The big story right now for the Houston Texans isn’t their most recent humiliating loss. It’s the fact that head coach Bill O’Brien might be close to getting fired, as his request to get rid of backup quarterback Ryan Mallett was denied.
Mallett was late to the team flight on Saturday to Miami, a game which the Texas lost 44-26 after already being down 41-0 and overall looking the worst they have all season, falling to a 2-5 record.
O’Brien, on shaky ground as it is, wanted Mallett cut from the team, but general manager Rick Smith overruled him and wouldn’t allow it.
Now, the question here is this: Is this simply because the Texans have just one other quarterback in Brian Hoyer? Or is it a more serious case of a head coach who is losing his relevance to the team, and is soon going to be looking for a new job?
There isn’t a whole lot out there for the Texans to find when looking for a new backup quarterback. What they can find now they could have found while Mallett was already released from the team. Maybe he did oversleep or something, but he has been showing frustration, clear as day, about losing the starting job to Hoyer although he hasn’t done much to deserve the start.
O’Brien is 11-12 as the Texans head coach, having a relatively successful 2014 with a 9-7 record, missing the playoffs. The Texans decided the reason for failing was quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Now he’s doing a great job with the New York Jets, while the Texans are doing badly in the worst division in the NFL, with possibly the worst quarterback situation in the league.