00:00This was one, it was nice to be able to breathe in the third and fourth quarter a little bit
00:03today.
00:03Yeah, look, it was a big win, man.
00:06We're not in a spot to take anybody lightly, but it was nice to catch a team that was 0
00:11-7,
00:11a team that just couldn't get out of their own way,
00:15and to see a little bit of success on both sides of the football
00:18and get a lead and be able to play with a lead.
00:21And boy, was today not a fun watch from the offensive perspective.
00:26I mean, C.J. Stroud with a monster day, obviously Tank Dale having a –
00:31it didn't take him long to get back in that 100-yard game column,
00:36and several receivers having big days.
00:38It was fun to watch today, man.
00:40It was fun to watch, and the final score was great, and they won 44-22.
00:43I look at this game just to – I look at the final score,
00:47and to me, this game looked – the final score of this game looked
00:51exactly how the two quarterbacks looked in this game.
00:54I think the biggest story in this game is the two quarterbacks.
00:57You have C.J. Stroud on the Texans' side of things, who, look,
01:00I know he's the quarterback for a team that's just 3-5 right now,
01:02but we all know from having watched C.J. Stroud all year,
01:05he has played much better than a 3-5 quarterback.
01:07Absolutely.
01:08He's 16 touchdowns, two interceptions, and if the defense had done him any favors
01:12in some of those close losses earlier this year,
01:14he would be at the top of the MVP or near it right now.
01:17I don't know that anybody's beating Josh Allen right now,
01:19but he would be in that top three or four for the MVP conversation.
01:23And I think that's how the Texans look today offensively.
01:25I don't think they ran the football great.
01:27Their two running backs carried the ball 24 times for 86 yards.
01:31So, you know, they still got some work to do on that side of the ball
01:35in terms of running the football.
01:36But C.J. Stroud is just so good right now.
01:39He's so good that if you lean into him dropping back, in this case,
01:42he dropped back 36 times tonight or maybe – yeah, 30, he sacked once,
01:4735 pass attempts, and then he scrambled a couple of times.
01:50So, dropped back almost 40 times tonight.
01:53I think you do that with C.J. Stroud and with this wide receiving core right now
01:56with the different styles of weapons they have,
01:58I think a lot of good things are going to happen for you offensively.
02:00Meanwhile, on the other side of things, the Chargers scored 22 points tonight,
02:05and seven of them weren't even with Justin Herbert in the game at the end of the game.
02:08He looks lost.
02:09He looks absolutely lost.
02:11They actually ran the football pretty well.
02:13You'll see if a team in the Texans that didn't really run the football all that well,
02:16but their quarterback is playing all-universe-level ball right now and did today,
02:19five touchdown passes.
02:21And then you've got on the other side Justin Herbert,
02:23who is working with an offensive coordinator who seems to have broken him,
02:28seems to have broken Justin Herbert.
02:30And the crazy thing is the Chargers actually ran the football pretty well tonight.
02:33It didn't matter because Justin Herbert, whoever was dropping back,
02:36was getting pressured all night long or all day long,
02:38and the Texans wound up with eight sacks in this game,
02:41so his offensive line didn't do him any favors.
02:43But I think that's – I look at this final score, 44-22.
02:45The Texans double him up, and that to me is a direct reflection
02:49of the quarterback play on both sides of this ledger.
02:52Yeah, and the truth is Justin Herbert is behind us.
02:55The only one I'm worried about is C.J. Stroud, and I'm going to tell you, man,
02:58he has been absolutely tremendous, elite all year long,
03:03and today was no different.
03:05Now, the difference in today and let's call it last – or two weeks ago
03:11against the Giants where today the team was in 11 personnel,
03:15a more advantageous personnel grouping, if you will,
03:20for a quarterback with the skill set of C.J. Stroud.
03:24There was three wide receivers on the field more today than the majority of the season.
03:29There was, you know, less jumbo-heavy, three tight end set in the game plan today.
03:35than the last couple of weeks.
03:37And so C.J. was put in position to shine in a big way once again, and he did.
03:43Sean, I'm going to tell you, man, he is playing the position
03:46at such an extremely high level.
03:50It makes it – it puts D'Amico Rines in a spot of where you go,
03:54okay, are we going to do this back-and-forth game plan thing
03:58where one week we're 40-plus percent jumbo,
04:01and then the next week we're 80-plus percent, 11 personnel kind of thing.
04:05C.J. is playing such good football and playing at such a high level.
04:10The throw to Hutch for the touchdown and then the throw to –
04:16Tank?
04:17To Tank was big, but the one to Booty.
04:21Oh, yeah.
04:22The touchdown, the first touchdown to Booty.
04:23Yeah.
04:23Those just – those anticipation throws with so much air,
04:28those are so difficult to make,
04:30especially when there's a DB right there in their hip pocket.
04:33He makes it look easy.
04:33And he's throwing it in a keyhole.
04:35He's throwing it in a keyhole, brother.
04:37That is – he's playing so well offensively that as an organization,
04:43you've got to question doing anything ever again offensively
04:47that is not built around your quarterback.
04:50That is not 11 personnel.
04:52That's not giving him more and more opportunity.
04:54He's literally playing that good.
04:56Isn't it crazy?
04:56I mean, the talk – the talk with this team before the season was
05:00defense is going to be generational.
05:03Don't screw it up for the defense.
05:04In fact, C.J., just let this – you know, we're going to –
05:07we're going to reconstruct the run game for you.
05:10We're going to go get all these meanies up front,
05:11and we're going to go get a running back that loves to run his head into a brick wall,
05:15and we're going to get more physical as a team.
05:16I mean, just don't throw four interceptions in the first half again.
05:19Just don't screw it up.
05:20Don't lose it, yeah.
05:20Just don't screw it up.
05:22And he's – well, look, he's thinking the don't screw it up part to an extreme.
05:25Sure.
05:2516 touchdowns, two interceptions, turn the ball over four times all year long.
05:30But it's the complete – in terms of, like, who are we riding here
05:34to try to get to the promised land, it has played out the complete opposite of that.
05:39They can't run the football, and the defense is not playing –
05:42I mean, the defense was fine today.
05:43They sacked Justin Herbert a bunch of times.
05:44There's still a lot of sloppy things for D'Amico to teach.
05:48There were a lot of teaching moments with this defense still today
05:50in terms of tackling, getting out physicaled, I thought, at times up front in this game.
05:55The one unquestionable, undeniable element to this team right now is C.J. Stroud.
06:00Yeah.
06:00Is C.J. Stroud.
06:00Well, it's so good, Sean, that it's – you remember last year when you get into –
06:04you dig the hole, which you just said, at this point last year they were sitting at three and five.
06:09Same record.
06:09Same record, right?
06:10And, you know, you get in that hole last year, and you play pretty conservative on offense the rest –
06:17for the most part, with the exception, I think Davis Mills had the big comeback and all that kind of
06:21job.
06:21But for the most part, you played pretty conservative on the offensive side of the football,
06:25and you won games – close games with great defense, right?
06:29Now, what you've done this year is you've put yourself in a position where you need to have a similar
06:33run.
06:34That doesn't have to be nine or ten straight, but you have to win eight or nine games down the
06:37stretch here, right?
06:39And the way in which you do it looks to be, the way in which you do it this year,
06:43if you can accomplish that, which that is a – it's a big feat.
06:47But if you can accomplish that, it's going to be done on the shoulders of number seven.
06:51Absolutely.
06:52A hundred percent.
06:52You've got to do the same thing you did last year from a record perspective,
06:56but instead of great generational defense, we're talking about elite quarterback play
07:02that you're going to have to ride the rest of the way.
07:05And he's playing – he's playing so damn good to where, I mean,
07:09you might step out there and believe that they can get eight or nine
07:13and get right on the right side of this thing.
07:14He's playing that level of quarterback right now.
07:16He is playing that level of quarterback.
07:18He's playing the position.
07:18He's going to win player of the week again.
07:20You know, he won it in week six.
07:21Nobody played at Ireland.
07:23I would argue to your point.
07:25I know you – Josh Allen, MVP, all the MVPs, so I get it.
07:28And CJ's record is what – at this point, the team's record is what really, you know,
07:33keeps the talk about him down.
07:35But the reality of it is – and I don't watch every single quarterback.
07:38I've watched some of the great – I will – I'll bet a house note that there's not anybody out
07:44there
07:44that analyzes quarterback play and watches football, the quarterbacks at the NFL level
07:50that can show me a guy that's playing at a higher level than CJ Stroud consistently.
07:54Snap in, snap out.
07:56The tight window throws.
07:58The level of difficulty.
07:59How much of the production is being put on his shoulders.
08:02I mean, across the board, I guarantee you there's not another quarterback in football
08:07that's playing the position better than Seven is right now.
08:09Well, not with the degree of difficulty that's attached to him having to deal with offensive line issues
08:14and no running game.
08:15I mean, it's really – it's remarkable what he's been able to do.
08:19And he was sensational today.
