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.
