The Tennessee Titans are once again having to overcome injury ahead of their Week 8 game against the Houston Texans, but this time one of their concerns is at a position they haven’t had to worry about in a few years.
Buy Titans TicketsThat position is quarterback, where Ryan Tannehill has been ruled out due to an ankle injury and illness, breaking his 49-game streak of starts since becoming the full-time starter in Week 7 of 2019.
Taking the reins this Sunday is 2022 third-round pick and quarterback Malik Willis, who is making his first career NFL start. While there is plenty of excitement for Willis, he also brings a level of unpredictability.
We’ve seen Willis a few times this season, but his only passes came in Week 2 against the Bills in a blowout situation. However, it was impossible to gauge the rookie, as Tennessee was awful as a whole in that game.
If Willis and the Titans want to grab a victory in his first start, they need to do the following three things:
Feed The King
The Texans sport the worst run defense in the NFL, and Henry is no stranger to abusing Houston.
The King has averaged 103.5 rushing yards per game in contests against the Texans during his career, including three straight games with at least 200 yards and two touchdowns.
Henry has been inching closer to one of his customary blowup games and long touchdown runs over the past few weeks, so don’t be surprised if both come on Sunday.
Getting Henry going will also make things easier on Malik Willis in his first career NFL start. Not only will Willis have to do less if Henry goes off, but the Texans will no doubt be jamming the line of scrimmage to stop Henry, opening things up in the passing game.
Make it easy on Malik
As best as they can, the Titans have to make things easy on Malik Willis in his first NFL start. We already mentioned one way to do that above.
But the Titans also need to utilize Willis’ strength, which right now is running the football. Setup some designed runs and rollouts that allow the Liberty product to use his legs, or at least threaten to.
Pass protection must be up to snuff whenever Willis stays in the pocket. While there is zero guarantee that will happen, the rookie does have the ability to overcome bad protection with his rushing ability.
When he is called upon to throw, the Titans must call short, quick passes that will alleviate the reliance on the group upfront a bit, while also creating easy throws for Willis.
The biggest thing for Willis is taking care of the football. All of these things help him better do that.
Limit Dameon Pierce
Houston’s best offensive weapon is by far its rookie running back, Dameon Pierce, who currently sits sixth in the NFL in rushing yards with 504, one spot behind Henry.
Tennessee’s top priority on defense is stopping Pierce and forcing second-year pro and quarterback Davis Mills to beat them. Mills will have an even tougher time doing so in this one, as he’s missing his top receiver, Nico Collins, who has been ruled out.
Thankfully for the Titans, the best aspect of their defense is stopping the run. The unit ranks fourth in the NFL in that area. During their current four-game winning streak, the Titans own the top-ranked run defense.
