The result was by far the most frustrating loss of the season, a 31-21 wilting in Minnesota that included an embarrassingly sluggish start, highlighted by 16 net lawns on 12 total plays throughout the groups first 3 drives. Houston eventually clawed back into the video game with a possibility to tie things late, however it was more of a by-product of how the Vikings played the game (a lot of Dalvin Cook, trying to ice the game) than some collective effort on Houstons part to storm back..
On the extremely first play of the video game, David Johnson had a chance to bounce the ball outside with a gaping hole and space to run. Rather, he attempted to break through a small, quickly evaporating hole between the takes on..
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Watson had plenty of time. Watson was terrible early in this video game.
Credit Zimmer for the gameplan. Dropping his linebackers into zones triggered Watson to think twice both to remove running and to attempt and force anything into tight windows early on. The Texans have actually been abysmal on third down all season, falling under 35 percent for the year (fourth-worst in the NFL) after transforming simply 3-of-12 against the Vikings..
Undoubtedly it contributed to OBrien being fired this early into the season. Expect a pretty serious Dead Cat Bounce from the Texans in Week 5 versus Jacksonville.
The roster is skilled, however it is also comprised of “scrubs and stars,” to obtain a term from dream baseball. Some of the stars are even scrubs at this point. Watson, Tunsil, Will Fuller, Brandin Cooks (maybe), David Johnson (maaaaybe), J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus, Zach Cunningham and a couple of other former top choices from other teams in the secondary..
Watt is a first-ballot Hall of Famer and can still play at a high level, but hes not in his prime anymore. Cooks is on his fourth team.
Its an excellent job with a possibly great quarterback, some questionable salary cap scenario, s and an, ahem, in-flux circumstance in the front workplace..
Possible Candidates.
Josh McDaniels: The most apparent prospect given Easterbys ties to New England. McDaniels bolted the Pats for the Colts gig 2 offseasons ago but ultimately returned and balked home. When he went, there was a belief he d bring Easterby with him to Indy. With Tom Brady gone and the future certainly up in the air in New England at the quarterback position, would McDaniels amuse an opportunity to make a leap to a new landing area with a franchise QB in place? By all accounts, he is a huge fan of Watson. The Caserio scenario might be a little difficult here, nevertheless, offered the previous approach of the Pats front office man..
Eric Bieniemy: The Chiefs offensive coordinator should be on every single coaching list you see from now until the end of the season. The connection isnt precisely strong with Easterby and the Texans, but possibly that does not matter.
Swinney is apparently also close with Easterby– how the connection was developed Im not sure, however certainly it was only reinforced over the last two years with Easterby working closely with Swinneys old quarterback Watson. He will likely lose Trevor Lawrence after this season and possibly he desires to take a shot at the professional level (after potentially walking off with another title). Plenty of individuals will question if Swinney can be an NFL coach given his energetic style but plenty of people questioned whether Swinney must be the next coach at Clemson.
Expense OBrien held a 24-point lead over the Chiefs in the playoffs in February and found himself unemployed before Halloween of the exact same year. Nobody required more evidence about how odd 2020 has actually been, however throw it in the file anyway. The news of OBrien being fired by the Texans was so shocking it happened before I could complete writing my Week 4 recap about Bill OBrien trending heavily towards the hot spot in Houston. Cal McNair acted quickly in this instance: the Texans began the year 0-4 and there was nobody in the structure to actually fire Bill OBrien, who had accumulated a lot power for the Texans he was holding the title of head coach and basic manager..
When you start to dig into the transactional decisions and internal power has a hard time the Texans dealt with over the last half years or so, OBriens period in Houston is absolutely wild. Whatever paints the picture of a wildly dysfunctional organization.
The Last Straw.
In the end, OBrien most likely fired himself– after all, it was the lineup construction that produced the concerns for Houston in 2020, with the Texans ranking in the bottom half of the league in every major offensive and protective category..
Things got so bad that, following an 0-3 start– one sustained by an undoubtedly impossible schedule versus Kansas City, Baltimore and Pittsburgh– in a matchup versus the Vikings, a shell of Mike Zimmers typically stout defense, OBrien stated he was taking more ownership on playcalling..
The result is a group of skill-position guys that dont appear to fit together and an offending method thats left Watson looking more like an average quarterback than one of the genuinely elite guys of the NFL. OBrien seems determined on force-feeding Johnson, a once-dynamic player for the Cardinals who appear to have lost his burst and isnt see the field the way he did during his prime in Arizona..
Power Struggles.
OBrien was worked with on New Years Eve of 2013. Following the 2017 season, Smith left to deal with his spouses battle with cancer amidst reports OBrien was prepared to make late owner Bob McNair pick in between the coach and the GM moving forward.
OBrien wound up remaining on, certainly, and in January of 2018, the Texans employed Brian Gaine to be the teams next basic manager. That didnt last what you would call long– Gaine was fired in June of 2019 despite signing a contract that went through 2022. Worth keeping in mind: in between Gaines hiring and shooting, Bob McNair passed away, leaving his boy Cal McNair to fill deep space as Chairman and CEO of the Texans..
Whats Next?
Romeo Crennel was named interim head coach by the Texans. Hes remained in this position before, having actually taken over for Todd Haley in Kansas City before being offered the head job for the 2012 season. Easterby, for what its worth, was with the Chiefs then too..
Theres no telling how the Texans handle these set of hires. There is a GM void and a head coaching void and most coaching candidates will not be readily available for a number of months. Would the Texans want to employ a GM in-season and after that try to insert in a training prospect when things clean after the 2020 season? Is someone going to leave their job to take the GM position in the middle of a season in the middle of a pandemic?.
It would be borderline difficult to employ a coaching prospect now. Crennel will practically definitely get the full season to serve as interim coach and then a hire will be made in the offseason. Any coaching prospects currently out of work would be eligible for interviews, but otherwise, the Texans are just in wait-and-see mode till the regular season– college or pro– is over..
The more youthful McNair issued the statement shooting Gaine and at the time buzz developed that Patriots exec Nick Caserio might be a candidate to take the GM function. There was also discuss about Jack Easterby, the previous Patriots chaplain, having serious impact on who would be the next basic supervisor. After a very unsightly and really public situation involving Caserio emerged– with the Pats threatening to submit tampering charges versus the Texans– the Texans ultimately chose to run in 2019 * without a GM * running the team..
Ultimately, Houston would announce this offseason the promotion of OBrien to general manager and the promo of Easterby to VP of Football Operations. That is the duo, seemingly, that crafted the trade of Hopkins, the over-market Tunsil finalizing, the trade for Brandin Cooks and whatever else that caused the existing Texans scenario..
The relationship in between Easterby and OBrien over the previous few months will be fascinating to hear spill out. OBrien is gone. Easterby has been charged with restoring the Texans organization..
Worker Issues.
But it wasnt OBriens training that got him fired. He won a lot of video games in Houston. If you did a Mt. Rushmore of the Texans, you might even call OBrien the Texans coach upon the imaginary mountain..
What got OBrien fired was some unbelievably bad workers choices. OBrien has actually been managing personnel matters for the Texans over the last 2 years, provide or take. Hes made some exceptionally aggressive decisions in the trade market, providing up multiple first-round choices for Laremy Tunsil, trading away Jadeveon Clowney while paying his wage and this offseason swapping out DeAndre Hopkins for David Johnson and then snagging Brandin Cooks from the Rams..
OBrien has actually allowed his aggravation as a coach to bleed into decision-making as a basic supervisor. He cut Aaron Colvin after a single week in 2019, just one year removed from offering him a $34 million extension. The Clowney and Hopkins offers both felt individual to a degree; they wanted more cash and OBrien wasnt able to separate the relationships. Tunsil– without an agent– worked out an agreement with OBrien that paid him more than $5 million above the market value for left takes on..
Is this a good task to take?
Yes and no. It is a terrific job because theres a franchise quarterback in location, under agreement for a long period of time. Watson hasnt played well this season, but you bring an offending mind in here to take full advantage of Watsons strengths, and the Texans might take off on that side of the ball..
It would take a lot to nullify the existence of Watson, but OBrien and Easterby handled to do just that! If the Texans are dreadful this season, that might be a top-five pick.
Presently, the Texans are investing over $250 million in cash to trot this particular roster out on the field. Likewise not good!.
The news of OBrien being fired by the Texans was so stunning it took place before I could finish composing my Week 4 wrap-up about Bill OBrien trending greatly toward the hot seat in Houston. Undoubtedly it contributed to OBrien being fired this early into the season. OBrien has been managing personnel matters for the Texans over the last two years, take or offer. OBrien has actually enabled his frustration as a coach to bleed into decision-making as a general supervisor. Following the 2017 season, Smith left to deal with his better halfs battle with cancer amidst reports OBrien was ready to make late owner Bob McNair select between the coach and the GM moving forward.
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Bounce this run outside and DJ is picking up at worst like 5 backyards. Instead, he sort of encounter a clot of his own offensive linemen..
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Fine if he ran the play that was called. But one could certainly wonder why OBrien keeps feeding Johnson with runs up the middle when his specialized over the course of his career has actually been getting in space. Another play in the 3rd quarter, with the Texans routing 17-6, was similarly difficult..
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Something is failing here in the application. OBrien might have understood Johnson isnt the very same player– after getting more than 80 percent of the offensive snaps in Week 1, he was down to 55 percent against the Vikings. This significant, obviously, because Johnson was acquired in a stunning trade that sent DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona this offseason (more on that in a second).
The passing game does not look anymore cohesive. Rather of dealing with Watsons strengths (get him on the relocation by design!), OBrien seemed content to run have fun with minimal pass-catching alternatives. When the Vikings dropped their linebackers back into zone Watson was very hesitant to shoot and instead wound up running for his life..
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