In the days leading up to the Titans’ game at Houston on Sunday, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed made an interesting choice.

Asked in the locker room about the challenge of facing the Texans’ Nico Collins, Sneed responded by twice asking “Who?” as if he’d never heard of Houston’s Pro Bowl receiver, who’d totaled a combined 148 catches, 1,303 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns over the past two seasons.

Collins responded by saying, “You can talk all you want. I’m not hearing it. Just line that shit up.”

Collins then lined it up and embarrassed Sneed during the Titans’ 26-0 loss to Houston at NRG Stadium, catching four passes for 79 yards while being covered primarily by Sneed.

The big catch came midway through the third quarter, when the Titans (0-4) were only trailing 6-0. Houston (1-3) faced second-and-33 from its own 18-yard line after back-to-back penalties followed by a tackle for loss.

But with the Texans faced with a seemingly impossible situation, Collins simply ran straight past Sneed down the left sideline, catching a 37-yard pass for a shocking first down.

Houston scored its first touchdown seven plays later and took a 12-0 lead early in the fourth quarter.

“It’s all good,” Sneed told reporters afterward. “We all get beat. [Collins] gets paid like I get paid. Shout out to him. He’s a great player.”

Speaking of getting paid, the Titans gave Sneed a four-year, $76.4 million contract extension after acquiring him from Kansas City — for a 2025 third-round pick and a late-round 2024 pick swap — prior to the 2024 season.

Sunday’s contest marked just the ninth game in a Titans uniform for Sneed over two seasons, and he hasn’t come close to finding the shutdown form he displayed for the Chiefs in 2023.

His struggles Sunday were only magnified by what he’d said about Collins during the week.

“When you talk, you got to back it up,” Titans coach Brian Callahan said of Sneed. “Didn’t do that today. That’s a decision a guy makes, and he’s got to live with that, too. That’s on them. If they want to talk, then you got to back it up.”

The 37-yard reception to Collins wasn’t the only time Sneed came up short against the Texans.

On Houston’s very first series, Sneed’s illegal contact penalty negated a Cody Barton sack.

One series later, Sneed appeared to be playing a different formation than his teammates in the secondary, per CBS analyst Ross Tucker, and a wide open Collins posted a 22-yard catch as a result.

In the fourth quarter, Sneed appeared to be the closest defender to a wide open Christian Kirk, after Kirk hauled in a 12-yard reception to convert a third-and-9 situation. Houston would make it 19-0 three plays later.

But the 37-yard reception was the hardest to swallow.

“You can’t give up those plays in those spots,” Callahan said. “You’re playing [against an offense] way behind the sticks. That should be advantage [to the] defense, and then you got to make those plays.

“You earned that spot, and to give that up was disappointing. You get them in spots like that and give up big plays, that’s not going to win many football games for you.”