The Josh Innes Show - Texans Debacle

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

The Texans really gagged last night in New York. CJ wasn't good, but I don't believe all of that was on him. Play calling is truly a mystery. What can be done to fix these issues? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howdy, Jumokes, what's happening? Crappy, crappy Thursday night football game that was never actually interesting. Like, holy cow, man. That game last night, the most boring first quarter ever. It was just punt, punt, punt, punt, uninteresting. Now, part of my reasoning for thinking it was boring

is I took passing yards and some first quarter receiving yards in the game that never had a chance to hit. So that kind of alters my way of viewing things, which might say that I'm kind of broken. Like at one point, Jilly looks at me and goes, can you even watch a football game if you're not betting on it? And I'm like, honestly, I don't know. I think I might be broken from that standpoint because I watch these games. And yes, I'm rooting for the Texans or when I watch the Saints, I root for the Saints or LSU or whomever. But ultimately what matters more to me is the

victory in the bet and at least having the game be interesting from that standpoint. It was not for the first, basically the first half of the game was a snooze fest. But anyway, you've got your own problems in life. You're not overly concerned with whether or not a degenerate gambler like myself can enjoy watching a football game without having cj stroud to throw for over 200 passing yards which somehow he didn't as part of a parlay i had him and aaron rogers and i used a bonus him and aaron rogers to throw for over 200 yards each the fact that cj stroud didn't throw for over 200 yards and the fact that aaron rogers did is pretty remarkable if you really think about it especially because the texans had the last drive of the game knowing they had to have a touchdown didn't end up going for the

touchdown like i i can get into that last drive too like like that that wasn't the make or break situation in the game so i'm not going to get into it right now. But there are so many elements and layers of this game. Like, obviously, the Texans offensive line stinks. We know the Texans offensive line stinks. We've gotten that. For the most part, the defense is fine. You know, you gave up 21 points. Fine.

It is what it is. I think defensively, you're fine. You gave up a big play on the last possession of the game that got the Devontae Adams touchdown. It is what it is I think defensively you're fine you gave up a big play at the on the last possession of the game that got the Devontae Adams touchdown it is what it is but for the most part I don't think you're broken defensively you can live with what you are defensively so I'm not going to go into great detail or depth on breaking down elements of the defense we know what their issues are in the secondary that said I don't think you did a terrible job. Some guys made, well, I say some guys, one guy made a really remarkable catch and had two remarkable catches, really one that was just spectacular. But by and large, you're going to give up big plays. It's

the NFL. Every team gives up big plays. The Texans throughout this season have been a team that allows giant chunk splash plays. So you can live with that. You can live with giving up 21 points to any team if your offense isn't inept. And we've known that the Texans offense has been sputtering through a lot of the year, at least a failure to launch in a lot of instances or will get hot early and then fade in the second half. We've seen that.

We've seen games also like the Vikings game and the Packers game where the offense never got going, right? So the offense is not perfect. And I think that there are many reasons for this. But most importantly, I think CJ looks a little rattled. I don't know. I just look in his eyes and I don't see the same kind of confidence that we saw last year and through parts of this year. Now, part of that might be because he knows he's going to be running for his life on every play, which he is because the offensive line is monumentally bad. It might be because his deep threat security blanket that opens up the defense is not there

and thank Christ he will be back. Hopefully he will be back for the Lions or you can just pencil that shit in as an L right now, but you got to get him back. But the offensive line stinks. You're not getting the same kind of protection. CJ is good at getting around some of that, but he's still getting sacked way too much. I think they're sacked like third or fourth most in the league, maybe even higher now after last night. Another thing about them that baffles me is that they have to lead the league in being in field goal range, like fringe field goal range. Like, hey, we're at the 35. That's a 52-yard field goal. We know our kicker can make it on third down to taking a sack to lose 11 and not being in field goal range

or being in range for a 30-something-yard field goal, take a sack to have a 40-plus-yard field goal that makes it more difficult. They have to be amongst the league leaders in this made up statistic that again, not a real thing, but I mean, it happened two or three times last night. You know, they get into position where you're like, Hey, we're guaranteed a shot. And Kiami can make these kicks, although he stunk last night, but Kiami can make these kicks. And then what do you end up doing? You end up taking a sack that knocks you out of range so there's been some bad mistakes but I think one of the biggest question marks regarding the team and yes CJ isn't playing well yes Nico's not there yes the offensive line stinks usually I don't jump

in with the person that's getting criticized by everyone because I think usually if everyone's criticizing them it might be wrong and it's just kind of pile on. Somebody on the internet sees that this guy is the blame, then he'll agree that this guy is the blame. And then before you know it, there's no other commentary aside from this guy is the blame. But I think their play calling, particularly in the second half of the game last night was abhorrent. Their play calling early in the game, I believe there were two punts. Both teams punted. I think there were six or seven plays run. They were all passes by both teams.

When you have Brees Hall on one side and you have Joe Mixon on the other and establish the run. You know what got the Jets going offensively? They came out in the second half. I think they ran four or five plays in a row and were picking up chunks with Brees Hall on each play. Run, run, run, run. And then Aaron completes a little seven-yarder here, completes a little six-yarder here, and then boom, a 20-something yarder for the touchdown to Garrett Wilson. And I think that jump-started their offense. On the other hand, the Texans got it going running the ball in the

first half, and they were running it very well. They had some plays that were taken back because of holding penalties, because this offensive line commits too many penalties and can't fucking block anybody in the past to save their lives. But that's what they do. Second half. I mean, look, what did Mixon have at halftime? Like 90? I drove over to Illinois because I was so mad about the way my bets were going. I drove 15 minutes to Illinois at halftime to go put in a second half bet. And I was looking at some of the available plays. Now, one of them was Garrett Wilson to have over 40 receiving yards. He had nine in the first half.

That was an easy hit. I took that. Thank you. I'm brilliant. But on the other hand, there was 100, I think it was 147 and a half total yards for Joe Mixon, rushing yards, 147 and a half rushing yards for Joe Mixon, or rushing yards. 147 and a half rushing yards for Joe Mixon for the game. He had like 90, maybe at halftime. I don't think he got close to that number.

Why? Because they couldn't run the ball. They chose not to run the ball. And let's get to the play calling stuff. I'm usually not like judge play caller guy because I'm not a coach. I can tell you if I think someone's playing poorly, I can watch green get pushed back for a mile to allow a sack. I can tell you that something went

wrong there, but I'm not a guy who calls plays. That's not what I do. I play a little bit of Madden, although I don't play it as much anymore because I don't have a PlayStation five. I know that you guys have your own problems, but when I found out you couldn't get the new college football game, unless you had a PlayStation 5, I haven't had interest in playing video games in forever. So it's just not interesting. But I feel like I know a little bit about it and I'll ask people that I trust that are football players and I'll ask them what they think about a certain thing before I'm just going to run my mouth about it because I want to be informed. Unlike the electorate that you see on social media, I'd actually like legitimate information about things

and not edited and spliced lies that you get from the internet and social media and campaigns. But I'll ask people, like, what do you think about this? Am I wrong? Am I off base on this? So let's start here. We'll get into the possession that should have resulted in the Texans taking the lead that somehow did not. I mean, that was a mess, but let's look here. So Joe Mixon on a given day is going to have two, three, four catches for the Texans. He is a, one of their better pass catchers. If you, especially with now without Diggs and without Nico, you would think that they'd be finding ways to get Joe Mixon involved. He's arguably their most dynamic, well-versed weapon they have

on offense. He's not Nico Collins who can blow the top off the defense for a 70-yard touchdown, but he's somebody who you want to get the ball to him as often as possible. He's like an Alvin Kamara who you want to see get the ball 20 times in the run game and six, seven, eight times in the pass if he can because he can make things happen. Is catching the ball out of the backfield his greatest strength? No. He's a guy that runs the ball well and he can make guys miss. He's this great combination of power and elusive. He's great.

He's been an amazing addition. But every game, he's going to get two or three catches, just like Brees Hall is going to get two, three, four catches every game. Alvin Kamara is going to get two, three, four, five catches every game. That's why they're there. You have to find ways to get your best playmakers involved in the game. Now, let's look at what the Texans are offensively. The Texans have no offensive line in terms of the pass block. It's terrible, right? That's why CJ is running for his life. Look, he stunk last night, but part of it's because he's running for his life. He still makes some amazing throws. The throw to Tank Dell after the Jets had scored, the throw to Tank Dell

was amazing on the run. So he's making plays. It's just tough whenever you're running for your life on every play. He missed some throws too. I'm not going to blow him. He missed some throws. I think the throw that could have given them the lead in the end zone was a bad throw. There were examples of plays he could have made. But you look at the offensive line. If you know that you cannot pass block, and you know that Green is getting trucked, and you know that your time is going to be limited, then why aren't you running more things that get the ball out of CJ's hands quicker? Again, I'm not a coach. I'm not an expert on these things. And for a couple of weeks, we called Bobby Slowick brilliant, right? The whole world did. But if you know your offensive

line stinks and you know that your quarterback is going to have minimal time to throw, then why aren't you doing more things that involve getting the ball to your running back in the flat, on screens, bubbles to receivers? Why are you not doing more of this? Because the longer CJ holds the ball, the more likely it is he's going to get taken out because he doesn't have four, five, six, seven seconds

unless he creates it for himself. He's got one Mississippi, two Mississippi, and there's a guy in his face maybe even faster. So why are you not doing things that include quick stuff, screen passes, let a guy catch one, let mixing catch one a yard behind the line of scrimmage, get a couple of guys in front of him out in space and pick up nine, 10, 11 yards on a pass

instead of trying to throw everything 15, 20, 25 yards down the damn field. It's truly mind-boggling. Again, I'm not a coach, but I've texted people who played in the NFL, football people. Again, not trying to brag. I mean, I texted Sean Salisbury, who I know, you know, so I'm not trying to be like that. But I text people, and anytime I'm going to have an opinion about play calling or decisions I do like to ask people who played in the game because I want to be informed I hate being someone that goes in blind on shit and is truly lacking information on stuff so I want information and I want to know if my opinion is stupid or not I might still ride with the stupid opinion but I'll go but I want to know at least what I'm looking at and if I'm crazy. And in talking to these people, it's like, get rid of it quick.

Quick hit, quick hit, quick hit. Joe Mixon had zero catches. And I don't know that he had a target last night. Before that, Joe Mixon was a guy catching two or three passes a game. Some cases, you'd get even more than that. That's what Mixon does. That's how he gets to 20, 25 touches a game is he's going to tote the rock for you. And if it's a good day, he's going to tote it more than 20 times and he's going to catch it three or four times. And that can change the

game for you. But you did none of that. Even the backup running backs who usually get in the mix in situations like that weren't getting anything. And I get that you're missing, like, I'm not dismissing the fact that they're missing two explosive receivers. And I'm not dismissing the fact that the offensive line stinks, but you have to be able to find adjustments for that. I don't feel like the Texans did. I feel like the Texans are trying to run the same damn offense they run whenever they've got their whole complement of weapons and they don't. Some of the best teams in the league, like again, I know that CJ Stroud is not Patrick Mahomes, but Patrick Mahomes for long stretches will not have dynamic playmakers around. There are guys that are hurt and got, I mean, he doesn't have, I mean, now he does DeAndre, and who knows what DeAndre's going to do, but he historically isn't always loaded with amazing talent,

at least the last couple of years since Hill's gone. Like, he doesn't have blow-the-roof-off-of-the-defense type of skill guys. He doesn't have a Justin Jefferson. He doesn't have a Jamar Chase. He doesn't have a Stephon Diggs. He doesn't have a Nico Collins, right? Like, he doesn't have a Jamar chase. He doesn't have a Stefan Diggs. He doesn't have a Nico Collins, right? Like he doesn't have those guys, but they find ways for Patrick Mahomes to win games. They're undefeated despite the fact that they don't have that, that dynamic number one playmaking receiver. Why? Because they find ways to get everybody involved. They're creative in the way they call plays.

The Texans are not creative in that way. I mean, you want to look at the way teams have failed. Look at the Saints. When all things were right for the Saints the first two games of the year, Clint Kubiak looked like the most brilliant dude on the planet. Clint Kubiak was going to be the dude getting every head coaching gig. He made Derek Carr look like Joe Montana, right? But then you start losing a couple guys. Oh, your starting center's gone. Ruiz gets hurt. Instantly, they looked like a different team. But they were still doing the same shit

and trying to be the same team they were, and they didn't adjust. They didn't change those things. They still thought they were that team. It's different when Derek Carr doesn't have the offensive line giving him an eternity to throw the ball. And that's the same thing we're seeing with the Texans. The Texans are trying to be a team that has these flaws and has these gaps due to injury and just bad play. And they're trying to be the same team they were, and they're not. So instead of getting guys like Mixon involved out in the flat

and out in space and making people miss, we're still seeing CJ throwing bombs down the field. Everything's got to be 25 yards down the field, 20 yards down the field. I mean, shit, look at the last drive of the game. They weren't going to win. They were down 11, right? But you got about three minutes, two timeouts, and the two-minute warning. So essentially, you're down two possessions. You need to score quick, whether it's a field goal, whether it's a touchdown. You need to score

quick and try to hold on to those timeouts. That's important because you know if you have two timeouts left, no matter what, you're more than likely going to get the ball back. As long as you have 50, 60 seconds, you're going to get a chance. So you got to hold onto those timeouts and get points on the board quick. Maybe this is unfair because I'm a dude that watched the Saints for my whole life. And I watched Drew Brees, who's a hall of famer and an all-time great. And that ain't CJ Stroud right now. But in that situation, here's what Drew Brees and Sean Payton would have drawn up. If there's a chunk, take the chunk.

But what would happen in that spot is the Saints would, oh, a little dump off to Pierre Thomas. He gets out of bounds for six. Oh, look, there's Jeremy Shockey. He's kind of underneath. He goes out of bounds, whatever. Here's, insert Alvin Kamara, running back, tight end, guys like that. And before you know it, you go from the 30, you're minus 30 to the plus 35. And you do that in 30 seconds because you're smart about the way you do things. Great quarterbacks take the ordinary plays. Watch the way the Texans handle that last drive.

There's three minutes to go and essentially you have three timeouts you don't have to throw four balls 40 yards and they got bailed out obviously by the pass interference on that drive but you're throwing 40 yard bombs to your tight end and not crossing routes to your tight and you're throwing deep goes to your tight end so it's just little things like that that i think are stupid it's little things like that that fuck you it's little things like that were they going are stupid. It's little things like that that fuck you. It's little things like that. Were they going to win that game? No, but they sure as shit didn't give themselves a chance by bomb, bomb, bomb. Go watch a guy like Drew Brees. He did it against the Saints or against the Texans that year that they played on Monday Night Football, and the Saints, I think, got a walk-off field goal on that. Very little time to go. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Take what they give you and go.

Compared to what Dak Prescott did last week, the Cowboys, who had no business being in the game, got back to within six against San Francisco. Had over three minutes to make something happen with the ball. And Dak throws four deep balls. Game over. Literally four and out, zero yards, gave the ball back ball game over just little things like that then we haven't even talked about the possession where you ended up with the missed field goal and we're still down 14 to 10 you had a long possession you get bailed out mightily first of all it starts with the like the idea of having a running back when When you've got C.J.

Stroud, having a running back throwing any pass for you in that spot, I'm against. You got C.J. Stroud, you're 10 yards from the end zone. You're not desperate at this point either. Those are the kind of plays to me you either run when you're cooking or you're desperate. You're neither. But the play calling in those spots was terrible. But then you got a reprieve. You got bailed out because the Jets, who are maybe the dumbest team in the league. First, they give up a touchdown because the dude drops the ball at the one yard line. Then on a fourth and 22 field goal attempt, homeboy commits a penalty against the snapper.

So you get a new set of downs. You're 10 yards or so away from a touchdown to take the lead your first two plays are completely unimaginative run plays set you up for a third down and long situation and you don't connect then you kick a short field goal boom off the uprights game's essentially over at that point with about seven minutes to go just look like little things like that that are truly incredible so there was no one thing to point to in this game and say oh well if cj would have played better yeah it was 11 to 30 sucked but at the end of the day you're at the 10 yard line down four points with seven minutes or so to go

you've just been given a gift you've been given a gift by a dumb play from a dumb team and you go run run pass no yards field goal miss before that you're running half back passes the kind of shit you run on a two-point conversion there was no need for that play now I'll give credit to Mixon it made a pretty good throw on it but it was pointless there was no need for that play. Now, I'll give credit to Mixon. They made a pretty good throw on it. But it was pointless. There was no reason to do that. When you're down 14 to 10 in a game, and you're at the 10, 11, 12 yard line, you ain't desperate.

But it goes to the point of, and I think I'll give Slovic a little bit of credit too. Not credit, but I'll give him a little bit of a leeway here. You're stuck with what you got on the offensive line. But you mean to tell me, and again, you got on the offensive line but you mean to tell me and again I'm not a coach but you mean to tell me that you're down around the 10 11 12 yard line with seven minutes to go you just got this reprieve you got to get out of jail free card and you can't find a creative way to get your running back the ball other than up the middle

up the middle throw kick yeah like there nothing? There was nothing you could have done on that sequence of plays when you were given that gift. There was nothing in your bag of tricks that was like, maybe 10 yards out we're throwing a screen pass to Mixon. None of that? I'm not trying to oversimplify this, but if someone like me who never played in the NFL can watch this and go, the fuck are you doing?

Then what the fuck are you doing? Then what the fuck are you doing? All that said, hopefully Nico gets back, but if you don't remedy the offensive line problems, you ain't beating Detroit. I mean, thank Christ that Hutchinson ain't playing. My God, do you know what Hutchinson would do against these guys? He'd have one of those Derek Thomas seven sack games. This offensive line is garbage.

So what do you do? Well, to me, you got to get CJ's mind right. He don't look right. And you got to get your play caller and they're trying to figure shit out and be creative in what you're doing. I think they're trying to still be the same team they were when they had their full complement of weapons and they can't do that.

They never made any sort of adjustment. That's, again, my eyes watching that. They never got the screen game going. They never got anything like that. And when they're going good, the screen game is going good. Now, I mean, you got the Colt. Boy, you know who should be punching themselves in the dick? The Colts.

If the Colts would have gone to Flacco at any point in that game other than when Homeboy got tired, they would have maybe won that game. And they'd be in first place and playing for sole possession in first place this weekend. But they fucked up. But I guess we caught a break there. All right.

I'll try to get you some more later.