Game 6 Preview: Tennessee Titans (3-2) at Houston Texans (3-3)
Andrew Strickert
Oct 19, 2007
The news this week is more about people who may not be playing,
rather than who will be when the Houston Texans host the Tennessee
Titans on Sunday. Titans quarterback Vince Young is questionable with a
quadriceps injury while stars Andre Johnson and DeMeco Ryans are
questionable for Houston.
Tennessee (3-2) suffered a tough 13-10 loss to Tampa Bay last week
while the 3-3 Texans were run over by the Jaguars in a 37-17 mauling.
Field: Grass. Conditions: Game will be played in a stadium with a retractable roof.
Texans Scouting Report
Overview
- Coach Gary Kubiak’s squad is an enigma. It seems at times to be an
improvement over previous Texan teams but has a tendency at other times
to look like the same old Texans.
Offense - Despite the transition of breaking in a new quarterback (Matt
Schaub), their continued experimentation at running back and the
absence of Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson for most of this year, the
Texans have been able to put some points on the board, ranking eighth
in the league in that category,
TE Owen Daniels has been productive against the Titans in the past
and has been their leading receiver in Johnson’s absence. Houston has
scored only three receiving TDs this season by receivers not named
Johnson.
The Texans’ revolving door of running backs now features Ron Dayne
as the leading rusher, who is racking up yardage at a pedestrian 2.9
yards per attempt.
Defense - Despite a year of experience since the change to a 4-3 defense,
Jacksonville exposed Houston’s vulnerability to the run by gashing them
for 244 rushing yards last week. Mario Williams, the first overall pick
in last year’s draft, wasn’t even the Texans’ best rookie on defense
last year. MLB DeMeco Ryans earned that honor but is listed as
questionable on this week’s injury report. CB Dunta Robinson is the
best player in the secondary.
Keys for the Titans
1) Whether a slowed Vince Young or a healthy Kerry Collins is the
quarterback, the Titans need to run the ball over half the time and
need to be effective doing it. The running game has regressed in the
last two weeks and if that trend continues it could be bad news.
2) Pressure Matt Schaub. The Titans have historically had very good
success rushing the passer against the Texans, whose o-line remains
virtually the same as last year. Only some of the matchups will differ
this time around.
3) The Titans must also reverse the regression on special teams and prevent any more big plays.
Matchups
to watch
The Titans o-line vs the Texans front seven. I’m going to try to keep
an eye on two individual matchups in particular, Michael Roos vs
Williams and Kevin Mawae vs Ryans.
Prediction
With injuries to key players on both teams and the Titans’ uncertain
quarterback situation, this is a tough one to call. One thing looks
certain — there shouldn’t be a lot of points on the scoreboard.
Titans 17
Texans 14
Reprinted with permission from TotalTitans.
|
|
| NEXT GAME |
TBA
|
| LAST GAME |
| Titans |
17 |
| Seahawks |
13 |
| Passing |
V. Young:
17/28, 171 yards,
1 INT, LG 29,
RT 63.2 |
| Rushing |
C. Johnson:
36/134, 3.7 AVG, 2 TDs, LG 12 |
| Receptions |
N. Washington:
6/83, 13.8 AVG,
LG 29 |
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2009
TEAM STATS
|
|
Total Offense
|
12th
|
|
Total: 351.4
|
| Passing: 189.4 |
| Rushing: 162.0 |
| Scoring Avg.: 22.1 |
| Total Defense |
28th |
| Total: 365.6 |
| Passing: 258.7 |
| Rushing: 106.9 |
| Scoring Avg.: 25.1 |
2009
STAT LEADERS
|
|
Passing
|
| V. Young |
|
Attempts: 259
|
| Completions: 152 |
| Yards: 1879 |
| Touchdowns: 10 |
| Interceptions: 7 |
| Passer Rating: 82.8 |
| Rushing |
| C. Johnson |
| Carries: 358 |
| Yards: 2006 |
| Average: 5.6 |
| Touchdowns: 14 |
| Receiving |
| K. Britt |
| Receptions: 42 |
| Yards: 701 |
| Average: 16.7 |
| Touchdowns: 3 |
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