For the first time in franchise history, the Texans could finish with a perfect 6-0 record in AFC South. Despite earning their 2016 division title last week, the Texans still view their final regular season game at Tennessee as one to win.
"You just develop a certain level of confidence in yourself and your teammates when you're on a winning streak like we're on right now, especially in our division," left tackle Duane Brown said Thursday. "To go on the road and lose this game and head into the postseason, just leaves a bad taste in your mouth and we're always trying to improve, especially us on the offensive end. We have a lot we want to clean up and no better time to do it than this week."
Houston has won its last three games, defeating Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and Cincinnati and is in the midst of a ten-game winning streak against AFC South opponents, that dates back to Oct. 18, 2015.
"This is a big, big game for us, a division game," DeAndre Hopkins said. "Even though we already made it to the playoffs, we still want to show our dominance in this division, go undefeated in this division. That's special."
In Week 4, the Texans defeated Tennessee 27-20 with Marcus Mariota under center. This week, Matt Cassel will be the starting quarterback, following Mariota's season-ending surgery for a fractured fibula. While the Titans are a different team than the one the Texans faced on Oct. 2, they will still rely on Pro Bowl running back DeMarco Murray who ranks third in the NFL with 1,266 yards rushing and has scored nine rushing touchdowns.
"Offensively, they are a very difficult team to go against," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "They're committed to running the football, they're a very physical team, they all types of different running schemes that it takes a long time to get ready for. It's going to be very difficult to get ready for them this week. They have a good play-action game. They have a lot of good players at all the positions. Defensively, like I talked about with Coach (Dick) LeBeau, they're a tough team, very tough team."
The Texans, who have locked up the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoff picture, will travel to Tennessee to play the Titans on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. CT on CBS and SportsRadio 610.
Check out the best shots from Wednesday's practice as the Texans prepare for Sunday's game against the Titans.
