Tennessee Titans Tangle In Texas: A Preview

The Tennessee Titans travel to Texas today to tangle with the Texans! Wow, that’s  a mouthful, and I guess I’m a poet and don’t know it!

Okay, you can stop cringing now, and I’ll promise to stop murdering poetry as we know it.

This matchup between two struggling teams is likely to be anything but poetry, but this is an important game, especially for the Houston Texans.

The Texans still have an outside chance to make the playoffs, and they’ll be a third of the way toward realizing those dreams if they can manage to get past a dismal Titans’ team.

With the Texans at 5-6 and the Titans at 2-9, you wouldn’t expect that to be much of a problem, but things are never simple this time of year in the NFL (Any Given Sunday!).

Keys For The Texans

There are three things that are important  in this game for the Texans. The Texans need Ryan Fitzpatrick to play well, it will help a great deal to have Arian Foster back as a back, and J.J. Watt needs to keep getting into Zach Mettenberger‘s head.

Texans’ Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was replaced recently by Ryan Mallett after Fitzpatrick played pitifully in seven straight games. Fitzpatrick started the season well, but petered out.

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Mallett was good at Arkansas, and the kind of QB I thought then was the prototypical QB for the NFL.

It was great to see Ryan get a shot, but unfortunately he tore his right pectoral muscle against the Cincinnati Bengals and will miss the rest of the season, and perhaps that great shot at being an everyday QB for the Texans.

That means that Fitzpatrick will get another chance to prove himself today, and against the struggling Titans, could there be a better opportunity?

Arian Foster is still questionable, but there is a good chance he’ll be back in the game at back for the Texans. Foster missed the last two games with a groin problem, but before the injury he was average almost 103 yards per game rushing, or 5.1 yards per carry.

Alfred Blue has stepped up well in Foster’s absence, but if Foster is back in the lineup today, this increases the Texans chances of a win exponentially!

J.J. Watt pounced on Zach Mettenberger in these two teams last meeting, and you’ll recall we reported on how Watt mocked Mettenberger in that game with a mock selfie, making fun of Zach’s propensity to take too many selfies (I fully agree!).  If J.J. can get into Zach’s head again in some way and intimidate the young upstart, it could help the Texans’ cause.

Keys For the Titans

If my keys for the Titans seem like the same ole’ tired stuff each week, that’s because we’re seeing the same ole’ tired team each week that still needs to do these things better!

First of all, the offensive line has to play better. They need to open up holes to help establish a running game (another key), and they need to give Mettenberger adequate protection.

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I still have my doubts about Zach Mettenberger as the long-term solution for the Titans, but Zach has performed admirably in view of what he has to work with.

Mettenberger is averaging just over 270 yards passing per game since taking the reins of this team, and even against a vastly superior team in Philadelphia most recently, Zach tossed the skin for 345 yards and two TDs.

The Titans have lost every single game that Zach has started, but only a fool would blame that on Mettenberger.

Part of the problem for the Titans has been their abject failure at getting any running game going! Their offensive line needs to play better, but they just need to run the ball more! It doesn’t do any good to throw for 345 yards and two TDs if you cannot establish a better running game to confuse the defense and help free up receivers.

So yes, my own formula for the Titans hasn’t changed. It’s tired, but it’s true!

Final Truth

This one is tough to predict. Obviously both of these teams are struggling this year, and I have to give the nod to Zach Mettenberger at QB over Ryan Fitzpatrick.

That said, Ryan could see this as another chance to prove that his benching in favor of Ryan Mallett was a mistake, and he could come out with a passion to play very well. If Arian Foster is there behind him to help, the Texans could lay a whippin’ on the Titans.

Don’t forget also how hungry the Texans will be to get into the playoffs, however much of a longshot that might be.

I’ve not seen anything in the Titans game to convince me they can beat the Texans, and I don’t think they will today either. My prediction – a low scoring affair – Texans 24, Titans 10.