The Houston Texans have had a turbulent season. It seems that most of the surprises haven’t been good ones.
Over the team’s bye in Week 8, the club had its first positive COVID-19 test of the season as guard Max Scharping tested positive. On Nov. 5, the team announced that outside linebacker Jacob Martin had also tested positive.
What Crennel, the interim coach since Oct. 5 when Bill O’Brien was fired, had to project to his players was confidence and stability in the face of a new challenge.
“I think that if you have a plan and have planned then you can follow your plan, all right,” Crennel said. “Sometimes things just come up out of the blue and then how you handle those things I think impacts your team. So, if I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off then my players will notice that, but if I show them some stability then they feel better about that.”
From a personnel standpoint, the Texans will be in a bind as the positive test for Martin also took out outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus and inside linebacker Dylan Cole through a contact tracing investigation. Houston will not have to turn to third-round rookie Jonathan Greenard and veteran Brennan Scarlett on the edge to compensate for the loss of Mercilus.
“Even though that we’ve lost some players, we know that we’re going to go play the game,” said Crennel. “We know that guys who are going to go put into the game have been here. They’ve been practicing, they know the system. Now, it’s an opportunity for them to go in and show what they can do.”
The Texans face the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at TIAA Bank Field. The Jaguars are similarly 1-6 and coming off a bye, but have had a worse season and an even worse prognosis for the year. The Texans need to stay calm and pick up the series sweep.