The Tennessee Titans' playoff hopes died on Sunday in their 19-16 loss to the Houston Texans, but for many other additional reason, this embarrassing loss left some salt in the wound. If Will Levis' injury or the lackluster coaching or the banged-up nature of the Texans' roster or the culture wars over the Oilers throwbacks weren't enough, now there another kick for the Titans to feel while they are down.
The Titans' starting nose tackle for the past three season will now be joining the team that just handed them that embarrassing loss as the Texans claimed Teair Tart on Monday. Tart was waived by the Titans on Saturday prior to taking on the Texans in Week 15.
Tart had been unhappy publicly about his contract situation all season after not getting a multi-year deal in the offseason. He routinely pointed tweets and some of the comments from others in the organization made it easy to believe Tart and the team weren't seeing eye to eye. Tart's Week 15 release acts as proof of this difference.
Tart had to be happy on Sunday though. The Titans gave up 148 rushing yards to the Texans and most of it came up the gut where Tart would have been. Also, now instead of being on a 5-9 team with no playoff hopes, Tart is joining a prime contender in the Texans who happen to face the Titans again in Week 17.
Tart played in 45 games for the Titans, including 11 this season, making 36 starts over four years. Tart put up 76 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks during those games. He was a key cog in a run defense that has been fantastic for most of the last few seasons.
More must-reads: