Houston (9-7) at Tennessee (3-13)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS
BetMGM NFL Odds: Titans by 1.
Against the spread: Texans 6-8-2; Titans 2-14.
Series record: Tennessee leads 24-21.
Last meeting: Titans beat the Texans 32-27 on Nov. 24.
Last week: Texans lost to the Ravens 31-2; Titans lost to the Jaguars 20-13.
Texans offense: overall (21), rush (21), pass (19), scoring (18)
Texans defense: overall (7), rush (12), pass (6), scoring (16)
Titans offense: overall (28), rush (15), pass (28), scoring (T-25)
Titans defense: overall (2), rush (22), pass (6), scoring (30)
Turnover differential: Texans plus-10; Titans minus-16
Texans player
to watch
QB C.J. Stroud needs 323 yards passing to join Justin Herbert and Jameis Winston as the only players in NFL history to have at least 4,000 yards passing in each of their first two seasons. He has thrown for at least 240 yards in three straight road games. Stroud had 247 yards passing and two touchdowns in his previous meeting against Tennessee and hasn’t thrown an interception in nine of his 10 career starts against division opponents.
Titans player to watch
QB Will Levis. Benched after his fourth turnover of the game against Cincinnati on Dec. 15, the second-year quarterback stayed there for the next two games. Now he will get a final chance to start for the 12th time this season to show how much he’s learned before the offseason. Levis had no interceptions in the two games he started before his four-turnover game against Cincinnati that got him benched.
Key matchup
The Titans against their draft status. Losing clinches the No. 2 pick overall in the April draft to match the slot where they took QB Marcus Mariota in 2015. Lose and get help with New England beating Buffalo's backups? Tennessee then has the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 2016. A new GM traded that pick two weeks before the draft for a haul that netted a trio of All-Pros led by Derrick Henry.
Key injuries
Texans: DE Denico Autry (knee), DT Folorunso Fatukasi (ankle). C Shaq Mason (knee) and CB Jeff Okudah (concussion) are all out.
Titans: RB Tony Pollard (ankle) missed last week's game with an illness and is questionable. RB Tyjae Spears (concussion), K Nick Folk (abdomen), S Amani Hooker (shoulder), OLB Arden Key (hand), LB Otis Reese (ankle), and OT Jaelyn Duncan (shoulder) are out. RG Dillon Radunz (shoulder) will be back after missing two games.
Series notes
The Texans have won three of the past four. But the Titans have won six of the past 10. Houston managed to sweep the 2023 season series between the division rivals, and eight of the past nine have been decided by nine or fewer points.
Stats and stuff
The Texans have clinched the AFC South for a second straight season. ... RB Joe Mixon has 883 yards of offense and 10 touchdowns in seven road games this season. He needs 7 yards rushing for his fifth career 1,000-yard rushing season. … WR Nico Collins had 92 yards receiving and a TD in the previous game against Tennessee. He needs 32 yards receiving to reach 1,000 yards for a second straight season. … WR John Metchie had five receptions for 48 yards last week. … TE Dalton Schultz has had a TD reception in two straight road games. … LB Azeez Al-Shaair returns after a three-game suspension for his violent hit to Trevor Lawrence's head that gave the Jacksonville quarterback a concussion. … DE Danielle Hunter had a career-high five tackles for loss and three sacks in the previous game against the Titans. He ranks third in the NFL with 12 sacks for his fifth career season with at least 12 sacks. … DE Will Anderson had two tackles for loss last week. He is tied for eighth in the NFL with 11 sacks this season. … CB Derek Stingley has an interception in two of his past three road games. He ranks second in the NFL with a career-high 18 passes defended this season. … Rookie CB Kamari Lassiter tackled Derrick Henry in the end zone for a safety for Houston's only points last week. ... This game wraps up the Titans' 65th season in franchise history and their 26th at Nissan Stadium. This also will be the franchise's 1,000th game in the regular season. ... The Titans have a chance to finish in the top five in the league in passing defense for the first time since 2000 when they led the NFL. They also rank third in total defense. The Titans last finished in the top five in total defense for a season in 2007 when they ranked fifth. ... S Amani Hooker already has a career-high five interceptions. With one more, he would have the Titans' first six-interception season since 2017 when Kevin Byard had eight. ... LT JC Latham can start Sunday and become the first rookie offensive lineman to start every game his first season since Jack Conklin in 2016. He would become the fourth since the team took the Titans' nickname for the 1999 season, joining Conklin, Chance Warmack (2013) and Michael Roos (2005). ... WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has nine TD catches, tied for ninth most in the NFL despite not catching a pass through the first month of the season. ... Chig Okonkwo has 22 catches in the past three games combined, tying Delanie Walker's three-game stretch in 2015 for the most catches by a tight end for the franchise since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.
Fantasy tip
WR Calvin Ridley leads the Titans with 61 catches for 941 yards. He's 59 yards from a second straight 1,000-yard receiving season and the third of his career.
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The Associated Press
