No Deshaun Watson. No DeAndre Hopkins. No Will Fuller. The Houston Texans didn’t have any of the star power on offense that carried them to AFC South crowns the past two seasons.
Nevertheless, the Texans generated 449 total yards, went 12-of-21 on third downs, and didn’t have a single turnover. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor completed 21 passes on 33 attempts for 291 yards and two touchdowns, and receiver Brandin Cooks caught five passes for 132 yards.
The new faces of the Texans’ offense made a great first impression, and it was third-year offensive coordinator Tim Kelly’s play-calling that helped.
“I mean, the confidence right off the bat, you just see he’s a lot more smooth with the play calling having a year under his belt,” Cooks said of Kelly’s play-calling after the 37-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at NRG Stadium. “The guy is smart, and he uses all his guys, and that’s what you love about him. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Taylor was pleased with the play-calling from Kelly, but also acknowledged that they need to get better in some aspects.
“Coach TK (Kelly) done a great of calling the game today, and like I said, we could have been better in some aspects,” said Taylor. “We’ll clean that up and continue to keep moving forward.”
Coach David Culley was impressed with the way Kelly was able to feel the game and not force his game plan into the action.
Said Culley: “Tim threw it when we knew we had some one-on-ones. We made some plays there. Then when we had a good box to run, we run. Tyrod had some checks, and he ended up putting us in some nice checks to be able to give us a chance to be able to run the ball. And we had some nice runs.”
The Texans will get another shot to see just what they have in terms of offensive brain trust when they take on the 0-1 Cleveland Browns next Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
