Official Texans @ Titans Game Thread, 12/15/2019
 

The 8-5 Houston Texans take to the road to take on the 8-5 Tennessee Titans this Sunday in an early game. The Texans are coming off a 38-24 home drubbing by the Denver Broncos. The Titans are coming off a 42-21 road win over the Oakland Raiders and are 6-1 in their last 7 games. Titan QB Ryan Tannehill leads the league with a 118.5 quarterback rating.

The Texans are going to need to find a defense and fast to try to stop the rolling Titan offense. The Titans have beaten their last 3 opponents (Jax, Oak and Indy) by an average of 19 pts. The bi-polar Texans cannot afford to turn the ball over if they stand a chance. In the meantime:

Titans 33, Texans 21

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TV = CBS (channel 11 local), noon CST, Sunday, 12/15/2019

Announcers = Jim Nantz, Tony Romo

The line = Titans by 2½ to 3

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Other Sunday viewing in the Houston area:

FOX (early) = Chicago @ Green Bay, Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis

FOX (late) = LA Rams @ Dallas, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

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Prime time:

TNF = NY Jets @ Baltimore (FOX/NFLN)

SNF = Buffalo @ Pittsburgh (NBC)

MNF = Indianapolis @ New Orleans (ESPN)

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Not sure what the Texans record is when Jim Nantz calls a Texans game but IIRC, I don't think it is very good. Nantz, who has Houston roots, doesn't seem to bring the luck..... Not his fault, of course, as he is a good announcer....

The Texans are 8-5 straight up, 6-7 ATS (against the spread).

The Titans are 8-5 straight up, 8-5 ATS

My record picking Texans games = 8-5 straight up, 7-6 ATS

Sean Pendergast has probably found the one trend that a Texan fan can hang their hat on for this matchup:

So, there's the lone glimmer of hope that the Texans may surprise.....

Gametime!

Texans to receive the opening kickoff.

Texans drive down the field and get to about the Titan 20 but Watson throws an INT to Vaccaro at the Titan 1 yard line. Titan's ball.

9:28 left in the 1st qtr.

Titans get out of the hole and drive down but stall out. Succop attempts a 45-yard FG but the Texans block it.

Texan's ball at the their own 23.

7:07 left in the 1st qtr.

My goodness. Titans were fixin' to score and the ball gets knocked loose from the receiver and Merci catches it in mid-air. He rumbles all the way down to the Titan 12 yard line. Huge change of field position.

Watson hits Stills in the in the end zone for a 12-yard TD!

Texans 7, Titans 0

9:59 left in the half.

Texans put a nice drive together with Hyde doing a lot of good running. Watson hits Stills again for a 16-yard TD to finish it. Well done.

Texans 14, Titan 0

3:14 left in the half.

Texans had a shot at some more points before the half but end up punting it away.

Texans 14, Titans 0

Halftime.

Defense playing very good - so far....

Titans take the 2nd half kickoff and move it down the field. On 4th and 1 at the Texan 1-yard line, Tannehill rolls and keeps for the last yard. Titans burnt a lot of clock on the drive.

Texans 14, Titans 7

5:34 left in the 3rd qtr.

Brutal pass. I think 3 guys were lined up behind the guy who tipped it to either tip or intercept it. No way that pass can be thrown on 2nd down with a lead.

Ugh, Texans were 5 yards away from a TD but Watson tries a pass over the middle, it gets tipped and INT'ed - downed in the end zone for a touchback. Titans ball at their 20.

39 seconds left in the 3rd qtr.

There is a lot of competition but that may have been the single dumbest call I have seen BOB make. He is staggeringly incompetent and I am now actively rooting against the team until he is fired.

Eesh, two turnovers - not the way to win a crucial game....

3rd qtr ends with the Titans facing 2nd and 3 at their 27.

Texans 14, Titans 7

Tannehill hits Brown for a 5-yard TD pass to tie the game up.

Texans 14, Titans 14

13:35 left in the game.

If a coach can’t call a pass from the 5 on 2nd down without his QB throwing an idiotic pass then fire every coach.

Also it’s embarrassing the NFL doesn’t review targeting like college does.

Texans answer with a good drive. Mr. Hyde gets the last 10 yards sweeping left.

Texans 21, Titans 14

10:34 left in the game.

Texans put a drive together but have to settle for a 29-yard FG by Fairbairn.

Texans 24, Titans 14

3:26 left in the game.

Tannehill dumps off to Lewis for an 11-yard TD.

Texans 24, Titans 21

2:04 left in the game.

Texans hang on for the win. Not a pretty finish, but it'll do.

Final score:

Texans 24, Titans 21

Vrabel looks ridiculous. There’s no way I could listen to that guy with a straight face. He looks like a Bears super fan from 1980s SNL.

If he had a navy blue Members Only jacket he would pass for a Bushwick hipster's parody of a guy exactly like himself.

I haven't disliked a divisional opponent's head coach as much as Vrabel since Jack Del Rio.

Another nice game from Cunningham and Reader. Hyde has had a few good games this season, too, but this might have been his best.

Once again, a healthy Fuller makes the offense go. Stills benefitted with the two scores, but tough to imagine those happening without Fuller and Hopkins on the field with him.

I had hoped the redzone/endzone INTs by Watson were a thing of the past, but they made a comeback today. Watson has shown a great deal of development as a pro, but there are still these lapses. Throwing the ball away under 4 mins instead of keeping the ball and staying in bounds to run more clock is another example... I have no doubts about him continuing to learn though.

Another game with another critically wrong officiating decision, namely the one late where the official granted the Titans receiver forward progress for the first down but also stopped the clock. Can't have both. Clock should have ran. Coupled with Watson throwing the ball away a minute earlier, and all that drama to run out the final two minutes of the game are moot. Honorable mention to the unnecessary roughness call on Scarlett for an otherwise very clean hit.

Would like to think the Texans are mature enough to take care of business at Tampa to win that game against an inferior opponent and make Week 17's outcome meaningless. But we know better.

I think we are almost to the place where tacklers are getting flagged for takling a ball carrier/receiver too hard no matter how clean the hit my be.
That play was a key in gifting the Taks a first down and it could have been consequential in the outcome of the game which turned out not to be the case.

Missed the game for a church function but watched the "highlights". A win is a win, particularly on the road and particularly in Nashpatch. We now cannot lose the tiebreaker to Tennessee but we can still lose out if we lose the last two and Tennessee wins the next two. Don't forget, the Tampa Bay game is a Saturday.

The old Dennis Green "they are who we thought they were" applies to this team. The Texans just grind and (almost) never make it look easy. Ever the fourth seed, doomed to be crushed in the second round, if not sooner. That's our Texans.

Saw the "farewell" tribute to Eli Manning at the Meadowlands. He's as good as retired. It sure looked weird watching 30-somethings Fitzpatrick and Eli running offenses for three-win teams this late in the year.

Big shoutout to Greg Ward, Jr. - the former Houston Cougar quarterback who played with San Antonio of the AAF this spring as a receiver - who caught 7 passes Sunday including the gane-winner as the Eagles edged the Redskins.

Buffalo-Pittsburgh should be good viewing on SNF with winner likely being our first-round opponent. If the Colts are already eliminated, they will be after the Saints stomp them on MNF tomorrow.

And, for you gamblers, the final play of the Eagles-Washington game is why you shouldn't wager.

It’s probably a bad sign when you look like a parody of yourself.

They need to err on the side of caution and call it when it’s close. That’s a matter of guys being vegetables at 50 or not. So I get the way it’s called. But if you’re going to guess every time it looks bad then you need to review them all like college. It’s another example of the NFL having the worst possible replay rules. No other league uses helpful technology to make things worse quite like the nfl.

Eheh. Guess who had Washington +5? Good lord, that was brutal. Most of the early afternoon, my three picks (Wash, Den and Miami) were in the green. I watched as Denver and Miami fell off the planet so I figured, well, at least Washington's got it. Nope. Eheh. A contest, so no money lost but still.....

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Early line has the Texans @ Bucs game on Saturday as a Pickem to Texans by 1. Seems a little light to me - I would have figured Texans by 3 or so.... I think even the bookmakers are having a hard time figuring which Texans they will get.... Maybe the Texan defense can get bad Jameis to show up.... or not... Bucs are now at a respectable 7-7.

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The Texans could make the season finale vs. Titans moot with a win @ Tampa. Eheh, yeah, right....

The number should climb as news spreads that Tampa WR Chris Godwin is likely done for the season with a pulled hamstring. Their other star wideout, Mike Evans, the former Aggie great, pulled his hammy the week before and may be back to play the Texans but is unlikely - particularly with one less day of practice due to the Saturday start.

Breshard Perriman is the next target for Winston after that. After the way the Texans were abused by Jonnu Smith, I would not be shocked to see more 2 TE sets for the Bucs.

Meanwhile, the Houston MO this year has been a loss followed by two wins:

L @ NO, W vs Jax, W @ LAC
L vs CAR, W vs ATL, W @ KC
L @ IND, W vs OAK, W vs JAX @ London
bye
L @ BAL, W vs IND, W vs NE
L vs DEN, W @ TEN, ? @ TAM

This tells me we're due to beat the Bucs but lose the home finale to TEN. That's okay because we clinch if we beat Tampa and may rest some players in Week 17 should that happen (McCarron at QB?).

Astonishingly, if the pattern continues, it means we win two playoff games before falling in the AFC Championship Game.

Yep, already seeing some Texans by 2½ to 3. Good info on the Buc wide receivers.... Breshard Perriman will be a concern....

At one point, Tampa Bay was a horrible 2-8 ATS but has since covered the last 3 of 4 for an overall of 5-9 ATS. They are on a 4 game winning streak straight up and have won 5 of their last 6. They smoked the Lions yesterday 38-17 but I don't know if I would make too much of that - the Lions were supposedly missing 10 starters....

Once again, it's a game the "good" Texans should win and cover. But you never know with this team...

Meant to point out Reid in my earlier post. His hit caused the ball to pop up for Mercilus to snag and rumble-bumble-stumble just short of a touchdown. Reid has been something of a first for the franchise - a young playmaking safety. He has struggled this season to stay healthy... paired with the health of Fuller, it is seemingly key for the Texans to win Week 16 at Tampa on Saturday to ensure they can rest these guys for Week 17 for their best shot at a healthy-ish playoff run.