By Matt Ferris
After suffering a 20-14 loss on Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts, the Houston Texans dropped to 3-5.
Less than a week prior, Houston was in a good place, a serious threat to win the AFC South. Its rookie quarterback, Deshaun Watson, was playing at not just a Rookie-of-the-Year level, but an MVP level.
Then out of the blue, the Texans announced that Watson would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.
Without Watson, the Texans turned to their less-than-impressive backup, Tom Savage.
Savage had only three career starts before Sunday’s loss, notching a record of 1-2 in those games.
The loss of Watson really hurts the Texans. In just seven games, Watson had thrown for 1,700 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Watson had a record of 3-3 in his six starts, and was looking like the savior Houston needed at quarterback. Not only that, but he was progressing more quickly than many had expected.
Now with Savage under center, the Texans are behind the eight ball and have a long, uphill battle toward the playoffs.
The Texans were looking at several different guys to fill their quarterback void – most notably, Colin Kaepernick. Eventually, Houston elected to go in a different direction.
Instead of Kaepernick, the Houston Texans decided to sign career backup Josh Johnson.
Johnson has been in the NFL since 2009, but hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2013, and hasn’t attempted a pass in an NFL game since 2011.
Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien’s reasoning for not signing Kaepernick was that despite being “a good football player, [he] hasn’t played football in a while.”
Kaepernick’s last game was in Week 17 of the 2016 season, meaning he hasn’t played in a competitive game in about 11 months.
Sure, Kaepernick might be rusty, but he has shown dashes of greatness in the past, and has plenty of experience in the NFL. Kaepernick led the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012, coming up just one touchdown shy of winning.
Kaepernick has started in 58 games, has thrown for over 12,000 yards with 72 passing touchdowns in his six-year career, showing he has plenty of experience, both in the regular season and in the playoffs.
Not only did O’Brien make an interesting choice in going with Johnson, whose experience and numbers pale in comparison to Kaepernick’s, but for someone who is awfully concerned with a guy being out of the game for so long, O’Brien made an illogical decision to go with Johnson.
O’Brien failed to mention that Kaepernick was the originator of kneeling during the National Anthem, and that he has been receiving a lot of media backlash for his actions.
Since almost every other NFL team considers Kaepernick untouchable, one would have to assume O’Brien and the Texans neglected to sign Kaepernick because of the baggage and negative attention he would come with.
Given the Texans’ current quarterback situation, Houston’s season looks like it’s in trouble, and it is logcially time for the Texans to hit the panic button.