Savage Loss: Texans Come Up Short Against the Ravens

Maybe Andre Johnson Day needs to be a traveling event. After an impressive win over the Arizona Cardinals last week at home, where the franchise’s leading receiver was put into the team’s Ring of Honor, the Houston Texans rolled into M&T Bank Stadium looking to put together a consecutive game winning streak. Unfortunately, that did not happen as the Texans lost to the Baltimore Ravens 23-16.

With the fourth loss in the last five games, Houston Texans Head Coach Bill O’ Brien looked very dejected and frustrated with his team’s offensive performance. “Losses are horrible. It’s just a bad deal,” said Coach O’Brien.

After a breakout performance on last week and his first multi-touchdown game, Quarterback Tom Savage reverted back to his old ways by turning the ball over three times. This included more interceptions (2) than touchdowns (0). He looked methodical in the pocket and was not able to get away from the pass rush of the Ravens. “You are not going to win any games when you turn it over, and you don’t get any takeaways,” Coach O’Brien reiterated when asked about how the backup QB’s giveaways effected the game. Now in Savage’s defense, he was playing against a defense who leads the league in interceptions with 18, and upped their takeaway total to 26.

Baltimore Ravens veteran linebacker, Terrell Suggs, was very disruptive on the defensive side of the ball. “As long as I am healthy, I can be sizzle,” said Suggs, who is in his 15th season in the NFL. His strip sack late in the game capped off an excellent defensive performance that kept the Texans out of the end zone for the final 51 minutes of the game.

Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh spoke very highly of Suggs in the post-game interview. “He’s Ponce de Leon. You should put that on the back of his jersey. He has found the Fountain of Youth.”

With the number of injuries that the Texans have suffered this year at key positions, you would think that they would just call it a season and start over next year. But that’s definitely not the case when it comes to Houston’s defense. DE/LB Jadeveon Clowney is having a stellar season. He is consistently in the opponent’s backfield causing tackle for losses or quarterback pressures. Clowney had two sacks on Monday night and led a defense that held Ravens star QB Joe Flacco to a total of 141 yards passing. Also, Clowney didn’t allow any Baltimore running backs to gain over 60 yards rushing. “Every game I’m trying to better myself. The way I play is to help other guys around me. I just want to win,” Clowney responded when asked about his overall game.

The Texans head into the final five games of the season with three of those on the road and only two games out of the wild-card spot. The quest for the playoffs begins Sunday against the Titans.