The Houston Texans have played competitive football through the first nine weeks of the season. But all they have to show for it heading into a Week 10 bye is a 4-5 record.
One of the primary reasons Houston hasn’t been on the winning side of the ledger more is the play of starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who simply isn’t a starter in the NFL anymore.
He completed less than half his pass attempts for just over 200 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in Sunday’s 31-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Considering a total of two completions went for over 100 yards, it’s rather obvious that Fitzpatrick isn’t pushing the ball down the field or even looking at the intermediate read a majority of the time. That type of conservative nature isn’t going to work in today’s NFL.
With recently acquired Ryan Mallett holding a clipboard on the sideline and possessing much more upside than his veteran counterpart, there is a decent chance Texans head coach Bill O’Brien could make the switch during the bye week.
The rookie head coach indicated that every position, including quarterback, will be evaluated during the bye week as the team looks for a “spark.”
I think we have to evaluate everything,” said O’Brien, when asked if he’ll make a QB change. “I don’t think you can always – and I’ve said this along – I don’t think you can look at one position and put all the blame on that.
“I think we have to look at, as far as what we’re doing offensively, we have to look at … who’s playing what, what positions they’re playing, how we’re getting the ball, how we’re playing at every position, including quarterback — we have to look at all of that.
Adding more fuel to the speculation of a possible quarterback change is the fact that Mallett himself seemed to be aiming for Fitzpatrick’s job in a tweet (since deleted) on Sunday evening.
Mallett then took to the social media site to clarify his previous tweet.
Either way, we could very well be looking at the former third-round pick of the New England Patriots getting some snaps under center moving forward this season. And to be honest, it’s a move O’Brien just might have to make.
Photo: NBC Sports
