HOUSTON -- A day after losing the Texans' starting quarterback competition, Ryan Mallett did not feel better about the decision.
"I'm still part of a really good football team; I'm not looking at it as a setback," Mallett said on Tuesday. "Am I disappointed? Yeah. Angry? Little bit. Thought I did enough to deserve the job. But it was not seen that way, so I'll do what's best for the team."
Texans coach Bill O'Brien named Brian Hoyer the team's starter on Monday after a competition that began with the team's offseason program back in the spring. The Texans added Hoyer in free agency and re-signed Mallett after trading for him in August 2014.
Mallett came in as a backup in the Texans' first preseason game (10-11, 90 yards), then started their second preseason game (5-7, 23 yards).
"I'm just going to wait until my turn gets called," Mallett said. "At some point it's going to happen this year. We played four quarterbacks last year, so I'll do what I have to do to better the team."
Mallett started two games for the Texans last year, winning the first against the Cleveland Browns and losing the second as he played through a torn right pectoral muscle.
Mallett, who said he wanted the job "more than anything," was asked whether he had a fair shot in the competition.
"It is what it is," he said.
The Texans alternated days through training camp in which Hoyer and Mallett each worked with the first-team offense.
"I just felt the longer that camp went along, the better I was playing," Mallett said. "I felt good about every day of practice. I was getting [into a] rhythm."
O'Brien gathered the quarterbacks together Monday morning to deliver his decision. Both Hoyer and Mallett said they felt his announcement could have gone either way.
"I'm not going to let my team down when my number's called," Mallett said. "I thought I had a pretty good camp. I thought it was consistent in my completion percentage every day. Didn't turn the ball over. Three incompletions so far in the preseason, so I thought I was playing all right."