Titans clinch playoff berth, will face Patriots in Wild-Card round
The Tennessee Titans clinched a playoff berth with their Week 17 win over the Houston Texans.
The Tennessee Titans controlled their own playoff destiny going into Week 17 and took care of business by beating the Houston Texans 35-14 to secure the No. 6 seed in the AFC.
Despite resting their starters, the Texans put up enough of a fight to make things uncomfortable for the Titans and their fans for a bit, but in the end Tennessee’s offense was just too much.
It has been a truly remarkable season for the Titans. After starting 2-4, a quarterback change from Marcus Mariota to Ryan Tannehill sparked an amazing turnaround that saw Tennessee’s offense take off and put up historic numbers.
With the No. 6 seed being the best they could finish, the Titans had three potential opponents in that spot: the Kansas City Chiefs, the Houston Texans or the New England Patriots.
Well, thanks to a Chiefs win over the Los Angeles Chargers and an improbable Patriots loss to the Miami Dolphins, Tennessee will meet the defending Super Bowl champs in the first round of the playoffs.
With the way the Chiefs have been playing of late, the Titans are fortunate to avoid them in the first round. There’s no question that both the Texans and Patriots are more vulnerable right now.
While the Patriots have sported one of the best defenses in the NFL this season, their offense has seen its fair share of struggles both on the ground and through the air, and the latter is particularly good news for an injured Titans secondary that has struggled.
The Titans might also get cornerback Adoree’ Jackson back. The former first-round pick has missed the last four games with a foot injury, and his absence has been noticeable. His return would be a huge boost at the perfect time for Tennessee.
These two teams last played each other in a regular season game back in 2018, with Tennessee winning the Week 10 game 34-10. New England and Tennessee also met during this past preseason and held joint practices in the days prior.
One of the bigger storylines you’ll hear coming out of this game will of course be Titans head coach Mike Vrabel’s connection with his former head coach Bill Belichick and former teammate Tom Brady.