Pro Football Betting – Rookie Takes Over at QB For Titans Against Watt & Texans

  • In Charles Jay
  • Sat, Oct 25th, 2014 7:28:47 pm
  • By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA


The Tennessee Titans are electing to go with a rookie quarterback, as apparently they have concluded that Jake Locker is not the answer. How will Zach Mettenberger do against JJ Watt and the Houston Texans?


When Ken Whisenhunt, who had taken the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl several years ago, came to Nashville and assumed the head coaching job with the Tennessee Titans, there was some speculation as to how he would deal with Jake Locker, who did not appear to be is "cup of tea" as far as quarterbacks is concerned. Well, after seven games of the season, BetAnySports patrons may have their answer, as Whisenhunt is turning to a rookie to see if he can turn things around in Tennessee. The Titans will line up with former LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger at the helm as they play host to the Houston Texans in pro football betting action that gets underway at 1 PM ET at LP Field in Nashville.

Locker has missed a lot of starts in his career, including three this season, and the coaching staff just ran out of patience with his tendency to be injury-prone. Management had already decided not to renew his option for next season, so Locker will be exploring the free-agent waters. So Whisenhunt, who already has a veteran backup in Charlie Whitehurst, decided to see what the youngster could do.

The Texans will be taking aim at Mettenberger, for certain. This is a team about which there are still many questions, especially after the Jekyll-and-Hyde performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Monday, when they jumped out to a 13-0 lead, looking awesome in the process, and then just seemed to stand around as Pittsburgh scored 24 unanswered points in less than three minutes.

In the pro football betting odds that have been posted on this game at BetAnySports, the Texans are the road favorites:

Houston Texans -3 (-130)
Tennessee Titans +3 (+110)

Over 42 points -110
Under 42 points -110

Mettenberger was talented enough to beat Aaron Murray out for the starting quarterback job at the University of Georgia as a freshman, but then he ran into problems off the field and was essentially kicked off the team. After a stint in junior college ball, he wound up in LSU, and blossomed as the starter under offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. Mettenberger is a dropback passer who has great size and a very strong arm, but his big problem is that he can't evade a pass rush. So obviously pro football bettors can sense this is not the opponent the doctor ordered. It's not that Houston is so proficient in terms of sacks; indeed, Tennessee has more, by an 18-13 margin. But when you have JJ Watt staring across the line at you, and then there is the possibility of coach Bill O'Brien unleashing Jadeveon Clowney (the #1 overall draft choice) in special situations as he comes back from his knee injury, this is definitely a quarterback who is going to be challenged in his first NFL start.

As BetAnySports customers have become aware by now, Houston wants to control the football, and as the guy to do it in Arian Foster, who has already chalked up five 100-yard games. These guys really need to improve upon their third-down conversion rate (36.4%), although it is markedly better than that of Tennessee (31.3%). And Houston has a quarterback who's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder. We know that Ryan Fitzpatrick is a guy who is going to give you adequate performances (though not much beyond that), and he indeed had 262 yards passing in the game against Pittsburgh. As pro football bettors recall, he had to replace an injured Locker last season and started nine games for Tennessee, but he was not one of the people Whisenhunt wanted to retain, as Whitehurst was brought aboard instead. The Harvard grad gives the Texans something they probably won't have that often this season – an edge at the quarterback position, that is, unless Mettenberger comes right out of the gate and does exactly what Whisenhunt expects he can do, which is to get the ball downfield and stretch out defenses, managing to avoid mistakes and negative plays - like sacks.

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