NFL
The Houston Texans Need A Playcaller
The Houston Texans lost in an embarrassing fashion on Sunday afternoon to the previously winless New York Giants. The 27-22 score highlights the Texans’ luck more than anything, as the result could’ve been much more one-sided. The loss showed, in great detail, the need for head coach Bill O’Brien to step aside as playcaller for the Texans. Houston’s lack of creativity and predictability on offense have earned them an 0-3 record to begin the 2018 season. With seven straight losses dating back to 2017, the Texans have shown no signs of meaningful recovery. Just three games into the season, the Texans’ playoff chances are already on life support. This follows a 2017 season which saw the Texans post a 4-12 record and, without reason, reward O’Brien with a contract extension.
“Started slow, red-area issues again, can’t fix the red area on offense. We get some momentum there in the second half, but we can’t stop them from scoring a touchdown. So, it is what it is.” — Bill O’Brien, Texans head coach
Take the onside kick at the end of Week 3 as an example. Instead of a recoverable onside kick, the Texans came up with a 32-yard pooch kick that waved the white flag of surrender to the Giants and Eli Manning. The Texans struggled to score and, with a whisper of a possibility to come back and win, they pooch kick instead.
“At the end here,” continued O’Brien, “Yeah, it was one second left on the clock. If we onside kick it and they touch the ball, the game’s pretty much over, so we’re just trying to get them to field the ball and see if we can maybe pop it out and get a turnover.”
The Art Of Playcalling
Seriously? O’Brien and staff felt that was the best recipe for success? No Sunday evening or Monday morning quarterback would have ever made that call.
Does Bill O’Brien know how to call plays that put his players in the best position? O’Brien thought he could do the job. He could not be more wrong. George Godsey wasn’t that great and got the sack at the end of 2016. Now, he’s the quarterbacks coach for Matthew Stafford and everyone saw the results this week — with Stafford taking apart New England on Sunday. O’Brien has done much worse in Houston. A quarterback whisperer he is not.
“Yeah, it’s terrible play calling,” says O’Brien, in his own words. “The play calling has been terrible and we got to look at that. It has a lot to do with that. I’ve got to do a better job of getting these guys into a rhythm. We’ve got a lot of good players, just haven’t been able to get them into a rhythm.”
Bring Back Kubiak
It’s the same old story, week-after-week. ‘Got to look at that.’ ‘Got to get better at that.’ Where is Gary Kubiak when you need him? At least Kubiak knew how to set up a screen pass to the running back. Kubiak knew how to get the most from his quarterback. Remember Matt Schaub, the perennial backup who then came to Houston to become “The Man”? Kubiak got 4,000-yard seasons from him, utilizing the screen (among other things). The former Texans head coach also knew how to get the most from his ground game. On Sunday, the Texans were one-dimensional once again. Quarterback DeShaun Watson threw for 385 yards, but the ground game came up with just 59 yards from 19 carries. Lamar Miller is not a bruising, run-between-tackles rusher — yet O’Brien continues to call on him for that style of play.
The Final Whistle
Losing is never a good thing. Starting the season 0-3 with a 2.9% chance of making the playoffs is even worse. Having a head coach that believes he’s an offensive genius is worse still. Houston may win a few games in spite of O’Brien’s play-calling, but they will never win consistently because of it.
Photo Credit: Nazrul Islam via Flickr
