Week 5 Hangover: CJ Stroud is "f***ing awesome"

Welcome to the athletic football show brought to you by the US bank smartly visa signature card. I'm Robert Mays. It's the week five hangover today. Me and Derek dug into three games from Sunday's slate. Shout out about the Sunday night game, between the Falcons and the Ravens dug into Bengals Adolfans and then shout out about Texans Titans and our thoughts about the Marvin Harrison Jr. trade with him heading to the Texans. That's what we got today with me and Derek Klasen. Let's dig into it right now. It's the week five hangover three games we're digging into today. We're going to hit Bengals dolphins a little bit later and talk about Texans Titans, but we're going to kick things off as we often do on these Monday shows with the Sunday night football game. Shout a little bit about Ravens Falcons. For each of these games moving forward, I want to start these conversations just with when you think back on this game at the end of the season, you think back on Ravens Falcons, what is going to be your biggest takeaway from that game? And so as you sit back and think about last night, what would your answer to that question be? Well, how are you going to remember this game eight weeks from now? That's a really good question. I do think that this is a game that for a young Ravens coaching staff for a team that does not have their quarterback who is playing out of his goddamn mind this season. This is the type of game that like the Ravens have to make sure that it's a very surviving advanced situation against the Falcons team that previous two weeks had been very good. And so the Ravens getting away with a win in a way that like sometimes they just had tendencies to lose these games. I think that I'm going to remember that. And then I also I was really and I know that he's not going to play center for the remainder of this season. The way that the interior offensive line specifically handled all the attack front stuff from Atlanta was unbelievably impressive for your you're on he's what center for really who's a like a rookie right guard moving to center. It's his first like real like start there. And then you have a backup right guard in all of the attack front stunting getting up the field Baltimore just handled super clean. And I think if the promise of like our team is the zone run game and we can build it all off of that to get the game that they played against the front that's been playing really really well this season. That to me is hopefully like a okay by you know we will remember performances like this later in the season. I think those are two things I came away with as well. First thought I just did my replay video about it. I think Declan Doyle just has it. Oh definitely. I think he just has it. And there's a lot that goes into that conclusion. But even the stuff that wasn't working in this game. And the first half for the Ravens was so frustrating. You have a couple drops the balls on the ground. It just it was a frustrating half and they there were a lot of missed opportunities in that half. But even in some of those moments like this is a really weird example to throw out but there was a play where they were down seven three they were in midfield. And the Falcons were in a pressure front. And the Ravens tried to run the ball on that on that third and five into like that pressure front. And Dorilless just makes a great play to kind of standing up Rosengarden in the hole at the point of attack makes the tackle they end up punting. But even in something like that you watch the play call and you watch why he's making it. And it's like there's so much I can clearly see the intent and the thought and the purpose and why he's doing all the things that he's doing and even when some of it's not working. And for a play caller that's this young doing it for the first time to have this sort of feel for what he's doing situationally why he's making the choices that he's making just having an understanding of the game flow and what how he's trying to attack people in the moment. I just think it's really advanced and refined for somebody this young doing it for the first time. And I think that was fully on display to me last night. I think that part was important because sometimes when these guys are coming from certain coaching trees you know they can hit the bigger picture stuff of what the scheme is supposed to look like and all that stuff but having a little more nuance of like understanding because Ben Johnson does that all the time. It's third and five and you're in a pressure look buddy. He's just going to cram it up the middle and he's going to try to get those five and six yards. So the fact that the Ravens were willing to do that and have shown the capacity to do that I think is promising. I also literally the first play of the game. They're just like jet play to our best player or to our best wide receiver like that getting him one getting him activated on that stuff and just getting your best wide receiver the ball and his hands on the first play is always nice to just get things jump started. But then also if you're the Falcons now you've got to think about that for the rest of the entire game. They get a 13 yard pop on a jet thing immediately and now for the rest of the game you're like well if he's ever moving like is he going to get the ball again whether they get to do off of it and it's just one of those things that helps you be on the front foot as a play collar and so I've just been really impressed by what he's done for the entirety of the season and now to have already kind of past the having to do it with a backup quarterback against a pretty solid defense check is is pretty good. Even there was a sequence where they tried to throw a throwback pass with Zay, where it's new partly was actually open. I guess if Zay had set up and thrown that ball he was open. It falls incomplete. It gets to be 3rd and 10 and then immediately after that they were on a screen on 3rd and 10 from plus territory that would have popped for a really big gain if the ball was just a little bit higher and so again there was just four or five moments in this game where even on stuff that didn't work. I just clearly understood why they were trying to do it and then there was plenty of stuff that did work. I mean that sequence where they have the full back handoff to justice Hill on 3rd and 1 that he pops her like 45 yards and then it's it's a great great call and it's I mean it's one of those where if it doesn't work we probably give him a lot of shit over it but that thing hits so fast in short yardage it goes for 43 yards I want to say and that was the same drive where they have the throwback screen to Derek Henry where they're pulling a guard the other way they influence it off play action like it just for to call it with a backup quarterback this way and we I want to talk about the ways to partly play it because I also thought he was really impressive just overall in this game. I just thought that the the plan and execution on offense for the Ravens fell in line with what we've seen from them the entire season. Obviously when Lamar is in there you're going to have an unbelievable ceiling but I think yesterday was proof that even without him in the game there is a certain floor for this offense that not every team can achieve when they're back up quarterback is in the game. And again not just missing him you're missing you know the interior is is in a weird spot which we talked about at the top of the show but also you're missing some of your tight ends and that just doesn't matter you're able to get Josh Quavos like activated in the game he had a couple of catches like and he's like your third or fourth guy who is a rookie and you know getting a rookie tight end activated in that way I thought was super impressive the other thing to me the fact that Devonta's Walker is not like an anchor on this wider seaver core that to me is another testament to this this this coaching staff like he caught I think he had eight targets all of last season he already has seven this year which is not like they're not making him a key part of the offense but the fact that you don't feel the Devonta's Walker snaps in a negative way I think is really really impressive and so it's just every little thing that this coaching staff is doing and then you see with the backup quarterback like almost every backup quarterback is dependent on like how well the offense is being skimmed around them because they're back up quarterbacks they're not that good and so they need the help and they need not even just in terms of how open are we coaching guys but like how much how well is the coaching staff keeping you on the tracks of like you need to throw this you this this is the timing of it and you could just tell new punty was like very attuned to the way that the offense was supposed to function and I thought that that was also really impressive like I every beat of this offense and this coaching staff and the players on it they are one that I want to believe in especially when we when we get the quarterback back into it not only was Devonta's Walker that's not at anchor he scored a huge touchdown in this game that that was a called defined positive target for Devonta's Walker and I I think that the stupidly performance overall you know it's a lot of stuff that there are quick easy decisions and quick easy options available to the quarterback throughout this game but there are plenty of moments where he has to make something happen that's not there I mean to me the the best example of this the touchdown drive in the fourth quarter it's first and 20 to start that drive and that play he makes spinning out and finding Zay flowers for a huge gain in that's if that play doesn't happen there is a very good chance the Ravens do not win this game and so even if there were a lot of things kind of being catered to okay there there are a lot of things catered to him over the course of this game in the way that you have to with the backup quarterback I thought that overall he was still really impressive he had eight in completions overall in the game two three of them I think you can qualify as drops one of them was tipped at the line of scrimmage like even going 24 of 32 still doesn't speak to how sharp he was for most of the day you just did not feel like I mean you like you felt like they were there was a backup quarterback in the game in so far as like they were kind of limited in what they wanted to do but not so far in the quality of it like again I just I thought he played really really well and also he handled some of the pressure stuff really well because the the Falcons still got into the backfield at decent mountain he did take three sacks in this game but it just wasn't ever as like catastrophic as I think it could have been given how well the Falcons have pressure generally but also did in this game because there were a couple that like they get into the backfield immediately and like those are plays that could turn into strip sacks or they could just turn into to place that were much worse than they were and he was able to kind of weather the storm he did it in two different ways on the final touchdown drive of regulation the Falcons were playing a lot of soft zone and he found a lot of completions as they were doing it when we got into overtime they They started bringing a lot of pressures in overtime. They're very distinct. approaches from the Falcons defense on those two drives. And when they were bringing pressure on that final drive and over time, he had multiple different answers. I mean, that third and three flip he has to Andrews to beat the pressure with the ball was really impressive. And then there's a third and six. I want to say that they do a great job of picking up. And that was that was the play where I was like, man, Emery Jones, well done. He doesn't have a great job picking like that pressure. Yeah. And they get the first down because of it. And so it's overall, I just think an expression of an offense that is really put together in all of the way right ways right now. The interior of the offensive line point is a good one. Like there was part of me watching this, thinking about them giving up a second round pick for Cam Jergens and being like, did we need to do this? Could we survive with this group for the rest of the season? I know that's a short-sighted way of thinking about it. You probably get better by moving you want to back to guard, even if he's been capable at center. But I do think overall Jones got hooked by I think Jared ivy for a sack in this game. But that was really the only moment where I noticed how banged up the interior was the fact that you had backups playing at center and guard technically for the Ravens in this game. Because like Jones, yeah. Like the one where he gets beat by ivy immediately and like Snoop has nowhere to go. That one's tough. But like Emery Jones, like had moments in the run game. When they were trying to pick up lists is like, I thought that he was totally fine. And so like, I probably agree that I think if they didn't trade for Jergens, they could totally survive. It will probably be better for them, especially if you're a serious contender, the way that they are. But it is a fun thought that like they look good enough that they could legitimately survive taking their rookie guard moving into center for the first time in his career. And they kind of just look fine and better than they did last year, like much better than they did last year, which the interior really is what killed them last year. And so the fact that they're on two out of three backups in a way with their interior now and looks so buttoned up is just a far cry from what it looked like. People are probably going to be like, well, they needed a miracle to come back and win the game. How are we heaping all this praise onto the Ravens offense? Again, there are a lot of frustrating moments in their first half. Andrews drops the ball at the goal line. He then fumbles. They dropped a third and three, third and four that should have been caught on like a slant. Talks about that third and five run that is a good call in the moment to get stuff they have to punt. I just think there were a lot of sequences that you get some bad breaks over the course of the game, even if the offense is playing well. I mean, you go back and look at it. They're even finished with a 51% offensive success rate in this game against the Falcons defense that had really been given to people a lot of problems. And so even in a day, even on a day where there were a lot of frustrating moments that the ball bounce doesn't bounce your way. You potentially lose this game on the road. I still felt like the offensive performance top the bottom was very impressive with a backup quarterback. Yeah. Let's talk about the other side of the ball. What are your impressions of what you saw from the Falcons quarter back in this game? He makes like four throws a game that are really impressive, like some of the deep outs that they were able to get open, which that is actually one thing I thought the Falcons offensive infrastructure did well is like some of the two deep stuff that were the man coverage stuff that the Ravens were trying to play. They did a really good job of getting like two and three vertical routes into the same area and springing open like some of those deep sail routes or deep crossers and stuff that he loves. I think that there are just certain restrictions to his game that continue to leave me wanting like inability to throw over free rushers multiple times in this game. He's like thirding throws because he can't do that. He was I think two for 11 with three sacks under pressure because he's just not the best mover and his response against pressure is back up, back up, back up, back up. Okay. I'm just going to throw it. And I think why that becomes especially troublesome for him is he has a low release point. And so if you're like just like backing up, backing, backing up, you're still kind of like low release point throwing at defensive lineman in front of you. So I think that that is an issue. And then you saw he the first play of the game. They try to run dagger and he's a beat late throws it behind Drake London on the dig route. And then he just like doesn't throw the middle of the field again. He throws the one touchdown to Kyle pits in the red zone against man coverage. And that's it. He just like doesn't try it again. And I think it's just I continue to have these moments and these drives where it's just I feel like I am left wanting for what he is like he feels. And I said this coming into the season. He's an NFL quarterback. But to me, he feels like watching Jacobi Brasette, which like you can win games with that. But I don't know how much further we're going to develop from that. And I think I still have a lot more I want to see. I think all of that's valid. The middle of the field stuff to me is going to be the key moving forward because what you're saying with the pressure and just the creativity as a thrower, that stuff is what it is. That's just who he is physically. I don't think there's any real planning around that. There was a play in the fourth quarter. It was a third and five. The Ravens bring a gazero pressure with multiple droppers. And he's got to pop it over the free runner coming off to his right to be John. And he can't do it. And that happens a lot. And I also think that's a reason that I think this team should be running. They have they didn't do a ton of it in previous games. They did more of it in this game. I don't think you should be leaning into boots with him. I agree. He kind of situation just like that earlier in this game. He can't handle the free rusher. He can't he can't handle it because he can't get the ball around that player. And he he isn't a good enough athlete to handle that guy. So both as a thrower and an athlete, he can't handle that guy coming free into his face. And so that's that stuff that's just going to be what it is. The middle of the field stuff, though, if he can start to access that more often, I think that there is a real path forward for him being a good quarterback. Like I think if both of those things being the concerns that I totally agree with that. If he handles the second one, I think that there's a lot to be excited about. And that's the one where I do think it would be possible with more time on task and just more starts. This is still a quarterback that has started 15 games in the NFL 16 games in the NFL. And he's not doing it often enough, but he is doing it occasionally. Like that throw to Kyle pits for a touchdown. That's the type of thing where if he can start doing that consistently, then think I think this becomes exciting. There was another play had in the red zone where he throws a wrap out to pits that falls in complete. And it's kind of a dangerous throw in that moment. In the fourth quarter, I think I like him making that throw. I don't mind that it's a little bit dangerous. I want to see him let things let those things go a little bit more. And there's there was another. There's a two-play stretch where I think in this game, you really saw his limitations in the first quarter. The one exactly what we're saying, they run a boot. I'm like a second and seven. He has to dirt it. And because it's into it like a six man front, there's a guy coming free. He can't get the throw off. And then on the next play, it's third and seven. And if you watch the play unfolding, all made as a key is his coming open on a crosser. And if you as the as everything's kind of as a routure distributing, he's going to have just enough space with Bijan coming out late to be able to fit that ball over Rohquan Smith to OZ if he's willing to make that throw. He's not. So he pulls it down, tries to scramble, get takes a short sack, and then they have to park. If that ball starts getting thrown, I think that I'm excited about what he could potentially be. But when you consider all the limitations, if that ball isn't going to be thrown, that's where I think we're going to have some real concerns because he's just a little bit too boxed in. But I with more time, I do think there is a chance that we see those balls getting ripped more often and more frequently than they are right now. I hope so. I just I think when I think about that specific issue, I can't recall many quarterbacks who got a lot better at that. Like I think that that's my problem. At specifically like being willing to make the like big boy nails in like throwing through the car wash, middle of the field throws. And again, he doesn't have to do it to the level of like Matthew Stafford or Jack Prescott. It just has to get I think one tier better than it is. But I do think that that is something that quarterbacks, it's not innate necessarily. But a lot of guys are like they really want to make those throws or they really don't and you have to do a lot of coaxing to get them to make more of those throws. But the fact that he's he's willing to do it every so often, that's why I have hope for it. Like there are guys that there are some quarterbacks that wouldn't even try to make that throw to pits for the touchdown. Like that, that just wouldn't be a throw that was on the table for them. And so the fact that he's willing to do it every so often because I think and we can have a I think there's a it's a worthwhile conversation whether this is a mental thing or not. Like whether or or it's just an innate feel thing. Okay, I do think there is a certain aspect to playing quarterback and Lamar is to me the perfect example of this where some of the willingness to access that area of the field. Bryce Young is the way Bryce Young is playing now is another good example of this where it really is more about spatial awareness than anything. But it's not being able to see it necessarily. It's truly just about spatial awareness and feel. And so if that is what it is and it really is innate to that extent, it might be a binary yes or no thing. But if it's a little bit of that, but also a little bit of as I gain confidence about what I'm seeing, I'm willing to make those sorts of throws and I think that can happen with more time and experience in the course of your career, then maybe it's something that he develops a little bit better handle on as he moves forward. I do think that might be possible. But if it doesn't happen, then I think the limitations start to rival or outweigh the strengths enough where it becomes a the problem. Right. And again, like he's he can stick around for a time playing the way that he is right now because he, I mean, he made like five or six really impressive outside the numbers throws in this game. But like you said, I think if you're going to try to develop him into what feels like a consistent top half of the lead quarterback that I think the middle of the field stuff does has to happen. And I think even where I get like tough with it is like the pits one. That's like man coverage. Like he's just running with him. And so I think it's like that to me is not thrown through the car wash in zone coverage. And I think that is the what you're talking about the spatial awareness, the feel of like, I know that if I throw this now, the ball will arrive past the linebackers ear hole, even though he's where he is in my receivers where he's at. I think that stuff is a little bit more of a fuel thing. And I think there's a little bit of development to be done there. But I think just with penics, the fact that this was an issue that I had with him coming out of college. And now I think that we've seen him in multiple different offenses where it still remains to me his biggest issue. Obviously, because it's only his 13th, 14th start, whatever it is, I'm willing to give him if he does the other stuff that he's doing well enough, like even into next season, I'm willing to to give him a runway for it. But that does have to be the thing of like, is this going to be worth our time or not, whether or not he can figure that out at all. And I think that's that's just always a trait that I think I'm a little bit less willing to believe guys are going to develop. It's fair. I will say, I mean, Trent Simpson is sitting right in the middle of the field when he's willing to make that throw essentially past Trent Simpson's ear hole on the Kyle pits touchdown. And that's why I think that the incompletion that some people would probably say as a dangerous throw is actually the type of thing I want to see him do it more often. Yes, 100%. He needs to learn what that feels like to make those throws. The what you're talking about some of the outside of the numbers throws though. I mean, the drive for them to go up 14 six, the back shoulder crosser, he throws to London against man coverage against that. I drop eight look is just a disgusting throw. The pile on shot that that's in is that's what he does well. That mean just a huge chunk deep ball. Then he throws the touchdown to pits. There's a third and 11 in the fourth and the third quarter where he comes all the way back to pits at like the end of a progression all the way to the other side of the field. Like that's the other thing that jumps out to me is that he is willing to do that stuff. Like the fact that he can go full field and he gets through everything like it's not just that he's a like big armed quarterback where that's the main selling point. You do see the processing really jump out in a way that is impressive for a guy that is it young. He's 26, but he hasn't played a lot of games, right? That just is inexperienced in the way that he is. And so I just kind of always find myself fighting fighting. I find myself fighting myself about him because I completely understand why he's getting boxed in by some of these things while also acknowledging that there's so much to be excited about. And there really is a push pull between those two things. Listen, any any time a guy has that kind of arm telling it's easy to chase the dragon. I think he's just I don't even know what it is. Like I think it is the middle of the field stuff. I maybe just like to dogmatic about like you have to do that or I don't know if. And again, I think he can be good, but like not the quarterback that I'm necessarily betting on. The pit's play was interesting though because I think what you saw in that play. And I think I thought the Ravens guys were doing this throughout the game. They were a little loose on a lot of their zone landmarks and they were just playing his eyes like the whole game. And to his credit, he didn't really make a mistake like throwing out a linebacker throwing out of safety. Any of that stuff. And I do think that he's good at that. He doesn't put the ball in harm's way very much. And I do think that that is probably what is going to give him a runway to develop. We've talked about this before. He does not take sacks really and he doesn't really put the ball in harm's way very much. And then he makes enough explosive throws that it's like even if that there are things left on the table, he does enough for you that you want to see it through of like, okay, can we find the next level with him? It's not like, you know, some quarterbacks where you get like one good play every five and you're like, are we holding onto that? There's more than that to Penix. It's just I think sometimes you wonder how fixable some of his lower moments are. The Ravens defense, it was a curious performance by them because I actually think some of their best moments were when they were bringing simulated pressures. But when they were only bringing four is when they were actually speeding the falcons up and getting some of these negative plays. On plays where they blitzed, they only had a 21% pressure rate in this game. And that's one of the keys to Michael Penix having good games is if you're not heating him up and he can be comfortable in the pocket. That's where he's able to dice you up. And there were plenty of examples in this game where the Ravens were just leaving him with way too much time. Like early in the game, the couple simulated they had, I think on the first two drives were some of their best past rush moments in the entire game overall. And Tray Hendrickson didn't play understand that. And so, I mean, it's maybe not surprising that they the past rush wasn't that impactful for the Ravens over all, but I just thought it was curious that the simulated where they only brought four were their best past rush moments for the most part. Well, and Penix is good at that because Penix when he sees some amount of pressure, he's pretty good at like replacing it, getting the ball out, making sure I'm not getting hit by a free rush here. But I think to the same point when he sees simulated, he's also just like ball out and like he doesn't want to hold on to it as much. And I think that you see some of that. I will say to I felt like the Ravens just got got in a lot of their man coverage stuff. Like every time they tried to play one-on-one stuff, the the Falcons guys were just better, whether that was pits on the touchdown or obviously London had a number of plays like I did think whenever Penix got his chances to take his one-on-ones, the Ravens guys were just not picking it up. Well, or they had a couple of plays where you're getting some sort of rubrow and Marlon Humphrey is just running into a teammate and you have whoever it was like wide open. And so I did think when they ran into those moments, especially on a lot of the third downs, like the Falcons third down passing was pretty good in this game. Are there early down stuff is what was a little bit more up and down, I think? Yeah, the Falcons went nine of 17 on third down. Their Ravens went eight to 15 on third down. So you had two teams are checking in about 53 percent conversions on third down in this game and it did feel that way. The last point that absolutely needs to be made the the discrepancy in the run games between these two teams went a long way in dictating how the game went. The Ravens went 35 for 208 with the 56% success rate per next 10 Falcons 26 for one 10 25% success for Atlanta. And you compare that to what their run game has looked like over the last couple games and it's a pretty big chasm. And that was my big question about it coming in. What would the Ravens running defense look like against this team that kind of been running the ball at will? And so there were a lot of two yard gains, three yard gains, four yard gains on second and 10. Like that was consistently showing up for the Falcons over the course of this game. And like they said, they did enough on third down to kind of sustain themselves, but they had to do a lot on third down because the run game was not kind of the mindless eating machine that it's been for the most part. Dude, I thought the Ravens front wasn't sane. Like that's like from everybody to like Travis Jones, I think played as well as he has for a lot of the season, not me matter BK. I don't know if he looks like all the way back, but he looks like a good football player again. Like there were multiple times where he's just getting into the backfield, immediately crossing face on Christian Lindstrom. Like there was one play where they're trying to run the zone away. And he just crosses the guard's face instantly and gets into the backfield. And him being able to do that, they can spike him to create space for Rohquan Smith, which for Rohquan, like you have to do. He's not a guy who comes up and hits people very much. Like you have to get him into some of those runs. I thought they did really good with that using Matt BK. That was the one of the best games I've ever seen, project Washington play. I thought. And then even to one more shout out for the Raiden's defense, I thought for the first month of the season, Malachi starts just did not look good. He did not look like he was playing fast. I don't know what that was about. Maybe it's new defense. Maybe he was banged up and we didn't know he was flying around in this game run defense past defense. Like he just looked a lot more active. And they're going to need that. If you're going to be some of these, you know, neutral and light box, we have the safety coming down late. I thought he did a really, really good job of that in this game in a way that again, I just don't know for the first three weeks of the season. We really saw from him. I came away even against the back of quarterback still feeling looking forward to the rest of the Falcon season. I guess that's what I would say. Like I'm still I left this game still being excited and interested in this team and what they're going to look like. They looked like a team that ran into a contender and they're just not quite up to snuff with those teams yet, but they are still like a good competitive football team. That's what that game felt like to me. All right, let's take our first quick break and then come back and shout a little Bengals dolphins. I don't want to be too reductionist here and I want to preface that before I make this introductory point about this game between the Bengals and the dolphins. I come away from this game with the Bengals. 31 points to 131 24.14 EPA 50 percent success rate. All across the board like solid numbers. I've seen this Bengals game 50 times. Yep. And I've seen this game 50 different times and I don't even mean that as a negative or a criticism. But I just think it's so funny that we spent all off season being like the Bengals are going to do this and the Bengals are going to do that and it's going to be more under center and it's going to be more play action. And then when you watch the Bengals offense, we've just arrived back at the exact same point that we've existed in for the past like four or five years with some different nuances and subtleties about what they're trying to do week to week season to season. Is that unfair? No, it was their highest gun rate of the season. And this to me, They're back at 80% 80% back 80% and this game I think was very instructive for that because I think week five Is the point in the season especially against a dolphins team that is just not good at you expect to beat them That to me is like a perfect point of like okay if we really want to commit to this This is a game where we can really test some stuff we can see if this is gonna work for us We can really commit to it and they were just like nah I go back to the other stuff. We'll score 30 points on these guys and get out of here I'm like if that's what you guys want to be for the sixth year in a row. That's fine I'm gonna be honest. I'm kind of over it like I just don't think that this offense is going to this offense will win 11 games doing this Like they're they have enough talent to do this This feels like they're gonna run out of road at some point and it just continues to feel that way like I think for one Like there I think there were two Incredibly three incredibly frustrating moments to me in this game The first was there's a third and nine that Joe burrow is trying to throw like a speed out a little bit shorter the sticks And if you're gonna be this kind of offense where we're just gonna be in gun We're gonna throw to our best guys immediately all this stuff You got to be perfect and he just throws it low and behind T Higgins It's not complete and they have no chance. There's a little bit more of that this year I feel like then we typically see from the bangles offense You had another moment the middle of the second quarter where the dolphins are playing Cover six and they're playing like 12 yards off like they are not giving any sort of space vertically And Joe burrow just takes a snap and throws a gobal to T Higgins. It's capped the whole way like there's it's He's never gonna be open. He's never gonna get to even your leave in it is completely capped and he just throws a balloon It's obviously incomplete and they just that's their only way to generate explosives is them just chucking it up to those guys And I think that that to me continues to be very frustrating And then the one of the few times they tried to do the under center play action stuff in this game There's about 10 minutes left in the second quarter Joe burrow hits the last Foot hits at the top of his drop and he is already throwing the check down and I'm like man If the only time you're trying to turn the other dial you are immediately checking the ball down It's never gonna work and you're just going to run into teams Better than the dolphins laid in the season where this stuff is not gonna work the way you want They scored a combined 37 points against the Texans in the Jaguars And even that's not true because they scored a defensive touchdown. I think against the Texans I want to say I think on the day So the six play action passes it felt like fewer than that I'm a couple of those are probably in the gun But the three that I can remember the one you're talking about with the check down they threw A little slide route. I think to Eric all for like a 13-year gain at one point Which those are the completions that have worked. Those are the play actions that have worked for them Whenever they've tried because part of the reason There were two arguments for I think for the play action under center play action philosophy and pivot from them One was it would make us more explosive Two is that it would allow us just to have easier completions where every single member of the offense Was getting to take a playoff in a way that you can't when you're living in the gun 85% of the time The second bucket Has provided them with some stuff over the first five games There have been one or two completions of game where we got a tight end leaking out of the flat or it's a little slide route coming back across where the quarterback just has to flip it to somebody We can get 12 yards that has worked the down the field explosiveness has been non-existent Like non-existent. They just had none of those and this game was another example of it and I kind of under I understand what you're saying in the sense that Why would the results be different if the approach isn't going to be any different and I do think If I were a bangles fan and I was trying to talk myself into why I would be okay Living in this world that we're talking about right now where they've kind of arrived back in a familiar place The offense is always good Right the offense is always like a top seven or eight unit there It's the past protection is better this year just because the offensive lineman individually or better like having mims playing the way that he's playing That stuff is better than it has been at any point. There's still 16th and rushing success rate overall Even if they're 31st in explosive run rate, which again is exactly where this team just always has lived over the last few years because it's all RPO It's it's that and it's yeah, it's all it's there that we shouldn't be surprised by this so like all that stuff. I think The good stuff that you can carry over from season to season is still there and I do think overall some of the relative weaknesses that you've had mostly along the offensive line Have been solved and so the argument that you this is a team that has hovered somewhere between like 6th to 10th and every major of offensive efficiency category Can finish in that range again maybe a little bit higher maybe they're the fifth best offense in the league over the course of the year I don't think that's crazy and then you pair that with the defense where The defense is also part of this the 2026 bangles are there's the 2025 bangles with some more defensive talents left on the side And that might be okay Like that that actually might be okay. It's a little bit frustrating and maybe a little bit disappointing And I do think that you're climbing a somewhat steeper hill if that's the place that we're in but I still think That formula overall might be enough. I think that's the story I'd be trying to tell myself if I were a bangles fan Because the increase in defensive front or talent specifically is so extreme compared to what what it was last year I'll admit part of my frustration is probably just like I'm tired of seeing the same offense operate the same way that it's been I get that and I had some more feeling today and I just don't like watching it like it's not even like I just It's not even as cool as it was three or four years ago when it was more explosive even if it was limited It's just not even that anymore and I think that that the explosives now are we're going to chuck it up to them Yes, that's what the explosives have been and they and again, it's if you're trying to Talk about it hitting the same beats all the time. They did it again this week. It's like they're Looking at the numbers on it. It was it's kind of disheartening. So in this game Five of burrows passes went more than 10 yards in the air five He had 26 attempts of 10 air yards or over the one completion That they had down the field was just they chucked up 50 50 ball to arguably the best offensive player in the league And when you can do that it feels silly to ding a team for doing it But this is just the constant formula week over week is that we have the Gun efficient underneath making the right choices slowly matriculating the ball down the field and then once again One of those two guys is going to dunk on you and again that might be enough It's just Familiar to the point where it kind of makes your eyes glaze over a little bit Yeah, and it's not like again those plays are awesome It's just that if you're going to be an actually scary offense You should be able to generate explosive some other way like some sort of schemeed up thing Whether it's the run game whether it's the past game whatever it's going to be and I think By virtue of how they run the offense being so gone heavy. I think it's just really Really difficult to do that And so I just they're a team that I think again, they're going to finish 10 or 11 wins. They're going to be 5th or 6th and DVOA by the end of the season And unless it looks better than it does right now by the time we get to the end of the season They just don't feel like a team to me that is actually scary They're one of those that like the numbers look good and they'll have enough wins And then they go into the divisional and they get Smacked by a real contender and I know that it's you know five weeks into the season It feels early to say that but that just feels like The essence of this team right now It's looking at the numbers at they're just so right They average again 50% success rate 0.14 EPA per play Joe burrow had a Had finished with 0.24 EPA per drawback, which is a really good number the offense average 4.9 yards per play Yes, and like Jaguar's game same thing Joe burrow thirst for 400 yards. They scored 17 points They are like cheesing the numbers that seem good and then they can't score I mean obviously in this game they kind of do because the dolphins are just not that good but again, I just In a world where every other really good offense is continuing to develop and they're really showing different signs of being something new and adding all these elements The fact that we're back to the same tried and true stuff with the bangles and like even in this game Their run game could be kind of efficient, but it was all inside RPO stuff And like they only reason it was working is because they were able to get Jacob Rodriguez out of the box And again, I just think that Better defenses are going to have better answers for that. It's 2026 Mike McDonald seen in RPO Brian Flores is seen in RPO like these guys are going to have answers The last moment I want to make about the offense As somebody who is heavily invested in chase brown in the fantasy football leagues that I care about Are we a little bit worried that Somage P Ryan seems to be a more effective player right now than chase brown Somage P Ryan is one of those like Unkillable players where he just kind of always sticks around and I do think that they value him for what he does in the passing game And if you're going to go back to this world where we are so gone heavy and we are not just doing the pure under center trying to run stuff P Ryan does have a lot of value in that sense and I do think that he has Chase Brown in theory I think is more explosive, but if your run game is not going to Allow itself to be explosive by virtue of how you're running Well, shit, you might as well just grind him down with Somage P Ryan and get six yards all the time I'm looking at it right now. So combined all right the Chase Brown and Somagia P. Ryan in this game both had 12 combined carries into light or neutral boxes six or seven defenders in the box per next. On those 12 carries Somagia P. Ryan had six successful runs. So six of those 12 were successful against six or seven man boxes. Chase Brown had two. And it's I don't have to do more have to take a deeper look at it to like actually try to figure out is this the running backs problem is this some situational thing is just kind of random is it. The runs they're doing asked to do like is there actually some signal here in those numbers but when you look at the numbers they are what they are. I mean the all the successful runs in this game essentially came when Siraja P. Ryan was the ball carrier all the unsuccessful runs came when Chase Brown was the ball carrier whether that continues I don't know but it's it's something to keep an eye on at the very least I would say it's troubling if he was supposed to be your third best offensive skill player. I think I would say that like if you expected him to be part of your difference maker I will say for as much as I just like destroyed how I feel about the bangles offense. Dante Myers is like a real player. He's I think he's got some real pop to him and so I think that there's always going to be like the targets are just always going to be funneled to two guys and I think when they get in the red zone they really like Micah Secky but he feels like he's more explosive than any of the other third wide receivers they've had in a really long time and he opened this game with like an 80 yard kicker turn that got them on to the 10 immediately so I keep he feels like a nice little nice little get for them I think I think he was like a mid to late round pick so for all of the bad things I just said about the bangles offense I did want to shout him out. Talk about the dolphins offense. Miguel is not playing very well. I don't really know what else there is to say about it. I mean you look at the box score and that I'll tell you with the two picks but you just watch the process down to down. It's just all over the place like it you compare it to again obviously the Ravens have more talent across the board but you watch like what snoop hotly looked like in that game and just how clean everything about it feels and understanding it's just a valley between those two things like it just feels like he's all over the place right now. It doesn't I think if we knew that he was going to be limited coming into this he had been a backup quarterback for pretty much his entire career and even in green Bay it was a lot of. We're chucking it deep we're booting or you're running and I think that like when you're scheming up a backup quarterback game plan for three weeks that's really easy to get away with especially when you're. Matt LaFleur who's proven he can do this and you have a package team that is just way more talented than what the dolphins are running out right now and I would say that I think part of the issue with the dolphins is their deep passing game overall it's just not very good and I think if you're not going to have that with Malik Willis then the rest of it is just going to fall apart and I don't think all of that as well as like the first big deep shot. They try to throw in this game Lee Washington is running like a deep crosser that kind of converts into like a wheel route on the opposite sideline and he runs up towards the pile on. But he's like looking over both shoulders he doesn't know where the ball is supposed to be and that's one where I'm like I think if he just like halls asks and runs the pile on that's a completed touchdown and so you've just got chemistry issues with the receiver core that is a lot of young guys have not really played with this quarterback before and so I think you see that kind of bleeding into this thing. And then again I think just they're down to down stuff is not as good as you want and I would also say and this is also partly credit to the bangles defensive line the dolphins offensive line just I don't think look very good in this game for a lot of parts of it. Yeah and I mean I've the right tackle is going to be a problem all year but the left tackle had his issues in past protection in this game like it. It's it's it's it's an I went out for like the second half like it they were missing a lot. It's a group that we knew coming in wasn't going to be very talented and they were going to have to try to scrape by and you're really going to have to piece together the passing offense and I think the plan and just the coaching and just everything about it was going to have to be so pristine for them to even really have a shot and the fact that it doesn't look like that. And the quarterback feels like his head is spinning a little bit on top of the fact that you're at a talent deficiency in every single game. You have results that look like this like I it's five weeks new play call or new quarterback so many new pieces you don't want to make any sweeping or final proclamations about what the Falcons are going to what the dolphins are going to be. But from everything I've seen so far it's just hard to imagine it not continuing this way and then leaving this season with a win to wins and picking number one on the draft and that being the reset moment for the franchise I think we're just kind of headed in that direction. Yeah which we we try to talk ourselves into the optimistic case of it being a team that can win three four games and they're more exciting than this but this was probably the always the most likely outcome and I will say. Credit to the Bengals defense for I still don't know how good they are but if you're going to be at least average and competent you should make the bad tanking team look like a bad tanking team and they did like Jonathan Allen was awesome in this game. Dexter Lawrence put Savannah in the ground on one of those plays I thought that that was super impressive boy and mafia had his moments DJ Turner I thought there was there was one play in the late first quarter where Chris Bell is like in a tight split and he's running a deep over. And DJ Turner does the thing where you start to play on top of the crosser but he like lets it cross his face like snaps behind him and then just undercuts and sprints to it. To have the athletic ability and like to just wear with all to be able to make a play like that I goes and breaks it up like that was super impressive so like they've got guys who are playing well on that side. I think you still want to see what the linebackers and safeties look like against good offenses but the fact that half of the defense I think does look pretty promising especially in a game like this and you feel how dominant they can be against bad teams that was pretty promising. It's interesting that it's been two games now but they move DAX Hill to the slot full time again and Ivy's playing outside and so they're still trying to piece together with the back seven is going to be over the course of the season and I'll be curious. Again like you just said what does it look like in the long term because the front I feel good about I mean that was from the moment the season started essentially you watch the way the front was playing you're like alright this is. Easily the most improved position group in the entire NFL it will probably be enough to carry the defense through the season even if there are some inconsistencies on the back end but how that group settles in the back seven that's the number one thing I think you have to keep an eye on as you try to adjust your expectations for what the defense is capable of. Over the course of the season. Alright let's take one more quick break and then come back and chat a little Titans Texans. Before we get into the game we were saving this conversation for the show knowing we were going to talk about the Texans and the Titans. What do you think about the Texans trading a second round pick for Marvin Harrison Jr. Okay I joke about this before you live on Sunday and maybe this is partly because I think I still just believe in the Texans overall there is like a kernel of me that believes that the power friendship will heal Marvin Harrison Jr. I do kind of believe that and I don't really think it's just that I do think that there is some element of. Obviously Harrison himself is culpable for how bad things just went in or how up and down things were in Arizona he had nice moments but it was just very inconsistent. But I do think that there was a clear like they did not know exactly what they wanted to do with him at any point and I do think that there's some element of you get him in a room. With the quarterback who helped make him look like a superstar in college he's going to be like I know what Marvin likes I know where the ball is supposed to be I know when he's going to be open and I think there's another element of Marvin Harrison is going to know how my quarterback plays the timing all this stuff like I. And he now he doesn't have to be the guy anymore you have Nico Collins you have a top 10 receiver in the NFL already and that I think that there's a little bit more that they can kind of play off each other and even still like. Case on booties been nice for them like I I kind of believe me and I think that this is actually going to be okay. All right I have a couple of responses to that one he didn't have to be the guy now when he was in Arizona Wilson is not Nico Collins though there's a different level of gravity. But the role that he's being asked to play within the offense training bride is there to like he already was in terms of the hierarchy of the past catchers like third in the pecking order and it still wasn't going well. And so that's why I have some reservations about that I agree that. Nico Collins is a true like true number one and then he really does get to slot in. As just a complimentary piece but I would make the argument that he was already a complimentary piece in Arizona and he wasn't complimenting anything that well it was still going very poorly. The other part of this and that that's one to if he's going to be a complimentary piece a second round pick for a team that's one and four is a lot to give up for a guy like that. That is a lot to give up for a player were the selling point before we even get into this is that well he doesn't have to be the best pass catcher on your team. I mean I guess but if he lifts the offense to a point that they feel like an offense that can win in the playoffs. I don't really care if he's the best or second best player on the team that to me is worth a second round pick if they feel like they can get there and if that feels weird when you look at the team that's one and four. But I think we still believe in this defense and this offense already is like 11th and DVO. They're not a bad offense like they are probably closer to being something serious and we believe in that's kind of a. naughty conversation, too, because the run game still sucks. And I don't know if you can really be like, I don't know if you can really be like a contending team just being like, we can only throw the ball. But if they are trying to legitimately give themselves a chance, if they can get a receiver who is like a B minus wider receiver, too, in case on booty can be this like third explosive piece for you. And they've got all the tight ends now. I'm like, second round feels like a lot, but if that ends up being picked 57, I don't really care. My other big thing when it comes to just whether it's worth it to make a swing like this is just how the roles shake out in the long term. And Jaden Higgins is going to be back next year. And I think Jaden Higgins is a pretty good player. And if you're giving up a second round pick for a guy, he should be part of your long term plans. And so when I think about a receiving for this year specifically, I get it in part because now booty becomes like a true role player in a way that he is not right now. You're having to rely on him more than that. And so if you can slot Marvin Harrison in and you have like a true extra receiver with Nico. And now Marvin Harrison becomes a guy that is like a Z move around piece. You're using him on more crossers and just middle of the field stuff. And the cardinals were using him on and you can kind of unlock the things he does best. They start using him in the way we thought Arizona might coming into the season. It gets that away to get more out of him for the 2026 Texans specifically, I can get there like I actually do think that makes sense for the 2027 Texans. How does Marvin Harrison, how do Marvin Harrison, junior Nico Collins and Jaden Higgins all fit into the same receiving core? I mean, I think to me, Marvin Harrison is like the move Z. Jaden Higgins and Nico can both play X. And I think that you can kind of move those guys around in and out of the slot. I think that that's the value of especially a guy like Jaden Higgins. They don't want to be an 11 personal team all the time, which I do think makes or they shouldn't want to be, which I think makes things interesting. And I would say the other part, like what do you do with Jalen? No, then. And so I do think it makes the wider receiver room crowded. But I think if their idea is that we've always had this sort of player in Xavier Hutchinson. And now Marvin Harrison, junior is just like super Xavier Hutchinson, which I realized does not sound like very high praise around pick. Right. It does sound like a second room pick. But like that role is in the offense. It exists in the offense already. And if he can just be like a supercharged version of that, I think that that can be worth it. We talked about this coming into the season. I mean, they were excited because Noel was hurt all of camp that they were seeing Jaden Higgins play in the slot. And they really liked what he was giving them in there. And so if you get to a place where you have Nico as your ex, Marvin, Z Jaden Higgins is playing inside more consistently. It's a weird trio of players slotted into those three roles because I think coming into the league, people thought all three of them would just be like very traditional X receivers. But I could see it potentially shaking out. It's just a set of like, it's just a bunch of stuff to consider and juggle that I never would have imagined. When I was thinking about the Texans and what is holding back the Texans and what could potentially get the Texans offense back to a place where we can really maximize the season. Marvin Harrison Jr. is just not the piece I would have thought about getting them to that place. And so I don't really know how I feel about it. I think it's incredibly rich. I think you're paying for what his draft capital was not what he has been so far. And I think it's kind of a weird fit. Do I think it can work out? Yes. But I think that's those are most of my thoughts and feelings about it. And I think all of that is fair. I do think I'm probably a little bit higher on the trade than most people would be. And maybe that's just me doing like being two in the bag for what his previous draft status was rather than what he's been. But I really do think that there's something like with the particular issues that Marvin Harrison has had something about getting a quarterback that he we know he has chemistry with. There is something about that that feels like the power of friendship like I there is something about that that I do think they can actually work, especially if he's now not going to have the again, the stress of like he's got to be the wider seaver one which again in Arizona, he like kind of lost that anyway. But now in Houston, you know, like nobody even expects that of you because they have Nico. I'm excited might be strong. I'm intrigued by how this will work out. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like in practice. And I think a big part of that as we transition to this game. The quarterback for the Houston Texans. Since it's awesome. He let me do this. How many quarterbacks right now through five weeks are you positive are playing better than him? Like positive wouldn't even think of playing this game. I think that there's like three. I maybe four. I think Patrick Mahomes. I think even Josh Allen for some of his silly moments. It's him. I think even Lamar Jackson is a weird one. Not because of what he's been on the field but just he has missed time. So like that. Yeah. But he's in terms of who's playing on the field. I think Lamar. I think he's on the field. Best of all of them. I agree. He's just one that like if I was voting for all pro right now. I don't know if I would vote Lamar just because he's missed as much time as he has. But like when he's on the field, he's been incredible. And then I think you have two maybe cases with Brock Pretty and Trevor Lawrence. And other than that, I think it's just he just shot. He's like, yeah, I think it's Mahomes, Allen, Lamar. And then maybe is for Brock Pretty and Trevor Lawrence. That's it. Everyone else. I think that's wrong. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think that's wrong. He was he's showing you all the things you want to see. I mean, I think that's the most important thing to me is that the purest talent as a passer is like fully on display. Like he's making four or five throws a game where you're just reminded of just as a pure thrower of the football, how incredibly talented he is. That's been all over the place. And to me, how fast he's playing, how cleanly he's seen things, the processing, like you watched the way that he played yesterday. And the idea that before the season, we were kind of having and hawing about whether this would be a guy that's worth extending or you know, we had the Texans have a CJ Stroud problem. It just feels silly to think back on that when you look at what he was yesterday and what he's been for most of the season. A good chunk of it coming without Nico Collins and Jayden Higgins. Exactly. And I think what's funny too is I think him not getting the contract this off season. There was some of like, oh, did Houston really want to pay him? I think it really was more CJ being like, I know what I'm worth. And I'm going to go prove it. And I think that he is very obviously doing that. Like I know the team is one in four, but he is playing so out of his mind. And it really is everything. Like I think that he's not only returned to the level that we saw his rookie year or at times and like his, you know, when he's been at his best, he is better. Like he is better. He's cleaner. Like he just, that's what I mean about the process. Yes. The way that he's seeing it is just much more advanced than it was when he was a rookie, which makes sense. Your three years removed from that. He was a very young player at that time. And now you're in year two of this system. He's a, he played, he looks better right now. Then he looked when he was a rookie. Absolutely. He does. The last two points to make about this just in terms of how well he's playing, pecking order, all that stuff. I would throw deck and brace younger playing extremely well. Like those are the two other names I would throw out just in terms of guys who've looked really good this season. But if you're trying to make a group of like eight players that have played exceptional quarterback for the first five weeks up for the most part, CJ Stroud is absolutely part of that list. 100%. Well, but that's that's why I framed it as like positive where I really think the only guys I'm positive or better are the three, the three headed dragon of superstar MVP guys. Like other than that, he really is that in that next mix of like he's just playing so far out of his mind. And I think what I loved about this game is you saw some of the just new wants to quarterback play like the first the first play of the game. Uh, Nico Collins is running like a 12 yard stopper out to the right hand side. And the way that Stroud goes through his drop back, he is like eyes straight down the midline so that he can hold the hook player in the middle. And then he throws it to Nico Collins's outside shoulder, knowing that the corner is playing on top inside leverage. And I'm like, man, that is just a really, really good quarterback play. And then there was another play about five minutes left in the first quarter. They're running like a little play action with Collins coming on a drift out from the right side. And then I think it's Hutchinson on like a deep hinge route from the left hand side. And he goes to Nico Collins first on the right hand side. But you can see the way that he like resets and backs up and buys himself space in the pocket while remaining so ready and springy to throw. And as soon as Hutchinson starts to flip his shoulders falls out right on him. And it's just like the process, the nuance, how explosive he is as a thrower, he's doing everything. And then he had like four plays outside of the pocket in this game that were really impressive. Like he's just every week, man, he just blows me away. He's playing so, so well right now. That there was a two-play sequence that that player talking about and that deep comeback to Hutchinson was the second one where it's exactly what I'm talking about where it's a combination of just pure quarterback ability and then refine quarterback stuff to play like right before that or like one of the plays right before that on that drive. There's a third down where he throws just like a beautiful cross or adult in sholts, which that to me is an example of that's the pure town as a pastor type thing. And then the refinement processing type stuff is him getting all the way back to Hutchinson on that play on time with anticipation. Like when you combine those two things and it's not just a one off like those aren't the only flashes of those two traits that we saw. We're seeing them over and over and over again this year. And it's just, it's a really exciting place to be. The problem is so much of the rest of the offense continues to be just insanely frustrating. But their inability to remove the ball on the ground, all the penalties that they're taking. I just don't know how I should feel about this group in the long term. There's part of me that because the passing game looks as dynamic as it does. The quarterback looks as good as he does. Nico Collins is back when you throw Marvin here, whatever you think of the price, they're going to have more talent at the past catching spots. Like part of me wants to be really bullish on the offense as a whole because of all of that. And then I think about just some of the bones of it and what it's built on and how inconsistent and inefficient and ineffective a lot of that still looks. And I'd struggle to figure out where I should land on the group overall. I just still feel like they're going to have a limited sailing if the run game is going to be what it's going to be. I think though on it, the offense, even for his bad as the run game was last year, the offense was fine last year until the bottom really fell out with Nico Collins, Mrs. Time, Dalton Schultz, I think Mrs. Time, the offensive line gets more banged up and falls away. And until the bottom really, really cratered out for them, Schultz was playing pretty well for the most part and they could keep up in these games and let the defense win it for them. So I think the formula now is if we assume the defense can get back to some level of they can win games for them. And I do think that that's absolutely possible. I kind of do think that unless the bottom really falls out again, like two offensive line injuries Nico, Mrs. Time again, like I kind of think so long as they have enough of a floor around CJ Stroud, he can play well enough to keep them in a lot of these games. And I don't think he's going to spiral the way that he did, obviously at the end of last season because again, I think a lot of that was, you know, he's getting into his own head and stuff like that, but the team was just horrendous. Like by that point in the season, especially in the playoffs, the team was just not good. And I do think even if they have their issues now, the floor for the offense is a lot higher with the talent that they have right now. Yeah, I think he's just he's playing even better than he was there. To last year, the offense was pretty good last season. We talked about this a lot in the off season. Like before the playoff catastrophes, they were 12th in the paper dropback when he was on the field last year. Like they weren't above average offense. And that was with him playing pretty well. He's playing better than pretty well right now. And the rest of the certain, it almost reminds me a little bit of the conversation we had about the Bengals where the Texans are just the same. Like the Texans are just the same story again. Yeah, yeah, the same team they were last year. We did all of this stuff all off season where we've made all these additions law in the offensive line. And the run game's going to be better and we have all of these tight ends. And we're back in a place where the entire offense is just based around how good CJ Stroud and Nico Collins can be. And then you have the defense. And I do think that Nico Collins or I do think CJ Stroud is playing better than he was last year. And so you can talk yourself into the results and the overall team being better. But we are in a very, very similar spot to the one we're to the exact same place that we were for most of last season. It really does feel like we're pretty much back in the same spot. And at least the run game is bad. At least like last year, it did really feel like they were truly the worst in the NFL. They at least like have had more moments. I feel like this year. And then the other thing is that Houston team from last year. I still do think they were good enough to win the Super Bowl if Nico Collins doesn't get hurt. It would have been ugly and they would have needed some weird games obviously. But like they could have done it. And I really do think that if he can be healthy because like I will say, Nico Collins is such a cool expression of I think right now in the NFL, the eight or nine teams that have like a true X put him on the outside receiver. Those guys are such load bearing pieces for their offense. And the fact that Nico Collins is one of those guys and they have one, that does feel like a little bit of a leg up and where the NFL is right now. I actually think that's another layer to the Marvin Harrison Jr. trade is that Nico Collins has struggled to stay healthy. And so to give yourself a little bit of insurance and obviously Marvin Harrison Jr. isn't Nico Collins. We know that. But to give yourself a little bit of insurance, I'm a player that we can kind of credibly rely on to be like a bigger piece of the passing offense than Keishan booty or Xavier Hutchinson. I do think that should be part of the thought process where even if there's a little bit of redundancy and we're figuring out how it's all going to look in a crowded room, protecting yourself and giving yourself a little bit of insurance when Nico has missed that much time. And is that load bearing? That's a worthwhile consideration. Yeah. So I just, I feel dumb being excited about the one in 14 that still can't run the ball. But I don't know, man, I still like this football team. So a big part of this, right? If we're trying to talk ourselves into the Texans is the defense being a top three game swinging unit. They played the Titans yesterday. But a week after everyone was talking about the sky falling in Houston, based on the way that they played against Dallas, what was your impression of what you saw from the Texans defense yesterday? I thought they were better. I think the front looked amazing, which I mean, the front really has not been the problem for most of the season anyway. I think in the back end, they're still dropping a couple of coverages. But I think that you saw that having his ease. I'll show you. I think it did clean some stuff up. I honestly think though, especially for the first half of this game, I just don't think the Titans played well on offense. I don't think Cam Ward was seeing it very well. I don't think that he was accurate. I just don't think that he played a very good first half of football. And by the time you get to the second half, there are three scores behind. And at that point, it doesn't really matter what they were able to do in the second half. So this actually felt more to me like, and you know, I think yourself to be a pretty good defense to take advantage of all this stuff. But this did feel more to me like the Titans offense just kind of falling on its face. It's kind of the same old story, man. I don't really know what else to say at this point. A lot of the Cam, a lot of Cam Ward games feel really similar right now, where there are stretches where they're completely lost where it doesn't, we talked about this like, what is the purpose of this play? What are you trying to accomplish? What is he supposed to be seeing? And you don't have satisfactory answers to any of that. And then there's a couple drops mixed in there where he has like a ridiculous ripthro over the middle of the field. The Wondale Robertson can't hang on to that's a consistent feature in all of these. And then there are three or four throws he makes over the course of the game. You're like, holy shit, that's an impressive play. It's they all kind of feel the same right now. And again, that may feel a little reductionist, but I don't think that's unfair to say like that's just kind of where I am with this group. A hundred percent. And like, he's not playing his best ball right now. And I think that you would hope ideally for a young quarterback is that you have enough good scheme, good players around him that when he finally has those drives and those stretches where it's coming along that you're not swandering it. And that's just not where this team is at right now. Like again, I think in the first half, a lot of the issues were on cam ward. There's a third and three inside the 10 where he just doesn't even give iomanner a shot at a fadeball like at all like he just throws it at a bounds. Early in the second quarter, there's a second in five. They have like a weak choice route that is wide open at the sticks. And he just turns it down and scrambles to his right. And he ends up making a throw that converts the sticks to Wondale Robinson. But it's like, we just don't need to make it that difficult because then you're living in chaos for really no reason. They have a rollout play where they're running like a flat corner, smash concept. And he's two steps late during the corner and it's closed and Jay canton gets a hand up on it. Like he, he did not play well, I think in the first half. And then you get to the second half. He has the throw to Wondale Robinson over the middle that you mentioned where he can hang on to it. There's a deep stop where Tamiri Dike just like falls as he's turning around on the stop route and he is unable to catch that. And then the deep all that he throws to Tate, it's a 65 yard ball in the air. That's like a smidge and under thrown. But Tate just like loses it in the air and overruns it. And it's good enough. It's good enough. When you're throwing at 65 yards in the air, buddy, if you can get it to the end zone, that's a good throw. And Tate just like loses it and can make a play on it. And so it's like when you finally get him making his plays, the other guys are failing around him. So it, and that's not to excuse him again. I do not think he played well in the first half, but you would hope that a young quarterback gets some help when he starts to have it come around and he's not getting that either. So it really does feel like it's everything for this Titans offense. We talked about, we want to talk about this game in part because the Harrison trade and just the what we saw from the Texans offense. I don't know, this is unfair. I kind of just want to not talk about the Titans for like six weeks. And not because it's, it's not fun to watch them or not because they're bad. I just feel like at this point, I'm not, we're not getting a lot by doing the cam ward evaluation with a new offensive system every two weeks in the middle of like before the halfway point of the season. Like I just, there's really, I think we just need to let this thing breathe. But because at this point, there's just no value in trying to like figure out what he is every single week in these circumstances. Like, let's just see what the rest of the season looks like get to the back half of the year, try to get an understanding of where he is, what that means for the team, what that means for the franchise, what that means for the offensive staff, all of that stuff. It has been ugly so far. But we've learned so much about the just how wrong it is to like slam the door on all of these guys that we can't do that yet. And I think we should do that yet. But we're in a frustrating place where it just again seems like every two weeks when we do this, we're watching the same game over and over and over. over again. And if that continues into December, there's probably a conversation to be had. But right now, I just feel like we're kind of in like a weird frustrating holding pattern with Camward and the Titans offense overall. It really does feel like it's the same game. If it was, like, because you have some of these moments where players are going through stuff or, you know, it's a new coaching staff trying to figure out where every game feels like different problems. Like honestly, in some ways, a lot of the chargers like offense stuff does feel like a different problem every week. And I think that that in some ways is worth talking about the Titans game. It's like, you could swap out the jerseys in the box score and it doesn't really matter. It feels like it is a lot of the same stuff. I'm open to being suppressed, but at this point, it's not really happening. All right. That is all we've got today. We will be back tomorrow. If you want to check in with the YouTube channel or the podcast feed, our Monday night recap will be available. We'll be available to you. Ram's Bills is a good one. Very much looking forward to that. For now, that's all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you very soon. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment, and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.