The Tennessee Titans are just one day away from their final road game of the 2023 season when they travel to Houston to take on the Texans.
The Titans are playing for pride at this point and will try to win their first division game since Oct. 30, 2022, when they beat the Texans, 17-10.
Meanwhile, the Texans are fighting for a playoff spot as they sit in the No. 8 spot in the conference and third place in the AFC South due to tie-breaker.
These two teams met earlier this year, resulting in a 19-16 victory for the Texans. Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud was inactive that day due to a concussion injury he suffered the week prior.
Titans quarterback Will Levis did play, but he suffered an ankle injury late in the game and was unable to finish the contest. He was also forced to miss the Week 16 game against the Seattle Seahawks.
This time around, both teams are set to play both of their talented rookie quarterbacks as they face each other for the first of what could be many intriguing matchups over the next decade.
That is just one of the many individual battles I will be discussing in today’s key matchups article. To get a more in-depth breakdown of the four specific battles I’ll be keeping a close eye on, scroll down below.
QB Will Levis vs. QB C.J. Stroud
Football fans were robbed of this matchup a few weeks back, but barring something dramatic happening, we’ll finally get the first of many Levis versus Stroud division contests on Sunday.
Although these two technically won’t face each other on the field, there’s no denying that everyone will be comparing how each of them did at the conclusion of the game.
Stroud has undoubtedly been the best rookie quarterback thus far, but you could make a strong argument that these two have clearly been the most impressive first-year signal callers.
They both own the two highest overall Pro Football Focus grades when it comes to rookie passers, and they are the only two among the top-four quarterbacks taken in the 2023 draft to earn a grade higher than 60.0.
- Stroud: 81.5 (Texans)
- Levis: 64.9 (Titans)
- Bryce Young: 55.6 (Panthers)
- Anthony Richardson 52.2 (Colts)
Levis and Stroud should have favorable matchups tomorrow afternoon as well.
The Texans enter the weekend owning the 26th-ranked pass defense, but the Titans will actually have to protect Levis, who was sacked seven times in the Week 15 meeting, to take advantage of that.
As for the Titans, their pass defense is ranked 18th, but they’ll also be without a handful of starters along the back end, along with star defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons.
Both quarterbacks missed their last game due to injury, so whichever signal-caller shakes off the rust the fastest will go a long way toward determining the outcome of this game.
Titans RBs vs. Texans’ front-seven
Back in Week 15, the Texans’ front-seven completely stifled the Titans’ running game.
Derrick Henry had the worst outing of his professional career, totaling just nine yards on 16 carries. Tyjae Spears’ day wasn’t much better, either. He only recorded 30 yards on nine carries, with only one reception for seven yards to go with it.
In total, the two of them combined for just 47 total yards on 30 touches (25 carries, five catches). Making matters worse, not having the run game working ultimately limited the overall effectiveness of play-action.
That simply cannot happen again if the Titans want any chance at going on the road and playing spoiler against the Texans.
The Titans’ philosophy revolves around being the more physical team. When that doesn’t happen and the Titans struggle to get the play-action going, they don’t have much of a chance to beat anybody.
Look for the Titans to get these aspects of their offense rolling early and often tomorrow afternoon. If not, we could be in for another long day.
LG Peter Skoronski vs. DL Maliek Collins
The last time these two faced off, it led to arguably the worst outing of Peter Skoronski’s young career. To say the Titans rookie guard struggled would be putting it mildly.
Some of the issues could be blamed on miscommunication between fellow rookie Jaelyn Duncan and himself, but you certainly can’t blame all of his struggles on that.
There were times when Skoronski got physically manhandled by the Collins, subsequently resulting in negative plays for the Titans’ offense. You’d have to imagine that the former unanimous All-American is amped up to prove that game was a fluke more than anything else.
Unfortunately for the Texans, Collins is questionable after not practicing all week long, so that could be a major break for Skoronski and Co. Even if he plays, Collins may not be at 100 percent.
Regardless, Skor needs to get back to playing consistently stout football. He’s had much more of an up-and-down rookie campaign than many of us envisioned, but he’s held his own more often than not and shown flashes of dominance on occasion.
The Northwestern product currently owns the second-highest overall grade among rookie guards, per Pro Football Focus.
If the Titans are going to pull off the upset, they’re going to need their first-round pick to make his presence felt in the run game, while also not serving as yet another offensive lineman who struggles in pass protection.
More importantly, if Collins does end up playing, Skoronski has to find a way to win that individual matchup this time around after the veteran defensive lineman tallied 1.5 sacks in Week 15.
Otherwise, the Texans’ defense will inevitably make life miserable for the Titans’ offense.
WR DeAndre Hopkins vs. CB Derek Stingley
Cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. has had an outstanding sophomore campaign in the NFL. The LSU product enters Week 17 owning the 10th-highest overall grade at his position (81.1).
Stingley has become a true No. 1 cornerback, developing into a stingy defender in coverage who also possesses fantastic ball skills. The LSU product has already recorded five interceptions on the year, all of which occurred within the last six weeks.
This week, he gets another chance to face off against a former franchise legend that he held in check the last time they played. Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins accounted for just two catches for 21 yards in their first meeting despite being targeted nine times.
Hopkins is on the verge of recording his first 1,000-yard season since 2020, and the seventh such campaign of his legendary career. The Clemson legend only needs 61 receiving yards to accomplish this feat, and you can imagine that he would love to reach this personal milestone in the same building where he used to dominate on a weekly basis.
Only time will tell who ends up winning this individual matchup between a young star and future Hall of Famer, but whoever comes out on top will help to put their team in position to leave Week 17 with a victory.
