The term "hooping" is ubiquitous in some sports fan circles describing high-level performances. It doesn't have to be basketball. Football players can hoop, too. So who hooped in the Texans' 17-15 win against the Los Angeles Rams over the weekend. In The Loop's Reginald Adetula, John P. Lopez and Figgy Fig have that here.
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00:00Live from the Twin Peaks Studios, Sports Radio 610 presents In The Loop with John Lopez and Reggie Attitula.
00:10Who hooped in the Texans preseason finale win against the Los Angeles Rams 17-15?
00:16You're listening to In The Loop, Sports Radio 610.
00:19John Lopez, Figgy Fig, myself, Reginald Attitula. Get involved. 713-572-4610.
00:25I know that some people will be like, well, we're talking about football. What do you mean, who hooped?
00:29And I think it's become, or at least in my circles, it's become just a generic term.
00:35Sports neutral, the idea of hooping. You can hoop in baseball.
00:39We hooping. I love that term.
00:41And I think the Texans, there were some people that definitely hooped in this game that deserve some credit.
00:46And of course, I feel like we should start with the man who, I mean, look, he hit us with the pirouettes, had some cutbacks.
00:54Cam Akers in this game hooped, John.
00:56Big time.
00:57I thought obviously he showed, again, what he's been showing, which is a level of vision when he runs the football,
01:04which is necessary in this zone-blocking scheme when you're talking about running.
01:09It's not a given what gap you're hitting, so you have to watch it and read and watch it develop.
01:16Then you find the hole, you hit the hole.
01:18The one thing that I've continued to be a little bit interested in when it comes to Cam Akers,
01:23when you're talking about Achilles, do they rob you of your explosion?
01:26Yeah.
01:27And when he has cut, I don't know that he's necessarily had incredible explosion, but it's been sufficient.
01:33Now, people will know he's running against seconds and thirds, stringers,
01:36and I don't know what I can do about that because D'Amico Rhines and his team have not put him in that position to run against ones.
01:42But at the very least, with what he has been given, he's made the most of them.
01:46Look, I'm glad you brought this up because there were two plays that Cam Akers made
01:51that really were the two biggest highlights of the game.
01:55The first one, I believe, was a 23-yard run, thereabouts.
02:00And he trucked a defender in there as well?
02:02Yeah, he was right on the sideline.
02:03It was a friend of his, an old teammate.
02:05They were laughing about it later, but he trucked that dude.
02:07That was one of the highlights.
02:09But that's not the reason I feel, just to kind of add to what we're talking about at the top of the show,
02:14that's not the reason I feel that Cam Akers told me he's the dude.
02:19He should be the second team running back behind Joe Mixon.
02:22The other one was the old, what was the video game?
02:25X down, X down, where you do the little spin move.
02:28He did three of those.
02:29You know, spin, spin, spin.
02:30He sure did.
02:31He was spamming that B button.
02:32And that made the highlight real.
02:33Or circle, if you play play.
02:34Is that what it was?
02:35I don't remember what it was.
02:36Anyway, circle down.
02:37Whatever it was.
02:38That one wasn't the one that made me realize the dude.
02:42It was a 10-yard run in the first quarter.
02:46It was like a prototype.
02:48It was like a lesson of how to run the outside zone read running block.
02:56Everybody's going to the right.
02:57All the linemen take that big right step, as we've seen.
03:00Try to create a lane.
03:01The whole defense goes to its left.
03:03And he's going to the right.
03:05And then, boom, stops and cuts back behind the line.
03:08And I believe it was a 10-yard run.
03:11That's the one where I went,
03:12this dude needs to be the running back behind Joe Mixon.
03:16And he absolutely hooped.
03:18Yeah, I mean, look.
03:19That was the exact play that I also took a note of.
03:21And I'll read it verbatim.
03:23Oh, boy.
03:24That acres cut back might could solidify this man's spot.
03:27That was it.
03:28Right?
03:29Because, look, again, it's the capability that he has.
03:31And it shows and it demonstrates, again, the vision that he has
03:34and his ability to then execute on that.
03:36And there was later in the game, and he was in that game long, right?
03:39He was in that game all the way through,
03:41which, again, we have questions about why these guys are playing certain ways.
03:46But, look, it's their prerogative.
03:48It's D'Amico Ryan's prerogative on how he decides to play these guys,
03:52to figure out what he needs to figure out, get this team ready to go.
03:55But he did the running between the tackles as well, right?
03:59It's not just a, I don't know, one-trick pony
04:03or a limited sample of things that he can do.
04:05He does everything to some extent,
04:07which I think is something that's good to have
04:09in one of your backup running backs,
04:11as a guy that you feel comfortable throwing out there
04:13in most any situation and being able to do that.
04:15Because one of the things that can happen,
04:17even though we're not talking about a lot of plays,
04:19that a backup running back, two or three,
04:22will end up playing in any given game,
04:24you still want to have, in the NFL,
04:27you still want to have it to where the defense is on their toes.
04:30You want to keep them guessing.
04:31Because anything that you give a defense
04:33where they can now key in on what's going to happen
04:35makes it that much easier to try and shut down what's happening.
04:38You put Cam Akers in, and I don't think you know
04:40for certain what's going to happen.
04:41Absolutely.
04:42Damian Pierce, I think we're a little bit closer to the idea
04:44of at least a defense can look at him and go,
04:47if he's out there, we know that he's not going to kill us.
04:51Not to kill Damian Pierce, but there is no scenario
04:54in which I could have seen him make that cut.
04:56He would have just barreled into the line
04:58and got whatever he could.
05:00Just his running style, not ripping him,
05:02I'm just saying that play for me separated Cam Akers
05:05and Damian Pierce.
05:07Who else hooped?
05:08You mentioned this one, and kind of like Cam Akers,
05:13played a lot, made a bunch of plays, played in every game.
05:17Are we talking about on the defensive side?
05:19No, offensive side.
05:20Okay, offensive side.
05:21Offensive side, that would be Jon Mechie.
05:23Jon Mechie to me, I still don't know quite what to make of it.
05:27We're going to hear from D'Amico Ryan
05:29talking about this very thing shortly.
05:31He hooped for sure, just not sure what it's going to mean.
05:36Yeah, I mean, for him, this preseason was stack games,
05:40stack good performances because we had not seen enough of those,
05:44and he's done that.
05:46He's answered that call, including a nice catch on the outside
05:49on what was, I believe, a comeback,
05:51and then he turns to the outside.
05:53He gives a little shimmy inside.
05:55Defender plays him inside, turns to the outside
05:57towards the sideline, and then is able to get upfield.
05:59It wasn't the quickest turn, but it did its job,
06:02and it shows again.
06:04Stacking positive plays, showing the capabilities
06:07because it feels like for him, proof of concept
06:09of what can further develop was the name of the game.
06:12And we already have reporting from Jordan Schultz
06:15that teams are reaching out, so it seems like other teams
06:18have looked at his preseason and liked it.
06:20Obviously, I feel like we could say that Texans also liked it
06:23to a certain degree, so it'll be interesting to see
06:25what he looks like, and D'Amico Ryan, as you said,
06:28we'll hear from him.
06:29He also has positive things to say about Mechie in this one.
06:33How about this? I want to go to defense,
06:34and if you can hit me with this cut.
06:36This man was hooping in this game on Saturday.
06:40Here's Dresser winning the gun on third down and two
06:43from the Rams' fifth team.
06:44One back, Boston Scott.
06:46Two receivers, wide side, left stacked.
06:48Just inside the numbers.
06:51There's motion.
06:53Here's a handoff to Scott starting right,
06:55and he's going to be brought down short of where he needed to go
06:59by Neville Hewitt.
07:01That's a lock.
07:02Guess who, Figgy?
07:03Bubble wrap him.
07:04He's going to make it, as Hewitt can play linebacker,
07:07and he's a special team superhero.
07:09A linebacker from the Jets.
07:11He's a tackling machine.
07:13Hooping.
07:14He just does.
07:16I mean, look, you heard in that call, right,
07:19the idea of guess who, because his name kept popping up,
07:23and for good reason, man.
07:25He was making really good plays, and this is a position
07:27that we talked about all preseason long,
07:30the idea of you need to feel that depth when it comes to linebacker
07:34because you know that you have Aziz,
07:37you know that you have Christian Harris.
07:39Those feel like you have those set.
07:42You have a little bit of maybe some questions about,
07:45but you largely, especially the way that he's played thus far,
07:47feel comfortable.
07:48But beyond that, you wanted to have some idea that you feel comfortable
07:51with some of these linebackers.
07:52Neville Hewitt was making a lot of plays in this game.
07:55He just consistently cannot be, you know, pushed out.
08:00He hadn't started in the NFL in five years.
08:03Do you think it's a possibility he could get on the field more?
08:06Oh, yeah.
08:07I was just going to say that.
08:08Like not special teams, but actually get on the field more.
08:11Yes, because there is opportunity.
08:13Like, you know, there's going to be opportunity.
08:15You know Christian Harris.
08:16We'll see on him.
08:17We'll hear from D'Amico.
08:18You know Al Shayer.
08:20Who knows on Toto.
08:22But Neville Hewitt, this dude has just carved out a nice little tidy
08:2610-year NFL career.
08:27You know, or nine or whatever it is.
08:29That, yeah, this is going to be his 10th season.
08:32And just you keep waiting for someone to replace him and nobody does.
08:35Yeah, and dudes that carve out that type of career,
08:38it's because they do the things that they have within their control well.
08:41And that's what it felt like this game was, right?
08:43Filling the run in the ways that you're supposed to.
08:47Reading and reacting.
08:48Like he may not make a ton of explosive plays.
08:50He's probably one of the better ones.
08:52Him getting into the backfield really on kind of a stretch play.
08:55Yeah.
08:56And let's be honest, kind of horse-collaring Boston Scott.
08:58But ultimately just getting to the place that he needed to be to make a play.
09:01That's what you kind of need from a depth player, right?
09:05And he got to the place.
09:06He made the play.
09:07Shout out to Neville Hewitt for doing what he needed to do there.
09:10Yeah, yeah.
09:11And the other one that we have on here as who hooped,
09:15I don't quite know what to make of this either.
09:17He's going to play somewhere in the NFL.
09:19He's going to be on some practice squad or some roster.
09:22And that's Cephas, who just –
09:24Quintez Cephas.
09:25Quintez Cephas.
09:26We've talked about him.
09:28He's not – I don't feel like he's going to be on this squad.
09:31But he's done enough.
09:33He's done enough to show that he deserves to be on a roster somewhere.
09:37Yeah, I thought in this game he – and him, I think Johnny Johnson as well.
09:40Like some of the depth wide receivers, again,
09:43pointed to the idea that you've got a really fun wide receiver room.
09:46Some of these guys just made solid catches, right?
09:48They just were where they needed to be.
09:50Cephas used his body pretty well to shield the football,
09:52although there was a couple of times where the defensive back might have
09:55kind of gotten through him, knocked the ball down.
09:57But, like, shielded the ball pretty well, went up, made a catch.
10:00I think there was one point where he used his verticality to go make a catch.
10:03And it feels like, yeah, you're right.
10:05He'll be somewhere in this league getting a check.
10:08Whether it's like, hey, the Texans try and slide him onto the practice squad
10:12or someone looks around.
10:13I think he can be useful to a team.
10:15And he has been useful to teams in his past.
10:17I think that that continued through.
10:19Who didn't who?
10:20Well, I mean, for one, can you give me a highlight number one on the sheet?
10:24Because it happened very early on.
10:26And my reaction was, what are we doing right now?
10:31Ethan Evans, the punter, unloads.
10:33Des King back deep for the Houston Texans and drops the ball.
10:37It's loose.
10:38The Rams fall on it.
10:39They've got it inside the 15-yard line.
10:42No sunshine to blame that on.
10:45And the Rams have the ball in the red zone.
10:47He was just running before he fielded the ball,
10:50and it's going to be a big turnover.
10:52Pretty much, if the Rams hold on to it, it'll lead to points at least three.
10:57And the he that's talking about there, Desmond King.
10:59Desmond King.
11:00Desmond King played some quarterback, I guess that Nickelback or whatever,
11:04in the slot during the course of this game.
11:07And that defense was there, but I don't know what to do with Desmond King.
11:11And this game was not necessarily like a glowing review of Desmond King's talents.
11:16No, I'm not feeling Desmond King.
11:18And we've both been fans of his, Figgy.
11:21I just am not feeling it.
11:22They actually brung him back last season.
11:23They brought him back last year.
11:24Because they cut him.
11:25I didn't understand why they cut him, and they eventually brung him back.
11:28Isn't this also kind of a rich people's problem kind of thing?
11:34Like on a team going in like last year or the year before,
11:37Des King could be integral.
11:38But on a squad like this, he could fall by the wayside.
11:42Sure.
11:43Although I still think with cornerback, I've got questions beyond your starters.
11:47I do wonder how solid you feel about some of these other guys stepping in.
11:52But, yeah, I mean, if you feel like last year you would have had to start Desmond King,
11:57that's definitely different.
11:58But, yeah, I don't know that he's been inherently bad.
12:02I personally can't recall.
12:04But I don't know that I've seen the great flashes in this game.
12:07I don't think that there were great flashes either.
12:08I know at one point he had to play a little safety because you had a couple of guys go down with injury.
12:12I know Hill left with injury amongst others.
12:15But, yeah, he was there.
12:18He did basically what was required of him.
12:20But I didn't see anything particularly great.
12:22And this feels like one of those games where you want to do some pretty good things.
12:25You got one more that didn't hoop?
12:27I think so.
12:28Hairston, fullback.
12:29Troy Hairston.
12:30Troy Hairston, especially because of this, in this context.
12:34It's clear that the Texans are searching for something to fill the gap in fullback.
12:38I don't know if that is to the fullest extent of, hey, we're going to replace the fullback.
12:43Do we have any takers to replace Beck entirely?
12:46Or is it just we know Beck is going to start on the injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list.
12:52And so for the time that he is not there, we need to have a solution.
12:55But for a guy who, as his trade, is fullback, I thought Hairston was not incredible.
13:02No, I agree.
13:03There was one point, I think it was the Canmakers' cutback that was happening.
13:06You had the tight end that had a block up on the right side towards where the direction was happening.
13:10Hairston goes and tags that guy.
13:12And I'm like, there's people up ahead.
13:14That guy's blocked up.
13:15Now if you want to go up to the next level, pick up a linebacker.
13:18If you can get up to a safety.
13:19And now you can create even more space and make that play bigger in theory just when you're blocking.
13:24And that's the type of thing that maybe I would expect to see from British books or Cade Stover that's kind of just existing in the fullback role but not a fullback.
13:32You as a fullback, I anticipated a little bit more vision and understanding of what was happening.
13:35It's your job description.
13:36And it felt like, I feel like I have not seen anything so special in this game as well.
13:41Did not see anything particularly special from Hairston.
13:43I think he also dropped the pass out of the backfield.
13:45But hey, it happens like that when you're thrown to a fullback.
13:47But I was hoping to see more from him, especially with the opening and the opportunity when it comes to fullback with his team.
13:53It's going to be one of the more fascinating things that we're going to tell you about as we get the information today and tomorrow.
13:58Because I also don't know what exactly they have planned at fullback.
14:03I fully expect no fullbacks other than guys who can play that position like Cade Stover or Brevin Jordan or something until they make a decision on Andrew Beck.
14:12So I'm with you.
14:13I don't think Troy Hairston is going to be around.
14:15Was there anything else notable when it came to this game that you were like, hey, it's someone else I needed to salute?
14:20I don't know if I fully wanted to go like just didn't hoot.
14:24Case Keenum, he had Metchie running free on one of these early plays, and he just threw it right to the linebacker.
14:31Thankfully, it was not caught.
14:32But when it comes to that third quarterback, who I think they carry to anyways, it'll probably still be Case Keenum just because he knows the system.
14:41But I don't know.
14:42I love the idea that if you had to go and get Case Keenum in the game.
14:46I think we can lay it at rest.
14:48Yeah, who are they going to go with if they need to start a backup?
14:51I think it's going to be Davis Mills.
14:52Case Keenum.
14:53Let's just be honest.
14:54I think he's a good QB on the sideline.
14:57He didn't look good.
14:58He didn't play well.
14:59Yeah, and he left a little early.
15:01A little sore, I guess.
15:03Yeah.
15:04So, yeah, I think he's going to be the third quarterback or the third quarterback on the practice squad.
15:08You know, somebody that you can call up.
15:10And there's no shame in that.
15:11I mean, that's where he is right now.
15:13Yeah.
15:14And look, physically, I've been wondering, like, is the arm still in the place that it needs to be?
15:19Are we seeing the twilights of that career to where maybe he turns this into a coaching career
15:24and he takes the next step in whatever football means to him or, you know, life in general means to him?
15:28But there you go.
15:29Some of the folks who hooped and maybe some of the folks who didn't hoop.
15:31And what was the final preseason game for your Texans?
15:3617-15 was the victory over the Rams.
15:38But more importantly, it sets the stage for what is to come tomorrow.
15:42The cut down of the 53-man roster.
15:45We're already getting some cuts.
15:47Did I mention McTelvin Aghiem?
15:52He was cut as well.
15:54So now we have at least two cuts that have happened when it comes to these Texans.
15:59Again, not any of the guys on fringes just yet.
16:04But we're working our way.
16:05We have two cuts down.
16:07We said goodbye to McTelvin Aghiem today.
16:09Yeah.
16:10Hoo!
16:12Anyways.
16:13McTelvin.
16:14McTelvin.
16:15All due respect to that man.