The Josh Innes Show - The Texans Meltdown

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

What has happened to the Texans? Over the course of a year, the Texans have gone from fun, young, hungry team with a bright future, to an absolute mess. They play the Titans this week. It's a must win from the standpoint of staying somewhat alive. It's a must dominate game to keep people interested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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or go to explorevolvo.com. As the Texan season continues to slide away, they're 0 and 3, and they're probably not going to make the playoffs, and there's nothing really exciting to look forward to with them, other than to see if maybe C.J. Stroud finds himself again, because I think there's a lot of people that look at C.J. Stroud now as a guy that they don't even think the Texan should invest huge money in,

which is shocking. But that's kind of where we are right now. But the team's not very good. and it just seems like they're in disarray. It's one thing to lose. It's another thing to lose the way they've lost. It's another way to lose with drama surrounding the team. And the latest drama is they cut CJGJ after three games.

And everybody's shocked by this. It's a big deal. Let's get into that in the overall kind of culture, right, of the Texans. We'll do that after these words. It got Willa. They got my daughter. I need to find her. Willa!

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Learn more at dynamic.com.ca.com. dynamic actively different like some teams are able to handle a dude like chonsie gardiner johnson and they can thrive and make it work like the eagles the eagles find a way to make these kind of things work and they made it work with chauncey gardner johnson and he was a part of their super bowl winning team last year some teams can do that other teams are not built that way the texans are not built to handle those kind of personalities and they never really have been. And I don't think that's what they want to be.

Like, I think the Texans thought they wanted to live that life. Like, I think they thought that they wanted to find someone that's a little mouthy, kind of a hot-headed guy. You know, when he was in New Orleans, like New Orleans could handle that. Because New Orleans was kind of that vibe with that team. Like, Sean Payton, don't fool yourself. Sean Payton teams were pretty loose, and there were a lot of times they would do dumb shit that would cost them games.

Like, people talk about Sean Peyton, like, oh, we rule with an iron fist and those teams were locked down. Well, yeah, teams that are locked down don't give up the Minnesota miracle, right? Like, they do, I mean, and they would commit dumb penalties in big times, and those defenses would give up huge plays in crushing times with Sean Payton, and that, especially in that second run of good Saints football. So, like, but a city like New Orleans and a team like the Saints could handle that. I think a city like Philadelphia could handle that. Like, you can handle kind of an off-the-wall kind of wacky dude that says, crazy shit. It's kind of a hellraiser on the field. Commit stupid penalties. I don't believe

that's the life that the Texans want to live that life. I think they think they wanted to live that life. The Texans are kind of like a suburban kid that thinks they're like Malibu's most wanted. Like they think they want to live that life until they get kidnapped by gangsters and then they don't want to be gangstas anymore. Like they think they want to do that. Like the Texans want that life. The Texans want you to think that they want to be hard and they want to be bad and they kind of want to make their image a little bit dirtier and darker and more brooding and like, hey, we'll do whatever. They're not. It's still the Texans. That's not who they are. Guys like CJGJ were kind of stepping out of what their comfort zone was

already. Then throwing the fact that he played like shit. And apparently the guy's an asshole in the locker room. And he's pointing fingers at everybody else, doesn't point the finger back at himself, and he gets busted and gets a cut. But it's fascinating. So there were some things that were locker room issues, like if you believe some of the stories, like Aaron Wilson's got different stories. Among the issues Texans experienced behind the scenes with C.J. Gardner Johnson purses, he was critical of teammates in the secondary and didn't like his role. It was a locker room issue. And ultimately, this just wasn't a good fit for a team and for a talented player. So there you go. I mean, that's who this guy is. And when you're winning and

things are going well, you can put up with assholes. When you're not winning and things are going poorly, you're not going to put up with an asshole. Which makes it really remarkable what teams like Philadelphia are able to do with some guys, particularly guys like that, because they found a way to make it work with him and they won a Super Bowl with him. But the Texans don't want to live that life and they have never wanted to live that life. And they will never want to live that life. And that's okay. Like, there's not a bad thing where you don't want to get bad dudes in your locker room. You don't want guys fucking with your quote unquote culture, right? Like, that's how this works. You know,

not every team is, not every team is meant to live that life. Some teams just aren't meant to be the team that takes on the bad boys and tolerates all their bullshit. But it's really more difficult to tolerate someone's bullshit when they are bad, when they are bad, when the team is bad and the bad player is pointing fingers. It makes it a lot easier for you to say, go fuck yourself, right? Look, that's anybody that gets fired. That's, I've gotten fired for that. Like, it's a lot easier to put up with someone when they're getting results, when they're

a wacko, but they're getting results. It's a lot harder to put up with people when they're getting zero results for you and they've screwed up the whole thing. But they're a mess, man. It's crazy to think of where they were two years ago to now. Really, not even two years ago, like a year and a half ago, after they had wrapped up. that, not even a year and a half, but when they wrapped up that first D'Amico Ryan season, and they're in the playoffs, and they win a playoff game, and C.J. is on top of the world. He's

a really likable, affable guy. And you're like, and D'Amico is great. And somehow ownership had become this extremely, like, in a real, like, course reversal, they'd become extremely likable after the era of Bob McNair, where I didn't, I don't think a lot of people hated Bob McNair in Houston. But Bob McNair was considered this old racist. cook and now he's gone and his dufous son who he never thought would become anything he and his wife become sort of badasses and they embrace this kind of role and they're talking shit about Nashville and the Texans are winning games and you're like holy shit who are these Texans and now here we are that was what at the end of you know in January of 2024 here we are in

what are we in September of 2025 and we're like night and day like who are these people who is this team what are they like it's amazing how quickly shit can turn because when you're talking january 2024 there wasn't a negative to be said like yeah they lost a playoff game big fucking deal it's a rookie quarterback you're facing i think it was the ravens so who gives a shit like we'll be back to where we are now which is cutting dudes because they're blowing up the locker room is cj stroud worth big money what's the deal with Domeco makes shitty hires. Now you start to call out ownership a little bit.

Now their little shit they do isn't as cute anymore when you're 0 and 3. It's just, it's incredible how quickly that changes. You know, you look at red letter dates. I don't know what date it was they lost in that playoff game, but that wasn't the last time people felt great. Like to start last year, you felt great. Oh, by the way, they went on the road last year and beat the Colts to start the season and started five and one.

I mean, you're talking the difference a year makes. A lot can happen in a year. That's what we're talking about here. About the time frame we're talking about. Because at the time, I think they were two and one at this time last year. I think this is around the time they'd gotten beaten up by, I think, Minnesota last year. And you're thinking, okay, that's fine. Like, this team is still fun, still likable, things are going to be fine.

We're talking about a year and how different things are in a year. It's wild, man. It's amazing how quickly it can happen, how quickly it can turn. how quickly everything that's gold can just lose its shine like that. And I don't know how they get it back. Like they're probably not going to make the play. You lose this game this week. It's full on like no one's interested.

Like Houston's a town like that where the interest can wane really quick. This is not Philly where they're going to be locked in for these 17 games no matter what. You start 0 and 4 and lose to one of the worst teams in the league. Hey, it's the return to the Super Bowl of suck. How about that? The Super Bowl of sucks. someone's got to win. It's the Texans and the Titans.

What a world. But you think about that, man. It's like, you lose this. Like, you're talking about must wins just for the psyche of the city, just for the overall health of the franchise. This is one of those games. You somehow lose to rookie quarterback who's been terrible, team who's been terrible.

Oh, and three. They've just stripped the head coach of play calling duties. You lose this game. you go from, you know, oh, things are bad, but, you know, maybe we can fix it to full-blown, four-alarm emergency. At that point, no one's interested. You think people aren't interested now? Good luck getting people to a game at 0 and 4 coming off a Titans loss, giving the Titans their first win of the year. Best of luck.

So, while this may not seem like that huge of a game because you're facing a shitty team and maybe the season's over anyway, This is a giant game for the health of that organization. Because if you can come out and not just win, but beat the shit out of the Titans and move the ball around the field, CJ smiling a little bit more, I think you can reinvigorate the people and convince them that, hey, maybe we'll make a push. Because you think about, yeah, you're O and three. There's 14 games left. In theory, you could go 14 and O. You won't, but in theory you could.

It's not like it's impossible mathematically for you to make the postseason. You're not dead. I know that like O&3 is a death now, but most of that's in an era of 16 games, not 17 games. So who gives a shit? Like you can still do things. As quickly as you can lose three in a row, you can win three in a row in your 500. And then after that, you got 11 games to go. What do you do in those next 11 games? There's going to be a lot of three and three football teams. You could be one of them. And that starts with playing Tennessee. But on the other hand, if you lose this, it is a catastrophe. And if you lose this in your 0 and 4, it sounds ridiculous,

but you start to question D'Amico Ryan's. You start to question where this franchise is going. You definitely start to question whether or not, even if you're a diehard that's like locked in on Domeco, locked in on CJ. You start to question the future of the franchise. You start to question whether or not you should be paying CJ Stroud big money. You wonder if

Domeco Ryan's is the dude. That's how this game matters. So, take that for what it is, but that's reality. That's why this game is a huge deal. Even if you win and play like shit, it's kind of like Oh, like you kind of need to go out and throttle these dudes

And you need to do it in a way where CJ looks good You need to do it in a way where it doesn't look like the team is in disarray You need to do it in a way where Domingo smiling on the sideline high-fiving guys You need to do like a win's a win great You need to go out there and fucking pecker punch these people That's the only way you're going to reinvigorate the people