In The Loop

In The Loop opens the show looking back at DeMeco Ryans’ Monday press conference and asks whether the Texans head coach may have actually given an answer to the team’s real problem without directly answering it. What did DeMeco say that could tell us more about what’s really going wrong with this team? Then the guys turn their attention to the struggling Texans rushing attack and ask whether simply being ineffective or unsuccessful on the ground is enough reason to abandon the run. Should Houston keep trying to establish it even when it isn’t working, or is it time to find another way offensively? The hour wraps with the Question of the Day: What’s an excuse that works every time?

In The Loop goes Around The NFL to hit the biggest stories and conversations from across the league following Week 2. Then the guys turn their attention to the Astros, who enter the final six games of the regular season at 77-79 and one game behind Texas in the AL West after being swept by Atlanta. Yordan Alvarez called a players-only meeting following Sunday’s loss and told the team the focus now is simply finding a way to win the final six. But at this point in the season, is there any chance one final team meeting is enough to wake the Astros up and save their season? The hour wraps with What’s Popping, covering the biggest stories from the world of sports.

In The Loop looks at some of DeMeco Ryans’ decisions against Cincinnati and asks whether the Texans head coach has already shown a lack of confidence in his offense. Houston went 0-for-4 on fourth down, and after an early fourth-down failure, the Texans ran the ball just five more times. With the expectations surrounding this team coming into the season, ITL asks whether anything short of a drastic move or change can restore confidence in an offense that hasn’t delivered through two games. Then it’s time for ITL Lunch-Time Confessions before the hour wraps with College Football on a Tuesday, hitting the biggest stories around the sport after Week 3.

In The Loop looks at what we’ve learned about the Texans through the first two weeks of the season and asks: What can you absolutely depend on with this team? Whether it’s something on offense or defense, what already feels like an absolute about the 2026 Texans? Houston’s defense has continued to give the team opportunities, while the offense is coming off a game in which it scored just six points, rushed for 60 yards and went 0-for-4 in the red zone. Then Figgy’s Mixtape takes over with a bizarre Cornell story involving students processing a black bear in a dorm kitchen, a wild case involving 12 people accused of stealing more than $100,000 worth of chicken, and more. The Cornell incident actually involved two students who legally harvested the bear in 2025 and butchered it in a dorm kitchen, which led Cornell to explicitly ban processing wild game in community kitchens.

Figgy’s Mixtape gets weird with the story behind Cornell changing its rules after two students butchered a legally harvested black bear in a dorm kitchen, 12 people accused of stealing more than $100,000 worth of chicken, and more wild stories.

The guys step into the confession booth and get a few things off their chest during another edition of Lunch-Time Confessions.

DeMeco’s decisions have raised questions about just how much he trusts his offense right now. With Houston sitting at 0-2 and expectations much higher than what the offense has shown, ITL wonders what can realistically be done to restore that confidence.

After getting swept by Atlanta, Yordan Alvarez called a players-only meeting with only six games remaining. ITL asks whether a meeting this late in the season can actually spark the Astros or if their problems have gone beyond something a clubhouse conversation can fix.

ITL goes around the league and reacts to the biggest NFL stories and developments following Week 2.

Everybody has that one excuse that can get them out of almost anything. ITL asks listeners for the excuse that seems to work every single time.