Kyle Allen on being starting QB: “just execute”

Houston Texans’ new starting quarterback Kyle Allen brings a different perspective to the position.

Once upon a time, Kyle Allen was a five-star college recruit. He was considered the best prostyle quarterback in his recruiting class and was heavily sought after before committing to Texas A&M.

Allen’s college career did not develop as many people thought it would or could, and he wound up going undrafted in the 2018 NFL Draft.

The Texans are Allen’s third team in five seasons. In his NFL career, he has overcome being the last man on the depth chart and serious injury. All of these things have combined to give Allen a bigger perspective and greater appreciation of the opportunity that is now in front of him, starting quarterback of the Houston Texans:

“It’s cool for me. 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 I broke my leg. Personally, for me, it’s kind of a cool overcoming adversity moment, getting back on the field; it was really tough being injured. Last year, kind of still injured, powering through that, and this year feeling good and being able to get back out there. So personally, it’s awesome. You go into the season just wanting to play your role, but you always want to see time on the field, so I’m excited.”

Allen believes the experiences he has had have helped him get where he is today:

“I think reps, experience, the more you see things, even just practice and seeing how this team plays and just different scenarios, it all helps. Just being able to have played a bunch in my past and seeing tons and tons of looks every year helps.”

Allen said he was officially told Friday he would get the start versus Miami:

“We didn’t really know anything earlier in the week. We were just splitting reps, and today, he (Lovie Smith) told me I was playing. Every week I try and go put in my mindset that I’m going to play, whether I know I’m not starting, I might have to play at any point. It’s always been the way of my career. I’ve been the backup the most of my career. I’ve played a bunch, though, too. When I’m the backup, in my brain, I’ve got to be ready to play.”

As far as what he can do to get the offense going, Allen stated he just needs to do his job:

“Just execute. I don’t think there is anything special that needs to be done or crazy. We need to execute. We just need to make plays. I think situational football is going to be huge. I think we’ve struggled in situational football a bunch, so hopefully, we can be good in third downs, red zone, and two-minute. Those areas are really important in the game, and I think we can improve in those areas. For me personally, I’m just trying to execute and do what I can do to help the team. It’s a team game at the end of the day, so we’ve all got to play good.”

Allen explained he has not had a lot of work with the starters, except for one:

“In preseason, Scott (Quessenberry), who has been playing center, he was the No. 2 in preseason, so I did get a lot of reps with Scott. I am really comfortable with Scott. Honestly, outside of that, not many. I always watch all the receivers. I’m good friends; I’m close with all of the receivers. It’s really important for me to build relationships around the locker room. When it comes time for me to have to play, these guys have to trust me out there. They’ve got to know who I am. I think OTAs, training camp, throughout the season, it’s a real priority of mine to build relationships with everybody.”

As far as how this change will affect Davis Mills, Allen thinks it will ultimately help him:

“I don’t think it will put a dent in his confidence. I’ve said this since I’ve got here, I think Davis (Mills) is extremely talented. Like me earlier in my career, you need reps, you need to be able to work through things, maybe hit a little adversity, and how he responds to it could either get better or worse. I think he’s going to respond to it great. I told him this isn’t over for you. I think a lot of times I’ve been; you were around when I was at Houston; I’ve been benched in my career. I’ve been taken off. I’ve been benched. I’ve been through it all. I think you keep just pushing through it, and he’s going to be just fine. He’s a really good quarterback, a great person. He gets it. Sometimes stuff like this just happens, and you’ve got to push through.”

As for what this opportunity means for Allen at this point in his career?

“It’s just cool to be able to get the opportunity to get back out there. In the NFL you get opportunities. There’s always opportunities to be had. You’ve got to keep taking advantage of them though. I feel like I’ve done a really good job of taking advantage of opportunities when I’ve been given them. I’m always really grateful to get these opportunities, because you don’t know when they’re going to run out.”