Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans
Final Score: Texans 26, Titans 0
Writer: Jason Wolf
“Red Zone? More like Dead Zone!!” — That was a real line that was said by the color commentator in this game. As the game went on, I couldn’t decide which was worse: that pun or the quality of the game. In what might have been the ugliest game of the young NFL season, the already lifeless 0-3 Tennessee Titans were shut out by their 0-3 division rival Houston Texans. The game featured everything you would expect from these two teams at this point in 2025: poor QB protection, sloppy offense, and lack of excitement. Neither offense reached their respective Red Zone until the 6-minute mark in the third quarter. Titans’ K Joey Slye missed two reasonable FG attempts in the first half, and the Texans only mustered seven points through 30 minutes. The good news is for the Texans that CJ Stroud was only sacked twice, and he didn’t record a turnover for just the second time this year. The Texans found some offensive rhythm in the second half, and rookie RB Woody Marks came to life to lead the Texans to a 26-0 win.
Two Up
- Woody Marks– Marks has finally arrived. Though Nick Chubb isn’t completely washed, Marks offers athleticism and explosiveness, which Chubb no longer possesses after all the miles and injuries on his body. It was expected to take a little bit longer, but alas, Marks seems to have finally taken a firm grasp on the majority of backfield opportunities.
- Tyjae Spears – The Titans are desperate for an infusion of talent and playmaking ability. Anything to provide their offense a spark. And with the obvious negative game scripts they will be facing, Spears figures to come in and handle a lot of receiving work from the get-go.
Two Down
- Calvin Ridley -Another week, another disappointing performance from Ridley. It wasn’t quite last week’s horrendous multiple drop, one reception on seven target disaster-class; Ridley was only able to come down with two receptions for 30 yards on three targets. Before you could say he is seeing a promising target share, but now that might not be true either. Without heavy usage, there is not a lot to love about Ridley’s situation.
- CJ Stroud – This isn’t to say that Stroud played poorly or that he looked bad. It’s just that his offensive line is so bad that it is hard to buy into Stroud as a reliable fantasy QB. Even against the lowly, maybe worst team in the league Titans, the Texans’ offense (mostly due to the OL) was anemic through the first half.
Tennessee Titans
Quarterback
Cam Ward: 10/26, 108 Yards | INT
After watching this game (and unfortunately, the other Titans games), my main takeaway is that Cam Ward‘s development and progress as a #1 overall pick and QB is in serious jeopardy as long as he is on this iteration of this team. There is a completely glaring lack of offensive talent and weapons in the skill positions group, and despite this, Ward manages to flash multiple times a game weekly. He made multiple plays in this game where you can see the freak arm talent, athleticism, and mental acumen of Ward clearly on display. One of these moments came on an impressive scramble and throw where he did a good job to evade a sack and then zipped a wicked side-armed throw to fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor. Ward did a fantastic job of rifling the ball into Ayomanor despite the weird angle and delivered the ball right into Ayomanor’s hands. Unfortunately, as has been the case all too often this young season, his teammates let him down, and what should have been a highlight play for Ward ended up being an interception in the box score. There is a lot to like about Ward as a player, and he showed solid competitive spirit in a day where that was clearly lacking from the sidelines to his teammates on the field.
Running Back
Tony Pollard: 14 Carries, 64 yards | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 12 Yards
Tony Pollard finally looks pretty much fully over the injury woes that were plaguing him last year. He looks healthy, and he is once again showing off his underrated blend of power + speed that led him to having a career day in Dallas . He was by far the best offensive weapon for the Titans in this game, running through several arm tackles and hitting the hole hard. He was averaging over 5 YPC despite the negative game script and lack of other efficient offense around him for most of the game, impressive in itself. He fought for every yard and showed off an edge and competitiveness that are clearly otherwise lacking from top to bottom on the team. Pollard’s workload in this game was satisfying, but I am worried for the future with Tyjae Spears coming back as he should be the preferred third-down back over Pollard and should see most of the receiving work out of the backfield as well.
Julius Chestnut: 1 Carry, 0 Yards | 1 Target
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Calvin Ridley: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 30 Yards
Calvin Ridley‘s time in Tennessee has often felt like one giant missed opportunity as he arrived with little to no internal competition for the majority of the target share, and he has done absolutely nothing with the opportunity, even getting less work as his tenure has gone on. His game this week was nowhere near as bad as last week’s in terms of efficiency and drops. However, he was down to a 41% route rate in this game, and his rookie QB does not seem to be making it a point to develop chemistry with the team’s supposed WR1. It feels inevitable that Elic Ayomanor will take over the WR1 in short order, despite efficiency issues of his own. Watching Ridley this season has been an exercise in patience and frustration, and I am sure that’s what fantasy managers with Ridley on their team felt all day today, while Ward was being rushed and targeting his fellow rookie more than the highest-paid WR on the team.
Elic Ayomanor: 7 Targets, 2 Receptions, 44 Yards
While Ayomanor’s target share has been increasing, he is suffering from inefficiency issues, as is the entire offense. Some of the blame for his target:reception ratio can be attributed to the nature of the degree of difficulty of his targets, seeing as he is the only deep ball threat for the offense. He is also a rookie, starting with a rookie QB throwing him the ball, so it’s only reasonable to expect the chemistry and timing with Ward to develop slowly (but hopefully surely) as the season progresses. Every week, his chemistry with Ward is getting better, as evidenced by the trust that Ward has in launching the ball deep down the field Ayomanor’s way. Ayomanor also ran a route on 90% of offensive snaps, second-highest on the team and more than twice as much as Calvin Ridley (41%). Ayomanor did have one unfortunate rookie mistake, which turned an incredible Cam Ward evade and throw into an interception when the perfectly placed side-arm throw hit Ayomanor in the hands and popped up into the air, falling gently into the waiting arms of Derek Stingley. It was a semi-broken play in which Ayomanor did a good job of getting himself open enough, but he has to come down with those kinds of balls.
Chig Okonkwo: 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Nothing was working for the Titans today, and as a result, Chig Okonkwo had by far his worst performance of the year. It was the first time he failed to record multiple receptions. His counting stats have taken a massive hit due to the offense’s struggles and Cam Ward and the Titans’ growing pains. The offense should do a better job of scheming up touches for Okonkwo, however, as he is one of the only playmakers in the receiving group.
Van Jefferson: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 6 Yards
Houston Texans
Quarterback
CJ Stroud: 22/28, 233 Yards, 2 TD | 4 Carries, 11 Yards
Unfortunately for CJ Stroud, poor offensive line play remained a massive issue. Despite scoring 26 (a season high), I came away from this game yet again gravely concerned for the Texans’ season. One play midway through the first quarter, Stroud couldn’t even do a PA fake before he was sacked in the backfield…. Stroud’s back was still turned to the LOS while Jeffrey Simmons was already bringing him down. Either all of the passing game design is centered around quick hitters to compensate for the lack of a solid offensive line, or Stroud is afraid to look downfield because he fears for his life if he does. In the first half, Stroud barely threw the ball past the first down marker, but in the second half, he loosened up, the protection got a little better, and he started to sling it more. I noted that he had a great game in some areas of QB play that he usually doesn’t flash in. For example, he was really quick in getting through his downfield reads. Despite facing pressure, he was able to go through his progressions quickly, and when the downfield options weren’t there, he swiftly found the open man or check down option. Stroud doesn’t usually get compliments for his mental acumen or processing speed, but he really showed improvement in that regard in this one. Granted, it was against the Titans, so we have to take it with a grain of salt for now. Though Stroud did have his best game of the year, I did see another cause for concern, which was the playcalling from first-year OC Caley. The game plan is unimaginative, simple, and boring, and it limits Stroud’s abilities.
Running Back
Nick Chubb: 13 Carries, 47 Yards | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 15 Yards
He had his nicest / biggest run of the day taken away due to a hold by the Texans’ center. This is a microcosm of the offensive problems that the Texans and Chubb face. His stock is down because he relies on a positive game script to get his rushing attempts, and he’s not very active in the passing game at this stage in his career. As the game went on and Marks made more plays, Chubb got the ball less and less. You could almost sense the moment that Marks took the 1A role from Chubb’s arms when he was given the first crack at Red Zone opportunities, which Marks took and ran with, capitalizing on his first for a TD catch. Chubb doesn’t look explicitly washed when you see him run the ball, but Marks looked like the more explosive option today.
Woody Marks: 17 Carries, 69 Yards, TD | 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 50 Yards, TD
Despite the two touchdowns, the 80% catch to target ratio, and the explosive running, the thing that I came away with most impressed with Marks from this game is one of the most fundamental aspects of the game: blocking. Marks was fantastic in pass protection and specifically blitz pickup. He had a highlight-reel block when he picked up Quandry Diggs on the blitz. Things like helping the subpar offensive line to protect Stroud’s blind side are the type of stuff that will keep Marks on the field more and more. As Chubb gets older and loses a step or two, Marks’ athleticism and shiftiness stand out as more apparent and superior. He scored the first TD of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter on an excellently designed play which saw him being schemed wide open and jog in for the easy TD reception. The fact that he was getting run in the RZ + near the goal line is highly encouraging for his usage moving forward. Chubb isn’t necessarily washed, but Marks seems to be the more explosive and spry of the two. His ability to catch balls out of the backfield is a new wrinkle in the offense and deserves to be made part of the bigger weekly game plan.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Nico Collins: 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 79 Yards
When watching Texans games, you get the overwhelming feeling that Nico Collins is quite literally the only skill player that can do any damage in a real way. He’s their only real “weapon” that they look towards to make a play when they need it most, and this game was no different as for the second week in a row, Nico made something out of nothing when he beat his DB down the field and made the biggest play of the day for the Texans, converting on a 2nd & 33(!) when he burned a DB down the field. For the second week in a row, this big play came on the back of a defensive lapse by the DB, but at some point, you have to realize that Stroud + Nico apply that pressure on the defense that forces DBs in these positions sometimes. Fantasy football managers with Nico who watch Texans games can feel what it’s like to be a Texans fan, as every first down, score, and win almost feels like pulling teeth. Without this one big play, Collins would have had a highly subpar game, and the same could be said about last week. He came through on the Texans’ third-quarter drive, which saw them go into the Titans’ Red Zone for the first time all game. Without Collins, the Texans’ offense would legitimately have a claim to be the worst in the entire league.
Christian Kirk: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 20 Yards
Second fiddle to Nico Collins should be a more lucrative position than Kirk makes it out to be; however, he is just not a significant part of the game plan. Partly due to the lack of downfield action the Texans call and partly due to his own shortcomings, Kirk does not appear to be destined to live up to the contract that he is famously signed to.
Xavier Hutchinson: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 17 Yards
Dalton Schultz: 6 Targets, 5 Receptions, 30 Yards
If you’ve seen one Dalton Schultz game, then you’ve seen them all. I could copy + paste the exact thing I wrote about him last week, and it would be 100% accurate for this game too. Schultz is a middle-of-the-field check down merchant, and he will get you no more than 50 yards on 3-6 receptions. Nothing wrong with him as a player, but there is absolutely no new information on Schultz, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Jayden Higgins: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 24 Yards, TD
Only saw one target on the day, but boy did he make it count when he blew by the DBs for a TD strike from Stroud. It was his first career TD catch, and he flashed some impressive downhill speed as he blew by the defenders. The Texans desperately need an infusion of talent and playmaking in their offense, so they should be making it a point to get Higgins more involved with the offense moving forward.