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Best case scenario for Texans' running game in 2025
KILT-AM / SportsRadio 610
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6/18/2025
Category
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Sports
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00:00
Clint, you got the best scenario, you believe, for the Texans
00:05
in their running back situation
00:06
because it is going to be one of the interesting things
00:10
to see how Nick Caley and company handled this thing
00:13
after they brought in Nick Chubb
00:15
and obviously already having Pro Bowler from last year, Joe Mixon.
00:19
How do you see this as the best-case scenario?
00:23
I think the best-case scenario is obviously you get Chubb of old.
00:27
You get something even remotely close to the Chubb of old.
00:32
And he is a – what we'd call here you got 1A and 1B.
00:37
You don't have 1 and 2. You got 1A and 1B.
00:39
You got two backs that you can interchange, right?
00:41
To me, the best-case scenario is the running back Nick Chubb
00:47
that has ran in a ball-control, run-heavy offense
00:51
really his entire career downhill between the tackles.
00:54
The best-case scenario is if that guy is the battering ram early on
00:59
and gets the bulk of the carries early on
01:01
and Joe Mixon is a guy that is available in the obvious passing situations.
01:08
Now, he's obviously still a running back,
01:09
but he is available and healthy and fresh in obvious passing situations,
01:17
which is where he spent the bulk of his career
01:19
in a pass-first offense in Cincinnati.
01:22
And if you look at the two backs, they're both capable of doing it all.
01:26
But I think the best way to use these guys, if you get –
01:31
that could legitimately be an RB1,
01:34
is you use him to be the battering ram,
01:36
you use Joe Mixon as your more of a third down,
01:40
more of a relief back early,
01:43
and both of them excel in those two roles.
01:46
Yep.
01:46
Wow.
01:49
Really?
01:49
Joe Mixon, in this case, I know you're not trying to slight him,
01:55
but I mean it would be –
01:56
Not one bit.
01:56
Not one bit.
01:57
But he –
01:58
I don't know that he fancies himself as the two here.
02:01
I wouldn't call it a two.
02:02
I wouldn't call it a two.
02:03
I mean, I wouldn't –
02:04
Are you saying the touches would be similar?
02:06
The mentality –
02:08
Yeah, possibly.
02:09
I just would make the priority –
02:11
The priority for Joe Mixon is he is in the ballgame
02:14
in obvious passing situations.
02:16
Right?
02:16
He is a guy that on third down is going to be in the backfield.
02:20
He's going to carry it.
02:21
He's going to catch it.
02:22
He's going to be used in exotic ways.
02:23
The way he was used last year was fine and dandy,
02:26
but his ass staped.
02:27
He got banged up a couple times.
02:29
And he wasn't on the field in critical situations in third down
02:32
when I believe he is the best third down back on his team right now.
02:35
Now, we'll see what Woody Marks is.
02:38
Yeah.
02:38
But he –
02:38
I mean, he can run circles around Daria Gumbawale
02:41
and pass protection and catching the ball out of the backfield
02:44
and the ability to make people miss and punish guys at the end of runs
02:48
and at the end of catches.
02:50
And so I just –
02:51
If you get a Nick Chubb that is anywhere remotely close to the Nick Chubb of old,
02:55
which is a long shot.
02:56
And that's –
02:57
I was going to say, that's the big part to make sure you're hearing
03:01
is if Nick Chubb is the Nick Chubb before the injury.
03:06
Yeah, yeah.
03:07
I mean, this is not –
03:08
This is best case Chubb and Joe Mixon in the same backfield, right?
03:14
I would imagine they're going to go about it interchangeable, whatever.
03:18
Whoever's in there gets whatever carries, gets whatever catches.
03:21
I just think that the best case –
03:23
You look at where guys spent their career.
03:25
You look at where guys made their name
03:27
and one of them was in a run-first, run-heavy, downhill, road-grading offense
03:33
and the other one was in a pass-happy offense.
03:36
And I think you've got –
03:38
And I've said this a million times.
03:40
I think if you're going to be a team –
03:43
I'll put it to you this way.
03:44
Houston is a 10-win team, second-round-the-playoff team.
03:47
They ain't even scared in AFC.
03:48
Let's be honest.
03:49
Nobody's even thought that they'd make a run to an AFC.
03:51
Nobody thought that they'd make a run to a Super Bowl.
03:52
If you want to put yourself in position to do that thing,
03:57
you've got to have more than one weapon in the backfield.
04:00
You've got to have guys that can make plays on third down.
04:03
You've got to have big-bodied players that can pass protect.
04:06
You've got to have guys that threaten defenses, right?
04:08
I think the best-case scenario, assuming everybody's healthy
04:11
and everybody's the best version of themselves,
04:13
would be Chubb, downhill, early.
04:17
Again, getting the bulk of the carries
04:18
and then mixing is your third down critical situation,
04:22
spread offense, anytime you want to go tempo,
04:25
anytime you want to speed things up.
04:27
And down the stretch, he's a guy that you've got fresh when you need him.
04:31
So I think that's – I mean, I think that would be ideal, perfect case scenario.
04:36
And I don't mean – again, this is a 1A, 1B.
04:39
I don't think Mixon would not like it.
04:41
Oh, I think he – I don't know how much he would love it.
04:45
I still look at this even the best case.
04:51
I get what you're saying.
04:52
If you're getting the best of Nick Chubb and the best of Mixon.
04:56
Yep.
04:56
I'm with you.
04:57
I think Joe, third down to me, yes, he needs to be in the passing game much more.
05:02
I think they need to explore that part of the game for him.
05:07
But I still think Joe right now – now evidence, we get new evidence is different.
05:14
I would still say Joe Mixon should, without a shadow of a doubt right now,
05:20
be the one to get more touches.
05:22
Like that – when I look at these two, I think obviously Nick Chubb needs to be involved
05:28
so Joe Mixon's not the only person getting touches like he was last year.
05:33
I don't mean just the – like, no, I mean these guys are both kind of getting up there
05:36
and you want to save them.
05:38
But I still think, like, in the running game, game in, game out,
05:42
Joe Mixon should be the guy that's more featured.
05:46
Yeah, look, I just – I don't think you can – the problem is you can't dictate that, right?
05:49
You can't – you don't know in the first and second quarter if in the fourth quarter
05:52
you're going to need to be, you know, just air raid.
05:55
You're going to need to be slinging the leather off the ball.
05:57
You don't know if in the fourth quarter you're going to need a four-minute offense.
06:01
All I'm saying is I think the best role for both of these guys,
06:04
the best role for the team is, sure, if you have them both healthy the entire game,
06:09
that's great, or both fresh the entire game, that's great.
06:11
But if you're going to go beyond just, hey, we're going to split carries,
06:15
I think Joe Mixon – I would rather have Joe Mixon in the game in the fourth quarter
06:19
in two-minute situations when we've got to spread this thing out and throw it.
06:22
And I would rather have – like, you can't – you don't know when that's going to happen, right?
06:26
And so you've got to prepare for those kind of scenarios.
06:31
And a four-minute offense, I've got Joe in.
06:33
I've got Joe in, Nick.
06:34
We can bang him downhill and chew the clock.
06:38
If I get into a situation where I've got to throw it, yeah, both of them will be fine.
06:41
Both of them can pass protect, but I think Joe is the better pass catcher of the football
06:46
and a bigger weapon out of the backfield in those obvious passing situations.
06:49
And he's obviously comfortable doing it because that's the way he cut his teeth in the NFL
06:53
and built his name in the NFL.
06:55
So, yeah, I don't – I mean, I would like to think that you'd go into a game in a season
06:58
and go, hey, we've got 17 games, and we're going to split these carries down the middle.
07:02
But unfortunately, like, I don't think the Texans planned on having Daria Gumbawale
07:06
as third down back in critical situations last year.
07:08
Yeah, touches, which include catches and everything,
07:11
I still think that Joe should be the cut ahead.
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