O’Brien needs to chill, says Watt, bipolar Brooks cites misery index
HOUSTON – When J.J. Watt received an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from the Baylor College of Medicine, he saw an opportunity for a prank.
After the prestigious institution acknowledged his raising $37 million in medical and other aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey, he distributed medical advice to his fellow Houston Texans. Head coach Bill O’Brien disclosed to media that the three-time Defensive Player of the Year “wrote me up a prescription . . . to take three chill pills a day. I thought I’ve been more chilled out, but I guess he doesn’t think so.”
I guess not.
Watt was only half-joking. Maybe not even half. Truth is O’Brien has a reputation for volatility and stubbornness. Recall his shouting matches with mild-tempered, if clueless, Brock Osweiler. Players said it was common to hear raised voices from inside the quarterbacks room in 2016.
A day after O’Brien spoke of the Watt message, one of his former players, Pro Bowl guard Brandon Brooks, said he was “miserable every day” of the two years he played for O’Brien in Houston.
Brooks, who in February earned a Super Bowl ring as a Philadelphia Eagle, told Bleeding Green Nation that the protégé of Bill Belichick tried to establish “the same regime” he saw in New England. Brooks said the Patriot Way was such a harsh environment that “I almost retired.” At 25.
O’Brien’s predecessor, Gary Kubiak, was like Brooks’ current coach, Doug Pederson, pleasant and reasonable. The difference between them and O’Brien “was night and day.”
Brooks described how the Texans’ practice compound was stripped following their 2-14 season in 2013 that led to the arrival of O’Brien. “Players who’d been Pro Bowl or All-Pro, whatever, they had their pictures on the wall,” Brooks said. “It was down the hallway as you go to lunch. . . . When he came in, those pictures were taken down. The TVs in the cafeteria were off.”
Most successful coaches like to see their players honored for their achievements, which can inspire teammates to try harder. But O’Brien, former offensive coordinator for Belichick, wants the focus entirely on team; self must be submerged. Individual awards mean nothing.
Patriots have rarely complained of Belichick’s hard line; they know not to cross it. He lost some Pro Bowl players who did: Wes Welker, Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins. But Belichick always reassembles, and his players except for the occasional and very temporary straggler fall in line.
Times, however, are changing. Since New England’s defeat in Super Bowl LII, grumbling has been heard in monolithic Foxborough. Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski skipped OTAs, though they showed for mandatory minicamp that began last week.
Brady, who has not skipped OTAs in the past, spent Memorial Day weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he cashed in with endorsements and boated on the Mediterranean. He said he’s devoting this offseason to family, not football.
The comments by Brooks indicate that O’Brien, like Belichick, pressures players to make great physical sacrifice, while he shows little concern for their feelings or their life apart from football. He doesn’t want them expressing their own thoughts. Brooks said the Texans are close-mouthed with reporters because the coach wants it that way.
So Watt is using his platform as NFL Man of the Year to urge O’Brien in a subtle way to ease off.
Houston media has mostly granted O’Brien a pass for winning just one postseason game in his 4-year “regime.” But now I wonder about players who left O’Brien and blossomed elsewhere, such as Brooks in Philadelphia and Case Keenum in Minnesota. Was OB missing something?
General manager Rick Smith was widely blamed for botching the negotiations when Brooks was a free agent. Now it looks like it may not have mattered what Smith was offering, Brooks was not going to play another year for O’Brien.
To be fair to O’Brien, we should not assume Brooks is. By his admission, the player is afflicted with bipolar disorder (diagnosed in the summer of 2016). He’s missed multiple games for Houston and Philadelphia because of anxiety.
It’s the same illness that’s bedeviled wayward footballer Johnny Manziel, NBA All-Stars Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan, Twitter-challenged Roseanne Barr and millions of Americans you’ve never heard of. Most of them don’t know they’re bipolar. Even though they’ve had symptoms since childhood.
It’s the same illness that led to the death in April of Saheed Vassell, who was walking on a Brooklyn sidewalk waving a shiny piece of a shower head. He was pointing his fake gun at people, and he was African-American, so a group of policemen shot him down.
Having a bipolar mother and a bipolar sister, I would not believe anything Brooks says without corroboration.
A depressed person judges the world as worse than it is. Opposite of rose-colored glasses, they see murk and gloom. Of course the boss is treating them bad.
On the other hand, considering how many Americans suffer from bipolar disorder (about 6 million, according to the National Institute of Mental Health), it might behoove coaches to learn to relate to athletes who need special understanding, daily medication and weekly psychiatric counseling.
Whatever faults can be found in O’Brien, he differs from Belichick in one respect: The Texans coach is willing – even eager — to make fun of himself.
A Hard Knocks segment showed rookie Khari Lee impersonating O’Brien, very deadpan, and the coach responding with convulsive laughter. I could not imagine that being Belichick.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
And after all, it was O’Brien who generously revealed the jab from Watt. I can’t imagine Gronkowski sending such a note to Belichick. Or the coach laughing about it. Or sharing it with media.
But of course, there’s another key difference here: Belichick has won five Super Bowls. Players will put up with his churlishness believing they’re likely to play in a Super Bowl. There’s no reason to be so confident in O’Brien. It’s unfair to call him Belichick Lite – as some have. But he should beware of copying a great coach’s worst trait.