Did the Houston Texans do the right thing by benching Tom Savage?
It wasn’t a surprise at all when Houston Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien decided to bench quarterback Tom Savage in favor of a rookie in Deshaun Watson this past Sunday.
The Texans could barely move the football and hadn’t scored a single point during the first half. They clearly needed to shake things up.
Savage’s agent, Neil Schwartz, has voiced his displeasure with his client being benched.
Here’s what Schwartz said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN:
"“I’m still trying to figure this out … 31 plays and you’re getting benched?” Savage’s agent, Neil Schwartz, said in an interview with NBC Sports. “It makes no sense.”“I watched all 31 plays, because that was the extent of what Tom saw in the first half,” Schwartz said. “And I can’t figure out why he’s benching Tom. I went through every single play, and I even went one step further. I asked two different NFL personnel people [or] coaches on two separate teams to evaluate and break down the film to see if I was missing something.“He went 7-for-13 … 12 of the 13 balls touched the receiver’s hands. The only ball that didn’t was the strip-sack fumble that they called incomplete [upon replay]. Seven were completions, five were drops.”"
I’m not saying this is a reason to bench Savage, but it was a little alarming to me that he was literally walking backwards during his drop back. Watch the GIF below that I came across on Twitter.
Don't see QBs drop back like this. Tom Savage legit just unathletically walking backward in slow motion. Actually made me laugh. #Texans pic.twitter.com/wQMTB3ujOs
— Nick Mensio (@NickMensio) September 13, 2017
I’m sorry, but Savage knows his offensive line is weak. Especially at the tackle position. If I was him, I would be running back in order to buy myself some time so I had a better chance to get the football down the field.
Schwartz also needs to realize that the Texans only have a 2014 fourth round pick invested in Savage.
On the other hand, Houston has a lot more invested in Watson after trading up in the first round to select him this past April. They’re also looking for any reason to give him a shot and they found their reason.
That reason being that the Texans’ offensive line is so bad that they need a quarterback that is able to move around and evade the rush. Something Savage can’t do.
Did Shwartz really think Savage was going to be the starter for the entire season? Come on now.
The NFL is a ruthless business and the Texans will do whatever it takes to win. Can you blame them? I don’t.