Fire Bill O'Brien

Go home, you're drunk.

In no universe does finishing 9-7 "suck".

 

For the record, I do not agree with you.

An interesting discussion would be why the Texans sucked hard in 2017 and are playoff bound in 2018.

 

How do they not have the personnel to build those bigger scores when they are often more than halfway there in the first half?? (Or thereabouts)

It’s a game plan issue. And it’s working for O’Brien so I’m not backseat driving this.

But we should be absolutely concerned about the playoffs. Will they be able to play 3-4 games of appropriate 4 quarter offense?

 

For the record, I would not hit.

 

Briefly. The Colts immediately answered to make it, 28-17. But I don't know that I would qualify their second half performance as "hanging on for dear life." Up, 21-10, at the half, their 2nd half drives (before OT) ended in: TD, INT, punt, FG, missed FG. Altogether, they ran 20 second half plays; 10 were passes.

 

Texans made the playoffs in several of those seasons with the likes of Osweiler, Savage, Fitzpatrick, etc at QB and Watt’s injury years

 

I think he'd rather shut it down, take the win, and move on to the next game during the regular season. This will, hopefully, avoid injuries and keep some plays/formations/schemes in reserve for the tournament.

Let's hope the aggressive play caller from last year shows up, if needed, in the playoffs. The leaky OL and #4 holding the ball too long is a bad combo if numerous drop backs are required at any point. BO'B is trying to avoid that at all costs with the running game being used to shorten the games.

Yeah, the narrative was that RAC and the defense was the reason for the team's success moreso the BO'B offense.

 

Yes, this is a horrible strategy. Sure, we're 30-1 when leading at halftime.....but those 30 teams weren't very good.

Seriously, some of you must be a real barrel of laughs to watch a game with.

Me: Wow, a 97-yard touchdown run right after a goal-line stand!

BBS: Well, the titans aren't very good. What would happen if we were playing the 86 Bears???

 

How is a team with a 98% chance to make the playoffs; 93% chance to win the division; 29% chance to secure a bye.... not a contender? Only two teams in AFC with better overall odds are KC and New England.

The NFL postseason doesn't consist of seven game series where the cream eventually rises to the top. They're 60 minutes where literally a single bounce of the ball can be the difference between winning and losing.

If you make the playoffs, you're a contender. Stop disqualifying that.

 

Well only 6 teams out of the AFC make the playoffs. You are basically saying we are a middle of the road playoff team.

The cowboys will make the playoffs. I dare you to call them a contender.

 

Nope; not what I said at all.

You DARE me?.... Yes, if they make the playoffs, they're a contender. Check their most recent game for a prime example of why *any* team that makes the playoffs is a contender.

 

This is exactly how I felt about the Astros in June of 2017. As a result, I probably deprived myself of a lot of fun watching that team play.

I don't know, maybe I've mellowed out in my old age...but nowadays, I just want to have fun watching an entertaining product instead of over-analyzing them into oblivion. We finally have a QB after 15 years of trying. I'm just going to enjoy it.

I think the Astros finally breaking through in 2017 might have something to do with this. Ended the 20 year championship drought for the city and I guess it sort of took the pressure off the other 2 teams maybe?

 

Weird, on the 1st they were 5.5 games up in the AL, by the end of the month it was 8.5. They were a juggernaut all season.

Totally agree with your 2nd paragraph.

 

The Astros won 204 games, four playoff series and a championship over the past two years - which very nearly dwarfs any and all franchise-wide accomplishments through their first 54 years of existence. Yet at virtually every turn, it felt like far too many were trying to disqualify them.

I suspect some of it is to soften the inevitable letdown. But once you get to a place where the letdown isn't as big a deal (having kids helps with that tremendously), and you can learn to appreciate things that *don't* end in a championship.... man, it makes following sports *fun*. I can't imagine any of these people expecting the carpet to be ripped out from under them are having fun.

This isn't the best team in Texans' history; but it might very well have the greatest collection of individual players in team history. If you don't enjoy watching Watson, Hopkins, Watt, Clowney, Mathieu, Reid play this game because, "yeah, but IT WAS THE BROWNS!" I'm not sure why you even bother watching?

Earl Campbell never won a championship. Jeff Bagwell never won a championship. I wish both had - but it sure as heck doesn't diminish my fond memories of them.

 

Yeah, I guess I didn't even think about that angle. Mine are just getting old enough to start caring about sports and it's a beautiful thing. They wear their Watson jerseys to school every Monday after a Texans win.

I want them to have the same experiences I had when I was a kid - watching Luv Ya Blue, Phi Slamma Jamma, the Twin Towers, and going to the Dome and yelling "CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZ" at the top of my lungs every time Jose came up to bat. Newsflash: none of those teams won any championships (one failed spectacularly) but man....I wouldn't trade those memories for anything now.

I think that's how we're going to feel about Deshaun Watson and JJ Watt 10 years from now. So why not enjoy it while we're in the middle of it?

 

I just looked real quick:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201809300clt.htm

I count 40 or 41 plays (it's kind of hard to count, I'm not doing a thesis paper here!)
1 punt
1 FG good
1 FG missed
1 spike
2 called back because of offensive penalty
16 pass plays (including 2 sack, one of the penalties was a pass, too)
19 runs (including 1 by DW)

It looks like maybe 12 of those runs were first down runs (including the one penalty). Looks like 19 first down plays, so 12 of 19 first downs were runs.

Looks like 11 of 19 runs (including 1 by DW) came AFTER Deshaun threw his pick.

It reads to me - and if I remember correctly watched this way - as they came out with a strong drive, got the TD, defense gave one up, then DW threw a pick on the next drive, defense was able to hold, but HOU got the ball back inside their 10, and so Bill went conservative at that point.

I remember being very frustrated particularly with TO usage. They burned their second timeout on defense, only to give up a TD the next play, and burned their third at the end, ahead of the Colts successful two point conversion. Then the Texans got the ball back, and Bill went run first (because the Colts still had a timeout and one would assume he was concerned about 2 incomplete passes followed by a run but then a Colts timeout potentially giving the Colts 35 ish seconds for one last drive). A risk aversion move.

Then finally in overtime, in their one real drive, down 3 and HAVING to at least score a FG, they had 11 plays excluding the FG. 9 were passes. 2 were runs. Pretty stark contrast.

Again, luck or otherwise, it's worked. And if Bill can manage to turn this penchant for safer playcalling with a lead into surprise playcalling in the playoffs that works, then that'd be amazing and great and genius level, honestly. We shall see.

 

Sorry; I meant 20 plays *after* going up 28-10. That was my original thesis, and then I changed to include the opening TD of the 2nd half when adding up drive results and forgot to adjust plays accordingly.

I watched the game, too - and there was a sense of "holding on for dear life" - but more because Luck was unstoppable in the second half; not because the offense was being overly conservative. Again, they scored 10 points (after 21 in the first half) - but also 1) threw a pick; 2) missed a FG (granted, a 59-yarder. Still...)