Yates Prepares for First NFL Start

He's gone from third-string quarterback to the starter for a likely playoff team for the rest of the season. 

This week has been a blur for T.J. Yates as he gets ready for the biggest moment of his football career.

The former quarterback will get the start for the Houston Texans on Sunday against his hometown team, the Atlanta Falcons. 

Yates, who set more than 40 career passing records at North Carolina, was simply happy to make the Texans' roster. 

But after season-ending injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, Yates was thrust into a very rare position, especially for an 8-3 team that's having one of its best seasons ever. 

After Leinart went down in the first quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Texans players on the field thought a timeout had been called since he wasn't out there with them.

We'll let Yates take it from there: "When I got in the huddle, the guys were like ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ "

Yates was 8-for-15 in passing for 70 yards as the Texans beat the Jaguars 20-13. A sportswriter who broke down the tape of Yates' performance concluded that "there is a lot to like from his first game."

The Texans are leading the AFC's South Division by two games and have won five games in a row. They have signed former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme as a backup. 

Yates said Delhomme's experience in the NFC South has helped him get ready to play the team he grew up cheering for. 

Not bad for an East Cobb kid who played only one year of high school football, and who hadn't played a second of professional football until pressed into the most dire of circumstances.

Here's a compliment from a Texas columnist about how Yates may be just fine running Houston's bootleg offense: "By all accounts, Yates is far more suited than Leinart ever was. What he lacks is experience, which he’ll get in bucket loads starting Sunday against Atlanta.

"We have to put our trust in T.J. Yates."