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

If the Texans hit the QB jackpot, and taking into a account next season's easier schedule, I think 10-6 is achievable, especially if the team can avoid another horrible streak of injuries. But they absolutely must draft the right QB for that to happen.

 

And they need improvements/replacements in the O-line, and they need improvements/replacement throughout the defense... and they'll be incorporating a new system likely on both sides of the ball, and AJ80 is one more year older (but as long as the nagging injuries don't get him, he'll be productive).

There will be a lot of turnover on both sides of the ball... it may not come together right away.

I just think everybody is getting caught up in the "there's always at least one team that goes from 10 losses to 10 wins every year", and there will be "expectations" that the Texans will need to be one of those teams. This team was 2-14 not just because of bad QB play and injuries... obviously a turnaround is not impossible, but I don't expect it to be the norm.

 

I didn't care for the pick from the beginning. Just had a negative feeling about his demeanor. A lot was made about "local boy comes home." That didn't seem too compelling.

 

https://twitter.com/johngranato/status/418036343999311872

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>2:00 Penn St. Press conference. Bill O'Brien come on down!!</p>&mdash; John Granato (@johngranato) <a href="https://twitter.com/johngranato/statuses/418036343999311872">December 31, 2013</a></blockquote>
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I hope we will hear soon that the Texans have a 1 PM news conference.

 

Charlie P. mentioned it might not be in the best interest of the Texans to announce the hire on/near a holiday. Makes sense.

 

And at that time it was the right hire... he had a good amount of success and turned us from annual bottom feeders to a respected organization. His downfall was because he never evolved.

 

Coaching staff class of 2006:

Rod Marinelli
Scott Linehan
Herm Edwards
Brad Childress
Gary Kubiak
Eric Mangini
Dick Jauron
Sean Payton
Mike McCarthy
Art Shell

We definitely could have done worse.

 

I remember really wanting Sean Payton that year. But I had no idea Mike McCarthy was this good, he kind of came out of nowhere.

 

Anyone who says they were against the hire of Kubiak back then is lying. He was the right pick. Hometown boy who was very well regarded (look what happened to Shanahan after Kubiak left him). As K-Low_4_Prez said, his biggest problem is that he failed to evolve, over time or even within games. It was time for him to go, but I don't regret that he was here.

 

I imagine a lot of coaches would come out of nowhere if they had Aaron Rodgers as their QB.

 

This exactly. Kubiak was a homerun hire at the time, and he took us from the dumpster into respectability. He just couldn't take us from there to the next level.

 

Why would Penn St hold a press conference saying he was leaving?

 

To announce his replacement.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmH7jvQN4zk#t=58

 

They hold press conferences for new hires. Can't have a new hire without a vacancy.

 

That's what I was afraid of. I'll be bummed if they hold a press conference saying that they have made concessions in order to retain O'Brien.

 

Seems a little weird for the school to have a press conference before the job has been officially vacated. Normally, the coach takes the vacant job, announces that, and then the previous place fills the position or has a news conference announcing their plans/etc.

If they are announcing he's leaving, what do they say? "Hi, we want to announce that our current coach is leaving for an unspecified NFL job"?

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And FWIW, there is NO Bill O'Brien press conference scheduled at this point.</p>&mdash; Travis Johnson (@bytravisjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bytravisjohnson/statuses/418056821048627200">December 31, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>There is absolutely no reason to believe at this time that Bill O'Brien, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PennState&amp;src=hash">#PennState</a>, or the Houston Texans have scheduled a news conference.</p>&mdash; Greg Pickel (@GregPickel) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregPickel/statuses/418053470269108224">December 31, 2013</a></blockquote>
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