The Houston Texans only have 29 missed tackles, but it feels like a million with an 0-4 record and 181.8 rushing yards surrendered per game.
According to interim coach Romeo Crennel, one of the chief reasons the Texans have 29 missed tackles through the first four games has been due to an offseason obliterated thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Part of the issue is that we didn’t have an offseason,” Crennel said. “We didn’t have a preseason. So, those guys haven’t had that opportunity to hone in on their tackling skills because in tackling, you’ve got to take proper angles. You’ve got to know where your helps is. You’ve got to be able to wrap up. Tackling has changed in the NFL from what it used to be.”
Tackling is as much about individual technique as it is coordination, such as “keeping the cup” to form enclosures around ball carriers. With just one big training camp in the month of August and no preseason games, defenses have had to develop the tackling cohesion during regular season games where the results count.
However, Crennel isn’t going to accept the missed tackles because of the challenges that the Texans, along with the other 31 NFL teams, have had to face.
“I’m not making excuses for us because we do miss too many tackles,” said Crennel. “We have to do a better job of tackling. One way to do a better job of tackling is to have live tackling drills. But when you have live tackling drills, you expose your players to injury in practice as opposed to injury in the game.
“This sport that we’re playing, guys are going to get hurt. You have to pick your poison. So, if you pick your poison, I’d rather the guys play in the game, and then we’ll see if we can improve from there.”
The Texans will have an opportunity against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at NRG Stadium. If the Texans can fix their tackling problem starting in Week 5, it should help them fix their winless record and catch a winning streak to get back on track.