Texans All-Access: John McClain on Keylan Rutledge, the Offensive Line and Houston's Week 1 Matchup with Buffalo

0:00Hello, Texans. Welcome to the program. It's a big night for your Texans. The season premiere happening this evening at the bubble at the Houston Methodist Training Center. It's going to be huge. I live a full report tomorrow since I'm MCing it. And I get to get up there pretty soon. But right now we have John McLean, the general with us, the Hall of Famer, general. Good evening. Great to catch up. And last time we spoke was Monday after the initial 53 band roster came out. And of course, that was the initial one because we've had some roster gyrations since then, of course, two old linemen taken off and put on IR. So now you have 10 and things get a little bit closer to normal. Your thoughts as the week has unwound here with the Houston Texans. Good evening, Mark. It's almost headspinning with the moves there, Bacon. Nick, Sario always does that. And like today, the Enasmuch Virtua, the 6, 7, 320 pound international tackle who is exempt from the roster. He's on

1:03the practice squad. So I like the way they keep bringing in these linemen. They made the trade with the Cowboys last week. HC brain Smith going IR, but he's got it looks like planar fasciitis. And the guy that's going to be kind of the unsung hero here to me is going to be Fisher because I thought after last season and with the moves they made, that he might have a hard time making the team, but he had a really good camp preseason everything. So the odds are Trent Brown is going to get hurt at some point. You hope he doesn't, but the odds are so Fisher is going to play. And hopefully he'll pick up where he's left off in the preseason. I love the fact that Cacerios did something. I haven't seen him do in his, he said that Keelan Rudlings is about to best offensive linemen. You don't see him do that. That says a whole lot about what they think about him. And I predict right

2:09now that Keelan Rudlings is on the all rookie team because the running game is going to be improved, which means the offense should be improved. And when they're doing awards at the end of the season, they look for big improvements. And then they go, Oh, okay. I'm talking about the voters who's on that offensive line. Well, Rudlings is going to get a lot of attention this season because they have so many prime time games. But also he's going to be in some scuffles, not initiated by him. But you see guys don't like get blocked the way he blocks on, which is to get him down and pound sawdum like he's coming off the top wrong and WWE. So I think Keelan Rudlings is going to get a lot of attention play really well. And I'm really excited to see the offensive line and see if it can be as improved as fans hope it will be. You know, it's interesting general because Trent Brown starting at right tackle. They're undefeated with Trent Brown starting games. It's amazing. And then you look at it in

3:13room. We don't talk about him much, but he's there at right guard again. He was residing in the off season. But Evan Brown's the forgotten man in that he doesn't get as much coverage here. We talk about Rutledge all the time, but he enabled this all to happen to move Rutledge back to guard. And he rose up ahead of Jake Andrews and obviously Jared Patterson, who's since been traded to the 49ers. He helped him get a draft choice for Jared Patterson. And he's a veteran. He's been around and you hope he's like hangroom, you know, hangroom. He was what a second was he a second-round pick of the Vikings and he didn't do anything and then he comes here and all of a sudden he plays well enough to get a big new contract. So he's solidified at right guard. Hopefully Evan Brown can do for center winning of dead last year at guard. Yeah, and I think the tight end group is really interesting. The Breven Jordan story coming out that he was going to join the 53 as well was a little bit of a surprise to me. Well, maybe a lot of a surprise because you already

4:16had four tight ends on the initial roster. And I don't know where it's all going from here with receiver health possibilities down the line. I are in tank del designated to return. Maybe he comes back at some point. I don't know what the situation is going to be at that point in the season. But your thoughts on the tight end group general. First of all, nobody knows. You know, nobody has a clue when tank del's coming back. He can come back after four games and start working out. But you just don't because he's still got a long way to go considering he hasn't done anything physical, meaning get hit. And when he comes back, tank is going to have to get some shots on the knee and prove to himself that he can that he can take withstand those kind of hits and still be as good as he can be in his fast and as quick as he can be. We know who the starter isn't tied in. Marlon Klein was voted by pro football focus not voted graded as the top rookie

5:17tight end in the NFL. And there's a lot of them. And I thought he deserved it. He was a reach in the second round. But boy, right now going through preseason and in the joint practices and practices, he looks like he can help them as a rookie. I thought Mark that a guy that had that little of football experience one years of starter coming from Germany going to high school and running in Carolinas, getting a scholarship to Michigan and starting one season. It'd be more likely that he can contribute next year. But he is a big target. Six six and he he listed him at 250. That would have been what he weighed at Michigan. And I got to go back and look at him at the combine. But he's fast and he's got quick hands and he gets the ball and he turns it up the field and gets going vertically very quick. And he works his butt off as a blocker. And that's important. So right now,

6:19maybe they make the second tight end foster. Marrow, I don't know. Play stovers. Stovers, obviously, going to have some plays. But Brevon Jordan, there was a huge surprise because we didn't see him and all of a sudden boom and keeping him and talking about putting him on the 53. So obviously, his rehab went very well. And if Brevon's on the field and he can run like he did before he had the two ACL injuries, he's going to elevate the speed of the offense like we last saw in a playoff game against Cleveland. Yeah. General, I think Seth talked about it this week. When you talk to players that played in another era. And I know that's going to make Seth feel old when I say it that way. It wasn't that long ago. I mean, we could talk about players. You know, you're doing the documentary with Pasterini. That is another era. But I'm talking about just the practice squad changes over the years when you go from two to more to eventually 16 where we have it now with the COVID influence on it. Nick Casseria looks at this whole thing as a 69 man roster plus guys on

7:24IR. And I think some guys who make the 53 listen, maybe Brevon Jordan's not healthy for opening day. Maybe it's going to take a couple more weeks. But he knows he's not dressing 53 on game day also. So that factors into it as well, right? Absolutely. It does. And one of the things Nick brought from New England is they always churning the bottom of the roster. Players coming and going. They want to keep them on their toes. And they're always looking around the league to see who might be an upgrade. And I talked about this on area 45 on 610 and 95 seven last night. The personnel department doesn't get enough credit. And I'm not talking about Nick. Nick gets a lot of credit. I'm still surprised Lifer. It's not a GM somewhere and got to think he might be next year. But they got a lot of good people in there because it's not Nick just making all these decisions. You know, they want there's people he want they want him to look at the scouts, the personnel people under Lifer. Those

8:26guys know what these position coaches want in their position. If for instance, ride right says, well, I want my right tackle to be able to do this. My left tackle to be able to do that on defense. Then they go look for them. And the Cleveland Browns of the gift that keeps on giving this time last year, I couldn't even pronounce toe guy. And he was enacted for the first two games. And he started off like fourth or fifth team. And then he got an opportunity to be active. And he just kept getting better and better. So the person, the scouting people know how to find what the coaches want. And then the coaches do a great job of developing these guys. And Tommy Togoy, if he picks up where he left off last year, he might get a good contract extension. Might even be next week because they like to do things before the season starts. So I love that the personnel department, they should be getting more positive publicity locally and nationally because of all those players they bring in here that fit. General, is this the toughest opening

9:32stretch when you look at the first four games that you can remember? And I'm going to give you the Dmitco opening stretches when you go first four games. The first year was Ravens, Colts, Jags and Steelers. And again, you don't know how these teams are going to be coming into the season sometimes. Then it was Colts, Bears, Vikings, Jags. Anytime you see Jags, it's usually, huh, breath the fresh air. But you never know. Then it was Rams last year, Rams, Box, Jags, and Titans. I think there's no question. This is the opening. But maybe the Cowboys aren't that good. Maybe the Colts aren't that good. However, with health, I think both those teams are pretty darn good. And we know the Bengals healthy will be good. And so will the bills. I look at this as the toughest four game stretch to open a season that Dmitco was faced. And maybe that this team has seen in a long time, maybe ever 2020. The first four game was a murderous road. Good point. I'm going to Brian fired. I came remember who it was. I just remembered who else was chiefs Ravens, Steelers,

10:32and Vikings. And I'll tell you this, I have Buffalo, we're in the division. I have Buffalo going to Super Bowl and Planner Rams, Buffalo losing to the Texans in the first game and then beating them in the championship game. I have Cincinnati winning. They have seen North. I have ND finishing third. But they're going to be good if Daniel Jones can stay healthy. And I have the Cowboys winning the F and F C East. So I think it's great for this defense. This defense wants to show the nation. It's better than the C ox. It's better than the Rams. It's better than the Broncos. What better way than to get this kind of start against these quarterbacks? But this stretch is brutal. And thank goodness. Three of the first four are at home. So general, I want to go around the league a bit. We'll get back to the Texans. But there was a piece in the athletic about the worst quarterback

11:33situations in the league. I didn't even look at it. But I would imagine Atlanta and Cleveland are at or near the top. And do you think that Kevin Stofansky committed some kind of sin and is being punished for those sins that he goes to Atlanta and his quarterback situation is now Tua and Panics. And who's healthy? I don't even know. Had named the starter as of earlier this week. My gosh. That is a terrible situation. And the Browns not much better. And neither the Jets, the Jets court, they, you know, they're trying to reach back into their history. They might as well have gone after Chad Pinington and are the butt fumble. Mark Sanchez. And I'll say this when Terry Fountain know the former GM of the Falcons drafted Pining's, everybody's like, what? They just gave cousins all that guaranteed money. And of course, the one that said what the loudest was cousins. And I still don't understand that. Now he's had a third ACL injury and he's only been a league what three years.

12:35And it's hard to believe three years ago. Tua led the NFL in Yarnage. And then all of a sudden, he went down the toilet, same way Russell Wilson did, but Wilson was older than Tua Tonga by Lowa. They have offensive players. So one of those quarterbacks goes in there and just doesn't turn it over. They got a chance to win the worst division. And then I found as far as the Browns, it makes no sense to start Watson unless you think he's going to be really bad and you lose and you get a hard draft choice, which helps you get a franchise quarterback. And everybody up there thinks their Sanders should be starting in some point. Well, if they start owe it too, when they go home, there's no way Watson can start that home opener because the reception he would get. And I think the jets are going to beat the Titans. You're in turmoil right now. I think they're going to win in Nashville. Robert Salas debut is just going to be brutal because all the media is

13:36mad because they pull the credential of a guy, which was so stupid to do because they've been getting ripped all over the country just like TCU. I hope the horn frogs lose every game because of what they did to the four-star telegram, which is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. And I'll tell you what, based on what I've been hearing, Mark, there's going to be some lawsuits filed at TCU over what's happened here. And, but anyway, back to your question, any of those teams, I don't think Atlanta's going to be in the running for the first pick. They've got too big got too much talent. Can they win a division? There was one by eight and nineteen blasts here. Sure they can't. And I don't think it really matters which guys play it quarterback. That they're just not going to be very good, but the division is awful. And I do think we're going to have a lot of new division winners, including the Houston Texans. Back to the credential being pulled in Nashville, general. Here you are. You're on the pro football hall of fame for work you doing the media. So your

14:40opinion is very valid on this stuff. This is apparently a YouTuber whose a YouTuber columnist type person. That's how Paul Kaharski described him. We know people like that. But what is your opinion of this? Because there are guys who have this digital social media presence that aren't necessarily connected with what we call traditional media, newspapers, TV stations, radio stations. They might not be connected at all. They're connected to themselves, but they do have a bit of a following and they get credentialed. Your thoughts on the new media, if you will, in that regard. Well, first of all, Jared Stillman was a talk show host who did an afternoon show for years with former general manager Floyd Grease. Okay. And then he's he's on 102.5 the game, which is my station. And he I guess they call it a contract dispute and he left the station and he got his YouTube channel. And he's very controversial because one of the ways you get subscribers is to be outlandish

15:41and controversial, but you want you want people to want to watch you. And like I used to hear people all that Clay Travis Manny drives me crazy, but I listen to it. That's the key. You can drive people crazy with your opinions, but you better have some facts and statistics to pack them up. So they did one of the dumbest things I've ever seen right when they're starting us a season with a new coach with the jets coming down again, they should win. They pull this credential. They've gotten him on every talk show in the country. He has been talking about it. Everybody he should send them Christmas cards with chocolate chip cookies because what they have done for him and his YouTube channel. And it's if he was a member of the pro football rise America, they would do that because the PFWA would go to the NFL and they don't have any kind of organization, but they did him a favor. And I'm not for pulling anybody's credential unless somehow they've broken rules and he had not

16:43break any rules. And he had a back and forth with cam board last week and he asked cam board, how do you judge your preseason? He said, how would you judge it? He says not very well. And they like that was controversial. No, we ask questions of players like that all the time. But anyway, Jared Stelman has got a lot of publicity, which is what you want when you get subscribers, because then you can charge your advertisers more money and make more money. All right. So other procedural slash media type stuff here at Houston Texans training camp, midway through or at some point during camp, it was announced, hey, let's not shoot videos of practice. If you're a fan watching practice, if it's the 11 on 11 stuff, they didn't want that shot. And a story broke this week with passing game coordinator of the dolphins, Kevin Petula, when he was with the Eagles, he said he had half the Packers defense pressures because of fan shot video in open practices during camp. So when the Eagles met the Packers, that's how he knew

17:48it was coming. And Jeff Halfley now coach of the dolphins who was with the Packers said, what? So I think this is going to happen more and more. We abandoned the video aspect of training camp practices. I'm one for saying I'm surprised the media has allowed it every single training camp practice, but that's just me. I know that won't go over well with you, but your thoughts on this whole story. How did teams win championships, super bowls and everything for years, led media fans watch practice letting media talk to any coach, any player, anytime. And what they need to do is really stupid for somebody to put in something legitimate when fans are there. And so you do it in your bubble or you work for an hour and then let the fans come for the last hour or you can't wait. You can hold them out like you did for weather one day and work on what you want. And they trust the media, you know, every day PR guys, cameras down, cameras down. And they don't practice trick plays in training camp. You know, you could,

18:53I don't know if they still do it, but I remember when they started practicing at the bubble, I was with a friend of mine on the top floor of the holiday and on there on Kirby. You could see everything on the field. And you know, we don't hear stories like we used to with George Allen and Al Davis and all these owners getting spies. If you are an NFL team, like if the Titans and the Jaguars and the Coles did not have somebody as a fan, and all Texans practices and training camp where fans could come, then they deserve to get beat. I don't know how. That's such a big deal. But if you get it, you should be doing it. You can watch it. You don't need to film it. They could say, boy, this kid bond, he blinks at blocks his butt off. He's tough. And you might want to take a shot in it. But there's no way you can keep him from not doing it other than take their word in it. And we know people, people are not going to lie. By the way,

19:58I don't understand why everybody's so worried about it. The lane kept in coaching NFL players. He proved with the Raiders. He can't. That's a good one. I like that. I like that a lot. I had his absolute craziness, though. By the way, I'm going to be at the 40 acres on Saturday. I'm going to the game. Texas and Texas State. I don't make a big deal out of these things, but I don't get to go to too many college games. So this is going to be enjoyable for me to check it out. As long as I don't get punished, yeah, exactly. This is going to be I couldn't get seats in the shade. So here we go. There's very limited access to shade seats, general. But my kid goes to UT. So I'm going to go to a game with a good reason now. If you go to, oh, I was taking my being pressed. Yeah, no, I'm not going to do that. I during Texans game weekends, I'm all about the Texans. I will not divert my attention for like 3,500 if you want to sit up behind the ceiling. I'm not going to do it. Yeah, TV is nice. I'll be home watching that baby and getting ready for the Texans and the Bengals in week two.

21:02All right, general. Wait, one more quick one for you. You see this patriot story about the field goals and the video board angle. Somebody sent that to me and I thought, that can't be right. That cannot be something you're allowed to do on a video board. I don't think they should be allowed to do it on a video board. And I wanted to ask, I'm sorry, I'm not prepared for the show properly. I wanted to ask our guys what the rules are if anything. But apparently it was legal what they did at Gillette Stadium. It won't be legal after they made in March. What they did was Stephen Gasky, their kicker, didn't like kicking, looking at the video board and seeing himself before he kicked. So they decided to put, uh, I went opponents kicked four images of the kicker up there where he couldn't avoid himself. Now I can't believe some kickers didn't complain about this. And I'm stunned that it's come out. But you knew if you said there's one team in the league that's going to kind of tip toe on the precipice of the rules to affect opposing kickers.

22:05Who would you say? Of course, it'd be Belmellan Jackson. Of course. No question about it. General, thanks so much for joining us as always. We look forward to catching up on Texans Monday. Who come on? Johnny Harris coming up next as we play. Let's make a football deal. The show that's sweeping the nation sort of. It's Texans radio. All right. Back to the show here. Texans radio in the Hyundai Texans radio studio. Mark van der Mir joined now by John Harris with John Harris in conjunction with John Harris as we do this segment. And we're going to play a game, Johnny. Are you ready? Of course. I love it. Let's make a football deal. Oh, boy. Oh, yes. Are you ready to go with this? Yeah. Okay. Enough of the music. Okay. That's good. We know. It's a game show. All right. This is where I bring you hypothetical situations and you have to pick. Okay. What you want. Sometimes the decisions are going to be tough, especially with this one. Okay. Tough decisions coming your way, Mr. Harris. Okay. Here we go. Now I am going to give you three and three in the AFC South,

23:10not impressive. Okay. You have to take this if you take this option plus 12 wins. You're going to win 12 games, but you're going to be three and three in the division or you can pick what's behind door number two, Johnny. Which one are you taking? 12 wins. Ties at all time. High with your Texans. Winning percentage was better in 2012 because you had fewer games, but we won't get into all the semantics of that. So you can get 12 wins, three and three in the division. I will guarantee this result for you. I can't tell you where you finished in the division. Maybe you win it with a three and three divisional record or you get what's behind door number two. What are you going to take? Okay. I'm going to take the three and three division. Here's my here's my thought process. Okay. You ready? Ready. You go to London and lose. Not that you're. I'm just saying how are you going to get the three losses in the division and can I live with them? You go to London, you stub your toe and you lose, right? You play the Titans in week 18. The game

24:10doesn't matter because you're 12 and four. Okay. The third loss would then have to be more than likely to the Colts. I'm assuming or you lose it home. The Jags you swept by the Jags. I don't want that to be the case because then I think, okay, then the Jags have wanted the vision. You're back to being a wild card. You have 12 wins. You have 12 wins. I just think if you start to know you go to Indian lose. Okay. Then you win the next two. You're four and one. You go to Jags. You go to London. You lose. You come back and you beat the Jags. You're five and two. But you've got two of the losses now in the division and then Tennessee. The last game. The last game. Then you run the table basically and then Tennessee is at the end of the year. So I'll take it. I'll take three and three and 12 wins because I do think 12 wins is going to win a division. And I think in a tough AFC. I don't think the AFC is going to be quite like what it was last year. Okay. So I do think 12 wins can put you in position for the one of the two seat. I had door number two ready by the way. It was it was 13 wins and four and two in the division. But I still didn't

25:12guarantee a division victory. So who knows you probably picked the right one. I mean, 12 wins. You cannot ever turn down 12 wins guaranteed right there in your hand. I don't think you can. I think you have to take it because God knows what happens in this league, right? So I don't care how low the four and two and 13 wins. I could have taken that to. I would have taken that. I was door number two. You didn't know it was behind. I don't know. It could have been a toaster. All right. This is let's make a football deal with my deal. I still feel pretty good about 3. I still feel through three and three and 12 wins. It's still pretty good. I'll take it. Okay. This is one where you just get to pick one. Any player you want. All right. Except for CJ Stroud. And here's the designation on that player. This player is guaranteed to stay perfectly healthy for 17 games. You could have any player you want. Johnny, you get to magically pick a player to remain healthy guaranteed health for 17 games. This is my stepfather always used to say if you could wish for one thing because we would say, Hey, what about a million dollars? You know, this is back when, you know, it was like

26:13Dr. Evil, a million dollars. What about that? No, no, no, always wish for the perfect health. So I'm giving you perfect health for one player for 17 games, but it cannot be CJ Stroud. His name is Will Anderson Jr. So you say that's the guy you're going to pick. And I might even pick Will Anderson Jr. above CJ Stroud. That valuable. Yes. I think he is that valuable because he sets the tone for this entire organization. I like the entire organization. I thought you were going to go Nico Collins on me. I did think about it. Yeah, I did think about it. Nico would be a very close you know, just perfect health for Nico Collins. Oh, I know. I know. I'm, but Will Anderson Jr. sets the absolute tone for these guys. Okay. And I feel like I've got, I've got to have that. And he's pretty damn good. So if he plays 17 games, I mean, 18, 19, 20 sacks is well within the realm of possibility and more touchdowns and more strip sacks. I think that's the one thing I

27:16talked about this yesterday a little bit. The one thing in the playoff games that Daniel and Will in particular were doing was getting the ball out on sacks. They were doing a great job of stripping the ball out or just knocking it out. They're aiming point with their hands coming over the top was to get the ball out. They've become really, really good at that. Not just the sack by getting the ball out. I think you got to have will. I mean, Daniel would be right there too. Those are the four of me right there. Daniel will CJ Nico. I don't want to see last it or out, but I would put those four up there in the top category. But I'm saying Will Anderson Jr. See, I'm with you about everything you said. He sets the tone, all of that. I feel like they have more insurance at his position. I agree. Then they do it. Nico's if Nico goes out, it becomes really confident receiver. So I might have picked Nico Collins. I don't have CJ Stroud as an option in this scenario. As we're playing, let's make a football deal. All right. Next one here, Johnny. Pick one. Nico Collins. And I can't guarantee health or anything. I'm just giving you

28:19raw numbers here. Okay. Nico Collins 1200 yards. That would be second all time in his career to the 2023 1300 nearly 1300 yard season or David Montgomery 1100 yards rushing. Yes. Yeah. Not receiving. David Montgomery. Dimo 1100 yards. Nico 1200 yards. Pick one. As much as I love Nico, I'm going to take demos 1100. Okay. I said it last night. I'll say it again. I don't think either Dimo or Woody have to get to a thousand each to feel like they've got a quality run game. Yeah. But if Dimo does get to 1100 considering Woody's probably going to get 600 to 700, you're talking about 17 1800 yards between the two. I'll take that all day. You're controlling a lot of scrimmage. Hopefully at that point. Now the number I was hoping for when you said Dimo right was 10 touchdowns. I would take that over the 1100 yards all day. I would take the

29:25touchdowns. But that said, I'll take the 1100 yards. I'll roll the dice with Nico. I think Nico's going to get his as long as going back to the first question. He does play a significant number of games and doesn't miss. But I think I'm taking Dimo. I think they want to run the ball with the authority. And I think if they do and establish that, then everything in the passing game can work off of that. The play actions, the RPOs, those kind of things. I think that opens more things up for Nico. And I think if Dimo gets to 1100, I mean, it's not going to be a two-man show, but I don't miss that money that Nico would go over 1200 with that because it's going to open up so much more in the passing game. If that run game gets rolling. I like it. I think Dimo running for 1100 does open up a lot of different things. Yeah. It means a lot of things are going well for you in order to get them there. I know Joe Mixin had that thousand yard season in 2024 and you kind of lived to get there. But it's not the same kind of thing as we're talking about here. And I was going to go 1200 yards with Dimo, but I thought that would really tip the scales in his face. Sure. In this, let's make a football

30:28deal question here. I got another one for you here. Okay. Okay. This is another pick this or what's behind door number two. Okay. You have to take two and four in the AFC South. Oh, okay. But you're guaranteed along the way. These are the only wins I can guarantee you. Buffalo, Cincinnati, Green Bay, and Philly. Holy smokes. You're going to beat all those teams, but you're also going to be two and four in the AFC South. Will you take this scenario or what's behind door number two? And door number two could be massive injuries could be this could be that who knows door number two is a mystery. This is let's make a football deal and we get kind of crazy with this. So it's to inform the AFC South, but you're definitely going to be Buffalo Cincinnati, Green Bay, and Philly. And I'll point this out. You be Philly and Green Bay and back to back games late in the season. Those are road prime time games. Christmas Eve and Philly and then the following a week from that Monday in Green Bay at Green Bay in zero degree temperatures and you came up with a win there.

31:33You are cooking with gas in prime time late in the season, but I don't know what the record is. That's why let's make a football deal is such a tough game to play, Johnny. The only way that this is palatable is if one of the four losses in the vision again is we gave team Titans. And then you will say you lost the Titans the other time. Just some fluke, something fluke happens and you lose both of them to the Titans. But then you split with the Jags and the Colts because what I don't want is like last year beat the Chiefs on the road. We did on this beat the Chiefs on the road. Sweep sweep the Colts. Right. Split with Jags. Split with Jags. Like you would have given me this last year. I'd have been like, yeah, I think I'll take it because we wanted a vision. Well, we didn't win a division. Two and four in AFC South gets me really worried about what our positioning is for the playoffs. Now we'll have tie-breakers against Buffalo and Cincinnati. Yeah. But the two in the four in division makes us probably a wild card.

32:35So again, more than likely having to go on the road for the divisional playoff round. Man, I, but if you would have said Buffalo's, man, I don't know. If you just said Buffalo Cincinnati and four and two, I've taken it. That's the only thing you know. Those are your six wins. Four division Buffalo and Cincinnati because you would have the tie-breaker over since the in Buffalo. So I felt good about that throwing in Philly and Green Bay. Like it could really be like last year again. Like you started off slow. Right. And then you get hot again at the end of the year. That's a good thing. It's a good thing. But then you have to go on the road for the divisional playoff round. And that's where we said we don't want to be now. That all said. That all said. Honestly, I just think we played a poor game in New England. The elements became a factor, et cetera. I think this team believes it can win anywhere anytime. Yeah. They don't worry about. Oh, divisional playoff round being home. I think they would like it at home because they love the

33:35crowd and all that. But I just think to play a divisional playoff round game, you got to be the two seed. That means you got to win your division that obviously won a wild card game. I don't know tune four gets you there. Are you going to tell me what's behind door number two or I don't know. I can make something up. No, I didn't really have a behind door number two scenario. You just take it. I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take two and four and beating those teams. Can you imagine beating Green Bay and Philly back to back? Holy smokes. Yeah. Now it's Philly Green Bay. It does mean that we could lose to the Ravens and that's a lost tiebreaker. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. But I'll take my chances that two and four we stub our toe just you know early in the season, maybe losing the Colts, the Titans and the Jax. Maybe those are the three losses, but we don't lose again. And then we, you know, we can't team. We pull it call off the dogs because we've already got our seeding. I gave you six wins right here and there against good teams. Yeah, which makes you think the team is pretty good. Right. But you just stub your toe with four losses, but hopefully they didn't encounter some kind of horrible injury

34:39adversity or something like that. Right. Exactly. Now you never know how seasons play out. Look at last year. It's a great example. You know, you're three, you're oh and three. Yep. And you get to three and five. And it doesn't feel good because CJ just got hurt and you're thinking now we got to take on a Jax team that has found itself again. Yeah. And they found themselves a way to get a 19 point lead over you. And at that point in Texans history and granted it's in the flow of the game. And I don't count the chickens or you know any which way until the game is over. But if you could just press pause right there down 19 about to go to three and six possibly. In all likelihood when you're down 19, that is terrible. Yeah. You bounced back a little bit, but you didn't bounce back the way you needed to. And now you don't have your quarter back in your about to be three and six right. But you got spanked by the vision team at home. They righted the ship and they won nine in a row to close out the regular season. You can't make this stuff up. This is why this is why we play the games. All right. I have another one for you.

35:43And let's make a football deal. All right. Hypotheticals. Okay. Okay. I'm going to give you this one. This one's going to hurt a little bit. Oh boy. It's going to feel. Oh, feel a little bit of pleasure. And then some pain here, especially me. I'm giving you 13 wins, Johnny. Oh, 13 wins. It's there. But you got to take the following along with it. Trevor Lawrence is named the leagues MVP. Oh no. So you in 13 games, but you have to take the medicine of Trevor generational talent, Lawrence being named the leagues MVP. That means the Jags probably. I can't even say they won the division. They might not have. They might have gotten 12 wins, but Lawrence went off and he got the leagues MVP honor or they tied you with 13 wins. And maybe they didn't win the division with the tie. I don't know. I don't know what happened in the scenario. But you're going to get your 13, Johnny. But Trevor Fabio Lawrence is the leagues MVP. Are you going to take

36:43that deal or what's behind door number two? I'm giving you 13 wins. 13. You can't try and influence me. 13 wins. Just just okay. I know the scenario. I'll try to never want 13 games. I know. I know. And I should take 13 wins. However, oh no. However, no, you're not. If Trevor is the MVP, that means they did pretty well. Yeah. If he's the MVP, then they have they have they've dominated the FC. Obviously, they they're at least 14, 13, 15. There's no way that he's the MVP. I know I have to take 13 wins. And I have to hear about Trevor Lawrence becoming a generational quarterback again. Yes, you do. And then I have to admit I was right when I called it back in 2021. Me and Draver, right. But I got to take 13 wins. I have to. I have to. Yep. I have to take 13 wins. But that puts me I'm I'm assuming if he's the MVP, then they had a 2019 Lamar Jackson like season. I remember what happened to the 2019 Ravens. They got bounced after getting a buy

37:50by the Titans in the first rounds. Maybe that's what happens to him. I'll give him the MVP. I'll deal with the noise. Because look, it could be that the Texans had his number the two times they they met up. Right. And maybe that was the difference. But the 15 other games he was incredible. Okay. Hey, look, Josh Allen went nine for 30 against the Texans. Nine for. 30. Yeah. He still won the MVP at the end of the year. Yeah. So maybe those are the two of the 13 or two wins over. And people excuse that like, I, you know, everybody has trouble with the Texans. And maybe they don't finish. But he's really good in the 15 other games. And that wins in the MVP. That's the only way I can feel good about this. But I cannot I cannot look my nose down at 13 wins. Yeah, you got to take the 13. I'm taking because even if they finished 14 and three, the Jags. They're going to flame out in the playoffs. It's the Jags. If Lawrence wins the MVP, I am here to say, okay, it's going to be a carbohydrate filled 4,000 yards or whatever he threw for. And I don't believe in it. Not for one little second that when the pressure is on for real in the post season,

38:54that he's going to respond. So I'm taking my 13 wins. And I'll take whatever happens in the post season. Because I think it's going to be pretty good after I won 13 games. Okay. Yeah. Take it right now. Take it right now. All right. AFC championship game in Duval County, Texans V Jaguars. Yes. However, what's the there's another. Both Davis Mills and CJ Stratterhurt. They're both. What are you doing? What are you doing to me? I want to see how far you put it. I can push it. And Trevor's on an MVP season. We got to go to Duval County for ABC championship game. Without either my quarterback. So you're saying it's that or what's behind door number two. Yeah. But so I get to the AFC championship game. But you get there. You got to go to Jacksonville, but you don't have any quarterback. It is. It's Merz eligible to return for the post season. I saw Graham this morning. Man, it looks in good spirits, man. I'm. But he's you cannot bring him back no matter what, right? I don't think no, you can't. Because you had to have them designated to return. So this is like, so you have the equivalent of not even T.J. Yates.

40:00I mean, you have you have Brandon Weedon or somebody like that. Yeah, some. J. Yeah, Jake Deloam. Yeah. You know what? I take my money with Jake Deloam. Like a Jake Deloam version of Jake Deloam. Yes. Like I take that. Oh, I so like a poor man's Baker Mayfield. Yeah, I would take that if they were both hurt. I'll give you a name. Ryan Tana Hill. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Ryan Tana Hill is going to play for us at the AFC championship game in Duval County. We we we row while K. Remember in 2018 with the Titans and they had Blaine Gabrett playing quarterback. And on the, I think it's a second or third drive freaking the floor goes wildcat with Henry. Yeah, exactly. And he just goes single wing the rest of the game basically the wild demo. Yeah, wild Monty. Right. Wild Woody. Oh, would you in the like in wild wow, wildcaformation? Yeah, I could do it. Yeah, it could do it. We could maybe AFC championship. Put sting back there. Let him throw man. Yeah, think throw it. Stingely. What's sting? I'll start sting Lee. I'm not taking that. Okay. No, I'm not. I got one more for you. Quick.

41:04Okay. Okay. This is a little more subtle. Maybe not. This is let's make a full throw. It's a good one. Weird hypotheticals. Will you take it or not? 11 wins. The Jags only win eight. They stumble big. Okay. But Daniel Jones. I'm not going to give it the record. You have 11 wins. Daniel Jones throws for 3700 yards and Jonathan Taylor rushes for 1500 yards. Geez. Those numbers exist. Okay. You win 11 games. I don't know who wins the division and the Jags. I know don't don't know what happened to the Titans in this scenario either. Jags don't even make playoffs and eight eight. They're not making the playoffs at eight. Not this is not the NFC South. So they're not making the playoffs. So you tell me are you going to take this 11 victory guaranteed Daniel Jones going to throw for 3700 yards and Jonathan Taylor has 1500 yards. Well, I should care me. Okay. Don't scare me. I'll take 11. They might have won the division with those numbers might have. But the horseshoe. But yeah, I know. But what we do against

42:06horseshoe last year. We'll worry. Don't know. Look, we're five and one with the Mico Ryan. Okay. He's on a five game winning streak against the horseshoe. Yeah. Keep mallard. Keep striking. Let him stay. Okay. That's fine. Another year. That team in a one-off situation against us. Us best on best. Okay. I'm fine with it. Okay. But 11 win. You might be going on the road in the first round again. Might. Yeah. You might. I'll take it. You had to go to Pittsburgh. People listening. They're like, this team should win more than 11. I know. I know. I should is a word that should not exist in the NFL. And remember 2013. That team was supposed to win 13 and go to the soccer ball. And we'll give if you're going to give me now this. This is obviously impossible. But we're doing hypotheticals here. If you're going to give me 11 wins versus the unknown, I will take it every single time. I'll probably take 10 even with this team. Just take it. Right. Tens a little tougher. But I'll probably take it because it gets me to the postseason and all likelihood. And once I'm there, I'll see where this team can take me. Last year, you had a chance. You didn't do it. But you know what? Give me that kind of chance again. Josh Allen had a tremendous year last year. Right? Right.

43:09What happened when they played us? They lost. He threw three. He threw three picks. No, two picks. Two picks. That's eight times. Yeah. But he's ready as number two player by the players in the top 100. I know. Because you know why? You're before he won the MVP. He was nine for third because he still could have made one throw and beaten us. Yeah. I know. Now he didn't because this defense is that good. And it took the hook and lateral perfectly executed to get them in position to do that. But it did happen. And it was like, no, I mean, that would have been horrible to lose like that. But thank you. Caitlin Bologna for picking off that pass. All right, Johnny. That's let's make a football deal. We'll go around the league next and wrap up the program. It's Texans all access. It's our final segment tonight. And I wanted to get to a couple of things on the way out from executive vice president and general manager Nick Casario. Now we will have him on next week. We'll begin our weekly visits with Nick. Can't wait for that on Tuesday. You'll see him on YouTube on Texans playbooks, Saturday nights on ABC 13. And of course, right here on Texans radio on 957,

44:10the fan. So let's get to this information from the exec VP and GM on transforming the Texans roster. Try to make it into a championship caliber roster. It's been a process. I think Demiko and I feel it's awfully shared a lot of the same beliefs and how to build a football team. What's important in a football player, the types of people and the types of players that we want to have in the building. And I would say even before Demiko arrived, I would say we were very purposeful with who we brought in the building. Understanding that nothing's going to change overnight. It's going to be multiple moves over the course of time. Understanding there's going to be some swings and misses. Not every player that you know decision that you make is going to work. But I think the ability for us to just adapt the just and just try to put together a comprehensive team that has enough depth that can essentially play in any situation and he circumstance. Understanding that we're going to sustain some losses. The most important thing is get the right people with the right mindset with the right mentality in the building. You know, they put in the work. And ultimately it we can talk about how good of a team we think we're don't have or what the expectations

45:15are. Any and doesn't really matter. I mean it's going to come down to how we play. So I mean, doesn't really matter what I think. It doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks outside of the building about how good of a team we may or may not have. How well we play is ultimately going to determine how good of a year we have. So and that's kind of how we approach it. And that's why the focus really is on, you know, nothing else. Morning Buffalo. No question. Another thing that came up was the amount of running backs on the initial 53 man roster three because British Brooks was the third. Now on the practice squad, you have to guard Jordan and Noah Wittington. And they'll be introduced at the season premiere this evening. Also five tight ends because Brev and Jordan gets announced on that 53 once it goes through its initial phase, then they added him a day later. What about the number of running backs and tight ends on that 53 man roster? Well, I mean, we kept X on a roster and then some of our depth of those positions is off the roster. So we have five running backs in the building. So Jawar's in a building. No, Wittington's in a building on a practice

46:15squad. So like we have five running backs in the building. Like we don't distinguish her delineate. We'll get three on a roster. They have five running backs in the building and we got nine receivers counting tensily. So all those players are eligible to play. So wherever we feel like we got to take to the game each week, like we'll take to the game. Like that's how we feel like we wanted to construct a roster. Again, I've said this a thousand times. Some of our depth is on a roster. Some of our depths off the roster. So it doesn't really the numbers of the numbers. So some positions are going to have certain years are going to have more than others. It's just that's how we feel like we have to constructed at that point in time. So there could be changes. There could be players that come on. There can be players that come off. So again, those two positions. We got five received five running backs in the building and we got nine receivers. So we treat them all the same. All right. That's Nick Kiserio more from him. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe we'll rerun some of the his conversation that he had with Sean and Seth, which was really good earlier this week and big show tomorrow. Of course, on Monday, we're going to be dark on Labor Day, but a full slate of shows next week week one of the NFL season Texans and bills a week from Sunday at Reliance Stadium

47:18at noon. That's going to do it for tonight's show. Area 45 is coming up. Have a great evening and go Texans.