Okay, turnovers are an obvious point, so I’m not even going to include that. Here we go…

1. Do not give up the big play.
Chris Johnson is probably going to get his. I just don’t see any team stopping him right now, but he can be contained. When these teams last met, CJ went bananas on three long scores, but one of those plays was a fluke (when he went uncovered and coasted for a long receiving TD) and the other isn’t going to happen because Bernard Pollard isn’t John Busing.

Johnson has proven to be kind of selfish (asked in the offseason what his goals for the season were, not a single one of them were team-based) and a bit of a whiner (cried and whined when he didn’t win the rookie of the year award) so you can bet he’s going to want to make a big impression with the entire football world watching on Monday night. I’d love it if the Texans buried him a foot deep in the Reliant turf – but I have to give it up for the guy – he’s absolutely in the mix to be the top RB in the NFL. He’s just not the sharpest tool in the shed (judging by his comments on Twitter) and as much as he tries to hide it, I don’t think he’s much of a team-first guy. Anyway – that doesn’t take away from what he’s done on the field. He’s been dominant.

2. Build a lead and force the Titans to throw the ball.
This sort of goes along with stopping Chris Johnson. If the Texans can somehow build a comfortable lead (I don’t think that’s going to happen) and force Vince Young to throw the ball, I like their chances. I know Vince has been playing well the last few weeks, but let’s not go crazy just yet. CJ has been the guy carrying the Titans, but it’s also important to realize that part of the reason for that is because of the danger VY brings with his legs.

Vince can play. Even against the weaker competition, these are NFL teams out there, and when Vince’s head wasn’t right – he was terrible against EVERYONE, good or bad. He’s going to be focused and ready to take it to his hometown team.

3. Don’t come in overconfident, and match their intensity.
Swagger is great. The Texans seem to have legitimate swagger for the first time, maybe ever? But these Titans are going to be ready to play. They love to talk about how they don’t “acknowledge” the Texans, and how it’s not really a rivalry, etc., but for all that kind of “we’re too good to get mixed up in this kind of thing” talk, they sure are running their mouths a lot. The Texans need to be ready for cheap shots from Andre Johnson’s little son Cortland Finnegan, and ready to somehow overcome the INCREDIBLE INTIMIDATION that Kyle Vanden Bosch’s pink eye contacts bring.

The Texans have GOT to keep in mind that as bad as the Titans were to start this season, they really did get pretty lucky to win that game in Nashville. A terrible muffed punt rule, and an unforced fumble by Kerry Collins – those two plays were the real difference.

I’d sure love to see the Texans go 59-0 on the Titans, but let’s face it – it’s not going to happen. This one’s going to go down to the wire, and I expect Tennessee to come in with the same fire and intensity that the Jets came with in week 1. The Texans need to respond overwhelmingly to anything the Titans bring. He sends one of your guys to the hospital – you send one of his to the morgue.

4. Give Schaub time to operate.
Pass protection generally hasn’t been a big problem for the Texans’ offense this year, but this is no time to let up on the gas. The Titans will come in ferocious, and looking to beat and batter Schaub the way they did before the Texans finally broke through against them last year. Back when the Texans beat Tennessee in September, Houston was still trying to establish itself as a “run to set up the pass” offense, but now they’ve embraced who they are, and they’ll be tossing the ball all over the place unless early attempts to run the ball turn out better than expected.

5. Finish every tackle.
This one is simple. When your opponent has playmakers like Chris Johnson and Vince Young, you can make them look a lot less spectacular if you do the most simple and fundamental thing – make solid tackles. I love big hits, especially when a Tennessee Titan is the victim of one – but instead of going for the big Monday Night Football highlight-reel hit, the Texans need to wrap up and finish EVERY single tackle.

Bonus key to victory…
It says here that an NFL team has never lost when they send one of their players into the opposing owner’s suite to punch that owner in the face. Or, hey – maybe it can be a fan. I’m sure there would be no shortage of volunteers.