The Houston Texans’ offense has been nearly unwatchable for the better part of two weeks, and things will need to change if they have any intention of getting a win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 13. Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton spoke to reporters on Thursday about his approach to the matchup and gave some interesting insight into how he is preparing his unit ahead of the highly anticipated tilt.
Asked if there was anything he could do to get the offense to click earlier in games, Hamilton answered in the affirmative and explained that it will start with having a multidimensional strategy in place.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Hamilton said. “It’s one of those things where it’s always our goal. Coach (Lovie Smith) talks about it quite often. We have to establish the line of scrimmage, and we have to establish the run game. We have to come out and attempt to score and move the ball downfield. That starts with me just making sure that regardless of what we feel like we need to do to get guys settled in, we’ve just got to come out and attack and try and score points as often as we can.”
Getting the ground game in gear would go a long way toward bringing the Texans’ offense back to even a modest level of production. Early this season, they leaned on rookie running back Dameon Pierce to help push the ball downfield, but after two weeks of using him sparingly, it seems that the team is turning their back on that strategy.
Instead, they’ll look to newly minted starting quarterback Kyle Allen to move the offense through the air while utilizing receivers Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins. If they can get both elements working in unison, they just might be able to bring home their second win of the season against Cleveland.