Houston Texans: Bill O’Brien foolish to praise Deshaun Watson, not start him
By Randy Gurzi
Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien has been raving about rookie QB Deshaun Watson, but keeps saying Tom Savage will start which is simply foolish
Bill O’Brien is a good coach, but the Houston Texans head honcho isn’t acting like one this offseason. After suffering through the debacle known as the Brock Osweiler error era, Houston made a big move to ensure they never make such a terrible signing ever again.
The Texans were able to dump Osweiler and his $16 million in guaranteed money this season off on the Cleveland Browns. They then made another move with Cleveland to get arguably the most pro-ready passer in the 2017 draft, Deshaun Watson of the Clemson Tigers.
After going 9-7 the past three seasons with subpar quarterback play, all they needed was competence, which Watson will surely bring. Then, O’Brien starts messing all that up by saying Tom Savage will be the starter.
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Really? Why? Well according to comments to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk back in April, it’s because the coach values experience:
"“I think it’s hard to ask a guy to come in straight from college and Day One he’s a starter on your team. But I know that there are some really good quarterbacks in this draft that we’re looking at, and we’ve met with a lot of them. We’re excited about continuing to get to know them. But, I just think for me as a general rule, that’s tough to start them as a Day One guy.”"
The problem with such a statement is O’Brien is choosing a guy who doesn’t have that valued experience. Savage has just two career starts and has been injured every time he stepped on the field. Not only did his short stints in 2014 and 2016 end with him on the sidelines, but he missed all of 2015 with a shoulder injury.
On top of the injury issues, he hasn’t been very good. Savage is 56-of-92 passing for 588 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception. Yet O’Brien, who has been raving about Watson this entire offseason, according to Florio as well, wants to hang on to “experience”.
Texans fans are in for a long season if the coach keeps insisting an average-at-best quarterback with an injury history gives them a better shot to win than the guy they gave up their first and second round pick for this spring.
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It’s time for O’Brien to quit being stuck in his ways. Youth is the way to go in todays NFL and the earlier Watson is named the starter, the better.