PLAYER NOTES
–RB David Fluellen missed Wednesday’s practice with the knee injury he sustained against New England. Fluellen is likely to miss multiple weeks of practice and games with the injury.
–QB Marcus Mariota was limited to individual work on Wednesday as he recovers from a stinger in his throwing arm that caused him to leave Sunday’s loss to the Colts late in the first half.
–WR Taywan Taylor, who has missed the past two games with a foot injury, was back at practice on Wednesday for the Titans.
–RB Derrick Henry, who had success in the wildcat formation when QB Marcus Mariota was out for the first meeting vs. the Texans, has been doing more with less of late. He has lost playing time to Dion Lewis, who has become more of the every-down back. But Henry now has 404 yards on 110 carries, to 424 on 122 rushes for Lewis. Henry leads the club in rushing touchdowns with four.
–WR Corey Davis has an outside shot at 1,000-yards receiving if he can have a couple of big games down the stretch. Davis has 45 catches for 606 yards through 10 games.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: RT Jack Conklin. Conklin, an All-Pro as a rookie in 2016, has not quite been the same player since returning from ACL surgery in January. The question has been asked if Conklin’s issues are more due to just being 10 months removed from major surgery, and missing all of training camp and the offseason while rehabbing, or if his dropoff in production (along with most of the rest of the line) is more a product of a new offensive system that might not be quite as good a fit.
GAME PLAN: The Titans used trickery to beat the Texans the first time, in what was considered a pivotal game in Week 2. The Titans resorted to trick plays, including a fake punt TD, to win without Marcus Mariota. They hope to have Mariota this time, even though he is coming off yet another injury, this one a stinger. If so, they have to be able to have some balance in the offense and get some chunk plays. The Titans have just 33 chunk plays this season, second lowest in the league. The Texans defense will no doubt give the Titans some trouble with the pass rush, especially with Jadeveon Clowney back after he missed the first game. Defensively, the goal is to slow down DeAndre Hopkins in the passing game, but they will also have to deal with a Texans running game that has suddenly become efficient since the first meeting between the two.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Titans CB Logan Ryan vs. Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins. Ryan could draw Hopkins a good part of the day. He did a decent job on him the first time around. The question is how much do the Titans want to devote safety Kevin Byard over the top as help to guard against Hopkins taking advantage of a one-on-one matchup.
–Titans interior OL vs. Texans DE J.J. Watt. Since Watt likes to line up all up and down the line, chances are he will surface somewhere on the interior to try and take advantage of Titans C Ben Jones and Gs Quinton Spain and Josh Kline, who have been inconsistent at times this season. If Watt finds a matchup he likes, how will the Titans adjust in-game to combat a player who has been a game-wrecker against them many times in the past?
