Texans offense will be energized with Pep Hamilton as OC

It is time for the Texans to be a new offense with Pep Hamilton as OC.

With the Houston Texans hiring Lovie Smith as the new head coach this week, that means the coaching staff will start to come together, and one of the most important people of the coaching staff has been new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton.

This was an excellent decision by the Texans to promote Hamilton to the offensive coordinator as he’s deserving of the position, plus other teams must have thought the same with him interviewing for the same position with other teams in the NFL.

This past season, Hamilton was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach as he replaces former offensive coordinator Tim Kelley, who was recently hired by the Tennessee Titans in a coach position for the AFC South rival of the Texans.

Hamilton is no stranger to coaching football as he’s held various coaching positions in the NFL, NCAA and even the XFL, so the new Texans offensive coordinator has seen many different styles of football. From 2013-15, Hamilton was the offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts, and in ’16 he was the associate head coach for the Cleveland Browns.

Hamilton’s offense has a mix of some West Coast offense and other aspects from those he’s coached with in the past, so just thinking the Texans offense can be something different in ’22 is exciting.

Houston Texans: What can be expected of offense in ’22?

If Davis Mills stays the quarterback of the Texans in ’22, continued improvement is expected from the quarterback who will be in year two of his career. With 11 starts and 13 games played in his first year, Mills had a nice rookie season that got much better in the second half of the season.

Besides Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins at wide receiver, there is more to be desired at that position, and running back needs a complete revamp, so this is where the expertise of Pep Hamilton comes into play as the offensive coordinator.

Head coach Lovie Smith will probably be busy working on improving the defense as that unit had issues too, so Hamilton’s promotion is key because as the former quarterbacks coach for the Texans, he knows what needs improved by Mills in his second season, and Hamilton knows how to build an offense as his time with the Colts as OC saw success too.

Hamilton coached Andrew Luck with the Colts, and that offense was exciting and successful. If the Texans can add another wide receiver, fix the running game to just average at worse, and repair the interior offensive line, the potential of Mills at quarterback with Hamilton in charge of coordinating the offense leaves one actually excited to see what’s going to happen with this team.

That is a lot of “ifs” for the offense from one season to the next with so much change happening, but if Hamilton, Smith, and general manager Nick Caserio all get on the same page to get the players needed to give this offense some “pep,” nobody will remember the unexciting play calling of the former OC.

This is a new era for Houston Texans football, and though it isn’t what some fans wanted or expected, it is the reality, and for the ’22 Texans offense, it is a much-needed reset that will hopefully bring better results than those that have happened in the past two seasons.