HOUSTON – In a historically anemic rut to kick off the season, the Texans are looking to breathe life into a stagnant offense stuck in neutral.
The pattern of penalties, turnovers, long down-and-distance situations that are nearly impossible to convert and a league-worst red-zone drought are piling up for the winless Texans.
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The NFL is an improvement league. Heading into a pivotal Sunday game against the Tennessee Titans, in a battle of two winless squads, are the 0-3 Texans tangibly getting better?
They are the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL. Their 12.7 points per game average ranks them as one of the worst scoring offenses over the past few decades. The St. Louis Rams averaged 12.1 points over the course of the 2011 season. The Carolina Panthers averaged 12.3 points in 2010. Both finished 2-14.
“I believe in the process,” said offensive coordinator Nick Caley, a former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams assistant in his first season calling plays. “I believe in what we’re asking the guys to do. We’re going to evolve and change. We’re not going to ever ask a guy to do something that we don’t believe that they can do. I would never do that in any situation. The focus is on just playing cleaner football, being more consistent and, if we can do that, I’m confident that you’ll see results. I really am.
“The thing that we still have to do is clean up the operation in terms of pre-snap penalties, turnovers, stuff like that. So, we’re on a crusade to do that. That’s the most important thing, eliminating that type of football and allowing us to move forward. Still, too many get-back-on-track situations. It’s a race to get all those things cleaned up.”
The Texans are the only NFL team that hasn’t scored a red-zone touchdown, going 0 for 4 in that category. They are the least efficient team on third downs, converting just 8 of 33 for a 24.2 percentage.
And Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year has completed just 64 percent of his throws for 599 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions for a 76.9 passer rating. He has been sacked eight times, a percentage of 8.25 percent per drop-back.
“I’m hopeful,” Stroud said. “I’m faithful to the process and to our team. I’m just charging every day, staying positive and trying to take guys with me to win games.”
His message to his teammates?
“Stay together,” Stroud said. “Stick together. Stay positive. Be urgent. Simple things like that. I think everybody kind of knows what’s up, but also I have to make sure that I’m vocal about it as well.”
The expectation when the Texans hired Caley is that he would blend some of the Sean McVay concepts from the Rams, which includes a considerable amount of motion before the snap, and Patriots era Tom Brady concepts. Caley, a former position coach for Rob Gronkowski in New England, took umbrage at the suggestion that the Texans are running an outdated version of the Patriots offense from the early era of Brady with Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles, a former New York Jets head coach, told reporters the Texans run a Patriots style offense.
“Again, this is our system,” Caley said. “This is not a copy-and-paste New England Patriots system. Okay, if that’s what you’re alluding to. But, relative to the system, I think everything we’ve done has been very intentional to be able to cater it around our players, to simplify the verbiage and we stripped everything down to the studs in the spring.
“So, I think the thing that this system does is allow our guys to be able to have enough bandwidth and flexibility to alter schemes to fit the guys that we have from week to week and that’s what it does. Whether it’s, again, in the run game gap schemes, perimeter plays, zone, mid-zone, wide zone, we can activate those based on who we’re facing and who we have available. I think from a language standpoint, we’ve cleaned that up from the time we got here.”
Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a 17-10 loss included a late interception by Stroud on a tipped pass by defensive end Josh Hines-Allen. That impact play came at the expense of rookie left tackle Aireontae Ersery, a talented and massive blocker who had a rough game with three penalties, three pressures and one sack allowed.
“There’s going to be ups and downs,” Caley said. “He’s been a consistently good player and he’s improved from the time he got here. So, are there things that we can do to settle some things down? Sure there are. I would say for multiple people, and I can do a better job of that, too, as well.
“I think he’s starting even on Wednesday at practice here. He’s come back to work, and he’s got a lot of upside in him, and we have a lot of belief in him. Again, it’s not just him. It’s all of us and we’re all in this thing together to just try to get better.”
Against the Jaguars, Stroud completed 25 of 38 passes for 204 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He had a 66.1 passer rating and was sacked twice. They only ran the football 19 times for 87 yards, a 4.6 average, as they abandoned the running game at times.
“I think we’ve shown improvement,” Caley said. “We had a good week of practice last week. I think that there were instances where I thought we had some nice, efficient runs. I thought there were instances where we were able to get the ball out.”
The Texans are undoubtedly dealing with some frustrations.
They’re ready to get a win. Perhaps they will Sunday against a Titans squad that struggles to protect rookie quarterback Cam Ward, who has been sacked a league-high 15 times. The Titans’ pass rush has only two sacks.
“We’re just hungry, man,” cornerback Kamari Lassiter said. “Losing sucks. There’s no way to spin it.”
Until everything stops being tough for the Texans on offense, it’s hard to see them winning a ton of games.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for a two-time defending AFC South champion that entered this season with Super Bowl ambitions.
“You get back to fundamentals and you get back to your core plays,” Caley said. “Being able to stick in efficient runs, being able to get the ball out of your hands at a relatively quick pace and be able to play consistent football and move the ball forward. That’s the key.
“So, when you’re in a rut like that, it’s usually a byproduct of pre-snap penalties, turnovers, et cetera and we got to start clean. We got to start the drive that way, too. Get the first down and that’s the focus.”
A year ago, the Rams got off to a 2-6 start. They still made the playoffs. Caley was a part of that revival from a rough beginning.
“Last year with the Rams, for example, we didn’t start off the way we wanted to, but it was about continuing our process,” Caley said. “It was about focusing on fundamentals. It was about having cleaner practices, having more urgency at practice and focusing on that, not being results-oriented, but just focusing on getting better. That’s the thing we’re doing, and we were off to a good start this week. So, it starts there. You practice better, generally speaking, you’re going to play better.”
Stroud acknowledged to coach DeMeco Ryans in a meeting that he can play better. Ryans came away encouraged about his quarterback’s mentality to lead.
“Meeting with C.J. this week, I feel like he’s in a really great spot mentally, clear mind and understanding: ‘I got to play better,’” Ryans said. “He understands that and that’s the first step to making strides and getting better is understanding and admitting like, ‘Hey, I know I have to play better so the team can be better.’ Let’s go. So, I’m excited to see him press forward, go play better and excited to see everybody around him play better as well.”
Stroud said that he has absorbed the playbook well. It’s a matter of executing the offense.
“I wouldn’t say it has been difficult, it’s just new,” Stroud said. “Everything takes time. I think it’s something that as you keep going along, keep pushing forward. I think sometimes failure is some of the best recipe for breakthrough. Even though it sucks, it’s not good in the moment.
“I believe that I’ll be great from it and I’m learning a bunch. I think our team is starting to pick it up. But, yes, like I said, it’s a mixture of doing some of the old stuff that they’ve done in their past, Nick, but also doing some things that we’re good at. So, we’re just finding that balance right now.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com