Texans prepare to face former QB Osweiler
The Houston Texans are now sitting atop the AFC South in sole possession of first place and now the Miami Dolphins come to town for Thursday Night football with a familiar face at quarterback. The Dolphins will be starting former Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler after ruling starter Ryan Tannehill out for the game.
The friction between head coach Bill O’Brien and Osweiler was well documented and what ultimately caused him to be traded to the Cleveland Browns. O’Brien has liked what he has seen from his former signal-caller the past two games for the Dolphins.
“Playing really well right now.” O’Brien said of Osweiler. “I think he’s thrown for 600-plus yards in the last two games. He has a great history with (Dolphins head coach) Adam Gase. They’re doing a great job with him. Brock’s a very talented player and he’s a having a really good year right now for them. He’s doing a real good job.”
With both O’Brien spending time with Osweiler in the quarterback room, there is an inside look the Texans have on Osweiler knowing his strengths and weaknesses. O’Brien downplayed the idea that knowing Osweiler as a quarterback changes anything for the upcoming game.
“I think it’s a different system, different players around him, so I don’t think that’s important,” O’Brien said of knowing Osweiler. “He’s got a lot of different types of players than what we had, just different skillsets than what we had here, different personnel groupings. So, I don’t think that means anything.”
Gase knows Osweiler was a good fit with their offense because it was the system he arrived to as a draft pick out of Arizona State with the Denver Broncos. That knowledge of Gase’s system has helped the him the past two weeks, passing for 629 yards with six touchdowns and only two interceptions.
Gase is not worried about the history of Osweiler with the Texans and only cares about the quarterback doing his job for the Dolphins this week.
“The only thing I care about that he worries about, is trying to make sure that we’re in a good position to play well and he prepares the right way,” Gase said of Osweiler. “When we get to Thursday, he does a good job of just keeping that group together and focusing on one series at a time.”
To this point, Osweiler has not spoken to O’Brien since being traded to Cleveland and wants to leave his time with the Texans in the past.
Osweiler talked about his homecoming with the Texans.
“It was short.” Osweiler explained. “It was one season. Other than that, I’m very proud of a lot of things that we accomplished. At the end of the day, in that one season, we won our division, we won a playoff game and that’s what I remember.”
SERIES HISTORY: 9th regular-season meeting. Texans lead series, 7-1. The only loss the Texans suffered was in their last matchup during the 2015 season, when then-Dolphins RB Lamar Miller rushed 14 times for 175 yards and a touchdown. He also had three receptions for 61 yards with two touchdown receptions, leading the Dolphins to a 44-22 victory over the Texans.
