Do the Texans have that championship culture?

KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610

The guys dive into whether the Texans truly have that championship DNA

Transcript

00:00From what we know about the Texans, do they have a championship culture is a question I have.

00:04I saw a very interesting piece.

00:06The Athletic has had kind of a series called Peak where they're kind of covering leadership,

00:12personal development, and performance through the lens of sports.

00:15And with that being the case, one of the installments was written by Cliff Averill.

00:20He played 10 seasons in the NFL for the Lions and the Seahawks,

00:23which means he played for that 0-16 Lions team, the entirely defeated football team.

00:28And he also played for the Seahawks when they won their championship on that incredible defense.

00:33And he wrote about the differences in culture there, a championship winning culture and a losing culture,

00:39an entirely losing culture.

00:41And some of the things that he talked about here, he wrote that when he was in Detroit,

00:48that he just hated going to work, right?

00:50He said, one time we were watching a film in the defensive meeting room.

00:54A coach asked what we were doing on a particular play and said,

00:57we should have made a different defensive call.

00:59One of the defensive backs shot back.

01:01That's what I called, look in my hand, I'm calling the play.

01:03The coach told him that he's still lined up wrong, right?

01:06Like there's instances like that.

01:08He got to a place where he started talking about the first thing he noticed in Seattle was the difference in culture.

01:12He said Detroit was very militant.

01:14We want players to wear their team-issued sweats.

01:16We want players to tuck in their shirts.

01:18He said, when I got to Seattle, it was the complete opposite.

01:21Pete Carroll wanted guys to be different.

01:22He wanted guys to be themselves.

01:23He didn't care about the small things like tucking in his shirt, played music, shooting hoops, relaxed, and fun.

01:30We're on that particular spectrum, and there's more that I can maybe give you in Cliff Averill's words when it comes to a championship culture.

01:37Do you see, where on that spectrum between those two do you see the Texas team, from what we can tell, from what we know?

01:43I think it's leaning more toward Pete Carroll, but Pete Carroll is kind of the extreme in that direction.

01:51We've all talked to players that have played for Pete Carroll.

01:55I've gotten to know a few here and there.

01:58His big mantra was, you be you, do what you want, except here.

02:03You know, when it gets to meeting time, when it gets to, you can wear whatever you want, when it gets to game time, practice time, perform.

02:11And if you don't perform, all of a sudden, you know, that's the equalizer.

02:16I don't know if the Texans are that, you know, laissez-faire in terms of, you know, who you are and what you are.

02:22I think they led them to a large degree.

02:24But at some point, you know, it comes down to you do have to have a little bit more, you know, us, discipline, together, that kind of thing.

02:33And that's why I think it's kind of in between, but leaning maybe a little more toward Pete Carroll.

02:37Yeah, he got to a point in his piece, he kind of landed it here, right, is that the difference with them was when you lost a few games.

02:46Which, of course, in football, in any sport, that is the real teller, right?

02:50Winning is the ultimate deal.

02:51I like to call it a panacea.

02:53It covers things up.

02:54It fixes everything up until it doesn't, right?

02:56When there's not winning, that's when the fissures begin to show up.

03:00He said, in Detroit, you could feel the tension when you were on a two- or three-game losing streak.

03:04Coaches changed how they talked to players.

03:07They changed how they ran their meetings.

03:09It was like they were trying to find a recipe to get them out of the funk.

03:12It's natural for coaches to try and pivot, so on and so forth, he said.

03:15But in Seattle, where there was a stretch where they lost a few games in a row, and he was sitting like,

03:19I want to see how this all plays out.

03:21Because he had already had the experience of Detroit.

03:23Waiting for changes, Coach Carroll never wavered.

03:26Yeah.

03:26Right?

03:27Came in Monday, still had music blaring, those on and so forth.

03:29He said, win, lose, or draw, we were going to get the same person, which is very comforting as a player.

03:34He said, it taught me that Coach believed in what he was coaching.

03:37You think it's just fluff, it's taught Pete's whole concept.

03:39Every day is championship football, as you were talking about.

03:42Yeah.

03:42How have you seen D'Amico carry it?

03:44Because I will say that he, at least in his words, at times it felt like the tenor underneath it was shifting to some degree.

03:52And maybe that's just the way that we read it because of the probing nature of questions in that.

03:58D'Amico's messaging has been the same all the way across.

04:00I think in terms of messaging, if that's all you're going by, you're seeing, okay, he's like Pete Carroll.

04:07Nothing changes.

04:08I don't buy it.

04:09And I think there's evidence, too, that even D'Amico has said.

04:13I think he wants, the messaging to the players is always, and it has been, you know, when they were struggling this year.

04:20You know, the whole one game at a time thing, et cetera.

04:22But not just that, worry about this play, this moment, this game, et cetera.

04:28That said, he flat out told us, we've got to change some things.

04:31Yeah.

04:31I mean, he said it publicly.

04:32So imagine what he was talking about privately, you know, in terms of how they're changing the way they do offense.

04:38And then there's this.

04:39They haven't stayed, you know, the offensive line is kind of the window into that world.

04:46They've changed it a million times.

04:47This might be the first two weeks all year.

04:50I'd have to go back and look where you're starting the same five guys in back-to-back weeks.

04:54So in terms of actions and some of the things that he said, he has been able to change.

05:00But I think the overall message, one play at a time, all this stuff, that stayed.

05:04And there's going to need to be change, right?

05:05I think that with the offensive line, there needed to be change.

05:08If you were just watching the production of what was happening, there needed to be change.

05:12But culturally, I think that they're starting to establish something.

05:17I'm interested to see how far along they are.

05:19I think that I'm interested.

05:20Do you agree with this text that comes in on the text line from the 2-8-1?

05:25They have a championship mentality, but not a championship culture.

05:28Not yet.

05:29Do you agree with that?

05:30I would may reverse that, to be honest.

05:34Okay.

05:34Because when I think culture, I don't necessarily.

05:36We're talking about the day-to-day here and how they're treating players and talking to players and stuff.

05:40But I think the bigger culture is the players they even brought in, the draft, and, you know, the types of personalities and character.

05:49You know, he was just talking Monday about Will Anderson and the story about this, was it his brother?

05:55Yeah, D'Amico's brother told him, hey, you've got to draft this kid.

05:58Yeah, there's this freshman at Alabama, man.

05:59He's nice.

06:01And then he found out what kind of person and the professionalism of what.

06:04See, I think the culture is established in terms of the types of people in the building.

06:09The mentality, that's a work in progress.

06:11You know, the championship mentality, I can't tell you that they have that because that's something you have to prove.

06:17Yeah, I guess that's fair.

06:18And you know what's funny?

06:18It feels like on the defense, it's definitely well-established.

06:22It feels like the defense is the portion of the football team that is furthest along towards championship culture, championship mentality.

06:30They don't give up, right?

06:32Even, especially in this Bills game, you saw that, right?

06:34They did the thing, which is, hey, this is a third or fourth in a mile.

06:40Yeah.

06:40And here you go, Derek Stingley, diving inside and you get a hook and lateral and here you go, that team has picked something up.

06:47They have an opportunity to now go and continue to drive that they should have been off the field for.

06:51But they did not waver in their discipline in the way they handled it.

06:56And that's the players. That's their makeup.

06:57That is their makeup.

06:58Offensively is where we have the questions of, are they getting themselves to that place?

07:01And interestingly enough, not to add fuel to a fire that is clearly burning on a low level,

07:08I feel like the dichotomy that Cliff Averill talks about in being steady and maybe being more wavering at times

07:15is kind of typified in the quarterback controversy that people are trying to drum up.

07:19I think that this is part of why, is that Davis Mills is stoic.

07:23He kind of gives you that statuesque, I am here, I am unwavering in good and bad circumstances,

07:28at least because of his demeanor.

07:29You compare that to CJ, who has been a little more temperamental.

07:32We've even noticed it just in, you know, after losses when he's talking in front of a microphone

07:37versus, you know, in certain circumstances where it feels like he has more energy.

07:40Like, I think that that is the thing that people, I mean, I can't speak for all the folks

07:45who have that feeling of, oh, Davis Mills should be the hot hand that you remain with.

07:49I imagine that's part of what they're pointing to.

07:52And I don't disagree that that is something that, rather, CJ needs to find a way to level out somewhere.

07:57No, I think that's where I was going.

07:59You know, when you see the body language and such, and facial expressions of CJ Stroud,

08:04I think that's where people turn a little bit.

08:07But I think they'll tell you in the building they have extreme confidence in CJ Stroud.

08:11But sometimes, you know, they probably have told him, dude, just for your teammates.

08:17Yeah.

08:17You know, just for your teammates.

08:18Forget how you feel.

08:19You know, you've got to show something else, you know?

08:21Yeah, and that's the interesting part of the offense, that there is, like,

08:26the things that they need to figure out on the field.

08:28And they are doing better in figuring those out.

08:29We talked about that starting the show, what D'Amico was seeing in the progress of the offense.

08:34I do wonder if that's part of it, is, like, finding that cultural establishment on top of, you know,

08:40the capabilities to actually run the offense.

08:42Are you also culturally there?

08:44I think that that's one of the things that is typified in the Kansas City Chiefs,

08:47while we're watching them versus the Colts, and we're like, man, this don't look like it is something overwhelming.

08:52I think the overwhelming part is that the culture that they have established is,

08:56we're going to get this figured out.

08:57Pat's going to get us there in those moments.

08:59I think that that might be the differentiation between what that Kansas City Chiefs' offensive team

09:05has been able to do time and time again, and I think where the Texans' offense is

09:09and where they want to be, not to separate it out specifically.

09:12But that is where the defense is.

09:14100%.

09:14Yeah, that is where the defense is.

09:15And that might be kind of one of the underlying feelings of, well, we know this defense is going to show up.

09:20They have all of the nasty, the grit, the swarm, all the cliches.

09:25They have that.

09:26But now it's like, hey, is the offense going to meet them?

09:28Because I feel like as you are looking at this team, you see them go up 500,

09:32you see the path towards playoffs, I think that's going to be one of the things that undergirds a run

09:37if they are capable of doing it.

09:39Am I wrong in that?

09:39You are not wrong in that.

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