When new Texans coach Bill O’Brien last spoke to the media, on the heels of a 32-0 loss at Arizona, he called his team’s performance “terrible.” He addressed the situation more specifically on Sunday. Sort of.
Asked whether he’s rethinking the rotation at quarterback, where Ryan Fitzpatrick is the starter, O’Brien offered a general, but ominous, reply.
“I think you’re always thinking about what you can do to make the team better,” O’Brien said. “So any time you have a chance to review things and regroup a little bit on a day off like it is today, as a head coach, you’re always thinking about things that can make the team better, whether that’s a change in the depth chart, a change in a scheme, a change of a position of a player, whatever it may be. We’ll continue to discuss that today.”
While hardly an admission that Fitzpatrick’s position is in jeopardy, it definitely opens the door for a possible change. Especially since, when given a chance to address the positives he saw in the game, O’Brien didn’t mention the starting quarterback.
The good news at quarterback, if there is any, is that rookie Tom Savage remains available to practice and play after being checked for a concussion.
“After the game they go through a whole concussion test protocol and they felt like he would have been able to, if the game had continued there, he would have been able to go back into the game,” O’Brien said.
It’s hard not to think Savage eventually will be going into games as the starter, unless the Texans make a trade or sign a guy who gets cut. Unless the guy who gets cut is Matt Schaub.