As the Washington Redskins travel to take on the Tennessee Titans in Week 16 on Saturday, each team will be fighting for their playoff lives.
Despite what some of their outings and injury luck may lead you to believe, the Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins remain alive in the playoff hunt heading into their Week 16 matchup. At this point in the season, a loss could sink those chances. Thus, how the matchup on Saturday from Nissan Stadium plays out could determine a great deal about the postseason.
The Redskins enter this game with their fourth starting quarterback of the season, Josh Johnson, at the helm. Shockingly, the Washington signal-caller led his team to a victory over another AFC South opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, last week. There’s no doubt that the defense and the legs of Adrian Peterson aided Johnson’s effort, but he also played mistake-free football, to his credit.
That’s going to be a tough ask against this Titans defense on Saturday, however. Tennessee boasts the second-best scoring defense in the NFL this season, sitting just a fraction behind the vaunted Baltimore Ravens. Though Logan Ryan is now out for the year, Jurrell Casey and Co. have been playing at an extremely high level all season. Thus, they could make life for the inexperienced and up-and-down Johnson quite difficult.
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What the Titans really need in this one is to keep Derrick Henry rolling. After a pedestrian first 12 games, he’s totaled north of 400 yards over his past two outings, which has fueled Tennessee’s offense. If the Redskins’ roller-coaster defense can’t contain him, Tennessee should be able to control this game and play things into their favor.
TV and Live Stream info
Date: Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018
Start Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
Location: Nashville, TN
Stadium: Nissan Stadium
TV Info: NFL Network
Live Stream: NFL.com, FuboTV
Just looking at what the oddsmakers have to say about this game, it’s clear how they feel that this one is going to play out. The Titans are favored heavily, but the Over/Under for the matchup is well below 40 points. Thus, it seems they believe that Tennessee will essentially blank the Redskins in a resounding victory.
Betting Odds (via Odds Shark)
Point Spread: Tennessee -11
Moneyline: Tennessee -500, Washington +435
Over/Under: 37.5
Prediction
Though the Titans should be able to pull out the victory in this one with their defense harassing Johnson and the Washington offense, it’s hard to trust them to cover an 11-point spread. Gut reaction says that they will win handily, but will fall short of covering the double-digit spread. Still, Tennessee will keep postseason dreams alive while Washington will all but fall out.
Final Score: Washington 9, Tennessee 17