You have to hand it to Arian Foster. He admitted this week that he's played very poorly over the past two games, including against the Ravens, a game he called the worst of his career.
He not only took responsibility for that, but made up for it in a big way against Tennessee. Foster rushed for 115 yards and caught five passes for 119 more yards. He also scored three touchdowns, including a huge 73-yard touchdown reception that broke the game open for Houston.
Foster was very good, but it was also a bounce-back game for the Houston offensive line. The Texans up front pushed the Titans around, allowing not only Foster to run for over 100 yards, but also letting Ben Tate climb above the century mark. Tate ran with an authority that he's lacked in previous weeks and a Texans team that thrived on the pass this season turned into a running machine.
Defensively, Houston held the Titans in check for the most part. Tennessee has a good o-line and was able to contain the Texans pass rush for the most part. Houston did seem to make Matt Hasselbeck uncomfortable and hit him a bunch without getting many sacks. J.J. Watt did pick up his second sack of the season while Bryce McCann provided an explanation point by returning an interception of Jake Locker for a touchdown.
Tennessee did try to take advantage of the Kareem Jackson's of the world and Danieal Manning's injury will be costly. It showed up quickly in Tennessee's only touchdown where Shiloh Keo couldn't stay with Jared Cook in the end zone. It wasn't clear yet how long Manning might be out, but he was missed in the middle of the field.
This game was the second-most points Houston has scored in franchise history and it was also the first time since Dec. 30, 2007 that the Texans have scored 40 or more points. On that day, the Texans beat Jacksonville 42-28.
With the victory, Houston also has division wins over Indy and Tennessee and, at 4-3, has a slight lead over the Titans in the AFC South.