When the Houston Texans hired David Culley as coach and kept Tim Kelly as offensive coordinator, the move immediately signaled a blending of philosophies.
Culley comes from a West Coast offense background through his years with Andy Reid. Kelly is a part of the Bill O’Brien coaching tree, which has elements of the spread offense therein.
According to Culley, who met with reporters ahead of the Texans’ training camp practice Tuesday at Houston Methodist Training Center, the philosophy of the 2021 offense correlates to the available personnel.
“I think more so than a philosophy it’s what we have to do to fit our personnel,” said Culley. “And basically through my career, places I’ve been, basically your offensive philosophy is dictated by the people that you have playing for you. And Tim obviously did a nice job of doing that here.”
Kelly will be working with an entirely different offense in terms of skill positions. The quarterback won’t be Deshaun Watson. Will Fuller is with the Miami Dolphins. David Johnson isn’t the only running back vying for the top spot on the depth chart. Brandin Cooks and Jordan Akins return as starters at receiver and tight end. Even the offensive line has had an overhaul as the interior offensive line and possibly right tackle positions will be new.
What Kelly does know about the new offensive philosophy, according to Culley, is that Houston will have an emphasis on running the football.
Said Culley: “Obviously with us wanting to be a little bit better at running the football, he understands where I’m coming with that mindset. And basically as far as a philosophical thing is: what does our personnel do best? We’ve been able to mesh that and we feel like we’ve got a good mix of that.”
The Texans get another chance to work with their offense on Saturday night as they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at NRG Stadium.
