Rock around the clock
O’Brien keeps team on solid footing through highs and lows
Before we discuss the guy who quietly walked into a room Tuesday morning with a backpack hanging from his shoulder — looking like a man in his late 40s on the way to a college class — I want to go back to the days before Week 1.
Bill O’Brien sitting inside his NRG Stadium office. Final roster cuts looming, the preseason drawing to a close, and the 2018 Texans on the verge of becoming whatever it was they were going to be.
I had written about explosive potential and big question marks all offseason. As always, O’Brien — entering Year Five, coming off a frustrating 4-12 campaign — referred to the work that must be done, the daily dedication that was required and the reality his new Texans faced.
“When you get philosophical about it, it’s about how do you deal with adversity,” O’Brien said in late August. “How do you improve. How are you always trying to help everything get better.”
But this also shone through: cautious optimism.
An in-house feeling that, if everything went right, this could be the best Texans team since the franchise’s 12-4 peak in 2012 under Gary Kubiak.
“It is an exciting time for us,” O’Brien said. “You think about the youth of the team mixed with the veteran leadership that we have. … I always struggle with this question because it’s all about what we do. How we coach, how we perform, and winning. You’ve got to do it.”
Now let’s get to the man carrying the backpack.
It’s the morning after Texans 34, Titans 17 on “Monday Night Football,” which featured threeplus quarters of playoff-worthy complementary football, a Texans-record 281 rushing yards and 462 total yards of offense.
O’Brien’s squad has won eight consecutive games, a franchise record. And on a memorable night when the organization honored the legacy of late owner Bob McNair, the 8-3 Texans proudly walked off the field tied for the second-best record in the AFC.
Someone asks about facing the improved Browns in five days.
Someone else mentions the Texans riding a hot hand and drawing closer to the playoffs.
The coach, who’s 11 games into his best season on Kirby Drive, instantly cuts short the dream session.
“Let me say this really clearly … we have not done a thing,” O’Brien said.
Another Q follows. The coach, who hasn’t lost a game in more than two months, tops himself.
“This league is the most humbling professional sports league there is,” O’Brien said. “If you start to take the cheese, you start to drink the Kool-Aid, you’re going to get humbled. That is something that we talk about to our players.
“What I’ve learned in this league, it’s never as good as you think it is, and it’s never as bad. Our players need to just show up, get their lift in (Tuesday), get rehab, get going and be ready to go to work.”
Back in 2014, it would have felt like a Bill Belichick impression.
In 2018, it’s simply O’Brien trying to lift the Texans higher than the franchise has ever been.
Of course, they must finish this the right way. Obviously, the Chiefs, Patriots, Chargers and Steelers are still hanging around the horizon, and the team that currently can’t lose won’t prove anything until it wins a couple of playoff games.
But as I type this, this is O’Brien’s best coaching job to date, and he deserves to join the Bears’ Matt Nagy, the Saints’ Sean Payton and the Chargers’ Anthony Lynn as a Coach of the Year candidate.
“That man just wants to win,” said Texans defensive tackle Christian Covington, who unleashed a career game Monday. “He’s hard-nosed about it, and he expects results. Obviously, when you’re playing for a man like him, you know what’s expected. … We appreciate him. We love the dude. And we appreciate him for pushing us every week.”
The Texans have played for O’Brien this season, and now they’re playing for McNair, who passed away Friday. They lost key wide receiver Will Fuller just when the offense was first starting to click, have constantly pieced together an improving offensive line, and are the first team in NFL history to turn 0-3 into 8-3.
Last year, the Texans began their season with Hurricane Harvey, instantly became a playoff contender with the rise of Deshaun Watson, then were decimated by injuries.
In 2018, a 12-win season is possible. Whispering about the potential of a first-round bye won’t immediately result in everyone around you yelling about how crazy you are.
“I still think we can be more consistent,” O’Brien said. He’s right.
He also rightfully stuck with the run when most fans were screaming for TD bombs and an air-it-out attack — preserving an injured Watson, in the process — and has the locker room more unified than it’s been since 2012.
Controversy, setbacks, seasonending injuries, life and death.
O’Brien, at his best, keeps the Texans together and moving forward.
“This is a very, very good team when it comes to the character and the type of guys we have in that locker room,” he said. “That’s something that, no matter what happens, I will always remember about this team. This team is a really tough, hardworking football team.”
Then the coach with eight consecutive wins picked up his backpack, walked down a hallway and went back to work.