- 1 hour ago
The offseason hasn’t even fully begun, and the AFC is already taking on a completely different look. ITL debates the pros and cons of the Texans seemingly standing pat while much of the rest of the conference is making aggressive moves. Is patience the right strategy — or is Houston risking falling behind?
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00:00There are moves man moves being Todd Monken got hired today, but that's
00:05one that I'm necessarily going to reference here because moves in the AFC, big moves.
00:10If I told you this, the AFC has gotten a lot better.
00:15Already in this early off season, a lot better is the assertion that you're making here.
00:20Mike McDaniel.
00:21White Mike with Herbert, a pro bowler.
00:25And I mean, that feels like, especially if that offensive line comes back and it's
00:28healthy, the Rashawn Slater and Joe Alton.
00:30Are some of the best offensive linemen in the league and not having them was clearly a
00:33bad thing.
00:34So having.
00:35Having that, that offense is going to be something to contend with.
00:38Joe Brady and Buffalo.
00:39We'll see.
00:40Changes, changes in, in Baltimore.
00:43I'm.
00:44How.
00:45How quickly do you think Baltimore gets themselves up to a valiant speed?
00:48Well, they got Lamar Jackson.
00:50Sure.
00:51I think they still going to be in the way.
00:54Like, I'm not saying they go.
00:55Don't get to a Super Bowl or anything, but they still going to be in the way.
00:58But the question is, or the point.
01:00The AFC already has gotten a lot better in division, Brian Dayball, Robert Salah.
01:05Yeah.
01:06You know, who knows what they're going to do in Indianapolis, but we know.
01:10Even without doing anything, Jacksonville has already gotten better.
01:14Yeah.
01:14And Jacksonville.
01:15They're just adding another, they feel like one of those places where just another year
01:18makes them better.
01:19Mm-hmm.
01:19Right?
01:20There's some places where, okay, what is the next year going to do for you?
01:24They're so early in there.
01:25They're in there jumping the fact that they, that we're able to kind of organize themselves
01:29into a serious.
01:30operation so quickly.
01:31Am I missing anybody that has already made a bold move in the AFC?
01:35But the point being, the AFC already, this.
01:40early in the off season, I think, maybe you'll disagree.
01:43I think it's fair to say, has already.
01:45gotten a lot better.
01:46I mean, at least in ways of things that are going to be different.
01:50difficult for the Texans.
01:51You talk about teams that are going to be in the way.
01:53I think the Chargers are more in the way.
01:55than they previously would, than they previously were.
01:57The Bills is, I don't know, the Bills might be.
02:00the same level of in the way as they have been.
02:02I wouldn't be surprised if they won 11 or 12 games.
02:05The Buffalo Bills?
02:06Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me.
02:07I mean, the Steelers, for what it's worth.
02:10You know, offensive minded coach, maybe some hints of Aaron Rodgers running it.
02:15Get it back one more time?
02:16To me, I don't know if I would say get better.
02:18It seemed like a lot of.
02:20the teams in the AFC is trying to make moves.
02:23Okay.
02:23To get better.
02:24Okay.
02:24They're making.
02:25They're making changes.
02:26So that leads to the question.
02:27They're not running it back.
02:28Yeah.
02:29So that leads to the question I have for both of you and our listeners.
02:30713-572-4610, obviously Twitch and YouTube.
02:35What are the pros and cons of the Texans?
02:37Pretty much standing, Pat.
02:39Yeah, we haven't heard.
02:40We haven't heard any dismissals on the offensive staff or, I mean, I feel like defensive staff
02:44would be.
02:45Wild.
02:45We haven't seen those changes yet.
02:47I think if those changes were to happen, it would be some.
02:50When hiring someone like Dino Vasso away, there's still, I guess, technically the possibility
02:55that Matt Burke gets the Cardinals job, but I don't know that I feel that all that heavily.
03:00But, yeah, it feels like you're going to be largely the same, at least staff-wise.
03:04Is that what we're talking about?
03:05We haven't gotten to, like, the player acquisition portion of this.
03:08I mean, there's a level of.
03:10Continuity that is frustrating, but at least there is a stability in it, right?
03:15Because defensively, we know that works.
03:19That is beyond.
03:20Non-proof-of-concept.
03:21That is, we know that that works.
03:23You know that you have the talent.
03:25To make it work as well, and all you do is you just continue to build off of that.
03:29You can still have.
03:30You can still have a top defense, and I think that that is a given.
03:34I don't think anybody.
03:35Nobody is afraid or wondering, can you do that again?
03:37The turnovers that they created feel like ones that you can still.
03:40Find a way to get to, to some degree.
03:42And then offensively, the weird thing is.
03:45Because it can only get more stable, correct?
03:49Upwards inflection.
03:50I don't know about that.
03:51It feels like it can only get more stable.
03:53I don't know if I feel the same way.
03:55Only because more stable relies on one person.
03:58I use stable as a very particular word.
04:00I don't know that it's necessarily going to get better, as in more explosive.
04:03I don't know that it's going to get better.
04:05As in, here's a crazy amount more points.
04:07But I do think that it can get more stable in that.
04:09It's.
04:10It's clear they're going to invest in the offensive line.
04:12Oh, I was talking about what's here yet, before the player act was.
04:15No, I know, but I think that all of that, all of your staff then also translate.
04:20It's into what you can do on the field.
04:21And with the staff, I guess, here's the thing.
04:24And this is not.
04:25Very aspirational at all.
04:27It's not going to get worse.
04:30I quit using that term.
04:33It can't be any worse.
04:34Yeah.
04:35Didn't we say that about Bobby Sloick when he left?
04:37Yeah, we did.
04:39We did.
04:40Yeah, I don't know about that one.
04:42And that's why when you said it's more stable, I went, ah.
04:45Because it relies on C.J. Stroud.
04:47And we talked about this yesterday.
04:48I don't think we're going to talk much about it today.
04:50But C.J. Stroud is an off-season topic.
04:52Is he going to come back with the buy-in?
04:55You know, with the humbling of himself.
04:58Because if he doesn't, that's less.
05:00One thing I will ask, though, is how did you feel about his buy-in all the way through this season?
05:04And he's still.
05:05He'll put up a pretty good season ultimately before you get to when it gets really.
05:10Really bad and no good and terrible and all those things.
05:12Right?
05:13It felt good for a while.
05:15Right?
05:15Until, you know, except for that, Mrs. Lincoln.
05:19You know?
05:20You know, that kind of thing.
05:22So, yeah.
05:23But one of my pros.
05:25It was going to be that the defense isn't going anywhere.
05:28Certainly.
05:29You know, there is.
05:30Stability at the very top, which is key.
05:32There are a lot of what-ifs with what Mike McDaniel might.
05:35What Joe Brady might do.
05:36What Brian Dable and Robert Sala might do.
05:38There's no what-ifs with D'Amico Ryan.
05:39You know?
05:40You know that that's a rock.
05:41Sure.
05:41And so that's one of the pros.
05:44Another one of the pros.
05:45For me, and I'm with you, Figgy.
05:47It's a tired old expression, and I hate using it.
05:50But truly, in terms of personnel, I'm not talking about coaching or C.J.
05:54Strat.
05:55In terms of personnel, up front, I don't think it can be worse.
05:59I don't.
06:00Yeah, I'm with you.
06:01Yeah.
06:02I know that they're going to invest in that place.
06:05And you'll have, at the very least, more upside with what you have on the offensive line.
06:09But what are the-
06:10Cons?
06:10Well, there's clear cons.
06:12Can I get one more pro?
06:12Because I do think familiarity matters.
06:14Mm-hmm.
06:15Right?
06:15They are going to stay with the system.
06:17And I think we all have questions as to-
06:20What the high-water mark is for offensively what they do.
06:25Mm-hmm.
06:25But I think that there is some benefit in, even if it's not something incredible.
06:29Being more familiar with it should improve your ability to execute it.
06:34Mm-hmm.
06:34Mm-hmm.
06:34Should.
06:35Should.
06:36Yeah, should.
06:36But there's instances where you can look at it and you go, all right, well, you were-
06:39You were hampered because if, like, okay, this is a new system and they're trying to figure
06:43this out.
06:44Or very-
06:44Very, very early on in the system, you have things like Ariante Urseri showing that he's
06:48rookie.
06:48I think that Christian-
06:49And Kirk, not to say that he will definitely be back, but I think that you can see some
06:52of the instances where you go, there's fine.
06:54There's fine familiarity with the system.
06:56There's fine familiarity with some of the other rookies, right?
06:58Your wide receiver.
06:59There's fine familiarity, even with your quarterback, right?
07:02Which, again, is going to be a large-
07:04Yeah.
07:05But early on, even that, you could see that they were still trying to find some familiarity
07:09with him.
07:09with what they were doing.
07:11I think that Nick Caley himself, he grew as a play caller.
07:14In this, you're going to hit the ground running at the start of the season with some familiarity
07:18with the personnel.
07:19with some of the things that you have that have worked to some degree in previous years.
07:23I think that you-
07:24who are building upon a previous year.
07:26Does that mean it's going to be good or great?
07:28Yeah.
07:28No, but I do think that-
07:29at least there's a familiarity there that builds that allows you to at least find some
07:34smaller-
07:34answers within what you do.
07:35Yeah.
07:36I think a con to one of y'all-
07:37I think both of y'all kind of agree-
07:39that the offensive line can't be any worse.
07:41Mm-hmm.
07:42I think one of the cons to that is-
07:44I mean, do you trust Nick Casario bringing in the right pieces that would make this offensive-
07:49line better because he had a long time to do that, and he still haven't really-
07:54done that.
07:55He never really had a good offensive line like that.
07:57That was one of mine, too.
07:58So, is he going to sign-
07:59some more Ed Ingram?
08:01Yeah.
08:01Is he going to sign like a Cam Robinson that we think is-
08:04he's going to be solid, and he's not?
08:06No.
08:06You know what's funny is I don't know that they have a ton of free-
08:09agent money to play with, per se.
08:11They have some draft picks.
08:12Yeah.
08:12They do have some draft picks.
08:13Are they going to draft a-
08:14another Juice Scruggs?
08:15Mm-hmm.
08:16Are they going to draft another Kenyon Green?
08:18Yeah.
08:18So, I mean-
08:19I'm not even certain of that.
08:21No, that was absolutely one of mine, Figgy.
08:22And the other one for me is I'll use-
08:24I'll use the example of driving in Houston, okay?
08:28That's always a very familiar one.
08:29For most of us.
08:30Driving to Houston?
08:31In Houston.
08:31I was about to say-
08:32So, you're in the middle lane, and you got it on cruise control.
08:34Yep.
08:34Right?
08:35You're on-
08:36Speed limit is 75, and you're going 78.
08:38You know-
08:39You got a cruise control in Houston?
08:41Yeah, I don't know.
08:42It's the middle of the night.
08:43It doesn't work with me.
08:44Okay, I was about to say, you are going to be calling your insurance company very soon.
08:49And then there's those little loud cars that pass you going 100 miles an hour.
08:53Yeah, yeah.
08:53So-
08:54So, my worry is that's the LA Chargers.
08:58That's-
08:59Eventually, maybe, the Tennessee Titans.
09:03Yeah, I don't feel like that's for this year.
09:04Eventually, maybe.
09:04That's the Bills.
09:05That's the Ravens.
09:07They, you know, they have brought in these new faces.
09:09And they have got the pedal to the metal.
09:12They might not work.
09:13They might crash.
09:14But-
09:14They got the pedal to the metal.
09:16Even looking at the Denver Broncos, man, they got to the AFC champion.
09:19They had the backup quarterback in there.
09:22And what did they do?
09:23Let go of their offense.
09:24We'll talk about that because I'm not even sure how much of that is actually-
09:29geared towards, like, hey, let's make this thing better.
09:33They could have ran it back.
09:34They could have ran it back.
09:34Like, would you, would you have been shocked if they ran it back?
09:37No, not at all.
09:38They didn't run it back.
09:39So-
09:39It seems like teams are trying to get better.
09:42Yeah.
09:42So my point is, other teams-
09:44are at least attempting with relatively big names to put the pedal to the-
09:49metal and you're, like, on cruise control.
09:52No, I mean, it's not-
09:54I think it's optimal in a lot of people's perspectives, I think, also at this time period.
09:59We can lean towards change, change, change.
10:02I think that there's some level of stability-
10:04in staying and that, you know, that in and of itself is not major, but it's noteworthy.
10:09I think, but yeah, I hear you.
10:12This is the ultimate game that they're playing back and forth.
10:14And I think they're leaning on the idea of growth together as a unit.
10:18And I mean that as-
10:19and they're leaning on the idea that the culture that they have will help bring this up.
10:24Yeah.
10:25Is that a good gamble is ultimately the question that we have.
10:27Because in the past, there's been-
10:29things that could point to it being a good gamble
10:31and there's been things that could point to it not necessarily being a good-
10:34gamble.
10:35Yeah.
10:35That is the gamble that they're ultimately going to take again.
10:37It is, and it just got me thinking.
10:39And as you see more and more-
10:41Ooh, they're going for it.
10:42They're making a bold-
10:42The Brian Dable-
10:44is that they did it for me.
10:45You can say what you want.
10:47He's a hell of an offensive coordinator and developer.
10:49Sure.
10:51Yeah.
10:52Yeah.
10:53And then the-
10:54ultimate also gamble that we did not talk about explicitly, but we've talked about implicitly
10:58a number-
10:59a number of times is, do you lose your quarterback?
11:02Yeah.
11:03That's one of the potential-
11:04More than-
11:04More than you've already lost.
11:05Yeah.
11:05Because I think there's a lot of people that are already like, all right, well, CJ's already
11:08lost.
11:08Okay.
11:09But-
11:09But is there a possibility, especially if there is a reality to the idea that there's
11:14some level of-
11:14discord with CJ Stroud in the system and what have you, do you lose him?
11:19Yeah.
11:19Yeah.
11:19Um-
11:19I think it's fair.
11:20And I think there's people that go, yeah, good riddance or whatever.
11:24I'm sure that there's some people-
11:24people in the listening audience, but that doesn't work for them because they are still
11:28in on him.
11:28And so if you do that-
11:29That is a rough season if that is where you end up being because you made this decision.
11:34So, yeah.
11:34No, this is definitely something that is, it's easy to not pay attention to.
11:39Because it's path of least resistance, but it's, it is a, it is a choice in and of itself.
11:43Is it not?
11:44Yeah.
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