Last season, an early season injury led Tyrod Taylor to lose his starting job with the Los Angeles Chargers to a rookie quarterback in Justin Herbert. In 2018, a concussion sustained early in the season opened the door for rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield to take over as the full-time starter with the Cleveland Browns.
In 2021, an early season injury led to a rookie quarterback, Davis Mills, getting a chance to prove himself in Taylor’s place with the Houston Texans. But unlike those prior two instances, Taylor is jumping back into his starting job after recovering from a hamstring injury that has forced him to miss the last six games for the Texans.
“Coach [Culley] said early on that I would be the starter when healthy and thankful that he stood by that,” Taylor said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com.
Taylor said that history had briefly crossed his mind after the injury in September but that he was able to put it aside and just focus on getting back as soon as possible.
“It was unfortunate that it happened ... but I can’t control it,” Taylor said. “You have to shift your mindset to getting back healthy and doing the things day in and day out so you stay on track so I could get back out and still be able to perform at a high level.”
Taylor got off to a strong start before his hamstring forced him to the bench. He completed 21 of 33 passes for 291 yards with two touchdowns in a 37-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars to open the season. Against the Browns the next week, Taylor had completed 10 of 11 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown before the injury knocked him out.
The Texans have been held to less than 10 points in four of the six games Taylor has missed, including a 40-0 shutout to the Buffalo Bills in Week Four.