one of the favourites for the same event in Rio on Sunday.The second failure was an administrative error on October 5, 2015 and the third was a missed test on June 9, 2016, following an emergency change of plans

HOUSTON -- The quizzes began early.Houston Texans head coach Bill OBrien and offensive coordinator George Godsey sent Brock Osweiler?to the front of the team meeting room to stand on stage with five linemen during the first week of the teams offseason program. The offensive players he would soon lead sat in oversized office chairs behind rows of ascending desks. Oversized game photos adorned the walls on either side.Godsey and OBrien called out a play, and the dress rehearsal began. Osweiler barked out cadences for the room to hear, just like he would in a game. When he got it wrong, good-natured cat calls followed. But he didnt get it wrong often.I remember the first time that we did it, which was at the beginning, Texans coach Bill OBrien said. He had it.Most of the time, Osweilers response showed a mastery of the four pages of cadences he had been asked to learn before he set foot in the building for offseason meetings. Most of the time, Osweiler showed his commitment to the great expectations facing him.It has to work. The Texans are counting on him. The fates of general manager Rick Smith and OBrien are tied to Osweiler -- to whom they paid $37 million guaranteed and $72 million over four seasons -- whether their owner admits it or not. And Osweiler is counting on himself. He brims with confidence that hell bring the Texans exactly what they need to give their superlative defense a worthy complement.Its exciting. Its a new challenge, Osweiler said. Its something to wake up for and chase after, just to learn this new offense. ... Thats the playbook, thats getting to know your teammates. Understanding the ins and the outs and the operation and style of this building and how our strength staff operates.Its like the first day of school and going to a new school. Whos going to be my new best friend? Whats our teacher like? I cant wait to see the playground, maybe our weight room and cafeteria.To make this work, Osweiler has to know everything about the Texans offense. He has to master the contents of a 4-inch-thick binder that is the work of generations of brilliant coaching minds. That process began as soon as he walked out of the building for the first time March 10, armed with a tablet filled with film and terminology. It continued on a field at Arizona State, where his new teammates joined him. It crystallized over weeks of study in the facility during the Texans offseason program and in his office at his new Houston-area home.Indoor and outdoor learningThat first day marked a rare time that Osweiler followed instead of led.This is where we sit, a fellow quarterback told him. Osweiler followed his backups,?Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden, into their unassigned seating arrangement in the team meeting room. It ensured that the receivers, including Pro Bowler DeAndre Hopkins, sat right behind him.By then, Osweiler had memorized the basic information section of the Texans playbook, which includes four pages of cadences, and also huddle instructions, explanations of how the play is called, personnel groupings, the names of motions and shifts, and defensive terminology. The most extensive part of the playbooks opening section explains all the Texans formations. Its 18 pages.If you asked a player, thats probably one of the hardest things to learn, OBrien said. We probably have more formations than most any offense.They dont expect to spend more than a week on that.Since he signed March 10, Osweiler set daily goals for himself. One day, he challenged himself to learn all the Texans cadences. Another day, he tried to learn all the empty formations. He would say a formations name out loud, then draw it until he got it right.The receivers showed up in late March on Osweilers invitation to Arizona State, as did Savage. They ran routes, and he threw to them. Sometimes, they taught Osweiler a route signal, then surprised him later with a quiz.Whats the signal for a quick out?Whats the signal for an in-cut from the slot?He was like a student from the jump, receiver Cecil Shorts said. Very professional. I can see what he learned from 18 [Peyton Manning].Those extra sessions continued in Houston. Even when throwing at the Texans facility wasnt allowed, the group would get together somewhere off-site. Once the offseason program began April 20, finally Godsey and OBrien could help.One thing that weve learned as coaches: Were teachers, OBrien said. Hes the quarterback. If Im just talking to him, eventually theyll just see my mouth moving. Blah blah blah. We want them to get up there and actually do it.The coaches had Osweiler draw formations on a board in the Texans quarterback room, an often dimly lit space with walls covered completely in whiteboard. They showed a cut-up of film from one of the past seven years and asked Osweiler to identify the protection and middle linebacker.In the team meeting room, they practiced the cadences on stage. They asked Osweiler to explain what he expected from his teammates and from a defense on certain plays. Whereas last years starting quarterback,?Brian Hoyer, might have given a less robust answer, Osweiler sometimes stood up, his 6-foot-7 frame overpowering the room, and verbally diagrammed an entire play. Sometimes in team meetings, he closed his eyes to imagine the play unfolding.If he sees something that he knows he can help us out with, then hell speak out, Hopkins said. Hes not the QB thats going to hold his opinion.Sometimes he turned around to Hopkins, who sat behind him, just above his left shoulder.Therell be times where hell probably say, Hey, Brock, I need you to do this for me, or Ill say, Hey, Hop, I need you to do this for me, Osweiler said. But for the most part its, Hey, Hop, whatd you see there? or Hey, Brock, whatd you see there? ... We work together, and its a partnership.Its also a partnership between Osweiler and the coaching staff. They want to call the plays the quarterback is most comfortable with, so theyll sometimes alter details to suit him.I see him as a colleague, and so we talk about things to, one, help him understand where this word or what the genesis of the term or situation were in, Godsey said. But theres also a little bit of information Im receiving from him that may enhance our own particular way of calling things. That I enjoy.When the on-field work began in organized team activities, Osweiler tested himself. He could see the offense he studied so long unfold. He could make the mistakes he hoped to not repeat in games, then talk with his teammates in the field about them.He had good days and bad days. During one practice, he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and he chased the defensive back all the way to the other end zone. What was important then -- and will still be important in training camp -- is that hes learning.OTA days ended around 3 p.m., and Osweiler often stayed later to watch that days practice film. Each night, he went home to study for the next days practice. When he felt comfortable with what he learned, usually between 8 and 9 p.m., he called for his wife, Erin.My wife will act as the offensive coordinator at times during the evening, Osweiler said. Ill have her read the full play to me. Ill sit there and try to picture it, spit it back out to her, make sure Im verbalizing it the right way so that when I step into the huddle the next day in practice, things are coming out clear.Veteran wantedFor a rookie quarterback to come in and be able to run this offense would be extremely difficult, OBrien says. First of all, theyre getting adjusted to pro football. The time, totally different. From 7:30 in the morning to 5:30 at night, its all football. They have to get adjusted to that, get adjusted to a new city.Then they have to learn this. Some colleges dont even have a playbook.Sitting in the quarterbacks room, wearing Texans warm-ups, OBrien lifts a copy of the Texans playbook and flips through the pages to emphasize their number. This is the physical version of the digital playbook Osweiler and his teammates have.Colorful tabs separate the pages in the binder that holds a playbook whose roots go all the way back to Ron Erhardt, the offensive coordinator who helped Bill Parcells win two Super Bowls. It passed down to Bill Belichick, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and OBrien, among others. Now Godsey is adding to it. One personnel grouping is named Detroit because Belichick concocted it while coaching in Detroit. There are others created for former Patriots players. In their first season with the Texans, OBrien and his staff added a personnel grouping that could get running back Arian Foster on the field as a receiver.It makes for a complex system designed to maximize a teams roster. It also gives the quarterback near complete control at the line of scrimmage. That means he has to know the offense so well that, ideally -- and its a lofty ideal -- he never runs a bad play.Gary Kubiak, the Broncos head coach since 2015, runs a more streamlined offense, with less complication at the line of scrimmage. The quarterbacks in his system typically have less responsibility before the snap.But the Texans playbook is not completely foreign to Osweiler. The Broncos drafted him in 2012, a season after McDaniels was fired as their head coach, and some similarities remained with coordinator Mike McCoy and then-quarterbacks coach Adam Gase, both of whom worked under McDaniels.It might have been too much for a rookie. Thats part of the reason the Texans were delighted when that rare thing happened: A veteran quarterback they liked hit the market.So far, Osweiler has rewarded their faith, but the quizzes arent over yet.Stitched Jerseys For Sale . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Fake Jerseys For Sale . LOUIS -- Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig says hes recovered from a foot injury and ready to be put on St. https://www.jerseysforsalechina.com/ . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Authentic Jerseys For Sale .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Jerseys For Sale .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore.Lizzie Armitstead says her reputation has been tarnished after the missed drugs tests which put her Olympics place in jeopardy.The 27-year-old, who will feature in the road race on Sunday, says she was naive in not challenging her first missed drugs test until the threat of a suspension loomed large.And she was left in turmoil under the warning of a two-year ban until the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled she was free to compete in Rio as the first of three whereabouts failures was scrubbed from her record.I felt like I was standing on a cliff and I was going to fall off the edge, she told the Daily Mail.It was more than just missing the Olympics in Rio. It was everything else. It was what was going on with my family.I was more concerned about my reputation and peoples understanding of it. I could have been banned. Thats what I was most scared about. All the hard work being for nothing.It was basically my livelihood and my sport being taken away from me. It was everything. A black line.The hardest thing about this situation is that there will be people who will always have doubts about my performances.Armitsteads first missed test, on August 20, 2015, while she was in Sweden ahead of a race, was declared void by CAS after it ruled UK Anti-Dopings control officer had failed to follow procedure.UKAD is awaiting the reasoned decision from CAS.I did think about [challenging the first failure], Armitstead added.But the reason I didnt was because it was my first strike and it was very close to the World Championships, so I was travelling to America.dddddddddddd also didnt have the legal advice. It felt very much them against me. I was very naive. I went ahead to the World Championships and I didnt want the distraction.UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead told BBC Sport: Id like to think that we are a reasonable organisation and we dont bring cases against athletes unless we see reason for doing so.Athletes must make themselves available for testing for one hour each day and inform testers of their location.Armitstead was charged by UKAD with three whereabouts failures on July 11, leading to a suspension pending disciplinary action.She was Britains first medallist of London 2012 four years ago with silver in the road race on The Mall and is one of the favourites for the same event in Rio on Sunday.The second failure was an administrative error on October 5, 2015 and the third was a missed test on June 9, 2016, following an emergency change of plans due to a serious illness within her family.Armitstead did not dispute the later two faults, but successfully appealed to CAS over the first missed test.Armitstead said the doping control officer did not identify himself to hotel staff and was unable to get hold of her, as her phone was on silent.She added: It was found that he did not do a good enough job in trying to find me. I was the leader of the World Cup, I was tested the next day, and that sample was negative. ' ' '