On The Drive with Stoerner and Hughley, the crew gives takeaways from the Texans' 23-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional round.
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00:00I'm fully recovered.
00:01I've been chomping at the bit to talk about a bunch of this stuff, though.
00:03I mean, there's some great stuff coming from the game,
00:05coming from the other games.
00:06But yeah, look, I'm 100% recovered.
00:09Here's the deal, is, and this is my immediate thought,
00:12the minute that I knew the Texans were gonna win the game,
00:14before the last second even ticked off the clock.
00:17I thought to myself, damn, this is a much better feeling
00:21than when we walked off that field against Baltimore.
00:24Last year against Baltimore, I personally felt like, yeah, CJ had a great year.
00:29Yeah, Will had a great year.
00:30Yeah, D'Amico had a great first year.
00:31But all that, all that that season built up and led up to, I thought,
00:36cool, man, there went all the air out of my cells.
00:38There went all the air out of my balloon.
00:40I mean, we are, we are still just as far as we were last time we played
00:46the Baltimore Ravens.
00:47This time, it was competitive.
00:48You can put your finger on a couple of things that swung the game, and that,
00:53to me, that's a statement about where this team is, and
00:57ultimately, that they've taken strides from last season to this season.
01:01So look, I'm in a good spot.
01:03Of course, I would have loved to win.
01:04I'd love to be talking about going to the FC Championship game,
01:06the first time in Texans history.
01:08I'd love to be talking about that.
01:09So the loss hurts, but yeah, I'm fully recovered, man.
01:13I'm ready to rock and roll.
01:14More competitive than last year's loss to the Ravens.
01:18And yeah, some things you did in your control that you feel like
01:24could have changed maybe the outcome of this.
01:27Greenhead VR, first time I felt like we didn't get beat by the Chiefs,
01:31felt robbed.
01:32I'm certain we'll get into that.
01:39Yeah, still pissed, still hurt, still upset,
01:43still angry from the text line coming through.
01:45Where are you at, Tyler, because you know you're the one I worry about.
01:49I haven't seen Tyler smile yet since I've been in here today.
01:53Well, that's been mainly a furrowed brow,
01:56just trying to catch up on stuff here at the station.
01:59But no, yeah, I'm pissed off.
02:02There you go, yeah, I know you should.
02:04And then here, hey, and I'm telling you right now in these three hours
02:07or the next several days, hell, man, let it out.
02:12The drive is a spot and a space for you to let it out.
02:15Let that thing out.
02:16And we will allow you to let it out.
02:18At the bottom of the hour, the final segment of this hour,
02:21we'll open up the phone lines and hear from you.
02:23I feel like this is a day we should hear from the people,
02:27hear from you and get your perspective on things.
02:30So we'll do that here coming up in a bit,
02:33but you can continue to text in your thoughts
02:35or use YouTube and Twitch to give us your thoughts on this thing.
02:39But let's start here because, Clint, you finally
02:45felt like you got what you wanted to hear from the head coach after the game.
02:50And some of the things he had to say fresh after the game,
02:53not really today, but right after the game,
02:56you felt good about what you got to hear from him.
02:59Without a doubt.
03:00This is what, for all the people out there that get all up in arms,
03:04when I say I want to hear certain things from the head coach,
03:06I want to hear certain things from the quarterback, the leaders of this team,
03:09I want to hear certain things throughout the year,
03:11throughout the season, after the first month of the season
03:14if you're not performing.
03:15D'Amico rides.
03:16Now, it's a little too late because the season's over,
03:19but this is the D'Amico Ryan's that I wanted
03:22to hear after the first time they had an outing that
03:25was subpar in D'Amico Ryan's eyes, right?
03:29This is the D'Amico Ryan's.
03:31Be honest with you, this is a D'Amico Ryan's that gives me hope moving forward
03:36that this isn't just a, we're going to win this old lousy division,
03:39you're going to be the four seed, and you're
03:41going to have to go on the road to keep Baltimore
03:43Buffalo every damn year until they make a change at quarterback.
03:46You're probably going to play in cold ass weather.
03:48You're probably going to deal with the elements that you're not used to,
03:50and it's going to be a super steep climb if that's the way you
03:54got to get to an AFC championship.
03:55This is the D'Amico Ryan's for me personally
03:58that I wanted to hear a month ago, and then hopefully this season
04:04was the growth and development and maturation of the Texans head coach,
04:11and this is where he's going to end up landing,
04:14whether it's a regular season game or a postseason game.
04:16Here's D'Amico Ryan's, and this is a little mash up of some of the comments
04:20that he made after the game immediately following the loss to Kansas City.
04:26Good enough to be a really good football team,
04:29so we can do the things we need to do consistently and all the time,
04:34that's when we'll be able to come here and be in this spot
04:37and win a football game.
04:38But unfortunately, we still got things to clean up of our own.
04:42This one hurts, because I know we're a better football team
04:46than we show today, no matter who we're playing against,
04:48to go back and still have to talk about mistakes that we made in this moment,
04:52it's discouraging to be here, because we got to be over that at this point
04:57in the playoffs, postseason football, you got to be at your best,
05:00you got to be operating on all cylinders, and for us, we didn't do that today,
05:04so that's what I'm just discouraged about for sure.
05:07With the sacks from what I saw is, first off, you're one-on-one.
05:11In the playoff, you got to win your one-on-one battles.
05:13That's what the game always comes down to,
05:15like you have to man up and own your one-on-one,
05:17you have to have some pride in who you're blocking to get it done
05:20and give the quarterback a chance to throw the football.
05:23Ended it, couldn't end it any stronger right there.
05:25Man up, have some pride.
05:26You listening, Dalton Schultz?
05:28I mean, that's, I do think Dalton Schultz probably is the one
05:32that pushed him to say that, but I think it's a strong message
05:35to everybody on the offensive side of the football, not just Dalton.
05:38But yeah, look, I just, that's the D'Amico rhymes
05:41that I've been wanting all year long.
05:43And again, that's the D'Amico rhymes that I hope we hear moving forward
05:47in training camp or after week one,
05:49after whatever the first game is where you don't play well.
05:52You want to talk about not losing,
05:54because I know Will Anderson talked about it.
05:55We got to figure out a way to not lose to the damn Jets.
05:59You got to figure out a way to not lose to the Titans.
06:02You can't lose, you got to beat Detroit when you get five turnovers, right?
06:05Like, you talk about, you want to know how you do those things?
06:08Your head coach start holding guys accountable just like this right here.
06:11That standard they talk about is upheld every game.
06:13And if you don't meet that standard, then you're probably going to catch a little
06:17bit of this in the post game presser.
06:19So yeah, look, I absolutely agreed with everything D'Amico said.
06:22And I love the tone.
06:25I love the statement.
06:26Again, I wish it would have happened three months ago.
06:29But I love what the head coach did there.
06:31Yeah, I like that part of the presser.
06:34We'll get to other stuff later on.
06:37But yeah, he spoke in that manner.
06:40He spoke the truth and you can hear the frustration.
06:42Like you're not going to beat good football teams and
06:45do the things that you're going to do.
06:48Like all those things he listed as the most top reasons
06:54why they lost this game and why they had issues in this game.
06:58He was asked about the issues with Travis Kelsey as well.
07:00He said mental areas.
07:01I wish I had more for you, but there's just a lot of them.
07:05Just point blank.
07:08I'm not worried about hurting the players feelings.
07:11Dammit, you watch the film.
07:12You know, it was Aziz Alshair twice and Miles Bryant maybe once or twice.
07:17So like, yeah, there's-
07:18And him not adjusting at some point.
07:21No, no, we get into scheme.
07:22Yeah, there's absolutely, I agree wholeheartedly.
07:25But just the thought of mental errors and just the straightforward.
07:30I'm not worried about hurting anybody's feelings.
07:32This is the reality of the situation.
07:34Let's keep it moving.
07:36I loved D'Amico Ryan's comments.
07:39All right, 713-5724-610.
07:43Were you into D'Amico's comments as Clint was as well?
07:48And let's, well, hell, man, let's not wait.
07:52Let's get into what has been the talking point.
07:56And quite frankly, which has been half my life for the last couple of days.
08:02The two things, we don't have to wait anymore.
08:05The two calls, that's what it seems like a lot of this game has kind of been narrowed
08:13down to, at least on the minds of a lot of guys.
08:16I think the Texans players and coaches have also made this, I think, a bigger deal as
08:23well as a lot of conversation about the two personal foul hits on Patrick Mahomes.
08:32You can text in, give your thoughts, YouTube and Twitch.
08:35I'll let Tyler and Clint as well give theirs.
08:38What was your feeling on those two calls that are hugely talked about right now?
08:44Look, I thought they were horrendous, both of them horrendous, roughing calls.
08:49And I think they absolutely crippled the Texans in a time when they had the momentum and were
08:55playing better football at that point in time.
08:57And the reality of it is that just can't happen.
09:02I think the second one was more egregious, if you will, than the first one.
09:07But both of them, I think, they changed the course of the game.
09:12And I think both of them were really, really bad calls.
09:16Tyler, your thoughts on the two calls that seem to be the biggest things to come out
09:24of this game?
09:25In the moment, pissed off.
09:29In this moment right now, flash forward several hours on a Reaction Monday, still pissed off.
09:36And I think there was a plethora of others outside of those two that the black and white
09:41guys, these zebras out on the field, were looking out for the Chiefs and Mahomes with,
09:46if you ask me.
09:48Yeah, listen, I will get my thoughts here in just a second.
09:54Did y'all see the blatant offsides on the field goal?
09:57That was not called, not to mention all the holds on the Chiefs O-line.
10:04This is, man, I never thought I'd see the day Troy Aikman and Joe Buck would be bashing
10:08the refs and sticking up for the Texans, as some people tweeted in.
10:16I think they were two bad calls.
10:19I agree.
10:23I have flown a flag, I think they shouldn't have been thrown.
10:28Even if there was contact with the head, I don't think it was forcible, as the comments
10:32that it's talked about.
10:35And I think they were bad calls.
10:36Now, where I lose, and where I guess I differ on some, and kind of the words you use, crippling,
10:43I don't think it was crippling.
10:45I don't think 7-20 in the first quarter in a 3-3 game is crippling.
10:50It resulted in a 6-3.
10:55And I don't even think the last one is crippling.
11:00I think, obviously, to me, it especially becomes less crippling when you score 12 points in
11:05the game.
11:07But I do think those calls were bad calls.
11:10And I know, I think they were, and to me, I guess I say the things where it loses me
11:15is when, in any way, you believe those bad calls changed the outcome of the game, and
11:22that the Texans would have won the game, or that the league is deliberately coming out
11:29and the Fishers are deliberately doing this for the Chiefs to win.
11:33That's where you lose me.
11:34I agree, they were bad calls.
11:37And I know many of you don't believe it or didn't watch it that way.
11:40There were bad calls that were missed and made on the other side as well.
11:45I think there were just some bad calls in the game.
11:49And I'm not going to say those weren't big calls, but I think they were definitely calls
11:53that the Texans could have come back from and didn't.
12:00So I think, yeah, I agree, they were bad calls in the game.
12:04Yeah, I mean, I think the conversation is more about just the calls.
12:08I mean, it's not about what wasn't called or what wasn't called.
12:12I'm not a blame-it-on-the-refs guy ever.
12:15I'm not going to sit here and say that the Texans would have won this game without it.
12:18I can tell you this, when you're in the divisional round and you're a nine-and-a-half-point dog
12:25and you're on the road versus arguably the best dynasty we've ever seen, and Pat Mahomes,
12:33arguably the best quarterback, and Andy Reid, regardless of where it's at in a game, when
12:42you take a play on a third and eighth that's an incomplete pass and you turn it into a
12:46first down versus a punt, again, when you've got the momentum, I think your margin for
12:51error in what does swing the game, you were fighting such a steep uphill battle when you're
12:56playing that level of a team and that level of opponent in that environment, that taking
13:03what would have been a fourth and long and for sure a punt, and you got the football,
13:07and again, offensively, you played significantly better at that point in time and had a little
13:13bit of momentum than the Chiefs.
13:16That swings the game, especially when the Chiefs go on and have a big play and end up
13:20kicking a field goal.
13:22That is a major part of the game when you're looking, again, at a team that Vegas says
13:28has no business even being on the field with the Chiefs.
13:35To me, it's unfortunate that you've got to deal with something like this, because they're
13:41terrible calls, and on top of that, you've got a quarterback that's playing into the
13:48ref's attempts and the league's attempts to protect them.
13:52I think he's flopping, which we were only playing one, he flopped, I think he flopped
14:00when Will Anderson hit him, he showed later on in the game to slow down and then initiate
14:03contact and flop again.
14:06The dancing around and baiting defenders into you instead of just easily going out of bounds,
14:10as Troy Aikman mentioned, I think that is taking advantage of the rules, and they benefited
14:15from it in a big way, two different times.
14:18I just think it's unfortunate that, one, the Texans had to deal with that, and two, that
14:23Pat Mahomes is handling it the way that he's handling it.
14:27This is why I hated the way that the Texans' general manager and head coach handled the
14:34Aziz Alshair stuff, because right now is the time for you to be in that, I'll take the
14:41fine to hell with it mode, we're going to let the league know, because this is the time
14:47that you've got a real case.
14:48This is the time that you can literally initiate change in the offseason, is if you're the
14:54loudest voice in football after that weekend, talking about what happened to your team.
15:00Not the Aziz Alshair crap that was clearly dirty, right?
15:05That's why I hate that they were doing it then, because right now is the time that we
15:08should hear Nick Cassario and D'Amico Rhines talking about what they had to deal with in
15:12this playoff game.
15:13Yeah, listen, I said it when they brought up that that had nothing to do with the Trevor
15:20Lawrence hit, that yeah, I'm with it, fine them, call them penalties.
15:29But I see someone here texting in, lost all respect for my homesman, that's fine, I mean,
15:35there are flops all over the field, all over, it's becoming a part of the game.
15:41Josh Allen does it, Eric Golf does it, a lot of quarterbacks do it, hell, defensive linemen
15:46do it.
15:47We see it all the time when there's little pushing matchups, somebody takes a dive and
15:50falls on the ground to try to draw a penalty.
15:53It's all BS, and penalize it, not a penalty right now, but penalize it.
15:59But for me, man, I just like, play football, play football, 6-3, 720 in the first quarter,
16:07if that has crippled you, then I mean, I'm sorry, I don't know, I mean, that's just me.
16:15I guess my deal is, I don't know how anybody watched that game, and again, you're taking
16:18into consideration, it's the Chiefs versus the Texans, and you watch that, and that doesn't
16:25affect the game.
16:26Like, that's, I mean, you're playing up a steep, steep hill, and you got a possession
16:30taken away from you.
16:31No, I'm not, yeah, I'm not saying it didn't affect the game, what I'm saying is,
16:36Well, it makes an already difficult situation significantly more difficult.
16:39Yeah, but I mean, it's a bad call that happens in football a lot, like, I mean, like I said,
16:46there were bad calls, there was a Travis Kelsey 20-yard game that got ripped off because
16:51of a bad phantom holding call on the Chiefs that back them up, but you keep playing football.
16:56You keep playing football.