A slew of critical quarterback calls highlighted Week 9

The NFL hit the halfway point with a slew of crucial quarterback calls. Will anybody ring up Colin Kaepernick?

Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson went on injured reserve, Trevor Siemian was sent to the bench, and Eli Manning could be headed there soon. Jameis Winston sparked a sideline scuffle after he was taken out for health reasons, and the Cleveland Browns blew it at the trade deadline after thinking they had gotten their quarterback.

Cleveland’s deal for Bengals backup AJ McCarron fell apart in the final minutes when the Browns failed to get the necessary paperwork to the NFL offices by the trade deadline.

So, add the big paperwork mess-up to the long list of missteps by a franchise that’s been unable to solve its QB riddle since last century. Browns fans have had to watch Carson Wentz and Watson, two players the team could have drafted in the past two years, excel in Philadelphia and Houston, respectively, while Cleveland has gone 0-8 this season and 1-23 under coach Hue Jackson.

Wentz has led the Eagles to an NFL-best 8-1 record, including a 51-23 blowout of the Broncos on Sunday, but Watson blew out his right ACL on a read-option play at practice Thursday, ruining his remarkable rookie season.

Tom Savage replaced Watson in the starting lineup and completed 43 percent of his passes in a 2014 loss to the downtrodden Colts, who officially ended Luck’s wasted 2017 season by putting him on IR last week.

Savage didn’t call his final timeout after getting the Texans to the Indy 8 with 38 seconds remaining. Nor did he spike the ball to stop the clock, which ticked down to 18 seconds before the Texans got off the next play. The Texans finally used their remaining timeout with 2 seconds left after three incompletions, and Savage was strip-sacked on the final play, sending Houston to 3-5.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien defended the team’s clock management afterward, and NBC analyst Tony Dungy offered some friendly advice: “Coach is a little grumpy there. I think I can help him out. Sign Colin Kaepernick, OK? You don’t have good quarterback play. When you have a mobile quarterback, your offense looks different. There’s a mobile quarterback out there to get.”

On Monday, O’Brien said he and general manager Rick Smith have discussed signing Kaepernick , the former 49ers QB who started the national anthem protest movement by kneeling last season to raise awareness of social injustices.

“Oh yeah, everybody gets discussed,” O’Brien said. “Is that a problem? Isn’t that the way most teams do it. People seem shocked by that.”

The Texans have not been very active in anthem protests, but the majority of the team knelt during the anthem before a game on Oct. 29 at Seattle after a report revealed that team owner Bob McNair said, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” during a meeting of NFL owners about players who protest by kneeling. No member of the team kneeled this week before Houston’s annual salute to service game to honor members of the military.

Texans defensive end Jadeveon Clowney dressed up as a prisoner for a Halloween party last week.