Buccaneers set to face another Rams disciple in Texans OC Nick Caley

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to face off against the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football, where they're to face off against offensive coordinator Nick Caley. Caley is Houston's new offensive coordinator, but he'll pilot an offense that is familiar to the Bucs in more ways than one.

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, alongside San Francisco 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan, helped revolutionize the modern NFL offense. As a result, his handprints are everywhere — a good majority of the league runs an offense based on either McVay's or Shanahan's, and as a result, a good number of offensive NFL playcallers are assistants who have worked under McVay.

The Buccaneers played one of those assistants last week in Zac Robinson, the Atlanta Falcons' OC who previously served as the Rams' pass game coordinator and quarterback coach under McVay. This week, it's Caley, who was the Rams' pass game coordinator and tight ends coach last year.

The Bucs have seen these systems before, though, because their own offense runs it, too. And as a result, the defense gets a little hint at what they're in for every time they face off against a former Rams disciple.

Buccaneers have experience with this type of offense

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum (27) reacts after a play against the Atlanta Falcons. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Buccaneers currently run Jacksonville Jaguars HC Liam Coen's offensive system, which he introduced in 2024 as Bucs OC. Coen worked under McVay from 2018-20 in a variety of roles and served as offensive coordinator for the Rams in 2022, so the system comes from that tree. OC Josh Grizzard took over hs duties this year, but the system remains almost exactly the same.

Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum said during the week that playing against that type of scheme in practice and training camp has allowed the defense to understand it a little better whenever they go up against another offensive coordinator who works from a similar system.

"There's so much continuity in today's league. It seems like every other offense was birthed from the L.A. tree," McCollum said. "We see it in training camp, we've seen it with multiple offensive coordinators who use that type of scheme, so you start to recognize trends and stuff that makes it go a bit easier that way."

Here’s Zyon McCollum in playing another Los Angeles Rams disciple in Texans OC Nick Caley — he says playing against OCs in practice like Liam Coen and Josh Grizzard helps prepare the defense for those looks in the NFL, but each McVay variant has its own tweaks you have to watch: pic.twitter.com/XuAp7Lcz6K
— River Wells (@riverhwells) September 12, 2025

That system is one that requires a lot of constant attention. The McVay offense utilizes motions, play action and unique personnel set-ups to try and throw a defense off their game, and that's something Bucs CB Jamel Dean is well aware of. He's seen Coen and Grizzard work against him by utilizing all those types of eye candy, and he mentioned that when going up against an offense of that school, you have to be prepared.

"I've got mixed feelings about it," Dean said. "It's one of those offenses where they need you to take one bad step and they have the angles that they want — you need to be real disciplined when you go up against this style of offense."

The concepts and formations can largely be the same, but everyone has a different philosophy on how to call it. Coen, Grizzard, Robinson and Caley also might use very similar paint, but the way they stroke with the brush will be different — McCollum understands that well, too, and he said that the Bucs make sure to pay extra attention to each playcaller's unique tendencies even when a lot of them do operate in a similar system.

"They're also putting in little tweaks. little change-ups. That's why we watch film," McCollum said. "We've been watching a ton of film as a defense together, alone, just to make sure we're talking about the little intricacies they like to change up and also make sure we're playing fast on the things we know [are] coming."

Dean echoed the sentiment.

"Each one of them calls the game kind of different," Dean said. "They all have their own special niche to it. At least [by playing the scheme in practice], you can have a good understanding on how to attack people."

The Buccaneers held Robinson's Falcons to 20 points last week, and they'll look to hold Caley's Texans offense to less on Monday Night at 7 p.m. EST. They've seen this style of offense before, but they've also made it clear that they're wise to the niches that make his playcalling unique, too.

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