House of Houston
Fansided

Houston Texans: Five theories that explain Bill O’Brien’s ineptitude

By David Graf

CINCINNATI, OH - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Bill O'Brien of the Houston Texans looks on while talking to Deshaun Watson #4 against the Cincinnati Bengals during the first half at Paul Brown Stadium on September 14, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Bill O'Brien of the Houston Texans looks on while talking to Deshaun Watson #4 against the Cincinnati Bengals during the first half at Paul Brown Stadium on September 14, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Houston Texans have suffered and a lot of the blame falls on the shoulders of Bill O’Brien. Here are five theories that explain his ineptitude. Look.

Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien had another mind-boggling performance roaming the sidelines on Sunday. Deshaun Watson was electric, combining for 415 yards and a touchdown. O’Brien’s struggles shined brightest inside the five-yard-line for the Houston Texans offense.

The Houston Texans faced goal-to-go situations from inside the five on three separate drives and managed to score one touchdown. The first time resulted in a touchdown on a neat pitch pass to Keke Coutee:

The other drives forced fans to witness Watson take some BRUTAL hits. It’s impossible to defend the play-calling by O’Brien with a quarterback coming off of a major injury.

The first time on 4th-and-goal with only a handful of seconds left in the first half, saw Watson get rocked by Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith. It also made me wonder if Watson would be back to play the second half. Here’s a tip O.B. — don’t overthink it and take the points.

O’Brien returned to this play on a 2nd-and-goal in the third quarter and Watson took a big shot running out of bounds from Randy Gregory and Leighton Vander Esch. It was another unimaginative call and the Texans settled for a field goal.

To his credit, O’Brien acknowledged that the hits were vicious to the Houston Chronicle saying:

"“Obviously, those are plays we want to cut down on and we’re going to work hard to do that going forward because we know that’s not a sustainable way to play to be hit that much. We’re going to work on it and try to improve on that.”"

Watson was just trying to make O’Brien look good and make the play. It’s hard to fault him for wanting to leave it all out on the field but I have no problem blaming O’Brien for not calling better plays.

One has to score touchdowns, especially when any given team is inside the five-yard line and it’s only polarized by the fact that he refuses to add an offensive coordinator to his staff.

So, O’Brien, why abuse your best asset and the only reason why you have a job?

Try these five theories on for size:

The easiest theory is that he really wants to tank again in the hopes that a high first-round pick is used on an offensive lineman. This team isn’t going anywhere in the playoffs with that current offensive line.

This past Sunday, he may have just been trying to save

Jason Garrett

from himself. I’m not

More from House of Houston

sure what kind of history the two have personally but there is a kind of brotherhood among head coaches in the NFL. There are only 32 of those jobs to go around at any time and O’Brien’s job seems safe after signing an extension after last season.

  • He also could just be bitter that Patrick Mahomes II is performing so well after preferring Mahomes in the 2017 pre-draft process. The front office was beaten to the punch when the Kansas City Chiefs traded up before the Texans could to select Mahomes. The Texans, of course, traded up two picks later to take Watson.

    • A crazy idea is that he wants to switch positions with New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Is it possible to trade a head coach for an offensive coordinator and they switch roles for their new teams?

  • O’Brien also could just be incompetent and it’s always astounded me the talk about how he would have another head coaching job right away if the Texans let him go. I’m still trying to forgive him for thinking that Tom Savage could be a good starting quarterback in the NFL.

    • Next. Three reasons why to trade Jadeveon Clowney now. dark

    I wonder if Gary Kubiak is available to come back to coaching. At least he won a Super Bowl as a head coach.

    Do you agree? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below.

    Home/Houston Texans