The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 11-22-19

Episode Date: November 22, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 11/22/19Special Guest Host @ChronBrianSmith Texans sitting atop the AFC South (0:00)Do the Texans have the best Wide Receiver Trio in the NFL? (30:21)Why wasn't Deshaun Watson's fumble reviewed? (40:06)Matt Bullard joins Ross for Flashback Friday (1:04:42)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. Three now in H-town. What's happening? Lunch-timers. It is the Matt Thomas show here on a Sports Talk 790. And Matt Thomas continues to be out as he gets another spa day in Beverly Hills

ahead of the Rockets clash against the Los Angeles Clippers. And while Matt was getting his toenails filed down, the Texans were taking care of business at home. Watson out to his right, end zone wide open. Pat touchdown. His Watson play action airs it out. Downfield, Fuller, end zone. The Texans couldn't get anything going offensively early in the game.

sure the cults rammed it down their throats a number of times throughout the game sure maybe they should have reviewed what happened with the Deshawn Watson fumble at the end but the Houston Texans are seven and four and are now currently wearing the AFC South crown ahead of the Colts Titans and Jaguars juggernauts of the NFL, the Texans sit to top them all, as they are simply the best. Aren't they, Tina? Brian Smith, also with me up until 3 o'clock. I'm going to talk to you guys about it, for real. Seriously, though.

713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. 7.1, 321, 1,000, 5, 790. Brian, first of all, thanks for showing up at all. Super Bowl! I'm listening to you ask questions to Brian. Super Bowl! To Bill O'Brien, like 1130 at 9. night and then I imagine you got to do some work after that. So tip of the cat to you for even being

up here today. I am here in body and spirit. Not in mind. And slightly in mind. Well, I saw you what I am fully committed to Sports Talk 790 as I have been my entire sports writing career. I saw you pouring a vat of coffee. You'll probably be okay. I did just make an entire. Yeah. It was even a pot of coffee. It's one of the large tanks of coffee. Yeah. And you're going to drink at least half of it. Let's roll. All right. So your thoughts. last night's game. I have many thoughts, Ross. First of all, basically the prevailing thought at least are tweets that I was getting at my Twitter account at SportsRV. I don't know what you were getting at yours. At Cron Brian Smith. I only get positive encouraging tweets. Oh, yeah, I'm sure.

Just like all of us on Twitterverse was people were just telling me that they were nodding off and falling asleep. And I got to be honest, I might have nodded off a little bit in the fourth quarter. But I think it was just because I was tired, not because it was unexciting football. I mean, it wasn't necessarily you know, the most rip-roaring NFL fun, especially the first quarter was scoreless. But at the end of the day,

that's kind of the Texans formula. The Texans formula isn't to necessarily wow you, except for baby dropping 50 points on the Falcons, they can just grind out these wins and be better than you. Under Bill O'Brien, you're not necessarily going to see a ton of blowout wins. You're not always going to see a ton of blowout losses. You're going to see them grind out wins.

you're going to see them just run the ball a ton. And then basically that's what we saw last night, I think as the Texans got the win over the Colts. There are many times Ross that we want to raise the bar. They must be better that we know if they went on a Randy Bullock missed field goal, I think on Christmas Eve a few years ago. And they declare that it's about winning the AFC South. We all know that they have to be better than that.

Last night, last night was different. Last night, they have 10 days to go until they play the Patriots. on Sunday night football. They were coming off a horrific no-show at Baltimore, losing 41-7 to Lamar Jackson and Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens. All they had to do last night was one thing

win that game. And it did not matter if it was ugly, if it was boring, if they didn't score in the first quarter, if it was 10 to 10 and halftime, if the Colts had a couple drives where they just ran the ball. I mean, embarrassingly ran the ball down the Texan's throat. All that mattered was the Texans found a way to win that game

because by winning that game and we'll get to the big picture stuff for the next three hours. But right now, first segment by winning that game, I think the percentage is like 74% to win the AFC South. We all know we're going to get the call 713, 212, 5790. I write about it in the Chronicle all the time.

I've written about it for years. You guys know this. You all know this. Guys and ladies and kids and household pets. It's not about just winning the AFC South. That's not about just getting to the playoffs and having a home playoff game and all these. We all know that. But at some level, you have to live in the present moment.

And they have 10 days to prepare for the Patriots. Anyone who's walking around and saying that the Patriots is a guaranteed loss for the Texans, apparently hasn't watched the Patriots the last few weeks. Yes, it is Brady and Belichick. But it's not so much that the Patriots have issues, but the Patriots have issues right now. They have offensive issues. They'll play the Cowboys will get a better feel. for where they're at in a couple days.

But for the Texans to win that game, the way they did, they were down going into the fourth quarter. And it came down to Deshaun Watson's arm and D'And D'Andre Hopkins and Will Fuller. And the difference that Will Fuller has made for this team when he's been able to just not even stay healthy, just be on the field. If Will Fuller can just be on the field, it opens things up for DeAndre Hopkins. It eventually will open something up for Carlos Hyde. The defense had issues.

The offense had issues. They won 20 to 17. they're in first place in the EFC South, 7 and 4. And here's the thing, Ross, coming into this season, we all, 7 and 4 after 11 games, you're in first place in the E.C. South. You have Sunday night football and 10 days to prepare at home against a Patriots team. That's not a great Patriots team. You would have taken that.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think you were trying to hit it. You are at what your record says you are. And that's what the Houston Texans are. And to me, it was just comes down to, you know, what they say about the NBA is it's a make or miss leak. And a lot of times the NFL is, did you execute this play or didn't you? And then they got so many chunk plays. The two, the two big throws to Fuller.

44 to Fuller, 51 to Fuller and both of those. Now, the 44, I believe was followed by a failed fourth down conversion. But it flipped the field. And the 51 ended up setting up a field goal. And it was Watson to Fuller and it was Watson to Hopkins. and, you know, we can break it all down for three hours, but that was basically the game. Yeah, those huge plays were the game.

And then you had, I mean, both DeAndre Hopkins touchdowns were plays 30 yards or more. So it was just one of those things. Carlos Hyde had a very nice 33-yard run which shut up a drive. Which he didn't do basically anything other than that one run. But, you know, as Matt Thomas would say, that's neither here nor there. But to me, it's one of those things where, I mean, was it the Panthers game early on where they barely, they narrowly missed the fingertips of DeAndi Hoppin for like two touchdowns. So, I mean, that game could turn differently if you just execute these little plays.

This game, if you don't make a couple of those plays, you don't win this game. So just what it comes down to the NFL with the parody and how good teams are and how smart all these coaches are, you have to make plays. And that's what the Texans did. They made their big plays. They came up big what they have to. You also had a couple of times defensively where, uh, Ty Wylton had a drop, but also T.Y. Hilton had one where Jonathan Joseph was turning down.

Jonathan Joseph in 2019, staying with T.Y. Hilton on a deep out and knocking the ball out of his hands on a very key play. I was like, what? Yeah, he was like rubbing my eyes, like a cartoon character. Like, what year is this? The most underrated athlete, player, team leader. Yeah. And Houston pro sports, Jonathan Joseph. He, he, I, you know what? I mean, Jonathan Joseph has outlasted. and he's a great guy to deal with. But Jonathan Joseph has at-lasted Kareem Jackson. Jonathan Joseph can stay healthy when J.J. Watt has been able to stay healthy for, obviously bad luck, but three of the last four years.

Jonathan, you know, the Texans are beat up in the secondary. And it was amazing in that game. And we'll take a break and we'll come back. And there's so much to get into. 713, 212, 5, 790. We will. And we want to take your calls today. But Jonathan Joseph, in that secondary, you've got Jacoby Brissette.

You've got T.Y. Hilton. you have Eric Ebron, you have Jack Doyle, Pascal, who actually ripped them in Indy a few weeks ago. The Colts had options, Ross, and they were able to run the ball. So if you can run the ball without Marlon Mack, and you're just tunneling a hole from an energy stadium but downtown Houston, and the Colts were never able to get the passing game going. And Jonathan Joseph steps up huge when the Texans are dealing with injuries, and they have a completely depleted secondary. That captured the game last night.

came down to, Watson was able to step up and hit Fuller and Fuller and Hopkins. You had Carlos High breakoff one run. And Ty Hilton had one huge drop and one drop slash deflected pass. You know, nice played by the defensive back.

And that ended up in that type of game, as Bill O'Brien called a dog fight, that ended up defining that game. Yeah, all right. Well, so we want to talk to you guys about it, as Brian Smith said. Go ahead and give us a call. You can also tweet us at Kron Brian Smith. At Sports RV. And Nick Lowe is the producer, you can find him at Pro-Niclo. So what do you think? How are you feeling about the Texans

after last night's game? We'll get into that. You also got the Rockets facing off against the Clippers. And then Brian will also give us a full two-segment breakdown of the Texas basketball game against Georgetown last night. So a lot of stuff to get to Matt Thomas show with you until 3 o'clock continuing after this short break. Don't go anywhere. This is James Arden. It goes to hard three to shoot. Jacks up a three hits. This is the Matt Thomas Show. on Sports Talk 790. Are you kidding?

It was a good team win. Guys came in there on Monday to turn the page and we're very focused and very tough game. You know, very difficult game to win. But I thought the guys really, really were focused this week and it showed up on the field. Texas head coach Bill O'Brien after the 20 to 17 win over the Colts on Thursday night, as the nation turned its lonely eyes to. NRG Stadium. The Texans performed.

They did just enough. It was one of those things where, I mean, especially in the first half, it just honestly, I don't know where you were, Brian, I didn't feel like the Texans were going to win that game. It was,

I think, it was one of, was it the first touchdown drive, I think, for the Colts, where they were just cramming the ball down the throat. No, the second one is, it was both of them, though. The second one, I think,

was like 11 plays and 10 of them were runs. Yeah, it was a six minute plus. The Colts for us, the Colts ran for 175 yards. They rushed 39 times. They averaged 4.5 yards per carry. They should have won that game. Jacoby Reset could not pass the ball.

The Ravens ran for like 265 or something on them. And the Texans found a way to, I mean, but again, this isn't at the normal, you know, oh my gosh, da-da-da-da-da-da-ta-taxans. This is they found a way to win this game. And all they had to do was find a way to win this game. And they did. And it was just, I think, I really didn't feel like they were going to, to win it. No. After that second drive where they, it was a, I believe it was 11 plays, 10 of them

runs, and then I'm like, wow, the Texans are just getting out physicaled and getting beat up and down. I think maybe that Frank Reich was taking some of the key, the cues from that Baltimore game. Like I said, okay, well, I had it a little bit mixed up. 256 yards given up on the ground to the tab by the Texans to the Baltimore Ravens. So I think the blueprint, the blueprint seems to go be go ahead and beat up on that front seven of the Texans and run it and run it and run it and run it and I think that we could see that a little bit against New England Patriots. Well, for me, the most underrated story. And this is much bigger if you're in Indianapolis. If you're a Colts fan, if you're covering the team in Indy.

Jacoby Reset. Now granted, he is coming off of an injury. And should he be playing? Yes. Is he 100% no? for T.Y. Hilton. Jacoby Reset completion attempts-wise was fine, 16 to 25.

Jacobi Reset only threw for 129 yards. And you go back to the game that the Texans lost in Indy when Indy was clearly the better team. They were a little too aggressive at the end, which can be a trademark of Frank Reich, you know, in this era of the Colts. But

Jacobi Berset, I believe, threw for career high yards. I think it was four touchdowns, 300 plus yards. He had it all going. Okay, so the fact that the Colts were able to run the ball that well, as you just said, Ross, they were able to just, especially in the second half, run it down the Texans throat. They're running time off the clock that's exactly one of you on the road.

But the Colts were not able to get the passing game going at all. And it wasn't even just the fact that Ty Why Hilton dropped a couple of balls. Reset was not intercepted, but he didn't throw a touchdown. He's only sacked one time, but his passer rating was 76.9. And that's the most telling and underrated part of this entire game was that Jacobi who ate the Texans up at Indy, not that long ago, threw for 129 yards. They just, he was not a weapon at all. And you could see him struggling to read the defense.

He couldn't really run very well on that fourth down. He ended up running for six yards. And he was just laboring along. He held them back last night. And Frank Reich was asked about it. And he said, look, we got to look at the tape. but yeah, you know, it could be an issue moving forward. And that's why coming into this game, I said,

you can break it down a hundred different ways. But the fact that the Texans have Deshaun Watson, and they're playing at home, and you have Hopkins and Fuller coming back, there's no reason that Texan should lose that game. And ultimately it came down to Deshaun Watson last night was a much, much better and more dangerous and more efficient quarterback than Jacoby Brissette was.

Yeah, that's a good point about the first game. I mean, he just basically, almost about single-handedly destroyed the Texans that first match. Andrew Lucked him. I mean, that always been the story before that it would be, you know, the teams are pretty even,

but ultimately Andrew Luck would find a way and, oh, man, the Texans just could not stop. They had no answer for Andrew Luck. That was the same thing in Indy. I covered that game. I was up there. I watched with my own eyes. Last night energy stadium,

Jacobi Reset just wasn't good enough. And he's dealing with the injury, but if you're talking about winning the division, guaranteeing a playoff game, finding a way into the playoffs, whatever it is right now. Jacobi Bresed is holding the Texans back, and Deshaun Watson post-Baltimore,

he didn't look like the top three MVP candidate last night, but he looked like a quarterback who could win a home playoff game, and he looked like Deshaun Watson again. Yeah, he did. I mean, Jacoby, in the first game against the Indianapolis, against the Texans, four touchdowns, 326 passing. That's it. He just destroyed them.

And you're right. He didn't throw a single touchdown against the Texans last night, and he almost had 200 fewer passing yards against, this is the key, Ross, against a depleted injury ravaged secondary that going into the game, you're like, ah, man, I mean, the Texan secondaries are their weakest point on defense. No, their weakest point on defense was actually their front seven stopping the run, and the Colts with Frank Wright running that offense still could not find any way to take advantage of it.

Yeah, it was funny. Yeah, I mean, you're literally getting. guys claiming them off of waivers and trading for them and then just promoting them off the practice squad. Plugging them in. I mean, it was funny because there was at some point on the broadcast, I can't remember if it was somebody in there talking about, well,

Bill O'Brien's method of just claiming players and just plugging them in quickly. I was like, that just means because he doesn't have anybody. He needs warm bodies. That's not a method. Right, that's not a method. That's called desperation. That's like he didn't crack some code. He's just trying to figure out what he can do and get

some warm bodies out there. That's like you're running a hardware store and everyone's like, oh, you keep hiring these great new kids, you're like, no, I'm hiring high school kids because I have no one else to work. Everyone keeps quitting. Everyone is right. Exactly. That's like, I was like, what? This isn't some kind of genius, uh, galaxy brain. If it was, everyone in the NFL would do that. Oh, we constantly replace our secondary week with new guys. No, you're doing that because you don't have anyone to play. Right. I was, uh, but, hey, it worked. And I mean, all I had to do is work. Uh, you had, uh, there was a couple of guys who played real. I thought, uh, Whitney Mercilus looked

pretty good over there. And I mean, Zach kind of, He was all over the place, plugging up holes. And there was a couple of times, I think, in the Ravens game where he was missing tackles and he got some moves put on him by both Mark Ingraham and Lamar Jackson, but I think he was much more sure in his tackling. And one guy that we don't ever really talk about, and not necessarily us here in Houston, but I mean, nationally, but Narcic McKinney is one of the better middle linebackers in the entire NFL. And he has been for years.

He is completely underrated. I mean, that's the thing, because you had Clownie and you had Watt. And so there's only so many guys defensively you're going to talk about on another team on a national level. He's unquestionably underrated for this team. Yeah, I mean, that guy's a tank. It was funny because he went down

and it was either, I can't remember if somebody tweeted or something like that. It was like Bernardine McKinney went down. You don't ever see that. And that's right. Like the guy plays, everybody in football goes down, right, all the time. And you just say, wow, they're here.

They're going to miss some games or whatever. That dude has just been a tank in the middle for the Texans for so. long. He's a leader. He's a big part of what they do on defense. He's always flying all over the place, whether it being coverage or getting downhill on run plays. So, I mean, if we're tipping the cap

to somebody, I think Zach Cunningham, Bernardic McKinney, two of the definite stars on defense for the Texans last night. Yeah, and they were able to find a way to win that game. They were seven and four. The Patriots game's going to be interesting. I mean, the positive for the Texans, outside of playing at

home, is you have 10 days to prepare. Now, someone's to call immediately and say they had two weeks for Baltimore and how did that work out? It was too long. You know what? Maybe this porridge is just right. One was too short. One can be too long. And you know what? It's going to be just right against the Patriots 10 days. I believe teams historically have not fared that well. In team games? No, we're just returning from London. That's, I'm not, no excuses here. But that too many baked beans all over your eggs. Too much blood sausage. Right. But that could have been a small part of it. But here,

I mean, bangers and mash. They know completely what is a stake right now. It's this three game run. It's going to find the season. It's the Patriot. I mean, if you can't, they should have gotten up for the Raids. But if you can't get up for the Patriots on Sunday night football, the premier game of the week in your own stadium,

where if you win that game, you are starting to find a way back into the talk for, you know, a top two, a buy in the first round, especially when you look at their final four games of the season. I think they'll split against Tennessee. They beat the Broncos. They beat the Bunkaneers. So if they have five games left,

they're going to 11 and 5. They're either going 4-1 or 3-and-2. I don't see it going any other way because if they do, then that's a collapse. And if they end up going 4-1, you're an 11-5 team. If you go 3-2, you're a 10-and-6 team. You're winning the division.

Nice story, but not a whole lot of high expectations. But, I mean, it was important to get that one in the bank last night. because this three-game stretch, we've been talking about it on this, on this show with Matt for weeks. Weeks about this big three-game stretch. And honestly, it was on the table to go in three. You don't make a couple of those plays last night?

They were midway to the fourth quarter, and they're going to lose that game. Right. So, I mean, this huge, huge fourth quarter for the Texans last night for not only AFC South, but just for, I think, our peace of mind on rooting for the Texans and putting us a little bit of more stock. and hey, this team might actually be good.

Just being able to stick with the team a little longer this year. I mean, yeah, is big picture, is it in the same ballpark as the previous years? Yes. But, I mean, if you're going to sit back and wake me up when they win 12 games, wake me up when they get a buy. No, I mean, Deshawn, they have Deshawn Watson, and they have DeAndre Hopkins, and they have Wolf Fuller. What they ended up doing last night, and this will be the key moving forward, and this was the key at the end of last year, right?

Because the defense is suspect to me now. It was obviously against Baltimore. The Patriots will be another huge test. They're beat up. They just lost. It looks like Dylan Cole, who's always, you know, playing a strong in-between role for them, special teams, fill in.

Dylan Cole looks like he's out for the season. He went down last night with an ACL, according to reports, it just came out. So the defense is down, but you still have Deshawn Watson. You have DeAndre Hopkins. You have Will Fuller. You have multiple tight ends. It's so painfully clear, Ross, watching that game last night. And I know it's not always easy.

And it's very, you know, it's much easier to sit up and watch it and tweet about it or talk about it on the radio. But when they can find a way to go up tempo, when they can find a way to open it up, when you can let Deshaun Watson make some plays. The main reason I thought the Texan were going to lose last night was because when they had that first deep completion of Fuller, the 44 yards. we saw over and over again last night they would have the huge chunk play, the drive-changing play, they flipped the field. And what do they follow it with? Like a run up the middle for negative one yards

and then a run to the left for two yards and it's third and eight, and then there's a false start and it's third and 13. That's been the Texans for years. But you can't do that with Deshaun Watson when he's able to hit Fuller like that and hit Hopkins like that, And how did they find a way to win that game?

The defense locked in a little. Jacobi Reset was not able to throw the ball with anything near the capability that he usually has. But ultimately, they opened it up because it was that throw to Hopkins. It was being aggressive. It was, you know, not, yeah, you have to establish the run. But at some point, you've got to let Deshawn Watson, be to Sean Watson, and let Hopkins help you, and let Fuller help you, and attack. You're not going to beat the Patriots.

You're not going to win a second round playoff game with that defense right now. It's not good enough to win 17 to 14. You're going to have to open it up. And that's what they ended up doing it last night. Yeah. And there's also one wrinkle of what you mentioned about the run plays. I saw a very interesting stat on Twitter last night about Bill O'Brien and his play calling, especially after big runs. We'll talk about that next.

Also want to hear from you. Are you encouraged? Has your opinion changed at all about the 10? Texans after last night and what do you think happens against the Patriots on Sunday night football. 713-2125-790. The phone number 7-13-1-2-125-790. The Matt Thomas show continues after the short break. This is linebacker Whitney Merciless. Take the best coverage of your Houston teams with you wherever you go. Get Sports Talk 790 on your iHeart radio app. Open it up or download it today. When we took advantage of that we, you know, they played men coverage. And so, you know, it just

trying to give our receivers a chance to win. And that's what I did a couple of times. And a couple of times I missed them. But, you know, the times we did capitalize on those, I was able to have put enough air on the ball and that our guys, you know, they play. And that's what they get paid to do. That's what they love to do.

And, you know, just give them a chance. And most likely they're going to come down with. Texans get the 20 to 17. And by the way, Brian, I believe you nailed the score on the head. Did you not say exactly 20 to 17 yesterday? I think I actually got it right in the paper and on Sports Talk 790, but you know, sometimes I'm woefully wrong. Hey, so you got to take your credit. You and I, we just throw those out the window.

I'm not bragging, but yes, I got it right. When you have to, I was thinking about that last time. I was like, I think that because I said 2320. I was like, I think I wanted to go around 2017. I was like, oh, he said 2017. I'll go 2320. Right. You couldn't do the same way.

Couldn't do the same exact score. So good call on your part. And one thing that's funny that I was just thinking about while Deshaun Watson is talking. and Matt and I talk about this as well. By the way, Matt Thomas. Welcome back. Matt Thomas out. Ross via Real. Hi, Matt.

Brian Smith with you. Yes, Matt. I hope you're enjoying your Beverly Hills pampering. I really like the Texans players and Deshaun Watson. And DeAndre Hopkins, I think, is a fascinating guy and fun to root for and listen to him talk. Yeah. And all that type of stuff. It's just, I think the only thing I really don't like is Bill O'Brien.

But the problem is he just runs the entire organization. And maybe, yeah, you don't want to speak a whole lot on that. It'd be like, and I'm not saying that's the way for me, but it would be like loving and thinking all the members of the presidential and not this current one. I'm just saying in general. Our administration or fascinating, like you love the secretary of state and you think the press secretary is awesome and the secretary to fit. You're like, man, they've got a lot. But you're like, but I just hate the president, right? I mean, that's, or you're, it's a college.

You know, you love the players, but you cannot stand Tom Izzo or you can't stand Nick Sabin or yeah. Shocker's smart. You can't stand shock. Tom Hartman, whoever it is, Dana Horgerson, go down the list. It's kind of the same equivalent. Yeah, I mean, it's, Deshawn Watson is an incredible. I know what it is. Like, how about it's like, you ever work somewhere where you love the employees in the environment, but you hate your manager?

Of course. It's like kind of like that. Of course. So what you're saying, I'm not saying. No, I don't hate my manager. By the way, not here. No, no, no, no. Brian Erickson is a saint and I love him.

What you're saying is... Give me more money. That the coach of the Texans is holding you back. Right. From really... From really embracing the team. Right. Or I don't know, maybe like a...

I don't think... Honestly, I'm being very direct to... Or like a movie where the, you love the writing and the pacing and all the side character. But the main character. The lead actor sucks, and he just ruins it for you. This is all I'm saying. You're not the only one.

Not, not me. Right. Of course not. No, I mean, seriously. I don't, I don't care. I mean, ultimately, I don't care. I'm not, you know, I'm in the middle of it all. Yeah, that's what I say.

You have to actually care to hate people. So, I mean, I don't really hate a whole lot of people. Right. I'm very invested in how the team and the organization, the franchise does, much more, though, for that they are the city of Houston's team. This is where I live. And that's what I should be doing as a columnist. But I, I don't care.

it's going to be what it's going to be and I'm going to call it like it is for my opinion. Whatever will be will be, case or us or us or that. That's the stance. Whether it's the aster's or rockets or whatever. But I can't say easily that, yes, I mean, big picture, Deshaun Watson is an incredibly easy guy to pull for, to root for. And he has personality and style and he's cool and he's tip and he's intelligent and he's got an incredible backstory and all these things. And same for DeAndre Hopkins. I mean, they're on national TV.

They're in first place in division. DeAndre Hopkins is scoring fantastic touchdowns and giving the ball to his mom who has one of the greatest backstories and most tragic and also uplifting you're ever going to come across. How could you not be all in on this team? Well, we all know the reasons for that, Ross. You know, the inconsistent play and that they, you know, often when they have to win, win very, very ugly. And for many people, getting back to a general point, yeah, it comes down to the head coach.

He can make them. I'm not saying me personally, but for many. And I've written about this a lot. I'm putting my name on it. It is for me personally. He makes them tough to root for, unlikable. Yeah, for sure. So, all right, we've got to take a group break here because we went a little over on the last break.

So short segment here, short break here. So we want to definitely talk about Texans with you guys. It's 713-212-5-7-90. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. Also, the Rockets versus the Clippers tonight. And did you see at the end of the game? We haven't even addressed yet, though. The whole fumble situation.

We'll get to that next here on the Matt Thomas show. The Rockets have Red Nation. Matt has Maddy Nation. Things are going to start happening to me now. You made it. I'm somebody now. More Matt Thomas. Now.

He just opened up a lot of different things. His speed, he's just rock running. You have to respect him. And just him and his addition and moving Kenny, you know, around and having those guys. I mean, those three is, I think, the best trio in the lead. And, you know, when those guys are pulling on a high level, it makes my job a lot easier. And it was good to see him back in action and make some great catches for us. Deshawn Watson talking about having Will Fuller the fifth back for the Houston Texans.

Seven catches 140 yards, the two big chunk plays. And you know, Brian Smith, alongside me, Ross via Real, in for Matt Thomas. When he first said that or when I first saw that comment, I think it was on Twitter. And I don't think it was you to tweet. It was somebody tweeted that. I was like, you know what? I guess he's right. There's, I don't, if you go with, you go with, first of all, you're starting with the André.

Hopkins best receiver in the league or at least indisputably top five. Will Fuller, one of the better game-breaking wide receivers in the entire league when he's healthy. And then Kenny Stills, who's a solid wide receiver threat as well and who's been basically

effectively a number one at different points in his career. That's my best wide receiver trio in the NFL? I would have to delve into it. If I was going to really put my name on that, I'd have to really look into it. I know for a fact that who's the third wide receiver for the Falcons?

Well, they used to be Sanu. That would be up there because you'd be Ridley, Julio Jones. Right. So I think they're out of it. Here's the thing with the Texans, though. Kenny Stills has actually been good at times, and they could completely disappear and has had some injury issues. Well, one catch for six yards last night counts as disappearing.

Yeah. Completely disappeared in that game. It wasn't even a factor. But not that might not be on him. They're not targeting him. I don't know why you can't get him involved. Will Fuller can be fantastic. I mean, the Will Fuller game from six weeks ago

where he just lit it up. He was the best receiver in the NFL. It was the Falcons game, right? He was the best receiver in the NFL that day. And then he gets injured again. He comes back last night, and he was fantastic. And DeAndre Hopkins, for me, is the best wide receiver in the NFL at this current moment.

But they're just so rarely all together and all clicking and the offense is clicking and everything works. So I'd say in a lot of ways, Ross, that wide receiver trio, just the potential is there. I don't know how long they'll stay together. We're not going to be talking in 10 years like, oh, my God, that was the greatest thing ever. But yes, I do agree with that. If they could all click at the same time and stay healthy and the offense is being aggressive, we just haven't seen it all come together. I don't know if we will.

And Will Fuller, I mean, credit to him, I mean, the big knock on him coming out of Notre Dame was that he, the hands weren't there. His hands were just fine last night. And there was a lot of times, I mean, in his rookie season as well, where he's going to make the big plays, but he's going to make some big drops. And he's had, I mean, a couple off the top of my head this season,

but for the most part, I mean, especially those two big plays that he made, tracking the ball over the shoulder, making those difficult plays in keeping the DB between your, yourself in the ball and all those types of things. Those are very, very difficult skills to master. And Will Fuller made some really tough catches last night.

Well, and I will use that moment. I think you're 100,000% right. I will use that moment to step in my soapbox real big. That is why so much of the draft stuff, and the longer that I'm around, and I've now been doing this for almost 15 years now, the longer that I'm around, and the draft stuff's gotten so crazy in the last decade,

so much of it is so stupid. But here's the problem. It stays with these guys in a lot of ways it feels like forever. Like somebody pegs you as something in the pre-draft process, and it's not even written by an expert anymore. It's written by a blogger. It's written by a radio guy who does it on the side. I mean, has no idea what they're talking about.

Watches players on YouTube, watches stuff on the internet, doesn't see anything up close in person, has no sources, There's no contact with college football or the NFL or freaking high school football. And they'll come out and tweet something or write something about, you know, you have bad footwork in the pocket or you have, you know, hands of concrete or you're not good in, you know, the middle of the field, whatever it is. You know, man coverage, whatever it is. And it'll stick with you.

Here's the thing. It's called evolution. Like, you're usually not the same receiver you are as a rookie as you are in your fourth year. That's why in drafting some of it is so much of it is projection. So much of it is what are you going to be in five years? And that's what scouts do. So of course Will Fuller has gotten better. And of course he's evolved over time.

The only thing holding Will Fuller back is his health. Can he stay healthy? When Will Fuller was drafted, Ross, the whole idea was it would be him in Hopkins and you would have somebody to stretch the field. and they drafted him before they had Deshawn Watson. So you have Deshawn Watson, who is a top five, 10 quarterback and a number three MVP candidate

just as two weeks ago. DeAndre Hopkins is the best received in the NFL, and Wolf Fuller is one of the best downfield threats in the NFL when he is healthy, and they are all very young, and they're under contract for a while. Fuller will be interesting moving forward. That could be just an amazing trio

if the Texans can find a way to make that work. And of course Will Fuller is catching the ball better because he's evolved as a wide receiver. Yeah, that's true. I mean, especially I think sometimes we are too. It's unfair. We all are. Even we judge rookies. I mean, I'll name you brought up earlier this hour, Kareem Jackson. Remember his first year as a Houston Texan football player? I spent years hearing about that. We crushed Kareem Jackson. I mean, the guy before really memes were a huge thing. I mean, that guy was the Houston Texans poster boy for they don't know what they're doing. When DeAndre Hopkins first year, and everyone's forgotten about this.

This was Gary Kubiak 13. Texans go 2 and 14. That was the Shab, Case Keenum mess of year. DeAndre Hopkins was benched at one point in his rookie year. I was covering that year as a beat writer for The Chronicle by Gary Kubiak because Hopkins wasn't running routes correctly, according to the team. And that was a knock on Hopkins early in his career. Two knocks on Hopkins. He wasn't fast enough.

And this was all the draft stuff because he was drafted what number two. 27 overall. And he liked Yorkies, yeah. That's hilarious. He wasn't fast enough. He wasn't a number one. So three knocks. He wasn't fast enough.

He wasn't a number one ride receiver, according to the stupid experts. And he wasn't a great route runner. How dumb does that all look right now? He's one of the best route runners in the NFL. He is a master of his craft. His speed is never an issue because if you're going to have a jump ball, if you're going to have it on the sideline,

that catch that Hopkins had on the sideline, last night, which really wasn't a huge catch. That was an absolutely brilliant catch that 10 guys in the world can make. That initial ref was no catch, no catch, no catch. DeAndre Hopkins knew that was a catch. Yeah, and DeAndre Hopkins was like, I don't know if that guy was trying to do. Obviously, what was his comment? I think the other ref have seen me play more than this guy.

I love that. He's like, yeah, he's just so confident. He's so cool. And that's exactly right. That's kind of one of those catches where you're like, oh, that's just DeAndre being D'Andre. and you just take it for granted, but there's only so many people in the world who can do that. And that's a special absurd catch. Right now on the TV, we're watching the highlights of Fuller's first downfield catch.

It was the 44-yarder. That's a tough play. It's an incredibly tough play. And the only way you catch that is if you have soft hands. That ball is thrown perfectly in front of him, but he has to make an adjustment. It's on the run. You're near the sideline. His rookie year, he drops that.

Yeah, because he got better, because he evolved, because he's matured. It's the same thing with Hopkins. So anyways, like, that's obviously a pet peeve of mine. But I wish the media was a little better about remembering, like viewing things like a GM would or a coach would or most importantly, a scout would. You get that more in baseball and basketball. The NFL, it's so much about pigeonholing these guys in their underwear for. for the combine, so you make some statement on Twitter,

of course Will Fuller's gotten better, and he was fantastic last night. All right, the Matt Thomas show continues. That is the voice of Brian Smith. I am Ross via Real. Our producer is Nick Lowe. Our number one, already in the books here on Sports. 792 to go. If you want to get involved in the conversation,

7-13-2-5-790 is the best way to do that. 7-13-212 75-90. Hour number two of the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas is next. is the Matt Thomas show. Watson keeps. That win was in week seven.

Now their play was down and over. And you can see the reaction of the official that Watson was down. Shays with Houston, but let's take another look. It's punched out there. That ball's definitely out. Darius Leonard punched it out. I had it. I heard it out for me.

You said that? Yeah, right after he wanted to play, I mean, he said it. Football, is it a fumble gate now? Is that what we're going to call it? Because everything has to be a gate. Welcome back, Matt Thomas Show. Second hour of three here on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas continues to be out on vacation,

although he will be calling the Rockets versus Clippers game tonight at 930 here on Sports Talk 790. 830 coverage starting with the launch pad with Michael Connor. But it is me, Ross v. Real. part of the show. Niccolo normally part of the show. Brian Smith, the outsider who we will jump in during the very next break. We're just going to beat him to bits to jump him into the show.

What are we doing? Oh, we're going to jump you in like a gang. Oh, okay. Into the show. Okay. I usually, I do every Friday at 2 p.m. I thought I was part of the team. Yeah, you're true. That's true. Fine. You're in an expanded role. You're like coming out of the bullpen and you're like in a spot start.

Is it game seven of the world series in the seventh inning? No. Who would have ever thought Let's not talk about that. That Game 7 of the World Series 7th inning would not be the low point of the Astros season. That actually it would... That's true.

We don't even think about it anymore because of everything else is going on. I don't know to think about that. But what did you... So, I mean... Let's be positive. A lot of, at least Colts fans on Twitter were upset about the play.

So at the end of the game... They should have been more upset about their quarterbacks. Deshawn Watson fumbled the ball very clearly. It was difficult to tell who picked up. the fumble and all that type of stuff, but the fact that the play wasn't reviewed kind of interest me a little bit. I fully agree.

I have no idea why. So, right, booth review, final two minutes, right? Yes. Of each half. I have no idea. It's inexplicable. I, you know, I don't sit around professionally and rip on the ref. So ultimately a lot of it evens out, unless it's just egregious and one call directly affects

the outcome of a game and it's just blatant. That being said... Signed Saints fans. Yes. Yeah, which I did last year. That being said, remember, what was it the first quarter? Last night early in the game, it took them five minutes to figure out how that punt was going to be handled. They had to repunt the punt.

They said the penalties were offsetting. They twice came out and said the Colts basically changed their mind. That was horrible. You wouldn't see that in a high school game. And it's on national television. There were multiple issues. last night. And I don't. I'm not taking the Colt side of this, but taking the Texan side. Down the middle, Ross, I don't understand why that was not reviewed.

Because if the Colts get the ball back there, yeah, it's unlikely, but it's 2017. They've got to move 30 yards and a minute and a half, and they have Venetary, and they can try to kick a field goal and take the game into overtime. Why was that not reviewed? I don't know. Yeah, you've got to give Adam Vinatari the opportunity to miss that field goal and make Colts fan. Just review it. If everything can be reviewed at any point, In the final two minutes, by the booth, by New York. It's on national freaking television. You've got 100 cameras.

If you're going to review everything else, spin the 90 seconds it takes to review that and make sure it's right. I don't understand it. Yeah, especially on the field. I don't know how they could have been sure, but they didn't call it. And then they said that it didn't look like it was going to be clear. And I think that is true,

and that's what would have been borne out of a review. But I think if you're going to have the system, you should at least use it. They review everything else, man. I mean, they, you know, it feels like anymore. Maybe the rest of all, you should go home. They were going to miss their flight if there was another review. Jacoby resets them for 129 yards. They're not going to do anything.

It's fine. That's fine. We can just move on. 713, 2,1,25. 790 is your phone number. We've been talking a lot about the Texans. Brian brought up a little bit about the Astros cheating Santa. We can definitely talk about that.

You've got the Clippers and Rockets tonight in a clash of Western Conference powers. That's an interesting game. Definitely, we are going to spend some time on that at some point. before the end of the show. But right now, let's go to Brian in downtown on the phone lines. Brian, what's up? Hey, what's going on, Ross, Brian? How are you guys doing today, man?

Great. How are you? Hey, great. Hey, you know, I'm not sure. I forget, really, to be honest, at what point of the game this was, all I remember is that there was a play where I knew, I knew right away, oh, man, that's going against the Texans. If they take a look at that, it's going against the Texans.

And I expected Deshawn Watson to be running up and trying to snobes. have the ball. And instead, Bill O'Brien calls a timeout. Do you guys remember that point? Or, I mean, I'm going to, I know, Bill, he should have never called a timeout. And I'm like, wondering, why is he hell? Is he waste you want? And when you don't want to play to get reviewed, why would you call one? Are you talking about the, at the very end of the game that we were just, you were literally just talking about? Yeah, I believe so. But I'm thinking this is going to get reviewed and go against the Texans, and then Bill O'Brien called the timeout. Did you guys catch that or was it just me being crazy?

I, yeah. Well, you are crazy, but maybe not for this reason, Brian. I do know that the score, the final score was 2017, and the Texans are in the first place in the AFC South, so I don't think that really matters. Oh, wow, you're going full Bill O'Brien on us. No, it just doesn't. You're saying it doesn't matter.

I'll just never understand that. Was Brian not listening to the last six minutes of the show? Or was he, have, whatever. Here's a little something for you, Brian. It's about winning. It's about winning. Thank you. And we, you know what?

You've been here. This is the second day you're here, and I haven't even hit this one yet. It's brutal, Brian. Oh, there are so many. Yeah. Your name appears in these drops more than anybody else. Although probably in the old-time lifetime rankings, you're probably behind Mark Berman and John McLean.

But you've got to be at least firmly somewhere up there. Well, but Mark doesn't ever, you know, annoy or piss off. Right. Mark doesn't ask anything confrontation. Mark does a great job. Right. You know, Mark's stuff is, you know. Berman is a legend.

Thanks guys. Yeah, he was on my TV. He gets more of the things guys. He was on my, yeah, he was on my TV shortly after that win on Fox, which is they switch to the local news so lightning fast after those NFL things. And then that's the only time I end up watching the local news is like five to 10 minutes after Sunday night football or Thursday night football. And when we're like knee deep into our third murder story, I'm like, oh, why am I even

watching this? I need to change it. say this. Yes, go ahead. I'll try to take the high road. Okay. How should I frame this? This isn't just, this isn't Houston. I've lived in many cities. It's everywhere.

Yeah, I've lived in many, many cities. Smaller towns, mid-level. Hello, hanging fruit. Small markets. Fourth largest city in America. You can be in New York City, you can be in L.A., Chicago. It's enough qualifiers. The local news. Damn. That's a night on Fox 26.

Somebody brutally murdered off Memorial Drive. We'll talk about it in five minutes. This is how I can get through this. Anchorman? Yes. Not. Anchorman makes the local news look good. You go straight from like Deshawn Watson, Jacoby Brissette, NFL action, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck.

And then like five minutes later, it's, it, it, it's, it's. It's like a homeless shanty town was run over by a metro bus, six people dead. We're talking about it right now, the local news. And it's always some, you know, some Hispanic lady. It's Adita Dominguez is down on the scene. Anita, what are you seeing? Yes, folks, there is blood everywhere, and there are entrails, and there are bones, and this is just a horrible, horrible scene.

Sir, you were here and you witnessed the, you're an eyewitness. What happened? Yeah, man, it was terrible. I cannot believe. I'd never seen so much blood in my life, and I'm a butcher. Like, oh, okay, back to you, folks. All right, Tom, what's the weather going to be like? Well, 77 degrees and sunny all weekend, folks.

It's going to be great. So just make sure you pack a cardigan for the evening. Other than that, it's going to be a beautiful weekend. And also, go Texans. So that's, I'm not getting into any of that other stuff. But I will, for my job, I'll watch Thursday Night Football. Yes. Which is in itself, like slightly low-hanging fruit.

Thursday night football. It's not the greatest product in the world now. We all know that. You don't want to watch Bengals Jaguars on a Thursday night? Which makes me have to watch occasionally, whatever, it's on Fox, right? The stuff that they'll do to set up the, they're the local TV, like pre-game, in-game, post-game. It's all tied in because, you know, it's all for ratings. And so it's, it's just, it's so bad.

But it's not, it's not them specifically. It's everywhere across the board. And then it'll be, it'll be. some investigation for like the investigative team and it's 20 people standing in front of a TV truck and they look so serious. Anchorman makes, Anchorman actually makes the local news in every city look like high art. I think the best is when the local news is doing like a puff piece. Like they're talking about how to make the best Thanksgiving stuff or something and then like a police chase breaks out and they have to cut away. I love it. And then it'll be and then the commercial

add nutmeg to the brown batty that you're just like grandma used to make and they take a bite of it. my goodness, this brown Betty is delicious. And it's even better, al-a-mode. And then they'll all be, like, if the Astros are in the playoffs, right, everyone on that, every station, they're all wearing, like, Astro's hats and Astros gear. Anyways, I can spend the whole show ripping local news, but I'm not going to. It's Grandma's Peach Cobbler.

It's fantastic. Okay, thank you, Wendy. Now we have to go to a man who has murdered his wife, and he is in an Astrovan on the run on 59 at Laura Coppy. Okay, thank you. Appreciate it. I just don't know and it's, I mean, it's been bad since like the 80s or whatever

but it's gotten so bad. So I'm often like, well, who watch it? Well, a lot of people watch it. Absolutely. No, you know what? I make fun of local news. If people didn't watch it they would change it. I make fun of a Star Wars movie coming out every six months and, you know, they reboot after reboot after

reboot. You know why they do it? Because we watch. That's why. They look at the numbers. They say more people are tuning in for the sensationalism. If it bleeds, it leads, all that type of stuff. And nutmeg. And how to make the best things in a turkey. There is a formula.

Are you putting too much sugar in kids' Kool-Aid, deep investigation? It's a kitten mittens, a fashion show. Like, that's what we're doing. Like, I get it. It's our fault. We as consumers, this is what we love. We love blood and we love puppies. That's just nothing in between.

I've had to take this for the last 20 years. I just, I cannot watch the low. If it comes on for two minutes, I have to change a channel, and I try not to watch that much TV, but it's so bad. At least I leave the puppies out of my stories. Yeah, thanks, Nick. All right, we're going to take quick break on that note. It is Matt Thomas show.

We'll be back to sports and the next. But you know what else? It isn't anything goes Friday. So anything we're having to get into. 713-212-790. The phone number 7-1-3-2-5-790. Short break here. Don't go anywhere.

At least now, we know that losing sucks. And if anybody knows how much losing sucks, it's Matt Thomas. I'm outstanding. This is Whitney Merciless. Back to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Pee to the PM here on Sports Talk 790. The Texans won a pivotal game of the season over a very good team on national television. Line 1, your thoughts?

All right. Fuller came back and had 140 yards and seven catches and made some big game breaking plays line two, go ahead. Okay, well, that's fine. If you guys don't want to talk about the Texans, if they want to. We know that lines would be full if they'd lost, but that's the nature of the beast. Weird fan base. 7-13,

2-1-2-5-790 if you want to get in. Phones are wide open. 7-1-3-1-2-5 7-90. And we're talking about this with Chris Gordy during the break and we mentioned a little bit. Yeah, it is still bizarre to me. They didn't even review that play, that at the end of the game.

Now, they did come out and say the official NFL officiating Twitter account did say in hashtag I&V versus HOU, officials on the field will defunble recovered by the offense. There was no clear visual evidence of recovery by the defense. I think I can stand by that. But review it. Review it. If you have a review everything in place.

Yeah. I think you have to at least review it. So, I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me that you. would not at least, I don't know, would they have a buzzer or electronic buzzer like the Astroset or anything like that? Whatever they do, they should have reviewed the play. How many times final two minutes of a game, Ross, there's some pass across the middle, everyone in the country watching it thinks it's a catch, knows it's a catch, and it's reviewed. And the review last one minute. And then we all say, why in the world they review that?

Oh, the NFL, they sold the game down. It's not the same anymore, but they review everything. Review that. That's it. Simple. And what do you think? I mean, especially let's, I mean, also the conversation about the past interference reviews. I mean, the one against DeAndre Hopkins, what was it? That was the Ravens game. It was literally five days ago. I mean, that was one of the most egregious pass interferences I can remember not getting called.

It literally got reviewed. And then people didn't. And then the NFL, they got it wrong. They got it wrong. There was not one person in the country who saw that video and thought that that wasn't past interference, but they didn't overturn it. Yeah. 713, 2, 1,2, 5, 790 is your phone number? Let's just go do this randomly, actually.

It's in anything goes Friday, right? Let's have fun. Line 1. What's your name? Hello? James. James? Okay, and what do you want to talk to the guys about, James?

You know, I listen to y'all show two or three days a week. I don't know if it's been brought up or not. kicking has got to be addressed. I mean, it forces us to go for it on four to three and fourth and four when we're kind of in field goal range, and if we don't make it, we turn the ball over. That's a fair point.

You know what? That's something we haven't necessarily talked about. Thanks for getting in, James. Appreciate you. Thank you, James. This seems to be like an epidemic across the NFL. I mean, Adam Venetary, who you played last night in the Colt, he's been missing a ton of field goals. You've had issues with... Fair Baron hit a field goal that clinked off the...

He banked it in. Justin freaking Tucker even missed one on Sunday. If that kick doesn't go in, it's tie going into overtime. And he does not miss kicks. So, I mean, I think this has been a problem. I mean, Matt Bryant, who's been the kicker forever. Atlanta, he's gone. They got, what's that guy's name?

Youngho Kim or Ku Young? Okay, I don't know. I'm coming out of a kicker in the NFL. What's that? You're going to come out of your... That's a pay. That's not a bad gig. I'm changing jobs.

Making a couple million dollars. were you ever a kicker? What's the precedent for this? Because I think you should do it. Backyard. You couldn't be in backyard. Soccer fields. One of the best, one of the greatest of all times,

backyard kickers, Brian Smith. Wow, I didn't. I can learn something new about that. I'm being honest, I could probably kick it 35 yards. I remember you used to have, like, remember you would play a peewee football or whatever, and they would just try you out. They'd be like, all right, everybody punt.

Everyone tries out to be kicker. And whoever punts the best, you're our punter. And I was like, you know, I don't know. Analytics haven't really affected peewee football. Right. Like for everything the analytics have touched in pro sport and sports, haven't really made it the peewee football, because that's how it was when I was a kid.

Right. If they would have, and they would spend like two minutes on it. Right. They would just, it would lie up the farthest. You're our punter. You line up. Everyone gets one punt. Right.

And if whoever, on that day, no matter of the wind, or if your legs hurt or you actually were playing running back and you just practiced your butt off and you're a little tired. whoever on that day in that two minute interval punted the farthest by one yard they were the designated punter for the rest of your life not just for that season Ross

for eternity like oh you would say from the age of seven until 15 I'm a punter right and that's just how it was I mean a lot of times I mean you got like Cordell Stewart situations it's just the best athlete on team I've actually thought about this before and I don't relive my athletic glory days a lot

that I had many but I'm not I'm not one of those people I moved on in life. But lately, as you get older, you're thinking about different things. And lately, I've actually, because this is anything goes Fridays, so we can say this. Of course.

I've had this thought a couple times. And so it was, I was in football. I was good. I wasn't great. Maybe if I'd, you know, not gotten into music and arts or whatever, I don't, maybe I could have played something. I don't know.

Anyways, I was a tight end, defensive end, linebacker, full back, whatever. So kind of in that, you know, maybe had that frame.

I wasn't, I was, I could run, I was athletic, I could hit, I wasn't super fast, okay? So I wasn't, I was never a wide receiver. I was a good backyard quarterback, that's it. So, but all that stuff has nothing to do really with playing the offensive line because I wasn't huge. But somehow in my eighth grade year, I ended up, and I had forgotten about this, I was the sinner for one year. And I'm like, how did, how did that happen? How do you become the sinner?

because some coach on some field in my seventh grade year, I guess the team needed the center, and he just decided I was going to be the center for one year. I hadn't thought about that in 20 years. It's just funny how you get pegged as something, and it lasts for a year, it lasts for 15 years. All of a sudden, you're the punter. You know, little Jimmy punted it a little farther.

Yeah. Seventh grade, seventh year of his life in Peewee, and now he's a punter through high school. That's how it happens. That's what happened to Brian Anger. Maybe you can start. for the Houston Texas. Kicking for the Texans now.

Maybe I can't. Maybe you should. Yeah, you're talking about your athletic prowess, so maybe you could. All right, 713, 2, 1,25790. The phone number. Let's go to Bruce in Dallas here on the phone lines. What's up, Bruce? Hey, how y'all doing?

I, a long-time caller, or long-time listener, first-time caller. Been in Texas fans, is O2, season ticket holder. There every Thursday, Sunday, to watch. And I always seem to get my hopes up that the year is going to be different, and I'm always let down. You know, I'm excited we won last night. Got a chance to win the AFC South again. Seems like that's become just a normal thing. But what I would like, you guys, if you don't mind, to convince me that this year is going to be different.

But win the ASE South, we'll make the playoffs, and we won't lay an egg in the playoffs. and tell me why that it's going to be different. I'll hang up and listen. Thank you. Bruce sounds like a nice guy. I'm just going to be brutally honest. I don't work for Bruce. I'm not getting paid to do that.

And I can't do that, Bruce. I will say they should win the AFC South because they should. If they win the AFC South, they technically are obligated to make the playoffs and host a playoff game. But is this year going to be any different? What? Why would?

You know what? I can do it. I can try to sell you a little bit. You can't. I can't do that professionally. Well, the Texans are going to win the AFC South after, for all intents and purposes after that went over the Colts. I'm firmly convinced. So you're going to get in the playoffs. You're going to host a game. And then let me tell you, let me reel off the list of teams to you that are wild card contenders in the AFC. Just because they've won a wildcard game before. This year being different would mean that you win a division around game and you're in the AFC championship.

That's different. Okay. Are you going to take that stand right now? I'm going to say it's possible. Yeah. Why not? That they're going to be in the UFC championship. I'm saying it's possible. Yeah. You're saying it's impossible? Whether they run into Baltimore or New England. It's not, okay. It's not, no, no, no. I'm not, it is not impossible. It's like 3%, 2% possible. Okay.

So no, this year's probably not going to be any damn different. It's probably not. But I'm going to try to do my best. here. I mean, you're going to face off either, you're probably talking about going up against the Raiders of the bills. The bills are saw... Here's a kicker. I would look at this this morning. Guess who they could be playing. They could be playing the Colts. You could be playing the Colts.

You have an exact repeat of last year. But the problem is the Colts lost to the Raiders and they lost to the, I think the Steelers as well. So I think they need to... But I don't, I mean, I could see the Colts going four, they have five games left. I can see

the Colts going three and two and So they're nine and seven. Are the Raiders? I mean, the Raiders aren't that strong. The Colts. Well, the Colts lost to the Steelers and the Raiders.

So they lose a tiebreaker to both of them for playoff races. So the only team that they're trying to be. And they're already, they're a game back of the bills. So and the Steelers are playing the being, the horrendous bingles this weekend. But the Steelers are five and five right now. I mean,

the bills, though, are seven and three. And then you look at the, first of all, all of their wins are against bad teams. The bills are not a factor. But,

but they're probably going to end. up with the number one wild card because they're going to have the best record. So you're talking about basically the Raiders, Steelers, and Colts fighting for that third wildcard and the Colts have lost the other two. So it's going to be a little bit difficult. It's possible, though, of course. I mean, we're talking about a number of weeks left in the season, anything can happen. So you're talking about if the Texans can get the three seed and which is possible because they have the tiebreaker over the chiefs? It's very possible, yes. They have a tiebreaker over the chiefs or they have the same record. And their schedule is pretty weak going in the final four. You're going to tell me the Texas can't

beat the Raiders again. And then you go up to Baltimore and hope it's better. Then you go up to if you're the three seed, you would be playing, yeah, Baltimore. Or Baltimore can get the number one seed and you're going against Patriots. We're going to know how they measure up against them after next year or next week. Right. But going up to Foxborough in mid-January is a little different than hosting a Sunday night

football game in late November. I mean, this is just the facts. I'm trying to give optimism here, Brian. Come on. I am not saying it's impossible. They've got about a 2% chance. chance. Okay.

But they have a, yes, yes, yes, it is not impossible. I will say officially at 1.30 p.m. Friday, November 22nd. Mark my word. So you're telling me there's a chance. They have about a two, maybe high of 5% chance to be in the AFC championship. They do. Yeah. But am I going to tell the guy in Dallas working for free that this year is going to be different?

Hell! DeCone Matt Thomas. Hell no. Probably not. Hell no. But I mean, if. This is the deal, though. But we got to play the games.

You play to win the game. And also this, I'm not canceling the season. We'll get a little more on this. We've got to take a quick break here. It is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross V. Ruel. I'll continue this discussion after this short break.

Heart and open for three and he hits it. This is James Harding. Wowing the crowd here at Toyota Center. Sports song, 790 is your home for Rockets Basketball. The best TV sports theme song. ever, in my opinion. NBA on NBC, Roundball Rock by John Tesh. And why are we playing this? Because it's time for a little bit of flashback Friday. We've been doing this so far on the Matt Thomas show in partnership with the Rockets. We had Vernon Maxwell on last week. Now pleased to be

joined by Matt Bullard, NBA champion, of course current broadcaster for the Houston Rockets as well. Bullitt's Ross. How are you? Hey guys, how's it going? I'm out here now. LA with the Rockets says the Rockets get ready to play the Clippers tonight. And, you know, I was all excited to be on Matt Thomas's show and talk to Matt. And then I hear he takes the day off and he's in the hotel I'm sitting in right now. Yeah, that's what's said. Yeah, you know what it is. We call what we call him a bull is fancy Matt. He likes to go on these trips and he's jet setting around town and he's getting pampered and he's taking his spa days. So he's, he's much too busy to talk about you. He's got to get his toenails filed down. Yeah, no question. But

But it is a beautiful day out here in L.A. as the Rockets look to face one of their main rivals right in the Western Conference. Rockets lost to the Denver Nuggets last game in Denver, and then they play the Clippers here tonight, and all three of those teams are right packed up in the Western Conference standing. So it will be a good game tonight. But, you know, as we think about flashback Friday, I get to think back about some good memories back in the day as well. Yeah, all right. I definitely want to talk to you about that. Let's make a little bit of a parallel, of course, 25 years since that first championship team that you were a part of.

And one of the things that 93-94 season was the retirement of Michael Jordan, and so it kind of felt like it was a little bit wide open. And you have some of the same feelings this year because the Golden State Warriors dynasty has broken up. So you feel like there are so many more teams that feel like they have a chance. Do you see some parallels there, Bull? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, going back to 93-94, you know, when Michael Jordan retired, that sort of opened the door in the Eastern Conference. But the Rockets back then, we still struggled to get past the Seattle Supersonics in the Western Conference. Back in the 93 playoffs, we lost in the second round to the Seattle Supersonics in game seven, in double overtime.

And that loss right there was devastating for us. that plane ride back from Seattle after that 93 playoff loss was, you know, I still remember it. It was one of the quietest plane rides I've ever been on. I still have that hurt in my heart from that loss. And then the following season in October of 93, we came back to training camp. We were all very upset that we didn't win at the previous season, and we ripped off 15 straight wins to start the 93-94 season. ended up winning the championship in 94. Another parallel there is in the 94 playoffs, the Denver Nuggets with DeKimbe Matumbo

knocked the Seattle Supersonics out of the playoffs in the first round. So that opened up the door for us to get out of the Western Conference. And then we end up beating the New York Nixon seven games in the 94 finals because Michael Jordan was playing baseball. But a lot of people say, hey, if Michael Jordan hadn't retired, then the Bulls would have won eight straight. But I think we need to look at the fact that in the early 90s, the Houston Rockets were 9-1 against the Chicago Bulls and the five years leading up to the Rocket Championship. And that was directly related to having Vernon Maxwell on the team to guard Michael Jordan

and having Akeem Elijah one on the team where, you know, Will Purdue and Bill Winnington and Bill Cartwright were not going to be able to guard the dream. And so, you know, looking back on how all the doors opened up for us, we really took advantage of it. Yeah, you know, you mentioned that series with the Supersonics, and that's the thing a lot of people don't remember. A lot of Houston fans you end up talking about were like, yeah, the Sonics just had the Rockets number. There's no way they were going to get past it. But, I mean, you go to the overtime of a game seven of a series.

Yeah, they won the series, but I mean, what was you guys' feelings just going into the playoffs? Of course, you were the two seed, the Seattle Supersonics, the one seed. There probably wasn't much of a feeling. And, of course, Hakeem never felt probably felt like this about anybody that we couldn't get past them. Did you think they just would have had your number if you went up against them in those 94 playoffs, or do you think the Rockets could have prevailed? Well, I think we are all looking forward to giving it another shot, you know, for sure. And then when the Nuggets knocked them out, then we're like, okay, well, no, don't have to worry about that.

Not going to cry, not going to shed a tear, were you? Yeah, right. But the reason why the Seattle Supersonics back in the 90s were so good against us is because they had a great defensive team. They had Gary Payton, they had Sean Kemp, they had Detlef Shrempe, they had Sam Perkins, They had Nate McMillan. They were really, really good, and George Carl was their coach. And back then we were throwing the ball into the post to Dream, and then teams would have to double in because he would score on anybody trying to get.

He would even score on a double team easily as well. But when the Seattle Supersonics doubled Akeem, and he threw it out, the Supersonics had the personnel where they could rotate around the perimeter to pick up all of our shooters. So even when they double Dream, we still couldn't get open threes. And that was the reason why we struggled against them so much was just their personnel and the way they played defense was perfectly set up to try to stop us. Talking with Matt Bullard Rockets broadcast and, of course, part of the 1994 championship team on a flashback Friday here on the Matt Thomas show. And you know what?

It is Flashback Friday. And we're dealing with hypothetical. So we don't talk about that potential series with the Chicago Bulls. Because as you know, Bull, any playoff series is about matchups. And like you said, there's just nobody in the world could match up. up against Akeem Olajuwon and is certainly not on the Chicago Bulls team as they struggled with him as well. Just, I mean,

what are some of the things that you think would have been key in that series and then it would maybe given the Rockets a little bit of an edge of course it would have been much of a toss-up series as well, though. Yeah, I mean, if you think about the big man matchup, just a team in the post, they had I think their starter was Bill Cartwright.

And Bill Cartwright was, you know, he was a decent center, he was tall, didn't, it wasn't very mobile, sort of like the Kimbey Matumbo, was a little bit later on. Those two guys played very similarly, and the Bulls would have had to double on Akeem. And there's no doubt about that. Akeem would have just destroyed Bill Cartwright one-on-one. So when they doubled, they didn't have the kind of personnel that the Seattle Supersonics had. So we would have had a bunch of wide-open shots on the offensive end.

The way we were set up, you know, we look at the rockets today, and the rockets take over half of their shots from three. You know, they're averaging. Let's see, I'm going to look at it right now. Three-point attempts. Forty-six, three-point attempts. per game for the Rockets currently. Back in the 90s, the Rockets led the league in three-point attempts, and I think we took like 17 or 18 a game. But we would have had a whole bunch of wide-open threes against the Bulls, and we had the shooters to knock it down.

We had, you know, with Kenny Smith and San Cassell and Vernon Maxwell and Mary O'Elli and Robert Ory and myself. And so we had the offense to be able to take down the Chicago Bulls. But then on the defensive end, they had Michael Jordan. So hypothetically, if Michael Jordan would have stayed and not played baseball those two years, he would have had to go against Vernon Maxwell. And Jordan has said, after his career was over, that the one player he hated playing against the most was Vernon Maxwell.

And it wasn't because Mad Max could shut him down. It was just that Mad Max would never quit. And he would make Jordan work for the full 48 minutes. And Jordan, you know, Jordan's one of the most competitive guys on the planet. So is Vernon Maxwell. So those two guys competing against each other would have made it very difficult for Jordan. He still would have scored a bunch of points, but that matchup would have been much more even than the Dream versus Bill Cartwright matchup. Yeah, and you know another one I think about when you talk about these flashback matchups, what do you think about like the 1997 era as well?

Because, I mean, you had the rockets in the Western Conference finals, the shot, of course, with John Stockton. I mean, in these series, and history will just remember the Bulls as this unstoppable force, but they got pushed to six games. in every one of their championships except the first one against the Lakers. So, I mean, and you're talking about there were clutch shots by Jordan in 98, and then John Paxson hit a big one, and I think Steve Kerr against the Sons.

So, I mean, it's not like the Bulls were just this unbeatable force that ever, that never, ever, ever would have lost a game. And I think as history goes on, and the years of years go on, we just think of them as this, like they were just sweeping and winning every playoff series four to nothing.

Yeah, that's a good point. And then, you know, when you talked about 97, the Rockets, we had a team to win it again. We had Akeem and Clyde and Charles Barkley and Kevin Willis and Eddie Johnson. So we had reloaded our roster with some serious veteran, you know, superstars. And we were a very veteran team. And we felt like we were going to win it again. And in 97, John Stockton hit a three in the summit. And I can still remember the pain of that shot, too.

Thanks for bringing it up, Ross. Sorry. It hurt me, too, by the way. Had John Stockton missed that shot or had Charles Barkley switched out on him like he was supposed to and got a hand up on it and made it more difficult, if the Rockets would have gone to the finals in 97, I believe we would have had that chance to go at the Chicago Bulls, and I think we would have won. I think with the roster that we had, there was no way that the Chicago Bulls would have been able to beat us in 97.

If you think about we didn't have Vernon Maxwell anymore, but we still had Clyde Drexler. So Drexler against Michael Jordan would have been a real good matchup to watch as well. Right. And let's just go ahead and make the parallel to today, of course, James Harden and what he's doing. You talked about how there was really no defense for Hakeem Olajuwon. And then Mike Malone, even though the Nuggets did get that win last night, he talked about how he's been in basketball for 19 years. And he can't remember anybody else.

He said no disrespect to anybody else, but I don't remember having to prepare so much. So, I mean, just obviously different styles of play. But the counter for everything, no matter what you do, you couldn't stop a chemolysmone, and you can't stop James Harden. Yeah, that's exactly right. And now we have advanced stats to look at statistics a little bit more in depth than we did back in the 90s. And so I'm going to just use the points per 100 possessions stat. And the reason why that stat is so good is because it's per 100 possessions.

Like back in Will Chamberlain's Day, the NBA was playing 120 possessions per game. Back in the 90s, when I was playing, the NBA was playing about 95 possessions per game. Currently in the NBA, the Rockets, let me look at it, I'll give you the exact number. The Rockets in pace, 105 possessions per game right now. So the different speeds of play throughout the eras, it's hard to, it's hard to, you know, compare errors because the game is so different now than it was back in the day. But if you use possessions, then you can get a little bit more accurate. So James Harden last season was the – he scored 48.2 points per 100 possessions, which was the best number all time.

Better than Will Chamberlain, better than Michael Jordan, better than Kobe Bryant. Last year, James Harden had the highest points per 100 possessions in NBA history. This season, it's 48.5 points per 100 positions. So it's even more this year than what it was last year. So what Michael Malone is talking about is we're talking about the most efficient score in NBA history in James Harden. And Mike Danton knows that he's got this once-in-a-generation talent. He set up his offense for James to be able to maximize what he does, and the rockets have shooters around him so that they can create space for James to operate.

And so what we're watching on a nightly basis, don't get numb to it, because we're watching Will Chamberlain caliber scoring on nightly basis. We're watching Michael Jordan caliber scoring on a nightly basis. And what's amazing to me is when we're watching this greatness, there's so much hard and hate out there. And it just blows my mind because if you really think about it, we're watching greatness every single night and you should be appreciating it. All right.

And let's go ahead. Thanks, Bull, for all that perspective. Historically, what we're seeing, United and Nana from Harden. So tonight, of course, big game against Clippers, as you mentioned. Talking about defense, well, the Clippers kind of got a couple of good. ones in Paul George and Kauai Leonard. I'm interested to see how this one is going to play out. Sometimes, of course, you don't want to get Kauai Leonard tired, so we haven't seen when he's with the Spurs and with the Raptors that he doesn't necessarily cover him for the entire game.

So the Clippers, though, they got some bodies they can throw at them. So it'll be interesting for a big one tonight. How do you see this one playing out? Yeah, and the Clippers, I'm looking at the defensive rating, which is points you give up per 100 positions. So that's a more accurate step than just points per game. The Clippers are number nine in the NBA in defensive rating. The Rockets are number 15. So the Clippers do have a top 10 defense, and it will get better as they integrate Kauai Leonard and Paul George together.

The Rockets have been quite a bit better over the last five games defensively than they did to start the season. So I think both teams are still have potential that's untapped. Both teams still have a chance to be better this season than what they've shown so far as they get into the season. So I'm expecting a huge game here tonight in L.A. I'm expecting two teams that know that they have a chance to be championship caliber, that know that they're not currently.

And so I'm really looking forward to seeing which team comes out and really puts it together tonight. All right. Matt Bullard, Flashback Friday here on the Matt Thomas show. Big game tonight starting at 830 here on the radio with the Rockets Launchpad. 9-30 tip against the Clippers. Bull, thanks as always. Good stuff for the conversation. We'll talk to you down the road.

Sounds good. I'm going to go knock on Matt Thomas's door right now and wake him up. Oh, no, don't do that. He needs his pampering. He needs his beauty sleep. You know that. Okay. We'll talk to you, Ross. All right, Matt Bullard. You can find him on Twitter at Bull 50. Part of a Flashback Friday series here on Sports Talk 790 and the Matt Thomas show will continue to bring you. Rockets, Grates of Years Past. This is Ricky Williams. I may have worn a wedding dress on a magazine cover, but it still looks better than any outfit Matt can put together.

Let your wife dress you, Texas fight, Texas five. Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790. Welcome back, Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790, Ross v. Real Brian Smith with you folks. Good stuff with Matt Bullard in the Flashback Friday segment last, well, last segment with Bull. It was interesting to me, Brian. I couldn't believe, well, that couldn't believe, I guess, because you're going to be a homer. You're going to go to the bat for your guys because I think I'm pretty sure that Bull

was on that 1997 team. He came back from Greece at some point. He thinks the 97 Rockets would have beaten the 97 Bulls as well, which I find interesting. But good stuff talking about the good old days with him on a flashback Friday. Bullard's a good dude. He knows his stuff. He's been there. He lived it. And he embraces modern analytics. I do like that he brings the defensive ratings and all that type of stuff. Tries to be smart about his takes. Always good stuff from him on the TV broadcast, and then we'll be firing up the Rockets Power Hours with Bull pretty soon here on Sports Talk 790. So we went a little long with him, so we do have to take a quick break here. I was already to talk sports.

I know. Well, you know what? We're just going to keep you in the bullpen. Keep warming up. It's like we got you up for, it's like you're the closer. Like Garrett Cole. And we got you up for a situation, but then somebody went to me. Yeah, you're basically the Garrett Cole.

Will Harris blew the situation. So we're going to go to you next hour here. At 713-2125, 790. 713212-125. You do want to remind you, folks, I will be out and about tomorrow at the Twin Peaks, I-10, and Kirkwood location

from 11 to 1 for the college football preview show slash sports RV show. And I will have U of H versus Navy tickets. I won some... I won those for people yesterday. So, yeah, that's right.

Because that was so good at you. Well, one of the guys predicted you wouldn't know something that you didn't know, but that's okay. So it's basically, it's the Nick Low Bowl. Nick Lowe went to the Navy. Nicklo went to U of H. So, I mean, it's like he's

thoroughly invested. You're 100% into this game on November 30th, right, Nick? What are we talking about? U of H versus Navy football. Why would I watch that? Sell it, Nick, it's radio. Oh, yeah, it's going to be a hell of a game.

It is going to be a hell of a game. I'll have tickets to give away for that game tomorrow at the Twin Peaks, I-10 Kirkwood location. You know what, should I make a phrase that pays? Like, if you say a certain phrase to me tomorrow, anytime 11 to 1, I will give you the pair of tickets. Do it.

What should the phrase that pays be? Red shirt. Ukraine. Fancy Matt. Impeachment. No, no. We're not talking Ukraine. We're not talking impeachment.

Ukraine is weak. We're not talking about any of that. How about Beverly Hills fancy Matt? If you say that to me tomorrow. Oh, that's good. I'll have two pair of tickets to give away to the U of H versus Navy game on November 30th at TDECU Stadium. All right, quick break here because we went long. with Bull when we come back. We've got a lot of stuff still to get to. We still can rehash the Texans

win over the Indianapolis Colts. Talked a little bit of Clippers Rockets with Bull there. Definitely want to get into that conversation. You got the Astro stuff. You got a lot of stuff going around the NFL. So 713-2125-790 if you want to get in. 7-13-2-125-790. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show next. Is the Matt Thomas Show. On Sports Talk 790. What's happening? Off early for work and Liquid Lunchers. Is that what we're having a 2 o'clock?

I don't know. Well, good morning. You know what? I never gave a Good Morning Strippers its entire Friday. That's right. I had dropped the ball on this. Nick, how come you didn't remind me? I don't know.

I figured they could sleep in today. Yeah. Well, you know what? Well, the original, actually, I've told this story before. The original time that we would do Good Morning Strippers was actually 2 o'clock. So, Brian, go ahead and you take the honors. I can't do that. I work for a newspaper.

You can't say good morning strippers? Why, you can't be cordial to these women are hardworking. I'm not saying they're not. They're working their way through middle school. They have to pay for their tattoos and their four kids somehow. It will be recorded. No, I'm not doing that. These four kids aren't going to feed themselves.

By the way, the Astros just sent out an email. All teams do this, but it's like the whole email is Billy Wagner has Hall of Fame credentials and it's promoting Billy Wagner for the Hall of Fame. Really? There's just a lot going on right now with it. I just, I don't know. You know what? Can we talk about that a little bit?

Can we talk about it? Sure, it's your show. About the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and how these baseball writers are the absolute worst. First of all, if you want to get in and talk about anything, it isn't anything that goes Friday here on the Matt Thomas show. Topics today have included, well, yesterday we talked about the Dollar Theater. We also talked about how the local news annoys us.

Sorry, Adam Wexler. We also talked about the Texans. big win over the Colts, 20 to 17. They are now sitting high atop. The catbird seat of the AFC South. They're on the top of the mountain. They're on the top of, well, it's not the highest mountain. It's not necessarily like Kilimanjaro.

They're more on top of like, I don't know, something in Appalachia. But you know what? The AFC South is still a mountain and the Texans are on top of it. And it's not the horrible AFC South from three or four years ago. It's more mediocre. It's been disappointing this year, mainly because of the quarterback situation, because Nick Foles was hurt in the first game, Garda Menchie was a good story, then he fell off. Marcus Marriota's horrible.

Yeah, he lost his job. Ryan Tanny Hill's playing okay, but he's not going to like the league on fire at this point in his career. And then Andrew, Andrew Luck retired. And you literally retired. Literally retired. He literally retired before the season started. Which, by the way, if you're Marcus Marriota.

Everyone's forgotten about that. Don't you think you need to have a real look at yourself in the mirror? if you're like, I just lost my job to Ryan Tannahill. He didn't just, okay, he didn't just lose his job to Ryan Tanyahu. He lost his job when he was the number two overall pick, when that entire team had been built around him, when they had been to the playoff, they had won a playoff game,

and he came into a contract year, and he didn't play the whole season. He was okay, and then they moved on. He lost his job, like, before the halfway point of the season to Ryan Tanyel. Mike Rable basically said, said publicly, officially, we as a franchise do not believe in you as our starting quarterback and we're better off without you. That is, that's rough. Not only are we better off without you,

we're better off that with Ryan Tanehill. He's actually, he's okay. Okay. Yeah, he's okay. He's five and he's a five and five quarterback. He's, he, he might win the tennis, the game at Nashville and lose the game here. And that's, that's right. That's where Ryan Tanny I think it's time to start looking yourself in the mirror and then having a real heart to heart with yourself if you can't beat out Ryan Tannock. Well, I mean, here's the thing. Maybe take up truck driving or, I don't know, professional backgammon or something like that. Marriott is a smart, very nice, very rich, seemingly cool down-to-earth guy. It's just, you know, there are only 32 NFL quarterback, well, there's like 70.

But they're only 32 starters at one point. there are only five to ten who really moved the league. There's only one Super Bowl champion. Marcus Marriott is just not going to make it. This was the year that decided it, and he may end up starting as a backup from somebody, but I mean, what team that's trying to win a Super Bowl in that year

is going to hand him in the ball in the week one? It'll never happen again. Well, he has made $45 million in his NFL career. He's fine. So I think he's going to be okay. He seems to be a really nice guy. Good. He's done great things off the field.

He's lived in, you know, he's young. He can either be a backup of the rest of his career, or he could walk away after this season and have a better life than any of us. Be a venture capitalist. He can go on a shark tank. It'd be different if he was a jerk and entitled and was pulling some Ryan Mallet stuff. He just wasn't good enough for the Titans, and Ryan Taney Hill took his job.

Oh, I forgot to set my alarm for the playing, dude. My bad. Sorry about that. Am I still on the team? No. Sorry, Ryan Mallet. those were some dark times I covered him

man yeah I lived that life what was that like going through the the Ryan Mallet the Brian Hoyer the Ryan and it was hard knocks yes

and he doubled and the head coach the HC of the HD he doubled down TJ Yates you should just randomly appear on the roster he would just like through osmosis like

TJ Yates is back on the team this is like the sixth time they've retreaded to TJ Yates it's still one of most underrated things in Texans history because it's been such an amazing 20, you know, not even 20 year run that, that we can't even keep track anymore.

One of the best things of all time will be that the Texans had to, they moved on from Case Keenum. This was like the first of eight times, but they moved on from Case Keenum. And then they got so bad injury-wise at quarterback, they had to call him. He was, I think he was hunting in a deer blind. And he came back and I believe he won one of two or won like the last two games. And they almost made the playoffs with him. It was the first year was the Fitzpatrick year. Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick lost his job I think I can do this I used to know it perfectly Fitzpatrick lost his job to Ryan Mallet who they acquired right before the season started because you had the New England

training like a seventh round pick or something and O'Brien said that the Texans needed more of a spark Fitzpatrick had actually played okay but you know there was a ceiling there

they hadn't developed they hadn't drafted anybody they hadn't developed anybody O'Brien decided the team needed a spark so he benched Fitzpatrick before the buy, which is what you do. They went to the Browns. Mallet actually played okay.

Fans were, fans were ready to build a statue after two weeks. It was a dark time in Texan history. Mallet hurt his shoulder, I think, lifting weights, had a bad game, played the game. They had to put him in IR. I believe Fitzpatrick came back. Fitzpatrick got the job back. We're in Indianapolis. Fitzpatrick, I think, Brits Patrick.

breaks his leg on the field. Tom Savage comes in. Tom Savage takes over. Tom Savage got hurt. And then they had to call Case Keenom. He got like a concussion or something. Who I think they cut. I used to remember all this.

Right, right, right. I mean, now we did with Deshawn Watson, so we're living in the present. And I think they had to, Case Keenum, I think they had moved on from. I think they had cut during camp when they got Mallet. Or no,

maybe traded to St. Louis with Jeff Fisher at the time. And so they had to call Case Keenum out of a deer blind. He was hunting. and be like, hey, will you come back and help us? And he did well in that kind of reignited Case Keenham's career. So anyways, one of the greatest years in Texan history. That was followed. That was 14.

Greatest is a relative term. That was followed by 2015, which was the Hard Knocks, Brian Hoyer versus Ryan Mallet, Bill O'Brien said you should be proud of your quarterbacks and da-da-da-da-da. This city should be proud of these quarterbacks. Really, Bill? And also, we're tired of being the almost team. Okay, well then you've still been the almost team for like the next consecutive five years. There are always a billion things we talk about and it goes, you know, many, many ways.

But ultimately, Rick Smith deciding having the bleep to move up in the draft to draft Deshawn Watson. Against Bill O'Brien's wishes, correct? Or that's the story. No, yeah. I mean, in some ways, yes. Save the Texas ass. I mean, there's just, there's no way around. And it has to play out and they have to keep him healthy.

And, you know, Deshawn's got to deliver and on and on. But right now, that is the current story. I mean, you know, because it was from there and an Oswald. Anyways, we don't need to redo it all over again for the billionth time. I'm sure another radio station will do that. But the decision to jump up on the draft and take a flyer. I mean, not a flyer, but take a risk. That was a risky move at the time.

Deshawn Watson was a bit of a question mark and, you know, on and on and he had the potential and he had won a title. but all the draft experts, he didn't have the arm, the accuracy was a question mark on and on. He didn't start week one. We know all this stuff. But that decision to leap up

and take Deshawn Watson right now, that hasn't been at 7-4, first place in the NFC, South, won the division last year, 11 wins. That saved the Texans ass. Yes, it did. Thank you, Rick Smith. Now we don't have to worry about

being mired in the ghosts of quarterback past. We do have one thing to worry about. What's that? I'm really concerned that a lot of strippers miss their medical school classes today. Because Matt didn't wake them up? Yeah. I mean, what if they had a test? All right, fine.

Good morning, strippers. Wake up. That was lame. It was so lame. Good morning. Good morning, strippers. You know what? You want to wake them up softly, you know?

That's the best way to do it, right? Oh, you know. I don't know. If you're there in the deep rim sleep, their kids probably woke them up at 8 o'clock. It's fine. All right, 713, 2, 1, 2,000, 5. 790 is phone. number 71321-1-25790.

Matt Thomas Show continues. After this short break, don't go anywhere. Rip it H-Tale, like five, slamma-jammer. Yo, what's up? This you boy, Bumby, the Trill O.G. With the whitest man in America, Matt Thomas. You are now tuned in the Sports Talk 790, man. I think a lot of times, you know, trying to play smart, trying to fight on scratch for every inch. I mean, that's what it's going to be against the Colts.

They've got a really good football team. a lot of respect for them. You know, they just do a good job. I mean, their defense is playing really well right now. Offensively, Jacoby's a competitor. TY was back in there. They run the ball. They got a great offensive line.

I think it was just a, it was just a dog fight. And I think, you know, in the end, we were able to come out. We did a good job in the fourth quarter, possessing the ball and things like that. So very proud of the team. And now, you know, we put ourselves in position to keep playing meaningful games. And that's what you want to do. The Texans now positioning themselves for the three-seed. Got to figure the one-and-two-seat are gone.

You've got 9-1 Patriots. Well, you could beat the Patriots and then went out and hope they lose two more games. That's probably not going to happen. You already lost the Ravens. You lost a tiebreaker there, so you've got to hope that they lose two more games and you went out. That's not going to happen. So I guess the ceiling is now the three-seed for the Houston Texans after winning that game against the Indianapolis Colts last night. 20 to 17.

And Brian, I mean, you just look at the, just from a number standpoint, Deshawn Watson, with the nearly 300 passing yards, the two touchdowns to DeAndre Hopkins, but kind of hit, talked about this a little bit earlier. The story of the game for me

was the big plays that the Houston Texans were able to make. If you don't make those plays, you don't make those, especially the Will Fuller big time catches over his shoulder, that to me was the difference between winning and losing yesterday. Yeah, but I will say, as I pointed out earlier, it's interesting because the 44-yard completion, they weren't able to deliver on. They went for a fourth and third, fourth and three.

Watson was almost picked off. Kenny Stills fell down. DeAndre Hopkins was kind of moving toward the ball. It looked like it was kind of thrown in the middle of both of them, maybe towards Stills. They didn't get anything out of that. And they got three points off of the 51-yard conversion. it came down to finally being able to break through and have just enough. And Bill O'Brien said, it was a dog fight.

It was a willpower game. The Texans in the end for four quarters were more efficient than the Colts. They got much more another quarterback. DeShon Watson had the one pick. He had two other throws that easily could have been picks. He's only picked off one time. He had the two touchdowns. Carlos Hyde broke through finally with a 33-yard run.

So it was one of those games where they had just a. enough. Will Fuller was fantastic overall, but the Texans, in my opinion, Ross, actually weren't able to pay off on a couple of those big plays like you thought they would, and that's what kept the game so close. And it was a frustrating game through three quarters. It was a boring game through three quarters. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. It was 2117 Texans. They're in first place in the AFC South. A combination of all that, and Bressett, I thought, was very disappointing, even with the injury. T.Y. Hilton dropped a couple of key passes. He does not. he never drops inside of Energy Stadium, the Texans found enough.

Thanks, guys. Yeah, appreciate you, Bill. Yeah, and what do you make of the offensive line? You only gave up one sack. There were a couple of times where we saw the protection holding up for a long time. I mean, Justin Houston was getting after it a little bit. But for the most part, I thought even sometimes Deshaun Watson holds on to the ball too long, and then he runs himself into sacks.

But he was holding on to the ball a little bit too long, but he was getting rid of it. He was moving down the field and being mobile and all that type of stuff. So it pales in comparison. What we saw Sunday, where Deshaun Watson looked like early season, Deshaun Watson, where he just had no clue what was going on, a little bit better, especially with the offensive line last night. Yeah.

One of the things that Deshawn did well, and I'm sure this was designed by the Texans and they've worked on this, was when he was holding on the ball to make a play to find someone downfield to create something, which he's, I mean, other than maybe Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson is the best in the NFL. best in the NFL at doing that. But he was able to get outside of the pocket. He wasn't staying within the tackles. They were rolling,

you know, he was rolling himself out. It didn't always work. There were a couple dangerous plays, but you look at the chunk plays. You look at Watson's efficiency in that game. You know, Deshawn Watson,

so here, like, you want a takeaway? Here's a takeaway. Deshawn Watson only completed three more passes in Jacoby Preset. All right? Preset completed 16. Watson had 19.

Doesn't matter, Brian. Watson through 30 times, percent through 25. Doesn't matter, Brian. Watson's average yards, 9.9, two touchdowns per set had none. Watson's rating 104.

He only took one sack for one yard. Deshawn Watson, easily, easily last night, was the best quarterback on the field. Not a coincidence that the Texans won at home in a tight game.

Yeah, and this is another thing that interesting. He was efficient. Overall, the offense wasn't efficient. The offense has to be better. Blah, blah, blah. We all know that. But Sean Watson, when, you know, cliche, cliche, push came to shove.

He pushed his team over the top. Yeah. And I saw this tweet last night from a man named Brandon Thorne on Twitter, who I follow because he breaks down film for Establish a Run, which is a fantasy website, and also for the athletic for the Denver Broncos. So, I mean, he's a guy who's watching film every single week, and he's writing and all that type of stuff. he tweeted last night if he were starting a team.

Well, I'll just give you his exact words. If I'm building a team and get to pick any quarterback to start, I'm taking Deshawn Watson. I wouldn't take him first, but I would take him in the top five. I think I'm going my home's number one. How old is Aaron Rogers? He's like 34, 35 somewhere in that neighborhood. He's getting up there.

He's closer to the end than he is to the beginning. I also put in the category of a guy who's a great improviser. as well. But I think, let me look it up. I would take now. He's 35. He's 35 now. He'll be 36. This would start some, you know, 2019 ESPN, you know, stupid talk radio war. The ostentatiousness and outrageous

take from you, Brian Smith. I would, I would take, without blinking. Without blinking. Without blinking. I would take Deshawn Watson over Lamar Jackson if I was starting a team. Bring it, y'all. Bring it. I would. He's a more, he is a more complete

quarterback. He's, now, this season will play out and things change. But right now, yeah, I would take to, if I'm starting a team, I would take Deshawn Watson over Lamar Jackson. I think I go Lamar. I just think that, that's the

stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. No, it's razor thin close, though, of course. I don't think you would take Lamar over to Sean Watson. Yes. I'm going to text to Sean right now. Okay, let him know. He's going to be so.

I mean, he's so dynamic as a runner. And with what he does, and of course, I mean, I think what he does well and just watching him on Sunday, too, is. I love Lamar Jackson. He's a great player. Yeah, I know. Obviously. It's a very small line. The razor, most razor thin of margins.

I think also because what we're seeing from, from Lamar Jackson in year two. Yeah. Is, is, I think. Sean's only in year three. Right. Or no, I think he, yeah, you're right. No, you're right. He's in year three.

He was injured in the first year. Yes. I have all my years, I have all my ears. Right. So I just feel like the ceiling is a little bit higher, but that's just my opinion. I mean,

he's just had earlier this season, I think he had two, he's already had two games with a perfect passer rating, which some, nope, only two quarterbacks in history have done that ever, twice in the same season. Ben Rathesberger, Lamar Jackson.

That's the list. That's it. I think the ceiling is very high with them. Seven, one, two, one, two, five, seven. I mean, I just started this, but we could have four. So, one, three, two, one, two, two, five, seven, and nine.

Who would you rather have? You're building team. We didn't even need the stupid building the team test. Let's just, both these guys are young and their current. Lamar Jackson's, I think 22, Deshawn's 24. Who would you rather have, Deshawn Watson and Lamar Jackson? That's ridiculous. The correct answer is yes.

Right, exactly. But yeah, we can talk about that. We also got Brian and Kingwood want to talk about the Texas game last night. Brian, go ahead. Give me Deshaun Watson. He's better looking. All right, check this out. Oh.

The two plays that kind of worried me. last night. I didn't see much of the game, but it was about six minutes and 40-some second left, fourth quarter. It was third and six, and I guess we weren't ready for the, you know, they snapped the ball. We weren't quite ready. There was two people wide open, and when they threw that little, that the guy to the tight end on the, on the sideline, I think they got 11 yards or something like that. Our cornerback was seven yards off the ball. All they needed was six yards. We were starting seven yards off the ball. As soon as the ball was snapped, we bailed another six yards off the ball. So when they made that first down, I mean, that was, I think, 20 to 17 we were up.

So they had every opportunity to either tie the game or go up. That was a big third down, you know, and I just could not believe that we were at number one, not ready. Number two, there was three or four different people wide open, and he managed to find the guy that was really wide open that we basically gave the first down to. I wasn't, I just wasn't sure what was going on. The second play was that scramble around the outside when we were trying to put the team away, like a minute and something left, and Deshaun went around and he, you know, he got, hammered, he got, and he fumbled, and it just, I'm thinking it was third and two. You know, it seems like the Colts were able to just run the ball at will. They were getting first down

constantly, you know, and that's great for them. But if, if our only deceit, you know, if our only deceit, decision at third and two to beat a team that, you know, I believe we're better than him in a clutch situation is to take our $65 trillion franchise guy and run him around the side where head-hunting billionaire linebackers get to destroy them. It just, I just couldn't believe that either. I'm going, man, make it a four-down territory kind of thing. Don't give our guy up for dead, you know, like just. So anyway, I appreciate it, fellas.

Thank you, Brian. Did they appreciate it to lose the game? They won the game and the Colts only scored 17 points. It's not like the defense was all crazy. And people all like to talk about this cornerbacks playing off type of stuff. That's because the Texans don't have, I mean, if you're playing somebody

in press man coverage, it's just going to mirror somebody. You're talking about like a Jaylon Ramsey or Dorel Rebus of years past. Depleted secondary. Look, Jonathan Joseph, you put him up in pressman coverage. He's just going to get burned. He doesn't have the speed. I didn't like the end of the top with that. You

pretty much just gave up a field goal. I mean, you, but the whole idea in that game, and I'm not trying to sound like the coach of the Houston Texans, or her memory, whereas the whole idea of that game was to win the damn game.

So, which they did, and they, Bill O'Brien said post game. And I, this, you know, sometimes coaches get it right.

And the Texans got that right, ultimately. They're, they're, one of their main plans of that game, because they deal with indie two to three times a year. And Bill O'Brien was, 1 and 3 versus Frank Wright going in that game.

And all we've talked about for years is T.Y. Hilton burning the Texans was not to give up the big plays. The Texans didn't give up the big plays. And they achieved the big plays. They ultimately made them pay off. They didn't give them up. They never scored. They never gained more than 18 yards on a single play. So, I mean, in that game, now, is that working for the whole season and winning a Super Bowl?

Oh, you know, a lot of games if a team never gains more than 18 on a single play. Did that game plan work in that game? And they won the game. And I sound like I'm working for the Texans right now. But yes, it did plus one for them. The Texans won the game. Anyways, we've had a couple of Texans calls today. And it's all just been, like, complaining about a couple things in the game.

I'm like, they won the damn game. That's how people are with the Texans. Like, wake me up when they win a Super Bowl, I think. And we said this earlier. It's like, whatever it is, whether it's the coach, whether it's, whether it's ownership, whether it's just, there's just this, you've got Watson and Hopkins and Fuller and they want on national TV. And, uh, yeah,

people just aren't going to be into it. You got these football nihilists. It happened with the Rockets too. When they were winning games and you're going up against the... It's like these like... But it's always like, oh, but what about the Warriors? What about the Warriors? Well, you know, they beat the Colts last night on Thursday night football,

but they're just going to lose to the Patriots again. And what's the point? And Bill O'Brien is so mediocre. And why do I even care about them if they're going to lose? they're not going to make the Super Bowl as completely pointless existence. Actually, I mean, I'm sorry to say. We've had the last two calls.

One guy, I'm sure very nice people. One guy is from Dallas who refer to the AFC South as the NFC South. Now, the main thing is these are Matt Thomas callers, not my callers. And then that guy was knowledgeable, but he started off by saying I didn't really watch the game.

Well, I mean, like, gosh, damn it! If you didn't really watch the game, and you're just going to complain about I watch two plays. Those two plays sucks. The Texans are horrible. Look, I'm just sick of this football nihilism. A bunch of Adam Clinton's out there. Oh, shots fired. Quick break here on the Matt Thomas show.

Brian Smith, Ross, Viroil, Nick Lowe, back in a second. Craig Ackerman here. When I'm not calling Rockets basketball, I'm following at SportsRV on Twitter. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Welcome back, back to the show. Continues here on Sports Talk 790. So I don't know if you're aware, Brian. Two in-and-out burger locations opened up today in the Houston area.

Unfortunately, none of them within miles of the loop. One in Stafford. They're in the freaking bird. Whatever they're calling the grid. And then one in Katie. I'm not exactly sure. I don't know if it's like in the Katie Mills Mall or anything like that. Or maybe on the field at the Katie Tiger Stadium because they're so fancy and fun.

and funneling money. Here we go. What do they call the people? Parrot heads. You know who's a pearhead? Who's a parrot head? Bill Belichick. No.

I swear, nobody knows that. He is. No, I'm... I think I've actually heard it, but I think I heard it from you, actually. It's the truth. Yeah. He goes, I mean, I don't think he's been to a thousand,

but he goes to Buffett concerts and wears flip-flops and Jimmy Buffett. I can't stand to me. Birdass. I really like Jimmy Buffett I'm sorry Nick Do you really like Jimmy Buffett No it's Jimmy Buffett Okay

Oh yeah Jimmy Buffett is He's one of the better There's a one of the better There's gonna be one listener Who knows this Somebody in Houston will know this So when Jimmy Buffett started

Like way before he was Jimmy Freaking Buffett He was more of like a musician Like a songwriter He's got some great song That I occasionally hear My wife is serious So I'll play the bridge

That's correct And I'll play the bridge Channel 32. I love it. You and Matt Thomas. Oh, the bridge is awesome. I would, if I'm in my car,

I would not listen to it. But because I'm driving, you know, if I'm randomly driving her car, I'll turn it on. It's either that or like 80s on 8. And for fun. But he's got some song.

It's like Sunday or Sunday morning. Come Monday. That's a, thank you. That's a great. That's a really well-written song. Okay. And it's not any of this cheeseburger and paradise crap.

Cheatburger on Paradise. Anyways, you're going to ask me something really important for us. Oh, yeah. Um, In and Out Burger, your thoughts. You want me to be honest? Yes, 100% honest. You want me to piss the people off?

Oh, yeah. You're going to say it's better than Waterburger, and I'm okay with that, actually. Two things. Number one. Hell, no, it's not better than Waterburger. What? You're crazy. You're high.

I've had in and out across. I've had In and out in Los Angeles, man. In and out. I got one word. Overrated is what you're going to say. Overrated. Oh, it's delicious. The fries are bad.

Overrated. But if you get them well done in animal style, they're better. Overrated. If you get them extra crispy and you cover, smother them and cheese and stuff, they're pretty solid. I mean, so the fries aren't great. It's totally overrated. So if I put a, if I put a What a Burger with cheese in front of you right now and a double, double, you're reaching for the Whataburger. Jimmy Buffett is the in and out of musicians.

Jimmy Hendricks. Answer the question. Jimmy Hendricks is the what is, you know, Jimmy. What? In and out is so freaking overrated. It's really good. It's delicious. It's fantastic.

I was disappointed. It's, it's L.A., it's California. It's all fake and... Oh, please. Now, see, now you're just bringing your biases. Who smited you in California? Did you step on some poop in San Francisco?

What's going on here? Let's get to the bottom of this. Now, I'll say... I like San Francisco. I like California. What a burger is a better restaurant? Because they have... They have breakfast.

Not a restaurant. They have... You know what I mean. A better fast food fun. If I'm choosing which one I'm going to eat at for like the rest of my life, I'm going Waterburger because you got the chicken sandwich. You've got, of course, the breakfast. You've got the tequitos.

You've got the now the breakfast burger is quite delicious. And I love Waterberg. Ross, you're not helping. You're making me want to have Waterburger like right now. I'm so hungry right now. I actually skipped lunch today because I had such a huge dinner. I just told you yesterday. I'm being healthy and I can't do it.

I ate such a huge dinner last night. I haven't even been hungry for like 12 hours. So now I'm starting to get. starving, and I'm probably going to head over straight to Waterburger after this. Paddy melt is good. But, I mean, that's a rotational item. So, I mean, I don't think, can you get a patty melt right now? Or you're going sweet and spicy bacon burger? I thought we'd have

a lot of all the all-time favorites. The chicken tender sandwich is delicious as well. The barbecue, oh, it's so good. No, no, going to me wrong. I love you some water burger. But I also love me. Some in-and-out. In-and-out is good. It's not the end-all. It's not like, like, oh, my God, we got an in-and-out. and I'm just waiting until Houston gets it in and out. It's not going to change your life, but Waterburger's not going to change your life either.

Or five guys or any of that. And all the Waterburger love is a little overplayed too. A little homeroverism. See? A little homerism. We're mostly on the same page. Larry mostly are. In Clear Lake, I want to talk some Texas.

What's up, Larry? Hey, what's up, guys? Hello. Hey, hey, number one, I did watch the game, and I am a Houston Texan fan diehard. So anyway. Good for you. Good for you. You're the one.

I just want to make a few comments. I thought our secondary played good last night. The two passes to Hilton. I thought they were broken up by what, Hargraves, and then Johnson Joseph. So I thought they made real good plays. I'm glad Hilton wasn't all the way healthy. I'm glad that we had a healthy Will Fuller because we're a different team with him. and as far as

watching, I like putting the ball in the hand of our trillion dollar quarterback or whatever that guy said, because I think that's our best chance. And, you know, early on, I was cutting them and everything, but at the end,

they did pull it out. And so kudos to the Houston Texans. And I think anybody we play in the playoffs, as long as we have Deshaun Watson as our quarterback, we've got a chance. That's all I got to say. Thank you. That was a nice, well-thought, rational Texans call.

I appreciate it that. The only thing that comes to mind is I felt the same way last year. Yeah. And Deshawn Watson was their quarterback at home against the Colts, and they bleeped the bleep. But, yeah, the last two times I've said that I've sold myself on the Texans can do anything because they had Deshaun Watson were against the Ravens. Yeah. Whoops. And against the Colts.

Yeah. I literally came on these airwaves and I was like, guys, why aren't you all? caring about the Texans. They're good. They got Deshaun Watson. And then they just fall flat on their face. So, I mean, it's tough to not be scared to have the rug pulled under you again. If they're going to do anything in the playoffs, they're going to have to, and I don't know if it's possible for them to do so because of the state of the line and other issues. But they're going to have to find some type of consistency. And they have five games to do it in the running game, right? I mean, Carlos High broke up the 33-yarder, but if you take that away last night, he would have had,

you know, 16 carries for for 30 plus yards. Duke Johnson has seemingly falling out. They never threw to Duke Johnson out of the backfield anymore. I thought that would have been a huge thing this year and that's falling off. They're going to have to find something consistent because in the playoffs, especially playing on the road and it's outdoors, they're going to, you know, they'll zone you. They won't let you beat you down.

They won't let them beat you down field. They'll force you to run. They're going to have to start running the ball better to open things up even more for Deshaun. Yeah, definitely want to talk about. the Duke Johnson angle when we come back. Final segment of the Matt Thomas show, that's Brian Smith. I'm Ross Villarreal, producer Nick Lowe, with you as well. The Matt Thomas Show without Matt Thomas continues next.

Right, half the workday is done. Celebrate with Matt. Hey, Matt, love your show. What was I talking about? And by the sound of it, some of you started the party at breakfast. Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790. Come on day, I just want you back by my side. Yeah.

Good job, Nick. I play the hits here on the bridge called Sirius X-Ebb. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show. We should just play bridge hits the entire final segment of the show. Brian is ducking out on me after this segment. Because I have a real job to do. My name is Rosvia Real. I don't have a real job.

I'm fully well equipped to admit that. I think Nick Lowe is ducking out on me as well. to be me and Joe George. So Texas Longhorn's basketball, which I know zero of you care about, and that's okay. They lost yesterday to Georgetown, so because of that, they're in one of these, I don't remember, it's 2K whatever, grudge match tournaments. So Duke won yesterday. I assume, I don't even look actually, because once Texas lost, I was completely checked out. So if Texas had won, they would have played at 7 o'clock against Duke. Instead, they lost. Now they're playing at 4 o'clock. And so we will start Texas Longhorns basketball,

coverage. Shaka Smart. Jace Febris, Jericho, Sims, and the boys. coverage starting at 3.30 here on Sports Talk 790. So since Adam Clinton and Adam Wexer just work way too hard. Lazy. And don't get paid anything. We just don't have the resources to ask them to come in. So I will be carrying the next 30 minutes. It'll be me. And I guess Joe George for a couple of segments before handing it off to Texas versus, I presume, Cal. They're playing Cal. I just saw it. Okay, good.

Yeah, there's no way that Duke lost to Cal, so I figured it was going to be. So hopefully a game Texas can actually win. They finally cracked in the top 25 I lost yesterday, but nobody cares about that. Anyways.

Let's just be honest, you've been carrying 790 as long as I've been around 790. I didn't say it. You did. I've been doing 790 since 12, really 13. Yeah, you've been carrying them.

Follow at Kron Bryant, Smith, go to Houston Chronicle.com. I'll give you your $5.00. Just do everything you possibly can to support the Houston Chronicle. I'm going to tell my dad to start his subscription backup because he dialed it back to Sundays only.

Let's go. Because Brian Smith is clearly a genius. If he's doing Sundays only, you get all the online stuff for every day as well. I don't be asking for his login. We'll share a little sharing. All right, anyways, what were we talking about? Jimmy Buffett songs?

You were supposed to ask me about the Texans' dress. dressing up as Mortal Kombat. Oh, yeah, we never got to that. So the Texans dressed up as a bunch of Mortal Kombat dudes as linebackers before the game yesterday. They've also done Ninja Turtles. They've also done, what else have they done? They did some other stuff, haven't they?

I don't know. Nothing's ever coming to mind. Shouldn't you be able to stop the run if you're going to dress up? I mean, shouldn't that be part of the deal? Ooh. Yes. This, by the way, I love this song. I love Mortal Kombat.

one of the all-time great arcade games. NBA Jam, probably number one. NBA Jam's amazing. You know which one I really like was the first... Is it Ninja Gaden? Ninja Gaden? Yeah. That first one's cool.

It's still different. It's like a weird game. It's a tough game. Yeah. It is a hard game. I used to like the Simpsons arcade one as well, where you would get Bart's skateboard and swat... My favorite of all time.

Marge would be whapping people with the vacuum cleaner. My two favorite old-school video games, that's all I would play. anyway. Contra's good. And Metroid. I'm a Gallagher guy as well. Do you want to go really old school? I still think Contra's like that. I used to spend so many. My mom would go, we would go to the laundromat off of Veterans Memorial. And where was that? I don't know. Somewhere in Greenspoint. And we would look, first of all, me and my brother would play tackle football against one-on-one

outside of that in the little grass area. Do kids even play tackle football one-on-one, like outside of If there was a grassy patch when we were kids, we just started playing football or some kind of sport. I was the same way. So I've been having this memory all lately because falls here. My friends and I, because I grew up near New Orleans in the suburb, my friends and I every Friday.

So this was when we were in high school. Yeah. Like freshman year, sophomore, freshman year, I think. Yeah, high school, freshman year. Every Friday, we would get out of school like 2.30 or whatever. We didn't have cars yet because you're a freshman. We take the bus to my first year. friend's house and we would play until the sun like after the sun went down but you know we'd play for like

four hours we'd bring a boom box out put it in the driveway yeah these little small suburban you know houses place of bc boys and we would play like four hours of super intense awesome tackle football we only had like three people on each team you know we're throwing bombs tackling the bleep out of each other i'm like does anyone do that new is it outlaw now and there would be like some random like a bit So you would run into like a random bit of glass or something in the grass or something like that. Or we would do like we would have one. We would tackle each other in driveways. It was tackle on the grass, two-hand touch if you ran into the concrete, stuff like that.

Yeah. And look, you and I turned out just fine. I've never broken anything. Yeah. I've never completely normal. Never broken a bone. We're really high-functioning adults. Kids don't actually exit their home anymore.

I know, right? I know. The kids are all soft, but it's also the parents who turn them soft. But that's another discussion for another time. And that's going to actually do it for the Matt Thomas show, at least. Good, two fast, fun days and honor to fill in on the Matt Thomas show. Yeah, I appreciate you. First of all, thanks to you for Brian Smith. Yeah, we're going to get out, but I got to talk to you guys about a very special ice cold and tasty beverage in just a second. But I want to say thanks to you, Brian, for showing up. Appreciate it. You always have the show easy. Thanks for having you here. And you know what?

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say, go ahead and shamelessly plug some stuff. Yeah, I'll plug what I always do. Houston Chronicle.com. That's it. That's the print paper, the website, everything. That's all there is to plug. Houston Chronicle.com. Thanks to all of you for listening and being involved as well.

Thanks to Nicolittle for producing. He's going to hand it off to Joe George. I'll be with you guys for the next 30 minutes before handing it off to Texas football. But I got to talk to you guys about something. I'm going to tell you right now. I'm going to have a few of these this weekend. And the few of these is the Cervasas Mexicas of Dos Ecces. You keep it into Rissante with that.

First of all, they're going to have me out at the Twin Peaks, Kirkwood location for the college football preview shows tomorrow starting at 11 o'clock. I will also have U of H versus Navy tickets for November 30th. So the first person to come to me tomorrow, the first two people, I got two pair of tickets to give away tomorrow at Kirkwood and I10 Twin Peaks. If you come and say Beverly Hills, fancy mat, I'm going to give you those tickets, and those tickets are brought to you by Dos Eckis. Look, last night, you're watching the game, you're hanging out with friends, or you go to a sports bar,

you order a Dose Ekes. Today, you got beautiful weather this weekend. You're going to go outside. You're going to sit on a patio. You're going to go to a restaurant. You should have a Dose Ekes. Sunday, if you're watching NFL action all day, you should have an ice cold, refresh Dose Ekes. I like to squeeze a little lime in mine.

I don't really prefer the salt. You can have whatever you want. You can have it clean. You can have it fully dressed. However you want to drink it, drink an ice cold dose ecches. You order it on draft this weekend. While you're watching some college football, and always drink responsibly and always keep it into Rossante with those equies.