HOUSTON — The Houston Texans are making a change at quarterback this Sunday when they take on the Dolphins in Miami.
Head Coach Lovie Smith confirmed at a news conference on Friday what had been speculated earlier in the week -- Kyle Allen will start in place of the struggling Davis Mills.
“I know some of you were able to guess right and kind of jumped the gun a little bit,” said Smith Friday. “Both guys have been told.”
The change comes after Mills’ performance against Washington, in which he was 19 of 33 for 169 yards with two interceptions – one a pick-six – and no touchdowns. Houston lost that game 23-10.
“You’re always looking at the best option to give you the best chance to win," said Smith. "And that’s where we are right now."
For Allen, he says it's another big moment in overcoming adversity.
"This is year five. I've played every single year of my career. I was undrafted. There's been a lot of adversity. The last start I had was in 2020 when I broke my leg. So this is the first start since breaking my leg."
You can watch Friday's full news conference here:
Who is Kyle Allen?
Kyle Allen is in his fifth year in the NFL, having been drafted out of the University of Houston. Before being the quarterback for the Coogs, he was at Texas A&M. He played his high school ball in Arizona.
On Monday of this week, reporters asked Coach Smith what he had seen in Allen. Here was the coach's answer...
“In practice, for most NFL teams, the guy that is in the backup role doesn’t get a lot of reps. But, what the backup does, is he goes against the No. 1 defense the majority of the time. Kyle (Allen) can make all the throws. He has a history of good play in the NFL. He’s a veteran that’s been in situations, gets rid of the ball quickly. There’s a lot of things to like about what Kyle has done. When he played in the preseason, with the limited amount of time he had, I thought he did a pretty good job.”