Head coach Bill O'Brien liked what he saw out of the Texans' trio of quarterbacks in last night's 32-7 win over Atlanta. He discussed the progress each one has made, halfway through training camp and the 2014 preseason.
On Ryan Fitzpatrick:
O'Brien saw much improvement from the starter's first preseason performance at Arizona. On Saturday night, Fitzpatrick's two rushes for 25 yards were good decisions made without hesitation and his handle of the two-minute drill was on target. It was "a step in the right direction," according to O'Brien.
"He did a good job," O'Brien said Sunday. "I feel like that's how he has to play for us. I felt like he played smart; he was comfortable. We had three timeouts on that last drive. When you have three timeouts and over a minute to go in a drive, you can check the ball down the field. They may play a prevent type of coverage and if the back is open, just check it down and let the back gain 10 yards and keep going because you have timeouts. That is a good example of him understanding the situation and being comfortable with our offense."
Preseason Statistics: 15-29 for 152 yards, 5.8 yards/attempt, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 55.3 passer rating
On Case Keenum:
O'Brien still considers Keenum is still slightly ahead of Tom Savage as a backup. Keenum has a "a good command of the offense" and is a hard worker. His work ethic is conducive to the Team First locker room culture, arriving early, staying late, etc. However, the former Cougar still has room to improve.
"I think that Case (Keenum) went in there last night and did a good job for the most part," O'Brien said. "Sometimes he's got to learn to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker, things like that. I felt like he moved the team and that was good to see."
*Preseason Statistics: *9-17 for 110 yards, 6.5 yards/attempt, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 48.6 passer rating
On Tom Savage:
Savage saw action at the start of the second quarter, and then re-entered it in the fourth quarter. After the Texans' went up 7-0, he relieved Fitzpatrick who took over near the end of the first half to run the two-minute drill. Putting Savage in early was a decision O'Brien made to test the rookie.
"He didn't know that he was going to go into the game at that point and I wanted to see how he would handle that," O'Brien said. "Those are hard things, when you're a rookie and you go in there and it's a home crowd, It doesn't matter that it's preseason or not, to be thrown in there like that. I thought he did for the most part a decent job of just managing that part of it, being able to communicate the play, point out the protection blocking or the run blocking."
Preseason Statistics: *6-8 for 22 yards, 2.8 yards/attempt, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 77.1 passer rating
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The team heads to Denver on Monday for three days of joint practices with the Broncos. The Texans and Broncos will face each other in the third game of the preseason. Saturday's kickoff, scheduled for 8 p.m. CT, will be broadcast live on KTRK ABC-13 and SportsRadio 610.
