Aug 7, 2014; Landover, MD, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Ryan Mallett (15) prepares to throw the ball against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Your Houston Texans have spent the last two days prepping for the official kick off of the Bill O’Brien era. We’ve seen something this preseason we hadn’t seen before in Houston. Tough calls with personnel, mile a minute trades and as preseason ends we get a back up quarterback. Really, we knew this season for the Texans would be a rollercoaster ride, but that first drop. Wow. Train wreck in Arizona, a couple of good games and then a hot mess to finish things off for a preseason look at the team and then bam major personnel changes at key positions plus a well deserved pay day for J.J. Watt. Makes your head spin.
Former back up to Tom Brady, Ryan Mallett is now a Texan. While some fans might think Case Keenum caught the short end of the stick in the deal, ending up in St. Louis isn’t such a bad thing. Here’s hoping he has a good career for himself moving forward. It was obvious that O’Brien never really took to Keenum, so it was probably for the best.
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The Texans also alleviated a lot of worry among the faithful by delivering a monster contract to Mr. J. J. Watt. $100,000,000.00 over six years to a man who epitomizes what the NFL is about. Watt is the face of the franchise, and just a week from the start of the season and GM Rick Smith’s self imposed no contract during the season kicking in the Texans did right. Food for thought, when Mario Williams signed his big contract and moved location to Buffalo there was some rumbling the Texans blew it. Could you imagine the mess if they had signed Williams for a like deal then?
Sunday’s taking forever to get here, we all want to see what the team looks like with all the starters on the field. Not patchwork lineups holding the the line, not shabby play in the secondary. All the starters and the playbook shaken loose. O’Brien has a lot riding on this game against the Redskins. Both teams have new head coaches and new approaches. O’Brien hand picked Fitzpatrick and the rumblings about Mallett have been going on all preseason. We passed on Johnny Football, thankfully, but also on Bortles and Bridgewater. Tom Savage is a raw young talent, but the fact O’Brien made it clear Mallett is the backup the moment he got the word he was headed to Houston means both he and Fitzpatrick have to step it up.
I fully expect, based on Fitzpatrick’s history that he’ll last only till his first implosion before Mallett get’s the nod and if the kid is as good as O’Brien thinks he is that Fitzpatrick will spend most of the season holding a clip board. Buckle up gang, that first drop was just a taste of how crazy this season is liable to be.
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