The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Aaron Reiss Discusses Bills v Texans

Episode Date: December 31, 2019

Aaron Reiss of The Athletic joins Matt to talk some Texans ahead of Wild Card Weekend with the Bills coming to Houston

Hey, it's Joe Green from Clutch City. Fires another three. To Crest City. And the Astros. This is Sports Talk 7-night. Home for your home team. All right, we've got about 80 minutes to decide who is the D of the Year. Mike Fires or Antonio Brown are the two finalists.

My D of the Year, not either one of them. I'll have you that coming up at 2 o'clock. Let's say to our good friend, Aaron Reese, from the Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at Aaron J. Rees. Aaron, let's get right to it. J.J. Watt on the practice field. He is ready to go. What are the realistic expectations from those inside the building?

I mean, I would be really, really shocked if he wasn't activated before the game. I think everyone expects that he will participate in the game. I don't think that you should expect him to have a full workload. You know, he even said that himself when he had his press conference last week. You know, I mean, this is a quick recovery. I think that they're going to be cautious about how much he's going to play. I'd imagine that you'll probably get him mostly on pretty obvious passing downs. So I wouldn't expect a full workload from him, but I think he'll still be able to make a difference.

I think having him in passing down, third down especially would be useful. This defense has been a historically bad third down defense. Is he superhuman? I mean, I know there were a battery of tests the organization put him through. Most peck injuries require four or five months of recovery. He's doing it in about two. what made his recovery so different than everybody else's? Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I think to some degree probably it is severity, but I also think situation matters here, and you hear him talk about it too. I mean, he sounds like kind of when he talked about it, you know, he knows the risk of injury, and I imagine that when you come back earlier than expected, probably risk of injury is higher, right? But the way he seems to view it is that, you know,

even if the risk of re-injury is higher than so what, right? He gets injured in this game, and he goes through a three-month process again or however long. and during the off season, and he already knows what to expect. And so whatever, so I don't know if it's so much superhuman. I mean, obviously, it was pretty remarkable he's doing this, but I think it also is kind of the situation lines of such that the calculation makes sense for him. Aaron J. Reese, joining us from The Athletic.

You can follow him at his name, Aaron J. R-E-I-S-S on Twitter with the Athletic and covering the Texans. Will Fuller expected to play. I think there's going to be a buzz for JJ. it's Will is how long as he in the football field again before he gets hurt? Is that your sense? Is that not fair? Realistically, if I ask you about how much

JJ is going to play, how much of a threat can Will Fuller be on Saturday? Yeah, you know, I imagine he'll play and, you know, I was just at practice and he was on the field. But I don't know how much of a threat he can be. And obviously, you know, I think he, with him and hamstring injuries in general, right?

You got the, or groin, sorry, I can lose track of that sometimes. But, I mean, you know, you've obviously risk him reagorating something. But again, I think it's kind of of what do they have to lose, right? If they don't win this game, that it doesn't really matter. So he'll probably be on the field. I don't know if I wouldn't expect him to be kind of as big of a threat as you know he normally can be when he's fully healthy. But even if he's just simply on the field, it's just his presence adds a ton

to the Texans offense and creates a headache for the bills. I mean, if you look at all the splits and stuff, by basically every metric, the Texans offense can be like a buzzsaw when he's on the field and just be kind of when he's, off it. How many scenarios have you envisioned about this game going on Saturdays? You lay awake at night in your bed before you go to sleep because I feel like there could be five or six of them. One of them being, you know, another flat start for the Saturday afternoon game, a kickoff return like they did against Kansas City multiple years ago and then Apples gets out to a fast start.

And then I see just the opposite where this Texans offense, even though the numbers aren't dominating over Buffalo, has a more prolific offense getting out to a fast start and hold on for dear life. run through some of the things you envision that could happen on Saturday. Yeah, you know, I think they'll win ultimately because I think Josh Allen is just kind of a, I don't know if he's really a great quarterback, and I think him playing in a row-clough game first time of his career and all that sort of stuff. I'm not sure that. This is kind of stuff for him to win. That being said, I think the way I view this game most likely is it won't be that high scoring.

You know, I think that ultimately even if you have a little bit more full on the field, and it'll be important because he can potentially get you some chunk plays. But this Buffalo defense has done really well as years. They're the best defense against defending deep passes. So I think that's going to be the test for the Texans. They can't get these chunk plays, which they're among the league leaders and producing, how they can win the ball. So I imagine that they probably win.

I think they have a better quarterback to play at home. They get Jigawat back, all those things. But at the same time, I don't think that it's necessarily a game where the Texans get off to a super hot start and blow them out. And the Texas just haven't got off-door hot started against pretty much anyone this season, unless A.J. McCarran is the quarterback. Don't even say that. That means terrible things have happened to Deshaun, so don't even think of bring up that mind.

For a young quarterback playing in his first playoff game, how you get him rattled is pass rush. Even with JJ out there, and hopefully it changes. But the last two months, there just hasn't been any. Why is that? Is it just exclusively, JJ? if you give Alan time to throw the football, he's able to find some downfield threats. Cole Beasley has been amazing for them this year. John Brown has got a reemergence as a receiver. So why wouldn't Buffalo be in a pretty good spot if Alan can have time to throw the football?

Yeah, I mean, if he has time, then he can maybe have, make some things happen. I just, again, I ultimately think, you know, him being his first playoff came and all the things, I would bet on the Sean Loston over him. But, you know, I don't think that, I think it's a competitive game. If the bill is one, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be shocked. I think the biggest thing is probably, you know, to get pressure on Allen, even if beyond getting a lot on the field, I think effective blitz is a big thing. I mean, that's kind of been the book on him in the back half of those years. You know, if you put them a lot, he struggles.

I imagine Romeo Cornell knows that. And he's going to try. And, you know, in recent weeks, even though they haven't got a ton of pressure, I did think they had to do some things creatively to get pressure at times and well-time blitzes and stuff like that on third downs against Tampa and Tennessee and whatnot. So I think that they'll be able to get pressure enough to win the game. Let me ask you this. Bill O'Brien just said a few minutes ago it's a top five defense for Buffalo.

And you're a little bit of research on them. What scares you about them coming up this Saturday? And what should people keep an eye on as they watch the game? Yeah, I think Trudevius White against Danter Hopkins, their top corner against him will be really interesting. because if, you know, if they're not going to be able to get tongue plays and he's, and he's kind of limiting Hopkins, you know, being kind of a first-down machine, like he's been for this team and then Loplin can't look for him, then how else do they move the ball?

You know, I think they are pretty good in coverage. They're just okay against the run. So I think having a big game from Carlos Hyde is important. And then on the other side, you know, obviously, like you said, get pressure on Allen is key. And so how often are they going to blitz? How aggressive are they going to be trying to do that? Because, you know, if you bring out on blitzers,

then obviously put a little more pressure. pressure on those corners the Texans have, who, you know, Bill Ryan likes Karen Connolly and Ryan Hargraves, and Bradley really has them pretty good this year, but I wouldn't say anyone thinks that the Texan secondary is like some really stout unit. So it'll be interesting to see kind of if Alan can take advantage of those guys in one-on-one. We've seen one former cornerback come to Houston and in Cream Jackson and have quite a day against his old teammates.

I would hope that Kevin Johnson doesn't become a storyline. How many steps will he get this week, do you think? Yeah, it seems like he's contributed a bit. He's plays the social teams and stayed healthy. But I don't think he's not the reason that this Bill's offense or sorry, Bill's defense has gotten the repid as sure he'll play some. But, yeah, I can't imagine he'll be rise to the storyline level as Karib Jackson did. All right, two last questions from you. One, let's go to the positive.

They beat the Buffalo Bills. And then I'm going to presume that New England does beat Tennessee. so that would send the team to Baltimore, right? No. Yes, that's correct. Okay, sends them to Baltimore. Because New England's a three-seat. If they beat Tennessee, then three goes two, yeah.

Okay, so what do you think the team learned from that first experience being beat by 34 points against the hottest team in the NFL the last three months? Yeah, I think that that was a game where they really, really missed JJ Watts. So I think one benefit that happens, maybe he would help. in terms of containing Lamar a little bit. And beyond that, you know, I think they just can't, they really can't shoot themselves on the foot, and they really have to get off to a hot start against Baltimore

because Baltimore is one of the best offenses in the league to start games, and the Texans, obviously, they're one of those points or one of the worst. You can't really do that against the Ravens because they are going to score most times that they get the ball. So getting off to a hot start is tantamount, and obviously Texans generally do that in that game. So that would be the biggest thing,

and then I guess the other thing they learned is, that Lamar Jackson is super given. I think everyone in the league is winning at this point. Yeah. All right. Now, let's go the other side of it. They lose this game against Buffalo. What are the offices in Texanville like on Monday after the game?

I mean, I think Bill Ryan is still a coach. The question moving into the off season, and this probably true regardless, right, is just do they proceed with a GM? You know, it's been reported that Nick Serio by the Boston Globe reported they still thinks of it as an option, even though, you know, a lot of people report that they're going to stick with their plan. So, you know, a lot of noise on both sides there. I think that's kind of the question for me is whether they end up sticking with a general manager or not.

I ultimately think that all these openings that are being created out there and stuff, and that's happening. You know, as we're talking, you know, Cicero is just kind of, he has better options probably than this Texans won. They don't have a lot of draft picks, and, you know, you have a, this job has been turned through by a couple guys. I don't think there's better options out there, but we'll see if he ends up becoming the gym. Do you think there's any chance if this team doesn't get to the Super Bowl, that you could see coordinator changes, especially Romeo Cornell. Tim Kelly is an OC, but we still know the Bill O'Brien's running things. Could you envision coordinator changes for the Texans?

You know, I think maybe if there was one, it probably would be more on defensive side. But I'm not sure that either of those seems super likely, but I definitely don't think that Tim Kelly is going to go anywhere. O'Brien really likes him. Thanks, he's one of the brightest young coaches in the industry. He's the only guy who's only worked for O'Brien really for most of his career. or for a long, long, part bit of his career. So I don't imagine he would go anywhere, maybe on defense.

But, you know, I think anyone who kind of looks at the situation would also say that this isn't necessarily Romeo Cornell's fault of the defense is struggled to here. I think that they just kind of don't have all the sort of personnel they need to be a super successful unit. I think when they traded Jamie and Clownie and then Brian and Tunsel and all his moves. I think they clearly made a bet that, you know, if you give Deshaun Watson the weapons he needs, he can be the one that can guide the team. And that was going to come at a cost to the defense. And I think that's kind of been what has happened this year, right?

That's right. That's right. Aaron, let's talk either way next Tuesday, my friend. Thanks, and we look forward to reading your coverage on the athletic, okay? Sounds good. Thank you. Aaron Reese, Aaron J. Reese, R-E-I-S-S on Twitter. He is on the Texans beat for the athletic and does a really, really nice job. Great in-depth stories.