Report: Bill O’Brien and Brock Osweiler had ‘heated exchange’

 Amid a poor start to the season offensively, the Houston Texans may be dealing with some in-fighting between head coach and quarterback.

The Houston Texans are leading the AFC South with a 3-2 record heading into Sunday night’s game against the Indianapolis Colts. But they’ve also lost two of their last three games, scoring a total of 13 points in those games as they were thoroughly kept in-check by the defenses of the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings.

Playing a talent-deficient Colts’ defense this week seems to be just what the doctor ordered for Houston’s offense, but there are already signs of conflict in the building.

According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien and quarterback Brock Osweiler had a “heated exchange” following a quarterbacks’ meeting this past week. Per La Canfora’s source, Osweiler took issue with some of the play-calling during the Week 5 loss to the Vikings during a routine review of the game.

The Texans have scored just 75 offensive points so far this season, good for second-worst in the NFL, and Osweiler’s 70.6 passer rating is good for 31st entering Week 6. O’Brien took play-calling duties back from offensive coordinator George Godsey heading into Week 4, but one good performance and one bad showing makes the change a wash at this point.

Osweiler parlayed seven good-but-not great starts for the Denver Broncos last season into a four-year, $72 million contract ($37 million guaranteed) from the Texans during the offseason. La Canfora further pointed to the impetus for signing Osweiler to that kind of contract starting at the ownership and management level of the Texans’ organization. That idea connects easily to O’Brien admitting he did not even meet Osweiler until the press conference to announce the signing, as improbable as that still seems.

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Predictable play-calling can bog down offenses very quickly, but Osweiler has to reverse the downward trend in his play. O’Brien once had a sideline spat with Tom Brady as offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, so based on what’s known right now it’s easier to take the coach’s side in an exchange of words with the far less-proven Osweiler.