The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Take Game 2 vs Rangers, Yordan Is Out For Awhile…

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Astros Take Game 2 vs Rangers, Yordan Is Out For Awhile…

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 10.01 in the AM here on Sports Talk 790. Hello. And welcome in to a Wednesday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. 19 players on the I.L. at one point. Eight starting pitchers on the I.L. I mean, underperformances from guys in the heart of the line. up for guys like Christian Walker to Jose Al Tuve to occasionally Yiner Diaz

and somehow some way even though it has been a malaise for a couple of months last two days they found away six to five your Astros beat the Texas Rangers it got hairy there at the end

Enio Delos Santos giving up some runs Brian Abray you having to come in for a four out save he got some traffic on the base pads and the ninth inning as well. But your Astros secure the victory. They win the series against the Rangers. They go for a sweep today at 710 on Sports Talk 790.

6 o'clock Astros on deck with yours truly. That'll be three straight in a row for those you counting at home. And they go for the Silver Boot Series. They go for the sweep. And they go for the tiebreaker season long against the Rangers. And most importantly, they go to keep pace with the C. had old mariners who will not freaking lose. They crush the Royals yesterday.

Astros still a half game back in the American League West. Mariners have won 10 in a row. And we're talking about it on the Matt Thomas with Ross without Matt Thomas. Ross via Rio with you until 2 o'clock. That is right. Four straight hours of attempted radio excellence here of the program. Jonathan Allen is here as well. You can find us on the phone lines.

They are wide open. We're talking some Astros. You still want to get in in the day two of the aftermath of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus Texans game. I'm seeing more and more content on the internet that people think the Texans

were allowed to score on that Nick Chubb touchdown. We can talk about that. We got a lot of other Texans things to get to. A lot of C.J. Stroud. I don't want to say hate. But I've said pushback. The honeymoon is certainly over

with C.J. Stroud. Astros are in the thick. of a series and an American League Western race and they continue to win as well. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in there. 7-13-212-5-7-90. You can also send some tweets to at SportsRV. So, yes, last night the Astros were able to get a win against the Texas Rangers.

They were three. It was kind of lining up for a potential disaster. scenario for the Astros in that game. You get up 6-0 by the fourth inning, and then they had a lot of traffic on the base pass throughout the game. Now, they came through. I think all three of their hits with runners in scoring position, they were 3 for 14.

I think all three of them came in the fourth inning. It comes in bunches, as they say. Three for 14 with runners in scoring position, which isn't horrible. It's not as bad as what the Rangers had. They were 1 for 7 with runners and scorers. scoring position. They should think about firing their hitting coaches. Oh, wait, they already did that earlier

this season. I guess they need to fire the new guy, too. Just keep firing the hitting coaches until you can get runs in scoring position. That's what the fans tell you. But anyways, I digress. So you couldn't come through with it. A.J. Blue Ball was very good. Three innings pitched. He got you 50 pitches. He got seven strikeouts. He was getting swinging miss like crazy.

We talked with Joe's spotty yesterday. He just looks confident out there. And confidence is very key, especially when you get to this level. It's confidence is key. any level of anything in life, but especially, of course, when you're a major league pitcher and you're a rookie and you're trying to get outs. So he looked confident out there. He was pretty good.

Colton Gordon came in in a piggyback situation, gave you three innings. He gave up a run. Then it was all good. Jaden Murray's getting outs. And then Enio de Los Santos got the first two out of the eighth inning. And you're feeling good. Win probability, for those of you playing at home, got up to 99% at that moment. and then a bunch of guys got on base

and then it started to get hairy and I kept on kind of like I don't know like you're in a stressful situation and you have to remind yourself that everything's going to be okay that's what was happening to me last night I was in a stressful situation with the Astros

and I had to keep I was like mass hitting refresh on the wind probability like okay they're still supposed to win this game they're still supposed to win this game it was like 70 got down to like 75 73% but I was like okay 73% is good

they're still favor to win this game. But I did get scared that they were going to blow it. And the same thing with Brian Abraeu there in the ninth inning. But all is well that ends well. But you had to have Brian Abraeu get 32 pitches. He pitched the day before. So he's not going to be available in a sweep situation for the Astros against the Rangers. But hey, go out there and score a bunch of runs and you won't need them.

Easier said than done. I don't know if you checked them out matchup. Jake DeGrom is on the hill. for the Texas Rangers going up against Christian Javier. So Astros, underdogs today, but they can go for the sweep, and they were able to get the win. Yorda Alvarez, if you had not heard, unfortunately, is, well, he's going to miss significant time.

Here is, this is from yesterday, Joe Espada speaking to the media on the, this is in the dugout. And hold on, where's the cut that I had? Why is it all messed up? Okay, here it is. Here's Joe Espada and just, this always happens with the Astros. You, they don't tell you the diagnosis. They don't tell you how long it's going to be.

But I would say, listen to your context clues when it comes to what Joe Espada had to say on Yordon's injury yesterday. He's got a pretty significant ankle spring. So this is going to keep him out for a while. Let's not get into days, weeks, any of that. We are going to take one day at a time, but this is going to take some time to heal. We don't have that many days left on the regular season. So we are going to, he's in there getting some treatment, getting some work done. So, you know, hopefully it's not, he's not out for a long period of time.

So he starts off, Chris Gordy hanging out, saying it's a significant injury and he's going to miss some time. Then he goes and he does the, the action. Astro's backpedal, well, we don't want to get into timelines. We don't want to give you days. But you can just tell us like, hey, it's going to take some time, guys. With two weeks left in the season. Yeah. Why do we not want to get into timelines? Why?

I never understand that. And I get it. If the answer is, injuries are really iffy. I mean, you can wake up one day and it could feel great. And we all understand that. But you should still have a general idea that he's not going to play baseball in the next two weeks. So like, just say that. Like, I don't understand it.

We're not guys. We're not going to put days or times on Like, okay, but we can at least put a general speculation on it I just watching the video I don't know this for a fact But it just feels like a situation where it's like Joe Spott is like hey guys the trainers or the player Or whoever I don't know is like

It seems like an organizational thing And Joe Espada knows that he has to bear the brunt of it Because then there was a follow-up question I don't know there's a cut right here Let me see if this has the question on it too From Chandler like It's a very simple Beat reporter asks, hey, this guy got injured.

Is he hitting, is it going to hit the IL? And well, Joe Spotted didn't really want to answer that question. Did you just hurt what I said? This is going to take some time. I know. I'm wondering for your roster. You're going to play me. I'm sure.

Listen, one day at a time, Chandler. Okay. I'm not going to give you days, weeks. What we're going to do next? You're just going to have to sit down and wait, okay? A little combative from Joe Spotted there. Hey, did you hear what I said, Chandler? Like one day at a time.

well okay well I'm sorry players hurt we're asking if he's hitting the IL so he's basically so he's saying they're not like he's going to remain on the active roster they're not putting him on the IL I guess that so it would be the 10 day I'll it's 15 for pitchers I believe in 10 days for player position players so it would just be 10 days and there's 10 games left and so I don't know I don't know Joe's spot is not going to say it's always weird like that like how much do you want to bet later today it comes out you're on Alvarez to the I he's on the I Yeah.

So it's so weird to be like one day at a time. Jailor's asking a legit question. Are you going to play a man short? Because he's taking an active roster spot and you're not. Yes, exactly. And again, I will say, just my gut feeling is it's not like Joe Spott is saying, hey, guys, we really need to keep a competitive advantage. We're not going to tell anybody anything.

Right. There is no competitive advantage. I don't know if it's the trainers. I don't know who it is or I don't know what's going on. It's just weird. It's just weird to say this guy. But I think, like I said, again, you've got to read the team leaves. You've got to read between the lines.

or you got to actually have kind of said in plain sight the word he went out of his way to say significant ankle injury so that makes me believe he's going to miss the regular season and that's that was reported by Bob Nightingale I don't know man it's uh look the

the timing of this may work out in your favor if what's his face Parades gets back right like if VSok Paradis comes back you got a VH there's going to be your DH he's going to be your DAH That kind of solves that. They like to stick Jose Altuve there some.

They like to use the DH bot to get both Caratini and Diaz in the lineup. So, I mean, but yeah, if Paredes is available, obviously he's been one of your best hitters all season long. It's, yeah. What a freak injure. Like, what? Dude. All of Yordon's career has just been marred by stupid, not stupid, but, you know, like. Oh, he got hit running into the wall.

He's got hit running into the wall before. And now he gets hit slide. It looked like a slip inside slide. the way his foot went on first on home plate and Joe Spotted talked about it yesterday here on this show like yeah sometimes it's early it was the first inning and you know that the grounds crew likes to water down the infield to start the game and he said a lot of times

he said they towel it off and I don't know if they didn't towel it off enough or what happened because he he's like yeah we don't score runs in the first inning that much anyways but they happen to score a couple of runs of the first inning and while he slid all over it I mean his ankle he has a significant ankle injury and it sounds like he's going to miss the start of the regular season. Okay, quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Chris Cordy is hanging out.

You guys can get in as well. Matt Thomas is not here. He will be back tomorrow. We're talking about the Astros and their victory over the Rangers. Jordan Alvarez's significant ankle injury. Can they still somehow hold this thing together with duct tape, masking tape, bubble gum, or whatever they've been doing? Houston Texans, day number two, talking about their laws. How are we feeling about C.J. Stroud? Nick Cayley's under a lot of fire on social media as well.

713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-790. We got I Just Don't Get it coming up at 1130. News at noon later on as well. And you at 7-13-212-5-790. 1021. And the PM here on Sports Talk 790. Ross v. Reilly out with you, Chris Gordy as well. It's a Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. You guys want to get in.

You can't. 713, 212-5-790. You can also send tweets at SportsRV at Chris Gordy as well. You can find us there. And we're talking about a number of different things going on in the Houston sports world in the sports sphere. I think maybe at some point we need to talk about this. Did you see this Tom Brady stuff where he's on Monday night football? he's like on a headset in the coach's booth and people are like wait this guy's allowed to go and be in coaches meetings for the opposing teams because he's the broadcaster i think when you were out i filled him with matt and they um i did this as to shut you up all my ass up because they relaxed when they relaxed

yeah they were like oh he can like and i'm like dude pick one either you're an owner or you're a broadcaster you cannot be both it's that is that skews the lines of way too much and it also feels like normally you wouldn't take that too much and it also feels like normally you wouldn't take that too much much into it, but when it's the most hyper-competitive, like, football player in the last 30 years, and also it's a guy who's been known to bend rules and been involved in multiple cheating scandals along with Bill Belichick and the Patriots, that's what I would give a little bit of pause. Yeah, I just, and who, somebody called him out on it publicly. Like, you have to pick away. Was it another owner? Was it Cal McNair? You cannot do that, Tom. It is an unfair. advantage. Yeah, I'll have to fight. It was a former player. Of course,

Mike Floreo has got a piece up. Oh, man. Mike Floreo loves hit pieces on the NFL. How does NBC still keep him on the air? He loves trying to undress Roger Goodell in the NFL like at any point, anytime he can. I think that's one where it's like you're a broadcast

partner, but you don't own that. In other words, if he was on NFL Network, Florea would have been booted a long time ago. Yeah, maybe he would have. All right. Anyways, we got a lot of stuff to talk about. 713, 212, 790 is the phone number.

713, 2125790. We were talking about this during the break, Cordy. You have the Mariners on a 10 game winning streak. I mean, I talked about them waking up at some point because the lineup was good, the pitching was good, and their bullpen's like, okay, it's not

what I mean, it's Munoz, and then they do have some, some issues with a bunch of reliable leverage guys. But anyways, they kept on losing and you kept on saying to yourself how do they keep losing this games this lineup and this pitching is so good they have

to start winning at some point and well at some point was 10 games ago 10 and 0 in their last 10 games and they just keep on churning out the dubs and a lot of them they're making look easy I mean the last two wins

11 to 2 and 12 to 5 over the angels and royals it's they're not going away and on the flip side we also talked about the Astros longest win streak of the season is five games. They've done it twice, but they just haven't been

consistently good enough. And now your AOS opponent is ripping off 10 straight wins. They just will not lose, and you remain a half game behind them in the American League West. And with this game tonight, if I was a betting man,

I would lean towards loss. Like, you won the first two, the series. First of all, they've been underdogs in the first two games of the series. But yes, they are underdogs in this one as well. Texas said a minus 135. So that's what you got to lay to win 100.

Astros plus 115. That's what you win if you bet 100. So slight underdogs in this one. And look, Jake DeGrom is very good. They have not won three games in a row this month. The Astros? Yeah. Yeah, I knew.

Yeah. So that would be. Hey, what better time than now? win the Silver Boot Series they'll be also a defeatist Gordy, come on man And your best performance And your bats have showed up

Against Merrill Kelly Jack Leiter Yes So I mean Jake de Grom I'm not Look Did it against their other two arms Six runs

On back to back nights Can you get to six tonight? Mm-hmm I would say Probably not Unless it's going to be Against the bullpen But also I didn't think

That they were going to get To Merrill Kelly Merrill Merrill Kelly, he said easily, had his worst start of the season, or at least his worst start as a Ranger. Three innings, six earned runs. Like, they were scoring off of them.

So it can be done. You can put together some good A-Bs. It happened last night. Can it happen for a second consecutive night? But then once, funny enough, Merrill Kelly's been great. And then once he gets chased, you can't do anything against the Rangers' bullpen.

But it can be done? I'm with you. I would say I'd favor the Rangers and Vegas favors. the Rangers as well, but hey, your underdogs the last two nights. Go out there and get this sweep. It would be important to help bury the Rangers,

win the Silver Boots series, and most importantly keep pace with the Mariners who just cannot lose. I'm just looking at it. The Mariners are in Kansas City. They won last night 12 to 5. This is off of Sunday's game winning 11 to 2. Yes. Cole Regans is set to go for the Kansas City Royals.

He has not pitched in a game since June. Okay. So he's got to be on a pitch count or something? He's coming back. Fantastic. And then they'll play a day game, so you'll have a day off tomorrow. Mariners will play a day game tomorrow against Kansas City. We hope it goes 15 innings. So this thing, let's, okay, so you're what,

you're half a game back still? Yes. One in the lost column. So if you win tonight and they lose, you'll be a half a game up. And then if they come back and win on Thursday, you'll be dead even going into the series this week. To a huge series late September. mid to late September, Mariner's coming into town.

Either way, even if the Astros lose to, I mean, it's, it's, you're within striking distance. You will be at most what? Two games back? At most. Yeah, so, so let's let's just say, let's just say for arguments sake, the Mariner's win tomorrow and today, and you go, or, they come in on Friday and you're a full game back. Yeah. Win the series and you're tied. win the series. So you would have to take, you would have to take two out of three to just stay tied.

They lined it all up. I mean, you're giving them your best shot. You get the day off. Then you get Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez. And look, I understand Framber has been extremely shaky lately. But those are your two best guys. You get them those first two games of the series. And then ESPN's not always right, but they have Jason Alexander lined up for the third game. Those have been your three best starting pitchers. So you're giving them your best shot. at home where you've been better than on the road and where the Mariners have been horrible on the road, although they didn't seem to mind being in Kansas City last night. What's the season series out with Seattle? I don't recall, honestly. Okay, so back in April, they took, Mariners took two out of three.

You won the series up in Seattle, right? And then they came here for four. You took three out of four. Okay. So, so they were two and one. And then one and three. So that's three and four. And then to start the season, they lost a three game set.

No, I just, I'm going, I'm working from four. I'm sorry, I thought you were going backwards. So they were three and four. Then they took two out of three out of the All-Star break. No, it would be four and-th. So that would be five and five. Yes, five and five. And then there's this series.

Okay. So whoever wins this series wins the tiebreaker. Yes. Big games coming up. It's playoffs, baby. Yeah, I mean, for anybody who's like, anybody's just like, let me know when the Astros make the postseason.

This is the post season. This weekend is the post season. Well, they're 2 and 0 in the post. Some people are saying this is the playoffs now. They're 2 and 0 in the playoffs, and you've got a big game coming up against the Rangers today. Okay, we've got to take a break. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number

if you want to get in. 713-212-5-790 Astros hang on for the win yesterday go for the sweep today Seattle coming in this weekend how we feel it 713-212-5-7-90 back after the short bottom of the hour break

on Sports Talk 790 your home for the Shros Remember when this song took over the entire planet? That was crazy Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Chris Gordy hanging out. Appreciate you.

Ross Villarreal here as well. Matt Thomas is on, I guess you call it workcation. I don't know. He's probably not working that hard at the broadcaster meetings in New York. He'll be back tomorrow. Oh, he's schmooze him. Well, he's trying his best to schmose. He's getting like fake smiles from Mike Breen.

Like, yeah, thanks, Matt. Really love you here. You're the best. All right. Just please go away. All right. 713, 21, 2, 2, 5. I'm kidding.

Matt, 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. So we are in the thick of this American League West race. And I was kind of thinking about this. Now, I know Ranger Fan is more focused on what's going on with the Cowboys this week and them bouncing back and getting a week two win after a week one disaster. But if you are a Ranger fan and then they made all these moves at the deadline and then at this moment, and then at this moment you find yourself

4 and a half back of the Mariners I think they're currently out of the wild card 13% playoff odds Go ahead 1Rager's fan said if they lose tonight like they're basically they think they're done They got to be cooked I mean they're the Astros by the way

are the second wild card right now for those you don't know they pass the Red Sox who lost in the Ashros won so they're tied in the lost column with the Red Sox but they have one more win two in the lost column behind the Yankees for the first wild card. So it's no guarantee, which it seemed like it could have been before, that they are going to play the Mariners in the opening series.

Guardians are two and a half back of the Red Sox, so three back of the Astros, and then the Rangers are three and a half back of the Red Sox as well. Yeah, it feels like the Rangers are done. I mean, the margin for air is extremely thin. As I said, their playoff odds are at 13%, 13% right now. Yeah, because it's basically, I mean, if Boston were to fall apart, Cleveland could sneak in there.

But, yeah, this is very interesting. Look, I know the TV networks want Yankees Red Sox. Of course. They want that more than anything. Duh. But, I mean, it kind of sucks, though, right? If, like, this thing, the division this, the series this week against the Mariners, the winner of this will be in the driver's seat to win the American League West

and possibly host a wild card series against that very team. Yeah, you've got to win the series. And I mean, even if you don't, then you've got to win like five out of six, if not all six against the A's and the Angels. This just kind of sucks because it's like, what if the Astros, what if they win tonight, and then they take two or three against Seattle this weekend?

And then in two weeks, Ross, we're talking about the Astros hosting a wildcard series against the damn Mariners again. And well, you know what? Let's go to that. let's teleport to that reality. How do you feel about the Astros in that series? You feel better because they're at home.

Right. But Seattle's got the edge pitching. I feel like their pitching's been pretty damn good this year. Would it be, I don't even know exactly how they would order it as far as Gilbert or Kirby. I mean, Castillo's been good for them as well. Brian Wu's been good. Yeah, Brian Wu. I mean, let's just say if it goes three, I'm not feeling great with the first two.

well actually well do okay I got another one for you let's say two okay you get two more runs of the rotation what if Fromber is okay in those two runs and Jason Alexander is good in those runs and you make the playoffs

can you say out loud with a straight face DFAed by the age Jason Alexander is your number two starter in a playoff series I wonder if they would do that no over Fromber over Fromber

if Fromber's been shaky it was it like seven, eight games in a row he started. They've lost. He's, he's, he's been shaky, but I just feel like the reputational,

they even said it with Sean a week or two ago. He's like, no, man, I mean, Framb was track record. So they're going to go on track record. Okay, you want to look at his playoff track record? He's had some blow-up starts.

He has. In 23, in 22, he was nails. Yeah. I think in 21 and maybe even some other times. He has blown up. up in the playoffs. Of course, Jason Alexander, I don't believe it has much of a postseason. I'm just saying. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. It's something that, you know,

those one of you can say, we'll come to the, we'll cross those bridges when we come to them, but it's something that's in the back of my mind. That would just be kind of crazy to say out loud, but it isn't the craziest thing to think that it could change that way. Now, if he can just go ahead and have a good start, he's been good at home all year long. That'd be, that's a feather in his cap, all, for not all year long, but for the majority of the year. And then if you are able to host the post-season series, you would have him at home as well.

But yeah, it just feels like it could be a fluid situation. But win the games in front of you and take care of business. I just hate we're in the spot. Remember a few weeks ago they were right there right behind the Tigers and the Blue Jays for Best Record in the American League? I do remember that.

And now you're six and a half back of Toronto? Well, everybody keeps getting hurt. Your bullpen, it's not in shambles, but it's hanging by thread. and then Yordon Alvarez just flips his ankle in half. Toronto's won six in a row. The Mariners have won 10 in a row. So it is possible to close the season strong.

The A's have won five in a row. You got to play them. It feels like the Astros plane is run out of gas and they're just trying to make it to a soft landing. Now the Angels have lost five in a row. But they won two in a row. Oh, yeah. The Angels lost five.

What about the A's though? I just said they've won five. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. like just not the I'm sick the Rangers out tonight I'm so sick of the A's I've had enough They always do this

They're terrible and then their young talent looks good And gives them promise for next year And then they're terrible again Would it be something If the Rangers miss the playoffs The Cowboys I don't think they're going to make the playoffs Mavericks

Are they going to make the playoffs? I would say yes I would just love to see Dallas sports Go back into the toilet I saw a tweet Cooper Flagg's mom's not letting him spend more than $180K on a car. She's limiting or something like that. That's my money, Mom. Get off my bag.

Okay. First of all, you don't need a supercar. Sorry, 20-year-olds. I'm just saying. If you're 20 with all that money, you get a super-car. You just need, Cooper Flagg just need something to go to the grocery store. You don't need to pull up in a Ferrari. Some guy yesterday in traffic passed me in a Corvette.

He very quickly hit 80, 90 miles per hour, and then not even 60 seconds later was in deadstop traffic. Yeah, exactly. What did that do? You're in Dallas, Texas. Exactly. You're not... Let me see how fast this car can go. Yeah, yeah, you're cool.

Dead stop. Yeah, all right, fine. If you're that insecure and you want everybody looking at you, that's great. But anyways, all right, we're going to take a break on that note. On the Matt's office show with Ross. We're talking to Maestro. We're going to go to Texans mode coming up at 11 o'clock. Anything you guys want to get to.

Phone lines are open. 713. 212. 790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 713, 212-5-790. Back in a minute. after this quick break. 1048 am here on Sports Talk 790 Ross v. Re-out with you.

We've got... Wait, what is Wednesdays? On the show, 1130? I just don't get it. No, is that Thursdays? Shut your bum ass up, man. Shut your bum ass up. See, dude, I'm terrible.

This is... You don't know what you do on the show five days a week? I just show up. Make fun of matter for four hours and go home normally. All right. Yeah, ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up coming up at 1130. Earlier, I think I said I just don't get it. I did get my days mixed up.

All right, look, I've had a couple of long days. I've done two post games at around. I'm doing another one tonight. I'm doing four out of five days this week. So my brain's a little scrambled, okay? You have my deepest apologies. You're a little bit like Arch Manning. His brain is cramble.

Whoa, whoa. No, or no, my shoulder feels fine. I don't need surgery. I don't know what you're talking about. He says it's not physical. It's just mental. What is EPA? That would be expected points added.

Let me guess. Are you looking, don't look at the Texas EPA. I like EPA. I think it's a good metric. If you look at normally, the teams you think of as the best in football offensively and defensively, it rings pretty accurate to me. Well, Archmanning is dead last among quarterbacks. 133 out of 133. And EPA?

Well, that's not good. 133 at a 133. That's not good at all. All right. Dead last. I mean, you started to get to a point where you go. Who's the backup? It's what's his name from Troy?

He transferred over from Troy. Matt Campbell or something like that. I can't even really remember. He came into the game on Saturday. Let me, I don't know why I'm talking like this. Let me get his. Got the kid, what's his name, the big five star coming in next year.

Did I say Matt Campbell, Matt Caldwell? Same thing. Matthew Caldwell. A generic white guy named. Matthew Caldwell. Yes. And then they have Trey Owens. Mm-hmm.

And, yeah, some guy named K.J. Lacey, who was Mr. Football, Alabama. Oh, yeah, from Sarreland. So, there you go. Who's the guy they have coming in next year? Diabelle. Diabelle? Diabelle had... Rajabelle's son.

Yes. He, I think he got upgraded to five-star. He's having a minor procedure, and he's like, yeah, I'm shutting it down. They're like, he's done... Oh, really? High School football? Yeah. Apparently, they're like,

eh, we're going to go ahead and keep this five-star. Nile deal's all lined up. We're going to go ahead and shut down his senior year. So Diabelle is supposed to be coming. He's supposed to be the next big thing. But, of course, Arch Manning was the next big thing. You look at the recruiting class of that year. What was it, Malachi Nelson was a five-star?

Nico Yamaliyava was a five star. Like basically everybody who was a five star that year has not been a good quarterback. It happens. What if is there a world where Arch is just kind of average this year? Next year Diabelle comes in and beats out Arch for the starting show. Sure, why not? I don't care. Whoever it is.

I didn't pay any NIL money to Arch. And I didn't hype him up. Talk about. You listen to this show. I told you that I was concerned that he was not that good because he couldn't beat out Quinn yours. And he did go to Newman. That, you know, it's not exactly. like the competition he was playing against

was all that great. Yeah, people talk. But if you looked at the highlights, I mean, he was making plays. Like I said, if anybody, even if you changed, I'm not saying. You may please last year. Is it a two-game starter? Like, he looked great. Well, he also made a lot of. Most of his mistakes I felt that he made were mental.

This year? Last year, last year. This year it looks mental and physical. Like, if you can't pass accurately, that that's going to be an issue. That is, he's pulling a CJ Stroud. That is wild, though. be ranked 133 out of 133. You know what else is funny? I saw some stat it was like on pro football focused college or something.

And it was talking about like one of the linemen for the Longhorns and it was like no pressures allowed this weekend. And I'm like, wait a second. They played UTEP. I just saw, I just saw,

they did a post last night. It was like sold out. Saturday's game against Sam Houston State is sold out. And all the Sam Houston people are like, are you all like bragging? Like, is this a big game for y'all? And all the Sam Houston people are like, man, we must be in your heads if y'all are like, oh, trying to sell us an out. They do.

They, every week that the stadium sells out, they do sold out. They do a sold out post. So don't feel special, Sam Houston. Sorry. I'll say, though, I brought this up multiple times. Can you imagine if you're, so I saw somebody was trying to resell their tickets for the game this week. It's in like section 19, which includes the Longhorn Lounge. I was like, oh, what do you get from that?

You get a seat with a chair back in the end zone, but in the Longhorn Lounge, it says you get to buy stuff from a cash bar and, like, you get nothing's included. Well, it used to be, so back in the day, back in my day, when I was in school, there was no alcohol cells at DKR. And you had to, well, we as college students, we found a way. And then they-

Oh, so this was a way to be like, Then they added the lounges, and the lounges were the only place you can buy alcohol. But now I believe you can buy alcohol everywhere. Right. But you couldn't bring the drink to your seat back then, like I had to drink in the lounge. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So, I mean.

I'll bring that up to say this guy was trying to resell his tickets. He's like, it's in the Longhorn Lounge, but he's selling for like a couple hundred bucks. And I'm like, it's Sam Houston State. Like, you're going to spend a couple hundred bucks on the ticket. And then on top of it, you got to pay for all your drinks as well. All right, you got me curious. I was looking at tickets. This is insane.

The cheapest tickets to Texas OU are $500. Oh, yeah. Well, that's, but that's Cotton Bowl. Yeah, but that's ridiculous. But the point I was making was Texas's home slate, like, remember, their toughest game, they opened on the road at Ohio State. Their second toughest game is on the road to Georgia. I was told they went up on ticket prices this year.

So, like, if you're a season ticket holder. My brother has season tickets. And your season tickets this year got you San Jose State, U-Tap, Sam Houston State, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, A&M. You're basically paying for the Aggie game. You're paying for the whole season for the Aggie game. Vanderbilt games looking tougher now. Vanderbilt games looking tougher too. So, I mean, it's not a guarantee.

I mean, by the end of the season, Texas might be an upset mode. You might be in rivalry, anything can happen, upset mode. Your best game is Oklahoma, neutral field. Yes. At Ohio State. At Georgia. Okay, well, it fluctuates year to year. Whatever.

Oh, I'm sorry. I heard you. SEC was the gauntlet and every week, every week was the biggest game in the world in the SEC. So I don't know. You tell me. Wait till next year when you'll have to play LSU, Alabama, South Carolina, and Missouri. C, Dube, Dub, Dub, Dub.

What's up? With Dia Bell. Yeah. No, broke ass hard. Next year. Well, we'll see. Well. Oh, this is the comment I wanted to get to you.

get to you. One Texas fan said, is it so much of an ask for arts to just play to the level of David Ash? Is this where we are now? David Ash is making some plays, baby. Before he got like 76 concussions. He was battling out with Shane Bouchel

back of the day. Yeah, it's concerning to be sure. You got one more cupcake left against Sam Houston. And then it's going to kick up a notch and we'll see how it goes from there. All I need for Arches to play like David Asher, Case McCoy at this point. Ooh. Hey, Case was horrible, but he won that last game against A&M.

Sam Houston's safe head. Glad to know where you're your Super Bowl. Okay. Yeah. Sam Houston is Texas's Super Bowl. Good call. Texas really sold out a stadium for a poverty team, L.O.L. They post that every week, Sam Houston, Bearcat.

Every week. I know you guys don't pay attention and that's okay. but every week they post when they sell it. I think Sam Houston's thing. So they have to. They're 40 point favorites. I mean, come on. Look a little bit better.

And this is the thing. They beat them by 40. It doesn't even matter. You got to go get something done on the road at Florida. And then, of course, the big game against Oklahoma after that. If you had to put your paycheck on it. Paycheck on what? Do they cover?

Let me look at the latest line. I don't think they cover. Let me look at the latest line. With my 30 and a half. That's a lot. That's a stay away. That's, I'm keeping my paycheck. I don't think they can cover it.

My paycheck's small enough as it is. We're keeping that bad boy. Like, they beat the crap out of San Jose State. Okay, well, guess what? They won that 30th to 7th. Hey, I'm going to Lake Charles this weekend. I'll put a bed down for you, brother. Let me know.

Thank you. Put your money where you're, put your money maybe where your mouth is. Oh, does Sam Houston is that easy? It's own three. And they've gotten their butts kicked by Western Kentucky, UNLV in Hawaii. Hold on. You said, oh, hold on. No, no.

The hell? Yeah, right. Don't back pedal now. Don't back pedal now, Gordy. Sam Houston might be the worst team in college football. All right. Well, hopefully the Longhorns can make them look as such. All right, quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Without Matt Thomas. Chris Gordy is here. You want to get in 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90 coming up at 1130. It's ain't nobody got time for that slash shut Joe bum-ass up. And I have an important question. for you that we're going to discuss in the next segment. How are we feeling about C.J. Stroud?

He is under a lot of fire on social media. We'll get to that next as we start hour number two on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, but I also have to ask you, how you feeling in your general life? All right, hour number two of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ros, me already out with you. Matt Thomas is out. Chris Cordy is here hanging out. And right now, our weekly Wednesday guest at 11 o'clock, as everybody knows, is

Brian Bogussevick. to be joined by him. Bogey. First of all, actually, let's start right off with this Yordon thing. Can you explain to me why HomePlate was so slick and why it looked like there was a slip and slide down there for him to get hurt? You know what? It's kind of always that way.

You see guys slip all the time. And, you know, it's kind of like damned if you do, damned if you don't. You don't want Yorda on sliding your wrist, you know, jamming your knee into the batter's box. Badders box is a little bit harder than the field. slide into second base or something but at the same time you're running full speed and you step on home plate and you see guys slip all the time and that just

that was nasty one. There was a good replay right in on his foot and you saw go all the way over on it. That was a nasty one. We had Joe a spot on yesterday and he talked about like guys towling off home plate or something like can you explain that to me like is that something guys

is hitters do that before the first inning or something like that because it's the fields all wet, obviously, from the grounds crew, wetting, wetting everything to start the game. Yeah, they spray down the batterers boxes and everything, and obviously, home plate gets wet, but it'll get wiped down. You'll see throughout the course of the game, the Empire will come out and wipe it down, or a catcher will kick the dirt off of it. It's just, you know, it's kind of like a necessarily serial, right? You've got this flat, slick, hard surface right kind of in the middle of the action. it's not ideal.

I'm sure Major League Baseball has explored better options, but if you change the material and then somebody steps on it and their cleat catches in it and they roll an ankle or twist the knee on top of home plate, then you're going to have everybody screaming about that too. All right, Boge, you're reading between the lines of what Joe Espada said yesterday. Is there any hope of perhaps your... I mean, it feels like with two weeks left in the season, We're not going to see him back in a regular season game.

But do you think it's possible? Deep playoff run, he could be back? I think it's possible. I don't know if it's likely, but I mean, anybody that's played basketball, watched basketball, covered basketball, you see these ankle injuries all the time. And there's about as wide a variance on an ankle sprain

as any injury you can have. And once the swelling goes down and the pain, kind of subsides, you know, then you can figure out more of a timeline how long it's going to take to strengthen it up. And you see sometimes guys bounce back in, you know, a couple of days or a week or sometimes it's weeks into months. So there's really no way to tell right now. But, yeah, I think there's probably an outside chance that it's possible, but, you know, to put a percentage on it, who knows? These things, you have no idea when a guy rolls an ankle. as a former hitter. How much does

the ankle matter in the box? We know obviously out of the box, running the bases, you got to have a good ankle, but how much does that affect the swing? How much does the ankle matter there? Yeah, actually, probably more so than it does running. You know, running is

straight lying, you're up on the balls of your feet, and you're kind of under control. When you're talking about hitting in the batters box, there's a, you know, it all starts from the ground up. There's a lot of force put into the ground. You're digging your cleats in. There's a lot of torque. You have to really like break through the dirt as you turn and transfer all that power. And if your ankles are weak, it's, you know, certainly going to affect your swing from a power

production standpoint. It's also probably going to affect you mechanically as you try to overcompensate. So, yeah, I think honestly, it will probably, it will probably be easier to get back into a scenario where you can run in a straight line decently earlier than you're talking about being able to take 100% full speed swings. Brian Bogussevich was here on a sports talk 790, and that's all depressing. So let's get into something a little bit more uplifting. Zach Cole, been pretty good for the Astros. Over three yesterday.

Before that, he had the big home run as he replaced Jordon Alvarez. What have you seen from him? And I was especially impressed by the home run where it was the four seamer, top of the zone, where pitchers liked to pitch, and he got around on that one. Yeah, that was actually, that was. was a good pitch. That wasn't a mistake that Jack Leiter made, and Jack Leiter was in a groove and had some good stuff. So, you know, you start seeing a guy who can get on top of somebody's best pitch at the top of the zone. It's pretty impressive. He's got tools. I mean, he's,

he's bigger and stronger than you kind of think he's twitchy and explosive. He's got really, really good backspeed. He can catch up to a fastball. I think the thing that I've probably been most impressed about, though, is, you know, the hits that he's gotten that aren't the home runs. The RBI base hits shooting the ball the other way. He's handled some at bats pretty well, getting down in the count, fighting back, laying off of tough off-speed pitches. You know, sometimes you think a guy in that situation, a young hitter whose main tool is power and bat speed is going to come out there just hacking, but it's been pretty high quality at bat. which gives you more hope to maybe this is somebody who can be helpful throughout the course

of a couple weeks and into a playoff push, and who knows next year, rather than just, hey, this is a guy who was swinging a hotbed at the minor leagues. Let's ride it out for as long as we can up here in the big leagues, you know, and then we'll move on. The big question, Brian, we've had from a lot of folks, you know, just bounce around town. People will go, hey, what do you think? Do you think you asked us to make the playoffs? You think they got any chance?

all this kind of stuff. And my answer I'm giving to them now is this is the playoffs, right? I mean, like with what Seattle's doing right now, 10 in a row is absolutely stupid. But we'll see what the Astros could complete the sweep tonight of the Rangers. But Maders will play another game tomorrow against the Royals. You'll know where this thing is. Are you a game back? Are you, you know, two games back, whatever, going into this weekend.

But, man, you talk about the importance of a series. How crazy is this weekend going to be with Seattle coming in here? Basically, they're tied. season series tied five and five. I mean, this is the playoffs right here. Yeah, this is the real deal. This is every pitch matters, every inning matters. There's no, you know, we spend six months talking about the big picture of baseball and things will level out and you just keep making the right play and you'll be fine over time. This is like trust your gut, take some chances, roll the dice and whatever you have to do.

I mean, you can just tell by the way the games are being managed. This game, this series with the Rangers on both sides, you see the amount of moves being made, pitching changes being made, you know, both managers playing matchups from a pinch hitting standpoint, guys coming in and out of the lineup on a day-to-day basis. This is real baseball. This is playoff baseball. And, I mean, you know, Joe Espada essentially emptied the clip yesterday and did everything he could to secure that win.

It took every bit of Brian Abray. You know, is he probably not available today? yeah sure but it doesn't matter because you had to get that game yesterday figure out today today so yeah i mean it's playoff baseball started this week here in houston yeah and what do you think the the mood is around it we know that's been a lot of veterans in that clubhouse and a lot of guys who've been through these types of wars and they did win the last two games but it just feels like from an outside perspective the hits just keep on coming with yordaun going down the way that he did seattle just does not lose how do you think things are going to

there just in between the guys? You know, it seems pretty steady. I mean, you have plenty of guys who have gone deep into playoffs, plenty of guys who have faced this kind of pressure, and even the young guys that have come up through the organization. They've been conditioned that this is eventually what it turns into. This is not surprising for anybody. When these guys come up through the Astros organization

and they think about playing in the big leagues, they think about playing in the postseason. So it's not really sneaking up on anybody. but, you know, it's a strange thing to say, but having lost so many players throughout the course of the season, you know, when Yordon goes down, obviously it's a huge blow and you could just tell by, you know, how quiet the stadium got and everybody knew how serious it was. But it almost felt like it's just like, oh, you know, here's another one. And it's almost like everybody's so kind of exasperated with how many injuries there's been. It's almost just, yeah, we'll just keep doing what we're doing. It almost doesn't have that much of effect because they've had to deal with it over and over.

If this was a team that was completely healthy all throughout the season and then you get dealt this big blow, it would be a little bit more shocking than kind of what has been felt this last week. You know, back in the second week of September, 2023, Brian, there was a guy named Evan Carter that got called up by the Rangers and got red hot for them was a big part of their postseason run. can Zach Cole be the Astros version of Evan Carter here? Yeah, I think there's actually probably a lot of similarities between the two

just in terms of the positions that they play, kind of their game, the power speed combinations. And it's not uncommon to go down into the farm system, find one of your big prospects, guys playing well, and try to make them the X factor. That's what Evan Carter was. It's kind of a different story with Zach. I mean, he was completely off the prospect radar.

This guy wasn't in spring training. He was down, you know, I think around 20 in terms of the prospect rankings coming into the season and repeating the level of AA going into this year. So it's been a more out-of-nowhere thing. But, yeah, certainly the same scenario of we've got a guy who can probably help us in some way, and we're going to go and we need every bit that we can get out of the organization. So can it be the extract? He's already been the X-Factor.

He's maybe not single-handedly, but been a huge part of two wins that they really needed. And what I like about him, too, Brian, is even on nights where he's hitless, he works a walk. You know what I mean? Like, he's finding ways to get on base for you. And that's what this team has needed desperately the last couple of weeks. Well, they need people who can affect the game. And he's done that. And, you know, it's been obviously the big swings of home runs.

But yesterday he had a plate appearance where he walked. he tagged up from first to second on a ball to right field. Then he tagged up from second to third on a ball that was like medium depth in center field. He didn't end up scoring, but he turned, you know, just a walk with nobody on base into a legitimate run scoring opportunity. And that's what they need. As much as they need a guy who can come up and provide a little bit of juice to the lineup, just give me as many guys as we can in that order who can, you know, get it rolling a little bit. All right, Brian Bogus-Sevick, weekly Wednesday guest here on Sports Talk 790.

Bogie, we appreciate the time and insight as always. Talk to you next week. All right, see you guys. All right, thank you. There you go. Good stuff. Great stuff with Brian Boga-Sevick, as always. Quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas, Chris Gordy, hanging out.

Appreciate Bogie hanging with us coming up at 1130. Ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up. Then we got the news at noon. We also got you at 7-13. 12-5-7-90. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. Continuing along here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. What about Matt Thomas? Chris Cordy's here.

Ain't nobody got time for that. It's coming up next. You got something, Gordy? So the Texans just signed, they signed a player at our practice squad, a tight end. Brendan Bates out of Kentucky. Brendan Bates. I don't look him up. I don't even remember him at Kentucky. he's played like six years at Kentucky.

He was in the class of 2018. Well, Chris Rodriguez was in his signing class. Chris Rodriguez has been the NFL a handful of years. So if anybody knows Kentucky football, it's you because of your wife. So I'm going to trust, if you haven't heard of the guy, he's not very good. Yeah, he caught like 24 passes in his six years. He was a blocking tight end, basically. Okay.

So, but anyway, he'll be a practice squatter for your Texans. They also placed Justin Watson on the injured reserve list. What? Oh, that's actually hurtful. Well, I guess they says they added Brendan Bates and then it says they signed to the practice squad, D.B. Johnny Carter and Safety Jalen Mills out of LSU. So, anyway, just some roster notes.

The Texans Ross are going to face their first divisional opponent this weekend when they traveled to Jacksonville, take on the Jaguars at... Can you name the Jaguar Stadium? If you gave me a... If you gave me multiple choice, I could get it. I can't remember. I can't recall it off the top of my head.

Give me a multiple choice. Can you make it up? I should be able to get it. Don't worry about it. Just tell me. Yeah, well, because all the other ones are going to be obvious if I name them. Okay, here are your options. Highmark Stadium, Huntington Bank Field, Lumenfield.

No, that's in Seattle. An Everbank Stadium. It's the last one. It is Everbank, yeah. But I wouldn't have gotten that. I would never know. The Ravens play at M&T Bank Stadium and the Bills play at Highmark Stadium.

What happened to just being named Lambeau Field? Money. Very, very easy. But, okay, I get that these companies are paying tons of money, but your naming rights aren't on long enough for us to even remember. So, like, you buy it for two years, great. Well, Dikin thinks they're getting value out of it.

I guess. Good for that. I mean, NRG has been NRG, but presumably, but presumably Dykin is going to be

around for years and years and years and yeah. They sign a multi-year deal, I guess. They're not coming in for like a year or two and then leaving. I mean, Minutemade was here for 20 years.

Mm, is, yeah. I don't know, yeah, it had to be around 20 years because obviously it was Enron and then it was Astros Field. First,

it was the ballpark at Union Station. But like, okay, Raymond James Stadium, you know what that is, right? Yeah, that's Tampa. Tampa. So,

Fy Stadium. That's in L.A. Well, that's SoFi, though, but that's it, that's a sponsor. But at least it seems like that'll be SOFi for a long time of come. Do you know where State Farm Stadium is? I know State Farm Arena's Atlanta.

State Farm Stadium. Oh. I don't remember. It's the Arizona Cardinals. Okay. I know that. It's just, this is silly. Northwest Stadium.

Who? Northwest Stadium. Do you know who? Seattle. Washington Commanders. I didn't know that. I mean, again, this is just... North West, they're in the northeast. I think Denver's the best. Empower

Field at... Had it mile. You got to have at mile high out there. Lambo doesn't have anything on it, right? The dumbest one is Accurcher. Come on, dude. I don't know who that. It's Hinesfield. I got no. The Hines family may have removed their name. It will always be Hinesfield. Just like Lakers will always

play at... Staples? Yeah, but that's a sponsor, too. Now they're what, crypto.com or whatever? Yeah, but nobody calls it. Here at the crypto. Well, you call it that when you're on the broadcast. Whatever. You've got to get more money. Squeeze more money. Let's go. Anyway, the Texans will head to Everbank Stadium this week. Do you know, Ross,

Houston leads the all-time series against Jacksonville, 31 to 15? Is that like the only franchise they lead the all-time series with? It includes a 15-and-8 mark on the road. So, I mean, we might as well call that NRG East. I like that. 15 and 8 in Jacksonville. I didn't really. Now I realize they

beat up on the Jaguars over the years, but I didn't realize it was that split. How about this? The Texas have won seven straight road games against Jacksonville. That has nothing to do with this year. So we'll beat their ass in Jacksonville. We'll beat their ass in London. We'll beat their ass wherever we've got to play. Wherever you want to get it, Jacksonville.

They enter this matchup riding an 11-game road win streak against divisional opponents. I did not realize that. Texans go into the division opponent's houses and beat the snout of. Well, the division's been terrible. It's the longest active streak in the NFL, by the way.

Will the street get snapped this weekend? Houston's defense had four sacks in the loss to the bucks, tied for the fourth most in the NFL in week two. They added six tackles for a loss, bringing their season total to 15. So defense's playing their butts off. Defense has been good, but they were getting gashed in the run too consistently. They gave up 366 yards to the Buccaneers. A lot of that came on that last drive.

Daniel Hunter at two sacks becoming the 15th fastest player in NFL history to reach 100 career sacks. Yeah, I heard that over the weekend. I was like, wow, he's already got 100 sacks. I mean, 100 sack club is like, that's pretty elite, as one Sean Jones will tell you.

That's true. And he went to LSU, Daniel Hunter. But he is... God. He is right there behind the lights. I'm going to put a jar. Every time you mention LSU, you've got to put money in a jar.

He's a half-sacack behind Aaron Donald. And Aaron Donald's retired. So one more sack, he'll pass it. Aaron Donald, also an interior alignment. So it's amazing that Aaron Donald got to the numbers that he did. Nick Chubb, he found the end zone late with a 25-yard touchdown run. He surpassed the 8,000 career scrimmage yards, Mark, becoming the 10th active running back to reach that milestone.

Do you think they allowed him to score? More and more people are posting that they think they allowed Nick Chub to score. To me, I... It looked like he was running slow. I think so. Well, he had to look like he was running slow. Who got mad at me when I said that yesterday? Dan Matthews was getting upset with me when I said he was slow. So you talked to him about that.

Yeah. I believe you said it looked like he was running in quicksand. Hey, man, come on. That was on a private text. What's up with you and Matt snitching on everybody? Come on, man. You put it there. That's for public consumption.

No, it's not for public consumption. Okay. All right. All right. What is it matter? What is it matter? I'm saying. He looks slow.

He's old. It doesn't matter. It's a slippery slope. It doesn't matter. You think Nick Chubb's going to call you? I'm not saying Nick Chubb's going to call me, and I'm saying it doesn't matter. I'm just saying it's a precedent. That's a precedent you don't want to set. You don't want to set.

I think I'm slow? Well, never mind. It's a precedent you don't want to set. That's all I'm saying. People know that I'm right. But anyways. Will Anderson, by the way, against Tampa recorded his second consecutive game with a sack. According to next gen stats,

Will Anderson generated a career high, 10 pressures the most by any. player in a game this season. He has totaled 13 pressures this year, tied for the second most of the NFL. That's good. That's what was frustrating. How many 12-yard runs that he allowed to his side? They got to Baker. They just couldn't bring his ass down.

I mean, they did. Four sacks. Yeah, four sacks. But it felt like they should have had eight. Well, look, this is the thing. I don't know why people are acting like they're just finding this out. Baker Mayfield can move. I mean, I understand he is not thought of as the the, you know, the Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen's of the world. But he's

got some legs on him. He does. It almost feels like to play NFL, to play quarterbacking, really in college or the NFL now, you cannot be a statue anymore. You have to be able to move. You have to have some running ability. Well, C.J. Stroud had some rushing yards. He was their second leading rusher, wasn't he?

Behind Nick Chubb? Not good. Let's get some more woody marks in there, especially because I picked them up off of waivers. All right, go ahead. One more thing? Yeah, I mean, we could, we could, they're out there. DeNeil Hunter's post six seasons

with at least 10 sacks as tied with T.J. Watt and Cam Jordan for the fourth most among active players. So, I mean, look, there's a lot of good, even though the wins aren't there. I'd rather they win. That'd be nice. Okay,

we're going to take a quick break on that. On that note, is there anything you do not have time for? Do you want to tell someone to shut their bum ass up? 713. 212.5.7.9. 713, 2125. 790.

You can also send tweets at SportsRV and at Chris Gordy as well. Ain't nobody. I got time for that. Shut your bum ass up. It's coming up at 713-212-5-7-9. Ain't nobody getting time? Ain't nobody getting time for that? Ain't nobody getting time for that.

Ain't around for that. That's right. It's your favorite time of the week. You're looking for something cathartic. You're looking for a release valve. This can be your segment. If something's been happening this week at work, somebody's bothering you,

been running in traffic, or maybe you've just been doing a bad job of dealing with people in the service industry, like Jonathan Allen. You say, hey, nobody got time for that. Ain't nobody got time for that. Or you've been arguing with people or somebody's saying something you don't like

and I don't know. You just don't like it. And you want to say, shut your bum ass up, man. Shut your bum ass up, man. You can do it. At 713-212-5-790. The phone number 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Chris Gordy, since you are a guest on this program,

the floor is yours. For those who watch that show on ESPN, what is it called, First Take? I don't watch it. Nope. There was a lot of folks surprised. yesterday morning, Burke Magnus of ESPN.

He's like one of the heads of ESPN. Burke? Magnus. Okay. I don't know one of those. Sure, why not? He released a statement that Molly Karam informed them that she was,

they could not come to a new contract decision. So when her contract expires at the end of the year, she's going to move on. Molly Karam, just making the announcement. I'm going to move on. Going to be done here. To whatever.

Well, hours later, on when first take starts up, Molly Karam's not even there. Stephen A. Smith is there who has to release a statement basically saying she's decided to move on effective immediately. She's not even going to finish out the contract. Oh, really? I mean, this is unconscionable. Molly Karam is leaving the program effective immediately. Stephen A later went on on a serious XM show to say, the details, quite frankly, are none of y'all's business. Only to later go on and say, obviously it was contract related.

if the details are none of anybody's business, you're outing what the business is. ESPN could not budge on the number because they have to give me so much money. Now I have to add on to this because the athletic has a story today, Ross, that reports Stephen A. Smith's new deals with ESPN and Sirius XM now pay him $40 million a year.

Sorry, Molly. He is getting paid like one of the highest paid athletes in sports. Sorry, Molly. But all he does is show is up, put on a sports coat, and goes, quite frankly, here on my tanks. I get's minds, Molly.

Sorry. Sorry, Molly had to go. Who wants this job for 30K a year? I'll take it. I'll take that pay bump. All right, anyways. 30K? New York's pretty expensive.

I don't even know. You can't even get an efficiency. I might be able to get me a broom closet. Probably not even that, actually. All right, well, there you go. So you're saying ain't nobody got time for Molly Karam or Stephen A? Well, it was Stephen A outing her reason, but then also, ain't nobody got time for Stephen A making $40 million a year.

He's not worth that. ESPN disagrees. He is ESPN. And at the time, he doesn't even watch the games. He's like, yeah, I think that John Elway's doing really well for the Broncos. Like, what? The S& ESPN stands for Stephen A. Everybody knows that.

He's like, I think Deshaul Watson's going to take the Texans of the playoffs this year. Dude, are you watching the games? Stop. He's not that bad, but they do ask him to be an expert. Wasn't he on their hockey coverage, too? Oh, yeah. They're going to pull on baseball. I mean, I think Alex Bregman can carry the Astros this year.

Oh, man. Well, I'm going to go in the same vein with a broadcaster, but also somebody who is a broadcaster and a team owner. They talked about the rules last year where Tom Brady, you're a team owner. You can't be in production. meetings. You cannot be in team meetings. You cannot, I don't know, be spying on the other teams. Then they relax those rules. Then there's video of him literally on the headset while the Raiders

are on offense. So you're going to tell me this guy who is involved in SpyGate, who is involved in Deflategate, who has been known to bin the rules, who is one of those hypercompetitive people on the planet and owns a chunk of an NFL team, isn't possibly, at least possibly going to be doing a little bit spying on other teams when he's in team meetings? I cannot believe this is still being allowed. I cannot believe they're allowing him on the headset. You can't have it both ways, Tom Brady.

Ain't nobody got time for that. Ain't nobody got time for that? I was going to throw Diego Pavia, at least his attorney in here, the Vanderbilt quarterback. Did you see yesterday that with some new legislation, you know, the NCAA, they're going to Congress and all this. stuff constantly with house settlement, all this stuff. There's still

stuff being worked on a daily basis. Well, apparently his attorney came out yesterday and said you know, Diego Pavia could challenge for a seventh year of eligibility. I saw it. Diego very quickly put on Twitter, said cap. But like, come on. Just that

whole, the thought of a player playing seven years, get a job, sir. Move on. Well, I kind of get what they're saying. I mean, Why is there a certain limit on eligibility? If you're in school, why can't you play for the school? It's just, dude.

NCWA House of Cards. Eventually you got to grow up, Peter Pan. Go get a job. The NCAA House of Cards is crumbling under all these lawsuits, and I absolutely love it. I just do. So who you're saying you ain't got no time for? Well, ain't nobody got time for lawyers wanting to say.

My guy deserves a seventh year of eligibility. Lawyers see opportunity. Lawyers pouncing on a lot. opportunities for lawsuits? Who could have seen that coming? I just kind of threw that one in. The other actual one I had, though, was on a certain manager of Los Angeles Dodgers. See what he did last night? What did Dave Roberts do?

Shohay Otani had a no hitter going last night through five innings. Dave Roberts pulls him. In the sixth inning, the Phillies put up five runs. Yeah, what is his name? Robleski? And take a five to four lead. And the Phillies are now just a game

and a half back of the Brewers for the NL1 scene. I got a buddy who's a Burris fan. He's like, Are you kidding me, Dave Roberts? We're trying to hang on this one seed. Yeah. Gifting the Phillies a win. Well, they're trying to bring Otani back from injured, from literally he's had two Tommy Johns.

Dave Roberts, ain't nobody got time for you. You know what? Ain't nobody got time for you. Who cares about a no-hitter? They're trying to make sure he doesn't rip his ACL again. He's just building back up from multiple Tommy John surgeries. By the way, Dodgers have the fourth best record in the NL. Remember when they signed Otani and all those big-name players are like,

they're going to win like 120 games. Yeah, well, they've had like five billion injuries. They have 84 wins. Yeah. How's all that money paying off for them? Well, we'll see when they get to the playoffs. They get a little bit of healthy. I'm not writing the Dodgers off yet.

But the Phillies have been good. You mentioned the Brewers have been very good. The National League, thank God the Astros aren't over there because the American League feels a little bit more winnable. If the Astros were healthy, I said this. Like, you know, yeah, I'll say that. Ain't nobody to time for all these injuries. The Asthors were healthy.

I would be tabbing them as American League favorites. I would. I mean, if you would. had Ronell Blanco, Hayden Wisniewski, Brandon Walter, Issoc Parades, Yoran Alvarez, I mean Josh Hayter, Benitz-Suzza. Yes.

That's a stacked squad. Honestly, we need to be giving Dana Brown a tip of the cap for how stacked this team would have been if they were fully healthy. How about ain't nobody got time for Yorda running through stop signs. Ain't nobody got time for that? Well, ain't nobody got time for Tony Parrish

Chica getting stop signs ran through, I mean, it seems rather regularly. And we talked with Joe Spotted about that yesterday, and he said, hey, it's, at the end of the day, the onus is on the players. Is he like the new stepdad that like nobody wants to pay attention to? Tony's Perr's Chica? Yeah. Yeah, I guess. You're not my real dad.

You're not my real third base coach. Gary Pettis is gone. I'm going to run through the stop sign. I'm going to get a little Jeff Blomer in there. All right. Jonathan Allen, what do you got? You know, I haven't seen the hate about C.J. Stroud, but I'm going to tell you. Oh, it's coming.

I'm the main one. Oh, we're the main one. After that prefts conference, after Monday night's game, and you as a quarterback leading the team is sitting there with your head down, talking under your breath, saying, yeah, we just got to do better. Yeah. Things will happen. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, I'm sad. We lost. That's not what you do. That's not how you're going to win at 02. That's not how you rally your team. That's not how you get anybody to get behind you. You just seem like you're upset with yourself.

And granted, okay, you can be. But that's not going to lead anybody. And you're showing that and saying to your team that you really don't have any faith and just saying, oh, we'll go get it back next time. No. Ain't anybody got time for that. If you're going to be this qualified athlete that you came from Ohio State, you're supposed to be this big dog to lead and you want to be an elite quarterback. Any of the elite quarterbacks that are above you aren't doing that. They're going to take it on a chin.

They're going to rally the team behind. They're going to tell you what the problem is and they're going to go after it. Look at anybody else that's above them. He was what, eight ranked before the season started? Yeah, somewhere around there. You know, like, it just bugs me really bad. Wow. Okay. C.J. Stroud,

hater number one. I'm critical because I really feel like he should be, if he's that qualified and I know he's that good of athlete, you shouldn't be doing that. He should be better. And we're going to bring some numbers coming up here in a little bit to make it even worse. All right, those on your hold will get to you. You guys got something you want to get off your chest.

Ain't nobody got time for that slash shut your bum ass up. 713-212-790. 7-1-3-2-2-790 back in a minute after the. this short break. All right, you want to get in? You can do so. 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90 for ain't nobody got time for that slash shut-your-bum-ass up. Ray in Miami is next up. What's up, Ray? Hey, spot a, shut your bum midget ass up. If the kid asks you a spot up about a time table, So you have never seen an ankle messed up in your life.

You can't give any time table. Spada, shut your bum ass up. And I can't wait until we get rid of your mid-the-ass. Shut your bum-ass up, man. Okay. What was it probably? There's a lot of funny things happening here. First of all, is Joe Spotted particularly short?

I was going to ask you. I don't think of him as particularly short. It's probably like six foot. I mean, he's like six foot. right is Joe is Joe Espada height let me Google this by the way you want to follow that you can 713 212 570 713 212 5779 okay Google's listed him at 510 yeah I think of them is around there I don't think of them as short he was rocking a new look with the glasses he's been he's been going with the glasses lately keeping the eye sharp I'm okay with that number one that's funny

that he's calling Joe a spot as short. I'm okay with the criticism of him not. It was, it was bizarre for him to act surprised to get asked if Yordon Alvarez was going on the IL. But also my second favorite part of that was him calling Chandler Rome a kid. When a kid, when a kid asks you about someone going to the IL. Chandler Rome, I don't know how old is Chandler Rome these days?

Early 30s? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah? Okay. Well, you should know, aren't you guys, LSU Alums and whatnot? Yeah, but we didn't.

We didn't graduate together. Chandler Rome age. Oh, this is not readily available. I mean, yeah, he looks like a young man. I'm going to blind guess 33 years old for Chandlerone. Don't you text him? You're text buddies with him.

That's true. We text every now and then. Chandler, if you're listening, how old are you? Apparently, ain't nobody got time for Joe Espada. All right, 713, 21, 2, 5.790 if you want to get anything else from either of you guys? Anything else you ain't got no time for?

I was going to do it. I don't want to beat up on the Texan seat more than we should. Do it. I mean, Nick Casario, nobody got time for your reworking. You supposedly reworked this offensive line in the offseason. Look better to you? It actually did look a little bit

better in week two than it did in week one. I could say that. I got time for that. Is that something? I just don't know how you looks. They look so sharp those first two drives. And then proceed to go punt, punt, punt, punt, punt. Yeah, you had Woody Marks catching.

Yeah, you got the, you had that big, you had that big touchdown for Nico Collins. Then Woody Marks is catching like 35 year or 37 yard screen passes. You're like, oh my gosh, they're going to use Woody Marks. They're looking good. It's like they got an inventive game. game plan? Things are going well. Well, and then they faltered.

Hey nobody got time for that. Here's some Texans. Oh and two. Now, of course, yeah, you can go ahead and fade the music down. If nobody else wants to get in, appreciate you, Jonathan. Oh, and two. Now, how much solace do you find in the fact that both of the teams you lost to are probably going to be

division winners? Yeah, but I don't know. I mean, the NFC sucks, so the bucks winning that. Falcons are looking okay. Buccaneers beat them on the road. Did I give you the two stats yesterday? The Bucks had never won in Houston before yesterday.

I don't know that. How many times have they played in Houston? They were 0 and 5. Okay. So they're out 1 in 5. Baker Mayfield was previously 1 in 7 in his career on Monday Night Football. He's now 2 in 7. He's Mr. Clutch.

Came up clutch in that game? How many good teams that you've been on in those scenarios do, though? You've been playing for the Panthers and the Browns. then he was a backup for the Rams, right? If you're on Monday Night Football, though, presumably you're doing some, right? That's true. You're probably a pretty good team for Monday, well, there were some lean years on Monday Night Football. Then ESPN was like, hey, NFL, we're cutting you this check. We need to get some more marquee matchups.

And the NFL's like, well, how do we do that? Let's see. NBC wants better matchups, Prime wants better matchups, ESPN wants better matchups, more games. Let's go. And that's what they're doing. What's crazy, too, just a quick college football, not good I saw. Did you see two coaches got fired already? Virginia Tech and UCLA? Yes.

We talked about that. It's three weeks into the season. Pete Dammel tweeted this out. He said last year, the first in-season firing didn't happen until after week 8, October 20th. This year, it's after week three. They're getting to like, it's getting more and more like soccer managers. They fire those dudes like every three weeks. And then they just lose a few games.

Oh, time to sack the manager, as they call it. And it feels like increasingly, even the last, I don't know, 20 years, it feels like it's like, I'd be curious to see at the end of the year, how many head coaches were fired year by year by year. Maybe it's always been like this and I just don't remember. But especially like you said, early season firings, in season firings, it's just everybody's on a shorter fuse. It feels like across all sports. And now, as you mentioned, it's happening in college football in the first couple weeks. That's really what we should have done. Shut your bum ass up. The fans that are out there going, D'Amico Ryan's ain't him.

Oh, yeah, there's people doing that. Come on. I think yesterday calling D'Macon Ryan's mid. It's okay. Like, if you want to start questioning C.J. Stroud, okay. But come on. Like, to say, to completely throw him under the bus at this point. Yeah.

Well, I think he's a good head coach. And I think sometimes the attention to detail stuff can be off. Like procedural stuff. Like I brought it up yesterday. I think the end of the game where you have six seconds left. Like have a plan. They had no plan. They didn't run a play where they toss it back 50 times.

They didn't tell them to get out of bounds and try to do a hell marry. They just ran out the string. Like the game was over. That's bad coaching to me. Well, on that note, we're going to take quick top of the hour break. Hour number three of the Matt Thomas show with Ross, without Matt Thomas is coming up. Chris Cordy is hanging out. We're going to get some Texans. We also have the news at noon coming up next. All the top sports news items of the day.

Coming right at you after this quick break. Number three of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas, he will be back tomorrow. Chris Gordy is hanging out. We'll have Adam Clanton in the fold as well. We got a lot of stuff. stuff going on in the sports world. That means we have to get to the news at noon. All right, a lot of stuff to get to here on the news at noon, Chris Gordy. We will lead off with your Houston Astros going for a sweep today, 710 first pitch, as it'll be Jake DeGrom versus Christian Javier, 6 o'clock. Astros on deck coming your way with yours truly.

Yesterday they were able to get the win. They got up 6-0. You're feeling good? They're going to Cruz, everything's all right. Well, then a run scored by the Rangers in the 5th. Then four runs in the 8th. Brian Abray, you had to come in and the 8th, put out the fires. Also got into some trouble in the 9th, but was able to get out of it. He not just his seventh save this season for the Astros and seventh since Josh Hader's gone down. 32 pitches for him yesterday, however, 14 or 12, I think, maybe the day before.

likely unavailable for the Astros today, but he got to the save and back-to-back games. Two saves, two wins against the Rangers in the first two games of this pivotal mid-September series. Yeah, it's just like we all predicted that A.J. Blue Ball and Colton Gordon would be holding things down for the Astros pitching staff. Is A.J. Blueball going to get built up and start a playoff game for the Astros? Well, he threw three innings yesterday.

50 pitches. Seven strikeouts. 7K is very nice. I mean, I think, like, he'd be like a candidate to pitch an inning or two, but you still like start? Is he like an opener? You know? Yeah, you could go to a piggyback situation. I mean, you could do basically what you did yesterday.

Go with Blue Ball for three. Colton Gordon for three. I mean, you definitely are going to have some options. Elsewhere, unfortunately, the Mariners trouts the Kansas City Royals. Ten games in a row. The Mariners have won. They remain a half game ahead of the Astros in the American. in League West. The Mariners

just will not lose, Gordy. They won't, and I hate it. And I hate everything about the Mariners, and I hate that we're going to have to play them in basically a winner take-all playoff series this weekend. And I also hate that

this could also end in the Astros having to go play a wildcard series in Seattle against this very Seattle team. How raucous and louder are those crowds going to be in Seattle? Yeah, sure. I was there. It's the best time for the playoff series, and I will give them credit. I mean, it got loud.

That's a fan base that has been in the desert for so long. They are hungry for any kind of success from their baseball team. They absolutely are hungry to get anything going. And they serve crickets. Fried crickets? No. Oh, I thought they're oven roasted. Whatever they are.

Are they deep fried? They bred them? No, because it looks like crickets. Maybe they're just oven baked. All right. A couple of NFL news and notes. We will get to some more. more on CJ Straub and the Texans coming up in the next segment.

The Jets have ruled out just in Fields for their game against the Buccaneers. Sounds like the Buccaneers are going to start off 3 at 0. Tyrod Taylor, the backup for the New York Jets. Former Texans, great. So let's see. Starting quarterbacks in week number three already. We've got Jake Browning. We've got Mack Jones.

We've got Tyrod Taylor. We have, who is it again that's started? Carson Wince in Minnesota as well. For multiple games, he's going to start. Jake Browning, basically, for the next three months for the Bengals. I've said this before. The NFL has got a backup quarterback problem. And the stars are great.

But when the stars get hurt and they inevitably do, every year we have five to ten huge name quarterbacks that get hurt and miss significant portions of time, the backups are not great. It is a problem. the NFL. Yeah. So you've got all those guys starting as backups. Russell Wilson remaining the starter. He had a good start, but

I mean, I don't feel like he's very good. Bryce Young. Tootong of Aloha's not very good either. Who's the best backup in the league? The most competent backup. Hey, it might be Jake Browning. Anytime he goes in for Cincinnati, he's very good. Like, I'm just trying to think of a guy that... Marcus Marriota? If he had to start, yeah, Marriota might go for Jaden Daniels.

Jimmy Garoppolo. Davis Mills? I don't feel like any of those are very good. So yeah, definitely some quarterback issues in the NFL. Also in the NFL, some news, not necessarily news news, but Rahim Morris, who says himself not prone to hyperbole, he said, Bejohn, or now Mike Tariko said it's back to Bejohn. We went from Bejan to Bejohn, now back to Beijon, according to Mike Tariko

on Sunday night football. Bejohn Robinson. I have never heard Bejon. That's what Bejon said it himself in a press conference in the offseason. How did he not correct people when he was at Texas? Hey, this is how you pronounce my name.

You know, it happens. I mean, Roy Oswald was going by Oswald for years. Who else? There were some other ones recently. Well, you mentioned it earlier. Tyrod Taylor temporarily was Tarad. Tarad.

It's very confusing. So he's Bijan. He's Bijan back to Bijan, back to Bijan, is the best player in the NFL. He's definitely the best player in football without a doubt. Morris Saining on Wednesday,

he's unbelievable. I love the kid. I love everything about him. I love watching with the ball. I love his confidence, his demeanor, his mindset, leadership, everything about him.

Well, he's best player in football? He's not even the best rusher. Jonathan Taylor, Travis Aetia, Derek Henry, and James Cook, all the more yards. Longhorn legend, Bijon Robinson, the best player. I mean, is he better than Josh Allen?

The NFL. Well, according to Rahe Morris, he is. Lamar Jackson, I think, is actually the best player in football. Have you seen he is the all-time passerating leader in NFL history at the moment is

Lamar Jackson. I like, Miles Garrett basically falls out of bed and racks up two sacks a game. Miles Garrett's pretty great. You're starting a franchise with anybody. I'm going Lamar Jackson, though. Ooh, Matt Mahomes, how do you deny him, I guess? I forgot about that guy.

He's pretty good. He's pretty clutch. Does not suck. Yeah, doesn't suck. I totally agree with that. All right, elsewhere in the news. Gordy, are you familiar with Taylor Townsend, the tennis player?

I was thinking of Tommy Townsend. No. What about touchdown Tommy Maddox? American tennis star Taylor Townsend, apparently having to apologize to the entire country of China for making some comments that people found offensive about Chinese food. She posted videos of local dishes,

including bullfrogs and turtles, and joke that she would need to talk to HR about the quality of food. Clearly, of course, I don't know how she didn't anticipate this. There was going to be some backlash. As she took to Instagram to apologize after facing backlash online in China.

I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart, said Townsend, where she had to say she understood how privileged she was as a professional athlete to be able to travel around the world and experience cultural differences. It's one of the things I love so much about what I do. I've had nothing but the most amazing experience in my time here and at the tournament.

Everyone is so kind and gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all. I wanted to truly apologize. There's no excuse and no words. And for me, I want to be better. That's a shut show by mess up. Because that's not normal to us. Who follows her on social media?

It's mostly Americans, right? So yes, to your audience, this is weird. She doesn't go and apologize after it. She says, What the hell? Turtle and Bullfrog at the dinner table is wild. Yes. To many a citizen of America, that's weird.

You ever eaten Bullfrog? No. Gordy? I've had frog legs. You've had turtle soup. You're from New Orleans. I had some gator over the weekend. Yeah?

And a lot of gator. Yeah, a lot of fried gator. At the barbecued gator. But I just, see, that's the stuff where it's like, when we go out of the side of the country, it's the same thing. When, like, Europeans come here, they go, Oh my God, look at this.

We're not like, you better apologize right now. No, it's different for them. Different cultures. You're experiencing different things. It's okay to have an opinion on it, though. Yeah, when I went to Korea, I had some stuff that I don't normally had. I had some chicken feet, which I didn't really care for, quite grisly. I had kidney.

And did you post on social media? I respect this liver and the culture of you eating liver. One of them the translation said chicken ass. I did post that on Instagram. I didn't get any backlash. I went on there and tried it. It's different for us. That's all it is. That's true.

All right. Well, that's the news at noon. We're going to take quick break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk some Texans. We're going to talk some unfortunate stats for Nick Cayley. Unfortunate stats for C.J. Strad. How are we feeling about that Texans offense? We'll talk about that next here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

12.20 p.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Ross v. We're out with you. Phone lines open. 713. 212. 5.790. 7.

3-2-1-2-1. What are you looking for? You're right over there? Stretching. Oh, okay. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. You've got to stretch out. That is very important. Texans, 0-2, on the road against Jacksonville in week number three. Jacksonville did lose to Jake Browning last week, but they also won in week one. Texans have lost two games by one score, both two probable division winners. They are underdogs in this upcoming game by one and a half.

Oh, total is at 43.5? I thought it saw a little tick higher than that earlier in the week. But anyways, 43.5 is the total in this one. One and a half Texans are dogs to Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars. So I was looking at a couple of things as far as there's a lot of guys that I follow that do data and stuff like that. And mostly I follow them because of fantasy football. But there's a guy named Ben Baldwin who puts, we were talking about EPA, where he uses adjusted EPA for pass protection, receiver drops, interceptions, fumble recoveries, stuff like that.

And then he blends it with pro football focuses grades and then it spits out a number. And it ranks all 32 quarterbacks. right now, top five quarterbacks in football, Dak Prescott, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jordan Love, Matt Stafford by these metrics. Where do you think, Chris Gordy, just a blind guess? I'm going to give you a hint. It's in the bottom half. Where do you think C.J. Stroud is?

I was going to say, last 28th. Jeez. There are 34 quarterbacks rated by these metrics. Bo Nix and J.G. McCarthy are last. to a tongue of Aloha, Aaron Rogers, Gino Smith, Cam Ward, and then C.J. Stroud. Behind Joe Flacco, Justin Fields, and Trevor Lawrence, and Bryce Young.

That's where C.J. Stroud is right now. And this is a guy we talked about in the offseason that is a top 10 type quarterback. He talked about himself being like, remember he was going in podcasts after his rookie year? Like, hey, I needed to be in the MVP conversation. Putting himself like top five ahead of Josh Allen and others. And it felt,

It felt warranted. It felt good. It's like, yeah, this guy's confident. He's got all this swag. And then here we are right now to where C.J. Stroud is by these metrics, which aren't an LB. But they're not good. 28th in football. 28th.

What is the issue? I mean, is it the O line? Is it the OC? Or is it C.J himself? I think it's a little bit of everything. Honestly, I think the biggest problem, not the biggest problem. problem? Yeah, I'll say it. The biggest problem. If Joe Mixon wears back, I would feel so much better about this

offense. I would feel so much better about where C.J. Stroud was. And Joe Mixon was here for a lot of the season last year, but he did miss some time with some injuries. And that was also around the time Stefan Diggs and Nico Collins were getting hurt. So you basically, you need, I would say the biggest help to C.J. Stroud is both a healthy Nico Collins, which you have right now, thankfully, and a healthy Joe Nixon. And when is he coming back? When have we heard? anything. I think Woody Marks needs to get some more looks. He looked good in a couple of reps of

past pro. Looks good catching the ball. Looks good running the ball. I want to see a little bit of more Woody Marks. I know Nick Chubb did have that long touchdown, but I just, I still don't have confidence of him as far as somebody who can be a game breaker. Somebody who can go out there and just be better than the other guys and more talented than the other guys. That's how you win a lot of games in the NFL. Of course you win with scheme and coaching and all those types of things, but a lot of times it's like, hey, that guy was just dominant. There was nothing we could have done to stop him. And Joe Mixon did that a lot, where he's turning three-yard losses into three-yard gains or five-yard gains with his patience, with his vision, and going out there

and just being a good pass catcher and all that stuff and being a complete running back, and you don't have that. And that's huge. When you have an offensive line that's not very good, so you can't pass-protect, you need to have some semblance of a run game for the other team. you don't have that right now. I googled Joe Mixon just to see, and there is a story from two days ago, USA Today, entitled, When Will Joe Mixon Return, Texan's Running Back Injury Update? So you would think an article titled that. Yes.

We're going to get some kind of clarity here. Probably not. First sentence, when will Joe Mixon return from his injury? As of the time of this writing, Mixon's eventual return date is not clear. why in the hell would you title an article? Because you get, they got your click. That's why. They got your click.

What outlet is this? This is USA Today. Yeah, USA Today is doing that. Sporting News, SI. You can't trust any of them these days. It's horrible. All right. And then here's another, another data point that came across my timeline.

Again, it's from Fantasy Points data. It's this fantasy website. And I follow a lot of fantasy stuff because I like fantasy football. I'm in multiple leaks. Most off-target throws by a percentage since 2023. Will Levis, number one, then Caleb Williams, then Trevor Lawrence, then C.J. Stroud. Actually, they have Lawrence's shroud tied at 21.7 percent. Highest off-target rate.

Other quarterbacks on this list include Aaron Rogers, Josh Dobbs, Desmond Ritter, Aidan O'Connell, Mack Jones, and Bryce. Young. The Bryce Young thing is he's regressed again. Yeah, well, he ended up with three touchdowns, but he threw the ball like 50 times this past weekend. But yeah, he wasn't very good in week one. So that's concerning for me. I keep watching Trevor Lawrence, and I'm like, and I know I picked him on my fantasy league because Brock Purdy got hurt, but it's like he misses open throws far too often.

And same thing for CJ Stroud. The only two guys ahead of you on this list are Will Levis and Caleb Williams. That's concerning. How does it get better? When does it get better? How is he so good his rookie year? And then now we're sitting here. And here's the thing.

It's like these days, if you get even an average quarterback, you've got to lock him up. You got to pay him. Well, I mean, Caleb Williams is the number one pick on this list. Trevor Lawrence makes a ton of money. He's on that list as well. And then it's like a bunch of backups and unproven guys.

So yeah, I'm concerned. I'm concerned about where we are right now with C.J. Stroud. And we know it's got to be complimentary football. But hey, it's the NFL. You're not going to have perfect pockets every single snap out there. It just does not happen. This is not Arch Manning sitting back there for eight seconds against U-TEP. This is the NFL.

The other guys are paid to. You've got to figure something out. And they have to be better. And C.J. Stroud has to be better. I'm with you. I don't know what the major problem is. And somebody tweeted this out yesterday. What do you think about this theory?

That C.J. hasn't looked the same since Tank Dell went down. That's true. I think that's a good point. That was his kind of sick. Oh, yeah. You could count on him to beat man coverage. You find soft zones as well. You could also get some easy screens and stuff like in the round with stuff like that.

Like the teams had to, even though, of course, he's as short and little as he is, when he's on the field, teams have to know where Tankdale is. He was a dynamic athlete. And goodness knows if and when he's ever going to come back. You just have to operate under the assumption that he's not coming back. And when he does, he's not going to be as effective as he was because of how devastating that injury was that he suffered. So you still have Nico Collins. You at least got him the targets.

He got nine targets, I think, in the last game. But you got to have more catchable targets to continue to get. him involved in the game. All right, quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Where are you at on C.J. Stroud? I just told you by EPA and Pro Football Focus rankings, he's 28th in football. I got to believe he's better than that. But those numbers say what they are.

How does he continue to improve and go up from there? 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 713-212-5-790. Feels like there's a lot of blame to go around with the Texans' offense. Do we go to the quarterback? Do we go to the offensive coordinator? Do we go to the offensive line?

Do we go to the run game? Do we go to the past catchers? And it feels like yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It has not been good. Now, a good week against it is the week-to-week league. I was feeling pretty good, literally like the first. quarter of the game where they scored against the Buccaneers. Neuco Collins catches that spectacular touchdown

in the right side of the end zone. We're feeling all good in the neighborhood. And then basically the rest of the game happened. And they get held up and fourth down in gold-to-go situations. And they just couldn't consistently score points and then the defense couldn't hold anything. This is what's wild. Nico Collins. Nico Collins to start the season off last year, Ross, week one against Indy, six catches 117 yards.

He was targeted eight times. Week two against Chicago, targeted 10 times eight catches 135 yards and a touchdown. This season, through two weeks, 25 yards and 52 yards. Yeah, but he's been targeted a lot, right? He's just been off target. Yeah, he's targeted five times week one, 99. times this week. Okay, so yeah, 14 targets of two games, not terrible. They're trying

to get him involved. But I'm just saying it was 18 through two games last year and he had 250 yards through two weeks. Wow, he should get more catchable targets. He's at 77. I wonder what the catchable targeted rate is. Well, I just read to you the number who has the most off target throws in football. He's tied for third is C.J. Stroud. This is since

2023. Most off target throws highest rate tied with Trevor Lawrence. Behind Will Levis, who's been benched and I don't even where is will levis even oh he's out for the season right he has shoulder injury i believe so he was benched and then had a shoulder injury and then Caleb williams who i like he has a big arm but Caleb williams misses a lot of throws as well i mean that that those numbers sometimes you know you have to take data with a grain of salt you have to be like all right

i don't know if i actually believe that but will levis Caleb williams Trevor lawrence and c j stroud being the most inaccurate or most off target throws in football where they filter out screen passes that makes a lot of sense to me it just doesn't does. Brandon Allen, by the way, the backup to Cam Ward in Tennessee. Who? Brandon Allen. Not familiar with his work.

Arkansas quarterback. Okay, I'll take your word for it. You could have just made that up. Brandon Allen? Not familiar with his work. Was he a Texan at some point? Kyle Allen. Brandon Allen. I'd rather have Josh Allen.

Brandon Allen spent a season with Denver. Three seasons at Cincinnati. Spent last year with the 49. Mm-hmm. Oh, man. Everything can feel better with a good weekend against the Jaguars, their defense is not good. Their defense is not very good.

So, how are we feeling about this weekend? One and a half point dogs on the road against the Yaksin-Vil Jaguars. Yeah, they're underdogs. Oh. One and a half points. That's pretty crazy, though. I would have thought, I mean, I spotted off those stats for you earlier

about how the Texans are 11 and 5 in Jacksonville all time. That doesn't matter. Vegas doesn't care what happened in 2016. About 2025. Rostorsorses turn over, I mean, year to year, really, in the NFL. I mean, I hope you can get some points against Jacksonville in their defense. Trevor Lawrence has been prone to giving up and turning over the ball. I just mentioned him on the inaccurate passers list.

They're all upset. You know, if we're doing Jacksonville Radio, which thank God we're not, we live in beautiful, wonderful Houston, Texas. You're talking about how Trevor Lawrence can't get the ball accurately to Brian Thomas, Jr., who had a breakout year last year. You think they got any calls over there?

You think people call the radio station? I think so. Hey, guys, we'll talk Jags. I think you do get some talk on Jags 1010 XL with Rick Ballou, who's been our guests a number of times throughout the years. It's just

for them playing all those games in London, like I feel like they just don't have a passenger family. You need to get more calls from dudes in London. Hey, cheerio. Want to talk some Jaguars football. Let's go to Mike in Manchester. Hey. Hello, gents.

Evening, governors. It's midnight over here. And I'm quite snuckered. Hey, can we get battle protection for Trevor Lawrence? Terrible. The worst English accents you can find anywhere. Right here on Sports Talk 7. I don't know who's doing Jags talk, but if we were doing Jags talk, we wouldn't be very happy either.

At least they've won a game, though. What happened with Brian Thomas last week? Like, it's almost what he thinks he had like a mental block. Well, how about Liam Cohen coming on after the game being like, yeah, guys, he's been dealing with a wrist injury, you know, he's just not 100%. And then everybody's like, you know, it's illegal to have somebody with an injury and not be putting it on the injury report? So Brian Thomas Jr. wasn't on the injury report last week with the wrist injury. Now all of a sudden he's listed this week is questionable with a wrist issue.

Yeah, I think you're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to do that, Liam. You're not supposed to have players who are dealing with injuries and not list them on the injury report. And certainly don't go in the post-game presser and mention it. Has the NFL launched an investigation on that at all? I don't know. So Brian Thomas Jr. is questionable.

I wonder if we're going to see. Derek Stingley did a pretty good job of shutting down Mike Evans. He didn't get a whole lot of targets, a lot of PbUs, was able to stick tight with him. And generally in years past, the Texans have not gone with shadow coverage. They've used Camarie Lasseter, of course, depending on whatever or whoever else is on the other side. But first two weeks of the season, they've done a fair amount of shadow coverage, Derek Stingley. I wonder if you're going to see the same thing with Brian Thomas Jr. I think so.

I think he's, because I was curious or were they going to have him just play a side or follow Mike Evans around? and he followed Mike Evans around. And look, Ameca Abuka was the better for it. They've got this guy, for those in fantasy circles, you know this name that's emerged the first two weeks. Is it Diami Brown?

Yeah, Diami Brown. He had some big catches for the commanders last year and was kind of falling under the radar, and then now he's been catching touchdowns for Jacksonville. Yeah, I was not familiar with his work, but he is kind of emerging here as a number two threat for the Jags. It's kind of weird because you would think Travis Hunter that they would be force-feeding him to get him involved for where they drafted him. Yeah.

So it sounds like Christian Kirk is supposed to be back for the Texans this weekend. How much do we feel like that can have a positive impact on the Texans and what Nick Kaylee and them want to do? Revenge game, right? That's true. Did he play for the Jags? Yes, he did. And he was hurt a lot. And well, when he was signed in the off-scenes, he was like, yeah, I like that signing.

He's really productive as long as he's on the field. and then he misses the first two games with a hamstring injury. Now expected to play week three, according to Domeko-O-Ryons. So, I mean, can that give you a bit of a boost? Well, these Aggie, wide receivers, Mike Evans, Christian Kirk. Yeah, they seem to have a lot of good players. They just don't ever seem to win, although they're winning right now with a big win over Notre Dame over the weekend. So, I mean, can we say that?

Can we say, hey, you're going against the Jaguars. Their defense isn't the toughest in the league, although they have had a good first couple of weeks. but I mean, they were giving up points to frigging Jake Browning. I think, did Jake Browning, he had like four touchdowns in that game or something like that, right? So, okay, Jake Browning's carving them up. CJ Stroud can possibly do it. You got the offensive line intact.

They were a little bit better in week two. Can you follow that up even though you're on the road with a better week three? How about this? All right, I'm going to paint a positive picture for you. Christian Kirk is back. Nick Kela gets another week of play calling under his belt. you have a more stable offensive line. Maybe some more

Woody marks helps the run game as well. And the Texans can source some points this weekend? Can you buy what I'm selling there? I can buy it. I mean, I think they should. This is your home away from home. This is a place where you have played very well over there in Jacksonville.

So I think the Texans get their mojo back this week. I like that. I predicted that on gut feelings yesterday. I'm going to stick with it. right now. Texans have won seven straight road contests against Jacksonville. We can't say in Jacksonville because wasn't one of those in London.

Is it a must-win game for the Texans? Falling 0-3 0-3? Especially with the Colts right now sitting in 2-0. Did I see 2? I think it said there have been teams that have started 0-2 and gotten to a Super Bowl but never won a Super Bowl.

Okay, well the Texans are getting to the Super Bowl. Not really worried about that. You don't think this team? going to several two weeks in. Have you been watching the same football team I am? Have you been watching the, well, the chiefs are 0 and 2? I thought this was supposed to be the year, though.

This was supposed to be a year. They take the big step. I don't think so. I predicted, well, I stupidly predicted 11 and 6. I should have stuck with 10 and 7. Even that feels optimistic at this point. But, I mean, bingles, well, we'll see what happens with the Joe Burrow.

How long, how much Joe Burrow, I mean, Jake Browning can hold it down with Joe Burrow. out, but it starts with the bills and the Ravens and the Chiefs. Chargers are 2-0. You're worse than them. No, no. Not feeling it right now. All right. Can you buy what I'm selling? Another week of Nick Cayley. Christian Kirk comes back. More Woody Marks.

C.J. Stroud improving. Scoring some points against the Jaguars. Can you buy that at all? Does it look like it could be a clear picture for some offensive improvement for the Texans? What do you think? 213-212-5-790 is the phone number you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Without Matt Thomas. He'll be back tomorrow. Adam Clinton will be joining. Chris Cordy is here in the fold right now at 7-13-213-5-7-90. I think we should retire that one. Timely stuff there. Went to the last time Mike fires pitch for the A's. Although I do appreciate it.

2017 or something. The Matt Thomas rejoins of old players. I do like that. My favorite was, I was so mad we got rid of the Royce White one. Hey, this is Royce White. Thanks, Royce. Yeah, he last pitch for the A's in 2021.

Did Mike Fires. He is fired up for some Astros baseball. Hey, he threw no hitter for the Astros, never forget. And then when he got tagged up by the Astros in like 2018 or 19, he went ahead and leaked that they had been cheating for many years. And then they became the face. of a league-wide scandal and were scapegoated by Rob Manfred

and then they won another championship in 2022 and now in 25 they've had a billion injuries and they're still winning they're still standing baby. Don't worry. There's going to be some like five, ten years from now. It's going to be somebody that's going to come out on the Yankees or the Dodgers. Oh, they already got, look. Hey, we were doing

this and it's going to get brushed under the rug. The friggin' red socks got dinged for using Apple Watches and then they had a another scandal and nobody talks about it. Then they hired back their manager. There was also the mastermind of the Astro scandal. Nobody says a word. Oh, that was the funniest part when we were in Boston a few weeks ago.

We were up by the Green Monster and these two dudes, these two Boston guys were like having fun with it's like, hey, sorry, sorry, you were kicking your ass and all this stuff. And then one guy, you know, one guy's like, yeah, you get cheetahs. And we're like, dude, you realize like your manager was the architect of that. He was like, yeah, but yeah, he's not doing it here. It's like, oh, man. They got to take. Oh, man, I would have loved to have been there.

Oh, then we started the whole, yeah, but 17, we beat the Yankees. You didn't want us to beat the Yankees and not, like, the Yankees probably would have won the World Series. Like, yeah, you're probably right. Okay, that's good, yeah. These guys are frigid idiots. Everything crumbles under like five seconds of some semblance of logic with these people. Don't get me upset. We went to a bar and there were these like blue collar dudes that did construction.

Like 22, 23 year old dudes. It was like type A casting out of a movie for a bar set in Boston. Hey. Hey, Johnny, you see the socks? I'm like, there's no way this is real. This is like it's literally, it's like a play or something. Wicked. Wicked is a term for very out there.

Yeah. How was that movie, Ross? It's set a very good decision. I was wicked. It was wicked good. I've only been to Boston once, and it was basically for a weekend for a wedding, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time about town. This girl was looking at a photo of somebody.

She goes, hey, hey, daughter, this guy looks wicked familiar. I was like, that's, they like use it in common sentences. That's pretty funny. Scott and River Oaks has been waiting. So Scott and River Oaks, we shall go. What's up, Scott? What's going on, Ross? All right, so I'm glad you all switched over to the Astros.

minute. So I wanted to hear your thought on something. I don't know if you remember about a month, month and a half ago when the Mariners really started getting close to us. Matt was freaking out because it was the first time they had been within a game, maybe at that point in time. So I called in trying to

calm his, alleviate his fears, which he said I did a poor Java, but he agreed with me. And my point was being the three-seat division winner and being a wildcar team, there really isn't that much of a difference between the two. And you look at it right now, If you're asking me, my opinion, would I rather host Seattle or Boston at home or go to New York and play the Yankees?

I'm not saying we manipulate games. Of course, we're going to try to win all the games we can because you never know what's going to happen. But I think I would rather go to New York. The pressure would be completely on them. If anything starts going our way, they're going to be like, oh, my goodness, we can't beat these guys again. And it's a very quick series versus Boston, who's swept us this year, came into Houston, scored 1,500 runs in one game in Seattle, who knows our pitching staff backwards and forward. Not to mention, I think we've lost like six or seven home playoff games in a row.

So it was up to me, I actually think I'd rather go to New York for a wildcard series than host Seattle or Boston. I mean, I understand your logic, but to me it's all kind of a wash. I mean, going on the road either way, I would prefer either way for the Astros to be at home than on the road, no matter who the opponent is. I mean, if you put Rodon and Freed in games one and two and whatever order they want to do them, that's going to be a pretty stiff competition. Same thing for the Mariners at pitching, and they'll have a number of options for one and two,

whichever way they want to go. I just want the Astros to win, and I would rather the division, that way you can guarantee yourself home field. Yeah, I hear that. I think to your point, additionally further, the most important thing is, please let's not have any more injuries,

although it doesn't seem, they don't listen to us. There's just the courage going. Yeah, there's just nothing we can do about that. and just have some semblance of playing well. The final thing specifically about New York that I forgot to mention that if we want to say we're cursed with injuries this year, which is true,

there's just something about being in New York where Jose Alte de and Carlos Correa turned into different players. So if that's where we had to play those first three games and got to knock them out one more time, I wouldn't mind it all. Yeah, that would be nice. There is some magic for the Astros at Yankee Stadium, but still, I would rather be at the home stadium, no matter who the opponent is.

If you're taking on the Yankees or the Mariners or the Red Sox or whoever, it's going to be difficult. And I'd rather than be at home. We'll see. It's not up to us. It's up to those guys out there on the field and up to those guys in Seattle who seem to not want to lose as they've won now 10 in a row. They did win two out of three in New York last month. But I don't want to tempt fate. No, me either.

All right. Brian is next up on the phone lines. What's up, Brian? Hey, what's up, guys? I've got to have Gordia on there, man. Got a lot of knowledge on this phone right here. Hey, I've never heard of that guy. Go Gordy.

Hey, check it out, guys. I'm with the other caller. Like, you go to Yankee Stadium. We are a different animal. You know, we go out there and perform because all the booze. I wish everybody would do us. Every single stadium like they do. We win every game, I think.

You know what? Too we would have 60 home runs. But going back to the Texans, I think that Stroud has seen ghosts out there, man. I think he's been hit so hard, so many. times he's got that David car effect, man. And when you're running for your life most of the time, and you know, the results are not going to be there.

Your throws are going to be off. You're timid. You can see his feet moving, you know, a little bit more than it should. You know, he's not settled in. And, you know, quite frankly, I'd be running for my life, too, but 300-pound guys running after me. Yeah, it does seem a little bit like I kind of pushed back on that last year.

I was like, yeah, maybe he looks a little snake bit, but he just seems a little off. It does seem especially the first couple of weeks, where he is kind of bailing on plays a little bit early. It was better for him in week two, especially early on, and hopefully he can continue to settle because I do think it's kind of a mental battle for him

to try to make sure he's not seeing ghosts, he's not running backwards into plays and taking more yards on sacks, which he did a better job of in week two. Can I also bring up, remember him as a rookie, everything we heard about, oh, he's just, he's in the lab,

he's doing film work, he's putting in all this work and all this stuff. Like he was a grinder in his rookie season. All the hard work paid off. And then what did we see the next off season? He's playing in the All-Star game celebrity game. He's playing in the home run derby. He's doing this. Is he dating that chick, what's her name?

You know, that gave him a ride home from. Oh, yeah. Amber Rose? Yeah, Amber Roe. Like all these stories, all this stuff. And then last year it wasn't, it was a little bit. regression and then we're going, oh, what's the old line? Ah, it's this, it's that.

Is it fair to say, to question? Is he putting in the hard work that he did as a rookie? Because I get it. Well, no, this pat, he talked about that. He talked about going on podcast and he said he didn't do any of that this offseason. Like, he was quiet this offseason. He was working and he knew that there was criticism of him doing all that type of stuff. So he had the, I'm locking in offseason.

And well, two weeks in, it kind of doesn't matter. If your offensive line isn't working and you've got a new offensive course, and you've got no run game, it kind of doesn't matter how much you want to lock in. Yeah. It's tough. I'm just putting it up out there. I don't know.

Maybe he is. I'm just saying, is there something in there that maybe he is, you know, you get that fact check, you start driving a fancy car, you got all the clothes, you got the nice pad.

You know, I've arrived here. Let me go to work. And I think he talked about that and how he's not really just, he's not doing that this off season. And I know the results aren't there, but I do believe that C.J. Stroud is putting in the work until proven otherwise.

All right. Top of the hour break here. Hour number four of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross is coming up. Gordy, appreciate you hanging out. Yeah, thank you. You can pass the baton to Adam Clanton. He's going to come hang out for a little bit. You guys can still get in. We're talking about C.J. Stroud. Where are you at on him? Is he too full of himself? Or is it just a function of everything is dysfunctional with this offense? and they got to get on track this weekend against Jacksonville. Also, of course, talking about the Astros. Where do you want them in the playoff race?

How we're feeling about them in the playoff race as they go for a sweep against the Rangers. 710 first pitch here on Sports Talk 790. Anything you want to get to. Phone lines open. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Four of the Matt Thomas Show. with Ross without Matt Thomas. He will be back from his vacation in New York City. Tomorrow, I'll have to ask him. He put his name on it. Now, of course, Jonathan, you've learned the distinction. Gut feeling is like something you feel in your gut. When Matt says he's putting his name on something,

he said, no chance, no way it's not going to happen. I believe he did that for saying that the Astros are going to win the American League West. So we'll get an update for Matt on how he's feeling on that tomorrow. In the meantime, Adam Clinton should be here shortly. You guys can get in. Phone lines are open at 7-1-3-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. So the Astros win yesterday in, I mean, do you call it a thriller?

A nail-biter? An avoided collapse? However you want to describe it. They were up 6-0. They ended up holding on and winning 6 to 5. Mariners continue to win and win and win. So you're still a half game back of the M's. They will be facing off against the Royals again.

The good news is Kansas City, slight favorites going up against Bryce Miller with Cole Regens, who was making his first start for in a couple of months. Although, you know, Riggins has been, well, actually not great this year. And then he got hurt. But anyways, Kansas City's favorite. So hopefully that plays out But also you are underdogs

With Christian Javier going up against Jake de Grom But it'd be nice to just win the games in front of you And I don't think the Astros are just like overly scoreboard watching Or anything like that They're focused on the task at hand We saw that with them getting the wins The last two games

With Yordon Alvarez Going down with a significant Angle ankle injury As it was described by Joe Espada So you got the two wins But you want to win the Silver Boots series You want to win the Tiberius. acre. You want to keep pace with the Seattle Mariners.

So it's very important for the Astros to get the win tonight. 710 first pitch. 6 o'clock Astros on deck coming your way here on Sports Talk 790. Phone lines open, as I said, it's 713-212-5-790. And it feels a little bit like where we were in the middle of June, where the injuries kept on piling up and up and up, and the Astros just kept on winning games. Like, you get Yordan out of the game on Monday. and then Zach Cole comes in and does his thing. Then he's not in the lineup at all yesterday either,

and you get the six early runs, you hang on on the wind. So can we say hopefully that can happen again to where the Astros can wave their magic wand and we're like, yeah, you got Christian Javier hasn't been very good or up and down at the very least. Going up against Jake DeGrom somehow, some way, can they sweep the Rangers today? That would be pretty nice to see.

Merrill Kelly had a horrible start for the Rangers yesterday. it was at the very least his worst start in a Rangers uniform. You were able to get him. He was chased off after just three innings, giving up six earned runs. Maybe the Astros can get to Jake DeGrom a little bit, score some runs and get to sweep against the Arlington Rangers.

Jake DeGrom. Yes, sir? He's had a, like a... Hi, Adam. Hi, how are you? Thanks for hanging out. Sorry, I appreciate you. No, short notice.

It's okay. I was short notice. I was like, all right, let me see if I can squeeze all the things I need to do before. I did. Yeah, I've been pleasantly surprised because they looked like they were, I mean, this is like, okay, this is finally the death blow. They're down and out. They're finally going to pack it in.

And they're just like, no, we're going to keep winning. Yeah, we're going to go ahead and win. Like clutch winning. Just kidding. They almost blew it last night. Well, Brian and Bray was clutching off. 32 pitches. I'm sitting there.

You're having a heart attack. Are you okay? I worry about you and your blood pressure during these games. I'll tell you what. I'm going to a little tease forward for the A team today. Okay. There was, I thought it was coming today. I thought the heart attack that was going to take me was coming.

Have you left me anything in your will? No, I don't even know if I have a will. I should probably get on that. I mean, I'm 44. Eh, you're fine. It's fine. It was before 8 a.m. and my blood pressure was way too high.

Let's put it that way. I'll explain on the show. Okay. It's a segment's worth. I'm sure Wex will love that segment today. Okay. But yeah, like, this is just, this is a formality or I guess I should call it the appetizer.

You have to win this game because the Mariners are never losing a game. It's a must-win game for the Astros tennis, what you're saying? But it's nice to put the distance between you and a team that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. That's true, but you can lose and the Mariners can win the next two, and you're still just two games back of the Mariners. You have to take care of business this weekend. You have to, that's what I'm talking about. You have to make the Mariners feel the pain that is their road record.

record this season. Like you have to you have to basically keep up with the Joneses because everybody else has. Whenever the Mariners come to town to their gym, they beat them. It's when the Mariners are at home that they're like indestructible. Now lately they've been winning everywhere, but the Astros with everything that's

happened and particularly the injuries to pitching have to somehow. The best part is you have your two best pitchers going in this series. Like if this was somehow a rotation where Hunter Brown, yeah, that's actually true. Jason Alexander. You're three. You're three best. Jason Alexander's like, screw you, A.C.

I don't know what you're talking about. But like, you know, he's been more consistent than Frumber of late. Yes, he has. But if you get... Also has a doorknob. Well, if you get the best of those three, you just have to find a way to scratch across some runs. It's not like the Mariners rotation

is like completely invincible like a year ago. They were awesome a year ago. Yeah, it's good. I don't know how it's lining up for them exactly. I'm trying to go to MLB.com's probables because that's better than ESPN. They're at least four deep, no matter what time. Yeah, I mean, you're talking about Gilbert, Wu, Kirby.

Who's the other one? I never can't remember. Well, Bryce Miller. That's not been that good. Yeah. Go ahead. Logan Gilbert, though, the funny thing about him is, he's always... Castillo, that's who we're forgetting.

Oh, yeah, the guy they traded for that was the big acquisition. Logan Gilbert is like, he gets owned by the asteros. According to ESPN, which can be off, they've got it, Wu, Kirby, Gilbert. Now Kirby, for real analysis here, are you ready for it? Seriously, punchable face. He destroys the Astros. Not this year, not this year. He's been shaky the last few times he's gone out.

He didn't destroy anybody this year. How many times have you heard this guy's been shaky? Oh, he's been not been good. And then he comes out and throws like seven innings of one run ball against the Astros. Well, yeah, but to be fair, when that happens to the Astros, it's always a no-nameer with like a 70RA. Well, it's 446 for Kirby. Yeah. he looks like he's been hurt half the year that's what he looks like

okay or coming back from injury I hope you're right I have to be here it's over Astros need to win two out of three at the minimum of course coming up this weekend but I mean I feels like they could have continued to throw in the towel and I will continue to bang this drum as well if they win this division Joe Spada needs to be your American League manager of the year which has to be in that drum I'm just saying

I just don't think he's good. 19 guys on the aisle at one point. Nobody cares about the Astros. You've got no Josh Hater. You've got no Yoron-Alvarez. I'm well aware. You're talking to A-hole East Coast bias voters.

They hate the Astros already if they're healthy. They're not going to give... He might get like a... He'll get a vote from like tags, somebody local. Well, he's got my vote. That's all that matters. And I'm sure he appreciates it. They're six and a half behind the bullet.

Blue Jays right now who are leading the way in the American League. But I mean, come on, man. It's just, I don't even know how the heck they're even winning the last couple of games. The Astros? Yes. I mean, I was at Monday night's game. And I said this yesterday at Wex. Zach Cole.

I was, yeah. But I was like, you know, and I don't think this necessarily applies as much to baseball because nothing applies traditionally sports-wise to baseball. They were up to nothing on. that scored run by Alvarez where he put his leg on backwards. But like that's the first inning, okay? He just goes down. You see him go not only to the dugout, he's going to the clubhouse and you know it's bad.

He had to be helped out to the clubhouse. And then they're like two innings later. They were down three to two. How's the team going to respond to this? You know, because that's the guy that came back and was like the best, you know, there's whispers that Mr. Perettis could be back this weekend. Yeah. Well, I'm not super confident in that.

Well, Dana Brown's comments on Sunday where... D.H. Where it's a long shot, but we're targeting this weekend. Like, okay, we'll see. You guys spotted V-A-H-N-N-H-N-H-N-H-N. He phrased it, like, outside chances this weekend? He said, long shot, yes. Long-shot.

He said they're targeting the Seattle series, but it's a long shot. I don't know. We know Dana Brown can be optimistic in these situations. We know, which I love, but also he can fall short of those expectations when he's always optimistic. Just saying. Yeah, I... I'm not saying. I'm just saying.

You know what I'm saying? The thing is, like, I know Cal Raleigh's hitting all these home runs. I mean, I've never once been like, ooh, Seattle. You know, there's teams where you just deep down, you might not say it publicly. You might not say it out loud, but they worry you. Seattle has never, ever, ever worried me this year. You can say they don't worry you. They're leading the division.

They've won 10 games in a row. And? Well, and that's pretty much all you need to know. And they choke the way they lead earlier this year to a team that was basically fielded half of Sugarland Cowboys, Space Cowboys. And they've scored 23 runs. in their last two games. Well, who have they played?

Well, the Angels and the Royals. Ooh. Okay, well, angels, yeah. And let me guess. Ooh, do the Angels and the A's, and then the Astros lose to them? Let me guess. The Braves before that, where they piled up a bunch of runs on them. It was the Cardinals.

I thought they played the Braves. Yeah, the Braves before that. They got swept by the Raids before that, but they're on a 10-game win streak. Astros have played bad game. You know the longest win streak they've been in all season for the Astros? Five is correct. Yeah. five twice. That's what happens when you're a 500

team. So they've played a lot of bad teams. They're 500 outside of the month of June where they were awesome. That's where the ayes have been. And that's why I'm going to say I'm a little bit concerned. I still think they can win. I still think, man, it's hard for me to say they will with Yordon down now. But even as the two days ago, it's like, yeah, they're still going to win the West. They're still going to win it. Now, I mean, how many more hits have to keep coming?

Where I'm losing my confidence. I think they're one away from the MLB record, which was set by the Yankees in 2019, of 19 guys on the IL, I think it was the record. Yeah, they had up to 19, I believe, at 1.8 starting pitchers. I don't know where exactly what the numbers are. Think about this. If they put Yordon back on the IL, I don't know if that counts because he's the same guy. Oh, don't ask Joe about that.

Oh, gosh. What was that about yesterday? Can we play that when we come back? We'll play that when we come back if he did not hear it. Joe getting a little upset with his good friend, Chandler Rice. It was good. Or one of our callers called, getting upset at that. kid, Chandler Rome, as a caller

said. All right, Larry, we'll get to you. You guys want to get in, 7-13. Oh, you know how old he was? I guess... Because I called him 27, and he's like, I'm 31. Okay. Well, I guessed 33 earlier on the show today. All right, he is 31 years old. He is not a kid, but it was an interesting

exchange with Joe Espada. We'll play that when we come back. You guys want to get in. You can. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Did you just put what I said? This is going to take some time. I know. I'm wondering for your roster. You're going to play me. I'm sure. Listen, one day at a time, generally. Okay? I'm not going to give you days,

weeks. What we're going to do next? You're just going to have to sit down and wait, okay? Are you like me? And listen, I wasn't standing there and I haven't seen a video of this. It just felt unnecessary in that moment. There's a couple of things

at play. Good. The Astros, first of all, first and foremost, The Astros bring this on themselves with the way they've talked about injuries for the past, I don't know, decade. Secondly, he asked a perfectly logical question. He didn't say, when's he coming back?

He said, is he going on the IL? That's important because it means the difference between day to day or 10 days, 15 days into the season in that case. Or if you're listening closely, you can hear Chandler say, yeah, I'm just trying to see if you guys are playing a main short. Yeah. I mean. Because then.

Okay, if he's not playing for a significant amount of time, I mean, I know they don't have exactly the best reinforcements, but why is he taking a roster spot? Exactly. When you're trying to win the division here, it's just odd. I don't know why they're so weird. Very practical question. Astros are weird.

Somebody gets hurt. You ask if they're going on the I.L. And Joe Spott is like, listen, we're not going to do that. We're going to go over there. We're taking it one day at a time. So I guess we'll see if Yordaun Alvarez is going to hit. hit the IL or what's happening with that or if they're trying to give it a couple

maybe they're going to try to give it a couple days see how he's feeling and then make a retroactive IL move. That's what I would figure is going to happen. Can we think about a scenario because it's very real and it's actually probably going to happen so we might as well go ahead and do this.

You know that both the Astros and the Texans are now weird about injuries because the Miko's... Yes they are. Ask about Joe Mix and see how that goes for your day. but when, not if, but when Kevin Durant is on the shelf with some nagging ankle, knee, whatever injury, because it's going to happen this year. I fully expect it. All right.

That's why I don't expect to see him in any preseason games. Which I'm okay with. How do you think EMA will handle that? Because I think that EMA, he's such a, he's like a man's man. He's a straight shooter about everything. Very straight shooter. Love having him on interviews. Not that Joe's spot is very good too

Is it tough? Yeah With no EMA? It's easy Oh okay I thought you were saying No I'm being serious You can ask him anything

He didn't care Yeah He does not care And he doesn't care Exactly I love EMA Like you're like you're sitting there You know how this is

You're like okay We have to ask this question What was it last year It was like Cam Whitmore Came out and said a bunch of crazy stuff I'm like well I don't know if EMA is gonna get mad But we have to ask this question

You ask him about it He's like yeah I saw it I don't know what the heck's going on Like he'll just he'll just answered. He doesn't care. Very matter of fact. It's awesome. You know who was kind of like sneaky, difficult? I don't want to say difficult,

but I can't really put my finger on what the word is. That that interview we did with Rafael Stone was he was fine, gave great answers, but it was just, he was a little bit of like, it wasn't like pulling teeth, but it certainly wasn't a free

It wasn't Darry, let's put that way. Diplomatic of Darry. Yeah. Kevin Durant's one. I'm the best. We obviously like what he brings. Go in the other room and call in on a phone so it sounds just like him. It's insane. And I still can't.

I think yours is better than Gordy at this point. You know, it's not a competition. I'm not here to compete. I'm here to just give good content. Well, not here in 2025 now that he's long. I'm here to give good content. Anyways, thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, some guys are more forecoming than others. And that's just impersonality. That's people you meet in your day-to-day life. It just is what it is and some guys are going to be more guarded. For example, Dusty Baker, I mean, anytime, you know, you would ask him just like, hey, I remember the whole Yinerdias versus Martin Maldonado thing? I was like, hey, what does Yonaldi? Dusty's last stand? What does Yonardias need to do to earn more playing time?

I mean, I put it in a very diplomatic way. And he's like, I think I know more than you guys. And I was like, okay, well, relax, Dusty. Obviously, you're going into the Hall of Fame. You got 2,000 hits or 2,500 hits, whatever it was. World Series champion, I'm just asking you a question that needs to be asked. Like, don't be so offended. And I don't think Joe really gets offended. He doesn't normally.

And so that's why, I mean, especially somebody he works with every day with Chandler, it was kind of a little bit surprising to hear Joe take that tact with Chandler Rome there. Yeah, I don't, it's not ideal. And Chandler, to his credit, he's a lot like he may. He just does not care about anybody's feelings. He's trying to do his job and he feels like you're making his job more difficult. He's going to say it. Now, I don't think that was this situation.

I don't think, for all intents and purposes, I think he has a good relationship with Joe Espada. But it is, I know it's been trying at times, and particularly with the medical staff. By the way, I'm sorry, but like, can we just hit the reset button in that aspect of the organization this off season? Is that too much to ask for? I don't know, Jeremiah. I don't know the staff. I'm not sitting here trying to get people fired. But come on, dude.

Yes, you are. Well, I mean, how many injuries do we need to have of the head scratching variety? Like, how does this happen? I'm going to say something crazy. I'm not a doctor and I don't know. You're right. It looks suspicious for sure. On the outside, neither one of us are.

Not having a medical degree, not looking at anything. It seems like they're rushing guys back and or misdiagnosing things. Like if one pitcher came back and then left with elbow influx, after a years-long rehab. That'd be one thing. We've had multiple guys have this happen this year. Spenceria's back. Just kidding. He's gone.

Louis Garcia's back. Just kidding. He's gone. Lance McCullors is his own category. Again, I will say, I'm not a medical doctor. On the outside, it looks bad, but that is a very uneducated opinion on my part. And I understand, and we can all say we can all have our opinions, but we truly don't know. And, yeah, I wouldn't be shocked at all if there's some sort of changing of the guard with training staff and or strength

and conditioning staff and or hitting coaches we talked about a lot, especially depending on what happens. I mean, the pressure is on in these last 10 games or so for everybody in the organization. I know what I would do if I own the team. What would you do? Well, it's besides that. I would bring back

A.J. Hinch in a heartbeat. Okay, that's not happening. Oh, really? You want to make a bet right now? Yes. What do you want to bet? Okay, you think it's going to happen. A.J. Hinch is coming back to Houston win. Before his career's over. I'm not going to say, okay, before his career over is over. I wouldn't necessarily bet against that. You think the Tigers are going to win the World Series in the next two years? Why would the Tigers let him go? Aren't they about to win their division? Okay. What if he wants to be here? Do you ever think about that? Okay. That's possible.

Put it this way. If tomorrow, Jim Crane was given the choice, you can bring one back, but only one. Jeff Luno or A.J. Hinch. I would imagine it would be Hinch because Luno has been out of baseball for a while. And he sued you. This isn't about Jim Crane wanting to or not. He doesn't want to bring back Jeff Luno. But I think it's a mutual interest.

It's based on what I've heard. I could see that. But I mean, what are you going to do? Trade for him? You might not have to. Who is the last manager to get traded for? Ozzie, uh, Was I Zagian?

I think he was traded for him? Did the White Sox trade for him? To Miami? I think you're right. I forgot about that. I forgot about his Miami chapter of his career. I would have to go back and look at that. I mean, okay, I'm not going to say it's the craziest thing, but I just think, I mean, that's going to cost you.

Why would the Tigers agree to that? Unless his contract's up and he's a free agent. Is his contract up? It's not after this year. I know that. I don't know what the stat is. I just know that it's not after this season. Because he signed an extension like fairly,

I want to say like after 20, There could be mutual interest, but it feels like that would feel like a long shot to me, but hey, clearly you know more than I on the matter. Now, I would absolutely back the Brinks truck up for Jeff Luno. If anybody could fix this mess at 10. The roster's a mess.

Think about after this season. Think about where they're at. They're a mess. They've got to trade somebody on the big league roster just to figure it out. You can't just move pieces around. Or you figure out some second base with either a one-of-paradis

Correa or Pena Okay, so Jose Altuva is your everyday left fielder And Yordon's your everyday DH Oh, you would mix them Yeah, half and a fish Flip them, yeah They've been playing Yoron more in left field Than I think they anticipated when he came back

And that's because Jose Altuve I mean, don't look at the advanced metrics For the worst second baseman in football And don't look at the advanced metrics For the worst left fielder in baseball At least his pop out last night was productive You're going to see one guy on there twice. It's not.

I hate it. You know what? He was scalding hot for a while there with a bat. Yeah, I'm just talking about it in the field. But in the field, yeah, that's the whole reason this is even an issue. All right, we've got to take a break here. It is the bottom of the hour here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. When we come back, good conversation with Brian Bogussevick.

That is coming your way. We're with you until 2 o'clock. So make sure you get some more Astros talk coming your way next here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. A great conversation earlier today with Brian Bogusevick, day guest here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I wanted to bring you guys some of that. You can find the full conversation sports talk 790.com.

But here is Bogie earlier today with myself and Chris Gordy talking about your Houston Astros winners of their first two games in the series against the Rangers. You know what? It's kind of always that way. You see guys slip all the time and

you know it's kind of like damned if you do, damned if you don't. You don't want Yordon sliding your wrist, you know, jamming your into the batter's box. Batters box is a little bit harder than the field, you know, sliding into second base or something. But at the same time, you're running full speed and you step on home plate and you see guys slip all the time.

And that just, that was nasty one. Like there was, there was a good replay, you know, right in on his foot. And you saw, you know, go all the way over on it. That was a nasty one. We had Joe's spot on yesterday. He talked about like guys towling off home plate or something. Like, can you explain that to me? Like, is that something guys?

is hitters do that before the first inning or something like that? Because the field's all wet, obviously, from the grounds crew wetting everything to start the game. Yeah, they spray down the battered boxes and everything. And obviously, home plate gets wet. But it'll get wiped down. You'll see throughout the course of the game, the umpire will come out and wipe it down or catchers will kick the dirt off of it. It's just, you know, it's kind of like a necessarily serious evil, right? you've got this flat, slick, hard surface right kind of in the middle of the action.

It's not ideal. I'm sure Major League Baseball has explored better options. But, you know, if you change the material and then somebody steps on it and their cleat catches in it and they, you know, roll an ankle or twist the knee on top of home plate, then you're going to have everybody screaming about that too. All right, Boggy, you're reading between the lines of what Joe Espada said yesterday. is there any hope of perhaps your not? I mean, it feels like with two weeks left in the season, we're not going to see him back in a regular season game, but do you think it's possible?

Deep playoff run, he could be back? I think it's possible. I don't know if it's likely, but, I mean, anybody that's played basketball, watched basketball, covered basketball, you see these ankle injuries all the time, and there's about as wide a variance on an ankle sprain as any injury you can have.

And once the swelling goes down and the pain kind of subsides, then you can figure out more of a timeline how long it's going to take to strengthen it up. And you see sometimes guys bounce back in, you know, a couple of days or a week or sometimes it's weeks into months. So there's really no way to tell right now. But, yeah, I think there's probably an outside chance that it's possible, but, you know, to put a percentage on it, who knows? These things, you have no idea when a guy rolls an ankle.

You as a former hitter, how much does the ankle matter in the box? We know, obviously, we're out of the box, running the bases. You got to have a good ankle, but how much does that affect the swing? How much does the ankle matter there? Yeah, actually, probably more so than it does running. You know, running is straight line, you're up on the balls of your feet, and you're kind of under control. When you're talking about hitting in the batters box, it all starts from the ground up.

There's a lot of force put into the ground. You're digging your cleats in. There's a lot of torque. You have to really like break through the dirt as you turn and transfer all that power. And if your ankles are weak, it's, you know, certainly going to affect your swing from a power production standpoint. It's also probably going to affect you mechanically as you try to overcompensate. So, yeah, I think, honestly, it will probably, it will probably be easier to get, back into a scenario where you can run in a straight line decently earlier than you're talking

about being able to take 100% full speed swings. Brian Bogussevich was here on a sports talk 790 and that's all depressing. So let's get into something a little bit more uplifting. Zach Cole been pretty good for the Astros over three yesterday. Before that he had the big home run as he replaced Yordon Alvarez. What have you seen from him? and I was especially impressed by the home run where it was the four seamer top of the zone

where pitchers liked to pitch and he got around on that one. Yeah, that was actually, that was a good pitch. That wasn't a mistake that Jack Leiter made and Jack Leiter was in a groove and had some good stuff. So, you know, you start seeing a guy who can get on top of somebody's best pitch

at the top of the zone. It's pretty impressive. He's got tools. I mean, he's bigger and stronger than you kind of think. He's twitched. witchy and explosive. He's got really, really good bat speed. He can catch up to a fastball. I think the thing that I've probably been most impressed about, though, is, you know, the hits that he's gotten that aren't the home runs.

The RBI base hits, shooting the ball the other way, he's handled some at bats pretty well, getting down in the count, fighting back, laying off of tough off-speed pitches. You know, sometimes you think a guy in that situation, a young hitter whose main tool is, power and bat speed is going to come out there just hacking, but it's been pretty high quality at bat, which gives you more hope to maybe this is somebody who can be helpful throughout the course of a couple weeks and into a playoff push, and who knows next year, rather than just,

hey, this is a guy who was swinging a hot bat at the minor leagues. Let's ride it out for as long as we can up here in the big leagues, you know, and then we'll move on. The big question, Brian, we've had from a lot of folks, you know, just bounce around town. People will go, hey, what do you think? You think you got any chance? All this kind of stuff.

And my answer I'm giving to them now is this is the playoffs, right? I mean, like with what Seattle's doing right now, 10 in a row is absolutely stupid. But we'll see what the Astros could complete the sweep tonight of the Rangers. But Maders will play another game tomorrow against the Royals. You'll know where this thing is. Are you a game back? Are you, you know, two games back, whatever, going into this weekend. But, man, you talk about the importance of.

series. How crazy is this weekend going to be with Seattle coming in here? Basically, they're tied, season series, tied five and five. I mean, this is the playoffs right here. Yeah, this is the real deal. This is every pitch matters, every inning matters. There's no, you know, we

spend six months talking about the big picture of baseball and things will level out and you just keep making the right play and you'll be fine over time. This is like, trust your gut, take some chances, roll the dice and whatever you have to do. I mean, you could tell by the way the games are being managed this game this series with the rangers on both sides

you see the amount of moves being made pitching changes being made you know both managers playing matchups from a pinch hitting standpoint guys coming in and out of the lineup on a day to day basis this is real baseball this is playoff baseball and i mean you know joe is spotta essentially emptied the clip yesterday and did everything he could to secure that win it took every bit of Brian Abray you and, you know, is he probably not available today? Yeah, sure, but it doesn't matter because you had to get that game yesterday, figure out today, today. So, yeah, I mean, it's playoff baseball started this week here in Houston. There you go, Brian Bogusevick with some conversation. You can find it in full Sports Talk 790.com. Great stuff of bogey every Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Appointment setting radio. Don't forget. All right, quick break here on the bad time of the show with Ross. Adam Clinton is hanging out. Matt Thomas will be back tomorrow. Final segment of the show is coming up after this quick break. Playing some of Adam Clanton's favorite music. Coming back from break here. You ask, why are we playing?

My gosh. You know how I found out about this this morning? I heard it from the other room as my wife discovered it. Oh my God. Go ahead. Cardi B's knocked up by Stefan Diggs. Congratulations to Stefan Diggs and Cardi B.

Kid has no chance. They are expecting a child. All the best to them. Well, the childhood at the very least be financially stable. Maybe. You would imagine. Why not? I don't know.

People that make a lot of money spend it all all the time. Look at Antoine Walker. Got to make a gazillion dollars. Broke as a joke. And he's just one example. Well, I'm going to say yes. Antoine Walker, that's a random pool.

I just remember him being like, because he was one of the more... He had a massive gambling problem and he owed like $50 million for blackjack debts. I mean, Charles Barkley has a massive gambling problem. Like Bruno Mars. Isn't who, which casino is holding Bruno Mars hostage because he's

in a big debt with them? Was it the MGM? I think it's the MGM. I think is the MGM. He owes them like. And he's like having to work it off with performances. Like think about that. He had to do like 300 cons. And get back out there, Bruno. Yeah. You're still out, buddy.

Think about if you got in big, you know, to whoever. And you couldn't sing or dance or whatever he does. Well, then they crack your knees. Yeah. You ever thought about that? And since you and I love mobster movies. Yes, we do. What does it really accomplish, though?

It doesn't get them the money they need. It sends a message to the others if they don't pay. It's about making an example. Sometimes I want the money. Sometimes you got to make an example out of them, all right? You remember the other day, when I tagged you in that thing on Instagram? Yes.

Joe Pesci? Yes. He told him, what if I were to just put your head through that hole in the glass right there? Yes. Oh, wait. Was it that one? Yeah.

And then magically the money appears out of his left coat pocket. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it's just that one. When he's collecting, I got you. I've never seen a guy that's like four foot seven. Be so intimidating. That's from Casino, which is underrated, by the way. Sharon Stone?

It is like three. A, looks amazing in that movie. B is completely psychos. She's every guy's worst nightmare of like the worst case scenario could happen. Yeah, but see, that was Athe Rothstein's fault. Yeah, she told him. He created that monster. She told him he didn't want to get married. I mean, anybody that is going to still be sneaking around with James Woods behind your back,

probably not the marriage material you're thinking of. They're at their wedding and she's calling him in the other room. Crying on the phone. Oh, man. What a great movie. Yeah. What a great film. I ain't guys' heads were putting vices.

I mean, all sorts of stuff. Yeah, it was good. With Tony Spalachra. Wait, Tony Spalantra was the real guy and his name was what in the movie? I forget. But the best part of that scene is Joe Pesci can't believe

who he basically got his eyeball squeezed out for. He's so mad about... You did this for him? Yeah. That's great. So great. All right, what were we talking about?

Congratulations to Stefan Diggs and Cardi B. Yeah. They are expecting a child. and I am wishing them the best in all of their future endeavors. Texans legend, Stefan Diggs. Texans, absolutely. Put him in the ring of honor. Why not? One of the all-time greats.

The bar's low. How low is the bar? It's only two people, right? Right. A player and a former owner. JJ Watt and Andre Johnson. I mean, players-wise. Oh, yeah, that's right. Andre is in there. Andre was first, wasn't he? Yes.

Yeah, he was the first one. Then it was JJ. Yeah. And then now it's Janice. Oh, that's right. They did add... No, no, they did they did Robert C. Yeah. Janice might be next. I would imagine.

Carrie McNair, probably not going to be put in there. 50% of your four members of the Ring of Honor are former ownership. That's... Who else is going to go in there? I mean, after 25 years, shouldn't you have more than two players? D'Amico Ryan's could make it in there? Well, maybe not. Things keep going the way that they are.

I don't know if he's going to be able to make it in there. Do you still... Yeah, just come on in. Who cares? Do you still believe in Domeko Rhymes? We're going to folks over at big city wings. Big city wings. I believe he's a good defensive coach, yes. I still believe in him as a defensive coach.

But when you give up 25 first downs and your offense can't do jack, your defense is going to wear down at the end of games. So let me ask you this. Is this kind of like the situation where, remember Mike DeAntony was an offensive genius, but he had to hire Jeff Bezdelic as a defensive coordinator? Is this like the opposite of that for the Texans? Well, it's like, you know, Andy Reid is the offensive guy, and then Steve Spagnolo is a defensive guy.

If you're going to bring in an offensive mind, it needs to not be the two Jemokes that have been here since he's been here. Well, Bobby Sloak wasn't a Jemoke the first year he was here. He was a genius and he was getting all these head coaching nods and all that stuff. You need better players. That's because their offensive line was better. Nick Cayley looks a lot smarter when you can actually hold, the offensive line can hold pressure,

when guys are actually getting on the same page, and when you can have a running back that doesn't have 17 knee surgeries and his knees are held together by bubblegum, and his name is Nick Chubb. McGiver got a hold of him? Yeah. It's paper clips and duct tape and bubble gum holding Nick Chub's knees together. And you don't have much of a running game. You don't have any pass catchers outside of Nico Collins.

He scored a touchdown. And your quarterback has been shaky and inaccurate, and you've got a first-time play caller. Other than that, things are going great offensively for the Texans. Of course, the line had to part like the Red Sea for him to get that opening. It's so bad that people are saying that they let him score on purpose. Yeah, that was, I'm not. There's a lot of people saying it. I'm not saying I don't know.

Tampa Bay gives up the lead. Yes. At that point, there was two minutes left. They had all three timeouts, right? And they had been stopped on the previous eight or nine consecutive drives on offense. And they should have been again because Baker Mayfield was allowed to. I understand. I don't think it happened.

That's complete nonsense. Whoever really believes that is an idiot. Your running back is so bad that people are like, wow, he got that free. They must have let him do that. That's how bad it's been. Anyways, thanks for hanging out. Two games in. Season's over.

Well, it's going to be three games in if they lose this one. But anyways, I digress. Thanks to all of you for hanging out. Thanks to Adam Clanton for hanging out. Thanks to Chris Gordy as well. Thanks for Jonathan Allen and being here for the duration. Thanks to Brian Bogushevick. Thanks to all you called, tweeted, got involved in the show directly.

I do truly appreciate you. I'll talk to you folks coming up at 6 o'clock on the Astros on deck program here on Sports Talk 790. You're home for your shows. Don't go anywhere. It's the A team coming up next.