The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Aaron Reiss Breaks Down The Loss To Denver

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

Aaron Reiss of The Athletic joins Matt and Ross to discuss the Texans loss to Denver and where they stand as the game with Tennessee approaches

is the Matt Thomas show. 2 o'clock straight up here on Sports Talk 7.90. It is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Matt Thomas off doing his fancy Matt thing as he is flying out to Cleveland with the Houston Rockets. He'll be on that call tomorrow here on Sports Talk 790. Right now I'm pleased to be joined by Aaron Reese of the athletic. We're joining us every week to talk a little bit of Texans football. And Aaron, I guess I just go ahead and start it off and get it out of the way.

What the hell happened Sunday? Man, you know, I think there are some doubt like the past seven teams to beat the Patriots for one and six and the next game. Obviously, that's one in seven hour, whatever the record was. There's never lost. So maybe, you know, it seems like a little bit of a hangover off of one game. And, you know, maybe won't say they overlooked the Broncos. But, you know, they kind of got their buck swooped.

And, you know, I also think that the defensive performance that we saw against the Patriots, as evidenced by kind of the Patriots continued problems against the Chiefs was very more a sign of New England's own issues than really fine. Taxes have turned to corner. If you look at all the efficiency metrics and everything, all the numbers that indicate that they've, you know, they're just a pretty bad defense. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I mean, how much of this is maybe the Patriots aren't as good as we thought, and then the Broncos with Drew Locke are a little bit better than we thought,

and therefore eight record shows, because I would, I like to think, and I was arguing this all last week, because we had Brian Smith of the Chronicle on here, and he was like, oh, this could be a trap game for the, for the Texans.

And, you know, I kind of tried to say that that was impossible because I was like, Bill O'Brien's been a head coach for six years. Bill O'Brien knows that this is a week-to-week league. And the players, he would communicate that to the players. So, I mean, there has to be more to this story, because I just still can't understand how you would get down 38 to 3 to the Denver Broncos, and we can say that they overlooked them. But, I mean, did that mean they were lacking in preparation, or was it the coaching, or was it the players?

I mean, how could they have overlooked a professional NFL team when you're vying for a two-seed and vying for the AFC South Championship? Yeah, you know, I think that's probably the thing about O'Brien's team that's to make Madden fans a lot, right? They're so, they've been kind of inconsistent and they win big games and they lose the games you expect them to win. In terms of just kind of what happened in that game, significantly, I think, you know, Locke might be, he might be good. It's only been two starts. I think that it was, the Texans made a very easy following. Some of those who was making, he made some really good throws. But it wasn't like you'd thrown a bunch in the tight windows.

and the receivers for Denver were just getting chunks of yardage after the catch. I mean, I keep coming back and thinking about that one catch that Noah Phant made where he kind of pretends to block for half a second, and then he just drops over the middle and lock throws at two yards, and then he has like 30 yards in front of them just wide open. You know, the secondaries, just don't make it hard on him.

And I think, you know, this is going to be a problem for the Texans just moving forward is if they don't really have a pass rest, they don't really have the corners that can survive without getting some pressure. I don't know if you do. You blitz more. You've got more. some of those dvies, but you know, at least kind of giving your defense

a chance to produce a negative play, and maybe cause a turnover here or there, because what they're doing now isn't working. Yeah, that's the thing. That's what you said, they made it look so easy, and that's what's a really sticking point with me. It was just, it seemed like sometimes you lose to a worse team, right? In the NFL, it happens. You have a

block punt for a touchdown, or they did have the Kiki Kootie fumble for a touchdown, and stuff can spiral out of control, and then you lose a close one. But the way that they, like, Like, if I took somebody who knew nothing about football and I sat them in front of the TV on Sunday, they would say the Denver Broncos are one of the best teams in the NFL and the Texans are horrible. Like, I don't understand how that happens.

Yeah, you know, I mean, it really is pretty remarkable. And I think the thing that I took away most is just like there's no reason to think that it will get better for the defense. You know, like the competition is only going to become more difficult here or now. because of defending the past. Like, Tannenhill, obviously, is red, red-hot. And then James, you know, he throws picks on every game and stuff. But he also throws for 30 yards with three touchdown. So, I mean, I wouldn't think they lose out.

But, like, after that game, you can't roll out, I don't think. Well, okay, let me just ask you a question quickly. I had other stuff to get to. But if they lose out, does Bill O'Brien still the Texans head coach come next year? Man, you know, I was talking about that with someone in the media room for the locker room to open. I mean, so that's so far ahead of now, and I don't think that they won't lose out.

But I imagine you probably still would be, right? I mean, they just committed to this guy. I don't think you can commit to this plan. And then even if things, you know, that's totally awry, you then pull the plot on the plan a session after he's mortgaged to all these things, all these picks, and, you know, tied to the cat's situation with the Pustleville,

or, well, probably, to cap the church in a Pustle down. I think, you know, the Texans are in doing this plan in a little while. All right. talking with Aaron Reese of the athletic covering the Houston Texans. You can find them on Twitter at Aaron J. Rees, R-E-I-S-S. And Aaron, just look ahead to the Titans matchup, like you said.

Ryan Tannahill has been red hot. We know that the Titans have been playing well. I mean, how much, just on the Titans specifically, not necessarily yet to match up with the Texans. I mean, is this, we've seen sometimes these late season renaissance when there's a change of quarterback with Ryan Tannahill. I mean, how much of this is, I mean, circumstance and not having a lot on tape with Ryan Tannahill or is he is Marcus Marriot that bad or or is this Ryan Tana Hill actually, Ryan Tannahill with the Tennessee Titans actually found gold? Well, I guess my question

is how much of this Titans Renaissance is the real deal? Is it legit? Yeah, you know, I was just this morning about from Stephen Ruiz, the U.S.A. today, that, you know, kind of why it's not necessarily sustainable. And that's not, you know, there's a bunch of info in a story. But one of the things that I thought was really remarkable. He's getting all these 10-cary-yard jump-play action, and if you look at kind of the percentages throw that are on-target downfield and the percentage that is the receiver is actually catching. Of all the starting quarterbacks or however many quarterbacks

include this chart, which is a lot of them, you know, he had the lowest percentage of on-target throws downfield, but his Tennessee receivers had caught all of them. So basically, like, you know, he's throwing something like plus 20% of his throws up in the tight windows, and again, he's not completing, like, over 10%. more of his passes than all the tracking data would suggest. All these things basically indicate that it probably is not sustainable

over the course of forever. I think if Tennessee resigns in, which there is some of these out there. Well, I cry hard getting this quarterback again next season, or at least not for his whole season. That being said, could he continue for a couple more games? I mean, maybe. I don't think that the Texans of all the defenses of the defense that's going to necessarily slow down for all the reasons we just talked about

the past rush and the problems in the secondary. Yeah, so, I mean, what do you expect? because obviously Derek Henry is the guy that makes that offense go, already over 1,200 yards a season with 13 touchdowns. So, I mean, if you're looking at the matchup on Sunday, you would still expect him to run behind Henry, even though the Texans do have the issues in the secondary. Yeah, I mean, I think obviously he's going to get a touch with him. And I think that he will cause plenty of problems for them, too, because, you know,

this run defense was kind of the one thing you could say, you know, the past day about this defense, even after they lost a while for a little while. and they're holding up on the ground, and they're running up for now, they play London and all those things. But in recent weeks, it doesn't indicate. My fans have problems in other games.

And so I think that the hangar you can definitely run at the Texans. And, you know, if he's running well, we make Canada will play action more successful. But I think just in general, they're kind of a lot of problems with Tennessee team. Yeah, and the Tennessee Titans defense, not necessarily thought of as one of the best in the league.

Can you just tell me? I mean, first of all, obviously the turnovers were a huge issue for the Texans' offense on Sunday. I mean, was that it? Or are you seeing something systematic? Or, I mean, what is going on with what was supposed to be the best individual unit as far as offense defense special teams? The Texans is supposed to be the offense. Although, if you listen to Bill O'Brien in the post game, the offense was pretty good, right? But first of all, yeah, what do you think about Bill O'Brien going on and say, I don't know if you guys watch tape?

I don't know if you put on the tape, but we ran for over. hundred yards and all. How can he come out there and say that with a straight face after you got down 38 to 3 and you scored 14 points in the fourth quarter when the game was over? Yeah, I mean, I will say I do think that the loss was more about the defense than the offense, like in terms of this shot yarder, it's like the fact that gets frustrated by a rookie quarterback, all those things.

But yeah, obviously, I thought it was kind of an odd point to be making. You know, you have to box. I will say that. The offense was moving across midfield with some success in the first half. The problem is that when they got across the field, then they ruined it. You know, they punt one, QT fumble six on another, and then I figure it was, there's another one I'm forgetting, but they got just a field. That was like in the first three positions, possessions across midfield. So, yeah, I mean, I guess the opposite was moving the ball.

Yeah, there's no odds, but they weren't really doing much with it, which normally has not been a problem in the first season. I mean, they've been better by kind of finishing things, although in the first quarter was just been brutal, and that happened again in this game. Yeah, and then how about speaking of things in post-game comments that I couldn't believe, have you ever heard of a left tackle or an offensive lineman

ever having a target on their back for false start penalties? Yeah, yeah, I thought it was kind of weird. I think of a way every couple saying that was just like, it was the one new thing he had to be always false start. You know, it's just like, I got to get better. It's just, you know, just my mistake.

over. And this time is kind of like now stricken to blame to someone else. I don't think I've got to fix it, but you know, claiming that I've got to fix what's not a show that problem my own creation. And, you know, frustrated after a game, I guess you can't three of them. But it was clear that he's getting a little more frustrated

by the thing that happened in recent weeks. Right. All right. Aaron, Reese of the the athletic here on Sports Talk 790. Aaron, before I get you out of here, I'll put you on the spot. What's going to happen this Sunday with the Texans visiting the Titans? Oh, man. You know, actually, it sounds crazy.

I am going to pick the sanctions to win. A close game, let's have it at three points. I just think that, you know, one thing on the line with his long rallies team when they're in these dark spots and when they're kind of back into a corner. And I do think that's Tannale is not necessarily sustainable. I don't think that he's going to have a terrible game. The best he's going to dominate him on defense or something like that. I think maybe he's not quite operating at the peace efficiency you've been seeing in recent weeks.

and the spots of Texans are in the need to win. It'll add up to East Street to leave in Nashville, but a victory. And then the crates are very interesting close in season. All right. Well, that's Aaron Reese of the Athletic Houston. Going with the Texans to win. That's a bold pick, but you know what?

It wouldn't surprise me at all because of the way the Texans have been up and down this season. Right. That's kind of a lot. I mean, when you don't expect it happens when you do it, it was 38, you know, whatever. Right. 24, yeah. All right, Aaron. Aaron Reese of the Athletic. Find him on Twitter at Aaron J. Rees, R-E-I-S-S. Thanks for the time.

As always, we'll talk to you next week. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Aaron Reese of the Athletic.