HOUSTON — Tom Savage completed 8 of 9 passes for 98 yards, one score and no interceptions for a pristine 149.1 passer rating in nearly one quarter of action in Houston’s victory 27-23 over the New England Patriots in NFL preseason action on Saturday night.
Savage lobbed a perfect spiral in the back of the end zone to connect with Jaelen Strong, who beat Pro Bowl cornerback Malcolm Butler for a leaping 2-yard TD catch. Savage, the new starter, continues to hold off the challenge of gifted first-round draft pick Deshaun Watson.
Tom Brady completed 6 of 9 passes for 67 yards, one touchdown and had no interceptions for the Patriots. Backup Jimmy Garoppolo completed 15 of 23 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Tom Savage made a fast decision when he saw Strong break across the middle against the Patriots secondary.
It was an extremely sharp performance by Savage, the Texans’ new starter, as he continues to hold off the challenge of first-round draft pick Deshaun Watson.
Savage recorded a pristine 149.1 passer rating in nearly one quarter of action before being replaced by Watson.
At this stage of the preseason, Savage has done nothing to relinquish his grip on the starting job.
“Yeah, I’m really, really comfortable with this offense,” Savage said. “We have a lot of talent out there and a lot of the guys are making some big plays for me and it’s been awesome.”
Watson completed just 3 of 10 passes for 102 yards for a 69.6 passer rating. Sixty-three of those yards came on an impressive catch-and-run by rookie running back D’Onta Foreman. Watson rushed for 10 yards on four carries.
Watson also rushed for one touchdown, his second this preseason.
Although Watson made some good plays while dealing with pressure, it wasn’t the kind of performance that would make a convincing argument for him to unseat Savage.
Brady found running back Rex Burkhead in the open field with Burkhead beating rookie linebacker Zach Cunningham for a 22-yard touchdown pass.
“It was a route out of the backfield,” Burkhead said in a patriots.com report, “kind of an option, go in or out. I just made a move on the defender, and Tom threw a great ball right when I turned. It was right there. I got it and tried to get to the end zone as fast as possible.”
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski made his first preseason game appearance in limited action during the game’s first two series.
“It felt good to be out there, get my feet wet,” Gronkowski said in a patriots.com report. “It was great. I love to play football. We expect to play every game, no matter when it is, even if it is preseason. That’s how we go into these games mentally.”
Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski hit field goals of 38, 51 and 42 yards and connected on two PATs.