The Drive's Clint Stoerner and Ron Hughley react to the Texans firing offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik after two seasons. Are you surprised and do you agree with the move?
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00:00The big story, it happened, many of you were hoping for it, and that is Bobby
00:04Slowick has been fired as the offensive coordinator. Also Chris Strouser, the
00:11offensive line coach, he has also been let go and relieved of his duties as
00:16well. So you're starting over with those two spots, those two spots that many
00:21people have been clamoring for to be changed. Less than a week after
00:27the season ended, D'Amico and the organization made the decision to move
00:32on. So I guess for me, Clint, I think I want to kick this off here with you and
00:38the people. Are you surprised and do you agree with the move? I'm not surprised at
00:43all. Now look, I'll be honest, I did not think it was going to happen, but I'm not
00:47surprised. There's plenty to justify D'Amico Ryan's decision here. I mean,
00:52we're talking about an offense. It's easy to get caught up in what C.J.
00:57Stroud did last year and went in 10 games last year and being really, let's
01:00be honest, an offensive driven team more so last year than this year. And then
01:05this year, if you look at the numbers, you laid it all out yesterday, there has
01:09been a little bit of a backslide in yards passing and a little bit of a
01:13backslide in total yards. But overall, you still put up 22 points a game, your
01:18run game got better. I mean, it's easy to look at those advanced stats and
01:22and really get caught up in overall production. But the reality of it is
01:27this shouldn't surprise anybody. I mean, you know, we're two weeks into the
01:32season and Bobby Slowick still talking about trying to find an identity
01:36offensively. The same past past protection problems that kicked ass
01:41against Minnesota early in the season reared their ugly head against Kansas,
01:46the Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, I'll say it was worse than the Kansas City
01:48Chiefs because it happened in the most important drive three times in a row
01:52when you got to go score. And it was very similar issues. We've heard people
01:58talk of the display of just the lack of detail involved in the execution. And as
02:05I said yesterday, it was overall, in this offense, it wasn't just critical
02:09moments. Let's not sell this thing short. It was not just critical moments. So I
02:13mean, look, there was again, I did not think it was going to happen. But
02:16there's plenty to justify D'Amico Ryan's making this move. So so this
02:20this shouldn't shouldn't surprise anybody really? No, it's it's not
02:25surprising. We were talking about it. And even though I've been one who said
02:29I don't, I wouldn't, I don't, I wouldn't have done it. And it's still here for
02:32me. I don't think that it was the move. The only caveat I have is if there is
02:39an issue with the quarterback, then all hell, all bets are off, right? If you
02:44don't feel like he's the one that can work with the quarterback, for me, just
02:48from from all the info we know, from the outside, he's been there two years.
02:53And, you know, I, I felt like there were some clear circumstances that led to
02:59some of the issues that the offense had, along with the things that he needed to
03:05improve on. So I wouldn't have done that. But not surprising. I said it at
03:09the end of the year, after that. Maybe it was the Ravens game. Hey, the rest of
03:17the way he could be coaching for his job. Right? And we knew they were
03:20playing. They're playing Tennessee and they had playoff games. And if it went
03:25bad, you know, he could be coaching for his job. I said it into the Charger
03:29games by coaching for his job. So it's not surprising. To me the other part, do
03:35I agree with it? I personally, from the info we know, don't agree with it. Now,
03:42as I said, if it's a quarterback thing, hey, all bets are off. We'll see who
03:46they bring in and what they do. But to me, I just felt like what we saw last
03:51year, I don't think the guy all of a sudden became an idiot. And I do think
03:54there were some, some things that he could have done better. I want to make
03:57that clear. But I think there are also some, some circumstances. And that's why
04:00I said on the other side, with the fellas from in the loop, is this better
04:05not be it? Because they also need to fix whoever's coming in, they need to
04:09fix some of the major problems that I think handcuffed Bobby Slowick, CJ
04:14Stroud, and the rest of his office.
04:15Well, look, the agree or disagree. I don't I don't know where I sit. The
04:19jury's still out for me because I need to see I need to see who you hire. Right?
04:23I mean, I need to see who you hire because there's plenty of reason to
04:26justify moving on from Bobby Slowick. I think there was plenty of reason to
04:31justify keeping Bobby. So I'll give you one example. Overall, CJ Stroud in two
04:35years, he threw for 7835 yards, 43 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. It's a
04:40hell of a start to a career for a quarterback. I know when you're
04:44staring at what Jaden Daniels is doing in Washington right now, people want to
04:48think it's just gonna happen every single year. It's rare. We've seen it
04:51twice. I didn't think I'd ever see it again. Now Jaden's doing it. It's rare
04:54guys. And so I don't know if I agree or disagree yet. But Ron, that's that's
04:58what brings me to the point of with with the Texans offensive coordinator
05:04Bobby Slowick being out in Houston. Number one, I absolutely love the
05:10urgency. The statement made a statement made right here, Ron is we don't have
05:16time for the offense to wait till week nine to figure out their identity, the
05:21quarterback to potentially backslide the offensive coordinator to figure out
05:24whether he's the guy or not in through three years, right, the urgency that
05:29this move, I think indicates is is the way that I would hope the organization
05:35would be ran. D'Amico Ryan's doesn't seem to be a guy that wants to sit
05:38around and let's wait, let's play the wait and see game. And and this is one
05:42of those moves. And to your point, I don't believe it stops with Bobby
05:47Slowick. If you're gonna have this kind of urgency and make these kind of
05:49aggressive moves to win right now, because you're in a window where you
05:52feel like you should be competing for Super Bowls. I got to believe there's
05:55gonna be more to come. And I got to believe that has to do with coaches. And
05:59it has to do with players as well. But the agree or disagree the jury still
06:03being out there on who's the who's the the the OC who do you have in mind? This
06:09can't be a we got to move on from Bobby Slowick. And then we'll just have a
06:11search and figure out who's out there. They got to have it. You think they
06:15know? Yes. You think they know who it is? They better before you make the
06:18move. Better. This one just a we just got to get no, no, you got to know
06:21where you're going. You better have somebody in house that you just
06:25wholeheartedly believe is a is a surefire Grand Slam play caller. You
06:31better have somebody in one of these other systems, whether it's Minnesota,
06:35or Green Bay, or San Francisco, whatever, since the Cincinnati,
06:41whatever it may be, you better have somebody that can come in here with a
06:43similar terminology and change the game. And you it is bona fide. You
06:49absolutely believe it or you think he's changing the offense? Well, that's
06:52where I'm going with it. Yeah, that's where I'm going with this. Ron is is it
06:55better be somebody that's gonna come in and keep the same terminology,
06:58probably keep the same staff, but be a game changer as an offensive
07:02coordinator, put their foot down on some of the stuff that's been been
07:04allowed on the opposite side of the football and change the in the moment
07:07stuff. Or it better be a surefire bona fide G of a play call. It's been in
07:15the league and done it at an extremely high level and won
07:18championships and won a lot of football games with it. If you're
07:22going to start over all the way from scratch in training camp in this win
07:27now window of CJ straddle net on that rookie contract will Anderson on that
07:31rookie contract like there's got to be somebody this can't be a fire Bobby
07:38Sloak and then we'll kind of we'll piddle around and cert have a search I
07:41want to address that part of it the next part. John and Alexander who
07:46joined us yesterday Yeah, who met with he just recently met with the front
07:50office members, coaches players talking about the very frustrations of this
07:56offense. I think I think he's surprised by this move based off of
08:00conversations we had with him yesterday. We'll let him explain that he's coming
08:04up in the next segment. So stay tuned for that a guy who is connected with
08:09the Texans. The beat writer here for the Texans for the Chronicle. He'll
08:13join us and get his thoughts based off this is coming from somebody who has
08:17just been in depth conversations with members all across the organization.
08:25He'll join us coming up in a bit. You just said something there like just I
08:29just want you to just to take into account just said a bit. Can you
08:34imagine? Cliff Kingsbury coming back to be the Washington commanders OC next
08:42year and then getting fired after it like like a you like what happened? How
08:51bad does it have to get? Just think about that. What? What Jay Daniels is
08:56doing this year with that office is doing a magic because that's it's
09:00basically what they did last year with CJ. Yeah, it's it's I mean, it's Yeah,
09:06set Ted better given they won in the division. But yeah, your point from a
09:09season from a rookie quarterback, your points. Yeah, they're yet the Texas won
09:13the division there in the NFC Championship game. But what would have
09:18to happen for cliff to get fired next year? Like how bad did this thing get
09:23cliff? Look, to me. Look, I've said from jump, it's a lot worse than they
09:28want. It's a lot worse than the box score would say. And it's a lot worse
09:31than they want to go. They want to stand up there in front of the media and every
09:33postgame and tell people it is it's a lot worse than that. There's they're
09:36not they're not close, right? We keep hearing we're close. And all we got to
09:39do is execute. Those are piss poor responses and piss poor answers from
09:43Bobby Sloak as well as D'Amico runs, right? fixable. Yeah, there you go. It's
09:46all fixed. But there's another one like that. They weren't like like you're
09:50sure. I guess theoretically, it's it's you can fix protection. But you get that
09:54five guys doing totally different six if you count Dalton Schultz doing totally
09:58different things better than they are. And it just it was not fixable. So the
10:04part that the part that gets me is I was never under the impression that Bobby
10:09Sloak was pulling all the strings.
10:12That's fair. Like I thought from play calling all of it decisions. I don't
10:17think that that he was the one jumping and saying, Hey, I just want Kenya to
10:21green. Yeah, that's all I want. Yeah, great point. Yeah, no help. Yeah, baby.
10:26Give me Kenya. I don't think he I don't think he said go out and give me Shaq
10:29Mason and we're gonna roll this thing out. Right? You know, like, like, like
10:32Dalton Schultz. I know I just spent all my time with George Kittle. This is what
10:36I want. Yeah. Yeah. So look, I don't I don't think that Bobby Sloak and look
10:40with the good guys, too. I don't think Bobby Sloak said you better dress CJ
10:42Stroud. I don't think Bobby Sloak said hey, Joe Mixon is my guy. Go get Joe
10:46Mixon. Like I'm saying, like, I don't. This can't be a firing of one guy like,
10:53like this is. I'm trying to think of a defensive minded head coach like Liam
10:58Cohen, who just got a job with Jacksonville. After the after the year,
11:02you just fire a guy like that with a defensive minded head coach. And maybe
11:05Liam Cohen wasn't the best example. But you know, I'll give you one the national
11:08championship Ohio State up there with with Ryan day. No, but who's the OC chip
11:13Kelly? Right? This isn't a chip Kelly that a chip Kelly was brought in and
11:17they all the offense is yours, man. This is on you. You control everything. What
11:21line coach you want? What receiver coach you want? How do you want to structure
11:25this thing? Like Bobby Sloak was just a piece of it. So this, to me, this can't
11:29be the the end all be all there's there's got to be more to it again,
11:34whether that's coaches or players, we'll see. But there's got to be more to it.
11:38And there's got to be a, again, there's got to be a bonafide G that they've
11:42locked in on. And this is a guy we're bringing in. And, and, and I'll say, I'll
11:47say this here, in my opinion, for for D'Amico, and I know, Tyler and I, we've
11:53gone back and forth on this, I, you know, in between one of the breaks, I
11:57talked to Lopez about this. To me, this can't be a Gerard Johnson. And listen,
12:04I and to me, it is gonna be a Gerard Johnson move. Well, that that
12:09prediction wise, I mean, I don't know anything that to me is a hell of a
12:12thought. Because a couple of things. One, if Gerard Johnson was always the, you
12:17know, the answer the guy that you're a parent, yeah, that the guy you really
12:21want it? Well, hell, there was there was some moments, then why don't you just
12:26fire him and let him take over them? To
12:30if the Houston Texans and I know this fan base has the expectations, right? And
12:35I said it to Tyler before the show. And he said it yes, getting to the AFC
12:39championship game at the very least. If that is the expectation, and what you
12:45want this team to get to
12:50to go bring in a guy who has no experience putting together an offense
12:55or calling plays
12:58with those expectations that you just fired a guy who was a year removed from
13:04being one of the hottest head coaching candidates
13:07and help turn this thing around with your offense and CJ Stroud in two years
13:13and then you bring somebody in that doesn't have any experience calling
13:16plays or putting together an offense. That's a hell of a look for a team that
13:20is going for
13:23to try to get past the Chiefs to try to get past the bills to try to get past
13:28the Ravens. Like as you said, if they got somebody in mind, it probably should
13:34be somebody that is established. Somebody that has had great success in
13:39the league. So like, well, look, if it's to me, if to me, if there was somebody
13:44in the building that was a surefire, this is the guy we're moving to see him
13:48already. Well, we wouldn't have had the same problems against the Chiefs that
13:51we had against the Minnesota Vikings. Like there there is it was a collective
13:56effort on the offensive side of the football. If figuring out a protection,
14:01I'm sure wasn't wasn't like a man. We're having protection problems. I'm
14:05gonna I'm gonna figure this out. I'm sure Bobby Sloak and Chris trouser
14:08didn't lock everybody out and say, no, it's just us to right. There's somebody
14:11in that building that has the ability to call plays at a Super Bowl level that
14:15has the ability to scheme up and solve problems that we saw throughout the year
14:19with the Texans. If they've been in that building and those problems haven't
14:22been solved, I got a question, the ability to solve those problems by
14:26somebody in the building. I just look for me. I think this is an aggressive
14:30move and I think it screams somebody from the outside is coming in. I would
14:36think and somebody from the outside is coming in. That's got pelts on the wall.
14:40Somebody from the outside is coming in. That is going to decide not D'Amico is
14:44not going to do it. They are going to decide. Do you want to keep Gerard
14:48Johnson as a quarterback coach? Do you want to keep Ben McDaniel as as the
14:52wide receiver coach? Do you want to keep the running backs coach? Do you
14:55want to keep? Do you want to make you like, who do you want? This is your
14:58call and damn it when it comes when a rubber meets the road, it's going to be
15:04on you. We can't have we can't have CJ Stroud as a pocket passer. CJ Stroud
15:09cannot be the most pressured quarterback and by the way, he's a high-level
15:11processing pocket passer. He can't be the most pressured quarterback in the
15:17NFL. Can't be. I will say this Tyler, they hadn't they hadn't there's no word
15:24that they have they have parted ways with Gerard Johnson so that there is a
15:27a sign. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the report is the the O-line coach and the
15:31assistant O-line coach are out with slow it down and then the report after that
15:35is everybody else is going to stay in place and the next offensive
15:39coordinator will decide if they want to keep them or not. Yeah. Yep. And to get
15:42them to they are clearly saying it's you too. Dig them Gerard. That it is your
15:48fault. Like you are the scapegoat. Everybody else will have an opportunity
15:52but you two are rolling out.