00:00Aside from injury, is there any way this secondary is not the best in the NFL this year?
00:06The only way aside from injury that this Texan secondary is not the best in the NFL
00:12is if there just happens to be another secondary that we don't know about
00:16that's just going to burst onto the scene.
00:17They got some guys that you hadn't heard about
00:19or just didn't know that they were as good as they turned out to be.
00:23But as far as going into it, trying to project it,
00:27looking at the name brands as a part of the secondary from corner to corner
00:31with Derrick Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lasseter,
00:34obviously we know that Kalen Bullock, I think really over his first two seasons,
00:39has really shown himself to be like a gem of a draft pick for Nick Casario and the Texans.
00:45And then they add Reed Blankenship.
00:47That's a big thing.
00:48The fact that Reed Blankenship is now in that spot where
00:52there was objectively a weakness in the secondary
00:56and now you cannot call that a weakness anymore
00:58that at the very least has a seasoned, experienced veteran there.
01:02I just don't see any weaknesses in the secondary at all, really.
01:05And that's not even to mention Jalen Petrie,
01:07who's kind of a hybrid defensive backslash linebacker slash nickel defender,
01:12whatever he is.
01:13I don't see how they're not the best in the league,
01:16if not either for injury or just somebody completely surprising us
01:20and coming out of nowhere.
01:20It was the best in the league last year and their second safety spot
01:25was a five-headed, rotating, injury-plagued, idiocy-plagued,
01:31if you count C.J. Gardner-Johnson as part of it, which you have to.
01:34He was there for the first three games.
01:37Their other safety spot was a mixture of C.J. Gardner-Johnson,
01:43M.J. Stewart, Jalen Reed, Miles Bryant at times,
01:49who's not even a safety really,
01:52Kevon Wallace at the end of the year.
01:54Kevon Wallace is starting important games
01:56in the middle of a long winning streak for you.
01:59They were the best secondary, I think, clearly in football last year
02:02and one of the five, four-and-a-half, I guess we'll call it, spots,
02:08because I'm with you, Jalen Petrie doesn't always count
02:11as a member of the secondary for me.
02:13He's, at times, he's as much a linebacker as he is a safety.
02:16Most of the time.
02:17But let's count Petrie as part of them just to run up the score a little bit
02:20because he's an outstanding player.
02:21Yep.
02:22One of the five positions was street guys, six-round picks,
02:26journeymen, and morons.
02:27Yeah.
02:28Yeah.
02:29Morons.
02:29Yeah.
02:30C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
02:31Yeah, but at least somebody who acted like a moron when he was here.
02:35But at the very least, a ragtag of cast of characters, right?
02:39Like you got moron to start it.
02:42Right.
02:42You replace it with M.J. Stewart, who's notably not a moron.
02:45Not at all.
02:46Not at all.
02:46I like M.J. Stewart.
02:47But at the same time, mostly a backup slash special teams guy
02:51who then again was also injured after that, like almost immediately
02:54or not too long after that.
02:56And then you start going with the rookie,
02:58and then you get into the cast of characters like you mentioned,
03:01the Kavon Wallaces of the world.
03:03Like it was a turnstile.
03:04You know what that safety spot looked like for the Texans on defense?
03:10It reminded me of like the turnstile of left guard.
03:13Yeah.
03:13Or center on the other side of the ball.
03:15It was like all of a sudden now this safety position looks like the way
03:18left guard and center have looked the last few years.
03:20And I think it illustrates the drastic difference between as position groups
03:24go the O-line and the secondary.
03:27The secondary had that going on, and they were still the best in football.
03:30The O-line had that going on,
03:31and it felt like that was symptomatic of what that offensive line was.
03:35Yeah, fair enough.
03:36Yeah, I think the simple answer is no.
03:40The question again was aside from injury,
03:41is there any way the secondary isn't the best in the NFL?
03:44Yeah, I don't see it.
03:44The answer can be no.
03:45Yeah, I don't see it.
03:46It actually, and to illustrate this,
03:51it actually, this secondary spawns even more superlative questions about it.
03:57Like these questions.
03:58Are they the best position group in the NFL?
04:01You know, forget about being the best one on the team,
04:03best one of the Texans groups, or in the AFC South.
04:09Like Eagles offensive line of defensive rooms.
04:12Yeah, and that's interesting because if you were to just do
04:16because we're doing the whole secondary,
04:18so like the comparable part to that would be like the entire defensive line.
04:23Like I think if you were to do the high end of the Texans defensive line
04:27and just put their edges against the Texans corners,
04:30then that would be advantage defensive line.
04:33Not by much.
04:34But not by much.
04:35Yeah.
04:35But then once you go the entire group,
04:38then I think that's when it's advantage the defensive backs, the secondary.
04:42And then if you compare them around the league,
04:45they're probably going to win that one too.
04:46I think we were to ask maybe questions that had a, you know,
04:49a bigger debate than is there any way this secondary isn't the best in the NFL,
04:54barring injury?
04:55Because I think the answer to me is clearly no.
04:57They're the best in the NFL, and they will be if they're healthy.
05:00Best position group in the NFL.
05:02Is this the best position group in the history of the Texans?
05:05Ooh.
05:06It could be.
05:08I think the only one that,
05:10the one that pops to mind to me to have a debate,
05:13and this would be fun, like if Wade Smith were in here,
05:15this would be a fun debate to have.
05:17Because I'm guessing, because he was part of it,
05:19he would have a fun argument against this secondary,
05:22would be the offensive line,
05:24the first two seasons they made the playoffs, the Texans.
05:27Yeah.
05:28In 2011 and 2012, they have three pro bowlers on that offensive line,
05:30the same way the secondary had three guys make the pro bowl.
05:33So, Chris Myers, Wade Smith, and Dwayne Brown,
05:36who, you know, it's between him and Tunsell for best left tackle
05:39in the history of the team.
05:40You know what?
05:41And even the other pieces were, you know,
05:43Mike Bryzel and Eric Winston were very solid.
05:45Very solid.
05:46You know what, though?
05:47I remember those teams just as what you do.
05:50I think I'm going to go with this secondary.
05:51No, I am too.
05:52You know, like now that I think it through.
05:54I think the debate is those two and then a big drop-off.
05:59Because even though, so you might say,
06:00what about the wide receiver room?
06:01Yeah, because you've had DeAndre and Andre at one point together.
06:05Well, you've had DeAndre.
06:06You've had Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, and Nico Collins
06:09as part of this team.
06:10For the most part, the lineage is almost all the way connected.
06:16Yeah, except for 2020, right?
06:17That's the only year where you don't have it.
06:19In that year, you had Brandon Cooks who got you 1,000 yards.
06:22But, yeah, right.
06:23But those three guys,
06:24those are clearly the three best receivers in team history.
06:26Yes.
06:27And the only year you didn't have one of them was 2020.
06:29Some would argue you didn't really have Nico in 21 and 22
06:32because he hadn't developed into what he is.
06:34But I think that's what keeps the receiver room is that Andre Johnson
06:38and DeAndre Hopkins were never that guy at the same time.
06:42It was almost a passing of the torch.
06:44You know, DeAndre was good his rookie year.
06:45Yeah.
06:46He wasn't great.
06:47He wasn't a pro bowler.
06:48DeAndre was great his second year,
06:50and that was the year that Andre's numbers started to dip a little bit.
06:52And the awkward part about that discussion is also how good could they have been
06:56if they had had requisite or the proper quarterback play.
07:00Correct.
07:00This isn't necessarily crap on Matt Schaub.
07:03They didn't really have that.
07:052013 was Hopkins' rookie year.
07:07That was Bad Schaub.
07:08That was the worst Schaub we've ever seen.
07:092014, it was Fitzpatrick.
07:11Well, Fitzpatrick who got benched for Ryan Mallett.
07:14Yeah.
07:14Yeah, so they were never actually able to realize their full potential together,
07:18I don't think.
07:19This secondary, I think I'm going to go with the secondary.
07:22The 2026 Texans secondary, the potential at least to be the best position group
07:27that the Texans have ever seen.
07:29I'm going to have to pull that one.
07:30I don't even know who else is in the conversation other than that offensive line.
07:33Yeah.
07:34Yeah, again, unless you wanted to be kind to that wide receiver combination,
07:41but I would go with the secondary.
07:42Text in 713-572-4610.
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