- 2 months ago
Seth and B-Scott talk about how it seems the Texans' offense is starting to click more, but wonder how long until we see that offense firing on all cylinders.
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00:00But I was looking at this during the break, Seth, and I did not realize this.
00:03And I should specify a little bit more of what I was telling you before.
00:07But C.J. Stroud, with the Texans win over the Raiders on Sunday,
00:13tied Peyton Manning for third among quarterbacks that were drafted in the first two picks,
00:21so either first or second overall.
00:23Okay.
00:23So quarterbacks that are drafted first or second overall in all of NFL history.
00:28Only Andrew Luck and John Elway have more wins right now than C.J. Stroud,
00:36who just tied Peyton Manning for the most wins through three seasons
00:40by a quarterback drafted with the top two picks in the draft.
00:45That's – boy, that's – boy, okay.
00:47So there's a whole lot there, for one.
00:49But he's on a list here, though, with Andrew Luck, John Elway, and Peyton Manning.
00:54That's all I'm saying.
00:55Immediately people are going to say, and understandably so,
00:58okay, wait a second, QB wins isn't a stat.
01:00Yes, I get it.
01:01Also, my first thought is, man, Peyton Manning had a horrible first season, too.
01:05Yeah.
01:05So, like, he had to really dig himself out of that,
01:08where with C.J. it's been more of a steady burn of 10 wins or so in each of his first three seasons.
01:14That the – I think that with C.J. and the stats that have come out this week,
01:23including D'Amico having 10 wins or more in each of his first three seasons,
01:28that puts him up in pretty high company.
01:32The fact that he did it with a rookie quarterback I think is the notable thing.
01:36Because a lot of – there's – I've caught myself this year in a lot of ways sometimes just kind of feeling like I'm complaining about rich folks' problems, you know?
01:44Yeah.
01:44Like, yeah, sure, they got 10 wins, but this offense isn't nearly – I need this offense to be an awesome offense, et cetera, et cetera.
01:51It's okay to be greedy.
01:52Yeah, you step back and you realize, well, yeah.
01:54But it also – I think they're a little bit of a victim of their own success in that because they had such a promising beginning in 2023
02:03and that in some respects it felt like they took a step back in 2024,
02:08even though they're still winning a bunch of football games,
02:12that it's a nice problem to have that you're sitting here in year three feeling like,
02:16wait a second, they should be further along than this.
02:18But because they actually did have such a – because they had such a promising beginning.
02:24Yeah, prisoner of their own success is exactly it.
02:26Because that is the – only because of a 2023 season could we look at a 2024 season that the Texans had as some kind of disappointment
02:36where you win 10 games, win a home playoff game, and, of course, you want more.
02:42But you're only looking at that as a disappointment or looking at that as a disappointment
02:46because you're expecting to build off of what the previous season was
02:50and not just kind of remain a status quo.
02:53And then even for me going into this season and trying to project what this season would look like,
02:58I thought, you know what, based off of their – some of the things that they've subtracted
03:03and what they've added, like it just does not feel like they've done enough
03:06to separate themselves from the previous two seasons, the 2023 Texans or the 2024 Texans.
03:13This team, to me, look like it's just the same old Texans.
03:17And then to their credit now, they've won the same amount of games that they've won the last two years
03:22now with two games to spare and can actually or at least have an opportunity to be better than those teams
03:28that I thought that they wouldn't be better than.
03:29So I've got to give them credit for that.
03:30But on this C.J. Stroud stat, I do want to point out, we mentioned the 26 wins, the 26 career wins,
03:37and that being tied with Peyton Manning for quarterbacks drafted first or second overall
03:42for wins through their first three seasons, just behind Andrew Luck, just behind John Elway.
03:49Andrew Luck had 33.
03:50John Elway has 27.
03:53So he still has a chance to pass John Elway if they went out for the rest of this year.
03:56But think about this, though, Seth.
03:58But C.J.'s got the 26 because he's missed those games, right?
04:04They've actually won 30.
04:06Oh.
04:06They've actually won 30 games with him as the starting quarterback, technically.
04:11Yeah.
04:12But he missed a couple his – I was going to call him freshman – his rookie year with a concussion
04:17and then missed a handful this year with a concussion.
04:20But otherwise, could have had, like, you know, 30.
04:24Could be right behind Andrew Luck and ahead of John Elway already.
04:29This is just speaking to both his individual success and the team's success that they've had over these last three years.
04:35I thought that was pretty impressive.
04:37No, and I think that I'm feeling better than Nick Kelly as the season goes on.
04:43And I've been frustrated at times, and I always try to tamp it down with, you know, the reminder that, A,
04:50it's a more complex offense in a lot of ways that they're installing.
04:56And it's one of those weird things where, hey, it's a more complex passing offense, yet at the same time,
05:01once you grasp it, it does make things easier for the offensive line.
05:07It makes things easier for the quarterback.
05:09It makes things easier in a lot of ways.
05:11There's just a few things that you've got to get over mentally and operating a different way.
05:16And I think we've seen a lot of evidence of that starting to click.
05:19And I think we've seen it without huge outpourings of points necessarily.
05:23The process is right.
05:25And I can start to see where, all right, once CJ gets really comfortable in this,
05:29and more importantly maybe once the receivers get really comfortable with it,
05:33you can see the potential there.
05:34It's just that it's – and I warned myself about this the entire preseason,
05:42that it's not going to be smooth.
05:43It never is when you're doing something like this.
05:46But once you're in the middle of it, you forget all of the cautions that you gave yourself.
05:52I do think over the second half of the season we've seen a lot of evidence that things are starting to click.
05:57Yeah, I think you did a good job explaining that because I was going to ask you why,
06:01you know, when you said you feel better about Nick Caley, and here's why I was going to ask that.
06:05Because even for me, as someone who – just going to be up front here,
06:09I'm not a fan of the offense.
06:11I just point blank, hard stop.
06:14I don't like the offense.
06:15But once you get past that, okay, once we get past this fact that I don't like the offense,
06:21within that framework, within that sort of system, I haven't had too much complaint about the job
06:28that Nick Caley has done with the offense that I admittedly don't like.
06:33Like, when we talk about – obviously, they've won seven straight games,
06:37so it hasn't been a whole lot to complain about.
06:39But when we complain about the offense either being stagnant or not scoring a lot of points,
06:44Nick Caley has been toward the bottom of the list of my complaints.
06:48It's not to say he's been perfect or that all the play calls I've agreed with,
06:51you can nitpick pretty much any game and find a handful of play calls that you can question or not like.
06:57But for me, just from watching the games and already not liking the offensive system
07:03that they run to begin with, I have felt that Nick Caley has kind of found at least a rhythm
07:08or at least a beat for the play calling within what they're doing.
07:13So it is good to hear you say that.
07:14I don't know if you feel the same way about his play calling itself kind of progressing.
07:18Well, the hard part where – you know, and I would try to do this with Bobby Slowick too.
07:24The hard part is there's kind of an experimental process that goes on through the course of any season
07:30where you're trying to figure out exactly what your team is and is not good at
07:34and what they can and cannot do.
07:37And the biggest thing holding back this offense in a lot of ways is really I'd say the two things.
07:43Where, one, either the youth of the wide receivers or the fact that some of the wide receivers
07:49are new to the offense.
07:51But then, B, and really the bigger thing is just the offensive line being new to the offense
07:57and then also I think just not having enough offensive line.
08:02You don't need to have five all pros out there.
08:04But I think that there's just some things that aren't going to be fixed
08:08until you start swapping out a couple of guys, getting an interior offensive line
08:13that you feel better about, all of those things.
08:17And really that's it.
08:18At the center position – and Titus Howard is an improvement at left guard,
08:22but I just still – I like him at tackle ultimately better.
08:25And I think he's going to do more for your offense when he's at offensive tackle.
08:28Right now he's the best solution at guard.
08:30That stuff, it might take two seasons for it to really come in.
08:34But when you look at the issues on the offensive line,
08:37last year they had serious fundamental flaws and issues in picking up blitzes
08:42and picking up simple games at times.
08:44They just were mind-numbingly bad at a lot of the basics.
08:48This year it's not that way.
08:50So I think you're getting the best version of some of those guys,
08:54and it's just a matter of – like some of them will get better with more time in the system,
08:58but then some of them just need to be better football players.
09:01And, like, that's where it's still – it's coming together,
09:05and it's not coming together in magnificent fashion,
09:07but it's a more fundamentally sound football team than it was last year.
09:10Well, this is the thing – I mean, you're comparing to last year.
09:13I would even point to – like even just isolated to this season,
09:17the improvements that they've made in these exact areas that you're talking about.
09:21Like these are some of the biggest differences in the Texans offense from early on,
09:24at least from where I sit, from early on in the season to now.
09:28You talked about those younger wide receivers.
09:31Yeah.
09:31It was taking them a while to kind of figure things out,
09:33and I've been able to talk to a couple of these guys in the locker room about this,
09:37Jaden Higgins and Jalen Knoll,
09:39and them talking about to the speed of the game but to the offense
09:43and like this offense itself and developing that trust with C.J. Stroud.
09:49Some of the stuff that we were talking about earlier in the routes
09:53and somehow some of the concepts can change from play to play depending on how you're being defended.
09:59Like these are things that those guys had to actually adjust to in real time.
10:04They weren't all that great at it to start with
10:06and didn't have a whole lot of chemistry and trust from C.J. Stroud to begin with.
10:11And then now, specifically with Jaden Higgins, that part is different.
10:15On the offensive line, when you're talking about some of the basic fundamental things
10:19that they didn't have last year, Seth, they didn't have some of it early on this year.
10:25When you think about the first Jaguars game is when I know Ariante Urshry kind of got,
10:31it was like a welcome to the NFL moment.
10:33He was kind of baptized by Josh Hines Allen.
10:36But I can think of so many games or so many moments early on in the season
10:40where you've got the opposing team rushing three or four,
10:44you're in max protect, and you can't block.
10:47Like you've got two to three more guys in protection than they've got coming at you,
10:51and you can't even block it.
10:53And those are things that I saw early on in the season that made me worried about,
10:57okay, is this thing going to go in the tank?
10:59Did these changes that they make with the coaching staff actually work and impact?
11:03Well, it was happening in real time.
11:05We hadn't seen it yet up until that point,
11:07but those things have corrected themselves throughout the course of the season.
11:10There really is.
11:11I think to make it more relatable,
11:12there are a lot of things like this in life when, you know,
11:17you have to learn a new skill,
11:19and ultimately it's going to make you,
11:22and it's going to be way easier for you when you learn this new skill.
11:25But, man, it's clunky, and it's laborious, and it sucks when you're doing it.
11:29I'm on the computer all the time, you know.
11:32Things that, like, I know if I just,
11:34if I actually just sat down and really learned how to use this spreadsheet and everything,
11:37I could do some amazing things with it.
11:38But I'm getting by just doing everything manually.
11:43Like, for me, in football, just from a defensive lineman's perspective,
11:46this isn't nearly the level of complexity that offenses or anything has to deal with.
11:50But when I first got to Houston,
11:52Tom Capers and Vic Fangio and then Todd Grantham was my defensive line coach at the time,
11:57they asked defensive linemen to do a lot of things mentally
12:01that most teams don't ask defensive linemen to do.
12:04And especially for defensive linemen who your whole life you've kind of been,
12:07you've kind of, like, had free license to just, like,
12:10hey, you've got two rules on this play.
12:12Now just go get the ball.
12:14It was hard at first.
12:16And, like, a lot of guys don't like it at all.
12:18But once you learn it, it just,
12:20it turned me into a completely different football player.
12:22That's why I love Vic Fangio so much.
12:24Because he just, he transformed me by asking me to do some mentally challenging things
12:31by defensive line standards.
12:32And, like, once I got it, it just made me 100% a better football player.
12:39And that's kind of, like, what the entire offense is going through.
12:42There's some things they ask them to do that might be outside their comfort zone.
12:47But once you get it ingrained, it makes things a lot easier.
12:51You know, and, you know, you hear, remember Tom Brady in his Facebook documentary that he did
12:56where he was talking about how it's just I've got the answers to the test.
12:59You know, like, your back's operating, and I know that they're not operating.
13:04They don't have the answers to the test.
13:06So, like, once you get that, you feel like you've got a superpower.
13:10Like, it's a cheat code.
13:12And I think that that's, like, what you ideally hope for is that CJ's getting to that point
13:17where it feels like he has a cheat code.
13:19And it might take two or three full seasons for him to really get it.
13:23But since we're making it relatable, Seth, let me tell you about how your name came up
13:27in conversation at my house yesterday.
13:30Oh, no.
13:30All right.
13:30And this is – so this makes it really relatable.
13:33Talk about adjusting, learning new skills, you know, that type of thing.
13:38Well, look, I operate Sports Radio 610's TikTok, but I'm not necessarily a creative TikToker,
13:47nor do I wish to be or seek to have any desire whatsoever
13:52to engage with this platform.
13:54I'm just being honest, right?
13:55I'm not, like, celebrating this or saying, hey, look at me.
13:57I'm so cool because I don't like TikTok.
13:59I just don't.
14:00I'm just being real with it.
14:01And so as I'm trying to expand some of my own personal digital stuff,
14:05my girlfriend mentions, like, hey, you need to start doing more TikToks.
14:09And in more colorful language, I basically say, bleep that, bleep that, bleep.
14:14I ain't doing that, bleep.
14:16That's not me.
14:17And then she goes – she points out correctly, Seth's older than you,
14:21and he does really good TikToks.
14:23Like, what's – you know, so kind of use you as an example of, like, hey, man,
14:26don't act like you're too old or too cool to learn TikTok.
14:30You're someone who's both older and more successful than you who has decided to
14:34actually go and try this, and you somehow act like you're too good to do so.
14:38Very sparingly, I do it, though.
14:41That TikTok video she showed you couldn't have been any younger than six weeks,
14:46I think.
14:47I almost wanted to immediately, like, text you and be like, all right, Seth,
14:51tell me the truth.
14:52How long does it take you to make these TikTok videos?
14:56Oh, no, it's too long.
14:57And how much of your time, like, do you want back that you can't get back in your life?
15:02I don't – I'm torn because I do –
15:04like, it's – like, without getting too inside baseball on all of it,
15:08but, like, there's a lot of money to be made on TikTok.
15:12I've got some reservations just because of the whole Chinese thing.
15:16It's like, how much – like, how much am I really helping the Chinese government
15:20someday topple the United States of America?
15:23But then also just the – it's labor intensive.
15:29But that's where – like, so on my YouTube, I spend more time on my YouTube.
15:32That's – there's a lot of stuff on there that it took me – there's some things
15:36that I can do now in 20 minutes that used to take me, like, four or five hours.
15:40Yeah.
15:41Just – and it seems stupid to me now because I had to learn some of the video editing
15:45stuff and everything that's, like – for a Gen Z-er, it's, like, idiotically simple.
15:51But for me, it was – it was hard.
15:53Like, I had to – I had to rewire my brain circuitry.
15:55Yeah.
15:56Yeah.
15:56But bringing it back to the point, though, like, there have been some real adjustments.
16:01Like, think about it.
16:01There are things that you can do now in 20 minutes that it used to take you hours to do.
16:06Well, imagine how much better the communication is and the recognition is
16:12between, let's say, C.J. Stroud and Jaden Higgins, who has now emerged,
16:16just to be clear, has emerged as his clear number –
16:21two wide – two receiving targets are clear.
16:25That's Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz, who's a tight end.
16:28But if we want to just take it to the wide receivers themselves,
16:31like, it seems like C.J. Stroud has the most trust – after Nico Collins, of course –
16:36in Jaden Higgins.
16:37Like, we see a little bit of Christian Kirk.
16:39We see a little bit of Xavier Hutchinson.
16:42But that next guy is Xavier – or, I'm sorry, is Jaden –
16:46I was going to say Xavier Hutchinson again – is Jaden Higgins.
16:49And I don't think we would have said that anywhere close to that earlier on in the season.
16:53Now, I know people still want to see more of Jalen Knoll.
16:57Some people are a little bit confused on why that hasn't progressed the way a lot of people want it to.
17:03But I think that is speaking to the process.
17:05Never mind the fact that Jalen Knoll is doing multiple things, right?
17:08He's your return guy.
17:09And he's, you know, trying to learn the offense at the same time
17:12or be integrated into the offense at the same time.
17:14But these are the adjustments that you've seen made, both the offensive line
17:18and how they recognize stunts and gains
17:20and how the wide receivers, not named Nico Collins, have adjusted to playing with C.J. Stroud
17:26and in this offense in particular.
17:28There was – I liked seeing this yesterday.
17:31It was Alex Smith on – I think it was Fred Warner.
17:34I looked at it real briefly and then sent it to – it was right?
17:37It was Fred Warner's podcast.
17:38I don't know who's – that's definitely who was talking, though.
17:40Alex Smith and Fred Warner, whoever's podcast it is.
17:43It was – definitely those two guys.
17:44I didn't see the entire conversation.
17:46I feel like the caption might have been a little inaccurate
17:48because it said that Alex Smith lists these guys as his top NFL quarterbacks.
17:53But I don't think that's necessarily how he's listening to it.
17:57But this is what he had to say about C.J. Stroud in specific.
18:02Fundamental quarterback in football.
18:03If you're a kid out there and you want to play quarterback,
18:06like this is who you should watch, C.J. Stroud.
18:08Really?
18:09Oh, man.
18:09I think he's insanely talented.
18:11I know you obviously had the crazy rookie year.
18:13Statistically hasn't been as good, but I think this guy's – man, he's so talented.
18:18Yeah.
18:19So, like, the most fundamentally sound quarterback,
18:22or the most fundamental quarterback at least he's definitely listening is that.
18:25So – but I wanted him – this is what I was going to say.
18:28I wish he had explained that a little bit.
18:31Like, since we're going inside baseball a little bit or inside football in this case,
18:34like, he says that he's the most fundamentally sound,
18:37and then he kind of starts listing off the things that I would have said,
18:40like narrative stuff that media people talk about.
18:42Yeah.
18:42Which – and obviously Alex Smith knows the game.
18:44So I would have loved for him to have broken that down.
18:47Like, what is it about him fundamentally?
18:50Because I think this is something that would make – you know,
18:52probably give him a little bit more attention for people that are not paying attention
18:55to the Texans, but also give Texans fans who maybe have soured a little bit
19:00or don't feel as competent in C.J. as they did his rookie year.
19:04Maybe this will give him a little bit of idea for what he is really good at.
19:07I think now I've got to go back and watch the entire interview on Fred Warner's podcast,
19:12which will probably be enjoyable, but it's Christmas Eve, dang it.
19:16The – I think one thing there, too, and immediately people are probably thinking,
19:20man, there's been times where it looks like C.J.'s footwork is a little off
19:23or he's hurrying things this week.
19:24And he had said something this week about how he felt like maybe early in the game
19:28he was hurrying through things.
19:31And I think that's where, again, when you're trying to get everything right
19:35within the offense, sometimes the pass protection isn't perfect.
19:38That's where you can see that, okay, yeah, things aren't –
19:42when he does – when he is operating the way he's capable of operating,
19:45I think what I hear and see from a lot of quarterbacks are just, you know,
19:49people that really know their QB mechanics is just how beautiful it is
19:53when he plants his foot and when he just flicks his wrist and throws the perfect pass
19:59or just in that, you know, that final play of the game,
20:03he just plants his feet and drops it to Nico for that perfect pass.
20:09I think there's like a purity almost to him throwing the football sometimes
20:13when everything's right, that it's part just him having worked on it
20:19since he was a young kid, but then also some of it just the natural ability he has
20:23that some guys, no matter how hard they work on it, they're not going to be able to get it.
20:28That's the part where he still shows, even in stretches this year where it hasn't been perfect
20:34or the offense has really been struggling to get things right,
20:37all of a sudden he pulls it out of his bag.
20:40And a lot of times it's happened in the fourth quarter.
20:42I think that's the most promising thing about it.
20:45Yeah.
20:45I mean, that's it.
20:46That is the most promising thing about it is that it happens in the fourth quarter
20:50and that the numbers, C.J. Stroud is having one of those years.
20:55Of course, his rookie year was one of those statistically like,
20:58oh, this is one of the better rookie QB seasons that we've ever seen.
21:02And I feel like since then, and especially this year, the numbers haven't always done him justice,
21:10nor have some of the moments like early in the game where he's off a little bit.
21:15Well, there's a lot of focus and keying in on that or those throws that he missed.
21:20And he's missed a handful.
21:22It's like you forget about the dots that he's throwing, right?
21:26The one to Nico to kind of seal the game, the third down previously to Dalton Schultz
21:31where he steps up in the pocket, that maybe wasn't necessarily as impressive of a throw,
21:36kind of a basic throw, but him stepping up in the pocket in that moment
21:40and kind of just the awareness to make that play.
21:43And making the play when you absolutely had to have it, I thought was big time.
21:47Like he's just, he has moments like that that are impressive,
21:51even if the overall stat sheeting game itself wasn't impressive.
21:55I think that going back to a clip that Tom Brady had in C.J.'s rookie year,
22:00somebody had asked him about the advice he gave C.J. Stroud.
22:04And one of the things was, something that I've heard Tom Brady say before,
22:08was that what really sets apart the really good quarterbacks from the average quarterbacks,
22:13a lot of times it's the boring stuff, it's the decision making, it's the risks you don't take,
22:19or it's the simple throws that you do make that sometimes guys are more erratic with.
22:23And I think that's what C.J. has really grown in this year,
22:27but it just doesn't pop the way that you want on the highlight reel and everything.
22:32But let's see, Texans Jacob had tweeted out,
22:35with two games remaining in the 2025 regular season, C.J. Stroud currently has career highs in,
22:39and I'll just cherry pick a couple of these,
22:41success rate, turnover worthy play percentage,
22:46and then just simply EPA per drop back, that's expected points added per drop back.
22:50But the success rate is a big one,
22:53because that extends to the offense in the rushing game, too.
22:56If you're looking for improvement over Nick Caley's offense,
22:59they're just more consistently positive yardage,
23:03or they're more consistently on first down,
23:06getting closer to the sticks,
23:08and turning it into second and four, second and five,
23:11instead of last year where so many times it was second and 10 or second and 11.
23:15His rookie year, there were a lot of times where some of his greatness as a rookie performance
23:19were on some of the hats he, you know, the rabbits he pulled out of his hat on third and long.
23:25It doesn't matter how great a quarterback you are,
23:28you can't subsist, you can't subside on third and long all the time.
23:33You're just not going to be a great quarterback over time
23:35by consistently having to convert third and long.
23:38It's a matter of getting into third and five.
23:40And I think that's the part where he's really grown in terms of just being a mature quarterback.
23:43And understanding also at times that, look, all right,
23:47we're going to have a limited number of series in the first three quarters,
23:49but we've got a defense that's going to keep us in this game and put us in good position.
23:54Let's just, like, live the fight another day,
23:57and I'm not going to try to be a hero in the second quarter when I don't have to be.
24:01There was a play last year.
24:02It was when they were backed up, and it was in the Patriots game.
24:07They were backed up, like, right up against their own end zone,
24:10and C.J. tried to force a ball that turned into an interception.
24:15And it was a throw that I don't think he would try to make this year
24:18because it wasn't – there was no need at that point.
24:21The Texans had a lead or it was a tied game, whatever it was.
24:24It was still a close game.
24:25It's in the second quarter.
24:27You're backed up.
24:28Of all times to screw it up, don't do it there.
24:31And I think that was when C.J. would press a lot more.
24:34This year he's not pressing into those situations.
24:37He understands that there's a time to take a risk and there's a time not.
24:41That really stand out kind of to the point that you're making,
24:45whether it's the throw to not make or the interception to not throw
24:51or if it's the sack to not take.
24:54How many times have we seen this season now,
24:57and we're old enough to remember where C.J. Stroud would just, like,
25:01in an effort to extend the play or to keep the play alive
25:05or to not quit on a play, he would take unnecessary sacks
25:08or he would hold on to the ball longer than he should
25:11or he was doing this weird thing for a while
25:13where he'd just keep backing up and backing up
25:16and a six- to seven-yard sack would turn into a 15- to 20-yard sack.
25:20And it's like, what the hell is that about, C.J.?
25:23Don't do that.
25:24So he's not doing that anymore, right?
25:26He's not taking the same time.
25:28And this is especially noteworthy to me over the seven-game winning streak,
25:33which I know C.J. Stroud's only been a part of the last three,
25:37but just rock with me here.
25:39I don't feel like he's doing those things anymore.
25:41Like what you just talked about,
25:43where he might try to fit that ball in previously,
25:46he's not going to do that anymore.
25:48And then also not taking the unnecessary sacks.
25:51He's not throwing unnecessary interceptions
25:55and not taking unnecessary sacks, unforced errors.
25:59Those are the things that stand out on top of the playmaking.
26:02So like when that's happening, I can live with a miss here or there,
26:05even though I want this guy who's known for his accuracy
26:08to by and large be accurate.
26:10I can live with a miss here or there
26:12if I know you're not making these plays that really hurt you.
26:16And then at the end, when you really have to have a play,
26:19I feel like I can trust you.
26:22To mention those three things happening
26:23is what really works for me with C.J. Stroud right now.
26:26That's one of the hardest things with young quarterbacks too
26:28because if you go to a guy who had that issue
26:32but to an extreme degree, Caleb Williams,
26:34and just kind of not knowing when to give up on a play
26:36or when he's trying to be a hero and he shouldn't be a hero,
26:40it's very common with young quarterbacks.
26:43And I think the danger is when people start looking at it like,
26:47oh, yeah, that's something you can't coach out of them or something.
26:49Like, that's, no, that's the challenge.
26:52That's the challenge that this guy has
26:53and is he going to work at it?
26:56Is he going to get better?
26:57And some of that's just psychological
26:58because some guys, it's not a matter of intelligence or anything.
27:01It's a matter of just maturity
27:02and almost a suppression of your own ego.
27:06And some guys just never want to relinquish it.
27:09Other guys learn those lessons in their first three years
27:12and they figure it out.
27:13Like, okay, yep, I've tried it that way
27:16and it's not good enough, it's not consistent enough.
27:19So sometimes what you're just watching for is,
27:22all right, does this guy actually even really care to make the change?
27:26And I think CJ's, that's the, it's kind of the squishy,
27:30you know, like more emotional side of things.
27:35It's not a hard and fast thing.
27:36But, like, it looks like he's made that leap in maturity.
27:42And I think that Caleb Williams this year is like,
27:45he talked yesterday or earlier this week about how he just,
27:48he felt like he didn't think Ben Johnson liked him earlier this year.
27:51It was kind of rocky.
27:53They've learned, like, I think he's learned, okay,
27:55this is just, this is the offense and this is what I have to do.
27:58It's like what Shadour is going,
27:59it's what Shadour is going to go through.
28:01Whether he's just never going to make it as an NFL quarterback
28:06or, like, no, it's no big deal.
28:09No, like, at some point, yeah,
28:10he's got to iron that part of his game out of it.
28:13And that's really the big question.
28:15He's got the physical ability to do a lot of things.
28:17He's got to iron out some of those,
28:19those less mature tendencies right now,
28:21like every other young quarterback does.
28:24Yeah.
28:24Ben Johnson, though, coach of the Bears,
28:26does have an intensity about him.
28:28Like, he's got a little bit of a presence.
28:30He had that one moment with the reporter whose name
28:34I unfortunately cannot pronounce who works for CBS.
28:37But they had that one moment kind of a back and forth
28:40where she's like, hey, are you guys going to do these things
28:43that you were supposed to do at halftime
28:45to, you know, make these adjustments?
28:46And he kind of, like, glared at her
28:48or snarked at her a little bit.
28:50And it's like, is he going to bump into this woman
28:53or, like, cuss her out or something?
28:55Like, he's got a little bit of an edge to him.
28:57I can see why maybe Caleb Williams felt that way.
28:59But another quarterback who's an example of that is Brock Purdy.
29:03I think it was maybe, oh, what game, national game that they play?
29:08Was it, I guess, the Monday night game
29:09where Troy Aikman was pointing this out of, like,
29:12hey, man, Brock Purdy's got a little bit of that,
29:15don't want to give up on a play and kind of just extend plays.
29:19Now, he's done a pretty good job of not necessarily
29:21turning the ball over at a high clip.
29:24But to the point of young quarterbacks wanting to,
29:28desperately wanting to extend plays
29:30and having to learn their limitations
29:33or learn the value in living to fight another day
29:38or to play another down, which is something
29:41I think back to learn with not taking.
29:45He's always been, I think, pretty good with the interceptions.
29:48He's really good at that his rookie year.
29:50But in not taking those unnecessary sacks
29:52is something that's really stood out to me.
29:53Yeah, or just sometimes even if it's not an unsafe throw,
29:58trying to hit the deep shot or the dagger on first down
30:02or second down when the easy money is right there.
30:05Like, that's a really hard one.
30:07That's where I could see, like, I just,
30:09I hate it when people say, oh, Ohio State quarterback
30:11will never make it, et cetera, et cetera, that whole part of it.
30:14There is an actual, if you take the logo off the helmet,
30:16the fact that he played in a college
30:18where he had all kinds of time to stand back
30:21and wait for a future first-round draft pick to come open.
30:24Like, that's a hard thing to unlearn that, no, man.
30:29Look, A, you don't have three of the best wide receivers in your league.
30:34There's no NFL team that has the wealth,
30:36like the disparity and wealth of wide receiver that Ohio State did.
30:40That getting to second and five is more consistently going to help you out
30:45than waiting around on first and ten consistently to just try to hit a deep shot.
30:51Like, that part he's gotten really good at.
30:53Like, he's learned to live by the cliches a little bit.
30:55Pat Mahomes had to go through it when Tyreek Hill left,
30:58and all of a sudden everybody, they were taking away the deep ball.
31:02Like, Pat Mahomes had to learn that really hard lesson of, oh, okay,
31:05it's better to get to second and five.
31:07It's better to get to third and four.
31:09In the last couple years, back when they were still a good football team,
31:11the offense wasn't as impressive, but what they would do is they would get to third
31:16and three, and then they convert those.
31:18And it doesn't make for awesome highlight reels or, you know, statistically,
31:23but it was winning football.
31:25And they were able to, their last two Super Bowl appearances,
31:29they went without actually looking like the young Pat Mahomes experience.
31:34Yeah, so I've been saying this about the Texans' offense for a few weeks now.
31:39It's like the best thing that they do,
31:41and they've improved in some areas since I started pointing this out,
31:44but the best thing that the Texans' offense is a couple of things.
31:48The best things that they do are possess the ball and not give the ball away, right?
31:54Like, they are one of the better teams in time of possession,
31:58and they are one of the better teams in not giving the ball away.
32:02And when you have a defense like what the Texans has,
32:05and so that's one of the maddening parts about the offense of, like,
32:08wanting to see a light show and wanting to see them score more than 30 points,
32:13and, you know, why didn't they try to score more points against the,
32:16why didn't they try to really blow out the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night football?
32:20Why weren't they more aggressive and all this kind of stuff?
32:22It's like, well, because it turns out,
32:24and this game ended up being another example of that,
32:27all they really got to do is score 23 points,
32:29and all you got to do to score 23 points is, like, have the ball for a while,
32:34not give the ball away,
32:35and you can kind of get yourself to 23 points.
32:39Like, it's the most impressive part of what they do is keep it and not give it away.
32:45And people don't really love that.
32:47It's not sexy,
32:47but it has turned out to be winning football for this team over the last seven weeks.
32:53The biggest thing about it is it wouldn't feel as rough
32:57if they actually had a legitimate rushing attack.
33:00That's the, like, it feels where, all right,
33:04you've got the lead and you're maintaining a seven-point or a ten-point lead,
33:08but you're also running for six yards of carry every time you run it.
33:12And that's the, like, the balancing part.
33:14In this words, you know, it's not obviously all on C.J. Stroud.
33:18Some of the way they have to operate right now is also because they're not,
33:22they're not consistently able to step on the throat of a football team
33:26with a rushing attack.
33:27So then the quarterback almost has to be,
33:30it's like the less potent your rushing attack is,
33:33then also your quarterback has to be that much more boring
33:36because he's got to simulate the rushing attack.
33:40We can't, if we can't get five yards a clip,
33:43then I've got to be sure that when we're passing the ball
33:45that we're getting five yards a clip at times
33:47and that we're just keeping the sticks moving.
33:497 or 7.
33:499.
33:5010.
33:5010.
33:5010.
33:5211.
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