Shortly before the Texans kicked off their final regular season game of the season against the Titans last Sunday, Jay Glazer sent out the following tweet:

Surprise opening could be Texans, if they lose early in playoffs I can see O'Brien/team agreeing to part ways -- good candidate on market — Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) January 1, 2017

We didn’t immediately post about it here because (1) there was a Texans game about to start; (2) who the Texans would face in the playoffs was a more pressing topic; and (3) rumors of Bill O’Brien and management (specifically Rick Smith) butting heads is not exactly new ground.

That said, Jay Glazer is legit. He’s not a guy whose reporting should be dismissed; I’d consider him one of the most credible NFL reporters out there. In light of Glazer being the guy reporting a possible impending exit for Bill O’Brien, the rumored history of conflict between OB and management, the fiasco that Brock Osweiler’s season in Houston has been to this point (including but not limited to the debate over whose decision it was to sign Osweiler in the first place), the latest layer to the rumored dispute is certainly worthy of a post.

I felt that way before I came across the following nugget this morning. It’s reportedly a transcript of what Lance Zierlein said on his morning show on Sports Talk 790 earlier this week.

@LanceZierlein You guys asked on the show(podcast) and I'm asking, again... Why aren't more people talking about this here? pic.twitter.com/ErNG9UnHud — AsleepT (@AsleepT) January 4, 2017

Recall that the first question Bill O’Brien fielded from the media on Monday was about Glazer’s report:

A report yesterday said that if you lose this playoff game, then you and the Texans could have a mutual parting. What do you think about that? “I mean, I don’t think about that. I just think about this team and concentrating on the Oakland game and how far we’ve come. I don’t know - again, I don’t address those things. I just talk about where we’re at right now. I mean, I don’t even know if that’s even worthy of an answer.”

Not exactly a heated denial of the veracity of what Glazer said, is it? That’s disheartening for those of us who think O’Brien has done yeoman work during his time in Houston. It could also pose a distraction for a team that has a playoff game on Saturday afternoon and has made yet another quarterback change.

I imagine we’ll have more on this later as the story develops. In the meantime, what’s your reaction to these reports?