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Seth and Sean dive into what challenges the Texans will face from the Colts this Sunday and how the Texans' offense is perceived with Davis Mills at QB vs CJ Stroud at QB.
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00:00Here was D'Amico Ryans yesterday at his media availability on the challenges.
00:05The upcoming opponent for the Texans, the Indianapolis Colts, present.
00:09For the Colts, you can see they've been a very explosive offense.
00:13They have what's powered them this year.
00:15I think Daniel Jones is playing the most productive that he's played in his career.
00:19So Shane has done a good job of putting him in positions, putting guys around him
00:24to really make the plays he needs to make.
00:26So you have explosive receivers on the outside. The rookie tight end is doing a good job as well.
00:32And then, of course, running the football, Jonathan Taylor.
00:35I can't say enough good things about him as a running back.
00:39It's balance, power, explosiveness.
00:42You have to be able to set the edge because he can take the explosive run 50-plus yards
00:47and take it to the house. He can hit cutback lanes and make you pay.
00:51So it's going to take everything we have defensively, first and foremost, stopping the run.
00:55But we know that's not the only emphasis with this offense.
00:59They do a good job of their play-action-passing game, like really timing it up at the proper time,
01:04really catching a lot of defenses and off guard.
01:07And they're creating a lot of explosives there as well.
01:09So you've got to play true.
01:11So I'm telling Ardiv, you have to play true.
01:13You have to play with elite eye discipline, elite awareness to what your job is and being on it.
01:18Because if not, Shane has always done a good job offensively of creating eye candy, as I call it,
01:25to mess with guys' eyes, to put their guys in position and make plays.
01:28So the Colts, I mean, started off on an absolute tear over the first eight weeks of the season.
01:34And I think it's important to point out, because we talked about this with Ross Tucker last segment a little bit,
01:40they seem to have come back down to earth a little bit.
01:42But they've scored in the last three weeks, so in the early part of the season,
01:47they were scoring between 30 and 40 points with regularity.
01:50The last three weeks, they scored 20 points against the Steelers, 31 points against Atlanta,
01:58but that included overtime.
01:59So they're in the 20s during regulation.
02:02And then 20 points in their loss to Kansas City.
02:05One of those was set up by a Leatu-Latu interception right on the four-yard line.
02:12So it was a four-yard touchdown drive after that.
02:16They haven't been the same.
02:17I would be hesitant, though, to think, oh, yep, they're 100% back down to earth
02:22and they're not capable of anything more than 20 points in a game.
02:26They still have all those expensive elements.
02:28They still are really, really good at the play action.
02:32Remember last week, did you watch the whole game last week, the Chiefs game, the Colts-Chiefs game?
02:36Yes, yeah.
02:37That one, Daniel Jones ran for a first down where he basically jogged
02:44because everybody bit so hard on the handoff and then he just kept it.
02:50And it was like everybody on the defense was fooled.
02:53They're very capable of springing some big plays by fooling you on defense
02:58if you don't have good eye discipline.
02:59I just do think that teams are starting to realize, all right, well, if we can hem up Jonathan Taylor
03:07and put it on Daniel Jones' shoulders or his arm, they've got some limitations.
03:15Daniel Jones still does have some limitations as a quarterback.
03:18The Chiefs did exactly that.
03:20Jonathan Taylor had 16 carries for 58 yards.
03:24One of those carries was he had a long of 27 where he was able to break out.
03:28They didn't hold the edge.
03:30He was able to get outside.
03:31Boy, if you don't get hands on Jonathan Taylor within the first two yards,
03:34then it gets really scary, man.
03:37Like his acceleration is something else.
03:39But I say all that to say on the other 15 carries, aside from that one long run,
03:44he averaged two yards a carry.
03:46He had 15 carries for 31 yards other than that big long one.
03:49So they never got out of first gear in the run game.
03:52That head of the snake right there is Jonathan Taylor.
03:55And yet, and yet, I feel like in this game, Seth,
03:59Nico Collins is the best pass catcher among both teams in this game.
04:03And then I feel like the next at least three are Indianapolis Colts.
04:09You know, some order.
04:11Michael Pittman.
04:12I think Alex Pierce is a huge downfield threat for them.
04:15And he's had good games against the Texans.
04:17And then obviously Tyler Warren, if we're keeping it to just, you know,
04:19if we're expanding it to tight ends, just call it pass catchers.
04:23So they've got Josh Downs is a productive player for them.
04:27He's a good player.
04:28So they've got some no-namers, like you pointed out before, that'll make a play.
04:33You know, Ashton Doolin made a 49-yard catch and run in that game against Kansas City.
04:38So between the scheme and the talent level, yeah, like this is, this is,
04:44it's going to be a challenge for the Texans defense.
04:46The first eight games, the first eight games, the Colts averaged 33 points a game on offense.
04:51The last three games, they've averaged 23 points per game,
04:54including at least the one that was set up by that interception.
04:59Yeah.
04:59Which, I mean, that happens, whatever.
05:00But it wasn't, they just, they've been bottled up.
05:04And that's just, like, so we know what they're capable of.
05:07We know what their potential is.
05:09We know they went into last week having punted 19 times all season long.
05:15Like they were just, and that part of it, their ability to keep sustained drives and everything,
05:21whether or not they're punching it into the end zone, that's still there.
05:24So there's no part of me that thinks, oh, yep, Colts are, Colts have fallen back down to earth.
05:29I think that this very easily could have just been a lull in their season or in their schedule.
05:35They are facing the number one scoring.
05:37The Colts are facing the number one scoring defense in the NFL, though.
05:39Yeah.
05:40And CJ, we expect CJ Stroud to be back for this game.
05:44He's played there twice.
05:46He's had two of his best games as a pro in that building.
05:49The Week 18 game to get into the playoffs back in 2023,
05:54and then the season opener last year.
05:56Of course, Joe Mixon, it helped that Joe Mixon ran for 160 yards in that game.
06:00Nico Collins just routinely goes for deep shots against the Colts in Indianapolis.
06:06I wonder if, was it, were the Texans a team that finally made Pat McAfee quit the Colts?
06:12And did he ever get his, did he get his tickets back there?
06:15Oh, his seats.
06:17He has one of those field level boxes, I think.
06:20But he had relinquished it.
06:21Remember, he just quit the, he quit the Colts.
06:23But is he back on the bandwagon?
06:25I'm guessing he is.
06:26I would guess it was a different, because it was Week 1.
06:28Does McAfee seem like someone who would quit after Week 1 of the season last year?
06:33It was, what do you mean?
06:34Well, the Texans, the Texans played the Colts in Week 1 there.
06:38Yeah, that's right.
06:38No, no, I thought it was like two years ago when he quit the Colts.
06:41Oh, okay.
06:42I didn't know if he's back on the train or not.
06:44Oh, I'm guessing he's very much back on the bandwagon.
06:46Yeah.
06:47Yeah, so I would, yeah, I would guess he is.
06:50He'd be smart to be, I would think.
06:52D'Amico Ryans, let's skip down to the offense here, Ben.
06:56He was asked yesterday, will it be the same, this will be a novel concept, the same group
07:01of offensive linemen getting trotted out there two weeks in a row.
07:03We haven't seen, injuries have had a big thing to do with that.
07:06Will it be the same offensive line this week that you had last week?
07:09We'll continue to roll with our offensive line.
07:11For me, it's always been about trying to get our best five guys out there.
07:14I think Titus has done a great job of just unselfishly moving where he's played right
07:18tackle, right guard, left guard, whatever we've asked him.
07:22You know, he's done it.
07:23It shows that he's a smart player to be able to handle as much as we put on his plate.
07:28So he's done that and he's played good for us.
07:31Yeah, the offensive line, he was asked in the press conference yesterday if they're going
07:36to roll with this configuration and he didn't answer that question.
07:40So he didn't answer it directly.
07:42And I'll be surprised if they don't go with this unless somebody's injured or something.
07:48We don't, like, unless Jarrett Patterson had a secret injury, they chose to put Titus
07:53Howard out there at left guard over Jarrett Patterson.
07:56I think they're very pleased with the way Trent Brown is playing at right tackle.
08:01Ed Ingram had another good game.
08:03Really, and Ariante Ursary is, he's going to be the left tackle moving forward.
08:07I mean, he has grown by leaps and bounds.
08:10I think he'll be better five weeks from now than he is right now.
08:13He just continues to take step after step after step.
08:17So they'll roll with this and hopefully just they can form some cohesion and everything along
08:23the way.
08:24There's going to be blips.
08:25But they can get some things done with this.
08:28They just need to, they need to get better at the second level and staying attached to
08:32blocks and all of those things.
08:33I think the running backs are not a hundred percent always seeing the play, uh, the, the
08:40way they should.
08:40And they're leaving some yards on the table, but there's just, it's, it's night and day
08:44compared to how it felt the first three weeks of the season.
08:46Yeah.
08:47No DeForest Buckner in this game.
08:48That's a big deal.
08:49That's a big, that is a big deal, man.
08:52What a shame.
08:53If you were, if you were handpicking Colts to not play in this game, DeForest Buckner
08:59would be probably go Jonathan Taylor, DeForest Buckner, DeForest Buckner is not going to play
09:03in this game, but I believe a neck injury is what he has.
09:06He's on the eye.
09:06He's on IR right now.
09:08One more from D'Amico Ryans.
09:10I liked hearing this because it through his time as the Texans head coach, it feels like
09:16D'Amico has been maybe comparatively overly critical of the defense when that's been the
09:21side of the ball that's generally played very well and that he's kind of soft played it
09:25on the offense, particularly the offensive line.
09:27There's really no getting around the fact that the Texans second half offense against
09:31the Buffalo Bills was dimple.
09:34It was terrible.
09:35Here was D'Amico Ryans on the second half offense against Buffalo.
09:38Doesn't necessarily correlate.
09:39We still got to do a better job moving the ball in the second half.
09:42I don't think our second half offense was good enough.
09:44And, you know, so we have to continue to strive, continue to get better at executing
09:49the plays, calling it better.
09:51We got to do a much better job, coaches, players, everybody.
09:54We got to be able to move the ball way more than we did in the second half.
09:57We're going to finish games the right way.
09:58Yeah, dude.
09:59We were way, we were way, way too close, Seth, to having another one of those games where
10:05this is only the third time since the merger that a team with eight sacks, a third down
10:13conversion allowed of less than whatever.
10:15And, you know, some other stat defensively lost the game.
10:18And we had, we had like four games like that last year where they had five picks against
10:23the last, the last team to have five picks and X amount of sacks to lose a game was in
10:271942 when the Madison Marauders lost to the Chicago bears.
10:32Like that's, we were, I mean, honestly one play away.
10:37I mean, they had fourth and six deep in your territory.
10:40If Josh Allen's able to connect on a touchdown there, then we're looking at another one of
10:44these teams that have had eight sacks in a game and lost, you know, that one of those
10:48low percentage things.
10:49I think that D'Amico this year, I think has been, he's been appropriately critical of the
10:55offensive line.
10:56Yes.
10:56Well, at the same time, the team will at various times say, no, the old line's no problem
11:00whatsoever.
11:00I think D'Amico this entire year, even when people, sometimes after games, people say,
11:05Hey, D'Amico, isn't the offensive line awesome?
11:07And D'Amico will be like, they've done some good things or they made some improvements.
11:12I mean, D'Amico's giving them the kind of praise right now that I, that I always feel
11:18weird about giving, which is they've eliminated a lot of the negative plays that they had last
11:23year.
11:23And it's, it, it, I mean, that's a low bar to, to try to get over, but it is important.
11:32The tackles for a loss and some of the stuffs in the run game, the sacks, like that has all
11:38improved.
11:39And part of that is the style of offense they're running.
11:41It makes it easier to avoid those negative plays.
11:44Some of it is on improved play by the offensive line, but it's still, it's just not where you
11:49want it to be.
11:49They're not the, the offensive line has made improvements, but it's not like I look at it
11:53and say, Oh yeah, boy, they are just a rolling ball of butcher's knives and nobody can stop
11:57them.
11:58They're just, they're not there yet.
11:59Yeah.
11:59I think D'Amico has been, has seemed less patient this year.
12:04He's, he's still an incredibly patient person and impatient by D'Amico standards is still
12:09way more patient than the average human being, but he has been more critical appropriately.
12:14So of the offensive side of the ball, um, I think he's been more honest about the offensive
12:19side of the ball.
12:19And I think part of that is a function of it.
12:21Hey man, it's year three.
12:23I think D'Amico is at times this season definitely felt the, the honeymoon is over vibe from a
12:30lot of people.
12:31Look, it's gotten contentious at times in press conferences with D'Amico and people in the
12:36media and people are less patient on the outside.
12:38He himself said after last season, we got to take it to new heights this year, losing in
12:42the divisional rounds, not good anymore.
12:44Well, damn, you don't even get an opportunity to lose in the divisional round when you're
12:47three and five to start the season, if that's the way the season is going to go.
12:51So I would guess that there's part of it that I'm not saying he's on the hot seat or even
12:55that his seat is even remotely warm, but D'Amico is a competitive dude.
13:00And he's probably feeling like, all right, we need to get this thing going.
13:03You know, it's year three.
13:05We went 10 and seven, 10 and seven.
13:07We did some good things.
13:08We won the division.
13:08We won a playoff game, but at six and five, you're still not even close to where you need
13:15to be to feel like you can get to an AFC title game.
13:18So yeah, yeah, we got to be better in the second half.
13:21Yeah.
13:21We need more than just a bunch of three and outs in the set.
13:24We need more than 35 yards of offense in the second half.
13:27And I don't know that he would have even gone there in the last two years to say what
13:31he said just now, what we just played right there.
13:33Leatu Leitu, remember who they were very high on when they drafted a few years ago.
13:38We got the best defensive player in 15.
13:42He's played very well this year, but they, you know, they've got Quiddy Pei on the other
13:46side and they just, they don't have, they don't have that one, two punch dynamic that
13:50the Texans do at both defense positions, but he plays on both sides of the ball.
13:54So Ariante Urseri and Trent Brown versus Leatu Leitu is one of the matchups to watch this
14:00week.
14:00And the, I guess one thing that Davis did that helped the offensive line out.
14:07And I think helped Davis Mills himself out a lot was he was getting rid of the ball really
14:11quickly.
14:12CJ was getting rid of the ball a lot faster this year.
14:14And that was one of the reasons that, that sacks and pressure hasn't been as much of an
14:19issue is that there, they've been, there hasn't been time to get sacked.
14:25You know, like there were a couple of snaps in that game where Ariante Urseri had some
14:29rough snaps, but he doesn't give up the pressure because the ball was gone.
14:32Yeah.
14:33If it would, if it would have been anything else that it could have been a really nasty
14:37hit on the quarterback.
14:38That's why I still give, I think I give Kaylee, Nick Kaylee more credit than a lot of people
14:43want to give him just partly because I think his hands are tied by trying to manage this
14:48offensive line who have shown improvement, but they, they're not an offensive lineman line
14:53that you feel good about just leaving out there in five man protection versus a good
14:58defensive line.
14:59They're just not there yet.
15:00I'm excited to see if, if we get the version of CJ that we saw against San Francisco in
15:06the early part of the Denver game, I'm excited to plunk that CJ down into this offense.
15:10I think the, it feels like the offense is starting to figure a few things out.
15:14And we'll see.
15:14I saw somebody earlier say, I think it was Ocho said, how do we think Dayton Higgins and
15:20Dalton Schultz feel?
15:21And I'm paraphrasing Ocho, I apologize.
15:24The text was an hour ago, but, but I think it's a, it's a valid question.
15:28I suppose that how do we think Dalton Schultz and Jaden Higgins deep down feel about CJ coming
15:33back?
15:34Cause they were getting targeted more over the last three games with Davis Mills and they
15:38were getting targeted with, with CJ.
15:40Um, does, you know, do, do they feel a certain kind of way?
15:43And I, you know, Davis Mills is also finding way to target Nico Collins, double digits in each
15:48of the games too.
15:48Well, I think this is where it's tough because there were a lot of things that were starting
15:52to click offensively that, I mean, if you put it on a graph, you, you could have seen
15:57that same trend starting when CJ Stroud was still in there.
16:01He was spreading the ball around.
16:02He was getting the ball to the rookies more.
16:04He had started targeting Nico Collins more heavily in the week before.
16:08And then in the first couple of series of the Denver game.
16:11So those things, I think CJ was starting to trust Jaden Higgins more as well.
16:16And that's where Davis Mills coming in.
16:20And is it, is it him doing things differently or is it just a continuation of the trend we
16:25were already seeing?
16:26We just flat out don't know until we get CJ out there and, and see it.
16:30That's, that's the difficult part of the scenario.
16:33Um, real quick text message, just hopping in.
16:35No Ross Tucker today.
16:36Ross joined us at six 30 on the show.
16:38And that's just a, by way of, um, yeah, like Dalton had been targeted 10 times in the Seattle
16:45game.
16:45Yeah.
16:46And then he was targeted much in the San Francisco game.
16:48And then these last, uh, that, that Denver game, it was a combination job between him
16:53and Dalton, but it's, it's not as stark a difference.
16:56Again, it was those first, those couple of games before CJ went out other like things
17:02were starting to click and it's, I just, I hope that yes, that continues on.
17:06We had a texter earlier, I thought make a pretty astute observation or had a good thought
17:11and I know I can't ask you to go find it right now.
17:14And it's one of those texts you have to read.
17:16It was basically that, oh, CJ, that Davis Mills was maybe executing the offense more the way
17:27it was supposed to be executed, just not doing it with a whole lot of accuracy or anything.
17:32Okay.
17:32I got it.
17:32I got it.
17:33You want me to read it?
17:33Yeah.
17:34Uh, the difference between CJ and Davis Mills is this.
17:37When CJ is playing, it looks like Nick Caley is running a bad offense.
17:41When Davis is playing, it looks like he's executing the Nick Caley offense poorly.
17:47Yes.
17:47Yes.
17:48And I think there is, I think that that, that rings true.
17:51I think it's with CJ, it still felt like there was a little bit of a hero ball element to it,
17:56which is going to be scattershot with Davis.
17:59He's coming in and he's doing the best he can to execute the offense.
18:02And he just, he can't consistently make some of those throws.
18:07Um, and yeah, that's if just the overall vibe.
18:11It could be when he's back, that it's more like he's running that offense and he's making
18:17those throws that Davis wasn't making that, that, and then Davis made some great throws.
18:23It's the, it's the throws he misses that hurt you more than anything.
18:26It's him being 50% completion percentage after that last game.
18:30Uh, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's, he doesn't have that same ceiling that CJ does.
18:34It's and it's still wild to me that people, that people don't, there's people out there
18:38that don't see that or don't get that.
18:41Or like CJ is going to be the quarterback for this team.
18:43I think, see, I think Davis did an, uh, an awesome job as a backup quarterback coming
18:49in.
18:49He didn't do anything that made me feel like, Oh wow.
18:52You're not just going to go out and find that anywhere else.
18:54Right.
18:54Like he, he, he's, he made some great third down conversions.
18:58He made some great throws.
18:59Every quarterback in the league can make those throws.
19:02It's, it's like the old Tom Brady theory of it's, it's not as much about the things you
19:09do as the mistakes you don't make or the easy throws that you don't miss.
19:14And that's where Davis is just still lacking in some regard.
19:17I hate the conversation because it takes, it takes what Davis accomplished as a backup
19:22quarterback the last three weeks and somehow puts it under a hypercritical microscope.
19:27And look, there were times David didn't move the offense.
19:30It's, you know, they, there was a reason why Buffalo was able to hang around in that
19:34game.
19:34They didn't move the ball in the second half.
19:36He's your backup quarterback.
19:37He went three and Oh, like that's the, the, the, the bar, the bar, the threshold for what
19:43I'm expecting out of Davis Mills is different than what I'm expecting out of CJ Stroud.
19:47So again, to go back to that theme of, okay, is this just, was it that Davis Mills ran the
19:51offense differently or was it that things were starting to click before CJ got injured?
19:57And then this is a continuation of that.
19:59Jaden Higgins in Sam, the San Francisco game, he was targeted eight times, you know, when
20:05Davis Mills was in, he was targeted seven times, seven times, nine times.
20:09Like, it's just, it's not this stuff.
20:11It was midway through the season when the rookies and everything else, the entire offense as a
20:16whole theoretically could just be starting to gel and guys are under it.
20:21Guys are comfortable where they're supposed to be.
20:23And, and that's what we had seen, but it was just, it was two, three games where that's
20:29what it looked like.
20:30And then CJ got concussed.
20:32If you Denver game looked very much like he was executing the Nick Caley offense.
20:37Yes.
20:37Yeah.
20:37Yeah.
20:38If you're, if you're of the belief that Dalton Schultz and Jaden Higgins have an issue with
20:42CJ Stroud coming back based on the number of targets they might see, you're just looking
20:47at the season totals that are being dragged down by the first four or five weeks of the
20:52season, especially with Higgins and the lack of paying time to Schultz is at least out on
20:56the field.
20:56Most of the time Higgins and Noel barely got a, you know, relatively barely got on the
21:01field as opposed to looking at the trend, which is Jaden Higgins has made himself a big
21:06part of the offense going back to the San Francisco game.
21:10Yeah. And you go back to early in the season with, when you have rookies out there, I mean,
21:14there were times where clearly just people weren't in the right spots. The spacing on the
21:19room of the receivers was all screwed up. Um, there were just things that were disjointed
21:23and not, not operating properly. And as a quarterback, there's only so many times when you're looking
21:30for a guy and he's not exactly where he's supposed to be, where it gets, it gets really
21:35hard to trust those guys. And I think Higgins especially is now more of a veteran is
21:40D'Amico said during the bye week. Okay. I don't consider these guys rookies anymore.
21:44Um, they're, they're just executing their roles in the proper manner as opposed to early
21:50in the season.
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