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Seth and Sean discuss the win in KC "legitimizing" the Texans and if the Cardinals' offense could be a feast for the Texans' mighty defense.
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00:00I am into this Cardinals and Texans game on Sunday.
00:03I don't know if the rest of the nation is, but I'm into it this coming Sunday.
00:06I think the world, not just the nation, is at the edge of their seats
00:10trying to figure out if the Texans can cover at home.
00:13Well, they're America's team now.
00:15I mean, they did what the other 30 non-Kansas City teams couldn't do,
00:20and that's Jabba's stake in the heart of the Kansas City Chiefs.
00:24It struck me this morning as I woke up from a weird dream,
00:27and I don't even remember what the dream was, but it's just so weird.
00:35Somehow the Texans beating a 500 football team
00:38and sending them to one game below 500 was the thing that legitimized them.
00:44Because the logo on the helmet of that team was the Kansas City Chiefs
00:49and because it happened in Kansas City in a primetime game,
00:52that was the thing that legitimized them.
00:55Yeah, I thought about that during the week, whether it's legitimizing them.
01:00You're right.
01:01That's how we felt after the game.
01:03My thing was now like, okay, you're right.
01:06They're a 6-7 team.
01:07Are we getting too excited about beating a 6-7 team?
01:10Are we just getting excited about the logo on the side of the helmet?
01:12And my one thing where – a couple things where I feel like that was a legitimate win
01:20for the Texans is it was in Kansas City.
01:22Kansas City – the Chiefs have been the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium this year.
01:27They were 5-1 at home going into that game,
01:30and that was a place where you got beat twice last year.
01:33They were competitive games for three quarters.
01:35So, yeah, I know like in the standings you go,
01:37well, wow, you just beat a 6-6 team that's now 6-7.
01:39And I choose to believe that that was a turning point in the season for the Texans.
01:44If you look at the Chiefs and try to forget all of their –
01:49all of everything they've done over the past decade,
01:52I mean, the college football playoff committee would say
01:55that they have a lot of quality losses on their –
01:57their losses have been – they this year have been a little bit –
02:01a lot like the Texans.
02:03So where the Texans had a lot of quality losses,
02:05and you're kind of waiting to see, okay, yeah,
02:07but when can they enter the VIP club?
02:09And I feel that these two teams –
02:12because the Chiefs had lost to the Chargers, the Eagles, the Jaguars.
02:17Yeah.
02:18Good team.
02:18Laugh.
02:19The Bills, the Broncos,
02:21and then I guess the Cowboys would be their weakest loss.
02:24Which still isn't a horrible loss,
02:26and it was in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day.
02:28Yes.
02:29So there's an element there where I look at the Texans,
02:32and the one thing over the course of the season
02:34that's been really encouraging
02:35is that they've become a better and better fourth-quarter team.
02:38So when you look at their early season losses,
02:40they were slugging it out in ugly games versus teams like the Rams and the Broncos,
02:45and they just weren't able to close it out.
02:47Yeah.
02:48Especially – I mean, the Rams, they lost that game.
02:50The Broncos, with your backup quarterback playing no preparation,
02:54you slugged it out, and just your red zone issues really did you in.
02:58Yeah.
02:58And you couldn't close the game out in the fourth quarter.
03:00I do think if you look at the point differentials,
03:03the Texans have been really good in the fourth quarter.
03:06Oh, yeah.
03:06Like, when you look at the splits where the Texans have scored
03:10and not allowed points, the fourth quarter has become very good for them.
03:13They're averaging – I want to say they said this on the broadcast on Sunday,
03:17and so hopefully I'm not getting this wrong.
03:18They're averaging giving up three points per game in the fourth quarter right now.
03:22Which is – yeah, which is crazy.
03:24That's just – it's a crazy number.
03:26It's in the fourth quarter – so, like, the Texans in the first quarter
03:30offensively have scored – have scored a total of 38 points.
03:34They've scored 105 points in the fourth quarter.
03:36Davis Mills has a lot to do with that.
03:37Yeah, so both – so, yeah, Davis Mills, yeah, that Jags game really helped that number.
03:42They scored – what was it, 26 points in the fourth quarter of one of those games.
03:47Yeah, the Texans in the entire season have allowed 37 points in the fourth quarter.
03:51So, I got it right.
03:52So, about three points a game.
03:53Yeah, so about three points a game.
03:54So, both sides getting it done.
03:56That's cool to see.
03:58The other number I saw with the Texans – and we're going to start digging into the Cardinals,
04:02actually, this segment.
04:04But we'll start digging into this matchup much heavier today and tomorrow
04:07than we have this week.
04:09Part of it is getting educated on the Cardinals.
04:11Like, if there were a team I had to pick that's the furthest off the grid for the Texans,
04:16it would be the last place team in the NFC West, you know.
04:20So, getting up to speed.
04:21The number I was going to bring up, though, Seth, I saw –
04:24I saw – it was an article.
04:26It was part of an athletic article yesterday that was sort of an around the NFL playoff kind of catch-all sort of thing.
04:32And they had the 14 playoff teams with what their record is against the other 13 playoff teams during the year.
04:41And the Texans' record is 3-5.
04:43It's among the worst of the 14 teams.
04:46It's like the 12th best record.
04:48But what was noteworthy was they've played the most games against other playoff teams of all those.
04:53And they've got the third or fourth hardest schedule in the league,
04:56depending on whether you're going by odds or outcome or whatever.
05:00They're 3-5, so they've obviously played eight games against those other 13 teams.
05:05Whereas, you look – I don't have it in front of me – but, like, the Patriots,
05:08they've played, like, three or four at most.
05:11You know, some of the teams have only played three games against playoff teams this year.
05:14The Texans have played – Texans have played eight.
05:16It's where all five of their losses have come from, and all five of those losses –
05:20Seattle game's a little phony, but all five of those losses have been by eight points or less.
05:24I think that, you know, I talk a fair amount about teams trying to figure out who they are
05:30by the midpoint of the season because you just don't –
05:33you don't necessarily know what your strengths are going to be,
05:35which players are going to overperform, which guys are going to be a disappointment.
05:39I think that over the course of the season,
05:42they've smoothed out some of the rough edges on offense.
05:45But more than anything, they're just doing a good job of grinding clock.
05:52You know, they're not running the ball magnificently, but they're getting first downs.
05:56They're winning the time of possession, and they're doing everything they can
06:00to allow the defense to be the strength of the team.
06:03Yeah.
06:04And it never feels great, or it rarely feels great for the duration of the game.
06:09It's the entire time.
06:11But really, at this point of the year, the improvements you're going to make
06:16from here on out are – you know, it's not realistic.
06:19I think all of a sudden they're going to take a great leap forward.
06:21No.
06:21But I think they have gotten better in the red zone,
06:23and they're good at not turning the ball over.
06:25Yes.
06:25So just those two things, if you can – if your defense can play at a magnificent level,
06:30enforce turnovers, et cetera, then that's a winning formula
06:35versus the more competitive teams.
06:36But it's going to be harrowing.
06:37Yes.
06:38It's going to be tense.
06:39Yep.
06:41Someone points out we were 5-5 until the Colts and the Ravens lost this week.
06:45That's true.
06:45I mean, two of your wins are over teams that are still on the –
06:48and you have a win over the Chiefs.
06:49Like, you're 3-5 against the other playoff teams.
06:52And, oh, by the way, you've got wins against other teams that are still in the mix
06:57for the wild card.
06:58You know, the Chiefs, the Ravens, and the Colts.
06:59Those games don't show up on that stat that I brought up before.
07:03If you look at the trajectory of various teams as you start to enter the playoffs,
07:07I mean, the Texans are one of the ones that you feel like, okay,
07:11these guys had some struggles early in the season, obviously,
07:14but with the run that they're on and with the way they're actually playing football,
07:19I hate to say they're peaking at the right time because that's a little too quaint,
07:24but I think they've substantially improved as a football team.
07:28Yes.
07:28They're a legitimately more solid football team now than they were in Week 1,
07:32and you can't say that about a lot of the teams that got off on a tear.
07:35I was on a show on a website called SportsKnot yesterday,
07:41a streaming channel, and that was the first question that the host, Evan, asked me.
07:48He's like, what's the difference now with this five-game winning streak
07:52as opposed to the beginning of the year?
07:54And I thought about it.
07:55I'm like, man, there's not much difference.
07:57There's zero difference with the defense.
07:59Like, the defense has been this all year long.
08:03They're forcing more turnovers now than they were at the very beginning of the year.
08:06But the defense has been a constant.
08:09I said if there's a big difference, it's probably that they're not turning the ball over.
08:14They're making plays at the end of some of these games,
08:16whereas they weren't making plays offensively.
08:18You know, like, they've had a couple games lately where, hey, man, Woody Marks pops off a run,
08:24and now all of a sudden the other team's not getting the ball back at the end of the game.
08:26I think, see, I disagree slightly in that I think the defense has gotten better.
08:31And part of that is with, you know, when C.J. Gardner-Johnson was here,
08:35that he seemed to be an issue with some of the mental breakdowns in the fourth quarter.
08:39Yeah.
08:39And that's where I think my trust in the defense in the fourth quarter
08:42to be able to just extend what they did in the first three quarters is bigger now than it was before.
08:47And I think part of the – I think the turnovers,
08:52it wasn't just random dumb luck that they didn't have as many turnovers early in the season.
08:56I think that was also everything gelling and the defense and the secondary really coming into their own.
09:02I guess maybe a better way to put it would be the defense has not been the problem this year.
09:06The defense wasn't the problem early in the season.
09:09The offense was the problem early in the season.
09:11I think the other thing they've done is they've protected the quarterback much,
09:14much better now than they were at the beginning of the year.
09:17Yeah, and I think that – and part of that is I think Nick Caley has gotten better.
09:20You know, whether or not you think he's the guy or not or whether he should be next year,
09:24he's definitively better than he was in week one, which you should expect.
09:30You know, what does that mean long term?
09:32I don't care.
09:33I think they're just less of a haphazard operation.
09:35They had issues in that Chiefs game with the end of the first half,
09:40with getting the call in on time, getting up to the line of scrimmage, all of those things.
09:44It wasn't a really tough environment.
09:47I think to go back to the defensive side of the ball, though, too,
09:51they are – they're more consistent as a group from the front to the back.
09:59And I think they've figured out some of the things versus the run.
10:04Like, if you go to that Chiefs game, it never felt like they were really stuffing the run all that much, right?
10:11But it's because the Chiefs – the Texans only had one tackle for a loss in that game.
10:16But the running backs averaged three yards per carry.
10:19Like, they were executing the bend-but-don't-break to a tee.
10:23And people don't call them a bend-but-don't-break defense because they do it well.
10:26The only time they call it a bend-but-don't-break defense is when you're not actually that good at defense.
10:31Because people say that.
10:33They're like, ah, we're running this stupid bend-but-don't-break defense.
10:35That's what the Texans are running.
10:37They just do it really, really well.
10:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:39And I would say, too, probably some of that was Kareem Hunt is not a guy that gets stopped behind the line of scrimmage very much either.
10:46You know, he's the style of back that they trot out there for Kansas City.
10:50So, let's start digging in on the Cardinals here.
10:53Let's listen to Nick Serio from his GM show with John Harris and Mark Vandermeer
10:59talking about the Cardinals on offense with Jacoby Brissett.
11:02I mean, offensively, they've – you know, when Kyler got hurt, they've gone with Jacoby.
11:05And Jacoby's played as good a football as any quarterback in the league, I think.
11:09His attempts to interception ratio, I mean, it's like historic.
11:12It's one of the best in the history of the league.
11:14He doesn't really turn the ball over.
11:15Big, strong guy, smart.
11:17He can get the ball really at all parts of the field, makes quick decisions.
11:20I would say that he's probably played as well as he has this year than he has at any point in his career.
11:24And that's a product of two things.
11:25Number one, comfort level.
11:27Let's say with the system, he's kind of learned that.
11:28You know, Coach Petsik's system, they've kind of evolved a little bit.
11:31Number two, like their skill, tight end and receiver.
11:33I mean, you'd be hard-pressed to find a collective group.
11:36Mick Bride's one of the best tight ends in the league that probably nobody talks about.
11:39But he's going to go over probably 100 receptions and 1,000 yards, which not too many tight ends do.
11:44And I'd say Wilson has really picked up the slack with Harrison being out.
11:48And then when Marvin is healthy, you know, between Harrison and Michael Wilson, two really good receivers.
11:53And they're a throwing team.
11:54I mean, they probably average 40 to 45, 50 attempts in each game.
11:57Jacoby's done a good job making good decisions.
11:59They've kind of had some moving parts there a little bit in the offensive line.
12:02Same thing, running back.
12:04But overall, this is a throwing team.
12:05And they win by pattern of football.
12:07And then as a team, I think they've had four games that lost by combined, like, 13 points against playoff teams.
12:12Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Green Bay, and there's Seattle, you know, earlier on in the year.
12:17So, I mean, they present a lot of challenges offensively.
12:20The one thing I would correct that Nick said there, he said they win by throwing the football.
12:24They don't win.
12:24That's the problem.
12:26They move the ball by throwing the football.
12:28They don't win.
12:28Jacoby Brissette is 1-7 as a starter.
12:31In the last four games, he's got seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
12:36So, the first four games, he was doing a really good job.
12:39Like, he was almost like clockwork getting two touchdowns and zero interceptions over the course of the first four games that he was in.
12:45The last four games, it's 7-2.
12:49But he did, like, you talk about putting up yardage.
12:51He put up 452 yards passing versus the 49ers.
12:55Okay.
12:5582.5% completion percentage.
12:57Okay.
12:57I'd be curious, what was the score of that game?
13:00Were they empty calorie yards or were they real yards?
13:04Was it a lock-sided game?
13:06Well, that was one that Cowboys, that was right around when the Texans played them.
13:10So, that was right when the 49ers defense was really reeling at that point.
13:15Yeah, yeah.
13:16They lost Bosa and Fred Warner and whatnot.
13:18All right.
13:19Let's see.
13:19I got it here.
13:20Okay.
13:21They lost 40-22.
13:22Yeah, yeah.
13:23So, that's – and look, I respect Jacoby Brissette.
13:27If you're a Texan fan, you have to respect him because of what he's done against you on other teams.
13:32I just think the way Nick lays that out, I know he's respecting the opponent.
13:36And he drafted Jacoby Brissette, so he knows a lot about Brissette.
13:39He drafted him in New England.
13:41Nick lays that out.
13:42I'm like, okay, this is a perfect matchup for the Texans' defense.
13:45You've got a team that wants to throw the ball against a defense that hasn't given up more than 225 yards passing in any game this year.
13:51That's never happened before in the first 13 games of an NFL season where a team's given up that few yards per game in a season.
13:59They're leading the league in passer rating against.
14:02Jacoby Brissette is a statue that can't move.
14:04And, oh, by the way, their left tackle is going to be out for this game, Parrish Johnson.
14:09Yeah.
14:09So, there's a lot that lines up for the Texans here.
14:11And Nick brought up Trey McBride, who is – he's the one game wrecker.
14:16If Marvin Harrison Jr. is not healthy, like, he's the one game wrecker that they've got offensively.
14:21And the Texans, the last two games, you know, they were entering this gauntlet, Seth, where they were –
14:27a four-game stretch where the tight ends they were facing were going to be Tyler Warren, Travis Kelsey, Trey McBride,
14:33and they've got Brock Bers next week.
14:35That's a murderer's row of tight ends.
14:37Thus far, they've held the tight ends they've faced, Warren and Kelsey, to a combined four catches for 30 yards.
14:43They've done a really good job on the tight ends.
14:45When I'm compiling reasons for the Texans to get motivated on this, motivational ploys for D'Amico Ryans,
14:52and it's – the first one I had thought of early in the week was Paris Johnson because Paris Johnson was the guy
14:59that the Cardinals drafted after they had traded out of the second – the third pick in the draft.
15:05The Texans took Will Anderson.
15:07That's right.
15:07And when these guys played each other a couple years ago, Will Anderson had some really good reps versus Paris Johnson.
15:13He did, yeah.
15:13But I wanted that to be another, hey, look, hey, Cardinals, remember when everybody said we were so stupid for trading for this guy?
15:20Yeah.
15:20Remember that?
15:21Yes.
15:21You know how, oh, I can't believe you traded your pick when it was going to be the number one overall pick in the draft.
15:25Yeah.
15:26And the Cardinals actually ended up having – that Cardinals pick actually ended up being better.
15:30Yeah, this is the fatty that Will Anderson is destroying that everybody thought the Cardinals were so smart to get.
15:36But now he's running scared.
15:39Yeah.
15:39He's not even showing up.
15:40He's not even showing up for the game.
15:41It's shameful, really.
15:42Exactly.
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