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Seth Payne
How We Made youe Mother is a
Josh Radner
rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show How
Seth Payne
I Met yout Mother.
Josh Radner
It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co creator and my friend Craig Thomas.
Craig Thomas
Follow How We Made youe Mother wherever
Josh Radner
you get your podcasts.
Craig Thomas
All right, welcome back Pain and Pendergast with you here on Sports Radio 610 for 24 more hours. Yeah, 24 hours from now, Seth. We make the big switch. 23 hours and 57 minutes to be exact. And so it's. It's really cool. I love that it's happening during our show here right in the. In the, in the morning. Right. The heart of drive time. It's gonna be a big moment for the station tomorrow. We're gonna figuratively count it down and then figuratively pull the switch.
Seth Payne
Yeah, there's a big old switch.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
Like in the movies, be a big party up. They never show the whole body of the person pulling the switch. It's just a hand on a big switch, like it's a nuclear reactor.
Job Tennant
Clunk.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
Clunk it out like you're bringing Frankens monster to life.
Craig Thomas
That's it. Yeah, that's it. And all the fellows will be up here, be in studio with us, all of our teammates. So celebrating. That's going to be great. And we wanted to make sure that we had guests that were commensurate with the magnitude of the day.
Jai
Yeah.
Seth Payne
And also kind of paid homage to the last 30 years of sports radio in this town.
Craig Thomas
Absolutely. I wanted to make sure. We want to make sure that you pay homage to the Texans, who have been a great partner of ours since inception for them and will continue to be. We wanted to pay homage to the Houston Rockets, won a couple of championships back in the day, and to the Houston Astros, who've won a couple championships in more recent times.
Seth Payne
I remember those. Yep.
Craig Thomas
And we wanted to also pay homage to like the 90s, the early 2000s, and what I'll call maybe like the more modern era, like the teens to the present, kind of. So I think we accomplished this with this guest list. So let's start right out of the shoot. People have been wondering who will be the first guest in the history of the new station. 95. 7 the Fan.
Jai
Dalton gets the snap, throws it. It's intercepted. Watt takes it across the 15, 10, 5. Rock and roll. Touchdown, Texans. Pick six. Just like that, the Texans take the lead. And Reliance Stadium has erupted.
Seth Payne
I'm incredibly honored and thankful to be
Josh Radner
a part of your Family forever. And all I want to say is H town. I love you. Thank you.
Craig Thomas
J.J. watt will be the first guest in the history of 95.
Seth Payne
7, the Phantom Former defensive lineman for the Houston. If you don't know, you don't know. We'll explain that when we're on 95. 7. Yeah, it's gonna be a big new one. Yeah, no, we're excited about this. JJ. JJ is excited about us going on FM2.
Craig Thomas
Yep.
Seth Payne
To the point where he's jabbed us a couple times. I sent him a clip from our show last week where we really sucked and he was like, he's like, boy, you guys are really going to take the world by.
Josh Radner
No, no.
Craig Thomas
He's like, I better come on with you guys now before they find a different show in the morning.
Seth Payne
So, J.J. watt, hall of Fame defensive lineman. Many people would argue even better than Seth Payne, the other greatest defensive lineman in history. Some would, some would say. Some would say, some would. No, I'm excited. I'm excited that he's excited. Yeah, that was really, I was, I was very flattered that he, that he's coming out.
Craig Thomas
He said he would be honored to do it and so, so I confirmed with him yesterday and he's good to go. So JJ, 8:20. Yeah, 8:20am So 8:00am we're switching over and we're going to big celebration in here. And then at 8:20 promptly.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
JJ walk well.
Seth Payne
And true to his word in that hall of Fame speech, you know, he, he, he, he came back and he's living here now. Yes. Which is, it's, he spent that couple of years post retirement where I don't know, he probably had like 29 houses spread around all over the place. And he's like, oh, okay, again, I've got all these to choose from. I like I'm going to be in Houston.
Craig Thomas
It's great. Yeah, it's great. So J.J. watt, 8:20am but we're not done.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
9am 9am Tomorrow be here because
Jai
rounded the first. This will do it. Roger Clemens has joined an exclusive club. He wins his 300th game. Only the 21st man in big league history to accomplish that honor. 7,500 men have thrown pitch in the big leagues and Roger clemens only the 21st to pick up 300 wins. Congratulations to the Rocket.
Craig Thomas
Roger Clemens, former Astro Legis Cy Young winner with the Astros. Six other Cy Young awards he won along the way. A Houston legend and, and just in my opinion, the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball. And I've said That for a long, long time. He will join us, Roger Clemens. At 9am We've got.
Seth Payne
You know what? Not only. Okay, we've got a couple of heavy hitters already, but physically large human beings. I can see the theme you're going with here. Yeah. The protection as much.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
We got to get big names who are also gigantic individuals.
Craig Thomas
Yes.
Seth Payne
And at. At 8:00am Central tomorrow. Well, that's when we make the switch.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
Make the switch at 8am is 95.7 on Central Time. Is that the. Yes, Seth. It's going to be. Not quite sure how the time zones work.
Craig Thomas
Yep. So 8:20, J.J. watt, 9am Roger Clemens, the rocket is going to join us. He's actually joining us live from Iowa because his son Cody, who plays for the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are playing the Phillies in the Field of Dreams game tomorrow.
Seth Payne
Oh, cool.
Craig Thomas
So he's going to be in Iowa. He's in Iowa for the game. But he texted me and said, I've got a window at 9am yeah, can do it at 9am I said, perfect. That slides it. That slides in perfect. Because Seth and I are on the air at 9am we will be.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
You know we can fit you in.
Seth Payne
Right.
Craig Thomas
They make that switch that JJ is anticipating sometime in the first hour of the history of the station. They can take the ball away from us. I don't think they will. So 9am Roger Clemens.
Seth Payne
All right.
Craig Thomas
We're not done because we don't have any Rockets representation yet. We've not represented the championship years of the 90s with the Houston Rockets. So let's do that right now.
Jai
No one has ever done what this team's done, come from the sixth seed down in series. One. We won nine road games and we had nonbelievers all along the way. I have one thing to say, those non believers, don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion.
Craig Thomas
I still get chills 30 years later.
Seth Payne
Such a great quote. It's one of those quotes that's so great that people, a lot of people that use it don't even know who gave the quote.
Craig Thomas
That's true.
Seth Payne
That's how iconic a quote it is.
Craig Thomas
Rudy Tomjanovich, hall of Famer is gonna join us at 9:40am tomorrow.
Seth Payne
You know, okay. Of those three guys, JJ is currently working in media and we'll probably talk about some of the current NFL and everything too. So I remember there's a bunch of people who on the FM dial are just discovering us. So, you know, I was wondering, like, how much should we Talk about days gone by, but also current stuff right now. Yeah. And you know, Roger is very plugged in as well. Tom Jonovich. I might have to like, he might be the one where we actually have like biting questions about the Rockets. Exactly. Hey, like, hey, Rudy, congratulations on incredible life and career and everything. But seriously, what the hell are they doing? What with this running back and. Yeah.
Craig Thomas
About burner accounts.
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what, that's actually okay. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, I'd like his perspective on, on the whole social media dynamic and everything.
Craig Thomas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but we, I think we've got it covered. We've got Texans, Rockets, astros, we've got 90s, 2000s and then closer to the current day. And tomorrow's going to be perfect, man. Tomorrow's going to be great. It's a huge day for us here at the station. Again, 8:20am, J.J. watt, first guest ever on the new 957 the Fan, 9 o', clock, Roger Clemens, 9:40, Rudy, Tom Jones.
Seth Payne
You know what I actually do want to ask with JJ in terms of current stuff is the, because of the World cup and all these football stadiums, stadiums having grass, natural grass in there instead of their artificial surfaces, and all these NFL players like George Kittle and everybody have been saying, oh, look at this, why can't the NFL do it? JJ's had a few tweets at times kind of explaining the difference. And one of the big differences is like that soccer players weigh 165 pounds and that it's just a lot easier to have grass that's repaired for guys who are 165 pounds and rarely. I'm not a soccer expert, but you're not allowed to combo block defensive tackle in soccer the way you can. So like if you just think about. That's a wreck about the demands on the turf when you've got two 320 pound guys trying to combo block another 320 pound guy. It's a whole different dynamic. And then the other part of it too is, look, people have asked d' Ameco about this and d' Amico didn't really give an answer. And I'll tell you, look, d' Amico and I are in the same boat. Neither of us are a fan of that old pallet system because we both had catastrophic injuries on that.
Craig Thomas
Miko had two.
Seth Payne
Right.
Craig Thomas
One is a Texan and one is an Eagle.
Seth Payne
Yeah, the Texans were. When they, when we started that in 2002, it was, oh, it's this revolutionary new Technology they're gonna be able to use for this pallet system. It sucked. So I don't know if the science has improved that much more in pallet systems in the last 20 years. I got no. I want no part of it.
Craig Thomas
Arizona, they have grass that they bring in.
Seth Payne
It's one big pal that they grow, and then like. Yeah, they wheel. Then that's a whole different deal.
Craig Thomas
Yeah. Yeah. Here it would have to be the puzzle pieces like they had before.
Seth Payne
Yeah. Yeah.
Craig Thomas
That was not good.
Seth Payne
No, it wasn't good at all.
Craig Thomas
It didn't look good either.
Seth Payne
Well, you could see the scenes if it got bad.
Craig Thomas
You could, right? You could. You could see squares.
Seth Payne
Yeah. I was having. I was talking to somebody about this the other day, and it's funny because they always have these studies that come out, and the NFLPA will put one out that says that artificial turf is the most murderous thing that ever was. And the NFL will have a study that comes out and says, well, look, actually, the rates are different, I would say, from. From my perspective and just having actually physically felt it. I think there are some injuries because I had a bunch of. I had a bunch of injuries. I think I had some injuries on turf that might not have happened on grass, but I also think I had some injuries on grass that might not have happened on turf. Because there's times people, I say, well, your foot gets stuck in the turf, like. Yeah. There's times where I really wish my foot had stuck in the turf.
Craig Thomas
Right.
Seth Payne
So I could be in a position of strength instead of slipping.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
And vice versa. Yeah. On turf, my foot got stuck where I don't think on grass it would have, and I got injured.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
But I think overall, though, I like. I stand on that turf in the bubble. Those practices, I don't know if you ever notice I'm stretching the whole time. I'm in there for, like, 10 minutes, and my back starts tightening up and.
Craig Thomas
Oh, really?
Seth Payne
There is just something about. Even though the. Even though it's nice and soft and it's field serving, it's all. It's on a concrete platform, and it just doesn't. It's just. It feels tougher on your joints.
Craig Thomas
Oh, man, I feel bad for you ever.
Seth Payne
I just kind of tighten up, that's all. It might be psychosomatic. It might just be, you know, like, immediately, like, here we go.
Craig Thomas
Yep. People weighing in on the announcement or the. The. The change over tomorrow. People still have questions. Guys, I have to stream you all from work. Do I go to 95? 7 to stream. To stream your station. I can't have your video stream on my monitor. Nothing changes with the Odyssey app.
Seth Payne
Nothing changes with the Odyssey app or YouTube.
Craig Thomas
Right.
Seth Payne
You're still there.
Craig Thomas
Still there.
Seth Payne
But you just. And if you be a new logo on the. If you prefer listening on 610, it's. You can. It's a.95. 7 is just a better quality.
Craig Thomas
That's right.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
That's right. Yeah. We'll be simulcasting every day on 95. 7 the Fan, and it'll be 6, 10 the Fan starting at 8am tomorrow.
Seth Payne
And sometimes people wonder this too. Like. Well, like, what's the difference anyway if people don't care that much about the quality and everything? A, people care more about the quality than they consciously realize. It's just a better. It's a better experience when it's a crisp, clear signal. B, people are way lazier than we as humans are way lazier than we will ever accept. And, yeah, the challenge of the hurdles that it takes to switch from FM to am, it is an obstacle, and it does keep some families from listening to as much AM radio because they're just on the FM dial. That's what your kids or your wife has had it on or your husband has had it on. And it just. Yeah, it's one extra step in the process. So just more people listen to fm.
Announcer
Yep.
Seth Payne
And so it's. It's a. It's so. So ideally, we can, theoretically, what we hope is more revenue, which means more giveaways.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Jai
For our.
Seth Payne
For our loyal AM listeners.
Craig Thomas
Yeah. Yes, absolutely. And. And I'll treat you to more drinks if I see out and about. If I can afford the drinks. I'll treat you when I see you out and about.
Seth Payne
This is a man who just volunteered to sit in a vat of pig manure for. For a mere $36 million. He was gonna do it for two years straight.
Craig Thomas
That was you.
Jai
I.
Seth Payne
Well, I did. But then you said you would too, right?
Jai
No, no, no.
Craig Thomas
I said I'd take a slap across the face.
Seth Payne
Just one slap.
Craig Thomas
No, I would not do the p. Not do the pig and pigment or. But I would walk in and get slapped in the face. That was once a day, right?
Seth Payne
It was once a day by a burly man.
Craig Thomas
But you said.
Seth Payne
Burly man.
Craig Thomas
But you said you wouldn't even do it once.
Seth Payne
I wouldn't do it once, and this is why. It's been a long time since I been slapped by a person. And it was, I think, the last time I did it. Was my mom when I had it coming to me at some point.
Craig Thomas
Yeah.
Seth Payne
Don't freak out, kids. It used to be pretty normal back there.
Craig Thomas
Used to be.
Seth Payne
I'm like, yeah, I've had my mouth washed out with soap by my grandma.
Jai
That happened.
Seth Payne
That's not just an excuse. Yeah, diarrhea.
Craig Thomas
For the next four days, I sassed
Seth Payne
my mom and I had it coming. And I got slapped and slapped in the face. But so I hadn't been slapped by a person in a long, long time. And we kind of. We were talking about it when Job Tennant, who's now an attorney at law, is our producer. And Job, I just like, I kind of threw it out there. I was like, job, you know what? Would you come in here and just slap me? I just want to see what it feels like. And Job, he's not a big guy. I've never seen a guy jump out of his chair so quickly. There was no, like, are you sure? He went from the producer's booth to standing in front of me and I was like, all right, let me brace myself.
Craig Thomas
What did you do to Job?
Seth Payne
And Job, this is the thing that you don't realize about getting slapped is that Job hauled off. And he's not a huge dude, but he's got more pent up fury than I realized. And it's the heel of the hand that kind of hit me upside.
Craig Thomas
He didn't get you with the top of the palm and the fingers.
Seth Payne
He got me with it. It was the heel of the hand hit my jaw and everything. That of it rattled me a little bit. Yeah.
Craig Thomas
Yep.
Seth Payne
And Job's not a huge.
Craig Thomas
That's the last time you've been slapped?
Seth Payne
That's the last time I was. Yeah. That's probably the first, the only time in the last four decades that I've been slapped.
Craig Thomas
Wow.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
Okay. And you wouldn't take one 36 million bucks.
Seth Payne
I've never been in an altercation with another man where the man was like, I'm going to really degrade you here and give you an old fashioned that
Craig Thomas
I'm going to do list for some time during football.
Seth Payne
Hire somebody to slap set.
Craig Thomas
I'm going to do it myself. Diy. All right, so there you go. Big announcement. JJ Wat first guest here in the history of the news station. Tomorrow at 8:20, Roger Clemens, 9:00am, Rudy Tomjanovich, 9:40am That'll be fun. Guess who's our guest in the next segment? John Harris.
Seth Payne
John Harris.
Craig Thomas
We love John Harris.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
Texan, sideline reporter, NFL draft expert. Expert on a lot of things.
Seth Payne
And he was at practice yesterday where we wanted to get some of the reports of what was happening in this very seemingly competitive, chippy and energetic practice that I know. Look, are you guys talking about practice? Hell yeah, we're talking about practice.
Craig Thomas
Absolutely. Yeah.
Seth Payne
Did you watch the Patriots game? These guys needed some practice and I'm.
Craig Thomas
Johnny's got. I'm sure Johnny's got a priority list of what he's watching tomorrow from the sidelines. So I'm curious, through the eyes of John Harris, what are the things to prioritize if you're going to the game tomorrow? So we'll talk about that coming up next.
Seth Payne
Live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios, here's Payne and Pendergast.
Craig Thomas
Hi Pain and Pendergast with you again. 8:00 clock tomorrow morning we move to 95. 7 the fan. We are going to be on the FM dial starting at 8:00am tomorrow. First guest, 24 hours from now, we'll be talking to J.J. watt. We look forward to that. Now we look forward to this also because we love Johnny Harris as well. Texan, sideline reporter, NFL draft expert, basically expert at football in general. And he joins us on the program right now. Johnny, how are you doing?
Josh Radner
Well, who's this J.J. watt character?
Craig Thomas
I know, right? Yeah. We're giving him our platform tomorrow so people can more about him.
Josh Radner
Oh, the CBS guy. Yeah, yeah, that guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Seth Payne
A lot of people don't realize he used to be a football player.
Jai
Yeah.
Seth Payne
Like people don't, kids don't know that John Madden was a football coach. They, they just think he's a video game guy. Yeah, a lot of kids are like that with J.J. watt.
Craig Thomas
Absolutely.
Josh Radner
Well, we're getting to a point now with kids that kids don't even remember Madden as an announcer.
Seth Payne
Right.
Josh Radner
Know the video game.
Seth Payne
Right, Right.
Craig Thomas
Good point, Jai. We have, we're two layers removed from Madden as the head coach. So, Johnny, I guess just we'll start in general. What's been your overall vibe with Texans training camp so far in terms of just the optimism level of the team heading into the season?
Josh Radner
Good. I think everybody knew this team was good and talented. It was just a matter of, okay, what's this offense going to look like? And I think there's been a ton of progress offensively. You know, you guys have, have laid that out very, very well. I think Mark and I have talked about it, you know, ad nauseam. You know, I think we, we, we temper our excitement you know, I've seen enough America's Game documentaries of super bowl winners, and they talk about, well, you know, we knew back in training camp that the offense was going to be really, really good. But you don't know. You could see, you know, there's seedlings of things, and they're things that are better than last year. So you compare and you go, okay, well, this is much better than last year. This is better than last year. But we, we really won't know until we get a chance to see this entire thing up against the Buffalo Bills. That said, it just appears as if things. They didn't do well last year, they've gotten over some of those hurdles. Now. They're not going to bat a thousand against 51 and 55 and that pass rush all the time. But there have been times that they've picked up blitz or, you know, some sort of sim pressure where they've, you know, shown a bunch, brought a guy from depth, drop three, they've picked those guys up. There have been times they're free runners at CJ because you don't have enough to block everybody. And so the free runner CJ Hits is hot. And again, they're not hitting a thousand with that, but last year they batted zero. So I don't know where it sits, but it's not zero and not a thousand, but it's, it's moving in the right direction on those things. And I know there are a lot of people in Houston, and I know I'm. I'm probably one at one, you know, at some point that watches the offense. And I know Mark and I talk about this a lot, like, where's the easy offense? Like, when you watch the, I don't know, pick a team, watch the Rams. And you see the Rams, well, man, look at Stafford throw the running back. He's wide open. And it's like, where's that. That's easy. Easy offense. Like, where's that for us? And I think watching them this, this summer, you started to see some of that when, when they would. The defense would send more than the offense could protect. There's a free runner. CJ Would hit Nico wide open. Like, yeah, that's. That's it. That's. That's the, that's the easy offense you want to be able to find because you start hitting some of those. And now defensive coordinators are like, no, no, we can't blitz, man. We can't blitz. But the blitz rate has gone up and up and up against CJ because not so much CJ not handling it, but the entire offense, the offensive line, receivers not getting hots, all that kind of stuff. So there just seems to be much more synergy in the offense. Everybody seems to know what they're doing. Every offensive guy I've talked to is like, yeah, I can complete this guy's sentence. I know where they're going with this. So, again, it's not perfect. It's not going to be against the best defense in the league, but man, it is seriously, seriously improved the last couple days. Not, not the great now yesterday was, was pretty good. Hit some chunk plays down the field, which is kind of nice when they went inside. But there was a couple days span where it was like, all right, the defense is like, look, look, we're the big brother, you're the little brother. Okay? But it hasn't been like that for most of camp. There's a couple days recently where the defense just decided, you know what, we're about to go off to college, so we're going to beat down little brother and make sure you remember that. And I think the offense kind of bounced back from that, which is good to see. So I think it's moving definitely in the right direction. I'd love to sit here and say it's going to, you know, they're going to score 30 a game. I don't think that's going to be the case, but I do think they're going to be able to get the offense in the way that they want and the way Nick Kaley wants a lot more enthusiasm about this whole thing.
Seth Payne
Yeah, I think that that's where I get some pushback, John, sometimes where I'll be, you know, talking about where the offense improved and I've said the same thing that you've said, which is like, yeah, I don't, I don't think they're going to be the LA Rams offense all of a sudden, but, you know, we just spent an entire off season with talking about or people having the opinion that, man, if the offense could just be above average or just, you know, a competent offense in the playoffs, then that's a whole different story because the defense is so good. So I'm not, I'm not bashful about saying, look, I'm not. I don't need the Texans offense to be a top five offense. They just need to be better than they were. When I look at the run game, like, they haven't had a lot of big runs or anything in camp versus this defense. And I think the part that looks for Me different is that when I watch from the end zone, it's just night and day in terms of the O line being in the right place, blocking up like everybody blocking uniformly without, without unblocked guys. And that it's also hard to judge sometimes whether it would have been a run for 3 or 5 yards or if somebody would have broken a tackle. But yeah, the offense is still going to lose more physical mismatches than the defense is going to lose because the defense has just simply more good players. Does the, does the operation of the offensive line in the run game look better to you? And like, and what. How much can I read into that?
Josh Radner
Yeah, most definitely, Seth. And I think a lot of it has to. To do with just physicality. The way they're coming off the football, the way, you know, there was a block by Blake Fisher the other day and I just like, whoa.
Jai
Lemonade. Fresh squeezed lemonade.
Craig Thomas
Lemonade.
Seth Payne
Oh, nuts. Is your business struggling to be seen not reaching the right customers?
Announcer
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Seth Payne
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Seth Payne
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Josh Radner
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Craig Thomas
That's digitallocalads.com okay, people, mine starts here.
Josh Radner
Okay, that's, that's different. And I've, I've always known Blake's had that in him, but I think the offensive line, you know, we've talked about this ad nauseam. You know, everybody has. You guys have, the fans have. I mean, I get stopped in the grocery store. Is your offensive line going to eat glass this year or what? I'm like, hey, man, I hope so. So I think they've got guys that tend to do that a little bit more. And then you throw Keelan Rutledge into the mix and it's like, I mean, I think that guy eats it at every meal and he doesn't care. And I, and I think the offensive line needs that. And I, I, you know, over the years, I think there have been some offensive linemen in this, in the, in the room that I feel like would have, you know, followed a guy like Keelan Rutledge. They, they want to be able to play like that. But, you know, you had a couple guys in there that just like, ah, you know, too cool for school. Look at you. Teachers pet kind of thing. It's like, no, no, no, no. That's the way they should be. I mean, I went into the cafeteria one day. I can't remember when it was. I just went to go get a water. And every single offensive lineman was in the cafeteria with an iPad. And they're all looking at plays from practice. And there's Rutledge, like, right in the middle. Like, he's poking somebody's like, hey, look at this play. And he's going through. It's like. Like that. That's what you need. You know, you need more like that. And I think the guys that have been around, they're like, okay, I've wanted to be like that. I'm going to be like that. And now that's kind of the vibe in the room. So I feel like there's just a little bit more, as we've wanted all along, just a little bit more of that swarm mentality. Again, it's got to come to fruition against Dexter Lawrence and against Ed Oliver and, you know, Quinn and Williams, who just got paid, it's got to show up then. But I do think they've got guys that might miss a block on one play, but they're not going to miss on the next play. They're going to get beat by guys like I just mentioned, because those guys are great. They're going to get beat by the Texans guys because those guys are great. But it's not going to be for a full game. Those guys aren't going to be thrown into a ball carrier like, you know, former Texans offensive linemen were to make tackles. It's not going to happen that way. They might lose one here, they might lose one there. It happens in the NFL. But they're going to. They're going to win a lot more than they've been winning, and that's going to lead to better offense, more efficient offense, more pass for, you know, more time for CJ to throw. And obviously, as you mentioned, Seth, the run game, I think with Montgomery and Woody, Woody's the one that really, you know, David's gotten. He's going to get his, you know, he's going to. He's going to grind. He's going to be the F150. But Woody is the one, I think, that can have a big year chunk play wise because he's. Well, he's juicy. He looks like he can just fly down the field. He looks really good. So it's a matter of keeping him healthy. And if you got that one, two punch and one's always fresh for 60 minutes, man, you. You can rock with what you're going to do with the run game. And again, it might be two here, three here, four here, but eventually in the fourth quarter that turns into seven and eight and then you could take over the game, which is what we've always wanted.
Craig Thomas
John Harris, Texan sideline reporter, joining us here on Pain and Pendergast on Sports Radio 610, soon to be 95. 7 the Fan. So Johnny Kaylin Rutledge. You know, I'm just looking at the depth chart. It looks like he's going to be the starter at center, at least according to the depth chart. So let's put Keelan aside and for the benefit of people going to the game tomorrow, who are a couple of names in this rookie class that have impressed you so far and that you would tell people to keep an eye on tomorrow at the game, I'm going to say this.
Josh Radner
I'm not saying it just because you guys know I'm a bonafide Texans homer. I mean, I do work for the team, but I think every rookie that they drafted and then beyond has done something in camp where you go, yo, wow.
Craig Thomas
Okay, I agree, by the way.
Josh Radner
You got my attention. I mean, I. Okay, so I'll tell you guys this, and I don't know if you guys have heard this, so when, when Mark and I, we kind of have a rating system for our hot takes. Like, hey, judge this hot. I got a hot take. And we, you give it sizzle fires. Like if, if I give a hot take and he's like, oh, that's five sizzle fires, basically, he's telling me that's the hottest take ever. You know, I'm a sports radio talk show host. If he tells me it's a one, then it's like, probably more than likely true. So I said this the other day on radio. I think Keelan Rutledge right now is the best offensive lineman, period, on this roster. Wow. And he went, he went, ah, that's three and three quarters star. That's almost four. I mentioned that to somebody standing on the sidelines that would know these guys really, really well, and he goes, oh, that's a one.
Seth Payne
Yeah. Oh, really?
Craig Thomas
It's just fact. Basically. It's not even a take.
Josh Radner
Yeah, John, I, I mean, I know you guys are sitting, you're thinking about it going, you know, I hadn't thought about that way. But if you start thinking about what you've seen from him, then I'm not talking about the fights, the feistiness and all that. I'm just Talking about one on one winning a block against somebody in a white shirt, he's done that more often than other guys have on this offensive line.
Seth Payne
John, I. No, I've been really impressed and I was kind of waiting until the pads came on to really start, you know, judging how I feel about him. And I've been. I've felt really good about him since the pads came on. He's kind of taken every step that you want to see a young center take, including the snaps being pretty consistent. I guess my one big thing that I'm waiting to see is just him versus a genuine nose tackle because that's, you know, versus this defense. He just doesn't have somebody right up in his face when he's snapping the ball.
Josh Radner
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's not just Keelan. You know, almost every center, you know, you ask them, you know, what's the toughest thing to do. I. I asked. I think it was either Jake Andrews or Evan Brown when we talked to them back in the. Back in the spring. And kind of with a thought of, I'm going to ask you this question that really relates to Keelan more than it does to you guys. But you guys have done this, so I want to know. And I said, what's the toughest block for you guys? And he said, I think it was Jake said, shotgun nose tackle, shaded. And you're running, you know, shaded to the strong side and you're running zones, you know, to the strong side. You got to reach because you got to snap and step, and a lot of times you snap and step. Also the ball starts, you know, to stay on you, sail on you, and if you run it zone, then the running backs on the other side. So the quarterback's catching it over to his right side. He's got to reach back down and give it to the running back running that way. So everything's kind of off at that point. So, yeah, that's. It's definitely going to be, you know, a little bit of a, you know, right away you're gonna get hit with three, four of the Bills. Now, who plays nose tackle for the Bills remains to be seen. And that could be interesting. But we know who plays nose tackle for the Bengals, and apparently he's at a good camp. So, yeah, this is going to be. That'll be a test for Keelan. What has been fascinating to me in some sense is they've been giving him all these, you know, center reps, center up, center rep, center reps, center reps. And all of a sudden hey, going to guard, go to guard. And he goes to guard. And yesterday there was a play he, I think he's at. I can't remember if he's a right guard, left guard but he went against Logan hall and Logan's a pretty powerful guy, strong inside and one on one pass, pass, pro rep and I mean CJ had all kinds of time to throw and I'm looking, I see 66, just locked, feet are moving, Logan's trying to throw counter moves and Keela's just got his hands locked. He can't go anywhere. And I'm like dude that is, that's, that's advanced stuff he's doing right now. So I still think my hot take is probably about a two and a quarter, two and a half. But when I heard the number one I went, I'm on to something here. And I, and I felt this way about Ariante Ursary last year too. I felt like we were going into the season, I felt like, you know what, he's pretty close to being our best offensive lineman. I think I even said it on TV broadcast and at the end of the year, as the year wore on I think we probably could say yeah, I think he, he might have been our best offensive lineman as a rookie. So I think Keelan's definitely on his way. That dude is advanced skill wise and here's what everybody misses. You know the six three, 315, you know, pound, you know, white, bald, white dude with a beard. Oh he's just a glass. No, no, that dude's athletic, he can move, he is agile, he is strong, he's got great post up moves. Seth posted that video back after the draft. You play basketball, that is going to be as long as you know he can get the snap game down which apparently he does that a lot with his wife where she takes snaps and such. If he gets that down, that dude's going to be the center here for the next 10 to 12 years and be a very good one.
Craig Thomas
Johnny, real quick because we're up against it. 15 seconds. If you had to do a Mach 53 right now. Does Colin Wright make the Houston Texans?
Josh Radner
He has to, yeah. If you value competition as they talk about Colin Wright has to make it. He's been, he's been phenomenal. And you know it's interesting because the number three cornerback battle has gone from. Well, it's J Rocks to lose to manage J Rock versus Colin. Right. And it's going to play out over these next couple of weeks.
Craig Thomas
Johnny, good stuff as always. We look forward to listening to you on Texans all access at 6 o', clock, of course, every weekday here on the station. And look forward to Seth and I look forward to catching up with you before the game tomorrow. We got our first pregame show tomorrow, Johnny.
Josh Radner
Yeah, man, that's going to be fun. Make sure you tell that Watt character not to suck tomorrow. He's got to be good. When you go to 95.
Craig Thomas
Seven, don't worry, we'll give him the what for. It's all good.
Josh Radner
Definitely get it done. All right, brothers, love you guys. Bye.
Craig Thomas
Love you too, Johnny. Appreciate you. That's John Harris joining us here on the show. All right, up next, I'm mad that there's audio that Johnny had with us back before the draft that I'm mad I didn't go get because Keelan Rutledge was such a big topic. I'll remind people of that.
Seth Payne
Presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios. Here's Pain and Pendergast.
Craig Thomas
All right, Pain and Pendergast with you real quick. Big thanks to Johnny Harris for joining us on the on the show, helping us get ready for tomorrow's game between the Chargers and the Texans. Seven o'. Clock. Seven o' clock kickoff. You will be able to hear it on 95. Seven the fan tomorrow.
Seth Payne
Nice.
Craig Thomas
The game. Yes. Yeah. Men simulcast on 610 the fan.
Seth Payne
Yeah. So there. If you're somebody that used to listen on the bowl, just switch it over to 95.
Craig Thomas
That's right. Yeah.
Seth Payne
Won't be on the Bull anymore.
Craig Thomas
Yep. Won't be on the Bull anymore, but it'll be on 95. 7 the fan tomorrow. So we're looking forward to that. 8am the big switch over. I was mad at myself because I knew we would talk about Keelum Rutledge with Johnny. And I meant to do this yesterday, but Johnny came on with you and me before the draft back in April. It was like a week before the draft. And you asked Johnny a question. I remember it vividly.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
You asked him about what are, who are some of the names out there at center? Because center was a big need for the Texans. And I was expecting Johnny to name a few, like, you know, day two or day three, guys that actually played center in college. His answer was Keelin Rutledge.
Seth Payne
Right.
Craig Thomas
Who had never played center before.
Seth Payne
John was one of the few guys that, you know, after the draft, I thought the Texans were going to get more criticism for the Keelan Rutledge pick because he was usually forecast to go in the second round? Yeah, like, earlier, mid second round. And by and large, most drafts people said, you know what? This. This is a guy that I liked a lot, and we weren't so sure about him. And so I would go back and like Greg Cassell and various other people, there are. There's clips of them leading up to the draft saying, all right, well, here are the guys that are the top interior offensive linemen, and they go through a list. And then they would say, but, you know, I really like Keelan Rutledge now. I think this guy's probably going to go in the second round. One thing I've learned, and from years of just kind of casually following all the draft talk leading up to the draft, it's just always an offensive lineman that you start to get a feel for. Like, so many people are talking about this second rounder really maybe being a value pick, the second rounder, that somebody's going to take him in the first round.
Craig Thomas
That was Titus Howard.
Seth Payne
Titus Howard, exactly. That's why at the draft party, when everybody freaked out about the Texans taking Titus Howard, they're all upset about it. It kind of didn't surprise me. And because everybody was upset because the Eagles had left up above, the Texans, get Andre Dillard. Take Andre Dillard, who would go on to play a glorious, what, three years in the NFL with, like, seven different teams?
Craig Thomas
Titus is still playing. Yeah.
Seth Payne
No matter how you feel about Titus, that was a good draft pick. That was like, for where you took him and for a lot of. For the Texans getting a lot of criticism for where he was, where he was taken, or taking him that high.
Craig Thomas
That was making 20 million with the Browns.
Seth Payne
That was it. That was a good spot. That was a good selection. And I think Keelan Rutledge, in terms of making the offense look. Look swarmier, make it look more like they play like the defense. He's. Sean, this is what I had hoped.
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And I'm Angela Kinsey. And we have the podcast Office Ladies. Every Wednesday we'll be sharing even more
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Seth Payne
Hope for that DeMeco look, D' Ameco is a coach and as a leader has so many great attributes. I think one of the best things that he does is we saw those first two years, he identifies a certain type of guy on defense. Like the part of the scouting process for him is, all right, is this the kind of guy that fits the culture that I want? So last year, when he goes over and starts spending more time with the offense, I was waiting to see, like, okay, are they going to start to get a feel for it now? This draft this year was the first one that they did after he'd spent the entire year with more time with the offense. And I think they went out and they got a bunch of d' Ameco, Ryan types of players. You know, I think d' Ameco really put all of that energy into, into figuring out, does this guy fit our culture?
Craig Thomas
Yes. And that's where, when you, when d' Ameco gets asked what's the biggest area of growth that you've had as a head coach, he has answered every time. His ability to delegate now.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Craig Thomas
And the fact that he feels confident being able to turn the defense over to, to Matt, at least to a degree. I mean, d' Amico's obviously still very involved, but the benefit of that, the ripple effect of that is that d' Amico's got his fingerprints on the offense, I think, in a good way, like you point out. So, yeah, that's. That's good stuff. Okay, so the Christmas Day schedule came out, I guess the full schedule is coming out tomorrow, I think, for the NBA. And so the Rockets, so I was expecting yesterday, like, okay, they're, they're releasing opening night and, and the Christmas day, and there's a few other games they've dropped. We do know that the Rockets are going to play the spurs in Austin. So I don't know who's losing a home game in that, the Rockets or the spurs, but I guess maybe the NBA is going to start to do a little bit more of that, like reaching out, going to other cities and things like that. I would expect that to be a heavy spurs crowd in Austin. Oh, yeah, right. I think the Austin is more kind of tangential to San Antonio than it is Houston. Plus the spurs have Wemby and I think the Rockets. And I think this is why the Rockets are not on the Christmas Day schedule. There's five games on Christmas Day and the Rockets are not one of the 10 teams playing on Christmas Day this year. They were last year with Kevin Durant on the team. Ooh, you know, it's something new. And the Rockets are thought to be a title contender. There are six Western Conference teams, including the Minnesota Timberwolves, that. Who obviously have Anthony Edwards and Lamello Ball now. And I mean, they've got some marquee star power, but it is Minnesota. There's six Western Conference teams that are playing on Christmas Day and the Rockets aren't one of them. In a weird way, if I were one of the owners of the team, this would bother me that my team that I put together to bring fans to Toyota center to compete for a title and have that marquee value that has Kevin Durant on the team. I mean, you made the trade for Kevin Durant so that among other things, you're one of the teams that are viewed as worthy of playing on Christmas Day, which is. That's. I know the NFL is kind of taking it over, but that's long been viewed as a day of NBA basketball, like a really important day on the NBA calendar. And this would bother me as much as. As losing some of the games they lost last year.
Seth Payne
I think I'm kind of in the minority, but of people that I can appreciate the concept of running it back with this team just because it's the same team, by and large that last year before the season, before Fred Van Vliet got injured, people are looking at as a potential one of the favorites to contend for a title in the NBA. And the. I mean, the big issue would be that obviously Kevin Durant is a year older and yet in whether Fred Van Vliet can, you know, be exactly the same as he was before his injury. But I think that. I think that young core just took a real hit in terms of reputation and how people look at him because they were forced to play in odd. Like in oddly in basically in out of position Situations or out of skill set situations all year long. I'm, I'm way more comfortable just saying, yeah, you know what? This is what we were supposed to be looking at in September of 2025, but we weren't able to do it. So let's just do the same damn thing. And they should be a better team than people think they are.
Jai
Right?
Craig Thomas
Yeah. Yep. Spurs, Knicks are on Christmas Day.
Seth Payne
Spurs, by the way. Yeah, they're according to Gemini, they're the. The clear plurality favorite than with Mavericks and Rockets split in Austin.
Craig Thomas
Yeah, yeah, I think it'll be a heavy spurs crowd, which is why I hope the spurs are the team that's losing a home game in that whole thing. Spurs, Knicks. So you get a rematch of the NBA finals on Christmas. Heat, Celtics. So you get a little Giannis versus Jason Tatum. Sixers, Lakers. Right in the middle of the day, right about the time you're eating your Christmas ham, probably. Sixers, Lakers. So LeBron against his. One of his old teams, Thunder and Timberwolves and then Nuggets, Warriors. So a couple Western Conference big games
Seth Payne
there is ham the go to for Christmas because we eat.
Craig Thomas
Yeah, we eat ham. Oh, no, ham is Easter, I think. Yeah. I don't know. We eat pasta. I mean my, my mother in law makes a big bowl of ziti for Christmas and stuff to go along with the meat.
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would make sense. If you're really trying to make that delineation between Jesus and
Craig Thomas
making a religious sen.
Seth Payne
This is really. When we split from the Jews, slap a ham down on the table. Okay, that's not what I was saying.
Craig Thomas
This ham is symbolic and tasty.
Seth Payne
All right.
Craig Thomas
Painting pender gas with you. All right, are you ready to. How much pettiness do you have pent up in you? Do you have as much as I have pent up in me? We haven't done a petty cast in two weeks.
Seth Payne
Yeah, I'm bursting at the seams.
Craig Thomas
We normally do it Tuesdays at 8am we're doing it at 9am On a Wednesday because we haven't done one in a long time. We got a lot to be petty about. We'll do that.
Job Tennant
We have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes. But we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included. So what you see is what you pay. And the game time guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports, comedy and more with GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase terms apply.
Seth Payne
Fantasy Football season is back baby. Matthew Berry here and my podcast, Fantasy Football Happy Hour has the sleepers bust and starts and advice you need to win your league. So listen and follow Fantasy Football Happy Hour wherever you get your podcast.
Episode Title: Find out who's tomorrow's guest are on 95.7 The Fan!
Date: August 12, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast (with "Craig Thomas" occasionally referenced, likely an alias or mistake in transcript)
Podcast: Payne & Pendergast, Audacy
Theme: Announcement of the switch to FM (95.7 The Fan), special guests for the station's big debut, and spirited discussion of Houston sports with focus on Texans training camp.
This episode serves as a celebratory build-up to the Payne & Pendergast show's major transition from the AM dial to FM at 95.7 The Fan. The hosts enthusiastically reveal the star-studded lineup of guests for the very first day on the new station and discuss what this switch means for listeners. The sports analysis remains sharp, with lively banter around Texans training camp, the Rockets, Astros, and NFL stadiums’ turf/grass debates. The episode also features an in-depth interview with John Harris, Texans sideline reporter and NFL draft expert, especially focused on Houston Texans’ evolving offense and rookie dynamics.
This episode captures the energy of a sports talk show at a pivotal station moment—balancing nostalgia, celebration, analysis, and plenty of playful banter to keep listeners engaged, informed, and eager for the next broadcast on the new FM home.