E37: “Pride Preview” - Za'Darius Smith Trade and Week 10: Detroit Lions at Houston Texans (feat Stephanie Stradley)

Hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton discuss the upcoming Week 10 matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Houston Texans. They highlight the key points of interest, such as the Lions' potential new player, Zadarius Smith, and his impact on the defense. The interview with Stephanie Stradley, a passionate Texans fan and writer, delves into the Texans' season, player contributions, and challenges like their offensive line injuries. The conversation also covers strategies for the Lions to counter the Texans’ blitz-heavy defense and key players to watch on both teams. Listener interactions and predictions round out the discussion on what promises to be a highly anticipated Sunday Night Football game.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:45 Za'Darius Smith Joins the Lions
• 8:12 Texans Impact Players to Watch
• 10:54 Texans Injury Report
• 12:21 Lions Injury Report
• 17:06 Texans Offensive and Defensive Rankings
• 18:32 Interview with Stephanie Stradley
• 55:16 Keys to Victory:
• 1:07:13 Grit Picks
• 1:17:15 Listener Comments and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Jason Harwood: 0:41

All right, everybody. Welcome to talking grit. I'm Jason Harwood and you know, who is with me? It's Jacob Litton. He's here every time. Can't get rid of them, but I, know, feel bad. It's my charity work for the week. I guess, uh,

Jacob: 0:58

I'm carrying

Jason Harwood: 1:00

the week 10 matchup between the Texans and our lions. So we go from America's game of the week to Sunday night football. It's going to be our second game on Sunday night football this year after appearing there in week one or sarams. interview today is with Stephanie Stradley. She's a long time Houston Chronicle Texans writer. She was actually voted ultimate fan. and very passionate about the Texans that will come in, loud and clear, in the interview should, um, yeah, she loves her state and like a lot of Texans too. So it's a good interview. Really looking forward to you listening to that. You have that to look forward to, but Jacob, you and I are looking forward to this game. We're going to have a new player, uh, possibly playing in this game. It sounds like he's going to be suiting up. It's a Darius Smith had the big trade. Long rumored, long thought about, it happened. What do you have to say about it?

Jacob: 1:55

awesome that we finally made a move, right? I guess that they said he's not actually going to be in Detroit or not actually going to be in the building until Friday. And he's, uh, I guess, can I travel and go ahead and give it a shot and play on Sunday in a rotational role? So that's going to be interesting to see how that goes. Um, I don't know if you saw, they talked to Jamal about it. Jamal said that, uh, you know, we turned the defense up to a whole nother level. So he used to be a problem in the Madden games. That's what J Miles said. Um, you know, he's 32 years old. He's been playing alongside Miles Garrett. I don't want the expectations to be too high for him. Obviously it's a huge hit and it's a huge roster need. And this was somebody that we talked about and a lot of people talked about that it just made sense. It just fit. Um, You know, seems like a Lions player. He fits the mold. He played for both Green Bay and Minnesota. So he definitely knows what NFC North football is about, you know, I'm very happy that we got him. I'm happy that we didn't have to give up very much as well. I don't think expectations should be sky high just yet. You know, I think him doesn't make the defense what it was when Hutch was around. Um, but he's going to be able to create pressure, he's going to be more effective on the outside than some of the other rotational pieces that we've been using. So um, yeah, definitely think he amps up the defense, I'm really, really excited that we got him. What are your thoughts?

Jason Harwood: 3:16

I'm happy that, uh, number one, a move's made. It just reaffirms that this, we're in our window. Um, it's going to be a big window. This is not just this year, but Holmes keeps improving the team. it's just happy from the angle of like, it was kind of expected. And then it finally happened. Um, I was in line voting when it came up. I know you were at work and we were both there. The bubbles on both of our phones started showing at the same

Jacob: 3:42

Yeah,

Jason Harwood: 3:43

And, uh, you know, we've all

Jacob: 3:44

it's happening, it's happening.

Jason Harwood: 3:45

finally happened. So it was exciting. I'm with you. Let's temper expectations. He's not Hutch. He's not going to no one's Hutch, um, outside of get Max Crosby. That was the only one that was going to replace him one to one, but he gives us another piece, um, culture fit. It's going to come in, work hard, do his job. Maybe this week we're going to temper it because he's, you know, he's not going to get in until Friday. He was actually on his bi week. This was the Browns bi week this week. And so that's why Dan Campbell gave him the first couple of days off I don't know if Z'Darrius had plans or, you know, whatever, but he's got to get his affairs and he's moving, at least it's a short distance from Cleveland to Detroit, but you know, it's a big,

Jacob: 4:25

I bet he was practically running here. Like in his life easier, right?

Jason Harwood: 4:56

I can go through those numbers So for this year, it's relatively cheap on the cap. We only own like six hundred and five thousand this year for the rest of the year Um, we can cut him Say it doesn't work out or whatever, you know, he's going to be 33 next year. We could cut him with no dead cap money next year. He does have a option. If we were to accept all that, then he would count like five and a half million on this next year's cap. And then he would have dead money of five and a half million. On 2026 cap, just the way it's structured with the void years, the way the, the Browns did it, the lines could also just restructure a deal to just, you know, cut him and then get a new deal. If Zadarius likes it here. I liked the idea of him being here next year, opposite of Hutch. And if you're Zadarius, you're going to go from, you know, Miles Garrett on one side, and then you go into another great situation. You're going to have Hutch on the other side. So, you know, it's Pretty good deal.

Jacob: 6:00

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 6:00

exactly. Make your job a little easier. So very happy the trade have, you know, happened. We'll see how much it plays into this week, but as he grows with the defense and, you know, gets used to the scheme, uh, I expect him to be a great piece of that defense. He's not an answer that, you know, that we replaced Hodge one to one, but he is gonna hopefully provide some extra pressure and, help our run game because, Our run game has been kind of gashed a little bit here in the last couple weeks, and a lot of that's due to depth issues. Pascal's been a moat. We lost Wingo last game. Had some stuff in the linebacker room, Malcolm Rodriguez hurt, you know, so we've had some other things that might contribute to that, but losing Hutch, Hutch was big in the run game as well as, you know, creating ungodly amounts of pressure. So I'm glad to get Zadarius here. I'm excited to see him in the Honolulu blue. And, uh, yeah, uh, that's all I got to say on that. Anything else you want to add, Jacob?

Jacob: 6:59

No, I mean, just honestly, if he can have half as much of an impact as hutch had, it would be huge and greatly needed. So he's good at getting the pressures. He's got five sacks this year, but I think I saw he was like top 20 and pressures or something like that. So, I mean, he's still got it. He's still going to be an impact player.

Jason Harwood: 7:19

Right. It'll be interesting. Cause he's, I mean, he wasn't going to get doubled at all, you know, with miles Garrett,

Jacob: 7:26

Right? Right.

Jason Harwood: 7:27

Cleveland. So he's going to probably get a lot more attention in Detroit. So curious about that. But if he does, then that frees up our other side, right? I mean, that gives Pascal more one on ones and more one on ones for Aleem or however they want to do it. So just making that line, just increasing talent there. Um, and we've. The lines feel pretty confident in his culture fit. And from what Dan Campbell said in his press

Jacob: 7:52

Okay.

Jason Harwood: 8:06

what the impact players that we're going to see from the Texans on Sunday, Jacob? Okay.

Jacob: 8:12

Houston Texans impact players. Um, first one I'm going to mention is somebody that doesn't look like he's going to play, but that's wide receiver. Nico Collins is actually the number one rated wide receiver on pro football focus right now.

Jason Harwood: 8:24

Okay.

Jacob: 8:25

the league and all kinds of receiving categories before he went down with the injury.

Jason Harwood: 8:30

I

Jacob: 8:31

Um,

Jason Harwood: 8:32

get

Jacob: 8:33

he still has not been activated yet, so

Jason Harwood: 8:35

take

Jacob: 8:36

I would think at this point that he's not going to play. I know they're kind of, you know, going back and forth. They're not giving too much information about it, but, uh, I also have Nico Collins, quarterback CJ Stroud, 17th rated quarterback on Pro Football Focus. He was also number 20 this year in the nfl top 100 list running back joe mixon number 11 rated running back He's averaging 4. 8 yards per carry Uh, definitely been a huge piece of the team laramy tunzel 18th rated offensive tackle daniel hunter Um 15th rated edge defender. He actually was also on the nfl top 100 number 68 He's got five and a half sacks and on the other side of him. You have will anderson jr. 18th rated edge He's got seven and a half sacks Two very good edge defenders. Um, will we see both of them? We don't know. Uh, injuries are definitely affecting them right now.

Jason Harwood: 9:28

Silence.

Jacob: 9:29

Outside of that, we have Never Hewitt, 19th rated linebacker and Aziz Al Shair, which is the 16th rated linebacker. So,

Jason Harwood: 9:37

the

Jacob: 9:38

know, they got a good mix.

Jason Harwood: 9:40

questions.

Jacob: 9:41

few defensive impact players. Um,

Jason Harwood: 9:43

Yeah.

Jacob: 9:44

definitely some notable names and, you know, if they are all able to go, uh, you know, definitely have a work cut out for us this week. What do you think?

Jason Harwood: 9:53

Yeah, I mean, the edges on the defense, just the names alone and the production that they put up, you know, they're going to make you, they make you sweat a little bit, but I like our tackles. Um, Taylor Decker is going to have his work cut out for him. but before we get on all, we'll say that for the keys of victory, um, we'll talk of where the Texans at this year, they are six and three right now. They're first place in the AFC South. They got wins at the Colts, Bears, Jags. They beat the Bills, the Pats, um, and they beat the Colts again. So they beat them twice, but the losses are in the NFC North. Uh, they've lost to the Vikings and the Packers. And then they, you know, everyone saw them lose last week on Thursday night football to the Jets. So. You know, they're going to be hungry, uh, cause they just lost. They had like that mini buy, whether, you know, cause they played last Thursday, had a little more time to plan for the Lions. We'll see if that comes, uh, comes in handy for them or not. All right. The aforementioned injury report, you want to hit on the Texans? Uh, it's quite extensive

Jacob: 11:01

Here we go. We got a long one for the Texans. They got a lot going on right now. Um, you know, we already mentioned Niko Collins. He's still on IR right now. But, uh, this is the most current practice or estimated practice report that we have. This is as of Wednesday night. Uh, Will Anderson Jr., Derek Barnett, uh, Kenyon Green, Dylan Horton, Damian Pierce all did not practice. Getting in limited practice. Uh, Aziz Alshair, Jake Hansen, Jerry Hughes, another Edge Defender. Shaq Mason is their starting guard. Larini Tunzel, uh, got a limited practice. They're calling a due to rest. Still notable. Um, Former Lion Jeff Okuda, quad injury, limited practice, safety Jimmy Ward, and then another offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson, uh, still dealing with a concussion, but he actually got in a full practice.

Jason Harwood: 11:52

Yep.

Jacob: 11:53

Very lengthy lists, you know, a lot of starters on here, a lot of impact players. Most notably, I guess, outside of the edge defenders is the fact that a lot of offensive linemen are listed on here, and they already are kind of thin on the line. So it's going to be interesting to see what combination that they use and where they're going to play

Jason Harwood: 12:10

Yeah, they are. They're, they were very weak on the line. CJ Stroud is getting a lot of pressure and yeah, you keep changing those parts up front. It's it's makes a tough go right? Um, for the lions, our list is, good. comparatively speaking, we have two linebackers on there that did not practice this, germ, Jalen Reedus Maven and Malcolm Rodriguez. the other player that didn't practice was Cedaria Smith, uh, just on, you know, no rest, no injury. Or just rest, no injury, uh, Dan said that, you know, he'll arrive on Friday, getting a full practice as project Martin. He's in his second week of the practice window. So they'll have one more week before they have to decide what they want to do with him. But starting the practice window out of IR was kind of a surprise to if he, uh, practice got a full practice in today. And, uh, E man, uh, Emanuel Mosley came back, started their window. They got three weeks to, you know, decide whether to put them, bring it back from IR or, have to cut them or try to get them on the practice squad, which probably both those players aren't going to make it to practice squad. Uh, Pascal was a full practice today. Said today that he was out for the last two weeks because during his cancer screening, he had cancer in college. So he has a routine cancer screen. They found a mass in his shoulder. Non cancerous, it turns out, but they had to remove it nonetheless. And that's why he, he was out for two weeks, but it sounds like he's going to be back. Uh, Vaki, who was out last week, got into full practice and, um, Makai Wingo, defensive line, full practice. That's going to help our depth on defensive line. As we talked in the Packers game, You know, various parts in that game. We'd have people that weren't on, you know, either practice, practice squad players or players that weren't on the team three weeks ago. So hopefully you get some more familiar names back on there. I really hope Malcolm can play. I think he's gonna, he's. We need healthy linebackers. So I'm hoping that Malcolm could play. like, uh, germs. Uh, he played through that injury last week, so I'm going to expect him to suit up, but we'll, we'll see how it goes. Anything you want to add on that, Jacob?

Jacob: 14:19

That's definitely, it's going to be huge to get that defensive line depth back. And you know, if he finally, you know,

Jason Harwood: 14:25

Yeah.

Jacob: 14:26

just somebody we were very highly anticipating making his debut and we've just been waiting, haven't been much news on that front. And for Mosley too, I mean. Those are two potentially huge pieces to a secondary that's already playing at a very high level. So that's awesome.

Jason Harwood: 14:41

People might wonder whether, you know, what are they going to do E man? Well, E man was going to be our starting nickel before he got injured. Um, so Amik has been up and down. Um, I would say it's been good, but I think, you know, he hasn't been, I wouldn't say great, but he's been good. But Emmanuel Mosley was going to be our starting nickel. So you might see him in there. They even tried Iffy in, uh, training camp at nickel because, you know, Are you going to remove Brian branch from the safety spot? You're not going to move Kirby or branch. I mean, they're number one, number two.

Jacob: 15:14

Right, no.

Jason Harwood: 15:15

I mean, you can't move that and I the other option would be put iffy back at safety and then move Brian branch back up to the nickel. But I don't see that that's a smart move because Brian's making so many plays back there. So I, it's going to be interesting or, you know, in the playoffs last year, we tried to do a little more three safety sets, which essentially makes, you know, If he could come up and play like pseudo linebacker the thing that intrigues me about if he coming back is. He was showed a really good talent at blitzing the quarterback last year. Um, whether that was surprising teams and now they can play, you know, no, that's part of his game. They might be able to, you know, scheme for that a little bit, but, with the injury to Hutch getting any sort of pressure, You know, additional pressure would be helpful.

Jacob: 16:07

I know, that's awesome though. I mean, that's what, at the beginning of the season, that's what we wanted to see, is how they were going to utilize that, and, you know, Are they going to line iffy up at nickel? Sometimes you send them, sometimes you don't. Is there going to be chance, you know, times where branch lines up at nickel and then you drop iffy? Are they both going to be on opposite sides of the line? They're both going to drop. Maybe one goes, maybe they both go. There's so many different possibilities that you can do, uh, and it's very exciting that it's finally, you know, gonna be coming time soon. Even if he plays this week, you know, him and E Man both are gonna, you know, take some time to get back to full game speed and everything like that. So they're not gonna be out there for, you know, 80 percent of the snaps right away. But I mean, it's just an awesome sign that they're both practicing in full.

Jason Harwood: 16:47

Yeah, I don't expect, um, I, the window just open. They're going to, it's going to take a little bit to get into

Jacob: 16:52

It might be the full time.

Jason Harwood: 16:54

it'll be the full time for both of those players. The lions seem to take that. The only thing that would speed up that process is an injury that we'd have to replace someone.

Jacob: 17:04

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 17:06

All right, Jacob, talk about the Texans offensive rankings and then I'll hit on their defensive rankings and that will, then we'll go into our interview.

Jacob: 17:15

All right. Offensive rankings for the Texans. Pro Football Focus has them rated as the 12th best offense in football right now. They are 17th in points per game. They are 11th in total yards per game. Uh, that breaks down 13 in passing yards per game and 11th in rushing yards per game. So they are towards, you know, the top half of the league. This is one of the better teams that we're playing. You know, we already knew about the offense. What do you, what do you got for the defense now?

Jason Harwood: 17:41

thing I'll just say about the offense balanced, right? I mean, they can attack you both ways. Um, but the defense, uh, pro football focus has a middle to pack 16th. they allow 14th most points per game, And yardage, they're the second highest in yardage. So they're, you know, they don't allow very much yards, very good at passing third in the league and 12th and rushing. It's going to be a tough defense, but they have a tough offense. They got a face. So I don't think they've seen anything like the lions this year. And, uh, we'll see how that goes. And then they're dealing with, if Will Anderson doesn't play that, that's going to make, um,

Jacob: 18:21

That's huge.

Jason Harwood: 18:22

yeah, it'll, it'll be huge. So, um, Without further ado, we're going to hit up our interview with Stephanie Stradley. Hope you guys enjoy this and we'll see on the other side. All right, everybody talking grit interview time. We're going to talk to Stephanie Stradley. She wants to be called Steph. We're going to we're on a friendly basis here on the show. So Steph, um, when I talked to her, she, I said, how do you want to be described? She goes, described as hard to describe when she told me, so she's, uh, does a lot of stuff. She's a Texans writer for the Houston Chronicle, long time, um, we are glad to have you on the show, Steph. How are you?

Steph Stradley: 19:00

great. I'm glad to, I'm really excited about this game. Like this is, is the game of the week. It's Sunday night football. Um, there's a lot of years where the Houston Texans didn't have primetime games because We're a relative, like we're the newest franchise, but yet there's Texans all over the globe and into space. So there's a lot of people excited about this season because, you know, Texas is football. I mean, no offense, your coach is Texan. You know, Aaron Glenn is a very favorite Texan from the early days where they were having to overcome a lot of things. So yeah, I'm excited for Sunday night football and you know, most of the Texans games are noon kickoffs. Which can be a challenge with tailgates and, and, you know, some of us are pretty good with our breakfast tacos in the morning, but a nighttime tailgate. In Houston, Texas is very special and, uh, I can't wait to see it. And just all also the game.

Jacob: 20:00

I imagine last year was a pleasant surprise for Texans fans. Um, you know, with the rookies and everything, with having the success. So, how has it been as a fan to come into greater expectations this year?

Steph Stradley: 20:12

Well, you know, that is a curious question to me because when D'Amico Ryan's was hired and he said all the things that he was going to do, and the first thing that he said he was going to do is. Is higher a professional staff that of teachers that have good experience the NFL, like varied experience. And so you have older people and younger people and lots and lots of NFL experience at their particular roles. And. To me, I had watched that camp very closely hit the

Jason Harwood: 20:46

Silence.

Steph Stradley: 20:46

camp. And the

Jason Harwood: 20:47

Um,

Steph Stradley: 21:07

And he was of the year. So he has. defensive, uh, Ricky of the year. And so he has

Jacob: 21:14

Hello, everyone.

Steph Stradley: 21:41

You know, maybe six elite players in that draft because they weren't going to be like, we're going to stay patient. Like, no NFL careers are really short. people want to win and that was a serious camp and team, like, it did not surprise me that that team played well because, they have a lot of the elements that you would want to see in winning football. They have supportive that lets. football people do the football, uh, like the anti Jerry Jones thing that they had, you know, Nick Casario was in a bad situation when he first got here because of kind of holes that were digging, that from people before. So Nick Casario though is a very experienced GM and he can do, you know, he knows everybody. He can make all sorts of transactions. Demika Ryan's very well respected guy. I liked the staff. I liked some of the players that they already had that had. We're hard workers, but maybe weren't in the best situations. And then they added a lot of people. Now that now, if we're going to this year, this year, you don't have the fourth place schedule. You have the first place scheduled. You happen to be playing, um, a very strong, it turns out, um, NFC North. And a lot of good defenses in the FC North. you, and as all coaches will say, you can't project, Hey, you did this last year, you're going to do it this year. So every year is different. And this is a year that they have been challenged with some significant injuries, like all teams, but you

Jason Harwood: 23:17

Okay. You

Steph Stradley: 23:41

They haven't been very good on the road. They have been pretty good at home they're hoping that the home situation's a little better, um, for dealing with their offensive line, because they did the most challenging thing that you can do, which is, you know, they had an inexperienced quarterback meshed with an inexperienced center, and then also an inexperienced left guard all at the same time. Now. That is taking on a challenge, and there's been times in the season where they haven't been able to do it, and so right now where the Texans are on offense is really, can they handle pressure? And the teams are going to keep unorthodox pressures until the Texans can show that they can deal with it. they have switched out who their left guard's going to be because he went down in the last game with injuries, so I don't know what it's going to be. I mean, I don't know. They have a lot of promising parts on their offensive line. They've invested a ton on their offensive line. They have parts of their offensive line that are good. Their right guard is showing in the most recent injury report is being heard. And it really, in some ways, this I'll go back to the lions, kind of a back to the future thing. One of the

Jason Harwood: 24:57

All

Steph Stradley: 25:21

Well, this week's injury report is not great. Um, will Anderson jr. Uh, has an ankle. He did not practice today. You know, the team's not big commenting very much on him. Nico Collins. there are reports that his hamstrings looking good, but he has not been reactivated off of the IR yet. So there's uncertainty, but like any result of this game would not surprise me because these, these teams play very hard. You guys have kind of a headstart on kind of the rebuild and, you know, people had their thoughts about like what you guys were doing and, but each year it's different, each game is different. The matchups are different and, um, you know, The Texans are getting healthy at some positions. They are really working on this offensive line issue. They've had 10 days to kind of, or they will have had 10 days by the time this next game happens better and figure some things out. um, they don't like some of the noise that's being said about them because there was, All these ambitious views of how their offense was going to play with CJ Stroud. And he actually has done some pretty amazing things, uh, given some of, you know, injuries and, you know, having to switch guys out in the middle of the games, but know, we'll see. I mean, we really don't know. Like everybody keeps on saying we haven't seen the best of the Texans yet. They haven't shown consistently some of the things that they've been able to do in, in pockets. And, and their second halves of games have been kind of disappointing possibly because, you know, sometimes their defense has been playing pretty well and maybe they're not taking as many risks as they might do their defense was playing poorer.

Jason Harwood: 27:10

I'm going to stick with the players you just mentioned. It's CJ Stroud. How has he grown from any, from in year two, from year one, in your opinion?

Steph Stradley: 27:18

Well, I mean, I think part of it is, you know, guys don't step into a situation and pretend like they are Mr. Man. So like, you know, guys gravitated towards him right away. You know, last year he wasn't named the starting quarterback until like right before the season started. And some people are like, Oh no, it's pretty obvious he's going to be the guy. Why aren't you saying he's the guy? And part of it was, You know, a lot of that's marketing, but like, you know, we, it would be easier to market it where, you know, it'd be easier for our fantasy teams. And it's like really, you know, what the real situation is from the coaching perspective and from his perspective, he wanted to earn it and he did earn it. you know, there are other situations where rookies were kind of anointed that pretty early in camp and then didn't, didn't follow through on that. So, I mean, that's the way that they chose to develop CJ. If you look at his game, the things that he does the best, other than just his, you know, people gravitating to him as just a leader is, um, he is, he is really, really accurate. Like if he has any kind of time at all, he can throw darts. And that was actually the first thing that I noticed about him. The other thing is just fast he learns things. It's like, I remember in his first camp, you know, was doing some stuff that looked very rookie. know, and then the next camp, I never saw him do that again. And he looked more composed than a lot of very experienced quarterbacks who have cycled over the tech through the Texans over many, many years. Like you're like, this is really exciting. this year he's had the bigger challenges because he's been facing some defenses on the road that have given him challenges. And then. had what I was telling you before was, you know, the issues with, you know, maybe the offensive line, not giving him enough time and having people in his kitchen right away. And it, a lot of it was like, you know, you know, delays, um, things coming or, you know, rushes coming, like not stunts and then like maybe an orthodox kinds of blitzes and, and the, the offensive line didn't handle it very well. Sometimes you could question. Whether he was seeing where the ball was supposed to go, sometimes you might question the play calling was like, well, does he have really good outlets and he's seeing some things that teams are challenging him on more and then, and he comes across as an extraordinarily sharp guy. And there is the point of view that even though. The numbers may not be as good on some things as they were last year. The things that he's being asked to do more, and he's wanted that, like, that's something that he's asked for throughout time. And you know, one of the things that, um, out last year is, you know, he was really good with his first read now they're kind of focusing on, okay, let's get beyond kind of like first read things. thing that he's really good at is, he's pretty good with, like, His eye direction and directing where, defenses are going to go. But like, this is going to be a slug fest. It's I, I mean, really the biggest fear in Houston is that CJ Strauss is going to get hurt before figure out their offensive line things. And, you know, they just keep on hitting, like, you know, you know, whatever you think about the jets, their defense. Puts it on people and you don't want to have that happen to you at MetLife field when you're playing on cement. So, you know, he survived that. Like really to me, I was looking at the Wednesday injury report to see if there was any surprise guys that, you know, got hurt, we weren't aware that they were hurt, but pretty quiet about like letting people know, um, you know, injury status, which is, you know, what you're supposed to do.

Jason Harwood: 31:30

Hold your cards close to your vest there.

Jacob: 31:33

Yeah, there were a couple plays in that game where CJ Straub is kind of slow to get up and I'm sure everybody in Houston is holding their breath like, please don't go down like

Steph Stradley: 31:42

Well, and, and sometimes people gotten pretty angry about it and, and kind of unfair about it. And I don't like to go into that too much because really. The team itself, don't want, they don't want the fans to go this way. And, and obviously, you know, if you were like, Oh, you know, we need to protect CJ. Well, you know, the offensive line and want to protect CJ. Now, if they're able to do that as a different question, and that's on the coaching staff to put people in good positions, you know, if a guy's asked to be a starter, he's going to start, but you know, if he's not capable of doing that, they're giving him too much to. Do then that's on the coaching staff to get somebody better at that position and and there's a lot of people, you know, there's that tension between urgency and desperation and you have to have right urgency to do stuff and not do, you know, like try to fix one thing and make another thing worse. And that is probably the hardest thing to do, particularly when you're switching guys out because they're injuries during the game and it happens for everybody. And people are more prepared to do that than other people. And you just don't know until you do it. Like some of these things are hard to test, like offensive line in particular is really hard to test. Like, let's say you don't have guys that are healthy and you're not really doing real hitting in training camp and they don't have pre seasons as long as they used to have them. And guys aren't in very long during those pre seasons anyway. So you are seeing if your offensive line can handle the load. In real time and hoping that you're good and promising quarterback doesn't get hurt in the meantime.

Jacob: 33:27

All right. We're going to stick on the offensive side here. So how is the addition of Joe Mixon improved the offense? As of right now, he has matched last year's rushing touchdown total of your top running backs, I believe.

Steph Stradley: 33:40

Yeah. Um, I, you know, sometimes you see players that come through and, you know, They just have a way about them. And, you know, some of them are famous players cause you're a fantasy football guys and some of them aren't, but like Joe Mixon is a special guy. Like, you know, if you've played with him in fantasy football before, you know, he was pretty dependable guy and just me watching as an NFL person, like I really loved his ability. To, if it's, if it's third and short or your goal line, just finds a way and, you know, he's already won the, like, the angry runner of the year, deal. And yeah, you know, a lot of, a lot of blocking is, you know, or a lot of the running game is like, how do you block it and, is your quarterback a threat? But then some of it is just some running backs. Just have good want to, and he's a sharp guy. He is a good competitor. He is a good teammate. His teammates love him. And, you know, you can block it the way you want, but unless somebody has really great vision, um, it's not going to come through. And so far this year, when he's been healthy, he's been amazing. Um, like he has definitely stood out and has created a different kind of dimension for the team because you can't just. You know, assume that the running game is going to not do anything. And that, that assumption has been there for kind of a while. Like last year was a struggle the year before Damien Pierce, you know, was pretty much the whole show, but that was kind of more through just, Personal effort. It seemed, um, but Joe Mixon seems to know the assignment and is really kind of a steadying, um, on that offense that it depends so much on rookies and young players. you need kind of like a standing force that as they put in, in today's presser that, you know, he's willing to just call people out, including CJ, because he just wants everybody to be better. And when you have a team where people are honest with each other in ways that are respectful, that's what real teammates are about where, you know, each other well enough, like brothers, where you can give each other a little bit of, of. Nonsense, and it's not taken in a particular way because some, some places, some places you can't be honest or some, some places, honesty isn't rewarded and that can, that can happen over time because, you know, sometimes Sometimes you can have kind of like a toxic positivity where you're supposed to be positive no matter what. And people are afraid of being honest about what's going on. And I don't see that with this team. Like they definitely like good vibes and who doesn't? but I think if, if you stay honest with each other for the purposes of making each other better and that people know that they're not alone. You know, everybody has each other's back like that's, you know, as, as they say, football is a people business and, and a relationship business. And the most important part is, you know, do people have trust in different aspects of what they're doing that know that if we follow what we're supposed to do, then it gives, it puts us in the best possibility to win.

Jacob: 37:24

What do you think a key to victory for the Texans is going to be this week?

Steph Stradley: 37:29

Uh, just playing their best football. Like, you know, they haven't done it all together at the same time. Like they've had some outstanding special teams weeks where they're making like really long kicks. The punts are going well, the punt coverage is going well. And then they've had weeks where it's like, what happened there? on the defense, like the defense will play very well for a time. And then, you know, just have a busted play. Um, the offense. We'll score early and you're like, Oh yeah, they finally have gotten their thing together where, you know, they're just marching down the field and, and there's nothing that the defense can do to stop this. And then it's like, somebody let the air out of the tire and then it's gone. So like, they just have to play four quarters of football and that's really hard when, you know, I mean, this is going to be probably, I'm guessing one of the more physical matchups in the regular season.

Jason Harwood: 38:27

Yeah, it will be there. There's a thing

Jacob: 38:30

Right.

Jason Harwood: 38:31

flu. And that's so, you know, our, we're the Honolulu blue color, right? So Honolulu flew up until the Texans game last week. Every time the team played the lions, they had lost the following week and they attributed to the, yeah, you're, you're playing for four quarters and you know, you, you got to play tough football, you know?

Steph Stradley: 38:48

and that was kind of the reputation of Demika Ryan's 49ers defenses, you know, philosophically want to put it on people

Jason Harwood: 39:01

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 39:01

you know, and they want to get interceptions and they want to strip balls. So, you know, this is going to be a game that. You know, I don't know what the keys of the game are. Like, I don't think that, it's just going to be like a slug fest. And then let's see if he gets on the other side of the slug fest and can take advantage of it. But all I know is I've been telling people for a while to go to their doctors and get their meds filled and stuff, because this Texans team has had so many games. And then the

Jacob: 39:33

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 39:34

have been amazing. I can't say that I like the Packers. I, I was actually in Dallas and my sister doesn't have like normal TV. And I'm like, I'd rather go to a bar anyway. And so I said, where should I go? And they're like, well, there's a really good Packers bar down the street. And then I'm like, You know, I'd rather hang out with Packers fans than hang out with Cowboys fans, just because of some of the logistics in this part of the world. And they were delightful people probably more delightful to me than they might be to y'all. But, losing that game at the very end, that, that was not good. Um, I did have a lot of shots set my, my way, cause I was the only Texan fan in this

Jason Harwood: 40:19

Hmm.

Steph Stradley: 40:19

but that's kind of fun.

Jason Harwood: 40:22

you gotta drown on your sorrows there again. Uh, yeah. We were counting on you guys to, to take the pack down and you let us down.

Steph Stradley: 40:29

Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's a game of, it's a game of inches, you know, parody league and, you know, just one played this way, one play that way. And, you know, you know, we can talk about scripts, that

Jacob: 40:44

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 40:45

nonsense, but yeah, I mean, you know, you can't, you know, like when players are like, you can't get too high and you can't get too low. It's like, yeah, cause it's a long season. It's a real long season and you just never know what will happen to a team. Like. One team will be flying high and then something bad happens to a key player and then they're not quite the same. And,

Jason Harwood: 41:05

Yep.

Steph Stradley: 41:19

they have more games against, like, The Titans and the Jaguars, but then they have a 10 day, 10 game stretch where they're playing the dolphins, the Ravens and the chiefs, which like really, what did the Texans do to you NFL to make that

Jacob: 41:37

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 41:37

part of the schedule, but, you know, it's a test and, and really, you know, as you know, you get, you get in the playoffs and then anything can happen, including good things.

Jason Harwood: 41:49

Yeah. Well, I mean, those are your tests during the season to get you ready for the playoffs, right? Because I mean, those are the teams are going to be playing in the playoffs. Ravens, Chiefs. I mean, if you,

Steph Stradley: 41:58

Well, and, and You know, I think, you know, you know, to be the best, you got to beat the best. I know that's a phrase, but you know, if you're being

Jason Harwood: 42:08

All right. So this upcoming

Jacob: 42:09

Silence.

Steph Stradley: 42:33

there would be 10, 000 different results.

Jason Harwood: 42:36

Mm hmm.

Steph Stradley: 42:38

but clearly, clearly the lines are going to test the The Texans offense until the Texans offense can show that they can handle and blitzes, like CJ Stroud is getting like, like ridiculous amounts of pressure and he's going to continue to get that until they can punish more teams for it. I'm, I'm just really, I can't say I'm afraid of it, but yeah, I wonder how both teams are going to come out of this game.

Jason Harwood: 43:13

hmm. Mm

Steph Stradley: 43:21

ugly, um, where, you know, maybe there's some big plays that happen, but maybe there's some strips that happen, or maybe there's some weird special team things that happen because both teams really care about that because they're football teams and they care about. Every aspect of football in every way that you can compete. So I know some people get kind of like, Oh, well, CJ Stroud, you know, survive this game's like, well, he's grown man. Part of that's on him. Part of that's on the line. Part of that's on his running backs. Part of that's on his tight ends. And, you know, he might not have like all the ideal pieces and parts in place, but who does.

Jason Harwood: 44:01

hmm. Yep.

Steph Stradley: 44:03

You know, they gotta compete, and you know, nobody needs to be fear babies about football, like, you know, there's plenty of actual

Jacob: 44:10

Okay. Okay.

Jason Harwood: 44:23

Yep.

Steph Stradley: 44:24

you just can't live your life that way, and that's no fun way to win. Watch football. Like, I'm scared that bad things are going to happen. Well, shoot, I have survived two decades of all sorts of crazy stuff I've seen on football field. I am not afraid of one of the best teams, the NFC competing against one of the best teams in the AFC. And I hope they get to do it again in new Orleans. That could be fun.

Jason Harwood: 44:47

That would be

Jacob: 44:48

Yeah, right.

Jason Harwood: 44:49

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 44:50

mean, I, I personally, I would make sure to make that as much of a Houston East experiences that it could possibly be, but you know, we'll see about that.

Jason Harwood: 45:01

Yeah. You got a much shorter trip, I think over to New Orleans than probably we would.

Steph Stradley: 45:05

And it's fun. I got to tell you a New Orleans Superbowl, you know, any Superbowl would be great, but I've done it. I did the Beyonce Superbowl and the biggest way you could possibly do it. And it took me about a month to recover. It was

Jacob: 45:22

Nice.

Steph Stradley: 45:22

They don't shut their bars down. Like their bars stay open late. And the parties go late. And then you're just like, if your team's not in the Superbowl, you show up on Sunday and you're just like, I mean, you're not sad. You're just. You know, you got to train for it. Like all of my sports training right now is just to make sure that I can do all the stuff that I want to do football party wise, like that's my job. Like, yeah, I can talk about the football, but my job is to enjoy whatever this journey we're on. And as you are in a history, it's hard to know what it is, you know, like this is of like whatever the suit, like whatever team ends up in the Superbowl, like there's, you know, there's, this was the, This was the sad part of the season. And then this was, you know, like, like you don't know what it is when you're in it. And when people are like, well, this is definitely going to happen. Like maybe, but I got to tell you, Is overrated, you know, like whether you were right about something in the past. So what, okay, well, what's going to happen next? Like what, what's going to happen next and what can you do about it? And for most of us, all we can do about it is like have a beverage. Stay hydrated.

Jacob: 46:48

Nice. All right. Yep, one more. So, uh, any, any predictions for the game? It doesn't have to be about the final score. It can be anything stat related or just anything that you think is going to happen. If you had to make a prediction about the game, what's something you see happening here?

Steph Stradley: 47:07

Um, I think it's going to be a weird game. Like, Sunday night football games are weird anyway. And when you have two very physical teams, you're going to see some weird stuff go down. Everybody's going to pull out their extra stuff. they might have. And what I can guarantee you a hundred percent is that tailgate's going to be bumping.

Jacob: 47:28

Yeah. It

Steph Stradley: 47:31

people show up early for that tailgate. There's going to be a lot of people out there. I'm sure that there's going to be a lot of Lions fans because you guys were pretty excited about the season early. And in Houston, we have people from all over the country that live here and they might have, you know, like we have a lot of like dual fans because a lot of us, if you're a certain age. The Texans weren't your first team. That wasn't your choice. was somebody else's choice.

Jacob: 47:58

Okay. Okay. Very much appreciate it.

Steph Stradley: 48:20

but what we can control is how fun the tailgate is. And it is, it is like, um, it's like nothing else because you, you tailgates, never the same thing. People bring different foods. And once it's at our table, it's Texan food, because we have all the foods in Houston. have all the beverages in Houston and then any number of kinds of people show up. We've had. Former players, people with the team, um, longtime fans from decades past, new fans, our second generation of fans are now getting old enough that they're sentient to go to the games their own selves, which is special for us because, you know, we are creating this in real time. We are the first generation and And frankly, I, I, I would prefer that it was this year, you know, I already went to Andre Johnson being the first Houston Texan inducted in the pro football hall of fame in Canton. And that was an amazing experience. And, and the way that he put it to us as he was doing that for all of us, he was our first guy there. And, and, and the people. That the players now they got to watch this happening and the players that played with them got to watch this happen and they were a part of it. And it's nice to kind of go, yeah, this is what can happen. And, and he put the whole city on his back and he still lives here. um, it was special. And so he understands that he's. Making our history and we're all making our history together. And, and I got to tell you, you know, I, I, I was at the, I was, I lived here during the time where the Rockets had their championships and I've experienced the more recent Astros championships a Houston championship celebration. Everybody's everybody's friends it's. Usually too hot to riot or something stupid like

Jacob: 50:27

Yep. Yeah. So we are going to go ahead and get started.

Steph Stradley: 50:38

nature of sports. And we can't make that happen every week because you have to go through a whole season, but. You get that kind of sensation in, in tailgates and in our tailgates in particular, or some of the most generous experiences that I've ever seen, you know, people just, you know, people might have some, some hard things going on in their lives, but when they show up there and people love on them and the gas, each other, I'd be like, how are we going to do and eat all the food and drink all the drinks and read their team on. And then hopefully come back out to the tailgates. Like when that gray, let's pop some champagne. I mean, The Texans had a playoff game this year, a home playoff game, their first year. Because of various accidents of the schedule. And like we weren't, and that's how our year started. That's how our 2024 started.

Jason Harwood: 51:29

Mm hmm.

Steph Stradley: 51:30

with the playoff victory, which that was a tailgate post game, the

Jason Harwood: 51:35

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 51:37

and then, you know, we had Canton. And this season has been more of a challenge than some people thought. But as coaches say, every year is its own experience and you can't count that the same things that went right for you last year, go keep on going, right. Because each year is different. The team composition's different, but it's real exciting. I got to say, and I'm excited for you guys because shouldn't have to endure bad football for too long. It hurts the soul and it hurts, it hurts the city.

Jason Harwood: 52:08

does

Jacob: 52:09

Yes. Uh, Uh, Uh,

Jason Harwood: 52:11

All right, Steph, before we get outta here, where can people find your stuff? Um, online. And, and what, and what are you up to? What are you writing right now?

Steph Stradley: 52:20

Uh, you know, right now I'm just kind of picking my spots on how to help fans out. So like you doing this podcast is going to be real excited to some of the people who are in the tailgate or want to come to the tailgate. And you know, I will tell you Detroit fans who are listening, if you're going to be at the game, you're welcome to come to our tailgate, or they have this thing in between. NRG Stadium and the Astrodome called Boulevard, and they have different events there if you want to do things before the game. But the tailgate experience is, is special. A lot of the tailgates are welcoming to fans of, of other teams, as long as they're generally cool and good guests. um, the main place that you see my stuff is, uh, on, uh, And I have a pinned tweet that says where our particular tailgate is and you can find me on whatever socials by my name at Steph Stradley. I don't think I'm going to be writing something this week, but you never know. Um, but I put a lot of the content out on Twitter just because, um, Um, it's a real time way to find out what's happening with sports and, you know, you can kind of control your own experience by who you follow. And if you follow lots of really good people on Twitter, you get, you can get a pretty good understanding of what's going on with a lot of different teams. And, and what I appreciate about the Lions is a lot of. Your OG fans in the digital world, um, don't always write about the Lions anymore. They had to write about NFL in general, because at some point we can only write the same story over and over again. But like the Lions are not good this year, but

Jacob: 54:00

Yeah.

Steph Stradley: 54:01

for those people because, you know, it's fun watching fun football. Like it's the best, like it's the best feeling in the world. Like. when you see things working, whether it's defense or like any special thing, it's, it's cool. I really enjoy it.

Jason Harwood: 54:19

Yeah, yeah,

Jacob: 54:21

Definitely.

Jason Harwood: 54:22

living our best life right now

Jacob: 54:24

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 54:24

good.

Steph Stradley: 54:25

Enjoy that ride.

Jason Harwood: 54:26

Yeah. Thank you.

Jacob: 54:27

For sure.

Jason Harwood: 54:28

right, Seth. Thanks for coming on. And, uh, you know, maybe we'll see you in new Orleans and the super bowl, right? Yeah. All All right. Do you think Stephanie went to a tailgate right from the interview? Like she was

Jacob: 54:45

It's probably right outside her house. She lives right down there, right? She's all about the tailgate.

Jason Harwood: 54:49

loves the tailgate. So that's great. It's great to see passionate fans, um, especially knowledgeable, passionate fans, uh, get up for their team. So I know that it sounds like she's, uh, you know, excited for everything that's coming on Sunday. So

Jacob: 55:03

She's been a fan since before they played their first game. So,

Jason Harwood: 55:05

exactly. Yeah. She was probably sitting at the, uh, the ribbon cutting, uh, you

Jacob: 55:10

yeah.

Jason Harwood: 55:11

for the stadium though. But, great interview. So Jacob, after listening to the interview. After everything that we talked about, let's get into our keys of victory. gonna let you start off first. Go ahead.

Jacob: 55:25

Alright, I'm gonna start with my offensive key to victory and that's gonna be protect the football. You know, I think we stick to what's working and just rely on the great rushing attack that we have. But, you know, we have to protect the football. Let Gough keep doing what he's doing. He's been making good reads. He's been making good throws. If we stick to that game plan like that every week, then we are in every single game. That's the recipe for success. It's been working for us. Another thing though, I do think that we are gonna try to get JMo involved. Maybe take some deep shots if they're there, but you know, Ideally, we keep running the ball, wearing the defense out, taking these shots when they come in week in a week out, it's working for us. So until a team comes in, that's able to just shut down our rushing attack, we just need to keep doing it. Um, you know, we already talked about will Anderson may not play. Um, Danielle Hunter is a great player, but he's much better than the past game than in the run game. He's obviously got plenty of experience playing against the lions, but I think the run game is going to work. And I think we just keep wearing them down the same way that we. Have fun week in and week out.

Jason Harwood: 56:33

Yeah, I agree. Uh, mine uh, get to third and manageable. Do not let the defense blitz you. they have the highest blitz rate on third down in the league. They also had the highest six man blitz rate, uh, in the league on third down. So you don't want to be. You know, third and seven plus with this team, because, you know, it may be a little weaker without Will Anderson there, but like you said, Daniel Hunter is a player in this league and you don't want to just let him, you know, pin his ears back and go. So I. You just, we got to use the run game and short pass game, get to third and manageable and let them guess what we're going to do, because as we've seen in every game, past two seasons, and five plus is not a passing down for the Lions. It can be a rundown and it'd be a successful rundown. So they have good linebackers and. And, uh, the Texans lineup, the reg players are good. Their interior defensive line is not that good. And I think we could gash them a little bit. Um, and just getting in where they're going to have to play their guessing game. And like you said, if they start pulling their linebackers up to stop that, that's when the JMO show happens and we, we shoot something that, or I'm and Ron over the middle, you know, doing D'Amico Ryan's going to have this defense ready to play, but I think there's definitely ways to attack it.

Jacob: 57:56

Definitely. I mean, just, they're not very good at stopping the fourth down conversion. And obviously that's what we do. Like, we, we like going for it on fourth down. If we have a fourth and short situation, we, you know, we're going to go for it. Especially like you talked about with their, you know, the weaker kind of the inside of their defensive line, even if they're stacking a box. They have given up, let's see, 9 conversions on 12 attempts for 4th down this year.

Jason Harwood: 58:22

Mm hmm.

Jacob: 58:23

Obviously, I'm sure, I don't have a number in front of me, but I'm sure most of those are probably within the first, you know, 2 or 3 yards away from the first down, so,

Jason Harwood: 58:30

Yep.

Jacob: 58:31

we just stick to our run game and I think that we're gonna be okay.

Jason Harwood: 58:35

Yes, I agree. What's your next key to victory, Jacob?

Jacob: 58:40

All right, so flipping over on the defensive side of the ball, I think this is, it should be obvious right now, but you know, the Vikings kind of gave teams the blueprint for how to beat the Houston team. The difference, the advantage that Minnesota had is that Joe Mixon didn't play that week. So they kind of, the Texans didn't have a rushing attack, but you know, the Vikings kept the heat on C. J. Stroud, and they, you know, they fell apart. Stroud's a very accurate quarterback when he has time. He's a very good quarterback when he has time. You know, as most players are in the NFL, but particularly him, just, uh, you know, once the pressure's on, the heat's on, that's when things start to unravel. So, I think slowing down Joe Mixon is gonna be huge. He's gonna get probably 25 to 30 touches in this game. Assuming that it stays close and they don't have to start throwing the ball more, but you know, if we are able to keep mixing limited and find ways to keep pressuring CJ Stroud, I see no reason that Kirby or branch, you know, might not, they'll get another interception this week. We'll flip the field a couple of times. We have no rain or wind or anything to worry about. It's funny cause the Texans last week were playing outdoors too. So I think both teams are probably relieved to be playing back inside the dome and playing more comfortable playing, uh, your best football. Uh, but yeah, after what happened with Branch, he's back, he's hungry to make up for last week. The Texans receivers have dealt with a lot of injuries so they don't have their best offense out there. So, I mean, other than Tank Dell, I don't think that CJ Stroud has the, you know, connection with the other guys anyway. So. That's just, that's gonna be important is utilizing our run defense also, shutting down Joe Mixon, and then pressuring C. J. Stroud.

Jason Harwood: 1:00:21

Yep. I'm right there with you. Uh, we're going to try to make them one dimensional so that we can attack CJ Stroud through blitzes. That's, and so, and that's going to be stopping Joe Mixon and getting them into obvious passing situations and all, you know, CJ Stroud can run. So we got, you know, if we're going to stop the run game, that includes CJ Stroud limiting that. You're not going to be able to stop it totally. It just. Just the way it is, but, you know, if we bring in Zadarius or whoever we got playing the edges, it's got to hold the edge, maintain rush lanes, if he's going to have to run, you know, make him run the long way out. Uh, I Expect us to get a fair amount of pressure on Stroud. I expect AG to blitz often in this game. We've talked about the weaknesses on the Texans offensive line. We're going to have to manufacture pressure, just through various stunts or, you know, their stunts will work well too, if you have an inexperienced offensive line, you're hoping for a communication to happen. And we just, You know, get to CJ Stroud and hopefully he makes a mistake. Cause we have mentioned before, he's terribly accurate. And if we give him a lot of time, he's got to pick us apart. If he doesn't have, you know, he's already missing Stefan Diggs cause he's out for this season. he's missing, a different, this is a different offense if they have Nico Collins. So if

Jacob: 1:01:38

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 1:01:40

I mean, our road becomes a little easier. Well, if he plays our, you know, Tarion and, uh, CD will be, we'll be ready for the challenge.

Jacob: 1:01:50

For sure, we're robbed by the fact that Hutch is not able to play in this game though. This is one of those games where Hutch could have had, you know, three or four more sacks. Especially, you know, you got the Hutch in Michigan, CJ Stroud, Ohio State storyline and everything like that too. Uh, yeah. Sucks, but you know, hey, if Darius is gonna play, maybe he makes an impact, maybe he gets a sack right away. Maybe.

Jason Harwood: 1:02:11

It'd be nice to get him, like, that'd endear you to the city, right? Get

Jacob: 1:02:15

Yeah, right.

Jason Harwood: 1:02:16

away. Um, I'm sure he's gonna want to. We'll see how it all works out. Um, my last key to victory is just, we need to stay ahead so that they can't just, Blitz and because they blitz at a very high rate and if we can stay ahead, then we become, you know, multi dimensional and they can't beat us. I mean, it's, I mean, I think this goes with any game, but I think it's very critical with this defense and the edge players that they have that we need to just ahead that they can't just think they're going to, we're going to pass each time.

Jacob: 1:02:51

Yeah, I mean, it's weird saying now, but Sam Garnold had a really good game against them and he was able to figure out the Blitz packages and everything like that, and I have full faith in Jared Goff in being able to figure out where these Blitzes and everything are coming from. It's just, uh, you know, just a matter of executing.

Jason Harwood: 1:03:09

Oh yeah. Yep. I, know, we talk about these teams with injured offensive line. It's so nice to have a, a talented of a healthy, talented offensive line. Um, just even if Will Anderson and, you know, will Anderson does play, you know, we got Sewell. I feel really good about that side. Taylor Decker had his struggles, but he will perform. I have utmost confidence in Taylor Decker to, to get up for the challenge that he has. So good. Um. You know, for on our side is there. Interior the Texans line is giving up a ton of sacks. So bet the over on McNeil whatever, you know If it's like 0. 5 sacks or whatever, I would bet the over on McNeil getting one for this game And maybe we'll see reader get one too But I I'm expecting McNeil to have a really good game if Pascal It's back and we get more of our pieces on the offensive line, you know, and they can rotate these pieces in and out. I expect McNeil to have a really good game.

Jacob: 1:04:13

Definitely.

Jason Harwood: 1:04:15

This is one that I circled, like. it first came out, I was like

Jacob: 1:04:19

Yes. Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:04:20

I mean, this is a lot. I would expect this to be a very highly rated. televised game just because you got the fun, exciting lions Texans are, you know, of, you know, people like CJ Stroud and they want to see, you know, they're going to get the chance to see him, um, you know, a national televised game. So I, I'm really excited for this game. I'm not excited for waiting all day for the game. It's just makes, uh, especially when you start hitting those four o'clock games, you're just like, ah, just really want this game to happen. But once it finally starts, it is exciting. And you're, you're the only game on and yeah, it's, it's awesome.

Jacob: 1:05:02

All eyes on us. Yeah, you know, primetime matchup on the road, Houston Texans. We, you know, this is obviously one of the bigger ones that we had talked about before. And now here we are in the middle of the season. Texans are rated the 9th. I think 9th best overall team were rated number 1. Uh, you know, we're, we're not trying to get knocked down off of that anytime soon. And I know, I think it was last year, Dan came out with a quote where, you know, he was talking about being in the top spot, and we're no longer hunting other teams, you know. Now we're the ones they're hunting. And he said, if you're hunting us, you won't have to look far. We're going to be on your front porch.

Jason Harwood: 1:05:36

Yes.

Jacob: 1:05:37

know, that's, that's what's happening this week, right? We're going to come to Houston's front porch and try to beat them on their own turf.

Jason Harwood: 1:05:43

Mm hmm.

Jacob: 1:05:43

Uh, we're going to spoil the debut of their brand new red, their all red chrome jerseys and everything like that. Maybe we're going to go all white and do the marshmallow thing again. We'll

Jason Harwood: 1:05:52

we're going to, I, I, there's certain people on this team that I think are superstitious. Um, and I think that that's going to be all whites again. They're not going to do a mixed match. I mean, you had, but you text me and said, what the all blacks look awesome against, uh,

Jacob: 1:06:06

It would be amazing if they could do that.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:08

Yeah, I don't know if they can, I don't, they get to do them

Jacob: 1:06:11

I saw online where they, right, right, they can do it three times, but there's like, they already have it going on with the bills. And there's something to do with the Thanksgiving game as it counts as an alternate

Jason Harwood: 1:06:21

Okay.

Jacob: 1:06:22

something like that, so I think they said they're not able to.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:24

Okay.

Jacob: 1:06:25

know though, but that would be sick. That would be amazing. All black, all red.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:29

I

Jacob: 1:06:30

Plus we have the blue chrome helmet and they have the red chrome, like, I mean.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:33

Yeah.

Jacob: 1:06:34

on, man. Give the people what they want.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:35

Yeah. That would, that would be awesome. Um, pull the audible, pull them from the Bulls, Bills game and just, uh, just do them this

Jacob: 1:06:42

Yeah, right, right.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:43

Uh, no, it, it's going to be, you know, Stephanie, I mentioned it in the interview, it's going to be a knockdown drag out battle. It's going to be, their team mirrors us a lot with how they're built, like through the

Jacob: 1:06:55

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 1:06:56

and they're just going to play hard and you're going to be ready for a football game. I hope it's not like the Arizona game where we got an injury, like every other it just seems like we were going down like crazy. That was a thing. That was a hard fought game. I hope it's, it's tough football, but hopefully we just come out unscathed. Going to be fun. We have our game that we like to play DEMO or Gibbs. I had DEMO last time. Yeah, Gibbs. So I won, um, week is tough. I don't know who to pick since I won last week. I get to pick again.

Jacob: 1:07:27

Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:07:30

I'm going to go Gibbs on this one.

Jacob: 1:07:33

Okay, I see that.

Jason Harwood: 1:07:35

Well, if you would have

Jacob: 1:07:36

You can't go around either way.

Jason Harwood: 1:07:38

I know it's, I mean, there's certain games that you can kind of expect one to do better than the other. But, um, yeah. Who would you have picked if you were first?

Jacob: 1:07:47

Actually, he would've picked Demo. I think we're gonna be running between the tackles up the middle, and, you know, he's gonna have success there.

Jason Harwood: 1:07:53

I know

Jacob: 1:07:53

But, obviously, any time Gims touches the ball, you know

Jason Harwood: 1:07:56

know it gets to the outside and just, and, uh, who's that shimmy shake. I don't know if you saw the interview with Scotty Montgomery a couple of weeks ago. They, you know, he's the running back coach and they asked him, you know, You know, what's the difference? Why is Gibbs breaking long ones now when he, you know, he previously didn't. And he said that he. Gibbs is coming into a plan of expecting it to get to the secondary and knowing what move he's going to use to beat that safety or beat the corner, whoever's out there and you know, you could, the Titans, when he just basically, you know, outran the safety to the corner, no one's going to catch him, but in the Vikings run, when he had 45, he did get up to the safety one on one with the safety game, the shoulder move and the safety. You know, just basically fell to the ground

Jacob: 1:08:46

Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:08:47

So he was like prepared to get to that level. Cause we had talked previously at the podcast. It seems like was running at, you know, a hundred percent speed and just kind of running into defenders sometimes. Um, you know, and it seemed like, no, he has a plan of like what he, you know, he's visualizing what he's going to do or how he's going to attack that secondary expecting to get to the second level because our offensive line is, and the wide receivers are providing great blocks for him to get up there.

Jacob: 1:09:15

Definitely.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:17

All

Jacob: 1:09:17

I think it's getting better and better every week.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:19

He is. It's, it's, it's a scary, you know, when we mentioned Stephanie, Stephanie is the first one. She said she's not afraid of anything. Uh, I, um, I believe that she's got to be a little scared about running back room.

Jacob: 1:09:33

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:35

She

Jacob: 1:09:35

I don't think the Texans like, I don't think they like the word scared. She's like, I ain't scared of nothing. I ain't never scared.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:41

should have worded the

Jacob: 1:09:42

You should have said concerned. She's concerned. She'd have been concerned about the running game.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:46

Yeah. I know. I, uh, you know, in my young interviewing career here, I've, I've learned, uh, the words matter and, uh, yeah, I

Jacob: 1:09:54

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:55

have used the word scared. Um.

Jacob: 1:09:57

We're not even six months into this thing yet. You'll get it.

Jason Harwood: 1:09:59

Yeah, no, she picked up on that word right away. She focused right in on the laser focus. Scared?

Jacob: 1:10:04

Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:10:05

scared. Ain't no, ain't nobody scared around here. All right. Well, I think, talk about getting scared. I think that you might be getting scared because I'm, with our grip picks, I am catching up to you. Slowly, but surely, I'm catching up to you. So let's get into grip picks or review the week and then we'll pick our new ones. So let's get on with grip picks. All right, Jacob. You want to review what we did last week?

Jacob: 1:10:34

Yeah. I guess, if you're gonna make me say it.

Jason Harwood: 1:10:38

Yes, I am.

Jacob: 1:10:39

Okay, uh, last week, Texans and Jets game, I had confidence that the Texans were gonna, uh, beat the Jets. That did not happen. You did pick the Jets, uh, so you got that one right. I got that one wrong. Outside of that, Colts and Vikings, we both picked the Vikings to win. And Bucks and Chiefs, we both picked the Chiefs to win. That Bucks and Chiefs game was actually a very good game. It was closer than what I thought that was gonna be.

Jason Harwood: 1:11:03

Mm

Jacob: 1:11:03

uh, you know, fun fact for you, I lost my fantasy matchup by one point. I had, uh, Rashad White and Kareem Hunt and the Bucks, you know, they get the ball, they're driving down. I'm like, please let Rashad White score. Please let Rashad White score. And then it was like, okay, you know what? Anybody score. Just anybody score and get it to overtime. And then they thought about going for two. So I was like, please don't go for two. Just kick the extra point. Let's take this to overtime. They get to overtime, the Chiefs drive down, and Cream Hunt scores that touchdown, and I lost by less than a point.

Jason Harwood: 1:11:36

Oh, my gosh. Uh,

Jacob: 1:11:40

So, you know what, whatever, that happens. But it makes, you know, fantasy makes things like that more interesting. It already was a good game, but then I actually had players I was rooting for in it. So that brings the total this season, uh, I'm 18 8, and you are 16 10, which is still second place.

Jason Harwood: 1:11:57

Yep. I'm getting there. Second place. yeah. Yeah. First loser. All right. Week 9 here. We're going to break. it's Wednesday night. So tomorrow's night's game. It's I'm kind of excited about this one. Bangles at Ravens. I don't know who's going first. You going first or am I?

Jacob: 1:12:15

You can go first. Well, yeah, we've only got two games to pick this week because the other ones us though.

Jason Harwood: 1:12:19

Alright. I'm going with Ravens on this one.

Jacob: 1:12:24

Yeah, I feel as I might bangles at Raven. So they're in Baltimore. The Ravens are favored by 6 points. You know, when they won the game earlier this year in Cincinnati, it was an overtime 41 to 38 and that was a great game. Uh, Lamar had 4 touchdown passes. Burrow had 5. It's probably going to be entertaining like that again. You know. I think Derek Henry is going to be the difference maker, so I, I have the Ravens winning this one.

Jason Harwood: 1:12:48

Well, our Sunday night game, which we don't pick lions games. Cause we, you know, going to pick them to win every game as lines at Texans, you know, spent the whole podcast talking about that. We'll skip on to Monday night football. This is an interesting one, dolphins at Rams. And I went back and forth. and I ended up landing on the dolphins on this one, but I had the Rams initially, but I, I think this is a game dolphins. Dolphins score, um, score, just score out, score the ramps, but I, it's going to be a good game. I'm, I'm really looking forward to it.

Jacob: 1:13:25

Yeah, definitely. This is a toss up. I mean, they're in LA. The Rams are favored by one point. Um, you know, what's interesting is that the Dolphins season is really on the line right now. Like, they're really struggling to hold on. They had to play a few games without Tua. Now they have him back. They've lost three in a row by a combined 10 points. So they've been playing in a lot of these close games, they're just not able to get over that hump, and this is another big test for them. You know, the Rams are 4 4, the Rams are fighting for, you know, fighting for their division right now, so it's not like they don't have a lot riding on it also.

Jason Harwood: 1:13:57

Right.

Jacob: 1:13:58

I just think the Dolphins, you know, if the Dolphins don't get it done this week, then the season pretty much, I mean, that's almost a wrap. It's gonna be really hard to come back for that.

Jason Harwood: 1:14:06

Well, especially as well as the bills are playing, I mean, your division's

Jacob: 1:14:09

right,

Jason Harwood: 1:14:10

almost out

Jacob: 1:14:10

and yeah, and they did lose to them.

Jason Harwood: 1:14:12

Mm

Jacob: 1:14:13

Yeah, so I mean, I, I have been wrong picking the Dolphins win before. I actually picked them when they got smoked by the Titans,

Jason Harwood: 1:14:20

hmm. Mm

Jacob: 1:14:21

uh, but I, I did say that I'm going to put my faith in them again and say that the, the Dolphins are going to win a close game against the Rams.

Jason Harwood: 1:14:27

hmm. All right. So we both picked the same teams this week, so no movement in the standings next week, but yeah, it was, I had the rams initially on, on our spreadsheet here thing and then I, I, I switched to the dolphins. I just,

Jacob: 1:14:39

Yeah. That really just goes, it could go either way. There's just so many different scenarios.

Jason Harwood: 1:14:44

I know the Rams are playing, are playing good too. So I, I, I think it's more like what you said, this is the dolphin season on the line. This is essentially a playoff game for them. They need, they, they need to get a win and their record might be a little wonky just because two of being out. Cause they look like hot garbage and when the

Jacob: 1:15:03

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 1:15:03

there. And so I don't think they're necessarily what their record states. Um, and I liked their coach. I think Mike McDowell is a very good coach, but I Uh, so I think he's going to have them ready for this, but going across country, is, it's not an easy thing, you know, but you know, they got an extra day of rest cause I'm on a football. All right. Let's get on to the grit guarantee. All right. I'll go first. Since you went first and last thing you mentioned this a little bit, uh, take a deep shots to JMO. And so my great guarantee is JMO leads the team in receiving yards this week.

Jacob: 1:15:44

Okay.

Jason Harwood: 1:15:45

will be, but he's going to lead the team in

Jacob: 1:15:46

But he's going to lead. Yep, I can dig that. I see that happening. I hope so. I've got a fun, I've got a fun great guarantee this week.

Jason Harwood: 1:15:54

All

Jacob: 1:15:55

Uh, I want to preface this by saying that this is, obviously, it's another test against a really good team. So I'm not taking this game lightly, um, but I'm going to go with a non traditional one here, and I'm going to say that alignment is going to be involved in a trick play. Maybe they just get targeted, maybe they do something crazy, maybe Goff hands the ball off to Aleem, and we let Aleem ruin it. Maybe Panacea lines up on the shotgun and runs an option with Jamo. Um, there's just going to be alignment involved in some sort of play here. You know, obviously we're going to try at least one trick play. Maybe, you know, last week we kind of just did that little reverse thing just because of the game script. But, I think we're going to try to lose one. And I'm, I think there's going to be either offense or defensive lineman. One of them is going to be involved in a play this week.

Jason Harwood: 1:16:41

right. I like it. That's a fun one. That'll be fun. I'll look really for it. Look forward to doing that. And then when that happens,

Jacob: 1:16:47

And then I will text you instantly.

Jason Harwood: 1:16:49

will be like, I'll see the bubbles, man. I'll be like, Oh, here it comes. But, um, just like when JMO hits a deep shot, I'd be like, yep, I'm on my way. So,

Jacob: 1:16:59

Yeah, I

Jason Harwood: 1:17:01

forward. I know that they're going to, they're going to utilize JMO. They're going to be on a dry field. Um, I think it'll be. It's gonna be a good game. I'm really looking forward to Sunday. I know my boys are looking forward to staying up late. Um, and, uh, yeah, it should be a good game. Hey, before we go here, we did get a comment, uh, on Spotify, um, from, um, time listener is RJ. Here's what he says. First time listener, big Lions fan. Not sure how you could expect Brent to not make a hit on that play. He is going at full speed. You expect him to stop on a dime, let up and let him catch it. Let's be honest here. And also he won't be suspended for a middle finger. This isn't a PG league. Um, I don't know if his response was thinking that we thought that he should let up. And I don't,

Jacob: 1:17:48

think it was directed. I don't know exactly what I had said before,

Jason Harwood: 1:17:51

yeah.

Jacob: 1:17:52

it was something along the lines of, I do think, I think that branch is trying to be an enforcer. And I do think that he, you know, he had the, he had the intent on making a hand. He was making a play. The ball was thrown. He wasn't stopping, he was running, he was planning on making that play. I still stand by the fact that I think that he, he did have a split second decision to maybe let up a little bit. He had already made that, there was just no way he was letting up. And in no way do I want him to change the way that he's playing. I want him to make that play, I want him to make that hit every single time. So I do want to say that, but I do think, I mean, if we're talking about, was there a chance he could have let up and not laid a hit exact like that? Of course there was. There's also the chance that he would have made the catch on that ball and then, you know, then we would have been caught out of position because we were trying to worry about his safety. I mean, the receiver that got hit was okay with it, said it was clean even though it was in the head, you know, it's football. And he was still kind of in the air when he got hit, so I mean, we're definitely not defending or saying that, you know, Branch definitely shouldn't have made the hit or whatever, just, I do think he may have been able to let up on it, I just don't think he had the intention on letting up, and I don't want him to. That's not how we're playing football.

Jason Harwood: 1:19:04

Yeah, I think the thing that maybe we're getting stuck on is he would had to let up before, he had had to make a decision before the ball is like touches the receiver,

Jacob: 1:19:15

Before it fully got there, right.

Jason Harwood: 1:19:16

Yeah. Like by the time, like before he makes that contact, he's made a decision. I'm going to hit this guy. And it doesn't. Yeah. And the thing is that like, he just, he said in, Brian said in his interview today, um, during the presser that he just got, he's just got to aim a little bit lower.

Jacob: 1:19:33

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 1:19:34

but at the same time, it's a moving target. We get it. It's like impossible to, he doesn't know that his helmet's going to be right there. The receivers falling back for the ball, you know, he's Brian's just going in there, but he did shy away from, I mean, he didn't go down with the crown of his did the best that he could after he did. The, you know, made the contact should not have been ejected. was a stupid. Um, The comment about him being suspended. I don't think he's going to be suspended But the thing is that the nfl does inconsistent things with these suspensions And I can see that that was america's game of the week, you know, tom bright is there everyone's watching the league Could have made a statement saying, you know, you shouldn't have done that because it was directed towards the fans and the stadium and I could see them making a distinction along with him getting really aggressive with the refs, not like physically aggressive, but like calling them. Bad names.

Jacob: 1:20:28

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 1:20:29

and you, you could see like a couple with the ejection, the hit, the, you know, the crowd off and language towards ref. The NFL could simply say that that was all those things lead up to a suspension. We haven't heard anything. I don't think that's going to happen. I would have thought they would have

Jacob: 1:20:49

I'm a. Um, Yeah. And that's, that's great. I appreciate it.

Jason Harwood: 1:20:58

You know, as Lions fans, sometimes we go to

Jacob: 1:21:00

Yeah,

Jason Harwood: 1:21:03

Um, but

Jacob: 1:21:05

I mean, it's still regardless. Like, I mean, even if he didn't hit him helmet to helmet, he made the decision that I'm, you know, I'm hitting this guy where, you know, we're laying the hit stick right now and it's a defenseless receiver. So, I mean, if he does go lower, no, then there wouldn't be a question. He wouldn't have been ejected. There wouldn't have been a question, but that still probably would have been a penalty,

Jason Harwood: 1:21:26

yeah, it depends on,

Jacob: 1:21:29

which I'm not saying is the wrong thing. Uh, you know, I just. That is what it is. It's football.

Jason Harwood: 1:21:35

It is football. And, and the way they've hamstrung the defenses now they're, these defenders are an impossible decision. They're going to make a football play and you're going to, they're going to side with player safety and get you injured. It has reduced the amount of helmet to helmet hits immensely, I think in this league, which is a good thing, but you're never going to be able to, if you eliminated all of it, then all of a sudden we're playing two and touch. Right. And then, you know, football's

Jacob: 1:22:01

Well, but then you have the flip side of that. Like that's, you know, staff are getting on Kirby Joseph about being dirty player and everything like that. If you're not going to hit them high, if you're going to have to go low, then you've got to go really low. You're trying to take them off at the hips. Or if you time that one wrong, you're hitting right. You know, like how Hockinson got injured and there's been countless guys that, you know, and I'm getting these knee injuries just because that's a bang, bang play. They don't want that 15 yard penalty for hitting you. You know, in the chest or higher. So they've got to go low. You got a safety with a tight end or somebody coming over there. If you're going too low like that, that's, that's what's going to happen. Either way. It's terrible, but I mean,

Jason Harwood: 1:22:38

Even if you go, like you figure back to week two with Arizona, where Brian got the concussion, he went low and the Titans met the, or the tight end for the Arizona met him low,

Jacob: 1:22:49

right.

Jason Harwood: 1:22:50

his head out there. couldn't have been out there. Much lower than what he was going for that

Jacob: 1:22:55

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 1:22:56

the, you know, it just happens, you know, they're

Jacob: 1:22:59

And then he got a fine for that.

Jason Harwood: 1:23:00

yeah. Yeah. And so, Sometimes you just can't win but RJ if you're listening and a first time listener, hopefully you enjoyed the show you come back We appreciate your comments this clarified our position on it You know, if if you have any other questions or comments, please get a hold of us. We'd You know, the interaction's good because, you know, sometimes what we say, we know what we're saying in our head that maybe it just doesn't come out clear on the other end for you guys. So, but our position, I think we tried to make it clear here. So hopefully that helped you out. Um, anything else you want to add, Jacob?

Jacob: 1:23:35

No, I'm good. Man, I'm ready for Sunday night.

Jason Harwood: 1:23:37

Sunday night going to be up late. It's going to be hard to watch film to talk about this, you know, Monday night, but we'll do our best for all our listeners out there. So for Jacob, I'm Jason. Let's go lions.