Brock Osweiler Benched for Tom Savage vs. Jaguars: Latest Comments and Reaction

With the Houston Texans' season spiraling downward and Brock Osweiler's failure to show improvement, head coach Bill O'Brien benched his starting quarterback during the second quarter of Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Per the Texans' official Twitter account, Tom Savage took over for Osweiler as Houston trailed 13-0 at NRG Stadium.

The Texans would go on to register the 21-20 win as Savage completed 23 of 36 passes for 260 yards.

After the game, Osweiler said, "If I start, I start," per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. "As a competitor, it's very tough to get pulled out of a game," added Osweiler. He also said Savage had a "phenomenal game."

On Monday, O'Brien made the switch for Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals official, telling reporters Savage would be the starter.

In the offseason, the Texans signed Osweiler to a four-year, $72 million contract with $37 million guaranteed over the first two years.

He was supposed to stabilize a quarterback situation that saw Houston use four starters in 2015 because of injuries and poor performance. He showed promise with the Denver Broncos last year, throwing 10 touchdowns and 1,967 yards in eight games.

This season has been a disaster for Osweiler, though. He entered Week 15 ranked 22nd in Total QBR (56.4), 28th in completion percentage (59.7) and yards per game (204), 31st in quarterback rating (73.4) and 32nd in yards per attempt (5.79).

Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus wrote in October that even when Osweiler's numbers looked decent, there were reasons to be concerned about his performance:

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Against Minnesota, Osweiler ended with a PFF grade of 32.5, having played even worse than his raw stats suggest — and the raw stats were far from pretty. He finished the game with a passer rating of 56.1, but 89 of his 184 yards (48.3 percent) came after the catch. He didn’t complete a single pass that traveled 20-plus yards downfield, despite taking five of those deep shots, and was only five of 14 on attempts that traveled 10 or more yards in the air. 14 of his 19 completions were passes that traveled less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage.

"

Osweiler was just 6-of-11 for 48 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions Sunday vs. the Jaguars.

The Texans covered for Osweiler's deficiencies early in the season during a 6-3 start. They lost three straight games before defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Week 14 to get into a tie atop the AFC South with the Tennessee Titans at 7-6.

Savage had 19 career pass attempts before entering Sunday's game, though none have come since 2014. The backup may not be the answer to what's ailing Houston's offense, but O'Brien had to make a change because Osweiler was doing more harm than good.

Stats per ESPN.com.