The Houston Texans are making some noise in the AFC despite not having their star quarterback Deshaun Watson.

The NFL team is coming off a 31-21 victory over the Cardinals, sacking Blaine Gabbert twice, and ringing up three tackles for loss on the afternoon.

Although Tom Savage struggled in back-to-back games after taking over for Deshaun Watson, he insisted he had not lost confidence.

“It’s all about mental toughness out there.” And the reason he was able to keep that mindset even after allowing two turnovers that led to 14 points for the Cardinals was because of what he has had to go through for since taking over as the starter.

“I think the past couple of weeks have helped me out a lot,” Savage said. “I really have to block out all the noise. This game is tough, and they’re going to make some plays out there. You’re not going to get anywhere by sulking or holding your head down.

“As a quarterback, your team needs you out there to be the leader, so I am going to just go out there and keep slinging it and play confident. That’s really all I can do. I am confident in myself. I know I can do it. I think the team feeds off of that.”

Savage finished Sunday's game 22 of 32 passing for 230 yards and two touchdowns. Houston coach Bill O’Brien said he thought Savage “played a very mentally tough game.

“I thought he came in back to the sideline and recovered and went on to play a good game,” O’Brien said.

“I thought Tom stayed into it,” O’Brien said Sunday. “No game in this league is perfect, and I thought he overcame some adversity during the game and it was good to see.”

At 4-6, the Texans have an uphill climb to make the playoffs due to the fact that there are five other 4-6 teams and two 5-5 teams competing for an AFC wild-card spot. As a result of this, Savage said he hopes this was a step in the right direction.

“I think we are finally hopefully going to get on a little rhythm here and let this thing snowball a little bit,” Savage said. “It was good to show everyone we can do that.”

An interesting stat has emerged online that states only the Texans were the play every team on their schedule the week after they played them, they could be undefeated.

Houston’s opponents are now winless, 0-10 to be exact, after playing them. Here’s a breakdown:

Week 1: Texans play the Jaguars

(No previous game)

Week 2: Texans play the Bengals

(Jaguars lose to the Titans 37-16)

Week 3: Texans play Patriots

(Bengals lose to Green Bay 27-24)

Week 4: Texans play the Titans

(Patriots lose to the Panthers 33-30)

Week 5: Texans play the Chiefs

(Titans lose to Miami 16-10)

Weeks 6: Texans play the Browns

(Chiefs lose to the Steelers 19-13)

Week 7: BYE

(The Browns lose to the Titans 12-9)

Week 8: Texans play the Seahawks

(No game the previous week)

Week 9: Texans play the Colts

(Seahawks lose to Washington 17-14)

Week 10: Texans play the Rams

(Colts lose to the Steelers 20-17)

Week 11: Texans play the Cardinals

(Rams lose to the Vikings 24-7)