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Transcript
All right.
Welcome in.
It's the Brew Report for Wednesday, October 7th.
Week 4 is now in the books.
Week 5 is upon us.
Tomorrow night that kicks off with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visiting the Dallas Cowboys who are in the midst of a weird stretch.
They, of course, traveled to Brazil in week 3, 10.5 hours both ways.
Came back had to play on the road in week 4 in Houston, and now they gotta play on a Thursday night.
We have a mailbag edition of the Report coming for you today.
As always, we put the call out for questions on Twitter.
You guys asked, and now I'm gonna give you some answers.
And my first question this week is coming from Logan Franz.
That's at Living Like Logan on X.
Logan asks, what happened to the Texans defense?
And this is a great question because I don't know necessarily that the problem for Houston has been the offense through 4 weeks.
I'm not saying they've been perfect.
But I don't think that the defense has played up to the standard that they set for themselves.
And I really thought with Dallas coming off of that long trip and all the noise surrounding Dallas all week and Houston playing at home, I thought that was when they would put an end to it.
And instead, we came out of that Dallas game with more questions.
Now, systemically, if you're looking at where they're at from a personnel, where they're at from a personnel standpoint, there are a couple of things to go through there.
The interior of the defensive line has been a question and has been something that they felt like they've had to continue to address over the course of the offseason.
You hope that young guys like Cayden McDonald will be able to come along, but they were adding guys in training camp at that spot.
So that is a spot to watch.
I think in the secondary, there are some questions.
Now, you know, on one side, of course, Derrick Stingley is Derrick Stingley, but Kamari Lassiter, who was fantastic, like almost at an all-pro level in 2025.
Has been a little up and down early in the year.
Um, Jalen Petrie, who's been a fantastic nickel for them.
The Cowboys were able to get CD Lamb matched up on him a bunch in that Dallas game, which is part of why he wound up with 17 catches.
So, there are some personnel questions there and how they're deploying their personnel.
You know, I, I think the other thing is the schedule, right?
And you look at the schedule and who, who have they placed?
Well, they played the Bengals, they played the Bills , and they played the Cowboys.
And that's 3 of the best quarterbacks in football, that's historically over the last few years, 3 of the best offenses in football.
So the competition has a little something.
To do with it as well.
And I do think that the offense plays a role in all of this.
And I, I bring this up because I think it's an important point.
The Texans defense had actually played really well against the Cowboys through the first half.
They'd held them to 6 points, so they were up 16 to 6 going into the half.
And then in the 4th, and then in the then in the 2nd half, the Cowboys scored touchdowns, not just scored, scored touchdowns on 4 of their 5 possessions.
And if you go back and you really drill down and you look at this, right?
And the, the, the, the Texans, like the Cowboys had 5 possessions in the, in the, in the, in the second half, and they weren't totally unsuccessful on those possessions.
They had big plays, they wound up with a couple of long touchdowns, that part is great.
But 4 of their 5 possessions only lasted 4 plays.
So, as was the case the 1st 3 weeks, the defense was spending a lot of time on the field, and that'll take a toll on anyone, and it did take a toll on the Texans defense, which plays so fast.
Um, and so, like I think it's an accumulation of things.
I think with the leadership that they have on that side of the ball, again with a guy like Stanley, with a guy like Will Will Anderson, with a guy like Daniel Hunter, they're gonna get it figured out.
And even talking to some of the opponents.
You know, talking to the Colts people after the, the, the, the, the Texans beat the Colts, talking to the Cowboys people after the Texans beat the Cowboys, they all come back and say like, man, Will Anderson is tough to deal with.
So, like I think some of the best players on the Texans defense are still playing like the best players.
They need that second level of players.
To play better.
They, uh, they, they, they're playing very tough competition, so the bar is raised in that from that perspective, and they need the offense to, to, to, to sustain drives a little bit better than they have.
I think they're gonna get it figured out.
0 and 4 is a tough hold a bit to, to, to dig out of, but with a quarterback who's starting to play better in CJ Stroud and an offense that should get better over the course of time.
The defense, I think will get back on its feet.
I think the Texans are actually gonna be fine, and I know that's a crazy thing to say about a team that's 04, but I'm not giving up on them yet.
All right, our second question comes from Wayne, that's at Bear down 307.
Wayne asks, the Bears' defense has been surprisingly good, that's true.
Maybe more Ben Johnson, the offense's time of possession dominance, which is also a factor.
Will they get a defensive closer via trade, and would they push all the chips into the middle of the table for a title run in 2026?
Wayne, I think the answer to that question is yes, they would look at potential trade options.
Um, I think you have to look at where their investment has gone defensively.
Now, you know, at the safety position, they have a first-round pick starting for them in Dylan Tieneman.
They also invested in another player there in Kobe Bryant.
I know he's not playing, but there is an investment in that position.
There's clearly been an investment at corner.
Jalen Johnson, um, you know, Tyreek Stevenson was a relatively high draft pick.
Malik Muhammad, a rookie who's played well out of Texas.
Um, Kyler Gordon is, is coming back off an injury, but that's somebody they've invested in too.
Linebacker level, TJ TJ Edwards is someone they they've invested in.
And then you look on the defensive line, and they traded away Gervin Dexter, who just got an extension in Atlanta.
They have paid Dayo Odenyingbo, they have paid Montez Sweat, but that's the area where you could see them adding another piece.
And the obvious place would be, you know, on the edge where Odeningbo goes inside on.
On passing downs, and so can you add another piece to the edge, um, that can help you pressure the quarterback.
So, I think the one that everybody had circled earlier in the year isn't gonna happen.
That's Max Crosby .
The, the Raiders, uh, looks like are, are gonna be too good to be in a position to trade a guy like that.
Do you make a call to the Miami Dolphins and see if there's any way that they would listen on Chop Robinson?
I don't think they would.
He's playing pretty well for him, but is that something that you could look at?
Do you call the Tennessee Titans and just throw the moon at the stars at them and say, is there anything we can do to get Jeffrey Simmons out there?
Now, Simmons, of course, isn't an edge, but he's such a great player, he's somebody you would ask on.
So, like, if we're talking about like the big ticket moves, I think it would be somebody to help you pressure the quarterback, um, especially for a team that it looks like it's gonna be playing with leads a lot.
So those would be a couple of names I would, I would, I would be looking at.
Again, you know, like I, I, I'm not saying that, that, that, that Jeffrey Simmons is on the market.
I'm not saying.
Robinson is in the market, but nothing is stopping you from asking a struggling team whether or not this player or that player might be available.
Finally, question number 3, this is from Michael Marcotte, that's at Mr.
Marcott.
Michael asks, considering the Las Vegas Raiders 3 and 1 start to the season, do you think they would be interested in trading future draft capital to acquire a wide receiver?
1.
I don't like that term.
I, I don't think anybody in the NFL really uses that term, but I'll allow it here.
Um.
A top wide receiver.
If so, do you see any potential trade targets that would be a fit to accelerate the current rebuild timeline?
I'm gonna give you one that I think makes sense, and I think it makes sense because I don't think the Raiders are in a position right now to do anything that's specifically like, yeah, let's push all our chips in the middle of the table and bring in an older player and, and, and let's see where we can take this this year.
I, I don't, I wouldn't do that if I were them.
But if there's a guy that you can get, who's on a rookie contract, where you say, OK, like this guy can be here for the next 5 years, and maybe this is a distressed asset that we can harvest and that can become a little bit more for us than he has been for the team that he's on, how about Marvin Harrison Jr.
I, if I'm the Raiders, that's somebody that I make a phone call on because I think that things have gotten so tangled up and messed up in Arizona for Marvin.
That both sides could use a reset.
Now, the reality is with Marvin Harrison Junior, and the questions have been with Marvin Harrison Junior is, is he tough enough?
And I, I don't necessarily think that that was a question on him coming out, but a bigger player at that position in the NFL needs to be rugged.
The reason why is generally those guys can't separate the way the little guys can, and they, they're.
Bodies are big targets.
So they take a lot of damage.
They take a lot of hits.
And that's why you see some of the bigger guys, and some of the guys who, who, who can't separate as much, being some of the toughest guys in the NFL at that position, which is a position that's not always known for toughness.
And I always think of Anquan Boldin as the ultimate example of it , but you think of your Andre Johnsons, your Julio Jones, your, your, your, your Larry Fitzgerald.
Those guys were tough as nails.
And a big part of it, again, is because as a bigger player, you are gonna take more hits.
So, that's an adjustment I think Marvin Harrison has had to make coming into the league.
I also think work ethic isn't a question, so he would fit right into Clint Kubiak's culture.
In fact, like I think if you ask people who've been around him.
They'd say he works himself to the point where he can kind of get in his head a little bit.
So, I think he could use the reset.
I think the Cardinals would be open to it.
Do you swing, say, a conditional 4 that can become a 3 or a 2 in a couple of years if he produces at a really high level?
Would that be enough?
I don't know.
I don't know.
But the Cardinals just paid Michael Wilson.
They've already paid Trey McBride at the top of the tight end market.
They've got the, you know, the, the, the 3rd overall pick playing running back for him and Jeremiah Love.
I don't know where Marvin Harrison fits into the future for Mike McFlore there.
And so if I was a team like the Raiders who was looking for a receiver that could really grow with my team and maybe evolve into the player that everybody thought he was gonna be when he came out of Ohio State, Marvin Harrison Junior is somebody I would make a call on.
Appreciate you guys coming out as always, you can leave.
Your comments, your questions down below here on the YouTube page, or you get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert R Breer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram, and now, Albert at Albert Breer on TikTok.
Appreciate you guys coming out.
We got one more Breer report coming for you this week.
We'll see you for that on Friday.
