00:00T-Mills in the building.
00:01I mean, he is just going Aggie every day now.
00:04T-Mills in the building.
00:05It's that time, baby.
00:06It's that time.
00:07T-Mills back college football is here, baby.
00:09Hey, it's getting there, baby.
00:10We're going to have to start talking about that.
00:12Jayden Higgins just takes over the whole show.
00:15There it is.
00:15Clint Sterner in the building.
00:17We got it.
00:17You know how you can get a hold of us now.
00:19You can get us on the text line, 713-572-4610, YouTube and Twitch.
00:23You can jump in with us.
00:25We may open up the phone lines a little bit later on.
00:27Remember, it pays to listen to the fan and the drive.
00:31You'll have a chance to win front row tickets in the bullpen coming up in the 5 o'clock hour
00:37to this game that has appeared to have changed, Clint.
00:42This game that has appeared to have changed.
00:44Listen, the big news, if you were just jumping in with us at 2,
00:48the big news is Jayden Higgins.
00:52Clint Tyler, yesterday I said I felt a lot better about him.
00:58From when he walked off to when he initially got injured and laid down on the ground.
01:04Looked like he started to grab the back of the knee from what I saw.
01:07I felt better.
01:09Then I heard CJ say, I think he'll be good.
01:12And I felt better then too.
01:14Well, clearly what we learned today, and I think it should have been a sign, Clint,
01:18that it was something that we just didn't hear any update all day long after this happened,
01:26you know, in the 10 o'clock hour.
01:29No update all day long.
01:30And then we get the news, the awful news today that Jayden Higgins,
01:36a guy who I think was going to be counted on big time for this offense,
01:40he is out for the season with a torn ACL.
01:45We're learning that today.
01:47And, Clint, I do want to get to that.
01:50And as you said, there are so many tentacles off of this injury.
01:58And one that we are learning today is, according to DJ Bien-Ami of ESPN, Clint,
02:08the Texans will not play their starters against the Raiders.
02:12D'Amico Ryan feels that Tuesday's practice was plenty enough work per a team spokesperson.
02:19I know we'll get into the Higgins thing,
02:21but this seems to be something that is a reaction to that.
02:25I know they're saying they saw enough Tuesday.
02:28But he seemed to be adamant that everybody that was healthy was going to play in week two.
02:32They all played in week two last year.
02:35Your thoughts off of that, Clint, that it looks like the starters will not play.
02:40And I would imagine this means now they will not play at all in the preseason.
02:44And the first time we'll see them in a game situation will be against the Buffalo Bills.
02:49Obviously, you know I hate it, Ron.
02:52Obviously, I hate it.
02:54It's a knee-jerk reaction.
02:56I mean, I think big picture here.
02:58Is it any day that anybody, the team takes a field, anybody can get injured?
03:02I hope this is not a knee-jerk reaction.
03:03But I don't know if there's any other way to look at it, right, at this point,
03:08is that it's definitely knee-jerk.
03:10So, I hate it.
03:13I think the same problems, whatever, whether it's me or it's D'Amico or whoever it may be,
03:21the same problems that existed, you know, 24 hours ago or 48 hours ago exist today.
03:27The same need for that offensive line that went drive in the first game, whatever that need may be,
03:34it's all still here today.
03:36And I understand that you don't obviously want to let injuries become a topic or a problem here that derails
03:42the season,
03:43but you've got to get to work in.
03:45You've got to get to work in.
03:47And the importance of the joint practice is obviously through the roof,
03:51given how Nick Casario and D'Amico Ryan is really the whole NFL have really taken to it.
03:57But for an injury like that, kind of a freak injury like that,
04:01to cause a change in plans, if you will, in preparation for a season, I think is awfully risky.
04:08So, not a big fan of the decision, assuming that that's where they end up going with,
04:14not a big fan of the decision to not, you know, to not play guys in the preseason,
04:20really, because you're not going to play at all.
04:22So, C.J. Stroud's last snaps in real action being New England,
04:26and then obviously Buffalo to open the season,
04:28that can't be ideal for the quarterback from a preparation standpoint.
04:32Yeah, no, I'm with you on that.
04:35At least it looks like many of the starters,
04:38potentially the starters of the O-line at least got some action last week.
04:42But this group, it looks like, if these reports are correct,
04:46it looks like the first action they will get together on the offense and defense,
04:53but the action that will first get together will be Sunday against Buffalo when the season opens.
04:58So, listen, I know that's a, as you said, that's a tough injury and a tough thing to look at,
05:05but it is hard to get the sense of how adamant he was this weekend about the guys being healthy.
05:12We're going to play that that has been changed enough.
05:15So, we'll see.
05:16That is obviously something that I think that's birthed from, it feels, this injury.
05:21But overall, man, I want to get this.
05:23We've heard a little bit of your reaction, and we'll go through.
05:26We've got throughout the day because this is the big story.
05:28Jaden Higgins out for the season, torn ACL.
05:31Clint, on a scale from one to, I don't even want to say ten,
05:37but I just think of the guys that, because I don't look at Jaden Higgins as a,
05:43damn, that's an injury you can't come back from.
05:47There are guys on the team where you're like, this completely, absolutely changes everything.
05:53But on a scale of one to Will, C.J. Stingley, those are the three guys that come to mind.
05:59Clint, how big would you say this injury to start the season of Jaden Higgins is
06:06compared to those?
06:07Well, I mean, it's obviously not one of your superstar players,
06:11but I would argue that from an importance level, all things considered,
06:15he was right below the guys you mentioned.
06:18I mean, obviously, Derek Stingley and Will Anderson changed the way you can play defense, period.
06:23Those two are different.
06:25C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins changed the way that you play offense.
06:29Beyond that, beyond those names and the impact that they have game in, game out,
06:35not really play in, play out on their respective side of the ball,
06:38there's a tier of players that I would say Dalton Schultz, I'd say David Montgomery,
06:44and I would throw Jaden Higgins in that group.
06:47Now, I think he was on the verge of creeping into that first tier
06:51and how they were using him and the workload that they were placing on him,
06:55the responsibilities that they were placing on him,
06:57the chemistry that he had created with C.J. Stroud.
06:59The fact that if he just simply builds on year one into year two, Ron,
07:05you're talking about eight, nine, ten touchdowns potentially.
07:07He had six last year and was running around like a timid rookie.
07:10This year could have been a, I mean, a lookout, I mean, show up and show out kind of year.
07:16And so you're talking definitely a tier one player potentially.
07:21But as we sit right now, for me, Ron, this is a guy that it doesn't change the way you
07:26play offense,
07:28but it obviously makes your offense significantly less explosive.
07:32And it puts crazy pressure on everybody on the offensive side of the football.
07:40If you thought the Texans needed to run the football before because Nick Casario made the moves that he made
07:45and D'Amico Ryan's decided that's the brand of football that he wanted to play,
07:49if you think that the pressure was on them to get that right, boy, it is ratcheted up today.
07:55If you thought Nick Cayley, being a second-year play caller,
07:58if you thought the pressure of improving on last year was up there, boy, it just got ratcheted up today.
08:06I mean, so every move that Nick made, every decision that D'Amico made,
08:10every play that Nick Cayley calls, every decision that C.J. Stroud makes,
08:17every one of those just got made more difficult with the Jaden Higgins injury, period.
08:21See, I think it should be like a six or a seven on most teams.
08:25But I do think it is higher just because of, one, the injury situation and uncertainty
08:31that you have with the receivers behind him.
08:34And, second, like, again, until we see more from Nick Cayley,
08:41like, taking more weapons away from Nick Cayley is not a good thing, right?
08:46Like, I think the least, the lesser the weapons that Nick Cayley has
08:52is harder for him to overcome, you know, some of the deficiencies.
08:57And I think this just says, tighter coverage, more resources towards Nico,
09:03and let me, let all these other spaces beat me.
09:06And I don't know that, you know, right now you feel great that the coordinator
09:12is going to be able to kind of lift them out of that.
09:15So, it is, I think it's a, I think it's bigger than what a normal number two receiver
09:21should be on this, on this offense, just because of everything that's happening around it.
09:26Oh, absolutely.
09:27If you want me to put a number on it, if you want me to put a number on it,
09:29I would go with an eight.
09:30Yeah, I would too.
09:32Yeah.
09:32I mean, Higgins, Higgins, the name to your point, six, seven.
09:35No, I didn't mean that, but six, six-ish.
09:38There you go.
09:39Six-ish, right?
09:40Yeah.
09:40I mean, just the name, the player, the second year guy, the number two receiver, six-ish.
09:46But you look at how they used him, how they were using him.
09:50You look at how we really don't, Nick Cayley doesn't really specialize in moving Nico around
09:55and create, he's not hard to find.
09:58That makes this number two receiver more valuable than most number two receivers.
10:01And so, yeah, I think it'd be real easy to get to an eight.
10:04Like I said, you're not alarming nine or ten with some of the names we mentioned,
10:07but I think an eight is more than fair.
10:09There we go.
10:09There you go.
10:09Like I said, the number three, let's move on to齊.
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