Houston Texans @ Tennessee Titans. 12/1. Noon. **Official GameDay Thread**

[ThaShark316]

Man, **** THE TITANS

The Houston Texans are trying to overcome mounting absences as they near another playoff appearance and a franchise milestone, while the Tennessee Titans have made a coordinator change while attempting to keep their slim postseason hopes alive.

The Texans can clinch their second straight playoff berth with a win or tie Sunday when they visit Tennessee, where they've won two of the last three meetings.

A win would also give Houston (10-1) 11 victories for the first time in franchise history. As good as the Texans have been - winning five straight to maintain the AFC's best record - injuries continue to add up and the squad has needed overtime to scrape by mediocre teams each of the last two weeks.

Houston's sixth-ranked defense, which allows 319.7 yards per game, has seen its linebacking corps in particular come under siege. Brooks Reed will miss time with a groin injury suffered in the team's 34-31 win in Detroit on Thanksgiving, and Bradie James is also out with a hamstring injury.

All-Pro linebacker Brian Cushing was already lost for the season to a knee injury Oct. 8. The 458 yards allowed to Jacksonville two weeks ago and the 525 given up to the Lions are the two highest totals yielded by Houston this season.

"I'm concerned about the health of our team right now," said coach Gary Kubiak, who will also be without cornerback Johnathan Joseph (hamstring). "But that's part of this business this time of year, so we've got to figure out a way to be as good as we can be on Sunday. It's something we've got to deal with."

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What I want to see:

Time to unleash Foster

..."but Sharkdizzle, we use him all the time!!!" That's not what I meant. What I meant was this: Screens, dump offs, passes in the flat, you name it. Time to get Arian involved in the passing game more and in space. 13 receptions in the last 3 games, but only 45 yards.

Bottle up Chris Johnson (Welcome back, Shaun Cody)

Having Cody back will help when it comes to this matter. Don't let this chump get to running wild and allowing the Titans to gain any confidence. Turn him back into the CJ1K from 2011.

Jump on these clowns early

We haven't ran away from any opponent in basically a month. Time for that to change. Make the Titans weep early like the sorry sacks of you-know-what that they are.

TIME. TO. CLINCH.

Sure it's only a playoff berth and that's not the only thing these boys are striving for, but it IS indeed the first step. With that said, time to get it done and what better team to do it against than the BESF Titans.

That mini-bye is over, fam! Time to get back to work. We've all been waiting patiently after those last two nail-biting finishes, so that break was needed! Time for Baddest Men Alive to take care of business. Y'all know the rules and the goal: 1-0 EVERY WEEK. Nothing has changed. Let's go into Nashville, get win #11, clinch a playoff berth and move on to next one. LET'S MUTHA****IN' GO, TEXANS!!!!

[Showtime100]

Awesome start as always, Shark.

[SAMURAITEXAN]

Yep, let's go Texans!!!

[Kthx]

The gameday thread is a good thing to see, it tells me to go to f'n sleep already :P

11-1 tomorrow.

[Ryan]

I want a repeat of last season @Ten, which was just a royal ass beating of a lifetime. One of the funnest games I watched as a Texans fan.

[76Texan]

You're doing good, Shark.

Here's to another win for the Texans.
Let's clinch that biatch

[kiwitexansfan]

Got some starters out so Next Man Up is in effect tomorrow.

Trusting the team will come out refreshed and with what has been ailing the D put right.

[TheMatrix31]

We can clinch a playoff spot, so let's clinch a playoff spot.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Despite our decimated D, they are 6.5 point favorites (from just 4.5 a few days ago).

If we don't want to see an upset, Wade will have to pay a little more attention to and find a way to disrupt the Titans passing game. I say this because the Titans' new coordinator Dowell Loggains is a former QB coach and has now been said to have specifically simplified the gameplan for Jake Locker in an effort to create more big downfield plays. We better figure out a ways get out pass rush going.......and not leave our CBs on an island without a safety over the top.

[Thorn]

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

We can clinch a playoff spot, so let's clinch a playoff spot.

Yep. Let's do it. Today.

Go Texans!!!

[SheTexan]

Well, I'm worried, but, being the homer that I am, I think we will pull this one off. Sometimes our old foes just give us a bad time, and our D is bummed up! Close game!

35-31

[MistaRed]

Clinch a playoff spot and set a new team record for wins in a season....let's do it!

[GregR]

If the Texans need to turn to Foster more heavily in the passing game I'm of course fine with them doing so. But it doesn't really worry me that Foster isn't utilized this year like he has been in the past.

Texans just haven't needed to use Foster for so many dump offs and screens. The protection has been there and Schaub has been even more comfortable in the pocket, enough to go through his progressions so he's seldom reaching a point that it becomes time to dump it off. One thing that I've thought a few times this year is that Schaub seems to be showing better pocket awareness than in the past. No one will ever call him fleet of foot, but I think he is doing a better job sliding up or to the side and away from pressure. I used to clench when I'd see pressure coming, already in my mind picturing the sack-fumble to come. I've noticed I don't have that reaction as much now, as Schaub's play has given me more confidence he'll elude the pressure long enough to get rid of the ball.

Interested to see what the Titans passing game looks like now. I'm sure I wasn't the only Texans fan who was ecstatic to see when Chris Palmer was hired as their Offensive Coordinator, and not the only one sad to see him go. In addition to an inability to fix the small details his teams get wrong, I think his passing scheme is a poor one for young quarterbacks. Receiver's routes are dictated by what the defense does and there may be 3 or 4 different routes a lone receiver is supposed to run based on the coverage. Too much room for the QB and receiver to not be on the same page. All teams have some option routes, but Palmer's scheme takes it too far.

I think we'll see an improvement from the Titans passing game in that regard, so hopefully we'll be able to get pressure and not give them time take advantage of it. Britt, Wright and Washington are a solid group of receivers... and this new coordinator might actually use Jared Cook at tight end as much as he should be... the lack of opportunities for Cook was one of those head scratchers in the Palmer era. I still think their O-line play is a weakness though, so hopefully our D can exploit that and get pressure.

[ThaJokaa]

Football and Calculus HW today, imma have fun

[Tailgate]

This game has that blue collar, work hard, slug through, and get the job done feel to it.

Then the real job begins next Monday night.

[devo-x]

Perhaps Locker will throw to our DBs instead - I hope its a good game without any injuries to advance to 11-1!

[steelbtexan]

Buck Fud and Possum Holler

Go Texans

[Playoffs]

-- Texans Week #13 Inactives --
-- Sun Dec 2, 2012 --

ESPN reports today's Houston Texans inactive players include: OG Antoine Caldwell, LB Brooks Reid, CB Alan Ball, LB Bradie James, OT Derek Newton, CB Johnathan Joseph, and WR DeVier Posey.

[ThaJokaa]

Get your brooms out. Time to sweep the Titans!

[GregR]

So while sitting around waiting for the game to start, a good time to pop over to the Texans website and cast a few ballots for Pro Bowl. We need to get Duane Brown in as a starter, and last I heard Troy Polamalu was leading at strong safety despite only playing a couple of games this year, so we need to get Quinn in there.

http://www.houstontexans.com/fan-zon...llot-2013.html