Coach DeMeco Ryans said Thursday that he believes his new offensive coordinator, Nick Caley, can help the Houston Texans “over the hump.”
In Ryans’ two seasons with the Texans, the results were similar. Both seasons, the Texans won the AFC South title and won a wild-card playoff game, but they lost in the divisional round because the offense struggled to score points.
“We’ve had a lot of good success these first two years,” Ryans said Thursday. “The reason we’re doing this is I think there’s another level that we can go to. And as I said earlier, my job is to take this organization to new heights, and I think hiring Nick will help us to get there.”
The Texans’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round wasn’t the only reason Ryans fired former offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. But that loss highlighted why Ryans felt the offense needed to improve after a disappointing season under Slowik. Despite a strong start in 2023, the Texans’ yards per game (342.4 to 319.7) and points per game (22.2 to 21.9) declined under Slowik, while the number of sacks increased (47 to 54).
Quarterback C.J. Stroud took 52 sacks, the second most in the league, and was pressured on 38.6% of his dropbacks, which was the third most according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Stroud’s time to pressure rate was 2.59, the seventh fastest.
Ryans fired Slowik on Jan. 24, seeking improvement. On Feb. 3, he hired Caley as the new offensive coordinator to lead an offense with Pro Bowl players like left tackle Laremy Tunsil, running back Joe Mixon, wide receiver Nico Collins, and Stroud.
“It was very hard to let Bobby go,” Ryans said. “Bobby’s a really close friend, as you all know, Bobby’s a great friend of mine. When I got into coaching, Bobby was the guy who helped me figure it all out, and we were [quality control coaches] together, there, in San Fran. So, really long relationship there with him. Nothing but love and admiration for Bobby and what he’s done.”
Caley, 42, has never been an offensive coordinator before, so this will be his first time calling plays. He joined the Los Angeles Rams as the tight ends coach in 2023 and took on the role of pass game coordinator in 2024.
Before joining the Rams, Caley spent eight seasons (2015-2022) with the New England Patriots, six of those as the tight ends coach.
Caley had high praise for Stroud, who had a weaker second season after a strong rookie year, finishing 15th in passing yards (3,727) and tied for 15th in passing touchdowns (20). The Texans hope to see a return to Stroud’s Year 1 form, where he threw for 4,108 yards (8th in the NFL), 23 touchdowns (13th), and led the league in passing yards per game (274).
“He can spin it. He throws the ball,” Caley said. “He’s an accurate thrower of the football. He is a natural thrower of the football. He’s instinctive. He’s got the ‘it’ factor. And he’s a warrior in terms of his competitiveness. I’ve admired him dating back to his college days. So, I’m really, really excited to have an opportunity to work with him.”
Caley also mentioned that despite his experience with New England and Los Angeles, he wouldn’t strictly follow either scheme.
“It is going to be Houston’s,” Caley said. “It is going to be our scheme based on what we do. I don’t say that to throw any curveballs. It really is. I mean, my history, dating back to when I first got in the National Football League under Coach Belichick, is we were going to be a game-plan team.
If that meant we were going to run duo and gap schemes and run the ball 45 times to win the game, then that’s what we were going to do. We had to run more perimeter plays, wide zone, and we felt that was going to give us the edge. We were going to do that. We were going to ask our guys to do what they do well, but it was going to be based on what we do to help us win.”
