00:00We talk about culture a lot, right? With this squad and Swarm and how they've all bought in
00:06and CJ Stroud and the defense and, you know, just go down the list. I don't think we've talked
00:11enough about the Texans culture, so to speak, when we talk about the coaching staff. When we
00:16talk about the coaching staff, I mean, let's think about it. How many defensive-minded head coaches
00:22give up play calling, not only give up play calling, but do it mid-season and then the
00:28defense gets better. They have enough of an us versus me and, you know, sort of the give
00:35and take of that, you know, to check their ego and do what's best, you know, for the team,
00:41the old one game at a time, all that stuff. Not only that, but what got me really thinking
00:45about it, ruminating, so to speak, was listening to CJ Stroud and D'Amico Ryans talk about Gerard
00:50Johnson. And for the record, I mean, Gerard should no longer be considered like a bit
00:58player. I think they made it clear. Figgy, I know you have this audio, but let's listen
01:02to... You know I got it. I got it. Let's listen to Stroud first, talking about Gerard Johnson.
01:08Yeah, I think Gerard is, you know, me becoming like, me being a kid back then, being 16 years
01:14old, meeting him and now being 24, you know, it's crazy. It's almost 10 years ago, it's
01:18wild. But like, just to see, you know, not only just my growth, but his and our relationship
01:23grow. He's somebody who, you know, I consider a great friend and somebody I know I can call,
01:28also, you know, I've seen him grow as a coach, you know, and see him, you know, his habits
01:33fingerprint in our system, you know, finally after a couple years, you know, he's able
01:37to put some input plays in and, you know, thought he's done a great job of that. And coaching
01:43me, you know, footwork, you know, he's a mechanical genius, I feel, you know, he's a guru when it
01:48comes to, you know, footwork and, you know, being centered in the ground and pronation with
01:53your wrist, all that good stuff, you know, he's very, you know, he's a fan of and good at
01:57coaching it. So, you know, I'm very grateful, happy to have him as a coach.
02:00Fingerprints on the system. Yeah. Mechanical guru. Sure. Hands all over this. That, how
02:06many, and I think it's not just a huge compliment to Gerard and what he's done with this offense,
02:12I think it's a huge compliment to Nick Cayley and the offensive staff. How many offensive
02:17coordinators check their ego enough to say, guys, help me out here. Most do not, to be honest.
02:24You know, they, you know, I, well, I don't know if I'll say most. I'll put it this way.
02:28My experience has been, they come in, they absorb all the information and then they put
02:33it all in to their terms. Okay. You know, and, and that's just my, been, been my experience.
02:38So shout out to Nick Cayley, shout out to the collaborative effort and shout out to what
02:42I feel is just another reflection of the Texans culture. Yeah. I think that that's a, that's
02:46a fair place to look at it because I think you started pointing to it, which is, it is very
02:52much an us mentality. Um, that is something that we've talked a lot about at the, at the,
02:58you know, field level with the players, it's an us mentality. I think with the coaches as well,
03:02right? The idea, he, he said, there's something a little, a little quiet in there, but Gerard put
03:07some plays in, um, which I think that that goes even further when we talk about the relationship
03:12with CJ Stroud and what this offense is and how, how he is finding a comfort with it. I imagine that
03:18we know Gerard Johnson, CJ was laying it out there, but we've known for a while, like that's,
03:22that is the CJ whisperer on this staff. If you like, if you choose to view it that way. And so
03:27that feels like, you know, making sure that he feels comfortable and has ownership of this offense.
03:32I feel like that's, that's the, that's the signal there. But like you were mentioning the idea that,
03:38and I'm sure this is not unique to Gerard Johnson. I'm sure that you could find this with all of the
03:41offensive, uh, offensive staff members talk less of the defensive staff members that we know. Um, you know,
03:47D'Amico does a great job of shouting out and talking about, uh, even, I mean, running backs
03:51coach. There's a lot of different instances where you see, um, them shouting out the different ways
03:56that the coaching staff is impacted. And to be fair, that's why you pay all these people as you
03:59want them to impact it. But it's clear that there is, there's little ego in making sure that we got
04:07to get this done. How much of that now do you attribute to, you got put in a place where your back
04:12was against the wall and you didn't have any choice, right? You took place, you were three or five and
04:15you were like, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen now. But yes, I think that you then you
04:20end up in a place where the culture is. We get this done by hook or by crook, not, not, uh, with any
04:25respect to who, who gets the credit or who ultimately gets done. The, the, the objective
04:30is getting it done. Yeah. And, and, and, and it's also D'Amico, uh, because when he did start
04:35taking over and stepping back, he was really just sort of overseeing the offense and the D and
04:40the defense. D'Amico actually was talking about Gerard too. So, you know, you're going to hear the
04:45compliments because it became sort of a talking point yesterday, but I think it, it emanates
04:50throughout the entire staff. There is a great culture here, but this is what D'Amico had to
04:53say about Gerard. Gerard has done a great job this year. I've definitely seen growth in him as a
04:58coach and how he's done a better job of working with the quarterbacks. Uh, he's, uh, give those
05:05guys a lot of pointers, a lot of tips, especially from him being a guy who's, who played the position
05:09and he's coached the position, helped a lot of young guys throughout his career. So I'm, I'm just,
05:15uh, very pleased with Gerard and excited to see his growth as a coach over this past year. I think
05:21he's done doing a great job. Yeah. And, and, and it's not just that, you know, what you also have
05:26to consider this, which is there's usually a holdover on, on staff whenever a new head coach comes in,
05:32but Frank Ross, like he, uh, uh, he and D'Amico Ryans have become almost like best friends out
05:38there. I mean, they, they are really tight. They, there's a trust there. And so we talk about how
05:42this team, you know, I guess I'll put it this way. The, the, the coaches are not just, you know,
05:47talking the talk here, like they are exemplifying where they are and what they want with action.
05:54Without question. I think there's places and instances where I know I have been without even
06:00speaking for others, critical of D'Amico Ryans and some of the, some of the things, but this,
06:05this is the, this is the ultimate portion of coaching where you can see the growth and
06:10development with his staff, as well as, you know, with his team, you know, making the decisions that
06:16are difficult. There's still even instances where we're like, okay, why are you doing this? But even
06:19within that, we're doing that in the circumstance of a team that found their, found their way to win
06:24and has an elite portion of them. And, uh, they're looking around the league and saying,
06:30we have a good shot. Now, obviously you need to go and walk the walk. We're not going to
06:33crown you, I guess, um, per se as a team, but like when it comes to the way that they're doing
06:38things, I think that there's even more, um, comfort in what D'Amico Ryans is as a stabilized
06:43force and a program builder. And one of the, one of those phrases that's used more in college
06:47sports than it is in the NFL, but he's building a program almost. And I don't even know if we get
06:52to this place. Tell me if you, if you are in this place where the best coaches in the league,
06:57we talk about as developers of trees and having those, it does feel like you're starting to look
07:02around. And after, you know, in three years into D'Amico Ryans, his tenure as a head coach,
07:05period, talk less of here with the text. And you're like, oh, he's starting to build where
07:09people are wondering, is Matt Burt going to be, going to be hired away? Some, I saw someone texting
07:14or a couple of times texting into the text line about Gerard Johnson. Do you think he goes and gets
07:19opportunities and things like that? So yeah, I think that that is a credit to him.
07:24And that brings to mind for me, Seth was on talking to some Raiders creator on yesterday,
07:32or was it yesterday? I think I saw it yesterday. I don't know if it was yesterday. And they were
07:35talking about how the Texans gives the Raiders some hope as like the Raiders being in this really
07:41desolate place, this, you know, terrible situation in their, in their franchise's history. And they're
07:47like, well, the Texans have been here and look at what happened in large part, because they got a guy
07:52who was capable of coming in, in a, in a, in a desolate landscape and fertilizing and building
07:58something here and painting roofs. And I mean, they're, you're looking at entire franchise,
08:03looking at what the Texans have done and been like that, that is a guy that can help turn the tide.
08:07Yeah. Can I ask this question? And maybe we dig deeper into it at another time. You feel like
08:11D'Amico Ryan's can win coach of the year? Because what we're talking about are the types of things that
08:15you want in a great coach and you hope that, uh, that is, that is represented or at least
08:20saluted with, uh, some hardware like coach of the year. It's kind of frustrating because I think
08:25his case for coach of the year is, is enormous. Like he has a very, very, very strong case for
08:32coach of the year, but to answer your question, no, I don't think he can win it simply because
08:36of what Mike Vrabel has done and Liam Cohen has done. I think those are the two that are at the very,
08:41very tippy top, uh, tippity top, as they say, uh, of, of the coach of the year candidates.
08:46But I will kind of illustrate it with, uh, coming off a text that we got just from the two, eight,
08:51one sitting at Oh, and three Ryan's put his neck on the line and proved he's the guy. How many
08:57organizations, how many teams would have gone the polar opposite direction after starting Oh,
09:02and three, I think that alone kind of talks about, you know, move, you know, giving, giving up play
09:07calling duty, you know, uh, going over the offensive side and, and, and, uh, working with
09:12Kaylee to, to get more input from dry and others, uh, you know, being able to not butt heads with a
09:19general manager that he had no previous experience with, didn't even know hardly. I mean, use name,
09:24but he didn't have a real relationship with Nick Casario. That's another aspect of this.
09:29You know, you can go in two directions when things start Oh, and three, and your general manager put
09:34this line together and all this other stuff, obviously with your, your, you're checking off
09:38on it, but a lot of head coaches and general managers would have gone in opposite directions
09:42and said they went in one another shout out to seven, one, three Texan. And y'all good. Like,
09:45no, I remember this, these circumstances. And to be fair, I still also think that he is not a
09:51perfect coach. That'd be an unfair thing to put on anybody. And, but the other coaches that you
09:56think are great coaches, Shanahan has his issues. Namely, it feels like he has a terrible job
10:01finding quarterbacks and being able to empower them to be the best versions of themselves
10:04outside of like the system that he has. Andy Reed, we've talked about some of the issues
10:09historically, and it seems like there might be some issues currently. I mean, where else would
10:14you like to go? You know, Bill Belichick with, you know, his, his tight fisted nature over the
10:20way that he thinks, and you saw the ways that, you know, his need for the entire control of the
10:24system ultimately led to that, that system dying down. Some people won't even give him that
10:29credit because they'll say it was all Tom Brady. There's, there's great coaches that have their
10:33flaws. Yeah. And so even while we will acknowledge the flaws, I think we have to get to a place where
10:38we look at D'Amico Ryan's in the system that he set up here as a, a probably a great, great
10:43circumstance, or at least if not, it's already there. It's clearly has the, the legs to get
10:47there. Yeah. All right. You're in the loop here on sports radio 610 to salute to the head
10:51coach of the Texas team, D'Amico Ryan.
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