00:00As we had our radiothon, we had a chance to be joined by Andre Ware.
00:04You know him, University of Houston, a college football Hall of Famer,
00:10Heisman Trophy winner.
00:12I just assume you win the Heisman Trophy, you get into the college football
00:15Hall of Fame.
00:16I would just assume that that would be the case.
00:20That would make sense.
00:20That would be the case.
00:22And obviously played in the NFL and has called all of the Texans game.
00:27Him and Mark Vandermeer holding down every single week.
00:30And that means he has called every single game that C.J. Stroud has played
00:36in every manner.
00:37And we were talking to him about maybe the biggest issue from the first that we
00:45saw of C.J. Stroud to where we are now.
00:47Here was his answer.
00:49I think it's the offensive scheme change.
00:52And with that, I went through three, I think it was three offensive coordinators
00:59in four years when I was in Detroit.
01:02You talk about a young player, that's tough.
01:05And so I think he's experiencing some of that.
01:08Yeah, he's a pro.
01:10Yeah, he should.
01:10But he hadn't been in it long enough to have played in a couple of offenses
01:15where you say, okay, this matches with this.
01:18I think under Slowick, the first two years, they made an effort to get him some
01:26of the stuff that he was comfortable with at Ohio State.
01:29And so we saw arguably his best season his first year there.
01:34And then when you start the changes and the switching of terminology,
01:39it's like starting all over again.
01:41And so it's like starting a job for most listeners where you don't have a lot
01:45of experience in that job and you're kind of learning on the job, so to speak.
01:50And I think that's exactly what he went through last year at times.
01:54There were times even early in the season when the team started rolling
01:57on that nine-game winning streak that he just didn't look himself.
02:01And I think it's the offensive scheme.
02:04And until he gets comfortable in it and until they give him some stuff that he wants,
02:10then the struggle may continue a little while.
02:12All right, a lot said there, Clint, from Andre Ware.
02:17And some of the stuff he said is similar to some of the stuff that you've said.
02:22And both of you guys being in it, playing major college football,
02:27playing in the NFL, starting games, the part that jumped out to me,
02:31and you can go wherever you want to, but the part that he said didn't look like himself.
02:36And you said that all the way from the start of training camp last year.
02:41And my thought is, why did he not look like himself?
02:45Was it because it was a new system?
02:47Because if it was because it's a new system, Clint, to me that's understandable
02:51because, all right, this is your first time in it and you're learning
02:55and then you think you've done a full year in it, now you can feel closer to yourself.
03:00But if it was because of other reasons that are beyond the system change
03:07and him getting used to the system, that's different.
03:11But what you see, do you kind of push that towards, all right,
03:15he wasn't himself the guy that we saw the two previous years.
03:20Do you push that towards this, him learning a brand new system and that was it?
03:24Well, I think that's a big part of it.
03:26Just on the surface, learning a new system means that they hired an offensive coordinator.
03:30Did you agree and like that hire, that move?
03:33Were you part of that decision or not?
03:38Did you not like the guy that went out?
03:41Did you like the guy that went out?
03:42What's the environment in the building around the quarterback?
03:46Is it professional or is it one of these back and forths where behind closed doors,
03:50coaches are undercutting other coaches and coaches are talking about,
03:53well, I would have done this or I would have done that, you know, you don't know how deep
03:57the dysfunction, if you will, around the quarterback actually was in that second half
04:01of C.J. Stroud's second season that led to the changing of the O.C.,
04:09Bobby Slowick out, and now all of a sudden they're going to go to this.
04:14I believe it's a Nick Casario, old school New England, it's not what I believe.
04:17Hell, we know it.
04:18They told us that that's the film that they've watched and that's what they're doing.
04:21You know, did he agree with that or not?
04:25You know, then you get into the system.
04:27Is he able to pick the system up or is it a struggle to pick the system up?
04:32Clearly he was given more responsibility at the line of scrimmage.
04:34We know that based on, again, not because we're speculating that it's Tom Brady's offense
04:39back in the early 2000s, they have said as much, but if you just listen to what they're saying
04:44and what C.J. was saying, all the talk leading into last year was,
04:47I'm looking forward to having more control.
04:49Did that not work out?
04:51You know, that kind of deal.
04:52Did the injury in Denver and Davis Mills playing well, did that have anything to do with it?
04:56So, I think it stems back to the falling out of Bobby Slowick and the actual hiring of Nick Cayley
05:02and the decision to go full throttle in a different direction from where he was his first two years,
05:08both with the O.C. as well as the scheme that was unfolding.
05:12You were saying it in camp.
05:14Yeah, no.
05:15Prior to using the season started, you were saying he looks off.
05:20Yeah, he looks like he's miserable.
05:22He looked like he was unhappy.
05:23Now, at the time, I said, I don't know if this is the shoulder deal,
05:26and he's just, in his mind, he's like, damn, I can't get my shoulder right.
05:29It's training camp.
05:30I got to go.
05:31I need to go.
05:31This is third year.
05:32This is contract year.
05:33I don't know if it was, like, anxiety around the injury deal,
05:36or was it he was disgruntled because of this offense that changed,
05:42the direction the team went, the treatment that he was getting, whatever, whatever.
05:45I didn't know where it stemmed from, but I think it was blatantly obvious that he was unhappy.
05:49I think it was blatantly obvious that he was not himself
05:52and not the guy that we saw the two years in training camp.
05:56And now it's kind of extended through a season where he got the concussion.
06:00Davis Mills played well.
06:01Well, they make a little run in the middle of the season.
06:04They get to the playoffs.
06:05He bombs out in that, really, in all the playoffs,
06:09but definitely in that second-round playoff game.
06:11And so I don't know exactly.
06:14I think it's a snowball rolling downhill, if I'm being honest,
06:16with CJ over the last year and a half, and they got to try to find a way to stop
06:20it.
06:20I think the real hope is it was just, man, I'm getting used to this system.
06:26Stuff around me is up in the air like it was throughout a lot of the early
06:31part of the year.
06:32The hope it's that and not something that is the disgruntled thing.
06:37Because you can handle – man, because this is a big transition of a system
06:42that he hadn't played in.
06:43Like, it's very different than anything he played in.
06:46Because if it's just that, then I – if I'm a Texans fan, I feel a lot better about things.
06:52Well, don't forget that they pushed him out there every day in training camp
06:55and he got his ass kicked into every practice.
06:57I mean, that part of it – like, if you're a –
06:58That's tough to get your ass kicked when you can't get hit.
07:00If you're a true pro and you're in that situation, this is one of the –
07:05this is another one of those examples where I don't know how CJ Stroud
07:08wasn't raising hell by five practices in in training camp.
07:12I don't care who D'Amico is.
07:14I don't care who Nick is.
07:15I don't care.
07:16Like, I would – you know me, man.
07:19I'm going to get in line, do your job.
07:20God, I now don't need to preach it like Nick does, but I'm a great teammate.
07:24Be accountable to your team, yada, yada, yada.
07:28But I don't know how CJ – like, I hold it against CJ Stroud
07:31that he wasn't very vocal about the beating camp last year.
07:35So you throw that in the mix of what was going on.
07:37He's trying to learn a new offense.
07:39They spent all the money on the defensive side of the football.
07:41He's trying to learn a new offense, and y'all are kicking the hell out of me every day
07:43being in practice.
07:45So I think there's – it's impossible to put your finger on exactly what was –
07:48what the problem was.
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