The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 11-21-19

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 11/21/19Special Guest Host @ChronBrianSmith Myles Garrett accuses Mason Rudolph of using racial slur (11:56)Speculating on the Astros punishment (43:51)Bill O'Brien vs Frank Reich (1:13:47)Dr. Roto's Fantasy Football Feature Week 12 (1:25:47)

Lunch Lodger than life Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show 120 into the show like Matt I guess so 1201 in H-town What's happening?

Lunch Timers It is the Matt Thomas show But there is no Matt Thomas Ross Villariel and Nick Lowe When the Cats Away The Mice will play Matt Thomas is traveling with the Rockets who just lost in Denver last night

and then are heading into Los Angeles. I believe he's already in Beverly Hills, but he's going to be off today. He's going to be off tomorrow. He's just getting far too many spot treatments in L.A., so he is very, very busy. Cannot join you folks today, so it'll be me. It'll be Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle,

who you can find on Twitter at Cron Brian Smith, and it'll be Nick Lowe at Pro Nick Lowe, and I am Ross V. Rial at SportsRV, and if you want to reach us on the phone lines, 713-21-25-790 is the way to do that. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90, and we're going to go ahead and kick it off talking about the grudge match tonight. Yeah, that door doesn't... Yeah, hold on.

Nick's coming to get him. Sorry, we're having some technical issues here at the... of the studio, but let me go ahead and get into John Fascenda mode. as Brian Smith is struggling with the door the Houston Texans the Indianapolis Colts even though they were in Baltimore when John Facinda was talking

and the AFC South didn't even exist it's an AFC South grudge match Deshawn Watson Jacoby Brissette I don't know some other random Texans Darren Fells is out Jordan Aiken's probably one of the Jordan Thomas. So I don't know about you, Brian, how you're fit.

Where do you feel like... I'm still trying to get in the studio door. That's okay. Don't hurt yourself. What did somebody try and come back and take out Adam Clanton or something? That's basically our biggest fear. Okay. There are a lot of old grudges around this place. Not, not me. Not involving money either.

But for some previous host, did you have someone to go a little postal? All right, fine. So if somebody's a little confused, you guys are a little confused. So I'm going to go ahead and give you a little insight. radio, peel the curtain back, as Matt Thomas would say. Up here at our studio, you could usually just, like, for years, I've been here a decade, and you could just stroll through, no problem, you can walk

right into our studio. What is that? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is that a compliment? I think it is. I'll take it that way, because I'm a positive thinker. You can just stroll right in here, but now you need a key card to get into our studio. And that's only happened like... Because I am a fill-ins, sometimes not.

sometimes regular, whatever. I don't have a key card. I open the door and it was like trying to break into Fort Knox. Yeah, you can't break you down this door now without a key card. So Brian Smith, we don't like outsiders. I was about to tell Greg Cook like, hey, there's some food on the other side of this. Why don't you just run head first in? Yeah, we'd be in trouble.

We'd all be in trouble. All right. So Brian Smith is finally in here now that he could get into the broken into Fort Knox, as he said. But I mean, Brian, just wanted to start off talking about the Texans. of course we got rocket surf. We've got the Astro scandal. I'm sure you want to tee off on that a little bit because I don't know that you've been on the airwaves much since that whole

thing has gotten broken down. Matt and I talked about it last Friday during my regular weekly appearance at 2. PM on the Matt Thomas and Ross show. But I think I zoned out. But have we, well you always zone out whenever I call in. But have you and I discussed it in a three-hour platform where we open the call lines

and we bear our souls? No, we have not. But I am. I am Texans Colts, baby. Yeah. Super Bowl. AFC South Super Bowl tonight. It's the Super Bowl. It's the Super Bowl. It's the Super Bowl, but it's really just for the AFC South.

So it's more like the Wheat-Eater Bowl or the salad bowl. I love that some people call this a must-win. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not even going there because I know that you're... Oh, boy. I don't know how that became my thing, but apparently that's my thing. No, it is your thing. Just like, who was it last year that the Astros didn't get?

It wasn't I. Marlon Gazz or Nelson Cruz No Nelson Cruz Just like Nelson Cruz is becoming your thing But no no This is the Norman West win thing to make front of Ross This is the fact that the Texans After they play this game

We'll still have five games left in the season And their last four all are very winnable I don't know how in the world This became a must win for the Texans When they can still make the playoffs easily if they do what they're supposed to in the last four in the last four games. Anyways, that's neither here nor there. That's Matt Thomas reference.

No, that's a pet peeve of mind. That's why that phrase gets overused way too much. Sometimes it is accurate. No, it's not. If it's game two of a seven game series, you still have the first one at home, and you're about to have three straight. Yes, it is pretty much a must win in our modern conversation.

Not 100% pretty much, but this is not a must win. They need to win it. They should win it. They better win it. It's not a must win. They are three and a half point favorites. But yeah, this is definitely, it's, how about this? It's crucial.

It's pivotal. It's crucial. If you want to win the AMC South. Crucial does not mean must win. You got to show up tonight. And this is the thing. I mean, they didn't even get off. The problem is, they didn't show up in Baltimore.

They didn't get off the bus. That was kind of a problem. Or off the plane or off the whatever. However they traveled to Baltimore, they didn't get off the barge. Bill O'Brien's SUV. Bill O'Bill O'Brien drove everybody to Baltimore. If they were on Deshawn Watson bus, or John Madden's bus. That was kind of a party bus.

I don't know what they were doing. John Madden's bus. They were eating turkey legs like two weeks early in the back. They're eating turduckins. I don't know what they were doing, but they didn't get off. Okay. And I think maybe at least the first couple of days on this show, Monday and Tuesday, there was really zero to none Texan buzz.

And now I don't know. I think at least me when I woke up, I'm like, hey, Texans Colts Thursday night. This is a big game. It's a big game. I'm pumped. But I don't know. What is your feeling? Do you think there's a lot of people?

I mean, just judging off your article feedback and Twitter and all that type of stuff, do you feel like the city of Houston is going to all turn their eyes to Thursday at football tonight? This is what I feel like two things are happening right now. Number one, if the Texans lose tonight, people are going to go crazy Friday morning on talk radio. They will immediately want to fire Bill O'Brien, but seriously. Easy show tomorrow if they do. It won't be. Baltimore was embarrassing and insulting, et cetera, but,

We've down that road many times. If the Texans win tonight, you're going to see a lot of, to quote a classic old phrase in 790 parlance. A lot of Texans Karen's out there Friday morning, right? They're going to be like, AFC South champs, you know, all we had to do was win one of these three or last four are easy. Deshaun Watson's great. We did on national TV. Bill O'Brien gets his guys going. They always snap back after a disappointment.

All that crap, right? Ultimately. So that's one of two things that will happen. And the other part, though, and I felt this all season, Ross, and I mean, no offense to any of the interested parties. I just don't feel at all like that Texans fans anymore believe in the team as is, coached as is with the current situation. It's a more exciting team. They put up some fantastic offensive numbers. They should beat the Colts.

Maybe they beat the Patriots. Maybe they go 11 and 5 this year. I still don't feel like fans are at all excited about this team because Baltimore happens, because they can't finish against New Orleans, because of how they showed up against Carolina and Jackson-Biller this season, because those same issues have been going on for six seasons. And ultimately, for all the change, there hasn't been any real change at the top. And so until Bill O'Brien proves it, and maybe it starts tonight against the Colts,

until Bill O'Brien beaks Frank Reich in a game that he has to win, It's just, it's always going to be this back and forth. And you're not going to have that lock-in of enthusiasm you should have about this team. We dealt with this last year. They won nine straight games, and it never felt like fans really got behind this team. I feel like we're looking at the same situation all over again this year. I think so. And I think, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you probably feel like the fans kind of are a little bit right on this.

I mean, until we see them do something and prove us, like, hey, it's like that meme where you see the cartoon and they got a stick and he's poking. is like, hey, come on, do something. That's what we were waiting for against the Ravens. And honestly, last week on this show with Matt, I was like, hey, guys, you can get into the Texans. They're good. I heard you say that. They scored 50 against the Falcons.

Not only did they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, they beat them off. They ground them into the ground, 126 to 3. I mean, that we haven't. But they have not been able to find, even when they won nine games last year, it was mostly against weak teams. They've never been able to find any top level, and I don't mean Patriots, level. I don't mean Super Bowl, but any, you know, first round by level consistency in six years. And so we will see them again tonight. Here's the other thing. If they win tonight,

every rational thought turns to Sunday night football in 10 days and the New England Patriots. And is, you know, there's no way to beat the Patriots. Is there any way they can beat the Patriots? All those conversations. But this is just the loophole this team is in. They're not horrible. They're not great. They're not a Super Bowl contender. They have a fantastic, quarterback who's actually had a couple of disappointments this season until fans see what they want to see, which is a consistent contender coached by Bill O'Brien, which they've never seen this far. They're never going to fully buy in.

And that's why we're in this weird malaise that we're in right now. And I think the word you use there is pivotal is consistent. That's what separates good from great. That's what separates average from good. I mean, if you can be, I mean, any quarterback, we've seen any random quarterback, Kyle Allen, throw four touch. in his first start. But it's about consistency. It's about doing that in a game in, game out basis. We've seen Deshawn Watson do spectacular things and throw six touchdowns against

Seattle Seahawks in his rookie season and make all these spectacular plays. But then we've seen stuff like on Sunday where he's holding onto the ball too long. Which he's been doing, which he's been doing for three seasons. One of the worst interceptions I can ever recall seeing him just firing it into the defensive line. Which he's been doing, he'll be great for seven games and then he'll do stuff like that randomly. And you're like, this guy's the number 15, quarterback in the NFL right now. And then he'll just show these flashes and make these plays that only, you know, a couple of players in the history of the league can ever make. Right now, I'd say it's Lamar Jackson and Sean Watson. Right. It's just, it's just the consistency hasn't been there

from the Texans and that's what I think the fans want to see. What do you guys feel like it's going to happen tonight, Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts, a big time AFC South matchup and how interested are you? 713-212-790 the phone number 7-13-2-5-790. It is the Matt Thomas show until 3 o'clock. We got a lot of stuff to get to. We're getting to the Rockets losing last night against Denver. Now a big one coming up tomorrow against the Clippers. I haven't even talked about the, haven't even touched on the Astro scandal with Brian.

Definitely want his thoughts on that. So everything you guys is on the table at 7132-1-2-5-790. He tweets to at SportsRV and at Cron Brian Smith. Matt Thomas Show continues after this short break. Don't leave Matt Thomas in your car. Take him with you. Download the free iHeartRadio app for your phone at Sports790.com. Just remember you'll have to feed him.

Welcome back Matt Thomas show with no Matt Thomas. He continues to be traveling. You know what he's doing right now, Brian. Brian Smith, Houston Chronicle here, filling in with me, Ross via Real. Find us on Twitter at Cron Brian Smith, at SportsRV. You know what he's doing? He's living the fancy Matt Beverly Hills lifestyle right now. I saw his tweet.

He's already tweeting out about talking with Adam Sandler. He's probably had like a six. $67 avocado toast. Wait, I mean, he just, no, literally, he just tweeted about what he's doing. I know. And he said he met Adam. No, yeah. Yeah.

He said he met Adam Sandler. And he's a big Rockets fan. I'm sure, well, he's probably only making up half, the second half of that. And I'm sure he probably, you know what he did? Hey, Matt, I know you're listening. Are you still drunk? He probably just stalked him at a urinal and then says he met him. Or he met David Spade and he thinks it's really Adam Sandler.

There was, uh, there was. He talked about meeting. No, he had David Spade on one time. It was really awkward. I would bring this up to Matt's face and I actually have on air before, so I don't feel bad talking about this. He had David Spade on because David Spade was coming. He was like a Houston Improv or something like that, and he had him on.

And he was, the first thing Matt brought up was talking about himself driving in Hawaii and finding out that Chris Farley had died. He was like, hey, David. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Matt Thomas told David Spade that? Yes, a story about himself that had been. Nothing to do with anything. This is why David Spade probably hates human beings because every time he goes out of his,

you know, condo or his house, somebody tells him some story about Chris Far, you know, and you're just like, I can't even live my life or something like I used, oh, it was 3 a.m. and I was Stone and I was watching your show. I was watching reruns every show. And he's like, people are stupid. Yeah. So like the, that was like right out of the game too. Matt Thomas, I love you, but that's the, why would you ever do that?

Right. It was like David Spade on the Matt Thomas show. Hey, David, remember that time your best friend died? That was crazy, right? And that's so Matt that he makes it about himself. Oh, I didn't say that. Oh, my gosh. Hey, Matt, we're making fun of you.

And also somebody tweeted me, by the way, that we need to liberally use all the Matt Thomas drops I have. So we're definitely going to take... Oh, it's on the next two days. This package can't be that big. You like it hard. She likes it soft. Matt, your response to me talking about you and David Spade.

All right. You're an idiot. Oh, that's not very nice. Okay. No, we're reunited. We often do this during the summer when we're filling in. This is actually, this is good for you because normally when they call you to come in, it's like the middle of July. Trust me.

I know. Or it's Christmas. I know because I say yes and I have to do it and I have to fill three hours of talk time, which I can do. Right. It's like New Year's Day and there's literally nothing happening in sports unless you want to talk about like boxing day in the Premier League or something. This is this is cake and easy money. And then I'm reminded, I'm like, man, radio guys have the easiest lives in the world.

Oh, it's, they don't have to do any research. They don't have to report. Wait, that's not true. They don't have to ask any questions. They can just go on the air and say Darren Fels is out when he might not be out. Hold on. There's no zero accountability. Dr. Roto told me that.

And apparently that's wrong. Sorry, somebody tweeted me. I don't think Darren Fels is out, but Dr. Roto said that. You come in for like two or three hours. You talk, you go home. I mean, what is that? I urinated into myself. Oh, geez.

And if you're Matt Thomas, you just get to cross-promote everything. You're like, UH, University of Houston, my clothes, my 30,000 followers on Twitter at SportsMT. You know, it's just, it's a constant you. And there's not a lot of work. And then it's a Texans game day. Then it's even easier. I will say this. It's not a whole lot of work, but not a.

everybody can do it. I'm actually completely joking. Obviously, it's much harder on the inside than this. Excuse me? She's in a doggy style position. Excuse me? I've actually, when Matt said that last one, I was listening. Yeah. That's when he was talking about Miley Cyrus or something, right? Yes, it was very, I almost, I almost crashed because I started laughing so hard. Matt, what are you doing with your free time? If I didn't have anything else going on in the show, I would probably look at Red Tube. Okay. Oh, oh, hey, in all seriousness, because we're having a lot of fun. We have some breaking news. Oh, really?

I'm serious. Really? Breaking news. And this isn't... No, no, no, no. No, this is real. No, this is real. Just look on the television.

This is going to blow up. Miles Garrett accuses Mason Rudolph of using racial slur before brawl. This will blow up. Ooh. So, this just got spicy. See, that is breaking. And this has nothing to do with Yasmani Grundal

signing with the White Sox, so I know Astros' Twitter wanted to fill in the catcher spot for four. years $73 million, which is a ridiculous amount of money for a 31-year-old free agent catcher. This will blow up. And here's my first thought, Ross.

It maybe it's true. I don't, we weren't there, right? We don't know. There's no way to, there's, well, he's got two linemen right there. Here's the thing. Why the hell is this coming out? A week in a chain, no, exactly a week later. A week later.

Why is this coming out a week later? He's been interviewed multiple times. He's been indebted. definitely suspended his career and his legacy are already on the line. Why would you know, like, and I will not regress this. Why would you say this a week later? You play in the national football league. You're on national television. You're going to say this, but you're going to say it a week later? This, I, I honestly, and I'm not trying to do like, blah, blah, blah, take. I mean, honestly, like, why would you say this a week later? I honestly don't know what to make of

this right now. You hit him with his helmet. You, you, you could have been at his life. you've been suspended indefinitely. He's pleading his case before the commissioner to try to find some way. He's got the NFLPA involved. All that's fine. All that, I mean, not the hitting part, but everything else is part of this. And this is coming out from Schefter. He's breaking it right now.

And did he do this publicly? Or is this just part of, is this leaking out as part of the appeal? Or did Miles Garrett come out and tweet and say public? I think that's a key part of it. That's a key part of it. But no matter what it is, he was, he's been interviewed multiple times. He was interviewed post game. He was interviewed at his locker.

post game after it happened and I believe spoke again to reporters. Wow. Okay. How does this come out a week later? Well, there's one or two ways to look at that. He's either telling the truth or he's lying. That's exactly it. So, I mean, if he's telling the truth, I guess it would have to be that he didn't really

want to put this out there. He didn't want to make it part of the news. But now he's appealing the process and maybe he's going there to try to baby save his own bacon or he's completely making it up to save his own bacon. Either way, he's trying to save his own bacon. Right. Bacon is delicious. Wow.

This is not what I expected to be talking about. That's legit breaking news. Yeah, so the story, Adam Schaefter, oh, this is from sources. So apparently Miles Garrett did not put this out. So just looking here on Adam Schaefter's story in an appeal hearing with the NFL on Wednesday, Cleveland Brown's defensive and Miles Garrett alleged Mason Rudolph called him a racial slur just prior to last week's brawl on Thursday night football. sources told ESPN's Josina Anderson and Adam Schaefter

an accusation that Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback strongly denies. So a Steelers' spokesman already said. Mason denies the report of being accused of a racial slur during the incident. He will not discuss this accusation any further. His focus remains on preparation. Yeah, and I just got a tweet from somebody saying Rudolph issued a statement.

It had nothing to do with this. Yeah, Rudolph's statement yesterday didn't have... It had nothing to do with this. This is major. Yeah. And this is big. This is big. So here's one thing that comes to mind. There are a billion microphones on that field.

That was a national TV game. It's NFL network. I believe the games are Fox. Fox or Fox. You have NFL films is always a part of everything in every NFL game. I'm not saying it's possible. But who knows? Maybe someone in that around that area was, was miced up.

But there are a gazillion mics that once you start isolating things and putting in compression and, you know, dealing with the audio EQ, you could hear probably anything that anybody says on that field. I wonder if they can figure anything out. And also you have, you're looking at where the brawl started. You have two Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen in the area. So I wonder what they'll have to say. And this is a straight ESPN story. You know, in an appeal hearing with the NFL on Wednesday, Miles Garrett, alleged that Mason Rudolph called him a racial slur. just prior to the brawl.

Okay, wasn't expecting to talk about that, but we can get into that as well. We've got to take a quick break. Here it is the Matt Thomas show. You want to get in. We got one phone line open. And I'll say it again. Why does that come out a week later when his, not just a season, but really his future as an NFL player in terms of how he's perceived, how long this sticks with him is on the line. 713-212-5-7-90.

Matt Thomas Show continues after the short break. That's a line drive on one hop. This is George Springer. Houston's home for Astros baseball. It's Sports Talk 790. Oh, boy. Miles Garrett and Mason Rudolph. The case continues to go deeper.

I was already tired of this stuff. Now it's just going to blow up all over here. Here on Law and Order. Let's see. It's not special victims unit. Law and Order Thursday night football. In the NFL and Miles. Miles Garrett has made some accusations.

Did Mason Rudolph utter a racial slur at Miles Garrett during the incident? I will say, Ross, that was very well handled by you and Nick on a production level. This is no joking matter. This is serious, serious business. The most serious. Good job, Nick. So, okay, I'm going to be completely truthful and honest. Yeah, go ahead. It's more of your show.

mind. So first of all, I mean, it's either he's lying or he's not. There's really going to be no gray area or, or I mean, I guess the only gray area would be he misheard or something like that. But there's two offensive line. Look at the brawl's right here on TV. There's multiple offensive linemen for on Mason Rudolph's side over there who can either tell the truth and voucher or figure out whether or not he said what he said. So that will have to come out. And then also I'm going to be honest, I just went to look to see where Mason Rudolph was and he's from South Carolina. Not that that means anything.

He played Oklahoma State. But that's... That's a stereotype. That is horrible stereotyping. That's horrible, actually. You should be ashamed. What did I say? I didn't say anything.

You're right. You did just state of fact. Yeah, all I said was he's from South Carolina. If you want to glean anything from that, I'm just going to lay out the facts. He's from South Carolina and with Oklahoma State. So Mason Rudolph's attorney has issued a statement, and there's a bunch of back and forth,

but then he says, so this is Mason Rudolph's attorney. He says, this is a lie. Now, this is a very interesting point. Yes. This false allegation was never asserted by Garrett in the aftermath of the game, never suggested prior to the hearing and conspicuously absent in the apology. And this is a great, this is a fantastic point just from a factual level. I have no idea if he said it or not.

Conspicuously absent in the apology published by the Browns and adopted by Garrett. That's the thing. The Browns issued an apology and Garrett was part of that public. statement apology. This is never going to get mentioned in any of that. It's going to come out a week later. The malicious use of this wild and unfounded allegation is an assault on Mason's integrity, which is far worse than the physical

assault witnessed on Thursday. This is reckless and shameful. We will have no further comment. You got to sue for defamation if you're Mason Rudolph. This is bleeping crazy. That's actually true. That's a great point. No. This is crazy. If you were making this up and this is not true. Somebody is, and then that's a thing, like so much in our modern stupid, crazy contemporary world can be, you know,

gray and gray and gray, and there's fake news and a billion different truths, and nothing's really true. This is either the truth, or it's an absolute lie, one of the two. And that's something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. Hey, hey, Mr. President, you've got

to focus on your own issues right now. You've got some other stuff going on. That's true. I think I see he's got to focus on tweeting is what he's got to focus on. All right, well, we've got somebody who wanted to call in and talk about this, but we had a lot of stuff on it to get to. This kind of just dropped in our app right now. So if you want to get in on it, 713, 2,125-790, the phone number. Alex in the Woodlands here on the Matt Tommy show. What's up? What's up, guys? So I'm just, obviously, this is all hypothetical since neither of them were

my stuff and nobody's coming forward with anything. But let's just, let's just play it out here. Okay, so Garrett is tackling Rudolph. Garrett has his head down. He doesn't see that Rudolph doesn't have the ball anymore. He takes Rudolph to the ground. If you're watching the replay, you can see Rudolph put his foot on Miles Garrett's crotch. Like, I don't know about you guys, but if I'm getting, if I'm getting a guy trying to rip my helmet off, you don't see what his right, what Rudolph's right hand was doing. So you don't know if he was punching Gary. He wasn't punching him in the groin.

Okay, but what's the point? That part's a week old. Okay, so it's a week old. The guy's trying to rip off his head. How do you know that who's to say that Rudolph didn't use maybe a soft A? he's like, get off the I mean, come on. That's like

dropping soft days in here. What? See, I fill in on the Matt Thomas show we start getting Matt Thomas callers. When I fill in, Ross, on Sports Talk 790, like the Texans annually, we raise the bar. We don't have normal

cuckoo Matt Thomas callers. No, that's not true. We raise the bar. We never raised the bar. What was that? Like, I don't need to, we don't need a debate. If you drop. Helmet gate.

dropped a soft A. I did not expect that call to go in that direction. I will be honest. But to the thing, now, first of all, the thing about the girl, yeah, he kind of, he didn't necessarily straight kick him in the groin. It was kind of like, remember when James Hardin got suspended for kicking LeBron James in the groin? And he's kind of like was shoving him away with his foot. And that's basically what Miles Garrett was doing at that point. I will say, I am not going to come in here on the next week of Thursday night football. We got Texans Colts and the Astros and the Rockets. re-bleepin debate helmet gate. Okay, if you're not, if you call in, you're going to get yanked.

We've been through this. We've watched the replay a billion times. This accusation has nothing to do with, did he kick him in the groin? Da, da, da, who was right, who was wrong. This accusation from Miles Garrett absolutely 100,000 percent changes everything about what we have talked about this fart. And as Ross said perfectly, it is either the truth. or it is a blatant lie and there is no in between.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know how much time I want to spend on this, but it kind of just came out. But we can talk about some other stuff. 713, 2,125. 7190, the phone number 713, 2,1, 2, 5. The funniest part about all this to me, and we're watching this in a lifetime, is Josina Anderson, who works for ESPN, is on air discussing this and was apparently part of the source reporting. Okay, but here's the thing. The night of the game, when the actual event happened, and I believe this, you'd have to go pull up the tweets, this was covered by a lot of people. I believe from everything that I'd seen, she tweeted in the live moment.

She was not part of the game. She doesn't play football. She tweeted during the game that something must have provoked Garrett to do this because it was actually, it was out of his character, inferring that Mason Rudolph said, something that you shouldn't say. Really? Yeah. Oh yeah. She also quickly deleted that tweet.

And then she deleted it. You know, infer, like, she didn't come on and say it, but inferring that he said something that you would not say to somebody unless it was some version of what's now being claimed by Miles Garrett. And now she's reporting on it. But she tweeted that in live time when nobody in the world could have had any idea about anything that was set on the field. and then she deleted it.

And act it like it never happened. I had never. Oh, yeah. Pull up Josina Anderson, Miles Garrett, tweet. I put Josina Anserson, delete. See what comes up. Okay. So anyways, that's another interesting part of all this.

She's involved in the reporting, sourced leaked reporting from an NFL hearing, which obviously should be private. Anyways, the whole thing. I'll just, I'll take the high road as much as I can. The whole thing is very interesting. Very, very interesting. Are you saying it stinks? Are you saying you're calling into question?

What Miles Garrett said? No. No. Okay. I just said it's very, very interesting. I think you can call into question. I mean, yeah, I think there are fair points made by the lawyer. The fact that he's saying everything he brings up is valid.

There was no talk about this after the game. There was no talk about this in any sort of aftermath or any apology that was issued. All of a sudden, when it comes time for Miles Garrett, who got suspended indefinitely, at least for the regular season, possibly playoffs and beyond. That's when it comes up. And when he's trying to point to another time in 2013, where Antonio Smith was shown some leniency for the same thing. And as far as...

So really quick, just so we're factual here. This is what Josina Anderson, who works for ESPN, tweeted lifetime, like right when the helmet came off and he tried to hit him. Or hit him. I would... Her tweet, quote, I would bet Miles Garrett will say... I mean, this is so crazy. I would bet Miles Garrett will say

he heard Mason Rudolph call him something egregious Never seen Garrett act like that ever End quote She said that like right when it Ross right after it happened Live TV helmet hits his head And she tweeted it

And now that a week A week later The helmet was bouncing off of Mason's head As she's tweeting that It was tweeted 30 seconds a minute later Right And a week later This is now Miles Garrett's

Save My Career Defense very, very interesting. As Brian Smith says. All right, we're going to take a quick break on that note. We've got a lot of stuff. Let's get into Texans Colts tonight. Yeah, we can, I mean, look, there's a lot of stuff going on. This just happened out of nowhere.

I'm sorry. Dana Hogerson at 1.30. We've got also Dr. Roto coming up at 2 o'clock. Big show. Texans. Huge show. A lot of stuff going on. Huge.

And even though some of you... We need to get in the Rockets. Rockets played at the Nuggets last night. Rockets lost last night. I just took at least two dozen calls on the postgame show here on Sports Talk 790. Okay, that might be a lie. But we'll talk about that as well. Here on Sports Talk 790, Matt Thomas is out.

Brian Smith is in. Ross Villarreal is in. Nick Lowe is in. We'll continue with the Matt Thomas show until 3 o'clock after the short break. Craig Bizjo here, the heart of the order is up right now. Matt Thomas is swinging for the fences here on Sports Talk 790. People want the game played consistent with us. our rules and feel it's important that we figure out exactly what happened here and take

steps to make sure that it doesn't happen in the future by imposing appropriate discipline. Rob Manfred talking about preventing cheating from happening again and Brian Smith here with The Chronicle, Ross via Real, visit a sitting in for Matt Thomas, who has continued to travel with the Rockets hanging out. He's having a spa day in L.A. is basically what he's doing right now. being fancy Matt, doing fancy Matt things. Fancy Matt. That's hashtag. Fancy Matt and Beverly Hills should be a reality TV show.

It's really a match made with it. He would just walk around, kind of cluelessly and amously. Wait, how's that different than any other place? Looking with, I don't know if Matt drinks coffee with, you know, some Starbucks cup in his hand. And just the kind of floating around semi poorly dressed is like the happiest. He's going to like Studio City looking to find like. set of Bold and the Beautiful so he can visit

to try to walk in and brushing him in front of them. It's just the happiest most content fun-loving, cheery guy in the world. You could have someone right down the street getting robbed. You could have a Kardashian gets out of their car.

You could have the high and low of modern America. And Matt would just be in the middle of it all, just kind of walking around, just looking at everything, just very, very happy. I totally agree.

But Rob Manfred and the baseball stuff. So it doesn't really, I mean, just really quick. I'll put you in the spot. Rink, we don't do hockey. rank the three commissioners. Yeah, well, Batman would be last anyways.

He's horrible, right, right, right, right. I will go. Adam Silver 1. I'm putting you on the spot here. Adam Silver 1. Even after China gave? Goddell 3. Yeah, I think Adam Silver has brought a lot of progressive ideas, and I think he's really

open and smart. I actually think, I mean, I think he's an actual smart person. Roger Goodell or me, right, they're all stooges. Goodell is, right. Godell's very smart. Yeah. But he's smart and like, in a social person. A lawyer way. A lawyer and self-preservation type of way.

But anyways, so Rob Manfred is talking about the, all this. You know, I'll just get to let you go, Brian, and basically give you the floor because I've been talking about this for a week, straight on these shows. So just kind of go through. I mean, what do you think? Obviously, this happened. The questions, of course, to what extent it happened? Yes. How deep did this go?

Yes. How long did it go? Did it continue to go after his doctrine that he issued in 2017 during the playoffs? and where do you think that the, what direction do you think the punishments will go? First, some new reporting just coming out. This is happening in Arlington, I believe, where they're having the owners meetings. And Rob Manfred's there. Jim Crane was there yesterday.

There was obviously some talk about Jim Crane having a police presence, which all the owners had. Police presence. Chandler Roams covering it for the Chronicle. Chandler does a great job covering the Astros for the Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at Chandler underscore Rome. This is brand new on Twitter. He said, Rob Manfred said the investigation into the Astros will encompass 2018 and 19, which are the previous two seasons, obviously, as well as 17.

Quote, we will get to the bottom of what we have out there. And then Chandler just tweeted that Manfred said, I am concerned about the impact of technology in and around the field. I've thought about this a lot. I've written about it. I will keep writing about it. I don't know where this is going. I don't believe that Major League Baseball has any idea where this is going.

And often Ross, whether it is an NFL issue, an NBA issue, a Major League Baseball issue, especially in our modern world where there's just endless cameras and media outlets and leaking and sources and on and on and on, usually when you start to open up that Pandora's box, right, a term that's been around for thousands of years. Once you start to open that up, you don't know where it's going to go. I fully believe very strongly, and I won't make some Astros Twitter friends right now. But I also think a lot of Astros fans get it. As somebody who's followed, loved, covered, documented, watched, gone back through all the history as much as I humanly could of baseball. there have been things like this, different levels, different parallels,

but there have been things like this that happened in baseball history since, I mean, you know, go back to the Black Sox scandal, obviously, but in the 50s and in the 60s and in the 70s and the steroid era and on and on and on, right? So there have been these massive game-changing events. And then baseball keeps going and people keep cheating. And that's baseball. It's a stick and a ball and a glove. ways it's a most simple game in the world.

And in our modern era, as all the stats will tell you, it's more complicated than it's ever been. If the Astros blatantly cheated to a degree that was egregious and involved a center-filled camera and potentially now there were reports of, you know,

algorithms and, you know, I mean, crazy high-tech modern stuff out of a, you know, some futuristic Netflix show. like a band-aid. Electronic buzzers people are talking about. Right. Electronic.

But if they did that and Major League Baseball talks to as many people as possible and is a very thorough, unbiased, you know, for the good of the game investigation. And Major League Baseball finds that and they publish it and they document it. There will be and there should be hell to pay. It does not matter if somebody else is doing it. It's one of the lessons you learn when you're five years old. You're supposed to learn. when you're five years old. It does not matter. It doesn't matter if you're in the banking industry

and everybody else is screwing everybody else over. If you get caught, you're going to be in trouble, whether it's politics, whether it's financial, whatever it is. That does not mean, though, or NCAA is the analogy of the dynamics. Perfect. That does not mean, though, that it makes it okay that, and I'm just throwing out names here, that the Red Sox are doing or the White Sox are doing or the Cubs or the Angels. And if everybody's doing it, the major, and to that degree,

right, if everybody's using advanced technology, which man, for him, he didn't come out in the 17th playoffs. He came out during the 17th season. It was Red Sox and Yankees and the eyewatch stuff

because the eyewatches had just become a thing. If everybody's doing it to that level, then Major League Baseball has a massive, and they'll find it if it's there, theoretically, a massive, massive, Mitchell Report-esque scandal that's about to unfold. I don't think they'll be able to find that because there's so much smoke with the Astros.

And I will say this right now. I heard, and see, I can always do stuff on the radio that I can't do, you know, in the paper. I heard about the trash cans and the TV and da-da-da-da-da. I didn't hear about the synon-offer camera, but all that stuff during last. year's playoffs. That's how long this has been going around and making the waves inside. And if I'm hearing about it as somebody who writes about the team, but had, I, and I'm sure I'll get tweets, why don't you write about it?

I had no proof. And I'm dealing with a billion other things. And we, we talked about it internally and on and on and weren't able to find anything. It took a year. So it took a year from that. And I obviously was not the first person to hear about this. So you heard about it in 18 about it going on that season or about it going? I didn't have anything specific.

Right. Okay. That's a great question. Right. Because that's, to me, is the key threshold. Right, right. Are we just talking about 17? If so, in my opinion, if it was egregious, that doesn't make it right either.

There are so many ways to spirals. What is the punishment? They're not going to strip. This isn't the NCAA. They're not going to strip the World Series title. Right. Okay. Barry Bonds was doing reportedly.

seemingly a lot of stuff for a long time, didn't wear the World Series, but he played in the World Series and he has the home run record and, you know, all of those things. You had Yankees players during their most recent dynasty that ended up being tied into all that stuff. This isn't the NCAA. This is, this is professional sports. But the level of tarnishment, if it is really, really legit, who gets, fines aren't enough for me. Draft picks. I don't give a crap about draft pick. The Cardinals lost a couple draft picks during the Correa stuff. They were, what, they were in the NLCS

last year, right? Against the Nats. Wasn't it? Nats. I mean, so much is happening. Nats Cardinals, yeah. Yeah, they were in the NLCS a couple years later. Draft picks, what, like, if this is messing with the legit integrity of the game and they are going above and beyond, and you

can prove it, and you've got multiple witnesses and players and coaches and executives, there have to be suspensions. I think And so, Pinch, Luno, I mean, how are we talking about all that? Even maybe even more. We're speculating. Right.

We don't know. It's unfair for me as a reporter, as a columnist to mention anybody's name like that to float it when I have no idea what Major League Baseball is going to uncover. But there is an organizational accountability that will have to come into play. All those things. So it could go down that path. It could also get on the path of, you know, it's a lot of smoke. and fairly normal fire and everybody's doing some level

and it was just 17. So I said this last week on the Matt Thomas show, I feel just as strongly now, Ross, as more stuff has come out. We don't know right now. And it's on Major League Baseball to investigate this. And this is what Manfred's saying.

He's talking the talk right now. Let's see if they back it up. This has to be fully investigated and they either need to be, I mean, the book has to come down or they need to be cleared or there's a wider Major League Baseball issue the Astros are just a part of.

It's on Major League Baseball to find this because you, no offense, you, Nick, Matt Thomas, me, Astros, Twitter, all the fans that go to the ballpark and buy the jerseys and support the team and have watched this rebuild turn into a baseball city and two world series appearances the last three years. None of us have the ability to subpoena or, you know, get people on the, you know, we can't do that. That's on Major League Baseball, a billion dollar industry. to figure this out. But if they come back and they've got real stuff, then the punishment should be very severe, if it's as bad as some people are making it look. And I think it will be.

And we're going to play some of the Rob Manfred audio from yesterday. Also, to me, one of the key points was him getting asked about punishment. We'll play that next. It's first hour in the books of The Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. That is Brian Smith. I am Ross Villariel. Second hour continues after the short break. Yeah.

Is the Matt Thomas'clock? show. That is correct. It is the Matt Thomas show as we continue here on Sports Talk 790, but there is no Matt Thomas. He continues to be traveling, taking some time off, much deserved, as much as we like to rib one of Matthew Thomas. Mr. Fancy Matt.

We miss you, Matt. He is in Beverly Hills. He's traveling. So we got Brian Smith of the Chronicle. Find him on Twitter at Crime, Brian Smith. Ross, Viorial with you as well. Coming up at 1.30, we got Dana. Holgerson head coach for the University of Houston Cougars.

So make sure you tune in for that. Also in the last segment, talking a lot about this Astros situation. Rob Manfred talking a little bit more today in the owner's meetings. And something that really struck me yesterday, Brian, was the comment. He was basically asked about the punishment. There was related to him the what we've already talked about, the fines that the Cardinals got. The two draft picks that the Cardinals had to cede to the Astros as well. And what type of punishment would a cheater get from Major League Baseball?

I'm not going to speculate on what the appropriate discipline is. That depends on, you know, how the facts are established at the end of the investigation. The general warning that I issued to the clubs, I stand by. I mean, it certainly could be all those things, but my authority under the Major League Constitution would be broader than those things as well. broader than that's the last part broader than la fines broader than draft so that's I think we are talking about

and I will say again if they are ultimately cleared you know they're not going to be perfectly clear but if big picture they are cleared and what they're doing falls with them when everybody is doing you know yeah you you do some type of fine I don't see they're being draft picks and you move on

if it's the other way around as everything I set up in the last segment and it is really bad, not saying it is, not saying it's not. But if it is, you have to go full in. Because if it's as bad as it's potentially made out to be Ross, you are directly affecting the, not just the integrity of a game, the outcome of games. You can't have that. I'm sorry. That's going to piss some asteros. I don't care. You can't, you can't have that. It'd be the same way if it's the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Angels. It'd be the same way if it was an NBA game, an NFL game.

If it's that egregious, you can't have it, especially in our day and age. Yeah, and like you said, we're speculating. We don't know what the punishment is going to be. We have no idea. You can piece together, though. I mean, when you're dealing with incomplete information,

you can kind of look at clues and try to figure out what's going on. I think that that comment right there, it doesn't look great right now. It doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. He's saying, he basically in these comments where he kind of doesn't say anything, but you kind of read the tea leaves. He's saying, we don't want this to happen again.

and basically saying that they must prevent this from happening again, which means we're going to make an example of them. And then also for him saying that these punishments are going to be broader than anything we've seen before, or I have the authority to make them broader. That's on his mind. That was a very interesting comment yesterday. Now, he also could be publicly using his platform,

which people do, to send a message because the investigation is still ongoing and they're talking to more people. And this will play out, and we will know he just Manfred just said today in Arlington that you know he has no timetable he wants it done as fast as humanly possible

but also said yeah we'd love that bit number four spring training it's it's gonna it's gonna be very very interesting that's the term of the day very interesting is definitely the term of the day 713-2125790 your phone number 713

2125 790 Spencer and Kingwood want to talk about this what you got Spence none of much how y'all doing today good how are you man this astro situation first of all

I'm a diehard and I got to admit I haven't been able to really really get back into listening to y'all since the series man this whole month is just I'm a diehawk it's hurt

anytime I see a person with an astro's hat on it hurts I can't lie to you it hurt it's a great point what's on your mind That being said, to y'all's knowledge,

because there's been other cheating scandals throughout baseball's history, steroids, all that other stuff, has there ever been like a World Series or anything like that vacated due to cheating scandals? Like, are we looking at what everybody else is talking at about losing the World Series and having it vacated? There's never been precedent. I mean, there was the 1919 Black Sox, I think it was the Reds that won that World

Series Championship, so they're still on record. To the best of my knowledge, no. Unless we're missing something, there has never been anything close to a vacated. Unless it happened in like 1856 with, I don't know, Abner Double Day and the Brooklyn Excelsior's or something, but not to my knowledge, Spencer. So do you think that at all that this is a possibility?

Do you think that it's that severe that this could be in actuality? It's a great question. I do not believe that. I mean, the precedent that would set, Because, see, that's never happened in the NFL. It's never happened in the NBA. It's never happening in a major league baseball. So, I mean, you are, you would be talking about serious, serious sports, professional sports history.

Number one, number two, then you open another Pandora's box to where, you know, you go back in the last 20 years in the steroid era. Or do we start pulling those? No, but here's what will happen. The Astros nationally will, that's, it's going to, if this is really, if this is really, really, really bad and ends up with major suspensions and on and on. It's going to take them, I don't know when you live that down. And how do you feel about that if it's you, right? If you're a dedicated, diehard fan, how do you feel about that? Was, and I'm not saying he was, was Jose Altuve or Yuli Gueriel or Carlos Correa or George Springer, were they benefiting from all this?

Does everyone in baseball benefit from all this? There's so much to clear up. But whatever the aftermath is, we don't know how this is going to speak. Bill. All I can say, it's fascinating. It's interesting, and it's a very unpredictable time, I believe, if you're an Astros fan. Yeah, I mean, we're just in that middle period, right? I mean, like, five years from now, we're probably not even going to remember this. We just don't know. We don't know what's going to happen. You will remember it if Jeff Luno is suspended for a season. I'm sorry, I just mean, this specific moment in time, I mean, we're going to remember this in between time where we're just kind of in limbo. We're in purgatory. What's going to happen? What's going to come out? It's a great call. And Ross Limbo is the perfect term.

Because we are in total. And the only thing I would not trust, I said this last week, is anybody who comes out and says, it's this or it's not this or this is going to happen. Nobody is in that room with the investigators. Nobody's in the middle of all this. You don't know right now. We are in complete limbo. We have so many more questions and answers. I mean, it's just how deep does it go? how involved was the the whole entire organization? It seems like pretty deeply involved if you're going to believe the email they obtained from Kevin Goldstein to scouts and all that type of stuff.

And like you said, which batterers were even partaking in this because the original athletic story said not everybody was doing it and how long did it go? We just don't know. Well, and here's the thing too. Major League Baseball, you have to do it as thoroughly as humanly possible, but you also have to do it as,

and Manfred said this, as fast as possible. Because here's the thing. Spring training is, I mean, this is baseball. Spring training is not that far away. The winter meetings are coming up,

right? So we're in late November, and very soon, because baseball never ends, you'll have the winter meetings. And so you're going to have players there, and every agent there, and every GM and every coach.

And, I mean, the winter meetings in baseball, to your average fan, they don't really know about them. You're die-hard, like our caller. The die-hard Astros fans, the die-hard baseball fans, that's three days where they basically take over a city and you have, you know, it's, it's one of those major medical conventions.

You know, it's one of those deals. And everybody is there. Scott Boris is there and you're setting up future signings and trades. You're going to have the Garrett Cole sweepstakes. So every time from here on out that Altuve makes an appearance, Kare makes their appearance, they're very likely going to get asked about this. Hey, were you part of this? What did you know about it? It doesn't end until baseball releases.

some type of major investigation and who knows where that's going to lead us. We are in limbo. I'll like you. A lot, a lot of questions. All right. We're time for a quick break here. It is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Brian Smith, Ross, Viori out with you. Definitely got a lot of stuff to talk about. If you want to get in on that, 713, 21257.97. 132-1-2-5-790.

Matt Thomas show continues after the short break. Let's go. Houston's official sports cliche translator. I'm working hard. I'm trying to be a good teammate. I'm trying to go out here every day and do my job. Matt Thomas. Taking it one day at a time.

Welcome back, Matt Thomas Show. Sports Talk, 790. Ross Villarreal, Brian Smith. Nick Lowe. We've got Dana Holgerson, the University of Houston, Cougars head coach coming up here at 1.30 on the show. So make sure you stay tuned for that. We've also been talking a little bit about the Texans Colts

and getting into the nuts and bolts of the Astros and they're what are we going to call this never even got a name right trash can gate trash can gate hmm okay we just don't even have a signal

the signal and the noise it's so hard every time there's some type of thing it's always the gate it's too easy and this was supposed to have ended like five years ago with one of the Patriots deals where I think it was

it was deflate gate and everyone's like okay we got enough with the gates because they wanted to call it Balgazi at that point. Because, if you know, a little history, Watergate wasn't the scan. That was just a place they broke into.

So anyways, but this has been going on for five, ten years. So I will actually say, on the record, we've made it this far without it being a gate because it's so weird and different and mysterious and unpredictable. We're in limbo. I hope whatever this ends up being called in baseball history, sports history,

there's no gate attached to it. I'm so tired of the gate terms. Fine. enough gates then I guess so I've got to tweet also during the break which is pretty good from Iqabad B.C.

I feel like all diehard Astros fans just went through a thorough medical examination are now waiting on the test results. Is it cancer or not Doc? Like you're just waiting. No, that's a great point. Is it okay? I'm waiting here back.

Are we going to lose draft picks? Is AJ Hinch going to be suspended? Is Jeff Luno going to be suspended? Is the team that I support daily and have for years and for some people for decades and for some people Ross, you know, they were fans

when they were losing 100 plus games and they, I mean, you know, I've written so many times about The Chronicle, how people live through this team just like you do in Boston, just like you do in New York, Philly, you know, some people in L.A., Chicago. You don't live with a team

anywhere close to like you live with a baseball team, right? I mean, your baseball team is, even when you're rebuilding, even when you suck, you're sitting around and you're reading about what Carlos Correa does at AA. You're getting so pumped when George Springer gets promoted to the AAA or when George Springer, when there's George Springer Day and when there's Carlos Correa Day, when there's Alex Breggman Day. And then it starts to get good and then everything changes. And you tie in 2017, which wasn't just, as we all know very, very well and is not that long ago.

That wasn't just the year that they finally won the World Series, Ross. That was a year of Hurricane Harvey. I mean, it's so thick and it's so woven in. And for some people, it's been a few years. For some people, it's been 40 years, 50 years. And it's every day, man. It's not just during the off-season. It's not just during June.

It's, you know, every second in October and the lineup that Hinch Post and the announcers on TV, all those things, right? So if it comes back and it's really bad, how do you feel it? How do you react to that? How do you handle that? It's going to be weird.

It's going to be unprecedented. It will be absolutely unprecedented in this city with this team. And maybe it doesn't end up being that bad. I am in no way, obviously, rooting for it, hoping it is. It's just, it's going to be what it's going to be. And we don't even know what it will be, let alone how it gets handled, how it gets processed. One of the biggest sports cliches, it is what it is. That's kind of what, but it's almost in a way like you said, you're watching,

it's like it's our little baby. And we've just seen these Astros grow up from losing three, 100 games or more for three straight seasons. And, oh, like you said, a little George Springer, he's just so grown up so fast. Jose Al-Tubey. When Alex Breggman got drafted. Yulee Gariel has that crazy hair. His crazy Cuban hair. I mean, fans got so offended.

rightfully so in some ways, so hurt, so offended when it wasn't that they lost game seven of the world series and they blew it in the last few innings and we don't even to get into that because that feels 10 years ago now. It was the fact that Garrett Cole wore a Boris Corp hat in the clubhouse while the rest of his teammates were hurt and crying and trying to get, you know, figure out how they're going to deal with this for the rest of the offseason and really the rest of their lives. It was that he wore a hat of his agent because that means that meant very likely he was basically telling you, hey, see you later. I'm out of here. They took so much offense to that. Rightfully so. I'm in no way making fun of them. This stuff is serious life

business, man. And so if major league baseball comes out and said, we did the most thorough investigation since the Mitchell report when we looked into everything, I mean, a congressional, you know, they had congressional hearings. And we found out that this and this and this happened. And this has been going on for years. And this person suspended and da, da, da, da, da, how do you react to that how do you handle that if it's your baseball team it's like if you're like you're a little son like just first got found out he was like smoking weed with his friends or something like and you're like oh my gosh this can't be true or you found out that he's like dealing coke on the side well well i guess we'll see how severe the pun it the the the crime is or he was just having a fun sleepover watching you know

a pg 13 movie maybe he's completely he's completely innocent yeah i was watching our movies at a very young age i didn't but my brother did really really well How old are your brother? He's younger than me. He's two years younger. And how did he start watching him and you didn't? That's a whole complicated family. Oh, deep into the mind.

I don't even know if we want to go deep into the mind of Brian Smith. I didn't. I didn't really watch our movies until, I don't know. I was a teenager. My brother was doing it at a much younger age. My aunt took me to Pet Cemetery when I was like four. I saw Pet Cemetery at the theater. Thanks.

Was that 87? Maybe I was three then. Yeah, so I was like nine years old. So wait, so I did then. We went to the dock. I remember it was the dollar theater in Green's Point off of Greens Road. I used to love the Dollar Theater. I know.

Do they have those? Do they have those anymore? Let's have some fun, positive talk here. We've been way too serious about sports. The Dollar Theater. So I came to Houston a couple times, well, several times before I moved, many times before I moved here. But I came to Houston in 86, I believe, and saw a baseball game at the Astrodome. I think it was 86, 87.

Obviously, 86 was a really good year for the Astros. And I came to visit a junior high friend who still lives here, who lives in the woodlands now. And I don't remember which one it was. I think it was that time. But I remember going to a dollar theater. My whole point was if you were a kid, and that was more like the 90s, I guess, or late 80s. If you were a kid, I don't care what stature, what socioeconomic divide, where you grew up. I truly believe that one of the unifying things in our world that everyone has forgotten about,

is how magical and just awesome, like you were gaming the system, dollar theaters were. Because movies aren't super expensive. You know, I mean, they're not cheap, they're outrageous now,

but it's not like, it's not $500, right? So you could go see a movie if you were a kid. Your parents would usually pay for it. But movies would be, whatever, $5,

you know, now they're like $20. 6,000, yeah. But you could go see pretty much any movie a few months later for $1. Yes. And they would have like 20 movies that,

weren't that old and you could get candy and watch a normal movie. It was like shopping at a thrift store or something like that, but getting brand new clothes. It was awesome. I love dollar movie theaters. And we would go, there was one on the fall, like, 1960, maybe veterans or something like that. And we would go to, uh, there was a McFugals next door. You'd go get some candy at the old McFruigles. That's what you did.

Sneak in some candy into the dollar theater. It was one of the great things about America. Everyone's like, make America great again. make dollar movie theaters a thing again. They are a forgotten art. Now everybody's streamed and all that stupid boring.

Disney Plus, Hulu, Netflix, HBO, Mac, CBS, all access. I was going to watch the Mandalorian the Star Wars spinoff, which I'm skeptical of, but I was like, okay, I'll check it out. John Favreau, whatever, did the first episode.

I'll check it out. And I have, like, I'm an adult now, right? I'm a functioning adult. I have all the stuff. I mean, I'm good with streaming, and I have the TVs and blah, blah, blah. Like, we've been doing this for years.

I can't freaking get Disney Plus on anything that I have. I could get it on my phone or my iPad. I don't want to... Dude, I'm old school. I watch a movie in the movie in my study, you know, like in the movie room with the speakers in the whole deal. Oh, look at you. Yeah, I don't want to watch the new Star Wars spin off on my phone. But I can't get it.

How do you not get it on your TV? Do you come Chromecast or something? No, I have a... I guess I am getting old school now. That's the weird thing. You get an Amazon stick? No, see, I have Expinity. You got to get one of those.

I mean, I have, I have Comcast. I have Comcast. Uh-huh. So I have internet, obviously, I have internet. Mm-hmm. But if I pull it up on my TV, I don't have any of the apps. I don't know how, how do you? You can go download apps from, use a, maybe that's what I need to do.

Yeah, I think probably you should be able to. And I have fairly recent, you know, smart TVs. Or you can get, yeah, or you can get a Chromecast. Yeah, I didn't want to, I didn't want to go that far. They're like 35 bucks. It's not that bad. Just to watch a Star Wars spinoff. Because other than that, I don't care about Disney Plus.

Okay. You don't want to watch like Aladdin, the remake or... That's what you do. I think they've got Simpsons. Hey, Aladdin is a classic, my friend. The Simpsons, what they screwed up the ratio. They screwed up the presentation. Maybe Nick knows this.

Aladdin's top five Disney film. Of course, number one of all time is Flying King. The original, not the CGI remake, which sucked. I only like the old, like the 50s, 60s Disney stuff. With Pinocchio and Jiminy Creek cricket and snowline. Okay. I'm not crazy about modern, like the last 20 years of Disney. Well, I mean, I was like, you know, seven years old when Lion King came out.

So I'm waxing nostalgic about Dollar Movie theaters. That was my jam back in the day. All right, we got to take a quick break on that note. We'll definitely talk some sports in the next segment. Texans, Colts, tonight. We talked about it in the first segment. How interested are you? How are you going to be glued to your TV or are you kind of just going to be checking the score tonight?

7-13-1-2-125-7-90. 7-1-2-5-7-90. Dana Holgerson next. Swing and a miss. Welcome out. This is A.J. Hanch of your Houston Astros. Your teams, your town, your voice, all day. Sports Talk, 790 is your home for your home teams.

From Dana Holgerson. He was scheduled to be on the show right now, but we'll let you folks know. I'm sure he does ring in. He's busy. He's working on the Tulsa game plan. Chasing down recruits. So I'm sure he's busy. New Jet.

setting around. You know, like Kevin Sumlin used to have the swag copter. Yeah. Do they, does Dana Hogg? It feels like Tillman could provide him with a copter where he could be just helicoptering all around town trying to chase down Houston recruits. I don't know. I will say this actually provides me with a perfect platform to say this. I meant this, there was only one thing I wanted to say when I came on the air today. Um, specifically. Other than that, we're just going to free format and riff. Shout out to Rice coach Scott Perra. U.H. coach Kelvin Samson. I, the Tuesday night. It's been a busy week.

Game at Tudor Fieldhouse between Rice and U.H. basketball. Fantastic game. Great crowd. Crowd wasn't as large as I thought it would be. But fans, they were very good. Just an excellent early season college basketball game. And watching Rice up close for the first time in this new era. And obviously I watched a lot of U.H.

last few seasons, but specific the last season with the team that went 33 and 4. Just a very well played, exciting, interesting college basketball game, and I was very impressed with what Scott Perra has done, that team. So,

anyways, that is my positive moment for the day. I have nothing negative or snarky or blah, blah, blah to say. It's a very nice college basketball game, and I was reminded by why I have always loved basketball, college basketball,

when it is well played and I really wish most college basketball teams played in, you know, for Tita Center, I think is around 8,000. That's funny. Around 8,000 tutors, I listed at five, it felt like a little smaller to me. It's fantastic. When you're actually near the court and you see how incredibly athletic, you know, college kids are, let alone NBA. Out of all the sports that we watch, I've always felt.

basketball does not translate and some people think it's funny, some people will get it, really get it. Basketball does not translate to television. Even in our crazy smart TV, you can watch every game in the world at any point era. When you're actually

on the hard, you know, right on the court, watching those guys and then I'm watching college, you're like, man, they just smoke. And then you start thinking about, well, what's it like when it's not just James Harder, when it's PJ Tucker or, you know, see it up close. It's just such a different, better game.

So next time Rice is playing somebody decent, obviously U.H has been doing a great job at the Fertita Center since last year and that atmosphere. I think that's the best sports atmosphere pound for pound in Houston at the Fertita Center. But go watch a Rice basketball game. They've done a good job putting that team together. Okay. That's my positive moment for the day.

What was the place they played before that? I used to go, I went to a couple of Rice basketball games when I was a kid. But I think I was reading some history. I want to, and I'm sure someone from Rice will correct me, but I believe that they've, I know that they renovated it, but. Right. It used to be not called the two-of-shadehouse. Was it Brooks or something? I'm not from here. Yeah, I didn't.

Well, go check out some ice basketball. And I'd speak in a college basketball. I fully mean this. And I, you know, wrote a lot of really good things about U.H. basketball, obviously. And how could you not last season? But it's a much-changed team this year. You lose, really, you know, you lose your two vets. So Kelvin's got his work cut out for him.

And he's always, you know, in a hilarious way, brutally honest. But you, I highly recommend it. You want to go see a good college basketball team that's well coached, that's well played, that can shoot, that can play defense, that can run the floor, and do it in an environment where you're actually going to feel it and see it and not have to drop, you know, whatever. I mean, I'm sure you can get in pretty affordably. Go watch rice basketball. Yeah. And speaking of college basketball, Texas versus Georgetown tonight, starting at 530 here on Sports Talk 7. 9.

No, I just praise the heck out of it. When do you start getting into college basketball? I think this is an interesting question. I've watched two full Texas Longhorns basketball games. And you're a Texas fan, and you, as long as I've known you, you're into that stuff. I'm just increasingly, and this has nothing to do with U.H. or Rice. But big picture with college basketball, I'm increasingly in a, in a weird spot with it. I mean, you just have the one and does.

There's somebody like, Texas, if they win, they're going to play Duke, the number one team, because they're in a little tournament. in Madison Square Garden. They'll play on Friday. Duke is the number one team in the country. I don't know a player on Duke. And you know what? You work in sports for a living and I guarantee you there are 99.99%

of the human sports population that's the same way. So a lot of it is the one and done. And part of it for me is just the NFL is the NFL. The Astros now stretch into almost November the last three seasons.

you have the Rockets who, you know, in the Dantone era and really for the last 10 years, have been in it big picture every season. So the second the rockets start playing, that commands our attention. So you have the Astros, you have the Texans and the NFL. You have everything with the NBA. And then it's the one undone era. So it's hard for me, Ross. I mean, UH paying attention to locally, regionally, yes.

But in terms of truly getting into it for, college basketball, I don't really feel it until like February. Yeah, I mean, I'll flip on a game. To me, Tuesday's like a sweet spot because they usually do Big Tuesday on ESPN and there's no Monday night football. Maybe the Rockets are playing.

Maybe they're not. And I'll just flip it on and kind of have it on in the background. I don't really get invested. Like I said, I'll watch Texas Longhorns. Like I can tell you the Texas Longhorns, I can name you a number of players and how they're playing and all that types of stuff.

I know nobody cares about it, so I don't really talk about it on these shows. So I'm invested in the long haul. And I've been a beat writer covering a college team before. So if you're in the college, if you're in the, you know, if you're in a small college type of area, it's big. I mean, I remember when I was covering my team, the second the season started, every game was like that. So it's different. It's, you know, if you're in Morgan Thomas, Virginia.

If you're in Austin, if you're, where did you, where did you cover a college basketball? I was more. I was low mid-major, man. Actually, they played Kansas last, or two nights ago, ETSU, East Tennessee State University. Okay. They were one of the early, like only college basketball lovers would know them. They were one of the early, really one of the first true mid-majors when that was a thing. What, you know, late 80s, early 90s.

Yeah, the only semi-famous player they've ever had Mr. Jennings. Remember that name? Keith Jennings? See, you'd have to be a cop. And you know, that's the thing. You know your college basketball. You have to be a college basketball. Not. By the way, Autry Court.

That was the rice. Autry Court. That's right. Thank you, Judge. Thanks. I knew it was something like that. No, they were one of those first teams that was, you know, what Wichita Hall State became. And, you know, there have been the teams.

The Big Daggett's a Butler had a run there, of course, for Brad Stevens. They proceeded all that, and they would be the number 16th seed every year. But take the number one to the limit and almost win. So cover them from a couple years. Okay. Eastern Tennessee veteran, Brian Smith. Kind of the... Or East Tennessee.

Yeah. Stade. Toward the edge of Tennessee on the east side and actually touching Virginia. So Bristol, Tennessee, Johnson City area, Tri-Cities. So shout out to the whatever their mascot is. I think... Well, I know. They're the Buccaneers.

Shout out to the Buccaneers, East Tennessee State. All right, time for a break here on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. They must be Kansas a couple nights ago. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. And then who beat Kentucky the other day? I can't remember. Was it Evansville? Who was it?

Yeah, Evansville. That's right. That's right. Evansville beat Kentucky the other day. But that's the thing. That would have been such a big deal 10 years ago. And I just feel like all that stuff falls under the radar and no one really starts locking in. The general population doesn't start locking in until really March. Really conference tournaments is when I start paying a little bit more. That's how it is now. Because that's when I start gambling on the games.

But anyways, Brian Smith, Ross, via E, Al-Niglo with you folks. We got Dr. Roto coming up. Nothing from the football coach. Nothing from Hogerson? Haven't heard anything from Dana Hogerson. So, I mean, we'll keep a watchful eye. If he calls, he calls.

If he doesn't, we'll continue in March right along. We'll take a quick break. Come back right back with some more wonderful sports talk here on Sports Talk 790. Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson here. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Sorry, I got to do that when you're here, Brian. Brian, sorry. Welcome back. Matt Tom's show continue. Two o'clock, Dr. Roto, fantasy football fix coming up.

One of the things we definitely talk about is the Houston Texans taking on the Indianapolis Colts tonight on both Fox and the NFL network. Brian Texans are three and a half point favorites in this one. Obviously, I mean, look, we can talk about it. It's a big matchup and all this type of stuff. what do you think a couple of things you'll be looking for when you watch this game especially early on number one and I wrote about this in today's Chronicle you can read at Houston Chronicle.com follow me on Twitter at Carverine Smith more much more importantly of that number one

not Deshawn Watson versus Jacoby Resett not what will the Colts have as a running game and actually they ran the ball pretty well despite losing Marlon Mack and he's he's out for tonight with a broken hand offensive line secondary on and on. Those are all very relevant. But to me, the most interesting matchup of tonight on national TV is the one and only

Bill O'Brien versus Frank Reich. And I'm, you know, it's completely legit. And I strongly believe this. You have Deshaun Watson. You're playing at home. You started the season six and three. You just bleeped the bleep at Baltimore. But it's only one game of 16. You are still, and I hate the term driver's seat, but it just came into my mind and we're on live radio, so I just say it. Why do you get that term? It's a cliche. You are in control. Your schedule, the last four, Tennessee has gotten better.

I like, I don't love, but I like Tennessee with Ryan Taney Hill, Rable, you know, is off and on, and on a solid job. One of those games is on the road. So let's say you split with the Titans. You should, without question, beat the Broncos. you should without question beat Tampa Bay. So on my paper schedule, the Texans are going three and one down the stretch. All that remains for them is Sunday night football against the Patriots. So, you know, 99% of Texans fans going into that will say that's a loss.

I believe the Texans could win that game. If they beat the Colts and they get momentum back, is Moreno real? No, but yes, yes, it is also. Losing 41 to 7 to Baltimore doesn't help you. that's backward momentum. The Texans could easily should go four and two down the stretch. And if they go four and two, they're 10 and six.

There's also a very realistic path, Ross, to 11 and 5. And if you go on 11 and 5 and you win the AFC South and you're playing well down the stretch, which they did not do last year. But if you are, you're probably one in a playoff game. And you have Deshawn Watson, your quarterback.

And even with your issues, and missing Watt and missing Lamar, Miller, this could be a very interesting, I mean, you've got, well, Fuller, who should be back tonight, you have DeAndre Hopkins, you have Kenny Stills, you have Carlos Hyde, who's had a couple fantastic games, and you've got Deshawn Watson. So if you're Bill O'Brien and you're that coaching staff and your job is to be better than the other team on Thursday night football in your stadium in a game that's not a must win, but yes, you do need to win it. It's a critical game. There is no bleep and reason you should be outcoached, underprepared.

Your team isn't ready. You're getting out schemed. Time, whatever it's going to be. So my number one angle that I'm looking at throughout this entire game is Bill O'Brien versus Frank Wright. Because the reason I say all that is because thus far in the Colts, Texans' rivalry era these last two years, Frank Reich has owned the Texans. Frank Reich has outcoached the Texans.

Frank Reich has done more with less. And tonight's quarterback is Jacoby Brissette, who was dealing with a pretty serious injury just a couple weeks ago. He's kept the Colts in it with Brian Hoyer. Right. Hoyer sucked. But he has kept the Colts in it. And if the Colts win the night, they're not just ahead by first place. They also have the tiebreaker.

Yeah, unless, except for Frank Reich foolishly going for down in his own half. That's it. So the only time that, no, the flip side of that is the, you're 100% right, Ross. The only time, though, the Texans, the Bill O'Brien Texans have beaten the Frank Wright Colts is because the Colts gifted in the game. Right. They coughed it up. That was a bad decision for me. For me, big picture.

This goes back to the start of the season. Andrew Luck retired. And you started six and three and you had to Sean Watson who just a week ago was a top three MVP candidate. Andrew Kobe Rossett's been getting hurt. Right. They don't have their star running back in Marlon. Like, you have to win this game. If you're going to do anything this.

season. Unless, if not, you're just, even if you make the playoffs, you're going to back into the playoffs again. You're going to stumble in. You're going to sneak in. You lose the playoff game. And for all the change they've had and the upheaval and giving away first round picks and not getting crap for did you have been clowny, all that stuff, then what have you done this

year? You haven't done anything. Every week in the NFL is a test. Every week is a pass or fail. And the problem is that they failed so miserably. But you've said, like, 11 and 5. or 9 and 7. I mean,

that's what I'm wrestling with too, because I could see them losing games that you're not supposed to against Titans or even Brown. They've done it thus far. They also beat Kansas City at Kansas City and came back from a huge deficit. So to me, Ross,

that is coaching. That is the definition of your team constantly week to week, fail or pass. You're facing that decisive dividing line and you're either pushed over the top by a very, good coach who eventually you think

could win you a Super Bowl or you're not and that's been the story of the Texans for the last three or four years and we're still watching it play out. Tonight's another test. Texans should be able to win this game. Bill O'Brien should walk off the field saying, you know what? I found a way, we found a way to win this game and we are in command and we've got a very favorable schedule down the stretch.

We're getting it right and you know, they won't be getting right if the Colts are in first place at 11 p.m. You could have him preening in the post game as he does sometimes after feeling a little bit validated. He's, you know, he's been through enough now. He's,

he's not, he's not dumb enough to do that. Because in 10 days. No, I mean to the media. Like the other questions. He's, I know what you're saying.

He's not dumb. He's been through that before. He's got, he's got Bill Belichick and Tom. I mean, the second that game is over, it's Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and the Pats on Sunday night football. And that's another thing,

though, talking about, I mean, they're going to have the 10 days, right, instead of the, you're coming off of buy in that Ravens game. That's what puzzles me a little bit as well, is to perform that way.

If you're on a short week or you're missing a bunch of guys and all that type of stuff, you were coming off a buy against a huge game in Baltimore. And you didn't even get off the bus. So, I mean, but it's so up and down week to week. And as I mentioned earlier, the good teams are consistent. The good coaches are consistent. The good quarterbacks are consistent. And we just lack consistency basically at all level from Houston, Texans.

And ultimately, consistency comes down. I mean, it's your players, but that is defined by your coaching in the NFL. And that makes them so volatile. than any other sport. You know, baseball is day to day. The NBA, you're playing,

you know, two games and you're all for three, and it comes, ultimately comes down to your stars. And when you need to shake up, you fire the coach. But the Lakers are defined

by LeBron James. The Rockers are defined by James Hardin. A little different in the playoffs, but your players are going to carry you. In the NFL, it is the players, but there's no other league where your team is defined more.

When you're in that in-between area, that gray area, between 9 and 7-11-5, winning a playoff game, getting to the AFC Championship. That comes down to coaching, and that was the story coming into the season, and that's still the story right now. So my number one tonight, Bill O'Brien

versus Frank Reich. Yeah, definitely. And I also wonder what Deshawn Watson, are we going to get? Are we going to get the one that you saw? That Deshawn Watson, that we saw in Baltimore, that was early season Deshawn, where he's holding on to the ball too long. He can't find anybody. He's indecisive. He's trying to make something out of nothing a little bit too much, which

is great when he escapes a couple of sacks and makes a spin move, and and fires it DeAndre Hopkins downfield. It's spectacular. It's fun. It's amazing. It's something that most quarterbacks cannot do. But then you just have to take the frustrating things with it,

where he makes too many plays, he takes too many sacks, he walks himself into more sackyards, and then that interception that he threw against the Ravens is just one of the worst ones you could ever possibly see. So I need to see good Deshaun Watson. I need more consistency from him. And the receiver's got to get open.

Deshaun Watson's got to find them, because the patch rush is going to be there with Justin Houston and the Indianapolis Colts. It's a matter of can Deshawn Watson execute? And Deshawn Watson should be able to execute. We haven't by far before the Ravens game, Deshawn Watson, it was Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and Deshawn Watson in the MVP ranking. So you cannot, it's not possible to fall that far. We should get the more normal real Deshawn Watson than I. But it's also, it's short rest.

and if he's getting put on his butt, if he's holding the ball too long, if they turn it over a couple times, if you're getting the bad, slow, disappointing, depressing, insulting, frustrating, all those fun words. Texans,

and it's a messy game, Colts will take it. It's like a mystery box with the Texans. You never know what you're going to get. And that's why, you know, we're not,

I mean, usually we get a ton of calls. That's why we're not getting on a ton of calls. That's why last year people were getting excited about a team that won nine straight games and they're six and four and it's national TV. And there's,

There's not much buzz. They will turn in, tune in. They will tune in once it starts, and they will watch it. And if they win, you'll get some Friday morning Texans Karens, and you'll also get the other half, or the other 75%, that's like, we'll prove it against the Patriots. That's just where we are with the Texans, and it's where we've been for the last three years with this regime and with this organization.

And I think with good reason for the most part, because, I mean, you're talking about what year are we in? 17 or 18 season and you haven't made a championship game. Yeah. I mean, they've never had a first round by. They've never, I mean,

that's, that's, that's the reality. It's like, you know, you're right. They haven't made the AFC championship game. They've never had a first round by.

Doug Marone and the Jacksonville freaking Jaguars. Every playoff game that they've ever played has been a wild card game. I mean, Frank Reich is three and one versus Texans. Bill O'Brien's one and three in the playoffs. So you either show something this season. And you take a clear step forward or it's on them to get a little creative and shake things up. So we'll see.

These next six games are huge. It starts tonight with the Texans versus the Colts. You guys want to talk about it? Actually, hold your calls because we got Dr. Roto coming up here. Fantasy football fix here on the Matt Thomas show. I'm going to do some push-ups while Dr. Roto's. Okay. Well, actually, more.

Maybe some crunches, squat jumps. I'm more into crunches and sit-ups and all the core stuff. That's good. Yeah. As you get older, that's what you have. I've learned. It's only 40 years to learn that. Brian is going to work up a sweat, and you were going to work up a sweat, sweating on your fantasy picks.

Coming up next with Dr. Roto. All right, folks, you know what that? Music means. It is time for Dr. Roto on the Matt Thomas show, a staple for many, many years. Dr. Roto at full-time fantasy.com. Also on SiriusX-X-M, you can find them on Twitter at Dr. D-R-R-O-T-O. Doctor, I'm sorry you don't have to talk to Matt this week.

We're giving you a reprieve. Maybe that's a good thing. Ross, it's good to hear from you. Yeah, it's good to hear. I'm glad to have it. I think I've only had interviewed you maybe once when Matt was missing some time. So good to have you on because Matt is like a second to last in points in our league. So you don't want to talk to him anyways.

It's amazing, man. We've been on the show together, what? How many four or five years? Right. He's still like in second to last place. You've actually improved him, though, because he's, you know, He used to be dead last all the time. So I'm actually angry with you because you've made him a much better player in our league.

He's better on waivers. He's better at drafting. And I'm actually very angry at you just to let you know. All right. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it. All right. Let's move along.

Normally we would save the Texans for later on in the segment. But I mean, it's tonight. It's Thursday night. It's a big matchup for AFC South Supremacy. So a lot of couple of different angles here. Number one, let's just go ahead and start on the Colts side. What is the running back situation with them? How viable are the.

options offensively for the Colts. We know that Ty Wylton normally goes off against the Texans, so just assess the Colts offense. Yeah, it's a little bit of a mess. So whatever I say now may not even hold true for later, and that's the problem. So Ty Wighthilton is a game time decision. Eric Ebron is dealing with an ankle issue, even though we expect that he's going to play.

In terms of the running backs, Norland Mac is out. Jonathan Williams had a great week last week, but if I play him this week, am I chasing last week's points, I kind of feel like I am. The reason he was so good last week is that Jordan Wilkins wasn't active, but Wilkins will be playing tonight. And then finally, there's a guy named Naim Hines when the Colts are behind,

which they could easily be tonight. He's a guy they play in those situations. So I think this is a mess. I know people will be chasing points with Williams. I just don't know if that's the right idea. What about the tight-in situation? I mean, Jack Doyle, Ebron, I mean, what's going on there? It's always a difficult

situation to see where to go there. Well, you know, it's interesting. Historically, the Texans have not been very good at covering the tight end, but this year they've improved greatly. So they're one of the top 10 defenses against opposing tight ends. Doyle is good within the 20s, but he kind of disappears in the end zone. And Ebron all of a sudden shows up in the red zone, and he disappears within the 20s. So could Ebron score?

Maybe. Could Doyle have 40 or 50 yards? Maybe I think there are a lot better options this week. All right. Let's go on to the Texans side. DeAndre Hopkins normally, one of the best players of plays of the week. Guy hasn't really gotten into the end zone. And then, of course, I mean, is Will Fuller going to play? That's a question, Mark.

What do you make of the Texans, especially at the skill positions? Well, it's a great point. I think with Will Fuller not being there, it really does affect Hopkins. I mean, when Wood Fuller's there, Watson loves going to him, and it opens up the entire offense and shreds the defense. I think Fuller gives it a go tonight. I expect to see him play. I think that helps Hopkins out a lot. I think Hopkins gets about 90 yards in a touchdown. I think Carlos Hyde has been a very good player this year, and they're going to continue to try to give him a ball. The guy that I struggle with, I'm not playing Kenny Stilk. He's out. I'm not playing Darren Phillips. He's out. Duke Johnson, if I knew he was going to get 13 touches, I'd be

interested, but he could also get six or seven, and then I'm not interested, so I won't play him. Duke Johnson, to me, has just, like, in his fantasy history, has been one of the most fascinating players. Like, he's always a guy that we're always banging the drum for more volume. then when he gets volume, he produces, but no matter, I mean, whether he's on the Browns or the Texans, he just doesn't ever seem to get much of a workload. I know. I knew he was getting, they were drafts. I took him in the fifth and six round this year.

When he went to the Texans, I thought it was a great spot, right? But, I mean, five rushes and four receptions a week is not going to win me any fantasy championships. Right, all right. Let's move along to a couple of other matchups. How about Falcons and Buccaneers? First of all, let's go ahead and start on the Falcons defense. Last couple of weeks, they've been very good. Dan Quinn gives up the play calling duties there with them.

They've also been rotating in, I think, some of the defensive linemen, they've been changing up the snap counts. And so improved defense over there. So what do you make for James Winston, the interception machine, but he's got weapons. What do you make of this one? Well, look, on both sides of the ball, I think it's going to be a high-scoring game. On Tampa Bay, James is a good player,

but he makes a lot of mental mistakes. You can't trust Ronald Jones as far as you can throw them, but you certainly can play Mike Evans. You certainly can play Chris Godwin. And I think you absolutely can play Kamen Brayte because I think OJ. Howard is going to be benched. I think that Bruce Ariens hates O.J. Howard. So watch for Bray to be a very active player. I think all those guys are good starts, but the real starts are going to come on the other side of the ball. Matt Ryan should throw for 350 yards this week.

Every year, Julio Jones has a 200-yard game. This very well could be it. the bucks have the worst secondary right now in the NFL, and Calvin Ridley's been out of his mind. So, I mean, I really like those three players. I would absolutely play them in seasonal. I play them in daily. I play him everywhere. Yeah.

And just your thoughts on Matt Ryan, where do you put him as far as tears go? Because, I mean, we're talking about a guy who won an MVP a couple of years ago, but you never really mention him when you're talking about top five and sometimes even top ten quarterbacks in the league. No, it's a really good point. I think Matt Ryan's the kind of guy that you can take. as a ninth or 10th quarterback off the board. Here's the biggest problem. He has no mobility. I mean, zero. So when other guys are getting 30 and 40 yards

or rushing touchdowns like Josh Allen and people like, Jack Prescott, right, you like things like that. Where Matt Ryan, if he doesn't give you the yards, he gives you nothing. So, but when he's hot, he's as good a quarterback as there is out there. So I usually take him as the ninth or 10th quarterback off the board. All right. Let's go with a couple of other noontime matchups. How about the Panthers and the Saints? a good one. Let's start with the Panthers side.

Is Christian McCaffrey about as untouchable and Teflon as a guy you'd ever seen? I mean, the guy doesn't even score a touchdown last week. Still leads all running backs and points. Have you, I mean, we've never seen a season like this from any running back, let alone recently, right? Yeah, he's phenomenal. But now, this could be his kryptonite.

The Saints on the road could be his kryptonite. Now, when I say that, he still could have 20 fantasy points. I just don't think he's going to have 40, right? The Saints have a very good run defense. They have no respect for Kyle Allen, and I think that they're going to load up and try to stop McCaffrey in any way they can. I think McAfree gets, like I said, about 20 fantasy points, but if you're looking for the big week from him, I don't think we see it.

Kyle Allen was a true disappointment last week. I don't really like Greg Olson. I like DJ more. They have to get Curtis Samuel more involved in this offense. On the other side, the Panthers' run defense is a travesty. This is an Alvin-Kamara week for sure. And I think you'll even see Latavis Murray get 8 to 12 carries in football. He might get 50 yards rushing.

They're going to pound the Panthers with that run game. Speaking of guys who are Teflon, and you also got Michael Thomas at wide receiver there. What do you think about, I mean, obviously you could just talk about him and his greatness, but also Drew Brees. Where do you see him at this point in his career? I mean, is he a viable week-to-week start? Because some of these starts for him have been weak since he's come back from injury. Yeah, no, I was off on Drew Breeze at the beginning of the season.

He didn't even have 4,000 yards passing last year. I love Michael Thomas and I love Alvin Kumar. You play them every single week. I think Drew Breeze is a spot start. This week I would not start him because you can absolutely run on the Panthers. So if they can run the football like they're going to, if Drew Breeze throws 30 times this week, I'll be shocked. Right.

And how about the Saints defense? Do you see them as, I mean, they've been pretty much almost matchup proof the last several weeks. I mean, they got over 20 points last week. Of course, thanks to James Winston throwing a ton of picks. But, I mean, do you see them as one of those? Have they cracked one of those matchup-proof defenses labels? Oh, absolutely. Look, the Patriots have been the best defense.

And the Saints have been the best defense in the NFC. So, I mean, Kyle Allen threw four picks last week and got stacked five times. You don't think the Saints can do that this week? they can do it plenty, especially at home. I think Kyle Allen's in big trouble. Don't be shocked that you're going to see Will Greer in the next week or two. I think the Panthers want to see what they have there. Okay, interesting.

Let's move along to a game that probably doesn't generate a whole lot of national interest, but I think it's pretty interesting from a fantasy perspective. The Dolphins and the Browns, let's start on the Dolphins side. What do you make? Of course, you had the issue with the Dolphins running back situation this week. You also have Devante Parker breaking out the last couple weeks. Is Devante Parker a viable guy week to week for you now? Absolutely.

Devante Parker is a very good player. He's playing for a big contract. He's probably not going to get it with Miami. Somebody will pay him a lot of money because he is a very talented player. He's just a little light in the head. But, I mean, when he wants to play, he's pretty darn good. I'll give you a very sneaky play. I hate Kaelin Belage.

I think he's awful. Take a look at this kid, Patrick Laird. If you're in a PPR format, the guy had six catches for 51 yards last week. Let's put it this way. He doesn't suck. There's a lot of guys out there. He doesn't suck. He's not very good, but I might look his way.

For Cleveland, you are all in this week on Baker Mayfield. You're all in on Jarvis Landry and revenge narrative game. You're in on Odell Beckham. I mean, Bobby McCain and Rashad Jones are out this week. They're on the I are done for the season. I mean, this could be the week that you've been waiting for for Baker Mayfield. over the next four weeks. He's got Cincinnati, he's got Arizona, he's got Miami. If there was ever time for Baker to lead people to a fantasy title, this is it.

Yeah, you know, I was just going to lead me to my next question, Dr. Rotto. I was actually going to ask you that exact question. I mean, Baker Mayfield struggled this year, obviously, but I mean, you look at some of the matchups. He's had some pretty tough games. Obviously, this schedule loosens up. So, I mean, he could be for guys who are struggling or looking for somebody in their week-to-week league for a quarterback. You think Baker Mayfield is viable play for the rest of the season? I do. The only question would be if Nick Chub is so good running the football that Baker doesn't need to throw it, right? That's the only thing that will stop him from doing a really great job over the next few weeks. But yeah, there are leagues that I think people caught Baker Mayfield. I pick them up right now for sure.

Yeah, and I think also with Miles Garrett out, you might have them giving up a ton of points as the weeks go along. So could be some high-scoring games for the Browns as well. Couldn't agree anymore. I think the Browns are going to be. Aaron Matt, but that was one of the most horrific things. I've ever seen on the football field. I mean, that Mason Rudolph's head didn't split open. It boggles my mind. Yeah, definitely. We could probably spend a whole two segments on that as well, Dr. Roto. But we've got to move on.

We've got to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show, the weekly segment with Dr. Roto. You don't want to miss it. We'll continue. We'll talk about, I'm going to throw a little buy or sell at Dr. Roto. We're going to talk about sleepers. We're going to talk a lot of general discussion and keep it going with the fantasy right here on the Matt Thomas show after this short break.

Welcome back, Matt Thomas Show here on Sports Talk 790, rolling along with Dr. Roto, the expert, the man himself, who's been on here for years, helping you guys out full-time fantasy.com. Find them on Twitter at Dr. Roto, D-R-R-O-T-O. Doctor, I'm about to just throw some names at you with a little bit of buyer's sell if you're ready. Let's do it. All right, you mentioned, well, a couple of these you mentioned earlier, but let's go ahead and start with Sequan Barclay. I mean, this is a guy who's obviously had injury issues. He was the number one overall pick for me. in a league. What do you make a him for the rest of the season? I feel like the Giants aren't unnecessarily in a playoff race, so he's a guy in danger of getting shut down at some point. Buy or sell Sequin Barkley is a viable guy the rest of the season and throughout the playoffs. Yeah, that's a really good point you bring out. I think he's a sell. I do. You know, look, what are the Giants? Don't tell me that.

Nothing. They have nothing to play for. And look, I'm admittedly, I'm a giant fan. So I want him shut down. I want Sterling Shepard shutdown. I want him all shut down. I want the number three pick in the draft. I don't need to see Seyqon Barkley out there. So the truth is he's such a competitor. He wants to play. I think you'll see him the next couple of weeks, probably the next two weeks for sure.

But you start hitting weeks 15, 16 and 17. 17, for sure he's done. 15, 16, I think it's 50-50 whether he plays. I'll tell you this. If you have Seacquon Barkley, go get yourself, Wayne Galman, and put him on your team right now. Yeah, definitely a handcuff situation. there. Let's move on to

how about the Jacksonville Jaguars? You had Nick Foles coming back. You weren't sure if DJ Chark was going to still be viable. He liked, or Foles liked Westbrook early on in the season. So DJ Chark buy or sell as just one of the top tier

wide receivers for the rest of the season. Yeah, I'm buying all the Jaguars. I'm buying Nick Foles. I'm buying Chark. I'm buying Chris Conley. I'm buying Lennett. They have a very easy schedule that was the rest of the way. and I think they will surprise a lot of people. I think Foles was probably on 90% of waiver wires out there.

So I really like him. Chark has been sensational. I mean, look, how many people think drafted Chark this year? 2%, 3%. I was taking him like around 19 or 20 in most of my drafts. So this guy has been a revelation. He's a buy. All right.

Let's go ahead and keep it with the DJs. DJ Moore. The volume has just been really been there the last three weeks. Has he emerged as one of the top tier wide receivers buy or sell that? he has but it'll be a very tentative buy because like i told you if kyle alan has another week or two where he's disgusting like he was last week i could easily see will greer coming in once will greer comes in who knows what that guy's going to do because i think if i'm the carolina panthers i took greer in the third round of last year's draft i need to see what he's got going on before i

plan for next year because i think they're going to go look for life without cam newton so without Allen with Greer is more going to be targeted as much. I don't know. And predictability is everything in fantasy football. So I'm going to put a very tentative buy on him. Okay. Let's mention somebody that you talked about a little bit earlier in last segment. Odell Beckham Jr., obviously not necessarily living up to where he was drafted so far this year. Only has one touchdown. The yards have been there, but buy or sell him the rest of the season as well. Yeah, you've got to buy. And by the way, I'm really annoyed at these two. guys when they say that when they haven't learned how to play it well together. I don't want to hear

that. Your Baker-Mayfield, your Odell Beckham Jr., get out there and figure it out. I don't care if you have to stay up until three in the morning every night to figure it out. Find a connection because you're talking about one of the greatest wide receivers in the NFL, and it seems like they're not using him properly. I really like Beckham over the next four or five weeks. I think he scores at least five touchdowns in the next four weeks. Okay, wow. Okay. Definitely, I guess we're buying Odell Beckham. That sounds good to me. Let's move along. Let's just get a couple of a lot of people week to week streaming quarterback,

streaming defenses, streaming tight-in. So let's just hit on those pretty quickly. What do you see first? Let's start with the quarterbacks. You mentioned Nick Foles is a guy who's available. Baker Mayfield, not necessarily available in a ton of leagues, but probably a decent percentage of them. What do you feel like for a streaming quarterback scenario this week?

Yeah, like Sam Darnold. I like Derek Carr. I think that game, two teams who actually stopped the run reasonably well, but they don't stop the pass at all. And I think people are overlooking that game. Donald has been sensational in the first quarter of the last few games, and Carr has played exceptionally well. I think that game is probably in the 50s,

and I think it goes higher scoring than people think. I would look into that game for points. All right, let's go to the tight ends. A big week for buys. I mean, you've got Kelsey on a buy. You've got Kyle Rudolph on a buy, Hunter Henry as well. So if people are scrambling looking around for a tight end, what do you suggest? Yeah, I love Ryan Griffin.

I would stay right in that jet game. I think Ryan Griffin is sensational. It's probably owned by 2% of leagues. I like Cameron Brayette, like I mentioned before. I think that OJ Howard is done. And take a look at your namesake, Ross Dwelly. If George Kittle is out, right? If he's out, Green Bay is very bad at covering tight ends.

Dwelly could find the end zone again. Okay. And then let's just go on the defensive side. What do you think for some matchups? Obviously probably the Browns. Playing against the dolphins is a week. to week play, but what else you got for streaming defenses? Yeah, I think the Browns are a good play.

I think the Steelers are a great play. I mean, Ryan Stanley has not been sensational by any means. So I think you look his way. I'll give you a sneaky defense. I think Denver's played very well. I do. I think Denver's played very well. Josh Allen can make some mistakes.

He's a good, good young quarterback, but he's mistake prone. So wouldn't shock me if he did something crazy. You know, just a quick thought on the bills there since you brought up Josh Allen. I mean, is John Brown, you think, a week-to-week play? Singletary, I think, has been kind of up and down. But the Bill's schedule, I mean, they have seven wins, but you look at all those wins. None of them are against a really good team. But I guess you don't really care about that for fantasy.

Well, look, the bills beat the teams they should, and that's the mark of a good team. And now they have to figure out how to beat some teams that are tough. I love the coaching staff. I think Josh Allen's come a long way. I love John Brown. I don't like him this week with Chris Harris covering him, but in general he's a very good player. But let me talk to you about Devin Singletary, who on the head. huge fan up. This guy's about a year away, and here's why. When they get down to the red zone,

they bring in Frank Gore, mistake number one. Then, number two, Josh Allen runs it in. And then three, they don't pass from the ball enough when they're winning. They only pass on the ball when they're losing. When those things change, which they should very quickly, because Frank Gore is like a thousand years old, and they're going to realize they have to throw the ball more to Singletary, Singletary is going to go from being like a top 30 running back to a top 10 fantasy running back. That's how good he is. So Dr. Roto says, pick him up. Try to trade for him in your dynasty leagues is what you're saying.

Absolutely. All right. Let's go to how about the Monday night matchup? We haven't really touched much on this one. The Ravens and the Rams, obviously, Jared Goff taking a huge step back this year. Really, every ram is disappointed except for Cooper Cup. What do you make of their offense? And Cooper Cup is disappointed in the last couple weeks, too.

So I say this. The offensive line that the Rams have is terrible, and I think that's been a big problem. Brandon Cook's not being there has been a problem because there's nobody who's challenging the defense is deep. Once they fix those two things, I think the play calling has been weak. Jared Gop seems to be better at home than he is on the road. He had a couple of big plays called back last week because of penalties. But look, nobody's stopping the Ravens. Lamar Jackson is very good player, and they have this three tied-in offense, and they have Mark Ingram,

and I didn't forget to tell you about Marquise Brown. The only way the Ravens lose, and it's possible, is if a team has like two weeks to prepare. You give the Patriots two weeks to prepare, they'll beat Lamar Jackson, but on a week-to-week basis, nobody sees this kind of team before, and I think that they're going to beat the Rams by a lot. All right. Another one we haven't really touched on too much. Cowboys and Patriots in a three-clock game. Big one here with America's team and then the Cowboys. So what do you think, you see what I did there, what do you think, I mean, are Mara Cooper

and Gallup, are they still viable plays against the Patriots secondary? Yeah, I don't love Amari Cooper this week because he's going to see a lot of stuff on Gilmore. But I do like Michael Gallup, who's a sensational young player, and Randall Cobb's been very good. So I think that's where they're going to have to go, and of course they're going to give the ball to Zique. The Patriots, you know, are interesting because their offense doesn't look great at times, but they figure out how to win. Do you feel the Patriots going to lose this week? Probably not. So Edelman will do well, James White will do well, Sonny Michelle will do well. It comes in dribs and dribs all over the place.

But I really like this Michael Gallup kid. He is just a very – if he was on other teams, he'd be a number one receiver. Okay. And finally, let's go ahead and get to. It's the weekly staple. Dr. Roto, go ahead and give us your lock of the week. Yeah, every year, Julio Jones puts up a 200-yard game, and I think this is the week. I mean, the Bucks defense is terrible.

They don't have Vernon Hargrave. They cut the secondaries and shambles. The Falcons can't run the ball, and the one thing that Tampa Bay Buccaneers do well is they stop the run. So they're going to throw, throw, throw. I think Julio goes for at least 150 yards in a touchdown. Jones and the Falcons against that horrible buccaneer secondary Dr. Roto's lock of the week. All right, Dr. Roto, thanks a lot for the conversation. Go ahead and tell the folks where they can find all of your stuff.

You can find me at full-time fantasy.com. You could also find me at fI.com slash fantasy. That's Sports Illustrated. And you can find me at Twitter at DRROTO. All right, doctor, thanks a lot for the time. And as always, appreciate it. And please stop educating Matt on how to play fantasy football. I'll do my best.

All right. Thanks, man. We'll talk to you next week. The Rockets at Red Nation. Matt has Maddie Nation. Things are going to start happening to me now. You made it. I'm somebody now. More Matt Thomas.

Now. Matt Thomas show continues without Matt Thomas. He continues to be out. Brian Smith, Ross, Villariel. And if you want to win a four pack of tickets to U of H versus Navy, November 30th at TDECU Stadium. And also if you don't win, by the way, there's a special holiday package for only $8.4 tickets for the new of H Navy game

and four tickets to the Red Zone. Go to U of H cougars.com slash tickets and enter the promo code Navy 4 to do something fun for the whole family. You watch that U of H game. But if you want to call and win right now, 713, 212. Oh! 5-790, 713, 212, 5-790 for U of H.

versus Navy tickets. We're going to play a little game called Will Brian? No. I didn't know I was doing this today. I'm completely set up. We are ambushing right now. I won the last one and I retired.

You killed it last time. Yeah. And it was nerve-wracking and I'm still in therapy for it. And now I have to do it again. I'm not ready for this. Well, the only thing that I... I'm going to tell you right now. I'm not going to do well.

I'm going to try my hardest. No, you'll be fine. But I'm probably not going to do well. You know, See, I don't know your level of knowledge on certain things. So I try to make them, when I write these questions, I'm very knowledgeable about all things. But if you start asking me some arcane stuff about the ABA, if you start taking some low blows in terms of sports trivia history, we're going to rumble. Yeah, I want you to name me six ABA teams go.

You could probably do that, right? Patriots, Spurs, Nets, St. Louis Spirits. You know what? What was the San Diego team? We'll save that one for a later day. Well, the San Diego Clippers, were they in the ABA? I don't know. I don't know.

That's what I'm saying. Don't ask me that stuff. U of H versus Navy 713-2125-7-90. The way the game works, I'm going to ask Brian a question. Well, first I'm just going to give the category. And then you're going to tell me, will Brian know? I need more coffee. And then I'm going to ask him the question and we'll see if he knows.

So let's go ahead and get this bad boy started. Eric, in the Heights. Do you know how the game works? Do you understand the rules of the game, Eric? I understand. Let's know. Okay. So first.

This is the one you missed last time. It's going to be geography-related. Eric, I'm going to apologize now, man. I'm sorry. Geography-related. Brian, first of all, your confidence level in this question. On a level of what? It's a state capital.

Confidence level, like, one to two, one to five. One to ten. Seven. Ooh, seven. So will Brian know, no, Eric? He will not. He will not. No, no faith.

Who is this guy? All right. Give me the capital of. I hate this stuff. New Hampshire. Oh, man. My mind is not in the right place today for this. The capital of New Hampshire.

I should know this. I'm sorry, I'm drawn a blank. So your final answer is you don't know. So Eric got it right, though. So good for him. You get one more, you will win the tickets, Eric. I'm only here for Eric. I don't really care about getting this right.

Hampshire is Concord. Yeah, I mean, I knew that, but I kind of forgot. You kind of knew that. Okay, you know what? I'll give one. Let's go with a sports-related one. Has anyone ever been to Concord, New Hampshire? Okay, this is a sports-related, I'll say NBA history.

Brian, confidence level. Seven. Okay, Eric, will, Brian, and no? He will. I think he'll know this one as well. I thought he's going to say no again. All right, so James Hardin attempted 41 field goals on a Saturday, one of only 28 players to attempt 40 or more.

The NBA record is 50. That record is held by whom? Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant is correct. Eric, I got you, Eric. You got him. You win the Navy tickets. You know what?

We got another four back. Let's keep this bad way going on. It's over now. No, it's not over. Ross, I just won four U.H tickets for somebody. 713-21-5-79. 7-190.3-21-75-79. We've got some more tickets to get away.

Can I peel back to curtain? Yeah. I just guessed on Kobe Bryant. Really? I'm serious. Because he did it his last game in 2016. I remember the last game. I thought you could get that one.

No, in the 81 points. And I knew it was a likely choice. I figured maybe it was Walt Chamberlain or something. Well, as I mentioned, only 28 times people have shot over 40. He leads all of them, of course. He did it 10 times. Kobe Bryant in some ways, most overrated modern player. But yeah, let's not go there.

He's a taller Alan Iverson. Anyways, all right, let's go with Steve in Clear Lake. Steve, you ready to play the game? Let's go. Alright, let's go with on this one. This is fun. I wonder if you're going to know this. United States history and more specifically World War II.

I know World War II well. Okay, okay, then I think you'll get it. But Ross, I'm just, I'm not trying to protect my human integrity and being someone intelligent, but let me just point out, these are all over the place. Of course! And I didn't know I was doing this today, so I'm a little shaken right now. You'll be fine, you'll be fine. Confidence level. Uh, six. Steve.

Will Browbrose. Ryan, no. Yeah, she'll know. Okay. I would have said no, Steve. Well, of course, the bombs, the atomic bombs, dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 6th and 9th in 1945. Yeah. Dropped by the Anola game, of course, or at least one of them was.

Right. Do you know, can you give me the names of one of the bombs or both? Well, I know the Manhattan Project. Right. Which was to... What were the name of the bombs, though? I know this one. I knew...

I figured Nick would know this one. actually. See, that's why it's kind of hard. I don't know. I don't know the name of the bombs. Well, then you're out, Steve. He doesn't know. What were the name of the bombs, Nick? Fat man and little boy. That is correct. Yeah, somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that.

Daryl Morey here. This is the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. I feel like I should be saying here. And I can be boom and you can be my Tom Jackson. Brian Smith. Sandy. go superchargers.

In the powder blue uniforms. I love that they've made the powder blue is a staple now. They're like the best thing about the chargers now. Yeah, because they're definitely going charges. All right, Ross Vial and Brian Smith back with you on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Matt Thomas out today.

Matt Thomas will be out tomorrow as well as he's traveling with the Houston Rockets and doing his fancy Matt stuff. Boring. Spa Day in Beverly Hills, all that type of stuff, getting his toes shaved down. So we're all happy for him But I asked for some NFL music

Is this, are you getting jacked up For Texans versus Colts tonight? Is this getting you going? It actually is. I think so too, actually. I'm, like the old John's, Tonight it's gonna be an interesting game. It's, I mean, even if I wouldn't necessarily call it

Like last week was the matchup of the week in my opinion. Last week was fantastic. Well, except for what happened in the actual game. I'm joking, but it was actually a crappy game. It was the biggest, most intriguing matchup for the weekend. So this is intriguing. Like Thursday night, normally you're getting Jaguars Titans or Browns, Bears, or

something that nobody cares about. You're talking about two six and four teams. And fighting for a playoff spot in AFC South Supremacy, I think there should be a little bit of national intrigue here. It's good November, mid-November football. Bill O'Brien versus Frank Wright. Sean Watson

versus Chicago. You said T. Yelton should play. Will Fuller should play in Houston. Let's go. Okay. Well, let's do. Let's do like a matchup column, except let's do it on the air. So I'm going to give you all the matchups, and then you tell me where the checkmark is going. Indianapolis, Colter, Houston, Texas.

I feel like we're another radio station right now. I'm filling up all of our time with... Hey, it's a big Thursday night matchup. Okay, go ahead. And you know, win or lose, we're going to bring it to the odds. I think you're on the odd. That's what happens when you come here on radio. That's why we pay you the big bucks, Brian.

Let's talk about that. All right. Well, you said Frank Wright and Bill O'Brien. Checkmark goes to. Oh, Ross. That's a really tough question. Is it? It doesn't seem that tough to me.

Hey, Bill O'Brien went 11 and 5 last year. And then what happened? Right now, I'm giving the checkmark the frame break. I think I'm in your agreement with you. Let's go with... Maybe that looks a little differently in five hours, but yeah. Skill positions. T.Y. Hilton expected to be back, but Marlon Mac is going to be out,

but a couple of options for the Colts. And then, of course, we don't happen on the Texas. Yeah, I would go with this. I'd slight edge to the Texans at skill positions. I think I, I think we're in agreement. Now, now, there. Do we consider running back a skill position, number one? And, you know, if you had Lamar Miller, that'd be different.

But in this current game, edge goes to the Texans. And let's go then next to not defenses against offense. Whose defense is better? So the entire group, front seven plus secondary, just as a unit against the entire league, would you favor the Colts? Would you favor? That's a good question that's much changed. in recent weeks just because of all the injury issues.

Right now, I'm leaning Colts just to hear. Yeah, Justin Houston. I mean, in Texas secondaries beat up, their pass rushes down. You don't have what. Linebackers are still solid. I mean, just by an edge, I would go with the Colts defense. I got an easy one for you. Offensive line.

Definitely to Texas. The Houston, Texas definitely have a better offensive line than the Indianapolis. Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts, Colts. Colts. Yeah, Quentin Nelson in like four high school players would be a better offensive line than the Texans. No disrespect to Larry Me Tonsel. All right. And then to me, a big one here.

Of course, I think you know where I know you're going to go here. Jacoby Brissette and Deshawnance. Quarterback Texans. I like Jacobi Perci. But, I mean, I wrote this in a day's Chronicle. Jacobi percent isn't almost fantasy teams. I mean, he's, he's not. He's not a fantasy starter.

I don't play fantasy, but I, and, you know, I'm helping my wife do her league right now. he's good. He should not beat you. He should not be the best quarterback in the field. You're at home. You have DeAndre Hopkins. You have Will Fuller. You were just six and three.

Deshawn Watson, quarterback. Okay. Final score prediction then. I might regret this at like 11 p.m. 2017 Texans and a very tight one that comes down to the final drive. I'm going 23 to 20 Texans on this one. And that's going to do it for the mad time of show. We got to get out.

I don't think you guys really care what I say. just like I don't really care what you say. Oh, that's not nice. You don't really care. That's not nice at all. Especially if you lose tonight, you won't care what we say. But let's go ahead and take a break. Get out of here.

Now time for the A team. Adam Wexler. Adam Quentin. Next, thanks to Brian Smith. Doing a great job feeling. He'll be with us tomorrow. Nick Lowe, great job producing. As always, talk to you guys tomorrow at noon here on Sports Talk 7.9.