Winning gives a big emotional lift to fans dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, evens their record and ends a six-game skid against the team they replaced in Houston.

Pardon the Titans if their sympathy ends Sunday at kickoff.

"I just feel for them guys right now because they're going through that situation, and I'm sure it's very, very, very distracting," Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said. "But football's football. They're trying to get to 1-1, we're trying to get to 3-0. Once they get here, we'll just assume everything's all right with their families and they're coming here to play a game."

The Titans have had their own drama thanks to Houston native Vince Young. The quarterback who is a Texas legend will be watching veteran Kerry Collins, who has been given the reins while Young heals both his sprained knee and his attitude. Not that Young's status is a big issue with this team.

Tennessee is sitting atop the AFC South and trying to win its first three games for only the third time in franchise history and the first since 1999, when the Titans reached their lone Super Bowl.

"We just want to keep that momentum," Bulluck said.

For the Texans, football offers a change from a difficult stretch. They opened with a 38-17 loss at Pittsburgh, then had their home opener moved back one day, then rescheduled to midseason as they spent what will count as their bye week riding out the hurricane. They returned to practice Tuesday in a city that has resembled a ghost town, with power outages and gas shortages.

"We plan on not only playing for ourselves, but for everyone around the city, everyone around the state of Texas that's looking to sort of get back to a normal life," Texans linebacker DeMeco Ryan said.

Now the Texans must play their first three games on the road - a first for any NFL team since the 1991 Cardinals - and the team that finished last in the AFC South will be playing at Jacksonville next. Coach Gary Kubiak said his Texans understand the chore they face.

"It's about challenges and trying to work through adversity, and that's what we're committed to doing," he said.

The Texans have won only twice in their six-year history in this series, while Tennessee has won six straight, including last year where it knocked out Houston quarterback Matt Schaub in the first quarter of both games. Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth landed on Schaub in the first game, sending him to the locker room.

"I can't keep too much eye on him," Schaub said. "They have a bunch of good players on their defensive front, so we just have to be aware of how they're lining up and just be stout up front."

The Texans managed only 234 yards in their opener, and likely will start rookie running back Steve Slaton, hoping to provide a boost. Andre Johnson also had 112 yards receiving.

But the Titans pride themselves on playing even better defense than they did last year, and so far they are holding teams to 60.5 yards rushing and 202 yards overall through two games. They are tied with Seattle for the most sacks in the NFL since the start of the 2007 season, and they had seven in the opener.

They may take it a bit easier on Schaub because Haynesworth said they don't want to see backup Sage Rosenfels, who put up 29 fourth-quarter points last Oct. 21 in a 38-36 win over Houston.

"Honestly a team as physical as we are and knowing we go after the quarterback, yeah he'll have to think about it,' Haynesworth said. "I guess every quarterback will have to think about it, not just him."

The Titans will counter with an offense averaging 229 yards behind rookie running back Chris Johnson and backfield mate LenDale White. They stayed patient in a windy 24-7 win at Cincinnati last week, running for 177 yards and throwing only once in the fourth quarter.

Collins knows the Texans will be looking to attack him more than they would Young, and the man who needs 90 yards passing to join Brett Favre and Peyton Manning as the third active quarterback with 35,000 yards passing in his career will be ready. In his limited play this season, he's thrown for 193 yards and only one touchdown. But he has a 109.5 passer rating.

"I'm not a huge threat, obviously, running the ball," he said. "But on the flip side, that opens up some holes at times and you get more man-to-man coverage."

This is the first of two straight home games for Tennessee, and the Titans will not take the Texans lightly.

"This is going to be kind of a bonding experience for them, so they're going to be very focused as far as this game's concerned," coach Jeff Fisher said. "They're a very, very dangerous team."