The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
11/27 Hour 1 - Amen Thompson Is A Star
"Your child's first step is a big step towards their future. With first step by college invest, every Colorado child born or adopted on or after January 1, 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. Visit ColoradoFirststep.org to get started and claim your $115 now. ESPN 97.5 and 92.5 proudly present, The Killer B. It's definitely a fan of the Killer B's. Don't sweat the technique. Now from a Veritex Community Bank Studios, bring you the fastest three hours in Houston Sports Radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. "Your man, you didn't want to do the what up, H-town, Jermaine? You didn't want to do the what up, H-town, how are we doing?" "That wasn't bad. I give that a 7-8. I give it a 7-8. How was Jermaine's what up, H-town? How are we doing? 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. "What do you think it was for Jermaine?" "I'll give it a 9. It's pretty good." "Oh, hi, Mark's." "Hi, Mark's." "HAJ is my favorite." "Jermaine, every filling in for blankers today. Thanksgiving. Pray, thanksgiving. Addition to the killer bees on ESPN 97.5, ESPN 92.5, this is the first time we've done a show together, Jermaine. I'm excited for this. Always been a fan of your work, so happy that you could hang out with us for a couple of hours, even though I'm far away, even though I'm all the way across the country." "I teased Jeremy when we talked about this and I said this is the second time he's avoided seeing me because he wasn't at the listener party either, so I think it's a thing with us. We're friends, despite him not wanting to be in the same room with me." "Yeah, I'm hiding from you like I hide from the twitchers. I have to stay away from them because they're psychotic. I don't think you're psychotic, so you have that going for you. But it is a busy show. Andrew Monaco, voice of the Aggies, be joining us in 15 minutes. But we're fair, we're balanced here with the killer bees, so Craig Wei will join us at 4.15. We'll talk to the voices of both the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies ahead of the big match up Saturdays, the rivalries renewed. Lee Sterling will be joining us at 3.45 as well, so a busy show and we're all jam packing it in two hours. We've got to get out of here for some Aggie basketball coming up later tonight. Aggies are playing Creighton tonight and the players era festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which is just where I happened to be. Houston losing to Alabama last night in overtime, 85 to 80, and a vinful evening in basketball in Houston yesterday. He had two games going into overtime, Houston, Alabama played an absolute thriller, fantastic game. Could have went both ways. I'm really excited about where the Cougars are despite losing the contest. Lots of fouls caught in that game, it was a very tight whistle, both ways, very tight whistle both ways, but Alabama was able to squeak by Houston, Houston had two players foul out, two players that could not resume after a couple of injuries, minute restrictions, things like that. But Alabama, three and oh, against the Houston Cougars in the last four years, but a very fun game. I could see that being a final format chip. And then you had the Rockets, Jermaine, playing in Minnesota, and look, I'm a big, I don't know where you stand with the whole NBA in season tournament, the NBA, NIT, I'm a big fan of it because I think it adds some intrigue to November basketball when most people don't really care about the NBA. I think it adds some intrigue there. I like the fact that you get like these, these games are more intense, like these games have some something riding on them. So you're seeing some intensity that you normally wouldn't see in November regular season. I really like it because normally people will check out on the NBA and wait until Christmas and thereafter. Some people even wait until after the all-star break, but this in season tournament has bought a little bit more aggression and a little bit heightened sense of urgency for winning these early season games. So I think it does, it has heightened up the level of play. But I'm just glad that we have games earlier in the season that actually means something that guys are actually willing to play for. So we do see a better level of play earlier in the season. It's similar to like college football back when you just had the two national champions in the game. You would see early season college football start to morph from scheduling cupcakes to wait, we got to make sure the BCS computers like us. So let's schedule a tougher opponent earlier in the season. That's what I'm seeing with the early season NBA schedule. Yeah. I like that comparison. Yeah. I'm a fan of it. Like you're adding intrigue, you're adding stakes to November basketball, you're seeing some intensity and I was like I don't really care who wins in the regular season a whole lot. Like of course I want the Rockets to make the playoffs and be as good as they can possibly be. But I also understand it's an 82 game season and it's about building up to trying to play your best basketball towards the end of the year. Like it's actually time where like yesterday I watched the game of course off DVR. But I was watching that like okay like let's I really hope the Rockets win this game. I wouldn't normally think that in late November I'd be like yeah I want them to play well. I want to see the development of the players. I want to see the rotations are looking like things like that. But yesterday was the first time really all yours like yes come on let's go Rockets try to win this group and advance to the quarterfinals. So that was cool. I thought a couple of things were interesting there like Dre saying that the Rockets almost choked that game away yesterday. I don't know if I would call it a choke like Minnesota is a good team. Play off team a year ago Anthony Edwards is a freak like you're going to have you know runs in NBA games where the other team gets back into it. I actually think that the Rockets handled it pretty well. Obviously you don't want to go like a 16 nothing run or whatever it was. But I felt like they handled it well in terms of punching back like after that run happened 16 nothing run I expected Minnesota to run away with that game. I expected them to end up winning by 10 points yet the Rockets were still able to force it over time and then we're the better team and overtime. I think there's a lot to be encouraged about about how a young team on the road against a playoff team from last year despite getting punched in the face in Minnesota coming all the way back and you blow the big lead you were still able to send it to OT and win. I look at that as a positive. Yeah because you're you're going to face that in the playoffs where you're going to have a lead and the other team is going to make the adjustments and come back. So you want to know can my team you know face adversity and overcome it. If you never face any adversity or you rarely face an adversity and you never overcome it. That's a scary thought going into the playoffs so looking forward like you said you don't really care about the regular season as much anymore but this is you know kind of made you pay more attention to it closer attention to it but you're also looking for trends that your team is going to have heading into the playoffs like what does this seem going to look like when they're down can they come back when they're up and the other team comes back can they save off the lead or if they do give up the lead can they come back and win that game they prove that they can do that last night on the road against a playoff contender. Like in the middle of that game I'm sitting there like yeah this is a young team that's not quite ready to win these type of games and then they want it it's like oh okay like maybe this we're seeing the the signs of growth with this team I thought Alpeachin Goon look Alpeachin Goon's final line was fantastic 22 points 11 assists 10 rebounds triple double I thought it was a rollercoaster with him yesterday he was fantastic for three and a half quarters I thought he disappeared down the stretch and then he turned it back on an overtime so that was interesting maybe the most interesting though the germane amin Thompson was playing over Jalen green and crunch time like he may try to go with Jalen green with about four and a half minutes left to play in the fourth quarter and he's like this isn't going well let's go back to amin Thompson and then amin Thompson played the final few minutes of regulation played all of the overtime period which amin Thompson might be the best Houston rocket so I thought that was interesting that Jalen green in crunch time in overtime was sitting on the bench in favor of amin Thompson Jalen green only played 23 minutes amin Thompson played until 38 minutes in that game yesterday and so one is a starter and one comes off the bench quote unquote but when you look at their minutes you would think that Jalen green was coming off if you just looked at the box score and it was listed you know without starters and being separated you would think that Jalen green came off the bench and amin Thompson started so being listed as a starter and what not that's great and everything and you get to start open the game or whatever but the guys that play the most minutes and especially the guy that play the most minutes in crunch time are the most important players on your team so when you're looking at things like that look at who would you want to trade in one of these trade scenarios where the rockets say we're trying to attract a bigger player that is where you're going to look to trade a player if you know I can play someone else in crunch time or I can play someone else the bulk of these minutes instead of you that person is probably going to be the one on the move yeah but you can't trade them for a while so that's that's the thing no no long term long term if this does not improve we can look to see Jalen green being traded instead of someone else on this team if you're going to attract a bigger name player yeah yeah long term view I hear where you're coming from there and I tend to agree like I've been I've defended Jalen green probably more than most not not to say that I've like loved his play I think he's a highly inefficient inefficient score he's not a good shooter when you're not a good shooter it's tough to to be a an efficient score but I've also been patient with his development knowing he's a very young player and it's like well let's just see let let's see what he turns into because there's a lot of players that are stars in the league now that weren't great in their first three or four years in the NBA and Jalen green incredibly young when he entered the NBA so maybe the best way to say it's I've been more patient with Jalen green than most of the fan base a majority of the fan base but whenever you're starting to bench the guy in crunch time in a high stakes game like this is as high stakes a game as you're going to see in November on the road playoff team last year like a big crowd you you're trying to win half a million dollars in advance to the quarterfinals by doing it Jalen green played 23 minutes and if you looked only at the box score like you mentioned you would think that he was the guy off the bench and look not only that but like eliminate the minute aspect of it who would you rather be on the floor in crunch time right now a men Thompson or Jalen green I think 95% of people would tell you a men Thompson like a men Thompson to me has that winning gene like he makes he's not a great shooter although he did hit that big three to tie it but he just has the winning gene he makes winning plays he's able to poke a ball away that leads to a fast break that leads to two on the other end he gets a critical rebound he gets a critical tip like a men Thompson is a winner and Jalen green while his game is unpolished and maybe it never becomes polished to me doesn't have that winning gene I think that's the difference between the two of them I'll never forget years ago when I first started doing more radio and whatnot rest in peace Craig Shelton and I were doing a show on KCOH and he started saying James Harden doesn't have championship DNA and a lot of Rockets fans were upset about that and lo and behold that became true because look at James Harden's career you know almost ten years later after we first made those comments and James Harden has not won a championship he's not even sniffed one so I'm in Thompson has that championship DNA it seems and Jalen green does not some guys just have it and some don't but another thing that I'm in Thompson always does is like you said he gets those deflections and it makes those plays those plays don't show up in the box score those are things that you just have to watch and know the game in order to appreciate how good this kid really is as opposed to the flash and everything the highlights that Jalen green will tend to give you yeah I mean I love that guy I love him in Thompson like the dude is a winner eight eight this tweet this text rather seven one three seven eight zero ESPN HRMP listener line by the way this this text triggers me here Jermaine eight eight zero seven green was questionable to play with an illness okay did Jalen green play in that game yesterday if Jalen green's good enough to go then you need to feel like you can count on Jalen green like this text irritates me like the Michael Jordan flu game which was really a stomach bug what if he was awful and they lose that game and like okay well he had an illness he had a stomach bug no big deal like to me that's defeatist mentality if you're not good enough to play don't play and he's had an illness for like a week by the way so how long is this illness going on where he's not even missing games and how sick is Jalen green so like it to me if you're good to go you go I'm not a big believer in the whole well he was sick he wasn't feeling his his best you start to get adrenaline that stuff goes away go make some winning basketball plays like a men Thompson did you know who else was was questionable with an injury you know who else was questionable Dylan Brooks and Dylan Brooks played 41 minutes and scored 22 points so the whole questionable with like illness one guy went out there and busted his tail off defensively had a huge game on that green court the other guy was benched in favor of a men Thompson so I don't want to hear this illness junk it to me it's a cop out and if you're if you're good enough to strap up your shoes and hit the court then there should be no excuses paid to that especially when it comes to like an illness now if you're visibly injured and hobbled and still trying to go out there and your team is allowing that then that that's something between you and your team and your coaching and the staff and what what not but an illness or whatever even with an injury if you're going out there to contribute you're going out there to contribute you should be a professional say okay I'm going to go out here and play let's not give and take excuses when we want to and let's not give and take excuses to fit narratives let's just call it for what it is he went out there he played he didn't play well someone else came and played those crunch time minutes and played better than what he would have it's not a Jalen green bashing session is just showing a men Thompson appreciation session and just calling Jalen green out for what we see that he is is he's still trying to live up to the potential he has not quite fully gotten there yet yeah he's a developing player and it'd be one thing if he had like a sprained ankle and you could see him hobbling but like the eye test to me he passed the eye test like he looked like he was capable of playing you would we wouldn't be saying well he was questionable with illness if you went out and scored 30 and was huge in crunch time so I'm not a big fan of the excuse there poking that ball away and getting that breakaway dunk that does not look like someone that had an illness because that takes speed quickness and quick hands and a ton of hops to do stuff like that so I don't want to hear it yeah he passed the eye test I think so all right just getting started the killer bees were with you until five o'clock busy show Lee Sterling 345 is going to hand you out some winners Craig Way voice of the Longhorns will be joining us Jermaine is going to tell you why Texans fans are feeling disappointed this season later in the show as well but when we come back voice of the Aggies Andrew Monaco will join us at the big game Saturday between Texas and Texas A&M which you can listen to right here on ESPN 97 5 7 1 3 7 8 0 ESPN the HR and P listener line on twitch twitch.tv/espn 97 5 on YouTube at ESPN Houston Twitter to at ESPN 9 7 5 germanes at the underscore germane on Twitter I'm at Jeremy Branham we are the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5 podcasting live from the Veritex community bank studios let's go straight out to the HR and P guests line being joined by Andrew Monaco voice of the Texas A&M Aggies all part of our coverage of the Texas Texas A&M game coming up on Saturday you can listen to it right here on ESPN 97 5 presented by Rebecca Creek distillery Andrew thanks for taking a couple of minutes before the basketball game to hang out with us this afternoon I was going to invite you up to the room but I feel like they'd be kind of weird. So there's you guys from Texas right in Vegas talking about a game that's going to be played in Texas that Vegas is going to also be very involved in it is it not? Yeah yeah the irony is there for sure Andrew the irony is not lost on me what does this rivalry mean now that it's back now that we're getting it huge stakes too so it adds to the intensity of the rivalry what's the feeling like right now in college station Yeah I think once you said with the stakes that are involved I think that changes everything for this so the 13 year absence from the Aggies went to the SEC after the really the attempt to go to the Pac-12 to make it the Pac-16 that fell through the Longhorn network came on and the Aggies said that's enough we're looking east we're not looking west and then you know there's a lot of grief today and then took for that some from Texas and the lost dog said look we're not playing them again in football I'll decide when we do it and he was wrong the SEC decided great thank you decided when we're going to play again so Texas and Oklahoma said they were going to come in to the SEC and in this new era of college football you need brands you have to be a brand to be part of in this breakaway that's going to happen in a couple years is Super Division 1 so the SEC went out and got three more very strong brands so it brings the rivalry back 119 time what it means is interesting in that there's a lot of guys who are going to play in this game on Saturday who don't know about they didn't grow up with this rivalry but who's going to be in the stand and who's going to be watching those are the people I think you rekindle all the memories where heroes are made sometimes unsung heroes you don't know until a game like this and I think with the stakes like this makes it a little bit different from games in the past sometimes it's been you know what Texas needs the wind and to go on to a national championship I know the win in 63 was big for Darrell K Royal that started that little run of championships and if you remember at that time Texas didn't have one and Texas A&M did or there's times that each school has kind of ruined a great season for the other now this is an SEC championship setting final if you will the winner gets Georgia so it's not only the most anticipated because it's been gone for 13 years with the stakes being this high I think it just adds to what will be probably a pretty dramatic Saturday Andrew Jermaine every here I just wanted to know like also what will add to that dramatic Saturday do you think that they're the lack of hype and or build up for this game do you think that that will have any impact on once the guys actually hit the field the whistle is blown and the ball is there do you think that intensity will pick right back up I think it will I really do I think I think there's two things to get in a game like this and motion only gets so far that that burns out so then what's left what's left is your training right what is it going to be the Aggies or the Longhorns play to their identity and I always say this about teams as well can you hide your flaws sometimes during a game as well well there being ten cities the reason why I say yes to that is a lot of these guys have played against one another in high school some have been teammates and now they're at opposite schools they know one another and they have played throughout high school and trying to get to Cowboy Stadium right play in that in that state championship so you have that I think is rekindled and I would be stunned if any of the interesting right two head coaches who really don't know or have coached in this but I think both of them understand what this rivalry is they're going to be reminded all the time from family at East around campus who they who they run into Longhorns on that campus and again with with a postseason being there like Texas A&M's lost Auburn took any opportunity unless they went out of getting into the 12 team playoffs they can't win this week and lose to Georgia and expect that would be floor losses you can't expect it Texas has a little bit of a of a safety net but I don't think that takes away at all of the intensity I think there's you know if there's bragging rights for Texas we're having one the last match up in 2011 I think you're going to have the same thing in 2024 you want to have that that bragging rights going forward of when it was resumed that your school came out on top Andrew Monaco joining us on the HR and P guests line our good friend Chris Frissure from P connecting us to Andrew the voice of the Aggies Marcel reads had a run of play now for Texas A&M what is he added to this offense for the Aggies you know what there's that dual threat dimension for a young kid who Jimbo Fisher took from Ole Miss he was highly recruited and last year you know he was number four last year if you think about it and he really learned under Jimbo and Bobby Patrino and then he's really connected with Colin Klein always being ready like I think he surprised people when kind of women was injured I think everybody expected Jalen Henderson who was the number three last year but Marcel read beat him out and he's been the most consistent dual threat he can throw the ball still has the work on accuracy but I think over the course of this year you've seen his decision making get better Mike Elko was joking with me he said in the old days dual threat you couldn't throw that you were just a runner and I think those days are over now and I thought even in the Auburn loss I thought you could see him grow up an awful lot he didn't panic he ran more than he did the week before against New Mexico state which you would which you would expect but I think you're just in a quarter back grow up before your eyes the confidence that he's playing in the trust that he has with his teammates as well that that is big now what has helped Marcel read throughout the season the running game I think let me on Moss took a lot of pressure off that and that's where Maury Daniels asked to come through for Texas A&M they've got to be able to run the ball I think Texas would like to try to make A&M one-dimensional and have to throw it with the turnovers that they create they would love to have the ball in the air more than A&M would like but Marcel was also a terrific runner but what he used to do I think was run when he didn't see that first option open now he's progressing now they were designed runs as well for him and he's a really good runner but now I think he's looking if he doesn't find his receiver that's when he takes off I really think the decision making of Marcel read and his confidence I've made him a better quarterback now in week number 12 yeah I love the way that he's just come in and automatically turn that offense around it's been amazing to watch if you take away his sack yards lost and you add that back into his rushing yards he's actually averaging over five yards a carry which is pretty respectable for any type of runner especially five and a half yards a carry a college football not that bad not in this shake a stick at on the other side of the ball where do you see a defensive player make it get huge impact against this Texas offense well it's got to be on that it's got to be on that defensive line that's the strength of this law it's Nick's Gordon there on the edge and it's so interesting in the SEC seeing all the impact edge players every team has not one they've got two on each side so if Nick's Gordon and some are still or for the athletes in fairness with their that Jack position that's now in college for both cash is how and I think they have to get pressure on Quinn Ewers as I say that I'm really impressed with what they've done in the interior I think defensive tackles Albert Regis and Shabar Turner have been instrumental in this defense being so good now they also falls back to what it's been at Texas A&M right Nondi Matabique who's now with the Ravens Bobby Brown is now with the Rams miles Garrett Von Miller you've got to have those types of players I think that defensive line has to if you can sack Quinn Ewers great but can you you have to at the very least pressure him and get him off time he reminds me more of Garrett Nussmeyer Vellis you then little more sellers or Taelyn Green at Arkansas he's a little more of a pocket presence he will move and give himself room to run when he asked to I think he's more Connor Whitman if you want to use it an A&M quarterback then he is a Marcel Reed but that defensive line has got to win that line of scrimmage can allow Texas to run and you've got to get pressure on Quinn Ewers Andrew thanks for taking a few minutes and joining us this afternoon we appreciate the time have a great call Saturday have a great call here this afternoon happy Thanksgiving Andrew Monaco voice of the Aggies he'll be on the call Texas Texas A&M Saturday let's do it right here on ESPN 97-5 he'll be on the call this evening whenever the Texas A&M basketball team takes on Creighton in the players era festival talk Craig way later on in the program to Lee Sterling coming up 345 but we return Tremaine Tremaine every filling in for Blankers he's going to tell you why Texans fans are filling disappointed this season 7-1-3-7-8-0 ESPN it is the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5 you're locked in with the killer bees on ESPN 97-5 and 92-5 live from the Veritex community bank studios here's Joel Plank and Jeremy Brannam killer bees ESPN ESPN 97-5 ESPN 92-5 Jermaine every filling in for for Blankers today at the underscoranger major man you got some high marks by the way on your what up H sound hey how are we doing the twitchers said that it was better than Blankers all of the twitchers usually are pretty anti-blank so yeah I heard about the twitch versus Joel beef yeah there's a there's beef there which I mean I have beef with the twitchers too but for some reason they put up with me 5-0 I put up with them quite frankly 5-0-4-4 not about h-town at all solid eight so AJ gave you a nine AJ give you a nine texture giving you an eight twitcher saying it's better than Blankers 7-1-3-7-8-0 ESPN get to the Jermaine's point in a moment oh Ocho though asking you a question Jermaine Jermaine while you do that I'm going to explain whether Texans will finish eight and nine but still win the AFC South Ocho's pretty anti- Texans this year I think it started in the draft and they didn't draft Brian Thomas he wanted Brian Thomas badly it's gonna make that trade yeah who's Brian Thomas is pretty dang good maybe not in a great situation to really elevate his game but yeah he's pretty good receiver alright so why are Texans fans feeling disappointed this season Jermaine I think there's an expectation thing there coming off of the previous season and then you had the draft and what not and people were upset that they quote unquote lost out on Bryce Young I think that it was set up to where okay we're gonna suck again this year and then we'll probably have to wait until the following year to start competing when they immediately were competing last year ended up winning the division going to the playoffs winning a playoff game it kind of skewed the the table for expectations with this team going into this year instead of people wanting to compete this coming season the season that we're in right now they thought that they were ready to actually contend and the reason why I'm specifically using those two different words is because competing and contending are two different things they're two different words but they have two different meanings in my book competing means you're fighting for a playoff spot you're fighting to jockey for a position in the playoffs once you get there whatever happens happens but you're trying to make that next step as an up and coming team contending means you're looking at the conference title game and or Super Bowl you know or hoisting the Super Bowl trophy you're looking for bigger and better goals you're guaranteed almost to make the playoffs so missing the playoffs would be a huge letdown in the disappointment you're now at the point where you're ready to turn that corner and start looking at okay we're one of the two or three best teams you know maybe four best teams and football that's contending to me I think that people went into this season coming off of last season thought they were ready to contend and totally took their eyes off the ball of all the holes that needed to be filled in order for this team to be ready to contend they weren't ready to compete this year the fans were ready to contend and because they're just competing for a playoff spot even though this division is terrible they're they're just not feeling that this team is seven and five they're not willing to accept that at this point in time they feel like this team should be 12 and or 10 and 2 or something and I just think that the expectations have been skewed yeah I don't disagree with anything you're saying I just don't know what's wrong with expectation like to me that's part of fandom is having these high expectations hoping they hit and it's also part of the emotion of fandom right like we have these expectations and then whenever they do hit it's like wow here is you know this euphoric moment you know much like the rockets winning in the mid 90s back to back much like the Astros winning really the first one in 17 because the first one in 17 you know this organization had never been at every one of World Series the one in 22 it's like okay well you know we've established ourselves as a dynasty we feel like this is something we deserve so I don't really have the the issue with the expectation especially a city that craves craves it so much when it comes to the Houston Texans I'm not saying that that the expectation was skewed or was wrong I just don't know why we were away from expectation I don't want them to run away from the expectations I'm I guess my thing is is that fans like you said they want to set the expectations higher they want their team to grow and achieve and it's like okay we made the playoffs last year one division now it's time to let's start continuing for a Super Bowl title and going to the AFC Championship game however just the reason why I say rain it back to pull it back a little bit because there's still so many holes that this team needs to fill sure that are kind of obvious and you also want to make sure don't get it twisted CJ Stroud is a franchise quarterback he is the guy here but you also have to give him room to grow just because he came in and set the league on fire last year and broke all kind of rookie records and look great and fantastic and he's one of the top five ten quarterbacks in the league right now arguably you have to understand he's still is going to have room to grow people are going to get film on him they're going to know what to do plus you look at this offensive line in the hole that they have there even though they spent draft picks and money on this offensive line there's still a lot of work to be done there they obviously need another corner they need better plan safety there's a lot of different things that this team still needs to fill in and fill out while they've made a lot of headway and they have guys who can make plays and whatnot on both sides of the ball there's still a lot to be filled in there in order for them to truly compete at the higher levels of this league consistently and that that's the thing that i'm just trying to delineate and separate is like yes this team is good yes this team is ready but in order for them to take that next step and be mentioned in the same synthesis as the Kansas City Chiefs or the Lions or the Ravens like teams that are you know destined for the Super Bowl this season that people are talking about they still need to go a little bit further the pushback that i would have though is that every team in the NFL is flawed right like maybe not Detroit although they did lose Hutchinson but you like you watch the Chiefs it's like okay that's that's a flawed team now do they have the championship pedigree where it's very difficult to bet against them to win the AFC of course but that's not a perfect team the Ravens have proven all year that they're not a perfect team but they belong in that upper echelon you beat the Bills you should have beaten the Lions so like those things that you have along the way i think is what adds to the hope and maybe that's what the Texans fans should have is more the hope rather the expectation of competing for a Super Bowl now like certain like the frustrating part to me is i feel like Nick Casario and the Texans felt like they did enough in the off season to put themselves in a spot where they had a puncher's chance to make a deep run and look i think the Texans have a puncher's chance to beat anybody in the NFL i just don't think the Houston Texans can win three consecutive games against the upper echelon of the NFL that's why i don't see them making like this miraculous Super Bowl run i think that they could beat Kansas City in one game i think they could be Baltimore in one game i think they've proven they can be Buffalo in one game they they can beat Detroit in one game even they blew even though they blew a lead there but they're so inconsistent undisciplined maybe poorly coached that i don't think they can beat those teams consecutively over a three or four week stretch and i think that might be the difference between competing and contending as well uh where they are capable they are capable of beating an upper echelon team but can they do it four straight weeks to reach this pinnacle of the NFL that's where i have my doubts because they've been inconsistent and they have a trouble putting together week after week after week uh you know you lose to the Titans at home shows your inconsistency you're down two possessions by Jacksonville at home it shows your inconsistency you blow a 16 point lead against Detroit it shows your inconsistency you lose at the Jets who the who heard the buckle you show your inconsistency now the frustrating part that i have when it comes from a roster building perspective is i feel like like Casario gave this team a shot uh because the holes that you mentioned like and i'm assuming that you mean nickel corner because laster has been good as a as a rookie uh jaylin petri's been good in that nickel corner spot but he has a lot of trouble covering um it's kind of weird because you know everybody's talking about this this great year that petri's had and i would agree if you eliminated his coverage uh eric murries uh is it is it i i think a pretty big hole um but you you look at what he did in the off season it's like okay you add mixin you add digs you add these skill guys and the people the people are pushing back on me right now well you didn't need skill guys you did an offensive line but if you're a general manager and you look at this offensive line you're paying tonsil top five money you're paying tight his howard top five money when you signed him as a right tackle now not a great contract but you paid him top five money you traded for shag mason you extended him you have juice scrubs you traded up for in the second round and you have kenyan green who you drafted in the first round so i don't know how from a roster building point of view from a general manager point of view you look at this team in the off season and you're like okay we need to bring in an offensive lineman uh now that was wrong but i totally understand the mindset and the logic that nik casario had in the off season when he was trying to elevate this offense like okay what do we need to do to elevate this offense our offensive line last year was pretty good nik casario would probably tell you that with a patchwork offensive line we're getting healthier we're adding more talent to this offensive line let's bring in skill to see if that elevates the offense and to me just kind of was wrong on that assessment yeah i think so too and i think that this off season i have a feeling and i know for sure that they'll probably address that uh but one of the reasons why people say just to go back a little bit why jalen petri is having such a great season it is it's a really cool stat that i saw and i've been watching it uh have a greek in place the most destructive players on defense uh this is put out by the 30 13 uh they they counted all the havoc reeking plays and what they mean by havoc reeking plays is like sags interceptions turnovers things that you know pretty much totally disrupt the uh an offense if you're a defensive player uh jalen petri is number nine in the league and having reeking plays as of uh november 19th with 16 there are two more texas players that are in the top 20 on this list uh that's derrick stingley jr will anderson they both have 15 each so when you look at this list of all these havoc reeking plays that these players are making you have three of your houston texans on that defense in the top 20 in the league so that's why you can look at that and say like all of these guys were drafted by this regime and were were you know brought in by this regime in order to play certain plays or play as certain um just players that they wanted to bring in that fit their mode their profile or whatever but the reason why we're looking at these havoc reeking plays that uh jalen petri is making and we're still having an issue with him is because of all the coverage things that he gives up so yes the sags the force fumbles the interceptions and you know the the tackles for losses in the in the uh the first downsaving tackles and whatnot all of that kind of stuff is great but when you're giving up you know easy completions and you can't stick with the guy in coverage i don't necessarily put that on jalen petri himself because that's not who he is as a player i put that on the defense in demico ryan's for putting him in position to get taken advantage of like that yeah i just don't know how you hide them though like if you're in nickel corner how you're gonna hide that guy in coverage basically he shouldn't to me if you're gonna put him on the field you need to make sure that he's going to be able to take advantage of his ability he can't cover slot receivers most of them he can't cover sometimes he'll do a good job sometimes he can't now if he's sticking with a tight end or somebody like that he can be physical he may get outsized and out muscled but he will not be out physical sometimes he has trouble cousins covering certain running backs out of the backfield those are the type of players that he needs to cover but as a nickel corner you need to be able to stick with those quicker short area guys that can work in a lot of space because typically slot corners have a lot of space or slot receivers have a lot of space to work with you got to find a way to stick with those guys depending on how they want to keep calling this defense i don't know but i do not like the fact that he's a nickel corner and then you also end up getting your other safeties that are on the field matched up against other outside receivers or slot receivers and then you have this total mismatch everywhere on your defense it's just not working that shows the need for another corner on this theme all right seven one three seven eight zero ESP and HRMP listener line germane filling in for for blankers at least sterling paramount sports all he does is win he's going to hand out some winners when we come back it is the bees ESP and 97 five and ESP and 92 five coming to you live from the veritex community bank studios it's the killer bees on ESP and 97 five and 92 five here's joe blankin Jeremy Branham no no blankers today germane every filling in for blankers but we still have least sterling on least sterling moving it up a day for us because well tomorrow's Thanksgiving and we're all going to stuff our faces least sterling paramount sports lee all right all right give me some good news here we like to start with these cougar games houston going on the road to provo be why use a 12 point favorite what do we have here lee give me some good news all right so be why you need to win get into the conference championship game but the under 10 and 1 in youth in games this year so i think we're going to see a low scoring game i think people have figured out this be why you offense they just don't have many guides that can break a tackle go 70 80 yards here they've seen the playbook defensive coordinators are scheming up and being able to slow down this offense here i'd be why you win in the game 27 to 23 but youth can cover them all right uh i was stating Kansas state i'm i'm kind of interested in that game because to me it's two teams that are fairly close and so is this line how do you see that one playing out with i was state being a favorite ministry so Kansas state first time this year whole year they're an underdog to go back to bill snider these last two coaches they this is where they do their best work so cyclones uh think that uh they've got some problems in the trenches here i think Kansas state they're actually better there only position i think where i was state has any type of real edge is going to be at the wide receiver position so if they limit the big plays look out wrong team favored Kansas state i right here 3124 it's always better when you do it Lee i try to do it after uh after we had you on last week and i failed i was it was not good i do it yeah we got to leave it up to the og i think i don't think i can do it again it was such a failure all right the big one this weekend in the lone star state uh we've had continuing coverage of this match up texas texas a&m all part of the extension extensive look brought to us by rebecca creek whiskey will have it right here on our airwaves espn 97 5 on saturday texas is going into college station a&m now in a must win situation long horns are favored by six what are we gonna see with this rivalry renewed so big games come down to defense my opinion texas number two in the land and total defense along just 300 sorry 246 yards per game texas a&m usually when you have two teams square and off here with a chance to get to the scc championship game there on the top 20 top 30 in defense not the case with texas a&m the rank 56 here along 300 and 55 yards per game so i think the edge is there with texas i just don't think they played up to their capabilities this year i think we see the draft comes around this and next year we're going to say wow they've had so many first second and third rounders should have been much much better should have won at least one or two national titles over the last couple years uh but a&m still a year or two away i know it's at night i know it's a college station the texas prevails 2720 uh creeping on over to the nfl the uh this is the game that one of the games that i know one of my friends he's going to be all over it because they i have friends on both sides of this game but uh eagles at ravens uh how do you see that when playing now i believe uh baltimore is the favorite here at two and a half and they're at home so if this was on a neutral side would fully be the proverbial half a point favorite because it's a it would be a neutral side game they would since coming out of the by eagles seven and oh twice the eagles were underdogs this year both times philadelphia went straight up against the saints in the bangles ravens certainly are better than those two teams baltimore um though on short week and the ravens are one of six teams that have not had their buy yet uh doesn't come until next week philadelphia's defense giving up the fewest yards per game holding opponents to 18 points a game the ravens ranked number two and run defense but 31st in past defense gonna be uh they're gonna be tested here if the baltimore smith returns for the eagles and i think he will another run came favorite philadelphia 24 23 straight up seguan barkley had more yards than the texans did last week he's been a beast a beast in philadelphia speaking to the texans uh coming off that embarrassing loss to the tennessee titans embarrassing to the former houston oiler franchise they're on the road in jackson ville final game before a late week 14 buy last time these two teams played it was competitive jackson ville had a two possession lead pretty late in that game uh texans five point favorite on the road what do you think lee yep home dog off of a buy with revenge for that 24/20 loss week four uh who loves the jags anyone anyone dealer anyone nope he was uh Trevor Lawrence one of many reasons why the jaguars were two and 12 the last 14 starts dating back to about this time a year ago and uh whether he plays or mac jones who's maybe the worst backup in the nfo right now they're in trouble so ducin's uh ownership of the jags uh last 11 years 17 and four straight up that already came his favorite ducin pick here 34 13 the right team favored lee all right lee what is your game of the week this week game the week this week is going to be green bay in miami on thursday night thanksgiving night so first how about this first five callers that call 800 400 9 7 4 1 again the number 800 400 9 7 4 1 get the game for free and uh how about this perky shoot out starts tomorrow 15 games 15 games from tomorrow all the way through monday night just $97 we've had numerous 13 and 2 12 and 3 11 and 4 records of the last six years so you want to hop on board perky shoot out 15 games just $97 one place paramount sports calm you got to take advantage of that lee have a great thanksgiving my man get to guys take care be safe lee sterling paramount sports paramount sports dot com take advantage of those uh those deals love love me some lee uh ocho just texted ocho loves himself some uh college basketball uh he just let us know that west Virginia beat Gonzaga i was i was watching that one actually yeah look at the last two days in the big 12 west Virginia predicted to finish towards the bottom of the big 12 just beat number three Gonzaga Colorado yesterday predicted to finish towards the bottom of the big 12 beat up on uh ucon ucon losing back to back games but it calls tough man it is tough you know the big 12 the way is presently constructed i was not a fan of the way the football conference is playing out but i i could not wait for big 12 basketball could not wait because there's so many teams in the big 12 now that they've restructured everything that traditionally have really good basketball programs and now they're all in one conference and while football thought that they were going to basically quote unquote kill off the big 12 almost by Texas and Oklahoma leaving they just strengthened them in basketball pretty much so i'm loving what the big 12 is doing so far in basketball but there've been a lot of upsets early on in this season in college basketball if you just look at the teams that are beating the other like the teams that are ranked that are losing it's been some pretty good upsets yeah it's been a fun start to the year uh got to give away for all of you Star Wars skeleton crew follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy color number five right now to seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six wins a family four pack to the advanced screening on december second at cinemark nasa plus a 100 dollar visa gift card courtesy of the series stream star wars skeleton crew on disney plus starting december third we come back what are your thanksgiving must what do you have to have and then what makes the cut on thanksgiving seven one three seven eight zero espn it's the bees on espn 97 five and espn 92 five your child's first step is a big step towards their future with first step by college invest every colorado child born or adopted on or after january first 2020 will 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