Just because the AFC South is wrapped up and the outcome won’t get them out of wild-card weekend doesn’t mean the Houston Texans are going to give the Tennessee Titans a free win.
Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel and the defensive staff will be working to ensure the Titans earn the win, which would secure them as the No. 6 seed in the AFC bracket.
In Week 15, the Texans defense had success against quarterback Ryan Tannehill, limiting him to a 92.2 passer rating, the only sub-100 passer rating the former 2012 first-round pick has had in the past six games.
“I think that if you can take away some of the big plays and make him have to execute when guys are tight in coverage,” Crennel told reporters Thursday. “We were tighter in coverage than maybe we had been other games.”
In addition to keeping Tannehill to 279 yards and two touchdowns, safety Justin Reid deflected a pass from tight end Anthony Firkser that outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus intercepted to erase a red zone trip and set one up for Houston’s offense.
Keeping the opposing quarterback to below 100 in passer rating is part of the secret sauce for the Texans’ success in 2019. However, it doesn’t always guarantee success. Quarterback Kyle Allen posted an 89.3 passer rating in the Carolina Panthers’ 16-10 win over the Texans in Week 4 at NRG Stadium.
“This is a quarterback league,” Crennel said. “Everybody knows that. If the quarterback is able to perform, generally he makes plays and they score touchdowns and it makes it hard on your team to win. If the quarterback, if you can hold him down and he’s not able to make some of the plays that they want him to make or he thinks he can make, then that gives you a chance to win the game.”
The Texans will look to hold Tannehill down and finish with an 11-5 record for the second straight season.