Facing a third-and-goal from the Houston Texans’ 5-yard line with 6:35 left in overtime, the Tennessee Titans put running back Derrick Henry behind the wildcat formation, ready to take a direct snap.
The Texans had two timeouts at that point and could have used one to regroup ahead of the critical play.
According to interim coach Romeo Crennel, the Texans did not call timeout to prepare for the play because they had actually practiced it during the week.
“See, if we hadn’t practiced that play, I would say maybe they weren’t prepared,” Crennel said after the 42-36 overtime loss. “But that play was run in practice, and they should have been prepared.”
Henry took the direct snap and bounced to the left outside and rushed for a 5-yard touchdown to give Tennessee a 5-0 and drop the Texans to 1-5.
“They knew it was the wildcat,” said Crennel. “They knew it was the Wildcat. And they thought that they knew where the ball was going to go. And the ball started where they thought it was going to go, but then when the ball came back, the responsibility had been vacated, and so there’s a lot of space for the runner.”
Houston will have to take what they work on from the practice field to the playing field at NRG Stadium in Week 7 as the Green Bay Packers come to town looking to get over their 38-10 loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday.
