Houston Texans: Four things about Bill O’Brien that will drive you crazy
By Neal Sharma
Thing #1: The Early Years (2014-15)
Even though I had no idea who O’Brien was, I figured the least I could do was support the guy and give him a chance. I figured eventually that he was a pretty strong college coach and was really good with quarterbacks, so I was willing to see what this guy could do.
For four straight years, I stuck my damn neck out for this guy and I’ve pretty much lost all hope.
But not at first.
Year 1 — 2014
The first year was a bounce back I’ll admit. The Houston Texans won seven more games relative to the previous year with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center along with Keenum, who finished out the season after Fitzie suffered a broken leg on a failed rushing attempt.
The defense was decent as a whole but they didn’t have Jadeveon Clowney for most of the year. Even though the Houston Texans didn’t make playoffs (they were really close), they showed that with their talent coupled along with a solid QB, that they could still be productive and be something special.
2013 record: 2-14
2014 record: 9-7
Year 2 — 2015
The Houston Texans were expecting to do a little bit better but it didn’t come to show. There were many that assumed O’Brien was going to improve as a coach but the QB situation still remained unsolved.
The Houston Texans signed Brian Hoyer for the short term and they made a trade in a large hope that Ryan Mallett could take over the franchise after many seasons of being Tom Brady‘s understudy. In his coming out season, Clowney made some eye-opening plays in his second year as a Texan after being injured for most of 2014.
The Texans sneaked into the playoffs — with amazingly the same record as 2015 — because the rest of the division struggled. In the first playoff game under O’Brien, the lack of a reliable quarterback at helm was exposed as Hoyer committed five turnovers. Many fans spent that entire off season blaming the team’s under-performance on Hoyer and not pointing enough fingers on O’Brien since he never really had a reliable guy under center.
2014 record: 9-7
2015 record: 9-7