HOUSTON _ The three-story brick house in a Houston suburb bears a striking resemblance to all others on its cozy, family-friendly street with sprawling trees and scattering lizards. An American flag flies above the front door. There is no gate to dissuade trick-or-treat seekers, who will no doubt knock here just as they will throughout this community.
This is where Brock Osweiler has decided to make his home. It's a place a 20-something and his wife would choose after signing a $72 million deal ($37 million guaranteed over two years) only if they seek relative proximity to NRG Stadium or to immerse themselves in a community ideally suited to putting down roots.
Or both.
Osweiler, the Houston Texans quarterback who led the team to a stunning victory over Indianapolis on Sunday night, will return to Denver on Monday for a night game with a storyline prepackaged for prime time. The return will not likely be met with warmth after a departure that came as a surprise to most in part because it fell on such a short timeline and brought such a surprise.
"Bottom line, I'm going to treat this game no different than any other game," Osweiler said. "I'm going to prepare the same, I'm going to prepare extremely hard. I'm going to go out and have a great week of practice and I'm going to understand the challenge ahead of us, but I look forward to that challenge."
Last year at this point Osweiler was still an unknown commodity, a backup to future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. Between Nov. 22 and March 9, Osweiler earned his first NFL start, won five of seven games, ceded his spot back to Manning for a Super Bowl run in the postseason and spurned John Elway's contract offer to sign with Houston.
Plenty has been written about what Osweiler walked away from in Denver and why he did it. But how about what he walked into in Houston?
Unlike in Denver, where Elway and Manning cast shadows as long as any peak along the Front Range, there is a dearth of legacy at that position with the Texans _ where non-stars like Matt Schaub, David Carr and Sage Rosenfels highlight the record book. The most prominent quarterbacks in this city probably remain Andre Ware and Warren Moon, a local who won the Heisman Trophy at Houston and the prolific former Houston Oilers run-and-shoot operator. Both were finished playing by the time this franchise was born.
Osweiler's legacy with his new team received an early bump on Sunday night, as he threw two touchdown passes in the final three minutes and then engineered a scoring drive in overtime to notch an out-of-nowhere 26-23 victory over the Colts.
"He had already taken over," said Texans tackle Chris Clark, who was also Osweiler's teammate in Denver. "This is his team. And he's a good guy, too. He's a guy you always want to be around."
This is quite a market to be waiting for its marquee quarterback. Situated in a football-crazed state, Houston is quickly closing in on Chicago's status as the third-biggest city in the country.
When Osweiler arrived he was instantly placed on local grocery store commercials. Those spots were previously reserved for defensive star J.J. Watt, who appeared alongside Osweiler. Since Watt's arrival on the national scene, only young Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa had been given a shot in those commercials.
Clearly the city wants to embrace Osweiler, or more to the point _ wants him to be worthy of embracing.
His teammates didn't need to wait.
"Brock's been great for me," center Greg Mancz said. "He's helped me on the field and he's helped me learn off the field, too. He's helped me learn how to be a better pro.
"He did a great job of coming in and explaining what he was thinking. That's important, because every quarterback is different and we need to learn his way. He's the man."
Winning over the city will be a long-term project. Simply observing the jerseys worn into the stadium on Sunday revealed at least a 9-to-1 preference for Watt over anyone else. That remaining 10 percent mostly tilted toward Brian Cushing, with Osweiler a distant third.
It will take some time. But would Osweiler have chosen this team, this contract, that house, if he were looking to sign up for anything less?
