David Montgomery Already Impressed by Stroud & DeMeco

Summary

Payne & Pendergast Podcast Summary
Episode: David Montgomery Already Impressed by Stroud & DeMeco
Date: July 2, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast
Notable Guest Clips: David Montgomery (Houston Texans RB)

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Main Theme

This episode centers on new Texans running back David Montgomery’s early impressions of quarterback C.J. Stroud and head coach DeMeco Ryans, as shared in his recent appearance on the James Harrison and Joe Haden podcast. Seth and Sean break down Montgomery's comments, discuss his team-first mentality, and riff on the value of positive locker room culture, touching on their personal experiences with scouting and Houston sports culture along the way.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. David Montgomery's Early Take on C.J. Stroud

• Montgomery's Praise:
  Montgomery is notably impressed with Stroud’s poise and ability, comparing him favorably to high-caliber QBs he’s played with, like Jared Goff.

  • Quote:

    "He really composed, like, very composed. And like, he can make some crazy passes...he's up there with those guys of being able to place the ball where he wants...He ready to rock and roll."
    — David Montgomery [05:03]

• Cautious Optimism from the Hosts:
  Seth and Sean make it clear these are just practice impressions, reminding listeners not to place too much weight on “offseason hype.”

  • Seth:

    "You're always a little bit wary of what guys are saying about somebody when they've only practiced with them." [05:43]

    • Sean: "Grain of salt, tough with me right now." [05:53]

---

2. Montgomery’s Team-First Attitude and Reputation

• Seth highlights Montgomery’s reputation as “old school,” selfless, and popular in both Detroit and now Houston. He notes a flood of positive feedback from Lions fans about Montgomery's character and contribution.

  • Seth:

    "It's really cool just to hear skill position players harping on being selfless...every time I either tweet or do a live stream about David Montgomery, I'm amazed by how many Lions fans are in my mentions, talking about how much they love David Montgomery, what a solid citizen he is." [06:42]

• David Montgomery is confirmed as a literal Eagle Scout, which Seth and Sean see as emblematic of his all-in, unselfish approach.

  • Seth:

    "He's a literal Eagle Scout, I believe...he's just kinda everything that you want in terms of the way an athlete operates on a team." [06:43]

---

3. Impressions of DeMeco Ryans

• Montgomery's Transition from Dan Campbell to DeMeco Ryans:
  Montgomery strongly praises both his former and current head coaches, calling Ryans “the real deal” and sounding genuinely grateful for his situation.

  • Quote:

    "I went from going to a guy like Dan Campbell, going straight over to Coach Ryans...I was in OTAs with him for about a month, and I'm like, oh, yeah, he. The real deal...this gonna be so fun."
    — David Montgomery [07:31]

• Hosts’ Commentary:
  Seth and Sean interpret Montgomery as someone who “buys in” fully to quality leadership—something the Texans haven’t always had from skill players in recent years.

  • Seth:

    "You love guys that buy in...there's some guys, good players, that for whatever reason, like a guy like Dan Campbell or J. Ryans, they just don't necessarily buy in as quickly or as easily...every time David Montgomery has talked about it since he got here, it's just, he's all in on DeMeco Ryans and the way he operates." [08:02]

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4. Chat on AI & Fact-Checking in Sports Media

• Seth recounts how AI-generated search summaries (specifically Google Gemini) misleadingly wrong-footed him on simple Super Bowl facts, emphasizing the importance of manual fact-checking over automated sources.
  • Seth:

    "What does me in was when I Google things, you get that stupid Gemini synopsis of your question, and it's so wrong so often...it's way worse than when I run a search on Chat GPT." [03:12]

  • Sean:

    "That's your warning label, everybody. Just know if you're out there to spew facts, Gemini is not a great place to start." [03:47]

---

5. Eagle Scouts, Camping, and Houston Scouting Culture (Light Segment)

• Following the revelation about Montgomery’s Eagle Scout status, Seth and Sean reminisce and joke about their own brief and unsatisfying scouting experiences.
  • Sean:

    "Camping was the end of it for me...I'm a creature of comfort, man." [11:06]

  • Seth (joking):

    "That's when we decided that you...probably shouldn't try to push you towards getting your master's in etymology." [12:31]

---

6. Broader Texans Talk and Transition to Headlines

• Hosts wrap up their Montgomery discussion highlighting his buy-in and mentioning that DeMeco Ryans is “universally liked,” with even James Harrison being impressed on the podcast.

  • Sean:

    "I just love how universally liked DeMeco Ryans seems...you could hear James Harrison reacting to it there." [13:30]

• They tease upcoming segments on the World Cup, Astros, and an NBA trade—signalling a shift back to regular Houston sports news.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "He can make some crazy passes...he's up there with those guys...he's ready to rock and roll." — David Montgomery on C.J. Stroud [05:03]
• "He's just kinda everything you want in terms of the way an athlete operates on a team." — Seth on David Montgomery [06:43]
• "I was in OTAs with him for about a month, and I'm like, oh yeah, he the real deal...this gonna be so fun." — David Montgomery on DeMeco Ryans [07:31]
• "You love guys that buy in." — Seth [08:02]
• "Gemini is not a great place to start." — Sean [03:47]
• "That's when we decided that you shouldn't try to push you towards getting your master's in etymology." — Seth [12:31]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• David Montgomery on Stroud's Poise: [05:03]
• Hosts Discussing Montgomery’s Team Attitude: [06:42]
• Montgomery on DeMeco Ryans: [07:31]
• Seth on AI & Fact-Checking: [03:12]
• Light Segment on Scouting & Camping: [10:39–13:30]

---

Episode Tone & Style

• The episode is lively and conversational with classic Seth-and-Sean banter. Their analysis is sharp but interwoven with relatable humor and Houston flavor. The tone is encouraging for Texans fans, subtly skeptical about offseason optimism, and appreciative of authentic, team-first players.

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Summary Useful For:
Houston sports fans wanting insights on new Texans running back David Montgomery, his impressions of C.J. Stroud and DeMeco Ryans, and what his attitude might bring to the Texans’ culture. Also appreciated by listeners who enjoy offbeat asides, local color, and sharp doses of skepticism about media and AI sourcing.

Transcript

[Charles Barkley]

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[Seth]

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[Sean]

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[Seth]

Yep.

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So anyways, this has been a refreshing break. Brought to you by Snapple Real tea, Real juice with snaps.

[Sean]

It is refreshing. A text message early here from Champ Slice. Hey, by the way, today feels like sort of a soft day off. You know, tomorrow is the. Is the federally recognized day for Independence Day, you know, for. For not working sake. Actual Independence Day, of course, is Saturday, but I know a lot of people take either this week off or they're taking today off. So if you're, if you're up early listening to us, check in on the text page 713-572-4610. Champ Slice is a big fan of the visual you created in the first segment, Seth. The vision of Sean having to be saved from a cult by Seth has me cracking up. I could just see him getting dragged out there and screaming. I didn't even get to tell them any of my Lou Holtz stories. That's hilarious. Hey, man, I would have been like, I would have been telling Seth like, hey, they were nice.

[Seth]

You know, Amy and I had a long talk about it and we said we, we feel, we felt you'd gone far enough. Yeah, you know, mostly because we just, we kind of did a cost benefit analysis of like, all right, if we lose him forever versus, like, what can I. What can we sell? Like, what can we still salvage from him? And so you were still worth salvaging. Okay.

[Sean]

Yeah. Yeah. Is it worth bringing him back?

[Seth]

It is. Spreadsheet. Oh, well, yeah.

[Sean]

Yeah. Dump that. There you go.

[Seth]

I inadvertently said the S word, and I have no idea. I tried to say spreadsheet. Yes, Spreadsheet sheet. And you said most of my spreadsheets turn into spread.

[Sean]

Spread poop.

[Seth]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean]

Yep, yep.

[Seth]

I did a live stream yesterday that I had to take down. I made such an egregious error.

[Charles Barkley]

Really.

[Seth]

Describing Ben Johnson's offense.

[Sean]

Oh, was it the one where you were breaking down David Montgomery?

[Seth]

No, no, no, no. Not that one. That one was gold. That was gold. That was. But I hurried through my preparation for, you know, what's been. You know, what got me yesterday?

[Sean]

What's that?

[Seth]

This has happened to me a few times. I'm not trying to use AI specifically. I do use AI for things, but usually when I'm using AI, I'm very careful to fact check things and everything. But now what does me in was when I Google things, you get that stupid Gemini synopsis of your question, and it's so wrong so often, and I just don't. I don't have my head on a swivel to fact check the Google stuff, and it's way worse than when I run a search on Chat GPT. It's really, really bad.

[Sean]

It's really bad sometimes. Yeah, it's awful.

[Seth]

It's astoundingly awful.

[Sean]

Yep. That's your warning label, everybody. Just know if you're out there to spew facts, Gemini is not a great place to start.

[Seth]

It was like, I asked a simple one yesterday because I just wanted to check when the. When second to last super bowl in Santa Clara was. So I asked it, like, how many Super Bowls. Which Super Bowls have been in Santa Clara or San Francisco? And it said there have only been two. It doesn't sound right at all. And it listed the most recent one and one from early 2000s. Right.

[Sean]

2015 was when we went.

[Seth]

But there was one before that.

[Sean]

There was.

[Seth]

Okay, yeah, yeah. But it didn't list the one from 2015.

[Sean]

That's weird.

[Seth]

Everybody be careful out there on those Google streets, man.

[Sean]

Absolutely. Now, you did talk about this David Montgomery stuff yesterday on one of your YouTube live streams. So let's hit some of this here. He was on the. He was on James Harrison's podcast.

[Seth]

It's all Debo and Joe. It's James Harrison. And Joe Hayden.

[Sean]

Yep.

[Seth]

Which is. I feel bad for Joe Hayden sometimes because, like, it's a good podcast, they get great guests. But, like, when James Harrison starts bagging on the Browns, what's Joe Hayden going to do? Yeah, he just. He can't. James Harrison sitting there with his super bowl rings and whatnot and take it. Yeah, you just got to take a little, Joe.

[Sean]

You got to take it. So this was David Montgomery. They asked him about his impressions of CJ Stroud so far.

[David Montgomery]

Yeah, like, he really composed, like, very composed. And like, he can make some crazy passes. Like, I've seen. I've been around Jared Goff. I've been around a lot of, you know, great quarterbacks, and, you know, he's up there with those guys of being able to place the ball where he wants to, when he wants to do. And I wasn't here last year, so I don't really know what he was like. But as far as he is now currently in present time, yeah, he's. He ready to rock and roll. And, you know, I ain't going. I finished sit here and tell everybody he's going to do this, he's going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to let him knock out and show y' all when he do it. I'm just going to turn around, let y' all know, like. Yeah.

[Seth]

So I think that I'm always, you know, you're always a little bit wary of what guys are saying about somebody when they've only practiced with them. Yeah, I do think that is total

[Sean]

grain of salt tough with me right now.

[Seth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the. The biggest thing about David Montgomery that comes through in all his interviews is, man, like, he's old school in a lot of ways when it comes to supporting his teammates, like, not having a big ego, being selfless. It's really cool to just to hear skill position players harping on being selfless because that so many things about the offense in the last couple of years, we know just they haven't. They haven't kept pace with the defense and not just with performance on the field, but in the way they operate. Montgomery, by virtue of just his reputation and the way he plays and practices by the things he's saying since he's gotten here. But then also, every time I either tweet or do a live stream about David Montgomery, I'm amazed by how many Lions fans are in my mentions.

[Sean]

I like hearing that, talking about how

[Seth]

much they love David Montgomery, what a solid Citizen. He is. He's a literal Eagle Scout, I believe. Like, he's really. Yes, yes. At least. At least a couple Lions fans have told me that, and I'm not going to fact check it with Gemini, I'll tell you that much. But, like, whether you're saying it metaphorically or not, like, yeah, he's just kind of. He's like everything that you want in terms of the way an athlete operates on a team. It seems like people in Detroit just love him for all you know, and he never. He like his. The. There's no level of. Well, okay, well, let's play the next bit of audio. Yeah, they asked him about working with d', Amico, and he kind of puts his head down, like. Kind of like in amazement of how lucky he is for this scenario.

[David Montgomery]

I went from going to a guy like Dan Campbell, going straight over to Coach Ryan's.

[Seth]

Come on, bro.

[David Montgomery]

Like, I played with. I was in OTAs with him for about a month, and I'm like, oh, yeah, he. The real deal. Like, and, like, I see all of, like, the similar things that, like, I seen my first year in Detroit. I'm like, this gonna be so fun.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Seth]

So, like, Dan Campbell. I guess if you're listening to that initially, it might sound like a negative on Dan Campbell, but he brings it together at the end. I just. You love guys that. You love guys that buy in. And there is. Honestly, you know, there's. There's some guys, good players that, for whatever reason, like a guy like Dan Campbell or J. Ryan's, they just. They don't necessarily buy in as quickly or as easily. And it doesn't mean they're bad players or anything, but they're not a good fit for the culture. So you just love. You love. Every time David Montgomery has talked about it since he got here, it's just. He's all in on d', Amico, Ryan's and the way he operates. He was all in on Dan Campbell, and he operates. And I don't know if you could say that about all of the. The. The better players that have been on the Texans offense the last few years.

[Sean]

Yep. David Montgomery, do you trust Chat GPT more than you do? Gemini Seth?

[Charles Barkley]

Yeah.

[Sean]

According to Chat GPT, David Montgomery, actual Eagle Scout.

[Seth]

Yeah. I felt like I knew that at one point and then forgot it.

[Sean]

2014, he earned it with Troop 772 in the Cincinnati area.

[Charles Barkley]

It's Charles Barkley here with Wayfair, and let me tell you, game day is serious business at my house. If I'M grilling, chilling and watching hoops. My outdoor setup better be ready to play. That's where Wayfair wins. From patio seating and umbrellas to grills and grill accessories, Wayfair's got it all and it shows up fast. I'm talking fast and easy delivery. So level up your grill game and your outdoor chill game and head to Wayfarer.com to get your outdoor space ready for the season.

[Seth]

Wayfair Every style, every home.

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[Seth]

Yep.

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[Sean]

It is refreshing.

[Seth]

I could never get over. Well, I've told you about my objection to my scouting experience was that we never went camping. It was the only reason I signed up. Okay. Was like. I'm like, all right.

[Sean]

That's hilarious.

[Seth]

Get out in the woods here. I was like this, this, this Boxwood derby or whatever and everything.

[Sean]

I was gonna. Pinewood Derby.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Sean]

I was going to ask you Boxwoods. I was gonna ask a good spot. I was gonna ask you if you'd ever been in. I was in. I was in Cub Scouts. I was in Webelos, which is like the in between.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And then I think I did a year of Boy Scouts. It's funn. Never went camping. Camping was the end of it for me.

[Seth]

I know you don't like bugs.

[Sean]

I'm a creature of comfort, man. Well, no, you know what it was? They had one, they had like two or three. It's not like we went camping every week. There were like two or three times a year. Call it two times a year you went camping. The problem was one of them was the Klondike they called it. And it was in February in Connecticut.

[Charles Barkley]

Really oh, wow.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Like, you're camping in. You're camping in the snow.

[Seth]

It's some real survival skills there.

[Sean]

I was terrible. Wrapped up in a space, you have

[Seth]

to worry about bugs. You know, that's a nice thing about winter camp.

[Sean]

Worry about dying.

[Seth]

There's a. There's nothing like being too hot and sweaty when it's also five degrees out. Like, I don't know. I don't know how this is gonna end.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Seth]

I'm sweating my butt off.

[Sean]

That's hilarious. That's so funny.

[Seth]

That was one of the many conversations that Amy and I have had about you when we get together and talk about your future. Was? Well, no, the one time that we were. We were sitting outside that taco place and you'd gone inside to get drinks.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Seth]

And Amy and I were sitting outside, and Amy looked up and she said, is that. Is that a fly? There's, like, a fly on the umbrella. And I was like, yeah, I think so. She's like, sean's not gonna like that. We better go inside. It's true.

[Sean]

I'm a creature of comfort, man.

[Seth]

That's when we decided that you. It was probably. We probably shouldn't try to push you towards getting your master's in etymology.

[Sean]

No, no, Definitely not. Definitely not. Yeah. A very. According to Chat GPT, he stuck. He started David Montgomery and Cub Scouts stuck with it all the way through. He's now an official ambassador for Scouting. America isn't the big.

[Seth]

The headquarters for the Boy Scouts, or at least the Houston headquarters right there on the North Loop. Right. You know when you're going up past the gallery and you turn right, or when you make the big right turn, it's sitting right up there. I can't remember that.

[Sean]

I think you're right. And I think the Girl Scouts is right near the station here because I drive by it on the feeder road every day. Come to the studio. So.

[Seth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go through their dumpsters a lot. That's cookies, you know.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth]

It's good cheap eating, right?

[Sean]

Absolutely. Body.

[Seth]

There's a lot of people there that look like they need it more than me, but, like, who's to say, right? So I, Yeah, I, I, I bully them aside.

[Sean]

Don't want them getting diabetes. You're saving them from diabetes.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[David Montgomery]

All right.

[Sean]

Painting pender gas with you. We'll play some more David Montgomery a little bit later. I loved hearing those two cuts yesterday. The CJ Stroud one grain of salt, the Demico Ryan's one. I just love how universally liked Demiko Ryan. Seems to me you could hear James Harrison reacting to it there with Montgomery talking about it. Okay, headlines. We've got World cup to get to. We've got Astros to get to. We've got a trade in the NBA. I think all the names are off the board now if you're looking Mayhem

[Seth]

in the NBA for an impact trade.

[Sean]

Oh, this?

[Seth]

Check on your Boston friends.

[Sean]

Yes, big time. We'll get to that in headlines coming up next.

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[Seth]

Yeah.

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