00:00All right, Tape Drop Tuesday.
00:01If you are new here, and we know we've got some newbies here on the fan,
00:06we appreciate you stopping by, tell a friend or nine,
00:09and listen in every day, 2 to 6 to the drive.
00:14Clint takes a look at the tape, the All-22,
00:17and gives you his synopsis of what he saw in the game.
00:22And there's a lot here.
00:23The Texans obviously fell to the Bills 36-31.
00:26There was a lot on the defensive side of the ball.
00:28There was a lot on the offensive side of the ball.
00:31What jumped out to you?
00:33The floor is yours, Clint.
00:35Yeah, Ron, I'll give you the good to start with.
00:41I'm going to tell you, C.J. Stroud was tremendous.
00:47I'm going to tell you, tremendous.
00:48I mean, there were a couple of balls that I think were more or less thrown away.
00:56There were, you know, a couple of times where obviously nobody was there
01:01and he had to move around a little bit and try to make something out of nothing.
01:04But the percentage of times that he knew exactly where to go with the football,
01:12in this offense, this isn't that we're going to start at A every single time
01:15and go A, B, C, D, this is an offense that gives you the option of where to start
01:20in your progression and encourages you to move the ball around
01:24and not just target one guy like Nico Collins, right?
01:28I mean, this is an offense where you're going to have maybe not 11,
01:31like happened this week, but you're going to have a lot of receivers,
01:34a lot of pass catchers register in the box score, if you know what I mean.
01:38He was definitely hitting the open man, it seemed like.
01:41Coach?
01:41I mean, dealing.
01:43I mean, like, you take the – again, I know you can't do this,
01:48but if you take the unfortunate, because I don't think they were –
01:53you don't coach the fumbles out of C.J. Stroud.
01:57The stuff we saw in the playoffs last year, you've got to coach it out of them.
02:00You've got to talk about – like this year were some things like,
02:03hey, man, you've got to obviously protect the football a little bit better,
02:06but what you were doing was right, right?
02:11I mean, this may be – this is a top two or three game for C.J. Stroud for me
02:15of his career.
02:16It almost makes you want to change his grade a little?
02:18You had him at a B.
02:19No, no.
02:20You had him at a B.
02:21No, I can't.
02:21The turnovers are still –
02:22No, because I told you last year, like, I mean, I'm still there with C.J.
02:26I'm grading C.J. when I grade him.
02:27I'm grading him on a –
02:28That's fair.
02:28I mean, he's – I'm grading him on a Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, you know, type of scale, if you
02:36will.
02:36Like, an A – to get an A from me for C.J. Stroud,
02:41it's got to be a game where you put the team on your back and you go out there and
02:44you win the game.
02:44Like, that's – to get an A, you've got to go win the game.
02:48Now, you know, this is about as close as you could get to an A and lose and turn the
02:54football over twice.
02:55I'm telling you.
02:56You know, typically that, you lose.
02:58You don't throw for – I mean, you obviously end up throwing for a good chunk,
03:01but you don't win the game.
03:03You don't show up big in clutch time.
03:06You turn it over out of the gate.
03:07You turn it over to end it.
03:08That typically is going to get you in the C range for me.
03:10I bumped him up to B because I knew he was pretty damn good.
03:14Ron, to answer your question, yeah, he was good enough to wear it.
03:17It makes me think, like, this may have deserved a little better.
03:20I know there's some other stuff you want to get to, and I want to – I want you to
03:24–
03:24I just – if you could pinpoint one thing that you saw from CJ that impressed you the most,
03:33if it's one thing, whether it's his accuracy, whether it's what he saw,
03:37what's the one thing that you're like, that's what really jumped out to me
03:43that got you to this space watching it?
03:45Well, I think what I said from jump, like, the knowing where to go with the football
03:51in this offense is absolutely paramount.
03:54And it's not about, you know, getting to your fourth progression, obviously.
03:59Like, a lot of times it's pre-snapping and going, okay, I'm going to work the right side.
04:03I'm going to work the left side.
04:04I'm going to work this combination.
04:06Or, hey, I'm going to take Nico on the one-on-one route, right?
04:09And he was – I mean, I bet it's in the mid-90s.
04:13I always tell people what made – like, I wish – I wish there were a scale
04:19that somebody could judge Tom Brady's career and grade Tom Brady's career,
04:24not on yardage and touchdowns and even wins in Super Bowls,
04:27but just how many times when the ball was snapped did he take the ball to the right place?
04:33Whether that was a check down or a go route or a dip, whatever.
04:37But he took the ball.
04:38I guarantee you it is 90-plus percent, and it's 15 or 20 points higher
04:45than most quarterbacks in the league.
04:47CJ was that good on Sunday.
04:49He was that good on Sunday.
04:51So I have no problem, by the way, with anybody that wants to, yeah, but that,
04:56because I agree with if we're going to talk about $60, $70 million,
05:02if we're going to talk about franchise quarterback,
05:05if we're going to talk about changing the structure of our team,
05:08then you can't be the guy that when the game's on the line
05:13and you're inside the 10-yard line, we don't get it done, right?
05:16And we don't get it done because we fumble or because we turn it over.
05:19We got to get that done.
05:20That's a clutch part of just being, in my opinion, that level player.
05:24I don't have a problem with those conversations,
05:26but the reality of it is between them fumbles, CJ Stroud was absolutely elite,
05:33mentally and physically, absolutely elite.
05:36There were probably three or four balls that he threw
05:37that literally great defense knocked him down,
05:40but they'd have been easy completions.
05:41God bless, brother.
05:42Yeah.
05:44It seemed like he was playing at a high level
05:47and making big-time throws and decisions throughout that game,
05:53watching it just live without looking at it again.
05:55Another one, while we're there, the offensive line really, really good.
05:58Significantly better than expected.
06:00Now, again, particularly the last two plays of the game,
06:04the sack and the sack fumble to end the game.
06:08Obviously, you got to play better in crunch time.
06:09We got to be able to execute that in crunch time,
06:13but this offense was one of the worst offenses in the league,
06:16offensive lines, I'm sorry, in the league over the last couple of years.
06:20They played significant.
06:22They were top half.
06:23They were top half Sunday against Buffalo.
06:26No question about it.
06:28Top half, and it was really, really impressive.
06:31There wasn't a ton of help for Trent Brown.
06:34There wasn't a ton of help for Ursary.
06:38You know, they were good.
06:40The young fella, Keelan Rutledge, held his own.
06:45Held his own.
06:46And, you know, I think the bad snaps, you know, stuck out like a sore thumb.
06:51Trent Brown had a couple of them.
06:52Ed Ingram at right guard had a couple of them.
06:54But really, for the most part, the others were pretty good.
06:57One thing that sticks out on film is what I tell people all the time
07:00about offensive line play.
07:01Right?
07:04Guys aren't going to be perfect.
07:07Right?
07:08You're going to get turned sideways in protection.
07:11You're going to get, you know, your footwork off and stuff in your run blocking.
07:16But if you will bust ass to stay attached, I mean, if you just stay in that guy's hip pocket,
07:25you give me as a quarterback the opportunity to slide instead of panic.
07:30Right?
07:30You give me as a running back a chance to cut that thing back
07:33and see if I can find another opportunity, another hole,
07:36versus have to bounce the thing all the way outside
07:40because there's a free defender, free rusher right there in my face.
07:43Guys, I'm going to tell you, Keelan Rutledge, and really the whole group does it,
07:47but Keelan Rutledge is as good as anybody on his team at that right there.
07:51When he does make a mistake, he stays attached and he fights like hell.
07:55He's physical.
07:56Oh, yeah.
07:56I mean, he fights like hell.
07:57So that's the good, boys.
08:00But now I want to flip over to the defensive side of the football.
08:03Oh, boy.
08:04I'm going to tell you, Buffalo got real brave real quick with number 51.
08:13There was a lot of one-on-one, tackle versus edge rusher and tackle one.
08:20There were some opportunities, like the run for a touchdown that Josh Allen had.
08:2751 caves inside and gives him the whole right side of the field to flush
08:33and ultimately run and end up with a touchdown,
08:36but obviously have an explosive play.
08:3951's got to be better.
08:4051's got to be better overall, and 51's got to be more disciplined within the system.
08:48But we can blame it on not many live reps in preseason if we want to,
08:54but there were times when he got manhandled.
08:57There was, I think, most concerning was Buffalo.
09:01Manhandled.
09:02That's not something you hear about Will Anderson Jr.
09:04Manhandled, right?
09:06And there were, again, the Bills got really brave and did it more times
09:13than I noticed in game.
09:15In the film, they got really brave with just, hey, one-on-one, man,
09:19leave him on idle over there.
09:20And it worked out in their favor.
09:22So it wasn't just always chipping and leaving right in.
09:26It seemed like, to me, they were more concerned with Daniil in pass rushing downs
09:32to add more help to Daniil than they were Will Anderson.
09:35They were more concerned with Daniil in the pass rush,
09:37which doesn't surprise you because he's a better pass, just pure pass rusher.
09:42But just overall, like, to me, what stood out was the lack of chaos
09:47that our edge rushers, including Clowney, by the way,
09:51typically create was a non-factor in this game.
09:54I mean a non-factor.
09:55Maybe he showed up two or three times in the entire game.
09:58Right?
09:59And here's the other one, and I think this is a little bit more concerning.
10:03I don't know if these interior defensive linemen that we've been sold
10:10is going to fly.
10:10I don't know if they're going to cut it.
10:13I don't know if they're going to cut it.
10:15In the pass rush game, or –
10:18What was that?
10:19We're talking about Rankins, we're talking about Tommy, we're talking about –
10:22Tommy Togiai and Sheldon Rankins are really your two interior guys.
10:26And then the rotation –
10:27The rotation is Mario Edwards, Logan Hall.
10:30I'm going to tell you, man, they ain't –
10:32I don't think it's going to cut it.
10:35I mean, unless something changes, I don't know that this defense –
10:40They may need a Caden McDonald to –
10:43You need something.
10:44I don't know that this defense can afford to just throw Tommy Togiai.
10:47Like that love affair with Tommy, I don't know that that is –
10:51I don't know that that love affair should have turned into a starting spot marriage.
10:55I think that may have been an every now and again rotational piece, side piece,
11:00if you know what I'm saying.
11:01Yeah, like he Kurt Heinish.
11:02No, I'm not – I'm just saying I don't know that he and Logan Hall
11:07and Sheldon Rankins is getting on up there.
11:10I don't know that you got a D-tackle on this team that is a surefire hand in the dirt,
11:17starting heavy, heavy in the rotation, difference-making type defensive lineman.
11:22And that is scary, especially –
11:25We talked about it Friday where Seth Payne, you catch in the morning, is saying,
11:30like they're – like Caden McDonald, there are four guys legitimately
11:34that are better than him that need to be on the field more than him.
11:38No, no, no, no.
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