O’Brien won’t use ‘spread’ offense
TEXANS NOTEBOOK
Texans coach Bill O’Brien took a lot from his time as an assistant in Foxboro, but it sounds like he never picked up the “bulletin board” lesson.
Bill Belichick is a master of motivational techniques, and with the Patriots a 151⁄ point favorites over the Texans, one of the four largest point spreads in playoff history, the Vegas line seemed like a perfect tool for O’Brien to fire up his players.
“What does that matter?” O’Brien said. “The only thing that matters is what takes place in between the lines on Saturday night.
“So no, I don’t really go too much to the Vegas betting line. I don’t think that will really be a good motivational tool this week.”
Belichick and Tom Brady own a 15-3 home record in the postseason, and while O’Brien acknowledged that going on the road to beat the Patriots is a tall order, he thinks his players will embrace the task.
“It’s a different year. Every year is different,” O’Brien said. “Our players are going to walk in here (today) with the mindset that they have earned the right to be here and that they are looking forward to the challenge.
“We aren’t going to talk about what went on in the past. . . . It doesn’t matter as it relates to Saturday night. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is how each team prepares this week for the game Saturday night.”
Savage cleared
The Patriots will have to prepare for two quarterbacks this week.
O’Brien announced that Tom Savage will return to practice this week after sustaining a concussion in Week 17.
“He’s out of the concussion protocol so he’ll be ready to practice,” O’Brien said. “He should be ready to go (today).”
The Texans are giving Brock Osweiler the start, but it will be interesting to see how long O’Brien’s leash is. Savage took the job from Osweiler in Week 15 after engineering a 21-20 comeback win over the Jaguars, but Osweiler reclaimed it when he went 14-of-25 for 168 yards in Houston’s wild card win over Oakland.
Love for Brady
O’Brien had some heavy praise for his old pupil, Brady.
“To me, he’s the best quarterback to play the game,” O’Brien said. “He’s done it with different types of teams, different teammates. He’s a great quarterback. In preparation for him, it’s very difficult. You have to make sure that No. 1, that you do your job.”
O’Brien was the Patriots quarterbacks coach in 2009-10 before being promoted to offensive coordinator. . . .
Safety Quintin Demps injured his hamstring Saturday, and will be a gametime decision.
Demps was the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Month in December, and finished second in the league with six interceptions.