2026 NFL Predictions, Division by Division | Texans All-Access

0:00What's happened everybody happy Friday to you. Hopefully it's a beautiful Friday wherever you are It's definitely for us because you're with us on Texans all access John Harris football in all a sideline reporter alongside the voice of the Texans Mark van Mirmark. Good evening. How are you Johnny? I'm good and I'm going to the 40 acres tomorrow So I'm fired up for that. Yeah, yeah, go to the University of Texas where a vandered kid goes and And watch the team play. I think I'll survive a half of that game. You know, I know we don't want we don't want to get off on the tangent right away, but I will anyway. Of course we do. Why are they playing at 230 in the afternoon in Austin? I mean, is this for TV really? Yes, it's the University of Texas Johnny. That's a matter they get eyeballs. I know, but they should control the environment and say, you know what? We're not going to do this to our fans. Their fans. I know this because I bought tickets. Their fans are paying good money. Good money to get into the building and watch them play Texas state. Move the game. Play it nine. I mean, people would rather have it then instead of cooking in the sun.

1:05I'm see I'm complaining going to a football game, but that's just me. I'm a snob, I guess. No, you're not a snob. No, it's nobody likes to sit there at 230. I remember when I when I first got to Jacksonville way, way, way, way, way back in a day. 1994. I remember there would be people that would offer me tickets to Florida Gators games. And I was like, hell yeah, I'm going. I love college football. I always have. In fact, built my career starting with college football. So I would take their I would take their tickets. And I would ask them, well, what's going on? Why aren't you going? It's too hot. It's 230. And I was like, alright, whatever. I mean, I'm in my 20s. I could survive. And I would get there. And I was like, I get it. I get it. It's hard to sit outside. Those are the sprayer years too. So I did not want to miss anything. And thank God I did take those tickets because eventually what would end up happening is my buddy would just he would give them to me or we'd go together. And he's like, my dad only goes to the Tennessee game and the four state game.

2:09And then his dad stopped going all together. So I got to go to the Tennessee games and the Florida state games and they were awesome back in the 90s. Those are incredible. Peyton Manning. Oh, and the Florida state teams. Oh, those are such good games. Yeah, such great battles. The Gator and so you say the Gator in Florida. You don't even say the Gators. You say the Gator. Just like we say the horseshoe for the cold. Yeah, the Gator. And that's how my South Florida friends, the University of Miami people referred to the University of Florida, the Gator. And you know, Johnny, I once went to a dolphins game when I was working with the hurricanes. I went to a dolphins game in September. This is before they redid the stadium. They've all the shade now. So you're out there cooking and they're playing Seattle and Seattle was cooking. Seattle wilted in the second half. The dolphins were good then. This is in the early O's. They were really good. They were really good as probably an overstatement, but Jay Fiedler replaced Marino. They had good playoff teams anyway in South Florida at that point. And they killed the sea hawks because the sea ox couldn't deal with the heat. I mean, I couldn't deal with the heat. I went inside after a while.

3:14So yeah, absolutely. Yes, whatever it is the way it is. Yeah, it most definitely. This is this is going to show you. Count football. Start last night. Heck of a comeback by Colorado. That was a great fourth quarter. The first three quarters stunk, but the fourth quarter was great comeback for Colorado. But this shows you how much cost football has changed. Your hurricanes. They play tonight at Stanford. In a conference game. If I told you that when you and I started together in 2014, hey, in 2026, we're going to kick off a Friday night all access show. And the canes will kick off in our later at Stanford in a conference game. Yeah, crazy. Yeah, it's nuts. I mean, Stanford in the ACC makes absolutely zero sense. Another thing that makes zero sense is UMass demolishing Rutgers last night. And Greg, she isn't the most popular individual in college athletics, taking it on the chin in Piscata way as the

4:20minute man did their thing. My goodness. And they got a big check and they got a big win. How about that? That's the most humiliating thing. Like when AppState comes into your state and he beats you and you got to pay them a couple million for that privilege of losing to them. My goodness. These are wonderful times when you see an upset like that. And I think in UMass going nowhere and maybe they do go nowhere, but they must have something if they were able to do that. It couldn't have been a total look ahead situation, but that was really delightful to see. 1.5 million. I saw somebody post this later. They showed a fireworks show that apparently Rutgers had planned for actually the game. So I don't know. I don't know what a fireworks show costs. I don't know. But it was wild. I mean, it was like holy smokes. Look at this. It was 1.5 million to UMass to go to Piscata way to play Rutgers. And then UMass turned them inside out. Now Rutgers has a dude at receiver named KJ Duff and he is a dude. Like he's a slower version of AJ Green. Like he has, he was incredible. He had like nine catches three touchdowns.

5:24He was unreal. But Rutgers stinks and UMass UMass had not won a game. Six days, 16 game losing streak and they were nearly a 30 point underdog and they won the game. I think by two touchdowns that came in with the final ended up being the garbage. CD at the end. It doesn't matter. It was ridiculous that UMass ends up being Rutgers, but good for UMass to get that win. But yeah, college ball going on tonight. College ball going on on Saturday. That's the unofficial start of the season. Though we had weak zero games last year. And then of course, the canes are playing. The canes are playing tonight in an ACC game. And the USC Trojans are playing tonight as a member of the big 10. So when you think about college football, I think it is certainly changed. Yeah, UMass beat Rutgers 37, 21 last night. But yeah, some interesting aspects of last night college football, but it all will really kick off at 11 a.m. Which looking forward to that

6:29on Saturday and mark will be in Austin. So wait, before you go any further. Okay. I missed that game last night with UMass beating Rutgers. I got a ton of texts because I used to be the voice of the Minutemen a long time ago. But I was at the season premiere, Johnny. Yes, season premiere. I was happy to be back. It was really cool. It was really great. Introduced the team. They got out there. It was wonderful to see the guys. We played a game. The legends versus the locker room, meaning former players against current players, Travis Johnson, always funny. Andre Johnson was great. Current players. You know what was interesting to me, the backstage moment of me getting to introduce Glover Quinn to Kamari Lasseter and Kaelin Bullock. That was fun. Because you're talking about the era's blending. I had never met those, you know, those guys that never met Glover. And it was just really cool to make that connection between the two groups. And to me, everybody's the same. You know, I'm like, yeah, it was about three weeks ago. You played Glover, right? No, not exactly. So the current and the former, the legends, it was really

7:34cool. That was just one aspect of it. They raised a ton of money for the Houston Texans foundation. 25 years of impact. Awesome stuff as we are in the 25th season. So that was fun. And more events on the way, including the games. Oh, we're from Sunday against Buffalo. So fired up because now we're almost there in game week, Johnny. This week was the week where we kind of take a deep breath, pause, look at the roster. And now we're good to go. You know, Mark, it's interesting with the season premiere. Like we travel with the guys. So we get a chance to see the guys as they, you know, get their fits together and everything for when they travel. But then you see them at season premiere and you see how well they clean up, you know, just, you know, how nice they in the, how nice they looking, you know, and just kind of, I don't say normal everyday guard, but just when they kind of get dressed up a little bit, I just always think that's cool. I always love looking at the pictures from when we traveled to see who's dressed in, you know, the Balenciaga and whatever they're wearing. I always find that sort of fascinating. Then you had speaking of, you know, players of the past, then you had Ben Jones in some sort of camo version as he got on

8:36the plane. We shoes on to get on a plane, but then took shoes off as he would get ready for game. But I always love that aspect of, of that, you know, like seeing, seeing guys, you know, dressed up, put the tie on, you know, seeing Daniel and his, like Natalie Clad suit and you realize, he wears a suit every single trip that we go on. It's always, it's always really cool to see that, but you're, you're right. The actual season is right around the corner, which leads us to where we are going tonight, because we got to, as they say, put it on wax. We got to make it permanent. We need predictions for the 2026 season. And oh, one last thing, you mentioned Glover Quinn. Yeah. There are two players that I mostly regret seeing this team lose over the years. Two, Glover Quinn and DJ Reader. I feel like those two guys should have stayed career Texans. You can maybe throw Justin Reed in that, in that mix too. But losing those two,

9:39those two guys, Glover Quinn and DJ Reader, because they were such good guys too. They were great inside and outside the locker room. And they fit perfectly for the ethos of the Texans. I just think those two should have been Texans forever. Okay. Let's get to our predictions here. And here's what we're going to do. We got eight divisions. It's hard to pick, hard in the head, but my heart and my head tell me the Texas is going to have to be sour. So we're not going to pick that division. But we got seven divisions that we're going to pick. And we'll start in the conference the Texas are in in the AFC. And we'll start and we'll just go and it will start with the East because East is always, you know, mentioned at the top. So we'll start with the AFC East, your division winner. Again, Buffalo, new coach Joe Brady, New England went to the Super Bowl last year, led by Mike Vrable. The Miami dolphins are a total and complete mess. But it's one of those kind of, it's not so bad of a mess because they

10:39know they're young, they know they're going to struggle and they're going to build this thing back up. And you've also got the New York Jets with Aaron Glenn in year two. And hopefully there are more years. So give me your division winner in the AFC East and give me a surprise team that you think, you know what, keep an eye on this team, even though it's not the division winner. Maybe they're one of the same, but give me your division winner and give me a team you think could be a surprise. You know, it's funny that we have to recuse ourselves from picking the AFC South because we are Texans people, right? Yes. Although we can discuss the division, of course. But with the AFC East, I almost need to recuse myself because I hate the Patriots so much. It's such a deep hatred. It's not quite the cult's level, but it's getting close. But I think I declared them the all time Texans villain, the cults of the nemesis, the Patriots of the villain. And I said, the Patriots in Foxboro in the post season, that is just a horrible situation for the Texans and they need to overcome at some point. Although I'd rather play them at home. Of course, if that's the option.

11:42Right. The Patriots Johnny, I feel it in my gut that it's a step back. I look at what they've got though. And I'm thinking they could easily be, I don't think they're going to be 14 wins good, but they can be 12 13 and maybe the bills don't catch them. But I think it's a bills year. I think this is 12 13 wins for the bills and the Patriots do take a step back to 10 11 wins. So I'm going to go bills, Patriots. And do you want me to go dolphins jets at this point? I'll tell you, the dolphins were a mess last year, but it's a mess that won seven games. Now, I know things have changed over quarterback coaching staff, lots of player departures. I mean, they're really starting a new, but when I look at what they've got, I think they're better than the jets. I don't think they're good enough to do anything, but I think they're, they're good enough to beat the jets. And I love Aaron Glenn. You know that I hate saying this, but I think the jets are going to finish last again in the dolphins. I be slow as offensive coordinator working with Malik Willis. I think they get enough done offensively and defensively to stay above the jets and

12:44finish third in that division. So it's bills, Patriots, dolphins jets for me in the AFC East. I don't have any qualms with the top two. I think the Patriots do take a step back. I think they were very fortunate last year, schedule wise. And look, they beat us. So I mean, I, you know, in a playoff game, you know, I'd like to think that we gave them the game, but that said, I just, I'm not, I'm not a believer in a Patriots yet. But the bills, I do think the bills defensively are going to be kind of interesting early on because of Jim Leonard. And the different looks he'll give, and especially in the Texans, I've talked about that first game, but I think the bills, I think Josh Allen just, he's way too good to have the Patriots overcome them in a second year. I'll disagree with the dolphins jets. I go with jets, third dolphins, fourth. I just, I'm not I think it's one of those years with dolphins are like, look, we, we want to find the young guys that make up our core, even though Malik Willis is at quarterback. I think they got to find their core.

13:45And the core probably comes from the 2027 draft, 2028 draft, etc. But they got to, they got to see whether they've got anybody. So I'm going to go jets dolphins there. All right, I have seen North. I'll go first on this one. Okay, this is a tough one. But I am going with the same team that I've gone with for years just because they have a quarterback that I think is inevitable. I think Lamar Jackson is that good. If he's healthy, last year wasn't healthy. They got knocked off. This year if he stays healthy, I think Declan Doyle is going to be a good fit for him. So I'm going Ravens to win the AFC North. I know everybody's hot on the Bengals. I think the Bengals are a wild card team at best. But I think they're the second best team in that division. Steelers and the Browns, the Browns are looking to get archmaning. So I think the Browns bring up the end there. But I think probably a big surprise there to me. I think the Steelers are eight and nine. I don't think the Steelers are are are that good of a football team. I mean, look, they were nine and eight last

14:45year. One in a vision because they beat the Ravens the final week. Then we went to their building and beat them by 24. So I just I don't know what to make with the Steelers. I just think Rogers is done. Mike McCarthy. I don't think makes a huge difference. I think Bengals are nine eight, even though a lot of people aren't putting them in the Super Bowl. I think the defense is still a question mark for me. But the Ravens win the AFC North. What's he? You okay? It is the easiest thing in the world is to pick the Ravens first and the Browns last in the AFC North, right? I think we all agree with that because I'm betting on the health of Lamar Jackson and that team. I'm betting that they don't have the implosion of injuries that they had last year that really cost them dearly. If Lamar is healthy enough, Derek Henry's healthy enough. Rogue Juan has something left in the tank. They made a beat case going to be back. I just think that that team is the cremdella crem in the AFC North. The Steelers Johnny, they actually won 10 last year. I mean, isn't that weird? Yeah. That they were able to win 10, but they won 10. I don't think this year's Steelers

15:50team is as good as last year's Steelers team. Let's just put it like in those terms, right? And the Bengals are tough to predict because will Joe Burrow stay healthy? I'm betting on Lamar staying healthier than Joe Burrow because Joe always seems to get hurt. Well, let's just say he stays healthy enough. And I'm with you. I think there are nine and eight type teams. I'm going to go Ravens, Bengals, Steelers and then just watching the Cleveland Browns are last because that is going to be fun to watch. And I hope it's enjoyable for us when we go up there. November. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. We'll give our predictions for the AFC West. But here's one. It's a secondary question. What's our what's our prediction for the AFC West? How many of these teams make the playoffs in the AFC West? So I'm going to let you go first here. Well, it's very tough. This is the one I thought about the most. And I've come up with the least because the big story here is what is happening in Kansas City this year? Correct. Yeah. Was last year an aberration? Was it my home's health?

16:55I don't know, Johnny. They were not going that well when my homes was upright doing his thing. Pick them off three times on a Sunday night. The Houston Texans did first three pick game in what? Three years for him at the time. And I thought this is not the same chiefs. Now, I know they've reloaded a bit. I don't like them though compared to the top two. I think the chargers and the Broncos are the class of the division right now. I don't buy Denver as a 14 win type team. I just don't see that. It's tough for me to pick the chargers to win the division though. I think I'm going to stand pat with where they finished last year. I'm going to go Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders. I think I'll stay with the order that they were in. I'm really curious to see what Mike McDaniel can do for that Chargers offense. You know, the defense is good enough to do some things for them right. You get that offense better healthier, a little bit healthier or making the most of what they do have that is healthy. Bonics. I think I'm going to pick Denver first. I hate to say it.

18:01I'd love to pick the chargers here, but I can't Denver. How many how many ever make the playoffs? How many make the playoffs? I think the chiefs sneak in somehow, right? Let me look. Let me look. Yeah, you're thinking three. I think the chiefs sneak in. I do. All right. I could see that. I could see that Patriots. Bengals. No, you'd have to pick one. I don't know. It's it's giving me. It's one wild card from the other divisions. I mean, now we're talking about AFC. How many make it in the AFC South? Right. That's that's that. I think it's two. I think it's two. I think it ends up being two, whether it's Texans, Colts, Texans, Jazz. That means the Patriots or the bills or the or the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, one of those or two of those are going to miss the playoffs. Two of those three. You know what? I'll change my prediction. AFC West gets two in, two in. And that's it. That's where I was going. I'm going to flip it to be different. I actually probably believe more in the Broncos, but I'm not totally sure I buy into Bonics. I just haven't.

19:06I guess I would like to, but I just I can't get there with Bonics. I'm not sure I can get there with Justin Herbert either. Who's the quarterback in the division? Is it still my homes despite the bad year? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, great. I probably trusted the notice. I probably trusting with the 20 CL more than I trust the other two. But I'm going to roll the dice here. I'm going to go with the Charters to Winning Division. I can't believe I'm doing that. I'm going to go Charters to Win ning Division. Broncos second. She's third. Raiders fourth. I think two still come out of there. And I do think once they get to the playoffs, I do think the Broncos could be a tough out. You know, it's one of those teams like, you know, do you want to see the Broncos as a road as a road wild card? I mean that now if it's Jared's, didn't play quarterback, that I could take that. Although I do think that even though I as extent could have done a little bit more of the conditions have been better. But I feel like once they got a lead in that game, they just kind of hovered over him.

20:06You're like a helicopter parent like, oh, don't do this. Don't do that. They probably need to let him let it rip a little bit more. Then again, you know, he had that one throw. He should have never made and that led to seven points for the Patriots. Either way, I'm going to go with, I'm going to bank on the Mike McDaniel Justin Herbert marriage being a good one and that the Charters and this is the one thing people miss about Mike McDaniel Mike McDaniel. He knows the running game probably better than anybody in the league. So I think he's going to get that running game going, which Harbaugh loves. So I think they're going to get the running game going. Not sure I love him. Mario and Hampton, but they'll find somebody. I think Herbert will keep it together. And then it's just a matter of can Herbert keep it together in a playoffs. Here's the key. The Charters got to play a playoff game at home and that's something they haven't done. If they play at home and they're inside control conditions, you know, who knows. Then again, he did lose that reliant a few years ago. So he knows, but I'm a roll of dice of the Charters. It's such a war of

21:07attrition, isn't it? You know, they're also breaking in a new defensive coordinator, although he's been there before. Chris O'Leary was a well-earned match here. That's smart, dude. Now they're for the reason. So yeah, it'll be interesting. The chiefs are the big mystery here. It's so strange what happened to them last year. Obviously, injuries had a lot to do with the final stretch there, but the Texans taking them out pretty thoroughly on a Sunday night was so delicious for us. And for the league, you look around and that was a changing of the guard moment. Not just the Texans rising up and making that move, but other teams in their division being able to solidify their status. I mean, the Broncos winning 14 games is just sick. Johnny, they want 14 games. And one of the losses was to Jacksonville. I know. Gosh, they got hammered at home. Ambronix was healthier. It's ridiculous. Okay, let's hop over the NFC now. There are two divisions at this point that we will not play last year. We played the NFC West and next year we played the NFC South,

22:12but we play the Packers in the North and we play the NFC East, all teams there. So let's start with the South and the West and go with that because one division seemingly not very good, but from a prediction standpoint, very intriguing. So let's start with the NFC South, the Saints, the Bucks, the Falcons, the Panthers. I don't even know if... So the Saints, quarterbacks, Tyler Schuck, Baker Mayfields, the Bucks, quarterback, the Falcons, quarterback, his Michael Panics, I think, Embrace Young is the quarterback for the Panthers. So of those four, how many of them are starting quarterback in January? I don't know. I think two. I think two. I think it's going to be a really tough division to predict. I'll go first. I think the surprise team to watch here is the Saints, but I think the winner of the division is going to be the Bucks. I think the Bucks bounce back. I think Baker has a great year. It kind of shows the Bucks, hey, they says, what's your miss in? And I think he gets it done, but I think the Saints could end up being a

23:15surprise. I think the Saints get to 98. And it's one of those deals where maybe week 17, week 18, like they're still in it until then. And then the Bucks just one game more end up winning division. So I'm going to say Bucks at 10 and 7 Saints at 98. I think Falcons are bringing up the rear. Nobody knows what the quarterback is. I think Panthers fall back a little bit. I just, I'm not, that team was eight nine last year and got to playoffs. I mean, they could be seven and 10. I think they could be in third and Falcons are in fourth. What do you say? There are some divisions that are brutal to pick. Like the AFC West brutal to pick. NFC North brutal. NFC West with those three. Tough. But with the South Johnny, I agree. I think the Panthers slide. I think the Saints make their move. Look, they were two wins off the pace last year. Right. He's one that was a three-way tie. It's hard to go against the Bucks as the leader here. If they didn't get all banged up last year, Mayfield. Now, I know he's unhappy right now. Or maybe he is happy because it's a contract

24:16year for him. He's going to play his guts out. I worry about him playing through injuries too much throughout his career. You know, when he needs to sit, he gets back too fast sometimes. Did it in Cleveland when Kase won a big game for them? Kase Keenum and then he comes right back. I thought too soon. And he didn't play as well as he could have. But the Bucks are the cream of the crop here. I can't pick the Saints second. I'll go third. I'll say, but how do the you know what? I'll go with you. I'm joining on the Saints bandwagon. Johnny because the Falcons cannot believe in a team that doesn't have a quarterback. And like, what are you going to do? I mean, you know, they say if you have four quarterbacks, you don't have any. And that a plot. Well, the Steelers have for it. They do have one, but he's older. Anyway, I'll go Bucks, Saints, Falcons, Panthers. That's kind of somehow the Falcons stay ahead of the Panthers. I don't believe in the Panthers after watching them up close and personal. Okay. And if you West, yeah, Fending champs, the greatest team that's ever been bought the 49ers and the Cardinals, the 49ers are already in Australia, which is kind of wild.

25:18The Rams are going to go the day before. That's wild. That's going to be wild to see your thoughts on the NFC West. Can the Rams take it back over or the Siouxx just, well, inevitable. I feel like the health of Garrett and Donald being able to hold up. This is going to be really interesting to watch. And I feel like the Garrett deal. I'm going to go on the record here. The Garrett, you had Jared verse, a hell of a player, right, Johnny? Is he a hell of a player? You had Jared verse. You got Miles Garrett. Who's better? I got it. How much better is he? Is verse 80% of Miles Garrett? Give me a percentage of what verse is to Miles Garrett. That's a good one. That's a good one. Probably about 80%. Yeah. That's a good. I don't think it was worth that 20% to make that deal. So I'm going on the record here. I don't think it's worth the 20% improvement to make that deal. Could it kept verse and all the other assets and we could have been flying here? Because what if Garrett gets hurt? Now, it's not like you're screwed. You got a great team, but it's a bad look. And then what if Donald doesn't quite play like Donald, right? I still like

26:19the Seahawks here. Maybe I'm bought in hard knocks. What they did last year, 14 wins in a real solid 14, not a shaky 14 solid 14 wins. Tough division. We know electrical station demolishes the 49ers again. It feels like maybe they can overcome all of this, but this feels like there's way too much drama going on around that organization. Seahawks, Rams, Niners, Cardinals. I think the Cardinals win five. Boom. I'm going to flip it for one reason. Just because I think Matt Stafford is still the you know what? So I'm going to go Rams, Seahawks, Niners, Cardinals. I'm literally going Matt Stafford. That's it. Matt Stafford being there. I think he's playing the best ball of his career even though he's 85 years old. But I think you said it best. If they have an injury to Garrett, Donald, Matt Stafford. Then their their seasons cooked, especially in that division with the Seahawks and the 49ers.

27:19The 49ers are going to be good, but they're just they're bringing up the rear. All right, let's go to the NFC North. We do end up playing the Green Bay Packers, but they will miss Micah Parsons to start the year. Don't know what's going to happen with Josh Jacobs. The Vikings with Kyler Murray become interesting. The Ice Man, well, as they'd like to say, our buddy Jeff Joniak likes to call him a Chicago. They seemingly have taken big strides. And then there's the Lions. Yeah. Fourth place last year. This to me is one of the more intriguing divisions in football. What say you about the NFC North? It's brutal. This is a coin flip to me. I don't believe in the bears to the point where they're going to finish two games up on everybody else like they did last year. And the Lions did finish fourth, but they were right there. I mean, you're talking three wins. I mean, three teams with nine wins of peace. Then the bears with 11. I know that everything changes year to year. I want to get hung up on last year. But in that, I believe in the Lions organization, I'm going to go Lions Packers, Bears Vikings. Okay. I don't think Kyler Murray is going

28:24to make that much of a difference. But the Vikings somehow went to nine and eight last year in a disaster of a campaign, right? Yeah. Yeah. And a good organization as well. I like the Lions. They still have Gibbs. They still have a good quarterback and Jared Goff. And they tried to improve the offensive line. Let's see what happens there. Maybe it's wishful thinking. I love Jeff Joni, I have the voice of the bears, but I don't like the bears. So I'm going to go Lions. What did I do? Lions Packers, Bears Vikings. I like that order. I think the Packers are a good organization. The Micah Parsons deal is another mystery to me. Sometimes he give up too much for he's a great player. Is he available? He's a great player. Wasn't available down to stretch last year. He hurt them. Anyway, that's my order. I don't know that I disagree with that. I do think the bears take a half step to a full step back. I am not buying Kyler Murray to the Vikings. I'm not. I know he's kind of walking the, the, the, he's toeing the line right now. But the second that he gets

29:26blamed for something that either wasn't his fault or he doesn't perceive his fault. That thing will go to hell in the hand basket in Minneapolis. If he becomes a leader, stays a leader. Well, the Vikings could be, they still, I mean, the Vikings have ton of talent. Brian Flores running at defense. Okay. But I, I just, I'm not buying, I'm not buying Kyler Murray. And I, and I think that Dan Campbell will use that as a rallying point of, look, you were in fourth place last year and they, they, they're not a fourth place team. It was just that, how good that division is. So I'm going to go lines Packers, bears, Vikings. I think that's probably the best order. Okay. We do play the NFC East. So we saved them for last. Giants. John Harbott takes over. The Washington commanders, Laramie Tundzel, hurt the offensive line banged up. Still looking for some weapons. The Philadelphia Eagles got knocked out in round one last year of the playoffs. They've changed their entire offense. And then there's the Dallas Cowboys who last year,

30:30the defense was a sieve, but they've made a lot of improvements on that side of the ball. How do you look at this division? This, this, this division's wild because every time I want to say, oh, yeah, it's this team. I think it's the other team. I feel like it's two teams and then two other teams. One of the other two teams could surprise. I think one other team. I think, I think, it's going to be a struggle for them. And I think it could cost their coach a job. How do you look at the NFC smart random here? This division is crazy after you get through the Eagles, Johnny, because the Eagles are the premier organization in the NFC East and certainly one of them, if not the premier organization in the league. It's a top three organization. Yeah. There's no way around this. I know they got knocked out in round one. They still want 11 games and a really down year for them. They change offenses as often as most people change air conditioning filters. They are a good team to spite all of that. They revamp the offense all the time. Everyone questions

31:35jail and hurts. Look, I know it's not pretty. I know it's not perfect, but the guys want a lot of football games. The guys want a super bowl. The guy played in and this, this team is good to go to win the NFC East once again. Now the Dallas Cowboys, I have a hard time seeing them get to the promised land or anything close to that, but they're better than the commanders and the giants. I think they're a solid second in this division. I'm just talking about the context of the NFC East, the Cowboys with all that offensive firepower. Firepower. I know they did things to improve the defense. Come on. There's still going to be a good enough offense to get you 7, 8, 9 somewhere in that range. Maybe more, but somewhere in that range. Now as far as the commanders and the giants go, John Harbaugh, all of the time in Baltimore, you know, he's got a phenomenal record. He had Joe Flacco and then Lamar Jackson, right? We're talking about elite Joe. I put that in air quotes. Don't worry. And Lamar Jackson MVP. So he doesn't have that now, but I still say he's a good head coach

32:37and good enough to finish ahead of the commanders. This year with all the commanders injuries and look, I like Jaden Daniels. I do. I don't think it's enough to overcome what they're going through and they wade goodbye to Kingsbury. I don't know if it's going as well behind the scenes there is everyone wants it to. So I'm going to go Eagles Cowboys, giants, commanders. I'd like to argue with you, but I can't. I think that's the way I would go with it. I think the Eagles, I think you captured it perfectly. I think the Eagles are that. I do think that the Cowboys ended up being a wild card in that I think the Cowboys are nipping at the Eagles heels or they're back sharing the seller with the commanders. And I don't think there's really any in between. But I think if Dak Prescott stays healthy, that team can't win fewer than nine games. As long as the defense is back on track and it lost its weight last last year. So if they've got it going with Christian Parker as a new DC, which it sounds like everybody loves them up there,

33:41I think they can be a nice little surprise. Maybe sneaking the playoffs behind the Eagles. But how that offense reacts in Philadelphia, Sean Manion will tell you everything about the Eagles. Because if it reacts positively with Jalen Hertz, talk about that team being insuperable. If it doesn't, then Nick Serrione could be fighting for his job along with everybody else. But I think you've got the order right. I think the giants become the most intriguing team to watch. And I think commanders, I think Dan Quinn could be fighting for his job, especially that offensive line. They can't get it right. Jane Daniels gets, you know, dinged up again. Or he's not making good decisions. Because he gets gets keeps getting pounded. I'm going to go with that exact same Eagles Cowboys giants, commanders as I fight trying to say redskins. I keep saying in my mind redskins, but saying commanders there in the NFC East. All right. Good stuff there from both of us on our predictions. Coming up, Nick Casario, he was on paint and pander gas. He had some good things to say. We'll pull it some of the best next right here on Texans all access.

34:43Welcome back to Friday edition of Texans all access from the Texans Radio studio. I'm your host, John Harris, football analyst, sideline reporter for your Houston Texans executive vice president, general manager Nick Casario was on with the boys on 95 seven, the fan, Sean Penter gas and Seth pain. Seth asked him a really great question about Keelan Rutledge and whether Nick was surprised that Keelan has been this effective this early in his career. Most young players like once they enter this league, they're going to be doing potentially some things a little bit differently from a technique standpoint. You don't always understand what they're being asked to do, what they're being coached to do. That's part of the evaluation process. You're watching a player on tape and you see something. It might be a negative, but you're not really sure what's the reason that maybe doesn't look as good as it should or you want them to look. And then when you get the players on campus and you're building, you're kind of starting from square one and you're starting with the basic foundation and Demiko stresses this at mean at nauseam, but any end, it comes back to your

35:48basic, basic fundamental techniques and having a foundation. And that's what you're going to resort to even when you get into games. So scheme is scheme. That's a big part of it, but your hand placement, your body position, your aiming points, how you punch as an offensive lineman, like those are the things that are going to be relevant as you progress during the course of your career. Some players take to it a little bit earlier and sooner than others, other players, and maybe it takes a little bit more, it takes a little bit longer. But from Keyleth's standpoint, he we felt this was a player that was coachable who was smart, his toughness and physicality was certainly a part of the evaluation, but we felt somewhat confident that maybe some of the things that you saw on tape that didn't look great, that at some point might be able to get those fixed. And as a player, you're just looking for them to be able to course correct. If you teach something, you explain something, here's how I want you to do it. Here's the reason why you may struggle initially, but then you go back, you correct it. And I think the reality is, the players don't have

36:49to worry about anything other than football. So the more time you spend on tasks, the more time you spend in the meeting room, the more time you spend with your coach, getting the information that you need. Hopefully that's going to enhance your overall development and speed up the progress. Nick, is there a joining us? Nick, just sticking with Keyleth for a second, you said yesterday in your media availability that he was probably your best offensive lineman at this point. And I don't, you don't throw a praise around like that, just Willie Nilly. I mean, that's, that was significant, I thought. What's he done specifically in these five weeks of training camp and probably prior to that in the spring that made you comfortable saying that before he's played a snap in the regular season? Well, he's handled everything that we've thrown at him. We've moved him around a little bit. He's played multiple positions. And here's a player that, predominantly was a right guard at Georgia Tech. So we worked him on the left side. We worked him at center. That was a part of the early part of training camp to see whether or not that's something he can handle. Could he handle it? He probably could handle it. But then we kind of move some things

37:52around. And we felt, all right, the more snaps he had at left guard, then the better that, you know, you saw the development. But I mean, he's strong. He's tough. He's smart. He's physical. He finishes blocks. He plays the way that we want our players to play. I mean, it must have been, you know, every day when Domingo goes through the clips of practice, I mean, there's going to be a clip of Rutledge finishing clean, not doing it over the line, but just finishing with the right mentality and the right mindset. And it's emblematic of the overall team and how we want to play. Overall, we feel that that first group that's been out there the last few weeks, you know, was a good overall group. We have a lot of experience. We have a combination of young players with Tei going into his second year, Keelon, if he's a left guard. Evan is a player that has a lot of experience, has played multiple spots. Ed is coming off of, you know, probably his best season. You know, and then between Trent and Braden, up Braden's on IR, you know, Trent, you know, working at right tackle. So overall, we feel like we have five players that can put on the field, but then

38:53even behind that, you know, with the backups, I Blake Fisher has probably had his best training camps since he's been here. So I know Domingo commented about him the other day, just in terms of his growth and development. So when you see players improve, you know, a year to year basis, you know, gives you confidence as a staff to feel like, all right, if we put those players on the field, they're going to be comfortable with them. But overall going back to Keelon, I mean, he's done everything that we've asked him to do. And you've seen the results, whether it's in practice, and it's only a small snapshot that he's been in games. The reality is we're going to have a bigger, larger sample size here once a season starts. It's you're certainly going to be taxed and challenged week one, you know, playing against a Buffalo front. But overall, we feel like that's a good group, you know, the offensive line group and Keelon's certainly done a really good job. His, his Wyatt Teller had any difficulty as a veteran player has been doing certain things a certain way for a long time. Is it, is there been, is there been some difficulty adapting to the scheme or the technique or anything like that? Yeah, no, not at all. I mean, it, and Wyatt's done a

39:55really good job. I mean, we've kind of taxed him a little bit, you know, he's taking reps at left guard. Now he predominantly was playing, you know, on the right side in Cleveland, because Patonio was kind of a figurehead there at left guard. But Wyatt's done a good job. He's got a lot of experience and you know, got, why it's a guard only. There's some things that we're doing, you know, technique wise that, you know, some of the things that we're coaching to teach and maybe a little bit different than Coach Callahan and some of the coaches that he's had. But Wyatt's been great. He's had a good attitude. He's had a good off season. He's trained hard. He's in good condition. You know, we feel comfortable with, with Wyatt. And, you know, if he has to play at some point, like he'll go out there and do a, do a really good job. I think we're confident in that. Nick Ciserio, Texan's executive vice president, GM joining us here on 957, the fan. Nick, you gave us an update on, on tank yesterday. And we know he started doing some things in team drills. We know he's going to start the season on IR with a designation to return. He started doing some things in team drills. Then it appeared. It looked like there was a pause of

40:59some sort in his activity. And I know you said yesterday, he's further along now than he was at the beginning of training camp, which is great news. Has, has it been an up and down thing with him? Has he had any setbacks? Or is this where you envision him being heading into the season right now? You know, I know it's fair. He's probably had some good moments. He's had some setbacks long the way. I would say minor setbacks, nothing like significant. I think the big thing from his standpoint is really the high speed running is the long, you know, high yardage, long distance. You know, we, there's been, he's participating in individual drills, running routes. You know, as a part of his return to football protocol, like, you know, he'd a route up here, a route day where he was running. I don't know, eight to 10 routes, you know, in 15 to 20 yards. I mean, he has had his quickness. He had his change of direction catching up all well. It's more of some of the long speed and kind of getting some back to the high speed running. But overall, he's on a pretty good track. You know, I think some of this is, and I can't speak for the player, but mentally, they want to make sure that

42:00they're in a good enough space where they when I get stuck on the field, like they feel confident and feel like they can do the things that they're capable of doing. You know, we all saw what tank did, you know, his first two years in the league and he made a lot of electric plays. So whether or not he can get to that same level of performance, you know, we'll find out. But overall, he's, he's definitely making progress. I'd say it's more minor tweaks than anything else. And I think he'll be able to build his capacity and maybe some of his high speed, a long distance running and then see if we can get him to, you know, 20, 21 miles an hour and run in speeds that he was running before the injury. We've talked about the injury tank suffered. It was catastrophic. It was almost every ligament, everything could imagine. A lot of people think it was ACL, a lot of people come back from ACL and they're good to go. But there's a lot that went on with this particular situation with tank and anything positive that you get out of tank this year, you got to think is just an absolute gold medal home run if you're able to do that. So tanks got a little bit more work to do to,

43:03to be ready, hopefully he can be ready week five, maybe it's week six, maybe it's week 11, who knows. But it's going to be good to see Tank Del back on the field and him going on, IR DTR made me feel like yes, tank is going to return in 2026 and that will give this team an absolute boost no matter when it happens. All right, let's go round the NFL and you know what, let's hit a little college football as well in our final segment right here on Texans all access. All right, here we go Friday night edition of Texans all access so glad to be with you as we round into the Labor Day and then it's game week. Get Labor Day, have a fun day. I think we actually have practice so we'll have all kinds of stuff going on that day and then we get ready for the Buffalo Bills on September 13th cannot wait. Appreciate you being with me John Harris football and I'll sideline reporter on this edition of Texans all access. Let's go round to league and the writers over NFL.com they did a season prediction so that was pretty interesting. They picked

44:08the two teams that would make the Super Bowl and then they would pick which team will win it. So the LA Rams got the most votes they get eight votes of winning the Super Bowl. The last one being my good friend Lance Zerlahn he picks the Rams over the Texans since defense rules today and the Rams can feel to break a late tie giving Miles Garrett his first Super Bowl win. Okay, the game is in so fight keep that in mind for what I'm about to get to. Eight votes for Rams as Super Bowl winners. Number two is Buffalo Bills. They got three votes. Bills over Cowboys, Bills over Rams, Bills over Rams. So they got three votes. Tied for third. That's right. You're Houston Texans. They got two votes. One from Kevin Patrice is Texans over Eagles. Best defense in the NFL raises Lombardi Trophy. Amen. And by the way I've seen a few things actually as I kind of read kind of caught up on reading

45:12and things on Friday. Anybody that says oh the Texans have they have a good defense they're in the category of this team this team this team this team like you could completely disregard what's about to follow. The Texans have the elite defense in the NFL. You want to say Seattle's in that you're like near them. Sure Denver near them. Philly may be in the team picture. The Texans lead the way. So appreciate Kevin for putting it like straight. Second vote came from Greg Rosenthal. He's a little bit more exact. Texans over Rams. Now again keep in mind game would be in sofa. Super Bowl 61 is in sofa. Texans over the Rams. Says the Texans make their cases the best defensive all time when Aziz al-Shayah returns a Kyron Williams fumble for a game ceiling touchdown. Now it's his game ceiling not game winning. So Texans win 27 to 3 or something like that and Aziz takes one back. I could see it. I'm off for it.

46:18So Texans tied for third getting two votes and then there were two teams tied for six I guess with one vote each. Texans will play both these teams Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys Keegan Abdul. Says Cowboys over Texans. The best offensive league outdoubles the defense in the league and the Cowboys end their three decade Super Bowl drought. So I saw I was probably about three days ago or so Pete Prisco CBS Sports. Lives in Jacksonville be covered in Jaguars for a long time. His Super Bowl prediction was Jaguars over Cowboys. You can just miss me with that. I I will be out of the country if that happens. I'll be out of the country. But if the Cowboys and Texans are in the Super Bowl. Oh my god. Oh god. That man we think week four is going to be crazy at Reliance Stadium out in LA with a bunch of Cowboys and Texans fans. It's going to be straight

47:22viral videos fans fighting in the streets LA. I mean crazy. I don't think Cowboys can beat the Texans but I give credit they got a pretty good offense but that's what they have. So there you go. Nice little predictions forecast. Ender here on Texans all access on a Friday evening. Appreciate you guys. Being with me will be back on Tuesday with all kinds of great content. We'll see you then everybody. And as always go Texans.