Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Roster Reshaphing
24 Plays1 year ago
The latest episode of Born on the Bayou Sports kicks off with Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla discussing the Astros' trade of Kyle Tucker to the Cubs and potential moves for Nolan Arenado. The conversation shifts to the Houston Texans' physical game plan against the Miami Dolphins and a look ahead to their upcoming matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. The hosts then cover the Rockets' loss in the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament. The episode wraps up with the "Horses Ass of the Week," "Tips of the Cap," and "Scumbag of the Week" awards.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/kevin-macleod/airport-lounge
License code: EZNFTKVSGQJILWUR
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/upbeat-heat
License code: DKIJCM2LYWMPS8S7
Be sure to follow the Born on the Bayou Sports Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089663917792
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Born on the Bayou Sports'
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to Born on the Bayou Sports, a Houston sports show made for Houstonians by Houstonians. Join Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla every week as they break down the latest in Houston Astros, Rockets and Texans news. Tim's a former minor league broadcaster and Scott has written two books on the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Houston Astros' Pitching Challenges
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, if probably Eric could get it figured out, it would make things a lot easier because he was that guy everybody was counting on this year to be a Cy Young candidate, take that big step forward, and and help anchor this rotation with Pomer. Since he's come to Houston, you can look at the development of guys like Carlos Correa defensively, Jeremy Pena defensively, you know, Alex Bregman, you know, certainly I think I'm better than average third baseman.
00:00:56
Speaker
And now you're putting teams in 3rd and 8th, 3rd and 7th, 3rd and 9th. Now the hill comes to Will Anderson. Pin back your ears, let's go. So if you're by you, born and bred, or just like spending time in the age, sit down, relax, and stay Houston strong.
Holiday Traditions and Golf Etiquette
00:01:23
Speaker
Welcome all my friends back in the born on the bayou sports holiday spirit is flowing Here in the Lone Star State Scott. How are we doing this evening? We are doing fantastic. I noticed your hat there. So are you a a put them all out cut a kind of guy or are you giving givvies? Where are you staying on that? I love to give a gimme a The look on someone's face when you give them a, like they hit one that's like, it's two and a half, three feet. They know it's getting a little longer than they wanted it to be. And when you look at them and say, that's good. The look of just appreciation on someone's face is fantastic. I've played the, uh, the strict inside the leather rules. And when you get it like onto the putter grip, uh, you just reduced me to tears at that point. Cause I've got the yet something awful.
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, you'd you'd enjoy play with me Scott. I'm pretty, I'm pretty generous with giving out the gimmies to the people that I play with, but the just tap it in hat is really more of a happy Gilmore reference. I don't know if you're tapping in tap, tap, tap. Yeah. Yeah. But I have, I have a question for you, Scott.
Ugly Sweaters and Lottery Annoyances
00:02:35
Speaker
This, this week, obviously holidays full of fact, everybody's getting out of school. Most people are starting to take their vacation time. So my company did the old virtual.
00:02:46
Speaker
Gathering for Christmas right my team meets up and and the theme was classic ugly sweater ugly holiday sweater I Personally have never bought one. I don't understand the desire to own an ugly sweater Are you an ugly sweater owner your yourself Scott? No, and we do dress up to in half of them. I can't do and Like on Monday it was, you know, dress up like Ralphie from Christmas story where you had like the, you know, the full buddy suit. Y'all dress up days are way more intense than my wife's. That's like, I am not going to go out and buy this shit just so I can wear it one day a year. My wife does go to school in a blue wig about four to five times a year for pep rallies. Yeah, I could. Yeah, I could see that. So my question for you is,
00:03:38
Speaker
I have a person that does not quite rise to the level of scumbag or versus ass. And so I want to see where they rake in your pantheon of annoying people. Is this the guy on Facebook I keep interacting with? No, no, no. This is a type of person. This is not a specific person. I hate lottery person. You're going into the convenience store. You want to buy something quick.
00:04:06
Speaker
there's They're standing in front of you. They're scratching off their scratch tickets. They're going to cash them in. They're going to buy more scratch offs. It's like dipshit. Move over to the other slot where there's nobody there. Scratch them off and then get back to the end of the line. Don't make me waste my time waiting for you to scratch off your scratch offs.
00:04:27
Speaker
I think the person you're describing is pretty rare, Scott. Like I feel like most times when I see people buy scratch offs, they will move out of the way. So that's an exceptional scumbag that you encountered there out in the wild that made you wait while he scratched wrong. I always see the classic, give me two number sixes, give me a number 10, give me a number three and throw in two number twos. She did apologize afterwards, but it's like,
00:04:54
Speaker
have some situational awareness and kind of look around you before you're you're going to take up that spot. Classic.
Astros' Trade Decisions and Their Impact
00:05:01
Speaker
Classic. Well, speaking of taking up a spot, the Astros have to figure out who we're going to take up the spot of right field as King Tuck is now a Chicago Cubs. Scott, the package is a little bit different than the one we discussed last week on the show. Sayaka Seizuki did not want to come to Houston, which is shocking to me. However,
00:05:21
Speaker
um You get a fantastic prospect you get a ah Houston native who's got some pretty high upside As far as velocity is concerned and you get somebody you were trying to get at the all-star break last year They can play first or third base in paratus. Yeah ah My initial reaction is I like the package I think for one year of tuck I think it's fair you get three years of paratus and You get, you know, obviously Smith's all of his, you know, his time. Uh, I think the immediate key of this deal would be, uh, was this key? Is that how you pronounce that name? Which one? I'm sorry. The pitcher was this key. Is that the, yes. So he's got four offerings. So I'm kind of wondering if they could do like a Kukuchi kind of deal where they sit there and pick out the secondary offering. That's the worst.
00:06:18
Speaker
and just kind of say, you're just not going to throw that pitch. And yeah and maybe, you know, something turns around. He has, I think, a 394 ERA and 190 career innings. About somewhere around 20 career starts in that neighborhood. Pitched in, you know, both starting and in relief. So he's a guy that if he doesn't make your rotation, you know, could pitch in long relief.
00:06:43
Speaker
and has experience at the back end of a bullpen. This is someone that the Cubs moved from a late inning guy into a fourth or fifth starter role. Yeah, so yeah there's a lot of flexibility there. I think the long-term cue to deal with the Smith. What does Smith give you ultimately? He immediately steps in as the Astros number one prospect, which probably tells you more about the Astros system than it does about Hill as a prospect.
00:07:09
Speaker
but I think it was pretty much, you know, what you could expect. No, I mean, there's no way of knowing what the Yankees were ultimately offering. I mean, there was rumors about Gil, but I think, uh, I saw some of the rumors that the Yankees themselves balked on giving up Gil. So, I mean, who knows what their final package was. And also Jim Crane said he was not going to send Kyle Tucker to the Yankees. Like he flat out.
00:07:35
Speaker
came out and said, like, I'm not going to send it to a team that we've played on seeing in the playoffs at some point. Why would I want to have this guy hurt me down the line? At least if you send him to the Cubs and you see him in the playoffs, it means you're both playing for the you know World Series title. Yeah. And so and i it's one of those unfortunate things. I think in the immediate term, you're not as good in 2025 as you were you coming into this trade.
00:08:03
Speaker
ah You're probably better in 2026 and beyond. But obviously there's some more moves that need to be made and we'll talk about those.
Future Moves for the Astros
00:08:14
Speaker
But just if you look at this deal in a vacuum, I think it's a pretty good deal for the astronauts. So you mentioned you you think we're good by 2020, better by 2026. Do you think Smith makes it to the show in the year?
00:08:28
Speaker
oh Possibly there's an outside chance, but I think even then, you're getting a guy at Paredes who's going to be there beyond it. I'm just assuming Tucker would have walked. Yeah. So you're, you're assuming that Tucker walks, you get nothing but a cup pick. So instead of 2026, you get Paredes and West Miski on your roster. That's fair. And I can, I can understand that thought process. And you know, I think the moment Soto signed the deal that he did too, that was the nail on the coffin. Because if you actually look at,
00:09:03
Speaker
the numbers that these guys produce, right? Like the last three years, Kyle Tucker has been nearly identical to to Juan Soto, right? Like they both got drafted fairly young. Kyle Tucker is still a pretty young guy entering his prime. I can't imagine what that that contract would look like, right? Like Kyle Tucker is a 300, $400 million dollars guy, right? Yeah. And I think, I think Soto's numbers are inflated a lot based on the postseason performance, which is something that Tucker does not have.
00:09:32
Speaker
But even still, if you're, and this is the point that I've been making the whole time, and this is where I think in Brown we trust, right? This is where we have to be. oh The Astros are not paid a $400 million. Is he worth $400 million? You know?
00:09:52
Speaker
If that's what the market says for today, right? Like, I don't think any player's worth that. However, if that's, if that's the state of the market and you are a free market economist, then you kind of have to say like, yeah, he is worth that. Exactly. And so, uh, I think you have to trust him. And I think that if if you're a smart GM and I say this about the next domino to fall, you know, Brown's already got a provers agent. You know, you've he's already gone to him and asked him, Hey,
00:10:23
Speaker
Theoretically, what do you think it would take to keep your client? And if the Astros were willing to pay it, they already would have paid it. They haven't, which tells you that they're not willing to pay what he's asking. And that's the other bill to coffin with next freed side. Just think about this. Uh, three guys, I'll give you a three guys. Who would you rather have? Would you rather have freed?
00:10:52
Speaker
Blake Snell or Frobber?
00:10:58
Speaker
oh For how long? I'm just saying just in a theoretical year. Probably freed. Well, I could make an argument for Frobber because freed averages about two or three starts fewer a season. Frobber has um a couple starts a year that you wish he didn't make.
00:11:20
Speaker
Well, everybody does. I'm sure freed has that as well. Um, I, I, I have an irrational, I have an irrational love for Fromber Valdez. Like I watched this guy figure it out in a playoff game where Carlos Correa walked to the mound.
00:11:36
Speaker
Pounded him on the chest and said you're a fucking guy Let's go and all of a sudden from her from that moment on became a different person, right? So like as a fan just take it as a fan I have an irrational love for this guy because he stepped up in that moment and and It has been stepping up for the most part ever since I'd have to look at freeze postseason numbers Because I really didn't look at them carefully, but I compared both he and from burn an article for crawfish boxes and it's basically It's like you said, uh, in terms of the quality of starts, freeze a tad better since 2020, but not noticeably better. And if you want to eliminate that 2020 season freed with seven and oh, with like a 2.2 ERA and from her was just getting started being from her. So if you want to go 2021 to the present,
00:12:32
Speaker
They're practically identical in terms of like yeah ERA and stuff like that. And Frubber pitches more games and deeper into games. Because that's another thing you got to consider is that he pitches, since 2020, a half inning more per start. That's, that matters. Yeah. And so you could make a definite argument that
Astros' Strategy and Player Loyalty
00:12:56
Speaker
Frubber is the guy you'd prefer. And Fried just signed for eight years, $218 million.
00:13:02
Speaker
And, uh, Snell aside five years, like what, 140?
00:13:11
Speaker
i dont i'd giveroberg I'd give, Fromber. give Fromber 5120. But let's see, both of those are $28 million a year salaries, average annual value. Are you going to tell me Fromber's not worth 28 million? No, I'm not. Cause he is. So if you're Fromber.
00:13:31
Speaker
What I would ask for is that if you wait a year, salaries are going to go up. If I'm forever, yes, I'm a year older because he's the exact same age as Fried pretty much. They're both entering into their age 31 season. I'd ask for seven 200 if I were forever. Yes. For what? I would ask for seven years, 200 billion. If you were going to wait beyond this season, one fewer year than Fried.
00:14:00
Speaker
so that they both end at the same age. And that's just a little bit more than free got per year. Yeah. And I'd probably, I bet the Astros offer is somewhere around. Three to four years at maybe 25 to 30 AV, right? I'll, I'll even, admit I'll give you, if I'm, if I'm Brown, I'll give you three at 90. They may go up to like, say five, one 25.
00:14:29
Speaker
I don't want him for, I don't know if he's already 31 though. I get the ground picture. I don't know. Well, what I'm saying though, is that see you're in, and this is the same thing they do with Bregman. So you look at Bregman six for one 56 is the offer. That's not horrible, but you know, full well, it's not enough to get them. And that's where I think the Astros are with these things. That's the same thing to do with Korea. Their vanity offers. It's the same thing to do with Springer.
00:14:59
Speaker
It's the same thing they do with Cole. They made offers. Yeah, they made offers to all of them, but they knew that they weren't going to accept them. They actually are the king of the vanity offer. You can go to the fans and you can say, we offered them, we tried, we know we made an offer, but you never in the ballpark.
00:15:18
Speaker
like korea They made it sound like it was getting put close between the Astros and some other mystery team with Correa that first offseason. And then it comes out afterwards like the Astros never made a second offer. They made one offer. And I think the same thing. it And I know that I sent you the rumor today that the Astros apparently may have had a deal in principle for Dolan Arnotto, but Arnotto and his camp
00:15:50
Speaker
rejected the trade. Now there are some rumors behind the scenes that he hasn't categorically rejected it 100%. He just has a list of six preferred teams that he wants to go to. So my question to you is, are there any circumstances where you would like that move? No, there's none.
00:16:16
Speaker
because I think he's still really expensive. He's on the downside of his career. His offensive numbers have been declining. And if you look at the teams that are on his no trade clause, one of them is the Los Angeles Angels. That doesn't screen that I want to win when you want to go to the fucking Angels.
00:16:36
Speaker
I think he's the California boys. I don't know what it is. Doesn't matter. If you're willing to go play there, you don't care about winning. I'm sorry. If you, if you sign as a free agent to go to the angels, if you're Kukuchi, you telling me, and it's okay. It's okay. It's the job, but you're telling me that the money was the most important factor over winning and culture, right? Like that's, if you go play for the angels, that is the statement that you're making is that you're okay. Taking a fat paycheck, even though you know, you're probably not going to win. Am I wrong?
00:17:06
Speaker
No, no, you're not wrong. I was going to say the only thing that would make it palatable to me is number one, it would have to be a shit prospect going the other way. I mean, it would have to be like, it's just a ah flat giveaway. And number two, the Cardinals would have to pick up at least another 10 billion of his his salary. So basically the way his salary is structured, he's getting 32 million.
00:17:35
Speaker
in 25 27 million in 26 and 15 million in 27 The Rockies are picking up 5 million for both 25 and 26. So that drops them to 27 and 22 million That the Cardinals have been responsible for Now here's what worries me Scott the the glove with aeronautos fine, right? Damn good damn good defensive third baseman 2020 had a 738 OPS. Like, okay, 2020 is a weird year. A lot of people had down years. Altuve sucked. 807 in 2021, 891 in 2022, then back down to 774 in 2023 719 OPS this year.
00:18:22
Speaker
oh then The home run totals were down, only 16 homers this year, the least he's hit since 2014. I mean, and he played 157 games. It wasn't like he didn't play. It gets worse, Tom. It gets worse because his stack cast numbers are like, OPS would be a 660 for this last year. A hard hit percentage. 2020 was the only year that he went below 37%.
00:18:51
Speaker
Last year, 31% hard hit ball. He's not hitting the ball hard. Now, could he bounce back to like, say 35% maybe. I mean, I guess anything's possible. I guess, you know, my thought process is that let's say the Cardinals chipped in $20 million, dollars you know, for 10 million for each of the next two seasons and take a shit prospect.
00:19:20
Speaker
Take my wife, please. I mean, I, if I'm a Cardinals executive, I'm not taking that deal. I'm going to pay you $20 million dollars and you're going to basically give me nothing in return. Right. I won't take that. So but also scott real quick, if you're the Astros, why are you willing to pay that amount of money per year for a third baseman? Not named Alex pregnant, right? got Why are you willing to pony up for that deal?
00:19:50
Speaker
when that's more money for two years than Bregman would get over the next two years, right? Like you're still going to go over that that cap number that you're worried about. So what the fuck are you doing? Yeah, I think, well, there there's a reason for that, which I'm going to get to later on in this show. ah But without you know to bury the lead there for a little bit later, I think the thinking process is, okay, they just offered Bregman six years. So that's that's the bar, right? Aeronado's only signed for three more years. And so I guess the thought process is that you get half the length because they're probably worried about what Bregman's going to be at the end of his six years. But basically you're, if you want to look at it this way, you're, it's like somebody said, I can't remember who it was. We are acquiring Bregman's last three seasons of his six year deal when we get to Aeronado. That's what you're doing.
00:20:51
Speaker
If you you look at age, if you look at every other factor, it's like somebody said about a brave, the brave contract, we were were getting the last three years of like a six year deal. I mean, I don't want to pay into that. It's the exact opposite of what we should be doing, right? Like when you're trying to build out a team and also let's look at the fact that you just traded for a top third base prospect who has raped everywhere he went, right? So like.
00:21:18
Speaker
and From that aspect of it if you want to tell me I don't want Bregman for six years because we've got this guy now It's it's a tough sell simply because like he is still a prospect right prospects are just that Prospects and at some point break out two days gonna retire you can move Bregman a second You know you can move these things around as time goes on But I don't know Scott I if you're willing to spend on Aeronado for three years at that level you should be willing to give that level of money to bragman for three years right like and then after that like this is a franchise cornerstone like you don't treat franchise cornerstones the way that the Astros are treating theirs right now like ah there is a statue
00:22:00
Speaker
Craig Biggio throwing the ball to other franchise cornerstone Jeff Bagwell in front of fucking Minute Maid Park. Those guys never played for another team. They played for the Astros, nobody else, and now unfortunately one of them is intrinsically involved in the front office. However though, but however, like these guys are forever associated with the team. And in that and that is even an era that has the level of success that this one has.
00:22:27
Speaker
But we're just gonna let- we're gonna show him the fucking door? Like, that's just- The Rockets made the same mistake with Akeem Olaju
Team-building and Astros' Prospects
00:22:33
Speaker
on. You let Akeem Olaju on, go play in Toronto. And it doesn't matter if he wasn't good that year. It's still fucking Akeem Olaju on, and you don't ever want to see him in anything but a Rockets uniform. Yeah, I was gonna say- Did you ever watch The Simpsons? Uh, yeah, but I mean, it's been years since I've been a Simpsons watcher. Did you ever watch The Simpsons episode where they did the barbershop quartet?
00:22:57
Speaker
I mean, yeah, you know, I mean I could think of the family got one though. You've got age not HIV but full-blown AIDS Well, the one is the whole thing with the the barbershop quartet So the census is that they wanted to come up with a name that would initially be hilarious But would lose its luster with each saying so they wanted they call themselves the B sharps and so they say the name once and everybody's like
00:23:25
Speaker
And then they kept saying it. is a
00:23:29
Speaker
Nolan Aeronado is that guy. You say his name and you're like, the first time he says he's like, Future Hall of Fame, Third Basement. All right. And then each time you think about it, it's like, yeah, yeah. but it I was thinking about this with Bregman.
00:23:50
Speaker
you know, about putting a statue up. Unfortunately, in order to be situated correctly, his statue would have to be in the middle of Crawford. That wouldn't quite work out. It would be a bit of a traffic snarl to kind of draw around the Bregman statue. But yeah,
00:24:09
Speaker
my thing is that I'm okay with, you know, because you also got Bryce Matthews that you could theoretically play third. So you've got two guys in the system.
00:24:20
Speaker
that could hit as a third baseman. Smith also can play first, so you could do some shuffling around. You know, Paredes can move to like maybe like a hybrid DH role, you know, if you really wanted to do things that way. oh But to me, you've got to go, you got to treat this, okay, is it's a, you got a bucket of $250 million. dollars You need to spend it as wisely as you possibly can. And if you're not going to keep a high price guy or two, like Bregman or Valdez, you need to spread that money around, get more solid baseball players and not just an aging one that like Jake Taylor. Yeah. I wish we had had him two years ago. and We did four years ago.
00:25:13
Speaker
And you know, the only way I'd be okay with this deal, the only, only, only, only, only way. If it got restructured, like like a Stefan Diggs kind of thing with this contract, we're like, it's a one year deal. If it was a one year deal, I'd be like, okay, let's give it a shot. We've got some prospects coming up. We've got Paredes, you know, like we could like, okay, let's give it a shot as a one year option to fill this void that's being created. I don't want this guy for three years. The idea of.
00:25:43
Speaker
ah Bringing in someone like it's just it's a terrible idea and it's it's how bad baseball teams run things, right? Like when you're trying to go for ticket sales and you bring in a name like that thinking that like it looks like that's a dr that's um ah ah that's a a drape. It's a drape move, right? Like that's a That's what that is. Right? That's bringing in a guy like that and try to sell me on it and And be like, hey, we got a future hall of famer. Like that's how the Astros used to do things That's not how Jim crane does things Well, yeah. And if you look at the contract just flat out, so if the Cardinals kick in no no cash, that's three years, $64 million. dollars If I today sat there and said, hey, here's Christian Walker for three years, $64 million. Done. Let's go. Which one would you want? Christian Walker and Paredes is my third. Exactly. And I feel like we're in a pretty good situation. Are we better than last year? No.
00:26:39
Speaker
are we more so are we more diverse than last year? Yes, right? Because now you're adding Walker can maybe cancel out Bregman a little bit and Paredes is certainly better than Singleton, right? like Or Walker's better than Singleton and Paredes isn't quite as good as Bregman, but who knows what the Crawford box is in left field next year. I don't know. But at least that team has but more balance in the lineup Versus you know blowing it all on a third baseman and continuing to see John Singleton taking bats as my first baseman And then that's and that naturally assumes that you do absolutely nothing in the outfield ah Except you know go with like we're gonna go Dubon Myers McCormick, which might be the worst starting outfield in recent Astros history
00:27:28
Speaker
oh But, you know, let's, let's assume they gone every it's Sunday. fun day every day at houston yes It's It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday. It's Sunday.
00:27:48
Speaker
It's Sunday. It or you threw a few million at a hayward or you threw a few million at a tommy fay
00:28:00
Speaker
You know, I hate all those options, but I get it. I wouldn't love it. But you know, at least you would have like multiple options and not like, we're just going to pray to God. Chasm McCormick is 2023. Chasm McCormick. Yeah, obviously I'd love to see Chas return. Like that would be that would be ideal. I don't know that we can anticipate or Jake Myers is going to take the next step and become a better offensive player. I mean, you still got but like that's it's frustrating, right? It's like if we're going to stick with the guys we have in the outfield, at least for the center field option.
00:28:42
Speaker
Gimme Dubon every day, like at least like Dubon plays a good enough center field and his bat is better. Yirksin Profar is still out there. He is a guy who can play a lot of different positions. Jock Peterson. Yeah, we've talked about that name before. He had a 908 OPS last year with 23 bombs. He can play left field. He's fine. Santander would be a little pricier. Santander would be pricier, a little bit younger too.
00:29:08
Speaker
Um, but the thing is, is that, so if you were to make a deal, like you bring in a Christian Walker and you were to sign one of those names that we just mentioned, let's not say not, not Santander because I think Santander and Walker would be a little. Yeah. You're not getting rid of those guys. Yeah. It'll be too rich, but let's say you were to get. Chuck Peterson along with Walker. How are you feeling about this baseball team at that point? Pretty damn good, Scott. Pretty damn fucking good about that team.
00:29:36
Speaker
Although Peterson didn't play a single defensive out last year. No, but in the past, he's been as a corner of field. He came up as a center fielder. He's not a center fielder anymore. No, I don't know that he ever really was. He was behind for a couple of years. He was in center field. And of course, Vince Scully was talking about how he was the best defensive center fielder he'd ever seen, which we'll get to. Flappable.
00:30:03
Speaker
We'll, we'll, we'll get to that kind of commentary later on the show as well. But as a quarter, as a left fielder, right fielder, he'd be passable. ah Particularly in left field with that, you know, be fine. Yeah. With that, with that wall, he'd be fine. And you know, you you've had Peterson and left Meyers, Dubon and center McCormick and right. I, it's not an outfield that is going to make anybody forget about, you know,
00:30:33
Speaker
any of the famous outfields in baseball history, like the the Blue Jays outfield of my youth, but it's something. And you got a really strong infield. Absolutely. And you've got... yeah was the but Well, the best part of Walker is that Walker could legitimately be the gold glove first baseman in the American League. And so you think about all those plays where Peรฑa maybe threw a little ball in the dirt or Altuve threw a little ball in the dirt.
00:31:03
Speaker
Now you got a guy that picks it. Yeah. And we had one of those for a long time. The Astros had ah a gold glove first baseman during their title, both their title runs and Yulee, right? And he helped, he helped Altuve win a gold glove. He helped Correa win a platinum gov, right? This is, you know, he helped, um, how, Pena won a gold glove. So paidia yeah was Pena in, good yeah. 22 was Yulee's last shift. I mean,
00:31:32
Speaker
Peรฑa was a better shortstop when he had that kind of first baseman over there, when you replaced it with Jose Abreu and John Singleton and Jainer Diaz and Victor Caratini and Mauricio Dubon and Zach Dezenzo. And am I forgetting anybody here, Scott? Oh, I'm sure, you know, throw in the the kitchen sink here. But no, but either way, when those are the guys playing first, right, you don't you don't get that same leeway. You've got to be perfect on your end. And that It's just that little bit extra thing you have to think about when you've got a guy like
Texans' Defense Performance
00:32:04
Speaker
Yulie or Christian Walker over there. Fucking let it fly and you know that your guys going to make a play. Carlos Correa doesn't worry about perfect ball placement. Carlos Correa just, you know, fucking let it rip and knew Yulie would get him. Well, and I was going to say, you know, remember we spent episodes plural. Asking why Joey Lopofito, Lopofito was not getting run at first base. That's how bad it was. He got a couple of games.
00:32:30
Speaker
that's That's how bad it was last year. All right. Let's, let's, let's move on because at the end of the day, we're just hypothetically it here with the Texans. I mean, with the astronauts, but one thing we can not, we can be literal about is the Houston Texans are gaining a little bit of a reputation in the NFL for some hard, hard, hard hits. They put another player on a stretcher against the Miami dolphins in a victory.
00:33:00
Speaker
but I, I'm going to say Scott, that one was on two. ah i think Yeah. You know what? My favorite stat when D'Amico was still in San Francisco was, do you know how many games in his last season as defensive coordinator or how many games 49ers opponents won the week after they played the 49ers? Uh, four.
00:33:29
Speaker
zero taking back to back losses. No, I mean, no, no, even the ones where they beat the 49ers, the 49ers were never defeated. I'm just saying that the 49ers played such a physical style of football. Those teams, I mean, there's a hangover effect. Yeah. And I think, you know, Bullock's hit, he may end up getting fined. I don't know if he has or fined already. ah But that ball placement put the receiver in a position that What can bullet do? He's trying to make a pick, right? He was diving. Yeah. I, I, I don't think it was a dirty play. It was just kind of an unfortunate, a fortunate thing, but they're hitting these guys. And here is another game to where the opposing quarterback had his worst game of the year. To has never played that badly in any game this year.
00:34:26
Speaker
Josh Allen, his worst game of the year by far against the Texans. Trevor Lawrence, worst two games of the year against the Texans. Anthony Richardson was terrible against the Texans. Anthony Richardson is terrible against the Texans. Jordan Love, probably, you could argue that that was his worst game. He's not good, yeah. And then Jared Goff, obviously, probably his worst game as a pro. Yep, we lost. Yeah, plus three in turnover margin, and we lost.
00:34:55
Speaker
I don't, you know, and we did that twice this year. I don't know how you, how you pull that off. We've done it three times and we have a one and two record in those games. Yeah, but yeah that, I don't, I don't think we can say enough nice things about this defense. Oh, it's amazing. um and And the thing is, is that, and I think with a lot of people look at defense and they look at the 2000 Ravens.
00:35:23
Speaker
They look at the 85 bears and they look at all these defenses and they go, well, you're not that good. It's like, yeah, those were probably two of the best defenses in NFL history. You're not going to be as good as those defenses, but I don't know if there's a better def defense in the NFL right now. I don't think so. And look, and and we've been talking hypotheticals all day.
00:35:46
Speaker
Let's say this defense goes on a run and wins a Super Bowl. Then I think you have to put it in line with those other two defenses because those other two defenses won their teams Super Bowls. So if this defense just fucking goes lights out in the playoffs and carries this team to a Super Bowl victory, then at that point, you can't say that anymore, right? Yeah, absolutely. And and but they they have there's some troubling numbers that I think keeps them from that level. I think they are.
00:36:16
Speaker
bottom five and the number of 30 yard plus plays surrendered. Uh, so I mean, this team surrenders, a lot of big chunk plays, um, at the wrong times and games, they didn't do it against Miami. Um, I mean, that was a, you know, grind it out. They, you know, Miami had to gain those and you know, little chunks, uh, Tyreek Hill, who I think it's a hall of favor. I think you'd probably agree.
00:36:43
Speaker
Um, two catches for 26 yards. That's from our hat tip though. Yeah, I'll get, I'll get to him. oh yeah I want to talk about him a little bit more right here, not in the way that you're going to talk about him later. CJ Stroud in a post game press conference mentioned that he wouldn't mind throwing distinctly, you know, with his ball tracking ability and his hands and athleticism.
00:37:09
Speaker
You've got a guy coming out of college who just won the Heisman for playing both positions. His coach in college football was well known for coming in and and doing some things on offense, as well as being a shutdown corner. Do you see a world where Stingley gets some offensive snaps? I was going to even make another comparison. You remember when ah Belichick used Troy Brown as a corner? Yeah, absolutely.
00:37:38
Speaker
and so i think Obviously you don't want a guy playing 120 snaps. No, that that's ridiculous. However, I do think maybe five or 10 offensive snaps. I was going to say 15, but yeah, if you, if you pick some big, big moments where you want to take a shot or something like that, well he would be a guy I trust on a deep ball. he He's going to make the catch or he should have swatted away. Well, or even if he's merely a decoy where somebody goes, Oh shit, this stingly guy.
00:38:09
Speaker
you know, it's still going to help your office. I mean, at at this point, I have to think Stingley would be a better option out there than Hutchinson, right? Like if I want to take a shot down the field and I have a choice to so put Hutchinson out there for that shot or Stingley. Oh yeah. Hutchinson's not a burger. I mean, I think the the only problem with that at this stage is this would be something you would have to do a training camp where you would sit there and say, okay,
00:38:38
Speaker
We're going to teach you like three routes, four routes. So you're not, you're you're stingly, you're not learning the entire route tree because that, you know, that that's unrealistic. So if you wanted to sit there and say, okay, you're going to run a fly, you're going to run a post, you're going to run a slate. That's, that's all you're going to have to learn. Because logo, give me a slant and go, give me a little triperation, but yeah, those four, give me four hours.
00:39:05
Speaker
You know, but yeah, just choose, but, but hand pick them, whatever you think he's going to be best at and say, you're learning these, like, say three routes, you know, and then, you know, we'll run you 10 snaps of, you know, a game in particular games. It doesn't have to be every week. Like when you're playing the Jaguars, you probably don't need Stingly, you know, giving you a little bit of extra boost. But when you're playing the chiefs of the Ravens,
00:39:34
Speaker
Every little bit's going to help. Absolutely Scott. I couldn't agree more. I think at the end of the day, you get, you know, 53 guys, uh, what 47 dress at the end of the day, I think you got 47 weapons out there. You use them. However, you want to use them to win a football game. Most, you know, most people use them. These guys start on defense. These 11 start on offense. This is my kicker. This is my partner. It's a special teamers. Everybody else's backups, but at the end of the day,
00:40:04
Speaker
If you've got a guy that gives you versatility and, and you know, we just finished talking about the essence. One of the things we love about the runs that they had is a lot of the guys that were on the roster gave them positional versatility. You have ah a, a DuBon, you have a Marwin, uh, you have an Aldamis Diaz who can play multiples positions. You have a Chaz who can play every spot in the outfield. You've got a Paredes who can play first or third. You just traded for a prospect who can play first or third. Like you, you've got a catcher who can play first or catcher. Like you want positional.
00:40:34
Speaker
ah Flexibility so the idea that you could maybe Carry a one less wide receiver if you've got stingly as your emergency wide receiver and maybe have an extra pass rusher Have a ah specialty linebacker, right? Like I feel like it just opens up what you could do with those 47 game day roster spots a lot more Yeah, yeah with you on this one. All right Scott. Let's look up ah ahead and to a game that we've all probably have had circled on our schedule since since they came out, Texans against Kansas City.
Texans vs. Chiefs Game Preview
00:41:08
Speaker
And at the end of the day in this league, if you want to measure yourself against the rest of the league or against the best of the best, you got to beat the Chiefs.
00:41:19
Speaker
Nothing matters if you can't get past the Chiefs that's the bills They haven't done it and so far the Texans have showed up against the the best teams in the league the defense has at least you you've given Josh Allen fits you've given The Lions fits you gave The quarterback there fits I mean her coffee Yeah, yeah you you gave love a good team in in Green Bay fits on on offense, but again none of that matters is you can't beat Kansas City. Well, and what I was going to say, though, is that Kansas City is a better version of Houston, if you look at it. Great defense, offense that many people think is explosive and thinks should be better than what it is, and a team that wins a shit ton of close games. I mean, and in a lot of it's luck, and you see how they won the Doink
00:42:15
Speaker
You know, you get the point through the, you know, it just, how many, you know, I think they had one where they blocked a field goal at the end or it's just, they find a different way to win every week, which is if you look at the Texans victories with the exception of the Patriots game and the Cowboys, they beat the shit out of the Cowboys game. Yeah, that's true. So out of their nine wins, seven of them had been why one score. So they're similar teams.
00:42:45
Speaker
So I think it's a good measuring stick. I think I am more worried about the chief's defense than I am about their offense. Because their best player on defense is Chris Jones. What position does he play, Tim? He's a tackle. What's our worst part of our offensive line, Tim? That'd be the interior, Scott. I foresee a ah few Chris Jones pressures at the very least if not multiple sacks Yeah, that's uh, that's certainly something to be worried about and if i'm the chief's on the other side i'm worried about my guy because Mahomes did not finish that game He he is back to practice this week, but obviously sore and then on top of it You've got two of the top six sackers in the league right now, you know, daniel daniel jones, uh, daniel hunter rather who's number one and
00:43:40
Speaker
Will Anderson number six, I think you know Daniel Jones number two He's a half sack behind and will Anderson's number six But at the end of the day, you've got like 25 sacks between those two guys on top of everything else the Texans do on top of lassiter and stingley playing lockdown defense on top of The elite safety play that you're getting right now from Bullock um Yeah, man, let's fucking go like defense on defense. I'm ready. I I think both quarterbacks are probably gonna feel it a couple times on a cold day. In Kansas City, correct? Yeah, and a minor hat tip, I got another hat tip I'm gonna give, but a minor hat tip to Christian Harris came back, played a hell of a football game for a guy that hasn't played football in 330 days. Yeah, let's hope that Lance McCullers does the same thing. You've often compared them. Let's hope Lance McCullers comes back and does what Christian Harris did on Sunday. Because, I mean, really, if you look at this Chiefs office, obviously,
00:44:40
Speaker
What's your answer for Kelsey and 202 probably, but you know, Harris could be a guy that could keep up with him. I mean, obviously you might also end up putting maybe Bullock on him, but that's going to be a physical mismatch. Um, Kelsey, I think is going to exploit, I think our weaknesses on defense up the middle, you know, behind the defensive line, but I don't know, is there a better quarterback tandem?
00:45:10
Speaker
in the NFL right now, then Lassiter and Stanley. Hmm. I don't think so. I mean, they're pretty, they're pretty as close to lockdown as you can get. I mean, I don't think Diop's going to have much of a day. Uh, I don't think any of their other, you know, wider Caesar, juju, Smith Schuster, uh, who's the other guy worthy.
00:45:35
Speaker
I don't think any of them are going to have really big days. I think the only guy that really could have a big day is Kelsey. And his explosiveness has been down this year. The catch numbers are up. But, you know, he's not as, he's not scoring as many touchdowns, right? I think only two or three touchdowns on the year, a lot of catches, fair amount of first downs, but he's just not burning you the way that he used to. Yeah. And so I think, I feel like.
00:46:04
Speaker
Our defense has shown improvement even over last year defending the run. And so I don't feel like the Chiefs are going to run on us. So it's going to be a question of, you know, do you have an answer for Kelsey? Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more, Scott. Let's take a quick jump over to the hardwood as the Rockets fell just short in the in-season tournament losing to OKC in the quarterfins
00:46:35
Speaker
quarterfinals, you know, that game really just was
Rockets' In-Season Tournament Performance
00:46:38
Speaker
never really that close. Scott kind of felt like the Rockets just couldn't hit water. If they fell out of a boat, a lot of good open looks just couldn't really make anything. um Does it give you pause, you know, playing against the top team, like OKC to lose the way they did or, you know, it was one game. You didn't, you know, you were cold to play us and have a seven game series. You know, what are your thoughts right now? Didn't we beat OKC earlier in the year?
00:47:04
Speaker
I don't believe so. We beat somebody that was good earlier in the year. I can't remember who it was, but I think we know where the Rockets are. The Rockets are not in that upper four or five teams in the NBA. They're not going to be as ah good as OKC. They're not going to be as good as Boston. They're not going to be good as probably even Cleveland. The Knicks, I don't know, the Knicks seem to be up and down. I think the Knicks have more firepower, but it's hard to say.
00:47:35
Speaker
We're in that next tier teams, you know, um, and so we're right now sitting with the third seed in the West. Um, I'd be very, I'd be very surprised. We ended up in the third seat. I think yeah we're probably have the look of maybe a fifth or sixth seed, which if we get through the season and avoid the player, yeah, that would be, that would be pretty awesome. I think. And, in and.
00:48:03
Speaker
You know, from that point, if you're a six playing a three, you're not expected to win. And so I think this is kind of a a transitional year. Where we're going to, we're going to learn a lot of things about, you know, who's going to be a part of this rotation long-term and who is it? Like, for instance, coming into the season, we thought Cam Whitmore was going to be a key part of this rotation. Obviously he is not even there.
00:48:29
Speaker
So, you know, we're going to, we're going to see, you know, who's going to be a part of this thing long-term and who's not. Yeah, absolutely. That's what, that's what part of the process is, right? When you bring in this much young talent, you've got to just let them play and let it, let it kind of shake itself out. Right. Philly missed on a lot of picks. So their, their process was a little bit longer, but.
00:48:51
Speaker
For the most part, you know, it looks like stone has done a pretty good job. The guys that are coming in, uh, Amen Thompson, for example, I, I was not high on him coming into the last year season after the draft. Like I kind of felt like the best two or three picks, you know, the best two or three players were a step or two above everybody else. And then it was like, ah, this is what's left where now Amen's, you know, looking like maybe the second or third best player of that draft after one Vinyama.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, you got to focus and I say the same thing in just about every sport. You focus on what a guy's able to do and you maximize that. We can look at a man and say like, damn it, he can't shoot. Well, yeah, you're right. He does struggle to shoot, but what can he do? He could defend about as good as any wing player in the NBA. And he's great in transition. A nice slasher, good passer.
00:49:47
Speaker
Those are all good things that you can use on a basketball team. Absolutely. And you know what? The shooting is getting better, right? He's near 40% from the corner from three. So, you know, Hey, we can, we can design an offense that allows this guy to flourish, right? If you get the right pieces in place and you've got a guy who can live in the paint, we've talked about it before. You just get the right shooters around him. You get the right.
00:50:12
Speaker
Pick a role player with him and saying goon is the team that the sky's the limit if a man Thompson is that guy Yeah All right,
Criticism of Sports Figures
00:50:22
Speaker
Scott. It's time to give away some awards this week. It is The horse's ass of the week. I know you're excited for this one. Oh, yeah I don't know if excited is the right word, but Um, I toyed, I have the two people that I have in mind and I was going back and forth as to who I was going to go with. And I am going to go with Jeff Bagwell, uh, for one reason. Uh, there was one reason he's not a scumbag and that is because everything that I'm saying is kind of whispers behind the scenes. We were talking the first part of our show, probably if you were to count the minutes.
00:51:04
Speaker
The thing we talked about the longest was Nolan Aeronado. There's one reason why this team went after Nolan Aeronado. That is because Jeff Bagwell recommended it. Now, after you're responsible for Jose Abreu and for Rafael Montero, you have to sit there and wonder, at what point are you going to sit there and take a back seat?
00:51:32
Speaker
And that's my problem is that I think what we really need to be looking at with this team is we really need to be looking at what does data proud think that we're going to need to be doing. And I, this is one point I was making earlier that I think, you know, I would predict there's probably a better 50 50 chance that forever Valdez is not on this baseball team on opening day. And as bad as that's going to make us feel, we have to respect what he is up to.
00:52:03
Speaker
and what he knows. And to me, it's this chronic, Tim, it is, you know, talking about,
00:52:15
Speaker
kind of fighting with, kind of fighting life there. I see you're kind of fighting life there. But one thing I would say, though, is that we need, it's high time that we respect Dana Brown, and we respect this guy.
00:52:33
Speaker
and I am sick and tired of this back of the baseball card bullshit. Yes, Noldo Aronado, when I do the Hall of Fame index, he is a Hall of Fame third baseman. There's little doubt in my mind he's a Hall of Fame third baseman, because of what he did in his first 12 years of league, not what he's going to do for the next three or four years. And I think it's high time that Jeff Bagwell read the room and say like, you know what? I fucked up Jose Braid. Yeah.
00:53:03
Speaker
Sure, you and I both thought it was a good idea. But see, that's why we don't get to whisper in Jim Krasier, because we thought it was a good idea. It's time for Jeff Bagwell to have the stones and have the self-awareness in the room, kind of like that lottery woman I was talking about. ah Hey, maybe I'm not the go-to guy on this kind of thing. No, I couldn't agree more, right? Like, there's many times where in these executive positions, you don't want the star, the former star to be the one making those decisions, right? Because they just don't look at the game the same way as the guy who had to grind his ass off, who fought to stand a roster, all those other things, right? Because they look at the game differently. There's a reason Michael Jordan has never really been a good NBA executive, right? Because not everybody is Michael Jordan. So when you assess talent, you're doing it from a different way
00:54:02
Speaker
than the rest of us, right? If you're a Billy Bean, for example, a guy who just never really made it. It never really panned out. You look at talent a hell of a lot differently than Jeff Bagwell, right? And so I think it's very rare that the former Hall of Famer, the former Hall of Famer, the former All-Star does a great job at being an executive because I don't think the talent evaluation is done at the same process or same level than the rest of us. So I think you're absolutely right there.
00:54:31
Speaker
got And and I think it's a fair call out because the idea of bringing in an aging veteran at this point um And paying that level of money for it Isn't something that like a good GM would ever do and it doesn't make sense to me. So that's a good one I'm gonna I'm gonna call out the and NBA Commissioner this week Scott. We've we've been pretty hard on Rob Manford and rightfully so he's he's a piece of garbage but out of silver I don't understand the need for a special court that gives me a fucking migraine. I don't understand the need for a November, December in season tournament to get more people to watch early season games. Like I don't know with silver, if it's like with with Rob Manford, like I can tell you don't like that that. You don't like baseball, right? Like you're in it for the money. Like I think almost like Adam Silver
00:55:31
Speaker
Likes basketball too much maybe like he I don't know what it is Scott like if he's like Everybody should be watching this. Why are you not watching? Let's give him more reasons to watch but like at the end of the day ah You've diluted the product right like there's just too much three-point shooting. There's no physicality in the game. It's just a ah high-scoring basically NBA all-star game at this point every single night and the ratings are way down and instead of like doing things to to try and get back to like what basketball was that made it great you gave me fucking weird courts and a random november december tournament worth a million bucks well and so a couple of you know a couple of points of interest here i see a here ago trivia question who won the nba cup this year uh i think the box ended up winning it
00:56:25
Speaker
Are the Bucks going to be a team that's going to make noise in May aieu maybe and Who won last year? The Lakers. They did nothing. They did nothing. So that kind of tells you number one. Number two, what I would say is, is that and and they supposedly you're going to change the NBA All-Star Game format again.
00:56:52
Speaker
ah We need to accept a couple of things. oh
00:57:00
Speaker
Load management, I think is here to stay. I think it's here to stay probably across the board. I think it's here to stay because we realized that we're paying these athletes a shit ton of money and we're paying them a shit ton of money over a bunch of years.
00:57:20
Speaker
And I would kind of like to see them get at least close to playing out the contract. And so that means that if a guy needs to play 75 games instead of 82 games, that's kind of what that means. And I think Adam Silver's trying to find creative ways to get around that. Well, there's only one way to get around that, Adam, and that is there's got to be fewer games. If you had like, if you had a 64 game schedule,
00:57:49
Speaker
Do you remember, I can't remember what the year was, but they had the strike and they came back late. nine two thousand i want to say No, it was probably 2010, 2011, 2012, somewhere in there. They had a 50 game schedule. It's like 50 or 55, right? well But it was like, there was a game every other night and it was awesome, right? Like it was like baseball season where like you could watch your team every other night or back to back or whatever. There was a lot of basketball on and like the season,
00:58:20
Speaker
Starts too soon, right? Like now we start from early to mid-october. We're like I I loved as a as like a high schooler like Halloween basketball started like I remember that distinctly handing out candy watching the Rockets Yao and t-max starting the year off high expectations before anybody gets hurt ah But now it's like October 14th October 5th, and then it was long they did that because they have 82 games and they say wine Well, I like when they're backed up like that. I want to watch my team two nights in a row. You know, like I was was like, I looked up on ESPN last night. I'm like, when the fuck do the Rockets play again? Like we haven't played since we lost the semifinal tournament game. The final was last night. There's no NBA basketball tonight. And then there's a full slate again tomorrow. But like the Rockets lost that tournament game on Saturday. And then don't play again till Friday. Like that's and see the NFL.
00:59:18
Speaker
But that's my problem is that when you have those back to backs, those star players are sitting out one of them. Exactly. When you get them nine days off in the schedule, you should have a back to back. Well, what I'm saying is that that's why you guess why they started in mid October is that they are like, well, we have too many back to backs. And it's like, just play fewer games or just do every other day.
00:59:42
Speaker
like that's what works during after the strike they played every other day it was like hey we play this day we travel we play this day we travel we play this day we travel and it was like awesome because every other day there was a rockets game to watch versus I'm waiting six days in between in between games. Like, that's that's outrageous. This isn't the NFL, right? Like, there's got to be a fucking cadence to the NBA schedule, and there isn't. You get four days off in a row, then you play one game, then you get a day off, then you play it back-to-back. And it's like, what's it like? You could have just spaced every other day and been fine, and instead you do this weird convoluted shit where you gave them three random days off in a row, played a game, took another day off, then played it back-to-back. Like,
01:00:26
Speaker
I don't know. They would do weird shits like, OK, we're going to go into Miami. No, we're going to Seattle. but Exactly. Exactly. I don't know. But I like I love basketball. Right. I I'm an NBA fan. Like I I watch the less random NBA basketball now than I ever have. But like I watch more Rockets basketball now than I have in the last four or five years, too. So it kind of evens out. But I still watch a fair amount of just, hey, there's an NBA game on. I'll put it on.
01:00:57
Speaker
And just the more that you tinker, every sports getting it football, basketball, baseball, they all are getting tinkered. But the more that you tinker, it's just getting ridiculous. Like I appreciate at least for the most part, basketball, the fundamental aspect of the game hasn't been tinkered with. Like do we shoot more threes? Yes. But that's more of like a strategy aspect. That's not coming in and saying we can have a golden batter rule.
01:01:26
Speaker
And you can, you know, because right yeah not like, not like stopping. a Hey, ref, I'm allowed to bring my three point shooter in at any time during a possession. You just have to let them walk in and let the other guy walk out hockey sub style. Like, no, we're not doing that. And I do appreciate that.
01:01:42
Speaker
but like the other shit that they do on the peripheral, but adding a tournament to scheduling the, um, court shit. yeah Do you remember a few years ago, the, the short sleeve jerseys that they felt we needed to have? Cause even though we wore tank tops, essentially for the existence of the league, now we need, we need a different Jersey talk like all this other extra shit. It's just a distraction. You've got.
01:02:07
Speaker
Quite possibly the best collection of young talent that's ever played in the NBA. You've got the prime of LeBron's career. I mean, the the twilight of LeBron's career, the twilight of a Steph Curry. You've got Giannis nearing the end of his career. You've got a lot going on in this league. And instead, we're coloring the court and doing an in-season tournament. Like, it's just yeah not good. It's not good, Scott. All right.
01:02:36
Speaker
All right, Scott, let's tip a cap. Let's ah hit a fucking cap,
Texans' Player Recognition
01:02:40
Speaker
my friend. We might do this. I don't know if we might share this one or, um, I don't know what the deal is going to be, but, uh, Derek Stingley, you get a hat tip. That was the best football game I've seen a quarter play. Uh, particularly that last intersection where he just flat out took it from Tyreek Hill. and And that was basically, and I'm going to get to this here in a minute.
01:03:04
Speaker
that was Derek Stingley almost by himself saying, I'm going to win this football game for you because the offense sure as hell wasn't going to do it. So this was him two out of the last three possessions saying, guys, get on my back. And the big thing that I want to highlight is, and I don't know if you were, uh, you were one of those people cause I don't know if we debated this on the show, but were you a Stanley guy or a sauce guy on draft night? Um,
01:03:35
Speaker
I don't think either. I think I was fine with at that point, whatever. We had so many holes. um I don't know, maybe ah more. So I was a sauce guy at the end of last of last season. Right. We're like, damn, did we? Well, maybe it was two years ago after a year. one Right. We're like, damn, this guy had a great year and our guy got hurt the whole time. But I don't know, man. Like I, I, I didn't have the trust in Casario yet at that point.
01:04:05
Speaker
I think the switch, it was about mid-year last year where Stingley just turned on the switch because he had five picks last year. And I want to say they were all in the second half of the season and he's got five picks so far this year. Kalen Bullock's got five picks as well. Last year's got three. This team is turning teams over at a stupid pace, an absolutely stupid pace.
01:04:33
Speaker
But, you know, this is a guy that he shut down CD lamb. He shut down Tyree kill. Uh, last year he's a, uh, shut down Amari Cooper and the playoffs. This guy is, he is, you know, the shutdown guy. Um, and ah I don't think trying to remember if Jefferson, did Jefferson go off on us? Or I didn't get to watch that game. I was traveling that day. I don't remember.
01:05:01
Speaker
I don't think Jefferson, I think Sam Darnell had a good day. I don't think Jefferson had a big day. This is a guy that's going on the other team's best wide receiver every time out and he's usually winning. And so you got to give him this due. He's the, I think he's the best corner in football right now. And when you have a shut down corner that opens up so many things for your de defense. I'm going to give a hat tip to a guy.
01:05:30
Speaker
in a similar vein who, who we haven't recognized yet. Maybe at least with a hat tip. I want to give two hat tips, Scott. I'm going to give a dual hat tip this week. The first one is going to go to, to, to Bullock, right? Like this guy is playing for a rookie out of his mind, unbelievable football, great instincts for the ball has unbelievable.
01:05:55
Speaker
Uh, I guess catch radius or, or, you know, ability to, to go play center field, nearly returned one for a touchdown this week has been was a fourth round pick, an absolute gem. Tip my cap to the play of that young man right there. And another guy I want to tip my cap to. We've talked about this defense time and time and time again. And every time that we do, we talk about D'Amico Ryan's.
01:06:20
Speaker
And yes, D'Amico is obviously involved in this defense, but not once do we ever tip the cap to Matt Burke, the actual defensive coordinator on this football team. Scott, like obviously he works hand in hand with D'Amico, but at the end of the day, you know, this guy's a big part of what they do too. So I'm going to tip the cap to to Matt Burke and to to Bullock on ah on defense for the Houston Texans this week. Could you imagine if Bullock has Stigley's hands?
01:06:47
Speaker
Because he dropped an interception in that game. And I think he dropped at least like two others. Can you imagine a you know rookie safety with eight picks? Yeah, this secondary is is scary. Now imagine you draft another safety next year, too. right What if you use your first-round pick on a like a ah really good, strong safety that replaces Ward in the future? right And then you've got lasseter stingley Bullock potential new safety and petri Yeah, right like oh fuck good luck. Good luck with that I would like it and obviously I wouldn't want this in the first or second round, but I would like a depth quarter Because we've had some games where if you're without I think lasters miss what two or three games Yeah, and the guy that they put over there is usually shit um
01:07:42
Speaker
So a depth quarter would be nice. Maybe that's in free agency. yeah Who knows? But it it obviously wouldn't be a starting quality quarter because I think those two guys have that locked down.
01:07:54
Speaker
Maybe a good slot guy, a really good Scott or two would be a nice, would be a nice addition. But yeah, you've got room to work with simply because of how good the secondary is. And again, how good Matt Burke has done of putting these guys in positions to succeed. I understand a lot of it's D'Amico, but at the end of the day, this guy's the defensive coordinator of one of the best defenses I've ever seen and the best defense in franchise history. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Scott. Somebody has wronged us.
01:08:22
Speaker
Someone has said something stupid. Someone has done something and it's time that they be recognized as scumbags of the week. What do you have for us this week, Scott? So I have a ritual, Tim, uh, every Sunday. And this is something that we do as a family. Uh, we, we like to, we like to roll in cash and that kind of got started, uh, whatever. I think we, we charged, uh,
01:08:50
Speaker
takeout on a chinese Chinese restaurant and all of a sudden our our credit card was used at a gas station because I think they copied the number down. So we started doing the whole thing that if we're going to do takeout, if we're going to do something like that, we're going to do cash. So every Sunday afternoon, usually after the Texas game, I go out and I get some cash. So I turn it on 610 and I'm listening to the post game show.
01:09:18
Speaker
And I listened to Andre Ware say these words. It was the most complete win that the Texans had in a while. all All three phases played really well. I don't know if, did you watch the game or did you watch it on Red Zone? Fucking Red Zone, man. Again, fuck Jerry Jones. That's all I gotta say about that. We'll get to that. So, Andre Ware, you're my scumbag.
01:09:49
Speaker
Because you can be a homer. Absolutely. This team won the big game. They're AFC South Champs. You know, Smith, that you're... AFC South Champs, Smith. AFC South Champs. Doesn't matter, Scott. AFC South Champs. So you know what you do, Andre? You do what Tim and I are doing this show. We are absolutely pubbing the defense as hard as we possibly can. Because You cannot look at me in a straight face. And tell me that was a good offensive effort. They gained less than 200 yards. What is this, 1924? Are we running the single wing? Are we running like a beer or a wishbone? but What the fuck are we talking about here? No, no. They gained 208 total yards, let's be fair. Well, I guess that doesn't include sack yards. Yeah, no no, you gotta kind of gotta count those. It was four sacks.
01:10:47
Speaker
So I would just as soon as my analyst be honest with me I mean to call ah to call a day where your quarterback goes 18 of 26 for 131 and two touchdowns You're starting running back gets 12 carries for 23 yards averaging less than two yards a carry and your number one wide receiver has four catches for 17 yards two of which were touchdowns a complete offense like a complete game is fucking asinine as you said I get your homer I get it And you could say, you could say the defense played great and the offense did just enough today to to get it done, right? We did just enough. We didn't turn the ball over. We played a clean. You could use, we played a clean game on ah offense. That's something you could have got away with. And it sucks. I love Andre where Cougar Heisman trophy winner. I think he's as a, as a, as a color guy on the radio, he does a fantastic job. I think that aspect of him is great.
01:11:42
Speaker
But yeah, man, to say that, was could you imagine, like, what they said to each other in commercial break after he says that? Like, Mandemir was like, are you fucking kidding me, man? Well, you know, it it almost reminded me of Spencer Tillman. Who was the offensive coordinator under Collie? It was a kind of the holdover from Bill O'Brien. Tim Kelly. Yeah. And he's like, Tim Kelly is a top five play caller in this league. That's what Spencer Tillman said.
01:12:11
Speaker
And I'm like, what league are we talking about? Are we talking about the NFL teams in Texas? Yeah. He's a top five it play caller that, you know, are we going to include like college teams in Texas? I bet there's some high school coaches who call some creative shit up. That's better than Tim Kelly. I mean, are we, is that where he's, he's the top five, you know, play caller in the greater Kirby Houston area. Is that what we're going with? I mean, and I don't know. Where's Yates?
01:12:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's high school. They might be in trouble there You know when he said that he was saying that on the air I remember it was later Locker who was is during his show him John show and and you could even hear later Locker going like What the fuck are you talking about dude? ah And this where I got with Andre where it's like you so here are their second half drives to We have a nine play touchdown drive Which more than half the yardage was on a fake punt. We had three and out, three and out, three and out. We had another night play drive where we had to punt, where in the fourth quarter, we had three drives where we could have salted the game. Couldn't do it on any of those three drives, Tim. That's why you know Derek Stingley had to do what he did. And on each of the two of the three third downs,
01:13:40
Speaker
The offensive line's breaking down and Strad's getting sacked. And you're going to call that a complete offensive effort? The most complete offensive effort he'd seen in a while. Yeah, well, they did have a bye week. So I guess a wild week. Yeah, it's been a while. A while's two weeks. I guess that's fair. But yeah, I love hyperbole as much as the next guy, right? But yeah, that's fucking ridiculous.
01:14:12
Speaker
Alright Scott, I am going to... I don't know who to say the scumbag is, but it's gonna be whoever decides the TV coverage. That's my person. I'm gonna share for you the coverage map last week in the NFL. The Texans played the Miami Dolphins and they decided that the Dallas Market, again, all almost all of Texas, as you can see here, gets that Houston Miami game. What the fuck did we get? In Dallas? Dallas, Texas? Kansas City fucking Cleveland. Explain that fucking shit to me. Please. Please, at a time where a Texas team is playing, I get Kansas City and fucking Cleveland? Are you kidding me?
01:15:08
Speaker
I mean, what the fuck are we doing here? Like, what the fuck are we doing here with these NFL coverage maps? I don't know if it's Jerry Jones saying no one else can, you know, the Texans can't be on. or I don't know what it is, but the Cowboys still play in Houston, right? Like, just because the Texans are on TV doesn't mean the Cowboys won't be, but up here, if the Cowboys are on, Texans will not be on, and it's fucking bullshit.
01:15:34
Speaker
well Yeah, they and and usually they block out when the Texans are actually playing the other station. I don't think has a game um But yeah if the Cowboys aren't playing There should be no reason why the Texans are not playing in Dallas Couldn't agree more but I believe it at that Scott if that one just drives me crazy the covers Matt bullshit um Really really pisses me off. So whoever's in charge of that. You're my scumbag guy But that's going to do it for us here this week. We appreciate everybody who joined us and made us a part of your week. And we look forward to seeing everybody back here next week on Born on the Buy eSports. We'll see you all next time.