Bill O’Brien didn’t even give Brian Hoyer a full game to lose the starting quarterback job for the Houston Texans. All it took was three poor quarters against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 to convince O’Brien to make the change to Ryan Mallett at quarterback.
O’Brien made the announcement official on Thursday.
“It’s Ryan’s opportunity to go play well for our football team and lead our team offensively,” O’Brien said at his news conference. “He made a lot of good throws in the (loss to the Chiefs). He always plays with a good tempo, which is important to us.”
O’Brien also noted that just because Mallett is starting in Week 2 does not mean he won’t go back to Hoyer at some point in the future.
“At all times I reserve the right to make decisions positionally, staff-wise … that lead us to winning. That’s my job.”
One thing O’Brien likes about Mallett is the way he makes decisions.
“I think he’s a decisive quarterback, and that’s what we’re asking him to do. Let it rip and go play quarterback.”
Why would O’Brien switch to Mallett so quickly? He called Mallett’s blunder of missing practice due to oversleeping was a “wake up call” and says the quarterback has come a long way in a short period of time since.
