The Houston Texans’ shocking decision to fire head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien earlier in the week shocked the NFL world.
However, the information coming out of Houston since O’Brien was shown the door adds more credence to the idea that he should have been gone long ago. It paints a picture of a rift between O’Brien and his former organization, players included.
We now have some more information on this front.
Did argument with J.J. Watt lead to Bill O’Brien being fired?
“Bill O’Brien got into an argument with defensive end J.J. Watt and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on the practice field along with verbal altercations with other staff members during his final weeks as coach-general manager before being fired, according to league sources,” Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday.
A leader within the Houston community and the Texans’ organization, Watt is widely respected around the NFL world. He’s not one to get into it in a public space, as evidenced by Watt’s reaction after O’Brien traded star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for pennies on the dollar this past spring.
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It was also noted following O’Brien’s firing this past Monday that his personality clashed with those within the Texans’ organization.
O’Brien, 50, finishes his Texans tenure with a mediocre 52-48 record, including a 2-4 mark in the postseason. Interestingly enough, it seems that those on-field struggles were not what led to him being fired.
After all, the Texans did add the general manager title to his job description almost immediately after their playoff meltdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. Rather, it seems to be all about his personality and how it did not mesh with other members of the Texans’ organization.
There’s certainly going to be a lot more to this story in the coming weeks and month. For now, O’Brien seems to be the villain in Houston.