The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/04 Hour 2 - Can Nick Caserio Make A Trade To Save The Season
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, bring you the fastest three hours in Houston Sports Radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. What is your favorite trade of the Nicocerio era? 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0 ESPN. What is your least favorite trade? Of the Nicocerio tenure. 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, 3, 7, 7, 6. The Joe Mixon won up there for me. For me, I had four on the good side. Trading up for Nico Collins, I think, is the most underrated trade that he's ever made. Because we kind of forget it, right? Like, we kind of forget that he traded up for Nico Collins. Nico Collins took a few years before he turned into Nico Collins. So we kind of forget that that was a Nicocerio. I identified the player, traded up to get the player. So Nico was on my good. He did the same thing with Tank Dell. He traded up for Tank Dell in the third round. So I put Tank Dell on the good side. Not to the extent of Nico. Because I think Nico was a rare find and I think Nico was better than Tank. And then the Deshawn Watson trade. We've kind of disagreed on the difficulty of this type of trade. I think it was easy to trade Deshawn Watson. You had four teams that were banging down your door offering three first rounders. Four Deshawn Watson. So I don't think it was a hard trade, but I would say it was a good trade for a Nicocerio. Yeah, you know how I feel about it. I still think to orchestrate it and to make sure that you get what you wanted. Out of each of those deals and specifically got the haul that everybody was like really expecting you. Putting the pressure on you that you had to get done with the parameters of having constraints based on the no trade and all the Deshawns wants that I thought that he really handled that situation well. And I sung his praises at the time. Yeah, and then the ones that I, you have any goods before we move on to the batch? I mean, to me, you definitely, you hit on a lot of the good ones. As much as I personally really questioned it at the time right now. And a lot of people are going to say this is one that's still the jury still out on and I totally get it. But the way Will Anderson Jr. has played, I don't think it was a bad trade. I think it was a positive that you got the defensive rookie of the year out of the trade when a lot of people want to throw CJ in there too. And that I don't believe that was going to be the case. But regardless, as much as I personally didn't like it so far, it has worked out really well for you to get Will Anderson Jr. Though it is up for discussion with a lot of people. That was, I have two for jury still out and that was one that I had for jury still out. And I think that Will, I love Will Anderson. I've made peace with the trade for Will Anderson. I think Will Anderson's really stinking good. But let's not ignore that the Texans also spent a lot to get Will Anderson, which, look, it might be worth it. It could be worth it now. A lot of people would think that it is worth it now. You could have gotten some really good players on the other side of that trade too. Like people pointed Detroit all the time and, oh, Detroit's got this great foundation of young players. And a lot of the players that they got, or at least a couple of the players they got, was because of that Will Anderson trade. So that one to me is jury still out. I think that Will Anderson's playing at a level and is trending in the direction to where we're never going to worry about that trade. But I think that it is fair to look at the other side of it and then also throw in the possibility of Will Anderson kind of platooning out. What if he has ankle injuries for his entire career? You know, this is his third significant ankle injury that he's had in a year and a half in the NFL. So that one for me is still jury is still out. And then I have the digs for Minnesota's 2025 second as a jury is still out too. And really it's nothing that Stefan Diggs can do anymore because unfortunately towards ACL and is out for the year. But it's what Minnesota does. Like if Minnesota craps out and they finish like an eight nine and that pick is a top half of the second round pick. Is that a trade that you regret making? I think so. Yeah, I was going to say it was on my list, but it was if you're allowed to have revisionist history by looking at it right now and going back and saying you only had him for six games and he tore his ACL. Regardless of the fact that Minnesota isn't as bad as we thought they were going to be, that was a pretty high draft pick. That's probably a player that would be with you for a multitude of years to move on from if he's only here for six games. So you're right, jury's still out. For me, it's bordering on a bad trade. If that's the way this turns out and ends and he goes somewhere else next year. But it's also a chance worth taking because with him on the field, they were as bad as the offensive line was, they were a different football team. Yeah, it's a hard one too because of the injury dynamic. It's like, you know, some people are where you can't, you know, you can't assess the trade because of an injury. There is there are people to think that way. Like you can't you can't break down the trade and say that it was won or lost because a player got hurt. I would disagree. Like that's kind of like that's that's in the math. Like it's part of the equation. You know that a player being injured in the NFL is a possibility. You should always be accounting for the possibility of injury. And for some players who are Iron men, like, okay, well, the odds of them getting hurt are less. And Stephon Diggs is probably closer to that than the other case. But then like a like a Taysom Hill. Taysom Hill's always hurt. Like you can guarantee that Taysom Hill is going to miss half the year every single every single season. So I do think that it's fair to account for injury in trade. And when you're trading for a rental and there's a possibility they could get hurt, then that is an issue. And the draft pick could get hurt. Yeah, the draft pick could get hurt, but you had that player for four years. So like factor that into the equation too. Let me ask you this. Do you think that the fact that they that they they renegotiated the contract and they they they took the next year out of it? In retrospect, if they don't do that and then the injury happens, does it make it easier to say that you still because now he'll he'll he'll be back again next year? I don't remember what the number was, but I remember it being pretty high, right? 25. Yeah, that would be that was my total guess. Yeah, but if you're there too, then it must have been somewhere around that mark. Do you would you pay Stephon Diggs 25 million for a year next year? Yes, see the whole thing is no matter how much technology is advanced in the medical profession. I don't think he's going to be ready at the start of the season next year. So yeah, probably not because I think the best case scenario for your Texans fan is because he's coming off injury because he's not going to be ready at the start of the season because he needs to reprove himself to try and get the money. He was chasing in the first place. Maybe he comes back to you on a one year sweetheart kind of a deal just to make sure that he's in the best situation for him and with a good team. And then maybe that looks more positive. But yeah, I just wondered at the time why they did what they did except for the fact that I thought that was because they were worried about if he blew up in the locker room or became a problem. Yeah. And now it's with the injury just kind of factors in. I think that Diggs wanted the one year proof of deal. Quite frankly, I think it was the Texans doing a solid for the player and I think Nick Cocario likes to do solids for the player. It's kind of like, Hey, here's a proof of deal for you. It's a chance for you to really cash in next off season. We don't want to be the team that pays you tons of money. You go out, prove it to us, maybe we will be that team. But I would say that hindsight being 20, 20, 20. I think that it's a good thing now that you redid it because you didn't want to be a team that was paying him $25 million for a year coming off the injury. Virginia says it makes the trade unfortunate, not bad. Okay. That might be the best way to look at it. Here are the ones that I have on my bad, the bad trades. I really only have one. We always made fun of the Nick Cocario trading a sixth round pick for Kidare Holloman and then cutting them a week later. I think it was a seventh round pick for Holloman, but traded a seventh round pick for Holloman and cut him in seven days. I forget the quarterback who he traded a sixth rounder for during the off season and then they cut him before he even got the camp. So there's these weird trades that Cocario has made where he's traded these late round draft picks for players that didn't stick around for very long and never even played in a game with the Texans. Holloman actually has, but he actually played in one game and then they cut him like roster crunch and then now he's back on the second stint. But he's made a bunch of those weird trades. It was an Anthony Miller. He traded like a fifth rounder for Anthony Miller and then he cut him three weeks later. Like he's made these weird trades, but those are late round draft picks who really care. Like Scronic too. They thought Oskronic was going to be a guy off the Rams. That was good for them. That was going to be good for the Texans and he never made the opening day roster. Yeah, late round pick swapped to acquire Scoronic and he never makes the roster. So he's made like a handful of those, like a half dozen of those. Are they significant? No, not really. We'll make fun of them, but they're not really that significant. To me, the one that is the clear cut, no brainer. This is the worst trade that he's ever made was trading down for Kenan Green when Kyle Hamilton was on the board. But you can even go further than that. You could say, well, they didn't want to safety. They wanted an offensive lineman. Okay. Well, then make the trade down, but maybe take Zion Johnson to the Chargers, Tyler Smith even to the Cowboys. Tyler Linderbaum was on the board, who's in Baltimore, who's like the stalwart center for the Baltimore Ravens and probably will be for a decade. So if you, if you're not here for the Kenan Green, Kyle Hamilton, you know, part of this conversation, I understand. But drafting Kenan Green over Linderbaum, Zion Johnson, Tyler Smith, after you trade it down to me, is the worst trade that could cereal. Number one bad one on mine as well. And it doesn't matter how you slice it. What, regardless of what other position you could have taken, or if you stayed with the same position, other guys you could have had, that one has just been a complete crapping of the bed. And there's no other way to look at it. No matter how many chances you gave him, no matter how hopeful you were, local kid does good, A&M product doing great. You know, all the reasons why the extra was there as well as just, hey, look, you're taking a guy that was really good in college and expecting him to do the same kind of things in the NFL. It hasn't worked out. You can blame it on the injuries if you'd like. He sucks at past blocking. He didn't get better. I don't care what he did to try and change his physique. Nothing has worked. And it's been just an absolute disaster of a move and, and transaction. Seth says Watson's trade is number one by a mile. See, I mean, the result of it was pretty great. So I guess I don't have too much of a fight to put up for that. It was all my good. I still don't understand acres to Vikings for a conditional pick with this being your current running back room. Look, I think it's fair to say acres is better than Pierce. I think the conversation is fine, but Pierce, like, does stuff in special teams. He's a kick returner, and I hadn't played a whole lot. And, like, I don't really think that either players are all so significant. Like, if it makes sense out for a good amount of time, like, I feel like your running game's kind of screwed no matter who your backup running back is. A lot of people are going to say that because he looked spicy last night because he looked really good because he looked like a guy that, you know, he raised an eyebrow or two because we saw the quickness that he has. We saw his ability to catch the football and he and he had, you know, burst when he ran the football sometimes. But let's not forget the fact that he was here for the majority of the time that Nixon was hurt. If he was going to do those things and Pierce had been hurt too, then he would have been able to do those things here. We know the offensive line has been bad, but the one thing they've been able to do is run the football, and he didn't have those kind of performances when he had the opportunity here. So I understand it because of what happened last night because I'm not denying he didn't look good, and he looked good because of the fact that, hey, he knows that system. They have a good offensive line. He was able to show his wares. He found value in a coach that's always liked him, and he's in a good spot for him. But it would be more so about how this thing goes forward. If Nixon's to your point, if Nixon's banged up the rest of the year, would I rather have Cam Acres than Damian Pierce? Absolutely. But let's not sleep on the fact that he was here a majority of the time when Nixon was out. Yeah, I just, I think it's a wash. Like, I don't know if Pierce is much better than Acres. If Acres is much better than Pierce, that one to me is, you could classify that in a, it's not really that big a deal trade. Like, it's one of those, whatever. The other thing is, too, if Joe Nixon doesn't get hurt, then you really don't, and Dari's been great in the past game and past blocking game, then there wouldn't be a whole lot of opportunity for Cam to do much more than he was doing when he was here anyway. So then you're fine. Yeah, I don't think it's, I just don't think it's that significant, but I think it is fair to say Acres is better than Pierce. Yeah, I don't think it's a significant trade, and you get, you get a piece for, you know, basically nothing. Carson favorites to Sean Watson, least favored, trading down for Ken and Green. A few on the text line, 7151, worst trade is going back to 15, getting Kenyon when Kyle Hamilton was sitting there. See, a lot of people will push back and say, well, the Texans were never drafting his safety, although I thought they could have used his safety. But if you want to say that, okay, well then go look at the other offensive lineman that were drafted later in the first round. All are better than Kenyon Green. You'd be in a so much better spot like Tyler Smith, like they drafted him kind of to play tackle, then there was injuries there, then they moved him back to guard, whenever they're left tackle got healthy. He's been pretty solid. Johnson's been pretty solid. If you could just make the pick today, though, you're probably taking Lindenbaum, like Lindenbaum's probably the guy that you're taking. Yeah, especially if you could evaluate their careers to this point, but even if you aren't, I mean, if you just want to think in a different direction or just realize that that wasn't the pick for you, then yeah, Lindenbaum's a no brainer because of he's going to be a mainstay rocker. You're going to be a mainstay rock on that offensive line for, you know, unless he gets hurt or something for the Ravens for a long time. Yeah, I love the fact whenever you can get a center for 10 years and pair them with a young quarterback, like that to me is huge. I think that's a hidden advantage. Five, seven, nine, eight, favorite trade to Sean, Lee's favorite trade was Kenyon Green. When Jordan Davis and Kyle Hamilton were on the board says that texture, Lee's favorite is Diggs, says zero, seven, two, one, a couple of people saying the Diggs one, probably some revisionist history because of the injury. Although, you know, there were some people that didn't like the trade at the time, one year of Diggs versus, you know, a second rounder, which at the time you thought was going to be much higher than it's probably going to be because nobody expected Minnesota to be any good this year. Yeah, they are pretty good. A couple of films don't lie, just real quick watching this yesterday, poor me. C.J. Stroud didn't handle pressure well in this game. Yes, he was pressured a lot. Yes, he was pressured a ton. Yes, he felt it almost every single time that he dropped back, but he didn't handle it well. You go back and watch the Colts game, like he got pressured a lot in that game, but he handled it well. He was missing checkdowns. He was missing hot receivers. To me, he looked like he was big play hunting or even early downs, and it's like, hey, man, just dump it off, take the fourth, you know, three, four yards and play a second and seven play a third and three. I thought he was poor in that area. I don't know if it was the prime time. I don't know if it was the big lights. I don't know if it was New York trying to get revenge. But he wasn't himself and a lot of it's probably just because he was never comfortable and didn't trust his offensive line, but checkdowns were there and he didn't check him down. I thought Mitchie. I thought John Metche was better than Xavier Hutchinson. There were chances for Metche on a couple of occasions. It had big plays. I never saw that from Hutchinson. I saw Metche running free open at times. Never saw that from Hutchinson. Yes, I know they're not really, you know, apples to apples and where they play and where they're lined up as receivers. But I thought I saw more juice from Metche than Hutchinson. We'll see if that continues because there's some thought out there was seen from the athletic blinkers. She's reporting that the Texans will not be trading for a receiver. So we're going to be seeing a lot of Metche and a lot of Hutchinson, if that is indeed true. Danico Autry was excellent. Excellent. I wasn't disappointed with him in game one because it was game one after a long suspension after the off season, so he hadn't played in a real game in a long time. It was just like, OK, huh, I expected more. Yes, I know it was one game, but I'm going to be watching him more critically. He was fantastic in this game. Two sacks and a couple of pressures made a couple of chase down tackles. And I'm pretty sure he deflected Aaron Rodgers past that he didn't get credit for. Like he was a problem in this game. Yeah, no, look, I'm glad that it showed up even better when you watched it in the all 22 because to me, I just was so impressed with the fact that especially when Will Anderson was dealing with the ankle injury that he made his presence felt on so many different plays and so many different moments of the game toward this is what you were expecting. We talked about it like you can practice all you want, but game speed is a different animal and no matter how much you've been doing conditioning to be in football conditioning and come back and just be inserted in and say, Hey, go do what you did when you were in Tennessee. That's a tough ask, but it didn't take him long after that to look as impressive as I saw him just by watching the game twice. And now that you've been able to even dive even deeper, that's good to know because Will Anderson's probably not going to be 100% if he's playing at all, but you expect him to play against the lions and you're going to need him in the rotation. So that's good to know that he looks as good as he does quickly after being, you know, gone for the first six games. Yeah, those two sacks here were from the inside. So it's like, you know, how do we think that Audrey is going to pair with Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter? Both of those sacks came from the inside playing a defensive tackle spot. So it's like, okay, you get him on the field, you got Anderson and Daniel Hunter, hopefully at 100% at some point this year, that's going to be problematic for offenses. Like, that's one good thing to take from that game was that Audrey looked like a stud. And then I'm not sure which K green is worse, to be completely honest. Kenyon Green was a turn style in this game, like a turn style, like Quinn and Williams, here's, you know, here's my ticket to the show. Well, there you go, Quinn and Williams, go get him, go get CJ Stroud. He might have been better than Kendrick Green. I couldn't figure out which of the two played a worse game between Kenyon Green and Kendrick Green. Pro Football Focus would tell you that Kendrick was actually worse than Kenyon. I thought it was of Ty and both of them were awful. This goes back to what I said when we were talking to DJ going into this game. And the fact that maybe the biggest sign that Kendrick Green wasn't going to be a help, he might hurt you even more, was the fact that when Patterson got the concussion, they went back to Kenyon Green. That basically tells you that Kendrick Green wasn't going to be good. He wasn't ready for the moment. Maybe he's not very good anymore, but it also begs the question, then why the hell is he still on your roster? Play full back. No, I thought about you whenever I was watching a play because I remember you bringing up that point because I wanted Kendrick Green over Kenyon Green to see what it looks like. I didn't really think of Jared Patterson as an option there. Maybe I should have. And watching the film of this, I was like, oh, man, this guy is awful. Like, I know that Kenyon Green is bad because I've been seeing it all year. I saw a little bit of Kendrick Green last year and he wasn't, you know, he was okay. No, he was awful. Now, Quinn and Williams will do that to a lot of people, but yeah, I don't think that either guy is the optional left guard. Hopefully, unless the Texans make a trade tomorrow, hopefully, Jared Patterson is okay because I think that he'd be your starting left guard. Although, if you want to switch, Juice and Patterson, I wouldn't hurt my feelings. All right, 713-780-ESP and HRP listener line. What do you believe after this college football weekend? I believe with the B, 713-780-3776. Killer B, ESPN 97-5, ESPN 92-5. ESPN 97-5. Broadcasting live from the Veritex Community Bank studios. It's the Killer B's with Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. On ESPN 97-5 and 92-5. What do you believe after the college football weekend? 713-780-3776, like, what do you believe after this college football weekend? Man, I'll start with one. Clemson is not only done. I think Davo's done too. That team and that coach has fallen so quickly from the run that they were on to where they are now, but they're not very good. Davo, if he doesn't believe in the NIL deals or he's not just that, he wants to coach his old style way. It ain't working. That's going to be an interesting situation at the end of the year because that's not very good if you're a Clemson fan. To find good, though. I just think that as good as they've been with the run that they were on and people were talking about how sustainable that was for him being there as being the guy that would be the key to getting all these players that want to keep going there. They're not in the big-time conferences now. They're not a player. Everybody still kept giving them their due in the rankings to think that they were going to be a top 15-ish, top 25-ish type of team, but to still compete for a national championship and get into the playoff. They just don't look good. They're not impressive. I just don't know if Davo can continue to be the figurehead of that and be the guy that everybody relies on to get them to a national championship or get in the playoff. Look, they're not what they used to be. There's no doubt about that, but they finished in the top 20 each of the last 12 years. It depends on what Clemson wants to play. I don't know. I also wonder what kind of leash that Davo Sweeney has built there in Clemson. He is a pretty big name there. I don't know how long he's here. He's got a big contract, but at the same time, I think that after they got the taste of it for multiple years, getting to the national championship game and having the players come through and being on that big stage, I would think the fan base has higher expectations than just the top 25 team. I agree with the fan base. I don't know enough about their athletic department to know, "Hey, Davo Sweeney, he's done it for us. We love him." He's kind of like that figure where you just never get rid of him, and maybe they're aligned with the way that they want to win at Clemson, where it's like, "We don't really want to be this huge transfer portal team," or, "I don't know enough about the department." But I wouldn't call Clemson bad to say that. I wouldn't call them bad, but I do think to your point that they've dropped off to where they were, or this national power, they're contending for a national championship each and every year. They were in that upper echelon of teams in college football for a five, seven year stretch. Now they're more tier two, tier three. They have taken a step back for sure. I just wonder how long his leash is there. I would agree with you that the fan base does clamor for more after having that not all that long ago. I believe that if you're going to say that you're building a real program, that you're not some fast talking politician, I don't think that you should lose his favorites the next week to South Carolina. If you're going to run your mouth that way, which I'm okay with, I'm okay with running your mouth, but then you got to back up the talk. You can't just talk the talk, but you also got to walk the walk. There's a famous coach that said that. You can't go lose when you're a favorite at South Carolina the week after sounding off at the podium after you win a tough game, because now it feels froddy. It feels kind of like, okay, that was a, that was a one off against LSU. You can't lay an egg at South Carolina the way you did. I do think South Carolina is underrated. I think that they're really good. I think their defense is good. Their quarterback hasn't been healthy all year. If he had been healthy all year, they would be a ranked team. If sellers would have been healthy in the second half against LSU, they would have beat LSU. So it's not like South Carolina some cupcake, but you can't run your mouth and then go lose as a favorite the very next week. This was close to being their Texas is back baby kind of moment. Like, this is back to the proclamation. If you probably, if you proclaim that, you know, you are this and then you play like that. You deserve every bit of criticism coming your way after that because, yeah, I was going to say, Beamer's done a nice job there. South Carolina is really a hot team right now. They're playing good football. They've got some talent. But at the same time, this was your first chance to really kind of take the bull by the horns after getting back into the top 10 after believing that, hey, we had enough talent at the start of the year that we were getting snubbed. By the way, we were getting, you know, positioned in the preseason rankings and you just absolutely crap the bed on national TV. Everybody watching and everybody going, so you're not there yet. You're more like Jimbo than you thought. Yeah. What else do you believe? I believe that SMU is a sleeper that I ever saw coming. SMU is a really talented football team. Do I think that they're going to beat Miami at the end of the day? No, but with each passing week, I'm like, I never would have thought SMU was good enough to do what they've been able to do to stay in this conversation just late in the season. Yeah, I respect the heck out of it. I actually had a trolling, I believe, saying that SMU is the best team in Texas. What do you think? Best team in Texas? No. You know, the best team in Texas? No, I love this story. Cause like SMU making this, like they got mocked for making that bold move of going to the ACC and for going like conference money. And I don't know the semantics of like they're still getting bull money. They're still getting like NCAA tournament pool money. Like they're still getting some money out of the ACC. It's just not like the full show. And they might be for going like just the entire baseline rate or whatever. It looks kind of genius. Like it looks kind of genius. And they got mocked and ridiculed for that. I think it was courageous. I think it showed a lot of bravado. Let's put our money where our mouths are. I think I like that. I like that. And now the fact that they're going on the football field and they're eight and one. They're five and 0 in conference play. They're number 13 in the nation. I like this story. I do. It pains me saying that as a Houston cougar. But I admire this SMU. I respect the heck out of this SMU. I really do. Yeah, they're, they're just a very, very talented, well coached football team. And it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. Cause I do give them a puncher's chance against the team like Miami as good as Miami has been all year long because they're hot. They've got momentum. They feel like they can play with just about anybody. I believe I don't like James Franklin confronting a heckling fan after you lost this game. How soft is this? You confront a heckling fan, but you won't confront fair questions that were asked to you two weeks ago about a couple of players that were formerly on your football team. So you're a tough guy to some fan in the first row, but you're going to cower away from questions at a press conference two weeks ago. That is soft. It is soft James Franklin. I like the fact that he at least put the, you know, dared the fan to put his name on it. And then the fan ran away. He should have asked him a question about those two players and then James Franklin would have ran the tunnel. I was going to say the one thing that I disagree with vehemently was how he handled the whole press conference and then hiding behind his PR person and not answering the questions and being a cowering little mouse in that situation. But then being tough guy to the teenager. I like the fact that if the teenager is going to bump his gums, he needs to own it and he wasn't able to do that. And I don't mind that. But it did give me bill O'Brien vibes. Yeah, that was, yeah, if you're going to do that, okay, but don't be that soft dude that's not answering questions at press conferences, I'd be consistent. It's fraudy to me. What else you believe. I believe that Indiana might be a football school now. I'm coming around. I'm coming around because of the fact that they were trailing. They found a way to win. I just, I believe that Kurt Signetty is a really good football coach. He's been a good football coach and the other stops that he's had his career, but he's proving it by doing what he's doing in Indiana. They got a tough part of the schedule still coming up, but they have a very, very clear road to follow if they want to get to the Big Ten Championship and or try to get into this play off. And it has been rather impressive to see that that coach and that ability to kind of take that and bond that team the way he has has gotten the results that he's gotten. It's impressive. Yeah, I'm, I'm with you on that. You know, I've been all over this track. Now they've only beaten one team with a winning record and that was Nebraska. So let's keep that in mind. I do think that he's doing a great job, but let's do keep in mind that he's only beaten one winning team on the year and that was Nebraska and I think Nebraska is like five and four, six and four and they got their breaks beating off of them against UCLA this past weekend. Actually, I don't know what the final was. I just know they were getting bad at happening because UCLA is in disarray. I believe Michigan's about to hit a three to five year window of disappointment. Not quite like Florida State, but I think Michigan sold their soul for national championship and I think they're going to pay the price over the next three to five years. Like they're not nearly the same program that they were. Obviously they're outside of the top 25. If you can believe that, like Michigan and they have been for a couple of weeks now. Yeah, I don't feel like Michigan's going to keep up in the next three to five years. They'll bring a coach in there at some point. That'll turn them back around at some point, but they're going to have some dark days in Ann Arbor. There's no doubt about it. There's a horrible left them and basically left them high and dry to save his, you know, covers own rear end. And I think that as much as anybody could have had expectations that, hey, the national championship is going to carry some weight. We're going to continue to recruit. We're going to continue to do what we do. I just feel like a lot of the recruits were coming to Michigan to play for Harbaugh and they were playing for that to have that kind of edge and to be a part of that, you know, win or die with all the different things that the staff he put together and the way he went about his business and traveling the world in the off seasons to kind of make it a premier program. I think that that Luster wore off really, really quickly and I agree with you. I think by the time that they're back to any kind of prominence, it's going to be with another head coach. Yeah, for sure. I got one more unless you got some. I mean, look, I continue to be on the BYU bandwagon and BYU continues to be a load that no one wants to see later in the schedule. I think BYU is an impressive football team and each week they get better. And that's a team that everybody needs to take note of because I think people are still sleeping on them. 7283, I believe that the Big 12 is a mess except for BYU to your point. It's Big 12 lacks some heavy hitters at the top. There's no doubt about that. I think they're a deep conference. I think that they have a lot of quality teams maybe don't have like this, you know, both a five top five team, but it's a deep league. 0 979, I believe Colorado can win the Big 12 and make the playoffs. They're definitely in the mix there. They've got some help over the weekend. I think the big thing with Colorado is if they're bordering on like one of the last spots, Dionne's bravado and all that and the cache is going to factor in, I think they could get in. Yeah, well, I mean, if they win the Big 12, they wouldn't need to have a big 12, but I wonder if they don't win the Big 12 if they have enough of a resume because they would probably have to lose another game. I think there's a chance. I just think there's a chance because the, the, the committees get it really enamored with and the TV networks are going to really want. Oh, the Cinderella story is if Dionne in Colorado can get in and what they could do to no one wants to face them with the weapons they have. Oh, you're not kidding. I mean, the networks would love to have a little. No, not only prime time, like, yes, prime time. But let's not forget shooters, Sanders and Travis Hunter are both maybe top five picks in the draft. So all of a sudden you get two top five picks with, like, the cache that they have to. Yeah, they would sell. Josh from Seabrook, South Carolina is building a future contender. Houston's going to a ballgame. We'll see. We'll see. Gotta win two of the final three regular season games. You didn't think you'd be there at the start of the year. Well, I mean, Fritz's doing a good job in year one, which leads me to my final, I believe. I believe the big 12 is underrated for top 22 teams. There's no cupcakes in the big 12. You don't get a layup in the big 12 like you get in all these other conferences. There are no cupcakes in the big 12. Big time win for Willie, though. It kind of proves to everybody. Hey, look, this guy's a winner. This guy won more conference games than you had last year with probably a worse roster. I can guarantee you that this roster that he has this year isn't going to be the best roster that Willie Fritz has at U of H. Love these guys. They're, I mean, they're good. They're talented, but Willie Fritz is going to have rosters better than this year's roster and Willie Fritz is still figuring out ways to win games with roster that will not be his best. He just helped himself do exactly what you just said immensely with that win yesterday, because of the fact that he's got a calling card now of, hey, look, I'm just getting started and I was able to be the top 25 team. And we're going to be able to do that a lot more consistently if you come and play for us. And we're playing in a conference that's worth playing in. I hear you. I think he's another guy. He's won everywhere. He's been. And this is just another stop where it just, depending on how much time you didn't, you thought it was going to take to get him to where he needed to go. He was going to get there. He's already doing it. Let's get to our game ball 713 780 ESPN, our mailbag Monday rather. What is your question for the killer B 713 780376? What do you want to ask the bees is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. Guys, if you're hearing about all that college football, I've got something you don't want to miss. You've got a chance to win an experience and get the biggest college football game of the season. It's all brought to you by Stella Rosa Wines, America's favorite, semi sweet, semi sparkling wine and the best drink that you can pair with all those game day snacks. You're going to serve the next time you get people together. It's fantastic. You're going to go to it because you get variety just like there's a bunch of different foods on the spread that you're going to serve from the snacks and the chips and the dips and the pizza and the wings and all the different things that you're going to put on the table. Why not do the same thing with the drinks? Not just beer and hard liquor. Give them some Stella Rosa wine. It's served chilled. It comes in a variety of flavors. They use all natural fruit along with some really good spice and it goes perfect to compliment whenever you're serving. And now they're also giving you an opportunity to win tickets to the big game. Go to ESPN LA dream ticket dot com right now for your chance to win ESPN LA dream ticket dot com gets you a chance to get tickets to the biggest college football game of the season. Go get yourself some Stella Rosa wine too because you never know when the next party's going to happen but you want to be prepared when it does. It's found at your local retailers and liquor stores. Just remember to enjoy chilled and always celebrate responsibly. You're listening to ESPN 97 5. Coming to you live for the Veritex Community Bank Studios. It's not killer beans. On ESPN 97 5 and 92 5. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. Sure. Melbag Monday 713 780 ESPN. What is your question for the B 713 7803776? First question. Hey, when y'all are out, do y'all like when people say hey or just leave you alone saw Branham trick or treating with his family and felt weird saying hey. No, I don't mind when people say hello. Now, don't expect a lot in return. I'm awkward and shy and I'm kind of so I'm not socially awkward. No, I'm just kidding. No, I don't. Yeah, say hi. Say hi to the people. People have said hi to blankers in really weird places. Yes, they have. And sometimes they don't say hi. They stalk you and take a picture and send it to the station on your off day instead of saying hi. Remember that? You guys were doing a show one day. I was off working on something at the house and I went to Home Depot and someone like wouldn't even say hi but they were sneaking around the aisle taking pictures of me to send to you guys to say this is what blankers is doing on his off. Bro, just say hello and take a selfie or we can say something you can take a picture you can send to the guys but don't be a creeper. I do remember that. Yeah, that was funny. Look at blankers taking a day off work, spitting it at the Home Depot. Yeah, say hello. Come say hello. It's been like last week, I think it was. And it was at, I think it was at Nick's place. And then someone said that they felt really awkward doing. I was like, never, never feel awkward or afraid. Just come up and say hi. We love our listeners without you. We're not doing what we do anyway. But I'm always like, just say hi. And I can tell you how much we appreciate you listening. Yeah, same, same, same, always say hello. It was weird to trigger treating. We had like a little Halloween party. That's why it took off. And we had like, we had the entire, and Brandon babies too. So like he's, you know, cute and stuff takes after his mama. So everybody like comes trigger treating with us. So we had like a gang of like 10 people. It was pretty funny. Yeah, I remember the one, the one that was awkward was Taylor's confirmation class. And I go to pick her up. And the teacher is just like stumbling around and whatever. And then I said hello to her and she wouldn't say anything. And then the next week, Taylor was like, Hey, my teacher was really freaked out because she didn't know what to say to you. So then she just didn't say anything. I was like, just tell her, just tell her that she, you know, that I love to say hi to her and appreciate her listening. Look at that. She was starstruck. Did you know you had that effect on? No, I really didn't. Your star striking people. That's, that's impressive. Eric, Eric, the driver, if you go to a new restaurant that you're not sure you'll like, what is the one dish you look for is kind of an insurance plan. See, I'm a frisky eater. I'll try everything once. And I like to try different types of foods, blankers. So like, I usually go with what's hot on Yelp or IG or TikTok. Like, if there's something that's hot about that menu on TikTok, then that's what I'm trying. That's what I'm getting. If I don't like it and I don't like the restaurant, then I'll stop somewhere on the way on that I know is, you know, unreliable, all faithful. But yeah, I'll try anything. For me, it's more like the kind of cuisine can give me the right. I can set the barometer, like, you know, forever and a day when we were doing remotes and stuff. I would do a lot of my judging based on how they make their case ideas. If they just throw them together and it's really like processed or whatever. But if they really put some time and effort into it and they, you know, the ingredients on the inside is really well done. They're like, okay, they've got a lot. Same thing with the heaters. You can tell the heaters are easy to make. But if they don't do the seasoning right and they don't prepare everything the right way, then it's kind of like, I think from an Italian restaurant standpoint. Like I said, it varies from restaurant to restaurant. But like from an Italian standpoint, the safety one is anything pasta related because it's really hard for people to screw up pasta. If I'm going out to it, like if I'm going out somewhere that I want to try, it's probably because something caught my eye. So I'm going to get that dish. Like if I'm going out with, you know, people and I didn't pick their place, probably a steak. Yeah, it's tough to screw that up too. But like pasta is always a safe one because again, if you're looking for, like you said, you're just going with some other people and they pick the restaurant you know nothing about. If there's any kind of vibes where I'm like, well, I know that one thing that I can get away with is if I get a pasta dish, it's really hard to screw that up. Oh, Joe Blankers. What do you think of Beige, Brett Favre? Is it nickname for Jordan Love? Oh, Joe said that, not me. Well, I think that Jordan Love is living up to what I had in terms of my concerns for Jordan Love, bad subject to bring up today after that stupid pass he threw at the end of the first half. Yeah, yeah. He was, he was banged up yesterday. He didn't have any ability. He should have played, which I said last week, going into the weekend and I'll say it again because they were coming out in a buy and you knew you were playing a hot team anyway, he should not have even played. Yeah, he couldn't move 0 6 6 4. How much of a meat grinder is Big 12 basketball going to be this season? It's going to be a battle today opening day college basketball. That's awesome. I'll be leaving here in 17 minutes to go call the opener against Jackson State. Yeah, the Big 12 is loaded. Big 12 is really stinking good. You go top to bottom and you just, I mean, my buddy, I told you this when you guys made the move to the Big 12, he was looking at it and he was jumping on the Samsung bandwagon and was a season ticket holder before they switched conferences. I was like, bro, you are sitting on a gold mine right now because whether you use your tickets or you get rid of them, those are going to be some of the hottest tickets for years to come with how good the Big 12 is going to be for basketball. Yeah, it's going to be fun. Can you really blame Stroud for not handling pressure? Well, after weeks of playing behind turnstiles, my internal clock would go off quicker too? No, I can't blame him. I really can't. Now, he has been able to handle pressure in the past, like he did it well against the Colts was facing similar pressure and he has had games where he hasn't been able to handle the pressure, but no, I don't put a whole lot of blame for Stroud. No, he's inaccurate or he's regressing. No, I don't believe any of those things. I believe that he doesn't have a whole lot of trust and confidence right now because the offensive line has been atrocious. And that's the reason that's leading to the offense being inconsistent, but no, I don't put a whole lot of blame on Stroud. Yeah, that's where that's where I am too. And we've had this conversation and these questions because of the fact that I firmly believe he is the same quarterback he was last year with just a lot of higher expectations and lesser than offensive line play. But he's still the answer at quarterback for you for the long term in the big picture and he's still damn good. Stand out some game balls. Who gets your game balls from the weekend? 713-780-ESPN, HRNP listener line, 713-780-3776. It's the B's on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. That's where we go to the break a word for the good people at Banditford Air. Look, if you're dealing with air conditioning issues, you're getting ready and you want to make sure your heating system is also up to snuff. Maybe you want to put a full humidifier system in your AC units at the house. All can be done even a repiping job with Banditford Air. Banditford Air best in the business. They specialize in making sure they take care of you in a variety of ways. And they back up everything they do in guarantees and writing. That's why I tell you about them all the time because most of the service providers that you go to aren't going to do the kind of things that Banditford does. They back up everything in writing, whether it's a part replacement or a full system. They're going to put it down on paper and give it to you so that you have the proof of what they said they were going to do and to make sure that you hold them accountable to do it right. It's the same thing when you call them. When you call them a lot of companies say, "Yeah, we'll get to you when we get to you. It's going to be days because we've got a ton of people waiting for us." No, they have a guarantee that when you call them within 24 hours, they're going to be out to see you. You don't have to wait days on end. You don't have to be at the mercy of the other customers in line. You are going to be taken care of so that your problem is fixed sooner rather than later and that is a game changer. And the biggest thing of all, everything that they do is 100% satisfaction guarantee to your money back. That's from the work that their workers do to the part or the system that they replace and all the different temperatures that your system is going to have to get to to make you happy. If it doesn't and you tell them your satisfaction is guaranteed or your money back, how good is that and how many companies are willing to do that and tell you that they're going to do that upfront? That's Vanderford Air. That's why I always tell you to lock in their number in your phone and use it when you need it or call them before it gets bad to make sure your system's up to snuff. 2-8-1-5-5-7-Cool. 2-8-1-2-2-8-1-5-6-7-2-6-6-5-2-8-1-5-5-7-Cool. You put that number in your phone, the minute you start thinking there might be an issue with your air conditioning, call them, they'll be out to see you, they'll take care of it, they'll back it up, put it in writing and guarantee it and that's what you expect from a service company. You can go to Vanderford Air.com to see all the services that they provide but lock that number in your phone because you never know when you're going to need it but when you do you need a company that's going to back it up and that's what they do. [Music] You found the Killer Beans live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. What are your game balls? 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. Who deserves one from this weekend's game? We're first going to give you away some tickets. Mattress Firm Battleground 2K24 College Basketball Double Header coming to Toyota Center Saturday November 9th. Catch high level college hoops featuring Rice vs. Florida State at 6pm and a top 10 matchup featuring Houston and Auburn at 830. Purchase your tickets now at ToyotaCenter.com. Call number 3 to 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. You win a pair of tickets to the Mattress Firm Battleground 24 College Basketball Double Header. And if you can't win, get your tickets to ToyotaCenter.com. Also join us next week, a week from today. This is one of my favorite events that we do all year. Join us from 6-9 for the tailgate presented by Verizon. Tailgate is a celebration of Houston sports and the fans that cheer them on. You'll save her sports-inspired bites from top Houston restaurants including Big City Wings, Loro, Pizarro's Picha, Uchi and many more. Plus, sip on premium cocktails, bid on memorabilia and enjoy plenty of game day fun. Upgrade to VIP to meet and greet with Texans legends including Brian Cushing and Travis Johnson. Courtesy of Verizon, tickets include all food and drinks. Get yours now at tailgate.culturemap.com. Use promo code ESPN for $10 off any ticket type. And again, it's so much fun. A little taste of the town. If the tailgate, it's fantastic. All right, who's getting your first game ball blinker? 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. Who gets yours? I'm a good one to Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow, 251 yards. Yeah, that's pretty good. 5 touchdowns? That's really good. Joe Burrow trying to keep the Bengals very, very slim playoff hopes alive. He was slinging it all over the yard. They're getting a little bit bigger by the day. Pause the playoff odds. They're getting a little bit bigger by the day because they're starting to win some football games. Like they do this each and every four and five. Yeah, look, I think that they're in the mix, right? And I think that's all you can ask for with as bad as they started. And we know how bad their defense has been. But if that offense gets clicking, I still question their running game. But man, when you give him a chance to throw the football and he's got those two guys on the outside, they always have a puncher's chance. Higgins won't even play in yesterday. They're a game back of Denver. I mean, I think Cincinnati is going to be a playoff team. I had a tough time knowing who to give that game ball to in that game because you're right, Burrow, 5 touchdowns hard not to give him a game ball. But Gasecki, 5 for 102 touchdowns. Chase Brown, you mentioned the running game, which has had trouble, although Chase Brown is kind of emerging as the lead guy over Zagmos. And maybe he's the reason that that running game will get going. He ran for 120 yards. He had 37 yards receiving a touchdown. And then Trey Hendrickson defensively had four sacks. Like all of those guys could have got a game ball, but he threw over five touchdowns. I saw people saying Hendrickson is going to be a trade target. If they're still in it, they ain't trading him. No, he's not going to get traded. Maybe if they were two and seven right now, four and five back in the mix. Yeah, I don't see. If they're the Raiders Max Crosby type situation, you consider it. You're not doing it now. No, I'm with you on that. I also had trouble giving out a Ravens game ball. So I go Lamar Jackson to 83 touchdowns. So I go Derek Henry, 23 carries, 106 yards, two touchdowns. Or do I go to Zay Flowers who had five catches, 127 yards and two scores? I don't know. I don't know who to give that game ball to. We'll cut it up into thirds and we'll give a third to each one. All three were on my list as well with those stats. Yeah, that was impressive. They absolutely blew the doors off the Broncos. And they are showing that as hot as the Lions are, the two hottest teams in football might not be the one that's undefeated. It might be the Lions and Baltimore. Yeah, they're good. I got Saquon. Saquon, 159 yards and a touchdown for an Eagles offense that looks to be getting right every single week. They seem to be getting better. And oh, by the way, he had the most unbelievable backwards hurdle of a player after a spin move to get a first down to show you just how athletic he is. And if you don't believe that, go look at the touchdown catch he made in the corner of the end zone that a lot of receivers struggle with, but not very many running backs can make. Yeah, that was that little, I don't even know what we would call that. To me, it looked like a professional wrestling move. We're like, you let the other wrestler run under you. You know what I mean? Like they leap up in the air. You know what I thought it was? It was like weird. It was like what Simone Biles is doing the floor exercise. And she suddenly turns backwards and pops off the mat and just does the splits in the air. And the deback goes right underneath them. And then I also thought, if you're a defensive player, why don't you just pick up your head and jump? I guess it just happened too quick. Man. Or you don't see it maybe because you're looking down, you know? I don't know. You're right. It's weird. But yeah, that was unreal. Like I've never seen anything like that in a football game. You've seen your leap, but nothing like that. And you're also like putting yourself in harm's way because he really could have gotten blasted. Well, he came off after that play. Like he came off and was a little bit, you had a knock. Like he came back. Yeah, he had three guys lining them up and one guy did getting pretty good. Yeah, he came off for a few plays and he was like laboring. He was on a knee on the sideline. I wonder if he got hit with a Sundone shine. Kurt Cousins, 222 yards and three touchdowns. He's the most overpaid quarterback of all time, but I think he's an underrated quarterback too. He just kind of gets it done. As much as they were planning for their future and he didn't like the move that they made and let lit a fire under his rear end or not, kind of a slow start. They were trying to see if he could actually get back to where he could take the snaps the way he did in Minnesota. He could take the snaps all right because yeah, he is part of the reason why the Dallas Cowboys are searching for answers and going down fast. Well, she got. I got the fact that Josh Allen, your boy because I know you won't put him in there. Josh Allen in the regular season, just not the playoffs. 235 yards, three touchdowns. Game was closer than it had to be with Miami. They get the win with a field goal at the buzzer, but he played his tail off. He's playing his tail off all year because he's not the kind of Josh Allen that pisses you off because he's not turning the ball over as much. What do you do against the Texans? What do you do against the Texans? He still he still may be the leading candidate for MVP. Look, what is my contention with with Allen? It turned over, but I'm saying he's not turning it over. There's nothing in the regular season. I say that Josh Allen's never going to win a Super Bowl because he can't beat three or four playoff caliber teams in a row. I think he's I think he's a great regular season quarterback. I think he's the only MVP this year. I don't trust him in the playoffs. Noah Brown, five catches, 60 yards. Well, she was a Texan right now led the commanders and catches and receiving yard yesterday. He was on my list too because it's like it's one thing to say. Oh, he caught the Hail Mary. But with the receiver problems the Texans have and the fact that you didn't have to get rid of him, you did. And now he's actually contributing somewhere else. He's been pretty good for them. He's been their second best receiver behind scary Terry. Could be completely honest. That's that's tough to swallow if you're nicessary on the Texans. If in fact you had him and you had him signed to a deal that you were paying him when he left. That's not a good look. You were signed him literally this offseason. Justin. I had Justin Herbert 282 and two continuing to do things with a lesser than roster that I didn't think he had nearly as many weapons. So I think the fact that the Chargers are still saying relevant and that he's putting up numbers, he gets a game ball. I'm going to give one to Quentin Johnson from that game. Four catches under 18 yards in a score. People wrote him off for dead. Always a bust. He's got no hands. He can't catch. He's having a quietly good season in his second year. Maybe don't quit on rookies too much. All right. One more. Let me see. We covered the Ravensboro, Saquon did in Sam Donald. Good call. Sam Donald, 290 yards, three touchdowns, got off to a little bit of a slow start, threw a pick, came back, bounced back. Second half was big for him and the Vikings, got Justin Jefferson involved. That always helps. But 290 yards and three touches. Jefferson, good in that game. Seven for 137. I could go a Mon Ross, St. Brown for my final one, 756-1. But then wore that shirt that said Green Bay sucked. It's not a shirt, it's a sweatshirt. It sucked. Okay. Shirts, sweatshirt. It said Green Bay sucks. It did. I can't rip kitchens. I'm going to go defense though. I can't rip kitchens. Two interceptions of pick six and then a Monte Hooker had a two interception game for the Titans against New England. So you've got a little defensive game balls there. Triple zero two, game ball to Saquon doing an actual Madden game move. That's not even in Madden. I don't think you can do that in Madden. I really don't. Like I would know, but I just know it was crazy to put your whole livelihood in the air like that without looking. I don't even think you'd cliches that way. Dag Prescott gets his game ball. Okay. I don't know why. Green Bay forgetting out of the game before he gets the blame. I don't know what that means. Oh, okay. He's getting out of the game before he gets the blame. He made a business decision. I keep from LA. The Rams defense gets a game ball and then Matthew Stafford for his game winner. And then 4447 all that time talking Texans for three days. We were on the air today and you probably mentioned the Astros and the offer to braggy. It's a qualifying offer like it's it's semantics. It's nothing. All the qualifying offer means is that Alex Breggman is going to say thanks, but no thanks. And then the Astros will get compensation if Alex Breggman signs nowhere that the qualifying offer means nothing. It's like people having lead stories with settling arbitration cases. It means nothing. It means nothing. Yeah. I mean, and then I think at the end of the text, it said flagship going to flagship. What are we the flagship of? A&M. Gig them. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. We will be getting off here earlier today. We are not the flagship for the Texans. So just slow down. 097 and I Bryce Young gets his game ball. That was a big win for them. That was a good job by Carolina. Did he get? I don't know if you saw the player or not, but he made one hell of a pass on the sideline that the receipt was right in the receiver's bread basket and going down to the ground, the defensive back took it away from him. And they I think they gave him a pick for it and he did deserve it. Yeah. Well, I mean, are you calling that a fumble though? I think I think it was unfair that a guy makes the perfect pass and he gets dinged with an interception. I think it's one that you just have to look into it more than just reading the box score, though, because like I don't think you can give it a fumble. I think that it's right to give it an interception, but it just was not his fault. Right. It's why you can't blame quarterbacks for every single one of their interceptions. Like the every raw cost while it was right. Every interception tells a different story. All right. I'm going to get out of here. We're going to call some U of H basketball. AJ and Blankers will take you the rest of the way. Are the Texans more pretenders than contenders as we sit here today? And whatever the boys want to talk about next, it is the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. ESPN, 97.5