The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/01 Hour 2- Are There Any Positives From Last Night?
The Killer Beast! ESPN 97.5 and 92.5 probably present. The Killer Beast. It's definitely a fan of the Killer Beast. Don't sweat technique. Now from a Veritex community bank studios, bringing you the fastest three hours in Houston sports radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. I got a bone to pick with DeMico Ryan's. Love you. I think you're a great leader. I think you've been a great culture. I think you're a good defensive play caller. But you absolutely have to travel your corners. You must travel your corners because by not traveling your corners, the opposing offensive coordinator any time that they want. And they won't do it the entire game, but they're gonna do it in critical must have situations. They're going to line up a receiver that they really like against your lesser corners. And we know that of the three corners for the Houston Texans, the lesser one is Jalen Petrie. So there were many times in yesterday's game where Jalen Petrie was being picked on. The final touchdown on the final drive for the Jets. Devontae Adams in the slot, who is defending him? It's Jalen Petrie. Garrett Wilson, his first touchdown. Now it was a great play by Garrett Wilson. I actually thought Jalen Petrie had pretty good coverage there. But like you go back to last season. Amari Cooper, the first time they played the regular season, line them up opposite of Derrick Stingley and he goes off. What adjustment did D'Amico making the playoffs? He traveled Derrick Stingley. You have to travel your corners, especially when you're playing teams that have two good receivers. Because you're gonna, what they're gonna do, they're gonna put one of the receivers that they like the most in that specific play in the slot, they're gonna force Jalen Petrie to defend that. If you see man-to-man coverage, Jalen Petrie is losing that matchup more times than he's not. - I said this yesterday and I was harping on it. And I don't think enough people realized, how serious I was about the fact that I wanted Stingley all over Devante Adams because I felt like of the two receivers and because your offensive coordinator on the field, Rodgers did exactly what happened specifically on the two plays where Devante exposed Petrie and on one play even Lasseter. The fact is, those two guys have chemistry. When Rodgers sees that matchup, he is going to go to it. And even if the different play is called, he's gonna audible out of it to expose it. And he did and it worked. And that is why I was like, you want a guy that has a little bit more games under his belt and Stingley to travel with a guy like Devante Adams. You can live with the younger guy because Wilson's already had some issues in terms of getting on the same page with Rodgers. And that's more with his athleticism too, where I don't mind having one of the other guys on him, especially if it's Lasseter. But overall, I tried to make people aware of it yesterday and then it came to fruition last night. Rodgers flat out on that last play to Adams, knew exactly what he wanted, got it, called it, audible out of it and drilled it. - I would rather Stingley go up against Garrett Wilson, but I don't really care. Like if you have Stingley on Wilson or Devante Adams, okay, that's your best corner on one of their two best receivers. And you could argue which one's better at this stage. And it might be, it might be play specific. It might be where they're lining up specifically. So it might change based on the play. But Stingley needs to be on one of those two guys. And then the one guy that Stingley's not on, then Kamari Lasseter needs to be on the other guy. Well, they're lined up in the slot. Who cares? Who cares? Who do you want defending Devante Adams on that play yesterday? Do you want to be Derek Stingley? Do you want to be Kamari Lasseter? Do you want to be Jalen Petrie? You pick the less of the three evils and you're picking Jalen Petrie. They were lining up Garrett Wilson in the slot the entire game. Who do you want to be lined up against Garrett Wilson in man-to-man coverage? Do you want to be Derek Stingley, Kamari Lasseter or Jalen Petrie? So if you're going to play Jalen Petrie at nickel and you're playing man-to-man 'cause you have to sometimes in the NFL. Yes, Dameco likes to play zone, but he's going to be forced to play man-to-man at times. You better be traveling your corner. Well, we don't like to do it 'cause it shows when we're doing man-to-man. Well, then disguise it from time to time. Try to force the offenses to not know where you're going but maybe sometimes Stingley lines up in the slot whenever you're going to a zone defense. So I'm not a huge fan of that. And like people were blaming the call yesterday on that final possession for the Jets. It was third and three. I don't mind the call specifically because you do have to sell out to stop the run. Like if you don't stop the Jets there and they get the first down the game's over and they're probably going to go four on fourth down. I thought it was four down territory there. So I don't so much mind the call by Dameco sending the extra rushes. What I really have a trouble with is that you're not traveling your best corners against their best receivers 'cause it's going to put you in a mismatch whenever Jalen Petrie's covering whoever's in the slot because these other OCs and like this New York Jets play call in place for the first time. Like he just barely got the job two weeks ago. I think we could figure it out. Okay, if we know that Jalen Petrie's going to be in the slot, what am I going to do with Garrett to Wilson or Devontay Adams? I'm going to put one of those guys in the slot. - And you saw it multiple times that the OC called in a specific play and then Rogers audible out and moved his receivers so that he could get that match up anyway. So it really didn't matter what play was called out of the huddle. He absolutely got to the line of scrimmage and every chance he got, he shifted his receivers to get the match up that he wanted and then he went more times than not, he went to it. - Yeah, I didn't even think about it from like the veteran quarterback point of view. Like you have Aaron Rodgers back there. Huh, okay. This guy's savvy. This guy's been around the block a time or two. This guy really likes Devontay Adams. I think he's got a growing bond with Garrett Wilson. Texan certainly helped that cause a little bit. Okay, I see the guy we want to pick on there. Hey, Wilson, why don't you go line up in the slot right there 'cause they're about to play man to man, mismatch. - Sometimes it was just verbal and you could see him legitimately demonstratively just taking his arms and moving guys around to say, I want you there and didn't even try to sugarcoat it. I'm going there. - Yeah, third and three, we know we're going to get man because the Texans have to sell off for the run. Hey, Devontay, go line up across Jalen Petrie, run a go route, we're going to hit you 'cause you're going to burn him within the first three steps. Jalen Petrie's a liability in man coverage. And if DeMico Ryan's is not willing to travel his corners against the top receivers on the opposing team, that's going to put their defense at a huge disadvantage. - You're right, it happened last year with Cooper. We've been harping on this for weeks now and the fact that as good as Petrie can be in the box and as good as he is as a thumper coming up and hitting people and wreaking havoc behind the line of scrimmage, he can be a liability in coverage. And if you're not going to change and you're not going to get a little bit more flexible in terms of how you really want to play to kind of prevent getting exposed, you're going to continue to get exposed 'cause more times than not, teams have two capable receivers and one of them is going to end up with Petrie in front of them. - Yeah, you might not see as good a receivers as you're going to see like as a tandem that you saw yesterday. - Detroit's going to throw some good ones at you. - Detroit will, well, I mean name Detroit second best receiver. - Well, he's out now. - I think this is the second game of the suspension. - That's true. - If it's not, then you could do the exact same thing with Williams and Saint Brown. - It's an aside conversation because a lot of the really good teams you play are going to have good receivers. But Garrett, I keep calling him Garrett Williams. Garrett Wilson and Devontae Adams are about, well, they're up there of the top tandems in the NFL. Like there's not a mini that are better. Devontae Smith, AJ Brown, you'll throw into that conversation. Miami with Tyreke and Waddell, although Waddell's been bad this year. Maybe because of two of them though. I mean, the Texans, whenever they had digs, it was pretty good too. Nico digs, I don't really mind Nico Dell. I think that that's pretty good too. Cincinnati has a really good one. I'm blanking on somebody else that's really stinking good. I don't mind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Addison hasn't been good this year though. And like he's been a problem a little bit too. He's like complaining and stuff, which is not great. You don't like to see that from your second best receiver, Puka and Cooper Cup. - There you go. - All right, 713-780-ESPN, HRMP listener line. We do got to get to some positives. Were there any positives from yesterday's game? We got to be fair. We talk about negatives when they win. We got to talk about positives when they lose. 713-780-3776. It's the bees on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. - ESPN 97.5. (upbeat music) - You're back with a killer bees on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Life in the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Plank and Jeremy Branham. This is our Melbag Monday. - It is. - I feel like we should be answering some questions here. 713-780-ESPN, HRMP listener line. Any positives from last night? Get to that in a moment. 713-780-3776. Let's go out to the HRMP listener line. Julian Edelman, you're in the hive with the bees. What's up, Julian? Julian? - Hey, what's going on? - There you are. - You're hearing me? - Yes, sir. - Awesome, awesome. Yeah, long time listening to you guys. Love the show, love the show. Love listening every day after work. Causes out of it, man. I was in Joe Mixon. I only see much positive out of the game. Also initially, I want to call you guys, 'cause I know you mentioned about the couple of plays. Also in the Jalen Petrie. I believe you mentioned about him, getting rid of him, pretty bad. He gets a bottle of add-ons. And in that touchdown, I think Garrett Wilson earlier in the game. I believe the one that he got rid of up on and gets to want the album is actually a lasseter. And also, I still don't believe that was a catch by Garrett Wilson right there at the end zone. But other than that, I'm positive. It's really just Joe Mixon. I was still pretty bummed that they, you know, he said it was like several, only like a couple of carries in the second half. Other than that, positives. Defense looks great, in my opinion. Holding them back is just often silly. Just kept on getting my punch back. But other than that, is there any free agents, often the linemen or anybody, that gets to possibly target before the trade deadline? Thank you. - Appreciate the call, Joe. Yeah, we mentioned some of them in terms of just starting from last going backwards, that there are some guys out there that Nate Davis is with the Bears. Shref, is it? - I'm gonna call him Sheriff if he comes to Houston. - Yeah, the lineman from Jacksonville, Baltimore has a surplus, but I don't think Baltimore wants to help you out. But- - If they can rip you off, they would. If they can give you an offensive lineman who has a sixth round grade, you give him a third, bet you they'd do it. - Yeah, if they got a big draft pick out of it, sure. - Give them a haul, they would do it. No, the three touchdowns that Rodgers threw yesterday. The first one was to Garrett Wilson. Peter is defending. Peter actually had pretty good coverage there. Kind of went for the interception. Maybe gambled, maybe gambled. It should have gambled. But it was a well-thrown ball, perfect spot. And then Wilson made an unbelievable one-handed catch and then walked into the end zone. The second one to Wilson that might not have been caught, wasn't called a catch on the field. Got overturned to that. That was on Lasseter, just a jump ball to Lasseter. And then the final one on the final drive for the Jets was to Vontay Adams to go, just burned. Just burned Jalen Petrie. What positives do you have from yesterday's game-linker? 713-780-3776. - I think the three that really stand out to me from an individual standpoint, and he mentioned one of them was Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon continues to be just a dog. I mean, he just continues to be the horse of this team that he shoulders the majority of the load. He's given you offense when you can't find it in other areas in your passing game. He has been way better than advertised or people thought of coming in here. He is not over the hill. His jump cuts are ridiculous to me. So I would say just, and we can discuss them, but mine would be Joe Mixon. The fact that the demise of Tank Dell was grossly overrated and the fact that Tank Dell was huge for you and over 100 yards, and he's still getting space and getting what he needs to do to help this passing game if CJ has time. And then kind of the unsung one for me was Autry. Autry to me was a guy that was showed up when you needed him. Will got hurt. We were waiting, coming back from the Green Bay game when we mentioned we hardly heard his name called except for one play. Didn't know if there was a couple, whatever factors were in. You hope he could find it. He found it last night. He was a big help to you, especially after Will went down, and he was able to wreak some havoc in the backfield. Yeah, I had Autry down too. Like he shook off the rust. He eliminated all those questions if all of his performance was because they was enhanced by drug use. They're just kidding. No, he shook that off yesterday. He had two sacks. He was close to a couple more too. He had a tackle too on a running play where he kind of chased down from the backside. So I liked what I saw from Autry. You can understand why they were, you know, had the allure to Taniko Autry and bringing him in. Now hopefully he doesn't start many games because I'm a little concerned about this Will Anderson injury. Has a history of ankles. He got, I mean, landed on it funny. It looked a lot like the Joe Mixon ankle, really. So I'm curious to see if he misses any games. Hopefully not. But I liked what I saw from Taniko Autry. I agree with Julian Edelman. I liked the defense up until the fourth quarter. Now I hated the defense in the fourth quarter, especially on that final drive. Get off the field. Get off the field. Get the football back. One possession game, four point game. Get off the field. Couldn't get off the field. So they kind of put a sour taste in my mouth when it came to the defense. So I'm willing to give you defense through the first three quarters, maybe even through the first three and a half quarters. But get off the field. Couldn't do that. Mixon, I mean, you can nitpick Mixon first half versus second half because he only had 15 yards in the second half on seven carries. How much of that was the offensive line? How much of that was Kenny Green being out? He was a good run blocker. So he did run well. I mean, go over 100 yards. Have a touchdown too. You're going to be happy with what you get from Joe Mixon. Tank down. I had him down too. I had somebody apologize to me yesterday for saying, hey, my bad, you know, we've been, I've been arguing with him a while. He's like, oh, Tank Dell's not doing anything, which to his point in terms of statistics, he was right. Like Tank Dell's numbers have been down. My point was, well, why are Tank Dell's numbers down? It's not because he has lost a step or he's not the same player. And that's where the disagreement was. And I think Tank Dell did dispel that notion, oh, Tank Dell's washed. Or Tank Dell's had issues with a broken fibula. No, it's a fibula. Like fibules are not that big of deals. I had a broken fibula. Look at me, just a, you know, perfect specimen. I can run as fast as I ever could for 440 back in my heyday. Also, I thought you saw some fire from Dalton Schultz. Like he had the, yes, it was sauce gardener, broke a tackle from sauce gardener, but could have easily went down. It could have been like maybe three weeks ago. Maybe he does go down there, fights for some extra yardage. I actually think the Dalton Schultz, look, if we're going to blast him, whatever he's not playing, well, I think he's had his best two games of the year, these last two weeks, which comes in a good time because of the Stefan Diggs injury. So I actually locked what I saw from Schultz a little bit too. So those are, those are my positives. So I think the big thing too is, is when you look at maybe the bigger, the Jets made adjustments at halftime. They knew that they were getting home with their front four. So they realized the bigger thing was we got to contain mix-in. We're already wreaking havoc in their passing game. We can disrupt a whole hell of a lot more if we make adjustments. And then the Texans helped them out by kind of evading the run and just going away from the run when it was so successful anyway. So he only touched it seven more times, regardless. But they also, I think, adjusted the way that they were covered the gaps in the defensive line. - Yeah. Seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN, positives from the textures, zero, seven, eight, three. Yes, a positive as the Jets player dropped the ball before the end zone. A bad play for a rookie. He hasn't had a whole lot of run. Malachi Corley finally gets a little bit of burn. He's going in for a walk-in touchdown. I don't understand why this is popular. Why do we see this so often? We're dudes trying to pimp, crossing the goal line in their way of pimping it. Their bat flip is dropping the ball right when they cross the goal line. Is the weirdest thing to me. Is the weirdest flex. - Especially in this case, it was his first ever NFL touchdown. You know he's going to want to keep the football. You know it's going to be a big deal. And yet you do something like that. That negates the entire play. I mean, you have plenty enough time to celebrate and do your, what fall, all the different, what backflips and dives and falls into the end zone and all the things that you do to celebrate after you get to the back of the end zone. It's so befiling to me as well. Like what are you possibly to gain in starting your celebration at the half-inch line? - It's this modern football player that thinks it's cool to drop the football just as quickly as you can after passing the goal line. I think it's kind of like the bat flip. You don't run your bat flip. You cross the goal line. You're trying to drop it as soon as you can. I don't understand it. I don't get it. It happens way too much. Like run to the back of the end zone and hand to the person in the front row or like spike it. Like it's so weird. Now, if you're a Texan, try to jump on the ball if you notice something like that. It was weird too because watching the broadcast, it's like, okay, it's clear that he dropped it, but we don't know who ever recovered it. I thought, like, as they were going to break, I thought the ball just laid there idly and that they were gonna get the ball back to where it was dropped. So like, I had no idea what happened to the football. And then when you come back, it's like, oh, it's just kind of casually rolling through the back of the end zone's a huge break for the Texan. - It was massive too, 'cause I had the same thought. It's like, well, what is the ruling if it just sits there unattended? I mean, is that a touch back or is that, like you said, do you just reset it on the one and negate the touchdown but give them another chance to get the six points? Because that one just, if there's any doubt at all, you see it all the time on the potential for laterals versus forward passes and things like that. The first thing the defense does is, hey, just for craps and giggles, I'm at least gonna go over and make sure that I secure this thing with one hand and say, if it's in question, I got it. And no one did. - Day nine, two, four. I hope that guy never scores a touchdown in his career. That's kind of mean. Y'all remember which Texans player tossed the ball to the ref after a kickoff a few years ago? I don't remember his name. I want to say it was in the playoff game against the Bills, actually, caught a ball in the back of the end zone and then just tossed it to the ref. But back then, you could do that. You could do that. It's like giving yourself up and it was a touch back. 'Cause there was some controversy on it too. - I remember that. - Yeah. - I remember being there and it was like, oh no, what just happened? No one knows the rule and I didn't know the rule at the time. But you could do that back then. It was a touch back. Now I think it's a little different with the new dynamic kickoff rule, whatever they're calling it. A couple of other positives. Running the rock, Joe Mixon's a one man stampede. I like that, one man stampede. Just put bull horns on his helmet that's Josh from Seabrook. Didn't run it as well in the second half as the first half, but if I'm Bobby Sloake, I would have kept giving him the football and then 4-1-2-8's mean. - He says the Kenyan green injury is a positive. That's not nice. - No, I mean, we don't want to wish injury on anybody. We've talked about this previously. - Well, I mean, if it's a quarterback that I'm playing against in the AFC Championship game, I don't mind if he gets hurt. - Right, but we talked about it with Deshawn and the fact that, you know, when you're cheering in the fact that he got hurt in Cleveland, we get you don't like him. I just don't, I don't want to take it to the level of hoping someone gets hurt. - Yeah, there are times I hope people get hurt. I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily celebrate. Like I would keep it internal, you know what I mean? I wouldn't like give him a standing ovation. Lamar Jackson breaks his leg in the first quarter of the AFC Championship game against the Texans. I'm not, I'm not standing up, yeah. I'm not, yeah, let's go. No, I would just keep it inside. I'd be like, oh, okay, he's hurt. Like maybe like a little bit of a grin on my face. Maybe something like that. But I wouldn't celebrate would stand up. - Texans kick returner weirdness was in the Bills playoff game in 2019. It was DeAndre Carter. - DeAndre Carter, yeah, I could see his body. I just couldn't remember his name. - Yeah, I was doing the same thing. I was like, who's the guy? - 'Cause he caught it like in the very back of the end zone and just like kind of tossed it to the white hat, right? - Yeah. - Are you watching the play? - No, but I can right now. - No, it's okay. - I wonder, did he wear number one? - No, I think so. - I think that was before receivers could wear one. - I thought, okay. - Yeah, I wonder what the, I can't remember what the rule was on that, but it was, it was a touch bag. They brought it out to the, I still think it was the 20 back. They might have been the 25, I don't remember. All right, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN. HRNP listener line, who said it? Sean's gonna read us quotes that were said by ESPN 97-5 personalities and then we guess who said it. We look to make it a winning streak today on who said it. It is the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. - You're listening to ESPN 97-5. It's now time for super producer Brian McDonald, AKA Tremach. - I am rude to do his best to stump Joel and Jeremy. - Well, I'm stumped. - It's everyone's favorite segment. - 'Cause everyone loves it. - I know. - Right, exactly. - Who said it? - He said it, he said it. - With the killer bees. - It was the Andre Carter texture that caught the ball in the back of the end zone and tossed it forward to the white hat and then landed in the end zone. Bills picked it up for what was ruled a touchdown, but then they later overturned it for some rule that I'm not quite sure they ruled it a touch bag. It was the Andre Carter in case you were, I don't know if you're asking us a trivia question or if you really wanted us to know. All right, who said it? - Sean's gonna redo us five quotes said by ESPN 97 five personalities. We guess who said it. Sean, what is quote number one? - Quote number one. I can never forgive John Boy. I can never forgive the buzzer stuff. They're still idiots. They need to be tased and put into a casket and buried alive or bricked into a wall like something encounter Monte Cristo. Or which one was it? Edgar Allan Poe, where you get bricked into a wall? (laughs) Lance? - I can see it either being Lance, John. Probably more Lance than John. - I really felt it. - But I could also see the G's. - The Edgar Allan Poe part may be Paul. - Yeah, but I don't know if he, I don't think Paul would question himself. Usually Paul nails his obscure random knowledge things. - Okay. - I think. - Yeah, my first inclination was Lance. - Let's do it. Lance Zurline. - I mean, I can never forgive John Boy. - Oh boy. - I can never forgive that buzzer stuff. There's hot. - Picking up right where he left off in October. One nothing. - Take it. - Yeah. - Okay. - All right. (laughs) - What do you mean, okay? All right. - Number two. I got into a fight because she was sitting with an iPhone. I hadn't loaded up. So I started doing it for and the iPhone said, oh, you must update this and that. So I started, it started taking longer and I'm the one who got in trouble. I'm an IT guy, a plumber. I do everything. I'm pretty much an international gentleman of leisure. - Okay. It can be Paul. (laughs) I thought at first it could have been because he's like on a date, but now he's like starts talking about all the responsibilities of a husband. So you can roll out Paul. - Roll out Dale. - Roll out Dale. - It's man. - Loading up an iPhone. So I guess he was doing the update. - Like, yeah. But I'm thinking, who calls themselves a plumber? (sighs) I don't know. - Joe? - I don't think he would. - It talks about other people fix it as plumbing problems, but I think it's between Joe and John. - But like, maybe just to do the thing in the toilet, you know, that would be that difficult. - Don't do that on Twitch. (laughs) - That's a good point. - Social team. - What did he call himself at the end and in an international gentleman of leisure? - International gentleman of leisure. So I think I can roll out Joe there. - Yeah. - I think it's John or Lance. - Okay. - Which way do you lean? - Would he go back to back? - Of course he would. Who did this? You were Brian. - I did. - Oh, you did. - So then we get to learn a lot more about you. - We have zero information on you. - Yeah, and your ability to be bushy. - So I don't know. I don't know if he would go back to back. No one mapes. - I think he'd keep it on the up and up. - And how he looks like, hello kitty. - What? - Where'd that come from? - He looks like, oh, he looks like roaring kitty. My bad. Not hello kitty. - Hello kitty. - It's like one of my daughters. Both of my daughters like favorite things. I'm like, how does he look like a little white cat? - That's my bad. He looks like roaring kitty of GameStop fame. Um, say it one more time, please. - Yeah, please. - The entire thing? - Yes. - He's like, darn it. From the beginning. - This is usually his nap time blinkers. - That's right. - I got into a fight because she was sitting with an iPhone. I hadn't loaded it up. So I started doing it for, and the iPhone said, oh, you must update this and that. So it started taking longer. And I'm the one who got in trouble. - I'm an IT guy, a plumber. I do everything. I'm pretty much an international gentleman of leisure. - I hear Lance. - Okay, let's do it. I hear it too. I hear Lance do. - Yeah. - Lance Erlin. - Got into a fight. - Yeah. - Because I, she's sitting there. - Yeah, I don't think John's in a whole lot of plumbing. - No. - Or phone updates. - No, what if the Gucci tennis shoes get wet? - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Number three. - Congratulations on all the fame. - Yes. - Yes, again. - Number three. - Get to know someone in United Group 1, 2, 3, 4. If you know someone in one, you can go on with them. - You pick these yourself, huh? - Well, no, it's a weird way to read it like straight. Okay. Get to know someone that's in United Group 1, 2, 3, 4. If you know someone in one, you can go on with them. It's been done before where you say, no, no, no, we're traveling together. This is my significant other. - Huh. - I could see Lance again. - Yeah. - John, because John's flying back and forth from LA. - Yeah. - And they were talking about, at one point, they were talking about what should I watch while I'm flying back to Houston? - Is John flying commercial though? Or is he flying first-class? I mean, he's a whole fan. - I mean, he's flying commercially. He's not flying private. I don't think he-- - Well, I mean, is he flying, is he flying coach, or is he flying first-class? - I think he'd still coach it. - Okay, so boarding group one would be a thing then. - Yeah. - I think it's either John or Paul. - And Paul would look at the possibility of a random hookup out of it too. - It's also, the significant other things, kind of weird though. So like, maybe you're traveling with a friend. - No, you sell it to the airline. Like, this is my significant other just because-- - Oh, get to know somebody who's like, okay. - Yeah, so that you can get to the front of the line. - I think it's either Paul or John. - Yeah. - I don't really not have a strong feeling on either one of them though. - Dale's not going to want to talk to people. - No. - Joe flies a spirit. - One jet blew us out there. - Not it's not an option for Joe. - It's too bougie. - John, what do you think? - I'm leaning John. - Let's do it then. - John, John, John, John, John, John, John, John. - Get to know somebody that's like the number. - Yeah. - Yeah. - We own him. - All right, we got to change back three and oh, let's go. Let's keep going. - This is to cover the spread for me for the rest of these. - Well, we're studying monkeys over here and we would like funding. We would like a grant from the US because we're thinking maybe typing monkeys could be the answer to this AI dilemma we're having. Nope, turns out they can't do Shakespeare. - That's such a weird quote. - Keep saying that Jeremy and you know where it came from? - Paul? - Nope. - It's weird and it came from news of the weird this morning. - Oh, you heard it? - Yeah, yes I did. - Well, who said this? - And he just said yeah. - Oh, I think I don't think he cares anymore. - No. - So we got that part for you. Now I just got to remember who said it. - That's the game. - Of the two of them. - Yes, of the two of them. - That's, that's it. - That's the exact idea. - John Marley reads it, Lance talks about it. - I see you think it's Lance? - I do. - Let's go for it. - Lance. - Whoa, we're studying monkeys over here. - Let's go. - Let's go. - We never, we've never hit through the-- - Let's find an old swimmer. - We have never done a clean sweep, Mapes. - Yeah, Mapes would never be able to like show his face around here again. - Between that and the bad audio. - Oh, he said it's fine. (laughing) - Next time I'll just pick the do the morning show. (laughing) Last one. And this, just for context, this is on the country Peru. Is that where the ayahuasca was? Egypt? - Where in the world does Aaron Rodgers? I don't know, but wherever it is, there'll be drugs there. - Whew. - This could be anybody. - It could be Dell. - Yeah, it could be Dell. - You know that Paul hates him. - Does he? - Paul hates Aaron Rodgers. - Why? - 'Cause he screwed Brady out of an MVP in his mind. Amongst other things. - By the way, I have Brian McDonald looking over my shoulder right now. - Yeah, I saw him casually trying not to pay attention and even when I yelled suck at B-Mac 'cause we won again. - Well, he wanted to sit in this room during this and I thought that'd be too much pressure on me. - Yeah, it would be because you gotta learn from the man that you talk about straight faces and then you look at the way he plays this game. His poker face is off the chain. - Oh, really? - Yeah, he will not even make, he won't even blink his eyes off the chain. (laughing) - Do you want the quote, one more question? - Yeah, it would be great, John. - On the country Peru. - Is that where the ayahuasca was? Egypt, where in the world is Aaron Rodgers? I don't know, wherever it is, there'll be drugs there. - I'm gonna sit this one out. You've had the hot hand. I'm a point guard here, pass first. You've had the hot hand. Why would I get in the way-- - Why? Why? - I the only person I would roll out is Joe. - I was gonna say would Joe-- - I would roll out-- - What he's asking? Would he even be able to put Peru on the board? - I don't think he knows of Peru. - I mean, in that regard. (laughing) - What an endorsement. (laughing) - Yeah, but I-- - I got issues. - It would be silly for me to get it in the way of-- - Oh, stop. - I'm being serious. - 'Cause I really don't have a feel for this one. - This would be like Jordan's 63 point game and then like Paxon taking the buzzer beater. Like that makes no sense. - That happens. They lost that game. - No, they didn't. - The 63 point game? - No, the Paxon taking the buzzer beater. - Yeah, no, but the 63. Against the something. - So it's boy. - It'd be like Alpey Shengun trying to take the buzzer beater over Jalen Green and crunch time. - It's like fern around the league trying to take the ball. - Would you, can you see Del say in it? - Oh yeah, I could see Del say in it. - Yeah. - But Del would maybe Del would be more well-versed to know where Aaron Rodgers, what country Aaron Rodgers was that he was doing that? - I don't know, man. That's a hard thing to know. Like I don't know how many people actually know where Aaron Rodgers went to do all that. To embrace darkness. - I'm gonna screw this one up after we're four now just because I don't have a feel for it. - And better you than me though. - Sweet. One more time Paul, I mean, Mapes please. - On Peru. Is that where the ayahuasca was Egypt? Where in the world is Aaron Rodgers? I don't know, but whatever there, wherever it is, there'll be drugs there. - I feel the cadence is Del. - Do it. - Final answer. - Is that where the ayahuasca was or is that Egypt's? - Let's call it. - Where in the world is Aaron Rodgers? - I couldn't tell. - Yeah, I couldn't either because of the-- - Was that today? - It was. - Around remote. - That's crazy how different the sound is on that. - Yep. - Mapes gotta win. - I'm a stickler. - I'm one of them. - I am a stickler for sound. - Yeah. - I've heard. - Yeah. - Did he sound so much different? - Yeah, I almost thought it was Granado. - I almost thought it was a man for a second. (laughs) - I'm kidding. - Oh wow. - I'm kidding. It's a joke. It was a joke. - It's a joke. - It's a joke. Seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN. Rockets had a big win last night. Well, everyone was watching the tag. If the Rockets have a big win, no one's watching. It even happened. It is the B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 97.5. (upbeat music) - Yes and yes, 97.5. (upbeat music) - Now back to the killer B's. - On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. - Live from the Veritex community bank studios, here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Brannen. - Oh, Joe, I really wish I care about the Rockets and the NBA in general, but the players in the game have changed too much for my liking. It's not a good product anymore. You think it's a good product? - NBA? - It's watered down. I don't think that it's what it used to be in a lot of different eras. I still think it can be entertaining, but yeah, I think it's watered down a bit. - I like watching the Rockets. I get some joy out of watching the Rockets play basketball. No DVR at the game, watch it this morning. What'd you make of the Rockets win over Dallas? Huge win at Dallas defending Western Conference champions, going the road, beat 'em, really? I mean, did you ever trail in this game? Maybe early in the first, but you basically led from pillar to post up 20 multiple times in this game? - Yeah, this was a really good win for the Rockets because when you looked at the schedule to start the year, it was loaded with some tough games to where I thought they might go one and four, get two wins, but I thought that these games early on 'cause you're still trying to get things settled in for the year, we're gonna be a struggle. And this was one that I was really interested in seeing because on the road as well, I didn't know what they were gonna be against the team that Western Conference champions of a year ago, and you look at it and you say, "Man, this was impressive." I mean, it wasn't just Jalen Green, but Jalen Dream continues to be the guy that when the rubber hits the road and the biggest moments in the game, he can step up and make the plays. He's using his ability to get to the basket, but the other guys are stepping up and it's a different guy from possession to possession. When I'm in Thompson, made the really tough, not right from the baseline rebound and short jump shot. A Dylan Brooks making his plays and defensively still doing what he's been known to do. Jabari getting more involved in the offense. I think that the fact is they're still learning, they're still getting better, but you beat a really good basketball team that's been playing good basketball as well, unlike the Milwaukee's and some of the teams that are stinking it up to start the year like Denver. Dallas has been playing good basketball and you beat them from start to finish and for a lot of the game, you were up 15 points. - This was, this to me replaced the season opener against Charlotte, where that one was a game that you should have won, this was a game that you should have lost. So in all the other games and results, I kind of expected, like you're playing San Antonio on the second leg of a back-to-back, like I don't expect any team to win on the second leg of a back-to-back. So I had the rocket starting three and two, I just had them losing at Dallas and winning the opener against Charlotte. So I'm good with a three and two record. As far as yesterday's game, I thought Jalen Green was really good in the fourth quarter. I didn't think he had a very good game up until the fourth quarter. He wasn't shooting it all that well. Now he's been far more active defensively this year, he's been getting it on the glass. He had 12 rebounds yesterday. When does Jalen Green give you 12 rebounds? So he's kind of becoming more of just more, he's becoming more than just a score, because yesterday he didn't score a ton in the first three quarters, but then he turned it on. He scored 10 points in the final seven minutes. When the Mavs cut it down to a seven-point game with seven minutes to play, that's when Jalen Green is like, okay, it's time for me to put this team on my back, 'cause he didn't need to be the scorer yesterday. They were in cruise control. They were up 15 to 20 points, largest lead was 20, they did it twice. It was always around 10, 15 points really for the majority of that game. And then all of a sudden, here comes Dallas, here's the run that we expect him to go on, here's a big shot, I believe it was by Luca, they cut it down to a seven-point game with seven minutes to play. And then Jalen Green's like, okay, it's my turn. He scored the next five points back-to-back buckets, gets to the line, makes a crazy shot, a crazy layup in the bucket, makes the free throw scores five straight, and then extends that lead again, scored 10 points in the final seven minutes. So that was another example to me of Jalen Green, like, okay, whatever this team needs me is whenever I'm going to turn it on, which again, speaks to the maturity that we've seen from Jalen Green so far this year. - I think the bigger picture too is that you weathered the storm, right? Because you knew they were gonna make a run. And in the fourth quarter, they clearly did, and their two best players stepped up and really started to carry him. Kyrie was early, Luca was late, then Luca hits the 40 foot three to make it a three-point game. And that's where a lot of times a young team folds up their tents and finds a way to take a bad possession, screw it up, and then watch one slip through their fingers. Instead, as you mentioned, it was Jalen leading, but it was everybody else contributing along the way, and the guys that I mentioned coming through as well with key offensive rebounds, with putbacks, with finishing on the break after a good defensive play. And that's the sign of a team that's maturing before your eyes, and it becomes better and more entertaining basketball. It's not one thing to just say, I want to see these young kids get better and start to develop a little bit. It's when the team starts to take it to another level, and you execute against a good team down the stretch in a tight game that you realize it's working. - Completely agree. But in those moments, whenever you have a team, especially a team of the caliber of the Mavs, that are making that run, and it's a critical juncture of the game, that's when you go to your best player. - You have to, yeah. - And they're going to Jalen Green. So like, this is a very big example in my mind that this is Jalen Green's team, and who is telling you that? You may have Doka is telling you that, because when Dallas is making the run, let's get the ball on the hands of Jalen Green, let's let Jalen Green go make a play. He had four assists, just take it, it could have easily been seven. If Jabari Smith knocked down a few threes, it would have very easily been a seven assist game for Jalen Green, and some others. Fred Van Vliet was terrible, but the other example of how this is Jalen Green's team, lay in the game where he's out, he shouldn't go. He's on the bench. - He's on the bench. - And it's twofold, right? 'Cause it's interesting that Alpe got more money than Jalen did in more years. But at the same time, Jalen's the guy that's leading you, that is the guy that you're talking about, that it's going to go through and go to. And yet you've got Alpe who's a defensive liability in several of the other games so far this season to where they have to yank him off the floor in the fourth quarter for that. But then overall, when we start talking about the one thing that we need to see is that's on neither guy is how Doka and his staff is going to be able to use an offense in which there are times that you're going to run it through Alpe. There are times that you're going to run it through Jalen, but that you can get both involved to the level that they need to be at so that they can be successful. And right now in the fourth quarter, yeah, Alpe was on the floor more than he's been in the past in the fourth quarter, but this has been Jalen's ball to do whatever he wants with at that point in the game. And that tells you all you need to know. - Yeah, I've loved what I've seen from Jalen Green. Alpe, I think Alpe's actually had a pretty disappointing start to the season, but he's been solid. And I don't really subscribe to the notion either that they can't be on the same team. Was Bill Simmons said that recently? I did have that thought last year whenever Alpe was hurt and whenever Jalen Green went on his tear, whenever Alpe was hurt and the team was winning a bunch of games, I think that they do, I think they can coexist. I think that Jalen Green needs to be the alpha. - And as they want to too. - That absolutely matters. And then Alpe also has to be okay with, they late in the game, we need defensive stops that you're going to be on the bench. And if he's okay with that, it can all work. Now, if he gets disgruntled and unhappy, then you might have an issue. Alpe got more money, but I think there's a really good chance that Jalen Green over the next five years of the contract, like he got the three year deal with the option on that final year, Alpe Shinghoon got five years. I think that they're, I think you can look at that five year window for Alpe Shinghoon. I think that Jalen Green's got a very real chance to make more money in that five year window, even though he signed a shorter term deal. - It's definitely possible. And I think that what it comes down to is just, we all know that both of them have talent, but I think that you've seen already where Alpe has maximized what he has talent-wise, for the most part, and he's got to get better on defense, but sometimes you can't, that's not talent. That's, no matter what you learned, you don't have the foot speed and the athletic ability to do, we know Jalen's got all the athleticism in the world. The fact that he's now just settling for the step back three, and what you saw last night and what you've seen early in the season is, he understands that there is a time when you have to put it on the floor and go to the basket, you can draw fouls, get the free throw line, get the points without having to put it through the bucket on the play itself, and/or because of your ability to hang and finish, you can draw contact and you can score over just about anybody to where, as he matures and settles in, this is what we always wanted him to be, a player that's on the cusp of possibly being that guy, we just hadn't seen it until the start of the season. - Yeah, I didn't think he had a good shooting game yesterday. I didn't think that he had his best offensive performance and then it's like, oh, okay, crunch time, you're stepping up, okay, I look at your point total at the end of the game, you had 23 on what I thought was not a great efficiency on the offensive end, well, I didn't think you had a good shooting night and I look at the box score and, oh, 23, and look, he was nine for 21, that's not a great day of shooting. Three for eight from three, you actually take that from Jalen Green, I thought he got to the line more, he only made three free throws, or he only went to the line three times, he made two of them, but this is what you've been hoping from Jalen Green, that whenever he's not having the shooting game that you want him to have, just find a way to get you 23, like that's what the top score is the NBA do, like if you pull up top 10 leading scores at the NBA, year by year, whatever year you want to pull up and you just look at like the eighth leading score, you're like, okay, why is it the eighth leading score? Okay, the shooting percentage wasn't great this night, but still he found a way to give you 20. Like these guys give you 20, even whenever they're not, their shots not falling, and that's what Jalen's got to do, but it's weird though, 'cause he didn't really get to the line yesterday. - No, but I'm saying, there's other means to do it, if the jump shots not falling, get to the basket, if the shots not falling, get to the line, but at the end of the night, when the line score comes out, you're still in double digits, it's like Alpe at least from his standpoint is he's still giving you double doubles. He's still giving you things, especially in the first three quarters of the game, so that it isn't all the Jalen show and he gets tired out. And the bigger thing too, for me, is the veterans have become role players, but the veterans are filling their roles really well. Dylan Brooks is still defending. He's still gonna get out on the break and finish. He can give you some effort plays and make the open jump shot. From Steven Adams' standpoint, what a huge lift he is, because he's not only that enforcer you always want, but from the way he screens, the big body defender, that he can really kind of muscle somebody up, he does the little things and in freeing Jalen up so that the screen that he sets for Jalen gives him a really clean, open look. It's valuable when you start putting the pieces together and you see the team gel. - Yeah, Jalen Green shooting the ball a little bit better, scoring more consistently. I mean, he's still super early. It's only five games in the year, but he's only 22 years old. He's averaging 27 and a half points a game. He's averaging 27 and a half points a game. You wanna guess his three point shooting percentage so far through five games? 'Cause I've always wanted him to be a 35% three point shooter. Like if he could be 35%, I can live with that. Now, I want him to be a little bit smarter about what shots he's taking. If he has nights where he's, you know, he is a streaky shooter. If he has nights or the shots not falling, go to what you were talking about, get to the basket, get to the rim, get to the free throw line. I could live with 35% from Jalen Green. What do you think it is right now through four games? - 30 games. - Or five games. - 41. - Ooh, 41. If he shoots 40% from three, he's gonna average at least 25 a game. At least 25 a game. - Yeah, he just has the ability to get easy buckets and score enough that he will get 20 a game no matter what. But if he's shooting that percentage from three, then he could be one of the top 10, five to 10 scores in a league. - And look, I don't think he'll shoot 40%. I think he's gonna regress to the mean and shoot 35%, which again, I'm willing to take. But I think sometimes we lose sight that the dude is 22 years old. Jalen Brown, who is, you know, on the best basketball team in the NBA, who many people think it is, an all-star. He's gonna get you 25 a game. Whenever he was 22 years old, he was averaging 13 points a game. Like, it takes some time at times. And it takes good coaching, which is why it's huge. That Jalen Green has the Mayadokanell. All right, 713-780-ESP-N, HRNP listener line. DJB NMA covers the text for ESPN, ESPN.com. We'll chat with him on what went down in Jersey yesterday. It is the beast on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. - You listening to ESPN 97.5. - We're taking a break. - Okay, that's cool.