NEW SEASON, SAME ISSUE
A familiar theme underscores Texans camp once again.
T he Texans are trying something new this year.
For the first time in team history, they will hold training camp workouts away from their practice field across the street from NRG Stadium.
As has been said, change is not made without inconvenience. Fans enjoyed Camp Kirby Dr. for first 15 years of the franchise’s existence, but it was always a bonus.
Bob McNair pushed for the home training camp because McNair thought the team’s facilities were the best in the league and he wanted to give the fans a treat.
A better treat would be a deep playoff run or a Super Bowl. Deliver that, and the Texans could hold camp on Uranus and no one would be upset.
So, The Greenbrier in West Virginia, where camp begins next week, could be a welcome change.
Which leads us to the one significant thing that won’t change with the Texans: change at quarterback.
For four consecutive years the Texans’ Week 1 starter hasn’t even been on the roster the following season.
In case you’re wondering how unusual that is, since they came into the NFL in 2002, the Texans are the only team for which that ignominious factoid holds true.
Who’s the guy?
Before you crack wise and predict the Texans are certain to stretch their new starter streak to six seasons in 2018, keep in mind that we don’t know for certain who will start at QB when they take the field Sept. 10 against the Jaguars at NRG Stadium.
Tom Savage is projected to be the starter, but there is a lot of fake football to be played before the real games begin.
The idea that unproven, injuryprone Savage is the answer at quarterback could be as much fake news as the other quarterback proclamations Bill O’Brien has spewed over the years.
Don’t cue up the Alyson Hannigan “this one time at training camp,” voice, unless you want to relive the ghosts of quarterbacks past.
This time at training camp, the Texans have a true future QB-inwaiting in first-round draft pick Deshaun Watson.
The Texans’ sleep-away camp will rob us of the chance to see the day-today competition between Savage and Watson, not to mention the stepby-step growth of a youngster, who according to all who have coached him, has a superior football intellect.
Onus on O’Brien
How O’Brien, who will be more hands-on in running the offense this year, handles the situation will be a good test of his coaching.
Referred to by some as a quarterback whisperer prior to his arrival in Houston, O’Brien has had only two quarterbacks throw for more than 300 yards in three seasons and 51 games (including the playoffs) with the Texans.
It’s the fewest number of 300-yard passing games in a league that has been so shaped to feature the pass that 26 quarterbacks had that many or more last season alone.
In O’Brien’s three years, the Texans have accounted for 0.5% of the individual 300-yard passing games. I mean, Johnny Manziel and Matt Schuab match the Texans’ total.
To be fair, O’Brien has gotten some very solid, mediocre play from a host of less-than-solid, mediocre quarterbacks.
Bill O’Brien, the backup
quarterback whisperer.
But the Texans have posted three straight winning seasons and won consecutive AFC South Division titles.
What kind of change?
Among O’Brien’s plusses as a head coach is his ability to keep his team on-point and focused, which, thanks in large part to the Texans’ superb defense, has been more important than fielding a high-powered offense.
O’Brien’s Texans have been a resilient bunch. They stick together. They stay on-message.
Also credit O’Brien with hiring a well-regarded coaching staff.
Romeo Crennel, who was promoted from defensive coordinator to assistant head coach/defense this offseason, has been the most important person on the Texans’ payroll the past three seasons.
New defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel, who played for Crennel in New England, won’t redesign the defense, but his adjustment from linebackers coach to play-caller for a unit that has been one of the stingiest in the league will be watched closely.
In this case, at least, the Texans hope change doesn’t make a difference.
As for moving to The Greenbrier and the forecasted cooler summer weather, the Texans hope it helps, but it shouldn’t hurt.
Switching starting quarterbacks from year to year?
As Washington Irving wrote, there is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse.
Eventually, one would hope, the change will be from bad to good.
Because Watson best represents that hope for the Texans, this year’s training camp was going to be among the most interesting ones the team has had, regardless of its locale.