00:00Houston, it's time to turn up the heat.
00:04From Hiram Clark to Lake Houston, breaking news, bold takes, trades, and trash talk.
00:11You name it.
00:12Get ready for the hottest sports talk in the city.
00:16Holla at your boy.
00:17The B Block is hot on the drive.
00:22There it is.
00:24Good, open.
00:25Thank you, big voice man.
00:26Even though you've taken shots at me over the years, that is a strong open.
00:32That means, Clint, we are joined by B Scott here on a Wednesday, 440.
00:37What's good with you, man?
00:38Hey, look, I want to thank the big voice guy, but can I shout out Tyler?
00:41Because I know that the My Block Scarface touch to it has to be from Tyler's Houston roots.
00:49No way the big voice guy thought of that on his own.
00:51Realty.
00:52So shout out to UT Mill for doing your thing back there, man.
00:54Appreciate you, skeezy.
00:55Really happy to do it.
00:56Love you joining us every Wednesday, man.
00:58Yeah, man, that's nicely done.
01:00All right, let's get things going.
01:02I posed this question to the people in Clint earlier today.
01:06Obviously, the big news, Jaden Higgins is out for the year with a torn ACL.
01:11Obviously, this is not the Will Anderson, Derek Stingley, CJ Stroud, Nico Collins level loss.
01:24Those are the top of the damn.
01:27You can't lose those guys.
01:30On a scale of one to you can't lose those guys.
01:33Where do you think this one lands?
01:35Because we got people texting in.
01:37They're out talking about, oh, I turned the radio on and everybody's like, oh, what are we going to do?
01:44And I find out, oh, the number two receiver got hurt.
01:46How important is this or how big a deal of a loss is this to you?
01:51Yeah, those guys that you mentioned that you listed are, let's say, at a level 10 on a scale from
01:56one to 10.
01:57Jaden Higgins has got to be in that seven to eight range.
02:00Like right below them, but I would say definitely more than a five.
02:03Like this is not a moderate concern, shoulder shrug, next man up, even though you can say that because it
02:09is literally going to be the next man up.
02:11Whoever is the next guy that they decide is going to take that role.
02:14So you can say that, but it means more than that.
02:17And I know this is something that Clint talks about a lot when you talk about your number one receiver.
02:21So in this case, it'd be Nico Collins.
02:23You want to have a coverage dictator.
02:25So a wide receiver who dictates the coverage of the opposing defense.
02:30But then after that, you want to have a guy that compromises whatever decision it is that the defense makes.
02:36Right. That makes them regret whatever decision it is that they make, whether that's, you know, shading more to Nico's
02:43side or taking their risk and letting everybody kind of go even Steven, if you will, and having two guys
02:48that can beat you one on one.
02:49And that's what you had in Jaden Higgins.
02:51You were forcing the defense to decide, do we want to overcommit to Nico Collins or do we want to
02:57risk the idea of leaving guys on the island with just a little safety help maybe with Nico and Jaden
03:03Higgins on both sides?
03:04Now it doesn't really feel like you have that guy who's going to make the defense pay the price for
03:10already having a coverage dictator on your team and Nico Collins.
03:13And I think that that's important.
03:15So, so yeah, this is, I think that this is a major loss short of losing your, obviously your quarterback
03:20would be the major loss.
03:22But after that, we're talking about Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley Jr., Danilo, Nico, Nico himself, Danilo Hunter's in that
03:30mix.
03:31After that, if they're in the nine to 10 range, then you got to put, I say, Jaden Higgins right
03:36there in that seven range.
03:36On top of the fact that we're not just projecting, and I think Lopez was talking about this, Rich and
03:41Lopez were talking about this on In the Loop.
03:42It's not that we were just projecting a leap from Jaden Higgins.
03:45I think we were doing that before training camp.
03:47But once we actually got to training camp and watched him play, watched him produce out there,
03:52we were comfortably ready to say that he had taken that leap and that we were going to expect him
03:56to fill that role.
03:57Then obviously he's not going to be available anymore.
03:59Guys, I fully expect the fan base that hasn't been at training camp to be like, man,
04:04what are y'all talking about a second, a number two or a depth receiver for?
04:07Man, this ain't no big deal.
04:08If you've been at training camp, to B. Scott's point, if you've been at training camp two weeks ago,
04:14if this happens, that number's at a five or six maybe, and we're going, ah, okay, get him in the
04:20training room
04:21and let's see who else steps up, right?
04:23That's not the case.
04:25This was not only a guy that was having a great training camp, appeared to be creating chemistry,
04:29but he was carrying more of a load than any other wide receiver when it comes to all the movements
04:33and what the offense was actually asking him to do.
04:36So I'm with you, B. Scott.
04:38This is at least an eight.
04:39I mean, this is at least an eight on the how much of an impact does this have on this
04:45offense.
04:46Now, with that said, we know he's out for the year with the ACL.
04:51Where do you believe the Texans go from here?
04:55Is this truly a next man up, one of the guys on the depth chart that's had good training camps
04:59or maybe a guy that's been injured, or do you think they go get some outside help before?
05:05You know, back in the day, we would have two or three cuts here
05:07where potentially a really good player could hit the streets and get cut by another team.
05:11In today's NFL, the cut, it's one cut.
05:14You go from 90 to 53 on August the 30th, I believe, right?
05:17So we're still two weeks removed from that, B. Scott.
05:20So how do they fill the void of Jaden Higgins both in real time right now
05:27as well as down the stretch here in a week?
05:30My sense is that they're going to do it by filling the back end of the roster
05:34as opposed to, like, another guy that's just going to come in and fill Jaden Higgins' role.
05:39So if you're just talking about Higgins' role in a vacuum,
05:41I think that that is most likely going to be an internal candidate,
05:45whether we're talking about Xavier Hutchinson
05:47or if we're still doing the Hope Trafficking thing with Tank Dale.
05:50And cross your fingers that Tank Dale is ready to go at some point.
05:53I'm not trying to sell false hope on that and say that it's more than what it is.
05:57That's just sort of in the back pocket.
05:59But in the meantime, it could be Xavier Hutchinson in that role
06:02and then crossing your fingers that Jalen Knoll is ready to step into that slot role
06:06that it seemed like Xavier Hutchinson was going to fill.
06:09Because I think Xavier Hutchinson can go outside and inside.
06:13He's the most likely internal candidate in my view,
06:15and I think you're just at that point requiring Jalen Knoll
06:19to really step into that slot position.
06:21But you've got to think about the options that we're talking about, Clint.
06:24Unless there is a trade that I cannot predict at this point or foresee,
06:28and certainly that's a possibility,
06:30we're talking about the Tyreek Hills of the world.
06:32We're talking about the Brandon Cookses of the world.
06:35We're talking about DeAndre Hopkins.
06:36I mean, guys that are all pretty much age 32, 33 or older,
06:41and the Sterling Shepherds of the world.
06:44That's what we're talking about when we look at who's on the street.
06:48Tyler Lockett.
06:49Somebody mentioned Tyler Lockett before.
06:51Tyler Lockett, I feel like, was 137 years old.
06:53Apparently, he's only 33.
06:54But it feels like he's been around for a long time.
06:57He's been shot.
06:57So there are not, I think, ideal external options
07:01unless there's a trade that we just can't predict here in this moment.
07:04My prediction is you see Xavier Hutchinson step into that role
07:08and that you hope you get Tank Dale back sooner rather than later
07:11and certainly hope that Jalen Knoll is ready to take on a larger role
07:15than what he had last year in the offense.
07:16Brandon Scott here with us as he joins us each and every Wednesday
07:20and will all throughout the football season and beyond.
07:24B. Scott, I think the bigger story,
07:27or the biggest story prior to us finding out about Higgins was,
07:31and we sat down and talked about it as we were at that joint practice yesterday,
07:36and that is the offensive line and where they are.
07:40What do you make of this situation with the offensive line?
07:46Because we saw a lot of combinations and maybe some surprising combinations.
07:51What do you make of what's going on with that?
07:53A lot of combinations and surprising combinations, as you just said.
07:57But long story short, it seems like they're trying to figure out,
08:00and this is just based off of what we're looking at at practice,
08:03it seems like they're trying to figure out their best combination of whether
08:07it's Rutledge at center and Wyatt Teller at left guard,
08:11or is it Evan Brown at center and Wyatt Teller?
08:14I'm sorry, let me say that again.
08:16Evan Brown at center and Keelan Rutledge at the guard spot, right?
08:20So is it Rutledge and Teller or is it Brown and Rutledge, right?
08:26And what combination would make their best five?
08:30Now you can even argue that Ed Ingram hasn't had the best training camp as well,
08:34so there's a possibility that Rutledge could play either one of those guard spots.
08:38You and I talked about this, and I think it was actually you, Ron,
08:40who brought it up that made me think about it,
08:42and I've been thinking about it ever since,
08:43was is Rutledge their best offensive lineman on the team right now?
08:46We talked about it yesterday.
08:48And it seems like the answer is yes, like knee jerk,
08:52like first immediate reaction would be yes.
08:55And even when I think about it longer, I still feel like the answer is yes.
08:58And so that being said, that means you know he's going to be out there on the field
09:02one way or another.
09:03It's just about finding out is Evan Brown a better center than Wyatt Teller is a guard
09:11at this point?
09:13And what's the best usage of Rutledge at this point in his development,
09:17given the fact that he obviously has not played center extensively.
09:20So they're trying to – it seems like they are still trying to piece that together
09:24and figure that part out.
09:26You'd like to think that they've figured it out in the next couple of weeks.
09:28Yeah.
09:29B. Scott, is that a concern?
09:31You've got Braden Smith battling for his football life on the right side
09:35with what we thought was Trent Brown, but now all of a sudden, wildly,
09:38we see Blake Fisher getting a lot of burn at right tackle as well.
09:42And Wyatt Teller, Helen, you even mentioned Ed Ingram struggling.
09:46I mean, you literally mentioned the three guys that they re-signed this year.
09:50Is that a – do you view that – because I think this is fair.
09:54Do you view that as, hey, man, they did a really good job of building depth
09:57and Evan Brown and ultimately Rutledge being a depth guard
10:01or maybe a starting guard?
10:03It gives them options?
10:04Or do you look at it through the lens that we've had to in the past of,
10:08boy, they really missed on these guys they signed?
10:10Yeah, it really depends on what we think of Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller right now.
10:15Like I can tell you from watching the handful of practices
10:18and training camp practices that I have, I haven't had like overwhelming concerns
10:22about Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith.
10:24But clearly, they're either on a particular workload and wrap-up period
10:30or they've got their own concerns internally.
10:34I'm not sure exactly what the answer is.
10:36And Wyatt Teller looking like a potential cut candidate if this thing continues.
10:40If Wyatt Teller is a disappointment and Braden Smith is a disappointment,
10:45then obviously, Clint, that is not good because not only do you not –
10:48I mean, you didn't sign those guys to be depth pieces.
10:50You signed those guys to be starters.
10:52And so if it turns out the best that they can do for you is be a depth piece,
10:56then they are a cut or trade candidate.
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