00:00Sports Radio 610 presents The Strange, The Bizarre, The Unexpected, The Drive with Sterner and Hughley.
00:11Believe it or not.
00:15Believe it or not, baby.
00:18At my pacing right, believe it or not.
00:22Believe it or not.
00:24There you go.
00:25Boy, I'm coachable.
00:26I'm telling you, I'm coachable.
00:27We're on the show, Hughley is out, Luke Morrow is in, Tyler Milner is on the ones and twos.
00:32And believe it or not, I'll tell you what it is.
00:33There's a lot of hype in the offseason, a lot of talking going on in the offseason.
00:38Players, coaches, general managers, media, national and local.
00:44A lot of hype.
00:46Do you believe it or not?
00:47We've ran down a list of a lot of the offseason hype.
00:51And some we're buying, some we believe, some we do not.
00:55Now, we just got through talking about rookie Caden McDonald and how important he could be for this defense.
01:01To help take this great defense to being even better than they were last year.
01:07I think it's almost like C.J. Stroud's rookie year.
01:10You were so good last year.
01:11Like, duplicating that season is going to be very difficult to do.
01:15I think health is going to be the biggest part of it.
01:17But, if this team is going to get better in the offseason, if this team is going to get better
01:21by adding players,
01:24I think Caden McDonald in the draft was a good add.
01:27And then I think the offseason free agent sign was a big one.
01:33Reed Blankenship signed a three-year, $24.75 million contract with the Texans.
01:39$16.5 million was guaranteed.
01:41$7.25 million of it was a signing bonus.
01:45He's going to play opposite Kalen Bullock, and he's going to play behind, obviously, Aziz Alshair.
01:52I like the signing.
01:53I needed to hear more, Luke.
01:55I needed to hear more.
01:57Could he make this group, you know, a little bit – could he make them better?
02:03Could he make them more consistent?
02:04Could he be more of a consistent force that can stay healthy and play that position?
02:08Having won a Super Bowl, by the way, obviously, a sharp player.
02:14By the way, former – I did not know this – 2022, undrafted, free agent.
02:18He was a free agent to Philly.
02:21Worked his way into the starting role and ended up winning a Super Bowl.
02:24So, in a short career, he has had a lot of success.
02:29He comes to Houston, and obviously, the players and the coaches are asked about Reed Blankenship.
02:36And here is Aziz Alshair, the quarterback of the defense.
02:42Do you believe it or not?
02:43He's talking about Reed Blankenship and how much better he can potentially make this defense through his communication.
02:50Yeah, I think the thing that I love about Reed, it feels like having, like, just another linebacker on the
02:58field.
02:58And I say that in the way that he communicates, just urgency.
03:02You can tell, like, he's obviously done it at an extremely high level.
03:04Already has, you know, Super Bowl to show for it and all the experience and stuff like that.
03:10So, I think the number one thing that I like is just seeing that his communication, even when he's not
03:15saying the right thing,
03:16like, me and him, we're talking and communicating back and forth, but he's echoing everything and talking to the defense.
03:20But there's been times where I might say a call, and I was wrong, and, like, he's yelling, like, the
03:25right thing.
03:25Like, whereas, other times, maybe I'll say it, and maybe somebody might not hear it or whatever.
03:30But I just think, like, the biggest thing that I've enjoyed about Reed being here is just that communication piece.
03:37Obviously, I know the ability and the talent that he has, which is why he's here in the first place.
03:41But I think that's something that I enjoy just about him so far.
03:44Extension of the coaching staff, communication piece.
03:48Luke, do you believe it or not that it's going to make this team that much better on defense?
03:53Yeah, I'll believe it.
03:54Where I might nitpick is, like, I don't know how much more room there is to grow, at least like
04:00this category.
04:00I don't know how much better it can make an already elite defense.
04:04But I do buy the overall idea.
04:06He is, and it's maybe not saying a whole lot, but this guy in that secondary.
04:12So you get some of that veteran leadership to come in there and help be that second voice back there
04:17and help with the communication.
04:18So I can buy into that.
04:19And I also think part of it, too, is when you get somebody that comes in from another organization, it
04:25can be helpful, too.
04:25Sometimes it can be daunting because they're almost the outside guy, you know, looking in.
04:30But for Reed, it seems like he's acclimated himself well.
04:32And when you get somebody who comes from elsewhere, it's almost like, you know, a person that moves away from
04:38home and they can have more life experiences.
04:40Or just everybody's so used to doing it one way that when you add a veteran at Reed Blankenship, it's
04:45like when you bring somebody new to the company that's not just like a yes man.
04:49You know, I think that can be beneficial in general, let alone potentially for this defense as well.
04:54So all that is to say, I do buy it.
04:56I don't know if it's going to have some sort of huge impact because this defense is already so good,
05:02but I do buy the overall sentiment.
05:04I buy it big time, Luke.
05:06I buy it big time.
05:07Look, this defense is already so good.
05:09Again, I think it's going to be difficult to replicate the season they had last year just solely on a
05:13being healthy basis.
05:14But if you talk about this team in the offseason, Nick Casario and D'Amico Ryans and company making moves
05:20to make this team better, I think they added that piece interior-wise that we've talked about quite a bit
05:25the last two segments, Caden McDonald.
05:27That's just a body.
05:28That's just a big body that's capable of doing things that some of your current players aren't capable of doing,
05:33right?
05:34This communication piece could be absolutely huge because think about it.
05:39He's playing next to a young safety in Kalen Bullock that's obviously a ball hawk.
05:42By the way, did you know that Kalen Bullock had ten interceptions already and Reed Blankenship's got nine in his
05:47career?
05:47I saw that podcast they were the other day.
05:50You just – you don't – I mean, I don't anyway.
05:53Just top of mind, realize just how good Kalen Bullock has been.
05:57I like – I know he's been really good.
05:59I like him.
06:00But when you start putting those numbers to paper, you're like, good God.
06:04I mean, more than some of these guys in their career already.
06:07But he's playing next to a young guy in Kalen Bullock.
06:10He's playing inside a young guy in Kamari Lasseter.
06:14We saw last year how detrimental just the communication piece could be when they brought in Chauncey Gardner-Johnson or
06:21whatever his name was.
06:23It's Johnson Gardner, Gardner-Johnson.
06:25Which one was it?
06:25C.J. G.J.?
06:26C.J. G.J.?
06:27Something like that.
06:28Now you have me second-guessing.
06:29Gardner-Johnson, right?
06:30You know which one I'm talking about.
06:31The one that couldn't figure – that one couldn't figure it out.
06:35But, you know, you bring him in here in the communication piece, can't trust where he's going to be.
06:39He's not communicating.
06:40I don't know if it was just he thought he was better than he really was or he wouldn't buy
06:45in or whatever.
06:45But you can see how detrimental early in a season, early this past season – was that this season?
06:51Yeah.
06:52That actually was just on the scoreboard.
06:54So, that piece of just having a guy that's going to be where he's supposed to be when he's supposed
06:59to be there is absolutely huge.
07:01But when you talk about the communication piece – I mean, Aziz Al-Shair just said, when I'm wrong, he
07:06corrects me.
07:07And Aziz Al-Shair is one that typically aces the test.
07:11Very rarely is he wrong.
07:13So, if he has a guy behind him that's going to help make sure that the alignment assignment piece of
07:19this thing is right,
07:20never mind if Aziz Al-Shair ever goes down or misses a couple of games for an illegal hit or
07:25something like that,
07:25which he's definitely got in his bag, never mind the piece that then Reid Blanchett be a big communicator,
07:31a veteran communicator, how big that is.
07:33When Aziz is on the field, to have that guy behind him with that communication piece I think is absolutely
07:38huge.
07:39Then you throw in the Super Bowl experience, obviously.
07:42There's just – I mean, they've got this thing damn near – assuming a couple of things work out,
07:47they've got this defense damn near to where you can't find a problem.
07:51You know, at the cornerback position, if the Jalen Smith kid, if he's healthy, if he can stay healthy,
07:56got injured last year, you've got another corner that can rock and roll.
08:00The flexibility of Kamari Lasseter that can roll inside at the nickel if anything were to happen to Petrie,
08:05that kind of deal.
08:06Now you've got the safety position figured out.
08:08I mean, I guess, Luke, you could look at the edge rushers and say, you know,
08:12the depth at the edge rusher position right now is a little bit unknown and could probably be better.
08:17But other than that, man, you look across the board, especially in that starting lineup,
08:21you look across the board, it's really difficult to find a weak spot.
08:26Not a weak link.
08:27It's – a couple of things work out the way that they expect them to work out.
08:32It's going to be tough to just find a weak spot, much less a weak link in this group.
08:36Yeah, I'm with you.
08:37I think the concern just becomes for any team, if there's just any sort of injuries.
08:41But you can never plan for that, and you just hope it doesn't happen.
08:45But it's why Todd Haley I heard on these airwaves yesterday with Zach Gelb and Brandon Scott
08:49saying that this Texans defense could be there with the 2,000 Ravens and the 85 Bears
08:54as like one of the all-time legendary defenses because, as he said, same idea.
08:58Like there's just – I can't find a weakness on this defense.
09:01If I was an offensive coordinator preparing to go up against this team,
09:04like there's no weakness to try to attack.
09:06I don't know what I would try to do against this team.
09:08So I completely – with Reed, it reminds me of almost like Harrison Smith in Minnesota
09:13where, granted, Harrison Smith, much better safety.
09:16He's a Hall of Famer.
09:17We'll see what the rest of Reed's career brings, but I don't know if he's on a Hall of Fame
09:20trajectory.
09:21But nonetheless, the idea that the Vikings keep trying to bring Harrison Smith back
09:26even at the end of his career here because he is such a great quarterback for that defense
09:31that that adds enough value.
09:32He might not be as quick or he might not be as good as he once was,
09:34but his communication and his ability to direct guys is what brings the value now
09:39for someone like Harrison Smith.
09:41And so for Reed to bring something similar from a communication perspective,
09:44yeah, certainly can be obviously a huge boost for this defense.
