The Houston Texans added two new receivers in Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb in the offseason. However, the COVID-19 pandemic’s obliteration of the normal NFL offseason forced the two veterans to spend all of training camp in August adapting to the new offense.
With little time for preparation, it would be a plausible option for the Texans to simplify the game plan for Cobb and Cooks. However, second-year offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, who is calling plays for the first time, doesn’t believe Houston needs to scale anything back.
“No, we brought in really good pros that are smart and have played a lot of football,” Kelly said. “Picking up the offense has not been an issue as far as why we haven’t scored the amount of points we’ve wanted to score.”
According to Kelly, bigger factors for why the Texans have produced 20 and 16 points over the first two weeks are turnovers, of which the Texans have committed three, one of which was a fumble returned for a touchdown.
“We can look at turnovers, we can look at different things but it’s not because it’s overcomplicated,” Kelly said. “Those guys have done a great job of working really hard with [quarterback] Deshaun (Watson) and coming in here and getting on the same page and learning everything we’ve done.”
Cooks had five catches for 95 yards on six targets last week against the Baltimore Ravens. Cobb similarly had an outing more indicative of his contributions with five catches for 59 yards. Neither newcomer caught a touchdown pass.
“We’re really pleased with how they’ve come in and learned the offense and we’re looking forward to going out and playing better on Sunday,” Kelly said.
The Texans take on the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at Heinz Field. If Houston wants to avoid 0-3, they will need their receiving corps to produce at a higher level. It is as simple as that.
