A WEEKLY REVIEW OF CRENNEL'S COACHING
Now my job: Texans had no answers for Aaron Rodgers
There are few things in Texas that get people of all different backgrounds fired up. If you hurt puppies, burn/waste BBQ, or slap a little kid, you might find yourself at odds with the good folks in the state of Texas. You could disparage their favorite high school or college football team and end up needing medical attention. But if you're the local city's NFL team that starts a promising season with a paltry 1-6 record after firing the head coach/general manager whom everyone else assumed was the problem, you should start losing sleep over what may become of you.
That's how I believe Romeo Crennel and the rest of the Texans' coaching staff should feel after their embarrassing 35-20 loss to the Packers at home. When you're facing a future Hall of Fame quarterback with a rag tag bunch of defensive backs, I don't expect things to be so lopsided. However, when you go down 21-0 in the first half after only mustering 130 yards of offense on 25 total plays, it's par for the course.
Let's get something straight: I'm not letting Bill O'Brien off the hook here, neither am I giving the remaining coaching staff a pass. The situation is all kinds of jacked up. But we're still talking about NFL caliber players and coaches that are failing to show up. The Packers' defense has been known to give up some points. This offense couldn't find a way to put any up until the second half. Their second half offense was a prime example of if too little too late was a group of people. The Packers put up 263 of their 379 yards in the first half. Did the Texans' defense discover something at the half to stop or slow down the Packers? Hell no! The Packers simply let off the gas!
Last week, I watched as Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles devised a gameplan to disrupt the Packers' offense. He had Aaron Rodgers running for his life. The Bucs sacked Rodgers five times and held them to an impressive 201 yards in a 38-10 statement game. You would think the staff on Kirby would've taken heed to what they saw and developed a similar gameplan to keep the Packers from going nuts. Nope! Instead, they allowed the Packers to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. (Here's the part where I'd normally pine for more playing time for the young pass rushers.)
This team isn't completely devoid of talent. While it may be bare, there are some talented players still on this roster. It's up to the coaching staff to put them into the right positions to succeed. There are times in which this staff puts them in position to do so, but the execution isn't there. Which of these occurs more often is debatable. What isn't is the fact that Brandin Cooks seemed to throw people under the bus with his postgame comments saying "we need to be more consistent in practice." JJ Watt even got in on the act by being very short with his responses in his postgame comments. The walls are starting to crumble. The building was already on shaky ground. It may be time to rebuild.
