Bill O'Brien emerges as Houston Texans No. 1 target for new head coach

Something tells me that McNair knew who he wanted all along, and he's not the dumb, "Aw shucks!" Good 'ole boy that people peg him to be. Maybe he knew he wanted O'Brien, knew that O'Brien liked the idea of coming here, so he fired Kubiak mid-season, before anyone else (breaking what he's always said about not firing a coach in mid-season). Then, during the press conference, he purposefully threw Lovie Smith's name out there because he A.) would satisfy the Rooney Rule, and B.) wouldn't want anyone else to get in on the game until he could interview O'Brien.

 

I actually know multiple Browns fans. The one I talk to the most about football called their franchise "disgusting" to me today. That sucks.

 

I love the on air BJ that Skip and Stephen give Brady reporting the Brady O'Brien exchange.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/b-lCKVWufRU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I figured the Browns publicly crossed out last year's candidates because they realized none would give them the time of day this year. But they were probably too stupid to realize the PR implications would make them look worse as per your post.

That Lovie was a token interview here is old news.

 

Well, McNair laid out his criteria and it was a reporter who threw out Lovie's name. McNair just went with it and said yes, that Lovie was the kind of person they'd be looking at. But he didn't volunteer the name himself.

 

Absolutely. But that's not the point of that post.

The point of the post is that I think McNair gets a bad wrap at times. I think when this all shakes out, and if we get O'Brien (especially if he ends up being a good coach), it'll make McNair revered here. So far, he's coming off looking like a very smart man out of this deal. He's played all the right cards.

 

Well after over ten years I guess every dog would have its day.

 

I really hope he isn't just porting over his PSU staff. I want real, successful NFL coaches, not the buddy system.

 

It could just also be the Occam's Razor option. He fired Kubiak because the guy deserved to be fired, and then they researched coaches, and have concluded the O'Brien is the guy they are most interested in, so they are trying to hire him.

 

I hear that!

I really like and respect Bob Mc Nair, but it's just irrational not to point out the fact that he's played a big part in the Texans overall suckage the last decade. Dom and Kubiak? Casserly and Rick Smith? Not good. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a new direction. Really like the choice of O'Brien. It's bold and hopefully ...ahead of the curve.

 

Seriously have no problem if Texans Keep Watt, AJ, Mercilus, Brown, Myers, Hopkins and cut everyone else.

 

Kubiak was bold and fairly popular at the time he was hired.

 

He says something about making good decisions off-the-field = making good decisions on-the-field. That doesn't sound like Johnny M.

His emphasis on having a smart QB toward the end of the video really sounds like the strength of Teddy B.

 

What about when he got an extention?

 

Right after he took the team to 7-3 before losing his QB (and getting to 10-3 even with the 3rd string QB starting), made the playoffs, and won a playoff game? I think a lot of people (myself included) had doubts about him, but you still have to extend him at that point. If you weren't going to commit to him for accomplishing that, then there was no point in keeping him that year either. I advocated firing him the previous year, but after the decision was made to keep him, he earned the extension - there's no logical reason to have him coaching as a lame duck at that point.

 

He was the guy all the fans wanted. People on here wanted him long before Capers was fired. People seem to forget that.

 

Well. They didn't HAVE to extend him. He still had time left on his old contract. But still, we went 12-4 the next year and despite the ending, he would've been extended anyway. To Gary's credit, they offered him 4 years but he only wanted 3 so that his contract would expire the same time as his assistants (Rick Smith still took 4 years though). He saved the Texans some money there.

 

Wow that's a lot of cutting. You got to fill the roster with some old players. I would keep rookies coming off their first year, Swearinger. Griffin, Williams and Queesenberry, the later two just to see. Inspite of his low sack production I thought Brooks Reed was a solid tackler and improved toward the end. Cutting Cushing is not an option and if comes back healthy he's worth his salary. I'd probably keep Kareem Jackson and Joseph. Dropping Joseph doesn't help on the cap much and he is decent.

You got to fill the roster with some cheap players. Guys that can come off the bench and contribute. For that I would go with Keo, Mays, Tarpinian, Sharpton, Brandon Harris, Pleasant and Jarid Crick.

On offense Foster is back, I'd keep Martin and Posey and I'd probably keep Owen Daniels unless cutting is necessary to sign someone else more important. On the cheap I'd keep, Garret Graham, Dennis Johnson and Case Keenum. On the line Jones and even though Newton mostly sucked he is cheap and did improve slightly over the season.

I'd keep Lechler and Bullock is cheap so I would at least bring him back to camp.

That gets you up to 32. We still need lots of help in the defensive backfield, a legitimate Pass rusher, an offensive tackle and a Quarterback. We get that help by adding 8 rookies and 1 starting defensive back free agent and 1 starting offensive line free agent. Add 3 lower level free agents, the guys that are left over after the big names are signed and all the money dries up and that gets us our roster.

 

OK, but you'd be creating $57 million in dead money. Add in the $35 million you owe the 6 players you're keeping and you're now spending $92 million for your 6 man roster with roughly $33 million left over for 47 players to fill out your active roster.

Good luck with that.

 

People also seem to forget just how BAD the team he took over was. I say this Texans team does have a talent problem... but that Texans team had a roster that was likely WORSE than the expansion team roster (talent-wise)... and they did not have any extra picks or cap money that expansion teams normally get.

A quick turnaround was impossible, as was sustaining the usual "window of opportunity" (since it took longer than normal to get to that point... something I think doesn't happen if this team had some established players back in 2006).

This Texans team still needs work, but there are some established building blocks (including a stud, MVP/defensive POY/future HOF in Watt). Shouldn't take as long this time around if O'Brien does a good job... but I'm not "expecting" this team to be a 10 win team again next season.