Houston’s Week 4 Wake-Up Call: Titans Expose Major Flaws
The Houston Texans are currently 0-3, and no one saw that coming for the team that won the AFC South the last two seasons. While the on-field product hasn’t been good, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, it’s not time to panic. Looking at Houston’s first three games with an optimistic approach, it’s easy to give the team the benefit of the doubt. The Texans have lost three one-score games — two against playoff teams and one against a divisional opponent.
Acknowledging how much the offense has struggled, it’s still true that Houston is just a few plays away from being undefeated, and that’s why it’s not quite time yet to hit the panic button. However, that could all change on Sunday, when the Texans play host to the Tennessee Titans. If Houston loses to Tennessee and falls to 0-4, there will be no justifying the record, as the team will have officially hit rock bottom.
Losing at home to the Titans in Week 4 would be rock bottom for the Texans
Like Houston, Tennessee is also winless entering Week 4. Unlike the Texans, the Titans were the worst team in the NFL last season, winning only three games. That’s why they landed the No. 1 overall pick and selected promising quarterback Cam Ward. However, Tennessee hasn’t quite turned things around yet.
The Titans are coming off a 41-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and they also lost 33-19 to the Los Angeles Rams and 20-12 to the Denver Broncos. Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan has already relinquished play-calling duties, and it’s not a stretch to say the Titans look like a team who will be picking at the top of the draft again.
While Houston doesn’t have much room to talk, this game should still be a get-right moment for the Texans. If it's anything but, things will get really loud in Houston. If the team finds a way to lose, there will be dramatic reactions from fans and media members, and they will all be justified.
Bruins Prospect’s Risky Playing Style Could Be His Downfall
It's never a good sign when you type "Matthew Poitras hit" into social media and there's a laundry list of videos of him getting hurt or laid out by contact. The best we've seen Poitras play in a Boston Bruins uniform was in his rookie season in 2023-24, but a right shoulder injury knocked him out in January.
The injury stemmed from some massive contact in a game with Team Canada at the World Juniors, where the Bruins loaned him to get some extra playing time over the holidays. If the front office had known, they would've likely held on to him, as the form he was in during the regular season for the Bruins would've been useful.
Little did the Bruins know that it was the first hit in a long line of contact that Poitras was about to take over the next three seasons. Poitras got through the first few months of his rookie season relatively unscathed, but the book started to get out on him that his hunched skating style and love for the middle of the ice left him wide open for contact.
Opponents started to take liberties with Poitras, and it's a trend that has continued through the first two games of this year's preseason. He has taken some dangerous contact through both games, which has left fans wondering how long it will be until he suffers another injury. The general consensus is that Poitras has to change his ways or risk shortening his career.
The hope is that Poitras will figure it out, but it seems to be getting worse after 114 professional games + all his preseason experience. With Poitras likely to go to Providence with his waiver exemption status, the hope is that he will figure things out with another season of being the go-to guy. However, it wouldn't necessarily be good to make the team out of training camp in your first two seasons but then regress and get cut in your third year.
