Here's everything Houston Texansoffensive coordinator Nick Caley said ahead of Week 10's matchup against the Cleveland Browns, including the role of Tank Dell, the growth of C.J. Stroud and returning to Ohio for 'football weather.'
Q: On the Cleveland Browns defense
Nick Caley: "They're really good players, they're athletic and they're disruptive. They've got hat speed off the ball. They use their hands and they play really hard continuously. They're a handful for sure."
Q: On how much the weather plays a factor in their matchup against Cleveland
Caley: "You're always mindful of it. Depending on what you're expecting, whether it's a wind game, a rain game, a snow game, how it impacts the playing surface, how it impacts whether it's the passing game, et cetera,
footing, et cetera. You're always aware of that and you plan for it. Always have contingency plans, always have boxes on the call sheet where we feel we can go to certain things that we like in certain situations. We're definitely following that and always aware of it, for sure."
Q: On QB C.J. Stroud being more comfortable in the scheme
Caley: "Credit to him starting for that for just a great offseason. It's another year in the system for all of us. Obviously, most importantly, for C.J. too. It's just growing together and learning with each other and having an opportunity to do a deeper dive. We talked about it multiple times in here. The first year, you're establishing a system. 'What's the language that you're going to use? What are the principles that you believe in philosophically? What are your core runs? What's your core protection systems?' Start with the routes to the concepts to applying it all to create a play call in the pass game, for example. Then as you get a chance, you're learning the what, you're learning the intent of the play, you're learning the why. You get to go and you get to debrief after a season. You get to look at it all. The good, the bad, the ugly. Then the compliments that you want to be able to use to protect or branch off of things. You've seen certain guys be able to do certain things through the offseason program starting in April, May, June, et cetera. You get an opportunity to kind of evolve roles and move guys around a little bit. I think organically the system shifts and moves and presses forward. Obviously, the ownership of C.J. has been awesome and I think the growth of our staff, the growth of the players credit to them. I think it's a collective. I'll say it again, I firmly believe that when we as a staff, as a team, players and coaches take complete ownership in what we're doing and you're invested in those things, you give yourself the best chance to go out there because it means something to you. I think we have a locker room of really conscientious guys that care, that love football, that are unselfish. We have that with the staff. So all we're concerned about is doing what's right for the team and learning from failures and mistakes to channel that into positives to move forward. That's the biggest thing as we move forward, we're just trying to grow and have a growth mindset and stay present where our feet are and do those things. It's never going to be perfect, never is, but you're always striving to just learn from mistakes. Polish those things up and improve and then strengthen the things that you have done and protect them with some different variations, whether it's technique, scheme, et cetera."
Q: On the running back room preparing for their Week 10 matchup
Caley: "Just getting them all ready, giving them opportunities and being conscientious of monitoring reps, who's gotten what reps, who hasn't, making sure we can get guys reps, really trying to format roles as the week goes on to allow those guys to just hone in and get time on task in specific things. Being mindful of that. Danny [Barrett] does a great job with those guys. We've got a good group of guys that all are there to support each other. Just trying to build it throughout the week and take it day by day, really."
Q: On G Febechi Nwaiwu
Caley: "It's like anything else. There's going to be some first experiences that you go through when you're in there. There's no substitute for experience. I think the challenges are just to quiet your feet down, quiet your mind down, go in and rely on technique and focus on the cycle of the snap and one play at a time. He's done a really good job of that. He's progressed, done an awesome job with Cole [Popovich] and Alex Ward. He's moved around since we got him here which we do with a lot of those guys, which I think at first you might feel like you're, as a young guy, you're drinking out of a fire hose a little bit. But when you start to get it all thrown at you and then you start to hone in a little bit like we have with those guys, it really, you start to see the big picture and you can have the flexibility positionally to move around. He's done a really good job of that. He's smart, he's sharp, he works hard. Just continue to build it day by day, continue to coach, continue to improve and take it from there."
Q: On QB C.J. Stroud's growth as a quarterback
Caley: "Consistency, steadiness, poise and just a hunger. He's a competitor. He loves the game. It's extremely important to him, but he's like this [gestures a straight line]. He's laser focused. I think everybody feels that in a really, really good way. He's out in front of it and you can feel that. I'm proud of him. He's done an outstanding job. This is a culmination of every single day being consistent in his process, all the time he's spent here in this building, all the time he's worked out on his own, the time he spent with Jerry Schuplinski, who does a great job with those guys and Davis [Mills] and those guys working. He has been just steady, consistent every single day and just really focused. I'm proud of him."
Q: On the challenges of matching up against a defenses that play to the offense's strengths
Caley: "Every game's a little different. You always go into it and you try to have your early-down run menu, your situational run menu, that you feel give your guys the best chance to go out and have success. From a planning standpoint, that's on the front end of the week. I think they're a very talented team. I think I try not to look at them. I try to live in a vacuum. I don't try to sit there and look at stats. I think they can be extremely misleading at times. I sit there and I try to look at, who are the players, where are the matchups, structurally, how do they play? This is an aggressive team. They're one of the fastest defenses in the National Football League. They're fast at every level. They're aggressive at every level. When you're putting together a plan, you're trying to make an airtight plan that gives your guys the best chance to have success. I think that's always at the forefront. I think it's the flow of the game. There's been games where, last week was a good example, we were in a good rhythm. Called a considerable amount of runs. Then we're also having a rhythm just getting on the ball, being able to mix some 11 groupings and stuff like that. I thought C.J. did a good job. Each game is going to be a little different. We're always trying to have a sound run menu that gives us a chance, regardless of who our opponent is. There's also a feel element to that, too, when we get into the game."
Q: On WR Tank Dell
Caley: "Just consistent. He'll be ready to go when he's called. He's out there. There are no restrictions with Tank, so he's got juice for days, man. He's ready to go and I think you've just seen a continuous build. We go back two weeks ago, like one of his many snaps, like we couldn't get into a rhythm. I never felt like we could get into a rhythm of stop and go, stop and go. I thought we did a good job of getting positive yards, staying on schedule last week, which allows us to keep it moving and just utilize the different groupings. Tank's ready to go. He's got versatility. He can play all three positions. He's a stud."
Q: On QB C.J. Stroud
Caley: "He distributes the ball as well as anybody in the National Football League. You look at some of our games where there's nine or ten receivers that have touched or eligibles that have touched passes. He does a great job of going through his progressions, identifying coverages, matchups, et cetera, taking one-on-ones when he has them based on some of the reads and progressions that we have. He's always on. Everybody's at the point of attack when we're out there and I think that's what's cool is, you have a bunch of guys that are unselfish and just want to go out there and help our team have success at all positions, starting with the receivers, tight ends, bats, et cetera."
Q: On if he factors in weather to a game plan
Caley: "If you're talking about gale-force winds, well, that might affect the passing game. Are we going to throw it more one way versus the other, et cetera? Those are the extremes. In the passing game, is it certain concepts that you like in certain situations that give our offensive players a better chance to be able to run routes, catch balls, et cetera, that are friendlier to the quarterback? Certainly that can be the case. Every situation is different and we're always on top. I think Jake [Olson] and these guys here do a great job of keeping us on track of the weather situation wherever we're at."
Q: On what perfect football weather is for him
Caley: "Probably about a 55-degree fall day. It's a 55- 60-degree fall day where you get a little nice, crisp bite in the air and it's refreshing."
Q: On QB C.J. Stroud throwing more "aggressive" passes this year compared to last year
Caley: "When you're talking about aggressiveness, I think it talks to all levels of our offense. If you're talking about down-the-field throws, if you're talking about tight-window throws, whatever the aggressiveness is, it really starts with trust and trust in the protection system. Here's our play-action protection system. Here's our drop-back system to be able to handle front structures, pressures, et cetera, to give us the opportunity to establish a pocket. You talk about distributing it to the receivers, the skill players, the tight ends, the backs. It's about having trust in those guys, the timing, the distance, the rhythm of the offense and then attacking structures. We have alerts. We have all-purpose plays that we feel good about going into certain weeks and then being able to get the time on task to be able to bring those things to life. Ultimately, when he throws the pass down the field or throws the ball and pushes it, he's got faith and belief and conviction in the guys that he's throwing it to and I think that's a testament to the work that those guys have put in out here on the field. It's like anything else, another year in the system, another year for all of us and just a comfort level and he just sees the game at such a high level, having so much trust. We all have so much trust and confidence in him."
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans OC Nick Caley said ahead of Week 10's game vs. Browns
