Brock should be confident

One reporter bristled at the notion that Brock Osweiler could be so confident.

Six minutes into his first meeting with reporters outside of the Cleveland Browns practice facility on Wednesday, the 2009 Flathead High School grad was asked if he was good enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, Osweiler answered very matter-of-factly.

“Absolutely. Absolutely.”

“Why?”

“I think the proof is in the film for the past two years.”

There’s an argument to be made that Brock had a bad season last year, one in which he threw 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, or that he was propped up by teams with great defenses.

You could also argue that after a mildly successful first run at a starting gig in Denver he wasn’t put into a position to succeed in Houston.

In seven starts two years ago, he threw 10 touchdowns to six interceptions and completed nearly 62 percent of his passes.

In Houston’s offense, he struggled with new pieces and new terminology behind a shaky offensive line. He still managed to get the Texans as far as they’ve ever been in the playoffs.

Yet, he’s given extra grief over the rough season partly because of his contract (par for the course) and partly because he was playing for a ‘quarterback guru,’ who was supposed to make Osweiler’s raw talent flourish.

Bill O’Brien, the head coach of the Texans, got that line on his business card because he was the New England Patriots quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator and got to spend time with Tom Brady. Since leaving behind possibly the greatest quarterback of all time, O’Brien has been less ‘guru-ish’, burning through eight quarterbacks in three seasons in Houston. Among those, Brock started the most games and had the most success in a system that has been described by many as ‘complicated.’

Now, given a clean slate and a new team, Osweiler is again confident that he can return to some of the success he was beginning to realize in Denver.

“I’m getting back to the things that I think make great quarterback play,” Osweiler said of his few months with his new team.

He should be confident. He’s 26, talented and still in control of his future. Whatever happened in another city for another team shouldn’t affect how he prepares for this job. However a couple of thousand amateur football analysts feel about his play shouldn’t change how he feels about himself.

Brock has had success in the NFL, and while his past history and the past history of the franchise would suggest there is no guarantee that he’ll do well in Cleveland, he’s got a shot.

Do the past two years of tapes tell the story, as he suggests?

We’ll see.

Should he be confident he can start for the Cleveland Browns?

Absolutely.