The quarterback race is over in Houston.
The Houston Texans have officially named Brian Hoyer starting quarterback over Ryan Mallett. Head coach Bill O'Brien announced the news Monday afternoon.
"We told the group, the quarterbacks first and then the team that we're going to name Brian Hoyer the starting quarterback for our team right now," O'Brien said. "I talked to [the media] yesterday about the fact that this is the third game of the preseason where we want to try to get into more of a regular season routine here and treat it as such, as a regular season game. I felt like it was very important to give Brian the chance to run our offense all week, you know, knowing that he was the starter going into this game."
Hoyer, who passed for 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions for 3,326 yards in 14 games (13 starts) for the Cleveland Browns in 2014, earned the job with his experience, consistency and decision-making, along with throwing less interceptions in practices than Mallett during training camp.
"Both guys competed from day one. They both have a lot of respect for each other. They're both good teammates. They're both good in the locker room, smart guys. They're both good quarterbacks," O'Brien said. "In the end, I thought that [Hoyer] showed me the most consistency, the most composure in certain situations, the experience in our system, all those different things that go into the fact that I think he's ready to be our starter."
In Saturday's game against the Denver Broncos, Mallett was given the starting nod completing 5 of 7 passes for just 23 yards. Hoyer in relief completed 7 of 11 passes for 52 yards. In the preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers, Hoyer kicked off the game with an impressive opening drive for a touchdown to Cecil Shorts while Mallett had a decent outing completing 10 of 11 passes for 90 yards and a 100.8 passer rating.
Despite both quarterbacks struggling to get anything going against the Broncos' defense, O'Brien felt he had seen enough to name Hoyer to the starting job before the 'dress rehearsal' third preseason game.
"In the end, I thought that Brian showed me the most consistency, the most composure in certain situations, the experience in our system," O'Brien said. "All those different things that go into the fact that I think he's ready to be our starter. I have a ton of respect for Ryan Mallett. I believe in him as a player."
Hoyer is entering his seventh season in the NFL after entering the league with the New England Patriots in 2009 as an undrafted free agent. With stops in Arizona and Cleveland, Hoyer has career 76.8 passer rating along with 4,557 yards and 19 touchdowns. This will mark the second straight season Hoyer has been named a starting quarterback out of training camp as he beat out Johnny Manziel for the gig in 2014 for the Browns.
Follow Shawn Ramsey on Twitter: @ShawnPRamsey
