I fully realize that if we go back to Friday, this makes two straight posts about former Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler. The guy’s not even in Houston anymore, so I know I should be able to let the whole Osweiler nightmare go, but I just can’t.
My inability to free myself of the man comes partially out of anger for the way Osweiler put a concrete ceiling on the Texans’ 2016 playoff chances (honestly, it’s a miracle they even MADE the playoffs with him starting at QB for most of the season). And partially because now with every dopey Brock press conference that I watch, I thank all the football gods he is no longer here.
So, SOME of my grudge comes from a good place — thankfulness!
Anyway, the one sound bite that even the most staunch Brock Osweiler apologists (believe it or not, he has some, mostly with 303 or 720 area codes) couldn’t defend from last week’s OTA presser is this one…
Brock Osweiler telling someone to put on the film from the past two years to prove he’s a good quarterback is like O.J. Simpson telling someone to watch The People vs O.J. to see what a great guy he was. It lacks in self-awareness and makes zero sense. In other words, it’s the most Osweilerian thing Brock has ever said…and that’s saying something!
But let’s for just one minute remember WHERE Brock is now plying his trade. Brock Osweiler is a Cleveland Brown, and we know that the standard to be a starting quarterback in Cleveland is somewhere just north of “has a pulse and speaks a few words of English.”
Maybe, just maybe, Brock Osweiler was affirmatively answering the “Are you good enough to be a starting quarterback in this league?” question as he was mentally stacking up his film over the last two years to the film of Browns starters over the previous 18 years, from the time the Browns returned as a franchise in 1999.
Keep in mind, the Browns have made one playoff appearance and have had one double-digit-win season since 1999, so If that’s the case, there’s a chance that Osweiler’s 2016 work actually stands up fairly well compared to that of Browns signal callers of the past 18 years. To that end, here are the full statistics from the leading Browns passers in each of their seasons since returning to the league in 1999:
Yr PLAYER GS(Rec) Cmp Att Comp% Yds TD(%) INT(%) Y/A Rate
1999 Couch 14 (2-12) 223 399 55.9 2447 15 (3.8) 13 (3.3) 6.1 73.2
2000 Couch 7 (2-5) 137 215 63.7 1483 7 (3.3) 9 (4.2) 6.9 77.3
2001 Couch 16 (7-9) 272 454 59.9 3040 17 (3.7) 21 (4.6) 6.7 73.1
2002 Couch 14 (8-6) 273 443 61.6 2842 18 (4.1) 18 (4.1) 6.4 76.8
2003 Holcomb 8 (2-6) 193 302 63.9 1797 10 (3.3) 12 (4.0) 6.0 74.5
2004 Garcia 10 (3-7) 144 252 57.1 1731 10 (4.0) 9 (3.6) 6.9 76.7
2005 Dilfer 11 (4-7) 199 333 59.8 2321 11 (3.3) 12 (3.6) 7.0 76.9
2006 Frye 13 (4-9) 252 393 64.1 2454 10 (2.5) 17 (4.3) 6.2 72.0
2007 Anderson 15 (10-5) 298 527 56.5 3787 29 (5.5) 19 (3.6) 6.7 82.5
2008 Anderson 9 (3-6) 142 283 50.2 1615 9 (3.2) 8 (2.8) 5.7 66.5
2009 Quinn 9 (2-7) 136 256 53.1 1339 8 (3.1) 7 (2.7) 5.2 67.2
2010 McCoy 8 (2-6) 135 222 60.8 1576 6 (2.7) 9 (4.1) 7.1 74.5
2011 McCoy 13 (4-9) 265 463 57.2 2733 14 (3.0) 11 (2.4) 5.9 74.6
2012 Weeden 15 (5-10) 297 517 57.4 3385 14 (2.7) 17 (3.3) 6.5 72.6
2013 Campbell 8 (1-7) 180 317 56.8 2015 11 (3.5) 8 (2.5) 6.4 76.9
2014 Hoyer 13 (7-6) 242 369 55.3 3326 12 (2.7) 13 (3.0) 7.6 76.5
2015 McCown 8 (1-7) 186 292 63.7 2109 12 (4.1) 4 (1.4) 7.2 93.3
2016 Kessler 8 (0-8) 128 195 65.6 1380 6 (3.1) 2 (1.0) 7.1 92.3
AVG 11 (4-7) 206 346 59.5 2299 12 (3.5) 11 (3.2) 6.6 77.7
2016 Osweiler 14 (8-6) 301 510 59.0 2957 15 (2.9) 16 (3.1) 5.8 72.2
A few observations:
1. About the only thing Brock Osweiler definitively did better than this slew of Browns quarterbacks was “have really good defensive teammates,” hence, the 8-6 record as a starter, which would be tied for the second-greatest record for a starting QB in Browns history (tied with the immortal Tim Couch in 2002), and behind only Derek Anderson’s unicorn of a 2007 season, in which he went 10-5 as the starter.
2. Aside from his record as a starter, Osweiler’s 2016 stats blend in like a chameleon. His completion percentage is just a half a percentage point from the Browns passers’ average and the interception percentage is damn near identical (3.2 to 3.1). The yards per start are also nearly identical (211 to 209). In other words, Brock should have looked at that reporter who asked him the question and said, “Well, yeah, I blend in perfectly around here!”
3. However, one little stat where Brock ranks WAY down the line in this crew, and this should depress the holy hell out of Texans fans — his 72.2 passer rating would have ranked ahead of only three Browns QB seasons (Charlie Frye’s 72.0 in 2006, Brady Quinn’s 67.2 in 2009, and Derek Anderson’s 66.5 in 2008 — yes, Derek Anderson had the best AND worst seasons in modern Browns history in back-to-back years. Around here, we call that a “Schaub.”)
So maybe, just maybe, Brock Osweiler was answering that question with a bit of historical perspective. I mean, this is the guy who introspectively said “every interception has a story.” He would know.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SeanTPendergast and like him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Summer Guide 2017.
