The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/19 Hour 2 - Feeling More Confident in the Texans OL After Cowboys Win?
With the $5 meal deal at McDonald's, you pick a McDouble or a McChicken, then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Price and participation may vary for a limited time only. ♪♪ Don't sweat the technique. ♪♪ You're locked in with a Killer B's on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios, here's Joel Blanken, Chermi Branham. We're not ignoring in victory what you wouldn't have did. 713780, ESPN. A lot of people are... They don't feel great about how the Houston Texans played yesterday. It's a 713780o, ESPN, HRP listener line, 7137803776. A texture says that a secondary needs to secure the interest and exceptions might make a difference versus a good team. White is too slow to play, linebacker. Met you needs to block better. Quit giving up big plays. There was one big play defensively, give it the explosive to Turpin. I thought Met you's a willing blocker, but he's just not very big, you know? He blew a block. It was on the third and two-play. He was at the toss. He allowed a guy to get in and get mixed and would have been a first-out, but he completely half-assed the block. Yeah, he's not a great blocker, but he's also not the... He wasn't even a willing blocker. He doesn't have a body to be a great blocker. The other problem, too, is the guy that has been known to be a good blocker and a blocker that you're supposed to rely on to block missed blocks, too. Yeah, Woods, missed blocks. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, he missed two blue it. Yeah. 713780o, ESPN, texture says, you have to take the points like Tomlin every time. I think third times to go for it. I don't like it in that first spot, but I'm okay with it in the second spot. 6444, don't chase points early, take the points. Can you guys explain the first 20 plays or whatever being scripted? Because let's say a play eight was a deep go route, but the situation that comes in the game is play seven, it's 30 inches. Yeah, the scripted part is a little bit overblown at times. It's usually okay, here and 20 is way too big of a number. It's usually here are like 10 plays that we really like, and we're probably gonna use these plays in the first 25 snaps of the game. It's not necessarily an order. It's not like a run-up show. Okay, we love this play here. This is gonna be our second play. This is gonna be our third play. Usually it's, these are 10 plays that we really, really like. We're gonna get to it. We're gonna get to them early, but down in distance we'll dictate what is called. This was a signature of what Bill Walsh used to do. So anybody under the Wall Street, Holmgren did it, a lot of guys did it. And to your point, it's 10 plays that are dictated by situation. So you have those 10 plays, like Jeremy said, that you're going to work on throughout the week is going to be your preferred 10 plays to kind of start the first quarter with or your first possession with. Now, if you go off and have one of them hit big, then you can always change and switch out of that and mix it up. But at least those are the 10 plays that your offense is completely comfortable running, knowing that at some point early in the game, they're going to run that play. Yeah, yeah, that's basically what it means. But I think most OCs do that. I've never really heard Sloak dive into his specific game plan, but I'd be stunned if he doesn't script X amount of plays. At least 10. I usually hear it's up to 15, but at least 10, yeah. Tight ends keep killing us. We can't cover the tight end position. That's because you don't have a great interior corners. Like people love Petrie. And whenever Jalen Petrie is not in coverage, Jalen Petrie is awesome. Jalen Petrie is an awesome football player until he's asked to cover. And that's where his weakness is. Like if Jalen Petrie could cover, Jalen Petrie would be a top five safety in all of football. But that's why the Texans have trouble defending the tight end. Yeah, I mean, look, he's on my list because Petrie gets better and better when he's up when he's up on the line of scrimmage and when he is making tackles and hits. It's just the fact that if he wants to become truly, you know, an above average, better to elite safety or wherever he plays, even in the slot, he's got to cover better. Yeah, I think the ship has sailed though. Like I think it's who it is. Like I don't think these all of a sudden he's going to be Dion Sanders in coverage, you know? Like I think this is who Jalen Petrie is. So you take, so you just try to put him in the best positions to succeed. And I thought D'Amico did a good job of that yesterday. Like how many times can you remember where Petrie was beating coverage yesterday? Right. I can only remember one. I think it was on an outbreaking route, but that's good. Like if he's only getting beat once a game, that's good because look what he does in the other areas of the game. I was going to say, you can maybe remember one play where he got burned, but you can remember three or four just unbelievable hits and plays that he made. He missed on the one to CD lamb on the end-to-round play where he had a chance to stop him right at the line of scrimmage and missed him. But boy, oh boy, do you remember him bringing the wood to several different guys with the ball in their hands, including the one where they forced the fumble and the penalty that shouldn't have been a penalty. He is an unbelievable guy when he's bringing full contact to someone. - Bringing the wood. - He's bringing the boom. 6381 Petrie has been all eyes for a legal hard hit, garbage call on a replay. You could see absolutely zero contact to the soft blank receivers helmet. I thought it was the correct call live. I also thought it was a correct call for a while because he does launch. He comes off his feet, which is illegal. Now I didn't realize this and this is where I was wrong and I am wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong. It was a clean hit. You can't launch, launching is illegal. But if you make contact before you launch, it's clean. And he makes contact just before his feet elevates off the ground. I didn't think it was helmet to helmet. I don't think that it was that. Neither the replay official, neither the date. I thought where he was gonna get caught for the, I think this is why it was called. I don't think they got it right in hindsight. But I think that they thought he launched. - So you're saying that it's irrelevant whether you lead with the crown of the helmet or not. If you launch it all-- - There's multiple different penalties for that, for a defenseless receiver. Any contact to the neck head area is a penalty. It doesn't matter which part of the body you hit them with. Now that didn't happen 'cause it was shoulder to shoulder. If you lead with the crown of the helmet to any part of the defensive receiver, it could be the knee, it could be the waist, it could be the head, that is a penalty. And then if you launch and you're near the head, it doesn't say the head, it says near the head. If you launch, which means you come off of your feet before contact, that would be a launching penalty. I thought live it was a launch, slowing it down and watching the replay of it. There's contact just before he came off his feet. Thus, should have made it illegal. - I thought he got hit on both shoulders. The timing was perfect and I was like, man, that is textbook football right there because he avoided the temptation of dropping his head and or going towards or leading towards a receiver moving where sometimes just inadvertently, the receiver can duck down or something and you can hit the head. I was, when I saw it live, I was like, oh, I don't think so. And then when I saw the replay, I was like, oh my God, that was horrible. - Yeah, and in hindsight, it was the wrong call. It was very close to a launch though. It was not close to helmet to helmet 'cause it was shoulder to shoulder, it was nowhere near the crown. It was very, very close to a launch in the benefit of very slow-mo replay. He didn't launch, he didn't launch before contact. - What about the other one too? Because the referee guy that they went to, he didn't enunciate real clearly. But did he say on the stingley pick that it was legal and within five yards that Jimmy Ward hit Lamb? - I thought that was right. I thought this was a good call. - I thought so too. - You can have contact with a receiver in the secondary if it's within five yards of the launch scrimmage. And then you can no longer have contact once the ball is released. If you look at where the contact happens, it's like four yards from the line of scrimmage and it is just before Cooper Rush released the ball. It's very close on both fronts. It's almost five yards. It's almost contact once the ball was released, but it was four yards and it happened just before the release. I thought they got that one right. - Yeah, I did too, but I was confused about was Troy, I thought was leading the official in the booth to kind of say that it was early or that it was outside the five yards. And then when he said it really quickly, I said, did he say legal or illegal? - Legal. - And I rewound it a couple of times. I thought he said legal, but I looked at it and with the naked eye on the replay with the tape, it looked legal. - Yeah, I thought it was legal. Second half touchdown. Second half offense of touchdown. I think we all deserve a little, we all owe them a golf clap for finally scoring an offensive second half touchdown. I don't know why you guys are not participating. Pretty fraudulent second half offense of touchdown. I thought the drive started at the Cowboys 35 because they were going for it because they were trailing by so many points. It was also kind of mop up duty. Like it was under five minutes. It was under five minutes. You're up by 17. - I almost don't want to get a credit for it. - That's the question I have. Are we giving the Texans credit for a second half offensive touchdown when it was semi fraudulent when the drive started at the Cowboys 35 and it was quite frankly in mop up duty? Are they getting credit for their first second half offensive touchdown in the last five games? - Now with me, not because of all the variables you just mentioned. The fact that if you were going to do that, you were going to do that third quarter, early in the third quarter, establish the fact that things are changing. The fact that that's why I kept going back. Your defense did put the seven on the board for you. Your defense was doing damage and had the impact, not your offense in the second half. - Yeah, so no, we're not giving them credit for the second half. Okay, so the Houston Texans still have not scored an offensive touchdown in the last five games in the second half. They haven't done it. Not a real one. - I don't feel it. - This is a fraudulent. - I mean, it should have had one earlier in the second half before Juice Scruggs got the holding call that moved it from, I think it was a third in two or a third in goal of the two back to obviously a much more difficult situation. - So an asterisk next to the touchdown. - So they've had the starters in the game up by 17, with three and a half minutes to play. I'm actually okay with it to get the middle block of not scoring an offensive touchdown. I'm okay with it because of the circumstance that your offense is not scored a second half touchdown and what is now five games according to the killer beast. That's the only reason I'm okay with it. - But if someone got hurt. - Yeah, for sure. - Yeah, they identified the fact that they wanted to get that off their back, that they were going to be held then on scoring the touchdown there. But I think they even had to know, there's going to be a lot of people that realize this isn't really legit at this point in the game. - Two, four, two, two. They should have taken all the first ring players out when there was five minutes left. So do you want, do you want to risk the injury to get your first offense, your first asterisk offensive touchdown in the last five games in the second half? Do you chase an after? I was okay with it actually. Cause I do think that it has become mental for the attack. - That felt like a hindsight opinion though. - No, I was thinking it in time. I was thinking it in real time. If somebody would have got hurt, I would have given you the same take that I have right now. I had the same thought in real time. I'm like, eh, this is borderline, but I'm okay with it because of the middle block. That is not hindsight. That is me being completely honest. - Yeah, I don't like it. I was texting a buddy in the moment saying, why are the starters still out there? I get the idea of the players want to go for it. The players know they haven't scored a touchdown in the second half or four games. I get all the motivation and the good feeling and the confidence they would get from getting that touchdown. But it's not worth, you know, like a Joe Mixon, we've talked all show about, he's basically your entire offense right now. Joe Mixon gets hurt carrying the ball into the end. So what are we talking about today? Well, the best part of your offense is now could be done for the season. That's not worth the risk. - The best part of your offense is Folgers in your cup. 6'9", 6'7", Petrie, maybe the best defender within three and a half yards of the line. You might be honest, something there. 6'4", 4", 4", 4", Barnett knows better than slapping a lineman on a field goal. 8'4", 3", 7", texture bow. The head slap penalty was tiki tacky. So did you think it was tiki tacky? - Oh, no, I put you in the late. - I thought it was late. - He just wound up, drill him in the side of the cup. - It did help you because the Cowboys turned it over on downs and they wiped away a 64 yard field goal, which is the greatest non-field goal in the history of the game. They roll out Aubrey for 64 yarders. Like the normal kicker gets rolled out for a 38 yarder. Like they don't think twice about rolling them out for a 60 plus yarder. They're doing it in the, like, in normal spots of the game. It is insane. - Right here. The crew was saying that they've gotten word that they wouldn't even try it up to 70. - I was wondering if they were to try at the end of the first half. They were like at the 30. They were like at their own 30 yard line. - Talking about it, it was like a foregone conclusion. They were getting three, even if it was gonna be from 60, that it's already that they're gonna get this done. It's like, it's one thing that he's got the leg, but still from 60 plus, the accuracy is going to factor in, even though you're indoors. Like it's not that much of a give in Troy. - It's crazy. - I mean, he's only got one miss in his career inside that stadium, which was also last night. - That's so weird though. They're like, yeah, 65 yarder. Let's play for the field goal here. Eric, can we just say this is an elite Super Bowl defense where they play off missing offense, so it makes them mediocre. I'm not willing to go as far to say elite, and I mean, their offense is middle of the pack. Like they're not the one of the worst offenses in the NFL. They're middle of the pack, and I think that they have room to get better. That's the hope anyways. 0365, good with the starters being in, so the over would hit. You're not a degenerate. 5010, such an unnecessary use of our offense to score that touchdown at that point in the game, but it got me the victory in fantasy football at one point, so way to go, boys. There you go. 2422, mixing had to jump over the fender when he was going in for that final touchdown, who was going after his knees that could have seriously injured him, so his team should have pulled the starters, I suppose. Are you any of these that we missed? - I think they pretty much covered everything on my list. I had, I had goods as well, but I mean, yeah, for the bads, we covered them. - And he, for you, Brian, is there a miss? - Yeah, no, I, we might need to carry this over, but you tell me, but I thought there was a couple points in that game in the second half where Bobby Slowick had some serious mismanagement with the game's situation. Specifically, towards the end of the third quarter, there was a, about a 12-yard pass, a Tank Dell, that picked up a first down. The play clock started, like about 32 seconds left in the third quarter, and for some reason, they went fast and then got off another pass to Dalton Schultz, despite the fact that they could have rolled the clock to the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead. There was no reason. I mean, I get it, you want to go fast early. They did a good job of that in the first quarter, but 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Why are you running up to the line to get off a three-four-yard pass to Dalton Schultz? That made no sense. I thought that was a blunder, and the other one was. - We're quick, we're quick, we're quick. I had the same thought. The only thing is I tried to defend it, and I was thinking of this in the moment, I wonder if they felt that Tank was out of bounds. They were not sure that he had two feet in. I think that they were worried that he might not have been in play, and they were rushing so Dallas wouldn't challenge. That's my only guess. - I wouldn't give him a moment. - And I thought it was clear. I thought it was clear that it was in, too. - But that did-- - That's the only reason-- - You were saying that? - Yeah, because I was trying to rush through the game this morning, but I did think in the moment that that might have been, it seemed like they were trying to get the-- - I had the same thought as Brian. I'm like, why are they rushing to the line? Like, they have a multi-possession lead. You can take this to the end of the quarter, and it's like, I bet you they don't think that they were wondering if he was inbound. They might have thought he was in, but there was an element of doubt. Like, let's just run another playroll quick so they don't challenge. That's the only thing that I had on that. - It's possible. I'd give more credence to that if we didn't also see them later in the fourth quarter. It was the same part of the same possession, but it was later in the fourth quarter. Or actually, no, I'm sorry, this was the possession after, but they got the ball back with about 11 minutes left, and I believe at this point, it's a 17-point lead, and they've had four plays, all four plays were designed, or at the snap, were designed pass plays. Now, one of them turned into a shroud 20-yard scramble, but you get the ball back fourth quarter, 17-point lead. You know Joe Mixon's obviously been running real well. You obviously need to bleed the clock, and you go, four plays, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. What, I don't get the idea of what Bobby Sloakes trying to talk about. - Can I defend him? - Sure. - Can I defend him? With a 17-point lead, you do not think the game is in jeopardy, and you're trying to work on certain elements of your passing attack that you want down the road. - That, to me, is more a four-minute thing than a 11-minute thing. - But you don't want the starters in up 17 with four minutes to play. - That's fair. I just, I get the idea that you think the game's over, but one thing that could make the game not over is if you decide to go pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, with 11 minutes left, and a shroud makes a poor decision if those are pick six and all of a sudden it's a ballgame. - Yeah, trying to win a singular game, one game you're right, that's dumb. If you're looking big picture in that spot, and I'm not sure that they are, I'm just making a defense for them, then I could see where their mindset's at, not that I agree with it, but you can see where their mindset is at. How about the kicking unit having two delay of games? One after a touchdown, the extra point, and then one after a timeout? - Yeah. - How did you have two delay of games with your kicking unit? That is insane to me. - And then they said Kaimi during the timeout was over on the side getting practice kicks in. - Huh. - And that's why they thought that the delay of game happened, I'm like, do you really need a couple more practice kicks? - It's weird, that's weird. - Yesterday wasn't the, do you have any more Brian? - One other thing. - You go for it. - Because it was what ended tank season last year, there was a, Jeremy's already shaking his head, he knows what I'm gonna say. There was a goal line play where they had three receivers, including Tank, and I believe including Metri, both tiny receivers who were tight to the line of scrimmage in their run blocking. Basically the exact same thing that got Tank out for the year last season, and they did it again. Luckily this time it didn't, no one ran into the back of a Tank's leg and broke it, but they basically ran the same thing last night that they did on the last year when they got Tank out for the year. - Yeah, see I think I've actually changed my mind on this. Like it is such a, - What? - Yeah, I know, I know. It's such-- - I think you wanna protect your Mihos. - Yeah, I do, but this is such an element to the San Francisco running game where your receivers have to block on the edges, whether it's cut back blocks, they must block with this off consistent. - What's going on the next tight end? Why does it need to be three-wide? - Well, you're trying to lighten the box whenever you go to 11 personnel. So like it is an element of this scheme. It's an element of all the San Francisco branches of running the football. Go watch them all, I mean San Francisco, they all block. Miami, they all block. The Houston Texans, you might not agree with, they all block. Like it is an element to this offensive scheme that if you're gonna be a receiver in this offensive scheme, you must block. So knowing that's their philosophy, you're gonna have to block. No matter how tiny you are. - I agree with them all for the most part, but goal line. - They're scheme. - I don't agree with them on the goal line. - I got other guys that could be in there for that scheme. - Yeah, but you're giving away the play. - Metche's a hard hitting guy, we know. - You were just talking about how bad he sucked and how many missed a third and two pitch? - Okay, great. - Well, at least I know I don't. If I lose a guy, I'd lose Metchee before I'd lose 10. - Yeah, yeah, I've kind of come around a little bit. Like they asked their receivers to block in this scheme. It's just what they do. - That coug, man. - I do love my, love my Tengdell. He is my meal. - All right, 7-1-3-7-8-0 ESPN. Yesterday was not the, the Texans weren't the only Houston sports team playing yesterday. The Rockets were, we gotta talk about this finish. Rockets got screwed, huh? It is the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. (explosion) - ESPN 97-5. (upbeat music) - Live in the Veritex Community Bank Studios, it's the killer bees. Now back to Joel and Jeremy. (upbeat music) - Great, the call. Great, the call. What did you think of that? - 7-1-3-7-8-0 ESPN HRMP listener line. 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. Lisa Beington, who is the TV voice of the Milwaukee Bucks, also does some NCAA tournament games for CBS, TNT. Didn't love the call. Didn't love the call. I'm putting it at a 3-3 for Lisa Beington on the game winner yesterday from Dame. - Yeah, I agree. I think that's, that's pretty fair. I think, I don't know how you feel overall. She's okay. I got friends at the organization. I don't say too much, but-- - You should be proud of that. - I'm not the biggest fan of her calls. - I don't think she's very good. - Yeah, she's not the girl that does the A's games. - She's better than her, she's better than that. - But yeah, I'm with you on that. Look, Dame to me was a gut punch simply because of the fact that Ben there too much with Damon Lillard in the Rockets and that he just finds a way. But that game was a game-- - No quick on that with Dame, like, where does he rank amongst the all-time best and Houston Rockets history? 'Cause he's gotta be in the conversation. I don't think he's at the top. Like Stockton Malone are gonna be up there. I remember even wars with Gary Payton, you know? - Kobe. - Kobe destroyed the Rockets after, like the post Elijah won Rockets. Kobe's high up there. - Kobe's way up there because I just remember over and over again, just sitting there in awe going, I can't believe he got that many points in that short period of time. I can't believe he made that shot with that many defenders. He just had that knack and it wasn't just the Rockets. He did it against a lot of teams. Like, Rockets specific, the Lillard one is always gonna stick out. Brandon Roy was another one. Same organization. Brandon Roy-- - I cut too short, man. He was great. - Yeah, Brandon Roy, if he doesn't get hurt, Brandon Roy, a couple playoff series before, he was that guy. He was just dagger after dagger and always against the Rockets. - Yes, I would go, I would probably have Stockton or Malone one or-- - Stockton shot alone had me as number one. - Malone gotcha twice. Like, he got you with Utah and then he went to the Lakers for that little rendezvous, trying to put together like the big four. And remember, they had a playoff series, Bokey's yanking them down from the backside. So like, Carl Malone did it on two different teams. - Yeah, but-- - I don't remember him with specific shots though. - No, no, Stockton hit a game winner that-- - The Stockton shot alone for me will live in infamy as the biggest Rockets killing shot that I think I've ever endured. - So you'd have for Stockton's up there at one. - Malone's a villain but not one. - Right. - Somewhere beyond one. Damian Willard up there. - Willard's two, I think. - Willard was the first round. - Yeah. - So that's a factor. Like the fact that it was a first round, like he's not above Stockton. First round versus Western Conference Finals. - Right, right. No, but still, it's not the first time he's done this. Like, he seemed to have a knack to do it against the Rockets in the regular season as well. I think that Brandon Roy is definitely, if he's not 30, he's in the top five. - I wouldn't have even thought of Brandon Roy. - Yeah, the Blazers didn't even win that series though. - The one where he hit the game winner? He hit a game winner. That was the R test. I think it was the R test, one of the R test teams. - Not in the playoffs. - Yeah, he had a playoff. - Well, the Rockets still won the series though. - Yeah, they won the series for the game winner. - I don't think I could put him very high if the Rockets won the series. - But he had multiples in the regular season two where he would beat the Rockets with it. - I would put a name we haven't mentioned. I would put Darren Williams ahead of Brandon Roy for sure. I mean, though obviously the Jazz Beach two playoff series in a row, maybe you would rather say Boozer from that Jazz game. - I was thinking Carolinco. - Someone from that Jazz team that beat you, they knocked you out in the first round two years in a row. I would have gone Darren Williams, but you could insert Jazz player from that team, Boozer, Carolinco, Memento, Cor, whoever. - Memento, Cor. I forgot about Memento, Cor. - To me, Darren Williams was always the one like, oh my God, this guy again. - Yeah, yeah. No, Darren Williams was on my list because they won game seven here against the Rockets and that one stung a lot. - They knocked you out the next year in game six here. - And he was probably their best player. - Carolinco closed. - Him and Boozer. - Boozer was really good. Who is the guy who came off the bench for them? I couldn't see him. - Well, one guy I can't stand that I used to say before we got Patrick Beverly, that everybody in the league hates, but you love having them on your team was Matt Harpring. Matt Harpring. - That's who I'm thinking of. - Matt Harpring found a way to beat you and he was dirty and he would do the things when the referees weren't looking, but he seemed to always kill the Rockets. - Okay, so Lillard, Stockton, Harpring, Darren Williams, Brandon Roy, Kobe Bryant, Stockton Malone. - Kobe over Brandon Roy. - I hated Hornesack too. - Oh, sure. - Couldn't stand. - Was that supposed to be like a message to his kids or something like that? - The facial massage that every free throw. - That's sweet. - It is sweet, he's got a big heart. He's got a big heart. I don't know how many wives he had, but he's got a big heart. He's got a big heart there for the utilist. - Get away with that if you are truly in the Utah culture. - So who are the biggest villains in Rockets history? 71378, 03776. - How about this finish though? Yesterday's game, Rockets lose by one against the Bucks in a crazy sequence over the final 25 seconds. - You're up six with 154 and I thought you had it. And then it was just like a lot of crazy things had to happen that did. And even the final play after that, you could have and I think should have won the game, if Van Vliet and Alpe are on the same page, it's the perfect play call. Giannis bites on it hard and goes to the top of the key, thinking it's a jump shot. And if that passes anywhere near the rim and Alpe, I think you win the ball game by a point. - Yeah, see, I thought if you had to assign Blainable on that play, let's go reverse it. - Oh, like which guy are the Rockets? - Van Vliet or Alpe? - Alpe went up soft. - I thought you got to be an athlete there. I thought you needed to be an athlete there. And like, let's not forget that Fred Van Vliet's not that tall and I forget exactly who was defending the inbound for the Bucks, but he's like 6'5". He's 6'6". So Fred Van Vliet has to throw over the guy defending the inbound. That's trying to just get his hand on it to start the clock. The ball was in the catch radius of Alpe Sengoon. - Yeah, I think... - Don't be an athlete and make the catch, dude. - Yeah, I put it on both of them, but if you're going to assign Blain, he had Butterfingers, too. It slipped right through. Like, literally, whether you tip that or you can catch it and just gently put it near the rim, there's a variety of different ways you could put that ball up on the rim and have a chance to win the ball game. And there was still enough time that I think you could have done them to where, if you're going to say one or the other, it's definitely Alpe. - Yeah, Alpe needed to make the catch there. - Perfect play for me, Mayadoka, too. I give him a lot of crap. I know it didn't work 'cause you didn't get the bucket, but that was a great play, drawn up from the sideline out about it. - The whole thing with Janus is the reason why I hate the final two minutes. We all know it's the wrong, they got the call wrong. We all know that they blew it. So just admitting to it as insult to injury 'cause you can't redo it. You can't go out from that point and say, "Okay, go back and replay it 'cause we screwed it up." It sucks, but you were also one for 10 in the final two minutes in terms, or in the final two or three minutes of field goals. You were one of 10, you missed a free throw. You were missing shots galore where you had a chance to put one more bucket, you put that thing away. - That's where I'm at with a men. I don't need a men Thompson to be a fantastic shooter, but let's be a good free throw shooter. Let's master that, and I know he's two for three yesterday, but he had a critical one down the stretch. I don't really ever expect an NBA team to win on the second leg of a back-to-back. So I'm not upset that the Rockets lost the game, but to your point, they're up by six with under two minutes left to play. Looks like you can close it out. You get hosed on the call where Giannis is on the baseline, and I can understand we're in official misses a call, and to your point, the NBA came out today, they sent out the memo that they missed the call, they're bad, whoops, cost the Rockets the game, whoops. Did you see the official on the baseline and where he's looking? - He wasn't even looking down the floor. - I think he's looking at the opposite shot clock, which isn't him, that's the trailing official that's towards mid-court. Like, just watch the play, man. I'm okay if referees, umpires, officials, mis-cause. It's gonna happen, it's human nature. But you got to be focusing on your key, and when you're the baseline official and there's a ball near the baseline, where should you be looking? The baseline, at least be looking at the play. - Inexcusable when you go back, and I've looked at it three or four different times to say what was he looking at, and the first thing I said was, well, he wasn't looking at it at all. I mean, he's basically going by reactions of the guys, and then by then it's too late, because he had no clue if he was close to the end line or not. He just assumed, well, Lopez is throwing it to Giannis, they're going down the other end. There's no way he's getting close to the end line. He was, and he was definitely standing right on the end line. - Yeah, that was hard to swallow there. Not upset that the Rockets lose a game because it is the second leg, but back to back. But you thought you were gonna win it up by six, less than two minutes, and then you have the miss call with Giannis, you had the heroics from Dame Lillard, and then you miss, you screw up an opportunity on a perfect play called by E-Mano. - Was the final on the clock for that final play was the second, a little over a second. - No, I think there was a little bit more. I think it was close too. - When Lillard made the layup, I think there was three seconds left. - So on the in-bounds play, there's no excuse for helping dropping that ball. - No, bad athlete. - At all. Regardless of that, it's not like you had to tip it, you still just have to secure the ball. - So the Bucks, Lillard made the shot with 3.2, but the Rockets inbounded and the Bucks had a foul to give them a foul. So there was two seconds on the nose when they inbounded it. - So that's still plenty enough time to catch and shoot, and from that short of a distance, you're not really shooting, you're just popping it back, putting it over the front of the rim, and there's no defender near Alpe at all. You have to make that play. - 7-1-3-7-8-0 ESPN. Let's go out to the HRMP listener line. Robert from Katie, you're in the high. What's up, Robert? - Daedalus Ram, Sean Camp, and Gary Payton. - Yeah. - I still have nightmares about this three. - Yeah, that's right. - You're just talking about like that '90s, '90s. - It's like early '90s, '92, '93, '94, when that George Carl coach team, you just couldn't get over the hump until '90s, '94, '95. - Yeah, they knocked you out on the shrimp. - I couldn't stand down on shrimp. - 7 in the second round, the year before the Rockets win their first title. - Yeah. - 8-3-4-1, I think those games are on paper view. 8-3-4-1, the Rockets are still on the base. The Rockets can drop one of every three games and still wipe out over 50 wins this season. That's our texture that gets the over 50. Daedalus Shrimp, Steph Curry has to be there. We missed Steph. - Oh yeah. It has to be there. - Absolutely. - Chris Paul's hamstring, James Worthy. Worthy had some, he beat you a lot whenever he was with the Lakers. Now that's teams that, you know, a little bit before my time. - We certainly loved being in Houston. - The way Houston talked about him, James Harden, is the biggest villain. - I think that's fair. I think it's a fair take. - Sure. - For half the city at least. - It's all, yeah, it's perplexing. There's the other half that will always-- - I did have the thought of managing Obly simply for his block of heart and then that one playoff game. - The one where James-- - The one where James would shoot for a quarter and a half. - Quit in game six, too. - Yeah. - 788, Derek Fisher. Yeah, Derek Fisher's a good call. - Derek Fisher and the Steph Curry is so spot on that he's got to be in the top three because he just always crushed you. - 5142, I'm sorry, I have to disagree. It's okay, I don't to apologize. Fred Van Vliet's pass has to be straight to the front of the rim. He overthrew it and it's not any rest responsibility to look at the opposing shot clock. Agree, he should be looking at the baseline. Now, yes, Van Vliet in a perfect world puts that ball right near the front of the rim. But he's got to do that 6-6 in long arms defending the inbound and he's a short man. Like, it's not going to be a perfect pass. - And if you look at the way it transpired when he knew that there was the opening to throw the ball, Giannis had already turned to look towards the free throw line. He was going the other direction. You just got to put that anywhere in the vicinity between in the lane by the rim and Alpe should be able to get to it with no resistance. - Cash him or trash him? What do you cash him or trash him with the B7137803776? It is the B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 97.25. - Guys, a moment here for Van Vliet for air.com. Go to Van Vliet for air.com and see all the different ways they can help you. If you want to do a complete re-pipe job in your house, they gotcha. You want to do a dehumidifying system within your AC units. They gotcha. And of course, when you have heating issues and more specifically where everybody's worried you're in Houston, when your AC units go down, they gotcha. They got you in a variety of different ways. But the reason why I always tell you about them is everything they do is backed up in writing with 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back. Lock this number in your phone. You never know when you're going to need it. 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And then just the fact that the unit and/or what they replace will still get you to the optimal temperature that you desire and that the entire unit is working the way you expect it to work. That's all going into that satisfaction guarantee as well. They take care of you like no other service company and that's why I speak for them because it's so hard to get companies that will back up their work. Most of the time, it's either a home warranty system or a company that's fly by night that just wants to get you done and get to the next job. And then once you call if there's a problem, I don't have time. I don't think I promised you that. And it's basically Verbal's not writing. That's why you go to Vandeford Air. Check out all their services at VandefordAir.com and save that number on your phone, 281-557-cool. - ESPN, 97-5. - Prepare for overreaction on my mark. - It's that time of the week where overreactions are welcome. - He's saying Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time but he never fought Cassius Clay. What was he afraid of? Boom, I take it. - It's cash 'em. - That is so good, but that's exactly right. - Or trash 'em. - This is your hot date. - Hmm, seems like an overreaction. - With a killer bee. - Give us a hot spoonful of your opinion. - Cash 'em or trash 'em with a bee, 713-780-ESP. And what do you cash in or trash 'em like? - Uh, based on my ill feelings over what happened last night. The Texan ceiling is getting back in the divisional room. - Yeah, I'm cashin'. - That's whenever we did our predictions before the start of the year, that's what I thought. - Division around. - And then that ends up being a disappointing scene. - Eh, yeah, probably. - Yeah, I think it was obvious how much trash you have. - Context matters, like if they play the Ravens at home, they're not playing at home for the divisional round, let's say they go to Buffalo and they lose a thriller by three, okay, all right. - Yeah. - Context matters, but yeah, you're probably right. - Yeah, I've just seen more than I would have liked in terms of weaknesses and goals and less than more. - Yeah, I'll cash that. - I'll cash it as well, that's a step down for me 'cause I didn't have the naive C title game before the season began, but. - You had to win his 15 games. Still there? - Incorrect, incorrect, I had my 11 can't get there. Most they can win's what, 13? - I never had him at 15. - No, I know, but the most they can win's 13. - Yeah, I still think they hit my preseason prediction of 11, but I don't think, this is really not even considering last night, this is just what we've seen in the previous 10 games, but I don't think they can beat the bills, Ravens or Chiefs in a road playoff game, which limits them to the division around. - All right, I'm gonna cash a trash the Texans and the Cowboys should be a yearly regular season matchup until the NFL adds an 18th game and maybe even so, but this works perfectly with a 17 game schedule. You know that the extra game kind of throws a wrinkle into the whole schedule each year in the NFL, you play one NFC team extra NFC team every year, depending on strength of schedule and not the divisions that you're currently synced up to play, they should turn the NFL to where the 17th game is an annual rivalry game with whoever is your closest rival in the AFC NFC. So because you have the extra game, because you're playing an extra NFC team, that 17th game should be rivalry, it's not gonna be the rivalry week 'cause that wouldn't work in the schedule, but you have that rivalry game, game 17 every year, Texans, Cowboys would be a yearly matchup, Jets, Giants would be a yearly matchup, commanders, Ravens, yearly matchup, Chargers, Rams, yearly matchup, and this wouldn't be perfect, there'd be a couple of randos at the bottom of the schedule. Well, that's not a rivalry, who cares? Who cares because you're getting these marquee matchups yearly. That 17th extra game that they added should be a rivalry matchup, Texans, Cowboys should play every year while the 17th game exists. - I want to trash it 'cause I hate it, I hate it for baseball as well when they used to try and do this, when before we got into the better schedule with them playing everybody, because a lot of times you're just gonna get a dog that's traditionally a dog of a team or someone else in your division gets a dog rivalry that they're gonna dominate and you get a really tough opponent. - Do you want to have like an unbalanced schedule? - Yeah, I mean-- - But I mean, you can't, in a 17 game schedule, you can't balance it, so I mean, either way it's gonna be unbalanced. - Right, I just don't like the fact that more times than not, the Cowboys are probably gonna be decent to pretty good, whereas teams in your division, like who's Jacksonville getting? - They probably get Tampa, Miami. You'd have to figure that out, like I haven't done this, I haven't done this one through 32. - No, I know, I have to say it from the division. - Jacksonville Atlanta would be close. - But Jacksonville Atlanta would be good, like Georgia Florida has the college rivalry. - I think that would make sense. - No, but I mean, this would be so much fun. This would be so much fun. It's better than some random game 17. - But like you say, when you're just trying to stack and rack wins, I'd like to get a cupcake match up that's a rivalry game instead of-- - This is a cupcake match up. - Right, this year is-- - Cowboys are one of the worst teams in the league. - At the start of the year, we didn't think that. It's one of 16 though, like I didn't know all sport-- - One of 17. - One of 17, it's probably where I'm cashing it. But I mean, it's one of 17, I mean, like if that's, I get you want a softer schedule, but at one, it's gonna fluctuate year to year. Like some years it'll be tough, some years it'll be soft, and that's gonna be the same for every team in the league. But it's one of 17 if like, if that's what keeps you out, then you didn't serve it anyway. - Plus it's a, it's a, not a conference match up. So it doesn't care. I know it counts the same as the standings, the tie-breakers, the extra stuff. It wouldn't be like playing your rival regame in the AFC. Yeah, this is fun. This is a great idea. In fact, I like this take so much, I'm gonna tick-tock it later. All right, what do you got, Brian? - I think, and this is something that came up during the Tennessee, Georgia game this last Saturday. But I think, and this is kind of, well, soccer matters coming up at six o'clock. It's something we see in soccer sometimes with guys flopping and going down and it may be, the soccer, it's just maybe get the yellow card, the red card, right? There's a game's bishop there. In football, as you see it, when teams go hurry up and the defense is struggling, they get tired, and then they get a call from the sideline and someone who seems perfectly fine, just randomly goes down and can't get up so they can stop the clock and have a time to regroup. I think if a player goes down like that when in a situation where the team's running no huddle, and you go, I mean, not even really suspicious or not, 'cause he can't really dictate in tension, but if a player goes down, they should have to set out the rest of the series because either A, they're actually hurt and they would be missing the series anyway, or B, you're trying to gamesmanship and slow the team down artificially and you deserve the penalty of having to set out that series. - Too long, didn't read. - You're the worst, you're the worst. - No, I cashed that, I think it's a good idea. - I think so too. I was trying to think when you see Kiffin do this a lot and there are coaches that are really been trying to take advantage of the system, I was thinking, is there a way that you can kind of try and curtail it? Anything like that is, I'm in for it. - Let's hammer a few of these textures. Brian and T, Cash or Trash, the Texans will be at least one of the two out of the Ravens or Chiefs in the regular season. - Ugh, trash. I'm gonna cash it, I think they're gonna win one. - Trash. - Yeah, I'll cash it. I don't know, good about it, but I'll cash it. - 4-1-3-3, Yukon Fan and Houston. Three Pete, Cash or Trash? - Trash. - Who's trash, maybe. - Trash, trash. - Go Cougs. - She's gonna play tonight. - Yeah, he was at Econ. - He was in the San Antonio score, right? - Texas A&M. - I guess Yukon. - Yeah. - Didn't that used to be A&M Commerce? I don't know, but I'm like, who do they play? - I think so. - I think that might've been A&M Commerce. - I think A&M Commerce. - I think that's-- - But he's talking about Yukon. - I know, I know, but I think I saw A&M Commerce on the schedule for the Texas A&M and the Yankees, I'm ready. - I could be making it up completely. Yeah, I'm gonna be locked in on the Hofstra game. If they go in Florida State tonight, locked in. - I'll be dialed into that one, watch a market. - Okay, fair enough. Cash to trash, breakmin' signs with another team for more Mulah. Brown trades for Correa to come home, but at third base. - Trash to Correa part of it. So the-- - Trash than I'm trashin' all of it, I guess. I think breakmin' is definitely gonna be probably signing somewhere else for more money. - Really? I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like he's chasing the dollars. - I'm gonna trash the idea of trash for Correa. - Yeah, I'm gonna trash both parts. I think Correa's gone and I don't think, or if Correa's not coming back and breakmin''s gone. - Last one, the Golden State Warriors will compete for an NBA championship this year. - Trash. I don't think they-- - Trash? - They gotta have to a hot start, but I just don't think they're deep enough and talented. - I'm gonna, I'm gonna trash this one. - Trash. - Yeah, the west is too deep, but the Timberwolves, the OKC, I mean, we'll see what's in for, yeah. I don't, I don't, Phoenix has fallen off, but I don't see Golden State staying in this for longer. - Has Phoenix started losing games? 'Cause they were hot stuff. - Yeah, they've fallen off a little bit and came into rants right now. - All right, last one, I lied. Chicken Alfredo's a top two Italian dish. - Oh God, trash. - Trash. - What? - Cash. - Trash. - Chicken Alfredo's amazing. - Chicken Alfredo? - Chicken's far better than chicken Alfredo. - I like chicken far. - Yeah. - Chicken far, I'm way better than chicken. - Wait a minute, that's one. - Okay. - It also depends where you go. Some places do chicken Alfredo better than your chicken far. (upbeat music) - Second Italian dish? - Uh huh. - That's so easy, huh? - Teramisu. - But garlic knots. - I would take chicken parmer to take lasagna. - Manna cottie. - How do you feel about Marsala? - I love chicken Marsala. - I like it's almost feels like it's not an Italian dish. - Yeah. - But I used to be like go to a lot. - Give me a little chicken Alfredo from Italian, I would just be a happy man for five hours. All right, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero, ESPN. Second time with the starting offensive line. What do we think of the second time with this offensive line? It is the B's on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 97-25. (upbeat music) - ESPN, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, eight, seven, five. (upbeat music) - Broadcasting live from the Ferretex Community Bank Studios. It's the Killer B's with Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. - On ESPN 97-5 and 92-5. - All right, what do you think of the offensive line? Second time with this unit, Laramie. You guys don't like juice. Patterson, Shaq, Titus. What do you think of the offensive line for the second time they started it together? - They were okay. I mean, my biggest issue is still left guard. And so, you know, I said what I had to say about juice. And I just, I understand that if that's the best you can get right now, hopefully he just continues to progress and get better and gets, he gets more comfortable there with each passing game, but it's still not great. I still think Shaq is not great. And so that's bothersome. I get Patterson a lot of credit simply because of the fact that the sixth round guy that can play both positions seems to be way better than the second round guy that can play both positions. But overall, then you throw in with Tunsel with the penalty early and then just kind of, it's okay. It's better, but it ain't great. - Yeah, see, I thought that they played pretty well. The offensive line, second time. You look at the pressures, we're down. Like you weren't playing a great team again. So it's hard to have this litmus test of, what does it look like against a good team? But CJ Stroud was sacked one time. Unbelievable improvement of where they've been. We were like, well, you know, this offensive line's gonna be better at pass protection, but they're not gonna be able to open up any holes for Joe Mixon and they're not gonna be able to run the football. What did the Houston Texans do on the ground yesterday? Well, Joe Mixon ran for 109 yards and the Texans as a team ran for 141. Again, the competition matters, context matters, and the competition wasn't that good. But if you're telling me CJ Stroud got sacked once and I'm running for 141 yards, that's good in my book. So I think the offensive line did a really good job. - I did think, and look, you mentioned that it's hard to grade what they would do against real competition, where I think you can grade against real competitions with Micah Parsons. And Micah Parsons was pretty much the only guy that was getting through on a consistent basis. Other than, I forget the defensive tackles name, there was one play where he got through pretty quickly. But Parsons, I think at one play they said late in the game had like eight, nine pressures in the game. So he was consistently-- - I don't know what I think was 10. And I was surprised by that. - But CJ, and it was pretty much not 100% only from Parsons, but like 90% from Parsons, having to step up in the pocket and make plays and move it, you're all right, Jeremy, you have a short look on your face. - I think we have a ghost in the studio. - Out of the blue between us, the microphone just crashed down onto the console we both looked like, how the hell that happened. - His face went white and just like, it was very surprised. So I wasn't sure what was going on. - Kinda like ghosts though. - Okay, well, not for me. But I, look, Parsons, I thought, caused havoc. He caused CJ to have to step up and avoid and escape the pocket at times. He saw CJ with several long scrambles. So, I mean, we'll see when they face a team with more than one good pass rusher. But overall, I mean, one sack, 141 yards rushing and they did pretty well. - 9953 competition isn't good as a team, but as a D-line, having Micah by itself makes them formidable, fair point. And I like the kid from Texas, he's pretty good player. He had overshone. - Overshone. I can't always say, overshone, overshone is a good player. Like you get Micah and you get overshone. Like that is a formidable defensive line. I agree with the texture there. 4478 second worst rushing defense in the league. So there's the opposite. Like you got Micah, you got overshone, that can get to the quarterback, but then you have the second worst rushing defense in the league. Now Micah Parsons has been injured for a good amount of games too. But yeah, I'll tell you, if you told me before the game, one sack, 140 yards on the ground, I'll take it. The one area that certainly needs to get cleaned up is the penalties. Whether it's being on the line of scrimmage and not making yourself an ineligible receiver down fill, which has happened half a dozen times for the Texans this year, and the holding penalties. The juice scrubs, one was actually the one that was more costly. Took you out of really touchdown range. You ended up scoring on the Laramie Tunsel Drive anyways. So, but yeah, need to clean up the penalties. I think it's a promising step forward. And again, if you told me the stats before the game, I'd be like, yeah, I'll take that from the Texans offensive line. So, throw it on that 713-780-ESP and HR&P listener line. How about Derek Stingley? Has Derek Stingley entered top cornerback territory? It is the B's on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. (upbeat music) - E-S-P-S. - 99-97-5. - Your child's first step is a big step towards their future. With first step by college invest, every Colorado child born or adopted one or after January 1st, 2020, will receive a free $115 contribution to their college invest college savings account. Plus, we'll match a percentage of your contributions in the coming years, helping you save even more. Enroll today and start your child off on the right foot. 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