Savage addresses agent's comments about benching

Sep 15, 2017 - 9:38 PM HOUSTON -- Houston Texans backup quarterback Tom Savage felt a need to address his agent's critical comments about his benching to his coaches and teammates.

Savage was abruptly benched at halftime last Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars and replaced by rookie Deshaun Watson, drawing a strong reaction from veteran agent Neil Schwartz, who strongly second-guessed the decision.

After Watson helped lead the Texans to a 13-9 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday night at Paul Brown Stadium, Savage addressed the controversy.

"My agent, he defended his client," Savage said. "We're a family over there in that firm. I spoke to everybody on this team about it. I did. I spoke to all the leaders, I spoke to Coach (Bill O'Brien), I spoke to Deshaun, (offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach) Pat (O'Hara), all those guys. It is what it is. He defended me. And the most important thing is I have this team's back. I will go to war with Bill and this organization any day of the week. He was upset about it. That's how this business is."

Schwartz, who said, "I'm still trying to figure this out, 31 plays and you're getting benched. It makes no sense," in an NBC Sports interview, said that he spoke out with Savage's knowledge.

"They told me they were going to defend me and I said OK," Savage said. "I didn't really go through what they were going to say or anything like that. It was just one of those deals.

"I felt the need to talk to the team about it, because, by any means, I do not want to be a distraction to this team. That's not my goal. I will be here, I will support this team. I'll go to war with Bill any day of the week. I love the guy, he drafted me."

Savage was 7-for-13 for 62 yards against the Jaguars with a 66.8 passer rating. He was sacked six times and lost two fumbles, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

"I watched all 31 plays, because that was the extent of what Tom saw in the first half," Schwartz said. "And I can't figure out why he's benching Tom. I went through every single play and I even went one step further. I asked two different NFL personnel people (or) coaches on two separate teams to evaluate and break down the film to see if I was missing something. He went 7 for 13 ... 12 of the 13 balls touched the receiver's hands. The only ball that didn't was the strip-sack fumble that they called incomplete (upon replay). Seven were completions, five were drops.

"If you watch the film and you say, 'I see something wrong that deserves to be benched,' I wouldn't be on the phone with you now. The second issue which I heard is he held the ball too long. He didn't hold the ball too long. Every play except for the one that was third-and-12 (and) he got sacked was (released in) less than three seconds."

Savage emphasized that his agent is a "passionate guy."

Schwartz told NBC Sports that he ran it by Savage to defend his client's reputation.

"I wanted to defend Tom and this was my choice," Schwartz said. "I spoke to Tom and he was OK with it and comfortable. Someone had to defend Tom and I didn't feel the coaching staff defended Tom or defended his performance.

"I don't normally do this. This is only the second time I've done this in my career and it's only to defend a client where I felt he wasn't getting defended properly by the team or the media. He loves it down there. It's just frustrating."

Savage was supportive of Watson and said he will continue to be a good teammate to the first-round draft pick from Clemson. He emphasized that he hopes this is behind him and the team.

"I sure hope so," Savage said. "Listen, we just won. The headline should be about No. 4, not about this bullcrap."