Of course Savage is Texans’ starter
File under: Not news, but somewhat worth documenting.
Tom Savage is the Texans’ starting quarterback.
Of course. #AsExpected. Like, duh.
Bill O’Brien publicly attached the term “starter” to Savage on Tuesday and made it transparently clear that Deshaun Watson is officially a rookie backup in waiting.
For some reason, that was treated like major news on local radio. I’m sure it was also a bummer to national media outlets that tried to create a heated Savage versus Watson debate for months.
Was there a moment after the Texans’ first preseason game that Watson closed the gap? Is his unique athleticism impossible to ignore? Sure.
Was Savage the starter since March and always expected to be the Texans’ Week 1 answer in 2017? Yes to both.
If there was an opening for Watson to make this a real race, it closed last Saturday against New England.
Savage looked as ready as he’s going to get for the Texans’ season opener Sept. 10 against Jacksonville, and only cemented his position during the initial two practices this week.
Watson was off both days — missing targets, taking too long to deliver passes — and one of his last sessions Tuesday saw the first-round pick bounce the ball off the grass in frustration.
Savage constantly directed the first unit, displayed a much smoother arm and sounded like a leader as his teammates ran a lap around a goalpost, challenging his unit to clean up its act (and using a few other motivating words).
“Tom has really had a good camp. He’s only thrown three incompletions in two games,” O’Brien said after practice Tuesday near NRG Stadium. “He’s really got good commend of our offense.”
The real questions have always been how long O’Brien’s Texans will stick with Savage as their No. 1 and when Watson’s time will come.
Starting a rookie making multiple transitions at once never made sense for a team eyeing its third consecutive playoff appearance. I wrote many times that Watson wasn’t drafted to take the first snap Week 1 – and wasn’t even supposed to play in 2017 (outside of garbage time) if everything went right in O’Brien’s fourth year.
“Deshaun is a very, very good young player who has a great future in this league. Let’s put the cards on the table,” O’Brien said. “But Tom has been here for four years. The way that we want to play, the style that we need to play, relative to getting guys lined up, relative to cadence, relative to protection points and route reads and putting guys in the right spot, Tom’s ahead of Deshaun on that.”
The Texans will stick with Savage until he’s holding them back. Then it will be Watson’s turn and the
future will begin.