The Houston Texans Are in a Good Spot Ahead of the Colts Game

The Houston Texans Are in a Good Spot Ahead of the Colts Game

All right, it is Monday. Texans back in the building. De Mo Ryan’s a little bit grumpy today. I kind of enjoyed it though. I got I gotta tell you, I I enjoy a little grumpy De Mo Ryan every once in a while. Um and it started right off the top, Cody. He felt like he was kind of It felt like he was kind of grumpy for a reason, though. Like it felt like he’d maybe spent all weekend combing through Colts film getting ready for them or going over what wasn’t working for his offense. like he felt like he was grumpy for a reason. Not just like and I’m guilty of this probably more than anybody, just like grumpy for no reason. Like he felt like he’s grumpy for a reason. Yeah. And I mean, if you the offense probably had something to to do with it, the fact that I mean, let’s be honest, he had a little more free time uh yesterday. So maybe maybe he was uh having to do a little bit more than he’s accustomed to around the crib. Who knows? Uh but I think he kind of found his groove. seemed a little bit tired, but he was asked about CJ Stra being in concussion protocol. Uh are ready to go and uh here’s what old do had to say. Um will CJ start this week? Yeah. So u for us right now CJ and Jaylen are still in the concussion protocol. So whenever CJ is back ready to roll, he’s been our starter. He will be our starter whenever he’s back ready to go. All right, there you go. So, I mean, look, I did love how he’s like he’s just like exasper like you had to know that was the first question coming, coach. Well, I mean, the concussion protocol, I don’t think you can say someone’s going to play until they’re completely out of it, right? I don’t think you can you can say, “Yeah, well, we’re we’re expecting to play.” He’s playing like that. Make no mistake. No, he’s playing. Like, 100% he’s playing. So, there’s no there’s no and ifs buts about it. He’ll clear the protocol Wednesday. Wednesday and he will be he will be good to go. But uh that’s that’s really something that he can’t really control. So that’s kind of where he went in that area. It’s funny, right? I think he I think he said all he is allowed to say by the way the NFL lets you operate when guys are in concussion protocol. And as Landry said, there’s no worry that these guys are still in concussion protocol. They haven’t had the chance to clear it yet. Like they only had one practice last week. The other two were walkthroughs. So, uh, when they have their practice Wednesday, they’ll do the little meeting with the independent neurologist, doctor, whatever after practice, and then boom, you would assume CJ Strad and Jaylen Petri are clear in protocol and they’ll be good to go. Yeah, he’s he’s definitely playing. And it’s going to be interesting to see how CJ comes back and and what it what it looks like. I I look I I think that obviously there’s a higher upside with CJ. I I do wonder though, is this offense going to look what it looked like before he went out and is it going to continue to be a frustrating source of uh really kind of preventing the Texans from getting where they want to go if we’re being honest? And and I I was actually really pleased with De Mo calling out the offense today. We’ll hear that in a second. But I thought it was a money quote from Demo Ryan cuz it’s it’s frustrating. It’s it’s a frustrating thing if this were year one or year two and this were happening on offense and you were and you had a chance on Sunday, which by the way, Sunday they have a chance to either get in the division race or be done with it, right? It’s there’s no middle ground. You you either in the division race or it’s over this Sunday. It’s that’s that’s the way the lay of the land and the way things are right now with them. But if it were early in the process and they hadn’t made the decisions that they made last year, which we kind of agreed with, then it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. But that’s why it’s a big deal because you’ve gotten rid of Bobby Slowick and Nick Kayle’s not that much better. So, the good news is what’s true at this point in the season is not always the truth. Hell, Demo’s first year, Jacksonville was in firm control of the division and they pissed it away. Um, there have been times where guys have been MVP candidates up to this point and they piss it away. So maybe Nick Kayley can flip some kind of switch, but this was the biggest move that you made, the biggest decision that you’ve made and it’s just really quite frankly been unacceptable. And I think Demetico Ryan has finally reached a point where he can openly admit this piss poor offense isn’t going to get the job done as competition increases and they need more a bigger compliment in complimentary football from from Nick Kayley’s offense. Well, the difference in the division from last year to this year too is if your offense doesn’t click, if they don’t finally turn the corner and put some consistency together offensively, you’re probably not going to make the playoffs. like you don’t have as much margin for error as you did a year ago. And it’s not got to be perfect football down the stretch, but it’s got to be pretty damn close from the entirety of the team, offense, special teams, and that excellent defense if they’re going to make the playoffs. And then certainly if you want to have a conversation about the uh division, you got to start this Sunday with Indianapolis. But if the offense doesn’t turn and doesn’t get some consistency and isn’t much better than what we’ve seen for the majority of this year, they’re going to be sitting at home and they’re not going to the playoffs and they’re going to be on the outside looking in and they’re all going to be sitting there saying, “Okay, we made a big change trying to go further and we didn’t go anywhere near as far as we have been the first couple years.” And that’s going to lead to some interesting conversations in the building. Yeah. And I think that’s I think that’s the best thing you you came around to it, but I take exception with we got to get in the playoffs. you were in the playoffs last year when you made this change and you made Demo Ryan’s fire his friend and I and I don’t know if that adds to the frustration but he fired his friend and I think CJ did not have it wasn’t like he pounded the table and said if Bobby’s here I’m gone but CJ did not save Bobby Slowick like he could have and we haven’t seen the best version of CJ Strad yet and oh by the way you hire Nick Cacerio’s guy it’s got to be better it’s frustrating and you can hear it in Demo Ryan’s voice here’s Diko Ryan’s talking about the offense and the manner in which they’re playing and why it’s just not effing good enough. We still got to do a better job moving the ball in the second half. I don’t think our second half offense was good enough. And you know, so we have to continue to strive, continue to get better at executing the plays, calling it better. We got to do a much better job, coaches, players, everybody. We got to be able to move the ball way more than we did in the second half. We’re going to finish games the right way. That’s about as critical as he’s ever been of the entirety of the offense at that podium. Well, he saved their ass. Yeah. They didn’t have 70 yards in the second half. And 50. They didn’t have 50. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know what the total yards were. Maybe they they lost some yards, but at one point it was 63. I just stopped even keeping up. It It was I mean, it was may It’s It was It was Oh, yeah. They did throw some backwards passes, so maybe there’s that, too. Um, you lose seven yards on a play the first time you target Woody Marks. That probably brings it back a little bit. 31 passing yards, 29 rushing yards. Okay, so they had 60 yards. Like that that’s not going to work, man. Like they they completely they they completely got bailed out. And what what makes what makes it the most frustrating is that it just it didn’t feel like Nick Kayley was ready. I’m being dead serious. And I asked my dad this question when I was talking to him uh on the way back from practice. I I I wonder like does Nick Kayley maybe just belong in the booth? Because I I think I think he might just belong in the booth. I think he might just be a guy that needs a bunch of notes in front of him and and figure it out. And that’s not that’s not a knock on him. There’s a lot of guys who are like that. But I mean, when it’s this bad, there’s got to be like some sort of there’s got to be like some sort of adjustment or some sort of thought process into changing what you do and what it is. And and this is the the reality is this is not this is not nitpicking. This is this is a continuation of last year. That’s what that’s what’s frustrating about it is that it’s it’s it’s a frustrating thing where your defense is even better than it was last year. And last year, quite frankly, it was good enough to win. It was good enough to win at a high level. It was good enough it was good enough to win at a very high level. It’s even better. And you damn near wasted that effort. Like if it if if they would have wasted that effort, this season’s over. Correct. And we’re sitting here, especially with the way the wild card stuff went. like they’re really lucky cuz the nothing went their way when it comes to the wild card uh race unless you want to say that maybe Pittsburgh gets a little bit closer to where you know them and Baltimore still have two headto-heads but you can’t you can’t waste superpowers. You can’t waste superpowers and this is a superpower right now. Yeah, they they squandered it. It felt like the way the defense was playing in the playoffs last year, it felt like they had a Super Bowl caliber defense and the offense gave them nothing. The offense gave them nothing and they lost in Kansas City because the offense couldn’t cobble together enough points to beat KC on a day where the defense had done more than enough to give you a chance to beat Kansas City. It would be awful if they made all the changes they made and then squandered another Super Bowl caliber defense. and to your point playing better than it is it was last year and they are on a hot streak right now. Like they are giving the offense a chance where it’s like you don’t have to be excellent every Sunday to win games. Like there are teams that have to go out there. They got to be really good on offense and defense to even have a chance. Like the Texans, they just need to be acceptable on offense to win football games here in the next six weeks and the next six games. And there’s a question on if they could be acceptable on any given Sunday with this offense and that’s just not good enough. Well, and yeah, and I mean I was we I was on KOU yesterday and the question was, do you think the Texans are in the same category as the Chiefs and Ravens? Like because they have the same record. No, they’re not. They’re they’re not. And they may like Baltimore, I know they’ve been rough, but Baltimore owns you. And the Chiefs, like you just mentioned what the what you’re going to have to do. The the team that the Texans play next week, Kansas City had to force five straight three and outs. whatever it was, then their offense had to move the ball up the field because that’s that’s what h that’s what’s that’s what you’re going to have to do. Like you’re gonna you’re gonna have to do that in clutch situations. And I do think CJ’s job makes that more possible. I just don’t know if Nick Kaye is a hurdle or he can actually be a compliment. And and I think Demet Ryan is kind of seeing that too and and that’s why the pressure is on the offense uh starting this week. I I do I do wonder if you know for Deco to be out of character at the podium because typically he’s not that aggressive in his criticism of the offense. For him to be out of character at the podium, I do wonder if there’s like a it maybe it’s spoken, maybe it’s unspoken and and the offense surely knows it and you’ve got to be much better than what you’ve been and you got to give us a chance more than you have been. And I know that they were happy Thursday evening when that thing was done, but I’m sure Friday when they rolled in the office to look at that film and take a look at it, they were pissed at how that offense played in the second half. And I don’t know how they could be anything other than pissed because swarm. Unacceptable. Very unacceptable. Beyond unacceptable. Logan Taylor 6213 says, “If the defense plays like last week, Indie has no chance. We can contain Jonathan Taylor.” I was I was pretty surprised at the uh success that the Chiefs had initially against Taylor and then he popped a couple of big runs in that game against Kansas City. So like I I don’t think you’re keeping Jonathan Taylor uh from making an impact for the entirety of a game. He’s going to get his eventually. Yeah, it almost felt like they kind of abandoned him in the in the second half for like a stretch. I think 10 plays he went without a touch, which probably not ideal. I think they can contain Taylor. I’m I’m more worried about the weapons, which we’ll have plenty of time to get into. Speaking of indie, shout out to Chris Sloan 7799, our Colts fan. My goodness. Despite me being a Colts fan, I still watch and love the SNL content every day. Hashg Colts swarm. Appreciate you, Chris. Got a good football team up there. Yeah, we’re happy to have you very much. Yeah, he’s been he’s been scouting. He’s the feds in here. Um, uh, Alex Cruz says, “Hey guys, my twin boys came early on October 29th and the Texans proceeded to win three straight. Coincidence?” Is one of them named Davis now? Alex’s children Davis and CJ or Davis and Jaden. Uh, Chiefs and Colts look like fraughts according I wouldn’t go that far. I wouldn’t go that far. That was a that was a really good football game. Yeah, I the Romo bit though I can’t take. I’m so tired of him. He sucks. Yeah, the Romo bit is it’s got to stop at some point. Like it’s just unacceptable. He’s just ruining every game possible. There was one point where he was like, “The Colts should go for it.” Then he said, “No, I wouldn’t go for it.” I tried to draw him off sides. No, I wouldn’t go for it. And then the Chiefs were driving down. He’s like, “Yeah, this is why we said they should go for it.” And it was like, “No, you didn’t say that.” It was like It was like he’s just covering like every angle and then saying that he said it. Hey, bro. HDAV Traveler says, “Afternoon, Landry, Cody and Friends. Had a great time at Spanky’s last Friday. It was awesome seeing him, meeting everyone.” We’ll be back at Spanky’s next month, too. We got some other stuff in store as well. Cody doesn’t like Spankies. I love Spankies and everybody loves Spankies. He’s the only one that doesn’t love it. But shout out to everyone else who enjoys the glory and the greatness that is Spanky’s. Yeah, you’re just you’re just lying through your teeth about me. I actually was talking to an old friend of mine today and he goes, “Hey man, did I see you’re at Spanky’s all the time?” I’m like, “Yeah, we do the live shows there. You got to come out for one of them.” He’s like, “Man, we have we me and my buddies have meetings there all the time.” And he goes, “We either get pizza or we get the cold beer.” I was like, “Why don’t you just get both?” He’s like, “Well, we get both, but sometimes we just drink.” I was like, “Well, the beer’s nice and cold.” There you go. Shout out to Spanky Sharps Town. Uh, by the way, large pies today on sale. Get that one topping large pie out there at Spanky’s Pasta tomorrow. And then I think they got Thanksgiving. By the way, if you’d like to mix it up on Thanksgiving, you got to give them a two-day notice. They’ll make homemade lasagna for you. So, you can get the you can get the uh the lasagnas, too. So, Spankies has got you covered. Shout out to Spankies. My favorite place in town, regardless of what Cody says. Uh, biased Htown says, “We’ve won every game JJ calls. Colts getting belt.” Well, okay. It’s quite it’s it’s something to monitor. I love keeping track of an obscure stat. Uh, Chris Lone says, “Thoughts on Caleb Williams coming out of nowhere?” Kayla Williams had some some pretty successful games and the Bears are doing pretty good up there in the NFC North. I don’t know that anybody really believes they’re for real, but I mean when you when you bring in an offensive guy who knows what he’s doing, it helps. The Texans should try that. Yeah. I mean, Ben Johnson, um, he’s doing his thing. Uh, Dan Campbell was always a big coach with good players and good assistants. Now he’s just a big coach with good players. Ah, Dan took over offensive play calling and they’re putting some points on the board. Give me a break. Let’s see. He figured out how to just get the ball to Jir Gibbs. Uh 320 says, “I’m tired of the lies and Texans propagate uh the the Texans propagated before this season. They knew what they had and the blame game is getting old. Time for accountability and people need to go. Nick squared needs to go.” What? What? Did you This is where we are on the Monday after that Thursday night game is we’re firing peopleickn. Where’s that? 3:20. Did you have a bad weekend? Did he never has a bad weekend? He might not remember it, but he never has a bad weekend. Did you make some of the same wagers I did this weekend? Uh Ricardo says, “The defense is the reason you can beat anyone any Sunday, but our offense is the reason we can lose to anyone any Sunday. and great time at Spanies. That’s perfectly said right there. Yeah. I mean, this this offense just it creates such a low floor for their output and their performance overall as a team and it could it could raise the ceiling, but far often or far too often this season it’s it’s failed to do that. So, the defense has to take care of a lot. Uh thoughts on Chip Kelly also who owns the tiebreaker between us and the Jags. Boy, paying Chip Kelly to go away when he was making six million a year after 11 games is crazy. That is That is crazy. Well, I mean, it’s also self I mean, Pete Carol had to do something. May had to do something rather Jurassic because I think I think that I think that Pete Carol and Aaron Glenn should be one and done. I think they should both be gone. Um, but he’s doing something dramatic and Aaron Glenn, the front office did something dramatic for him and just completely went all in on the rebuild. So, yeah, I I think Pete just had to do something. Yeah. I mean, I I don’t think it was Pete. I think it was Tom because the firing didn’t happen till Tom got done broadcasting and then I’m sure he got on the plane, hit the phone number, and let everybody know that, hey, see you later, Chip Kelly. So that thing’s a disaster in Vegas. And then from a tiebreaker standpoint, obviously the Jags have more wins than the Texans right now. They’re at seven and four. The Texans are six and five. If they’d had the same record, like I don’t know if Arizona could have got their head out of their ass yesterday and helped the Texans out. The Texans would have been ahead of Jacksonville because they would have owned the tiebreaker uh better divisional record because the Texans are three and one. The Jags are just one and one in the division right now. Yeah, those are the that was the shot. But as far as the Chip Kelly, I don’t think it’s a victory lap. I I’m pretty sure that Nick Kayley would do be doing a pretty bad job with the Raiders uh with that offensive line. Gino Smith, no receivers. So, I I don’t know if it’s like some sort of like told you so with Chip Kelly and him coming here or not. It’s it’s just I mean they’re a pathetic organization right now. It’s gross. Wouldn’t disagree with you. Uh 320 again says our defense is six and0. Our offense is 0 and5. Come on. That that’s not true. True. The offense had to go get them a win there in Tennessee. They against the Jags. They had to come back. Yeah. Yeah. But it wasn’t the defense’s fault as much as it was like the special teams fault for the big lead. Uh you asked about the run game. Run game is something that they always emphasize. Here was Demo talking about the Texans run game with uh Woody and Chub. All went well with the rushing attack early on in the game against Buffalo. What are some of those things you can maybe carry into future games with that offensive line that you had out there? Yeah, for our offensive line, the rushing game, we we have to just stay connected on our blocks. I think when we have double teams and we’re coming off at the second level, if we stay connected and we finish our blocks with the right mindset and we have good running lanes, I thought Woody ran the ball well. See, especially like on our fourth down play when he’s one-on-one right in the hole with the with the defender, like for him to play behind his pass, really keep his feet moving, like that’s how that’s how you have to run the football. So, we continue to block it well. We continue to make good decisions with our running backs running the ball well and we can we can run the ball effectively. That that to me was another one of those like because I mean I did think they ran the ball well in the first half and they just nothing went right on offense in the second half. I was like, “Hey, you know what worked in the first half? What can you carry?” He’s like, “Well, these guys didn’t do this right and didn’t do that right.” And I was like, “All right, cool. So, we’re criticizing the offense today and I like it. I’m in.” The one thing he mentioned too about Woody Marks, there were probably three rushes in that Bills game, and he’s done it a time and time again this season where it looks like he’s he’s done and then he just kind of keeps the legs turnurning and and and rips off some extra yards. And he did that to get a first down in the Buffalo game. I think that’s the the one do was talking about it. There’s just been some really impressive runs from Woody Marks, which kind of goes back to the why it takes so long to kind of hand the thing to him. Yeah, he’s had some MRS um in in in more ways than one, mixing runs like last year where the offensive line didn’t necessarily block well and he’s still able to figure it out. And now I guess you can still call them MRS except it’s Mark’s runs, but like it’s a lot a lot of this running is just he’s it’s just athlete being an athlete. Uh, and the offensive line, I think, has gotten better. I don’t know if it’s great. Here’s Demo talking about Titus Howard and the offensive line and what he likes about this mix and are they gonna stick with this mix? We’ll continue to roll with our offensive line. For me, it’s always been about trying to get our our best five guys out there. I think Titus has done a great job just unselfishly moving where he’s played right tackle, right guard, left guard, whatever we’ve asked him, you know, he’s done it. that shows that he’s a smart player to be able to handle as much as we put on his plate. So, he’s done that and he and he’s played good for us. Now, a couple weeks ago with Titus coming back and then Ed Ingram on his way back from his knee thing, I did wonder if this was going to be the best five incarnation and that’s what they ran out there uh for the Buffalo Bills game. And I got to imagine they’re probably going to give that another go because it it protected Davis Mills really well. They did a good job from a protection standpoint. Had some early success running. They got to be better in the second half and got to keep get it for a full game, but they protected pretty well. And I would think they’re going to run that same line out there. Don’t you think? Yeah, I think they’ll probably keep this one going. Um I I don’t I I I won’t say 100% certain, but I would I would think that’s what they’re going to do, but you really never know with Papovic and Kaylee. They they like to mix it up. But I think this is this is definitely the version. The the the reality is Trent Brown really wasn’t available early in the season. So all bets are kind of off when it comes to that. So they they got Trent Brown and he’s doing a good job. So they’ll keep rolling with that. It’s it was one of those I do Thursday. It was one of those rare like oh like I kind of agree with them shuffling the O line for this one just to kind of see what this group would look like because Ed Ingrams had some nice moments. Titus has been fine. Trent Brown’s been good at right tackle. I didn’t want him to go back to the bench. So, I I kind of I kind of liked the shuffle and now I hope that they keep that crew and and and give them the chance versus Indie. So, we got a couple of interesting things here now with um the Colts. We’re going to get Saw and Stingley twice a year now, which has been kind of one of the debates like the the nerd draft and you know, Texans fan debates. You you’ve had to you’ve had to have that discussion from afar, but now you’re getting Sass and Stingley twice. This is also the first look that we’re going to get at Tyler Warren who I mean he’s just he he adds a completely different element for the Colts offense and for Shane Stiken and I think we’re just now seeing the beginning of it. Demo I asked De Mo about what he sees from Tyler Warren. I I think he I think he likes what he sees. What do you see Tyler Warren what he’s added to their offense? Yeah, Tyler Warren he’s you know he’s a he’s a playmaker man. as wherever you get this kid the ball like he’s explosive a little faster than you think tougher than you think like he and he showed that at Penn State like he was he was a oneman wrecking crew like he did a really nice job at Penn State and it’s carried over here to the league he’s still doing a nice job and you can see they’re trying to put him in put him in spots to get him the football because he is that type of guy he’s a playmaker a guy seem like you can trust you can count on him like he continues to show up play after play down at the down for those guys. He’s damn good. I don’t know that he doesn’t look tough. He might not look fast, but looks like a pretty tough mofo to me. If he’s even tougher than he looks, then he must be one of the toughest sobs in football cuz he already looks pretty tough. Yeah, he does. What about his high school teammate, though? This is going to be interesting. I’m sure these guys had some battles in practice. I bet. Uh Jaylen Reid. We need to talk to him about that. Uh Jaylen Reid and uh Tyler Warren, I’m sure they’ve had some moments. They might hate each other if we’re being honest. If these guys are acting the way that they do on practice and on game day, I I bet these guys have had some battles. Let’s hear Jaylen Reed talking about that. Dico Ryan’s talking about Jaylen Reed. Yeah, Demo talking about Jaylen. We’ll talk to Jaylen tomorrow or Wednesday, I should say. He plays swarm football, right? He was se ball, getball. He’s flying around, you know, making plays, of course, some things to clean up, but I’m encouraged with what he did. You know, being that it was a short week, he didn’t get a ton of preparation to get didn’t get any live reps. So, for him to go in, right, uh, and do as good of a job as he did in that game, I’m excited for him to just continue to progress and continue growing. Coach Stevens done a really nice job working with with Jaylen, you know, while he’s been out. So, the more he gets, I expect him to be even better for us. Boy, this is this is a tight end murderer row that they have coming up because you’ve got Warren, best in the league right now. Okay. Kelsey, best of all time, maybe. Trey McBride, one of the best best right now, the best receiving tight end in football. Uh Brock Bowers, Gatson, he’s all right. He’s underrated. Gatson, who’s as a rookie, uh I think sixth in, uh receiving yards amongst tight ends, and he didn’t really start starting until, you know, six weeks in the season. And then you got Warren again. So, you play you play a murderer’s row of tight ends to finish the year. And they obviously had a good amount of success against Travis Kelce. I think a lot of that had to do with the situation of San Francisco more so than them just, you know, being able to slow down Kelsey. But man, if if tight end, if they if they’re not ready for this stretch of tight ends, they’re going to get beat up because you face one of the best guys, a legend in Kelsey, one of the best guys in McBride, the best one of the best guys from last year in Bowowers, who knows that that Vegas offense sucks so bad it may not matter. a a really good rookie and then you get Warren again and it’s like wow what a what a run against these tight ends. So I I don’t know if that’s Petri or Reed or a linebacker or a couple of different guys probably all of them. They got to be ready because this is just a murderous row of tight ends you go against. Yes. It’s it’s a tough it’s a tough one. I I think this is the toughest. Um and and I think they do a good job of working off of Jonathan Taylor with him. I I’m uh I’m concerned about that matchup. I’m actually a little bit concerned about the um the weapons that they have as a whole. I think it’s I think it’s an underrated group of receivers. The the thing with with with it impresses me with Warren is like feels like there’s never a negative play when he gets the football. It just feels like he just he’s getting something out of it. Even even when they throw it sideways to him, when they do throw it down the field to him, like he’s getting something out of it every time. And then you’re right. I mean, they’ve they’ve got a couple of different pitches they can throw at you with the wide receivers. You got the excellent route runner in Pitman. You got the deep threat in Pierce. Uh you got the slot master in Downs. Like they’ve got a they got all the different kinds of pitches you would want out of this uh skill position group. Yep. It’s going to be it’s going to be tough. And Demo seems to respect their passing attack as well. And it’s not just about Jonathan Taylor. For the Colts, you can see they’ve been a very explosive offense. Like they what’s powered them this year. I think Daniel Jones is playing the most productive that he’s played in his career. So Shane has done a good job of putting him in positions, putting guys around him to really make the plays he needs to make. So you have explosive receivers on the outside. Uh the rookie tight end is doing a good job as well. Like y they’re good on they’re good on uh play action according to Demo as well. Well, we know that’s not the only emphasis with this offense. They do a good job of their play action pass game, like really time timing it up at the proper time, really catching a lot of defenses and offg guard and they’re creating a lot of explosives there as well. So, you got to play true. That’s what I’m telling our def. You have to play true. You got to play with elite eye discipline, elite awareness to what your job is and being on it. Cuz if not, you know, Shane has always done a good job, you know, offensively of creating, you know, eye candy, as I call it, to mess with guys eyes, to put their guys in position to make plays. I know they just lost to the Chiefs, but this is the best offense they play for the rest of the year. Like, this offense overall is better than the Chiefs offense. Yeah, I mean from what we’ve seen this year, I mean they’re not punting that much. I I do wonder do the like do the do the coconuts shrivel a little bit when it’s coconut cutting time for like Daniel Jones. Like I I hope so. So far so far like based on the body of work, yes. But like I think facing Mahomes at this time of the year when it’s when it’s put up or shut up, I think that’s a little bit scarier than Daniel Jones. But they do have I mean they do have the best running back. They do have one of the best tight ends. I know that’s a debatable thing. And then the offensive line’s playing lights out too. So they just they just got out played yesterday by the Chiefs or they just kind of it just kind of got away from them. But they were they were in firm control of that game for a large chunk and then it just kind of they just kind of fell flat on their face down the stretch. Yeah, the Chiefs I mean the Chiefs bowed up on defense and started slowing them down and they didn’t they didn’t utilize Taylor like I thought they would or like many people thought they would and and then Mahomes just started kind of doing that legendary quarterback thing where he just starts willing the team to victory and it’s like oh okay he’s taking off okay oh he makes a crazy throw for exactly the amount of yards they need or you know Rasheed Rice has been horrible for three quarters and then the next thing you know he finishes with 120 yards in the game and it’s just sideline. Yeah. And it’s just like they just the Chiefs just they’re they just find a way time and time again. But when you look at like the player matchup, like yeah, obviously Mahomes is better than Jones, but I’d rather try to stop Kareem Hunt than Jonathan Taylor. Uh I’d rather try to stop what KC’s receiving situation is versus Indy’s receiving situation. And KC got dinged up a little bit. They’re gonna It looks like Trey Smith’s going to miss at least the next two games. Yeah. What was that wording by Rapaore? He’s like, “Yeah, it looks like he’s going to miss some time uh likely with against the starting likely against the Cowboys.” What are you saying? You just said he’s missing time. The game’s in three days. Yeah, these these reporters are just kind of they’re nuts with some of their wording. He said he’s it looks like he’s going to miss time per sources likely starting this Thursday against the Cowboys. What? Yeah, of course. I mean, what do you mean likely? He’s missing time. Yeah, he’s he’s missing time. He’s gonna miss the Cowboys game. The game’s in three days. You just said he’s missing time and then you said likely starting with the Cowboys, but yeah, the Chiefs going to Kansas City, I don’t think it’s like some sort of improbable task, but man, the Colts could have just ended them and they didn’t end them. that it’s the whole like it’s it’s in it would have ended them and now it’s basically like you’re either in the division mix or whatever, but like the the Kansas City thing would have been the best thing that could have happened to the Texans if the if the Colts had handled that because I think you just get rid of them. Get get rid of this massive mix of of wild card squads. Yeah, that the te the Texans did not get any help from a wild card standpoint like this weekend. it just and I’ll show I’ll pull up the what it is right now what it stands up what it looks like right now because I mean the Texans finished the they finished the game with the Bills and they were in the eighth spot and then when the weekend was over and all the AFC teams had played they ended up in the ninth spot because of freaking Pittsburgh and it’s just like like you look at this and it’s like okay like this is this is a mess and like obviously you you play the Chargers Bill, but you’re going to need, you know, you’re going to need a little bit of help to, you know, knock them down. You don’t play the Jaguars anymore. So, like, I looked at the Jag schedule. They’re making the playoffs. They have two games against the Titans and one game against the Jets. Like, 10 10 gets them in. Yeah. The Jags yesterday was the game, man. It was the game. Trevor Lawrence did everything he needed to do to help you out. everything like it looked like Ken Slovis was going to have to lead it and then Br comes back in and they just the Cardinals just unable to put it in. Then you go to the overtime and that’s it. And and it’s Yeah, the Jags are the Jags are pretty much cruising right now. Although I could see them losing one to Tennessee. Well, that that would be nice. That would certainly help keep them out of the equation. you can I mean you’re gonna have to take care of your business against the Colts to to beat them in the um in the tiebreaker because you split the headto-head so it goes to divisional record if it gets to that. Um but obviously the Colts can help you out by just beating Jags once or twice and then you would own the tiebreaker over Jacksonville if you uh if you take care of business against the Colts. So there’s a lot to still be decided. I think this is a good way to look at it too. Like when you just look at these two teams and it’s like what they have left like the Texans have two against the Colts, two tougher ones with you know KC and I I don’t know the Chargers are tough but they’re not they’re not Arizona and Las Vegas easy. And then look at Jacksonville. Two Titans, a Jets and then probably three losses. two against the Colts in a Broncos game. Yeah. So, if they beat the two worst teams in the league, then you win 10 and you’re in. Yeah. The Jags are in and then the Texans would have to they’d have to get one of those Colts games and then take care of business in all the other ones to to tie up with Jacksonville, assuming Jacksonville lost all the games they’re supposed to lose. And then you look at Indie like you you you need some help to even think about the division and and also you either you’re either in it after this week or you’re out. Correct. But then but then you’re going to have to you’re going to have to look at Jacksonville and Indie and and wonder about that. But this is this is the one you mentioned the the Indie game this weekend. You said, you know, this is the best offense and you could be right pro. You’re probably right. Uh I just have a little bit of fear that you I do wonder what Daniel Jones is going to look like down the stretch. Um, but as far as like the whole it is, I think this is also the best divisional opponent that De Mo has faced in his entire time. Like normally it’s I don’t want to say it’s been bunnies, but I mean for the most part if if you look at all the teams from 2023, 2024, 2025, this is by far and away the best AFC South opponent that they’ve had. I don’t even know if it’s really close. So that I don’t I’m not saying that means anything, but it is this is not the quality of divisional opponent that they’re used to. Like the best that they faced before this was maybe the Trevor Lawrence Jags defending champs, maybe Stik in your one, but outside of that, you really haven’t faced a team like this. I would an AFC South matchup. Oh, this is I’m trying to I’m trying to like obviously the Titans teams have just been all awful. So, we didn’t have to consider them. I would think the second crack at Indie Gardenner Mshue Colts was probably the second best team behind this team you’re playing this Sunday because you still had Taylor. The O line was okay. Got some good defenders. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it’s definitely not a team from last year. No. Anytime Anthony Richardson’s involved, it’s not. It’s Yeah. It wasn’t the Jags last year. It wasn’t the Anthony Titans tap out Richardson. And they’re the line is up to four and a half. It opened at three and a half and now the uh the Titans are a four and a half point favorite. So they’re they’re getting a little Colts Colts, excuse me. Titans aren’t a four and a half point favorite against UFH. Sworn. Willie, Willie, don’t play for the field goal. Willie uh on the chat. Swarm baby. I love SNL. Hope youall have an amazing Thanksgiving. What are y’all’s thoughts on the Thanksgiving games? Is there any game in particular that y’all are looking forward to? Chiefs Cowboys. Man, this Chiefs Cowboys game after after what Dallas did yesterday gonna be big. I better do you a favor. I think that one’s only a three-point line it opens up at. So Cowboys might be able to do the do the Texans for the Texans what the Colts could not. But that’s going to be I mean that’s a team that was dead. I mean it was 2100. The Cowboy hot takes were all over the headlines and then all of a sudden boom they they end up winning and there’s like Thanksgiving vibes. So I’m looking forward to that. Lions Packers is a banger too. And then Joe Burrow’s coming back. It’s just cool. like there’s nothing really to show for it, but I guess he could I guess do the Texans a favor. I just don’t I Yeah, I mean it it wouldn’t be bad if Baltimore lost. You would probably prefer I mean I I look if if Pittsburgh doesn’t win the division, they probably have fallen out of playoff contention, but if you had to deal with a team sticking around the wild card conversation, you’d prefer it to be a team where you own the head-to-head tiebreaker. So you’d prefer Pittsburgh to win the division and then you’d prefer Baltimore to be in the wild card hunt in case you finish Yeah. So go burrow. Yeah. So go burrow. Um and I just like watching them play I just like watching them play offense, too. Now watching them play defense hurts my eyes, but I like watching them play offense. Uh Chris Loan says if Indie wins, they will let you win last game of the year because they won’t play their starters. I think Indie uh a home game, too. Um yeah, but I I really don’t know if that if that path is really as as well laid out at this point for the Texans because because you got no help in the in the wild card this past weekend. Like I Yeah, there there’s Yeah, I mean, they will probably let you win. I just don’t know how I mean, what are we going to say then? We’re going to say the Texans are going to have to go four- one. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it’s it that if they lose this weekend, then they have to go four- one to make the playoffs. Yeah, they got to go four- one to have a chance to make the playoffs. So, yeah, you’re right. You’re right. That’s why I thought they That’s why I wanted them to beat the Chiefs. So, you could It wasn’t dependent on you having to beat them necessarily. and you get a I mean there are there are opportunities for help outside of do what you do which by the way in case anybody has the idea and if the Texans just won out which is highly unlikely but if they just won out all the way they’d win the division win the division yeah they win the division and they might have they might have a chance at a buy like if we’re being honest because that means the Colts would that means the Colts would lose and that means that uh unless we’ll see what happens with the Patriots they just lost their left tackle like they’re not they’re not looking good. Like the Patriots are getting beat to now. Like they’re getting injured quite often. So, well, you know what would suck is you don’t get the buy because maybe at that point then Denver with the headtohead against you. Denver probably gets the buy if you if you won out. Yeah. But if you win out then I mean there’s chances you’re probably you have a chance to host two playoff games. Correct. Yeah. You Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Even if you went That’s a big if. Big ass if. Huge if. Even if you went five and one with a loss to Kansas City. But the point is they control their own destiny. Like for all this scar scoreboard watching, we’re scoreboard watching because we don’t anticipate them running the table and winning every game. Yeah. I don’t I’m not making any I’m not making any stupid drink this bets for them running the table either. So don’t try to go me into that. Uh yeah. I I thought you had a Buffalo one, but I forgot what it was. And I I’m pretty sure you probably remember. You’re just not going to admit it. Oh, man. You forgot. That’s a shame. Guess we won’t do that one. What was it? I don’t remember. Come on. Somebody in the chat help me out. What was What was the the Buffalo bet? You said if they beat Buffalo, it was something. I I don’t remember what the bet was, but it was not great. That was weeks ago. Are you sure I was being serious? It was not good. And you were serious. And I don’t remember what it was because I don’t have the best memory uh on some things, but it was That’s a shame. What was it for real? I don’t remember. Yes, you do. I don’t remember. I think it was ultimately what I ended up doing last week. No, it was it was worse. I don’t think anything was worse than that. So, all the talk is about Jonathan Taylor. What does Deique Ryan’s think about Jonathan Taylor? uh perhaps the offensive uh player of the year in the NFL. And then of course running the football, Jonathan Taylor, you can’t say enough good things about him as a running back. Just his his balance, his power, the explosiveness, like you have to be able to set the edge cuz he can he can take the explosive run 50 plus yards and take it to the house. He can hit cut back lanes, right, and make you pay. So it’s it’s going to take everything we have, you know, defensively, first and foremost, stopping the run. you’d give the offensive player of the year to him versus JSN. I mean, JSN’s on pace for 2000, so I guess we’ll just have to see how how the season finishes. I I think MVP, it’s got to be tough to go against Stafford at this point. Boy, I mean, that that Adams not washed that um that that Rams game week one. I mean, it felt like you had a chance because Stafford like hadn’t played football for they were posted though. They were they were just bas that was basically a Floyd Mayweather fight. Like the one like they just ran it on third and nine. Like they knew they knew that the Texans offense wasn’t a threat. Like that was if they needed to score 2831, they would have scored 2831. That they they played with fire. Yes. But the that was like a Floyd Mayweather boxing match where they’re just kind of boxing you on the end. If if they had played the Texans like a few weeks later, I think it would have been much worse. Yeah. Like you had like you had maybe had a a crack. Also, whatever quack doctor thing he went to in the off season is apparently good because Stafford looks uh you know, incredible. Probably going to win the MVP. Devonte’s not hurting him. I I didn’t I forgot about this because I heard uh Collinssworth talk about it last night. I’m sitting on a Dvonte Adams lead the league in receiving touchdowns ticket 22 to one. Is he Is he leading right now? Yeah, he is 10. What’s second place? I think second place is eight. H and they just they just keep giving him the rock at like it gets near the goal line and excuse me he has 12 and second place is nine. Yeah, he’s good. Yeah. So, he’s good. I’m pretty pretty happy about that. Yeah, he’s good. He’s got it taken care of. Yeah. So, there we go. We will uh see how this whole thing goes. The layout of the Colts is there. Uh tomorrow, we’ll get into kind of the defense, the Will Anderson stuff and some other things. Uh they’re going to be off and then we’ll be back at practice on Wednesday. Thursday, they’re off Thanksgiving and then back at practice on Friday morning. Um, so the the holidays going, but we’re going to still be rolling as well. So that’s where we’re at. Big game. Uh, chance to get in the division or chance to uh fall out of the division right now. Vegas seems to really really like Indianapolis despite what we saw yesterday. Well, going to be another game where you bet on the defense and if they come through, then maybe the offense can give you just enough. Maybe just enough. Uh, shout out to TDCU. uh the greatness that is TDCU for sponsoring. Normally it’s reaction Monday. It was reaction Monday on a Friday last week. Uh you can get that fresh new Texans debit card. And uh you don’t even you don’t even have to be riding or dying at this point. They’re on a very big high. Things are people are saying good things about them. Gear is popping right now. Uh so you can get 15% off Texans gear with a TDCU Texans debit card at tdcu.orgex. Yeah. get you some of that holiday shopping done and get your Texans fans in your life some gear and they’ll never even know that you got 15% off the gear. They’ll just be like, “Oh, thanks. I love my new Will Anderson jersey. I can’t believe that you paid full price for it.” And only you and I will know that you got that 15% off that Texans debit card, plus the other fantastic perks of uh being with our friends at TDCU. You get all of those headed your way. Memberships required and they’re insured by the NCUA. Yes, they are. And Cody’s got that fresh debit card. So, there we go. Uh, so we’ll lay out the Spankies gatherings. We’re also going in a different area of town as well, uh, starting next month. So, we’re going to be the Spankies, the usual two-piece, and then we will do, uh, another place, uh, to be determined, uh, that Cody has uh, been working on. So, be a nice mixup. We’ll announce that Friday. Yep. And we’ll have four So, we will have four gatherings next week. So, four road games next month. Next month. Not next week. That would be a lot. Yeah. Yeah, that’d be a lot. Yeah. Spanky’s on Tuesday, Spanky’s on Friday, other place on Wednesday, other place on Monday. There’d be a lot. We’d be There’d be a lot going on there. Uh Xavier on the chat says, “Jeremiah Love, future Texans RB.” Hopefully. I I could I could say pretty confidently they’re not going to get a crack at him. He might win the Heisman, too. I think he’s two and a half to one to win the Heisman now. That’s That’s pretty good odds. There you go. Shout out to the running backs. Not if I have a say in it. Appreciate y’all for rolling through. Be sure to subscribe. Be sure to like, be sure to ride along. And always remember, when it comes to this Texan stuff, we’re all in it together. Eat good, sleep good, be good. We’ll talk Texans again soon. Thanks for watching.

The Houston Texans are in the thick of things with the AFC Playoff picture. C.J. Stroud’s return is right around the corner. How is it all shaking out for the Texans?

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