The Texans took care of business against the Titans in their regular season finale. But do you feel better about the squad going into this Wild Card matchup against the Chargers? The Drive's Clint Stoerner, Ron Hughley and Tyler Milner discuss that here.
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00:00I try, I was going to try to do this.
00:03I know we should, we're supposed to just go right.
00:06What I do is if you're on YouTube and Twitch, John, get in here.
00:12Come back, come back, Reggie, get up, get it, get on the mic.
00:16How we feel about this look.
00:18Tyler's going with the week, week, week, we got, we got the, the, it's kind of like a
00:23hipster look right here.
00:24He's got the, he's got the, the, the oiler hat on.
00:27It's got to pull that a little bit.
00:29We see a little bit of the hair.
00:31I think I like this better than the hat.
00:34I like this right there with the look.
00:37Like the beanie just hanging on the head, like not all the way down over the ears.
00:40I almost want you to drag it back just a taste more to give me more hair.
00:46Oh my God, listen, I swear before God today, if your ass don't look like you got a guitar
00:55somewhere underneath that desk and you about to sing somebody's drolls right off, I do
01:01know how to play the guitar sound like that sounds like the John Mayer that I use for
01:07white women.
01:08And, and my first year, my second year of college, that one right there, that, and Maroon
01:16five.
01:17When I went that, that, that route, yeah, when I went that route, that was, that was,
01:23that was the album.
01:24You don't look like you come in smooth out of that.
01:27You look like, you look like the coolest bartender at a brewery.
01:31Like that's another good one.
01:33Oh, maybe I can apply it.
01:34My color's new spot.
01:35Just like the dude that you know is going to get you the right drink, man.
01:39If that's what he looks like, I mean, he could play the hell out of a guitar.
01:43I can like acoustic.
01:45Yeah, I like that.
01:46Look, stay with that.
01:47You play the guitar.
01:48I do.
01:49Are you kidding me?
01:50No, I got an acoustic at the house.
01:52I mean, I got an acoustic at the house, but I know how to play it.
01:56Oh, I'm, I just, I didn't know either.
01:59I mean, I was called off board, uh, when he read, so I made it.
02:03I mean, we already see Reggie.
02:04Don't know about T-Mail on the mic.
02:06Now he does T-Mail on the mic.
02:08He, I mean, bars, bars, he said bars, son.
02:11I really liked that.
02:12Look, man, I like, I like, I like that better than the regular backwards head.
02:17I mean, it's a real John Mayer fee.
02:21I love John Mayer, Adam Levine field.
02:24I just, I mean, you, you got it rolling here.
02:27I I'm enjoying this and YouTube and Twitch.
02:29You can see it right now.
02:31If you're not, you might want to get your ass over to YouTube and
02:34Twitch and you can see this.
02:35I'm telling you, Megan might not let you leave today.
02:41And where the hell you go?
02:43Sex appeals through the roof.
02:45You better put something else on.
02:46Got you.
02:47Got you a little chain on there with it too.
02:49I'm telling you.
02:49Thanks.
02:50All right.
02:50Uh, well the hell let's, uh, let's jump right in it.
02:53The drive here, play off football again.
02:55Can we just say, can we just, I mean, listen, we're, we're going
03:00to dissect and talk about a lot, but fellas, I'm old enough to remember.
03:07Hey, we used to be talking about, is there going to be a new coach?
03:13Like three years in a row.
03:15We up here talking about new coaches.
03:17We going to be the first to fire.
03:18We're going to be the first to fire.
03:19And, and it happened.
03:21Divorce is a good thing.
03:22We up here talking about all kinds of new two years in a row, 10
03:26wins, division titles, and playoffs.
03:28We got playoffs to talk about.
03:30Well, thank you.
03:33D'Amico Texans.
03:35I, first we got to get there.
03:36We got, we got real action to talk about the chargers coming into town.
03:40I think there's a lot of places we can go, but hell let's, let's jump here.
03:45Clint, you kind of gave it away there in the, uh, in the crosstalk.
03:50I think there's a big, how do you feel about, and I think a lot
03:53of people wondering this, what is D'Amico going to do?
03:56How, how much action are we going to see?
03:59Uh, the frontline guys go.
04:00We saw most everyone dressed.
04:02I don't know about you.
04:03CBS scared the living daylights out of me when I saw Kenyon Green's name
04:08lit up there in line at left guard.
04:10And I frantically start going around.
04:12What the hell happened to Titus Howard?
04:14Then I looked out there and I saw it on assist 71.
04:16That is not, it's not Kenyon green out there in the starting lineup, but.
04:21Hey, they come out seven, nothing six for six 50 yards.
04:25Joe mixing got going.
04:26Nico Collins got going.
04:28Not sure what the tides were doing in the, uh, in the, whatever
04:32goal to goal situation where Nico just got on, got unloaded to
04:36nobody in the back of the end zone.
04:39But did you like the way that D'Amico handled things?
04:42It feels like you may have gone a different direction.
04:45Yeah, no, I didn't.
04:46I don't like it at all.
04:47I did.
04:48I did not like it at all.
04:50It is at all.
04:50No, I did not like it at all.
04:52I thought that given what we watched the week before, uh, this team has had in
04:58this offense, for sure, given what we'd seen for the last, let's be honest,
05:02majority of the year, this, this offense had not, they don't deserve to be a team
05:07that, Hey, we're going to play you long enough to get a thousand yards.
05:10Joe, we're going to play a thousand.
05:11We're going to play you long enough to get a thousand yards, Nico and, and, and
05:15CJ, you'll go out to give us one series, man.
05:17And, and, and we're going to be good.
05:19Um, I look, I know, I know there's, I know there's, uh, several ways to skin a cat.
05:25I know that there's that different teams, different organizations handle, uh, games
05:31that don't mean anything differently, but I'm just going to be honest with you.
05:35It is, it is very difficult for me to watch.
05:38It is very difficult for me to watch the Detroit lions who ended up winning 15
05:43games, uh, and home field advantage all because they won last night.
05:53I watched him play last week in a game that meant absolutely nothing.
05:57And their, their starters played, they went out there and beat
06:01the breaks off the 49ers.
06:02They come back this week, ready to rock and roll, and they go out
06:06there and win a monster game.
06:08Um, it's hard for me to watch that approach, which is clearly what I, what
06:13I appreciate more and what I lean more heavily towards and then watch a team
06:18that's played like the Texans.
06:21They've done everything they can to get to nine wins.
06:23They've played, they've played bad football on the offensive side of the
06:25ball, more, more times than not this year, the majority of the year.
06:28And then we treat them like the Texans.
06:30Treat them like, like they've been playing really good football all, all
06:32year long, knowing that we got a, a must win, win or go home game coming
06:37up on Saturday versus the chargers.
06:39I don't like it.
06:39I didn't like that decision at all.
06:41Yeah.
06:43Yeah.
06:44Listen, I, I think it at least changed the mindset of, of people and fans.
06:49I don't think people are still thinking about the 31 to two game.
06:53I, I, at least I don't think people are still thinking about the 31 to two game.
06:5731 to two game, at least on front of mine.
07:01So I do think it was good to see CJ and the game come right out, right?
07:05They marched right down the field and get seven on the board.
07:07Then the defense goes three and out.
07:10But for you, what do you, what do you think they missed out on?
07:15What is it?
07:16Cause I'm going to tell you right now.
07:17I agree.
07:17I thought they should have played and continue to build and build and build.
07:21Like, I don't agree with, with some and say, well, what are they going to do?
07:25Well, what are they going to do better?
07:27Like, Hey, we've seen what the first 17 weeks, what are they gonna do better?
07:31They can get better.
07:33They can get better and feel better about what they're doing.
07:36What do you think they missed out on by, by cutting it short?
07:40Well, you, you look at how the first series went.
07:42Um, I mean, you missed out on an opportunity for your quarterback to go
07:45out there and at least a half a football end up 15 to 16 for 200 yards and three
07:50touchdowns, and you want to talk about a guy really feeling good.
07:53You want to talk about a guy really having a sample size where you can lean
07:56into and go, okay, that's what we're shooting for and that's what we've got
08:00to do in the first half next Saturday.
08:02At least to have, I would have played a more, I would, I wanted to see Bobby
08:05Sloak and CJ strap game.
08:07I want to see them come out at halftime and make some damn adjustments and
08:10score some points in the second half.
08:12I ain't forgot about that just because it's just because it's a, the Tennessee
08:16Titans and we've got the playoffs next week.
08:18I would have liked to have seen them guys get one more rep, one more opportunity
08:23at doing those things and having success along the way before the real game
08:30comes Saturday versus the chargers.
08:32I would have preferred at the very least that right there.
08:35I, it just, I mean, it's you, you got guys out there that are, I mean,
08:42Lambert tonsils got two false starts early in the game in the minimal time he
08:46I mean, you, you've got, you got some things that you need to straighten out.
08:50You got some guys that just flat out, starting with Bobby Sloak, starting with
08:53CJ Stroud, starting with the offensive line.
08:55Nope.
08:56These guys haven't earned the right to be treated as if they are all pro proven,
09:04tried and true players in this league.
09:06They're just not, I mean, I it's for me, it's more important.
09:10I would, I took, I said this Friday, Ron, I said, I would rather have a
09:15team that I'm talking about on Saturday when you, when, when you go to the
09:20playoffs, right, I would rather have a team that's, that's maybe down a player
09:24because you played them in week 18 and somebody got injured, but is, is much
09:28more confident across the board and offensive play call is much more
09:31confident across the board than a fully healthy guaranteed.
09:35These guys are going to stay healthy.
09:36They played one series, the same guys that we watched against Baltimore.
09:40I would prefer the risk associated, even if it was an injury and potential
09:45confidence gained in that, in that game, then I would have no one you're going,
09:51you're going to take the field against the chargers ultimately with the same
09:54taste in your mouth that you had against the Baltimore Ravens.
09:57Yeah.
09:57I, I do think that's gone though.
10:00Do you like legitimately or you think it's just the playoff hype?
10:03No, I think the mix, I think that.
10:06Like I said, I would have wanted to see them play more.
10:09I, I'd have been good.
10:10Like to me, to me, I personally, my thought is, Hey man, we, we got to get
10:15back to, um, you know, who we are and what we want to be.
10:21And that is, and we're going to get out there and we're going to, we're going
10:24to get this right and get this right over and over again.
10:27So I would have been, I would have felt better with their plan for the
10:30entirety of the game, but I do think at least they have, I think they have
10:35feeling better about themselves and they don't have the 31 to two.
10:40We just got dominated.
10:42Like, I don't, I think, I think, I think enough.
10:44You could see it.
10:46You could see.
10:47He almost, you could see, you could see them and CJ felt different.
10:52And you could see mixing out there on the field when the defense got a three.
10:55Now.
10:56So I do think they did get that.
10:58Would I have liked to have seen them out there more?
11:01Yeah.
11:01I would have liked to have seen at least, like I said, I would have played
11:04in the whole game.
11:05Well, look, I mean, here's the deal, Ron, you were out, you were out last week.
11:08It's I mean, Bobby Sloic sat there and a question when he was asked about CJ,
11:14how do you, how do you, how do you approach, I think it was, how do you
11:18approach CJ's misses like the, the, the inaccurate throws and the struggles
11:22ultimate was kind of how I took it.
11:24And his answer, Ron was standing there two minutes long and he talked about
11:28the quarterback's footwork.
11:30He talked about depth of routes.
11:32He talked about receivers in the screen game, not catching the ball deep enough.
11:35He talked about receivers in the screen game, blocking with the wrong shoulder.
11:38He talked about receivers in the past game, not being at the right depth in
11:41their routes and in combination routes.
11:43Like in other words, the two digs running into each other's face, right?
11:46Like he talked about all those things.
11:48And here you got an opportunity in live action to go out there and correct some
11:53of those issues and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,
11:58and you say, nah, we're good.
12:00Nah, we're good.
12:01We're going to play one series.
12:02We'll set them on a bench.
12:03Like to me, that is a, look, we're going to the playoffs.
12:07This may be, may be better for an off season conversation, but that is
12:10what's wrong with this offense.
12:11That approach is what's wrong with this offense right now.
12:14That approach every day in practice leads to a point where in week 18, your
12:19offensive coordinator is talking about, man, you know, I really look at myself
12:23first, when I talk about plays, not working, did I rip them enough?
12:26Did we get a full speed rip?
12:28Like if we're still wearing things in week 18, then we got some major problems.
12:33And, and, and what we watched unfold in that game is exactly how I believe
12:39practices are handled.
12:41And it's exactly why you have guys that are running routes.
12:44The run, not, not me.
12:45It's the OC said it.
12:45Now it's the OC, not me.
12:47It's why you got a quarterback.
12:48That's footwork is footwork in week 18 after being protected pretty
12:51well, since that Detroit game.
12:53It ain't been, there's nothing happened since that Detroit game.
12:56We should all look around and go, whoa, CJ is getting the hell beat out of him.
12:59No, I mean, his feet aren't his problem.
13:01It's the old line, but no, we're going on two months of some pretty good, I
13:05would say some pretty good NFL protection.
13:07Um, and we're talking about the quarterback's footwork.
13:09We're talking about depth on routes.
13:10We're talking about blocking with the right shoulder.
13:12We're talking about catching the details of a screen game.
13:15Like you can't tell me that on Thursday and then turn around and
13:19play one series on Sunday.
13:21Like that's, that's hard for me as a fan to go.
13:24Yeah, man, we got the most out of that.
13:25I feel good about this, this group.
13:27So we'll see.
13:28You feel better though, right?
13:30I feel better.
13:30I feel more, I feel better because we're a week removed and we're not
13:33playing Baltimore in the first round.
13:35I was going to say that.
13:36That's what the next thought to me, because yeah, the way he handled the
13:41situation, like how I was a bit, I was a bit surprised.
13:45I think like if you, if you read the tea leaves a little bit, I think CBS kind of
13:49new, right?
13:51If you, if they were going when, when, when Tennessee punt it, they said, we'll
13:55see who the quarterback is coming out.
13:58And I was like, oh, they've had these meetings where it's just like, oh, maybe
14:02this was, this was potentially a plan to really use it like a preseason game.
14:06But like I would, and I'm throwing this out to every view on the clients.
14:10I see you're getting, you're, you're, you're, you're feeling yourself.
14:12Those are on YouTube and Twitch.
14:14I mean, you feel better right now, right?
14:17I can feel better about the Texans.
14:19I mean, 11 days ago, when we were sitting there at that, at, you know, doing, doing
14:25the show after the Texans played the Ravens, like nobody was even not nobody, but many
14:31people weren't even looking at the playoffs resign.
14:34I just saw a text come in and say, the season's over.
14:37I'm looking at the off season.
14:38I think there was a lot of people looking like that.
14:40We're not there anymore.
14:41Right?
14:42You feel, you feel good.
14:44You feel like the, you feel like they got a chance to get the charges, right?
14:50I mean, we're feeling a lot better than, than when the last time they played, aren't you?
14:54So you're telling me that's not because of what I saw.
14:59I mean, do I think they got a chance to get the charger?
15:01Sure.
15:01I mean, I, I think they got, I mean, I think they're a good enough football team, good
15:04enough defense and the ceilings high enough offensively that they can win a playoff game.
15:09Yeah.
15:10I mean, I'm not even remotely close to winning four of them and, and, and beating the best
15:13teams that the league has to offer, but, but when a first round playoff game against,
15:17against that organization with the first year head coach, that's, that's really
15:20changed their entire identity.
15:22Um, yeah, I think, I think they could potentially, I mean, I expect them to have a competitive
15:28outing against the charge.
15:29Hell yeah.
15:30Yeah.
15:30Yeah.
15:30I feel like, and I was saying, I, that's why I really needed to play.
15:34As I said, I was going to play longer, but at least that, that first drive from the offense
15:40and the defense, it did for me, it was like, okay, all right.
15:44They listen.
15:45I, I know it's the Titans, by the way, their defense isn't horrible.
15:48I know it's the, I know it's the end of the game and I know many of them are probably,
15:52you know, trying to get this thing over with from the Titan standpoint.
15:55But I, I personally just needed to see some kind of signs of life because they seemed,
16:02it was so bad.
16:04It was right.
16:05The worst performance in the D'Amico era that we just saw against the Ravens.
16:10I needed to see some signs of life.
16:11And I do, I feel, I feel better about this team in a way where it was, it was as down
16:18as maybe you've ever felt about the Texans in the last couple of years.
16:22So I feel, I feel better about the group and their chances to roll in here.
16:27So I think you just got a little time off.
16:29I think you got a little time off.
16:30We spent a little time with the family, got your scarf and hoodie combo on today.
16:33And you just feeling positive.
16:34It's not, I'm positive.
16:37Next time I just see what I, what I see.
16:40Tyler, you feel better, don't you?
16:42Oh yeah.
16:43You feel better?
16:43Yeah.
16:44Look at you.
16:44A hundred percent.
16:45But let's try it.
16:47Are you, are you, are you gonna, well, you already have to, you feel, you feel different
16:53about your, cause Tyler was two, three weeks ago.
16:55This team's won their last game of the season.
16:57I was pissed off.
17:00I thought that was a little aggressive considering the Titans were coming up next, but I didn't
17:03think you, I mean, I completely understood where you're coming from.
17:05But you spun off, right?
17:06Yeah.
17:06Yeah.
17:07I was pissed off, but I think they absolutely, this Texan squad absolutely has a chance to
17:13win this wild card game against the Chargers and how they do that and how they go about
17:17do that and how they look doing that.
17:19We can reevaluate going into the divisional route, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:23Feel, feel much, much better.
17:25I appreciate everybody over there at NRG putting a product on the field.
17:29Yes, it was watchable.
17:31And yeah, let's go.
17:33Come on, Chargers.
17:34Tyler's just glad they let him put on all that oiler gear on.
17:37He had it planned.
17:37He had an outfit planned all week.
17:39You see the jacket?
17:40Oh, I know he's got the jacket and he's got the shoes.
17:42That old starter Oilers jacket.
17:44Yeah, man.
17:45CJ put, see that CJ's, CJ's sideline throw, third and one interesting.
17:51His sideline throw to Nikko, put it right on the money.
17:53That made me feel better.
17:55That did.
17:55That made me, that made me feel better.