The Texans are locked in to the fourth seed in the AFC. They will likely face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round. Payne and Pendergast discuss that, plus the erratic play of C.J. Stroud.
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00:00And it was a stretch of football in the first half,
00:02still in the second.
00:03It was when it was still a game.
00:05And he's missing Nico, and then he misses that.
00:07That Schultz play was the one that really hurt
00:11the one you were talking about, third down.
00:13Schultz kind of, there's kind of a cluster of blockers
00:16in front of CJ, and Schultz kind of late,
00:18leaks out a little bit in the left.
00:20And if CJ just does the thing that Mahomes does,
00:22where he doesn't even use a normal throwing motion,
00:24he just flicks it out there,
00:26just lofts it to him out there,
00:27like a forward lateral almost.
00:30Schultz is probably pretty hard in that play.
00:32Yeah, you know?
00:33It was, even Schultz, look,
00:34Schultz has taken every opportunity
00:38to not make plays this season,
00:39but even on that one nice catch out to the right,
00:42like, yeah, CJ was throwing it under duress,
00:44but it wasn't a good throw.
00:45No, Schultz bailed it out.
00:47With a better defensive back,
00:48could have been pick six, potentially,
00:50and Schultz did a good job on that play.
00:53It was just a, it was simply a bad night for CJ.
00:55There's no, there's, yes,
00:57all of these other things that have been going on around him
00:59have led to CJ not being the best version of himself,
01:02and it's hard sometimes to decipher how much is his fault
01:06and how much is everybody else's fault.
01:07Last night, there were just simply way too many plays
01:10that there was no excuse for the throws he was making.
01:13It was a really bad performance.
01:15And it's coming off of a game
01:17in which he played horrifically in the second half
01:20and made a bunch of bad decisions last week,
01:24earlier this week.
01:25Yeah, four days ago.
01:27He made, even when things were going well,
01:30he was still capsizing against Kansas City
01:35with mistakes of his own volition
01:36that there were really no excuses for.
01:38It's been a bad stretch.
01:39It's been a bad five quarters for CJ.
01:43Yeah, it's funny.
01:44Like, if you listen to his press conferences recently
01:48and you go back, if you were to play,
01:50listen to press conferences from his rookie season,
01:53it almost sounds like they should be flipped.
01:54Like, he's having the season this year
01:56that I think people expected him to have as a rookie last
01:58year, he can make a lot of mistakes,
02:00he's gonna throw some interceptions,
02:01he's gonna look a little timid or jittery at times.
02:04It's just, that's the way it goes as a rookie.
02:06And that's what makes this so, I don't wanna say strange,
02:09I mean, we've seen it happen in the NFL,
02:11but for sure, Texan fans who had very high expectations
02:14this year is that, yeah, like,
02:17anybody who's thinking there hasn't been a regression
02:19with CJ like yesterday, if you're still on that tip
02:23that this is all everybody else's fault
02:25and none of it to do with CJ Stroud,
02:27if yesterday didn't push you over to the other side of that,
02:30then I don't know what's going on.
02:31And I think, you know, the injuries simply aren't an excuse
02:35because the injuries to the offense in general,
02:37I mean, the Ravens don't have a good offensive line,
02:40but they're coached well and they've also got the benefit
02:46of having Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry
02:49that make life a lot easier for that offensive line.
02:52So there's just like having injuries
02:54or a couple of subpar offensive linemen
02:57isn't an excuse for everything else.
03:00The sum total of it at all is that Bobby Slowick,
03:04CJ Stroud, various other performers on the offense,
03:07it's flat out not working right now.
03:09And if there's whatever the change needs to be,
03:13and I'm not just saying, well, you gotta fire the offense,
03:16I'm not, like, there needs to be something systemic
03:19about the way they're operating.
03:22If they do retain Bobby Slowick,
03:24it cannot be with the old,
03:26hey, you just gotta keep sawing wood,
03:28and you're just like, no, there needs to be
03:30full-blown, full-bore systemic change
03:34with a lot of stuff that we don't even have,
03:36we're not privy to.
03:37But it's just flat out not working.
03:39It's got to, man.
03:41So the Texans know now what's in store,
03:44by and large, for the playoffs.
03:46They will be the four seed.
03:48So there are no dreams of the three seed,
03:49no dreams of changing their lot in life again.
03:53And I believe the Texans have been the four seed
03:56every year they've made the postseason,
03:57if I'm not mistaken.
03:59Every year they've made the postseason,
04:00it's been as a division winner.
04:01They've never been a wild card team before.
04:03So they've had a home game
04:04every time they've made the postseason.
04:06And I believe it's been as the four seed
04:09all of the time, if not a majority of the time.
04:12They've got a 79% chance of playing
04:15the Pittsburgh Steelers now.
04:16After the Steelers losing to the Chiefs yesterday,
04:20and the Texans doing what they did yesterday.
04:22So you play the Steelers at home in the wild card round.
04:27I feel good about the,
04:29I don't feel great about anybody,
04:30but let me just, comparatively speaking,
04:32the Steelers feels like a much more winnable game,
04:34certainly, obviously, than the Ravens do.
04:37There's still like a 16% chance it could be the Chargers,
04:40and a very minimal chance it could be the Denver Broncos,
04:43depending on how games break the next 10 days or so.
04:48The thing that makes me most nervous
04:49about playing the Steelers here, Seth,
04:51is that I think 50% of the crowd is gonna be Steelers.
04:53Oh, that's true.
04:54You're gonna lose a home field, yeah, whatever it is.
04:56Or it's, plus it's just emotionally depressing.
04:59Especially given, I'm guessing,
05:00the way the fan base feels right now.
05:02Yes.
05:02That it doesn't feel like they're ready
05:05to just rally to the cause.
05:06I don't know how much any performance
05:08against Tennessee is gonna change that.
05:10And there's, you know, you're at the point now
05:11where it doesn't make a whole lot of sense
05:13to play your starters a whole bunch in that Titans game.
05:16And yet, emotionally, it feels like, man,
05:19they gotta get off the schneid.
05:21I'm glad you're bringing up the Titans part of this.
05:24Yeah.
05:25Clint and I discussed this on the post-game show yesterday,
05:27and I was excited to talk to you about this,
05:29because you've been very staunch.
05:32Such a schedule where you could make arguments either way.
05:35You know, you clinched the division.
05:36There was, going into these Chiefs and Ravens games,
05:40there was the best chance of you,
05:45the four seed was the clear favorite for you.
05:48There was a slight chance you could get the three seed.
05:50You had been pretty adamant about,
05:52A, wanting the three seed,
05:53and B, especially in the offensive side,
05:55this team needs work.
05:56They need the work, right?
05:57They need to get some things right.
05:58Three seed's out the window now.
06:00But I think the latter still holds true
06:02that they need work.
06:03So how are you feeling about how they should handle
06:04this Tennessee game?
06:05It's almost like triage.
06:07You gotta figure out, all right,
06:08is it worth the sacrifice for something
06:11that might be a lost cause?
06:12I'm like, at this point, is rest and health
06:16just the only thing you really can do
06:19to be better offensively in the playoffs?
06:22And just accept that, man, we didn't fix all these things
06:26that we've been trying to fix all season long.
06:28And throw in the towel on that part of it,
06:31and just try to get the best and healthiest version
06:35that you can.
06:36I like, okay, the Titans have a good run defense.
06:39Do I trust that one game versus the Titans
06:41is all of a sudden gonna figure out,
06:43the Texans are gonna figure out how to run the ball?
06:45Right.
06:45I do not feel that way right now.
06:46No, I don't either.
06:47I don't either.
06:49And yet, I think the offense should play against the Titans.
06:51It's just not a punishment.
06:53Yeah, well, I think for a lot of the same reasons
06:55you thought they should play in these last two games.
06:57Like, it's not a good,
06:59sitting an offense that stinks
07:02is not gonna help you beat the Steelers.
07:04It's like, I got an old car that doesn't work ever.
07:07So instead, I'm not gonna tinker with it.
07:09I'm just gonna let it sit in the garage
07:10and hope for the best three weeks.
07:12I also feel like,
07:13at least on the offensive side of the ball,
07:15and this is not me absolving the defense
07:17of what happened yesterday.
07:18That was an embarrassment on both sides of the football.
07:20But the defense,
07:22I could see resting Daniil Hunter, Will Anderson,
07:25and Derek Stingley against the Titans.
07:27That is an explainable thing to me.
07:28And you deal with it.
07:30Titans are not a good offensive team.
07:31You deal with it how you deal with it.
07:34The offensive feels like another game is a necessary step
07:36just to feel like you can compete in the postseason.
07:39They need more reps.
07:40They need a little taste of success
07:42or doing things properly or something.
07:44Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:45So that's kind of how I feel about it.
07:49Do you know there's a decent chance,
07:51Spillane pointed this out to me yesterday,
07:54there is a decent chance
07:55that we actually get a Monday night football game
07:57in the wild card round here.
07:59Because-
08:00There's a wild card Monday night game?
08:01There is, yeah.
08:02Because remember, when they added
08:03the extra round of the playoffs,
08:04it's two on Saturday, three on Sunday,
08:07and then the Monday night game.
08:08What's that?
08:09Is that gonna be on like Hulu or Peacock or something?
08:11No, I think it's on-
08:12Is it an actual broadcast television?
08:12I think it's on, yes.
08:13I think it's like a Joe Buck, Troy Aikman joint.
08:15I think it's like legit Monday night football.
08:17But that game, last year was the first year they did it,
08:20because that was the first year
08:21that they had seven playoff teams in each conference.
08:24It has to be a four versus five game
08:27because that's the only matchup
08:29that at that stage of the weekend
08:31doesn't shuffle the deck on where everybody needs,
08:33because they recede, as you know.
08:35They recede after the wild card round,
08:38and a four versus five game can't change
08:41where all these other teams have to travel.
08:43So last year, it could have been the Texans,
08:45but instead they played at the slot
08:47where we have the Texans Invitational every year,
08:49Saturday at 3.30.
08:52Last Tampa in Philadelphia was the 4.5 out of the NFC.
08:55I could see putting that one over there,
08:56because you had Philly defending NFC champ
08:58playing in a wild card game.
09:00This year, as of right now, it would be Atlanta.
09:03It would be Minnesota at Atlanta.
09:06Sam Darnold versus Michael Penix Jr.
09:09It's intriguing.
09:10I think there's a decent chance
09:11the Texans get a Monday Night Football game.
09:13Steelers involved in it.
09:14So it's a prime time game.
09:15It's a prime time game.
09:16I'm not wishing for it.
09:18I'm just pointing it out to people
09:19that the wild card round game
09:22could be a Monday Night Football game.
09:23I don't think a lot of people know that.
09:25Last year at the end of the season,
09:26towards the end of the season,
09:28the fan base was quite depressed
09:30after they got shellacked by the Browns at home.
09:33The difference there was that C.J. Stroud
09:34wasn't playing in that game.
09:37And then they turned it around,
09:38and they got hot, obviously.
09:40They turned it around big time, too.
09:42They turned it around behind the offense.
09:45C.J. came back the next week.
09:46They destroyed the Titans, 26 to three.
09:49He had a great game.
09:50They go to Indianapolis, playing prime time,
09:53win a must-win game.
09:55Nico went off, nine catches, 192 yards.
09:58And then they destroyed the Browns in the playoff game.
10:01And at that point, the Baltimore Ravens playoff game,
10:03I was disappointed in how they played, obviously.
10:05C.J. still has yet to score a touchdown
10:07on the Ravens, by the way.
10:08He's played them three times.
10:12The only touchdown that they've scored
10:14in those three games was a Steven Sims punt return.
10:17Other than that, it's been Kaimi Fairbairn field goals
10:20and Kamari Lassiter tackling Derek Henry in the end zone.
10:23The Lamar Jackson's average margin of victory
10:27over the Texans now in the five games he's played
10:29is more than 20 points, right?
10:30It's 33 to nine.
10:32On average, 33 to nine.
10:3433 to nine is the average score, yeah.
10:37Yep, it was 30.
10:37So a 24-point margin on average.
10:41Yeah, the closest game was the COVID,
10:43no, the closest game was C.J.'s debut
10:45in week one last year.
10:46They lost 25 to nine.
10:48Those were the glory days.
10:49Yeah, yeah, I mean, they didn't score any touchdowns.
10:52Lamar Jackson was still getting into Todd Monken's scheme.
10:54He didn't run hardly at all.
10:56It was seven to six at the half.
10:58It took him a half to get into Todd Monken's scheme.
11:02He was still kind of working out the kinks.
11:04The first couple of games this last year,
11:06it did look like people weren't sure about this experiment.
11:09What, the Ravens started off 0-2 this year.
11:11I don't know if it's just a year for the Ravens.
11:13I saw a lot of people gushing over how like,
11:15oh, it's now it's preordained that the Chiefs
11:17are gonna win after their performance
11:19versus the Steelers yesterday.
11:20And I don't, I get, and you know what?
11:24That was depressing to me because it just shows you
11:26how little respect that most people around the country
11:30have for the Texans.
11:31People are looking at that Ravens game versus the Texans,
11:33like, eh, what they really proved.
11:35I don't know, man, I watched the Ravens
11:37versus the Steelers last week
11:38and it was pretty damn impressive.
11:40So the Ravens, this is the same way I felt
11:43after the divisional round last year.
11:44I was like, oh, the Ravens are winning it all.
11:46So they still have to get over that Chiefs.
11:47They gotta go through Kansas City.
11:49You know, they gotta go.
11:50And they gotta face Steve Spagnuolo, you know?
11:52They gotta, okay, okay, so there's some tricks
11:55up a defensive coordinator's sleeve
11:57that Lamar Jackson still has to show that he can overcome.
12:00Yep, no doubt.