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Into the Lions Den
31 Plays1 year ago
The episode opens with Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla analyzing the Texans' narrow loss to the Lions. They highlight the defense’s stellar performance, forcing five interceptions, but criticize the offense for stalling in the second half, ultimately costing them the game by a field goal.
The hosts then look ahead to the Texans' upcoming Monday Night Football matchup against the Cowboys, expressing optimism that it could be a "get right" game for Houston. They also shift to basketball, commending the Rockets' recent play, especially the standout contributions from Tari Eason and Amen Thompson.
In baseball news, Scott and Tim discuss potential trade destinations and valuations for Alex Bregman, Yusei Kikuchi, and Justin Verlander.
As always, the episode wraps up with the "Horses Ass of the Week," "Tips of the Cap," and "Scumbag of the Week" awards, delivering their signature blend of sports insight and humor.
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Transcript
Show Introduction & Hosts
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 Sports Highlights
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 Peña defensively, we need to know about his fragments, 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 here comes 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.
00:01:23
Speaker
Welcome all my friends for the first time back here in a couple of weeks and born on the Bayou Sports, Tim Costello, Scott Barzilla coming to you hot on a November cool evening here in Texas.
Podcast Format & Saints Connection
00:01:37
Speaker
Well, I'll speak for you, Tim. It's just not really cool down here, but you know, I was going to say we are doing some show shifting, so to speak. And one of the things I wanted to shift is obviously.
00:01:49
Speaker
the bane of podcast existence is going negative. I think, you know, negative conversations kind of stir the pot more than positive conversations. So I just want to tell a little positive tidbit and I'm going to adjust my camera here. And as you know, you can see in the camera, I'm wearing my saints sweatshirt as Tim, I think is, is can fully relate to I am saints fan adjacent because I am married to a saints fan.
00:02:18
Speaker
i know I know you can relate to that, but I don't know if you've heard what's been going on with with Pope Frankie lately, Tim. I know they're looking for a new coach. One of my golf buddies is a Saints fan. He's like, I can finally watch the Saints again. They got rid of Dennis Allen. Well, Pope Frankie, apparently, has been going to the old, let's call it Twitter machine, and he's been using the hashtag Saints. Oh, my God. i know it not realizing that these Saints have trademarked this hashtag. And the Saints are now 1-0 since Pope Frankie has been pumping up the Saints. So maybe maybe god maybe God does have a plan. Yeah, we all thought he was a Peyton Manning fan a few years ago when they kept making all those long kicks. Lo and behold, no, it is the team named after the
Best Astros Free Agent Signing
00:03:11
Speaker
Saints. It would actually make sense that if God had a football team, it's the Saints
00:03:16
Speaker
ah Scott brain teaser time We often talk about the worst Free agent signings in Houston Astros history. I want to turn the tables today Scott who is the best? Free agent signing in Houston Astros history. Oh Wow You know so here's my question Tim. Are we talking about like a single season performance or are we talking like over the span of a career? Justify it how you want but who who came to town and was the most worth the money? The most worth the money I think is easily in my book Nolan Ryan because and he was the first million dollar a year player but basically he played for a million dollars a year
00:04:08
Speaker
from 1980 through 1988. So, I mean, that's nine seasons. And I can certainly defend a vote for Roger Clemens. I think that that's that's a good vote. I mean, JV is technically not a free agent since we traded for him. So, I mean, those are the two that pop into my head immediately. I'll give you one, Charles Morton.
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that's, it has to be, has to be in the conversation. Um, and years. Yeah. And you know what? One that never gets enough love. I think Carlos Lee was everything you paid for. I think he delivered on every single thing you asked him to do minus the last year of the six year deal. It's just the Astros failed him.
00:04:57
Speaker
But I think if you look at what the Astros signed Carlos Lee to do, he did it to a tee. And I think in today's baseball, if you got that guaranteed output over five years, you'd take that contract in a heartbeat. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. I i don't make it wisest to the level of Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. But because I think they're they're more impactful and because of the team's success involved.
00:05:23
Speaker
And I think Charlie Morton is just as impactful for the reason of team success. And from the fact that, you know, he closed out the world series game seven championship, you know, when, you when you look at memorable moments in Astros history, Charlie Morton's on the mountain for literally the biggest one of them. Yeah. Uh, so for, if you're going, you know, the quickest bang for buck, you can't go wrong in there. There's only two seasons, but.
00:05:50
Speaker
They were a very impactful two years. Two career changing seasons for Charlie Morton too, right? This is a guy who was one bad season from being done in professional baseball. And he turned those two Astro seasons into six more professional years after that.
Texans Defense & Frustrations
00:06:06
Speaker
Well, more than that, I paid 2021, 22, 23, 24, and he's coming back for 2025. He just announced. Yeah. So, um, one of the, one of the greatest Brett strong pines,
00:06:20
Speaker
of all time. And Brett Strong, I don't know if you saw this today, is now a Pittsburgh Pirate. yeah Honestly, that's exactly what that organization needs. Something to get young players excited after what they did to Rowdy Tellez and some of the other guys there last year. But speaking of the schemes, that's going to be... Speaking of coaching changes that got people excited, the Texans had the city ready to roll they're off to the fantastic start they're four and one they're five and one now here we are sitting at six and three six and four six and four back-to-back losses both i think it's a flating
00:07:05
Speaker
because of the way the defense played. You've lost three or four where the defense has balled out in all three of your losses. This is one of the most amazing defensive performances I've ever seen. yeah You picked off Garregoff five times. He was spiking the ball into the dirt on a regular freaking basis. yeah I mean, he wasn't even trying to find receivers because there was nowhere to go. He just threw it in the dirt. And you found a way to lose that game. Part of his play calling, part of his missing open receivers,
00:07:35
Speaker
you know Part of it was some offensive line, but it was better than it had been. But man, this one doesn't sting. yeah I mean, there's no way around saying this loss sucked. Well, let me go you a couple of more there. if Number one, that is the first
Offensive Challenges & CJ Stroud
00:07:50
Speaker
time literally in my lifetime that a team has intercepted a quarterback five times and lost. The last time I think was 54 years ago. I am not 54 years old. So that literally first time. Number two, what are the odds of you Just in a season, not much less a month, being plus three in the turnover ratio and twice and losing both times. as it says it absolutely It's absolutes and to have... yeah I can understand if you were trotting out Davis Mills, you know, and your quarterback's hurt and you're trying to
00:08:29
Speaker
just squeeze out a win. But if that's not the case, you've got a healthy CJ Stroud, you've got a healthy Joe Mixon, and you've got at least one of your your trio of wide receivers out there to go make plays. Like there's enough talent on the field that what's happening shouldn't be happening. Cause they show explosiveness in the first half, Scott, they're able to build up leads. And then all of a sudden foot comes off the gas. Well, not only that, but you, you, um, you have three field goals.
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah. on One of which one, at least one, when you have first and goal in the three, you have to punch that sucker in. I mean, that's, that's unexcusable. And then of course, you know, you you come out of the second half, first play of the half, you throw an interception. At that point I could see it happening. At that point I was like, we're losing this damn game.
00:09:22
Speaker
But then you get the pick right back. Yeah, you can get the pick right back. And then you have Pete Dell wide open in the end zone and CJ Stroud inexplicably number one waits to throw it and then aims the ball, you know, not getting enough on it. And there's another pick. Yeah. I mean, I, there's definitely been a little bit of regression this year from CJ. I don't think that's unfair to say.
00:09:48
Speaker
I think a lot has been asked of him too. I think coming in this year, you put a lot on CJ Stroud. I think he's asked to do a lot with the offensive a line that's in front of him. And I think we're right now, we're looking at the consequences of a guy who takes a lot of hits and a guy who takes a lot of sacks and then feels like he has to gain that back with big chunk plays constantly. He has the most third and longs outside of the Sean Watson in the NFL.
00:10:14
Speaker
I think the biggest thing, and and and if we're going to point the arrow where I think we are both pointing it, I think that we are forgetting this is a second year quarterback. And the thing is, you know, second year quarterbacks are still growing. And I think that the problem was is that your offensive coordinator, Bobby Slowik, after a great rookie season, thinks here's Aaron Rodgers in his prime. Let's just let him cook.
00:10:44
Speaker
Well, that sounds great when you have a veteran, like say a Patrick Mahomes, who's at the hype of his career. You know, that's, that sounds great to let them cook it in, but this guy's still growing as a quarterback. I feel, I still think he doesn't have an internal clock good enough to realize that my first target is not available to me. I can't fit it into Xavier Hutchinson. That's that can't be an option.
00:11:13
Speaker
I have to have a safe valve somewhere, a back out of the backfield, tight end. And there's good those guys are there, but i'm he's going to hold on to the ball and he's going to try to make a 30, 40 yard chunk play. And that's what young quarterbacks do. They don't have that maturity yet to sit there and say, it's not happening this play. I need to check this sucker down, gain maybe five or six yards and move on to another play.
00:11:42
Speaker
No, you're absolutely right. And I think you hit the nail on the head in that. Last year, Bobby Sloak schemed up a lot to get guys open for CJ, right? I think the the scheme was more intricate. There were a lot more stick to the play call. This is what we're going to run to get this guy open type of calls where I think this year there's a lot more options at the line of skimming for CJ and he's getting up there. And again, he's, you,
00:12:10
Speaker
you're handing him full reign of everything in year two and We just need a little more scheme, right? Like I think that's what you're saying is there's not enough scheme. There's too much Hey get to the line of scrimmage identify the mic identify coverage tweak routes Hot route to this. Okay go ah he He didn't see it right or hey, you know they They talk about it on the telecast right on that that the Hutchinson play that you mentioned everybody's wondering why is CJ sitting in the pocket there get him on the move get him rolling right
00:12:44
Speaker
That way, if it's not there, he can pick up the three fucking yards that we need with his legs, right? Like, is he Michael Vick? No. But is he a guy that with the momentum, carrying him in that direction, if if the defense is flowing this way and it's not open, straight ahead, three, four yards, slide, get down, keep the keep the fucking drive moving. But instead, because in Bobby's slowest mind, a field goal in that situation was good enough, he was willing to just take a quick, safe little,
00:13:14
Speaker
Opportunity over the middle if it's not there. Well, you know 56 yards. We got it. Whatever we got it, right? Oh, no, we don't got it We gave him a short field now. Here we go. Fucking classic Texans. Here we go. Right? Yeah, and it's just um This team since its inception Scott Through Don Capers through Gary Kubiak through Bill Belichick. I'm sorry through Bill O'Brien and through David Cully, through Lovey Smith, and now on to D'Amico, kick way too many fucking field goals. To the point where like, one of my consistent fantasy football draft theories has always been draft the Texans kicker. For 10, 15 years, this has been a strategy. Doesn't matter who the kicker is. Doesn't matter if it's Kaimi, or Nick Folk, or Amen Dola,
00:14:08
Speaker
or whoever. It doesn't matter if it's a fucking running back off the street. They're still fine taking the field goal because that's been the fucking franchise's philosophy since Chris Brown day one. Hey, AFC South the division chance Brian.
00:14:27
Speaker
You know, and it's funny because I use that a lot. I really do. But it's also so like, So it's, we're just fine being mediocre, Brian. Is that what it is too? Right? Like Bill, is that like as funny, it's so frustrating. Like the philosophy has just always been take the three, three is good enough. Here's the thing, Tim. Do you see any other AFC South team getting to seven wins? No. I mean, maybe the Colts get to seven and 10. So.
00:15:04
Speaker
Is the bar, Hey, we're eight and nine. We're AC South champions. We're nine and eight. Let's fucking go. Is that, I mean, is that where we're at? I mean, and and I get it, you know, you're going to get Nico Collins back. That's going to help. I mean, I, and I, and I'm going to get to, you know, my hat tips. I'm going to get to my scumbags. It's all going to be interrelated.
00:15:26
Speaker
boy I've seen about enough of Xavier Hutchinson. I've seen enough of him. He doesn't get any separation. ah And we've seen it. Robert Woods, he's okay for an occasional catch. But I mean, that couldn't have been the plan. The plan couldn't been, hey, get it to Hutchinson over the middle. You can't watch that game and watch every play that he's played and see the lack of separation and go like, that's our plan. We're gonna die on that hill.
00:16:03
Speaker
I see what you're saying, but I also think that slow. It's the kind of guy who's like, I'm going to outthink everybody. And we're going to hit Hutchinson over the middle first slant. And he's going to be open because I don't even hate the idea. But like, if that's what you go do, at least go to like, get Robert Woods in that spot. Right. Give me the fucking 10 year vet who has made a career of making big third down catches, not the guy he drafted in the seventh round, who, as you said, has no separation.
00:16:32
Speaker
Well, and so here's my, here's my question, Tim. Um, so I'm going to give you three possibilities. And I think all of these have some level of blame here, but I'm just going to ask you the question of who is more to blame. Is it a the players? Is it be slow, it or is it D'Amico Ryan's for, you know, continuing this train going without apparently putting his foot down?
00:17:04
Speaker
That's a great question. I mean, I think obviously if the offensive line does its job, Bobby still might look like a genius if, if, if Stroud has time to, to do this, right? But then again, a good coordinator knows what his team is playing with and will adjust accordingly. So I, I, I still feel like at the end of the day,
00:17:34
Speaker
I don't want to say D'Amico's done his job because, you know, his job is to coach the whole team, but you know, this team has a tenacity. This team has a swarm mentality. Like D'Amico's instilled, but he's going to instill. And then you're trusting your offensive coordinator to just call the fucking game. Right. And I think at the end of the day, the calls are what's most
Coaching Accountability & Player Performance
00:17:54
Speaker
questionable sometimes. Like we're predictable as fuck on offense. Two runs in a pass, like book it. I look at Dano.
00:18:02
Speaker
And I'm not, and and I'm not going to sit here and, um, because I already had my, my horse's ass picked out and it's neither of these guys that we've discussed. So I feel okay saying this. I don't know if you heard D'Amico's comments about the Titus Howard play, you know, yeah I texted you about that. but yeah And I don't know if you watched that play, uh, that replay, but.
00:18:28
Speaker
D'Amico Ryan is trying to sell us on. Well, no, he was just trying to hold CJ Stroud up. No, no D'Amico. I can see my eyes work. I had eye surgery. I have pretty decent vision and I could see that Titus Howard tried to take the ball away. Was he trying to help the team? Sure. I guess you can make, you know, in a case that hundred plus Lyman is going to take the ball from his quarterback and amble on about 15 yards to get the first First down, yeah, that, no, I don't think that works, but stop propping your guys up. Stop making excuses for them. You know, Laramie Tussle got his ass beat on that play. And, you know, the excuse was, well, we had some problems with the cadence and that's that, no, your left tackle got his ass beat. You don't even have to call his name out.
00:19:27
Speaker
You can just say that, you know, the protection up front just wasn't what we thought it was going to be on that play. Titus Howard also quit on his block. I mean, that's part of the reason why this play happens. And so to me, we need some brutal honesty that you cannot defend your guys anymore. When your guys are playing like dog shit, it's time to say that they're playing like dog shit.
00:19:53
Speaker
You know, I love the idea of protecting your guys and there's ways to say it without calling out specific names. But it's time to sit there and say, we need some guys to step up. I agree. Like they keep saying we're having players only, they had a players only meeting. There's another players only meeting coming. Like you got a room full of guys.
00:20:18
Speaker
that came to Houston with the expectation, they're going to be really fucking good this year, right? Like Joe Mixon came to, came to Houston with high expectations digs, although no longer part of the, you know, guys on the roster came to Houston with the expectation. He's going to help push this team over the edge. You know, you've got guys within who came into the season thinking this is the year.
Texans vs. Cowboys Preview
00:20:40
Speaker
So I, you know, the players only meetings, I get it, but you're right. Like.
00:20:44
Speaker
guys have to be held accountable. and And I think sometimes as a young head coach, you don't want to go too far the other way because it's tough to get it back, right? Like once you cross too far over to that other side and you bite off a little bit more, it's tough to unchew that, right? you You can always get a little bit tougher, but you can never truly dial it back and get that relationship back to where you had it. So I think that's a fine line that he's trying to walk as a former player, but Yeah, when your left tackle misses the block and your right tackle tries to take the ball and run forward with it, like this is fucking the blind side. Um, I don't know what else to say. Like, I mean, that's, that's like Hollywood dumb, not another teen movie kind of bullshit, right? Like it doesn't even happen in the real movies about football. It happens in the satire ones that make fun of those movies. No, no, I can tell you what it is, Tim. Uh, Titus gets $50,000 for every fumble recovery. So, you know, why not create your own fumble?
00:21:43
Speaker
And then you landed on the ball. It would be like, you know, be like, say Fred van Vliet. So, you know what? I think I can score 10 tonight, but instead of going after 10 assists, I'm going to throw the ball out of bounds 10 times. I got a double double. I got 10 points, 10 tone overs. Pay me more. I mean, it's that level of ridiculousness. I mean, that's like, that's literally what people make fun of.
00:22:09
Speaker
like Angel Reese for right like where she gets a double double but eight of her rebounds are like her own Miss layup attempts that she then rebounds and puts it back up again Yeah, I mean it's it's like those Leon commercials and do you ever Remember those Leon commercials. Oh No, it's like the guy Leon in the locker room. It's like I can't do this alone anymore I need some help and then reporters like so your four fumbles didn't play a role in your mind You didn't see anybody else falling on it So I guess there's no I in team. Yeah, they ain't no we either.
00:22:45
Speaker
So Scott, let's try and put a positive spin on it and look forward to next week. Texans are the Monday night football game against the cowgirls prime time again, third week in a row. Um, there will be no glare to distract any of the players. This one's a night game. Could you believe Jerry? Like he started talking about the fucking moon at one point, right?
00:23:08
Speaker
Someone said, like, that's what happens when your own is like eight Johnny Walker's deep after the game and you hit him with that shit. Well, you know, I was going to say, can can we do this a solid and please just take Jerry off the air? I mean, can we do that? I mean, and then to sit there and he's like, well, I've investigated the whole Michael Parsons, you know, comment situation. I've been I've talked to everybody involved. It's like,
00:23:38
Speaker
So we're at the point now where the owner's yanking in guys. Okay. So I heard this on your podcast. Uh, what were you thinking there? Uh, let's see, uh, Mike McCarthy, uh, you know, what do you think of this? I mean, is that really where we're at? I think it is like, I, I, I don't know how long, like you own the team, right? Like, first of all,
00:24:05
Speaker
This is like when the cops investigate themselves and they're like, we did an investigation and we found no wrongdoing. You're just like, obviously like you. Yeah, of course. Like, do you really think?
00:24:16
Speaker
Like a Jerry Jones led investigation is going to go anywhere. I got to think a fucking episode of blues clues has a little bit more detective work than anything that Jerry Jones is going to put together at this point.
Jerry Jones & Cowboys Critique
00:24:27
Speaker
Like I got to think his kids have like a coloring book and like, that's like leading them through an activity, like maze or whatever it is. Like, okay, Jerry, here's the next clue as to why your team fucking hates your coach. All right, let's watch this. And this is why it's just insanity. Like, well, and I was really rooting for Trey last to get the start.
00:24:46
Speaker
He looked terrible when he came in too. Yeah, because I was like, you know, we could see another four or five interception games if he gets in there. and And let's look at what the what the Dallas Cowboys have put up at home. Have they? I don't think they've won at home yet this year, have they? I don't know. I don't know if they have. I don't think so. And I think they're averaging well over 20 points per loss. I mean, I think that the Texans are seven point favorites on the one hand.
00:25:14
Speaker
We've only won one game by more than a touchdown. But on the other hand, I don't know that I could trust the Cowboys to keep it a game.
00:25:25
Speaker
I could trust Bobby Sloak to keep it a game. If they get up 28-0, I see just a steady diet of handoff and play action on third down and just like try and get out of there with a 28-20 victory and hope for the best. right like I want to see this team beat the fuck out of the Cowboys, right? Like that's just like you, I, how do you not, right? As a Houston fan living in Dallas, one, ah you know, flying a Houston Astros flag at his front yard, as we speak, I want my team to rub it, rub it in their face and do it for four fucking quarters, not for two and a half, and then call the dogs off and barely get out of there.
00:26:06
Speaker
and Can we, um, can we get the NFL on, you know, for a mercy killing and say, like, let's take the Cowboys off of prime time for the rest of the year? It'll never happen cause jerry will'll never have because they're going to put the giants on in their stead. I was about to ask you, who would you rather, would you rather have a giants prime time game or a Cowboys prime time game right now?
00:26:25
Speaker
I have more schadenfreude watching the Cowboys get there. I was thinking the same thing. There's just the schadenfreude factor. Like the Giants are just awful to watch, but it is fun to watch the Cowboys loose. Like that is something I do take a little, little pleasure in. Yeah. So, uh, I think Nick this next week, I think this is a, hopefully a get well game for the Texans. And I think, you know, Sloak was doing some good things in the first half with playing more of a speed game.
00:26:52
Speaker
And you know, and obviously the blocking was better in the first half, all four sacks. Oh, wait, did one sack happen in the first half, I think. And then, so and then three sacks in the second half. So, and I understand that, you know, when your offensive line sucks, that your options are not that limited. But see, here's the thing. We haven't scored a second half touchdown in a month. I want to know what Bobby Slovak's doing at halftime.
00:27:17
Speaker
And that's the other thing where, you know, D'Amico's kind of trying to prop everything up. Well, we're constantly doing adjustments and it's like, yes, you and Matt Burke are constantly doing adjustments. Is your offensive coordinator doing adjustments? Yeah, I think he is. I think the adjustment is, Hey, I've got this whole playbook to use to start the game. Okay. And then when we get to the second half with the lead,
00:27:43
Speaker
I've got these three pages that I can, yeah I've got this little quote, this is with lead second half place. And then the rest of the sheet is first half place. So he is adjusting to this tiny fucking portion of second half with lead. Yeah. And then and of course, you know, what makes it worse is that you're starting running back who is one of the top five running backs in the NFL. No questions asked has less than two yards of carrot.
00:28:09
Speaker
I mean, clearly everybody in the fucking world knows that if the Texans are going to have any success that Joe Mixon needs to get a bill on the ground, right? Like the easiest way to shut the Texans down right now is to stop the run and force CJ Stroud into third and 10 because we run it first and second down 80% of the fucking time.
Cowboys Financial Decisions
00:28:29
Speaker
When was the last time? I mean, we, we don't do hardly any screens. We're not doing play action.
00:28:35
Speaker
How about a fucking wheel route into the flat? How about like, let the blitz come and just floss the little wheel route out there? Yeah, I don't know. It's, it's inexplicable. And it was like watching a car wreck in slow motion. I mean, you ever, you ever had that feeling where you're watching something happen and you're like, I know this is happening and I'm powerless to stop it.
00:28:57
Speaker
This is it was similar to it was a similar feeling to the chief playoffs game Chiefs playoff game We're like obviously our season is not over and it's not the same high stakes but like I never felt comfortable in that playoff game getting up where we did and The moment like you said the moment we threw a pick to start the second half. Oh, here we go again texting the prime time here we go again and I'll be I hate primetime game Scott. I really do. I hate waiting all fucking day. I to watch this shit, or or just this is the second half, right? like um I It's frustrating, but again, I think you're right. The Cowboys just seem to be a dumpster fire like that. or like if If Jerry Jones wasn't outside of football the businessman that he is, because I think you do have to give it credit. like He has leveraged the Cowboys brand to a maximum in this city, makes a lot of money off of it,
00:29:55
Speaker
If he wasn't that level of a businessman, this team would be viewed like, like the fucking Carolina of Panthers, right? Yeah. I mean, right now. and And I think what's, what's really sad is that you could see this coming from a mile away. I mean, when you, number one, when he retained Mike McCarthy and it's like, this guy's dead coach walking even before you played a game. And number two, when you sat there and waited until practically September to sign CD lamb and deck Prescott.
00:30:24
Speaker
Why did we wait? Why did you wait that long? You knew you were going to pay them. You had to pay them probably a magnitude of combined 20 million more a season than you probably would have if you had just done it, you know, the very first thing out of the gate in the off season. It doesn't, you know, and that 20 million a year probably would have been enough to get Michael Parsons done. And you would have had all three of your stars locked in. Right. And I think now.
00:30:54
Speaker
Parsons will never resign, right? I gotta think he's Audi. I gotta think... I gotta think Mike McCarthy is done at the end of the year. He never should have been hired in the first place. That was... But again, that goes back to the Cowboys' ineptitude. You have a guy who was given the one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, and you got one fucking ring out of him? You got one fucking Super Bowl ring out of Aaron Rodgers at a time where his best competition in the AFC North was J. Fucking Cutler.
00:31:23
Speaker
He had a ticket to the playoffs every single year, and you couldn't scheme up enough offense for Aaron Rodgers to get more than one ring? Get the fuck out of here, why? Why would I even take an interview with you, let alone hire you? Well, in the fact that he lied about, oh, I watched all this tape and he didn't do jack shit.
00:31:42
Speaker
And yeah yeah, I don't know. But all you had to do was look at the fucking Packers games to realize that like their game plan was let Aaron Rodgers played backyard football and run around and find guys open late after like six, seven seconds of, of being unblocked and throw it deep and and let somebody make a play at the end of the game. Like I, I am not a Michael Parsons fan. However, when I listened to that and he let it slip that, you know, some of these veterans are here when the coach is not here.
00:32:13
Speaker
And I'm like sitting there thinking, that's true. It's not wrong. you know and And you put the offense in his hands and you've given him no running game. you know You would take a gifted offensive coordinator to take the Cowboys offense and do you know amazing things with it. And he's not gifted. I don't even mind that they didn't go spend big money in the off season on a running back, right? like If you have a good enough offensive line, you can draft a guy straight out of college that's good and put him behind a dope offensive line and he'll be successful. See Zeke Elliott, his first year or two in the league, right? Like that Cowboys offensive line just churned out thousand yard rushers for quite some time because it was a monster.
00:33:04
Speaker
But that's not that line anymore, and then you didn't even prioritize it in the draft You didn't go pick a guy high in the draft to come be the running back of the future You you've got a guy late you got some you know undrafted free agent six seventh round type talent But you didn't prioritize it either through the offensive line or through an elite running back who could make people miss and it's just mind-numbing that you would Ignore it from both angles, right? Because you can have an elite run the game without paying a super expensive back if the offensive line is good enough. And theirs is not.
00:33:45
Speaker
because you had to pay $70 million to Dak Prescott. You've got to pay C.D. Lamb record-breaking receiving money because you let him sit there and watch all of his counterparts get more and more and more and more to the point where, as you said, it costs you an extra $20 million dollars because you let everybody else get their deals first. That should have been done two years ago. The moment you created Mari Cooper, you extend C.D. Lamb and go, you're our guy for the next hour of a walk.
00:34:12
Speaker
Well, ne and my question is, with Dak Prescott, how many quarterbacks in the NFL are better than him? 10 or 12, maybe. So are you paying somebody who's not even in the top 10, $60, $70 million dollars a year? No, but they put themselves in that position. Yeah. i mean that's And and i out in to me, I like C.D. Lamb fine. He's no Justin Jefferson.
00:34:41
Speaker
he's not you know He's not Jamar Chase. i mean i't Is Tony Romo, in your opinion, heads and tails better than Dak Prescott was right now? I don't know. Head and shoulders better. I think they're pretty similar quality players. Maybe I'm wrong. Tony Romo got top level money as whole. like From the moment he got a contract, he got top level money. well They determined he was the guy, and they paid him to be the guy. Let's see. But that's what I'm saying is you're paying two guys
00:35:13
Speaker
Like they're the best at their position. CDLAM is not the best receiver in the NFL. I don't know anybody who thinks that. Right. But when you wait till a week before training camp and you realize I got nothing without these two guys on offense, you're right. You got to pay more. Like you well for a guy who is a good businessman, Jerry, let himself be worked over. And fucking Jamar Chase, I'll tell you what, Jamar Chase may have saved Ann from some serious embarrassment because she is in a high stakes fantasy football league.
00:35:46
Speaker
She did not know anything about fantasy football. In fact, she just, she let it auto draft. And so she's got like Jamar chase, Justin Jefferson, and she's got like all these like stacked wide receivers, but her quarterback stock and her running back suck. Well, Jamar chase just put up 50 plus fantasy points. Now what's the stakes? i I tell you last place has to go through with a dare.
00:36:12
Speaker
The best dare that she can go through with is that she has to sit in a waffle house for 24 hours. And the only way she can get out of that is that she gets one hour taken off for every waffle she eats. How many waffles you think you could put down? If you spaced it out, I could probably get down four or five. I think if I'm medicated, I could do like six waffles.
00:36:41
Speaker
So either way, I'm still in a fucking waffle house. not I'm not playing the damn, you know, name that tune. I could do that in six waffles.
Rockets Performance & Key Players
00:36:52
Speaker
I think six, like, I think I could do six waffles if I went in, like, elevated, munching. Well, like I said, fortunately, I think Jamar Chase, she was tied for last place. I think Jamar Chase got her a win this week. So, you know, she's, she's okay for right now.
00:37:11
Speaker
Speaking of wins, this week's got the Rockets starting to play some good basketball. A little bit of a lull to start the year. Lost some games that maybe looked winnable, but now all of a sudden the team's starting to get rolling a little bit, starting to find its identity.
00:37:30
Speaker
players are kind of maybe understanding their roles a little bit more this year. And and I think this team, especially since Ken Whitmore has transitioned to the G League, um, it's starting to flow a little bit more and and playing some very good basketball. Yeah, I was going to say that I think the, the, I think there's one positive you're going to get to in one of your hat tips. So I'm going to kind of leave that one aside for the time being, but I think my biggest overall hat tip in terms of this team is has been Jalen Green. He hasn't had every game be balls out all-star level play but there were games last year where he just flat didn't seem interested and disappeared. I think he has been present in every one of these games. He's done something to help them at least stay in the game
00:38:24
Speaker
And then there's been, of course, some games where he balls out and he's you know the best player on the floor. um I think if you're going to go between the two big money players right now, Sengoon has definitely been the more disappointing of the two. However, our last two games have been good Sengoon games too. Right, they have. But he's been more inconsistent. I was expecting more consistent production from him than certainly Jalen Green. But I think top to bottom,
00:38:54
Speaker
there's just more on this team than has been in the past. I think the, uh, there's one guy we're going to get to in the hat tips that I'm going to leave for that purpose. But I think on the bench, you know, Steven Adams ah has done some tough meat off the bench, you know, getting some tough boards. I think, um, Eamonn Thompson, I think has taken a step forward this year. He's still not a star player because of his lack of shooting ability.
00:39:22
Speaker
But I think he's doing enough to be a weapon, at least off the bench. And of course, you've got those veterans like Fred Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks, who, you know, may not be star players. I mean, they're being, they're probably overpaid if you're looking at, you know, from the prism of what you normally get out of players, making that kind of money, but they're showing up every night and they're doing stuff. You know, you mentioned Amen Thompson, not necessarily great shooting two, of two from three tonight, double, double.
00:39:52
Speaker
Rockets up eight under four minutes left to go in the fourth quarter for Amen um And I couldn't agree more with you on Adams on on Adams a There were times last year where it just seemed like it was the fucking Olay right down Main Street, you know have at it and every good basketball team has a guy that Hey, I've got six fouls tonight. I'm going to at least use four or five of them, right? Like I'm going to get my fouls in. I'm going to play physical tonight. I'm going to give you 20, 22 minutes off the bench and they're going to be painful for the other team. That's what playoff teams have. You've got to have a fucking banger, right? You've got to have somebody go in there and let them know like that's just not going to fly when I'm in the game.
00:40:45
Speaker
I mean, eleven even late in his career, Kimbae Mutombo did that for the Rockets. Like, Mutombo will come in for 20 minutes and let you know, like, you're not coming down here without one of fucking these coming your way. It doesn't always have to be, I'm gonna put you on your ass, but it does need to be a, I'm blocking your shit. I'm getting it out of here. Steven Adams is a physical, intimidating guy who's not gonna let you just own the paint. And it's the Goons having a night where he's getting Pushed around down low. It's nice to have a guy like Steven Adams to say okay. Go slow down. Go slow down the big fella Yeah, he's unfortunately. He's not playing tonight because I think they're still Banged up for a little bit well they They came out of camp, and they said that you know pretty much I don't think he's gonna be playing back-to-backs You know he he's missed three or four. He's missed two the last game. He's been banged up, but yeah, he's not playing back-to-backs which is
00:41:38
Speaker
I hate Jock Landale. It's not nothing personal against him. But if the situation with Adams is going to be the way it is, give me another veteran who also can't play back to backs and space those guys off of each other and have two of a similar type player because because Jock Landale gets bullied in a paint way too often. Yeah, I mean, I understand what he's there for. I mean, he was, you know, really played well for Australia in the Olympics. But yeah, it's Yeah, I mean, he's he does. I guess he it depends on the minutes, but I think it's unfortunate that basically they they came out in the beginning of the year and and they said, you know, they all all but admitted that Adams is going to be limited to maybe 40 or 50 games this year. Yeah, just because, you know, they don't want any setbacks and and he's on board with that, which is, I think, the best thing. And so he's a guy that if you're strategic. You pick the right opponents.
00:42:36
Speaker
Hey, go out and give me 15, 20 minutes against this team that has a good big, big and you know, and that's, that's the kind of thing you want to want from him. I agree with you on that. I'm just saying tonight, Jock Lando's got 17 minutes tonight. Yeah. You've got to have a better option than that. And if you know, he's a like, if you know, Jalen, and sorry, if you know, Adams is only going to play say half the games.
00:42:59
Speaker
Give me another older veteran, you know, give me, or give me a beefy guy. Like give me something other than Jock Landale, who is not going to, uh, get pushed around the way that he does. Yeah. Cause that's the problem. I think when you look at this team, the one thing they're missing is, you know, without Steven Adams, who is another big four or five on this team other than your starters?
00:43:23
Speaker
There isn't. Like, when Adam doesn't play, you spend more time doing a combination of Jabari Smith and, uh, Sangoon playing center than anything else. Like, you go small. When, when Smith comes out, I mean, when Sangoon comes out, they, they move small and go Smith at center for a fair amount of it. And then Landale will spell both of them in place, you know, his 17 minutes a game, but I don't know, man. I, I just think.
00:43:51
Speaker
what Adams brings is valuable, but there's other players who can do that in small stretches when he's not available. And I'd rather find a player similar to that than a completely third type of skill set center that Jacque Landau is that maybe doesn't translate to what this team needs. And so, you know, this team, you know, assuming, knocking onwood here you know, we win the night's game as eight and
Rockets Future Trades & Leadership
00:44:16
Speaker
four. However, I would caution everybody that we really haven't played anybody yet.
00:44:21
Speaker
ah We did play OKC. We lost to OKC. But really, other than that, I can't think of a really good opponent that we've played. And so the schedule is going to get to the point where there's going to be a crunch where it's going to look like this team is playing worse because we're playing tougher opponents. And we have to remember that really outside of Steven Adams, this team has added Reed Shepard and that's it. And Reed Shepard is getting some minutes.
00:44:48
Speaker
but he's not at the point yet where he's really making a big time difference off the bench. So I don't know how you would expect this team to be much above 500 overall when you consider that they really haven't added anybody outside of Adams. I still think there's a move coming for this Rockets team. i think I think they fully anticipate a ah a disgruntled star before the deadline and they're going to be willing to use just some of this collection of young talent they have. I think, I think they're cognizant of the fact that like, you can't have a core of eight guys, right? Like you can't have this ever growing core. At some part you got to commit to two or three of those guys. These are our stars. Use the rest to go get somebody, use the draft capital. I think that's the position they're in. I think they're, they're kind of like the Clippers, you know, before they went and they got,
00:45:44
Speaker
um kawaii and paul george like they're a collection of good gritty very good basketball players that had a fair amount of assets to make some things happen then they got their stars and then they were ready to run this team's still waiting for that superstar whether one of the guys we paid morphs into that or you've got amen you've got jabari you've got first round picks you've got reed shepherd you've got um Cam Whitmore, if you can get back and show some things, you might go get somebody who's pissed off and doesn't think their team has a way to win anymore. Kofkosh Giannis, right? Like those are things that are floating out there. Do I want to bet the future on Giannis? Not necessarily, but like that's a star that might want out. You've got Devin Booker in, in Phoenix. That's a star that might want out. There are guys that are going to be disgruntled. And I think that's where the Rockets really are going to take their final shape and form.
00:46:43
Speaker
So, I mean, I think we can both assume that this team is pretty loaded at the guard position. So if you had your druthers, would you want a small forward star or would you want like a center star? I'd want like a stretch four.
00:47:01
Speaker
I think, you know, also it also depends on who are we trading, right? Like if we're keeping Sengoon, like I want a guy who could stretch the court and let Sengoon work around in space, who's maybe just a more polished, better version of what you want your body Smith to be, right? Like instead of a guy giving you 12 and eight, I've now got a 20 and 12 guy playing the four, you know? Cause I'm, I'm, you know, looking at this team right now, I think to me, the weakest spot is the three.
00:47:28
Speaker
Um, unless you're going to play Amen Thompson there, uh, for any extended minutes, because Dylan Brooks is just, he's not a score. He's, he's not, you know, a consistent enough score. So to me, like, if you like, what were to happen if like, Miami were to blow it up and say, we got Jimmy Butler. Do you want him? I think that'd be an interesting one, especially if you're giving up Dylan Brooks, because with Brooks, like you, he is a stopper.
00:47:58
Speaker
Right. Like every, every championship team has that guy, right? Like Shane Batier was a big part of the heats championships for a reason. Cause you just need somebody who your job is to stop that other guy. Like Ron, our test was a valuable player in the league for a long time because he was able to go out and shut down guys offensively, or at least make them have a very long, laborious night and you'll get your 20, but you shot it 30 times to give it. Right. Like you, that guy is valuable.
00:48:27
Speaker
I don't know if Dylan Brooks is the best version of that guy, but it's who we have right now. Yeah. And Jimmy Butler is that guy who can score. Right. But Jimmy also, Jimmy wants to do, like Jimmy's a very different type of player, right? Like I, I don't know if he necessarily fits into what we're trying to do here. That'd be a question that I, you know, there'd have to be some conversations with Jimmy, like here's how we play here in Houston. Like I don't want,
00:48:56
Speaker
i don't I don't want some of the things we've seen portrayed out in the media to happen here with a young basketball team. I don't want any schisms the way that happened in Minnesota. That's kind of the same thing with the Giannis, I think, is that, you know, Giannis would probably want, you know, to touch the ball way too often. To me, the value of this team is that you've got a multitude of guys that can go off.
00:49:22
Speaker
I think what this team is missing is that one guy who said I'm going to get you 20 plus points every night. I don't think we have this guy on that team. I think we do. I think it's, je I think Jalen Green's that guy. I mean, Jalen didn't have a good night tonight and he got you 21 points. Like Jalen will get you 20 every night. I don't think he's efficient enough with him. I think you've got to have to think about James Harden was When it wasn't working from the field, he would find a way to get to the free throw line 15, 16 times, right? Like Jalen doesn't do that enough. He's seven of 21 to get his 21 points. Like guy takes a lot of, of contested shots of, of jump shots. I think he's a better complimentary player. Like you saw even.
00:50:12
Speaker
Again, I think the comparison for Jalen, his ceiling is Dwayne Wade, right? Dwayne Wade was never a great jump shooter. Dwayne Wade was a streaky jump shooter. Dwayne Wade was a guy who can get in the paint and wreak havoc. Dwayne Wade played his best basketball.
00:50:26
Speaker
next to LeBron James, right? Dwayne Wade was able to do so much more when you have that steady presence on the floor of LeBron that has to have so much focus and attention paid to him that now the coverage on Dwayne, on Jalen in this situation is more one-on-one. And now he can do what he does best, which is get in the paint and brief havoc. Yeah, the guy I would compare him to that's currently playing is Devin Booker, like you mentioned. Because if you look at Devin Booker,
00:50:56
Speaker
Devin Booker was never good enough on his own to lead a team to the Promised Land. It took getting pieces around him. I think Jalen Green is ideally a number two yeah number two option on your team. and And the problem is right now, I don't think Sengoon is quite good enough to be number one. I think he's an excellent player. He's a guy I love having on my team.
00:51:21
Speaker
And, you know, I actually think things move more efficiently through him than they moved through Jalen, but he's just not quite, he's not a joker yet. Yeah. Not quite on that level. So I would love a guy that can be that every time out I'm getting 20 points. You mentioned Harden. Harden's a perfect example because Harden not only got to the line,
00:51:49
Speaker
Harden was getting 10-12-13 assist tonight. So you need a guy who's going to be that dominant off offensive player who's going to do something positive for your team every night. I think i think what you you hit the nail on the head, right? You've got a couple of guys on this team that would be fantastic second options. But you don't have that guy yet who's going to propel this team forward. Even taking it past the James Harden era, TMac was a guy that you knew was going to give you, you know, in a, in a time where teams were winning games, you know, 89, 80, T Mac was going to give you 21, 22 points. He was going to account for seven, eight assists. He was going to give you a 10 rebounds. He was, you know, he was going to count for 30% of your offense. When you look at his assists and points, you go back even further. Hakeem Hakeem was going to give you, you know, 20, 25 points. He was going to give you 10 rebounds. He was going to draw a lot of attention and and get open looks for guys.
00:52:49
Speaker
Those guys, their points are great, but it's the eyeballs too, right? Everybody has to game plan for what they're going to do offensively. That just opens everything up. When the Rockets come to town and you could just play straight, your regular straight up defense because they don't have that guy. We're just going to, we're just going to play great defense tonight. We don't have to worry about one single player and Hey, hopefully the Rockets can find a guy that's a mismatch. They can take advantage of that. Now everybody's scrambling.
00:53:18
Speaker
But if not and we're just evenly matched, that's when those games become a little bit more hard because you just don't have that guy who says, oh, I'm going to go take this bad boy over. Yeah, I agree.
Astros Free Agents & Financial Strategy
00:53:31
Speaker
All right. Let's make a little quick trip down a free agency lane, some expensive guys out on the market. Astros have some top talent leaving the team. There's some predictions on where they'll go that are out from, um,
00:53:45
Speaker
It's a MLB free agent tracker. I believe is the website, Scott, the top three. outpo Yeah, there's multiple. There's multiple sites out there that are predicting these things. Top three out three agents leaving our Kukuchi, Bregman, Justin Verlander. Scott, any thoughts on, on some of the early predictions? So, uh, the, the predicted contract for Bregman was seven years, one 82. So that's 20, 26 million a year.
00:54:14
Speaker
Not my money, but do it in a heartbeat. OK, I think I would do that too. And so if not Houston, where do you think would be his best fit? Playing second base for the Yankees, it would suck. But I don't think Torres is coming back. I don't think Soto is coming back. I think they're going to get outspent on Soto. And they got to do something enough to lose in the World Series the way they did. Yeah, I think that's Um, but one of the things that's kind of underrated and I, and obviously Scott Boris is not going to consider this because Scott Boris is an ass, but Bregman is projected to hit more home runs in Houston than every ball part, except for one. Um, and I think that's course. Um, but he, I mean, he, I mean, Houston, he's going to get going to be solid 20 to 25 home runs. And I think if you signed him.
00:55:11
Speaker
I don't think he did this last year where he bulks up trying to go, I'm going to hit 40 home runs. I think Bregman kind of is going to slide in and kind of realize this is who I am. He's going to go back to the guy that probably takes more walks and he's going to be that Bregman of old that, you know, we're used to. So I would do that contract. Now, second contract here, Tim, Kukuchi three years, 60 million all day.
00:55:40
Speaker
I mean, again, not my money, but I think that's a good deal for him at the level he pitched last year with the Astros, right? If you get that guy again, $20 million dollars a year for a starter who's giving you that, that type of outing each and every time through the rotation is a no brainer. However, he's never pitched like that outside of Houston. Yeah, I was going to say, and I said this in my article and I got taken to task and it's like, Oh yeah, he's better than that. And I'm like,
00:56:07
Speaker
His career yeah ERA plus is 91. What that means is that he's 9% worse than the career average. If you looked at what he did in Houston, he was a 140 plus. He didn't have anything worth in 30 points of that in any season of his career. Now, I don't know who his representatives are, but to me, if I'm him, I want another saber-metrically minded organization.
00:56:37
Speaker
I want another one that's going to go with the decision science. He's a Boris guy. Boris is not going to give a shit. But to me, if if I'm if I'm or if I were Boris, I'd be like, if Houston's not going to give you that money, let's take a look at Baltimore. That's a nice ballpark for pitchers, especially fly ball pitchers. And that's a team that hired most of the Houston, you know, stat bros. So that's an organization I feel like would take most advantage of his abilities if you weren't in Houston. I don't disagree with you, but I think that's going to be a a Jordan Montgomery situation where it's going to bang around. It's going to take longer. He's going to take a deal with a team that probably is going to end up regretting it simply because he doesn't perform that way. Well, and and the the reality is that we are seven or eight million as we stand right now underneath the tax threshold. You know, after your arbitration eligibility, I'll get there.
00:57:39
Speaker
So they've talked about trading Ryan Presley. OK, fantastic. That clears about $14 million. But you're still a little over $20 million. So if you sign Bregman, you're done. I think you've got to be willing to pay. I mean, at the end of the day, I think there are teams that are willing to pay the tax, and there's teams that aren't. And I think at this point in the Astros Dynasty or where you're at, right? It's gonna be a little bit more expensive if you want to keep doing this And I think at some point you gotta be willing to pay. Yeah, and then so the third guy JV Verlander one year 12 million So are you in on that one? Probably not ah Yeah, and and especially if you're talking about Throwing money cuckoo cheese way in Bregman's way. I mean you're you're blowing a hole through that tax.
00:58:33
Speaker
Yeah. And in the in the beauty of it is, I guess, is that you're going to have the Montero money and you're going to have the Abreu money clear after this year. So, you know, that's what 30, you know, 30 plus million. So maybe you're only blowing a hole through the tax for one year. yeah But then you're also talking about Fromber, you're also talking about Tucker. So, I mean, that you're in a tough money situation right Now, if I don't get Kukuchi, you know, I, if I could get Berliner for 10 a year for 10 million, I'd be interested in that. But I don't see him taking that. I see a team like Detroit thrown in 15 million for the year. Yeah. Um, the other, the teams that I saw mentioned were, um, West coast teams. I saw the giants in the dodgers mission and the the giants, that's not a bad play. That's a great ballpark for pitchers.
00:59:30
Speaker
Um, and I could see them sitting there saying, Hey, this is a guy for one year that we think, you know, could solidify our rotation. My problem with JV is I don't know if he's going to give us 150 innings. No, he's not. And, and that's, and I want a guy, if I'm going to pay a guy 12 million. I mean, Oteriesi was about that kind of player and he was the guy that got gave you about 140, 150 innings. I wouldn't mind an Oteriesi type. If you're going to get, you know, pay that kind of money.
01:00:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think it all just depends on if you can get Kukuchi or not. But let's keep this trainer rolling. um Now, before we get to a different part of the show, I know Scott and I want to take a moment just to make a little special comment.
Podcast Segment Changes
01:00:13
Speaker
um We're going to be changing the direction a little bit of the scumbag of the week. I think it was all in good fun to laugh at some of the absurdity that was coming out of ah part of our country and and from some of the campaign things. But um now at this point, it's we're beyond laughing. And it's it's no longer a laughing matter. It's an acting matter. and you know Scott and I have our sub-stacks. We have our other um areas that we'll willll address those items. But um just for our own peace and personal sanity, we're goingnna
01:00:55
Speaker
try and transition the the show more towards just staying on the sports side of things. And and the scumbags of the week are going to be sports related. And and the horse's ass will kind of drift back more to it its original form, which is the git racist ah ah you know Brian Abreu, or Jose Abreu, or Rafael Montero out of town award. So I think we're going to start making that transition a little bit. Yeah. since Okay. So you want me to lead off with the horse's ass? Yeah. Let's, let's, uh, let's go that direction. I'm not, I'm not, you know, in light of Tim's comments just now, I don't want this guy kicked out of town. I'm giving him a side eye and the guy I'm giving side eye to is Nick Casario.
Texans Trade Deadline Inaction
01:01:44
Speaker
Because let me, let me just run through this here. The Buffalo bills, would you consider them a contender? Yeah.
01:01:51
Speaker
They went out and got themselves a wide receiver. Pittsburgh Steelers, would you consider them under a contender? I think you have to, yeah. They went out and got themselves a wide receiver. Baltimore Ravens, would you consider them a contender? Yeah. They went out and got themselves a wide receiver. Kansas City Chiefs, yeah. They went out and got a former Texan, and he's paid immediate dividends. Even non-contender Dallas Cowboys wouldn't got a receiver.
01:02:19
Speaker
Well, and not only that, and non-contender, the New York Jets went out and got themselves a wide receiver as well. So I don't understand. Maybe, and and and I get it. You know, you're working the phones. It's not like he's sitting on his hands, but you couldn't find one backup lineman that could come in here and just be another body. You couldn't find another wide receiver that's better than Xavier Hutchinson.
01:02:49
Speaker
Because I'm, you know, i' I'm so actually going to switch my, you know, and when I do my hat tip, I'm going to switch gears here because I'm going to mention a guy, but I'm sorry. I've seen enough of Xavier Hutchinson. This guy can't get open. I've seen enough of Robert Woods. Robert Woods is not a starting wide receiver in the NFL. Right now you've got, if Nico Collins is healthy, you've got two wide receivers and you've got a third guy I'm going to mention.
01:03:19
Speaker
But if one of those two guys, Tankdell or Nico Collins is not healthy, you ain't got shit. And that's the problem right now. And so you did not go out and get anybody to help this team. and And normally trade deadlines, you know, you don't see a lot of movement in the NFL, but it's very glaring when every single contender in your conference went out and got somebody.
01:03:47
Speaker
Some cases, multiple somebodies. And you didn't do anything. I think you hit the nail on the head there. like Chance to get better and you didn't do it. and And that really, really cost you at the end of the day. um I'm going to go Jerry Jones. I think his comments regarding using shades were so asinine.
01:04:13
Speaker
Um, so especially cause they use shades for other events. So it's not like some unheard of thing. Like he just refused to do it. So I think it's, it's ridiculous. And, um, just classic Jerry. Well, I love of the 80, 80 year old plus pulling out the stats of we've played 52 games with the sun shining through the building and we want a majority of those games.
01:04:39
Speaker
It's like, fantastic, Jerry. You're the home team. The home team is supposed to win a majority of their games. And you've been you know the division champs probably most of the last 20 years. You've shit the bed in the playoffs just about every year. But I would expect for you to win a majority of those 52 games. Exactly. All right, Scott. Take your turn with the hat tip. Hat tip. I didn't mention this guy. John Metchie.
01:05:09
Speaker
John Metchie gets my hat tip because, you know, he showed up. He, you know, I'm not going to say he balled out. I mean, he caught, I think four or five balls, cut the team's only touchdown. So, I mean, let's not, you know, go way ahead of ourselves and sit there and and just lop up, you know, what we're, you know, and talk about the fact that this guy is going to be the second coming of whatever. But here's what I like to see moving forward.
01:05:35
Speaker
I'd like to see some three receiver sets, and I would like to see John Metchie as the third wide receiver with Nico Collins and Tank Dell as the other two guys. Let's see what happens for the rest of the year. Let's see if John Metchie can replicate that performance. Because if he's a guy that can get you four or five catches a game, that's perfectly acceptable for a third wide receiver. I mean, over a 17-game schedule, that's 60-65 balls.
01:06:05
Speaker
If your third wide receiver is catching 60, 65 balls, that's more than fine. Okay. So, and and the other key is Xavier Hutchinson. I shouldn't see you on the field. I'd, I'd, I'd almost rather see Steven Sims. I'd almost rather see Robert Woods exclusively. If you have to play a third guy and Nico or tank is not available. I don't want to see Xavier Hutchinson anymore.
01:06:32
Speaker
Um, he was a nice story at Iowa state, cut over a hundred balls. I was happy when they drafted him because I was like, Hey, this guy was productive in college. Maybe he's going to be productive in the pros, but you know, he was a fifth or sixth round pick. If we're being perfectly honest, fifth or sixth round picks hardly ever, hardly ever pan out.
01:06:56
Speaker
Stefan Dix did as a six-round pick, but you shouldn't be expecting that. We shouldn't be running out this, well, Tom Brady was a six-round pick. Six-round picks you know normally are in the league for a year or two, if at all. So the fact that he caught 100 balls at Iowa State, at the time I thought, you know I was on this show and I thought, hey, that's a nice pick. This is a guy that was productive in college. He hasn't done it.
01:07:22
Speaker
He's proven to you time and time and again that he just can't get separation. Maybe he's telegraphing his routes. Maybe he's just not quite fast enough. But John Metche showed me something on Sunday night.
Personal Stories & Achievements
01:07:36
Speaker
He showed me that maybe this guy could be somebody moving forward and I'd like to see more of him. And, you know, we've done enough, you know, trashing of him on this, on this podcast, even though he's a cancer survivor and cancer absolutely sucks. And I, you know, have to do it, you know, extended hat tip for to him for beating leukemia. Um, you know, Hey, I don't know how I would fare if I got a similar diagnosis.
01:08:05
Speaker
So, you know, tip to that cat, to that guy for fighting hard, making it through it and a tip to cat for him for being there the next guy up and making some plays in that football game that, you know, made it to where you were in the game. But I'm done with Xavier Hutchinson. Absolutely. um So we're getting Tim back on board. So.
01:08:31
Speaker
So Tim just uh, just so you're aware I went with John Metchie as my hat tip because you know choice I think he bought you know, I'm not gonna say he balled out I mean, it's not like he you know had 200 yards receiving or anything like that But I've seen enough of him to think he could be a decent third wide receiver with a healthy Nico Collins and a healthy tank Dell III think so. I think he's a quality player who through tragic circumstances just took a while to get going right but um Hey, he had a play that needed to be made and and he was able to make it. So he was one of the few wide receivers. He was able to make a big play in that game. Um, I'm going to go to hat tips this week, Scott. And one's going to be a little bit more sports related, one personal life. Um, I popped into the Bayou city myself last night, got there about nine o'clock.
01:09:27
Speaker
I went and bought a new vehicle that is what is now Tillman for Tita Chevrolet there in Clear Lake, my third vehicle from the dealership. And I got to tell you, Scott, if you ever need a new car, it is the most pain-free car buying experience you could you could imagine to get you in and out of there. I've worked with the same salesperson three times in a row now. um Great, great experience taking care of you.
01:09:52
Speaker
and It's just, there's a lot of dealerships that put a lot of extra bullshit fees on things. And that's just not how they do it. And I appreciate that. And there's a reason I drove to Houston to buy a car. So, um, I tip my cap to, to what is now Timlin for Tita Chevrolet, my sports hat tip. I'm going tarries, uh, tonight, 18 points, 10 rebounds off the bench and a win. And going all the way back to October 31st, there's only been one of those now eight games.
01:10:22
Speaker
that he has failed to score double digits off the bench. He's averaging per 36 minutes this year. His numbers would be like 18 and 10. So basically exactly what he gave you to tonight. He went down probably a little bit because he was 0 for 2 tonight. But coming in tonight, game 38.2% from three-point range. I mean, the guy is exactly what you need off the bench, right? like this is the Carl Landry type energy and tenacity with a 38% clip of three-point shooting. ah This is what this team was missing last year. Tarah Eason was hurt for a majority of the second half of the season. And the team got off to a great start and then and tapered off a little bit until Jaylen Green got hot. I think they're missing his energy from Tarah Eason. And we've seen it here these last you know seven, eight games.
01:11:16
Speaker
He's a difference maker coming off events for your Houston Rockets. Yeah, I think that's an excellent call. nice And I didn't mention him when we were mentioning the other players as I knew you were going to bring him up. And the thing is, is that for your team to be significantly better than 500, as we stated, you really didn't change the personnel that much. So somebody, at least one somebody, has to come in and play a lot better basketball than they've played before. And so far, that's been Tara Eason.
01:11:46
Speaker
Yeah, his mom's oh as much as I was bummed to lose Ryan Stanek's wife as a member of like the Houston Twitter community because she was a great follow. Tari's his mom is fantastic. She is a great follow. You can just tell how much of a fan of her son she is and how, how fun it is for her to watch him go out there and achieve his dreams of of playing in the NBA, right? Which Scott, you're a parent. I'm a parent.
01:12:14
Speaker
ah Nothing would make me more than happy than to see my child achieve their dream. and And just being able to watch this lady's reactions on Twitter are heartwarming and phenomenal. And she's just a real gem and a pleasure to to have with like the Houston Twitter, Houston Sports Twitter community. I'm going to do a second hat tip, real tip, real quick here, Tim. I am a proud dad this week. My daughter, Ann,
01:12:44
Speaker
has been officially accepted to Sam Houston State University. air cap and It's really her safety school to be quite honest with you, but this kid has worked really hard and we don't, you know, we don't tell her often enough, but she's got like a practically, she's got a 4.9998 GPA, which is, you know, fraction of away from magna cum laude.
01:13:11
Speaker
which I fully anticipate her getting after this semester because she's currently has all A's. But, you know, and she's tackled the college, you know, the college application process, which I can tell you is a whole lot more complicated than when you and I were going through it, mainly because she's trying to get a music scholarship on top of everything. And the music programs kind of add on a layer of difficulty that we didn't have.
01:13:40
Speaker
so I'm a real proud proud dad this week. Yeah, that's awesome, Scott. The first one, it's it's kind of like sex, right? They come in bunches. So hopefully the next flurry of letters trickle in here shortly as well. and I'm not making that analogy to her. No, but I hope you get to make the fun decision with your checkbook for TCU a little bit later. The old you know legacy checkbook decision.
01:14:09
Speaker
thats All right. Speaking of spending way too much money, let's talk scumbag. Scumbag. All right. I was going to go in one direction, Tim, but something happened this late this last week. You went to a Diddy party. I'm just kidding. Yeah. That was something, Tim. But what I was going to say is I'm going to try to make this, this is more personal, to try to keep this out of the politics. But um my dad's a heart patient.
01:14:39
Speaker
And he calculated that he has been in the hospital 22 times in the last 12 years. Um, and so unfortunately, one of the things we've learned is that he has five stents in his heart and stents don't last forever. Apparently they have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years. His oldest stents were 15 years old. And so he had to have some redone and apparently they have a new procedure, a balloon.
01:15:07
Speaker
a drug coated balloon that they used to put in the leg that they've made small enough to now put in the heart. Each of these costs $12,000 a piece. So he is on Medicare slash TRS insurance and they decided that he had this thing scheduled to do this last Friday. They decided like Tuesday of last week, no,
01:15:36
Speaker
We're denying you. You can't get it done. So my dad's cardiologist said, okay, here's what you do. You go into the emergency room and you complain of chest pain on Thursday. And so you go into the emergency room and on Friday we'll get this thing done. Now for his part, he was a man of his word. They got it done on Friday. But when they went in, I mean, think of this, we've like heard of scenes like this in war.
01:16:06
Speaker
but they didn't have enough rooms. And so he was stuck in the hallway on a stretcher for hours at a time before they were able to get him a room. They botched his dinner to where they didn't have his dinner. And so they just saw one lying around that had been lying around since noon and brought it to him at about seven o'clock. And what happens when food's lying around for seven hours, Tim? Foodborne illness, Scott.
01:16:36
Speaker
You know, then it gets cold, but yeah, he did not want any of that. So it was, it was not a good experience. And most of it, I think is at the hands of insurance and they just, you know, because they're basically saying, we don't want to pay the $12,000. So we're going to figure out a way around this. And so we're going to deny it. So that's basically what that was all about. American healthcare system. It's only going to get better. So.
01:17:03
Speaker
Yeah, and certain inor ye that's certainly-worthy, Scott. um i'm I'm really tired of the group of Texans fans who think you cannot criticize aspects of the team and still call yourself a fan.
Texans Fan Criticism & Team Struggles
01:17:29
Speaker
To me, that's the scumbags this week, the ones who immediately harp I'll hop to to Facebook and say, well, if you say Bobby, so it's a problem, you're not a real Texas fan. Like, no, I'm, I'm literally a a realist Texans fan. Like Bobby slow. It's a problem with this football team right now. Well, if you say that CJ's regressed, you're not a real Texas fan. you will yeah You don't get to tell me how to be a real fan. Right. Like I got to think outside of the Texans fans that, um, are high school or college football coaches.
01:18:03
Speaker
I'm probably you as well, Scott, in the upper echelon of just general football knowledge, right? Like I am a broadcaster. I watch games live. I call games live. I understand defenses. I understand a lot of the elements of things like I understand play calls. So if I'm looking at something and and making a ah comment on it, I'm not just saying it.
01:18:30
Speaker
I'm looking at the evidence in front of me, I'm analyzing that data, and I'm giving you the results of that analysis. If you don't like it, that's on you. But you can't sit here and question someone's fanhood or fanship or fandom because they're saying something that you don't like, right? Like at the end of the day, there this is not a perfect football team. The Astros weren't a perfect baseball team.
01:18:59
Speaker
The Rockets are a perfect basketball team. You hope that your teams come together in a way that allow them to win a championship at the right time of year. But you're also allowed to voice displeasure. yeah we We put our money where our mouth is, we buy tickets, you know, Fubo to make sure you watch your team. Astros hats, Rockets hats, Texans jerseys, they rebrand, everybody goes and buys new stuff. With that, you have skin in the game, right? You are, you are,
01:19:29
Speaker
buying, you know, at least a little bit of privilege to say, we, when you talk about your team to say, we need to do these things. And if, if as fans, they can't accept that, I think they're the ones who really should be looking in the mirror and saying, am I a real fan? Or am I just, am I a sycophant? Am I a cultist at that point? If I'm not allowed to question our Supreme leader, AFC South division chance, right? But no, um, I've been a football fan.
01:19:59
Speaker
for over 40 years. The last time the city of Houston has seen an AFC championship game is 1979. I was six years old town. I don't remember that game. It was against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I don't remember that game. Had a famous touchdown catch that was called not a catch, but I didn't watch that game. I didn't live and die with the Love You Blue Oilers.
01:20:26
Speaker
I didn't know what the hell was going on. I was six years old. What I do know is that I'm sick and tired of winning the AFC South, getting the first playoff game in the afternoon, winning that game at home, and then getting our lunch handed back to us, getting your doors blown off in the divisional championship game. I'm tired of it. I want more out of my team. Am I wrong? No. Am I wrong to watch football for 40 plus years and want my team to do more than just go to a second round divisional team again. You're not wrong. Cause
Comparing Texans & Astros Success
01:21:05
Speaker
you know what? Like to liken it to, let's say the Houston Astros who did eventually reach that a championship status. There was a time where winning the NL central and going to the playoffs was good enough for this team, right? They did it 98, 99, 97, 98, 99, 2001.
01:21:24
Speaker
Hey, you know, we won the division. Good job, Larry Durker. Well, at some point that team decided to move on from Larry Durker, right? It wasn't good enough. Yes, you keep waiting to division, but at some point, Larry, we need to do more than lose in the first round of playoffs. Now, the manager hires after that were exactly um inspiring with, you know, Mitch Williams and then Phil Garner blundering his way to a World Series loss. But, you know, eventually you got the right group of people in there in 2017.
01:21:52
Speaker
2015, at least with Hinch, that made it possible, right? You had the right staff, you had the right group of players, you had the right GM, everything flowed in motion. So, like, yeah, the Texans have some great pieces, but it doesn't mean the staff is perfect. It doesn't mean that all the players are perfect. It doesn't mean that, heck, the coach is perfect. This is his second season as an NFL head coach. He's obviously learning on the fly too. So,
01:22:22
Speaker
You've made a statement, I can't remember if it was in this show or the other one, but it's, you shouldn't ignore things in victory that you would bring up in defeat. Right? Just because you won a game and it was ugly, doesn't mean you should not mention those things.
01:22:37
Speaker
And I believe that that's a very true statement, right? Like you've got to even go back and look at the games to Texans one. And we realized, Hey, there were times in this game that Bobby Slowdeko's almost cost us the game, but Kymie Fairburn had a 59 yard field goal or Hey, we won this game by six points, but we were up 23 points, you know, in the third quarter. And then, you know, barely eat down a win because we changed the play call completely and just ran it three times in a row.
01:23:03
Speaker
the You can look through the whole season and see the same issues reoccurring. It's just now it's costing us games, right? And all those fans who say, oh, you can't bring it up. We won. Oh, be quiet. You're not a real fan. We won. Hey, now we're losing games for the same reason. All right.
Episode Wrap-Up & Acknowledgments
01:23:19
Speaker
timm All right, Scott, I think that's going to be it for us here this week. A little bit longer episodes. We were out last week. Just need a little bit of a mental break. My wife was out of town and solo parenting is hard. ah I hat tip to just like single parents out there, like looking at that clock and knowing that like, even though five o'clock's coming, my wife isn't, there's no, there's no, there's no second wave. There's no, there's no relief behind the lines coming to, coming to give you a breather. um Yeah, man. I went to bed at like eight o'clock one night.
01:23:57
Speaker
We're still, in and as Tim mentioned, we're still bringing it on Substack. ten I'll get back to mine. I'll get back to mine this week. I got a couple I'm going to work on that I, like many Americans, I needed a i needed a week. I needed a process, everything that happened. I'm trying to go more global issues. I'm trying not to complain about you know the issues, although I sent you the ah the South Dakota news earlier this morning.
01:24:26
Speaker
Sure, you saw that. I did. I did. It's been I was in the car all day, but I did see that one. But yeah, it's it's well follow the sub stack. I got my own page for it. Scott puts it out on the on the board of the body sports page as well as his page. um Thoughts from a native Texan is the page. I've got Tim's mine cannon on there as well. Scott's got a couple different um sections, depending on whether it's it's.
01:24:52
Speaker
Sports or or life or politics you can find what you're looking for there But we appreciate those of us those of you who found us here and decided this week we were what you were looking for We hope to see you again next week same bad times same bad channel here on born on the body sports. We'll see everybody next time