The offense of the Houston Texans doesn’t have the margin of error to absorb multiple turnovers a game from the quarterback position.
Monday night against the Ravens, Tom Savage was responsible for three turnovers as the Texans lost 23-16 in Baltimore. Savage was intercepted twice and lost a fumble on a sack by Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs.
“I’m really frustrated, to be honest with you,” Savage said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com. “There’s really no words for it. I don’t want to go out there and throw picks. It’s not my goal in those games. I’m going out there and trying to make a play.
“It’s called the NFL. You’re not going to win games turning the ball over.”
Oh, and yes, Savage did speak to reporters in the locker room after the game.
The three turnovers on Monday night bring Savage’s season total to 12 giveaways. He’s been intercepted five times and is responsible for seven lost fumbles. It puts Savage among the league leaders for turnovers by quarterbacks despite starting just five of Houston’s 11 games this season. He leads the league in fumbles lost. Matthew Stafford is second with six lost fumbles. No other player in league has lost more than four.
“He can’t turn it over,” Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said. “I thought he did some good things, but we turned it over too many times on offense.
“You’re not going to win any games when you turn it over and you don’t get any takeaways. You’re not going to win any games.”
The Texans had been trying to remain relevant in the AFC playoff race despite the losses of Deshaun Watson, J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus, Brian Cushing and others, but the turnovers Monday night helped sink Houston in a game they almost certainly needed to have to chart a path to the postseason.