NFL Week 7 Predictions: Why Chris Johnson Vaults Titans Past Texans

The AFC South may be the worst division in the NFL, but this weekend they are providing us with a game that has major playoff implications.

The 3-3 Houston Texans will be traveling to LP Field to take on the 3-2 Tennessee Titans with first place on the line, as well as the ever-important tiebreaker.

Here's why you need to take the following spread:

Texans @ Titans -3.5

(Spreads courtesy of Covers.com)

The Tennessee offense has been able to stay afloat despite having the worst running game in the league statistically.

It was obvious that All Pro running back Chris Johnson would get off to a slow start considering he had about two weeks to prepare for the season. Finally he’s starting to get his act together as his yards per carry average begins to creep back to normalcy.

This is bad news for a Texans defense that got torched by Ray Rice in the first game without their best player Mario Williams.

CJ2K is going to have a field day as he helps the Titans control the clock and limit the amount of possessions for QB Matt Schaub. Then again, the Texans offense isn’t nearly as scary as it was before Andre Johnson went down due to injury.

I know the Ravens defense is good, but the offense scored a grand total of one touchdown without Johnson. Jacoby Jones and Kevin Walter just aren’t cutting it. I expect the Titans' 12th-ranked pass defense to really limit what Schaub does.

Anticipate lots of screen passes and dump-offs from the Texans on Sunday.

The Titans are coming off a bye week and are as healthy as they’ve been since Week 1. On the flip side, the Texans are coming off an extremely physical game against Baltimore.

Matt Hasselbeck will find the soft spot in an average Texans secondary and this one turns out to be a bigger blowout than what most people expect.

Prediction: Titans 24 Texans 13

Key Trends:

Texans are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 meetings.

Texans are 1-4 ATS in their last five meetings in Tennessee.

Titans are 4-0 ATS in their last four games following a S.U. loss.

Home team is 5-2 ATS in their last seven meetings.