Hot Titans Looking to Move Ahead of Texans in AFC South

The Tennessee Titans (8-5) take a four-game winning streak into a key divisional matchup with the Houston Texans (8-5) at home on Sunday, with the AFC South lead on the line. The Titans and Texans will meet twice in the final three weeks of the regular season.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Titans clearly have all the momentum right now in the division, and bettors believe in them early on in backing them as small home favorites. The total is also on the rise, as both teams can score with the best of them, making the OVER another popular public bet here.

Houston News & Notes

After surprising the New England Patriots 28-22 as 3-point home underdogs in the Week 13 Sunday Night Football matchup to win for the fourth time in five games, the Texans looked like the definite front-runners in the AFC South.

But Houston crashed back down to earth hard with a disappointing 38-24 loss to the Denver Broncos as an 8-point home favorite on Sunday while seeing Tennessee destroy the Oakland Raiders 42-21 as 3-point road chalk to pull even in the division standings.

The Titans have also won six of their last seven games both straight up and against the spread, according to the Odds Shark NFL Database, coinciding directly with Ryan Tannehill’s time as the starting quarterback.

The Texans have gotten about as much as they can from Deshaun Watson, but he did throw two interceptions against the Broncos and will need to limit his turnovers if they are going to pull off the road upset here.

Tennessee News & Notes

Tennessee has thrived offensively due to the fine play of Tannehill under center and the emergence of running back Derrick Henry again late in the season. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel should have probably known better with regards to Henry after he rushed for 585 yards and seven touchdowns in the last four games last year to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career.

The former Heisman Trophy Sportsbook has posted even better numbers overall in the past four games, topping 100 yards each time to total 599 yards and seven scores after reaching the century mark only once in the first nine.

As long as Henry can stay healthy down the stretch, Tennessee will have a great shot to win the division, and he may very well end up leading the NFL in rushing yards for the first time too.

Betting Pick: Titans -150

Thanks to Tannehill, the Titans are in much better shape right now than they were at this point last season. They had to rely on Blaine Gabbert a year ago, and we all know how that turned out. Instead, they will continue to ride the former Dolphin into sole possession of first place.