- 2 days ago
Audacy NFL Insider Ross Tucker joins Payne & Pendergast to deliver his raw assessment of the 2-5 Houston Texans. Ross details the massive missed opportunity of wasting an elite quarterback season while C.J. Stroud is still on his rookie contract. Plus, Tucker and Seth Payne break down how opposing offensive coordinators spent the offseason deciphering DeMeco Ryans’ front, and why Nick Caley’s reliance on Jumbo running sets is holding back Houston’s explosive passing attack.
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00:00Pain and Tendercast.
00:01Oh, a little Blind Melon coming out of the break.
00:04I like it.
00:04Oh, this song.
00:05Yeah.
00:07This song or that Firefly songs were the worst songs to come out of the 90s.
00:11Yeah, Al City.
00:12What was it?
00:13Al City is the name of the band.
00:14Fireflies.
00:15Oh.
00:17I found it kind of catchy.
00:19It's like we just put our testicles in storage that entire decade, man.
00:22We'll see.
00:22I'm sure Ross Tucker will have a comment on this.
00:24He's our Odyssey NFL insider.
00:25He is brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.
00:30Nationwide is on your side.
00:32The Texas Mattress Makers Hotline.
00:33We welcome in our good friend, Ross Tucker.
00:35Ross, good morning.
00:36How are you?
00:38I'm doing fantastic.
00:39You don't like that song?
00:41No.
00:41I don't know if it was just like overplayed or whatever.
00:44Yeah.
00:44I don't like it at all.
00:46Not one bit.
00:48I like any song that kind of brings a smile to my face.
00:53Yeah.
00:54It's upbeat and happy.
00:56It's because you're soft.
00:57It just kind of brings a spark.
00:59Greg, you are one of those people.
01:01You're happiest when you're miserable.
01:03Yeah, Seth's emo.
01:05I'll stop it.
01:06He's emo.
01:06Yeah.
01:07He likes songs that bring him down.
01:09You know, he takes...
01:10I was trained by Kurt.
01:11You know what, Seth?
01:12Seth was definitely the guy in the 90s in the weight room listening to Metallica and just
01:20like, yeah, bro, this is what we listen to.
01:23We lift weights.
01:24We squat heavy.
01:25We listen to Metallica.
01:27But meanwhile, I would just listen to like, I don't know, Phil Collins or Alanis Morissette
01:33and go out in the field and just smoke you in the head and kill you.
01:36Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly how it would have gone, Russ.
01:39I'm sure that's exactly how it would have gone.
01:42Yeah.
01:43No, no, I didn't mean you.
01:44I meant like...
01:46General you.
01:47Yeah.
01:47The guy across from you.
01:48Yeah, like I...
01:49Like, it's funny.
01:50You know, people are like, oh, dude, I gotta listen to Megadeth or ACDC.
01:54I would listen to like Phil Collins in the air tonight or...
01:57That's a good one.
01:58Maybe the Rocky IV soundtrack.
02:00Maybe even something mellower than that.
02:02I'm about to blow your mind, Russ, because I know, yeah, when I was in high school, I
02:07did...
02:07I did a transition from when I was in high school until by the time I was done playing
02:13in the NFL.
02:13I definitely went from cliche, like being amped up for four hours before the game like an
02:19idiot, to by my last few years in the league, I listened to one specific Dave Matthews song
02:27in the locker room over and over again, because it kind of...
02:30It was a two-step, which is...
02:32It would just kind of put me in the right mode for visualizing and stuff, but it's definitely
02:36not...
02:37It's definitely not hardcore death metal or anything.
02:39It's Dave freaking Matthews.
02:42I don't even know that I know that song.
02:44Yeah, it's not one of his hits, you know?
02:46You know...
02:47Wow.
02:48I'm no poser.
02:49Hey, man, Seth listens to the B-side of the singles, okay, Russ?
02:53Yeah.
02:54Oh, yeah.
02:55So, yeah, yeah, we're not...
02:57You're into some indie band that Sean and I would never possibly understand or know about.
03:03No, I'm just not into Blind Melon.
03:06And honestly, the little girl in the video kind of creeped me out.
03:09She creeped me out the same way that Leprechaun video right now that's on social media is creeping
03:14me out, yeah.
03:16Wait, hold on a second.
03:17I liked her.
03:18She was in a bee costume.
03:20She was in like a field full of daisies.
03:23She was as happy as can be.
03:24Well, she ended up being happy when she found her people, you know, right?
03:27Yeah, that was the whole thing.
03:29I don't care about her.
03:29That's her problem.
03:30Yeah, but that's like a happy song.
03:32She found her people.
03:34She just wanted to be a bee girl in the field.
03:37And you hate her in that song?
03:38I don't hate her.
03:39I just didn't like her.
03:43It's a little girl.
03:45It's a little girl.
03:46All right.
03:47Well, let's get this out of the way.
03:49Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company.
03:52They're one of America's largest financial services companies, too.
03:56Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company.
03:57He's our Odyssey 90s music insider joining us here on Pain and Pendergast.
04:02So, Ross, after Sunday's loss to the Giants, there seems to be a lot of chatter out there
04:08on the interwebs and within the national media on whether people are in or out on the Texans,
04:14particularly the defense.
04:15The defense, seven games in now, and this defense still looks like a mess.
04:18Are you in or out on the Texans' defense?
04:21Can they get this thing turned around?
04:24They can because I know they have the personnel to do it.
04:29I don't know if they will, but they can.
04:32There are other teams where you're like, yeah, no, they don't have the dudes.
04:36They can't get it done.
04:37I still believe the Texans do have the personnel.
04:41They do have the guys to get it done.
04:46Old time will tell whether or not they can.
04:49You know, I'm sure Seth was, like, visibly disturbed by some of the run fits,
04:57some of the run defense.
04:59I know how personally Seth takes that, and it was not good.
05:03You know, it's one of the things I really enjoy the most about the NFL
05:10is just when you think you have it figured out, you don't.
05:15And when a team is as good on defense as the Texans were last year,
05:22people are going to study you all offseason, and they're going to say,
05:27okay, we know these guys are good, the edge rushers and the corners or whatever.
05:32What can we try differently?
05:34What can we do that's different because what we did last year,
05:38what everybody tried last year, it didn't work.
05:40And I think the Bills kind of started it in week one with, you know,
05:45more chips and more tight ends and basically trying to make sure
05:49Daniil and Will don't wreck the game.
05:51And they kind of found something there.
05:54Yeah.
05:54And different teams have sort of employed similar strategies.
05:59And it turns out that maybe Lasseter isn't that good of a cover corner
06:05when he has to cover longer.
06:06Or it turns out if you stick with the run and you don't get negative yardage plays,
06:12maybe you can wear them down.
06:14So it really is, you know, obviously not great for the Texans for this year.
06:19But as someone that calls games, it's cool to see that, you know,
06:26how much the scheme and how you attack people can really alter things.
06:33You know what, yeah, and I'm glad you put it that way, Ross,
06:35because, you know, I did flip out a little bit this morning when I started going back through it.
06:40It was awesome.
06:40I was watching some Cam Scadaboos stuff as I was talking to Sean,
06:43and all of a sudden I think he was talking about basketball or something,
06:46and I just lost it.
06:47Well, part of it is because, you know, like, I'm glad you laid it that way
06:51because when you said, okay, you've got film on guys for an entire year,
06:53because I think it's just too easy for people to say,
06:56well, teams have finally figured out how to crack the code on D'Amico Ryan's defense.
07:01And I'm looking around, I'm like, D'Amico and Robert Sala
07:04have been running their defense for 10 years.
07:06It's not like now all of a sudden Matt Nagy figured it out
07:09in year 10 of D'Amico being an offensive coordinator.
07:12But when it comes to just, okay, you look at last year,
07:15and who do we attack?
07:16How do we attack them in this defense?
07:19Yeah, there's a lot more.
07:20People are going after Kamari Lasseter a lot more.
07:23Kalen Bullock isn't a complete NFL safety right now.
07:27And then I think probably the most concerning thing for me right now
07:30is that the linebackers haven't been playing like themselves,
07:33and I think it's mostly injury-related.
07:36I think Aziz Elshire is playing through some stuff,
07:38but it's not always so easy to come back from that midway through the year
07:43that there's a general, there's more of a passivity about the defense.
07:46And I think the hard part for D'Amico right now is trying to figure out
07:51how to accommodate some of these guys and what their weaknesses are,
07:56but without losing too much of the core of what they do.
07:58And they just look like they're kind of,
08:01they're just kind of lost right now.
08:04Yeah, and you know what else jumped out to me a little bit?
08:07It's like when they do pressure or blitz, it doesn't look right.
08:15It doesn't, it's not really what they want to do.
08:18There was one against the Giants when Fidone,
08:22their tight end was wide open in the middle.
08:24Yeah.
08:25The Texans blitzed so late from depth,
08:29it was like there was a glitch in the matrix.
08:32It's, you know what, yeah, I think it's almost kind of like,
08:35because D'Amico, it's not, it's not what he or how they operate.
08:39And then all of a sudden they're throwing these, these, you know,
08:41max blitzes at them.
08:43And it's, it's like me when I dance, I was like, I'm going to go out there.
08:47I'm going to do it, but I'm a little bit of hesitant, you know?
08:49And I know, you know, I know D'Amico's not drunk during games.
08:53Maybe he should, because I'm an incredible dancer when I'm drunk.
08:56But I, yeah, I think when they, when they blitz, they feel a little bit,
08:59or they're trying to, I guess this is the part.
09:01Where I think they're trying to blitz, but it's also at the same time,
09:05play it safe and they'll have everybody off, but they're blitzing.
09:09And if it gets there, that's awesome.
09:12But if it doesn't, there's just a whole lot of cushion.
09:14Or they're, they're blitzing late, you know, after,
09:18after they check a receiver or reroute a receiver.
09:20And yeah, I think, I think the way you described it is, is right.
09:24It just doesn't look like they're comfortable doing it.
09:26Well, and I don't know, I have to go back and look again to see if it was a quick
09:31snap by the Giants.
09:32But I mean, they were at least five yards depth and they didn't blitz until after the snap.
09:40But that's not going to work.
09:42I mean, I don't, I don't know what happened there.
09:44And then all of a sudden, Fadon is, there's only within 10 yards of them.
09:48I mean, they just had some uncharacteristic things.
09:52The tackling is not good.
09:53It's, it's, it's a bummer because I think I told you guys last week, you know,
09:57I, I would love to come down to Houston again.
09:59I want the Texans to be in the mix and playing important games the second half of the year.
10:04And so I can make another trip to Houston, but you know,
10:07that's not going to happen if they're not, if they're not firmly in the, in the playoff.
10:10Yeah.
10:11You know what?
10:11Well, let me ask you this, cause this is my barometer.
10:13And this is what I fear that you have Greg Cassell on your show a couple of times a week.
10:17On the Ross Tucker football podcast.
10:20And I love listening to Greg.
10:21And one thing that I've noticed over the years, and you've confirmed it is that, uh, Greg,
10:26Greg doesn't watch the bad teams.
10:28Uh, Greg only.
10:29So, uh, because I'll, you know, cause last year I wanted to get ready for the Cardinals.
10:33So I was like, Oh, what's, what's, uh, what's old Cassell said about the Cardinals on the
10:37Ross Tucker football, but I had to go back to week two where he had said anything.
10:41Is it, is Greg going to start, stop watching the Texans?
10:43Are we in danger of that?
10:47You know, I don't know because I think CJ Stroud is such a important topic and I think
10:53he has done a better job.
10:55Greg has of trying to watch at least parts of every team, you know, and maybe it might
11:00just be the offense or the defense one week, depending on how far he got.
11:04Yeah.
11:04I shouldn't say he doesn't watch them.
11:06Yeah.
11:07I shouldn't say he doesn't watch them, but he doesn't study the, you know, the irrelevant
11:10teams.
11:11So it's interesting though, cause I think if I'm a Texans fan, that would by far be my
11:18biggest frustration is that overall Stroud's been playing pretty darn well and they're still
11:26two and five, you know?
11:28So essentially you have a quarterback on his rookie contract playing well and the team is
11:36two and five, that's no good guys.
11:39I mean, you, you, you need to cash in when your quarterback's on the rookie contract,
11:43especially when he's playing well.
11:46That's, I mean, this is a golden missed opportunity right now for the Texans.
11:50Well, and I would say too, the other thing, and we're talking to Ross Tucker, our Odyssey
11:53NFL insider.
11:54The other thing too, is frustrating Ross is that they, they seem to have wanted to construct
11:59the offense to sort of manage around CJ Stroud coming into the season, like get him a run
12:04game, beef up the physicality of the offensive line.
12:07And Hey, CJ, just don't go throw four interceptions again.
12:10The fact of the matter is he's been the catalyst for this offense this year.
12:14And they're so schizo from week to week.
12:16He was offensive player of the week in the London game in Jacksonville.
12:19And then they come back this week and they're running jumbo a third of the time.
12:24And they don't, it doesn't seem like, you know, they've got all these wide receivers
12:28now that they traded for Marvin Harrison, they got tank Dell back and every, everybody's
12:32upset about the snap counts that guys are getting.
12:35They're still putting multiple tight ends out there.
12:37They, they look, it seems like they're looking at their own team through a lens of thinking
12:41they can be this physical downhill running team.
12:44And meanwhile, they've got a quarterback who's thrown the ball as good as any of three or
12:48four other quarterbacks in the league right now.
12:51Well, that's interesting.
12:52And I think the one note there would be, you know, I always wonder when it's an OC like
13:01Kaylee, how much of this is purely what he thinks is best for the team to move the football
13:10and how much of it is sort of, you know, what the head coach would like, you know, head
13:15coaches like when their offenses defensive head coaches like when they have the offense has
13:22a physical running game likes when they possess the ball, you know, there's certain things
13:27Mike McDonald, you know, fired his OC after one year because it wasn't division.
13:33He wanted, he wanted a team that would run the ball more.
13:36So he fired that grub from university of Washington and brought in Clint Kubiak defensive minded head
13:43coaches can be specific in what they want on the offensive side of the ball.
13:47I don't know that we'd ever find that out for sure.
13:50You know, is this totally 100% what Kaylee wants?
13:54You know, does D'Amico have some input or is Kaylee just doing on some level what he
14:00thinks D'Amico wants?
14:01Right.
14:02Yeah.
14:02And I mean, D'Amico is just flat out said that they need to lean into the pass game because
14:07CJ's playing well and that's what works.
14:09But, but at the same time, yeah, I don't know if, if part of it is that they just don't
14:13trust the pass protection enough.
14:14So they want to have six offensive linemen and well, no, you know what, I take that back
14:18because when they, when they run, when they have jumbo in, they run like to an extreme
14:22degree, Ross too.
14:23This is another frustrating thing.
14:25Like high school level tendencies.
14:27This is like when you have, this is like if you have Earl Campbell on your high school
14:31team and you tell everybody, Hey, we're going to run the ball.
14:34This is what we're going to do.
14:34Stop.
14:35This is a problem.
14:36They don't have Earl Campbell.
14:37And they're like, but there are the Braden, uh, Braden Smith was on the field for 25 snaps
14:43when he was in jumbo.
14:44They ran 20 out of 25 times.
14:46And a lot of the times they don't even have Nico Collins on the field.
14:50They just tell everybody we're going to run.
14:52Like there's some actual, like they're a smash mouth team or something and that they're going
14:56to impose their will.
14:57And they're not, they can't, they're incapable of imposing their will.
15:01I don't, I feel like it's some kind of a psychological block.
15:04Like they're the, I told Sean, it feels like they're trying to like Nick Caley's trying
15:09to prove to his dad that he's tough or something.
15:10I don't get it.
15:14Well, I will tell you, there are some coaches that don't mind if they have heavy trends like
15:21that because they know that the defense knows that and they think it can help them get explosive
15:27plays when they do pass them.
15:29Yeah.
15:29So, but, but are they doing that?
15:32Are they getting, you know, are they getting explosive plays when they do pass it?
15:36They do have a lot of explosive plays and they have, I will give him credit for breaking
15:39his tendency sometimes with success.
15:41But the problem is they're still not, but they're not still, they're not running the
15:44ball effectively.
15:45No, he goes back to some tendencies.
15:47It's kind of, yeah, yeah.
15:49Ross Tucker is our Odyssey NFL insider.
15:51Hey Ross, are you on the Bills-Ravens game this weekend?
15:55I am, yes.
15:56Very excited about it.
15:57So, so it's the Texans bye week and I think I may have told you this, but Amy and I
16:01go
16:02to a different NFL stadium every year when the Texans are on a bye.
16:05We are going to the Bills-Ravens game this weekend.
16:08That is incredible.
16:10Yeah.
16:10Oh man, you're checking out the new stadium.
16:13When do you get in?
16:14We get in on Friday night, I believe.
16:19That is very, very cool.
16:21Text me, let me know when you're staying.
16:22I love that Amy likes to do that.
16:25The new stadium's cool.
16:27Atmosphere should be amazing.
16:29I guess we'll all find out together whether or not Lamar Jackson's going to play.
16:34But yeah, that is awesome, man.
16:36Yeah, should be fun.
16:36Yeah, I'll definitely text you.
16:37Hopefully we can hook up while we're up there.
16:40That'd be great to see you.
16:42That would be awesome.
16:43I love that you guys are doing that.
16:44Yeah, we do it every year, man.
16:46We do it every year in the bye week.
16:47We've seen some cool places.
16:48So yeah, I'm lucky.
16:49I have a wife that loves football.
16:50So it's great.
16:50And she's a big Ross Tucker fan, as you know.
16:53Yeah, I know.
16:54She's got exquisite taste.
16:55We've talked about that.
16:55Yes, indeed, exquisite.
16:58Ross Tucker is our exquisite Odyssey NFL insider.
17:02He's brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.
17:06Nationwide is on your side.
17:08Hey, Ross, we always enjoy it.
17:09Hope to see you.
17:10And we'll talk soon, man.
17:12Sounds great.
17:12See you guys.
17:13All right, take care.
17:13Ross Tucker on the Texas Mattress Makers hotline.
17:16We should have asked him for his recommendation for a wing place for you to go.
17:20I'll text him.
17:21I'll figure it out.