‘PRESSURE TO PERFORM’
Smith was promoted to head coach to make team competitive after recent struggles
Cal McNair knew he didn’t need another process-oriented head coach.
The Texans chairman and CEO began his newest hire’s February news conference with a compliment and a caveat. He credited general manager Nick Caserio for a 25-day coaching search that resulted in promoting former defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, then delivered a standard that sounded like an ultimatum.
“All of that work and progress behind the scenes needs to start showing up, and we understand that,” McNair said then. “I expect to win at everything we do, and there is pressure to perform in our organization.”
This was the basis behind Houston’s firing of the one-anddone David Culley, a $22 million decision to part ways with a firsttime head coach whose lack of experience as a professional coordinator was magnified in a 4-13 season in which the team’s point differential (-172) was the lowest in franchise history.
Culley’s strengths as a unifier were made moot by malaise. Empty seats in NRG Stadium — a venue that sold out 72,000 seats for seven straight seasons before the Texans produced their first winning team — resembled the defiance and apathy of a city only two years removed from consistent playoff contention.
A job to do
The Texans cannot bear to be an embarrassment for a third consecutive year. No matter the limitations associated with a roster still undergoing a rebuild, no matter the advanced stage of the contenders on Houston’s upcoming schedule, it is Smith’s core criterion to field a respectable and competitive football team again.
No team embodies that barrier more than the Colts, the regular season opener on Sunday, the AFC South rival that trounced the Texans in two games last season by a combined score of 62-3. Caserio said last week flatly (and aptly) “they kicked our ass twice last year, so we’ve got a lot of work in front of us.”
No front-office executive desires to define defeat so bluntly, and any responsibility to produce anything different falls on Caserio, on Smith, on the staff of assistants they both constructed. That’s why it’s somewhat confusing that Caserio’s second coaching search ended with Smith, a coach who was already
on staff, the coordinator whose defense was getting its (ahem) kicked.
But there’s confidence in Smith’s scheme, in the 13 veterans who’ll pore over the playbook a second time, in the rookies and free agents who addressed drastic depth issues at key positions. Christian Kirksey, Houston’s second-year starting middle linebacker, said his teammates are “way more comfortable” in their second season under Smith. They “know exactly where to be on the field,” and believe “we are going to go up from this.”
“Corrections can be easily made,” said linebacker Kevin
Pierre-Louis, who signed with Houston’s practice squad after being released last week. “A lot of times now, instead of coaches telling us where we could have done better, before we even get off the field, we’re already talking with each other. … A lot of that communication is being done at the player level. So, when we bring it to the coach, it’s more just ironing out the wrinkles at that point.”
Smith often lamented that the front seven were out of place, not filling or occupying the right gap. The Texans surrendered the second-most rushing yards per game in the NFL last season (142.2). The franchise hired a new
defensive line coach, Jacques Cesaire, who was an assistant with the Bills for two formidable seasons, and he’ll be expected to teach his aggressive, attacking style to a unit mostly bolstered by frugal free agency signings.
Houston’s most costly failures stemmed from a leaky secondary that gave up explosive pass plays (20-plus yards) at the league’s third-highest rate. Smith declared cornerback as the team’s most pressing position, and Caserio listened by selecting Derek Stingley Jr. No. 3 overall.
Caserio and Smith appeared coordinated in the draft selections, especially on defense. The
Texans spent a second-round pick on hybrid Baylor safety Jalen Pitre, traded back into the third for Alabama’s speedy linebacker Christian Harris, and stocked the front with a versatile lineman in fifth-rounder Thomas Booker. Harris enters the season on the injured reserve with a hamstring injury, an unfortunate setback for both the rookie and a defensive coach who groomed Hall of Famers Derrick Brooks and Brian Urlacher at the position.
Standout stats
Still, without Harris, the disruptive hallmarks of Smith’s scheme abound. The Texans recorded 13 sacks, 23 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles and three interceptions in the preseason, albeit against reserve offensive units, and Stingley and Pitre should significantly improve the volatility of Houston’s defense this season. If there’s any statistic that personifies Smith’s persona it’s the takeaway.
“He’ll talk smack about getting a takeaway,” linebacker Garret Wallow said. “If you don’t punch the ball out, ‘You’ve got to get the ball out!’ Stuff like that. He overemphasizes takeaways. And I like that because I think in college, I wasn’t used to a coach overemphasizing that every single day. So just hearing him keep saying that, I already know what he’s going to say when he walks up to me half the time. I know a lot of guys really feed into his way of doing things, and I’m really excited to see what this team does this year.”
There was less confidence in the immediate direction of the offense following the 2021 season. Former offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, unlike Smith, was fired shortly after Culley. Smith advocated for the promotion of Pep Hamilton, Houston’s passing game coordinator, and Smith’s revival as a third-time NFL head coach is now intrinsically tied to Hamilton’s success as a third-time NFL play-caller.
If the Texans again fail to be productive on offense, if they again hover at the inept 4.7 yards per play that tied for third-fewest in team history, there will be inevitable questions about whether Hamilton is the answer at play-caller and if Smith’s values in a coordinator are fit for the team’s future.
There will be old-school tendencies. Smith said his favorite play of the preseason was a nineyard run out of the I-formation. Can this style also improve a downfield passing game that
was all too lacking in 2021?
And remember, if the Texans decide Davis Mills is not their long-term quarterback, the franchise must consider what offensive staff will groom the next one. Smith lasted just one more season with the Buccaneers after they drafted Jameis Winston No. 1 overall in 2015, and the franchise promoted offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter for three more playoff-less seasons.
Smith also must make the consequential in-game decisions, a responsibility that Culley, in his inexperience as a head coach or play-caller, often fumbled. Smith, the NFL's 2005 Coach of the Year, who led the Bears to Super Bowl XLI, is an 11-year headcoaching veteran. Still, it's relatively unknown what Smith's philosophy and relationship is with modern analytics staffs.
Smith only spoke in general when asked about analytics during training camp, acknowledging the Texans have a sizable analytics staff that is “analyzing everything that we do.” Rockets coach Stephen Silas visited a practice and toured the team facilities in the preseason, and one of his biggest takeaways was how much the Texans embraced analytics. They break down models by time, score and matchups — a similar dataset the numbersdriven Rockets have studied for several seasons.
“We do it the same way,” Silas said. “This guy goes out for the opposing team. What are the things we should look for? Or, this time is on the clock, this is the score, what are the things we're trying to do to exploit the defense? Or what makes sense as far as getting it a two-for-one? They do a bunch here, and there's a lot of communication just because there's so many people.”
Trends also show more and more NFL head coaches are shifting strategies in favor of models that suggest they be more aggressive in fourth-down situations. Smith, like Culley, will have access to the Texans' data. Smith has said he'll be in command of those in-game scenarios. Smith has also said he doesn't plan on Caserio being wired into headset communication with him on the sideline, as the general manager was with Culley.
“As head coach I'm going to be in charge of all those two-minute situations like everything else,” Smith said in training camp. “We're no different. How do I approach it? Situations come up; we make decisions. Don't look too much into that, all right?”
Productivity is paramount. But the team's need for stability and development certainly doesn't disappear, although those qualities were more valuable in the immediate tumult that followed the Bill O'Brien regime change and former quarterback Deshaun Watson's 15-month fallout.
Smith's credentials, reputation and personality fulfill all the requirements for an overhauled roster that needs to rely on a credible leader. He's a Big Sandy native, a Texan whose calm selfassurance connects both to his team and its fanbase. Indeed, those characteristics can significantly improve competitiveness by creating confidence.
Reserve cornerback and kick return specialist Tremon Smith shared a widely-held sentiment in mid-August by saying, “I'd run through a brick wall for Lovie.” Two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil said “we're going to follow him” and noted how the team's high attendance rate during offseason workouts was “pretty special.”
Several players praised Smith's open-door style of coaching. Any player can enter approach Smith or an assistant coach with a question or suggestion. The season then becomes a collaboration, and they all take ownership of a shared success.
“I think when you're a football team, you say you're in this together,” Smith said. “I love it when a player is so invested that they know what to ask and want it to be explained. There's a reason why we do everything. There's a reason why we fine guys if they're late. There's a reason why we tap guys on the back if they make a good play. There's a reason why we ask our quarterbacks to do certain things. There's a reason why we play man technique a certain way. If they are invested in that, they'll feel like it's theirs. I think it helps you get to a point when you keep asking guys to do something, they want to see themselves have some success doing it. That's when they really buy in. That's where we are right now. We're growing, learning all that, the guys have bought into how we want to do things.”
Only one NFL team has fired one-and-done coaches in consecutive seasons in the Super Bowl era. The 49ers fired Chip Kelly after his 2-14 season in 2016 offered even less promise than Jim Tomsula's 5-11 campaign the year before.
Regression is Smith's main prohibition this year, but a status quo season also doesn't offer security. McNair said the Texans are “committed to winning,” and “if we have to make changes that are sometimes difficult, we're willing to do that because we want to win.”
Smith knows the stakes. On Monday, the silver-bearded coach stood before reporters, his hands firmly set on his hips
“Time for us to do our jobs now,” he said.