O'Brien on Savage concussion: 'I would've never put him back in the game'

HOUSTON – A day after the Texans fell to 4-9 on the season, head coach Bill O'Brien addressed the loss and specifically the concussion suffered by quarterback Tom Savage. 

Savage took a big hit early in the second quarter of the 26-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers and was evaluated and cleared, then returned for one series before being pulled from the game 

"I'm not passing the buck. So let's make sure we all get on the same page here," O'Brien said Monday morning. "Very, very difficult from the 50-yard line where I'm standing to see if he even got hit. With the benefit of the video, which I do not have the benefit of any video -- there is not video on the sideline -- with benefit of seeing the video, I would never of let that player (Savage) back in the game."

"The medical people on the sideline...check him for two or three minutes...they come back and say, 'Tom can play. He's good to go,'" O'Brien said. "So I make the determination...we put Tom back out there. After that next series, it was a three-and-out, they came back over to me and said, 'We're going to check him again.' They came to me, they were not satisfied with his answers to the questions that they were asking him and they pulled him from the game."

The NFL requires two trained spotters in the press box, a team doctor and an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant on the sideline to help diagnose concussions.

"At no point in time in my 25 years of coaching...is there anything more important to me than the safety of our players," O'Brien said. "I love our players and I care about our players and I cannot stand when players get injured."

O'Brien said T.J. Yates will start Sunday when the Texans visit the AFC South division-leading Jacksonville Jaguars (9-4). O'Brien expects to talk with Savage sometime Monday about the change.

With the team's 4-9 record, O'Brien was also asked if he expects to be back as Texans head coach. No extension talks have taken place between the two sides. 

"I'm going to continue to coach hard until they tell me otherwise," he said. "I signed a five-year contract. I expect to be back here. Those decisions aren't made by me."