TEXANS FALL TO TITANS
11 observations from the Texans' 28-25 loss to the Titans
Jan 9, 2022, 4:36 pm
The Texans will have the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans capped off the season coming up short against the Tennessee Titans. The comeback attempt came up short as the Texans lost 28-25. Here are 11 observations.
1. The rumors started before the game about David Culley’s job status. Culley was placed in the “OUT” category by Fox’s NFL insider Jay Glazer in the pregame show.
2. Glazer mentioned the Texans could be interested in Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as a potential head coach option.
3. David Culley was deflective and short when asked about his future as the team’s head coach. Culley said he expects to be coaching the Texans next season and when asked what case he would make to the team, Culley said he would let the team make the call on why he should be back.
4. Davis Mills played one of his worst opening halves of football. Mills was rattled and unsettled in the pocket and missed some throws he had grown into regularly making.
5. Davis Mills was much better in the second half. Mills was poised and made throws look easy. He handled the pressure better than in the first half and was in rhythm with his receivers sans an inured Brandin Cooks. It was one of the best halves of football he played all season.
6. Davis Mills said he improved on his knowledge and comfort in the offense as the season went on. It was apparent Mills was a much better quarterback after the return to the starting role. Mills believed he has done enough to be the team’s starter heading into next season.
7. Danny Amendola had his best game as a member of the Texans. It was the fifth-best yardage performance of his career and just the second time in his career he had multiple scores. He found spaces in the Titans' defense and delivered when the ball came his way.
8. Jacob Martin had Ryan Tannehill dead to rights only to see the Tennessee quarterback escape his grasp and keep the Titans’ drive alive. The Titans would score a touchdown on the drive to push their lead to 10. It was a play that would have given the Texans the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead.
9. Lovie Smith’s defense performed admirably, coming up just short again. With more talent on the roster next season, there could be something there with this unit. Overall, the defense exceeded the low expectations.
10. The Texans have a multitude of impending free agents as well as a likely Deshaun Watson trade this offseason. The team is currently slated to have nine draft picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Their first-round selection is third overall behind the Jaguars and the Lions.
11. It is just the third time in the team’s history to have back-to-back losing seasons, the first since the 2005-2006 seasons. It is the third most losses in team history, only two 14-loss seasons are worst. The team will first have to make a decision on David Culley and then decisions on the coaching staff will come ahead of free agency in March.
It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
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