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Ryan Mallett explains leaving sidelines early: 'I thought the half was over'

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer

Let's just say Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett's body language wasn't great on the sideline.

And for good reason. In his mind, he was "putting on a clinic" during an opening drive that ended in a red zone interception and led to the first points of a lead the Indianapolis Colts never relinquished.

"What else do you want me to do?" Mallett told reporters afterward. "Throw the ball better, I guess."

Uh, yeah, that'd be a start.

"I felt like we were putting on a clinic the first drive," he added. "Yeah, I felt like that. The rest is history."

That chapter of the history book will be written like this: Two drives later, Mallett was replaced by backup Brian Hoyer after a roughing the passer penalty shook him up, and when he attempted to reenter the game soon afterward, Texans coach Bill O'Brien was like, "Nah, we're good." As Hoyer led Houston to a field goal and a wild Hail Mary on the ensuing two drives, cutting the Colts' lead to 13-10 just before the half, Mallett was visibly frustrated on the sideline, ultimately leaving the field before the clock hit zero.

"I thought the half was over," Mallett later explained to the Houston Chronicle. "That's all it was."

For what it's worth, O'Brien was kind of confused, too. "I think there was like one second left on the clock," the coach added. "So, I know that I thought the half was over, to be honest with you. Then, they grabbed me back and we decided to go to the end zone there. No, I don’t know anything about that."

O'Brien also remains confounded by which QB he'll start on Sunday. Either option isn't exactly a great one, since Mallett started the game within an interception and Hoyer ended it with another. Both have now seen the field in three of the team's five games, and here's what O'Brien relayed after the game:

"Brian I thought did a good job tonight, but we’ll talk about it. I haven’t even talked to the staff yet about it. We’ll sit down and review the film. I thought Brian did a good job though. He went in there, it wasn’t the easiest of circumstances – other than the last play there where he kind of launched it up there. He probably wants to have that one back, but I thought he did a good job. We’ll review it tomorrow and see where we are at that position."

Hoyer's take: "Not my decision to make."

And Mallett's side: "It's not my call."

Sounds like a fun week of practice for the two former Tom Brady backups. For the record, the last time Mallett lost his job to Hoyer before Week 1 of the season, he publicly expressed his disappointment and "overslept" for practice in the ensuing days, so maybe bad body language is a step in the right direction.

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Ben Rohrbach

is a contributor for Ball Don't Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!