- 13 hours ago
B-Scott gives his biggest takeaways from last night’s Texans preseason game, including what he liked, what concerned him, and which performances caught his attention.
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00:0095.7 The Fan presents In The Loop with John Lopez and Reggie Atatua.
00:08B. Scott.
00:09By the book.
00:11B. Scott.
00:13B. Scott from Hyrum Clark.
00:15You didn't think we were going to come to the FM and not bring the intro.
00:18The intro, as it's referred to, of course, sitting in with us is the man, B. Scott from Hyrum Clark,
00:24if you don't know.
00:24Brandon Kyle Scott, a Houston man through and through.
00:28He covers all these sports for us.
00:30He'll be out there.
00:31Texans, Rockets, Astros.
00:33He is smart.
00:34He is funny.
00:35He's insightful.
00:36And that's why you always want to know B. Scott's thoughts.
00:38And we get those to you right here.
00:39So despite the fact that the Texans did not perform up to the level last night, like that was not
00:45overall up to the standard.
00:47Nobody would look at that and say, hey, that's what you want to be about.
00:50And I don't think that they did that.
00:51Right.
00:51Like they would tell you that despite that, I felt like there was mostly good things to take away.
00:57From last night's game.
00:59Forget the score and forget even the overall picture of it not looking good in the end.
01:04Right.
01:04And I think that that's fair.
01:06The very beginning of it, there was enough positive stuff for me to take away from it and feel good
01:13about the night.
01:14And so my main thought is I don't want us to lose our minds about the negative.
01:20And I'm not saying that you guys are just like just to the general fan base.
01:24Let's not lose our minds over some of the negative things that we saw last night, even if we want
01:30to call them out and break them down and talk about them.
01:33Let's just keep everything within its proper context.
01:36And I like how y'all started the show.
01:38I loved how y'all started the show with the offensive line, even though, hey, sorry, FM audience.
01:42It just so happens that the most interesting thing going on with the Texans right now is the remade offensive
01:48line.
01:49So y'all got to drug through this with us or truck through this with us.
01:52But the offensive line, I thought, and getting the first team offense, a first look at the first team offensive
01:58line was valuable for us as a fan base, valuable for them as a team.
02:03And I didn't think it went terribly, terrible at all.
02:08So, like, I felt good about watching Keelan Rutledge and Wyatt Teller, you know, double team blocks in the run
02:16game and how they looked honestly in the passing game and pass protection as well.
02:20And Keelan Rutledge is, I think, a big part of this offseason and going into this season.
02:24Him as a rookie playing a position that he didn't play in college much or really at all.
02:29So, like, that, the first test case of that, even if we want to go with the caveat of this
02:35is not the best competition, this is kind of just really a glorified scrimmage.
02:41Even within the context of that, you saw enough good things to feel good about.
02:47And that's just starting with the one rookie.
02:49How about the rookie class overall looking, and I say rookie class, let me include an undrafted free agent in
02:56that as well.
02:57But, like, rookies overall looking competent, looking promising, looking like they could at least fill some kind of role for
03:03you.
03:04Whether we're talking about Keelan Rutledge as a starter or somebody on the back end of the roster, I felt
03:11like it was overall positive for some of the young players that could fill out this team.
03:15I'm glad you brought that up because I've always, and this goes back decades, I've always looked at preseason games
03:20as two games.
03:21The first game is, whether it's starters or frontline players, how are they performing against, you know, the other frontline
03:29players?
03:30How are the guys that you know are going to be integral in this offense or defense, how are they
03:36performing while they are on the field?
03:37So, that's game one.
03:38And then there's game two.
03:40Game two is, you know, what are the players that may or may not make this team?
03:44What are the, you know, the kickers, the punters, special teams, you know, all these things that are sort of
03:48up in the air.
03:49So, if you separate it like that, like the first game was, how many plays was that first drive on
03:55offense?
03:56And then the first, you know, the defense came out a little bit.
04:00That's game one.
04:02Game one, to your point, was pretty good.
04:04I'm not going to say it was great.
04:05It wasn't.
04:06But you had pretty, and we talked about it in the first segment, pretty good blocking in the run game.
04:10They had a couple of glitches here and there.
04:12No big runs.
04:13Probably on 9-10 snaps.
04:14Yeah, pretty good pass protection.
04:16And it was typical stuff when Davis Mills had to float around in the pocket.
04:21That happens in every NFL game.
04:24So, the first game, some of the specialists, you know, were doing okay.
04:29You know, and Jared Wayne, in this case, was one of the, you know, front line players and he had
04:32a good.
04:32So, the first game, I think they did pretty good.
04:35Second game, then we can talk.
04:37Maybe there were some ups and downs.
04:38Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
04:39I was going to play for you D'Amico Ryans talking after the game.
04:42In fact, let's go ahead and do that.
04:43My bad, Fig.
04:44I told you we would.
04:45But this is a cut seven here.
04:46This was D'Amico Ryans being asked about or talking about the style of play that he wanted to see
04:51from his team.
04:51And let me preface it.
04:52He didn't seem all that excited about it.
04:54The style of play that I wanted to see, I wanted to see us play physical, right?
04:58And I did not see that the entire game.
05:01There were some glimpses of us playing physical, but the Chargers, they out-physicaled us the entire game, right?
05:08So, it was not our brand of football.
05:11When I speak of playing our style, that's a physical brand of football.
05:15And that was not up to par tonight.
05:17When D'Amico said that, when I heard him say that last night, I was like, that's not how I
05:20felt.
05:20And then I stopped for a second.
05:21I went, oh, he's a football coach.
05:23And so, he's coaching all these guys as evenly as possible.
05:26You love it, right?
05:27That's what you want.
05:28Me, as somebody who's looking as a radio host and looking towards what this Texas team will do,
05:32I recognize that I have all of this on a scale, as you're talking about.
05:37How the first-team offensive line played matters way more than how the defenders that are playing in the fourth
05:43quarter of this game,
05:44like, those things barely even register for me, right?
05:47Like, I'm not looking at how Stephen Hall is playing, with all due respect, the cornerback who wears number four.
05:53I'm not looking at him and going, oh, man, he's in.
05:55Did you know that was his number?
05:56Did you know?
05:58No.
05:59Legit, we were in the suite.
06:00You mentioned it.
06:01And he made a play, and I looked at Lopez, and I said, 41, I think the announcer said, Stephen
06:06Hall, whatever it was.
06:07And I said, I don't know who that is.
06:09I've been at training camp.
06:11I've looked at the roster day in and day out.
06:13But D'Amico does.
06:13Didn't know who it was.
06:14And so, D'Amico was looking at that like, that's not the standard.
06:16I'm looking at that.
06:17I'm going, that doesn't really impact the standard I'm thinking about, because I'm thinking about a 53-man roster,
06:22maybe who's joining your practice squad.
06:23Hall's not there for me.
06:25And so, it depends on how you want to degrade it.
06:27If we grade it that way, I think I was very happy with this.
06:30Because even the defense kind of just allowing the Chargers to move down the field,
06:34all those players are dudes that we're talking about depth.
06:36And the way that I saw it, and we'll talk more about this with specifics,
06:40was dudes that I go, they kind of held their own.
06:42And that's what you're asking for if you're asking for like a cornerback four to have to play.
06:48You're like, hold your own.
06:50Don't just give up the booty, right?
06:51And I think that all those guys did things that felt like they hold their own,
06:55and they don't just give up all the gold, so to say.
06:59See, that's interesting, because I actually did see where D'Amico was coming from.
07:03Like, I actually kind of agreed with him, because watching the game really throughout,
07:08honestly, even the early part of it, things just felt way too easy, I thought, for the Chargers, for the
07:14most part.
07:15They had a couple of drives where it was, that were pretty quick.
07:17But for the most part, it just felt like little resistance.
07:21And one thing that they really weren't getting early was any kind of pass rush of any kind.
07:25They did kind of get the ball out quick a couple of times.
07:27There was some quick game involved in that as well.
07:30But I just did not see enough.
07:32Like, this is supposed to be an imposing defense.
07:36Like, one that's like, they talk about swarm.
07:38And just sort of have a little bit more of an imposing mentality.
07:42And they just kind of seem to be out there.
07:44You should even mention, like, holding their own.
07:46That's how I would describe it, too.
07:47They don't want to just hold on.
07:48Yeah, and that, to me, is not really, really good enough.
07:52Like, especially if you're going to be the football coach.
07:54And it's also not, like, the brand of football that I've grown myself accustomed to watching
07:58over the last couple of years, and last year especially.
08:01But even with that, I was like, you know what?
08:03I'll sacrifice that for, you know, Marlon Kline up the scene.
08:09You know, I'll sacrifice that for feeling like, oh, you know what?
08:13We talk about running back death.
08:15But Noah Whittington, as an undrafted free agent, might actually be somebody that can
08:19make, not just make this team, but help you a little bit, right?
08:23And then we talked about the lineman earlier.
08:24I thought Caden McDonald on the defensive side, he played a lot.
08:27And I saw some good stuff.
08:29And I saw some not-so-good stuff.
08:30Agreed.
08:31And so it was a mixed bag.
08:33And you're like, okay, well, you'll take that.
08:35You know, like, you know, moldable clay.
08:37They're coaching points.
08:37You're going to work with them.
08:38But overall, I'd sacrifice the, maybe not looking like the exact brand of football that
08:45I'm used to for feeling good about some of the younger players.
08:48And I love that D'Amico Rhines has that standard from 1 to 90 on this roster.
08:53That's the type of coaching I want to hear.
08:55But I'm also going to come logically and go, what you're talking about, the standard and
08:58the brand of, like, football that you're accustomed to?
09:01Just, I mean, roster construction in general in the NFL.
09:03How many guys are actually bringing you the, those are the impact playmakers?
09:08All those guys didn't play last night for the Texans.
09:10So, like, if any of these guys are in here, their whole job is do enough so that those
09:15guys can impact the game, whether it's Will Anderson Jr. or Daniil Hunter or Sheldon Rankins
09:19or Tommy Tote, should I keep going?
09:20Or, you know, or Derek Stingley or Kamari Lasseter or Kalen Bullock or is it, should I keep
09:25going?
09:25No, I actually did this exact exercise earlier today.
09:28I'm like, how many of their top players didn't play?
09:31And I stopped counting once I got to, like, 15.
09:33All of them.
09:34You know?
09:34So, like, if no less than 15 of your top players didn't play, and this kind of goes back to
09:38my earlier point and my main thought here, it's like not losing our minds, and I'm glad
09:42Reggie kind of brought us back there.
09:43It's like, okay, and this is the perfect context.
09:47This did not look great, but this isn't the actual team itself.
09:53Right?
09:54Like, you can acknowledge both things.
09:55But also, I do think D'Amico was, because just the way he's a football coach, I do think
10:00he was disappointed.
10:01I do think he believes they were not as physical as the Chargers, and I think that's a fair
10:05assessment from what I saw.
10:06But I think it was also a little performative.
10:08I think he loved the fact that he could go there.
10:11I think he loved the fact that he goes, guys, you know, starting today or tomorrow or whenever,
10:16like, that is not the type of physical team we want to be.
10:19And all the starters are saying that we weren't even out there.
10:21He doesn't care.
10:22He wants to send that message.
10:24Are you truly a good coach if you don't coach the guys on the back end of the roster?
10:28Exactly.
10:28Like, if you don't coach literally everybody that's on the team up until the point that
10:32they're not.
10:33So, like, I can appreciate that aspect of it, even if, like, as not the coach, I can
10:39look at it and say, you know what?
10:40But I'm good with, again, Marlon Klein and Lewis Bond with one of the more exciting two-yard,
10:47three-yard returns that you'll ever find and feeling good about some of those things,
10:52right?
10:52Like, I'm not going to get worked up about the Texans not looking like the Texans when
10:58Will Anderson, Jr. and Daniil Hunter and Derek Stingley, Jr. and Kamari Lassner, Richie
11:04just already named everybody.
11:05Like, when those guys do not play and the Texans don't look like the Texans, I can handle
11:10that.
11:11But I also do have to say, they ain't really look like the Texans.
11:15That's why I think Domingo loved it.
11:16Yeah.
11:17Yeah, for sure.
11:18From the 8-3-2, or sorry, the 3-4-6.
11:21Nope.
11:21Wrong one.
11:22The 7-0-3.
11:23I was going to get there eventually.
11:24They said, Reggie, you talk like none of these top players can get hurt.
11:27No, I get that, right?
11:28But unless all of them get hurt, I'm not going to trip off of it because, again, right, if there's
11:33one of them that gets hurt, there's going to be someone that steps in.
11:35And as long as they are not getting out here torched, then we should be able to make this
11:40go.
11:41That's ultimately my point.
11:43And I do think that it's fair, though, for people who want to be critical of the game.
11:48To me, the most polarizing thing you could say about the team from the game is that maybe
11:52the depth of the team was exposed.
11:54I think a lot of people went into the game feeling like, hey, this is a much deeper team
11:58than either it used to be or maybe than we were expecting.
12:00And then after the game, maybe not feeling that way.
12:03But I also feel like that's OK after preseason game number one for that to still be a little
12:09bit of an open question.
12:10And at least you do still have all of those players that we just listed earlier.
12:14And some of those positions, we're not even talking about one deep.
12:17Think defensive tackle where it's Rankins, Togiai, Hall that's in there as well.
12:22And then who's the other one?
12:23Oh, Mario Edwards.
12:24Mario Edwards, yep.
12:25You went four deep on defensive tackles where it's just like, oh, ain't none of them there.
12:29Yeah.
12:30Yeah, it's going to be hard for me.
12:31A lot of these guys are not going to, let's just say it, a lot of these guys are just
12:34not
12:34going to make the team.
12:35Yeah.
12:35Because they're not good enough.
12:36So I think those things are going to be related, right?
12:40Like these guys are not going to make the team because they don't play close enough to
12:43the brand of football and the standard that D'Amico Ryans is trying to set.
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