The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
9/20/24- Killer B's Hour 3
[MUSIC PLAYING] Now at T-Mobile, get four 5G phones on us and four lines for $25 a line per month when you switch with eligible traders, all on America's largest 5G network. [MUSIC PLAYING] Minimum of four lines for $25 per line per month without a paid discount using debit or bank account, $5 more per line without auto pay, plus taxes and fees and $10 device connection charge. Phones would be a 24-monthly bill credits for well qualified customers, contact us before canceling entire accounts to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement to bill credit and if you pay off devices early, C-T-Mobile.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] Don't sweat the technique. You are locked in with the Killer B's on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Life in the Faritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Blanket, Jeremy Brannon. DJing Enemy, joining us today in a few minutes, covers the Texans for ESPNESP.com. It's time for our toast to the week. My toast to the week, Blakers, you say kukuchi. Astro's 9-0. Can you say kukuchi starts baseball games for them? Yeah, you took mine and I can roll with that, but I'm also going to toast the Seattle Mariners for doing everything in their power to make sure that the Astros win the division by just peeing down their leg and just creative ways back-to-back nights. I'm going to give my toast to Joe being racist about arch manning and that winning me who said it because you guys think that was good or not. Way to celebrate racism, that's a terrible thing to do. We all know things about you. We didn't need to now. Mango chili, this is fantastic. The mango chili for our toast to the week by Stella Rosa wines, as I always tell you, you serve it chilled, but you can serve it with any different viewing party or function you've got because you don't need to nurse it. It's refreshing, it's crisp, it tastes fantastic. It goes with all your football season sweets and snacks. It goes with everything from the nachos to the pizza to all the things that DJ eats whenever we go on remotes. And it tastes so good. The bottom line is make sure you go to your local grocer or retailer, you can get the Stella Rosa wines like mango chili and all the other ones that we've tried so far and make sure you celebrate responsibly. - I toast DJ B anime for joining us in studio when he doesn't have to join us in studio. So I appreciate you doing that DJ, always better, live and in person. Texas 2 and O, look 2 and O. I think good teams find different ways to win. You look against the Colts running attack. I think is the thing that I look at there. You look against the Bears defense. I think we win that game defensively. So first two weeks so far so good for the Texans. - Yeah, I would say they found ways to come up in the clutch and do what they have to do to get it done, right? Week one, Anthony Richardson goes on the scores. It's 27, 29 or something like that. And they got to get first downs to end the game. They have to get first downs to end the game and they were able to do that. We'll see they throwing it to Nico on that third in 11 down the sidelines and then being able to get into the first down of Joe Nixon and in this week, being able to stop Caleb Williams on that last drive. Kind of similar, that kind of reminded me a little bit of like some of the games that they won last year on the backs of the defense against the Saints or against the Cardinals or against the Broncos. So they just might be a team that, if it's down the stretch defensively, they can rise to the occasion. - We were talking about DJ the fact that at the start of the year, me personally looking at the schedule, I thought this was gonna be an easier game than it looks like right now. And with that being said, you'd like to be as healthy as possible. Obviously, you got running back issues now because it looks like Joe's probably not gonna play, you know, Pierce is out. And then from the offensive line perspective, after how good they were no matter what you think of the Colts front line, the line looked great, the holes were big, mixed and took advantage of them. Now you're looking at juice, you're looking at injuries on the line where even you might have to start a third string center. What's the biggest concerns for you with injuries? - Yeah, I would say for me, it's gonna be center, right? Can they get one of them, other Patterson or juice to play? Mainly because last week wasn't really about who was in the backfield. Granted, like, you know, Canmaker has some decent runs, Joe had a couple of decent runs, but a lot of it was they couldn't, for whatever reason, maybe they didn't just on the fly. But what the Bears were doing was whichever D tackle was closest to the center, they were picking them off to prevent him from getting to the second level. That's what they wanna do. When they run the outside zone, what makes the most effective is getting the offensive line is whether it's the center with guards to the second level to pick up on linebackers. So now you have your bigger bodies down the field. So then Joe, Mexican, behind the holes and run through them and really get, you know, exposed to play and things of that nature. By the Bears, they were able to kind of counter that and then have Tremaine Edmonds loop around that and be able to, that's why so many runs went for like no yards. That's why, or it was tough sledding the entire night. 'Cause that's what they were really doing. And then like the Texans, they kind of adjusted by running different type of zone, like inside zone or power. And then that was able to kind of counter that, but we all know they wanna be outside running team and things of that nature. So for me, you know, one again, which center's gonna be there. And then two, I, you know, it's the NFL. We always hear the cliche that, you know, teams the copycat league. So I wouldn't be surprised if Brian Flores starts to do some of that to prevent them from getting outside the numbers and being able to get their, you know, cammakers to the perimeter and the edge. So I'm really curious to see how Bobby Slovic finally to counter that. Or do they just kind of adjust how they try to get up to the second level of game reality? What you could do is maybe just have that center, not be the guy that tries to get the second level. You just kind of have a shack or your guards kind of get to the second level, but that would require your center really being able to cross that defensive tackle's face and be able to be able to get, you know, in his way. - I think the guards are capable of doing that. Like if you did go that route, I think Kenny and the run blocking and shacker are more than capable of doing that. My fear with the interior offensive line and correct me if I'm wrong, is in past protection, they can't trade assignments. They have a very difficult time. You saw the barriers in the second half. Like there are multiple times with four man rushes, you stunt up the middle, try to attack the interior offensive line and they're having a very difficult time communicating and passing off coverage. - Yeah, I think, you know, some of that is youth 'cause again, like, you know, the person calling the protection is a second year player who it is, it's Juice or Patterson, they're both second year players. So some of that is that 'cause basically, the center is the quarterback of the offensive line, you know, and if he makes wrong calls, not saying that they're making wrong calls, but I'm just saying if they make wrong calls, that is an advantage for the defense. And again, like you said, like communication is some of their bigger issues and things of that nature, because again, like week one, stuns beat them up. - Yeah. - Week two stuns beat them up. It's not like they're running, 'cause I think the Texans ran some stunts where they would have, you know, the kneel loop around or a will loop around to the outside 'cause you can't do that. But it's been very clear there, opposed to defenses, they're having their DMs loop inside while they have the details kind of, you know, pick off... - And they're not even losing the one I want. It's like, they're not touching 'em because they're not there. - Yeah, exactly. And that's what, and it doesn't even matter if it's D linemen. I mean, I remember I think Tremaine and their other linebacker able to run a stunt that was able to get to CJ-unavated on their down. So yeah, like this is one of those games that, as you said, as Joel said earlier, like it seemed like, oh, that's a walk in the park. But now this game is gonna be an absolute dog fight of the highest magnitude. Like this is gonna be one of the toughest, like last week was tough. I think it's gonna be tougher because one, I think the Vikings are often more ahead of the Bears of the offense, and I think that their defense creates more problems than the Bears. - And I think that, you know, what, Sam Darnold's, but I think his first, what, five years in the league, he had a different head coach and/or coordinator almost every single year. And he really didn't play that much in San Francisco a year ago, but now it's kind of like what you want to see with Caleb Williams, what the Bears were trying to do, and that it's not that the best environment with him coaching staff wise, but they put a ton of weapons around him with Addison and Jefferson and now adding Aaron Jones and the line is good 'cause they've spent on the draft in that. What surprised you the most about Darnold so far? And do you think it's sustainable? - Nah, none is surprising. He always starts well outside of like-- - You covered him in New York? - I said to the last year in New York, it was back from the start, but he usually starts well, he fades, I mean, he's not a good quarterback. So like, this is the stretch where he plays well, you've been Carolina his first year there, like the first three games. He looked good, right? And then they all came back down to crash in the earth. - So don't we bring in here, DJ, it's the real talk. - Yeah, like, he's not doing anything that he didn't do. We know he can hit play action plays. I mean, like right now I think he's first, play, you know, touchdowns, off-play action. I think he's like top 11 and like pass away and like 115 off-play action, but like, you know what I mean? If you can get him behind the sticks, that's when you go have him, just get him behind the sticks. So the Texans, it's really gonna be, can you stop the run, put them on like 30 and longs, maybe a 37, 38, and they'll be able to get out to him because he's still Sam Darnold, you know what I mean? Like, he's still gonna make, I mentioned make the mistakes. 'Cause even as well as the defenses play for the Vikings, as well the offensive pieces around Sam has been, he's still, I think he's throwing like two interceptions to the first two games. So you can force turnovers on him. So this game really gonna come down to which defense allows at least a lot of explosives and big plays. Timey's gonna be very important in this game. The Vikings can be very important. Like, this isn't like, if you have fans, you guys, in this game, you bet, you know, hopefully you don't have that many Texans player or Vikings players, you got, you know, you got to pick the one that might be able to score and whatnot. Cut these in one of those games where like, maybe both sides, maybe get two touchdowns. A bunch of field goals doesn't come down to which defense makes plays, but we're back to Sam, like, you know, if you can force him in 30 and longs, you'll have him right where you want him. - If he might have one of the best, if not the best receiver in the NFL, and I'm curious what you think that DeMico Ryan's does defending him. You know, you go back to a Mario Cooper last year, first time they played him, didn't travel stingly, played him in the playoffs, traveled stingly much, much more. Do you think this is a week where stingly travels? - That's a good question. That's a really good question. - That's three today, DJ. - We do this all the time, DJ. - I've got three great questions today. I'm on fire. - Yeah. 'Cause it's like-- - He gets to leave early today. - You have, you can't, and I'll take this play. You can't, like, you have two options, right? You can either have Kamari, follow Jeff or Sam, double team him, so then Kamari can sit under all the routes or you can have, you know, stingly follow him and do that, or you can leave stingly one on the island and then double the other receivers and then each other that stingly wins, it's just, the issue is Kevin O'Connell is so clever at getting, you know, Jeff is in the ball in space and putting your defense at, you know, disadvantage in that aspect. So, I mean, there's no, like, great answer behind it. 'Cause Jeff's different, he's one of the receivers that, like, double team doesn't necessarily matter. - Right. - 'Cause I even remember, like, when SAWS and DJ Reid went against him in 2022, DJ Reid followed him a lot, and DJ Reid actually did a solid job against him, but he still scored, right? So it's like, it's a, me personally, I would probably just, Addison isn't playing, I would have stingly follow him and then double and double Jeff is in on third downs. - Yeah. - I would have him follow him first and second on third down double, I'm like, we can't let Josh and Jefferson beat him. 'Cause think about it, like, last week, the Vikings won 23 to 17, they got one touchdown off of a 90, 70 yard touchdown. Granted, Jefferson got behind both of them and was able to make something happen, but still, like, Justin, like, that one play, I think in a game like this, could be the difference between winning and losing. - Didn't get behind that official. - Yeah, I know what you think about him. So, I'd have beat him in the race, though. - We know the Bears defense is good. And the Texans were able to do, especially in the first half, they were able to be effective. We know that the Texans defensive line has been really good and they've been able to get home. We know Flores, CJ's been talking about it. He's a guy that's a really good D.C. He's gonna show exotic looks, he's gonna mix things up. What do you see more likely to happen? The Texans having the same kind of success they had against Caleb and the Bears in terms of getting home and doing the things they need to do, or that a Flores defense is going to give this Texans offense problems. - Flores defense is giving attention from, you know, what happened last week, like, they were obviously, they got a lot of sets, got a lot of pressures, all that stuff. But, you know, some of that was on the office of line just being bad for the Bears and Caleb being a rookie. I think, you know, Caleb Hatton, Sam having Kevin O'Call on the call plays, getting some easy looks and things of that nature, like he'll prevent that, you know, Caleb being in that situation. And again, like, CJ's never seen this particular scheme. And Brian Flores, if we go dating back to 2019, for whatever reason, well, 2018, but for every reason, he has success against this game, right? One day it was in the Super Bowl. Can you call plays in the Super Bowl against the Rams? Hell them three points. I know when you got to Miami, I remember in 2020, he saw McVay and Kyle Shanahan. I want to say back-to-back weeks, and yeah, I think he might've held them to like 34 points combined. Some of that nature, but I know he forced a lot of turnovers in both of those games, and noxime gee, out of one of them, it almost knocked Derek off out of the other one. So he's just had a lot of success. He's one of those guys, like, on the second time, I mean, you can really get 'em, I remember, you know, the Vikings, the Packers were able to get 'em the second time, drum up had a big game, 'cause then you kind of have an idea of what it can look like. And even last week, right, like Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy and the crew, they weren't able to get get the job done against that defense, and he saw what he did against them last year, too. And I think only guy they didn't play was Divo in that game. They still had their, you know, their Avengers group outside of Divo, and they lost that game. Yeah. DJ, when are you traveling? You going up there tomorrow? Yeah, I'm going up there tomorrow, five o'clock PM. You know, now I don't enjoy traveling like that anymore. Same. Yeah, you got a juicy Lucy while you're there? No, I don't know what that is. It's just a burger. It's like stuffed with cheese, basically. Why would you want a burger with a stuffed with cheese? You like cheeseburgers? Well, you're talking to a guy from Wisconsin. Cheese is like, oh, world. I'm not crazy about it either. Like, just put the cheese on top, like-- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine with that stuff. I just don't degrade cheese. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Cheese. I mean, you know what I'm saying? I'm going to degrade cheese. All right. Safe travels, man. Appreciate you coming on. Great insight, as always. And we'll talk to you next week. No problem. Thank you for having me. DJB Enemy covers the Texans for ESPN, ESPN.com. You can follow them at DJB Enemy. 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Houston Restaurant Week has been extended through September 30th, the ESPN 97.5. Proud partner for Houston Restaurant Week since 2024. And it's time to raise some money for the Houston Food Bank. For you, it's simple, dine out, do good. Choose over 400 restaurants to visit for lunch or dinner. Select from their prefix menus and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Houston Food Bank. Plus, you're supporting local restaurants. Go to HoustonRestaurantweeks.com to find all the participating restaurants. What are your favorite storylines of the week? What are your favorite storylines of this Tekson's Vikings game? 713-780-3776. Blankers, what you got? - I think the first one to me, 'cause I don't wanna steal yours, I think the first one to me is just Camacres. I wanna see Camacres be able to do what we've seen him and believe he's capable of doing. And the fumble heard him last week, 'cause otherwise I thought that, no matter how high they were on Pearson, how they were telling everybody he was the number two, I just always believed in my heart of hearts that Camacres was the second best running back on this roster and that he was going to be that guy. Now he gets the chance to be that guy. He's going back to a team that he was there. It didn't work out, he's now gone. And maybe that's something that registers with him too, to where I hope Camacres has a good game. And I hope that this is the start of him kind of solidifying that if mixing's out for a while or if they need to rely on the second running back that it's Camacres. - Yeah, I'm curious, I meant to ask DJ this too. What he thinks that the workshear is gonna be a running back, 'cause I don't think Acres is gonna handle the full load. I think Dari's probably gonna be your third down back. They love him in past protection. I, look, the British Bulldog Brooks is there. (upbeat music) Now he hasn't played an offensive snap. He hasn't played an offensive snap. So is he going to play an offensive snap? Will they call somebody up? Will they call up JJ Taylor from the practice squad and activate him? I'm really, I'm really curious to see how they handle it. I think there's a, I think there's a 50/50 shot that they could call up JJ Taylor, 50/50 might be high. Maybe a 30% chance they call up JJ Taylor. I think the British Bulldog Brooks will get a few looks in the backfield, not a ton, a few looks. I think it's gonna be Acres on first and second down and the British Bulldog on third down. Now the fact that they lost Brevin Jordan, Brevin Jordan was playing so many snaps. They were using a lot of 12 personnel with Brevin Jordan and Kate Stover, both on the field at the same time. So how they handle that tied in spot, I'm kind of interested in, like people are saying more Kate Stover. Well, Kate Stover and Brevin Jordan were playing at the same time, they were playing at the same time. So if Kate Stover was your lead fullback and Brevin Jordan was a tied in that was on the field in those formations, who's taking that? Who's taking that? I don't know if it's gonna be Schultz. I don't know if they have anybody else that's ready to go. So that's gonna be something I have my eye on when it comes to like how their usage is offensively. But I think my favorite storylines are all the old guys playing their old teams. And there's a lot of them. Shaq Griffin's on the Vikings. Blake Cashman, John Grinard, the obvious names. Look at the Texans. They have Stefan Diggs. They have Danil Hunter, who was over there. In fact, Strow was asked about playing Cashman Grinard. Here's what Strowd had to say about that. I know they like the back of my hand. Nah, that's what I see. I don't know. We gotta go out there and see. Then boys know I love them. I mean, I seen Blake in Vegas at the Super Bowl. And we chopped it up before he actually left the team. So we were trying to, 'cause he was up on this contract, we were trying to figure it out. And I was trying to help him, you know. And I wanted him back and same thing with JG. But, you know, some things don't work out like that. You never have the same team that you ended with. But, you know, I'm ready to compete against it. I know them boys ready to hit me 'cause they didn't get to hit me last year. So, you know, it's gonna be fun. - That storyline's great. - There's Jon Grenard. I don't think he has a great one, Anco Sbrane. So he should be good to play. Blake, he had a sack last week. Blake Cashman was their leading tackler. I think it was 13 tackles in that game. And yes, they're gonna want to destroy CJ Stroud, a guy who would always wear the red jersey in practice that they could never touch. - Well, yeah, there's no question that those are guys that I have fond memories of playing in this, in this Texans defense under D'Amico, 'cause they had a lot of success. And you wish them well when they're not playing the Texans. It is gonna be interesting to see if they can get home and how much havoc they can create. I didn't think Cashman was gonna be as good in Minnesota, but obviously with a defensive mind, like he's working with now with Flores, it's worked out early for him. So I'm curious to see how that all plays out. I think the Diggs card is one that I'm also interested in seeing how that plays out, because I know some time has passed now, and I know for a while that, you know, he was beloved in Minneapolis, but I'm curious if they're going to react negatively. And to what level are they going to react negatively to Diggs coming back and playing in that environment? - I mean, they got Justin Jefferson for Stephon Diggs, so I don't think that they care. - I do think he's gonna get booed. - I don't know. - I really do. I think that just the way it ended, and the fact that there was always the belief that he was gonna be that guy for a longer time than he was there, that I think that there is still some lingering where I think he'll get booed. - Yeah, we'll see. I'm curious, 'cause the fact that you got Justin Jefferson, it's like, oh well, we're good. We got the best receiver in the NFL. It's totally fine here. Here's another one from Grinard, 'cause they were asking Grinard, "Hey, these guys over there, "they're really good," and John Grinard's like, "Yeah, so are we." - You also know how talented those guys are, right? - Yeah, obviously they're quarterback. - Yeah, they also know how talented we are too. - Yeah, so they're very good, for sure, but we got a team over here too. - Yeah, Grinard was a little insulted by that question. He didn't love that way. Yeah, those guys are good, but we're really good too. I think my favorite in-game storyline is what D'Amico decides to do with Stingley and Justin Jefferson. I have no idea the direction. I think you're gonna see a combination of both. I think you're gonna see Stingley shadow some. I don't think you're gonna see him shadow as much as he shadowed Omari Cooper last year. I think that if he's not shadowing Stingley, I think you're gonna see a lot of help slid to Lasseter's side whenever he's having to defend Justin Jefferson, but I don't think that you see a straight shadow. - Yeah, I am curious, because you're right. I mean, look, it doesn't seem to be what they would like to do or what D'Amico normally does, but you brought it up with DJ. Look, we saw it happen with Omari Cooper in that Cleveland playoff game, and they had success doing it. So when DJ was talking about the fact, maybe you start with Lasseter and he ends up underneath and you get help over the top. With Addison out, it obviously changes things a great deal because now you're gonna focus even more attention on Justin Jefferson. - Don't sleep on Naylor now. - I'm not, but you know what kind of an impact Justin Jefferson can have. We saw it last week. We know he can do that and he's capable of doing it on anybody in this league. And I think that that has to be their main, their focus has to be priority one, taking Justin Jefferson away as much as you think you can because of the fact that he can completely turn a game on its ear with his ability. - Alex says who wins the battle, Grenard or Tunsel? I would take Tunsel in that battle. Now we'll see how much Grenard lines up over there. Maybe they line up Grenard on the other side. I think they're gonna try to exploit the Texans interior offensive line. I was watching, I watched the rest of the All 22 last night. There was a play with Four Man Rush where they loop around one of the defensive linemen. And again, the Texans have no idea what to do whenever they're passing off coverage that Kenny and Greene's like looking to his right, looking to his right. The guy loops all the way behind him. And then once he's clear of him, that's when you see Kenny and Greene turn around and he starts chasing him from behind as he sacks CJ Shroud. So Brian Flores is going to try to exploit that. Texans gotta figure that out. Yeah, no, and again. That's their biggest weakness right now, by the way. I don't think that the Texans fans realize 'cause all they hear is when Flores's name was in the news for other things. I don't think they realize how creative and how good of a DC Flores is. And with the weapons that he has at his disposal, I think CJ realizes it. I think they're gonna see some things they probably haven't seen before. And he's gonna try things like you're talking about and just to confuse everybody starting with the offensive line. And they've got enough talent on defense, they can do it. Yeah, they're talented. They're talented pretty much everywhere than quarterback and probably tied it a little bit. Oh, Joe, my question is, will Diggs expect more targets from Shroud versus his former team and how he react if he doesn't get those targets? This might be the first litmus test in regards to Diggs being a petulant child. That's a pretty good point. Pretty good point. You know that aside from the Buffalo game on the schedule, this one probably had to be pretty high on his list. Going back to the cities, going back against his other team. I mean, he's got revenge games on his calendar with both of them. I think the Buffalo is the top priority, but I think the Minnesota game means a lot to him. So yeah, that's a very good point. Something to watch. Yeah, he'll be fired up. He'll be fired up. All right, I got to dip out early. The boys will take you the rest of the way. Gonna fly to catch the Cincinnati. But the AFC South, is it the worst division in the NFL? The boys will discuss. It is the bees on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. Hey guys, before we go to the break, I want to tell you about the good people at all state-siding windows and they are good people. 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They're fantastic, but you got to get in contact with them. Check out the website, see all the ways they can help. You had AllstateSidingandWindows.com. We'll keep that number in mind and call them for that free estimate. Let them tell you how they can possibly help. 832-2041936, AllstateSidingandWindows.com. (upbeat music) Now that you got killer beans. On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Live from the Verintechs Community Bank Studios, here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. Branham out, getting ready to go. Get a W hopefully for the Cougs. That means B-Mac and I'll take you the rest of the way. We'll take you up the sixth and fly. (laughing) Paulie Jean might get involved with a few of his. Now that Jeremy's not here, I could play those more often. One more. (growling) No? No, Paul, no. Definitely no, Paul. I mean-- - They engraved the cougar roar from Paulie Jean. - E for effort, effort, actual presentation. - Okay, all right. I would definitely echo A for effort. - This is why people want to punch him in the face. - Do you think that's the reason? - I mean, if he walked in and did that and then he did his little cackle with his little head bob, I think he'd probably pissed somebody off. - Well, I think you have, I think you hold me in a cat dad against him more than I do 'cause I don't hold against him at all. - Oh, cackle, not his cackle. - I know, but we're talking about a cougar roar. It's a cat dad. - You think Paul runs around the house and does that with his cat when no one's around? - I'm saying there's a greater than zero percent chance. - I'm saying there's a greater than 75 percent chance. - I don't disagree. - Yes. - I don't disagree. - I think he makes all the cat noises right along with his cat. - There's a pretty good chance he picks up his cat and makes it make the cougar noise. - I think there's a pretty good chance he picks up his cat and flies around, carries her around the house and does things that we would probably do with our children when they were younger. - Brian, I think he does those things with his cat. - All right, sounds a little judgy, but I'll go with you. - I'll let you take it anywhere you want from there. I'll just leave it right there for everybody to just let ferment and do what they will. All right, so we were talking about this stuff at the start of the season, looking at the divisions and looking at the toughest divisions in the league. Look, I'll be the first one to admit, I didn't believe in the Colts as strongly as you guys did. I thought the jags were gonna be better than the Colts, but I definitely thought that the Colts were a very talented team and I thought that in the division of the four teams, other than Tennessee, I thought you had three potential playoff teams that were right there, that were going to be something that you had to really be focused on and concerned with. Right now, Texas are the only team with a win. The only team two and O, all three teams, O and two. Right now, for as much as we were crapping all over other divisions like the AFC South, like the NFC East with some of the teams in that division, it looks right now like we missed the boat on the fact that the AFC South might be the worst division in football. Yeah, it feels like we get to rewind to the good old days of the Bill O'Brien era when he would tell us, you know, it doesn't matter Brian, AFC South champs two years in a row, 'cause they're definitely gonna be AFC South champs two years in a row, Brian. And it feels very similar. Now, I do think this Texans team is better than those teams led by, you know, obviously Brian, Hoyer and Brock Osweiler and those two seasons, this team is infinitely better because the quarterback is infinitely better. But the division around them is very similar and I think it bodes for a nice long run for the Houston Texans because not only is it bad this year as evidenced by their records all being O and two, but you look at their quarterback situations and I don't see help on the horizon. Now, maybe you think anything you're interested in who's only played what, seven or six or seven NFL games is going to make a market, you know, improvement and become a much better quarterback? I'll leave the possibility of that aside. But beyond that, like we'll love us, he's not that guy. Trevor Lawrence has taken a step backwards like two years in a row. I think the Texans could go on a nice four, five year run where they dominate the division not only because they're great, but these teams, other teams of the division don't have quarterbacks and by the time they reboot, reset and find the next guy, you're talking about best case scenario, what five years before they have their guy in place, ready to compete with CJ Sprout? - Look, I think obviously for this year, I mean, all bets are off, but I think that the Texans, not that they're going to have a cake walk, but I think that the path has very clearly set that they are going to run through this division and they are going to get to the playoffs a lot easier than I thought it was going to be because I thought that it was going to be a three team race and I thought that it might go right down to the wire and I thought both teams would have a say so in terms of playoffs positioning. Jacksonville to me just seems like they have the ability to turn it around. I still think I've never been a believer in Trevor Lawrence at the level that he got paid and at the level that a lot of people saw him when he came out of Clemson, but I do believe he's better than serviceable and I believe that they have a lot of weapons around them. The Colts to me are the biggest surprise, but I never believed in Richardson, but I just thought that they were loaded on both sides of the football and with a guy like Stike in that can create a game plan just like he did for Jalen Hurts and Philly to maximize the ability to run the football with the quarterback as well as one of the best running backs, I think is in the league that I saw play at Wisconsin and Jonathan Taylor, I expected more. I expected more from that line. You've bolstered the receivers. I think that they had weapons all across the board. The fact that they couldn't go into Green Bay without Jordan Love and they not only couldn't put points on the board in Richardson through three picks, but the fact that as much as we sold it as Joe Mixon and the line was phenomenal for the Texans, that D line, they spent a lot of draft capital and assets to get that buckner and all those guys put together, they now look like that is a weakness for that team. - I mean, yeah, these teams all have glaring weaknesses, but I think when you look at it, look at what the Texans did for C.J. Stroud. And this to me boils down to why the AOC, the rest of the AOC South is so bad. Look at what the Texans did for C.J. Stroud. They obviously, he walked in with Nico Collins, Artie of the roster, but they draft Hank Dell, if you wanna believe some reports, Stroud told them the draft Hank Dell and they went out and did it. They went out and got him, Stefan Diggs. They went out and added Joe Mixon to the team. Whereas you look at the other-- - Stover, he wanted Stover, he got his guy. - Yeah, another one. Yeah, he wanted Kate Stover's former teammate, Ohio State, and they got him. I mean, you look at the other teams in the AOC South. Now they all made moves. They all seem to make moves to add to the teams, but they haven't worked. I mean, the Jaguars, they lose Calvin Ridley, but they bring in Gabe Davis. That's a net minus. And Evan Ingram's been hurt, you know, he's gonna be hurt. And they didn't really do anything to shore up what was behind him. The Colts, I like Michael Pittman, but it feels weird that that was what they did for Anthony Richardson, or as far as what else is behind him. They draft Ed and I, Mitchell. They're just needed to be more around him. And the Titans, obviously they added to him, they add Tyler Boyd, they add Calvin Ridley. But he got an old wide receiver group. When you look at the Texans beyond the difference of quarterback, there's just a large difference in the skill players around him. I mean, not only do the Texans have the best quarterback in the division, but you look at the skill players around them, they by far have the best skill players around them. So I think this is a trend in a domination by the Texans that'll continue for a while, because these other teams are gonna have to completely reset and recycle not only their quarterback, but the wider receivers and running backs around the quarterback. - And that's the thing. I mean, in one aspect of the two teams that are talented enough, you would think that it'd be easier to move. If Richardson isn't the guy, yeah, you drafted him high, but he's on his rookie contract. You can move on from that. Jacksonville's got the biggest challenge because of the fact that they're gonna be paying. - It went in. - That freaking contract. - And he just did it? - Yeah, you are stuck. And that's so to your point of the two teams, the team that can still hang with the Texans to make it a little more difficult is Indianapolis. 'Cause at Jacksonville, we know how important the quarterback position is. There's no getting out of that bad boy. - No, I think it's the worst team in the division, the Titans, but I also think they would have the easiest time resetting. Now, I don't believe in their ownership group to be able to get that done. They seem to be a disaster. - But Will Evans was the second round pick. He's in year two. You can move on from that much more cleanly and easily than the Jaguars can from Trevor Lawrence or the Colts can from Anthony Richardson. And you look at beyond that, DeAndre Hopkins is getting towards the end of his career. They didn't pay, they didn't overpay their running backs to a great degree. Certainly paid Tony Potter less than the running back in Indianapolis is getting paid Jonathan Taylor. So Tennessee seems to be like, you have to believe in their front office to be able to get the job done, but they seem to have a shorter window for a reset because they haven't paid the quarterback because he's not a first round top four pick in the second year. You can much more easily move or, and much more quickly move on from Will Levis and their skill players and reset than the Jaguars or Colts can. So the Titans have, if they're all three teams have to rebuild and reset, I think the Titans actually have a leg up. - You know, being the biggest problem with the Tennessee situations, I think they finally got the right general manager. And I think they've got a guy that knows talent. And I think they got a guy that can put together a plan that will be capable of turning that franchise around, restarting the entire process if they have to. They got good veterans that they have on defense. But I think as you specifically about the offense, I think they're capable of doing that. But you mentioned the biggest point. As long as Amy the skunk is involved and the Adams family is still owning that team, as much as we talk about owners that manipulate and meddle and get involved like Jerry Jones, like Dan Snyder used to do, she's one that worries me because I would make the comparison to Dana Brown when Crane and the crew and the Crane gang kept meddling and getting involved. I think that they have the right organizational structure from the general manager position to make changes that will benefit the franchise. I don't think that the ownership group is going to allow them and allow him specifically to do what he's capable of doing. - Yeah, no, I don't either. I mean, of these three teams, do you have any hope? I mean, I hope we obviously don't want it to happen. But if you had to pick one of these teams that would bounce back and actually, maybe not push the Texans for the division, but be competitive down the stretch and push for a playoff spot, who would you better? - It's the Jags. To me, it's the Jags because you got a good coach. - Even though they might go, I mean, they're facing Buffalo this week, they're likely going 0 and 3. - Right, but at the same time, I don't believe in Anthony Richardson. I don't believe that Joe Flacco's gonna be able to come in and do what he did a year ago, even in Cleveland. And I don't believe in Tennessee at all. So I think that if you've got a good coach, you've got a good offensive mind, you've got talent on both sides of the football. I believe that of the three teams, the one team that's still capable of fighting for respectability and a wild card, I would put my money on the Jags. - See, I think I'd lean Colts for a reason you mentioned in your statement there is because of the head coach. Shane Steichen of the three head coaches, not named Amiko Ryan's and Avisi South, is the coach I by far believe the most. And obviously the Titans coaches in his first year, so you don't know what you have there. But yeah, I don't believe in Jacksonville on any level, both at coach and at quarterback. And Anthony Richardson, I mean, no doubt about it. He's been awful. He missed tons of passes in the game against the Texans. Obviously go to Green Bay, you lose to Malik Willis, that doesn't inspire much confidence. But I have confidence in what we've seen from Shane Steichen and his ability to mold an offense to the talents of his team. Now, I wish, I mean, if you're the Colts fan, you wonder why it hasn't happened so far. It's not like, it's not like Steichen went into the season not knowing what Anthony Richardson was, not knowing what his strength and weaknesses were. But I still think Shane Steichen can mold a run first style of offense around Anthony Richardson's strengths and get that team with the good defense and a good running game. And hopefully Michael Pittman evolved 'cause he's a good playmaker on the outside, to a point where they can win maybe eight to nine games. - Yeah, I don't, I mean, I wouldn't bet on this. - I don't believe in Richardson. - But I see it's more possible than Trevor Lawrence turning it around. - What I saw last week in Green Bay was even more, more than what we saw in week one against the Texans. And I think the throws were even more blatant in certain cases that he couldn't make. So as much as you're right about the talent and I obviously believe in Jonathan Taylor, and I believe that Richardson can run the football, but I think defenses will just come in and load the box, hold the edge, and put him in more and more of those situations to fail. And he will do that. He is not accurate. He does not know the right touch to put on the football. And I don't know if that's ever gonna change, but I don't think it's gonna change in the middle of a season or right now. That's why I just, I wouldn't put any stock in the Colts simply because of that. - I guess I would break it down like this. Like, and I think I know your answer to these, but like, who would you believe in more? Jonathan Taylor or Travis ETN? - Jonathan Taylor. - Right. Who do you believe in more Michael Pittman or take your pick Christian Kurt Gabe Davis? - Michael Pittman. - And who do you believe in more? Doug Peterson or Shane Steichen? - That's, to me, Steichen's got enough that I'm a little disappointed with what he's done so far. I might lead Peterson on that one. - That's Peterson's team. There's a trend. I know he went to a Super Bowl, and won a Super Bowl with Philadelphia, but we've seen this trend now in two stops where-- - But you're only as good as your players can execute your plan. I don't believe in that. - I just like, we've seen this now in multiple stops where he starts off hot and the team's kind of, I don't know, it just goes downhill after that. We saw the quick turnaround when he took over for Urban Meyer, but then it trailed off and trailed off. - I think, I mean, obviously Quarterback is a huge concern, but it's a huge concern for both places, but I like Indy's coach running back and their best skill player better. So I would still lean Indy as the team that could turn around the most, but I mean, overall, to get back to the point of this topic, I mean, the Texans are the spot where they could run this division with ease for five years until these teams reset with new Quarterback. - You're right, because as much as we crapped on the AFC South, I did not see New Orleans doing what they're doing. I did not see-- - Baby Kubes, man, he's a revelation. I saw Carolina doing that, but I thought they would have had a lot of help. I didn't see Baker in the Bucks being able to maintain what they did even a year ago, let alone look better, and they look better. - Let's stick for that quickly. As what Baker Mayfield has done this season, give you more pause of what Dave Kanales is the coach, because everyone rushed to give Dave Kanales for the job in turning around Geno, they gave him the credit for turning around Baker, and all of a sudden, he leaves to go turn around Bryce. Bryce has already been, while Baker's been great and Geno has won the few 300-yard passing games. - Brian, I'm gonna flip it on you, 'cause I'm gonna say that this ain't Kanales, this tells you more of a telling tale about Bryce Young than it does about Dave Kanales. I think that Dave Kanales, when you have a guy that's tall enough, that has enough ability and enough traits that could execute the game plan that he can work with you. When you, in your first year in the job, unless again, you've got another meddling owner, like Tepper, that's way more, 'cause they're mums of the word on that. They're not gonna tell you who all contributed to benching Bryce Young. But when you watch Bryce Young play over his last two years, the hike does matter. The fact that the speed of the game seems to change him a lot, push him out of the pocket, put him in a comfortable situation. He's not capable like he was at Alabama. I would, if I'm Dave Kanales, and I'm already saying, 'cause you knew you were going in to resurrect this kid, if you're already saying that you're done with him for the time being, then I think that's more of an indication that Bryce Young ain't it instead of Kanales. - Yeah, I mean, it's hard to obviously prove your point wrong, because Bryce Young has been terrible. And I do think David Kanales is a good coach. I just think sometimes you rush to give coaches judgment for, quote unquote, turning a guy around. I mean, obviously, Geno Smith, second round, pick Baker Mayfield, the first overall pick when he came out. Both guys, a terrible search to the career. So it's easy to jump to the occlusion. Well, this new OC was the guy that turned them around, gave them a new life on their NFL career. But what we've seen is Geno's actually been pretty good this year. Baker's been good after Dave Kanales left while the guy he just took over was terrible. So I'm a little suspect right now, I would say, I'm Dave Kanales. I think he could still be a good NFL coach, but I think we gave him too much credit for the turnarounds of Baker and for Geno. - Time will tell, and we will see. But look, it's a good thing if you're a Texans fan because of the fact that we thought that this division was going to have two teams that would push the Texans, and right now, it looks anything like that is going to happen, the exact opposite in the matter of fact. All right, we got one segment to go on the show, Jeremy's out, so therefore, my least favorite segment on the planet doesn't have to happen. We'll look for our car wreck of the day when we come back, but before we go to break, I do want to tell you one more time about the good people at MyBookie. MyBookie.AG is exactly where you need to be with all the action. You got a Friday night game tonight, you got the Astros game tonight, you've got college football all day tomorrow. NFL on Sunday and Monday. Guess what, that is the place you need to be if you want to put money down on the games. MyBookie.AG, 'cause they're constantly taking care of your customers, but more so than that, they've been in business for over a decade. 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And there's now a loyalty rewards program called MyBookie Plus, where as you continue to do business with them and bet on games and play poker and Blackjack, you are going to climb up the tiers of the loyalty program with each different tier, you'll get more rewards, you'll get more opportunities and more promotions. Check 'em out today, but do what I always tell you to do. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere, with the only place I tell you to do it. It's myBookie.AG and use our promo code BET975. - Quick, with my (beep) this is the car wreck of the day. - All right, you know how we do it on a day, Monday through Thursday, and a day when Jeremy's out, we get to do car wreck of the day instead of mean text, which I hate. - What are you talking about? Those are your favorite snacks? - No, I never created it, never had a say in it, and I know that Jeremy loves it, and it drives me nuts, but it's fine. - Not that you have any resentment towards playing-- - No, not at all, and I would never let it show publicly. - You're hiding it well, Joel, I'll give you credit for that. - Thank you, I appreciate that. I'll let you throw it right to you, Brian. All right, so I've got two car wrecks of the day. I don't know if you saw this, but Jordan Hicks, obviously was the target of the Astros, if you want to believe in the offseason, ends up going to the Giants, and he had an incentive that would have paid him an extra 83,000 this year. He would have just went on the 15-day I.L., missed that incentive by, one out. - Ooh, one out. - One out. - One out, not one inning, one out. One third of an inning cost him $83,000. - What was he instead of just like-- - innings for the year? - Yeah, it was innings. So, yeah, it's just, just brutal. Now, I mean, he's getting a paid, I think, six minutes of the year, so he's still fine. He's hashtag blessed, as some might say, but yeah, that's brutal. To miss 83,000 by one out. And my other one, selfishly, from my fantasy team, Ramadre Stevenson, what the hell was that last night? He gets like 20 rushing yards, and he loses both of them on a fumble. If you had him in fantasy, gave you the big fat goose egg, so Ramadre Stevenson was brutal last night. The main one that I got coming off of last night is, especially 'cause it's New York media, and everything gets overblown, but the whole Roger's solid thing becoming this possible beginning of the end, and this breakup, and bad blood that's behind Roger's and Salah. When you look at it, and then when you really dive into it, that's the New York media of trying to make something out of nothing, and that was a, that was a car wreck. - Yeah, no, it's certainly so, I agree with you on that one. - All right, what do you got with it? - I, I, I think I'm gonna go with short and Hicks, man. - That's out of his control, isn't it? - It is, look, I'm not, yeah. Jordan Hicks is not the car wrecker today, just him losing 83,000, I mean, can you imagine? I mean, look, I mean, we'd all love to make what he makes from the total, but can you imagine losing 83,000 dollars on whatever the radio equivalent is of one out, like missing one segment of a show, and you-- - I mean, if you're gonna, I don't know, basically just a week. - Yeah, yeah, true. - All right, well, you pick it, and we'll let it win 'cause we don't have a tiebreaker. All right, coming up next, there's more of you, because we've got a special edition of the bullpen. Who needs weekends when you've got a Friday night special? - Yeah, you're welcome, Twitchers. Two more hours of me. - Sean Mapes, B-Mac and Company Special. - Can't live with them as well. - As we get to the listener party coming up, eight o'clock, the Hall of Fame with Booker T, and then a whole lot more coming up after that, including Michael Carroll and Comcast, but stick with us, have some fun, have a great weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you Monday. - Owning a rental property sounds like a dream until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. - Determinate competitive rent price, market the property, schedule the showing screen, tenants draft at the lease at a rent collection, handle maintenance request, maintain communication. - Whew, sound complicated? Runners' warehouse is here to take the hard work off your rental to-do list. Qualified tenants, check. Rent collection, check. Maintenance coordination, you got it. 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