I thought I could put away the stages of suck after two wins, but the pile of excrement the Texans left on the field brought it back. I have been asking about four different people in my stages of suck, but there is way too much to say and I wanted to give the masthead a chance to chime in. We are focusing our attention on Nick Caley. I have one very pointed question for the masthead and another I will answer myself after giving you their answers.
Are you in or out on Nick Caley?
PatH: As I watched the offensive ineptitude IN PERSON HAVING SPENT A STUPID AMOUNT OF MONEY TO DO SO, three words kept floating to mind with every failed fourth down conversion and stalled drive: Offensive Frank Bush. I do not use the term lightly, but he is inept at offense as the Texans 2009 defensive coordinator whose defense was one of the dead lowest in the NFL that season. There is no reason to believe he will improve enough to make the Texans entertain the playoff ambitions, let alone the Super Bowl ambitions, this team once had. He needs to go before DeMeco loses he team.
Lblitzer: Uh, the Seattle game set back just about any progress he made over the previous two games. The bad line and questionable running back room is as much Caserio as it is Caley, but some of the playcalling mistakes are going to get Caley a one-way ticket out of Houston stat. This is especially true if McDaniel gets sacked in Miami and Houston is in need of a new OC. I think you will see a major move to replace Caley with him.
Clayton A.: Caley looks like one of the worst play callers in football. I have no idea what the franchise saw in interviews and camp tp allow this to go this far. It is somehow both unimaginative, not innovative, but overly complex. There is little substance there. He has had two 6’4’ receivers, a dual threat running back in Marks, and Tank Dell’s dopple ganger in Jaylin Noel, but can’t manufacture a score from the one yard line. He looks like a one and done candidate.
Kenneth L.: This guy is awful. Horrible play calling, no development, no specialization, no creativity. Not much more to be said for a guy who lacks experience, has never called plays before, and is out of his league.
Mike Bullock: Fire him now and avoid the Christmas rush.
Scott Barzilla (Vballretired): I said my piece on Tuesday morning. I am done with this guy. Others mentioned many of the issues, but I am still trying to figure out how your second best receiver is only on the field for 31 percent of the offensive plays. I am trying to figure out while three guys aren’t holding Dare Ogunbowale on the bench so he can’t go in the game. It’s all mystifying to me and I had hoped that the last two weeks had at least convinced him to put his best players on the field. Oh well….
What is the exit strategy?
I think you noticed the masthead is unanimous that Caley isn’t the guy. Now, we could write a ton of think pieces as to why that is and whether we should have known that all along. I think the organization was embroiled in some magical thinking and they were selling him hard in the offseason as the answer to the problems in 2023 and 2024. Depending on where you get your Texans news and commentary, you could be excused if you started to believe it too. It is hard to cut through a constant fog of toxic positivity. The mess has been made and there will be time to ask those questions. Now, the question is simple. What do you do now?
I have had school years where my contract has not been renewed. Most of the time it was due to a reduction in force. Those decisions usually come down in March. I’m sure more than a few people reading this have been laid off under similar circumstances. In the school business they wanted you to finish out the school year until the end of May. I always felt like it was cruel. Similarly, if the organization has made up its mind on Caley they need to pull the trigger now. Publicly giving him a vote of confidence when you have no confidence leaves him hanging for three more months and there is nothing more lonely than being dead man walking for eleven weeks.
As PatH said, that stink also can’t help but rub off on DeMeco and Caserio. It’s log when your dog craps in the house. Is it your fault he couldn’t hold it in? Of course not, but if you let the feces just sit there and fester then that stink starts to rub off on you. If we all agree that firing him now is the right move then there are only two possibilities of where to go from there.
The first possibility is to have Jarrod Johnson run Caley’s offense. That seems unappetizing at first, but we have to consider three things. First, changing offenses mid-year is a tall order. It means developing a new playbook, learning new terminology all while unlearning the old stuff. Second, some of the issues get solved simply by using the correct personnel. How much better will this offense be with Jaylin Noel, Jayden Higgins, and Woody Marks getting more time? Finally, you wouldn’t see off tackle runs on third and one and fourth and one when your offensive line is getting no push.
The second possibility is going in a completely different direction. Obviously, I have no idea what that looks like. There are only two realistic candidates in house. Others will make off the wall suggestions like Gary Kubiak or a recently fired coach. Those feel like offseason moves to me. Johnson and Bill Lazor are those guys. Do they have an offense up their sleeve? Maybe. Johnson could potentially run some Bobby Slowik concepts if he wanted to. Lazor has called plays before. So, what do you want to do?