Houston Texans: Bill O'Brien and Rick Smith deserve our confidence

The Houston Texans are entering quite possibly their most anticipated season in franchise history since their inaugural year in the league back in 2002. They drafted a two time Heisman Trophy finalist that beat the number one college defense for a national championship at quarterback and are returning their franchise player in JJ Watt.

The Houston Texans have never been able to get over the hump in the playoffs though, only making it to the divisional round of the playoffs three times in their 15 year history. That said, Bill O’Brien and Rick Smith have done all they can in their time together (tumultuous as it may be) to put a winner on the field. And this season they deserve our confidence.

While our playoff history could best be described as “Less than illustrious”, the fact that since Bill O’Brien took over we have had three consecutive 9-7 seasons including two playoff appearances is quite incredible. Especially considering the team has made the playoffs missing the most crucial piece of an NFL roster. A quarterback.

Let’s look at who the Texans have had at the quarterback position in Bill O’Brien’s tenure

In 2014, Bill O’Brien’s first year, he was working with Ryan Fitzpatrick as his starter. At the time, Fitzpatrick’s career record was 27-49-1 and he had thrown 93 interceptions in 77 starts. The only time Fitzpatrick threw less than double digit interceptions in a season where he made double digit starts was in 2008 with Cincinnati where he went 4-7-1 with eight touchdowns to nine interceptions.

During his season under O’Brien, Fitzpatrick was 6-6 with 17 touchdowns to his eight interceptions. O’Brien ran a conservative offense, rushing the ball more times than passing it (551 rushes to 485 passes.), a rarity in today’s NFL. But he did so because the quarterback they were given was less than stellar.

And the reason Rick Smith signed Ryan Fitzpatrick is that he was a smart quarterback who had starter experience and was the best option available on the market. It was an attempt at getting some stability at the quarterback position and they did as well as they could have with Fitzpatrick and Case Keenum at the helm.

The following season, Rick Smith once again tried to solve the quarterback situation signing Brian Hoyer after he had had a decent enough season with Cleveland helping them win some games. Again, Smith got what was the best option available on the market. On top of that he traded for a quarterback who had a lot of potential (alongside a volatile personality) in Ryan Mallett.

Rick Smith did everything he could to try and bring stability to the Texans quarterback situation with what was available to him.

Rick Smith did everything he could to try and bring stability to the Texans quarterback situation with what was available to him. And Bill O’Brien got the Texans to the playoffs despite losing Arian Foster for 12 of the 16 games and despite having the quarterback carousel and locker room turmoil that was the Brian Hoyer/Ryan Mallett debacle.

And where did those two quarterbacks end up the following year? Ryan Mallett would be a back-up for the Baltimore Ravens and Brian Hoyer would follow up his tenure as a starter with the Houston Texans as a back up for the Chicago Bears, a team notorious for also having no stability at the quarterback position.

These are chances Rick Smith took, but what other options did he have? He’s not going to trade and get Aaron Rodgers. He did the best he could with what was available. And Bill O’Brien got this team to the playoffs without a true starting running back or quarterback.

Then there’s last year and the signing of Brock Osweiler. I know the money was insane, but Rick Smith also made sure that only two years were guaranteed and again, he had to take a chance. We are seeing now that we will only have a healthy J.J. Watt for so much longer and Smith is doing everything in his power to get a competent quarterback out there. So he took a chance on Brock.

And despite Osweiler throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, O’Brien still was able to navigate the team to a division title and an appearance in the divisional round of the playoffs. Rick Smith was humble enough to admit he made a mistake with Osweiler and traded him to the Cleveland Browns this year to open up space for another quarterback.

Bill O’Brien and Rick Smith have taken a lot of heat for their playoff failures, but they’ve also won a division crown with the third or fourth best quarterback in the division consistently.

Some general managers would have had too much pride to make such a move, sticking by their decision and saying “Give him another year.” But Smith instead said “We took a chance. It failed. Let’s try another option because we want to win now.”

Just look at all the moves Smith has made to try and put a contender on the field. Granted the quarterbacks have not worked out, but he had to take chances. Keep in mind he’s the one who traded for Matt Schaub, a back-up in Atlanta, that gave us unquestionably the longest quarterback success we’ve had in franchise history.

Smith has time and again made moves that while risky, were worth the risk and the best possible options available. And Bill O’Brien has made those options work even if they weren’t much to work with to begin with.

You can complain all you want about Rick Smith not drafting Derek Carr (and yes, I agree, big miss there not taking him with the first pick of the 2nd round in the 2014 draft.) But when the draft was happening, was there a single Texans fan who wanted the brother of the failed first quarterback in Texans history? The team waited and drafted Tom Savage, our starting quarterback this year, in the fourth round. So if you want to beat up Smith for that misstep go ahead.

But remember that Smith also drafted J.J. Watt, DeAndre Hopkins, Whitney Mercilus, Jadeveon Clowney (instead of reaching for a quarterback with the number one pick) signed Lamar Miller to solidify the running game and traded up to get Deshaun Watson (Time will tell with this.) And he hired Romeo Crennell as defensive coordinator whose decision to move Clowney off the line and instead have him float around the field on the defensive side of the ball has made Clowney a Pro-Bowler.

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Bill O’Brien and Rick Smith have taken a lot of heat for their playoff failures, but they’ve also won a division crown with the third or fourth best quarterback in the division consistently. They don’t have Andrew Luck, Blake Bortles, or Marcus Mariota. They’ve had Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, and Brock Osweiler. Yet we’re the ones winning the division the past two years.

O’Brien and Smith now have a young talent in Deshaun Watson and we’ll see how soon he gets behind center. Savage will have little to no leash if he’s struggling as this is the year Texans fans have been waiting for. This dynamic defense alongside a solid running game with Lamar Miller and the incredible play making ability of DeAndre Hopkins.

In these past three seasons, I believe Bill O’Brien has earned our confidence. And since 2007 when Rick Smith traded for Matt Schaub, and all the moves since then he has made to try and make this team competitive, well let’s just say Daryl Morey isn’t the only executive in whom I trust.

Next: 5 reasons Deshaun Watson could be great or bust

They’ve earned our confidence and while sports fans can be hasty, with knee jerk reactions to any negative move a coach or general manager make, we should be happy with the job these two have done. 2017 will hopefully be the start of the Deshaun Watson (or heck, maybe the Tom Savage) era and the work O’Brien and Smith have put in to making a complete team will be worth all the previous seasons of frustration and early exits.

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Houston Texans: Bill O’Brien and Rick Smith deserve our confidence

By Joe Fernandez | Aug 12, 2017

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