Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans: Full Report Card Grades for Houston

I wish the Houston Texans could face the Tennessee Titans every week: They might go 14-2 against Houston's former team if they got to play it all year long. Of course, that's fantasy land, but the Titans are an awful team this season.

The 45 points scored by the Texans against Tennessee was easily their season high and 15 more than they've scored in any other game this season. Even rookie Tom Savage got into the game with several minutes remaining for his first snaps of the season.

With the win the Houston Texans climbed back to the .500 mark and kept their fading playoff hopes alive. I've said before that making the playoffs was never realistic and shouldn't be their main goal this year, but their odds are still alive for what it's worth.

Assuming that they take care of business against the Jacksonville Jaguars in their two remaining games against the perennial division bottom-feeder, the Texans will be in a two-game season to make the playoffs or miss them for a second straight year.

If the Texans defeat both the Baltimore Ravens at home and Indianapolis Colts—at Indianapolis—then they'll have a decent chance of making the postseason at 10-6; though even 10 wins don't make them a lock since they'll lose on tiebreakers to both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

Sunday's game was a great win, but realistically it didn't improve the Texans' odds of making the playoffs that much.

Quarterback

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Ryan Mallett, who?

I'm just kidding a bit because I would still rather have a healthy Mallett out on the field—healthy being a very key word—but Fitzpatrick looked great today. I would rather have Mallett playing only because of the two quarterbacks he's the one with potential to be Houston's future at the position.

Of course, we should take this performance with a grain of salt because the Titans defense is awful, but if Fitzpatrick had consistently played like this or even close to it earlier in the season then he would have never lost his job.

Fitzpatrick completed 14 of his 18 pass attempts in the first half for 179 yards on 9.9 yards per pass attempt—Aaron Rodgers leads the league with a yards-per-attempt average of 8.6 over the full season—with three touchdowns, no interceptions and a near-perfect 147.7 quarterback rating. 

"

With one quarter to go, #Texans' Fitzpatrick has best passer rating of his career (151.9). High is 133 (Sept. 11, 2011 with #Bills).

— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) November 30, 2014"

For the game Fitzpatrick finished 24-of-33 for a season-high 358 yards—previous high was 289—and a Texans team-record six touchdown passes. The NFL record for a single game is seven.

If Fitzpatrick had played the whole game and Bill O'Brien decided to run up the score, he could have easily tied or even broken the record for touchdown passes in a game—just a crazy performance.

Grade: A+

Running Back

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

What a difference having a healthy Arian Foster back made for this Texans offense!

Putting the stats aside for a moment, Foster's vision, agility in small spaces, burst through the hole and his ability as a receiver is light-years better than any other back on the Texans' roster and close to the best in the entire league. 

"

Arian Foster rolls off best run of second half. Vision, cuts, late burst ... classic. #Texans

— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) November 30, 2014"

Foster twice picked up first downs with his special skill set on basically what I call "give up" plays on 3rd-and-long; he's such a joy to watch and a special talent.

For the stats Foster finished with 105 total yards and a touchdown reception. Jonathan Grimes and Alfred Blue didn't contribute much with 19 yards on 12 carries combined. Foster hides so many blemishes on other parts of the offense when he's playing well.

Grade: B+

Wide Receiver

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

I've seen enough to call it: DeAndre Hopkins has replaced Andre Johnson as the team's premiere go-to receiver on the outside.

Hopkins was drafted in the first round, so that's what he should develop into. And considering the 11-year age difference between the two players there's nothing to be ashamed about for Johnson, but still I've been very impressed by the second-year player.

Honestly it seems as if the practices Johnson missed during the offseason while holding out helped put Hopkins over as he was able to develop chemistry with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Hopkins had a huge first half with five catches for 117 yards and one touchdown. The 100-plus-yard game from Hopkins was his fourth of the season; Johnson hasn't reached the 100-yard mark yet this year. 

"

Hopkins has had one hell of a game. 56-yard catch and he's eclipsed 200 yards receiving today. #Texans

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) November 30, 2014"

For the game Hopkins finished with nine receptions for 238 yards and two touchdowns—all career highs for the young receiver. Hopkins dominated his matchup with nine receptions on nine targets from Fitzpatrick.

With his great game Hopkins became only the second receiver in franchise history to surpass the 1,000-yard receiving mark in a single season. Of course, you know the other player. Hopkins is on pace to catch 80 passes for 1,388 yards this season with Fitzpatrick starting most of the team's games—incredible. 

"

That last catch puts @Nukdabomb over 1,000 yards for the season. Only player besides @johnson80 in Texans history to surpass 1,000.

— Dale Robertson (@sportywineguy) November 30, 2014"

Johnson had a costly fumble that was returned for a touchdown in the second half but made up for it with a great touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. The future Hall of Famer finished with seven receptions for 53 yards and his second touchdown reception of the season.

Grade: A+

Tight End

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

A tight end caught a touchdown pass!

Hell, a tight end catching any pass period is news for this team, but for one to catch a touchdown is earth-moving this season.

The design on the play in question was perfect, as the Texans had the Titans defenders reacting to Arian Foster going in one direction while Ryan Griffin slipped out the other side and went into the end zone untouched.

For the game the trio of tight ends as a group finished with just the one catch from Griffin—one catch for eight yards and a touchdown. The tight ends probably deserve a lower grade, but with how low the bar has been set for the position I'll give them a passing grade on the strength of the touchdown.

Grade: C-

Offensive Line

Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images

It was a solid day overall from the big boys up front, but Titans Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jurrell Casey ate the lunch of Ben Jones and Chris Myers on the Texans' first possession of the second half. 

"

Ben Jones and Chris Myers all types of issues that drive. Three TFLs because of them. #Texans

— PDS (@PatDStat) November 30, 2014"

The Texans averaged just 2.8 yards per attempt with a total of 99 yards on 36 carries for the game. Those numbers certainly don't look impressive, but they're also deceiving considering the flow of the game.

Houston ran the ball well when it had to, but its numbers were brought down by running the ball late in a blowout when the Titans knew exactly what would be coming.

The line played better in pass protection for Ryan Fitzpatrick than it had in the past by not allowing a single sack and only three hits on the quarterback during the game, per ESPN.

Grade: B-

Defensive Line

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

J.J. Watt was an unstoppable force against the Titans.

Watt finished with only two sacks, but was just an inch or two away six other times at least on plays that could have ended with a sack. Zach Mettenberger did a good job of taking a small step up in the pocket or just getting rid of the ball several times.

Only for a player like Watt could I say "only" two sacks.

For the game Watt finished with a stat line of two sacks, one tackle for loss, six hits on the quarterback, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered—oh, and of course he caught his third touchdown pass of the year.

The fans at NRG Stadium started an MVP chant after the catch. He was split out away from the line in the slot by the way—just an incredible athlete making incredible plays. 

"

we gotta change the name of AMERICA to JJWATTICA he's the president he's incumbency is permanent now that's the rule https://t.co/A6zdnlbAMd

— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) November 30, 2014"

Defensive end Tim Jamison also had a good game with a sack—that was caused by Watt—one tackle for loss and one hit on the quarterback.

Grade: A+

Linebackers

Bob Levey/Getty Images

The linebackers didn't make many "wow" plays, but they played their assignments well, filled gaps and helped hold the Titans to just 88 rushing yards on 3.8 per carry.

Mike Mohamed led the group in tackles with four, while Whitney Mercilus and John Simon both contributed with one tackle for loss apiece.

It was a solid game overall for the Texans' linebackers.

Grade: B

Defensive Backs

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

There were three interceptions for the secondary, including another one for midseason acquisition Jumal Rolle, who now leads the team with three on the year.

Johnathan Joseph got the first pick of the game and nearly returned it for a touchdown for the second straight week thanks to a huge and vicious block from safety Danieal Manning.

The top three leaders on the team Sunday in tackles were all from the secondary, including Kendrick Lewis and Rolle who each broke up one pass during the game as well. Joseph and A.J. Bouye also had a pass breakup apiece in addition to their interceptions.

Titans quarterbacks Jake Locker and Zach Mettenberger combined to complete 19 of 31 pass attempts for 237 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions for the game. 

Grade: A

Special Teams

Bob Levey/Getty Images

It was a pretty average day for the special teams, but luckily the team didn't need a big performance from them to win the game over Tennessee.

Randy Bullock made an early field goal from 37 yards but missed what should have been an easy kick in the fourth quarter from 43 yards. The kick had plenty of distance, but Bullock missed it wide left.

Punter Shane Lechler only had to punt three times and finished with an average of 45.7 yards. And he failed to drop one inside the 20-yard line.

Not surprisingly the Texans got nothing from the return game once again.

Danieal Manning had only one kick return which went for seven yards. And Keshawn Martin cost the team about 10 yards on a punt that he should have called fair catch for but let it bounce past him, and a Titans player downed it at the 1-yard line.

Grade: C

Coaching

Patric Schneider/Associated Press

It was a good game overall with the strategy and play-calling from the Texans' coaching staff.

There were two decisions I liked from Bill O'Brien during the game that stood out to me in particular.

The first one came in the first quarter on the Texans' first possession of the game, when O'Brien decided to go for it on fourth down needing two yards at the Titans 35-yard line.

A field goal from there would have been 53 yards—which Randy Bullock can make—but the odds were better with Houston trying to pick up just two on the conversion.

I'm not always a huge fan of going for it on fourth, which I've mentioned on here a few times, but given the time and score of the game it was the right call regardless of whether it worked out.

The second decision came later with the Texans backed up on their own 1-yard line after Keshawn Martin made a bonehead play by not calling for a fair catch and instead letting the ball bounce past him and into the hands of a Titans special teams player.

Faced with the exact same situation last week the Texans called an outside stretch run that ended with Alfred Blue being tackled for a safety. This time they took advantage of the natural tendency of a defense to play the run in that situation and hit a pass to DeAndre Hopkins for 32 yards up the sideline.

There was aggressive play-calling from O'Brien in the right situations today, which was something he struggled with earlier in the season. I liked what I saw from him.

Grade: A

Overall

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Quarterback	A+
Running Back	B+
Wide Receiver	A+
Tight Ends	C-
Offensive Line	B-
Defensive Line	A+
Linebackers	B
Defensive Backs	A
Special Teams	C
Coaching	A
Overall	A

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com. Follow me on Twitter for more opinion and analysis on the Texans: @sackedbybmac.