I think he will be fine but clearly needs some experience. That said, I don't think our starters played or practiced enough this off-season and it showed. As they get more reps and plays under their belt they will improve.
I don't know, it's hard to grade the defense because I think even the best defense can get discouraged when your offense has like 60 yards in one half. Put in bad positions...constantly being out on the field...knowing that stops means nothing because your offense is trash....
Texans had one of the worst offenses last year, they didn't exactly put the defense in good position either but the defense was still elite.
It wasn't THIS bad though. I agree with your main point, there was little reason to replace Crennel, he's a proven superbowl winning DC, if that guy is happy being a DC for your team you let him like the Steelers did with dick Lebeau all those years.
Mike Vrabel is not the problem. The secondary is trash. Kevin Johnson gave up many plays that let the Jaguars to score.
I doubt Vrabel has the same caliber skills, but there is nothing we can do about it. He just isn't as experienced, and by the looks of our defense today, I am really disappointed.
Stop moving Clowney, Watt and Mercilus all over the freaking line. Let them have a position and stick with it.
The poor effort of the defense is on Vrabel. Vrabel has the title of Defensive Coordinator. I don't know what Romeo Crennel does as Assistant Head Coach/Defense, but he's not fully involved with this unit right now. I just don't imagine Romeo Crennel allowing the front seven to play as badly as they did and not making the proper strategic adjustments to maximize the defense. The Texans went from George Godsey, a mediocre OC, and Romeo Crennel, an amazing DC, to Bill O'Brien, a terrible OC, and Mike Vrabel, a completely unproven DC. That sounds like a disaster to me. The Texans better get Crennel working with the defense as soon as possible.
Watt pretty much didn't play last year and they were the best D in the league. If Vrabel wanted a DC job they should have let him walk. Romeo knows what he is doing. We aren't the brown no need for rookie coaches.
The Defense started out slowly last year too. Teams were running all over us in the first several games. And our pass protection was porous at times at the start of the season too. The big difference as several have noted, we're not pressuring the QB and forcing errors as we did all of last season.