00:00Trey McBride on offense, Buda Baker on defense.
00:03I would say those are the two best players on this team on either side of the ball.
00:08Here was D'Amico Ryans yesterday talking about Cardinals tight end Trey McBride,
00:12who is on pace for a monster season right now.
00:15McBride is a really, really good player.
00:17The thing that jumps off the tape for me with him is his speed and explosiveness
00:20at the tight end position.
00:22You truly feel like a guy, a bigger guy, but runs like a wide receiver.
00:27He really runs well. He's physical, really great hands.
00:31A lot of cool things and a lot of different ways to get him to football,
00:35whether it's the tight end screens where he's on the line.
00:38They can align him in a lot of different places where they have him running,
00:41you know, special routes across the field.
00:44He's a really unique player at the tight end position.
00:47He's done a great job of catching the football,
00:49and they've done a great job of scheming plays for him.
00:51Okay, so McBride, he's their best.
00:53Now, if Marvin Harrison Jr. is healthy,
00:55and I did not look at the injury report yesterday to see if he's on it,
00:58he's missed a couple games here of late.
01:00Michael Wilson is the one who's really kind of stepped up in Harrison's absence.
01:04He's put up some big numbers here in the second half of the season,
01:07but McBride is the guy, and the Texans,
01:09they've done a nice job, Seth, on this tight end gauntlet that we've talked about.
01:13Tyler Warren, three catches, 22 yards,
01:16and then Travis Kelsey, one of the worst games of his career last week,
01:20one catch, eight yards with a couple of drops on five targets.
01:24Yeah, I think when it comes to who do you have to focus on
01:28or who are you going to try to take out,
01:31I would worry more about Wilson just because the chance of a blown coverage
01:37and a deep shot or something, if that happens a couple times in this game,
01:40that could end up putting the game into a harrowing situation.
01:46So I trust that they're going to do the same thing against McBride,
01:49if not shut them down completely, but limit them and give them.
01:54Like the Texans have done with various different star players
01:58or stud players on opposing offenses,
02:01even in games where, say, the running back has had an okay performance,
02:05like Jonathan Taylor or somebody, it's still below their season averages.
02:09They create the worst version of that stud player,
02:12and I think you get the least productive version of Trey McBride.
02:17Yeah.
02:18Michael Wilson has, just doing the math here real quick,
02:22in his last four games has 480 yards receiving, thereabouts,
02:28481 yards receiving in his last four games.
02:31120 yards a game for Michael Wilson the last four games.
02:34The Cardinals have 17 players on their injury report from yesterday.
02:38Okay.
02:38Wow.
02:38Marvin Harrison Jr. did not practice yesterday.
02:41Okay.
02:41I mean, the guys that didn't practice, it looks like maybe a baker's dozen.
02:45They don't have them numbered here, and I don't want to count this far.
02:48Yep.
02:49They're a banged-up squad right now.
02:52Yep.
02:52I don't worry about a letdown by the Texans for a couple of reasons.
02:57One is I think that that defense smells greatness.
03:03I think they understand the season they're putting together,
03:07and I don't know if D'Amico's the kind of guy that shows the scoring defense rankings
03:13or the overall defense rankings in meetings or not.
03:15Some coaches do that.
03:16Some don't.
03:18But in terms of them being an historically great defense, they're within reach,
03:22and I think those guys are all wired to want that,
03:25not to mention pass rushers always want sacks.
03:28So there's that.
03:29And by the way, the two guys that get most of them for the Texans haven't had a sack in three weeks.
03:38Yeah, and they've been playing a brand of football.
03:40Okay, so if you want to worry about a way that the Cardinals might upend them,
03:44if there's any part of Will Anderson or Daniil Hunter that feel like,
03:46all right, I've been a good soldier and I've been doing a contain rush
03:49and sacrificing personal production for the good of the team,
03:54if there was ever a little bit of like, all right, well, screw it.
03:57I'm just going to go off this week.
03:59That's the danger.
04:01That's where the decision is.
04:03I think offensively, likewise, I don't think you have to worry about any level of complacency
04:09because I don't think anybody on that offense feels good about the way the offense is operating right now.
04:13They've been pretty open about it.
04:14The drive had Trent Brown on last week, and Trent Brown was talking about how he tells the young guys,
04:22man, we want to be sure we're doing our part.
04:25We've got to be better than what we've been doing.
04:27And I think there's still very much a lack of urgency on the offensive side of the ball,
04:32certainly from C.J. Stroud.
04:33He wants to be having a better season than he's having.
04:36So it doesn't line up to be a classic trap game the way I see it.
04:41I don't fear it, which is a classic thing you say before you have a game trap.
04:44Yeah, you're right.
04:45Speaking of C.J., here's C.J. Stroud with his thoughts on the Arizona Cardinals and Buda Baker and company.
04:52Yeah, I think they're a really good defense.
04:53I think Buda jumps off on tape and a heck of a player, very instinctive.
04:58I think Thompson, there's other Safety 34s, a heck of a player.
05:02Two corners.
05:03Denzel, who I played with in college, who I think is really good.
05:05And then Will Johnson, who I played against in college, I think he's good as well.
05:10So I think they do a good job on their backhand, switching up coverages and, you know, playing with the three safeties and, you know, mixing up looks.
05:18So I think, you know, their D.C. and, you know, head coach do a good job of calling it.
05:22And, you know, they take the ball away.
05:24They attack the ball.
05:25I think, you know, up front, they rush together.
05:27Their backers are, you know, solid.
05:28Cody, who I played with in college, is a good player.
05:31I know how good he is.
05:32So, you know, it's another challenge for us.
05:34And, you know, we've got to be ready to play and try to go get a dub on Sunday.
05:37So when C.J. referenced the three safeties there, I mean, it's, in a lot of ways, it's what the Texans are able to do with Jalen Petrie.
05:45It's, you've got guys out there who are kind of non-position specific.
05:48And if you get, as a quarterback, you've got to try not to get too wrapped up in the numbers or the names of the guys and where they're lining up.
05:58Because that's how Jonathan Gannon can fool teams at times, just by showing a look that looks like you know exactly what you're seeing, but it turns into something completely different.
06:08And it's just, it's different, you know.
06:10So it's not your, you can't go in there with your standard set of rules for how you're going to read a certain coverage or anything.
06:16That's where I would worry about with a trap game.
06:19This is, and this is genuinely bulletin board material, trap games, any of those old cliches.
06:24I don't worry about how guys approach the game on Sunday because, by and large, guys are going to play hard no matter what.
06:31It's the preparation in the week beforehand, especially as you approach the holidays, that there's a chance, like, be sure you've got that same edge on Wednesday.
06:39Yes.
06:39Be sure you've got the appropriate level of fear on Thursday, that you're really dialed in and you're doing all of the extra film work that you normally do.
06:47That's where things can start to wane towards the end of the season, especially versus bad opponents.
06:52Yeah, well, it's funny you say that.
06:53The text message, I swear, this is a texter, I swear whenever you hear D'Amico Ryans or Nick Casario talk about other teams that the Texans are about to play,
07:01it's like they're about to play the AFC champs.
07:03Exactly.
07:04That's how you've got to talk about your opponent.
07:06You've got to pay the appropriate amount of respect to them.
07:08It really is funny because I try to do this when I ever do a preview on my YouTube channel.
07:14I kind of go into it like that.
07:16I've watched the other team and, you know, I'm presenting like, hey, this is threatening.
07:22And I'm amazed at how many people are like, Seth, what are you even talking about?
07:25Come on, they're awful.
07:26I'm like, that's because I've watched the NFL.
07:29Right.
07:29I've played in the NFL.
07:30That's right.
07:30Like, how do you not know at this point that you have to take every single team seriously?
07:34Yeah, man.
07:35Every single week there's a big upset, it seems.
07:37Yep, yep.
07:37And every single year, one of the best teams in the league loses to one of the worst teams
07:41in the league.
07:42Happens all the time, man.
07:43Yeah.
07:43The Rams, the Panthers aren't a bad team this year, but they were a double-digit underdog
07:48to the Rams two weeks ago.
07:50Right.
07:50Everybody's talking about the Rams, like, oh, this is a Super Bowl favorite.
07:53Stafford's going to be the MVP.
07:54I mean, they were talking them up huge.
07:56And they got beat by the Panthers.
07:57It's like having a .22 and being like, I don't have to worry about gun safety, it's just
08:03a .22.
08:04Oh!
08:04Yeah.
08:05Yeah.
08:05Yeah.
08:07Yes.
08:08All the old rules of gun safety don't apply to a .22.
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