The Tennessee Titans are set to do battle with the Houston Texans in Week 17 for the second time this season, with the matchup coming at NRG Stadium.
These two teams last met a few weeks ago, when the Titans were upset by a C.J. Stroud-less Texans team that was led by veteran Case Keenum.
The Titans have been notoriously poor on the road this year, with the team sporting a 1-6 mark. Tennessee is 1-7 away from Nissan Stadium in total when you include the London game.
But that one win came a few weeks ago when the Titans pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2023 season by beating the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.
On the flip side, Tennessee hasn’t won back-to-back road games since Weeks 4 and 5 of last season.
As we do every week, let’s take a look at the biggest questions the Titans are facing in advance of their Week 17 matchup against Houston.
Does Will Levis play?
After only getting in one limited practice before sitting out last week’s game with an ankle injury, Levis was a full participant to start this week, although Tennessee’s practice was considered light, so it isn’t clear if he would have been a full-go in a typical session.
Nevertheless, that’s a step in the right direction for Levis’ return to the field, which some Titans fans don’t want to see because they’d prefer to sit him the final two games to avoid him getting injured again behind this bad offensive line.
Not to mention, Levis gives the Titans the best chance to win, and winning more games will equal a lower draft pick.
The other side of that argument is that more reps for Levis is a good thing, something head coach Mike Vrabel certainly subscribes to. The Kentucky product will likely suit up if he’s healthy enough to play.
If Levis doesn’t play, the Titans will likely deploy veteran Ryan Tannehill, who got the nod in Levis’ place last week.
Will C.J. Stroud play?
We were robbed of a Levis-Stroud matchup in Week 15 because the latter was ruled out with a concussion, which ultimately forced him to miss two games in a row.
Stroud took a step toward returning on Wednesday, with the rookie signal-caller getting in a limited practice to start the week. The No. 2 overall pick didn’t practice at all the previous two weeks.
If you’re a Titans fan who would prefer a loss for better draft positioning, Stroud playing helps that cause. However, we’ve already seen Tennessee lose to Houston without him, so his absence doesn’t guarantee a Titans win.
Can Treylon Burks finish strong?
It has been a disastrous season-plus in the NFL for Burks, who has been plagued with injuries and ineffective play. Making matters worse, he will always be compared to A.J. Brown after he was selected with the pick Tennessee acquired in the trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.
At this point, the Titans cannot depend on Burks to be their No. 2 behind DeAndre Hopkins in 2024, and I’m not sure he can do anything to change that.
But, at the very least, Burks can pick up some momentum ahead of what will be a make-or-break year for him.
Will Titans give more snaps to under-utilized players?
The Titans need to be giving more opportunities to some of their more under-utilized players in order to evaluate where they stand going into the offseason.
Some players we’d like to see get more snaps: TE Josh Whyle, OLBs Trevis Gipson and Caleb Murphy, DL TK McLendon, WRs Colton Dowell and Kyle Philips and OL John Ojukwu.
If Levis doesn’t play, I’d prefer the Titans give the ball to Malik Willis over Tannehill, with the hope that the second-year signal-caller can show enough to improve his stock and potentially garner a late-round pick in an offseason trade. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t bet on Willis being able to do that.
If nothing else, the Liberty product gives Tennessee a better chance to lose, which will help with draft positioning.
Will Titans continue to fight?
The mark of a head coach not losing his locker room is the team continuing to fight, even with nothing to play for in terms of the playoffs.
So far, Vrabel’s squad has done exactly that, but it hasn’t been enough to yield positive results. However, that’s mostly because this team is severely lacking talent on both sides of the ball.
These last two games are especially important for back-of-the-roster guys. Playing well will give them some positive tape going into the offseason and could quite possibly secure them a spot on the Titans’ offseason roster ahead of training camp.
Will Titans play spoiler?
While a win would almost certainly hurt their draft positioning, the Titans would also hurt their division rivals’ playoff chances.
The Texans currently sit in the No. 8 spot in the conference and are tied atop the AFC South with an 8-7 record, although they trail both the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars due to tie-breakers.
One of those tie-breakers is division record, which only makes this game more important for Houston.
