AFC South Preview

The BEST Division Preview on the web that no one reads. The AFC South at one time was considered the "Best Division in Football". Remember when Kerry Collins actually won games, when David Garrard actually won games and when we all thought the Texans were on the verge of breaking out…..yeah, well that's not the case any more.   Here's what your AFC South looks like in this year's light. Indianapolis Colts - 11 - 12 Wins I don't know how to continue to say this same thing differently year after year but here we go. The Colts won the lottery when they drafted Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf. This is possibly the best decision ever made in NFL Draft History. Just look at the difference this pick made in the landscape of the NFL. Manning has out-lasted every other Colt that was on the team when he was drafted and is the Pillar of this organization. The big question for this organization is when do they think his skills will diminish to the point that his leadership isn't as valuable as his contract price, age 39, 40, 41? Schedule: The Bad – finishing in 1st place every year makes it certain that you will have a monster schedule. Placement games against the Patriots and Bengals add to the difficulty of having to play the best division in football, the NFC East. The Good – They also get to play the AFC West in cross divisional games and it seems like they could win all 4 of these games by 10+ points. Another playoff run is eminent and would only be side tracked by a significant injury to Manning. The defense would be greatly improved if Bob Sanders is back but they have learned to live without him seeing as he has missed more games in his career than he has played. Fantasy Grades - Peyton = A+++ Dallas Clark = A+ Reggie Wayne = A+ Def = B     Tennessee Titans –  9 – 10 Wins The best thing this organization has going for it is not Chris Johnson. It is Jeff Fisher, the longest tenured coach in the league. The only fault we can find with the Fish is how long he let Kerry Collins ruin their season last year, but I understand not wanting to hand his team over to a guy who spends more time in strip club bar fights than in the film room. But Vince Young took over and won games. Sadly the word is out that all the Titans have two offensive strategies. Namely, Chris Johnson breaking a big one or VY getting out of the pocket to create with his legs. With so few options to choose from this offense is going to run up against teams who have figured out how to stop them and keep them off the scoreboard. Schedule: The Bad – Between weeks 3 to 8 this team could reasonably win only 1 or 2 games. The Good – The start of the season should be 2 easy wins with home games against Oakland and the Steelers without The Milledgeville Bandit. Also the final two games of the season should be easy wins with the Chiefs and Colts who will most likely be resting any player who is reasonably talented.   A wildcard is not out of the picture but that is dependant on VY showing more than just athletic ability and becoming a student of the position instead of a talent of recognition. Fantasy Grades – Chris Johnson = A++++  VY= C Receivers = F  Def= C+  Kicker = B+     Houston Texan -  7 – 8 Wins This team is not going to get a winning season this year. We were all very proud of the Texans last year for not being losers for the first time but I can't say that they over-achieved as much as the rest of this division under-achieved. Well, I don't expect much more from the Texans that what we historically have seen, a team that is competitive but not constant winners. They have talent at important places like WR Andre Johnson and QB Matt Schaub and DE Mario Williams but they don't win enough at home and they don't have the intangible "leadership" quality that truly great teams have. Schedule: The Bad – Placement games are not good match-ups for this team. Baltimore and N.Y. Jets each look to be contending for division titles this year and have defenses that can slow down this team's best attribute, the passing game. Combined with having to play the NFC East this schedule is not favorable to this teams chances of back-to-back wining seasons. The Good – Not a lot of good to go around when looking at this schedule. They do get to beat up on the Chiefs before their bye week and every team would like to win the game before their week off for moral's sake. There will still be big numbers for Andre Johnson and for Schaub but without a consistent defense and with no real threat on the ground this team will take more steps back than it will forward in 2010. Fantasy Grades – Andre Johnson= A+++  Schaub=A    RunningBacks = D   Def =C-     Jacksonville Jaguars -  Wins 5 – 6 Talk about a one trick pony. Mighty Mouse looks like a star among 60watt bulbs on this roster. I don't understand what the thinking is in Jacksonville in sticking with players like David Garrard and Troy Williamson to try and compliment Jones-Drew. This team needs some serious receiving threats that they have tried to add through the Tight End position but have failed to upgrade their receivers. It is no wonder to me why people don't show up to watch this team. If the management of this team doesn't care enough to know when they have tremendous talent and to try to protect it then why should people pay for expensive tickets to watch a product that it's producers don't even support? Schedule: The Bad – First 8 weeks we see only 2 wins for this team and that is not the kind of thing that you want to be looking back on during a week 9 bye. The Good – They can get the Broncos at home week 1 before they are in sync and by being horrible last year they get to play other horrible teams in Buffalo and Cleveland.   This team could be a great producer of a fantasy stud in Maurice Jones-Drew but as far as winning football games it will be more coaching changes and hopefully ownership changes after this season than celebrating victories. Fantasy Grades – MJD = A++++   Garrard= C-    Sims-Walker= B   Def = C     That's way more than anyone will read so I'll just end this post with a classic signature.     I love you guys,       The Chairman