Speaker 1: Welcomeboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
Speaker 1: seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h town breakdown
Speaker 1: of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.
Speaker 2: All these great Houston fans here.
Speaker 3: We love you all, So finish up on that to
Speaker 3: do list.
Speaker 1: Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
Speaker 1: sports all day if you don't start. Now bear me
Speaker 1: the eight. This is Space City Saturday.
Speaker 3: That's insane. Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.
Speaker 4: And indeed it is a beautiful morning here in the age,
Speaker 4: a little chilly out there, all good, but hopefully you're
Speaker 4: getting all the honey dews and everything done before you
Speaker 4: can settle in to watch some college football or are
Speaker 4: in the case here on our iHeartRadio family of stations,
Speaker 4: listen to tons of college football because we've got a
Speaker 4: bevy of options for you today. Get into that a
Speaker 4: little bit later on as the show goes along. Away
Speaker 4: we go here on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here
Speaker 4: with you for the next couple of hours. Melvin Brown,
Speaker 4: of course behind the glass making things happen there for us,
Speaker 4: so appreciate his work as always a lot to get
Speaker 4: into here on the show today gonna be majority Texans,
Speaker 4: especially here in the first hour. I think you pretty
Speaker 4: much know how the theme of the show goes. Although
Speaker 4: you know we've had a little bit of a hiatus
Speaker 4: the last couple of weeks. I mean those darn eleven
Speaker 4: am kickoffs either for I guess both of them were
Speaker 4: for Texas against both Florida and last week against Arkansas.
Speaker 4: As they'll be back in action a little bit later
Speaker 4: on today, so you have that to look forward to.
Speaker 4: Know that Gordy, as a matter of fact, is up
Speaker 4: in Austin for that one. If you follow Chris Gordy
Speaker 4: on social media, you saw that he was able to
Speaker 4: catch up with a lot of the SEC network media types.
Speaker 4: I know he caught up with Roman Harper and also
Speaker 4: too if you're listening to the A Team yesterday, me
Speaker 4: and Adam talking about Ryan McGee's article about you know
Speaker 4: when he probably would guess that Forrest Gump played at
Speaker 4: Alabama and it's a pretty fun little article. Ryan's really
Speaker 4: really good people. If you don't follow Ryan McGhee, then
Speaker 4: I really recommend you do so, because not only does
Speaker 4: he do incredible work for his day job, he's also
Speaker 4: a heck of a guy too as well, in a
Speaker 4: really really huge connoisseur of minor league baseball hats, and
Speaker 4: I told him when I moved back here, I said, hey, look,
Speaker 4: you know they sell Corpus Christy hooks, hats, space cowboy hats,
Speaker 4: all of that in the Astros team store. I was like,
Speaker 4: if you want me to grab you one, I'd be
Speaker 4: more than willing to do so. Yeah, Ryan is a good,
Speaker 4: good dude. So Gordie is out there for that one.
Speaker 4: As the college football season sadly coming to an end,
Speaker 4: I mean I've talked about it before. I know college
Speaker 4: football is not huge here anymore, and we don't do
Speaker 4: a ton of college football talk on here. I mean
Speaker 4: just because again, I mean, what do you mostly care
Speaker 4: about right now? You care about the Texans. I mean
Speaker 4: you also, when it's Astros season, we're wall to wall Stros,
Speaker 4: I mean tons of you want to be able to
Speaker 4: weigh in on that, And even though it's the off season,
Speaker 4: we'll still get into a little bit of the Stros
Speaker 4: today because of course Dana Brown speaking earlier this week
Speaker 4: with Steve Sparks and also Todd Kallis on Astro Line
Speaker 4: and by the way, too. Had somebody call in and
Speaker 4: ask the other day about when the next astro line is.
Speaker 5: Going to be.
Speaker 4: It's more or less during the off season, and I
Speaker 4: think it was Martin. I think you called it, Martin.
Speaker 4: It's more or less during the off season. That if
Speaker 4: there is a signing or something like that and they
Speaker 4: have a press conference and you know, a whole availability
Speaker 4: at Minute Made Park, then we'll probably put one together because,
Speaker 4: like I said, Todd Sparky, maybe even Robert Ford, whoever
Speaker 4: it is, we'll sit down with you know, whatever new
Speaker 4: player they've signed, or you know, if they've hired somebody
Speaker 4: to a you know, a huge position in the organization. Say,
Speaker 4: you know, like last year we had Astrolne when they
Speaker 4: hired Joe Aspada, so you had that. And then the
Speaker 4: other day they had the event there to rename Minute
Speaker 4: Made Park dyik In Park Now. So that was a
Speaker 4: chance where I think you know Bolts Matt Boltz set
Speaker 4: up the equipment and they asked Dana, hey, you want
Speaker 4: to sit down and talk for a little bit, and
Speaker 4: Dana said, sure, I'll do that.
Speaker 5: So that's where you get Astrolne.
Speaker 4: But then once we get into spring training, that's when
Speaker 4: we will have weekly ones. So there you go, Martin,
Speaker 4: hopefully I answered your question for you. But anyway, with
Speaker 4: the Texans, like I said, I've got a game tomorrow
Speaker 4: against the Titans after a night sort of win on
Speaker 4: the road Monday night. As the Texans in their primetime
Speaker 4: appearances this season and even five hundred and two and two,
Speaker 4: you win the first one out the gate against the Bears,
Speaker 4: then you lose the next couple of course, Thursday night
Speaker 4: there to the Jets.
Speaker 5: That was a frustrating loss.
Speaker 4: And then also too equally, maybe even more frustrating the
Speaker 4: following week Sunday Night football against the Lions, when you
Speaker 4: had a sixteen point lead in the second half, unable
Speaker 4: to hold on to it. Lions kick the walk off
Speaker 4: field goal. So that was a tough loss. So this
Speaker 4: was one of the Texans really wanted on the road
Speaker 4: and they were able to take care of business thirty
Speaker 4: four to ten over the Cowboys. So things you love
Speaker 4: to see, indeed, no doubt about it. And I know
Speaker 4: a ton of you were up there in Arlington representing.
Speaker 4: I saw all the photos, I saw the videos. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know you saw the one Texans fan who got
Speaker 4: up on the little awning right there in one of
Speaker 4: the tunnels there that has the Cowboys star on it,
Speaker 4: and was kind of doing the Terrell Owens you a
Speaker 4: little stance that he did on the Star, but this
Speaker 4: time you didn't have Darren Woodson coming down to chase
Speaker 4: this guy off the star. But it was a really
Speaker 4: really good showing there. I mean, people I've talked with
Speaker 4: just said that it was unreal how many Texan fans
Speaker 4: were at that game. And look, I mean, you're doing
Speaker 4: it the right way if you're a Texans fan in
Speaker 4: that regard. You smell blood in the water. The Cowboys
Speaker 4: are down, but hey, that's their problem, it's not your problem.
Speaker 4: And you wanted to be able to go and be
Speaker 4: able to take over the building. And for the most
Speaker 4: part you did that. So good to see that out
Speaker 4: of the Texan fans. But the team on the field
Speaker 4: itself last week, I mean, offensively, I think we can
Speaker 4: continue to say a little bit of a mixed bag.
Speaker 4: I think that's a group that's still trying to be
Speaker 4: able to find their footing in terms of being the
Speaker 4: offense they really believed and hoped that they would be
Speaker 4: coming into this season. I mean, I know that ideally
Speaker 4: the offense was going to be pretty much everybody healthy
Speaker 4: this year, where you get a strong addition in Stefan Diggs,
Speaker 4: and of course he goes down a few weeks back
Speaker 4: with the torn acl he's done for the season, and
Speaker 4: also to not having Nico Collins for about a month
Speaker 4: and a half, that also kind of helps slow down
Speaker 4: the development in the second year both c J. Stroud
Speaker 4: and also of Bobby Slowick.
Speaker 5: But you get some.
Speaker 4: Good news for tomorrow on the injury front. Will Anderson Junior,
Speaker 4: Kamari Laster as he's Al Shaier and also Derek Stingley
Speaker 4: all on the injury report, but all of them with
Speaker 4: no designation next to their name. You even heard yesterday
Speaker 4: we played the short clip from will Anderson Junior with
Speaker 4: our own Aaron Wilson saying, Yep, I'm gonna be out there.
Speaker 4: I'm good to go. It's good to be back. So
Speaker 4: good to see number fifty one back in the fold.
Speaker 4: And you know, you just know what he's able to
Speaker 4: do from a pass rush perspective and also to just
Speaker 4: from just the energy that he brings. I mean, I
Speaker 4: would almost say even though he's a starter, that do
Speaker 4: you think it's a fair comparison to say Will Anderson
Speaker 4: Junior is to the Texans kind of like what Tari
Speaker 4: Easton is to the Rockets, you know, just gives you
Speaker 4: that energy boost and is somebody that is tenacious on
Speaker 4: the defensive end, and we'll get after his opponent. And
Speaker 4: that's what Tarry Easton will do. And that's what Will
Speaker 4: Anderson Junior does as well. And while he's been out,
Speaker 4: Deniko Autry has done some good stuff, Daniel Hunter has
Speaker 4: done some really good stuff. Derek Barnett doing some really
Speaker 4: good stuff last week. As it was funny, I did
Speaker 4: not know this that the last Texan defensive player to
Speaker 4: be able to cause a fumble and then scoop up
Speaker 4: the fumble and run it back for a touchdown. You're
Speaker 4: head coach Tamiko Ryans. I believe he did it. I
Speaker 4: think ESPN said he did it back in two thousand
Speaker 4: and six. I think is when Damiko Ryans did that,
Speaker 4: so way back in the early stages of his career.
Speaker 4: But anyway, it's good to know that those guys are
Speaker 4: going to be back. Deniko Autry questionable. He's got a
Speaker 4: knee and oblique issues, so trying to see if he
Speaker 4: is going to be able to play in post against
Speaker 4: his former team tomorrow, But Texans are an eight point favorite.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, Tennessee banged up in their own
Speaker 4: right as well. I know that Tajy Spears not going
Speaker 4: to play. I'm trying to remember who else is also
Speaker 4: not going to be able to go for the Titans.
Speaker 4: But this is a Titans team that, while they've played
Speaker 4: some good games this season, they're not as good as you,
Speaker 4: and not even anywhere close as good as you. And
Speaker 4: I mean, you know this is, for all intents and
Speaker 4: purposes in the AFC South a two team race at
Speaker 4: this point, and the Texans have a significant advantage with
Speaker 4: not only beating the Colts twice, but also too where
Speaker 4: they are in front of the Colts. I mean, I
Speaker 4: know that Indianapolis kind of tightening things up last week
Speaker 4: with their win in Jersey over the Jets, but two
Speaker 4: at the same time, I mean, you know, you've already
Speaker 4: taken care of the business that you needed to take
Speaker 4: care of over them, and really for the Texans, it
Speaker 4: just kind of comes to, you know, let time run
Speaker 4: out on them, and for you a chance to be
Speaker 4: able to do that is you win tomorrow. And then
Speaker 4: you go on the road next week and take on
Speaker 4: a hapless Jags team that is at this point pretty
Speaker 4: much just playing out the string and getting ready to
Speaker 4: fire their coach sooner rather than later. So we'll get
Speaker 4: into all of that as the show goes along. And oh,
Speaker 4: by the way, too busy day here, and I talked
Speaker 4: about it a little bit at the beginning of this segment.
Speaker 4: Really busy day here on Sports Talk seven ninety and
Speaker 4: all of our iHeartRadio stations here of course, KPRC nine
Speaker 4: to fifty, News Radio seven forty KTRH, those two stations
Speaker 4: come into play here because one thirty here on Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety, you'll get Craig Way, Roger Wallace, Will
Speaker 4: Matthews and the crew on the Longhorn Sports Network bringing
Speaker 4: to you Texas and Kentucky TV wise here, that's going
Speaker 4: to be the two thirty window right there, So you know,
Speaker 4: the CC's got that two thirty window that they've been
Speaker 4: able to carry over from CBS over to ABC. So
Speaker 4: but you'll be able to listen to Craig and the
Speaker 4: crew call the game. One thirty is when they get
Speaker 4: going here. If you're looking for you of h football
Speaker 4: tonight against Baylor, of course wearing the H Town blues.
Speaker 5: And I didn't even think about this.
Speaker 4: I mean, this has to be intentional by you of
Speaker 4: h right that you got the season assist by the
Speaker 4: by the Tennessee Titans last year to tell you, hey,
Speaker 4: those H Town blues, Yeah, those are our colors.
Speaker 5: Don't wear them.
Speaker 4: And at the time when he was the ad, Chris
Speaker 4: Pesman pretty much said, yeah, you can kick rocks.
Speaker 5: We're not gonna listen to you. We don't care. We're
Speaker 5: gonna wear the jerseys.
Speaker 4: So I've got to believe that this is intentional for
Speaker 4: the the Cougars to say, you know what, Hey, the
Speaker 4: Titans are in town. Oh man, Well what a coincidence. Well,
Speaker 4: we were planning on wearing our H Town blues today,
Speaker 4: so that's what they're gonna do. So they will be
Speaker 4: wearing those of course Senior Day for the Koog's. They've
Speaker 4: done some good.
Speaker 5: Things this year.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think, you know, even though they might
Speaker 4: very well fall short of making it to a Bowl,
Speaker 4: they would have to win their next two games in
Speaker 4: order to go bowling. I mean, but you know, it's
Speaker 4: kind of like what I talked about last year with
Speaker 4: the Texans be playing meaningful games in November, in December,
Speaker 4: and I think, if you know, coming into this season,
Speaker 4: I don't even think anybody had really any expectations for
Speaker 4: this U of H team. You had lost so many
Speaker 4: players in the transfer portal, you had to add so
Speaker 4: many players into the transfer portal, and also too, you know,
Speaker 4: just trying to be able to build a culture. And
Speaker 4: that's what Willie Fritz has been able to do. He
Speaker 4: did it during his time at Sam Houston. He did
Speaker 4: it during his time at Tulane. I mean to the
Speaker 4: point where Tulane was making it to New Year six
Speaker 4: Bowl games. I mean that's huge in its own right,
Speaker 4: and able to come over here to third Ward and
Speaker 4: be able to try to get this program going. So
Speaker 4: the fact that they are even remotely in bowl consideration
Speaker 4: is a huge plus because Willie is already recruiting pretty
Speaker 4: well and I think is starting to build that foundation
Speaker 4: and that culture over there for the u of H program.
Speaker 4: They're going to get their new Memorial Herman facility right
Speaker 4: there at TDECU Stadium with meeting rooms, new weight room,
Speaker 4: all that kind of stuff, everything that you have to
Speaker 4: have in the arms race. That is major power for
Speaker 4: college football. So U of H taking all the right
Speaker 4: steps to be able to get back to being competitive
Speaker 4: in college football again. So five o'clock is where you're
Speaker 4: going to find that crew over on at KPRC nine fifty,
Speaker 4: So be Kevin Aschemfelder and also Ted Party on the
Speaker 4: call of that. I'm gonna say this really quickly, just
Speaker 4: because I think most of you know that I wear
Speaker 4: my purple and gold heart on my sleeve. Me Chris Gordy,
Speaker 4: most of our bosses here at iHeartRadio in Houston are
Speaker 4: LSU people as well, and it's just not been a
Speaker 4: fun year. So if you are inclined, if you are
Speaker 4: an LSU fan, LSU Vanderbilt, going to be here on
Speaker 4: seven ninety Sports Talk seven ninety coming up at five o'clock.
Speaker 5: I know I just sold it incredibly well.
Speaker 4: But look when you're six and four, when you thought
Speaker 4: coming into the season that maybe being one of the
Speaker 4: final twelve teams in the college football Playoff was a
Speaker 4: real strong possibility. Yeah, it's a massive disappointment, man, that's
Speaker 4: the way the season has gone. But then you're probably saying,
Speaker 4: after I've mentioned all of that, hey, Dan, you hadn't
Speaker 4: even mentioned the Rockets yet.
Speaker 5: Okay, well, I'm getting.
Speaker 4: There because Adam Clinton's going to have Rockets launch Pad
Speaker 4: coming your way at six o'clock over on news Radio
Speaker 4: seven forty KTRH. That's going to be leading you up
Speaker 4: to the Rockets and Blazers tonight over at Toyota Center.
Speaker 5: So it's going to be him doing launch Pad and wrap.
Speaker 4: Matt Thomas and Adam Wexler are going to be on
Speaker 4: the call again over on news Radio seven forty KTRH.
Speaker 4: Rockets taking care of business last night one sixteen to
Speaker 4: eighty eight at Toyota Center over the Blazers. Blazers at
Speaker 4: one point had an eight point lead in the first quarter,
Speaker 4: but then the Rockets just.
Speaker 5: Absolutely able to take over.
Speaker 4: Dylan Brooks was unconscious from three point last night, seventh
Speaker 4: time in his career that he has had six to
Speaker 4: three ball makes in a game. He was six of
Speaker 4: eight from three to twenty eight points out of Dylan
Speaker 4: Brooks last night. Tarry Easton fantastic as well, twenty two
Speaker 4: points out of him. Amen Thompson, the other half of
Speaker 4: the Terror Twins, also able to make things happen there
Speaker 4: in terms of contributing on both the offensive and defensive
Speaker 4: end and of course to play of the night. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think we can all agree was the Reed Shepherd
Speaker 4: save that. I mean I said it last night on
Speaker 4: Rockets Rap that it almost looked like a dude perfect
Speaker 4: video of like almost like a trick shot where he
Speaker 4: runs to the sideline right there over near the court
Speaker 4: side seats, flips the ball down court and it perfectly
Speaker 4: leads Tarry Eaton right to the basket to be able
Speaker 4: to slam it down.
Speaker 5: And that was one of many.
Speaker 4: Fun highlights from last night's one sixteen eighty eight win
Speaker 4: over the Blazers. Rockets now twelve and five win tonight,
Speaker 4: three straight wins after that tough loss earlier this week
Speaker 4: to the Milwaukee Bucks, and also too at some time
Speaker 4: the show today we are going to get into. Dana
Speaker 4: Brown was on Astro Line this week again with Todd
Speaker 4: Kallis and Steve Sparks, so we will hear from him.
Speaker 5: He talked about Alex.
Speaker 4: Bregman and just the Astros as a hole heading into
Speaker 4: the twenty twenty five season. I mean, as we stand
Speaker 4: right now, don't look, you know, too far down the road,
Speaker 4: because then too far down the road will be hey
Speaker 4: we're in West Palm Beach. It's spring training. Hey, it's
Speaker 4: opening day. I mean it's right around the corner. It's
Speaker 4: not too far away. Of course, the hot stove is
Speaker 4: still burning. And we will see what happens with Alex
Speaker 4: Bregman and what the Astros look like in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 4: either with or without Alex Bregman wearing the orange and
Speaker 4: blue number two. So that's what we have to look
Speaker 4: forward to. But coming up next, this emphasis for the
Speaker 4: Texans is something that if they are able to accomplish it, I.
Speaker 5: Think that all their goals are still out in front
Speaker 5: of them.
Speaker 4: We'll let you hear exactly what that is from a
Speaker 4: Texan head coach, Tamiko Ryans. That's coming up next. As
Speaker 4: we get started here on Space City Saturday. You want
Speaker 4: to weigh in on the phone lines, you can do
Speaker 4: so sub one three two one two five seven ninety.
Speaker 4: Once again, that's sub one three two one two five
Speaker 4: seven nine zero. It's Dean Matthews here on Sports Talk
Speaker 4: seven ninety with you here until noon.
Speaker 1: Exactly Space City Saturday. On Sports Talk seven ninety, Sports Talk.
Speaker 5: Seven ninety when Space City Saturday, Melvin tolling me.
Speaker 4: This is new stuff from LL Cool Jay so Ll
Speaker 4: still getting into the studio.
Speaker 5: I guess is ncis LA still a thing?
Speaker 4: I mean, me and Matt Thomas had this conversation the
Speaker 4: other day in terms of like network TV shows and
Speaker 4: of course, you know, talking about like ABC, NBC, CBS,
Speaker 4: Like I mean, it used to be appointment viewing. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, remember the sitcom days. Of course you wanted
Speaker 4: to be able to watch Seinfeld. You want to be
Speaker 4: able to watch Friends, just shoot me. Whatever it was
Speaker 4: you wanted to be able to watch those shows. But
Speaker 4: I mean, honestly, I can't tell you the last time
Speaker 4: that I watched any of the major network shows anymore.
Speaker 4: I mean, I know, you know, obviously, if you watch
Speaker 4: Sunday Night Football, they've got all the promos for their shows.
Speaker 4: If you watch you know, the NFL on CBS, you
Speaker 4: get same deal, Fox kind of same deal as well.
Speaker 4: But I just I can't tell you outside of Yellowstone
Speaker 4: and land Man, any other shows that I even remotely
Speaker 4: pay attention to. But land Man, I know that network wise,
Speaker 4: they've had one episode on Paramount. But on Paramount, which
Speaker 4: we're lucky enough to have, you can already watch episode
Speaker 4: two Billy Bob Thornton's awesome.
Speaker 5: So if you have a chance to.
Speaker 4: Check out land Man, and obviously to a little bit
Speaker 4: of a regional tie as well. I mean, he's a
Speaker 4: landman for oil fields there in Midland is where it's
Speaker 4: set up. So of course, you know, the oil and
Speaker 4: gas industry very intertwined into our area and into our state.
Speaker 4: So a little bit of a regional hat tip if
Speaker 4: you will to us here in the great state of Texas.
Speaker 4: But anyway, I had mentioned about a emphasis on finishing
Speaker 4: in the second half for the Texans as something that
Speaker 4: could really serve them well going forward for the rest
Speaker 4: of this season. You saw that there was a middle
Speaker 4: stretch of the season. I mean, I've talked about the
Speaker 4: loss to the Lions where you had a sixteen point
Speaker 4: lead and you're unable to get into the end zone.
Speaker 4: You're unable to put up any points whatsoever. If they
Speaker 4: were able to score nineteen straight unanswered points and beat
Speaker 4: you with a walk off field goal.
Speaker 5: Same deal against the Jets.
Speaker 4: I mean up until last Monday against the Cowboys, when
Speaker 4: Joe Mixon was able to run in for a touchdown,
Speaker 4: which by the way, I think it came on a
Speaker 4: third down. You can't tell me that they wouldn't have
Speaker 4: gone forward on fourth down with the express purpose of, Hey,
Speaker 4: we're getting into the end zone hooker by crook, Like
Speaker 4: we're finding a way to be able to break this,
Speaker 4: you know, games without a touchdown in the second half
Speaker 4: streak that we've been on since you know, the last
Speaker 4: time they did do it against the Patriots up there.
Speaker 5: In New England.
Speaker 4: But Jamiko Ryans speaking about that about the emphasis of
Speaker 4: trying to finish off games in the second half, Pet
Speaker 4: thought of guys.
Speaker 2: Again did a good job of just competing and finishing
Speaker 2: in the second half. That's a point of emphasis for us,
Speaker 2: and that won't change moving forward. Like for us to
Speaker 2: continue to grow and become a really good team, we
Speaker 2: had to finish games in the second half. So most
Speaker 2: proud of our guys about that. That didn't change from
Speaker 2: watching a film.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know that's something too that I've talked
Speaker 4: about before. I mean, because where I thought that a
Speaker 4: lot of people were looking at the Texans being in
Speaker 4: close games as a negative for this team.
Speaker 5: Oh, that's going to come back to bite them a
Speaker 5: little bit later on.
Speaker 4: And perhaps, like I said, that Lions game it definitely
Speaker 4: did the Jets game.
Speaker 5: Same deal there as well. You could even make an
Speaker 5: argument that the.
Speaker 4: Third of their four losses that they had that I
Speaker 4: haven't even mentioned yet, the Green Bay game, same deal.
Speaker 4: The Minnesota game was an anomaly in all of this
Speaker 4: because they were never in that game. Second half, first half,
Speaker 4: it didn't matter. Minnesota was winning that game. So you
Speaker 4: kind of take, you know, just chalk that one as
Speaker 4: up as a loss. You go the next week, you
Speaker 4: try to play, you try to win, you try to
Speaker 4: do all those different types of things, and that's what
Speaker 4: they've been able to do. But I've told you numerous
Speaker 4: times that is this season wears long. And maybe it's
Speaker 4: not tomorrow against Tennessee, maybe it's not next week in
Speaker 4: Jacksonville against the Jaguars, but you're going to have and
Speaker 4: improved Miami Dolphins team coming here to NRG Stadium. And
Speaker 4: I say they're improved because, well, they've got Tuoa on
Speaker 4: the field, and they're looking the way that they're supposed
Speaker 4: to look, and they're looking like the team that a
Speaker 4: lot of people were wondering, is this the team that
Speaker 4: wins the AFC last year? And they faltered a little
Speaker 4: bit down the stretch. Then they go up to Kansas
Speaker 4: City and had to try to battle frostbite and ended
Speaker 4: up losing to the Chiefs. And we know how the
Speaker 4: playoffs last year broke down. Of course, it was Kansas
Speaker 4: City walking it off there in Vegas two when yet
Speaker 4: another Super Bowl title. But in games like this, you're
Speaker 4: going to be playing these down the stretch. You're going
Speaker 4: to be playing it against Miami. You're going to do
Speaker 4: the same thing the following Saturday in Kansas City against
Speaker 4: the Chiefs and then Christmas Day here in Houston against
Speaker 4: the Baltimore Ravens. That's probably going to be the game
Speaker 4: that you're in. And not only that, coming out of
Speaker 4: those games, you hopefully are able to lock up the
Speaker 4: AFC South by that point and know either you're playing
Speaker 4: on wildcard weekend or that you've got a first round
Speaker 4: by and you're able to make it into the next
Speaker 4: weekend of not having to play in that wildcard round.
Speaker 4: You've got a home home game for the divisional series,
Speaker 4: and if you are able to win that game, then
Speaker 4: you make it to your first AFC Championship game. As
Speaker 4: an organization, Texans have never been there, They've never gotten
Speaker 4: past Divisional round weekend and they're trying to be able
Speaker 4: to do that this year. But that's something too as
Speaker 4: well that you hear football coaches all the time emphasize.
Speaker 4: I mean, Nick Saban for the longest time at Alabama,
Speaker 4: the infamous fourth quarter program. That was their whole thing.
Speaker 4: They wanted to be able to say in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 4: we see that you're tired, We know that you're tired.
Speaker 4: Here comes the grindstone because now we're just going to
Speaker 4: grind you down and we're going to physically beat you
Speaker 4: up now because we're in better shape than you are,
Speaker 4: we're more disciplined than you are, and we're going to
Speaker 4: be able to find a way to run you off
Speaker 4: the football field. And that's what made him so successful
Speaker 4: for or as long as.
Speaker 5: He's been there.
Speaker 4: Jamiko Ryans is pretty much in the same mindset. You
Speaker 4: hear him talk about it all the time. There's a
Speaker 4: reason why this team wants to be as physical as
Speaker 4: possible on both lines of scrimmage. The offense, it's been
Speaker 4: a little bit of a work in progress. I think
Speaker 4: we can agree with that, and you know, for the
Speaker 4: most part, and we'll get into the offensive line here
Speaker 4: coming up in the next segment. But they're hoping that
Speaker 4: the moves that they've made of kicking Juice Scruggs over
Speaker 4: to left guard and having Jarrett Patterson as the center
Speaker 4: is the missing piece that they've needed to be able
Speaker 4: to get that group working as five and be able
Speaker 4: to be the group that you hope they could be,
Speaker 4: to not only be able to protect CJ.
Speaker 5: Stroud, but also to.
Speaker 4: The most productive offensive weapon the Texans have had this season,
Speaker 4: Joe Mixon. Being able to get him going and how
Speaker 4: you know, have him be another huge reason of why
Speaker 4: you've won games. I probably could look at about three
Speaker 4: of the Texans wins this year and say, yeah, you
Speaker 4: won that game because of Joe Mixon. Monday Night was
Speaker 4: one of them. Indianapolis was another one, And I believe
Speaker 4: even the second Indianapolis game was another game that Mixon
Speaker 4: was able to show up and be huge for this
Speaker 4: team and help them win that game. But on the
Speaker 4: defensive side, that's what that group has been this season.
Speaker 4: Either with suspensions or injuries, whatever it might be, that
Speaker 4: group has been a really strong, you know, a feather
Speaker 4: in the hat for Demiko and for this Texans defense,
Speaker 4: and they've been the reason why this team is in
Speaker 4: so many close games, even when the offense is not
Speaker 4: humming along the way that you hoped that it would.
Speaker 4: So again, I mean, it's one of those things that
Speaker 4: you know, some people might say, Yay, we get it,
Speaker 4: second half, emphasis, finish all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5: Yeah, very good.
Speaker 4: But I mean it is kind of a thing that
Speaker 4: I remembered a buddy of mine brought it up a
Speaker 4: few years ago of you know, why things are continuously
Speaker 4: said his example. To some it might seem a little extreme,
Speaker 4: but it fits, I believe is it's almost like a
Speaker 4: person that goes to alcoholics anonymous. You have to continuously
Speaker 4: remind yourself all the time. You have to continuously say it.
Speaker 4: And you know, I know that some people might say, well,
Speaker 4: you know, there's a difference between saying it and actually
Speaker 4: doing it. But the point is I think incredibly valid
Speaker 4: that you know, you need to tell yourself we finished
Speaker 4: in the second half. We finished in the second half.
Speaker 4: We finished in the second half, and you also put
Speaker 4: in the work to be able to do that. And
Speaker 4: that's what Texans continue to try to do. They've won
Speaker 4: many close games this season. And it's something too that
Speaker 4: I've told you, I think can benefit them going forward,
Speaker 4: because you're not going to be in games more than
Speaker 4: likely against Kansas City or against Baltimore, or when you
Speaker 4: get into the playoffs where you're up by two, three,
Speaker 4: maybe even more scores, You're probably going to be in
Speaker 4: a situation where you're saying, hey, we need to go
Speaker 4: down the field right here, kick a field goal and
Speaker 4: put ourselves up by ten, or hey, we need to
Speaker 4: go down the field right here, be able to score
Speaker 4: a touchdown so we can regain the lead or tie
Speaker 4: up the game, and then be able to give ourselves
Speaker 4: a chance late score to try to walk this thing off.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's what you're probably going to be into
Speaker 4: as the season goes along, and that's what the Texans
Speaker 4: continue to try to condition themselves to be. The offensive
Speaker 4: line conversation, we'll get into that here in the final
Speaker 4: segment of the show, because coming up next yesterday on
Speaker 4: the A Team with Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler, we
Speaker 4: had a chance to talk with He was a brief Texan,
Speaker 4: but a man that knows a lot about this at
Speaker 4: Texans and Titans rivalry. He is former NFL receiver Derek
Speaker 4: Mason from one oh two five the game there in Nashville.
Speaker 4: He joined us on the show. We'll let you hear
Speaker 4: that conversation coming up right here on Space City Saturday.
Speaker 4: It's Dan Matthews here with you until noon on your
Speaker 4: home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: We now return to Space City Saturday, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: You're off in the Houston.
Speaker 4: I had this as an earworm today, and of course
Speaker 4: you don't know the song, Sir Paul McCartney jet. I
Speaker 4: believe this is Sir Paul McCartney in Wings. Obviously, I
Speaker 4: mean it's not the Beatles. But anyway, I was humming
Speaker 4: it during the break and Melvin Brown goes, god, what
Speaker 4: is that song? I know that song, I just can't
Speaker 4: think of the name, and I said, it's Paul McCartney jet.
Speaker 4: So there you go. So if any of you the
Speaker 4: rest of the day are going around humming d then
Speaker 4: you know where that earworm came from.
Speaker 5: So again you're welcome, all right.
Speaker 4: So yesterday on the A Team, we had a chance
Speaker 4: to catch up with a man who spent a brief
Speaker 4: period of time with the Texans back in twenty eleven.
Speaker 4: Of course, spent most of his career with the Tennessee
Speaker 4: Titans and also with the Baltimore Ravens, also a stop
Speaker 4: in there with the New York Jets.
Speaker 5: He is Derek Mason.
Speaker 4: He joined us on the A team and Adam Clanton
Speaker 4: had handled this interview because Wex had already moved off
Speaker 4: to go take care of his duties of the Rockets
Speaker 4: and Blazers game over at Toyota Center. So AC starting
Speaker 4: off the conversation with Derek Mason talking about is it
Speaker 4: kind of weird that the Texans and Titans are never
Speaker 4: really good at the same time.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're right about that.
Speaker 7: I can't recall even the eight years I played here
Speaker 7: in Nashville from ninety seven oh four, Houston wasn't a
Speaker 7: good team. Now, they had some good players, but they
Speaker 7: were not a good team. And when I went to Baltimore,
Speaker 7: it still was the same. They had some good you know,
Speaker 7: a few good seasons here and there, but they were
Speaker 7: not a perennial good team. But they found themselves a
Speaker 7: head coach and Demico Ryans.
Speaker 6: They found themselves a quarterback in CJ.
Speaker 7: Stroud, And then when you draft Will Anderson and Stingley
Speaker 7: the year before you're building yourself a nucleus that you
Speaker 7: know could potentially do damage for years to come.
Speaker 8: And how many times does it come down that?
Speaker 9: And you mentioned the head coach, But it's so much
Speaker 9: a quarterbacks league. It's only become more so that way
Speaker 9: as the NFL has evolved into the juggernaut that it
Speaker 9: is today. You know, playing with the late great Steve
Speaker 9: McNair like you did, But the Texans didn't have that guy.
Speaker 9: They hoped it was David Carr and then you know,
Speaker 9: eventually it became Matt Shaw, but that didn't have staying power.
Speaker 9: And obviously the Titans had been in search of that guy.
Speaker 9: Ryan Tannehill having some nice seasons, but I don't think
Speaker 9: anybody would confuse anybody else in recent history of either
Speaker 9: of these teams with McNair for the Titans, and now
Speaker 9: I think what CJ.
Speaker 8: Shroud is becoming for the Houston Texans.
Speaker 6: No, I think the Titans have had.
Speaker 7: They've had a bad sort of bad luck in regards
Speaker 7: to quarterbacks. Besides Steve McNair, they haven't been able to
Speaker 7: develop a franchise quarterback outside of Steed. They thought they
Speaker 7: had one with Marcus Mariota. It didn't work. They thought
Speaker 7: they had it prior to that with Vince Young, it
Speaker 7: didn't work out. Jake Locker, it didn't work out. You
Speaker 7: can go down the list of quarterbacks that the Titans
Speaker 7: have drafted after Steve and it seemed it didn't work
Speaker 7: out for whatever reason. And you can say some of
Speaker 7: that for the Houston Texans. And then you mentioned the
Speaker 7: name David Carr. I think they destroyed him with the
Speaker 7: offensive line issues that they had. And then Matt Shab
Speaker 7: I was there with Matt for you know, I think
Speaker 7: the six games towards the end of that twenty ten season,
Speaker 7: I believe, and I thought Matt Shaw was a really
Speaker 7: good quarterback. But besides that, they haven't been able to
Speaker 7: Ann obviously we know the big elephant in the room,
Speaker 7: and I don't even want to go down that road.
Speaker 7: But besides that, they really hadn't been able to, you know,
Speaker 7: develop and keep a quarterback.
Speaker 6: But it seems like they have one now in c. J. Stroud.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I know, and I'm obviously we're talking to Derek
Speaker 9: Mason of One of two five the Fan in Nashville
Speaker 9: and obviously a former player for both of these clubs.
Speaker 9: Most of the time in Nashville and so many times
Speaker 9: it does come down to getting that franchise quarterback.
Speaker 8: Do you think that CJ. Stroud?
Speaker 9: I know some people are still maybe holding out, like
Speaker 9: I don't know if he's a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 8: Yet that number is very, very small.
Speaker 9: Most people here in town are like, yeah, we saw
Speaker 9: last season.
Speaker 8: It's not a fluke.
Speaker 9: But on the flip side of that, he has not
Speaker 9: had the you know, the bust out of the gate.
Speaker 9: He has not had the prolific necessarily numbers that he
Speaker 9: did a year ago, and a lot of that has
Speaker 9: gone back, in my opinion, to the offensive line play.
Speaker 9: It's not completely on that line because CJ has made
Speaker 9: a lot more mistakes I think already this year than
Speaker 9: he did last years as opposed to the interceptions that
Speaker 9: he didn't throw last year. But what do you think
Speaker 9: of CJ. Stroud from the outside looking in? And there's
Speaker 9: no question he's a franchise quarterback. It's just a matter
Speaker 9: of how much success he can have.
Speaker 7: Well, I wish we were a draft and I tell
Speaker 7: you that how much I think about him. I wish
Speaker 7: that the Titans were able to get in that you know,
Speaker 7: number two spot and number one spot and.
Speaker 6: Being able to draft c J. Stroud.
Speaker 7: And I know the Titans aren't the only team thinking
Speaker 7: that they wish they had an opportunity to sign him.
Speaker 6: But I mean, listen, the kid has everything that.
Speaker 7: You need to play at that position. Extremely smart quarterback.
Speaker 7: IQ was off the boards. He's a pocket passer. He
Speaker 7: can get outside the pocket, and he can't extend drives,
Speaker 7: but he's not looking to run. But he does all
Speaker 7: the little things that you want a quarterback to be
Speaker 7: able to go out there and and and do and
Speaker 7: and Like I said, I think they had a really
Speaker 7: good not just quarterback, but I think they have a
Speaker 7: really good young nucleus on that team that coach Ryan
Speaker 7: can Can can build around, starting with CJ. Stroud and
Speaker 7: then you know Will Anderson and Steing Lands I mentioned
Speaker 7: before some other guys on that team. But what happens
Speaker 7: to a quarterback in the second year.
Speaker 5: I believe.
Speaker 7: I think defenses tend to they over scout you on
Speaker 7: the offseason and they try to pick up some of
Speaker 7: your tendencies and it tends to make it a little
Speaker 7: bit harder until you adjust and figure out. And you
Speaker 7: got to understand he was working with a new wide
Speaker 7: receiver that and digs that they got from Buffalo. Even
Speaker 7: though their reports seemed to be really good, he still
Speaker 7: was learning the offense. And then his best receiver is
Speaker 7: number one receiver, Nico Collins goes down, so he and
Speaker 7: now Nic goes back. So now they're starting to get
Speaker 7: a little bit healthy, healthier. Mixing is a beast in
Speaker 7: the backfield, but they're starting to get a little bit healthier.
Speaker 7: And I think he's starting to figure things out. Listen,
Speaker 7: He's only going to get better. That's what I believe.
Speaker 7: And as you continue to add guys around him, and
Speaker 7: let's not forget about Tank Dell.
Speaker 6: I love that guy.
Speaker 7: That's another guy that I wish the Titans would have
Speaker 7: drafted but didn't.
Speaker 6: But Dale is awesome.
Speaker 7: So you have a nucleus of receivers that you were
Speaker 7: getting used to once again because Nico was injured and
Speaker 7: Kank Dale had been injured you know a lot last year,
Speaker 7: and he's been healthy this year. But I think those
Speaker 7: things that you are not seeing, those that explosive game
Speaker 7: that he had last year, I think you starting to
Speaker 7: see him as the season started to wind out.
Speaker 9: Talking to Derek Mason of one of two five the
Speaker 9: fan in Nashville, Derek, when you talk about the quarterback
Speaker 9: there in Tennessee, you know, Will Levis taken a little
Speaker 9: bit later and has shown, you know, flashes, He's obviously
Speaker 9: he'll tell you he's got the arm. Is he a
Speaker 9: guy that you truly think the Titans can build around?
Speaker 9: I know last season these two teams got together. I mean,
Speaker 9: he went through it, and I think he's had a
Speaker 9: little bit better protection this year, but he's had some
Speaker 9: injury concerns.
Speaker 8: And that kind of thing.
Speaker 9: It's the way that that quarterback position can go in
Speaker 9: this league, especially when you're going through kind of a
Speaker 9: rough time. Is he, though, the guy that they can
Speaker 9: point to at the quarterback position or is the jury
Speaker 9: still out or what are you personally seeing with a
Speaker 9: guy like like Will Lovis.
Speaker 10: I think the jury is still out on him, you know,
Speaker 10: because what we saw last year for the brief time
Speaker 10: that he played, because he was able to come in
Speaker 10: after Ryan Tanneo got injured.
Speaker 6: He played four games.
Speaker 7: First game was outstanding, four touchdowns. He looked like an
Speaker 7: elite quarterback. But we knew eventually that was going to
Speaker 7: come back down to earth because at thinking that game
Speaker 7: Atlanta played a lot of men the man and they
Speaker 7: showed the defense to him so he didn't have to read.
Speaker 7: And then he had a couple other games that were
Speaker 7: there were okay games, but this season he came and
Speaker 7: do it and it just seemed like he took a
Speaker 7: step back, and the fan base has been on him,
Speaker 7: and rightfully so, because he has accounted for a lot
Speaker 7: of the things or mistakes that were happening in the
Speaker 7: first half of the season with his turnovers and him
Speaker 7: being careless with the football. So I think infra Will
Speaker 7: was sort of times that he got hurt and had
Speaker 7: to sit him for a couple of weeks, and he
Speaker 7: was able to slow the game down, watch it and
Speaker 7: then sort of PROTENSI from there. He came back in
Speaker 7: two weeks ago, he looked better. He came back in
Speaker 7: the week after, which was last week, he looked at
Speaker 7: that bit better than what he did the week coming
Speaker 7: off the injury. So we're just hoping that he can
Speaker 7: continue to progress as a as a quarterback end and
Speaker 7: not do those things that are going to lose you games.
Speaker 7: And for the last two games he's been playing, he's
Speaker 7: been playing not losing football. It hasn't not it hasn't
Speaker 7: necessarily been winning football.
Speaker 6: Because they had won those games.
Speaker 7: But he hasn't done the things in the last two
Speaker 7: games that he did in the previous four or five
Speaker 7: games that the fan base was really hard on him for.
Speaker 6: Even a head coach.
Speaker 7: Sort of had a few things to say about a
Speaker 7: few of those games that he played. But it seems
Speaker 7: like he's learning and you know, but jury is still
Speaker 7: out on him. It's question mark, but the tis need
Speaker 7: to find out before the season ends, or as the
Speaker 7: season's ending, whether he can be a franchise quarterback or not.
Speaker 9: We're talking to Derek Mason of one O two five
Speaker 9: the Game. I apologize I was giving the name of
Speaker 9: your station wrong this entire time. That's my fault in
Speaker 9: Nashville there, But just to kind of look both inside
Speaker 9: the division and a little bit outside at the same time,
Speaker 9: and I'll explain. Daniel Jones got released by the Giants,
Speaker 9: as you're well aware, and it comes after he was
Speaker 9: signed to an extension. I first of all your thoughts
Speaker 9: on that, because it's it's mildly shocking, not from the
Speaker 9: standpoint of you know, I don't think Daniel Jones was
Speaker 9: a very good quarterback.
Speaker 8: For the Giants save for that one season.
Speaker 9: But also you're looking in the division and you've got
Speaker 9: Trevor Lawrence and I know this might seem like blasphemy
Speaker 9: to say in maybe Jacksonville, but they just extended this
Speaker 9: guy and he is His trajectory to me, has steadily
Speaker 9: declined since his first year in the league.
Speaker 8: Is there a scenario where you.
Speaker 9: Could see that Jacksonville Jaguars doing the same thing that
Speaker 9: the Giants just did with Daniel Jones.
Speaker 7: It would be hard press for me to to to
Speaker 7: believe that Jacksonville will go to that extent or go
Speaker 7: to that limp to cut a guy that they drafted
Speaker 7: first overall, that they just paid a lot of money
Speaker 7: to and then eventually cut him the next following season.
Speaker 7: I think don Trevor Lawrence show has shown more than
Speaker 7: Daniel Jones has shown. He's been inconsistent, yes, but I
Speaker 7: think he has shown that Hey, listen, you know, you
Speaker 7: continue to build around and continue to get him playmakers
Speaker 7: and he will be Okay, you got to understand he
Speaker 7: he he's ushering in two two new wide receivers. I
Speaker 7: believe this season, and I don't. I'm not sure if
Speaker 7: he's really got that system that Doug Peterson is teaching
Speaker 7: down Pat. I don't think he because he's still making
Speaker 7: some of those sort of rookie mistakes. It's like he's
Speaker 7: not seen certain things or he's careless with the football.
Speaker 7: But honestly, he was like that at Clemson that the
Speaker 7: last year he was a lot careless with the football
Speaker 7: than he was in previous years. So you know, I
Speaker 7: don't think that they would go to the limb that
Speaker 7: the Giants did because Daniel Jones was just a bad quarterback.
Speaker 7: And besides that five or six game stint heading into
Speaker 7: the playoffs and him winning the playoff game, I don't
Speaker 7: think he showed anything outside of that that he could
Speaker 7: be a starter in this league. But listen, just like
Speaker 7: a lot of other teams out there, if you think
Speaker 7: you have a guy, you got to pay him the
Speaker 7: money because if you don't, you're going to start all
Speaker 7: over again. Well, the Giants got to start all over again,
Speaker 7: even after paying.
Speaker 6: Daniel Jones the money that they paid them.
Speaker 7: But I can't see Jacksonville they get rid of Doug
Speaker 7: Peterson before they move on from Treva Lawrence.
Speaker 9: Yeah, the coach usually goes first, then the quarterback by
Speaker 9: the way, I think the Giants had the guy. It's
Speaker 9: just his name was Saquon Barkley and they didn't pay him.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and that right there should get everybody fired because
Speaker 7: we saw it in real basically, in real time, how
Speaker 7: the discussions went in regards to whether it's going to
Speaker 7: be Daniel Jones or Sakuon Barkley. And then you keep
Speaker 7: Daniel Jones as Saquon goals to the Eagles the next
Speaker 7: following year, and look at what he's doing.
Speaker 6: And now you've cut Daniel Jones.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's a lot of egg on your face,
Speaker 7: I might say, yeah.
Speaker 9: And he seemed motivated when the Eagles played the Giants
Speaker 9: earlier this year.
Speaker 3: Oh, I believe he was.
Speaker 8: Well, Derek, we appreciate the time. Good conversation.
Speaker 9: We're gonna have to catch up again, maybe later on
Speaker 9: in the year when these two teams get together in Nashville.
Speaker 9: Derek Mason of one or two the game or one
Speaker 9: of two five the game in Nashville, pre shad the time, man,
Speaker 9: and we'll talk to.
Speaker 6: You soon, Oh anytime, Adam, Thank a lot.
Speaker 4: All right, there you go, Derek Mason with us yesterday
Speaker 4: on the A team. You're miss any that download the
Speaker 4: free iHeartRadio app and you can catch that entire interview.
Speaker 4: All right, coming up next, wrapping up the Sexans conversation
Speaker 4: here in our one, because something was said this week
Speaker 4: that I think on the surface people probably would say, yeah, Okay,
Speaker 4: we'll believe it when we see it, but maybe there
Speaker 4: is reason to believe when this is being said about
Speaker 4: this Texans position group. We'll talk about that on the
Speaker 4: other side as we wrap up our one here on
Speaker 4: Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you until noon
Speaker 4: on your home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with
Speaker 4: you until noon. Talked about a little bit earlier. Got
Speaker 4: a lot of not only college football, but just sports
Speaker 4: action in general coming your way here either on Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety today or on our I heeart a
Speaker 4: Houston family of radio stations. Of course, one thirty that's
Speaker 4: when Craig Way and the crew get going for Texas
Speaker 4: and Kentucky football.
Speaker 5: Five o'clock over on KPRC nine to fifty.
Speaker 4: That's gonna be the Cougars and the Baylor Bears over
Speaker 4: on KPRC nine to fifty five. O'clock here on at
Speaker 4: Sports Talk seven to ninety gonna be LSU and Vanderbilt,
Speaker 4: and then six o'clock Rockets launch pad gets going over
Speaker 4: on news radio seven forty KTRH. So Matt Thomas and
Speaker 4: Adam Wexler are going to be on seven forty tonight
Speaker 4: for the Rockets and the Blazers seven o'clock tip over
Speaker 4: at Toyota Center.
Speaker 5: Had a chance to get inside the building last night.
Speaker 4: A lot of fun on the floor and just a
Speaker 4: fun atmosphere in there last night. So I think all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, Rocket's starting to get a little bit
Speaker 4: of the buzz amongst the fan base again. So that's
Speaker 4: good to see. Maybe we'll talk about that here coming
Speaker 4: up in our two. But like I said, you know
Speaker 4: here in our one, want to wrap up the Texans
Speaker 4: conversation here.
Speaker 5: If you want to jump aboard, please do so.
Speaker 4: Someone three two one two five seven ninety once to
Speaker 4: ge get someone three two one two five seven nine zero.
Speaker 4: So the Texans made an offensive line switch on the uh,
Speaker 4: excuse me in the Detroit Lions game. That was when
Speaker 4: they decided what Jared Patterson are coming back from the concussion,
Speaker 4: put him at center kicked you scrugs over to left
Speaker 4: guard and.
Speaker 5: All in all, pretty good results so far.
Speaker 4: Last week, really good results, especially running the football with
Speaker 4: what Joe Mixon was able to do against the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 4: But even before that too as well, you showed some
Speaker 4: good things in terms of being able to protect CJ.
Speaker 4: Stroud as he still got hit, he still got sacked
Speaker 4: against Detroit. You weren't able to run the football as well,
Speaker 4: But if nothing else, it's showing you that at least
Speaker 4: progress is being made on that side of the ball
Speaker 4: and with that position group. And earlier this week, Texas
Speaker 4: offensive coordinator Bobby Slowick talked about that very thing. He says, hey,
Speaker 4: let's be honest here, through two weeks, it looks like
Speaker 4: the offensive line shift has actually worked.
Speaker 11: I would say Juice having a lot of football under
Speaker 11: his belt, in particular at center and then moving out
Speaker 11: to guard like really has enabled him to have a
Speaker 11: ton of command.
Speaker 8: And awareness of what's going.
Speaker 11: On because he was running the show not too long ago,
Speaker 11: and now he's just as aware of all the different
Speaker 11: looks and things that could happen. But now he's at
Speaker 11: a position that doesn't necessarily need to make the calls,
Speaker 11: so he's just able to take in more, which has
Speaker 11: been really cool to see. Now there's been a process
Speaker 11: going from guard from center. It's different still some of
Speaker 11: the ways he has to approach the run game, the
Speaker 11: past game and the sets is a little different. He's
Speaker 11: done a really good job growing from the first week
Speaker 11: there to the second week there, and we'll just work
Speaker 11: to continue that. And then JP has absolutely owned all
Speaker 11: the controllables, like everything you could ask for. As far
Speaker 11: as the center goes, he's knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 11: He's been great on communication, he's been great on the sidelines,
Speaker 11: he's been great talking to the other guys out on
Speaker 11: the field. And then he's really grown as far as
Speaker 11: his play style. You know, last year we always thought
Speaker 11: he was solid in protection. We were kind of growing
Speaker 11: into the run game and that has not been an
Speaker 11: issue for him like whatsoever so far this year, which
Speaker 11: is testing it to him and the work he's put in.
Speaker 5: So the Texans, i mean, let's call it what it is.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think you've gotten some good things on
Speaker 4: the offensive line. I mean, I understand people's frustration with
Speaker 4: Laramie Tunzel, and trust me, I share the same frustration.
Speaker 4: I mean the very first play of the game. I
Speaker 4: think we all as soon as the penalty announcement was
Speaker 4: illegal man downfield number seventy eight, you were like, oh,
Speaker 4: come on, man, like if you know the play, like
Speaker 4: what are you doing? And you know, of course it
Speaker 4: was flagged, so it's a penalty.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 4: It's frustrating because he's had that, He's had the false starts,
Speaker 4: he's had the illegal formation whatever it might be, legal shifts,
Speaker 4: all of those different types of things that you know
Speaker 4: you've had to endure at times with Laramie Tunsil. I
Speaker 4: like Ross villar Yal's line about pre snap he's not
Speaker 4: great in the play, although that one withstanding, he's usually
Speaker 4: pretty darn good.
Speaker 5: And then you know you make the.
Speaker 4: Move of you had a really just you had a
Speaker 4: hole there at left guard for the longest time. With
Speaker 4: Kenyan Green, I don't know necessarily if it's he just
Speaker 4: hasn't really been able to stay healthy and really be
Speaker 4: able to develop there at the left guard spot. But
Speaker 4: he's not been good, and of course he's done for
Speaker 4: the season. You have Juice Scrugs there now, and I
Speaker 4: thought that Scruggs was doing some good things at the
Speaker 4: center spot, but obviously too, I think they looked at
Speaker 4: it and said, all right, well, we've got two different
Speaker 4: guys that could snap the football and be able to,
Speaker 4: you know, diagnose the checks and everything up front and
Speaker 4: do all those different types of things we want to do.
Speaker 4: Let's have Jared Patterson at center, and let's move Jew
Speaker 4: Scrugs over to left guard. Titus Howard, I mean, just
Speaker 4: kind of like Laramie Tunsil, some good, some not so great,
Speaker 4: but for the most part, he's been pretty good over
Speaker 4: there at the right guard spot.
Speaker 5: And then Shaq Mason.
Speaker 4: I know that, you know, you know, Wex has talked
Speaker 4: about how you know, he hasn't necessarily looked the way
Speaker 4: that he did when he was with the New England
Speaker 4: Patriots are at the beginning with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 4: But for the most part, I don't think he's necessarily
Speaker 4: been an issue for you. But the whole thing with
Speaker 4: the offensive line is you're just trying to be able
Speaker 4: to be confident in the group of five that you have,
Speaker 4: and not only be confident, but them be confident.
Speaker 5: In each other.
Speaker 4: Where they're working in Unison, they're becoming one and they
Speaker 4: are able to be able to take on twists and stunts,
Speaker 4: and they are able to take pride in run blocking
Speaker 4: and also to being able to protect your quarterback. And
Speaker 4: that's something at least the latter part of that equation,
Speaker 4: they've done pretty decently for the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, CJ.
Speaker 4: Stroud has still taken his hits, but at least the
Speaker 4: frequency has been down.
Speaker 5: That's good in that regard.
Speaker 4: But if you're able to start to own the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage when it comes to the run game, that's again.
Speaker 4: I mean, we talked about finishing in the second half.
Speaker 4: That's how you finish in the second half. You're able
Speaker 4: to have that group moving guys off the ball and
Speaker 4: being able to pick up three four yards when you
Speaker 4: need to be able to get those yards in short
Speaker 4: yarded situations.
Speaker 5: And that's what Texans are trying to do. All right.
Speaker 4: Our one is in the books, Our two is coming up.
Speaker 4: We're gonna shift over to a little bit of Astro's
Speaker 4: conversation because Astros GM Dana Brown joined the joined Astro
Speaker 4: line earlier this week with Todd Kallis and Steve Sparks.
Speaker 4: We'll let you hear a little bit of what he
Speaker 4: had to say, not only about Alex Bregman, but the
Speaker 4: team as a whole, as we will have that here
Speaker 4: to start the eleven o'clock hour Here on Space City Saturday,
Speaker 4: Dan Matthews here with you for another hour on your
Speaker 4: home of the Astros in the Rockets, Sports Talk seven
Speaker 4: to ninety.
Speaker 1: Welcome aboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h town
Speaker 1: breakdown of the world that matters to you, the Houston
Speaker 1: sports world.
Speaker 3: All these great Houston fans here. We love you all,
Speaker 3: so finish up on that to do list.
Speaker 1: Flute up the cooler because you can't drink in talk
Speaker 1: sports all day if you don't start.
Speaker 3: Now bear me the eight. This is Space City Saturday.
Speaker 3: That's insane. Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews, and.
Speaker 5: Away we go.
Speaker 4: Here for hour two on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews
Speaker 4: here with you on the home of the Astros and
Speaker 4: the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety all Texans in the
Speaker 4: first hour of the show, as we had Derek Mason
Speaker 4: on yesterday with us on the eight team. If you
Speaker 4: missed that again, download the free iHeartRadio app and you
Speaker 4: can go and catch that interview. But earlier this week
Speaker 4: we had an episode of Astroline and Todd Kallis and
Speaker 4: Steve Sparks were joined by Astros GM Dana Brown. And
Speaker 4: of course, anytime Dana Brown is in front of a
Speaker 4: live or recorded microphone, until we know exactly what happens
Speaker 4: with Alex Bregman this offseason, he's going to be asked
Speaker 4: about number two. And that is how their conversation started
Speaker 4: when they had the Astros GM on and one of
Speaker 4: the things that they asked him was what does this
Speaker 4: team look like if Alex Bregman does leave? And what
Speaker 4: do they look like if you guys are able to
Speaker 4: keep them?
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Of course, he's done so many good things here. We'd
Speaker 2: like to have him back. You know, I think we're
Speaker 2: still a good club, you know, if he decides to walk,
Speaker 2: but you know, ultimately, I think we're a little better
Speaker 2: club if he's he's still around, and so hopefully we
Speaker 2: can get him done through our multiple conversations that we're
Speaker 2: having with Bores.
Speaker 4: So, I mean, you've heard the tenor of Dana Brown's
Speaker 4: optimism when he was at the GM meetings being asked
Speaker 4: about you know, Hey, do you guys feel good about it?
Speaker 5: He's like, yeah, we do.
Speaker 4: And if there's one thing that you can glean from
Speaker 4: Dana Brown whenever he has joined us here on Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety or just whenever he does interviews, Dana
Speaker 4: as Chandler Rome put, it is almost too transparent, which
Speaker 4: you don't get a ton of in any sport, but
Speaker 4: baseball two as well. I mean, you don't want to
Speaker 4: show your cards. You don't want to you know, really,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, lead on too much in terms
Speaker 4: of how the situation necessarily is that you ask Dana
Speaker 4: a direct question, you'll get a direct response from him.
Speaker 4: And you know that was one in San Antonio at
Speaker 4: the GM meetings. He was talking about his optimism for
Speaker 4: being able to bring him back, but also too, he's
Speaker 4: not wrong in what he said that this is a team.
Speaker 4: You heard players like Jose Altuve and Hunter Brown and
Speaker 4: other players talk about just how important he is in
Speaker 4: that clubhouse. I mean talk about Hunter Brown and also
Speaker 4: too a guy that he is.
Speaker 5: Currently working out with.
Speaker 4: I saw if you follow Alex Bregman on social media
Speaker 4: at one of those training centers out in Arizona and
Speaker 4: Taylor Scott working out with them and Taylor Scott's I mean,
Speaker 4: I think we played it for you when he was
Speaker 4: on with Rob Friedman, the Pitching Ninja, of what Alex
Speaker 4: Bregman meant to him of talking about Yeah, like, you know,
Speaker 4: we get our scouting reports, but he has his own
Speaker 4: scouting reports and he'll go over them with us. Of Hey,
Speaker 4: this guy, you know is susceptible to the inside fastball,
Speaker 4: this guy will chase the outside slider. All those different
Speaker 4: types of things. He'd go over it with his guys.
Speaker 4: And it's also too. I don't know if Bregman is
Speaker 4: necessarily a vocal leader in the clubhouse, but I think
Speaker 4: that probably more than speaking about it, he is about it.
Speaker 4: This is a guy that continuously puts in the work.
Speaker 4: This is the guy that I mean, we'll let you
Speaker 4: know about it on social media. Of he's in the cage,
Speaker 4: he's working out, he's doing all these different types of things.
Speaker 4: He's all about baseball. I mean, remember too, what was
Speaker 4: the word about Alex Bregman when he was coming out
Speaker 4: of LSU that they had to give him his own
Speaker 4: key card to be able to get into the facility
Speaker 4: because the equipment manager or whoever it is got tired
Speaker 4: of coming up there at midnight to let him in
Speaker 4: to the batting cage, so we go hit off the
Speaker 4: iron mic. I mean, this is somebody who is just
Speaker 4: continuously about the game.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 4: That usually translates to people wanting to run alongside you
Speaker 4: and you don't want you to lead their team. And
Speaker 4: that's what Alex Bregman has been able to do throughout
Speaker 4: his career. Let's continue with more from Dana Brown. And
Speaker 4: of course with the off season. You know, we had
Speaker 4: Chandler Rome in for Wex with AC a couple of
Speaker 4: weeks ago, and he's maintained all along that if the
Speaker 4: Astros bring back Alex Brugman, that is the splash, like
Speaker 4: that is the huge move that they are going to make.
Speaker 4: And you know, don't expect for them to necessarily, you know,
Speaker 4: go headlong for any other free agent out there. I mean,
Speaker 4: there'll be probably some lower tier signings out there, and
Speaker 4: that's you know, signings that Dana Brown I think has
Speaker 4: shown you he's been pretty good at during his time
Speaker 4: with the Astros. But in terms of the rest of
Speaker 4: the off season, Dana Brown asked if Bregman determines the
Speaker 4: tenor of the way that the Astros build up their
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five roster.
Speaker 2: No, not really, because you know, once we knew that
Speaker 2: he became a free agent, you know, we started to
Speaker 2: you know, look at other you know, their basement that
Speaker 2: may be available, other fits. I mean, you know, of
Speaker 2: course we've talked to Boris, you know, constantly to get
Speaker 2: Alex done. So we'd rather for him to be around,
Speaker 2: but we could just keep him here. That would be
Speaker 2: you know, more exciting for us.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 2: But you know we have to go into this, you know,
Speaker 2: just as he's a free agent. We have to look
Speaker 2: as if he's gonna leave. But if he comes back,
Speaker 2: it's like icing on a cake.
Speaker 5: And no doubt about it.
Speaker 4: So, I mean, you know, I think I can already
Speaker 4: guess how well most of you will feel if indeed
Speaker 4: we are able to put out a post on our
Speaker 4: social media pages or even announce it on air, if
Speaker 4: indeed the news comes down either through Chandler or for
Speaker 4: Brian McTaggart or Matt Kawahara, or even from the National
Speaker 4: writers of if Jeff Passen or Ken Rosenthal reports the
Speaker 4: Astros and Alex Bregman are in agreement on a new
Speaker 4: contract and I know that there's going to be tons
Speaker 4: of people who are excited because well, tons of us
Speaker 4: have number two Alex Bregman jerseys. We want to continue
Speaker 4: to wear number two Alex Bregman jerseys. But you also
Speaker 4: have to remember that Dana has familiarity in situations like this,
Speaker 4: and I want to take you back to when Dana
Speaker 4: was the scouting director for the Braves and when he
Speaker 4: was an assistant GM there with alex Anthopolis. I mean,
Speaker 4: the Braves went through this with Freddie Freeman and it
Speaker 4: was a situation where he went to free agency and
Speaker 4: the uncertainty of free agency. This is again also to
Speaker 4: come out of the lockout where it was alex Anthopolis
Speaker 4: kind of come into the determination of we can't sit
Speaker 4: and wait. Someone's going to trade for Matt Olson. Someone
Speaker 4: is going to try to upgrade at first base, and
Speaker 4: if we have an opportunity to be able to do that,
Speaker 4: you know, it's the old bird in the hand is
Speaker 4: worth two in the bush kind of scenario right there.
Speaker 4: And that's what they decided to do. They decided to
Speaker 4: go younger. Is he as good as Freddie Freeman? No,
Speaker 4: he's not. But you also have to wonder kind of
Speaker 4: like what you know, Dana Brown said, and one of
Speaker 4: those two cuts right there of being prepared for maybe
Speaker 4: not having Alex Brugman. I guarantee you that scenario is
Speaker 4: being played out right now. They're talking about all right, hey,
Speaker 4: let's continue to have our discussions with Scott Boris. Let's
Speaker 4: continue with the intention of bringing Alex Brugman back. But
Speaker 4: don't be surprised if it comes to a scenario where
Speaker 4: Dana Brown, if he is approached with a possible trade
Speaker 4: scenario that works out for the Astros and maybe they
Speaker 4: can be able to if that player is, you know,
Speaker 4: a year or two left on their contract, you sign
Speaker 4: them to a long term extension for cheaper money than
Speaker 4: it would take for Alex Bregman. I would not be
Speaker 4: surprised if he runs that playbook either, because again, you
Speaker 4: want to be able to shore up a very important
Speaker 4: position on the field, and you want to be able
Speaker 4: to know that you have some certain certainty instability over
Speaker 4: at that spot. I mean, I throughout the scenario. The
Speaker 4: other day, I know that there's the report that the
Speaker 4: Astros have interest in Willia Domas over at third base.
Speaker 4: Is he as good defensively as Bregman over at third.
Speaker 4: Probably not, but they're probably pretty comparable. When it comes
Speaker 4: to the bats, the Damas and Bregman pretty similar power numbers,
Speaker 4: and he's a guy that can get on base. All
Speaker 4: those different types of things you hear about. But I
Speaker 4: throw out a scenario of Okay, maybe you don't have
Speaker 4: to spend as much for a Damas and that kind
Speaker 4: of frees you up over at first base. We'll get
Speaker 4: two plans for first base here in just a second.
Speaker 4: But I know people have thrown out Christian Walker as
Speaker 4: a possibility, and you know, Dana Brown did talk about
Speaker 4: that the other day, of having John Singleton back and
Speaker 4: maybe go in a platoon situation at first, which I
Speaker 4: know on the surface a lot of you are not
Speaker 4: a huge fan of. But you also have to remember,
Speaker 4: you still have Josea Bray on the books. You still
Speaker 4: have Rafael Montero on the books. Montero might be able
Speaker 4: to factor this season, but Brad you he's all gone.
Speaker 5: It's not going to happen.
Speaker 4: You can share all the videos you want of him
Speaker 4: in the Puerto Rican Winter League. The Astros are done
Speaker 4: with jose A Brady. It's not because of the guy
Speaker 4: it's because of they just don't believe that he is
Speaker 4: that guy anymore. And if they had any hint of
Speaker 4: believing he could get back to being a somewhat productive player,
Speaker 4: then he would not have been let go last season.
Speaker 5: So that's how that all played out.
Speaker 4: But in terms of the twenty twenty five season, continuing
Speaker 4: along with Dana Brown right here, one of the things that,
Speaker 4: of course he talked about and one of the things
Speaker 4: that was the storyline of the twenty twenty four season
Speaker 4: was the rough start for the Astros, starting off zero
Speaker 4: to four right out the gate twelve and twenty four,
Speaker 4: all of those different types of things of having a
Speaker 4: really really tough start to the season and Dana Brown
Speaker 4: talking about, you know, just really harping on the emphasis
Speaker 4: of wanting to make sure that they get off to
Speaker 4: a better start out of the gate here in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the big part is coming out of
Speaker 2: spring training, guys, being ready to go, you know, getting
Speaker 2: your yourself built up to the point where, look, I
Speaker 2: gotta I gotta really try to stretch it.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 2: If I'm if I came out last year and I
Speaker 2: was only going four innings and then I was turning
Speaker 2: it over to the bullpen. I need to go five
Speaker 2: and six innings early on. I think we really have to,
Speaker 2: you know, make a lot less mistakes. I know we
Speaker 2: had a stretch there where our guys would get guys
Speaker 2: zero and two and they would make a bad pitch
Speaker 2: you know, in the strike zone. Well, that leads to
Speaker 2: you know, more at bats in that innings in that inning,
Speaker 2: and then that you know, if you make an error,
Speaker 2: and then it leads to even more at bats, right,
Speaker 2: And so I think cutting down on those mistakes, whether
Speaker 2: it's errors, whether it's bad pitches when you get you're
Speaker 2: heading the camp now those kind of things. Just like
Speaker 2: we just talked about base running, all those little things
Speaker 2: early in the season, and I know these guys, you know,
Speaker 2: you kind of have to get back in the groove.
Speaker 2: I get it, but you know, coming out of spring training,
Speaker 2: it's very important that you are doing the little things
Speaker 2: right because you could shorten those games and instead of
Speaker 2: linting in those games. And you know, we all know
Speaker 2: that if you don't catch the baseball, you don't go
Speaker 2: home at night. If you make bad base running mistakes,
Speaker 2: you you cut off your rallies and then your chance
Speaker 2: to explode and get two, three, four runs in an inning,
Speaker 2: and so that cricket number that you always look for.
Speaker 2: And so I think ultimately doing all of these little
Speaker 2: things right will give up put us in better position
Speaker 2: and win games shortened games, and you know, get a
Speaker 2: little deeper with our winning streaks.
Speaker 4: All Right, A couple of things that Dana Brown talked
Speaker 4: about right there. Number one is, you know, just really
Speaker 4: kind of being able. If you've heard me talk about
Speaker 4: it before, cheating the angle. That's what the Astros have
Speaker 4: been able to do during their championship runs. They've been
Speaker 4: able to be an incredibly fundamentally sound team. I mean,
Speaker 4: I've mentioned it before, you know. I remember listening to
Speaker 4: a podcast that Jake Arietta did after they won the
Speaker 4: World Series with Barstool, and he had the line the
Speaker 4: Astros just don't lose, and his point was, they don't
Speaker 4: beat themselves. They field the ball incredibly well, they hit
Speaker 4: with runners in the scoring position, they run the bases
Speaker 4: incredibly well. Those were things that the Astros have been
Speaker 4: known for, and at times here in the last couple
Speaker 4: of years, they've kind of started to miss the details
Speaker 4: in some of those areas and that's why you've seen
Speaker 4: the Astros not be as successful as they had been
Speaker 4: during that seven year run of making it at least
Speaker 4: to the Alcs the other part of.
Speaker 5: It as well.
Speaker 4: I mean, he brings up the you know, a good
Speaker 4: point about their starting rotation last year. I mean, this
Speaker 4: was a group that was in shambles out of the gate.
Speaker 4: You didn't have Justin Berlander. You were hoping at some
Speaker 4: point to get Jose Orkeedy back. You wanted to see
Speaker 4: if maybe there was an opportunity somewhere down the road
Speaker 4: that Lance mccullors Junior could come back. Then you lose
Speaker 4: both Christian, you know, I mean you lost Jose Orkety,
Speaker 4: but Christian Hoveer, you lose him to Tommy John and
Speaker 4: you're gonna get him back in the middle of this season.
Speaker 4: And also to Luis Garcia of not being able to
Speaker 4: have him at all last year. And it did, you know,
Speaker 4: lend to being able to find out that Renel Blanco
Speaker 4: could be a really good starter for you, but also
Speaker 4: too that Spencer Araghetti was somebody that could be counted
Speaker 4: on in this rotation, and the same deal for Hunter
Speaker 4: Brown as well. You going at you say, Kakuchi we'll
Speaker 4: see what happens with him. As you know, obviously priority
Speaker 4: number one is try to lock up Alex Bregman. But
Speaker 4: then after that, you know you're going to need to
Speaker 4: probably add a starter to this rotation and feel even
Speaker 4: better about that group heading into twenty twenty five than
Speaker 4: he did in twenty twenty four. I mean, I think
Speaker 4: coming out of spring training last year was kind of
Speaker 4: a little bit of g I hope, whereas this year
Speaker 4: you'd like to have at least a little bit more
Speaker 4: competition that if nothing else, maybe you could go a
Speaker 4: six man rotation out of the gate and feel good
Speaker 4: about being able to prolong some of those guys and
Speaker 4: keep them fresh for the home stretch of the season,
Speaker 4: where getting off to a better start would help you
Speaker 4: in terms of not having to try and you know,
Speaker 4: play catch up the entire time. I mean, the Astros
Speaker 4: were in pretty much a full sprint from May until
Speaker 4: the end of the season last year, and I think
Speaker 4: that's a little bit of why they ran out of
Speaker 4: gas when it was all said and done. I mean,
Speaker 4: you were facing a young, hot Detroit Tigers team that
Speaker 4: to them, they kind of looked at it as, hey,
Speaker 4: we're not even supposed to be here, let's make the
Speaker 4: most of it, and they played loose, they played fast,
Speaker 4: and they were able to beat you and the Astros.
Speaker 4: I think we're a little tired and obviously banged up
Speaker 4: jury wise at that point as well, so hopefully all
Speaker 4: of those things shake out a little bit better in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five. We're going to hold the plan for
Speaker 4: first base over to the next segment. We'll continue this conversation.
Speaker 4: If you want to react to anything that Dana Brown
Speaker 4: has said, you can do so some one three two
Speaker 4: one two five seven ninety once again a sub one
Speaker 4: three two one two five seven nine zero. We'll talk
Speaker 4: about that and more on the other side as we
Speaker 4: continue to roll along here on Space City Saturday. Dan
Speaker 4: Matthews here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets.
Speaker 4: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Space City Saturday.
Speaker 12: Fine Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4: Sports Talks seven ninety Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews here
Speaker 4: with you until noon. If you want to get in,
Speaker 4: you can do so. Someone three two one two five
Speaker 4: seven ninety one. Goin that su one three two one
Speaker 4: two five seven nine zero.
Speaker 5: Let's get right back to it.
Speaker 4: Dana Brown with Steve Sparks and Todd Kallis on Astro
Speaker 4: Line earlier this week, we've talked talked about Alex Bregman,
Speaker 4: We've talked about trying to be better at the start
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty five. In addition to Alex Bregman, and
Speaker 4: also two throughout Yssea ka Kuchi, people maybe wanting to
Speaker 4: see the lefty back with the Astros in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: five and beyond. The other question mark with this team
Speaker 4: is first base. What do you do with that spot?
Speaker 4: That was a position that really lacked in production last season.
Speaker 4: You've got some good things at times from John Singleton,
Speaker 4: but also too, I mean just really across the board,
Speaker 4: that was a position that you needed more production and
Speaker 4: more consistency out of, I mean so much to the
Speaker 4: point that the Astros were going with you know, Victor
Speaker 4: Krattini over there at first base, something that at the
Speaker 4: beginning of the season Joe Espada said they did not
Speaker 4: plan on doing. But as it went along, I think
Speaker 4: probably through meetings and everything else, they decided, well, we've
Speaker 4: got to have some sort of production there and if
Speaker 4: that's him, if that's you know, you've got him behind
Speaker 4: the play and you got JANR. Diaz over there at
Speaker 4: first base. You've just got to be able to again
Speaker 4: find some sort of production over there well with the
Speaker 4: first base position. Dana Brown asked about that spot and
Speaker 4: how the Astros, at least in the front office, are
Speaker 4: going to go about trying to find some production at
Speaker 4: first base in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we can get a platoon bat.
Speaker 2: You know, we really like singing singleton versus right hand
Speaker 2: and pitching. If we can get a platoon bat that
Speaker 2: can hit against lefty, so it makes it a little
Speaker 2: bit more difficult. You know, when he's he's facing a lefty.
Speaker 2: Our lineup is weaker if he's out there and it's
Speaker 2: a left hand pitcher. So if there's something by a
Speaker 2: way of trade that we can do to improve at
Speaker 2: first base, we will also do that. But ultimately we
Speaker 2: know we need to get a little bit better. And
Speaker 2: and there's no secret, you know, the players know it
Speaker 2: that play first base, The coaching staff knows it, we
Speaker 2: know it in the front office.
Speaker 5: We can get better at first base. So there you go.
Speaker 4: And you know that was also to thrown out the
Speaker 4: idea possibly of Christian Walker that does not sound like
Speaker 4: that is the way that the Astros will go at
Speaker 4: that spot. As a matter of fact, I would probably
Speaker 4: guess from Dana's words right there that you can get
Speaker 4: that out of your mind at this point, because it
Speaker 4: just doesn't seem like that's going to fit into what
Speaker 4: the Astros want to do there. I mean, you're talking
Speaker 4: about where again he's talking about John Singleton against right
Speaker 4: handed pitchings.
Speaker 5: All right, Well, in that case.
Speaker 4: The majority of starters in the league are right handers,
Speaker 4: So that would probably mean that the majority of the
Speaker 4: reps over there at first base are going to be
Speaker 4: taken by John Singleton. So if that's the case, then
Speaker 4: you know, again he threw out possibility of a small trade.
Speaker 4: You go get somebody that can maybe be able to
Speaker 4: play that spot, who knows, maybe even be able to
Speaker 4: play a little bit of outfield, or even be able
Speaker 4: to give you some reps over at third base as well.
Speaker 4: I don't necessarily know who that player is at this point,
Speaker 4: but again, it just really kind of seems like priority
Speaker 4: number one is get Alex Bregman signed, or at least
Speaker 4: try to get him. But if nothing else, be able
Speaker 4: to find a good middle of the order bat that
Speaker 4: can play third base. And go from there. And that's
Speaker 4: what it necessarily sounds like they are going to do.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's thrown out Zach Decenzo before he has
Speaker 4: you know, talked about right there the possibility of a
Speaker 4: trade of being able to add at that spot and
Speaker 4: somebody that is kind of a bench bat for you
Speaker 4: and somebody that you can count on in that regard.
Speaker 4: So that's what it sounds like the Astros are going
Speaker 4: to do in twenty twenty five. But I mean this
Speaker 4: was a lineup too in twenty twenty four that was
Speaker 4: really pretty unbalanced. I mean, when the when the top
Speaker 4: of the order was not hitting, that was bad news
Speaker 4: for the rest of the team. And I mean that's
Speaker 4: what you saw play out in the postseason last year.
Speaker 4: I Mean, you had a team that through two games
Speaker 4: of your postseason was only able to muster one extra
Speaker 4: base hit and that was a ninth inning double by
Speaker 4: Jordan Alvarez. Aside from that, it was all singles out
Speaker 4: of that group. That's not how this team is.
Speaker 5: Going to win.
Speaker 4: This team has to be able to put up, you know,
Speaker 4: massive innings and be able to I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: that was the thing I talked about all throughout last season,
Speaker 4: where was the three run homer, Where where was the
Speaker 4: huge extra base hit with runners in scoring position? All
Speaker 4: of those different things. You saw singles and solo home
Speaker 4: runs for much.
Speaker 5: Of the season.
Speaker 4: And I know that a lot of the attention goes to,
Speaker 4: you know, with the moves that are at least only
Speaker 4: one move that was made on the coaching staff this
Speaker 4: year that people did not want to see Alex Centron
Speaker 4: or Troyce Nicker back with this team because they felt
Speaker 4: like that group needs new voices, you know, helping these
Speaker 4: hitters and helping these approaches and all these different types
Speaker 4: of things. And that's something too that Dana Brown has
Speaker 4: talked about and you know this team has talked about
Speaker 4: as an emphasis this season of trying to get back
Speaker 4: to putting together good at bats. I mean, you saw
Speaker 4: at times last year where a patient of each would
Speaker 4: play it would pay off for this team. But also too,
Speaker 4: I mean you saw at times last year where their
Speaker 4: aggressiveness came back to bite them, and that was again
Speaker 4: only having those innings of you post a run when
Speaker 4: maybe you really could have had two or three.
Speaker 5: In that inning.
Speaker 4: And that's again getting back to the cheating the angle.
Speaker 4: What the Astros had been so good at for so long.
Speaker 4: Is being able to absolutely grab hold of you in
Speaker 4: an inning and when you look up, it's, oh, hey,
Speaker 4: they just scored four or five runs in that inning.
Speaker 4: Like that happened fast. Like this group really made things happen.
Speaker 4: And that's again of being able to cash in on
Speaker 4: those opportunities and not having you know, these pressing at
Speaker 4: bats where it leads to a strikeout, it leads into
Speaker 4: a grounded into double play, it leads to a base
Speaker 4: running mistake, any of those things that the Astros would
Speaker 4: run into in twenty twenty four. These are things they're
Speaker 4: trying to be able to learn from and be able
Speaker 4: to improve upon heading into twenty twenty five. So I mean,
Speaker 4: in terms of trying to be able to build out
Speaker 4: the rest of this lineup, I mean, I think a
Speaker 4: huge part of it as well is what happens out
Speaker 4: in the center field. I mean, you heard Dana Brown
Speaker 4: in San Antonio talk about they still believe in Chas McCormick.
Speaker 4: I mean, yesterday was the tender deadline, and the Astros
Speaker 4: did tender a ton of players, and one of them
Speaker 4: that they decided to tender a contract to was Jake Myers.
Speaker 4: And there's even wonder if Jake Myers is still going
Speaker 4: to be your everyday starting center fielder defensively, base running wise,
Speaker 4: He's fantastic the bat. Later on in the season it
Speaker 4: started to lack for you. But of the players that
Speaker 4: the Astros were able to tender contracts to yesterday, Brian
Speaker 4: Brady was one, Mauricio Dubon, Luis Garcia, Chas McCormick, and
Speaker 4: also Jake Myers, as I mentioned, Jeremy Pania, as well
Speaker 4: as Kyle Tucker and also from Er Valdez. The astros
Speaker 4: forty man roster currently is at thirty nine players, so
Speaker 4: they can add one more here, and as Dana Brown throughout,
Speaker 4: maybe trade is a possibility for them to be able
Speaker 4: to add that. I mean, I would probably guess that's
Speaker 4: the route that they go again. I mean, it's either
Speaker 4: going to be Bregman or whoever Bregman's replacement is is
Speaker 4: likely going to be the free agent splash that they
Speaker 4: make this offseason. I think if you're counting on the
Speaker 4: Astros being one of the teams that wins the off season,
Speaker 4: I think you're going to be sadly disappointed. But in
Speaker 4: terms of just being able to build up this roster
Speaker 4: again to trade or even being able to find some
Speaker 4: good signings on the free agent market. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: who necessarily thought that Taylor Scott was that guy last year,
Speaker 4: a couple of years ago trade wise, who necessarily thought
Speaker 4: that Mauricio Dubon would become such a valuable part of
Speaker 4: this team. I mean, these are deals that make a
Speaker 4: general manager really good at their job, and that's what
Speaker 4: Dana Brown's been able to do so far. So we'll
Speaker 4: see how it all plays out when it's all said
Speaker 4: and done. But in terms of Bregman, I wouldn't guess
Speaker 4: that anything happens this week. I mean usually Thanksgiving time
Speaker 4: is a slow time in the baseball calendar. But the
Speaker 4: week following, I think it's a couple of weeks from
Speaker 4: then is the Winter meetings, and that's when moves really
Speaker 4: start to be made because everybody's all together in one
Speaker 4: central location. Agents are there, You're able to go to dinner,
Speaker 4: You're able to sit down over drinks whatever it is,
Speaker 4: and try to hash out deals and try to make
Speaker 4: those come to fruition. So it'll be interesting to see
Speaker 4: if within that time period something is determined in terms
Speaker 4: of Alex Bregman either being here or if he is
Speaker 4: somewhere else going forward, all right, coming up next, you
Speaker 4: get into a little bit of Rockets conversation because it
Speaker 4: is something that really is a new thing around here
Speaker 4: with this team that is new and a good way,
Speaker 4: but also too something last night that I actually want
Speaker 4: to talk to you Rockets fans about and it involves you.
Speaker 4: We'll talk about that on the other side as we
Speaker 4: continue to roll along here on Space City Saturday. Dan
Speaker 4: Matthews here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets,
Speaker 4: Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Speaker 1: This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 4: Ninety Socks seven ninety, Dan Matthews here with you until noon.
Speaker 4: As I've mentioned it numerous times here on the show,
Speaker 4: and we talk about it, it's fair game. Even if
Speaker 4: we have moved on and we did some Rockets conversation
Speaker 4: here in just a second, but just spent a couple
Speaker 4: of segments on the Astros. Paul and the Rice University
Speaker 4: area wants to weigh in here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 13: Paul, what's up, Yeah, the Astros. I mean, realistically, I
Speaker 13: think their window is almost closed. I mean there's a
Speaker 13: tiny crack that they may be able to sneak through
Speaker 13: this year, But are they going to be good in
Speaker 13: the next two to five years with a chance to
Speaker 13: win the World Series? No, So it doesn't behoove them
Speaker 13: to sign for Amber Valdez to a long term contract.
Speaker 13: He's the one guy you could probably trade this year
Speaker 13: get a good offensive player, hope that you've got enough
Speaker 13: pitching with the guys coming back and the guys coming
Speaker 13: back from Tommy John to make a run, you know,
Speaker 13: late in the season. And if you trade Framber you
Speaker 13: can get you should be able to get at least
Speaker 13: one pretty good hitter, maybe a third basement. I mean,
Speaker 13: they can't trade Tucker to get anybody if they want
Speaker 13: to compete this year. That's just I mean, They're not
Speaker 13: gonna be able to replace his production. There's no way
Speaker 13: they win the World Series in.
Speaker 5: Twenty five without Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 13: So could they win it without Framber? I think so?
Speaker 13: So to me, that's the guy that if you want
Speaker 13: to sort of play a hedge game for this year
Speaker 13: and next you know five, you know down the road,
Speaker 13: trade to get some young prospects that maybe can help
Speaker 13: you this year. But realistically, the astro of future.
Speaker 5: Is pretty bleak.
Speaker 13: I mean, their forty man roster stinks. They've got no
Speaker 13: after the top, you know, a dozen or so guys,
Speaker 13: very little depth, and they're gonna have to do a
Speaker 13: massive rebuild, which you know, realistically should start this year
Speaker 13: because they're unless they can get off to a really
Speaker 13: good start.
Speaker 4: Paul, I'm gonna push back on the massive re build
Speaker 4: because I mean, jose L two Bay is not sticking around.
Speaker 4: If that's the case, he would have gone to free
Speaker 4: agency or even just retired if that were the case.
Speaker 4: I guarantee you that it was a conversation with him
Speaker 4: of hey, you being here helps keep that window open.
Speaker 4: You were don Alvarez being here Janar Diaz Dana Brown
Speaker 4: talked about him the other day too as well. In
Speaker 4: terms of maybe being an extension, I mean, in terms
Speaker 4: of it looking like it has the previous seven years,
Speaker 4: You're probably right about that. But in terms of this
Speaker 4: team needing a massive rebuild, I got to push back
Speaker 4: on that.
Speaker 5: All right. I guess I lost, Yeah, I guess we lost, Paul,
Speaker 5: all right.
Speaker 4: But now, I mean, look, I understand the fear in
Speaker 4: terms of holding on too long, in terms of oh, Hey,
Speaker 4: you know, we really feel like we had this player,
Speaker 4: we're in position to be able to win. I think
Speaker 4: that's kind of you have to train your mind out
Speaker 4: of that a little bit, because the Astros what led
Speaker 4: them to the early twenty tens was for them making
Speaker 4: awful moves. I mean, the deal that they gave Carlos
Speaker 4: Lee that was one that absolutely should have never happened
Speaker 4: with this team. And also too as well, I mean,
Speaker 4: maybe you held on to Royo's Walt Hunter, Penn's Lance
Speaker 4: Berkman too long. And also as well, I mean you
Speaker 4: did not have the players coming up through the farm
Speaker 4: system that we're going to be able to sustain you
Speaker 4: to be able to be a competitive team. That was
Speaker 4: an issue for this team back then. I don't see
Speaker 4: that being the case here also too as well. I
Speaker 4: mean I think a huge reason why you believe that
Speaker 4: the Astros can continue to win is that's why Dana
Speaker 4: Brown is here. Dana Brown, when he was in Atlanta,
Speaker 4: was in charge of building up their farm system and
Speaker 4: building up their roster to be able to sustain winning ways,
Speaker 4: and he's been able to do that here in Houston.
Speaker 4: I mean the way that they've drafted I've told you
Speaker 4: before that there is a theme to the way that
Speaker 4: the Astros are handling their draft, very similar to what
Speaker 4: I saw when I was in Atlanta. They draft a
Speaker 4: ton of pitchers, they draft middle infielders, and they draft
Speaker 4: center fielders. Because I've said at numerous times, you can
Speaker 4: make an unathletic guy, or excuse me, you can make
Speaker 4: an athletic guy play a relatively unathletic position. As opposed
Speaker 4: to taking an unathletic guy. Maybe you take somebody that
Speaker 4: is primarily a first basement your position versatility is not
Speaker 4: as wide there. I mean, think about a guy like
Speaker 4: Bryce Matthews. I know that, you know, Dana Brown talked
Speaker 4: about him the other night about you know, what he's
Speaker 4: been able to do in terms of, you know, coming
Speaker 4: along in the minor league system. You know, drafted him
Speaker 4: as a shortstop. But somebody that they feel like can
Speaker 4: contribute going forward, and maybe it's sometime in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: He is a member of the Astros active roster here
Speaker 4: at the major league level, and that's something to keep
Speaker 4: an eye on when it comes to hi him because
Speaker 4: they feel like his bat's starting to come along and
Speaker 4: they like what he's able to bring from a defensive perspective.
Speaker 4: But you know that's somebody again, that's a Dana Brown
Speaker 4: draft pick that again fits that same profile. And that's
Speaker 4: what I think he's looking for in terms of trying
Speaker 4: to build up the farm system. Again of you know,
Speaker 4: you have a guy that you drafts a shortstop. Hey
Speaker 4: is he gets older and he also too, you know,
Speaker 4: puts on a little bit more weight.
Speaker 5: Maybe he's a third baseman, maybe he's a left fielder.
Speaker 5: Maybe he is.
Speaker 4: You know, we can you know, for a guy like
Speaker 4: Zach Decenzo, who was a college shortstop. They like him
Speaker 4: because of his height to be able to play first base.
Speaker 4: And you know, height and everything doesn't necessarily matter at
Speaker 4: the first base position. You know, I've talked about it
Speaker 4: numerous times. It's it's about the technique of playing the
Speaker 4: position over there. I explained it to somebody when Yaner
Speaker 4: Diez was playing over there and he got pulled off
Speaker 4: the bag on a play and they were saying, oh,
Speaker 4: he's too short. I said, that has nothing to do
Speaker 4: with it. Jeff Bagwell played first base for years and
Speaker 4: played it just fine.
Speaker 5: He's all of five to eleven.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's about you know, your footwork in terms
Speaker 4: of being able to you know, know where the bag
Speaker 4: is and know, hey, do I need to come off
Speaker 4: the bag for this play or do I need to
Speaker 4: you know, also to do I need to you know,
Speaker 4: be able to you know, try to have my foot
Speaker 4: over here, or any of these other things that kind
Speaker 4: of go into trying to play that position. But in
Speaker 4: terms of you know, the Astros overall window, I mean,
Speaker 4: is it going to look like it has for the
Speaker 4: last seven years. No, it's not. The Astros are going
Speaker 4: to miss the playoffs again. That's going to happen sometime
Speaker 4: here in the near future. They will go through a
Speaker 4: season where they're just not as good as they've been in.
Speaker 5: The past, and that happens.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, you you try to be able
Speaker 4: to get back to the postseason, and that is the goal. Obviously,
Speaker 4: the goal is to win the American League West and
Speaker 4: then you know, to get into the postseason and try
Speaker 4: to be able to get far through that, you know,
Speaker 4: that part.
Speaker 5: Of the season.
Speaker 4: But they also to made it look so easy for
Speaker 4: so long. And if that's the case, if the Astros
Speaker 4: are going to have a few more lean seasons here
Speaker 4: and there, then that's really just part of the process.
Speaker 4: I mean, you can't really build up what they were
Speaker 4: able to do from twenty fifteen to this point and
Speaker 4: not think that it's going to continue to be that
Speaker 4: way forever, because it's just not a reality. I mean,
Speaker 4: there are even the best teams in baseball that miss
Speaker 4: out on the postseason, and there are even the best
Speaker 4: teams who have to go through a little bit of
Speaker 4: a retooling. I mean, I think if nothing else, maybe
Speaker 4: the Astros would go through a little bit of a
Speaker 4: retooling process.
Speaker 5: That's not a full rebuild.
Speaker 4: It's a hey, maybe we take a step back this
Speaker 4: year to try to take two steps forward next year.
Speaker 4: I think that's something that could be a little bit
Speaker 4: more at hand for the Astros than just a full
Speaker 4: on rebuild for them.
Speaker 5: So I appreciate to call Paul.
Speaker 4: You're welcome here anytime, and you can join Paul if
Speaker 4: you want to. It's SEB one three two one two
Speaker 4: five seven ninety. Once again, that's SEBD one three two
Speaker 4: one two, five seven to nine zero. The Astros conversation
Speaker 4: continue to hear as just something that I wanted to
Speaker 4: be able to talk about at that point. So we
Speaker 4: will continue with the conversation on the other side if
Speaker 4: you want to against someone three two one two five,
Speaker 4: seven ninety. But I do want to get into a
Speaker 4: Rockets conversation because Rockets fans you fit into this and
Speaker 4: I think it's a little bit of a message that
Speaker 4: does need to be delivered. We'll talk about that on
Speaker 4: the other side as we continue and wrap up this
Speaker 4: edition of Space City Saturday here on your home of
Speaker 4: the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Space City Saturday continues on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: Sports Talk seven ninety. I Matthews here with you for.
Speaker 4: Another few minutes again one thirty today here on Sports
Speaker 4: Talk seven ninety. That's when the Texas long Horns and
Speaker 4: Kentucky Wildcats football coverage is gonna get started here Craig
Speaker 4: Way and the crew here on your home of Longhorns football,
Speaker 4: men's basketball, and Houston Sports Talk seven ninety, as well
Speaker 4: as University Houston taking on Baylor, going to be over
Speaker 4: on KPRC nine point fifty.
Speaker 5: Coming up at five o'clock.
Speaker 4: LSU and Vanderbilt going to be back over here on
Speaker 4: your Houston home for LSU football Sports Talk seven ninety,
Speaker 4: and then of course, Rockets and Blazers coverage getting started
Speaker 4: at six with Adam Clanton on Rockets launch Pad again.
Speaker 4: That's going to be over on news radio seven forty KTRH.
Speaker 4: All right, so the Rockets last night, nice little one
Speaker 4: sixteen eighty eight win over the Portland Trailblazers. But there
Speaker 4: is something that normally, I think I've talked about this
Speaker 4: with y'all before. I am not about doing the lecture
Speaker 4: thing and you know, telling you how you need to
Speaker 4: be a better fan, all of those different types of things.
Speaker 4: I think it's just it's honestly, it's self important, and
Speaker 4: it's really kind of just I would say it's lacking awareness,
Speaker 4: because lord knows, I'm not perfect at this job whatsoever.
Speaker 4: If I were, then I don't I don't know. But anyway,
Speaker 4: I just I can't stand when people try to, you know,
Speaker 4: moral high ground fans and you know, this is how
Speaker 4: you should do it, blah blah blah, all of that.
Speaker 4: I just I will never be that guy. But I
Speaker 4: am going to somewhat wide into those waters with this
Speaker 4: Rockets team, because last night I'm in the building.
Speaker 5: There and I get it. It's the Blazers.
Speaker 4: I mean, look, when you pay your hard earned money
Speaker 4: to go and watch you know, the Rockets, the Astros,
Speaker 4: the Texans, whoever it is, you want to be able
Speaker 4: to know that it's not only going to be a
Speaker 4: fun and entertaining product, but you want to make sure
Speaker 4: that your money is going as far and a vast
Speaker 4: as it can go. And I'm you know, I'm sure
Speaker 4: that probably people looking at that game last night saying, hey, yeah,
Speaker 4: the Rockets playing good basketball, but it's the Blazers. I mean,
Speaker 4: shouldn't I wait until I don't know, they play against
Speaker 4: you know, a Joker and the Nuggets, or you know,
Speaker 4: maybe Luca and the Mavericks are in town. You know
Speaker 4: who knows, even though they're not all that great, you know,
Speaker 4: Wimby and the Spurs they're here. You know, maybe that's
Speaker 4: when I go Lebron and the Lakers. I get all
Speaker 4: of that, absolutely, I truly do. But this Rockets team
Speaker 4: is exciting. This Rockets team is fun, and this has
Speaker 4: been a fun seventeen games so far to this point
Speaker 4: in the season.
Speaker 5: And I get it too.
Speaker 4: I think with the way that the rebuild went, there's
Speaker 4: a little bit of, hey, show me this is sustainable
Speaker 4: because the Rockets did have good moments last year, but
Speaker 4: when it all was said and done, they wore down
Speaker 4: down the stretch and they were a five hundred basketball team,
Speaker 4: but still they were not able to make it into
Speaker 4: the playoffs. And I know that there's probably some who say, hey,
Speaker 4: you know, show me you can do that and then
Speaker 4: I'll believe again. And that's something that they're trying to
Speaker 4: be able to and this is part of the process
Speaker 4: of them trying to get to that point this season.
Speaker 4: But I mean, you see a team that right now
Speaker 4: is playing outstanding on the defensive end. They are the
Speaker 4: second highest defensive rated.
Speaker 5: Team in the NBA right now.
Speaker 4: The Oklahoma City Thunder are the only team in front
Speaker 4: of them. So they're playing stellar defense. They're playing exciting basketball.
Speaker 4: On the offensive end, the shooting has improved this season,
Speaker 4: and Jalen Green has improved in that regard. You've seen
Speaker 4: some good things at times out of Jabari Smith Junior.
Speaker 4: And then also too, you get the Terror Twins off
Speaker 4: the bench in Amen Thompson.
Speaker 5: And also you know.
Speaker 4: Tarry Eason as another guy that's been a huge bright
Speaker 4: spot for this team to this point. But last night
Speaker 4: in the building, it's probably about seventy five percent full.
Speaker 4: I mean Friday night, not really a ton going on
Speaker 4: here in the area. Be in the building, man, like,
Speaker 4: be there, ready to go, Like be there, rowdy. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, we've seen what Toyota Center looks like when
Speaker 4: it's full. Go fans in there, ready to go, ready
Speaker 4: to support their team. The red rowties are there, you know,
Speaker 4: just we know what Toyota Center should look like.
Speaker 5: And I would, if nothing else.
Speaker 4: Encourage you this season to you're thinking about going to
Speaker 4: a rocketscheme, go go and have fun.
Speaker 5: Go see this team, go enjoy them.
Speaker 4: And you know, I understand too that the NBA as
Speaker 4: a whole, across the board viewership is down, and it's
Speaker 4: a product that I've talked about numerous times that I
Speaker 4: think American basketball as a whole has a development issue
Speaker 4: on the men's side, because, let's face it, you have
Speaker 4: a lot of guys who are one and done coming
Speaker 4: out of college. They are not ready to go yet.
Speaker 4: And I think that without really a farm system. I mean,
Speaker 4: I understand that the G League is there, but for
Speaker 4: the most part, you draft a guy as a lottery pick,
Speaker 4: you're not going to likely have them go down to
Speaker 4: the G League and try to get increased minutes and
Speaker 4: try to develop from there. You're gonna want to have
Speaker 4: them here at the NBA level, and they're going to
Speaker 4: struggle a little bit because they're playing against grown men
Speaker 4: who have been playing at this level for four or
Speaker 4: five years at least and are a little bit more
Speaker 4: developed in terms of that part of their game. And
Speaker 4: I've said a numerous times that I think that probably
Speaker 4: some rules could change on the college level. I would
Speaker 4: like to personally see the NBA go to kind of
Speaker 4: the Major League Baseball scenario that they have in college baseball,
Speaker 4: where if you play Major Division I college baseball, you
Speaker 4: have to either be a junior or be twenty one
Speaker 4: to be able to come out and go into the
Speaker 4: Major League Baseball system and go through the minor leagues
Speaker 4: and do all that different types of things, because i mean,
Speaker 4: let's look at what the NBA was in the eighties
Speaker 4: and nineties. That was when guys would stay in college
Speaker 4: for two, three, maybe even four years. You don't see
Speaker 4: the last guys stay for that long. But I mean take,
Speaker 4: for example, this season, a guy like Dalton connect and
Speaker 4: how he has played in the early going for the
Speaker 4: LA Lakers. That's a guy that played two or three
Speaker 4: years in college basketball. If I'm not mistaken, he's a
Speaker 4: little bit more developed in that regard. And I mean
Speaker 4: I think that you saw a better product on the
Speaker 4: floor at the time. And it's also too, I mean
Speaker 4: a thing where you know, look at the Rockets, I
Speaker 4: mean look at how you know people were just grundled
Speaker 4: with Jalen Green for the longest time of man, we
Speaker 4: drafted this guy second overall and this is what we get.
Speaker 4: But now I think you're starting to see Jalen Green
Speaker 4: be the player who you hope that you were getting
Speaker 4: at that point. And also too, you know, Jabari Smith junior,
Speaker 4: he's gone through a little bit of some growing paints.
Speaker 4: I mean Alprin Shingoun, he played against professional competition growing
Speaker 4: up there in Turkey and came over now and is
Speaker 4: probably a little bit further ahead of where people thought
Speaker 4: he would be in terms of being a developmental player
Speaker 4: at this point. But I mean, you know, just across
Speaker 4: the league, I mean, is viewership down? Why is necessarily
Speaker 4: interest down? I think another thing that the NBA should
Speaker 4: maybe consider going forward is start the season later. I mean,
Speaker 4: why are you trying to bang your head against a
Speaker 4: brick wall. Against the NFL, You're not going to win.
Speaker 4: The NFL will win every single time. The NFL has
Speaker 4: won so much that they finally looked at Christmas Day
Speaker 4: and said, yeah, that's nice. But you can only watch
Speaker 4: Lebron and Steph Curry and the Warriors and try to
Speaker 4: have the New York Knicks force force fed to you
Speaker 4: of Hey, the Knicks matter. Hey, you should pay attention
Speaker 4: to the New York Knicks.
Speaker 5: Again. I get it.
Speaker 4: You know you're trying to, you know, draw up to
Speaker 4: interest and your you know, highest rated markets in the
Speaker 4: United States.
Speaker 5: That's that's fine. I get that.
Speaker 4: And you know, the Celtics, all right, they're fine, they're great, whatever.
Speaker 4: But across the board, I mean, aside from Lebron, really,
Speaker 4: I mean, who who necessarily out there if you don't
Speaker 4: have really anything better to do on a Tuesday or
Speaker 4: Wednesday night and say there's an ESPN or a T
Speaker 4: and T game on that you would say, hey, even
Speaker 4: though it's not the Rockets, I'll watch. I can't think
Speaker 4: of anybody. I mean, I've talked about it numerous times.
Speaker 4: The Oklahoma City Thunder, they're a really good team. Shake
Speaker 4: Gildes Alexander. I could probably take a picture of Shake
Speaker 4: Gilges Alexander, go over to the galleria and ask people, hey,
Speaker 4: do you know who this is? And I could almost
Speaker 4: guarantee you that nine out of ten people would have
Speaker 4: no idea who he is. I mean, that's just kind
Speaker 4: of what you're running into in the league right now.
Speaker 4: And you know, I understand people's opinions in terms of
Speaker 4: why the league is down across the board, but I
Speaker 4: think that's really the biggest thing is that you just
Speaker 4: don't have real tangible stars in the league at this moment.
Speaker 4: I mean, Lebron his best days of basketball are behind him.
Speaker 4: He's still really good, He's still worth the price of admission.
Speaker 5: All of those different types of things.
Speaker 4: You want to see Lebron James play because you want
Speaker 4: to be able to say, hey, I got to see
Speaker 4: one of the greatest in the in the league's history
Speaker 4: beyond the floor, lay them up and go out and play.
Speaker 4: But aside from him, I mean, I just really, I mean,
Speaker 4: Joel Embiid does not do that for me. You know,
Speaker 4: Jalen Brown, and you know Jason Tatum with the Celtics
Speaker 4: doesn't necessarily do that for me.
Speaker 5: You know, when Healthy Kawhi.
Speaker 4: Leonard and James Harden with the Clippers, it's not necessarily
Speaker 4: like I'm like, oh, I've got to watch these guys play.
Speaker 4: I just think across the board you just don't have that,
Speaker 4: and I think that probably that's kind of I don't
Speaker 4: know if apathy is necessarily the right word here, but
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, with the Rockets, I think it's
Speaker 4: more than anything, and I get it from your perspective
Speaker 4: that hey show us that you guys are worth paying
Speaker 4: attention to. And if they continue to win, I think
Speaker 4: they will get to that point because I would probably
Speaker 4: suspect after football season comes to a close, that's when
Speaker 4: you'll start to see more full buildings over there at
Speaker 4: Toyota Center. So hopefully that is sooner rather than later
Speaker 4: that's going to do it for us here on Space
Speaker 4: City Saturday. I want to thank Melvin Brown back behind
Speaker 4: the glass doing a great job, as always, want to
Speaker 4: thank all of you two who wait in here on
Speaker 4: the show today. We will be coming back at you
Speaker 4: again next week here for a Thanksgiving post Thanksgiving edition
Speaker 4: of Space City Saturday. That'll be coming your way on
Speaker 4: the other side. But until then, have a great Thanksgiving holiday,
Speaker 4: and we will talk to you then. Don't forget Texas
Speaker 4: and Kentucky football coming your way one point thirty right
Speaker 4: here on your home of the Longhorns, here in Houston
Speaker 4: Sports Talk seven ninety I'm Dan Matthews.
Speaker 5: Talk to y'all next week.