Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien can’t get much respect compared to his peers.
In a recent NFL.com ranking of all 32 coaches, author Elliot Harrison had the third full-time coach in Texans franchise history ranked No. 19 overall, the lowest rank of any playoff-winning coach.
Bill O’Brien is a good coach. How good of a coach is he? Well, his detractors will say he’s good enough to get ya beat in the playoffs. Then again, O’Brien has helped the Texans post a winning season in four out of his five years with the team. That’s after taking over a squad that went 2-14 the year before he got there. The complaints about O’Brien often center around an inconsistent offense and his in-game management.
That is the chief complaint that O’Brien’s detractors have. O’Brien’s game plans seem to involve heavy commitment to the run, even if there is no offensive line to create the holes or capable running backs to see the slivers of daylight. His offenses seem more out of the Bill Parcells’ 1980s New York Giants style than anything of the Josh McDaniels coaching tree.
Still, Harrison does give O’Brien credit for keeping the Texans relevant with just one losing season in his five previous years in Houston.
Of course, much of a head coach’s job performance centers around things fans don’t see. That includes the culture around the team from Monday through Saturday, communication with the players, and the ability to keep a team focused. Without the latter, there is no way Houston wins over 40 games in five years. The struggle for O’Brien this season will be to squeeze better play out of the offensive line, as well as get Deshaun Watson to avoid creating his own pressure by holding the ball for too long.
In O’Brien’s case, less could be more as offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, who had been tight ends coach the past two season, takes on more of the offensive responsibilities. If O’Brien being more of a walk-around coach is what the Texans need, then 2019 could prove to be that opportunity assuming Kelly is able to take the final offensive responsibility from O’Brien: play-calling.
