Titans - 24
Texans - 21
Whew...this game was a freaking nailbiter. I thought it was going to turn into a laugher when I found myself down 14-0 early, thanks to an Andre Johnson curl pattern where he broke 2 tackles and ran like 70 yards. Then on my possession, I tried running a similar play, but Kenny Britt basically got tackled as the ball was coming in. No help from the zebras. Houston scored again on another big passing play to go up two scores.
The Titans were finally able to put a drive together after that, mixing up the run and pass. Jake Locker found rookie Kendall Wright over the middle, who made a nifty juke to avoid a hit while crossing the goalline. The next few possessions were really the only defense in the game, lol. Tennessee came up with a big interception, that probably would have been a pick 6 if Akeem Ayers wasn't so slow. They gave it right back when Locker tried to force a ball to Kenny Britt. On Houston's next possession, Mark Sanchez was sacked and fumbled the ball, and the Titans recovered near midfield. With less than a minute to go before the half, Tennessee played it safe, and Rob Bironas hit a 52 yard field goal to go into the half trailing 14-10.
The Titans got the ball coming out of the half, and put together an impressive drive, eating up lots of clock, and culminating in a 17 yard TD pass to Nate Washington to give the Titans their first lead of the day. Houston answered right back though with a long drive of their own, and a 1 yard TD run by CJ Spiller. The Nashville crowd then started chanting for the Real CJ to please stand up...and he finally did. Flirting with potential long runs all game, Chris Johnson finally broke one, taking the ball 56 yards for what would end up being the game winning TD with 3:41 left in the game.
On Houston's next possession, surprisingly, the Titans defense forced a 3 and out. The Texans opted to punt the ball with 3:00 left in the game, but Jake Locker and company never gave it back, picking up some big first downs, and running the clock out. This was about as close of a game as you can get, with the Titans gaining 369 yards of total offense, while the Texans had 333 yards. The Titans had 1 turnover and the Texans had 2. And finally, Tennessee went 6/7 on 3rd down, with Houston going 2/3. This was definitely a game of inches, with the difference seemingly being the one turnover (the fumble), which led to Bironas's field goal...which ended up being the difference in the game.
Great game, doc. I gotta say, I was pretty dejected with the early score, feeling like I just didn't have a good enough team to compete with your guys. Andre Johnson was impossible to tackle, Spiller had huge holes opened up for him, and JJ Watt just seemed to destroy my offensive line, and my secondary couldn't cover for shit. I definitely felt fortunate to pull this one out. Glad I was able to though. There's no such thing as a rivalry where one team just wins all the time.
Titans
Jake Locker - 11-19, 166 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT
Chris Johnson - 23 att, 203 yds, 1 TD
Nate Washington - 7 rec, 96 yds, 1 TD
Kenny Britt - 2 rec, 45 yds
Kendall Wright - 1 rec, 13 yds, 1 TD
Kamerion Wimbley - 5 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 1 FF
Akeem Ayers - 1 tackle, 1 TFL, 1 INT
Texans
Mark Sanchez - 8-11, 249 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INT
CJ Spiller - 16 att, 68 yds, 1 TD, 2 rec, 37 yds
Owen Daniels - 4 rec, 121 yds, 1 TD
Andre Johnson - 3 rec, 110 yds, 1 TD
Kareem Jackson - 4 tackles, 1 INT
Connor Barwin - 3 tackles, 2 TFL
