MESSAGE RECEIVED
How J.J. Watt's final message to Bill O'Brien was his most powerful
Oct 9, 2020, 2:38 pm
MESSAGE RECEIVED
It's apparent now that a recent "heated exchange" between Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien and star J.J. Watt led to O'Brien's firing earlier this week.
Should fans point to Watt and think, here's another big-money, super-ego, malcontent player who got his coach fired?
Or should fans just send Watt a thank you note?
I vote for the thank you note, something tasteful, from the Hallmark store, not aisle 6 at the supermarket. People can tell.
While the O'Brien-Watt blowup may have been the final straw, O'Brien leaves behind a haystack of bonehead trades, a sourpuss disposition, poor clock management, head-scratching play calling and, the unpardonable sin of an 0-4 train wreck drained of high draft picks next season. O'Brien ransomed the future for the now, and now doesn't have any wins.
The Texans had only five draft picks this year. Only one team had fewer, the Saints, but at least they had a first-round pick.
Now we hear stories that Texans management was aware of O'Brien's temper tantrums, but did nothing as long as the Texans were winning the AFC South.
O'Brien didn't just lose the locker room, he lost the whole city. It was like sports talk radio was playing a loop of "Fire Bill O'Brien" calls. Stations were wearing out their bleep button.
The day after O'Brien's firing, Watt posted a tweet that was as subtle as a ton of bricks landing on Wile E. Coyote's head. Beep beep.
pic.twitter.com/8oKQUmECnG
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) October 6, 2020
The tweet was a simple image of the sun beaming into NRG Stadium with its roof open.
Oh, so that's what the stadium looks like with its roof open? It's been a long time.
If that tweet could talk, it would sing I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash, the reggae singer who was born and lived his whole life in Houston. Nash passed away this week, the same day that Watt posted his tweet.
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way,
Gone are the dark clouds that had me down,
It's gonna be a bright sunny day.
Just to be sure, the dark clouds are O'Brien and the sunny day is interim coach Romeo Crennel.
It's difficult to find any mourning for O'Brien's coaching tenure with the Texans. The popular refrain in Houston and around the NFL was, "What took 'em so long?"
Fans piled on like ding dong the king is dead. To borrow from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar (maybe my favorite Cliff's Notes), fans come to bury Bill O'Brien, not to praise him. That's what 0-4, a loss to the Vikings, and no first or second draft pick next year.
Watt made no attempt to hide his glee after O'Brien joined the ranks of the unemployed.
"We have a fresh start. We had a good practice today, and we're looking forward to Jacksonville," Watt said.
"RAC (Crennel) is a great man. He has rings. He has a positive air about him. He has a jolly nature to him. You can't help but smile being around RAC. It should be fun," Watt said.
Great man, positive air, jolly, smile, fun. Hmmm, as opposed to …?
The Jaguars, 1-3, are in town Sunday. As America's dad Clark Griswold once said (sort of), "The Texans are going to have so much fun, they'll need plastic surgery to remove their smiles." Kickoff is noon.
Cam Smith hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to give the Houston Astros a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.
CAM SMITH COMES THROUGH! #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/Y6dtPpXF9J
— Houston Astros (@astros) June 26, 2025
The rookie's second hit of the game came off Orion Kerkering (5-3) and gave the Astros their fourth straight win.
Brandon Marsh tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the top of the inning to end the Phillies' 26-inning scoreless streak.
The Astros took a 1-0 lead on Yainer Diaz’s RBI single in the second inning. They only managed three more hits off Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez, who struck out 11 with zero walks over six innings. Sanchez has not issued a walk in three straight starts.
Hunter Brown lowered his league best ERA to 1.74 by scattering three singles over seven shutout innings, with nine strikeouts. He did not allow a runner to reach second base.
FULL THROTTLE.
Hunter Brown now leads the MLB in lowest ERA (1.74). #BuiltForFuel pic.twitter.com/nkwT2MpgJQ
— Houston Astros (@astros) June 26, 2025
Bryan Abreu (3-3) struck out Trea Turner to end the eighth, and then struck out Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, and Nick Castellanos in the ninth.
Abreu joined Julia Morales after the game and talked about his impressive performance!
🧹🧹🧹
After the @Astros completed their sweep of the Phillies, @JuliaMorales visited with Bryan Abreu!#BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/UeOOSNDKwW
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) June 26, 2025
Rafael Marchán had two of the Phillies' four hits. Bryson Stott reached base twice and scored the Phillies' lone run.
Smith’s RBI.
Brown’s 1.74 ERA is the fourth best in Astros history through 16 starts and the best since Justin Verlander posted a 1.60 ERA through 16 starts in 2018.
The Astros open a three-game series against the Cubs on Friday with LHP Brandon Walter (0-1 3.80 ERA) on the mound.
The Phillies open a three-game series at the Braves on Friday with RHP Mick Abel (2-1 3.47 ERA) against Atlanta RHP Bryce Elder (2-4 4.77).