FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright STUNS, Houston Texans Are LEGIT Super Bowl THREATS | NFL

FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright STUNS, Houston Texans Are LEGIT Super Bowl THREATS | NFL

[Applause] So extremely proud of you guys, man. Hey, way to come up. Come out here tonight, man. Execute and finish, right? It’s all about the finish. Great team win. We did what we came to do. All right. And since we came, we did what we came to do. I’ll see you guys on Wednesday. Are the Texans a legit threat in your mind, coach? Yeah. Yes, because of of how they play defensively. Yes, because of the way that they can just stifle people. It’s it’s just you you look at what CJ Stout did early and then since then it’s it’s been a struggle and and by early you mean in the game yesterday or in his career? Early in his career. And and and you you’re looking at that trajectory thinking, okay, this is going to be a guy in a team that every year is going to produce explosive or fairly explosive results offensively. It just hasn’t been that. So from from the fact that they’ve been able to beat good teams here recently, this is what their fifth in a row. Yeah. They’ve had a brutal schedule. They’ve had a brutal schedule. They’ve just strung a fifth one together against Kansas City in Kansas City. That momentum moving into the playoffs or into the late part of the season is is really powerful. And any team that’s got a defense that’s as good as their defense, you’ve you’ve got a shot. Yeah, I I agree. I mean, that that fivegame win streak includes obviously the Chiefs, Jacksonville, Buffalo. So, they’re beating good teams, very good teams. Uh Indianapolis, obviously a broken leg, but yeah, but look, I mean, and they played the they lost close games to the Rams, Bucks, Jags early. They lost to Denver by three with Davis Mills playing most of the game cuz that’s when CJ Stra got hurt. So, yeah, they’re a very good team. Obviously, beating San Francisco is a good win. Um, and Denver doesn’t they they’re similar in that they got a great defense, but the offense is shaky. Uh, Buffalo, like when you look at the AFC now, yes, they got a shot because the AF there’s not a complete team in the conference. Buffalo, yes, the great offense. Okay, you you got you guys are Okay, I’ll take that back. You’re probably the most experience, but yeah, the lack of experience is an is something. We’ll see if that that doesn’t become an issue. And you don’t have like what I would say like the scary playmakers, scariest playmakers, you know. Um it’s a conservative type team and they get it done, but um it’s wide open. I I don’t think generally, coach, they have the great offense to get to the Super Bowl. But this might be one of those years where the Ravens with Trenton Dilford, you know what I mean? Where it’s a defense led, but if they don’t if they don’t win the division, which they could, but if they don’t, they are going to be either the most likely the six or the seven seed. Buffalo’s the five. Now, they have tiebreaker with Buffalo, but just so let’s just talk about them as the as a wild card team. If they are the five seed and they’re playing whoever wins the AFC North, I will be picking them. And if they are the six or the seven and they are playing uh Drake May in his first playoff start or Bo Knicks or Trevor Lawrence, I that is this is where if I were a Patriots fan, I would prefer almost anyone than the Texans. Yeah. I mean, the Texans absolutely positively can be any team in the AFC. Let’s just focus on the AFC because we’re not, you know, we’re even the question is, you know, are they a legit AFC threat? They obviously absolutely can. And considering that the Texans are such an amazing story considering how this season has unfolded, all the losses in the beginning, CJ St. I mean like multiple times you could have said, you know what, it’s it’s just better for them to keep losing. The season’s over, get a top draft pick, you know, fix this O line, fire another co, you know, another coordinator. You’re just like, let’s just let me This season’s gone. And now you’re like, look what they’re doing. Look who they’re taking down. And it’s also funny because I I I listen to Demo Miko talk where he’s just like, you know, you know, it’s it’s it’s how we executed and how we finished. And in my mind, I was going to say like emphasize the finish part. Uh you know, and he then says, “But it’s really how you how we finish.” And I’m like, “Ah, Nico, you taking my you taking my line.” I’m like, “I really do think like a coach now.” Uh because that’s that’s exactly I was about to say it was like, “No, it’s how you finished.” And he said it, but then he emphasized it. But I’m like, “Ah, he took it. The coach, the the head coach of the elite defense took it from me.” So, I thought that was funny for me. Um, but I mean, yeah, I went on a whole rant and I’m not going to repeat the whole rant because I I just made it with with regard to the Packers video. Um, but I’ll just very quickly say that to me, no one should have confidence at all. You can believe in your team being great and being a top contender, etc., etc., But I mean, I I just think any team can beat any team right now. And if the Texans went up against the Jags or the Patriots, the Steelers, you know, whoever, whoever, I just they absolutely can blow this defense can blow up anyone. Now, there are some concerns with the offense. No doubt about it. Um CJ Shout made some huge plays. I mean, like it was he made some plays where I was like I’m screaming, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe her.” I literally screamed like, “Oh my gosh.” Cuz there’s times that like I’m thinking to myself, “He’s not going to make this play.” Cuz a lot of times it’s him just scrambling and throwing on the run. And that’s not really his game. I look at CJ more as like a an elite playmaker from the pocket specifically, at least how it was earlier in his career. And things obviously took a bit of a turn. But some of the throws that he was making, I was just like, “What’s about to happen?” And I’m thinking to myself, don’t turn the ball over. That’s like the only way you can lose this game right now is throwing some sort of devastating pick that then takes it they take it to like the 10 yard line or something like you’re you’re you can win this game. You got to be smart. And he’s making some plays where I’m just like oh my god I can’t believe this offense just pulled this off. CJ just pulled this off. I’m like oh my gosh. And so they don’t their offense isn’t great, right? It’s not bad but it’s not great. I think even Collinssworth was like it’s okay. you know, it’s like, you know, it it gets the job done relative to the defense. And so that’ll always make you a bit uncomfortable in the playoffs for sure, especially now if you’re going up against a great defense like the Broncos and whatnot. Um, but it would just be really nice for the Texans if they just also had like an awesome run game or a tough physical run where they know like just some way to just kind of bully things a little bit or you know, I don’t know, CJ was more mobile and he could take off more regularly, right? You know, you would always have to, you know, account for him getting like 50 60 rushing yards or something. uh something that could really add a huge wrinkle offensively um in the playoffs that I just don’t think the Texans have right now. So very much the way how they won this game is how that’s the way how they’re the threat in the AFC. Like that’s how they win the Super Bowl. They blow it all up. But right now, like even against the Buffalo Bills, they could have lost that game. I mean, and they blew up Josh two interceptions, eight sacks. like they blew him up and yet that was still a close enough game. Um going up against the uh Chiefs, right? Like the Texans left that door open the entire game. There was moments that the Texans could have closed it out and said, “Nope, you can’t.” And it was just like they were they were leaving the door open. They were absolutely positively leaving the door open. And if you think about it, there were there were a bunch of drops that were on the Chiefs that you could just say if those weren’t drops, those are conversions, then who knows? And again, the Texans deserve all the credit in the world. That was 100% about the Texans winning that game, not the Kansas City Chiefs losing that game. But in the playoffs, if a drop becomes a catch, things change dramatically, right? You know, you convert that fourth down rather than not, things change dramatically, right? Um, and so you want to be a little bit more resilient to that. And although this defense is insanely resilient and game wrecking, you need your offense to be a little bit more resilient as well. You need to be able to get more of a gap, more of a cushion, more of a, hey, our defense just forced a three and out. We are now going to have a nice five, six minute, you know, whatever it is. And and then again, Collinssworth pointed that out as well where he’s just like because now the pass rush was getting to CJ and he was like, if you can just convert a couple downs, now the pass rush is a little bit more tired and they can’t be as threatening, right? And like that needs to be a little bit more reliable again, especially in the playoffs because things start to suffocate. But the benefit is that CJ Strad and the Houston Texans have playoff experience, playoff wins. CJ Strad, you know, you know, himself, you know, alone, the quarter, the starting quarterback, obviously, you know, has some big game, you know, big moments in the playoffs. Uh, so he’s not going to be overwhelmed by the moment. I think CJ’s face just always looks somewhat kind of like aloof. Like he always looks like he’s kind of um like nervous or something or a little overwhelmed and it’s just his face like he he he’s not like um but it just it it is kind of funny cuz sometimes I look at him and you’re just like, “Are you ready for this moment right now?” And he is. It’s just like it’s just his demeanor. Uh and I still am a firm firm believer that if you give CJ a good enough team around him, you actually protect him, give him an O line, just a semblance of a run game, like he he is special and I think he can still be this great quarterback and the quarterback that we thought he was going to become. I don’t know if this is the season that he gets to do it, but um you still get to see his decision making, his playmaking ability, and I do think he has risen to the occasion in the playoffs. But the only other thing that really frustrates me and annoys me, and this happened against the Kansas City Chiefs last year, and it happened in this very game, they took this um they took a delay of game penalty and they were either going to have to call hike and and rush the snap, which then the play would have been rushed and just wouldn’t have been executed properly or um they took the delay of game. And that’s the thing that drives me crazy because that’s the head coach. He needs to be better in that moment. in the playoffs, they let the play rush and called hike and C.J. Strad was like flush out of the pocket immediately and it was just and it was still a crucial part of the game. the game was still winnable and they were like they were in Kansas City Chiefs territory like it was it was such an important part of that game second half and it was just like you know help out your young quarterback, help out your team and they needed to call a timeout and they just didn’t and then it ended up being this rush play and then the play went nowhere and you know it was a lo, you know, it was a it was a net negative and then in this game they didn’t get the playoff at all and it was a delay of game and it was just like that is an that is a a really important part of that game. Call the timeout. That is the time. And also cuz CJ needs to call the timeout. CJ needs to grow, mature, and just have the confidence. I’m calling a timeout right here because that’s the right play. And I defended CJ last year in that playoff game because I’m like, it’s the playoffs. Like, there’s a lot going on. You’re in your second year. Like, it is up to the coach to be running down the sideline screaming at the ref, timeout, timeout, timeout. You know, make things easier for your quarterback. And at this point, I I you know, I would have I would hope CJ would have a little bit more confidence to call a timeout in that moment, but it doesn’t seem like that’s where his development is right now. And that’s okay. And again, who knows? I don’t know what the conversations they have. Some coaches are like, I’m the one calling timeout. Some of their coaches are like, listen, something’s happening. You don’t feel confident, secure, when we’re inside x amount. You know, they can go over various situations of, you know, when it’s appropriate to call a timeout, when it’s not, when you just have to just call hike right away and let the play develop, or you have to just take the delay of game because it just is what it is. There’s going to be a million different variations, a million different philosophies and whatnot, but it doesn’t seem like it’s even remotely discussed or or kind of taken care of. And those things have devastating consequences. It had devastating consequences in the in the playoffs last year, and it could have had devastating consequences in this game. So, like some of those little things I just would like to see the Texans be able to be better at because those matter most in the playoffs. They absolutely matter most. And, you know, since I really believe, and this is, you know, part of the rant that I said uh in my Packers video is just like the playoffs right now, man, hold your breath for every extra point, for every field goal, for every like they the Kansas City Chiefs missing a field goal. every little point is going I mean it’s just I just think every game is going to come down to the wire. I just I just think this this whole playoffs are is going to be suffocated. It’s going to be so anxietyinducing. No matter who you’re playing, no matter how the game is unfolding, you’re it’s just it’s just going to be like this the whole time. And when you have as elite of a defense as the Houston Texans, it’s just like, yeah, man, you’re a big reason why that’s going to be the case. And so you just need your offense to to elevate ever so slightly and at the minimum be CJ has to be elite at game management. If he is up 107 on the road against the Patriots, there are no losses. There are not You are not taking that sack, getting out of field goal range, which he almost did in this game, right? You are not You cannot do that. You cannot force a throw and get that intercept. You can’t, right? Like he needs to be an elite game manager. An elite game manager. That is not a negative. Every all-time great quarterback also needed to be an elite game manager. It’s the way it works. Tom Brady was an elite game manager. Patrick Mahomes an elite game manager. It’s not the only thing they’re elite at, but it’s a part of it’s a tool in their toolbox. And it’s like that’s what CJ Strad needs to understand arguably more than anything else during this run. during anything else more so than making some of the big plays. The foundation has to be elite game management. And part of that is calling a timeout when you need to. Even if it’s not, even if you want to save your timeouts, it’s like this play matters. This play matters big time right now. So, the Chiefs took a timeout when it was just kind of like this it was a got to have it moment in the game and it was like, you know, they knew they were going to need their timeouts, but that play itself is really important. And it’s like Curt Warner said and I’ll end here. He’s like he thinks a lot of people emphasize too much like on third down or this that and he’s like every down is just as important. If you have a huge play on first down, it’s no different than having a huge play on third down because Colin earlier today went a rant where he goes, “I think the third down is the most important down.” And in theory, I get it and it sounds good and we and we, you know, we look at it more. You we look at third down conversion rates and whatnot, but Kurt Warner clearly subscribes to the philosophy where it’s like doesn’t matter what down it is. Second down, third down, fourth down, first down. A big play is a big play. an important conversion is an important conversion whether you’re doing it on second down or third down. Um so those are just my thoughts. I’d absolutely love to hear yours. What do you guys all think about the Houston Texans being a legit AFC threat? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I read every single comment so you agree with me or disagree with me. Either way, let’s get in some discussions. Let’s get in some fights. But ultimately, let’s just have some fun. And please do consider subscribing. We’re building an amazing community here and absolutely love to see you part of it. I want to build something that we all generally feel connected to. something that we’re really excited to be part of. I think we’re well on our way to doing it. Please don’t forget to give this video a thumbs up as it really does help with the visibility and the algorithm. Thank you so much.

FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright STUNS, Houston Texans Are LEGIT Super Bowl THREATS | NFL
#firstthingsfirst #nickwright #houstontexans