Long before Bill O’Brien became the coach of the Houston Texans, and even well before he broke into the NFL as a member of Bill Belichick’s staff on the New England Patriots, the Brown graduate was an assistant coach for Georgia Tech from 1995-2002.
In 1999, O’Brien, who was a running backs coach at that, was part of an effort to recruit Philip Rivers out of Athens High School in Alabama.
“I’ve known Philip for a long time,” O’Brien told reporters Wednesday. “When he was coming out of high school, I was at Georgia Tech, we were a part of recruiting him.”
Rivers had offers from in-state schools such as Alabama and Auburn, but North Carolina State had a big lead on Rivers. When Rivers ended up playing for the Wolfpack, O’Brien and the Georgia Tech staff saw him once a year as both schools were in the ACC.
“He went to N.C. State, I coached against him, I coached against him in his last home college game at N.C. State,” O’Brien recalled.
It didn’t stop at the collegiate level. When O’Brien joined the Patriots in 2007, he saw Rivers once a year except for 2009. Since joining the Texans as coach, O’Brien has seen Rivers one time back on Nov. 27, 2016. The Chargers bested the Texans 21-13 at NRG Stadium.
O’Brien even got to know Rivers coaching at the 2019 Pro Bowl where the Texans staff coached the AFC all-stars.
“Awesome guy, very smart, loves football, just a guy that loves talking about football and he’s just had a great career,” said O’Brien. “It’s a big challenge for us.”
The challenge is that at age 38 Rivers doesn’t appear to be slowing down. With a 96.5 passer rating and a 65.7 completion percentage, the former 2004 first-round pick has led the Chargers to a 1-1 record. A 2-1 start for Los Angeles would be a much needed boost as they look to take the AFC West from the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 after finishing as a wild-card team a season ago.
