Massarotti: When Bill Belichick Retires, Bill O'Brien's Name Should Be On List Of Replacements
BOSTON (CBS) -- Amid all of this never-ending talk about deflation rates, suspensions and succession plans, maybe this thought has occurred to you, too: If and when Bill Belichick moves on from football, who should replace him?
So here's a name to add to the list:
Bill O'Brien.
Look, it's early. O'Brien is currently entering his second season with the Houston Texans and he is currently getting a great deal of exposure thanks to the annual HBO series "Hard Knocks." Lest anyone forget, Eric Mangini went 10-6 in his first season with the New York Jets only to be fired two years later. Two subsequent seasons with the Cleveland Browns have left Mangini with a 33-47 career record, and he's been trying to find his way back ever since.
For that matter, Josh McDaniels heads coaching career started out OK, too. And then he went poof.
But here are some things O'Brien seemingly possesses that neither Mangini nor McDaniels does – did? – while making his transition to the head guy: charisma, personality, patience, a sense of self. And that has relatively little or nothing to do with O'Brien's performance on "Hard Knocks," where the mere presence of television cameras introduces a wildly artificial variable.
Ask yourself this: what's the first thing you think of when you think of Bill O'Brien? For many, the answer is Dec. 11, 2011. The Patriots played at Washington, fell behind in the second quarter, then rallied to hang on to a 34-27 victory that was the fifth of 10 straight wins. During the game, O'Brien – then the offensive coordinator – took great exception to quarterback Tom Brady's criticism of otherwise anonymous receiver Tiquan Underwood after an end-zone interception, berating Brady on the sideline.
I don't know about the rest of you, but right then and there, I all but fell in love with the guy.
Before this, remember, nobody knew who O'Brien was. Brady was then a three-time Super Bowl winner en route to his fifth career appearance in the NFL's signature game. O'Brien might as well have been the lint on Brady's lapel. But the simple truth is that Brady dressed down someone who was selected in the seventh round – and by the Jacksonville Jaguars, no less – and O'Brien saw the opportunity to deliver a very important message.
What goes around comes around.
Obviously, that is only a very small part of the story. The fire is one thing, the football is something altogether different. After leaving his job as offensive coordinator of the Patriots, O'Brien took on a seemingly impossible situation at Penn State – succeeding the legendary (in more ways than one) Joe Paterno amid a devastating scandal – and went a respectable 15-9 over two seasons. More important, he brought some dignity back to the program. Then the Texas hired him after a disastrous 2-14 season in which the team out and out quit, and O'Brien again brought back some dignity.
Last season, O'Brien's first in Houston, the Texans went 9-7 with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum and Ryan Mallet at quarterback. Houston admittedly benefited from a dreadful division by going a combined 4-0 against Jacksonville and Tennessee, but the Texans also defeated the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15 by a 25-13 score.
This was the same Baltimore team, of course, that subsequently gave the Patriots everything they could handle (and more) in the AFC divisional playoffs – and at Gillette Stadium.
Does this mean O'Brien is absolutely, positively the guy? Of course not. Getting a team to respectability and winning a championship are two entirely different things – Belichick knows this as well as anyone from his days with the Cleveland Browns – and O'Brien still doesn't have a quarterback. The upcoming season will be a major test for him. But as the Patriots inch toward the end of Belichick's coaching career – whenever that may be – the list of his potential successors has always been short, the most obvious choice being current offensive coordinator McDaniels.
At the moment, O'Brien's name should be on the list, too.
Whether it stays there is merely a matter of time.
Tony Massarotti co-hosts the Felger and Massarotti Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub weekdays from 2-6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @TonyMassarotti. You can read more from Tony by clicking here.
