On a Reaction Monday following the Texans' victory in their preseason finale against the Los Angeles Rams, In The Loop looks ahead to 53-man roster cuts.
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00:00Man, what a time, man. It's a reaction Monday after the Texans get a preseason finale victory.
00:06Yes, sir. As much as do you care at all about the I don't even remember the score. 1715
00:1117 to something. 1715. The real question is, did you stay awake trying to watch this game?
00:17Oh my gosh, we will get to that. We will get to that. I will plead for sure. Yeah, we'll
00:24get to that. We'll get to some winners and losers of the weekend. I believe we'll have
00:27an opportunity to hear from D'Amico Ryans. He speaks to media at 11 central. So a lot
00:33of things because look, the game itself, this isn't a typical game or like a victory Monday
00:39or what have you. Because look, the most important thing about this was not the game itself,
00:45but what the implications are on a particular thing that has to happen by tomorrow, which
00:49is cutting down your roster to 53 men. Yeah, and we're going to get some reports of that
00:55today. There are already some reports around the league. I can promise you we're going
00:58to hear some things on the Texans and some important things like in terms of the game
01:03itself, it was the most inconsequential important game of the year. Yeah. If that makes any
01:11sense, it's a, I know it's three, but it was an inconsequential game unless it was very
01:17important for you, you know? And like that, that, that's why, you know, the big takeaways
01:24here, uh, look, look, let's not bury the lead. I think, uh, you know, we, we've got a story
01:29brewing. I mean, we've got a story brewing that I think interests a lot of people based
01:33on who played. Is it fair to say that that's been the story of the preseason for these
01:37Texans? It became that right? Like it started out with, Oh, offensive line and all that
01:41stuff. We've talked about it. Uh, but it became, you know, is Damian Pierce going to be the
01:45guy? Uh, is Cam Acres going to have anything who is RB too? And we were talking about this
01:51Friday, the idea of, okay, what are the things that we could still learn? And you know, what
01:57are going to be the interpretations and the Texans, I guess, either listening or they
02:01just decided to make it interesting for us. Um, because we learned on Saturday, Damian
02:06Pierce would not play. Yeah. And let's just go back to the OG. Let's do a little revisiting
02:11because we talked about this and I asked you to do a little pre, um, evaluation of
02:15what it would mean if Damian Pierce did not play. And that is that exactly what happened.
02:20Do you recall what you told me it would mean for this team? If Damian Pierce, if he didn't
02:25play, he was either probably, he was either on the team or maybe being shopped. Nothing
02:32has really changed. Sure. You know, I mean, Cam Acres played in the game, but he played
02:38like a backup running that had, because, because obviously Joe Mixon wasn't in there.
02:41So you had to have somebody running the ball. Absolutely. You know, it wasn't going to be
02:45British Brooks and, uh, Jowar Jordan the whole time and JJ Taylor and all that stuff. Uh,
02:50so somebody had to run the ball. Uh, so yeah, I've, I've got some, some really important
02:54news for you. The same thing is true now as it was going into the game, uh, because, uh,
02:58Damian Pierce did not play and I still am not quite sure if, if that means he's, he's,
03:05you know, they're thinking about moving him or the decisions already been made. Now, D'Amico
03:08Ryan's did say after the game, and I think we got the audio of like D'Amico Ryan's because
03:13look, we can speculate on what we think it means, but why not go and get it from the
03:17horse's mouth? D'Amico Ryan's head coach of this Texas team. Why didn't you play, um,
03:22Damian Pierce? I thought a linebacker. I didn't play Damian cause I've, I've seen enough from
03:27Damian and practice and everything. So I've, I've had a good look at Damian. What does
03:31that mean? What does that mean? That's a great question. Cause I've, I've seen enough
03:38of Damian. Like it all depends on how you say it. Like, like let's say you're, you know,
03:42you're with a, with, with a girl and she says, I've seen enough of you. Yeah. That context
03:47is not a good one. That context is not a good one. Um, but I mean, I'm not sure if that's
03:53the context here, right? It's, it's, I think my initial reaction was that he's seen enough
04:00in the affirmative and the positive, but Hey, you know, you're right. It could be in
04:04that negative perspective, but that wouldn't necessarily jive with what we've heard from
04:09him in regards to Damian Pierce's reps in these preseason games, because it's been the
04:15direct opposite when he's talked about Damian Pearson, not just as bad. Like when, um, D'Amico
04:21has talked about Damian Pearson, he's like, well, he just hasn't gotten enough, you know,
04:25seen enough opportunities and the opportunities haven't been clean enough, right? We've had,
04:30you know, defenders in the run gaps. So you can't really evaluate off of those seeming
04:34to tell us that I haven't seen enough in that regard, but I've seen enough in the, in the,
04:39you know, practices to know what it looks like. And so this was kind of an interesting,
04:43and I don't know if it's definitively or definitely the idea of talking out of both sides of your
04:47mouth, but that's how it felt to me when I heard,
04:49No, I think he wanted it to sound positive. I think you, the, you, you can lean toward
04:54it sounds positive, but that's not an answer in terms of he's on our squad. I've seen enough
05:00of him. Okay. Well, clearly you needed to see some more of cam acres and then you can
05:05add this to the, to, to, as a level did cam acres sort of tip the scales in his favor.
05:12I know it was the last preseason of the game of the, of the year, but cam acres looks the
05:17part man. And I don't mean just aesthetically, like he looks like a running back. No, I mean,
05:22he looks the part in this offense. Yeah. Like he looks like a guy that is comfortable
05:28running behind this line, running in this type of offensive scheme, et cetera, et cetera.
05:34And so I, I, I think that's the story of the day. I think that's the story of the day until
05:38we get a resolution on it. I think it might've been Kevin Kugler on the broadcast on Saturday.
05:43If you catch me saying yesterday, it's because I watched it yesterday. So my apologies if
05:48that slips out, but I think it was Kevin Kugler on the broadcast who said that like, and it
05:52might've been Harris that cam acres has answered every question when it comes to, you know,
05:58can he do this? The cuts he's been able to make the cuts. I think I really should've
06:03started with the patients, right? The veteran wherewithal to have patients, but behind,
06:09you know, his own blocking scheme and wait for those holes to open up and then attack
06:12them. Right. Right. The thing that I had questions about when you have an Achilles and then he
06:17has two Achilles, uh, injuries in his history is the explosion there. It seems like for
06:22the most part, at least, uh, you know, when it comes down to being sufficient, being capable
06:27of getting up to speed when you need to, he's been able to do that. He's put his foot in
06:31the ground. He's cut, um, the awareness, all these things, but they know more and they
06:35have more confidence.
06:36See the part that get me is I felt like, I felt like Pierce should be in a potato for
06:42that number two running back position, but they're not really treating him like that,
06:47man. They only gave him what eight, uh, was it four carry eight carries nine yards. Yeah,
06:51man. To me, that seemed like they already know they, they not really giving them a chance
06:55to get grooving a little bit, man. And you, you kind of see it. They, they kind of doing
07:00that with matchy matchy play every game. Yeah. And Pierce only play what two games. Yeah.
07:06It seemed like they just know what he got and he he's making his team and he's RB too.
07:10Is this because look, I mean, this decision-making, uh, brain trust with the Texans has, and
07:18rightfully so gotten a lot of trust and respect from the media, from fans, all these things.
07:28Are you feeling some type of way in any way about the, the handling of this? Because you're
07:31right. Fig like they've gotten to a place where it felt like the answer was already
07:36in pen before we got, well, I guess the test, so to say, right. I think, I think we've stumbled
07:43upon like a story that's going to be there at least through, through the middle of the
07:48season, because like, no matter which decision they make, there's going to be an assortment
07:53of us.
07:54I'll S I'll put myself in there. Cause I know I'm going to be scrutinizing this, this, this
07:57move, this decision is going to be scrutinized at least until mid season. And one of these
08:01running backs really has established themselves one way or the other. Like if they pick cam
08:05acres, all right. And he's a stud. We'll all good. Right. Uh, but if he's, they pick cam
08:11acres and he gets injured or is less than productive or there's wear and tear, then
08:17we're all going to be like, well, you know, see there, uh, you know, that's the aspect
08:22of this that I think is really important.
08:24Damian Pierce is younger. Damian Pierce is, is, is, is a guy that has not had two Achilles,
08:30but he's, he's had some injuries here and there, but nothing like that. So you can easily
08:33argue if they pick cam acres and it doesn't work out, it's like, ah, you know, see what
08:38happened. They, you know, they should have gone with the younger guy. If they pick Damian
08:41Pierce and he's averaging 1.8 yards, a carrier, 2.2 yards, a carrier, something we're going
08:47to be like, dude, it was obvious in the preseason, the cam acres was better. So like the Texans,
08:53like all great teams, and we think they're going to be pretty dang good, uh, are, are,
08:58are in a myth in the midst of one of those good problems.
09:01But it is a problem if it doesn't work out. And I mean, there's a few things like one
09:05of those is you're right. Damian Pierce is younger, but I don't know that we're talking
09:10about Damian Pierce where it's like, oh, there's a little bit of a, he's having a down stretch,
09:13right. Or like a tough time in the midst of his career. Like we're seeing him not being
09:18able to like, this feels like a weakness in his capability of matching a system. Like
09:23this feels like a fit issue that we're talking about. And so I don't know how much continuing
09:28to do that ends up being an issue. But we were also talking about this, I think in a
09:32break last week where, okay, we talked about the idea that Joe Mixon is probably if healthy,
09:38going to take a lion's share of these runs. And so you're not talking about a ton of runs
09:43and maybe we are making the running back RB two situation bigger, but it's still something,
09:48right. You, for a team that wants to contend the margins become thinner and that becomes
09:53where you win games and where you win, you know, accolades and things of that nature.
09:59Does it feel like your lighting lighting is on fire with Damian Pierce? If he's still
10:04having, you know, one yard per, you know, or per carry as opposed to the possibilities
10:10that can makers clearly demonstrates to make something bigger out of what is blocked up
10:14for him. Like that ends up being how much of a, how much of a factor will that be? If
10:19you are getting the iterations of can makers and Damian Pierce that it feels like we've
10:23seen absolutely, absolutely does a, you know, presuming if, if it does go that way, you,
10:28you say lighting plays on fire. I've always said you can't have any giveaways. Yeah. You
10:32can't give a, if you're a contender, you can't give away plays. Cause that could kill one
10:37drive and one drive dad means maybe you lose the game, you know? So it, you can't have
10:42giveaways. So like, look, man, I mean, we, this is, this is a big boy problem. Yeah.
10:47You, you, the D'Amico Ryan's and Nick Serial have their first big boy problem, no matter
10:51which way they go, there's going to be fair scrutiny the other way. And to be fair, one
10:55thing that we can also circle back to is, I don't know if this will necessarily be a,
11:00you know, binary selection of either keep Damian Pierce or can makers. I think there
11:06is the possibility that you keep both of them. The problem is when we talk about a 53 man
11:10roster, it is just that 53 men. So like when you keep that X, when you keep those, both
11:15of those guys to kind of simultaneously be in that running back to kind of situation,
11:21are they playing special teams? Who does that then move out? Cause you still have the likes
11:24of Dara. You still have the likes of, I don't know, British Brooks or whatever you're going
11:28to do at fullback, those types of things on the back end that you're considering. And
11:32then, you know, I'll be damned if that then affect the factors into some of the other
11:37places where you have strengths. So I think the thing is there is going to be a number
11:41two rack. Now there might be both on the roster but you know, all, all good teams, all great
11:47teams have two running backs that are effective. Now I think you're right. I agree with you.
11:52You know, Joe Mixon is probably going to be a bigger workhorse than, than your average
11:57number one back, but every contending team has a number two running back. Now who's going
12:02to be jogging out there? Is it going to be cam acres or is going to be Damian Pierce?
12:06Even if they're both on the roster, one of them is going to be jogging out there as a
12:08number two guy. It'll be super interesting to see today. We'll be, we'll go a long way
12:13and giving us some insight. And then tomorrow, obviously roster cut down day when we get
12:17like a full insight into what Casario Ryan's and the rest of the brain trust are thinking.
12:24It's it's been really interesting to be in this place where it feels like something is
12:27so obvious and you know, the, the powers that be that often we will treat as, you know,
12:32being more football smart than the rest of us seemingly are going in the opposite direction
12:37on the way that they handle this.