Here is everything Houston Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley said ahead of their Week 7 game against the New York Giants, including implementing Tank Dell this season, Houston’s running back room with David Montgomery and Jawhar Jordan injured and getting Marvin Harrison Jr. more involved.
Question: On the wide receiver room
Nick Caley: "I think I agree with DeMeco and what he said. I think it is a good problem to have. It allows us to utilize a bunch of different groupings, place guys in position within those groupings and roles to be able to execute probably the routes that they do the best and be able to move guys around. We have some versatility within the concepts and routes that we try to tie together. Just trying to work through it to make sure that whoever we have available at the game, they have an opportunity to positively impact in whatever we're trying to do."
Q: On the process of implementing WR Tank Dell
Caley: "You have the film from the past and the comfort level in the background and all those things. Then as you reintegrate and you build back into it, just having an opportunity to go through the route tree, integrate them into the core concepts that we have and be able to utilize the things that he historically may have done or that we've been able to add in the time that we've been here, that maybe even since he hasn't technically always been a part of it, he's been around, he's been in the install meetings and he's been able to get the core routes that we have. Just trying to build it one day at a time realistically and that's what we try to take advantage of the practice days when we've been building them up too, to get back into it."
Q: On what impresses him about WR Tank Dell
Caley: "Well, it's a lot of things. I think from just the person standpoint, the energy, the love of football, the passion, the excitement, the joy that he brings when he's out there on the field, that's nonstop. I think the explosiveness, the ability to make plays, the ability to play outside to inside, the fact that the short, intermediate, deep part of the field was speed. He does a lot of things well. He's dynamic, he's a playmaker, but he's a great person and he brings great energy to the table. I think he elevates everybody that he's around, coaches and players."
Q: On the running back room
Caley: "Woody will get a good amount of carries. We've got faith in Dare [Ogunbowale]. It's like he was just here. He was just here, but it's like he hadn't left, I should say is the better way to say it. There's nothing that we have that he's not able to function and same with the guys that we have there relative to the game plan. We hone that in on the early part of the week. We rep it and we work through it. We have faith that whoever's out there, we have faith that we're going to put them in the best position and certainly Woody obviously has been in charge of that."
Q: On WR Jaylin Noel
Caley: "We've always had good faith in him, honestly. But he's been able to go out there and string drives together, string plays together and he's capitalized on all the opportunities. I'm proud of him just being able to go out there and build off that and I think you're seeing just the confidence build and just the excitement of going out there and getting to finally go out and make plays. He's made some huge plays and contributions. We just continue to build that. He's made steady improvement. Honestly, he made a ton of improvement in the spring and even when we got into the early part of Training Camp, he had missed some time and was making progress there. So he was just getting back to building up and I'm glad that he's had opportunities and he's taken advantage of them. Really has and it's created a spark for us. I just think he's in a good place and playing with confidence and helping our team."
Q: On WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
Caley: "Definitely has more knowledge of it, more time spent in it. He did a good job last week. With all the change for him coming from Arizona to here and then transitioning over to London, he did a really good job with everything we asked. There was no issues in terms of learning or anything like that. He's a really, really smart guy. I think just another week's been obviously helpful. We'll never do anything but help in that case and he's done a good job. He's really done a good job. Good flow in practice and just picking up things nicely as we go here."
Q: On the offensive line
Caley: "I thought there was a lot of progress made. I thought just overall execution and just fundamentals up front. Being able to stay connected, being able to work on a string together and be all working in sequence with each other. I thought the backs were a big part of that too. Understanding and working with the line with the inclusion of the tight ends as well on those surfaces. There was positive plays. I thought we started the right way, we got into it sooner, got a rhythm and then just being able to stick with it and you saw some positive things happen. Not just 'Jaws' [RB Jawhar Jordan] breaking the big one, but Woody. There were some really good things and some positives. Certainly, like anything, we have plenty of work to be done. Making some progress and still trying to continue to obviously move it forward day by day here too."
Q: On the preparation to create explosive plays
Caley: "As we build the game plan, you look back to what you've also previously done here to try to protect and complement some things that maybe we put on tape, et cetera. We have core plays in general always that will go in, but then you're always trying to have compliments off it. You're trying to marry up as much as you can with the play action and tie it to the run game. Certainly looks that we have, we have comparable looks that initially look the same and wind up being different plays to the defense. Those are always in the game plan. When we try to sequence how we want to start certain drives in the games with the openers, that goes into it for sure week by week and based on each game plan and stuff like that. There are definitely things that we have compliments to based on how teams are aligning, how they're matching certain things, et cetera, that we'll go to and we'll discuss those throughout the flow of the game."
Q: On the communication during gametime decisions
Caley: "We try to map out everything on the front end as much as we can so that when you get to the game, you're able to call it off the situations and what we feel and then you have to adapt when things change. I think each situation is a little different depending on where we're at. I value we have a lot of guys. Our headsets, I feel, are pretty calm. I get the information that I need and then when we need more information, I'll tap into whoever I need to help or assist that it might be reflective of certain areas and stuff like that in the game plan. I would say it's a collective staff effort and the communication I feel is always pretty fluid in terms of, 'What's the situation in the game? Where are we at? Are there things that change? Are we down a player? Do we have to put somebody else in? Does that tweak a personnel grouping? Does it affect one position group over the other,' et cetera? The communication is going to flow, but in terms of when we're on there and it's a normal situation trying to call plays, try to have it as, I would say, calm as possible to be able to get the information needed to get the plays in."
Q: On QB C.J. Stroud
Caley: "He's done a great job. Very steady, very consistent from week-to-week. There are never been too many highs and too lows. He's very right in the middle and consistent and steady and that's what I think is one of his best qualities. No matter the successes, no matter any adversity which we're inevitably going to hit from time to time to time as an offense, he stays steady and he stays consistent and he's always totally present and I'm proud of him. Relative to the operation, I think he's done a really, really good job. I think that started back in the offseason program when he got here. He's got complete ownership and just have great communication and collaboration with him along the way too, not just in the offseason and Training Camp but throughout the game week. That's been really, really good and he's doing an awesome job of that."
Q: On Quarterbacks Coach Jerry Schuplinski and his relationship with QB C.J. Stroud
Caley: "Jerry's played a huge role. I think Jerry's one of the finest coaches I've ever been around. I think we have an elite quarterback coach, just a great person, a great teacher. He's outstanding and obviously I have time with Jerry prior to coming here, but I love him. I think he's done a wonderful job in that room of just teaching and we have a great relationship. He has a great relationship with the quarterbacks and vice versa. We just have really good chemistry and I just feel like he's got a huge piece to what we do, certainly. I think it's been great just to see that continue to grow for him, for the quarterbacks, for ourselves and I'm really proud of him. Steady, he's steady. I'll say this about Jerry Schuplinski. I can say a lot of things about Jerry. He loves football. He's high capacity, high character, hard worker and he's unselfish and he's going to do what's best for the team to do whatever he can to help us win. He's been a big-time help, not just to me, but the staff and certainly the quarterbacks, too, but he's a stud."
Q: On the New York Giants defense
Caley: "They're aggressive. I feel like I say this every week, but it starts with the front. They're a really disruptive front. They've invested a lot in the front. They play really hard, throw some different looks at you. They'll create some movement. They'll do some different things there. You're going to be challenged. You've got to be on your toes. You've got to be able to block a really good front for four-plus quarters there. Then I think you look and you just move back, [Arvell] Reese is a sensational player, violent on contact, long, can run, instinctive, great college player. He is a fantastic player. He's going to be a hell of a player for a long, long time. Then you go to the back end, too, with [Deonte] Banks, Jevon Holland, those guys, they've got a really good team and they're playing their asses off. We've got to be at our best here when we kick off on Sunday."
Q: On taking input from players
Caley: "I don't think any of us have egos. Look, we want to win football games. We have a plan. I have a philosophy that I believe in that we believe in here. But ultimately, like some of the best experiences I've had, I learned this back when I first got in the National Football League, you can learn a lot from listening to players. This is a collaboration. The best teams I've been a part of, the players have total ownership with us and we're in this thing together. We're in this fight together. Don't have an ego. If they have something that's on their mind or they feel convicted about something or, 'Hey, it's an alignment,' or, 'Hey, what about this technique?' Or, 'Can I move off the ball in this alignment?' Or, 'What about maybe tweaking this backside concept?' You assess it. Does it fit what we're trying to get accomplished? If it helps us and improves the process and the play I'm all for it. It's got to be an alignment, but there's great value. C.J. sees a lot of things too from his perspective that I'm not sitting there with four or five, six guys raining down my throat as I'm hitting the top of my drop and there are different perspective from him at that point. We talk, we have great communication and I think it's very healthy. If there's something, there's issues in those things, you communicate that honestly and you give the reasons why. We're all in this together and I never shy away from having conversations about things that can help us be a better football team."
Q: On WR Tank Dell getting acclimated to the offensive scheme
Caley: "The onboarding process from the time we got here, he's been in a lot of the meetings. Even though maybe he hasn't necessarily been able to get out on the field every single time, he's been through the installation meetings. He's put a lot of work in. He's always around. He loves football. I think you'll have to ask him about his process. I don't want to speak for Tank on that. I can just tell you to try to be as detailed as we can, explain the why and do a really good job from a coaching staff standpoint of just being able to teach him the ground level, the 100 level last year to the 200 level and to keep building those things as we progress through this journey together."
Q: On if there is a learning curve for WR Tank Dell
Caley: "There's a learning curve for probably everybody. You'd have to ask him that. I think he's caught on just fine. He's ready to roll. He's always ready to roll. I think you'll have to ask him that. I think there's always a learning curve when something is different. You take a different job. We've all taken different jobs, there's a different onboarding process. I've been in different offenses. I've coached in different defenses. You have to learn something. Then I think the more you're around it, the more you coach, the more you play, it's as much same as learning. This is called palms in this defense. This one they call Kathy. This is called a go route here. This one here is called a dagger route. This one's an in cut. This one's a basic. Then you try to apply as much of that as possible when it's applicable to be able to make learning and really the transition as easy and seamless as possible on the front end of things. I think Tank's been around it quick. The whole time we've been here considerably enough in the meetings where I feel he's done an outstanding job of working his tail off to be able to catch up to speed wherever that has needed to be. But he's in a good place and he's all ball."
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans OC Nick Caley said ahead of Week 7 game vs Giants