Houston Texans give Tennessee Titans a great chance to improve

There are no easy wins in the NFL and as soon as a team thinks that they are doomed to fail, just ask the Tennessee Titans who lost to the New York Jets earlier this year.

Still, it is hard to look at the Tennessee Titans matchup against the Houston Texans and not see a list of positives for the Titans.

The Titans have an impressive lead in the AFC sitting at 8-2, but the team doesn’t look anything like the team that went 6-2.

On offense, the team is obviously without Derrick Henry and Julio Jones for now. A less talked about issue is that revolving offensive line that hasn’t been fully healthy all season but who will likely be without Nate Davis again this week.

While the offense is struggling to put up points like they were a month ago, the defense is one of the most suffocating units in the NFL. People are tripping over themselves to come up with a nickname for a defensive front that includes Jeffery Simmons who leads all defensive tackles in sacks, and Harold Landry who has double-digit sacks himself.

The defense has a chance to build on the massive improvement we have seen over the last few weeks, but where this team can take another step forward is on offense.

Why the Tennessee Titans should be optimistic

D’onta Foreman and Adrian Peterson haven’t been a great tandem to replace Derrick Henry, but they played against two of the best defenses in the NFL and they have started to look better.

Even if both were good enough to be on cruise control at this point, neither player is going to overlook this game. Foreman was drafted by the Houston Texans and could be looking for revenge against his former team.

Peterson has had a lot of success against the Texans, even in his 30s including 2 touchdown performances in his last two games against Houston (in 2018 and in 2020).

Speaking of players with great games against the Houston Texans who could bounce back, A.J. Brown averages 7 receptions, 112 yards, and a touchdown in games against the Tennessee Titans’ division rival.

If those three players can all play up to their standards while the offensive line tries to find its footing against a bottom-10 pass rush, it could be a great rebound for a team that needs to pull it together on offense.

To most Tennessee Titans fans, this might feel like an easy win, but this team still needs to prove that they can win on offense and they have to get over their bad habit of playing down to bad opponents. Both issues could get solved with a convincing win on Sunday at home.