The Tennessee Titans will look to continue their six-game winning streak on Sunday, as they welcome the AFC South rival Houston Texans to Nissan Stadium. On paper, this looks like a terrible match-up for the Texans. They haven’t played a competitive game since 10/10 in a three-point loss to the New England Patriots. They’re sitting there at 1-8, boasting one of if not the worst offense in the NFL…going up against a red hot Titans pass rush…it doesn’t look like a recipe for success for this team. According to some of the online sportsbooks in Tennessee, they are 10-point favorites. With that kind of a spread, it’s one of the safest and most predictable bets of the week. The spread is basically the same across the board so if sportsbooks have faith in the Titans, then so should the fans. ESPN’s match-up predictor gives the Titans an 83% chance of winning this one. So, how do they avoid the letdown? By golly, I’m glad you asked.
Titans Keys to Victory: vs. Texans, 11/21/21
*Work on the running game – I’ve been optimistic about the offense in recent weeks. The glass half empty take is that they’ve been vanilla and things aren’t clicking. The glass half full take is that they’ve been simply doing whatever they had to do to win, and that’s where I’m livin’ right now. You don’t want to treat this as if it’s just a tune-up game, because as we’ve seen in recent weeks with Washington upsetting Tampa Bay and Jacksonville upsetting Buffalo, anything can happen on any given Sunday. But, if I were to look at the offense and identify one thing that they could definitely use the opportunity to fix, it’s the run game. To the surprise of no one, it just hasn’t quite been the same since Derrick Henry went down.
The Texans are the second worst run defense in the league based on rushing yards allowed per game (136.9). For me, that makes it pretty simple. Whether it’s D’Onta Foreman (who I like), Adrian Peterson (who needs to continue to knock the rust off), or Jeremy McNichols, the Titans could use this opportunity to get a little momentum going in running the ball. This is a good match-up for your defense too – so get the run game right and impose your will on this Texans defense, and you won’t allow them to hang around in the process.
*Don’t let Brandin Cooks get going – He’s really been the only thing that has been working for this Texans offense. Tyrod Taylor is going to be back at quarterback for the Texans, and he was developing a strong chemistry with Cooks prior to his injury. I expect they’ll try however they can to get the ball in Cooks’ hands, especially against man coverage. Cooks is hard to cover no matter who is on him, but specifically in situations against Elijah Molden in the slot, Cooks absolutely has the speed advantage, and the Texans would take that in a heartbeat. I anticipate them to try and scheme up mismatches for Cooks, and the Titans defensive backs will need to hold their water long enough for the pass rush to get home. I think there could be a little gamesmanship from Kevin Byard, like we saw him bait Matthew Stafford into an interception in the Rams game. He’s a smart, savvy player that could end up being the x-factor in keeping Cooks from heating up. No matter how it shakes down, this is a guy that the Titans can’t allow to get going, or else he could give that Texans offense a spark.
*Don’t play down to the competition – Y’all are going to call me a pessimist here, but there are a couple of things still in the back of my mind about this Titans team, even at 8-2. One, you can’t help but wonder if this team is peaking a bit too soon in the season. Two, has this team really kicked its habit of losing a game to the likes of the Jets (or the 2020 Bengals) yet? That’s one of the few areas that this team can get better in, and they have an opportunity to do so against the Texans. There’s absolutely no reason that the Titans should lose this game, but they can’t take it for granted. This is a game, like any other, that the team will need to get up for and execute well. If they don’t do that, it would open the door for an embarrassing loss.
#Titans‘ Vrabel: Re a mismatch on paper this week, “Drop your hands one time, get hit in the chin and you go to a knee.”
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) November 17, 2021
If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to The Unofficial Titans Podcast on Apple Podcasts, follow us on Spotify, or simply smash that play button on the embed below to check out the latest episode. On this week’s episode, Outspoken Owen Reed and I got together to catch up on the Titans news of the week and preview this game:
Listen to “Ep. 85: Owen’s Saints Game Takeaways, Tannehill MVP Talk, Texans Preview” on Spreaker.Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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