The Texans losing to the Jets the way they did on Thursday Night Football exposed them in serious ways. Sean Pendergast says they are a punchline after the loss.
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00:00our energy the official energy shot of sports radio 610 and football superfans
00:04i'm terribly depressed about this whole thing so hopeful coming into the season only to have
00:08to face the reality of this being an average to below average football team i got a text from a
00:13buddy of mine who says this loss is impacting me in a really usually watch the game a few times i
00:20can't bear to watch this game twice it was horrible in so many ways for me in the you know 10 hours
00:27since this game ended seth to me the part that i hate is re-consuming all of the highlights
00:34and the normally with the texans over the last year and a half it's been really fun to listen
00:38to what national people are saying about them because they've kind of been you know a version
00:43of america's darling because how quickly they turn things around everybody loves cj stroud
00:47everybody loves domico ryan's rightfully so um they they are a punchline today in my opinion
00:53you know they they they got kicked in the mouth last night by the previous punchline
01:00in the nfl the new york jets and they now hold the title at least for the next couple of days
01:06over the weekend of punchline right now because the jets beat them last night i think that
01:12and in a lot of ways too okay if you you know you talk about what expectations were headed
01:18into the season how things look i think you can draw a lot of parallels to the detroit
01:23lions with the texans and we already have been able to as a team that was extreme laggards they
01:29got a couple things right and all of a sudden things kind of switched for them but for the
01:33lions in that that second year where people were optimistic about them it was kind of dicey early
01:38on one of the things that they did the lions had made a couple pretty bold moves over the course
01:43of a couple seasons they they changed play calling duties offensively um and they also
01:50they fired a defensive backs coach like they made in-season changes on both the offense
01:57it's been defied of things that that made measurable or noticeable differences uh on
02:03the outcome yep and i'll go back to the bills last year the bills fired offensive coordinator
02:09two-thirds of the way through the through the season and it ended up being better for the bills
02:13they ended up being a better offense um like that's where the texans are approaching that's
02:18the territory they're they're they're no doubt right now there's no excuse like we went into
02:22last night saying wow the jets are really not playing up to the caliber of their depth chart
02:28you look at the names on that team and they're not living up to it the texans are 100 that team
02:33right now you look at the depth chart they are not performing up to it all eyes go to the offensive
02:38coordinator because yes the offensive line is an issue but it's across the board it's it's play
02:43design and play calls it's everything is substandard right now on the on the offense
02:49and in a weird way the schedule lays out for you right now very conducively to make changes like
02:55that you got a few extra days to acclimate to whatever those changes may be you know if you're
03:00doing something with the play calling if you're doing something with the offensive coordinator
03:04like you just said the lions did this gives you a few extra days to whoever it might be
03:09i'm assuming somebody in the building to acclimate themselves to you get a few extra days to do that
03:13here because you played on thursday not sunday that matters within as long as you're in season
03:17it matters that's a few extra days to get ready for that very lions team ironically who might be
03:23the best team in football right now um here's to make orions last night the pressure on cj stroud
03:29from opposing defenses is the topic right now it is a crisis right now for the texans at this
03:35offensive line is playing cj stroud so physically damaged and i think a little bit psychologically
03:42damaged as well how sustainable are things with cj under this much pressure many times it's not
03:50good enough i don't want a quarterback getting hit as many hits as we took it's not good enough and
03:55you know we gotta make things adjust we gotta adjust we gotta change things move forward
04:01and this isn't like it's a little below expectation i'm talking about this particular
04:04area the the offensive line and their inability to protect cj stroud it's not like there was the
04:10expectation that this was going to be a top five offensive line and it turns out they're middle of
04:14the pack they are they are really really bad like they are in some ways historically bad
04:21in the amount of pressure that they're allowing the future of your franchise to get hit by here
04:27in the face like it's really bad like we're not this this isn't shock jocks on the radio
04:33trying to get somebody fired like these are the types of things as you just pointed out seth
04:38things like this for a team with expectations where the downside is not just losing football
04:44games it's losing your franchise quarterback for this year and maybe future years who knows if he
04:49gets damaged badly enough these are the type of things that necessitate that sort of change this
04:54is not alarmist by us here somebody fact check me on the the chronology of when ben johnson gained
05:00play calling duties thank you i think this is the the the thing i would bring up because a lot of
05:05people have very justifiably said okay is it going to happen to cj what happened to david
05:10carr where it seemed like he got hit so much in the first few years that it permanently destroyed
05:15the clock in his head i don't agree because the difference between cj and david is that
05:22david in his first couple years i don't think ever really had the chance to develop that
05:28that pocket presence and now maybe he never would have anyway but i'm not sure that he
05:33really had the chance to cj has already demonstrated an ability to avoid pressure
05:39to navigate pressure to keep his eyes downfield to understand all that how to avoid i'm just looking
05:44at one of the advanced charts here of uh quarterbacks and how good they are after avoiding
05:50a sack cj's one of the top seven in the league um like i think he's he's got a very good pocket
05:57presence for a young quarterback i think that can take a hit and that can take that can get
06:02challenged but i don't think he's anywhere near the potential to be all of a sudden david carr
06:07yeah it's just a he's a different he's a different quarterback than david carr was here's the
06:11chronology for ben johnson this was in uh this was in dan campbell's first year yeah and anthony
06:17lynn was the play caller there the former head coach of the san diego chargers and they started
06:22out oh and eight this is in campbell's first year in 2021 they were oh and eight so it's a little
06:27more you know like it's the records are very different here but the thought process is the
06:32same where dan campbell said look oh and eight this isn't good enough and so they gave play
06:37calling duties to ben johnson and then named him the offensive coordinator in february of that year
06:42they went okay they went 3 and 14 or something like that in that season yeah that ben johnson
06:49got the play calling duties but it was one of those 3 and 14 a little like jonathan gannon
06:53oh yeah they're a scrappy bunch yeah they become they became a darling
06:58you know only three or four games that's what led to them get that record got them
07:01eight and hutchinson i'm sorry what week was it that ben johnson got play calling
07:04own eight start they was so it's halfway through the season halfway through the season yeah they
07:08changed play callers yep and it made a difference and then there and then it was the next season
07:13where they fired a defensive backs coach i believe it is i think it was the next season okay um and
07:18that made a difference in season now they're one of the best defenses in the nfl with aaron glenn
07:22as their coordinator aaron glenn's not getting nearly as much buzz about being a future head
07:26coach as as bobby slowick was last year but aaron glenn has done something more impressive which is
07:31over the course of several seasons has gone from being a laggard defense to now one of the better
07:37defenses in the nfl and they're doing it right now without without the benefit of their best
07:41pass rusher too i i think the question for texan fans and i don't know the answer to it we're going
07:45to find out does does domico ryan's have that in him does he have it in him to make a major change
07:52with this coaching staff in a situation that begs for major change this is the this is the test too
07:58for the coaches who are super positive like it's it's good to always you know anticipate getting
08:06the best and expect the best and expect guys to get a result but the cold hard reality is that
08:11you're also in a business where there's a lot of turnover and they do it with the players right
08:16no problem yeah we cut players all the time all the time domico's an awesome guy who wants to be
08:21positive all the time but it's a reality of the business that you got to cut players all the time
08:26yeah you know you can't sit around waiting for the 53 guys you have on your roster to all of a sudden
08:32get good at some point at some point you got to let go of kenyon green before his shoulder meds
08:38with coaches at some point you got to make the decision are these guys actually getting the most
08:43out of what we have out there on the field yeah here's my thing about firing let's say
08:48chris strouser is the collateral damage in all this it's his position group that is playing so
08:53abysmally right now and is putting cj stroud in danger literally every time he drops back to pass
08:59this is my my concern here is that uh okay who's the replacement is there a replacement out there
09:05like literally is chris strouser not good at coaching these guys or is this not a group that's
09:10good at accepting the coaching or is a little too casual about everything because if strouser is
09:15actually a good coach then you're doing it because you're just trying to jolt those guys
09:21yeah and i don't know that these guys have personalities that are joltable right now you
09:25know like are these guys are guys that are going to take it to heart that they just got there if
09:29it were to happen that they just got their position coach fired or you know are they
09:34shopping for the next set of skinny right are they going to come in and yeah do they even want to you
09:38know usually if you've got the right kind of guys what you really need at every position is a really
09:42good teacher yeah like coaching is teaching yes multiple great coaches will tell you um but a lot
09:48of that is also having the right kinds of guys that really want to be teached and be taught
09:53and to just actually make make changes from week to week and improve so that's a big question mark
10:00and there's only so much you can do about that in season i do think two things about the offensive
10:04line one is that look there's times where they're exposed in pass protection when especially when
10:11the tight ends and running backs get involved because the o-line is turning you know to help
10:19out uh to help out kenyon green yeah they're using turn protection um and then that puts more stress
10:26on tight ends to block defensive ends etc so there's that the other is that okay and i was
10:32guilty of this early in the season i would i would think okay bringing an offensive lineman in via
10:38trade is kind of dicey because the offensive line is so technique and scheme dependent and you
10:45you got this continuity along the offensive line and now i'm looking at myself saying that thing
10:50at any point in my life and asking what continuity are you going to disrupt you oh this five this
10:57five fingered glove uh that works in unison i i said on my stream last night no this is sean i
11:04grew up i i have a girl i come from a farming family multiple men in my family have uh don't
11:10have all of their digits or their fingers this this offensive line looks like they shoved their
11:15hand into a hay elevator and had it mangled in in the gears no no veteran offensive lineman who
11:22comes into this group right now is going to somehow somehow destroy this fine-tuned machine
11:30that they have working yeah this swiss time piece yeah there's the don't worry about it you bring in
11:35a guy with a freaking pulse or jared patterson if he ends up being the savior because uh because
11:41the left guard position is it's above and beyond just the damage that kenyon green is doing
11:46individually it's i think some of the protections that they have to call i mean you go against you
11:52go against good defensive backs like the jets have and you say okay and stay out of the pocket
12:00rolling them and like defenses have answers for that yeah and they it turns into half field reads
12:06guys are all covered up cj doesn't have anywhere to go with the football yeah except here and there
12:10every now and then a 50 yarder to tank dell all caps on the five hour energy fan line we have so
12:15much invested in the o-line i have no idea how to fix the situation for purposes of 2024 it is
12:22kind of a helpless situation i can tell you having done the research it is a situation that you can
12:28with some pain extricate yourself from or make changes to much easier not much easier but after
12:35the season like after this season after this season at the very least laramie and titus you're
12:41not upside down on moving on from them like their cap hits like 20 you know laramie is like cap hits
12:46like 28 but if you move on from him it's 25 so you kind of save 3 million buck i mean you're still
12:52having to spend 25 million in dead money on a guy who wouldn't be here if you were to trade him or
12:56whatever you do i yeah man i i i don't know what the short-term solution is and i don't know what
13:01the long-term solution their whole operation man there's just my god these guys just let themselves
13:09get pushed around so much they just uh that's why it's such a breath of fresh air to see kendrick
13:15green even though he's got limitations you know and like man it's just glaring how small he is
13:21but he plays his ass off to make up for it and it's the first time really all season long where
13:28i've watched an offensive lineman and say oh that guy's playing his ass off you know wow that guy's
13:33really really playing his ass off instead of you know kendrick green
13:38initially beat on a on a on a tackle end stunt but he lunged out like a feral cat to at least
13:46get a piece of the looping tight end and cj was able to step up as opposed to standing around
13:52after they get beat with a dopey ass look on their face with that bad they've got that fat offensive
13:58line body posture where they stand like uh chris from the family guy right kind of like with their
14:03shoulders forward and their bellies hanging out oh look at cj he's getting ahead i wonder what
14:08hey i know that guy tackling cj i know that guy that's my guy hey i wonder if i should go and
14:16help cj up i don't know coach tells us we gotta get in the huddle quickly i just can't win i can't
14:23win they're a combination of eeyore and chris from the family guy that's not a con at best yeah
14:29at best they're a castrated version of eeyore um eeyore with no testicles that's the body language
14:36of your of your standard offense there are a bunch of castrated donkeys that's what you're saying
14:42yeah fake donkeys like stuff look over there the green bay guys are shoving cj around on the
14:48sideline that's not cool at all oh hi cj did you enjoy your trip to the packers sideline
15:04okay now the now the five hour energy fan line is just turning into this sea of names
15:11of damaged quarterbacks that cj cj stroud looking like mac jones out there
15:16oh mac jones the rookie of the year he was he was he was a rookie what a great year that was
15:23for mac 2021 yeah 2022 not so much um sean and seth if we're gonna get a report in the off season
15:31that cj's been calling or we'll get a report in season that cj's been calling ryan day looking
15:36for answers oh remember that was a deal mac jones had called what bill o'brien yeah yeah yeah and
15:43belichick got all pissy about it yep oh yeah that's gonna be cj turns out cj was talking to
15:49during the bye week cj spent three days with ryan day it's gonna piss off tomiko and bobby