Texans fire Bill O'Brien head coach/GM; Romeo Crennel to be interim

[ET80]

1 hour ago, CKSteeler said:

BoB has 5 winning records in 6 seasons

Stopping you right here. Those winning seasons were when Jacksonville, Tennessee and Indy weren't fielding complete teams and were picking in the top 5-10 (since BoB's tenure started in 2014, the AFCS had two teams picking in the top 10 every year, with both Jacksonville and Tennessee picking in the top 5 in 2015, 2016 and 2017). 

He won because he was able to beat up on coaches such as Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Mularkey, Chuck Pagano and Mike Pettine. Once Mike Vrabel and Frank Reich joined the party, the math started to change. BoB was able to win out on the division because he was going up against a QB carousel of Zach Mettenberger, Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles, Jacoby Brissett and th occasional appearance from Andrew Luck. Meanwhile, he was able to unleash a prime JJ Watt, a prime DeAndre Hopkins, a healthy and productive Arian Foster and Andre Johnson - all holdovers from the Gary Kubiak era. 

You can look at W/L and come to a conclusion, but you're ignoring a lot of context with that. Truth is, the AFCS has been a dumpster fire and 5-6 wins were guarenteed because you're trotting out the best players every single time. Against any good team, however - you saw BoB and his poor playcalling and clock management take center stage.

The Texans won in spite of him.

1 hour ago, CKSteeler said:

Watson has never even won a playoff game (I aint counting that one against Buffalo).

Neither has BoB - if we're dropping Watson's Buffalo performance (where he made arguably the 2nd biggest play in franchise history to set up the GW FG) then we need to drop BoB's W against Oakland, where Connor Cook was making his first career start. Where does that leave us? That's a 30-0 loss at home to Alex Smith and KC, where BoB felt it smart to line up JJ Watt as a Wildcat QB on the goal line (with zero points scored that day, I think you know how that ended). Or, it's 21-7 home loss to Andrew Luck and the Colts, where BoB punted on his side of the 50 with 3 minutes left in a close game. Or, perhaps it's the KC game where BoB was spotted a 24-0 lead, then went for a fake punt deep in KC territory? 

Be real here. There's nothing outside of empty W/L numbers in a bad division. Anyone defending BoB at this point is simply looking at an Excel spreadsheet and not looking at circumstances.

 

[ET80]

3 minutes ago, 43M said:

There should be a entire subforum entirely dedicated to BoB being fired.

I'll co-sign on this...

[DigInBoys]

1 hour ago, CKSteeler said:

I'm going to be the one to defend BoB. If he lost the locker room, you let a guy of his caliber clean it up. If that means trading Watson, you trade Watson. You cut JJ Watt? You cut him. Clean up that culture.

BoB has 5 winning records in 6 seasons. He has 4 division titles. Watson has never even won a playoff game (I aint counting that one against Buffalo).

lol...you can't possibly be serious.

[CKSteeler]

13 minutes ago, 43M said:

Well...its at least nice to know your laughable inabilty of assessing head coaches isnt just limited to Tomlin.    This is actually the inverse of what you do with the Steelers....where everything is Tomlins fault and Ben gets endless excuses made for him.

Actually, that post was an imitation of the posts some of you make defending Tomlin.

[ET80]

13 minutes ago, Nabbs4u said:

So ET, is this like bitter sweet? Finally fired but at what cost?

No bitter. Just sweet.

14 minutes ago, Nabbs4u said:

No draft picks?

No different than 2018, actually - would be nice to have some, but a 26 year old franchise LT is a decent consolation prize.

15 minutes ago, Nabbs4u said:

Traded 2nd best player for peanuts?

It's the straw that broke this back, so it takes the sting off.

What I do know is that the next HC/GM is going to have a franchise QB, a franchise LT and a few good parts to build around (Watt, McKinney, Cunningham, Justin Reid). This unit went 11-5 last season, so there's something to work with...

So, yeah. It's sweet. No bitter at all. 😃

[CKSteeler]

11 minutes ago, ET80 said:

Be real here. There's nothing outside of empty W/L numbers in a bad division. Anyone defending BoB at this point is simply looking at an Excel spreadsheet and not looking at circumstances.

I'm really just wondering why you go ahead and give a guy more power by making him GM and then fire him 4 games in. There's a lack of a long term plan in Houston, not that this is a surprise to anyone, but that starts with ownership. They let him do whatever he wanted and then canned him after a few games.

[ET80]

6 minutes ago, CKSteeler said:

I'm really just wondering why you go ahead and give a guy more power by making him GM and then fire him 4 games in.

Because he lost the team. Over the last two weeks, the team turned on him. So, as an owner, you have two options:

- Fire him.

- Trade away MORE players to create the culture he wants.

Which sounds more feasible?

6 minutes ago, CKSteeler said:

There's a lack of a long term plan in Houston, not that this is a surprise to anyone, but that starts with ownership.

First step in recovery is admitting there's a problem - that goes beyond football. Cal McNair admitted there's a problem and handled it. This isn't because of an 0-4 start, this is because of seven years of never going beyond the 2nd round - he's Marvin Lewis all over again, were the Bengals incorrect in firing Lewis? O'Brien was the longest tenured coach to not make a conference championship - did you see that streak ending this season?

By and Iarge, Texans ownership is hands off - Capers had free reign, Kubiak had free reign, O'Brien had free reign. The next HC is going to have plenty of time to correct this situation. 

[Scoundrel]

18 minutes ago, ET80 said:

Stopping you right here. Those winning seasons were when Jacksonville, Tennessee and Indy weren't fielding complete teams and were picking in the top 5-10 (since BoB's tenure started in 2014, the AFCS had two teams picking in the top 10 every year, with both Jacksonville and Tennessee picking in the top 5 in 2015, 2016 and 2017). 

He won because he was able to beat up on coaches such as Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Mularkey, Chuck Pagano and Mike Pettine. Once Mike Vrabel and Frank Reich joined the party, the math started to change. BoB was able to win out on the division because he was going up against a QB carousel of Zach Mettenberger, Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles, Jacoby Brissett and th occasional appearance from Andrew Luck. Meanwhile, he was able to unleash a prime JJ Watt, a prime DeAndre Hopkins, a healthy and productive Arian Foster and Andre Johnson - all holdovers from the Gary Kubiak era. 

You can look at W/L and come to a conclusion, but you're ignoring a lot of context with that. Truth is, the AFCS has been a dumpster fire and 5-6 wins were guarenteed because you're trotting out the best players every single time. Against any good team, however - you saw BoB and his poor playcalling and clock management take center stage.

The Texans won in spite of him.

Neither has BoB - if we're dropping Watson's Buffalo performance (where he made arguably the 2nd biggest play in franchise history to set up the GW FG) then we need to drop BoB's W against Oakland, where Connor Cook was making his first career start. Where does that leave us? That's a 30-0 loss at home to Alex Smith and KC, where BoB felt it smart to line up JJ Watt as a Wildcat QB on the goal line (with zero points scored that day, I think you know how that ended). Or, it's 21-7 home loss to Andrew Luck and the Colts, where BoB punted on his side of the 50 with 3 minutes left in a close game. Or, perhaps it's the KC game where BoB was spotted a 24-0 lead, then went for a fake punt deep in KC territory? 

Be real here. There's nothing outside of empty W/L numbers in a bad division. Anyone defending BoB at this point is simply looking at an Excel spreadsheet and not looking at circumstances.

 

[ET80]

Just now, Counselor said:

IOU a football. I'm obviously all out today.

[ET80]

11 minutes ago, CKSteeler said:

I'm really just wondering why you go ahead and give a guy more power by making him GM and then fire him 4 games in.

One more thing - you understand that BoB was named GM LAST off-season, right? After he fired Brian Gaine following the 2019 draft? So calling it "four games in" is disingenuous. It's a full 16 game season, a playoff win (that doesn't count according to you - your words, not mine) a playoff collapse and an 0-4 start. That's a Jadevion Clowney trade for a 3rd round pick before the 2019 season, that's a Larmey Tunsil trade for two firsts and a 2nd before the 2019 season and a DeAndre Hopkins trade this past off-season. 

What more does he need to do to get fired? Break out a chainsaw and hack off someone's foot? Trade the stadium for some Magic Beans?

[CKSteeler]

3 minutes ago, ET80 said:

First step in recovery is admitting there's a problem - that goes beyond football. Cal McNair admitted there's a problem and handled it.

After letting BoB have his way on everything. 4 games into his tenure.

There's no sense throwing good money after bad. But the actual point here is that your ownership allowed this.

[dc_vikingfan]

His trades as a GM were horrible. Especially when other teams traded similar players and got so much more value then the Texans. 

[CKSteeler]

6 minutes ago, ET80 said:

What more does he need to do to get fired? Break out a chainsaw and hack off someone's foot?

My initial post was a joke (one I consider a success because of the reaction it provoked, not from  you or posters who don't know me but from the one who does), unlike Lancerman's. But I'll point to the previous post - ownership gave this man unchecked power, apparently. Didn't draw the line at anything besides signing Earl Thomas a week ago. Then they turn around and can him. I don't know, points to a bigger problem in the organization. That lack of a long term plan.

Edited October 6, 2020 by CKSteeler

[ET80]

4 minutes ago, CKSteeler said:

After letting BoB have his way on everything. 4 games into his tenure.

*22 games.

[ET80]

2 minutes ago, CKSteeler said:

My initial post was a joke (one I consider a success because of the reaction it provoked, not from  you or posters who don't know me but from the one who does), unlike Lancerman's. But I'll point to the previous post - ownership gave this man unchecked power, apparently. Didn't draw the line at anything besides signing Earl Thomas a week ago. Then they turn around and can him. 

Your timeline is off.

Bill O'Brien had unchecked power the minute Rick Smith was fired back in 2018. He had the responsibilities of a GM after he fired Brian Gaine in 2019 (seriously, how many coaches fire their GM? Doesn't that tell you who was really the General Manager?)

It's not four games in. It's 22 at bare minimum.