The head coach addressed the potential future of the headset
O'Brien not yet sure who is calling plays
Feb 27, 2019, 4:15 pm
Cody Stoots/SportsMap
The head coach of the Houston Texans isn't ready to declare which voice Deshaun Watson will hear the play calls from next season.
"I think it's so early right now to really talk about any of that," Bill O'Brien said Wednesday from the NFL Scouting Combine when asked who would be the person calling the plays on Sundays.
The only options are O'Brien remaining the man with the microphone or newly promoted offensive coordinator Tim Kelly.
O'Brien was bullish on Kelly's potential as the team's offensive coordinator.
"We have a system in place, he knows the system, he knows where the system needs to be improved, he knows how it can be tweaked, he knows the things that we have to keep doing that we did well last year."
Kelly finds himself in this position after being the team's tight ends coach. O'Brien said the team has a philosophy of preparing young coaches and giving them more as the team's faith in them grows.
Kelly, of course, fits that mold.
"He's run the third down meeting. He's run our Wednesday morning meeting where we introduce the opponents' defense. He's done a lot of things in front of the unit because I do think that you can't just take a guy and say 'OK, he coached tight ends and that's all he ever did' and then you just put him in front of a unit of professional football players. That's not what we've done here."
It very well could still be O'Brien with Kelly as the backup option, or vice versa. As for the current task in front of the team's new offensive coordinator O'Brien trusts Kelly.
"He's had a lot of input into what we do. He's had a big part of the process and he's ready for the challenge."
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.