HOUSTON – Nico Collins is the most dangerous man on the Texans’ up-and-down offense.
The Pro Bowl wide receiver has witnessed firsthand the arc of an offense still striving for consistency and a team that primarily wins games because of a talented, aggressive defense.
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“Right now, man, it’s where you want to play your best ball,” said Collins, who leads the Texans with 71 receptions for 1,117 yards and six touchdowns on 120 targets. “We’re doing that, man. Its only right we sustain that, continue to find growth, continue to find ways to improve. We keep that mindset, man, nobody can stop us.”
The Texans rebounded from a rocky start to the season and are now a playoff squad for the third year in a row, albeit one headlined by the top-ranked defense in the NFL.
The offense?
That remains a work in progress under the direction of rookie offensive coordinator Nick Caley and former Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Heading into a regular-season finale against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, the Texans are in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories.
They’re 16th in scoring offense, 20th in total offense, 16th in passing offense and 23rd in rushing offense. A year ago with Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon operating as a hammer in the backfield and former offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, they were 19th in scoring, 22nd in total offense, 21st in passing offense and 15th in rushing offense.
The Texans have made strides overall with Caley in his first year calling plays with less predictability in the second half of the season during this NFL-leading winning streak.
They just haven’t sustained their level of play throughout four quarters most of the time.
“I want to play consistently, go out and start fast would be ideal and go out and execute,” Caley said. “We expect to be better and better at this time of the year, so that’s what we’re trying to do is play our best football in the last week of the season. Not where we want to be necessarily right now. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but I don’t believe that you can just turn it on. I think the league’s too hard. I think there’s too good of players, too good of coaches to just say, ‘Well, it’s Week 18 and I’m going to flip the switch.’
“My assessment of myself, I look at everything. What would I have done differently? Where could I be better at? I always try to do that. I think it’s no different than we talk about the players, about improving and growing. I’m my hardest critic and I want to do right for this team.”
Beyond statistics, though, it’s about finding a steadiness and an even keel. A week ago, the Texans got off to a fast start as Stroud launched deep touchdown passes to rookie wide receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.
Stroud, though, subsequently threw two interceptions with one tipped at the line of scrimmage. The Texans scored six more points the remainder of the game after getting off to a 14-0 lead and held on for a 20-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers and their fourth-ranked defense.
The Colts game represents a chance to win a third consecutive AFC South division title with a win combined with the Jacksonville Jaguars losing to the Tennessee Titans. It’s also a chance for the offense to take a step in the right direction.
“I really try to not look at it now,” Stroud said. “We know we have bigger things ahead of us. I think we’re peaking at the right time, starting to click at the right time. We’ve just got to keep that going, and I think this will be another opportunity to do that.”
Stroud hasn’t been sacked in the past two games despite changes to the offensive line due to injuries to tackles Aireontae Ersery and Trent Brown.
Stroud emphasized he felt like he had his ‘best game process-wise" in terms of command of calls, cadence and audibles.
The Texans did hit a lull, though. That included Stroud throwing an interception into traffic at the end of the first half.
“We have some things we need to clean up that we know,” Stroud said.
The Texans managed to close out the Chargers, though, behind a Collins intermediate first down catch and rookie running back Woody Marks pounding out yards to run out the clock.
“I just think finishing games is the main thing,” Stroud said. “Stuff happens. You’re gonna make mistakes, you’re not gonna execute every play to the highest level even though that’s the goal. But it’s about finding wins at the end of the day, and we’ve been able to do that at a higher level towards the end.”
The Texans are on an eight-game winning streak following an 0-3 start and a 3-5 Mark midway through the season. They went 0-5 in one-score games to open the season. Since then, the Texans are 6-0 in those type of football games.
How the Texans have performed in the fourth quarter, including Stroud going 5-0 since returning from a concussion and backup Davis Mills going 3-0 in his place, has been pivotal in the progression of the team.
“I think I’ve grown in that area,” Stroud said. “There’s a lot of things as a team process-wise that we’ve done way better than in the beginning. The results have shown I think just by how we’ve finished games.
“On offense, you have to execute or nothing happens. Everything starts with the process, and even though everything’s not perfect all the time, we’ve gotten a lot better.”
The Texans averaged 1.82 points per drive during the first nine weeks of the season. They improved to 2.22 points per drive from the next five weeks. And their running success rate with Marks as the primary back has climbed from 27.4 percent to 40.1 percent.
“We started off a little rocky,” said Marks, who has rushed for 655 yards and two touchdowns. “We’ve been climbing every week, so that’s a positive right there.”
The reliability of tight end Dalton Schultz, who has caught a career-high 78 passes for 704 yards and three touchdowns, and the emergence of Higgins as a complementary presence to Collins with averages of 15.5 and 12.9 yards per touch has kept the offense from bogging down.
And Stroud has a strong track record against the Colts. He’s 4-1 all-time against them with 1,443 passing yards, seven touchdowns an one interception against them.
Stroud has been limited to 13 games due to the head injury he suffered against the Denver Broncos. He has passed for 2,872 yards, 18 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has completed a career-high 64.8 percent of his throws for a 92.6 passer rating, an improvement from an 87.0 Mark last year. He has been sacked a career-low 23 times after being sacked a career-high 52 times last season.
“I think he’s been very consistent, and he’s taken care of the ball,” Caley said of Stroud, who has a 2.0 percent interception rate after a 2.3 interception rate last year. “Regardless of whether it’s a checkdown or going through his progressions or getting into the right premium look based on our alert system, on check plays, hee’s been consistent and gotten better throughout the year, and he’s been very disciplined with that.
“I’ve been proud of him for how he’s played. Knock on wood, he’s taken good care of the ball the entire year and we’ve got to continue to do that and continue to go through the process. But he’s been clean on that. He practices that way and I’ve been very proud of the way he’s continued to progress and he owns it.”
Stroud and the Texans are the fifth team since 1990 to make the playoffs after an 0-3 start. And Stroud and DeMeco Ryans are the fourth quarterback-head coach due in NFL history to make the playoffs each of their first three seasons.
“I’m just grateful that I’m with somebody who is a believer like I am and lives his life as such: a great family man, somebody who loves ball,” Stroud said. “He is demanding of excellence. So, that’s something that I’ve grown and learned about him. I’m just grateful to be part of this journey with him and everybody.”
The path of the offense could go a long way toward determining the success of the Texans in the playoffs.
“I feel like our potential is there,” Collins said. “Especially when we stay on track, stay on board, positive yards. Especially man what we’re seeing with our defense, they’re everywhere. As long as we keep doing the same thing they’re doing, man, nothing, nobody can stop us.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com