National Football League

Tom Savage diagnosed with a concussion after initially being cleared to return

Published Jan. 1, 2017 3:06 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

The Houston Texans benched quarterback Brock Osweiler in Week 15, but the officials benched his replacement, Tom Savage, on Sunday.

Savage was slow to get up after a first-half quarterback sneak, and an official immediately gestured that he needed to leave the field to be placed in concussion protocol. Savage left for the locker room, was evaluated and then cleared to return. In his absence, the Texans had to turn back to Osweiler in a meaningless season finale against the Titans, and Savage remained on the sideline for the rest of the first half even though he was given the OK to come back.

https://twitter.com/TexansPR/status/815634176540024833

It turns out that playing it safe was wise because Savage was re-evaluated at halftime and was diagnosed with a concussion.

https://twitter.com/TexansPR/status/815646768654413829

Savage has been at least a solid game manager in back-to-back wins the past two weeks – something that Osweiler wasn’t after signing a $72 million free-agent contract last offseason. The Texans have a playoff spot locked up and now will have a long week wondering whether they'll have to start Osweiler next weekend with everything on the line. He threw 14 TD passes and 16 interceptions before he was benched while Houston was trailing the Jaguars two weeks ago.