Houston Texans: Four things about Bill O’Brien that will drive you crazy
By Neal Sharma
Thing #2: The case for an extension (2016-17)
Year 3 — 2016
It was another mediocre year for the Texans and we all know why it happened. Brock Osweiler was signed to big money without even meeting O’Brien prior to putting the pen to paper and why the Texans regretted signing him was easily proved by the stats: 2,957 passing yards, a 59 percent completion percentage and 15 touchdown passes to a daunting 16 interceptions. The only reason that the Houston Texans reached the playoffs that season was because of a defense that excelled without J.J. Watt along with another crappy performance by the division.
The Texans reached 9-7 once again.
Did you feel like you just heard the same story?
Most people never assumed O’Brien to be the reason because of the abysmal play from Osweiler, but there must’ve been a few fans at some point who questioned a coach that had three straight years of a 9-7 record.
2015 record: 9-7
2016 record: 9-7
Year 4 — 2017
The Texans got rid of the negative stigma of Osweiler and Houston Texans made the boldest of moves by trading up in the draft along with gaving up their 2018 first-round pick to nab Deshaun Watson out of Clemson U. The quarterback was just fresh off winning a national championship so his stock was at an all-time high. The plan was simple. Take the same team from the previous year, add J.J. Watt, replace Osweiler with Deshaun Watson and pray to the Lord nobody gets hurt.
And there comes the injury bug…
Most star players, including Deshaun, were done for the year. Coaching, along with the lack of depth in the roster were exposed, the Texans reeled off a gaudy 1-8 record after Deshaun’s injury. The Texans were even losing with Deshaun Watson, as while the offense was clicking, the defense struggled and fans had about enough.
O’Brien still struggled with a great quarterback in those seven games, as when the offensive play rose to the top, the Texans became a mediocre team at best on defense. After the injury bug hit Watson after already hitting Watt and Whitney Mercilus, many gave up on this year and were convinced that there needed to be plenty of front office changes.
Eventually, Rick Smith stepped down to take care of his wife, who’s battling cancer and the franchise hired Brian Gaine, a long-time cog of the front office as its third general manager in history.
2016 record: 9-7
2017 record: 4-12
I bet you can figure out how the team handled the coaching job. I’m not even going there.