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The Recap show is an inside look
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into the world of global soccer and women's sports. Follow and listen to the recap show
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wherever you get your podcasts. I continue to say I think the Texans should be maybe the favorite of the afc. I don't have as much concern for them as a lot of other teams. Most people seem to disagree, but we'll talk about that here on Payne and Pender Gas. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. You can join the conversation anytime. 713-572-4610, on the text line or in the YouTube and Twitch chats. By the way, Seth, we talked about it earlier, this whole red card controversy with the, with the World Cup USA plays Belgium tonight. Apparently, from what I saw, they're going to allow Belgium to now appeal that today. So. Oh, so we're not done yet.
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This is going to be a down to the wire situation, I guess.
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How can you go back on the app? You already changed it once. You can't change it again now on an appeal. That would be ridiculous.
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This is just, this is so much turmoil surrounding, surrounding something that I feel so inept in. Like actually, I know my judgment of whether or not it should be a red card is, carries no weight whatsoever. And then when it comes to overturning the suspension, it's, it's just, it's, it's a way murkier feel than I want to have this morning. I just want to be able to enjoy it and, and watch people try to kick the ball into the goal. Like typ.
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Yeah, well, it starts at seven tonight. We'll see. We'll see what happens.
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So there's a chance that they might end up like coming onto the field and pulling him off right before the.
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I don't know. I don't know when the decision is going to have to be made, but I don't know how you can go back on it now after changing and you can't snip, snap this thing keep going back and forth.
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I wonder what, like, are there any theories about what? I guess I'm just trying to figure out a so Trump, Trump called the president of FIFA. If, like, if whatever he said had an influence on FIFA, what exactly would it have been? Like, what are the different avenues that the US could put pressure on FIFA or whether it was just, I mean there's a chance that FIFA might have done this independent of whether or not Trump called them, which at that point. Imagine if you're the FIFA president and you're like, okay, you know what? I'm pretty sure we're probably going to overturn this thing. And then all of a sudden, the President of the United States called like, ah, crap. Yeah, this is gonna, there's. Nobody's gonna believe me for a damn second. Nobody's gonna believe me for a damn second. This is what we were gonna do anyway.
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Yeah. Yeah. We were gonna do it anyways. Yeah. Now it's because we were gonna do it anyway.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. Now it's a much bigger, much bigger story. Well, we'll see what happens there in the meantime. And you know, the fellows coming up after us here in the Loop, they're big soccer guys, so they'll keep you all up to date of anything that might come out between now and then. So I've been saying for the different shows I've been been in on here in recent weeks, I keep making the case, and I'll make the case again here that I think the Texans should be, if not the favorite of the afc, one of, I would say, top three. And yet in the betting odds, they're tied for six right now. And if you had, if you polled people, I don't think they're putting the Texans in the top three best teams in the AFC going into this year. And so I bring all this up because the Athletic put out an article last week at the end of the, at the end of last week of the biggest remaining questions for all 32 NFL teams. And I don't know, Seth, if you and Sean had gone through this on air, but then the Athletic doubled down by coming out with another article of, okay, of these biggest questions, what are the biggest concerns for the upcoming year? And they chose four teams or four concerns as the biggest. And one was the Houston Texans was one of their biggest concerns of if the offense is going to be improved enough this year. So of the teams the Athletic was most concerned about, they put the Cardinals, the Commanders, the Dolphins and the Texans. It's almost like a Sesame street question where one of these things is not like the other.
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Yeah, yeah, I was really well. And even the commanders, though, the commanders are in that conversation where you could see it going, you could see it being better than, you know, way better than expected if some things work out or whatever. But throwing like the, to act like the four biggest questions have anything to do with the Dolphins or the Cardinals. I don't, I don't get or understand that at all when it's not on anybody's mind, really, other than when they have to compile articles about 32 teams that okay, this is all right. Like is this how quickly can the Dolphins rookies contribute? Cool. Will the turnaround be two years or three years? We don't know and nobody really cares. Can the Cardinals defense be any better? Maybe it's not going to make him a good football team. They can't, they can't get their starting quarterback, Jacoby Brissette to report to OTAs.
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Yeah, yeah. And as they said, the phrasing alarmed about these four situations listed in order of severity. And the Texans are number one. So at least for the athletic or this writer, his biggest concern has heading into the season is the Texans and if the offense is going to be good enough. And this is the point I've been trying to make on these airwaves here in recent weeks is I don't get this whole idea that when you look at the afc, I think there's far bigger questions or concerns for some of the other top teams in the afc. And just, just to run through them real quick, the Ravens and the Bills both have not only new head coaches, but first time head coaches. And we have not had first time head coaches win a Super bowl since the 1980s. It's only happened twice and it hasn't happened since 1989. So when you talk about the Ravens and the Bills are the two favorites right now, betting favorites at least to win the afc, they would do something that we don't see very often. A first, not first year like of Mike Frable, but first time head coaches having that much success.
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Well and I think with the Bills too, it's, they're almost, they're in that category where when people talk about him, I feel like they kind of just fly by some of the issues that they've had for the last couple of years and make it all about Josh Allen and whether or not he has the support and his, you know, the receivers to make something happen. They like they have one of the best running backs in the league in James Cook. But you do have like your offensive coordinator becoming the head coach for the first time. It's not like the offense was, it's not like the offense felt like, okay, yeah, this is what makes it through a playoff run. This is the kind of just the grind it out. We're going to destroy you no matter what because we have so many different options. It was still largely a lot of hero ball by Josh Allen that was going to determine whether or not they were good as an offense. And I don't, I don't feel like just Adding DJ Moore all of a sudden just flips the script that much. I, you know, I don't think it's the same as getting a younger Stefan Diggs in there and all of a sudden completely transforming the offense. And then the fact that they've got a brand new defensive coordinator with still a lot of questions in their secondary that they've had for years now, but also losing some of their best pass rushers like that. It, like there's a good chance that the Bills defense is actually worse this year than they were last year.
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Yeah, for sure. There's a good chance Joe Brady doesn't know what he's doing or even that the offense suffers. If he's going to try to call plays and now be a head coach. There's just, there's a lot of questions. I think that's a bigger question than the Texan scenario. I think even the Ravens new offensive coordinator, first time head coach, those are bigger questions elsewhere. Go ahead.
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The Ravens. The Ravens are kind of. I noticed this with the Saints when Peyton left. People kept talking about the Saints like they were the same organization. You would see people right. Two years after Peyton was gone, they would write things like, well, it seems like the Saints always have a way of figuring out how to may be relevant at the end of the year. Like, yeah, but yeah, undershot. What the hell are you talking about? It's. Sean Payne was a huge part of that, not to mention Drew Brees. So I don't know what you're talking about with the Ravens. I feel there's a little bit of that going on where people are talking about the Ravens organization as if, as if like Harbaugh is still there and that they're going to operate the same. That they're always going to have that, that same blend of competitive type players and everything. Maybe out of respect to the Ravens personnel department. But, but having a new head coach is, is kind of a big deal. And it's not as simple as, oh yeah, the Ravens will just operate the way they've always operated.
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Yeah, absolutely. I, I'm with you. I like the comparison to Sean Payton and the Saints. So those are the two teams that are considered the favorites. I'm surprised because I think they have bigger questions. Meanwhile, if you look elsewhere in the afc, the Chiefs should always be up there in the conversation. I get that. But we do have Mahomes coming off an entry for a team that hasn't been top 15 in offense the last three years. And I know the idea here. We're talking about like the top teams in the AFC or winning the afc. But I would also, taking it a step further, tell you that no quarterback has ever won a Super bowl coming off a torn acl. And you have Mahomes doing that. Now look, there's ever a guy to do it, it's Mahomes. But my point being, if you want to talk about who has the greater concern or who has the bigger question, maybe I'm being a homer. But I think Mahomes coming off this injury and what you're going to get from him this year might be a bigger question or concern than whatever we're talking about with the Texans and their offense. Maybe I'm crazy.
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I don't well known. And I think that's this is one of those scenarios where if you pull the Chiefs fan base, I feel like the, the this might be one of those scenarios where they'll Chiefs fan base feels like national media is being too nice to the Chiefs, that they're ignoring the fact that, okay, depending on Rasheed Rice to be your your bulwark at wide receiver has been kind of a dicey proposition over the last few years. Xavier Worthy hasn't really turned into what they hoped and that it doesn't feel like they've done a whole lot to address all of that. That, that there's, there's a, there's a certain amount of just respect for Mahomes and the Chiefs logo that just seems to assume that of course, while, yeah, with a, with a relatively healthy Mahomes, they'll be just fine. No, they weren't. They weren't just fine when Mahomes got injured last year. They haven't been just fine for a while now. They've like, they've been kind of scrapping it together and relying on their defense as much or more so than their offense for the last couple years. They were in the Super Bowl. It is not hard to destroy a college.
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Last season, the podcast Campus Files brought you stories of fraternity drug rings, stolen body parts, campus cults, and more. And now Campus Files is back for another season. There's a guy screaming into his phone. He's like, I just saw Charlie Kirk get assassinated right in front of me. Every week is a new episode and a new story.
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It was so chaotic.
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It's almost like a university under siege. Listen to and follow Campus Files available now wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, I'm, I'm with you. And so, you know, I think there's some concerns. There are some bigger questions there. Again, this all comes from the idea that the athletic athletics said their biggest concern is with the Texans. The Texans are, is the number one team in the league where they're most concerned about when it comes to a specific issue for that team elsewhere in the afc, the Patriots. I'll be honest, the Patriots might be my weakest argument, but it's just the fact that it seems like they overachieved last year. They had the easiest schedule. They had a pretty easy walk in the playoffs. Teams oftentimes might struggle to get back there the following year. Plus, you throw in the Rossini and Vrabel things, schedule is going to be tougher this year. Teams might figure out Drake may a little bit more. It might not be my strongest argument, but I think most people are expecting the Patriots to take a step back. And yet right now, currently they have better odds in the AFC than the Texans.
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They have the, the Patriots are an interesting one because they had by a lot of respects and DVOA and everything that it was one of the easiest schedules in the history of football, in the history of modern football. And yet they did, they did have some good offensive performances versus some of the good defenses on their schedule. And that it almost, it feels so much like, like we're in the college football rankings argument. You know, where you're talking about, like, I don't ever remember talking about strength, strength of schedule as much as we did with the Patriots last year in the NFL. It felt, it felt like college football. I think the biggest thing for the Patriots would be that one like, okay, you bring in A.J. brown, great, but let's not pretend like Stefon Diggs wasn't a big part of what they did last year. And then A.J. brown is, he's not old at all, but that it's been, he's, he's, he's a couple years removed from when he was at his scariest that I don't think it's as simple as saying, oh, well, A.J. brown is a clear upgrade over Stefon Diggs, especially when you're dealing with a young quarterback. But that also, like, you know, it's not, we don't know for sure that Will Campbell is actually a good left tackle. Like, he had injuries that were an excuse for last year, but he was just, he was disgustingly bad in the playoffs. And whether it's his tiny little elfin arms or whether it was because he was injured or whatever else it might be, if they don't get their O line figured out and operating better, it's real hard We've seen this with CJ Stroud. It's hard to replicate some of that early success if your offensive line is getting worse year by year.
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Absolutely. Yeah. I have a lot of questions about the Patriots trying to duplicate their success this year. Other teams that are right now considered better than the Texans, who I think might have bigger questions. The Denver Broncos is another one where new offensive coordinator has never called plays before. Now, granted, Sean Payton's there to look over his shoulder, but then you also have a quarterback coming off an injury. And I just told you a moment ago, no quarterback has won a Super bowl coming off, you know, an ACL or the lower leg. Injuries like that that caused them to miss eight to nine months. So you have a quarterback who. I still have questions about Bo Nix. Now you throw in the injury. Now you throw in a new play caller. I put them right there, if not higher than the Texans of teams in the AFC that I think I have more concerns about or more questions.
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You know, what's funny is it's not funny for Bo Nix, but it's funny for me. During that Broncos game, he, when he got injured early in the game, they'd run some, you know, some design QB runs and some genuine zone reads type stuff like that. And I was texting with one of my friends who coaches high school football now, but he was in the. Drew Hodginey, he was an NFL offensive lineman. And I said, you know, like, why is it these NFL coaches will. They'll have a lot of success with designed QB runs early in the game and then they just move so drastically away from them in the second half. And he was like, I know it's frustrating. And I guess, like, the only thing I can guess is it really is. They're just genuinely worried about. They want to get as much bang for the buck out of it, but they're worried about the quarterback getting injured. And then lo and behold, Bo Nix gets injured running the ball. And did he get injured at the end of the fourth quarter or in overtime? It was on that overtime series that they ended up scoring. Whatever it was. Yeah, he gets injured now. He's still still a relative question mark, even though he participated in OTAs and everything that I. People don't feel rock solid, 100% confident that he's. That he's going to be 100%.
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Yeah. That was such a weird one. Honestly, I don't remember. Because they won the game. You had no idea that it was an injury like that. And then as you're celebrating this win Sean Payton at the podium's like, oh, by the way, bro, Bo Nicks just whatever, broke his foot. Whatever. It was like, he's out for the rest of the playoffs. It's like, wait, what? It was such a roller coaster. It was so strange. I didn't, you know, you didn't realize watching the game that he suffered such a severe injury.
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Yeah.
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And wasn't going to be available the following week. The final team I'll reference here that is considered to be better than the Texans on paper is the Chargers. And look, Mike McDaniel might be a home run, but they have two new coordinators. I still have plenty of questions about Justin Herbert myself. I put him in the same category as CJ Stroud, plus new coordinators. And Mike McDaniel, call me a hater. I think he's still kind of living on the whole Shanahan thing of, of he wasn't calling the plays with Shanahan, but just because he was with Shanahan in San Francisco, he's considered this like, mad genius.
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You know what it. I think with him, I think the, the post mortem on Tuatanga Violoa's career and I know he's still, he might be a starter this year, but I'll say the post mortem on his, on his Dolphins career is really, now it's turned into. Okay, you know what? That early success was all a whole lot of Tyree kill and Mike McDaniel and them scheming him to be the best version that Tuatanga Bailoa could be. So that's, that's going to be really interesting because you just don't, like, that's the only instance you've seen with him as a, as an offensive coordinator on a new team that is he going to add something to the mix that makes Justin Herbert the best version of himself? I think it's very, very possible. But Justin Herbert also, like, who is making, oh, I saw Quincy Avery making this point. Somebody like, hey, like, you know who had four interceptions and a really, really bad playoff performance on the road? It was Justin Herbert. And yet here we are three years later and people aren't clamoring for, you know, Justin Herbert. Like, people aren't talking like Z. Justin Herbert's the, the biggest disappointment in all the league. And that does put things into context a little bit as bad as CJ's performance was that. Yeah, okay, yeah. Peyton Manning threw four interceptions in a playoff performance once. You gotta, you gotta try to temper it a little bit and see what happens this year.
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I said Friday during the radio thon. Yeah. I think Herbert, for whatever reason, he's just like Teflon. People still say he's like a top five quarterback this and that. He's been lousy in the biggest games of his career. If you look up the numbers, he's not good when trailing in the fourth quarter or two minute drills. Like he's not a clutch quarterback.
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He loses a lot of close games. The last couple of years he's been managed and just not even throwing the football all that much for large stretches.
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Right. And yet people are so like ah, top five quarterback or certainly at least top 10 just based off like potential and skill set. So anyways, my point being I was surprised that another publication, in this case the Athletic, ranked the Texans number one on their list. And maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill here, but they race. They ranked the Texans number one on their list of, of situations that they are most concerned about. And for the Texans it was about their offense. And as I just tried to lay out, I think you can make the case for just about every other team that we think or people think is better than the Texans in the afc. I think they have larger if not equal concerns than the Texans.
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It's, I mean so much of it revolves around C.J. stroud. It's this time of year where people are writing so many articles about all 32 teams and it's a lot of stuff like this biggest question, biggest X factor, biggest that. I mean it's, it's all C.J. stroud.
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Yeah.
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I mean understandably and justifiably so. But it just, my God, we can't get to real football soon enough. Or at least that first, that one series that CJ Plays in the first, first preseason game, if that where we read everything into it based on that one series against vanilla defenses and a bunch of backups. Yes. Does he look like he could win a Super Bowl?
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Yeah. It's going to be the Shroud super bowl himself. We'll see. So yeah, that's, that's, that's my point. This team was. The Texans should have been in the super bowl last year if they just got average quarterback play. And yet everyone's talking about, you know, we're putting them in the same conversation here in this article as the, the Dolphins and the Commanders and the Cardinals. Let's relax. So there's some audio too that I wanted to get to. We'll try to get to it next, including from Aaron Shots who might agree with, with the case I was just making but also I want to get to this when we come back. Andre Ware was on the radio thon. He was on these airwaves Friday with Reggie and Ron helping them raise a bunch of money as they did. But he had he gave his thoughts on CJ Stroud, the struggles for Stroud in this offense. And so we'll hear from the quarterback Andre Ware and next here on pain and Pendergast lemonade, Fresh squeezed lemonade.
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