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The Texans offense and defense exchanged blows again over the weekend, and ITL debates whether competing with an elite Houston defense is enough to prove the offense has taken a meaningful step forward.
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00:00But yeah, the Houston Texans practice all weekend long after their first preseason game on Thursday,
00:04which they technically lost, but nobody cares about that score.
00:06What we care about is how the team looks.
00:08And over the weekend, I can't say it was, again, more give and take.
00:12The question that I think comes up is, does that mean that this offense is better in your mind, Sean?
00:17Give and take to me is good, right?
00:20It was mostly give, give, give, give last year and the year before.
00:26Or take, however you want to describe that.
00:30But I'm looking at, you know, the last, I guess, intra-squad scrimmage they had on Tuesday last week.
00:38And then looking at the weekend.
00:40And there were some struggles.
00:43Absolutely.
00:43There were some great plays made by the defense.
00:45There were some bad plays made by the offense.
00:47But not nearly as many.
00:48And there were maybe as many or close to as many good plays done.
00:53To me, look, we're in the business of baby steps right now with this offense.
00:57To me, those are good baby steps.
00:59Period.
01:00I think the offense, we can safely say, has shown some progress.
01:05Would you agree?
01:05You saw it.
01:06Yeah.
01:06No, I definitely think that that's the case.
01:09There's still going to be, there's still bad plays out there.
01:12And I think that, not to say that you wipe them away, but you give them a little bit of
01:16grace.
01:17Because you always come back to it.
01:18Say with me.
01:18One of the best defensive units in the league that you're playing against or practicing against.
01:23But you're seeing them be able to get some over here and there.
01:27I mean, I even saw a trick play this weekend that worked out pretty nicely.
01:31And preyed on the fast and physical nature of the defense.
01:35And so, you're seeing them fight back a little bit, right?
01:39On Friday, a shout out to Bayou Productions.
01:41Went out to Sugar Land to watch a little bit of fighting.
01:44And it's reminiscent of this, right?
01:46We've all seen a fight here or there, particularly ones that are like sanctioned and professional.
01:50Where you go, hey man, fight back.
01:53They have some pride, man.
01:55Throw a punch.
01:55Throw some punches.
01:57It feels like that's what we had been watching for years with this offense.
02:01It's like, hey man, fight back.
02:03It feels like there's some fight back here.
02:04I don't think they're coming out as the undisputed champions of training camp.
02:08But you could definitely see them fighting back.
02:10And you could see them having a little personality in the way that they do it.
02:13And that, I think, is encouraging.
02:15But it's why I so desperately need, right?
02:19Both this preseason game that's coming up.
02:22And more importantly, tomorrow's joint practice versus the Raiders.
02:26Because those are better metrics, I think, when you're starting to try and gauge what this thing can do.
02:30Be and look like over a longer period of time.
02:32Oh, absolutely.
02:33I think, you know, we talked about it a little bit before the show even.
02:37I think those are the two most important days for this offense.
02:41I won't even say this team.
02:42We know what the defense is.
02:43I think those are the two most important days for this offense.
02:45Until we get to the regular season, what, September 9th or whenever it is.
02:51These are two big days.
02:52Let me ask you this, though, for the weekend that was with the Texans.
02:55Yeah.
02:55By the way, those afternoon practices.
02:58Ooh, baby.
02:59It's a little hot out.
03:00Ooh, baby.
03:01And, you know, I went back and looked because part of me was thinking, I wonder if that has anything
03:06to do with D'Amico talking after the game Thursday night about how he didn't like the physicality of this
03:11team, that the Chargers out physical.
03:14I wonder if that was his way of saying, all right, we're going to get out there in the afternoon.
03:17But I went back and looked.
03:18They actually scheduled these at these times.
03:21I knew they had the days scheduled, but I was like, I wonder if he changed the times just to
03:24kind of get them going, you know, like running laps, so to speak.
03:28He didn't.
03:28No, they were scheduled like that.
03:30But tough afternoon practices.
03:32But what was the most encouraging thing you saw from this?
03:36If we're saying they're taking baby steps, and I think they are, and I think you agree, and Figgy agrees.
03:41If we're saying they are having their moments, they are getting, you know, marginally better, what was the best part
03:47of that?
03:47Ooh, okay.
03:48You know I'm bad at favorites and bests.
03:50I don't know if we've talked about this before, but whenever I'm going to, hey, what's your favorite?
03:53I'm like, all right.
03:54Let me start you off there.
03:55Here comes a long conversation.
03:56But one of the things that definitely jumped out to me, and I don't know if I want to say
03:59it's the best, but it's one that absolutely stuck with me is,
04:02I am seeing very tangibly, and I know I've said this before, but I think that there's gradations to this,
04:07right?
04:07There's different levels to what I'm about to say.
04:09I can very much feel the command at the line of scrimmage when CJ is there.
04:15Like, not even just, hey, I'm IDing the mic.
04:17Not even just, hey, I'm seeing that this blitz.
04:20He called out a blitz before it came, and I don't know how much of that is a familiarity with
04:26this defense in particular,
04:27but regardless, right, I would hope that he has some level of familiarity with any defense he's coming up against.
04:32Due to advanced scouting and, you know, in his prep work.
04:35And so, he's able to see, all right, that dude's about to come.
04:38And I'm sitting here, admittedly, nobody's, like, quarterback and ID expert, but I'm listening, and I'm like,
04:43I don't think that the linebacker demonstrated and showed very strongly that he was going to come.
04:48Like, this is a level of, okay, being able to see what's happening.
04:51And I'm seeing him, I'm seeing him can stuff.
04:54I'm seeing him check to stuff, or at least what appears to me as that.
04:57I don't know exactly all the ins and outs of it.
04:59But that is one of the things that people have talked about.
05:02That is the thing that they've given lip service to.
05:03That's the thing that I think on the outside, there have been enough conversations about,
05:07can he do this and demonstrate that capability?
05:09Sometimes questioning his aptitude, his mental acuity.
05:12And I'm seeing that happen, which, again, I can't really extrapolate that,
05:17or I'd be remiss if I did that because, you know, that might be a little bit of a leap.
05:21But I'm seeing it.
05:22Like, I'm absolutely seeing it in a tangible way.
05:24So, that was cool.
05:25On top of that, I feel like one of the questions I have with this offensive line is,
05:29how is that pass pro going to stack up?
05:31Because this was an offensive line that was put together in order to be able to run block,
05:35in order to move some people.
05:37And even still, we're wanting to see more from that.
05:39But I don't ever want to forget the fact that you need to be able to protect the quarterback.
05:44It feels like that is happening to a little bit of a greater degree as we continue to.
05:47So, while I agree with you, and I said this last week,
05:51it's very important that C.J. Stroud and all the quarterbacks have that command.
05:55And they can get in and out of the huddle.
05:57And they can do recognition with their centers at the line of scrimmage.
06:02I reached the point midway last week where I don't want that to be the bar.
06:07You know, hey, they're good at the line of scrimmage.
06:09Hey, they can get out of a huddle.
06:10Yeah.
06:10To me, it needs to be more than that.
06:12And I'm not saying, and again, I don't diminish the importance of it.
06:16But the bar needs to be higher than that.
06:18And I don't think that that's, I'm not talking about just getting them out of the huddle.
06:21Yeah, yeah, no.
06:21And the recognition at the line of scrimmage.
06:23Because that's the thing that, like, command the offense.
06:25I hate to always come back to Tom Brady here, but it's very much the place where I go,
06:28in particular with this thing, which is Tom Brady, you've seen him on various different
06:34platforms kind of lament the modern quarterbacking play.
06:37Because it's like, hey, man, you saw what that defense was going to do.
06:40You know that that's there and that your offense isn't compatible.
06:43Why are you not making the adjustments?
06:45Making the adjustments at the line feels like the ways that the quarterback can help make
06:49sure this works.
06:49And it feels like that was happening.
06:51But what I'm saying is, while that's all true and very important, to me, the big weekend
06:57was seeing different receivers.
06:59I think that he had an array of different receivers that were almost, well, I know they're scripted,
07:06the plays for practice.
07:07But I'm saying it was almost like part of the plan.
07:08Like, we need to find out on all these guys against this first defense, being able to spread
07:13the ball.
07:14Because keep in mind, even last week during the inter-squad practice scrimmage, where the
07:21offense looked really good.
07:22Maybe the best it had been, had looked all preseason.
07:25The biggest plays were just Nico Collins.
07:27It was, I think, two big Nico Collins plays.
07:30And what I liked over the weekend is more, you saw some Xavier Hutchinson get involved
07:35a couple of times.
07:36You saw, you know, various, to me, that was it.
07:38It's like, okay, now we look like an offense here.
07:41To that end, because you mentioned, you didn't mention one that I thought you would.
07:45And I feel comfortable saying this because the Texans social media actually put this play
07:49up, there was a deep post to Lewis Bond.
07:53Yes.
07:54Yes.
07:54That one, too.
07:55Where he runs away and, you know, just well-placed football and everything.
07:58That was seven on seven, I believe.
07:59I can't recall.
08:00That might be the case.
08:01It might have been seven on seven.
08:02The question I have is, are we really doing this with Lewis Bond?
08:07And I don't mean just in a general sense.
08:09Putting him in those routes?
08:10Yeah.
08:11Yeah.
08:11Yeah, this has been something that I kind of talked about and I didn't know to what
08:15level this is actually important.
08:17But a lot, he's getting a lot more routes that are like downfield and stretching the
08:21field and, you know, throwing it up there type routes.
08:24And that is just not what I expect of him as a player.
08:27And I wonder, is this really going to be a part of the offense?
08:30Or is this just one of those things where everybody gets all variety of routes in order
08:34for us to, like, get a feel for what they do?
08:36It sure seems like he's getting more of them.
08:37Yeah.
08:38It really does.
08:39Because if you were power ranking dudes that I want to send downfield to get the ball,
08:43where does Lewis Bond come in?
08:45Right?
08:45Nico Collins is high up there.
08:46Nico, Jaden Higgins is high up there.
08:48Jalen Knoll, there's four right there.
08:49And that's just receivers.
08:50When you get into tight ends, I think that, you know, Marlon Kline is absolutely in there.
08:54I think Dalton Schultz probably in there.
08:56Like, we're getting to 6'7 before we even start throwing it up there.
08:59I think I might like Hutchinson a little bit more for that.
09:01Maybe I'm just body shaming or whatever the right word or phrase is there because he is taller
09:08and maybe has done that more.
09:09I'm fascinated by the ways that they're using them.
09:11But I think that that also leans into something that I have said is a good thing.
09:15And it would be bad for me to try and, you know, sit on both sides of the fence here.
09:20They're using guys in different and unexpected ways, which I think is necessary for this offense.
09:25And it's because last year it felt like everything was far too expectable by defenses.
09:29Yeah, and to me that's why I thought the big takeaway from the weekend was being able to see that.
09:33You know, whether it was Lewis Bond or Xavier Hutchinson, Jared Wayne again.
09:38I mean, it's like every day he makes a play.
09:41He's going to make things difficult on this team.
09:43I like that a lot.
09:44Still not quite sure on the run game.
09:47It seemed as if there were some still, there were still some plays where you're like,
09:51because they don't take them all the way down to the ground.
09:53It seemed like there were some plays where you're just not quite sure.
09:58But we'll find out on the run game.
10:00But I think the passing game and distributing to receivers was pretty important.
10:04Yeah, the thing that I was thinking about in the run game this weekend
10:07as I'm watching at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
10:10One, I could definitely see some plays that are executed well.
10:14And I also think, as you're mentioning, right, not going to the ground raises a question where you go,
10:19would that have been a tackle?
10:20Or actually, I know he was there, but is it possible that that tackle is broken, right?
10:24Those are questions that have to pop up.
10:26And all I can do is make my best guess and best assessment.
10:29I also think that the way that the Texans defense, and I know, here we go talking about the defense
10:34again,
10:34but it's not even just about quality.
10:36It's the way that they go about it.
10:38Like, they stop the run in a different style than I think a lot of defenses do.
10:43And Seth Payne can talk about this better than I can.
10:45But in talking about it, it feels like they kind of funnel guys in,
10:48and this is what allows the linebackers to be able to just hit those gaps with a level of fervor
10:54and almost in a maniacal way, right?
10:56The way that you see Henry Toa Toa just flying down.
10:59But even the defensive line, you know, as much as they held their blocks and take up blockers and all
11:02that,
11:03that's not where they stop.
11:04And they penetrate and try to get a hand on somebody and all that.
11:07No, for sure.
11:07Yeah, they do that really well.
11:08You think about it, it's rare the guys are running to the outside and just getting out there.
11:13You know, like, we're funneling you back into it so the linebacker can light you up.
11:17And I do wonder how that works for other teams when you're running up against them.
11:22I don't know that I want to say that it's entirely unique, but I do think it's different than a
11:25lot of teams.
11:26And so when that is the style that you're running up against, does this translate better against other teams is
11:30a question that I have.
11:31Especially when you're running more of your top end as opposed to, you know, the Chargers game.
11:37Where, I guess, admittedly, you did put your first line out there on that first drive.
11:41But you also moved the ball decently.
11:43Let me ask you both this.
11:45Just a thought that I had.
11:46I'm still not even sure how I feel about it.
11:48Because I'm the guy that always says, don't play scared.
11:52You know, don't ever play scared.
11:53You know, attack no matter what.
11:54All that stuff.
11:55And yet, I say that for games that matter.
11:59Did it hit you in a funny way?
12:02The fact that they're going to go joint practice with the Raiders.
12:06Ones versus ones.
12:08And then D'Amico Ryan said, anybody who's healthy is playing on Thursday.
12:12Did that hit you as a little risky?
12:15Yeah.
12:16Me too.
12:17Me too.
12:18It was risky to the point.
12:20I felt like he might have been lying a little bit.
12:22You want me to put it in by herself?
12:24Well, we'll find out Thursday.
12:25It wouldn't surprise me if, you know, game day, then you won't see a lot of the start.
12:31I ain't going to say all, but I still don't know if you're going to see like a Will Anderson
12:36and all that type of stuff.
12:37It hit me as a little, I guess maybe because of the Jackson Dart thing, the Jeremiah Love thing.
12:43Right.
12:43The thing, you know, that a lot of teams are experiencing with injuries across the league for games.
12:48You know, I always say don't play scared, but that's for games that matter.
12:50This game does not matter at all.
12:54Yeah, but I mean, especially after I want them to do the joint practice.
12:57I think that's the best, you know, gauge you can get, but it's also a little more regulated, you know?
13:02Yeah, but this seems like it's going to serve as the dress rehearsal, right?
13:05Like this is the opportunity to get everybody into that flow and go through it properly.
13:09Yeah, it's one of those things where I'm bouncing back and forth because I think it's also in very close
13:14proximity, right?
13:15How often do you have game-like environments in, you know, two days apart?
13:20That's true.
13:21That's the bigger thing for me.
13:22Because Tuesday, they're going to treat it in game-like.
13:24Oh, they're going to do kickoffs and punts and everything.
13:26And they're going to, you know, rep those big-time opportunities with a lot of the ones.
13:31And then the ones will play, again, to Figge's point, I don't know how long, but the ones will play
13:36again, you know, health-willing on Thursday, right?
13:39That's two days separation from that level of competition.
13:43That's the only thing that comes to mind.
13:44But also, there is an adage in my community, John Lopez.
13:48I believe it filters over to yours as well.
13:50Maybe it's just a general adage, and I have not given that enough consideration.
13:53Scare money don't make none.
13:54Right.
13:55And so I do think that, like, in this circumstance—
13:57And again, I always say, don't play scared.
13:58Right.
13:58But this game doesn't matter at all.
14:01Zero.
14:01Yeah.
14:02Well, I mean, this is one of those where I think we're going to have to play the result on
14:05it.
14:05And I know that it's not good to play the result, but ultimately, if they get out of it clean,
14:09it worked out.
14:10It worked out.
14:10And if you end up with a Jeremiah Love-type situation, then we get on these airwaves and act like
14:15we all knew that this was the way that they should go.
14:17But yeah, that's a fair point.
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