INDIANAPOLIS -- When rookie Tom Savage first entered the Houston Texans' huddle in the middle of a second-quarter drive, he didn't quite anticipate the volume of the hostile crowd around him.
"He was very quiet," Texans left tackle Duane Brown said. "I was like, 'Tom, it's loud in here. You gotta speak up.' He's very quiet. You could tell he was a little nervous. As the plays went on, you could see his comfort level starting to rise a little bit."
Said Savage: "I was more thinking about the play, calling the play. I’m lucky to be around a couple of the older guys like that, who are willing to stick around with me, you know what I mean? Telling me to speak up.”
Savage needed no other reminders. He finished the game with 10 completions on 19 passes for 127 yards. He was sacked once and threw one interception. He was charged with a lost fumble on a botched exchange with running back Arian Foster. As the game progressed, Savage progressed, too.
In reality, he had no other choice.
"I think what we did was come in here and George Godsey and I both talked to the guy about, first of all, just calling plays he was comfortable and familiar with," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "Plays that basically we had been calling in rookie minicamp, some of the first plays that we put in back when we drafted him."
Savage began the second half completing his first four pass attempts that were sprinkled into a heavy dose of run plays. In the fourth quarter he failed to convert on fourth down twice, throwing an interception with 1:34 left in the game.
He left the game with a limp that the Texans will examine, but thinks he will be able to play next week. We'll learn more about him then, after a week of preparation.
"Obviously, the first couple drives, some things happened, but I think that it slowed down," Savage said. "Like I said, we lost and that’s the only thing and I think the defense did a really good job of keeping us in it and shoot, if we don’t have that turnover, we’re probably still in it."
