Andre Johnson

Ryan Mallett is the Texans’ starting quarterback.

Coach Bill O’Brien named Mallett the starter Wednesday, after debating during recent days whether to make a change.

“This might be the thing that helps our team,” O’Brien said at NRG Stadium. “I might be wrong.”

O’Brien said Mallett will be given a full shot to hold the starting role.

From a receiving standpoint, the Texans were generating 1.00 fantasy points per pass attempt (1 point per 10 receiving yards plus six points per touchdown divided by the total number of pass attempts). The league average is 0.98, so Ryan Fitzpatrick was decidedly average in helping his receivers to produce receiving yardage and touchdowns. Mallett will have to play pretty well in order to maintain the fantasy value of DeAndre Hopkins and Andre Johnson. Mallett has the Week 10 bye to prepare, and then faces a couple of difficult matchups (CLE & CIN) before the schedule gets easier.