Houston Texans: 2014 What To Expect On Offense
The scariest pic of Matt Schaub you will ever see here
Gary Kubiak ran a painfully slow-moving West Coast offense. How slow? Kubiak’s “Hurry Up” offense aka “Muddle Huddle”, consisted of running to the line of scrimmage, and having the quarterback take their time calling the play.
Unlike a traditional Muddle Huddle, where a quarterback calls audibles to create a mismatch and confusion. Kubiak’s system offered, no confusion, no real mismatches, and to top if off – no real urgency. It represented everything that was wrong with the Texans offense during Kubiak’s tenure. Slow and boring. Because, who wants their offense to move too fast? That would be silly, right?
The foundation of Kubiak’s scheme, is a two wide receivers set, paired with two tight ends, and running back as the passing options. One of the tight ends is often used for pass protection. The goal is to pull the pass coverage away from one or two of the options by spacing the field, with horizontal routes. Most targets are open in the middle of the field, after crossing through traffic. Thus making the quarterback reads not as complex (Think Andre Johnson catching a 7 yd pass in the middle of the field, then getting popped).
We all know that Kubiak prefers a strong running game to set up the play action. Set up the run to set up the pass. We’ve all heard that before.
To sum it up, Gary Kubiak is a system guy. He wanted things to move at his pace and not be altered by what the defense is showing him. Few adjustments because, it’s how he plays football. He is going to run the ball, to set up play action. All he needs to run this system is an accurate quarterback, that makes few mistakes and follows his system. It’s dink and dunk football.
How predictable was that offense? The run, run, 5 yd pass, 6 yd play-action, run, 5 yd play action, run, run, run, run, 7 yd pass…
Then there’s Bill O’Brien. Like Kubiak, his strengths as a coach is offense, and working with quarterbacks.
One common thing you’ll hear when he describes his system, is that there is not a real name for it. It’s a mix of pro style, west coast, spread, hurry-up offense. Basically, he doesn’t want to be tied down to any particular type of offensive scheme, that limits his abilities to run certain plays.
When you cut the fluff out of his description, it’s a pro style no-huddle offense.
I’m about to run all over these mother f%@#ers with Shady. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Here’s a fun fact. When Bill O’Brien coached at Brown, he use to play to pick up basketball games with Chip Kelly, who coached at New Hampshire. Can you imagine those two on a basketball court together? Kelly started chatting with O’Brien about a one word play calling, no-huddle offense.
If anything, we can expect the Texans offense to have a lot of the same characteristics Philadelphia Eagles offense.
- Attack
- Adapt
- Exploit
- Confuse
- Multiple formations
The personnel on offense is the most important part. To run this offense he needs smart players, that are able to understand each position, for each offensive personnel grouping. The toughness and intelligence are vital, even if that means a player doesn’t fit the size of your prototypical (insert position here). Certain players will be playing multiple positions throughout the game.