00:00First down and midfield, C.J. Stroud, shotgun, Woody Marks in the backfield with him, Stroud to throw, C.J.
00:06looking, C.J. firing downfield to his left, caught by Collins, 15, 10, 5, rock and roll, touchdown, Houston, 50
00:15yards.
00:17There he is, Mark Vandermeer on the call, we're getting close to that, getting close to that.
00:23Nico has got him on fire, baby.
00:25Hey, it does, Andre, getting close to that.
00:28By the way, again, a reminder, I see someone texting in, better not be a whack-ass announcement, not.
00:37Far from it, guaranteed.
00:39I don't think it's whack, but again, if you've missed it, a huge, big station announcement coming up tomorrow at
00:4910 o'clock,
00:50so make sure you're listening to the handoff between, what, the handoff between Payne and Pendergast and In the Loop.
01:00Be listening to that as you will hear the major announcement here at the station.
01:07That's all I'll give you.
01:08Big announcement tomorrow, so stay tuned at 10 o'clock.
01:11Make sure you're looking and listening for that.
01:13I promise you, it's not whack.
01:15Whack, well, I don't know, man, you may be whack, so it might be whack to you, but if you're
01:20not whack, texture, it is not going to be a whack announcement.
01:26You're going to get hard.
01:27What did I say?
01:28Game changeness.
01:29Yeah, I would say it's in that category of things.
01:33All right, Clint.
01:34Clint, Nico Collins came in at 58 on the NFL Top 100 list, so there's no way in hell I
01:41don't believe CJ would be ahead of Nico Collins on the Top 100 list, so that is gone.
01:50Bryce Young finishes ahead of him in an odd manner, but it's just not accurate.
01:58But anyway, Nico comes in at 58, Clint, and, you know, some of the CJ said, man, they're starting to
02:05double him, rotate him, and giving him that superstar treatment.
02:10As we've seen him, man, he's put forth.
02:17He has been a great player.
02:20But I'm looking at this, and I'm watching, you know, kind of the highlight package, and you're looking at where
02:25they had him ranked from executives and coaches and scouts.
02:32And, Clint, I'm pretty certain you will agree with me on this.
02:38I think Nico needs to find his inner diva.
02:42Every single one of these wide receivers have it.
02:46They all have it.
02:50The give me the damn ball from Keyshawn.
02:55The Michael Irvin would just go irate on the sidelines when that ball was going to Alvin Harper too many
03:01times and not coming his way.
03:05Jerry Rice had it.
03:07We've watched Jamar Chase have it.
03:10We've watched a ton of receivers have it.
03:12And right now it appears to me Nico is more in that Larry Fitzgerald land of how he approaches things.
03:22I think for this team and this offense, because I don't think CJ is in the position right now to
03:27start making people feel uncomfortable by just kind of going off.
03:30I think he's got a lot of stuff he's got to try to maintain and deal with.
03:35He ain't got his money yet.
03:37Nico got his money.
03:39Nico has the respect of everybody in the locker room.
03:43I'm not saying he's got to be Antonio Brown and just go crazy.
03:47I'm not saying he's got to go losing his mind like T.O. all the time.
03:52I wouldn't mind a helmet toss.
03:55I would heed a conversation with Nick Caley over there if what we've described starts happening again.
04:02And I think Nick Caley and other folks on this staff are going to have somebody, they need somebody to
04:10push them into or out of their comfort zone and to do something that is just not what they normally
04:17do.
04:18And to me, Nico, if this thing starts getting to a space where he's not getting touches and the ball's
04:23not coming his way and teams are able to just take him away by adding a safe.
04:26I think we need to see a little bit more diva, a little bit more something from Nico to make
04:35folks uncomfortable.
04:36Look, I would take a little bit of diva and making folks uncomfortable from really anybody on the offense.
04:42Anybody on the offensive side of the ball, I would be A-OK.
04:45I mean, you can toss the coaches in there, too.
04:46I'd love for somebody to be uncomfortable.
04:48But you look down on the AFC side of things, Ron, you can argue, and I don't even know that
04:54it's really much of an argument, but from a wide receiver perspective, you could argue that Nico Collins is, and
05:03how the Texans use Nico Collins, is the biggest unknown from a wide receiver perspective in the AFC.
05:11Now, I'll say this, I think with the Baltimore Ravens, Zay Flowers with a new offensive coordinator, new head coach,
05:16I think obviously that's got a little bit of pop to it right there.
05:19Clearly, New England Patriots, how are they going to use A.J. Brown?
05:22But that's a new player that hasn't been there.
05:24I would think that they're going to feed him the ball.
05:27You get up to the Buffalo Bills and D.J. Moore, obviously, how does he impact their team?
05:34But you go up and down, and I don't know if there's a bigger impact player that could be used
05:42in a different fashion and impact their offense in a major way.
05:45I don't know if there's a bigger name or player out there.
05:47At the wide receiver, hell, I'd say pass catcher, but definitely at the wide receiver position, I don't know if
05:52there's a bigger name out there than Nico Collins.
05:54You know, what is – I can't believe it's not a – in today's world, with what you just said
05:59about the divas that are the wide receiver position,
06:02getting a lot of run about how they're divas and they're wired different.
06:07I can't believe that there's not more conversation about Nico Collins and the usage in Houston or the lack thereof
06:15in how this offense can get better.
06:18There's a lot of talk about, got to protect the quarterback.
06:20There's a lot of talk about, boy, the offensive line's got to run the football.
06:23There's a lot of talk about C.J. Stroud, and, boy, C.J.'s got to just not lose the game.
06:28I'm curious to see if before that, leading up to the season, if we don't turn the corner a little
06:31bit into,
06:32well, Nico Collins is the one answer that this offense has.
06:35How exotic can they get with him?
06:37He just can't – he just can't just accept it.
06:40Oh, I agree.
06:41But I just think he isn't accepting as long as he's got $30 million a year.
06:44I don't – I think – I don't think he is not –
06:46I just think it's more his nature, right?
06:48I just think it's more his nature.
06:49He's not a me guy.
06:50And I'm not even saying that in the negative way of most of the times.
06:54He is not a me guy to an extreme, to a fault.
07:00I mean, obviously, he's getting the money.
07:02He got the money.
07:03Even though I'd argue he'd get more if he'd hit the market.
07:05He got the money.
07:06He's got the security in terms of the records – I mean, not the records,
07:13the honors of being right as you can see today in the top 100.
07:17Leonard, he's getting the recognition.
07:20He's never going to have a 1,400-yard season here.
07:23But that's ridiculous.
07:24He should.
07:25And he almost had one a couple of years ago.
07:27He was just injured most of the time.
07:28But he – like, he's got to be an a-hole.
07:31Like, he has got to –
07:33He's got to – he has got to – I'm not saying all the time.
07:36But he just can't just accept, all right, man,
07:39go put a safety over the top, man.
07:40You just – all right.
07:41No.
07:41That – like, they need him to be that.
07:44There's going to be times that they need – because Nick Kalen and him,
07:47they're just going to keep rolling.
07:48They need CJ to be a bigger alpha and a better leader.
07:53They need Nico to be more vocal and more of a give-me-the-damn-ball kind of situation.
07:57I agree.
07:58I agree wholeheartedly.
07:59I just don't think it's going to happen.
08:01Your point is very, very valid.
08:04Maybe now, man.
08:05We're getting down there.
08:05He's 27.
08:06He feels more control of things.
08:07Maybe.
