After sustaining a concussion Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage will almost certainly be unable to start Saturday against the Oakland Raiders.
John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports Bill O’Brien saying the quarterback who practices this week will start. Playing that forward, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media commented this scenario makes it “virtually impossible” for Savage to start this weekend, based on the NFL concussion protocol.
This means it’s Brock Osweiler time, once again, for Houston’s offense.
After coming into the game for Savage on Sunday, Osweiler didn’t really do anything different than what we’ve seen all year long. Completing just 21-of-40 passes for 253 yards (much of which came after the catch) with a touchdown and no interceptions, he wasn’t sharp.
Additionally, he failed to rally his team to come back against a Titans team that was being led by Matt Cassel and had already been eliminated from playoff contention last weekend. The one positive that came of the team’s losing effort Sunday is that DeAndre Hopkins had a big game after Osweiler entered — something that rarely occurred this year.
The Raiders are vulnerable to being beaten this Saturday, when they might be coming in with rookie Connor Cook as the starting quarterback. Furthermore, the team’s defense was abused by the Denver Broncos in Week 17, something that doesn’t bode well for the playoffs.
Osweiler hasn’t done anything to earn his big offseason contract to this point. But now, by default, he’s going to get another chance to prove he’s worth franchise quarterback money.