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In The Loop's John P. Lopez points the blame at the Texans' general manager for their 0-2 start.
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00:00down and inches at the 17 of cincinnati dexter lawrence right over the center cj
00:09under center handoff montgomery running right he's not gonna get it he's not gonna get it
00:15knight came up to help along with lawrence as they pushed things that way and were able to prevent
00:21any surge by the houston texans on fourth down they fail that's a failed field goal
00:27and on fourth and short they fail on their last two offensive possessions where they drove but
00:33come away with nothing and mark they failed a little bit more than that as well over the course
00:38of the game you're in the loop here on 95 7 the fan john lopez to my right i'm reggel
00:42and atitula
00:43figgy fig on the ones and twos and you coming off of a houston texans loss here we go again
00:480 and 2 they fall for the third time in the four seasons that domico ryans has been here 20
00:53to 6
00:54was the victory for the bangles on your home turf and uh get involved with the program 7 1 3
00:595 7 2 4 6
01:0010 is the number to text we appreciate the mo kerman julius for the live stream we keep it 100
01:04youtube
01:05page and twitch chat both 95 7 the fan and oh boy we're gonna it's reaction monday indeed we're gonna
01:10we're gonna react there's a lot to react to and unfortunately not in the good way uh john lopez
01:15there's so much in this game that i think can be that you could be frustrated by there's so much
01:20that we
01:20have to talk about um and all phases of the football game but for me in particular it was
01:27the complete reversion of this offense back to the worst that we saw uh the worst versions of itself at
01:34least especially in running the football that you heard on that fourth down specific look we were we're
01:39going to be able to talk about domico ryans and what he's doing on fourth down we're going to be
01:43able
01:43to talk about special teams we're going to talk about uh just some of the the the receiver shortcomings uh
01:49you know maybe the the defense uh reed blankenship where are you there are so many levels so many
01:55different things we can talk about but there was one story here yesterday and and there's one story
02:01that should make it even though they've been here before and they've responded before and hell they
02:07may they may well respond again this year but the the reason it feels so empty right now and so
02:14frustrating right now is we were told it'd be different yeah we we were told it would be
02:20different this time we really mean it you know like that relationship you know yeah when are you
02:25going to change no this time i really mean it i've changed no you haven't baby i promise i promise
02:28no you
02:29haven't you haven't changed this offense hasn't changed this line hasn't you've spent more money
02:34we were told that that it was money well spent we were told that that that there would be a
02:39better
02:39offensive line that that you know this this iteration of the offensive line with with this
02:46new running back and then this new uh second year of the offense and the play caller uh gaining you
02:53know gaining traction we were told it would be different the story today is and and again maybe
02:59it'll change doesn't feel like it but the story today is nothing has changed nothing has changed at all and
03:06you know nick cayley looks out of his depth uh i mean he just he's overwhelmed well let me let
03:13me ask
03:13you this um and this is the question i want you to chime in dear listener on the text line
03:17seven one
03:17three five seven two four six ten which nick had a had a worse day yesterday those nicks uh your
03:23options clearly being nick cayley the offensive coordinator of the team that saw his run game
03:28rush for at least with the actual running backs outside of your quarterback going and scrambling and jaylen
03:34to end around uh your running backs in 14 carries rushed for a robust 18 yards uh so you had
03:43that
03:43which was supposedly the the tip of the spear we're gonna run the damn ball in essence or is it
03:49the
03:49man who had that quote after night one of the nfl draft isn't nick cassero the general manager of the
03:54team who was supposed to you know equip this team to be able to handle things and especially equip
03:59this team to be able to handle missing a few players now admittedly key players on this team
04:04but you missed a few players and it felt like there was no the whole next man up mentality was
04:08not something that was uh that was viable for this team last night it's nick cassero excuse me it's
04:13nick cassero and it's not even close nick cassero let's put it very bluntly he's little finger he's
04:20little finger from from game of thrones and it's not working uh you know all the shortcomings yesterday
04:25from the the offense that they ran nick cassero brought that in to the guy calling the plays
04:33nick cassero brought that in the overwhelmed personnel nick cassero brought that in overmatched
04:40assistant coaches including frank ross in this case nick cassero brought that in even putting
04:47domico ryan's in the position to have to consider and then actually go for it on fourth and inches
04:55the reason he did that it was on him and it was a bad call and he shouldn't have done
04:59it but the
04:59reason he did it no confidence in this offensive line all the things that were bad yesterday land on
05:06nick cassero's desk he's little finger he he put this when he took advantage of bobby slowick you know
05:13not working out and all of a sudden gained the trust of domico ryan's and said listen this is the
05:20offense this is how we need to do it nick cassero is is the de facto offensive coordinator he brought
05:26in
05:27every single offensive coach uh i mean is it a coincidence that almost literally almost literally
05:34every offensive assistant and staffer went to john carroll or had a new england patriots or both
05:42connection that's they're all cassero loyalists who would be nowhere they wouldn't be here without
05:50him and so when you look at like all the failings of this offense the offensive line the acquisitions
05:55the running game the play calling the play caller that's on nick cassero guys he does a lot of things
06:02well and i think we've given him his due credit on a lot of things he does well but building
06:08an offense
06:09is not one of them it's just not i i think there's an argument for nick cayley and i think
06:14we'll get to
06:15that but i didn't want to if we're talking about nick cassero let's let's talk about nick cassero because
06:19the biggest week one to week two downward shift was the offensive line in which week one uh against
06:28the bills team you weren't you weren't incredible but you were you were solid in the run game and it
06:33represented a step forward from what we had seen from the offensive line there's no way you're telling me
06:38that ed ingram is so damn vital to this offensive line that without him you can't run the football
06:44and i think this is where i should press pause and say the cincinnati bangles this this offseason for
06:51them the step forward that they made on defense is to some degree real i'm still interested in seeing
06:56how much it is but this game also had a little bit of a it was both sides of the
07:00stories you tell
07:01yourself in the offseason john lopez and i say that to me the story that the bangles told themselves in
07:05the offseason was we're going to get dexter lawrence we're going to get boye mafe we're going to get a
07:11few players and that will be enough to supplement what we're doing defensively and you saw it they
07:16were stout on the front line they were able to be very sticky in coverage and that was sufficient
07:22enough i mean their linebackers aren't great but they weren't going to be tested because they were
07:25able to be good enough in these other places the other side of that coin is the texans telling
07:29themselves offensive line like we're investing in it right we went and got some free agents we drafted there
07:35and that will be enough for us to be able to run the ball and that just was not there
07:39at all and
07:40this is where i come back to nick casario um i told myself when wyatt teller is not starting brate
07:45smith admittedly on the on the engine reserve right now but i go what you paid them even if if
07:50wyatt
07:51teller doesn't start i go well what is the what is the cost that you would pay for insurance yeah
07:54that
07:55looked like some the general insurance yesterday on the offensive line shack insurance that looks like
08:01the insurance that you get at the grocery store yeah just that just liability to make sure that
08:05you are complying with the rules and i i say this with all due respect to wyatt teller who has
08:10been
08:10a very good offensive lineman in the league but the difference in run blocking that he has from ed
08:14ingram talk less of instances where evan brown is left out here to dry or instances where evan brown
08:19is also leaving his rookie left guard out to dry on a fourth down where they're running an outside
08:24or a wide zone and not making sure to to attack the most important player on the cincinnati bangles
08:31defense and trying to move up to the second level right right those types of things happen when you
08:36have an offensive line that's not capable of but i think that also ties in with hey nick hayley you
08:40should also be able to stress to your offense and make sure that you're calling plays that focus on
08:44the best defensive players so that you're going and getting that yard when you need it as opposed to
08:49running a wide zone seeing texan warrants blow it up and not allowing your guy to even reach the line
08:53of scrimmage to do what he does well and david montgomery to push forward well but let's talk
08:57about that like like the guys that he brought in he being nick casario you know trent brown started at
09:02the end of last year you know urster tay urster he started last year at left and right tackle and
09:09they
09:09were awful those were your starters last year and you told us they were good enough and and what was
09:14it 45 percent uh pressure rate yes on on drop backs 45 for half the time he's getting pressured those
09:22were the guys that you you as nick casario kind of hitched your wagon to 43.5 just a little
09:28bit
09:28telling us that they were that they were good enough and then the other thing the acquisitions
09:33these big money acquisitions you you talk and you can't control all injuries but brayden smith was
09:39damaged goods brayden smith was a guy that didn't get on the he didn't even win the starting job he
09:45didn't
09:45win and you said he would like i said we were told it'd be different so even those like you
09:50can't
09:50control all injuries but that's this is par for the course for him wyatt teller was going to be
09:55this oh nasty you know all this other you know stuff that he wasn't and and even keelan rutledge
10:03who i think we all will agree you know has an upside and all that you talk about a welcome
10:08to the nfl
10:08moment that how about like six or seven of them you know that because demarcus lawrence was toying
10:16dexter lawrence i mean dexter lawrence was toying with him yeah and i think the last one you mentioned
10:21keelan rutledge he's rookie these rookie things are going to happen yeah this is where i'll come
10:25back to nick cayley right i thought that there were some instances in here that made absolutely no sense
10:31from for me one of those as i just try and pick them out at random you talked about the
10:36tackles um
10:37you know kind of getting beat in this game how do we end up in a circumstance where you carry
10:44five tight
10:45ends on your active roster thank you you have five you have five wide receivers on your roster
10:51typically one of those the best of which goes down you're facing a team that's going to play a lot
10:55of
10:56man you don't necessarily have wide receivers that are going to win in man we talked about that coming
11:00in and you end up with 11 personnel three wide receiver sets so many times when we have been
11:05we've been talked about talk to death about the idea that they're going to run 12 they're going to run
11:0913 personnel and that was not there your tackles are getting beat you know what would help that
11:14having that tight end in right like you're running the football like you would imagine that getting
11:18into some of these bigger sets might help that to some degree you just it felt it felt wild also
11:24just
11:24generally some of your better pass catchers once you lose nico collins are also tight ends yeah maybe
11:30you even get even if they're not better than your wide receivers you maybe get a a disadvantage in size
11:35with the tight end versus whoever is going to be guarding them whether it's a cornerback or safety or
11:39whatever and you don't do that like i i don't understand the usage of the of the admittedly
11:44maybe not great groceries that have been provided for you um or maybe just ill-fitting in this moment
11:49and then making it even more ill-fitting like it just did not make sense to me that the game
11:53plan
11:54offense the game plan that you came in versus the bangles defense was we're going to get into
11:58into 13 or 11 personnel we're going to have three wide receivers and we're going to spread this out
12:03um when you don't have guys that are necessarily winners i'm so glad you brought that up because that that
12:07is
12:07that that now that falls on nick cayley like what are you thinking are you sitting in there the week
12:12of the you know monday tuesday wednesday as you're prepping for this game thinking i got an idea let's
12:18cross them up a little bit let's go 11 personnel against this this pass rush that created four
12:23turnovers by the way the week before and it got you know how bad it was figgy you know how
12:28bad it was
12:28for me yesterday i was missing blake fisher in a jumbo package well he got in there i know but
12:33i was i was
12:35missing where is blake fisher we need what we need is blake fisher but no double tight ends no triple
12:40tight ends none of that you tried to outsmart yourself and and it backfired so that is on nick
12:45cayley but but all these things just just infuriating because even even last week and we brought it up
12:54even though it was a pretty good run game the running backs only had 60 yards rushing last week
12:58like that's 60 and there were some good ones and some touchdowns yeah they were scoring in the red
13:02zone they were scoring in the red zone that kind of sort of masked the reality of i think they
13:07still
13:08averaged like 3.5 which you'll take but 60 yards from the running backs yesterday last week and then
13:1318 18 this week yeah i didn't want to say it last week because i'm like at least they got
13:18in the end
13:19zone but i wasn't really too satisfied with how the run game was last week but this week i think
13:25hell
13:25did cj stroud lead the the team in rushing i'm glad you asked he sure did three carries 29 yards
13:31good
13:31for 9.7 yards to carry versus your your running backs who collectively i think their their average
13:38was somewhere in the one one point a couple yards uh per carry like it it just wasn't sufficient and
13:45maybe you get to nick cayley in a place where he goes i'm going three wide because this is a
13:50this
13:50is a team in the bangles that might stack the box right and like i said week one they did
13:54a lot of
13:55putting guys in the box so if we put if we put three wide receivers they're forced to kind of
13:58cover them and empty things out well how did that work for you like how did that end up looking
14:02and
14:03maybe the answer was going to be that your offensive line wasn't going to hold up against this defensive
14:06line yeah in any in any um configuration no it just it didn't make sense especially when you've
14:13geared your offense specifically the way that you built uh this roster and you did not utilize those
14:18things and i mean when you're seeing that xavier hutchinson isn't running away from folks when you're
14:23seeing that uh that jared wayne isn't able to take advantage of shots that are open for you right
14:29because that's i imagine nick cayley's got to be mad because there's maybe a couple touchdowns that they
14:33should have where jared wayne bananas you know he kind of curves in a route and then cj throws the
14:38ball
14:38puts the ball up for him and he doesn't bring it down right and there's other instances where your
14:42wide receivers aren't winning why are we not getting some other circumstances to try some other
14:46receivers why does it take till the fourth quarter for for don't schultz to attack down the seam you know
14:50like
14:50that that was the thing where i go i think he's gotten better but is offensive coordinator nick
14:55cayley good enough and this was a game in which the answer was no i don't even think he's gotten
14:59better uh i i think those were adjustments that you know you give him credit you know any nfl
15:05offensive coordinator uh worth worth their you know worth anything are going to be able to see okay
15:09you know dalton schultz is doing this let's try this but just overall you know you look at at what
15:14the
15:14approach was his demeanor the play calling the bangles being one step ahead of him uh it just
15:21was and by the way i don't want to hear oh well nico nico didn't play if nico if nico
15:27collins not
15:28playing is the difference between a passable offense a week ago and that i think that's if we're really
15:34looking at it was at best passable and what we saw yesterday then you have much bigger problems he's
15:41one of those kind of players to get no he's no he's great he's great however you've got much bigger
15:45problem man if we just had nico would have been no no no no no no you've got big problems
15:50you know
15:50you've got an offensive coordinator that sat down in front of us last year and and admitted he
15:56literally had never called a play not even in a preseason game literally had never called a play
16:01ever and this is what you're hanging your your offense that you're telling us is going to be
16:05different on come on i mean that was awful it was a really really bad look i if we're if
16:13we're
16:13asking the question which nick had a worse day i'm inclined to go with you with casario because i
16:18think also one of the things you have to consider hey man that punting was terrible i mean special
16:22teams in general was really coverage the net punting was was absolutely atrocious that snap
16:28kickoff coverage the net punting all of it starting position for the bangles was constantly
16:33you know 40 yard line or better better these are things that don't help you win football games
16:39and you do have a punter and kai kroger that they went and they traded for admittedly very very low
16:45draft capital but they traded for and they decided to stick with and week one all right looked good
16:49week two when you really need it when when it's cutting time yeah looked really bad and that did not
16:54help you go along in in a game where they talk so much about hey one possession games the margins
17:00get
17:00really really thin and maybe non-existent when you have those types of things happening and that
17:03falls at the feet of the general manager again
17:05you
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