Tag: Romeo Crennel

Former Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel wins 2020 PFWA ‘Dr. Z’ award

The ‘Dr. Z’ award is given to honor lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL.

Former Kansas City Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel has been selected as the recipient of the Pro Football Writers of America’s (PFWA) annual Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman award.

On Monday, the PFWA announced two winners for the “Dr. Z” award. Former Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger was named the 15th recipient of the award, while Crennel was named the 16th recipient. The award is given to honor lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL.

Crennel got his start in the NFL as a special teams coach for the New York Giants in 1981. He’d later join the Chiefs as a defensive coordinator in 2010 after spending time with the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots in the same role. His defense helped the Chiefs to a division title and a playoff berth in 2010. Crennel would become the interim head coach in Kansas City during 2011 after the team fired Todd Haley. He’d take over the position fulltime in 2012, leading the team through one of their worst seasons in franchise history. Crennel currently serves as the assistant head coach for the Houston Texans.

Here’s what the PFWA profile on Crennel from their press release:

“Crennel is in his 38th NFL season and seventh with the Houston Texans in 2020, where he serves as associate head coach after time as the team’s defensive coordinator. He came to Houston in 2014 following a three-year stint with the Kansas City Chiefs (2010-12) where he served as defensive coordinator (2010-11), interim head coach (2011) and head coach (2012). Crennel was also the Cleveland Browns head coach from 2005-08. From 2001-04, he was the defensive coordinator with the New England Patriots, where he helped the team win three Super Bowls and was the PFWA’s 2003 Assistant Coach of the Year. He also was Cleveland’s defensive coordinator/defensive line coach in 2000, defensive line coach with the New York Jets (1997-99) and the defensive line coach for New England (1993-96). He began his NFL coaching career with the New York Giants in 1981 and spent 12 seasons (1981-92) as defensive line coach, special teams coach and special teams/defensive assistant coach. Crennel was a key component to the success of three Bills – Parcells, Belichick, and O’Brien. He has coached in six Super Bowls (XXI and XXV with the Giants and XXXI, XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX with the Patriots), with five titles.“

In addition to Crennel and Arnsparger, nominees for the 2020 “Dr. Z” award included Rod Marinelli, Dick Hoak, Bobby Turner, Bobb McKittrick, Floyd Peters, and Buddy Ryan. Other former Chiefs coaches, Emmitt Thomas (2018) and Gunther Cunningham (2019) have previously received the “Dr. Z” award.

[vertical-gallery id=71164]

Texans’ Romeo Crennel nominated for PFWA lifetime achievement award

Houston Texans associate head coach Romeo Crennel has been nominated for a Pro Football Writers of America lifetime achievement award.

Houston Texans associate head coach Romeo Crennel has been in the NFL almost as long as new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has been alive.

The Pro Football Writers of America have nominated Crennel, who enters his 38th season in the NFL as a coach, for the Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award, which is given out to assistant coaches who have spent a lifetime in the NFL.

The five-time Super Bowl champion assistant is no stranger to taking home honors from the PFWA. In 2003, Crennel won their assistant coach of the year award as the New England Patriots won three Super Bowls in 2001, 2003, and 2004, all with Crennel as defensive coordinator.

Prior to his arrival in New England, Crennel was the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns in 2000. The previous three seasons he spent as defensive line coach under Bill Parcells with the New York Jets.

Crennel was a part of Parcells’ stint in New England from 1993-96 where he also coached the defensive line. Parcells was Crennel’s entry point into the NFL as he coached a variety of defensive line and special teams for the New York Giants from 1981-92.

The Texans have benefited from Crennel’s experience as defensive coordinator since 2014 when he arrived with coach Bill O’Brien. Only in 2017 and the upcoming 2020 season did Crennel step out of the role of defensive coordinator and take on a larger role as an associate head coach.

Crennel has been a head coach in his own right. From 2005-08, Crennel was the coach of the Cleveland Browns. Crennel took the job as the Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator in 2010, but eventually succeeded Todd Haley as interim coach in 2011 before getting the full-time gig in 2012.

O’Brien has leaned on Crennel in his previous six seasons with the Texans.

“He’s got a ton of experience,” O’Brien said on March 26, 2019, at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix, Ariz. “He has a really calm demeanor, which is good for me. He’s seen it all. So, you can go in there and you can ask him about situations, whether it be head coaching situations or defensive situations, and he’ll have a thought for you or maybe he’ll say, ‘Hey, I’ll get back to you tomorrow,’ or whatever it is. More than anything, he’s just a great person, great person.”

Crennel is going against Bill Arnsparger, Dick Hoak, and Rod Marinelli, Bobby Turner, Buddy Ryan, Floyd Peters, and Bobby McKittrick for the award.

Eli Manning nominated for 2020 PFWA Good Guy Award

Retired New York Giants QB Eli Manning has been nominated for the 2020 PFWA Good Guy Award. Three other ex-Giants also earned nominations.

Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning may currently be enjoying retirement, but the two-time Super Bowl MVP is still being nominated for awards.

Despite being relegated to a backup role in 2019, Manning remained professional and courteous with the media, which earned him a nominated for the 2020 Pro Football Writers of America Good Guy Award.

The award is given to a player who exhibits professionalism “in helping pro football writers do their jobs.”

QB Eli Manning, New York Giants (retired) — Manning earned praise both for his body of work in his dealings with the media over the course of his career, and particularly in his approach during a difficult final season when he was moved in and out of the starting lineup bench as the Giants started Daniel Jones in 12 games.

The only Giant to ever win the PFWA Good Guy Award was running back Tiki Barber in 2006.

In addition to Manning, three former Giants — Bill Arnsparger, Floyd Peters and Romeo Crennel — were also nominated for the Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award (lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL).

Arnsparger served as Giants head coach from 1974-1976, while Crennel served as the Giants’ special teams coach from 1981-1989 and defensive line coach from 1990-1992. Peters spent one season with the Giants in 1974, serving as their defensive coordinator.

Winners of the PFWA 2020 Off-Field Awards will be announced on Monday, June 22.

[lawrence-related id=649972,649905,649844]

Browns have been well ahead of the curve in hiring minorities

The Browns have had 3 men of color as head coaches and 3 other African-Americans running the team

The NFL continues to try and promote minority hiring among its 32 member clubs. The latest attempt at expanding upon the “Rooney Rule” is a proposal that will provide draft incentives for teams to hire and retain minorities in coaching and front office positions.

Voting on this proposal will come soon, and it’s a divisive issue that creates many unpleasant conversation tentacles and debates. Hiring people of color in positions of power in a league where people of color make up over two-thirds of the players seems like a natural concept, but it hasn’t worked out that way in most places.

Cleveland has largely been one of the few exceptions. The Browns have been one of the most aggressively progressive organizations in hiring African-American men to prominent decision-making roles.

Take new GM Andrew Berry. He’s the third African-American hired to run the Browns front office (in one title or another) in the last decade, following Sashi Brown and Ray Farmer. Cleveland’s longest-tenured head coach 1999 is Romeo Crennel, hired in 2005 and lasting four full seasons. Hue Jackson — hired by Brown — got 2.5 seasons as the head coach. Terry Robiskie even had a brief run as an interim coach. The Browns are one of the very few NFL organizations that have had multiple people of color as both head coaches and general managers.

 

Texans CB Lonnie Johnson aiming to improve footwork in second season

Houston Texans cornerback Lonnie Johnson hopes to improve his footwork, and in turn, his coverage skills just in time for the 2020 season.

When the 2020 NFL season kicks off and the COVID-19 pandemic is behind humanity, Houston Texans cornerback Lonnie Johnson doesn’t wwant to keep six feet of space between him and opposing receivers unless necessary.

The 2019 second-round pick from Kentucky has been working on improving his footwork in the offseason. Video emerged of the 6-2, 213-pound cornerback working in a spacious backyard refurbished as enough gridiron for Johnson to go to work.

Johnson retweeted the video and added the lock emoji, indicating that he seeks to tighten his coverage skills in his second season.

Assistant head coach Romeo Crennel said on Dec. 26, three days before the 2019 season finale versus the Tennessee Titans, that Johnson had learned over the course of his rookie season with Houston.

“He’s learned a lot since he’s been with us, but the ability to learn the receivers that you have to go against week in and week out, he doesn’t have that catalog built up yet,” Crennel said. “So he’s going to have to build that catalog so that he can just refer to his notes when he goes up against a guy and he’ll know what to expect and how he should be able to play him.”

What should help Johnson as he builds that catalog is improved footwork. The cornerback group for the Texans may be a bit crowded in 2020 with Bradley Roby and Vernon Hargreaves returning and Gareon Conley, Phillip Gaines, Cornell Armstrong, Anthony Chesley, and Keion Crossen still on the roster.

7 coaching, front office changes Texans made while fans were focused on naming Bill O’Brien GM

The Houston Texans made seven changes to their coaching staff and front office along with naming Bill O’Brien the general manager.

The Houston Texans named coach Bill O’Brien the club’s fourth ever general manager in team history on Tuesday along with promoting Jack Easterby to executive vice president of football operations.

However, there were other moves the organization made to their coaching staff and front office that flew under the radar while most people were focused on the new titles given to O’Brien and Easterby. Here are seven moves that also were reported on Tuesday via the Houston Chroncile’s Aaron Wilson.

1. d’anton lynn promoted to secondary coach

(AP Photo)

When secondary coach Anthony Midget left the Texans to join the Tennessee Titans for the same job, Houston simply promoted their assistant secondary coach to the top position. The son of Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn will have the task of coaching a unit that features young talent in safety Justin Reid and cornerback Lonnie Johnson.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Texans defense finished with worst output in Romeo Crennel era

The Houston Texans defense managed to finish the 2019 season with the worst Pro Football Focus grades of the Romeo Crennel era.

The Houston Texans defense, which for the past decade has been the strongest unit on the team, was anything but in the final season with Romeo Crennel as defensive coordinator.

According to grades from Pro Football Focus, the 2019 unit finished with a grade of 64.4, the lowest of the Crennel era, even when accounting for 2017 as a Crennel season, though he was merely the assistant head coach and Mike Vrabel was the defensive coordinator that year.

PFF grades aside, the Texans had the third-fewest takeaways in the Crennel era with 22, tied with the 2016 season for the fewest sacks with 31, allowed a 97.6 opposing passer rating, the second-highest since 2014, gave up the most yards with 6,213, and allowed 385 points, the second-most in the six seasons with Crennel involved in the defense. Pro Football Focus doesn’t need its grades to demonstrate that there was something off with the defense in 2019.

Some of the problems were personnel related. Defensive end J.J. Watt missed the final eight regular season games with a torn pectoral, but outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus was unable to step up in Watt’s absence to provide a big threat on the edge.

The Texans recently promoted defensive line coach Anthony Weaver to defensive coordinator. If he can get the defense back to a level that was on par with the best of the Crennel days, combined with the Texans’ offense led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, then Houston should be able to set themselves up for a deeper playoff run in 2020.

The 11 coaches who failed to get the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl

50 years of head coaches failed to get the Chiefs to the Super Bowl. Hank Stram got the Chiefs there twice and now Andy Reid has them back.

Hank Stram took the Chiefs to a championship at Super Bowl IV. Andy Reid has them finally back in the big game at LIV. So who were the coaches who failed to get the Chiefs to the championship game for 50 years?

Paul Wiggin (11-24)

Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Wiggin was a member of the last Browns team to win a championship in 1964. Cleveland was the final straw in his time as Chiefs head coach. He was hired  on Jan. 23, 1975. After compiling an 11–24 mark in less than three seasons, Wiggin was fired following a 44–7 loss against the Browns, on October 30, 1977.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 10, Page 11

Texans promote DL coach Anthony Weaver to defensive coordinator

The Houston Texans have promoted defensive line coach Anthony Weaver to defensive coordinator.

The Houston Texans have decided to get younger at defensive coordinator and also keep it in-house.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans have promoted defensive line coach Anthony Weaver to the role of defensive coordinator, replacing 72-year-old Romeo Crennel, who had been contemplating retirement.

Weaver has been Houston’s defensive line coach since 2016. Arguably one of the best jobs he had done is developing defensive tackle D.J. Reader, who has turned into one of the Texans’ bulwarks along the interior defensive line and is due a contract extension from the club in the offseason.

Prior to joining the Texans, Weaver was a defensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns from 2014-15. In 2013, Weaver got his first defensive line coach job at the NFL level with the Buffalo Bills after spending the 2012 season in an assistant capacity with the New York Jets. In 2011, he was linebackers coach at North Texas after getting his first coaching job with Florida as a graduate assistant.

Weaver played for the Houston Texans from 2006-08 after spending his first four seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, who took him in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft from Notre Dame.