Bill O'Brien loses two timeouts after taking his time to challenge a call
Veteran Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien made a rookie mistake Monday night. O’Brien lost two of his timeouts in a matter of minutes after he couldn’t decide whether to challenge a play.
The incident occurred shortly after the start of the second quarter. The Texans drove the ball down to the 21-yard line, but were hit with a fourth-and-1 after a DeAndre Hopkins catch came up just short of the first down.
The Texans decided to go for it on fourth down, but either had issues getting the play call in, or were trying to stall so they could challenge the play. O’Brien eventually called timeout, and it was assumed the Texans would just go for it after the timeout.
That wasn’t the case. After using the timeout, O’Brien decided to challenge the spot of the ball. After the lengthy review, it was determined the call on the field would stand. In a matter of moments, O’Brien lost two timeouts.
That long delay eventually led to success for the Texans. On the next play, Deshaun Watson scored a touchdown on a 21-yard run.
While the end result of the drive was positive, O’ Brien wasted two timeouts when he could have just called the play that led to the touchdown in the first place.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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