The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/14 Hour 3 - What is the Ceiling of DeMeco Ryans as a Head Coach?
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I don't really see a whole lot, but there's two layers, first one being, is it fair to talk about the ceilings of Demico Ryan or the ceiling of Demico Ryan's as a head coach? It's always fair to pose the question. I don't think that Paul was saying fired Demico Ryan's in- Not even close. Yeah, it's more, but I think a lot of people took it that way. And I think that the realistic thing is, is that especially doing what we do, what Paul does is the fact that we're out there to stimulate conversation and it's a conversation that you can have at any time. You can have it when he's on top of the world and he's coaching really well, like a season to go. You can have it this year when they've had their, their ups and downs and more downs than ups, except for the win loss record to where it's a fair conversation to have. Quite frankly, I think it's ridiculous to even propose that you should not be talking about the head coach's ceiling. We talk about the ceiling of literally every sports big, sports figure that exists from the moment that they like pop onto the scene. We do it with players whenever they're going to be drafted, right? Like, well, what's this guy's ceiling? What is his floor? It's literally happening to players before they're even play one professional snap, minute at bat, inning pitched. We do it with coaches too. Like do we not remember the whole Josh McCown thing? Yeah. What are the Texans doing their idiots given even the time of day for somebody who's never even coached in the NFL by saying that he doesn't deserve a job is saying that his ceiling is a head coach is not very good. How about when you want to fire a coach after their first year? How about when everybody wanted David Cully fired after a season because he looked a little bit lost on the sideline? You're calling for the guy's job after a year, but you can't talk about the ceiling of another guy after over a year and a half. See, I was going to bring up both Lovey and Cully and from the Cully perspective, the one thing that you remember, want to refresh everybody's memory on is even when Cully was hired, he's a bridge coach. He's only going to be here for a year or two or two years. He's here to get through the embrace the suck period until they start to win. And when they start to win, they'll get another coach in here. So even when he was just hired, the conversation was his life expectancy as the Texans coach is probably two or three years at best. Yeah, I think that the the ceiling conversation exists for every sports figure the moment, the moment that their name pops on to the scene. And I also think it's kind of ridiculous where, oh, these shouldn't talk about the ceiling of it's too early to talk about the ceiling of a head coach a year in 10 games into their career. Again, whenever you want guys fired after year, and then secondly, when you're talking about stripping play calling away from offensive coordinators, it's the same sample size. Like, if you're saying that Bobby Slowick should be a fired, be have his play calling duties removed, then you could also talk about the ceiling of the head coach who has that exact same sample. Now, to be very clear, I love to make a Ryan's. I think to me go Ryan's the model citizen. In fact, I look up to the Mico Ryan's to Mico Ryan's lives his life in a way that I try to live my life. So I look up to Dimeko. I think Dimeko's a great head coach. I think what you've seen from Dimeko taking over a team in an organization and in one of 11 games in three years of making up a playoff team in year one speaks to the type of leadership that Dimeko Ryan's has. It speaks to the culture that he's instilled into that locker room. I think Dimeko Ryan's has done a tremendous job. I think Dimeko Ryan's is one of the better coaches in the entire NFL to be very, very clear. But I think it's very, very fair to talk about the ceiling of a head coach. And then Dimeko was actually asked this by Sarge today about criticism as a head coach in getting that in the NFL and Dimeko Ryan's on paraphrase flat out said that comes with the territory. As a head coach, you know that's going to come and you just block out the noise. So yes, even the head coach is telling you, yeah, that's something that happens whenever you're an NFL head coach. All of this is on the table in any market where there's an NFL or any professional sports team, but it's specifically going to be on the table here because of what you've endured and what everybody has dealt with and lived through when it comes to coaches in this city. Dusty was questioned, but more so as it relates to the Texans, the last two coaches that I mentioned that we were talking about when it comes to Cully and it comes to Lovey Smith. Whether you like it or not, within a year's time, their tenure was over. And when their tenure was over, there was a whole lot of discussion going on about them from the time they were hired to the time they were fired about how long would they be here and what kind of job were they doing? That's what happens when you're in professional sports, college sports, and you're in sports period, you're going to be scrutinized and analyzed on a daily basis. And part of that is going to be whether it's your job that's going to be analyzed or it's going to be how much progress can you make and what are you going to do before your time is done here and you're through with this specific team. It's what everybody does to your point and when you look at it from a Demico perspective, no one is calling for his job. I personally am like you. I believe in Demico, Ryan's. I believe as bad as they were and how they got it completely wrong with the first two guys that Nick Casario hired, you got your guy for the long term now. That's not just a coaching guy. He's a franchise guy. He's involved in talent evaluation. He's involved in every aspect of this organization that from a football perspective to where you want that guy being your commander in chief going forward for the foreseeable future. But it's ridiculous if people, I saw Kim Davis, you know, because she was dealing with a lot saying it's ridiculous today that you guys should be talking about Demico Ryan's being fired. Those are two separate conversations. You shouldn't be talking about Demico Ryan's being fired, but even that conversation is on the table because of what this franchise has done over the last three, four years. From the standpoint of what's Demico Ryan's a ceiling in Paul's question, it's completely on the table fair and a discussion that every team in every market in this country has depending on how their team's performing. Yeah. I haven't really seen anybody credible. I haven't seen anybody credible that is suggested that Demico Ryan should be on the hot seat or his coach. I saw it. I saw it too. I was tweeting that. Yeah. Yeah. I too have not seen that. Like I've not seen a single credible person that has said that it like are there a few people on Texans Twitter when they're blowing a 16 point lead that are randos that that's fire off a tweet that said Demico Ryan should lose his job. That exists. That exists. That's not credible. That exists in sports that is not credible eight eight zero seven. It's sports talk radio. So you can question anything you want, but I'm not putting a ceiling on a first time head coach less than two seasons into a massive rebuild turnaround that's poised for back to back playoff appearances. I think it's a solid take there eight eight zero seven three four two six is ceiling is the roof. Great point. That's why people were upset Paul simply asked how high the ceiling was not best, not bashing anyone didn't hear anything derogatory. They said LeBron needed to be one of the goats or else he would be a bus when he was still in high school exclamation point. You start talking about sealing the moment you arrive on the sports scene. So yes, it is completely fair and it sounds like we're on the same page that you can talk about the ceiling of a head coach. So the second question now becomes the second layer of this. Well, let's talk about the ceiling now that we've laid down the fact that it's perfectly acceptable to talk about the ceiling of a head coach in the NFL and DeMico Ryan's today addressing the media knows that it goes with the territory. He mentioned, Paul mentioned like McVag and the Reed and the Tomlins, the Harbaugh brothers as coaches that have like the, you know, the chops to be a Super Bowl winning head coach. What do you think the ceiling is for DeMico? I think DeMico Ryan's is a Super Bowl head coach. I think that whether you look at a Kyle Shanahan, who a lot of people annoying as this great head coach, he's never won a Super Bowl. He's gotten the one, you know, so he's gotten one as a coordinator as well. But when you look at it, McVag has won the Super Bowl. I think that Matt LaFluor is the guy under that same kind of coaching tree that hasn't got to a Super Bowl yet. But I fully believe he could do the same thing because of his coaching chops. As you mentioned, I think DeMico's the, the exact guy that you want for this job that's going to take a team to the Super Bowl because of the fact that he's got so many things in place. He's got the quarterback. He's got an organization that believes in him that's going to empower him. He's got a defensive mind that coaches a defense that is above average, that excels, that does a lot of great things that people lose sight of as well. And he's a leader of men because when you go back and look at last year all the way through the playoffs and specifically in those late games like Indianapolis, when you looked at how much his team bought in and his team was completely behind every word that came out of his mouth before, during and after games, you realize this is a guy that has leadership in the locker room. This is a guy that has the belief of his players. That's what we haven't seen in the past when the last recent years with the Texans that you want with a guy like that offensive coordinators can come and go. The offense can change the coach's names on the door can change, but the leader that's at the top that's going to be responsible for those jobs and doing the things that a head coach does, I believe that's why DeMico Ryan's is a Super Bowl coach. Yeah, I can absolutely envision a scenario which DeMico Ryan's hoist, the Lombardi trophy. I can see him winning. I think his ceiling is a Super Bowl winning head coach. You know, Paul mentions the offensive minded geniuses like McVeigh and Andy Reed and DeMico is on the other side of the ball, but DeMico's calling plays for the defense that's he did. He was the number one defense in San Francisco, the final year that he was there, but the Texans are currently number three in total defense. They're top three in defensive DVOA and I don't think DeMico is like this wonderful, great, brilliant schema. I think he's really good at it, but I think he's really good at getting his guys to play the style that he wants, and that's why the Houston Texans have a top three defense in the NFL. So if you're going to say McVeigh and Andy Reed because they're offensive genius and they've done it. They've been there. They've won. You can say the same thing about DeMico for his defense, but then like you throw out the Harbaugh's and the Tomlins and like Tomlin doesn't call plays. The Harbaugh and Baltimore doesn't call plays and I believe the other Harbaugh in LA calls plays either. They're there for like their leadership. I think that DeMico Ryan's has every bit of leadership that they have. He's might not has done it longer, but I have faith in the DeMico Ryan's leadership. So I actually think that DeMico Ryan's does have a ceiling of being a Super Bowl winning head coach and I love the fact that he's in Houston seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. Let's go out to the HR and P listener line. Lamont. You're in the high for the bees. What's up Lamont? Hey, man. I mean, as you guys talk about DeMico Ryan and what Paul asked, Paul didn't do anything wrong. And it just really, it just really upsets me about this, this market with the media in the fans. They did the same thing with Kubiak. They did the same thing with or Brian. If it's a coach that the fans in the media zone, you can't say anything about him. Oh, I, I, I, I, I, I listen, I'm a P one listener. I don't think one of the, I listen all day, man, multiple shows at different times. And it seems like everybody is, you know, walking on egg sales, not to say anything about DeMico or, or any, or I like DeMico, but all this, you got to preface everything that you say about, you know, praising DeMico now, man, you can ask questions about DeMico. I don't see, I don't see it being a problem asking questions about, about DeMico. Well, they don't agree with it, but you see, I don't know, but asking questions about him, but everybody, all of the fans, all of the fans, and all of the media is always trying to make questions, almost like you, Jeremy, he's a, he's the person I want to say. Well, that is true. I would never say that about David Tully. Like, I would never say that about Stephen Silas. Like, I wouldn't say that about he made a doka. I don't know what you think about DeMico's lifestyle, or all of a sudden, I do, I do know stuff about DeMico's lifestyle, I know stuff about he made Oka's lifestyle. DeMico is a model who I would want to follow, whereas he may is not. So like, that has nothing to do with it, LeMont. What? I don't think that Paul did anything wrong by just posing a question or anything like that. At the end of the day, it's almost looking like DeMico. It's kind of trending like this, uh, his mentor up there in the chair that, uh, is up there with the pack of her. I think they've been banked a lot from kind of, you know, uh, follow a great defense with all things look like crap. And that's all I have, man. Appreciate the call, LeMont. Look, I think that you need a little, no further than social media to, to hear that people are looking to hear what they think they hear so that can be the narrative that they can attack when they feel like, especially when their team is less than or there's, they're underperforming. We, we will criticize DeMico when he is worthy of criticism, but we're not saying, and Paul isn't saying and asking the question, should DeMico Ryan's be fired? Paul asked a legitimate question about what's the ceiling of DeMico Ryan's to do exactly this, to generate dialogue on both sides of the equation. And it's simply just that. Yeah, we bring up scenarios where DeMico Ryan's is, um, questioned all the time. Yeah. We were bringing up game management last year. I blasted them for leaving the starters in the game when they were down by 27 against Minnesota. Uh, so the game earlier this year when they didn't, when the referee started the clock again and they didn't even get the field goal off. And then they questioned them coming off the sidelines. We were questioned at the next day going, you know, how does that happen? What's the line of communication? What's going on with that? That can't happen. You learned from that. Yes. But that's something that there's all kinds of times we questioned DeMico when it's worth worthy. 6502, I feel like it's a sophomore slump for the Texans coaching staff more than anything else. DeMico has the defense unlocked, but he has to find the right mixture for the offense. Look, there's, there's just a lot of variables with the offense. The offensive line's been dreadful. Uh, your top two skill position players have only played one game with each other. Uh, Stroud hasn't looked as good as he did his rookie year. Is that because of the offensive line hasn't playing on his heels? I personally think so. Yes. Has slow, I've been as good as a play caller this year versus last year. How much of all those other variables are factored into slow, like looking lesser as a play caller than he was a year ago. So there's a lot of things with the offense that lead to what has been kind of a less than expected offense. They're also 17th, like they're 17th in total offense. Like that's not 28th, you know, like, yes, it's lesser than expectation. Yes, it's not what you expected. All of those things, but to act like it's one of the worst offenses in the league is not true. Well, when you factor in what we talked about earlier in the show, when you, you have your best running back and your best wide receiver, they've only been on the field for one game this entire season together. That should tell you that in a nutshell already that you were behind the eight ball in terms of what your offense could achieve. When those guys who you were lying on heavily, and then you factor in digs and the fact that you lost them for the season earlier in the season, you look at all those factors alone and say this offense is probably not going to perform to the expectations that people had at the start of the season. That's not to say that it can't get better, that it can't do a lot of good things, that it can improve in where it's ranked even right now. But you have to factor everything in before you just start pointing fingers and at, you know, wanting guys butts on the line. 713 780 ESPN 0 9 7 9. If Tamiko was a white boy, he'd be celebrated and that question would have never occurred. The white boy that is calling place for the Houston Texans offense is the dude that everybody wants fired. He's getting crushed. That's not accurate 0 9 7 9. Joe Espada was getting dragged this year for winning the American League West, but doing it in a way that Dusty Baker did not. So like, you're not being accurate as you try to create this narrative that does not exist 713 780 ESPN. Let's go out to the HR and P listener line. Dave from Pearland. You're in the hive. What's up, Dave? Hey, what's up, man? Listen to you guys and I'm trying to determine who who decides what a coach is building here because I understand if you're looking at an athlete, you're going to win one 50. You can't play fair. You're only four feet tall. You can't do it. So we get that. Let me let me let me jump in real quick. Let me jump in real quick, Dave. Let me jump in real quick. After watching a year of David Kully, how many games you think David Kully can win in a single season? Well, we knew that he had been in culture for 100 years and we knew what was going on. Everyone knew what was going on. When they put him there, he's never done anything for 25 years. I completely agree. And for that answer, you've now created what you think is the ceiling of David Kully is a head coach. I know what we're talking about. It'll read a higher, not a shady higher. I feel you. Yeah, I feel you. It's personal opinion. It's personal opinion. It's what you think of the guy. It's how good you think the guy can be. And look, we said that we think that Demico Ryan's can win a Super Bowl. Our opinion of Demico Ryan's is pretty high. Now, I wouldn't say that about David Kully. Like I wouldn't say like to switch it over to the NBA. You have Eme Adoka, who's been to the finals with the Boston Celtics, or did he make it? Yeah, he made it last last year. If you have Eme Adoka, what do you think is the ceiling of an Eme Adoka coach team? You think you're capable of winning it all? If he has the roster that's capable of also winning it all? If you gave Stephen Silas that same roster, is he capable of winning it all? No. So your opinion of a guy's coaching chops is how you define your ceiling. And to the answer to your question, David, the other thing is, is when you look at a coach, you can determine pretty early on in the way he handles every situation, what that ceiling could possibly be. Because you look at, well, all these guys that have gotten jobs recently, and I'll look at Nathaniel Hackett as one, that it was an offensive coordinator that everybody thought should be a head coach. He goes to Denver. He doesn't even realize when to call time outs, when to do a lot of things with the challenge flight, they need to bring in a coach that needs to come in to try and help him get through that. And basically, the writing started to be on the wall. Even then that you're like, well, this guy's probably not going to have a long term head coaching job in this league. If these are the kind of mistakes he's making, and this is how over the head he over his head, he is, you can get a feel early on for what looks like the trend is going to be for a guy. Can he buck the trend? Sure. More times than not though, he is who we thought he would be after a certain point. What else you got, Dave? All right. Appreciate the call, Dave 713780 ESP and HRMP listener line 9806. The ceiling question has to be asked if the bills could go back to the 90s, would they fire fire, Marv Levy and with the Browns have kept Bella check. Those are super, super, two separate questions because of the fact that Bella check didn't have a lot to work with, but he did not, it did not look like no matter what, you know, that you think Bell check staying in Cleveland would have turned into the bell check that was with the Patriots. Personnel matters too. And I don't know that that was a success story waiting to happen for Bella check if he stays in Cleveland. Yeah, like there's a lot of things that have to happen right for you to win it all. Like it's very, very difficult as all of you know, to win a championship, you have to be really, really good. Your roster has to be really, really good. You better be very well coached. You better have the luck with the injury bug. You better stay healthy. Like so many things have to go right. But for anybody who watches a good amount of ball and all the hype does, everybody that's listening to us does, all of you know what a good coach is, what a good coach isn't, but you can, it's different in different sports too. Like I think that Brian, if you hand Brian, you know, the 1927 Yankees, I think Brian can win the World Series there. Like it's different in baseball. There's not a whole lot of X's and O's as there is in football, as there is in basketball. But you watch a guy enough to get an idea of their feel as a coach, whether it's calling plays, whether it's game management, whether it's handling the team from the entire season. You know, yeah, that guy's capable of being a championship winning coach. This guy over here, you're not winning a championship with that guy. That's the kind of guy that you're firing after a year. This guy over here on the left, that guy gives us a chance. We all know what a guy ceiling is. Let's not act brand new. No, we saw what the Nico could do right on, right away and early on with the way that he took control of the locker room, with the way that he had buy in from his players, with the way that you could see there was a synergy already developing with he and Nick Casario and the fact that from ownership down, everybody was believing in Demico from the Marv Levy part of that equation too. Did he kick the field goal that Scott Norwood kicked that missed? Or, you know, because at a certain point, your players still have to perform. You could be well coached, well prepared and have everything right there for you. And at the end of the day, the players, if they don't perform, you don't have the results. Yeah, Marv Levy never won one. He could have won one. Marv Levy was capable of winning a championship. Demico Ryan's might not ever win a Super Bowl. He is capable of winning a Super Bowl. Sean McVey capable. Kyle Shanahan is not one of Super Bowl. He's capable of winning a Super Bowl. There's way more coaches that are capable of winning a Super Bowl that have never won a Super Bowl. It's just the way that it is. But how many coaches have you seen that have been fired in a single season where you watch them after just one year? All it takes you is like, it didn't take David Kully one year. You saw six games for David Kully. You hand David Kully the best roster in the world. That team ain't winning a Super Bowl because you can tell the chops that a coach possesses. Dave Campbell, Dave Campo, not Dan Campbell, Dave Campo, uh, Loveys, Loveys Smith, the second tenure. All I went to was Super Bowl. Like, I think he was capable of winning a Super Bowl. David Kelly, not capable of winning a Super Bowl. Who are some of the other jokes that are head coaches matter. He's gone through 14 coaches in less than two years. And everybody thought because he was a defensive coordinator, he was going to be the ideal head coach. And he's been way less than anybody could have expected. And right away, you said with that coupled with bad game management and a lot of different bad hires, you go, he's probably not a good head coach in the NFL. It's just not his thing where Nathaniel Hackett is another one. Uh, Adam Gays, offensive supposed to be an offensive guru. Adam Gays in two different spots has failed miserably as a head coach. 90, zero six, Belichick won Super Bowl as Marv Levy didn't. Belichick didn't win Super Bowls whenever he was with the Browns though, whenever the Browns fired him. He was yet to win Super Bowls, uh, three, three, three, eight, the best coach in the world and getting the Cowboys this year to the Super Bowl facts like that. Again, that goes into where it takes so much to go right in order for you to win it all. You better have a good coach. You better have a good staff. You better have the roster that is capable of beating really good teams. You better get a little lucky with the injuries. Heck, you better get a little bit lucky in the games. Like, we look at Kansas City is this dominant back-to-back championship team that is currently undefeated. What happens if Zayflowers doesn't fumble in the red zone last year? We're not talking about back-to-back champion. You takes good fortune as well. Like, there's so many things that have to go right and you need to be good in all the areas. You need to be well, coach. You need to have a good roster. Uh, you need to get lucky. You need to stay healthy. You have to be able to check all those boxes. Uh, zero nine seven nine. It's only a second year and he is winning. How long to take any read? See, you're, you're barking up the wrong tree. Blankers and I both think that Demico Ryan's is more than capable of eventually winning a Super Bowl. Uh, he's a great leader and I think he's a great defensive mind. He can win a Super Bowl. The same way that we're sitting here now having this conversation and the reason why we're having it is because Demico did what no one thought could be done this soon with the Houston Texans a year ago because when he took over, we were having expectations of five, six wins, an improvement, you know, trying to make progress as a franchise. Instead, they won the division. They want a playoff game and suddenly everything was elevated in terms of what their, what their goal was, what their ceiling was, what they were going to do this season now because they, we knew the schedule going in. We knew it was going to be tougher, but because they also bolstered the roster. Now he's going to be in the crosshairs because they haven't had those same kind of meeting expectations type to this point in the season as they did a year ago. It doesn't mean it can't change. It doesn't mean that we lost faith in Demico Ryan's. We're trying to have the conversation because people were attacking Paul for asking a legit question. So funny you got attacked for asking what the ceiling is for Demico Ryan's. Look, I think, I think there's a better than 1% chance the Texans can win the Super Bowl this year. It's not a very high chance, but I think there's a better than one, what's for ceiling Jeremy of the better than 1% I think that they can win the Super Bowl this year. Right. What's the, what's the ceiling on that? You said the better than one? The ceiling is a Super Bowl. Okay. No, you said, I think there's a better than 1% chance they could win the Super Bowl. Yeah. But what's the highest percentage you would give them to win the Super Bowl? Like two, two percent. There you go. But I mean, they have an elite defensive line. They have a top three defense in the NFL. They have a quarterback with tons of potential and they haven't had their skill guys healthy all year at the same time with the exception of one game and you're not getting digs back like that's frustrating and your offensive line does stink. But like, there are some things like the, the AFC, like you're not the best team in the AFC, but is the AFC this dominant, like this dominant conference that has unbeatable teams? No, like yes, I know the chiefs are unbeatable. They're so beatable that they're unbeatable and I know that they have a perfect record, but they, they look like they can get got the Ravens defense is not very good. No, their past defense sucks and it's thinned out the AFC for all the teams we thought we're going to be contenders at the start of the year. It has been watered down and thinned out by a lot of less thans, which opened the door and we know injuries happen because you just mentioned digs. Those teams have been relatively healthy. Everybody's got to stay healthy or things change in a heartbeat. Two one eight zero try to say the ceiling is the room random. He said the ceiling is, he tried to say the ceiling is the roof and he said the ceiling is the room two one eight zero, you made the list the house that Bruce built eight eight zero seven. Who cares. Coos just got the the number one point guard. I can know I cannot, I cannot confirm they deny that eight eight zero seven, but yes, it is a good day. I got to dip out here a little bit early. If you had to do it all again, as of today, would you change your season long prediction for the Texans to the Lions game alter that prediction at all seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six. It's the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five guys where we go to the break. Look, we got a Thursday night football game and it's a good one tonight. 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Now back to the killer bees on ESPN 97 five and 92 five. Live from the Veritex community bank studios, here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. Jeremy's out for the rest of the show back tomorrow. Brian McDonald and I are going to take you up until 6 p.m. where Jeremy is chasing down his ever loving cougs. Beamack and I are going to be chasing down listenership between now and six o'clock and then soccer matters with Glenn Davis, the one, the only, the elite soccer, Glenn Davis at 6 p.m. Beamack, I'm curious because I caught something that I mentioned to you from DJB NMA with Paul the other day as it relates to what we were talking about with Demico and the ceiling and then the criticism and rightly so of Bobby Slowick and how quickly it can change because it's crazy how a year ago Bobby Slowick was the hot name amongst NFL potential coaching candidates that he was going to be one of the two guys that are going to be highly sought after across the league because of his prowess as a play caller. Now people are calling for his ass and it's changed so overnight and DJ made a comment with Paul about the fact that within the locker room that there was some commentary about were they getting out coached and Paul said did you mean Demico and no it wasn't because Paul was headhunting Demico it's a legit question are you talking about the head coach or are you talking he said no from an offensive perspective that's clearly on Bobby Slowick and it's interesting to me because how quickly everything can change you went from a guy that was one of the top two candidates along with Ben Johnson probably as an offensive mind for a head coaching job in this league to a guy that no less than a year later you want his ass on the firing block and on the hot seat and you want to change made at the end of the year how do you do that first ask on the firing block is a new one for me the phrasing there yeah it's it's amazing like I mean what is it what people always joke about what's the old line about what the NFL stands for not for long yeah it's certainly it's never been or perhaps never been sure that it has been for the the future coaching hopes of Bobby Slowick released the the the everyone was pumping them up to be like this can't miss next head coaching candidate from what he did in year one turning a horrible Texans offense and then obviously pushing CJ Stroud or helping push CJ Stroud towards Rick of the year but I think it's fair look I mean I it'd be interesting I don't think DJ will give us like who the names were yeah I don't like the name I mean at least he's not gonna give it on the air maybe he'll tell us off the air but I he's I wouldn't expect him to but I think it's fair not only for fans and media on the outside but for guys at the inside to be looking at slow like can we do be doing any better I mean what would we hear yesterday about the offensive line calls as far as Ricky or let or or was Ricky or Larry or Lewis I mean it how easily it was for Zadari Smith and the sideline for the Lions to pick up like well if they say a name with an L if they say Larry Larry they're sliding left so then bring an extra guy to the right and then vice versa for the left and the right so you're seeing that you're seeing the offensive line struggles persist week after week after week all the way up to week 10 and even then and week 10 it was still a little bit of an issue we've obviously seen problems with the consistency of the Texans passing game at times maybe when you don't have a guy like Nico Collins still relying too much on the deep passing game when you don't really have the wider stevers to do that and being slow to adjust to more of a quick passing game so I think it's fair to be critical of Bobby Sloake and I don't think it's unfair that his stars fall a little bit here's the thing to Brian what when you think about it when everybody's saying you know when and if and can you you know be scrutinizing and strike when the irons hot look the players are doing it that's when you realize everyone's doing it and it's fair game if the players are questioning they hear what we hear they see what we see they know what the numbers state about how putrid they bet in the second half of every game but the Patriots game they know that as well as we do as well as everybody on social media does that they they haven't scored a touchdown in four second halves that they they didn't score a point in the second half of the Lions game and that it's easy to point a finger there and then make the correlation to the coaching staff and say why aren't we making adjustments why aren't we doing more so if we're doing it and social media is doing it and now we hear that the players might be doing it it's fair game well it's fair because look I mean when you see the same things persist week after week after week I mean you talked about the the second half struggles they've only outscored one team this year in the second half they played 10 games only team that they've outscored in the second half was the Patriots I mean a bottom five team I mean week after week after week we got told well we understand what's going on with the communication issues not picking up the stunts in the twist we've got this week we could figure this out and it would come back week after week after week it was the same issue every single game so I think it's natural and fair to lose confidence when you're seeing the same things week after week and the guy in charge of fixing those issues doesn't seem to have a grasp or a handle on how to get that done and I if you're going I mean obviously we're seeing it from the outside and maybe that I mean we heard about what I think three players meetings in the last few weeks Paul got on Pat McAfee for it right exactly so I mean I mean we obviously they're talking about a lot of those a lot of things in those meetings not just the offense but I think it's fair to speculate based upon what DJ B enemy told us and based upon the fact they've had three players meetings and obviously what we see on the field with their offensive struggles and repeating the same states every week that yeah there's probably some unhappiness right now with the direction of the offense and the play calling obviously that falls under Bobby Sloan and I want to go as far as to say that I think it was the mix in meeting that he called he wanted the coaches in it and he wanted the coaches to listen as well because I'm sure that you know Joe is a very outspoken guy yeah he's been a vocal leader in the scene and so as a vocal leader you want to throw it all out there and say look I don't want to be messy I don't want to do what the Colts are doing right now and imploding from the outside in by saying questioning guys work ethic and the coaching staff and everything that goes with it I want to keep it internal but I think we all deserve to have the conversation of we're underachieving we have a ton of talent on this roster we know it in this locker room no matter what everybody says outside of here but everything should be on the table to try and fix it which is coaching staff what are we doing and what can we do better as players we know and and we can have examples given to where we've either got to practice harder or to your point from an offensive line standpoint we realize as professionals that have played for the most part most of these guys on the offensive line have played you know five ten years in the league we know that we should already be better and we shouldn't be in season having to adjust to twists and stunts and the things that we're struggling with but let's get it right and get it fixed before it does get out there and blow up like the Colts situation in the bear situation right now well thank good for the Texans coming up obviously they've got I don't know if this is I would say the softest part of the schedule but it's pretty damn soft yet the Cowboys coming up obviously this Monday without deck Prescott a team that's completely wounded and limping into this game and then you have the Titans and the Jaguars I don't know what order that is but the next two games at the Cowboys are the Titans and the Jaguars so I think you combine that with getting Nico Collins back the Texans on paper in theory should get three I don't know if I want to say convincing wins because even when they face teams like the Bears they still end up in one score games but I think they should get three wins and I think they should get three wins where it never feels like they're going to lose it may be even if the problems aren't actually fixed because they're facing lesser than teams and they'll obviously face much bigger tests after that with games against the Chiefs and the Ravens in December maybe that confidence from hey we got Nico back hey we put three three in a row on the board maybe they even beat Miami maybe it's four in a row you have a buy you get a little bit healthier it'd be interesting to see what confidence can do for a team that seems to be obviously making the same mistakes over and over again inspiring a little bit I think you get a few wins on your belt you get the buy you get to rest up you get to see the W's on the board see a record go up to maybe nine and four it made me that confidence is something that could carry them forward into the tougher part of the schedule it's a very very slippery slope though Brian because you're right it's a softer part of the schedule but you can't afford now to look past any of these opponents because all it takes is last season when you looked at the schedule and said you were supposed to beat the Jets you were supposed to beat Carolina you were supposed to be at beat Atlanta and you lost to all three of those teams you'd like to have a little bit more of a cushion in terms of the overall big picture sure it looks like you're still going to win the division but because of the fact that we had those high expectations and for a lot of us it hasn't changed you look at it and say but if you slip up again now how bad is it going to get we think this is rock bottom we think they're supposed to win their next three games oh this isn't rock bottom rock bottom is losing on Monday right what if they don't right what if there's an extra motivation because throw the records out the window Dallas wants to beat Houston the Cowboys still want to make a statement on national TV for as bad as they've been hope to god they don't lose on Monday night because now you're going to see a whole hell of a lot of things question that maybe a lot of people didn't think we're on the table right now i don't really want to live in that hypothetical because if they lose to the Cowboys or they lose let's say they lose two out of three to the Cowboys jags and titans this conversation doesn't really matter because they're not the team we thought they were and they're not going to be a team that wins the division and everybody's going to be held accountable because at that point you're winning the divisions in jeopardy and getting in the playoffs the Cowboys we lose to the guys and titans everything's in jeopardy so now it's going to be that everybody the way they're coming at slowick they're going to come at everybody they're going to come at cj they're going to come at dameco they're going to come at cusario everybody is going to be on the table oh well they're not on the table let me go get catch criticism that's what i'm saying to get you out of the table makes it seem like there's changes the foot there's no changes when i'm saying most people have said cj and dameco they're they're free of the blame for now but if they lose one or two of these games in the next three they're supposed to win everybody's going to get the crew just scrutiny i mean context matters it matters how like how they lose i mean if it sure it always does but same time the losses are the losses sure but like let's say if they they lose a shootout where joe mixon has two fumbles i don't think cj strout is catching he for that like i i console context matters a little bit but yeah i mean obviously if they lose if they find a way to lose the cowboys or lose to the jags or titans then that opens up a whole new reality where the the division is no longer viewed as a lock i like i i mean i thought they're going to win 11 games this year if if they were to lose how really even one of these next three then the the expectations have to be severely adjusted but yeah to your point though brian if dameco's defense suddenly gives up a ton of passing yards to the cowboys or to the titans or the the jaguars yeah context matters so i mean like i don't like i don't i don't want to say just because they lose dameco and cj automatically get heat i mean they definitely could i mean the same way i said from that loss but it depends on how they lose serious because it's going to catch it to them if they play less than no matter what because it's all going to be correlated to the offensive line with the offensive struggles and then it's going to be why didn't you do more why didn't you have backups why didn't you be honest with yourself about kenyan green before we all had to find out what we already kind of knew which was that he can't play any in the in a in a past protection game and he can't protect a quarterback the way you you drafted him to do so in all yes context matters but at the same time all it takes now in this softer part of the schedule is one more hiccup and there's going to be a whole lot more names that are going to be scrutinized heavily in terms of the negativity that's going to keep raining down on everything that's happening with the tensions yeah and i think to your point with the serio obviously it's fair to criticize nico or not nico uh to to criticize cusario about holding on to kenyan green for as long as he did for not spinning this off season trying to get some death or trying to get some pieces as like a plan b as a fallback if kenyan green uh didn't progress as they'd hoped but the answer and we'll never get it to the question like who was the guy pushing for kenyan to still keep his starting job going to the season is something we'll probably never find out and i i get like a serio will get probably 99 percent of that blame but is it completely impossible to remember i mean is it completely impossible that dameko was pushing just as hard for for kenyan to to remain the starter until obviously the point where he got he uh with don uh i think it was uh it was the cult one of the cults defenders and that was when he got pulled until of the butcher yeah yeah it was it was buckner he got pulled after that but had to go back in when gerry patters like it got the concussion so that was kind of the tipping point in week nine for dameko but leaning into this like what you said like why is he still there why is there no death that could have been equally the mico decision as it was very possible here that they have a great work in relationship that it's a mindmill but look at it a year ago i was hyper focused and fired up about the fact that that nix quote directly on kenyan green was it wasn't an if he was going to get hurt it was a win sure and if it was going to be season ending but you had george phant george phant signed with seattle for nine million dollars for two years if you truly value your quarterback and you're bringing in all these skill position players to make your offense better and george phant didn't cost you that much money either george phant or george phant type player should have been on your roster as a backup just in case anything went wrong that's all i agree with that because i mean at that point i mean that kenny was two years in he missed all of his sophomore season and his rookie season even though he looked i would say at least above averages around blocker he obviously didn't show you anything as a past blocker he was poorly graded there so to to go into this season thinking oh yeah we're good with we're good a left guard kenny what i kind of screams a little bit of arrogance like i mean to not have a plan b for oh crap no it hasn't approved is an arrogant take that they obviously have cost themselves a few wins that's my point as long as you still have a winning record you're still going to win the division you're not going to get that kind of scrutinizing but everything's going to come to fruition and be on the table and come to a head if you if you lose one of these next three and you start being less than even everybody's thought the hiccup of the lion's game could be overcome so we're going to get to the car wreck of the day next we still have lots to get to before we end the show if you've got car wreck nominations please send them our way the same rate you need to worry about those times of the year when you need some heat in your house you got to make sure everything's up to 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on the horizon fantastic to look ahead but even if it's in an emergency situation two eight one five five seven cool gets you to them and they get to you within 24 hours and that's huge check them out today bandafordair.com this is the car wreck of the day you know the deal car wreck of the day in just a minute but before we do that you want to again remind you coming up at six o'clock it's soccer matters with my good friend Glenn Davis if you want to talk soccer and all that is football that you want to talk with my man Glenn he's going to take you from six to seven o'clock he'll I'm sure mixing some Caitlin Clark if it matters as well gm pat on sat on the show there you go that's a good get that's more than enough reason to listen to Glenn and he comes up right here at six o'clock car wreck of the day Brian I got a couple you got a couple what do you got first one is I don't know if you saw this story but there is a like just a wonder kid prospect named Bryce Underwood who apparently has been recruited since like the age of nine okay beginning compared to to Vince Young as it is the number one QB prospect in this class he committed to LSU like a year ago now Michigan trying to pry him away he's saying they'll pay him like 10 million dollars and I know which I mean I know like Bryce Young at one point was getting three mil so this is a pretty big jump and I get that he's the top rated prospect and money doesn't matter for these big schools but 10 million for a guy who's never stepped on the college football field is man Matt what's his name was was about eight million off in terms of what a quarterback cost in college football I guess 10 million dollars apparently in a Michigan's willing to offer that you got to wonder these other schools like Bama I mean whoever that rules said two million to get a good quarterback well that's a whole lot more than two million yeah I mean the prices are only gonna skyrocket from here no doubt I got the Sixers last night yeah people Sixers playing the calves undefeated and beat says he wants to play George says he's able to play they hold them both out and they lose by single digits that's a horrible look and by the way those people in Cleveland that wanted to see and paid for tickets to see Joel and Beaten company got screwed that's brutal yeah my next one I don't know if you saw this but there's a quote from an interview Dion Sanders had on FS1 yesterday he's already talked about in telling the world yes I'm not gonna do it publicly but I will probably try to intervene if my son in the Travis Hunter doesn't go to the NFL team of my choice I'll throw in my final one Jeff Van Gundy as an assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy is that's a bad look he deserves to be a head coach yeah I can't see an alpha like him taking the vaccine handling that well all right what's winning I'm gonna go 10 and a half million dollars for a quarter yeah I think that's a good one I'm proven 17 years old I'm good with that yeah that's that's Hosea Bray you ask all right we're gonna leave it to Glenn Davis and Soccer Matters next for Brian McDonald and Jeremy I'm Joel we'll talk to you tomorrow on The Killer Beasy it's been 97-5 and 92-5 FM have a good night everybody ESPN 97-5 in primer passo desuijo es un grand passo aceso futuro con first step the college invest oto sloninos nacidos oado todos en colorado a partir del uno de narrow del dos millbank de recidiran una contrivision gratuita de siento quin cedolaris en sequenta dia oro de college invest ademas y voila remos un percentaj de sus contrivisiones el ocientes años en scriba seo para que suijo communes econ el piederecho visite colorado her step ponto o erehe this season Chevy brings classic pairings cookies and milk mistletoe and kisses and your holiday plans and a new Chevy Silverado 1500 gives you power and capability with 430 pound feet of torque to haul your holiday tree Equinox EV and the all-new Equinox offer award-winning quality and style to see you through 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