Texans’ offense confident that Pep Hamilton injects energy, expertise
HOUSTON – Pep Hamilton spent a portion of his summer teaching the greater nuances of football strategy.
The Texans’ offensive coordinator held in-depth conversation while meeting virtually with a group of coaches in Los Angeles from his office at NRG Stadium.
The topics flow quickly during the fifth annual NFL Quarterback Coaching Summit as he broke down his offensive philosophy, teaching what he believes in about how to attack defenses and exploit their weaknesses.
Among the nuances Hamilton emphasized during a teaching session that included Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Marcus Brady, Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans: Explosive plays and what’s their common denominator, best offensive and worst offensive games, the reason behind those performances, to identifying and dissecting defensive schemes.
The former Howard quarterback is explaining the game within the game.
“Do they always match personnel?” Hamilton shares with the group. “Carry or spot drop? Cut crossers. Cover Zero. Pressure issues, base down and distance. Biggest strengths and weaknesses. Tip: What things can you clue in on to give you a good idea of what you’re getting? Corners’ strengths and weaknesses.
“Third down. Blitz issues? Red zone: Where does it change from the open field? What does their Zero look like and when to expect it? Red-zone identity. Touchdown common denominators. Fourth down, two-point play, backed up
passes, best route to run on each guy, double move, game plan.”
It’s a window into how Hamilton sees the game and instructive to how he’s putting his imprint on the Texans’ offense after being promoted from passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach by head coach Lovie Smith.
A former head coach and general manager of the DC Defenders in the XFL, Hamilton, 47, coached retired Colts quarterback Andrew Luck as an offensive coordinator, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert as his position coach, was the Cleveland Browns’ associate head coach, and a quarterbacks coach for the New York Jets, Chicago Bears, and 49ers. At the college level, Hamilton has worked at Stanford as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and at the University of Michigan as an assistant head coach and passing game coordinator.
For Hamilton, it’s all about using all of the information and resources he can supply to teach and inform his players to formulate an effective game plan and strategy to score points and create a balanced, unpredictable variety of play-calling while protecting the football.
“It’s important that we have information that we can present to our players,” Hamilton said during the summit. “We’re looking at some of the games where they really had their way against their opponent defensively. You’re always assessing the strengths and weaknesses of not just their scheme, but also their players. Why are they better against certain schemes and certain teams as opposed to others? The first cutup we typically watch is an explosive-plays cutup. What you’ll find out during the course of a season is that if there’s a similar pattern of the types of plays that give them problems there may be something in their scheme or in their rules we can attack.
“Getting a sense of a team, the personality of the team, where they are with the current state of their team is a big part of our process. The defensive coordinator, it’s very important we understand their temperament. It’s also important we understand and know historically the schemes and systems he’s been a part of so we can try to anticipate as much as we possibly can what their tendencies are going to be. We’ll do a thorough investigation of the defensive coordinator we’re facing and hone in on what we feel like he’s known for. The defensive identity, the raw data, and the film, it should all correlate to put into compartments based on the tendencies and what you’ve learned by studying them.”
It’s because of his knowledge and acumen and a background working with successful quarterbacks, including Luck and Herbert, a Pro Bowl passer, that could give the Texans’ offense a boost under second-year starting quarterback Davis Mills.
Now, it’s Hamilton’s job to kick-start a Texans offense from a 4-13 squad a year ago that was one of the least productive in the NFL. Houston finished 30th in scoring, last in total offense and rushing offense, and 28th in passing offense.
That starts Sunday against a stingy Colts defense that added cornerback Stephon Gilmore, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year this offseason. They also are headlined by disruptive defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and defensive back Kenny Moore II.
“We’re excited to see after all the things we’ve been working on throughout the offseason and training camp if we can go out and execute at a high level against a really good football team in the Indianapolis Colts,” Hamilton said. “Their defense, it’s well documented how good they are in their front-seven and on the back end. With the addition of Gilmore, they’re a formidable bunch.
“The way the CBA is set up, you have few opportunities to go out there and play tackle football before you play a regular season football game. It was important for us in the preseason to get our guys a chance to set their pads and ultimately harden our knuckles. But now, we understand there will be a little more strategy involved in trying to get first downs and we have to do a great job of making our in-game adjustments but more importantly just executing our offense.
The few bright spots were the consistent threat of star wide receiver Brandin Cooks and the late-season potential flashed by Mills. Many NFL general managers have indicated that Mills would have been a lock to go in the first round this year had he not declared early for the 2021 NFL draft.
Hamilton is tasked as the architect of an offense that needs to significantly upgrade the running game with rookie running back Dameon Pierce, establish imposing wide receiver Nico Collins as a consistent complementary presence to Cooks, and improve the pass protection for Mills. Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil is back from thumb surgery that sidelined him last season, and Tytus Howard is back to his natural right tackle spot.
The Texans, of course, ran a scaled-down version of their playbook during the preseason.
Mills wasn’t playing with Cooks or Tunsil. After completing 66.8 percent of his passes for 2,664 yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during his rookie season, the former third-round draft pick from Stanford is looking forward to running the show under the direction of Hamilton.
“It’s going to be fun,” Mills said. “I think we have a lot to work with. Pep has mixed a bunch of stuff up and we’re excited about we can do. We’ve all seen it throughout practice and we’ve been excited for what we’re capable of and ready to go there and perform it and display it out on Sunday.”
THE REST OF THE STORY