Titans Blow Big Lead, Struggle on Offense in 19-16 Overtime Loss To Texans

The Tennessee Titans lost at home in overtime again, falling to the Houston Texans 19-16 despite having an early 13-point lead. They struggled offensively after their opening scoring drive and fell to 5-9, getting eliminated from the postseason in the process with three games to go.

NASHVILLE — For much of this 2023 season, the Tennessee Titans' offense has looked downright ugly. 

It was on full display again on Sunday in a very ugly — and hard to swallow — 19-16 overtime loss to the Houston Texans at Nissan Stadium. After scoring on their opening drive and then capitalizing on an Elijah Molden pick-six, the Titans had a 13-point lead just minutes into the second quarter — but did absolutely nothing afterward. 

They gained only 121 yards after that opening drive to fall to 5-9 on the season. It was their second consecutive overtime loss at home in three weeks — and in both games they missed an extra point that would have been the difference.

The loss eliminated the Titans from postseason play for the second consecutive year and they are now 5-16 in their last 21 games. This was one of the tough ones, because they did it by allowing seven sacks, and veteran running back Derrick Henry gaining just 9 yards of rushing on 16 carries.

"We have to be able to establish the run. We've won a lot of games with that formula,'' Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. "In the past, we've seen some inefficient runs and then break one. That didn't happen today.

"Certainly we have to be balanced and use the run game and not just force us into difficult down-and-distances. Offensively, we need more positive plays and more positive conversions.''

The game started with such promise for the Titans, who went flying right down the field on an 11-play, 83-yard drive. Rookie quarterback Will Levis was 4-for-4 for 76 yards on the drive, with long gainers to Treylon Burks and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. Levis, who rushed for 25 yards on the day, scored from the 1 to give the Titans a 6-0 lead, but Nick Folk missed the extra point.

It was a heck of a drive to get the day started.

"We have our (play-call) openers and we talked about visualizing seeing how it was going,'' Levis said. "How it went wasn't how we imagined it. We got the plays off the we wanted. When you're able to work on your openers and executive like that and get points in that first drive, that helps. We've got to find ways to continue that.''

The Titans made it 13-0 in the first few minutes of the second quarter when safety Elijah Molden picked off a Case Keenum pass and returned it 45 yards for a score. Keenum, the Texans' third-string quarterback, started for rookie C.J. Stroud, who was out with a concussion.  

The Titans did a lot of good things defensively and kept the Texans out of the end zone on repeated drives. Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked a field goal to end the half, and then he made two more in the third quarter to narrow the lead to 13-9.

Folk kicked a 45-yard field goal with 7:28 to go to give the Titans a 16-9 lead, but the Texans finally found the end zone on a Keenum pass to Noah Brown from 3 yards out with 3:03 to go. 

Neither team threatened the rest of the way, and there weren't any scoring threats in overtime either. The Titans ran 11 plays in overtime and only gained 18 yards. The Texans lost 21 yards on their first OT drive, but then put something together as time was running down. 

Keenum his Devin Singletary on a 41-yard pass, and they worked their way into Titans' territory. It looked like they had won the game on a Singletary touchdown run, but it was called back on a holding penalty. Fairbairn won the game with a 54-yard field goal, keeping the Texans' playoff hopes alive at 8-6. 

After the first drive, the Titans couldn't find anything to work. Henry, who hadn't had a single-digit rushing game since he was a backup in 2017, said Sunday's performance ''wasn't good enough. It was tough,'' Henry said. "They seemed to have an answer for everything. It was tough sledding out there.''

It was very clear that the Titans were having a hard time figuring it out on Sunday. They couldn't run it, and the offensive line couldn't protect Levis in the passing game. He was sacked seven times for 61 yards, and he's now 3-5 as a rookie starter.

"You always want to have an idea of what your bread and butter is, what you're good at. But you want to be able to mix it up, too,'' Levis said of their struggles in trying to find and identity on Sunday. "I thought we had a good game plan, we've just got to execute better. 

"We feel good about what's on the script, and when we get to Sunday. We just have to do a better job of adjusting on game day, and be more efficient. We can't have a day like that offensively. Sometimes it's miscommunication, and sometimes it's just guys getting better. ''

Levis took a hard hit on his seventh and final sack late in overtime, and was slow to get up. He needed help walking to the sideline with an apparent knee injury. 

He didn't want to talk about the extent of the injury and whether he might miss any time.

"That stuff is always scarier in the moment than it was. We'll see what the trainers say, but I feel OK,'' Levis said. "Yeah, I thought it was worse in how I got rolled up on. We'll see how it feels (Monday) when the adrenaline and everything wears off. It could have been a lot worse, but I think I'll be alright.''

The Titans are back in action next Sunday when they take on the Seattle Seahawks on Christmas Eve at Nissan Stadium. The game starts at Noon CT. 

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