The Titans offense was playing without their starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill and rookie quarterback Malik Willis got his first NFL start, giving the Texans a heavy dose of Derrick Henry. The big bruising running back rumbled through the Texans defense for 219 yards as he led his team to a 17-10 win.
The Texans offense came out very lethargic and couldn’t generate any offense.
Both teams were scoreless in the first quarter.
The Texans got on the scoreboard first in the second quarter, after an interception by cornerback Steven Nelson. The Texans offense couldn’t convert the turnover into a touchdown and settled for a Ka’imi Fairbairn 43-yard field goal.
The Texans led 7-3.
The Texans could only muster a total of 35 yards at the half.
In the second half, the Texans received the kickoff and punted on fourth down. The Titans went on a 9-play drive that covered 65 yards. Henry did most of the damage, as he carried six times for 26 yards before hitting paydirt with a one-yard touchdown run. The Titans upped their lead to 14-3.
The Texans went three and out on their next possession and punted.
The Titans promptly took over and went on a twelve-play, 81-yard drive, where Henry carried six times for 69 yards on the drive. The drive stalled and the Titans settled for a 29-yard Randy Bullock field goal.
The Titans led 17-3 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, both teams punted three times, while Henry was piling up yardage on the ground.
The Texans went on a twelve-play, 90-yard drive that ate up almost twelve minutes and scored their only touchdown of the game, on a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Davis Mills to running back Dameon Pierce. The PAT was good, and the score was 17-10, which ended being the final score.
Takeaways from the game were that the Texans couldn’t generate any consistency on offense and played behind the chains all day. Mills missed wide open receivers all day. The offensive line was abused by the Titans defensive line. The Texans only had 161 total yards, and a majority of that came on their last drive.
Coach Lovie Smith in his post-game interview stated “We were dominated on both sides of the ball; under my leadership we didn’t play a good game today. A good thing is we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Texans, with the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles coming to town this Thursday night. It’s going to be a long season on Kirby Drive.
“I Just Tell It Like It Is”
Burl “The Coach” Jones