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Houston Texans: How the team should handle Bill O’Brien from now on

By Armani Gracia

SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 29: Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien walks onto the field before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on October 29, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 29: Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien walks onto the field before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on October 29, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images) /
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The Houston Texans are preparing their free fall below mediocrity and here’s what the team should do with the captain of the ship in Bill O’Brien.

In sports, especially for the Houston Texans, it’s truly amazing how a team can go from good to an absolute dumpster fire in just a matter of days.  I’ve read a lot of tweets and Facebook post from Houston Texans fans after the Indianapolis Colts game and I noticed many immediately called for the firing of Bill O’Brien at the end of the season.

This season, O’Brien has obviously had his ups and downs. At the beginning, he tried to sell Tom Savage as the right guy for the job and we know now that’s utter hogwash because Savage is horrible.  I’ll talk about him later.   In addition, O’Brien has cost the Houston Texans two wins which would have been huge confidence boosters.

In New England, he settled for a field goal which allowed Tom Brady — dubbed by many as the GOAT — to drive down field and throw a magnificent pass to Brandin Cooks in the end zone for the win.

In my opinion, our match up with Seattle was the one that angered fans the most. We had them beat, but O’Brien didn’t trust in Deshaun Watson to put the game in his hands.  Instead, he decided to run a predictable play call by running the ball with Lamar Miller on 3rd down to which he ultimately got stopped short.  I even recall the CBS broadcast crew making pointed remarks in regard to criticizing why O’Brien didn’t put the game in Watson’s hands.

It’s fair to say that O’Brien has done a magnificent job with the cards he’s been dealt with.  He’s never had a QB start for an entire season in his whole tenure here but the team is always in contention. Let’s start with Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett, Brock Osweiler.  The list goes on and on and he’s managed to keep the team afloat even though the QB play could be atrocious at times.

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Don’t get me wrong, I think all of us have found ourselves a one point in time screaming at our TV’s saying O’Brien is too predictable with his play calling. Well, that’s what happens when one is limited at QB.  Savage and all the other pocket signal-callers during O’Brien’s tenure didn’t cause defenses to be on their toes but with Watson, he makes the defense be on high alert.

But let’s get back to Savage. O’Brien has the nickname the “quarterback whisperer,” Savage has been his project for four years there’s no way this guy can be a starting QB in this league.

Now I don’t hate Savage as a person, he’s a wonderful guy off the field but he’s not getting the job done ON the field.  In criticism, he locks onto DeAndre Hopkins too much and doesn’t use Will Fuller or Bruce Ellington as often as he should.  As a matter of fact,  he doesn’t have great footwork in the pocket and the biggest flaw of his is that he holds onto the ball for too long and doesn’t make quick decisions.

For all intents and purposes, Savage is a backup QB in this league, he shouldn’t be the No. 1 quarterback on any depth chart in the league.  And I’ll reiterate — I like Savage the human being but all of this is fair criticism to what I’ve seen from him on the football field when he’s commanding the offense.

I’m not throwing in the towel on this season just yet, I guarantee that O’Brien will have his team ready to fight in every single game for the rest of the season no matter what. But in no way shape or form he should be fired at the conclusion of this season.

Next: Texans: Not signing Colin Kaepernick is a huge mistake

Yes, we’ve heard the rumors of Rick Smith and Bill O’Brien butting heads over time but that’s football and at the end of the day it’s a business.  OB has finally got the right QB to run his system and the prototype — Watson — is putting video game-like numbers up!

If the 2018 season morphs into a rotten egg, then we should move on from him. But for right now I see a very bright future with Watson working in cohort with O’Brien because to me, it looks like a match made in heaven.

Go Texans!

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