The Houston Texans have already clinched their division and a playoff berth. They are still playing their starters against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, who will begin on the field and play until they can safely be pulled once the game is in hand.
Texans’ Starters To Play Sunday Against Titans
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans has said that “everybody will be out there playing and then we’ll see how the game goes,” so he may pull his starters at some point during Week 18 against the Titans. The Texans have locked up the AFC South and the No. 4 seed.
The Texans have locked up not only home-field advantage in the Wild Card Round of the AFC playoffs but also the No. 4 seed. They will either have the worst win-loss-tie record among AFC division winners or lose out on a head-to-head tiebreaker regardless of whether they win or lose in Week 18.
When NFL teams are securely in the playoffs, they tend to rest key players. Houston was expected to rest quarterback C.J. Stroud, running back Joe Mixon, and wide receiver Nico Collins among others. That is not the case, as Ryans said that everyone on his roster needs to be ready to play against the Titans in Week 18.
It has been a difficult run for Houston to just end the regular season. Before the short-week game against Baltimore on Christmas Day, they lost to Kansas City.
The Texans were in the game for a while, but a brutal injury to wide receiver Tank Dell shook the team mentally, and they were not able to recover and win
This is an important game for the Texans. They need to win a game before the playoffs begin. They do not want to go into the first round of the playoffs riding a three-game losing streak.
Tennessee currently holds the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Titans aren’t going to throw the game, but a win would be devastating to their draft positioning.
Houston should be favored to defeat Tennessee easily in Week 18, and Ryans wants to get his players out there in a scenario that will allow them to get into a good groove to build momentum heading into the playoffs.
The Texans will likely not play their starters the entire game. There is certainly some risk that someone gets hurt in limited snaps, but it’s a risk/reward move for building momentum that Ryans will have to weigh.
Stroud and the starters could play the first quarter, or the first half, depending on the score of the game at that point. If someone gets popped early, or there is an injury of any kind, expect to see Ryans pull his starters immediately thereafter.