NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Houston coach DeMeco Ryans is balancing the need to keep his Texans healthy for their AFC wild-card playoff game against the desire to knock off rust after a long break leading into Sunday\u2019s regular-season finale.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Houston (9-7) is in the midst of an 11-day break since being embarrassed 31-2 by Baltimore on Christmas Day
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Receiver Diontae Johnson is expected to make his debut for Houston Sunday after being picked up last week following his release by the Ravens
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Johnson played four games for Baltimore after a trade from Carolina before being suspended for refusing to enter a game and then being released on Dec. 20
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The Titans have planned all season to wear their Oilers throwback uniforms Sunday against the team that replaced them in Houston<\/p>\n
A little good mojo certainly would help going into the postseason. The Texans also have lost two straight since clinching a second straight AFC South title.<\/p>\n
Houston (9-7) is in the midst of an 11-day break since being embarrassed 31-2 by Baltimore on Christmas Day. Beating the Tennessee Titans on Sunday would help the Texans work on some issues before they host a wild-card game as the No. 4 seed. Ryans says he\u2019s planning to play his starters, though he wouldn\u2019t say for how long.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see how the game goes,\u201d Ryans said.<\/p>\n
The Titans (3-13) are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Playoff hopes officially ended Dec. 8 with a loss to Jacksonville, and Tennessee has lost five straight. The Titans currently are set to receive the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft next April. A loss combined with a win by New England over Buffalo would put Tennessee at No. 1 overall for the first time since 2016.<\/p>\n
First-year coach Brian Callahan is busy trying to help his team improve and hasn\u2019t thought about the idea of a lottery keeping NFL teams from tanking for better draft spots. He called it an interesting question that would be better addressed in the offseason. Two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said his job is trying to win games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going out there with a lose mentality for the draft,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThat\u2019s out of my control and what we do and who we go get in the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musical quarterbacks<\/p>\n
The Titans benched second-year quarterback Will Levis after his four turnovers led to 24 points in a loss to Cincinnati on Dec. 15. Veteran Mason Rudolph started the last two games, yet he couldn\u2019t help Tennessee snap a skid that is now seven of eight, including a 20-13 loss last week in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
The lone win? Levis started a 33-27 victory on Nov. 24 at Houston, which gives the Titans at least the chance to sweep the Texans. Combined with how Levis has handled himself since being pulled, he earned his 12th start when Callahan announced Friday that Levis will start. It gives him a last chance to stop turning the ball over before Tennessee decides this offseason what to do at quarterback. Callahan plans to announce his starter late this week.<\/p>\n
Levis is just happy for another chance and for his last pass at Nissan Stadium not to be a pick-6.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I\u2019m trying to do is play quarterback the best that I can, and it\u2019s a good opportunity to try to end the season on a good note,\u201d Levis said.<\/p>\n
New face<\/p>\n
Receiver Diontae Johnson is expected to make his debut for Houston Sunday after being picked up last week following his release by the Ravens. The Texans needed depth at the position after Tank Dell followed Stefon Diggs to the injured list with his season-ending knee injury on Dec. 21.<\/p>\n
Johnson played four games for Baltimore after a trade from Carolina before being suspended for refusing to enter a game and then being released on Dec. 20. He has 4,726 yards receiving in a six-year career that started in Pittsburgh. Ryans isn\u2019t worried about his history.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I mentioned to him, of course it\u2019s a clean slate starting with me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really doesn\u2019t matter what has happened in the past or what the narrative is about you. You come here and everything is a fresh start and so we\u2019ll see how he can help us, what he can add to our team on the field and off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oilers throwbacks<\/p>\n
The Titans have planned all season to wear their Oilers throwback uniforms Sunday against the team that replaced them in Houston. The throwbacks feature the light blue and red that the Texans have incorporated into their color scheme with Houston fans unhappy that the late Bud Adams took everything connected to the Oilers and their history with him to Tennessee in 1997.<\/p>\n
Simmons can\u2019t wait to play in the throwbacks and wants to represent the former players who wore those uniforms for the franchise. He also knows the Texans would love nothing more than to hand the Titans a loss while wearing those uniforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a bumpy season and being able to close this year out in them uniforms I think, you know, it\u2019ll be a better way to go out,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Houston coach DeMeco Ryans is balancing the need to keep his Texans healthy for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[12606,1615,2910,9819,229,7,221,253,2368,88,6,11374,20889,9,222,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-232125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-app-professional-sports","9":"tag-app-sports","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-austin","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-texans","16":"tag-houstontexans","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-professional-football","20":"tag-san-antonio","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-texans","23":"tag-texas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114907821223021908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}