Colts 26, Texans 20
Q. Romeo, can you talk about the last play, what you saw from the sideline and how devastating it was?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, it was an unfortunate play. The ball came out a little low, and Deshaun couldn't get a handle on it, and they were able to fall on it before we could fall on it because we still had some time and another down. But they were able to come up with it, and so that kind of basically ended the game at that point.
Q. Could you talk about the performance of Coutee and Hansen?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, they're two young men who have been with the program for a couple years, and they work very hard at practice. They're the guys who are running show team routes and giving us a look for the opponent that we have to face, and they haven't been getting very much notoriety for what they do, other than from the guys they're going against. But they were able to step in and do a great job today, and that shows how they prepare themselves, that hard work they put in that paid off for them, and I think that we see now that they can help this football team.
Q. Your thoughts on the defensive performance, in particular J.J. Watt and how the guys did the second half against Philip Rivers?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, the second half was a good half. The biggest thing about the second half is we made stops kind of when we needed to, and particularly on the goal line down there. That was a tremendous stop there to give the offense the ball back. And so that's one of the things about this group of young men that played defense. Early in the season it was rough, really rough, but they've began to make progress as a unit and understanding in particular when they need to, quote, we call it bow up and get something done, and they were able to do that the second half, which gave us an opportunity to possibly win the game.
Q. Both sides of the football, how did you feel like the team reacted to Fuller and Roby's suspensions and different guys playing on both sides of the ball?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, I think if you look at the game and see how hard they played and going down to the wire, we didn't have those guys, but we had other guys who stepped up and went out there and fought and played. And that's what has to happen in this game because guys get hurt, you lose them, guys get suspended, you lose them, and the next man has to be able to step up and do his part and help the team.
Q. Could you take us through a couple of decisions you made at the end of the first half, one before the Indiana field goal and two, kicking your own field goal on 3rd down instead of attempting your own pass when you had about eight seconds left?
ROMEO CRENNEL: I'm going to start at the first one, kicking the field goal on 3rd down. Well, the clock, we didn't have a whole lot of time, so if you don't kick it there and something goes wrong on a play, then you don't have an opportunity to get the points on the board, so we kicked it to get the point on the board. And then at the end of the half I made a decision to try to ice the kicker, probably wasn't the best decision to make but I called the time out on that one and probably if we had had that time out we might have been able to use it maybe to get a touchdown at the end of the half.
Q. From your perspective, why was Keke Coutee not on the field for a lot of 2019 and then the first half of the season?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, we had some other guys who were on the field in 2019 that did a pretty decent job, and one of those guys got suspended, and so now Coutee is able to step in and do the kind of job that he did today, and that just shows what kind of player he is, shows what kind of mindset he had to practice, not be active, and then he gets a chance and he performs and produces. Those are the kind of kids we have on this team.
Q. Could you talk about how Watson played, especially not having Fuller?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, I mean, you know, I think he plays really good. He plays pretty good. Those other guys across the line from him, they got to him a couple times, but he was able to escape those guys a couple times, even make some unbelievable escapes to let us move the chains and move the ball down the field and put points on the point. So he is still able to perform.
And now then he didn't have Fuller, so he uses the other weapons that he has, and that's why Coutee and Chad had big games, because he got the ball to them. He's a good player for us.
Q. Given everything this team has went through this week with the suspensions and even in this game with injuries, can you just talk about the level of fight that this team show cased today?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, I'll tell you what, they are tremendous guys, and all season we've had to deal with several different things, the pandemic being the biggest one, but injuries, suspensions, and they keep going out and they keep fighting. As evidenced today, we fought all the way to the end, and probably we felt like we were going to win it, and except for one play, we probably would have won it, but we didn't win it. But I told those guys to hold their heads up because their will to win was exhibited today on the football field. They played a total game the whole game, and it's never perfect. These games are never perfect. But if you'll play hard and put your heart and soul into it, then you give yourself the best chance.
Q. What do you think has been the change in the defense over the last several weeks?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Well, I think guys have gotten better. They understand the system better. They understand what they need to do better than at the beginning of the year. You know, the defense got some young guys on there who didn't have a whole lot of playing time, and guys have to step in and play, and so they are learning. They've been learning on the job. So some of that education has shown up the last couple games, and we've been able to get stops when we needed to and get off the field and put the offense back out there.
Q. Do you think icing the kicker works? I know there's been a debate about that in the past. Do you think that actually works?
ROMEO CRENNEL: Sometimes. I mean, hey, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. If he had missed the field goal, then boom, I would have been a genius, but he made it so I'm a dufus.
Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on the performances of Charles Omenihu and J.J. Watt rushing and also the guys that had to step in. You had to play Phillip Gaines more than you normally do with Bradley Roby suspended.
ROMEO CRENNEL: Yeah, I think Charles is beginning to show his ability, and the fact that he's learning and understanding what this system needs from him, and so when he does it the right way, then he makes plays and he helps the defense, and he's doing it the right way more than earlier in the year, okay.
And then Gaines coming in and filling in, he's a pretty good player because he had to play some last year, and he goes out there and he performs and he competes, and that's the thing that I tell him all the time, that you have to compete. When you go out there, you compete, and if you compete, then we'll let the chips fall where they may. We were able to make some plays, get off the field, and then give our offense an opportunity, and so that's what you want to do defensively, other than if you can turn the ball over, that's icing on the cake.
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