Houston Texans: Brock Osweiler is the ultimate test for Bill O’Brien

Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien has been called a quarterback whisperer during his tenure, but Brock Osweiler is proving to be his toughest challenge yet

This season things were supposed to be different. After struggling through a revolving door of quarterbacks over the past two seasons, head coach Bill O’Brien finally had his guy. A franchise guy he could mold into a star.

The sky was the limit as O’Brien had earned the reputation of a quarterback whisperer. He was able to work wonders at Penn State with freshman Christian Hackenberg. His work with him was so impressive that after two down seasons following coach B.O.B.’s departure Hackenberg still somehow was drafted in the second round.

O’Brien’s legacy as a quarterback guru continued to grow as he found success in back-to-back seasons while featuring journeymen Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brian Hoyer under center.

So naturally after giving $37 million guaranteed to former Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler things would be better. Imagine how good they will look with a capable player rather than the hand-me-downs they won nine games with in each of the past two seasons.

In his first game, Osweiler threw for 231 yards with two touchdowns and one pick. It wasn’t perfect, but they got the win and it looked like there was something to build on. Since then, things have gotten progressively worse.

At home Osweiler looks average. He appears to be the kind of guy you can win with, but still not win because of. On the road, he looks like a guy that will cost you games.

This past Monday at Denver, Osweiler had arguably the worst game of his career. Facing his old team he put up stats that would make anyone cringe, and as pointed out by ESPN Stats & Info, it was historically bad.

With weapons like DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller at wide receiver those kind of numbers are inexcusable. It’s obvious that the team has what Matt Bonesteel of the Washington Post calls a “Brock Osweiler Problem.”