With each succeeding year & the passing of Bud Adams in ‘13, the link to the old Oilers grows fainter, but the Texans & Titans are still division rivals & that makes the annual trip to Nashville an important game. Led by a stalwart defensive effort against the Titans rookie QB Zach Mettenberger & Arian Foster’s 151 yards on the ground, the Texans ended their 3 game skid with a 30-16 win.
With the 5-2 Philadelphia Eagles in town next week & the Texans on their bye the week after that, this was a pivotal game to get back to .500 & sets the stage for the 2nd half of the season. With that said, here are the things learned from this week’s win at Tennessee, which has aptly been named the Pick 6.
Arian Foster is carrying the offense on his back
Make no mistake about it, Arian Foster is having a superb year punctuated by another great performance vs. the Titans. Except for his 1 subpar game vs. the Bills when he was coming off an injury, he has rushed for at least 100 yards in all 
the games he has played this season. Foster finished with 151 yards on 21 carries, highlighted by his 34 yard TD run & another TD on a 1 yard run after he set up the score with a 43 yard burst. He may not wear the Superman cape of his teammate J.J. Watt, but he is an indispensable figure to the Texans offense.
Jadeveon Clowney finally returned to game action
Since the minute he stepped off the field with an injury in the 1st game of the season vs. Washington, everyone has wondered when Jadeveon Clowney would return. After all 
the speculation he would play during the Monday night game vs. the Steelers, he finally returned in Sunday’s game vs. Tennessee.
While his stat line of 1 tackle will not overwhelm anyone, a major hurdle was cleared just seeing him back in action. He has gotten the cobwebs out & can now hopefully be the pass rushing freak he was billed to be as the 1st pick of the ’14 draft.
Texans defense puts forth a strong collective effort
OK, we understand that the Texans were facing a rookie QB in Zach Mettenberger & a Tennessee offense that will 
never be confused with the Greatest Show on Turf, but the defense stepped up & played a strong game. The Texans held the Titans to 36 yards rushing, which prevented them from getting the ground game going & exerted more pressure on Zach Mettenberger to make things happen through the air in his 1st start.
The Texans also managed to hold the Titans to 16% efficiency (2 of 12) on 3rd downs, and forced 2 turnovers. The game was already out of hand when the Titans scored another TD late, so the final score was not indicative of how well the Texans contained the Titans offense.
The Linebacking corps showed some improvement
The Texans linebackers have taken about as much criticism this year as the Presidential Secret Service. Brian Cushing has not looked like himself in 2014, and in fact, was inactive for the game due to his problematic knees.
The linebackers picked up the slack in Cushing’s absence, and gave hope that the Texans might have found something to build upon in the coming weeks. Mike Mohamed led the team with 6 tackles & 2 assists, helping to keep the Titans ground game in check with 2.8 yards a carry. Akeem Dent made his first start with the Texans, and had a solid game with 3 tackles & an assist.
The pass protection cannot be spotty
At this point in the season, the Texans know what they have in their QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. It goes without saying that he is mediocre at best, and cannot be called on to win games. 
That being said, the offensive line has to help him out & give him time to throw.
The offensive line did help to create holes for Arian Foster in the running game, but in passing situations, the group allowed 5 sacks for 34 yards. That cannot continue to happen if the Texans want to make a playoff push, and whether the Texans play Ben Jones or Xavier Sua-filo at left guard, there has to be good chemistry with the unit to avoid breakdowns & protect on passing downs.
The weekly J.J. Watt is superhuman update
Of course it wouldn’t be a Texans post without mentioning J.J. Watt. The defensive lineman had a forced fumble & 
2 sacks, or just another ho-hum day at the office for the NFL MVP candidate. J.J. made his biggest news of the day when he sacked Titans rookie QB Zach Mettenberger, and mocked his penchant for “selfies” by incorporating a “selfie” in his sack celebration.
As J.J said after the game while questioning the rookie’s focus for his 1st start, “It’s just kind of a reminder, this is the National Football League, not high school.”
-R.G. Seal
