In a season marked by great start after great start, the Titans had another one. The Texans started off red-hot on third downs, converting repeatedly (including on fourth down the one time they didn’t on third down) for a 14-0 lead before the Titans took their third offensive snap (a Zach Mettenberger pass intended for Justin Hunter was intercepted on their second one). DeAndre Hopkins had a couple great catches, and Ryan Fitzpatrick had a couple touchdown passes.
Those themes would continue throughout the game. A play after drawing a pass interference penalty on Blidi Wreh-Wilson with a double move, Hopkins burned the second-year corner for a 58-yard score to make it 24-0 shortly before halftime. He finished with a franchise-record 238 receiving yards and two touchdowns, breaking the previous record set by Andre Johnson against the Titans back in 2008. Johnson himself was mostly held in check, managing seven catches for just 53 yards and getting stripped by Jason McCourty for a fumble return score that cut the deficit to 24-14 in the third quarter before Fitzpatrick found Hopkins for his fourth touchdown pass of the game. He would add two more in the fourth quarter.
Offensively, the story of the game for the Titans may be Zach Mettenberger’s injury. He left in the middle of the third quarter after J.J. Watt crushed him on a screen pass. Postgame he indicated it was a Grade 1 sprain and he expected to play next week; we’ll see what the MRI shows. He had one good possession, capped off by finding Kendall Wright for a 36-yard score to make it 24-7 on the opening possession of the second half. I don’t think Hunter played after halftime and went to a Houston hospital after the game for monitoring of the stomach injury he took on the interception.
After Mettenberger’s injury, Jake Locker took over and showed why Mettenberger was the starter. His first attempt was intercepted. After that: 14-yard sack on third-and-long, three-and-out, fumble-sack, interception, touchdown to make it 45-21 with just over a minute to play after what would have been his third interception was negated by roughing the passer. Um, yeah.
Defensively, about the only bright spot was Arian Foster was held mostly in check, under 100 yards and under five yards per carry. Had the Titans been able to get off the field on third downs, this might have been a more competitive game if they’d done anything on offense. Instead, the Texans went 11-for-17 on third downs. Some of those were short. Others were more like embarrassing defense, including third-and-15 conversion on a bubble screen and third-and-17 on a draw play to Foster. The pass rush, which really emerged against Fitzpatrick in the previous Texans game, was hardly anywhere to be found today, with nary a sack and not much more pressure than that.
Bright spots? Kendall Wright, who had 132 receiving yards including the score and some typically nifty moves in the open field after short throws. The run defense, if only by contrast to what had been happening. Aside from that, I didn’t see many.
Snap report Monday, more content during the week if I can find something actually interesting to write about amidst that dross.
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