The Houston Texans plan to use their healthy players despite having nothing to gain from Sunday’s regular-season finale at the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, Tenn.
After all, the Texans, who have lost two games in a row, are locked into the fourth seed for the AFC playoffs. But second-year coach DeMeco Ryans would like to build momentum going into their first-round matchup.
“Everybody will be out there playing, and we’ll see how the game goes,” he said. “But for us, right now, we’ve got to go play better. And our last outing on the field was not good enough, not representative of who we are.
“Defensively, offensively, it’s not a good representation of our team entirely. So we’ve got to go out and we’ve got to play better football.”
It would be harder for Houston (9-7) to play much worse than it did for most of a 31-2 rout at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day. The Texans’ offense couldn’t get on the board, and the defense was overrun by big plays during the first three quarters.
The performance reinforces the notion that the Texans can’t beat the NFL’s top teams. They fell to 1-5 against teams with winning records, scraping out only a 23-20 win over Buffalo on Oct. 6 after Bills quarterback Josh Allen completed just 9 of 30 passes for 131 yard and Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 59-yard field goal as time expired.
Second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud has been hampered by inconsistent protection from the offensive line and season-ending injuries to top receivers Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell. Stroud won’t be 100 percent but will start on Sunday. He absorbed five sacks and 10 hits against the Ravens.
“That’s NFL football this time of year,” Ryans said of the injuries. “Everybody is banged up. A lot of guys are fighting through a lot of things.”
While Houston looks for momentum, Tennessee (3-13) will either get a season sweep of the Texans or perhaps the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL draft. The Titans currently sit at the No. 3 overall pick behind the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns.
Tennessee is assured of finishing last in the AFC South after a 20-13 loss last week at Jacksonville, the Titans’ fifth straight setback.
First-year coach Brian Callahan said he would play both Mason Rudolph and Will Levis at quarterback. Rudolph has started the last two games after Levis struggled with turnovers during a 37-27 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 15.
Levis is eager to get back on the field.
“I only focus on what I can control and focus on the week,” he said. “But I know that there’s a heckuva lot more tape that they have to look at. This is just a small portion of it.”
Levis, who showed promise as a rookie last year, has regressed to an extent this year. He’s thrown 12 interceptions in 11 games. He and Rudolph have combined to throw 21 picks, tying Cleveland for the most in the NFL.
Tennessee running back Tyjae Spears (concussion), wide receiver Tyler Boyd (foot), kicker Nick Folk (abdomen), safety Amani Hooker (shoulder) and linebackers Arden Key (hand) and Otis Reese (ankle) did not practice on Wednesday.
For the Texans, defensive tackles Denico Autry (knee) and Foley Fatukasi (ankle), cornerback Kamari Lassiter (quad) and guard Shaq Mason (knee) did not practice on Wednesday.
The Titans own a 24-21 lead in the all-time series as a result of their 32-27 victory on Nov. 24, when Levis threw for 278 yards and two scores.
–Field Level Media
