The Josh Innes Show - The Texans Are ALIVEEEEE!!

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

I can't believe we are saying this, but the Texans are very much alive in the playoff race. If the Chiefs take care of the Colts this weekend, the Texans control their own destiny for the division. That's bonkers. Can they continue this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. Ready, set, Ford. All right. Welcome in, everybody. All up in us Friday. Hello, friends. It's good to have you along. We're having a good time. What a win for the Texans. Hey, how about old Davis Mills? The neck. Let the band play neck. How about Davis Mills? Coming through getting the W? Like, look, first of all, I'm pissed off at Davis Mills because I took each quarterback to throw for 15 yards in each quarter. And Davis comes out and throws for 10 yards in the first quarter. he's one of nine. The sky is falling. My bet doesn't hit. Life sucks. And then what happens? Davis Mills steps up and says, don't worry, Chief. I will lead you, for I am Spartacus. And then he comes through for the team, but then leaves me high and dry because he's a son of a bitch. That said, let's get into this game and what it means big picture. This is something. Look, like four weeks ago, five weeks ago, Texans were left for dead. They are no longer left for dead. That's the

reality of this right now. The Texans are not dead in the wall. They are alive. You can make an argument. They're more alive than the bills right now. Like, I don't know what to tell you. And they finally beat a team of consequence in this thing too. Like, I know that they beat San Francisco, but they finally beat a team of consequence. Like, that's a big win for them.

And that changes the entire complexion of this whole thing and the vibe around the team. CJ's coming back. Is that a good thing? Like, there are legit questions to be asked here. And we will get into it after these words. It's amazing. where we were a couple weeks ago talking about them. I had no interest in talking about the Texans a couple of weeks ago. And why would I have interest in talking about the Texans?

They were no good. Now here, they sit currently in the eighth spot in the AFC, tied with Jacksonville, and they're in it. Now, we talked about it. They were in a brutal stretch of games right now. We talked about it yesterday, but just a reminder, for those of you who don't know, they've won four out of five. And it's no longer, well, again, it was against the crap Ravens and you've beaten the Titans a couple times. That's all true. But you beat Josh Allen. You beat the Bills. They have not the same Bills team. We've talked about that. But you beat them. Now it's on to the next one. You've got two tough ones back to back. The Chiefs are going to be in desperation mode pretty much for the rest of the season. And the Colts have been the

surprise story of the year. Now you go on the road back-to-back games. Now all of this could be undone. That's very possible. All of this can be undone in the next two weeks. You know, that's what happens when you start out 0 and 3. So it's great that you go 6 and 2 over 8 games, but by starting 0 and 3 and putting yourself behind the 8 ball in such a manner, you sit here and you ask yourself, like, where can we slip up? And the reality is you can't. And the problem you're going to run into is you've got four tough ones. You've got the Colts, the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Colts. Sandwiched in the middle of those, you've got the Cardinals and the Raiders.

Those are games you should win, right? but you've got those four games colts chiefs on the road chargers on the road colts at home you're up against it but you're in it give credit to demico we were all shitting on their situation about the the him bitching about the negativity uh you know we're talking about CJ and look there are legit questions to ask but before we ask the legit question here's the legit statement of fact at this point you have to acknowledge that this is the best defensive football team in the NFL it's not just statistics because sometimes statistics can lie every week they go out there and

the defense keeps them in the game with occasional blunders you know the jaguars game they gave up 29 points but they're in every game with what's been a largely mediocre offense because the defense keeps them in these games and then you go back and you rewind to the first three weeks of the year what a different world we're talking about if they're you know they don't lose by won to the Buccaneers if they don't blow that game late. You know, they lose to the Jags by a touchdown. They lose to the Rams. It's amazing what a little winning streak can do and change your perception of those

games. If they had lost to the bills last night, you'd go, well, I mean, look, good teams find a way to beat the Bucks, the Jags, and the Rams. Now they've won six out of eight, and we're like, imagine had they pulled those off. But that's where they are right now. So, like, if you really, if they make the playoffs, there is a strong case, if they're able to make the playoffs. And they're not going to win the division. I think that's too far gone. Although, I mean, look, you talk about having everything out in front of you, and this

might be pie in the sky optimism. They could come out on the 30th and get blasted by the Colts. That's very possible. Pie in the sky optimism here. But, like, essentially, you kind of, not kind of, you control your own destiny. As bizarre as that is, India's eight and two. Well, the problem is, I guess, technically you don't, because if Indy wins this weekend, they're nine and two, and you no longer control your own destiny. But let's say the Colts lose. So let's say the Colts lose, and you win out. Not going to happen. It's fascinating that we're even talking about this. Four weeks ago, the idea of entertaining this was preposterous. I would have said it's preposterous. You would have said as preposterous,

because it was preposterous. But let's say the Colts who play this weekend, they're 8 and 2. The Colts play against the Chiefs. The Chiefs are as desperate as desperate gets. If they fall to five and six, they're in a whole hell of a lot of trouble. Okay. So if the Colt, if the Chiefs lose, they know that they are in bad shape. They are desperate. They're on the road. They've got to win. It is must win territory for the Chiefs. So let's say the Colts lose, which is not totally absurd. Let's see what the spread is in that game, and we'll do spreads here in a little bit as well. But if you look at the odds of this game, I bet you the Chiefs are probably slight favorites, if not

slight underdogs. There are three and a half point favorite against Indy. on the road, okay? So it's not unheard of for the Chiefs to win this game. So let's say the Chiefs win. Colts fall to 8 and 3. If the Colts, if you do your job, as ridiculous as this sounds, and again, is it going to happen? Probably not. I'm aware of this.

But hell, you beat Buffalo. You've beaten San Francisco. You tit for tat with the Rams, tit for tat with the bucks. If you're able to go out and do your job, if the Chiefs, hell, you out this weekend and beat the Colts. And you do your job and win out. Unlikely, it's not going to happen. But if you do, you're in control of your own destiny.

Think about the absurdity of that. Think about sitting here today on the 21st of November. And we're saying, hey, if you do your job, you could still win the division. That's bonkers. Now, I guess technically it's not the case because the Jaguars are alive in there too. But in that case, though, it is because you still play the Jaguars one more time or no. I forgot. I think they've already played the Jaguars twice.

So they're done with the Jaguars. But you still control your own destiny, essentially, because the Jaguars at some point in there, they're not going to win all of these games. The Jaguars still have to face the Colts two times as well. So they're not going to win all these games. They have to face the Broncos on the road. So, like, they're going to find a loss or two in there. I don't think they're very good.

So as it stands now, as ridiculous as this sounds, as absurd. as it all is, and it is in fact absurd, the Texans control their own destiny if the Colts lose this weekend. Also keep in mind, the Colts are going to find other losses in there because you're going to beat them twice. But as far as controlling your own destiny is concerned, if the Colts lose to the Chiefs and they are underdogs at home, if they lose or they are on the, they're underdogs at home this weekend, if you go out and do your job, as ridiculous as it sounds, you control your own destiny. And oh, by the way, the Colts still have to face.

You talk about the meat of the schedule. Who have they played so far? Reality? Nobody. Toughest team they've had on their schedule is the Broncos so far, and they played them at home. And the Rams. Okay, they played the Rams. They lost that.

So they still have to face chiefs this weekend. They still have to go to Seattle. They still have the Niners. And they face the Texans twice who are the best defense in the NFL. currently. That's where we are right now. It is bananas where they are. And again, you play who's on your schedule, right? So if you meet a bunch of bums, you beat a bunch of bums.

But if you look at what they've been able to do, look, bills are a good win. The bills were a desperate team going into that game. There ain't no other way around that. They had lost two games in a row. Like currently, if you look at the NFL standings right now, where do you find the Buffalo Bills? Look at them.

take a look at the playoff standings in the NFL and they're currently sixth cool they're seven and four they're right there on the end of it they're right in the middle of it and that could fall apart real soon because kansas city can win Baltimore is the team that everybody's got their eyes on look at who baltimore's got the rest of the way they play the jets this week they're going to beat the jets i don't care what dipshit's playing quarterback i guess it couldn't be any worse than homeboy but i think it's what tyrod tait not tyrod taylor who's playing quarterback for the jets but you look at that. You got the bangles in a couple weeks. Joe Burroughs back. Cool. Steelers ain't easy either, but like, look, you've got some tough. Honestly, though, you look at the Ravens. The Ravens may not

do anything. Ravens schedule is pretty brutal the rest of the way. You got Burrow twice on that schedule. You got the Steelers in there twice. You got the Patriots, the Packers. Actually, the Ravens may not be a threat. If the Ravens make the playoffs, they earned making the playoffs in the last two months of the year because their schedule's rough. But the bills were in desperation mode because they had lost back-to-back games and they need to win that game and They couldn't get it done. And now you're right in the middle of it. And again, I know I'm aware it's a long shot, but this is kind of where you are right now.

Like, you're in it. You're alive. You are currently in the loss column one game out of a playoff spot as it stands. And oh, by the way, you've gotten Jacksonville, you've split with Jacksonville, you've beaten Buffalo. Those are teams that you are chasing currently. You are chasing Indianapolis. That would be for a division. I don't think that either you or the Jaguars will catch them at this point.

But again, if the Colts lose, you control your own destiny. To win the division. What is happening? What is happening right now? Like, the fact that the Texans are there. And now you've got drama. Because, like, is there a quarterback controversy? No, C.J. Stroud, your quarterback.

But C.J. Stroud wasn't doing shit. There's no competition. It's not going to happen. They've got C.J. Strouddies the quarterback. quarterback, your offense has sucked with him. Has the offense been spectacular with Davis Mills? No. But there's a such thing as the hot hand. And old buddies won three games in a row for you. And he's made some big time throws for you. Just saying. All right. So let's do that. I want to continue in on this stuff. But it is fascinating where they are. Like four

weeks ago, dead buried over. We could be looking at a situation where a Houston team again is only team that can start 0 and 3 and make the playoffs. And it's realistic. Now, again, all that can change. You lose to the Chiefs. Think about how big this Chiefs game is for playoff purposes next week as well. So let's assume Kansas City wins this weekend, which I think they will. They're 6 and 5. You're 6 and 5. It's damn near a playoff game next week when you play Kansas City. This is unbelievable. So we'll get into all that stuff. I do want to talk about the stuff with CJ and Davis Mills. You're not going to bench C.J. Stroud for Davis Mills. But if you did, would I think it's the most absurd thing I've ever heard?

Not really. It's not totally absurd. So we'll get into all that.