Texans look ahead after loss dwindles playoff chances

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans are trying to regroup and move on after another turnover-filled performance by Tom Savage on Monday night dropped them to 4-7 and made their chances of reaching the postseason slim.

Savage led Houston to a touchdown on the first drive against Baltimore, but the Texans failed to move the ball consistently for the rest of the game and were done in by three turnovers from the quarterback in the 23-16 loss.

“It’s tough. It’s just a terrible feeling. It’s been a season of a lot of those,” coach Bill O’Brien said.

“We’re going to look back on it, and I know that we had some opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. We’ll just have to figure out moving forward how to do a better job.”

The Texans had the ball with a chance to tie it late in the fourth quarter on Monday night, but Savage was sacked by Terrell Suggs and fumbled to allow the Ravens to secure the victory.

It was the seventh fumble Savage has lost this season, which leads the NFL.

That number is concerning by itself, but is even more troublesome considering Savage has started just five games after being benched in the opener for rookie Deshaun Watson. Adding to his turnover total, Savage has thrown five interceptions with all of them coming in the past three games.

The Texans were one of the most potent offenses in the league with Watson at quarterback, scoring 30 points or more in his last five starts.

In the four games since Watson sustained a season-ending knee injury they’ve surpassed the 30-point mark just once, in a 31-21 win over the Cardinals last week.