Texans All-Access: John McClain on Texans-Bengals, Dexter Lawrence and more

0:00Hello, Texans. Welcome to the show as we are in game week mode always and especially on a Thursday night when less than three days, less than 72 hours. How many hours is it, Johnny? How many hours is it till we kick off? It's 72 minus six, right? 72 minus six. That would be 66 hours away from kickoff with the Cincinnati Bengals on international day at Reliance Stadium. Noon kick, be there. It's not Liberty White Day. That was last week. So I guess it's where whatever you want to wear day, where that rivalry is gear, where the deep steel dark, where whatever you want to wear as long as it's battle red, deep steel, blue, Liberty White and get in there and support your Texans against a Bengals team that is feeling very good about themselves relatively because they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and forced four turnovers. And we'll talk about all of it with the general John McLean, the Hall of Famer joining us right now. General Good evening. Good evening. Before we get started, I'd like to point out a really good story. Jonathan Alexander had in a chronicle today

1:02that's on their website as well. Anemic there. And he did a great job. And I would recommend to any Texans fans. Are you any mad to be a Texans fan? Just you could be a people fan and a re-jogger story on Anna. It's very insightful. I like that. Yeah. Very much. Jonathan's done a really good job with those behind the scenes stories with their chronicles. No question about that. General, we know that you like to take a second, third, sometimes even a fourth look back at the game from the previous week. When you went back and you watched it, was there anything that stood out to you in a rewatch that maybe didn't catch the first time, maybe a concern or something that maybe people were talking about as a concern, but you're not because you watched the game. Was there anything that stood out from Bill's Texans when you went back and rewatched it the times that you did? First of all, Stroud Blake really well. And I've seen some people trying to blame the last fumble about him, the strip sack on cost in the game, which is BS. Trent Brown crossed

2:03him the game when he got bulldozed by Greg Rousseau for that strip sack. Last year, people weren't blaming Josh Allen when he got sacked eight times by the Texans. They're blaming the offensive line. I know overall the line did better. In one of the reasons the average per carry wasn't better than it was. They ran the ball in so many short yarded situations. Second, in one, third, one, fourth, and one. And they get just enough. So there were a lot of carries for zero one or two yards because of the situation. And the average per carry would have been a lot better. And it's just too bad the right side of the line, including Ed Ingram who gave up the sack. Trent Brown also had that fall start. I thought they're going to win again when I got to the nine yard line. And I thought Stroud bringing right behind four times and scoring touchdown zone, four out of five trips to the red zone,

3:07which as you guys know, was a huge problem last year. So as a fan, people should be very very happy with the way the offense operated, except for that last series. And then the defense left all of us flattered. Now they've got injuries. They've lost Henry to a toa. I don't know if anybody else is out. I went back and watched that and Camarri Lester will never have another game like that. I look him at him to bounce back big time, reblank and ship. I don't know what to expect. The guy gave up too many completions. And the running run defense was good. It's better than it was last year when they beat him here in prime time. And so I expect they will shut down the bingles run. And I think the offense will continue to play well. And I'm sure the defense is going to play better. And they ought to beat the bingles in this game. And as I'm sitting here tonight,

4:10thinking about it, you know, the only bad thing I saw on special teams was the field position by the bills was way too good. And I know Frank Ross was not happy about that. And Kai Kroger, two punts to the four yard line. And the defense gives up to 96 sharp touchdown drives. Kroger was fantastic. He's been fantastic ever since they got rid of stone house. And Kami Fairbent, of course, with his 58 yard field goal. That was just a tough game to lose had a chance to win at the end. And I think we're going to see them in those situations when many more games are going to lose. All right, general. Last time. And I hope it never comes to this again or this week or ever. But last time CJ Straub did not have Nico Collins or wasn't the last time because the last time was in the playoffs. But last year there was a game with the 49ers coming off that loss to Seattle. I'm under my football. No Christian Kirk, no Nico Collins at the time. Those were your top two guys.

5:14But CJ throws for 318 to touchdowns quarterback rating 106 Texans beat the 49ers. And they did have Xavier Hutchinson who had five catches, Noel had five. And Higgins was good in that game with four catches in a touchdown. Obviously, don't have Higgins now. But your thoughts on them putting things together with whoever is available on Sunday to catch a pass for CJ. I've always thought good quarterbacks make receivers. And because it doesn't matter who the receiver is, the ball's not where it's supposed to be when it's supposed to be. You know, that that is very difficult. And it echoes out with hamstring injury. I think we'll see more Jalen. Noel had a great 35 yard catch and run in which Woody marks had a terrific block clearing block on that play Hutchinson. We've seen him enough to know when he gets his opportunities. He'll take advantage of them. Wouldn't be surprised Jared Wayne. See him catch through three passes. And it's time.

6:15Kishan bootie has been here long enough to know enough of the offense to be able to contribute. He had the 21 yard catch. He was close to one on the sideline. But he was out of bounds. And I think we'll see more him. I also think we know Woody marks as a good receiver. David Montgomery is a good receiver. It's just because he scores so many touchdowns that they didn't use him in that role. Troy because they had Jim air gifts. So I see marks. And my Montgomery getting catches. I see of course Dalton Schultz will get catches. I'd like to see more of Marlon Klein after he has one catch and fostered him really yet. You know, he had one couple. And so I think that the ball will be spread around. I think the running game will be even more effective than it was. And I think the Jackson's a win again. General at that point, the offense has got one big massive problem figuratively and literally right in the middle of the Bengals defense. That being sexy dexie a.k.a.

7:21Dexter Lawrence. The last time we saw Lawrence, he was with the Giants and he was tackling our running backs with offensive lineman. And now he's with the Bengals. And the Bengals have made some changes. They added Brian Cuckert's safety. They've made some changes up front. But the biggest one was Dexter Lawrence. How big, no pun intended, I guess, is this issue for them with Dexter Lawrence on the inside? Well, let's look at those two tackles that they just played against in Oliver first round pick, who was the six seven god. Oh, they're a walker. Yeah, they are walker. He played great. And so both of those tackles. So if you're going up against them, then you should be able to know that you're going to have to double team Dexter Lawrence. Now Lawrence didn't have a good season last year. I know there were people saying all the Texans need to trade for him. Well, why? You know, he didn't do squat last year. He was heard. Some people said he was mad at his contract. But he hit the year before he was fantastic. So we got to get the Lawrence from last year. I'm

8:26guessing not because he's got to be pumped up about playing for the Bengals. The Bengals are one and no. And but I think they will use two guys on him. They will not try to double team. I think they won't have to double train team the other guys, but you got to make sure Lawrence is not disruptive because when he's on, that's what he is disruptive. All right. So what do you think of Joe Burrow here in a possible banged up Joe Burrow? He's certainly not going to be 100 percent. But what do you think of this attack? The way the Bengals have put it together. You have nightmares all over the place. Although Chase and Higgins only combined for five catches last week in the victory over the Bucket nearest four turnovers does help when you get those. But what are your thoughts, general on Joe Burrow and the high flying Cincinnati Bengals passing game? Well, I don't think for an instant Joe Burrow is going to be affecting physically by the game. The last time the Texans playing against him in Cincinnati, he was healthy and they beat him. So now they're playing against him again. The Bengals have better wide receivers than the bills to the bills have better tight ends.

9:32And Dalton King K. You didn't play in last season's game or at Oliver for that matter. King K just killed him. And so the Texans have to know that the Bengals are going to try some kind of similar strategy tried to get reblanqued ship in coverage. And I can't imagine they say, okay, we're going to go after number three because they do they'll pay for it. And I think this the passing game will be really good for the Bengals. They got a chance to go to and oh, last year Burrow was hurt for about half the season. And if he's healthy and healthy, if he plays, they're a contender, a contender to win that division, which right now is there's three really good teams. Two, I think are contenders. I don't count the Steelers. And then of course, the prounds are a contender for the first pick in the draft. But the Texans need to win this game. And I think I would have settled for I thought they'd be three and one to start the season. I

10:38wasn't sure who they're going to lose to. Maybe the Bengals because I thought they'd beat the bills. But they need to come back and show everybody locally and around the country, this defense is still as good as there is or better. Two questions, John. Number one, do you put chili on your spaghetti? Number two, as you went through the league this week, if I gave you a buck, it's the dollar bet. You got to put it on the best team that you saw in week one. Who would it be? The Bears. The Bears were tremendous. I thought the biggest upset was Arizona at the Chargers. The game that surprised me was you lose your starting quarterback on the first series. You're bringing a backup Carson Wentz. He throws three touchdown passes. The Vikings blew out. The Packers, the NFC North topped the bottoms best of the best division in the NFL. But the Bears perform at 59 points. Right after Ben Johnson said they want to be the

11:43I-scoring team of the league, which required them to average 38 points. They certainly are averaging a lot more than that. But I still don't understand at all. He was on with first-year coach Michael Flour going into the Chargers and beating Jim Harbode, one of his last seven openers. The week that he called said Justin Arbor of the Grace quarterback in the National Football and Gistry, which is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. It's going to hurt his packing pants campaign. Okay, wait a second. You put Chilly on spaghetti like they're doing since now. Absolutely. I don't put Chilly on spaghetti. I think that's the most overrated dish I've ever had. I remember Brett Kumer and I went and tried it a few years ago. And we tried to like it. It was just the fact that he was so weird to do it. Now love the Montgomery and barbecue. It's as good as anything I've ever had here. But he put Chilly on his spaghetti. Makes me want to

12:50vomit. Okay, I got one for both of you. I think Montgomery is good too. I don't know if it's as good as anything here. But we went to Montgomery in one year. Yeah, we definitely. Yeah, I've been there a couple of times in my life going. Okay, I'm going to this is for both of you guys. All right. Okay, it's sizzle fire time. It's hot. Take time. Hot take time. Okay, so John, you know how the rating goes. But I'm going to read you some numbers first. Okay, okay. Last eight regular season games. Quarterback has a record of eight. No, that's first in the league. Yards per game. 263. That's fifth in the league. Oh, I know where you're going. Passing touchdowns. That's 22. That's first in the league. Rushing touchdowns four. That's second in the league. Passer rating of 114.3. That's first over those eight last regular season games. Here's my hot take. Rate it. One through five. Get your sizzle fires ready. Okay, Mark, you go first. John, you got a chance to think about it. Trevor Lawrence is a top three quarterback in the NFL.

13:50Four. Really? Yeah, that's no way. You don't numbers numbers. Shmumbas. Okay, beat 10 for this week again, impressively. And then I'll start climbing up top three. Top three. Top three. How many general managers are taking Trevor Lawrence? You open up the entire league. You open up the entire league of quarterbacks to draft a lot. There are three. There are a lot. All right. Well, that's a good discussion. Anyway, general, what are your thoughts? What do you think, general? He's had one great season and one great game against a horrible team. I'd say five. Oh, he went all the way to five. He went all the way to five. Now being Denver last year at Denver was good. Generally, you phased if he beats Denver this weekend, you change that if he, if he's really good against that defense. Well, first of all, we see John Jalen tonight in a few minutes. I have the, I think he's the best quarterback. Then I fell to Mark Jackson. Look fantastic. In their game. And then I have our time putting him over Joe Borough. And then if you look around

14:57the NFC, you know, who do we think is the best quarterback? Stafford. Stafford. Stafford. He had a bad game, but I would put Stafford over him. I would put him in the top five. I would not put him in the top three. And that's just for this season. Fair enough. Fair enough. I think we need to judge him with Liam Cohen. And Liam Cohen is kind of a great job there. He is now 14 and four in regular season. But he had Ben Johnson gets all the credit of those two coaches that came in last year. I think Cohen's done just as good a job as Ben Johnson. That's why living in Jacksonville, it's good and bad. You stay out of the line of fire with the national media. But you don't get the praise. It takes a long time for them to catch up. So we'll cross that Jacksonville bridge problem when we get to it, general. They're going to be a Denver this week. That'll be interesting to see what happens to the Broncos after the Monday and it lost to the chiefs. But speaking of the chiefs, they have the Colts on Sunday night football. So back to back

15:59prime time games for them. And the Colts general Houston plays at Indy next week. Texans try to avoid Oh and two up there. And so are the Colts trying to avoid going Oh and two into that matchup. Are the Colts that bad as they display against the Ravens or are the Ravens that good or somewhere in between? Boy, well, easy things to say somewhere in between, but they did not look good. They didn't look like the team that went eight to when Daniel Jones was healthy last season. You wasn't Jonathan Taylor. I think he had almost a hundred yards, but it was a big disappointment for them to play that way. One surprise me if they start Oh and two. And boy, I think they need to win because the odds are with the Texans coming up there. They're not going to start Oh and three. So I think the of course the Texans need to pull for the chase, but I think the Colts are desperate because if they start Oh and two, and I sit there and say this, Texans finished Oh and three, started Oh and three last year and then one 12 games. So they'll be an example for every team

17:03that can talk to a bad start. Remember what Domingo Ryan Texans did last year and they did overcame a lot of obstacles. Physic physical where they had a lot of injuries, but Daniel Jones, I don't think he needs to bounce back. Sure, everybody. He's the real deal because he's been so inconsistent in his career, but I'm going to say that the Colts are going to bounce back chase. General, let's say the Jaguars do go and beat the Broncos in Denver for the second time in I don't know, seven eight months. You really stuck with this Jacksonville thing. No, it's no, but it's more about it's more about the Broncos. Okay. If the Jaguars going to throttle the Broncos, that will be a loss on the road. They got throttle by the chiefs on Monday football. Then the Jaguars come in and throttle them. Look, I know the Texas one Oh and three last year, but start knowing too, especially against two good teams and you don't look good. How much is the Panic meter going up in Denver? If Denver doesn't get it done and gets Jacksonville for the second consecutive year,

18:05there will be a Panic meter because they're supposed to have a great defense. Number two, then to the Texans, they let let it fill in sucks last year and they didn't do anything right against the Chief Sean Payne's a great coach. And we all know that one of the odds that he's going to start Oh and two because they do have a great defense. Their running game is better, but if the chiefs, boy, if the chiefs beat them, I mean Jaguars Jaguars beat them. I think that people are going to be start talking about Jaguars or legitimate Super Bowl contender and the Broncos going to be out of it for a while, but I just don't see Sean Payne losing two in a row. I feel like I'm going to throw up after you said Jaguar Super Bowl contender, but we have to acknowledge that possibility. And before we get to them in London, after Denver, the Jags have the Patriots at home, the Bengals on the road, the Eagles at home and then London with the Houston Texans. I mentioned I mentioned crossing that Jacksonville bridge. We won't be crossing a bridge. We'll be flying over

19:09the ocean. So let's get to this because the Jags did be Cleveland to open the season and boy, I would have loved to play Cleveland as fast we but general as an esteemed longtime member of the media are your expectations for DeShawn Watson to throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns every week. Like he says the media wants him to or expects him to thoughts. I thought it was 500 yards. Do you say 400? I thought it was 400. Maybe it was 405 touchdowns. It was a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns put it that way. More than we would expect. I think they would expect would like for him to throw two touchdowns and maybe 200 yards just don't turn the ball over. And that just shows you how tone deaf Watson's got saying stuff like that. He hates the media. They hate him. Why he's starting. I don't know. Shoulder Sanders needs experience. Unless they are geniuses and they had this this plan to get the first pick in the draft. So you put your worst quarterback out there. You let him play. You let him lose. Now I hope he plays well enough

20:15to where he's going to get to start Cleveland because those fans are going to eviscerate him. And so that would be something next week to closely follow or to shoulder Sanders start. I don't like anything about the way they're handling that situation. They are a legitimate contender for the first home run pick, which they want to be. Arizona is supposed to be. I don't think they're going to go winning anymore games like they did Sunday in the Jets. We don't know about the Jets because the Titans don't even look like a legitimate NFL team in the Jets beat him. In Nashville right now the worst team in the late Tennessee Titans. No, that's music in my ears, general. There are any offseason. Can't see a chief paid a lot of money to bring Kenneth Walker to the chiefs. And I remember we sat in the studio. We chopped it up. We chopped up with you. We're like, it's Andy Reed. We'll see if he sticks to a run game. And well, Andy Reed said to here, hold my beer because he decided to hand the kids walker all night. So I'll just make this one really simple, general. Are the chiefs back? Are you buying the chiefs? I'm buying the chiefs

21:21as potential to win the division and make the playoffs as a super bowl contender not at this point. They got problems up front. And obviously they've solved that running back problem. If Kenneth Walker, Jr. can stay healthy. And it's interesting because the sea ox didn't even try to keep him. And they're either talking back. Is it charbona or charmino? Zach's charbona. He's out with an knee injury. So they're depending on Zaryn Price-Rookie. And they did win, but it was close. And I believe that Walker picked right up where he left off when he was super bowl MVP. And I'll see many super bowl MVP peeing on the next year. But he looked great. Obviously the chiefs. All things in line. Better run blockers. And they are pass protectors. Yes. Very true. General, let's talk Hall of Fame now. 25 voters. That's what they've cut the list to. A lot of big names are not voting. And you are one of them. And you're in the Hall of Fame. You are already

22:25in Canton. How is this for you? Take us through the journey of this happening a little bit your thoughts. First of all, three years ago, Deon Sanders raised a lot of cane about the committee was putting too many people in all of fame. And there should be an upper tier. And so a lot of Hall of Famers joined Deon and complained. So they changed the bylaws, the all dead. The committee had nothing to do with it. Changed the bylaws to make it harder to get in. So they said it had nothing to do with Deon. So then to make it harder to get in, Bill Bellicag didn't get in. And I'm barred to get on first ballot needed Tom Landry. So they made it harder. Bill Chag didn't get in. Everybody went ballistic. And they've taken a blowtorch to the bylaws. And they reduced the committee from 50 to 25. And voting members, there will be three alternates who are non voting. And I have no problem with them dumping me because I did it 33 years. And he was a privilege to do it and represent eight players who

23:33are in all of fame, including Andre Johnson, the first Texan. But there's not going to be any representative cities. If I was still on the committee, I would not repused in the orders or the Texans. And even worse is there's no more presentations. So Andre was up this year. Let's say JJ two years. JJ's up. A person from the Hall of Fame will read his stats for two minutes and his accolades. And then they'll throw it open to the floor. There'll be no presentation. Nobody fighting for him. No lead person to take the bull by the horns like I would have been. And so used to be you'd make your five minute presentation. Then they would throw it open to the floor. And so I worked hard on Andre for three years. He made it the third year. I would have done everything I could for JJ, although JJ he's going to be a first ballot.

24:34And if I wrote that committee, I'm not going to work that hard for all the other finalists. They got rid of the senior category. Got rid of the seniors lump all seniors like Billy White Schoo's Johnson from the others lump all seniors. And with the modern era finalists, which none of us liked it. None of us like any of these changes on the committee. And we said so. And the other thing there's no senior category. Roger Craig, the great 49ers running back may be the last senior ever elected to the pro football team because all these guys are coming out with great stats. You know, we tried hard not to have recency bias because there's so many from the past that deserve it. Members of all 75 year anniversary team 50 year anniversary all decade. They never even got to be finalists and talked in the room. And so I wish the people or good friends of mine, but people they got cut. There were a lot of them with a lot of experience. And all the things

25:35should be about experience. Paul Karski from Nashville figured up there's more than 333 years locked off the committee of 3333 years on the committee. So I just I don't like anything about the way what they've done, but it's their progative to do what they want. And Bill Bellicic will get in on the second ballot. Now I'll sing Hallelujah. You think that some of the names who are eliminated are responsible for Bellicic not getting in. I mean, it's just kind of strange. Out that there was he was one vote short. There were 50 on the committee. If Levin said no, then somebody didn't get 80% of the votes. So 39 of us could have voted yes. Absolutely. And we we're all locked in together because we're we're on the same committee. Most people have no clue about the rules. They asked me if I wanted to serve on another committee. And I said, no thank you.

26:35And because I didn't want to be part of the group that locked it off from 125 to 50, they wouldn't even tell us who's on that committee. We know it's a bunch of all the famous. They they released Bill Polion and they released Tony Dungy and James Lofton I'm told resigned. Don't know if he was asked to come back in there all in the hall of fame. And some of the guys that were cut did everything they could to not just help people. They represented or teams they represented, but others as well. And anyway, I hope it works out the way the profile of the fame wants it to. I'll still go back a bit there. 50 times. I love the people there. They're great. They gave me that opportunity to go behind the scenes or the doorknob can Andre Johnson's house. You mongers thing for the Texans website about it. So they let me go in the middle of the night through the hall of fame at two in the morning one time. Nobody had ever done that. And I wrote a

27:39column about how different it was going to in the morning. So they treated me great. They just didn't want me on their committee anymore. And I didn't ask. I didn't ask why. All right. Well, you're in the hall of fame and you're our hall of fame. And we appreciate you very much, John. Thanks so much for visiting as always. Guys, thank you very much. As always and good luck to the Texans are against the Bengals. Luck has nothing to do with it. All right. Maybe a little luck would be good. Could use a little luck. Not going to deny it is part of sports. Okay. Johnny Harris answers rapid fire. We'll just go hurry up office with questions next, including what about the receiving group? What needs to be done? Joe burrow other games going on this weekend. We've got a lot to do before the close of business tonight and in advance of Thursday night football. It's Texans radio. Moving on here in the Hyundai Texans radio studio. Mark Vengem Dermier and John Harris with you as we get into it for week two Bengals Sunday noon 9 a.m. with Texans countdown presented by Madeleine especially out. And the gang will be ready to rock from Reliance Stadium.

28:44Can't wait for this International day. Like I said yesterday. Where? What you want to wear? This is not battle red Liberty white deep steel blue. It's whatever you want to wear. I like that. Okay. I think I said that in the first segment too. Anyway, Johnny, let's get to questions for Johnny. Rapid fire. Quickie. I mean, not that rapid, but we're going to move through these fairly quickly here. Okay. And I've got a few either or is and more likely to happen type questions and you got type questions. And we're going to start right here. If with no Nico, if with no Nico, give me the leading pass catcher for the Houston Texans going Dalton Schultz. Oh, like I like this receptions. Yeah, I'm not talking about yards here. I'm talking about receptions. Well, I was going to go. I was going to go yards. Jaylen. No. Okay. I was going to go receptions. Dalton Schultz. I think that's a good one. Schultz last year in the game with no Nico and no Higgins two catches. And CJ threw for three 18 in this game. X led the way with five no had fun though. It was a three way tie.

29:50X no burios Braxton. Where are you now? Where is he now? By the way, I'm okay. Good. Well, the last I remember he was with the giants and the Alex Earl reunion never happened. Apparently not. I don't think so. So too bad for him or maybe just I don't know. I think kind of good for him. The YC. Yeah, probably right. Actually, but yards. It was close. It was Hutchinson with 69. No with 63. The world changes. I might go X in this one as well. I just think he's so handy. He might have more catches than anybody. But we'll see how they put it all together. And we'll talk more about that. Mañana. Okay. Next one. Chase Brown running back for the Bengals. You are familiar with his work. Johnny, people are hearing about Chase Brown. Everyone knew about James Cook last week. led the league in rushing last year. Right. But here we have Chase Brown. He could be a big problem. Give me a cup. Give me who Chase Brown is. Describe Chase Brown to the listeners. Chase Brown is like the hamster on the hamster wheel with muscles because he is relentless. He never stops. Okay. He is strong as an ox. But he just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and

30:54goes and goes like he just will he's just going to keep pounding the rock. And he's he's compact. So he doesn't take a lot of big shots. He'll deliver him because he is an explosive runner that way. But he gets overshadowed because well, it's the Joe borough offense. And there's Jamar Chase. No, Chase and Higgins are the best receiving duo. And then there's Mike Gisickey. Chase Brown ends up being number four or five on a list. And that's an absolute shame. I remember the Bengals drafted. I thought, ooh, I could see that developing because of what they like. And they're running backs. I mean, you think of the guys they've had over the years. They've, yeah, they're built differently, but they run similarly. You know, he can catch the ball of the backfield. You know, Joe mixing could catch the ball of the backfield. Joe ran hard. Joe was much bigger than Chase Brown, but Chase runs it hard. He gets to his spots. He gets north and south really quickly. And if you don't bring a full on 100% tackle, he's going to break through that.

31:57And he's going to embarrass you if you do that. So he's the kind of guy that defensive players don't love facing because on play one and play 31, he's going to be the same effort, the same intensity each and every time. Okay. Good description. Chase Brown. I like it. All right. The Texans did not blitz much last week. Did not send extra people much after the quarterback. The Bengals watched what the bills did. And they had the decaprio meme going pointing at the TV. Oh, wait, wait. They protected him. Yeah. It's possible against this defense with Will and Daniel on the edges. Clowny too doing some stuff. He had a sack, but you tell me will the Texans send extra people more this week? Will they take some chances, gamble, whether it's P tree or somebody else, the Z's coming up the gap. Are they going to blitz more? Well, it depends. I think it depends on their level of comfort with whoever plays that linebacker spot opposite disease. I'm thinking Jake Hanson. And I know they said they trust Jake. Jake and Ronny can move. He's very smart.

32:58So I think it has to do kind of with how they feel about the cover guys. Look, Camari and and staying. Higgins and Jamar chase. So if you're going to blitz, you're probably playing man. How do you match up with Gisicke? Do you feel good about that matchup with Gisicke? Do you put Kaelin on Gisicke? Because Kaelin is probably a better cover guy, but then you lose his range in the middle of field. To me, it all depends on whether they feel comfortable, how the game is going with A, what the Bengals are doing, how many people the Bengals are putting out in a route? Are they protecting with just five? If they're protecting with just five, then our four have got to win. But if they're using backs and tight ends to stay, then yeah, you might bring an extra guy. You might feel good about bringing maybe even two, depending on what you're doing. But I do think they're going to kind of play it by ear early. How are the Bengals going to protect? Let's see, do they want to get four or five out in a row? You'd love to. But that might not be something you can do. And I think the bills found that out. They couldn't put five guys out in a row.

33:59Couldn't do it. Because if you feel like you put five in a row, you feel a lot better because you got a lot more options, especially for a veteran quarterback. You put five in a row. Those two are going to eat. They're going to face two big, hulking tackles and that they're going to beat with their speed and their quickness. But I think that you'll see Chase Brown chip. I think you'll see Gaseki at time stay in. I think you'll see some 12 personnel where Gaseki will go on a route. But the other tight end will stay in with Chase Brown to block and they'll have just three in a row. And they're going to get those three to win. So the Texans have got to at some point bring extra people to speed up Joe Burrell. Yeah, that's tough, man. He's so accurate. You give him time to throw even with only three in the route. Yeah, that could be problem. We talk to the Texans. We'll be watching the chess match on Sunday. Okay, more questions for Johnny here. We were talking about Justin Herbert a little bit in the first segment, but Trevor Lawrence more specifically. And Johnny, when we talk about who would you take and this kind of stuff, the whole world would have taken Herbert over Lawrence for many years. Yeah, has it changed yet?

35:01Yes. And I know you might change your opinion. You think others have as well. Yes. Look, head to head playoff game. Lawrence wanted last year. Big head to head. The charges were destroyed by the Jaguar's last year. And now you have Herbert opening with that whatever it was against the Cardinals performance. And if Lawrence goes into Denver this week and looks good, Ouch. This could be a big problem for the Justin Herbert lovers other than Madison herself. But you tell me, where is this going? Well, what it's seemingly doing is it's going the way of the draft report because the draft report for Herbert in 20. I think I had him at number 14. And I felt like he was a he was a project. I felt like Trevor was more ready made to come into the league in 2021. And then he got stuck with that urban, my situation and Doug comes in. And it's just that he's riding roller coaster. But now he's got some stability. He's got some good weapons. And he's starting to throw it. I watched that game the other night with the Browns. And I

36:03just like, wow, that that that. Oh, that throw. Oh, man, that throw. He looks good. Now the Browns couldn't generate past rush pressure. But even when they did, he delivered the ball really well. Now against us. And sometimes you have that team that you just can't play well against. And Trevor's had his struggles against us. Now at 23, the game here with the ball off the crossbar, he had a really good game. We broke down in man coverage a number of times. He took advantage of it. But he hasn't had great games even last year. They put up 29 points, but not a lot of that was because of him. Right. The earlier game week three. He made that throw to Brian Thomas. We blew a coverage. He didn't do a ton in those games. But it's what he did. Those last eight games, plus or last seven games, plus that game he had the other day against the Browns. Alamos this count that because it's the Browns. And I know the Browns defense. All right. Browns defense was not good. It looked bad. It looked really bad. But Trevor's taking those strides to go above Herbert,

37:05where I think it's more, hey, where people were like, oh, it's Jacksonville. Who is under rate? No, no, no, Trevor's legit. He's absolutely legit. Now I asked earlier, you and McLean, I said top three, that was the hot take. Is he the top three? And you guys were four and five. Yeah, I think that's definitely hot take because Joe Burrell, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, you know, I, any of those guys you're taking ahead of him. But he definitely has gotten into the top five top seven picture without a doubt. And to me, he is ahead of wherever Herbert is. All right. Not if you're close. The year is young. You had a good year last year. Liam Cohn might be the real deal. Did I tell you I talked to Liam Cohn at the owner's meetings about you mass background because he's a quarterback there. It's very cool. Yeah. Catch up with him about that. Anyway, more questions for Johnny. McLean picked the cults over the chiefs. Is he crazy or is he crazy like a fox? Well, I, I can't figure out I'd like the cults to lose. I think I'm pretty sure I want the cults to not. No, we want the cults to lose. Yes, every AFC South. I don't care if like oh, they're

38:09own two. They're going to be mad. I don't care. Yeah, let them lose. Yeah, let them lose. I played them at both. All like three in 2018. And we beat them to go to one in three. They were own four, right? Right. They were all four still beat us in the playoffs that year. Yeah, let's yuck. Exactly. But I'll take oh and two for the cults, please. I feel like watching that team the other day against the Ravens and look, the Ravens are very good. I think the culture will bounce, bounce back and play with more effort, more, more juice. I would think, but that looks like a team that's teetering. That's teetering on the, you know, if the chiefs could kick them in the teeth. Yeah, you know, and then hopefully we can go in there and do the same. Yeah, that that team is like now we could see Jeff Saturday back before halfway point. Yes. I just can't be all about it. But I just feel like that cults team, it feels like it's a cults team that needs something good to happen in that they need something good to kind of get any kind of confidence. And I don't know

39:09where that comes from. Maybe it comes from JT. They did run the ball. All right, with JT is what the only thing they did defensively didn't stop the run. They didn't stop the pass. They couldn't throw it exceptionally well. They really they could run it with JT. And that needs to be their identity. We're going to run JT 20 to 25 times and hope that play action off of this. I mean, Tyler Warren should be a big factor in those kind of games. He really didn't do anything. Every time they threw two of them was like for two yards and Ravens tackled them right there. The receivers don't scare you. So from that standpoint, I don't, I just can't see the cults going in. Other than other than if the chiefs just completely step all over themselves, Kenneth Walker, Fumbles the ball. I just can't see the chiefs losing that game to Indianapolis. But what I saw from both teams this past weekend, she's looked so well coached in the Monday night or September. And you're running the run. When you're running a play that's 80 years older, whatever, you know that you've got some good things going on. Does Watson start next week versus Carolina? He's playing

40:13the box this week on the road home opener next week. Does he start? Does he throw for 400 yards in five touchdowns? Does he start? No, the media is expecting to do that. Apparently, I mean, the self awareness. My goodness. Is self awareness a rating on Madden? A self awareness. That's what I mean, if it is, it's a zero. It's a zero. If this goes poorly, I don't think there's, I don't want to say there's not any way they can say it's going to be a nightmare. They can't start they can't if this goes badly, they cannot start. I got to tell you what back at home and we should do or must not be doing very well in practice because how do you not play him? This is not your future no matter what you know it right now, even after week one, if he had exploded against the Jags, he'd have to do that to convince the Clevelanders. And I would think the organization itself that he could be the answer. This is what happens when you don't make the right decision when you know what the decision should be. And I present to you the 2023 Denver Broncos. When Sean Payton took over

41:14that job, what did he realize right away? Russell Wilson was not it. Yep. He knew Russell Wilson wasn't it. And he's like, bite the bullet, do it, rip the band it off. We shouldn't have given this money, but we did rip the band it off, take the hit money wise, cap wise. But we're not going with with that. Nope, we're not going with it. Say what you will about Bonix, whatever, but they won said Sean Payton has been there. They won that year after going and getting Nick's took the hit. Nick's is on his rookie contract. We'll see where they get the big contract. Not but he would have ever could be owe into this year as well. Denver knew what the decision had to be. Yeah, they went Cleveland known and they won't do it. Yeah. No, Denver got it right. But Bonix is he the answer? Who knows that we don't know yet. It's all a work in progress. It's the NFL. It's a beautiful thing. Very much. And we don't have very much show left, but we will get to the best of the day as the Texans practiced day to a practice for this prep week for the Cincinnati Bengals. This was the hard practice today. Tomorrow's going to be a fast Friday walk through Saturday.

42:17Bengals, Texans, Sunday kickoff at noon. We will conclude the show next year with some final items, including Houston Methodist minutes. It's all coming up here on Texans. All access. Our final journey tonight. It's not a journey. It's a really short segment actually in advance of Thursday. I football, but let's get to it here Texans injury report here. The highlights are low lights. However you want to look at them. Genevieve on clowny. Ouch. He's got a knee problem. So we'll find out what the game status report says tomorrow. But today, not exactly a go. So Nico Collins. That's the big story with the hamstring injury reported yesterday did not practice. I am not optimistic about Sunday, of course, but hopefully it's not that serious. There was another report out there that said it's not that serious. Whatever that means grade one. I don't know, but you got to go without Nico and find a way to get it done. We'll talk more about that tomorrow night. Also Ed Ingram groin problem. So this is interesting. If Ed can't go, does Wyatt Teller come

43:20up to replace him again, more on that tomorrow. But these are the highlights or low lights of the Texans injury report. Now let's get to Houston Methodist minutes with Dr. Robert Flanery. Our dehydration series continues. What about cramping? You see guys cramping up in football games all the time this time of year. You see it with your youth league as well. What's the deal? Talk about it, please, doctor. I think dehydration is a big part of it. But I've seen players get cramps in you know, 32 degree weather when it's snowing. So you can get cramps. We don't really completely understand the mechanism of it. There is something to the the excitation of the muscle fibers that causes them to cramp. But dehydration is also a big part of it. And so really if you want to stay at your best, your body weight can play a part of this. I don't recommend checking your body weight every day unless you're doing some sort of strenuous activity. 2% of body mass loss can lead to

44:25decreases in performance. And so if you've got 150 pound kid, it could be as little as three pounds can affect their performance and lead to decreased reaction times slow recovery. And then ultimately muscle cramps. I've seen guys that that are at practice in some of these preseason camps lose 10, 12 pounds of body weight just from sweating and working out. Now that's 4, 5% of their body weight. We want to make sure that they get that back before they get to the next practice. So checking your body weight before and after strenuous activity is a good idea as long as you are checking the weight with wearing the same clothing. If you're wearing a hoodie and shoes before practice and then after you're wearing a swimsuit, that's going to affect the body weight. So you want to be wearing roughly the same amount of weight when you weigh yourself. There's Dr. Robert Flannery of Houston Methodist. It's the official healthcare provider of the Houston Texans. Houston Methodist

45:27leading medicine. That's going to do it for the show. Plenty more tomorrow as we set you up for Texans, Bengals. Don't fret about the injury situation. Yeah, it's tough. All teams are dealing with things and are going to all throughout the year. Depth is the key here and the Texans do have a lot. So we'll see how they handle the situation on Sunday. A lot more about that in the Friday evening program. There's then I footballs next. Thanks so much for listening. Go Texans.