- 3 days ago
Paul and B-Scott lay out some stuff they want to see at Texans OTAs, while trying to avoid saying the name "CJ Stroud."
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00:00I thought, given that this is always the longest segment of the show, that we do a challenge for ourselves.
00:10Because by the end of this offseason, even the most ardent C.J. Stroud supporters, I think they're going to
00:17be so sick of hearing his name.
00:20What's he going to do this year?
00:21That they're going to start turning on him, too.
00:24Even them.
00:25Because for us, and we're subs today.
00:30Doing this every day is likely all roads come back to C.J. Stroud at some point.
00:35Is he going to be good this year?
00:36So for the remainder of this segment, we're going to try to not talk about C.J. Stroud.
00:41Shock caller.
00:42Shock caller for C.J. Stroud.
00:44If you say his name once, you're going straight to.
00:49Actually, we don't really have anything to do.
00:50No, we used to have a helmet in here where you had to put money in.
00:54Like a curse jar?
00:56Yeah, like a curse jar.
00:57It's over there with Ben.
00:58But we could just put the money on the table if we need to.
01:01And of course, we don't have cash.
01:02We don't.
01:03I don't want homeless people to think they have anything on me.
01:06Yeah.
01:07Yeah.
01:07I don't like to feel guilty when you lock eyes with somebody at an overpass and they're
01:12coming out.
01:12Oh.
01:13I never carry change slash cash on me entirely because I don't want to lie to this person.
01:21To say like, yeah, I don't have anything.
01:23I just don't want to make eye contact and feel guilty for not giving that person any of
01:28the cash in my pocket.
01:28And you know what?
01:29I can actually deal with the homeless people or the drug addicts or whoever is like clearly
01:34struggling.
01:34But my thing that's getting me now at the stores, if you go to the gas station or wherever
01:39it is now, Paul, the solicitors are like, like yesterday, I go to the gas station and
01:44some girl comes up to me.
01:45She's a young girl.
01:46She's a pretty girl, actually.
01:47But she's like, we're trying to fund the school.
01:52Young girl.
01:53So I'm like, I wanted to give her like the riot act of, or read her the riot act of,
01:58hey,
01:58you know, I already fund schools, right?
02:00I'm a taxpayer.
02:01See that neighborhood right over there?
02:03I own a house over there.
02:05My parents own a house right next to it.
02:08So like between me and my parents, we're funding schools.
02:13Yeah.
02:14And I don't know if you're reading the news these days about private school vouchers and
02:18all that kind of stuff.
02:19But like the public school system is under assault, is under attack already.
02:23They don't want to fund your little school that you're trying to fund outside of the
02:277-Eleven.
02:28No.
02:28And she's like, and like, she needed like $1,000 to fund.
02:31I'm like, to fund a school, you're just $1,000 short, huh?
02:35Yeah.
02:35Of funding a school.
02:36Just got to get to $1,000.
02:37I'm like, sweetheart, just ask me for $50 or $20 or whatever.
02:41What do you want?
02:42Just ask.
02:43$1,000, please, God.
02:45Man, come on now.
02:46Sign the name on the check.
02:47She's just $1,000 away from funding a school.
02:50Yeah.
02:50That's it, man.
02:51That's all she needed.
02:51I wanted to ask her, like, what do you teach?
02:54It's a good question.
02:55Like, what is your specialization?
02:57Not economics, probably.
02:58You know what I mean?
02:59Not sales either.
03:00You've got to earn this $1,000.
03:03Or common sense.
03:04Like, how do you actually scam somebody?
03:07Oh, we're going to fund a school outside of the 7-Eleven.
03:09No, you're not.
03:09We will fund a curse jar in the middle of this table that will only be added to if we
03:17say the quarterback of the Houston Texans name.
03:20Because, again, by the end of this offseason, you're going to have his name fatigue.
03:24Yes, we're treating him like he's Voldemort, okay?
03:27For the rest of this segment.
03:28So, with OTAs kicking off on Wednesday, I think this is easily the next most interesting thing that's not related
03:37to that guy about OTAs.
03:40Tank Dell, what does he look like?
03:42Yeah.
03:43How is he moving?
03:44Is he in a wheelchair?
03:45Does he have legs?
03:46I don't know.
03:47I don't know.
03:48Yeah.
03:48I'm excited to see Tank Dell out there.
03:50I don't think we're ever going to get the true feel for it.
03:54Is he game ready?
03:54Is he what he used to be, specifically his rookie season before the fractured tibula?
03:59Is he that guy again?
04:00Is he the guy that we saw against the Chiefs when he suffered that awful injury when Jared Wayne crashed
04:05into him?
04:06I wonder.
04:07I really do wonder about that.
04:10What is Tank Dell going to be this season?
04:11Is there anything left in the tank?
04:13Or, at this point, are we just hoping that he can maybe get 10 receptions this coming season?
04:18Yeah.
04:18So, like, the way I've approached it, just to kind of be fair to Tank himself, is just to have
04:23zero expectations.
04:25Now, that doesn't mean he's not going to do anything at all, but I don't know how to have a
04:29reasonable and fair expectation of a guy whose legs have been, knees and femurs or whatever else, fibulas and all
04:37of that,
04:37have been through as much as Tank Dells have at this point.
04:41So, I can't have any expectations, but to the point, though, Paul, this is what, like, quiet is kept.
04:48This is what they're lacking.
04:50This is what they've needed over the last couple of years or however long Tank Dell's been out.
04:54They don't have speed.
04:56They don't have suddenness.
04:59They don't have take the top off of the defense.
05:02Well, I think with Niko, they have that, right?
05:04Yeah, but that's it.
05:05So, like, if it's just one guy, you really don't have it because they can just gear everything toward the
05:10one guy.
05:11See, the beauty of having Tank was that they've always had Niko since Tank got here, right?
05:16The beauty of having Tank was that you couldn't put too much attention on one guy or the other.
05:21Having both of them kept you honest for the most part.
05:24Ideally, we'll keep you honest.
05:25Now, it's just like, you think about it.
05:27You think about this Texans roster, and you're trying to game plan for it.
05:30Make yourself, you know, any old defensive coordinator out there in the NFL.
05:34And you're like, this is what I need to stop.
05:36This is what the Texans do offensively.
05:38These are their weapons.
05:38This is what they have.
05:39And I want to stop this.
05:42Last year, and even going into the season this year until we figure out what Tank Dale is, it's pretty
05:48much just Niko Collins.
05:49Yeah.
05:49Dalton Schultz is a nice player.
05:51Woody Marks is a nice player.
05:52They got some nice players.
05:53But they're not coverage dictators.
05:56They're not game plan guys, right?
05:58You just go out there, play your defense, and, you know, do your thing.
06:02With Tank, I feel like it's a little different.
06:04Or at the very least, it makes it to where you can't focus too much attention on one guy or
06:08the other.
06:08They don't have a guy like that, haven't had a guy like that.
06:11Is he going to be that guy again?
06:13I think it's unfair to expect that.
06:15But I can't say I'm not curious or watch it, right?
06:17Like, and we talk about this too, secondary playmakers, where is it going to come from?
06:23It has to be either a Tank Dale or one of the other two guys who, in their rookie seasons,
06:29were fine.
06:30I thought Jaden Higgins had his moments.
06:32I really think Jalen Noel needed to play more.
06:35Christian Kirk got in the way.
06:37Oof.
06:37In retrospect.
06:38Yeah.
06:39And I don't care what he did against the Steelers in that playoff game.
06:42I don't.
06:43Sorry.
06:43I did not want to see him as much as I saw him last year.
06:47I wanted to see more Jalen Noel.
06:48Do one of those guys, Jaden Higgins, Jalen Noel, take that big year one to year two jump
06:53that we sometimes see from wide receivers.
06:55Because this is generally when they make that leap.
06:58If you're talking about a young receiver, it doesn't usually happen right away.
07:01It usually takes a little bit of time.
07:02You get into an offense.
07:03You learn that offense.
07:05Will one of those guys just blow our socks off with what they do in OTAs and training camp?
07:11We'll see.
07:11Well, I'm glad you mentioned it.
07:12Because this was going to be one of mine.
07:14When you mentioned Jalen Noel, my specific angle on it is, when do they start to trust him?
07:20Because I feel like that was a big part of the reason why he wasn't out there.
07:24And I'm not saying that they're right or wrong to not trust him.
07:27I have no idea.
07:28Right.
07:29But I get what you're saying.
07:31I think a lot of people felt the same.
07:32What was missing?
07:34And something is clearly missing.
07:35We're not there all the time behind the scenes.
07:38I, again, can't say.
07:39I'm not trying to criticize or co-sign.
07:42I have no idea who's right or wrong.
07:44I just want to see from an observational standpoint, when does that trust happen?
07:49What does he need to do?
07:50If we're going to analyze it, what does he need to do to gain that trust?
07:53Is it the route running?
07:55Is it memorizing the play?
07:58Like, what is it?
07:58What is the thing that's keeping this guy, who clearly has that element to his game that I was just
08:03talking about,
08:04that suddenness, that explosivity that they're lacking as a unit, this guy clearly has it.
08:12Why aren't you utilizing him more?
08:13You know?
08:14So, at what point, my specific Jalen Noel point that I would say is, not just is he going to
08:20be out there more,
08:21when do they start to trust him?
08:23Because I think that's the only thing that's holding him back, is that once we see that trust is there,
08:28I feel like we're going to see him have a lot more targets.
08:30And is the absence now of Christian Kirk, to your point of Christian Kirk getting in the way,
08:35I think they clearly trusted Christian Kirk more, which I understand, even though he wasn't, like, doing anything for you,
08:40but he's a veteran.
08:41Now that he's being removed from the situation, are you now forced to trust this other guy,
08:46since you don't have Christian Kirk in the way?
08:47Yeah, I think you have to put him in there, and we'll see what he's able to do.
08:50But I felt every single time he had the ball in his hands, that there's something special there.
08:55Is it Tank Dell special his rookie year?
08:57I don't know.
08:58But I liked what I saw out of Jalen Noel.
09:01I felt like his movement with the football in his hands was pretty damn unique.
09:08I mean, it was pretty clear.
09:09It was so transparently.
09:11You don't have to have watched as much football as you and I have to be able to see that
09:16he moved a little bit different
09:18than the majority of the guys that they had at that position.
09:21And so, like, it's the whole reason why the thing that makes him such a good return specialist
09:26are the things that we want to see from him on offense.
09:30So, for me, it's almost like, okay, let's say you don't trust him with the entire playbook
09:34or with the entire route tree or whatever the case may be.
09:37Can we just get a couple of Jalen Noel plays?
09:40Yeah.
09:40Like, whatever plays he likes or whatever plays makes sense.
09:43So, it's like, hey, you don't have to memorize these.
09:45These are for you.
09:46These are your plays.
09:47So, like, we're going to run them, you know what I mean?
09:50And formationally, you can just make them look like other plays.
09:54But, hey, we're going to get you the ball in the flat.
09:56We're going to run some screens for you.
09:57You don't run screens at all.
09:58It's not a – or not at all.
10:00But it's not a good screen team.
10:01It hasn't been for a long time.
10:02No, I know.
10:03It's so awful.
10:04We'll run that play that we ran for you against the Chargers,
10:08even though it was a busted coverage that allowed you to score that touchdown.
10:11But we're going to run that play anyway and force the other team to cover you.
10:15Because, guess what?
10:16Speed kills.
10:17You can have the perfect coverage out there.
10:19But if I just run right by you, there's not really a coverage for that.
10:22That's true.
10:23You know what I mean?
10:23So, let's lean into the strengths of the players, not just, like, saying that.
10:30Because they did a lot of talking about that last year.
10:32What's the Nick Caley offense?
10:34Oh, we're going to lean into the strengths of our players.
10:37Well, except the one.
10:38Not that one.
10:40And I feel like that's somebody that could really help them.
10:42An offense that could use a lot of help, let's just say.
10:44He is Brandon Scott.
10:45I'm Paul Gallant.
10:46We're sitting in for Payne and Pendergast on this Memorial Day.
10:49And this segment, we're talking about all the big stories,
10:53the things that we're most intrigued by for Texans OTAs.
10:56With this disclaimer, there is a certain player that we are not allowing ourselves to mention.
11:01I don't even know who he's talking about.
11:03I don't even know who Paul's talking about.
11:04He says a certain player.
11:06I've never heard of this guy.
11:06He wears number seven.
11:08Sure.
11:09He is a quarterback.
11:10Because everyone's going to be talking about this guy so much.
11:13You're all going to be sick of him.
11:14So we're just, we're challenging ourselves, okay?
11:17Hell, we might even do a draft of topics that we would talk about,
11:20say the Astros continue to be largely underwhelming.
11:24And if maybe the Rockets don't do anything the rest of this offseason.
11:28Here's something else I want to see at OTAs.
11:30I know I won't see it, but I still want to, okay?
11:32This is wishful thinking.
11:33All right.
11:34I want to see the offensive line get in fights with the defensive line in OTAs.
11:38Now, I know that's not going to happen because it's not padded,
11:41but I want to see an offensive line with Cole Popovich clearly the bell of the ball
11:49when it comes to the offensive coaching staff.
11:51I want to see the offensive line make Will Anderson angry.
11:56Remember that one game that Will Anderson randomly didn't talk to the media afterwards?
12:00I think he got poked in the eye by someone on the Cardinals.
12:04He was pissed after the game.
12:06And Will Anderson is one of the sweetest people that you will see,
12:09considering what an absolute terror he is as a pass rusher.
12:12It is surprising just how thoughtful, how kind he is when he speaks.
12:16A nice young man.
12:17I honestly want my son to follow him around.
12:20And, like, don't follow Dad.
12:21Just be like Will Anderson.
12:22It's like there's so much to like about him.
12:25And I want the Texans' offensive line to make him angry.
12:28I want them to get under his skin.
12:30Because I want to have an offensive line that I'm not saying it's necessarily being like
12:36those weirdos at Northwestern wearing Shrek masks and stuff
12:40and doing all sorts of weird stuff behind the scenes.
12:42But I want an offensive line room that pisses other teams off.
12:47So, this is interesting to me because this is almost two-pronged for me.
12:51Just from, like, as a spectacle, angry Will Anderson.
12:58Like, I just – he's such a well-mannered young man.
13:00He really is.
13:01I really just want to see what that looks like.
13:04Because I don't doubt – I mean, he's a menace when he wants to be right on the football field.
13:08So, I don't doubt that he could hold his own if he needed to.
13:11Yeah.
13:11But all the training camp fights that I've seen since he's been on the team.
13:13So, you know, in this era of Texas football, he's always been like a peacemaker out there
13:18whenever there's been a fight.
13:19He's out there trying to break it up and trying to talk guys down, you know,
13:24letting the cooler heads prevail and all that.
13:26I wouldn't mind seeing him just – what that looks like.
13:29Yeah.
13:30To see him kind of go the extra mile or, you know, take him to the edge, right,
13:34and maybe step a little bit off of it.
13:36I'd love to see it.
13:37Will, you're a wonderful man.
13:38We want you to break bad because it would be fun for us.
13:41Yes.
13:42We're kind of sickos talking about it the more that I think about it.
13:45Yeah, because it's not that he'd need for his game.
13:47He was second in defensive player of the year voting.
13:49He's going to be a perennial all-pro as long as he's healthy.
13:52So, like, he doesn't really need this for football reasons.
13:56Yeah.
13:56It would just be funny to watch.
13:57It would be funny and cool to watch.
13:59So, that's that side of it.
14:00But the other side that I do think there's a little bit of underlying, hey,
14:05this is important to the makeup or the fabric of the football team is feeling
14:09like you've got an offensive line that is nasty in that way.
14:12And I don't know exactly who that guy would be, but I will give them credit.
14:16They've brought in some seemingly tougher, you know,
14:20hard-hat lunch pail type of guys, right?
14:22Brad Smith, Wyatt Teller.
14:23Brad Smith, Wyatt Teller.
14:25So, any of those, if it's not a fight, I just want to see something that,
14:28that, like, imposes, that gives off badass, that gives off.
14:33We're not no pushovers over here.
14:35We're not divas.
14:37We're not fashionistas.
14:39We ain't none of it.
14:41We don't care about the gram.
14:42We're Titus Howard.
14:43We don't care about our outfits.
14:44You know what's funny?
14:45None of that.
14:46When they drafted Ariante Ursary,
14:48I remember finding a picture of Ariante Ursary online,
14:51and I was like, oh, he's a little Metro, too.
14:52Now, there's anything wrong with it, but nope, he's come in.
14:55He's been a bit of a mauler.
14:56Yeah.
14:57I like that, yes, that there is an attitude adjustment,
14:59because the thing that frustrated me the most about the Laramie Tunsil,
15:03Titus Howard days, it always felt like they were a little aloof.
15:10It felt like it didn't bother them.
15:13And, hey, maybe it did bother them.
15:15Maybe they were good at internalizing it as opposed to, like,
15:17wearing it on their face.
15:19But it always felt like they didn't care that much about it.
15:22And that they were a little annoyed that anyone would dare question
15:26what they're actually doing here when, I don't know,
15:29Larry Tunsil's getting called for two false starts a game.
15:31Well, I would say even more specifically with Tunsil,
15:35it felt like he was more bothered by the individual scrutiny on him.
15:43Or you remember the whole target on my back thing?
15:45Like when he was getting called for...
15:47Oh, the Vikings game.
15:48They were all such babies after the Vikings game.
15:51Oh, I'm going to have to go differently just then.
15:54And that was the thing.
15:55It seemed like he would get more riled up on the scrutiny of his individual performance.
16:02Or if he just straight up didn't have a good individual performance,
16:05he would get more bothered by that or get up for the one-on-one with Myles Garrett.
16:10You know what I mean?
16:10Or the head-to-head, I should say, with Myles Garrett.
16:12Stuff like that, as opposed to, what about the losing?
16:16Or what about the overall poor play of the line itself and the offense itself?
16:22Where is the pride taken within the team, within the unit?
16:26And so, you'd like to think that they got more guys that are kind of like that.
16:31Even though Larry Tunsil was a really good player in a vacuum,
16:34it's like, but can you care?
16:35Can you care a little bit more?
16:37Especially if you're going to get $20 million franchise left tackle.
16:41They don't have a guy like that now.
16:42But maybe that benefits them.
16:44Maybe they have more of a cohesiveness about them.
16:48And hopefully, the prevailing sentiment or characteristic of that group is,
16:55hey, we're going to be badasses.
16:56We're not too cool for school.
16:59I think that's what it is.
17:00Give me an offensive line that's ready to maul and is not too damn cool for school.
17:06And that's what Laramie was.
17:08Because you can't spell Laramie without me, by the way.
17:12Yes.
17:13In case you didn't notice that.
17:15I mean, it's not spelled M-E.
17:17It's spelled M-Y.
17:18But you get what I'm hearing.
17:19I mean, that's my.
17:20You know?
17:20It's the same concept.
17:21Yeah.
17:22You can't spell it without me or my.
17:24Yeah.
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