00:00We heard from Xavier Hutchinson earlier, and when he describes the identity of what a Houston Texans football player is,
00:10there's one thing that drove me right to the quarterback, who is the number one story.
00:14And if there is anybody that could use this particular part of his description, man, it is C.J. Stroud.
00:22But here is Hutch describing the identity of a D'Amico Ryan's Houston Texan.
00:30How would you describe what the identity of a Texans player is then?
00:35You've probably heard it a lot. Swarm. It's quite literally swarm.
00:39I know you use that for defense, but as far as offense, it's just playing fast, playing physical.
00:45Because if you play fast, you play physical, and you have fun, which sounds corny.
00:50Trust me, it sounded corny coming out of my mouth, but when you do it.
00:52But I feel like cliches exist because they exist right in front of you, and they're very hard to execute
00:57on.
00:57And if you execute on them, that's where success comes from.
00:59No, 100%. 100%. And that's really like, that's just our whole motto, to be honest with you.
01:04It's just to swarm about the day. Put all the personal feelings aside, put how you feel that day.
01:09When you put those cleats on, you step on the field. It's about one thing and one thing only.
01:13All right, that is him describing the identity of a Texans player.
01:19And he said even on the offensive side, which they clearly have tried to implement over there as well,
01:26with the play fast and free.
01:29When he said play fast and free, I didn't think of Nico Collins.
01:34I didn't think of David Montgomery.
01:38Henry, the name and the person that came right to me.
01:41And if he could just get this part, which, Clint, you can speak to playing the quarterback position,
01:47it's easier said than done, especially if you're not comfortable.
01:52But I haven't watched CJ last year, maybe even longer than that, and thought,
01:58like, that cat's just playing free.
02:00Yeah, I agree.
02:01You know what I mean?
02:02He's just, like, you look at some, and we've seen it.
02:04And there was a point there probably week four or five his rookie year where, man,
02:09it wasn't a lot of thinking, man.
02:11He was going out there, bam, making a decision, playing free.
02:14He's out there doing all kinds of celebrations.
02:19It just felt different.
02:23Now it does seem like there's more thinking.
02:25There's more other stuff happening.
02:27And if he could pick that piece up, that piece of just play with freedom, play with them.
02:33Now, obviously, I think some of the coaching staff needs to help be able to facilitate that.
02:39But, boy, that's the CJ you miss and want to see.
02:43That's the one you're trying to find, right?
02:46I mean, that's the key here, Ron, is because the excuses are off the table for both parties.
02:53Because here's the deal.
02:55This is not just a CJ Stroud thing, and this is not just a Texans thing.
03:00This is a – CJ Stroud's been in the league for three years.
03:04Yes, he's had some ups and downs.
03:06He's had more low moments of late, but obviously the good ones are great.
03:11He's got more ability or as much ability as anybody in the league taking snaps.
03:15I mean, we can get into splitting hairs about who's got the loosest arm and the strongest arm
03:20and who's the most athletic.
03:21I get all that.
03:21But when you talk about playing the quarterback position,
03:24however you do it at an elite level, at the NFL level, CJ's got that part licked.
03:29It's done, right?
03:31The reality of it is CJ's got to find his lane, whatever that is, right?
03:39And the Texans have to do everything in their power to play to the strengths of their quarterback, right?
03:48And there's no excuse for either party not to land in the same place four years into this thing, right?
04:00I know Nick Cayley's only been here one year.
04:02It's just fine, man.
04:03Look, Nick Casario, D'Amico Rhines, they've been with CJ Stroud from jump.
04:07They know what CJ Stroud does well.
04:10They know what CJ Stroud is comfortable doing.
04:12They know what CJ Stroud needs when he's executing and when he's playing the position, to your point, free and
04:21fast, right?
04:22They know that, right?
04:25So to go out there and not do things, whatever it may be, right?
04:32To go out there and not do things to allow that is criminal.
04:38For CJ Stroud to go out there and be bullheaded and not be in the right headspace and not commit
04:45to the system
04:46and not make this thing work would be criminal on his part, right?
04:51It's both of these entities, if you will, there's plenty of experience on both ends, Ron, that there is a
04:59happy ground.
04:59The kid can play.
05:01The kid can play.
05:02I don't think there's any answer.
05:03You can't make him be a better leader than he is or a different leader than he is.
05:08You can't make anybody on this offense stand up and be Trent Williams.
05:12You can't make anybody on this offense stand up and be Aziz Alshair, Will Anderson, or Jalen Petrie, or Kamari
05:18Lash.
05:18You can't make it – they don't have the answers to that unless one of the new guys are there,
05:23right?
05:23And that's a big piece of this.
05:24But when it comes to what you're talking about, CJ Stroud playing free and fast,
05:29CJ's a grown-ass man four years into the league,
05:32and the grown-ass men on the Texans side of it have watched him for three years
05:37and know everything about the guy.
05:38For them to not land in the right lane to where he can play at a high level would be
05:42a crying shame.
05:42And a part of this, I think, is on everybody, staff, him, everybody coming together to figure this out.
05:50And I said this to you when we were talking before the show of, in reality, like,
05:58with the exception of, like, all right, you know, Lamar's offense
06:01or, you know, maybe the offense that you put together for Anthony Richardson or something,
06:08CJ has a skill set that he can play in any offense.
06:14You know, we've talked a lot about, like, all right, is he going to be comfortable with this offense?
06:20I don't know, but we know his skill set would lead that he can perform in it, right?
06:27Like, I know people talk about the scores or whatever.
06:30No, this dude is a rookie, came in and through, what, five interceptions,
06:36always seemed to understand what defenses were trying to do to him
06:40and understand what was going on.
06:42So he's not dumb.
06:43He is a smart player that has shown that even at a young age,
06:48the first time seeing stuff, that he was able to pick it up.
06:51He's a smart player.
06:53He can throw the ball anywhere and can be accurate for the most part.
06:58So he can play in any offense.
07:00So he can play in this offense.
07:02So some of this is on him too.
07:05But we've got to get to a space where that dude is, he's comfortable, confident in the offense,
07:14and he can go out there and just play ball and not be thinking about stuff,
07:20overthinking stuff, trying to figure out should I fit stuff here or should I not fit stuff here?
07:25Should I be Davis?
07:26Should I be myself?
07:27Whatever, all the stuff that's going on in his head, like if you could just get that out
07:32and let that dude just – because even if this isn't a greatest system built for him,
07:38it's a system he can play in.
07:39Yeah.
07:40He just has to be comfortable.
07:41He can definitely play in it.
07:43But the question is, you've got to – it is such a system of extremes that you've got to commit
07:51wholeheartedly to it
07:52or it's not going to work.
07:53You're going to fail in inopportune times and it's going to be devastating.
07:57You're playing so tight to vest.
08:00Everything you're doing is to minimize mistakes.
08:03And if for one drive you don't commit to that, it ruins the whole game plan.
08:07It kills the whole approach to offensive football.
08:10And that's ultimately the key here, right?
08:13The interesting thing, the fascinating thing about Houston is you've got a defensive-minded head coach
08:19that wants his offense to look a certain way and you've got a quarterback, to your point,
08:23that, yeah, he can play in it.
08:24Hell.
08:24I mean, it is – like it doesn't require elite arm talent and arm strength.
08:31It doesn't require elite athletic ability, right?
08:33What they're asking him to do, it requires elite processing ability.
08:37We'll see what level we can get there.
08:39But the interesting thing is can he play in it?
08:44Absolutely.
08:45He can play in it better than most probably if he would wholeheartedly commit to it.
08:48But the reality is will they offensively tweak – for instance, let's say we all know C.J. Stroud
08:58in an offense that uses tempo, and I'm not saying Mike Leach, air raid, all-out tempo.
09:06I'm just saying uses tempo as a weapon from time – at any point in the game, boom,
09:10you can NASCAR this thing and we can go tempo for, you know, a handful of downs.
09:17If you know that C.J. Stroud does that really well,
09:20to not have that as a trigger in your offense is criminal, right?
09:24And I question, will this offense – will they bend at all to do those kind of things?
09:30Or is it so extreme, which I think it is, is it so extreme that, no, you're going to run
09:38this offense
09:39exactly the way, for lack of better terms, Tom ran it, right?
09:43And I know Tom from time to time used – I'm not saying he never used tempo,
09:47but I'm just using that as an example of –
09:49I wonder if there are – if they have the ability from an organization standpoint to go,
09:55okay, we're going to bend a little bit, we're going to mold this thing around seven strengths
09:58and all that, and then I wonder if C.J. has the ability to go, okay,
10:01I'm going to set aside the fact that I'm a ball placement specialist
10:04and I want to stretch the field, and I'm just going to be an efficient machine for a year
10:08and see what happens, right?
10:10So it's on both – my point in saying all that, Ron, is it's on both of them.
10:13Like, there's no excuse for these guys not to find common ground and be really good.
10:19I mean, I'm just talking about quarterback play, because C.J. can do it,
10:23and it's just there's – you may look up and the O-line wasn't what he thought it was,
10:28the run game wasn't what you thought it was,
10:30maybe the depth at wide receiver becomes a problem,
10:32but we shouldn't be talking about C.J. Stroud being down in the dumps
10:36and C.J. Stroud not being able to do this or that by midseason with the Texans.
10:40We shouldn't be talking about that.
10:40Text line coming in, does Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen need a coach
10:44to assist them in playing fast and free?
10:47Please stop giving this guy excuses.
10:49He needs to step up.
10:50Well, I think there was a time when both of them needed that.
10:54I think there was a time where –
10:57I think they both need it right now more than they ever have.
10:59I mean, they're long in the tooth, no championship, new coaches.
11:02Yeah, I think there was a time both of them weren't Lamar yet or Josh yet.
11:08Yeah, well, the –
11:09And got coaches that, you know, with them that became more comfortable.
11:13To the point is I think you've – now it hasn't always worked out,
11:17but I do think that you've seen both of those guys that were mentioned,
11:20Lamar and Josh, in systems where they absolutely played fast and free.
11:24We've seen it.
11:25Now it comes and goes for one reason or another, year to year sometimes,
11:30with both of those guys.
11:31I mean, they've been the best in the league at times,
11:33and then they've been just inconsistent and really struggled at times.
11:36But I think we've seen the fast and free brand of both of those guys.
11:41And I think I'd be shocked if that's not ultimately the end game
11:45for both of their head coaches right now is to find those two guys –
11:47the ability for those two guys to play fast and free.
11:50Yeah.
11:50So, yeah, I would argue that they do.
11:52Every quarterback needs that.
11:54Yeah, I mean, I – and again, like I said, Lamar and Josh,
11:58we could look at it.
11:59I mean, that time where Ken Dorsey lost his gig,
12:04there was some wonder about Josh at that time.
12:07There's been some wonder when –
12:11Yeah, well, Josh, the funny thing is like the part we had never seen with CJ
12:15is what we saw inconsistently with Josh, right?
12:17Josh was too fast and too free.
12:19They had to dial his ass back.
12:21Yeah.
12:21They dialed him back,
12:22and he got a little bit more conservative offensively in the past game,
12:26and then he got sideways again.
12:29They dialed his ass back and said,
12:30hey, man, we're going to run the ball now.
12:32We're going to lead the league in rushing –
12:33or at least have the league's lead in rushing.
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