In The Loop Reacts To Texans' 29-27 Victory Over Colts
It's a Texans Victory Monday. In The Loop's John P. Lopez, Reginald Adetula and Figgy Fig break down the highlights from the Texans' 29-27 win over the Colts.
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00:00Houston, let's get in the loop.
00:03You better get ready because we're going to show up and show up.
00:05With John Lopez and Reggie Attitula.
00:08Always live.
00:10Love it, love it.
00:11Always local.
00:12Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion.
00:16You're in the loop on Houston's Sports Leader Sports Video 60.
00:25Blow that horn again, brother. Blow that horn again.
00:28That's right.
00:30It's a Texans Victory Monday here in the loop.
00:32Sports Radio 610.
00:33You got John Lopez.
00:34You got Figgy Fig.
00:35And you've got myself, Reginald Attitula.
00:37After a 29-27 victory for your Houston Texans in Indianapolis against the Colts.
00:431-0.
00:44Alone in first place.
00:46How about that?
00:47In the AFC South.
00:48It's over, baby. That's a wrap.
00:49There we go.
00:50Go ahead and run us our trophy.
00:52What's up?
00:53Appreciate you hanging out with us on this Victory Monday.
00:56Get involved with the program, A Multitude of the Ways.
00:59You can see us in our smiley faces on YouTube or Twitch.
01:02That is Sports Radio 610 on YouTube, 610 Houston on Twitch.
01:06But always, always get involved with the program by texting it.
01:09713-572-4610.
01:11Again, that number.
01:12713-572-4610.
01:14As we talk about all of the things around a 29-27 victory.
01:20Getting the season started.
01:21The 2024 NFL campaign for your Texans.
01:25Starting 1-0.
01:26But we got to start with this, gentlemen.
01:28We're going to talk about the man on the night.
01:31I mean, there's a few options that you can go with.
01:33But I think that the right man to talk about is the man in this highlight right here.
01:38Who helped salt this game away.
01:40First down lets you walk out of here with a win.
01:42Third down and three from the Houston 48.
01:45Eye formation.
01:46Collins in motion to the right.
01:48Mixon the tailback.
01:50Stroud digs in.
01:51Here's the snap.
01:52Here's the toss to Mixon.
01:53Running right across the 50-45.
01:55Tackled by Cross at the 41.
01:58Checkmate.
01:59That'll do it.
02:00The Texans will beat the Colts on opening day.
02:03Yeah, man.
02:04Salting the game away was Joe Mixon.
02:06RB1.
02:07Yep.
02:08Right?
02:09Enough consternation about RB2.
02:10RB1 is here.
02:11Giving you 159 running yards.
02:15Let me say that one more time for you just in case you didn't hear that.
02:18159 rushing yards on 30 attempts.
02:22Damn near career high.
02:24For Joe Mixon.
02:26I had a touchdown rushing as well.
02:28And just how happy are you to have Joe Mixon on this Texas game?
02:32Well, let me ask Texans fans here.
02:34And it'll explain how happy I am with this performance yesterday.
02:38When was the last time you saw the Texans in a clutch situation
02:43against a division team, probably your best competition in the division,
02:47in a season opening game, play grown-ass man football?
02:52Seriously.
02:53Seriously.
02:54That was grown-ass man football.
02:55I mean, like, when was the last time?
02:57Figge, you've been here a long time.
02:58Listener's been here since the start.
03:00I mean, when?
03:01Hell, when was the last time you seen a running back like that,
03:04to be honest?
03:05Yes.
03:06Yes.
03:07It's been a minute since Arian.
03:09Was that the last time you seen somebody like that?
03:11Probably since Arian Foster.
03:12I mean, when you see 160 yards thrown up,
03:15don't forget 19 yards out of the backfield a little bit.
03:17Just something light.
03:18You know, just add that in.
03:20Yeah, you've got to compare him against one of the better,
03:23if not the best, running backs in this team's history.
03:26He's already making those kind of statements a reality
03:29and a reasonable thing to say.
03:31It matters so much.
03:33It matters so much, like this weapon that you wield now,
03:36because, again, right, this team was far from one-dimensional in this game,
03:41in large part because of Joe Mixon.
03:44Joe Mixon gave a lot of praise to that offensive line,
03:47and we'll get to that in a moment.
03:49But just to continue to heap love and praise on this man,
03:52it just felt like whenever he touched the football,
03:55tackle for loss was not an option, right?
03:57Oh, yeah.
03:58I think that was the thing that was super impressive to me, right,
04:01was obviously there was wiggle and there was hitting the hole,
04:03but it just felt like if he got the ball, he was making,
04:06he was taking whatever was blocked up for him,
04:08whether that was no yards, three yards, five yards,
04:11and adding on top of it.
04:13He was like, you put in yours, offensive line, I'm adding mine.
04:16Yeah, no, and people use the term, boy, he was running angry.
04:19That was the epitome of that,
04:20but I think there was another dimension to it.
04:22It wasn't just this was a dude that was running angry.
04:25As I said, maybe the first time since Arian
04:28that you saw the Texans play that kind of football
04:31in that kind of atmosphere,
04:32but he was also smart with how he picked the holes.
04:35He was perfect for this offense.
04:37Vision was gorgeous.
04:38Perfect for this offense.
04:39It was absolutely a joy to watch.
04:42And, frankly, look, you can call it reaction Monday,
04:45you can call it overreaction Monday.
04:47I'll do all of it.
04:48I don't think this is an overreaction when I say
04:50that even though that was just the first week of the season,
04:53we already know that the Texans have what it takes
04:56to win in the playoffs.
04:57Oh, wow, you're jumping there.
04:59No, that's what it takes.
05:00That's what it takes.
05:01Like, if you transported that game into the postseason,
05:05we'd be talking about a complete team that, you know,
05:12in the moment, on the road, by the way,
05:15cannot just make the plays with an incredible catch
05:18by Nico Collins, with some terrific play calling
05:20from Bobby Slowick.
05:22Everything just seemed to be timed right
05:23with his play calling, with CJ Stroud sort of bouncing
05:27out of the pocket like a polished 10-year veteran.
05:31You can talk about all the things that they had,
05:33but in the playoffs, you've got to have
05:36that finishing mentality.
05:37Yeah.
05:38And that's what they had.
05:39Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you mentioned Bobby Slowick
05:41because that was one of the guys that we were like,
05:43all right, we want to see some things this year.
05:46You had a fantastic play calling last year,
05:48but hey, can you draw up and can you scheme up
05:50this run play?
05:51A run play is a little bit better.
05:52And one of the things that I noticed as I was actually
05:55taking notes during the course of this game,
05:56an improvement for me, and I'll have a confession
05:58about that later on in the program when we get
06:00our lunchtime confessions at 1220,
06:02but one of my notes that I wrote,
06:05the rushing game looks great.
06:07How much better is the scheme when a player is unblocked
06:10and mixing can make them miss?
06:11Yes.
06:12When we talk about run assignments,
06:14the idea of hat on hat.
06:16You have an offensive lineman for this defensive lineman
06:19or one of the offensive linemen is duo blocking up
06:21to get to the linebacker or you have the wide receiver
06:24crack blocking in on a linebacker or what have you.
06:26Everybody has their assignments and sometimes
06:28in a run scheme, there's a guy unblocked
06:31and that's the running back's man.
06:33And the running back's job is make that one guy miss
06:35and now we have something special.
06:37And it felt like it was abundantly clear
06:39that Joe Mixon is a guy that is capable,
06:41more than capable in fact, of having that assignment
06:44for himself in schemes and so I was like,
06:46oh okay, this is another way to elevate the run game
06:49is just having a running back that goes,
06:51you guys handle those, that guy's my responsibility
06:54and we'll get this done.
06:55They scheme it that way.
06:57And again, I don't feel like I'm overreacting
07:01because what we saw doesn't go away.
07:03Like a barring injury, knock on wood,
07:05but I mean it doesn't go away.
07:06What he has and what they have with this running game
07:09complimenting one of the best quarterbacks
07:11in the NFL, mind you.
07:12It's like D'Amico said afterward.
07:14After the game, D'Amico said,
07:15they knew we were gonna run the ball.
07:17We knew we were gonna run the ball
07:19and we smashed it down their throats.
07:21I'm paraphrasing what he said.
07:22Yeah.
07:23I was about to say, he said that?
07:24No, no, no.
07:25Man.
07:26But that's in essence what he said.
07:28They knew, we knew and we smashed it down their throats.
07:31Yeah, I had a very suspect segue in my head
07:35which was speaking of throats,
07:36when it came to D'Amico Rhines,
07:38did you guys hear him on the podium after this game?
07:40It sounded like he did a lot of hollering.
07:42I was like, hey man, there's 16 more of these
07:43just in the regular season.
07:44Go ahead and pace yourself, my man.
07:46But let's just mention the quarterback of this team,
07:49C.J. Stroud.
07:50C.J. Stroud was actually asked about how critical Mixon was
07:52and his consistency to get the team going.
07:55It was huge.
07:56Yeah, I think definitely when you can impose your will
07:58running the ball, you open up a whole multitude
08:01of type of players for Bobby to call.
08:03And honestly, we just kept going to it
08:05and I think it was working.
08:06And I think this is a testament that you can see
08:09everybody had numbers today.
08:11Maybe not everybody, it was skewed in other ways,
08:14but everybody touched the ball.
08:16We try to call plays for guys, you know what I mean,
08:19for everybody to have an opportunity to get it.
08:22And I think whenever you get those guys the ball,
08:24they make plays happen.
08:25So for me, I just got to get them the ball
08:27as best as I can and not force anything
08:29and just really understand that those guys
08:32are going to make me look good.
08:34I'm telling you, those guys are going to make him look good.
08:37And people were saying, well, C.J. Stroud was all right.
08:39C.J. Stroud was great.
08:40He just didn't need to throw for 360 yards
08:43as he has in the past.
08:45And for Joe Mixon to be that compliment,
08:48it's not going anywhere.
08:49It's the template for how this team is going to win
08:52in the postseason and he is great.
08:56Like, let's not mess around with anything.
08:59What he did on some of those runs
09:01was not just like, you know, finding the hole,
09:04making one man miss.
09:05It was finding something when something wasn't there, too.
09:08Yeah, but going back to Mixon,
09:11because I think one of the words that he used
09:13was punish in the run game.
09:15And yeah, man, that's one of the things
09:17that was also great about it is that
09:19there was a variety of run, right?
09:20Like, it wasn't just, oh, this is speedy
09:22and, you know, finding the gaps.
09:24Sometimes we just run through MF's face, right?
09:27Exactly.
09:28And that was one of the things
09:29that was real fun about this as well.
09:31And I guess that's the thing
09:32that you were talking about to start the show
09:34is, like, if you have the opportunity
09:36to really punish a team,
09:38you can get the dirty yards
09:39and, I mean, like, the play that salts this game away.
09:43Like, there was a couple of instances
09:45that I can recall vividly where I'm like,
09:47oh, that's blocked up for either a tackle
09:49for a loss or no gain
09:50and Mixon gets three yards out of it.
09:52Yeah.
09:53Right? Like, those are the things
09:54that are really incredible.
09:55And I want to hear from the man
09:56and one of the ways in which he shared the love
09:59because this is not a,
10:00no running game is a one-man proposition.
10:02Although, if you're a Texans fan
10:04and you wanted to make it
10:05a one-man proposition with Joe Mixon,
10:06I would understand where you were coming from,
10:08seeing the ways that, like,
10:09what the running game looked like in preseason
10:11when you had four or five starting linemen
10:13versus what it looks like, obviously,
10:15when you're actually running, you know,
10:16the fullness of your playbook
10:18and have the full complement out there.
10:20But, I mean, Joe Mixon here,
10:22he talked about, like, the offensive linemen
10:24and gave a little shout-out
10:25to a pseudo fullback in the course of this.
10:28No doubt.
10:29That's exactly what it was.
10:30I mean, you know, I've been on the linemen,
10:32you know, training camp.
10:34I wasn't in there too much in training camp,
10:36but I'm just letting them know what I see,
10:39how to hit and how to beat, man.
10:41And they're doing everything they can
10:43to open them holes and do everything
10:45that we got to make them however we can
10:48to make them pay, man.
10:49And, man, first off, special shout-out
10:54to Stover.
10:55I mean, he made critical blocks.
10:58Them guys on the edges,
11:00they make crucial blocks,
11:01and we made them pay.
11:03But, you know, like they said,
11:04the grown man football, I'm just happy.
11:06This is my first time really
11:08probably seeing a fullback,
11:10and I can't remember the last time
11:12I seen a fullback in front of me, man.
11:14So it's a hell of a feeling, man,
11:16being on the winning side of the things,
11:18and I'm just glad I'm on the side of,
11:20you know, playing with Houston, man.
11:22He's got to be thinking,
11:23and actually he referenced this
11:24on the field afterwards with NBC.
11:26Like, I am so glad I'm out of Cincinnati.
11:29Like, I am so glad I'm out of Cincinnati.
11:32He basically said that.
11:34But let's talk about Stover.
11:35Let's do it.
11:36And this offensive line.
11:37You know, I had this hunch.
11:38Remember, I was on the last preseason,
11:39the third preseason game,
11:40I'm not counting how many times.
11:42You could see this coming.
11:44You could see this coming.
11:45Cade Stover, and here's the other part of it.
11:48They are just skimming the surface
11:49with some of the stuff that they can do
11:51with Stover in that role, you know?
11:53Yeah.
11:54And then the offensive line.
11:55Kenyon Green.
11:57I mean, my goodness.
11:58He was the highest-rated offensive lineman
12:00on the Texans yesterday.
12:02Kenyon Green.
12:03But it was the whole line,
12:05starting with Juice Scruggs,
12:06who really, really controlled the middle
12:08on some of those,
12:09and then you heard him talking about the edge there.
12:11So the offensive line, Cade Stover,
12:13huge, huge,
12:14and the potential seems to be off the charts.
12:16Yeah, I do want to go back to fullback as well
12:18because I want to give out a little shout-out
12:20to Dalton Schultz,
12:21who also kind of had some of those fullback touches.
12:23It's like, all right, well,
12:24the idea of, like, fullback necessary,
12:26I think, has very early on been dispelled
12:29in some ways,
12:30at least, like, a true fullback
12:31when it comes to on the roster.
12:33They get the fullback things when they need to.
12:35Obviously, Stover getting a shout-out
12:37from the running back, that matters a lot.
12:39Brevin did a little bit.
12:40Schultz did a little bit.
12:41Like, I feel confident,
12:42especially because of the matchup that you had, right?
12:44We were talking about how week one versus Indy
12:47with the interior of their defensive line
12:49with the way that they have, you know,
12:51linebackers in Franklin and Speed.
12:53I know there was Beef,
12:54but those guys, obviously,
12:55very good linebackers, right?
12:57With the challenges that that defense poses,
13:00was there going to be a litmus test
13:02on various things,
13:03one of those being the interior offensive line
13:05and your run game?
13:06You passed with flying colors, right?
13:09I don't even know what the step-up
13:10would be from flying colors.
13:11And so, with that being the case,
13:13this is proof of concept for me,
13:15real proof positive,
13:16that the interior of this offensive line
13:19has really improved
13:21and that the run game, as you mentioned,
13:23is going to be something that's sustainable
13:25and something that can help sustain you
13:27through the course of a run
13:28through the regular season
13:30and also, hopefully, a deep postseason run as well.
13:32And don't forget either,
13:34that looks like a playoff team you just beat.
13:37I mean, all due respect to...
13:41I shouldn't say all due respect.
13:42I mean, obviously, you got to kind of
13:43see what happens with Anthony Richardson.
13:45It's kind of feast or famine with him.
13:47But that looks like a playoff team.
13:49It's definitely a playoff defense.
13:51One of the big things about the Colts
13:53was, oh, man, that defensive front.
13:55Oh, man, that offensive line.
13:56And they just worked them.
13:58They just absolutely worked them
13:59with that offensive line.
14:01It's a good, good start for this season
14:05because I think it has all the elements
14:07of what you can do in the postseason.
14:09And frankly, that wasn't the case even last year.
14:11I mean, mixing and matching in the backfield,
14:13offensive line.
14:14Mixing and matching.
14:15Oh, I see what you said.
14:16Mixing and matching as well on the offensive line.
14:19I didn't even mean to do that one.
14:20I didn't even mean to do that one, but I'll take it.
14:22Hey.
14:25Nah, man.
14:26They have all the elements.
14:28Everything you need to do.
14:29Everything you need to do.
14:30Had to start with the man with 159,
14:33almost 160 rush yards in the game.
14:35I mean, shout out to Joe Mixon.
14:37Look, it feels almost silly.
14:39We will still talk about it
14:40because Canmakers was made inactive.
14:42We'll circle back around to that whole RB2 conversation,
14:45how we feel about that.
14:46But it almost feels silly,
14:47the amount of conversation that we had.
14:49And we had a little bit of a disclaimer that,
14:52look, Joe Mixon is going to get the lion's share of carries
14:54in this thing.
14:55We understood that to be the case.
14:57I don't know if we understood it to be 30 carries.
14:5930 carries.
15:01I don't know if we saw that coming.
15:02Frickin' 1979.
15:04It almost feels funny,
15:05the amount of consternation that we had
15:07about the run game and the offensive line.
15:09And there are still things to be improved and polished,
15:11but in week one, just, I mean,
15:13I don't know that I expected them to be this,
15:15you know, this well or do this well
15:17this early into the season, man.
15:19I'm riding high off of that particular portion.
15:21I mean, they're just, you know,
15:22let's go back to what I said.
15:23They, and you heard C.J. Stroud say it.
15:26They imposed their will.
15:28When was the last time you saw a Texans team do that?
15:32And by the way,
15:33you saw that with a real Super Bowl contender,
15:37so I think you can draw the parallel last night.
15:40What did the Detroit Lions do
15:42in order to win that game in over?
15:44They imposed their will.
15:45I think on that winning drive in overtime,
15:47they ran the ball seven out of eight times.
15:49That is a bonafide, acknowledged Super Bowl contending team
15:53that beat a playoff team in the LA Rams.
15:56Well, what did the Texans do?
15:58Bonafide, impose your will,
16:00you know, pound the ball down their throat
16:02against the grown-ass man football.
16:05That is where you can go,
16:07Hey, they are better.
16:09They can get there.
16:10That's how I left that game.
16:11Yeah.
16:12Yeah, that's fine.
16:13They can get there.
16:14Shout out to the 8-3-2 on the Tex line.
16:16Don't ignore in victory what you wouldn't ignore in defeat.
16:19And look, there's definitely time for that.
16:21We've got what I like to call our Victory Monday nitpick
16:23at 1 p.m.
16:24We'll talk about that later in the program.
16:26And also the idea of,
16:29someone was mentioning Nico Collins, right?
16:32And the idea of Nico, you know,
16:34showing folks what he is and who he is.