O’Brien: Changes are coming
After ugly defeat, coach seeks ways to fix reeling team.
— The day after Houston fell behind Miami 41-0 at halftime and lost 44-26, Texans coach Bill O’Brien still didn’t have answers for his team’s problems. But he vowed to find them.
“It’s not acceptable at all,” O’Brien said Monday. “We have to coach better. The players know they have to play better.
“We have to put together a better game plan for Tennessee.”
The Texans are 2-5. The Titans are 1-5 with a fivegame losing streak. They will collide Sunday at NRG Stadium.
The Texans won’t have running back Arian Foster, who suffered a torn right Achilles tendon Sunday and will undergo season-ending surgery for the injury, which was confirmed by an MRI on Monday.
They also might not have backup quarterback Ryan Mallett.
O’Brien said he and General Manager Rick Smith are going over their options, which means Mallett, who missed the team charter flight to Miami on Saturday, might be cut if they can find a veteran replacement.
Mallett, who had to purchase a ticket to fly commercially to Miami, is likely to be fined. If the Texans cut him, they wouldn’t have a knowledgeable backup to Brian Hoyer. If they bring in someone else, it would take some time to get him up to speed on Houston’s offense.
The Texans need to make a lot of changes as they get ready to face Tennessee and then have an open date before their final eight games.
“We can’t keep doing the same things,” O’Brien said. “We have to change some things. Maybe we change practice. Maybe we change some players and line them up in different spots. Maybe we change some of the plays we’re calling. We’ve got figure it out because we can’t keep traveling this road of up and down, mostly down.
“Defensively, we have to tackle better and communicate better. Offensively, we have to try to run the ball better, and we have to catch passes. All of that comes under the umbrella of coaching.”
To a man, the players didn’t expect to find themselves in this kind of predicament. Not after finishing9-7 last season. Not after an upbeat offseason and a training camp in which the team swaggered around on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” program.
“I’m very surprised,” Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown said. “I mean, we’ve been working at this thing since April, and knowing the kind of team we have, you never expect to come out and have those kind of efforts.
“If you’re not on your A game and you give them anything, they’ll take it and capitalize off it. That’s what teams have been doing against us. We have to not hurt ourselves, more than anything.”
O’Brien suggested he might implement tackling drills, but it’s hard to do that at full speed or bring players to the ground because of the risk of injuries.
“It’s kind of hard to simulate actual game situations,” veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph said. “I think gang tackling helps out. It’s not just one guy bringing a guy down. The more guys you can get around the ball, more hats, it makes everybody’s job easier.”
Strong safety Quintin Demps emphasized that the team needs to be constructive in analyzing what’s not working instead of pointing fingers.
“It’ll go south if you point fingers,” Demps said. “You either fight or you quit. We’re going to fight. No question, we will stick together.”