This Sunday, the Tennessee Titans will play the Houston Texans at 1 p.m. EDT at NRG Stadium in Texas.
The 7-4 Texans sit atop the AFC South and will likely remain there through the season. Nothing is ever guaranteed, but given how poorly the rest of the division is playing (including the Titans), there’s no reason to think the Texans will miss the playoffs.
The Titans, though, are 2-8 after their recent 23-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. They are in a rebuild, and while it’s been slightly painful to get where we are, they are finally showing signs of improvement. They have a division-heavy schedule to end their season, and those games will give us a good indication of just how well this team is doing.
While a win may not be expected this Sunday, it’s still the goal. To that end, there are three causes for concern for the Titans heading into Week 12.
Nico Collins is back
Texans’ wide receiver Nico Collins spent several weeks on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. He returned last week to help the Texans defeat the Dallas Cowboys. Not only is Collins the Texans’ top wide receiver, but he’s also C.J. Stroud’s favorite target. Prior to being sidelined, he was leading the league in receiving yards.
With Collins back on the field, the Titans’ secondary will have its work cut out for them. The Texans have relied heavily on their run game with Collins out, but that will change as he reintegrates himself with his team. Last week, Collins roped in just four catches for 54 yards, but it’s largely because the Texans kept the ball on the ground against a shaky Cowboys defense.
The Titans’ defense is better than the Cowboys, so the Texans might not put up 34 points, but you should expect Collins to be more involved this week, and he will make an impact against a tired and worn down secondary.
Half of all injured players are on injured reserve
The Titans season hasn’t just been dictated by the rebuild under a new coaching regime, it’s also been dictated by the number of injuries this team has sustained this season. The defense in particular has struggled to keep players healthy, but the offense is starting to catch up.
As of this writing, there are eight offensive players and 12 defensive players who have an injury designation. Four offensive players and six defensive players are on injured reserve. These injuries aren’t just affecting the players’ ability to compete on the field, but they are taking bodies away from the team, making it difficult for available players to keep up without getting fatigued.
This season has been a struggle for a number of reasons, but injuries certainly aren’t helping anything. When 10 players of your 53-man roster are sidelined, it’s not easy to cover those losses with elevations from the practice squad.
C.J. Stroud continues to improve
It’s hard to believe that C.J. Stroud and Will Levis are in the same draft class, but they are. Last season, Stroud took a bottom-feeding Texans team and changed the outlook on the entire organization in the wake of the Deshaun Watson scandal. They only won four games and didn’t make the playoffs, but the change in the team was readily apparent.
Stroud is in just his second year, but as a rookie he showed that he has the makings of an elite quarterback. The last elite quarterbacks the Titans faced were Josh Allen and Jared Goff, and we all know how that went. Stroud may be young, but he is very capable and if the Titans secondary isn’t on-point, he has the ability to expose whatever weakness they show.
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