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00:00Yeah, well, it's this year.
00:01And, you know, three out of four games, the Texans had the lead late
00:04and just the inability to close out games.
00:07So that's the major surprise for me is that you don't have guys like Tim Settle,
00:13the secondary players after you remove guys out.
00:17Clowney I thought was an upgrade over Derek Barnett.
00:20But in the middle, right in the middle of that defense
00:23is where a lot of teams are having success, especially running the football.
00:28Will Anderson's playing out of his mind.
00:30Daniil Hunter is Daniil Hunter.
00:32But when you get past that, it's just tough to – when you lose Aziz
00:38and you lose a couple of other guys, Henry Toa Toa,
00:42then the second guys behind them, they just haven't had the impact
00:47that you'd like them to have to close out games late.
00:50Dre, talking about closing out games, I mean, there was obviously an interest –
00:55I don't know if it was a bust or just an odd coverage.
00:58It looked like some kind of man-to-man coverage.
01:00But really, the C.D. Lamb just getting loose, 17 catches, career high.
01:04And we never saw Derek Stingley Jr. shadow C.D. Lamb.
01:08I think that's the biggest surprise defensively for me coming out
01:12was there never was that old – the coach give the old lock sign of,
01:16hey, man, 24, you go wherever C.D. Lamb goes.
01:19Were you surprised to not see that?
01:21Was there something that you saw that you said, well, there's a reason
01:24why they didn't go that?
01:25What's your thoughts on that down the stretch?
01:27I was totally surprised, Clint, because of the manner in which he was so wide open,
01:33especially, you know, coming out after halftime.
01:36At some point, you make the adjustment to do exactly what you said.
01:39It's, hey, 24, you got him.
01:40Three, you got whoever.
01:42You know, just lock him down.
01:43I don't know that I've ever been a part – and maybe I have,
01:46and I just don't realize it – but I don't know that I've ever been a part of a guy
01:50with 21 targets in a game and 17 of them, 17 receptions.
01:55That's a crazy number.
01:57And so that tells me they identified, they being the Cowboys,
02:02identified something with C.D. Lamb, and it's come hell or high water,
02:06we're going to go to him, and there's nothing you can do about it.
02:09And so they did.
02:10They moved him around.
02:11He was inside, outside, he caught hitches, he put you to sleep basically going in motion
02:17and you forget where he was, and oh, yeah, here he is wide open.
02:21Those are things that in the past they would have made adjustments,
02:24and why they didn't yesterday, especially in such a close ball game,
02:29it just leaves you kind of scratching your head a little bit.
02:32Andre Ware with us, the Andre Ware Show each and every Monday,
02:36sponsored by ImageNet Consulting.
02:39Andre, let's move over to, I would say, the biggest bright spot of this team.
02:44And you have as much experience, closest as much experience you and Clint do
02:49to understand what C.J. Stroud is kind of going through right now in this season.
02:56How would you assess his performance, his play, not just yesterday, but this year?
03:02Since this is the first time we've talked to you, you've covered all of his games,
03:05you've seen him.
03:06How would you assess what he has done this year?
03:09Yeah, I wanted to get, you know, maybe a full month show of just kind of that
03:14evaluation before you jump the gun one way or another.
03:18I'll tell you this, with all the pressure, and there's pressure,
03:20unnecessary pressure put on him, I thought, this offseason,
03:24because it's not like he played that way at any other point in his career.
03:28And there's some factors.
03:30When you go back and you start watching the game in New England,
03:33you watch the game in Pittsburgh,
03:34there are factors in that game that weren't C.J.
03:37Now, he didn't look himself, obviously, but I don't know that he deserved what he got
03:43after that game, and he's handled it with just basically a magic wand, so to speak,
03:49in terms of how he's played.
03:51I think he's been outstanding this year, especially yesterday,
03:55and that's the game that I kind of wanted to target.
03:58How's he going to be against Dak with all the pressure of, you know,
04:01Cowboys versus Texans?
04:03It's in your building.
04:04He outplayed Dak yesterday.
04:05He outplayed him snap for snap, throw for throw on the average,
04:10average completion, all of that stuff.
04:12He outplayed Dak Prescott, and we know all the accolades that Dak has accomplished.
04:18Came into your building and you outplayed him.
04:20It's never the two of them against each other, but you can look at a stat sheet,
04:24and he had his team in the game with an opportunity to win it,
04:29and he's done that several times this year,
04:31and the Texans have just not been able to close it out.
04:35Dre, you've covered the game a lot longer and a lot closer than I ever have,
04:39but I don't recall a quarterback, whether he's having success or not,
04:44I just don't recall a quarterback.
04:47He literally, we use the term in the game a lot,
04:49having to throw it through a keyhole all the time.
04:52I don't know that I've ever covered or watched a quarterback
04:55that has less margin for error, if you will,
05:00playing the position down in, down out.
05:02Do you see that?
05:04Do you recall anybody in your cover in the game or playing the game
05:08that had it that way?
05:10No, because most teams, they have guys that,
05:14whether it's a dynamic of speed,
05:16is some way to find a way to get open.
05:19That's why it was so important yesterday, Clint,
05:21that Nico came back and had the type of response and game that he had
05:25because he is a guy that you don't have to be perfect when you're throwing to him.
05:30There is separation.
05:31Even when there are guys around him, he's a hand catcher.
05:35He's not catching the ball with his chest,
05:37so you don't have to be perfect.
05:38You just put it in an area.
05:39The two big catches that he had, he's snatching the ball out of the air.
05:43I mean, it's with authority.
05:45So that's why it looked different yesterday because now you've got another guy
05:50or at least one guy that can get open.
05:52That softens it up for everybody else because it takes a defender away,
05:56even though they're trying to bracket Nico.
05:58He's still finding ways to make catches and contribute.
06:01But from a quarterback standpoint, that's hard to do week in, week out.
06:06Heck, from game, from snap to snap in a game,
06:09that gets tough when you've got to be perfect every single time.
06:14But kudos to CJ.
06:16He has delivered.
06:17He has been near perfect yesterday,
06:20and a lot of those passes were throwaway.
06:22A couple were throwaways, a couple where they were dropped.
06:26So even with the 10 incompletions, you could probably chop that in half
06:29and then look at it from that standpoint.
06:32But he's been spot on in terms of what he's needed to do for this team
06:38to be successful.
06:39I'm telling you, Dre, Nico puts on a dang clinic when he's out there.
06:42If you're a young receiver, I'll say it again.
06:44Can you imagine playing with one like that?
06:46I mean, I had Herman Moore in Detroit who was a hand catcher,
06:50and he basically would extend his arms
06:52and catch everything away from his body within that radius.
06:56And Herman had some really good hands, really long arms.
07:00But I don't know that Herman ever had the speed that Nico has.
07:04When you look at Nico, he looks more –
07:06I bump into him in the elevator every once in a while,
07:09and he's always cordial.
07:10But when you're sizing him up,
07:13he looks more like a damn defensive end than he does a receiver.
07:16He's so well put together, man.
07:19I'm like, can we find two or three more like that
07:21and go to battle with them?
07:23Yeah, well, CJ would love to have two or three more of those.
07:26Hey, what about the trivial part of this offense?
07:29I think is the offensive line and the addition, obviously,
07:33of David Montgomery and the emphasis put on running the football.
07:36We all know it hasn't been – I mean, it's been awful this year,
07:39to be honest with you.
07:39But with you watching, do you see any hope there?
07:43What do you see the problems are?
07:45Are there any fixes that Andre sees for this run game?
07:50Oh, boy.
07:52Because you spent the entire offseason building that narrative, right,
07:55that this is what you wanted to be, a physical team.
07:58And, you know, two of the top O-linemen that you signed
08:02that you thought would be starters or not, one is, you know, on the mend.
08:06And then the running back that you brought in, Montgomery,
08:09it just seems like, to me, Woody hits the hole with a little bit more burst.
08:14Guys don't have to hold blocks quite as long for Woody.
08:17And I would imagine with all the changes that have been discussed
08:21or talked about or, you know, been put out there,
08:24that that may be one that's coming, that he gets more carries.
08:27Because going into a game, only 19 carries,
08:30and part of that was split between Jalen Noel on a quick little end around,
08:35as well as CJ running it two or three times in there.
08:38But it's only 16 times with the running backs,
08:42and that's where you want to hang your head.
08:43You're playing an explosive offense, and you see that they're having success.
08:48A way to shorten it or keep them off the field is to run the football,
08:51possess it, and I felt like that was going to be part of the game plan.
08:55If they were going to win, it was to have win time of possession.
08:59Well, part of that's being able to run the football.
09:01But if you've got to throw to run, you do that as well.
09:04Just don't tighten that baby down,
09:06because you're already not having success with the tight formations.
09:10It's okay to run the football with three wides and a tight end flexed out.
09:15If that's what gives you your best chance to win, then that's what you do.
09:19And they were doing that at times.
09:21It's when they brought it all down,
09:23and you can't move guys off the line of scrimmage.
09:26That's been the frustration or knocking your head against the wall a little bit
09:29in the first three games in short-yarded situations.
09:32They can't get movement.
09:33That's that old run-and-shoot, Dre, right there talking about spread them out.
09:36Hey, throw it to run.
09:37When you get back, I've never understood, Clint, where guys go down the field,
09:41you spread them out, you're running the football effectively,
09:44and then you get inside the 10-yard line and you tighten it down.
09:47Bunch them up, baby.
09:48Why?
09:48Why?
09:50You know, you're having success with them spread out.
09:54Keep them that way.
09:55And you've got better blocking angles for some guys to help each other inside
09:59along the offensive line with those five and maybe a tight end.
10:02All right, text in, ask Andre anything.
10:05Before we get to some of the questions, we've got some good ones here.
10:09Somebody's got a couple of relationship ones, Andre.
10:11So here we go.
10:14You just talked about it.
10:15What do you think is the best way this team should attack offense?
10:21Now, Clint has flipped it.
10:22He's out.
10:23He's out.
10:23It seemed like their thought was we're going to be a physical team that runs the football
10:29and plays towards our defense.
10:31Now that you've had four weeks to watch this team and the offense in particular,
10:35how do you think is the best way for the Texans to attack offensively?
10:40I think it's – you've got to change your frame of thought from the offseason.
10:46And if you don't, then you're going to keep running into that same wall
10:50that you're running into, and that's no fun for anybody.
10:52And, you know, at some point the players get frustrated with that as well.
10:57Your approach should be just watching for the first four weeks of the season
11:01is to, you know, spread guys out, and that's the best way to run the football.
11:05If they stay in the box, then you're going to throw it out on the edges
11:08and work from outside in.
11:10If they don't, you know, if they've spread out with you,
11:13now you've got what you want in the running game.
11:15And so you can't – you don't have to be perfect.
11:18You don't have to have a guy that needs to hit it in there.
11:20You can take advantage of what David Montgomery brings to it,
11:24but it's apparent to me now that you've got to throw in order to run.
11:29And that's okay as long as you make the switch
11:32and it's not costing you games by just being hard-headed.
11:37What's your – Dre, where are you at with the Texans right now?
11:40Starting out 0-4 obviously is not ideal,
11:43and we all know the history of playoff, you know, success
11:46or even getting there at 0-4.
11:49But what's your thoughts for the Texans moving forward
11:52with getting this thing back on track
11:54and what needs to be done to get it back on track?
11:58Well, I think it starts with Tennessee.
12:00And if you go there, you know, it should be one of those
12:03where you don't take your foot off the gas.
12:05You fix everything, including special teams, defense.
12:08If you, you know, can put together a game where you've got five-plus sacks
12:12against Cam Ward because they're not very good on the offensive line,
12:16and he's still a young quarterback trying to find his way,
12:19the defense should be effective in this game.
12:21The offense should be – if they duplicate what they were able to do yesterday,
12:27then they're going to have success in Nashville on Sunday.
12:30If you go in there and you're overconfident, it's still – I said it this morning,
12:35it's a pro football team that has gotten a little bit better under Sala
12:40the last couple of weeks, and can they reach up and bite you?
12:44Absolutely, if you go in there and you're not ready to play football.
12:48So it's one of those where you've got to change your mind, change your thinking,
12:52and throw the football in order to be able to run it.
12:56That's where CJ has been most effective.
12:59Yesterday they actually passed block, and he had plenty of time to throw the football.
13:05And so I think that's where you start to make the change going forward.
13:09All right, I asked Andre anything people are texting in.
13:12The first one here, Andre, is I feel like my girlfriend – this is from Shane –
13:17I feel like my girlfriend is about to tell me she loves me,
13:20but I don't know what to say back to her because I'm not ready to say it back.
13:24Your advice on that?
13:27Well, don't say it back.
13:28I mean, if you're not ready, you're just not ready.
13:32And I got that advice years ago.
13:35I don't know that I followed it very well, and I probably should have.
13:41It would have saved me a lot of headaches, but that was a long time ago.
13:44But if you don't want to say it, then you just don't say it.
13:48Hey, Shane, let old Dirty tell you.
13:50As soon as it's a picture, Chief, we'll let you know.
13:53All right, one more.
13:54Ask Andre anything.
13:55What can U of H do to get the crowd in there for a ranked team?
13:59Yeah, that's a good – outside of just going door to door
14:03and working your way inside out from as close to the campus as you can get
14:07to all over the city, if – you know, you got to go knock on doors.
14:12You got to do it.
14:12I was there.
14:13I did that game against UCF.
14:15And, you know, I'm listening to my crew, Anish and Morgan Uber,
14:21our sideline reporter, ask me over and over, where is everybody?
14:24Why aren't they here?
14:26You guys got a top-20 team in the country.
14:29Why aren't they supporting it?
14:31UCF is 3-1.
14:33It's going to be a good football game.
14:34Where is it?
14:34I mean, over and over and over, it was coming at me.
14:37And all I could tell them was, I don't know why.
14:40I don't know why.
14:41Whenever we were there doing our thing, we could only pull about 30
14:45into the Astrodome.
14:47So it's kind of always been that way.
14:49The frustrating part about it for guys that are in the program
14:53or players that have played there is that you sit and you listen
14:55as an alum to what we need to do.
14:58We need to be in the Big 12.
14:59Okay, if we get there, are you going to support it?
15:01Oh, absolutely.
15:02And then those same people aren't at games.
15:04That's the frustrating part about it.
15:06And I don't know that I have the answer.
15:08I know there are a lot of people making some pretty good coin over there
15:11that do that and should have the answers.
15:14But if you've got to go knock door to door, hell, give away tickets
15:18if they're not being sold just so you get some butts in the seats.
15:22Hey, Dre, it's that half-priced beer.
15:24We'll get you there now.
15:25Half-priced beer.
15:25Hey, let's do it, man.
15:26If that's what it takes.
15:27Hey, Dre, I do want –
15:29Hey, sweet refills, baby.
15:32Hey, souvenir cup.
15:33Hey, I do, Dre, want to ask you real quick about the Cougs, though.
15:38Regardless of who's in the stands or not, you had that game this weekend.
15:41We watched them play a game that, man, I mean, they're literally inches away
15:46from taking Texas Tech to overtime, I believe it was.
15:51Obviously can play with college football playoff teams in the Big 12 now.
15:55I mean, things are going the right direction at U of H with the Cougs, right?
16:00No doubt about it.
16:02I think they've got the guy in Coach Fritz that can lead this team
16:07to a lot of big, big Saturdays, and he has.
16:10I mean, putting together 10 wins last season,
16:15and I thought he was still probably a year or so away.
16:18So now that ups the expectations.
16:21And what do they do?
16:22They come out and they're doing their thing this year again.
16:25So it's fun to watch.
16:28I don't know that there's a situation in the country that has a better quarterback
16:34room and situation than the Cougs.
16:37You've got a five-star backing up a guy that is playing out of his mind right now,
16:42and there's nobody clamoring for the five-star.
16:44You know, you'd love to see him at some point.
16:46He got a chance to play earlier in the year against Southern and looked fantastic.
16:51So you know the future is bright at that position.
16:54But you cannot downgrade where Connor Wigman has done.
16:58He is playing as well as anybody at that position in the country.
17:03And so you've got to, you know, you want to support that.
17:07Micah Hughes has done a heck of a job.
17:09He and Rashawn Sanders, those two at running back, and it's been one and two.
17:13I deem them 1A and 1B because there is no 1 and 2.
17:19Those guys are on the same plane.
17:21And it's just exciting.
17:22The defense has played well.
17:24Coach Fritz has done a heck of a job rebuilding that thing in a very quick, fast-paced manner.
17:30And they're just fun to watch.
17:31I've had them two times this year against Oregon State and then last week against UCF,
17:36and they didn't disappoint.
17:38All right, Andre, we're going to have some fun this year, man.
17:41And we appreciate you stopping by.
17:44That's the Andre Ware Show each and every Monday.
17:47The Andre Ware Show is sponsored by ImageNet Consulting.
17:51Andre, we'll talk to you next week.