Mallett to remain starter at QB
O’Brien cites short week, says entire team must improve.
— There will be no change at starting quarterback for the Houston Texans this week, coach Bill O’Brien said Monday.
With a short turnaround before Thursday’s game against AFC South foe Indianapolis, O’Brien plans to stay with Ryan Mallett, who was upstaged by backup Brian Hoyer in a 48-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Mallett completed 12 of 27 passes, threw an interception and didn’t lead the Texans to any points before he was replaced by Hoyer late in the game. Hoyer threw two touchdown passes and directed three scoring drives, though the Falcons had pulled most of their defensive starters by then.
Hoyer won the job out of camp but was benched after one game in favor of Mallett. The Texans have stumbled to a 1-3 start.
“He’s our starting quarterback,” O’Brien said of Mallett. “Like all of us, he knows that he has to play better. We all have to do better. He’s got to do a better job of throwing the ball more accurately, be more controlled in the pocket, don’t turn it over, get us into the right play.”
Mallett has thrown for 720 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s in his fififth season but has started just fifive games after playing behind Tom Brady in New England for three seasons and being injured in his second game in Houston last year.
“Brian did go in there and do some good things,” O’Brien acknowledged. “It was 42-0 at that time. It was a passing game. He did a good job. But I think right now, being on a short week and things like that, I think it’s important for us to stick with Ryan right now.”
Mallett will be without one of his top targets Thursday. Cecil Shorts is out indefinitely after dislocating his left shoulder on Sunday. He was hurt on the fifinal play of the game when he was driven to the ground and fumbled after catching a pass.
Receiver Nate Washington is day-to-day with a hamstring injury but probably will play.
Though Mallett took the bulk of the criticism for Houston’s poor performance Sunday, he was far from the only one who had a tough game. Running back Arian Foster, making his season debut after groin surgery, ran just six times for 17 yards and lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
“We really need to work on the running game,” O’Brien said. “We’ve got to be able to run the football.”
Foster came out of the game healthy, and O’Brien expects him to play Thursday night.
The good news for the Texans is that as bad as they’ve been, everyone else in the division is offff to a poor start as well, leaving the AFC South race wide open. Indianapolis has won two games, but the other three teams in the division all have just one win. And the Colts might be without quarterback Andrew Luck, who sat out Sunday’s overtime victory against Jacksonville with a shoulder injury.
“There’s a lot of football to be played,” O’Brien said. “This will be our fifirst divisional game. That’s a great opportunity. ... We can’t really look back on what happened. We can’t do anything about what happened (Sunday). We’ve got to really focus on Indianapolis and try to improve.”