The New AFC South

[Lucky Colts Fan]

I hate to say it, but I think the Jags, Texans, and Titans all had a really good offseason.  I think the Colts did enough to stay King of the Hill, but this division just got a lot better IMO.

 

I don't know if the team records will show it at the end of the year because we all play each other, but this division might go from "worst" to "best" if the injury bug doesn't decimate any rosters.

 

The Ravens and Browns had good drafts, and if the Browns recover from this Manziel hangover, the AFC North could be up there too.

[BOTT]

I don't think the Texans got significantly better.  Osweiler might be better playing for O'Brien though.

[SteelDragon]

Colts will be better off playing in a tougher division.  Iron sharpens iron- to borrow Pagano's cliché

[BOTT]

22 minutes ago, SteelDragon said:

Colts will be better off playing in a tougher division.  Iron sharpens iron- to borrow Pagano's cliché

Not really.

[Narcosys]

I highly expect more split series within our division.  No longer will we run the course with the Titans and the Jags.  Houston addressed their QB issues and will be our biggest competition, like always.  But honestly, this year I expect another 8-8 season.

[IndySouthsider]

Curious as Jax did nothing to fix their awful OL. They were the 29 th in sacks allowed. 

[Smonroe]

As we all know, the team with the best QB is king.  MM is good, but raw, BB has talent but still screws up games.  They'll both be better.  

 

 Texans have the best team, except for the QB.  I dont think BO is the answer, at least I hope not. 

 

I'm not worried about them as much as I am about us.  

[Lucky Colts Fan]

3 minutes ago, Narcosys said:

I highly expect more split series within our division.  No longer will we run the course with the Titans and the Jags.  Houston addressed their QB issues and will be our biggest competition, like always.  But honestly, this year I expect another 8-8 season.

 

I agree.  I don't think the Colts are going to be 13-3, 6-0 in the division and have a 1st round bye.  I think the winner of the division will be 10-6, 9-7.

 

I also don't think anyone in our division will pick in the top 10 next year.  6-10, 5-11 will probably be the worst record in our division.

[2006Coltsbestever]

I think we will finish 10-6 if I had to put an early prediction on it. I can see:

Colts 10-6

Texans 9-7

Jags 9-7

Titans 7-9

-If Andrew stays completely 100% healthy of course! That is a huge part of it.

[COLTS449]

We'll win 10 or 11 games, but the division is getting better FAST. We could have done a lot more to fill our holes. I mean we signed 1 good free agent. No reason why we couldn't have signed Bruce Irvin or somebody. Or drafted a pass rusher early. Traded up for Correa or Spence. Or drafted Fackrell or Calhoun. If we just had a pass rusher. That's the big missing link guys. Maybe we can pull off a Vontae like trade and get Mingo, and maybe he'll come here and realize his potential. We really need to do something. I mean if not Mathis is going to have to put up 12-15 sacks.

[COLTS449]

Colts 11-5

 

Jaguars - 9-7

 

Texans - 8-8

 

Titans - 5-11

[Bluefire4]

If the Jaguars don't make the playoffs this year I will be shocked. If they are awful this year Gus Bradley should be fired.

 

The Texans made some good moves but I think they struggle this year because I just don't trust Osweiler. They did all they can to give him weapons though so we'll see.

 

I don't know how I feel about the Titans. On one hand I think they're still a couple years away from relevancy, but on the other hand they may just surprise this year.

 

I am a football fan so I love seeing competition. A rise in talent in our division just makes us tougher and heightens our strengths and weaknesses as a whole.

[weslo1812]

2 hours ago, COLTS449 said:

We'll win 10 or 11 games, but the division is getting better FAST. We could have done a lot more to fill our holes. I mean we signed 1 good free agent. No reason why we couldn't have signed Bruce Irvin or somebody. Or drafted a pass rusher early. Traded up for Correa or Spence. Or drafted Fackrell or Calhoun. If we just had a pass rusher. That's the big missing link guys. Maybe we can pull off a Vontae like trade and get Mingo, and maybe he'll come here and realize his potential. We really need to do something. I mean if not Mathis is going to have to put up 12-15 sacks.

Who says we didn't make a call to Irvine and see about the possibility??? And ultimately it's up to the free agent where they wanna sign. Plus financially with a Luck deal looming we didn't really have the money to fork out.

 

And I don't know how you think that if we'd just got a pass rusher that you want and think is good then all the sudden our pass rush is fixed and all is well. That is faaaarr from the case and not reality at all. Even the the top pass rushers in this class have thier question marks and uncertainty and need more development in some way. If we did take one that was available he might have gave us a few sacks next year but likely not anything much that would vastly improve our pass rush. And the bottom line is they weren't the best players on the Colts board when the Colts picked. And we did get Maggit in UDFA who has real potential, so that's something to be encouraged about in that area.

[Defjamz26]

Here's a visualization of each team's notable additions:

* indicates draft pick

 

Texans

Brock Osweiler, QB

Lamar Miller, RB

*Will Fuller, WR

*Nick Martin, OC

*Braxton Miller, WR

* Tyler Irvin, RB

 

Jaguars

Malik Jackson, DL

Prince Amukamara, CB

*Jalen Ramsey, CB

* Myles Jack, LB

* Yannick Ngakoue, DE

* Sheldon Day, DL

 

Titans

Demarco Murray, RB

 Ben Jones, OC 

*Jack Conklin, OT

* Derrick Henry, RB

*Austin Johnson, DT

*Kevin Dodd, DE

 

Texans got better offensively

Jaguars got better defensively 

Titans got better on both sides

 

 

 

 

[CoachLite]

11 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I think we will finish 10-6 if I had to put an early prediction on it. I can see:

Colts 10-6

Texans 9-7

Jags 9-7

Titans 7-9

-If Andrew stays completely 100% healthy of course! That is a huge part of it.

 I think we have the on-field talent to go 11 - 5, but we won't. SWAG prediction:

Titans 10 - 6

Colts 9 - 7

Texans 9 - 7

Jags 8 - 8

All in all, AFC South is now a good division.

[B~Town]

12 hours ago, SteelDragon said:

Colts will be better off playing in a tougher division.  Iron sharpens iron- to borrow Pagano's cliché

Please explain how playing hard nosed football teams that come to beat you up makes for a better football team .

[Resplash]

It seems like we say this every year, and then the Jags and the Titans under preform greatly.

[BOTT]

6 minutes ago, B~Town said:

Please explain how playing hard nosed football teams that come to beat you up makes for a better football team .

He told you.....iron sharpens iron lol

[B~Town]

9 hours ago, Bluefire4 said:

If the Jaguars don't make the playoffs this year I will be shocked. If they are awful this year Gus Bradley should be fired.

 

The Texans made some good moves but I think they struggle this year because I just don't trust Osweiler. They did all they can to give him weapons though so we'll see.

 

I don't know how I feel about the Titans. On one hand I think they're still a couple years away from relevancy, but on the other hand they may just surprise this year.

 

I am a football fan so I love seeing competition. A rise in talent in our division just makes us tougher and heightens our strengths and weaknesses as a whole.

Been saying awhile the Jags will be very good soon Gus Bradley made Seattle D what it was they are building with that same formula invest heavy on D and just come in and punch teams in the throat . I think they are close to becoming a dominate defense .

 

Not sold on Osweiler either and that RB they got is always beat up no way he can handle the load in the Texans running game .

 

Titans are a wild card I think they are young in a rebuild but with a QB like Mariota they can win a lot of games . People seem to write off he was on pace to break Lucks rookie passing records .

[BOTT]

5 minutes ago, B~Town said:

Been saying awhile the Jags will be very good soon Gus Bradley made Seattle D what it was they are building with that same formula invest heavy on D and just come in and punch teams in the throat . I think they are close to becoming a dominate defense .

 

Not sold on Osweiler either and that RB they got is always beat up no way he can handle the load in the Texans running game .

 

Titans are a wild card I think they are young in a rebuild but with a QB like Mariota they can win a lot of games . People seem to write off he was on pace to break Lucks rookie passing records .

Titans could be trouble soon.  I'm big on Mariota too....not just his physical skill, but his makeup.

[Smonroe]

22 minutes ago, BOTT said:

Titans could be trouble soon.  I'm big on Mariota too....not just his physical skill, but his makeup.

 

His eyeliner or mascara?

[Steamboat_Shaun]

I'm still not 100% sold on the Jaguars. Last year, Luck missed 9 games, Mariota missed 5 (I think), and the Texans were a mess at QB, as usual, so the division was practically gift-wrapped for the Jags, but they only managed 5 wins. They were the only team in the division with a healthy starting QB for all 16 games, and they still sucked. I'm not saying they won't be improved because they most definitely will be better, but considering how awful they've been, that's really not saying much.

[TYtheMan13]

1 hour ago, B~Town said:

Please explain how playing hard nosed football teams that come to beat you up makes for a better football team .

I think what he's getting at is this: in this so called "weak division", people say we've only been succeeding because of the teams in our division aren't as good as teams outside our division, so we get 5 or 6 wins from our division alone...which would explain the struggle the Colts have with teams outside the division EVERY YEAR...so by the teams in our division getting better (at least on paper) it forces the Colts to really work hard for a win against great competition, and not just ease through the division..which will make the Colts as a team more aggressive, and play at a higher level when they go against teams outside the division..if you haven't noticed, we get blown out, out coached, and severely out played multiple times EVERY YEAR. So like he basically said, this could have a great impact on the team and really show the coaches and GM how talented the team is, or how much work we still need.

[VaAllDay757]

Houston still doesn't have running game and titans don't have an offensiveline their defense still needs work and the jags still have no offensive line and the defense sounds good on paper so far I'm not worried about the competition until the season starts

[King Colt]

The AFC South is finally worth watching. When the Colts were playing any of several losers I would switch to a competitive game like Cincy & Pittsburgh for example and monitor the Colts game just in case something weird happened. I am very interested on how the other teams in our division pan out. They look formidable on paper but that means little. Hopefully injuries to key players will be minimal. I am looking forward to this year and hoping #12 is improved as far as his getting rid of the ball and sailing it over receivers. There  is a lot we cannot know at this point in terms of the strategies these teams will deploy. This could be a real nail biter of a season. "Let the games begin".

[aaron11]

13 hours ago, BOTT said:

Not really.

its not a matter of facts, we all get to believe what we want here

 

the jags and titans were two of the worst teams in the league over the past few years and we didnt win any super bowls during that time either

 

you have to be able to beat mid tier teams to win a ring. so if we cant beat the new jags and titans we woudnt have made any kind of run anyway 

[Coltfreak]

13 hours ago, IndySouthsider said:

Curious as Jax did nothing to fix their awful OL. They were the 29 th in sacks allowed. 

Well they won't have to worry about us. We have no pass rush so they will be fine there

 

luckily we signed Dorsett last year because we will need to score 50 a game to out score opponents

 

defense wins championships.   Ehhh maybe next year 

[jim scheurich]

2 hours ago, CoachLite said:

 I think we have the on-field talent to go 11 - 5, but we won't. SWAG prediction:

Titans 10 - 6

Colts 9 - 7

Texans 9 - 7

Jags 8 - 8

All in all, AFC South is now a good division.

I agree. Our division is going to be a dogfight. Jacksonville will be way tougher, so will Tennessee. Houston has the good D, so they'll be tough as usual. I think everyone will be close to .500.

[Defjamz26]

I said last year the Jags were the team to fear in the near future. It's starting to come to fruition. With Ramsey, the Dorsett pick and Allen resigning looks a lot smarter. Can't cover everyone.

[Corndog]

You would think the Jaguars would be the closest to contention, but as last year showed they find ways to mess things up.  They will have a better defense, but their o-line is still very poor and they surprisingly did nothing to improve it.

 

 The Texans are always right there, but a QB short.  They will heavily depend on how well Osweiler does for them.  If he's the real deal, they are going to be at the top of the division, if not they will sit around .500.

 

  The team that scares me most is the Titans.  They have tons of talent, but are probably a few years away.  Despite that, I still wouldn't be surprised to see them contend this year and in the future they will be a tough team for years to come. 

[Bluefire4]

2 hours ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

I'm still not 100% sold on the Jaguars. Last year, Luck missed 9 games, Mariota missed 5 (I think), and the Texans were a mess at QB, as usual, so the division was practically gift-wrapped for the Jags, but they only managed 5 wins. They were the only team in the division with a healthy starting QB for all 16 games, and they still sucked. I'm not saying they won't be improved because they most definitely will be better, but considering how awful they've been, that's really not saying much.

I didn't ever think the division was theres last year because they didn't have any talent defensively. Their offense was clicking though. I don't understand the people that said we say this about the Jags every year. This is the only year I'm saying it. They just got Ramsey AND Jack. Added on to getting Malik Jackson, Prince Amukamara and everyone they already had. 

[Bluefire4]

17 minutes ago, Corndog said:

You would think the Jaguars would be the closest to contention, but as last year showed they find ways to mess things up.  They will have a better defense, but their o-line is still very poor and they surprisingly did nothing to improve it.

 

 The Texans are always right there, but a QB short.  They will heavily depend on how well Osweiler does for them.  If he's the real deal, they are going to be at the top of the division, if not they will sit around .500.

 

  The team that scares me most is the Titans.  They have tons of talent, but are probably a few years away.  Despite that, I still wouldn't be surprised to see them contend this year and in the future they will be a tough team for years to come. 

The weakest link was the Jags defense last year. How did they mess things up? Even with the Texans and Colts issues, those teams were still better than the Jags last year. The defense is stacked now.

[Steamboat_Shaun]

1 hour ago, Bluefire4 said:

I didn't ever think the division was theres last year because they didn't have any talent defensively. Their offense was clicking though. I don't understand the people that said we say this about the Jags every year. This is the only year I'm saying it. They just got Ramsey AND Jack. Added on to getting Malik Jackson, Prince Amukamara and everyone they already had. 

I know they'll be much improved, and they are very talented on the defensive side of the ball now, I'm just gonna pump my breaks a bit on calling them a shoe-in for the playoffs. I think every team in the division improved, even Indy. As it stands right now, the Jags look fantastic on paper, but the watching the Colts 2015 campaign taught me to have reservations about judging a roster based on flashy offseason moves.

[AZColt11]

I think the entire division is getting better.  No longer will the AFC South be the doormat of the NFL.  I think that designation now belongs to the NFC East.  

 

But I also think the Colts are getting better too.  They have seemingly fixed a long-time bugaboo.  And they have IMHO the best QB in the division.  Bortles isn't bad, Mariota is on the come, Osweiler is still a bit of an unknown.  Luck has already been a ProBowler.  

 

Advantage Colts.

[Bluefire4]

2 hours ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

I know they'll be much improved, and they are very talented on the defensive side of the ball now, I'm just gonna pump my breaks a bit on calling them a shoe-in for the playoffs. I think every team in the division improved, even Indy. As it stands right now, the Jags look fantastic on paper, but the watching the Colts 2015 campaign taught me to have reservations about judging a roster based on flashy offseason moves.

I understand where you're coming from but their situation is way different than our situation last year. We brought in people that were past their prime and were excited because we thought about their old greatness. They have brought in two top 5 talents in the draft, along with FAs that haven't even entered their prime yet.

 

I know many on here are going to stick with the "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality and I can respect that.

[2006Coltsbestever]

7 hours ago, CoachLite said:

 I think we have the on-field talent to go 11 - 5, but we won't. SWAG prediction:

Titans 10 - 6

Colts 9 - 7

Texans 9 - 7

Jags 8 - 8

All in all, AFC South is now a good division.

That would be an amazing jump for the Titans but I do see them around .500. I think all 4 teams will be with in a game or 2 of each other but I still think we have a slight edge because we have Andrew. He just needs to stay healthy. I have us going 10-6 like Posted earlier.

[CanuckColt]

20 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I think we will finish 10-6 if I had to put an early prediction on it. I can see:

Colts 10-6

Texans 9-7

Jags 9-7

Titans 7-9

-If Andrew stays completely 100% healthy of course! That is a huge part of it.

Yeah...I just hope Andrew can get back to 100% and has not become 'damaged goods'.

 

[Jules]

If Luck stays healthy all year and the o line IMPROVES with the new additions then the Colts win the division. If Luck gets hurt again and we stumble around with QB woes again then we won't make it in. Simple as that to me. We go where Andrew will go and he needs to stay on his feet in one piece.

 

Titans will probably suck again. It's just kinda what they do now.

 

Texans are kinda hard to call........whenever they get overly hyped up I think they usually go the opposite direction. I am 50/50 on them at times. I like Brock, but then again the Texans didn't make it with Brady backups so perhaps the Manning backup experiment won't work out either.

 

Jags have the makings to be our biggest competition and sometimes make us look ridiculous one game a year but the question is if they can put together a consistent season without stumbling at times. 

 

 

All in all still a crappy division until proven otherwise........so at times not much is new about it to me lol.

[JPFolks]

8 hours ago, Steamboat_Shaun said:

I'm still not 100% sold on the Jaguars. Last year, Luck missed 9 games, Mariota missed 5 (I think), and the Texans were a mess at QB, as usual, so the division was practically gift-wrapped for the Jags, but they only managed 5 wins. They were the only team in the division with a healthy starting QB for all 16 games, and they still sucked. I'm not saying they won't be improved because they most definitely will be better, but considering how awful they've been, that's really not saying much.

I think this is a very smart post Steamboat.  The Jags had the offensive weapons to win more than 5 games.  They have the best receiver tandem in our division and one of the best in the league.  Now on top of the players listed above, they ALSO get their 1st round Pass Rusher from last year back from Injury, so he's like another top pick this year.  I apparently am the only one who thinks Osweiler, who may not be great, is the stable QB that the Texans have been missing. 

 

We should keep winning the division for one reason only: Andrew Luck.  Without him, we're not competitive next year, with him we should win the division, but I am not sure we'll get a good seed and the Patriots got better this year and likely are still in our way and Pittsburgh looks like the Pre-Season SB favorite.  

[BOTT]

Geez, ya'll act like Luck gets hurt every year.