Jack Del Rio and Bill O’Brien took over play-calling duties and it hasn’t worked yet

Only the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars dished out more guaranteed money during the 2016 free agency period than the Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans.

For the Raiders, big investments on defense were coupled with draft picks, just like the Texans’ pairing of early offensive draft picks with free-agent additions.

But through the first five weeks, the story hasn’t been much different. If anything, the Raiders defense has been worse and quarterback play for the Texans has somehow regressed.

Just like last year, the Raiders are winning because of offense and the Texans are winning because of defense. Both teams are above .500 and are atop their respective divisions, but the concern is that the same flaws from 2015 will hold them back again in 2016.

So the two relatively young head coaches — Jack Del Rio and Bill O’Brien — have taken a personal stake in fixing the issues.

While the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens fired their offensive coordinators — Greg Roman and Marc Trestman, respectively — O’Brien and Del Rio took a different approach. O’Brien took play-calling control from offensive coordinator George Godsey, just like Del Rio addressed defensive concerns by taking the reins from defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr.

So far, the moves haven’t yielded positive results:

The Raiders defense was supposed to be the improved unit that pushed the team from promising up-and-comers to playoff contenders, but through the first two weeks of the season it looked like a downright terrible group.

The Raiders allowed 1,035 yards to the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, the most ever allowed in the first two games of a season. And Del Rio was angry about it.

“Bottom line it’s nowhere near the standard that I expect us to play at,” Del Rio told reporters after a 35-28 loss to the Falcons. “And so we’ll need to get it rectified. There’s no dancing around the subject. It’s not near where it needs to be.”

Del Rio was frustrated enough to take play calling away from Norton Jr. in the final drive of the loss, as well as make some lineup changes, including replacing linebacker Ben Heeney with rookie Cory James.

While one report prior to Week 3 indicated that Del Rio would take over play calling full time, both he and Norton danced around the subject and said it would be a “collective effort” against the Tennessee Titans.

“Oh, Jack loves ball,” Norton said a few days before the game. “He’s very involved in the offense, in the defense ... He’s the head coach, he can do what he wants to do. That’s up to him.”

Whatever the coaching formula was, it seemed to make an instant impact in the Oakland defense.

After allowing 34 points and 35 points in the first two weeks, the Raiders held the Titans to just 10 points while they committed three turnovers. But it was followed by 58 points and 835 yards allowed to the Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers in the next two weeks.

The Oakland defense was No. 22 in the NFL in points and yards allowed in 2015, and added Sean Smith, Reggie Nelson, and Bruce Irvin to the mix in free agency and Karl Joseph, Jihad Ward, and Shilique Calhoun in the first three rounds of the 2016 NFL Draft.

That’s a lot of improvements to a defense that already featured young talent like Khalil Mack and David Amerson.

But five weeks into the 2016 season, the Raiders are last in yards allowed and 25th in scoring. Thanks to a top-five offense and one of the NFL’s best turnover margins, the team is 4-1, but the Raiders defense should’ve never been bad in the first place.

Like the Raiders defense, the Texans offense already had some strong pieces in place. It has one of the best young receivers in the NFL in DeAndre Hopkins, but the Pro Bowler hasn’t gelled with new quarterback Brock Osweiler.

Unlike Oakland, it wasn’t a disaster out of the gate. Osweiler had a terrific showing against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 and the early reviews of the team’s offseason move were positive.

“We knew our offense would work,” Hopkins told ESPN after a 23-14 win in the season opener. “It’s proven to work, and having a quarterback like Brock go out there and demand the best from everybody -- the offensive line to the tight ends, even the guys on the bench. Practicing the way we practice and just trying to execute everything 100 percent, it showed today.”

The offense did enough to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2, but was shut out by the New England Patriots in Week 3 and was completely ineffective against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5.

“I’m not happy with the way the offense has played, but I’m not blaming it on anybody,” O’Brien told reporters on Monday, via the Houston Chronicle. “The first thing I did was look in the mirror and try to figure out what I can do better against the Colts. I take responsibility for it because that’s where the responsibility lies.”

And really, O’Brien has no choice but to take responsibility after taking play-calling duties away from Godsey following the feeble performance in New England. One week after the loss, ESPN reported O’Brien was assuming the role, although O’Brien scoffed at the report.

”As a head football coach, that’s what you’re paid to do -- to be making sure that the calls that go into the game are basically approved by you as the head football coach,” O’Brien said, via ESPN. “So none of that matters. I don’t even know why that’s a story. It’s not a story. Nothing has changed.”

But regardless of what he says, it’s a demotion.

No matter who is calling the plays, the Texans issues have come down to poor execution. Hopkins is too good to be a non-factor like he has been and only Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston have thrown more interceptions than Osweiler.

Del Rio previously found success as defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos before taking over in Oakland, and O’Brien was one of the NFL’s best offensive coordinator while in New England.

So it’s not surprising that the two fiery competitors didn’t wait long to take things into their own hands. But so far the decisions haven’t yielded results.

In the next four weeks, the Raiders play teams that are below the league average in total offense. The Texans face one of the weakest defenses in the NFL in Week 6 with the Indianapolis Colts before a matchup against the vaunted Denver Broncos defense in Week 7.

There’s still time for both teams to play up to the potential they purchased in the offseason and Week 6 is a good place to start. And it’ll be the head coach that gets the credit or blame the rest of the way.