- 3 minutes ago
John Lopez joined Shan and Bobby to discuss the upcoming matchup between the Cowboys and Texans. Lopez discussed Houston's coaching situation, C.J. Stroud's play, injury updates on key defensive players, and more.
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00:00We've got breaking news overnight.
00:01The Cowboys trade a future 2028 second round pick along with a six for Joey Porter Jr.,
00:09who was faking the back injury in Pittsburgh.
00:12Is he going to play on Sunday already against Houston?
00:15I don't think so.
00:17That's a pretty quick turnaround.
00:18I would be surprised if he's playing Sunday.
00:20And speaking of Houston, let's get to the local legend there, John Lopez,
00:25from our sister station, 610 Sports Radio, joining us on the official home of the Dallas Cowboys.
00:32Good morning, John.
00:33How are you?
00:34What's happening, boys?
00:36Doing well.
00:37And I saw that Porter news, and I think he might play on Thursday.
00:40Hell, I mean, could he be any worse?
00:43Just have him go out there and guess.
00:44You could do that, I guess.
00:45What do you think of the deal overall?
00:49Okay, so you know what's interesting about this game?
00:51And I mentioned it yesterday, just off air.
00:54Like, this is really one of the most intriguing coaching matchups you'll ever see
01:00because they have just a horrible, they being the Cowboys, of course,
01:06a horrible, horrible defensive plan, a coordinator that just seems absolutely overwhelmed.
01:13And guess what about the Texans offensive coordinator?
01:16Same.
01:16I mean, he's completely overwhelmed, lost.
01:20It appears he has no idea what to do.
01:22So rather than, like, the highest-level coaching matchup,
01:26it's going to be the lowest-level coaching matchup.
01:28See who, you know, the blind squirrel gets, you know, that kind of thing.
01:31And Adam Schefter, 25 minutes ago on Twitter, says,
01:34there is, quote, a chance that new Cowboys cornerback Joey Porter will make his debut
01:38Sunday versus the Texans.
01:39Cowboys are going to work to get him ready for Sunday.
01:41John, you mentioned your offensive coordinator,
01:46and things were on the up-and-up with Bobby Sloick.
01:49You've got Bobby Sloick there.
01:50He's going to be the next head coach in the National Football League.
01:53What has happened to C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense since that?
01:58Okay, so I think the biggest problem here, and I'll try to say it quickly,
02:03just because I know we're on a time constraint.
02:05We've got 40 minutes, baby.
02:07That's why we put you here.
02:08The biggest problem with the Houston Texans offense was not Bobby Sloick.
02:13It's really not even Nick Caley as bad as he is.
02:16It's Nick Casario, the general manager.
02:18You know, as you guys know, Nick Casario came in from New England,
02:23and he never really, in my view, believed in the West Coast offense,
02:29you know, whatever you want to call it, that Bobby Sloick brought with him.
02:33Because D'Amico brought Bobby Sloick from San Francisco.
02:36He knew him there.
02:37You know, and then they brought in, you know,
02:39Gerard Johnson was the quarterback coach.
02:41He's another West Coast guy.
02:43And D'Amico, in his first year as head coach, basically said,
02:48yeah, this is what I'm familiar with.
02:50This is what works in San Francisco.
02:52This is what we're going to do.
02:54Well, Nick Casario was the general manager.
02:56They didn't really know each other.
02:57And then once Sloick struggled in year two,
03:01Casario basically, in my view, said, look,
03:03I got this.
03:04Let's bring in the Patriots offense.
03:06And he brought in all his John Carroll buddies,
03:09including, you know, his roommate, Jerry Szaplinski,
03:12to be quarterback coach this year, all his Patriots guys.
03:16And it's more, you know, little finger kind of thing
03:20from Nick Casario that's the biggest problem.
03:22And you can hardly blame Nick Caley for being overwhelmed.
03:25He was a tight ends coach.
03:26He was a tight ends coach that didn't really do a lot.
03:28How much has C.J. Stroud regressed?
03:32How has he regressed?
03:34And where are you and the city on his extension?
03:38All right.
03:39So it's going to be really interesting because it's a dilemma in every way.
03:45Both options seem to be bad.
03:46Because right now, C.J. Stroud is the least of their worries on offense.
03:50He's playing pretty well.
03:51He really is.
03:52He really is.
03:53You know, if you look at everything from the analytics and advanced numbers
03:57to just the eye test, he's playing pretty well.
04:00They can't run the ball.
04:01They can't block.
04:02The receivers can't get separation.
04:04And Nico Collins has been injured.
04:06And yet, C.J. Stroud is doing well.
04:08He hates this offense.
04:10Again, my view.
04:12He just would rather let it rip, rather take more shots.
04:16But he's buying in.
04:17He's being the good soldier.
04:18And he's dumping off little short passes.
04:20He's handing the ball off for, you know, negative yardage or minimal yardage.
04:25He's doing his job well.
04:27So if he continues to play well and the offense continues to fail him,
04:30because they're awful.
04:31I mean, they're awful on offense right now.
04:33But Nico's coming back, so we'll see.
04:35Then are they going to sign him?
04:37Is he going to want to sign?
04:39That's the dilemma.
04:40You know, does he want to play on this offense and this team if they don't make
04:44the playoffs or if they struggle again on offense?
04:46Or is he going to want to ask out?
04:48I think that's where it is.
04:49Now, the frustration level at the end of the postseason, we all know,
04:52was off the charts.
04:52That's different, though.
04:54John Lopez, co-host of In the Loop on 95.7 The Fan in Houston.
04:59That co-host, by the way, Reggie Atatula with John Lopez.
05:02John, when you look at it, you mentioned Nico Collins there.
05:06We all think very highly of Nico Collins.
05:08Think he's a good player.
05:09We did get into some of these offseason lists, and we'd see him put up really high
05:14on the receivers list, we thought.
05:15He was like 6th or 7th or 8th in terms of top receivers in the NFL.
05:20Is that how you guys view him?
05:22Do you guys view him as like, hey, that's a no-doubt bona fide top-ten receiver,
05:25and that's a dude you build around in a passing game?
05:29I absolutely do.
05:30And, you know, we don't know a lot about, you know, high-level, Super Bowl-caliber football
05:37in this city, unfortunately.
05:38We don't either.
05:41But we know receivers.
05:43And, you know, we've had Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins.
05:48I'm not going to say he's quite in that class, but he's in the same neighborhood,
05:52and he really, really is good, whether it's separation, whether it's route running,
05:57hands, all of it.
05:59But I think this offense is failing him as much, if not more, than it's failing C.J. Stroud.
06:05What is his playing status, John?
06:07And then yesterday I saw some buzz about a linebacker we discussed in the offseason,
06:12Aziz Alshair, maybe being a question mark.
06:15What's the injury report?
06:17Yeah, I think Nico Collins is going to play.
06:19We'll see if it makes a difference, as we mentioned earlier,
06:22against this Cowboys defense and really just to help this stagnant Houston offense.
06:28I think he's going to play.
06:30I would bet money that he would.
06:32Aziz Alshair, I think you could argue, is probably a more important, not a better,
06:36but a more important player to the Texans defense than Nico is to the Texans offense,
06:42just because he's the green dot, and beyond all that, he truly is literally and figuratively
06:49at the center of everything they do defensively.
06:52And this is something that I'm sure you guys have touched on or talked about or whatever.
06:56This defense was coming into the season, hey, this might be one of the all-time great defenses.
07:02They're not, and they're not even really close.
07:05I mean, outside of Will Anderson, who's just a freak, their cornerbacks have been had a little bit.
07:12Reed Blankenship, the safety that's come over from Philadelphia, had a good game this past Sunday,
07:18but has been had multiple times.
07:20Their linebackers, both their starting linebackers, if Alshair doesn't play on Sunday,
07:24both their starting middle linebackers are going to be out, and it is a disaster.
07:29The Cowboys are going to be able to really do a lot, if they can, up the middle of the
07:34Texans defense,
07:36including Mario Edwards.
07:37You know, a lot of people may not be too familiar with him,
07:41but he's a cog at the defensive tackle position, so he's going to be out, too.
07:46How's Jadavion been?
07:49Actually, pretty good.
07:50You know, Jadavion is really well-liked here.
07:53You know, maybe some folks wanted to see more sacks out of him here,
07:58and he ended up getting more sacks elsewhere.
08:00He's been great.
08:01No, he's been a – but again, that's another edge rusher.
08:03I don't think any of these guys can really be moved, you know, inside to the tackle position.
08:08Their edge rushing is not the issue.
08:10The issue with – because this defense is still very good, don't get me wrong,
08:13but it's not what we thought it would be, and they've given up points,
08:16and they've given up big plays, especially, you know, chunk plays,
08:20explosives, as the coaches like to say.
08:22But the edge rushers are not the issue.
08:24It's kind of everything else.
08:26John, when you look at the Texans' defense, and like you said,
08:29there was a lot of hype about them heading into the year.
08:31I may have, after three weeks, foolishly put them in the Super Bowl before the season.
08:36That was my AFC pick.
08:37That's why they're having you on later today.
08:39That's exactly it.
08:40Yeah, that's why I'll be on with John at 1 o'clock today, John and Reggie.
08:43When you look at the makeup of the defense and these three weeks,
08:47we're sitting here in Dallas and we're saying,
08:48all right, we're hoping this clicks, and they're building towards something.
08:52And so we're willing to take some of these lumps.
08:54When you guys look at that there, do you view the defensive lapses to this point
08:59as being terminal, being super concerning, or are you just like,
09:02all right, they've had a bad couple weeks.
09:04This is still, personnel-wise, a really great defense?
09:07Well, first of all, I'm going to make you feel better
09:09because I've been covering sports for, this is going on 43 years,
09:12and here in Houston, 37 years.
09:15And like the idiot that I am, I picked the Texans to go to the Super Bowl.
09:20Hey, there we go.
09:20I should know better.
09:21I should know better.
09:23I mean, I was in Buffalo when the Oilers blew that 35-3 lead.
09:27I mean, I've seen the choke jobs.
09:28I've seen 2011 and 2012 with J.J. Watt and all those, Arian Foster,
09:34and then they blow it.
09:35I saw Bill O'Brien fake a punt with an injured player.
09:38I should have known better than to pick them to win the Super Bowl,
09:42but I mean, to get to the Super Bowl, but I did.
09:46As far as this defense, that's truly like the million-dollar question
09:49because Kamari Lasseter, the cornerback opposite of Derek Stingley,
09:55has been had.
09:57And here's the other thing.
09:58I think the book is out on how to attack this Texans defense
10:02because what they do is they don't really do a lot of fancy, you know,
10:08scheming and disguises and all that.
10:11They line up with, you know, hair on fire, and they just go.
10:16I mean, there is nothing fancy about this Texans defense.
10:19They cover you.
10:20They attack you.
10:22They tackle.
10:23They are just really, really physical and play free,
10:26and that's their secret.
10:27But if you go back to their first three games,
10:30Buffalo beat them with some shot plays over the middle.
10:32And then you go to, you know, this past week, Indianapolis.
10:36Pretty good game defensively.
10:38Not great.
10:38Pretty good.
10:39But when they gave up big plays and in the fourth quarter, shots up the middle,
10:43shot plays on the cornerbacks, on the edges.
10:46I mean, Cincinnati, Joe Burrow, you know, sliced and diced them with big plays,
10:51shot plays.
10:51What I think they're doing is if we can protect at all on the edges,
10:55we can attack this Texans defense.
10:57So it's almost as if you kind of want to see them, you know,
11:00scheming and disguising a little more because I think the book is out on them
11:03on just how to attack them.
11:05They're still good, but I think the book's out.
11:06John Lopez with us here on 105 through the pit.
11:09John, when you look at the Texans and Dallas going into Houston on this short
11:13turnaround, what kind of an advantage or maybe lack thereof has reliant been
11:17for Houston?
11:18Is that a difficult road environment that Dallas is walking into?
11:21What do you view as the reputation of that stadium in terms of on visiting
11:24teams?
11:26Oh, man, Dallas is going to eat.
11:28Dallas fans are going to probably be 50%.
11:30I've already said it a couple of times, at least 50% Cowboys fans in that stadium.
11:37It's a cool place.
11:38I mean, they have a good record, you know, or at least they did, you know, here.
11:43But it can be really, really loud like any NFL stadium, but it is not, you know,
11:49it is not intimidating and road, I mean, the Cowboys, damn well could be a home game
11:56for the Cowboys.
11:57John Lopez, man, you're getting me in the mood, John.
12:00I mean, I'm laying down the couchy bed as we speak right now.
12:03But I guess I should have asked you your pick first.
12:05What is your feel for the game?
12:06What's going to happen?
12:08Well, again, like the idiot I am, I picked the Cowboys in the first three games.
12:12You know, fool me three times or you ain't going to fool me four.
12:15I know that's not the saying, but I'm picking the Cowboys in this game.
12:17John Lopez, 610 Sports Radio in Houston here on 105.3.
12:2495.7 The Fan, baby.
12:2695.7 The Fan.
12:2795.7 The Fan.
12:28Oh, 95.7 The Fan.
12:30My bad, my bad.
12:31Hey, John, how did you guys treat the AL West title and was the Astro fan criticism
12:40from their own players legit?
12:43Oh, absolutely it was legit.
12:46Bennett Sousa and Christian Walker are a bunch of babies or a couple of babies.
12:52I mean, if you think about it, and Rangers fans and Dallas fans know this better than
12:56anybody.
12:57No fan base, I would argue in sports, has had their teams back more than Astros fans.
13:06If you go back and look at the 2017 cheating scandal and then the penalties in 2019, Astros
13:12fans are incredibly irrational, you know, frankly, sometimes protecting and, oh, you did it too
13:18or everybody did it and don't, you know, defending, you know, this Astros team.
13:22And then these two bozos go out there and argue about or complain about a little booing for
13:30a team that should have been booed.
13:32I mean, I'm not a big booing guy, but they should have been booed.
13:37It was ridiculous.
13:38And just in terms of the Astros, I mean, you guys know this as well as anybody.
13:43Just a horrible division, not surprising.
13:45You obviously hope for the best, but once they got down on that in game one, it was pretty
13:51much written.
13:52John, I want to hear about the barbecue sauce.
13:54That's the main reason why I wanted to have you on.
13:56Tell me about, you got your own sauce?
13:59Text me your addresses.
14:00I'll get you guys some.
14:02Yeah.
14:02You know, I started this about, I guess, hell, I guess it's about six years ago now.
14:08I've always, I'm a big barbecue guy.
14:09I've got a barbecue podcast.
14:10I mean, you know, the whole nine yards I've been in competitions and all.
14:13I just love to cook and, um, and all that.
14:17So I, I make my own barbecue sauce and I started doing it for, for my ribs and chicken.
14:22I just didn't like the sauces that were out there.
14:24And anyway, long story short, a guy that owns a couple of, I think it's four, uh, stores
14:30here, barbecue stores here says you should bottle this.
14:32And I was like, seriously, I thought it, you know, people were just being nice when they
14:35said they liked it.
14:36And it's called OG sauce.
14:38Go figure OG sauce.
14:39And, um, and so I started bottling it and now, yeah, it's, it's not like an HEB or anything
14:44yet, but, uh, it's like in, it's like in some of the, you know, 20, 19, 20, uh, you
14:51know, reach smaller retailers, meat markets, small stores, you know, boutique stores like
14:55that.
14:55It's really good.
14:56I mean, in fact, some of the Texans have asked for it.
14:58I've given some Texan players that they seem to like it.
15:01What's the profile?
15:02Are we going tangy?
15:03Are we going sweet?
15:05Dude, you've read the website.
15:06It, it, it, it's, it, I don't like to say spicy cause it's not spicy, but it's got a little
15:10tang to it.
15:10It's sweet and tangy is what is exactly how I describe it.
15:14Tomato based, really rich, got some molasses in it.
15:17Damn good.
15:17Okay.
15:18So I'm, since you're the food guy, then I'll be traveling to the game and I'll be downtown
15:23Saturday.
15:25Where do I go eat?
15:26I've been to Kenny and Ziggy's before, and I know that's like kind of one of the big
15:29defaults for people, but where else around there should I look into?
15:32All right.
15:32You want Mexican or barbecue?
15:34Those are our two staples.
15:36Uh, we have everything, you know, like Dallas, but barbecue.
15:39Yeah.
15:40Go to truth.
15:41Barbecue.
15:42Good friend of mine.
15:43He's been on my podcast.
15:44He's won multiple world championships.
15:46His name is Leonard Botello.
15:48Go to truth barbecue or go to Pinkerton's, uh, Pinkerton, Grant Pinkerton, just one.
15:53This is really nerdy barbecue stuff, but he just won.
15:56Uh, he just won best barbecue at Memphis in May, which is one of the three biggest barbecue
16:01competitions in the world.
16:03He won first place.
16:04So I would say Pinkerton's or truth barbecue.
16:06I've got them written down.
16:07Yeah.
16:07I watch all the, uh, truth, uh, YouTube videos.
16:09That guy, he knows what the, he knows what the hell he's doing.
16:11It looks like Leonard Leonard is the best.
16:14Leonard is the absolute best.
16:15John, you're the best too.
16:16Thank you so much.
16:17We appreciate it.
16:18And good luck with Bobby later today.
16:20Yeah, man.
16:21Appreciate it.