When the schedule came out back in June, if you told people that one of these teams would be battling it out for a playoff spot and one would be barely hanging on for dear life, my guess is they’d have flipped this game on its head, and said that the Titans are 7-6 and the Texans would be 5-8. While the opposite has occurred, enough has happened in the last seven days to actually make the Titans the favorite in Sunday’s game.
This time a week ago, the Texans were a fun, young 7-5 team led by a high flying offense skippered by the best young QB in the sport. Now, they’re a banged up 7-6 team, licking their wounds from a devastating 30-6 loss to the Jets, and that QB is in concussion protocol, and will likely miss Sunday’s game. Meanwhile, the Titans are coming off an upset of the Dolphins in which they entered the game as two touchdown underdogs.
In short, these appear to be two teams moving in polar opposite directions. Yet, in 2023’s NFL, that means the Texans probably win by double digits. Who the hell knows these days? What we do know is that the Texans and Titans will face off for the first of two games over the next three weeks. Here are four things to watch for in this particular matchup:
4. Oiler uniforms!
Before the season, the Titans announced they would be dusting off the old Oiler uniforms (as is their right to do, as they are still owned by the Adams family) for two games — Week 8 against Atlanta and this weekend against the Texans. Clearly, the latter was not done randomly. This is a purposeful slap in the face to Houston, and it trickles all the way down to something as simple as the greeting graphic in the Titans’ ticket app:
If the football gods penalize franchises for internet trolling, the Texans should win by fifty.
3. DeAndre Hopkins, back in our lives
And yes, that is former Texan DeAndre Hopkins in the graphic, so somehow the Titans found a way to use Hopkins to anger some Texan fans nearly as much as Bill O’Brien actually TRADING away Hopkins made them back in 2020. So now Hopkins is a Titan, and he is having his typical fantastic season, with 57 catches for 898 yards. The key for Hopkins this season, as compared to the last two, is health. He’s played in all 13 games this season. My hope is that Derek Stingley, Jr., one week removed from being named AFC Defensive Player of the Week, follows Hopkins around the field on Sunday.
2. Shut down Derrick Henry
With the Titans, though, if the right one don’t get you, the left one will. If it’s not Hopkins tearing up opponents through the air, the Titans still have the monster that is Derrick Henry to tote the rock. Over the last seven games against the Texans, Henry has averaged over 200 yards per game. Yes, you read that correctly — TWO HUNDRED YARDS PER GAME. Fortunately, the Texans are as equipped to stop the run as they’ve been at any time during Henry’s prime seasons in Tennessee. However, defensive end Will Anderson being absent from practice this week, reportedly in a walking boot, is a major issue, assuming he doesn’t play or is, at the very least, gimpy.
1. Mills Mania time again (sadly)
The worst thing about last Sunday wasn’t losing to the Jets, nor losing by the margin the Texans did. The worst thing about last Sunday was seeing C.J. Stroud’s head bounce off the MetLife Stadium turf. Stroud has spent this week under the NFL’s concussion protocol, which dictates a player go through daily testing and complete five phases of ramping back up to get onto the field. Stroud wasn’t even at practice Wednesday or Thursday, so it’s safe to assume he is still in the early phases of coming back. So the ball will now be handed over to Davis Mills, and his 5-19-1 record as a starting quarterback. Other than a few mop up duty passes last week and a couple other cameo appearances, we really haven’t seen Mills operate in Bobby Slowik’s offense. He’ll have to do so without Nico Collins, who is dealing with a calf injury that he, too, suffered in New York.
Have I mentioned how much I hate MetLife Stadium?
SPREAD: Texans +3
PREDICTION: Titans 17, Texans 13
SEASON RECORD: 5-8 SU, 6-7 ATS
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
