Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports
This season really hasn’t gone how the Houston Texans planned when they started the year. The team signed Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett to quarterback their team with Tom Savage as their third stringer, but they are preparing to start their fourth quarterback in 2015 this upcoming week. After a season-ending injury to T.J. Yates, the team will be starting Brandon Weeden in hopes that he can lead the team to a postseason berth.
Despite lacking any true leadership on offense, the team is currently ahead in the weak AFC South. That said, they definitely need to secure a win this week in order to take pressure off during their Week 17 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Texans are squaring off against the Tennessee Titans this week and they have a really good chance of winning the game. Though the game is in Tennessee, the Titans are relatively banged up and they will be without rookie sensation Marcus Mariota in the game. Zach Mettenberger should do well in his place, but he may not be at his best against Houston’s solid defense. It also will help the Texans’ cause that the Titans are playing for the top pick in the NFL Draft, so they may not put their best foot forward in order to secure the top slot.
The real key to this game will be how Weeden plays for the Texans. He was only recently added to the Texans’ roster, and his track record as a starter isn’t impressive, to say the least. After being a bust for the Cleveland Browns, Weeden started the season with the Dallas Cowboys and was 0-3 before the team released him in favor of a duo of Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore. Weeden has some potential, but he needs to avoid mistakes like he did in relief of Yates when he went 11 of 18 for 105 yards and a touchdown.
At the end of the day, this is going to be one of the most important games of the season for the Texans. They will be without the concussed Hoyer, but they have a chance to put a stranglehold on the division by winning. The Indianapolis Colts will be hard pressed to win two in a row, and if the Texans can win this game, they’ll be in really good shape moving forward.
Jacob Camenker is an NFL Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. You can like him on Facebook here, follow him on Twitter @jacobyhorse, or add him to your network on Google.
