- 12 hours ago
There’s real reason to believe that if the Texans’ offensive line can handle Sunday’s challenge, they may have finally solved their biggest concern of the season.
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00:00Is there reason to believe, John Lopez, that the Texans might have found the answer to what has been their biggest concern all season long?
00:07Yes, yes, there is reason to believe.
00:09Like, we were, no one was, well, I shouldn't say, because it was as equally as hard on this offensive line and this offense as us all across town.
00:17Whether it's fans, media, sometimes, you know, obviously, you know, former players and such.
00:23We're kind of, are we on to something? I don't know.
00:26But D'Amico said this about getting the best five out on the field.
00:32And before you hear it, I really believe this is the first back-to-back games where you're going to have the same five guys in the same five positions all year.
00:41This is what D'Amico said.
00:42We'll continue to roll with our offensive line.
00:44It's all been about trying to get our best five guys out there.
00:48I think Titus has done a great job just unselfishly moving where he's played right tackle, right guard, left guard, whatever we've asked him.
00:55You know, he's done it.
00:56It shows that he's a smart player to be able to handle as much as we put on his plate.
01:01So he's done that, and he's played good for us.
01:04Just that alone should make you feel better because it was pretty good, you know, against the Bills.
01:11And then there's the obvious of C.J. Stroud coming back.
01:15That's got to make you feel better.
01:17Forget the riffraff on the periphery, but Woody Marks, he's the dude.
01:22I hate that word, by the way.
01:23What?
01:24Riffraff?
01:24Riffraff?
01:25I hate it.
01:25Really?
01:26I hate it.
01:27It just gives me, like, the heat and genius.
01:29It's a bad connotation.
01:30I don't know.
01:30Yeah, maybe that's what it is.
01:31I understand what you're saying.
01:32I don't think that you're using it anywhere.
01:34It just hits me wrong.
01:35Yeah.
01:35Woody Marks, he's your dude in the backfield.
01:39Yeah, he is.
01:39I think that's pretty obvious.
01:41So you're better there.
01:42You're better at quarterback.
01:43And here's why I really think, you know, this could be, you could be on to something after
01:49this Colts game.
01:50The Colts defense, we all know how good the Texans defense is.
01:55The Colts defense is really, really good at defending the things that you want to do
02:00offensively.
02:01Yeah.
02:01Like, what do you want to do?
02:03You want to run the ball, right?
02:04You want to control, you know, you don't want to go behind sticks, as D'Amico likes to
02:08say.
02:09Well, the Colts defense are seventh in the league, seventh in rushing yards allowed per
02:14game.
02:15So if you can get this offensive line to establish something on the ground, that's going to tell
02:21you a lot right there.
02:22That's going to tell you a lot.
02:23Well, that's a strong if.
02:26Yeah.
02:26That is a really strong if, looking at a Grover Stewart and a big boy in the middle,
02:30Latu Latu has been fantastic on the edge.
02:34Also, getting his hands up, batting things down, getting interceptions.
02:38You talk about, I mean, there's a number of guys.
02:40Quiddy Paye on that D-line.
02:42Like, they have a lot of guys that may not be widely heralded that are doing really good
02:46jobs.
02:47And they're, I think they're the anchor of their defense as much as you can look at
02:51this defense.
02:52Although, you got to look all over the defense.
02:53If I say the pass rush or the defensive line is the anchor, then you go, what is Stingley
02:58and Kamari, what are they, chopped liver?
03:00Right?
03:00Like, that feels, that'd be insane to say.
03:02But no, they've got an anchor there.
03:04And the thing that I can say about that defensive line is that they are the things that you,
03:09they are all the addresses that the Texans have used to describe what they want out of
03:13an offensive line.
03:14They have that in the defensive line.
03:15Yeah.
03:15And so, if you are able to do any level of keeping up with them and matching up with
03:20them, that would go a long way.
03:22That's my point.
03:22Like, the opportunity right now is to feel much after the Colts game.
03:26The question is, though.
03:27Will they?
03:27Yeah, will they?
03:28I don't feel great about that.
03:30As much as I do love, like, it feels like you have a plausible answer at every spot.
03:35Right?
03:36Right guard, I don't know that anybody was concerned after we saw them play.
03:40I will raise my hand and I will never allow myself to walk away from the idea that I thought
03:45Aaron Ingram was going to be bad here.
03:46Yeah.
03:46And he has been the complete opposite.
03:48He's been very good at right guard.
03:49I love that.
03:50Trent Brown has looked viable at right tackle.
03:53Under more stress, is that going to change?
03:54I don't know.
03:55But he's looked very viable at right tackle just by being big and experienced.
03:58And then Titus, I mean, he has been plausibly the best answer that you could have at left
04:04guard compared to rotating, Lakin, and Juice.
04:08And then Jarrett, it looked solid there, but I feel like it felt different when you have
04:12Titus there, especially as he, the confidence that he brings there, the smarts, as D'Amico
04:18Ryans was just saying there.
04:19I think I feel good about him there.
04:21And we don't even have to talk about Ariante.
04:23I like the five.
04:24The problem is, how highly do you like the five?
04:27Because you've got some tough opponents that you're facing off against, not just in the
04:31defensive line I just described, the Chiefs coming up in the defensive line that they
04:35have, like, it's cool that they were able to do really good things against the Bills.
04:40How much does them finding a level, how much does that translate to these opponents that
04:45they're stepping up to?
04:46Yeah.
04:47And so, you know, D'Amico went on.
04:49In fact, let's play the other one here, Figgy, you know, about this offensive line, because
04:54there's another part of this that I think is going to be key to prove, you know, just
04:58how good this offensive line has, how much has improved.
05:01That is good.
05:01Nobody's talking about them.
05:03That's good for him to be quiet.
05:04Yeah, they did a really good job in protection.
05:07Again, I thought we handled, you know, some of the, they had a lot of different pressures
05:10and a lot of different funky looks that we had to communicate on.
05:14I thought the guys did a really nice job of that.
05:16They handled the stunts well.
05:17And Davis did a really good job of getting the football out on time and not holding on
05:21to it.
05:22So, collective effort.
05:23But O-line, you know, can we continue to build off of what they did in a short week,
05:28getting a new lineup in there for the most part?
05:31I thought we did well.
05:32Run game-wise, we had some good runs.
05:34We had some lanes.
05:35I think we can, we have even more to gain in the run game.
05:38Some lanes are there.
05:39We can finish some blocks even better.
05:40And we will need that this week for sure.
05:43Protect the quarterback.
05:45Get the ball out quickly.
05:46Be safe with the ball.
05:48That's what the Texans want to do.
05:49Well, again, the Colts are really, really good at rallying to the ball, trying to create
05:56turnovers.
05:57You know, we're kind of in a bubble here talking about how good the Texans are in scoring defense
06:01and forcing turnovers.
06:03Well, you know, the Colts are pretty dang good at it, too.
06:07The Texans rank fourth defensively in turnover percentage.
06:11The Colts are sixth.
06:12The Colts are sixth.
06:12So when you get the ball to them, you know, you've got to protect the ball.
06:16Turnovers fourth, same thing.
06:17You know, Texans fourth, Colts are sixth.
06:20It's interesting to see that if you can pass this test, I think you can feel good about
06:26the rest of the year offensively, or at least decent.
06:28I hear you to some degree.
06:32Like, again, I think you're right, because if you can do this against the Colts, it feels
06:36like you should be able to do it against the Chiefs, or even if you do.
06:40And this is the thing that I probably shouldn't say out loud, but let's be honest.
06:44We're amongst friends, right?
06:46If you can do it against the Chiefs and you get the win, you don't, I'm sorry, if you
06:50can do it against the Colts, rather, you don't have to win the Chiefs game.
06:52Would you like to?
06:54100%, especially with the recent history, playing against the Chiefs and feeling like they
06:57have your number in a way that's really frustrating, and just having to listen to Ron.
07:02But, no, I'd love him.
07:04Just joking.
07:04But, like, yeah, you don't want to lose that game, but you could if you get the Colts.
07:10Yeah.
07:10Have an opportunity to get the Colts again on the backside, because you know you can do
07:14it, and then you have the sandwich meat in between of teams that are very, very much
07:18teams that you should be able to take advantage of in the, you know, in the cards, in the
07:22Raiders, in the Chargers.
07:24Like, yeah, this very well gets you to that place.
07:26The offensive line being a solid given, even if it's not a great offensive line, that's
07:34what people were asking for.
07:35It's like, can you find an average offensive line?
07:37That's all you want.
07:37And the possibility of an average offensive line seems to exist with these five.
07:42This is just a really interesting test.
07:44Now, we just talked about how good the Colts defense is at doing, you know, defending things
07:49that the Texans like to do.
07:50If you don't, you know, if it doesn't work out, then all of a sudden you're changing your
07:55perspective again, because I don't feel like there's an excuse for, you know, the rotation
08:02on the offensive line.
08:03If you bring these guys back, they've played a good game against the Bills, and all of a
08:07sudden, you know, you get, you know, you take a step back, well, then you almost have to
08:10re, kind of, you know, sort of re-gauge everything.
08:13Yeah, quite possibly.
08:16Can I tell you, you probably know, you know exactly the thing I'm about to say here.
08:19The thing that scares me a little bit is that the, I'm afraid of overconfidence.
08:24I'm afraid of them saying, hey, it looks like we found something now.
08:27That means that with this iteration, we can go do all the things that we weren't able
08:31to do before.
08:32Oh, they're not going to do that.
08:33I sure hope so.
08:34Yeah.
08:34I'm saying they're not going to get out of their skin by any stretch.
08:38I sure hope so.
08:39Because in the ways, I mean, D'Amico's like, hey, it feels like, well, you heard him, what
08:43he was saying there.
08:44It feels like there's more lanes that we could take advantage of, and I'm like, there's a
08:46lot of lanes for a particular reason, I think.
08:49Well, I was thinking more like shots and maybe some riskier plays, maybe some edge plays and
08:54stuff.
08:54Now, he wants to run the ball straight ahead, no negative yards, safe passes, take your
08:59shots when they're there.
09:00I don't think that's going to change.
09:01I'm just saying if the Colts stop them.
09:04You know, the Colts, another thing that, you know, sort of they're under-ranked, and we don't
09:07talk about the Colts' defense enough.
09:09Texans are now second in the league by percentage, by decimal points, by tenths of a point, I
09:15should say, in scoring defense.
09:18The Colts are, I think they're ninth.
09:21They only give up 20.8 points a game.
09:24So, you know, you're going to have to get, we always say, get to 24, or we've been saying.
09:28If they can get to 24, all of a sudden you've got to feel pretty good.
09:31So, it's interesting, because you're like, if the Colts are able to take advantage of this
09:35line, you think that they would be, they would be, you know, inclined to try and change?
09:40Is that what you're...
09:40I think we'd be back to, are they going to change it?
09:43It'd be a question again.
09:44That's, I feel like they probably have a level of confidence with this five.
09:48But if they get worked?
09:49If they get worked, I don't think that, I don't think that the answer is go to the
09:52dudes that were getting worked before that, right?
09:54Like, that can't be the response that they have.
09:56We didn't think so before.
09:56I mean, what are you doing?
09:59Did you watch these games?
10:00I did.
10:01We didn't think there was any way that C.D. So was going to start a game, but he had a
10:05good week of practice.
10:06Yeah.
10:07I still think, I'm still mad about that.
10:08Oh, you should be.
10:09Oh, he still looked good in practice.
10:10You should be.
10:11He looked good in practice.
10:12Yeah, and I guess that's fair, right?
10:14Why is he getting reps?
10:15There was a point in time, not too long ago, where I said I didn't trust their evaluation
10:19on offensive line.
10:20Then they got it to a place where it felt like they fell into the best five, and I was like,
10:23all right, cool.
10:24It feels like maybe they had the right answer.
10:25Or maybe it is fair to say that I should not continue.
10:28I should still keep that skepticism on their evaluation on offensive line until they stick
10:33with it.
10:33But they did stick with it to some point.
10:35Real good text and accurate.
10:37C.J. has an issue trying to make the big play too early in the game.
10:40I don't know if he has an issue.
10:42I think it's a frustration that he wants.
10:43So maybe that's the issue.
10:45But either way, that's where we're going to find out just how much progress he's made.
10:50And he did take ownership before his injury of the offense.
10:53And he was doing smarter, you know, being safer with the ball early until that opportunity
10:58showed itself.
10:59I think that's something that, you know, and they say it all the time, you know, standing
11:03on the sideline or watching this game, you know, kind of gives you a better kind of feel
11:08and grasp of what you want to do.
11:10I think that's what we have to be hoping for.
11:11Yeah, that was my big hope within trying to put a silver lining on what is the gray cloud
11:17of not having your starting quarterback is that different vantage point, especially for
11:20something that is brand new for you, this offense that came in, at any given point, I
11:25guess other than early in training camp when he was dealing with that shoulder thing, or
11:29at least whatever we anticipating or feeling about that, was the only time where you maybe
11:34go, he is sitting and watching Davis do this or just watching somebody else, right?
11:38And having it from that vantage point, otherwise, he's been doing this from the inside looking
11:42out.
11:43And I imagine that seeing things from a different perspective, no matter what you're doing,
11:46right, being able to step back and watch somebody else do it can give you a little
11:50bit of insight in one way or another, whether it's, you know, hey, you know, if you stay calm
11:55in this moment, if you step into the pocket, if you, you know, what have you, I hope that
12:00he's able to take that and is able to also say, hey, man, those opportunities will come
12:05to make those plays, stick with what's happening here.
12:08But then also, I've said it at times that sometimes the best quarterbacks, you learn
12:13the rules so that you can eventually break them.
12:15That's a philosophy I believe in life.
12:17And I do wonder with like the great quarterbacks, if they don't know the system and then they
12:21go, actually, this is my time to sign, I'm calling my number, right?
12:23And I do wonder, one, when C.J. Stroud decides to have that dynamic, and two, if he has the
12:31right balance of knowing when that time is to call your own number.
12:33And I don't want that to change.
12:35That's what separates C.J. Stroud from your average quarterback, the ability to, we've
12:39seen it multiple times.
12:40You know, the ability for when a play does break down or there's a, you know, some sort
12:47of opening that you can take your shot.
12:50I don't think that's the biggest difference between Davis Mills and C.J. Stroud, or C.J.
12:54Stroud and any average to good quarterback.
12:57He has the ability to make those plays.
13:00So I don't think they want to temper that.
13:01They just want to make sure he picks his spots right.
13:03Yeah, interesting text from the 2A1, my hope is that C.J. Stroud and Mills had time to
13:07go through progression, stay in the pocket, make the throws, and Niko is still Niko.
13:10Interestingly enough, I told you this, I was looking at FTN Fantasy, their numbers, and
13:16the first read throw rate is actually higher for Davis Mills than it has been for C.J.
13:22all year.
13:23I do wonder, though, if that isn't C.J. being sped up, because we have seen C.J. let that
13:27head whip around.
13:28If maybe he's able to find a little bit of comfort in the pocket and really work through
13:32it in a more leisurely, for lack of a better term, way, and deliberate way, as opposed
13:37to maybe feeling sped up at times.
13:39We'll see.
13:40Hopefully, we'll have an opportunity to see that in a positive way for C.J.
13:43Stroud once he comes through.
13:44And yeah, YouTube asking if Petrie is back for any, I would assume so.
13:48But again, that has not been official.
13:50And D'Amico Ryan seemed to have a little bit of hesitance to step into a role of talking
13:53anything official before the concussion protocol has been figured out on the field for them.
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