Latest / The Craig Way Show / Voice of The Houston Texans, Marc Vandermeer On the Horn

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Voice of The Houston Texans, Marc Vandermeer On the Horn · The Craig Way Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: My good friend Mark Vandermire, the play by play voice
• 0:03
  of the Houston Texans, is probably a little more advanced
• 0:06
  and just dealing with yacht rock. Like I'm a hopeless
• 0:08
  yacht rocker there. But Mark joins us on the hotline,
• 0:10
  how you doing today?
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Mark? Are you kidding? I'm all over Ambrosia. Let's go.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: I feel like driving up to see.
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  Speaker 2: The show myself, Ambrosia.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: You kidding?
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I love yacht rock. I remember the videos. It was
• 0:24
  a series on YouTube. Did you ever see these? No,
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  you could still search them. They didn't have the rights
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  to the music, so maybe they got sued. You know,
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  these days, it's a little tough, as you know, Craig.
• 0:34
  But I love yacht rock.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Well, my wife and I are hopeless yacht rockers, and
• 0:39
  like I said, we've we've been to see Little River
• 0:41
  Band and several other ones like that.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: So we're all about it there. So it's it's good.
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  Speaker 1: It's good to know that I've got some company in
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  that category.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Hey, listen, the City of Houston.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Even if they lose out on the astros here and
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  they're down to six outs left, or rather three outs
• 1:00
  in their season, down five to two of the Tigers.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: In the night. They even if they lose.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Out on the Astros, they've got a hot Texans team
• 1:08
  right now, or as I would also like to call
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  a resilient group, Mark with the way they bounce back
• 1:13
  from the game against Minnesota and really had to be
• 1:15
  resilient in the game against Jacksonville, didn't they.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they did, Craig, and you know, they didn't play
• 1:21
  their best ball. Wasn't their a game. Defensively, they were
• 1:25
  pretty solid throughout. They had some moments they gave up
• 1:29
  a long run, but the big.
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  Speaker 3: Play of the game was Calin Bullock, the rookie.
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  Speaker 2: Safety from USC, running down Tank Bigsby inside the five,
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  and then they come up with a goal line stand
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  at the start of the fourth quarter as a result
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  of that, and that tipped.
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  Speaker 3: The scales, I thought, even though it was sort.
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  Speaker 2: Of hurky jerky from there until the final drive, if
• 1:47
  the Jaguars punch it in and make it a two
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  score game, I think.
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  Speaker 3: We might be having a different conversation right now.
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  Speaker 2: The offense just took a little while to get going.
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  But CJ. Stroud, you know, he's one of these guys, Craig,
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  and they fly have that guy where the opponent has
• 2:02
  to be concerned. If the ball's in his hand with
• 2:05
  time left on the clock and they're down to score
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  whatever score to tie or take the lead, you better
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  watch out. And CJ. Stroud does it again, leaves them
• 2:14
  down the field and they win the game.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: So three and one's a good start, even though they
• 2:17
  haven't played their best ball.
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  Speaker 1: CJ was where I was going next, Mark, and I
• 2:20
  was going to ask you last year, such an explosion
• 2:23
  onto the scene, and I know the expectations for him.
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  When you're drafted that high, certainly the expectation is going
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  to be there. And we talked about him last year
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  and he had that brilliant rookie season. Safe to say, however,
• 2:35
  probably teams might be more geared up, amped up to
• 2:39
  try to defend him. And yet he continues to play really,
• 2:43
  really well. So have you seen the progression on how
• 2:47
  he's had to make the adjustment from rookie season the
• 2:50
  second year player, when teams have gone in defensive has
• 2:54
  made their adjustments to deal with him.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, statistically it's going pretty well
• 3:00
  so far. I mean when you look at the record
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  three and one and he's top five in the league
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  and passing yards and all that. I think everything is
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  in progress very well for year two for CJ. Stroud.
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  The thing is they're not scoring as many points as
• 3:14
  I think they would like right now, and it's not
• 3:17
  as efficient and proficient as they would want, and a lot.
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  Speaker 3: Of that has to do with the offensive line.
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  Speaker 2: Stroud himself, the things he's improved at. I think the
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  processing is even better this year. I think he understands
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  way more about the game, even though he understood a
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  whole lot last year. And the way he's moving around
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  in the pocket Craig is superior to what he was
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  doing last year, avoiding the rush, trying to create a
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  little extra time in real estate in the backfield to
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  launch accurate throws.
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  Speaker 3: He's doing that so well because the protection.
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  Speaker 2: Hasn't been quite as good as it needs to be.
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  Speaker 3: So we'll see if they can improve on that. I mean,
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  in the Minnesota game, it's just a festival of errors
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  as a.
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  Speaker 2: Pre snap stuff and holding penalties. They had one driver
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  where they had third and four at the twenty five
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  and they ended up punting because they took four consecutive penalties.
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  Speaker 3: So they've got to clean that up, and I think they.
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  Speaker 2: Are in progress doing that, the penalty bug bit them
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  a little more against Jacksonville or again additionally, so they
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  have time to work on it. You'd rather learn while
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  winning than the other way around.
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  Speaker 3: So so far, so good.
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  Speaker 1: Can some of the I don't know, for one of
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  a better word sluggishness on offense be trace to having
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  to deal with the injury bug in the backfield, not
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  having a healthy Joe Mixon for a lot of the time.
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  They're getting other contributors. Those of us who have cam
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  Akers on our fantasy team were happy to have him
• 4:35
  as a substitute.
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  Speaker 4: But does that, I mean, does it?
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  Speaker 1: Can some of that be traced to what there's Jill
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  trying to get going with the ground game?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, because Joe Maxson looks so good in the.
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  Speaker 2: Open A ran for one hundred and fifty nine yards
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  against the Colts, and you know, Damian Pierce only had
• 4:50
  a few carries in that game, but looked pretty good.
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  Speaker 3: And we haven't seen him since either. So you've been without.
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  Speaker 2: Your top two guys, and so now what do you do. Well,
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  you go to cam Akers, who I think looks pretty good.
• 5:00
  Daria Goobowally is another player to watch out where you
• 5:03
  cut that game winning touchdown pass. There you are, Craig
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  at the end of the game, inside thirty seconds, you're
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  at the goal line. You need to score and in
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  the offset I formation if Daria Gonbiwally and British Brooks
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  an undrafted rookie. So who would have thought that at
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  the beginning of training camp. But that's the NFL, that's
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  all of football. You have to use everybody on the roster.
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  You never know who's going to contribute. And those guys
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  run a play that gets to the game winning touchdown.
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  It was beautiful to see and it's a tribute to
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  the way they put this whole thing together because not
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  just the fifty three man roster, the practice squad, elevating guys,
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  how you work with the.
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  Speaker 3: People in your building, in your organization to.
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  Speaker 2: Manufacture wins, And that's what they do, and that's what
• 5:44
  they've been doing here in the Nick Cassario Demiko Ryans
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  Mini era we're in and I hope it continues.
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  Speaker 1: Is is it safe to say that at that moment
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  what you're talking about, that's when you you and andre
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  Ward turn and look at each other booth and go,
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  these guys in the backfield did they come through.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, Dari had that game last year against
• 6:05
  Tampa Bay where he actually kicked a field goal because
• 6:08
  Canine fair Baron was hurt.
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  Speaker 3: So it's so interesting the contribution he can make.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, his sister plays for Dallas and the WNBA.
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  Speaker 3: She's outstanding. So the family was there and his sister
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  was here and at this this is.
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  Speaker 2: A great moment. So we were never that surprised about
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  Dary pulling off something big because he's the ultimate role
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  player for this team. But you need people like that
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  up and down the roster. You need players to.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Make those kind of contributions that you're gonna win.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Talking Houston Texans football with the play by play voice
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  of the Texans Mark Vandam.
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  Speaker 4: We're here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.
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  Speaker 1: Mark, let me get your thoughts on the defense through
• 6:45
  four ball games and what you see you really like
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  in the areas they're still trying.
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  Speaker 4: To clean up.
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  Speaker 2: Well, obviously it could have got a whole lot better
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  against Minnesota, but I think that was one of those
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  stinker games and every team has them.
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  Speaker 3: It just happens and.
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  Speaker 2: You have to correct what wrong and hope that it
• 7:01
  doesn't happen again. They had some tough moments in that game,
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  but they were.
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  Speaker 3: Put in a sudden change.
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  Speaker 2: Right off the bat with a deflected pick and the
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  rest of it. They did really well against the run
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  the first two games. I thought they did pretty well
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  against Jacksonville, but they still allowed over one hundred yards,
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  so they're going to find a way to stiff in
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  in that way.
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  Speaker 3: I think what you're looking at is.
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  Speaker 2: The unfinished product here. Will Anderson Junior two and a
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  half sacks, good start for him.
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  Speaker 3: The D tackles. They replaced the starters last year, and
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  I think they're off to.
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  Speaker 2: A pretty good start. But it's going to get better
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  when you get the Nico Autry back from a suspension
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  in a couple of games, because he can play the
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  outside and the inside on the D line, and I
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  think that's really gonna help. You. Get Kurt Heinisch back
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  this week.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's gonna help as well.
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  Speaker 2: Danil Hunters Hunter has been good, but not who he
• 7:48
  will be.
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  Speaker 3: Just yet for this team, so I think it's good
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  on the front.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Aziz al Shire is just amazing. I mean one an
• 7:56
  amazing guy, really good player. Played with the Miko in
• 8:00
  San Francisco for for Jamiko, I should say, but he's
• 8:03
  like Demko Ryans junior and the secondary.
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  Speaker 3: What can I say about Dereck.
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  Speaker 2: Stingley Junior, outstanding lassater, the rookie from Georgia, Kleb Bullock
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  had a pick at his first ever game. He had
• 8:11
  that player just talked about rookie safety. So a lot
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  of youth, and I think that it's only going to
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  get better, Craig, as they play together and really start.
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  Speaker 4: To gel without question, no doubt.
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  Speaker 1: The game, the headline game of this upcoming weekend in
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  the NFL is the game you have against the Buffalo
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  Bills on Sunday. How about your I remember last year
• 8:32
  during the playoffs we were talking about a Buffalo. But
• 8:35
  let me get your thoughts on this Bills team and
• 8:38
  they come off smarting a little bit after what happened
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  to them in Baltimore last Sunday night. How about your
• 8:42
  thoughts on this matchup with Buffalo.
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  Speaker 2: It's always tough with Josh Allen because he's so good
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  throwing and running, and he's one of these guys. You know,
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  he's not Lamar Jackson. They're different, but it's similar in
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  that you have to worry about them running and throw it.
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  Speaker 3: And I think with Alan, he's so physically so.
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  Speaker 2: Big, he's hard to bring down. You got to bring
• 9:04
  some friends to bring him down. And he's always a
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  big part of their rushing attack, So that is highly
• 9:10
  notable when you play them.
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  Speaker 3: They've replaced a lot of guys.
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  Speaker 2: On defense, and you know, I know the Ravens game
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  didn't go according to their linking, but they got off
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  to a pretty good start prior to that, and some
• 9:21
  of these defenders were playing pretty well. Now they've got
• 9:23
  some injuries that they got to deal with. I think
• 9:26
  what the Texans have to do, Craig, It's it's almost
• 9:28
  like the Longhorse, right, the Longhorns are back, right, the
• 9:31
  long Horns are a.
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  Speaker 3: Hunted Now you have to get used to being the hunted.
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  Speaker 2: The team that everybody wants to be.
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  Speaker 3: And I guess what the Longhorns.
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  Speaker 2: People always want to beat the Longhorse.
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  Speaker 3: So maybe that's the best example.
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  Speaker 2: But the Texans kind of snuck up on people just
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  to use like outside looking in language last year. This year,
• 9:47
  they're not going to sneak up on anybody. But you
• 9:49
  have to be able to hold surf if you're one
• 9:51
  of these teams at home. You've got to be able
• 9:53
  to protect the turf and play another AFC quote power
• 9:56
  and deal with it.
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  Speaker 3: That's the Texans deserve to be considered an.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: AFC power yet. But they want to be that, and
• 10:02
  they do have the juice and the tools to be that.
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  So go do it, Go be it and beat the
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  Buffalo Bills this week. And I think it's a marquee
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  game for sure. Texans have a ton of primetime games,
• 10:12
  you know, with the Hall of Fame game, they have
• 10:14
  seven National Window games when you go back to the preseason,
• 10:18
  and they already played the Bears on Sunday Night Football.
• 10:20
  They got some good ones coming up, including a Dallas
• 10:23
  Monday Night or up in Big d in November.
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  Speaker 3: So it's all gonna be.
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  Speaker 2: Really fun to watch. And it's a week to week thing,
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  as you know. I mean, every week feels like it's
• 10:31
  own little drama and season.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: You know, Mark, one of the things I always enjoy
• 10:34
  visiting with you about is also the college game as well,
• 10:37
  because of your years as the voice of the Miami Hurricanes.
• 10:39
  But do you still keep up with the Canes and
• 10:42
  where you on edge on that hail Merry thing that
• 10:44
  happened at the end of the game with Virginia Tech
• 10:46
  last weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Not only do I keep up, but I'm listening to
• 10:49
  both radio calls. I'm listening to my buddies, Joseph Gaky
• 10:53
  and Don Bailey. I'm listening to Bill Roth of Virginia
• 10:56
  Tech to try to get the different perspectives of things.
• 10:59
  So I totally keep it up with that one. And
• 11:01
  I do keep up with the Canes as much as
• 11:03
  I can. You know, Craig, they haven't done anything since
• 11:07
  I've been there. I'm just going but they haven't had
• 11:10
  that kind of success that they feel is their standard,
• 11:14
  you know. And they've had some great starts and then
• 11:16
  they fizzle out. So I thought, oh no, we're going
• 11:18
  to get another one of.
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  Speaker 3: These when they were down in that game, but they came.
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  Speaker 2: Back and won it and you've probably watched, and the
• 11:25
  quarterback ward is really good, so.
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  Speaker 3: That can heal a lot of wounds.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm looking forward to seeing what they do the
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  rest of their way.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it'd be a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what, a lot of folks looking
• 11:34
  forward to this matchup on Sunday between the Texans and
• 11:36
  the bills and I'm right there at the top.
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  Speaker 4: Of the list, especially on an open.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: I gotta say though, before we say goodbye.
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  Speaker 2: I was at the Longhorn opener. My son is now
• 11:46
  at Macomb School of Business, University of Texas. Okay, the
• 11:49
  freshman and I went to the game and we listened
• 11:53
  to you. We had you on the app and it's
• 11:55
  a great experience, unbelievable. And you know, I hadn't been
• 11:58
  to a Longhorn game in a while, so it was
• 12:00
  a lot.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Of fun for me. And he is so into it.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Now he's bleeding burnt.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Orange and it's a lot of fun.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: The next time you do that, give me some notice
• 12:08
  and we let me know you're coming. So we'd love
• 12:10
  to have you pop upstairs and say hi, bring you
• 12:12
  some with us.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: Listen.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: If he's in the McComb school, the dude is serious
• 12:16
  about his academics. I'll just say that, you know, and
• 12:20
  you know that right all over it.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: He's all over it.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Chret He is not like his dad put it that way.
• 12:25
  He is so diligent. He got elected to some freshman
• 12:29
  senate day and.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: He's really into it. So it's fun. It's a great school.
• 12:32
  I love walking to campus, you know. I felt like, hey,
• 12:36
  this is a walking school. You know. He lives over
• 12:38
  on the west side, and we walked all the way
• 12:40
  across campus, but.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: It wasn't far.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I think it's a great place to go to school, obviously,
• 12:44
  and you know, a great program and what a tremendous atmosphere.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: So I'll look forward to going to some more games.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it'll be fun. It'd be great to see
• 12:51
  you again.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Hey, have a great call this Sunday, looking forward to
• 12:54
  the matchup, and I'll look forward to visiting with you
• 12:56
  again down the road. I appreciate you taking the time, Mark,
• 12:59
  Thanks much, Craig.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: All right, you bet that's.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Mark Vandermere, play by play voice of the Houston Texans.
• 13:05
  That's right. And I knew that he had a son
• 13:08
  at U Tad did No, he's in the Macombs.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: School and up to see my great guy. Always good
• 13:13
  to visit.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: With him and uh and the Texans got it got
• 13:18
  it going right now. You're like, are you impressed by
• 13:21
  what you've seen Khalil from the Houston Texans through four
• 13:25
  ball games?
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: There?
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: One loss? Uh is uh is to the Vikings are
• 13:30
  really good? Vikings did Yeah? They're a real team. Yeah,
• 13:34
  I'm I'm pretty much. I'm very impressed Strouds killing it.
• 13:37
  I thought they would use digs more and they're starting
• 13:40
  to use them a bit more. I think that he's
• 13:43
  an underused weapon for them. I've noticed Saint Tale's taking
• 13:45
  a bit of the of a back seat their defense. Uh,
• 13:49
  I had to drop their defense in fantasy. Honestly, they
• 13:52
  were awful against the Jags. They they kind of snuck
• 13:55
  out of there with that win. But I think they're
• 13:57
  gonna be one of those teams that progressively gets better
• 14:00
  instead of staying in like the same same same level
• 14:03
  of season long.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: So I think they're I think they're in a good situation.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Good teams can find a way to win when they
• 14:10
  don't play their best, and I and I think that.
• 14:13
  I think that's the case. Obviously for the Houston Texans.
• 14:15
  They're in my opinion that well, it didn't have to be.
• 14:18
  In my opinion, they are far and away the best
• 14:22
  team in the AFC South. We'll see where it goes
• 14:24
  from there. You know what else is gone, it's gone
• 14:27
  final in Houston. The Houston Astros season is over done. Benito,
• 14:34
  how about the Astros being swept on their home field
• 14:38
  in two straight by the Detroit Tigers. They win this
• 14:42
  afternoon five to two. The Tigers had that three run
• 14:46
  double by a Bonyees in the top of the eighth
• 14:48
  inning and that was the separator. Houston actually had a
• 14:51
  two to one league But the Astros when they look
• 14:53
  back at it, they'll have three total runs scored in
• 14:58
  the two games combined, three total run scored and that
• 15:03
  ultimately is the undoing for Houston. So their season is over.
• 15:08
  Ranger fans like Cameron Parker and the other ones and
• 15:12
  my cards can rejoice. Right, there's shot in Foudas and overdrive.
• 15:16
  Now it was a quick kill. It was very very
• 15:20
  quick and the Tigers, and what an interesting divisional series matchup.
• 15:25
  You'll have a Rust Belt matchup Detroit and Cleveland. I
• 15:31
  like it, two old school American League teams. I know
• 15:35
  Cleveland goes by the Guardians. Now they're no longer the Indians,
• 15:37
  but it's still it's Cleveland. It's old school stuff. And
• 15:41
  so to be Detroit and Cleveland, and then whoever wins
• 15:45
  the Kansas City Baltimore. So here we'll go to New
• 15:47
  York and play the Yankees. So Astros are out and
• 15:51
  stunningly knocked out in two straight at Minute May Park
• 15:57
  by the Detroit Tigers, who win it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: All right, we'll keep you updated on the other game
• 16:02
  as well.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: We're going to hear more from log Worn men's basketball
• 16:05
  coach Rodney Terry as well.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Coming up. That's coming up.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: We continue here on sports Radio AM thirteen under the
• 16:11
  zone of the iHeartRadio app.