Brock Osweiler sort of takes the blame for his awful season with the Texans
Osweiler says his fundamentals slipped, which sounds a lot like a veiled shot at QB guru Bill O'Brien
After a horrific 2016 season from Brock Osweiler, the Houston Texans were at a crossroads regarding what to do with the quarterback and his $16 million salary in 2017. Ultimately, they traded Osweiler to the Browns, along with a 2018 second-round pick and a 2017 sixth-round pick, for their fourth rounder in 2017 in trade likened to an NBA salary dump. Osweiler talked about what happened in Houston with Cleveland reporters Wednesday, and also took responsibility for his poor performance during the 2016 season. Well, he sort of took responsibility.
Osweiler threw for 2,957 yards with a 59 completion percentage in 2016. He also had 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. His reads and footwork were out of whack, and it seemed like every other throw was errant. Not that Osweiler was amazing during the 2015 season when he earned his contract playing for the Broncos, but he certainly was more efficient. His completion rate was nearly 62 percent, and he had about 20 more passing yards per game. Most important, his touchdown-to-interception ratio was 10-to-6. The regression was not lost on Osweiler.
"The best part is I'm getting coached hard on my fundamentals," Osweiler said. "And I believe firmly that when your fundamentals and your feet are right as a quarterback, you're going to make great decisions and you're going to throw accurate footballs." Osweiler continued, saying that "I think that's something that slid last season. I'm not going to go into great detail on that, but they did. My fundamentals slid, and because of that, you saw some poor decisions and some poor throws. If you go back to 2015, I feel like my fundamentals were pretty tight."
These comments are curious, since before joining the Texans coach Bill O'Brien was known as a quarterback-centric coach. In fact, along with coaching all over the offensive side of the ball, he was a QB coach at Georgia Tech, Duke and with the New England Patriots at various points in his career. Osweiler has gotten rave reviews from Browns coach Hue Jackson, and perhaps a change of scenery was all that he needed. He's now embroiled in a quarterback battle with Cody Kessler and rookie DeShone Kizer. The other possibility, of course, is that these reviews are all nothing but training camp posturing, something every team goes through.
Whatever the case, it appears Osweiler didn't feel that he was being coached the right way while in Houston. Jackson has a long NFL history, so perhaps he's catering to what Osweiler needs more than O'Brien did. Either way, Osweiler will have to prove himself throughout camp and into the preseason. If the Browns get more for a fourth rounder than two picks and a four-year, $72 million contract, their front office will be regarded as heroes by fans and geniuses by analysts.
















