Battle Red Blog
This post is sponsored by FanDuel.
It doesn’t get much worse than 0-3, especially considering the hype the Houston Texans built entering this NFL season. Their demoralizing start had even more air let out its tires when they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday, and the Texans will have to prevent it from becoming an apocalyptic start when they host the Tennessee Titans in week four of the 2025 NFL season.
Fanduel has already got the opening odds whipped up, and they appear to still have hope for Houston, favoring them by 7.5 points despite the painful start to the season:
If you’d like to try your hand, just follow this link to start betting on the variety of options FanDuel has available. FanDuel gives you the choice to make traditional bets as well as Quick Bets, wagers that rely less on the outcome of the game and more on who will score the first touchdown, first field goal, etc.
This -7.5 spread means the Texans will cover the spread as long as they win by 8 points or more, while the Titans will cover the spread as long as they either lose by less than 8 points or win outright. Tennessee isn’t any more inspiring than their 0-3 AFC South brother (once removed), but they already appear to be utilizing the extra firepower their first overall pick, QB Cam Ward, has provided them. Being a -7.5 favorite isn’t bestowing a large amount of confidence at Houston’s feet, either, so it looks like FanDuel expects a Texans win but not one to write home about, which is more of an indictment on the Texans than it is praise of the Titans.
Scoring in general for this game seems like it may come at a premium, as well. An over/under of 38.5 (which is what FanDuel expects to be the combined score of the game) would mean they don’t expect either team to score more than 19 points. That sounds doable until you realize that Houston needed nearly all 60 minutes and a short field in their week two matchup to earn just two touchdowns. The points have been earned the hard way for both teams in this matchup, so FanDuel is wise to have kept the O/U low.
Still, there’s no doubt the sports book artisans expect Houston to shirk their problems and beat this Titans team. If I had been somehow hidden from Sunday’s atrocity in Jacksonville, I’d be inclined to agree with them. But…after being exposed to that mess of a game, I don’t think Houston is capable of getting anything larger than a 3-point lead on their opponent. Houston has only started 0-3 five times before (2020, 2018, 2008, 2006, 2005) and has only been 0-4 three times before (2020, 2008, 2005). Out of all of these years, the Texans only made the playoffs in 2018, and that defining mid-season rebound was such an anomaly that it convinced Texans ownership to offer the keys of the...
