Texans HC Romeo Crennel (11.15.20)
Texans Head Coach Romeo Crennel:
On the failed fourth down attempt on the goal line:
“On the fourth-and-two, I was trying to get a touchdown. I felt like if we could get a touchdown in that situation with the weather being what it was that it would help our team quite a bit. We didn’t make it so we didn’t get the points on the board. We go into halftime, and it is 0-3. Now, we have to come out in the second half and we have to do a job in the second half. In the second half, we didn’t take advantage of our position with the weather and didn’t make the plays that we were making in the first half.”
On the timeouts called before the field goal attempt and before the Browns punted:
“I made a decision on the field goal. I was thinking about going for it and needed more time so I called timeout. Then I decided to kick the field goal. He (Texans K Ka’imi Fairbairn) hit the ball well, and the wind just moved it out of the uprights. The second timeout that I called, they were huddling on the ball and we were thinking that it was not going to be an offensive play so we had guys running on and off the field and so we were jumbled a little bit. I said rather than get a penalty and give them a first down that I would call a timeout. I called the timeout and used it at that time.”
On the weather conditions today and how it impacted the offense:
“Not only for the offense but for the defense also, the conditions were such that they had to send both teams in before the game even started. That kind of says something there. Then when we came back, it wasn’t sleeting and hailing when we came back, but the wind was a factor for both teams.”
On missed tackles on RB Nick Chubb and defending the Browns running game late today:
“We didn’t do as well in the second half against their run. In the first half, we slowed them down, and really, we stopped them in the first half. Then in the second half, we started getting out of position. I think guys started to try to make plays against the running backs instead of staying in their gap and winning their position. That is part of consistency. If you are a consistent team, guys do what they are supposed to do all the time the majority of the time. We didn’t do that.”
On the emotion with the team knowing that this was a winnable game:
“We are all disappointed because like you said, it was winnable. We felt like it was winnable. Even though it was 0-3 at the half, we felt like we could come back in the second half and then get points on the board and be able to pull it out, but it didn’t work that way.”
On RB Kareem Hunt’s and RB Nick Chubb’s performances:
“You have to give them a lot of credit. I think they rushed for 165 yards or something like that. They are hard to tackle. They don’t go down easy. They keep grinding. Then on the missed tackle at the end, we had one DB who went and took out the blocker and had a pretty decent shot. Then (Texans S) Justin (Reid) came and hit the guy around the legs, but he was able to get through it and then up the sideline.”
On the decision to pooch punt on the field goal in the second quarter:
“It was into the wind. I knew that a field goal would be rough, tough at that one so we popped up the punt. We call it a pop punt by the field goal kicker. He did a nice job. I think he put it inside the 5 on that one. In a game like today when the weather is a factor and you have great field position, you can play for field position and that can help you.”
On how much the wind and weather effected Texans QB Deshaun Watson’s ability to throw the ball:
“I think that in the second half, particularly when we started off with the wind in the third quarter, we had a couple of down field passes where guys were open but the wind carried the ball so it was an overthrow or it moved it off track. Those are plays that would have changed field position and maybe put points on the board that we didn’t hit. The weather impacted that.”
On the weather’s impact on the defense’s ability to ‘sell out’ on the run, particularly in the first half:
“I don’t know that we were selling out. It was just in the first half, I felt that we did our job better after that first series. We did our job better and then we were able to stop the run. Then in the second half, we knew that they were going to run it so guys started trying to make plays and got out of position, and they took advantage of it.”
On the fourth down late in the third quarter when a timeout was called and the decision to attempt a field goal rather than go for it as the Texans offense remained on the field prior to the timeout:
“I called the timeout because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. Offensively, they are aggressive and they wanted to go for it, but I thought at that time we were running out of time with the wind so I thought I would take the chance with the wind and see if we could hit the field goal. He hit it good. It was long enough, but the wind moved it out of the uprights so it ended up being a miss.”
On why up-tempo offense is not used more when it seems to spark the Texans offense this season:
“Sometimes it does, but if you go up-tempo all the time, the defense kind of gets used to it, gets into a rhythm and gets into an up-tempo rhythm. Sometimes, I think we want to know what the defense is going to line up in and kind of have an idea about what they are going to do. Sometimes when you go up-tempo, you don’t have that idea of what they are going to do because they are mulling around and doing stuff that maybe you don’t expect them to do. We slow it down so that everybody can be on the same page about how we want to operate a particular play call.”
On the attitude by Texans players in the locker room after the game:
“We were all disappointed that we did not win the game and we did not play better in the second half because we felt like it was a winnable game at halftime, and then we did not play as well in the second half and they won the game.”
On the frustration of not being able to win a close game like today:
“It is frustrating because the guys work very hard all week preparing for games. They play hard during the game. When you don’t win, it is frustrating. We don’t like to lose. We want to win, and they try to win. When you don’t, you are disappointed. We are disappointed about the outcome of this game.”
On an injury update:
“There were guys who got banged up. A couple guys came out and then went back into the game. I have not heard about any major injuries as of now.”
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