- 1 day ago
Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast turn the page to the Tennessee Titans, who are also winless on the season. Can the Texans turn their season around?
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00:00I will say this, in a mic'd up with CJ,
00:02I mean, they're following him around for most of that nine minutes.
00:05If you, you know, Will Anderson's block kick is in there
00:08and Jalen Knoll's return is in there, but it's mostly CJ.
00:11Body language, A+.
00:13Yeah, good job, body language.
00:14Body language, A+.
00:15And he's pumping up his teammates, offense and defense, and special teams.
00:20He's congratulating his coaches.
00:22Dadgummit, this is the best Owen Ford display of the leadership.
00:26He's very measured.
00:28He's not out on anybody, you know.
00:30He's not freaking out.
00:31Now it is nine minutes of a three-hour afternoon.
00:33Yeah.
00:34But it plays into what I've been saying about CJ.
00:37I saw nothing in that nine minutes of mic'd up, Seth.
00:39It changes my opinion that CJ Stroud is one of maybe three,
00:43four at the most bright spots for this team right now.
00:45Right, right, right.
00:46And it's one of those things where, I don't know, people don't want to hear it.
00:49You know, like, hey, yeah, but CJ's actually holding up pretty well,
00:53and it's true.
00:53Other than, and even, you're not even getting kind of drive-by takes
00:57by the national media about CJ Stroud being a problem.
01:01Now the dominant take is pretty much, oh, wow, CJ's doing great.
01:05It's just everything else is falling down around him.
01:07Yep.
01:08So for him, like, if what you were worried about as a Texans fan
01:11was nothing to do with these trivial wins and losses,
01:15it's all about the expected wins these days.
01:17Right now the Texans are sitting in a two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half record.
01:21I round up. They're three-and-one to me.
01:23I round up on the wins, and I round down on the losses.
01:26You're on pace for, like, eleven-and-a-half wins or something, you know?
01:29Right.
01:29Yeah, if you go by the two-and-a-half to one-and-a-half expected wins.
01:32Are you feeling that at all?
01:33No, no, no, no, no, and this is the problem.
01:35This is the problem with some of the stuff like expected wins and everything.
01:37It doesn't take into account the fourth-quarter collapses of the defense.
01:41Right.
01:42That, you know, okay, hey, over the course of four quarters,
01:45the defense is winning more downs than they're losing, et cetera, et cetera.
01:48All right, yeah, but these things don't happen in a vacuum.
01:50No.
01:51Defense, offenses, quarterbacks, smart quarterbacks like Dak Prescott
01:54or Joe Burrow or Josh Allen are learning things about your defense as they go,
01:59and when things all of a sudden capsize in the fourth quarter,
02:03it's not just random dumb luck.
02:06No.
02:07There's a reason for it, and that's why the expected stats stuff doesn't –
02:12it doesn't really make me feel that much better.
02:13I do, though, I do account for the fact that, yeah, they've lost fourth-quarter leads
02:20in three games where they're facing really good quarterbacks and really good offenses.
02:25And it's not an excuse.
02:26It's not me saying, hey, everything's awesome.
02:28If anything, that's just an indication that, okay, maybe you're more of a mediocre football team
02:33than an 0-4 team if you even everything out over the course of 17 games.
02:39But that's not like people should be getting stoked about that.
02:41No, no, no.
02:42I allowed myself to watch a couple of videos that popped up on my feed yesterday that had –
02:50I don't even know who the guys were.
02:52They're just football guys with a stream.
02:54But they were doing that thing where they go, okay, let's take this team
02:56and go through the rest of the season and see what record they wound up with.
03:00Okay, yeah.
03:02I had the same thought.
03:03I was like, I don't know who these three guys are.
03:04It looks like an interesting exercise.
03:05Woo, baby goats.
03:07If they're talking about the Texans, I'll watch –
03:10and I always look at the time to see how long the video is.
03:13I'm like, okay, it's 52 seconds long and it's about the Texans.
03:16Maybe there's something in here we can use on the show.
03:19But they were going through the schedule, and I know they've got to eat what's on their plate.
03:22They've got to beat the Tennessee Titans this weekend.
03:24I get it.
03:25But they start going through the rest of the schedule.
03:27All right, if they can right the ship here –
03:30again, I'm going to do what the team should not be doing
03:32and look ahead to the Jacksonville game in London.
03:34And then that's the game that could flip things for the team.
03:37Like, if you lose Tennessee, then things are really bad.
03:41That's where it really does start to seep into the locker room.
03:45Yeah, yeah.
03:46So, like, I'm not assuming they're beating Tennessee.
03:48What I'm assuming is you have to beat Tennessee
03:50to have any of these conversations after Tennessee.
03:53Yeah.
03:54That's where that Jacksonville game in London comes in.
03:56They're in first place right now.
03:57They're a good football team.
03:58Their quarterback's playing well.
03:59All the things you haven't been able to beat this year,
04:01and it's on the road, and they're in London for a week
04:04before you're getting to London.
04:06So that'll be the one that flips things,
04:08and then that's when you can start to go,
04:09okay, well, the Giants come to town the next weekend.
04:11I know they're 3-1, but that's not a very good football team.
04:14And you've got a bye week to collect yourself.
04:15And then it's the Chargers and the Browns
04:17and some easier teams on the other side.
04:20These guys that I saw do the game-by-game thing
04:23had the Texans finishing at 10-7 on the season.
04:26And it didn't look unreasonable.
04:27No, it doesn't.
04:29That's still very reasonable.
04:30And, you know, we joke about the expected wins and everything.
04:33I think that it's one of those situations where, yeah,
04:35all these advanced analytics, it does match the eyeball test
04:38where you say they're clearly not one of the worst teams in the league
04:43where the standings would tell you they're one of the worst teams in the league.
04:46They're clearly not one of the worst teams in the league,
04:48but they've also, like, they haven't won a game.
04:53Yeah.
04:55Record-wise, they are one of the worst teams in the league.
04:57No, I'm just, there's, in my mind, it makes sense that, yeah,
05:01some of these close games they're going to win.
05:03Yeah.
05:03Some of the bad teams they should actually beat up on.
05:06Yeah.
05:07They should do all these things.
05:09They should.
05:09Does 10 wins in this year's AFC get you a wild card berth?
05:13Yes.
05:14And if you get to that wild card berth,
05:16do we feel like the Texans actually have a legitimate shot at that point,
05:20especially with the run game?
05:21If the run game looks like it is, let's take this current team,
05:24the way they've played the last four games,
05:26and say, yeah, they should win quite a few games this year.
05:30Yeah.
05:31But if the run game doesn't get fixed,
05:33and you're going as a wild card team and playing off somewhere up north
05:36with no rushing attack whatsoever,
05:38we saw that last year.
05:39It's going to feel like the Astros this year in the playoffs.
05:41Yep.
05:41So that's the big part,
05:43and I think what probably has the people the most depressed
05:46is, A, the letdowns of the defense,
05:48and, B, the fact that this team just cannot run the football.
05:52And you used to be able to say,
05:54well, yeah, but the running game,
05:55who really gives a damn anymore in the NFL?
05:57Ah!
05:58The pendulum slung back.
05:59Oh, it's back, man.
06:00To where, hey, running backs are sexy again.
06:02Yeah.
06:03They're still decrepit and old way before their time,
06:06but they're sexy for, like, three and a half years
06:08until they fall apart, a la Joe Mixon.
06:10Right.
06:10How about that?
06:11We'll get to that in the next segment.
06:13Okay, speaking of this very topic,
06:15D'Amico Ryan's coach's show earlier this week
06:18with John Harris and Mark Vandermeer.
06:20They sat down with D'Amico for their weekly visit,
06:22and they reminded him that he was on one of the teams
06:27in Texans history that went 0-4 to start the season.
06:30It's happened prior to this season.
06:31It's happened three other times.
06:33Yeah.
06:33It's happened seven times in his career
06:34that he's gone on a four-game losing streak.
06:36Okay.
06:37Somebody brought that up in the press conference the other day.
06:38Okay, gotcha.
06:39Not to open the season, but just in general.
06:41Yeah, this is going back to the season
06:43where they opened at 0-4 in 2008.
06:45That was when Hurricane Ike hit after week one,
06:48and so the Texans are supposed to have a home game
06:50in week two with the Ravens.
06:51They canceled that game, made that the Texans' bye week,
06:55so your bye week is in week two,
06:56and then they had to go on the road twice.
06:57So their first three games were on the road.
06:59They started out 0-3,
07:01and then they lose the Rosencopter game to go 0-4,
07:04the game where the Colts had that huge comeback
07:06in the fourth quarter,
07:07and Sage Rosenfels had a couple fumbles.
07:09So they asked D'Amico about that experience
07:12coming back from 0-4.
07:13They finished 8-8 that year,
07:14so they actually finished pretty well that season.
07:16I hate to bring up 0-4,
07:18but three other times the Texans have started 0-4.
07:20You were on one of the teams,
07:22and you were on the team that did best.
07:23The Hurricane Ike year,
07:25and you started 0-4,
07:26and then you beat Miami at the buzzer,
07:29and it started a little something.
07:30You were 3-7 at one point,
07:31but won five of the last six to finish 8-8.
07:34But you tell us what went into that,
07:36rebounding that year as a player,
07:38what you remember,
07:39and how you could possibly apply it now.
07:40It was those clutch moments that you remember.
07:43It was guys stepping up,
07:45making those plays,
07:47giving everybody hope again, right?
07:50Man, that's what it takes.
07:52It was a clutch moment for me
07:53about guys stepping up,
07:55guys making plays that we needed to make
07:57to find a way to win football games,
07:59to go on a stretch of winning five.
08:02It's just a lot of different guys
08:03showing up at different moments.
08:05I know Andre Johnson was in there somewhere,
08:07making a lot of plays to lead us that way.
08:10And we have really what I think
08:11I take into account now
08:13with this team that I have.
08:14Like, man, we got a lot of great players.
08:16Now it's time for our players
08:18to make those clutch moments, right?
08:20Make those plays that we're going to remember
08:23that we can sit here and talk about
08:24in years past of,
08:26man, remember when we were 0-4,
08:28and this guy, that guy made plays
08:31to win football games,
08:32to flip our season around.
08:33I'm excited to see those moments happen.
08:35It reminded me of another time
08:37that we started off 0-4.
08:39It was 2005.
08:40You were on one of those teams.
08:42Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:43So who stepped up that year?
08:450-4.
08:46At 0-4, we were 0-4.
08:50And now, unlike the Texans
08:53who go to face the laggard Tennessee Titans
08:56this week, we would go off to Seattle
08:58to play in a primetime game.
09:00I can't remember.
09:00It was a Sunday night game.
09:02And I don't think Tennessee...
09:04Seattle wasn't great that year.
09:05A hard place to play.
09:06Yeah.
09:06Yeah.
09:07We would go on to have an inspirational
09:1042-10 loss.
09:12Yeah.
09:12Is that the game where you got into
09:14the shouting match with that Seahawks fan?
09:15I tried to fight a fan.
09:17I destroyed the Seattle Seahawks locker room
09:22after the loss.
09:23Yeah, yeah.
09:24What did you do to the locker room?
09:25He threw a garbage can
09:26into a bank of, like, equipment.
09:30Those who don't know,
09:31Seth does that here
09:32when we have a bad show.
09:33Yeah, dude, that's right.
09:34I take it out on garbage cans.
09:35Yeah.
09:36That's probably the, you know,
09:37who's going to stand up
09:38and protect the garbage?
09:39Better than a co-worker.
09:40Yeah.
09:42It felt like...
09:43When I say after 0-4,
09:45it's a tough sell.
09:46So we were in Seattle
09:48for our fifth game
09:48and fifth eventual loss
09:50of the season.
09:51Kylie Wong blew his knee
09:52to smithereens in that game.
09:54Oh, that makes it even worse.
09:56And everything just snowballed
09:57and it was ugly.
09:58It was bad, man.
09:59And it was tough after that.
10:00I gave a speech
10:01after we would lose
10:02the next week
10:03at Indianapolis.
10:04Yeah, you guys started 0-6.
10:05Yeah, we started off 0-6.
10:07And I gave a speech
10:07in the locker room
10:08and we went out
10:09and we won the next game.
10:10But even I, like...
10:12We had some people saying,
10:13like, hey, Seth,
10:14you've got to give another speech.
10:15And I'm like...
10:15That was a bad team that year.
10:18We had a lot of things going on.
10:19I think the overall feel
10:23of this team
10:24and the makeup
10:26and the character
10:27of the locker room
10:28and the buy-in
10:30with the head coach,
10:30I think,
10:31is a lot different
10:31than that year.
10:32I have zero fears
10:33of this team going
10:352-14.
10:35Yeah, 2-14.
10:36Yeah.
10:37And then losing another one
10:38to be 2-15.
10:38I can't do that.
10:40It's a rough year, man.
10:41I remember doing production meetings
10:42at the end of that season
10:43and going into it
10:45and just being like...
10:46Looking at the looks
10:47on the faces
10:48of the people
10:48who are doing the game
10:49and just...
10:50I felt like...
10:52I felt like
10:53they didn't want to be there
10:54any more than I did.
10:55Yeah.
10:55The first thing you said...
10:56Give us something
10:56to talk about, Sethers.
10:58Like, you walked into the room,
10:59you shook the hand
11:00of whoever the Andrew Catalan
11:02or Spiro Adidas was
11:03of 2005.
11:03Yeah, I can't even remember who it was.
11:04And the very first thing you say
11:05is, I get it.
11:06Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:08I get it.
11:09They looked more like I...
11:10Like, they were waiting...
11:10They looked at me
11:12like they were half expecting me
11:13to pull a gun out of my bag
11:15and be like,
11:15can you guys just do me it?
11:17Just put me out
11:18of my misery right now.
11:19I'll sign a waiver for you.
11:20Yeah, because you guys...
11:21I don't have to...
11:21You had a great story
11:22of one of you
11:23who shot me in the head.
11:24I can't do it myself.
11:25Yeah.
11:26It's like needles.
11:27I can't do it myself.
11:28But could you do it here?
11:29Could you shoot me?
11:30Yeah.
11:30That would be great.
11:31Hey, by the way,
11:32speaking of announced teams,
11:34so there are five CBS games
11:36this week,
11:36and this is where the Texans
11:37are on the landscape.
11:38And this is not a commentary
11:39on the quality
11:40of these particular announcers.
11:41This is the reality
11:43of how CBS stack ranks
11:45the games
11:45and the announced teams.
11:46Like, we all know
11:47J.J. Watt and Jim Nance
11:48are the number one team.
11:49So they've got a pecking order,
11:51and the pecking order,
11:52what announced team
11:53you get is reflective
11:54of what they think
11:56of the marquee value
11:57of that game.
11:57I think that's safe to say,
11:58right?
11:59Yeah.
11:59So there's five games
12:01this weekend on CBS.
12:02The Texans drew
12:04the number five
12:05announced team.
12:06So they got on the rung
12:07of the announced ladder
12:08with CBS,
12:09they got the lowest one
12:10for this weekend.
12:11Five games.
12:12So they have Spiro Didis,
12:13Adam Archuleta,
12:14and Aditi Kinkwabala
12:16is the sideline reporter.
12:17These are the games
12:18that CBS viewed
12:19as more marquee
12:21than the Houston Texans.
12:22The four games ahead of them.
12:24Number one,
12:25Colts at Steelers.
12:26The Colts are getting
12:27Jim Nance and J.J. Watt.
12:29Now, some of that
12:29may be J.J.
12:30with the J.J.
12:31T.J. Watt dynamic.
12:32Well, and the Steelers
12:32in general.
12:33Yeah.
12:34They're better for the moment
12:36than, you know.
12:38They're a blue blood.
12:39You got Aaron Rodgers
12:40and the Steelers, too.
12:41Aaron Rodgers, yeah.
12:42But J.J. does an inordinate
12:43number of,
12:44like a disproportionate
12:45amount of Steeler games,
12:46I think.
12:47And T.J.'s on the team.
12:48I think that's part of it.
12:50But you're right
12:50about the Steelers, too.
12:51So they're the number one.
12:52Number two,
12:53Broncos at Chargers.
12:55That's Ian Eagle
12:55and Ross Tucker.
12:56Right.
12:57Who will join us.
12:57Ross will join us today
12:58at 8 o'clock on the show.
12:59Yeah, I mean,
13:00Chargers are an 0-4 team.
13:01Yeah.
13:02You know.
13:03L.A., I guess.
13:04I don't know.
13:06Number three,
13:07Raiders at Patriots.
13:08Oh.
13:09Kevin Harlan,
13:10Trent Green.
13:11I would still say
13:12so far with all three
13:13of those teams,
13:14each of those have
13:15at least one team
13:16that's got a big
13:16national poll.
13:17You can explain it.
13:18Yeah, yeah.
13:19You can explain
13:19them being ahead
13:20of Texas Titans.
13:20Despite whatever
13:20the record is,
13:21they've got a bigger
13:22national poll.
13:23Number four,
13:25Browns Jets.
13:26Ah!
13:27See, that one hurts.
13:29Browns Jets.
13:29That one really hurts.
13:30And especially because
13:31you can say,
13:32well, yeah,
13:32the Browns are
13:33a big story right now.
13:35They're a big story.
13:36One that makes
13:36Roger Goodell
13:37probably really uncomfortable
13:39and terrified
13:39that Deshaun Watson's
13:40going to become
13:41that player of the year.
13:42Yeah, yeah.
13:42Terrified.
13:43Yes.
13:43And the Jets
13:44have been competitive.
13:45And the Jets
13:45have won a game.
13:46I mean,
13:46that's one thing
13:47all these teams
13:48have won a game,
13:48you know,
13:49except for the Chargers
13:50who are getting
13:51Ian Eagle and Ross Tucker.
13:52I'm actually talking
13:53with that about Ross,
13:54like what that's been like
13:55preparing for this Chargers.
13:56Yeah.
13:56The Chargers and Texans,
13:59I think it's safe to say,
14:00of the five 0-4 teams
14:01are the two biggest disappointments.
14:03Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:03They were both
14:03playoff teams last year
14:04and they were both
14:05viewed as teams
14:05that could do something
14:06this year.
14:07And I think people
14:07had anticipation
14:08about the Chargers offense
14:09and people had
14:10great expectations
14:11for the Texans defense.
14:12The Chargers have been
14:13a less competitive team
14:14than the Texans.
14:15The Chargers have,
14:16I mean,
14:17they lost by double digits
14:18to the Cardinals
14:20and the Raiders
14:20to start the year.
14:21Yeah.
14:21For all the people
14:22that want to say
14:23Justin Herbert's
14:24one of the best quarterbacks
14:25in the league,
14:26he's just done in by his,
14:27boy, look at how incredibly
14:28he's playing
14:29despite his offensive line woes.
14:31He's been trash so far.
14:32He's been trash
14:33and everybody still
14:34makes excuses for him.
14:35It's really frustrating.
14:37So there you go.
14:38So that's who
14:39the Texans are getting.
14:40At least they're not getting
14:40the guy on the Ravens-Titans
14:42game last week.
14:43He is a Lamar Jackson.
14:45Look at him go.
14:46Skippity-doo.
14:47He is a superstar.
14:48Chris Lewis was his name.
14:50I got to try to find
14:50that audio.
14:51I meant to send it to you
14:52but I ended up
14:53sending you a baby goat
14:55video instead.
14:56And we'll have footage
14:57from the baby goat video
14:59coming up next.
15:00I'll describe exactly
15:01what the baby goat
15:02is doing,
15:03pouncing around.
15:03If you guys haven't done it,
15:05if you need a little bit
15:06of just mental health
15:08and rejuvenation,
15:09baby animal videos.
15:11It's the way to go.
15:12It floods your body
15:14with endorphins.
15:15Very wholesome.
15:15Like you're a mother
15:18with an infant.
15:18That's what it'll
15:19turn you into.
15:20Indeed.
15:21All right.
15:21We're off and running
15:22on a Wednesday.
15:24I caught myself.
15:25I almost said Thursday.
15:26Job.
15:27Let me give it to me.
15:28What station are we on,
15:28Sean?
15:2995.7 The Fan, Seth.
15:31Funny you should ask.
15:32I had to correct
15:32Zach Tawatara
15:33the other night.
15:34Oh, did he say
15:34Sports Radio 6?
15:35Yeah, but he felt
15:36awful about it.
15:37You know,
15:37he did it a couple times.
15:38Good!
15:38These TV guys are so,
15:40they're so,
15:40you know what the TV
15:41guys are?
15:42They're so,
15:44like...
15:44Are they perfectionists?
15:45Yes, yes, yes.
15:47Yeah.
15:48They want to have
15:48everything just right.
15:49It's good that we're not.
15:50It's very impressive,
15:51but so far away
15:51from what you and I,
15:52how you and I operate.
15:53Oh, God, no.
15:53And I'm like,
15:54I'm going to tell him this
15:55and he's going to feel
15:55awful about it
15:56and I'm like,
15:56but I got to tell him.
15:57We have to.
15:58It's the name of the station.
15:59He was saying
15:59Sports Radio 6 and 95.7.
16:01So it wasn't even a big deal.
16:02I was like,
16:03hey, we don't even bother
16:04saying Sports Radio 6.
16:05It's like,
16:05oh, I'm sorry.
16:06Do we need to reshoot everything?
16:07It's like,
16:08God, no.
16:08God, no.
16:09Listen, Zach,
16:10no, we're not doing extra work.
16:11It's also not.
16:12No, no.
16:12It's also,
16:13Zach, if you're listening,
16:14not even Sports Radio 610.
16:16It's 610 the fan now, too.
16:17Oh, that's true.
16:18Yeah.
16:18Okay.
16:19Yep, yep.