- 7/8/2025
Clint Stoerner and Ron "The Show" Hughley discuss where C.J. Stroud can take the next step as the leader of the Houston Texans' offense.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Clint, for years, Guy Gene is the one who really comes to mind on YouTube,
00:06who really has some issues at times with your assessment,
00:14thinking that a big next step for C.J. Stroud is the leadership portion.
00:21And that, as you've said, to you is maybe the biggest thing outside of the offensive line
00:25for you on this offense, maybe even on the team,
00:28but at least on this offense, is the growth factor of C.J. Stroud as the leader.
00:34It should be the biggest.
00:37We're talking about a guy you're fixing to commit $60-plus million to a year,
00:41and he's going to be your guy for another five or six years, if not longer.
00:46So it should be the tops of every list out there of like, hey, if this happens,
00:52it's the best for the organization as a whole.
00:54Right now, if the offensive line was worth a damn, it would help.
00:58I mean, I get that point, but like the bigger picture for this organization
01:01and for all Texans fans long-term is if C.J. Stroud becomes a guy that is the identity
01:07of the offense, and it doesn't matter what's going on around him,
01:12he's going to take control of it.
01:14That is ultimately the best place any team can be in as it pertains to their quarterback.
01:19I mean, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say Guy Gene's probably not a very coachable fellow.
01:23I mean, it's a differing opinion.
01:28Well, I've just, when leadership conversations get under people's skin,
01:35typically those are the people that aren't very coachable and aren't able to follow, typically.
01:43Typically unable to follow.
01:44Anybody that minimizes the importance of leadership is, that's interesting to me.
01:50But go ahead, I mean, Guy Gene, I love you, but damn.
01:52Well, I think he's not alone.
01:56There have been other people when we had these conversations.
01:58There's more Guy Gens than not.
02:00That have had issues with your assessment, your thought on that, and with us, because I've agreed.
02:07But, like, I believe you said it last week.
02:11I can't remember.
02:12I think we were talking to Brandon.
02:13We were like, I just can't believe.
02:17Or maybe everybody's just lost it.
02:18Or nobody is.
02:19Like, it just seems like a lot of people, and maybe starts with the top on the offense,
02:24of CJ and others just accepting some of just the poor decision-making or the bad things that were happening with the offense
02:37that seems to, at times, start to develop habits, which become bad habits.
02:42And I think you've tried to express that.
02:45But I think Joe Burrow, another top quarterback in this league, maybe this is an example of exactly what you're talking about.
02:56All right?
02:57The second season that they're going to do the quarterback, Netflix did.
03:02If you remember, they did it a couple of seasons ago with Kirk Cousins, Mahomes.
03:07I think Marcus Mariota was on it.
03:10And somebody else better than him was on it.
03:12But they did the quarterback series.
03:16They're doing it again.
03:17And Joe Burrow is probably the highlight player on that one.
03:23And this has started to go around as an excerpt from the new season of the quarterback.
03:31And this is, I would say, the best way to describe, when I heard it, what Clint is trying to convey to people
03:38and where he believes the next step has to be for CJ Stroud.
03:41The penalty train rolls on.
03:45What the f*** are we doing, man?
03:48Wake the f*** up!
03:49F***ing mental mistakes all f***ing day!
03:52Way to finish the day.
03:53That's a great drive to finish it.
03:55I know it's frustrating.
03:57Embarrassing.
03:58We'll dress it, but at the same time, let's enjoy some f***ing.
04:00F*** that.
04:01F*** that.
04:02We suck today.
04:03That was embarrassing.
04:04We jumped off sides f***ing eight times.
04:06I know that.
04:06I know that.
04:07I know that.
04:08I know that.
04:08I'm going to praise all you.
04:10This is, this is...
04:12He let it fly, didn't he?
04:13Yeah, he did.
04:14Yeah, and Zach, Zach Taylor, a guy who spells Zach with three letters.
04:18Zach Taylor came over and tried to, tried to pull the...
04:22Hey, man, it's, it's kind of down.
04:23This is a game they won by double digits, I believe, against the sorry-ass Titan.
04:27He was having none of it from the head coach to try to, to try to reel it in.
04:31No, no, we jumped off sides eight times, and I, I, I can hear, I can hear how Joe may
04:38have reacted to the Minnesota game and a couple of other games where they had issues with protection,
04:43they had issues with, with penalties, but I, when I heard that, I felt like that was kind
04:49of the route you're talking about, that that has to come about at some point when things
04:54are just going downhill.
04:55It ain't no kind of to it, Ronnie.
04:57It's exactly, it's exactly what I'm talking about, right?
05:00It, it, because here's, here's the best part of that is when the head coach, who happens
05:04to be the play caller, so the main, the, the, the, the main communicator with the quarterback
05:08in this instance, right, um, when, when that guy comes over and the quarterback being Joe
05:15Burrow, if he sits there and goes, yeah, you're right, you're right, I'll calm down.
05:19We did some good stuff.
05:19Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right.
05:21Then the coach goes to the locker room.
05:23Hey, guys, we won.
05:24Let's focus on what, that we won, guys.
05:26Let's focus on that we won.
05:27And then everybody comes to practice Monday and it's just happy-go-lucky.
05:30And it's acting like what that performance right there, eight penalties, eight false
05:33starts or whatever it was, isn't going to get your ass kicked.
05:35And they're, they're absolutely going to get their ass kicked, but definitely where
05:40Joe Burrow expects to go to take, to take that football team, right?
05:43But because Joe Burrow says, nah, nah, nah, boss, that ain't, that ain't, that is unacceptable.
05:49That's embarrassing.
05:50It makes his points, you're cussing and maybe overdoing it.
05:53But that is, at the end of the day, that offense is not going to go as Zach Taylor,
05:58the offensive play caller, is going to allow it to go.
06:01That offense is going to go the direction of Joe Burrow.
06:04It doesn't matter if Zach Taylor, now obviously this is the head coach we're talking about,
06:07but if we're talking about play callers, if we're bringing it back to Houston, we're
06:09talking about play callers.
06:11Like, this offense needs to go the way of CJ Stroud.
06:14This offense doesn't need to go the way of Nick Kaley.
06:17Like, Nick Kaley doesn't need to dictate what is said in meetings in terms of, like,
06:21that kind of, this kind of stuff.
06:22When there's poor play, like, CJ Stroud needs to make sure that every coach around him
06:27understands, like, nah, that's unacceptable.
06:29We're not going to go to the post-game presser.
06:30We're not going to go to the team meeting.
06:32We're not going to go into Monday and Tuesday's meetings with this, oh, we got us a win, boys.
06:37We got us a win, because that is both.
06:39It's hard to win in the NFL.
06:40Yeah, it's hard to win in the NFL.
06:42It's hard to win the division around here.
06:43Like, at some point in time, and I've said this a million times, at some point in time,
06:47this, the Houston Texans offense, in terms of standards being set, in terms of guys being
06:54held accountable, in terms of the brand of football that is going to be Houston Texans
07:01offensive football, that needs to come from CJ Stroud.
07:05If you're going to pay that guy $60 million a year, that needs to be CJ Stroud.
07:09That doesn't need to be, well, Nick Cayley does or doesn't have the ability to talk that way,
07:15and he is or he isn't a great play caller, or he has the ability to hold somebody accountable
07:22or not.
07:22No, CJ Stroud needs to be that guy.
07:25And that is exactly what the hell I'm talking about.
07:29Why are you so hell-bent on that, that he needs to be that guy, and that not come from
07:37another place?
07:39Well, because, I mean, whether you like it or not, the quarterback is the one that's
07:42standing up speaking.
07:43He's the one that's talking to the media.
07:44He's the one that's talking to the team.
07:45He's the one that garners the respect just for the position that he plays.
07:50And he's the one that can carry the biggest stick from a leadership perspective, especially
07:55when you have the ability that CJ Stroud does.
07:57Everybody in that room knows that CJ Stroud has the ability to go win a championship, right?
08:02Can CJ Stroud overcome Bobby Slowett?
08:06Can CJ Stroud overcome Laramie Tunsil?
08:08Can CJ Stroud overcome now Nick Kaley if Nick Kaley's not great?
08:12Can CJ – and I'm talking strictly from a leadership standpoint, strictly from a set
08:16the standard accountability standpoint.
08:19Can CJ Stroud do those things?
08:21Or when Nick Kaley doesn't work out, are we still going to be sitting around going,
08:24oh, well, Nick Kaley didn't communicate this, or Nick Kaley couldn't do this, or Nick Kaley
08:28couldn't do that?
08:29Like the offensive line coach.
08:30Are we going to go through another offensive line coach?
08:32I think this will be number seven since I've been here.
08:34Are we going to talk about how bad, how much he sucks?
08:36Or are we going to look to CJ Stroud to be, hey, man, this guy at some point has to become
08:41CJ Stroud's football team.
08:44It's not excusing all the other guys' shortcomings.
08:46I understand that.
08:48But when situations like that right there pop up, which there have been plenty since CJ Stroud's
08:54been in Houston, and we've heard it.
08:57We go to the podium and thank the good Lord, and everybody's going to get better, and
09:02everything's fixable, and this and that, and instead of, no, I mean, that is completely
09:07unacceptable.
09:07Now, I'll say this.
09:08They're all fixable.
09:09I think D'Amico got there late last year.
09:11Yeah.
09:11I think D'Amico finally got there last year.
09:13He was like, nah, that ain't it.
09:14I know he got there the post-game pressure of the last game.
09:17I know his ass was there at that point, because he let us all have it.
09:20But to me, that's just, that is the next step.
09:23Yeah, but he let us have it.
09:24Like, I want, he let us have it.
09:26Did he?
09:26Well, yeah, to the media, he said some things about accountability and guys, you know, guys
09:31playing hard and guys having some self-pride and things like that.
09:34Like, that is what I'm talking about.
09:36CJ, D'Amico, all of that has, we can't tiptoe around and worry about hurting everybody's
09:42feelings.
09:42I'm not saying you constantly go out there and for no reason throw guys under the bus the
09:45way Bill Parcells constantly did.
09:47I'm not saying that, right?
09:48I'm simply saying, call a spade a spade.
09:51If that performance sucked and you just beat a pissy poor team, then don't walk out there
09:56and thank, thanking everybody for the W.
09:58A couple of things from that.
10:00One, he, he, it wasn't just to Zach Taylor.
10:04And in that audio, you can't, obviously you can't see, but it was, it was to everybody,
10:12the offensive line and everybody on the sideline.
10:14He walked off.
10:15It wasn't just, you know, to the coach.
10:17He said it to, he said it, what are we doing?
10:20This is embarrassing.
10:20He did it to everybody.
10:21So it wasn't just a, Hey, I'm just telling the coach and I'm like, he, he obviously let
10:27it be known to everybody there.
10:30And clearly he was steamed the whole way.
10:32The other part to it is, listen, there, there is a bit of a people's personalities or people's
10:39personalities.
10:40And you, and you go and you don't really want somebody to come out of their personality,
10:45but I will say watching that it does.
10:50It, it feels like CJ would probably play more of the route of what Zach Taylor was sounded
11:00like in that situation, like if you, if you drop the Minnesota game is the one that comes
11:04to mind, right?
11:05They had pressures.
11:07They had, uh, you know, sacks.
11:09He was getting hit a lot.
11:10And then they had a multiple false starts and offsides lined up.
11:16I know he was frustrated.
11:17You could see it in his face.
11:18He was frustrated, but it does feel like, and maybe that is just CJ's personality.
11:22It does feel like he would be more on the Zach Taylor, Hey, um, Hey, way to come back.
11:32Let's focus on the positive.
11:33Hey, focus on the positive.
11:33He would be more, you know, on that than maybe the, hold up.
11:38What?
11:39Like we got to fix this.
11:40And I, and I do think one, it is year three going into year three.
11:47And I've said this when we've had these conversations, he's, he may still be growing into that and
11:53feeling that I don't know if Burrow was that way immediately, uh, coming out, but whatever
11:59your style is, like at some point it does have to come out of guys.
12:06Hey man, this, this, this ain't it.
12:09And I think what you're saying is the reason why it's got to be him is because his voice
12:13carries a, a certain level are going to actually stop traffic and move on in a way that they
12:21may not do it.
12:22If Lincoln Tomlinson or Titus Howard did it, or even Nico did there, there ain't a player
12:27out there that even is remotely close to carrying the power that CJ Stroud has in his voice.
12:32The key is, is you can't sit around and let the next offensive coordinator be that guy.
12:36That's, that's the biggest point here, guys, is you can't like, let's go two years.
12:40Let's take Mr. Positive approach here.
12:42Let's say Nick Cayley blows it out of the water and everybody from new England that made him
12:45an assistant coach for nine years, all that's been talking about how good of a head coach
12:49or a play caller he's going to be.
12:50Let's say they're all right.
12:51Let's say he moves on in two years and he becomes now the next guy that comes in here,
12:55we're going to have to worry about, well, will this guy take the bull by the horns?
12:57Will this guy hold people accountable?
12:59Will this guy rip some ass and make sure that everybody's the standard is set and the standard
13:03is met?
13:04Or is it a moving forward?
13:06You had a $60 million quarterback and he's got that.
13:08Don't worry.
13:08The guy that gets hired to call plays, he just needs to be a good X's and O guy.
13:12Everything else, the quarterback guy.
13:14Because the reality is right now, nobody carries the power that C.J. Stroud does on the offensive
13:20side of the football.
13:21You've got a hell of a head coach.
13:22D'Amico is an absolute beast from a head coach, from this leadership perspective.
13:27But there is a void because he is a defensive-minded head coach that he needs his quarterback.
13:32In my opinion, he needs his quarterback to be the guy that, again, sets the standard,
13:38a guy that holds people accountable, a guy that when it ain't right, when all this stuff
13:43ain't right, it don't matter if you win or lose, we've got to hold some people accountable
13:47to what the hell's going on around here.
13:49That's got to come from C.J.
13:51And I disagree with the whole, well, some guys have a personality, some guys, if you're going
13:55to pay a guy $60 million a year to be that guy, and you're a defensive-minded head coach,
14:01your quarterback better find a way within his own personality to be that dude.
Recommended
5:31
|
Up next
13:46
2:20
9:55