- 14 hours ago
Seth and B-Scott discuss how intrigued they are with how the Texans may use their respective Tight Ends, if we might see a breakout season from a younger lesser-known Linebacker, and how much they should care if Keylan Rutledge is getting 1st-team reps at Center.
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00:01Texans head coach D'Amico Ryan spoke yesterday.
00:04It might be the last time that we hear from him before training camp.
00:07I don't know. I'm going to actually go there once we wrap up here at 10 o'clock.
00:11I'm going to go over to NRG and see who is talking and see what we can hear.
00:16But it looks like this is going to be the last time we hear from himself until training camp.
00:19Yeah, that's what they say.
00:20I believe one of the Texans releases said that, that this will be his last appearance.
00:24I would imagine he'll show up on a podcast somewhere, you know, just an interview with Rich Eisen or something
00:30at some point.
00:31But other than that, this will be the last time we hear from him officially, I'm guessing.
00:35Yeah, definitely the last time that we get an open media availability.
00:38Now, you might catch him in an exclusive interview somewhere, whether it's a podcast or network or whatever it may
00:45be.
00:45But we got a chance to hear from him.
00:47And one of the things that I'm really intrigued to watch from the Texans this year, Seth,
00:51and we were talking a little bit a while ago about explosive plays and where they're going to come from
00:56for the Texans.
00:58I'm really intrigued to see how the Texans are going to use their tight ends this season,
01:04especially if Brevin Jordan is actually going to be healthy this year.
01:08Foster Moreau, who I think is an underrated signing for the Texans.
01:13And if he adds something to the room, that'll be great.
01:16You get a healthy Kate Stover, perhaps.
01:18Right.
01:18We'll see how that works out.
01:20I'm not really ready to give up on him either yet.
01:23And all of a sudden, like, the tight end room feels a little bit different.
01:28Of course, their offensive coordinator, Nick Cayley, is a former tight ends coach.
01:32This is an effective Patriots offense that they're running.
01:35Newsflash, tight ends in the Patriots offense have been prolific in the past.
01:40Now, those specific tight ends that they had were different.
01:43But also, he's coming from, Cayley's coming from the Rams, where they led the league by a wide margin last
01:49year,
01:49and how often they have three tight ends out on the field.
01:51Very, very, very good point.
01:53And so, with all of that in mind, D'Amico Ryans was asked what challenges the Texans' tight ends might
02:00present to a defense,
02:01and really just an overall philosophical question about tight ends and the challenges for a defensive coach in facing different
02:09tight ends that can do different things.
02:10Cayley wants all the tight ends out, right?
02:12Put four of them out there.
02:14Now, the tight ends pose a matchup problem.
02:18And it's not just because it's the tight end.
02:20It's how the tight ends have evolved in our game.
02:23Now, you got more pass threat tight ends than we've had in the past.
02:27In 2006, hey, you put four tight ends on the field, and it's just, it's goal line.
02:32You're not doing that now.
02:34Now, you have guys who are true receiving threats.
02:36So, when you have that, are you matching up in base personnel?
02:39Are you matching up in nickel, dime personnel?
02:42Well, it really depends on who that tight end is, right?
02:45And you match up accordingly.
02:47So, it's a chess match when you're going against defenses and you put 13 personnel out on the field.
02:54Like, having the ability to throw the ball in personnel, those percentages have, I mean, skyrocketed over the past 10
03:01years.
03:02So, just having that flexibility by an offensive coordinator to have tight ends that we can put out.
03:07And not just, last year we put a lot of extra O-linemen packages out on the field.
03:13You kind of throw your hand easier when you have the extra O-linemen.
03:16So, now, having the versatility and the depth of the group that we have now should open up a ton
03:22more options for us when it comes to being able to disguise some personnel.
03:26Yeah, man, Seth, I'm just out there watching Brevin Jordan run around, watching him be healthy, and I'm just crossing
03:32my fingers on both hands.
03:34Like, man, just stay healthy.
03:36I don't think Brevin Jordan is the key between the Texans being what they are and going to the Super
03:41Bowl necessarily, but they absolutely have to be more dynamic at that position.
03:46You know, Brevin Jordan has had some really huge moments, and they get emblazoned in people's memory.
03:52But I think if you ask the average person that gets really excited about Brevin Jordan or wishes it, you
03:59know, like, boy, I wish he could stay healthy.
04:01Because, man, like, if you ask him what do you think the high he's had, the most receiving yards he's
04:07had in a season is,
04:08I'm guessing they think it's something more than 219 yards, which is what it was in 2023.
04:14Yeah.
04:14So, but we all see and know and understand what he could do.
04:18I think the intrigue about Brevin Jordan isn't as much about what his total production might end up being.
04:24It's that we've seen games like the Cleveland game or wherever in the past where it's just that one big
04:28play by Brevin Jordan makes a big difference.
04:30But when D'Amico's talking there about how you create matchup issues for a defense, in the past, you know,
04:37the way defenses operate,
04:38you hear, okay, they've got such and such personnel on the field, the offense has this personnel on the field,
04:44we've got to get either our nickel or our base or our dime out on the field.
04:48If you've got four or five tight ends in your 13 personnel, 13 is where you've got three tight ends
04:57out on the field,
04:57then all of a sudden it's that, okay, well, they've got three tight ends on the field, but which tight
05:02ends?
05:03And is this more of a, do they have more receiving tight ends out there, or do they have more
05:07run-blocking tight ends out there?
05:09And it just creates that much more complexity that defenses have to adjust to.
05:14And that's the exciting part about it.
05:16The things that you can do to put defenses in a bind, in theory, is really, really good.
05:22But then it's a matter of, okay, it's not just a numbers game.
05:24You've got to actually have, you've got to have actually viable tight ends who can play good football.
05:30Yeah, D'Amico's talking about there how whether you line up in your base package, nickel or dime,
05:36is going to depend on who the tight ends actually are that are out there,
05:40like which tight ends are you lining up against.
05:42And so that's part of the chess game.
05:45But one of the observations that I had at practice,
05:48and this is one that I think that I can share, I'm pretty sure that I can share,
05:52they're just, you know, they're running a play, and they line up.
05:55This is a small thing, right?
05:56And I can't remember if there was another tight end, so it could have been 12, it could have been
06:0013.
06:01But I'm watching Cade Stover and Brevin Jordan line up next to each other in what was a run play.
06:08And I'm like, it just kind of occurred to me, Seth,
06:10and I feel like y'all talked about this too with the jumbo package,
06:14something that we've been talking about since last year,
06:16how heavy they were with the jumbo package.
06:17With the six offensive linemen, yeah.
06:19With the six offensive linemen, and that they were still not good at run blocking,
06:23even with the six offensive linemen out there.
06:25Like think about how almost how you almost have to do that on purpose,
06:30of putting out a six offensive linemen and not being able to run block,
06:35which is really kind of slightly embarrassing.
06:37It was a less worse solution to an issue they had, which is they couldn't get movement.
06:43You know, you go back to the Patriots like a decade ago,
06:48and they played with six offensive linemen a lot, but it was when they did it,
06:52they were just steamrolling people.
06:54You know, that's when you actually get excited about a jumbo offensive line.
06:59But that's not what it was last year.
07:01It was an imperfect solution.
07:02And, yeah, Kaylee brought up living in the jumbo world last year.
07:06He didn't say it in a way where he was like, yeah, we were thriving in the jumbo world last
07:11year.
07:12It was, eh, we're in the jumbo world.
07:13When they throw out a six offensive lineman, the response from the fan base is supposed to be,
07:19oh, man, we're about to run some people over.
07:21We're about to mash them.
07:23And instead, for Texans fans, it was understanding that, oh, they're doing this to survive.
07:29Like this is not to punish the other team.
07:32This is a survival tactic by your team.
07:35So to go from that, and we'll see, I'm not saying that Revan Jordan and Caged Over lined up next
07:41to each other
07:42means that it's going to be great for the run game necessarily.
07:46The rest of the league isn't peeing their pants when they hear that.
07:48No, no, no, not at all.
07:49But it did, at least in real time watching it, give me some insight into what perhaps their intentions are.
07:58Oh, yeah, no, I mean, you're not giving anything away.
08:01You know, they've done that before.
08:02They just haven't been effective with it.
08:04They haven't been effective with it.
08:05But also now with just the added piece of Revan Jordan, now it's not so obvious what the play is
08:12going to be.
08:13They might run it.
08:14They might pass it.
08:15They probably should pass it if Revan Jordan is lined up in there.
08:19Right, and then that's where the defense has nickel on the field.
08:23And the nice thing as an offense is you get to see, so you're the offense, you roll out with
08:27three tight ends,
08:28the defense has to match up, and they're either going to keep an extra linebacker on the field
08:33or they're going to go to nickel and have extra defensive backs on the field.
08:36But then you as an offense get to say, oh, okay, so you're loaded up to stop the pass,
08:40and we check into a run play or vice versa.
08:43So that's the, in theory, and the Rams did it with great effect, that's what you want to have.
08:49The Rams last year had four, on average when they were healthy, they had four tight ends active on game
08:55day.
08:56So that's where you get to throw in those wrinkles of, you know, Revan Jordan's active.
09:01You might only get a few snaps, but if you throw them out there in 13 personnel every now and
09:07then,
09:07but then other times maybe you've got more of a run-blocking type of group of tight ends.
09:11It gives you a lot of options.
09:12The Texans admittedly are still figuring out what having all of these tight ends means
09:19and what they can actually do with those tight ends.
09:22Dalton Schultz was asked about that yesterday.
09:24This is what he had to say.
09:25It's a good question.
09:27We're not quite there yet.
09:29Like, we'll see when the rains kind of come off of everybody.
09:32But, yeah, I'm excited.
09:33We have a very well-rounded room and a bunch of guys that do a lot of different stuff really
09:37well.
09:38I think, you know, Foster's been a great addition for us, like, just kind of bringing the energy, the juice.
09:43He's like a classic Louisiana kid chirping, like, everything all the time.
09:46And, like, we need that, especially on offense.
09:48Like, we need that sort of thing.
09:50So, yeah, I think our room has come together nicely and we'll kind of work and to get better
09:55and show, you know, that we can contribute in many different ways in this offense.
09:58Seth, aside from just the bodies, they didn't really have the bodies in that room last year,
10:03I like hearing that the room's going to have a little bit of juice.
10:06Like, Brevin Jordan, of course, brings that, has a wonderful personality, always smiling,
10:11always having a good time.
10:12And then Foster Moreau apparently is bringing in that Louisiana energy.
10:15The Texans put out a clip yesterday where they had somebody filming from the sideline,
10:21one of the Texans' media people, and Nico Collins caught a nice pass.
10:26And then from out of nowhere, Foster Moreau, you hear Foster Moreau,
10:30and he comes into the screen and he says, put that in your bleeping video.
10:35So I didn't know exactly what Dalton Schultz was talking about when he said he was chirping and everything.
10:41And then the Texans delivered that nice little example of him chirping.
10:45Yeah, a little chirpiness.
10:47That's funny because he presents in interviews like a 45-year-old GM.
10:53I wouldn't have expected that out of him.
10:54And his name's Foster.
10:56Like, not to name shame or anything.
10:59I ain't got nothing against his name being.
11:00But you're not expecting somebody named Foster.
11:03Like, you're expecting somebody named Foster to be, like, presidential or, like, stately.
11:08I don't know, like, from the B, I don't know, from the, feel like a, an eighth.
11:13Foster Moreau.
11:14My family lived in this town for seven generations.
11:18Exactly.
11:19Like a 19th century legislator or something like that.
11:22I don't know.
11:22Foster Moreau.
11:23I'm not so sure.
11:24I just, I don't approve of your tactics.
11:27Yeah.
11:29No, you're right.
11:29That's a really, really good point.
11:31Yeah.
11:31I love it.
11:32Another thing that's kind of a nerve in practice yesterday, early on in some of the position drills,
11:39I saw D'Amico Ryans, of course, as you know, former teammate of yours, linebacker fame here with the Texans,
11:47has a heart for linebackers, right?
11:49Was a linebacker himself, linebacker coach.
11:51So, of course, he's pulling Jamal Hill aside and giving him some tidbits.
11:56Looks like he was taking some, giving him some notes on technique and some things like that.
12:01And it made me think, we could really get, potentially, a break.
12:06That's what this part of the season is for, right?
12:08When you're in the offseason, you're in minicamp, you're waiting for training camp.
12:11But I do believe this.
12:13We could get a breakout season from a lesser-known linebacker, I think, this season.
12:19And when I say breakout, I don't mean that he's going to be a pro bowler or an all-pro.
12:23I'm just talking about maybe someone that we're discussing differently a year from now.
12:30Go back to Christian Harris and midway through his first year with D'Amico,
12:35all of a sudden things just clicked for him.
12:37And he had already showed a lot of promise.
12:41But midway through that first season with D'Amico, he really took off.
12:45And then he had a mysterious lower leg injury, and we've barely seen him since.
12:50Yeah, that'll be one of the great mysteries in, I say great mysteries,
12:56it'll be actually a deep-cut mystery now in hindsight,
12:59since Christian Harris turned out to be, at least for the Texans, more of a flash in the pan.
13:05But that'll be a deep cut of like, remember when Christian Harris was really good
13:09and it looked like he was like on a pro bowl trajectory perhaps,
13:14just completely fell off the map, completely fell off the map.
13:17That'll be a classic deep cut, what if this guy turned out to be what he looked like he was
13:23going to be.
13:23It's almost like it's a different flavor, but kind of the same category as Kamu Grugier-Hill.
13:29Where there was, you know, Kamu Grugier-Hill was, he would show up and he would show flashes
13:35and he was on a bad team at the time, but you thought like,
13:37oh, there really might be something with this guy.
13:40Undersized, fast.
13:40He's had himself a career and everything, but it was just classic, okay,
13:44he had some flashy plays on a really miserable football team,
13:48so he overvalued exactly maybe what his potential was.
13:51Yeah, I never thought about that comparison, but you're talking about an undersized, speedy linebacker
13:56who did have some moments, but ultimately, and the issue really with Christian Harris
14:02turned out to be injury more than anything.
14:04Yeah, yeah, yeah, because he wasn't, I mean, he was prototype in a lot of ways.
14:07It was just, he just couldn't run anymore.
14:09But I just think it's set up perfectly for it.
14:12You got a season and an injury to a key player at that position in EJ Speed,
14:16and then you got young guys who D'Amico Ryans, I think is clearly interested in coaching
14:23and molding into real players.
14:25I'm not predicting who it's going to be, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone from that room
14:31emerged in a way that we're talking about them differently a year from now.
14:36This was D'Amico Ryans when I asked him about just what his observations are in that linebacker
14:41room where he's going to need somebody to step up in a way.
14:44The linebacker group is a really competitive room, probably the most competitive it's been
14:49in a while.
14:50We have a lot of young players, which I like, a lot of young players in that room.
14:54They cannot play.
14:55That's the exciting part about it.
14:56A lot of great athletes in that position.
14:58Jamal is one of those guys.
15:00He's shined and flashed a couple plays on special teams for us last year.
15:04I remember a play versus the Cardinals, one of our special teams' goals was to go take
15:09the football away.
15:10And Jamal goes down, first play of kickoff, first play of the game, and he puts his hat
15:15on the football.
15:15We get a huge turnover.
15:17He really set the tone for us.
15:18And just still pouring into him to not only get it done on the special teams aspect, but
15:24also grow as a player to where, man, can you go out and play true first, second, third
15:30down for us, and he's growing, he's gotten better.
15:33Being a safety who's converted to the linebacker position, he's done a really good job of that.
15:38So the more I can pour into those guys, I'm always close to those linebackers.
15:43Those are my babies.
15:44I love working with the linebackers, and they're a fun group.
15:48They're a really, really smart group.
15:50So I would say Coach Billy Davis has done an outstanding job of working with those guys
15:54to get them caught up to speed.
15:56Our rookies are probably some of the smartest rookies that I've had the chance to work with.
16:00So that's encouraging to me.
16:02It's just an intriguing group to me, Seth.
16:04You got Jamal Hill, who we're referencing there.
16:07Wade Woodass, who is one of the rookies that they've brought in.
16:11I don't know if there's a linebacker that intrigues you the most, but I'm intrigued by the room
16:15overall.
16:16I really, Marte Mapu, and I've talked about him a bunch, who the Texans traded for early
16:20in the offseason with the Patriots.
16:23Like, when you see him, you notice him.
16:25He's kind of like him and Wade Woodass are the guys that just physically stand out.
16:29They're just long and rangy, and they can go sideline to sideline to jump out at you.
16:35Jamal Hill is interesting because I think he's, I don't know if he's as rangy as those two
16:41guys I just mentioned, but he's more of a thumper.
16:43Like, I could see D'Amico having an affection for Jamal Hill because you might see a little
16:49bit of himself in him.
16:50That, okay, there's a guy that he's kind of old school, and if he can come up and just
16:55take on guards and everything, that you can see the potential for him.
16:58But they do, like Aiden Fisher, we don't even really talk about Aiden Fisher because he's
17:03a seventh-round draft pick, but he's also one of the best players on a national championship
17:07defense and one of the best defenses in college football last year.
17:10Who could be the classic, all right, doesn't, he's not fast, but he's just got instincts and
17:16football IQ and all that other stuff.
17:18And, yeah, and D'Amico calling it the most competitive room that he's ever had, I agree
17:24with him.
17:24I don't, I think there have been times in the last few years where I felt like, you know,
17:28including last year, even though Jamal Hill was on the roster, I felt like, all right,
17:33boy, man, if EJ Speed and Henry Toa Toa were injured, they're going to be in something
17:39deep here.
17:40Even with Aziz Elshire out there, I don't know exactly how they'll handle it if they've
17:46only got Aziz and no other linebackers out there.
17:48And we saw, like we saw in the Raiders game, it wasn't so pretty when Aziz was out of there.
17:53It was, that was, that was Henry Toa Toa's worst game of the season probably last year.
17:58They didn't do, they didn't do a good job versus the Raiders rushing attack.
18:02So that part of it, I'm pretty optimistic about.
18:05Even though I wish EJ Speed were healthy, obviously.
18:08They're as well-suited to fill in that gap, and especially with a competition, that some,
18:16a couple of those guys will rise to, rise to the top.
18:19Yeah, Jamal Hill, old school in the sense that he's a thumper, as you mentioned, but
18:25also a new school linebacker in the sense of being a converted safety.
18:30Yeah, yeah.
18:31Because you like, you like that, the athleticism and the ranginess that he would show being
18:36converted as a safety, but also having, I guess, the mentality and the, the thumper profile
18:42of a linebacker, it seems to fit perfectly in that way.
18:45And I sort of say that with, I don't know whether his measurables were or anything, like
18:49his combine stats, but he doesn't, he doesn't move the same way that some of those other
18:56guys do move athletically.
18:57I was kind of shocked to see that he had been a safety.
18:59I know he's probably a lot lighter when he came into college, and I can see why they
19:04moved him to linebacker.
19:05But I know, but he does have, like, he's got a real willingness and an appetite for the
19:10physical part of the game.
19:11He only played a few snaps last year, so it was a real quick film study on him from last
19:15year.
19:15But he was, he was trying to get involved in every single pile there was, you know,
19:20he was, he was sticking his nose in there and really going after it.
19:23So I think that's the part that D'Amico probably appreciates.
19:26Yeah, and Wade Woodass, man, look, the guy looks like a shot blocker out there.
19:31I mean, he is, he is a couple of workouts.
19:34I was talking with Mark Vandermeer about this, kind of on the sidelines, just, man, that guy
19:39is a couple of workouts away from being a defensive lineman, a defensive end, potentially.
19:44Like, he's, because he's, he's tall, but then shoulder to shoulder, like he just, he just
19:48has the, the build of somebody that could potentially even be a defensive end if he wanted.
19:53When I first hit him, I remember, I had just seen that he was a convert, converted to linebacker
19:57and my first thought was, did he convert from defensive end?
20:00Because that's rare.
20:01It's rare to get, and then if, if you go, I'll send you a couple of his highlight reels
20:06later.
20:07It's funny, because he played at Clemson, so when you're watching him, and you see him
20:14defend, in pass defense, he's, he's wearing this all orange uniform, and it looks like
20:20the old Jim Boeheim Syracuse defenses, where they were just so, like, it was just a sea of
20:27arms and legs and everything, because they were so good with his own defense.
20:31And I think that's exactly what Matt Burke and D'Amico Ryan see in him, is that, man,
20:36he can get into passing lanes, he's got that length.
20:38Matt Burke mentioned length specifically and brought up Marte Mapu and Wade Wood as earlier
20:44this offseason.
20:45And, and he does a really good job of it, for a guy especially that's still kind of raw at
20:50playing linebacker.
20:51So, I think there's, I wouldn't forecast it at this point, but it seems like in terms
20:57of traits, and the fact that Burke referenced, you know, wanting to add length this year,
21:02I think Wood as in Marte Mapu are probably the leaders in the clubhouse right now to replace
21:07EJ Speed, or to maybe compete with Henry Toa Toa.
21:10So, D'Amico Ryan was asked about first round pick Keelan Rutledge, who has been taking some
21:15first team and second team snaps at center at camp so far.
21:20And I want to play this, and then I've got a Keelan Rutledge question for you, Seth, that
21:25I want the audience to get on it, to get in on as well.
21:29This is what D'Amico Ryan's had to say when he was asked about how Keelan Rutledge has
21:34looked so far.
21:34Keelan's done a great job.
21:35Keelan's moved around from, from guard to center.
21:38He's done a great job with both.
21:40A really great communicator as a young player, aggressive, intense.
21:43Just like the tape you saw at Georgia Tech.
21:46So, it's, it's looked great so far, you know, in OTAs.
21:50I'm excited to see him as another guy.
21:51With all the rookies, I'm just excited to see the guys put the pads on in training camp
21:55and truly compete, get the opportunity to play in some preseason games.
21:59Seth, I'm asking you this, and I want the audience to answer the question as well.
22:03How much do you care?
22:05Okay, how much do you truly care right now as we sit here, whether Keelan Rutledge is getting
22:12first team reps at center right now?
22:14Oh, I don't care much about, I really try hard not to read into first and second team
22:19stuff this time of year because it really is just the experimental phase of getting guys
22:26reps as much as possible.
22:27That you're just, you're out there, it's more about, it's, it's, it's completely about getting
22:34the mental part of it and the technique part of it done because you can only do so much.
22:38It's just not that competitive on the interior offensive line.
22:41You kind of, you fit up and then guys just, you kind of just chop your legs after that
22:45because anybody that's trying to bull rush or an offensive lineman's trying to drive block,
22:50you just got to be really careful not to end up, you know, with a pile on the ground.
22:54So I think just the fact that he's getting a bunch of reps at center is what matters.
22:59I don't think they're, they're not, they're not rejiggering the, the depth chart at this
23:04point of the year.
23:05Yeah.
23:05And look, there are notes from Keelan Rutledge at camp or at practice of some of the struggles
23:12that he's having and the depth at length curve.
23:15That's the thing that I want to sort of point out here.
23:18Well, the struggles, the struggles are mostly just about getting the actual snap, right?
23:21Right, right.
23:22Which is obviously very, very important, but the things that he's struggling with are things
23:27that you, I feel like, are supposed to or need to struggle with or, or make your adjustments
23:34to right now.
23:36Like this, that's what messing up is what right now is for, I feel like.
23:40Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:41Get all of that out of your system.
23:43So maybe by the time you get to camp and certainly by the time the season starts, you've sort of
23:47corrected all of these things that ail you.
23:49One of the, one of the biggest things that happens to offensive linemen their first year
23:53in the NFL is immediately they realize, oh, oh wow, I, um, I gotta be way better with my
24:00hands because these defensive linemen are on you and they've got your hands swiped away
24:05before, you know, where you're using your old college technique and you're barely even
24:10getting started and those guys are already, have already kung fu, uh, kung fu fought you
24:14to being an armless football player.
24:17So if you think about playing center especially, it's that much harder when you're facing guys
24:23who are really good with their hands for the first time in your life.
24:26Like the size and speed is one thing, but really it's that you gotta get your hands
24:30going and you're also learning how to play center at the same time.
24:34It's, it's a lot, it's a simple process, but it's a lot and it's gonna be challenging
24:38to anybody that, that is learning how to play center because he didn't, you know, he didn't
24:43do it other than the senior bowl much at all in his career.
24:47Um, that's the part I, I wouldn't worry about right now.
24:50Now if it's like week two or week three of training camp and, and it tells you whether
24:55or not CJ Stroud's gonna get the ball, then you start wondering like, okay, I, okay, even
25:00if he hems it up by the end of training camp, then he's gotta figure it out in the regular
25:05season.
25:05I'd start getting nervous about that.
25:06I don't know if you remember the Pittsburgh game, Brandon, um, when you've got issues
25:11with the, the snap, whether it's the center's fault or the quarterbacks fault or whomever,
25:16it's really, really hard to operate.
25:18Yeah.
25:18It's funny that the center position was so underwhelming last year that we just kind of bypassed
25:26the Pittsburgh game and just like everybody understands that this is the position that
25:31needs to be addressed.
25:32But we don't even, we don't even fixate on that the way we, the way we do say like the
25:36quarterback turning the ball over or even Woody Marks fumbling that football in New England,
25:41right?
25:41It's just like, we just kind of out of sight, out of mind, forgot about it and just said,
25:45Hey, you know what?
25:46They just need to, they just need to replace this.
25:47I think that no, honestly, when I've had conversations with people about the New England game, um, people
25:53completely forget that Woody Marks fumbled the ball.
25:55Like it's almost in their mind, there were four turnovers in that game and it was the
25:59four interceptions.
26:00No, no, no, no.
26:01It was actually worse than that.
26:02They actually turned the ball over five times and on, in a, in a really wet and sloppy football
26:09game, but it's hard enough.
26:10It's really, really hard to win a game when you turn the ball over five times.
26:13Yeah.
26:13If you turn it over five times in a game that's wet and sloppy and cold and nasty, I would,
26:19uh, yeah, I'd love to see the stats on that because it's, you know, it's less than 20%
26:24when, when you turn the ball over five times and I'm going to imagine if it's wet and sloppy
26:28conditions, it's even, it's way worse.
26:30Yeah.
26:30Do that on the road with a lot of your best injured.
26:35Yeah.
26:35That's, that's not a recipe for success at all.
26:39I think the, I think the urgency with Keelan Rutledge and maybe a little bit of the anxiousness
26:45comes from the Texans own aggressiveness to get him and just the, I don't want to call
26:53it a dire need at center, but just an obvious need to upgrade that position.
26:57Like they've addressed everything else, bringing back Ed Ingram, bringing in Braden Smith and
27:02Wyatt Teller, drafting Ariante Ursary last year.
27:06And then you're just looking at this spot in the middle where you're like, you know,
27:10it's been a bit of a, we talk a lot about left guard and we do kind of a catch
27:14all thing
27:15with the interior offensive line, but man, it's really been a turnstile at center ever
27:20since CJ Stroud got here, whether it was Michael Deeter or Drew Scruggs or Jared Patterson or
27:26you know, who you, you name it, Jake Andrews now, like you name it.
27:30It doesn't seem like he's had any kind of consistency or continuity at that position.
27:34And this might be his shot at it.
27:36And the team was aggressive in getting a guy who it looks like they're going to have to
27:40train up a little bit just to get them up to speed.
27:43Him having not played that position at the collegiate level.
27:45And I think first and foremost too, that they, they drafted him probably based on their evaluation
27:51of him as a guard with the hopes that he can play center, but it's not, it's, you know,
27:56Wyatt Teller is only going to be in the league so much longer.
27:59And I think especially for how much you're going to have to pay him.
28:02They'd love to have a guy at some point there, whether it's Keelan Rutledge or somebody,
28:06you know, maybe Keelan Rutledge plays center and they find another replacement.
28:09And like Wyatt Teller is not a long-term, uh, probably not probably going to be a long
28:14guy here.
28:15Maybe he is, but, um, I think the, that goes back to really the, the one thing that still
28:20bothers me about the way they handled CJ's rookie year was that the plan was to have a
28:26rookie second rounder and juice Scruggs snapping the ball to a rookie quarterback.
28:30Who's taking play calls from a rookie offensive coordinator.
28:34It felt, you know why I had flashbacks to, I had flashbacks, and now it's ironic that
28:40that was the most promising year for CJ Stroud, but I had flashbacks to the first year of the
28:44franchise's existence in 2002 when we had a rookie quarterback and five other rookies
28:50starting on offense and a bunch of them on the offensive line.
28:53I can't remember how many rookies started on the offensive line.
28:55It was Chester Pitts who ended up being a really good football player, but he was a rookie and
29:00all these other guys.
29:01It was just, it was, it was not a recipe for success and I, I think again, yeah, you
29:07might end up with a rookie at center, but at least he's a first round rookie that you
29:11could hopefully get some really good play out of.
29:14Yeah.
29:14Well, they played a rookie at left tackle last year and we had a texter ask about Ariante
29:19Ursary.
29:20He mentioned that you guys haven't talked, haven't heard you guys talk much about Ariante
29:24Ursary since OTAs and minicamps started.
29:27Is that a good thing?
29:28Well, I'm glad you asked because D'Amico Ryans was asked about Ariante Ursary and how
29:35he seems to be adjusting in year two.
29:36Here's what the head coach had to say.
29:38Tate has done a really great job of preparing himself this off season.
29:41Year two for him, he's definitely hit it in the weight room pretty hard.
29:45He's, he's, he's playing, he's looking more stronger.
29:48He's playing aggressive.
29:49He's smart, knowing where he needs to be.
29:51It's not new to him.
29:52So you can see a guy who's really calm at what he's asked to do.
29:56He's calm with the position and things that we're asking him to do.
29:58He's doing a really good job of it.
30:00Yeah.
30:00I think it's a, a positive thing where you can go into a season where your left tackle
30:07is, he's a second year guy and he's not really somebody that you feel like you got to talk
30:12a lot about.
30:13Now that's not to say that he was perfect by any stretch.
30:15He definitely had his ups and downs and some rookie moments last year, but I felt like
30:20by the end of it, we came away from it feeling pretty decent about Ariante Ursary as their
30:26left tackle, about Ariante Ursary as their, as a second round pick by them last year.
30:32Where do you stand right now with Ariante Ursary going into year two?
30:37Sean and I have put him in the, the Rockets young core category, which is you got to be
30:43remember that as a, as a reminder that man, he did a lot of good things as rookie year,
30:50but he still was a rookie.
30:51He was a promising rookie.
30:52He didn't play like an established veteran.
30:54And so the, the trajectory is good, but he's got to show that he can do it.
31:00And I think by just the way he conducts himself, the improvements that he made during the year,
31:05all of those things, D'Amico saying that he's gotten stronger in the weight room and his
31:08body composition.
31:09Those are all really, really good signs.
31:10It's just, it's just a more of a reminder to ourselves.
31:13Okay.
31:13Let's not pretend Ariante Ursary was offensive rookie of the year last year or something.
31:17He's got to keep improving.
31:19And I think they've, they've done a good job of identifying guys that are actually going
31:23to work at it and take it seriously.
31:25And all the reports about Ariante Ursary are that, that he's that guy.
31:29And to address the texter's question that, yeah, there's a reason I don't know a lot about
31:35the offensive and defensive linemen and how they're doing it at minicamp, just because you really
31:42can't tell too much.
31:43There's no pads on.
31:46And look, Will Anderson's going to win a bunch of pass reps, whether it's Ariante Ursary or
31:51Laramie Tunsell out there.
31:52So that, that part of it, you kind of wait until training camp and the pads come on.
31:57Yeah.
31:57And that's why Cody Stutes's observation that he put in his notes about Keelan Rutledge and
32:03having some struggles just with snapping the ball.
32:06Well, that's why even that is both interesting and also something that you got to take with
32:11a grain of salt because he's cross training.
32:14He's a rookie.
32:15He's just getting out there.
32:17And this was the first time the full team was out there.
32:21I think you were mentioning this either earlier in the show or during the break, but, you know,
32:25he's getting his first look at Sheldon Rankins and just like the full compliment of what
32:30is the Texans defensive line, but then at the same time, they're not really out there full
32:35goal.
32:37So, you know, all of it within context and with a grain of salt, but even yesterday was
32:42like a glorified walkthrough, man.
32:44I'll tell you what, the really interesting thing will be if Keelan Rutledge is starting
32:49in his first week, okay, he'll have spent a training camp going against some really good
32:54defensive tackles, but the Texans don't usually, unless they change it up a lot this
33:00year, they don't usually have a guy right over the center playing nose tackle, so the
33:04center is uncovered.
33:06They're going to be going against the Bills who are changing their defense this year to
33:10most likely more of a 3-4 where you've got a guy over the center, the center a lot, and
33:16that's a big adjustment for a rookie center because that's where I was talking about earlier
33:19with the hands.
33:20That's where the nose tackle's right on you, and he knows that, you know, he can attack
33:26that snap arm where you're defenseless for a moment really quick, so I hope that Keelan
33:33gets enough experience in practice and in the preseason games going against actual nose
33:38tackles because that's a big adjustment.
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