00:00Of all the divisional round losses, they piled up seven of them now.
00:04This one is the most disappointing.
00:06This was the best chance this team is going to probably have, maybe for a while, if this
00:13is how the play is going to look on offense, to make a deep run in the playoffs, up to
00:18and including the team hosting next week, having their backup quarterback in an AFC
00:24title game.
00:25Things unfolded about as well as they could for the Texans this year after a three and
00:29five strikeout.
00:30Start both from the league and an opportunity absolutely squandered today.
00:35Absolutely squandered.
00:36This defense should be on its way to Denver next week, but this offense and this quarterback
00:41failed this team today.
00:43And there's a lot to dig into, not just for the next two and a half hours, but for the
00:48next several months, because this team's got a lot of soul searching to do on the offensive
00:52side of the ball.
00:53And there are a ton of questions that need to be answered.
00:56And we want to dig into it with you tonight.
00:58The season is over a lot of good in this season, but it ends with a massive thud in New England
01:04today, 28 to 16.
01:05The final score, it was bad in the beginning.
01:08It was bad in the middle.
01:09It was bad at the end.
01:10And we'll talk about it with you tonight.
01:12Seven, one, three, five, seven, two, four, six, 10.
01:15I'm Sean Pendergast.
01:16He is Clint Sterner.
01:17Good evening, my friend.
01:19How are we doing?
01:20I'm doing terribly, as you can probably tell.
01:22Sounds like it.
01:23Sounds like it.
01:23I'm with you, man.
01:24Look, this loss was not just a frustrating loss, an aggravating loss, a disappointing loss.
01:32You get in the playoffs, and boy, you lose a hard-fought game down the stretch, and maybe
01:37even you make some mistakes because you have to get aggressive.
01:40Those kind of things are frustrating and aggravating.
01:42I mean, this was one of those demoralizing losses.
01:45This was one of those losses where, as an organization, you realize and you got to question, like,
01:50man, are we as close to a Super Bowl-caliber team as we thought we were?
01:56You got to look at it this way, guys.
01:58Since D'Amico's gotten here, the defense has exceeded expectations in how good they are
02:03to the point of, in year three, they were the best defense in football.
02:07Some people are talking about a generational defense, and mention them in the same as the
02:11greatest defenses that have ever played in the NFL, which I think is fair.
02:15But what you really got to look at is, you know, we've seen a first-year play caller in
02:19Bobby Slowick come in here, and last year, in his second year, with this, we got all
02:25these weapons, and we got this aggressive approach to offense, and we're going to stretch
02:29the field, you watch pressure be a problem, and that was the excuse.
02:34Let's go change Bobby Slowick.
02:36Then you bring in a system that's uber conservative.
02:39We're just not going to turn the ball over.
02:40We're going to run it and guard it with our lives and play great defense, and you go out
02:45there, and once again, it was pressure last year, and the offense was just completely inept
02:49in the second round, and now you're trying to minimize risk, and you're trying to play
02:55a conservative brand of ball.
02:56You're trying not to lose the game, and your offense still finds a way to lose the game,
03:02and that's the tough part here.
03:05It's not just about this season in a vacuum, Sean, but at some point, you know,
03:10it's less about the play caller and more about the guys that are doing it, and today
03:15was not a good day, once again, for C.J. Stroud in that department, so there's a lot
03:19of hard conversations that need to be had.
03:22A lot of decisions are going to have to be made by D'Amico Rines.
03:25Again, it's one thing to lose if you're a coach and go, hey, man, we got to, all right,
03:28man, we're there.
03:29We're getting better.
03:31Let's go back to the drawing board.
03:31It's another thing to lose in this fashion, because now you're questioning what I would
03:37say is the two most important positions, other than yourself, if you're D'Amico Rines, the
03:40quarterback and the offensive play caller.
03:42Well, the talk all year has been, let's get to new heights.
03:44Let's get to the AFC title game, and then let's see where the chips fall after that,
03:47and the fact of the matter is, you have a quarterback.
03:51Is this going to be your guy moving forward?
03:53He did a lot of things these last two games to make the decision very easy about yes or no
03:58on a contract this offseason for sure, especially today, because he lost you the game today.
04:05But if this is going to be your guy, the fact of the matter is, he's been on the road in four
04:10playoff games, and he's been terrible in all four of those playoff games.
04:13He's not been good.
04:14Now, the Kansas City game last year, the offensive line just cratered in front of him,
04:18but today was inexcusable.
04:20Today, those four interceptions in the first half, this is a game you lost by 12, and seven
04:26of those points came on a pick six, and two of the turnovers were in or around field goal
04:31range.
04:32That's 13 points in a game you lost by 12.
04:34Yeah.
04:35And the timing of everything, and how it sends you into the locker room, and the nature of
04:40the throws.
04:40I mean, that pick six, Clint, when they got the ball up 10-7, their own 25-yard line, I
04:47said, this is, you know, despite the interception that CJ had thrown earlier in the game, you threw
04:52a turnover early in the game, you made some, even your first drive when you came out after
04:57stopping the Patriots three and out, you know, you drop a ball, Christian Kirk drops a ball
05:03on third down.
05:03There were a ton of mistakes made early in this game, including on the touchdown drive
05:07that put the Patriots up 7-0 to begin with.
05:11You find a way to get up 10-7 in this game and get the ball at your own 25.
05:14The crowd is out of the game.
05:16You seem to have figured some things out offensively.
05:19Your defense, you don't have to worry about it.
05:21They figured things out in training camp.
05:23Just don't go lose the game, and he throws one of the worst pick sixes I've ever seen.
05:28Tight end falls down, granted, and that's when they were up 14-10 after that pick six,
05:34I'm like, this is the bad version of CJ, and I don't think he's going away, and he
05:37showed up two more times in that half.
05:39Well, Sean, I mean, I listened to folks last week talk about, well, I just don't believe
05:44CJ Stroud's going to do again this week what he did against Pittsburgh.
05:47I was one of them.
05:48Right, right.
05:49No, there's a lot of people, but so many people, and I'm not speaking for you, but so
05:53many people were focused on the interception or the fumbles.
05:57Again, this week, it was bad if you just look at the box score and you say, hey, man, those
06:03turnovers can't happen.
06:05But again, to me, when you talk about the future of the Texans, right?
06:09Yep.
06:09When you talk about the future of the Texans, right now, you've got to question whether
06:14your guy can communicate effectively.
06:16You've got to question whether your guy can handle the adversity of throwing a couple
06:22of picks or two or three picks and come back and not just completely go into a shell.
06:27You've got to wonder if your guy is a guy that you can pay and should pay 50 to 60 million
06:34dollars.
06:35That's these playoffs in a nutshell are about CJ Stroud and the panic, the how easily they
06:46were overwhelmed and all that comes with it.
06:49I mean, at halftime of the game today, after what we've seen from CJ Stroud, at halftime
06:55of the game, Marcus Spears felt like D'Amico Ryan's need to go and take him in a locker room
06:59and have a conversation, which by the way, I agree wholeheartedly with.
07:02Yeah.
07:03I mean, that's, that's where we're at, Sean, the panic, the rattled, like you can't, if
07:08you're going to be, if you're going to be a franchise quarterback, franchise quarterback,
07:12if you're going to be a quarterback that lives in the playoffs and a quarterback that wins
07:15the big game, every playoff run for every team that ends up in the Superbowl or winning
07:21the Superbowl, there are, there are moments in a game that are outside.
07:25It's cold.
07:25It's loud.
07:26Everything's against you.
07:27And those are your biggest moments.
07:29And right now, I think you've got a question whether you got, whether CJ Stroud is that
07:33guy.
07:33This is a game where your defense forced three turnovers, held the opposition, who by the
07:39way, our quarterback guy, a guy who might win the MVP held him to three for 14 on third
07:44down, held him to 248 yards, 3.9 yards per play.
07:49And if you had told me that before the game, I would have said, yeah, the Texans will win
07:52that game.
07:53I mean, those are horrible, horrible numbers by the New England Patriots.
07:57And you lost by 12.
07:59And the only way you lose that game is if the quarterback, if your quarterback hands the
08:02game to them and he handed the game to them.
08:03Yeah.
08:04Yeah.
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