INDIANAPOLIS – C.J. Stroud was under siege, enduring a heavy duress of relentless pressure that left him on the ground far too often and hindered the Texans’ chances from beating the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Texans’ AFC divisional round playoff loss was painfully emblematic of their season as Stroud was sacked eight times and hit 14 times overall at Arrowhead Stadium.
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That was far from the final straw for the Texans firing offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and offensive line coach Chris Strausser. It was just the final indictment of their body of work overseeing the offense and a flawed pass protection scheme that was wildly ineffective as Stroud was sacked 52 times and his statistics regressed significantly one year after being named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Now, it’s a time for change for the Texans’ offense with the hire of offensive coordinator Nick Caley and the promotion of Cole Popovich, a Dante Scarneccia disciple, to head offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
“We can continue to improve on the offensive line,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine. “As everyone knows, we had some miscues there. I think hitting the reset button will allow us to, the guys we have, they played some good ball, it wasn’t all bad, but, collectively, I think we can do a better job just by everybody being on the same page, hearing one voice of how we’re communicating to the offensive line and I think that will help the guys we have.”
Texans promote Cole Popovich to run game coordinator/offensive line coach
‘A special coach,’ Texans hire Nick Caley as new offensive coordinator
Inside the New England Patriots’ practice facility Caley and Popovich interacted for years while gaining knowledge from legendary coach Bill Belichick and one of the top offensive line coaches in NFL history in Scarneccia.
The hope for the Texans is to improve in every area, in terms of coaching, philosophy, personnel and by everyone listening to one unified voice. Strausser contemplated retirement even before last season, per league sources, who added that he seemed checked out and unwilling to listen to input from players and staff. Ultimately, the product on the field reflected how the scheme didn’t fit the blockers tasked with carrying out the assignments.
“We can gain improvement,” Ryans said without getting into specifics for why the Texans dismissed Slowik and Strausser. “And that is ultimately why it came down to the decision to make the move, because I feel like we can improve and can get better.”
The lack of protection held back Stroud, costing him a valuable year of potential development. One year after joining Tom Brady and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to lead the league in passing yards per contest and touchdown-to-interception ration, Stroud’s interceptions jumped up to a dozen picks after the former second overall pick from Ohio State had just five interceptions in one of the top statistical seasons by a rookie ever.
Not having enough time for Stroud to let his routes develop and grant receivers enough time to create separation created a negative trickle-down effect that impacted the defending AFC South champions. He dipped to 21 touchdown passes after throwing 23 touchdowns as a rookie.
“Getting better protection for C.J. is definitely a main point of emphasis for us,” Ryans said. “We know when C.J. is protected, he has a clean pocket, he’s a pretty good quarterback. I constantly show guys clips in our meeting after a game of plays when we protect well and we should we have a good pocket, I’ll show guys explosives, show outstanding throws that C.J. is able to make in the middle of the field, along the sideline.
“He’s capable of making any throw on the football field, but it’s just a matter of protecting him and giving him that comfort when he’s in the pocket. When we do that, we can move the ball, we can make plays. So that is a point of emphasis for us, of making sure he is protected better.”
Stroud was sacked 11 times in two playoff games, including three times in the wild-card win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He was pressured on over 50 percent of his drop-backs in the loss to the Chiefs, according to Next Gen Stats. Three of those sacks were allowed by overmatched tight end Dalton Schultz.
The Texans have five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil under contract, but have question marks at the other four starting spots.
Will the Texans restructure left guard Tytus Howard’s contract to lower his $23.7 million salary-cap figure? Will he go back to his natural right tackle spot or will rookie Blake Fisher continue to start on the right side after an up-and-down six starts?
Will the Texans move on from right guard Shaq Mason after he allowed 10 sacks last season or will they alter a contract that has a $14.658 million salary-cap figure for 2025?
Will former second-round draft pick Juice Scruggs play center or guard?
Is Jarrett Patterson the answer at center after stabilizing the position after taking over for Scruggs when he struggled with blitz packages and stunts in a road loss to the Green Bay Packers?
Will the Texans draft an offensive lineman or spend for an interior lineman?
It looks unlikely that the Texans could afford Chiefs standout guard Trey Smith.
And it would likely be expensive to go after Indianapolis Colts free agent guard Will Fries.
The Texans had a league-high $132 million in guaranteed money for its offensive line last season, ranking second overall in the league.
The Texans are expected to meet with several top offensive linemen in the draft process, including Alabama star guard Tyler Booker, whom NFL Network draft analyst compared to the Will Anderson Jr. of the Crimson Tide offense.
Ryans wants proficiency in pass protection and a hard-nosed mentality in his offensive linemen.
“I look at offensive lineman, first and foremost, I’m looking at pass protection, how good is a guy in pass protection?” Ryans said. “For me, speaking offensive lineman, I want to see that grit. I want to see that toughness, that nastiness of how guys are finishing their blocks, what type of leaders these guys are, how passionate they are about football. That’s very important to me when it comes to the offensive linemen.”
Caley, 42, was hired as the Texans’ new offensive coordinator after his time with the Los Angeles Rams and coach Sean McVay as a tight ends coach and passing game coordinator as the replacement for Slowik.
Popovich’s contract was expiring this offseason and now he’s back with the Texans after they hired Caley. Zach Yenser is back as assistant offensive line coach.
How Caley and Popovich instrument a, hopefully, sounder plan to keep Stroud healthy and standing will go a long way toward upgrading an offense that dipped to 22nd in total offense and 19th in scoring last season for a Texans squad headlined by its aggressive defense led by coach DeMeco Ryans.
“Cole as our offensive line coach to lead that room, just having one voice to lead it, I feel really strong about that,” Ryans said. “Cole helped a lot of our young players when it came to developing. He had a really great relationship with a lot of guys, and I think very highly of Cole and what he’s able to do. I think him having a prior relationship with Nick as well, and them being able to work together and them to hit the ground running instantly, I think that also lead to my decision, and I know we’ll be better for it.”
With the exception of Tunsil, there were continuity, performance and health issues throughout various parts of the season with the offensive line.
“I think it all starts up front obviously and it’s really all 11,” Caley said. “We all have to be in sync and I think protections starts with communication, trust and cohesiveness up front and really having clear rules in the protection system. We’re going to be going through that process.
“Obviously, I have a history with Cole dating back to my time in New England when he was our offensive line coach and I coached the tight ends. So, I have a really good working relationship and level of trust with Cole. He is a very good football coach and I’m excited to go through this process with him.”
Popovich is heading into his third season with the Texans. A former Fresno State starting offensive lineman, Popovich broke into the NFL as a coaching assistant in 2016 before being promoted to assistant running backs coach working with Sony Michel then being named co-offensive line coach when Scarneccia retired.
Popovich left the Patriots in the offseason for personal family reasons related to mandatory NFL Covid-19 vaccine regulations and coached high school football in Franklin, Massachusetts. He was then hired at Troy University as their head offensive line coach before joining the Texans and winning two consecutive AFC South division titles as part of Ryans’ first two seasons in Houston.
Both Popovich and Caley are big believers in Scarneccia, who was known for his hard-nosed, fix-it, get-it-right approach protecting star quarterback Tom Brady.
“Sure, Dante Scarnecchia. I was with Dave DeGuglielmo in 2015, very good coach,” Popovich said. “Dante Scarnecchia, longtime New England coach, influenced a lot of what I’ve obviously learned up front in the protection systems. Then been a part of other ways of doing it too. But yeah, in terms of my, informative stages, it would be my early years in New England, obviously with those two.”
One of the reasons why the Texans had so many issues was a lack of clear communication and scheme plans for blitzes and stunts. That was particularly glaring in a road loss to the Green Bay Packers. Against the Tennessee Titans, the line was overwhelmed by the powerful charge of interior defensive linemen Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat during a regular-season upset loss at NRG Stadium. The Baltimore Ravens’ speed off the edge and stunts gave the Texans a lot of issues during an embarrassing 31-2 loss on Christmas.
Cohesiveness was in short supply for the Texans. And Caley is determined to change that, immediately.
“With the offensive line, the quarterback, obviously the halfback, you got to be able to see the game through the same set of eyes,” Caley said. “You got to be going in the same direction, and you got to be tied together. That’s starts with communication.
“It starts with protecting inside out and establishing a pocket, the depth of the pocket, the width of the pocket, and that extends, obviously, in the tight ends, receivers, when you’re chipping and stuff like that. But, it does, it really starts inside out, and it starts seeing it through the same lens. We all have to be coordinated in that.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com
