- 10 months ago
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00:00Jackson Smith and Jigba has been an absolute menace and he's basically the focal point when
00:06it comes to that offense and I don't know that anybody anticipated him being this to this degree
00:10right they traded away DK Metcalf and you were like is Jackson Smith and Jigba in the pips
00:15and honestly I think even during the draft I think people kept trying to put him as just
00:20only a slot receiver right every time you bring oh he's only a slot receiver I don't know if that
00:24was not hold that thought go ahead yeah you've heard some of this when I was because I asked
00:28you as well like is this a thing so let's do a little bit of an experiment here um to illustrate
00:35points can you pull up the receiving leaders in the national I'm looking at it right now all right
00:39um I would like you to do a segment that I like to call reading yes John Lopez who are the leaders
00:45and when I as as John Lopez goes through this dear listener I want you to think about who are the
00:49type of receivers that you're seeing at the top body type production type of uh role they've played
00:55traditionally all of that can I guess yes uh the first thing I think about is like Justin Jefferson
01:00uh uh Jamar Chase sir um just the big body receiver types and you would be incorrect well
01:08kind of correct I was like we know that those dudes are tough kind of correct uh but the number one
01:13receiver in the NFL today as we sit here is Jackson Smith and Jigba I gave you that one I told you
01:18he has been number two Puka Nakua yeah which we it should be no surprise and it's actually kind of
01:25a surprise was he kind of a slot guy what did they look at him as a slot guy I think so yeah we were
01:30talking about it when Cooper Cup was still there like how do you get these guys both activated with
01:35both of them seemingly uh being most productive in that same space yeah uh three George Pickens
01:40all right from the Cowboys big dude that's a big dude that's a big outside type of receiver
01:45four Emeka Ibuka hope he gets well soon there you go there's there's your other Ohio State
01:50yeah I guess I gotta say I.O. uh five you don't have to there's no obligation to that it just leaves
01:57you hanging there's a grammatical term for that that you have to finish like you have to finish
02:01something if you if you if you know it and yet like if I say liberty liberty liberty liberty of course
02:07there's a there's a grammatical term where people are just forced to finish you know what
02:13that they have to look up and I'll let you guys know five Jamar Chase uh is the fifth leading
02:20receiver then Amon Ross St. Brown six here goes your Justin Jefferson seven uh Drake London and
02:27what I'm talking about receivers now yeah uh Drake London then Zay Flowers yeah and it was at Amon
02:33Ross St. Brown where I was like all right okay all right because for me personally and I think I've
02:38I've espoused this kind of thought process um at some point during the time our time doing this show
02:43together that I had kind of had a thought about Amon Ross St. Brown and I was like I'm not as high as
02:48everyone else is on him because I wonder if he is the type of receiver that forces defenses to adjust
02:55the way that they play yeah and looking at this I go is this a thing because if you look at a half
03:02decade ago and maybe definitely a full decade ago the receivers that you think of as the ones who
03:07terrify defenses and are the most productive are the Calvin Johnsons of the world right guys that
03:12guys that fit that type of mold Andre Johnson Andre Johnson Andre Hopkins we're just talking about
03:19Julio Jones right like those are the ones that you thought of when you look at a lot of those names
03:23even some of the guys that were like oh kind of big body they get their stuff all over the field
03:28they get their stuff a lot of times in the middle field they get lined up in the slot of course and
03:32we knew that like that lineup but also just the type of guy like those types of guys that you go
03:36hey man this is just a slot guy also worth noting not all those guys are the fastest guys in the world
03:42either right it's not just the pure physical big body fast dudes like it is it is these technicians
03:48it is these dudes that would previously have been looked at as a level of I don't know marketing
03:52efficiency or what have you at the top of production in this league and so I go is this
03:58a thing in the league not just hey this is a thing that's happening but what does this say
04:03about the league and how does this translate to the Houston Texans who have a guy who maybe
04:07profiles more as a little bit of the old school style of guy who although we're seeing him get a
04:12little bit of movement to where he gets in the slot a bit in fact the touchdown that he scored a couple
04:17weeks ago over the middle of the field he was he was the third option in and he was in the middle
04:23you know a nice kind of uh inside route in breaker uh ball right perfectly on time placed well at the
04:29at the goal line but it's like guys are getting the ball in the middle of the field and from these
04:33slot positions and it made me think immediately about Christian Kurt and Jalen Knoll okay so this made me
04:39think about defenses okay because because I think what we're looking at here and and and hear me out
04:48as people like to say if you are a big bodied you know sort of not one trick pony because even players
04:56like Nico Collins can move around a little bit but if you are by and large a big bodied guy on the
05:01outside defenses today can limit you they can just flat out limit you but if you're not if you can go
05:08inside if you're good off of motion if you're if you can go outside if you can uh you come out of
05:14the backfield that's a lot that's a lot more pressure on the defense to stop you by the way
05:18Nico Collins 38th in receiving right now sure and yeah well let me ask the question does that at all
05:27concern you or bother you do you like do you make anything larger of that or is that just a little
05:32bit it has to right because on so much uh and in terms of you know being the guy the one proven
05:39commodity uh on this team but I think this is about defenses because you know these guys are all over
05:45the field putting pressure on defenses you know defense is trying to adjust and then you adjust to
05:50them and they're in motion and as I just laid out there they're kind of moving around all over the
05:54place and you can't automatically say oh there's Nico here's the cornerback here's the safety boom I think
06:00we can we can we can limit him you're not going to limit him a little bit yeah yeah and I think that
06:04with anything in sports when you see something rise it is a reaction to the other side of football
06:09and particularly in football right we talked about this at one point the larger trend of maybe seeing
06:15more running of the football when you hit you know the iron dome over top shout out to Vic Fangio
06:20and all his uh proverbial sons in the league yeah of everybody putting these two high shells up
06:25and now teams are like hey you're getting light you're playing exclusively nickel your safeties are off the
06:30ball we're going to run the ball and see if you have the ability to thump wood us in that way I
06:35think that you're also seeing some of that here as well where you're right like again too high shell
06:39we're limiting the ability of the fast the super fast receiver on the outside going deep we're limiting
06:44the opportunities uh when we have a safety and a cornerback looking at those big body wide receivers
06:49of you just kind of going up and body and we're going to try and see especially when you have
06:53linebacker only a couple linebackers maybe aren't as great in coverage and then you know smaller guys
06:58in the middle of the field we're going to try and take advantage of that especially as the league
07:02is no longer uh thumping in a different way you don't have jason sehorn yeah uh out here hidden
07:07dudes like michael ervin had to deal with and things of those natures so I think that you're right
07:10there's a reaction there but the idea that you have this here this is clearly are making their money
07:16right teams are making their money passing the football at least to the highest degree um with these
07:21types of players and activating them and some of this is like you got to activate nico collins which we've seen
07:26some of that to some degree but it does make me go we should be getting a good a decent amount of
07:32production out your slot type guys and and you're not uh not yet you're not so because even nico
07:37collins at 38 look at the guys ahead of him 37 lad mcconkey another one of those guys my guy ladarius
07:44yeah one of those guys that can uh 36 debo samuel uh you know guys that are versatile in how you can be
07:52implemented are the the wave of the future you can see it right here in the numbers I love that you brought
07:57this up because I hadn't even thought of it I just see the numbers and say okay well that's a receiver
08:01that does this but when you start looking at closely you realize what a coach is like to say
08:05we got to figure out a way to get these guys the ball the you know these players the ball
08:10figuring out a way is a lot easier when players can go inside outside backfield you know motion all that
08:16stuff whereas and and it's not necessarily a shot at uh at nick caley's offense it has been productive
08:22lately but what I think it does illustrate you're not getting what you need out of uh out of christian
08:28kirk christian kirk was brought in for that now and jaylen noob obviously on a curve you're grading him
08:34well yeah and I there's there's some there's some qualifiers that we need across all of this when we
08:38bring this back home to the houston texans first and foremost I want to go back to nico collins
08:41um I was not surprised not seeing him be represented a high because this offense just
08:47flat out was not was not fully functional in the first two three weeks of the season so
08:53oh I don't know all numbers of five or six weeks through the season to reflect um his prowess yeah
09:00with that similarly christian kirk missed the first couple of weeks he did the season as well that's
09:05going to put you behind the eight ball and then jaylen noob just hasn't had much opportunity
09:09but when we've seen him get into the game christian kirk also has not been that's my point as much
09:15uh like now we have to go qualitative as opposed to like the numbers and the quantitative part of this
09:19it doesn't it has not looked as impactful as least at least as I have imagined and honestly as I'd seen
09:24with to be fair a higher quality of slot type receiver that we're seeing at the top of this but
09:31I am interested to see how quickly he evolves in this and in the system and this comfort especially
09:36coming off of a bye week where hopefully you find a little bit more of a jump than you would in any
09:40other week-to-week situation because also you're stifling a guy that seems to have some capability
09:46in jaylen noob by not putting him on the field right uh this is correct uh but but christian kirk
09:50three games 10 catches 16 targets uh ranks 138th in the nfl in receiving uh what that tells me
09:59that's total yards uh let me see if I can find one that's a little bit more a little more friendly
10:03yeah but no but I think you know if we're just trusting our eyes on this um have you seen christian
10:09kirk really fight for the ball in traffic really be able to uh and and and it sounds critical of him
10:16but I think it's just his body type the way that he he's never really been a guy that can uh you know
10:21that can get open a number of different ways even though they've used him inside and out
10:25mostly inside uh so maybe maybe he just it's just a matter of the the game plan the offense
10:30sort of adapting to him a little bit and I was watching the the qb school uh quarterback former
10:36quarterback and you know he breaks down film he actually did a pretty good breakdown of cj stroud
10:40versus in the offense rather versus the the ravens and one of the things there's like a play where
10:45it's very evident that christian kirk it has like an option route and he decides to take it deep and
10:50in that moment what cj stroud probably needs is a dude who's just open to the flat yeah
10:54and I think that that's what I'm looking for I don't think I need him to be the zay flowers and
11:00the amurah saint blind brown and of course the jackson smith and jigba even though that could be
11:04helpful uh clearly uh if you get somebody who's going to put up those type of yards yeah give me
11:08that um I do though want to see him find his full home in this offense because clearly that slot is a
11:16very important portion of what's happening in this league it's clearly a very important portion of what
11:20this offense looks like and right now he's not he's not at the full extent of that some of that
11:26is to be expected with you know the late coming on but also I I think that that's clearly going to be
11:31important for cj stroud who's already doing he's he's starting to maximize what he's capable of doing
11:37and what I think his portion of this I think now you look at some of the the pieces around him and
11:42say what are you bringing to the table to help elevate this offense because it's super important
11:45with this stretch of stretch run that you're coming in and last thing on this with the receivers and
11:49how they're using them we do have to go back to the style of offense that they run you know even
11:55though they put up what was it 44 against uh the ravens um it's still an offense that is not going to
12:01be a lot more chunk plays downfield throws it's a pick your spots on the big throws uh type of
12:07offense so it also ties in a little bit with nick caley and his approach too yeah so i'm this is going to
12:12be something again I was like is this it is I think it is as well and I want to see how the texans
12:18ultimately relate to it whether it's getting nico collins kind of slot opportunities which I know
12:23isn't necessarily the fullness of this but that's clearly a portion of it we've seen the early
12:27developments on that so I'm actually willing to give that a check I think also seeing christian
12:32kirk develop as more of a threat there and hopefully I think the thing that we've all been clamoring for
12:37seeing a little bit more jaylen noel getting some opportunities there because this is clearly
12:41an effective portion of the nfl at this moment
12:44you
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