The team also officially promoted Jack Easterby as well

Bill O'Brien now Texans General Manager in addition to head coach

Cody Stoots
Jan 28, 2020, 3:50 pm
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Bill O'Brien has a new placard on his desk.

New title for O'Brien and his unofficial assistant GM

As seen above the Texans have named Bill O'Brien as the general manager in addition to his role as the team's head coach. O'Brien joins his former boss Bill Belichick as one of the members of the NFL coaching community who also has the decision-making powers.

Jack Easterby, who also previously worked with the New England Patriots, now has an official title too. It was widely believed he had heavy input on the team in his past year with the team.

This had been coming

It would be interesting to know if this was something known in the building by the team or just assumed. Either way, something long whispered, came to fruition.

With the amount of front office talent that has left the organization in the past year there was some belief O'Brien was consolidating his power. Today, he has all the power in the organization.

Business as usual, with the titles

SB Nation Radio NFL Insider Adam Caplan told me teams have treated the situation in Houston as if O'Brien was the Texans general manager since Brian Gaine was fired by the team.

Now O'Brien has the title with the work. He is in charge of the team from a management perspective, he is the head coach, and he calls the plays for the teams.

How does this work?

HoustonTexans.com

I don't think it does work. I don't see it. SB Nation Radio NFL Insider Adam Caplan told me the expectation from the league is O'Brien will do whatever he has to do to keep his job.

O'Brien did a ton this past offseason and yet the team regressed in many areas. Without a regular slate of draft picks and quite a few of their own players set to hit free agency the Texans are in a tough spot.

Short of O'Brien really taking the next step along with a few of his key players and some solid and smart spending the Texans might have hit their ceiling in 2019. If that's the case, O'Brien could theoretically survive a similar campaign in 2020. But, there are no more excuses. O'Brien has nobody to blame but himself now.

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Houston is falling down the rankings

Tigers pound Odorizzi, Astros with homers as Houston drops fourth in a row

The Astros have not looked great in their last four games. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

After watching their hot start of 6-1 cool down to a 6-4 record with three straight losses, the Astros returned to Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night, looking to do a better job at home against a beatable Tigers team.

Recent games' woes would continue, though, with Houston's pitching getting blasted by the opposing offense and their own bats primarily quiet.

Final Score: Tigers 8, Astros 2

Astros' Record: 6-5, tied for second in AL West

Winning Pitcher: Matthew Boyd (2-1)

Losing Pitcher: Jake Odorizzi (0-1)

Astros score first, then Tigers unload on Odorizzi

Houston looked to have something brewing in the bottom of the second, with three singles in the first four batters of the inning, the third an RBI-single by Myles Straw to put the Astros in front 1-0. However, Matthew Boyd would limit the damage, getting back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

After two easy innings for Jake Odorizzi in his regular-season debut for his new team, he would allow a game-tying solo homer to Akil Baddoo, his fourth of the year, in the top of the third. Detroit struck again in the top of the fourth, getting a leadoff double to set up a two-run go-ahead home run to jump ahead 3-1.

They didn't stop there, getting another two-run bomb later in the same inning; a frame that would take Odorizzi 31 pitches to get only one out before Houston would bring in Bryan Abreu to get the last two outs. Odorizzi's final line in his debut: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 HR, 0 BB, 4 K, 80 P.


Detroit continues home run parade, Houston loses fourth in a row

Abreu would hope to do what Luis Garcia did the night before, eat up as many innings as possible after a poor outing from Houston's starter. The Tigers would get yet another two-run homer, though, in the top of the fifth, extending their lead to 7-1, with all seven runs coming over a three-inning span. For good measure, they'd knock one more out with two outs in the top of the ninth, making it 8-1.

As far as Houston at the plate, other than their string of hits to bring in a run earlier in the second, they were getting nothing done against Boyd, who would go six and two-thirds innings. Detroit's bullpen would finish things off, despite an all-too-late sac fly by the Astros in the bottom of the ninth, with Houston dropping their fourth-straight game and continuing to lose ground in the division.

Up Next: The finale of this three-game set with Detroit will be an hour earlier on Wednesday, getting underway at 6:10 PM Central. Lance McCullers Jr. (1-0, 1.80 ERA) will try to maintain his perfect record and improve upon his two five-inning one-run starts for the Astros, going opposite of Michael Fulmer (0-0, 2.57 ERA) for the Tigers.

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