Titans vs. Texans Week 17 Prediction
The Titans need to beat the Texans to clinch the sixth and final playoff seed in the AFC. With Houston resting most of its starters, is Tennessee a safe play as a big favorite?
Game Snapshot
101 Tennessee Titans (-9) at 102 Houston Texans (+9); O/U 43.5
4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday, December 29
NRG Stadium, Houston, TX
According to our NFL Public Betting Chart page, the Texans are drawing 56% of the betting tickets ahead of tonight’s game.
Tennessee Titans Fantasy Spin
Derrick Henry (hamstring) wasn’t listed on the Titans’ final injury report. Henry will suit up for the Titans’ season-defining matchup against the Texans. He’ll likely be fed all the touches his gimpy hamstring can handle. Ryan Tannehill has attempted just 29, 33, 39, 19, 18, 22, 27, 36 and 27 passes in his nine starts this season. The Titans’ workhorse back doesn’t seem to be close to 100 percent at the moment, but it’s still unlikely too many Texans defenders will be too eagle to tackle Henry come Sunday.
Houston Texans Fantasy Spin
The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson reports DeAndre Hopkins (illness) is not expected to play in Week 17 against the Titans. He’ll reportedly join Deshaun Watson (back), Will Fuller (groin), LT Laremy Tunsil, and CB Bradley Roby in resting for Houston’s regular season finale. There’s an outside chance coach Bill O’Brien changes his approach at 4:25p EST if the Chiefs somehow fall to the Chargers at home — opening the door for Houston to meaninglessly snatch the AFC’s No. 3 seed — but rest is obviously getting prioritized initially with the team’s Wild Card berth right around the corner. It remains to be seen whether A.J. McCarron will make his first start since 2015 with Kenny Stills (hamstring) at his disposal.
Tennessee
The Titans are winless against the spread in their last five games played at NRG Stadium and are 4-12-1 against the number in their last 17 games versus the Texans overall.
Houston
The home team is 6-1 against the spread in the last seven meetings between these two teams.
NFL Week 17 Prediction
The Texans might hang with the Titans for a half but eventually Tennessee should start to pick up steam and roll in the second half. The Texans aren’t playing most of their offensive starters in preparation for their wild card matchup next weekend and without Watson and Hopkins, Houston doesn’t stand much of a chance. All of the value has been sucked out of the line here, but I still like the Titans to win by 10-plus. If they can’t knock off Houston’s backups, then Tennessee has bigger issues.
NFL WEEK 17 PREDICTION: TENNESSEE TITANS -9