The Houston Texans gave up 263 rushing yards to the Tennessee Titans in their 42-36 overtime loss in Week 6 at Nissan Stadium.
Titans running back Derrick Henry even popped off a 94-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, taking advantage of the Texans’ porous run defense.
According to interim coach Romeo Crennel, the Texans’ issues with gap control are more mental than they are physical.
“Well, a lot of it is mental,” Crennel told reporters Monday. “Sometimes if you’re in that tough situation and you’ve got a double team for instance — if you are light of size and trying to stay at the line of scrimmage versus that double, it’s hard. It’s tough.”
Crennel pointed out that players who aren’t mentally strong “have a tendency to want to get off the block.”
Said Crennel: “Sometimes our guys have that tendency to want to get off the block, whether it’s a double or whether it’s a single. Many times, when it’s a single, it has to do with where the runner is. If they think they can make the tackle, then they’ll get off the block to try to make the tackle.”
However, getting off the block to make a tackle and missing creates problems.
“But then when they do not make the tackle, that opens up the seam to give a good runner an opportunity to get started,” Crennel said. “Like we talked about during the week, with the runner, Henry, that we were facing, if you get out of the gap and he gets to the second level, then that’s when he becomes really dangerous. I think that’s what we saw yesterday.”
The Texans will have to figure out how to fix their gap control as they fix their 1-5 record. The Green Bay Packers come to NRG Stadium for Week 7, and they have a formidable running back in the backfield in Aaron Jones.