NFL Week 16 Fantasy Football Recap: Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans

Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry (22) runs the ball during the third quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Titans Texans 088

Derrick Henry: 23 carries, 126 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 receptions, 0 receiving yards

Brandin Cooks: 4 receptions, 34 yards, 1 touchdown


Jump to another recap:

ATL@BAL | DET@CAR | SEA@KC | NO@CLE
HOU@TEN | CIN@NE | NYG@MIN | BUF@CHI
WSH@SF | PHI@DAL | LVR@PIT


Treylon Burks’ return: Burks suffered a concussion in Week 13, causing him to miss Week 14.

  • He played more than 75% of offensive snaps for the first time in his NFL career.
  • He played 14 of a possible 18 snaps in 12 personnel, which made the difference for him compared to previous weeks.
  • He reached 10 snaps in 12 personnel once (Week 3) prior to his first major injury of the season and hadn’t regained those snaps when he returned in Week 10.
  • Those snaps came at the expense of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
  • This didn’t necessarily lead to more production. He didn’t catch either target, and the Titans' passing game was held under 100 yards total.
  • Burks had a 15-yard carry.
  • The Titans have a much more favorable matchup against the Dallas Cowboys next week.
  • Dallas has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to wide receivers this season, and the Titans will likely need to pass a lot more in that game.

Brandin Cooks returns to the Texans: Cooks returned after suffering a calf injury in Week 12 and regained his starting job.

  • His playing time had ever so slightly been on the decline throughout the season, and that continued.
  • He was the clear leader in targets on the team, seeing more than double the targets of any other Texan.
  • Chris Moore had been a star in recent weeks and was able to keep his starting job.
  • Nico Collins was placed on injured reserve Friday with a foot injury, so Moore will likely keep the starting job over the rest of the season.
  • He’s a fine waiver wire target because the Texans have a matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
  • Houston will likely be playing from behind, and the Jaguars have allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to wide receivers.
  • Moore is a lot less safe of an option due to a lower target share.

Monitor Teagan Quitoriano’s health: Quitoriano suffered a knee injury early in the second quarter and didn’t return.

  • The fifth-round rookie had led the Texans’ tight end room in offensive snaps since joining the lineup in Week 9 as the team’s primary blocking tight end.
  • His role on early downs led him to run 18-21 routes most weeks, but he’s caught only four passes all season.
  • This led both Jordan Akins and Brevin Jordan to see more playing time this week.
  • O.J. Howard has been a healthy inactive. He would likely take Quitoriano’s role if the injury is serious.
  • This makes the Texans’ tight end situation one to avoid, despite the injury.

Texans backfield goes as expected: In their second game without Dameon Pierce, the Texans used their running backs similar to the last three quarters of Week 15.

  • The Texans initially turned to Dare Ogunbowale on early downs last week but eventually shifted to Royce Freeman being the primary early back.
  • Rex Burkhead remained the third-down back, as was the case last week and has been for most of the season.
  • Freeman is an OK waiver wire target for fantasy managers desperate at running back. The Jacksonville Jaguars have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to running backs this season, and we can be decently confident he will lead the team in carries.


Table Notes

Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.

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