Cody Stoots has been an independent source for Houston Texans news and commentary for almost two years now. The former drive time radio host on 97.5 FM has his own site over at Houston Football. He’s been kind enough to join us before for five questions and with Week 6 being the bye week for your Houston Texans, this seemed like a perfect to catch up with him and get his impressions on what has been going on with the local team.
Obviously, the general tenor of these questions changed dramatically
following the Texans 44-10 drubbing of the Baltimore Ravens. The overall mood has improved greatly and so the questions are of a friendly sort. Still, with two 4-1 teams in the AFC South, the Texans path to the postseason is still not clear. However, recent performances bring a little more hope.
Battle Red Blog: Obviously, things have looked better the last two weeks. Are you more in the camp that we played two very bad (or undermanned) teams or do you think the offense has found something they didn’t have before? Do you treat beatdowns like Sunday as simply a data point or is there something more we can look into it?
Cody Stoots: You beat who is in front of you. At the end of three weeks, it didn’t look like they had any answers, no matter who the opponent was for the Texans. It was nice for them to seemingly find some answers, opponent be damned. I think how it looked, with things that weren’t present in the three weeks of disappointment, is the biggest part.
BRB: Nick Caley obviously came under fire through week three since the Texans were last in the NFL in points scored in the first three weeks. They have scored a combined 70 points the last two weeks. Are there tangible things he is doing differently or is this just a case of the players getting more comfortable in the system and playing better?
This is more the offensive coordinator I thought the Texans were getting when they hired him away. They have used more youth and more motion in these two weeks. The Texans got Nico Collins rolling on in-breaking routes, something that wasn’t as present in the first couple of weeks. The comfort helps too.
BRB: DeMeco Ryans gave away play calling duties to Matt Burke before the Titans game in week four. The Titans and Ravens scored a combined ten points. Is there any discernible difference between Ryans and Burke as play callers and what are those differences if there are any?
CS: I don’t see a big difference. Maybe a little less blitzing, but they picked that up in the game against Baltimore after keeping it lower than the season average against the Titans. It doesn’t seem to affect much.
BRB: If you had to pick offensive and defensive MVPs through the first five weeks who would your picks be? The defense obviously is top five if not top three overall. How many Pro Bowlers do you think they have on that side of the ball?
CS: Offensive MVP would be C.J. Stroud. He was excellent these past two weeks, highlighted by an incredible performance against the Ravens. I will go with Danielle Hunter for the defense. He’s gotten home plenty and set things up well. I believe they have 4 Pro Bowl players, with the defensive ends, Derek Stingley Jr., and Nico Collins.
BRB: Given the current state of the team and the remaining schedule, if I set the win total for the season at 8.5 would you take the over or the under? What odds do you give them on catching the Colts for the division?
CS: I would take the over. There are some bad football teams on this schedule that the Texans should beat. There is a lack of consistency in the AFC right now, so the Texans walk in with a chance to win almost every one of these games. I don’t see the Texans getting much help from the opponents of the Colts, so I think the Wild Card is the most likely route for the Texans.
We want to thank Cody for taking the time to answer our questions. This is just a reminder that you can read his stuff at houfootball.com. If you subscribe to the Substack page you can get all of his in-depth analysis and commentary for only eight dollars a month. He also does occasional YouTube videos with fellow independent journalist Landry Locker. Unlike most of us, he is there at practice and during press availability almost every day. We always want to share the love whenever we can.
