The Texans have gone 10-7, won the AFC South and a playoff game in each of the past two seasons. Is that good enough in 2025?
In The Loop addresses that here.
In The Loop addresses that here.
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00:00Luke Morrow in for Reggie today alongside John Lopez and Figgy Fig on the ones and twos.
00:07Have the Texans already failed? That's my question. The fill-in today, I'm asking that
00:14as we get ready for this upcoming season with the schedule release earlier this week. You can
00:20always text or call the show 713-572-4610. I was listening to a lot of the station yesterday to
00:29hear what everyone thought about the schedule. Let me first say I was in agreement. This is not me
00:34calling out anybody on these airwaves. Go ahead. I think that's already happened to you, right?
00:41I won't do that again. Learn my lesson vicariously. I heard yesterday, I think both of you guys
00:50yesterday said 10 and 7 for the prediction, which is where I'm at. I listened to In the Drive,
00:55and Ron was, I think, 10 and 7 as well. Clint was 9 and 8. And so it just got me thinking as I heard
01:03these predictions and a lot of, I know, Texans failed. And it got me thinking, is this already
01:10kind of set up for a failure? If the Texans go 10 and 7 again, and by the way, how much of a shot do
01:17you actually give them in that game against the Ravens this year or in that game against the Chiefs
01:21this regular season? Yeah. If they go 10 and 7 and lose those games, maybe lose them badly,
01:27like how do we feel about that season, especially when it's just kind of a repeat of what we just
01:32had last year? No, look, I hadn't thought of it like that. If they go 10 and 7 and you just laid
01:37it out, you know, it's by and large, at least on this station, you know, I think, Figgy, you ended up
01:4112 and 5. Yeah. All right. So I did not have them beating the Ravens. Yeah. I did have them beating
01:49the Chiefs. Okay. Nighttime December game in Kansas City. Yeah. Look at you. Yeah. But you
01:56acknowledge, I think we all acknowledge, you know, 10 and 7, maybe 11 and 6. That's probably more
02:00reasonable. That's more reasonable. I hadn't thought of it like that because flat out, if we are here in
02:06however many months it is, you know, in January and they finished the season, they're going into
02:11the playoffs 10 and 7, I think we're all going to be saying, well, that didn't work out like we
02:15thought. Right. Even though we thought 10 and 7. Right. Yeah. You know, and they probably losing a
02:20lot of key games too. We're just like, man, how you lose to the Titans or the Jags? That's part of it
02:26because I also heard most people say, oh, they'll go five and one against the division, maybe even six and
02:31I don't know. Yeah. But if you do the math, if you subtract that 10 and 7 record, five and one
02:37against the division, that means five and six against the rest of the league. We're talking
02:39about a losing team outside of a bad division. That shouldn't be acceptable. Yeah. And it'd be
02:4510 and 7. It reminds me of almost Drew Brees. He went through that stretch. He had three straight
02:50eight and eight seasons in New Orleans. And it's like, we're kind of wasting the prime of this guy.
02:55Yeah. You have CJ Stroud on this rookie quarterback where you don't have to pay him yet. And if you're
02:59just going to have another 10 and 7 season and you still are not close to being able to beat
03:03the Ravens or maybe even the Chiefs, it's like, man, we're kind of just treading water here
03:07and we're not advancing. We're not progressing like we're supposed to be. I think, I think that's
03:14a solid point. Like I said, that I hadn't even really thought of if we're all saying 10 and
03:17seven, then we're saying, eh, just run it back. But I, but I found in the new average a little
03:22bit and this isn't unique to us, but I think we're all confidently hopeful that
03:28certain things will work out. Now that's a, that's kind of a fool's errand. Sometimes,
03:33you know, Hey, we think the offensive line, but you know, what I've been saying is they
03:36got 17 dudes in the room right now. They're bound to find five or eight or seven on game
03:42day that are good, but that's still hope that's still like confidence, you know, and, and,
03:48and maybe hope that they'll do it. Here we are with the wide receivers really high on some
03:54of the, you know, Higgins and Noel that they brought in, but that's still hope, you know?
03:59Yeah. So if, you know, reasonably looking at it, I feel, I feel 10 and seven. Um, so yeah,
04:07if we're still here, we're, we'll be like disappointed. Yeah. You know, and that's my
04:11concern is that that seems to be the expectation 10 and seven. But then once that season plays
04:17out, it's like, Oh man, third straight year, 10 and seven, when the division, maybe when a
04:20playoff game, lose the set, we're no closer to competing for a super bowl. And that's what
04:24you should be doing being quarterback. Do you feel better? Let's, let's run through some of
04:30these concerns from a year ago to now. Offensive coordinator, big question mark. We don't know
04:36which direction that's going to go in, but do you feel better about the offensive coordinator
04:40now compared to last year? Oh, not even close. I was more confident last year, right? 100%
04:48coming off the year that he had head coaching interviews. So you don't feel better. Well,
04:52if that's the question, I'm not saying I don't have that, that hopeful confidence, but just
04:57comparing to last year, but how I feel about the coordinator now versus last year. I mean,
05:01everybody felt good about it. I actually don't feel good compared to last year at this time.
05:06Last year, I felt good. Um, last year, honestly, I was more on board of maybe, um, Bobby sticking
05:13around for another year and see what they do with the offensive line and kind of shuffle some
05:18stuff. Yeah. Because I, yeah, I know that wasn't going to happen, but I kind of wanted
05:22to see what they do with it. Maybe a different offensive line and maybe try to do some other
05:28things. Yeah. What about the wide receiving core? Yeah. I was going to ask that. Yeah.
05:32I probably felt better. I'm optimistic. I think the ceiling is high for this wide receiving
05:37core. I also think maybe these draft picks don't work out and Christian Kirk still injured.
05:40I think if I'm being honest, I felt better about the group at this time last year in the
05:44wide receiver room than I do right now. I think I did too. Remember the five headed monster?
05:49None of them were rookies either. Yeah. Yeah. It's the fond digs. You had tank Dell. Oh boy.
05:54What a year he's going to have. Yeah. Now I know there were circumstances that were out of his
05:57control, but, uh, obviously Nico coming off a good year. Uh, you thought John Metchie's
06:02going to take a step. We thought, well, but, but even, even if you didn't intend to, you know,
06:08have another, a good year final, well, a better year, I should say. Uh, and then you bring in
06:12Joe Mixon. All right. You know, and I know where you, we, we left it specifically to receivers,
06:16but the five headed monster was all experienced, you know, all pretty much proven. That's not the
06:23case this year. No, it's, it's not offensive line. Do you feel better today about the offensive line
06:29than you did this time of year? Now that one, I might say yes, simply because of what, simply
06:33because of what I put, uh, you know, what I said earlier about sheer numbers, you're bound to find
06:39someone. And by the way, I know there are big questions. You and I had this discussion last
06:43time we were on the air together about Trent Brown versus, uh, versus Cam Robinson and all that,
06:49but they are proven. You do have, you know, another draft pick. You do have some solid options that
06:54have at least played and started on the interior line. That one, I will, that one, I will say,
07:00I do have more confidence. I feel better about that one. I feel better about the future of the
07:04offensive line. Yeah. I'm not sure about, to me, I'm, I'm, I'm a little worried about left tackle
07:09and, uh, interior for this year, like this year going forward. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm with you.
07:15I feel better about the future. I don't know about the, like the here and now or the start of the
07:19season might be a little rocky because you did give up. I don't care what y'all say. A top five
07:23tackle and Laramie Tunsil for, uh, for Cam Robinson right now. I just don't know how that will work
07:29out right now. And then the last one I'll ask defense, obviously supposed to be really good. It was
07:33really good last year, but the one people, one position people kind of nitpick is interior
07:38defensive line, defensive tackle. Do you feel better about defensive tackles now than you did
07:43last year? I think I do. Okay. Uh, I think I do, you know, some of these defense, well, I think
07:49they're really good on the edges, which, and they're going to be better on the edges. I feel,
07:54which is, uh, going to make the interior defensive line, uh, I think better. And, and of course with
08:00Fadakasi, you know, uh, you know, back, you know, the rankings rankings and I think, what
08:05about you? Cause I, I'm sensing you do not, I was kind of the same. Yeah. I don't feel
08:09worse. I don't know if I feel better. I think I'm kind of neutral now. I've been saying all
08:14off season though. I'm not that concerned. The defense is so good that I think it just came.
08:19I'm not that worried about interior defensive line. Yeah. And maybe it is a slight improvement
08:23compared to a year ago, but I'm overall, I'm not that worried about it. Yeah. Uh, on the text
08:28line, 7, 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4, 6, 1, 0 from the 8, 3, 2, they said, based on the 10 and 7
08:34prediction of 6, 10 on air personalities, uh, did the Texans already fail? I'm pretty sure
08:38the Texans don't give a rip about your predictions. No, they haven't already failed. That's fair.
08:42But I'd also say this, the Vegas wind totals nine and a half. So it's not just us crazy guys
08:47over here at 6, 10 Vegas, who they usually know what they're doing. They put the Texans right
08:52there around nine and eight, 10 and seven, which would be pretty much a duplicate of the
08:57last two seasons. And, and we didn't say they already failed. Uh, if you want them
09:01to be honest, we said, if we are here at the end of the year, you know, and they're 10
09:06and seven, I think we'll feel as if what that, that wasn't what we thought it would
09:10be. No. And that's like, I asked the question, I'll own it, put it on me. I'll be the wet
09:14blanket here. That was my nickname at the sleepovers growing up. Um, uh, let's see. Also on
09:21the text line, if I don't care if they go nine and eight, the bars to make it to
09:25the AFC chair, I think that is fair, but nine and eight is a much tougher road.
09:31Yeah. We know that. And how confident would you be getting into the playoffs at
09:36nine and eight? Exactly. Exactly. And that's what we're talking about. Because I'm
09:40unless you feel like the eight losses with all hard teams and they do have the
09:44hardest schedule in the division. So, but that's fair. Yeah. Yeah. Because, and I've
09:49brought this up before it turned into a whole nother thing with Ron and, and my,
09:52my, uh, principles when it comes to debt, but I always say, don't bring flowers on
09:56the first date because you set the bar too high for following dates. And I think
10:01when the Texans win 10 games in year one and win a playoff game in year one, you
10:04have to keep taking those next steps in year two, you have to win a second
10:08playoff game. Right. And so now here we are in year three, where that should be the
10:11expectation is to make it to the AFC title game. I mean, at least. Yeah. Because how did y'all
10:16feel about the season last year? Do you feel like it was a bit
10:19disappointing? Everybody does. Yeah. Everybody. And I think part of that
10:23reason is because the Miko Ryan's first year, they won 10 games and made it to
10:27the, and won a playoff game. So now that following year, we expected to get to an
10:33AFC championship game and compete with the Chiefs and the Ravens and stuff like
10:37that. Yeah. From the eight, three, two, they also point out first place schedule. I
10:41don't know if that's a concern, but then they also say playoffs is what matters. It
10:44matters in both senses. They need to be in the playoffs this year. And then it
10:47matters. Obviously that's where whatever you do in the regular season, you have
10:50to obviously win games in the playoffs. Well, the first place schedule makes it
10:54maybe you grading on a curve 10 and seven versus having a last place schedule,
10:59you know, 10 and seven. That's fair. So I think that's what he's talking about or
11:02she, and that's more than fair. Yeah. No, I can get behind that, but I'm, it's, it's
11:09me asking the question here on all these predictions and thinking, man, if they go 10 and
11:12seven for the third straight year, that just feels like a letdown when you have the young
11:16cheap quarterback. Yeah.