- 19 hours ago
The Texans fall to the Cowboys and are now winless through four games. ITL asks whether there’s still any hope of saving the season or if Houston has already dug itself too deep of a hole.
The Texans fall to the Cowboys and are now winless through four games. ITL asks whether there’s still any hope of saving the season or if Houston has already dug itself too deep of a hole.
The Texans fall to the Cowboys and are now winless through four games. ITL asks whether there’s still any hope of saving the season or if Houston has already dug itself too deep of a hole.
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00:00How would you just, you know, we have so much, so much to dig into on this game from, you
00:07know, the defense to special teams to what it means to, you know, obviously the offense, which is kind of
00:13down the list a little bit in terms of gripes.
00:16They ruined food's birthday.
00:18They ruined food's birthday. Thanksgiving is a wrap.
00:23But when you looked at this game and you absorbed everything that was, you know, a factor in the Texans
00:29going to 0-4, what does your gut tell you?
00:32As soon as that ball hit the ground, that pile of players in the back of the end zone hit
00:37the ground, what was the gut? What was your gut feeling?
00:43That, Biggie, is that yours?
00:45It's over, right?
00:46That's the question. 713-572-4610 is the number to text. Are we done here?
00:51Like, did that feel like that was an ending to any real possibilities of making something happen for this team?
00:59Because I think for a lot of people, you were there.
01:02And honestly, the way that that game played out in particular, I think maybe left a little room for, you
01:08know, trying to decide what's winning, but I think I'm there.
01:10I think I'm there when it comes to, like, the actual factual, being able to turn this around and get
01:15to the playoffs and maybe do something, right?
01:17And this isn't just the only one team, the 92 Chargers, have ever gone from 0-4 to make the
01:22playoffs, and that's before we expanded the playoffs.
01:24It's not even that.
01:25It is qualitatively looking at this team and going, y'all ain't got it, man.
01:30Y'all ain't got it within y'all right now.
01:32And that seems crazy considering where this team was not very long ago.
01:36Here's where I am.
01:37The Houston Texans are the Astros.
01:40They are the Astros.
01:42If, you know, there is not a Super Bowl.
01:44They're the Astros.
01:46Let me explain.
01:47There's not a Super Bowl in their future.
01:49You know, we had these illusions and dreams of them being a Super Bowl team.
01:54I can't say it's over like when the Astros were struggling and obviously out of the gate, much like this
01:59Texans team.
02:01You know, you thought, well, they're not going to do anything even if they make the playoffs.
02:06That's where the Texans are.
02:08They are that big of a mess right now from the leadership to the ownership to the personnel that, frankly,
02:15seems overwhelmed to the coaching to, you know, just the general vibe around this team.
02:22And I know that sounds horrible, but someone explain to me how they are anything but an Astros-like organization
02:28right now.
02:28And so much specifically on the season level or just overall?
02:32Because I hear you very much so on the allusion to the Astros because I take us back a number
02:37of months, maybe two, three months, where we're looking at this Astros team.
02:40We're like, yeah, I don't know.
02:42And we were looking around the A.O. and going, hey, man, this team, unfortunately, the rest of the A
02:46.O. is also bad.
02:47So this team could get back and make the playoffs.
02:49And they ultimately did.
02:50But there's no real tangible trophy on the other side of it.
02:56Like, the Astros went in the playoffs and they weren't able to compete, right?
02:59They were swiftly escorted out of the building.
03:01And it feels like even if the Texans could put together, they could cobble together a miraculous remainder of the
03:08season and get themselves in the playoffs,
03:09it feels very evident for a number of reasons, rather, that this team could not go in and compete in
03:16a way that they could actually go
03:17and break the ceiling of the divisional round game and actually go and contend amongst the best teams in the
03:22A.O. and in the NFL.
03:23I mean, when you're talking about the Texans right now, you can cross your fingers and you can light a
03:28candle and you can, you know, cross yourself and you can get some voodoo magic working for you.
03:36And you can be superstitious and you can see where maybe they make the playoffs.
03:39You can see it.
03:40Maybe.
03:41Probably not.
03:41I could.
03:42Probably not.
03:42You know me, I subscribe to the theory.
03:44Ain't nobody trying to hear that.
03:45Like, I could squint and I could turn my head and I could kind of find my way to go,
03:49connect that good thing with that good thing with that good thing and we can daisy chain ourselves.
03:53But even then, like, no, no, no, no.
03:55But what does that remind you of?
03:56Like, you can do all these things.
03:58You know, light all those candles.
03:59Get a curandero in there, you know, to get some spices and burn them and see if you can get
04:05this at this Texans team.
04:06Is that witchcraft?
04:07Witchcraft, yes.
04:08Mexican witchcraft.
04:09You were close to saying another word there.
04:11You can maybe squint your eyes and see, well, they might get to the playoffs.
04:15But this is the reality.
04:17The reality is this is not only a good team.
04:22This is an organization that is off the rails.
04:25The organization is off the rails.
04:27And we've gone over it and we will again.
04:28And we'll do it today.
04:29You know, everything from the Casario stuff and this offense, which, by the way, I mean, this is going to
04:34be.
04:34I might lose my mind again.
04:36But, you know, to the culture and.
04:39Be ready to clear up.
04:40Be ready to clear out, Figgy.
04:42Oh, you know, the the the communication and the tweaks and the adjustments and, you know, all the little things.
04:51You can say all those things.
04:53But this season is off the rails.
04:56It is not what was advertised.
04:57It is not what was hoped for.
04:59It was not what was promised.
05:00And that that speaks to a team that is kind of fooling itself.
05:04Oh, we can get back in it.
05:05We've got to win one game.
05:06Sure.
05:07And you might even get to the playoffs.
05:08Might.
05:08I doubt it.
05:09But you might.
05:10But this organization is completely off the rails.
05:14And and it's not it's not unreasonable to think that there's going to be and needs to be some some
05:21significant changes, not just in the here and now, which D'Amico Ryan's alluded to, but long term.
05:27Yeah.
05:28Yeah.
05:28And I'm much like the Astros.
05:30I'm still very much in the here and now because I'm reacting specifically to that game.
05:34I don't think you're entirely wrong on the larger scale of things.
05:37But in the here and now, I'm looking at this and the reason why I am I am honestly at
05:42the place where I go.
05:43Yeah, we're done here, at least when it comes to anything potentially actually factually good in this season is somewhat
05:49just the mentality that they're approaching.
05:52I take you right to D'Amico Ryan's is a postgame press conference.
05:56It's the first question or the first response out of the book or out the gate, rather, where he's talking
06:00about struggling to finish games.
06:01This is D'Amico.
06:02Today is not a not a great finish by by our team defensively.
06:07It was not good enough that the offense goes out and plays like they played to give us 30, 30
06:12points defensively.
06:13You have to find a way to close that game out.
06:15And it was disappointing that we've been in three games that way where the offense has done a great job
06:21and we haven't been able to close it out there in the second half.
06:24So we got to look at it all and see what changes we need to make and what we need
06:29to fix.
06:30There you go.
06:31What changes we need to make and what we need to fix.
06:33Go ahead.
06:33The thing about it is, man, it feels like one, the defense, the finish wasn't good.
06:38No, there was a lot more within it that wasn't good.
06:40It feels like there's a lot of instances.
06:41And I get why a head coach or a team would want to go.
06:46We're close.
06:47It allows you to kind of strain a little bit more and make it feel like it's not an insurmountable
06:51task that you have to get yourself to the other side.
06:55But if you're being honest, there's so much more within this game than just the finish.
07:00There's so many other places in the midst of things where this team was not good enough and it wasn't
07:05just we didn't get the finish here.
07:07And I know that I played one response, but this has been a continuous kind of response has been a
07:12continuous mindset that shows through and what they're talking about.
07:16And the details clearly aren't there.
07:1813 penalties for 90 yards, John Lopez.
07:20There you go.
07:21That's one that is kind of just it is.
07:24It shows you just how significant the problems are.
07:27It's not detail oriented.
07:29And a number of those were continuing drives on top of not being good enough on third downs.
07:33And I know it sounds wild in a game where the Dallas Cowboys, I think they only converted 36 percent
07:39of their third downs.
07:40But it is the time and place when those third downs are completed.
07:43It is the ways in which those those completions happen.
07:46It is not as many of those plays.
07:48Whereas, oh, man, George Pickens going up and winning in the air.
07:51Sometimes it's dudes just being completely confused and not being in coverage and allowing for an easy pitch and catch
07:57that is like straight off of the practice field.
07:59So it is those types of things where I go, this ain't this ain't we are just inches away from
08:04finishing.
08:04This is this is institutional.
08:07This is granular.
08:08This is nuclear.
08:10Like this is down to the essence of who you are.
08:12And it does not look like the essence of a team that is a good football team point blank period.
08:16Look, let's put it in very blunt terms.
08:18Very, very bluntly when you talk about institutional.
08:21All right.
08:24The offense has no offensive line to speak of to play at a playoff, much less Super Bowl level.
08:31The running backs, I want to get into that, especially David Montgomery later.
08:34But they are not what we thought they were going to be.
08:37Woody Marks had a couple of good runs, a couple, but they played four games.
08:41No running back has rushed for more than 60 yards in any game.
08:44The running backs are not doing the job.
08:46And that was that was me.
08:46But the the offensive coordinator, while he had a good day, still does some absolutely mind-blowingly dumb things.
08:55He has what five tight ends and puts Blake Fisher in there as a tight end.
09:00He has five tight ends and puts Kate Stover as a fullback.
09:03Kate Stover is not a fullback.
09:05No.
09:05And there was a specific play where, you know, he's on the offset eye.
09:09And if if you have a fullback in that play, it's actually blocked up well enough.
09:13Hadn't I had?
09:13Yeah, I was I was thinking about you, John Lopez, when you were like, I don't want to hear about
09:17how they're not good enough.
09:18And I pushed back on it.
09:19There's a couple of plays in this game where you wanted to do your victory lap.
09:22You could because had on a hat and you just have guys that cannot win in the moment to give
09:27yourselves an opportunity.
09:28And there's one play in particular.
09:29I think it was in the third quarter, which is like, yeah, there's the gap like there's the blocks are
09:33there.
09:34And if if Kate Stover playing as a fullback, but not a fullback, if he's a fullback and able to
09:39move a defensive tackle, which at least let's be honest.
09:41Let's pause and think about that tight end, move this defensive tackle so this running back can run behind you
09:46is already an unfair thing to ask.
09:48Exactly.
09:49Exactly.
09:50So even the line, the line got hats on hats and then the hats got knocked off.
09:53The tight end got hat on hat and then his hat got knocked off.
09:56You know, so you got the line can't block.
09:57The running backs aren't what we thought.
09:58The tight ends are out of position.
10:00The offensive coordinator seems overwhelmed on some of his play calls to his credit on this day.
10:04Some of the things that he did well, you just on and on the defense.
10:08Let's not even, you know, we're going to dig into that next segment specifically, but you have players that are
10:13completely underperforming and you have a system that is absolutely being just undressed.
10:22Absolutely undressed.
10:22And again, more, more, more detail on that.
10:24But if you go down the line, you have special teams that suck.
10:28I mean, there's no other way to put it.
10:30Did you notice how many starters are playing on special teams?
10:32Exactly, exactly.
10:33So offensive line, running backs, offensive coordinator, defense, special teams.
10:39This is institutional.
10:40If you're going to use that analogy that I just used, you know, that this is kind of like the
10:44Astros.
10:46C.J. Stroud is your dog.
10:48C.J. Stroud is it.
10:50C.J. Stroud is the only thing you have going for you right now.
10:53And he threw for 347 yards.
10:56Put some respect on Nico Collins.
10:57I mean, but still, I mean, you get my point.
10:59Who's Nico then?
11:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:01What would Nico be doing?
11:02You know, C.J. is figuring it out.
11:03Is that how to do it?
11:04This is, maybe, maybe.
11:06I don't know.
11:07Isaac Paredes?
11:08Yeah, maybe he's Paredes.
11:09Okay, here we go.
11:10But that's how bad it is.
11:12This is not a compliment, guys.
11:14This is not a compliment.
11:15Well, at least let me have fun with it, John.
11:17They're all in fun.
11:17At least they made the playoffs.
11:19What'd you say?
11:19At least they made the playoffs.
11:21Well, yeah.
11:21And this team was going to be struggling to just get there.
11:24No, this is a huge, huge issue that the most bothersome thing is.
11:30It's you can't put your finger on one thing.
11:32You can't say, fire this guy, replace him, or do this, or change that.
11:37It is the entire organization, and it is completely off the rails.
11:43And anyone who feels as if, well, they're close, and DVOA says this and that, I don't know.
11:48You can talk to the wall.
11:50You can yell at the sky.
11:51I don't care.
11:52Why are you hitting me like that?
11:53I didn't even do nothing to you.
11:55I didn't even do nothing to you.
11:56I didn't want to look at you.
11:57You said DVOA.
11:58I know my name.
11:58Let's call it.
12:00No, but yeah, this feels like termites as opposed to a hole in the wall.
12:04Yes.
12:04You know what I mean?
12:04Like, if there's a hole in the wall, all right, I know that this is a very particular place.
12:08This is termites.
12:09Or this is mold.
12:10Like, this is black mold, right?
12:11Like, this is something that is widespread.
12:13This is in the walls.
12:15And that's the thing that makes this.
12:16You don't even know where to start.
12:18That's what gets me.
12:18Yeah.
12:19You don't even know where to start.
12:20This is where I feel more comfortable going, we're done here.
12:23At least in the larger scale of things.
12:25There's definitely improvements that need to be made.
12:27And now is where you start answering questions for going forward about who's going to be there
12:31and how are you going to do things, right?
12:33I think that that is what a lot of the remainder of the season, I imagine, it looks like.
12:37But as of right now, I don't know how you immediately go, we stop making these mistakes
12:43where people are left open or we stop having these miscommunications because you had all
12:48a training camp and you had week one as a wake-up call and then week two as a wake
12:52-up call.
12:53Actually, did you hear week three?
12:54Also a wake-up call, right?
12:55You've had enough of these and the answers are, the problems are still popping up.
13:00Hell, to a bigger degree because, again, this felt like the most penalized game of the season.
13:04In all of the worst times, in all the worst ways.
13:07And I will stop and admit, can we be honest, and recognize we've started with a lot of fire
13:14and brimstone for this team, so it's not like I'm trying to let them off the hook.
13:18Those refs were a little rough on the edges, weren't they?
13:21They were here and there, but I don't think anybody wants to hear that.
13:26And we'll certainly get into the significant sequence down on the goal line as well.
13:30There was one bad call.
13:31There was one good call on Kamari Lasseter.
13:34But even still, my point being, even still with that, maybe all 13 of those penalties
13:39weren't earned and justified by the Texans.
13:42How many of them do you think you can discredit?
13:44Ultimately, that is the sign of an undisciplined team.
13:47Special teams being bad is the sign of an undisciplined team.
13:50Having false starts and holdings maybe actually is a sign of a team that's overmatched.
13:54But you have enough of those where I go, this is not something that is just,
13:59man, we got to G-check.
14:01We just got to get in this locker room and be like, who are you?
14:03That feels like it's something a little bit more adept, and that's the thing that is scary
14:06because that doesn't feel as easily rectified.
14:09Well, and when you talk about just the entire problem being with the entire organization
14:16and from the top down and all that, we're going into week five,
14:20and I don't want to hear any more cleaning up this or cleaning up that.
14:25You know, you've had all of offseason, all of training camp, four preseason games
14:31and four regular season games to get on task.
14:34At some point, it is either coaching or players or both.
14:40You know, you're too late in the game now to say we just need to clean this up.
14:46You know, to use your termite analogy, you can sweep away all the dirt and dust you want.
14:51Termites are still in the walls.
14:52We just got to start putting things in bags.
14:54No.
14:55You know, the ant problem, we just got to put things in bags.
14:58No, the ants are here.
14:59Yeah.
14:59They're in there.
15:02Honestly, one of the most frustrating things to me amongst a number of frustrating things
15:05is the tone doesn't feel like it matches.
15:07This was a do or die game, man.
15:10Yeah.
15:10Yeah.
15:11This was do or die.
15:11And it didn't feel like they matched that intensity on the field.
15:14And now you're on four.
15:16Yeah.
15:16Maybe the best 0-4 team in the land, but what does that actually mean to you?
15:19Yeah, that means you're on four.
15:20What does that actually do for you?
15:21That means you're on four.
15:22Congratulations, you're better than the Chargers.
15:23How does that do?
15:24What does that do for you?
15:25And even if you want to look at the leadership, you can certainly put a lot of this blame,
15:30probably the majority of this blame, on Nick Casario.
15:33And we certainly will get into that as well.
15:35D'Amico Ryans is not off the hook.
15:37Not at all.
15:37By any stretch.
15:38The penalties alone points to D'Amico Ryans.
15:41The defense being so predictable, which we're about to talk about, is on D'Amico Ryans
15:46and Matt Burke.
15:47Just the culture, you know, this whole swarm thing, it ain't working.
15:51That's on D'Amico Ryans as well.
15:53And really, the inability to take over and run this offense and defense the way it probably
16:01should, maybe he's just a little stubborn.