‘Sky is the limit’ for Crennel’s D
Romeo Crennel stalks the Texans sideline holding a laminated placard of defensive calls, peering over his glasses like a mad scientist working on an explosive formula.
It is attached to a lanyard around his neck. No need in him having to hold it when the offense is on the field, I guess.
Hands on hips when the offense is on the field. A hand in the air signaling between plays when his defense is doing work.
Crennel has said if he
does his job well, puts in the proper mix of ingredients at the right time — a little line stunt here, a well-disguised coverage there — the Texans can be a dominant defense.
Texans players and coaches have no doubt Crennel will put his players in the right position to make plays. That’s what he has always done.
Sunday was another example of Crennel getting the best of an offensive scheme, something he has regularly done since he started coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Western Kentucky almost 50 years ago.
Crennel’s defense shut down the Browns, holding them to just 76 yards in the first half, while forcing three turnovers and scoring a touchdown on an interception return to push Houston to a 23-0 lead.
Cleveland’s rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield struggled early to make anything happen, as the Texans seemed dialed in to everything the Browns tried. It was their most impressive defensive half this season.
Texans defenders caught the same number of Mayfield passes in the second quarter (three) as did Browns receivers.
“The coaching staff did a hell of a job … because we saw those plays all week (at practice) and we were prepared for them and were able to make plays on it,” safety Justin Reed said.
Credit Crennel, who spends much more time whispering players than yelling.
“He knows what he is doing and believes he has the answer, but he is able to listen to his players and take suggestions from them,” Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph said. “He comes at you like a father figure, trying to talk to you and teach you so that you will do better next time. He can come down hard on you, but he does it in a way to give you confidence to do better.
“He’s never really calling guys out, and he’s never trying to embarrass anybody or be a ( jerk) to anybody in situations where he could. That’s why guys have so much respect for him and want to go out and lay it on the line for him.”
Crennel has earned respect around the league as one of its great defensive minds with years of winning football on his résumé.
He has been on five Super Bowl winners as an assistant coach, three of them as the defensive coordinator. His team finished no worse than 11th in scoring defense in eight of his 11 seasons as a coordinator. That includes three years with the Texans (2014-16).
After stepping away from the coordinator’s role last year, Crennel returned when Mike Vrabel left to be the head coach at Tennessee.
And the Texans, who gave up a league-worst 27.3 points a game last year, are in the top five in points allowed (19.6 per game).
“The sky is the limit for this defense,” linebacker Benardrick McKinney said. “You can see we love playing together. There is no selfishness on this defense. We love to see other guys make plays. We love playing for each other.”
The Browns came in leading the NFL in turnover margin at plus-14.
The Texans walked away with four turnovers, the most they have forced this season, and didn’t give the ball away once.
Houston picked off three Mayfield passes in the second quarter. Mayfield did not throw an interception in the Browns’ twogame winning streak.
Two wins in a row is not much to celebrate or describe as a streak, but the Browns hadn’t won in back-to-back weeks since 2014. They last won two consecutive road games in 2003.
Thanks in large part to Crennel’s defense, the Texans have won a team-record nine straight games.
Since allowing 34 points in an overtime win over Indianapolis in Week 4, the Texans have held six opponents to 17 points or less and gave up just 23 and 21 in the other two games. In the year of the offense, with NFL teams scoring at an all-time record pace, defense could tell a championship story.
“We just want to be known as a dominant defense,” Joseph said. “We don’t care where people rank us. We just want to keep getting the job done.”