Texans Preview with Marc Vandermeer! | 'It's Always Gameday in Buffalo'

0:00Hey, Bill's Mafia. We know there's one thing on your mind every day. Your team, the Buffalo Bills. So Matt Bobe and Sal Capaccio are here to bring you the latest news, notes, and opinions straight from the source right here, right now, because it's always game day in Buffalo. Well, we've made it. We are here. It is game week, week one, September, past Labor Day. We're actually recording today on Labor Day to make sure we get into it this week, Bill's at Texans. We're here, Matt. It's been a long off season. The NFL has a very long off season. There's always things going on, but this is what you kind of build up towards. Yeah, I mean, we get through this weekend. I think a lot of people probably had fantasy football drafts this weekend. We're going to have a football game on Wednesday night. It's not Thursday. Remember everybody, Seahawks Patriots is on Wednesday night.

1:01Yes. Yes. 49ers or Rams is on Thursday night. So by the time you listen to this podcast, I mean, we're two days away from the start of football season, which means we're only six days away from the start of the bill season. At this time, a week from now, it'll either be the bills are great and everybody get ready or the sky is falling there, oh, and one. Where are we going to go from here? Because that's what we do. We overreact especially to week one, but it's exciting to be talking about like an opponent and a matchup and a game as opposed to all of the big picture stuff. And we're going to do that on this podcast. We are going to have a very special guest in just a little while. Mark Vanomere is the play by play voice of the Houston Texans. And Mark and I have got to know each other over the last several years. He's really dialed in, of course, with the Texans, the teams that he covers, the team that he calls games for. And he's been a part of calling the games going back to when the bills played in Houston for that playoff game in 2019. Of course, the last several years when really it's been a house of horse for the bill.

2:01So we'll get with Mark in just a little while. The play by play voice of the Houston Texans. It also was the start last week, but then this week was the start of college football season. And I actually, I wanted to wear my Syracuse shirt. See, I have it if you're watching. But the microphone covers up the S. So, okay, good for that. Well, it's because they won 66 to three over New Hampshire. And I don't know how many times I'll be able to kind of celebrate a Syracuse win. They'll be okay, but you know, I mean, New Hampshire, you know, say what you will, they put a lesser opponent. But the thing was, like, I've got the shirt. I'm like, oh, I'll put my Syracuse shirt on. And then it covers up the S. You can't really see it. But yes, it was 66 to three. And then you be starts off with a nice win over Albany. That was great for Pete Lembo. But, you know, we are in full swing here. And it starts a little before the NFL season. But basically, I was thinking the other day, Matt, like, we're not going to go until now, February, without some sort of NFL or college football every single week. Which I love. And I know what coincides with some crummy weather and the winter.

3:01And depending on how you feel about all of that, this is my favorite time of year. I love this stretch, September's my favorite month. We're starting to ease into things. We get to here. We get to football season. Like, that first Sunday of the NFL season is just pure. And I also feel that way about the home opener. You know, that's the other part about all of this. It's, what is it? 10 days from now? Yeah, 10 days from now. The bills are opening up a brand new stadium. We, I mean, once we get to Thursday, right? The bills will be playing two games in a week. So it's going to be full steam ahead. It's going to be full steam ahead for them. Crazy thing about it. It is crazy. And, you know, they have this Houston game here. And then it's three straight games at home. And then it's that West Coast trip. This, this start, you know, I had my fantasy football draft my main league that I'm in on Sunday evening. And we were talking about these first six games for the bills. And that's really how I'm viewing this. I, I know it's going to sound bad. But I think if they go three and three, they're in a good spot.

4:02Like that, that beginning of the schedule is so difficult. And that starts with Houston. I mean, you called it a house of horrors. This has not been a place that has been kinds to this team. Besides them demolishing the Texans in Orchard Park, four or five years ago, that Texans team stunk, this team is, it's like one of those like styles make fights conversations. I don't think the Texans are one of the best three or four teams in the NFL. But what they do well seems to really give the bills problems. Or at least it has as of late, especially the last couple of years. Yeah, that's a great point. Like sports are about matchups football, especially to me, is about matchups. But you know, you get into like, even when we talk about like playoff hockey, a seven game series, like we were talking about the different matchups the Sabers could have had. That's what happens when you go to, when you talk about teams, you can't just simply do team A is better than team B and beast. And they can beat team C. So therefore, that's not how it works in sports. Anything can happen.

5:02You have luck go your way, bounces go your way, injuries, of course, are a big part of the story. That's something we're going to be monitoring this week as the week goes on. Now, let's remember the bills have not had to and no team has really had to until this week when things started up. Tell us about injuries, right? They haven't had to reveal injuries given injury report. That changes this week. Wednesday, we will get our first official injury report on both sides for the Houston Texans and the Buffalo bills. And honestly, for the bills, there are several key players we are monitoring who have not been practicing. It was great to see some of the guys back out there like a CJ Gardner Johnson. Who else returned last? Mostly, I mean, Keon returned CJ Gardner Johnson returns. Well, she care. Shakir and tie Johnson are the two notable guys who have not returned yet. Also, Chavon Salomon and Jordan Hancock pop up in Jalen Kilgore and Jalen Kilgore. Those are more the big one here is Shakir. And I am anticipating, oh, Conor McGovern returns.

6:02Yep. It's crazy that he came back out there that fast. So the big one this week for the bills is Shakir because I think that they would like to, of course, they would like to go into Houston with a full set of weapons. I was thinking back to the game that they played in Houston last year. And that was a game where they did not have Dalton, Kincaid. And you can say what you want about like what Kincaid means to the offense. But I think it made the bills pretty one dimensional in that game. They busted off a big run against the Texans from James Cook from like the 50 hard line. And then after that, they couldn't run the ball. And it was really like, okay, who are you going to throw to? And they struggled. They did not have a lot of options in that game. So I think if they could have a full kind of array of weapons, it would really, really help them. Yeah, we'll get the, we'll get a little bit of an injury report from the Houston side of things when Mark Van Damier joins us as well coming up. Here on it's always game day and Buffalo podcast. If you're watching, we appreciate that. And we got a lot more content coming your way all season long over on YouTube at South Sports.

7:04You can find all of the replays of all these podcasts. Of course, if you just want to download and listen on the audio version and the audio side of things that's fine as well. Apple iTunes or ever you podcast. It's always game day Buffalo, Selkopatio and Matt Bove. It is Labor Day. Do you like Labor Day or Memorial Day better? Oh, that's a good question. I would say I like Labor Day better because I like what it starts. I like the stretch that it starts in the start of September. While you were talking, I went back and was looking at it. Well, I reason I ask is because I thought about Memorial Day starts summer though. Yeah, I mean, that's, you have like more to look forward to with Memorial Day. But with Labor Day, it always coincides with the start of the fall season. And I appreciate that while you were talking. Yes, the new NFL login is more complicated than it used to be. Oh my God, it's so annoying. But that's why it was taking me a second. So I went back. They lose 23 to 19 last year to the Houston Texans. They fell 27 and four. Now, if you are a Texans fan, you would say like, well, the bills played that game against Davis Mills.

8:06Now they have CJ Shroud, which is a completely valid complaint from the bill's standpoint. Khalil Shakir led the way. And that's why I think he's a big piece to watch this week. 10 targets, eight catches 110 yards. Remember, he caught the pass on that big hook and ladder that they converted on the last drive at the game that kept them alive. After that though, guess who had the second most yards on the bills in the passing game? I'll say Ty Johnson. Yes, Ty Johnson. 45. So the two guys we talked about on the injury report this week are the two leading receivers from that game. After that, it was Jackson Haws, Gabe Davis, Josh Palmer. I mean, nobody else had more than 26 yards. It was a really, really, really rough day for that offense. Every time the bill is going to Houston, it feels like it's a really rough day for the offense. Is there anything on the roster side of things that we need to at the one Shroud because I mean, starting wise, I guess you could say like, we still don't know who's going to start a linebacker, I guess, and where, right?

9:08That's the biggest question. We know who the starting guard is. That is Alcannerson. The bills said that. We know that. We don't know who's lining up to be the starting to linebackers for the bills on Sunday. I think it's going to be Dorian Williams. I think we're in the Internet. Interub Bernard. I think that's what we see at least early on. And Caleb, the Lerms or kind of comes in for occasional situational snaps. That's just my best guess. And I think that they like Caleb, the Lerms or it, but it might just be a little bit too much too soon. What would be the situations that you would flip flop them? You know what I mean? Like it's one thing to say like you bring in a dime package on a third and long. No, that's different. You're subbing out a, you're subbing in a defensive back and out a defensive lineman or a linebacker. But you're talking about kind of the same skill set. And remember years ago when the bills have in the past rotated cornerbacks, right? And you're just, well, we're just giving each guy a side. What would be the situation that they would do that? Wouldn't it be, and this might be lofty, wouldn't it be for Caleb, the Lerms or to come in to Mike and then Terrell Bernard to move over to Will on more obvious.

10:14Like when they want to try and use Terrell Bernard more as a pass rusher and try and create havoc in front of him and create lanes for him to go attack the quarterback. Is that too? No, I like it. I think that's interesting. I think that's interesting. I think that's the really the biggest to me question of the roster heading into week one, which is how do they line up at linebacker? Who are the two starting linebackers? How do they use all these linebackers that, you know, they even Jim Leonard has said they've all earned the right to be on the field. We will talk more about the Buffalo bills as the week goes on, of course, and dive more into what's happening on the bill's side of things. But right now let's get a pulse of the Texans and welcome in our friend Mark van Amer the play by play man of the Houston Texans mark what's up at Sal and my co host here Matt Bove. I'm Mark. Gentlemen, good to see you Sal. It's always a pleasure. You know that. Yeah, for sure. Matt just to let you know. I was driving in my car with 1989 high, high, is it when you're on Dre wear in the front seat of my car with Mark van Amer in the back and it was a great night in Buffalo right Mark?

11:35Well, to me, the special part was well, you were very upset that the restaurant we went to do not have wings that's called this is terrible. Yes, as a as the mayor of Buffalo. That was a big fail. But but Eric molds was there and that's special for us because Eric molds is actually a former Texan as well as, of course, a beloved bill. So that was kind of cool to see Eric again. He spent at least 10 minutes here doing something, but it was nice to see him that night. That's cool. I mean, it wasn't so good though. So the game the next day for the Texas was not so good. It was raining. It was something like 41 to nothing. I can't remember Davis Mills rookie. It was awful. But you know what? We've come out of the rain figuratively and literally here in Houston and it's a nice era for us. That's a good starting point. I just kind of big picture, right? Everybody is so now focused on their team in what to expect in Houston. What are the expectations for this year? I know there's been all the conversation about the contract with CJ Stroud and all of these things. But like, what are the expectations? What is the fan base thinking about the season?

12:38Well, you guys know what this is like and I think no one can relate to it as well as the bills fan base where you have expectations, of course, to get back there to get back to that moment where you need to get past that moment. And we all know getting to that moment is tougher than you think. It's harder than you think to get back to the divisional round to get back to the playoffs sometimes. Never mind. AFC championship game. Super bowl. You know, I look back. You know, the four falls. I don't want to bring up painful memory. Sure. The four falls was on recently because my TV is always on and I in the office here. And I was watching a piece of it. I thought, man, those teams were so freaking good. There was so good. And I guess every year they felt like we'll get back there again. Won't we? And they did, but they just couldn't get the big one for the Texans that moment that time that place is the divisional round. They've never been past the divisional round. They're good in the playoffs in the first round all time, seven and two in round one, but they've never been able to skip around with a buy and they've never wanted a divisional round game. And that's where we are.

13:43So the expectation is you finally get there. I think that's, you know, expectations of tough word. The hope, the thought, the assignment is to get past that point at least. Do they do it? We'll find out. We'll all be watching together. And it all starts really with that defense. We've seen up close firsthand in Buffalo. What's happened? Josh Allen got beat up pretty badly last year. It was a fantastic football game, but coming out of that game. The story was how the bills just could not block the Texans front. And that's really been the case the last couple of times that the bills have gone down to Houston, the offense for the bills have struggled. And now the Texans go out and it seems like they might be even better than they were a year ago on the defensive side. Would that be an accurate assessment? Those guys growing and adding some parts to that side of the ball? Yeah, you know, this time of year, we always talk about on paper and on paper. I think they are better because you get Jadevian Clowney. And Johnny and I were talking about it. John Harris, he you mentioned. We do shows all season long five nights a week six PM. And we do shows all season all off season long and talk about things like what if you added cloudy, you know, you get to a point where you just starting to talk about hypotheticals constantly. And I thought there's no way clouties coming back here and that they would want cloudy because cloudy probably wants to start.

14:54And he's not if willing to kneel you find your fine you don't need cloudy. It's not going to happen. But cloudy lives in Houston. And this cloudy, this version of Jadevian Clowney is very different from the rookie. And the bill O'Brien era that was the backdrop to the original cloudy experience here. They get cloudy this off season. And he wants to be here. He likes being the role player. He likes coming off the sideline and playing maybe 20, 25 snaps, whatever it's going to be. If he signed anywhere else in all likelihood, he's a starter. And there's a different kind of pressure and everything. I think it's a great situation for him and for the team because they like to sub at defensive end. Will and Daniel do not play all the snaps obviously. And later in the season, they were going first down sometimes first and second down with Dylan Horton and Derek Barnett. And then they would bring in Will and Daniel. They were kind of in a load management semi situation there. I think clownies get a fit in really well here. They got to get it right opposite him. But let's just start there. You add cloudy. Yeah, I'd read blank and ship in the secondary to start at safety. Oh, good.

15:56So now you have some assets there. And he's a starter MJ Stewart started a lot of games for this team last year. And then they kind of pieced it together down the stretch. Now they have read blank and ship. And then you look at the death. I am really excited about the young guys they have on this team. One of them, Jalen read they traded to no England for K. Sean booty. But when you look at Kamari Ramsey talented young safety from USC who got hurt in the preseason, but I think he's going to be heard from Jalen Smith, a corner, Colin Wright, another corner from Stanford. I'm not going to name all the names for your listeners and viewers. But I got to tell you, they look pretty deep to me. It's just that the depth is largely untested and young. So you got to hope they hold it together. But that's every team in the league. You don't want to lose any frontline guys. Yeah, I think what you said might maybe be the answer to my question, but I guess my thing is I know that they can get after the quarterback incredibly well and stingleys incredible. And there's guys in the secondary who are really, really good. Where can they be exposed? Where can they be beaten? If you were the bills coaching staff, what would you be trying to do against this Texan defense?

17:00Well, I would see how they sub linebackers, right, because as he's how shy or in Henry toe to toe are the two starters, right. And this is how we talk these days in the NFL, your audience knows this. They're really knowledgeable that, you know, I remember I'm old enough to remember where we would never list a nickel as a starter. But now that's the death chart, right. You got five DB's. You got two linebackers. That's what we list because all the sudden it seemed like I don't know, maybe three, four years ago, everyone woke up to the knowledge that Hey, teams are in nickel the majority of the time. So you have those two guys starting and what's behind them. They lost EJ speed in the off season. He's on pup, which I thought was a good sign that he's on pup and not on season ending IR. So maybe they get him back later. I don't know, but he's gone for a while. And he was really good for them last year. And I think behind the top two, it gets a little murky. I love Jay Kansen. He was their leading special teams, Tackler last year. He can play, but can he play big stretches if they get dinged up there? I think for Buffalo week one,

18:01the question is if they go to the bench at inside linebacker, do they match up well? Obviously you have some talent there, tight end, and you might be able to take advantage of that. I think that's where it could happen. But you know, we've seen Josh here many times or at least the last couple have been highly notable against this defense last year. You have this defense in the year before largely this defense. I think the thing to look out for is this as tough as it's been for Josh Allen. This is my take on all the Buffalo games. And I don't want to go macro here, but it took everything you had to win each of the last two. Let's just go there. Everything you had and you handled Josh Allen. I mean, you gave him everything he can handle and he had horribly terrible statistical games, right? But it still took last second plays to make it work. And I think that that's what you're looking at again this Sunday, as well as you could possibly play against Josh Allen, it's still going to be monumentally difficult to pull it out at the very end. Yeah, that game in 2024. Maybe his worst statistical game he's ever played in the NFL down in Houston.

19:10Mark, let's flip it over to the offensive side. And obviously a lot of this comes down with a CJ Stroud exactly who is CJ Stroud exactly where is CJ Stroud right now in his timeline because man, when he came out as rookie year, he looked like the next great superstar quarterback. Then there's been some inconsistencies, including last year in the playoffs. Of course, he has the four interception game. I went back and looked the last two regular season games plus the two playoffs. I believe it was four five touchdown passes seven interceptions that he's thrown. Where is CJ Stroud? Where's the confidence in CJ Stroud and what the Texans and fan base feel about him? I think they've done everything they possibly can in an offseason context, right? In training camp, look, you're going up against the number one defense in the league when you go training camp good on good ones on ones all the time, right? It's really difficult to get things done, but they got better throughout that process. And they were better this year than they were last year against the Houston defense, even though it wasn't as smooth as you'd love because of the additions they made to the offensive line. David Montgomery running the football Woody marks in year two. I think the backs are better than what they had last year. No question about it.

20:13They didn't have Joe Mixon last year. Never. So you're running Woody marks and Nick Chubb by and large. So now you have David Montgomery and second year Woody marks and I like it behind this line, which has some nastiness to them. And I think I bring all this up because this helps CJ Stroud helps the offense click better. And when they took on the Raiders and joint practice and you have to talk about joint practices more than the games now, the preseason, right? Why are you even discussing the games in lessons for depth purposes? When we talk about starters, we're talking how did they look in that joint practice? Well, the two joint practices, they looked real good, especially against Carolina. They demolished Carolina on the road in a joint practice and look, Carolina might not win the Super Bowl. I get it, but it was progress. So it's progress, not perfection. I think that's what we're seeing with Stroud. I think he's got a lot of weapons to work with. It sucks that Higgins got hurt because I thought he was primed for a big year, but booty, you add him to the mix. I have no idea how that's going to look. Really, because we haven't seen him practice. There's been no full team practice that we've seen the media or anybody like that with K-Shambu, the mix.

21:23He got here right before the joint practice with Carolina, so he didn't participate. So now you're wondering, how's that all going to work? I think it's going to work pretty well. I like their other weapons. I like Xavier Hutchinson. I think Jared Wayne is ready to step up. You know, I think Jalen Null is a good looking young receiver going into year two. I think that all helps CJ, plus this tight end room is as good as it's been in a long time here. This reminds me of when they had Owen Daniels and James Casey and Joel, Dries and Garrett Graham, when they had that group, this group reminds me of the versatility of that and the hunger and the intensity. Bring it in Foster, Morrow from the Saints. I know that's not a big name. That's not going to lead sports center or anything like that. That guy's got attitude goes along with Keelan Rutledge. They have on the offensive line. Yeah, add it all together. I think it's going to be a much better product product. That's going to help CJ strowd a lot in in year four for him. But it's like I said before, you got to get to the moment, right? You got to get to the postseason again and see how it goes this time. And we won't know it until we get there. But what are you dealing with? It's all about Sunday right now.

22:25Isn't it incredible how the perspective can completely change regardless or like where you are in Buffalo? The conversation this week will be, hey, you think the bills defense can have some success against the Texans offensive line and maybe get a couple sacks or in Houston. It's like, remember last time when we sacked Josh Allen eight times. So obviously it's a very, it's a moving scale here. But my question is about the offensive line because from reading things in Houston and kind of following and starting to do our prep work, that seems to be a talking point. Does it feel like the offensive line is going to take a big step this upcoming season? It's a huge talking point because they haven't been able to get the line they've wanted since they had this legendary line for them, a legendary Texans context line back in 10, 11, 12 when you had dwayne brown Chris Myers, Wade Smith three pro bowlers right there dwayne went plenty of times and you had Eric Winston at right tackle and they just looked good run of the ball with Aryan Foster doing all that kubiak stuff that kubiak shana hand stuff.

23:29They were really good offense back then much better in yards than points, but still pretty darn good. Now they have not had a line like that since right. And they've tried they made the deal for Larry me tonsill prior to 2019 they've done things they drafted high, not all the picks have worked out, but I think this is their best line in a long time. And again, I just have the preseason context to look at here, but ursary at left tackle looks pretty good going into year two. I mentioned Rutledge. He's a revelation. Nick Kiserri himself said and it's funny because Sal will find this interesting. John Harris said at the beginning of camp hot take raid the sizzle fires or rate them. That Keelan Rutledge is the best offensive lineman on the Texans and I thought he's a rookie. He's a rookie, but Nick Kiserri will basically said it last week. He said he's probably our best offensive lineman. That's strong stuff. This guy. I think the hope is that you found quentin Nelson somehow right you found a guy like that at center. Evan Brown has risen up. Now he's been around the block a little bit to play that position a lot. So I think he's going to start on Sunday. Don't have that confirmed, but I think he's going to start at Ingram at right guard and right tackle.

24:37You're looking at Trent Brown and they did not lose a game with Trent Brown playing as a starter last year. He could not play against the England. That was a big loss. If Trent Brown plays, I think there are a lot of ifs in that game. But if you get a couple of things here and there, obviously it's going to be a different result. It was a pretty close game, even though CJ through four picks and you had a big Woody marks fumble in the second half. So offensive line long answer to your short question. It's always going to be a topic here until they get it right. I think they've made enough additions here. They picked up why a teller. He's probably not going to start. He's depth. Braden Smith has hurt. Those were two big off season acquisitions, but the good news is that they did resign. Trent Brown. So he's going to play and Blake Fisher is looking better. Attack on anyway as a swing and Rutledge looks pretty amazing for a rookie so far. I haven't played a regular season game yet. So the hope is there. Again, go out and prove it Sunday. Yeah, why teller drafted by the bills traded to the Browns becomes an all pro and now he's going to be facing the bills again with Houston Texans Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern bills Texans. What's a what's going on with Tank Dell update on him. I know that he's not going to play in this particular game, but I was actually coming back from that massive, you know, leg injury.

25:47He had a couple years ago in the playoffs. Drink up, baby. Fantasy football happy hours here to get you wins and have some laughs. Matthew Barry here and my podcast, fantasy football happy hour as the sleepers bust and start to advice you need to win your league. We're diving into the tape. We're crunching the numbers to bring you sleepers bust weekly start to advice, whether you're defending a title or desperately avoiding last place. I've got you covered every single weekday. The bar is open. It's fantasy football happy hour with Matthew Barry wherever you get your podcasts. You know, it's such a tribute to Tank that he I get asked about him a lot. Local fans talk about him all the time. I think the team puts them out there on social media so much because he's clickbait, right. He just draws so many eyeballs. He's one of the most beloved Texans ever. He's easily a top 10 beloved Texan despite only playing two years. But he's just got that charisma about him. You know, he's so small, but he makes big plays huge, gigantic seismic plays, game turning plays.

26:52And everybody wants to see him, but he practiced a little bit in training camp. He was ramping up, practiced with the team, did some things and then disappeared to a side field at best. But he's on IR and I think that, you know, four, six weeks, maybe Nick Cacerio keeps saying maybe, maybe, maybe we'll see he's still ramping up, you know, mentally, physically, whatever. It is a catastrophic injury. He's overcoming multiple surgeries, everything like that. Let's hope he can get out there. But a lot of talk about tank. I just think that, hey, until we get tank on the field, you can't count on tank. And he'd probably be the first to tell you that everybody wants to see him, but you're not going to see him just yet. Mark, do you think that the week one matchup, the way that this fell benefits the bills or the Texans more? You know, when the schedule came out and we're going through the schedule and you see Texans week one, I think some bills fans just immediately grabbed their hat and they're like, oh, no, that's how we have to start. But then, you know, it's, there's a lot of layers to it. Hey, the bills got a new defense. And I think they might be able to do some things that the Texans haven't seen before, but at the same time, usually defenses I had of offense.

27:55And why would you give the best defense in the league? Head up like how do you feel about when the game fell rip off the bandaid get it done, you know, but the Texans have a lot of those games, you know, a real subtle one. And I say that in air quotes on the schedule is the Ravens later on in the season at home. I'm thinking the Ravens this year. They could be really good. The Ravens might be right back. Are they going to have those catastrophic injuries again, all up and down the whole roster, probably not. And then they'll be good again and they'll be tough to deal with. I think the bills are extremely difficult. Obviously. And I think the Texans fans. I don't want to say they're looking past the bills, but they assume that, oh, yeah, we always do well against Josh Allen, right? Eventually, Josh Allen's going to have a good game against the Texans and out that could be really tough. So you better get some production out of this offense. The defense cannot carry you every single time out. So they're going to have to do some things. Look, I know that they made plays last year in offense. They made some plays, but I'm talking about

28:57commanding ground game, that kind of thing. They might need it because maybe Josh Allen has that kind of game that the bills have been looking for. And James James Cook had some moments last year kind of went away from that, right? But I think that this is going to be such a hotly contested affair. I love that it's week one. This should be a prime time game, but it is what it is. It's a new kick central time. Mark, the last question for me is, you know, of course, CJ Stroud would be an answer, Deniel, Will, those would be answers. Who is a guy that could be a massive difference maker in this game on the Texan side of the ball? Like that's not an obvious one. I don't know if Woody Marx is not obvious, but I think he could be, he could be really good. I think David Montgomery is going to do really well. I think Woody Marx is really good. And I believe that this will be a one, two punch and I can't tell you who's one and who's two every week. I think my governor is going to start, but Woody Marx will be heard from. I think they can get something really special going here. And I think they need to, you know, we talk about this offense. I think they need to. They need to find some production on the ground that'll make life easier for everybody.

30:05Because the elements in this offense, the play action, the bootlegs, all the stuff they like to run. Ground game is just going to make it so smooth. I know we could say that about every offense in the league. And we talk about running games like, okay, you ran it out first down second now. All right. Now we're in third and four. Good job. Now, now what do we got? Well, I think Stroud, third and fourth, third and short, manageable. It's going to be really good. He's talented. Some of the throws he's making this preseason are outstanding. What an arm talent. He is. I think he's going to have a nice year, but it's all going to happen if they work together in concert with that ground game in the offensive line. So Woody Marx would be my answer to that one. macro question for you. I'm looking at the odds in the AFC South and the Texans are the favorite to win it. Texans, Jags, Colts, Titans. I think this is a really interesting division. Now the Texans, though, I think sixth in the AFC as far as odds, the bills are co favorites with the Ravens. The chiefs are up there. The Bronco, I'm sorry, the chargers and the Bengals, I believe, but do you think that's about right? What do you feel just overall in the AFC South about all these teams kind of come together?

31:14Liam Cohn scares me a bit because I'm wondering, do they have somebody really good down there? Is he one of these outstanding coaches that's going to be around for a long time? What he got out of Trevor Lawrence when a lot of people left Trevor Lawrence, not for dead, but they just thought he's going to be mediocre. He's going to go the way of maybe not to but not far off. He'll still be there, but he'll just hang in there. He had a nice year. They lost here at Reliance Stadium. They were up 19 Texans came back with Davis Mills, but after that they didn't lose again in the regular season. I think the Jags are kind of scary. And the culture's scary too if they're able to semi duplicate what they did in the first half last year when everybody was healthy. I think it's tough with those top three and the Titans aren't getting any worse. They're going to be better. I don't think there'll be a lot better, but they'll be better. And two years ago they beat the Texans here at the at Reliance Stadium. So a lot of possibilities. You know, I'm sure you have the same kind of conversations when you're evaluating the AFC East, but I just think that in the AFC East, the bottom two teams are going to stay pretty much bottom two teams.

32:19I mean, there's, you know, they might raise up and rise up and give you a game every once in a while, but I don't I don't think there are problem. I think that the cults are always going to be a problem for a lot of teams. So I would favor the Texans probably, but don't look past the Jags who won the division last year with 13 games. 13 wins. Mark. Andy Meer. Yeah. Thank you so much. This was. I got my circuit shirt on any chance in the ACC this year after that nice 66 to three win over New Hampshire. Oh my gosh. ACC. How about the university of Miami? I know. So Matt Mark used to be the play my play guy for the Miami Hurricanes too. Oh, very cool. When were you there? I was there. Good years 99 through 0 1 season. So I did the national championship and then came to the Texans for our first year. So this is our 25th season guys. It's a big deal. Year 25, Domingo. I mean, you talk about a beloved guy. He'll be in the ring of honor someday was a great player all time leading solo tackler and a head coach that's adored in this city. So you're looking at a great historic potentially.

33:28Monumental unforgettable season. Let's see if they can get it done real quick. I actually did think it's so go ahead, Matt. No, I was going to say I always tell people Mark, you know, not just saying this because we're talking to you. Like Houston was one of the atmospheres in the NFL that surprised me. I remember the playoff game in 2019 being there and it was a playoff game. Grand but being like, wow, this place has some juice. Like it gets really, really loud here. And then the last couple trips in the regular season, right? Like they've been huge wins for the Texans. Yeah, the stuff on digs game. That was loud at the end in the game last year. You know, I think that point Texans were like six and five and it was still it's a really cool atmosphere to really intimidating place for visiting teams to come. It is. I've always thought it was noisy that roof closed creates a lot of noise. The bowl. I always felt like it was a big basketball arena. Fans are right on top of you. You know, FIFA was here and the euros loved this place. They thought it was an outstanding environment for their game. And I know it's an outstanding environment for football. And look, yeah, the playoff game in 19 was one of those days that I'll never forget.

34:32Absolutely phenomenal outing and what with the big sack to reverse the momentum in that game. But yeah, it's a great place. And we need to see it hosting a divisional round game, maybe hosting an AFC championship game. Like they could have in 2019 had they beaten the chiefs. Don't get me started on that part of the history. See that bills games are great memory guys. But the next week, not so much. Not so much. Yeah. All right. I do actually have a very kind of interesting off the wall question. You're talking with a couple hockey guys here. We love our hockey and Buffalo. You went to Boston University. Yeah. Are you a big hockey fan and B is the NHL coming to Houston? I think it is. You know, that's the talk because why would you pick Austin over this? I mean, come on. What are you doing? You know, pick Houston. All right. Bigger market, more business. I know Austin's got a lot going for. I was just there this week and my kid goes to UT. Traffic is even worse than Houston, I think. Anyway, I think the NHL will do well here, but you better be competitive competitive. It's like a lot of places where, okay, you bring in an expansion team. No matter how they do, there's a lot of bloom on the rows. First couple of years. But eventually, are you going to be able to hold it together if you're not winning? We'll see.

35:46All right. Mark Vandermeer. Well, Mark, it's going to be really fun. It's a great, great time of year. Football's back. Bill's at Texans Sunday at 1 p.m. And it's going to be hot. Is the roof going to be closed? It's going to be like 92 degrees there on Sunday. Trust me. I look, they have not announced this, but I would bet my mortgage. It's going to be closed. Okay. There's no shot at this roof being open. Not with these temperatures. No way. Well, if the roof is open, I'm coming to live with you in Houston for a little while. The mortgage bet. Yes. Mark, thank you for joining us today. We really appreciate it. Mark, thank you a lot. Appreciate it. And you can catch Mark Vandermeer. And of course, the Houston Texans radio broadcast on the game along with everything else going on in Houston, where? And when you're in Houston, go to the game, where you guys have your show you said 95 seven, the fan. I love that. In the meantime, download, subscribe. It's always game name Buffalo. Thanks to our producer, Mike Robbie, Matt, you and I will talk later this week. Buffalo bills at Houston Texans more from the bills side of things coming your way.