Houston Texans Vs. Tennessee Titans 8:30pm on ESPN
After going 7-1 with my first 8 picks, starting with a (4-0) sweep in week 10 and following that up with a (3-1) showing in Week 11- Here is my analysis and pick for Monday night.
The Houston Texans enter this game fresh off their bye week and are in hot pursuit of the best record in franchise history, which is not as prestigious when your franchise has never had a .500 record. The Texans currently sit at 5-4 and although there are many question marks on both sides of the ball, they have an extremely dangerous and explosive offense even with the absence of emerging TE Owen Daniels. Matt Schaub is in the midst of a career season and is clicking on all cylinders with All-pro WR Andre Johnson, while also spreading the ball around to his solid group of secondary receivers in Kevin Walter, and Jacoby Jones. On the other side of the ball, the defense is improving but still would not intimidate anyone in the NFL and they will have a daunting task ahead of them, by having to contain the NFL’s leading rusher, Chris Johnson.
On the other hand, you have the Titans who started the season 0-6 with Kerry Collins at the helm. Since that horrendous start, Collins has been replaced by former first round pick Vince Young and the offensive scheme is now run almost exclusively through Chris Johnson. At this point in the season, you are looking at the best 3-6 football team in the league and by all accounts are the same team that went 13-3 in 2008. With Vince Young now managing this offense and not trying to win games all by himself, Tennessee is suddenly very dangerous to play every week. Now that the defense is also playing similar to last season, this is a team that could conceivably run the table and finish at 10-6 if things fell their way.
This game will come down to if the Texans can deal with the wear and tear throughout the game of the Titans offensive line pounding away at them. The Titans will not abandon the run if it does not work early, they will continue to pound away at the Texans and mix in plenty of play-action fakes. At the end of the day the overall wear and tear on this defense will be too much for the Texans to handle. Look for Vince Young to play well but he will not win this game on his own by any means and the game will be shortened by the Titans running game, preventing Schaub from spending too much time on the field. The mess in the Texans backfield will not help matters, as Steve Slaton recently regained his starting job after losing it to journeyman and former Eagle, Ryan Moats because of a fumbling problem. This game will be at least be worth watching, unlike the pitiful game that the NFL put on primetime last week between the Browns and the Ravens. Take the Titans on the road in this contest plus the points.
Tags: career season, explosive offense, Football, franchise history, Houston, houston texans, jacoby jones, kerry collins, matt schaub, Monday Night, monday night football, Tennessee, tennessee titans, vince young
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