Texans Offensive Line Is The Weak Link After Loss To Vikings

KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610

The Texans were hardly competitive in their 34-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, due in large part to the poor play of their offensive line. Payne and Pendergast react to it here.

Transcript

00:0034 to seven the final score yesterday as we welcome you in on a reaction Monday and man

00:04is there a lot to react to uh today from that game yesterday i'm sean pendergast he is seth

00:10pain i ask this with much trepidation how are you doing this i'm all right i just man uh it's it's

00:16it's hard for me to move beyond some of just the idiocy and get into the deeper level stuff with

00:21this team but there are there are issues that would prevent this team from certainly winning

00:26a super bowl the vikings are the vikings are in the super bowl there's going to be one of those

00:29old school super bowls where uh it's not a competition at all remember when the super

00:34bowls were just the disgusting pathetic displays of ladies man great american sport right kids

00:39there used to be a time when the super bowl was the worst game of the year continually

00:42never competitive um now it's it's it's week three the that vikings defense did many of the

00:49same things to the 49ers the week before made brock purdy looked just like he had no answers

00:55at times like cj stroud yesterday looked like he had no answers at times so i'm trying to remember

01:00that but there's some consistent themes that keep popping up i really i honestly i honestly wish the

01:06texans could have played that game without so many idiotic boneheaded things done by the offensive

01:11line that i could move beyond that and then i really wish the offensive line had taken some

01:16measure of accountability for it afterwards i i mean and yet it wasn't it's not a surprise to me

01:23that these guys are talking about like well you know they didn't tell us that they were

01:28gonna call us for lining up too deep in the backfield did you watch any football at all

01:35this year did you watch the very first game of the year it's a point of emphasis

01:39in offensive linemen have known now for a couple years since they started emphasizing this

01:43that all you got to do is check with the official who is that on that's on larry tonsil that's on

01:47titus howard okay yeah like you check with the official you're like a receiver you check to be

01:51sure you're okay but then two these guys are talking in the post game about how it's unfair

01:56and they're being targeted by the officials um i'm sorry does that include the false starts

02:03as all of a sudden is it all of a sudden uh is it new this year that you're not allowed to leave

02:07before the snap of the football right uh so that on an offensive line that's just disjointed and

02:13messy yeah i mean you've got a point where you're you're using kade stover to block jonathan grenard

02:19mostly so you can turn your protection back towards the interior offensive line which is so

02:24awful and uh they just they had no answers versus the vikings defense and you've got to keep i mean

02:30they had they're using seven man protection where like only three of the guys know how to actually

02:36pass block yeah you might as well just spread it out and go air raid on them and try to do something

02:41that way i think the to me the two most frustrating things from a team standpoint we'll get to

02:46individuals here in a second yeah because boy is larry tunsell taking some and rightfully so

02:50from texan fans everywhere yeah um but as far as a team thing goes to me the two most frustrating

02:55things one that game yes after the bears game on sunday night if they play this way against

03:03minnesota they will get beaten they will get their skulls thumped they played that way against

03:08minnesota and they got the like you could have seen this one coming don't commit a dozen penalties

03:13you know like yeah they oh they got one shy they were only 11 this year oh is it 11 one was

03:18tunsell's illegal formation declined that when they had four straight penalty when they knocked

03:22themselves out of field goal position with four straight penalties yeah larry musa was declined

03:27okay so it was only 11 yeah um so that's frustrating number one is that hey man like

03:32the warning signs were all there and you did nothing about it yeah you did nothing about it

03:36number two this is supposed to be an explosive offense i was told that the acquisition of

03:41stefan digs and the continuity that was kept in the coaching staff the acquisition i know

03:45joe mixon didn't play yesterday um but digs in particular cj in year two and through three games

03:52i keep hearing about well teams are playing these two high safeties again you know teams are playing

03:56two high safeties against everybody these days right where is the counter punch where's the

04:00right where is the running the football are we just going to sit here and complain about how

04:04they're getting covered and how they're right right if they're scheme wise the defense is

04:07allowing you and the the vikings did this less so than in the first two games but if the defense

04:13is allowing you to run the ball basically then just go ahead and run the ball um but they're

04:17i mean they're just they're lost they're lost in a lot of ways this is on bobby sloic ultimately

04:21because that offensive line is is by far the weak link on this football team right now i'm

04:26trying to think of a position group the offensive line um and it's it's gonna be it's the lowest

04:33common denominator on this offense actually being any good it is true look it's one thing

04:39to be limited offense even though you have these three wide receivers but now after three games

04:44in which two of them you really haven't done much offensively at all you got to look at it and say

04:48look i there aren't any excuses you've got tank dell stefan diggs and nico collins out there

04:54and yes they spread it around a little bit yesterday they got some more guys involved

04:57but it was just a complete non-performance yeah they were done they're done double digits like

05:01that and yeah and even when things i mean three of the first six series were upended by offensive

05:08penalties yes offensive line penalties and or just i mean laramie tonsil it would they were

05:14upended by laramie tonsil and that's the thing this has been a consistent theme with laramie

05:17tonsil through his career where a great you're you're a great pass blocker but on these critical

05:23drives you kill drives with your false starts like you easily it's as good as giving up a sack

05:29you go from third and three to third and eight you do all these things that negate the good

05:34things you do and then in the run game i mean there's just no i just worry the guys like i

05:39think like young guys like juice grugs and kenyon green can develop into some good players in the

05:43nfl and yet the example they have set for them is these these guys that want to be like diva

05:50offensive tackles i it's just the strangest and they've been rewarded for it yeah they've been

05:55heavily rewarded yeah yeah they think that's that's the tricky part like who are your most

05:59swarm like at any point this season are laramie tonsil or titus howard going to be in the circle

06:02of swarm god no i highly doubt it at any well it's a long season but they're not even close

06:07right now there's a thing too you know it's like sometimes as a defense you go up against certain

06:11offensive lines where you know as a defensive player you're never intimidated by an offensive

06:15line but you know when you're going into a game where like yep there's gonna be a home right i

06:20gotta be ready to go i'm gonna be battling today and as good as laramie tonsil is in

06:25pass protection i i would have i can't imagine there's a single guy out there who's like

06:30oh we're in for a blood bath this week yeah you know like yeah we better be ready yeah screw this

06:35guy i'm gonna uh it's just it's finesse you know it's a it's a finesse this is an offensive line

06:41that wants to be finessed and yet they're not good at the finesse either it's like having a

06:45it's like having a it's like some it's like some uh rich kid that's taken fencing lessons

06:50his whole life and then all of a sudden he thinks he's gonna show up in a bar room

06:53and then he gets hit upside the head with this little sword yes yeah with his little foil

06:58hold on good sir yes yes i have a foil and then he gets cracked upside the head with 40

07:04yeah um let's hear from cj stroud uh this was cj as long as we're talking about the offensive line

07:11here was cj stroud saying we can't be in third and long all the time oh you can't live on third

07:16and long especially against a defense like theirs um they cause a lot of issues on third and long

07:20you have to give yourself a chance and you know you keep shooting yourselves in the foot and just

07:25moving backwards back or backwards you know you're you're not playing complimentary football

07:29even for yourself so um you know i i don't know exactly i can't just tell you right now what

07:35exactly what the issues are up there has to be conversation um you know away from you know the

07:42game and just meetings and just seeing what you know what we can do to be better when you know

07:48it's loud and you know the how intentional we have to be in practice and things like that

07:53um just to get those things fixed because i mean we're moving the ball it's just

07:56you know you know you're kicking yourself out the red zone and

07:59taking an opportunity to live on third and plus 10 so it wasn't cj's best day i'll preface what

08:06i'm about to say by saying it was not cj's best day that was not cj stroud's fault yesterday i

08:11don't think he could have played better for sure these were the third downs their first nine third

08:16downs you ready for this set third and seven third and ten third and eleven a third and seven that

08:21went to third and 12 thanks to laramie tonsil another third and 12 a third and four that went

08:28to third and nine third and 14 and third and 19 because the three false start penalties on three

08:32different players yeah a third and 10 that went to third and 15 because of laramie tonsil keep in

08:38mind the two that went just won five yard penalty yeah they got first downs on the actual plays

08:44for both of those like as xavier hutchinson had a 16 yard right right 17 yards yeah it was the

08:5017 that you would have gotten to get the first down um so that was just in the first half they

08:55averaged third and 12 the first two third downs of the second half third and 16 third and 11 the

09:01best they had was third and seven and that was on the very first third down other than that it was

09:04third in double digits literally every single time yeah it's uh they and part of it too is when you

09:11watch and you see and you wonder all right with this defense where the the defense if you guys

09:17can envision in your mind just the how it looks with the vikings and a lot of defenses right now

09:23everybody's at the line of scrimmage at the snap and then immediately everybody all these linebackers

09:27will bail out there's opportunities there and we saw even on that first this well the second drive

09:33um where he hits uh cj hit stefan digs and like it was just but it's those spots as the linebackers

09:42are dropping back into their spots there are openings there but if you want to try to utilize

09:47a bunch of quick guys out on routes the problem is you've got two tight ends in the game they're

09:53they're both blocking before they leave on routes the running back has to block before he leaves on

09:58a route because the offensive line cannot be trusted to do a damn thing a damn thing whether

10:04it's physically blocking one-on-one or picking up the blitz or handling something as simple as oh the

10:10offense of the defensive line shifted right before the snap it can't be trusted and it's just

10:16it's the one funky gear in the machinery that's screwing everything up right now

10:20and that's on bobby slowik that's on chris strouser um that's and frankly honestly i

10:26when we listen to larry tunsell and titus howard both after the game talk about how oh apparently

10:32they're emphasizing this illegal formation this year larry tunsell's exact quote from

10:36aaron wilson on the illegal formation you ready yeah they tried to make an example out of us the

10:41first two weeks we lined up the same with no problem now it's a problem i feel like somebody

10:44told them to make an example larry's larry's got to stop with the victim stuff yeah no he's

10:50offensive lineman in the league been doing this for four years now yeah it's the victimhood is

10:55not gonna play no this is it's like a it's like an eight-time felon being like well they were

11:00looking for it out of me i just you know what am i gonna do yeah i just uh yo you murder eight

11:06people and all of a sudden they're on watch for a night apparently that's a point of emphasis with

11:10the police i and it was a point of emphasis from week one yeah and it is a simple watch football

11:15all the offensive tackle has to do is check but that's where it's on chris shot i'll show the

11:20offense you know juice scrubs in his stupid head bob yeah that was that should have been flagged

11:25yeah i'll tell you when they go to silent count and the center lifts his head up you're not allowed

11:29to jerk it back up because it's like simulating a it's it's trying to like you're getting out of

11:34your stance yeah so you're like on one you lift your head up on two and he did the very same thing

11:39the next play yeah these guys are either not accepting the coaching or they're not even being

11:43told or coached about this stuff it's uh it's bad man that's on slowick that's on strouser that's

11:49on certainly the veteran leadership

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