QB Ryan Mallett, Bill O’Brien decided days ago who will start for his Houston Texans team at quarterback Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
He tried to keep it a secret, telling everyone on Wednesday they would find out Sunday.
No such luck.
A person associated with the team confirmed to USA TODAY that O'Brien will make a change at quarterback and will start Ryan Mallett against Carolina on Sunday. The person requested anonymity because people were told not to comment on the quarterback situation.
NFL Network and the Houston Chronicle were the first to report Mallett would get the start.Brian Hoyer started in Week 1, but struggled before being replaced by Mallett in the fourth quarter of a 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
When asked Wednesday if he has already informed the quarterbacks which one is starting, O’Brien only said that the decision is in the best interest of the team.
Hoyer, who lost his starting job with the Cleveland Browns last season to rookie Johnny Manziel, beat out Mallett in a quarterback competition in training camp in large part, O’Brien said, because of his consistency. That decision left Mallett a little “angry” because he said he felt he did enough in training camp to win the job.
In the season opener, Hoyer completed 18 of 34 passes for 236 yards with one touchdown and one interception. With just over six minutes left in the game, Mallett entered the game with the Texans trailing, 27-9.
Mallett completed 8 of 13 passes for 98 yards. He threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins and hooked up with Hopkins for the two-point conversion.George Godsey, the team’s offensive coordinator, said Wednesday that, “As an offense as a whole, we’ve talked about better execution … There’s plenty of plays between both of them we’d like to take back. Unfortunately you can’t. The only thing to do is move on, learn from those.”
After the game, Hoyer assumed responsibility and was blunt, saying, “That’s coach’s decision, and I can see why he did that. It couldn’t have gone any worse, you know what I mean. Obviously, I feel terrible. I feel like I let this whole entire organization down.”
Hoyer, playing on his fifth NFL team in seven seasons, again took the high road Wednesday, saying the only way to prepare as an NFL quarterback is “that you are only one play away, For me, you prepare to be the starter. And that’s what I’ll do this week, as I do every week.”
When he named Hoyer the starter for Week 1, O’Brien said he felt he had two quarterbacks he could win with. But he declined to say that Hoyer was the definite long-term solution at the position because it’s a results-oriented league and that winning games was imperative.
Mallett said his experience in Week 1 will benefit him.
“It helps,” Mallett said. “It got my feet wet. I got up to speed."
He tried to keep it a secret, telling everyone on Wednesday they would find out Sunday.
No such luck.
A person associated with the team confirmed to USA TODAY that O'Brien will make a change at quarterback and will start Ryan Mallett against Carolina on Sunday. The person requested anonymity because people were told not to comment on the quarterback situation.
NFL Network and the Houston Chronicle were the first to report Mallett would get the start.Brian Hoyer started in Week 1, but struggled before being replaced by Mallett in the fourth quarter of a 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
When asked Wednesday if he has already informed the quarterbacks which one is starting, O’Brien only said that the decision is in the best interest of the team.
Hoyer, who lost his starting job with the Cleveland Browns last season to rookie Johnny Manziel, beat out Mallett in a quarterback competition in training camp in large part, O’Brien said, because of his consistency. That decision left Mallett a little “angry” because he said he felt he did enough in training camp to win the job.
In the season opener, Hoyer completed 18 of 34 passes for 236 yards with one touchdown and one interception. With just over six minutes left in the game, Mallett entered the game with the Texans trailing, 27-9.
Mallett completed 8 of 13 passes for 98 yards. He threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins and hooked up with Hopkins for the two-point conversion.George Godsey, the team’s offensive coordinator, said Wednesday that, “As an offense as a whole, we’ve talked about better execution … There’s plenty of plays between both of them we’d like to take back. Unfortunately you can’t. The only thing to do is move on, learn from those.”
After the game, Hoyer assumed responsibility and was blunt, saying, “That’s coach’s decision, and I can see why he did that. It couldn’t have gone any worse, you know what I mean. Obviously, I feel terrible. I feel like I let this whole entire organization down.”
Hoyer, playing on his fifth NFL team in seven seasons, again took the high road Wednesday, saying the only way to prepare as an NFL quarterback is “that you are only one play away, For me, you prepare to be the starter. And that’s what I’ll do this week, as I do every week.”
When he named Hoyer the starter for Week 1, O’Brien said he felt he had two quarterbacks he could win with. But he declined to say that Hoyer was the definite long-term solution at the position because it’s a results-oriented league and that winning games was imperative.
Mallett said his experience in Week 1 will benefit him.
“It helps,” Mallett said. “It got my feet wet. I got up to speed."
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment