HOUSTON – Nick Caley will have the vantage point and communication he wanted when it comes to orchestrating the Texans’ new-look offense.
The first-year offensive coordinator, after experimenting with calling plays from the coaches’ booth and the sideline, has decided it’s better for him to be closer to the players and coaches. He’ll call plays from the field after doing so against the Carolina Panthers. He called plays from the booth against the Minnesota Vikings.
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“I’ll be down on the field,” Caley said. “I feel good about it. I feel good about both, but I’ll be down on the field moving forward.”
Ultimately, it came down to those in-person conversations being valued over the big-picture view of the booth. While there are headsets obviously to communicate through, there’s no substitution for face-to-face discussions of strategy.
“Communication is good either way,” Caley said. “I like to be able to look guys in the eyes and be able to walk over immediately and talk to guys, make adjustments with the coaches and be able to look guys in the eyes when I communicate with them. I’m just a little bit more efficient and I can cut a few steps out that way.”
Against the Panthers, quarterback C.J. Stroud had time on his side, and a sound plan to execute.
In the game situation debut of the Texans’ overhauled offense installed by Caley, the quarterback engineered one scoring drive.
There was rhythm. There was chemistry. The offensive line looked much better than last season. And Stroud had room and time to operate as he delivered a strike to Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins for a touchdown pass.
Overall, it was a smooth day for Stroud and the offense. He completed 6 of 8 passes for 44 yards and a score with zero interceptions. His lone sack was of the coverage variety when no one got open.
“I thought they went out and competed,” Caley said. “They tried to do exactly what we wanted to do. I thought we were fairly efficient, physical, took care of the football, protected well. I was happy with that. I think it’s something to build off of, and we’ve just got to keep moving it from here.”
The collaboration between Stroud and Caley, the replacement for dismissed offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, is off to a good start.
“Yeah, it was great,” Stroud said. “He’s still learning a lot, being a first-time play caller. He handled it great, very communicative. He loves to rile guys up and bring juice, and I think that’s a great thing for offense.
“I’m excited to work with him. He’s a great guy, loves football, knows football, knows why we’re calling things, how to call them, when to call them. He’s been great, and I’m very grateful to have him as an OC.”
Running back Nick Chubb rushed for 25 yards on five carries.
The offensive line, comprised of rookie left tackle Aireontae Ersery, left guard Laken Tomlinson, center Jake Andrews, right guard Ed Ingram and right tackle Blake Fisher, with Cam Robinson and Tytus Howard sidelined, allowed just one sack. The Texans rushed for 109 yards on 28 carries and one score.
“He’s as consistent of a human being in terms of his approach and I feel like he’s continuing to get better and better and better,” Caley said of Chubb. “We only had him for a short time in the spring. We got him here in training camp and he’s continued to grow every single day that he’s been out here. He’s a really patient runner, has a good feel for pressing landmarks and tracks and he’s just got a really good instinct about running the football.”
And Collins got in the end zone on a five-yard pass to convert on fourth down-and-goal.
Yes, the Texans’ defense has dominated the offense regularly in practice.
Yes, the Panthers’ defense was ranked last in the NFL last season.
All of those things are true, but there’s also a glass half full element in play here.
What if the Texans’ offense is better than they looked in camp and the defense is simply an elite, suffocating group that few offenses could perform well against?
“Man, we go against the best defense in the league every single day,” Collins said. “So it’s only right, man, practice is gonna be hard. So it’d be easier in the game. It’s easy to get run 1% better every day, so it’s getting easy for us, man. But we gotta continue to chop the wood, continue to get better, chopping the iron."
After a slow start on the opening drive and going three-and-out, the offense began clicking the second series on an 11-play, 60-yard drive that lasted 5 minutes and 57 seconds capped by Stroud’s throw to Collins.
For Caley, 42, it’s about execution and details. The Texans’ offense, led by Stroud and Collins, are in a time of change with a new playbook being installed.
Caley is overseeing the direction of the offense and he knows exactly what he wants the Texans’ offense to look like when they hit the field.
When the Texans hired Caley as their new offensive coordinator, they put their trust in a strategist with a successful background who’s versed in two different offensive systems.
Caley absorbed a ton of knowledge with the Patriots while working under Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels as a younger position coach who was tasked with coaching two colorful, talented veteran tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett and earned two Super Bowl rings. With the Rams, he was the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator
Now, Caley is learning on the job as a rookie play-caller tasked with competing against an aggressive, elite defense headlined by pass rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. and All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
Caley is liking the personality and work ethic across the offense. That’s a good starting foundation.
“They work, they love football,” Caley said. “I’ve been very pleased with them. We have a great group of guys, all positions, and it’s been a lot of fun. And from the vets to the rookies, I mean, the whole group, it’s, it’s a lot fun every single day, and that’s, that’s the biggest part is being around good people, and we have a lot of good people.”
The high-energy style of Caley resonates strongly with Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the year. Caley frequently texts and calls Stroud, at all hours of the day.
“Nick is a fiery young coach who loves to yell and run around,” Stroud said. “I love it. He brings juice to the building every day. So, I’m excited to work with him every day and try to build a relationship. He’s done a good job relating to the players and always asking us what we want, how we want to do things and making it player owned. I love that of him.”
Watching Caley at practice, he’s in constant motion. He’s filled with intensity.
“Man, you can tell by his enthusiasm every day,” Collins said. “He’s a great coach. You can tell in the meetings. He talks about the plays, the install, just explaining the install, just his grit, his mind behind it, his energy, dog. You can feel it. He gets you pumped up to go out here and play.”
A former student assistant coach at John Carroll University, the same alma mater as Texans general manager Nick Caserio along with pro personnel director D.J. Debick, special teams coordinator Frank Ross and senior offensive assistant-passing game specialist Jerry Schuplinski, became even more advanced as a coach the past two seasons working for McVay as the Rams’ tight ends coach and passing game coordinator.
It’s an ultra-successful coaching foundation that gave the Texans a ton of confidence in hiring Caley, a first-time offensive coordinator and play-caller, as the replacement for dismissed offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.
Readiness is a recurring theme with Caley.
The Ohio native and St. Thomas Aquinas graduate played football at Walsh University before working as a student assistant at John Carroll University, a Division III powerhouse where Caserio was a record-setting quarterback throwing passes to McDaniels.
Caley grew up in Canton, Ohio in a football-oriented household just three miles away from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He looked up to Thom McDaniels, a high school football legend in Ohio who’s the father of Josh McDaniels and Texans receivers coach and passing game coordinator Ben McDaniels.
Before moving on to several stops as a college assistant coach at Florida Atlantic where he recruited Texans team captain and starting linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair working at Akron, Iowa State, Arkansas, Auburn and Eastern Illinois, Staley broke into the coaching ranks at John Carroll.
Working for Regis Scafe, the head coach at JCU, Caley built a reputation as someone who embraced any work assignment he could gets his hands on. Whenever he finished something in the recruiting department, he asked for more and more work to do. When he was taught how to do something, he learned it right away and didn’t make mistakes.
“He did a really good job as a student and we put him in charge of gameday visits,” Scafe said in a telephone interview with KPRC 2. “I look at where he is now and you’ve got really admire and respect what he did, the way his career has taken off. What he did in college, so many stops and, of course, what he’s done in the NFL, he really put in the time. He was always very efficient, very organized. No one has given him anything. He really deserved this.
“He worked his butt off. He has all the experience with the Patriots and the Rams. He coached Gronk, one of the greatest tight ends ever, and he did a good job. Look at his career, step by step. He’s ready. It’s amazing. He decided early on that he was going to go into coaching. With the Patriots, I think they slept in the office. Belichick would get guys in there and see if they’re good enough and if they work hard enough and understand enough.”
Those formative years, working at JCU, working for Belichick, working for McVay, all molded Caley.
"I think we’re all a byproduct of our experiences and I cherish every experience that we’ve had,“ Caley said. ”You learn from the successes and you learn from a lot of failures along the way, too. Those guys have been big mentors to me and I have a lot of respect for them. So, you learn every day along the way and that’s what I try to do is just, you know, try to be at my best every single day."
As Caley puts his stamp on the Texans’ overhauled offense that includes a significantly different offensive line after trading five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, he’s maintaining a big-picture perspective.
Not every opposing defense is going to be as good as the Texans. Plus, the offense expects to make progress as they absorb more knowledge and achieve a comfort zone in Caley’s offense.
Higgins, the Texans’ top draft pick, is an imposing downfield target at 6-foot-4, 217 pounds. He’s off to a fast start at training camp.
“He’s mature beyond his years,” Caley said. “He’s a pro. He’s got the right demeanor. He’s in here all the time.”
Caley utilizes a fullback in his offense with Jakob Johnson, a former Patriots lead blocker. Johnson provides blocking punch and knowledge of what Caley wants to run.
“He’s as hard of a working human being as I’ve ever been around,” Caley said. “He studies, he cares, he’s got all the traits that you covet in terms of toughness, being an unselfish human being. He’s strong, he’s tough, he’s a great teammate and I think that you can’t put a premium on guys like that. So, I have a lot of respect for him.
“I obviously have history for him, but he’s blended in very, very well since he’s been here with [tight ends coach] Jake’s [Moreland] group. He’s a very versatile guy. We play all those guys, whether it’s Y or F, they all are interchangeable and I’m happy he’s here with us.”
When Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was playing high school football in Tampa, Fla., his recruiter was Caley. Caley built a relationship with Al-Shaair, whose family was dealing with homelessness at the time.
“Nick Caley is literally somebody who’s known me from the time I was a 16-year-old homeless kid,” Al-Shaair said. “He’s been to my motel that I lived in to now, you know, for both of us to be in the position that we’re in, you know, literally 10 years later. It’s just crazy, you know, because we kept up with each other.
“He actually never coached me at FAU. He left as soon as my class signed. He ended up leaving to go to the NFL right away. But he literally called me and talked to me all the time from that point forward. And you would have thought he coached me for all those years. But we always had a really close relationship, and he always kept up with me. So, I’m grateful to have him here. He’s just an old friend that just reminds me of how far I’ve come as well.”
Caley was hired by Ryans with input from general manager Nick Caserio and other key members of the organization, including consulting with players like Stroud during the process. Stroud was sacked 52 times to rank second in the NFL as he passed for 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in a drop-off from his NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year numbers of 23 touchdowns and five interceptions.
The Rams ranked 10th in passing offense last season as quarterback Matthew Stafford had 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions
With the Rams, Caley became well-versed and instrumental to what Sean McVay runs to capitalize on the skills of Stafford and wide receiver Puka Nacua.
Now, Caley takes over an offense in need of a boost.
The best offensive player in franchise history, Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Johnson, is a believer in Caley and how he can provide an edge for an offense that reached a crossroads last season with shortcomings in pass protection and a lack of adjustments to complex defensive schemes.
“I think it was a great hire,” Johnson told KPRC 2. “Very creative mind, just very excited. To see what we have right now for the organization, things have been trending in the right direction.”
Offensive line picture forming
Texans left tackle Cam Robinson practiced in full pads for the first time since he sustained a lower leg injury at The Greenbrier.
Robinson appeared to move well and he worked in with the first-team offensive line behind Aireontae Ersery. The Texans lined up with Laken Tomlinson, a former Pro Bowl blocker, at left guard next to center Jake Andrews, right guard Ed Ingram and right tackle Tytus Howard.
This could very well be how the Texans line up Sept. 7 in the season-opener against the Los Angeles Rams. The X-factor is whether Robinson, signed to a one-year, $14.5 million deal, gets his first-string status back on the left side with Ersery going back to right tackle and Howard back to right guard.
Under that scenario, the Texans would have some positional flexibility. As far as the best five blockers, it could be the current configuration with Robinson, despite his contract, operating as the swing tackle.
Ersery has just been that dominant in two preseason games, allowing zero pressures. He did allow sacks to Danielle Hunter and Derek Barnett in practice Tuesday. He took the majority of the first-team snaps against the Texans’ defense on Tuesday.
On a fire blitz, linebacker Christian Harris, practicing for the second day in a row in his return from a calf injury that prevented him from participating in the spring and out for the majority of last season, got home for a sack.
“A great football player, that’s what we’re hoping,” defensive coordinator Matt Burke said of Harris, who has worked with the first-team defense at times since his return. “Everyone’s been on different timelines and schedules and how we’re trying to prep. Our goal is to get the best 53 on the roster for Week 1. So, he’s working to show us that he’s one of those guys.
“Again, another player when he’s playing right and healthy for us, he’s fast and explosive. He had some good blitzes today and did some really cool things in that part of the field, too. So, just hope another guy that can add to that linebacker room and really like give us some more options.”
One option the Texans like is going with three linebackers: a combination of team captain and middle linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair with Harris and Henry To’oTo’o or even former Indianapolis Colts starter E.J. Speed.
Ultimately, the Texans are looking for an aggressive, tough offense.
“I don’t believe in anything other than being the most physical team we could possibly be,” Caley Said. “I think it allows you to control the line of scrimmage. It takes a two or three-yard gain in the run game to a four, five or six-yard gain.
“It wears on people in the fourth quarter and it’s a matter of mental and physical conditioning for us just to continue to push through that. But, I believe in a physical football team and I think our guys have answered the bell. They’re working to be the most physical version of themselves every single day.”
C.J. Gardner-Johnson progressing
Since his knee injury, the veteran safety has resumed working out on a side field with a trainer.
Gardner-Johnson hopes to return as soon as the Rams game. He is making progress in his recovery.
If Gardner-Johnson doesn’t make it back in time for the first game, the Texans could go with M.J. Stewart as the starter next to Calen Bullock.
They have experimented with nickel Jalen Pitre going back to safety and Kamari Lassiter playing some nickel. Jalen Mills is another option with a ton of experience. Russ Yeast has played well in both preseason games. Myles Bryant, who can play nickel or even outside corner if needed, has also lined up at safety and made some plays.
“I think we’ve talked about Russ a few times the last couple weeks, but I think the rest of that group, just a really cool collection of veteran guys,” Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke said. “I think between Myles M.J. and J. Mills, now coming back in, are really very similar from an experienced, multi-positional players that have done a lot for us. So, hopefully those guys just keep growing in the system.
“They each have sort of a different length of experience with us. But, again, guys that that are in the right spot and can communicate and make the checks properly and do the things we’re asking them to do, those guys are invaluable. So, that’s a really cool group of veteran safeties that have stepped up to get some playing time for us.”
Meanwhile, safety Jaylen Reed (sprained knee), right tackle Blake Fisher (sprained ankle) didn’t practice. Several players remain on reserve lists, including offensive tackle Trent Brown, on the physically unable to perform list. Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon is on the non-football injury list.
Among the things the team is working through is a lingering foot-ankle injury for Mixon, suffered away from the Texans with him progressing from a walking boot initially in the spring, to wearing a lace-up brace at his youth football camp to having increased mobility over the summer to, now, still being out indefinitely while rehabbing and navigating a somewhat complicated medical issue.
Mixon is not considered a lock to be ready for the season-opener, per league sources. The Texans will take their time with managing his recovery and will not rush him back onto the field after missing the entire offseason and the majority of training camp so far. They can lean on Chubb, Dameon Pierce, Dare Ogunbowale and Woody Marks in his absence.
Pierce, a former starter, Pro Bowl alternate and Angry Run of the Year award winner, is expected to contribute behind Chubb. Pierce recently returned from a strained quadriceps and is moving well at practice as he knocks off some rust.
“Dameon has played a good amount of football,” Caley said. “He’s a physical, violent runner. You get to see him out here. It’s not like this is an unknown commodity. So, whatever we feel is best for the reps, that’ll be it.
“But I’ve watched Dameon. I’ve had an appreciation for him for a while and I think he wants to go out there and just be at his best every single day. I’m excited to get him back out here with us.”
Sharp day from offense
Stroud connected several times with wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson for first downs.
And he threw a deep ball to wide receiver Justin Watson for over 40 yards.
Watson, a former Kansas City Chiefs reserve, signed a two-year contract in the offseason.
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.