Lovie Smith allows people to be who they are, which is one of his endearing qualities as a coach.
Another reason Smith is affable is because he sticks to his values, and isn’t shy about making them known.
After the Houston Texans’ 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints Aug. 13 at NRG Stadium, a media member asked the coach for his thoughts on the team procuring three extra possessions — two fumble recoveries and an interception.
The problem was the preferred terminology wasn’t used.
“You haven’t been in the defensive room because we see it as three takeaways,” Smith chided. “You say three turnovers, right? We see it as three takeaways.”
It seems Smith is willing to allow the labeling of the offense’s mistakes as turnovers as he acknowledged, “we did turn the ball over two times.”
Smith was especially pleased with the last takeaway of the night as linebacker Tae Davis punching the ball out of Saints running back Abram Smith’s grasp gave the Texans a shot to win the game, although they would still need another drive to do so.
“He punched the ball out,” said Smith. “It’s not like an offensive player just fumbled it. So guys need to see that and to see setting the offense up in a favorable position. All these things, of course, a lot of them on video that we can teach from.”
The Texans will have another chance to change the narrative on referring to gifts from opposing offenses as takeaways when they take on the Los Angeles Rams Aug. 19 at SoFi Stadium.
