- 2 days ago
The Texans appear to be largely running it back on the offensive side of the ball, and ITL debates what that really says about the organization’s confidence in the current setup. With Jerrod Johnson being an easy target for a potential coaching change, the crew asks why the Texans didn’t move on from him — and whether that decision says more about Jerrod or about C.J. Stroud.
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00:00Are you excited for this? We had a couple of things happen in the National Football League,
00:04at least administratively is the way that I'll call it, that make it seem that you are going
00:09to look a lot like you did last year if you're the Houston Texans staff. There's a couple of
00:15things that happened. One, the Philadelphia Eagles, the offensive coordinator job that it
00:22felt like they just couldn't find anybody for. They did hire Packers quarterback coach Sean
00:27Mannion. So that means that Gerard Johnson does not end up being hired for that job. I think it's
00:33highly likely that he stays, right? Because now we get back to the place where I know that there's
00:37a subsection of the Texans fan base that was going, move on from Gerard Johnson. Look at what's happened
00:42for CJ Stroud in the last three years. You're seeing what feels like it's not progress for him.
00:47Generally, if you go, who was in charge of that Gerard Johnson, you are responsible now for it.
00:53How do you feel about the possibility of Gerard Johnson remaining?
00:56Okay, so the two finalists for the job were Gerard Johnson and Mannion. Apparently, both
01:03were in the building yesterday taking a tour. So it was that close, you know?
01:08Yeah, because I saw the report. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, okay. And then it had, it felt
01:13like it was maybe 30 minutes later. Which that's kind of weird.
01:16We hired our coordinator. Yeah, that's kind of weird.
01:17I was like, is he still in the building? Is he in the parking lot? What happened?
01:21He's walking out. He's thinking, oh, that's a Twitter alert. But yeah, so apparently it was that
01:25close for them. But with him not getting that job, it does pretty much, I mean, you kind of said it.
01:33I'll just put it bluntly. They're running it back. They're running it back largely. I know tight ends,
01:38coach and et cetera, but assistant linebackers coach. Now you have to get an assistant offensive
01:43line coach as well. But these are not ones that we consider that we immediately think of as load
01:48bearing positions on your staff. But in terms of like, you know, the hierarchy, the decision makers
01:53on the offensive side of the ball, they're running it back. It's done. Well, unless something happens
01:58here, but well, that would be sorry to tell all these guys you're keeping them and then fire them at
02:02this point. They were like, we were just, we were hoping somebody else would do it for us now that
02:06we have to do it ourselves. Yeah. And I know that there's people still out there that would prefer
02:10if that was the case. Are you okay with running? Well, I shouldn't ask you because I feel like
02:14there's a level of bias that comes in here, but can you steal yourself to that? Can you, can you
02:19get into a vacuum? No, you know, I do. And I have, I mean, I was the one that said he's the easiest
02:23target. Sure. He's the easiest mark to let go. I mean, he knows how I feel about him. I know how he feels
02:29about me, but we're honest, you know? And so that's why I said that. Uh, and everybody gets
02:35it, but I will ask some questions here. Okay. Okay. Well, no, with him being the easiest target,
02:41why didn't they, why didn't, I think that's, that's an interesting question. And let me explain.
02:47Why didn't they say, look, we've got our coordinator. He's not going anywhere. We've got
02:51other quarterback people, Ben McDaniels, Jerry Szaplinski. We, we can, at least for, you know,
02:58image of PR purposes or whatever, we can let go of Gerard Johnson. And it would be
03:04like, Hey, okay. They're not, they're not standing pat, but, but they're largely running
03:08about. Why didn't they let go of Gerard? Can I, can I go real conspiracy theory here?
03:12I will start conspiracy theory and try and rein it back into more logical thought on a
03:16Friday. Is it possible that they were doing Gerard Johnson, Gerard Johnson a favor, like
03:21a solid as he's out here in this marketplace, trying to get a job. How does it help you in your
03:25job prospects? If you just got fired from me last week? No, no. I, I, I, I think that's
03:29a possibility and we may get a report today, you know, about that. I think it's more of
03:34this and it, thank you for the X-Files. By the way, did you know that the babies don't
03:37know about the X-Files? The Gen Zers do not know about X-Files. It wouldn't surprise me.
03:42You play this music and they're like, Oh yeah, I think I've heard this before. What is it
03:45from? It killed me. Anyways. So here's, here's the question. Does it say more about Gerard
03:51Johnson that they kept him or does it say more about CJ Stroud? Now let me explain.
03:56Okay. If you think it says more about Gerard Johnson, it means much like Nick Kaley, they
04:02have confidence in what he is doing. They, they believe if you're, if you're in offices
04:07talking and you don't look at the offense as a concern. Yeah. But let me get you the other
04:11part. Sure. They have, if they're, if it says more about Gerard, that means that he's,
04:15you know, he's doing a hell of a job. They believe in him. They know, you know, the message
04:19he's sending the work he's doing with CJ Stroud and, and they believe in it. Okay.
04:24Okay. That's, that's the first side of it. The other side is, does it say more about CJ
04:29Stroud? And this is where it's a little concerning. If they fired Gerard Johnson, is that another
04:35sort of bad mark for them in the eyes of CJ Stroud? Are they sort of placating him? You
04:42know what I mean? That's a possibility that I can't ignore because they're real tight. I will
04:47also, cause as you were asking the question, it, for some reason in my head, it began linking
04:51with a number of the myriad times, even that this organization that you've had the, you
04:57know, principal people talk where they've basically put things not on coaching staff, but on players.
05:03It's about execution. We know what we, we know what we're doing and it's just making sure
05:09that we are able to execute the game plan in essence. Right. I'm, I'm, you know, paraphrasing,
05:14but that has been the message a number of times from D'Amico Ryans. Yeah. That was very strongly
05:17in the message from Nick Casario in his exit interview with the, with the, uh, assembled
05:22media. And so does this not feel like it could very much fit in that through line of we, we think
05:29our staff is solid. We think we're preaching the right things. We think we have all of the right
05:33answers. It now is more incumbent upon the players. And in this instance, particularly CJ Stroud
05:38to do what we ask of them. Yeah. I, I think, uh, you know, uh, along with that, I think it's also
05:45sort of a, uh, uh, message to CJ Stroud. Like we're not changing anybody. No, no, no, no. We like
05:52what we're doing. We, we, we like what Nick Haley's doing. We like what Gerard Johnson's doing.
05:56Shaplinsky, Ben McDaniels, Cole, Cole Popovich, just go on down the list. We're, we're not changing
06:00anything, CJ. You got to change. And to that end, assuming that Aaron Wilson's reporting is correct.
06:06He was saying essentially that if Gerard Johnson had have gotten this job and with the OC, uh, OC
06:12of the Eagles that you also could have be still in yourself in run it back mode because here comes
06:17Jerry Shaplinsky. Have you heard of him before? He's on the staff right now as you're taking on
06:21the official role of quarterback coach. Like that would also be a rep, uh, a representative of not
06:26actually changing what is effectively happening there. And so, yeah, they're there. I think they're
06:32very much making it plain that the way that they went about things is something that they feel
06:36is 100% correct. And that, or maybe they have some small, you know, minute changes that happen in
06:42the way that they go about things, but they think that the people that are operating this
06:46are by and large in the right places outside of the tight end coach, I guess with the right
06:50messaging, with the right messaging. And ultimately it is incumbent upon the players to get it right.
06:54And in CJ's case, is it, it's kind of hard to argue against it, right? With the, I mean,
07:00they were able to find a way to win a number of games when he was some level of operating the way
07:05that they wanted to. And as soon as he went AWOL, it went really, really left for him. And you
07:10ultimately either skate by a team that you should have smoked in the Steelers or lose to a, a Patriots
07:16team that felt like they were there for the pickings. Like it's, it's hard to argue against at least
07:21that portion of it from the quarterback perspective. Yeah, no, I, I totally agree. And ultimately I
07:26think that's, that's where I am because you know, as much as it would have, it would have upset me,
07:31it was an obvious move. We were saying it the day after the season. Well, it doesn't look good for
07:37Gerard, you know, given what, what the way CJ played that he's, he's, you know, he's one of those
07:42guys that's an easy mark and all that. And then they, they're basically saying, you know, they're
07:46doubling down on this staff. Everything that has, that we're talking about this, this off season,
07:53as it begins already for, for the Texans points back to CJ Stroud. Like, are you going to get on
07:58board or not fully? Cause he has been that to be fair. He was on board. It seemed like, or at least
08:03operating. Yeah. Mostly to a certain degree or what have you now, if, if we're, if what we're
08:09surmising is correct. And I want to put that as a hypothetical, cause it's hard to get fully in
08:13everybody's mindset. Um, when you're not in that, in that inner circle, if we are correct that the idea
08:19is, Hey, we're running this back because everything is right on the coaching staff and it's all about
08:22getting these players to buy in the way that they do. Does that not also then make it more
08:29annoying that at least, you know, outwardly, you know, Casero seemed to be in a place where he was
08:33like, you know, the talent's there on the offensive side. It's fine. Right. Cause if, if there's issues,
08:38if you do not feel like your, your, your players are executing what the coaches are putting, putting
08:44down, um, far enough, does that not then say, say that you might need to do a little bit of shaking
08:49up on what your, what your players are? Oh yeah. Oh no, no question about it. If that's the way
08:54that you're handling it. Cause we can all, yeah, they're going to make adjustments. Reasonable
08:58minds can disagree on whether or not that's the case, but if that's the place that you are with
09:03this, does that not then necessitate some level of shaking up with what your, what your players are?
09:07I think, uh, what do I always say? Watch what they do, not what they say. Sure. What they're doing
09:12is running and running it back on the coaching staff. What they're doing is putting pressure on,
09:16on CJ Stroud, uh, you know, maybe, you know, visible and, uh, and, and not so, and, and subtly
09:22as well. Uh, what they're doing is saying, yeah, we still need to work with this offensive line and
09:27get better. Yeah. We still need a running back. Yeah. We still need, uh, you know, uh, maybe some
09:31tweaks to the offense, but nothing that's going to be that drastic a change. No, what they're doing
09:35is telling CJ Stroud, we're doing it right. We might get some personnel to help you, but we're doing
09:41it right. And so the hope for the future then, and the immediate future, cause again,
09:45you're now in this strata stratosphere rather of the national football league, where you want to
09:50get some stuff done. Now, this isn't just continuing to build towards something nebulous
09:54in the next handful of years. Next year needs to be something where you see tangible improvement.
09:59And that, that means winning in the second round, maybe even like getting yourself to an AFC
10:03championship game and seeing if you can make a super bowl, the immediate hope then, and we've
10:07talked about this in some ways, but it becomes even more clear with the circumstances that are
10:11now in front of you is that they just, you have some level of development and capability
10:16for game planning and, you know, game calling from your coordinator that you currently have.
10:23And then that they just execute better. These are the things that you're hoping, or maybe
10:26that you get a different level of talent in, in various different ways through the draft
10:31or maybe a one or two free agent additions. Yeah. Those, those are the places where you're
10:35hoping for, for progress. Yeah. And, and, uh, you know, we see senior bowl going on right
10:40now. We see Nick Casario and Cole Popovich, uh, at the senior bowl, watching offensive linemen.
10:46Uh, everything they're doing is a sign again, watch what they're doing there. You know, the
10:51offensive line is a big time is a big priority. We know that. And they're, they're showing us,
10:55uh, the coaching staff, they're showing us, uh, the, the, the, the fact that they feel like
11:00they are in a place to be able to win. Now, as you just mentioned, they're showing us. They're also by
11:05all, by doing all that, showing us that they're sending a message to CJ strap. All right. So,
11:11yeah. And then there was one more move that will, I mean, to whatever degree you think this is big
11:17that the Falcons, um, hired bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham as their general manager. So
11:23James Lifford will remain also in, in tow, uh, as a, one of your assistant general managers for
11:30under Nick Casario, extremely trusted and continuity. Uh, that's why I think it's big.
11:34Uh, extremely, extremely trusted guy, right hand man, uh, for Nick Casario. And then there's a
11:39continuity there. I think for the.
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