Maybe; he also gives Smith the opportunity to make the case that BOB is a terrible coach and, for proof, look how much better Brock was with Kubiak... Like I said, it's (likely) a no-win situation for BOB.
it's hard to tell if the vanilla play calling is because BOB knows Brock is terrible and is trying to over compensate, or if he just really calls plays like that. I tend to think it's the former. I wish BOB had the balls/ability to just sit Brock. I'm curious how much pressure he has from the front office to stick with him. It's painfully clear that Brock is not the guy and never will be.
Wasn't the playcalling like this when he had (briefly) Arian foster and even with a really good OL the past couple years?
This is true. BOB sucked before Osweiler got here. As Kubiak's players have left, BOB's offense has slowly turned into hot garbage.
Probably too much... unless the Texans continue to slide. Neither of them are "can't miss, have to give up picks to draft" QBs... or don't seem like it now. And the Texans will have other serious needs. Like OL. That said, for a team that has never had a franchise QB, yet only drafted one in the first round in its history, might be time to take another shot.... perhaps especially if there isn't a "bidding war" to move up. I appreciate Lance's willingness to put something out there. I think the positive of 6-3 had outweighed the negative of Brock's performance so long that we don't really have any real clue as to what's going on in the organization. It's nice to get what might be a glimpse from him. Wish some other reporters would share some juicy tidbits. That said, Lance just spews stuff sometimes. Brock isn't his "type" but Falk and Trubisky are? He just threw out two hot QB names, lol.
BOB certainly likes to run the ball, and i'm fine with that but there are times where it just seems like he's given up on the pass altogether. He certainly doesn't seem to have much faith in passing on early downs.
I don't blame him that much for being a conservative playcaller. O'Brien is trying to hide Osweiler. He has 13 interceptions yet most of his attempts are checkdowns. Brock is a guy with limited upside, but unlimited downside. If O'Brien was airing it out, who knows how many picks Brock would have by now. There's no point to calling more passes, Brock hasn't proven that he can hit guys on target or that he can properly read defenses and find the open man. O'Brien may call the perfect play that has a player open yet Brock will miss it most of the time. Brock Osweiler is a horrible QB. You can't really coach your way around that other than by being very conservative and relying on run game + defense.
O-lines that are a MASH unit or can't pass-block worth a damn will do that. But even with good protection, Brock already has some set bad tendencies.
Brock is the first QB to regress under BOB; that feels relevant. Fitzpatrick's best year was with BOB; Hoyer's best year was with BOB; he won games with Keenum and Yates and Weeden...
Texans made the playoffs last year. And came VERY close the year before. And are leading this division this season in spite of missing the most dominant force in the NFL on defense. I'd say he's done an excellent job since inheriting a 2-14 team from Kubiak. The offense has improved considerably since last season in spite of crippling injuries on the offensive line (Martin, Newton & Brown), Fuller not being 100% for most of the season, etc Osweiler has not grasped BOB's offense, he's had to scrap almost half of the play chart because of it. The improvement in the run game (even with the OL injuries) and the use of TE's can not go unoticed. Osweiler has to do a better job of reading coverage, not forcing throws to Hopkins in double coverage and pretty much anything beyond 15+ yards down the field.
BOB is being awfully snarky in his press conference right now; defending his QB carousel last year and saying Brock's INT to CJ was "1 of 167 different plays"
Earlier in the year, I was placing more blame on B'Ob and the schemes. Blame in the sense of why isn't the offense working. But as the year has gone on, that's flip flopped for me and it's meaningfully more on Brock at this point. As Brock has continued to just whiff on throws, be unable to throw the ball beyond check-downs, etc. And as much as all of that, I think he (Brock) has lost the rest of the players. You could see it in Hops eyes when Brock sailed that long bomb completely out of bounds. As Hopkins was walking back he was just shaking his head. IF... IF B'Ob wasn't really on the Brock bandwagon but really has tried to work with him and make it work, then I'm ok giving him more time as coach, since he's had a very inferior player forced onto him. Of course... that means Rick Smith needs to be shown the door, and that doesn't seem like it will happen.
How do we know he hasn't grasped it? Maybe he knows it perfectly, he's just really bad and can't run it, or any offense, effectively.