Texans running back Dameon Pierce continues to struggle in the preseason. In The Loop's Reginald Adetula, John Lopez and Figgy Fig discussed it on a Reaction Monday following the Texans' 28-10 preseason win against the New York Giants.
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00:00Text men help me out. I'm going to ask for recommendations during the course this week because I reginal attitude
00:05Just moved back to Houston for the first time in like a decade. Mm-hmm. And so
00:09Excited to get back reclaim re acclimated is where I was looking for reacclimated with the city
00:16But here in a second, we will ask because can makers had a great game Damian Pierce not so much
00:21What is the running back room look like to you?
00:23Like how is that seeming to shake out?
00:25But I did want to again make sure that I'm introduced myself because there's a lot of people like who is this voice?
00:30Yeah on the radio. I'm Reginald attitude. You can call me Reggie. It does not hurt my feelings and I'm
00:35I'm a new part of in the loop
00:37We're gonna do some things to kind of touch touch the show up and make it a little bit more ours
00:42Yeah as we go along as a group, but it's also yours
00:45So, please get involved at every turn if you possibly can because it'll make me happy. It'll make us happy
00:51It's gonna be great man, yeah, it's gonna be absolutely fantastic. We're all the whole building is very excited
00:58And I'll say it cuz he won't
01:00But Reggie is is a supreme rising talent in the industry and he's Houston's own
01:06Y'all keep selling me high and I am naturally as a person
01:09Like under promise over deliver. He's alright
01:15I'll do my best to make sure that I I do indeed over deliver as much as possible
01:20That that seems to be cam Akers get down
01:23He had a pretty solid showing in the course of this dress rehearsal game, obviously for him not necessarily
01:30Yeah
01:30and actually that's I think that was something that you mentioned you probably would have liked it to be a little bit more of a
01:34Dress rehearsal for him in so much as playing with the ones on the day
01:38But yeah makers had a fantastic showing as a dude who's coming back from two Achilles injuries
01:45You you I guess you maybe could see it a little bit
01:47He was still very very productive and you can see at least the veteran brain that he has as a running back
01:52Yeah, and of course this game the story for me this weekend
01:56There's a lot of good stories the one kind of vexing story. The confusing story is Damian Pierce
02:03If we're being honest here, and and we always try to be honest Damian Pierce at best at
02:09Absolute best is the third best running back on this team. We know what Joe Mixon is. Yeah, correct
02:16Cam Akers has passed him because this wasn't just a one-off either with cam Akers
02:20No, not only has he done it in the past, but coming off the the two Achilles. He's done it this year
02:25Yeah in the preseason. I had the good pleasure and I guess peeling the curtain back was here last week last week
02:32Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, man time flies. I was here last week and I was had the opportunity to watch
02:38The game versus Pittsburgh. Yeah with Clint and Sean
02:44And that was something that was very apparent that preseason game was like
02:48Oh man
02:48Cam Akers is a veteran a consummate pro at running back and he sees the gaps and that becomes more and more apparent as it's
02:55Not just cam Akers. Obviously, you know, Joe Mixon can do that when Daria was in the game my Nigerian brethren, right?
03:01Yeah, he finds the hole he hits it
03:04Jowar Jordan, I'm sorry
03:06JJ Taylor is the one that I want to go to but even Jowar Jordan was Jowar Jordan and British Brooks British books as well
03:11JJ Taylor had a had a game on him in this one as well
03:14Yeah
03:14Now, of course, this is in the second half as well
03:17But you can see the difference between players and running backs in particular that know or at least feel more comfortable finding the gaps
03:23There's supposed to hit being able to hit them getting a little something out of it
03:26and it just becomes
03:28the
03:29Framework the framing is really bad for Damian Pierce because that is something that he's having such a struggle with for care
03:35Five yards in this game good for 1.3 yards per carry
03:40And that's I mean, obviously that's incredibly low
03:42But it's not like that is too much of an anomaly because he's just had he struggled last week
03:46He had four carries four yards. So he's gone from four carries four yards to four carries five yards
03:52And it's just not working. I mean, it's just not working here. We were so excited
03:57I mean, he's a very likable guy that has been on this show multiple times and everybody here
04:04Probably everybody listening at one point has been really pulling for Damian Pierce. It's not
04:10Working Reggie. It's it's it's not gonna happen here
04:14We thought maybe it was the system last year hell and one of the things that's likable about him
04:18Is he said this offseason that it was it was a different world with this offense last year and he's been working on it
04:25And he's been trying to figure it out and and trying trying to be productive in this. It's not it's just not I mean
04:31Sometimes you got to be brutally honest about things British Brooks
04:36Hit the holes better than he did had the better vision of how this you know
04:41This zone blocking scheme works and where to go where not to go
04:45Etc. Damian Pierce goes forward and I thought the one play that was the most telling of the entire game of really Damian Pierce's entire
04:54preseason was when Derek Stingley got the interception kind of loop de looped into the end zone and tried to come out of the
05:00End zone and he got tackled on the but the half-yard line or just inside the one-yard line. All right in that situation
05:07It's it's almost non-negotiable. You got to get at least three yards
05:11You you've got to get out from under the shadow of the goalposts as they like to say and he got stonewalled at the line
05:16Of scrimmage, I mean like dude you you weren't overthinking anything because you could easily argue
05:20Maybe he's trying to make a big play to make a big impression
05:23You know, maybe he's trying to like all these voices in his head in his head
05:27He's listening to like or they want me to do this, but when you're on your own one-yard line
05:32There's nothing there's nothing fancy about it. It's find a hole get through there
05:37Get get us three yards or more and I thought that was very telling like he just ran right into the back of
05:43Alignment, you know and it was just it was a no-go and the thing about is again
05:47This is a history of things and so I look I'm seeing on the text line again that number seven one three five seven two
05:53four six ten
05:54From the seven one three. They said they're over DP. It is what it is
05:58There was somebody else that said that DP Pierce's are from the seven three. Sorry Lopez
06:02He's the fourth best because they know the third right? Yeah, and so what's tough is
06:08Do you feel like you're in a place where you can?
06:11You know move on from Damian Pierce and how does that happen?
06:14Because obviously he was a relatively high draft pick you utilize draft capital on him
06:20And so if possible getting a return back from him would be great
06:24But I do wonder like our teams around the league and sometimes we might overstate this sometimes about my teams around league
06:30No, these players around they know a lot of these players where they fit the work
06:34Do you think that teams are going to be aware enough to know? Okay, this is just kind of the particular scheme
06:40That's not working for him that rookie you're proved that he can run the football in in the right circumstance
06:44Yeah, he could give you some value that may become as bad
06:48I thought Seth put it well this morning
06:50You can maybe convince someone of that even if they weren't all together in because you can say look what he did
06:56year before last
06:57In a different offense and he had what 700 and something whatever it was
07:02Yards rushing and was productive and would break off big runs and everything else and ever since this offense came into play
07:09He's been nothing like he is a classic example of maybe a change of scenery will do him good
07:15He is the epitome of that easy. He's an absolute
07:18You know guy that that just doesn't fit here and I 1939 rushing 939 and that's what it was like
07:25He it's just not working man. And you mentioned I
07:28Mentioned that he's at best the third best
07:31But you have to also keep in mind Daria Goomba Wally is going nowhere
07:34Like like so there's four running backs there and Damian Pierce is one of them
07:38I don't think you can have Damian Pierce is one of them
07:40Yeah, and I mean maybe as an organization you have some level obligation that I just don't understand in this point. Mm-hmm
07:47We were starting to allude to the idea of trying to steal a spot
07:52So to saying yeah 53 man roster how much because I know that I believe ND mentioned this on the broadcast
07:58I want to say yesterday, but it was Saturday. Yeah
08:01That maybe you can have Daria kind of effectively act like a fullback
08:06And so you in a way steal a spot there and trying to get that fullback position handled
08:10Yeah, I'm very intrigued about that. I think you can use Daria
08:13I think you can use Kate Stover and Brevin Jordan. Now, that's not good news for Andrew Beck or Troy Hairston
08:23But you got to find that spot somewhere, you know, you got to find that spot somewhere
08:26So I think you can do that at fullback
08:28Then you have cam Akers and Joe Mixon
08:31You got a Goomba Wally doing that and running back if he needs to and oh, by the way, he's the backup kicker
08:36So a Goomba Wally is not going anywhere. Yeah, make yourself valuable. Yeah. Yeah, he's not going anywhere
08:41Well, so then it comes down to all right, let's look at these other guys
08:45JJ Taylor has
08:48Acquitted himself pretty dang. Well, he really has he really has and I'm not so sure that you know
08:53George Ordon and and British Brooks that touchdown run that the second touchdown run by the way
08:58He had two TDs that British Brooks had that that was fantastic
09:04That was just an absolute perfect way
09:07to
09:08You know to kind of put your stake in the ground if you're a running back and then there's there's one more thing
09:14That kind of works in Damian Pierce's favor. If you want to if you want to cheer for Damian Pierce
09:18I'm interested in hearing this. I was really disappointed that they didn't have another running back try
09:24behind the first team offensive line
09:26Because it got me thinking well is the line not blocking as well as the first team with it?
09:30You know, they have a trouble with the with the run game and I mean, you know, we mentioned Seth
09:35We had an opportunity to chat with Seth a little bit before we came on there
09:38Yeah, one of the things he was talking about was that he felt like the offensive line wasn't wasn't like doing great run blocking
09:44Yeah, particularly I didn't feel that way watching it
09:48But obviously he played in the league and I very much did not so I'm going to value his opinion to a good amount here
09:55So maybe I would like to see another running back
09:57But yeah, it it didn't feel like the other running backs had and nearly the level of issues that Pierce did
10:03Yeah, but they were behind another line
10:04Yeah, and so I that's just me sort of like, you know, it is is it Damian Pierce?
10:10I mean, I think it's Damian Pierce, but if it's the blocking with the first team out hell
10:14They had four-fifths of the line there. Yeah, you know, and that's that's the line you're gonna have that's the line
10:19You're gonna have so like Titus Howard is then look sorry. Let me tonsil
10:23Yeah is the guy that you're like, oh, well, he's gonna break open the no, he's not known for his run
10:29We're gonna run behind that left tackle, you know not known for it
10:32So I would like to have seen that but regardless
10:35You you've got guys that are just putting there, you know
10:38Putting some good tape out there having some good games and Damian Pierce has in two games now nine yards on eight carries
10:45That ain't gonna do it. No, it's not
10:47Look, I I don't want to come in and be all too declarative, but it feels like we've seen it man
10:53It feels like the book is written. Yeah, and so I I hate to say it like after two seasons
10:58But it does feel like Damian Pierce is not does not have a room does not have room on the running back
11:02Room, especially because look you we've already talked about it. You're running back. You're running game is not expected to be
11:07Yeah anywhere near close to your calling card this season. And so you need it to be sufficient
11:13You need to be capable and I don't think that you can do that
11:18And this is gonna sound harsh but lighting downs on fire. Yeah. No, that's exactly what it is. Who's not
11:24Living up to the expectation. Well, and the other thing you have to realize and I know there's still another
11:31Enjoyed practice to come and a preseason game maybe for some of these running backs
11:35But if you started if you started the regular season tomorrow
11:38Cam Akers is your is your second team back like like so Damian Pierce isn't even really gonna be getting touches
11:45So what value does he bring to the roster?