Titans-Texans inactives, gameday notes

The inactives are out for today’s game at Reliant Stadium as the Tennessee Titans visit the Houston Texans, and here they are:

HOUSTON TEXANS: LB Kourtnei Brown, ILB Akeem Dent, CB Kareem Jackson, C Greg Mancz, ILB Bernardrick McKinney, FS Rahim Moore, WR Cecil Shorts

TENNESSEE TITANS: CB Perrish Cox, WR Harry Douglas, QB Marcus Mariota, DE Mike Martin, DE Ropati Pitoitua, G Quinton Spain, RB Terrance West

For the Titans, Cox, Douglas, and Mariota were known to be out on Friday, so no surprise there. The other three names are your standbys and players who rarely played when active. The big news items are Jason McCourty plays after being listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, Andy Gallik plays after passing through the concussion protocol, and Sammie Hill makes his season debut. None is a surprise to me, though Joe Looney was announced as the starter at center even though Gallik is up.

For the Texans, Dent, Jackson, Mancz, McKinney, and Shorts were known to be out, so they didn’t have that many decisions to make. J.J. Watt was questionable with a back injury, but everyone always expected him to play, so the Titans were idiots if they thought there was a chance he didn’t play. The one big surprise was safety Rahim Moore, who appears to have been a healthy scratch. He’s a nice single high player, or I thought he was in Denver, but reviews of his play in Houston this year have not been stellar. Jarvis Landry’s long catch and run last week was one of a number of plays where he appeared to take a horrible angle in coverage, and if you can’t provide good support as a single high player, teams start to wonder why they start trotting you out there (or hand you $7 million/year and declare you to be a core player, if you’re Ruston Webster).

We had a pretty good Q&A this week, so refer to Steph Stradley’s answers for an overview of Houston. Brian Hoyer at his best is Ryan Fitzpatrick-like, efficient in the short game and dependent on individuals making plays or scheme to get deep passes. At other times, he’s completely unthreatening and too good at throwing the ball to the wrong team. Arian Foster was still a really good zone runner, and I don’t like any of their other backs that much. The offensive line is healthy outside of Mancz, which is really important. They have to maximize their pieces to move the ball, and the line injuries really screwed them over at times, as Steph indicated. The defense has been incredibly unimpressive, with Romeo Crennel reminding me of why the Chiefs after they parted with him were one of the most obvious candidates for a bounceback ever. This is a good overview of the basic issues, which are multiple and multi-layered. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney are both really talented, and the Texans were good last year, so it wouldn’t shock me if they randomly play really well in any given week. But Brian Cushing can’t run, Dent and McKinney are the next two guys, and it’s possible the  Titans have the three best cover linebackers playing today, which is a thought that should scare everybody.

Key stat from my answers to Steph’s questions: last 22 possessions with Zach Mettenberger at quarterback to start the drive have produced 7 Tennessee Titans points. Yes, the touchdown pass to Kendall Wright last week on the drive that started from the Atlanta 19. I should note that’s just in his starts, so if you throw in the garbage possessions in Tampa Bay and against Miami, the pointless streak is even more impressive. Unless DeAndre Hopkins does amazing things, this has a chance to be a really dull game decided by whichever team makes the most and/or biggest mistakes. And the Texans will be in first place in the AFC South with a win and Colts loss on Monday night!

Yapping on Twitter, recap after the game, snap report Monday, and does it really do my life good to write about this team? Maybe I should try it, just for a change.