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B Scott shares his thoughts heading into Texans vs. Cardinals
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00:00I've lost the energy to be upset about the Texans offense not scoring a lot of points,
00:06not being a prolific offense.
00:09Do you mean like an orange or something?
00:10I can get you the energy.
00:11But I feel like, and maybe I do, but I feel like I've reached a point of resignation,
00:18acceptance, and it's in part not just because of what we've seen, but also what they've said.
00:26And what they said seems to have, at least to me, backed up what we've seen.
00:32They're focused on playing.
00:34And I don't want to actually dismiss this as not being important to the whole overall operation.
00:40They talk about playing clean and eliminating penalties and mistakes and things like that,
00:45which are pretty obvious.
00:46But that's all it really feels like this offense really aspires to be.
00:51It doesn't really seem like they either want or feel like more is required of them.
00:57This is why I asked Nick Kaley yesterday about how much what the defense is doing, you know,
01:03game to game, series to series, how much is that approach in their play call and an overall strategy?
01:10And it seems like it does.
01:12It seems like it absolutely does.
01:13And when you hear them talk about playing mistake-free football, that is, in effect, the offense.
01:22I've talked about this for the last couple of weeks of the best things that they do offensively are not turning it over
01:30and simply possessing the ball, having the ball.
01:33That is their offense.
01:35Have the ball.
01:36Don't turn it over.
01:37And then when you don't have the ball.
01:39When you put it like that, it sounds so boring.
01:41But it's the offense, it is.
01:44Let's have the ball.
01:45Let's not give the ball away.
01:46And then when we don't have the ball, we've got the best defense in the league.
01:49Yeah.
01:50And maybe we score.
01:51Maybe we kick a field goal.
01:53Maybe we do nothing in the red zone.
01:55But at least we're going to have the ball, and we're not going to give the ball away.
01:58And it's frustrating for two reasons.
02:00Number one, none of us expected anything like this from C.J. Stroud on the off.
02:04We expected going forward, you know, big-time plays, him being one of the better quarterbacks.
02:10I'm talking about, like, even from two years ago.
02:11Last year, obviously, it went to bleep.
02:14So, I think the expectation kind of temper, I mean, make it feel worse, make it feel more frustrating.
02:20And the other thing that makes it feel frustrating is whenever they do make an exciting play, it's by chance.
02:27Yeah.
02:27It's total chance.
02:28Well, so this gets me into my other thought, though.
02:31Yeah.
02:31One thing that I do find encouraging when I watch the offense, if there's anything,
02:36is that it does feel like, and this is different from how I felt earlier in the year.
02:39Okay.
02:40It does feel like they have playmakers, plural.
02:43Like, it's not just a C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins thing, but I've got faith in, obviously, C.J. Stroud
02:49and Nico Collins, but in addition to, Jaden Higgins.
02:52Okay.
02:53And, of course, Woody Marks, who did not have a great yards-per-carry game necessarily,
02:59not even necessarily, just not at all, against the Chiefs, but I think has shown you a certain
03:05level of reliability.
03:06And I think we all feel like when his foot's right, he's an explosive player, where that's
03:10a legitimate weapon for you, that you weren't necessarily using in that way earlier in the
03:15year when the offense was really bad.
03:17Now you are.
03:18And this Jaden Higgins thing is something that I've been high on for a couple of weeks and
03:22feel like it gets reaffirmed week to week.
03:25So those things, and, of course, Dalton Schultz has had a really good year.
03:29Maybe it's tailed off a little bit.
03:30Yeah.
03:31But I still feel pretty good about that, you know, if that's going to be your third or
03:36fourth best weapon.
03:37So they at least have, even if they have a primitive and unimaginative offense and an
03:44offense that doesn't aspire to do much, they do at least have players that can do some things,
03:50some really good things.
03:51And we saw that with C.J. Stroud connecting with the rookie Jaden Higgins on some of those
03:55third downs, some of the plays that he made to Nico Collins.
03:58Like, they have an ability to overcome not having this light show of an offense.
04:04No, I'm with you.
04:05I think that can be a little bit frustrating at times because it's like...
04:08It's awful.
04:09I hate it.
04:10You got bullets in the chamber, but you just don't want to shoot them.
04:13But I think I actually, in thinking about it and hearing you lay out your case, I think
04:17I actually joined you in that place at some point because what did I talk about with the
04:22Chiefs is like, or the Chiefs game rather, just because it feels like you don't got a lemon
04:27no more, don't think you got to gas it to 100 on the highway, right?
04:30Like, I think that's kind of what they're thinking about.
04:33It's like, hey, man, kind of keep it the speed limit, right, for this offense.
04:38And it's funny because you talk about the running game is very much where I've been there
04:41because I'll hear someone like Mina Kimes say, I still don't believe this is a good
04:45run game.
04:46I'm like, oh, you missed the point.
04:48They don't care.
04:48They don't want it to be a good run game.
04:49No, they don't care.
04:50They want it to be sufficient enough to get over, can we move the ball a little bit and
04:57get past that yellow line that's on the TV or them sticks on the sidelines so that we
05:00can do it again.
05:01And possess the ball.
05:03D'Amico said.
05:03And our guy doesn't fumble, right?
05:05So, like, we're just possessing.
05:07All the run game is, it's not to be explosive or to score per se.
05:10Even though Woody Marks, we were talking about this yesterday, how he wants to score on every
05:13play, it ain't happening.
05:14No.
05:15So they're just trying to possess the ball.
05:16No, they averaged, I think, somewhere around 2.6 yards a carry, 2.8, something like that.
05:21And then they carried the ball 30 times.
05:23And D'Amico said that was perfect.
05:25Literally used that.
05:26That was 30.
05:27Perfect.
05:27They're averaging 2.8, whatever it was, 30 carries.
05:31Perfect.
05:32That's what they want to be.
05:33Yeah.
05:33They don't care.
05:34They don't care about, you know, the yards and the big plays and all that.
05:37You know, a question I wish I had asked now that we're having this conversation.
05:40I actually thought about this earlier today.
05:41But instead of, or in addition to whatever we did ask, like, I just want to know.
05:47From, I could ask Nick Kaley, D'Amico Ryans, and CJ Stroud this.
05:52Are y'all trying to score a lot of points or enough points?
05:57Oh, you know the answer to that.
05:58The problem is, I mean, I think they would say a lot.
06:01They're not going to take your questions seriously.
06:03Not in that they don't understand what you're saying, but they're always going to be like,
06:06you're always trying to score a lot of points.
06:08I would like to ask them privately, actually, now that I think about it.
06:11Yeah.
06:11I would like to know their true answer to that.
06:14And I'm not saying, you know, but I'd like to know the real answer to that.
06:19All right.
06:19What are we trying to do?
06:20Because it looks like they're trying to score enough points.
06:22Yeah, by a man, I think you go, D'Amico will absolutely say enough because he will come
06:27to the place of, the game's about, it's about winning games here.
06:30We're trying to win football games.
06:31What is the year to win football games?
06:33Enough points.
06:34CJ would absolutely say a lot of points.
06:36Oh, 100%.
06:36Like, I think that has been the internal battles, and that's crazy for me to say as if I know
06:41his internal battle, but if I had to assume what the internal battle has been for him
06:45this season, I imagine it's, I want to score a lot of points.
06:49They want me to score enough points.
06:50I have to come to grips with, I am the quarterback of a team that is slated to score enough points.
06:55And then Kaylee, I think he ends up being a little bit of a wild card because I don't
06:58actually think I can read him.
07:00Yeah, that's a good point.
07:01But I, so, I just, here's where the resignation comes from for me, though.
07:07Like, to kind of come back to the original point, is it not true that enough points works?
07:14Yes.
07:14You know what I mean?
07:15So, like, if they're going to keep winning, and the strategy is going to keep working, even
07:22if I don't like it, even if to some degree I don't think it's sustainable, that at some
07:26point it's going to bite you and you know what, if it doesn't, and if it hasn't,
07:31I think that's where some of my resignation is coming from.
07:33Like, oh, they've won however many straight now.
07:35They're going for their sixth straight win now.
07:37Mm-hmm.
07:37Right?
07:38Like, they have a chance.
07:39If you look at their remaining schedule, you're not crazy to think that they could win
07:43out.
07:43Sure.
07:43Right?
07:43You could pick them to win every game.
07:46Going with this strategy.
07:47And so, what am I really complaining about?
07:50Well, because I was about to say, the thing that you brought up there is like, all right,
07:53but how do you know what's enough before going in?
07:55And I guess the thing that'll allow you to do that is when you have a defense where you go,
07:58oh, we can call it.
07:59Yeah.
08:00But, you know when you ask, why is that?
08:02Because we're Americans, right?
08:04Like, this is how we operate in the economic society that we have is like, what's enough?
08:09I don't know.
08:10I'm going to get some more just in case.
08:11Like, that is how we operate in all facets of life.
08:14You can pull them up, right?
08:15You talk about earning money.
08:16I would like to, every year, how do I get this raised?
08:19Where do I get to it?
08:20Like, when it comes to, you know, stacking up, whatever.
08:22It's like, all right, this is cool, but how do I get more?
08:25I think that that also comes into play with us looking at the offense and going, I would
08:29like to have more just in case.
08:30I'm resigned to it, and I think most people would be silly not to be resigned to it, simply
08:35because it's the stated goal from D'Amico Ryans from day one, week 15.
08:41And he just said, 2.8 yards a carry, 30 carries, that's perfect.
08:47Yeah.
08:47How can you not be resigned to, this is what they are?
08:50Yeah.
08:50Not only is this what they are, it's one thing if they're a team that wants to sling
08:54it around the field, and this is what they are.
08:56No, this is what they are, and this is what they want to be.
08:58Yeah, and definitely earlier in the year, it felt like it wasn't as sustainable, because
09:02it's like, can you really rely on the defense to play like this?
09:05And then what happens?
09:06They go out there on Monday Night Football.
09:07That was after the bye week, right?
09:09Was that the game after the bye week?
09:10Yeah, Monday Night Football was after bye week, week five bye week, week six in Seattle.
09:14So you're coming off of a bye week, and then you perform like that.
09:18Correct.
09:18And so it's like, okay, so can we really rely?
09:20Then you get more information, the defense actually is what we thought it was, or what
09:25it looks like.
09:25So now it looks like, yeah, you can rely on your defense to go out there and hold a
09:30team to less than 20 points, and as long as you score 20 or more, you're good.
09:35You know, it would be interesting if the team was opposite.
09:38Let's say if the offense was the best in the league, historic even, and the defense
09:43was just, meh.
09:44Yeah.
09:44You know, sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not.
09:46They're still kind of figuring it out, and they're emerging.
09:48I think people would feel a lot better about that.
09:50Oh, sure.
09:50Because we lean more toward offense.
09:52We're more entertained by it.
09:54And we think that that is probably different from 34 years ago.
09:57We think that's the way to win.
09:58Well, real quick, let me ask you what we talked about in the very first segment of the show
10:01today.
10:02If they can't get it going, if they can't, you know, threaten the 30s in terms of points
10:08in this game, is that bad?
10:12I mean, because then they start playing playoff games.
10:14I mean, are they going to have a chance?
10:15A real chance?
10:16Against this team, I agree with you.
10:18Yeah.
10:18No, that is bad.
10:19Yeah.
10:19I think this is the one, and it's not like, let's not pretend like we've never seen them
10:23score a lot of points.
10:24They scored a lot of points against Jacksonville, Baltimore, Jacksonville, or I'm sorry, San
10:31Francisco was just like 26, right, or something like that.
10:33But we've seen them score, right?
10:35And we've seen them make big plays.
10:37So, yeah, but it would be a disappointment and discouraging if they struggled against this.
10:44I do not believe that this defense is very good.
10:47Obviously, Buda Baker is really good, and, you know, they've got a couple of good players.
10:51But they have not been good.
10:51They've given up 40 points to all of their division opponents.
10:54Good division, to be fair.
10:55Very good division.
10:56The best division in football.
10:58But 40 points is 40 points.
10:59But giving up over 35 in their last five.
11:01You should be able to put up more than the 23 that I feel like is required for you to
11:06win a game.
11:06Now, to be fair, back to the point, I think 23 should be enough.
11:11Agreed.
11:11But I'd like to see you be able to score more in this game, at least, just to tell me that
11:15the things that I feel good about within the offense are real.
11:19Yeah, and I guess just to respond, or at least the notes that I took while I was listening
11:24to you, because you obviously make fantastic points, the one thing about it, if this was
11:28somewhat inverse, is it feels like offense is more stable.
11:31That sounds like a wild thing to say, but it feels like offense is more stable in this
11:34modern league, especially when you talk about the rules being geared towards it and so on
11:38and so forth.
11:39And then I think the one thing that I will say that it serves as like the little voice in the
11:44very back of my anxiety-built brain is the playoffs are a different beast.
11:49The idea that, okay, if this is a recipe that works, then what's the issue?
11:54Is that the playoffs end up being different.
11:56And you're talking about a smaller sample in that instance.
11:58One game and one bounce of the ball here or there.
12:00And now you're talking about an entirely different game.
12:02I mean, you can't get it out the mud because your offense can't turn up, put it in another
12:06gear.
12:06That's the thing that is a question.
12:08Yeah.
12:08No, I think that's fair.
12:09That's what makes it dicey and kind of harder to believe in.
12:14But also, it's kind of exciting too, because you're doing it in a somewhat unconventional
12:19way or maybe kind of in a throwback way.
12:21Just constantly trying to walk a jack.
12:23Yeah.
12:24Do it.
12:25Right?
12:25Yeah.
12:26Your defense is your partner.
12:27You're like, let me see if I can walk this jack on the table.
12:29Yes, exactly.
12:30It might even be a 10.
12:32Who knows?
12:32Who knows?
12:32We're going to see if we can walk this.
12:34And here's a game where you go, I know that they don't have no more face cards.
12:38Can I walk this 10?
12:39Yes.
12:39That's what this game is.
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