The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
10/22 Hour 1 - Did the Loss to Green Bay Change Your Expectations for the Texans?
My home down payment would be $74,000. But with my VA home loan, my down payment is zero. My service was then. My benefits are now. Get what you earned. Visit chews.va.gov. Not all veterans are eligible for the type or amount of benefits mentioned here. A killer beast! ESPN 97.5 and 92.5 proudly present. The killer beast. It's definitely a fan of the killer beast. Don't sweat the technique. Now from a Veritex Community Bank Studios. Bring you the fastest three hours in Houston Sports Radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. What a breakdown. Hey, how are we doing? He is Blankers. I am Branham. It is Brian behind the glass. And it is a Tuesday edition of the killer beast on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5 business show. A Sylvie. The ramifications. The impact of falling to the Green Bay Packers. Two Monday night football games. But if one was on a streaming network of the company that is airing a real game live on normal cable television. Was anybody around to see it? A cashier would trash him a little bit later. 4.30 and who's in your dog house? We'll get to all of that a little bit later. You know, Texan's losing this game. It was close game. The field goal game, right? Green Bay makes the field goal to win it at the end. Great hold by the punter, by the way. Underrated play of the game. The best play of the game was the hold by the punter for the Green Bay Packers. It was behind him. It was low. Makes a nice little pick up on a one hop, tees it up. And then McManus, who does bad things on airplanes, was able to knock the field goal through and give Green Bay the win. But the Sunday's game of the Texans losing. Does it change your expectations for the Texans going forward? 713 780 ESPN. What about you? Does it change your expectations for the Texans going forward? The rest of the year? I don't think so. I think because you had a built in excuse with the defense, with the five guys that were out. Now, we know it's been an ongoing problem with the offensive line, but I also believe that you're going to get Nico Collins back, that you're going to have more times than not when CJ is not going to have a game like he had, to the point where, and mixing looks fantastic, to the point where it doesn't change my long term expectations. My expectations are this team is still going to win the division. This team is still going to be a playoff team. Now, how far it goes? And if you truly consider them a Super Bowl contender, or just one of the better teams in the AFC will be determined from now through the end of the regular season as they continue to play. But it doesn't change my expectations for, I expect this team to be one of the top three to four teams in the AFC. And I believe, and I expect them to be a playoff team, and I expect them to win the division. So where did you have them prior to losing a Green Bay when it comes to their run in the playoffs? Before I saw what I saw with the offensive line, I think going into that game, I probably had them more like top three. They could compete with the Ravens and the Chiefs. They had a legit chance against either team that they were going to be a team that was going to be upper echelon of not just the team, but the league. And now I have them as legit. I think they'll win the division via playoff team. And at a certain point, I think they can compete for the AFC. But right now, I'm not there. I would argue that that changed your expectations then. Because if you have them, if you had them as a divisional round team, would have a fighter's chance, maybe not quite a coin flip chance, but a fighter's chance to beat the Ravens or the Chiefs to get to the AFC championship game. And now you're more distant from that after what you saw at limbo. I think that's a changing of expectations. I think I'm slightly more either pessimistic or apprehensive. But I think that I still believe they can get where I where I had them. I just, I just, you know, from the short term ramifications standpoint, it left a bad taste in my mouth to see what I saw on Sunday. Yeah, I think that I'm about there. But I would say that yes, it does change the expectations. Some because I do feel like they're further. I think that the distance between them, the Ravens and the Chiefs, I think the gap grew in terms of what I think of those three teams, what my expectations are, because I haven't had the Houston Texans as an AFC championship caliber team. I've had them as a team that has a chance to get there, but would need something pretty fortuitous to happen. Like Pat Mahomes gets destroyed and has his ankle shattered like Chris Godwin did yesterday or Lamar Jackson's unavailable to play or one of those teams are upset and you don't have to face them in the divisional round. Kind of like, well, I guess it wouldn't be like what happened that year where you almost hosted an AFC championship game because you were the team that almost upset Kansas City. So for me, I've always had them as a distant third, but where my expectations have changed is I feel like that gap has grown, where maybe they're still on the podium in the AFC, although I think you could potentially debate that. They're still on the podium of the AFC, but the gap between third and second in my mind grew a lot this past weekend. So I do think that my expectations have changed. I still have them as a divisional round team, just like they were last year, but my chances of them getting to the AFC championship for me have diminished because the the glowing holes that we've seen, the glaring holes rather, that we've seen with this team, they've continued to grow. When they play good teams, they lose, they lose quite frankly. When they play the Minnesota Vikings, they got hammered. Yes, that they, yes, they were a field goal away from beating Green Bay this past Sunday, but it took three turnovers for them to be in the game. CJ Shroud had less than 100 yards in this game. It was a minor miracle that this was a one possession game. And if it weren't for the three turnovers, it wouldn't have been. It would have been a lot closer towards like the Minnesota game. So anytime the Texans have played someone that I think are good, like I don't think the Colts are all that good. Yes, they have a winning record. I don't think the Bears are great. Yes, they have a winning record. The Bills are the best team that they beat. You know, that that was a game in which their game playing was fantastic home game. You hold Josh Allen to nine for 30, but Green Bay, Minnesota, when you went on the road against a good team, you have looked bad. You've looked poor. Yeah, my expectations is certainly changed. I mean, pre-season, I had them at 11 wins and making a run to the AFC title game before getting knocked out. And I can't look at the Texans versus the upper tier of the AFC and still say they belong in that conversation. I thought, I mean, I thought I was picking them to beat the Chiefs or the Ravens because I had them losing the AFC title game, but I thought like Joel said, I thought they had a punch chance. I thought they were in the conversation, but after seeing them be exposed for a second time, because I really thought that game without the turnovers looks like the Vikings game. I mean, it's week seven. This is not like it's not something you can dismiss as a fluke or a one-off or oh, it was just a bad matchup or hey, you know, quote, unquote, it's baseball. They had a bad week. This is now happening multiple times. We're getting close to the halfway part of the season, and they still haven't fixed a very, very glaring issue. So when they run up against teams like the Chiefs and the Ravens specifically who not only have, well, I can't say good offices in case of the Chiefs because they're struggling in office, but they have great quarterbacks and defenses that can, that can hurt you. I don't see how that we could honestly say with a straight phase of the Texans could beat against those teams right now. So it's knocked them down from the AFC title game in the same conversation as those two teams to a tier below those two teams. I think they're closer to fourth or fifth in the AFC than they are second. I would agree. Yeah. Well, especially what you saw last night too. And look, Baltimore showed me, I mean, that was Tampa Bay. Like their defense is awful, but Baltimore showed weakness in the fact that they still were allowing Tampa Bay to do a lot of things offensively to where your defense, if you're the if a Ravens fan says you tells you their defense, it's normally pretty suffocating, but overall, their offense is loaded. And, and the fact that, you know, what they've added with Derek Henry and even the odd way that they used him and didn't use him last night worked out, they've got a lot of weapons. They are extremely talented team. I think the Chiefs, yeah, they've got, they've got deficiencies because of injuries offensively, but they still have Patrick Mahomes, as you mentioned, their defense is still really, really good. And when you look at the Texans, you're like, to your point, I think that the defense is good. I don't think it's really, really good. And I think that from an offensive standpoint, what happened this last weekend kind of told you as much as you thought that that identity was going to grow and they were going to be and continue to be a dominant offensive team took a huge step back. Yeah, I think their defense is ahead of their offense. I think their defense is closer to really good than their offense is to really good. And there's still some pieces that you know, you expect to get back. You know, you're not going to play Navell Hewitt and Jake Hanson, hopefully not knock on wood. Like you expect to have Aziz al-Shire back sooner rather than later. Henry Toa Toa was on like, I saw it on Reddit today, where he's still wearing sunglasses, sunglasses to watch this game this past weekend. If Henry Toa Toa was using sunglasses to watch the Houston Texans play this past weekend, I don't think he's playing this weekend against the Colts. I would say that he still, I'd say at least one, maybe two more games he still might miss. That sounds, yeah, normally when you're kind of on the road of recovery, yeah, you're doing light workouts and you're allowing you to maybe get on a treadmill. Yeah, you're not still wearing sunglasses inside the house. You got a little bit of a way to go before you're clearing the concussion protocol in our game ready. But I mean, Aziz al-Shire and like Hewitt to me still formidable, but you're expecting to get Christian Harris back. You know, Lasseter spatula injury to me is a real, it's a mystery to me, quite frankly, not just because it's a kitchen utensil, but because Aaron Wilson reported that it was a break. He reported it was a broken spatula. Like if you have a broken bone, that's going to take four to six weeks. Now they haven't placed him on the IR. So is the report, right? I don't know. Like I'm kind of curious. Aaron Wilson usually is a very good reporter. He's usually right. He's not always right, but he's usually right. So is it broken? Like is he going to be out four to six weeks? Because D'Angelo Ross, being out four to four, D'Angelo Ross having to play for Camari Lasseter because he's out four to six weeks is something that's going to hurt your defense. And then the offense really quite frankly relies on the offensive line. Like even if you bring back Nico Collins, you're not you're restricted with how your offensive line is performing. I don't think that the Texans are anywhere near the category. And yes, like to be Max Point, the the Chiefs, the Chiefs have been boring offensively. They have not been good offensively. It seems like they're sleepwalking through another regular season offensively, much like they did last year. And even in the playoffs last year, they weren't like this, you know, track meat offense that was lighting up the scoreboard. They were doing enough and they were relying on a really good defense and they had a lead quarterback play in Travis Kelsey kind of found the fountain of youth. I expect them to do the same thing this year. Like they have a mediocre defense and they're undefeated. Baltimore is racking up 500 yards per game with what looks like the best running attack in NFL history. So no, I don't think that the Texans are anywhere close to the class of the AFC. This past week, because it again, it, you know, it said in my mind, just like the Minnesota game, I should have put more stock in that more value in that. It showed me how big the gap is between second and look, some people might not even have the Texans third. They still might say Buffalo's third, even though you beat them at home by three points. Maybe some, maybe some people really like the Pittsburgh stealer defense. Maybe they need the Steelers are better than the Texans, but the Texans are nowhere near a top two team in the AFC. No, and I think that now you're going to have to deal with the fact that there's a blueprint out there for what teams are going to want to do going forward to. They know you had success running the football against a, you know, an above average defense. So what they're going to do is they're going to focus more on the run, but they're going to give you all kinds of different, you know, pre snap looks and, and, and they're going to come at you with a bunch of different stunts and twists and, and things to try and emulate what Green Bay did until you prove you can beat that. So you know, it's coming at you from a different way. You know, you're going to see what you saw again Sunday. And you know that now that, that Joe Nixon looks like he's capable still of doing it offensively and carrying a ton of the load when the rest of the offense sucks is going to be the focal point. The pushback I would have to that, those that every team has done that, every team has done that to you defensively. It's just that some teams are better than others at doing it. Like playing Green Bay who has a, has a good defense. They're going to be better at it than the Colts are who don't have a good defense of the Minnesota Vikings who have one of the best defenses in the NFL are going to be better than the Buffalo Bills without at all over who didn't play in that game. So I think that the recipe's been out there since week one. I don't think that they're seeing new things. Sure, there's a wrinkle here or there, but fundamentally defensively what the Houston Texans are seeing. They've seen since week one of the year, we were talking about how stunts have been killing them all year. But they just, I mean, obviously they mix it up. They brought it from different angles, different formations. But the main thing is with mixing after week one, the running game was totally different now that he's proven, hey, look, this is going to be for the long haul, what they, what they do well, that they're going to focus even harder on the fact that, what does that mean though? Because I can't, I can't imagine, especially when Nico's back, teams put eight in the box against Stroud in a full compliment of Texas. Not necessarily eight in the box, but they're going to focus more on like right at the initial snap. Like, what they're going to do in terms of how they're going to bring pressure in the middle, because because the pressure comes from the middle, it also, it works both ways. They've shown that they have, they're like a sieve in the middle and guys are getting through right through the middle of right on either side of the center. And also the majority of the runs are going right in those two gaps to where if you bring everybody that way, you probably have a better chance of stopping or slowing down a lot, a lot of what they try to do with mixing. Yeah, you're right. They do try to run up the middle button. Like, I mean, obviously mixing was great in this last game, but I wish I had the play chart in front of me. It seemed like though, the outside runs had more success than between the guards run. Yeah, a lot of jump cuts. So yeah, that's kind of like, I see your point with you'd want to focus on mixing, but I mean, you can't stack the box against Stroud. And like, maybe you try to bring extra guys up the middle like they're doing because they're walking with six guys and putting two guys over the A gap a lot, that kind of that six man front, but a lot of the runs have gone to the outside for mixing, especially the explosive run. So I don't even know if that is something that defense necessarily would try to do in taking the run up the middle because they kind of already done that, in my opinion. Yeah, it is a different looking offense whenever you have mixing, like the Texans are 10th and the NFL and passing yards are 15th and rushing. Well, Joe mix and missed a few games. They would look a lot different if Joe mixing was available in all those games. But I don't think it really changes the defensive strategy a whole lot. Like, we're still seeing pretty similar thing. I went back today and looked at my all 22 recaps of the the Colts, the Bears, the Vikings early in the year, because I remember we've been talking about the stunts since since week one, since week one, yeah, they're doing the same old stuff. There's any kind of stuff. Sometimes like you see this in the NBA, we're like, okay, we'll let this guy get his, but we're taking away everyone else. It kind of feels like teams are going to start doing that for the Texas. Hey, if mixing goes for one one 15, cool, but we're going to keep, you know, the six man fronts, the double A gap, the stunts, the twist, and we're going to make sure we take away the Texans pass the game. But we can live with Joe mixing one for one 15 in that situation. Yeah, 713 780 ESPN did Sunday's game change your expectations for the Texans. I think I said after the Buffalo game that they belong in the upper echelon of the NFL. What an idiot I am. Why would you ever listen to this more on a on a microphone? Because I do not think that they belong. I tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect. And I'm a knucklehead at times. That was mean of you, Brian. But yeah, I don't think that they belong on the upper echelon. I think I had the the Texans swarm goggles on. I don't think they belong on the upper echelon. Do you think that they belong on the upper echelon 713 780 ESPN HRP listener line busy show? It's a Tuesday, a taco Tuesday will cash him or trash him a little bit later. Well, we'll take a look at this Monday night football games that took place. Yeah, show some controversy around one specific head coaching is usage of a receiver, which is kind of rich coming from some people now, after they were totally okay with amico Ryan's doing it against Minnesota. But 713 780 ESPN we're on Twitch switch.tv slash ESPN 97 five YouTube at ESPN Houston Twitter at ESPN 975 blankers at Pac Man Joel Brian attack by BMAC. I'm a Jeremy Branham. Do the Texans belong on the upper echelon of NFL team 713 7803776. It is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 95. ESPN 97 5. Broadcasting live for the paratex community bank studios. It's the killer bees with Joel Blanket, Jeremy Branham on ESPN 97 5 and 92 5. 0303. I need to talk about how the Cowboys are ending the 49ers season this Sunday. What do you want to say about that pillow fight of a game between the 49ers and the Cowboys on Sunday? Like how uneventful can it be? It's a it's a Niners team that's going to probably be without what both of their receivers. I certainly do. Yeah, you are saying way too much than I wanted you to say about this game. And Deebo's got pneumonia against a grossly over under achieving Dallas Cowboy team. Okay, great. There you go. 0303. We talked about the Cowboys 49er pillow fight that's coming up on on Sunday. By the way, we've been receiving corrections. People think you don't know the difference between scapula and spatula. I know. I feel achieved. I feel I feel the two phone calls. I love the show. The lineup's great, but you don't have a spatula. You have a spatula. It's like, all right, spatula. They don't know what they're talking about. They're right there in the right there on the back of the shoulder blade is where the spatula is. Yeah, people on Twitter have been losing their mind about that. Texans have made a move. By the way, everybody likes to make news and transactions. Is this worthy? No, nobody can hit it anyway. We need a mocking one for times like this. The Texans have added a running back to their practice squad. Jaward Jordan is back. Jaward Jordan, I mean, routine, right? They traded cam bakers. You probably need some running back dad. But yeah, this, this is not hopefully you never see Jaward Jordan. If Jaward Jordan's playing, there are issues. There are problems. Jaward Jordan is a blood on a team that's upper echelon. No, at least not receiving carry some of the team that's upper echelon. Well, there's there's the debate and the debate we're having now 713780 ESPN. Do you think the Texans are upper echelon 713 780 3776? Don't worry about it, which I know what you think about this. 4952 haven't felt good about this team all year exposed when they play teams that are talented, except for the bills at home, a worst division and football king of the poop hill. Okay. I think that the reasons that you feel good about the Texans, like, why do we feel good about the Texans at some point this year? It's certainly not right now. Tuesday after you get beat Lambo in a two point game in which you were plus three in the turnover battle. By the way, the record, I can't remember it off the like the exact record, but I was listening to Green Bay press conference yesterday. And some reporter just randomly told the floor, do you know what the record is? And the floor is like, no, and he gave them the record. And the floor is like, do you have a question? The report is like, no, I just thought it was a cool stat. But since like 2000, something like that 2000, I think it was 2000 teams that have turned it over three times that are plus three plus three have won like 1000 times. The amount of times that a team is one minus three turnovers 90, the win percentage is less than 10%, which I thought it'd actually be less than that. I thought it'd be far less than that. But the Texans did something that less than 10% of teams do win the turnover battle by three and lose the game. Like I was listening to Demico with the coffee with the coaches, which they posted a day later. I wonder why. I was listening to Nicocerio, who always does his, uh, his thing with John Harris and rock and roll. And they were like overly positive. Like, Oh, we were a field goal away. I'm so excited about the opportunity this week, which from a Demico point, I kind of understand. And I can really understand it from both point of views. But I also, who's yelling out there, but I also understand that the hyperbole, the hyperbole of it as well too, though, is like, yeah, it was close. Yeah, you were one play away from winning the game, but you were also three turnovers away from getting blown out of limbo. There's no doubt about that's what I would always, that's what I would say. And that's why B. Mac was right about saying this was, could have been close to the Minnesota game. You got 16 should have been 17. They went for two, but you got, you got 16 of those points, if you're the Texans, because of the fact that you were gift wrapped, not only turnovers, but turnovers that put the ball in the red zone immediately. And in two of those cases, inside the 10, I believe, to where all you had to do was just meticulous, matriculate a couple of plays and boom, touchdown, boom, field goal, boom, touchdown. And it's like, okay, take all that away. That was not a close game. That was not one you should feel good about. That was not one you say, ooh, if that field goal missed, or if you did this or that, there were far more mistakes than just ooh, that play there or that played there. Yeah. And you scored 17 points. You scored two touchdowns in a field goal off the three turnovers. So it wasn't one of those games where you get three turnovers and score three points. You know what I mean? Right. So you scored 17 of your 22 points, might have been 16. It was 16. They went for two. Yeah. 16 of your 22 points came off the turnovers. Yeah. It's just without the game. Without that, your quarterback threw for less than 100 yards, which is unheard of in the NFL. Thank God for your running back that basically carried you the entire game and even in those touchdowns. And your defense was okay. I thought they played well. I was okay. But you put too much pressure on them because of the fact that you couldn't do anything offensively. Yeah. Yeah. I thought the defense played better than you made it sound there, especially with the limitations that you had and some of the players that were hurt. But the question, I kind of got a sidetracked there in my bed. When you have felt positive about the Texans, when has it come and why is the reason? I think that feeling positive about the Texas with the exception of the Buffalo game, like the Buffalo game, you have all the reason the world to be like really excited about the Texans. But most of the excitement that you've had with the Texans, most of the reasons that you've had, you've been bullish about the Texans this year at one point of time or another, whether it was preseason, anywhere to now, is usually because of the expectations you have for them is because of the potential that you have for them. It hasn't too often been their play. It hasn't too often been, you know what, the Texans play so stinking good today. This is this is an upper echelon team. The only exception is the Buffalo game. But other than that, it's been like, okay, we think this offense is going to be really good because of the skill. But the offensive line has been really bad pass protect. They've been good in run protection, but they've been really bad in press protection all season long. The defense has played pretty well. But even the defense has given up a bunch of shot plays that haven't materialized for the opposition with the exception of the Buffalo game. Every time that fans have been bullish about the Texans is more about the expectation than the actual production. That's true because of the ifs, buts, candies and nuts that go with it. You're right. Aside from the Buffalo game where you did beat a good team with a good quarterback, with a good defense, with a team that had been rolling, other than that, everything was, well, you crushed the Patriots. Will Anderson had a hell of a game, but she was the Patriots, right? You beat the Bears, but Caleb is a rookie and they weren't a team that you should really consider to be upper. And you only scored 19 points in that game. The Colts looked great in week one, but a couple of weeks later, their D line looks like it sucks. It wasn't as good as we thought they were. And you were supposed to do that to a bad defense now. So there's always been that butt, that caveat that says, yes, so you're right because you look at it and say, well, the expectation is we got one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The expectation is we got one of the best duos in the league with Nico when he's healthy. The expectation is, well, Anderson, along with the Neil Hunter and when you get Autry back, that pass rush is going to be all world. But those are expectations. Autry was a no show. You could go, you know, Nico's hurt. You didn't do what you thought you could do offensively when we said the full compliment, when you get the passing game connected with when mixing's rolling, mixing's rolling, passing game wasn't there. So yeah, when expectations are high, there's still always been a caveat with the exception of Buffalo, even the Jacksonville game, like you led, you led, you led for you, you trailed rather, you trailed for 14 and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, actually longer than that. Jacksonville took the lead was 616 to go in the third. You didn't regain the lead until 18 seconds in the fourth quarter. You were this far away. You were a chin hair away from losing to a winless Jacksonville team at the time at home. They've not been, they have not been impressive in the production. Why do you think that would Buffalo? Because I mean, think about the circuit, the chain of events that had to happen at the end of the game for them to make that game winning, or Buffalo gets the ball back. They go three and out with three quick passes. They have to punt from the tide at the time though, tight at the time. But still, I mean, that's that's a game that in most cases, if you're looking at the odds, the probability goes in overtime in most cases, because you have to have the quick three and out, they punt it from, you know, with their punters heel on the back of the line, you get a decent return from Woods to give you just enough yardage to get in the field go range and kind of meet nails one from 50 plus. I mean, in most cases, that game goes overtime. And so you obviously can't say they should have lost, but you can't say they should have won. You never know what happens in overtime. Coin flip at that point. Yeah, it's a coin flip, literally and figuratively. Now, I don't even know if that's, I mean, it's impressive. But the thing that I would argue, the thing that I would argue about that game is that you let them in that game. Like the Texans were the better team in that game. Sure, it is. No, it is. But like we're looking at the Green Bay game and like, well, Green Bay should have blown you out of Lambo, but they let you in the game. Like you look at who was the better game between Green Bay and Houston? Green Bay. Yeah, they let you stay in the game. And yes, you know, you did some things defensively that earned it. If you look back at the Houston Buffalo game, like they were up two possessions, even three possessions in the third quarter. Yeah, it was 20 to three early third quarter. They led by two possessions for a majority of the third quarter. But then why did Buffalo get back? You kind of let them back in the game. Why did he get a little bit dicey there at the end? Because you threw the ball on third down that led to an intentional grounding. Like, so now it is part of it. It is part of it. But I look at that game as like Houston was the better team that day. And they did some things that allow Buffalo to make it close and then almost escape Houston with a victory. Yeah, no, I think that's the tale of two completely different games from the standpoint of every single time you were looking at the Buffalo game. It seemed like it was this is the Texans game to lose unless they do something to throw up all over themselves. Yeah, they were in control of the game. And they almost did. Right. Which is, which is again, the scary part of the fact that it's that's why it's you have to be so apprehensive right now of having too much confidence in the long term goals of this team and where they can go from the Buffalo standpoint. I felt like they were in control. I felt like they were in control of the game. I did not feel that way in the Green Bay game. I felt like that was Green Bay's game to lose even with the turnovers because the Texans were just so inept on offense that even with the two mistakes that love gave you passing the football, they were running the football. It seemed like when they needed to make plays, they could make plays as good as the defense played. But but overall that the fact that you didn't have to worry about a Texans offense that was, you know, build to be explosive. Regardless, well, if Niko's in there or not, you didn't have to worry about that. 713 780 ESPN. The Texans belong on the upper echelon. People are asking us questions on what it takes for them to get to the upper echelon. We'll answer those on the other side. 713 780 ESPN, it is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 95. You're back with a killer bees on ESPN 97 5 and 92 5 live from the Veritex community bank studios. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. 713 780 ESPN 7230. What do the Texans need to improve expectations or at this point? Is there no chance for an increase in those? No, I think that they can still increase their expectations. I think that some of the areas that they're weak are fixable. I think they're correctable, whether it's in-house or whether you look out of house, but the cat to catch up to Kansas City in Baltimore. I don't see it this year. Yeah. I mean, at the start of the year, I had I was apprehensive simply because I thought the schedule was just loaded. And we looked at the quarterbacks. We looked at the teams. And I thought that this was going to be kind of the precursor to what would be then the window really fully being open for them to run for the next several. But then you start the season the way you did. And everybody was looking at them like, hey, maybe they're ready now. But I think that the deficiencies that they have, it's not as easy as going out. And you know, so many teams right now between now and the deadline looking to add one player. That offensive line is not one player away from changing the kind of habits that they have, the kind of continuity that they lack, and their inability to block for for in the past game. And I think that's something that in as a work in progress, can it get better? Yes. But I mean, I don't know how long it's going to take. And I don't know where you're going to sit by the time that it gets better. Yeah, I think, I mean, there's there's a lot of issues with that offensive line right now and like to, you know, to point fingers and where is the blame reside? I think like you said, it's there's a lot of fingers to be pointed. Triple zero to herd hierarchy. I don't know who hierarchy is did not have the Texans in the top 15. But he mentioned that they're about a year away from Super Bowl contention. No, I do. He's talking about the Colin cow herd deal. He's talking about I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think I can guess. Um, yeah, that could be true. Like I think that they're top 15 in the NFL, but I have no problem saying that they're not Super Bowl contending good for four eight eight. Does the Texans defense stunt thinking about when the Texans offense practice against? Yeah, I mean, you have scout teams during the week though, like your ones really aren't going up against your ones during the week. I would be shocked if that ever happens. Usually your defense is facing a scout team offense. Your offense is facing a scout team defense. The Texans will stunt a little bit, but not nearly as much as their opponents are doing. And the reason the Texans don't really do that a whole lot is because they usually create pass rush without having to do that. Yeah. And, and, you know, from the scout team perspective, look, they're trying to emulate what green Bay is going to do. But you know, green Bay has one of the better second areas in football. Uh, their pass rush has been less than, but the fact that you didn't even, I don't think you knew were expected that they were going to run some of the exotic stunts that they were running that got home. And the fact that there was basically a two lane highway right down the middle of the offensive line where guys could just at free will come in and chase CJ. It's been ugly. Uh, five seven nine eight until the Texas prove they can beat the Chiefs and the Ravens. They're a big tier team with Stratton and Mico. I do believe they have a tier potential now in the years to come. I think it's probably the fairest way to put that five seven nine eight. I think that's a good call. Now, do I think that they can reach a tier status this season? No, I just don't. Now, you know, if Kansas City has an injury to critical position, if Baltimore has an injury to critical position, if somebody gets upset, then you can open up an avenue for you. But I just don't see how the Texans are better than Kansas City at this point or at the end of the year. Yeah. And you look at it and said, look, a lot of things fell your way. The Bengals fell early. They don't look like they're going to be able to get up. The jets aren't what what people thought they were going to be. They were opportunities, but the Chiefs, you know, like you mentioned, I mean, a year ago, they were struggling and record wise. It showed this year, they're struggling, but record wide is wise. It doesn't show their defense. I think still doesn't get enough credit. And if they go out and get a receiver between now and the trade deadline that can give them homes, another weapon to throw to, he's still Patrick Mahomes with Andy Reed. And they're and their line is just fine. And if they get Pacheco back or they they're running and gets in order, they got their ceiling can get better. And it could take just one ad here. There are a few subtleties. You're offensive line. It's not subtle. It's going to take some serious work and probably multiple moves. Thank you. Respectfully, I think you're sleeping on Kansas City's regular season last year. They still won the division. They had a long they started seven and two. Like, I mean, they want a bunch of games last year. Okay, fine. But they had a lull. And then people were like, they're the same Chiefs team. And then and Kelsey wasn't really a big factor. Second half Kelsey became a big factor playoffs. He was huge. They they can flip a switch better than anybody in the league from a Baltimore perspective. Like you said, the fact that you added Henry to what was already a prolific running game and Lamar looks like, you know, he's getting better and better in terms of they got more weapons for him, but he can pass the football enough that they have a potent offense and their defense is storage for the most part. Yeah, seven one three seven eight zero ESP an HRP listener line seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six seven two three zero. Can the Texas put together more than a consecutive half a football? I think it's their limitations on the offensive line that leads their offense to be inconsistent. But yeah, that's that's what they're searching for right now. Uh, four four eight eight. Is this the sophomore slump for CJ? What's the biggest difference from last year's offense in this year? Past protection. Like it's that simple. Like they're their skill position players are better. Uh, Nico Collins is better than he was a year ago. Stefan Diggs is a better wide receiver to than Tank Dell was a year ago. Tank Dell is the same player. And now he's your third wide receiver. You still have Dalton Schultz. Joe Mixon's a major upgrade to Devin Singletary. What is the difference this year? It's offensive line and think about in this game in particular and going back and watching it multiple times. The fact is, is that the reason why CJ was so good to this point in the season before the Green Bay game was his ability to go off script, his ability to move and slide out of the pocket and find Nico Collins. When Nico Collins isn't there, that was a game where Nico Collins probably could have done a whole hell of a lot of good for this offense because that's where that chemistry where he found that the open spots and would lay down in him or move to the area where CJ needed him. Yeah, those were open. Would have been a big, big, big help and they were open. They were there. But okay, maybe, maybe, but I'm saying whether it's the, you know, the chemistry that he has with Nico to know where he is and then trust throws more. I think it was because he was rattled. I think it was because he was, I think it's because Green Bay made their presence known. It's fine. He, he was rattled, but also the fact that both though, because in the situation where sprout is rattled, it like to Joel's point, even if you're rattled, if you have Nico there, maybe you're more willing to throw the ball up to jump balls thinking, okay, my guy, Nico, six, three beast, he's a powerful out there. He can come down with it. You're not throwing that same ball to take. Yeah. He doesn't really, I mean, sprout doesn't throw many jump balls and let's say designed, is it, let's say the design go round and it's one on one coverage. Like, how often do you see Nico Collins go up over two dudes in traffic and catch a ball? That's not, that's not really we strout game. You're not well, there were, there were, he threw some balls poorly too, but at the same time, there's a, it's a twofold thing because there's that comfort level of knowing that it's, that it's the guy that seems to always come down with it for you. And then the fact that instead of tank or digs or guys like that, that you've got that big physicality in Nico too, to where he is going to kind of use his body. He could jump if he has to. He's got a very, very big target range that helps him. Yeah. Maybe that's where your ride is where it's like, okay, eyes immediately looking for Nico, whereas not Nico on the field, maybe it's not that, maybe it's more, okay, whatever pops free, maybe I'm running because he did have, I mean, there was a third one in that game yesterday, Sunday, where he scrambles out of the pocket, he rolls the pocket right 31. So I understand like, I need to get the first down, but tank Delta's the scramble drill wide open wide open would have been an easy six with an easy touchdown. The first one that that tank dropped and maybe it had something to do with the confidence of not looking at tank, maybe, I don't know. But the first one was a scramble drill. The one that tank Dell dropped in the end zone was a scramble drill. CJ Stroud rolled the pocket right. Tank Dell recognized that sprinted towards the sideline that CJ Stroud was rolling out to, was wide open. Stroud did make a great throw. Tank Dell missed a ball that he catches nine out of 10 times like they they have chemistry too. Like it was apparent. Well, you know, it was apparent on that first drive and then maybe that's what caused the chemistry to go away or the house to go away. That was another one. That was a good one. And that's one where you feel like, okay, that's what we're used to seeing. We've gotten so accustomed to seeing when he goes off script a little bit when he gets forced out of the pocket. That's the kind of place you look to and say, whoa, and then also I was like, Oh, wow, there's a Hutchinson sighting and look, it was a big play, but it just didn't seem to feel the same. Like when he rolled out that he had the confidence and at the other end that the guys were going to come through with those plays. I'm with you that it didn't show up. Like in terms of the actual result, in terms of the actual production. But if one if Tank Dell catches the opening drive, well, there's a scramble drill that the chemistry is great and the Texans score a touchdown. So it was there. It just was dropped. It wasn't executed. And then the same thing with the rollout later on in that first quarter where CJ shroud rolls out has tanked wide open. Never never looks his way. Maybe it was because he lost his trust with the drop. Very well could have been, but it was there. It was there. It just didn't happen. And then well, what's the like, what is the common denominator between what was happening in that game versus what was happening. Other guys, maybe it's Nico. Maybe it's the lack of Nico. Maybe it's the fact that Green Bay's defense was good. Whereas some of these other teams, the defenses were not good. And CJ shroud was a little bit of uncharacteristically rattled. Like he even did not play to the standard that we've seen from CJ shroud. 9117 defenses are better this year. Maybe the teams on the schedule this year, the league has taped on them this year. Texans online and CJ can get much better with their pre snap read. See, I think people are trying to reinvent the wheel here. I think they're trying to over complicate things. Oh, CJ shroud, sophomore slump. Tank tell isn't the same guy that he was. The offense is atrocious. Bobby Slovak's not a good play. All of these things that people are trying to make believe into reality. When it is very simply the offensive line stinks. If you had Detroit's offensive line, the Texas will have a top five offense in the NFL. The reason that everything else looks disappointing is because the offensive line has played atrociously. That is the issue. Not anything else. Why is the Texans offense not leaving living up to expectation? Why are individual players not hitting their fantasy goals or whatever you're going to say? Because the offensive line stinks and it has a domino effect on everything. Now, pass protection specifically, because in run protection, they've actually been pretty good. When Joe Mixon's or when Joe Mixon's been in the line, they've actually ran the football pretty good, but they cannot pass protect. And if you can't pass protects, the quarterback doesn't have as much time to throw. His numbers aren't going to look as good. If the quarterbacks numbers aren't as good, the receivers numbers aren't as good, which thus the offense isn't going to look as good. The fundamental problem with the Houston Texans offensively is that their offensive line is atrocious. It absolutely is. And I think that the misconception that a lot of people out there that watch the games and are more casual fans, well, you can run the football, which means your offensive line doesn't suck, but it's two totally different things. It's the fact that yes, and Joe Mixon helps a lot in the running game, because a lot of times it's not just the initial hole. It's the fact that he could take opportunities and create something out of nothing, too. But he's been extremely, extremely good at changing directions and doing what he needs to do to make positive yardage. But overall, the fact that we saw individually with a player last year in Kenyon Green, now it's the whole offensive line to where yes, you maybe have some success running the football with your run blocking, but your pass protection and your pass blocking has been dog snob. Yeah, yeah, I mean, yes, it's been really. And then when you throw an injury like Nico into it and what how dominant he's been, it just all steam rolls even worse. 448A, Brandon Nico is CJ security blanket when the probably breaks down. Yes, he is. Like, he's had other security blankets, too. Go watch the games that Nico Collins missed last year. Tank down was the security blanket on the opening drive and had a touchdown if Tank Dell didn't drop the ball. 2706 digs was one of the top three receivers in the NFL. Win, win, but why not open the playbook and unleash digs now that Niko is out or is it slow ex offensive scheme? That is good as we thought. No, it's because the offensive line stinks. That's why you need time to do whatever you want to do with guys running routes or doing whatever you think that that digs need to be doing more. Nothing's going to come to fruition and you cannot formulate any kind of, you know, passing success, but you don't have time. Yeah, I mean, part, I think sometimes people will see what's happening with CJ and the pressure he's facing and like, oh, he's not handling the blitz. Green Bay only blitz at like four times in that game. There was a lot of four man pressures because of their stunts and twists and gains. 82% Yeah, the four man rushes. Exactly that worked. So, I mean, I think CJ and the numbers bear this out last year, he's fine against the blitzes. But if he can't trust his offensive line to hold up against four, they were getting, they're getting there this year. And I can't remember the exact time that I saw earlier today. But basically, pressure is getting home on the Texans at the fourth highest rate in the NFL this year. And there a green Bay only blitz four times and it's still happening. No quarterback can handle that CJ is still fine against the blitz, but there are breaking points. Yeah, do you say green Bay only blitz four times? That's the number I saw. I think it's more than that. Well, maybe there's maybe it was like on a specific down. I just know they only rushed for 82% of the time. Yeah, and they hold on. What was your staff? They only rushed for a four man rush, 82% of the game. Yeah. So yeah, I also saw another one where they blitzed like 28% of the time and they generated pressure over 80% of the time. They were getting home with four. Why? Because you're offensive lines atrocious. Yeah, they were getting home with four. 1306 got tired of listening to Baytown baddie and Hugley. They're annoying AF. Well, good to have you. Thanks for coming in. 713 780 ESPN. Let's go out to the HRNP listener line. Bruce, you're in the high with the bees. What's up, Bruce? Hey, I'm sitting here listening to you guys making basically making excuses for the Texans. Well, then I heard a little while ago that somebody said that the Cowboys were under achieving. I wish you would explain to me how the Cowboys are under achieving and the Texans got all of these excuses as to why we set the Texans off into lines atrocious. And we say they're not in the upper echelon in the NFL. Bruce, take a breath. Bruce, we set the Texans offensive lines atrocious and they don't belong in the upper echelon of the NFL. That's not excuses. It's reality. I don't watch the Cowboys as nearly as much as I watched the Texans. Um, I think CD lambs the best receiver of the core, but I would probably take the Texans defense over the Cowboys. Okay. So can you explain to me how you can pack and come out your mouth that the Cowboys are under team. The Cowboys are what they are. They are not a good football team. Okay. I don't want to be trying to keep saying that they are winning that you might be right. You might be right, Bruce. Appreciate the call. Thank you for listening to your owner was the one that said they were in go for it mode two and how that worked. Okay. Bruce is a slot receiver at that. By the way, it was blankers who said they're energy. Don't get mad at me, Bruce. Whoever said if I did, fine. I'll own it. No, I'm pulling I'm pulling Bruce. The Cowboys. I mean, I forget what the Cowboys win total wasn't Vegas but I'm pretty sure it was nine and a half. I thought it was going to say 10. I was going to say nine and a half. They have a three and three record that's below their pace of what their Vegas total was. So that's why, you know, blankers probably said they're underachieving. Where's the, I think it's three and three, their win total is nine and a half and that's an underachieving. Their win loss isn't underachievement. Now, are the Cowboys not as good as the Texans? Yeah, probably Bruce. You're probably right. Now the Texans are five and two, which is on pace of shattering their win total. So that's the difference there. I think Bruce. All right. 713780 ESP and HRP listener line. So if we don't think the Texans are on the upper echelon of the NFL, who is who is on the upper echelon of teams in the NFL? 7137803776 and Bruce, we're not going to say the Cowboys. It is the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. All right. Before we go to the break, Brian McDonald here for underdog fantasy sports. Guys, big question for you. What's the worst part of your long fantasy sports? Is it drafting the guy who gets hurt in your season's room before it even begin, like a new Christian McCaffrey? Of course it is. But that's not a problem with underdog sports. Did I miss out on the JK Dobbins higher, higher, higher last night? Yeah, I did. But with underdog, your season is not over. It's never over. And that's the beauty of playing fantasy sports with underdog where every day is a new chance to make money, real money, big money. It's the one I play tonight on underdog. The NBA season tips off. So of course, I have a pickup entry in for tonight's games, including higher on 24 and a half points for Anthony Edwards. So use that pick or fade me either way, but play the pick and games that underdog where you can win up to a thousand times your money just by choosing higher or lower on player stats like points, blocks, steals and much more for NBA games. And underdog has your back with the underdog rescues. What's that? Well, you could actually get your money back and receive a promo early if an injury causes you to lose your injury. Guy goes out early. No problem. You get your money back plus a promo. So why would you play anywhere else? Plus, it's currently boost tober from now until October 27 where you can boost your profit. All NBA injuries, entries by 20%. So underdog is literally giving you unlimited profit boost to make your basketball picks. So download the app, sign up with promo code BMAC that's BMAC. A deposit now to get up to $1,000 in bonus cash in silly that's promo code BMAC. BMAC must be 18 plus and present in state where underdog fantasy operates terms apply. Concern with your play call 1-800-GEMBER or visit ncpgambling.org ESPN 975 Coming to you live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios, it's the killer booms. On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. I'm just laughing at Bruce's call. No, my team's not underachieving. We're just bad. Okay, Bruce, you're bad. Would you rather be underachieving or would you rather be mauling the matters? Either way, you're three and three. We suck too, bro. We suck too. How dare you say my team's underachieving. We're not talented. CD's overrated. Our defense is terrible. The offensive line's bad. That's what we are. We're not an underachieving team. We're just no good. Like you feel more proud. The fact that no, we just suck. We're not underachieving. It just makes me laugh. 7137.80. ESPN A412. The game is one of the trenches. Championship teams are built inside out. I would agree. I would agree. I think you can get by with an offensive line that's like good enough. Like it doesn't have to be a dominating offensive line, but it has to be an offensive line that holds up and allows the offense to have time. Like Detroit's offensive line. Like we sit here and we talk about like Jared Goff being really good, having really good numbers. I'm on Ross St. Brown being a stud. Jameson Williams, who can't get out of his own way, having a really good year, the running game. They're offensive lines, the best in the league, the best offensive line in the league. It's unreal. They are physical, they are big, they are athletic, and they do a lot. Now it goes back to what we were saying last segment. You can make it work, but you have to completely change your offense. Like I saw in the Rogers era in Green Bay, that when the offense, two times, one when the offensive line was just putrid, and the other where he had the calf injury or the leg injury, you have to go pistol, and you basically have to do everything within about a second and a half. You just have to go boom, boom, boom quickly, because that's the only way that you can circumvent the fact that your line is a sieve and it's just giving up. They're just not good enough. Yeah, they are. They are. Well, we'll talk about it later on how they can improve and what needs to change, if it has to be external. We'll get to that later in the program 713780ESP. Let's go back out to the HRMP listener line. We'll talk about the operational on team turn a minute, but let's go back out to the HRMP listener line Duke from the West side. You're in the high with the bees. What's up, Duke? Hey, what's going on guys? Hey, I agree with you about the old line, but it's a little deeper as well on two of those sacks. The running back didn't pick up the linebackers. That team, they were putting the linebackers in the A gap. They both rushed the right side linebackers, engaged the center, counted like one thousand one, didn't the right side linebacker, hit the center from the side and the other linebackers looped around and the running back missed them. He was totally lost and that was one sack. On the second sack, they lined up two linebackers in the A gap. One drop, the other one stepped to the right and looped around the center to the left and the running back missed them again. So it's not just the old line. And CJ's style has to see that. I don't know if he has to drop deeper or he has to do something. But I guess they want the Minnesota friend on me and they just pick up on it. It just happened all year. It just wasn't the Minnesota game. Like it's magnified in the losses. You know, I do got, I watched the the all 22 this morning and saw the same stuff and sometimes it's tough to tell like exactly what their coverage calls are, what their keys are. Some teams are unique and different in what they want to do. But there's a couple of times whenever I looked at what's, what's Barnett's first name, Barnett, the running back coach. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I can't remember the running backs coach. I looked at him a couple of times on the sideline. Derrick Barnett, that's a no. They're running backs coach a couple of times is like, you could see him animated. So it's like, well, the running backs screwed up. Like in Duke's right. It's more than just the offensive line. It is the entire unit. And if like, Dameko Ryan's coffee with the coaches today on the text and YouTube, he's talking about how it's everybody. Yeah, it is everybody. And then the CJ Stroud part of it, CJ Stroud. That's where Stroud has actually been good is that he's been able to recognize this and either find the hot or get rid of it quickly or run. This was the first game. And even the Minnesota game, I didn't see this really. This was the first game where it's like, man, he he got he was, I don't want to say that he was spook or shook. He was uncomfortable. They made him feel uncomfortable from the moment that game started all the way to the end. And in other games, he'd been able to overcompensate for this offensive line with the exception of Minnesota. But this one was the worst of them all. Like he played poorly on top of the past protection playing poorly. You look at overall that the fact that he was he was uncomfortable. He did not have confidence overall like he's had even in the Minnesota game that that he could still make the throws that he would still have the time. The frustration we saw when he threw his helmet off was like, this isn't the same Texans offense that he's been dealing with all season either. And he wasn't at his best, which we've said. And on top of that, it's not just the running backs, even the tight ends when the tight ends are on the edge and they're supposed to be blocking. They, you know, they, there was no communication with the tackles. And they were both looking inside a lot of times and just got completely their doors blown off on outside edge rush to where the tight ends even weren't adequate. They were bad on all accounts. 285 one, the offensive line is not suspect they were criminal. That's a 0.8 joke there. 285 one started to do it to you, but that's not a good joke. This is your point. I apologize when you're you care to, you care to, I say respectfully now because you do, but at the same time, you guys would be great. My dad jokes. You don't say, well, I'm honest. I'm not going to, I'll be, I'll be kinder, but I'm still going to be honest. Right. But don't apologize to them. That joke sucked. But I tell you respectfully, when you're jokes suck, you say respectfully. Yeah, I do. Do you change my life? Okay. But you know, but you do it on comment stuff, but you don't do it when we're disagreeing in an argument. You don't do it on my dad jokes. Okay, I will look myself in the mirror. I will recognize that. I'm sorry that I've hurt your feelings. And I will, I will start to say sorry before I criticize you. I didn't say, I didn't say you hurt my feeling. And I didn't ask you to stop not doing that. I'm going to say, I love myself. I apologize in advance, but that Joe was a, that joke was atrocious. 4952, there's definitely no Ben Johnson versus slowah comparison right now. I don't think that there ever was, I don't think slowah was ever on Ben Johnson's level. Now, slowah was thrown around for head coaching jobs last year, but never to the level of Ben Johnson. He says Ben is better. I have no doubt that Ben is better, but slowah is also dealing with one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. And Ben Johnson is one of the best. We just got done talking about how good the Lions offensive line is. You can do so much more when your quarterback has time and you have, you have all the time in the world to execute whatever play you want to run. Yeah, four four eight eight. Can a good offensive coordinator get past a bad offensive line? I have some plans later. But no, you're limited. I mean, you really are. It's a governor. Like these, these golf carts can go like 50 miles per hour, but then you go play a little bit of golf. How fast do they go? 15 miles per hour. Why? Because there's governors on them. This offense can, like Aaron in mid-county says that the offense has top three potential if they can figure out the offensive line. I kind of agree. I kind of agree, but it's like a governor on a golf cart. This offensive line is preventing the offense from really taking off. You see what what Ben Johnson's able to do with flea flickers and triple reverses and throwing to offensive lineman, all because he has no worries about penetration coming right up the shoot on every single play and your quarterback getting less than a second and a half to make a decision with the ball. Alright, seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. Let's get to this. Let's get to this conversation. Who are the upper echelon teams in the NFL? Who was in that small class of upper echelon teams in the NFL? Seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six. It's the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. You have to celebrate your wins. We've won the mint 400 and I celebrated that win for weeks, but then we had to focus and move on Dustin Jones, championship winning K&M off-road racer. K&M's the same. 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With the lifetime warranty, enjoy the comfort of your 100% stainless steel fire pit without the worry of it breaking. Solo stoves are built to last, not just for the season, but forever. Get yours now at solostove.com. Welcome to the Financial Quarterback Podcast. I'm Josh Jielinski and every week I'm diving into the world of retirement investing and financial planning. From understanding market moves to protecting your future, we cover it all. I bring on expert guests and have a little fun with games and real world insights. With nearly two decades of experience and a Forbes recognized track record, I'm here to guide you through the biggest questions about your money. Subscribe to the Financial Quarterback Podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.