Last year I introduced something called the stages of suck. The higher ups didn’t respond well to the headlines, but I am going to go with the same concept now that the Texans are 0-3 for the second year in a row. This brings a number of questions to the forefront. Is it too early to give up on the season? How concerned should we be? The more important question is who should take the blame for the team’s struggles?
The way that the stages of suck worked is that some people in the organization get
the benefit of the doubt and some don’t. It depends on the culpability we think that they have. So, we will be evaluating three men in key positions on the Texans. The Texans have played back to back solid defensive games, so Matt Burke is off the hook. Instead, we will look at DeMeco Ryans, Nick Caserio, and Nick Caley. Essentially, the either get the benefit of the doubt for now, side eye (meaning we have them under the microscope), and the pitch fork stage which means we want them gone.
Nick Caserio
This exists on two levels. The first level is obviously the players on the field. The second are those that are on the coaching staff. Ryans and Caserio get to share the criticism there. In terms of the player, we have seen Caserio in Houston since 2021. He has tried to build and rebuild the offensive line every year since then. The model seems the same. He has used the same modus operandi in each season. He trades away expensive players like Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard and tries to bring in a collection of guys with the hopes they can cobble a line together. It has not worked yet.
A part of that is key misses in the draft and in free agency. It includes Kenyon Green and Juice Scruggs. The jury is still out on Blake Fisher, but it isn’t look good there either. Then there are the Cam Robinsons, Wyatt Tellers, and Shaq Masons of the world. We would have to count Ed Ingram as a win last season, but he hasn’t been there for the most part this season. Airontae Ersery looks okay and Keeland Rutledge could be a good one too, but the other three slots appear shaky at best.
That is the beginning. We could also look at the inability to surround Nico Collins with enough skill position talent to make up for when he is out. However, the biggest problem has been the selection of Nick Caley as an offensive coordinator. The decision has his fingerprints all over it as he has a New England backgroun and he is a John Carroll University alum. All of this adds up to some serious side eye. You generally don’t fire a general manager that has won 32 games in three seasons. So, he probably gets the benefit of the doubt for now, but this season might be his one warning.
DeMeco Ryans
Ryans has not been here as long, so he does not have the same track record. Every coach has criticism when they lose. This Sunday, Ryans did not handle the end of the game well as the Texans left too much time for the Colts to score and did not use their time outs to give themselves another chance. However, every coach has come under pressure at one point or another for their decisions. In a big picture sense, there is very little to criticize Ryans for in terms of how he runs the team on game day. You can complain how much or how little he involves himself in the offense, but that would be relatively minor.
The bigger question with him is how much he has input in the coaches. In particular, Caley and the offensive line coaches appear to be Caserio buddy hires. Ryans has more juice in this organization than anyone and should have pounded the table more. I am willing to overlook that as a learning experience. Ryans feels like a Mike Tomlin kind of coach that could stick for a decade or more. He is having growing pains and clearly needs to look more closely at what is being done on his behalf. So, he gets the benefit of the doubt for now.
Nick Caley
I went by the moniker vballretired for awhile because I am a retired volleyball coach. I coached varsity for a few seasons and my teams were never good. So, I fully understand the idea of being outgunned on a court or field. A coach’s job is to get as much our of his or her players as they can. Sometimes that means losing but you can go down fighting or go down meekly. So, I can sympathize with those that think Caley simply doesn’t have the horses.
However, that ignores other teams that are equally as devoid in talent or worse and yet somehow manage to gain more yards and score more points. They do that in two ways. First, they know what their players do well and they accentuate that. Secondly, they see what does not work and don’t go back to the well. If I see one more off tackle run on third or fourth and short I’m going to puke. It hasn’t worked. This is usually where some macho guy ssys “if you can’t get a push to gain a yard then you don’t deserve to win.” Sure Grandpa. That works at the end of the bar, but in real life teams adjust and do something different.
This is simple. You are thinking about paying C.J. Stroud and you can’t figure out whether he is worth it because this offense sucks. So, there is no on the job training. You either figure it out or you don’t. Every coach has their level just like players. I was not really cut out to be a varsity coach. I was a lot happier teaching younger kids. Caley might be happier as a position coach. Some guys just don’t have the imagination. The pitch forks are out for Caley and he probably doesn’t have much time.
