Mallett, Hoyer fail to inspire much confidence in QB situation
Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer each had a chance Saturday night to show he should be the Texans’ starting quarterback.
But after a less-than-thrilling exhibition against the Broncos, the competition to earn the job remains even. A dead tie. Emphasis on dead. The Texans lost to Denver 14-10 at NRG Stadium, but aside from the defense scoring Houston’s lone touchdown, the final score is hardly relevant.
With exactly three weeks left before the start of the regular season, the tie atop the quarterback depth chart is the chief concern.
As Yann Martel wrote, a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he’s not careful.
There is no doubt Bill O’Brien is being careful. Too careful.
The Texans’ coach is tipping around this quarterback decision as if he has nitroglycol strapped to his waist.
This might not be a case of study long, study wrong, but one of simply studying too long.
More than half of the offensive starters this season will be new to their spot in the lineup. It can’t help them
the lineup. It can’t help them that with only one more real fake game remaining — starters aren’t likely to play in the preseason finale — they still don’t know who will lead them.
O’Brien has trained the Texans not to respond to questions about the looming decision. But he can’t brainwash them into believing either of these guys is a star-level quarterback. Not that he hasn’t tried.
After he reviews Saturday night’s film, he will say each did some good things and some not-so-good things.
The problem is prior to Saturday neither had made enough plays to make O’Brien want him as his quarterback. That can’t have changed after this performance.
Both looked pretty good against San Francisco, neither looked particularly good against Denver.
Of course, the Broncos’ defense — coordinated by Wade Phillips — is a tad saltier than the mishmash San Francisco unit the Texans saw last week.
In the first half versus Denver, the Texans ran 32 plays and totaled 101 yards, compared to 229 yards on 36 plays the week before. (Mallett and Hoyer sat out the third and fourth quarters in both games.)
Mallett, who started and played two possessions Saturday, didn’t do anything to lose ground, but he didn’t do much to gain any. He completed 5-of-7 passes for 23 yards, as the Texans racked up two first downs with him under center.
Hoyer came in and didn’t go out of his way to win or lose the job either, as he connected on 7-of-11 passes for 52 yards, with his longest completion covering 13 yards.
When he didn’t get superb protection, Hoyer at times looked like a frightened rookie, going from standing tall in the pocket against the 49ers to folding meekly against the Broncos.
On one sack, he stood still and took a hit from Kayvon Webster as if he were at a tackle-free practice.
That type of slow recognition is supposed to be one of Mallett’s deficiencies.
Each of these quarterbacks has weaknesses. Major ones. Obvious ones.
This isn’t a race between Secretariat and Man o’ War.
The longer O’Brien makes us watch them, the worse they look.
But his expert eye is looking for something not so discernible.
No wonder he spends so much time cussing.
Still, don’t read too much into these preseason games, they are just fullpriced scrimmages that don’t count in the standings.
What happened Saturday night will be long forgotten by the time the Texans take to the field against the Chiefs on Sept. 13.
But thanks to this months-long tie, every wayward throw, every missed read, every el-foldo sack taken by the eventual starter will remind us of the lengthy starting QB “battle.”
Then again, the way Mallett and Hoyer led the offense on Saturday, would there be much clamor for the No. 2 guy should the starter struggle?
The backup quarterback is far less likely to be the most popular guy in town if everybody knows he isn’t any better than the starter.
And right now, they are in a dead heat.
Dead. jerome.solomon@chron.com twitter.com/jeromesolomon