This team has a lot of holes and yeah they have been hit hard with injuries, but lets not act like they weren't struggling on defense before all the guys went down. The oline is a cluster**** and when Watson was in there he masked some of those issues, but the odds of him staying upright behind those guys wasn't good at all. We need a series infusion of talent in the OL,DB,DL (you just can't expect Watt to stay healthy anymore), and TE. This team is not talented other than Watson and the 2 starting WR's. and that falls at Rick Smith's lap. If he survives another coaching change and its more of the same at what point does he start feeling the heat. I also think people might be giving O'Brien a little too much credit for the 9-7 seasons and ignoring the fact that he was beating a bunch of bad teams in a terrible division to achieve those records. The other teams have taken a step forward this year and it seems like the Texans have taken 5 steps backwards.
I don't trust O'Brien and Rick smith to protect Watson's health. For that reason alone they should be gone.
I want a HC with a legit OC. Watson only speaking positively to cover bases it O’Brien back. He’s a terrible HC.
This team usually fires a coach a year too late. . . . . . and probably a year they had some real issues to deal with Rocket River
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/12/21/future-general-managers-nick-caserio-eliot-wolf-nfl-notes-mmqb It’s seeming less and less likely that the Texans’ football hierarchy will return intact in 2018. That’s the final year of coach Bill O’Brien’s deal, and it’s hard to imagine the team would go into it with that unresolved and the relationship between coaching and scouting what it is now. If he’s available, there’s little question that O’Brien would vault to the top of many teams’ lists.
From the same article: Bills VP of player personnel Brian Gaine: He’s interviewed for a handful of jobs over the past couple of years, and now has his fingerprints on another rising team. And Gaine has always earned the trust of coaches.
Many reasons for OBie to leave. There appears to be a high demand for his services if he choses to leave. The Texan front office is good at top picks and mediocre at the others. This affects the team depth. Look at the Texans OL. OBie wants to win but needs more roster depth to accomplish this. Other teams see OBie as a good NFL HC. The Texans may see things differently. Or maybe better said, Rick Smith may deflect the heat he is taking about the roster by running OBie off. McNair has family loyalty with Smith, but McNair kept Kubiak way past his expiration date. McNair values stability. Rightly so IMHO. McNair sees stability as a reason for the Steelers and the Patriots success, right or wrong. My best guess is that McNair will keep both Smith and OBie. McNair will then direct Smith to spend and rebuild the scouting operations.
From people who know more about the NFL than you. If Rick Smith and Bill O'Brien were both suddenly unemployed, O'Brien would have his choice of a handful of jobs. He'd be unemployed for a nanosecond. Smith? Ha. Might get a lower level front office job doing PR work or contracts/cap stuff. Maybe he and his buddy Sashi Brown would become "consultants" -- another word for unemployed.
From sh*t teams with sh*t HCs. OBie has shown that he can win in the NFL. Maybe even a better than average HC. Good not great. I guess you want great.
To me, he's proven to have a garbage offensive system and a poor eye for talent. He puts no value on asset building. He also makes mind boggling move with timeouts, challenges, who starts at QB, and late game situations.
Cal might need a babysitter for his grand kids or something.... He always has that to fall back on. Who doesnt?
I would like to see another year of watson and b.o.b. Watson is still the second best quarterback in the entire NFL using play action. Wentz is still probably first, r.i.p. But before watson, the only time we saw play action and zone running was in the preseason. What kind of ish was that? He went on three seasons with Tom brady goggles. if b.o.b thinks he can take the uggs system and make it work without a holy phenom under center then he must be high on cream of mushrooms or whatever they eat in the East coast. The problem with the media around town is thinking Rick Smith is actually the one that calls the shots when it comes to the acquisition of players. You can get on Rick for not resigning the best guard in the Nfl and an all pro cornerback. To me that's what's fire worthy. but I doubt it was Smith's idea to go to New england and start the hoyett era here in Houston. Willfork? B.OB has had the opportunity to bring in players for this system of his. the patriots can run a power scheme running game because teams fear tb12 that they line up to stop the pass. You try to go empty backfield with hoyer it's not going to end up very pretty. I might be one of the few but with watson now entrenched as our holy phenom, I like the talent we have. I hear on the radio " this is on rick. look at the team that's out there." Motherf'ers there are like 14 guys on the injury reserve. Only a few positions league wide have good depth like running backs, dbs and lbs. We have an excellent receiving core, a nice linebacking core when they grow up. the same with the D-line. We Had a nice DB core that Rick f'd up. That is truly on him. The offensive line, well that's trash. You're going to have to get creative. I think the duane brown and rick pissing contest set it back even more. I don't know who you blame that on. A tie? until Brown made those comments to get traded. TLDR. The coaches have always had their choices for players. Rick smith does a good job of staying away until Bob mcnair sees something shiny. B.O.B wants to be Bellicheat. I say win a superbowl first.
