Payne and Pendergast August 12th,2026

Summary

Payne & Pendergast – August 12, 2026

Episode Summary

On this packed episode, Houston’s favorite sports talk tandem, Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast, deliver four hours of lively, nuanced, and often hilarious analysis covering the latest with the Texans, Astros, Rockets, and the overall Houston sports scene. The show balances insider NFL camp breakdowns, Texans training camp debates, preseason expectations, MLB trade talk, and classic banter, all as the station counts down to its big switch to the new FM station: 95.7 The Fan. Regular contributors and guests join the fray, and the hosts make big announcements for the show’s future—along with clever jabs at national storylines and some shamelessly petty moments.

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Main Themes

• Texans training camp: roster battles, rookie hype, preseason approach, and coaching culture
• CJ Stroud contract talk and national media narratives
• Astros: playoff hopes, division mediocrity, and fan psychology
• Big FM switch for Sports Radio 610 and guest list reveals
• National sports headlines: NFL coaching carousel, broadcast news, and college football
• Classic H-Town sports banter and 'pettiness' segments

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Key Segments & Timestamps

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1. Show Open – “Texans Talk Camp”

[01:39-12:12]

• Hosts introduce the four-hour show as a “marathon.”
• Debates on preseason playing time for starters—Texans HC DeMeco Ryans’ noncommittal stance, likely few/no starters (especially CJ Stroud) vs. fan/media desire to see more preseason action.
  • Seth: “I’m still torn on it … The Rams never play starters and start slow. Is it worth risking injuries for a better start?”
  • Sean: “Texans started 0-3 last year. Does it change your mind on preseason?”
• Comparison of philosophies: load management vs. playing for early wins.
• Parsing DeMeco’s words: “handful” vs. “select few” and playful “Kenny Pickett hands” jokes.

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2. Training Camp: Rookie Watch & Practice Battles

[12:45-26:46]

• Deep-dive on rookie center Keelan Rutledge’s transition, significance of nose tackles.
• Practice reports: missed a “chippy” practice, but insider John Harris (joining at 8:25) will provide insight.
• Team’s bounce-back after a frustrating practice Monday—DeMeco’s stern message on consistency and stepping up.
  • Quote, DeMeco Ryans: “We can’t have letdowns… have to be relentlessly consistent.”
• Big plays in practice: deep Nico Collins TD, David Montgomery 80yd TD, but also defense’s dominance.
• Spirited scuffles in practice: Keelan Rutledge getting in his “fifth” camp scuffle, including with Will Anderson Jr.
  • DeMeco on the chippiness [17:08]: “I love that his mindset is what I love—he’s not backing down from anybody, as he should.”

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3. Inside the Locker Room & Player Development

[26:46-44:06]

• Will Anderson Jr.’s growing dominance and leadership/Michael Jordan comparison.
  • Sheldon Rankins: “He realizes if he wants to shut practice down, he can.”
• Texans’ rookies:
  • Kaden McDonald, Marlon Clynes, and day-three picks—expected to play significant preseason snaps.
  • Debate: Should teams protect/no preseason or toughen rookies with max snaps?
• Wyatt Teller mentoring Keelan Rutledge, “Iron Sharpens Iron” Texans media promo/teaser.

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4. National Narrative Watch: CJ Stroud Contract Talk

[21:18-28:46]

• Media focus (Dan Graziano/ESPN) on why Stroud hasn't gotten a mega-extension.
  • Fair or not? Seth: “It’s more nuanced than just that one game [the Patriots playoff loss]. They want to see how he operates in his second year.”
• OC Nick Kaley (via Adam Schefter podcast) all praise:
  • “His process has been excellent … more time on task. His consistency—same guy every day. I’ve been really pleased.”

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5. Astros & MLB Notes

[32:20-41:40]

• Astros lose to Giants 4-1; division remains weak, “Could be the first time all teams finish with a negative run differential.”
• Pitching woes, depth concerns, Mike Burrows injury return, and skeptical trade talk.
• “Wildcard standings” check—Astros still in thick of playoff race due to others' ineptitude.
• Humorous campaign: want the Astros to have their “AFC South Champs!” moment if they win with a mediocre record.

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6. NFL Broadcast Drama & Insider News

[28:50-32:11, 41:40-43:45]

• Tony Romo’s legal troubles may spell the end of his CBS run; Ross Tucker promoted to #2 team with Ian Eagle.
  • Sean: “That’s a $70 million pullover on the side of the road.”
• J.J. Watt promoted to CBS's A team with Jim Nantz.
• Petty shots at Romo: “He sounds drunk every time I watch him.”

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7. Stock Up / Stock Down: Texans Edition

[39:57-56:03]

• Stock up: Jaden Higgins (WR), Jadeveon Clowney (DE), rookie class (esp. Marlon Klein, Colin Wright, Louis Bond, Keelan Rutledge), collective O-line depth.
• Stock down: Brevin Jordan (TE, injury history), Jawhar Jordan (RB, banged up), Ed Ingram (OL, inconsistent), Jake Andrews (OL, slipping down depth chart), punters (competition unsettled).
• Notable commentary on healthy positional competition and depth improvements, especially at OL and TE.
• Brevin Jordan’s precarious place in deep TE corps, Marlon Klein’s frame and versatility.
• Woody Marks’ high upside, but persistent concerns about durability at RB.

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8. NFL Head Coach Hot Seats & Media Pettycast

[58:39-1:05:04 / 1:27:35-1:45:13]

• Head coach “death pool” tradition: odds for first coach fired.
  • Aaron Glenn (Texans legend) is bookies’ favorite, but the hosts push back.
  • D’Amico Ryans listed as a long shot; “one of the safest coaches” in NFL.
  • Lively “behind the scenes” talk about NFL coaching rumors and rumors around team “culture” woes.
• Pettycast returns:
  • Roasting Adam Vinatieri’s Hall of Fame speech zingers at Belichick; Nick Kostos defends Belichick: “Can there be a modicum of respect?” [131:47]
  • Vic Fangio calls a CB a “regular season interception virgin”; Magic Johnson’s laughable NBA tweets.
  • Joey McGuire’s “villain” talk at Texas Tech—“You need to have some actual success to claim that role.”

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9. Station News: 610 to 95.7 The Fan / Guest List Announcement

[74:01-95:52]

• Hosts announce the launch of 95.7 The Fan, touting improved sound, stronger reach, and a big guest-list for the debut (August 13):
  • 8:20 – J.J. Watt (Texans legend, CBS A-team announcer)
  • 9:00 – Roger Clemens (Astros/Cy Young legend)
  • 9:40 – Rudy Tomjanovich (Hall of Fame Rockets coach)
• Nostalgic reflection on Houston sports radio history and cross-generational sports icons.
• Listener Q&A on how to listen, streaming, and the impact of the move.
  • “If you prefer 610, you still can—but 95.7 is just a better quality.”

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10. Astros Fan Experience

[75:53-81:25]

• Sean lists what he’s “rooting for” rest-of-season—Yordan Alvarez’s Triple Crown/MVP chase, Cam Smith besting Kyle Tucker as cheap trade acquisition.
• Desire to make pitcher Tatsui Imai so miserable in Houston that he opts out and returns to Japan.
  • Seth: “He’d have to give up $33 million to go back for comfort.”
• tongue-in-cheek comparison: "There's not a lot I wouldn’t do for $35 million... I'd swim in pig manure!"

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11. NBA & Rockets Notes

[122:57-127:37]

• Rockets NOT on NBA Christmas Day schedule; debate whether that’s a slight.
• Sean: “They built a team for prime time, but for now—no Christmas.”
• Segment closes with playful takes on Christmas food: ham vs. pasta.

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12. Johnny Harris Interview: Texans Insider

[102:11-119:06]

• Harris praises Texans rookie class, especially center Keelan Rutledge: “He might already be the best OL on the roster.”
  • Quotes unnamed source: “That’s a 1 (on hot take scale)—just a fact.”
• Offensive line culture and physicality much improved.
• Highlights Woody Marks as a “chunk play” candidate, David Montgomery as the F-150.
• Colin Wright progressing as No. 3 CB; camp competition at its best.

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13. Listener Interaction, Season Outlook, and H-Town Stories

[119:06-170:03]

• Further discussion of new station logistics, Astro “circle of trust” bit.
• Pettycast: Bill O’Brien’s dismissiveness vs. D’Amico’s cordial media approach.
• Camp fatigue evident with questions about third-string WRs (“we need a game!”).
• Closing banter about new studio gear, YouTube feed upgrades, and open communications with the next show (“In the Loop”).

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Notable and Memorable Quotes

• On preseason starter decisions:
  “You’ve got to manage the risk, but you’ve also got to manage winning some football games early.”
  — Seth Payne [05:33]
• DeMeco Ryans, on consistency after a bad camp day:
  “We need a reminder just of what we’re doing, what we’re trying to achieve... we have to count on guys to be relentlessly consistent...” — [10:37]
• On Keelan Rutledge, rookie center:
  “He might be the best offensive lineman on this roster right now.”
  — John Harris quoting a Texans insider [114:17]
• Funny moment parsing “handful” vs. “select few”:
  “How big are the hands? J.J. Watt handful or Kenny Pickett hands?” — [06:12]
• Astros division mediocrity:
  “The AL West could be the first time ever the entire division finishes with a negative run differential.” — Seth Payne [33:03]
• On Will Anderson Jr. coming into his own:
  “When he wants to take it over, he can take it over. If he don’t want them to get a play off, they won’t get a play off.”
  — Sheldon Rankins [13:25]
• Stock up on Jadeveon Clowney:
  “He’s looked like the old Clowney...He fits the mold of this defense way more than people probably think, with all the baggage from his rookie contract.” — Seth Payne [44:58]
• On the station’s big switch:
  “8:00am tomorrow, we flip that switch to 95.7 the Fan. We’ve got a great guest list lined up…” — Sean Pendergast [91:45]
• Pettycast - Adam Vinatieri’s Hall mention:
  “He may be on a recruiting trip right now looking for the next Lawrence Taylor…I think he’s judging his girlfriend’s cheerleading competition.” — Adam Vinatieri [130:17]
• On H-Town banter & chemistry:
  [Closing segment:]
  “Astros maintain their half game lead… So there you go, listener. Not a bit. It’s something that we do when we feel like doing it. We’re petty about there being no circle of trust.” — Seth Payne & Sean Pendergast [129:30]

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Episode Takeaways

• The Texans’ rookie class, particularly Keelan Rutledge, is drawing raves for both skill and culture fit (physical play, film-room presence).
• Practice chippiness—both a sign of culture and of camp fatigue—has become a feature, not a bug, in the DeMeco era.
• National narratives on CJ Stroud (extension delay, playoff letdown) are picking up, but the local take refutes any undue panic.
• The Astros remain in playoff hunt purely on the merits of division mediocrity, making for gallows humor and “AFC South Champs” parallels.
• Big moment ahead for Houston sports media with the move to FM—complete with high-profile guests for launch party and plenty of nostalgia.
• The show’s signature mix—cutting analysis, Houston flavor, and self-aware pettiness—remains at peak form.

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For Further Listening:

• Tune in Wednesday, August 13 for the inaugural show on 95.7 The Fan, featuring J.J. Watt, Roger Clemens, and Rudy Tomjanovich.
• Catch Texans-Chargers preseason game Thursday, and follow Payne & Pendergast for more in-depth H-town sports content every weekday morning.

Transcript

[John Harris]

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[Seth Payne]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[Seth Payne]

We coming to eighth time.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Let's get to work in man.

[Seth Payne]

Let's go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Great day. Great day. Oh, give me some juice, baby. Oh, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Let's do it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, what's happening everybody? Happy Wednesday to all of you. Nice to be with you. We appreciate you getting up with us. We are with you until 10am this morning for the first time in a long time. We're with you till 10am this morning. Do you have the stamina to go four hours today?

[Seth Payne]

It's like. It's like I've only ever run a half marathon and all of a sudden I got to run a marathon.

[Sean Pendergast]

Welcome to the party.

[Seth Payne]

Four hours of talking. I think every single person out there who works a hard manual labor job understands how difficult it is when they double their workload to sit in air conditioning for four hours and talk about sports.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Right as the NFL season is about to begin, which is the easiest time in the of the year to talk about sports generation, can I say this? Every single year, I know it's coming and yet it surprises me a little bit. This is the Week when people realize, especially given that so few starters play substantially in preseason games, fans around the National Football League realize, oh, all of those things that we want to find out about our offense or our defense or our quarterback, we're really not going to find anything out for a while now. We're getting little bits and pieces, but likely not going to see a whole lot of substantial action out of your starters, no matter which team you're following.

[Sean Pendergast]

There are a few that I saw yesterday that I think Cincinnati is playing. Their starters.

[Seth Payne]

They're playing, right?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, there's a couple, but you're right. Like, most of the teams aren't.

[Seth Payne]

But if they do, it's still also. It's. It's one or two series.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not much. It's. It's. It's not much. I was listening to the Drive yesterday afternoon while I was driving around town, and Clint was none too happy. They are. They are. The Texans are. It looks like going to be. Dimiko has not been specific about who's playing and who's not playing, but I think we can read into it. We know what the, the MO's been in the past.

[Seth Payne]

You're.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're probably not going to see C.J. shroud tomorrow night.

[Seth Payne]

Most likely not. Yeah. And Clint. Clint will have all the starters to play.

[Sean Pendergast]

Not happy with this.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I will.

[Sean Pendergast]

I guess.

[Seth Payne]

Maybe I've just. Maybe Clint's got more fight and verve than me. I've just accepted that that's the way of the world.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was Ron. Ron was like, I can't. I'm not standing on the table. What I like to see C.J. stroud. Sure.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Clint was. Clint was not only standing on the table, he was stomping on the table.

[Seth Payne]

Clint's very anti load management, too. Right. So it makes sense. And it's just. Listen, I don't. I'm not going to sit here and act like I've broken down the mathematics on it and everything, but most teams, by and large, have figured, man, the risk of injury is just too great, despite yada, yada, yada. I, I'm still torn on it a little bit because you look at the teams like the Rams. The Rams never play their starters in any preseason games. Hardly. I think they've bent on that the last couple years, but then they get off to slow starts every year, too. And you wonder, all right, maybe at the end of the year, if you're playing in LA instead of the. Instead of in Seattle, that ends up making a difference.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, the Texans got off to an own three start last year. Given that, would you. Does that move the needle for you and wanting to see them play?

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And I think that I already felt that way with the Rams. Like, you got to find some kind of balance between, man.

[John Harris]

Like the.

[Seth Payne]

You guys are out there, you're practicing, you sure act like it matters. The coaches all get upset when there's no good practice. So you're definitely trying to improve yourself and getting ready for their season. When you get off to a slow start, the maybe one thing you could have done was play in some more preseason games.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And okay, maybe a couple guys get injured, but the trying to find that balance is difficult.

[Sean Pendergast]

I do.

[Seth Payne]

I think I'm. I am. Even though I'm a little bit like Ron, where I've just. I've given up, you know. You know, I've given up the fight. I just go ahead.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're in that 30 year marriage, hold

[Seth Payne]

me under the water until the bubbles stop coming and whatever.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

But there is a part of me that's. That's like, yeah, all right, look, I. Cool, man. You know what? You know what else? You can get injured during the regular season. You know what else? You can get injured whenever Joe Mixon did whatever the hell he was doing when he got injured.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You can get injured. Like, so you got to manage the risk, but you also got to manage winning some football games early.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's true. Yeah. Do you think we see Keelan Rutledge tomorrow night?

[Seth Payne]

I hope so.

[Sean Pendergast]

Do you think we see him, though?

[Seth Payne]

I think we do. Okay. D' Ameco said a handful of players won't be.

[Sean Pendergast]

He said he yesterday was a handful. The day before it was a select few.

[Seth Payne]

A select few.

[Sean Pendergast]

I love parsing out.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Whenever I think of a select few, it's a pretty elite group.

[Seth Payne]

Is it a handful or a select few?

[Sean Pendergast]

Select few, select few, Smaller group.

[Seth Payne]

I think the combination of a select few and it will. And it depends. Are they J.J. watt handfuls or how

[Sean Pendergast]

big are the hands?

[Seth Payne]

You know, Rubio handful?

[D' Amico Ryan]

I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

Like, what's. What's the deal?

[Sean Pendergast]

Kenny Picket hands. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are we talking about Kenny Pickett hands here?

[Seth Payne]

Do we have Kenny Pickett hands or Robert Brazil hands?

[Sean Pendergast]

It's a handful. What hand? Kenny Pickett's. How many people are sitting? 2. So that'll be yes.

[Seth Payne]

To see Kenny Pickett hands on J.J. watts body.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, well, that's easily done.

[Seth Payne]

Character on SNL. Is it one of her hands? I think that I'd like to see the rookies play as much as possible. We've seen the Texans and other teams do this too. Hey, it's first round pick. He's going to start now. He's good. Yeah. All right. All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

He would be the. He'd obviously be the only one that wouldn't play. I think of the rookies.

[Seth Payne]

Rutledge.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Rutledge.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rutledge. Kaden McDonald's absolutely going to play.

[Seth Payne]

Marlon.

[Sean Pendergast]

Marlon Clynes absolutely going to play. And everybody else is a day three pick. They're all playing.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And I think the big thing with Rutledge is that as I've told you, they don't. The Texans don't. When the Texans offense goes against the Texans defense, the center doesn't have a nose tackle right on top of them. And these next three teams they play all utilize a nose tackle. And that's a big difference for a center. So as you know, Keelan's done a great job. All those things. We had questions about that. Okay. There's the mental side of transitioning to center. Even if you're a college center that you know enters the NFL, there's a big mental component to it. But he never played center in college other than the Senior Bowl. So there's the mental side. He seems to have adapted to that really well. There's the physical snapping of the football. He's. He's adapted to that really well. There are some errant snaps during OTAs and minicamp and there have been some imperfect snaps during camp, but nothing that I think you don't also see out of bonafide starting centers already. So he's handled those challenges really well. The next big challenge is how do you deal with a 340 pounder right up in your face, you know, three inches from your face mask is your. As you're trying to snap the ball and make all your calls and everything.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. So, full disclosure. There was a practice yesterday that you and I were not at.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

We were not there. We're not going to lie to you and pretend that we were there. I thought it was because it was in the stadium two days before a game. I thought they were just doing a walkthrough yesterday. Which they did.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And they tacked a practice onto it.

[Seth Payne]

I had Romo yesterday. Regret of missing out. Oh. And I was drunk and. And driving.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I was. And not paying attention. And not paying attention to football.

[Seth Payne]

Driving drunk down the road. And I'm listening to the radio and I'm hearing reports of this.

[Sean Pendergast]

This.

[Seth Payne]

This chippy practice. I'm like, oh, no. Oh, Jim.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right, right.

[Seth Payne]

What the hell's going on? Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Drinking and then not actually watching the practice. Those both things Romo would do. No, but it was. I. I thought it was a walkthrough, so I, you know, I time I had some client stuff to do yesterday, so we were not there, but it sounds like it was a pretty spirited affair.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, no, and it sounds like. And I think that follows.

[Sean Pendergast]

John Harris, by the way, is going to join us at 8:25. He was there.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So we wanted an eyewitness to join us and.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no. But that part of it. And I think that d' Amico had been upset with practice the day before. What's today, Wednesday? Tuesday. On Monday, he was upset with Monday's practice. It's. I thought this was interesting because d' Amigo didn't seem upset with the practice immediately after practice. And so it's classically, I'm guessing, one of those things where when they watch the film, some of the bad plays were because of mental errors. There might have been perhaps a letdown in some of the swarminess and finishing plays and all of that. And then I also think that cj, that on Monday, CJ threw an interception to Colin. Right. Was on a ball that he probably shouldn't have thrown.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, Right.

[Seth Payne]

You know, so in terms of the process, I think he probably thought Monday was sloppier than it should have been. So I got excited to hear that he was excited about a practice yesterday where there are a bunch of big plays on both sides, but I'm guessing it was just because guys won their physical matchups.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You're a coach. You're watching your team. Obviously, when the offense does well, the defense does poorly. But if it's a. If it's a. If it's a really good player like Nico Collins, who happened to have a really good rep, versus Kamari Lasseter. You're not worried about either of those guys. It was just. Okay, cool. C.J. had a nice throw over a really good football player.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Here. Here was d' Ameco talking yesterday about that exact thing. Seth, this is d'. Ameco. He was fired up at how yesterday's practice went because Monday was not great.

[D' Amico Ryan]

I think the guys were a little fired up, and I had to get after him a little bit yesterday. It wasn't our best practice yesterday by any means. That wasn't who we are, how we come out. That wasn't it. So, you know, everybody Need a reminder just of what we're doing, what we're trying to achieve. What are we trying to accomplish? Right. To do what we're trying to accomplish, it takes persistent work every single day. We can't have letdowns, we can't have setbacks. Like, we have to continue to press forward. We have to count on guys to be relentlessly consistent in what they're doing in their approach every single day. Yesterday we took a step back, it wasn't good enough. But today, guys responded really well, all three phases. Did a really great job. Right. Making plays, doing what they're supposed to do. So.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, so, yeah, he was not happy on Monday. Much happier yesterday.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And some of the big things, you know, what we've been hungry for is, okay, cool. The offense is doing a lot better this year than they were last year. We haven't seen a whole lot of deep strikes. And then all of a sudden you see that. Oh, okay, he hit a deep strike to Nico Collins. That apparently probably would have been a sack by Danielle Hunter, but I'll take it. And Lassiter was.

[Sean Pendergast]

Whoever's covering him was trying.

[Seth Payne]

As far as the actual play, imagine that it was Braden Smith. That would have either had a holding caller, it would have been a sack.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But the coaches allowed it to stand. Yeah. And then David Montgomery had a 80 yard touchdown.

[Sean Pendergast]

80 yard touchdown, man. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

With Henry Towe toe in coverage. Pay no attention to that.

[Sean Pendergast]

But just look at the 80 yard touchdown from an offensive point of view.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I do wonder though too, that I wonder about d' Ameco and how he felt specifically about that play. Because it's one thing when David Montgomery catches it 10 yards downfield. Okay, cool. He beat Henry tower toe in coverage. But there is. There should be.

[Sean Pendergast]

To the house.

[Seth Payne]

There should be somebody else. Yeah, I don't know if there might be that, Dave.

[Sean Pendergast]

Mine's not David Montgomery's calling card either. Is just running away from people. You know, he's a. He's more of a headbanger, but he's.

[Seth Payne]

But he also, you know, he is. Yeah, he's faster than people think, etc. Etc. And all that. But also like Kamari Lasseter's or Calum Bullock's. Really fast too.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sure.

[Seth Payne]

Or whoever else was on the. In the third level of the defense.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Okay. So the other thing I heard on the afternoon show yesterday was they had an interesting theory. The other thing that happened at practice that people were making note of was it Keelin Rutledge. Keelin Rutledge. And Will Anderson Jr. Got into it. Yeah, they got into a scrape, a scuffle. It wasn't a fight.

[Seth Payne]

That's not like Will.

[Sean Pendergast]

No. At all. He's very energetic. Yeah, it is.

[Seth Payne]

It's very much like Keelan Landry's keeping the running tab. I think this is up to five scuffles for Keelan Rutledge.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't think d' Amico Ryan's minds it at all. But this was the. This is the theory that they had on the afternoon show. Sheldon Rankins met with the media on Monday, and he had this to say about Will Anderson Jr.

[D' Amico Ryan]

I think the turning point for players of his caliber is like, when they realize that when they want to take it over, they can take it over. I think he's getting to that point where he realizes if he wants to shut practice down, he shut it down. Like, if he don't want them to get a playoff, they won't get a playoff.

[Sean Pendergast]

He don't want him to get a

[D' Amico Ryan]

pass off, they won't get a pass off. He want a TFL every play, he can go do it. So I think he's starting to get to that point where he finally realizes that, like, man, like, the game is in the palm of my hands. And he also understands the responsibility that comes with it. I think that's what makes him so special, is that, you know, you get a lot of guys in that position of. Of being that dominant, being that good,

[Sean Pendergast]

and they kind of look at it

[D' Amico Ryan]

like, you know, it was supposed to happen to them. Whereas he looks at it as, you know, he's grateful for every.

[Sean Pendergast]

The part where they. That Sheldon and I, to be clear, I think Sheldon was just complimenting Will. I don't think he was throwing shade at anybody. But we know that the human condition in sports is that you try to find any sort of disrespect you can. Yeah. And put that chip on your shoulder. So the theory that. That Ron and Clint had, which I thought was awesome, was that, oh, the offense heard that Sheldon Rankin's call.

[Seth Payne]

Really?

[Sean Pendergast]

Will Anderson can just shut down practice anytime he wants to.

[Seth Payne]

I like that theory.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Really? Oh, really? He can just do it whenever you

[Sean Pendergast]

damn well just like it's flip a switch. I am Will Anderson, and practice is now shut down.

[Seth Payne]

Well, and guess what, offense? That's what they did on Monday. I mean, it was on Monday. I came out of practice on Monday thinking that, okay, you know what? The offense did some good things today. I saw some really good stuff. And then I look over The. Jonathan Alexander does a really good job of putting a play by play out on. On X. I encourage all of you to follow him and read his articles. But I'm like, oh, yeah, there. After that first couple of periods or series of plays which were really good, there was a sack in each ensuing one that would have killed the drive.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And that, yeah, Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter just pretty much shut down the practice and turned it into a bad.

[Sean Pendergast]

If Monday were a game, the Texans offense was the team that would have lost, like, 27 to 6. Yeah, something like that.

[Seth Payne]

You know, they just couldn't get out of the. You know, I couldn't move the ball. It is training camps. Interesting, though, too, because it's kind of like relief pitchers where you only have a small sample size and you start to. If the offense has two bad series in a row, you. You act like the same way it is with a relief pitcher.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Two bad appearances in a row. Two bad innings in a row.

[D' Amico Ryan]

In two games.

[Seth Payne]

They've been awful forever.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You know, like, meanwhile, a starter can have two bad innings and then make up in the next five.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

So I try to remember that with the offense, like, okay, yeah, like, in a game, you might have three or four bad series, you can make up for it. But the other thing about Will, this training camp, I think has been. And this is in line with some of the things that Sheldon Rankins was talking about the other day. I think he's been a little bit more Michael Jordan, like, in his leadership there. I think after Monday, he might. Yeah, I think after Monday, when they. I think they might have had. Let me check my notes. 37 sacks on Monday. Will Anderson had the D line out running after practice. So he was upset about he. I don't know exactly why or whatever.

[Sean Pendergast]

Saying he's like a cruel taskmaster.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Like. Yeah, in a good way. Yeah, in a good way.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. A good kind of cruel.

[Seth Payne]

Plus one. When Sheldon said that he's, you know, Will is realizing the power that he has, I had this image of, you know, Shaq staring at his hands. I didn't even realize I had these superpowers.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. D'. Amico. Ryan's likes the chippiness here. He was on Rutledge getting into it with Will Anderson.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Better be careful there. You messing with Will Anderson. But no, it's.

[Seth Payne]

I love it.

[D' Amico Ryan]

I love the scrappiness of Keelan. I love that his mindset is what I love. He's not backing down from anybody as he should. I expect that from Every player on our team, we're not backing down from anybody. We know we're not physically fighting, but there's always chippiness in our game because it's a tough, it's a physical, violent game that we play and there's going to be some chippiness that goes on. But we just have to make sure we're smart, especially in game. Right. We have to make sure we're smart and make sure we're not that second guy to cause the team to hurt ourselves and then coach is going to be really upset.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, there's a level of chippiness, like if it turns into fisticuffs and the benches are emptying. D' Ameco does not like that. But he likes the one on one non injury.

[Seth Payne]

Right, right, right. No. And there haven't been all out brawls or anything in Texans practices. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the combined practice with the Raiders. Yeah, a team that kind of takes pride and living on the edge, going, you know, step, they, they see boundaries and they step right over them without breaking stride.

[Sean Pendergast]

They've done it for years.

[Seth Payne]

They, they did a lot more in the 70s and 80s, but, but they've done it and yeah, they're feeling themselves a little bit. I think that it's, it's fun because the Texans face the Chargers in the preseason and one of the people who is unlocked in a death battle for the right guard position for the Chargers is Trevor Pennington. Who, remember Trevor Penning was in the draft. He was Mr. Tough Guy and meanwhile like you'd watch film and he'd get his butt whooped, but every now and then he'd drive a 195 pound college safety out of bounds and people thought he was the toughest guy on earth. He got in a boatload of fights in camp, in training camp, his rookie year against in the Saints. But it was his fault, like where he was just, he was doing all the stuff that get defensive linemen to fight you. You're playing dirty, you're holding, you're driving guys over piles in practice and all that stuff. Ye a jerk. And he was getting fights to the point where the coaches said, no, that's Trevor Penning's fault. Keelan Rutledge is a little bit different. He's just, he's just naturally scrappy the same way really. Wyatt Teller as a young player was a guy that would put guys on the ground a lot, would play to the echo the whistle, all that. But I never thought of him as A dirty player. He was just really, really scrappy. Wyatt Teller's got to have fun with Keelan Rutledge.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Taking him under young protege.

[Sean Pendergast]

Scrappy Wing.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Reminds him of himself when he was a young man, probably.

[Sean Pendergast]

You think he said that to him at any point yet? It's like you remind me of me maybe. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

There's on Iron Sharpens Iron. They. The Texans web series. They do.

[John Harris]

They did.

[Seth Payne]

They showed a little teaser of this week's episode, and it's Wyatt Teller at a barbecue place with, I think, Keelan Rutledge.

[Sean Pendergast]

So, yeah, I forgot about Iron Sharpens Iron. I saw the d' Amico Mic'd up video yesterday.

[Seth Payne]

You know who did an interview for Iron Sharpens Iron the other day?

[Sean Pendergast]

Seth Payne.

[Seth Payne]

That's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

Let's see if I can.

[Sean Pendergast]

Iron Sharpens Iron.

[Seth Payne]

You did? Yeah, I did. You know what I did? I learned from McClain. When you do these documentaries.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You know, they're gonna. They're gonna take a bunch of footage and they're just gonna choose like, point

[Sean Pendergast]

1% of what you said.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. You might be in there for like four seconds. So he's like, just. You just say the most, like the biggest, boldest outlaw things you can say. You know, you just wanna. And some of it'll work and some of it won't. All right. I tried to go there a little bit.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's good advice if you want to get on there. That's good advice. You know who's on a bleep ton of those things on the NFL Network? John McClain.

[Seth Payne]

That's who.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's on a bunch of them.

[Seth Payne]

You know what? I said that I think that might make the cut. I said I made a pretty bold statement about the Texans defense compared to every other unit in the AFC South.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, I like it. I like it.

[Seth Payne]

That'll be. People in Jacksonville hate me enough already. It'll be this one will especially. This will land especially square on their jaw.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, coming up next, C.J. stroud. They were talking nationally about C.J. stroud and Nick Kaley did Adam Schefter's podcast. And where is CJ at in the eyes of his OC right now? Where is he at in the eyes of the national media? We'll get to that. And we got good news on a friend of the show as well. A couple friends of the show. We are announcing our guest list for tomorrow's launch of 95. 7 the fan. We're doing that at 8am today. We launch at 8am tomorrow we're going to announce our guest list. You will not want to miss that. We will be announcing that at 8am today.

[Seth Payne]

That's live from the West Point Lincoln

[Sean Pendergast]

and West Point Lincoln of Sugar Land Studios. Here's Pain and Pendergast. Pain and Pendergast with you. CJ Stroud has been a big talking point here in Houston in the off season. And yesterday on ESPN they had, they did a big segment on CJ Stroud. Here was Dan Graziano of ESPN talking about the Texans quarterback. Houston gives out big veteran contract extensions

[Seth Payne]

as soon as they possibly can.

[Sean Pendergast]

Will Anderson Jr. Got one this offseason, is drafted one pick after C.J.

[John Harris]

stroud.

[Sean Pendergast]

The fact that Stroud doesn't have one yet is a sign that the Texans want to see more. And that's fair enough. They got to the playoffs last year with what they felt was a championship caliber defense. They knew when they took the field

[Seth Payne]

in New England that if they won

[Sean Pendergast]

that game they were going to get a shot to beat Jarrett Stidham the

[Seth Payne]

next week to go to the Super Bowl.

[Sean Pendergast]

And C.J. stroud laid an egg. So what does that tell you about him, the Texans? For them it meant we need to see more before we talk about extending him. Now he has never had a run game.

[John Harris]

They have changed the offensive line on him over and over and over again.

[Sean Pendergast]

There are reasons that CJ Stroud has not been always in the best position to succeed. Most of those reasons have been cleared up. They should have a better running game. The offensive line has continuity for the first time. Tank Dell coming back. The wide receiver room could be a lot deeper and the defense should still be great.

[John Harris]

A lot of pressure on CJ Stroud to deliver this.

[Seth Payne]

I figured this yesterday when we were sitting in the studio and I saw on ESPN that they were doing that big piece on ESPN or on CJ Stroud that. Yep, yesterday my social media feed I saw from, you know, big accounts and other people that I that I couldn't avoid, that people I follow. All of a sudden it was as if the Patriots game had happened yesterday. And I like the exact same takes and everything based almost completely on the Patriots game. If they were doing their any kind of due diligence, they might include the Steelers game into it because that was really bad but that some of it was like just red hot. This is, I can't believe this is the guy. Blah blah, blah, blah blah. Everything that Graziano said right there is true. I would I disagree a little bit and that he just said so clearly that. Well, they need, you know, the. That playoff performance is what is scaring them off of, you know, giving him the contract or whatever. I think there's more to it than just that. I think the process and everything leading up to that playoff game is. Is probably the thing that they wanted to see. If it was different, how is CJ Adapting to his second year in the system and how is he operating and running the offense? Which obviously includes. That includes the performance in the Patriots game. But I think it's. It's more nuanced than just, oh, that one game is the game that made them.

[Sean Pendergast]

Definitely is. It definitely is. If. Here's the thing. If it weren't, then that means that he was going to get a contract extension going into the playoffs last year.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

And it was still very much up in the air, right?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, exactly. I think that if he had had now, if the Texans had gone and won the super bowl, you kind of more chance than not they're probably going to have an extension because the formula works or whatever, but that we don't have to live in that hypothetical world because it certainly did not happen.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sam Darnold has not gotten a bump in pay since winning the super bowl from Seattle State.

[Seth Payne]

Good point, Sean. That's a very good point, Sean.

[Sean Pendergast]

Certain teams may look at it different.

[Seth Payne]

That's a really good point. Yeah. So I think that it was kind of a shock to me, and it was something that you and I were talking about right up until two weeks ago, the. The CJ Stroud contract extension dynamic. Actually, we hadn't been talking about it much at all until Nick Casario and CJ Stroud both said on the first day of training camp that there had been some talks.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And then we talked about it for a couple days, and then we kind of forgot about it. And I just don't. I think the biggest thing, and this is credit to CJ and unlike Kyler Murray going into his fourth year or Baker Mayfield right now, CJ really has not added any fuel to the fire. And I don't sense that it's something that is bothering him or anything. If there is no extension, I don't think it's going to be any kind of an issue in the locker room or with David Mulligetta or anywhere else along the way. It's. If it happens, it happens. But it doesn't seem like either side feels like it's a pressing issue.

[Sean Pendergast]

Nope. Here's Nick Kaley. Yesterday. He was. He was on Adam Schefter's Podcast, and here's his assessment of where things are at with cj.

[John Harris]

Yeah, I'm really proud of him.

[Sean Pendergast]

I mean, he's been.

[John Harris]

Since he left, he's been working. You can tell he's worked his ass off all offseason.

[Sean Pendergast]

His process has been excellent. Just, you know, the intentionality, the detail, the leadership, the urgency.

[John Harris]

Year two in the system. I've always had a great relationship, CJ

[Sean Pendergast]

and I, but I feel like more time on task Going into year two.

[John Harris]

We've had a chance to just dive into deeper conversations. You come up for air after that

[Sean Pendergast]

season, and now it's like, okay, look,

[John Harris]

here's the things we did well. Here's the things maybe we didn't do well.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm never going to do anything ultimately that doesn't fit our offense and the players we have.

[John Harris]

We're going to tailor it around our players and who we have players over plays mentality.

[Sean Pendergast]

But then with CJ having comfort and

[John Harris]

confidence in those things, I always want to customize that throughout through the lens

[Sean Pendergast]

of having, you know, having him have confidence in what we're doing. So we've had that dialogue, and it's been great.

[John Harris]

We've had a chance to.

[Sean Pendergast]

To really try some different wrinkles and compliments and add, you know, some volume to the offense this offseason. And he's been there every step of the way.

[John Harris]

His consistency, his ability to move throughout the day, just being the same guy

[Sean Pendergast]

and taking it to the field.

[John Harris]

I've been really pleased and proud with

[Seth Payne]

what he's done that I didn't realize Sean McVay had worked so much with CJ Stroud in the off season. He sounds so much.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's crazy how much they sound alike.

[John Harris]

No.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, it's Jen Hatmaker.

[Seth Payne]

Here's what I've learned in midlife.

[Sean Pendergast]

Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what this new series on for

[Seth Payne]

the Love is all about.

[Sean Pendergast]

The sacred yes. It's choosing delight, rest, and pleasure on purpose. Because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that finally lets you fill your table with everybody else. Come find your sacred yes with me. Follow and listen to for the Love wherever you get your podcasts.

[Seth Payne]

And I think that's something that I would say with d'. Amico. D' Amico said something about CJ yesterday or a couple of days ago where I'd seen one of our listeners comment that, man, that seems like that sounds like the first really genuine praise that D' Ameco is given C.J. that's what the listeners said. I think it's been like that with d' Ameco during this training camp. I do think, yeah, there were times last season where, I mean, at times d' Ameco just flat out said, we need more from CJ I and some of the praise that he would give him. It felt like he was holding back a little bit and he wasn't being critical necessarily all the time. I think it's been more, you know, full forced praise and it's, and it's borne out in the way it looks out there. It looks way more like CJ is in full command of the offense and it wasn't, it wasn't that way last year. And part of it, part of it is just simply that with what they want the quarterback to do in this system, it's a lot and it's really hard to. It's kind of like you just took a typing class for a couple weeks now, you know, go out and type 140 words.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

It's just, it, it takes time. It takes muscle memory, takes reps. How

[Sean Pendergast]

about the, how about the news? Just shifting gears here real quick because we teased it. How about the news of our good friend Ross Tucker yesterday? Yeah, Ross Tucker, if you missed it. And Ross will be back with us this season as well on Tuesdays at 7 o', clock. He'll be back with us. I'm fairly certain it'll be at its usual time. Tuesdays at 7 o'.

[John Harris]

Clock.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's our Odyssey NFL Insider, but he's also part of CBS's Sunday NFL announced teams. And he'd done a few Texans games the last few years. Normally a Texans Titans game. I feel like every Texans Titans game included Ross Tucker. And in the rotation he was down, I think on about like the, maybe the fifth, fifth or sixth team. Well, with the ripple effect from the Tony Romo leave of absence, we know that JJ Watt got bumped up to the first team with Jim Nance. Ross Tucker is getting bumped all the way up to the second team with Iron Eagle. Yeah, he's filling JJ shoes.

[Seth Payne]

And this is where, you know, like with jj, JJ is a big, big, big, big star. And when he enters broadcasting, okay, it just, you figure, ok, that's. It makes sense that they put him in a pretty lofty perch right off the bat with Ross Tucker. Talk about a hard Scrabble.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a grinder, man.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, he was a journeyman in the NFL. Yeah, he just started podcasting when Nobody else was podcasting. He's. He's picked himself up from the. His bootstraps.

[Sean Pendergast]

He has.

[Seth Payne]

With a hardscrabble upbringing from somewhere near Scranton, Pennsylvania.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right. And Princeton.

[Seth Payne]

Well, by football terms, you know what?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Yeah. That's Cornell guy.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

No, you play football at Princeton. It's not like, oh, welcome, welcome. Right into the NFL.

[John Harris]

Here you go.

[Seth Payne]

This is a huge Jason Garrett.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know that, right? You. You know how I feel about Iron Eagle. I think Ian Eagle is excellent.

[John Harris]

He.

[Sean Pendergast]

He and Kevin Harlan are my two favorite play by play guys on Sundays. And I loved JJ and Ian Eagle together. I thought they were an excellent pairing. I think JJ would be great with Jim Nance, and I think Jim Nance has got to be ecstatic to be getting J.J. watt for however long this is going to be.

[Seth Payne]

He's going to be happy to get somebody with a pulse.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. That puts in the work.

[Seth Payne]

At least a pulse that doesn't have a high bac.

[Sean Pendergast]

That can make it without getting pulled over. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So I never once thought JJ was drunk when he was on air.

[Sean Pendergast]

No.

[Seth Payne]

And I don't know that Romo ever was, but I know every time I watch him, he sounds like he's drunk. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. He might be. This is a huge save for my love of Ian Eagle. I think he and Ross are going to be great. I think that'll be a really good pairing. This is like a addition by subtraction.

[Seth Payne]

I know. Well, I've heard Ross with Kevin Harlan a lot on the radio. Yeah. And they're very, like, so similar vibes there. And I think that'll. They'll fit right in.

[Sean Pendergast]

I do, too.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Romo.

[Sean Pendergast]

Romo's cooked, right?

[Seth Payne]

I would imagine so. I think that this is the classic boy. CBS executive executives are happy to have this out.

[Sean Pendergast]

If he's got a morals clause, he's done.

[Seth Payne]

People have been. I can't imagine you're a CBS exec that goes and talks to other insiders or whatever when you're at your Eyes Wide Shut parties and stuff in the off season.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right.

[Seth Payne]

Where somebody isn't like, dude, what the hell are you guys gonna do about Romo? And they're like, oh, I don't know. He's fine. But like, no, seriously, man, what the hell's going on?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Like, people in the. It's one thing to get lambasted by people in the media and everything, but industry insiders have known that's a train wreck for the last few years. So this is. This might be a really easy out. Somebody might. Somebody at cbs. Their job might have been saved by Tony Romo getting into that pickle in Wisconsin.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's a $70 million pullover on the side of the road.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

If he loses his. He's got four years left on his deal.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Of nearly a total of $70 million.

[Seth Payne]

There might be some executive at CBS who just like fully stood up on the table and said, we need to give Romo this money. And he was about to get fired at some point because of it. He was like, oh, boy, I think

[Sean Pendergast]

I just got sends a fruit basket

[Seth Payne]

to that cop to the Wisconsin.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, let's get to headlines. Coming up next. Astros lose last night. We'll talk about that. We've got some football headlines we'll get to as well. Hey, look. All right, let's get to headlines. Not much to say about the Astros last night. They lost 4 to 1 to the San Francisco Giants. Hunter Brown takes the L last night. It bats, as you can tell, they lost four to one. So the bats did not do very much last night.

[Seth Payne]

Shocking to some of you to know that the Astros had runners in scoring position. Nothing with it. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Yep.

[Seth Payne]

The AL west currently could potentially be the first time ever, apparently, that the entire division would finish with a negative run different.

[Sean Pendergast]

Is that where we are right now?

[Seth Payne]

They all have a negative run differential? Everybody's minus 20 plus at this point.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Let me.

[Sean Pendergast]

Let me check the it. Yep. Yeah, checks out. These are five kind of mediocre to bad baseball teams. I. Look, it's a Hunter Brown start, and part of me wants to say that, look, you're in a dogfight in the division. You've got to win the games that Hunter Brown is pitching because the other four guys pitching in the other games are not reliable at all for you, but Lambert's been good. Yeah, but Javier not reliable. You know, the two guys. Wisnaski's been decent, but he's a Tommy John guy. I don't. You know, we don't know what they're to trying shelf life is. It's not like he's got a huge body of work prior to that to hang his hat on. Renell Blanco has not been good since he came back. You know, Mike Burroughs is pitching a rehab start on Friday. Seth. I don't know if you knew that, but yeah. So he may be back.

[Seth Payne]

He's not reliable, I'll admit, Sean, that's basically our trade. The Mike Burroughs trade. Okay, Anybody coming back from the IL or just a stint in the Miners

[Sean Pendergast]

traded for Burroughs twice now, you know,

[Seth Payne]

we're looking at is the. We're not going to trade for anybody, but we've got guys coming back to the major league roster. Oh, what was wrong? Well, some of them just sucked. Yeah. No, they weren't even injured. Yeah, it was. They're not even coming off the il.

[Sean Pendergast]

So that was going to be my hot take is you got to win these Hunter Brown starts because these other starts, you just don't know what's going to happen. But then to your point, this division is so bad, I don't know that they got to do anything, you know, like they. They. I mean, they got to win enough games to win the division.

[Seth Payne]

I wish. I hope at some point if the, like, let's say the Astro just win this division with a slightly above.500 record or something. I need there to be a AFC South Champs. Brian moment where a spot says to some writer.

[Sean Pendergast]

Some writer, it's got to be Chandler.

[Seth Payne]

AOS champs. Chandler, AOS champs.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Chandler, Brian T. Smith, I think are cut from some of the same cloth. Yeah, I think so.

[Seth Payne]

Hard drive and journos.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hard drive and journos that probably maybe at times rub management of the team. Not their own management.

[Seth Payne]

Sorry, you don't like the question toss. That's what I'd say.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right. Chandler has rubbed Joe Espada the wrong way. Remember he tried to be a gm, that one?

[Seth Payne]

Well, no. Yeah, Chandler. That was the weirdest moment.

[Sean Pendergast]

Accused of it.

[Seth Payne]

Well, Chandler just asked a simple question. Is there a chance that. Was it Burrows or was somebody. Is there a chance he goes down to the Miners?

[Sean Pendergast]

It was Weiss.

[Seth Payne]

It was Weiss.

[John Harris]

That's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Who got sent to the Miners the next day.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, he got sent to the Miners hours and, well, like it was. It was announced hours later that he was going to go. That he was being sent down. Yes, but Espada took exception to Chandler playing gm.

[Sean Pendergast]

Playing gm.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. So Astros lose last night. Afternoon game today, 2:45, I believe today. First pitch, trying to win the series in San Francisco's. Astros remain in first place because the division's terrible. The Rangers lost to the Angels last night. Still a half game up in the division. Texans back at practice yesterday. They're off today. The Chargers come to town tomorrow for the first preseason game. Doesn't sound like there's going to be a bunch of starters playing in this game. If you're curious about rookies and backups and undrafted free agents, then tomorrow night is your night.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I think this is the thing that the Texans to be a Super bowl caliber team, one of the strengths they have this year is that I do think they have way more depth at a lot of positions, most notably the offensive line. So the Charger, the Chargers have some stud rookies and backup defensive linemen too. This is, this is. Honestly, there are going to be some really relevant battles between Chargers offensive lineman and defensive lineman, or Texans offensive lineman and Chargers defensive lineman that are going to have an effect on the season. You're going to play 8, 9, 10 different offensive linemen at some point this year. And it's not like the Texans offensive linemen on Thursday night are going to be going up against a bunch of slappies. There'll be some good stuff.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, there should be some really fun stuff to watch. And this rookie class as you and I outlined yesterday has been to me a lot of green arrow up with this rookie class. I've been impressed by, by practically all of them. So you'll get a good look at those tomorrow night. By the way, if you want to win a pair of front row tickets to see that game on Thursday night in the bullpen, be listening at 7:40 today for the queue to call. And you could be at the game tomorrow night in the front row checking out all the things Seth was just talking about. Kyler Murray is the starter for the Minnesota Vikings. He was named the week one starter yesterday by head coach Kevin O'. Connell. Kevin O' Connell does not need to see any preseason games. Nine is on the back burner.

[Seth Payne]

Nine's on the J.J. mcCarthy. Yeah. So it felt from watching on the outside looking in that it was just a matter of time until Kyler Murray got comfortable in the system and figured some things out. But it doesn't feel like they like J.J. mcCarthy all that much.

[Sean Pendergast]

Doesn't feel like anybody does.

[Seth Payne]

I don't like his whole thing. Yeah. Hey, Coach, can you give me some constructive criticism?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I don't like your whole thing. Yeah. This whole deal you got going on here.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Your decision making, your shtick with, with the alter ego personality, what did him

[Sean Pendergast]

in was when Kevin O' Connell said, Look, JJ and JJ's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's nine.

[Seth Payne]

It's nine.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

We're in a football venue.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm in uniform. I'm in, I'm in my, my costume.

[Seth Payne]

Adam Schefter doing that thing, which is so funny because his, his job is to write words down, has a way of really phrasing things strangely. But Schefter is a Michigan man. Yes. And he had tweeted out yesterday something along the lines of now JJ McCarthy forced to be a backup.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, like hell no. He earned it.

[Seth Payne]

Shepard. Nobody's forced to do anything in this life really. You know, you could just walk away from football right now. And being a motivational speaker, he might

[Sean Pendergast]

have a hard time finding a job that pays what he's making, but nobody's forcing him to do anything.

[Seth Payne]

That was the other thing that Schefter said after going sit after what was it was after winning 6 of his 10 games last year. Like already 6 and 4. What am I supposed to do?

[Sean Pendergast]

Have a crazy watch the games? Like I didn't win them because of nine. All right. Seven o' clock hour coming up. Hey, a little over an hour from now, 8am today, we have a killer guest list for Tomorrow's launch of 95. 7 the Fan. If you, if you don't know the details tomorrow at 8am I mean there'll be a countdown and everything to 8am we flip that switch to 95. 7 the fan. Sports radio 610 becomes 95. 7 the fan. We've got a great guest list lined up starting in that 8 o' clock hour tomorrow. We will announce who's on that guest list at 8am today. So be on the, be on the lookout for that again. 7:40 today. You can win a pair of front row tickets to the Chargers Texans preseason game in the bullpen tomorrow night. All right, let's do a little stock up, stock down. I know other shows on the station do that as well. We're going to, going to hijack the gimmick for a little bit here. But there, there are players who have impressed so far even more than maybe we expected. There are some that we're still waiting on here. We'll go through those as we get you ready, continue to get you ready for the start of the preseason on the field tomorrow night. Stay there.

[John Harris]

Sports Radio 610 presents Payne and Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

We'll do a little stock up, stock down with some of these Texans players in just a little bit at 7:40 today, the end of this nice long segment we've got right here. We're going to give away tickets to the Texans and Chargers tomorrow night at Reliance Stadium, the newly renamed Reliance Stadium.

[Seth Payne]

I'm just, I'm not going to enjoy these next three months of people correcting us and just calling stadium. Yeah, we're going to get the old. Well, the incorrect. Well actually, which is the most annoying thing in the History of human beings.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

The. Actually guys, it's nrg. Didn't you know? No, it's actually Reliant now. Again.

[Sean Pendergast]

We got a few texts. We talked about Keelum Rutledge getting into a scrape with Will Anderson Jr. In the 6 o' clock hour. If you missed it yesterday, well, you all would have missed it because it wasn't an open practice. But if you missed the news Texans practice yesterday inside the stadium and at one point Rutledge and Will Anderson got a little chippy with each other during practice. It seemed to be a level of chippiness that made Demico Ryan's happy. It didn't escalate or anything like that.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But this is. Rutledge has been involved in several little scrapes.

[Seth Payne]

Like this is like shoving around a little bit afterwards. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm cool with it it. But this is. I love this point here. You remember the Green Bay game Seth, in 2024.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

In week seven when C.J. stroud was scrambling to the left, got knocked into the Green Bay bench and was surrounded by Green Bay Packers.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And nobody came to his defense.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Zero offensive lineman came to his defense. That we won't. There's a text. There won't be any of that BS that happened with CJ and Green Bay with Rutledge on the field.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no, no say or a

[Sean Pendergast]

few of the other guys.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I think that they've definitely got just. There's more crappy element to these guys and I think that especially on the interior offensive line which has really been the source of so many of the issues the last few years in the run game and in the pass protection. I think that's exactly. If you look at as it stands right now, if it's Wyatt Teller, Keelan Rutledge and Ed Ingram, those guys are a different type of player than a lot of the guys that have been rotating through on that offensive line. They are.

[D' Amico Ryan]

They.

[Seth Payne]

They enjoy the physical aspect of the game. That's what their calling card is. You know Ed Ingram to almost to a fault because I think his. He's really physical in the run game and then sometimes he tries to get too physical and in pass protection he gets overly aggressive. But I'd rather have that problem than a bunch of guys that seem content to let the quarterback get.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Okay. This is an interesting question. What's the over under on 15 yard penalties for Keelum Rutledge this season? I'm going to say a half one. Like I'm going to say yes or no. Does he even get a 15 yard penalty. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

This is all stuff that so far.

[Sean Pendergast]

How often do you see guys get 15 yard penalties just for finishing blocks?

[Seth Payne]

Right, right, right. It's not, it's just plain to the echo the whistle. It's not anything that, not dirty or anything. It's just this stuff that guys are taking issue with in practice if they feel like, all right, a guy's, you know, the biggest thing is as a defensive lineman sometimes, oh, lineman keeps going after the play is over by practice standards and what it feels like, all right, try hard. You're trying to, you're trying to look good for the coaches. All right. Like this is needless and extra and that's valid. That's not just like a veteran, you know, thinking the rookie is going too hard. It's like, listen, dude, you're kind of messing, you're messing with, you're messing with the way I look on this play for no good reason whatsoever. So cut it out. Yep. And I think that's a lot of just generally with rookie offensive lineman especially, that's when guys get agitated.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, so I've got a few stock up, stock downs. Like we're 11 practices in. We're about to see our first preseason game game. Who are some of the guys that have really flashed to a greater degree than we had hoped or we thought they could and who are some guys that we're still kind of waiting on or maybe injuries have been an issue for them that could jeopardize their spot on the roster. I'll start with the good Jaden Higgins has been to say he's been a revelation in this camp is probably overstating a little bit. He was a starter for them last year who had a decent rookie year. But. But the connection that he's had with C.J. stroud throughout pretty much the entirety of training camp, save for a play here and a play there, has been really encouraging to see.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it's. It's everything that you would want in terms of, okay. A quarterback forming a relationship with a receiver. Some of these back shoulder throws especially, I think are the best evidence of that, that Higgins knows how C.J. is going to read this play. And they're on the same. They're seeing it through the same eyes. The expression those guys use.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

And that's way more, way more advanced now than it was last year.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I'm stoked about Jaden Higgins. I would say another one stock up would be. Would be Jadevian Clowney. Jadevion Clowney. Just the Mere fact that he's on the team I don't think was expected. But we, you know, you and I had kind of. We had workshopped a few names at that backup defensive and Clowney being one of them, but he's here now is unto itself a stock up. But then the fact that the first few practices that he's been out there, he's looked like the old Clowney. He's looked like he's got a lot of juice left in the tank.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, well, and that's how he looked last year when he played for the Cowboys. And the. The big question is always going to be. And we talked about this when we looked at the available free agents in the off season. All right, which of these guys is going to be cool with coming up and being a clearly defined backup? Up to Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter. And we just didn't know with Clowney where his headspace was or anything. And Clowney is totally cool. Like no defensive end that steps in here thinks, oh yeah, I'm going to take. I'm coming for Will Anderson's job. So I think from that perspective, it's a really good fit. And Clowney's physicality, especially versus the run is something that those other. Some of those other guys who are out there, like Von Miller, names like that, that they don't offer that same thing, that same dynamic. So he really, he fits the mold of this defense way more than I think people probably would think with their knee jerk reaction to it given all of the baggage that we have from Clowney and his in his rookie contract.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep, yep. No question. As far as other stock up, I think you can look up and down the rookie class and find lots of reasons. I would say the rookie class collectively.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Is this looks like it's. This looks so far. Again, again, it's only 11 practices in. They haven't played a game yet. But I would be more surprised now if we're disappointed in this rookie class after the season is over. Then I would be if we're like, yeah, those guys, boy, they found four or five guys that were real contributors to this.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And I think the. The four biggest names right now would probably be in order. I think. Marlon Klein, Louis Bond, Wade Wood as. No, no, I would say Marlon Klein, Colin Klein and then who's Colin Klein? Colin Klein. Colin, right?

[Sean Pendergast]

Colin, right.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Colin Wright, Louis Bond and then Wade Wood as.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep, yep, those are good. Yeah, those are all. And you know, like the day three guys there too. Louis Bond and Wade Wood as have been Nice. And Keelan Rutledge obviously is a rookie, but he's. We've talked about him individually quite a bit. Yeah, they're all. Colin Wright's a good one too. Man. That, that is an undrafted guy who I think has a really good chance to. On Reddit, true crime doesn't come from journalists.

[Seth Payne]

It comes from the victims, the witnesses, and sometimes the suspects themselves. Every Tuesday on Crimes of Reddit, we read these posts out loud.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm Sabrina Deannaroga. And I'm Alexis Linklater.

[Seth Payne]

One of us brings the story, the other goes in blind, reacting in real time, just like you. New episodes drop every Tuesday.

[Sean Pendergast]

Listen to and follow Crimes of Reddit available now.

[Seth Payne]

Wherever you get your podcasts, we have

[Sean Pendergast]

the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes.

[John Harris]

But we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps.

[Sean Pendergast]

Fees are included.

[John Harris]

So what you see is what you pay. And the gametime 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey there, it's Jill Schlesinger. I'm launching a brand new show. It's called Money Moves. Follow and listen wherever you get your

[Seth Payne]

podcasts

[Sean Pendergast]

make the team as a third or fourth cornerback.

[Seth Payne]

It's funny because the fact that I didn't mention Keelin in there. I did an interview with somebody from Buffalo the other day and I caught myself, I didn't include Keelan in the rookies that I was talking about because I kind of started figuring, yep, he's the starter. And I don't, I don't, I don't put him in that same category, which is a really dumb thing to do before he's even played a preseason game. Yeah, I feel pretty confident that he's going to be the real deal.

[Sean Pendergast]

I would say so.

[Seth Payne]

I think he is like, I do think he's the real deal. I think everything about his conscientiousness, the way he works, his, how he's adapted to playing center without hardly ever having played the position before. And I, I don't doubt that he's going to continue to get better. So I'm really, I'm, I'm feeling very bullish on him.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. As far as stock down goes, or maybe guys who have been a disappointment or guys who maybe are in jeopardy of not making the team, who had a chance to make the team. I would say Brevin Jordan more because of injury, but it's been an ongoing thing with Brevin Jordan. You know, he's had two season ending injuries the last couple of years. He had flashed so nice that first year with C.J. and then Brevin's been around longer than that. Brevin's been here since the David cullen year in 2021. But it looked like especially in the postseason that year, nice connection with C.J. stroud. And then the last two seasons couldn't get out of the starter's gate because he. He got. He got injured and now he's injured again and he's injured. And the problem for Brev and Jordan is he's in the deepest tight end room that they've had.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And probably going back to the Gary Kubiak era when they had Owen Daniels and Joel Dreeson and James Casey, like a really deep room. This is the deepest room they've had since then.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's trying to make the team and he's fifth on the board.

[Seth Payne]

Right, right. And you made the really good point about Marlon Klein kind of providing a lot of what they were hoping to get out of Brevin Jordan, except being a more complete tight end. So Brevin Jordan's a different type of athlete than Marlon Klein, but man, d', Amico, almost every time he talks about Marlon Klein, talks about him being excited about Klein's potential as a receiver and. But he also has so much more potential as a blocker than Brevin Jordan ever will. He's a big dude. I. If you guys haven't been out to the practice yet, I just. He's just. He's bigger than you expect. You know, he's big when you watch him on film and everything. But I think that whether it was d' Amico or Casterio, when talking about Client had said, you know, he's got some room to change his body composition a little bit. That which we've seen out of a lot of second year guys this year that you get a full off season next year of eating and training and everything. That he could end up being a pretty impressive looking dude.

[Sean Pendergast]

The frame is impressive to begin with. He didn't do much in the spring like in OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Klein was nursing an injury, so you didn't see him out there a lot. And I remember being out there for the first practice of actual training camp and you couldn't read the names on the back and I didn't have a roster I hadn't kind of memorized the roster yet, and I remember turning to somebody going, who's 83.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And they're like, oh, that's Marlon Klein. Like that. That's how he pops. Like, look at that guy right there.

[Seth Payne]

You're like, it's an odd number to have for like a rookie undrafted free agent offensive tackle, you would say, you might look at him and they'd be

[Sean Pendergast]

like, well out of numbers.

[Seth Payne]

He's a really skinny offensive tackle, you know. So that's Marlon Klein.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

He probably won't make the team. That's not the physique of. Oh, that's a tight end.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. I would say that, like the, the thing that would be most encouraging to me if I were a Texan fan listening right now that I could say to a Texan fan is watching Marlon Klein. I watch him and I go, okay, I see why they took him where they took him. Well, and He's a classic 59th pick.

[Seth Payne]

I think he's the classic. Just. He's open when he's not open because of his wingspan, that he's just got a huge catch radius. And they've. He's gotten separation, though, too, against this defense.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

And he's going against the ones.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's. He's gone. He's. He's run out there with, with, with those guys. Ed Ingram has been up and down this training.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I think that's kind of in line with just Ed Ingrams play style. And especially going against this defense, I'm going to have a real hard time for the next three weeks because I can feel myself as I'm saying this that I'm not. I'm genuinely not trying to make excuses for the offensive line, but there are some things that they're flat out just not going to do against this defense. When, when you're in practice mode, it's. It's really hard to block the way that they want to block. And on some of the types of plays that they're running when you. When you also can't go to the ground. So I think there's a certain part of Ed Ingram's game that is a super aggressive and physical thing that he can't really do against this defense. There's also parts of this defense. It's just schematically, it makes it really hard to run the outside zone and some of these other things. So the, I think the, the fairest thing to say about the offense right now is that we really haven't seen much Evidence of an improved, like a genuinely improved rushing attack.

[John Harris]

Attack.

[Seth Payne]

If you're looking at the outcomes, I'm looking at the way that they're blocking and guys getting a hat on a hat and that they're just, they're playing with better technique. They're fundamentally more sound. It will be a better rushing attack this year. But I don't. I understand why people are concerned that we're not seeing a lot of reports of 10 yard runs by David Montgomery or 10 yard runs by. By. By Woody Marks.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, right. I mean, there's been a few of those, but like over the course of. Of a dozen practices. But the way I put it to people, Seth, with the running game, is that this year they actually do have a few plays that it looks like good running teams have.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, I think that's kind of playing into what you're saying. Like, it just looks better the way

[Seth Payne]

that the running backs are making their reads and making their cuts and everything they have. This is what I would say. Maybe this is the best way to put it. They have a clear picture in front of them.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

There have been times in training camp the last few years where I'm trying to figure out whether Damian Pierce is doing well or not, but I can't.

[John Harris]

There.

[Seth Payne]

You can't judge him because there's no picture in front of him. Because with Damian, it was always all right, he needs to. He needs to be crisper in making his reads in the backfield. But the picture in front of him was so disheveled and messy that he couldn't. So I don't know if he's capable of it and not doing it because the reads or just. Or if he's just incapable of it. This year it hasn't been like that. And yeah, a lot of the runs are getting snuffed out, but it just flat out looks better looking from the end zone. Copy the other part of it with the offensive line right now too. And this is where I'm trying to think. I'm trying to look at the process more so than the results. And it. I can't tell you, Sean, how, How dirty I feel and that I'm going to make excuses for the offensive line. As a former defensive lineman, it's that there are a lot of sacks that happen in practice that, yeah, guy got beat. Okay, get it. But in the, in the fog of war of like an actual football game, there's a lot more mayhem and it's just not always so simple and easy as the one like winning your One on one battles as a defensive lineman versus the offensive lineman. The whole process and the whole operation is just night and day better than it was last year. And we'll see. And unfortunately we have to wait most likely to really see that, number one, that first team offense out there. But I feel better about it right now.

[Sean Pendergast]

Unless you're. Unless you're at the joint practice, you know, with the Raiders next week.

[Seth Payne]

Well. And even. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's.

[Sean Pendergast]

That, that, that's. That's might be the only competitive situation we see them in.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So Jawar Jordan, I've got him in the stock down and it is because he's banged up again right now.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Cause I would have put him in stock up.

[Sean Pendergast]

You would have. He's looked better than you thought.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, no, no, I think he's. I think he's your third running back if he was healthy.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this, this is where I've got a bit of an issue with that. And this is no disrespect to Jaw Jordan. And he's got 43 carries in his career. Yeah, I felt this way about this running back room from the beginning of the off season. I've been waiting for them to bring in another body in this running back room because if something happens to David Montgomery, you've got the exact same room you had last year and that was not good enough.

[Seth Payne]

Well, and the hard thing with George Jordan being your third running back as opposed to maybe an accessory running back, is that, yeah, if, if David Montgomery goes down, you've got two underside running backs and one of them is drastically undersized in Jawar Jordan. That's where I think Noah Whittington. I've liked what I've seen out of Noah Whittington and he's a guy that's played a ton of football that might be further ahead of the curve than your average rookie and might end up in. He's a stockier build. He might end up being the guy they're more comfortable with if he shows out in some of these.

[Sean Pendergast]

To that point. He's getting an opportunity now because Gerard Jordan's not out there, you know, and so that hurts his chances of making the team. To, you know, to your point, at the outset of training camp, it looked like it was a lock. You know, it was Montgomery, it was Woody Marks, it was George Jordan. Those were the guys that d' Amico Ryan's would mention unprompted. I guess maybe I'm. I'm kind of picking on Gerard Jordan as an individual for something that I think is deficient collectively with that room, it's just not. It's. To me, it's not a deep enough room.

[Seth Payne]

And to be clear, no, Whittington is not a big back or anything. It's just George Jordan small. Yeah. Whittington. 5, 8, 2, 10. I think.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a bowling ball.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I had Joa Jordan in there as well. The other stock down punters, Jack Stonehouse, cut. Although I guess Kai Kroger had a pretty good day yesterday. From everything that I was reading from people who were at the practice yesterday.

[Seth Payne]

That's exactly what I want to feel about. That's what I want to have in my punter situation, is that people register surprised when he has a good practice.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah. So stock down.

[Seth Payne]

All you got to do is that more and more and more stock up

[Sean Pendergast]

as a holder, apparently.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I. Dude, I mean, d' Amico flat out the other day when asked about Kyle Kroger, he did the classic head coach speak. He's our punter now. Yeah, he said now. Anytime a head coach says now, that's. You're not the punter.

[John Harris]

You are. You are.

[Seth Payne]

You are on constant. You're in constant tryout mode with every single other punter in the league and every guy that gets cut or might be available for trade in the next few weeks.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Do you have any others you'd add here to the stock down or. I mean, it's been a good camp. I. There's not a lot of. I don't come away from these practices, I would say pissed off about a lot of stuff.

[Seth Payne]

I would say Jake Andrews, I think.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Jake Andrews went from fighting for a starting center spot to maybe fighting to be on the team.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, he's one. I could see them waving and then bringing back on the practice squad. Yeah. But you're right, I think is in the fact that he's a one position guy. It seems like. Yeah, that hurts him versus Evan Brown or Jared Patterson. They just restructured Jared Patterson's contract.

[Seth Payne]

I think he could play guard. I don't know. I just don't. I think that they've, you know, had that need at center, but. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. So that's a good one. Jake Andrews. Okay, shifting gears here. Odds on the first head coach to be fired are out. So we gotta prep. Cause you and I do the head coach death pool every year.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, that's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Where we each pick four.

[Seth Payne]

If I won it a few years ago, you've Won.

[Sean Pendergast]

I won it last year. But you had won it the previous few years.

[Seth Payne]

I won with Salah and I felt awful about that.

[Sean Pendergast]

So.

[Seth Payne]

I really like Salah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But now I feel worse about it because I think the Titans are going to be a better football team with Salah as their head coach.

[Sean Pendergast]

I do too. I would. I would not pick Salah. I would not pick solid this time around.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Here were the picks you and I had last year. We were pretty dialed in. I ended up winning because I had Brian Callahan of the Tennessee Titans. He got fired six weeks into the season. But you and I each pick four guys and the winner is the one who picks the head coach who gets fired first. Now, there have been some seasons where neither of us have won. I don't think either of us picked Urban Meyer the year that he got fired during the season.

[Seth Payne]

No. No.

[John Harris]

Because of. No.

[Sean Pendergast]

He was like 50 to 1.

[Seth Payne]

You hardly ever pick a first year coach. It's so rare to. So not only do you get fired in the middle of his first year, but it was ridiculously early in his season.

[Sean Pendergast]

Again, it's not betting that they'll be fired. It's betting they'll be the first one to be fired. So schedules play into it and things like that. But here are the guys that you and I picked last year. My four picks. Mike McDaniel ended up getting fired. Brian Callahan won the pool for me. Jonathan Gannon ended up getting fired. Shane Steichen who is on the. Let's see the. Shane Steichen didn't get fired, but he's on the fourth hottest seat this year according to these odds. Your four picks last year were. Stefanski fired. Canales actually made the playoffs. No day ball, fired.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Raheem Morris, fired.

[Seth Payne]

Okay. So I was doing all right.

[D' Amico Ryan]

You're doing good.

[Seth Payne]

That's weird that I picked Canales. I was surprised. Yeah.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But it was. David Tepper is the owner.

[Seth Payne]

That's right. That's right. That's right. It was a. That was a vote for Tepper

[D' Amico Ryan]

and

[Seth Payne]

Bryce Young was just wherever he was. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I thought it was a good pick when you made it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Now the favorite. I know you don't like this because he's a former teammate of yours and I know a lot of people in town don't like this because he's a. He's. He's literally a Texans legend.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's not the ones I sarcastically say Texans legend about. Aaron Glenn is the favorite right now and he checks a lot of boxes to be the first head coach fired.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I think that the bad quarterback

[Sean Pendergast]

situation, bad owner, bad team, but yeah, bad everything.

[Seth Payne]

It's just a bad situation all around. It's. Why just it's, you know, taking two to one. Taking that job is a dicey proposition. I just wonder if they. If they're also in a season where it would have to be because the culture had gotten so bad that it was untenable or something. But I wouldn't. I don't think that.

[John Harris]

I don't.

[Seth Payne]

I don't think it's going to be him.

[Sean Pendergast]

You don't think it'll be Aaron Glenn? We'll do our drive. We won't. We won't make our picks today.

[Seth Payne]

I think Aaron Glenn is most likely to be in a situation where the. His defense comes around because when he was in Detroit it took a couple years for him to turn that defense around, but he did. And then last year they had that ridiculous situation with the number of interceptions that they had fewest interceptions in NFL.

[Sean Pendergast]

They had zero for the whole season. Did they not end with anything?

[Seth Payne]

They might have ended up with zero interceptions.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, they had zero. They had zero far enough interception the season where it was a story that they had zero.

[Seth Payne]

I think Aaron Glenn is actually most likely to be the coach whose fan base is angry at him because he. They're not tanking hard enough because they're actually like they're winning games but not enough to make the playoffs. But not enough to. But. But enough to drive them down out of this quarterback.

[Sean Pendergast]

Gino Smith, your quarterback is. It worked for the Raiders last year. They got the number one overall pick. So Aaron Glenn is the favorite dico. In case D' Amico is like. Like halfway down the list at 50 to 1. I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

That's way too high on the list.

[Sean Pendergast]

I agree with you. I think d' Ameco is like one of the three or four safest head coaches from getting fired first. Yeah, for like I would. I will do the show. I will do Payne and Pendergast on 957 the Fans. Starting tomorrow at 8am I will do a show sitting on the median on the highway on I10. If D' Amico Ryans is the first head coach.

[Seth Payne]

That is just a vestigial perception that the Texans fire coach coaches quickly because somehow I can't believe they fired David Colley. Yeah, poor David Colley. That just. What are the poor man.

[Sean Pendergast]

Who are you talking like right now?

[Seth Payne]

Every single person that wanted to stand up for David Cauley but then never recommended him for another job. How could you fire this, this man who nobody had ever talked about being, you know, who you are before?

[Sean Pendergast]

That's Rich Eisen. Is that, oh, is that, that's your Rich Eisen voice.

[Seth Payne]

What are they doing? David Collie.

[Sean Pendergast]

So D' Amico is 50 to 1 and there's like 15 other names after him. I'm not, I'm not seeing that. Okay, fun fact. Three of the Texans first four opponents, Seth of this season, Cincinnati. Zach Taylor, Shane Steichen, Colts. Brian Schottenheimer, who the media likes to call shoddy.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dallas are in the top five on this list thing.

[Seth Payne]

Hmm.

[Sean Pendergast]

So the Texans in their first four games play by this odds board. Play three of the five hottest seats for head coaches in the NFL.

[Seth Payne]

This is an interesting one.

[Sean Pendergast]

Get somebody fired.

[Seth Payne]

It's harder than it used to be because the, the league has decided like, hey, we need to stop firing coaches so quickly and so liberally. Can you guys at least wait a little while? Wait till the end of the season. And it just, it's so, so it's. You got to really, really hate your guy to, to go against the grain

[Sean Pendergast]

and like Callahan getting fired five games into last year.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, that's like that. Well, you know, you got to have severe culture issues. That's where I would be really surprised. Okay. Vrabel is the interest in one because as Mike Tomlin said this weekend, if the Patriots are winning games early in the season, that whole Rossini stuff is going to be a non story. If they go out and lose a bunch of games, it is going to be all kinds of speculation about the, the everything going on. And sometimes that can, that can be, that can be a self fulfilling prophecy. You start speculating about the, the, the culture and then it does some damage to the culture.

[Sean Pendergast]

Vrabel is 16 to 1 on this odds board. He is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. He's eighth on the list. This has to be the highest on the board that a coach that went to the super bowl the year before is on for a first head coach to be.

[Seth Payne]

We call it the John Fox dynamic.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

John Fox as far as we know, was loyal to his wife.

[Sean Pendergast]

So we don't wasn't stupping a reporter.

[Seth Payne]

John Fox didn't have that same look in his eyes that Vrabel does. No, Bravel, there's some NFL coaches that if you found out they were involved in this stuff with Rossini, you'd be like, yeah, makes sense. And Brable's list is one of them.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You're like, yeah, I can see. I see it in his eyes. Yep. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

If you're looking for. If you choose to wager unemployment and you're looking for a nice little kind of long shot here, like something 100 to 1 or more. And I know you said that first year coaches don't often get fired in season.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Cleveland's just a dumpster fire. The Browns.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

I get entitled Todd Monken doesn't feel like the permanent solution.

[Seth Payne]

Monkins already I can see where both

[Sean Pendergast]

quarterbacks, if they've like if Shador and desean and Dylan Gabriel all look terrible and they're just angling to get the first overall pick. I could see them just punting on their head coach.

[Seth Payne]

I feel like with Monken, I think that they, they hired him. I think genuinely feeling like, okay, you can probably get the best. We can see Egan develop Shador. We'll see if there's any hope for DeSean Watson. Monkin is a good guy. To think that he could get that he could get it out of him.

[Sean Pendergast]

On the Powers that Be podcast, we examine the players and currents behind today's most consequential decision. Join us.

[Seth Payne]

Listen to the Powers that Be wherever you get your podcasts. But if it doesn't work out, maybe he is also a good head coach and we'll stick it through with him. It's just that man, I to. To try to. To be the guy that somehow turns around all of those cultural things and everything in Cleveland while also dealing with extreme quarterback controversy. A highly, a highly divided fan base when it comes to Shador Sanders.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know if Monkin or anybody else else can navigate that whole situation while also losing a bunch of football games and keep their head at the end of the year.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was thinking on the way in today, I think with Kyler Murray getting named the starter in Minnesota, I think that's. I think Cleveland and Atlanta are the only two. Have they named his Stefanski named a starter in Atlanta between 2 and Penix yet? I don't think he has to my knowledge. I don't think he has. I think those are the only two quarterback competitions still left. Most teams have their QB kind of nailed down. So for better or worse, I mean like for example, like you know, the Dolphins have Malik Willis. I don't know that he's good. You know the jets have Geno Smith. He's definitely going to be their starter.

[Seth Payne]

I saw a highlight on X, Malik Willis making a really nice throw. So There you go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

I didn't know Malik Willis is the one. Malik Willis, in the way he played last year, was nothing like I would have expected he could after we saw him in his rookie season where they didn't allow him to throw the football for an entire half a football against the Texans. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, God.

[Seth Payne]

So, yeah, I think, well, Malik Will Willis is kind of the Todd Monkin of quarterbacks right now. I think the Dolphins thought, you know what? There's something in there potentially. We'll find out. If it's not, then so what we gotta.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's only 20 million. Yeah, 50 million. Okay. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But then they. What's his name? The coach there came out yesterday and said that a Chan's gonna get just a. They're gonna work the hell out.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

40 touches in some games.

[Seth Payne]

He said, yeah, Fantasy owners rejoice when they get any kind of clarity from a coach like that on a running back. Just give me some clarity or the

[Sean Pendergast]

clarity that Mike McDaniel gave, which is, you're not going to get any clarity from me.

[Seth Payne]

He said, yeah. I watched his press conference from a couple days ago, and he was asked a question about running back usage. And McDaniel's like, this feels like a fantasy question. He's like, sorry, guys, it's going to depend on the game and it's going to depend on the situation.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, but that's good to know. I just won't take anybody on the Chargers. You know, I like that he like, all I want is clarity. I don't need him. Him. I don't need him to feed Omari and hampton the ball 50 times, because then I just want, you know, he's not on my team.

[Seth Payne]

If you guys are wondering about, hey, boy, don't the Chargers have the worst offensive line in football? This should be fun on Thursday night. They. They did a lot to it. Well, for one, they got guys back healthy.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But they also just stocked up on offensive linemen, and they. It looks to be a. A much improved offensive line.

[Sean Pendergast]

Maybe Justin Herbert will win a playoff game. You never know.

[Seth Payne]

Maybe you won't throw four interceptions in a playoff game. Maybe, you know, I mean, yes, CJ has thrown four interceptions in a playoff game, but he's also had a bunch of playoff victories.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's got three of them.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Justin Herbert is just sucked in the playoffs every single attempt.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. So Johnny Manziel was on a. You sent this to me yesterday, was on a podcast and told the story of him finding out that he was cut from the Cleveland Browns.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

This was. Who knew that these two were such fast friends. The guy, he's about to talk about who he was at. He was at a former Houston Rockets apartment, hanging out in Dallas, going out doing those Chach things that they do. And this is Johnny Manziel learning and who he learned it with the day the Browns cut him.

[Seth Payne]

I remember waking up on super bowl weekend, and I was staying with Chandler

[John Harris]

Parsons in Dallas, and he came busting

[Seth Payne]

in my room, and he goes, turn TV on. I'm like, what? It turns the TV on, it's all over.

[John Harris]

Browns cut me this and that. And I remember not feeling an ounce of being upset.

[Seth Payne]

I'm like, let's go across the street

[Sean Pendergast]

to the bar and celebrate.

[Seth Payne]

Like, that's what it was like. So I look back at it now, like, damn, you're supposed to handle that stuff, and you're supposed to handle it better. But I wasn't equipped to do it, and I was in a situation that I hated, that I didn't really give much of a choice to.

[John Harris]

So, you know, I made that decision

[Seth Payne]

to be happy walking away from it. A decision that would later in life,

[John Harris]

you know, come back to haunt me

[Seth Payne]

and bite me a little bit.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

A little bit.

[Sean Pendergast]

Never played football again.

[Seth Payne]

The other thing, the funny thing about him being so angry with the Browns, while also, it's weird, he has this ability to be angry at the Browns and Brian Hoyer and everything else while simultaneously admitting that he did absolutely nothing to improve the Browns or himself while he was there. It's. He's got a remarkable ability to hold the divergent, like, contrary opinions at the same time.

[Sean Pendergast]

I like. Of all the cuts that we've seen from Johnny Manziel over the last year or so, that one is actually one that. That I find to be an easier one to listen to than a lot of them. A lot of Johnny Manziel's podcast appearances, it feels. He feels like a frat boy who's bragging about all his exploits back in the day.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

About how hard he partied and things like that. How much he hates the Browns. I mean, obviously this one, he alludes to the fact that he hated the Browns, but he at least sounds somewhat reflective in that one, that maybe he did some things wrong and he's to blame for some of these things.

[Seth Payne]

Right, right, right. Yeah.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

That specific clip, he doesn't show the hypocrisy necessarily as much. Right. It's funny, though, too. It was ironic. Maybe that's why. You know what? Maybe that clip was out before I realized it, but I just. I was looking for Texans news to see if I had missed anything. So I searched Houston Texans on X And the number two result that popped up was this tweet from May 8, 2014 from Skip Bayless.

[Sean Pendergast]

What did you search for?

[John Harris]

Have you ever heard of this?

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm familiar with this work on X. Okay. What was the search?

[Seth Payne]

Houston Texans.

[Sean Pendergast]

Houston Texans. Okay.

[Seth Payne]

In the number two result is a tweet from 12 years ago. Skip Bayless saying the Houston Texans will forever regret it if they do not take Johnny Manziel with a number one overall pick. He will haunt them.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That didn't turn out to be true.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That is a freezing cold take. That's what got curated to you?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. That was the number two result. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's weird.

[Seth Payne]

X used to be. That's the one thing. I think X has done some good things. I know that, like, they've done some good things, they've done some bad things since Musk took over. But the worst is that they used to be a really good search engine for what's going on right now.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

It's gotten atrocious like this. Like, I want something that's current.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And I'm getting a tweet from 2014.

[Sean Pendergast]

But you know what it is good for in searching? See, I disagree a little bit with you.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, you're wrong.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no. But if there's a clip out there that, that people are talking about, if you, if you put the right name in the search.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And it's a video that's kind of gone viral a little bit.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That. Then for purposes of this show, a lot of times it involves audio that we end up using on the show. It does do a pretty good job of taking the relevant video clips that are out there.

[Seth Payne]

It's trending or something.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So I, I. Texans weren't trending right that moment. So it's a good search engine when you have one out of millions of things that you want to search. Yeah, yeah.

[John Harris]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

Very, very specific.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm just telling you what I use.

[Seth Payne]

Sounds like Christian Javier to me.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm just telling you what I use it for. I don't find it to be terrible. Like, just for that specific thing, like finding the videos. Yeah. Like you getting a tweet. The number two thing you can send is a Skip Bayless tweet popping with

[Seth Payne]

the Texans right now. Skip Bayless in 2014.

[Sean Pendergast]

There's no defending that.

[Seth Payne]

You honestly, too, because. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Because Bayless, what was Number one, Bayless

[Seth Payne]

is not nearly as relevant as he used to be.

[D' Amico Ryan]

No, that's true.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's true. I can't remember what number. Number one was. Like a something. Something relevant. Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's hilarious.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, in about 23 minutes we will be announcing our guest list for tomorrow's big launch of 95.7the fan. We couldn't be more. Everybody around here is so excited about this. We're having a big party up here tomorrow. It's going to be a good time and you will feel that through the radio tomorrow at 8am the joy in all of our voices that we will actually be able to hear our station when we're in a parking garage. That is a big joy for me because I have a parking garage at home and I have a parking garage at work and I like that I'm going to be able to still hear the station. No static, no dropouts, no nothing. It's going to be great. And we do that at 8am tomorrow.

[Seth Payne]

Sports Radio 610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios.

[Sean Pendergast]

Here's Payne and Pender. Okay, a couple things here, a couple administrative things. We will be giving away those tickets that we've been talking about for Texans Chargers at the end of this segment. So be listening at the end of this segment and you get a chance to sit in the front row in the bullpen on Thursday. Tomorrow night Texans Chargers preseason game. Should be a whole lot of fun. Good to have football back. Top of the hour. We're going to be announcing our guest list for Tomorrow's launch of 95. 7 the Fan. Seth and I have a few guests lined up starting in the 8 o' clock hour. So you want to be listening for that.

[Seth Payne]

You did a good job of getting some people to kind of COVID the breadth of the entire Time Sports Radio 610 has been on the air with some and all three teams. Yes, there's some very important Houston sports figures.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, people will. I promise you you will not be disappointed with the guest list. I promise that. So we'll do that at the top of the hour. We haven't done a pedicast in a while. I want to do one at 9:00 today. Oh, good. If that's okay with you.

[Seth Payne]

I've been wondering what was missing in my life.

[Sean Pendergast]

Petty cast.

[Seth Payne]

Sometimes there's a void.

[Sean Pendergast]

Take a mania.

[Seth Payne]

That's what they'll always tell you. If you want to feel better, be super negative about just really snarky about other people.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's got me this far.

[Seth Payne]

So Recipe for happiness.

[Sean Pendergast]

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So I think we've got. I think checked all the administrative boxes. Astros lose last night four to one of the Giants. Good news, the Rangers, they stunk last night also. They lost to the Angels. The Astros maintain their half game lead. They maintain their half game lead in the division. I took a look at the wild card standings. You know, I dumpster dove a little bit last night.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And typically we're above six things.

[Sean Pendergast]

Check them out. Wild cards want to see how the poors were living. Yeah. If the Astros do fall out of the division, if they fall behind, the Rangers, they're in decent shape with the wild card right now. The. The Astros would be. So they're. They're still. Even if they, they fall out of first place today in the division, when we awake tomorrow, they'll still be very much in the thick of the postseason hunt.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

But I think we want them to win the division. So we get a couple home games. The wild card.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't want to get on the road.

[Seth Payne]

And also just because it would be evidence that they're actually a genuinely good baseball team. That part of it, too.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Winning games. Yeah. These are the. These are the things I'm rooting for for the rest of the season, independent of the standings. And the top two I mentioned the other day, but I'll mention them again. I'm rooting for Jordan Alvarez to win the Triple Crown, which as of like a week ago, he was favored to do. It was like, yes was like minus 150, and no was plus 120, which when it's minus. For those who aren't fluent in the. The art of gambling, that that's the favor. You'd have to risk 150 just to win 100 bucks on Jordan. Now, he hasn't hit a home run in a long time. It feels like he's been stuck on 35 home runs for like over a week now. And I. Maybe it's just coincidence. You know this. We know with Jordan, when he goes through a stretch like this on the horizon, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel is usually like three games where he hits four home runs or a week where he hits six home runs and wins player of the week. But he still is leading for the Triple Crown in the American League right now.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's not leading for the Triple Crown of overall baseball, but they recognize it just for winning it in your league. Because if he wins that, he's going to win the mvp. They'll be hand in hand.

[Seth Payne]

Right, Right. Yeah. That's the MVP odds. Still pretty.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's still way out.

[Seth Payne]

Way out in front.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm rooting for that, as you know.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I just want to look at the home runs right now for. And I lost it, so. No. Oh, okay. Yeah. Like everybody. Oh, wow. Hunter Goodman's got 34.

[John Harris]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

So he's right behind him.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, and Junior Camin Arrows got 35. Also, there's four guys in the league that are at 35 right now. Okay, so he's tied Matt Olson, Kyle Schwaber, Yordon Alvarez and Junior Camino.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, there you go. And Camin Arrows in the American League on Tampa. So. All right, so Yordon Triple Crown. That's number one. Number two, I want Cam Smith to not just win, but blow away Kyle Tucker in Wins Above Replacement, which he's doing right now.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Neither of them are great, but last I checked. And Cam Smith's is probably. Life can feel overwhelming, but on my podcast, from the Heart with Rachel Brad, then we're in it together.

[Seth Payne]

Every Friday, a new episode brings you

[Sean Pendergast]

a new story with topics on motherhood,

[John Harris]

wellness, self love, and more.

[Sean Pendergast]

Listen to from the Heart with Rachel Braan wherever you get your podcasts gone up. Cause last I checked was before he. He had another big game two nights ago where he had three hits and a home run, but he was at 1.2 and Kyle Tucker was at 0.7. I need the right fielder. They got in the trade for Kyle Tucker.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

To have a better season than Kyle Tucker at 1/60 of the price.

[Seth Payne]

Just at the very least, least just say, yeah. Look, all right, whatever you thought, and I mean, that's all dead and gone and with the Cubs, because the Cubs got nothing out of them. None of the success they hoped for. They didn't keep them anyway. But now at least they're probably saying, like, well, good riddance. But, yeah, you just. It's. That still has been a very, very good trade if you. If you factor in Kyle Tucker and what he's been since.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's Dana Brown's best move by far.

[Seth Payne]

I mean, now Cam Smith's WAR is better than his, mostly just because Cam Smith is so good defensively and Kyle Tucker stopped caring about defense a long time.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Stop caring out. Check off that box.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. Yep.

[Seth Payne]

He's like a guy who's been married for 10 years that just stopped trying to even act like he's going to do anything nice for his wife.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's exactly right. Number three, I want Josh Hater to go perfect in save opportunities this year. I like Josh Hater. I like the way he's come back from this injury. That's another signing that came on Dana Brown's watch, but feels more like a Jim Crane signing. Yeah, five years, 95 million. But he's 16 for 16 and save opportunities this year.

[Seth Payne]

And I guess I would lump in with that, that Brian Abreu continue to look the way he has since he figured things out. You know, that's. I mean, that was the big depending on what the Astros do in the division and in the wild guard and everything like the bullpen and the ability of, you know, Josh Hader coming back was a huge shot in the arm for the team. But Brian Abreu playing the. We has as of late is also a huge shot in the arm if you want to be an actual baseball team.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Yes. I'm going to skip this. The next one just to go to the last one, because I think the. The one I'm skipping is. It will lead to good discussion. Number four. Any sign of life from Bryce Matthews? I know he's injured right now.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I forgot he existed.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's kind of an important piece, though. I mean, he was Dana Brown's first ever draft pick right from here. That's the frustration, really rooting for Bryce Matthews because of the story.

[Seth Payne]

That's the, you know, Dana Brown's insistence on just elevating guys so quickly. And part of it is his philosophy, but then also it's just been by. By the actual need, the pressing need to do so.

[John Harris]

That's the thing.

[Seth Payne]

That's. That's the thing that feels so starkly different from the golden era was we were so spoiled for so long with like all these guys who were in the minors that you knew looked like they were going to be awesome, but there just wasn't room for them necessarily right now that they were being artificially held down in the minors. And it's the exact opposite now.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Like, hey, no, actually, look, we know he doesn't know what the hell he's doing out there in center field, and we're just going to throw him out there.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's our guy.

[Seth Payne]

Well, does he make up for it on the plate? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not one bit. What are the redeeming qualities?

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a first round pick and he's from a task.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. All right, Last one. Five things I'm looking for The Astros. Okay. This one is a little more nuanced. It's not statistical in nature. It may involve, I don't know, a bit of bullying perhaps. I don't know. But they need to make Tatsui Imai so disenchanted with the United States of America and being a Houston Astro that he opts out of his deal after the year and goes back to Japan.

[Seth Payne]

So, just to lay out somewhere else, to lay it out, just how difficult to challenge that would be with Sean Walton wants. He will at the end of this season. He'll just have to stick around for 24 more months at the end of the season to make $36 million.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's right.

[Seth Payne]

No matter how bad he is at this point.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

His last year in the NPL in Japan.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, is that the league he played in before?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

The. That's what they all play in Japan. The 1.2 million. So is, if I were to do

[Sean Pendergast]

the math, is 1.2 less than 36.

[Seth Payne]

So is he willing to give up a net 34.8. Oh, well. Plus the. The next year, too. So $33.6 million. Yeah. Is he willing to give up $33.6 million just to be more comfortable?

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm not saying they'd have to make it really, really miserable. You know, they would have to make it really miserable for him to opt out.

[Seth Payne]

You have to tell him whatever it takes. Circulating false reports that MLB is going to make the ball even more slippery next year. The mountains are that much steeper and harder.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And listen, when are you going to eat? We don't know. No new mandate. You have to eat dinner sometimes at the hotel, sometimes at the clubhouse.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

But we're not going to let you know. We're not going to let you get your bearings.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep, yep, yep. That's a start. That's a good start.

[Seth Payne]

And you must throw a change up at least 10 pitches a game. He'll hate that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, he will.

[John Harris]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, you're. You're putting a pretty good list together. You're trying to get him. Get him up and out of here.

[Seth Payne]

There's not a lot of things that I wouldn't do for $35 million.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, I would.

[Seth Payne]

In 24 months, I would show up.

[Sean Pendergast]

I would suck. Yeah. A lot of money, man.

[Seth Payne]

I would. I would submerge myself in pig manure. Like having to hold my breath one minute at a time. And every time I stepped up, a large man could slap me in the face. How many times only for four hours a day for 24 months.

[Sean Pendergast]

Four hours a day, every day for 24 months. You would submerge yourself in pigment.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Realistically, I don't think I would do that. That you have a picture of it. Yeah. No, I don't think I would do that.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, that's.

[Seth Payne]

My price tag's a little higher.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I was gonna say. I was gonna say. Now, the slapping part. Would you let someone slap you in the face once a day, every day for $34 million over the next two years?

[Seth Payne]

I honestly wouldn't let. I wouldn't let a large man give, like, really throw his hips into a slap on me once for $34 million.

[Sean Pendergast]

Really?

[Seth Payne]

Now that I think about it, yeah. Concussion. There's too much of a chance. I got how many years?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. See, I haven't had that many of them.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, if you've never had a concussion, I still advise that you don't get one.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, I had one when I was a kid.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But I'm saying, if you have never had one, I still wouldn't advise, like, oh, I got.

[Sean Pendergast]

I got plenty in the bank. Really?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

34 million bucks.

[Seth Payne]

Nope, wouldn't do it. Oh, yeah, great. Like, I can. I can get the. I could get early onset dementia. At our age, a concussion, you don't recover from it nearly as well as when you're younger.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's all right. I'll be really rich. For a period of time.

[Seth Payne]

You might not know who you are.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'll take my chances.

[Seth Payne]

No, you would know who you are. I'm not trying to be overly drastic about, like, be real. Crap can happen when you get a concussion.

[Sean Pendergast]

Whoever I think I am might be a better person than I am right now. You never know. All right, let's give away those tickets to the Texans in the. And the chargers, call number 10. Gonna win a pair of front row tickets to Texans Chargers on Thursday night in the bullpen. Call number 10. 7135-7246-1071-3572, 4, 6, 10. All right, up next, we are switching over about 24 hours from now, 8:00am on the nose. Tomorrow, we are switching over From Sports Radio 610 to 95. 7 the Fan. We've got a great guest list lined up here on Pain and Pendergast. We will unveil. All right, welcome back, Payne and Pendergast with you here on Sports Radio 610 for 24 more hours.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

24 hours from now, six. We make the big switch. 23 hours and 57 minutes to be exact. And so it's, it's really cool. I, I love that it's happening during our show here late in the. In the. In the morning. Right. The heart of drive time. It's going to be a big moment for the station tomorrow. We're going to figuratively count it down and then figuratively pull the switch.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, there's a big old switch.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Like in the movies, be a big party up. They never show the whole body of the person pulling the switch. Switch is just a hand on a big switch. Like it's a nuclear reactor. Clunk, clunk. Like you're bringing Frankenstein's monster to life.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And also kind of paid homage to the last 30 years of sports radio in this town.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 won a couple championships in more recent years.

[Seth Payne]

I remember those. Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. 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. Dalton gets the snap, throws it.

[Seth Payne]

It's intercepted. Watt takes it across the 15. 10, five. Rock and roll.

[Sean Pendergast]

Touchdown, Texans. Pick six.

[Seth Payne]

Just like that, the Texans take the

[Sean Pendergast]

lead and Reliance Stadium has erupted.

[Seth Payne]

I'm incredibly honored and thankful to be a part of your family forever.

[Sean Pendergast]

And all I want to say is

[John Harris]

H Town, I love you. Thank you.

[Sean Pendergast]

J.J. watt will be the first guest in the history of 957.

[Seth Payne]

The fan, 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it's gonna be a big new one.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. No, we're excited about this.

[D' Amico Ryan]

JJ.

[Seth Payne]

JJ is excited about us going on FM2.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[D' Amico Ryan]

No, no.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's like, I better come on with you guys now before they find a different show in the mornings.

[D' Amico Ryan]

So.

[Seth Payne]

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 say. Some would say, no, I'm excited. I'm excited that he's excited.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

That was really. I was, I was very flattered that he. That he's coming out.

[Sean Pendergast]

He said he would be honored.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

To do it. And so. So I confirmed with him yesterday and he's good to go. So, JJ, 8:20.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

8:20am So 8:00am we're switching over and we're gonna big celebration in here. And then at 8:20 promptly.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, JJ was well and true to his word in that hall of Fame speech. You know, he. He came back and he's living here now.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

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 gonna be in Houston.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's great. Yeah, it's great. So J.J. watt, 8:20am but we're not done done.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

9am 9am Tomorrow be here because

[Seth Payne]

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 a pitch in the big leagues. And Roger pull clemens only the 21st to pick up 300 wins.

[Sean Pendergast]

Congratulations to the Rocket. Roger Clemens, former Astro legis Cy Young, winner at 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 9:00am We've got.

[Seth Payne]

You know what? Not only. Okay, we've got a couple of heavy hitters already, but also just physically large human beings. Kings. I can see the theme you're going with here.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Protection as much. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

We gotta get big names who are also gigantic individuals.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

And at. At 8:00am Central tomorrow. Well, that's when we make the switch.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, make the switch.

[Seth Payne]

8am is 95.7 on Central Time. Is that the yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's gonna be.

[Seth Payne]

Not quite sure how the time zones work.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. So 8:20. J.J. watt. 9:00am 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. That slides in perfect because Seth and I are on the air at 9:00am

[Seth Payne]

yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know we can fit you in.

[Seth Payne]

Right?

[Sean Pendergast]

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. All right, 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.

[Seth Payne]

No one has ever done what this team's done, come from the sixth seed down in Series.

[D' Amico Ryan]

One.

[Sean Pendergast]

We won nine road games and we had non believers, believers all along the way. I have one thing to say, those

[Seth Payne]

non believers, don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's true.

[Seth Payne]

That's. That's how iconic a quote it is.

[Sean Pendergast]

Rudy Tomjanovich, hall of Famer, is going to 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 gotta 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, Rogers, 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

About burner accounts.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, you know what? That's actually okay. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, I'd like. I'd like his perspective on on the whole social media dynamic and everything.

[Sean Pendergast]

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, 9:00 clock, Roger Clemens, 9:40.

[John Harris]

Rudy.

[Seth Payne]

Tom, you know what I actually do want to ask with JJ in terms of current state 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, think about the demands on the turf when you've got two 320 pound guys trying to combo block another 320 pound guy. Yeah, 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 like, I'll tell you, look, d' Ameco 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 pallet system. Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 science has improved that much more in pallet systems in the last 20 years. Years. I got no, I want no part of it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Arizona, they have grass that they bring in. It's one big pal that they grow

[Seth Payne]

and then like, yeah, they wield in. That's a whole different deal.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah. Here it would have to be the puzzle pieces like they had before.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was not good.

[Seth Payne]

No, it wasn't good.

[Sean Pendergast]

It didn't look good either.

[Seth Payne]

Well, you could see the scenes if it got bad.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 so I could be in a position of strength instead of slipping.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And vice versa. Yeah. They're on turf. My foot got stuck where I don't think on grass it would have, and I got injured.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But I think overall, though, like, I stand on that turf in the bubble. Those practices, I don't know if you ever noticed, I'm stretching the whole time. I'm in there for like 10 minutes and my back starts. Starts tightening up and.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, really?

[Seth Payne]

There is just something about. Even though the. Even though it's nice and soft and

[Sean Pendergast]

it's field serving, it's all.

[Seth Payne]

It's on a concrete platform and it just doesn't. It's just. It feels tougher on your joints.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, man, I feel bad for you.

[Seth Payne]

Ever. I just kind of tighten up, that's all. It might be psychosomatic. It might just be, you know, like immediately. Here we go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep. People weighing in on the announcement or the. The changeover tomorrow. People still have questions. Guys, I have to stream you off 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

You're still there.

[Sean Pendergast]

Still there.

[Seth Payne]

And. But you just. And if you be a new logo on. If you prefer listening on 610, it's. You can. It's a.95. 7 is just a better quality.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's right.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. Yep. 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 for our. For our loyal AM listeners.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. And I'll treat you to more drinks if I see you out and about. If I can afford the drinks, then 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 a mere $36 million. He was gonna do it for two years straight.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was you.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I did, but then you said you would too, right?

[John Harris]

No, no, no.

[Sean Pendergast]

I said I'd take a slap across the face.

[Seth Payne]

Just one slap.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, I would not do the p. I would 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

But you said.

[Seth Payne]

Burly man.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. Yeah, don't freak out, kids. It used to be pretty normal back. It used to be I'm like, yeah, I've had my mouth washed out with soap by my grandma. That happened. That's not just an expression. Yeah, diarrhea.

[Sean Pendergast]

For the next four days, I sassed

[Seth Payne]

my mom and I had it coming and I got slapped. Slapped in the face, but. So I hadn't been slapped by a person in a long, long time. And we kind of were talking about it. When Jobe Tennant, who's now an attorney at law, was our producer and Job, I just like, I kind of threw it out there. I was like, jobe, you know what? Would you come in here and just slap me? I just want to see what it feels like. And Job, I've never. I've never seen a guy jump out of his chair so quickly. It was no, like, are you sure? He went from the producer's booth to standing in front of me. And I was like, let me brace myself.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Kind of hit me upside.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 kind of rattled me a little bit. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

And Job's not a.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Wow.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 gonna really degrade you here and give you a old fashioned V slap.

[Sean Pendergast]

Put that on my for some time during football.

[Seth Payne]

Hire somebody to slap set.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'll do it myself. DIY. All right, so there you go. Big announcement. J.J. watt, first guest here in the history of the new 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

We love John Harris. Yeah. 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Did you watch the Patriots game? These guys needed some practice.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I'm. 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 Sugar Land Studios,

[Sean Pendergast]

here's Pain and Pendergast. 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?

[John Harris]

Well, who's this J.J. watt character?

[Sean Pendergast]

I know, right? Yeah, we're giving him a, we're giving him our platform tomorrow so people can learn more about him.

[John Harris]

Oh, the CBS guy.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, that guy.

[John Harris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

A lot of people don't realize he used to be a football player.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Like people know, 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Absolutely.

[John Harris]

Well, we're getting to a point now with kids that kids don't even remember. Madness and announcer.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[John Harris]

Know the video game.

[Seth Payne]

Right, Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Good point, John. 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?

[John Harris]

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 nauseum. 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. And together we have the podcast Office Lady. Just because we finished rewatching the Office does not mean we're going anywhere. Every Wednesday we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the Office and our friendship with brand new guests. Plus, you can revisit all the Office ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode. So follow and listen to office ladies on the free Odysee app and wherever you get your podcasts

[John Harris]

camp that the offense is going to be really, really good. But you. You don't know. You. 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. 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 as a free runner, CJ Hits his spot. 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, it's not zero and not a thousand, but it's. It's moving in the, in the right direction on those things. And I know there are a lot of people in Houston and I, 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

Rams.

[John Harris]

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 a 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 that 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 in 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, 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. 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, 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. 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?

[John Harris]

Yeah, most definitely, Seth. And I think a lot of it has 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, just like, whoa, okay, that's. That's different. And I've all.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, what's up, flies?

[Seth Payne]

This is David Spade.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dana Carvey. Look at. I know we never actually left, but I'll just say it. We are back with another season of Fly on the Wall. Every episode, including ones with guests, will now be on video. Every Thursday, you'll hear us and see us chatting with big name celebrities. And every Monday, you're stuck with just me and Dana. We react to news, what's trending, viral clips follow and listen to Fly on the Wall. Everywhere you get your podcasts, we have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes.

[John Harris]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[John Harris]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[John Harris]

I've always known Blake's had that in him, but I, 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 the offensive line gonna 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 Kevin 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 want to be able to play like that. But, you know, you had a couple guys in there that just were like, ah, you know, too cool for school. Look at you, teachers, bet 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 wanted to go get a water. And every single offensive lineman was in the cafeteria with an iPad. And they're all looking at plays for 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. I was 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, 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 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Keelin 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

[John Harris]

to say this, 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, go, yo. Wow. Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

I agree, by the way.

[John Harris]

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 quarter 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?

[Sean Pendergast]

It's just fact. Basically. It's not even a take. Yeah.

[John Harris]

John, I so, I mean, if 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.

[John Harris]

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, it's not just Keelan, you know, almost every center or, 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 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 gotta reach because you gotta 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 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, 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 Keely's just got his hands locked, he can't go anywhere. And I'm like, dude, that is, 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 Ursri 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, long, 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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?

[John Harris]

He has to 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, man. It's J Rock versus Colin, right?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[John Harris]

And it's going to play out over these next couple of weeks.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. To Seth and I look forward to catching up with you before the game tomorrow. We got our first pregame show tomorrow, Johnny.

[John Harris]

Yeah, man. That's going to be fun. Make sure you tell that what character not to suck tomorrow. You got to be good when you go to 95. 7.

[Sean Pendergast]

Don't worry. We'll give him the what for. It's all good.

[John Harris]

Definitely get it done. All right, brothers. Love you guys.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Keelin Rutledge was such a big topic. I'll remind people of that.

[Seth Payne]

Six ten presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugar Land Studios.

[Sean Pendergast]

Here's Pain and Pender Gas. 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

The game. Yes. Yeah, I mean simulcast on 610the fan.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. So there if you're somebody that used to listen on the bull, just switch it over to 95.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's right.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

It won't be on the Bull anymore.

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

You asked him about, what are. Who are some of the names out there, 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 Keelan Rutledge.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

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. Second round. Yeah. Like, earlier, mid second round. Yeah. 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 from years of just kind of casually following all the draft talk leading up to the draft, it's. There's 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.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Disney. Take Andre Dillard, who would go on to play a glorious, what, three years in the NFL with, like, seven different teams?

[Sean Pendergast]

Titus is still playing.

[D' Amico Ryan]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was making 20 million with the Browns.

[Seth Payne]

That was a. That was a good spot. That was a good selection. And I think Keelan Rutledge, I like. In terms of making the offense look swarmier, make it look more like they play like, the defense.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's.

[Seth Payne]

Sean, this is what I had hoped for, that d'.

[John Harris]

Ameco.

[Seth Payne]

Look, d', Ameco, as 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?

[Sean Pendergast]

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.

[Sean Pendergast]

And the fact that he feels confident being able to turn the defense over to. To Matt Burke, at least to a degree. I mean, d' Ameco is 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. 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. Oh, 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, I can appreciate the concept of running it back 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 were 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 the, I think that young core just took a real hit in terms of reputation and how people look at them because they were forced to play in 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 right now.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 then with Mavericks and Rockets split in Austin.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 Taylor. Him 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 there.

[Seth Payne]

Is ham the go to for Christmas because.

[Sean Pendergast]

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 that meat.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, that would make sense. If you're really trying to make that delineation between Jesus and the.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, God. Making a religious statement.

[Seth Payne]

This is really. When we split from the Jews. Slap a ham down on the table.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

That's not what I was saying.

[Sean Pendergast]

This ham is symbolic and tasty.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Pain and Pendergast with you. All right, Are you ready to. How much pettiness do you have have pent up in you? Do you have as much as I have pent up in me? We haven't done.

[Seth Payne]

Hell yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

We haven't done a pedicast in two weeks.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I'm bursting at the seams.

[Sean Pendergast]

We normally do it Tuesdays at 8am we're doing it at 9am on a Wednesday. Cause we haven't done one in a long time. We got a lot to be petty about. We'll do that in Pendergast. I painted Pendergast. Good question. On the text pages. We're about to get petty. This is a good lead in. This is a good petty palate cleanser, I guess. Appetizer. It's an appetizer. Caesar, is the Astro circle of trust bit with you guys over or do you just not trust any of them anymore?

[Seth Payne]

It wasn't a bit.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, we've been doing it for years.

[Seth Payne]

Was our core religion. It was.

[John Harris]

We had.

[Sean Pendergast]

When was the last one? When was the last one we did? Yeah, the last one we did was on April 3rd. So we've done one all season long.

[Seth Payne]

Who was in it?

[Sean Pendergast]

There were five people in it.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

And keep in mind they got off to a rough start.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Altuve, Jordan.

[Seth Payne]

He'd be in it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jordan would be in it. Correa. I forgot he's even on the team. Yeah, Carlos Correa. Well, you know what?

[Seth Payne]

We forgot he's on the team. Even as he's potentially coming back.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hunter Brown.

[Seth Payne]

No, he wouldn't be in it right now.

[Sean Pendergast]

Not right now. And then Isak Purpose.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Who.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's. He's kind of cooled off a little bit, too. It might just be. Might just be Yordon.

[Seth Payne]

We. We lowered the standards for circle of trust for a while. Or we widened the circumference. We gave it a permeable membrane.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And it was. You're not Jordan and hater right now. You're down in hater. Like we. Like, like. So it's like a. It's a. It's a simple atom. It's a.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's just a.

[Seth Payne]

An electron and a neutron. Yeah. There's two atoms.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's what they are, man. Yeah. So there you go, listener. Not a bit. It's something that we do when we feel like doing it.

[Seth Payne]

We're petty about there being no circle of trust. There you go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

We don't have enough points to plot to make a circle.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's exactly right.

[Seth Payne]

That's exactly right. A line segment.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. Hall of Fame weekend was this past weekend in the. For pro football. Pro Football hall of Fame. And if you recall, this is Adam Vinatieri taking a jab at Bill Bell Belichick. I would repeat those last few statements about coach Bill Belichick as well. Thank you for demanding excellence every single day. Your preparation, discipline, and attention to detail shaped far more than my football career. Unfortunately, Bill couldn't make it here today. There's a lot going on at UNC right now. He may be on a recruiting trip right now looking for the next Lawrence Taylor. I thought it was because training camp had already started, but in truth, it's because he's judging his girlfriend's cheerleading competition.

[Seth Payne]

It was a couple of good lines. He was just so bad at the delivery.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Is delivery being petty about Vinatieri?

[Sean Pendergast]

No. Well, Vinatieri clearly is being a little bit petty about Belichick.

[Seth Payne]

He couldn't be here. He's got a lot going on at unc.

[John Harris]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

You and I can be petty about his delivery.

[Seth Payne]

The great thing about that is that people. If people were unaware of Bill Belichick's girlfriend still being involved in adult cheerleading competitions. That sounds even worse than the age gap is. Oh, yeah, it's like. Like the ditter. You hear that and you don't know anything about the story. That sounds creepy as hell.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's dating a 15 year old or something. All right, so. So that was venatori. The reason I repurposed this, though, in part was because of the. The. The jab. But Nick Costas who does. He does some gambling. He's been on with us before. I want to say, say, got a very distinctive voice.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Very New York, New Jersey delivery. And his voice is very pitchy. He's got a very high voice. He is. He is upset with Adam Vinatieri disrespecting Bill Belichick, someone who appreciates and knows and understands and respects the history of the game. State to claim to be the greatest ever. And everyone's going to go make their jokes in that fabled place. Just run this guy. Well, it's okay. He's the greatest coach ever, but I'm going to take my shots at him.

[John Harris]

Can.

[Sean Pendergast]

Can there be some respect? Can there be a modicum of respect shown for this man and what he accomplished? Or is it just we're just gonna mock this guy forever? Come on. Open mic night at the hall of Fame.

[Seth Payne]

Adam.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yo, Adam. Maybe his whole life he's wanted to do stand up comedy. He's like, this is my. This is my moment. Now I'm gonna get all my jokes off.

[Seth Payne]

Stop it. I stand with Nick.

[D' Amico Ryan]

You do?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[John Harris]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

I disrespect.

[Sean Pendergast]

You will not stand for the disrespect of Bill Belichick.

[Seth Payne]

That's right. That's right. I do. I did. It does. It feels like too many things have turned into people trying to make it a roast. There's a. And look, hall of Fame places are great for, like, kind of gentle roasting or whatever. Like, I think Bill Belichick is weird as hell for whatever the hell he's letting his girlfriend do with the football program and his life. And yet, at the same time. Time, I do agree with Nick Costo. It's like, all right, yeah, he's an old man. He's got to be, like, 80 now, isn't he? Like, he's just.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's like 75. He's an old man.

[Seth Payne]

They're here at the hall of Fame, an institution which snubbed him.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

This year, like, that's. The extra part of it is that Belichick got snubbed in the hall of Fame voting this year and kind of just tell some tired jokes about. About the. Him and his girlfriend.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I stand with custody. Costos. Yes. Costos also did a video there yesterday. Are you making the argument that the jets could make the playoffs this year? So. Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, then that's a. What did Johnny say? A sizzle, sizzle fire.

[Seth Payne]

Five sizzle fires.

[Sean Pendergast]

Five sizzle fires for that one. All right, next one. This is. This is Vic Fangio, he had a great reference to Quinon Mitchell, one of the really good young corners. Him and Cooper De Jean are two really good young corners that were drafted. Drafted within a few picks of each other a few years ago, I think in that Lassiter Kamari, last same draft as Kamari Lasseter. This is Vic Fangio saying, Quinon Mitchell still a regular season interception virgin.

[Seth Payne]

He still needs his first interception, you

[D' Amico Ryan]

know, of his career.

[Sean Pendergast]

He'll quickly remind you he's got four in the playoffs, but he's still a

[D' Amico Ryan]

virgin in the regular season.

[Seth Payne]

So Fangio, a little funny, though, but. But having one in the postseason, four in the postseason already, that's almost like somebody who's starred in adult films but has never found true love. It can't settle down. Hasn't really had a special moment where they feel like they connected.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, my God. Yeah. Vic Fangio dropping the old V bomb right there.

[Seth Payne]

The old football coaches used to use the term virgin metaphorically a lot more like that, you know, like, look, look, I'm no virgin. I've been fired. I used to do that from coach. You think I'm afraid to get fired? I'm no virgin. Like, oh, I didn't know that those were even things that you would compare.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, definitely. It definitely feels like that's probably. Probably skews towards maybe a little politically incorrect these days.

[Seth Payne]

Probably.

[Sean Pendergast]

Did I tell you? I told you this? I. I watched. I gotta watch it a little more intently and put some notes together. There was a video that got curated to me on YouTube that was ads from the 70s that didn't age well.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah. Oh, I didn't watch it.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's like nine minutes long. It's okay. I gotta re. Watch it and come up with some thoughts on this thing. Because I'm watching this, I'm like, yeah, that wouldn't fly. That wouldn't fly. It was amazing how many of us Caucasians thought it'd be really funny to dress up and talk like Native Americans funny.

[Seth Payne]

Whereas if you're a serious dramatic exercise.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it was the ones I watched. They were being funny.

[Seth Payne]

Like, no, when you go back and watch old stuff, I'd say, like, it felt like 95 of Native Americans were white dudes. Yeah, you're right, though. And doing this, doing the speeches. The thing is, they would do a stereotypical version of the speech with like, that syntax. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody's actually, like, you know, doing a good job of it or something. But, like, there was a part of just. Just playing the Stereotype.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was nine minutes long. So if I'm just doing the math, that means they're probably maybe like 25. Five commercials, something like that. And at least like, four or five of them were what involved white people dressed up as Native Americans.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Talking like Native Americans to pitch cars to people.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, for cars ads. Yeah. Sorry, I was thinking of old TV shows.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, These are like the owner of a car dealership.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Doing it in real broken English and everything. Trying to get you to buy the.

[Sean Pendergast]

Buy a Ford F150.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I'm sitting here thinking, like, a lot

[Sean Pendergast]

of Indians drove trucks back in the day.

[Seth Payne]

I'm thinking here like, I was having a. Like, a debate on NPR about, like, hey, let's not worry too much about, like, what ro.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, no, these are commercials. Like, like local commercials. So the production value is insanely bad.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, gotcha.

[Sean Pendergast]

So that's.

[D' Amico Ryan]

That's what.

[John Harris]

That.

[Seth Payne]

I'm gonna watch this after the show.

[D' Amico Ryan]

It's.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's really.

[D' Amico Ryan]

It's.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's pretty funny. A lot of ads for cigarettes.

[Seth Payne]

So. Wait, what are. So Fangio wasn't being petty there, though, necessarily.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, no.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know. Maybe that's qu.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's just a little petty.

[Seth Payne]

Quiz.

[Sean Pendergast]

Felt like. It felt like this is a good place to park that cut. It has nothing to do with the Texans. All right, this one is a tweet that I'm going to read from Irvin Magic Johnson, who, as we know on Twitter, can be a somewhat dicey proposition with his obvious observations and weird things he gets effusive about on there. Irvin Magic Johnson tweets. This is after the opening night schedule came out yesterday, Seth. Yeah, the. Where the Knicks and the Sixers are going to be playing each other. So LeBron versus the Knicks on opening night. Magic Johnson. Wow. Basketball fans all over the world should give Adam Silver a standing ovation for scheduling the Knicks and the Sixers game on opening night. Praying hands emoji, clapping emoji. It was already going to be a special night because the Knicks are receiving their championship rings. But now LeBron James, Jalen Brown, Joel Embiid, blah, blah, blah, will all be playing Must see tv. This is my message to Magic and also I would say to ESPN at large. Aside from Knicks fans, nobody cares about the Knicks getting their championship rings. Nobody. Knicks fans care. The Knicks themselves care, and that's fine. Those people should care. The Magic Johnson acting like they did

[Seth Payne]

this with the Warriors TV part is

[Sean Pendergast]

the must see TV of some team that's not my team getting their rings. Screw that.

[Seth Payne]

No, we don't care.

[Sean Pendergast]

No.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm petty about this. I'm petty about Magic Johnson. Johnson sucking on Twitter.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Which. He's sucked for years on Twitter, but this is extremely bad.

[Seth Payne]

You know what? I kind of appreciate sometimes that Magic Johnson just kind of lays it out, like, as if you had. If you hadn't followed the NBA at all.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Like, he pointed out that they. You know, that. That they won a championship and everything. That's good.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're not being petty enough right now.

[Seth Payne]

I can't get petty at. Where did that light come?

[D' Amico Ryan]

What's good?

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, they took. The light got turned on in here. There's no more. There's no more. There's. There's no more curtain on this window right here.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Remember that. This wind covered.

[Seth Payne]

I didn't realize FM Ch Handled that for us. Okay.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

FM you get rid of all your curtains.

[Seth Payne]

And I thought I was just getting sucked up to heaven all of a sudden, which was a surprise unto itself. The dying was one thing, but the heaven part.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Bonus.

[Sean Pendergast]

Pleasantly surprised.

[Seth Payne]

Two things that I desperately can't wait to happen. I died.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I'll leave this earthly hell, and B, I'm going to heaven.

[Sean Pendergast]

Heaven. I get to use that note on my phone. Sing Break the ice with St. Peter.

[Seth Payne]

No, with Magic Johnson.

[Sean Pendergast]

Icebreakers with St. Peter.

[Seth Payne]

Really want to try to set the stage here? Well, for a good.

[Sean Pendergast]

We've debated for years down on earth. Did OJ Ever show up here where you could turn him away? Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

No. With Magic now, though, he's aged to the point where it's like, okay, this is just kind of like my grandpa, I guess, tweeting. Yeah, maybe.

[Sean Pendergast]

Maybe. I just don't like being told that it's a.

[Seth Payne]

That I should want to watch the rings.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't hate magic.

[Seth Payne]

It was like when everybody was telling us, hey, hey, NFL fans, stop criticizing the Chiefs. You should just stand back. That's what this is, this championship they're about to win.

[Sean Pendergast]

Thank you.

[Seth Payne]

This is what they were saying before the Eagles game. They were acting like they'd already won the game.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh. Remember?

[Seth Payne]

Oh, three in a row. Who would have thought we'd see it?

[Sean Pendergast]

Remember Nate Burleson lecturing us. Yes. On just sit back and enjoy the great.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no, no. We're gonna hate the Chiefs with other. Each. Each ensuing championship even more.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, I've got two more, and they're college football related. Texas, text Joey McGuire, who you know, I'M not a big fan of their head Coach. Tells Brett McMurphy of On3, which is a college football site, that the Red Raiders are embracing the villain role. Quote, we're the most hated team in college football, and I absolutely love it. End quote.

[Seth Payne]

That's the thing. I don't think the team is hated as much as, like, the actual, like, Joey Maguire himself in the administration and everybody else.

[Sean Pendergast]

Cody Campbell, the billionaire benefactor.

[Seth Payne]

That's the other hatred. I don't think it. I don't think I feel it from fan bases as much as. Because it's not like Texas Tech is sitting on top of three consecutive national championships.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. No, he. Joey. Joey Maguire doesn't get what being a heel is.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

You've got to have some success. And I know they made the College Football Playoff. They also got shut out in their one game they played in the college football playoffs. So they. They rolled over. They. They rolled over in the playoffs. So it's not like they put in a performance in the postseason that would have people who. Hating them.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, you.

[Sean Pendergast]

You were ready to let a degenerate gambler play quarterback for you, and then when the water started getting. Getting a little hot legally, you said, why don't you go into the supplemental draft? And then kind of hung the kid out to drive.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, you guys are villains in the, like, people who read the paper version of the Sports Business Journal. You know, like the people in various circuit courts or whatever we call these

[Sean Pendergast]

chicken bleep heels in the wrestling world.

[D' Amico Ryan]

There's.

[Sean Pendergast]

There's the. There's the heels that are cool because they're, you know, they had some success and they're bad guys. And then there's other ones where you're like.

[Seth Payne]

They're like, you know, they're like the guy that pulls a practical joke on somebody, and it's not a really good practical joke, but they insist. Oh, yeah, you should have seen your face. Meanwhile, the person. The person who, the person who the joke was played on was kind of like, wasn't affected by it at all. You should have seen your face. That's exactly what it is. I now I'm getting mildly agitated that you're acting like this, but no Joey Maguire. I sidestepped the bucket of water.

[Sean Pendergast]

We're the biggest villains in college football. Get out of here.

[Seth Payne]

Now, if. If Ssby had been playing for him,

[D' Amico Ryan]

then they would be.

[Seth Payne]

Then they might have an argument.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, but they got cold feet with the Soresby thing. They're like, oh, why don't you go Pro? The Big 12 might punish us. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

No true villain would have figured out a way to get Soursby to play.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And actually. And then. Then they'd be villains.

[Sean Pendergast]

You got cold feet. But, yeah, you chickened out.

[John Harris]

You know what you are?

[Seth Payne]

You're like an 80s movie villain from some of those old. Like, just before, they used to just hire some cheap actors. Some of those old Schwarzenegger movies and everything. Like, it was like some skinny, fat dude wearing a mesh shirt who wasn't a good actor, you know, like, no, this is the super villain in this movie. Like, no, you paid him, like, $25,000. He picked him up from a soup kitchen.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. I don't know if you've seen or heard this yet. I immediately thought of you when I saw this, because this is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard somebody say. Not that you say dumb things. You'll think that this is very, very dumb. This is what we're about to hear.

[Seth Payne]

I don't care. I'm going to heaven. I don't know. Well, before you go, before you go,

[Sean Pendergast]

go take a list. This is new Purdue athletic director Tommy McClelland. Okay, now keep in mind Purdue, big in state, rival of Indiana. Okay. So he's trying to kind of resurrect Purdue athletic football. Really, the basketball team's good. But he's trying to get kind of people rallied.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

With Purdue athletics. And here's what he said.

[Seth Payne]

Every recruit, every current student athlete will hear this message repeatedly.

[Sean Pendergast]

We are here to win championship championships. If you don't want to win championships, go to Indiana. Go to the school that just won the championship in the most popular sport in collegiate athletics.

[Seth Payne]

And then he stands up and looks at Cineti and he's like, you should have seen your face. Oh, oh, meme of the kid.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh. Oh, my God. How stupid are you?

[Seth Payne]

How's that taste, Signetti?

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, my God. If you don't want to win championships, go to Indiana.

[Seth Payne]

What the hell was that?

[D' Amico Ryan]

I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

I wasn't expecting that at all.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

I figure out where he was going to go.

[Sean Pendergast]

Get a better reaction out of you than I was expecting. Oh, my God.

[Seth Payne]

Hey, Byron. Gen Z representative. What do we call that, that meme or that. That gif of the kid in the schoolyard doing the.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, you know what I mean?

[Seth Payne]

I just call it the whoa. As well.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I think people listening might know what I'm talking about. Just. It's the one kid. They're like in a schoolyard. Somebody just either Got beat up or they're like humiliated. And he just enters the frame with that, like, whoa, yeah, face. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, wow. Breaking news. The Lakers just got sold for two

[Seth Payne]

$12 billion to American businessman Josh Kushner on Bob Iger.

[Sean Pendergast]

Is he Disney? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

That's interesting the way that was framed. It was like almost like Bob Iger was American Businessman something. Kushner and Bob Iger's like his assistant. Is he Irish? What's going on? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So that, wow, $12 billion going, right?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right.

[Seth Payne]

$12 billion for the Lakers. Hadn't they just.

[Sean Pendergast]

They sold a chunk of it.

[Seth Payne]

A chunk of it.

[Sean Pendergast]

There's, I guess they bought the whole thing. The chunk that they sold, if I'm not mistaken. I'll look this up during the break. The chunk of it they sold valued the team as a whole at 10 billion.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So they, you know, in other words, that chunk, if you had multiplied it times the entirety of the team, it was 10 billion. That was like a year or two ago, though.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is today. Just now. 12 billion. And man, I, you know what, Carry this into the next segment since we're up against it. This, this brings up yet another question that I have for billionaire owners of sports teams out there. We'll talk about that and a whole lot more coming up next.

[Seth Payne]

Sports Radio 610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios. Here's Pain and Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

So we had a listener figure out what meme you were talking about.

[D' Amico Ryan]

The.

[Seth Payne]

It's the Super Hot Fire meme.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Seth Payne]

The. The one where the, the one.

[D' Amico Ryan]

The.

[Seth Payne]

They're having like a rap battle and the one kid is like looking like he just dropped the mic and another kid comes in through the screen with his hands over his face. That's. You can. You can tell your Gen Z friends. Oh, yeah, I mean, I'm talking about the Super Hot Fire, which is from a video, a seven year old video that I just watched, which is. It's funny. I give these kids credit because people claim that young kids these days don't get sarcasm and satire and everything. Everything. It's a, it's a, it's a, like a five minute long video of them, like intentionally doing bad jokes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

And, and then having that, like these guys having the Gen Z reaction. Yeah. Because they're super bad, corny jokes. And then they're like, oh,

[Sean Pendergast]

good job, listeners. We get a lot of people still texting in about the, the station changeover tomorrow. We're going to be 95. This time tomorrow we will be 95. Seven the fan it happens at 8 o'. Clock. If you missed it early earlier, we announced our guest list. J.J. watt will be the first guest in the history of the new station at 8:20. We do the changeover at 8am we're gonna celebrate. And then our first guest in the very next segment will be J.J. watt, Roger Clemens 9am tomorrow and then Rudy Tom Jonovich, 9:40am tomorrow. So this time tomorrow we will be talking about how awesome Roger Clemens just was and saying how much we're looking forward to Rudy T. So Watt, Clemens, Rudy T. Don't get any better than that.

[Seth Payne]

Good job, Sean, putting together that list.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah man, yeah, no problem.

[Seth Payne]

I mean you didn't just put together a list. You actually, you know, called them and everything. You got them to agree to it.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's they were all excited to do it too. So looking forward to that. The have you missed it? The Lakers just sold for $12 billion.

[Seth Payne]

A billion.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, 12. Billy and I I'll ask this question again and I asked the same thing when the Seahawks just sold for 9.6 billion. If you're looking for the high water mark for this is the new one for I would say probably North American sports in terms of what's what a team has been sold for. I saw a story earlier on TV on ESPN that I guess they put out the values of the teams. Maybe Forbes does that list every year. The Cowboys are valued at 15 billion but obviously Jerry Jones is not selling that team anytime soon. The, the Lakers actually sold for $12 billion today. The Seahawks actually sold sold for 9.6 billion. I guess what a couple of months ago now is earlier this summer, the, the Allen estate, how much does it sell for? 9.6 billion. Yeah, the Seahawks, that's, that's the high water mark for the NFL.

[Seth Payne]

One thing I've noticed is that whatever the valuations are, they tend to like when those teams actually get sold, they're, they're a couple of billion off, give or take. Who worries about a couple billion these days? But it's a just, it's a lot of money.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't have one.

[Seth Payne]

It's a ridiculously large amount of money compared to what it used to be.

[Sean Pendergast]

So my question that I asked after the Seahawks got sold, I'll ask it again with the Lakers getting sold and I guess this would be since it's a basketball team we're talking about, I guess it would be more of a question for the Fertittas than the McNairs.

[Seth Payne]

Oh yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But how high does the number need to get to where you start to consider selling your team?

[Seth Payne]

I don't know. That's just real quick.

[Sean Pendergast]

Seth. Sorry. For context. The Rockets. The Fertitta family bought the rockets for $2.2 billion. It'll be 10 years ago next year. So.

[Seth Payne]

10 years already?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, man. Yeah. September 2017. 2.2 billion. That was the first team in the. In NBA history to be purchased for north of $2 billion.

[Seth Payne]

The.

[Sean Pendergast]

The Clippers a few years before that were purchased by Steve Ballmer for 2 billion. 12 billion. I'm not saying the rockets would go for 12 billion. It's the Lakers. They're a blue blood franchise.

[D' Amico Ryan]

But there's.

[Sean Pendergast]

But they'll be in the neighborhood.

[Seth Payne]

It's going to be more than what they paid for 10 years ago. I think that. I don't know. I. With Fertita, I know that for one his sons are very much like all about the Rockets. Patrick, especially Patrick really. I mean like it's, you know, so forever how much I. And I think for Tita like really likes obviously being a part of the community and all the money that he's put into the U of H athletic program, I think for him it would. It would have to be something that surpasses whatever financial benefit it is. I think that's like, that's. I think he enjoys and likes being part of the fabric of the sports society in the city.

[Sean Pendergast]

Absolutely.

[Seth Payne]

I mean that's how it goes with most sports owners. There's an appeal and for some people, maybe it's the community part of it. For others is just their egos or whatever. I mean you can go buy a couple of office buildings and get the same financial return and like that there's the glitz. Has a lot to do with it or just the. The community part of it above and beyond the actual ticket price.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I think it's interesting too and I, I'll. I'll actually. A couple things. One for Tita Tillman specifically said when they bought the team that a big reason they did it was so that their family would have something like this in the family for the next generation. So I'm with you on that. And Patrick is very involved. So there's that. I think too. It's interesting to me. This just sort of popped into my head on the day before we're about to flip over to fm. You know, there's an investment that's taking place with our company with Odyssey in, in Moving Sports Radio 610 over to the FM dial. Over to a spot on the FM dial that had been a successful station in the spot. I think this, the, the exploding values of these sports teams are indicative of something similar to something like moving Sports Radio 610 and making the investment to move us to FM. Sports is hot. Yeah, sports is hot. Hot in terms of broadcast properties, it's hot in terms of media because it's one of the few. It's in on tv, it's one of the few live things you can still watch in radio. It's still a realm that hasn't been infiltrated by artificial intelligence. You know, people still want to hear opinions from other humans. And I think it lives kind of in this obviously different dollar amounts we're talking, but I think it lives in the same neighborhood. The message with what's happening with us tomorrow and with what's happening in the Lakers today is the same message, sports is hot.

[Seth Payne]

Right?

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

Well, yeah, yeah, like, because even in radio where, like, there's different challenges, you know, based on just the way the industry has evolved, sports radio is the one thing and sports talk is the one thing that's thriving. And because people want as much sports content as possible, there's an appetite for it. And the. And we're also the easiest to transfer over to podcasts as well and everything too. So, like, we can stream, we can do podcasts, and we're basically doing the exact same thing. Yeah, it doesn't change anything. So, like, we've been lucky in that regard. But I think that the sports as a pastime, like viewing sports and watching sports, gambling on sports, now has just become such a mainstay in society.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, gambling. Yeah, you're right.

[Seth Payne]

The whole thing about owning a sports team though, too, that when it comes to. All right, there's just a certain, whether it's ego or whether it's just, you know, sometimes it's not. Sometimes billionaires want that public presence, not necessarily just because of their ego, but because having your name out there helps and it smooth things over and it opens up other doors for you. It's just there's all types of different motivations. But I remember, and I promise everybody, this is not a political take whatsoever. It's just a story that sprung to my mind. It was when Trump first started getting into, when he owned the USFL team. The story was that he was a big time real estate developer in Manhattan and he had just completed some huge deal and he was sitting next to somebody on an airplane and Saying, look. And he opened up the paper and he had to dig to the headline about the story.

[Sean Pendergast]

How many people smoke on the plane?

[Seth Payne]

Meanwhile, you turn the page over or the front page of the sports section, and just every random little thing is right there on the front page of the sports section. There's this level of notoriety and publicity that you can get from being involved in sports that you just don't get from being a run of the mill, ordinary billionaire.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Probably a lot of billionaires. Look, you know me. If I were a billionaire, I would be the quietest billionaire on earth.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes, you.

[Seth Payne]

Nobody would. Nobody would know I was a billionaire. I think there are a lot of other people that like, you get to be a billionaire and you're kind of like, I want to enjoy the spoils of this billionaire.

[Sean Pendergast]

And here's the other thing. It's not like these are not like people that like the. The. The asset like a regular person. And there are things at times that either because the value gets to a certain point or because you need liquid assets.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That you sell these. None of these people, most of them at least, aren't living in a realm where a point. I need to sell this. I need this influx of cash to sell the team. Like Tim. And Fertitta can hang on to the Rockets forever if he wants to. Like his. His restaurant and hotel businesses are thriving.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. You know, well, Ballmer, the Cohen. Right. The owner of the Mets.

[Sean Pendergast]

Mets.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I mean, he's using it like his plaything. He's so rich that he just doesn't. He's the one owner that is every fan's dream. Which is he just doesn't care about the bottom line.

[Sean Pendergast]

No.

[Seth Payne]

He's a guy that apparently he's that classic. From what I've read about him, he's that classic contradictory billionaire. Contradictory billionaire where he'll be stingy as hell in some regards, but then he'll go drop $100 million on a piece of art. He just.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And the Mets are just another thing. That he collects their piece of art. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Not a great piece of art right now, but they're a piece of something. All right. Painting pender gas with you. Yeah. So that's the big news that just came down several minutes ago is that the Lakers. $12 billion.

[Seth Payne]

So what do the. What are the Texans valued at?

[Sean Pendergast]

That question. I'll go find it during the break.

[John Harris]

I.

[D' Amico Ryan]

They.

[Sean Pendergast]

All I saw regarding the valuations of the NFL teams was the headline Cowboys valued at 15 million. Take a guess. I don't know, I'll look it up during the break. I'll find the article that has the Cowboys 15 billion.

[Seth Payne]

I'm going to make Cal an offer the next time I see him.

[Sean Pendergast]

Are you?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I'll put together a group of investors.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was gonna say. Who's in your group of investors?

[Seth Payne]

The NFL? Well, the NFL doesn't allow. They're starting to allow private equity in a very small amount. But that's the one thing, the one thing that keeps prices down is that it's a relatively limited pool in the NFL. They want one individual entity to be the owner. They just want to have that stability. If they ever opened it up to private equity or something, it would be absurd.

[Sean Pendergast]

The Yankees just. Did you see this yesterday? The Yankees just took an influx of 2.6 billion. They sold part of their tax team to retire all their debt and things like that. And I think it was an institutional investor, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, 2.6 billion. Not for the whole team, just for a chunk of the team. Which gives you an idea.

[Seth Payne]

It makes you think about how that affects, like other owners when it comes to the salary cap discussions and everything this off season. Yeah, we're not gonna have baseball for three years after this drink. Soak it in. Everybody enjoy it.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I don't think we're gonna have it next year.

[Seth Payne]

You don't think, you think so? I don't really.

[Sean Pendergast]

There are a lot of people saying that right now, man.

[Seth Payne]

People say lots of things.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know, but this. This feels like this pretty dug in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they feel pretty dug in, man.

[Seth Payne]

Don't say that.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's gonna be a long summer, man. No longer.

[Seth Payne]

Rockets better be good.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know, I know. All right, Pain and Pendergast with you. All right, let's. Let's circle back to the. To the Texans. We'll find out what the guys have going on on in the Loop. But coming up next, we got a question. Yesterday for Demo Ryan's. That to me was the. The signal. Like, okay, we need games now. Yeah, we need games. We'll play that for you.

[Seth Payne]

2610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios.

[Sean Pendergast]

Here's Pain and Pender gas. All right, final segment and then we'll hand things over to in the Loop. This is the first time we've been in studio with those guys in a few weeks.

[Seth Payne]

Gonna be super hot fire.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's gonna be super high five. He may. How you feeling? We're doing this four hour show today.

[Seth Payne]

I'm Good. Yeah. I'll probably go get an IV after a little drip. Spot dehydrated.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I love that. So I. I think we're. We're kind of getting to that point in training camp, judging by the questions being asked in press conferences, that. We need a game.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

We need a game. You know, the questions are getting a little repetitive. I don't blame the media. I think. I don't. But I'm just saying, like, it's 11 practices in. It's. There's only so many Keelan Rutledge questions.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, but like, Keelan Rutledge is chippiness, et cetera. It just becomes a topic and a theme every day. You're right. That's. Yeah. And it's not. There's only so many questions to ask until. Until the Texans actually go out and face some actual competition. It's going to be tough. I was watching Josh. Not Josh McDaniel. Mike McDaniel's press conference yesterday. Oh, yeah. And. Or from two days ago. And they. He had. He took five questions about the battle at left guard, and it was a right guard. One of the guards. I think it's right guard. So five questions about the battle at right guard.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

There's five guys vying for that one right guard.

[Sean Pendergast]

That had to be a long answer.

[Seth Payne]

Those were the first five questions of Mike McDaniel about those guys. I feel like Chargers fans have got to be getting especially sick of training.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, good.

[Seth Payne]

Can you think of anything more just ridiculously boring than five straight questions about the right guard in you? It's Ralph.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Well, this is where I. This. This is the question yesterday. Well, not the question, but the. The question that got asked yesterday. Or I'm like, all right, we need a game. D. Ryan's got asked the question about Travon Saunders, who is a, I believe, a wide receiver who's way down the depth chart, probably not going to make the team. And that was the question. How's Tron Saunders doing?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Trayvon has done a really nice job of just, you know, being smart, always aligning in the right place. We throw a lot on the receivers when it comes to alignments and motions. I feel like he's handled that really well. And he's fast, explosive guy who. He can make some plays with the football in his hand. So we'll see how he does on tomorrow night.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And I think. Well, I think Cole Thompson asked that question. I'm guessing that he was planning on writing a story about Trayvon Saunders. Yeah. So that was. I like, he isn't one of the guys that I've seen him make some nice plays and everything, but he hasn't been one of the guys that's really jumped out now make. Cole might feel differently about that. He might feel like, okay, you know what? He's actually done more in practice than people realize.

[Sean Pendergast]

Cole's a big college guy, too. Cole was in studio with us for a few days. We had a good time with Cole. He's a big college guy. So that may be somebody he was watching at Colgate. Is that. Oh, is that where he's from?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Cole might have been watching him at Colgate. Who the hell knows? Cole watches a lot of college football. But I. It was just one of those things that's not a shot at Cole. It's just one of those things like, okay, we're. We're to the Trayvon Saunders questions part of camp, you know, like something somebody nobody's watching at camp. It reminded me, and I give d' Amico credit, like, he gave. Gave a good answer, gave a thoughtful answer, was cordial. Will almost always will be. There's only been a few times where d' Ameco's gotten chippy with the media. I remember a time where Bill o', Brien, I think it was during training camp. It had to be. He was asked about. I want to say it was Matt Filer, who at the time was like an undrafted free agent offensive lineman with the Texas, went on to actually play in the NFL for a decent long time, may still be in the NFL. I have no idea. But he was a fringe guy in camp, and o' Brien could not have been more dismissive. Why are you asking me about him? O', Brien, who doesn't like talking about rookies to begin with.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Was probably like, you're asking me, me about. I'm paraphrasing, obviously, you're asking me about this undrafted guy.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

How's he doing at camp?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Why don't you ask me about J.J. watts?

[Seth Payne]

Sometimes O' Brien would get testy for no reason at all. I feel like that, you know, as a guy, this is what guys do. There's one thing we hate. It's when we're asked a question that we don't know the answer to. We have to fight with every. With every fiber of our being to say, I, I don't know. Because he didn't really have an opinion. Opinion on Matt Filer.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's a good theory.

[Seth Payne]

Talking to anybody here and everything.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

You get caught Knowing the like.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

With a question that you don't know the answer to, you got to make that decision. Do I just BS my way through this, or do I admit that I don't know?

[Sean Pendergast]

That's like 60 of sales.

[Seth Payne]

That's why. Some advice to some of the ladies out there. This is what you have to understand. Like. Like, we're hard to figure out, us men. Sometimes if you ask your husband a question and he says he doesn't know the answer, just appreciate how much strength that took for him to say, yeah, I don't know. I'm not going to mansplain this to you. Like, even though I don't even know what the hell I'm talking about, I just don't know. Do not follow it up with the same question again, because saying it a second time, it feels like you might as well be getting kicked in the junk.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, you're. You're pointing out a flaw a second time. That blemish on your face, I don't

[D' Amico Ryan]

know what it is.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's a hive. I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

But it's a blemish on your face. What is it exactly.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was one of the things I'll never forget when I was talking to. Talking to Barry Warner one time. Yeah, Barry, formerly at a station, radio legend here in town. And that was. This is early in my radio career. I think I probably saw him at Texans practice, and he came up and we were talking. I'd known Barry for. I know Barry for a few years before that through Ken Hoffman, who was friends with both of us.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Us.

[Sean Pendergast]

And so I've been to some things with Ken and with Barry. So we knew each other a little bit. The one piece of advice, I'll give you three words that you can't be afraid to say. I don't know. I'm like, you just got to. I'm have a hard time with that one. Was that I'm going to have a hard time.

[Seth Payne]

You are. Oh, really?

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, no.

[Seth Payne]

You don't talk out of your ass.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, no, no. At the time I said that. But I've gotten good at it.

[Seth Payne]

You don't want to be the other. The other side of the. Of that coin is that you just got to be well informed enough to, A, don't be in a position where you genuinely don't know that, or B, talk your way out of not knowing. Like, just don't answer the question like a political candidate. You know, you don't have to answer every question.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, you can't. Yeah, you. It's okay to say, I don't know. You just can't do it in this business all the time. Because if you don't know all the time, then they'll get somebody who does know things.

[Seth Payne]

Or if you're good at it, you can actually make like $10 million a year.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Maybe.

[John Harris]

Maybe.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. Pain and pender gas with you. Hey, a little bit more from. From Demo Ryan's. Let's. Let's skip down Byron to Demo 5. Monday's practice, not great. Yesterday's practice, much better.

[D' Amico Ryan]

I think the guys are a little fired up and I had had to get after him a little bit yesterday. It wasn't our best practice yesterday by any means. That wasn't who we are, how we come out. That wasn't it. So, you know, everybody need a reminder just of what we're, what we're trying to achieve. What are we trying to accomplish? Right. To do what we're trying to accomplish, it takes persistent work every single day. We can't have letdowns, we can't have setbacks. Like, we have to continue to press forward. We have to count on guys to be relentless, consistent in what they're doing in their approach every single day. Yesterday we took a step back, it wasn't good enough. But today, guys responded really well, all three phases. Did a really great job. Right. Making plays, doing what they're supposed to do. So.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right, good. Followed up a bad practice with a good practice.

[Seth Payne]

And I wouldn't have thought, I didn't think it was particularly any better or worse than other practices after watching practice on Monday, usually for d' Ameco to say that it was. It was one of those things where when they went and watched the film, I'm guessing there were, there were mental errors. There might have been some lapses in swarminess on the defensive side of the ball. And then I think too, also just like CJ and that pick that he threw to Colin. Right. I think that was without having watched the film and everything in real time. I felt like it was an ill advised throw. It was. And that maybe that was part of it too. So I think he just wanted a crisper, cleaner press. And by all accounts from people out there yesterday, it was a very energetic practice.

[Sean Pendergast]

What play that you saw because you and I were not there yesterday. What play that you heard about were you most sad that you missed?

[Seth Payne]

I think the deep strike to Nico.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

And it was with Kamari Lassiter defending him, I believe, or covering him.

[Sean Pendergast]

I Think you're right.

[Seth Payne]

It was just because I think what we've seen with Nico and those two cornerbacks all camp long is man. And when they try to run a go route or something down the sideline, it is a battle. And it's, it's Nico and either Derek Singler or Kamari Lasseter really fighting the whole way down, you know, and not in a way where you feel any worse about Nico or, or, or Stingley or anything. It's just, it's cool to watch.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But they also haven't had a lot of deep strikes.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, they haven't.

[Seth Payne]

And then. So.

[Sean Pendergast]

Good one.

[Seth Payne]

I would add on to it the David Montgomery 80 yard touchdown.

[Sean Pendergast]

That was mine. I, I would love to have seen what that looked like. An 80 to yard touchdown catch and run by David Montgomery.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, I should have asked. I'll talk to John about that later.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Cause I'm curious too. Just.

[John Harris]

Okay.

[Seth Payne]

If you catch a, if you, if a running back catches a pass 10 yards downfield, that's cool. Okay. So he beat Henry. Toto is in coverage, but there's another level of the defense there that wasn't able to get him. So I'm wondering if there's a little bit of misdirection involved. They got everybody kind of rolling over to the right and then they. And then he threw back to the other side of the field.

[Sean Pendergast]

Here was D' Amico on the Montgomery 80 yard touchdown.

[D' Amico Ryan]

It was a huge play, huge momentum boost for our offense to see. David is what he's done a really good job of is his route running. Right. And him and Henry have had a lot of battles thus far in camp. So it was cool to see, you know, David make a big play for us. And that's the type of player he is. That's why he's here for us. He can spark an offense. Right. He can lift us with just making those plays or just by him being a leader, being vocal. Right. Encouraging the other guys.

[Seth Payne]

I can lift you up. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's the wind beneath our wings. David Montgomery.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. The David Montgomery. Okay. We probably won't see him in the preseason at all. Right. Or maybe just one or two series. Whatever.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, whatever game the first string offense plays in. I think he'll play in that game. Game.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Okay. So we'll see him for a couple of series.

[Sean Pendergast]

However long CJ is out there, I would expect David Montgomery.

[Seth Payne]

I don't. This is where I am. You know, we've talked a lot about Woody Marks and how good he's looked in camp and I don't. I know some people think that, you know, Woody Marks looks like he's better than David Montgomery. Like I. This. The running style of David Montgomery is one that you don't necessarily get to see the effects of it in an in practice just because they're just like they're thuds and you don't like. So some of the broken tackles and some of the physicality and short yardage, you know, See, I think the biggest, the biggest lingering gnawing concern that I'm going to have, and there's nothing the preseason can do about it, is the fact that Woody Marks got injured a lot last year.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And that man. Yeah, he looks really good in camp, but he is still an undersized guy. And I know that he learned a lot. He's talked about. He learned a lot about taking care of his body and recovering from week to week in the NFL. But that, yeah, that. And I like to our Jordan a lot. But he. He's currently injured.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And he's £180.

[Sean Pendergast]

Is he 180?

[Seth Payne]

Is he cracking 180?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I think. Yeah. In that neighborhood.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So I, I feel like I'm excited about the upside of all three of those guys, but I'm still a little bit nervous about the, the durability of a couple of them.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's valid. I. To me, the whole Montgomery Marks thing, you know, David Montgomery, Woody Marks thing is less about comparing the two of them. And to me, the exciting thing about Woody Marks Marks is that he looks like a better version of Woody Marks than he was last year.

[Seth Payne]

You know, Jordan, he's 185.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, okay. Well, he's a hulking monster.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Listen.

[Sean Pendergast]

Listen to that.

[Seth Payne]

He's basically Tony Mandrich.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Post steroids. Tony Mandarich.

[Seth Payne]

When I was in high school, I had a Tony Mandridge picture up on my wall for motivation. That was when I thought he was getting all those gains through protein powder. Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah. They got the picture of him pushing the shopping cart.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

All the, all the fruits and vegetables.

[Seth Payne]

Now at the age of 51, I've got a picture of Steve Carell. I was like, boy, he has aged incredible. He's better looking now than he was when he was 30. He's fit. He's got his good hair and beard guy.

[Sean Pendergast]

A little salt and pepper thing.

[Seth Payne]

That's my motivation.

[Sean Pendergast]

Absolutely. All right, so.

[Seth Payne]

And Lopez, of course, I've got a picture of Lopez. Who doesn't? We all do.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Who doesn't?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[D' Amico Ryan]

We all do.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hi, John. This is fun getting to see you guys. I mean, we see you at practice, but this is fun getting to sit around a table with you guys.

[D' Amico Ryan]

Absolutely.

[Seth Payne]

And we're getting all spiffy in here

[Sean Pendergast]

with all the new,

[Seth Payne]

I think, YouTube. The picture is incredibly improved.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes, very much so. The picture looks good. Do we know. Are they putting something on this window? No, no.

[John Harris]

We're going to be able to see through there again.

[Sean Pendergast]

So you'll be able to watch in the loop for their show.

[Seth Payne]

We'll be able to wave at you when there's breaking news like we used to do.

[Sean Pendergast]

Remember that?

[Seth Payne]

That's where I. My nose. This is what happened yesterday.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was.

[Seth Payne]

I. I saved myself from potential blow to myself, his team. My. I have a new fob and it wasn't quite working. So I was in there and I was texting Clinton Ron. It was in the afternoon, I had to get in and I was texting them like, hey, during the next break, can you let me in? And I was about to hit send and then I realized, like, I could see them on the monitor as I was looking through the window. I could see the show, you know, and I'm like. I'm like, oh, crap, I better add this. Hey, I can see you on the monitor, so don't make a face. Yeah, look at the. This guy look.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I would have loved to have seen. This is what I texted these guys yesterday. So. So you. You and I both thought that yesterday was going to be a walk through.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So we're like. We all did. Yeah. I thought it was gonna be a walkthrough. So I was. I had a bunch of stuff going on, clients yesterday, things like that. So I was trying to. Of. And we got a big week coming up here, so I'm trying to parse out my time. And I know how walkthroughs go. There's not.

[Seth Payne]

Every time we've gone to that practice in the stadium, it's been boring as hell.

[D' Amico Ryan]

It's just.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're walking around and so it's. It's good to go see people and whatnot. These are all people I've seen for the last two weeks at practice. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna go do some work. So I get home after getting breakfast, I go home and I. I'm gonna do my walk right now. Get that out of the way. So I'm walking the neighborhood. Neighborhood. And I turn on the Odyssey app to listen to in the Loop as I do every Day on my walk. And I can tell from the. The. From the. The cadence, you know, from the. The way it sounded that you guys were at practice. And I'm like, what is wrong with the Odyssey app that they're playing yesterday's show? Yeah, because it's not a practice. It's a. Well, you guys are doing, like, a play by play of the practice, like, so and so. Just hit a deep shot and this and that.

[John Harris]

I'm like, we're not doing play by play yet.

[Seth Payne]

Wait, hold on. I don't want anybody.

[Sean Pendergast]

Some things that happened that weren't. You weren't giving anything away that was going to be used in film rooms. I don't know. Old boy Parker up there in Dallas,

[John Harris]

apparently, he might have been listening to

[Sean Pendergast]

get ready for week four show tomorrow. We know what happened. Sorry, guys. So. But I texted. I. I texted both you. I think I'm like, why is. Are people texting you guys about the Odyssey app playing yesterday? Then when I found out it wasn't, oh, my God, it was awesome. It kind of felt like a private screening of a movie because there was nobody in there.

[Seth Payne]

We're watching an entire.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was like a preseason. Were you up in the booth? Which was honestly, even greater. Incredible vantage point. I mean, look, we enjoy being out there at the Houston Methodist Training Center.

[John Harris]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But even then, you are on ground level. Like, you can't see all of the. You know, all the trench warfare that happens in the middle.

[Seth Payne]

Buddy radio.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was like, oh, okay. That was the best view that we've gotten of the Texans, and it was great to.

[D' Amico Ryan]

That.

[John Harris]

It was that day as well, when

[Sean Pendergast]

they're doing scrimmage, because we were originally gonna. Seth and I were originally gonna be in the booth yesterday, and then we got a text later in the day, like, no, you guys are gonna be in studio. So I thought that was because. Okay, well, they're not really doing much. It's just a walkthrough, so. I was so confused when I heard you guys at a practice. I'm like, boy, something's wrong with the Odyssey app. So did you guys make a face like Seth was afraid the drive would make about him when I texted you really? Like this idiot? No, my face was more confused, like, wait, what the hell's happening? Yeah, I don't know why I thought it was real.

[Seth Payne]

I just trusted you. I was like, oh, I guess we're playing the wrong.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's your first mistake. That's your first mistake.

[Seth Payne]

Football is fun.

[Sean Pendergast]

Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same.

[John Harris]

Follow and listen to Heed the Call

[Sean Pendergast]

NFL Podcast with Dan Hanzas and Mark Sessler. Wherever you get your podcasts.