Romeo Crennel expected to be new defensive coordinator for the Texans

That's fair, but he doesn't have the track record of success that Wade Phillips does. I could give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not sure he deserves it. The ONLY success he's had as a DC was in NE. Wade Phillips has had success everywhere he's gone.

 

You bring up KC... He was the head coach but wasn't the KC defense pretty good when he was defensive coordinator before they fired Haley and gave him the job...

Plus they had a player kill a woman and shot himself at the facility. That was a hard year. But we're not discussing Romeo as a head coach.

 

The goal is to stop the run so teams become uncomfortable and pass. I know the game has evolved and become more pass oriented but that is what O'Brien said. Regardless of what the stats say that's how Crennel builds his defensive line and alignment. He wants the guys up front occupying blockers, not chasing the QB.

 

Wade had talent every where he went too.

 

I bring up KC because he was the DC there the entire time he was there. The last year he was ALSO head coach but he was always DC. KC never ranked in the top 10 defensively either by points or yards until after Crennel was gone. Their rushing defense was especially poor under Crennel being ranked in the mid 20's all but the very first year he was there.

 

Well if that's the case, then his defenses have been a failure at doing so, AND that strategy marginalizes the Texans best defensive player.....even more reason to not be thrilled about Crennel at DC

 

And the very first year he wasn't the head coach and didn't have head coaching duties _ he was just the DC...

Just the same. I appreciated Wade his first year here. I would have really like to have Tomsula but I'm glad we have Romeo...

 

He wasn't the head coach till the very last year, he was just the DC and the run defense went from 14th in the league to 26th in the league.

Crennel might not be a disaster, but he doesn't have the track record of success that Wade Phillips does and his scheme marginalizes the Texans best defensive player. I'm just saying that I'd be a lot more optimistic if Phillips was still DC.

 

And still be predictable and exposed every time no thank you look at wades defenses after the first year or two they drop dramatically because his defense gets figured out a change was necessary and maybe now our defense can confuse some teams and our coverages can be exotic enough to cause some problems for QBs

 

.....And if you look at Romeo's defenses without Bellichick, they aren't ever good to begin with.

 

Folks love to play the "he won with ______'s players though" argument when it works for them. Yet we can't give Romeo some credit for that team in KC this year? Namely the defense?

Some guys just don't work as a head coach. That doesn't mean they aren't great coordinators. I think Romeo was not only a good hire but the best possible scenario for a rookie head coach to have.

 

I think the biggest factor we have to consider regarding Crennel right now is how he will combine our personnel and his traditional scheme. They don't match up well on paper. Either he will have to alter his traditional 3man/6gap DL approach or we're going to need to do some changes up front. Earl Mitchell simply does not work as a 2-gap nose. Watt will always occupy two blockers, but it's a waste to have him occupying gaps. Smith is much better penetrating than he is playing the run. Our OLBs are all underwhelming in terms of pass rushing.

I don't know if Clowney can be converted to a WOLB, but you can't draft him and not send him into the backfield. I personally don't think Barr represents the value you need for the #1 pick. Nix could be our lane clogging NT, but he's not top 5 good and he won't last until round 2. One guy with huge size that may be around later is Daniel McCullers. Bill O'Brian might like DaQuan Jones enough to want him.

But maybe Crennel is going to change things up and go away from his reactive style.

 

KC's defense wasn't amazing till after Crennel was gone, why give him credit for it? Do we give Frank Bush credit for the Texans defense getting amazing the year after he was gone?

 

Frank Bush doesn't have 5 super bowl rings either...

 

Ah, so it comes back to riding Belichick's coattails then?

 

It's a bad sign when you are the HC and DC at the same time. That means you're probably doing both jobs poorly.

Take Crennel's most recent year with KC and throw it out the window. Focus on the years where he ONLY was the DC, and his track record speaks for itself.

 

You get a coach who has the ability to make adjustments in schemes to the talent he has.

Wade has proven that he doesn't make adjustments, and that his defenses regress as they get exposed by around year 3. If a coach needs all the talent in the world to make his system work, I will question that system/coach to no end.

 

How many rings does Bill have since he lost Romeo?

 

Did frank bush have the following additions that Wade got?

Watt
Manning
Joseph
Barwin (back from injury)
B. Reed (most productive season was his rookie year)
Cushing moving to ILB thanks to barwin, and Reed.

That's more than half the defense that was drastically different.

Wade had 3 years here, with regression in year 2 followed by pathetic play in year 3. You want to extend him? That's exactly the loser mentality that has plagued this franchise since day one.

 

Regular season team defensive statistics do not tell the whole story. The Texans have looked good on paper but never been good at stopping elite offenses when they need to. All Romeo Crennel does is stop elite offenses when he needs to. Here is his playoff record as defensive coordinator.

2001 -
Divisional vs. Oakland (Gannon to Rice/Brown) - 13 points
Conference vs Pittsburgh (#7 offense) - 17 points (forced 4 turnovers)
Super Bowl vs St. Louis (Greatest Show on Turf) - 17 points (forced 3 turnovers)

2003-
Divisional vs. Tennessee (#5 offense) - 14 points (forced 1 turnovers)
Conference vs Indy (Manning Prime) - 14 points (forced 5 turnovers)
Super Bowl vs Carolina (Delhomme should have started over Yates) - 29 points (forced 1 turnover)

2004-
Divisional vs. Indy (Manning Prime) - 3 points (forced 3 turnovers)
Conference vs Pittsburgh (Roeth Rookie) - 27 points (forced 4 turnovers)
Super Bowl vs Philly (McNabb/Owens/Westbrook) - 21 points (forced 4 turnovers)

2010 (KC) -
Wild Card vs Baltimore - 30 points (KC offense only completed 9 passes and had 3 ints + J Charles fumble early)