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00:00you know here on the weekends, Brady and I, we are going team by team across the entire NFL.
00:29Get you ready for the football season. It's going to take multiple weeks, months even obviously for us to do it. But football with training camps underway, it's right around the corner. Hell, we're only a few days away from the Hall of Fame game at the end of the month. So truly football is approaching. It is time to move to the AFC South and we're going to talk about the Houston Texans to begin things for the next couple of segments. A team that has an over under of nine and a half wins plus money to the over if you think they win 10 by the way for a third straight season.
00:58As you just saw on your screen, plus 110 to win the division again. They've done so each of the last two years with 10 and seven records, 12 to one to win the conference, 26 to one to win the Super Bowl. If you feel so bold, those numbers on FanDuel right now, clearly there are expectations that this team makes the playoffs.
01:16Minus 144 versus missing at right around minus 120 now or plus 120. Pardon me. There are concerns. Joe Mixon is dealing with an injury. We'll get into that.
01:25And maybe as concerning or as big a question mark as anything else is with this new offensive coordinator in, you know, Bobby Sloick is out. Nick Cayley is in. What should we expect in year three now from CJ Stroud after a year of regression as a sophomore in the league?
01:44And to help us break all of that down, we have the host of the bullpen of Houston Texans podcast, James Roy. He is on Twitter at James Roy NFL James. Welcome to the show, man. You just look like you're in Texas.
01:57I look like it, but I'm not. I'm not right. I'm actually in California.
02:02How about that? Well, thank you for taking some time to join us, obviously. And let's pick up with Stroud because I do think, again, that is the biggest question going into this season with an offense that sputtered at times, a lot of inconsistency last year, despite going a couple rounds in the playoffs.
02:19You know, that big blowout of the Chargers, the defense proved to be the elite unit that it was throughout the year, especially finishing strong.
02:27And then, you know, we see a loss to Kansas City, but, you know, plenty of teams can fall into that category. It was a winnable game. So, you know, applaud the Texans for even hanging around.
02:38But what should we expect going into this new year from Stroud and this offense and how different will it look?
02:45Well, I think it all hinges really on two guys. That's Nick Cayley and Cole Popovich.
02:51Cole, great O-line coach in New England, had a little bit of a hiccup there in his career, and this is his first real shot at being the guy.
02:58And then looking at, he ran the run game last year, so he stands to do really well since that was the only thing that seemed to go well for the Texans offensively.
03:09And then Nick Cayley brings a new scheme that he says is going to shape itself and adjust, you know, to what the opponent is throwing at us to player skills,
03:17which is not something we really saw from Bobby Slough. We saw Bobby run kind of a one-trick pony.
03:23You know, he had a scheme, and 2023 looked really good until everyone figured it out, and then 2024, everyone knew it.
03:30So it was really difficult, and he was very hard-headed and not quick to adjust.
03:33So I would say the expectations for C.J. Stroud depend on, one, what Nick Cayley can do, but, two, is he over the shell shock that he kind of suffered last year
03:42with the way the O-line played as a product of Bobby Slough's scheme?
03:45James, I think the win total is very interesting of nine-and-a-half, and I'm not surprised that going over is a bit of an underdog
03:56because what C.J. Stroud did in his first two years was totally rarefied air.
04:01For a rookie quarterback to come in and lead a team to double-digit wins in consecutive seasons has not been done by a lot of guys coming into this league.
04:10Is he going to do it for a third straight season? The odds probably even fall even shorter.
04:16But another thing that concerns me, they go from a relatively easy schedule in 2024 to one of the more difficult schedules in 2025.
04:27Yeah, I mean, I agree with you. My initial look at the schedule when it came out, I thought it was easier at first than one would think.
04:35I mean, it's the second year in a row that they've had a division winner schedule, and there's some teams that if you believe in strength of schedule year to year,
04:44the schedule looks a lot harder than it probably is.
04:48Looking at how some of those teams change, like, for example, last season, a lot of people trumped up that stretch of games
04:54that they played at the end of the season with the Dolphins, Chiefs, and Ravens.
04:57People were like, the Dolphins are coming. They're pretty good.
04:59And the Dolphins fell off really hard the next year, and we're not as difficult to the game as they initially presented.
05:06So I think that strength of schedule, it's not easy, but I do think the Texans are – I have them as an 11-win team as it stands.
05:17So to their credit, you know, one of the major issues last year, and it's easy to point at Stroud, but it was the offensive line.
05:23It was a lack of protection in front of them.
05:24So you bring in some veterans, you know, looking here, Cam Robinson is there, Laken Tomlinson is there.
05:30Rebuild a little bit through the draft as well.
05:32We know Laramie Tunsil has been traded away.
05:34He's with the Commanders now.
05:35But you look at this offense, and I know there's no Steph Diggs anymore, but he got hurt toward the end of last year anyway.
05:41And Tank Dell is certainly a concern with no timetable on his return since it's right now.
05:45But Nico Collins is elite.
05:48You know, he's a game-breaker.
05:49Christian Kirk has the ability to be something similar kind of game-to-game.
05:54You don't get necessarily that same consistency from him, but we'll see what he gets from him in this offense.
05:59Joe Mixon, if, you know, this is not a big deal, and we'll find out, you know, just suffered a foot injury in training camp,
06:06and, you know, he hopes to be ready for week one.
06:09We're not sure.
06:09Behind him, it's Nick Chubb, who we know that's not been pretty since his big injury with Cleveland.
06:15So, you know, what – around Stroud, how much help is he getting, and who's reliable here?
06:21So, one of the reasons that I brought up Cole Popovich and Nick Cayley is because a lot of people will look at the Texans' offensive line.
06:29There's a number of things you look at, right?
06:31The Texans can assign blame to C.J. Stroud.
06:33He kind of, you know, had some moments where it was like, okay, that was on you, dude.
06:37And then the offensive line, obviously.
06:39But the big thing was scheme, the inability of the scheme to adjust, lining up Dalton Schultz against George Karloftis,
06:46three snaps in a row in what was a winnable game against the Chiefs in the divisional round.
06:51All screams, inability to adjust, and could easily be fixed by a change in offensive scheme.
06:59Additionally, mentioning Dalton Schultz, I think Dalton Schultz is someone who had a really down year,
07:02who, with Nick Cayley coming in, a tight ends coach, could very easily have a very up year this year.
07:10But I think the biggest piece, a lot of people will say it's the offensive line,
07:14but if we're looking at the root cause of what happened, it was the scheme.
07:18And I think that Nick Cayley's the guy to fix it.
07:20To speak to Joe Mixon, some people may have been shocked by the Nick Chubb signing,
07:25but I had gotten some information on the side around that time about Joe Mixon and his offseason.
07:32His issues stretch a little further back than now.
07:35The Texans are known as an organization to be a little less than forthcoming with information,
07:40but there's reason to believe that the signing of Nick Chubb may have been made with Joe Mixon's availability in mind.
07:48So, yeah.
07:53Interesting.
07:53And I hope they both do well.
07:55I think when Nick Chubb is at his best, he's thrilling to watch.
07:58And I think D'Amico Ryans is certainly one of the MVPs of this team.
08:03I grew up being a San Francisco 49er fan, so I saw what this guy did with the 49er defense.
08:08And then his success there with the Houston Texans has been very cool to watch.
08:12Now it's going to be year three for him.
08:14I think he has absolutely put his footprint on this defense, James.
08:19This defense really came to play last year.
08:21Will Anderson had a great year last year.
08:25Daniel Hunter now offering some support with that pass rush.
08:28Do you expect that they can improve upon what they did last year,
08:32or do they maintain status quo, or do they regress?
08:34It's funny you ask that, because the Texans, speaking to how they address the offensive line,
08:41a lot of people would say that they didn't address the offensive line adequately.
08:45They think that scheme fixes it.
08:47So they improved on defense throughout the offseason.
08:50They went through the draft, and they fixed wide receiver as long as Nolan and Higgins pan out.
08:56They made a lot of moves to address defense and offensive weapons.
08:59So they're really counting on coaching to fix any shortcoming.
09:03Some people think the interior defensive line is a shortcoming.
09:06I would tell those people to watch the Texans' interior defensive line over the past two seasons.
09:10Regardless of who's played, it's been consistent.
09:13So, I mean, I think they're set defensively to improve.
09:17We have James Roy hanging out here with us, host of the Bullpen,
09:20talking about the Houston Texans' expectations for the 2025 season.
09:24We will continue to do that.
09:26Keep James around for another segment, because I do want to explore just looking at this AFC South.
09:31You know, again, it's a Texans team that has won the division the last two years.
09:35He's got them at 11 wins.
09:37Seemingly, that would be a third straight year.
09:39But should this be a foregone conclusion?
09:41We will explore when we come on back here on The Grid.
09:44We have James Roy with us, host of the Bullpen, a Houston Texans podcast.
09:49We are exploring what to expect in 2025 from this Texans team.
09:53While we're throwing up graphics, let's take another look at the division odds in the AFC South,
09:58because Houston is, once again, a favorite, as you can see, plus 110.
10:03And then behind them, you have the Jaguars at, now it's plus 310.
10:08Latest odds on FanDuel, and the Colts have moved to plus 330.
10:12And then, obviously, there's the Titans, who, you know, I don't think Cam Ward is going to give us a Jaden Daniels season.
10:17Even if he did, he doesn't have that kind of talent around him to really make noise in that division here in year one.
10:23And so, a lot of people would say, okay, Houston, should James win a third straight division,
10:28but these other teams, you know, are live, right?
10:32Especially with easier schedules.
10:34And so, when you're looking at the Jaguars, when you're looking at the Colts, is one of them a threat in your mind?
10:40In your mind?
10:41I think we've got some technical difficulties.
10:52We'll get James back and explore all of that.
10:55Brady, you know, I don't know how you see it, and I know we'll take a look at it, obviously,
10:59when James is off with us.
11:00We'll have some time on the other side to take a deeper dive into this stuff.
11:04But I do think, you know, whereas we talk about some of these divisions, like the AFC West, for instance,
11:11and how deep and how competitive it is, even with the Raiders, you know, I guess maybe flirting with being in and around 500,
11:18that kind of thing.
11:19People don't look at the Titans that way.
11:21I think there's a different stigma to this division.
11:24It's like, well, it's just not a great division.
11:26And so anybody can win it because it's, you know, the parity is enough to where there are so many.
11:33Each of these teams, these top three, have gigantic questions, whether at the quarterback position or elsewhere.
11:40Yeah, it's the NFL, right?
11:42I mean, what goes up must come down.
11:44You know, it's a seesaw affair.
11:46And are the Texans really going to do it once again?
11:50I wouldn't be, yeah, it looks like a foregone conclusion, but I wouldn't, you know, just be run under the window.
11:56You know, injury is a thing you have to take into consideration.
12:01I'm not real high on the Colts and the Titans, rather.
12:06I thought you spelled it out pretty well.
12:08They're still in rebuilding mode, and I don't know if they're going to be ready yet to threaten to win a division.
12:14But the Jaguars, why not?
12:16You know, Trevor Lawrence is supposed to be this guy.
12:18Are we going to see that guy eventually?
12:20Maybe so.
12:22So, James, let's throw it back to you here.
12:25Trevor, what do you think?
12:26Is one of these other teams in the South live to win this division, or do you really feel it's Houston's to lose, for lack of a better way of putting it?
12:33I really think it's Houston's division to lose.
12:40But if there is a team that threatens, it's probably the Jaguars, potentially the Colts, mainly because I think Daniel Jones gives them a lot more hope than Anthony Richardson does.
12:49But at the end of the day, the Texans have separated themselves pretty well from the other teams in the division.
12:56There's no doubt about it, and I think you could make an argument that, you know, plus money, I mean, maybe they should be minus 300 to win the division.
13:03You know, it feels like there is that amount of separation, possibly, between the Texans and everybody else.
13:08James, you brought up an interesting point that this team is kind of relying on coaching, you know, to coach up the defense, to coach up the offensive line.
13:17I want to ask you about that offensive line.
13:19I know they made some changes.
13:21It's a lot of different personnel than what was there last year.
13:25But are you convinced it's better?
13:27Aside from the coaching, that was a real, you know, you mentioned scheme was a tough part, and slow up, you know, was hard-headed and wouldn't change.
13:35You know, C.J. Stroud was sacked a lot.
13:37He found himself on the grass quite a bit.
13:40Is this offensive line, is it basically the same, or are we hoping it's better just because of coaching?
13:46Is the personnel any better, or is it about the same?
13:49Well, I think that the Texans approached this draft with the mentality that they didn't really need to make any significant changes.
13:57I think a lot of people wanted the Texans to go after a few high-profile free agents and make some more, add some more experience that was actually, you know, the money showed that it was there.
14:07But the Texans did add guys like Jake Andrews has been challenging for the starting center job.
14:12He was coached by Cole Popovich at Troy back in 2021.
14:15I believe he was also coached by Cole Popovich when he was with the Patriots because he was drafted to the Patriots.
14:21So they're bringing in guys that they have connections with, and they're throwing some interesting lineups out there.
14:28Honestly, if there's one thing that I've gotten from this first couple practices is that Blake…
14:34I think we may have lost James here.
14:41Just to see, we're about to get some inside info there, Brady, unfortunately.
14:45Hopefully we…
14:46Oh, here he goes.
14:47Here we go.
14:47Maybe, is he back?
14:50James, you there?
14:53Yeah, yeah.
14:54You're back.
14:55Can you hear me?
14:55We're just talking about the connections with Cole Popovich.
14:57Here we go.
14:58Sorry.
14:58Yeah, so Cole Popovich has connections with a lot of the guys on the line and already is shown as a guy that coaches well.
15:08Blake Fisher, last year's second-round pick, is a guy who is the only one who's kind of worried me.
15:13So, you know, obviously the big problem with Laramie Tunsil was the false starts.
15:18He's an elite left tackle, was the best player on this offensive line.
15:22I think there was some cultural stuff.
15:24Some people are born leaders and some people are leaders because they are the most skilled in the room.
15:30And I think that Laramie Tunsil was the latter.
15:32And I think there was some cultural fallout from it.
15:36So, on top of that, I think scheme is the main issue.
15:39But I think that the Texans address the cultural issues.
15:41And they added a bunch of guys who have reason.
15:43At Ingram, they traded, you know, from the Vikings as a guy who's on his last year needs to prove that he's even worth being in the NFL.
15:50Like, they got guys that are hungry, that want to get after it, and they believe that the coaching and scheme will improve the offense so much
15:58that maybe the shortcomings relative to the last couple years' offensive lines in terms of talent maybe can be made up for with scheme and coaching.
16:07James, before we run out of time, the defense, of course, led by D.C. Matt Burke, you know, elite last year,
16:12especially in terms of Saxby, of Hunter, you got Will Anderson Jr., you have Stingley Jr. and Lasseter.
16:19They're forming an elite tandem in the secondary as well.
16:22Should we expect this defense to be just as good, even better, than it was last year?
16:27I'd expect it to be better.
16:28I think it's easily a top-five unit in the league.
16:31There are discussions for higher rankings than that.
16:33But I think conservatively, you could put them as a top-five unit.
16:36So, I think they'll make the jump.
16:38I think D'Amico has set the culture.
16:40A lot of people talk about the Texans not having an off-coach,
16:44but I think that D'Amico earns his paycheck in terms of what he does on the defensive side of the ball.
16:51James Roy, again, is on Twitter, at JamesRoyNFL, host the Bullpen, a Houston Texans podcast.
16:57James, thank you for your time, man.
16:58Enjoy.
16:59We'll talk to you again as the season moves along.
17:02All right.
17:03Talk to you later.
17:10We'll talk to you later.
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