Safe move
With their playoff fate sealed before kickoff, several rest for regular-season finale
» AFC South champs rest several starters in interest of health.
The Texans’ personnel strategy Sunday extended far beyond their meaningless regular-season finale against the Titans.
It was built around trying to have as many key players get as healthy as possible for a much more important football game: the Texans’ upcoming AFC wild card playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.
That meant resting three Pro Bowl players — quarterback Deshaun Watson, left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins — along with cornerback Bradley Roby, wide receiver Kenny Stills, defensive lineman D.J. Reader and linebackers Benardrick McKinney and Jacob Martin.
It was all about achieving maximum health heading into the playoffs.
The Texans started backup quarterback A.J. McCarron, who ran for one touchdown and threw one interception during a 35-14 defeat at NRG Stadium that didn’t impact their playoff seeding.
“The most important thing when we get to this part of the season is the health of the team,” safety Justin Reid said. “So everyone’s got to have the opportunity to be able to get healthy and be back for next week. That’s what is most important.”
The Texans were locked into the fourth seed as soon as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers in a game decided before the Texans’ 3:25 p.m. kickoff. Days before the game, though, the Texans had already started making plans about who to rest and who to play.
“I just feel like we always try to make decisions in the best interests of the team,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “Basically, once we were getting closer to the beginning of the game, it was pretty obvious that our seeding wasn’t going to change.”
Watson (listed as questionable with a back injury) and Hopkins (illness, questionable) were active but didn’t play. Both will play against the Bills, though, as will Tunsil (ankle), Roby (hamstring) and the majority of the other injured players. The biggest injury question mark for the Buffalo game is wide receiver Will Fuller, who has a groin injury.
“I think it’s very big, very, very important,” Roby said. “Going into the playoffs, everything is about health. A lot of times, teams go into the playoffs bangedup and they can’t perform the way they want to, so that rest is key. The fact that we were able to do that, I think it will help.”
The Titans’ win sent them into the playoffs as the sixth seed, and they’ll face the New England Patriots on the road. This marked the Titans’ first road win against the Texans since Jan. 1, 2012.
Titans running back Derrick Henry pounded the Texans’ depleted defense, which gets star defensive end J.J. Watt back for the playoff game. Henry rushed for 211 yards and three touchdowns, including a 53-yard score. He is the NFL rushing champion with 1,540 yards and 16 touchdowns.
“They ran the ball pretty well,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t stop the run good enough. They hurt us pretty good with the run, so we’ve got to get back to work on that.”
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill passed for 198 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown four times for 124 yards and one score.
The Texans plan to move Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player
of the Year, from the injured reserve-designated to return list to the active 53-man roster this week. Watt returned to practice last week.
“We kind of built him up throughout the week,” O’Brien said. “He did a little individual in the beginning, and then he was able to take some practice reps during the week. He’s on the way, and we’ll make a determination on that at some point next week.”
McCarron completed 21 of 36 passes for 225 yards and no touchdowns for a 65.2 passer rating.
A former Cincinnati Bengals third-round draft pick who won a national title at Alabama, McCarron led the Texans on their first opening-drive touchdown of the season.
“Man, was it fun getting out there playing,” McCarron said. “I was just trying to have fun, so I was literally having a blast. I know there’s things we did wrong and we can get better at, but I thought for that group, to really not play together all year and go in and do what we did, I thought it was awesome. I felt like a kid again. I just wanted to have fun, try to compete my tail off and give us a chance.”
When the Texans are hosting the Bills on Saturday, they’ll have a fuller contingent of players, and they’ll have the advantage of playing at home.
“It is a great opportunity, especially to start at home,” said Roby, who earned a Super Bowl ring with the Denver Broncos. “The playoffs and home-field advantage is big. Those games, every play matters. Hopefully, it’s going to be crazy.
“We’re looking at the rosters, and we feel that we match up. We don’t feel like there is a team that we play that we can’t match up with. This is about executing. We’re going to iron out all of the mistakes, all the details, and bring our ‘A’ game.”