The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that,
a review of Week 11:
Sometimes, rookies play like rookies: This season, Houston has relied on its rookies to help carry the squad, especially on offense. However, there were moments on Sunday when you learn that rookies will act like rookies, even as the most inopportune times. In the 1st half, rookies Woody Marks and Aireontae Ersery showed that for all of the progress they’ve made, they still have some critical lessons to learn. On the opening drive, when Houston seemingly lucked out of a missed FG into a 4th and Goal at the TEN 1, Marks missed a critical blitz up the middle. While the play design was meant as a play-action pass, the Titans blitzer was right in the line of Marks’ sight. He did not so much as even check him, and Mills could only run backwards to fall into a brutal sack. Then, in the second quarter, with the Texans inside of FG range, on a 3rd down play, Ersery made a fundamental error in pass-blocking, allowing himself to get perpendicular to the line of scrimmage, allowing the Titans’ DE to simply power past him to sack Mills again, knocking Houston out of scoring range. Those two busted blocking plays cost Houston a chance at 10 points, turning what should have been a comfortable win into a dramatic battle.
The Houston Defense; good to great but not always clutch. No shock that Houston possesses one of the best defenses in the game. They exit Week 11 leading the league in yards and points allowed. This team will go as far as the defense can take them, especially with the offensive performances this season. Usually, they play pretty well. In particular, the D-Line forced at least three false start penalties on the Titans’ Oline…in Nashville. However, the vaunted defense had some all-too-mortal moments in the game. A 40% 3rd down conversion rate isn’t optimal, especially for a team that relies so much on its defense. What proved especially galling is that Houston allowed the Titans to convert on multiple 3rd and 10+ yard situations. Two of those were on scoring drives for the Titans. Then you had the final Titans’ drive. Tennessee, the worst team in the league, had to go 95 yards against the top defense in the league to score the tying or go-ahead TD. Usually, you would take Houston’s defense in that situation. However, for the 3rd time this season, Houston’s defense allowed a team trailing or tied to move down the field to score inside of the 2-minute warning. At least Houston got the chance to respond on offense.
The Decisive Play
3rd and 16 at the HOU 42, :50, 4th Quarter; Davis Mills pass to Nico Collins for 17 yards.
Sure, you could look to a number of other plays. The missed connection from Ward to Mason Kinsey on the opening drive of the 2nd half that if Ward connection would have assured a Titans’ TD and changed the strategic direction of the game looms large, as does Christian Kirk’s inability to hold on to a Mills’ TD pass on the 1st drive. However, for the Texans, it was the Mills to Collins connection for 17 yards that allowed Houston to keep possession on the final drive. After surrendering a bad tying TD, the Texans did get the ball on a touchback at the 35 yard-line. After moving the ball to the HOU 48, the Titans logged a 1st down sack and forced a near-INT on 2nd down. Facing a 3rd and 16, the Titans must have felt that with all three TOs in their back pocket and coming off a massive tying drive, they could snag a game-winning drive of their own. Yet, in a rather interesting trend, long 3rd downs weren’t all that problematic for offenses here. Mills got the ball in shotgun, moved around in the pocket and threw a high deep pass along the right sideline to Nico Collins. Collins, as he did often in this game, went up high to catch the ball and got both feet down in bounds at the TEN 41. Field position flipped and momentum secured, Houston efficiently moved the ball down the field, getting to the Titans’ 18-yard line to set up the winning FG.
Nice Bounce-back for Special Teams: No sugar-coating the horridness of the Texans’ special teams unit against Jacksonville. Not sure what Ross did in those team meetings, whether it was reading the extended version of the Riot Act or the threats of live human sacrifices, but the Texans’ special teams played a far superior game in Nashville. The Titans effectively got nothing from their kick/punt coverage, which had been a Titans’ strength. Houston saw Noel make some solid punt returns, and Wright booted the Texans to victory with a no-doubt clutch kick. Houston will need more of the Nashville special teams’ performance, and far, far less of the Jacksonville one.
FUN WITH NUMBERS:
5-0: The Houston Texans’ record in Nashville with Davis Mills on the roster: The last time the Texans lost a game in Nashville, they were in the second game of interim head coach Romeo Crennel’s tenure in 2020. Since then, all W’s in Nash-Vegas. Perhaps Davis Mills is the good luck charm, for as long as he is on the roster, Houston has yet to lose to the ex-Oilers on the road. He was the backup for the 2021 and 2023-24 visits (even if he played all but one series in 2024) and started the 2022 upset and the 2025 victories.
3, 3:Defensive Rankings for the Texans’ defense in rushing yards allowed and passing yards allowed, respectively. Wondering where Houston stands relative to stopping the run and the pass? Well, it is pretty balanced. Teams can’t consistently run on Houston (87.1 yards/game), which is balanced out by not being able to throw against the Texans (171.0 yards/game). Likely some of those numbers will get tested over the next few weeks. However, Houston put up those performances against squads like the Bucs, Rams, Ravens and Seahawks, all strong offensive units.
GAME BALLS
DE Will Anderson Jr. Ho-hum, another game with another big Will Anderson Jr. sack causing a fumble, which he recovered. Just another non-descript day of terrorizing opposing blockers, bring pressure and setting up lost yardage situations. One might say that it is so extraordinary that it is mundane when he does it. A sign of a dominant player. I guess if he needs a new challenge, Danielle Hunter just overtook him for the team lead in sacks. Better pick it up, Mr. Anderson.
PK Matthew Wright: 3 for 3 on “official” FG attempts and 1/1 on XPs, to include the game-winner right down the center, as well as solid kicking off all day? Yeah, that’s worth a Game Ball. Also, on the “unofficial” miss, that was most authoritative “doink” off an upright I have ever heard in a game.
WR Nico Collins: 9 receptions/98 yards/1 TD makes for an effective day at the office. He played the role Davis Mills’ security blanket, and did so quite well.
SHOULD BE FORCED TO CLEAN UP AFTER A FLEET NASHVILLE BACHLORETTE PARTIES ON BIKES ON MUSIC ROW WHILE LISTENING ON REPEAT TO THE GREATEST PRESS CONFERENCE LINES EVER RECORDED FROM BEST-OF-THE-WORST-OWNERS HALL-OF-FAMER K.S. “BUD” ADAMS:
LT Aireontae Ersey: Surrendered two of the Titans’ four sacks. Not one of his better days this season.
Amy Adams Strunk: Seeing how the Titans are once again the clubhouse leader for the #1 pick in the draft again, and seeing how she is on an interim head coach, while her one-time head coach Mike Vrabel has New England leading the AFC East, it is a bad, bad look, and it seems to further cement the view that in the great Titans’ office battles of 2023, she chose poorly.
While Houston got their fifth victory in the last seven games, they get a double-whammy of having a super-short turnaround for a Thursday Night showdown against the ever-dangerous Buffalo Bills, coming off a Josh-Allen 6 TD effort against the Tampa Bay Bucs. Kickoff is slated for 7:15 CST on Amazon Prime Video at NRG.
