But thoughts on Stroud yesterday and throughout this season?

If you would have told me after five games, the team was one and four, I would have thought, oh man, you know what? CJ Stroud must be playing like he finished the season last year in that horrific playoff game.

But what's crazy is not just yesterday, Mark, and you know this, I'm talking to everyone who's listening.

He's put together a good season, but this is the ultimate team sport where even if the most important guy on the field is having a good season, everybody has to be playing.

But CJ Stroud, I mean, He's showing the naysayers.

He's giving the team confidence that, yes, it's okay to invest the next 10 years in me because I am the leader.

I'm going to be the face of the franchise.

Thoughts on that part of it?

But thoughts on Stroud yesterday and throughout this season.

If you'd have told me after five games the team was one and four, I would've thought, "Oh man, you know what? C.J.

Stroud must be playing like he finished the season last year in, in that horrific playoff game." But what's crazy is not just yesterday, Mark, and you know this, I'm talking to everyone who's listening, he's, he's put together a good season.

But this is the ultimate team sport where even if the most important guy on the field is having a good season, everybody has to be playing.

But C.J. Stroud, I mean, he, he's showing the naysayers, he's giving the team confidence that, "Yes, it's okay to invest the next 10 years in me because I am the leader.

I'm gonna be the face of the franchise." He's playing some good ball.

Uh, I, I can't say enough about him.

Oh, yeah

Your thoughts on the locker room situation and keeping everybody focused.

I'm going to quote the great philosopher Bushwick Bill.

He said, reputation ain't blank, rhymes with hit, you see, because what you done did in the past don't excite me.

And that's how I felt about the defense going into the season.

I was so excited, but I had to keep reminding myself, the season the defense had last year was so historic that It would be crazy for me.

I'm not speaking for anybody else.

It would be crazy for me to expect them to repeat that.

Your thoughts on what seven has been doing these first four games?

So I asked ND, what's the key to kind of getting it turned around now at 0-3?

Your coaching.

And that's where the coaching behind the scenes comes into play.

You know, I've been on both sides where we started off slow.

We knew we were a good team.

But when you have a defensive coordinator like a Jim Johnson, and he walks into the meeting, John, and you've been a coach and you understand this, and he acts like it's not as bad as it is.

And you're kind of like, Coach, we're 0-4 and we gave up X amount.

You got Dallas coming in here, and they're bringing that firepower with them, and you better be ready.

Thoughts?

No, absolutely.

It, it would be ridiculous to lose hope, you know, and to change your expectations after starting 0 and 2, and I'm sure there's people sitting in their cars, in their office, listening and rolling their eyes.

But at the same time, it would be ridiculous if you were 2 and 0 to feel like, "Oh, it's time to book my hotel for the Super Bowl." It's still very early in the season, and you, you have to...

Look, we saw it last year.

They started 0 and 3, and then they, you know, they had that historic run.

You don't ever wanna dig yourself in that hole, but at the same time, it allows you to understand that they, they can get out of this.

with 0-2, do you think it helps that they are going on the road to face Indy?

What do you make of this loss in general? Somebody approaches you on the street, "ND, what do you think? The Texans lost to the Bills." Your thoughts after week one.

I think two teams that are top five teams in this league, two teams that are, uh... that have legitimate hopes of going to the Super Bowl, they battled it out, and you had what you believe was a great game.

I mean, if you didn't have a dog in the fight, when the game was over, you're like, "Man, that was a good game." You know, this wasn't Miami.

This wasn't Tennessee.

This wasn't, you know, some of these trash teams that didn't even been thinking about the Super Bowl.

These were two heavyweights going pound for pound.

The Houston Texans, we're used to seeing their jab come from the defensive side.

How, as a teammate, do you handle that one in the locker room?

But when you get down to the 53 guys, and in your day, the practice squad was a lot skinnier than it is today.

Yeah, it was much skinnier.

I think back when I was playing, it was either five or six guys that made the practice squad, and they worked a mess out of those guys.

I mean, if you were a wide receiver on the practice squad, you played receiver when you're running scout team.

You had to play some DB against the starting offense.

You did a little bit of everything.

When you played an athletic quarterback and you're that receiver, you would go under center and try to mimic him.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

But when you get down to the 53 guys, and in your day, the practice squad was a lot skinnier than it is today.

yeah it was much skinnier i think uh back when i was playing it was either five or six guys that made the practice squad and they worked the mess out of those guys i mean if you were a wide receiver on the practice squad you played receiver when you're running scout team you had to play some db against the starting offense uh you you did a little bit of everything when you played an athletic quarterback and you're that receiver you would go under center and try to mimic him Now I believe they have 16 guys, correct me if I'm wrong.

So you have some more guys to help out with practice.

But it's pretty cool.

And you're still going to need now your role players, your players who get important minutes on Sundays.

They're still going to help out.

They're going to have to help out at practice.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Okay.

Like, they, they already know, uh, who's gonna make this team.

There might, there might be one or two open spots where they're going to check the waiver wire, or they may be in talks with somebody, maybe an experienced wide receiver or even offensive lineman that they wanna bring in.

But before the game, they're gonna give the great speech, "Go out there and make a name for yourself, and, you know, open up some eyes." But they, i- they might even know right now [laughs] if we're gonna be real who the 53-man roster is.

I've been through it.

I've seen it as a guy who was a starter, and I didn't play in that last game, but I heard coaches talking about it, and as a guy who was a backup trying to make the roster.

And that, that final preseason game was my Super Bowl, and it wasn't just for the team that I was playing for at the time.

How do you see how they feel right now, and how they should go about things to preserve health and be at their best September 13th?

It really changes things 'cause they wanna use him in this offense a lot, right?

No, absolutely.

And, and we can start anywhere as long as we're starting with the Texans.

But when, when you look at this tight end group, what I like is the competition because...

A- and I know we don't like to admit it, but there are gonna be some guys that we had expectations who aren't even gonna make this team because of the competition, and that's what you have when you have good organizations, when you have teams that are expected to go far into the playoffs.

Uh, look, I'll say it if no one else wants to say it, whether it's Brevyn Jordan, whether, whether it's Cale Stover, there's gonna be some familiar guys not making this team because other guys who have now been added to the roster, they weren't just high picks, they weren't just recent, uh, acquisitions.

These are guys that are actually making plays.

Indy, what would you say?

What's the remedy? I guess that's a long answer, but what did you think, and what do you think needs to happen moving forward here? They gotta fix this stuff.

No, you have to fix it, and y'all already mentioned you're gonna have to spend some capital and draft picks on the offensive side of the ball.

A- and w- with the guy the most important position on the team, y- you have to work with him in the off-season and just kind of understand what happened.

You know, w- what, whether it's the quarterback coach, the offensive coordinator, uh, it's not just the quarterback, it's also the people who are developing him.

CJ is a good quarterback.

Like, this is a guy that I expect to lead a franchise, uh, to the Promised Land before his career is over.

But for whatever reason, we just didn't see it consistently this year.

What's that like?

But how valuable is a full day of rest for both teams heading into a playoff game?

But I'll say this, it's valuable, but at the same time, I don't know if it's appreciative or appreciated, I should say, because...

And if you ask different guys this question, you may get some different answers.

But myself, a lot of people I've played with, a lot of the current players that I still talk to, they love the idea of playing Monday night or any night game primetime, but they hate the process of waiting around because you just mentioned it, that there's a process.

And most of your games are going to be in the afternoon or that first game.

So part of your process is just waking up, getting your day started.

when you're sitting around and marinating in your anxious state of mind and you're thinking about it all day, it kind of gets taxing on you mentally.

So you tell me what comes to mind.