Milestone for Johnson: Before he was ejected for fighting in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Andre Johnson set an NFL record by becoming the first receiver in history with at least 60 catches in each of his first eight seasons.
Johnson reached the milestone with a 21-yard catch in the first quarter.
"It is a tremendous honor," Johnson said. "I always said that I wanted to be one of the best players at my position when I came into this game. I did something that no one else has done for the first time. I'm excited about it. I'm glad that we got to win the football game."
Foster finds another gear: Texans running back Arian Foster had 56 more yards of offense than the Titans did as a team. Foster had 218 yards, including 143 rushing and 75 receiving. The Titans had 162 yards total.
The league's leading rusher had 114 total yards in the first half alone, but Texans coach Gary Kubiak challenged him to find another gear at halftime.
"I just saw a couple of runs, and I said, 'I thought you need to get the ball downhill a little better,'" Kubiak said. "…I told him at halftime when I walked out with him, I said, 'I expect more out of you than anybody.' And that's the way he played. I mean, this kid has a 200-plus day of offense. He's playing some damn good football. As he goes we kind of go, so we need him at his best."
Foster agreed with Kubiak's halftime assessment that he needed to pick things up.
"He expects me to make plays when there aren't plays to be made," Foster said. "He's right. In the first quarter and early second quarter, it was kind of a slow game, kind of an easy-going game, and sometimes I play like that. All of us did. We just kind of kicked it in and found another gear, and we really got rolling.
"That's kind of my style as a runner – keep feeding me, keep feeding me, and then eventually I'll wear you down. I've been like that since I was a young'un, man. It kind of goes into what I'd been doing in the offseason, and that's long-distance training and things like that. That's kind of what I pride myself on, not wearing down."
CJ2K shut down: Titans running back Chris Johnson entered the game as the second-leading rusher in the AFC. He's now ranked fourth after the Texans limited him to a career-low five yards on seven carries.
Johnson, last year's rushing champ with 2,006 yards, finished with seven total yards on nine touches.
Cushing leads the way: Texans linebacker Brian Cushing keyed the Texans' stalwart defensive effort with a team-high seven tackles. He had four tackles for loss and two passes defensed and was as fiery as he has been in quite some time.
It was Cushing's third game at strongside linebacker after he temporarily moved to middle linebacker in Weeks 8 and 9.
"I think I've been the same Brian for a while now," he said. "It's just taken a little time to get under my belt. It's something I expect of myself every single week."
Rusty start: The Texans never let Titans quarterback Rusty Smith get on track in his first-career start. Defensive end Mario Williams sacked Smith on the Titans' first play of the game, and Smith finished with only 138 yards and a 26.7 passer rating on 17-of-31 passing with three interceptions.
"A lot of this league is timing," Kubiak said. "You may play a season and defensively, you may catch some various quarterbacks along the season. We've played against some great, great quarterbacks along the course of our 11 weeks. Today, we played against a young man that they haven't played very much, but you got to get it done one way or another."
Dreessen keeps rolling: Tight end Joel Dreessen caught his fourth touchdown pass of the season in the second quarter on a one-yard pass from Matt Schaub. He totaled three catches for 15 yards.
Dreessen has caught touchdown passes in consecutive games for the first time in his career. He had a 43-yard touchdown last week against the Jets, a game in which he had a career-high 106 receiving yards. With five games left this season, he already has a career-high 336 yards on 22 catches.
Injury report: Wide receiver David Anderson and tight end Owen Daniels did not play because of hamstring injuries. Cornerback Brice McCain was inactive but was not injured.
"We went in a different direction," Kubiak said, adding that the Texans decided to play rookie safety Torri Williams for help on special teams. Williams ended up suffering a hamstring injury during the game.
Other players who were inactive were linebacker Xavier Adibi (hamstring) and defensive end Jesse Nading (knee). Defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard, guard Kasey Studdard and quarterback Matt Leinart also were inactive.
