Speaker 1: Welcome in, Welcome back, another episode of Texan's Huddle. I
Speaker 1: am indeed here is Drew and the player of the game,
Speaker 1: player of the week, player of the month, depending on
Speaker 1: the position in the side of the ball. Kimie Fairbaren
Speaker 1: is joining us here in Texan Huddle. Typically as a
Speaker 1: former defensive lineman, we don't get a chance to really
Speaker 1: talk to special teamers, the kickers and stuff. But man,
Speaker 1: what you've done here, what you've been doing, it is
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. And welcome to Texans Huddle and congratulations on
Speaker 1: the success.
Speaker 2: Pleasure for all that. Yeah, happy to be here this squad.
Speaker 1: I will say that I've always wanted to ask this
Speaker 1: question to kickers. What's going through the mind? What's going
Speaker 1: through your mind? You just came off of the game
Speaker 1: winning field goal. What's the thought process before you swing
Speaker 1: that leg before?
Speaker 2: I've learned that simple thoughts are best.
Speaker 3: You know, when you try to clutter your mind with
Speaker 3: a lot of things, it kind of makes things messy.
Speaker 3: So the routine of it, you know, building that through
Speaker 3: pract this, through the season, through the off season, all
Speaker 3: that controlling your thought and eliminating distractions, things that don't matter,
Speaker 3: you know, situation you know, the period of the game,
Speaker 3: whatever it may be, and just focusing. You know, for me,
Speaker 3: it's my breath and like connecting to the ground my feet.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of feel. For me, it's less about thought.
Speaker 3: More about feel and then you just let it rip,
Speaker 3: you know, just trust and know and let it rip.
Speaker 1: That's very interesting, you know, to be like one with
Speaker 1: the ground. That sounds pretty cool. Like do you do
Speaker 1: you practice that? You know what you're saying. Do you
Speaker 1: practice the breathing? Do you practice the thought process during
Speaker 1: the week?
Speaker 3: Absolutely after a certain period, Like for me, it's less
Speaker 3: about technique. I do practice all my technique obviously it's
Speaker 3: important part. But after that then it becomes you know, mental.
Speaker 3: You know, kicking is one hundred percent mental to me.
Speaker 3: After you know, it's similar to the golf, like you
Speaker 3: have your swing and now you just have to trust
Speaker 3: your swing. So being able to connect to my breath,
Speaker 3: connect to the ground and repeat the feels of success
Speaker 3: in my head. That's that's how I kind of try
Speaker 3: to operate.
Speaker 4: Sounds like a peaceful process there for Kayami Fairbairn, and
Speaker 4: it really is on the way up. But I was
Speaker 4: at about the fifteen yard line on the textan sideline
Speaker 4: and I had my phone out.
Speaker 5: I was focused just on you.
Speaker 4: I didn't even like follow the ball, but it was
Speaker 4: interesting to watch, and I stayed I didn't look.
Speaker 5: I didn't see what was going on.
Speaker 4: You kick it, you kind of watch, and then you
Speaker 4: sort of stroll off towards the sideline. You take off
Speaker 4: your helmet, throw it on the ground and flex and
Speaker 4: the place goes at least that sideline goes bananas. The
Speaker 4: crowd goes pretty quiet there in Tennessee. What what was
Speaker 4: the was the emotion? How good did it feel? What
Speaker 4: do you remember after after it left your foot?
Speaker 2: There wasn't a lot of thoughts after.
Speaker 3: It was all in that moment of the kick, and
Speaker 3: then honestly, it was just like just emotion after that.
Speaker 3: My favorite part of that whole thing. And it's like,
Speaker 3: because I've had game winners before, but watching other kickers
Speaker 3: and go through game winners, it's the I mean, obviously
Speaker 3: it's the guys on the field, but the sideline, that's
Speaker 3: what I love. I like watching that seeing how the
Speaker 3: team like kind of just comes together, especially in a
Speaker 3: way environment, that.
Speaker 2: Is what I love. So I wish I would have
Speaker 2: you know, hugged Cam a little bit more. Those guys
Speaker 2: like those guys are it's such a thankless job.
Speaker 3: Weeks and all those guys like blocking, like that's such
Speaker 3: a thankless job. So first, you know, thank them, and
Speaker 3: then to the sideline is just like the brothers. You know,
Speaker 3: it's you know, and the happiness that everybody had and
Speaker 3: the relief and all that. So that's my favorite part
Speaker 3: about hitting game winners.
Speaker 4: Yeah, how much of that joy that was in there?
Speaker 4: How much of that was being gone for so long?
Speaker 4: And I kind of talked about this with you after
Speaker 4: the game in the locker room, but man, how much
Speaker 4: did that factor into it? Because you had to watch
Speaker 4: from the sidelines and you know, this is a fun season.
Speaker 2: Oh no doubt.
Speaker 5: We'll get till that later.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was tough watching, but you know, when things
Speaker 3: aren't going your way, you appreciate a little bit more
Speaker 3: when you're out. And going back further from that, you know,
Speaker 3: our last few years haven't been easy, so you know,
Speaker 3: having these you call it stress of you know, a
Speaker 3: big games and you know, meaningful games, is like you
Speaker 3: enjoy that stress because you know what it's like to
Speaker 3: not have that, you know, in December Games. It doesn't
Speaker 3: mean anything. We've had those those years and it's go
Speaker 3: through the motions.
Speaker 2: But now it's different and there's there's meaning behind it,
Speaker 2: and it it makes it more special for sure.
Speaker 6: When do you know it's good?
Speaker 1: Like this last kid we'll focus on that, is that
Speaker 1: as soon as it's off the foot, like do you
Speaker 1: know like, oh that's going through?
Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty much immediately when I when I hit it.
Speaker 3: But honestly, before that, you know, like you in those
Speaker 3: type of situations, you can't wish the ball in.
Speaker 2: You know, you have to you have to know.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I've learned that through experience with missing and
Speaker 3: making So it's just part of the process.
Speaker 1: So you say before are you saying, like, before you
Speaker 1: actually make contact, you're like, I know this was going
Speaker 1: in or.
Speaker 2: No, I think it's just a mental mind set.
Speaker 3: But yeah, when I hit the ball, then yeah, then
Speaker 3: it's like that one came off good.
Speaker 6: Oh nice, and it's nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But before I forget because VanderMeer told me to
Speaker 1: ask you how your golf swing or how golf helps
Speaker 1: you as a kicker.
Speaker 4: Oh, you're the best golfer on the team right now.
Speaker 3: Right, I would say case probably. We haven't really had
Speaker 3: a matchup. We his handicaps better than mine and he's
Speaker 3: got a few more. Uh, he's got some cool hookups.
Speaker 3: You knows some good courses, so that was important too.
Speaker 3: So I you know he's I hope to play to
Speaker 3: him in the offseason.
Speaker 2: We know we keep it light.
Speaker 3: But it's fun for my golf skin. Compared to my
Speaker 3: kicking swing, well, the motion.
Speaker 2: Is just the same. The technique, Uh, there's.
Speaker 3: A lot more aspects of golf where you have to
Speaker 3: be locked in, like you're trying to hit yardages in golf,
Speaker 3: where kicking you're just hitting you know.
Speaker 2: Your best ball. So that's a little bit different.
Speaker 3: But when you're getting into the game, it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: when you're on a golf course, you need to hit
Speaker 3: a shot, You need to turn on that switch or
Speaker 3: whatever it is.
Speaker 2: You need to hit a putt, a chip. That's important.
Speaker 3: It's like, how do you develop that that on switch,
Speaker 3: that focus switch. And that's what I try to do
Speaker 3: on the golf course to practice in the offseason and
Speaker 3: then take it to the field.
Speaker 2: I guess you.
Speaker 4: Grew up your hell of a soccer player growing up
Speaker 4: in Hawaii. You pick up football there in high school,
Speaker 4: I believe when did golf come into the game into
Speaker 4: the picture.
Speaker 2: I was on the golf my senior year.
Speaker 5: Okay, so high school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't serious. It was just kind of you.
Speaker 5: Get out of school for the day, right exactly.
Speaker 2: And you get to hang out on a golf course
Speaker 2: with the boys.
Speaker 3: After that, you know, my dad got me a set,
Speaker 3: a decent set in college, and then right when I
Speaker 3: got into the league, I knew that was kind of
Speaker 3: something I wanted to pursue. So I spent a lot
Speaker 3: of money on some golf clubes, probably too much. Should
Speaker 3: have got some lessons.
Speaker 4: Andy, and I have heard this from a few of
Speaker 4: your counterparts have been on the show, that the golf
Speaker 4: bug bit them, and so.
Speaker 2: You keep going absolutely bit me.
Speaker 3: And then, yeah, I spent a lot of time wildcat
Speaker 3: over here, you know, asking certain guys on the team
Speaker 3: who've been good, Brandon Whedon, Shane Leckler, all those guys
Speaker 3: who've been playing for a long time, watching them ball
Speaker 3: out and swing the club.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, it's just kind of been something I've continued
Speaker 2: to learn.
Speaker 6: Did you take lessons?
Speaker 2: I did? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Do that like when you take these lessons it is
Speaker 1: kind of similar to being coached up on out to
Speaker 1: kick in the right form or is a completely different
Speaker 1: because everybody who I talked to who's really into golf,
Speaker 1: I'm not because I'm horrible at it. It took me
Speaker 1: one day to realize this isn't your thing.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: They just talked about how such a different approach and
Speaker 1: different sport.
Speaker 2: But yeah, to say this, like for golf, it's like.
Speaker 3: You're not naturally good at golf. No one is, or
Speaker 3: at least I haven't met someone that is. So to me,
Speaker 3: that's my favorite part. It's like the only way to
Speaker 3: get better is you've got to put in the time,
Speaker 3: and you do. But with a golf coach, to me,
Speaker 3: it's like they if you don't have a golf coach,
Speaker 3: you're kind of in the dark and you're just searching
Speaker 3: for something. And when you have a golf coach, he
Speaker 3: kind of he shows you, brings light to certain things
Speaker 3: of what you need to focus on, what your tendencies are.
Speaker 2: So that's helped a lot for me.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to kicking because I played
Speaker 1: with one of the greats. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: remember the name David Akers. He was a kicker with
Speaker 1: me in Philadelphia, and when it was time for him
Speaker 1: to attempt a game winning kick or any kick, we
Speaker 1: always stayed away from Like is that something? And I
Speaker 1: can't remember if he put it out there, but we
Speaker 1: just knew, like, you know what, don't go say hey,
Speaker 1: you got this or we're with you no matter what,
Speaker 1: we just stayed away. Is that something that's common in
Speaker 1: the world of kickers, or do you kind of put
Speaker 1: it out there like, hey, y'all don't talk to me
Speaker 1: before the kick.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I've never had that conversation with anybody about stay away
Speaker 3: from me, but I guess they probably know that by
Speaker 3: the way things have gone, I've naturally just kind of
Speaker 3: not isolated, but kind of got in my little.
Speaker 2: Bubble, I guess of bubble of focus.
Speaker 3: And you know, if someone did come up to me,
Speaker 3: you know, Frank or Cam or Weeks or trainer or
Speaker 3: whatever it is, it's just, you know, you don't resist
Speaker 3: those things. You know, whatever is happening is happening, and
Speaker 3: then you kind of welcome whatever comes. And then if
Speaker 3: if it distracts you come back. You know, it's it's
Speaker 3: just whatever. I don't try to force anything that makes sense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it makes I mean think about it, talk with
Speaker 4: Kayami Fairbir and the Kicker of the Tech. You don't
Speaker 4: have any teammates that do what you do. I mean
Speaker 4: you have specialists, but Cam Johnston's job is not what
Speaker 4: you do, and vice versa and John Weeks and you
Speaker 4: guys hang out together. But there are other defensive linemen,
Speaker 4: there are other quarterbacks, there are other running backs. That
Speaker 4: kind of plays into it a little bit as well.
Speaker 3: When you say yeah, yeah, I think everybody has their
Speaker 3: own specific focus of, you know, how to be good
Speaker 3: at their job. Minds is different than a lot of guys.
Speaker 2: But yeah, they respect my process and that's my process
Speaker 2: and go from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what goes first for kickers, Like as a defensive
Speaker 1: lineman year ten to eleven started to fill it in
Speaker 1: my knees, Like when do kickers start to feel like,
Speaker 1: you know what, this is starting to catch up?
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, I've had my quad thing the last five weeks
Speaker 3: and that kind of crept up on me somehow.
Speaker 2: Is kind of like a freak thing. But you know,
Speaker 2: as part of the job. I guess for kickers, I
Speaker 2: think it's just a repeated motion over and over and over.
Speaker 2: And over again.
Speaker 3: So just maintaining balance in my body, not getting too
Speaker 3: one sided.
Speaker 2: That's been a key for me.
Speaker 4: When you played soccer, were you the guy that would
Speaker 4: do the corner kicks? Were you the guy that would
Speaker 4: do the penalty kicks? Did it kind of vary? They
Speaker 4: have a bunch of people doing those things, or we
Speaker 4: would play stop or they're like kiny go or was
Speaker 4: it not that way?
Speaker 3: No, that was usually how it went. Free kicks, penalties, corners.
Speaker 2: I don't know how that started.
Speaker 3: I just like doing it, and I could kick the
Speaker 3: ball well, kind of put it where I needed it to,
Speaker 3: and yeah, I think that's where it started. And then
Speaker 3: kicking just kind of became Oh it sounds like something
Speaker 3: I would do. And I had a good coach in
Speaker 3: high school who kind of taught me the you know,
Speaker 3: the technique and then and then the mindset behind that.
Speaker 1: Are there more guys that you played soccer with that
Speaker 1: also played football as kickers, because I know a lot
Speaker 1: of kickers played soccer, but I'm actually surprised more soccer players,
Speaker 1: you know, don't gravitate too me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it surprises me too.
Speaker 3: Back home in Hawaii, No, there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 3: guys who just kind of picked it up. We everyone
Speaker 3: played other positions to receiver dB whatever it is. If
Speaker 3: you go from soccer to football and you're just the kicker,
Speaker 3: it's very different because you're just I mean, you maybe
Speaker 3: got twenty five seconds of game time, so it's just
Speaker 3: it's a different game, and I think that probably what
Speaker 3: kept a lot of soccer players from doing that job.
Speaker 6: Are you a big soccer fan now? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 6: MLS or the Premiere Premier League?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, what's your team?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Who's your squad?
Speaker 2: Arsenal Arsenal go gunners.
Speaker 4: Yeah, who's your current favorite soccer player all time? Favorite
Speaker 4: soccer player.
Speaker 2: All time would be Tierryan Ree, no doubt. All right,
Speaker 2: all right, yeah.
Speaker 3: That's who kind of brought the love to me showing
Speaker 3: his swag right now. I mean, you can't not love
Speaker 3: Messi and what he's done. Who do I enjoy watching though,
Speaker 3: that's tough. The Premier League has been great. I really
Speaker 3: like watching Mosala Liverpool even though he's on a rival team.
Speaker 3: He's he's excellent and then City have been great. So
Speaker 3: there's a lot of good players, a lot of good teams.
Speaker 1: Why do you think we as a country have not
Speaker 1: embraced soccer or football as the you know.
Speaker 6: Like the rest of the world.
Speaker 3: That's a great question. I think it's coming. We're showing that.
Speaker 3: But I just think it's okay to be different. We
Speaker 3: have different loves here, you know, football, baseball, basketball, and
Speaker 3: that's okay, and you know, we we strive at that
Speaker 3: and we excel at that, and the world.
Speaker 1: Has well we're literally the only country and my parents
Speaker 1: are from Nigeria, so I grew up playing soccer. But
Speaker 1: America the greatest country in the world, but it's literally
Speaker 1: the only country that doesn't give soccer the respect to
Speaker 1: the rest of the world. Like, what's Europe and you
Speaker 1: played it, you excel at it. I need a better
Speaker 1: answer than that. What's the reason why we haven't embraced
Speaker 1: the sport of soccer like the rest of the world.
Speaker 3: Might be the flopping out of the soft Yeah it
Speaker 3: annoys me too. I'm not gonna lie, but yeah, I
Speaker 3: just love the game. It's it's the freedom of it,
Speaker 3: the creativity. You know, everyone's on the ball.
Speaker 2: It's cool sports.
Speaker 1: You know, speak over real quick. Speaking of the flopping,
Speaker 1: I heard this is that you played at a higher level.
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll know the answer. I heard that the reason
Speaker 1: they flop is because there's no real time out, so
Speaker 1: that's the only time you can get a rest.
Speaker 3: Oh, there's a lot of part of the gamesmanship of it.
Speaker 3: It's beyond just flopping. It's like stalling the game, annoying
Speaker 3: the team, whatever, it is, like wasting time. Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: it's all part of the game. I wish the rest
Speaker 3: managed it a little bit better, like there is more
Speaker 3: you know, consequence for flopping, and then that could probably
Speaker 3: get it out a little bit more.
Speaker 5: But it's growing though soccer it's not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not what some of the other sports are,
Speaker 4: but there is no doubt that it's growing. I mean,
Speaker 4: look at Saturday mornings, you can watch Premier League on
Speaker 4: you know, so many different devices, basically every one of
Speaker 4: the big league's Spain, Italy, Germany. They there's places you
Speaker 4: can find him to watch that didn't exist fifteen years
Speaker 4: ago in this country. I mean, that was hard to do.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna hold on, hold on.
Speaker 4: And then in addition to that, so I played soccer
Speaker 4: here in Houston in the eighties and one of my
Speaker 4: best friend's dads got volun told to coach it and
Speaker 4: this guy knew how to teach hand placement, how to
Speaker 4: block as an offensive lineman. He didn't know much about soccer.
Speaker 4: You know what we did, he said, boys, get in
Speaker 4: a line, and so we lined up single file. He
Speaker 4: got a soccer ball, he knelt down, he used his
Speaker 4: foot as a tee and he said, I want you
Speaker 4: to run and kick this ball as far as you
Speaker 4: can and then run to the fence line and back.
Speaker 4: And that's that was our soccer. Whereas I've got boys, wow,
Speaker 4: a ten year old and eight year old, and they
Speaker 4: went out and they played soccer pretty competitively for you know,
Speaker 4: one of the club teams and they were like six
Speaker 4: teams per level of age group. And they're passing, they're
Speaker 4: doing all that like it's super advanced. That's just one
Speaker 4: little club in Houston. And there's many many clubs in Houston,
Speaker 4: no telling how many more are in the state, in
Speaker 4: the country. That was not going on twenty five thirty
Speaker 4: years ago. So it's growing, but trust me, it's just
Speaker 4: growing a little slower than what you're accustomed to.
Speaker 1: It may be growing on the little league level because
Speaker 1: I'm older than you and we actually had good soccer
Speaker 1: coaches growing up but I just feel like once you
Speaker 1: got to a certain age, it was like, Okay, I've
Speaker 1: done soccer and now let me quote move on to
Speaker 1: the quote unquote real sport. But the reason I asked,
Speaker 1: I actually went to a game here at NRG and
Speaker 1: it was awesome, Like it was amazing, And the whole
Speaker 1: time I'm there and I'm like, why isn't this bigger?
Speaker 1: Why isn't it bigger?
Speaker 4: I just feel like this didn't exist, Like people didn't
Speaker 4: go to soccer games twenty years ago, thirty years ago
Speaker 4: in the States in Houston.
Speaker 6: Well, they didn't have the opportunity.
Speaker 1: But I I don't see our best athletes still playing.
Speaker 1: Look at Kaymi, he said, you know what' screw soccer.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play football. And he's a football star now.
Speaker 1: So and you know, I say.
Speaker 2: A great as.
Speaker 1: I actually would, but uh, and I get what you're saying, Drew,
Speaker 1: But it just feels like.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying We're gonna win the World Cup next summer.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying it. It is undeniable in this country.
Speaker 4: Soccer is getting more popular. I'm not saying it's overtaking anything.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying it's getting more popular and always.
Speaker 1: Say the games athletes choosing soccer over basketball.
Speaker 5: I think so. I think so.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna say the best ones are necessarily, but
Speaker 4: I here and there.
Speaker 5: I think it's growing. But anyways, I'm wrong.
Speaker 4: Man, we're er en off course because you've got Kayeni
Speaker 4: Fairbarn here. Kaymie, You're unless something weird happens. You are
Speaker 4: probably the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, deservedly so.
Speaker 4: Four field goals, two of them beyond fifty the game winner.
Speaker 4: How sweet has this season been? You alluded to it earlier,
Speaker 4: and let's just kind of rewind and reset for everyone.
Speaker 4: You got here in twenty sixteen, and you saw you
Speaker 4: sat for that year, you're you're uh, you're on injured reserve,
Speaker 4: and then you've now seeing three different quarterbacks get drafted
Speaker 4: here and play. You were on some playoff teams, you
Speaker 4: led the NFL and scoring in twenty eighteen, went to
Speaker 4: the playoffs then and then you mentioned the dark times
Speaker 4: over the last three years. How rejuvenating is twenty twenty
Speaker 4: three for you?
Speaker 2: Man? Yeah, I think you find your love when it's
Speaker 2: not going well.
Speaker 6: You know why?
Speaker 2: You know, if you're not winning, what do you love?
Speaker 2: About it, and.
Speaker 3: That's what that period of you know, those three years
Speaker 3: showed me. But the energy we have here is.
Speaker 2: Special, and you feel that in the brotherhood and you know,
Speaker 2: coaches and everything, the whole stadium. You know, it's it's
Speaker 2: just even the city.
Speaker 3: You know, the fans like people coming back and you know,
Speaker 3: showing love. It's you feel that energy, and I think
Speaker 3: you just got to let it grow. We got a
Speaker 3: lot of good people here and that's where it starts.
Speaker 3: Good people and coming together and working hard and then
Speaker 3: just let will be will be. You know, see where
Speaker 3: it goes, see where it takes us.
Speaker 1: Is there a different mindset when and you're kicking for
Speaker 1: you know, a team that's still in the hunt versus
Speaker 1: a team that you know is out of the playoff?
Speaker 1: Pitcher like, is there a different mindset or you keep
Speaker 1: the same mindset.
Speaker 2: I try not to. I try to not let it
Speaker 2: affect me in years past.
Speaker 3: You know, if we're winning or losing in the game,
Speaker 3: that's the kind of stuff where the situation doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: You know, a pH at the end of the game,
Speaker 3: when you're up by fifty, you know you still have
Speaker 3: to focus in locking and make that kick or vice versa.
Speaker 2: If you're losing, so I try to let that bother me.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought up pats. We're seeing more missed pat's.
Speaker 1: Is it as simple as because they moved it back?
Speaker 1: When did they do that about four or five years ago?
Speaker 6: Or yeah? Yeah? Is it as simple because when I
Speaker 6: got right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, give me your take on that, because
Speaker 1: you know, back when I played in the late nineties
Speaker 1: early two thousands, pat was just like a foregone conclusion.
Speaker 1: Do you like the fact that they made it more challenging.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was good for the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Before it was just I mean, the guys at
Speaker 3: this level, they're you're just not kind of miss that.
Speaker 3: So having to turn on that switch, like I said,
Speaker 3: and pats, they matter, especially, you know if it's you're
Speaker 3: We had that situation this past weekend where we scored
Speaker 3: late and we needed to tie the game.
Speaker 2: That thirty three.
Speaker 3: Now becomes a little bit more pressure. And when you're
Speaker 3: on the practice field alone, it's like, thirty three, how
Speaker 3: do I this looks close? And then you get to
Speaker 3: the game, it's like, oh, that looks a little farther
Speaker 3: right now. But that's just you know, just just thoughts
Speaker 3: and yeah, like I said, get back to your routine
Speaker 3: and make the kick.
Speaker 4: And hell, it paid off for the Texas because what
Speaker 4: they do, what the Titans do on the very first
Speaker 4: drive of the game, they score the touchdown and they
Speaker 4: missed the pat So you you guys were tied at
Speaker 4: the end of the game and you go in overtime
Speaker 4: that every point matters. Like we say, Case, Keenum, that's
Speaker 4: your ping pong partner, right, it's my boy. What how
Speaker 4: fierce are these ping pong because I've seen glimpses of
Speaker 4: them when we come to the locker room to interview
Speaker 4: you guys after practices sometimes, Yeah, those.
Speaker 3: Might be one of my favorite times of the week,
Speaker 3: no doubt. We we have our own We got lyft
Speaker 3: and all this stuff, so we try to squeeze it
Speaker 3: in when we can. There's a lot of always media
Speaker 3: getting in our way when so we give them a
Speaker 3: little entertainment. But Case is probably the best pingle player
Speaker 3: I ever played. So we've had some heated battles.
Speaker 4: And I've seen you, uh seen you messing around with
Speaker 4: Titus Howard. Also, he's pretty good teys, all right, you
Speaker 4: can take him.
Speaker 3: He doesn't have a backhand. So it's just I mean,
Speaker 3: you can play around, you.
Speaker 4: Know, I gotta get y'all's perspectives because you're you're both
Speaker 4: will have perspective on it. So you've been here, and
Speaker 4: I'm sure ping pong tables have been here and then
Speaker 4: been taken away quietly. And I'm guessing was there ever
Speaker 4: a ping pong table in your career in Washington Philadelphia?
Speaker 1: Oh, there's definitely one, but it just collected dust. It
Speaker 1: was all about the Xbox and PlayStation. I don't play
Speaker 1: any of those. I'm more there domino guy, but uh
Speaker 1: we the only time we did ping pong was during
Speaker 1: training camp at Lehigh University and Koy Detmer backup quarterback
Speaker 1: was by are the best ping pong player.
Speaker 4: So all the skill guys excuse me, the specialist in
Speaker 4: the quarterbacks.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's usually how it goes. Where is it now?
Speaker 6: Where is it now?
Speaker 2: The ping pong take the middle of our locker room,
Speaker 2: really center court. Yep.
Speaker 6: You don't have to set it up every day and
Speaker 6: or is it.
Speaker 3: Just it's there and then obviously when the games come
Speaker 3: around in the weekend, we'll take it out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's pretty much pretty much permanent.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we definitely did not have it.
Speaker 4: I've always found it fascinating because I don't think it matters.
Speaker 4: But you'll see sometimes coaches just yank it out and
Speaker 4: say like not say, but like this, we've got to
Speaker 4: get focused back on football, and then you know a
Speaker 4: few years later creeps back in. You know, what's your
Speaker 4: what's your thought on that?
Speaker 3: Oh good question, my mindset behind it. I always welcome competition.
Speaker 3: I think that's good wherever you may find it. It
Speaker 3: just creates that, you know, and then plus on top
Speaker 3: of that, I think it's a great warm up moving
Speaker 3: your feet, And I like, why wouldn't you want that
Speaker 3: kind of skill? You know, something you work on every day?
Speaker 3: How can that not translate to you know, we got
Speaker 3: old linemen playing like Titus, Jimmy, like all these guys.
Speaker 3: Davis plays, you know, all the receivers. So to me,
Speaker 3: it's just why not obviously keep the main thing the
Speaker 3: main thing?
Speaker 2: Two the things you gotta do.
Speaker 3: You gotta take care of responsibilities before you can have fun.
Speaker 3: But you know, hopefully we got the right guys in
Speaker 3: the building who are doing that.
Speaker 1: Anyway, he won't say because he's I can say it
Speaker 1: if a coach does that, he's lost the team if
Speaker 1: he's taking away a ping pong table. Let's say you
Speaker 1: have a three game losing streak, and if some boneheaded
Speaker 1: coach and I'm taking away the ping pong table, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, you've lost the team, because, just like Connie said,
Speaker 1: it's a way to bond if you have players that
Speaker 1: are saying to themselves, you know what, I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm gonna study the playbook. I'm just gonna go play
Speaker 1: ping pong. You have the wrong player anyway. So it
Speaker 1: just feels like a drastic move where grown men who
Speaker 1: love the sport more, if not, you know, as much,
Speaker 1: if not more than the actual coaches. They don't need
Speaker 1: to be punished because they're losing. That's more of a
Speaker 1: high school move. If anybody did that when I was
Speaker 1: in the NFL, I would have lost respect for them
Speaker 1: as a coach.
Speaker 4: I remember seeing when Parcels took over the Cowboys. You know,
Speaker 4: all that stuff was gone, it was before games started
Speaker 4: and everything. But remember that was a story. All the
Speaker 4: ping pong tables are going. It's like, okay, yeah, whatever
Speaker 4: is that why.
Speaker 1: They lost years ago? And I know Parcels is a great, coach, Sure,
Speaker 1: that's I just now. I would think that most of
Speaker 1: the team would say he's lost us.
Speaker 5: Gotcha?
Speaker 4: All right? So with all that in mind, what's next
Speaker 4: for you guys? You get three games left? This is
Speaker 4: a massive, massive showdown Cleveland Browns. Before the season, you think, well,
Speaker 4: I don't know what what's gonna what they're gonna look like.
Speaker 4: You know, they are a game above the Texans and
Speaker 4: the standings. There's a lot to play for both sides.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great, Yeah, great question.
Speaker 3: I think that focus comes in, you know, continuing to
Speaker 3: do what we've been doing like every week. It's been
Speaker 3: important and I want to say we're getting used to that.
Speaker 3: But it's like, okay, you know, that's that's reload, you know,
Speaker 3: and this is another big week. We got a lot
Speaker 3: of guys were turning from injury, so it's time to
Speaker 3: get back to work. And you know, coach and all
Speaker 3: our coaches have depend great about resetting us mentally. You know,
Speaker 3: whether it's the low of last week coming off the
Speaker 3: Jets game, or the high this week of coming off
Speaker 3: the win. It's like, Okay, get back to us and
Speaker 3: let's get back to work.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this. I've always wondered, but never asked.
Speaker 1: This is what I love about being on this side
Speaker 1: of the mic. Now now the plain days are over
Speaker 1: with kickers and punters, but I'm gonna focus on kicking.
Speaker 1: Do you watch film on the approach of the defense,
Speaker 1: like how they're going to try to block it? Or
Speaker 1: does that like you talked about, does that give you
Speaker 1: too much to think about? Do you focus just on
Speaker 1: what you're doing? But do you ever watch film on
Speaker 1: the opponent?
Speaker 2: Talking about the.
Speaker 6: Field goal blog? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Sorry, yeah I don't.
Speaker 3: I think if I do my job and us as
Speaker 3: an operation do our job.
Speaker 6: Then it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: It really doesn't matter. And if they do sneak in
Speaker 3: somehow and something happens, then you know, move on to
Speaker 3: the next kick. So that's just part of the game.
Speaker 3: You can't be perfect, know what he is and just
Speaker 3: live with that.
Speaker 1: So with that being said, and that's cool to know.
Speaker 1: I just always wondered, do you watch film on yourself?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: Technique wise, I usually go back to, like I said earlier,
Speaker 3: the feels of things I was feeling, you know, mentally,
Speaker 3: where was my thoughts If I was a little distracted,
Speaker 3: you know, like maybe I was thinking about the wind
Speaker 3: or something and not hitting my true ball. That's the
Speaker 3: kind of stuff I try to reflect on.
Speaker 6: All Right, we're gonna take a quick time out. Don't
Speaker 6: touch that.
Speaker 1: Dow the player of the week, player of the month
Speaker 1: sitting right next to us here in Texans Huddle. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back. Welcome in. Welcome back, Texans Huddle. I'm
Speaker 1: Indy Kalu. He is Drew Doherty, Kamie Fairbarn joining us
Speaker 1: here in the Texan Huddle. Second segment. Enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 1: Let me, I'm sure they ask you this all the time,
Speaker 1: and again with my background being of Niger in descent,
Speaker 1: first generation, our names are important. You know, our names
Speaker 1: mean a lot to us. So first and forgive me,
Speaker 1: because again I'm sure you've been asked this million times.
Speaker 1: Can you say your a name and its entirety and
Speaker 1: then kind of talk about the importance of your culture
Speaker 1: of places behind their names.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, of course. So my whole name is John
Speaker 3: Christian and that was given to me.
Speaker 6: That is so awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a mouth fault.
Speaker 3: Truthfully, I didn't learn how to spell it till like
Speaker 3: seven or eighth grade, so got to sound it out.
Speaker 2: Here and there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that name, I don't ever remember learning it.
Speaker 3: It's always just I've always just known how to say it.
Speaker 3: And it was cool for me kind of the turn
Speaker 3: the page a little bit of like giving a name
Speaker 3: to my son and the meaning that goes behind it.
Speaker 3: And it's like in the Hawaiian culture, it's it's who
Speaker 3: you are, you know, and the meaning of it, and
Speaker 3: you know it comes from your family. They kind of
Speaker 3: give you this name and it's like a gift. And
Speaker 3: to me it's kind of like I've strived to live
Speaker 3: by it a little bit, yeah, to get all deep
Speaker 3: and stuff, but yeah, to see and give it to
Speaker 3: my son, it's it's been a cool process of like
Speaker 3: just going to that next level of thinking about what
Speaker 3: you want for somebody. And it's not like a fortune
Speaker 3: teller or a fortune cookie or whatever it is. It's
Speaker 3: just like a feeling that I had for him. And
Speaker 3: I'm becoming a parent and all that stuff. Like I'm
Speaker 3: really thankful for my parents and my family and what
Speaker 3: they what they gave to me.
Speaker 6: That is awesome.
Speaker 1: So when you had your son, and congratulations on the
Speaker 1: young man. So like in my culture, you're supposed to
Speaker 1: name your firstborn after your father. So all the firstborn
Speaker 1: sons are named that after their grandfather, which you you said,
Speaker 1: it's more of a feeling, it's what you want. Are
Speaker 1: there any rules or guidelines that you're supposed to follow,
Speaker 1: like familiar rules through the family or how does that work?
Speaker 2: A little bit.
Speaker 3: They talk about like dreams and stuff. When you have
Speaker 3: dreams about your your son or your daughter, whatever it is,
Speaker 3: and it's like the.
Speaker 2: I guess you know, the gods of Hawaiian gods or god.
Speaker 3: Whichever you believe, whatever you whatever religion you believed in,
Speaker 3: it's like they're telling you, they're giving you a glimpse
Speaker 3: of sight into what you want your what they want
Speaker 3: for your kid. And it's almost like a curse not
Speaker 3: to pass that on to him or to her. So yeah,
Speaker 3: just kind of going through that process, it was it
Speaker 3: was cool.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It was learning from my family, my aunties, my uncle's
Speaker 3: back home, and kind of picking their brain about how
Speaker 3: to go about it. It was special.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So Kaini, what does your full name, your full name mean,
Speaker 4: and what does your son's full name mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So mine Emi means to seek and my mom loved
Speaker 3: that name and she just didn't want me to seek anything.
Speaker 2: You know, you can. You can search for something and
Speaker 2: get lost, you know.
Speaker 3: So the whole name means to seek wisdom and talents
Speaker 3: with knowledge on a firm foundation.
Speaker 2: So yeah, just take that and I tried to live
Speaker 2: by that.
Speaker 3: And then my son is Kukuila kila oma Khalie, and
Speaker 3: it means strong, poised and standing tall with with with humility,
Speaker 3: guided by peace and openness.
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, well I saw I saw his young son
Speaker 4: when he was about seven eight months old at training camp,
Speaker 4: and he was always upright and he had nice chubby cheeks.
Speaker 5: He looks healthy man, well fed, well fed.
Speaker 4: Hey, so turn about his fair play. We've we heard
Speaker 4: his and I heard Rick Smith one time when you
Speaker 4: and I were doing something about fifteen years ago. He
Speaker 4: called you by by what I think is your first name,
Speaker 4: but n D Kalue, that's not your lose your initials
Speaker 4: for your your first name?
Speaker 5: What is your name kyl okay? And what's what's the
Speaker 5: meaning of that?
Speaker 6: Long life? Prosperity will come all right?
Speaker 1: And the last name is warrior of thunder, So you know,
Speaker 1: similar to Kyamie.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of you don't play with your names.
Speaker 4: And the.
Speaker 1: Only reason we go by n D is obviously you
Speaker 1: don't want to lose your your culture, your tradition when
Speaker 1: you move over to the States. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you have to understand when growing up. It's funny when
Speaker 1: I was in elementary and they do role call the
Speaker 1: beginning of the year and you have a new teacher.
Speaker 1: She'll be saying everyone's name this, She'll pause, then all
Speaker 1: my friends will be like, oh, it must be your
Speaker 1: term for your name. So you know, when you see
Speaker 1: all that, it's kind of tough for people.
Speaker 5: But when you're around the house, what would your parents
Speaker 5: call you?
Speaker 1: You know they actually not because they were watering it down.
Speaker 1: But even in Nigeria they call you n D. And
Speaker 1: the reason do that is every boy is named after
Speaker 1: the father's father. So my grandfather had eight sons, so
Speaker 1: all of his sons are named after him. So when
Speaker 1: you're all in the village together, you have to know
Speaker 1: who you're talking to. So n D is induquate DK.
Speaker 1: DK is my dad's name. Then my cousin he's Indu,
Speaker 1: which is his father's name. So that's how you kind
Speaker 1: of know the difference. So that they so they did
Speaker 1: call me nd just so.
Speaker 5: You know, like, would your brother?
Speaker 1: Uh so if I had a brother, I have two sisters,
Speaker 1: who is that that's my cousin?
Speaker 5: What would he go?
Speaker 6: Or M?
Speaker 1: So they'll say or an E or you know, they'll
Speaker 1: say something yes, just to kind of make sure you
Speaker 1: know who you're talking about.
Speaker 5: Remember Rick saying he called him?
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, he said the government name is
Speaker 1: to say yeah, yeah, but that's very cool. And I've
Speaker 1: I've played with some guys from Hawaii and I've always
Speaker 1: known that it was special. You know, it wasn't just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to name them red because that's my favorite car.
Speaker 1: So that's pretty cool. All right, Back back to the
Speaker 1: sport of football. You know, three games is three or
Speaker 1: four games left?
Speaker 6: Game?
Speaker 1: Three games left? How tough is it not to do
Speaker 1: the whole standing?
Speaker 6: Watch?
Speaker 1: Like do you watch the standings and say, well, if
Speaker 1: Jacksonville loses this game or this that or the other,
Speaker 1: how tough is it? Just a just focus on what
Speaker 1: we gotta do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I definitely peak about all that stuff.
Speaker 3: Not gonna lie, you know, see how the other games
Speaker 3: are gone.
Speaker 2: That's just natural.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But the nice part about our situation is we
Speaker 3: control our destiny. So it's just you know, then it
Speaker 3: kind of becomes a lot simpler. It's like, hey, you know,
Speaker 3: we can do this, and if we put in the effort,
Speaker 3: put in control what we can control and whatever else,
Speaker 3: you know, let them do what they want to do.
Speaker 4: How much do you kick during the week in practice?
Speaker 4: Because I imagine there's a balance. You don't want to
Speaker 4: wear yourself out, you got to stay sharp, so on
Speaker 4: and so forth.
Speaker 5: What's that regiment?
Speaker 6: Like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the quality over quantity type thing? For me?
Speaker 3: Usually I kick Wednesday, Fridays and then Sundays obviously.
Speaker 2: So day apart, get the rest after.
Speaker 3: The Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and then you know, heavier day
Speaker 3: on Wednesday and then sharpen up on Friday and then
Speaker 3: let it rip on Sunday.
Speaker 1: You know, I keep asking you about the mental aspect
Speaker 1: because I never envied a kicker, because I'm always like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be in that, you know, in
Speaker 1: that guy's shoes. What is it like during the game
Speaker 1: where there's three quarters and you haven't even stepped on
Speaker 1: the field, Like are you staying on the bike? Are
Speaker 1: you kind of going through the thought process you talked
Speaker 1: about earlier in the show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you go through little mental rehearsals.
Speaker 3: I guess you'd want to say of like, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe the other team had a pah or a field goal,
Speaker 3: and you kind of all right, if I was in
Speaker 3: that situation, what would I be doing?
Speaker 2: You go through it in your head. But yeah, that's
Speaker 2: the hard part for sure, is if.
Speaker 3: You haven't touched the field for a while and then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden you're you're called upon. Thankfully, I've
Speaker 3: been in that situation, so you kind of know how
Speaker 3: to manage your You know your body and your emotions,
Speaker 3: your mentals. So yeah, I think once you get to
Speaker 3: the game time, it's just you know whatever comes comes
Speaker 3: and don't resist anything.
Speaker 1: With that being said, do you ever get upset when
Speaker 1: you feel like they're within your range? But not this coach,
Speaker 1: with any coach is playing it too conservative for you?
Speaker 1: Like are you ever thinking yourself, come on, coach, I
Speaker 1: can I can make this.
Speaker 3: I think I always have that attitude is if, yeah,
Speaker 3: if it's best for the team to punt it and
Speaker 3: set us up, then you know, so be it. And
Speaker 3: if it is called upon me and I welcome that too,
Speaker 3: let's go, So I try to show like if it's
Speaker 3: third down and I'm waiting there on the sideline and
Speaker 3: I creep out, it's like, hey, I'm ready, but if
Speaker 3: whatever's best for the team.
Speaker 5: I've seen that. I've seen the creeping sometimes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you kind of get the little jog out like
Speaker 3: you're getting ready to go.
Speaker 5: But yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 6: Hey.
Speaker 4: One thing we do on the show is we talk
Speaker 4: about position group dinners.
Speaker 5: Do you guys do that? Do you guys? The three
Speaker 5: you get.
Speaker 3: Together occasionally, but for us, all of us have kids
Speaker 3: now right right right, so yeah, it's you know, Friday
Speaker 3: becomes about about them and then you know, maybe date
Speaker 3: night with your wife all that kind of stuff, So.
Speaker 5: It's infrequent when you guys do get together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sometimes if birthday or you know occasion, we might bring.
Speaker 2: In the whole family with us too.
Speaker 5: That's cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, what do you'all do when y'all when that
Speaker 4: happens at somebody's house or y'all go out?
Speaker 2: Uh, we have gone to my house before. Sometimes just
Speaker 2: go grab some tacos or something something easy. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: got you.
Speaker 6: I like, how y'all do it? All right, We're gonna
Speaker 6: take a quick time out.
Speaker 2: So how is your boy now he's almost a year.
Speaker 6: Will this be your first Christmas with him?
Speaker 2: First one?
Speaker 6: Okay, good.
Speaker 1: On the other side, we're gonna ask what's the perfect
Speaker 1: gift for your son? And what does Kymie want off
Speaker 1: the football field for Christmas? We'll talk about that and
Speaker 1: much more. Texan Huddle. Right here, Welcome in, Welcome back.
Speaker 1: One more segment to go, right here, Texan Huddle. I
Speaker 1: am indeed he's Drew Kymie joining us here in the huddle,
Speaker 1: and before we left, I gave him a few seconds
Speaker 1: to think about it. We're six days away from Christmas. Obviously,
Speaker 1: when you think Christmas now, we forget the reason for
Speaker 1: the season. It's all about the gifts. So we'll play
Speaker 1: into that one. You're gonna spend your first Christmas with
Speaker 1: your baby boy, So what gift are you buying for him?
Speaker 1: And what do you want? You know, the men always
Speaker 1: get overlooked, the husbands and fathers always get overlooked. So
Speaker 1: what do you want off the field? What do you
Speaker 1: want to unwrap?
Speaker 2: Shoot?
Speaker 3: Well, I think the obvious one would be you know,
Speaker 3: we're playing on Christmas Eve, so that would be a
Speaker 3: gift for me and a lot of other people in
Speaker 3: this stadium.
Speaker 2: Get that dumb have a great dead Christmas. But it's
Speaker 2: something on a wrap. That's a good question. I think
Speaker 2: I put it on my Christmas list. There's this.
Speaker 3: There's this little like caddy, a stroller caddy where you
Speaker 3: can attach it to a stroller, and it's got these
Speaker 3: slots for golf clubs. So I'm gonna take my son,
Speaker 3: put them in the stroller, and then put all my
Speaker 3: clothes so you can walk you're outside with your son,
Speaker 3: and then I'll get my son a little mini putter.
Speaker 5: So there you go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, perfect, Yeah, golf related.
Speaker 1: Look a true dad, It is golf related. And he
Speaker 1: still throws in some of the first son. So that's
Speaker 1: a true taken away.
Speaker 5: Have you seen people you know?
Speaker 2: I haven't. I haven't. It's come up on the Instagram
Speaker 2: feed pretty much.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's gonna probably come up on our Instagram feeds
Speaker 4: now that we're talking about our phones.
Speaker 5: What's your favorite Christmas song?
Speaker 2: I mean, MACA, that's a good one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a good one about you.
Speaker 1: Know what, I'm gonna sound real bah humble, Sure, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I can't you know what?
Speaker 6: Maybe?
Speaker 1: Uh, what was the hottest Queens Brun DMC. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a die Hard's yours. Uh.
Speaker 4: I like Carol and Caroling by Nat King Cole White,
Speaker 4: Christmas being Crosby Last Christmas Wham wham.
Speaker 5: Yeah why not.
Speaker 6: Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to look that one up.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me ask you you've heard, let me ask
Speaker 1: you all this, and I'll say this as even though
Speaker 1: I sound like I'm not into Christmas, I am. One
Speaker 1: of my favorite Christmas movies is the old school movie
Speaker 1: where and I can't even remember the name, but I
Speaker 1: watched it in elementary where he said, oh I shouldn't.
Speaker 6: Have been born.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, it's a wonderful, Like it's a wonderful. My
Speaker 5: favorite movie ever?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 5: Is it movies?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Do you have a favorite Christmas movie?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're on a little kick right now. We try
Speaker 3: to watch on it, you know, turn it on every night.
Speaker 2: Nice right now. Polar Express.
Speaker 5: I think that's a good. Yeah, Okay, a cartoonish cartoon.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna have to try that.
Speaker 4: That's it's pretty. It's good with yeah, good with kids.
Speaker 4: I forgot Stevie Wonder has like three bangers. Uh, that's
Speaker 4: what Christmas means to me, that's that's my.
Speaker 1: Favorite's Mariah carry Christmas?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's on every store YEP, it's playing in the
Speaker 4: gazillion stores right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, I saw the shock in your eyes when he
Speaker 1: said It's a Wonderful life. It's his favorite movie ever.
Speaker 1: What's your favorite movie? Favorite movie regardless of genre? Man, Like,
Speaker 1: when you're relaxing on the couch, it's on, no matter
Speaker 1: what you say, you know what, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: watch it because it's on.
Speaker 3: The first one that comes to mind, probably like Interstellar,
Speaker 3: maybe Goodwill Hunting.
Speaker 6: Yeah, like that's strong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are those are two that come off the
Speaker 2: top of my well.
Speaker 6: Was the first one I have even heard of that?
Speaker 2: Interstellar? Yeah, there was Space one.
Speaker 5: To check that I've heard of it. I've never seen
Speaker 5: so you recommend it?
Speaker 6: Should? Should? I sit on the couch? And definitely Interstellar.
Speaker 2: It's a trip for sure.
Speaker 3: It's about space in the future and Matthew McConaughey is
Speaker 3: in it and Hathaway.
Speaker 6: Yeah, how have I not heard of that? Good?
Speaker 1: I'm glad to thank you You've given me something to
Speaker 1: watch in the favorite you know, as I'm asking kind
Speaker 1: of that I'm like, that's it's a loaded question because.
Speaker 5: It's more like yeah, like seven or eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but uh, New Jack City. I really enjoyed New
Speaker 1: Jack City. Scarface, as bad as the acting is, maybe
Speaker 1: it was the point of my life when I watched it.
Speaker 1: Have you seen Scarface with I Just that's one movie
Speaker 1: that no matter what, I'm stopping it and I'm not
Speaker 1: one of these fake want to be gangsters, but there's
Speaker 1: just something.
Speaker 6: About the captivating. Yeah. Then Coming to America was just yeah,
Speaker 6: there's just good.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's such a tough so give us your your
Speaker 1: three that just popping into your.
Speaker 4: Head when love die hard. Good One Hunting was yeah,
Speaker 4: the first first Good One. Hunting is phenomenal movie. I've
Speaker 4: seen that a bunch and it does never diminish.
Speaker 5: Gosh. I love.
Speaker 4: A lot of baseball movies too, like sports movies, Field
Speaker 4: of Dreams, Full Durham, The Natural.
Speaker 2: You got categories right, Yes, Sports.
Speaker 5: Michael MoES like Heat, Collateral like those are all good.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'll say one that caught me off guard because I
Speaker 1: had no idea what it was going to be about,
Speaker 1: and sometimes that makes it a better viewing experience for me.
Speaker 1: A Green Mile have you seen the Hell of the movie,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't know about the the what's the word
Speaker 1: I'm looking for, you know, the aspect of the fact
Speaker 1: that it's the fantasy part of right, you know.
Speaker 6: So when I saw that, I was like, oh, whoa,
Speaker 6: where did.
Speaker 4: I haven't seen that for like twenty five years when
Speaker 4: that was That's right one classic?
Speaker 1: Do you listen to me? Like before the games? You
Speaker 1: depending on positions, certain guys you know, try to get hype.
Speaker 1: They try to stay cool, like pregame, Are you listening
Speaker 1: to anything?
Speaker 2: Not really, I I've tried that, And I like to
Speaker 2: be in my surroundings and observe and hear stuff, and
Speaker 2: I feel more comfortable that way.
Speaker 3: If I had headphones on, I'd feel like shut off.
Speaker 3: So I like to be, you know, hearing guys talk,
Speaker 3: you know, whatever it is. So that just works for me.
Speaker 1: How important is it for you to, you know, really
Speaker 1: watch the game, watch the offensive defense and kind of
Speaker 1: understand what's going on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'm definitely I'm more free on when
Speaker 3: we're on defense, just because I'm not locked in going
Speaker 3: on offense. I definitely keep an eye on the offense
Speaker 3: obviously as they move down the field, But it's more
Speaker 3: of like observing, not getting like attached to whatever is happening,
Speaker 3: so I can kind of stay in my zone.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I definitely keep track of the game.
Speaker 4: When the Texans are on offense, and say they're down
Speaker 4: on the other end of the field at like the
Speaker 4: twenty five, you're usually on the other end of the
Speaker 4: sideline right kicking into that because there's two nets, right.
Speaker 2: And if we're on our own twenty five or like you're.
Speaker 4: About to score, you're you're closer to the opposite twenty
Speaker 4: five and you kind of flip right, you sort of
Speaker 4: stay opposite the action.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, I like to do that because I can
Speaker 3: come onto the field and walk towards the field goals,
Speaker 3: so it looks like the field goal is getting closer
Speaker 3: and smaller or not smaller, larger rather than you know,
Speaker 3: just the awkwardness of coming right from the side.
Speaker 4: That makes way more sense than I thought. You just
Speaker 4: did it because you didn't You wanted a clearer path
Speaker 4: to walk. You didn't want to have to walk.
Speaker 2: Definitely, that aspect of it.
Speaker 4: That your yours makes a whole hell of a lot,
Speaker 4: and I didn't even think of, Yeah, that is cool.
Speaker 1: You know, this is fascinating because this is one part
Speaker 1: of the game I just don't know anything about. So
Speaker 1: to hear the mental aspect, the mental approach, even how
Speaker 1: you approach and walk onto the field like or our
Speaker 1: dumb asses is z line. We're just run on the field,
Speaker 1: like where's the ball? Okay, there it is. But you're like,
Speaker 1: so when is that taught? Like did somebody teach you
Speaker 1: that at an early age or is it more natural?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Taught, and then you just kind of I've always liked
Speaker 3: to watch other kickers in their routines, whether you know,
Speaker 3: if you watch somebody and you can see what they do,
Speaker 3: you almost get to learn what you don't like and
Speaker 3: what you do like, so you know what works for
Speaker 3: you and what doesn't work for you. So yeah, my
Speaker 3: coach did mention something like that. Just you got to
Speaker 3: figure it out for yourself.
Speaker 4: Who are the kickers that you leaned on as far
Speaker 4: as like I watched this guy, I watched this guy.
Speaker 4: Who would you get the most info from and pattern
Speaker 4: most things after?
Speaker 5: Was it a combo of guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we definitely a combo.
Speaker 3: Robbie Gold for sure, he's retired, but he was definitely
Speaker 3: one of long time. One of my favorites, especially being
Speaker 3: able to du It's Chicago. Dan Bailey, he was he
Speaker 3: was lights out for a long time.
Speaker 5: Cowboys, Yeah, yep.
Speaker 2: And then obviously like the Great Spantari.
Speaker 3: You know, just they all have different techniques, they all
Speaker 3: swing a little different, but just their approach to the
Speaker 3: game mentally, you know, it's all has been elite.
Speaker 1: What's the relationship like during training camp when they bring
Speaker 1: in other kickers for the other positions, your thought is
Speaker 1: how we could be friends and hopefully the guy makes
Speaker 1: a team, but with kickers, like only one of us
Speaker 1: is gonna make it.
Speaker 6: So is it more?
Speaker 1: Are you mentoring the young guy or are you looking
Speaker 1: at him like, no, that's my competitor.
Speaker 5: Both.
Speaker 3: I don't see why you can't have respect for a
Speaker 3: guy that you're competing with. If they ask me questions,
Speaker 3: I'll answer them truthfully. I'm not trying to, like, you know,
Speaker 3: make you know if I want him at my best,
Speaker 3: because that's gonna make me better. I've always personally liked
Speaker 3: kicking with other kickers because we go out alone.
Speaker 2: It's it's different.
Speaker 3: You know, you're you're working on stuff, but there's when
Speaker 3: there's somebody else there, it's like, all right, I gotta
Speaker 3: be sharp today. Kind of brings you up a little bit,
Speaker 3: you know, rise to that, you know, if occasion, I
Speaker 3: guess whatever it is when it's important.
Speaker 2: But yeah, when other kickers come, it's just you know,
Speaker 2: it's part.
Speaker 1: Of the game, part of the job. Yeah, so so
Speaker 1: you actually give them good advice. So like me, I'll
Speaker 1: be like, no, you gotta kick it with your toe.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta you gotta go with you gotta
Speaker 1: go with the wind.
Speaker 2: So I definitely do that, you know, like let's kick.
Speaker 2: Let's kick against the wind today.
Speaker 5: If you approach it, then try to kick.
Speaker 6: Yeah, right, so that's cool.
Speaker 1: I figured, uh, you know, there's always gonna be these
Speaker 1: battles in training camp, but with kickers, it is there's
Speaker 1: only one spot. So I didn't know how intense the
Speaker 1: relationship would be off the field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's it's it is what it is.
Speaker 3: You know, if hopefully you it makes you better, that's
Speaker 3: the way I look at it.
Speaker 1: Well said, what's made you better? And the textan fans
Speaker 1: are definitely appreciative of it. Appreciate what you've been doing
Speaker 1: here for so many years, and keep it up and
Speaker 1: we really appreciate you joining us here in Texas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate the love you know, the city, the fans.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much for stinging with us hoping to
Speaker 3: make you guys proud. Thanks for your guys time today
Speaker 3: and go Texans.
Speaker 1: You've already made us proud for Kymi, for Drew I am. Indeed,
Speaker 1: this has been Texan Huddle