When teams are scheduled to face teams they faced at or near the end of last season, they often downplay the rematch nature of the game by citing the significant changes that go on almost every offseason.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien’s team looks very different than the one that lost 30-0 to the Chiefs in the Wild Card round of the playoffs in January, but he’s not taking the position that everything has started anew. It might not be a rematch, but O’Brien says the Texans have to look at what happened in that game and “make sure you fix it.”
“I really don’t like to look into the past, but I do think that you have to -- because it’s the beginning of the season and ... that was the last game of our season last year,” O’Brien said, via ESPN.com. “You have to look at that game. You have to think about what do you need to do to get your guys to play better and to coach better in that game.”
The Chiefs started that game with a Knile Davis kickoff return for a touchdown and the feeling of the air going out of the Texans was hard to miss. With Brian Hoyer at quarterback, there wasn’t much sense that Houston could come from behind and Hoyer’s five turnovers confirmed it.
The Texans trailed the Bears 14-10 at halftime last week, but scored the final 13 points of the game with new quarterback Brock Osweiler, running back Lamar Miller and wide receiver Will Fuller all playing key roles. The Chiefs appear to present a stiffer test, but one thing O’Brien is likely to find while looking back is that his team is better equipped to deal with it.
