NFL Prediction: Titans To Be The Texans

So kickoff from Nashville is quick approaching, and perhaps it's time for me to give some thoughts on the Texans/Titans match-up. Texans' expert John McClain predicts a Titans win, but only by a score of 19-13. Of course, McClain also didn't anticipate last week's debacle, and he was one of those pushing the Texans are a good football team meme -- along, of course it seems, with most of his colleagues at the Chron.

The Titans possess several things which give the Texans problems. A good coach. A great running game. A very good defense.

The Texans can't stop good running teams. No matter what they try, nothing works. And for the most part, when the Texans put everybody up front to stop the run, teams kill them with the pass, and the Titans are good enough to kill them with the passing game. But I wouldn't expect the Titans to abandon the running game right away and I would expect Chris Johnson and LenDale White to run all over the Texans. The Steelers had trouble stopping the Titans running game, and the Steelers have a good defense, so I think it's a pretty hopeless task for the Texans.

Steve Slaton has had some luck with running the football against the Titans. But if the line is as crappy today as it was last week, well, forget that. And the Titans love facing Matt Schaub -- I'm surprised they haven't maimed him for life, and with the guy injured due to running over the sideline, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get injured again at some point today.

And then there's the coaching. Gary Kubiak has shown a continued inability to get his team prepared for a game. I'm sure he thinks they'll be ready. And I'm sure he thinks he's anticipated everything the Titans will do. But I'm pretty sure that, come the end of the game, he'll be saying the same thing he always does after a loss, that it's his fault for not properly preparing the team.

More importantly, I think Jeff Fisher and the Titans will be trying to prove a point. They dominated the Steelers for most of the season's first game, and lost in overtime. I'm sure that they're going to use the Texans to prove a point. The point being that the Titans are a really good team and the Texans suck.

The Texans lose this game. And I don't think the score will be that close. What I'm debating is whether the Texans are able to score. So once again, the Texans start the season at 0-2.