Every-Thing Sports
Explaining Bill O'Brien's time management skills
Sep 17, 2019, 6:55 am
Houston Texans/Facebook
In his six years roaming the sidelines for the Houston Texans, head coach Bill O'Brien has garnered a reputation for his time management skills, or lack thereof. He repeatedly will waste timeouts, not call them, botch end of game/end of half situations, and generally shows a lack of understanding when it comes to situational football. This was particularly apparent when at the end of first half of the Jags game, he held onto two timeouts. When asked about it in the postgame presser, he gave yet another bullshit answer basically saying they executed minus a few missed opportunities on a couple plays.
That was maybe the "toughest" line of questioning O'Brien has faced since coming to Houston. Instead of calling for checks and balances, or even his job, let's try to understand where O'Brien is coming from. Maybe he's just misunderstood? He could be more complex than the thin-skinned arrogant prick we've grown to know and loathe. I've taken a few psychology courses and read a ton of material. Personally, I think I'm qualified to look into what makes O'Brien tick and why he's so bad with time and timeout management. There are several reasons why I think O'Brien may be confused in crunch time. Here's a look into some reasons why he tends to have brain farts:
Playoff Tiebreaker
AJ Hoffman mentioned this on The Blitz that he thinks O'Brien yesterday in hour two that his theory is that O'Brien thinks saving timeouts are a playoff tiebreaker. Giving the way this season is going, he probably thinks piling up timeouts will help his team's chances in a heated playoff race.
#TeamChicFilA
In the great Chicken Sandwich War of 2019, O'Brien is #TeamChicFilA. He must think saving timeouts and wasting clock is a way to earn points on the Chic Fil A app. I'm almost certain he's reached red status by now. However, he must believe that the extra timeouts and/or time clock wasting is earning him points on the app that will lead to rewards, which will give him brownie points with the team when he caters lunch after practice. Popeye's never stood a chance because they didn't have rewards points on their app and ran out of sandwiches.
Cash back on gas
O'Brien does a ton of driving as does most Houston residents when it comes to commuting to and from work. Maybe he's convinced that the timeouts can be converted into gas miles/points he can use. While I can't pinpoint where he lives, one can only imagine that his commute is at least 15-20 minutes like the rest of us. Given that aspect, he's most likely hoarding then to get money back or a discount off his gas when filling up. If he's smart, he'd use Get Upside.
Overrated
O'Brien thinks stopping the clock late in a half or game is overrrated. He's so overly confident in his play-calling abilities, that he has fully convinved himself that calling timeout is overrated. He believes in himself so much, his confidence has outgrown his belief in time itself.
Hoarder
Here's a theory some of you may not have suspected. O'Brien could be a secretive hoarder. It could be on of those situations in which Mrs. O'Brien isn't fully aware of his secretive hoarding. Henceforth, he's always tried to retain timeouts thinking that he will accumulate them and be able to use them later.
Stupid smart
Yet another working observation I've noticed is that he could be so smart, he's a dumbass. Some smarts lack in other areas. O'Brien may be one of us. There are tinmes in which I can't figure out simple things, but I can tell you who blew an assignment or ran a bad route on any given play. O'Brien may be the same way. He's so focused on the macro that he loses track of the micro. Bad combination.
As you can see, we could all be looking at O'Brien the wrong way. Maybe we should be giving him the benfit of the doubt. Maybe we should all be following his lead. Instead, we sit by awaiting his firing while he's busy being the smartest guy on Kirby. Maybe we're all dumbs, and he's a smart? Maybe he has this life thing figured out and we're still stupidly stumbling around looking for answers. I'd hate to live in a world in which O'Brien is the key to life. Wake me up when this nightmare is over.
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The Texas Longhorns still believe in quarterback Quinn Ewers despite two poor games from the third-year starter who was briefly benched in last week's loss to No. 1 Georgia, coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.
Ewers struggled through one of his worst career games against the Bulldogs, completing 25 of 43 passes for 211 yards with an interception and two fumbles. He was 6-of-12 passing for 17 yards on the Longhorns' first six drives, and was replaced by Arch Manning in the second quarter as Georgia took a 23-0 lead into halftime.
Ewers returned in the third quarter and led two touchdown drives. But the overall performance in one of the biggest games of the season was well below what was expected from a veteran quarterback who some predict as a potential first round NFL draft pick.
Texas never led against the Bulldogs and Ewers looked rattled.
Sarkisian has insisted that Ewers remains the No. 1 quarterback going forward.
“We have confidence and belief in him,” Sarkisian said. “I think he's going to come out and play really good football for us here in the second half of the season.”
Texas (6-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) plays at No. 25 Vanderbilt (5-2, 2-1) on Saturday.
Ewers did not meet with reporters on Monday.
He had performed at his best in some of Texas' biggest games the previous two seasons. He was considered a likely Heisman Trophy contender after the Longhorns won at defending national champion Michigan in week two.
But he was sidelined by an abdomen strain in the first half a week later against UTSA, and the injury knocked him out of the next two games. He returned for Texas' 34-3 win over Oklahoma, but had just 199 yards and one touchdown passing and said he needed to play better.
Against Georgia, Ewers appeared hesitant against a fierce Bulldogs pass rush and missed several throws. The Bulldogs recorded seven sacks and Texas never led.
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck was arguably having an even worse game. He was 23-of-41 passing for 175 yards and three interceptions.
But after Texas cut the Georgia lead to 23-15, Beck answered by leading the Bulldogs on an 11-play, 89-yard drive to the final touchdown of the game.
“I think Quinn definitely can play better. We've got to continue to work on his pocket presence,” Sarkisian said. “But I also think we need to play better around him. You know, our offense isn't about one player playing well.”
Texas rushed for just 29 yards and and managed only 259 total yards of offense against Georgia.
Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. said the Longhorns will rally behind Ewers.
“We're always going to trust Quinn. We're always going to believe in Quinn,” Banks said.