When you land a new offensive coordinator, who came from a team with an effective, exciting offense, you expect more of the same.
Unfortunately, 2 games into Nick Caley’s run as the Houston Texans OC, the “more of the same” harkens back to Bill O’Brien era nonsense. The offense comes out looking unprepared to play, the scheme is telegraphed and easily predictable and key moments are landmarked by head-scratchingly bad decisions.
If someone on the sidelines watching can figure this out, imagine what
professional defenders can do:
So far, Caley has many wondering why exactly Bobby Slowik was shown the door. The 2025 Texans offense ranks:
- 8th worst in total passing yards with 395
- Tied for second worst in passing touchdowns with 1
- 3rd worst in passing first downs with 14
- 12th worst in rushing yards with 198
- Tied for 5th worst in rushing first downs with 11
- Tied for 2nd worst in touchdowns scored with only 2
Now, this isn’t all on Caley. The offensive line coach Cole Popovich isn’t doing anyone any favors. Quarterback C.J. Stroud has run for his life far too many times, and endured 6 sacks already. The current offensive line looks more like 5 guys standing in a lunch line than an elite blocking unit.
However, smart coordinators can overcome poor line play with quick passes and varied running schemes that force defenses to slow down the rush. Unfortunately, that’s not happening when Houston has the ball.
General Manager Nick Caserio is catching a lot of flack for assembling a less than Pro Bowl caliber group of offensive linemen. Caserio was part of the New England Patriots when they employed an elite o-line. Why he’s failed to properly invest in one here is a valid question.
Next up, let’s drop some blame at the feet of Stroud.
The reality is, Stroud is not a great quarterback.
The isn’t throwing shade at the young man. Or saying he sucks. It’s just pointing out he’s not great by NFL standards.
Great NFL quarterbacks will their teams to win. They motivate the players around them to play at a high level. They BELIEVE they’re always going to win and BELIEVE they will make the win become reality.
Great NFL quarterbacks don’t look to others to save them. They don’t give up when a key teammate isn’t around to help. They don’t blame coaches, other players or anything else. And they don’t allow the notion that losing is acceptable to ever enter the picture.
Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Plunkett, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre, Tom Brady.
None of those men accepted losing as an option.
None of them looked to a coach or a teammate as a savior.
None of them dragged their teams down by failing to believe they could ALWAYS win.
Maybe Stroud has it in him to become one of the greats, but so far in 2025 he hasn’t shown any qualities that align with the Montanas, Plunketts and Favres of the world.
If a bad play call came in from the sidelines, Bradshaw would audible out of it based on what he saw on the field. Young, Brady and Favre were known for taking control of the game if the coaches weren’t getting it done.
Unitas and Namath never depended on a single teammate to elevate their chances, they did it themselves.
And all of those players would overrule Caley’s play calling if they saw something on the field that made them believe they could win by going another way.
Some people blame Stroud’s lack of greatness on the offensive line.
Some blame it on coaching.
Some resound that head coach Demeco Ryans and his staff have “broken” Stroud.
But, you can’t break greatness.
Stroud either needs to find it in himself, or embrace being just a good quarterback and not a great one. And, if he decides to opt for not-great, then he’s dooming his team to the same.
Stroud’s current QBR is 36.3, which is third worst among the starting quarterbacks.
Would a better o-line help that? Absolutely.
Can Stroud pull greatness out of his heart and improve it? Hopefully.
In the meantime, Ryans and Caley need to figure out how to run a professional football offense and the o-line needs to stop acting like 5 individuals at What-A-Burger and become a wall of protection.
Caley’s offensive scheme isn’t great so far. Neither is the o-line and neither is Stroud.
In a quarterback driven sport, a merely good quarterback will never make a team great.
Maybe Stroud needs an infusion of J.J. Watt.
