I think the Gator Bowl is tomorrow as well.
Speaker 2: So there has been some push from ESPN, Georgia and
Speaker 2: Notre Dame to move that game up earlier because now
Speaker 2: you're losing a day of prep if you win the game,
Speaker 2: because the winner of that will play Penn State in
Speaker 2: the Orange Bowl. So they want to move that thing up.
Speaker 2: Sounds like everybody wants to do it now, it's just
Speaker 2: a matter of can they get the clearance from FBI
Speaker 2: local officials to be able to do that. But the
Speaker 2: Sugar Bowl in New Orleans postponed until tomorrow night, and
Speaker 2: again thoughts of prayers go go out to the families impacted.
Speaker 2: So many were there for the Georgia Notre Dame game.
Speaker 2: So many people go to New Orleans for New Year's Eve.
Speaker 2: Just an absolute It's one of those things you wake
Speaker 2: up to you and see it.
Speaker 1: It's one of those.
Speaker 2: Notifications on my phone at seven o'clock in the morning
Speaker 2: and you just, I mean, I literally started.
Speaker 1: Crying because I love that city. I love New Orleans.
Speaker 1: Of other people that city. I love the people that
Speaker 1: go down there and visit, spend their money there. I
Speaker 1: just everything about it and just gut punch of gut punches.
Speaker 2: Now on the field with the playoff game today, Texas
Speaker 2: beats Arizona State Mark and I actually watched that game
Speaker 2: all the way to its conclusion, and what a game
Speaker 2: it was. Texas was a thirteen and a half point
Speaker 2: favorite against Arizona and Camps Campscataboo. And if you haven't
Speaker 2: seen Camp Scataboo, shame on you, because that dude is
Speaker 2: an absolute baller. He should have been a Heisman finalist.
Speaker 2: I said it at the time. I'd say it again.
Speaker 2: On my ballot, it would have been Ashton Genty, who
Speaker 2: was fantastic. Literally, Travis Hunter been in Campscatterbury. Those have
Speaker 2: been my three. They Academy was fantastic in the game,
Speaker 2: didn't get much early, was thrown up on the sideline,
Speaker 2: was caught on video saying, you know, I'm done with this.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, we gotta be better. I mean
Speaker 1: he's just really kind of going off. Well. They were
Speaker 1: down sixteen in the second half, missed a.
Speaker 2: Couple of field goals, got stopped at the two yard line,
Speaker 2: but then they got a safety, kind of got back
Speaker 2: in it. Texas scored to make it twenty four to eight.
Speaker 2: Then Skataboo on fourth and two through about forty yard
Speaker 2: touchdown on a half back pass. They scored the two,
Speaker 2: got the ball back. Then Scataboo catches the ball down,
Speaker 2: the field goes in his scores. Then he scores the two.
Speaker 2: They tied at twenty four. Texas misses the field goal.
Speaker 2: Arizona State can't do anything with it. Controversial non targeting
Speaker 2: call by Texas should have been targeting. Texas fans, you can,
Speaker 2: like I said earlier, you can miss me with all that.
Speaker 1: That's targeting. That's the definition of targeting. Was missed.
Speaker 2: Don't know why, but the game goes in overtime. Arizona
Speaker 2: State scores looks like they may have the game. It's
Speaker 2: fourth and thirteen for Texas. Quinny Ewers drops a bomb
Speaker 2: on Matthew Golden touchdown.
Speaker 1: Tied up.
Speaker 2: Goes the second overtime Gunnerhelm touchdown from Ewers. Matthew Golden
Speaker 2: two point conversion from Ewers. They go out thirty nine
Speaker 2: to thirty one. Arizona State gets the ball down inside
Speaker 2: the twelve yard line. Tried to round a wheel route,
Speaker 2: gets picked off by Austin native and Clemson transfer Andrew maccaba,
Speaker 2: and that's it.
Speaker 1: One of the greatest college football games I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Texas will now go to the Cotton Bowl for the
Speaker 2: first time to two thousand and three when they played LSU.
Speaker 2: Roy Williams was a wide receiver at Texas and that
Speaker 2: was in the old Cotton Bowl. So they go to
Speaker 2: the Cotton Bowl to take on the winner of the
Speaker 2: Rose Bowl, Oregon in Ohio State and Manas Ohio State
Speaker 2: look good. So you get Texas, Ohio State, Texas, Oregon
Speaker 2: in the Cotton Bowl. That's as good as it gets.
Speaker 2: You'll get Penn State Notre Dame or Penn State Georgia
Speaker 2: in the Orange Bowl in the semifinals. Like I said,
Speaker 2: Georgia and Notre Dame will play tomorrow as the game
Speaker 2: has been postponed until then. Let's go to the NFL.
Speaker 2: The Chiefs will start Carson Wentz on on Sunday against
Speaker 2: the Denver Broncos. Makes a ton of sense that he
Speaker 2: would start. You're gonna rest guys, well, Patrick Mahomes' first
Speaker 2: and foremost, especially dealing with that ankle issue.
Speaker 1: So Mahomes will.
Speaker 2: Rest on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Expected that. Now
Speaker 2: the math on this, let's do it together. They've last
Speaker 2: played Christmas Day, that was when we played, so the
Speaker 2: twenty fifth, and they get to buy so they'll rest
Speaker 2: this weekend, then they get the bye week, and then
Speaker 2: they'll play in the divisional round. It's about three and
Speaker 2: a half weeks that Mahomes and company will get a
Speaker 2: chance to rest for the divisional playoff round game. And
Speaker 2: if the Texans were to win there the wildcard round game,
Speaker 2: more than likely they would play those rested Chiefs at Arrowhead.
Speaker 2: My goodness, all right, that's gonna do it for tonight's show.
Speaker 2: Appreciate everybody for being here with me, Mark Drew, Nick,
Speaker 2: Miles Bryant, Mike Keith, all on the show.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it you guys listening. Happy New Year to everybody.
Speaker 2: Thoughts and prayers to everybody in New Orleans and those
Speaker 2: impacted by everything that took place in New Orleans New
Speaker 2: Year's Day, early early morning.
Speaker 1: Love you guys so much. We'll see tomorrow and as always,
Speaker 1: go Texans.