Among the biggest changes made by the Houston Texans headed into last season was their pivot at offensive coordinator. The team decided to move off of previous play-caller Bobby Slowik after two seasons at the helm to instead pick up LA Rams assistant Nick Caley to claim the reins of this scoring attack.
Having been a first-time play-caller running the show for Houston’s offense, the first few weeks of his initial time with the Texans were far from ideal. The team started off 0-3, the offense and protection from the offensive line struggled mightily, and even had lingering chatter questioning whether Caley truly was the right man for the job.
But in due time, the Texans and their offense, combined with an elite defense on the other end, turned things around in the second half of the season.
Caley found his groove as a play-caller that allowed Houston to play complementary football from Weeks 10 to 18, rattle off a 3-0 record led by backup Davis Mills, and rode that hot hand all the way out once C.J. Stroud was healthy from concussion protocol for nine consecutive wins to close out the year.
Of course, the season didn’t end how anyone in Houston would’ve liked. However, as it concerns Caley, the Texans (and more specifically head coach DeMeco Ryans) saw enough from his first campaign to label the output as an overall success.
“I like how he was able to morph and transition into what we needed to work for us to win games,” Ryans on Caley at the NFL owners meetings, via Aaron Wilson.
“That’s what I knew about him going in. His flexibility and being able to go in any manner we needed to go to help us win games he was able to do that.”