- 7 weeks ago
Seth and Sean talk with Audacy NFL Insider Ross Tucker about the Texans' edging out the Raiders and what he saw from Philip Rivers last night in Colts-49ers.
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00:00He is our Odyssey NFL Insider.
00:02His name is Ross Tucker, and Insider Calls, of course,
00:04are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.
00:08Nationwide is on your side.
00:10That is very soothing right there.
00:11Ross, Merry Christmas.
00:12How are you?
00:13You got to be a little – how's the energy this morning?
00:15You were doing that Monday night game last night.
00:18Yeah, Merry Christmas.
00:20My energy is always good.
00:22I got a nice – I don't know, two and a half hours sleep
00:26before my 5.20 a.m. flight.
00:29So I think that's now two out of the last four days
00:33where I got less than three hours sleep.
00:35It's not – it's – you can always do one day like that.
00:39It's when you do two back-to-back or two in a short period
00:42that then it becomes problematic.
00:45Yeah, that's where – don't worry.
00:49Science says that sleep is not all that important.
00:51They keep coming out with all these studies.
00:54Don't worry about how much you're increasing your cancer risk
00:56or anything like that, Ross.
00:57Everything will be fine.
00:58You'll be good.
00:59You know what's funny is –
01:01Yeah.
01:03I'm going to try to take a nice nap today,
01:06but I'm a little bit concerned because my daughters –
01:10their school starts at 8.
01:13They have to be at school until 10.30 today, and then it's over.
01:17And I'm like so confused.
01:19That's not even a half day.
01:22I don't know.
01:22Is that a third of a day?
01:23Like, the thought that all these kids are being bussed to school
01:30or parents are dropping them off for two and a half hours to get picked up at 10.30,
01:36it's got to be some type of like – it counts as a day to get money from the state.
01:41Well, it's hard for you to get involved in local government, Ross.
01:45Yeah.
01:46It's a problem in America today.
01:48People are becoming less and less involved in their local issues.
01:51They're all fixated on what they're seeing on the Twitter machine.
01:54So, yeah, get involved, man.
01:56Join the school board.
01:57I don't know.
01:58Do something.
01:59It feels like one of those no-work jobs on The Sopranos
02:02where all the kids are just going to sit in lawn chairs on the front lawn of the school
02:05and just wait around and check a box that they showed up.
02:09I love that Seth's trying to add stuff to my plate after I just flew to New Orleans,
02:16called the Jet Saints on TV, then flew to Indianapolis, then slept two and a half hours.
02:22I'm in a car driving back from Baltimore to Pennsylvania
02:25where I'm going to be 20 minutes late to record my Even Money Betting podcast.
02:31And, yes, I got the first possible flight to any city within two hours of my house
02:36so I could, A, be able to talk to you guys this morning, and, B, be able to record it.
02:41And now Seth –
02:43I just heard a whole lot of talk about you, you, you, and not your community.
02:49That's what I just heard.
02:50Yep.
02:51Well, you know what I'm hearing?
02:52I'm hearing a couple of guys are doing whatever they can
02:55to try to deflect from their team's performance on Sunday.
02:59Oh, yeah.
03:00I hear you are.
03:00Good starting point.
03:01You're talking about everything other than the Texans.
03:03I read you.
03:04I feel it.
03:05Well, there's a couple things because we are –
03:07we do want to talk to you about Phillip Rivers and his performance,
03:09and obviously that's a factor with the Texans.
03:13So let's start with the Texans since you veered it in the right direction.
03:16What – can we write that off as a classic late in the season versus a bad team
03:25and you have a little bit of an emotional letdown,
03:27not to mention the injuries affected you, or is there more to it than that?
03:32Well, that's the million-dollar question.
03:36And I will have the answer for you.
03:39Saturday night at about 11 o'clock.
03:43When do they play the Chargers?
03:45Yeah, 3.30.
03:46They're the early game, so 3.30 central time.
03:49So, yeah, probably about 8 o'clock your time will know.
03:52They're already getting the Texans,
03:54putting the Texans in their spot for their playoff game.
03:56Warming up the hammies, Russ.
03:58Russ, you got it.
03:59Yeah, exactly.
04:00Warming up the Texans for their unprecedented 37th consecutive wild card weekend
04:07Saturday at 4.30 p.m. Eastern time game.
04:10Yeah, if it ends up being Texans-Jaguars, you can just set that in stone.
04:14That's 100%.
04:15You know, it's really interesting.
04:20Really interesting.
04:23I guess I hope for you guys that that's what it was.
04:28But I don't know.
04:29There were some concerning things.
04:31You're watching Max Crosby.
04:33You're seeing Ashton Gentry running through people.
04:37You know, let's hope it was just that.
04:42Let's hope it was just that.
04:44You know, they needed Nico Collins to make plays to win the game.
04:48I mean, they needed to pick six to win.
04:51You know, they're fortunate that that game turned out the way it did.
04:56But ultimately, nobody really cares.
04:57You either win or you lose.
04:59And I think the Texans are going to be judged, rightfully so, by how they play against the Chargers on Saturday.
05:07Was it a little concerning?
05:09Yes.
05:10Will anybody care at all if they beat the Chargers?
05:13Not even a little bit.
05:14Not one iota.
05:16Yeah.
05:17Ross, that's – with the Texans' defense right now, I think this would be the one without a lot of, you know, big names that people in the national media would care a whole lot about.
05:27The fact that they've got so many defensive tackles on injured reserve right now and then without Aziz Elshire in the game, that's the thing that going versus tough physical offenses is going to potentially be a problem late in the season and in the playoffs.
05:44Because there's some – and you know the way the Texans play.
05:47They've got those wide nine defensive ends that force everything to the inside.
05:51And if you don't have guys that can hold up to that, and especially without Aziz Elshire in there, it started to do some damage along the way.
06:00And it allowed them to sustain drives and then obviously spring that explosive Ashton-Gente run.
06:08That's my concern right now is a lot of it is just the defensive tackle situation is what it is.
06:13But without Aziz Elshire in there and if his injury ends up being something that lingers, that's a problem.
06:19Well, a couple things on that.
06:22Number one, yeah, I think the D tackles that they've lost do matter.
06:29But perhaps they could give Derek Barnett or somebody else some reps in there.
06:34I know Derek's not going to be a three technique, you know, on first and 10 when they're running the ball.
06:40But it would seem to me like those guys should get their rest or their breaks in nickel or passing downs, which I think would help a lot.
06:52The other thing that's crazy is what you just described is exactly what the Chargers want to be under Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh.
07:04But I think in large part because of the injuries they've suffered this year on the offensive line, they're just not.
07:11So what you just said about, hey, the Texans could be susceptible to smash mouth and run it down your throat.
07:17I mean, I'm not saying that, you know, the Chargers won't come out and try to do that, but they just haven't really been able to do it.
07:25I mean, they have a really good defense.
07:27I'm not expecting a lot of points in that Chargers-Texans matchup.
07:32They've got a really good defense.
07:33And then Herbert kind of just saves the day.
07:36It's really impressive.
07:38I mean, he gets battered.
07:40He gets a bunch of sacks.
07:43But with both his legs and his arm that he has to for them to win pretty much every week.
07:50I mean, they've been on quite the run here.
07:52Ross Tucker's our Odyssey NFL insider.
07:54Insider Call is brought to you by Nationwide for insurance and financial needs.
07:58Nationwide is on your side.
08:00Hey, Ross, on the offensive side for the Texans, C.J. Stroud's catching some from the fan base this week because he was just atrocious in the first half of that Raiders game.
08:08Just missing a bunch of throws.
08:09He didn't get sacked one time in the game.
08:11They've actually been protecting him well.
08:13And to C.J.'s credit, he's been protecting the football well.
08:16He's just, and this has been something that's been going on for a while.
08:19He just has certain games where he misses throws that he was making a couple of years ago.
08:23What are your thoughts on where C.J. Stroud is at right now?
08:25Where does he need to be in order for them to win a couple of these playoff games that they're going to be in?
08:31You know, he's one of a number of a group of guys.
08:35And I'd have to sit there and actually write it down, whether they're, you know, tier two or tier three or whatever.
08:43But he's part of a group of guys that where in any given game or parts of a game, you can look at him and say, yeah, that guy can be a top five guy.
09:00I mean, look at he's playing a top five level.
09:02But then in other games, they're not even playing at a top 20 level.
09:07And, you know, the thing about pro football is.
09:11I think there's a lot of people at different positions that kind of fit that category.
09:17The thing that makes you elite, the thing that makes you all pro or.
09:22Or pro ball consistency.
09:24You know, there's a ton of guys that can flash and have a game where they have two sacks or whatever, catch a bunch of balls.
09:32It's the ability to do it every week.
09:34It's the ability to do it even when they design a whole plan to stop you.
09:40That's what really makes you an elite player.
09:44And C.J. Stroud is not an elite player because he's not consistent enough.
09:48And you see the ups and downs, which has kind of been a Tyler Murray thing.
09:53It's been a Trevor Lawrence thing, although all of a sudden, the last month or so, Lawrence has been consistently good.
10:00You know, even Purdy's been a little up and down.
10:03But now Purdy, after last night and the way he's played over the last three or four games, he's on a streak of being consistently stellar.
10:12So, Ross, let's look to Phillip Rivers.
10:16You know, think nothing of what Phillip Rivers was in his first time, his first career as an NFL player.
10:22In this second career, if you had to chart out his progress over the first two weeks and then project that graph on into week three and four, where do you think he's headed?
10:34I think the arrow is pointing up.
10:37And that I am unbelievably impressed with what he's done.
10:41To not play in the NFL for five years and come out and, you know, he gave them a chance to win in Seattle, but maybe it didn't look great.
10:53I thought he was awesome last night.
10:54Awesome.
10:55And he missed a couple throws, Tyler Warren.
10:59And I actually thought the pick six might be winter, terrific play and disguise to mess with Phillip Rivers.
11:09But, you know, there's that expression that the guy's like a coach on the field.
11:16Phillip Rivers has been a high school head coach for whatever it is, four or five years.
11:21It's literally like having a coach on the field.
11:24I mean, he's now seen it from the other side.
11:27He knows what coaches are looking for and what it's like.
11:31I mean, he was like a maestro last night with some of those checks and audibles, knew exactly where to go with the football.
11:40You know, he's got enough arm.
11:42It's not a lot, but he's got enough arm to actually make some of those throws down the field.
11:47That was just so fun to watch and be a part of.
11:52Ross Tucker, our Odyssey NFL insider, joining us here.
11:55Insider Calls brought to you by Nationwide.
11:57So, Ross, along those lines, was that version of Phillip Rivers last night good enough to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars this coming weekend?
12:07Yeah.
12:07Yeah, I think it is.
12:10If the Colts defense can play better.
12:13You know, I mean, the Colts defense didn't force the Niners to punt the ball once.
12:17I mean, the 49ers, by the way, are like a machine right now on offense.
12:21By the way, did you guys see my Twitter ex-post about Christian McCaffrey, at Ross Tucker NFL?
12:28No, do share.
12:30Okay, so I'm staying at the JW Marriott.
12:33I was.
12:34And 3 o'clock, you know, we're going to head over to the stadium at 5 or whatever.
12:38So, I go to the hotel gym at 3 o'clock.
12:42There's only, like, five people there, one of whom, on the Peloton bike, with an assistant 49ers strength and conditioning coach next to him, is Christian McCaffrey.
12:55Imagine just going into the JW Marriott, like, workout room, and Christian McCaffrey's on the Peloton bike.
13:03So, I go up to him.
13:05I don't know him that well.
13:05I know him a little bit.
13:06I know his parents really well.
13:08He used to do a radio show with his dad.
13:11I said, Christian, what's up, man?
13:13Ross Tucker.
13:14He's like, oh, Ross, what's up, man?
13:15I'll tell my pops.
13:15He said, hello, whatever.
13:16And I just said to him, I can't tell you how impressed I am with what you're doing.
13:23Much respect for the way you're carrying the load.
13:26He said, thanks.
13:27That really means a lot.
13:28But there's two parts of that that I think are fascinating, and I'm curious to hear what Seth thinks.
13:35Number one, I don't know that I've ever seen that before.
13:38Five hours and 15 minutes before kickoff, the guy's on the Peloton bike in the hotel gym.
13:44And by the way, I watched when he got off and walked out, and, like, a woman comes up and says, are you done with that?
13:52And he was like, yeah, go ahead.
13:55And then I walked over.
13:56I said, you don't know who that was.
13:57She's like, nope.
13:57Who was it?
13:59I said, he's about to have 2,000 yards.
14:02He's one of the best players in the NFL.
14:03He's going to have 1,000 yards rushing, 1,000 yards receiving.
14:06The other part of that story that I think is insane, and I didn't obviously say this to him, but he looked – no, I thought he looked good last night.
14:15But I've watched him a lot this year.
14:18He doesn't look quite as explosive.
14:21You know, I feel like he did earlier in his career.
14:26And I am, like, utterly in awe and mesmerized by the idea that a guy can have 2,000 yards and maybe 418 touches, which at last count, that's what he's on pace for.
14:44There might even be more now after he had 27 last night.
14:47But, like, the idea that someone can do what he's doing after they lost, I don't know, a step or half a step, whatever it is, like, that just blows my mind at that level that someone can be that productive when they're no longer what they used to be.
15:03Which, by the way, I guess brings it right back to Rivers.
15:06I mean, you know, as soon as I wasn't what I used to be, I wasn't in the league.
15:13It was over for me.
15:14These guys aren't what they used to be, and they're still really good.
15:17Well, I think, you know, the part – first of all, I guess, with the Peloton, I'm guessing he was just doing some kind of a warm-up, right?
15:26It wasn't like he had his favorite instructor on there doing, like, a 45-minute VO2 match workout or something.
15:32Yeah.
15:33But I think the part about that where, okay, he's not quite the same physical specimen that he was, but from a player's perspective, the tough thing is always that as you get up there in years, you start to see the game so much better, but it's also when your body starts breaking down.
15:53And it's not – you might have lost a step, but you're seeing things so much faster that it doesn't matter.
15:58The problem is that, oh, ow, I tore my ACL.
16:02Or –
16:03So with Christian McCaffrey, I think most of us would have looked at his earlier career and thought, well, look, he gets injured a lot.
16:11He's a running back.
16:12You know how this ends.
16:14And it seems like that this year, at least, he's figured that out somewhat.
16:19And it makes sense to me that he's having the production, even if he's not quite as fast or as explosive.
16:24But it's the fact that he's staying healthy to have the production that's more impressive.
16:30Well, and the last guy to have 400 touches was him.
16:34He had 408 in 2019 when he was Offensive Player of the Year.
16:39The fact that he's going to have more touches than that this year.
16:43And the thing is, is I was watching this last night.
16:47His backup, Brian Robinson, is pretty good.
16:50Yeah.
16:50Like, I guess I don't really understand why the 49ers don't, you know, give Christian more plays off so that he is healthy and is 100% for the playoffs.
17:02Because, you know, people don't realize this.
17:05If they win the next two games, they're the number one seed.
17:08And the Super Bowl is in Santa Clara.
17:10So they can very easily, not very easily, but if they win the next four games, like, they're just playing home games from here on out.
17:18You'd think he'd put the backup in more.
17:20But when I'm watching it, McCaffrey, it looks like, totally dictates when he's in or when he's out.
17:27You know, to give him the ball three plays in a row, he looks over the sideline, he holds the number one finger up.
17:34Not to say I'm number one, but to tell Brian Robinson, you're allowed to come in for me for one play.
17:42Then he goes out.
17:44I mean, and he did that like five or six times.
17:48And I was sitting there thinking, I did the game with Kevin Harlan.
17:50And I said, Kevin, if I ever pointed the sideline and said I was coming out for a play, they just wouldn't put me back in.
17:59Like, that would have been it.
18:00And yet he just, I don't even think he talked to his coach.
18:03I think he, like, just said what he wants.
18:05That's where I, I remember Gary Kubiak said something like this about Arian Foster once.
18:09And I remember Mike D'Antoni saying something about this with James Harden.
18:13When people would ask him, like, hey, shouldn't you load manage them a little bit more?
18:17Or both those guys gave answers that were basically like, all right, you try telling them.
18:22You know, it's like, yeah, we've had these conversations with them.
18:25But sometimes with your star athlete and the guy that, you know, is basically making everything else go,
18:31you got to have a little give and a take.
18:33And you might try to talk him into load managing a little bit.
18:36But those guys just flat out want to be out on the field or on the court.
18:40Wait, James Harden just wanted to be out there all the time?
18:43Yes.
18:43The first quarter was a big deal.
18:44Yeah, like, people thought that he should be load managed more in the first quarter.
18:49But he would always, he just, he insisted on playing the entire first quarter.
18:53Oh, my gosh.
18:54James Harden always struck me as the guy that would want to manage that load as much as he possibly can.
19:00No, no, no, no.
19:01James Harden was always going to do exactly what James Harden wanted to do.
19:03But he liked playing.
19:04James Harden liked, yeah, he loved playing, Ross.
19:07Yeah, he's not, he's, it's funny they're teammates because he's the opposite of Kawhi Leonard.
19:11James Harden would play 82 games if he could.
19:13It's just that within those 82 games, you know, the defense is a little optional sometimes.
19:17He was incredibly durable, Ross.
19:19He was really, there was one stretch where the only game he'd ever missed in the LeBron and the Nargs and got suspended.
19:28Well, it's like, it's like I've heard a lot of offensive linemen say over the years, you can't pull fat.
19:34That's exactly right.
19:35Can't pull fat.
19:37That's weird.
19:38Now I'm stuck in that same old position where I'm going to defend James Harden.
19:41It kind of agitated, even as I have some of the same reservations about it.
19:44Listen, listen.
19:45Because there's a lot of bad stuff about James Harden, but not every bad thing.
19:48You don't just get a carte blanche to say whatever you want.
19:52He was thick.
19:53He wasn't fat.
19:53Hey, Ross.
19:55Until he really wanted to get out of Houston and he got fat.
19:57We're talking to Ross Tucker.
19:58Before we get you out of here, did you think that two games was an appropriate punishment, two-game suspension, without pay for DK Metcalf?
20:07Yeah.
20:07Yeah, I do.
20:08And I don't think it should go into the playoffs, but I think it should be significant.
20:13And with them trying to make sure they win that division and seeding and not having it locked up yet, I think it is significant.
20:19Especially if on appeal it's upheld and he doesn't play against the Ravens when a lot could be on the line.
20:28So that's a fascinating dynamic.
20:31I mean, I think that the Steelers might be able to lock it up before then, but you can't do what he did.
20:37And I know there's differing reports and differing versions of what was said or what wasn't.
20:44But regardless, you can't go over to the stands and make contact with a fan.
20:50That's bad business.
20:51I feel totally different about that than I do Lamar Jackson in Buffalo when the fans were hitting him and DeAndre Hopkins on the helmet.
21:02Yeah.
21:04It's in totally different situations.
21:06If a fan is going to show aggression or push you or hit you, I wouldn't discipline the player at all.
21:13I think the player should be able to do whatever he wants if a fan's going to push him.
21:18Now, but if Metcalf's going to do what he did, you can't do that.
21:21You've got to be significantly, significantly disciplined because he initiated the physical part of it.
21:27That makes all the difference in the world to me.
21:29Yep.
21:30Where are you this week, Ross?
21:33You know, there's a bunch of – I don't have a TV game because there's so many other games like Christmas and Saturday.
21:41So I just have Commanders, Cowboys on Christmas.
21:45So we will do the Santa Claus stuff, and then I will with my kids, and then I'll drive down a couple hours to D.C.
21:54because I'm kind of one of the world's foremost experts in Cowboys, Washington, holiday games between two teams going nowhere.
22:04I've started some of those games, so it makes sense to put me on that.
22:08There you go.
22:08That's right.
22:09You've got the history, the nostalgia.
22:11Ross Tucker is our Odyssey NFL insider.
22:13Insider Call is brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.
22:17Nationwide is on your side.
22:20Hey, Ross, we always appreciate you, man.
22:22Merry Christmas, safe travels, and we'll talk to you next week.
22:25Sounds great.
22:26See you guys.
22:26All right, thanks.
22:27Appreciate it.
22:27Merry Christmas to the great Ross Tucker.
22:29I want him to join the school board just because he would definitely go viral with something.
22:34There would definitely be like, look at what happened in Pruka, Hoxta, Pennsylvania, or whatever backwater town he lives in there.
22:42Oh, yeah.
22:42So a couple of cameras, Mayor Ross Tucker, School Superintendent Ross Tucker.
22:47Hold on a minute.
22:49Now just hold on a second.
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