Well, I was thinking it might be 30-17. Instead, today's game at LP Field between the Titans and the Houston Texans ended with the Texans winning 24-10. They went up early, on a 58-yard touchdown pass where Michael Griffin went for the interception and missed on a play where he absolutely could not miss. Jake Locker got the Titans down to field goal range with the help of Jared Cook, then last seven pass attempts in the first quarter, at which point it was 14-3. The Titans got to field goal range in the middle of the second quarter, than Chris Johnson fumbled. The Titans forced a punt after an inadvertent whistle negated any return of the fumble, but Locker's pass was tipped, and the Texans turned starting at the 3 into a 21-3 lead. At that point, it was pretty much all over but the shouting. Locker would play better in the second half, finding Kenny Britt for a big score to cut the lead to 24-10, but that was it for the scoring.

Notes:
1. Offensive line injuries didn't help the Titans one bit. David Stewart broke his leg. Steve Hutchinson left the game for a while, though he returned briefly when Michael Roos was hurt (though Roos would quickly return). Fernando Velasco appeared to be shaken up on the last offensive play of the game. Backup guard Kevin Matthews, who had play extensively, was flagged for holding a couple times.
2. Free Jared Cook? If CBS's PBP is right, including plays negated by penalty, he had 15 targets. What counted: 4 catches, 51 yards. That's not good enough.
3. The Titans seemed to play Jared Cook and Craig Stevens at the same time a lot. Meanwhile, I didn't notice Collin Mooney in the game on offense, though I could easily have missed him for a couple plays.
4. The Titans almost seemed to be holding rolling safety auditions throughout the game to see who played next to Michael Griffin. Jordan Babineaux, Al Afalava, and Robert Johnson, who would be carted off late, all played and played early.
5. Matt Schaub, 0 sacks on 36 dropbacks.

Bottom line: a pretty good team beat a not very good one today.

It's December already? Yes, it is, even if it doesn't feel like it, and the Titans close the third quarter of the season with a rematch against the Houston Texans, this time at LP Field. The Texans are banged up this week, with starters or quasi-starters guard Antoine Caldwell, tackle Derek Newton, inside linebacker Bradie James, outside linebacker Brooks Reed, cornerback Johnathan Joseph, and Joseph's sometime-replacement cornerback Alan Ball all inactive along with backup guard Cody White. That means regular nickelback Brice McCain, who's struggled at times in that role after playing superlatively there last year, will play on the outside, likely, while second-year man Brandon Harris, who's struggled to find the field, will probably play nickel. Given how often the Texans play dime sets, given their lack of depth I hope the Titans to try to spread the field and play lots of 3-WR packages this time.

For the Titans, Colin McCarthy is out with his concussion; Mike Munchak indicated Tim Shaw would play in base packages and Will Witherspoon in nickel; apparently "no Akeem Ayers in the nickel except as a rusher" has become somewhat of an imperative, if they actually line up how Munchak indicated they'll line up. This makes a certain amount of sense, but only a certain amount. Ryan Mouton is a healthy inactive this week, thus completing his season-long transition from backup nickelback in preseason to starting nickelback the first half or so of the season to backup nickelback and now inactive. Jamie Harper, listed as questionable, is inactive, while Damian Williams, also questionable, is playing and Lavelle Hawkins is down again. Collin Mooney, brought up off the practice squad yesterday, is active, and it'll be interesting to see what role he plays with fellow fullback Quinn Johnson also active; judging by who's up, my desire to see more spread looks against a depleted secondary will not be met.

The big question for the Titans is of course what Dowell Loggains will do offensively; it's hard to change too many things in one week. Jake Locker indicated a desire to see fewer or no option routes; Loggains at his media session Thursday meanwhile stressed that every offense had option routes. Perhaps I read too much into things, but he stressed that at some point it's up to the players to go out and execute between the lines on Sunday. I think he saw the same thing I saw, that some of the Titans' flaws against the Jaguars were simple lack of execution not related to OMG Chris Palmer Loser Fired Browns Texans Old! One thing more likely to be changed in a single week is the use of heavier protections. As I've written before, Palmer believed in primarily 5+1-man protection schemes and getting more players out in routes. Given Locker's occasional issues with getting crushed by a guy that protection made him accountable for, I wouldn't be too surprised to see more 7-man protections, which may (or may not) also mean deeper routes.

Anyway, I'll be chiming in from time to time on Twitter with my thoughts on today's game, so feel free to follow and yap at me there.

To help get a better eye on the Texans before this week's game, I once again turned to Steph Stradley. Steph was voted the ultimate Texans fan in 2006 and when not practicing law in Houston writes the Texans Chick blog on the Houston Chronicle's website. You can also follow her on Twitter @StephStradley, where she says smart things about the Texans and mean things about Bud Adams. In addition to answering questions from me, she also sent me questions I answered over at Texans Chick.

In an effort to keep things fresh and interesting, I tried not to duplicate things I asked her in our first  exchange, so check that out for more information on the Texans. On with the new Q&A.

Total Titans: 458 yards and 37 points against the Jaguars. 525 yards and 31 points against the Lions. What the heck is going on with the Texans defense, especially a pass defense that's allowed 791 yards the past two games, that wasn't happening earlier in the season?

One of the things I've looked at here over the past couple years from time to time is what effect starting field position has had on how effective the Titans have been at scoring or conceding points. I think the first time I did it was when I tried to compare how the offense fared in 2009 under Kerry Collins to how it fared under Vince Young, and I've kept it up since. I actually planned this post as one of my bye week updates, but didn't get the chance to write it then. Offensive coordinator Chris Palmer's firing makes now a great time to look at it, though, because when I got the chance to run the numbers, the comparison to 2011 was striking.

The methodology is basically the same it's been in the past. Touchdowns are worth 7 points. Made field goals are worth 3 points. Missed field goals are worth 2 points. All other drives are worth 0 points. End of half/game drives ending in kneeldowns are excluded, as are desperation drives that don't end in points (e.g., the final drive against Jacksonville last week). I'm not trying to cheat the numbers in any way, and frankly the results surprised me.

So, let's see those results. Chart? Chart.

With the Titans facing off against the Houston Texans once again this week, this time in the hopefully friendlier confines of LP Field, I'll once again be doing a Q&A with Texans blogger Steph Stradley.

If you have any questions for Steph about how the Texans have changed since late September or what the rest of the year looks like for them, post them in the comments section.

The Tennessee Titans this evening announced that they fired offensive coordinator Chris Palmer and named quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains as the new offensive coordinator. In the statement announcing the change, Mike Munchak declared, "As an offense, I didn't feel like we were progressing the way that I had hoped. I believe we needed a change in direction and I hope to see that progress in our remaining games."

The Titans are coming off a 24-19 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in which they attempted five field goals against DVOA's 27th-ranked defense. If I were a cynic, I would note the Titans started 8 of their 12 offensive possessions inside their own 20 yard line. Their first five possessions ended with incomplete passes on third-and-2, third-and-3, third-and-3, third-and-3, and third-and-4. The Titans' overall success rate against the Jaguars was 48%, their third-best of the season, and came after their best offensive performance of the season before the bye against the Dolphins and a game against the Bears where they moved the ball somewhat consistently except when they kept fumbling the ball away every fifth play.

When the Titans hired Palmer following the 2010 season, I expected Palmer to last two years before Loggains assumed the offensive coordinator position. I find the timing of this move a bit questionable, given the Titans' offense is operating much more consistently than it was early in the season and especially the marked improvement in the run game. Still, given how good the Titans are this year, it's no surprise to see a coaching change during the season. I'm just surprised which coordinator they fired, or at least fired first.

The NFL this year is keeping track of player snap counts on a weeklly basis and releasing that information to the media. Here's how often which Titans played in Week 12's loss to the Jaguars.

Offense (71 total)
QB: Jake Locker 71
RB/FB: Chris Johnson 53, Quinn Johnson 17, Darius Reynaud 16
TE: Jared Cook 46, Craig Stevens 37, Taylor Thompson 11
WR: Nate Washington 57, Kenny Britt 57, Kendall Wright 39, Damian Williams 25
OL: Steve Hutchinson 71, Deuce Lutui 71, Michael Roos 71, David Stewart 71, Fernando Velasco 71

Defense (64 total)
DE: Kamerion Wimbley 61, Derrick Morgan 60, Scott Solomon 4, Jarius Wynn 3
DT: Jurrell Casey 60, Sen'Derrick Marks 60, Mike Martin 5, Karl Klug 3
LB: Colin McCarthy 64, Zach Brown 57, Akeem Ayers 34
CB: Jason McCourty 64, Alterraun Verner 62, Coty Sensabaugh 33, Ryan Mouton 5
S: Michael Griffin 64, Jordan Babineaux 40, Robert Johnson 25

Patrick Bailey, Beau Brinkley, Tommie Campbell, Darren Evans, Kevin Matthews, Tim Shaw, Tracy Wilson, and Will Witherspoon each only appeared on special teams. Matt Hasselbeck was active but did not appear in the game.

Overall, those numbers are pretty much what I've come to expect. The biggest surprise was Taylor Thompson playing as little as he did. Two weeks ago against the Dolphins, he played 40% of the snaps, more than Jared Cook. The Titans ran the full house formation a few times, but it seemed like it was more often with Quinn Johnson and Craig Stevens and not as much with Stevens and Thompson. And, yes, Jordan Babineaux got kind of benched again in the second half. I want to say it happened not long after Cecil Shorts' long touchdown, but will have to confirm that.