Pickers notebook: The Mike Vrabel-Bill O'Brien game within a game

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a busy week, I didn’t get to touch on several topics. In lieu of a mailbag, I offer these nuggets.

Mike Vrabel: His knowledge of the Texans from his four years with the team will certainly be of great value. He knows what they do and how they do it. He also knows the views of Bill O’Brien and his staff of all the Titans players – what they fear, what they don’t, what they are likely to try to attack, etc.

But knowing all that doesn’t mean Vrabel can plan to prevent it. It comes down to players. Vrabel’s got Dennis Kelly and Kevin Pamphile as his offensive tackles. Any coach with his third and fourth guys trying to stop J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney can only expect so much.

Also, O’Brien knows what Vrabel knows. There could be a lot of this in play:

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DeAndre Hopkins: The Texans’ receiver had s a tremendous skill set. He’s often able to gain some separation with a light “shove” that he has mastered getting away with. But his best quality, in my