NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans have a very low bar for showing improvement in their rematch with the Houston Texans after being shut out the last time these AFC South Division rivals met.
“We’ve definitely got to score more points,” said Tennessee interim coach Mike McCoy, who was still a senior offensive assistant when the Titans lost 26-0 in Houston on Sept. 28. “That’s a given.”
Tennessee (1-8) also has a chance to hurt the Texans (4-5), the two-time reigning division champions, when they visit Nissan Stadium on Sunday. Houston is trying to sweep the regular-season series, post a fifth straight win in Nashville and push its record to .500 for the first time this season.
Not that Texans coach DeMeco Ryans sees it that way. He just wants to win.
“That’s the most important thing,” Ryans said. “Really don’t care about … It’s just can we win a football game?”
Tennessee, which fired second-year head coach Brian Callahan after a 1-5 start this year, is a loss away from cinching the franchise’s fourth straight losing season. The Titans come off their open date as the NFL’s lone one-win team and could be picking No. 1 overall for a second straight draft next April if their skid continues.
There is also the simple matter of pride. Until the loss in Houston earlier this season, Tennessee’s offense hadn’t been held scoreless since Oct. 13, 2019 — and the Texans hadn’t shut out an opponent since 2010.
“I mean, it’s embarrassing to not be able to score points,” Titans tight end Chig Okonkwo said.
The Texans are coming off a 36-29 division win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that was the second-largest comeback in the history of the franchise, which debuted in 2002. Backup quarterback Davis Mills filled in with C.J. Stroud in the concussion protocol to help Houston score the most points in a fourth quarter in franchise history.
With the Indianapolis Colts (8-2) atop the AFC South, Houston is busy trying to catch the Jaguars (5-4) and the AFC West’s Kansas City Chiefs (5-4) in the chase for the AFC’s seventh and final playoff berth with the regular season now in its second half. The Texans will be without Stroud for a second straight game after he got hurt early in the second quarter of a loss to the Denver Broncos on Nov. 2, when the third-year pro scrambled for 6 yards and was hit on the shoulder near the end of his slide by Kris Abrams-Draine before the back of the quarterback’s head violently bounced off the ground.
Mills is in his fifth NFL season and started 26 games combined for the Texans in his first two before returning to the starting lineup for the first time since 2022 last week.
Tennessee is struggling to score so much that even its defense and special teams outdid the offense in a 27-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers before the open date, pushing the Titans’ current losing streak to four games. Tennessee’s offense failed to reach the end zone in that game — the home team’s points came from an interception return, a punt return, a pair of field goals and the extra-point kicks for the two nonoffensive touchdowns — and the Titans could not protect a 14-7 lead.
The Titans are dead last in the NFL this season when it comes to scoring, managing a mere 14.4 points a game. Even with help from linebacker Cody Barton and rookie returner Chimere Dike in the most recent game, Tennessee has only 11 touchdowns. That’s four fewer than the next-closest teams in the league, the Las Vegas Raiders and the New Orleans Saints.
How the Titans fare again rests heavily on rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 draft pick who has started all nine games this season despite being sacked 38 times. He has thrown for 1,760 yards, yet has more interceptions (six) than touchdown passes (five).
Ward took time during the off week to scout himself for where he needs to improve, and he said completing the easy plays is one way he can improve while helping the offense do the same. And his confidence also remains high with eight games still on the schedule.
“We can turn the season around with one week,” Ward said.
The Titans will have to step up their protection to make that happen.
Houston’s Ryans, a former linebacker, said he was happy he never played quarterback when asked about what opponents face with the Texans’ 1-2 punch of defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. Ryans also is happy not to have to figure out how to deal with such a tandem.
“Will and Danielle, they’re definitely a scary force on the edge and two of the best edge rushers in the league,” Ryans said. “We’re blessed to have both of those guys as rushers on our team.”
Hunter leads the team with 7 1/2 sacks, and Anderson is second with seven. Hunter is coming off one of the best games of his 10-year pro career as he had four tackles for loss and tied a career high with 3 1/2 sacks and forced a fumble against the Jaguars, leading to him being honored as the AFC defensive player of the week.
As for Houston’s offense, the Texans have been impressed by the work of rookie fourth-round pick Woody Marks as he takes on a bigger role with veteran running back Joe Mixon out all season with a foot injury.
Marks had 14 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown plus two caches for 18 yards in the win over Jacksonville.
He has started just one game this season while behind Nick Chubb on the depth chart, but Marks ranks second on the team with 304 rushing yards and also has 183 receiving yards.
“He’s gotten better every single week, (and) not just as a runner,” offensive coordinator Nick Caley said. “Obviously, you can catch the ball, but blitz pickup, he’ll put his face on guys and be physical. That’s a big part of what we ask those guys to do. So it’s just a complete package, and continuing to get better and learning from things as we go.”