HOUSTON -- During the Houston Texans' first offensive series in Sunday's victory against the Colts, they were showing looks that hadn't been seen much in their first three games, all losses.
On that drive, the Texans had rookie receiver Keke Coutee, who was making his NFL debut, in motion on four of the first five plays. The other play they ran was an option that got a first down.
It was that creativity in misdirection that helped quarterback Deshaun Watson succeed in his rookie season, a credit to Houston's coaching staff, which came up with different ways to take advantage of Watson's unique skills.
The Texans have been working on implementing Coutee since before he injured his hamstring in training camp, hoping to build upon the misdirection they were so successful with a year ago. Coutee said he was used similarly at Texas Tech. By using Coutee in this way, Watson said, it gives "the defense another a thing to look at. ... it just opened up the whole offense."
Through three games the Texans had shown less of that. Coach Bill O'Brien said that is partly because Coutee had been out with a hamstring injury, but also "has a lot to do with where Deshaun was relative to how he felt about everything, relative to health and all that.
"I think these are things that we can do, that we like to do, that we did more of today. Some of them worked and some of them don't. They're pretty well-designed plays, but there's a lot of risk involved in those plays. But that's part of the deal with Deshaun. When you have a quarterback like him, you have got to be creative and that's what we’re trying to do."
The Texans put Coutee in motion much more in the first quarter than they did later in the game. That likely was at least in part because receiver Will Fuller left the game in the second quarter with a hamstring injury and Houston had to depend more on Coutee outside. Coutee led the team with 15 targets and finished with 11 catches for 109 yards.
On Monday, O'Brien said he thought the Texans had been creative in their first three games and it showed in the way Watson and the Houston offense had been able to move the ball. After four games, the Texans have the 11th ranked passing offense in the league, averaging 291 yards per game. However, those numbers are slightly skewed because the Texans were trailing in all of their first three games and went to a pass-heavy attack.
Still, O'Brien said when putting together game plans and calling plays, he has been mindful that Watson had ACL surgery less than a year ago.
"I think anytime a guy's coming back off a knee injury, you have got to do a good job of understanding where that guy's at," O'Brien said. "So I wouldn't say 'affecting anything' is the way to put it, it's more, 'What's right for this player?' It's always about the player and the team. So what is the best thing for this player relative to the team? And that's what we try to do."
Regardless of why O’Brien decided to adjust the offense's approach in Week 4, it's the best the offense has consistently looked this season. Houston is still 1-3 and has an uphill battle to contend for a playoff spot, but the Texans will certainly be in a better spot to do so if they can take advantage of the skills of Coutee and Watson.
"We try to get better each and every week," Watson said. "So, who is the team that is improving the fastest? Right now, we just have to improve each and every week and try to be 1-0. This week we did a great job of being on the same page. There are still some things that we can correct. But we did enough to get the win."