00:00Believe it or not.
00:04Sports Radio 610 presents
00:08The Bizarre. The Unexpected.
00:12The Drive with Sterner and Hughley.
00:15Believe it or not.
00:24Alright, believe it. Boy, I promise God.
00:28I'm sorry, I don't want to get to this.
00:30I'm looking up at the screen on ESPN2.
00:33I think it says NBA Live or whatever they call this show.
00:39And I just look up and it said,
00:41Breaking News, Fred Van Fleet touring his ACL.
00:44That's what I looked up.
00:46I got you.
00:47And I was about to say, hold on.
00:49Not again.
00:50I'm sorry, they're doing a story on him
00:51and they just had a flashback to when it happened.
00:54I said, whoa, hold on.
00:57Not again.
00:58And that's why they got Bruce Thornton.
01:01Hold on.
01:02They knew something we didn't know.
01:03That's why they got Bruce Thornton, Marcus Smart, and...
01:08Fred.
01:08Got you.
01:09Got you.
01:09And Reed Sheppard.
01:11And we can get into that.
01:12They got them four point guards over there, guys.
01:14But anyway, believe it or not, a lot of stories, off-season conversation,
01:22hype from inside the doors, outside the doors, reports, different things for people.
01:27And we get to a point where we talk about if we believe it or not.
01:317-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10, you can jump in on this.
01:34YouTube and Twitch, you can jump in on this as well.
01:37Do you believe it or not?
01:39Here was Mike Florio earlier this month talking about one of the questions that may be in front of D
01:50'Amico Ryan.
01:52Well, I think it is the obvious.
01:53And I think the key is the willingness or lack thereof of the coaching staff to do something about the
01:59obvious when the obvious happens.
02:01If C.J. Stroud continues to struggle, you can't just continue to blindly let him play.
02:05Davis Mills was 3-0 as a starter last year when C.J. Stroud was out with a concussion.
02:08And I remember we were at Soldier Field for the Rams-Bears game watching Texans-Patriots that afternoon.
02:15And we just all assumed after halftime it was going to be Davis Mills.
02:18And they still didn't move to Davis Mills.
02:20And there's a chance they still could have won that game.
02:22As Sims said all last year, the Texans' defense is good enough to win a championship all by itself.
02:27When the offense is actively working against it, not that they're doing it on purpose,
02:30but the offense was pulling down the team.
02:34And the defense was still good enough to get as far as they did.
02:37So, hey, clean slate for C.J. Stroud.
02:39He's still their guy.
02:39He hasn't gotten his long-term contract yet.
02:41But for now, he's their guy.
02:42The flaw would be to blindly cling to C.J. Stroud if what we saw in the postseason,
02:49both against the Steelers and against the Patriots, continues into 2026.
02:53Believe it or not, your thoughts out there.
02:56Does Davis Mills, believe it or not, Davis Mills starts a game this season not due to injury.
03:03Believe it or not?
03:06I do not believe it.
03:07Or not.
03:08I do not believe it.
03:09Or not is the right answer.
03:11Sorry, T.
03:11Thank you, big voice guy, for correcting me.
03:13Or not.
03:13I'm coachable, I promise.
03:15Or not.
03:16I don't believe it happens.
03:18Look, there is, it's on record how I feel about the quarterback situation here in Houston.
03:24But there is a way on God's green earth that C.J. Stroud plays bad enough in this system
03:32that they bench him.
03:36There's just absolutely no way.
03:38Bench, because you've got a full out bench.
03:40Now, I think Davis may get some snaps at some point.
03:43I don't believe they bench and start Davis Mills in any game.
03:47Look, this system's not going to allow it to happen.
03:50We've seen C.J. Stroud commit to this system and be okay with a high completion percentage
03:56and 180 yards and one touchdown and play to the strength of the, which is the defense, obviously.
04:03So, you know, I think C.J. buys into a point where he'll play within the system.
04:09I think the system is going to do everything it can to protect C.J. Stroud from having to
04:13put too much on his plate.
04:15I think they're going to run the football well enough to not put C.J. Stroud in a place
04:19to where, in the regular season, he has to feel any kind of pressure.
04:24And I think he survives the season, absolutely.
04:26I think between what we've seen C.J. Stroud do and the reality of this is going to be a
04:31super,
04:32uber conservative offense and really overall team approach, I think it's damn near impossible
04:38for him to play bad enough to get benched and for us to see Davis Mills as a starter.
04:43Text line coming through.
04:45One text says, believe it.
04:47Another text says, or not.
04:49Or not.
04:51I will agree with you.
04:52I will say, or not to, again, I think you make the point, I mean, we've watched three
04:59seasons of C.J. Stroud, and he has never played bad enough to get himself benched.
05:05Not even close to play bad and get himself benched.
05:09God bless, brother.
05:10And I think things will prevail.
05:13I think they will always potentially be thinking, who gives me the best chance to win every week?
05:20Who gives me the best chance to win and try to put either that ring on the bull or whatever
05:27they're doing with that ring?
05:28Bull on the ring, Ron.
05:29Whatever they're doing with it.
05:30You're right, man.
05:31I think they're operating with that.
05:33And like you said, C.J. has just given us no reason to consistently think over a regular
05:40season or a season that he just will play bad enough to get himself.
05:45I mean, hell, he didn't get himself benched in the playoff game.
05:49Now, I think in another performance like that, I think he'll get benched.
05:52But I don't think he, I mean, because he was completely over, like the interceptions are
05:57one thing.
05:58He was completely overwhelmed in that moment, and it was obvious.
06:01And again, I've been there and thrown four picks.
06:04Mine just came in the second half instead of the first half.
06:06So, I mean, I know exactly what he was feeling at that point in time.
06:09I don't think we see that C.J. Stroud again.
06:12That was as bad a quarterback play as we've seen.
06:14And regardless of all the whys, that's as bad as quarterback play as we've seen, particularly
06:18in the playoffs.
06:18But there couldn't be a bigger moment.
06:20So, it's as bad as we've seen from a high-level starting quarterback.
06:25So, I just don't see that.
06:27I don't see that.
06:28Look, C.J.'s at a spot with his career, with this being a contract year, where whether
06:33he likes it in Houston or not, hopefully he's got the right people in his ear, which he's
06:38a level-headed dude.
06:38I don't know that he's a buck-the-system guy anyway, so that's going to play into his favor
06:43this year.
06:45I mean, he's got to go out there, at least in this season, with, hey, man, we're super
06:50conservative on offense because of our defense.
06:53C.J. Stroud was capped.
06:56You know, he had a low ceiling because the system didn't ask him to do those things.
06:59But he went up there and didn't turn the ball over, threw touchdowns, and was efficient,
07:04and then tried to hit the market next year in the offseason.
07:07Try to hit him where it hurts next year.
07:08So I think he buys in wholeheartedly to that approach.
07:12Yeah, I think the only two ways is if he plays consistently, like multiple weeks of
07:18really bad, bad, bad football, or there's something behind the scenes and he gets into it with
07:27disagreements with decision-makers.
07:30And I don't think also that he will move to that because that doesn't seem like that's
07:35where C.J. is.
07:35Well, here's the one thing that C.J. Stroud in 2026 has to avoid.
07:40We've talked about the first month of the season with the Bills, the Bengals, the Colts, and the Cowboys.
07:47That's a monster week for multiple reasons.
07:50The quarterback matchup is what C.J. Stroud has to avoid getting involved in.
07:56He mentally has to stay in C.J. Stroud and Nick Caleyville, if you will, and not into competing with
08:03top quarterbacks.
08:05Right?
08:05And that is a trap that I could see a great quarterback, a talented quarterback that's had some success in
08:12the past.
08:12I could see them falling into that trap, and it's early enough in the season where he could get himself
08:17and he could get this team into some trouble,
08:19where if he gets caught up, maybe not against Josh Allen, but as this thing unfolds all of a sudden
08:24against Joe Burrow,
08:25and he's over here with this conservative, no explosives, running the football, just being quote-unquote a game manager,
08:33and he watches Josh Allen ball out, he watches Joe Burrow ball out, how does he handle Indianapolis,
08:39and then how does he handle the Cowboys situation with Dak Prescott across the field?
08:42Does he get caught up mentally into this quarterback and great quarterback matchups and try to get outside the system
08:51and try to force big plays and end up getting himself in trouble?
08:54I do think that's a real challenge for C.J. Stroud in 2026 to open the season.
08:59We talked about all the great things yesterday about that first month of the season.
09:02There is a trap, if you will, for C.J. Stroud if he falls into it.
09:08It's going to be a big challenge for C.J. Stroud to be the third and fourth headline to his
09:18own defense,
09:18the quarterback that's coming to town and all of that.
09:21That is going to be a challenge for him because it don't take a rocket scientist here to figure out
09:28that C.J. Stroud should be on the same playing field, or at least he should think that he's on
09:35the same playing field
09:36with those guys that are coming in here.
09:38He should.
09:39He damn sure should.
09:40With the rookie year that he had, he's proven he can play.
09:43His play can say that he should be on that same tier.
09:51He's outplayed and beat Josh and Burrell.
09:55You look at that, Ron, and in your mind you go, yeah, I think C.J. is going to buy
10:01in.
10:01He's going to commit, and he's going to do what the system wants him to do.
10:04I mean, I don't know that them first four weeks, Jones is healthy.
10:09You can make it a legit four, and we can quit talking about the three.
10:11I don't know if them first four weeks, C.J. is not going to be challenged pretty significantly
10:16on the level of, are you going to try to play up to those guys, or are you going to
10:20just
10:20stay committed to the system?
10:22Then there's the potential that, uh-oh, hey, we need you to.
10:26Yeah.
10:28Yeah.
10:28Hey, uh-oh, we need you to.
10:31We don't want you to do that.
10:32We don't want you to play like Josh, Joe, and Dak until we need you to.
10:36Yeah.
10:36Until we're down by 14 in the fourth quarter, and now we need you.
10:40Right?
10:41That's going to be a challenge, man.
10:43It's the reality of the world that he lives in and the situation that he's in, and it is
10:49going to be a challenge for a guy that's as gifted as him to take a back seat ultimately
10:53in those moments.
10:54We'll see.
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