- 14 minutes ago
Even if we already know what this Texans offense is and likely will be in 2025, could fixing just one thing make them borderline unbeatable?
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00:00Because it feels like the offense is, how do we describe it?
00:03I'm still stuck in the Thanksgiving mode, which is like.
00:06How would you describe this offense right now?
00:08Right.
00:09I don't know.
00:10But it feels like, you know, maybe the uncle that's like,
00:13I can leave you with the babies, but only for so long.
00:15Yeah.
00:15You know what I mean?
00:16Like, we can run to the store, but we can't leave the babies here overnight.
00:19That's right.
00:20You know?
00:20Yeah, it's kind of like with my dog.
00:21I can leave you out if I'm running to the store.
00:24But if I'm gone for hours, crate time.
00:28Yeah.
00:28I got to hear you, right?
00:31It's like when you're taking care of the babies.
00:33I got to hear you.
00:35Yeah.
00:35I'll let you run around the house, but I got to hear you.
00:36If I go to the store, he'll probably stare at the door for like maybe 30 minutes.
00:41Yeah.
00:41But if I'm gone longer than that, then he is all over the place.
00:45This floor.
00:46I'll put it this way.
00:48The Texans offense is not that girl that, you know, you want.
00:53You want.
00:55Okay.
00:55It's the girl you want to marry.
00:56You know, they're consistent.
00:59They're safe.
01:00They're, you know.
01:01Oh, okay.
01:01I got you.
01:02I got you.
01:02They're not razzle-nazzle.
01:04They're not the prettiest girl.
01:05Well, they're not like.
01:06It might not be your type.
01:07They're not going to be wearing five-inch heels.
01:09Yeah.
01:09You know, they're not that.
01:12They're the one you want to settle down with.
01:15Jen is a saint, man.
01:16Why would you say that?
01:18What?
01:19That was an unforced error.
01:19Is that how you feel?
01:20That was an entirely unforced error.
01:22Nobody made you do that.
01:23You can be both.
01:25Depends on the situation.
01:26Oh, I got the perfect advantage.
01:29Clear out, fellas.
01:30Let me talk about my wife real quick.
01:32But what's that one?
01:33I didn't say me.
01:34I said you.
01:35You know what?
01:35That's fair.
01:36That's fair.
01:37Here we go.
01:38When it comes to this offense, though, I feel like it's one thing they needed.
01:41I will read directly from the YouTube page.
01:46Score.
01:47Score some got darn touchdowns.
01:50If they didn't say darn.
01:51Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
01:53Hey, the red zone.
01:54It is a red zone thing for this team.
01:57If they can overcome that hump.
01:59Like, they're doing all the other things that at least D'Amico Ryan wants and that fits within the game plan or the general strategy that seems to be the formula that this team wants,
02:07which is play good defense, hold on to the football, matriculate down the field.
02:11Yeah, he says that.
02:12That's his favorite word.
02:13You got to punch it in, though.
02:14Mm-hmm.
02:15You got to punch it in.
02:16That's the thing.
02:17You know, there's no more, hey, what is this offense going to be?
02:21Or, hey, they should really open.
02:23They're not going to open up a damn thing.
02:25They're not going to open up anything.
02:26They're not going to, you know, be doing any of those stupid Bobby Slowick double reverses and, you know, all this craziness.
02:33Craziness, throwing the ball seven straight times or whatever.
02:38We know what the offense is, and it's safe, and it's been pretty good.
02:44Not great.
02:44It's been pretty good.
02:46It's been doing exactly what D'Amico Ryan wants.
02:50But if they just do that one thing, this team might be unstoppable.
02:56How was the offense?
02:57I know they catered this offense towards New England a lot.
03:00I think they've been watching a lot of old-time Brady tapes.
03:02How was the offense from 2001 with the Patriots?
03:07Because that was the year that was his – was it his rookie year or –
03:11Well, it was early on.
03:13That's when he took over.
03:14But that offense didn't really have to do a lot because they had a pretty good defense.
03:20So I wonder if this team is kind of similar to that.
03:23Oh, they're trying to be.
03:25They probably got a better defense than that defense.
03:28Yes, yes.
03:28But I wonder if it's kind of similar.
03:30I can't remember how their offense was.
03:33It's just a matter of just do better in the red zone.
03:38By the way, did you hear C.J. Stroud yesterday?
03:40Yes, I did.
03:41In fact, would you like to –
03:41One time, unsolicited, he brought up the red zone.
03:44Yeah, let's listen to C.J. Stroud here.
03:46Yeah, this is Cut 19.
03:48C.J., what do you think y'all can do better on offense?
03:50I'd say just scoring touchdowns in the red zone is probably the biggest thing and, you know, being able to do it, you know, at a high level.
03:58And I think, you know, even on Sunday, there's a lot of things we could have fixed there.
04:02Like, we missed probably two down there.
04:04And I think that – because it's never just the last drive or the last play or, you know, it's always, you know, plays before that.
04:11So, just cleaning those things up.
04:13And sometimes you're not – it doesn't work out that way.
04:16So, there's times in the last two years where we've been great at winning close games where we probably should have lost.
04:22And something happened to where we didn't.
04:24We ended up finding a way to win.
04:26And so, when it doesn't happen, you don't change anything.
04:28You keep the process.
04:29And then the production comes as you keep going.
04:31So, I think that's something that we're going to do and have been doing.
04:35So, I'll just keep that going because every game in the NFL usually comes down to one score.
04:39And it's just all about execution at that point.
04:41Yeah, and he made note of they have – he said, we're going to do what we've been doing.
04:45We have seen them get a little bit better in the red zone.
04:47And it feels –
04:48Kind of hit and miss, right?
04:49Anecdotally, it even feels like it where you've seen them have some of these plays.
04:53Because, vividly, that's playing in my mind right now is Nico Collins reverse with a couple of lead blockers that gets him in there, right?
05:01You've had a couple of tosses, interestingly enough, in that red zone that ended up getting in there at the pylon.
05:08But you asked, Figgy, what was that 0-1 offense like?
05:11Yeah, that year they actually made a run and made it to the Super Bowl and won it.
05:150-1, the Patriots offense was like 48% of the red zone was good for 16th in the league.
05:22There you go.
05:23You want to know what the current Texans' red zone percentage is?
05:26Yes, I do.
05:27Currently, and, of course, as soon as I look to it, I done lost it, 43.6%, which is good for 31st in the National Football League.
05:35There you go.
05:35Right, like, that's your answer right there.
05:37That's the answer.
05:37And, look, I'm not trying to drink the Kool-Aid or anything, but if we're talking about this team making a run to maybe an AFC Championship game or a Super Bowl, that got to improve.
05:48Well, I really believe it, given this defense and how they play.
05:52You're not going to get a lot of chances.
05:53We know that in the red zone.
05:55And some of that's just the possessions.
05:57They're limiting possessions at least when they feel like they're doing it right.
06:00Yeah, they don't want a lot of possessions.
06:02Yeah, just imagine all the points they left off.
06:05Oh, that's what D'Amico was talking about as well.
06:07But, yeah, you're not going to get a lot of opportunities.
06:10You know, drives are going to stall on the 32-yard line and you kick a 49-yard field goal or 50, whatever it is.
06:16That's just going to happen.
06:17But when you get in the red zone, you have to invert.
06:20And on Stroud 9, Figge, he was – the question wasn't even about the red zone per se.
06:26I think it was about, you know, some of the things that you want to – you maybe have learned, you know.
06:31In these Chiefs matches, yeah.
06:32Chiefs games.
06:33Yeah, I mean, like Spags is a heck of a D.C.
06:38Somebody, you know, who knows what he's doing, knows how to get his guys on one-on-ones
06:42and, you know, messes with your protection rules and things like that.
06:45So, I mean, you've got to just be alert for that type of stuff.
06:48And I just think, you know, scoring in the red zone, you know, scoring touchdowns is going to be big.
06:53That's every week.
06:54But I think even up there, you know, we made it to the red zone a couple times and, you know, didn't punch it in seven.
06:58So, I think that got to, you know, be a goal of ours is to do that better.
07:03So, I think that's some things that I can take from last year's game.
07:06I mean, that's, like, out of nowhere, he just brought it up again.
07:09It's front of mind.
07:10It's clearly a talking point.
07:11It's a teaching point.
07:12And to be fair, it's evident as hell, right?
07:14Like, it's very obvious.
07:16The game is about – I'll quote Bill Russell.
07:18The game is about, and I'll modify it, scoring points.
07:20Yeah.
07:21And ultimately, if you're on the offense, that is your responsibility is to score points.
07:24It's very evident that the defense is carrying their portion of this.
07:28They got to put points up on the board.
07:30Now, the interesting thing is, like, the question being,
07:32and I think that in seeing some of the ways in which CJ and some people on the text line
07:37and on the YouTube page have rightly acknowledged they're doing that a little bit better
07:41in the previous weeks is – this is on Nick Cayley to continue to grow.
07:46Yeah, that's what I brought up.
07:47Cayley, Stroud, the offensive line.
07:51I think, you know, obviously you want all three of those to click,
07:54but I think Cayley has kind of showed some growth.
07:57You mentioned the plays that he's talked about.
08:00So now it's just about the offensive line and CJ Stroud connecting on some of these –
08:06and the running backs, but on some of these opportunities.
08:09I really feel, Reggie, that they know what I just said.
08:12They know that if they can convert a higher percentage of red zone,
08:16if they just get to 16, like the 2001 Patriots, if they can just –
08:20and I don't think they –
08:21I don't even need to get to 16.
08:22Give me 20.
08:24Give me the 20th in the league, obviously.
08:25I think they know, dude, if we do this, we can be unbeatable, unstoppable.
08:30Because, again, 16.5 points per game.
08:32What is that statistic?
08:34That is how many points this defense is allowing.
08:36Yeah.
08:36You don't need a ton, but if you can be more efficient
08:40after managing to maintain drives, right?
08:43And I see you, 22, on the YouTube page,
08:46talking about nobody's acknowledging that they're moving the ball
08:48and keeping the defense off the field.
08:49Oh, yes, we are.
08:50Yeah.
08:50We've been talking about that.
08:51That's clearly something that matters.
08:53But while you're keeping the defense off the field,
08:55you help them a good degree.
08:56You got to score in the red zone, man.
08:58You can't be at the one-yard line and not get in.
09:00Right, right.
09:01Touchdowns.
09:02That type of stuff, yeah.
09:03Because that applies an additional level of pressure.
09:06We're talking about helping that defense.
09:07You help them even more by making the other team's offense go,
09:10damn, we're down seven and we're having to go through this defense.
09:13And I think that that's where Nick Caley having some progress
09:17is going to be interesting.
09:18Now, I'm going to tie two things together that aren't fully tied together,
09:22but remember how we felt on Monday coming out
09:24and we seeing Kate Stover, after Sunday seeing Kate Stover come out
09:28in this tush-push and these sneak circumstances.
09:31And one of the questions I asked was,
09:33I wonder how long that's been in there.
09:34In the locker room, he confirmed that they've had that.
09:36Like, that's been a thing that's in there.
09:38And so, for me, one of the things I'm hopeful for is that
09:41Nick Caley in finding that this offense is maybe gelling a little bit more,
09:45what are the things that he's had,
09:46what are the tricks that he's had in his book,
09:48like a Kate Stover tush-push, that you can bring out?
09:51Because we're seeing, again,
09:52we talked about the idea of some pin and pulls,
09:54getting out to the outside, getting some touchdowns there.
09:56What are the things that are going to happen there?
09:58And especially, like, how is he going to continue to utilize
10:00things like Jaden Higgins having more and more effect in this offense,
10:04another big guy that seems like he could be a red zone threat.
10:07How is he going to utilize all those things to help bring that number up?
10:10I think a big part of that, including the Nico end around
10:14and Stover's tush-push and all that stuff,
10:18I think part of it, it's not just the fact that they're going to it now
10:23and using it now.
10:25I think they have more confidence to use it now.
10:27Keep in mind, how much of a Stover tush-push are you going to want
10:30behind Andrews and Lakin Tomlinson and all that?
10:35I'm not going to lie.
10:36I thought you were going to say C.D. So.
10:38You've been banging on C.D. So all the damn time.
10:40And it's not his fault.
10:41He's on a practice squad.
10:42They told him he got a play.
10:43He got in there, did his best.
10:44But I think they finally have the confidence to be able to run some of this stuff.
10:48Yeah, agree.
10:49You know, and around, you know, penetration on the defensive line
10:53on that side of the ball, that's a six-yard loss.
10:56And what does D'Amico always say?
10:57Just no negative plays, you know?
11:00So I think they probably, it's a combination of Kaylee sort of, you know,
11:03blossoming a little bit and also having the confidence in the players
11:07that they have in front of them.
11:08And I know Steve Spagnuolo is a fantastic defensive coach.
11:11I don't want to try and undercut that at all.
11:14I do think, though, we're seeing some of the lack of production
11:17or at least a lessening of production from that defense.
11:20That makes me go.
11:21Great opportunity to further demonstrate growth for Nick Kaylee in this offense.
11:26And particularly the place where we all want to see it is putting those points
11:30on the board at the end of those seven, nine, 14 play drives.
11:34That's going to be the thing that clearly CJ knows
11:36and that we know will take this team to another level where, yeah,
11:39all this cute talk, be damned, they want to be real killers
11:42with the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.
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