Houston Texans head coach Demeco Ryans announces he’s taking over defensive play calling.
Offensive coordinator Nick Calley continues to make elementary “hat on hat” comments as his brand of the Erhardt-Perkins offense struggles. Primarily due to telegraphed formations, confused offensive linemen and Madden 95 level play calling. Mediocrity doesn’t win championships.
Players are saying the losses are on them.
Ex-Texans continue to excel with other teams.
Other teams with less talented rosters are winning.
A vocal minority of fans are calling for general manager Nick Caserio’s resignation.
Another contingent of fans are calling for an entirely clean slate from owner to ball boys.
So, who is to blame for the worst flop of the Texans’ 25 year existence? Who do we pin the pain on for going from Super Bowl contender to current #1 draft picker?
Houston Texans general manager
It’s easy to blame Nick Caserio for all this, since he is mostly responsible for assembling the roster and hiring head coach Demeco Ryans. At the end of the day, the GM is the top of the franchise food chain, the one ultimately responsible for everything that happens regarding the actual football team.
Caserio hired Ryans, had a say in hiring his buddy and former college kegger companion, Caley. He also signed off on elevating Cole Popovich to offensive line coach.
He’s also the guy that pulled the trigger on drafting Will Anderson Jr., C.J. Stroud and several other star players.
In the off-season, he shaped a roster based on the needs of offensive and defensive schemes he signed off on.
In the end, it’s easy to blame him. And, some of that blame is very valid.
Nepotism doesn’t win pro football games
Caserio bringing in his buddy Caley is likely his worst misstep so far. But, Caserio was brought in by his other buddy Bill O’Brien, so maybe that apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Either way, sending Caley to Boston College for some slightly used harbor tea sounds like a great idea at this point.
Houston Texans head coach
Speaking of nepotism, it’s really hard to root against Demeco Ryans in just about anything. His impact on this team, as both a player and a head coach have been mostly positive. He’s smart, passionate, charismatic and simply the sort of guy you want to see win.
But liking the head coach doesn’t always equate to Lombardi Trophies. Not sure a lot of people loved Bill Belichick, but his ring collection speaks for itself.
More than Caserio, Ryans should have say in which coaches stay and go. Who is hired, who is fired, promoted and demoted. This means he has to take some, if not all, of the blame in the coaching performances. Ultimately he should take all of it, as it’s his job to coach the coaches, as well as the players.
Houston Texans offensive coordinator
A lot of us saw the writing on the wall with Nick Caley early last season. While many teams bring in first time OCs and take off, Houston did and had more of the same. Caley’s play calling is sus, he’s frequently out-football-knowledge’d by local football analysts, and brings a smugness to his press conferences that seems diametrically opposed to the Demeco Ryans brand of coaching mentioned above.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud has alluded to communication issues with Caley so often that Jerry Shuplinski was elevated to QB Coach in the off-season to act as a go-between.
Unlike Caserio and Ryans, it’s nearly impossible to plant a flag on a landmark achievement in Caley’s H-Town career. Often, it seems, the offense succeeds in spite of, not due to, Caley’s efforts.
Houston Texans defensive coordinator
When Matt Burke first took over as the Houston Texans DC, it seemed like the unit took an exponential step forward, going from good to great. For those outside the building, it’s not easy to quantify just what went down in that transition phase. Did Ryans act as training wheels for Burke, proving 2 heads are better than 1? The combination of both men working in sync leading to a lights out D? And, maybe this off-season Ryans took a step back, figuring Burke’s “got this” and didn’t need his head coach to stay all up in it?
With little to illustrate how Burke went from “Matt who?” to “hot head coaching candidate”, the collapse this season definitely points to a lack of vitamin ‘Meco.
Houston Texans players
From a casual fan perspective, whichever player failed to make whatever play they deem key to winning/losing a game, is an easy target. Miss a game winning field goal? Blame the kicker. Throw an ill-fated interception? Blame the quarterback. Give up a key touchdown? Blame the defense.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
However, the players do need to do their jobs to the best of their ability on and off the field. Believing their own hype/reading their own press, is a currently trending reason for why the Texans defense has fallen from grace.
Anyone who has watched the NFL for any amount of years has likely heard stories of entire rosters stricken with the flu. Locker rooms tanked by negative-minded players with big personalities that use their leadership to drag everyone down. Key members of the roster failing to buy in to the coaching, leading the players who look up to them to do the same. Or simply guys thinking they’ve arrived and no longer striving to get there day in and day out.
Who is to blame?
In the end, it’s hard to definitively point at 1 person and conclusively say the 0-4 start is their fault, solely. However, you can look at the facets listed above and narrow it down with logical conclusions.
Winning and losing comes down to 2 things: the roster and how the roster is leveraged to win games.
Roster Management: Not really an issue. This team is as talented as the Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs and just about any other 3+ win team right now. In some cases, more so. Getting the most out of said roster shows some disconnects, however. Grade: Pass
Head Coaching: Ultimately, leveraging the roster is up to the coaching staff. And leveraging the coaching staff is up to the head coach. Both facets are failing this franchise right now. Grade: Fail
Offensive coordinator: Despite Caley’s charter school offensive strategy, C.J. Stroud is balling out and the Texans have been in a position to win each game this season. Unfortunately, the run game is still abysmal, the offensive line is still offensive and Caley continues to convey it’s simply a matter of brute force. Grade: Fail
Defensive coordinator: Burke is living the wrong end of the rags to riches to rags story this season. With Ryans relieving him of defensive play-calling duties, it’s clear the belief inside NRG is that Burke isn’t getting it done in all phases of his job. Grade: Fail
Player performance: Here’s where it gets bewildering. C.J. Stroud is having the season of his life. He’s currently 6th in passing yards with 1141, carrying a 95.9 passer rating and only he, along with Jared Goff are the only passers with over 1000 air yards to throw zero interceptions this season.
Will Anderson Jr. is on another tear, tied with T.J. Watt for 3rd place in total sacks (4.5), 11 QB hits and 7 tackles for loss.
Despite the 2 team leaders rising up, mental mistakes, dropped passes, missed tackles and blown assignments seem to mar every game. Grade: C-
Other teams have also mentioned knowing what Houston was doing when they come to the line, on both offensive and defensive downs. Opposing D’s knowing when Caley had called a run. Dak Prescott reading the defensive like a Rudy’s menu.
Blame the Houston Texans Coaching
In the end, it’s up to the coaching staff to:
- install and operate the offensive, defensive and special teams schemes.
- coach the players on how to perform individually
- teach the players how to excel inside the structure of these schemes
- call the plays that put the players in the right place at the right time
- make in-game adjustments early and often when your gameplan isn’t working
- study player performance, and coach to continually improve that performance each and every week
Pretty easy to say a lot of these things simply aren’t happening.
