00:00Oh, well, well.
00:01Welcome to the party, pal!
00:03I've got a six-month backlog in New York's scumbags I'm still trying to put behind bars.
00:07Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs.
00:10Who gives a f***?
00:11Yes, I was wrong about you.
00:13You're not such a...
00:14Asshole!
00:15How's that, asshole?
00:16I'm such a f***er.
00:18Shh, it's okay. I've done this before.
00:20I'm that f***ing energizer, buddy.
00:22Listen to me!
00:23Sister Teresa called me Mr. McClane in the third grade.
00:26F***ing friends call me John.
00:27F*** off.
00:28You're neither, s***head.
00:30Yeah, I got a deal for you.
00:31I thought I'd let you live.
00:33Yippee-ki-yay, m*********.
00:37All right, joining us right now on the Sports Radio 610 Hotline is our good buddy, the General John McClane.
00:45John, you're on with Chris Partee, who's in for Patrick Creighton tonight.
00:49Of course, you know me and Colin the Game.
00:51How we doing, General?
00:52Couldn't be better, guys.
00:53Thank you very much for having me.
00:55Absolutely.
00:56Always.
00:57Absolutely.
00:57Thanks for spending a little time with us, man.
01:00Hey, right off the top, I figured you might be interested to discuss this with us because Chris and I
01:06had a pretty good discussion about it last night.
01:08Colin, as well.
01:10You know, the comments by Keon Coleman earlier this week, the Buffalo Bills young wide receiver, kind of got me
01:17thinking about this from a Texans perspective.
01:20And Coleman had said, you know, that this is a make-or-break year for him up there.
01:25And I think he even had a team, you know, sort of slanted opinion on it as well.
01:31And look, you face the Bills week one if you're the Texans, and they may or may not have, you
01:37know, revenge tattooed across their foreheads when they come into Reliance Stadium since Josh Allen has, you know, not won
01:44very many games.
01:45In fact, he's one and four against the Houston Texans in his career.
01:48So I got to thinking from a Houston Texan perspective with OTAs coming up and training camp around the corner.
01:54Here we are.
01:55Give me some guys on this Texans roster that you think it's a make-or-break year for.
02:04Oh, gosh, Sean, I wish you could tell me that sooner.
02:08I'll say make-or-break training camp.
02:10There's no guarantee Jarrett Patterson's going to make the team.
02:14No guarantee David, my mind's gone blank, a center.
02:19Who, Jake Andrews?
02:20Yeah.
02:21Jake Andrews.
02:22No guarantee Jake's going to be back.
02:24So those guys, to me, are in make-or-break situations when you look at the draft.
02:29And so they're up front.
02:32I think Blake Fisher, for certain, I'll be surprised if Braden Smith is a starting right tackle, and they got
02:40the best out of Trent Brown, he's played in a long time.
02:43But if, indeed, Trent Brown is healthy and he's prepared to be the backup, are they going to keep Blake
02:51Fisher?
02:52I think that's another guy.
02:53Former second-round pick Nick Casario did well with Ariante Ursary so far, but he blew the Juice Scruggs second
03:02-round pick, and he can blow this one on Blake Fisher.
03:05So this is an important training camp, and if he makes the roster, it'll be a make-or-break season
03:12for him.
03:13Let's see.
03:14Who else in the offensive line?
03:15That's where you start.
03:18And I look at the secondary, I don't see anybody important.
03:23Maybe a guy like M.J. Stewart.
03:25He got hurt last year.
03:27He was a starter.
03:28But they brought in Larry Blankenship.
03:31They got a couple of young, talented safeties.
03:34So, you know, it'd be better to say a make-or-break training camp and preseason.
03:39All right.
03:39Well, here's where my mind went.
03:41M.J. Stewart would be another one on defense and offense.
03:45I don't see any receivers tied in.
03:49Maybe if Marlon Klein develops the way they hope because they used a higher pick on him than anybody else
03:57would have, then Cade Stover.
04:00Is Cade Stover a make-or-break for him?
04:04You know, Foster Moreau, he's bounced around, make-or-break for him.
04:09Really, you have two tight ends and a third one would be up to what happens.
04:16I don't see, let's see, I don't see a running back right now.
04:21I don't see a wide receiver.
04:23And I certainly don't see a quarterback.
04:25So those are the ones that I'm thinking about off the top of my head.
04:29You hit on all of the ones that we did yesterday and then some, too.
04:35I think really good points about Patterson, Andrews, and Fisher.
04:37But I do have a couple of wide receivers on that list, and I want to know what you think
04:42about them.
04:42Make-or-break, I thought, look, Tank Dell, isn't he kind of in a make-or-break year himself?
04:48You know, final year of his rookie contract, and he's got to prove to the Houston Texans that he can
04:53be available.
04:53And he can be productive when he is available.
04:56That was one.
04:57And then two, Xavier Hutchinson.
04:59What do you think about those two?
05:01Every year, Xavier Hutchinson makes the team because he's a really good special teams player.
05:07He's a good blocker.
05:08He's played in some pressure situations and produced.
05:12The problem is, if they thought he was going to be able to do the job regularly,
05:18he wouldn't be using the pick on Jay Negans like they did last year.
05:22Now, Jaylen Knowles, a slot receiver.
05:25Tank's better outside.
05:26It'd be really sad if Tank Dell, you know, was in and out of the lineup because of health,
05:34if he didn't get at least a one-year extension next year.
05:39Because usually you come back from a serious injury.
05:42It's the second year back when you get a better barometer about where a player's going to be.
05:47Because of the subconscious.
05:49A player may think, man, I'm good to go.
05:52I can do anything.
05:53But subconsciously, he may not trust himself.
05:56So maybe it is for Tank Dell, especially considering his contract situation.
06:01But I don't see them, after everything he's gone through, based on how close he is to Stroud
06:10and how respected he is by his teammates,
06:13I do not see this being his last year with the team.
06:18Unless something happens and he can't play anymore and he would have to retire.
06:22And I don't see that happening.
06:24John, how much do you think you can really expect from Dell, you know,
06:28coming off a really bad knee injury there this season and the first season back after that injury?
06:33Do you think we can see him, if he's healthy, maybe make 50 catches this year?
06:3850 catches, five touchdowns.
06:39Something like that.
06:40It depends on the injuries, of course.
06:43So you've got Nico Collins.
06:45You know he's going to miss some games.
06:46He always does.
06:48Then you've got Jaden Higgins starting at the other outside spot.
06:52And he looked really good as a rookie.
06:54Now he's expected to step up big time.
06:56Same with Jalen Noel.
06:58But Tank's going to get chances to prove himself.
07:03As far as 50 catches with those other three guys ahead of him, I don't see it.
07:09I think they don't want to throw the ball too much.
07:12They want to run the ball.
07:13They want balance.
07:15They don't want Stroud to be in second long and third long like he's been so many times.
07:21And so I would think Xavier Hutchinson is in a tougher situation going into the season in Tankdale because the
07:33reports on Tank have been great.
07:35I think the only thing that could keep him down from being a regular contributor would be some kind of
07:42injury.
07:43John McClain with us on Sports Radio 610.
07:45John, I don't think you and I have had a chance to talk since the Texans schedule came out.
07:49But I'm interested in your thoughts on if you had a big takeaway from the release and anything you noticed,
07:56whether it be bye week, the three of the first opponents out of the shoot, you know, being, you know,
08:02against some difficult teams and the Bills and Bengals and Dallas Cowboys.
08:05What were your overall thoughts on it?
08:07Anything stand out to you?
08:09Absolutely, but they'd play all three road games in AFC South by October 18th.
08:14I've never seen that before, ever.
08:16And the last road game is October 18th or 19th against Jacksonville and London.
08:25And so that is very favorable to have those games at home.
08:31And plus, you get them early.
08:34And another thing that stood out to me is the NFL's best defense.
08:38They gave up 277 yards a game.
08:41That was number one over Denver.
08:43Point-wise, they gave up 17.4 to finish second to Seattle at 17.2.
08:51But they're the best defense in the league.
08:53The key is, where are they going to rank at the end of the season in Houston history?
08:58Because you had two Love Your Blue defenses that went to two AFC championship games and lost to Super Bowl
09:05champion Steelers and Pittsburgh with three Hall of Famers, Robert Brazil, Elvin McFay, and Curly Culp.
09:13And then you had the 93 Oilers with Buddy Ryan as the defensive coordinator with the best, most fearsome, meanest,
09:21toughest defense in the NFL on the 12-and-4 team that knocked out 11 starting quarterbacks and lost before
09:29the biggest crowd in Astrodome history, Joe Montana's last miracle in the divisional round.
09:36And so this one, I think this defense is going to be great.
09:40Having these guys play together another year with the additions they've made in free agency and the draft and with
09:48the coaching they have, starting with D'Amico Ryans, then Matt Burke.
09:52They got great, great coaching position-wise on defense.
09:57And I think they'll help the offense by getting good field position.
10:02We'll see more of what we saw against Pittsburgh, defense scoring touchdowns.
10:07I can't wait to watch the defense.
10:10People are like, well, can you wait to watch the offense?
10:13And I'm like, yeah, it depends on how the offense does.
10:16I'm mainly interested to see if they can actually run the football.
10:20And I'm more interested in that because I believe C.J. Stroud will be very good.
10:27He's got 60 million reasons to be great and get a new contract extension.
10:33And so the first three for the defense, first four, three of the first four, every game at all, Josh
10:40Allen, Joe Burrow, and Dak Prescott.
10:44And that is a great way for this defense to reestablish itself and impress the masses even more.
10:53And one of the things I like about this defense, besides getting to watch it every game, is people nationally,
11:01who I respect, former players, coaches, general managers who are in the national media, all of them go kind of
11:08gaga over the Texans defense.
11:11And I believe this will be Matt Burks last year as the defensive coordinator because I think he'll get interviews.
11:20And when Matt gets interviews, he's going to impress people because you guys have seen him.
11:25He's a good talker.
11:27He's impressive in the front of the room.
11:29He's been a defensive coordinator.
11:31He knows what to say.
11:32And then the key was, do they promote somebody like Rod Wright or one of the other coaches or D
11:38'Amico take over the play call in.
11:41But I think if you want a new defense, say Matt's gone, and you want a new defensive coordinator, the
11:47resumes will pile up the first time Matt gets an interview.
11:51Because who wouldn't want to coach this defense with the talent that Nick Casario and D'Amico Ryans are stockpiling?
12:00And the only thing that could make it not be the best in the NFL is if it suffered astrolitis
12:06and started having a lot of injuries.
12:08Oh, good Lord.
12:09Yeah.
12:11Well said.
12:12Except for that last part.
12:13I don't like that last part.
12:14Don't talk about that last part.
12:15Is there, you know, the thing that I thought it was so funny in the schedule relief videos, four or
12:22five 49ers opponents make reference to that electrical place close to the practice field, you know, causing them problems.
12:31Has anybody investigated?
12:33Is there one of those electrical things somewhere close to Diken Park?
12:38You know what?
12:39That's a really good question.
12:40I don't think that's been an issue, but stranger things.
12:46You can find one, Sean, down there.
12:49That, to me, would be a better answer than anything else I've heard because I've still never seen anything like
12:57what's happened to the Astros last season, and it's even worse this season.
13:02So I think that's the only thing that can derail the Texans' defense.
13:07And I'll tell you something I've been watching.
13:09I watched the NBA and the NHL.
13:12And what I saw from Victor Wimbanyama in the game the other day, I've heard people saying, oh, he looked
13:18like Bill Russell.
13:19Bill Russell couldn't score.
13:20He averaged 14 points a game.
13:22He was a great defensive player.
13:25Will Chamberlain, who dominated everything offensively and defensively.
13:30Shots were altered and missed because of him.
13:35Shaq never could shoot like that.
13:37Shaq can't shoot free throws.
13:38And what I saw from Victor Wimbanyama reminded me of Will Chamberlain when I first started watching basketball when I
13:47was a kid.
13:48And there's some great story on ESPN today.
13:51You've been hearing about Wimbanyama going to China and living with and working with monks.
14:00And there is a great story.
14:03I think Holly, I can't even know, is their NBA writer, Ramona Shelburne, I think, who wrote it and talked
14:11to the monk, the Kung Fu specialist who's been working with him.
14:15And what they have had Wimbanyama at 7-4 doing is just sounds impossible.
14:21So I'm wondering, what can the Rockets do, no matter what kind of offseason they have, what can they do
14:29to catch the Spurs who have the starters with De'Aaron Fox out?
14:34No starters over 25 years old.
14:37This team is built to last.
14:39And I'm thinking poor Rockets and the rest of the West under an OKC.
14:44Yeah, boy, you're almost starting to sound like Max Kellerman said earlier today.
14:49He's like, man, if Victor Wimbanyama stays healthy, nobody's ever going to win another championship again.
14:55I was like, well, hell, he ain't won one yet.
14:57Like, he's got to get past Oklahoma City.
14:59One game.
15:00And I can't wait to see what the plan is for Wimbanyama.
15:05And I don't care how much Kung Fu he does and how many mountains he climbs.
15:10He can sit 90 minutes cross-legged and not blink.
15:15Big guys are going to hurt, unfortunately.
15:18And the way he's going to get beat up and the way he's getting the ball, it could happen any
15:23time.
15:24And so right now, I'm thinking the Rockets, whoo, it's going to be difficult.
15:30It's going to be tough for sure.
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