Is this the week the Texans’ run-game optimism actually turns into something real? We dig into what needs to click and why this matchup might finally deliver.
00:00I have to ask this question because in listening to Nick Caley and listening to D'Amico Ryans and honestly just looking, delving into stats and research for this game, a question occurred to me.
00:13And that question is, is this the week where the Texans' delusion actually pays off?
00:19Which delusion? Run game?
00:20Delusion as it relates to the run game.
00:23I think we had gotten to that point where we were willing to call it out flatly.
00:26They are a deluded organization, or at least coaching staff, but it does feel like organization in regards to the idea that whenever we ask them about identity or whatever, they don't give us a clear answer generally.
00:37But eventually when you get to the essence of what they're trying to say is identity, it's like toughness on the line and running the football and they're a number of...
00:44Dominate the line of scrimmage. I heard that from Caley and D'Amico yesterday.
00:48There are metrics, there are eye tests, there are crystals and moon water that will all tell you that nope, that is not how that goes.
00:57But is this the week where that actually becomes useful for them?
00:59The answer to that question is no.
01:01Really?
01:01Yeah, look, I think I figured out what the whole Texans run game thing is.
01:07They see the white and gold dress and the rest of us all see the black and blue dress.
01:12Remember that?
01:12I do.
01:13From about 10 years ago.
01:14I hate that you brought that up because I have a great fear that the people on the text line are about to, or even worse.
01:20It was yellow and gold.
01:23I don't remember what my answer was.
01:24I mean, gold and white.
01:25I don't remember what my answer was.
01:26All right, so they look at this run game.
01:29By the way, welcome back, Fig.
01:33Oh, yeah.
01:34All right, that's here, he's here.
01:35So they look at this run game and I was listening to this.
01:38And, you know, you try, you try.
01:40As God is my witness, I try.
01:41I try to get where they're coming from.
01:46But then they say things like, dominate the line of scrimmage.
01:51Nick Caley, you know, said it yesterday.
01:53I mean, we're always trying, you know, we want to establish the run.
01:56I mean, that's what we always try to do.
01:57That's what I believe in.
01:58That's what we believe in.
01:59So, I mean, it's nothing more, nothing less.
02:01That's what we try to attack every single week.
02:03Some weeks are better than others.
02:05But, you know, we've got to play a balanced game.
02:07We've got to, obviously, control the line of scrimmage.
02:08I think that's consistent, really good fronts and defenses in this league that we play every
02:12single week.
02:13So, it doesn't really change the approach, you know, from one week to the other.
02:16We know what we've got to do.
02:17And we've got to do, you know, consistently a better job, you know, throughout the course
02:20of the game in that regard.
02:22That's white and gold dress.
02:23He sees a white and gold dress.
02:25The rest of us see black and blue.
02:27Because that's not there.
02:29It's not there.
02:30Controlling the line of scrimmage is not there.
02:31Did you do black and blue intentionally?
02:33Well, it was blue and black, right?
02:34No, I hear you.
02:35But did you also put it that way?
02:37Yeah, it's a double meaning.
02:38Yeah, black and blue.
02:39Yeah, I was like, was that a bar, Figgy?
02:41Yeah.
02:41I need to go to the bar.
02:43Was that a bar?
02:45That's a bar.
02:46That's a bar.
02:47That's my first bar in a long time.
02:49Congratulations.
02:50I feel like you should have more of those, considering that you were, as a trade writer.
02:54But, no, I actually do think this could be a benefit.
02:57Like, this could be the week where the delusion, it's possible.
03:04It wouldn't be the first time.
03:05Because I'm with you.
03:06I want to see it.
03:07But I can't see it.
03:08Well, it's not even, I want to see it.
03:10This is a, this is a very, very bad run defense in the Buffalo Bills.
03:16In fact, I was looking at, just this morning, a statistic that was put out there.
03:20And, of course, we're delving into the muck of it in some ways.
03:24Because it's EPA per rush on this defense.
03:28But not just that, when it comes to, like, the lanes.
03:31So, you know, are you going off of the center?
03:34Are you going off tackle?
03:34Right?
03:35Like, where is the production happening against certain defenses?
03:39Against Buffalo, like, you are having huge, I'm not talking about big, huge opportunities
03:45to run off of the left tackle, which, Arianne Terris, would you like to run behind him?
03:49Yeah.
03:49Off of the right tackle, which, especially if Ed Ingram is indeed back and you go to an
03:53offensive line that I think we're both in agreement on, moves Titus Howard back to right
03:57tackle.
03:57He has been good running behind him.
04:00In fact, it seems like they've really liked running behind him and Ed Ingram.
04:04Those are places where not only have the Bills been bad, they've given up huge,
04:08I mean, expected points per play per rush, 0.26, a quarter of a point every time that
04:14you run off of the left side, two-tenths of a point, right?
04:18Like, a fifth of a point every time you run off of the right side, on the outside.
04:23This is available to you, right?
04:25Like, this is wildly available to you, even considering the idea that your offensive line
04:30has been, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, boo-boo when it comes to run blocking.
04:35I think that this is the instance and the opportunity for you to actually, the problem that I ultimately
04:42have is not necessarily with this game, because I do think that you can run the football and
04:46that can actually be incredibly helpful for you passing the football in this game and
04:50maybe being able to put up some points, which is going to be super necessary looking at the
04:54way that at least the high watermark is for this Buffalo offense.
04:57The only problem that I then have, which I can't worry about in this moment, because
05:00it's a win-every-game-available-to-you type of circumstance that the Texans are in, what
05:05happens if they run the ball and they already had the delusion when they weren't able to
05:08run the ball?
05:09Like, does this serve as false proof of concept, false positive, where they go, now we lean
05:13even heavier into running the football and you set yourself up for failure in the future?
05:16That's where I am, because obviously, you know, those numbers don't lie.
05:19Oh, and there's a lot more numbers.
05:20That is just me looking at the last one that I saw.
05:22However, we're in week 12, and how many times have you seen them had success?
05:27Hadn't happened very often.
05:28Hadn't happened, and I'm sure some of those 12 teams or 11, whatever, 10 teams that they
05:31faced don't rank real high.
05:33I mean, you know, in the same categories.
05:35They rank similarly to Buffalo, you know, some of the teams that they've already faced,
05:39and they haven't had success.
05:40So that's number one.
05:41Number two, who's starting on the offensive line this week?
05:45Tell me, give me all five names.
05:46I can't tell you for certain.
05:47I know!
05:48I can't tell you for certain.
05:49It's one of the things that, actually, funny enough, right, let me see.
05:52Which Kaley is this?
05:55I can't recall exactly which one it was, but Nick Kaley was actually talking about the
05:58idea of what they're looking for.
06:01Actually, this is cutting on.
06:01Can you give me Kaley 9 here, Fig?
06:03Because I thought B. Scott asked a great question here.
06:06What are you as a staff looking for when you're trying to find your best five?
06:10Consistency.
06:12Consistency in terms of execution.
06:14And, you know, again, that starts in practice.
06:16That starts, you know, it started.
06:18We have a body of work.
06:21Now they're seed.
06:22But that's really what we're looking for.
06:23You know, consistently good, not occasionally great, just being the same guy every single
06:27day and just, you know, continuing to move forward and get better.
06:30And, you know, obviously, there's injuries and stuff that dictate some of the, you know,
06:34the rotation of some of those guys.
06:35But that's what we're looking for.
06:37And, again, you got guys like you mentioned, Titus.
06:39Like, he's played a lot of football, and he's played outside, inside, and, you know,
06:42all those things.
06:43We have a bunch of guys with some flex, which I'm thankful that we do.
06:46You know, I really am.
06:47Once again, white and gold dress, black and blue dress.
06:50Because what he just said there, you know, we're looking for consistency.
06:53You know, we've done these things.
06:55We're trying to find the right guys and all that.
06:57Right now, the Texans rank 23rd in the NFL in rushing.
07:00A full 10 yards less than last year.
07:03That's not consistency.
07:04The last three games, they rank 27th in the NFL in rushing.
07:08Yeah, and that's not consistency.
07:09And the Tex line immediately came up with one of the things that first came to mind for me
07:14when I heard that from the 713.
07:15How can you have consistency in your offensive line when you haven't played the same five people together
07:19in the same positions over the damn season?
07:20Yeah.
07:20A little bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.
07:22And I think when he says consistency, I will give him the benefit of the doubt here.
07:26I think he's talking more about consistency from the individual in how they perform.
07:30And with that being the case, it feels like the dudes that I know for certain give you
07:34some level of consistency is Ariante Urseri, Titus Howard, and Ed Ingram in their performances.
07:39I feel like you might just have a Jake Andrews grandfather in at center.
07:43And then at that point, it feels like unless you're doing a lot of moving and shaking,
07:48I feel like then they probably go with the most recent consistent guy or closest to consistent,
07:53which is Garrett Patterson.
07:54And so that's your five.
07:55And even with that five, I feel like if you run off tackle on Ariante Urseri, you
08:00should be able to run off of...
08:03Funny enough, the gap that the Bills tend to be strongest on is probably the one that
08:08would be behind Ed Ingram.
08:09But I do like Ed Ingram and the push that he can give you.
08:11So maybe try that.
08:12But honestly, running off of the edge, off the right edge, off of Titus, I think will
08:17be successful for you.
08:18So assuming that they don't do the thing where they just try and run right in the middle,
08:21which I think could be okay, but I also just don't love running behind...
08:24Well, they've played six different guys at Garden Center.
08:26Right.
08:27So I don't know about running up the middle.
08:28Exactly.
08:29That lack of cohesion there.
08:30And then just, I don't think either of us view Jake Andrews as a dude who has the muscle
08:34to move dudes in the middle.
08:35Right.
08:36So yeah, I think that there is a distinct opportunity to run the football in this game.
08:40And I think it's going to be, not only is the delusion possible here, I think it's
08:44necessary.
08:44I think that you cannot depend on just being good on third down and just continuing to
08:50be excellent on hitting every pass, getting yourself to third and short, getting the first
08:55down, getting yourself to third and short, getting the first down.
08:57I think you need to be able to run the football to give you some opportunities here, especially
09:01if you can get some explosives or even borderline explosives off of that.
09:04That's going to be super necessary in order to win this game.
09:06I mean, I hope you're right.
09:07We all hope you're right if you follow this team.
09:09Um, but again, uh, you know, D'Amico even talked about it and I'm like, what, what is
09:14he seeing?
09:15He knows better than this.
09:16He does.
09:17Yeah.
09:17Running the ball for me, it's always a key, no matter who you're playing, who's, who's
09:21your opponent.
09:22You got to run it.
09:22Well, that's just, you know, when you can dictate and control the line of scrimmage,
09:26it just opens up your playbook a lot more.
09:28So the run game is vital.
09:30Of course, it's going to take all 11 guys blocking really well, being detailed in what we're
09:34doing and our backs is finishing.
09:37It does.
09:37It does open up your playbook.
09:38He's not wrong.
09:39No, no.
09:39Or concept that ultimately have is just, they haven't been good at it.
09:44They're not inherently good at it, but I think that this is the week where I will allow the
09:49delusion.
09:49The thing that I'm scared about though, is on the backside of this, especially if it goes
09:53the way that I imagine it could, it might strengthen the delusion, which might ultimately
09:57be a bad thing.
09:58We're going to be honest.
09:58We're going to be on the back of this, which is just, you know, and I'm going to be on the back of this, which is it for the day, that I'm going to be on the back of this.
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