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- [00:00]
A
Life can feel overwhelming, but on my podcast from the Heart with Rachel Braethan, we're in it together. Every Friday, a new episode brings you a new story with topics on motherhood, wellness, self love and more. Listen to from the Heart with Rachel Braethon. Wherever you get your podcasts, Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way. And with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help choosing a plan that fits your needs so you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Head to state farm.com to get a quote. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
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B
La Playa can sound like. For others it's. But this is our Playa Corona. La Playa awaits. Relax responsibly. Corona Extra beer imported by Crown Import, Chicago, Illinois. I paint a Pendergast with you. Into the 7 o' clock hour we go Sport Sports Radio 610. We are under two weeks away from our station becoming 95. 7 the fan. So that's exciting.
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C
What?
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B
James Litford just walked by and he said, hey boys, congratulations on the new stadium.
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C
He did.
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B
He did.
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C
Yeah. I acknowledge that he did. Yeah.
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B
He listens.
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C
And for anybody that's just. You don't want to get off the AM dial. We'll still be there, but we're going to be on FM95.7 and sports radio
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B
6:10aM yeah, it'll be 6:10 the fan.
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D
Yeah.
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B
Yep. So that'll be.
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C
Oh, 6:10 the fan.
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B
610 the fan. Yeah.
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C
Sports radio August 13th.
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B
Yup. 610 the fan 95.
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C
Pay attention to these meetings.
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B
That's okay. Yeah. You got the high points of it.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Yeah.
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C
So besides, you know what's annoying me now about our company now that the Odyssey, apparently they wrote this new. This new movie called the Odyssey. Brand new concept. Never been done before. Yep. But no, now that the Odyssey is out, I wanted to Google some stuff about the movie or the original Odyssey. The actual. The piece of literature.
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B
Yeah.
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C
But it keeps autocorrecting to Odyssey.
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B
Your voice to text is. Is auto is putting in your employer.
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C
So I keep in. I'm trying to search for Odyssey the movie and I'm getting info on Mike Meltzer back in 2016.
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B
Yeah, well, that's. That's the. You know what? If that's your employer and that's the thing that annoys you, it could be worse.
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C
Meltzer is in my list. He's in my top two of co hosts that I've had.
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B
Oh, nice.
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C
You're on there.
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B
Who's the other one?
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C
You're on there, too.
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B
Yeah, that would have sucked.
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C
I've only had two. I'm not some hussy like some people that's had had a boatload of codes.
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B
I've had so many. I. Oh, yeah.
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C
Who knows what I'm picking up?
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B
Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's why Seth wears a mask to the show every day. Seth's masking up. My co host has been with a lot of other co hosts. All right, so the theme yesterday, Seth, let's. Let's get to the. Let's get to emptying your notebook here.
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C
The theme for yesterday was that there's a big difference for me between this year and last year early in training camp, and it's. I've noticed a very distinct absence of an utter lack of utter sense of despair. I don't have an utter sense of despair about the offense. And I was. I had been saying things a lot. I caught myself saying a lot like, oh, it's a no pads. It's a no pads. What are you going to, you know. Yeah, I don't know for real until there's no pads. I think a lot of the issues with the offensive line in the last couple years has been as much mental as it's been physical. So the missed assignments, the miscommunications, some of those things, whether they're wearing pads or not, you could see that you could pick up on it. You have run throughs by unblocked defensive linemen that's gotten drastically better so that I don't care whether they're wearing pads or not. It just looks like a better functioning unit out there. And then also early in camp last year, people were starting to kind of grumble a little bit about, like, I don't know about what's going on with cj. He doesn't seem as accurate as he usually is. We haven't had those discussions. I haven't had any concerns about it. Like, he's not going to complete 100% of his passes. Nobody does. He's looked like a. He's looked like a competent NFL quarterback. And the offense itself around him looks.
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B
No, last year, the ball was hitting the ground in seven on sevens.
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C
Yeah.
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B
And, you know, and then yesterday, like, he completes and I know, I know. NFL football is 11 on 11.
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C
Yeah.
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B
I'm saying, like, the basic things, the basic baseline. He is hitting and overachieving that, you
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C
know, yesterday we got to go over. They let us. They walked us around the. We had to walk the entire perimeter to get over to the back corner.
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B
It looked like a lot of work.
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C
They don't want to met. This grass is pristine. They don't want to mess this up. I get with us in our tennis shoes, you know.
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D
Yeah.
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C
Meanwhile, I got £300. No. But, um, it's fun watching Cole Popovich work because. Because, you know, d'. Amico. D' Amico doesn't like his coaches to be all, you know, he wants them to be, like, modern. You know, don't. Don't be a bastard when you're talking to your players.
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B
He said that yesterday. He said the reason our coaches can coach hard is because they connect with our guys as people.
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C
Right, right, right, right. But Popovich is like. Popovich is like the movie version of an offensive line.
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B
He's, like, closest to the old school.
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C
He is aggressive, you know, and like every coach, like, d' Amico always has a couple guys on his staff that like, all right, they. They get away with doing what they want to do, you know, because they're. They're really good and effective at it. And the. The O lineman, it, like. Popovich is very brusque, but more so than any O line coach I can remember with the Texans. The players gush about him. Yeah. Like, they. They love him. Like, yeah, you can tell that Popovich, there's some coaches that coach that way, and they're just bastards deep in their soul. Yeah. Like, there's some coaches that coach that way, but the players respond to it and like it because they know the guy actually cares about him.
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B
Well, and I think this goes back to. To the types of guys they bring in, you know, d' Ameco and Nick d', Amico, Ryan's Nick Casario, they're pretty meticulous about finding their types of guys. And I think one of the boxes that they check on their types of guys is can they take hard coaching?
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C
Yeah.
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B
Do they like being coached? You know, do they like being held accountable? That's what's happening over at that position.
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C
You know, that's. It reminds me a little bit of Alex Gibbs Sr. Back when he was, you know, the O line coach that first really brought. Helped bring competent offense to the Texans. He was kind of a brusque, old school type of guy, and it didn't matter if you were, if you're a 10 year veteran, it was the highest played guy in the league. He's going to, he's going to, he's going to let you know exactly what you need to work on. So the offensive line in general, my overall takeaway is that they're, they're much more dialed in mentally, so they're not wearing pads. All right, cool. You're not, some things you're just not going to know until they, until they, until they get out there in pads. But they didn't even have a chance to lose a physical battle last year. Like they were, like the guys weren't close enough to get beaten physically because they took two steps in the wrong direction. That's improved drastically not just from last training camp but really from the first half of last season. It just looks a lot tighter mentally.
- [07:02]
B
So here was d'. Ameco Ryan's that yeah, it's looked better. And d' Ameco still though, I love this. Like he was still, he was still in the press conference yesterday kind of harping on the things that need to improve with this offense. He said the offense maybe went a little bit backwards in day two.
- [07:19]
D
The one thing that stood out to me is, you know, we got a, we had some poor pre snap penalties. We kind of went backwards offensively. So those are some things that stood out where we can clean those things up defensively we got to finish on the football better. Had a couple opportunities to take the football away and we did it. So both sides right there got things we can clean up on. Come back tomorrow.
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C
Yeah. And I think, you know, when d' Ameco brought that up, I really, I think he was thinking specifically about one period and as it relates to the ones, the first offense, first team offense, it was really just one set of downs where Keelan Rutledge had a fumbled QB center snap exchange, CJ was under center. Then there was a run that went nowhere. Then there was a pre snap penalty that was the first pre snap penalty that I had noticed from the ones. So it was, it was conspicuous because that was the only really ugly period that we'd seen the Texans have and by and large it looked worse than it did the first day because there were any issues at all. I guess the other part that I wonder about is did they add some complexity to the mix? Because that's where the, that's when things start going wrong is when you're adding complexity to it. Are you adding some checks where you're using some More motion. Like, that's, that's where you start.
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B
This is where, this is where you're allowed to let it go wrong. Best to go wrong in day two of training camp than go wrong in week one against the Buffalo Bills.
- [08:43]
C
Yeah, like, by and large, it's been really, really clean. And the O line and the tight ends, especially in their blocking, it's just, it's, it's been very clean and the pre snap part's been very clean.
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B
The running backs have gotten a lot of compliments out here from. People was gushing about Woody Marks yesterday.
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D
Yeah.
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C
And I think the biggest thing I've noticed with the running backs, two things really is one, when they're running their zone runs, especially, man, if you compare it to Damian Pierce trying to get straightened out and figure out zone runs in the NFL, man, it just looked, it looked sluggish. It looked like he was hesitant to make his reads. You don't see any of that with Montgomery or Woody Marks or even George Jordan. Yeah, they're. They're hitting their, they're hitting their reads and taking that one cut and getting up field really quickly. That's good to see. The, the other thing is that, and this is similar to something we saw last year, but they're getting the running backs involved in the passing game a lot. And it's. And it's in both different aspects of it. There's one, there's some designed throws to the quarter to the running backs. There's been some screens that are well executed by the offensive line, but then also just CJ early in the down, especially if it's first or second down, seeing like, all right, I don't like this coverage. Get it to the running back now. Get it to the running back when he's got some time to work and do something with it. And CJ Made progress with that last year, but it's an, it's an ongoing process.
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B
David Montgomery's been a nice, I think for people who, you know, haven't watched David Montgomery, he's done some nice things in the passing game these first couple practices. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. I think, I think, and I know you point this out in the rundown. This is something I've mentioned a couple times too, as we've headed into training camp, is using packages where Woody Marks and David Montgomery are out there at the same time.
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C
Yeah.
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B
The skill set that both of those guys have give you a real luxury because Woody Marks is ahead of the curve as far as young players go. And being able to do everything that allows you to be out there. He's very good in pass pro. He's very smart. Montgomery's been around forever, so we know he's going to be proficient in those things. The fact that they both have kind of a complete all around skill set, really, if they're both out there, there's a lot of mystery that you can provide for the defense. You know, you can keep the defense off balance with the two of them.
- [10:55]
C
And I think the one thing about Woody Marks that, you know, a lot of people nationally might not realize because they weren't, you know, the Texans weren't much of a talking point in the first half of the season until they righted the ship from their 03 start was that when Woody Marks became the number one back, they stopped, you know, working him in as a receiver as much and the focus was in just getting him dialed in in the run game. But yes, obviously he's as adept as a receiver, but he's also adept as a pass protector. So with, by rookie standards, he was really good. Like he was aggressive, he cared about it, he was smart. And that's going to be better this year. But what that does for the offense is, look, you got a young rookie running back or a second year running back who's adept as a receiver, but he can't pass block. It makes it real easy for the defense to know what to worry about. When he's actually adept as a pass protector. The then all of a sudden, all right, we don't know exactly should we blitz? We know we got a guy in there that can help pick up the blitz or Woody can make those decisions. That part of it is really intriguing for Woody Marks.
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B
What has stood out to you with the receiving core so far?
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C
Jaden Higgins, okay, has stood out Jaden Higgins in both practices, right, because he had a really nice catch. He had a nice catch and run. It's always hard to tell. Okay, would he have, you know, would Jaylen Petrie have made a tackle or would he have broken it or whatever on the first day. But yesterday, the first, the first catchy, the first pass he caught from CJ was just a beautifully placed ball on the sideline. I don't know if it was a toe tapper or not, but he had to catch it pretty much going, you know, at high speed, out of bounds. And I think for everything that they want out of him and the ability to move him around, use him in the slot, I wouldn't have brought this up because we're not supposed to talk about formations a whole lot, but d' Ameco ended up bringing it up yesterday. Yeah, like we're moving around, we're playing him inside and like he can be that movable chess piece and he's going to be a lot smarter in the second year in this offense.
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B
We've got that right here. Here's d'. Ameco. Ryan's talking about Jaden Higgins.
- [12:56]
D
Jaden, I put him in the same category. Woody, he's taking that year to jump. You're seeing a guy who were able to move around the formation a little bit more, get him inside the formation. He's making some plays just everywhere we put him. My first play of practice today, Ron is a great route. CJ gives him a great ball, just shows his growth, shows a guy you can rely on, guy you can count on, you know, in those crunch situations. And we're going to need him. We need a guy to step up opposite Nico and be a threat and Jaden can be that guy for us.
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B
And I think we can't overstate this, that this time last year, the inability for CJ Stroud to get on the same page, really with both rookie wide receivers last year, both their second year guys now, Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel, it was tough sledding early on, you know, just the precision was not there between the two.
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C
And I think too with, you know, last year when there were concerns about CJ's accuracy and training camp, a lot of that at times was just receivers not being in the right spot.
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B
Right.
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C
You know, there was some nice, there was some really nice pass. CJ had some curious incompletions last year, but he also had some passes that were actually placed exactly where the receiver should have been. But when it was a rookie or somebody that wasn't quite up to speed on the offense, it looks like an inaccurate pass. We haven't seen as nearly as much of that this year. He threw a really nice pass to Xavier Hutchinson who was in tight coverage by Jalen Petrie. The other guys that have shown up or the other guy that's shown up a lot from multiple different quarterbacks is Justin Watson.
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B
Yes.
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C
So like the back end of the wide receiver depth chart is going to be super competitive. Lewis Bonds made a couple nice plays.
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B
Yeah, it'll be interesting because we know, we know Nico Higgins, Noel are all making the teams. I think Xavier Hutchinson is probably too. Tank Dell's a mystery right now. Yeah, that's five. Typically I think they take six. So yeah, Justin Watson Lewis Bond, the six rounder, you know, that's, there's some, there's some good competition at the back end of that room.
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C
The other guy that keeps showing up with multiple different quarterbacks too is Brevin Jordan.
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D
Yeah.
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C
And I guess, you know, tell the
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B
people what you're seeing with Brevin Jordan.
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C
Brevin was for one in the boot game was really good yesterday. There was a play where Davis Mills had to scramble and extend the play. And I think it was an honest scramble. It wasn't, it wasn't like, you know, he would have been sacked or training
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B
camp scramble, but he was, he was,
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C
he was rolling out to the right and ended up hitting, hitting Brevin Jordan with a nice pass. And Brevin Jordan made a nice catch, but he's been, he just keeps showing up. There was one.
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B
Is that the one in the end zone?
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C
Yeah, that was one in the end zone.
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B
That was nice.
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C
There was one where he was running down the seam and he didn't pull the ball in, but he was open. It was a high pass from Davis Mills. And you know, without the benefit of the replay or anything, I don't know whether I blame Davis or Brevin Jordan on that or both. I think it was probably catchable, but I'm more interested in the fact that he was open down the seam in that too.
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B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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C
So like, yeah, he's going to make it interesting. He's got a different skill set than Cade's over and really the rest. He's got a different skill set than any of the other tight ends and does, but just to keep four tight ends on a roster, that's, that's not typical in the NFL.
- [16:07]
B
You played defensive tackle for 10 years in the NFL. The Texans drafted a defensive tackle in the second round, Kaden McDonald, so we're getting our first look at him. If we flip over to the defensive side of the ball before we get your thoughts on what you're seeing out of Kaden McDonald, who's an important player for this team this season and a very important player for this team over the next few years. Here was D' Amico Ryan's yesterday when he was asked, How's Kaden McDonald looking so far?
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C
Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today.
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A
Well, I'm letting go of the worry
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C
that I wouldn't get my new contacts
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A
in time for this class.
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B
I got them delivered free from 1, 800 contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast.
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C
And pull.
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A
Breathe.
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C
Oh, sorry.
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A
I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry.
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B
Namaste.
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A
Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.
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B
1-800-contacts.
- [17:02]
A
The recap show is an inside look
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C
into the world of global soccer and women's sports.
- [17:07]
A
Follow and listen to the recap show wherever you get your podcasts. Finding ways to be financially savvy is a smart move. And knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want, like that dream home or new R, is a great feeling. That's why the State Farm personal price plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home in auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state.
- [17:42]
D
Really show how strong he is. He's probably one of the stronger guys that we have. You see him doing drills. He's knocking the coaches back a lot. Coaches are trying to hold bags and be tough guys, but Caden is doing a great job of showing the strength that he has. Now. Can he pull it all in and can you consistently play with the proper hand placement, the proper footwork, every single row?
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B
All right, give us the early scouting report.
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C
Yeah, like, no. He is incredibly strong, and he's big and he's powerful. He is, like, he's physically exactly what he got drafted for. What they're really working on him with right now is his hand placement and just firing off and firing off straight ahead. This is very, very normal for a big guy that's trying to work on his technique. He'll come out of his stance and he's throwing his hands, but he's doing it, like, straight up in the air, which is awesome. If you're trying to punch out Glass Joe.
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B
Yeah.
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C
Remember when you hit Glass Joe with the undercut.
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B
Oh, dude, he was toast.
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C
Right?
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B
Right.
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C
Oh, he would knock out Glass Joe in three seconds. Kids.
- [18:42]
B
Mike Tyson's punch out was this game back in the day.
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C
I know, hard. Like, when you're working on this stuff, you know, you can see that he's really working at it. The first couple days, I've impressed with his eagerness to be coached with the effort that he's putting in there. He's asking for extra reps, and I think it's all there. I'd really. I can't judge him until they get the Pats out like him and Keelan Rutledge both. It's going to be fun to watch those two going against each other.
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B
Yeah. Yeah.
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C
Because they're both big, strong, powerful guys that need to refine their technique. But he's. So far, everything I've seen out of Caden McDonald matches what the scouting report would have said of him. I don't like you. I don't think he's going to get 10 sacks as rookie or anything. He can develop into a guy. I think he will get push in the pocket. And if you look at the Texans defensive tackles, they do a really good job of kind of unselfishly at times, not not giving themselves a chance to get a sack because they're just. They know that their first goal is to push the pocket. And then for defensive tackles, if you're not Warren Sapp or J.J. watt or somebody, it's dicey when you get to that spot where you push the pocket and then you decide to try to try to disengage and get past because you create a running lane. The Texans guys like Tim Settle and Tommy Togi last year, they do a really good job of pushing and then understanding, okay, I gotta wait and see where the quarterback's going. McDonald would be really good at that initially already just because of his size and strength.
- [20:04]
B
You know how he set very high goals for himself. Caden McDowell, he wants to be first team all probably he wants to be defensive rookie of the year. I don't know if this is on his list of accolades he's looking for, but he is on Gennaro Felice of NFL.com's preseason All Rookie team. Ah, so that's one accolade right there.
- [20:24]
C
I think the. It's tough on the with the Texans because they rotate their defensive linemen so much and I think he's initially going to be a guy that is in there on first and second down. I liked what Will Anderson said a couple of days ago about his goals are all about, you know, where he wants to get better his technique and everything and not worry about the outside stuff because you don't have a lot of control over the outside stuff and what the voters do or anything. And Will is kind of taking Caden under his wing. So I'm guessing he's having some conversations with him about like, hey, look at him. You could have the see for what this team is asking you to do, you could be the best defensive tackle of all time, but you have zero control over whether or not you're going
- [20:58]
B
to be first no, the old Kaden McDonald is good for radio. When he walks by here, I'm going to pick up my iPad and show him like, hey, Kaden, did you see you made the first team preseason all rookie.
- [21:09]
C
Yeah.
- [21:10]
B
Stop listening to Will Anderson.
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C
Listen to Sean Penrose or you're a loser. Yeah, yeah.
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B
You could be a radio host someday if you listen to me, Kaden, I know you could make millions of dollars being a defensive tackle, but if you keep saying bombastic things that wind up on the radio, you too, can be a hot take artist.
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C
The other thing was, you know, Solomon Bird flashed a few times yesterday, and he's a guy that's, you know, in the third year of his career, and he's got a chance here now with both Derek Barnett and Daniko Autry gone, he's got a chance to make the active roster more at a position of need.
- [21:43]
B
Yeah, yeah, you've been saying that. The depth at defensive.
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C
At defensive end, Will Anderson in the. They were just. It wasn't one on one pass rush. They were just doing pass rush drills versus dummies. But he did that little Daniel Hunter hop.
- [21:56]
B
Yeah. You took a video of it that should terrify the other 31 teams.
- [21:59]
C
It was awesome.
- [22:00]
B
Will is adding moves.
- [22:02]
C
Beautiful. People accuse me of speeding it. Speeding up the video. No, I said no. Listen to the audio. You can hear Rod Wright's voice on there, just speaking at his normal.
- [22:10]
B
Will Anderson is speeding that video up. Yeah, he's the one doing it.
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C
He's adding to his repertoire.
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B
Hey, last thing as we empty out Seth Payne's training camp notebook. We've not talked much about Logan hall. And as long as we're talking about positions of need and versatility and whatnot, his ability to play outside or inside may end up being big.
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C
He is a tall glass of water. Logan Hall. Cougs Will remember this. And I talked to Matt Berk little bit after practice yesterday, and Burke was talking about how he's. He liked Logan hall coming out.
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B
Did you guys compare beards?
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C
Huh?
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B
Did you compare beards?
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C
He's trimmed down his. A little bit.
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D
He has.
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C
He's a little too well manicured, frankly.
- [22:45]
B
So you're the Grizzly Adams of this duo.
- [22:48]
C
Well, he's trimmed down, too. He's lost some weight. Yeah, he looks good. I was like, man, I was. I was gonna. You need to let your beard go a little bit. Get on my. Gain about £20 or so. Yeah, gain £20 and grow out your beard. But he liked Logan hall coming out of college in that I think his versatility in his ability to play inside or outside is going to be something that they they can use on a game plan by game plan basis. When they first signed him and d' Ameco it said they're going to start him off on the inside and that makes sense given the scheme that he came out of. They're going to be asking him to do some things at defensive tackle that are different than a lot of what he did in Tampa playing. He can go out and play end on this team and it's going to feel like no big deal at all. So I think a lot of the work is going to be on the inside early on in Tampa, but he could easily in any given game be playing mostly defensive end or mostly defensive tackle. And he's an impressive looking dude.
- [23:40]
B
Yep. So that's Seth emptying out the notebook, getting you up to speed in a big, big detailed way on what's going on out here at training camp. Let's shift gears for a minute and just take a look inside the AFC South. I would say probably the biggest news involving a non Texans team in the division is the fact that it looks like Daniel Jones is a full go or he is a full go for training camp. This was Daniel Jones earlier this week confirming that. Yeah, I'm feeling good. Feeling good. I think.
- [24:08]
A
Yeah.
- [24:08]
B
Plan is to be back in 11, 11 full team drills tomorrow or Wednesday when we start up practice. So be out there with the guys. Excited to get back back rolling but feeling good and rehab has been good to this point.
- [24:21]
C
Still some work to do as we
- [24:23]
B
get ready for week one, but feeling
- [24:25]
C
really good with where I am. All right, you know what, this is annoying me now. Can we cool it down a little bit on the Achilles tendons injury being so easy to come back from these days. The reports out of Colts camp are that he looks mobile. He looks like pre injury Daniel Jones. He's on rollouts and everything. Just looks like it's no big deal. Look, this used to be a death blow. I don't think we can even use Achilles heel as a metaphor anymore. What's my Achilles heel? Oh, you mean that thing. That might be a minor setback but
- [24:55]
B
I'll come back surgery from it. I'll be back in three weeks.
- [24:59]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is but Daniel Jones reportedly so far very early in camp looks like it's this Achilles tendon is no big deal.
- [25:08]
B
Daniel Jones doesn't scare me, man. I know, I know. They were great the first eight or nine games of the season. Last year he was on an MVP track. Daniel Jones is a little like Trevor Lawrence to me. You know, they've been, they're somewhat similar in that they've had these flashes of play. Yeah, they get them paid, right? They get them paid. But Trevor Lawrence is a guy who's played way more bad football than good football. The league has figured him out one time before after a supposed season where he was making the leap.
- [25:35]
C
Yeah.
- [25:36]
B
And Daniel Jones, same thing. He had that big season back in 2022 like just like Trevor Lawrence did in 20. There was the same season in 2022. He was with the Giants. Daniel Jones was. We've just seen this from them before.
- [25:47]
C
I'll quote Calum Bullock, who last year on Good Morning Football said we got to stop the run. That's their whole offense. The whole offense goes through Jonathan Taylor. He's the best back this year. Once you stop him, we feel like the offense don't have nothing else.
- [26:01]
B
I think that's good analysis by Kalen Bullock.
- [26:04]
C
You know, and that's where when I think Shane Steichen has done a really good job getting the most out of guys like Gardner Minshew. And he does, he'll mix in the rpo. He does a whole lot of misdirection and things that keep a defense off balance. But you can only do so much of that before it's all on film and you know what the little tricks are to try to cover up his weaknesses. And by and large, if you stop Jonathan Taylor, it makes it really difficult. If you stop Jonathan Taylor, Daniel Jones turns back into a goofy eyed pumpkin.
- [26:34]
B
Yes.
- [26:34]
C
You know pumpkin that looks lost and confused pumpkin.
- [26:38]
B
Yes, he's a goofy eyed pumpkin. Here's Chris Ballard, the GM of the Indianapolis Colts. He was, I guess he's in the last year of his contract and was asked about doing a contract extension with the Colts. Here's what he had to say. No, no, I wouldn't do one.
- [26:54]
D
Why not?
- [26:56]
B
I'm in the last year of my deal.
- [26:57]
D
We need to win.
- [26:59]
B
I'm pretty confident talking into a mic. Hey, I'm doing it right now. But home projects, I second guess everything. Is that noise normal? Is that water damage? Who do I even call? That's where thumbtack comes in. Just upload a photo or voice note and it uses AI powered search to match you with a right top rated local pro. So instead of guessing you get clarity and can hire with confidence for your next home project. Try thumbtack. Hire the right pro today.
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A
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B
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- [28:59]
A
I'm Jenna Fisher.
- [29:00]
B
And I'm Angela Kinsey and we have the podcast Office Ladies.
- [29:04]
A
Every Wednesday we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories and lots of laughs.
- [29:08]
C
Follow and listen to Office Ladies on
- [29:10]
A
the free Odysee app and wherever you get your podcasts,
- [29:15]
B
you need to win. Okay, yeah, that's a.
- [29:19]
C
You know, that's some self awareness. You need to win a. You need to make the playoffs or win a playoff game.
- [29:25]
B
It's when you look at the body of work of the Colts over the last decade, he got there in 2017 or 2018 around there about the same time Frank Reich got there. It's incredible that he's lasted as long as he has at the G as the GM that they've won one playoff game and it was right across the street here at NRG stadium back in 2018. Yeah, and it's almost like he got a pass for a few years after Andrew Luck up and retired unexpectedly. That was in 2019.
- [29:51]
C
Sean they haven't. They haven't before COVID Sean they haven't guess when the last time they won the division was 2021.
- [29:58]
B
I think they won the division.
- [29:59]
C
2014.
- [30:01]
B
Okay. 2021. They made the playoffs.
- [30:03]
C
They made the playoffs. The 9 and 8 record. They finished second that year.
- [30:06]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the Carson Wentz year.
- [30:08]
C
Like, they used to own this division. They did, you know.
- [30:11]
B
Yeah. Back in the early days.
- [30:12]
C
Yeah. 2014 was the last time they won the division. Wow.
- [30:16]
B
And I'm in the play. Last playoff game they won was here. Right. They haven't won a playoff game since 2018.
- [30:21]
C
They lost a wild card game in 2020.
- [30:23]
B
Okay.
- [30:24]
C
Yeah.
- [30:24]
B
Okay. So they. Yeah, so they lost a wild card game. So the last one they won was here. Yeah. So Chris Ballard will not do an extension. Okay. So if they offer. You telling me, Chris Ballard, they offer you a multi year extension for tens of millions of dollars, you're going to say no because you got to win this year.
- [30:39]
D
Yeah.
- [30:39]
C
Sorry. You were right, by the way. I was. You were. The last one they won was in and they won. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They won that. They made the playoffs in 2020, but they didn't win a game.
- [30:47]
B
Yeah. All right. Payne and Pendergast with you on a. On a Friday here. Let's shift gears over the Astros for a little bit. All right, so the Astros are 55 and 55. They are back to.500. They're a half game out in this horrible division that they're in. Yeah, 55 and 55 in late July gets you a half game out of first place. Okay, so as we handicap the. As we handicap Monday, which is the trade deadline. Trade deadline is 5 o' clock Monday afternoon. I think the chances of them making a deal that is a seller's deal is practically 0%. I think there's a 0% chance that the Astros are going to be trading a. A foundational everyday player or a. Or a pitcher in their rotation or a key bullpen piece to another team. Everybody who fits that description right now is going to be on this team come August 4th, the day after the trade deadline. Yeah, I feel strongly about that. So I think they're either in buy or hold mode right now.
- [31:52]
C
Right, right. I. And this is where I. I don't. I'm trying to examine myself and see if. Ask if I'm just being a punk or if I'm just being too passive about this. I would be totally comfortable with a hold mode with the philosophy that, man, these guys who are either coming off the IL over the last month and. Or, you know, coming back into form the way that Pena has been playing specifically has just been a revelation that it doesn't feel like a typical. It wouldn't have felt like in 2017 when, you know, Keiko was PO'd, that they didn't make a move at the trade deadline. Because there are a lot of things that have just happened organically on this team that make them a better baseball team than they were in the first couple months of the season.
- [32:35]
B
There are. And, well, the fact of the matter is, too, they're just not a good enough baseball team for anybody to be any. Anybody in the clubhouse to be complaining about them not making trades like Kaikal. When Kykal did that, they were in first place. You could tell they were on pace to go in 100 games that year. So, you know, the front office is going to do what they're going to do. Look, Jim Crane is somebody who has a history of making at least some moves anywhere from somewhat aggressive to very aggressive moves. Here is. Here's Ken Rosenthal earlier this week of Fox and of MLB TV saying that the Houston Astros are the cockroaches of baseball. The Astros are the cockroaches of baseball.
- [33:13]
C
They have won five of six, and as Chandler Rome writes today in the Athletic, they're not going to sell. There have been all these stories about them selling early on. Jordan Alvarez and more recently, Josh Hader and Jeremy Pena. No, not happening. Was never going to happen.
- [33:33]
B
All right, so it was never going to happen. The Jordan thing, I believe, was never going to happen. Painting, I think so, too. Painting, I think, is a little more nuanced situation.
- [33:42]
C
Was there even any actual the Jordan thing? He's acting like the Yordon stuff was never gonna happen. Like, I don't know what. I don't think anybody really was saying that the Yordan thing was.
- [33:51]
B
No, it was. That was all people on his doing hypotheticals. Yeah.
- [33:55]
C
I think is tearing down a straw, man. He was beating the crap out of that straw man.
- [33:59]
B
Or stupid co workers that were trying to get Jordan Alvarez up and out of here. Yeah, yeah. So. So I think, if I had to guess, I would say there's. There's going to be a deal made just because there's always a deal made with the Astros.
- [34:12]
C
Yeah.
- [34:12]
B
To me, it's just got to be. And they used to do this back when Luna was the gm, too. I mean, there was, you know, Kyle Tucker was untouchable in trade talks back when Kyle Tucker was a prospect.
- [34:22]
C
Yeah.
- [34:22]
B
They need to have a hard freeze on, you know, the tippy top prospects. And most of those guys are down in a ball right now. Like, it's the. It's the lower. Lower levels of the minor league system that people are getting excited about with the Astros. So it's so weird, though, the starting pitching, because they've got, like, eight guys that at various times this year have done things where you go, okay, he could. Imai's a perfect example. There was a few weeks ago where I was saying to you after Imai had a few good starts, he's their number two guy behind Hunter Brown. Yeah. Now here we are. And now here we are.
- [34:57]
C
There's a time where Mike Burroughs was going to be the guy.
- [34:59]
B
Yeah.
- [35:00]
C
I mean, there was a time when, you know, Peter Lambert was DFA'd, because we got all these other guys.
- [35:05]
B
He's your number two starter right now.
- [35:07]
C
Look at all these other guys. Why would we keep Peter Lambert around?
- [35:09]
D
Well, we were.
- [35:09]
B
We were. I can't remember if it was when you were out or. I just remember having a conversation with somebody like, what would. If they make the wild card round, what does the pitching situation look like? And the first, it's two out of three. So the first two games are easy. Hunter Brown's your one, and Peter Lambert, you're two. Based on where we sit right now, like, if the series had to take place tomorrow. So if they split those first two games, then who's number three? And the answer is everybody. I think you just do a bullpen game in number three. You throw Christian Javier out there to start the game, and if he shows any signs that the invisible is not working or he's putting guys on base, you're in now, Eric, Eddie, or whoever it is. Yeah, you know, it's like, I think that's. I. If you had to play a wild card round series starting this Monday, I think that's what they would do. It's Hunter Brown, it's Peter Lambert, and then who the hell knows what? Unless they make a trade for a pitcher. And the Athletic has a big board of the top 60 trade targets. They've got the Astros listed in the top three possibilities for no fewer than about 10 different starting pitchers of various levels. Not probably the best, or at least the biggest name they've got. The Astros being in for would be Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins, who started to pitch like the Cy Young guy that he is lately. Like, they don't have him in there for school or Joe Ryan from Minnesota, but they've got the Astros on that big board listed as one of three teams for a slew of starting pitchers.
- [36:31]
C
Yeah.
- [36:31]
B
So I think that's if we see something, it'll be for like a back end of the rotation type starting pitcher. But it's a big weekend, man. Big weekend. I think they could get swept by the Rangers and still be buying on Monday. That's how that, that's, that's how motivated I think they are. All right, coming up next. Oh, we haven't gotten to this yet. The, the biggest story so far in the off season leading into the college football season is one of the, one of the funnier stories, especially when you hear people talk about this guy who just got put on administrative leave. We've not touched on this story on the show.
- [37:04]
C
We need to do that. It's got relations with a lot of current Texan staff.
- [37:08]
B
Indeed. Yes, yes. Six degrees of the New England Patriots. We'll do that. Coming up, the snack wrap plus Caesar
- [37:15]
C
sauce equals extra crispy chicken Caesary greatness.
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A
Sounds delicious.
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They're a good source of fiber and come in delicious flavors like banana dark chocolate with sunflower seeds. Find Belvita at your local store today.
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Hey, what's up flies? This is David Spade, Dana Carvey. Look at. I know we never actually left, but I'll just say it.
- [38:05]
A
We are back.
- [38:06]
B
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.
- [38:20]
C
We react to news.
- [38:21]
B
What's trending, viral clips follow and listen to Fly on the Wall everywhere you get your podcasts. Suffering from dry, tired, irritated eyes. Don't let dry eyes win. Use Sustain Pro. It hydrates, restores and protects dry eyes for up to 12 hours. Sustain Pro Triple Action Dry Eye Relief.