While it’s definitely not time to panic, Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans' offense have some work to do before the regular season gets underway.
The Texans quarterback, who signed a four-year contract in the offseason worth $72 million, threw the ball just seven times in Sunday's preseason opener. In the 24-13 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, he completed four passes for 27 yards in three offensive series. Osweiler’s longest drive was seven plays and included his best play of the game: a 12-yard completion to tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz.
“I think there were some pros and there were some cons,” Osweiler said. “Obviously you want to come out and you want to be perfect as a team and as an offensive unit, and we weren’t today.
“But that’s OK. It gives us something to go back to Houston with. There were plenty of plays that we can all learn from, and I think it will motivate us to come out and be better in the second preseason game.”
At halftime, coach Bill O’Brien said the Texans were running a “vanilla-type offense” during preseason games, but Osweiler said that was not an excuse for the offense’s slow start.
“That’s what makes this offense so special, having coach O’Brien and coach [George] Godsey game plan and have so many resources and plays at their disposal to put us in great position to make plays, and obviously we didn’t use that today,” Osweiler said. “We understand that. That’s no excuse. As an offense, no matter what play is called, no matter how vanilla it is, we still need to go out there and execute and find a way to make plays.”
After Osweiler’s night ended, backup Tom Savage’s began. The third-year quarterback, who missed all of last season due to a right shoulder sprain, made the most of the opportunity, finishing 14-of-24 for 168 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s a great teammate,” Osweiler said. “To see him have the success he did tonight, I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Savage, who was listed as Osweiler’s backup on the Texans’ first unofficial depth chart of the season last week, played the majority of the game and had a few nice passes in the third quarter. He delivered a 24-yarder to the right of the field to third-round pick Braxton Miller and back-to-back long passes to running back Kenny Hilliard and receiver Jaelen Strong later in the third.
Quarterback Brandon Weeden came in for the last five minutes of the game but did not complete a pass. Weeden signed a two-year contract with the Texans in April after he led the Texans to two key victories at the end of last season that helped win the division title. Savage has been in Houston the longest of the three quarterbacks, so he has spent the most time learning O’Brien’s system.
The quarterbacks also had to play behind an offensive line that was without center Nick Martin (back), right tackle Derek Newton (hamstring) and left tackle Duane Brown (quadriceps). Newton remains day-to-day, according to O’Brien, but Martin is expected back at practice this week.
Osweiler likely will play longer in Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, and he hopes another week of practice will get him closer to regular-season form.
“There was plenty of learning experiences out there today,” Osweiler said. “But we’ll get back, we’ll watch the film, we’ll break it down extremely hard and this game will make us better in the future.”