00:00Because yesterday, when we're talking about this offensive line
00:02through day one, or through day one, through week one of free agency,
00:06and you look at an offensive line that at least figures to look like
00:10Ariante Urshari at left tackle, question mark at left guard,
00:13likely Jake Andrews at center for the time being,
00:16right guard is obviously adding him right tackle,
00:18Brayden Smith, the question that we had was,
00:21is this a line that is better than what they had last year?
00:25And I think myself and Figgy were both trying to get to the point
00:28where we go, yeah, probably better, but how much?
00:32Yesterday and going home and sitting with that question for a little bit,
00:35I think my answer shifted, John.
00:37I don't know that it is materially better than it was last year.
00:42And this is, I think, one of the reasons why I was trying to get to that place
00:46where I go, it's better, is because I felt good about the process.
00:51I keep looking at all the things that Nick Casario and this team did,
00:55and I go, that feels right.
00:58That feel, like, don't go and overpay for somebody who's not going to be able
01:02to deliver to the cost, especially with a team that has so many people being paid
01:07and more to come, right?
01:10Don't saddle yourself with that money for a long period of time,
01:14which they didn't do, right?
01:15Where they did pay, they paid reasonably,
01:17and for relatively short, to be able to manage that.
01:20And they found good players at reasonable deals.
01:23And yet, I still look at the line and I go, the difference from this year,
01:27from last year to now, is Braden Smith over Titus Howard.
01:31And even if I look at that as somewhat marginally better,
01:34I don't know how much better that is.
01:36Ariante Urser, we talked about the possibility of him getting better year over year.
01:40But then I keep coming back to, from week four to the end of the regular season,
01:46this team in the running game, which is what they want to be,
01:49a large portion of what they do, was 29th running the football via DVOA,
01:54which is kind of an all-encompassing stat.
01:55And I go, how much better does Braden Smith over Titus Howard?
01:59How much better does Ariante Urseri, year two,
02:03versus rookie Ariante Urseri make you in that?
02:06How much better does David Montgomery versus Woody Marks as your lead back
02:10make you in running the ball?
02:12Does it make you 25?
02:14Does it make you 20?
02:16Is that good enough, right?
02:17And does it take you all the way to 15?
02:19Because that's a big old jump that we're talking about.
02:2115 would be nice.
02:21That would be nice, but is that something that I can reasonably expect?
02:24And maybe you end up with somebody like,
02:27maybe there's Joel Batonio coming out of the rafters like Sting.
02:30Shout out to all my wrestling fans.
02:32It was 3-16 yesterday, right?
02:33Maybe there's someone who just comes out of,
02:35by God, that's Joel Batonio's music, and he comes out,
02:38and now you have a left guard that makes you feel a little bit better about that.
02:41How much better is that run game?
02:43And is that enough to justify what you want this team to be?
02:46That is the thing that I had a hard time being able to reckon with yesterday
02:50as I was sitting after the show thinking about it.
02:51And where I was yesterday was I think they've done a good job,
02:57but you can't say it's better now.
03:00And I just don't think you can, and I think that's kind of where you are right now.
03:05But the big caveat is right now.
03:08There are things that they can still do.
03:10There are things that they will still do.
03:12Obviously, with the draft, they will draft a guard, a tackle, a center,
03:15maybe all three.
03:17Who knows?
03:18But I think when you talk about this offensive line,
03:21is it appreciably better?
03:23Where?
03:23Where is it better?
03:24I mean, maybe you can say, you know, at right tackle,
03:29Braden Smith's going to be better.
03:30Maybe.
03:31But you can't definitively say that.
03:33You can't say it at center because it's the same dude.
03:35And you definitely can't say it at left guard
03:38because Titus Howard was the left guard, and he was pretty damn good.
03:41And now you've got a guy on a $3.5 million contract,
03:43basically a make-good contract.
03:46They are kicking the tires on Evan Brown.
03:48By the way, and I feel like it's a little bit more than kicking the tires on Evan Brown.
03:51A one-year $3.5 million contract, that speaks for itself.
03:54Well, it's not.
03:55Yeah, I'm going to have a hard time arguing against that.
03:57But I've seen better play than just kicking the tires, in my mind,
04:01looking at some of the tape that I have.
04:03But the bigger point is you can't look at that line right now.
04:07Again, that's the big point, and say, oh, that's better.
04:10Does your mindset change at all on Evan Brown,
04:13considering what I sent to you in the group chat yesterday, which is?
04:16Actually, it kind of galvanized it a little bit.
04:19In fact, I mentioned to you before the show, you know,
04:21it's one thing for us to talk about.
04:22But when you see it in writing or you see an image of what the line looks like,
04:27it kind of almost hammers it home even more like, ooh, I don't know how I feel about that.
04:31Yeah, the Texans yesterday, as they announced some deals,
04:33obviously it was the Evan Brown and was it the Foster Moreau?
04:37They also announced, and they put up the nice fancy graphics that the Texans, rather,
04:41are always want to do.
04:42And on the Evan Brown graphic, it lists him as center slash guard and could be reaching.
04:50Yeah.
04:51Quite possible.
04:52I look at that and I go, not guard slash center, because we know that he's played some center.
04:55Yeah.
04:55But, like, immediately when it's reported, when we're looking at it, oh, yeah, that's Evan Brown,
05:00a guard, right?
05:01And maybe it's because we had, we came in with that preconceived notion because we're looking
05:06for a guard.
05:07I know that it's possible that he works there.
05:09How much do you read into the Texans on their social media and then, you know, as they list
05:14this as they list the signing as center slash guard?
05:17Does this feel like, could that be your starting center?
05:19No, I'll say what I texted you.
05:21Might be reading a little bit too much into that.
05:23I think it's just center guard now.
05:25There is the C there, so it's not specifically guard.
05:28So that's something, but I think he might be reading a bit too much into that.
05:33I will say, if you want to argue, you know what, I think it is better, even though it
05:38kind of looks the same and I just laid out why I don't think so.
05:41I think the argument would be Foster Moreau.
05:42So, you know, being able to get into big sets, yeah, being able to do it, give you more options
05:46with your game planning and, and, uh, and your offensive approach.
05:50So if you want to argue that I won't push again.
05:52I like, I like that.
05:53I'm on the record.
05:54I like that a lot because it gives you options as a blocking tight end and something of a
05:57receiver, but no, but just cause let's just keep in mind.
06:00And by the way, John Harris is going to join us at noon to talk about the specifics in
06:04the draft.
06:05They are going to draft.
06:06I think a starting caliber, uh, guard or whatever offensive lineman, uh, at number 28 overall,
06:12if they don't move up, you know, at this point.
06:14Yeah, I could definitely see that.
06:16But even then I go, how much, how much do I expect?
06:19Still a rookie.
06:20How much better?
06:20And I know that I was having a conversation about this yesterday.
06:23And one of the things that was brought up is, okay, the idea of a running back, making
06:26the offensive lineman better, which I subscribe to.
06:28I take you back to 2024 with these Houston Texans, where admittedly, putrid offensive line,
06:35truly, truly horrendous in the way that it actually played on the field.
06:39Right.
06:40We, we know that that was a 27th best, uh, rushing game considering that you had, uh,
06:48you know, you obviously you had, um, Joe Mixon, who's made, who name apparently is just
06:53completely leapt out of my mind as he is no longer with the team.
06:56But no, Joe Mixon really raising the level, although he missed five games there, but for
07:0012 games, he was doing a lot to create a little something out of nothing that got you to 12,
07:0427, lifting that.
07:06So how much, how far do you expect the David Montgomery to be able to lift your, your run
07:10game total and your offensive line and make them better?
07:13I don't, I don't know.
07:14And how much of that is, uh, it's complimentary on each other as one makes better the other
07:18better.
07:18And how much does that lift you?
07:20Uh, I, I, that's, that's something that I can't really answer, but I, I'm just constantly
07:24thinking about what this, what this off season is in the context of, you have to make your
07:28offense better and they want to make their offense better through the run.
07:31How much have they done that to that point, to this point?
07:33And honestly, how much are they capable of still doing in the remainder of all?
07:37Well, first on, on David Montgomery, I think it's absolutely possible that you have upgraded
07:41there and maybe the combination of David Montgomery and Dave and Foster Moreau, you know, makes
07:46the, the, the, the offensive line better, you know, Montgomery with his runs, Moreau with
07:51his blocking, all I'm saying is if you're just looking at the offensive line, I can't
07:54get there quite yet.
07:55Yeah.
07:56I think they, they could easily get there, but I can't get there.
07:58Yeah.
07:59And I guess yesterday and really sitting with it, I was like, okay.
08:02And I think that is because I don't, I don't think that the process is wrong.
08:05Right.
08:06I just don't know.
08:07I just don't know that I can actually look at the, the results as of right now and go,
08:11yeah, definitely a lot better, especially in the major metric that I think that they want.
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