Texans OC Tim Kelly believes in ‘riding the hot hand’ at running back

The Houston Texans had a game plan when they faced the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 at NRG Stadium, and Mark Ingram changed all of that.

The three-time Pro Bowl running back was having success against the Jaguars’ front and rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.

Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly explained Sept. 16 that the result of Ingram’s stat line was due to their altering an existing game plan due to the success the running back was having.

“You go into a game with a plan and you have an idea as to what plays you want guys to run,” Kelly said. “But when you get going and you figure out what type of game it is, at least from what happened on Sunday, Mark had the hot hand.”

Even though Ingram had just 3.3 yards per carry, it was the success of the runs that influenced Kelly to keep giving him opportunities.

“He was running hard, he was finishing runs, he was dragging defenders,” said Kelly. “So when that happens, it’s kind of like ‘Okay, this is the type of game, this is what’s going to end up giving us the best chance to win,’ and you kind of ride the hot hand a little bit.”

The Texans may use more of the hot hand theory as they face the Cleveland Browns Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at FirstEnergy Stadium. However, Kelly isn’t opposed to fairly distributing the carries later in the season.

“I think that’s probably going to be a little bit more prevalent once we get into November, December,” said Kelly. “But for me, at that position especially, it’s riding the hot hand.”