Why Tennessee Titans Have a Golden Opportunity to Seize AFC South

The Tennessee Titans enter Week 11 of the NFL regular season with an opportunity to jump right back into the AFC South divisional race.

The Titans (5-4) had been virtually counted out of the race, but an injury to the first-place Houston Texans' (7-3) quarterback Matt Schaub has given Tennessee new life. 

Entering the 2011 regular season, Tennessee's outlook looked bleak at best, as they were coming off a 6-10 season, bringing in a new quarterback and a new head coach.

Veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck took the necessary steps to revive his career after being cast away from Seattle, only throwing seven interceptions to his 14 touchdowns so far this season.

Peyton Manning's neck surgery didn't go smoothly, forcing him to miss the Indianapolis Colts' entire winless season to date. The Jacksonville Jaguars decided to roll with Blaine Gabbert after virtually no first-team experience throughout the preseason. Finally, standout quarterback Matt Schaub went down with a Lisfranc injury, potentially the most disastrous injury to the Texans thus far.

Schaub's untimely injury comes as the latest in the string of injuries the streaking Texans have suffered this season. Houston hasn't had Andre Johnson healthy for a game since Week 4 due to a hamstring injury, lost linebacker Mario Williams for the season in Week 5 due to a torn pectoral and are expecting safety Danieal Manning back any day now from a broken leg suffered in Week 7.

Somehow the Texans have overcome the numerous injuries to standout players and have won their last four games as they enter their bye week. Still, it will be hard not to imagine the Texans struggling with the woeful Matt Leinart under center over their last six games of the year.

You can't quite look at the Titans the same way, but they have had their fair share of problems as well.

Tennessee managed to work themselves into this situation with almost no support from $53-million man Chris Johnson and a porous offensive line. Tennessee desperately misses the biggest vertical threat, Kenny Britt, from the passing game, as he suffered a torn ACL in Week 3 against the Denver Broncos.

Somehow the Titans keep pushing past adversity with a goal to simply stay alive.

Tennessee sits just 1.5 games behind the Texans and have a golden opportunity to snag the AFC South title thanks to inexperience and injuries throughout the division.

If they hope to do so, a win against the Atlanta Falcons (5-4) on the road Sunday will do wonders for their chances.