Tag: Mike Vrabel

Texans should expect to see Titans RB Derrick Henry

The Houston Texans should expect to face Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry in Week 17 at NRG Stadium.

The Tennessee Titans missed running back Derrick Henry in their 38-28 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 16 at Nissan Stadium.

The former 2016 second-round pick from Alabama was out with a hamstring injury. With a win ensuring the Titans qualify for the postseason for the second time in three seasons, and the first in the Mike Vrabel era, Tennessee could sure use their feature back.

“We’re just trying to get everybody that’s healthy back for the game that can help us win,” Vrabel told the Houston media on a conference call Tuesday. “It’s the playoffs for us, it’s not quite the playoffs for everybody else, but it’s the playoffs for us.”

Though neither team practiced on Christmas Day, both the Texans and Titans released injury reports of estimated participation had there been practice. Henry was listed as a “full participant.”

If the Titans can get Henry back, it will be an added dimension the Texans would have to manage as they count down the time to the postseason.

“Derrick’s run hard for us,” Vrabel said. “He’s tried to break some tackles, and again, you can’t block everybody. You have to make somebody miss or break a tackle. His attitude has been great. Like the rest of us, he needs to try to continue to improve late in the season.”

For the Texans, they have their ticket punched for the playoffs as their 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secured the AFC South title for them in Week 16. A win against the Titans is immaterial unless paired with a Kansas City Chiefs loss. Then, Houston would move up to the No. 3 seed. However, they are locked into wild-card weekend (Jan. 4-5) as the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots are set to have the AFC’s only two first-round byes.

Henry may be back for the Titans, which is beneficial for them. As it relates to the Texans, they are counting down until the playoffs.

Mike Vrabel doesn’t expect Texans to rest players against the Titans

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel doesn’t expect the Houston Texans to rest any players in their matchup on in Week 17.

The 10-5 Houston Texans will kick off their home finale against the 8-7 Tennessee Titans at 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday.

Being that their game takes place after the Kansas City Chiefs face the Los Angeles Chargers, the Texans may not be playing for anything on Sunday. If the Chiefs win, they will lock-in at the fourth-seed in the playoffs, slating them against the 10-5 Buffalo Bills.

If the Chiefs win, the Texans have little reason to play their star players and risk injury, other than withholding their rivals from the postseason. The Titans, however, don’t think Houston will be resting players, no matter the outcome of the Chiefs game.

“We do,” said Titans coach Mike Vrabel in a conference call on Tuesday on if they expect the Texans to play their full-roster. “That’s what we are fully expecting and that’s what we’ll get. You’ve only got 53 guys. It’s like you make a decision on seven guys that aren’t going to play and you make them inactive and you go into the game with 43 players and three specialists – 41 players, two quarterbacks, three specialists.”

The Texans aren’t particularly healthy nor injury-riddled. However, at the end of the season, it’s rare to find a player not bruised or beaten in some fashion. In their 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16, quarterback Deshaun Watson and left tackle Laremy Tunsil sustained minor injuries.

However, at the end of the day, in Vrabel’s eyes, the Texans aren’t a college football team. They only have so many players to trot out, with 46 of the 53 making the active gameday roster.

“So you’ve got 41 guys that you’ve got to go out there and cover kicks and play offense and defense and all those things,” Vrabel concluded. “Again, it’s not like there’s a hundred guys over there on the sideline like with Ohio State or Alabama or somebody.”

Titans coach Mike Vrabel wary of ‘very fearless’ Deonte Harris

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel has been frustrated by special teams; now he has to prepare for New Orleans Saints returner Deonte Harris

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Somehow, the New Orleans Saints found a rookie Pro Bowl returns specialist in undrafted free agency. Deonte Harris has been a revelation for the Saints in 2019 despite his overlooked pedigree as a NCAA record-setter out of Assumption College (a small liberal arts school in Worcester, Mass.). Harris missed two games with a hamstring injury and still leads the NFL in punt return yards (298, the most of any player in the Sean Payton era), ranking second-best in yards per punt return (9.9). He’s also ranked seventh overall in kick return yards (494) and sixth in yards per kick return (24.7).

And he’s a headache for Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel to prepare for. The Titans have one of the NFL’s worst punt coverage units, allowing the sixth-most yards gained per punt return (9.3). They’re more of a middle-of-the-pack squad when covering kickoffs (22.3 yards allowed per kick return) with a season-long of just 32 yards. Still, Harris has proven he has the acceleration to punish teams that can’t maintain lane discipline or are slow to crash down on him.

It’s something Vrabel is well aware of. He’s done his homework on the Saints special teams unit and Harris in particular; when asked to describe the rookie Pro Bowler during his conference call with New Orleans media, Vrabel was mindful of Harris’s skills and the group the Saints have surrounded him with: “Very fearless. They’ve got a very good special teams group. They’ve blocked punts. They have returned kicks for touchdowns, and Harris is explosive and he’s tough, and he is physical. That is a pretty good quality to have as far as (a) returner.”

Still, finding success on special teams requires more effort that you can get out of a one-man band. The Saints have invested a lot of resources in revamping their performance in the third phase of the game, and Vrabel credited them for that, continuing, “Like I said, they have a lot of great special teams players, (J.T.) Gray, (Justin) Hardee, (Taysom) Hill and obviously (Dwayne) Washington because of blocked punts and their gunners are excellent. With the kickers, Pro Bowl kicker (Wil Lutz), (and with Thomas Morstead) obviously a great punting team as well.”

Whether the Saints special teams units have a great day against the Titans can’t be said yet. Things look terrific on paper, but they still have to play the game, and New Orleans knows as well as any team that there’s no such thing as a guaranteed win — remember that time a 1-7 Atlanta Falcons team beat the 7-1 Saints at home, coming off of a bye week? At least the Saints have remained focused since that upset. If they can carry over the positive momentum they established on Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts, things just might go according to plan.

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Titans ‘hungry’ after loss to division rival Texans

The Titans are eager to get back on the football field and redeem themselves in the last home game of the season.

The Tennessee Titans dropped to 8-6 and face a winding road into the postseason after falling 24-21 to the visiting Houston Texans in Nissan Stadium on Sunday.

The Titans face the Texans in a Week 17 rematch this season, but the focus shifts toward next week’s matchup against the New Orleans Saints next week.

The Titans are eager to get back on the football field and redeem themselves in the last home game of the season.

“I hope the mood is hungry,” Vrabel said on Monday. “We’ve got to coach and we’ve got to come back on Wednesday and prepare. I’m sure there will be long faces, I’m sure there is disappointment. We’re disappointed when we lose. We put a lot into this every week, players and coaches. They’ll be sore. You’re always a lot more sore when you lose, that’s how it goes. So, we can’t just pout and feel bad for ourselves, feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to go on to the next week.”

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The Titans’ loss to the Texans was a close one, filled with both big plays and missed opportunities.

Ryan Succop’s missed field goal had quite an impact on the outcome of the game. With the low kick, Succop has made just one of his six field goal attempts since his return from injury in 2019, and it’s not unreasonable to call his long-term future with the Titans into question.

“I think that when you reference that specific kick, it was low, it was knocked back,” Vrabel said. “I think that both of those things absolutely did happen. There’s no denying that. We have to be better up front, and we have to be able to get some rise on the kick. That’s just what has to happen. Then, Jon (Robinson) and I will continue to look, search and try to find what the answer is – not only in kicking, but special teams, offense and defense.”

The Titans are set to face the Saints at 12 p.m. CST on Sunday in Nissan Stadium.

Texans’ execution neutralized Titans coach Mike Vrabel’s knowledge of the offense

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel does have inside knowledge of the Houston Texans, but their execution Sunday rendered it meaningless.

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel spent four seasons with the Houston Texans when Bill O’Brien was hired as coach in 2014. The former defensive coordinator has tremendous knowledge of the inner workings of the AFC South team.

What is the best way to neutralize Vrabel’s knowledge of the Texans’ offense? Ask his defense to stop it.

In the Texans’ 24-21 win over the Titans Sunday afternoon at Nissan Stadium, Houston’s offense was able to execute just enough to edge Tennessee and take undisputed first place in the division with two games to go.

“They had a great game plan with me keeping the ball on some zone reads and things like that, and different schemes that we try to put in, and what we want to do with certain players,” quarterback Deshaun Watson told reporters. “But, at the end of the day, they can know all they want to know but we go out there and execute, and the best players got to make plays.”

Watson completed 19-of-27 for 243 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, both of them in the red zone. Despite the Titans knowing a little bit of what Watson does well, or doesn’t excel at, the Texans offense was able to execute the critical plays to get the victory.

“They had some great plays they made, and we had some too,” said Watson. “So, at the end of the day, you still have to make those plays and win your matchup.”

The Texans will have another matchup with the Titans in Week 17 at NRG Stadium. However, if the Texans are able to get a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16 on Saturday at Raymond James Stadium, they will win the division and render the rematch meaningless as far as their own fate is concerned. Nonetheless, if it is a consequential encounter, much like Week 15, it could come down to execution.

Texans 100: Facts and Figures for Titans, No. 51-75

The Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans face off for a Week 15 showdown. Next, we take a look at Titans coach Mike Vrabel and referee Bill Vinovich.

The Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans will meet for a big time AFC South encounter Sunday at noon CT at Nissan Stadium. To get ready for the matchup, we next take a look at Titans coach Mike Vrabel and referee Bill Vinovich.

Facts and Figures for Titans, No. 1-25

Facts and Figures for Titans, No. 26-50

MIKE VRABEL FACTS (11)

mike vrabel facts

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

51. Vrabel, a former Texans coordinator, is 1-1 against his old team. Here is how other Texans coordinators have fared:

Kyle Shanahan: 1-0

Vic Fangio: 1-0

Mike Vrabel: 1-1

 

52. Last season, Vrabel joined Ed Biles and Jack Pardee as the only coaches in Titans franchise history to take over the team after it went to the playoffs the year prior. However, he and Biles are the only ones who then failed to qualify the club for the postseason in their first years.

53. Vrabel is 2-3 in initial encounters in the AFC South with a 1-1 record at home.

54. Vrabel is 1-1 against the Texans. Here is how that compares to the rest of the division:

Jaguars: 3-1

Texans: 1-1

Colts: 1-3

 

55. Vrabel is 1-0 against the Texans at home. Here is how that compares to other AFC South opponents:

Jaguars: 2-0

Texans: 1-0

Colts: 0-2

 

56. Vrabel’s 1-1 record against the Texans is the best after two career games since Mike Munchak’s in 2011:

Jeff Fisher: 2-0

Mike Munchak: 1-1

Mike Vrabel: 1-1

Ken Whisenhunt: 0-2

Mike Mularkey: 0-2

 

57. Vrabel is 6-1 in December with a 3-1 record at home.

58. Vrabel is 13-5 against playoff-winning coaches with an 8-2 record at home.

59. Vrabel is 3/9 on challenges for his career with a 3/4 rate in 2019.

60. Vrabel has not challenged anything related to pass interference.

61. The Titans have the eighth-lowest penalties in the NFL with 84.

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What did Titans coach Mike Vrabel learn from Texans QB Deshaun Watson in 2017?

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel only spent a season with Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, but he learned a lot from him.

Mike Vrabel and Deshaun Watson spent one season together in the same building. After the quarterback’s rookie year in 2017, Vrabel split from the Houston Texans to head coach the Tennessee Titans. Watson continues to shine in H-Town.

Though their time together was limited, with Vrabel as the then-Texans defensive coordinator, the Titans coach developed a good read on Watson — not just as a quarterback, but as a person.

“I think that you come across people in life that are special, that has an impact on other people, I would say that Deshaun is one of those people,” Vrabel told Nashville media Wednesday. “For being as young as he is, I know that I learned things from him.”

Since his arrival in the NFL, Watson has made a point of spending his first-round contract on those around him. Vrabel witnessed the 24-year-old give his first NFL game check to cafeteria workers in the organization. He has given much of his little free-time to making a point of helping the community too.

As a leader, Watson has fielded nothing but rave reviews, even warranting the adjective “swaggy” to define him.

Of course, Watson is also a game-changing talent that Vrabel respects. In his career, he is 23-12 as a starter. In the process, he’s tallied 83 total touchdowns to 26 interceptions on a 102.3 passer rating.

“But then also how talented he is,” said Vrabel. “You know, the journey is never over. He’s always going to try to make a play. He believes and he knows that if he has the ball in his hand, that something good is going to happen.”

Watson is 2-1 against the Titans and 1-1 against the Vrabel-led Tennessee squad. In his three games against the team located in Nashville, he has tallied 803 passing yards, eight touchdowns, two interceptions, a 120.7 passer rating and two passing touchdowns.

On Sunday, Watson will get another crack at defeating Vrabel’s Titans. The winner between the 8-5 teams will take the momentary lead of the AFC South.

Titans coach Mike Vrabel compares Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins to a pass rusher

Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel doesn’t just see a wide receiver in Houston Texans’ DeAndre Hopkins. He sees a pass-rusher.

It takes a pass rusher to know one.

A former NFL linebacker who collected 57.0 career sacks from 1997-2010, Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel knows his fair share about pass rushing and sees some of the same traits in Houston Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

Vrabel — who coached linebackers in Houston from 2014-16 before taking the defensive coordinator job for a year — sees a skill set in Hopkins comparable to those trying to take down quarterback Deshaun Watson. Hopkins’ physicality, leverage play and hand movements are similar to that of a pass rusher.

“He does a great job with his hands, putting them on defenders’ arms and catching the wrist,” Vrabel told reporters Wednesday. “I mean, he’s almost like a pass rusher in that regard.”

Hopkins’ handwork makes him a tough matchup for cornerbacks. In a sense, he boxes with them when they get close to the line of scrimmage. His pass rush-like skill set makes for a nearly unguardable force.

A two-time All-Pro, Hopkins is putting up another season that warrants consideration to make the first-team for a third time. The former 2013 first-round pick has 93 receptions for 1,023 yards and seven touchdowns, and his receptions are the second-most in the league.

Hopkins has historically shredded the Titans with his pass rushing-like skill set. In 12 games against them, he has 77 receptions for 1,194 yards and seven touchdowns.

On Sunday, he’ll look to build on those numbers and sack Tennessee’s endeavor to take first place in the AFC South.

Mike Vrabel: Titans CB Tramaine Brock is a ‘self-made player’

Head coach Mike Vrabel praised him Thursday, calling him a ‘self-made player.’

The Tennessee Titans added a new player at cornerback in Tramaine Brock earlier in the week, and the veteran is already drawing positive comments just days into his time with Tennessee.

Head coach Mike Vrabel praised him Thursday, calling him a ‘self-made player.’

“You know, this is a self-made player,” he said. “(He came from a) small college, kind of earned his way into this league and I respect that journey… we talked about it yesterday.”

Vrabel believes the experienced Brock brings a sense of veteran presence to the team, and looks forward to seeing what exactly he brings to the table.

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“Just a veteran body, a guy that has played a lot of football in this league. We’ll see how he does and how he reacts to what we do and our terminology and our scheme, and as much as he can handle we’ll try to give him,” he said.

Brock was released by the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, joining the Titans shortly after.

The 10-year veteran posted 37 tackles and three passes defended in 10 games, with seven starts for the Cardinals in 2019.

He also spent some time with the Denver Broncos last year, and the Minnesota Vikings in 2017 after six years with the San Francisco 49ers.

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Since making his way into the NFL, the cornerback has posted 246 tackles, 53 passes defensed and 11 interceptions.

Brock and the Titans will face the Oakland Raiders at 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Titans looking for continued success ahead of matchup vs. Colts

Tennessee has struggled against the team in recent history, but isn’t concerned with that track record.

The Tennessee Titans recorded a 19-17 loss in a close game the last time they faced the Indianapolis Colts.

Tennessee has struggled against the team in recent history, but isn’t concerned with that track record.

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel believes tackling will be a factor in ultimately pulling off the win this time around.

“When you look back, we have to be able to tackle (better),” he said in a presser on Monday. “We played the run well up until late in the game, and they busted one.”

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But Vrabel isn’t too concerned about the past heading into Sunday’s matchup, and just wants to see his team continue trending upward in the right direction that it has been.

“I don’t think whatever we have done against them before I was here or while I have been here is going to have much bearing on the game on Sunday,” he added. “The focus is going to be on this Colts team, our team here trying to go on the road against a division opponent. And the chance to get to 7 and 5 is really the most important thing.”

The Titans come off a dominant performance against another division opponent in the Jacksonville Jaguars, particularly from quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who was 14-of-18 passes for 259 yards with two passing and two rushing touchdowns on the 42-20 home victory.

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The Titans will face the Colts at noon CT on Sunday in Lucas Oil Stadium as they prepare for two-game stretch of road contests.