NFL Week 11: Houston Texans 16, Tennessee Titans 13

When the team for whom you root in the National Football League wins a game on any given Sunday, there will always be one overriding emotion. Hopefully, more often than not (WAY more often, actually), that emotion is some form of joy. On Sunday, the undeniable overriding emotion after the Houston Texans’ 16-13, last second win over the awful Tennessee Titans was relief. 

Sure, I was happy with the win, happy to get their record on the season back to .500 at 5-5, and happy that Davis Mills continues to prove to be a great investment at $5 million to be the team’s backup quarterback. However, trailing 3-0 at the half, and allowing the game to come down to the right foot of an interim placekicker is not my idea of sports bliss. 

That said, the result from today should be the gateway to a fun atmosphere this Thursday night at NRG Stadium, when the 7-3 Buffalo Bills come to town. Here are the winners and losers from today’s game:

WINNERS

4. Davis Mills

The 16 point output isn’t anything to write home about, but Mills was steady and solid, and at times in the second half, exceptional. If the Texans go on to make the playoffs this season (still only a 31 percent chance of happening), his throw on 3rd and 16 to Nico Collins on the final drive will be a legendary throw, like so many of his throws last week against Jacksonville. Bottom line is that Mills has done what a good quarterback should do — find a way to win games. That Mills has done this against two division foes makes it even more significant. 

3. Matthew Wright 

I have to admit, from his first locker room availability a couple weeks ago, when the Texans signed him, I did not have a lot of confidence in Wright. I like my kicker to have a confident air about him, and Wright seemed somewhat timid. In his first outing last week, he was barely used, and this week, he started off by boinking a 31 yard attempt off the upright (a penalty negated the miss). In the end, though, Wright proved my anxiousness to be unwarranted, hitting three field goals, including the game winner from 43 yards. 

2. Will Anderson, Jr. 

Anderson continues his ascent into the “outright monster” strata of NFL edge defenders. There’s never a game where Anderson is held off the board of very impactful plays. Last week, it was the strip sack fumble (that led to a touchdown) to close the game. This week, it was a strip sack, fumble forced, and recovery, all in one fell swoop, to swing the game, and set the Texans up for a field goal in the second half. Anderson is a beast, and is going to be a very rich beast after the season.

1. Nico Collins 

We mentioned Collins’ huge catch on 3rd and 16 in the fourth quarter earlier. It should also be mentioned that the Texans’ offense began to pick up steam when Mills began targeting Collins, particularly on in-breaking routes across the middle, where he’s proven to be unstoppable when he gets on a roll. On the Texans’ only touchdown drive, Mills was 3-3 targeting Collins, two on big chunk plays and then the final one on the touchdown itself. Collins star level play has returned. 

LOSERS

4. DeMeco Ryans, game manager

The Texans won the game, so fortunately, any bad decisions made by Ryans did not come back to cause a loss. However, Ryans made two atrocious errors in the first quarter. The first one was choosing to take the ball after winning the coin toss. Because deferring possession to the second half can sometimes net an extra possession, it rarely makes statistical sense for a team to take the ball to start the game. Teams that do that are teams that want to put their elite offense on the field to start the game. The Texans do not have an elite offense. They don’t even have an average offense. They have an offense that ended up getting shut out in the first half against the Titans. Taking the ball, when given a choice, made no sense. The second mistake by Ryans was his challenge of an incompletion to Christian Kirk that Ryans thought should have been a TD catch. It was VERY obvious the pass was incomplete. Ryans is now 2-7 on challenges, which is awful.

3. Woody Marks

Coming into Sunday, the Texans were 3-0 in games where Marks got at least 15 touches this season. That undefeated record is still intact, but not because Marks was exceptionally productive on his 20 touches. His 18 carries netted just 44 yards, and he badly missed a blitz pickup on fourth and goal on the Texans’ opening drive. Marks should still be the featured back, but don’t be surprised if we see some more Nick Chubb this Thursday.

2. Christian Kirk  

The trade for the final year of Kirk’s bloated contract from Jacksonville has been a bust for the Texans. When Kirk has actually played (he’s missed several games with hamstring injuries), he’s been largely unproductive, and on Sunday, he was targeted four times, mostly early in the game, and had one catch for six yards. For whatever reason, Ryans’ gaffe on the coin toss and the early gaggle of targets for Kirk set the early tone for the Texans in this game, and not in a good way. 

1. Cam Ward  

The upside of being the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft is pretty simple — fame, adulation, endorsements, and huge salaries. The downside, especially as a quarterback, is that you’re, almost by definition, going to an awful, sometimes unsalvageable, franchise. Say hello to Cam Ward! His offensive line stinks, his receiving corps is subpar (and on Sunday lost two of their top guys to injury), and there is no end in sight to ownership’s incompetence. This team fired Mike Vrabel. Ward has some tools, but this team is so far away from being a routine threat, he might die in this rebuilding process.   

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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