A change at quarterback sparked a 21-20 Houston Texans come from behind victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at NRG Stadium. Tom Savage, in his first game action of the 2016 season, was thrust behind center after starting quarterback Brock Osweiler was benched following his second interception of the first half. Savage, field goal kicker Nick Novak and a resilient defense put the Texans in position to win the game in the fourth quarter.
Savage inherited a 13-point deficit in the second quarter and responded by completing 23 of his 36 passes for 260 yards. This marked the the most passing yards by a Texans quarterback since Brock Osweiler’s 269 yards passing in the Week 6 overtime victory against the Colts. It was Savage’s first appearance in a game since Week 15 of the 2014 season at Indianapolis. Savage talked about what it was like to be the man again after spending over a year on the sideline.
“It was nuts” Savage said. “But I think the guys did a good job of rallying around me and making some plays for me. I’m happy to be a part of this team.”
Making the most plays for Savage was Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins led the team with eight receptions for 87 yards, surpassing 300 total receptions for his career. The Savage lead offense was constantly crossing into Jaguars territory, but wasn’t always able to finish drives in the end zone. Kicker Nick Novak kept the game within reach by scoring 13 total points for the Texans and connecting on all four of his field goals.
The Jaguars were held to 150 yards of total offense and were only able to move the chains nine times against an injury plagued Texans defense. Those healthy enough to play summoned a lights out performance. Former No. 1 overall pick and Texans defensive end Jadeveon Clowney recorded 5 tackles, including three for a loss and one sack. Clowney’s sack of Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles was his fifth of the year, setting his single season career high.
Clowney said he was pleased with his progression, but still believes there is room for improvement.
“I need to get more than what I’ve got,” Clowney said of his sack total. “It’s a great feeling. In the right direction. I’m feeling good and playing at a high level right now. I hope I can continue to keep that up. I hope we can continue to make a run toward the playoffs. We’ve got a good team right now. We continue to fight every week and battle back so we hope to continue to do that.”
When he didn’t have Clowney in his face, Bortles was completing less than 43% of his passes for only 92 yards and no touchdowns. The only offensive touchdown scored by the Jaguars was a one-yard Bortles run that was set up on a short field courtesy of an Osweiler interception.
After two of his interceptions were cashed in for ten Jaguars points, $72 million Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler was benched for three-year back-up Tom Savage. Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said decisions weren’t made based on the size of someone’s paycheck, but instead were made for the good of the team.
“I just try to make decisions in the best interest of the team” O’Brien said. “I think we’ve got three really talented quarterbacks here. I really do. You can call BS on that, you can say whatever you want. I think we have a really talented quarterback room, and we don’t make decisions on how much a guy gets paid. We make decisions on what’s the best way to win a game. That was the decision we made today, and I thought today, it worked out ok.”
Savage’s first completion of the 2016 season was a 32-yard beauty to wide receiver Wendall Williams. It was the first time the Texans had reached the red zone all game. A defensive holding penalty against the Jaguars enforced at the Jacksonville 14-yard line gave the Texans first and goal from the nine.
Two plays later, Texans running back Akeem Hunt looked to have crossed the plane of the end zone before losing control of the football. The ruling on the field was a Texans touchdown, but further review of the play determined that the ball was fumbled and recovered by an unidentified player. The ball was declared dead and the Texans were dealt with a third and goal from the one-yard line. Unable to muscle it in with running back Lamar Miller on third down, the Texans opted to pass on fourth and goal. Savage’s pass fell incomplete and the Jaguars took over at their own one-yard line. Coach O’Brien took blame for the unfavorable outcome.
“That was a terrible play call” O’Brien said. “That was my fault. Should have run the football, and not thrown a fade down there. That was a horrendous play call.”
The Texans defense was able to hold and forced the Jaguars to punt in the shadow of their own goal post. A holding penalty committed in the end zone during the punt resulted in a safety and awarded the Texans their first two points of the game.
Two Novak field goals brought the score to 13-8 with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. After nailing a 45-yarder, Novak kicked it away to Jaguars wide receiver and return man Marqise Lee. Lee returned it the length of the field for a 100-yard touchdown to put the Jaguars up 20-8.
Down by 12, the Texans could no longer rely on Nick Novak field goals. His third and fourth attempts were good, but the Texans were still down seven in the fourth quarter. With less than six minutes remaining in the game, Savage drove the Texans 48 yards down field while completing 4 of his 6 passes on the drive. Two pass interference penalties called on the Jaguars set up a Texans first and goal from the one-yard line. From there, Lamar Miller was able to plunge in for the winning score.
The 21-20 win improves the Texans to 8-6 and gives them their tenth consecutive victory against AFC South opposition. With the Tennessee Titans also at 8-6, the Texans will have no room for error down the stretch. They will host the 5-8- 1 Cincinnati Bengals next Saturday on Christmas Eve at NRG Stadium. After falling to 2-12, the Jaguars fired head coach Gus Bradley.
With an interim head coach at the wheel, The Jaguars will host the streaking Titans on Christmas Eve.
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