In The Loop has a new co-host. Reginald Adetula joins John Lopez and Figgy Fig for a new era of the show.
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00:00Houston, let's get in the loop.
00:08Great day, great day.
00:10Oh, give me some juice, baby.
00:12Houston, let's get in the loop.
00:20You better get ready because we're going to show up and show off.
00:22With John Lopez and Reginald Attitula.
00:26Always live.
00:27Love it, love it.
00:28Always local.
00:30Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion.
00:33You're in the loop.
00:35On Houston's Sports Leader, Sports Video 610.
00:44Yes, indeed, you're in the loop.
00:46That's John Lopez.
00:48I am Reginald Attitula.
00:50Of course, Figgy Fig in the producer room, feeling comfortable.
00:54I'm back.
00:55You're back where you're supposed to be.
00:56You're back home.
00:57I'm back home, man.
00:58And I'm back home, man.
00:59It's good to be here, H-Town.
01:00How you living?
01:01How you doing?
01:02Fantastic, fantastic.
01:03What a weekend to be alive.
01:04That's for dang sure.
01:05Good weekend, good weekend.
01:06And look, man, excited to be in the loop with you fine fellas and all the 610 listeners.
01:12And look, man, I'm excited for the new look of this program, but we're going to keep it.
01:16We're going to have fun with it.
01:18Oh, we'll get to that.
01:19Okay.
01:20We'll get to that real soon here.
01:21All right, excellent.
01:22Next three minutes, five minutes, something like that.
01:24Lopez sounds like he up to something.
01:26We are.
01:27We're ready.
01:28He's scheming already.
01:29We stay scheming here.
01:30And look, get involved with the program.
01:32That's always one thing I'm going to ask for.
01:34So get involved with the program.
01:35You can do that a few ways.
01:36Catch us on YouTube, Sports Radio 610, twitch.tv, sportsradio610, or the text line, 713-572-4610.
01:45And let's start with, look, big time weekend because you had a Texans dress rehearsal,
01:52not just a preseason game, dress rehearsal.
01:54We got to see a lot of starters in there.
01:56Obviously, C.J. Stroud doing his thing for an entire quarter.
01:59Would it be fair to say that the standout, the dude who you could say had the podium game of sorts,
02:06would be Jon Mechie?
02:07Oh, that's absolutely fair.
02:08Absolutely fair.
02:09You know, one thing, I always walk away, and our listeners, the listeners always know,
02:14I walk away from the stadium, walk away from the TV if it's a road game,
02:17and I'm always like, all right, what's the story here?
02:19What's the big takeaway?
02:20Mr. Reiterman.
02:21Your journalistic roots.
02:22What's the banner headline, so to speak?
02:25And there's a banner headline for me, but the banner headline might be a little bit different
02:30than for you or for Figge or for our listeners.
02:34My walkaway, my takeaway was, all right, boys, that's it.
02:38All right, boys, that's it.
02:42See you September 8th.
02:43I don't want to see these starters anymore.
02:45They have the joint practice on Thursday with the Rams.
02:48Yes, sir.
02:49Let's do that, and then let's get ready because it was that good.
02:52Now, the subhead is absolutely Jon Mechie.
02:55I think it's absolutely something else, too, but we'll get to that a little later.
02:59But Jon Mechie, like, I had him DOA.
03:03I mean, I had him maybe not even on the roster, probably not even on the roster.
03:10But he's there, and it was a huge game for him.
03:14It was a huge game for all of us who were fans of Jon Mechie, the guy.
03:18Yeah.
03:19But you couldn't have asked for more.
03:21I mean, that's what you want in a so-called third preseason game.
03:25I know they have four, but third preseason game, second for most teams,
03:29is the one where you're like, all right, who's going to stand out?
03:31Who's going to put a stake in the ground, so to speak, and get it done?
03:34I think that was Jon Mechie.
03:35Yeah, Jon Mechie, third.
03:37Led all receivers in this game, six receptions, 68 yards, and a tutty.
03:42And one of the things that was really great about this is I know that
03:46he's not necessarily shown well thus far in camp,
03:50and you're basically operating with him as a rookie
03:53because he has not been able to be on the field due to a lot of off-the-field issues,
03:58including dealing with cancer, one of those big things that affects a lot of people.
04:02And it's been kind of frustrating after all of that time.
04:05Now he gets on the field, and you hadn't seen it show up,
04:08especially with drops, those types of things.
04:10None of those were issues.
04:11Seven targets, six receptions, and he looked really comfortable.
04:14He looked really fluid.
04:15He looked like the dude that you drafted out of Alabama.
04:17Well, and I'm looking at it now, and yes, this is a complete change for me.
04:22I'm saying that right up front because I didn't even have him on the roster.
04:25But I started looking at what he did, and I'm like,
04:27you know who the top three receivers are.
04:30You know Noah Brown's going to be on this team.
04:32I'm pretty sure Steven Sims is going to be on this team
04:34because he's a kick returner and does so much on special teams.
04:38So that's five.
04:39So then you're looking at six, seven, eight, and I'm looking at it like this.
04:42Robert Woods, you know what he is, and you know what the ceiling is for him.
04:49I think you know the ceiling for Ben Skoranek.
04:51They've been in the league.
04:53You know where their apex is.
04:55You know how high they're going to be on the roster.
04:58I think John Metsche, what he showed us is, yes, it is in there.
05:03Yes, he can be that guy, and we don't know his upside.
05:06So I think that's why he's vaulting up and climbing the ranks
05:10because he has, to me, for this team, a higher upside
05:13than the guys we already know how good they can be.
05:16I mean, I hear you there, and so let us know.
05:19Again, 7-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.
05:22What do you think that this game did for the wide receiver room?
05:25John, you're talking about a big swing that you're making
05:27from that dude's not on this roster to now he's definitely in there for you.
05:32Or in the mix, for sure.
05:33Okay, in the mix. I think that's fair.
05:35Let me not misrepresent your perspective on this.
05:38I don't want to do that to you.
05:39But, yeah, man, wide receiver, this is one of the best teams
05:42when it comes to a wide receiver room.
05:43This room, you have a great problem, but it is a problem still
05:47because you have to determine, out of all of these capable wide receivers,
05:51you need to figure out which, well, first of all, 5-6-7 are you going to keep?
05:56And I know this team, the path to victory on offense is passing the football.
06:00Yes, thank you.
06:01We'll talk more about the Russian game later, right?
06:03But you have one of the better young quarterbacks in the league.
06:07You might say the best young quarterback in the league,
06:09and we don't have time to, well, I guess we have a lot of time.
06:11We're here till 2 p.m. to quibble about the quarterback
06:14and those types of things.
06:15But with that being the case, you need to have the right amount of guys,
06:20and you have to have the right ones slotted in there.
06:23And we know, I think, look, the three-headed monster
06:26when you talk about wide receiving core itself,
06:28your starters are set, right?
06:29Yeah.
06:30You mentioned Steven Sims.
06:31I think that's a really interesting one because, obviously,
06:33what he gives you in the return game is huge.
06:35In fact, even in this game against the Giants.
06:37Absolutely.
06:38He looked really good.
06:39I mean, and that says something because I thought,
06:41and let me ask you this, I thought with the new kickoff
06:43we'd see more of the Steven Sims-type returns,
06:45but we haven't seen very many of those in the preseason.
06:47Put a pin in that.
06:48Okay.
06:49Because I really feel like we want to talk about that,
06:52but you're new here.
06:55Oh, okay, yeah, that's fair.
06:57You know what?
06:58Let's do that.
06:59A word?
07:01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:02Look, I was like, look, man, I'm in Houston.
07:04Texas fans are listening.
07:06This is the home of the Houston Texas Plus Radio 610.
07:08We got to talk about the Texans, but you know what?
07:10I get it.
07:11I'm like, who is this dude that's talking?
07:13Hey, you're going to find our listeners are loyal, man,
07:15and our listeners are all about what we do here.
07:17Figgy, I feel like we shouldn't bury the lead here.
07:21We got Reginald.
07:23I'm sure I'm going to call him Reggie more than I should.
07:26Which is cool.
07:27You don't hurt my feelings anyway.
07:29I'm sure I'm going to call you Reggie more.
07:31But we got Reginald Atatula here.
07:33And if you saw my tweet this morning and the loopholes,
07:36the listeners are all about this.
07:38Like, who is this guy?
07:40Why am I listening to him?
07:42He sounds good.
07:43He's got the juice.
07:44He's got the sound.
07:46And first text I look at as we're going in here,
07:49and you can text us, 713-572-4610.
07:51Let's not bury the lead here, man.
07:53This is a new era of In The Loop.
07:55And I know, Figgy, you're excited.
07:57You know I'm excited.
07:58And, you know, hell, my family yesterday,
08:01we had a little birthday get-together for my daughter-in-law.
08:04And they're like, till tomorrow, right?
08:05So tomorrow, right?
08:06Tell me about it, right?
08:07Tell me about it.
08:08Oh, y'all were waiting on me like the 1st of the 15th, huh?
08:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:11Okay.
08:12Excellent.
08:13Yeah.
08:14And so let's – I hate this.
08:16And we're going to get to this later.
08:17I asked Figgy some questions on Friday.
08:19Okay.
08:20Trying to answer them for you, you know, because we had a little bit of insight.
08:23You know, we've kind of been hanging out here and there before we started this show today.
08:28And I'm like, I hate those questions that are like,
08:30well, tell me about yourself.
08:31Tell me about yourself.
08:32Tell me about yourself, young man.
08:33When someone asks me that, I'm like, well, I am John.
08:37I mean, that's it.
08:38Right, right.
08:39So let's not go there.
08:40I'm not going to ask the questions until later.
08:42But you've got to be pumped up for this.
08:44And this is home for you, man.
08:46Yeah, yeah.
08:47Born and raised here up to a point.
08:49I moved out of the city probably about 13.
08:52But, I mean, I was born in Memorial Hospital off of Beachnut back in the day.
08:57So, like, this is where I'm from, southwest, out to Aleaf, out to Sugarland.
09:01Yeah, Houston is home.
09:03So I'm super excited to be back.
09:05And we'll talk about more later because I moved this weekend.
09:09And I won't say that the heat and the humidity beat me up.
09:13But it definitely got some shots in on me.
09:16So excited to be back.
09:17It's a different world, man.
09:18It's a different world.
09:19Yeah, no, that heat is crazy.
09:20I was actually out there Saturday at the game just, you know, making the roundabouts.
09:25And, nah, that heat punched me right in the nose.
09:30Well, you're going to find this show is very, obviously, interactive, which I know you like.
09:34Excellent.
09:35With our listeners.
09:36But they want to know you, man.
09:37They want to know you.
09:38And they will.
09:39Yeah.
09:40I tweeted it this morning.
09:42You guys are going to be really, really happy.
09:45All kidding aside, Reggie, you know, I've worked with a lot of different people.
09:50And Reggie is a shooting star.
09:54Like, we're lucky to have you.
09:57And, you know, I won't go into all the questions.
10:00But tell me something about you and Houston that made you want to come back.
10:04Ooh.
10:06You just hit me with a tough one here.
10:09I put you on the spot.
10:10Well, one thing I will tell all the listeners as I try and find the right answer for you.
10:14If you want to know more about me, we'll do that later in the program.
10:17Yeah.
10:18Go ahead and time stamp that for 140 p.m.
10:20And if you want to, we'll do kind of like if you aren't ready
10:23or if you're familiar with Reddit, they have what they call AMAs, Ask Me Anythings.
10:28And so we'll kind of do something a little like that.
10:30John, you have some questions.
10:31Figgy, you have some questions.
10:32And then I imagine also our listeners have a lot of questions.
10:35So during the show, if you want to text in and ask those,
10:38I think that we'll kind of hold on to them.
10:39And then at 140 p.m. today, I'll do my best to answer those.
10:43But I didn't want to make it unofficial.
10:44We're really happy to have you, man.
10:45Man, I'm happy to be here.
10:47I'm excited to get to work and talk about Texans, the Astros, the Rockets,
10:51and all the other things that are here, the Dynamo.
10:53I'm a soccer guy, letting you know.
10:55Oh, okay.
10:56Unfortunately, Manchester United.
10:59Glory, glory.
11:00We can look past that.
11:02Man, it's an opportunity to be on a great station and talk about some great teams.
11:07But look, man, home is home, man.
11:09I've lived in various places in the state of Texas over the 32 years of my life.
11:15Yes, I'm 32 years of age.
11:17And I've never at any given point thought of calling any of the other places home.
11:22Yeah.
11:23Than Houston.
11:24So this is an opportunity to be home and do the work that I love in this place
11:27and get connected with the great fans, right?
11:29Yeah.
11:30The great fans in this area.
11:31And so that's what we're going to do.
11:33So you and my middle son are the same age.
11:35Okay.
11:36Yeah.
11:37So should I call you pops then?
11:38No, no, God no.
11:39No?
11:40God no.
11:41All right.
11:42Only if you're mad.
11:43Only if you're mad at me.
11:44Well, one thing I'm not mad at, to get back to the sports of this all,
11:47is this wide receiver room.
11:48So what do you think the wide receiver room looks like now
11:51that John Mechie had this particular type of game?
11:54And I feel like when you're building a room, you could just go and get,
11:57and we haven't figured out exactly what the number is,
11:59six, seven of the best wide receivers,
12:01but you also have to consider the roles that they existed, right?
12:05I'm feeling seven.
12:06You're feeling seven.
12:07I think they're that good.
12:08As you mentioned, you got the top three.
12:10I think Noah Brown's in.
12:13I think Steven Simms is in.
12:14That's five.
12:15You're certain on Noah Brown then?
12:16I'm pretty sure.
12:17They love the way he blocks, you know, whatever.
12:19Hey, that matters.
12:22He has a couple of good games last season.
12:24And he's had a couple of good games.
12:26And a couple of really good games last year.
12:28Let's not short my man Noah Brown with this.
12:30But yeah, as long as the blocking isn't the situation where this is the nice
12:34thing that we have to say about you because we don't have other nice things.
12:37It's one of the things I love in sports is when it's like,
12:40I always point to and I'll do respect to Iman Shumpert.
12:43And I know I'm crossing the line.
12:45Iman Shumpert.
12:46He's a defensive specialist.
12:48Yes, when he was with the Knicks.
12:49They always called him a defensive specialist.
12:51And I was like, no, he's not.
12:52We just don't have anything else that we can talk about with you.
12:55No, my go-to is Ira Newble.
12:57Oh, yes.
12:58He's a defensive specialist.
12:59I'm like, this dog cannot shoot.
13:01He just can't do nothing.
13:02And that's not the thing that you're saying with Noah Brown.
13:04He is capable of effecting the game.
13:06No, he can make a big play, have a big game, all that stuff.
13:10So, there's five.
13:11Well, then you got Xavier Hutchinson who is nice and has been nice in camp
13:14and nice in the early preseason games.
13:17Then you have Skaronic, who I've just repeatedly said,
13:20they brought him in for a reason.
13:22And he's a special teams guy.
13:23He can play a lot of different positions.
13:25And I want to get to that.
13:26That's not a small thing.
13:27We do need to stick with – keep the idea of special teams prominent here
13:32because when you're not the guy that's starting
13:34and if you're not in that consistent rotation,
13:37maybe that fourth, fifth guy necessarily,
13:40that's going to be on the field consistently.
13:42Special teams is going to be super important,
13:44and so you have to have those roles as well.
13:46I want to go back to the Noah Brown thing because you didn't mention Robert Woods.
13:50And Robert Woods, I think, sits in a similar place as Noah Brown
13:54as you know what you're going to get from him, veteran guy in the room,
13:58and that's just kind of consistent.
14:00I don't know that there's anything else that you necessarily go,
14:03off the charts with him when it comes to, I guess, role or anything of that nature,
14:08but consistent can do the job.
14:10And it's cool to have as many of those,
14:12but when you have just the riches at wide receiver,
14:16I do wonder if Brown and Woods are fighting for the same spot,
14:19even if they're both kind of high enough where if you were just ranking this
14:22by aptitude one through seven, they would both be in top seven, right?
14:25Yeah, for sure.
14:26And Robert Woods, like that dude I was talking about having some big games,
14:29he's had some big games.
14:30Yeah.
14:31And he's been sort of…
14:32On damn near every team.
14:33On every team.
14:34Yeah.
14:35And he's played in the Super Bowl.
14:36And the other thing about Robert Woods, and I think this is what I'm going back to,
14:40you know what you're going to get with him.
14:42He's older now.
14:43And so you have to weigh, all right, John Mechie, what he just showed us,
14:47was that just the start of it clicking, you know, of him finding it.
14:52Because keep in mind, and we had Mechie on the show,
14:54like he's two years removed from cancer now, two seasons I should say,
14:58from cancer now.
15:00But everybody in this room, everybody listening to us,
15:03has had someone who's had cancer and recovered, hopefully, from cancer.
15:07Someone very close to me had cancer and recovered and was clear
15:12probably three years ago now, two and a half years ago now.
15:16And still occasionally feels the effects of whether it's the medication they took
15:19or the treatments they took or whatever.
15:21And we talked to him about that, and he said, yeah, last year he was
15:24air quote healthy, but he wasn't quite the same guy.
15:27Maybe now he's becoming his old self again.
15:30So you've got to weigh, okay, Robert Woods, Noah Brown,
15:32if you want to throw him in there.
15:34Is their ceiling already reached?
15:37Whereas John Mechie, are we starting to see where his ceiling could go?
15:40Yeah, because if you have the three that we know of,
15:43Brown, Woods maybe, I don't know if those guys are in the same spot,
15:47but let's assume that they're not, right?
15:49You have those.
15:50Mechie makes six.
15:51Skronick is one that you could, is Xavier Hutchison one that you're willing
15:56to put out and feel like maybe you can get him back to the practice squad.
15:59I know that Petr Gasper talked about that this morning.
16:03Yeah.
16:04Here's the other thing with Mechie is I know a lot of people are saying,
16:08well, it's just one game, guys.
16:09He just had a good preseason game.
16:10I get it, but he doesn't fit that rule.
16:13He doesn't fit that profile because of what I just said.
16:15Because he is really just trying to, he's really just getting his legs in it.
16:20He looked comfortable, and I haven't seen him look comfortable in three seasons.
16:24Yeah, he looked really comfortable on the field there.
16:26And on the text line from the 832 asked,
16:29can you keep seven wide receivers and four running backs?
16:31That's from Gus and Katie.
16:33And that's going to be the question.
16:34We'll talk about that more as we continue in the loop on today.
16:37But, yeah, that's going to be the question.
16:39But if you get down to six or seven, someone like Ben Skronick,
16:43this is where his, I guess, position flex in a way comes in
16:48because he can kind of be a de facto fullback at times
16:51as long as he does that job along with the special teams.
16:53Glad you mentioned fullback because you're going to have to steal a position somewhere
16:56if you keep seven, and we're going to get into this.
16:58But seven receivers means you've got to cut somewhere else,
17:02and it might be the fullback.
17:04It might be a very familiar name.
17:06But I'm with you.
17:07I actually think that, yeah, he's definitely in the mix in a big way,
17:10and Mechie is definitely in a place where now you feel comfortable.
17:13Proof of concept is a phrase that I like using a lot,
17:16and you drafted him with the idea that he is a very talented wide receiver
17:21and has the opportunity to have upside.
17:23And you had not had proof of concept yet because he had not played,
17:26and he had played somewhat poorly during training camp to this point.
17:30Dress rehearsal game on Saturday was proof of concept that he has in him,
17:34and it can keep growing.
17:35So with that now in the pocket, I think that, yeah, he absolutely is in the mix
17:38to be solidly in that six or seven guys that you keep on the wide receivers.
17:42There you go.
17:43We're in the loop here on Sports Radio 610,
17:45off and running on a Monday, a Texans Monday here on Sports Radio 610.