Bill O’Brien is still working for his first win against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. During O’Brien’s six years as the Houston Texans coach, he has never beaten the Patriots, with four losses in the regular season and one loss in the postseason.
The Texans coach was asked whether that will serve as an extra motivator for him on Sunday night when the Patriots travel to Houston in Week 13.
“I think we just – every year is different,” O’Brien told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday. “You know, obviously, we’ve struggled against the Patriots in past years, but this is a different year. Every year’s different. Our team’s different, their team’s a little bit different, and we just have to go out there on Sunday night and we’ve got to play a clean game. We’ve got to play hard, we’ve got to be competitive for 60 minutes and see what happens.”
O’Brien worked for the Patriots from 2007 to 2011, and rose from a position as an offensive assistant (2007) to receivers coach (2008) to quarterbacks coach (2009-10) and, finally, to offensive coordinator in 2011. O’Brien took a gig as the Penn State head coach for 2012 and 2013 before leaving to take over in Houston in 2014. And while the Texans have been a solid team under O’Brien, the coach hasn’t figured out how to best his former employer. O’Brien was asked whether it’s any different going against a Belichick-coached team.
“They’re a very well-coached team, they don’t beat themselves, and defensively they’re doing such a great job in a lot of different areas,” O’Brien said. “I mean, they’re taking the ball away at a historic rate, they play really good technique in the secondary, and upfront they’ve got a lot of really good players.
“And offensively they’re doing a really good job of running the football, and they’re very, very tough with their matchups. You know, Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett, and then obviously with Tom [Brady] running the offense with Josh, it’s very, very challenging. And then special teams, they have what I would call professional special teams players led by Matt Slater. I mean, they just do a great job.”
[vertical-gallery id=75081]