Deshaun Watsontook the league by storm last season, pacing all NFL quarterbacks with 19 touchdowns prior to tearing his ACL in early November.
Considering the Texans' smashing success in averaging 39.0 points over a five-game span leading up to Watson's injury, Houston faithful might reasonably expect Bill O'Brien to stick with what worked.
That won't be the case, however, in 2018.
O'Brien is installing an entirely different offense this offseason, the Texans coach revealed to NFL Network's James Palmer at the Annual League Meeting in Orlando.
"Why put in an entirely different offense? He really told me everybody saw what we did with Deshaun this past season," Palmer explained on Wednesday's edition of Up to the Minute Live. "They're changing things and it's not even completely put into place yet. They're still putting it all together.
"And he said the teaching portion of this is going to be the challenge because of Deshaun's specific skill set that is so different and so lethal at the same time. ... But they are changing things up dramatically on the offensive side of the ball."
Three starts into his professional career, Watson was already placing defenses in a pick-your-poison pickle with a play-action running game enhanced by Will Fuller's field-stretching speed, Bruce Ellington's elusiveness in the underneath area and DeAndre Hopkins' ability to feast on single coverage.
Houston's coaches deserve credit for easing Watson's NFL transition by playing to his strengths with a foundation of run-pass option (RPOs), traditional option, play-action and rolling pockets. That said, offenses overly reliant upon misdirection typically come with an expiration date at the highest level of football.
That's not to suggest the Texans will eliminate the portion of the playbook that enhances Watson's playmaking ability and rare instincts, but they will attempt to reduce the risk of injury while throwing fresh looks at opposing defenses.
Football evolution is a history of offensive innovation leading to defensive adjustment. O'Brien has little choice but to stay ahead of the curve before brilliant defensive minds adjust -- as they've done in the past with dual-threat quarterbacks operating in heavily schemed attacks.
