Head Coach Ranking

Houston Texans 20, Jacksonville Jaguars 3 – Dec. 30, 2018

At Houston
1:00 p.m. ET
Dome

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
JAC 6 6 6 6 6 6.0
HOU 7 8 8 8 7 7.6

Key Observations:

• Jacksonville only had 119 yards of total offense and only six first downs. Blake Bortles completed 15 passes for only 89 yards in what could be his final appearance in a Jacksonville uniform.

• Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette didn’t play due to injury and was called out after the game by Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin for his lack of professionalism. Rumors are swirling that the Jaguars will move on from the player picked fourth overall in the 2017 draft.

• The Houston running game was efficient as they ended up with 134 yards on the ground and accounted for two touchdowns. Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was the main target through the air as he finished with 12 catches for 147 yards.

• The Texans clinched the AFC South and will open up the playoffs next week against division rival Indianapolis.

Philadelphia Eagles 32, Houston Texans 30 – Dec. 23, 2018

At Philadelphia
1:00 p.m. ET
44 degrees

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
HOU 7 7 7 8 7 7.2
PHI 6 8 8 7 8 7.4

Key Coaching Decision #1: (PHL ball, tied 0-0 / fourth-and-2, HOU 37 / 6:42 Q1)
• The Eagles went for it in Texans territory and Nick Foles hit Darren Sproles for a 37-yard touchdown.

Key Coaching Decision #2: (PHL ball, trailing 9-7 / fourth-and-3, HOU 8 / 5:44 Q2)
• Philadelphia decided to forego the field goal attempt and Foles hit Dallas Goedert for a 6-yard gain and a first down.

Key Coaching Decision #3: (PHL ball, trailing 9-7 / fourth-and-1, HOU 1 / 3:11 Q2)
• Philadelphia decided to go for the touchdown and Foles completed a short pass to Zach Ertz for a touchdown that gave the Eagles the lead.

Key Coaching Decision #4: (PHL ball, leading 13-9 / 2-point conversion attempt / 3:11 Q2)
• After an Eagles touchdown, Dough Pederson went for two points and Foles was sacked. We don’t understand the decision to for go two at this point in the first half. The decision almost come back to haunt Philadelphia as they were trailing by one point late in the fourth quarter.

Key Observations:

• This was a very tough loss for Houston, which was in a great position to secure a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs. They now need to win next week and hope New England loses.

• Nick Foles again played superb and set the franchise record for passing yards in a game with 471 yards. He has again provided a spark in the absence of Carson Wentz, who is out with a back injury.

• Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson played great in a losing effort and finished with 339 yards passing with four total touchdowns.

• The defending Super Bowl champs need to win at Washington next week and hope for a loss by the Vikings to make the playoffs.

Houston Texans 29, New York Jets 22 – Dec. 15, 2018

At New York
8:20 p.m. ET
50 degrees, mostly cloudy

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
HOU 7 7 7 8 7 7.2
NYJ 9 8 8 8 7 8.0

Key Observations:

• The Jets offense found a great deal of production in the passing game finding soft spots in Houston’s zone defense. They took advantage of Houston’s extremely fast flowing defensive line with creative pass protections and play actions, as well as counter and cut back running plays that gained yardage going against the flow of the defense.

• On defense New York tallied six sacks on the day and were able to bottle up Houston’s explosive offense for much of the second half.

• Credit to Houston’s adjustments for overcoming a late deficit and ultimately winning the game.

Indianapolis Colts 24, Houston Texans 21 – Dec. 9, 2018

At Houston
1:00 p.m. ET
Dome

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
IND 9 8 9 8 8 8.4
HOU 6 6 6 7 6 6.2

Key Observations:

• Houston went for it on an early 4th & 1 from Colts 17-yard line. Risky decision.

• Indianapolis started the game with four consecutive 3-and-outs, but then clicked and scored 17 unanswered points. Credit to the Colts’ in-game adjustments.

• Texans incurred a delay of game at beginning of the second quarter.

• The Colts defensive game plan was excellent. They used aggressive man-to-man press coverage that really disrupted Houston’s potent passing attack.

Houston Texans 29, Cleveland Browns 13 – Dec. 2, 2018

At Houston
1:00pm ET
Dome

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
CLE 6 6 6 7 5 6.0
HOU 9 9 9 7 6 8.0

Key Observations:

• The Texans ran the ball extremely well in this game. It was clear by the number of run play calls that this was an important part of their game plan, and they executed it well.

• Defensively the Texans put forth one of the more impressive defensive game planning performances of the year. Houston collected four turnovers on defense, but of particular note was the interception returned for a touchdown by linebacker Zach Cunningham. On Cleveland’s first 3rd down of the game, Cunningham was in a similar position and was able to deflect Mayfield’s pass. The position of Cunningham around each of these pass plays as well as the two other interceptions for the defense on the day made it apparent that Mayfield’s tendencies had been very well scouted and accounted for in the game plan.

• Both coaches made errors at the end of the first half with regard to game clock management. Gregg Williams called a timeout that benefited Houston’s offense more than it did Cleveland’s as they were driving and in field goal range with less than a minute left in the half. On a subsequent play, however, Bill O’Brien needlessly burned about 15 seconds off the clock before calling a timeout.

ABOUT HCR

Headcoachranking.com assigns a grade to the in-game performance of NFL head coaches each week.  Our knowledgeable graders analyze each head coach’s performance in 5 key areas of decision making. After determining their “HCR” (Head Coach Ranking), we rank them from best to worst. HCR rankings are posted every Tuesday of the NFL season, and fans will be able to track each coach’s performance throughout the season.

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