Houston Texans Daily Roundup: Series nearly even with Titans
The Houston Texans will face the Tennessee Titans in Week 2 of the NFL season, as both of the two teams are nearly even against each other since 2002.
The Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans will face each other for the 33rd time on Sunday when they play their Week 2 game in Nashville where both teams are looking to gain their first victory of the season.
Both the Texans and the Titans are nearly even in their series history through their first 32 meetings with the Titans leading the series at 17-15. Tennessee has won two of the past three meetings, with both teams each winning a game against each other last season. The Texans won their home game by a 57-14 score on Oct. 1, but on Dec. 3 the Titans won by a 24-13 score.
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Since the 2014 season the Texans have mostly controlled the series with Houston winning six of those eight games, including winning five straight games from Oct. 26, 2014 through Oct. 2, 2016.
This AFC South rivalry is basically even and it should make for a good meeting once again on Sunday as both the Texans and Titans don’t want to start the season 0-2 or even 0-1-1 if they end in a tie like the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers did to start the regular season last weekend.
Here is a look at some headlines before the Titans host the Texans in Week 2 this Sunday.
• Jim Wyatt of Titansonline.com gave “three quick hits” on Wednesday about the upcoming AFC clash. Wyatt gave an update on Titans receiver Rishard Matthews:
"“Titans veteran receiver Rishard Matthews didn’t have a catch in the season opener, and he played a total of 36 of the game’s 69 snaps.”"
This is an interesting stat but the article goes on talking about his Matthews didn’t play in the preseason and is recovering from being on the PUP list during those games. As for how good Matthews is as a wide receiver, in 2017 (his second season with Tennessee and his sixth overall) Matthews had 53 receptions for 795 yards with four touchdowns. Matthews is also two seasons removed from his career-high year of 65 receptions for 945 yards and nine touchdowns.
It is doubtful Matthews goes a second straight week without a reception, so the Texans better be watching the wide receiver and make sure he doesn’t become a factor in this game.
• Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com looked back to how Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson played last season against the Titans, a game the Texans won by a 57-14 score. In that game Watson was 25-of-34 for 283 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He followed that with a five-touchdown game the following week against the Kansas City Chiefs. Barshop wrote the following about Watson:
"“When Watson thinks back to that game, he said he remembers how much fun he and the offense had.”"
This just might be what the doctor ordered so to speak for the Texans offense as they need a boost following last week’s showing. The Titans allowed 27 points last Sunday, but that game was strange with all of the weather delays and such. If Watson can have a repeat performance he had last season it would be great, but it will be tough to repeat, especially with the Titans having Mike Vrabel as their head coach, as he was the Texans defensive coordinator last season.
• Erik Bacharach of The Tennessean wrote about the predictions for the Titans and the Texans, writing about the defense of Tennessee:
"“The Titans, who were gashed by Dolphins rushers in the first half last week, need to get a better pass rush than what they got last week.”"
If the Texans want to gain a win they must play strong up front and their offensive line must keep Tennessee away from Watson. If this happens Watson will be able to get into a groove and have another solid day, but if the Titans do improve on their aforementioned pass rush it will be a long day for the Texans offense once again.
• Tweet of the Day
There was one rookie wide receiver who started on the NFL's opening weekend, and it wasn't one of the 33 WRs who were drafted. It was Vyncint Smith, who started for the Houston Texans. He was an undrafted college free agent from Division II Limestone College (with 4 .36 speed).
— Rick Gosselin (@RickGosselin9) September 13, 2018
Next. Texans: By the numbers in Week 1 loss to Patriots. dark
This is a fun stat to see and for the Texans this can be a good or bad thing depending on the situation. It is good to see the Texans have the scouting to draft a player like Vyncint Smith, but he finished with no yards and no receptions in the loss to the New England Patriots. Maybe Week 2 will be better for the rookie.