Despite a rocky end to their 2019-20 campaign, the Houston Texans plan on retaining head coach Bill Brien's defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel.
“Yes, I do,” O’Brien said, via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. “I do expect him to be back. I will meet with all staff members one by one and see where we are at, but, yes, I anticipate him being back.”
Crennel, 72, has been with the Houston organization since 2014 and has been O'Brien's defensive coordinator for the past two seasons and for three years prior to 2017 serving as assistant head coach.
The respected defensive coach has been a head coach twice in the NFL, too, when he led the Cleveland Browns in 2005-08 and most recently the team that eliminated the Texans from the 2019-20 postseason, the Kansas City Chiefs in 2011-12.
The Texans finished the 2019 regular season as the fifth-worst defensive team by total yards allowed to opposing offenses. They gave up the fourth-most passing yards, eighth-most rushing yards (slightly better than the Chiefs, in fact), and tied for fourth-most passing touchdowns allowed to opponents.
Of course, the decision to keep Crennel comes immediately following Houston's embarrassing loss to the Chiefs in the AFC's Divisional Round this past weekend, which saw an early 24-point lead in the first quarter vaporized by last season's MVP in quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City's offense, scoring four touchdowns in the second quarter en route to a 41-0 unanswered run.
The Texans' defense, under Crennel's stewardship, completely collapsed against Mahomes and the Chiefs leading to Houston getting bounced from the playoffs.
Follow Us
Subscribe