- 2 days ago
ITL reacts to the Texans head coach's final comments before the team breaks for the summer.
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00:00As you guys may or may not know, I've been doing this for quite a while.
00:04I've been following this.
00:05How long has it?
00:06Let's see, when was it?
00:0785 was my first year in the business.
00:1085?
00:1141 years.
00:1384, actually.
00:1484.
00:15I graduated on May 4th and started my first job May 6th.
00:19So you took a weekend?
00:20I took a day.
00:22In 1980, I started in this business.
00:23I've been doing this a long time, so 42 years.
00:25I cannot recall a head coach in the NFL on June 9th at OTAs basically say,
00:35we're going to be a badass team.
00:37That's what jumped out.
00:39If you're listening to him overall, asked about different things,
00:42the overall question, what are your takeaways as you see this team during minicamp,
00:48OTAs and now minicamp?
00:49I feel really good about this team.
00:52We're building a really great team this year.
00:55You don't hear coaches say that.
00:57Well, you hear the kind of like...
00:59The way he said it, we're building a really great team, but then there's more.
01:02Yeah, I think we're building a good team is more generic.
01:06I think you hear that more often.
01:07Yeah, but we're building a great team.
01:08And then later on toward the end, I think the last question, second to last,
01:13just asked about some things that are happening on the defense.
01:16Quote, offenses are going to struggle.
01:19He's not even hiding it anymore.
01:21That wasn't a subsection of the conversation.
01:23That was the answer.
01:24Reed and K-Mac, and it was just like, yeah, offenses are going to struggle.
01:27Period.
01:28End of conversation.
01:30Yes.
01:31I mean, D'Amico, to his credit, you know, I love the...
01:35He ain't wrong.
01:36I love the candor.
01:37I love the fact that I feel like it's saying he's not wrong,
01:40but he's not even hiding it anymore.
01:42You know, a lot of coaches, well, you know, we're in pajamas and, you know,
01:45a lot to learn.
01:46I got a lot of young guys.
01:48Nah, man.
01:48He's out there saying, we're building a really great team this year,
01:51and offenses are going to struggle.
01:52Separately.
01:53But, you know, when you kind of take in the breath of his whole demeanor there,
01:57when he was asked about the team itself, it's like, damn, D'Amico,
02:01now you got us feeling real good as we go into the little quote-unquote
02:06summer break before training camp.
02:08You know the phrase applicable here?
02:11You do what you want when you're popping.
02:13Yeah.
02:14And that defense, buddy, is popping.
02:16And so you can get out here and talk crazy.
02:17And I don't even think it's talking crazy.
02:19It's not crazy.
02:19Because it's like, yeah, D'Amico is going to struggle.
02:20Yeah, buddy.
02:21They are.
02:22They're going to feel the physicality.
02:23They're going to feel the depth of the capabilities.
02:26They're going to feel, you know, Stingley and Kamari Lasseter on them like white on rice.
02:30Like, you are going to struggle when you face this team,
02:33no matter who you are, no matter when you face them.
02:35And I actually appreciate it, you know, because you can just feel like he knows it.
02:41It's not like, hey, we have a chance to be pretty good this year,
02:43you know, which you hear a lot in coach speak, you know, certain terms, et cetera.
02:49He's like basically saying, you know, if you think we're going to be good, we are.
02:52Yeah.
02:53You know, he knows it.
02:54And I do love that because it's also paired with, it's not resting on laurels.
02:59Right.
03:00Because one of the things rather that caught my attention, as I mentioned,
03:03there's a few of them, was he was talking about identity.
03:06I don't remember exactly the question, so apologies for that.
03:08But he started talking about how when he first came to his team,
03:12he wanted to establish a mindset and an identity.
03:14And he says definitively that he has.
03:18Yeah.
03:18Right.
03:18And I don't, there's no way in hell, there's no way you can cut it
03:22in which you can say he's lying in that or that he's incorrect.
03:24Like the identity is so clear, so thorough, so expansive in this company,
03:31in this organization.
03:32And he said, this is going to be the toughest team anytime they suit up,
03:35which is the case.
03:35And then he goes further, and this is my notes, not exactly verbatim,
03:39but he said, as we grow, it's now about how much smarter we can play as a team.
03:43Can we be more elite with our execution?
03:46He said, I've seen better communication.
03:48He said he's seen guys being able to do more, both offense and defense.
03:52Guys are being able to handle more.
03:54Also, the vets and the leaders that he have, he says, at every position,
03:57allows him to step back and see it and fine-tune the details.
04:00And this is the one that made me go,
04:02not every period is a competitive period.
04:05It's more of a mental check.
04:06And I found this to be fascinating,
04:09because it almost slightly undercuts some of the conversations
04:12or some of the things that they've said,
04:13where it's just like, it's all competition.
04:14It's all iron sharpens iron.
04:16And I don't know if that's necessarily what he was trying to say,
04:18but the idea that now it's no longer sledgehammer,
04:21now it's a little more scalpel.
04:22It's a little bit more,
04:23we need to be very intentional about the ways that we continue to try
04:26and make up that final leg of the trip that we're making.
04:29It's not just the larger portion of the trek towards being a Super Bowl contender.
04:34Now it's the fine-tuning,
04:35and it seems like he's going with that intentionality
04:38that you kind of hope from D'Amico Ryan.
04:41Yeah, no, and I think that ties in with that confidence,
04:45but I think it's also that certainty that he feels with this team.
04:48As I wrote it down, he said,
04:50when I first came here,
04:51it was really to establish a mindset and identity.
04:54As you've seen the last three years,
04:56we've built that identity.
04:58It's more so now,
04:59how much smarter can we be?
05:01Can we truly be tied together?
05:03And that's what I've seen.
05:04We need to keep fine-tuning.
05:06That ties in with the whole sort of feel
05:10of this sort of walk away until we meet again at training camp
05:15availability with D'Amico Ryans.
05:18You should be excited.
05:19You should be excited.
05:20The head coach, normally relatively reserved.
05:24I mean, he doesn't really spill a lot of candy in the lobby.
05:28You know, he kind of keeps it just mixing two metaphors there.
05:35But, and he's out there saying,
05:37nah, I'm feeling really, really good.
05:39We could be great.
05:40The offenses need to be scared.
05:41We're just fine-tuning.
05:43Yeah.
05:44That's impressive.
05:45That should give you a lot of confidence.
05:46Can I ask, because you're taking all this from the context of bravado,
05:50which I think is earned,
05:51and I think that you definitely can see,
05:53how much of that felt like a change in approach,
05:58and maybe not change isn't the right word,
05:59but a modification in an approach?
06:01Because I definitely heard something in there.
06:04Because I think there's been conversations and questions about,
06:07in a roundabout way.
06:08I'm going to oversimplify this,
06:10and so I'm giving you the disclaimer on the front end.
06:12People could sometimes talk about D'Amico Ryans like he's a meathead.
06:15People could sometimes talk about,
06:17it's just sledgehammer,
06:18like we're just doing physicality,
06:19and that sometimes the finer details of coaching
06:22and of this football thing might escape him
06:24or elude him at times.
06:25And this sounded like a coach who is very intentional about,
06:30hey, not just the execution,
06:32but the communication,
06:33like the littler things that maybe at times
06:35people could look at D'Amico Ryans
06:37and try to claim that he did not have.
06:38Yeah.
06:39No, you're right.
06:40I think you're absolutely right on that.
06:42But I also feel the confidence that he exudes there
06:47is part of the identity as well.
06:50He's been telling these guys to be able to believe in each other,
06:54to lean on each other,
06:55to be able to have that culture,
06:57to be swarmy.
06:58And I think he feels it now.
07:00He sees it on a day-to-day basis.
07:02And there was another comment that he said
07:04that I think kind of alluded to that as well
07:07when he was talking about the linebackers.
07:10He was talking about the linebackers of all things.
07:12And he said, those are my babies,
07:14some of the smartest rookies that we've had.
07:17I'm always close to those linebackers.
07:20And then he went on to just –
07:21I think what he's basically saying is like,
07:23we're looking at our team,
07:26and I see a lot of proven commodities.
07:29I see a lot of confidence.
07:31I see a team that is ready to go play.
07:33He was talking about Jamal Hill a lot.
07:36I found that interesting because that was the only player
07:38that he identified in that linebacker room specifically.
07:42Shout out to B. Scott again for asking a question
07:44that brought up something that we found to be interesting.
07:46But he talked about the linebacker room.
07:48And I thought B. Scott left it pretty wide open.
07:51He's just, what can you tell us about the linebacker room,
07:53in essence?
07:54And so I was very intrigued to see where D'Amico Ryans
07:56would take it.
07:57And he did not take the opportunity to pump them up too much.
08:01Well, I guess he kind of did.
08:02But he didn't feel like he was blowing smoke, right?
08:05He says the room is competitive,
08:06which makes it sound like,
08:07hey, man, they're playing amongst each other.
08:10I don't know exactly that there's like,
08:11hey, these guys are all incredible.
08:13But he's talking about how there's a lot of young players
08:16who could play, a lot of great athletes,
08:18which I took note of, right?
08:19Because that feels like a distinct style conversation.
08:23And then he went to talk about Jamal Hill,
08:25who is probably one of the greater athletes in that room,
08:28at least according to him.
08:29And he went as far as talking about pouring into him,
08:32not just to do special team stuff,
08:34but then to play on first, second, and third downs,
08:36which makes me feel like Jamal Hill might have the leg up
08:39to be the EJ speed replacement,
08:41to be that third linebacker that comes in in base circumstances,
08:44or is the next man up when it comes to Henry Toa Toa
08:47and Aziz Alshayar.
08:48Yeah, no, I think you should.
08:49And then there was one more thing.
08:50I kind of raised the eyebrow and said,
08:52yeah, we could probably see this coming.
08:55When he was asked about the tight ends,
08:57you know, I think it's getting more and more obvious.
08:59This is going to be a big, big part of the,
09:05maybe bigger than it's ever been.
09:06Yes.
09:07In the D'Amico Ryan's era and the two coordinators that he's had,
09:11because he was talking about Kaylee wants all the tight ends now.
09:14That felt like a joke.
09:15That felt like he was making a joke on the front end.
09:17But, I mean, with every joke, there's a grain of truth.
09:20It's funny because it's true, as people like to say.
09:24And he was talking about the matchup problems and 12 and 13 personnel
09:29and, you know, more of a pass threat.
09:30And when you're matching up, are you going to have, you know,
09:33what personnel are you going to have there?
09:35It's going to be, you know, straight up, nickel, dime, the chess match,
09:38you know, the percentages skyrocketing.
09:40He mentioned all these things.
09:42I've been kind of leaning this way.
09:44I've said it a couple of times on this show.
09:45I think they're going to be out there a lot with multiple tight ends.
09:49A lot.
09:50Yeah, I think that it's very plausible just because that's kind of where
09:54the forefront is when it comes to offensive things in the league.
09:58And one of the things that we've talked about is when you're talking about
10:01schematics, in theory, what you're trying to do is force the opposition
10:05into certain places to then be in a place where you can take advantage of it.
10:10And tight ends is one of those places D'Amico Ryan was laying out
10:13in a pretty generic way, right?
10:14Like you use multiple tight ends.
10:16The idea is you can kind of force heavier personnel.
10:18And then if you have not just tight ends that are out there just as additional
10:22smaller tackles, but if they're out there and they pose actual threats,
10:26catching the football as well as blocking, you put the defense in a basket where
10:31we have to get dudes that are big and physical enough to handle the physicality
10:34that your tight end brings.
10:35But then are they capable of also going out there and covering the tight ends
10:38when they go out there?
10:39And the thing that I will point to within that answer that felt like it supports
10:43what you're talking about is the idea of him talking about the versatility
10:46and depth that they have at tight end.
10:47Because we've talked about this.
10:48Another joke.
10:49Another joke that he, you know, quote-unquote joke that he said,
10:52because there's a lot of truth to it.
10:54He goes, hell, last year we had to put offensive linemen out there.
10:56Yeah, jumbo.
10:57And he's like, well, now we're able to disguise the personnel.
11:02So I could easily see.
11:03In fact, I expect.
11:04Flat out expect.
11:06Multiple tight ends used a lot.
11:07Yeah, I think I do as well.
11:09And it was in talking about the versatility that they have and the styles that they had
11:12that I was thinking, how does this stack up when we talked about it?
11:15I don't know, earlier in the week, the idea of Dalton Schultz clearly being the guy
11:19that he is, right, being at the top of the totem pole there or bottom,
11:22depending on what the hierarchy actually is when it comes to totem poles.
11:25That's neither here nor there.
11:27But Dalton Schultz, Foster Moreau clearly has value here because, again, the style, right?
11:31This is a dude that clearly can block and can do enough catching the football
11:34that he creates those mismatches or he creates those points of tension for defenses
11:38that we're discussing.
11:40Then you get Brevin Jordan, who clearly is just an athlete, right?
11:43Three syllables, athlete.
11:45And that's another part of the versatility.
11:47And then that made me go, oh, you have three of those guys.
11:49Where does Marlon Klein then fit in is the question that I ask myself.
11:53But that's for later.
11:54I imagine that that's something that hopefully we get some answers to in training camp.
11:58But, yeah, I'm very intrigued with that.
12:00But if you'll allow me to go back one more time.
12:02The idea that he kept talking about being smart, is that something, nothing, or everything?
12:07Because I keep coming back to that and I go, what does that mean for him, right?
12:12Is that smart in we're doing our jobs really well and we're attending to the details?
12:17Or is this more of a high-minded, we want to be a higher elevated schematic team?
12:22No, I think it's a reflection of how far they've come.
12:27Because he talked a lot about, hey, we're just trying to establish this thing
12:30and now we're fine-tuning and being smarter and helping each other.
12:36I think it's just another reflection of they feel like they're there physically.
12:41They've proved a lot.
12:43And now they just have to kind of fine-tune everything.
12:45I think that's what it is.
12:46Maybe so.
12:47That's the thing that I'm very intrigued about.
12:49And hopefully we'll get to see it play out as they get more and more opportunities,
12:53whether it's camp or, sorry, mini-camp, and then training camp,
12:57when you actually get to put pads on, get bodies against bodies, 11-on-11,
13:02and you get other teams in to try and apply your trade against as well.
13:06I'm very excited for that.
13:07A lot, a lot of things that D'Amico Ryan has talked about in the final time
13:11that we will have an opportunity to hear from him until we get to training camp here.
13:15And what is it, like a month, a month and a half?
13:16Yeah, probably close to six weeks.
13:18Are we going to get through the World Cup and then training camp?
13:21I'm guessing it'll be the third week of July.
13:23Yeah, because they have not officially officially said it yet.
13:26Yeah, that's okay.
13:27We're waiting to hear.
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