The 5-5 Tennessee Titans will travel to Houston to take on the 7-3 Texans in this week’s Monday night matchup. This is an important AFC South contest as the Texans sit alone in first place while the Titans are tied for second with the Indianapolis Colts. The Titans played the Colts last week and were easily defeated 38-10 on the road. This was a disappointing loss as it broke a 2 game win streak in which they easily beat the Cowboys and the Patriots. Marcus Mariota suffered an elbow and a neck injury and was limited in practice this week and his status is questionable for this game. The Texans beat the Washington Redskins last week on the road 23-21. It was their 7th win a row after starting the season 0-3.
The Titans offense struggled against the Colts putting up just 263 yards and throwing 2 interceptions. Mariota completed 10 of 13 passes for 85 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interceptions before leaving the game in the third quarter with an elbow injury. Blaine Gabbert replaced him and completed 11 of 16 passes for 118 yards 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Jonnu Smith led the team in receptions with 6. Derrick Henry led the team in rushing yards with 46 on 9 carries. On the season, the Titans offense has averaged 17.8 points and 315.5 yards per game. Defensively, they did not force any turnovers and weren’t able to sack Andrew Luck. They allowed the Colts to gain 102 rushing yards on 28 carries, which is an average of 3.6 yards per run. The 38 points allowed was easily the most they allowed all year as their previous high was 27 they gave up to Miami in week 1.
Deshaun Watson finished with a quarterback rating of just 16.9 against the Redskins yet they still won. He completed 16 of 24 passes for 208 yards 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Deandre Hopkins caught the only offensive touchdown they scored as he had 5 catches for 56 yards. They had success running the ball as they gained 139 yards on 31 carries for an average of 4.5 yards per rush. Defensively, they intercepted Alex Smith twice, which included a pick six. They allowed the Redskins to gain 124 rushing yards on 29 carries. For the year, the Texans defense has allowed their opponents to average 20.5 points and 350.7 yards per game.
The Texans will have home field advantage and are favored by 6.5 points. They have gone 4-6 against the spread including 1-3 at home. The Titans have gone 6-4 against the spread including 3-3 on the road. The Titans need this game more then Houston does and it will be big loss if Mariota isn’t cleared to play. The fans at NRG Stadium will be ready to see the Texans win a franchise record 8th game in a row and increase their lead over the Titans to 3 games.
