- 7 weeks ago
Seth and Sean break down the top storylines coming out of the Texans' 40-20 win over the Cardinals yesterday.
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00:00The Texans win 40-20, and I think Seth Payne, those three long plays that Mark was talking
00:06about, the catch and run by Nico Collins to open the game, second play touchdown, Jowar
00:12Jordan, who we'll talk about plenty on the show today, 50-yard run, Jalen Knoll with
00:16a 69-yard kickoff return to go with his 39-yard kickoff return to open the game, that is the
00:22sign of a taking care of business game by the Texans.
00:24Well, you know, and the one guy that kind of flew under the radar while amassing eight
00:28receptions on the day is Dalton Schultz.
00:30Yeah, we had him on the postgame show.
00:32Partly because Trey McBride was just such a beast in that game.
00:36Schultz had eight catches, and he was the second best tight end on the field.
00:38Yeah, Dalton Schultz was like, hey, I got, but Trey McBride does it with a certain panache,
00:43a certain swarmy panache.
00:44He's really good.
00:45But I thought that that Nico Collins touchdown, and then Nico Collins on the day had three receptions
00:51for 87 yards.
00:53Yeah, 82 yards.
00:5482 yards on four targets.
00:55Actually, I mean, he really had over 100 yards on five targets because the play that was taken
01:04away, that is a classic.
01:06All right, man, this did not, it didn't affect the actual play on the field at all.
01:11Everybody on the Cardinals defense knew that Blake Fisher is the ineligible receiver lining
01:15up at tight end because he's, because he does it all the time.
01:19So that one hurts to get taken away, but I thought the notable thing about that was Nico
01:25Collins has four official targets on the day, and they're effective, but also still created
01:31opportunities for others.
01:32Yeah, definitely.
01:32You know, when you, and then using the bootleg like they did because Cade Stover got involved.
01:37That was there all day.
01:38Your wide receivers ended up having 11 receptions on the day between those two.
01:43Getting the running backs.
01:45You mean the tight ends?
01:45The tight ends, yeah.
01:46It's going to happen a lot today.
01:47That's okay.
01:48Very little sleep last night.
01:48That's okay.
01:49So if you, and then they got four receptions by running backs.
01:54Yeah.
01:54That, and yes, I know the Cardinals are a horrible defense, but they took care of business and
01:59did it in a way that you want to see them operate.
02:01Where CJ looked like he was in complete command at being able to attack every area of the
02:07field and all of his receivers, all of his receiving options, because you include the
02:12running backs, the tight ends, the wide receivers, and then Jalen Dole in the return game.
02:16I feel like after two things happened yesterday, a lot of fans are saying, well, why didn't you
02:21just do this from the start?
02:23Right, right, right.
02:23Why is Jalen Dole not always out there returning?
02:26The only guy.
02:27He was the only guy that put back there this time.
02:29Yeah, and the other is, why did it take this long for Jawar Jordan to get on the field?
02:33Yes, yeah, yeah.
02:34That's been kind of a theme.
02:35It does feel like there's been a lot of that this year.
02:38Like, why, what, what's been the holdup?
02:40Like, some of the things on the offensive line, you know, like, why, why did we wait this
02:44long for this?
02:45Why did we wait this long for that?
02:46And you never, I mean, you never know what they're seeing in practice and everything.
02:50With Jawar Jordan, he's a young player.
02:52Maybe it took a while for him to get the offense.
02:54You know, I always just assumed, well, maybe they just, he's small and they don't think
02:59he's ready yet or whatever.
03:00All right.
03:01For one game, at least, his size didn't seem to be an issue.
03:04Well, he looked like he had fresh legs compared to everybody else.
03:06That helps, yeah.
03:07No, and he's a classic, just as it is with Woody Marks.
03:10The size is never an issue in a game, like, in an individual game.
03:13It's how do you fare over the course of a season.
03:15Yep, yep.
03:16But if you, yeah, I don't, look, it was a really good victory, but there is that little bit
03:20of hindsight, like, oh, okay, well, maybe if they'd had Jawar Jordan split and carries
03:24with Woody Marks this whole time, Woody Marks wouldn't be so banged up right now.
03:28Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:29And Woody Marks, the reason Jawar Jordan was in there for most of the second half is Woody
03:35Marks got banged up and left the game again.
03:37D'Amico Ryan said after the game that Woody Marks could have come back in.
03:40Look, this is, I don't know what Nick Chubb's rib injury situation is.
03:44This is, if Woody Marks heals up and he's ready to go for the Raiders, and that Raiders
03:49game is a tricky one, because they're even worse than the Cardinals are, and so I think
03:53the hope is that that's a game also where you can get guys, you know, get Woody Marks
03:5910 touches, not 25 touches in that game.
04:01But that's a really interesting one-two punch of young players, if Woody Marks and Jawar Jordan
04:06can be something here down the stretch this year.
04:08But I love, Seth, that they jumped on the Cardinals early, second play of the game,
04:14the Nico Collins touchdown, so you're up 7-0.
04:16The ensuing kickoff, Jamal Hill just blisters whoever the return guy was, and the ball pops
04:22right into Daria Gumbawale's hands.
04:24Would have been nice to punch that in and get a touchdown, but they got points at least.
04:28And they were up 17-0 in the first quarter.
04:30You know, I know the defense gave up 20, which, by the way, in the NFL is still a really
04:35good defensive performance.
04:36We're just judging this defense by a different standard.
04:39I felt like once they were up 17-0, we were going to get French vanilla the rest of the
04:44day as far as the flavor that we got.
04:46There was nothing exotic that they were doing defensively.
04:49And you're right, and Trey McBride is a beast.
04:51He is a beast.
04:52And also, the Texans' defense was playing vanilla.
04:56They were out there just in their 4-3 defense a whole bunch.
05:00And that, no EJ speed.
05:02Christian Harris was out on the field.
05:04Henry Toa Toa kind of got found out in coverage a couple times.
05:08But the Texans weren't committing all the resources to stopping Trey McBride the way they would
05:13have if it was a close game, I think.
05:15You know, you didn't see as many defensive backs attached to Trey McBride the way they
05:20did with Travis Kelsey last week.
05:21So, that's, you live with that.
05:25You wonder a little bit of, you know, Tameka's got very high standards for that defense.
05:29Some curious things after the game.
05:32Will Anderson would be the big one.
05:33Will Anderson didn't speak to the media.
05:35And it wasn't like he just wasn't in the locker room.
05:37He actually told the media he wasn't speaking yesterday.
05:39Is that what it was?
05:40Yeah.
05:40Everybody I talked to had left the locker room by the time Will had indicated that.
05:45Yeah, somebody at KHOU told me that he was in the locker room but just declined comment.
05:51Okay.
05:52And then, Kalen Bullock had an odd comment.
05:55He tweeted something like, hang on, I had it down in a segment.
05:58I guess I'm the A word.
06:00He said, I'm just ass, I guess.
06:02Yeah.
06:03All right.
06:03My sons sent it to me, which one of my sons sent it to me, with no comment on it.
06:10And I'm like, no comment from them.
06:12And I'm like, I don't know what you guys want me to do with this.
06:14I don't know what he's referring to.
06:15I'm not in the locker room after the game.
06:16I could see D'Amico, who has very high standards for the defense.
06:19Who knows?
06:19It's all speculation.
06:20Bullock played well.
06:21He dropped that interception at the end of the game.
06:23Yeah.
06:24I hope he's not responding to social media comments.
06:27Just don't even, yes, somebody's going to be calling you but all the time.
06:32You could be a seven-time All-Pro, a future Hall of Famer, first ballot, and there will
06:38be people out there.
06:39Call you but.
06:40It's like the people who give the thumbs down on Beethoven songs on YouTube.
06:44Right.
06:44You're like, oh, the guy was pretty successful.
06:46Yeah.
06:46The guy had a good run.
06:48All right.
06:48I hate the depth.
06:50Yeah.
06:50CJ really good yesterday, I thought.
06:53Yeah.
06:5322 of 29, 260 yards, two touchdowns.
06:57Unlike the last time he played against the Cardinals two years ago, did not put the ball in harm's
07:01way one time that I can remember?
07:03I think the biggest thing about CJ that I've noticed with myself personally, I fight against
07:08this, but I think definitely amongst some people watching is he's, he's done a really
07:13good job of becoming a better game manager and in the way that all quarterbacks, including
07:19Hall of Fame quarterbacks have to be able to manage the game.
07:22So you're not a game manager quarterback, but you need to learn how to manage the game,
07:25when to take your risks, when to take chances, and when to be careful with the ball.
07:30And him throwing the ball away has been, I don't want to say a revelation.
07:35You don't get super excited about it, but there's times where I think people will feel
07:39like CJ's not having a good game.
07:41And then you look at the box score and he's 14 for 17 for 180 yards at that point in the
07:47game.
07:47It was a little like that for me yesterday.
07:49I, when I looked up at his numbers in the fourth quarter, I was a little surprised that
07:52he was as efficient.
07:53His passer rating was like 138 yesterday.
07:56Yeah.
07:56He was really efficient.
07:58Boy, the two throws though, I mean, as much as much as we want to talk about, like he's
08:02managing the game and he's doing the smart thing.
08:04He's dirting the ball now instead of running backwards when there's pressure on him.
08:08The touchdown throw to Nico through a tight window.
08:12And then that one throw to Dalton Schultz with about, you know, about three Arizona guys
08:18converging on the area and just a laser to Schultz.
08:21And it was from the sideline from up above where we were watching, it looked like a riskier
08:25throw than it was.
08:26Yeah.
08:27And that's where I, in that instance on a throw like that, I don't actually, when it's
08:32a super tight window, I don't give credit for it because it feels like, no, that, that
08:36was kind of a dumb throw where on that throw, it was actually just him seeing it really
08:40well.
08:40And he's done that now pretty consistently over the last few weeks where he's, he throws
08:45back across his body and has made some really nice, like the one to Nico a couple of weeks
08:50ago.
08:50Yep.
08:51Pass rating 137.1 actually.
08:53Is that what it was?
08:54Yeah.
08:54Yeah.
08:54Yeah.
08:54Yeah.
08:55So which pass rating people only use now when things are either really good or really bad.
08:59Right.
08:59And I think it's indicative of that when it's really good.
09:01That's what it's good for anymore.
09:03Yeah.
09:03It's good for the more like my homes last week, worst passer rating of his career.
09:06Yeah.
09:06Yeah.
09:07Yeah.
09:07It was like 19.8, definitely match the eye test.
09:11Jawar Jordan, we, we should spend a little more time talking about him.
09:1515 carries, 101 yards.
09:16Here was D'Amico Ryans after the game on Jawar Jordan's NFL debut.
09:21Jawar did an outstanding job for us, for the young man to come in and for his first game
09:28to have a debut like he had me.
09:30And he, of course, he broke a record most yards as a Texan in a debut game.
09:35And he ran the ball very, very well, efficient, showed some of the explosiveness, showed the
09:40speed that he's has and that we've seen in practice.
09:44And while he's been on practice squad for us, it just shows, again, like whenever your
09:49number is called, are you ready for that opportunity?
09:52And no one knows until you get that moment.
09:54And it's about you taking advantage of that moment and not looking back.
09:58And I thought Jawar handled it very well.
10:00He, and the 50-yard run is what will have people talking, because we haven't seen that
10:05this year from any of the running backs.
10:07I thought even on the last drive that the Texans had, that was, you know, he churned out
10:11a couple nice 10 or 12-yard runs, too.
10:14For a guy who's 185, he runs really hard.
10:17Yeah, he's like Woody Marks or any, well, Woody Marks is 205 and he's undersized.
10:21Jawar Jordan is Warwick Dunn-sized.
10:23But he lowers his shoulder, he tries to get extra yardage afterwards.
10:27And the rushing attack in general yesterday, it's the best version of what the Texans are
10:34capable of doing so far.
10:36They have moments where they run the ball pretty well between the 20s.
10:41It's in the red zone where you just get that feeling that, man, they can't move people
10:45consistently the way they want to.
10:47And then half the time that they do move people consistently, somebody's lined up in the neutral
10:52zone or there's a false start.
10:53So that part of it, that's the part of the game that left me wanting a little bit.
10:57The, I mean, the direct snap to Daria Gamboale was either just bad play design or horribly
11:06executed because...
11:07Talking about that reverse trick play?
11:10Daria took the snap and then just stood there with no options whatsoever.
11:15So one of his options, I'm guessing, was not where it was supposed to be.
11:18But then the other, the only, the direct snap that worked was the one that wasn't supposed
11:23to be a direct snap.
11:24The direct snap directly to Woody Marks.
11:26Oh, the one through CJ's legs?
11:27I thought it was an elegant fumble rooski or something, but no.
11:30We had a hard time diapering whether that was a design play or not up in the press box.
11:34And then they showed the replay and the ball bounces off CJ's hand and skids to Woody Marks.
11:39You see CJ's facial expression as he turns around and it's one of sheer either panic or concern.
11:46Running backwards.
11:47Yeah, you can tell.
11:48Yeah.
11:48Right.
11:49If he was faking the bad snap, he would have run off to the left or jumped in the air or
11:53something.
11:54It worked out well.
11:55The fate was on our side.
11:56That was the most space any running back has had to get over the goal line on the one
12:01yard line all season long.
12:02Like Woody Marks jumped in almost untouched.
12:05No, he jumped in.
12:05No, he did jump in untouched.
12:07There was no reason to jump.
12:08Yeah.
12:08He jumped to leap over a guy who was three yards deep in the backfield and ended up back
12:14to back on him, like facing skyward.
12:18Yep.
12:19Like he was doing some kind of weird turtle game or something.
12:21Yeah.
12:22Yeah.
12:22They got to run that play again.
12:23I liked it.
12:24I'm going to generously give them credit for if the play had been run as executed, there
12:31was really good movement by the offensive line on that play.
12:34And I don't think, I don't think it was because of confusion by the defense.
12:38I think they genuinely got good push.
12:39Does anybody know what play they were supposed to run?
12:41Like, I'm guessing it was going to be a dive to the, to the, to what it ended up being.
12:45Yeah.
12:45Okay.
12:45Yeah.
12:45Cause CJ, so the, the shotgun call was an accident.
12:48I guess CJ called CJ was sticking up for Jake Andrews.
12:52Oh, really?
12:53He said, I must've said shotgun in the huddle, but he, he tapped Andrew's butt or leg before
12:59he went.
12:59Yeah.
13:00Yeah.
13:00That's what I'm wondering.
13:01Well, yeah, like if you're a center, like you can feel the hands down there, right?
13:05I would imagine.
13:05Maybe, I don't know.
13:06Maybe is it, is it, does this, does his tank get calloused and numb to contact down there?
13:12Maybe just CJ, you know, you've heard about some centers, they, they, they have hygiene
13:17problems.
13:18Yeah.
13:18And I forget who it was.
13:20CJ liked touching it?
13:20Yeah.
13:20Like I forget who the center was.
13:22Well, it was my old teammate, John Wade.
13:25I remember it wasn't hygiene, but he just sweat a lot.
13:27He sweat a lot.
13:28There was, I remember there was one where the quarterback, I can't remember who it was,
13:34but he would complain that his hands would smell after the game because of all the sweat
13:37down there.
13:37But, uh, no, but so I think, let's keep talking about this.
13:40I don't know.
13:41Whatever the issue was that it, you know what, even though it ended up in a touchdown, you
13:45got to add that to the litany of pre-snap issues that they've had consistently.
13:48Well, the, the, here's the thing I said, and look, it was, it was a great game yesterday.
13:54They've scored 40 points.
13:55They scored on almost every possession other than one and the one possession they didn't
13:59score on.
14:00Well, two, a blocked field goal.
14:01The other one, Tommy Townsend punted them down to the four yard line.
14:04It was a really good day.
14:05Special teams were great.
14:07Red zone is the issue for this team.
14:09And I know that I said last week, I will settle for 50% for the rest of the year.
14:14Yeah.
14:15I mean, compared to the league average, you know what I mean?
14:17Like if they do, if they're 50% in the red zone, the rest of the year, I am laughing
14:20about it.
14:21So everybody knows right now they're 44%.
14:23It's the second worst in the league.
14:24Yeah.
14:25Yeah.
14:25So I, I said, I'll settle for 50.
14:27If they can be 50% in the red zone, the rest of the year, I'll take my chances with this
14:30defense leading this team on a deep playoff run.
14:33They were 50% yesterday.
14:35And yet I have a hard time settling for that 50%.
14:38They were three of six because one of them, as you pointed out, was a third down play
14:42that clearly there was some miscommunication there on the snap that Woody Marks scooped
14:47up.
14:47So I almost don't count that one as a, as a, as a well-designed conversion of a red zone.
14:53So now you're down to two for six and one of the, one of the other red zone, the very
14:57last possession, they decided after Jawar Jordan was the one that got them all the way down
15:03there, they decide to turn it into the Daria Gumbawale show again.
15:06First and goal from like the five, they do a direct snap.
15:10It looks like it's supposed to be some sort of reverse with Xavier Hutchinson.
15:14It gets totally scuttled.
15:15They get a six yard TFL.
15:17Second down, CJ throws a slant to Daria Gumbawale.
15:21And then on third down, they just run like a crosser along the back of the end zone.
15:26And I looked at Clint Sterner up in the press box.
15:28I said, why not just do that on the first down?
15:31There's an element of, even though it's, yeah, but part of it is that he's sucking at running
15:36the ball, but looking psychotically committed to running the ball does open up the play action.
15:41Okay.
15:41I've told you before, you don't actually have to run the ball.
15:44Well, to set up the play action, you have to show that you're genuinely committed to
15:47the run.
15:48So there is, there is a tiny bit of method to the madness in that even if they're not
15:53running the ball, well, if they want to have those play action opportunities, they got to
15:57look like the crazy guy that, you know, the crazy guy on the subway that you just don't
16:01know what he's going to do.
16:02So you gotta, you gotta draw a wide break.
16:04You're pretty sure you can take him in a fight, but you just don't know for sure what this
16:07guy is capable of.
16:09The, uh, Shai Ben, cue up the celebration music.
16:11Oh, Texans.
16:14Yeah.
16:14Currently third worst red zone.
16:20They have ascended over the lowly Baltimore Ravens and, uh, they maintain their lead over
16:26the New Orleans saints.
16:27Now the Texans are a 44.9% red zone scoring.
16:32All right.
16:33That's enough of the celebration.
16:34Yeah.
16:34Yeah.
16:35But, uh, I'm going to let it marinate.
16:37There is a, so no, but I'll, I, there's a part of that game where you look at it and
16:43I, if they were better in the red zone versus the bad defense, that game should have been
16:48like 55 points on the field.
16:50We said that in the post game show.
16:51And I, this is not shade or anything like that.
16:53I'm thrilled that they've won six in a row and they look really good.
16:56This is, I did say in the post game, this is the most confident I've been in a Texans
17:01team and their ability to make a run to the AFC title game.
17:05This group, certainly this group out of the D'Amico Ryan's ones, but I would say even more
17:09confident in this group than any of the Bill O'Brien teams.
17:11And, and if I'm being honest, the two Kubiak teams that made the playoffs, one was quarterback
17:16by TJ Yates in the playoffs.
17:18The other one was going in on a complete downturn, losing three out of four.
17:22This team's peaking at the right time.
17:24Their defense is elite and their quarterback looks like he's really starting to figure
17:27out this offense.
17:28Yeah.
17:29Uh, and you just have to do this one more time where you take care of business of the
17:33Raiders and 14 and a half point spread 14 and a half, 14 and a half.
17:38Yeah.
17:38Oh my gosh.
17:39I said yesterday that I felt good about the Texans covering a nine and a half point spread
17:44just because of the turnover factor.
17:46Yep.
17:46And the Texans, once again, is it eight straight games without turning the ball over on offense
17:50now?
17:51No.
17:51Well, they turned it over on offense.
17:53They had a stretch.
17:54CJ.
17:54Eight total games.
17:55Eight total games.
17:56Yeah.
17:57Eight total games.
17:58Yeah.
17:58So eight total games where they haven't turned the ball over on offense.
18:01The defense, well, the defense and special teams take the ball away twice and that ends
18:06up being enough.
18:07And you're in a position where giving up 20 points on defense feels like a letdown.
18:12Yeah.
18:12By the defense.
18:12No, totally.
18:13Totally.
18:14Totally.
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