- 2 months ago
Have the Texans officially become a clutch team, or are we reading too much into a few late-game moments? ITL debates what “clutch” really means and whether Houston has earned that label.
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00:00Have the Texans become a clutch team?
00:03Have they become a clutch team?
00:05Remember back not too long ago when D'Amico was up there,
00:09man, you know, one score game, another one score game,
00:11and we're like completely eye-rolling the whole idea.
00:14That's right.
00:14That's right.
00:15We were close.
00:15Because we watched the game.
00:17Close.
00:17Yeah, we're close.
00:18We're close.
00:18It's a one score game.
00:20And we're like, eh, it didn't feel like a one score game.
00:23Didn't feel like you guys were about to, you know,
00:27break through at any moment.
00:29But, well, since then, specifically since, I guess,
00:34the Seattle game, and after that, you have a real, you know,
00:38tough game against the Niners.
00:40That's right.
00:41Then you have Josh Allen.
00:43And Josh Allen, by the way.
00:44Well, you have a few games in between then.
00:46No, no, I'm saying like just clutch moments.
00:47Sure.
00:48Yeah, but there were some others.
00:49I mean, hell, you skipped over a big one,
00:51which is the Jaguars game in which you go down,
00:53and you look like you are going to lose that game for three quarters.
00:57And then here comes the fourth quarter where you're able to pull a little
01:00sun out of your keister.
01:01No, that's the best one probably, and I skipped right over that.
01:04But the one I was thinking of, Josh Allen is doing Josh Allen things,
01:08pulling it out of, as you like to say, with spectacular plays
01:12and hook and ladders and everything else.
01:14And then what happens?
01:15And then you make a play.
01:16That's right.
01:17And then you win the game.
01:18You go to Indian.
01:19That's a play in the red zone, is it not?
01:21Yeah, wasn't it, Lassiter?
01:22Yeah.
01:23Yeah.
01:24Then you go to Indianapolis, and albeit, you know,
01:27Daniel Jones had a little bit of a knee thing going on and all that,
01:31but you go in there.
01:31It's football, man.
01:32We're not making too many excuses.
01:34And then you go into Kansas City with the most clutch quarterback in the,
01:39maybe in the history outside of Tom Brady of football,
01:42and you win there.
01:44Are they clutch all of a sudden?
01:46I, like, seeing this question on our doc, I was like, I bristled at it.
01:51Because it feels like, historically, when you think of the word clutch,
01:56at least when it comes to football, or really in any sport,
01:58you think of more of an offensive-minded portion of this, right?
02:02You think of going and getting out the mud.
02:04You mentioned Patrick Mahomes.
02:06That is maybe the epitome recently of clutch in the National Football League,
02:10is being in what I like to call the Phillip River situation, which, oh, God,
02:15he's back in the NFL again.
02:16That just hit me anew in that moment.
02:19But back in the last time that he was in the NFL,
02:21when he was back playing for the San Diego, not Los Angeles, Chargers,
02:25when you'd get the football and you're down a score and you got 25 seconds
02:29and you got to go the length of the field with no timeouts, right?
02:31That's what you start thinking of.
02:32At least that's what is conjured in my mind when I think of clutch.
02:36I don't know if the Texans do that, right?
02:38Even in this game against the Cardinals, admittedly,
02:41a team that is not on your level, but a team that at least was trying
02:44and they were scrapping or whatever, you had a moment at the end of the half
02:47where you go and you get a field goal, right?
02:49You can go and do that, but I don't know how confident I am in them doing that.
02:53When you talk about this team being a clutch team,
02:55it feels like they are finding that defensively.
02:58And I don't know how I then answer the question if I'm split,
03:02where it's like in certain circumstances, yes.
03:05Well, I think there's just – see, my answer is yes.
03:10Flatly.
03:11Frankly, yes.
03:12Because, you know, there's clutch quarterback play and then there's clutch.
03:19You can be clutch defensively.
03:21You can be clutch making a play in the red zone against one of the greatest
03:24quarterbacks in the game today in Josh Allen.
03:26You can be clutch by going into Kansas City and being, you know, unshaken
03:31and pretty much controlling the game even though there were some very,
03:35very dicey moments in the third quarter.
03:38But you – clutch is not just a quarterback stat.
03:41You know, you like to say that wins is not a quarterback stat by itself.
03:45Clutch is not a quarterback stat by itself.
03:47Strong agree.
03:48And so that's why, you know, I started thinking about this.
03:50If we're just looking at, like, since the Seattle game,
03:54they've been clutch a lot more than they haven't been.
03:57I get Denver.
03:58You know, I get that the Denver game slipped away.
04:00And if you want to make an excuse there, there is one to be made in that you
04:03had to make a quarterback change in the midst of that game.
04:06In fact, early on into that game, you bring in your – I think you bring up
04:10in anybody cold, but particularly your backup quarterback who does not have
04:13the benefit of reps, not even really – I mean, scout team reps maybe,
04:16but that's not within the system in what you're doing.
04:18That is always a tough circumstance in the National Football League.
04:22We know that as a given.
04:24Absolutely.
04:25And here's the other part about it that I want to ask you and Figgy.
04:29Well, first of all, Figgy, do you think the Texans have become a clutch team
04:31after all that nonsense earlier in the year?
04:35I don't want to say clutch, but I feel like they are not messing up the game
04:40like they did in the past, like, as far as giving the game up.
04:44It's almost like people don't want to say it.
04:46No, I'll admit it.
04:47I don't feel comfortable saying it, even though –
04:49You kind of described clutch.
04:50Yeah, I mean, to me, I feel like they're not the team that will get –
04:55that will be up 24-0 and lose the game now.
04:58In the past, I would have thought that.
05:00There are so many things about this team that we're just afraid to say,
05:03you know, because of the history of the organization.
05:06History, both recent and long-term.
05:08Yeah.
05:09I think I understand that.
05:10And I think that this is where maybe the clutch conversation comes back
05:14to the larger conversation that we've had at times about where the league is
05:18or where at least the conference is.
05:20And I look at who are the teams that make you pay in those moments.
05:24And, okay, you start looking at it and I go,
05:27Drake May and the Patriots have been a team where they have actually benefited
05:32from a fairly light schedule in the moment where they could have proven
05:35that they have some level of, I don't know, aptitude in clutch.
05:39It felt like they lost that circumstance against the Bills.
05:42Maybe the Bills is the team that you would hold up as probably one of the best teams
05:45to be able to do the clutch things.
05:47You seem to have a good record and a good handle on playing them,
05:51at least historically.
05:52We'll see if that continues to be the case if you match up with them again.
05:55Yeah.
05:55The Broncos are one of those teams that I pop up with.
05:58You handle them pretty well, but, again, you have this one circumstance
06:00that you're talking about where you lose your quarterback
06:02that I think skews the data a little bit.
06:04But that would be a question, especially because the defense is incredible.
06:08And offensively, Bo Nix, that's kind of been his calling card to this point
06:11in his early and young NFL careers.
06:14Get him in the fourth quarter, let him do things.
06:15Plus, of late, you look at it and,
06:19Bo Nix has actually been playing better football over the last weeks.
06:23I was reading a piece, I believe, in The Ringer.
06:26I think it was Steven Ruiz.
06:27That sounds about right.
06:28Where now you look at him passing the ball 10 yards plus down the field
06:33in those circumstances where he had not done that as well.
06:36He's actually becoming a better quarterback,
06:37and I have to give him some credit for that.
06:38So that's one of the teams that I look at clutch-wise.
06:41But I guess the point ultimately being, I look at a lot of these teams,
06:44I don't know exactly where I am with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
06:47I guess, well, it looks like you're going to probably have the Steelers
06:50in the AFC North as opposed to the Ravens.
06:52And with that being the case, I feel like I look over there and I go,
06:55I'm not that scared of clutch-wise.
06:57A long way of saying it, I don't know that there are teams
07:00that I think can make you pay.
07:01But in that way, I think that raises whatever clutch factor wherever I am.
07:05And I'm like, I don't know exactly if they're hitting the bar.
07:07I think also the bar around the league has lowered for teams
07:10that will make you pay in clutch circumstances.
07:12But see, you and Figge both said, and I'm not picking on you guys.
07:16I think we're –
07:16Go ahead, pick on me.
07:17Because I fall in the same boat.
07:18I'm afraid to say things sometimes, and I was kind of hesitant to say
07:22that I think they've become a clutch team.
07:24Because you described a team that is better than the other teams
07:29they're facing, you know, overall.
07:31They can do things a lot better.
07:33Figge described, you know, a team that I'm not going to say they're clutch,
07:37but they won't screw up a 24-0 lead.
07:39That is also being clutch.
07:41You know, like there are things about this.
07:43Is it clutch or a little bit dominant?
07:46Because I feel like their wins lately has been,
07:49especially on the defense, been super dominant.
07:51To me, when I look at clutch, I feel like I always go to maybe
07:56the two-minute offense.
07:57Come back.
07:57Yeah, like where they're down three.
08:00And it's like, okay, they about to go win this game.
08:03And I think that's a fact.
08:04I think that that's a fact.
08:05I know they had some, but I feel like their wins have been super dominant, man.
08:09That's fair, but maybe I just look at it differently.
08:12Like if I know this team is better than the other one,
08:14I don't worry in the tense moments.
08:17Whether it's protecting a 24-0 lead or a 24-23 lead.
08:20I know that they have it in them to put that game away.
08:24And that's how I would define clutch.
08:26Do you feel like, let's say the Houston Texans were down three points
08:30and there's maybe two minutes left in the game.
08:35Do you feel like everybody in the league is like, man.
08:38It ain't over.
08:39Yeah.
08:40Do you feel like you got that type of feeling when it comes to this team?
08:43Yes, and we saw it against Buffalo.
08:45You know, they were up, but it was the last two minutes,
08:48you know, driving down the field, Josh Allen with the ball in his hand.
08:51But see, they were up, but Josh Allen was awful, man.
08:55And why?
08:55To me, it just, they were dominant.
08:58Yeah.
08:58I don't look at that as clutch.
09:00I look at that as just dominant.
09:02Maybe, maybe, but I feel like.
09:04Even with Patrick Mahomes, man, that was just dominant, man.
09:07He had the worst game of his career.
09:09Josh Allen had the worst game of his career as well.
09:13I just look at that as dominant.
09:14Oh, I think, and that's what we're talking about with this defense.
09:16When you get to a certain point, I think that the expectation is one of those
09:19things that's interesting.
09:20I will give this defense the moniker of a clutch defense because they're coming
09:24up with turnovers as well.
09:26They're coming up with stops, even though I think teams have been a little bit
09:29more reluctant to try them on fourth down in some of those circumstances.
09:32They're coming up with stops in those moments.
09:34The question I have, and I don't know that there's a good answer for it,
09:37is if you have the offense in that circumstance, can they respond?
09:42I will say I feel better about that than I have at any point in the season now,
09:46in particular because of what they've done, what CJ's done to find a, find an
09:51equilibrium on offense.
09:52And then also one of the things that we talked about yesterday, it also feels
09:55like they're doing better things to help him make those plays off schedule.
09:59I mean, one, obviously on schedule, but also off schedule if it goes that way.
10:03And I think that those will lend themselves to it.
10:05So, yeah, I feel like they're more clutch than I want to give them credit for.
10:12I'm just not willing to flatly put the label that in any circumstance,
10:15they are going to get it done in that moment.
10:18Yeah.
10:18Do you feel like the Denver Broncos are more clutch?
10:22I don't even know that I could say.
10:24I think they had a lot of the close wins, too.
10:28Yeah, they point to the quarterback there.
10:29And I think that's where it kind of gets skewed.
10:31People tend to think of it as a quarterback stat, and I don't think it is.
10:36You know, I think because Bo Nix has made some plays, including against the Texans.
10:39Yeah, but see, when you talk about clutch, you always go to the quarterback
10:42or the offense.
10:43Like a comeback, that's when you think of clutch.
10:46Unless you mention clutch defense, that would just kind of put the nail in the coffin.
10:51Yeah.
10:51Yeah, and I feel like they do have a clutch defense, but, you know,
10:54that's going to be something that hopefully, well,
10:58the defense has shown that they're capable of doing it.
11:00Yeah, offensively, hopefully you don't have to find out how clutch they are
11:03offensively, and the recipe that they've had continues to work.
11:06I think that that's been the scare.
11:08That's been the fear that we've been guarding ourselves against with this
11:11offense is what happens if you find yourself in that circumstance?
11:14Right, right.
11:14Maybe the best answer is hopefully we don't have to find out at any point
11:18they can continue to ride this recipe, because if they do,
11:22it feels like that is working really well for them.
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