I highly doubt that is the way it went down. You can say that OBrien needed convincing but no way Rick Smith did this on his own.
And people just don't like Rick Smith. He's been the scapegoat. Whenever a signing or draft pick turns out great, they claim it was somebody else's decision. But it if turns out bad, they blame it on Rick Smith. For instance, JJ Watt was Wade Phillip's pick but not Brandon Harris. Harris had to be Rick Smith's. Same year. Same draft. You can say the same for Hopkins and Sam Montgomery. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Every decision is a collaboration between Rick's staff and the coaching staff. But ultimately, Smith should be responsible for personnel moves, good or bad.
I think someone mentioned a few months ago how Rick always gets the first round right but not the second
/end thread Seriously all that criticizing the play calling, lets give the coach some credit for having the young man ready Nobody even his biggest fans expected Watson to have a game ike this this soon
I think that has more to do with Watson than with O'Brien "complicated playbook". He threw away his playbook and then the offense looked alive. Watson is quick on his feet. BoB "I need to coach better" gets caught on the sidelines missing key adjustments. I would say we needed to score a TD in the 4th to ice the game, but he went conservative. Just that Lamar Miller run up the middle play that everyone else wants consigned to the trash bin and you know he still doesn't know how to use his personnel. 4th year as HC ... sigh
The defense is supposed to be elite. The team is built around it. All they had to do was prevent a touchdown with under two minutes to play. The offense controlled the time of possession so fatigue shouldn't be an excuse.