People griping that Savage wasn't ready to play have zero grasp of what a typical week in the NFL is like. The time they have to study the opponent and design & implement a gameplan is finite (they essentially practice three days) and they can't waste it on worst-case scenarios; BOB's only priority is to get Fitzpatrick ready. Why would you compromise that? You'd rather take time away from the starter in the off-chance the starter gets hurt? Not to mention, Tom Savage is a raw rookie with limited experience; there was nothing they could have done to get him ready to play. He was drafted to sit. Unfortunately, the circumstances became dire. Solomon is just whipping the LCD into the usual angry Texan frenzy; he has no concept or perspective. This is so fundamentally silly; JJ Watt is in his fourth year. He's played meaningful December games in three of those seasons, including this one in which he's a big reason. Nothing is being wasted.
Hey, I see what you are saying but I feel that you are being MUCH too kind here. Even if he's a backup, he can still take snaps with the scout team. The guy came into the game and had trouble receiving the snap and had issues with handing off the ball to Foster. THAT'S the most basic things you expect your QB - any QB - to be able to handle. Now if, as you say, they could have worked him day and night for two weeks and he wouldn't have been ready to do these basic things, then I have to ask why in the hell is he even on this team? I didn't expect the second coming of Drew Bees here because - as you correctly pointed out - if you are down to your third string QB, you are screwed. Well , go to your own words here: "That's why teams prefer experienced back-ups; guys who can walk-in cold and hold the line." Not having that experienced guy once Mallet went down was the killer. Now I don't fault BoB for that because the injury to Fitz was one of those things but going into this game with a non-ready Savage and nobody else because your other QB is not even active (plus he was picked up off the street) was a major blunder. For the record, I believe that BoB learned a lesson from this and it won't happen again. Yeah, I agree. I believe that the "Plan" was for the defense to dominate games, force turnovers and shorten the field with Clowney & Watt onboard which would lessen the need for Fitz to do more than be a game manager. Since that scenario never materialized due to Clowney's injuries, Fitz's limitations become obvious and it all unraveled from there. It's just so depressing for me up here in Cowboys land because once again Dallas and the Cows are riding high while Houston and its football team is an afterthought.
Very few teams have an experienced 3rd string QB. No one is going to invest money in that. The 3rd stringer should never play so you use it as an opportunity to develop someone. If Tom Brady gets injured, and then his backup is injured a week later, who is going to play there? Same with Manning or Rodgers or Wilson? Look at what's going on in Arizona. Experienced 3rd string QBs are just not a luxury most teams have. The Redskins are probably the one exception this year.
I don't fully get the argument for Savage being ill prepared. Yes, he made a few goofs on the hand offs and handling for snaps, but how do we know that just wasn't nerves of being a rookie qb who's only real meaning full college snaps was Rurgers 2010 one year at Pitt? What's more likely, a NFL coach who is known for his attention to quarterbacks completely ignoring his backup rookie QB during preparation? Or a Rookie QB going in suddenly and having some nerves and having a hard time getting settled into the game? Seems pretty obvious to me.
Duane Brown even mentioned that Savage came in and was really nervous. All in all, i think Savage actually had a pretty decent outing considering the situation. Savage had some miscommunication on a couple throws to Hopkins, but that timing is going to take quite some time to get figured out. I don't think any blame should be placed on the coaching staff or on Savage. It was a tough predicament for everyone involved.
Also the passes he did complete and deep ones and even ones he didnt complete were Right On The Money. Im all for Mallett starting but dont count Savage out by the start of the regular season next year.
I am not saying that their 3rd QB had to be experienced. What I am pointing out is that this: Before everything went to s**t, the QB depth chart consisted of two QBs with experience - Fitz & Mallett - and a 4th round QB project in Savage. Fitz gets benched and Mallett starts. You still have 2 QBs with some experience. Now when Mallett goes down, they bring in Thad Lewis who is experienced (somewhat). So now they have Fitz, Lewis & Savage - two QBs who have experience & Savage who is lost in translation somewhere but Lewis doesn't have experience in this offense. No matter. Now what happened on Sunday caught them totally off guard as their backup QB with experience (Lewis) was inactive while their project QB was Fitz's backup. When Fitz goes down, Savage gets tossed on the grill before he was ready and it showed. As the game went he did OK but as Hey Now pointed out, when you are down to QB #3, you are effectively screwed, they were and it was game over. Now, I am not second guessing BoB here at all because Fitz getting a broken leg was an absolute fluke injury. I really LIKE BoB and I can't wait to see what he does next season. But he HAS to get this QB situation fixed if this team is to move forward. What I am pointing out is that should this set of circumstances reoccur, I am confident that BoB won't go into another game with an untested rookie QB as his primary backup because you can never know what's at stake in said game. As slim as they were, they still had playoff chances riding on that game but as I posted earlier, it's all water under the bridge now.
I'm sure he did that, as well as film sessions, position meetings, etc. But taking reps away from Fitzpatrick? Didn't happen; would never happen. Their only priority is getting the starting QB ready. They can't waste valuable time/resources on the back-up just in case. No team in the NFL has that luxury, aside perhaps from those on bye weeks and/or coming off a Thursday night game. There's just no time. Isn't it pretty obvious those were a product of nerves and not the fault of the coaches? I mean, what could the coaches have done to prevent those mistakes? There's no way to simulate having to unexpectedly take over what is essentially a playoff game. I think you can make a sturdy case that they should have signed Keenum instead of Lewis when Mallett went down (though I say that with no knowledge of what, if any, punishments come from signging a player off another team's practice squad). Losing both QBs 12+ weeks into the season is a final nail scenario, especially if Savage's long-term potential means carrying a largely inactive player on your roster all season. No QB is going to step in and be close to ready - unless he was in your system. And I'm guessing even then, your system looks a lot different this far into the season. It was a no-win situation, unfortunately.
