Texans caught between a Brock and a hard place

Time: 7: 30 p. m. Monday, ESPN. Line: Broncos by 7 ½ . Total: 40 ½ . Records ( overall/ ATS): Texans 4- 2/ 3- 2- 1; Broncos 4- 2/ 4- 2.

No hard feelings? We’ll see about that.

It’s every free agent’s right to play where he wants, but Brock Osweiler’s departure from the Broncos was a little odd. With the opportunity to replace Peyton Manning as the starter, Osweiler figured to stay with a Super Bowl championship team with a dominating defense and solid running game — just about everything a young quarterback would want.

But it wasn’t that simple. Osweiler stunned the Broncos by signing a four- year, $ 72 million contract with the Houston Texans. He insisted that he wasn’t holding a grudge for being benched for Manning in the postseason. And the huge contract was only part of it.

“Bottom line, I made my deci- sion off where I felt like I could have the most success playing quarterback in the NFL and where I could go and win long term,” Osweiler told Monday Morning Quarterback in May.

Ouch. You know Broncos general manager John Elway had to be miffed when he heard that. Elway perhaps inadvertently fanned the flames when he said — lightheartedly — on Denver’s KOA radio, “A lot of times those deals you don’t make are the best ones,” after Osweiler was overmatched in a 27- 0 loss to the Patriots on Sept. 22.

But you know the Broncos would love to remind Osweiler just how good he had it.

“Nobody has any ill will towards Brock,” Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall told reporters in Denver this week. “At the same time, it’s competition and we want to shut him down. Just because it’s Brock. We know Brock. We just want to kill him.’’

Pick: Broncos 27, Texans 10.