AFC South Breakdown: Week 5
(Jeanne Alexis writes for Black & Teal, which is FSB’s Jacksonville Jaguars blog. Representing the rest of the AFC South are Naptown’s Finest, Titan Sized and Toro Times.)
Is there a week that goes by that the AFC South doesn’t have at least one exciting match up? The Ravens/Titans game promised to be a defensive struggle that would test the Titans more than they had seen all season. The Jaguars/Steelers game featured the type of hard hitting football that makes for good NFL Films highlights. Even when you don’t expect a match up to be exciting, it turns out to be one of the more hilarious endings of the week. Sage Rosenfels showed why a backup quarterback is a backup as he single handily lost the Houston Texans their home opener with three fourth quarter turnovers. Besides the Titans, the AFC South seems pretty mediocre. That doesn’t make them any less entertaining, though.
Houston Texans (0-4)
Looking back: Oh, the poor Houston Texans. This is just not their year. They’ve come so close against their divisional rivals only to falter in the last few minutes. They lost their game against the Jaguars because of a coin toss and they had the Colts game in the bag until Sage Rosenfels decided that he was allergic to the ball. To top it all off mother nature decided she didn’t like Houston too much and the Texans played their first home game this week. I guess that is what they get for starting a quarterback named “Sage”. Next time try to slide, buddy.
Looking forward: Is there any hope left in this season for the Texans? Things aren’t going to get easier from here on out. At least they aren’t suffering from the prolonged injury bug unlike their fellow AFC South brethrens Jacksonville and Indianapolis. Maybe they can pull their first win against the resurgent Miami Dolphins and their crazy offense. You know, now that I think about it, that will probably be a much better game than most people would expect.
Indianapolis Colts (2-2)
Looking back: How different would this entry be if Sage Rosenfels hadn’t handed the Colts the game? The Colts defense is in shambles without Bob Sanders. Yeah. They got three turn overs on Rosenfels but a lot of that was Sage and not the Colts defense. I really don’t know what to say about this game. I think it shows that the Colts are not the team they were last year.
Looking forward: The Colts still have problems stopping the run so until they fix that they will be coming from behind for the rest of the season. Like the Steelers, it is great that they have such a good quarterback holding the team together. Even if I wanted to, I can’t say a bad thing about Peyton Manning. It will be interesting to see how they match up the Ravens. I don’t know much about the Ravens or if they have a run game but they certainly will against the Colts if their smart. With the Raven’s defense, it will be much harder for the Colts to have one of their last minute come backs.
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3)
Looking back: You know, it would be nice if the Jaguars could either convincingly win or convincingly lose a game. These last minute drives are taking years off my life. Though, in my heart, I knew that the Jaguars weren’t going to win that game. Drayton Florence and Reggie Nelson were sorely missed on the defense, as evidence by Big Ben throwing in the direction William James and getting not only first downs but touchdowns. The Jaguars had less than 40 yards rushing in the entire game. David Garrard is the only reason the Jaguars even got close to winning the game last night. At least Mike Walker had a break out game. It looks like our receiver corps has gone from crappy to mediocre.
Looking forward: The Jaguars go into Denver next week. It won’t be an easy game if Reggie and Drayton are out. If they start James I am going to scream like a crazy person. The most comforting fact is that out of all the teams the Jaguars are playing before the bye, the Broncos have the worse defense. Look for Fred and Maurice to go all out and if that doesn’t work Garrard will throw passes to Matt Jones for first downs. The Jaguars have to win this game in order to stay in the wild card contention.
Tennessee Titans (5-0)
Looking back: The Ravens/Titans game was a low scoring game as expected. What was not expected is the amount of yellow flags being throw around on the field. Was it lack of discipline on the parts of both teams? Some could say that the game was given to the Titans because of a incidental contact. Well, good teams overcome bad calls. Sorry about your luck Baltimore but that is how things go. The Titans squeak by with another win, remaining undefeated and on top of the AFC South.
Looking forward: The Titans are going into the bye week looking and feeling good before they face off against Kansas City. Without any pressing injuries, I think I can confidently predict that by week seven the Titans will remain undefeated. The question is quickly becoming one thing: when will the Titans lose?