Armed with his headset and his playbook, Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley can't wait to play a little chess Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

Caley is in his second year orchestrating the Texans' offense, an overhauled group that experienced ups and downs last season and ultimately made some strides. Although the Texans dealt with a dormant running game after the loss of Joe Mixon to a foot injury, a lot of mixing and matching across the offensive line and key injuries and too many turnovers in the playoffs from quarterback C.J. Stroud, progress was made.

Now, the Texans have legitimate reason to believe the offense will take a major step forward this season.

A lot of that goes back to Caley growing in his second year in his confidence and comfort level as a more seasoned play-caller and the growth of Stroud, a former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. An overhauled offensive line looks a lot better. And the receiving corps, having endured the loss of wide receiver Jayden Higgins to a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament, traded for former New England Patriots deep threat Kayshon Boutte.

Caley sees tangible improvement across the board.

"Just the overall cohesiveness, operation, communication, obviously the understanding of being in Year Two, a lot of guys returning, just overall understanding, the depth of knowledge," Caley said during an interview after practice Thursday. "Just continuing to improve every single week, being the best version of ourselves, whatever that is for each person and representative of each position group in our unit, and the biggest thing is there's continuous improvement from week to week, playing clean, playing with great fundamentals, playing tough, playing good situational football, that's what we want to do consistently, and being a consistent version of that will be key."

Arguably the greatest litmus test for the offense and its progress arrives well before Sundays.

That starts with how the offense has become much more competitive in practice versus the Texans' top-ranked defense that is absolutely loaded with talent on all three levels. A year ago, the Texans had difficulty even running plays without constant disruption from Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter.

And Caley, with deep roots in the Patriots system of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels along with time spent with Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, looks more confident at the controls of a revamped Texans offense built around Stroud's powerful right arm, a stronger running game tandem of David Montgomery and Woody Marks and a receiving corps headlined by Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins.

“For Caley, like for anyone, the second time doing it, he's much more comfortable with what he's doing," Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. "He knows what he wants. He knows how he wants it to look. Just him just having that command, him coaching up his coaches.

"Everybody's on the same page. He's doing a great job of communicating and leading the offensive group, coaches and players. He's fired up. At practice today, he's fired up, barking at guys. I'm excited to see this Caley. He's fired up, I'm fired up.”

The relationship and collaboration with Stroud has grown, too.

It's a pivotal year for both. A bad season could be costly to both. There's pressure, of course. It's a performance-based game and business.

A year ago, Stroud had his moments while adapting to a different offense than the San Francisco 49ers style West Coast concepts he ran under former offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

The time Stroud and Caley spent together throughout the offense after an offensive meltdown against the Patriots in an AFC divisional round playoff loss to the Patriots at snowy Gillette Stadium has been invaluable.

Stroud has had, by all accounts, his best training camp. He has looked sharp in his throws and command of the offense. It's a pivotal season for Stroud who enters the year with an unresolved contract situation with no deal imminent as there's a gap in the financial level he wants, especially with the quarterback market expected to rise astronomically along with the salary cap next year, and what the Texans are willing to invest now, per league sources.

The offense will go as far as Stroud takes them.

And Stroud has repeatedly said Caley is running plays he likes and using his input and feedback.

"I think just through communication, more time spent, another year, another spring, an entire offseason to be able to talk football, planned meetings, but then obviously a lot of it's just naturally and organically happens for talking about certain things, scheme, plays, ideas, and those are good healthy conversations," Caley said. "We have lot of deep conversations about those things, and really it just allows for us to have an even a better understanding. I thought we had good progress last year, had a good relationship, and just continue to build that, and it was a very productive offseason for us.

"Just the consistency and the performance he's had, he loves football, he's been steady as hell, especially coming back here this spring with a great mindset, a great level of consistency, and just being at his best and putting his best out there every day, which is what he's done."

The personalities of Caley and Stroud are much different.

A native of California, Stroud has a laid-back, calm exterior.

Caley, an Ohio native and former student assistant coach at John Carroll University, is all intensity with a high-octane approach to the game. He's always on.

They've gotten to know each other well and are working well together.

They're on the same page.

"We've been able to communicate better and then just showing what I like, what I don't like and he does the same thing," Stroud said. "We're just getting better understanding where he's coming from more and he's doing the same for me. ..

“Yeah, definitely. I love Cales. I think there’s growth in our relationship, there’s growth in his ability to call plays, growth and DeMeco trusts him.”

The debut of the Texans’ offense was mixed bag last season.

There was a significant improvement in pass protection as Stroud was sacked just 23 times under the direction of Caley and offensive line coach-run game coordinator Cole Popovich one year after being sacked a career-high 54 times in his second NFL season.

Playing without Mixon due to a mysterious, foot injury whose complications led to him missing the entire season severely hamstrung the offense.

The Texans shelved five-time Pro Bowl runner Nick Chubb when he appeared to have lost his old burst and went with rookie Woody Marks as the primary running back.

Now, the Texans are primed to have a much more vibrant running game.

Montgomery, acquired in a trade from the Detroit Lions and signed to a two-year, $16.5 million contract, and Marks have formed a strong tandem. Both are lighter and faster than a year ago. The Texans are committed to running the football and are excited about being able to throw to both Montgomery and Marks out of the backfield.

"We want to be a physically and mentally tough football team, it starts with that, " Caley said. "They complement each other well. The good thing about those guys is they're both unselfish, they can go in there and they bust their ass, and they can be positive, you know, they can positively affect the game in multiple areas. They do a great job. D-Mo's had a great spring, Woody's continued to get better and better and better, so we're excited, man."

Stroud missed three games with a concussion during the regular season. The former second overall pick, consensus All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist from Ohio State uncharacteristically struggled with ball security in the playoffs with five combined interceptions and five fumbles in two postseason games, including a career-high four interceptions against the Patriots.

Nonetheless, the Texans finished 13th in scoring with a 23.8 points per game average and 18th in total offense with a 327 yard average per contest. In the final season before Slowik was fired, the Texans were 19th in scoring and 22nd in yards per game.

In the New England game, there was no rushing attack to speak of as Marks rushed for 17 yards on 14 carries and lost a fumble. Former Pro Bowl right tackle Trent Brown missed the game due to injuries. And Collins and tight end Dalton Schultz, who led the team with 82 catches last season, were out against the Patriots due to a concussion and calf injury, respectively.

All year, Caley was calling plays with one hand tied behind his back due to injuries. As much as he tried to implement his vision, there were limitations in terms of personnel available to him. His next excuse would be his first. He never complained.

"I think we're always trying to tailor the scheme around our players, so that was always the intent last year, too," Caley said. "There's certain things you get away from, that you find out, hey, there's reasons for maybe why we're good at this or we're not as good at this, so you get a year to go through that. You get more time with the players that you have in the building, and you get to do more things with them.

"We got to expose guys to different situations, different techniques, different fundamentals this offseason, got to look at some of the things that we did, how I sequence things, how I was able to learn from some of the situations that every game there's new situations, and every game there's opportunities to learn, good and bad from some things that happen. That was the thing for myself, so just continuing to try to grow."

The playoff loss to the Patriots? That's fair behind in the rear-view mirror for Caley. He's not looking back. He's looking forward.

I just think each year is different," Caley said. "We're a new team and we've been focused on that since we got back mid-April, and that's all we're focused on.

In the second year of Caley running the Texans’ offense, there’s a lot more confidence in terms of how the offense is being run, to the speed and ease of communicating the play call to Stroud and getting hurried up to the line of scrimmage to survey the defense. Increased knowledge should allow the Texans to upgrade their offense significantly.

“Sure, it’s growth,” Caley said. “We should be further along. Last year, we’re teaching the language for the first time at this time of the year. It’s the what is this concept? What’s it called? What are the details of it? I think last year there’s things we did this time of the year that we ended up getting away from for a variety of reasons, whether that was not really fitting what we wanted to do, personnel."

Key players in the offense are noticing the changes reflected by Caley and how that is causing a ripple effect on play calling.

It’s a matter of using the time allotted before plays to position the offense for maximum chances of success.

That involves a faster process all-around.

“I really just getting the play call, getting in the huddle, hear it, and running out of the huddle, getting lined up and seeing where the defense is,” Collins said. “That’s pretty much the pre-snap situation. As an offense you want to hurry up because the play clock is going and you’ve got 25 seconds and it’s clicking by the time they roll it in. By the time you get to play, it’s about 15 seconds. That’s the pre-snap urgency we need.

“Go out, get lined up, see what the defense is in, wide outs, see who the safeties are, if you’re hot or not, communicate that with C.J., the quarterback. A lot goes on before you say hike, before you call snap. I feel like that’s things we’re working on now in two-minute, just hurry-up offense so on Sundays we’re not thinking about it. If we say we want to change the play, put you on this route, it’s natural.”

The Texans retained right guard Ed Ingram on a three-year, $37.5 million contract and Brown with a one-year, $7 million deal.They drafted Keylan ‘Big Red’ Rutledge in the first round out of Georgia Tech and installed the former consensus All-American as their new left guard ahead of former Pro Bowl guard Wyatt Teller.

Nasty and tough, Rutledge has been called the best offensive lineman on the squad by general manager Nick Caserio.

"He loves football, and he's smart, so it's a good starting point and he's done a great job," Caley said. "All those guys really have improved up front, so they're feeding off each other, they love football, they communicate, they're cohesive, and they're working their butts off to get better."

Separation. Body control. One-handed catches.

That's what Boutte is capable of. That's why the Texans traded for him in exchange for hard-hitting safety Jaylen Reed and a 2028 seventh-round draft selection.

Boutte has been working overtime building timing and chemistry with Stroud. They stay after practice for extra throws.

A dangerous deep threat with a penchant for contested catches, including his spectacular grab in single coverage versus All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr., Boutte is expected to help fill the void created by Higgins' knee injury.

The vision for Boutte from the Texans is clear: make impactful plays.

A year ago, he caught six touchdown passes. That's an equal amount to Higgins' scoring total during his rookie season.

"He's done a great job, he's worked his ass off since he's gotten here, done a really good job, he's been focused, very serious, you know, he goes out there and competes," Caley said. "He's done a really nice job, so we just continue to build off that each day, and shoot man, I'm happy he's here. He's strong hands, he's got good understanding, good savvy, good instincts, too."

The Texans named Jerry Schuplinski as quarterbacks coach, replacing Jerrod Johnson. And they extended Schultz on a one-year, $12.6 million deal. They signed Collins to an upgraded contract that adds $17 million in raises over the next two years and includes a $27 million signing bonus.

And Caley is running the show. He said he wants to increase the involvement of the tight ends with more 12 personnel (two tight ends) and even 13 personnel (three tight ends) along with a potential split-back look with Montgomery and Marks on the field at the same time.

The Texans signed veteran tight end Foster Moreau and he's the primary backup to Schultz and drafted University of Michigan tight end Marlin Klein in the second round.

"I think just the key is just being able to have enough personnel versatility in terms of groupings, and each week it's gonna be different, so we'll see, from week to week what it's gonna be," Caley said. "The tight ends, they're all different, they're all tough, they're all smart, they all have the ability to help positively contribute to our offense, I'm excited about it."

Caley coached tight ends in New England and Los Angeles. He's a tight end guy, for sure, and is a fixture in their meeting room.

"He's always popping in," Schultz said. "We'll be midway through a meeting and we'll hear a knock on the door and it's Cales. He's jumping in, poking his head in. He can't stay away.

Caley has devoted countless days, weeks and hours toward self-scouting to learn from what worked and what didn’t a year ago. He’s determined to transform the offense into a higher scoring threat than a year ago when the Texans were one of the least effective red-zone outfits and standout kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn tied David Akers’ NFL single-season record with 44 field goals.

The Texans need touchdowns, a lot more of them, to hold up their end of the bargain on a team led by an elite defense.

“You lift up the hood, and you always look at yourself under the hood,” Caley said. “I think the one thing, when we look back through last year, is how can we avoid getting into longer yardage situations? I think one thing for myself too is just trying to find those alternative ways is to be able to do those things on early downs. There’s going to be some games where the run game is going to get going, and there’s going to be games where it’s not going to go as well.

"I think just trying to evolve in the early down and distance phases. You talk about the evolution of that, you think you do it last year, but even more intentionality of putting guys in different positions. This is the time of year to do it, right? So, seeing what they can do, versatility. The receivers, do we have some inside to outside flex? Sure, we do and vice versa. So, getting those guys in position to be able to show what they can do here."

The mood surrounding the Texans offense is upbeat.

It's time to put all of that into play Sunday against a Bills defense engineered by new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.

Caley can't wait to put his mind into motion and direct the Texans' offense. Hopefully, to a lot of of touchdowns and upgraded ball security and efficiency.

"I love football and I like being out there with the guys on the grass," Caley said. "I'm probably a little high-energy by nature. I just enjoy being out there. I love what we do. I love the opportunity to get an opportunity to work here and work with these guys. Every day is an opportunity to go out and try to get better and that's all we're trying to do. I have fun doing that and I put a smile on my face and have some volume every once in a while.

"You learn from year one to year two. You grow like in anything else. In terms of just going out there with enthusiasm and trying to be detailed and try to hold people to the standard, serving myself and everybody else, I don't think that standard has ever really tried to change. You just continue to try to learn from your experiences, move forward, tell the truth and work your ass off to be the best you can be.”

NOTE: The Texans worked out linebacker Jack Dingle, defensive end David Ojabo, offensive tackle Colby Sorsdal, defensive back Juanyeh Thomas and defensive tackle D.J. Wirthers, per a league source, and didn't sign any of them immediately as the team updated its ready list.

Matt & Ross In The Morning