‘Every game matters’
Texans try to balance resting players vs. winning in finale against Titans
All of the playoff significance might already be gone for the Texans before they even kick off Sunday afternoon.
The Texans, by having already clinched the AFC South division title, are bound for the playoffs and assured of the fourth seed.
Unless the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs earlier in the day, a victory by the Texans over the Tennessee Titans at NRG Stadium won’t impact their playoff seeding. If that scenario unfolded, the Texans would move up to the third seed.
The motivation of these two division rivals couldn’t be more different. The Titans basically are in a must-win situation, needing to beat the Texans to make the playoffs and earn the sixth seed. They also can earn a playoff berth through more complicated methods such as a tie against the Texans combined with a loss or tie by the Pittsburgh Steelers against the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens, or through a Pittsburgh loss or the Indianapolis Colts losing or tying with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Texans earned the luxury of being able to rest key starters Sunday. That could include abbreviated appearances or entire days off for quarterback Deshaun Watson, who’s dealing with a back injury, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (illness), cornerback Bradley Roby (hamstring) and left offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil (ankle).
This game effectively could act as a mini-bye of sorts for some standouts heading into a likely Saturday afternoon AFC wildcard playoff game against the fifth-seeded Buffalo Bills.
All of the above facts don’t mean the Texans won’t try to win the game. Veteran safety Tashaun Gipson revealed a colorful motivating force one day after Christmas for wanting to beat the Titans.
“If you can crush somebody’s dreams in the process, play Grinch if you will, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Gipson said. “Everybody likes a Grinch a little bit. Since I’ve been here, I understand the importance of beating the Titans. It’s going to be a fun game.
“If we can keep an AFC South foe out of the playoffs, why wouldn’t we want to do that? I understand that they’re fighting for their playoff lives. It’s a beautiful thing to be on this side of the spectrum; 11-5 sounds a lot better than 10-6.”
Regardless of whether every starter plays in the game, the Texans have a chance to build some momentum, enter the postseason on three-game winning streak and finish the regular season with an 11-5 record for the second consecutive year.
The Texans have earned the right to choose how they want to approach this game. They’re not in desperation mode. They’re hoping to fine-tune some details heading into the playoffs.
“I think when you look at what we’ve done, we’ve done what we were supposed to do,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “We’ve done what we were supposed to do up to this point in the season, meaning we’ve we won the division. I think that we need to play well on Sunday. That’d be a good deal for us headed into the following week, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.
“I think you go into every game with some type of plan. I think we all know what this game is about on Sunday. It’s our last regularseason game of a season that I think has been a good season. We won the division, and so we need to go out there on Sunday and compete at a very high level against a really good football team that is coming in here ready to go. We need to be ready to go, so we will. We’ll be ready to go, and I’m sure it’ll be a really good game.”
Watson underscored the situation the way he strikes a balance between throwing and running the football.
It’s a fine line to walk between doing everything possible to win and trying to remain as healthy and fresh as possible heading into a more important game in one week against a relentless Bills defense that features an outstanding group of pass rushers.
“Just finding that momentum, just finding that groove,” said Watson, who, if he doesn’t play, would be replaced by backup A.J. McCarron. “Of course, everyone wants to be healthy, but at the same time, you don’t want to take a week off.
“You don’t want to get exposed. You don’t want to put bad film out there. You’ve just got to continue to play, do your job, do it hard, do it physical, do it safe and try to get the W, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Of course, the Texans only can deactivate seven players on their 53-man roster. They’ve already ruled out wide receiver Will Fuller because of a groin injury.
All of the other players on the injury report with the possible exception of an ailing Hopkins, who didn’t practice Friday, are healthy enough to play.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel, a former Texans defensive coordinator, expects the Texans to have their normal contingent of players on the field Sunday.
“That’s what we are fully expecting, and that’s what we’ll get,” he said. “You’ve only got 53 guys. It’s like you make a decision on seven guys that aren’t going to play and you make them inactive, and you go into the game with 43 players and three specialists — 41 players, two quarterbacks, three specialists.
“So you’ve got 41 guys that you’ve got to go out there and cover kicks and play offense and defense and all those things. Again, it’s not like there’s a hundred guys over there on the sideline like with Ohio State or Alabama or somebody.”
It’s not as if the Texans, except for a defense that forced five turnovers with four interceptions of Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston last week, can’t stand for some improvement.
They’ve been one of the worst first-quarter offenses in the NFL this season.
Watson has thrown five interceptions over the past three weeks after throwing only seven during the first dozen games.
The running game was stonewalled by a stout Tampa Bay defense, and the Texans stubbornly kept running on first down with running back Carlos Hyde despite a lack of productivity.
“We need to get sharper on the practice field and on the game field relative to what we did against Tampa Bay,” O’Brien said. “Our offense has been very productive this year. I think our offense is a very good offense, but we need to do some things better, no doubt about it.”
The Texans have won four AFC South division titles in the past five seasons. They haven’t lost to the Titans at home since a 23-22 defeat on Jan. 1, 2012.
“Every game matters,” Watson said. “As far as the playoffs, the playoffs are what it’s going to be at that time, but you’ve got to go out there and play that game at hand. You’ve got to put the right film on. You got to have the right confidence and the right mentality going out there so you can go out there and play well.
“You want to continue to build on this week to get you prepared for next week. Whatever happens, happens, but at the same time, we’re going to have to focus on that task at hand at 3:30 and try to win that game.”
The Bills close out the regular season against the New York Jets. They’re the fifth seed regardless of the outcome of their game or other contests.
The Texans already have devoted time and resources into scouting the Bills with their pro personnel department and other members of the coaching staff.
“Sure, I think many of us are,” O’Brien said. “I wouldn’t say that I’m in that mode, but I think there’s definitely a certain part of the coaching staff and certain part of the scouting staff that’s looking at possible opponents, which, like you said, with Buffalo locked in as the five seed. Great football team. That’s one of the things that some of our advanced scouts are looking at.”