The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Aaron Reiss - on Ka'imi Fairbairn Texans Still Believe In Him

Episode Date: October 16, 2019

Aaron Reiss of The Athletic joins Matt to discuss the Texans as they get ready to go to Indy to take on the Colts

is the Matt Thomas show. The Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790 with Ross and our producer Nick Lowe. I'm Matt Thomas. Let's spend a few minutes talking to our buddy, Aaron Reese, who was nice enough to move around his schedule a little bit because of the Astros and all that good stuff of the press conferences and the afternoon game yesterday. Aaron is with us here on the show. Aaron, I have a very simple question.

Don't mealy mouth around it. Let's go. Are the Houston Texans right now as we speak, the second best team in the AFC? Oh, right now as we speak, I would say yes. I don't know if they will be by the end of the season. I think that ultimately if, you know, everything comes back together for the Chiefs health-wise and stuff, I still pick them in a playoff game.

But I think right now you can't say that. Obviously, they just beat the Chief. All right. We all watch the game on Sunday, so no need to recap things. But what has turned things around? Do you think it's offensive line protection getting acclimated with each other? Is it Deshawn making wiser decisions? Is it the fact they're taking advantage of turnovers?

Give me one or two things, as you see, has seen this team. I mean, look, going to Kansas City, I don't care if Mahomes is on 100% and whatnot. That was a quality football win for that franchise. Totally, totally. Yeah, I mean, I think obviously the line is playing better. All the advanced metrics and, like, tracking data and stuff. I mean, everything suggests that the line is legit, you know, if not above average, at the very least average. But he's helping his own cause getting rid of the ball quickly two weeks in a row now.

And I think what you saw that was impressive in the Kin City game was, you know, they had built in ways for him to get rid of the ball quickly. I mean, he was taking advantage of a lot of hot routes, DeAndre Hopkins on Blitzes. And then, you know, those easy completions to Darren Fells and Kiki Guti up those RPO's, like just behind the line of scrimmage or just past line scrimmage. So, I mean, that he wasn't having to. you rear back and challenge them deep in order to be effective and obviously protect his body. But, you know, when he has taken the deep shots with play action or whatever, I mean, they have protected them well. So I think maybe you don't want to say the line is amazing, but it's clear that like the line is obviously improved and that has improved him. And they all work in conjunction with each other.

And that's the reason why they were able to beat up on Atlanta and the Kansas City victory. So let's do this. If Atlanta sucks and Kansas City is slumping, how much do you put into this game? Because if you win this game, not only do you have a nice size lead in the division, but you've grabbed another intra-division win, which really can help you all come playoff time. Or at least in tiebreaker standpoint. So do we want to put a lot into this game or do we want to say, hey, wait a minute, this is a close division.

The Colts are better than advertised. They also won in Kansas City. So even if the Texans lose this week, there shouldn't be a lot of hatred out there because the Colts are feeling the same way the Houston Texans are right now. Yeah, I mean, I don't think one way or another, you've got to say that they, that if they, I guess, I wouldn't say that if they lose, it's like, oh, the last one is invalidated or anything of the sort. I think, I think the Colts are a good team. And I think ultimately now with the trade of Jalen Ramsey to L.A. And then the Titans making their changes in the quarterback. I mean, this seems like kind of a two-team race to win this division.

Obviously, a win here would be huge, put the techons in the driver's seat and stuff. But, I mean, it's not like they need this before they enter a really, really rough stretch. They're going to play the Jags in London. The Raiders are better than people expected, but, you know, they get them at home. So I think that, like, if they lose this guy, this guy is by any means falling, or it doesn't mean that you shouldn't feel good about what they showed in the Chiefs. I think that was an impressive performance without doubt. Yeah, speaking on that, Aaron, it was impressive because,

me, if I would have told you before that game, the Texans are going to be trailing 17 to three after the first. You're going to have multiple drop touchdowns by Will Fuller and D'Andre Hopkins. You're going to have a lot of penalties. Kimee Fairbairns going to be missing kickers kicks. If I told you all of that, you would have said that the Texans lost in a blowout, but they did not. They just look like the better team over the course of the four quarters. Right. Completely. And that's what I mean. I mean, even if you want to say, the chiefs are banged up and all those things, which are true for sure.

But the Texans, I mean, they obviously, you know, beaten by one score in the end, but they really kind of kicked their butt. I mean, they were, if Will Fuller doesn't drop those three touches, you know, some of those, at least one of those, it's a two-score game. If DeAndre Hopkins doesn't drop that one over the middle, you know, that's another score most likely. And, you know, and then Deshaun isn't throwing those picks. And I think just the makeup of the game looks a lot differently if some of those things go

their way. they really, it doesn't, kind of the score doesn't reflect how much I think they really dominated them outside of the opening, you know, three minutes or whatever. So, no, I think it was, I think it was by far the best one of the season. What do we know about Titus Howard right now? Yeah, you know, partially torn MCL, so he's not going to play for a while. And then Bradley Robey also, they expect him to be outpriced off after the buy. So those are some tough injuries of both ends.

I mean, Howard was really coming into his own, a right tackle. And then Roby was, you know, I think playing pretty well. well in a one year kind of prove a deal, earning himself a good contract after this season and really looking good in the slot. The good news from both of them is that mostly on the office line, you know, Roger Johnson or right tackle. He's held up pretty well on the opportunity he's had. I think that the line is good enough elsewhere that it's not like he's creating some massive problem. Corners a little more iffy, in my opinion, but Lonnie Johnson, the rookie, he's had some good flashes here recently. Well, we see Jay Joe this week.

I was just a practice and the portion of open to media he was participating. Okay. I don't know what the reaction was from your Twitter followers, but when he didn't start against Kansas City, there was a little bit of a sign of relief,

and Tyree Kill certainly made things miserable early on. So what is his value right now, as you would assess him at this point? You know, I mean, I think he's not, he's not obviously, he doesn't have the speed to hold up with a lot of these guys. I don't imagine that even if he does play that he's going to be the guy taking on T.Y. Hilton,

one-on-one as much as T.I. Hilton would probably love that. But, you know, I think there's something to be said for just having kind of like a stabilizer there, and a bit of a leader and all those things, because, you know, you look at the, like, who's going to say he doesn't play. I mean, the corners you're talking about them playing, or Lani Johnson, a rookie, Philip Gaines, who signed with the team a week two after they cut Aaron Colvin. And then Keon Crosson, who really doesn't have much defensive experience. They traded for him from the past.

Because he was a special team guy who kind of, from what I understand, basically, developed as a corner faster than New England anticipated. They didn't have a need for him. So the techings took him. But, I mean, it's not like he's a guy that is really proven as a corner. So it's kind of a, you know, even if that group is okay, talent-wise, I mean, I think you're talking about guys that really have no chemistry together or very little chemistry together, very little experience with Romeo Cornell. And very little experiences in general in terms of like rest. in the NFL as starters. So, you know, I think Jay Joe still holds value in that way, even if he's not going to be the guys in the lockdown half the field or whatever.

Aaron Reese, with us with us from the athletic. Aaron J. Reese, R-E-I-S-S. You can find them on Twitter. Aaron, are we surprised that Kami Fairbearer and are still a Houston Texan today? No, you know, I think from what I understand, you know, the Texans, they kind of still believe in them. He's made some big kicks for them in the past, and, you know, they changed holders. and there definitely has been. I mean, that missed field goal was the weights were pointed inside.

And his problems only really started when they changed punters and changed holders. So I think they want to see this through probably like another week or so and go from there if the problems continue. But, I mean, obviously, it can't last much longer. But I'm not surprised that it's lasted this week. It's, you know, the kickers world's kind of crazy. You're a hero. Guy was hitting everything. And then six, seven calendar months later, he's on the edge holding on for his job.

you mentioned the laces. Are we really going to blame that for a lot of it? I mean, four missed extra points, that's very troublesome for me. The missed field goals are going to happen, but the extra points really have to put Bill O'Brien's decision-making skills into whether or not to go for two-point or not into question a lot sooner than it probably should be. Right, for sure, especially when you consider how effective of a runner Watson can be in the red zone and just kind of all the options they have offensively with the tight-ins.

being effective in the way they have been early this year. Yeah, I mean, you know, you're right. The PATs, that's probably on him. I mean, he's missed as many PATs now. I think he did more than he did all last season. He's time for the lead in PATs. So he certainly can't be on very thick of ice, but we've still got the job for now.

All right. Last question. Have you played out the Colts Texans game in your mind a few times? And what do you see? You know, I see the Texans winning another impressive one. I just think that, I don't know, this offense is really clicking and, you know, the Colts defense will be tough, but I think that they've figured some stuff out here in terms of how to handle blitzes,

which was kind of the biggest issue for them. Carlos Hyde is not appearing to regress anytime soon, and I think that they're going to kind of take a lead here in the division. And Bill O'Brien's probably telling a lot of people to suck it right now, yes? He hasn't still be that, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was telling some people that. Yeah. All right, we'll leave it at that. Aaron, have a great week. Thank you very much for the time. Safe Travels, Indianapolis.

We'll talk again next week. Yeah, thank you. You got it, Aaron Reese from the athletic Aaron J. Reese on Twitter. 212 is our time. Now, Ross, you're the only person that's, I put a question out to name a song. I actually got two. We've got Republica Ready to Go. That's by ATX Hobo Girl.

Abon, Ronam wants Microchip League, New York Groove by Craig Hevalati, our buddy from The Chronicle. and then you want a culture club song. Just a suggestion, Matt. You don't have to take it. We're going to choose one that's not yours. You can give a karma chameleon if you want. Oh, then that, if you're going to play a culture club song, that would be the one to play.

That is for sure. Give us a song. In matter of fact, Nick, go look at my Twitter mentions. Can you do that? You picked the song, but it's got to be nothing that Ross selected, but one of our listeners have. Is that fair? And we're going to play some astro highlights,

take some more phone calls to 713-21, 5, 790. 713212.5.790.