Reports say Houston Texans will start Ryan Mallett against Carolina

Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien won’t reveal who his starting quarterback will be for Sunday’s game in Carolina, but reports have already leaked that it will be Ryan Mallett.

Mallett, a 6-foot-7 gunslinger, replaced the benched Brian Hoyer last week with a 27-6 halftime deficit, leading the Texans to 17 points in a 27-20 loss to Kansas City.

While Hoyer is more mobile, Mallett has the stronger arm and looked better in last week’s game. Several Panthers players said it didn’t matter who would start for the Texans.

“For me, I don’t think (it matters). Not really,” second-year cornerback Bené Benwikere said. “I know they can run different schemes with both of them. For me, mostly, just have to understand the schemes. And now that I have tape on two guys, being able to see who his favorite targets are and get in the windows of the throws he wants.”

Benwikere said Hoyer’s mobility would make it tougher on a nickel corner, but that the difference wouldn’t be that big.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera said they’ll approach the game the same way no matter if it’s Mallett or Hoyer.

“I think Coach (Bill) O’Brien and his staff have put together a good offense and we’re going to try to attack and deal with their offense,” Rivera said. “We didn’t see much change when Mallett was the quarterback or Hoyer was the quarterback. One thing we did see was Mallett ran a very good hurry-up offense. He drove down and scored a touchdown very quickly, so we obviously look at that and want to get an understanding and feel for what he does well.

“In this situation it’s not like you’ve got Tom Brady on one side and another quarterback somewhere else. Or Peyton Manning and somebody else. We’re talking about two young quarterbacks with very similar skill sets.”

Mallett and the Panthers have history. The former Arkansas standout came in for a pre-draft visit with Carolina in 2011 but ended up canceling his meetings after falling ill the night before. Some reports said he had spent the previous night out on the town while Mallett’s agent said he suffered from nausea.

Rivera said that didn’t cause the Panthers to not consider Mallett for the draft. They ended up choosing Cam Newton out of Auburn with the first overall pick.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Reports say Houston Texans will start Ryan Mallett against Carolina."