The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
10/18 Hour 3- Texans-Packers preview
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Coming to you live for the Veritex Community Bank Studios. It's the Killer B's. On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. DJ said you had Tyler Boyer on, not Joel Blank. I'm not coming off of the B's. That's all right. See how it is, DJ? Hey, Tyler Boyer, in for Joel Blank. One half athletically declined sports. The Rock the Mike champions of 2024. 713-780-3776-9392. Howard Texans fans getting upset. All you have to do is win your division. That thing is basically already locked up. OK. This-- I feel like I have to take on being one of the disgruntled Texans fans. I don't think they're disgruntled. I think what you're seeing here when Texans fans get upset is that they want to be a championship organization, as every fan base should. Like, why else are you playing the game, right? I feel like every organization should be aspiring and trying to be a champion. Now, where you're at currently in your lot of life, respective to your sport, is going to depend on how realistic that is. If you're the Houston Rockets, you're not going into the season saying we're going to win the NBA championship. But you're making moves throughout the process of, hopefully, one day being an NBA champion. I think that's a Rafael Stone's trying to do that. You look back at the Astros ahead of this golden era. They were losing 100 games, three straight years in a row. No one was going to the games. They were selling every major league piece that they had, eventually, turning it around, bringing up some prospects. And then, of course, you had the golden era take off. So I think whenever we look at Texans fans being a little bit upset when things don't go their way. And it might not even be a loss. It's OK. Well, we don't love that we beat Jacksonville by 3. It's because you notice things within the team that are going to prevent you to get where you want to get. It's not about, OK, they're upset because they're 5-1. It's no, they don't love what they're seeing about making a deep playoff run. Or they see some flaws and some warts on the team that make you think they're not as good as Kansas City. They're not as good as Baltimore. So I don't think it's about where you're at record-wise. I think it's more looking ahead in what you expect, where you expect your team to be versus some of the best in the league. Yeah. And speaking to expectations, you're one CJ shroud. I mean, you have an expectation of him bombing it down the field, of them looking like they're really well-old machine most of the time and that you're always in the game. And that hasn't changed. You are always in these games. I mean, again, with the exception of the Vikings blowout loss, I mean, they have been in all of these games and they have won them because you have only lost one game. And that's a lot more than most teams around the league can say. I mean, what is there? I think the Vikings are the only undefeated team right now. I think Kansas City hadn't lost yet either. OK, so you have two undefeated teams and then you're 5 and 1. I mean, you're right there, but the whole expression, Rome wouldn't build today. And I think the patience of to the Astros situation where they don't want to continue to see 100 loss, 100 loss, 100 loss, this is football. This is different that you're not going to have this team. If you make the playoffs again and you don't make a deep run, that doesn't mean that this team is not a good team. No, no, no, no, you're right about that. It could still be a good team, but the fan base wants more. The fan base wants more than just being good. The fan base wants more than being a divisional champion. They don't want Bill O'Brien sitting up at the podium and saying division champs, Brian. They want to go places that they've never been. - Don't matter, Brian. - There you go. - AFC South Champion. - AFC South Champion. Yeah, but you guys are back. Yeah, yeah, but you're starting to Brian McDonald there, by the way, like the Astros. Like, are you just happy that the Astros make the playoffs? Absolutely not. Why? Because of the bar that they've set for themselves, seven straight ALCSs. You're not just happy that they make the playoffs. You're not just happy that they win the division. So I'm OK when fans get critical of their team, even though they're good or they're winning. I was very critical of the Astros this year having a poor off season last year and not building the depth of this team. And why did the Astros have failures because of the depth of the team? So that's why I think it's fair to look at weaknesses. Is it nitpicky? Yeah, probably. But that's the point of it. And I think you have to be nitpicky and realistic with your roster if you do want to be a champion. And then those are the areas that I would nitpick, specifically the offensive line, secondary, opposite of Derek Stingley, being a team that doesn't cover all that well. Although they get to the quarterback quick, so you can kind of negate not being a great coverage team, whatever you get to the quarterback quick and make them throw the football quickly. Yeah, and I think for Texans fans too, Nick is here as a good GM. Like, you know, it's not far-fetched to think that maybe he's going to, you know, make a trade. That very much could. You've got a guy, you know, talking about the secondary in Petri in those types of situations. You got a guy, Buddha Baker, that's on a lot of radars. Yeah, I would love him. And you add somebody like that. And maybe it's not him or maybe somebody that's in a caliber that's maybe in that realm. You start feeling a lot better about this team. Josh from Seabrook, as a Texans fan, I've seen other Texans fans being as panicky as a herd of Gazelle chased by Lions. See, here's the other part of this. I think that we just live in the NFL. Like, we're all NFL teams do this. I think every single NFL fan base is like, "Okay, these are problems within the team." I think Kansas City, who's undefeated this year, there's probably Chiefs fans that are out there. Like, we need a receiver and we need a receiver now. I think there's Vikings fans, even though they're 5 and 5 and 0, they're like, "Eh, you know, I don't know how I feel about Sam Darnold." I think it's the nature of the business. I think it's the nature of sport, where it's very easy to be like, "Okay, well, where do we need to get better? "How do we strive for perfection?" All of it. 'Cause I mean, even coaches do that, right? Like, you strive to be perfect in an imperfect sport. Nothing's perfect. So, I do think it's the nature of the business. I really don't look at Texans fans as differently as any other fan base. Well, this Texas fans, this group panics way more than lion fans. I don't think that's the truth. Dan Campbell had to sell his house because his daughter's high school friend gave away his address on Snapchat. And there were fans disgruntled with Dan Campbell, despite them being very good last year, that showed up to his house. Like, it's the nature of the business. Do you remember way back in the day with the Astros back in the Roger Clemens in Andy Pettiterra when Andy was, didn't resign and went back to New York? Mm-hmm. There were people that were outside of his house standing in front of his gate. It's kind of weird. Right? Like, you're not leaving. Yeah, I mean, you're not going to get away from it. Pessimistic Chad, the secondary is a huge concern this week. All capital letters. Petri is slow in coverage and he's more concerned with making a hit than a tackle that is probably true. I mean, Ms. Tacos, does he have because he won't wrap up? I don't know, Pessimistic Chad. You're going to have to bring receipts, man. I'm not going to Google it for you. But I don't disagree with your premise. I don't love Jalen Petri. I don't think the Texans love Jalen Petri and that's me totally guessing. I'm not an insider. I'm not part of the media. Do not insult me like that. I am a creator. I am an influencer. Like, they've moved Jalen Petri. Like, he was a safety, right? And what positions are you playing now? He's playing Nickelback. I don't think he's great in coverage. I think they're going to let him play out his contract. I think next year we'll be Jalen Petri's final years of Houston, Texan. Tyler and Conroe, Bobby Slowick's play calling looks better. A lot better when Joe Mixon's in the game. It's funny, huh? It's funny how a clear cut running back one in the league. Makes your offense look better than Daray and Cam Acres who you trade for a six round pick. It is funny how that works, huh? Yeah, I mean, it's the whole world football. You get the run game going, so you go put the pass game. I mean, that's basic football, a known ball, right? I mean, you have a guy like Mixon that can do the things he can do. It's when he's healthy, my hot take. I think that he's the only one of the few people not named Christian McCaffrey that can do kind of those catch the ball out there and be able to run the ball the way that he does. I just think that when he was with Cincinnati that he wasn't utilized always the best way, but I think under this system, you've seen when he's at when he's been healthy, right? That he can do that. I think there's some other running base. You got the one that makes there. Oh, for sure. Again, one of a few. I mean, you can throw Gibbs in there. You go saquon breeze. Maybe Beijon. Well, Beijon feels a little overrated, doesn't he? Doesn't Beijon feel a little overrated? You know what's interesting is they continue to say, oh, we're going to continue to put Tyler Algier in the mix. Why? I don't want to see how he's been a little better. Yeah, he's been a little better running the ball. I think that's why. Yeah, but they can't say that, right? No, they can't say that. Ocho, I'm curious to see the Packers exploit the Texans interior defensive line by committing to the run game behind their top five offensive line, or they pass more and attack the Texans depleted linebackers in secondary. Ocho, the answer to that is yes, yes, they will do both of those things. Really, it's going to be what the Texans do defensively. You see a light box? You run. You see a heavy box? You throw. Do you think it's, do you think the general is wrong for predicting a 2724 Texans lost to cheese land on TV this morning? I didn't see that. I don't know what television station's putting the general on, but it's very smart decision I think the Texans lose this game too. So no, I don't think that the general is wrong. Who do you think wins this game putting you on the spot? I'm going to be honest, I'm big on momentum. I think the Texans win this game and I and just for the reasons why we talked about earlier, I think that the the bills game was a turning point for them. And I thought some of our guys were kind of skeptical if they were going to go into Gillette and be able to release, you know, what I would call a curb stomp is what I thought they were going to do. I mean, granted, they did give up, you know, their, you know, some points on the board, but all in all, it's pretty dominating win. Yeah. And I think that that's going to continue. I, I just, I really believe that Stefan digs on this team can either be one of the reasons that propels this team or one of the reasons it holds this team back because we have seen, you know, we don't, we're not in the locker room, but the things have come out the media, he can't be a cancer. It can't happen. But when he's not and he's locked in like he is this season, I mean, that's what you want. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like digs gets a bad rap a bit. I feel like I feel like he's so intense and so competitive that he rubs people the wrong way eventually. Yes. Like it's, it's hard to deal with those type of people in your life every single day. Like whenever you have somebody who's so intense and so competitive and just wants to win so bad and you're having to deal with that every single day, I think that eventually runs its course in a few years. So like when did digs leave Alan after a few years? Alan got annoyed with him. When did digs eventually went out of Minnesota after a few years? I think it's his personality, just like his intensity that eventually gets old with people more than he's like some sort of locker room cancer because I don't get that vibe. Yeah. I don't either. And I do think it's the intensity. You see him in some of these, some of these locker room clips that you get the glimpse back there, right? Like the guy's very intense. You see him on the sidelines like, don't forget, this is also a reason why not a lot of people can play for Belichick. This is also a reason why, you know, some people didn't really care for Tom Brady's side line antics. But when you have that mentality of intensity to win, it's going to come out and you've got to all be on the same page to understand where that comes from and that it's not in a way of trying to hurt someone's feelings or any way. It's because they are that passionate about what the team is able to accomplish. Let's talk to Brad Norton. Brad Norton, host of Kyle Bruston, Norton on ESPN, Wisconsin former punter for the Panthers and Jags, played at Wisconsin as well. But his, his input from the Packers side of things next, it is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 97 25. You're back with a killer bees on ESPN 97 5 and 92 5 live from the Veritex community bank studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. We head to the HR and P guests line, being joined by Brad Norton, host of Kyle Bruston Norton on ESPN, Wisconsin used to be a punter in the NFL for Carolina and Jags have also played at Wisconsin. So he knows Wisconsin very well. Brad, we've been kicking around today, CJ Stroud, Jordan Love, where they stand toe to toe relative to each other against the rest of the NFL. And what do you think of the match up, who do you think's better and how many do you think the gap is? Well, it's a great match up. We've no doubt about it. I mean, Jordan Love and CJ Stroud are certainly the future of the NFL when it comes back to the quarterback position. I think they'll always be linked together because first year starting last year, obviously CJ Stroud has been rookie and Jordan Love first year starting. But I'm not sure there is a gap, guys. I see these guys as pretty similar. You know, their game is slightly different, but their ability to come in and make a difference early, we could nitpick the stats, touchdown, interception, QB ratio, QB rating. So I think this is 1A and 1B when it comes to young quarterbacks in the NFL that you start a franchise mix. So I don't see a bunch of the difference. I put them both in like the 6 to 8, 6 to 9 range when it comes to ranking all the quarterbacks in the NFL. They only talk 10 for both, and honestly, if you're going to think things start a franchise, you guys might be the first, you know, two or three off the board. So that part of the matchup is so great, though, because you've got young talent that's just still offending. And I think that, you know, a lot of times quarterback and legacies, they're built on how you stare in these quarterback duels. Now, the only thunder is Jordan Love and CJ Stroud, they don't play in the same conference. It's not like you can get this match at the bunch, but quarterback and I can see they're partially defined by how you perform against another great quarterback, especially one that is your age cohort. It's exactly what this is. This is the first chapter of hopefully many by which Stroud and Love you can face off together. Yeah. Question, Brad for you on the, how, how much do you think a factor, obviously, Lambo is sort of place to play that, you know, again, Texans, a little bit younger team coming in there to Lambo. That's going to play a factor for CJ and this team. Well, there is a bit of a mysticism, a lot more about Lambo field. So I grew up in Wisconsin, grew up a Packer fan, but when I played for the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, well, I played for the Panthers, went back to Lambo field. And my coach at the time, Ron Rivera, he would eat one for the Bears. And I'll never forget that Saturday night before the game, he said, guys, I might have played for the Chicago Bears, but playing at Lambo field, it's just different. Like you are in for an experience. Now we're going to play a football game tomorrow and we're going to bring it, but take a moment and take it all in because it really is something different. That's the thing I would tell the Houston Texans is, you know what, if you've never played there before, it is different, it's a different vibe, it's iconic, and give yourself 15 minutes of your pregame routine to enjoy it, but then go out there and play some football. So, you know, it's going to be nice weather, so it's not like the South team and the Texans that play in the dome. It's not like there will be an adverse condition. I think the one thing that people don't expect, though, oh, we lost Brad, there you go. The turf is a little bit slick on Lambo field. You see it from time to time, it's actually a secret little advantage that Green Bay players have, because they play on the turf before. When guys go in and pregame, they feel it out and say, I need a little bit more of the spikes with that. Wow. That's interesting. It's something to watch for early in the game for sure. Brad Norton joining us hosted ESPN Wisconsin former punter in the NFL. Brad, I don't think the Texans can win this game because of the injuries that they have. I think they're hurt at critical positions where Green Bay can really exploit them. I think they're weak defensively in some areas where Green Bay can really expose them. What advantages do you think Green Bay has in this matchup against the Texans? Well, you do shout out, I mean, on the defensive perimeter, all the injuries the Texans have, that is going to be a struggle. I mean, you're really relying on Hunter and Anderson to get pressure on love, and then they don't. I think love is just going to sit back and be able to cook because this offense is just finding it's putting. You remember the Green Bay Packers offense in last year going on that hot streak, Jordan Love playing quarterback as well as anybody in the NFL. Now, you didn't come out as sharp this year as a freshly paid man as he finished the season last year, but boy, last week against the Arizona Cardinals, we saw the Green Bay offense find their footing and look like the offense in the last year. So if they can keep that going and protect the Jordan Love, but I think that they're going to be able to, we have some good yardages and points. Now, on the defensive side of the ball for the Packers and the season on offense, boy, this Green Bay Packers team has not been able to generate a pass rush. They've invested so much money into the defensive line and make them up woefully short to start this season. So I have the same thing on the other side, and they can't get a pass rush on the CJ Shroud. And don't come out for a time before you sit back, find the open man and move the ball down. Slightly better stopping the run, so I'm not sure Joe mixing will be able to run wild on the Green Bay defenses of old, but it comes down to pass rush guys, if you can disrupt either one of these quarterbacks, you're going to be able to have a little bit of success. I just don't see, I don't see the Packers getting a lot of pass rush on Houston, which needs me to believe this will be a high scoring affair. But when it comes down to injuries, that might be the real X factor that took the advantage in the Packers favor. Yeah. And Brad, we're talking a little bit earlier about the Texans having three guys on the wide receiver in that, you know, they call it a little bit biased, but that could put up thousand yard numbers, but rightfully so on the other side, you guys have a pretty deep wide receiver room. You get Christian Watson back last week has a good game and then Reed just seems to be, you know, firing on all cylinders. How much do you think that the misconception there with the wide receiver room is going to kind of show out in this game with a vulnerable Texans backfield? Well, you know, it's interesting because you're right. I mean, whether it be that these young Green Bay Packers receivers are just a little known, but they certainly are capable. I think the one thing Jordan Love does, which we didn't see at the end of Aaron Rodgers' career, if he will just throw it to the open man, he doesn't care who it is. You know, last week we had some injuries, so mountain wide receiver number five came in and made some catching. So Aaron Rodgers sort of ended his career in Green Bay, sort of force fed to Vante Adams. Maybe we'll see that again on Sunday night with the New York Jeff. You got to pick this favor, and if you didn't earn his trust, he'd ice you out. So he would have these connections with guys. Jordan Love, he is an equal opportunity quarterback. If you are open, if it fits the scheme, he will find you and he will get it to you. So that's why it seems like on any given Sunday, we don't know who the big wide receiver is going to be. Now, Jamie and Reed have certainly separated as far as being probably wide receiver ones. Certainly, the packer is great as nothing because those of you who have been jet cleaved and also have been valued in addition to being a wide receiver. So maybe Houston has a bit more known names, which rightfully so. I mean, between Collins, Bell, Bigg, I mean, N.C.J. Schrod distributed the ball. That's as good as a pass catching unit and quarterback, and there is in the NFL. It's just that the packers seemingly have less lesser known-name guys, and the more you play them, the more you study them. The more you see it, it's kind of a secret weapon, because all these guys are young. So far, seemingly ego-less. We'll see how long that lasts. He's as long as they're winning and long as the balls being distributed, they seem to root for one another. And that's just a rare dynamic to have in the NFL. Watching Jalen Petrie in coverage makes me terrified of what Jaden Reed can do to Jalen Petrie. How do Mico defends him? I think they're going to play a lot of zone, which, how much can you blitz out of zone? I think you're on to something with Anderson to no hunter. I think they had to get pressure with four. Brad, thanks so much for joining us. Great insight and enjoy your football weekend. Thank you guys. Point to great games, including this one. It'll be a good one. Yeah. It will be. A little disappointed. It's not on prime time. Detroit, Minnesota, at the same time, too. You're not going to be able to see that in Houston, which kind of stinks. Yeah. You have to watch the red zone, Jan. You're watching the Texans game. I wish one of those was in prime time, because the two, Kansas City play San Francisco this weekend. Cool. Great game. Intrigued by Detroit, Minnesota, that I am Kansas City San Francisco. Yeah. Detroit, Minnesota is going to be good. And again, too good to me, two of the best defenses in league. I think that Dan Campbell, I have been very high on Dan Campbell and that team's ability to not only get value in their drafts, but to be able to develop it, you know, a lot of their draft picks were Houston Texans draft picks. Yeah. Just saying. People like when I bring that up. They don't like what I bring that up, though. You like, you like guys and bite kneecaps? I see. I'm learning a little bit about you, Tyler. You like guys who bite some kneecaps. Do what it takes to win the game. I don't, I don't hate you for it. All right. Seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero, ESP and HR and P listener line, a couple of texts coming in here. Triple zero to digs reputation in, you know, the more you know about the killer bees and the textures, the little that you'll pay attention to triple zero to, but he says digs reputation leaves to unwarranted flags in the end zone simply for a touchdown celebration. That was kind of weak. I'm not going to lie. People are like, oh, he must have said something. I don't think he said something. A cult fan who is a cult fan. So keep in mind, he's a cult fan digs will be the next Antonio Brown. Give it time. I think the hope if that does happen, I don't think it's going to happen, but if it does happen, the hope that you have for a Texan fan is that he's long gone before he becomes Antonio Brown. Yeah, man, I don't, I wouldn't go that far. I just what I honestly, you know, I think it's probably going to be the next one and maybe it's just something in the water over there in Pittsburgh, but I mean, I think it's George Pickens. Yeah. He's kind of, he's kind of. Did you see him calling out, Amundral? No, I didn't. What do you say? He basically, in other words, was taking a shot at him and saying that he was just a product of a slot guy. Oh, and it's like, dude, this is like, this is a top five receiver, inconsistently throughout the past, what, three years? Yeah. Pickens is interesting. He's interesting. Interesting. He doesn't put up huge numbers either. Like, I think that is a product of not having great quarterback play. Sure. I think he is a really good receiver. But, yeah, he talks more than his production. That's for sure. Yeah. Should a player's team legacy be factored into their chances of being re-signed? I'm looking at you, Alex Braigman, 713-780-ESPN. It is the B's on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. You're locked in with the Killer B's on ESPN 97-5 and 92-5, live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Planken, Jeremy Branham, Tyler Boyer, filling in for Plankers, 747-0 Kristen Humble. Tucker Crafts, not being talked about being a big-time weapon for Jordan Love. Crafts one touchdown, 98 yards, predicting Crafts is going to do that. Crafts made a little up and down. He's had some really good games, also had some very quiet games. I do think that's an area that they can exploit the Texans, only it's a terrible call. Kristen Humble, and we did bring up Tucker Craft earlier in the show. 389-7 says he thinks CD Lam will be the next Antonio Brown. People see CD Lam talking on the sidelines and they put words in that man's mouth and make up a narrative that he's a diva. I don't think so. I don't think CD Lam is that type of dude, really. No. I mean, how many times has his quarterback come out and said anything negative about him? I don't think there's ever been one. No. Yeah. I mean, put up the numbers, first of all, in my opinion. Not that it makes it right, but you put up the numbers and you want to say some things. I can deal with it, but some of these guys, again, talking about going back to the Pickens thing, you're not putting up numbers enough, regardless of what the reason is, just shut your mouth. Yeah. They picked up that footage of CD Lam the other day on the sideline, telling Dak that it was what? Suboptimal? Yeah. Or whatever. Or a subpar, subpar, not suboptimal. Subpar throw, Dak. No, you're just telling him to jump off, just telling him to throw it up a little bit. That's it. No big deal. All right. 713-78-03776. Should a player's team legacy be factored into their chances of being re-signed, Tyler? Yeah. So the whole baseline for me on this is the hot question is going to be, who's Houston going to re-sign? What's going to happen? This is, to me, the Houston Astros season, it went exactly how I thought it was going to be, even though I'm a massive Astros fan my entire life. But there were things there that just did not tell me they were going to make a deep push. And that's the reality, hate me for it, but that's what happened. Now, the big controversy is, do you keep Tucker? Do you keep Braggman? Who do you re-sign? My biggest thing is you have guys on this team, because again, we have been privileged to be able to have two World Series rings. And with those, we have guys still on this team that were a part of that. How much do you factor in a guy like Alex Braggman, who was a big part of those runs? I mean, he's, how to they is a first ballot Hall of Famer. You're going to make sure that guy stays with you. Yeah. Even though Alex Braggman isn't a first ballot Hall of Famer, he was an integral part. Does that factor into your desire and will say urgency to keep him here? I think there's a lot of layers to this question that you kind of have to, to peel back. The first one, you said, who do you sign, either Tucker or Braggman? I don't think it's an either or a question. Both. Well, it's one man's opinion. I wouldn't resun either on the other side of that, but it's not either or like to me, it's case by case. Do you sign Braggman? Yes or no? Do you sign Kyle Tucker? Yes or no? In the history of the Astros under Jim Crane in the golden era, the answer would be no on both. I mean, how many free agents do they let walk out the door? Carlos Correa, George Springer, Garrett Cole, there's lesser degrees to those names as well, but almost every single big name has left unless they've had the players sign a team friendly or, yeah, a team friendly deal to the Astros. Jose Altuve has signed a team friendly deal twice. The only one that really wasn't team friendly was in the prime of his career when the Astros took care of him after an MVP season. You're on Alvarez is currently under contract for the foreseeable future. Why? Because he took a very team friendly contract. So I don't think it's neither or in fact, I think both guys will not be an Astro in two years. I don't think that the Astros will sign Alex Braggman or do I think that they should, depending on the price. I have a number that I would drop dead on. It's one 24 four. I wouldn't give Alex Braggman a year past four years. I wouldn't give him a dollar over a hundred and twenty million dollars. Do I think he's going to get more? Yes. That's why I don't think Alex Braggman is going to be a Houston Astro. Same thing with Kyle Tucker. Tucker, to me, is going to demand way too much money and we'll get too much money that the Astros would ever offer him. The biggest contract that Crane's ever given was Jose Altuve, who was the face of the franchise. And again, that was a below market deal. So I think both of them will be gone. In fact, I've said on the show, I would be, I would be shopping Kyle Tucker this off season. I don't love when players leave for free. Yes, you get the compensation pick when you offer him the qualifying offer, but I'd be looking to trade Kyle Tucker and from Brevaldez. And just because you do that doesn't mean that you're not a contender. Does it lessen your chances of winning in 2025? Yes. Can teams get hot in the playoffs and like a non 100 win team win the World Series? Yes. We see it all the time, but it also extends your window of winning and it makes you better after 2025 and every year after that. But to the specific question, should a players team legacy be factored in their chances of being resigned? I think it depends on your goal, like what is the motive? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to take care of your own? Are you trying to get butts in the seats? Are you trying to win immediately? Are you trying to sustain winning over the long period of time? So I think you could go in a variety of different ways. If you're just trying to take care of your own and you know, kumbaya, I keep everybody together, then yeah, the answer would be yes. You should worry about legacy. If the goal is to win for a long period of time, I don't believe in signing majorly baseball players to big free agent contracts. I don't think that they work. I think it's a bad way of doing business. There are some teams that can get away with bad contracts because they have more money than everybody else. Like the Dodgers can sign whoever they want and it's never going to cost them because they have more money than everybody. Same thing with the Yankees, Mets to a little bit lesser of a degree. And while Jim Crane's willing to spend, he's not in the Dodger territory. He's not in the Yankees territory. He's not in the Mets territory and bad contracts can really crush the Astros. And we're kind of seeing it in a smaller, in a smaller scale. Hosea Bray, Rafael Monteiro, Lance McCullers, who actually was a team friendly deal when you signed him. Those contracts I think are going to restrict the Astros and free agency this year. So I'm not a big believer in big contracts. I wouldn't sign Alex Bregman more than $120 million for years. Rafael Tucker's going to demand way more money than I would ever pay him. So it depends on what your goal is here. If you want to sustain a winner and a winner for a long period of time, which I think is possible in baseball, the Yankees are good every single year, Dodgers are good every single year. Well, those are big market clubs. It's been a bunch of money. Well, the Rays do pretty good. The Brewers do pretty good without anywhere near the money that the Astros spin. So I think you can sustain winning in baseball, but in order to sustain winning in baseball, you have to make good decision after good decision after good decision after good decision. And I don't believe signing players to big free agent contracts or resigning players to big free agent contracts that take them into their 30s are things that benefit sustained winning long term. Yeah. And my biggest, I guess, looking between the two, my opinion is that it's easier to replace an outfield bat than it is a hot corner player. And again, this is not 2019, you know, second, second MVP voting, Alex Braggman, we haven't seen that guy since then. And I think that that's something that needs to be weighed because, okay, you're 30 years old, where, you know, not every player is going to have this longevity to their career. Most don't. I mean, if you look at just like the average scale of a major league baseball player and you see like when they're at their peak and then when they start coming off of their peak, major league baseball players on average peak around 27, 28. So that's why I'm not a fan of signing these players to $30 million contracts when they're already in their 30s. And there's one, one thing that I like to, and again, maybe this is a little far fetch, but I kind of compare the Astros and how we have kind of operated for the last, we'll say three years is a little bit kind of like Kansas City of the Chiefs. But in a way of, it doesn't really matter what you do in the regular season as long as you make the playoffs, because once you get the playoffs, the team is so accustomed and so playoff driven to the end goal that then they turn it on. And I feel like the Astros had been doing that up until this year. And so there comes a point where you have to look at the Astros organization as a whole and go, how does the winning help the future with the farm system? This isn't Jeff, this isn't Jeff Loonow's farm system anymore. That farm system has recycled and we are no longer in a place where you could spend the money and then go take a bunch of farm guys and get a big name to propel you. Can you make stuff happen, sure, but not to the degree where we were doing previously. Yeah. It is a good point because the minor league system is not where it was under Loonow. Loonow had some some critics when it came to his minor league system. To me, it goes back to what Crane said in that the window is always going to be open while I'm here. Sure. And people hear that and they're like, well, he's just always going to spend money and throw money at winning. But in order to sustain willing, it's actually throwing resources into your minor league system. Yes. And recycling that talent. Like how did the golden era of the Astros become the golden era? It became with prospects, it became with player development. Most of the players that were critical here were players that you groomed through your minor league system. Some of the players that you brought in like as mercenaries like Justin Verlander at the trade deadline, 2017, well, how did you acquire Justin Verlander? You acquired Justin Verlander with prospects from your minor league system. So I believe in player development and grooming your own. And I think that the homegrown teams are the ones that have long term sustained success. I don't think you just throw a bunch of money at free agency and have long term sustained success. That's the Rangers model. Rangers are going to throw big money at DeGrom, Simeon, Seager, they're going to win a world series and then they're kind of going to disappear and not sustain winning long term. So the whole, the window is always going to be open while I'm here. That's not throwing money at free agents, you're in your out. That's always reloading. And if you're always reloading, do you trade a player like Kyle Tucker and Fromber Valdez as they're going into their final season under contract? I personally think so. I don't think when Crane said that though, that's what he was saying. I think when Crane said that though, it's what he should have been saying. And again, does trading Tucker and Fromber lessen your chances of winning a world series in 2000 and 25? Yes. But it doesn't decrease your chances more than it increases your chances in 2026 and into the future. Yeah, no, 100% and I'm with you on, on, on trading your guys. You've got to get, if you're good, I can't stand whenever as a, as a Houston fan, we know these guys are going to come, their contract's going to come up and you know you're not going to resign them and you just let them walk, why? Trade them, get the value for what you have developed because whether you want to look at it that way or not, someone had to develop them and that was your organization. So get your, get your return on investment. I, I 100% agree. Now to, to play devil's advocate and just, you know, say the other side, the other side is, well, it does diminish your chances marginally. I guess it would be, you know, that's an argument worth having. How much does it decrease your chances of winning and you still have the caveat of giving the qualifying offer and still getting a compensation pick? I just don't think that the compensation pick is going to be equal to what one of these players would fetch you in a trade. I was reading an article. I can't remember where I read this article. It might have been Chandler Roman, the athletic, but he, yeah, it was. He was talking about how Corbin Burns last year was traded from the Brewers who, you know, by the way, Brewers made the playoffs. Brewers made the playoffs, right? I don't keep up with the nationally as much. Brewers made the playoffs. Brewers traded away Corbin Burns got, you know, pretty good haul for Corbin Burns. Corbin Burns is going to be a free agent would have left Milwaukee Milwaukee still made the playoffs and they got players that are going to help them that helped them this year and then going forward. How about the Padres? The Padres traded one so no then were in the playoffs. People would push back and say, well, yeah, they, they did get eliminated. They're already eliminated. Yeah. Let Hader walk. I did get a qualifying offer compensation pick for that. So the people would say, well, you know, they didn't get to the World Series. They didn't win the World Series. Baseball playoffs are craps you like they're, they're a craps you. You get into the dance. You get hot. You have this magical ride. You go all the way. Well, the Astros never got lucky when the ashes went to four World Series and lost two of them. They're like, they had a chip in a chair. They were in the dance. They got to the World Series four times. They won two of them. They lost two of them. Just get to the playoffs. It just gets to the playoffs and just because you trade a top player or two doesn't mean that you're not going to make the playoffs the following year. Football is different than football and basketball in my mind that, you know, football and maybe, maybe to a lesser degree in football, but a huge degree in basketball where you have to have superstars. Like you can't trade away your superstars and then build your team around death. I would also say the same thing about football. I think football were stars when yes, you have to have good depth, but I think stars matter. Baseball stars don't really matter. Like, yes, it helps to have a superstar, but who, who are the teams that win? Teams that win are the ones with incredible depth, incredible depth. The Astros have stars, the Astros have Jordan Alvarez star, Kyle Tucker star. Well, they were hurt. That's probably true. Jose out to base star there. They're starting rotation from a from about as one of the top five pitchers in the American League. Hunter Brown was pitching as a top three starting pitcher in the American League the second half of the year. It's about depth. It's about being complete in baseball more than other sports. That's why I have no problem trading these guys. Yeah. And for me too, one of the things that does, I will say does bother me a little bit about this whole situation is I don't like when organizations want to come out and kind of give you a half hearted promise. And in what I'm referring to is with Dana Brown, he came in and what was this thing that he said, I'm going to keep our homegrown talent at home for in other words. Yeah. And okay. So, so you got Alvarez. Okay. Cool. Well, you've got Tucker now and you've got Bergman and again, regardless of our opinions on that, what have you done to keep them? Yeah. You're probably really your fault there for believing Dana Brown. Yeah. Well, he did. He did lock up a Christian Javier too. So those are the two were from were Javier and you were done. But I mean, Dana Brown's loose lip, Dana Brown just let's it run for the mouth like I've learned that I can't believe anything that Dana Brown says. Yeah. I just missed a little. Sorry. Yeah. I don't I don't dislike Dana Brown. I think Dana Brown's a good general manager. If you're ranking their last three GMs, sure, click Dana Brown. I think Dana Brown will be third in that list. But I do like Dana Brown. I think they can sustain winning under Dana Brown, but I'm just not going to listen to Dana Brown whenever he's talking on press conferences and behind open mics because he's going to say anything and everything and 90% of the time it's not truthful and that's not really like a knock on Dana Brown. I just don't think that he was all that polished in that. I think he's kind of learning on the fly. I think he's probably going to learn to be a little bit more quiet on some things, but you just he talks a lot. He talks a lot and very little of what he says actually becomes truthful. So at some point, you just have to, you know, you don't believe the boy who's crying wolf. So that's where I'm at with Dana. Everything that Dana says goes in one ear and out the other for me. Yeah, it doesn't have to be like the other misconceptions could be, well, well, he's just trying to promise us to keep us happy. No, I think that with some of these guys, like they have full intention of doing what what they're saying, but maybe it's just like a 20% chance that they even think it might actually happen, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right about that. Like, I don't think that he means bad. I really don't. Like I like Dana Brown. I like Dana Brown. I think he's a I think he's a good guy. I don't think that he loves the sound of his own voice. And I think he is a good general manager. They're just you pick up personality traits on people you spend time with, right? Like, right? I don't know your situation. You're married. You got a wedding. You pick up traits of the personality of the, you know, your wife. You learn along the right along the road and what she what makes her tick areas that you like about areas that you don't like. So you can live with like talking about my wife's perfect. She must be listening. So you just pick up personality traits of people. Like I've spent an hour and a half with you. You start to pick up little traits about people that you spend time with. The more time that I spend with Dana Brown through him talking on a microphone publicly, I've learned that I can't trust the word that he says. That's where I'm at with Dana Brown. All right. 713 780 ESPN, HRP listener line, car wreck of the day, which every Friday, all the mean things you've said to us through the week or to other people. 713 780-3776, it's not too late to be mean 713 780-3776. This is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. Coming to you live from the Veritex community bank studios. It's the killer bees on ESPN 97 5 and 92 5. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Brandon. All these losers on Twitch are nominating their car wreck of the day, saying Brian for taking the day off. It's Friday. It's Friday. We do mean text on Friday, you idiot twitchers. Dr. Dre, after I said that, car wreck of the day, B. McNo, you're morons. Do you not pay attention to the show? It's Friday. Mean things. 993 says that Dana wants to be transparent, but GMs have so little power in the sense they're at the will of so many people, owners, players, families, agents, so a GM can have a plan genuinely, genuinely, but it can be blown up quickly and it's nothing more than aspirational. I actually agree with that. I actually agree with that. I do think that Dana means, well, I don't think that he's trying to mislead. I don't think he's trying to lie. I think the reason that he says so much is because he knows the Astros have been like, you know, so locked with information. I do think that he wants to be transparent. I agree with the texture 100%. But things change and then it comes out like, oh, well, that wasn't at all truthful. To which point does Dana eventually learn, OK, I'm just I'm just going to be incredibly, you know, tight, lift forever. I think it's coming. I think he will start to be that way. Yeah, and it also doesn't help either, right? Whenever you're dealing with a lot of your your main guys, you're the agent, Scott Boris. I mean, that doesn't help things either whenever you're having to deal with that and understanding that you're going to get like with these agents and what they're wanting, what the market is. They're going to try and play the market as best they can. And I mean, you know, they have a right to do that. Mean things that were said to us or others throughout the week, mean text on a Friday. Alex has mean text, Joe, for talking about Pac-Man last Saturday. I don't know what Joe said about Joel, though, Alex. So give me a receipt. Let me know what he said 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, ESPN. So Texas and Oklahoma played in the Red River shootout. Yes, I still call it that and you know, you had the traditional governor bets, governor Abbott, of course, the Texas governor, a gentleman by the name of Kevin Stitt is the governor of Oklahoma. I didn't know that until this. Be careful saying his last name of a governor, Stitt said, I'd rather lose the sooner than win as a Longhorn. Governor Abbott and his wheelchair quote tweeted it and said, great, you'll be happy for many years. It's a pretty good burn. Putting your political whatever side of the aisle you are on the side of it for a second. That's a good comeback by Governor Abbott. Yeah, 100%. I mean, show the personality and let them know like, hey, you can't do more than politics. We can, you know, have a little back and forth jargon. Yeah, that's pretty good. Bill Belichick was very mean to Woody Johnson. You know, Belichick taking the side of a coach, but he was on Manning cast on Monday with the Jets played the bills. It's a loose shot at Woody Johnson, owner of the Jets. That's kind of what it's been there at the Jets. You know, I want barely one over 30% in the last 10 years. So, you know, the owner being the owner, just ready fire aim. Was ready fire aim a like, did he mess up or was that by design because, you know, it's ready fire aim, ready aim fire. He said ready fire aim instead of ready aim fire. Did he mess up or was that like a little subtle shot that he's just ready to fire before he aims? I think maybe in the moment they're Belichick realized, hey, I can actually say these things and I get in trouble. Maybe maybe maybe a little nervous. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't get it sensitive about anything, Dre. Um, okay. Dre's just taking shots at me now because I took a shot at him, even though he has nothing to stand on seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. Here's a mean text. Tyler should take your spot. I don't disagree. Severns package. Here's pretty good. Uh, a lot of these were to were to Brian and Joel, I'm going to save those for next Friday. But somebody talking about Jerry Jones, Jerry Jones was in the news this week. I don't know if you noticed, uh, geriatric Jones, it's what he called Jerry. You know, a shot at his eight. Yeah. Jerry Jones is a very old man. You know, that just feels a little cheap. Yeah. There's a little cheap, but those are usually the best ones. One is true. I mean, at least these are the best ones, they seem to make like a cane joke or anything like that. A what joke? I can't. Oh, he has a hand. No, no, he doesn't have a cane, but that, you know, he's sold, he needs one. I feel like that would have been better. I feel like that would have been like that would have been, yeah, I think it's a little softer. Yeah. I think it's better to have a cane than have geriatric. Whatever that's called. Yeah. Right. Okay. I think so. Sure. I'm not a doctor. Yeah, I'm either. You're, you're a dumpster fire, Brandon. Thank you. Appreciate that. The fire is irrelevant. The young guys know what's up. Laughing face emoji. Wonder how old that guy was. I said that. King of Twitch telling me I have an idea to help you sleep J-Bone get a job that makes you work harder and for more than three hours, not very nice King of Twitch, more longer than three. I had a lot of prep. You prep twice as much than the show that you're on. So if I have a three hour show, that means I'm prepping for six. That means I'm working nine hours a day and King of Twitch, you sit in the Twitch all day. You ain't working at all. Back to all the Twitchers are jobless, by the way. Yeah. Just to let you know, they're all jobless. You know, I am familiar with Twitch and I co-signed that opinion. There you go. All right. It's going to do it for us. Thanks to, thank you so much to be Rod, filling in for BMAC Tyler Boyer in for Joel Blank. It was Joel Blank earlier for all of them. I'm Jeremy Branham. Have a great weekend. He was stood. Coming up Hall of Fame at seven o'clock. Goodbye everybody. ESPN. 975. 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