Was Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik trying to fool us, or himself, when he said they finally feel good about this offense? In The Loop dives into it to start the show.
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00:00Bobby Sloat ends up being a topic of conversation anytime he talks, just because offense is
00:06where we are, right?
00:07Like that is where a lot of people's focus goes just generally in the sport of football.
00:11But then also with the very particular situation that he exists in with this Texas team and
00:16the way that this offense has been sporadic, to say the least.
00:21And it did not feel like necessarily, well, that's not fair.
00:25He did allude to that, but there was a level of confidence in there.
00:28Was it?
00:29It felt, from him, from his side, it felt a little, I don't know, a little surprising
00:33for me.
00:34It was, it felt a lot of surprising for me.
00:37Now, let's be very, very clear and fair.
00:39Okay.
00:40He's not, you know, you're talking about this offense going into the postseason and what
00:44it is, what you expect, how you get it going again, et cetera.
00:48I mean, he's not going to say up there like, and say, boy, we stink.
00:53I got no idea.
00:55That's not a way to go about this.
00:57So he's not going to do that.
00:58Boy, we suck.
00:59Don't we?
01:00He's not going to do that.
01:01Nor should he.
01:02Nor should he.
01:03But it got a little wild, man.
01:04Just like almost, who are you trying to convince here, is how I felt when, and we're going
01:09to hear from him here in just a second, but are you trying to convince us?
01:12Because we know better.
01:13And you know that.
01:14Are you trying to convince yourself?
01:16Are we?
01:17Yes.
01:18Are you trying to convince your team?
01:20Or are you just saying what needs to be said?
01:22And I think it probably falls in the last category and trying to convince his team.
01:28He wants us to think, like, he kept going back to a theme and we'll hear it, but let's
01:34hear it.
01:35Yeah.
01:36Let's go to the tape.
01:37So Bobby Slowick, to begin off his availability, he was asked specifically why now it feels
01:44like the Texans can flip a switch heading into the AFC playoffs.
01:47I don't necessarily think for us the way we approach it is you're really flipping a switch.
01:51Like naturally you get to the playoffs and everyone's season's on the line.
01:54I'm sure everyone's talked about it.
01:56There's just a different speed to the game.
01:58There's a different physicality to the game.
02:00There's a different intensity to the game.
02:01Like you can't avoid that.
02:03And you know, we know we've had some ups and some downs on offense this year and there's
02:06been a lot of really evolving as an entire group.
02:10And I would say like the last three weeks in particular, we've really honed in on what
02:14we think we need to do in both areas, the run in the pass game, really all the way across
02:20the board that we think fits us as a group and who we have out there and our identity
02:26as a team that we can really press forward with.
02:29But then that takes time to even grow into that, you know.
02:33And as we work through some things, even the last three weeks, our emphasis beyond that
02:37was we've got to do everything we can to start to get hot.
02:40And that's really all it is.
02:41If you get hot as an offense, especially around this time of year, that's a really good thing
02:47for your team and your organization.
02:49And I would say probably this year generally, like I think last year we probably had a few
02:54hot streaks in there.
02:55But I feel like this year we didn't have as many hot streaks and strides that we hit from
02:58multiple games as an offense this year.
03:01And that's really been our intent, like how on the details can we be as we go through
03:05every single one of these practices and weeks so that we can kind of start a spark.
03:10All right.
03:11So he had a couple of talking points there that you are going to hear again.
03:14And so it's clear that they're talking points.
03:15The last three weeks, we're honing in.
03:18We've honed in.
03:19We've, we like, we have honed in.
03:21We have honed in on.
03:22Over the last three weeks.
03:24Honed in on what we, what we want to be, how we're going to play, et cetera.
03:27So the last three weeks and honed in, really?
03:29Let's look at the last three weeks.
03:30Okay.
03:31All right.
03:32Chiefs 311 yards.
03:33All right.
03:34You know, whatever.
03:35That's decent.
03:36Two turnovers, six penalties, 57 yards rushing.
03:39Ravens.
03:40Well, we don't even really need to see the numbers there.
03:42We know what happened there, right?
03:45Titans one series.
03:48So it's kind of hard to, to establish that, that that is when they've, they've honed in,
03:54so to speak on things.
03:58Because those, those, those performances are not showing me the, Hey, the last three weeks,
04:02they're kind of getting it.
04:03Hey, the last three weeks they're honing in.
04:05Figgy knows this.
04:06I, a lot of times, and I may have used this with, with you, Reggie, a lot of times when
04:10I'm being sarcastic about a player or a team that is really not doing well, I always say
04:15the same thing.
04:16I said, Oh man, they're just ramping up.
04:17You know, they're just ramping up.
04:20He did everything, but we're just ramping up because they're not playing well offensively.
04:24But no, he's saying that.
04:26And I mean, there, there has to be a certain acknowledgement of that in there.
04:30But I think the, the thing that was a little perplexing within this, if I can use that
04:34word, was the idea that there, and I guess, again, it comes back to, you have to try and
04:40project some level of confidence, but the idea that, Hey, we, we have, we've figured
04:45it out.
04:46We've honed in on what it is that we want to be doing.
04:49And maybe that's again, pointing to the idea that, Hey, we just need to go out and do it.
04:52I guess what would be the implication beyond that?
04:56But yeah, man, if you've honed in on what it is, I haven't seen it.
05:00I'm trying to parse, you know, the, the, the better instances and like saying, Hey, have
05:04they figured out what the, what the game plan is, what the path is to offensive success.
05:10And I can't say that they have over the last few.
05:13Maybe again, you're in a place where the question then comes up.
05:17What is he supposed to say?
05:18Right.
05:19And I don't know that I have a great answer for that, but it feels like the, the response
05:23of, well, no, we, we, we have a good idea of what it's supposed to be.
05:26We've heard that refrain a few times and not seeing the results.
05:30And it does make me a little skeptical as to what we will ultimately see.
05:34You were talking about the idea of wrinkles or whatever that this doesn't seem like it,
05:37it trends towards, Hey, there are some wrinkles, there's some curve balls that we'll be able
05:41to throw out there.
05:42That'll give us some, some, some level of advantage on Saturday.
05:45This feels like it's trending towards, yeah, within what we have done, we know the things
05:49that work the best, and we're going to just try and hit those, which I don't, doesn't
05:53give me personally a whole bunch of, well, thank you for saying that because that's exactly
05:56what I was saying.
05:57Like if he, if his, and, and let's listen to, to cut to, but if his, his idea of we've
06:04honed in, we're honing in is we think we know what we want to do and how we can get there,
06:09but, but they haven't shown that, you know, on the field, uh, but figured like, listen
06:14to this.
06:15And it, and it's just another variation of that thing.
06:16Yeah.
06:17I think the identity is what you show on tape.
06:19You know what I mean?
06:20And as I said, that's been a moving target often this year.
06:22And I think we've honed in on what that is and we're going to go and we're going to,
06:26we're going to put that out there.
06:27We're going to execute that to the best of our ability.
06:29And I hopefully by the end of every game you guys watch, you guys could tell me.
06:33So he thinks they know what they need to do.
06:35That's how I would interpret it, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
06:38But to say it's on tape to say the last three weeks, that's where I'm like, man, they, they
06:42just haven't, uh, they just, they just haven't shown it on the field.
06:46But if he's saying, uh, okay, finally figured it out, you know, I think we're going to,
06:51we know what we're going to do.
06:52Well then, okay.
06:53Give them the benefit of the doubt there.
06:54Yeah.
06:55Um, and I do want to get to this one cause I believe this is where he ultimately got
06:58to it.
06:59Um, and it's not something that he hasn't said before, but it feels like this is, this
07:04is a full, um, clarification of the idea that maybe we're grasping his straws, which
07:09was, uh, he said that, you know, we've shown it on tape.
07:12So then the followup was what has this Texas team shown on tape?
07:16Yeah.
07:17What people say outside of this building really like, that's not really something we hone
07:20in on focus on.
07:21We're very much a self reflection type unit and really self-inspired and that's how we
07:26go.
07:27That's how we go about everything, you know?
07:28So, um, we know what this week means to us.
07:31We know the challenge we have in front of us is one heck of a defense.
07:34I mean, they're number one in points.
07:35They're top five and like every good situational statistic that there is, you know, we, we
07:40got a challenge, but you know, through the course of the year we've had many challenges
07:44that we've arisen to.
07:46We're very, we're extremely explosive.
07:47Like I've, I've said that really, if there's one thing we hang our head on without a doubt,
07:51like we got playmakers out there that can, that can take a ball and go 20 yards, any
07:56given play.
07:57Um, and you know, we, we got to clean up the in-betweens then that way really all season.
08:02We know that.
08:03And, uh, you know, we'll keep pressing forward in that regard.
08:06That feels like the game plan.
08:07They're just ramping up that, like, it feels like the thing that he identifies it again,
08:13I'm saying all this with the caveat, understanding that he's not gonna be like, Hey, this is
08:16exactly what we're going to try and do with this week.
08:19But he has said it before, like the thing that they're good at is explosives.
08:23And even going through that, like how many explosives are you actually seeing from this
08:27team?
08:28And then he talks about, you need to clean up the stuff in between.
08:30Yeah.
08:31That's, that's the football, man.
08:32Yes.
08:33I appreciate from the 832 on the text line, pulling in on a situation or, you know, honing
08:36in on situation is identifying what you need to do.
08:38It doesn't mean that you've implemented the changes to make that happen.
08:41It simply means that you've identified those issues.
08:43All right, cool.
08:44Right.
08:45Like if that's, if that's the way we want to put it, that's fine.
08:46But translating that right.
08:48Like taking, I guess in a car metaphor, I don't know why my brain went here.
08:51Right.
08:52Having the power in the engine is cool.
08:53If you can't transfer that to the ground, your car's still not going to go as fast as
08:56you want it to.
08:57Right.
08:58And like explosives, it feels like the explosives that this team has been able to generate have
09:02been a lot of individual brilliance.
09:04No, it does feel that way.
09:06They're going to try to hang their hat on that.
09:08It's Nico and however other ways that they go and Joe Mixon that they get it.
09:12Yeah.
09:13They get the explosive, the explosive tandem, the explosion twins.
09:16It is very interesting though, because you know, if you listen to all three of those,
09:22you know, it kind of sounds like a guy that is also sort of politicking for, I got this
09:28figured out.
09:29I can get this figured out.
09:30You know, like, like, like he's, he's sort of saying, oh, now we're, we're, we're honing
09:34in.
09:35How many times did he say that?
09:36And, and we've honed in and all this other stuff.
09:37It sounds like a guy that is like, okay, this is our last hurrah.
09:41And I think we know how to get there.
09:43He's talking to, to coaches, like his head coach and, and maybe above that even for his
09:49own sake, you know?
09:50Yeah.
09:51And I, I think all of this, I appreciate the 832 texting him.
09:54I think all of this also continues in with the framework and I'm not going to play the
09:57full cut, but he was asked what the biggest challenge for him in season two was.
10:01And he basically got to a place where he was talking about this team is in this, you know,
10:05the people on this offense, the staff and such have gotten to a place where they feel
10:08really good about where, where they're going.
10:10And that's the part, like, that's the, that's the general kind of foundation or like context
10:16is the word I'm looking for.
10:17The framework that makes all the other stuff feel a little disconcerting.
10:21And I don't know.
10:22I don't know what I expected from him.
10:24Right.
10:25I think that's something that people will say like, well, what did you expect?
10:26No.
10:27And we said that at the start, but coming into it, it does make me that, that is the,
10:31that's been the concern in this game is like, can you put up the points against the team
10:34that a defense that has been pretty solid, at least scoring wise.
10:37And they technically, if you want to take away defensive scores, they'd be second, but
10:41that's nothing to scoff at, right.
10:43A team that's, that has a very, it's really up to their defense and the actual like schematics
10:49of their defense.
10:50It feels like you're not getting a schematic advantage in this game.
10:53It's going to depend on how well is CJ playing as an individual, how well is Niko playing?
10:58Is Joe Mixon able to kind of bounce a thing?
11:02Because again, it just hasn't felt like the actual offense in and of itself has created
11:06a lot.
11:07Yeah.
11:08And I, and I, and I, I say this a lot too, when, when people talk about like the last
11:12three games or in this case, based on what, you know, based on what is, is this confidence
11:19level and that you've honed in, what is that based on?
11:23Look, everybody here hopes that, that boy, he, they, you know, it does happen.
11:28You know, they, they, they have finally figured out, you know, whether it was through mistakes,
11:32bad performances, like against like against Baltimore or, or a very short series against
11:39Tennessee Titans that they have honed in.
11:41Nobody, everybody here would love to see this team just keep playing.
11:44All I'm saying is that that was a weird way to approach it.
11:48And I don't know what it's based on.
11:50Yeah.
11:51And I think that's the, that's where the confusion comes from.
11:53Now I will say benefit of the doubt, right?
11:56This Chargers team has been somewhat susceptible to explosive, right?
12:01So if you are, if, if you are hanging your hat on the idea that, Hey, we do explosives,
12:05there is some level of, you know, you know, overlap there with, with a porthole in what
12:12this, what this a Chargers defense coming in can do, if you can block it up and they
12:16usually get pressure, but they get pressure.
12:19It takes a little while for that pressure to get there.
12:20Now, technically for the Texans over the course of the season, they allow that pressure
12:24to happen quickly.
12:25So we'll see which one of those, you know, kind of statistical histories wins out on
12:28the day on Saturday.
12:29But yeah, maybe those are, maybe those are the places where you have an opportunity to
12:33be successful, but I just, it feels like you can't make the entire ship out of explosives.
12:37Like he said, you got to clean up the things in the middle.
12:39We haven't seen that really in it for a long span of time.
12:45You haven't seen it for the entirety of the game.
12:46And if they could find a way to put it all together, that's awesome.
12:49It just feels like, I guess the level of confidence there that I guess you have to have going
12:53to the game doesn't match with what we've seen from this team on tape.
12:56No, no, it does not.
12:58It is just very fascinating to hear him because he was the golden child.
13:04I mean, the absolute golden child of play calling.
13:08He and Ben Johnson were mentioned in the same thing and we would have bought this because
13:12they had, you know, a pretty good sample size of, yeah, they've done some really good
13:17things over the course of the season and CJ Stroud is, you know, is playing at a very
13:22high level.
13:23And that's why when I hear it this year, I'm like, based on what exactly?
13:27But it does come back down to, you know, the explosives or whatever it may be, CJ Stroud.
13:33I mean, it comes down to CJ Stroud being the guy that we saw in Tennessee more often than
13:38not.
13:39I wonder how aggressive, if that is indeed, and again, I might just be off on a different
13:44tangent here, but like, if that is indeed, you know, we're trying to make sure we get
13:48explosives and those types of things, I wonder how aggressive this team is going to be about
13:51that.
13:52Right?
13:53Like, are they going to, is it going to be a similar Bobby Slowick that, you know, seems
13:56to light some first downs on fire?
13:57Are they just kind of going to get out here?
13:59And I mean, he also talked about the idea of running the football well, which that has
14:03not been something that they've done well, but are you going to kind of shift the way
14:06that you do that?
14:07Or are you going to look largely the same and you're just going to hope that you finally
14:10nail it and you get it right this time?
14:11I do expect them to take their shots.
14:13I think that's the one thing we can all expect.
14:16He's said it multiple times.
14:17He said it there.
14:19And it's really the path to being able to break this game open, especially early.
14:24You're in the loop right here on Sports Radio 610.