- 12 hours ago
Seth and Sean discuss the potential threat Stefon Diggs presents given his incredible season and knowledge of the Texans from last season, and talk about how Mike Tomlin replacing Terry Bradshaw at the Fox desk would be poetic justice.
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00:00Here with Stephon Diggs. He was asked yesterday, how do you view your one season that you had in Houston?
00:05It was cool. I mean, I had a great time. I got a lot of respect for those guys over there, everybody included.
00:10GM, top-down coaches, got a lot of respect for them.
00:13Fortunate for me, I got hurt, but fortunate enough, I'm here to hear.
00:16So I feel like growing pains, you learn from a lot of things that you go through.
00:19So I trust where I am right now with God's place in me, and I'm happy to be where I'm at.
00:23So I learned a lot from it, though. I had a good time in Houston.
00:25It is one of the big what-ifs in recent Texans history.
00:30If Stephon Diggs doesn't tweak his knee in that Indianapolis Colts game in Week 8, tear his ACL out for the season.
00:37And I think it goes beyond just last season.
00:40If Stephon Diggs is around for the rest of the year, what does that Texans offense look like?
00:45Do they win more games down the stretch?
00:47Is Stephon Diggs a Houston Texan in 2025, in 2026 if he plays a whole season here?
00:54Yeah, I don't – if you look at C.J.'s numbers after Stephon Diggs got injured, there was a marked drop in a lot of his statistical categories.
01:05It's just – he was that option to go to when there was pressure.
01:09When – I mean, tight window throws that he made to Stephon Diggs, when nothing else was open, it was really, really impressive.
01:16And he was a veteran guy that you felt like, man, C.J.'s going to learn a lot about the passing game and everything else that goes into it from Stephon Diggs.
01:25I loved having him there for the young receivers, but I really loved having him there for C.J. Stroud.
01:29They were 6-2 with him, and they were 4-5 without him.
01:32He made a difference on that team.
01:34There's no question.
01:35Who does he –
01:36Is he definitely going to be, like, not in jail for this game?
01:40He's not – there's no danger of him being, like – he's been charged with this crime, alleged crime, right?
01:47With his personal chef.
01:48But I think the Patriots, imagine this, somehow managed to push everything off.
01:52I know his lawyers were trying to push the arraignment out to March.
01:55Yeah.
01:56Yeah.
01:56And I would think we would know if it hadn't been.
01:58That's just how I feel about it.
01:59If it hadn't been, it would have popped up on one of our Twitter timelines, Seth.
02:03That's how I look at it.
02:04That's my –
02:04So it's not a concern, yeah.
02:06Nobody's worried about whether or not he's going to actually be able to play.
02:08Right.
02:08I'm just checking.
02:09Yeah.
02:09Just checking.
02:10Yeah, no, it's a valid thing.
02:12Barmore, their defensive lineman, their defensive tackle had a legal issue, like, a week ago also.
02:17Yeah.
02:18Seems like he's going to play.
02:20Here's Diggs when he was asked, who do you keep in touch with on the team?
02:23Do you stay in touch with any of the guys in Houston?
02:24And if so, has there been any back and forth this week about the game?
02:27No.
02:28How important is it to be one of the both leaders?
02:30CJ.
02:31I'm a dog.
02:33So he hasn't talked to anybody, but Tank and CJ are his dogs.
02:36There's been zero, that I've seen at least, acrimony from the Texans or Houstonians or Texans fans towards Diggs the way there was up in Buffalo when Diggs got here.
02:49Is that safe to say?
02:50Yes.
02:50I really haven't seen anybody say, well, good riddance anyway or anything.
02:54It was one year.
02:55But by the time they traded for him and redid his deal, which may have been agreed to ahead of time or whatever in theory, like, it was what it was.
03:02It was a one-year deal.
03:02He got injured.
03:03You admire the way he handled himself as a leader in that team, and that's the end of it.
03:10So there's not really any bad feelings or bad blood.
03:14I don't think Diggs has a chip on his shoulder against the Texans about anything.
03:17I wish there was more drama here, but I just can't seem to find it.
03:20Yeah, Diggs and drama follows him around, but just not relative to the Houston Texans, I guess.
03:25And I think most of what I've seen, Seth, of the Diggs trade, not necessarily this week, but just in the aftermath of the whole thing last year,
03:33was that the Texans shouldn't have given up a second-round pick for Stephon Diggs, to which I say, well, yeah, he got hurt halfway through the season.
03:40If Nick Casario had known that Stephon Diggs was going to tear his ACL, he wouldn't have traded a second-round pick for eight games' worth of Stephon Diggs.
03:49The question for me is, I'm always about the kind of process, and I liked the trade at the time.
03:56And if they had to do it over again, and the football gods would say, all right, well, we're going to do it over again.
04:05We can't guarantee he won't get injured, but leave that up to chance.
04:08Would you trade a second-round pick for Stephon Diggs again?
04:10I would do it again.
04:11What he was doing in those eight games, what he was doing in those eight games, if you extrapolate it out over a full season, is worth a second-round pick.
04:18I always look at it this way.
04:20If it was a mid-season trade or a trade deadline trade, if you trade for a guy like Stephon Diggs and spend a second-round pick, people don't bat an eye.
04:28You know, it's just, oh, cool, all right, on an expiring contract, all right, yeah, you're trying to make a playoff push.
04:32So, except you're getting a full season out of him instead of a half season, and he's already integrated into the offense and everything.
04:41I was 100% fine with the way they handled the whole thing.
04:44If they had tried to get him to, you know, be cool with the trade and play under the contract he was under, it was going to get messy.
04:52It was, for all intents and purposes, it was going to be a one-year deal no matter what.
04:56So, I was fine with the way they handled that.
04:59Here's another one from Diggs.
05:01Where does this Texans defense stack up among teams that you've seen this year?
05:04It's 100%.
05:05That's going to be the best defense we've seen.
05:07They got a hell of a player.
05:08Hats off to that team.
05:10They've done a great job all year.
05:12They've got great addresses, great corners.
05:14They've got good guys in the back end that can play the ball well.
05:17They've got good interior.
05:18They're all around just a good-ass football team.
05:19It's going to be definitely a task for us.
05:21Challenge that.
05:21But I know we all look forward to that.
05:23I wonder what Diggs, if there's any advice he can give his teammates about this defense, I wonder what it is.
05:30Oh, I mean, a lot of it, when it comes down to the finance aspects, especially if you think about what.
05:34Tendencies, maybe.
05:35Look, Derek Singley bit on what he thought was going to be an in-breaking route in the Steelers game.
05:39Yeah.
05:40And DK Metcalf, if he didn't have hands of stone, would have had a nice chunk reception there.
05:44I think Kalen Bullock had a good angle on him.
05:46So, it would have been a big reception, but I don't think it was going to be a touchdown.
05:49No.
05:50Oh, no.
05:50Bullock, to his credit, he was on the right side of the field, and he saw what was up and got the hell over there.
05:55Yeah.
05:56Like, that's where the value of Stefan Diggs and understanding and having gone against those guys.
06:03Remember, they're super competitive in practice.
06:05Those guys were fighting all the time.
06:07That's awesome.
06:08He's talking to those guys all the time.
06:10Like, he knows what their strengths and weaknesses are.
06:15They'll be able to see where they've made improvements on their game this year.
06:18So, I think he's an incredible resource going into this game.
06:21If I – it's hard to game plan against this Texans defense because they have so few weaknesses.
06:27One of their only – it's not even a weakness by the books, but it's a weakness relative to where they are as a defense is some of these shot plays downfield.
06:37And a lot of those have come on blown coverages.
06:39And that's where his ability to kind of just understand where those weaknesses are, who's playing safety opposite of Kalen Bullock,
06:47and how are we going to work route combinations to give these guys trouble.
06:50Yeah.
06:51I think Josh McDaniels and Stefan Diggs have probably had a lot of long conversations this week about every little thing.
06:58One more from Diggs.
06:59What do they need to do to attack this Texans defense?
07:01It's going to be another test for us.
07:03I mean, like I said, it's one of the best defenses, if not the best defense in the league.
07:06Like, man-to-man coverage, that's what you want as a receiver.
07:10You know what you're getting.
07:10You know what you're saying.
07:11It's man-to-versus-man.
07:12So, you know, it's going to be a – it's going to be huge for us to run routes the right way and be available for the quarterbacks.
07:19It's going to be a lot of contested catches and things like that.
07:21So, just play what you see, the same game you've been playing, and, you know, make those plays for the quarterback so he can get comfortable back there.
07:26You know, might not have to use the leg as much.
07:28You know what I want to – you know what I want to get – remember the training camp altercation?
07:35Oh!
07:35It didn't actually involve Diggs at all, other than I think he was the guy that caught the pass, right?
07:40He was the guy that caught the pass.
07:42Somebody took him to the ground.
07:43I want to say Jimmy Ward hit him, or somebody hit him, and then a bunch of offensive players had an issue with it.
07:48It turned into Derek Stingley Jr. kind of sucker-pushing Dalton at the very end.
07:56I think he punched him, didn't he?
07:57He hit him in the head?
07:58No, he just shoved him.
07:58He pushed him from behind, yeah.
08:00But, like, so, like, obviously those guys are cool.
08:03And I wish – like, because remember immediately after that, all the aggregators and everything were saying, like, oh, look, Diggs already involved in an altercation.
08:11Yep, look, look, he's –
08:12Already.
08:13Yep.
08:13Tear your team apart.
08:15Yeah, it wasn't actually – Diggs didn't even have an issue with a hard hit.
08:18Probably told Jimmy Ward, good job.
08:21Yeah.
08:21Let's watch these guys fight.
08:23I guess – so, again, likewise, though, these defensive backs have all had experience versus Stephon Diggs.
08:31Mm-hmm.
08:31And that's where – yeah, all right, who gains more of an edge?
08:35Is it Stephon Diggs' knowledge of these young defensive backs from last year?
08:40Or is it these young defensive backs' knowledge of Stephon Diggs?
08:44Yeah, maybe.
08:44I'll tell you, those young defensive backs have grown and changed with one year.
08:50You know, Kalen Bullock played 50% of his snaps in the NFL after Stephon Diggs was off the team.
08:57Yep.
08:58Or more, because Kalen didn't start early.
09:00So, Kalen's played more than 50% of his snaps in the league since Stephon Diggs has been on the team.
09:05Yeah, way more.
09:05So, I think, if anything, the – I might tip that over towards the defensive back side of things.
09:10You know, I feel like an idiot for not having thought about the other side of the equation here.
09:13I think by 10 a.m. tomorrow, you and I are going to be making predictions like Texans 36, Patriots 9.
09:21I'm actually really already starting to feel that way.
09:23Yeah, I can tell.
09:24I'm really – and a lot of it is really the Texans' ability to run the ball.
09:28Mm-hmm.
09:28And then, as things get tighter, things maybe get more desperate, does a couple of dumb things like he did last week.
09:39You know, and that's – I think there's a potential for a tight game until all of a sudden it's a blowout in the fourth quarter.
09:46Nobody eats on this defense.
09:48That's the biggest thing for me.
09:49The biggest thing is if the Texans can consistently run the ball as well, then you're keeping the defense fresh.
09:54Yeah, I think that's a –
09:54In the fourth quarter.
09:55That was a big factor in that game on Monday.
09:58Yeah, the Steelers' defense had just been out there on the field a lot more than the Texans' defense had.
10:03Yep.
10:04And they were fresh in the fourth quarter.
10:05Indeed.
10:06Yeah, I think that's a – okay, I'll take the four young defensive backs who have a lot of experience with Stephon Diggs,
10:12more so than the veteran running back, veteran receiver, kind of trying to figure out exactly what he knows about each one of those guys.
10:21I like that.
10:21I like that.
10:22The collective IQ of the Texans' secondary.
10:25We're getting texts on – we were talking about Mike Tomlin and what he should do in media if he goes into media.
10:31I think he'd be really good.
10:32There is – there are a couple people that like the idea of a Gruden-Tomlin combo platter, a podcast there.
10:38They said – well, somebody says that would be amazing, all caps.
10:41Tomlin would be great on NFL CBS.
10:43Ooh, with Bill Cowher, you had two former Steelers.
10:46I think it's more likely that they'd have a talk with Cowher and then put Tomlin in and have two former Steelers coaches on a panel.
10:52This is a good one.
10:55Bradshaw out, Tomlin in on Fox, poetic justice.
11:01Okay.
11:02People may not know that story.
11:04Yeah.
11:04So, Terry Bradshaw was on the – this is the Speak for Yourself show.
11:10It was Jason Whitlock and Chris Carter, I think.
11:15Theatering of a Fox show.
11:17He was on that show back in 2016.
11:20And this is – this is Terry Bradshaw and what he thinks of Mike Tomlin as a coach.
11:25Still needs to prove he's a great coach.
11:27Oh, I don't think – yeah, I don't think he's a great coach at all.
11:32He's a nice coach and he's a – to me, I – and I've said this, I've said – he's really a great cheerleader guy.
11:40I don't know what he does, but I don't think that he's a great coach at all.
11:45Never even – his name never even pops in my mind when we think about great coaches in the NFL.
11:51Okay, yeah.
11:53I mean, that is harsh.
11:54We talked about how sometimes quarterbacks, when they enter the media, don't show enough personality.
12:00Terry Bradshaw is not one of those guys.
12:02Not the case.
12:02And he does not hold back.
12:04So, the biggest – immediately, we could have played the first three seconds of that.
12:08Yeah.
12:09And when he says, I don't think he's a great coach at all.
12:13Man.
12:14And then calling him a great – what, a cheerleader guy?
12:17Cheerleader guy.
12:18Yeah.
12:18And then doubling down on doesn't think he's a great coach at all.
12:22Yeah, that would be – that would be sweet irony, I think.
12:26I don't know.
12:26I think that – can they get them on the same panel together?
12:31Oh, and that would be even better.
12:33That would be – that would be even better.
12:35You get Tom – although they've – these panels are already so crowded.
12:38They're too big.
12:39They're too big.
12:40What's the optimal number up there for you?
12:42Four.
12:42For me, it's four at the most, right?
12:44It's got to be – it's got to be one actual guy that can hold it all together.
12:47Steers the ship.
12:48And then –
12:48And then three personalities.
12:50Yeah, three former coaches or players.
12:52Yeah, I'm on the same page with you on that.
12:55Some of these six guys up there, like what the –
12:57Yeah.
12:58I like the – how do people feel about the Amazon halftime show?
13:02I like it.
13:02Their studio.
13:03I like it a lot.
13:03I do too.
13:04It's growing on me.
13:05I don't know if it's been generally well-received or not,
13:07but I feel like each one of those guys – you know what they did?
13:09They had to swap out the tight end there.
13:13Gonzalez?
13:14Yeah, because he's not still on it, is he?
13:15Yeah, he is.
13:16Oh, he is?
13:16Yeah.
13:17All right, I can do without him.
13:17You just don't notice because he never says anything.
13:19Yeah, I could do without him.
13:20I feel like Fitzpatrick, Richard Sherman.
13:23Tony Gonzalez, Seth, he's like the tight end guy right there.
13:27Who's that guy?
13:27Well, no, because I was going to say –
13:29I was going to – there was a 98% chance I would have said Aaron Hernandez,
13:32and I didn't want to mess it up.
13:34So –
13:34That would have been amazing.
13:36I didn't want to screw that up.
13:37Put yourself out there, Seth.
13:39Yeah.
13:39Go to the show.
13:39I just – so I feel like Whitworth, Fitzpatrick, and Richard Sherman do a really good job.
13:44Yeah.
13:45But I know – I feel like Gonzalez sometimes – sometimes it feels like Gonzalez hasn't
13:49entirely been watching the football game.
13:50No, I'm with you on that.
13:52To me, Gonzalez is just boring.
13:53Sherman, I think, is excellent.
13:55I think Fitzpatrick is really, really good.
13:57Andrew Whitworth is kind of growing on me.
13:58I think he fits well with those guys.
14:00I think they can just ice out Tony Gonzalez and get rid of him and just use those four.
14:06I think Teresa Thompson does a good job steering it and whatnot.
14:09So, yeah.
14:10All right.
14:10Pain and Pender.
14:11I thought, hey, by the – speaking of an announcer, did you see the – yeah, I texted
14:14it to you, too.
14:15Aaron Andrews – whatever outfit Aaron Andrews had on, it was pretty extreme.
14:19Yeah.
14:20Was that before the Texans game?
14:21No, no, no.
14:22It was before the Eagles and the Niners game.
14:25That's right.
14:25Yeah.
14:25It was like almost like she – like it was a big, puffy, fake fur coat.
14:31Yeah.
14:31I'm certain it was fake.
14:32Yeah.
14:32But I texted our friend Ross Tucker who had a difference between a raccoon and a –
14:38A skunk.
14:39A skunk.
14:39Yeah.
14:40So she looked like – she looked like a porcupine.
14:44Yes.
14:44It was – that's what it looked like.
14:45It looked like a porcupine coat.
14:47Yeah.
14:47Yeah.
14:47Which obviously doesn't exist.
14:49So you texted –
14:50I texted it to Ross and told him this is a porcupine.
14:52Texted Ross a zoology lesson on Aaron Andrews' coat.
14:56That was funny.
14:56Yeah.
14:56Yeah.
14:56Yeah.
14:57Yeah.
14:57Yeah.
14:58Yeah.
14:58Yeah.
14:58Yeah.
14:58Yeah.
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