Though not on prime time or facing a daunting opponent such as the New England Patriots, the Houston Texans’ Week 15 matchup with the Tennessee Titans is the most important game of the season, for both teams.
With both sitting at 8-5, they are tied for the top of the AFC South, with Houston having a tiebreaker via divisional wins. The winner of the tilt in Nashville will hold momentary control of the division and the playoff spot that comes with it.
The Texans will need to accomplish many tasks to beat the Titans. However, here are four straight from the mouths of who matter most: the coaches and quarterback.
Deshaun Watson: Match the Titans’ Mike Vrabel-made juice
The Texans know Mike Vrabel. The Tennessee Titans coach got his footing as an NFL coach in Houston as a linebackers coach then defensive coordinator.
Houston knows the mindset Vrabel will get his Titans in pregame: the juicy kind. When describing Tennessee’s defense, quarterback Deshaun Watson noted that they are going to come out with some energy. The Texans must match it.
“A group of guys that are very confident, playing with a lot of energy. They run to the ball, they create a lot of turnovers, score on defense, which is huge for them, and they’re going to be juiced up,” said Watson on Wednesday. “Vrabel is going to have those guys fired up and we’ve got to make sure we’re on the same level if not better. They’re going to come out with a lot of juice and we’ve got to come out the same way.”
The Texans have struggled out of the gate all season long. They cannot do so against a Titans defense that Watson expects to be coming out guns blazing. If not, they may find themselves in a hole.
Bill O’Brien: Stop the run to halt the play-action
It’s no secret that the Titans love their play-action. The NFL’s No. 1-ranked play-action offense, Tennesee is playing on beating up the Texans’ defense on Sunday with it; not a bold strategy, considering the Denver Broncos tried and succeeded doing the same thing last week.
Their quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, is thriving as a play-action passer. 810 of Tannehill’s passing yards come on play-action, per Pro Football Reference. According to PlayerProfiler, he leads the NFL in play-action completion rate (75.8%).
However, the Texans will start to defend the play-action with the run. If they can stop Derrick Henry, then they will have an easier job keying-in on the pass.
“I think number one is you’ve got to stop the run. If you’re not stopping the run then it can hurt you,” O’Brien said. “Even if you are stopping the run, if it’s a good ball fake and you step up and you don’t get back quite fast enough or you take your eyes off your man in man coverage, you’ve got a problem. So, I think it’s just working it in practice and just continuing to try to make sure we’re teaching it the right way. How we want to react, whether it’s zone or man and then making sure our players actually do it in practice. I think doing it on the practice field is a big deal.”
Henry, who has rushed for 1,243 yards and 13 touchdowns on five yards per carry, will force the Texans defense to play-big. He is 12th highest in the NFL runs against a stacked box rate (23.2%), per Player Profiler.
Romeo Crennel: Step-up as a third-down defense
The Texans’ defense cannot stay off the field. In fact, they are the worst in the NFL in doing so.
Through 13 weeks of play, Houston measures up as the league’s worst third-down defense. According to Pro Football Reference, they are allowing a league-high 48.5% conversion rate.
“We’re not making plays. There have been several opportunities to make plays and get off the field and we haven’t been doing it. That’s one of the reasons,” said defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel on Thursday. “If you don’t make plays and get off the field — because we’ve been in position sometimes to make a play that will get us off the field, but we don’t make it.”
The Titans aren’t a particularly potent third-down offense. They are 19th in the NFL in third-down conversion rate (36.8%). However, Houston’s woes on the all-important down must stop against a red hot defense. How is that going to happen?
“We’re a step short or a step slow, they catch and fall forward or run for the first,” Crennel said. “So, we have to try to emphasize being tighter, concentrating on the man when we’re in man coverage, do a good job in the zones when we’re in zone coverage.”
Deshaun Watson: Don’t make the three-week stretch bigger than it is
The Texans control their fate. For these next three weeks, they must win two out of the next three to ensure an AFC South crown and, subsequently, a spot in the playoffs.
The pressure is at an all-time-high, starting with Sunday. Defeating the Titans would mean taking a one-game lead in a tight race to the top. The noon matchup is vitally important for the Texans to accomplish their goals.
Deshaun Watson wants himself and his team to treat the game with the same mentality. No thinking about next week, the situation or anything else. Get the win, travel back.
“I mean, it’s the same mentality,” said Watson on Wednesday. “You’ve got to come in each and every week. Every game is very crucial, the games, the week forward is crucial to put us in a situation to be in the position that we’re in today. So, yeah, we’ve just got to have the same mentality going in, don’t make it bigger than what it is. It’s already big because it’s the next one and just kind of have that mentality, and just go out there and play ball.”
