- 7 months ago
Who is the Texans’ most indispensable offensive player? ITL debates the answer, and Lopez may have just changed some minds along the way.
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00:00I'm going to change my mind on something.
00:01It wasn't, what, two weeks ago, maybe, where we were talking about, like, you know,
00:06who can you least afford to lose?
00:07Something along the lines of indispensable, and I said, oh, Trent Brown.
00:12Because if you lose Trent Brown, all of a sudden the entire offensive line has to, you know,
00:17you have to have a shakeup again, and we didn't like it in the first place and all that.
00:21But I'm going to change my mind for a couple of reasons.
00:22The first reason being, even if you lose Trent Brown, I think the offense has evolved.
00:28You know, we've heard from C.J. Stroud talking about how things have changed,
00:31D'Amico Ryan, how things have changed.
00:33It's not going to be great.
00:34It's not great right now in terms of the time you're getting.
00:37But I think the offense was also part of the problem.
00:41You know, his confidence level in running the offense and getting rid of the ball,
00:46packing up instead of, you know, the adjustments with the routes.
00:50We talked about that yesterday.
00:51More verticals and such.
00:54So I'm not going to sit here and say it's great.
00:56But I am changing my mind.
00:58Yeah, I'm interested in that because you know who I had forgotten about?
01:02I hadn't thought about it forever.
01:04What's that?
01:04You remember Juice Scruggs?
01:05Yeah, he's out there somewhere.
01:07Jarrett Patterson?
01:08I forgot about Juice.
01:09Yeah.
01:10Yeah, the reason why I remembered it is I saw one of the media members tweeting
01:13about Nick Casario's last three drafts and the various players that he drafted
01:19and how I believe only one of them is not with the Texans,
01:23whether it's a squad, injured reserve, whatever.
01:25Juice Scruggs is one of those dudes with the Texans.
01:27I was like, oh, yeah, that's right.
01:28Juice Scruggs over there.
01:29But keep in mind, we were okay with Titus Howard at right tackle,
01:32and we were okay in the limited time we saw Jarrett Patterson at left guard.
01:36Yeah.
01:36You know?
01:37So I'm changing my mind.
01:39All right.
01:39And in fact, I'm going to have C.J. Stroud talk about who I think is,
01:46and I'll show you some numbers, some of which blew my mind when I came across them.
01:51But let's C.J. Stroud tell you about the most indispensable player.
01:55It's been a lot.
01:56You know, I mean, he's been felt by everybody.
01:58I think, you know, Dalton is, you know, week in and week out, worked very hard.
02:02You know, his leadership has gone to another notch.
02:04You know, his run game blocking, you know, and that just doesn't –
02:07it just helps more for, you know, his route running ability,
02:10which I think he's one of the best in the league at.
02:12So I'm just super proud of him.
02:14I'm glad he's, you know, a brother of mine, somebody I consider a great friend.
02:16And, you know, it's just really cool to connect to him.
02:19I think, you know, me and him have a chemistry that we could be looking at each other
02:22a certain way.
02:22We just know what we're going to do and make a play.
02:24So it's just really cool to see.
02:26I hope I play with him for a very, very long time.
02:29It's Dalton Schultz.
02:30It is, to me, without question, Dalton Schultz.
02:34Do you realize that he leads – first of all, did you realize this?
02:38He leads the team in reception.
02:40That's not too surprising, but I don't think that I had put it front of mind.
02:47He's got six more catches than Nico.
02:48Yeah.
02:48He has 70 catches.
02:49Nico has 64.
02:50The next one –
02:51Well, that does also make sense when they were running all the receivers on deep routes
02:55and then Dalton Schultz was able to sit down.
02:56Yeah, but a lot of people don't realize that.
02:57No, for sure.
02:57And that's fair.
02:58He's got 70 catches.
02:59And then you heard CJ talking about, like, they've reached that point
03:04where they can look at each other, you know, and kind of know.
03:07And I think it played out with his touchdown on Sunday.
03:11But Dalton Schultz, to me, has become the most indispensable player for that reason
03:16and a number of others.
03:18And these are the numbers that just blew me away.
03:19I had to double check.
03:21With one more catch, he's got 70.
03:24If he has one more catch, he's going to surpass Owen Daniels
03:28as having the best season by a tight end in Texans history.
03:31Reception-wise.
03:32Reception-wise.
03:33Yep.
03:34Better than Owen Daniels.
03:35And this is the other one.
03:36If he has 10 more catches, there's three games left,
03:39he probably will have 10 more catches.
03:41I'm guaranteeing he has 10 catches.
03:43Yeah, exactly.
03:44Which probably means that I'm going to be sniffing, smelling salts
03:48because some anomaly happened that makes me very mad.
03:53So if he has 10 more catches, his only three seasons in Houston,
03:57he's going to have more catches than Owen Daniels' best three seasons in Houston.
04:02But Owen Daniels, his best three seasons, I don't have the exact number season by season,
04:08but he had 195 catches if you add up his best three years in Houston.
04:12And that's best three consecutive years?
04:13No, no, no.
04:14Just his best three seasons.
04:16His best three seasons in receptions was 195 catches total.
04:21Owen Daniels, in just three seasons in Houston, right now has 186.
04:25These are things that just kind of blew me away.
04:29And also when you kind of couple it with what we've seen with eye test and stuff,
04:33he's huge, man.
04:36He might be the most indispensable player on this offense.
04:39It's a good point to be made.
04:41We've talked about this even dating back to before we felt like this offense
04:44was finding its level of groove was the whole idea of just stay ahead of the sticks.
04:50Dolan Schultz was probably number one on the call sheet to help that happen
04:55because those routes, those options, those sit-down circumstances in zone
05:01to just sit down and here's five yards, here's six yards to take that and go
05:06were big to make sure that you weren't in third and long
05:09but rather third and four or third and two.
05:12That was huge.
05:13And that remains big.
05:15You heard your quarterback, C.J. Stroud, talk about his run blocking,
05:20which I'm going to be honest.
05:22Crack me up a little bit, but the willingness is there.
05:24He said better.
05:24It is better.
05:25He didn't say great.
05:26He said better.
05:26It is better.
05:27Shout out to Kay Stover being here, big dog.
05:29You big in here.
05:30Get in here and block.
05:31But the willingness shows up, and with the willingness that allows
05:35these leak outs that he's been doing, those to be incredibly useful.
05:39I love that he talked about some of the off-script opportunities.
05:42Did he not sound like the idea of just look at it?
05:44Did that not sound like every great quarterback with their guy,
05:48particularly tight end?
05:50You could talk about, obviously, Mahomes and Kelsey.
05:52That's one of those things when you talk about the magic that they have,
05:55but there's almost a neural link of sorts where they just kind of have an
05:59idea, a hive mind circumstance, because they've played enough together
06:03to have an understanding of what's happening.
06:05That's one of the things I was talking about with Jaden Higgins is like,
06:07is he going to, in those scramble drill circumstances,
06:09be able to get his numbers to the quarterback?
06:11Dalton does that really well.
06:12Yeah.
06:13Does that really well.
06:13But the biggest thing for me that I heard were two words that CJ said in that
06:19clip that maybe make it even more important for me.
06:22Brother and leadership.
06:25I think that what he means to CJ and what he means to this offense are important,
06:31even outside of his production.
06:32His production, though, very important.
06:34Not trying to sidestep that.
06:36I think having CJ in the right mindset and having him be comfortable,
06:40we always talk about a tight end in the National Football League or in football in general being
06:44the quarterback safety blanket.
06:46Yeah, the best friend.
06:47He exists very much as that safety blanket for CJ on the field, but off the field,
06:51like they have a relationship that shows and it shines through.
06:56But the leadership, I think, also matters.
06:58I can't speak specifically to it because I'm not in that locker room, but when you have
07:02an opportunity to hear from Dalton Schultz, he is the most forthcoming of anybody that
07:07you'll talk to in that Texans locker room.
07:09And I have a strong feeling that doesn't stop when it comes to the media or after the media.
07:15I think that probably is even more accentuated in a willingness to say what is necessary to be said.
07:20And so I can strongly envision him being a guy that, you know, helps keep that thing moving in the way that it needs to for them.
07:29So, no, that's huge.
07:30Plus, and the text line made a point of it, this probably speaks volumes to Nick Kaley
07:36and his emphasis on tight ends and this offense.
07:38Which is one of the reasons I was saying that about the offensive line.
07:41Look, I don't want Trent Brown to not be around.
07:43What I'm saying is I think you can almost see where Dalton Schultz,
07:47with all that stuff that we're talking about here, the connection, the body language,
07:52just, you know, a look and all this stuff and confidence and not just confidence with C.J. Stroud,
07:57but tight ends, how many times have we said it with the New England style offense,
08:01you know, so integral in this offense.
08:05I think Dalton Schultz probably is the most, Nico's up there,
08:12but I think maybe even ahead of Nico's probably the only true slam dunk pro bowler on this offense.
08:18And what's fun is that it feels like he's getting better in these last few weeks
08:22because it feels like you're getting more opportunities to do some other things.
08:26And maybe this is a return to form because he had gotten on a pretty nice stride
08:29in the middle of the season, which it was really evident
08:33because he was dealing with some nagging injuries, right?
08:35You talk about the shoulder, you talk about the knee.
08:39Those kept showing up and he was playing really well.
08:41It waned a little bit and I think we're back to where you're sending Dalton Schultz
08:44to apply his trade and really have his impact.
08:47Is there anybody who is a second, a close second even?
08:50Is it just Nico Collins that we need to make sure that we put a note on?
08:54Probably Nico Collins.
08:56But, you know, the other part about this that you may not have known,
09:00Dalton Schultz also leads all tight ends in the NFL in receptions.
09:05He has 70, Travis Kelsey's second with 67.
09:09It is really, it's actually been quite refreshing
09:14because just last year, weren't we wondering, hey, where's the production?
09:19You know, hey, where's the production that we signed up for with Dalton Schultz?
09:23And now, again, he's statistically anyway,
09:27because he hasn't had as long a career here,
09:29you know, in the same conversation as Owen Daniels.
09:31But, yeah, he's been really good for him.
09:35He's been really good for him.
09:38How do you think that that bodes for the opportunity to see continued growth?
09:41Because they keep talking about continued growth with this offense.
09:44And not to be the Debbie Downer, but here it comes.
09:48I don't know how much more you wring out of him.
09:51I don't think you need to do a whole lot more.
09:53What you're getting this past weekend was one of his better games.
09:57But even if it's to that degree,
09:59what you're getting is a guy that's going to finish between 80 and 85 catches
10:04and probably four or five touchdowns.
10:07But the touchdowns haven't been there quite as much.
10:09But nevertheless, for this offense,
10:12the confidence it's giving your quarterback and the offense,
10:15you don't need a whole lot more.
10:17Like I said, he's leading the league in tight end reception.
10:20No, I know.
10:20That alone, you know.
10:21But that's my larger point being,
10:24they clearly want to still get better at this,
10:26and maybe it's just being more efficient.
10:28And that probably is the thing that's available to them.
10:31But it's like in highlighting how indispensable Dalton Schultz has been,
10:35I think it also brought me back to the idea of, okay,
10:38where are the places where they can still wring out more from this offense?
10:41Maybe playing off of him.
10:44You know, because people know this,
10:47and how big of a weapon he was, especially this past weekend.
10:50You know, maybe just sort of using the other tight end more.
10:53And, you know, using some of the coverages,
10:55because he's going to get most of the attention from whether it's the,
10:58you know, nickel or slot corner or linebacker or whatever.
11:01Yeah.
11:02Maybe.
11:02Yeah, using the other tight end more like Cade Stover.
11:05We've seen him start to get a couple of catches,
11:07see if maybe there's more there.
11:09I think Higgins obviously is one of those where can you get him to football more,
11:13to make some plays.
11:13And I think probably the biggest thing where you can wring out more,
11:18more, I don't know, production in this offense.
11:21It just, I have not seen Christian Kirk show up for this offense.
11:26I haven't seen you get the requisite value for what it feels like he was supposed
11:31to bring to this offense.
11:32Yeah, that would be a good one.
11:33I'm with you.
11:34I expected a lot more.
11:36I think they did too, obviously.
11:38But I'm to the point where I'm going to see more Xavier Hutchinson in those
11:41circumstances.
11:42Hutchinson or Noel?
11:43You know, one or the other.
11:45Are you at all letting off the gas on what was a popular refrain early on in
11:52the season where it's like, get more Jalen Noel.
11:54Are you all letting off gas?
11:56I think I'm more resigned to the reality.
11:59They're not going to do it.
12:00He's going to be a return guy and maybe just, you know,
12:02a sprinkle here and there.
12:03Yeah, because I'm like, I'm starting to do the thing where I second guess
12:07myself.
12:08Am I missing something with Jalen Noel?
12:10I don't think you are.
12:11Because it feels like there's opportunity for him to be useful.
12:15We saw it early on.
12:16It just hasn't quite been there in the same way.
12:18And we've talked about the offense kind of having its development over the
12:21year.
12:22Is it something where they feel like he cannot be factoring?
12:25Because I feel like you started talking about overs.
12:27Yeah.
12:28That sounds like a deep over across the middle of the field.
12:30That sounds like something that I could get in with the Jalen Noel.
12:32Christian Kirk, you know, could, could get some of those because of the
12:36coverage that Nico's getting and some of the opportunities elsewhere,
12:38but it's not happening.
12:39Yeah.
12:39Yeah.
12:40We continue to watch it, but a shout out to Dalton Schultz deserves the
12:43credit.
12:43We gave him credit for being for the toughness showing up, but you don't
12:46even have to put that, that, uh, that qualifier on it.
12:49He's been really good for this Texans team.
12:50We'll see how it continues to show.
12:52We'll see you next time.
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