Texans awards near the midway point of the season

KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610

In The Loop gives out in-season awards near the midway point of the Texans' season.

Transcript

00:00and what the injury report tells us about those fairies.

00:02Did you mention Jalen Petrie?

00:03Was Jalen Petrie?

00:04Jalen Petrie.

00:05I must have missed that one.

00:06Was not practicing in the open portion as well.

00:09That's a lot of bodies, man.

00:10A lot of dudes that are sitting there.

00:12It is week 10.

00:12You mentioned it.

00:13It's week 10, but it's also Wednesday.

00:14Yeah.

00:15Right?

00:15You got Monday, which is typically get some recovery in.

00:19Tuesday is an off day.

00:20You would think that by today that you'd have guys that are,

00:23even if they're limited participants, that they're practicing.

00:25No, you got a whole bunch of DNPs popping up.

00:28At least from what we've seen, yeah.

00:29We'll see what it actually shows up.

00:31Maybe when you get to the portion that is closed to the media,

00:34they will actually be out there and participating in some level of drills

00:38or whatever.

00:38But as of right now, that's a lot of names.

00:40It seems like the one that would have jumped up to me

00:43is not the one that gets you.

00:44Is it the Petrie one that strikes you the strongest?

00:46Probably Petrie.

00:47You know, such a crucial position.

00:50Finn and crucial player as well.

00:54Yeah, especially when you don't have – Jalen Smith goes on the IR,

00:57so you can't do the thing, or maybe you can,

00:59depending on how you believe in Elijah Hussie,

01:01to move somebody else outside cornerback and move Kamari Lasseter

01:05into play that should need to.

01:08So, yeah, that's – wow.

01:09Okay.

01:10All right.

01:11We'll keep you up to date.

01:12And, of course, here on Sports Radio 610 is where you will hear

01:14D'Amico Ryans giving you some updates there.

01:17All right.

01:17But what I wanted to do here as we are in – we're headed in Week 10,

01:21but getting through Week 9, over midway through the season,

01:24and I wanted to do some midseason superlatives here.

01:26I barely said that word correctly.

01:28You'll have to forgive me.

01:28Midseason superlatives.

01:29John Lopez, you ready for this?

01:30I am ready for this.

01:32Were you, like, on the – because I know you obviously ended up being a

01:35newspaper guy.

01:36Were you on, like, the yearbook committee when you were in high school?

01:38Oh, yeah.

01:39So you did this in school.

01:40I was on a yearbook in middle school.

01:42Okay.

01:43You don't got a brown nose at that.

01:45I was on a yearbook committee in elementary school.

01:47You're dang right.

01:48I'd put a yearbook together when I was five.

01:50I used to ride home with the principal.

01:52Well.

01:53Goodness gracious.

01:54That's real.

01:55Okay.

01:55I thought it was the teacher.

01:56It was the teacher.

01:57That's why I said, well.

01:58Okay.

01:59Yeah, Mrs. Foley.

02:00All right.

02:03Goodness.

02:03Keep it in your pants.

02:04All right.

02:05First one.

02:07Who was the player of the first half?

02:08John Lopez.

02:087-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.

02:10Play along with the mid-season superlatives at this point.

02:13Player of the first half.

02:15I'm going to give this some thought.

02:16Or is it easy?

02:17I mean, look.

02:18There's not a direct answer.

02:19We're coming up with this.

02:20And, obviously, Figgy weigh in as well.

02:22I think this probably is easy, though.

02:24Will Anderson Jr.

02:25Yeah.

02:25I was like, I don't know that there's another player that I would put up there.

02:28Will Anderson has been the guy, right?

02:31It feels like your pass rush is the straw that stirs the drink of your defense.

02:35And for some weird reasons.

02:37And, I mean, obviously, there's reasons that are understandable.

02:41Will has been the one who shined.

02:43Daniil Hunter, I think there's been concerted efforts to not allow him to be those guys.

02:48It's rough.

02:49You see defenses, or rather, offenses getting the ball out quick.

02:52I believe that's literally the fastest time to throw our opposing teams versus the Texans

02:58because they were afraid of this pass rush.

03:00And, obviously, that will mitigate some of the pass rush and the ability to get home.

03:04But, it's been Will that's been the one that's been able to get home.

03:06Yeah.

03:07Right?

03:07It's been him.

03:08It's got to be him.

03:09Otherwise, I thought, as you mentioned Jalen Petrie, that that might be a name that you

03:12consider here.

03:13Well, it should be.

03:15He had the interceptions early on in the year.

03:17He's the reason why the defense kind of works the way that it does.

03:20Is there anyone else that you would consider?

03:22Or, it just has to be Will, right?

03:23Well, no.

03:24It has to be Will.

03:25I think you certainly consider Jalen Petrie.

03:29That would be one.

03:30I think you would consider Derek Stingley, although he had a little bit of a lull.

03:34It's funny, though, because it's always hard to talk about anybody on this defense.

03:41Well, most of the guys on this defense, especially the bigger names and bigger personalities and

03:46people because they're so damn good.

03:48This is a really, really good defense, one of the best, if not the best, in the league.

03:54With all that being said and all that foreplay, Stingley doesn't look like himself.

03:58Not quite.

03:59Right?

03:59Not quite.

04:00I feel like you understand where I'm coming from.

04:02We're coming off of a game where there was one touchdown.

04:04That was the one catch that was made by Cortland Sutton against him.

04:07He was still really good, but even with that, looks a little bit less like himself, and

04:12I don't know what to make of that.

04:14Is that enough to say that he's not been up there?

04:16Yeah, and that's probably fair.

04:17Might be expectations.

04:18That's probably fair.

04:19All right, so that one felt easy.

04:20Will Anderson Jr., first half, player of the first half.

04:23Is there a best play of the first half that comes to your mind?

04:28One came immediately to mind, and it wasn't necessarily that significant, but it was just

04:33a fun play, and that was Jalen Knoll in Baltimore with the dance after all that and everything

04:43that happened.

04:43It's kind of sad that that's the one that came to mind.

04:45Am I missing an obvious one?

04:48You think of a play of the year so far, Figgy?

04:53Maybe.

04:54Yeah, I can't really think of one.

04:57There wasn't one like, boom, flip the script.

05:00Big play wins the game.

05:01Yeah, because you could probably name some ones on defense, some interceptions on defense,

05:05that type of stuff.

05:06Oh, oh, the third and 32.

05:11Yeah.

05:11Second and 32.

05:13Wait.

05:13Wasn't it second and 17?

05:16The one with Nico.

05:16Nico Collins, yeah, on the left side line.

05:19It was yards.

05:19And that was one of the things that I was thinking about.

05:22Honestly, when I first got to, all right, superlative of best play.

05:25I'd probably put that one.

05:27I was trying to come up with offensive ones because they feel like they mean more, but

05:31it feels like such a jerk thing to not look at this defense and the number of plays that

05:34they continually make and not look at one of those.

05:37Yeah, but the thing about that one is you really needed that game and you got that play.

05:44This is a fair one to bring up from the 7-1-3.

05:46This is one I was thinking of.

05:47Sack fumble touchdown.

05:49Will Anderson Jr.

05:49Yeah.

05:51So what would you rank him?

05:52I think I'd still put that Nico play there.

05:55I would probably lean more towards the Will Anderson sack.

06:00Yeah.

06:01The fumble touchdown.

06:02Yeah.

06:03That's fair.

06:03Another one that comes in from...

06:073-6-1 run, 50-something yarder out of the backfield that happened just a couple weeks

06:11ago was at the Niners.

06:13But it's hard for me to put that one as best play because also it feels like when you get

06:19to best play of the first half, it's either got to be something that was insane, which

06:23to be fair, that was a really good play, or if it's something that has great meaning.

06:27I think the meaning matters to me.

06:29I don't know about y'all because the ones that changed the tide, you know?

06:36Yeah.

06:36I feel like it probably is the Will Anderson...

06:38I was like, it's probably the Will Anderson strip sack, touchdown, fumble, recovery.

06:44Was there any other things that he did?

06:46Did he do anything else?

06:47Was that all?

06:48And it does feel like you just keep coming back to Will Anderson Jr. as a super vital

06:53point.

06:53Keep sending those in because obviously we want to move it along, but I want to get some

06:57wider thoughts if you have those.

06:59Because this one, I'm interested to see where you go because these ones, those first two

07:02felt pretty easy when it comes to there's limited options there.

07:07Here, there's a lot of options.

07:08Or maybe there's not as much options with this one as the next one.

07:10Biggest surprise to this point in the first half of the season?

07:14All right.

07:15Does it have to be a good thing?

07:17Yes, because the next one will be the negative thing.

07:20Do you want to start with the negative and then finish with the positive so it feels like

07:23it's not...

07:23All right, let's switch those.

07:24Biggest disappointment, John Lopez.

07:26I think my biggest surprise, I think, is probably the biggest surprise, so I'm going to say it

07:31now.

07:32And that is Lakin Tomlinson and Juice Scruggs alternating.

07:36Mmm.

07:37That's the willingness to...

07:39That's shocking.

07:40Yeah, that's a great point.

07:41That's shocking.

07:42And they're still doing it.

07:44Right.

07:45It wasn't...

07:46It wasn't like, hey, he did this and then we got back and we figured it out after a few

07:50games that this guy was the better option.

07:54Like, this is a decision, a conscious decision to roll these guys out back and forth.

08:02Yeah, I was like, I keep thinking negative things and surprises.

08:05No, that is absolutely one of those.

08:07You got one that just jumped off.

08:08Yeah, I got kind of a good one.

08:11Ed Ingram, just his play.

08:13That is a good point.

08:14That was a surprising one.

08:15And then also on the offensive line, very surprised they traded Cam Robinson.

08:21I thought he was going to be the starting left tackle and that didn't happen.

08:25Yeah.

08:25That is a really good point on Ed Ingram, especially, and I have to raise my hand on that.

08:28That definitely fits in over here because I was not hyped about that one.

08:32I was like, yeah, he was bad in Minnesota last year.

08:37He gets benched in those cases.

08:39Or actually, is that Cam, one of them, when Minnesota gets benched?

08:42Yeah.

08:42And here he is, looking like one of the most aggressive.

08:46Yeah, probably one of your better offensive linemen.

08:49He's definitely the dude who gets the best push off the line.

08:51Yeah.

08:51Like, I can't even, is there a dude who gets better push off of the line and runs circumstances

08:56than Ed Ingram?

08:56I guess you could argue Titus Howard.

08:59Maybe.

09:00Like, it's to the point where I know, and maybe this says more about the other side than

09:05it does about Ed Ingram, but I know exactly when they're trying to get short yardage and

09:09when they actually decide to run a quarterback sneak, I know where it's going.

09:12Where it's going, yeah.

09:12It is.

09:13And maybe that ends up being a detriment, but it's CJ Stroud is going to try and move to

09:16his right because that is where you know you can get a little bit of push.

09:20That is it.

09:21Yeah.

09:22I think those are good ones.

09:24Biggest disappointment, John Lopez.

09:26Nick Haley.

09:29Or does it have to be on the field?

09:31No.

09:32Please.

09:33Please go for it, man.

09:34I think, I mean, just alternately just looking like, as I've said this year, at least a couple

09:40times, looking sometimes like he's just in over his head.

09:44Yes, but at the same time, this was foreseeable.

09:48You would, well, yes.

09:50Kind of.

09:51I mean, it's not like we didn't have any confidence.

09:54We were just curious, you know, what he was going to be.

09:56He came from pretty good pedigree, you know, and all that, and Sean McVay stuff and all

10:00that.

10:01But it's a big disappointment.

10:03I think the disappointment, one of the disappointments for me, because obviously there are many.

10:08One of the disappointments for me is actually within Nick Cayley, but it's not like the actual

10:12play calling or even the ineffectiveness of the offense.

10:15It is one of the things that I believed in him and that is very much within his power

10:20is we're going to, you know, we're just going to tailor our offense to our players.

10:24And you would think inherent within that is we're just going to get our best guys on

10:29the field.

10:30Yeah.

10:30And the seemingly, they're seemingly unwilling to do that for various reasons.

10:36And early on, I thought, okay, it's not the easiest offense to get a grasp on.

10:41Maybe you need guys that have experience in the league to be able to do this.

10:44Yeah.

10:44At a certain point, that ceased being a sufficient reason for them not to utilize the best talent.

10:50And especially when you consider the lack of production that this offense had had, what

10:55was most surprising is that the dude who came in and seemingly was like, I'm not going

10:59to, you know, work counter productively.

11:02I'm not going to try and fit square peg into round hole is seemingly doing that.

11:08And maybe, you know, that's a D'Amico influence, but nevertheless, it's happening.

11:13And then the layup answer on the field is clearly just offensive line.

11:16And if you want to get more specific, I think Jake Andrews.

11:19I think Jake Andrews has been a big mistake.

11:22That one, again, also feels like that was fairly obvious in that regard.

11:28Is there any ones that come to mind for you, Thig?

11:30Yeah.

11:30Outside of the offensive line, I don't want to be too hard on a rookie, but I was a little

11:35disappointed in Higgins a little bit.

11:37I thought he was going to be...

11:38That's a good one.

11:39I thought he was going to be way more, like, big on his offense like that.

11:44Yeah.

11:44I know he made some plays and stuff, but I thought he was going to be kind of in that,

11:48wow, look at this rookie, Jaden Higgins.

11:50I thought he was going to be talking about him more like that.

11:53Yeah.

11:54And I think that there was rightfully some voices that were making mention of, hey, he's still

11:59a rookie and this is something that he'll grow into.

12:00The dude who probably had the better chance of coming in pretty early and making impact

12:05was Noel.

12:05And I think it's kind of played out that way.

12:08But yeah, I can see what you're saying.

12:10Like, the dude who was your first pick in that draft.

12:13Yeah.

12:13It was early.

12:14I thought with them picking him up in that second round, I thought he was going to have

12:19more of an impact.

12:20Yeah.

12:20And it's just kind of been a little disappointing.

12:22What do you think about this from the 713 that says their biggest disappointment is the

12:25regression of CJ Stroud?

12:26Do you feel like that should count here?

12:28I don't know.

12:29I don't know if I'd consider regression.

12:32Yeah.

12:33And, you know, to be clear, he was okay in sports last year and he's been okay in sports

12:40this year.

12:41A real good game mixed in, but largely okay.

12:44And he's looked to have command, which is the thing.

12:48Also, let's forget, he's also had those where he just seems like he's, you know, kind of

12:51not checked out, but there's no confidence.

12:54Like, there's a lot of different ways that it's fluctuated.

12:56And this is a great one that comes in from the 713 and 832.

13:00And I think this actually might be a really, a really good answer here.

13:03The complete absence of Joe Mixon.

13:06Yeah.

13:07Like that, a disappointment there.

13:09And you know what?

13:10I'm willing to say it.

13:11Like the way that this, the way that kind of, the way that the organization has kind of

13:16handled the heat of the circumstance has been disappointing, if I'm going to be honest.

13:20Like, I feel like they have not risen to, I think the standard that I believe them capable

13:25of holding on when it comes to a level of accountability showing up to their doorstep.

13:29I feel like they've been a little bit touchy.

13:32You can do better.

13:33You can do better.

13:33I think that that's the case.

13:34Yeah.

13:35Yeah.

13:36Yeah.

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