Tennessee Titans (8-7) vs. Houston Texans (10-5)
The Tennessee Titans are going to be plenty motivated in this game. They need a win, a Bengals’ loss against the Ravens and a Jets win over the Dolphins to get into the playoffs. All of those things could happen this Sunday. The Titans will be looking for revenge against a Texans’ team that whacked them hard 41-7 in Nashville earlier this year. The Texans are locked into the #3 seed in the AFC Playoffs, so it would be smart of them to limit the P.T. of their starting players in this game. Here is a look at the matchups in this game:
When the Titans have the ball: The Titans are going to need balance offensively if they are going to win this game. That means that RB Chris Johnson is going to have to pick up the pace this Sunday. The Texans are only allowing 96.7 yards rushing per game and 4.1 yards per carry so far this year, so they can be run on. The Texans are a heavy pass rushing team with 41 sacks and opposing QBs only have a 66.2 QB Rating against them this year, so Matt Hasselbeck is going to have to get rid of the ball quickly while also being careful. To me that sounds like he will be throwing to his TEs and RBs a lot in this game. TE Jared Cook and Chris Johnson could have big games for the Titans in the passing game. WRs Nate Washington, Lavelle Hawkins and Damian Williams are going to have to catch short stuff and make plays after the catch.
When the Texans have the ball: The Titans are going to have to stop the impressive RBs of the Texans if they are going to have any chance of winning this game. That will be easier said than done as Arian Foster rushed for 115 yards and he also had 119 yards receiving in the first matchup between these two teams. The Texans will probably limit Foster’s P.T., which should be a good thing for the Titans, but it won’t be. That is because Ben Tate (855 yards rushing) could be the main man on the ground for most of this game for the Texans. The Titans are going to have to get after rookie QB T.J. Yates as he will have WR Andre Johnson back for this game. Johnson will likely only play a quarter or two, but he is going to help the Texans stretch the field.
PREDICTION: TITANS 21, TEXANS 20
