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USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mike Moraitis

Titans vs. Texans: Expert picks, predictions for Week 17

The Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans will do battle for the second and final time this season when they meet at NRG Stadium in Week 17 on Sunday.

The first meeting between these two teams saw the C.J. Stroud-less Texans pull off an upset over the Titans at Nissan Stadium, which subsequently eliminated Tennessee from playoff contention for the second straight year.

While we were robbed of a Stroud versus Will Levis showdown in Week 15 after the former sat out due to a concussion, it looks like we’ll get that this time around.

Stroud told reporters on Thursday that he’s cleared the concussion protocol and plans to start. Meanwhile, Levis logged his second full practice in as many days and appeared to be moving well.

Adding even more juice to this game is the fact that the Texans are battling for a playoff spot in the AFC. Houston is sitting in third place in the division due to tie-breaker and owns the No. 8 spot in the conference.

Sportsbooks consider the Texans the favorite to win this game, but do experts from different media outlets think the Titans can pull off an upset? Find out now as we go through our weekly round-up of expert picks and predictions.

USA TODAY

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY’s Week 17 picks

Jarrett Bell: Texans

Chris Bumbaca: Texans

Nate Davis: Texans

Safid Deen: Texans

Tyler Dragon: Texans

Victoria Hernandez: Texans

Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz: Texans

Lorenzo Reyes: Texans

NFL.com

Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

NFL.com’s Week 17 picks

Ali Bhanpuri: Texans

Brooke Cersosimo: Texans

Dan Parr: Texans

Gennaro Filice: Texans

Tom Blair: Texans

CBS Sports

Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

CBS Sports’ Week 17 picks

Pete Prisco: Texans 27, Titans 26 – “The Titans might have Will Levis back for this one, while the Texans will have C.J. Stroud back as well. That would pit the two rookie quarterbacks against each other for the first time. The Texans beat the Titans two weeks ago with Case Keenum at quarterback. It was tight. This will be as well, no matter who plays quarterback for the Titans.”

Will Brinson: Texans

Jared Dubin: Texans

Ryan Wilson: Texans

John Breech: Texans

Tyler Sullivan: Texans

Dave Richard: Texans

Jamey Eisenberg: Texans

Bleacher Report

Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Bleacher Report’s Week 17 picks

Gary Davenport: Texans

Brad Gagnon: Texans

Ian Hanford: Texans

Kristopher Knox: Texans

Maurice Moton: Texans

Wes O’Donnell: Texans

Brent Sobleski: Texans

ESPN

Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN’s Week 17 picks

Stephania Bell: Texans

Matt Bowen: Texans

Mike Clay: Texans

Jeremy Fowler: Texans

Dan Graziano: Texans

Kimberly A. Martin: Texans

Eric Moody: Texans

Jason Reid: Texans

Lindsey Thiry: Texans

Sam Wickersham: Titans

MMQB

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

MMQB’s Week 17 picks

Albert Breer: Texans

Mitch Goldich: Titans

Claire Kuwana: Texans

Gilberto Manzano: Texans

Conor Orr: Titans

John Pluym: Texans

Matt Verderame: Texans

Pro Football Talk

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Pro Football Talk’s Week 17 picks

Mike Florio: Texans

Chris Simms: Texans

The Sporting News

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Sporting News’ Week 17 picks

Vinnie Iyer: Texans 20, Titans 17 – “The Titans will keep showing good fight with Mike Vrabel but the offense just doesn’t have enough juice beyond the run with either QB. They will keep playing tough defense and might get a break with C.J. Stroud uncertain to return from his concussion. Houston will be desperate to grind through a division game to keep its playoff hopes alive with a defensive rebound.”

Bill Bender: Texans 26, Titans 21 – “This is a rematch from a Week 15 matchup the Texans won 19-16, and C.J. Stroud (concussion) could return after a two-game absence. Ryan Tannehill took six sacks last week in his return to the starting job, and the Titans have suffered seven one-score losses this season. We’ll trust the Texans to keep their AFC South hopes alive.”

The 33rd Team

Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY Sports

The 33rd Team’s Week 17 pick

Ryan Reynolds: Texans 27, Titans 20 – “Two weeks ago, the Houston Texans clipped the Tennessee Titans 19-16 with Case Keenum under center. Houston’s defense carried that effort. C.J. Stroud is trending toward making his return this week. He can shred Tennessee’s vulnerable secondary if he gets stable pass protection. Simply put, Houston has several paths to victory in this matchup if Stroud is back.”

Overall expert tally

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Number of experts picking Texans: 47

Number of experts picking Titans: 3

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