Yates signing adds familiarity with offense
T.J. Yates has grown accustomed to these kind of salvage jobs and emergency situations when the Texans call upon him when there’s an injury.
The veteran quarterback’s latest opportunity came Friday when he signed a one-year contract after a season-ending knee injury to Deshaun Watson.
Yates will be active and back up Tom Savage on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Former Oakland Raiders and Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin will be inactive as the third quarterback.
“It’s crazy to come back again,” Yates said. “Obviously, if I were to pick anywhere to come back, it would be here. I love Houston. I’ve been here so many times. It’s kind of a second home to me. It feels good to be back.”
Yates won a start over the Bengals in 2015 when Brian Hoyer suffered a concussion, throwing a touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins .Asa rookie, Yates won a playoff game against the Bengals with the Texans in relief of injured starter Matt Schaub.
Yates has a lot of background with the Texans in terms of this being comfortable territory for him and knowledge of the playbook.
“I’ve got a lot of familiarity with everything, with the people in the building, with the coaches, with this offense,” said Yates, who has completed 58.1 percent of his career pass attempts for a total of 1,534 yards, six touchdowns and eight interceptions. “I’m right back in it. Obviously, I haven’t done it on a Friday. It’s an accelerated time schedule. I’m good to go.
“It all seems pretty similar, a lot of the same terminology and stuff. So, hopefully, it will be an easy transition.”
Texans coach Bill O’Brien cited McGloin and Yates’ knowledge of the system in making the decision to sign them on short notice
“In this situation, with just a couple days to get ready, it was important to have a couple guys in the immediate future that had an idea of what you were doing,” O’Brien said.
“That was probably the No. 1 thing. At least they have an idea of how a formation’s called in case they have to play, or how a protection’s called or a run’s called, they have background in that.”
From a personal standpoint, rejoining the Texans was a complicated decision for Yates to make.
When Yates got the call from Texans general manager Rick Smith, he was in a hospital in Atlanta.
His son, who was born prematurely three weeks ago, is in an incubator but doing well.
“It was actually funny,” Yates said. “My wife made me come. I wasn’t going to come at first, but she made me come up here. She’s doing good now. Sad to leave him, sad to leave my family, but happy to be here.”