By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans got the opportunity to play one of the worst teams in the NFL.

But they gave life to a team that had lost eight straight games.

To say this Texan team is competitive is doing an injustice to other teams in the NFL that have a competent roster.

Dontrell Hilliard/ Pool photo, Donald Page, Tennessee Titans

The Texans have roughly 10 players on this roster that will be on the 2022 team and two of them (Laremy Tunsil and Jonathan Greenard) didn’t play against the Titans.

This is a roster full of wavier-wire-type talent.

In my time working in football, no matter what level of football you play if you allow a team to stick around and give it hope anyone can play with anyone for a half of football.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The “best” team in the AFC has now lost to the Jets and the Texans.

As good as the Titans have been, as high-quality as their six consecutive wins were, they do a lot to dent that stretch and create doubt with a performance like Sunday’s, one that doesn’t wash away as easily as the scoreboard operators at Nissan Stadium would like.

© Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

They simply erased 22-13 seconds after it was over. That’s not how it will work for professionals on the team or the fans who endured the rain to watch it and the halftime ceremony installing Jeff Fisher and Floyd Reese in the franchise’s Ring of Honor or the devotees who endured it on TV.

(The Fisher/Reese 1999 Super Bowl team lost to the 4-12 49ers, by the way, if that makes it any easier to stomach. I didn't think so.)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Too many interceptions, too many mistakes.

For the last six weeks, the Titans looked like a team that could find a way to win against anyone despite anything.

And then they played a complete 22-13 dud against the lowly Texans that was on par with their complete dud from Week Four against the lowly Jets and it makes you wonder about who they are and what they are capable of, exactly.

I still think they are way more good than bad, but that's was not the bulk of the conversation we had after the game.

So members, catch up on the Sunday post-game conversation from Nissan Stadium below the line or on the private Facebook page. If you're not signed up for text messages to alert you to these broadcasts, the link for that is below the line as well. 

If you are not a member, you can rectify that in no time, and get the best coverage and analysis of the team by joining the club here.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Hello. Welcome to the pre-Thanksgiving edition of the too-infrequent mailbag. 

I appreciate all the good questions you fired at me this week and did my best to get to a lot of them.

You had Fisher on the show yesterday. How would you compare the Fisher/Reese relationship/success with Vrabel/Robinson?

— David Jackson (@vandyfan05) November 19, 2021

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Texans are one of the worst teams in memory.

They have a top-five NFL quarterback sitting on their bench healthy in Deshaun Watson and continue to pay him a star quarterback salary.

If that isn’t dysfunction then I don’t know what is.

The Texans have very few NFL starting-caliber players on their team.

With depleted draft classes the past two seasons, thanks to Bill O’Brien and his trading of first-round picks, they have very few young players to build the franchise behind.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Three angles on the Titans’ pass rush that have hit me this week as they get ready for a visit from the Houston Texans, who have given up an average of just under three sacks a game…

Denico Autry/ Donald Page, Tennessee Titans

As part of a pending OutKick 360 conversation about the pass rush turn-around from 2020 on, I went into Wednesday’s media availability aiming to get an answer from a couple of guys to this: What’s the one thing above all else that sparked the change from last ‘years anemic rush to this year’s dynamic one.

I was surprised at what Jeffery Simmons and Rodger Saffold – who went against the rash in training camp and has observed it since – had to say.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As frustrated as the Titans and their fans may be with the hamstring injuries that have stalled the team this season, a broad, detailed look at similar injuries around the league reveal the franchise is hardly the worst-hit by the injury.

Nine different Titans have combined to miss 11 games for the Titans. That's nowhere as bad as the Broncos (24 missed games) or Giants (21). Though Tennessee would certainly like to be more like Seattle and San Francisco, who've not lost a single game.

It's an injury A.J. Brown rates as knock-on-wood worthy.

“I don’t even like to talk about it, to be honest,” he said. “I don’t even say the word, for real. That’s an injury that you just don’t want to have. You’d rather have something else happen to you than it. It sidelines you for a couple weeks and as soon as you think you are over it, it comes back again.”

Julio Jones/ Pool photo by Donald Page, Tennessee Titans

As he spoke, he reached behind him to knock on the logo background.

More numbers from a detailed look at 10 weeks’ worth of injury reports from all 32 teams and from analysis of injured-reserve list stays as tracked by Pro Football Reference:

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans continue to find ways to win. This is a good trend no matter who the opponent is.

In a game that was void of many of each teams’ top players, this was a game that was determined by turnovers and defense.

Neither team could, or even really wanted to, run the football.

Tennessee Titans/ Donald Page

The Titans’ leading rusher was D’Onta Foreman with 11 carries for 30 yards and a 2.7 yd average.

The Saints’ leading rusher was Mark Ingram with 14 carries for 47 yards and a 3.4 yd average.

The quarterbacks, Ryan Tannehill and Trevor Siemian, were average overall.