00:00So, usually when we talk about the Texans defense, they are top of the league, top of the league, top
00:06of the league.
00:07But there is a defensive category in which the Texans are bottom, well I guess they're not bottom third, but
00:15they're close to bottom third.
00:16They're 22nd in the league in this particular defensive category.
00:24It is money spent on your defense.
00:30That's surprising.
00:31Really?
00:32That low?
00:33The Texans this year.
00:35Even after the Anderson contract?
00:37After all the contracts.
00:38Even after the extension for Hunter?
00:40Aziz.
00:41Yeah, that's why I'm saying, like, you think about the money that they've laid out.
00:46Reed Blankenship just got a contract?
00:47They are 22nd in the amount of money they spend on their defense.
00:54$121.8 million.
00:55Wow.
00:56Now, Kamari Lassiter is going to get paid soon.
01:00Caleb Blank's going to get paid soon.
01:02They're probably both going to get paid after this coming season.
01:05Henry's going to get paid.
01:07Eh, maybe.
01:08I don't know.
01:09Well, he's going to get paid something, right?
01:11I mean, he's not going to get big money, but they're going to get something.
01:13I don't know.
01:14I don't know if he's going to get the kind of money that those two are.
01:17I feel like it'll be easy to manage Henry.
01:20But again, maybe he has a good year.
01:21We'll see.
01:22Tommy Togiai will eventually get paid.
01:24Tommy Togiai should be paid.
01:25That was a bargain and a half.
01:27Yes, it was.
01:29And you see Dalton Schultz get an extension, and you're like, eh.
01:33But this is what's crazy to me is the team in the AFC South spending the most money on the
01:45defense.
01:46Colts?
01:46Is the fake Oilers.
01:48It's the Titans?
01:50Really?
01:51148.3.
01:52They did sign somebody.
01:54The Colts, by the way, are right behind them at 147.
01:56Because I know they brought in Sauce Gardner.
01:59All I can think of on the Titans defense off the top of my head is Jeffrey Simmons.
02:05To Vondre Sweat.
02:07Yeah.
02:07Sorry.
02:08Forgettable.
02:10The whole team is forgettable.
02:12They're ass.
02:13Well, yeah.
02:14There's no question.
02:15The Titans are 8th at 148.3.
02:20The Colts are 9th, 147.3.
02:23The Jags are 13th, 137.3.
02:27And the Texans are all the way down to 22 at 121.8.
02:32Okay, that makes sense.
02:33Jeffrey Simmons, $94 million value contract.
02:36My God.
02:37$94 million?
02:38Oof.
02:39And this is from Warren Sharp.
02:42The idea that the Texans defense, which might be the best defense in all football, is 22nd in the amount
02:51of money they're spending on it.
02:52The only other team last year that probably could have hung their hat on number one defense would have been
02:57Seattle.
02:57Yeah.
02:58They're 7th.
03:00Yeah, I think they've, I'm trying to think who that money's invested in there.
03:06This is awesome, but it also shows an underlying problem in a way.
03:17The lack of depth that the Texans have defensively, especially last year considering they were pretty fortunate on the injury
03:25front, that's what you wonder about.
03:27What happens if Will Anderson misses a couple of games?
03:30What happens if Daniil Hunter misses a couple of games?
03:33What happens if Aziz Alshair misses a couple of games?
03:36Who steps up if, God forbid, Derek Stingley or Kamari Lasseter go down when you've got these two awesome corners?
03:42That's the big concern with them because it is top to bottom as good as you're going to get.
03:49And we're not just talking this year like we were talking about with John McClain earlier this year in the
03:53city's history.
03:55Last year's defense is one of the best.
03:56And maybe this year's is even better given that they're not starting the year with a guy in C.J.
04:01Gardner-Johnson who ended up being the worst teammate.
04:05We've seen Houston in quite some time on a football team.
04:08Ass.
04:10Of the three players that you think are the most irreplaceable, that doesn't mean the best.
04:16That means if they lose that player, they don't really have an answer to replace them.
04:25Are those guys on offense or defense?
04:27Who are those guys to you?
04:28Who are the three guys that if they lose them for, let's say, four weeks, they don't really have a
04:33way of replacing?
04:34It starts with Nico Collins.
04:36I mean, their offense is not an offense.
04:38Without Nico Collins, maybe it changes this year now that they have a better offensive line on paper, now that
04:42they have a better running back room.
04:45But it starts with Nico Collins.
04:47Second, it's Will Anderson.
04:48You do have Daniil Hunter, but I think just the lifeblood of the defense is all about Will Anderson.
04:53And then after that, Aziz, I don't want to play a game against a good team with Davis Mills under
05:02center.
05:02I don't care that they won games without it.
05:04And that's not to say, that's not about C.J. Stroud as much as it's about.
05:07I don't want to go to the backup quarterback.
05:08He should be QB1.
05:09Yeah, stop.
05:11Thousand.
05:11Don't do that.
05:12I am out on C.J. Stroud believing in him as a Super Bowl quarterback, but I never want to
05:17go to my backup quarterback ever.
05:21I think it's fair that...
05:22But those two are ahead.
05:23Nico and Anderson are ahead, which is a sign of what C.J. Stroud has been the last two years.
05:28I think it's fair if your attitude towards C.J. Stroud is, I'm out until you show me I should
05:34be in.
05:35Yeah, and I hope he does, by the way.
05:37Because, I mean, look, his rookie year, he was phenomenal.
05:39The last two years have had their question marks.
05:43Not all of it is on him.
05:45Some of it is on him.
05:46I mean, he had a good first half last season, then he had that concussion.
05:49Yeah, some of it is on him.
05:51Is it okay?
05:52And no touchdowns.
05:54You know, you've got to have, you've got to show that you can take those steps forward that haven't been
06:00made.
06:02Is the talent there?
06:03I think the talent is there.
06:04I don't think anybody would say the talent isn't there.
06:08But having talent alone is not enough to say that you're a Super Bowl-level quarterback.
06:15So, I'm with you on that.
06:17And no, I don't want to see Davis Mills playing against the Ravens.
06:20That was a crazy few weeks.
06:22They were lucky to win all those games.
06:24That whole conversation about Mills, that was crazy.
06:27It was an unserious conversation.
06:28I'll admit, I threw gasoline on the fire because I thought it was funny.
06:32And I was like, well, Paul trolling listeners.
06:35I want to, that is crazy, Paul.
06:37I would never think you would do that.
06:38I want a quarterback who looks like me.
06:40I don't see many quarterbacks who look like me anymore.
06:43They're not letting me play corner anymore either.
06:46I can't play corner or quarterback.
06:48I thought this was America.
06:49It's a different country now, that's for sure.
06:51Different country.
06:53For me, guys that they really can't replace right now, Dalton Schultz.
07:01If Dalton Schultz goes down, we might as well just make all the tight ends offensive linemen.
07:07Because I don't know that they've got anybody right now that you could say you trust 100%.
07:13So, go get yourself first down.
07:15Well, Brevin's got to stay healthy.
07:17He won't.
07:17He won't make the team.
07:19I would be surprised if he makes the team.
07:20I feel for Brevin Jordan because he is a good ability.
07:27I don't know how much he still has, but had a ton of ability, suffered a brutal injury,
07:32worked his ass off to come back, and then suffered another brutal injury.
07:37Yeah, it's rough.
07:39I don't know how much he has.
07:41And that's just the cruelty of the NFL sometimes.
07:44Everyone's rooting for him.
07:46Very nice guy.
07:48He seems to be beloved in the locker room, but it's hard to imagine a guy that has his kind
07:54of athleticism
07:55when he's at a peak of his health after suffering two injuries the last time he stepped foot on a
07:59football field.
08:00There wasn't even a break in between.
08:01It was so quick that happened last year.
08:03Yeah, I'm not seeing it.
08:05It's really like after Dalton Schultz, it's the guy you brought in in Foster Moreau.
08:08But you're right.
08:08That's a block or more, I think, than a receiver that you're going to be relying on.
08:12And we have no idea what to make of Marlon Klein, who is extremely raw and who's been, I guess,
08:18dinged up with a hamstring issue at practice.
08:20So, for me, Schultz is one.
08:23I'm 100% with you on Nico Collins.
08:25When Nico's out, the offense is not the offense.
08:29Yeah.
08:31David Montgomery, this is the guy they brought in to be the hammer in their run game.
08:39And we saw what happened to this team without Joe Mixon, who was the whole run game.
08:45I mean, his job was to literally make the chicken salad out of the chicken poopies.
08:51And without him, they really struggled to run the ball with any kind of consistency.
08:56Well, what happens if, God forbid, David Montgomery gets hurt?
09:02You're right back to where you were last year, which is going to be very inconsistent.
09:07I thought Woody Marks did a solid job, but he also got banged up every single game.
09:13And ultimately, that manifested itself in the divisional round against the Patriots when his arm hurt so bad he put
09:19it on the carpet for the first time.
09:20I think he's a third down running back and a returner.
09:23And I think that's really what they envisioned him, was a change of pace back.
09:28Yeah, they didn't think Mixon was going to die or whatever the hell happened to him.
09:32You know, Jowar Jordan has talent, but man, he's been here two years.
09:37The dude never stays healthy.
09:39That was a miracle performance that he had that 100-yard game.
09:42Nothing against him.
09:43I don't look at him as, you know, with his size, it's just tough to be that kind of guy.
09:48Just being a hater over here.
09:49He's a practice squad running back.
09:51You've got to be healthy.
09:52If you're going to be 190 pounds, you're not an every down back because you're going to die.
09:58And that's what happens is he, unfortunately, his body gives out because you can't get hit by huge human beings
10:07and stay healthy when you're that small.
10:11There's no Nick Chubb this year.
10:14There's no Dario Gunbowale this year.
10:17Nick Chubb is, let's face it, sad, but Nick Chubb is washed.
10:21Yeah, for sure.
10:22That was a disappointing year last year for him.
10:24He was such a great player when he was at his full health.
10:27I mean, just always breaking through tackles, averaging like five yards a carry, I think, in his career.
10:31But, yeah, bringing it back to what this room is now, if David Montgomery gets hurt or if Woody Marks
10:39gets hurt as well, you do have some real questions again.
10:42But I feel better about this room once I figured out that no one knows what's up with Joe Mixon,
10:48which was about a year ago.
10:51Joe Mixon, how familiar are you with the story of Kerry Von Erick?
10:58Not at all.
10:59So, Kerry Von Erick, part of the Von Erick family in wrestling, the Dallas Sportatorium, WCCW, he finally won the
11:06NWA title from Ric Flair and then had a motorcycle accident and lost half his foot.
11:11Oh, did he still fight after that?
11:13He did.
11:14It took him a while.
11:15He was like a pirate?
11:15He learned how to wrestle with a prosthetic in his boot and he would never take his boots off.
11:24So, you know, did Joe Mixon somehow, like, lose part of his foot and couldn't find a prosthetic that was
11:33comfortable enough for him to be able to make cuts and run?
11:36And the Texans added to the speculation by being so damn defensive and angry whenever anyone else, you just did
11:41it for the clickbait.
11:42No, we're curious.
11:43And the way that you guys are dodging the question is just making us more curious.
11:48You're Streisand affecting yourself.
11:50What do you think is going to happen?
11:53Yeah, well, HIPAA violation, bro.
11:56The great mystery of whatever happened to Joe Mixon is kind of sad because Mixon showed you he still had
12:04a lot left in the tank.
12:05He was so good in 24.
12:07There was no one blocking for him and he was still a 1,000-yard rusher.
12:11If they were cutback lanes, he was awesome.
12:13If the defense stayed in their lanes and there were no cutback lanes, he struggled because Texas offensive line couldn't
12:20block anybody.
12:21Yeah.
12:21So, yeah, but that's a guy who often made something out of him.
12:26So, it sucked.
12:28And I feel bad for Joe Mixon that that's kind of how his career is going to end.
12:36But it looks like his career is going to end.
12:38And it sucks.
12:39And if they brought in Dave Montgomery to be the replacement, if he gets hurt, well, you're right back where
12:46you were.
12:46Yep.
12:47So, yeah.
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