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Texans will stick with QB Ryan Mallett in short Week 5

Eric Edholm

The Houston Texans are 1-3, but they aren't planning on making a quarterback change — at least not this week.

Head coach Bill O'Brien said Monday that he's planning to stick with Ryan Mallett, who started against the Atlanta Falcons but was pulled for a far more effective Brian Hoyer, in Week 5 against the Indianapolis Colts. The game is on Thursday, so the timing of the short week helped push O'Brien back toward Mallett.

Mallett completed 12-of-27 passes for 150 yards with an interception before being yanked at the end of the third quarter with the Texans in a 42-0 hole. Hoyer played well, leading three TD drives and nearly a fourth, in garbage time.

We have an idea for O'Brien: Start Mallett but pull him after one play. Why? Texans quarterbacks have been far better in relief than as starters. Witness:

Quarterbacks

Completions

Attempts

Comp %

Yards

Yards/att.

TD

INT

Hoyer/Mallett when starting

81

158

51.3%

858

5.43

3

4

Hoyer/Mallett in relief

25

43

58.1%

330

7.67

3

0

 

We're kidding. We think.

Hoyer began the season as the starter but was ineffective in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, who have lost their next three games since. Mallett replaced him and in the final six minutes turned a 27-9 deficit into a 27-20 loss. He then started the next three games against the Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Falcons, getting pulled for Hoyer who did his best work in the final quarter-plus of the Week 4 blowout.

All this demonstrates that O'Brien, along with No. 3 QB Tom Savage, has one of the league's least-enviable quarterback situations. Nearly everyone assumes he'll eye his future starter in the 2016 NFL draft, but even that's far from a sure thing depending on where the Texans eventually will pick.

Their best hope short term is for the Colts' Andrew Luck to miss another game and for one of the Texans quarterbacks to find some kind of consistency and play well — from the start of games, and not when the Texans find themselves in a massive hole.

Or hope that the storybook Houston Astros' season continues well into October and that the local folks remain in good spirits from that.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!