Bill O'Brien's multilayered challenge during his first year as the Texans' coach: restore respectability to a broken football team; establish a tough-on-the-outside, smart-on-the-inside identity that was often missing during the Gary Kubiak years; revamp offensive and defensive systems that significantly declined in 2013; set the franchise up for a gradual rise during the latter half of the decade.

Newly named starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's primary task in 2014: don't screw it up.

"The main part about this system is really letting our playmakers make plays," Fitzpatrick said. "I've kind of got the easy job if I can get into the right play."

Fitzpatrick's crowning as the temporary heir to Matt Schaub wasn't a surprise and was months in the making. But now that the 10-year, five-team veteran has received the reins, quarterbacks coach George Godsey and O'Brien have limited time to transform a turnover-prone 31-year-old into their initial vision of an intelligent, efficient, system-first QB.

Barring an injury or training-camp meltdown, Fitzpatrick (27-49-1 career record) will lead the Texans against the Washington Redskins in a Sept. 7 regular-season opener at NRG Stadium. Fitzpatrick must at least hold his own against third-year star Robert Griffin III. Then a quarterback who was barely drafted in 2005 and has spent 10 seasons bouncing around the league must finally prove he understands his limitations and is willing to win games by managing them, instead of carelessly throwing them away.

More Information Fitzpatrick by the numbers Since Ryan Fitzpatrick entered the NFL in 2005, 32 quarterbacks have started at least 50 games. Fitzpatrick ranks near the bottom in several key statistical categories: Category Total Rank Yards per attempt 6.46 31 out of 32 Passer rating 77.5 28 Losses 49 Tied for 28 Wins 27 Tied for 26 Yards per game played 197.5 24 Interceptions 93 22 Touchdowns 106 18 Completion percentage 59.83 19 Different strokes Kansas City's 2013 turnaround (11-5 after going 2-14 in 2012) is often cited as a template for the 2014 Texans to follow. But the Chiefs were led by a more accomplished quarterback in Alex Smith, who had was coming off a 19-5-1 combined record as a starter with San Francisco in 2011-12: Fitzpatrick in 2013 with Tennessee Titans W-L Yards TDs INTs Passer rating 3-6 2,454 14 12 82 Smith in 2011 with 49ers* W-L Yards TDs INTs Passer rating 13-3 3,144 17 5 90.7 *-Started nine games in 2012, producing a 104.1 passer rating, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions

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"They can win games with him," said Charley Casserly, an NFL Network analyst and former Texans general manager. "The question is, can he discipline himself? … Could Fitzpatrick get them to 8-8? Sure. Could he get them better than that? Well, he has to play better than he's played in his career."

Brains over QB brawn

As O'Brien and Godsey attempt to fix Fitzpatrick, the coaching duo will surround a quarterback who has never appeared in the playoffs with a newly installed offense that prizes speed, instant decision-making and variability. The zone blocking and scripted QB movements that characterized Kubiak's setup have been replaced by a dynamic mixture of everything from power running to spread passing, in an old school meets new school barrage.

"There's a lot with this offense," center Chris Myers said. "It's a very exciting offense and it's going to be a fun one to play in. But there's a lot on (Fitz-patrick's) shoulders, and he's handled it the right way."

During offseason workouts, Texans players used words such as fast and quick-thinking to describe their new offense. But the most commonly heard term was complex, meaning Fitzpatrick must master multiple challenges at once and be an expert in all areas. He'll be the on-field engineer who directs the Texans, attempting to always stay one play ahead of opposing defenses, all while suppressing a career-long tendency to disprove doubters at the worst possible time. Which explains why O'Brien, in his rebuild year, handpicked a quarterback known more for his brain than his downfield arm or passing acumen.

"Ryan has come in here and learned well," O'Brien said. "He's a good guy. He's a fun guy to coach. He works extremely hard. He's thrown the ball accurately in these practices that we've had. He's picked up the system well."

'Fitzmagic,' 'Fitztragic'

During four seasons in Buffalo, Fitzpatrick wildly alternated between "Fitzmagic" and "Fitztragic," never fulfilling the franchise-quarterback expectations that came with a six-year, $59 million contract extension in 2011. During the QB's lone season in Tennessee, when he replaced injured starter Jake Locker in Week 4, his four games with at least a 109 passer rating and a 402-yard, four-touchdown performance Dec. 15 against Arizona were offset by almost as many interceptions (12) as touchdowns (14) and a 1-7 stretch that broke the Titans' 2013 season.

"He's a gunslinger," Casserly said. "He'll put it in some tough spots. And sometimes it'll get there and sometimes it won't."

Among quarterbacks who started eight or more games last season, Fitzpatrick ranked 13th in completion percentage (62), 16th in yards per attempt (7.01) and 21st in passer rating (82). The Texans believe they can build off those average numbers and make Fitzpatrick sharper than ever in 2014, simply by fencing him.

"I wanted another shot at it," Fitzpatrick said. "I wanted another chance to be the guy."

To former Oilers/Titans safety Blaine Bishop, that was the core of Fitzpatrick's problem in 2013, when Bishop said Fitzpatrick proved he was, at best, an "average backup quarterback" in the NFL.

Bishop referred to "bad" Fitzpatrick as Pickpatrick. Asked to detail Fitzpatrick's attributes as a QB, the four-time Pro Bowler paused five seconds, then said, "Oh, man."

"He believed more in the strength of his arm than what he really had," said Bishop, a Titans radio analyst. "You were like, 'Well, he should just throw that out of bounds.' He had no shot and he'd jump and throw the ball and try to squeeze a pass in there, like a deep out or a comeback."

Bishop praised Fitzpatrick's football intelligence, adding the 10-year vet can still let the ball fly when his feet are set and possesses the professionalism to instantly erase bad games from his memory - a problem that plagued Schaub in 2013. But too many forced passes and poor decisions left Bishop with the vision of a man driven to prove he can still be an NFL starter.

"If he's in the right system, he can be pretty effective," Bishop said. "But there's some part of me that thinks he thinks more of his ability, and he always will go back to that at some point. That's what hurt him in Buffalo and that's what hurt him with the Titans."

'Just a tough guy'

After O'Brien crowned Fitzpatrick the Texans' starter Tuesday, the father of four children was even and calm while speaking with the media. But his new teammates have quickly taken to a different side of the QB: proud and fiery; dedicated in the film and weight rooms; an instant leader on the practice field; a "cowboy mentality" once the ball is snapped.

"He's just a tough guy. That's just the way he plays," wide receiver DeVier Posey said. "He's a guy that's going to get hit and get up. As a receiver, an offensive lineman, a running back, anybody in the group, you feed off that toughness. So it creates your identity when that's your leader."

Fitzpatrick believes in himself. O'Brien has made it clear the Texans believe in Fitzpatrick.

"Bill is one of the best in the business at handling quarterbacks and play-calling," said Greg Cosell, NFL Films senior producer.

But as long as Fitzpatrick remains the team's starter, the journeyman quarterback will have to convince cynical fans and skeptical analysts he deserves to again be No. 1 on a NFL depth chart. And while the 2014 Texans could be lifted up by a scrappy, resilient Harvard graduate, the feeling likely will remain throughout the year that Fitzpatrick is just a temporary bridge until the real future arrives.

"I don't think in a perfect world this is where they want to be," Casserly said. "You'd like to have a more sure thing at quarterback, with the concept that, if we've got everybody here we can be pretty good and this division is takeable. But it didn't work out that way, because the quarterback just didn't surface."