The Houston Texans have a challenge on their hands when they take on the Cleveland Browns Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at FirstEnergy Stadium.
The Browns have one of the premier young pass rushers in the league with former 2017 No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett. The defensive end has generated 9.0 sacks on the season and seeks to live in the Texans’ backfield Sunday afternoon.
Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel has been coaching in the NFL since 1981 and has seen his fair share of great pass rushers from Hall-of-Famer Lawrence Taylor to Pro Bowler Willie McGinest to three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt. When Crennel looks at the tape of Garrett, he recognizes some of the same traits in the 6-4, 272-pound defensive end.
“He’s got great length, first of all,” Crennel said. “He’s good off the ball. He has body flexibility so he can run under blocks. He can get around blocks. He’s got that drive that some of the great pass rushers have. He’s got that drive to get to the quarterback.”
The Texans will have to find a way to keep Garrett away from Deshaun Watson, who has taken 24 sacks throughout the season, the fourth-most in the NFL.
“You’ve got to know where [Garrett] is,” said Crennel. “That’s the big thing. Then, you’ve got to determine what you need to do on your protection to try to slow him down. Can one guy do it or does that guy need help? You can do that by sliding the line to him. You can do that by chipping him. You can do that by keeping a tight end in. There’s several ways to try to slow him down. As we go into the week, we’ll figure out what the best way for us to do it.”
If the Texans can find a way to keep Garrett’s impact on the game minimal, it should bode well for Houston’s chances to improve their 2-6 record.