Why Was Brian Hoyer Working With The First Team For The Texans?
By Randy Gurzi
The Houston Texans apparently really do have a quarterback battle on their hands between Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett. I for one will admit I was a little bit surprised when I read that Hoyer was working with the first team during the beginning of Organized Team Activities on Wednesday.
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Personally I thought it was Mallett’s job and Hoyer was being brought in as a security blanket in case Mallett was either injured or fell flat on his face. I understand Mallett is an unknown, but it feels like the team would be best served to take the chance to learn what the former Arkansas Razorback really can offer a team as the full-time starting quarterback.
The main reason I believe Mallett should get first crack is because we do know what Hoyer is, and that is painfully average. For his career Hoyer posts a mundane 76.8 quarterback rating while completing 56.5% of his passes.
Want more average? Ok, Hoyer has exactly the same amount of touchdowns and interceptions for his career at 19 apiece. And during his best season in the NFL he posted 3,326 yards with 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Starting Hoyer makes absolutely no sense, and what’s worse is the player they had at quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick was a superior player to Hoyer, who was coming off a season where he posted his highest ever quarterback rating.
Fitz had 2,483 yards with 17 touchdowns and only eight picks which led him to a quarterback rating of 95.3. What about career stats? Fitzpatrick has thrown for 123 touchdowns to 101 interceptions and has a total of 19,273 yards to go along with those numbers.
So after watching Fitzpatrick play efficiently, the team decided it was best to trade him for a seventh round pick and bring in a guy that has a lower quarterback rating and a worse touchdown to interception ration.
The only reason it would make sense to move on from Fitz is if the team was willing to give Mallett a shot and see what he brings to the table. If head coach Bill O’Brien is seriously considering Hoyer for the starting role, it would be a highly questionable move, and one I am not on board with in the least.