RE: Fitzpatrick/Mallett and the Texans - All things considered, Fitzpatrick hasn't beenthat badthis year. Regardless, he has a career .360-ish winning percentage, a career 60% completion rate and a career 1.3:1 TD:INT ratio and the team is 4-5. Things could be much worse, but he's owed no guaranteed money next year and realistically, they are unlikely to overtake Indianapolis and at a quick glance, probably about 7 teams are more likely to get a wild card spot. They might as well throw Mallett out there and see what he can do. Best case scenario, Mallett finishes out the season and does really well, and the pick they gave up goes from a seventh to a sixth rounder. However, Rick Smith would have likely used said pick on a dog in a football jersey who catches frisbees in his mouth, so it won't matter.
My main concern is the Texans offensive line is playing like hot garbage this year (its kind of a miracle how well Foster has played behind this porous line) and Fitzpatrick has been running for his life all year, which has shown that he is a pretty competent scrambler when he needs to be! They are not utilizing their tight ends AT ALL, even though they drafted one in the 3rd round this year and were confident enough to let Owen Daniels go.
Still 7 games to go, but I fully expect them to be on the outside looking in come playoff time.