00:00It's the big thing that I, you know, me, that I am most concerned about,
00:03that I'm most intrigued about getting answers to
00:05when it comes to this Texans team this year is the play caller, Nick Haley.
00:09Like, that is the thing that most intrigues me, that most scares me.
00:13Like, all of those things bundled together in one singular dude
00:16and whatever his performance is.
00:18And shout out to the Houston Chronicle and particularly Jonathan M. Alexander
00:21for getting an exclusive sit down with Nick Haley
00:24about the confidence that he has and the improvements that are needed in 2026.
00:29And so I kind of, I mean, I don't know if you tapped in with this piece that came out
00:34yesterday.
00:34I tapped in with some links, just some brief quotes that were outstanding on it.
00:40Yeah, I found it to be, I mean, kind of interesting, just some of the things that happened.
00:44First and foremost, right, last year, right?
00:47How do we have, do we have any explanation or feelings about what last year was?
00:52And Nick Haley talked with Jonathan about that.
00:55And one of the big things that he seemed to point to was he just felt like last year,
01:00he said, I guess I've been sheltered in a way, which was funny.
01:04He talked about how he felt like he did not find the right balance of running and passing early on
01:11in the season.
01:11And he felt like he leveled it.
01:12And I just felt that was kind of a funny thing to, like, as a singular thing that shows up
01:18in last year.
01:20That you could probably, I know that we have criticized him from the outside looking in.
01:23That was the thing that jumped out to him first.
01:25Like, you know how you ask somebody something and usually the...
01:27I think it's really good.
01:28You think so?
01:28I think it's really telling and really good.
01:31Because your quarterback wanted to throw the ball more.
01:34And for him, I mean, this was a direct quote to and about C.J. Stroud.
01:39Hey, I didn't think I found the right balance in the running and passing game.
01:42I think C.J. Stroud was there going, yeah.
01:45Yeah, but what he's saying there I think goes the other way.
01:48Like, I think that they were pass-happy for a little while there.
01:52See, I read it as, you know, what we've obviously been talking about.
01:56But, like, you know, C.J. maybe wanted to be able to do a little more.
02:00And maybe you can interpret it both ways.
02:01I guess only he knows.
02:03Yeah, maybe so.
02:03I went and actually looked at it.
02:05What was the pass-happiness week by week?
02:07And early on, it really fluctuated.
02:10Week one, now this is versus the Rams.
02:11They ran the ball a lot.
02:13They were 22nd when it came to pass percentage.
02:16Week two versus Tampa, 14th when it came to pass percentage.
02:20It was a little bit higher.
02:21They were second.
02:21They threw the ball up and down versus Jacksonville in that loss.
02:25Then they come back.
02:26Like, Tennessee, they run the ball a ton.
02:28Which, I mean, maybe that is also a factor of you beating Tennessee pretty handily.
02:32Baltimore, you run the ball a ton.
02:34Again, you know, maybe that's a factor.
02:36But then Seattle, you're throwing the football.
02:38And, again, maybe that's just the game style.
02:41Then they kind of start normalizing in a way where they're throwing the football a good amount.
02:47Like, 17th versus San Francisco.
02:5013th versus Denver.
02:514th and 6th, again, versus Tennessee and Jacksonville.
02:54So then they lean into we're throwing the football a ton.
02:57But this is later in the season.
02:58Didn't he say earlier in the season?
03:00But what he's talking about is when he started finding a level, I mean, running the football somewhere around 50
03:05% of the time as opposed to, like, the 60s that it could get to at some of those places
03:08where the middle of the season.
03:09Then they're running the football in the heart of that, you know, run of wins in the season.
03:16I think that that's where he's talking about where he felt like he found his groove, which is when you're
03:20running the football 52% of the time.
03:22Or, sorry, you're throwing the football 52% of the time, running the football nearly 50% of the time
03:25versus running the football 40% of the time.
03:28He wants to run the football.
03:29That's something that's clear and something that he's talked about and that the team has talked about.
03:33And I found it interesting that he was like, yeah, I just couldn't find the right balance.
03:36And I wonder why that is, is the big question I ask.
03:38Like, I know some people would say that that's a D'Amico Ryan's kind of coming down.
03:43And I do wonder if maybe the leveling out that you found was D'Amico Ryan's putting his hand on
03:47the shoulder and going, hey, buddy.
03:48Right.
03:49Well, look, I read it as, I think, because the first five, four or five games that you listed there,
03:56it was much more running than passing.
03:57Much more passing than running, rather.
03:59No, much more running.
04:00You said 22nd.
04:01Oh, yeah, no, you're right.
04:01You're right.
04:02Yeah.
04:02My bad.
04:02And so I think that's what he's talking about.
04:05Like, he needed to find his feet, so to speak, his stance.
04:08And I read it as, oh, okay, I am just programmed to be, you know, tight ends and offensive line
04:15and run the ball.
04:15And I know they want to run the ball anyway, even this year, maybe even more.
04:19But I think what he's talking about is maybe I shortchange the passing game a little bit.
04:24He said you always want to balance, and each game is a little different.
04:27I think we found a way to even that as the season progressed.
04:29So finding a way, and balance doesn't necessarily mean 50-50 run pass, but it's always also a usage of
04:35different players.
04:36And I found it, the idea that he said a usage of different players, the second part of this article
04:41then also leans into that.
04:42Because, I mean, having all or at the third part, because I know they talked about Jeff Szaplinski and Gerard
04:48Johnson as well.
04:49But the idea that, hey, man, they have so much personnel, so much more personnel to be able to utilize
04:54with the tight ends.
04:55He speaks to the tight ends and some of the guys that they have and different ways that they're going
04:58to hold the edges.
05:00And this makes me feel like, hey, we're leaning very hard into, and it feels like it's valid to bring
05:05it up, but we're leaning very hard into, the tight ends seem to be some level of unlocking what this
05:09offense was supposed to be.
05:10And he is seemingly admitting that as well here.
05:13And so I have to hope that that ends up being the major point of development here with this offense
05:18is you have tight ends that can actually help you block in the way that you want to and hopefully
05:22impact the passing game when you do get out there.
05:24And there you go. I think that's what he's talking about.
05:25That's what he's talking about. That absolutely is what he's talking about.
05:29I was hoping to come out of reading this article and have more confidence in feeling like he has a
05:35very clear idea of what went wrong in year one.
05:39And I don't know that I feel that way.
05:42We're going to be an offense that's going to be an offense.
05:45Well, maybe not that bad.
05:46Definitely not. I'm definitely not there, thank God.
05:49Maybe not that bad. No, I'm with you. I'm with you.
05:51Again, I read that differently.
05:52I think he's like, boy, I should have really done more and balanced and passed the ball a little more
05:57early on.
05:58And maybe that's what he's really going to try to focus on, even though there are going to be a
06:02running team, but be able to mix it in more, especially with the tight ends.
06:05If we've got to go three and out and punt it, we're good.
06:07No.
06:08We're not good.
06:09No.
06:09We're not good.
06:10We need to ask him about the offense.
06:12I don't think we do.
06:13You just got the answer.
06:14And that's also the big thing with this.
06:16Shout out to Jonathan Alexander getting this.
06:17I don't know how much time he had to talk with Kaylee, but Nick Kaylee tends to talk in somewhat
06:22general terms.
06:23And I would have loved if some, I don't know if, again, I don't know if Jonathan got a time
06:28to really dig deep with him.
06:30That's where I think I would get some feeling on, some level of confidence on, does he have a pinpoint
06:35idea?
06:36Or is this all just kind of general speak that we're hopefully going to figure it out?
06:40You know, the old, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
06:44Because everything I hear from Nick Kaylee, it sounds right, but it's all very general.
06:48And I compare it to, and maybe we get a chance to come back to it, the Athletic actually talked
06:52to six of the first-time play callers from last year and asked them what their advice was coming off
06:57of it.
06:57And so much more of those responses were a lot more particular than what we had from here, right?
07:03Guys talking about, obviously, the collaborative effort, but, like, the play clock coming quickly, the ways that that goes, right?
07:09Anyway, some of the other challenges that happen with play calling, like, they're very particular.
07:15And Kaylee, I guess the one particular thing that he is talking about is, like, making sure that you find
07:19the appropriate balance.
07:20But even that felt very general in the way that he discussed it.
07:23So, I don't know, like, maybe this is going to be a point where I'm not going to find any
07:27level of comfort in this until he starts playing.
07:30Because I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
07:32He is right that he did not have those, he didn't have those linebackers, and that you can see, or
07:36not linebackers, those tight ends,
07:37and you can see the ways that there was fluctuation in the play calling balance at the very least.
07:42It's hard for me to believe that that's the only reason why the offense wasn't as productive as it should
07:46have been.
07:46I'm with you.
07:47I can't, I mean, we're not going to know until we see it four or five games in or more.
07:51Right.
07:52And there's no speaking to being creative, making sure to use Jalen Knoll, making sure to, you know, get guys
08:00and things that are just left to the imagination.
08:01And so, if I had to put it on a scale of one to five, I still remain like an
08:07optimistic three.
08:09Okay, I'll go with that.
08:10Right.
08:10An optimistic three, yes.
08:12If I wanted to probe down deep and be as honest as I, like, I'm kind of on two with
08:16this.
08:17I'm with you, man.
08:18It's the story of the year.
08:20We'll see what the offense ends up looking like.
08:22Hopefully training camp will give us some more elimination because, shout out to John,
08:26I don't know that I felt very much better just hearing from Nick Kelly and his own.
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