Texans head coach David Culley has acknowledged that he speaks with team officials via headset during games.
Culley, speaking with Texans reporters at Monday practice, said he regularly talks with general manager Nick Caserio and senior adviser Romeo Crennel from the sidelines to go over strategy and game management.
The rookie head coach said that potential critical in-game decisions, for example with respect to timeout management, are usually discussed a play or two in advance.
“Just like I go back to the two-minute situation when we’re in it,” Culley said. “I immediately went on line with Nick, and obviously he and Romeo talked about it, and he says, ‘OK, our timeouts now, how do we need to use these timeouts?’ And then immediately, ‘OK, depending on what happens on this play, we need to call it. If this doesn’t happen, then don’t call a timeout.’
"So, all those things are discussed before we ever get to that point. We’re usually a play ahead of that. When it happens, then I’ve got to be ready to make that decision. That’s usually with all those kinds of decisions."
Caserio's use of a headset has been previously reported. During his time as an executive in New England, he was said to have listened in on the headset chatter of coach Bill Belichick and his assistants.
The difference now, though, is Caserio appears to be giving input to Culley and his staff.
Culley cited an example from the Texans' loss to the Patriots in Week 5.
“I go back again to the New England game, I can remember just like it was yesterday that the conversation went, ‘Let them score.’ I heard the conversation, and then all of a sudden it didn’t compute to me at that time. All of a sudden now from that point on I’ve learned to be ahead of those things. When you’re ahead of those things like that, you’re much better to make those decisions. Not meaning you’re going to make the right decision, but when you make that decision, you’re pretty sure about making that decision. ..."
At least a couple national writers -- Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and NFL Network reporter Albert Breer -- noted it was unusual, though not illegal, for an executive to be on a headset.
Caserio, 45, was hired to replace former GM Bill O'Brien after a long career with the Patriots. He later hired the 66-year-old Culley, a veteran assistant head coach and wide receivers coach.
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