00:0012 seconds to go. Joe Burrow approaches the line of scrimmage, the 38-yard line, takes a knee, and it
00:06is over at Melian Stadium for the third time in his four years as a head coach.
00:13D'Amico Ryan sees his team start 0-2. They fall to the Bengals today, 20-6, with a division
00:21matchup at Indy next week.
00:24That's right, Mark. You're in the loop here on 95-7, the fan, and the Texans fall to the Bengals,
00:3020-6, to make themselves for the third time in the fourth season for D'Amico Ryan's that they're starting
00:380-2.
00:39I should have come to expect it.
00:41That's right, Andre. Really and truly. We should have come to expect it at this point because that's where they
00:46are.
00:46Once again, how does this 0-2 compare to the others? 713-572-4610. Before we get to that, I
00:52do want to remind you, there's a couple of giveaways.
00:55These were already on the books. I did not have them do this just to make everybody feel a little
00:59bit better after a loss.
01:00I want to make that clear. I have no power here. We just already had these on the books.
01:05That could have been part of it.
01:07You know, maybe. Who knows?
01:08In the 11 o'clock hour, we'll be giving away some Dynamo tickets.
01:11In fact, a four-pack of tickets to see the Dynamo play Sporting KC coming up at the end of
01:16this week on the 26th.
01:18That'll happen at 11 o'clock hour.
01:19And then in the 1 o'clock hour, we have some University of Houston Cougars tickets.
01:25They're looking really good.
01:25Dang it, what a game that was.
01:26They were this close. They were inches away.
01:28Inches away from being a really, really intriguing team.
01:30And they're already real interesting in the Big 12.
01:33You'll have a chance to win a four-pack of tickets to see them play UCF on the 3rd of
01:38October.
01:39So some really good ticket giveaways that we've got going on today.
01:41But again, coming back to the question for the Houston Texans,
01:44how does this 0-2 compare to the other two?
01:47Remember, in 2023, the first season of D'Amico Ryan is here.
01:51The first season of CJ and Will.
01:53You're coming out the gate with a lot of rookies and low expectations.
01:56And J-Lo, you face off against a couple of teams that, you know, admittedly are a little tougher.
02:03Right?
02:04You get the Ravens to start the season there.
02:09And then you also get, who was week two there?
02:11Let me make sure I get this right.
02:12In 2023?
02:13In 2023.
02:14Oh, you had Indianapolis.
02:15Indy Colts, yeah.
02:16At home.
02:17Yeah.
02:17Right?
02:17Yeah.
02:18And so you lose the Ravens 25-9.
02:21That's a big one.
02:2231-20 loss versus the Colts in week two at home.
02:25But this is all still very brand new.
02:27Like, it's literally, D'Amico Ryan is a rookie in doing this when it comes to being a head coach.
02:31Bobby Slowick is a rookie in doing this.
02:33CJ.
02:33CJ's a rookie.
02:35Everything is very new and fresh.
02:37So the thing I'll ask you, kind of separating these out,
02:40does 2023, that 0-2, does that have any comparison in your mind to the 0-2 of 2026?
02:492023 does not.
02:50And I think your description there is the answer.
02:54I mean, there was optimism, you know, long-term, rookie quarterback, rookie coach coming home.
03:01You know, D'Amico Ryan's brought the San Francisco coordinators.
03:05That's the other thing.
03:06You had Bobby Slowick.
03:07And you're like, all right, you know, let's see what this, you know, with that offense, any success?
03:12Shanahan offense, man.
03:13Shanahan offense, all that good stuff.
03:15It doesn't, Reggie, it doesn't compare at all.
03:17I mean, it was disappointing.
03:18And I'm sure we had our things that we were pointing out and talking about and were certainly, you know,
03:24hey, you know, what does it mean?
03:25And you can opine on certain things, but it doesn't compare at all to this.
03:29I agree, especially because it was fresh.
03:32The way that this team started, you know, on a run later on the season, it was more finding yourself,
03:39right?
03:39It was the wilderness to finding yourself, and that was the natural trajectory of that season.
03:45I think 2025 is a lot more possibly indicative and, I think, a little bit closer to where we could
03:52compare it in a way that I think is useful.
03:53In 2025, you start 0-2, honestly, on the way to starting 0-3, and then you end up as,
04:00what, like 2-4?
04:03You end up 3-5 before then you start rattling off a win streak that ultimately leaves you at 12
04:11-5, going off into the playoffs on a strong foot.
04:15But you started 0-2, and one was on the road versus the Rams, a team that we did not
04:21know was going to ultimately be as good as they were,
04:23even if you know that the Rams were a good football team.
04:25And then you had the Buccaneers at home, and it was a very close loss.
04:29Both of these losses incredibly close, a total discrepancy of five points compared to this season now,
04:35where you lose two home games to the cream of the AFC by, what is this, 14-5, 19 points
04:43total.
04:44Now, how does this one compare to last year's?
04:47See, now, last year you had already had the expectations.
04:50I think it does compare to last year's.
04:52We were already talking about, you know, hey, does Nick Casario know how to scout and find an offensive lineman?
05:01You know, is his imprint on this offense, you know, a bit much?
05:07You know, are there problems with the play caller, you know, the rookie play caller, really being in over his
05:14head?
05:14I think we were starting to see this, but it was still almost like we knew the defense was good.
05:19But, you know, you go into L.A., and I remember, I mean, they had a chance to win that
05:23game at the very end a couple times.
05:25And, you know, it's a 14-9 game, so, you know, your defense is really good.
05:30And then the Tampa game, wasn't that when Baker Mayfield had that scramble?
05:33Henry Toltoa gets the tackle, and we're talking about that game as a victory for the Houston Texans.
05:37And you're kind of like, dang it, you know?
05:38But you still, on the defensive side, you felt really good.
05:42And obviously, we still do feel good, maybe not as good as then, but we still feel good about this
05:46defense.
05:47But on the offensive side, you were starting to wonder, you know?
05:51And that's why this 0-2 start is so ridiculous to me, because it's not, you don't have to wonder
05:57anymore.
05:58As we talked about in the entire first segment, this is Nick Casario's offense.
06:01He has spit the bit when it comes to personnel and coaching and approach and philosophy.
06:05We know that's the case, and we were hoping that Nick Cayley would maybe find his feet
06:11and have a little more confidence and be able to, you know, to spread his wings a little bit.
06:17Look, man, he's not.
06:19And by the way, C.J. Stroud, no one's going to look at C.J. Stroud and complain at this
06:26point.
06:27And if they do, then you know that they're not serious people.
06:30I think a serious person looks at C.J. Stroud and goes, he was out here.
06:33He had one of the games that you know I like to talk about as a y'all lost game.
06:37I know that he would never talk about it in such a way.
06:39But if C.J. Stroud walked into that locker room and was like, I ain't lose, y'all lost,
06:42would you be able to really combat what he said there?
06:45Yeah, but even at that—
06:46And, of course, he did not say that.
06:47I want to make sure that's clear before someone goes and acts.
06:49I had a good game, y'all did.
06:51That's right.
06:53But even at that, he was put in another bad spot.
06:55He shouldn't have to throw, was it, 55 times?
06:58Yeah.
06:58He shouldn't have to just continually run for his life
07:02and be pressured on 45% of the plays that he threw on.
07:07Even he has some complaints, and he made the most out of it.
07:10Yeah.
07:11If I'm comparing last year and this year, one of the things I'll talk about is
07:14the defense is in an interesting place where I think that we know for certain
07:20this defense is still some level of good.
07:22What level of good is the question?
07:24Because in 2025, the defense looked really good except for moments.
07:28It was some breaks here and there.
07:31And maybe you could say similar.
07:33Maybe you could say similar, but it feels different this year
07:36because it felt like there was more cracks in what the defense did this year.
07:41There's obviously the Bills game where they're just kind of going up and down.
07:44You can point to some instances of this is a great player and Dalton Kincaid
07:48and DJ Moore, what have you.
07:49You can even do that in this game as well where you clearly see some of the big
07:53plays that happen are Jamar Chase.
07:56It just feels a little different, maybe because expectations ratcheted up as well,
08:00but it feels just a little bit like this defense maybe isn't at that same level.
08:05The weird thing for me is the offense has shown some viability this year.
08:10It's just, hey, man, without Nico Collins, this can be the exact same level of floor.
08:15I think that that's the thing.
08:16How so viability?
08:17Honestly, because that hit me funny when you said that.
08:21Because we talked about the run game even last week with the running backs just had,
08:26it wasn't really successful.
08:27Of course, yesterday was a debacle.
08:29And a texter brings up, and I don't necessarily buy into this.
08:33I think this is a Nick Cayley problem, but a texter brings up,
08:36they still didn't have any TD drives.
08:38They've gone 16 straight possessions.
08:41I think it's 16 without a touchdown.
08:4416 consecutive possessions without a touchdown.
08:46You can maybe say, hey, CJ, you've got to do better.
08:48I mean, I think that's more on Nick Cayley.
08:51I mean, CJ catching the football as well.
08:53But in circumstances where you have Nico Collins versus man, you can get him the football.
09:00Versus zone, these guys, I think the guys that end up looking pretty bad today,
09:03I'm going to be honest, or yesterday, I think they look a lot better in those circumstances.
09:06Do you anticipate that other teams are just going to be able to lock you up in man all the
09:10time?
09:11I mean, I think there's going to be more of that.
09:14I will say this, and I'm glad you brought that up.
09:17I think the Texans are going to be blitzed a lot more, which would lead to man-to-man,
09:21because of the offensive line.
09:23You know, it's out there.
09:26I mean, the tape isn't going to lie.
09:28They can pressure the edges.
09:29They can maybe mix in some more blitzing.
09:32And I think outside, and Nico Collins probably, according to some reports,
09:36won't play this week in Indianapolis.
09:37Yeah, CJ had a quote that made it sound like, and we don't know when he'll be back.
09:41And it's a reasonable thing, because a hamstring isn't just a one-week injury, always.
09:47But even when he is back, I mean, are any of these other receivers going to scare a defense from
09:52blitzing?
09:53If you can cheat a safety over to Nico?
09:55I don't think so.
09:57That's a great question.
09:58I will say that this is where I come back to our first segment.
10:00I go, hey, Nick Kaley, how about we use some of these guys to their best effect?
10:04Like, I understand that we've talked – I personally have talked a lot about, hey,
10:07I think Kayshawn Booty, there's more to be wrung out of this.
10:10There's no way in hell you should end up in a circumstance where Jared Wayne is your dude going deep
10:14when Kayshawn Booty is out here, right?
10:15I understand that we want to use him in different ways.
10:17You maybe want to zig while other people zag.
10:19There's no reason that you should throw out the best – you know, the bread and butter of this player
10:23and not use him that way.
10:24I think that there's some places where you can elevate that.
10:27But, yeah, no, there's definitely questions on this offense.
10:29I think there were more questions on this offense last year in a weird way.
10:33But, also, maybe the bar should be higher this year because second year in the offense
10:37that we heard a whole bunch.
10:38Otherwise, still, do you feel worse about this year than you did last year,
10:42the 0-2 that they start?
10:44Oh, what a great question.
10:45I'm going to – you know, you're asking me when they're 0-2
10:47and the defense gave up some big plays to another good – you know, this just in,
10:51you're going to face good receivers.
10:52That's right.
10:52You know, and Reed Blankenship is still going to be out there taking tracks
10:56that look remarkably bad.
10:58So, I'm going to say yes.
11:00Right now, today, yes.
11:01So, that would then mean that they have a little bit further to go
11:04to get themselves back on track.
11:06It's something that they've done before.
11:07I'm very intrigued to see if they can do it, and we'll talk about that
11:09as we continue to roll along here in the loop on 95.7.
11:12And then the fence,
11:13and the fence,
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