Love Ya Titans! Tennessee will wear Oilers uniforms Sunday against Texans

Every summer in the NFL, well in advance of Week 1, clubs are required to share with the league office their wardrobe plans for each game of the regular season. The Titans chose Week 18 against the Texans to wear the Houston Oilers throwback threads.

When the Titans (3-13) host the Texans (9-7) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS), the only significance of the game’s outcome is where Tennessee will draft in the first round on April 25. Houston already has clinched the AFC South division and the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs. But that doesn’t mean the game will lack energy. The Titans organization threw oil on the fire before the season kicked off by choosing to wear vintage Luv Ya Blue uniforms against the team that now occupies the franchise’s former hometown.

The move doesn’t sit well with some, who want the memories of Bum Phillips, Earl Campbell and Warren Moon to remain in Houston. However, when the franchise left Houston, it retained ownership of the Oilers brand. In fact, for those first two years in Tennessee, the team wore the same Columbia blue combination the Titans will wear on Sunday against the Texans.

An original AFL franchise, the organization played from 1960-96 as the Houston Oilers before moving to Tennessee. Known as the Tennessee Oilers from 1997-98, the club took its current identity as the Tennessee Titans in 1999.

The Titans have made an effort to honor their Oilers heritage in recent seasons. On two home occasions last season, a 28-23 win over Atlanta and a 19-16 overtime loss to the Texans, Tennessee wore the Oilers classics. Starting in his NFL debut, quarterback Will Levis registered four touchdown passes in the win over the Falcons.

In the Week 14 Texans contest last year, Case Keenum started in place of C.J. Stroud (concussion) and led the Texans back from a 13-3 halftime deficit. He threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown – who ironically caught the Daniels Miracle Victory touchdown pass earlier this season from Jayden Daniels – that tied the contest, 16-16, with just over three minutes in regulation. Keenum then guided the Texans on a game-winning drive in overtime, setting up Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 54-yard field goal with no time remaining.

Regarding this week’s game, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said he will play his starters, including Stroud, and see how the game goes. The team wants to extinguish any lingering taste from a 31-2 loss to the Ravens on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, Titans head coach Brian Callahan said this week he plans to play both Levis and backup Mason Rudolph at quarterback.

Keenum, now on injured reserve for the Texans, was 9 years old when the Houston Oilers moved from his home state to Tennessee. Ironically, the quarterback starred at the University of Houston, which also wanted to wear the Oilers uniforms.

For more information on the Titans and Texans, visit the Tennessee and Houston team pages at ProFootballPost.com.