**2007 AFC South Thread**

[Needle77]

After looking at everything it looks like the Jags dodged and early bullet and made the Chiefs pay dearly. a 30 yard field goal was missed by the KC kicker and the Jags just took it to them on defense for the rest of the game. They clearly keyed in on LJ and made Huard beat them. Huard could not get the ball to his wideouts, and then Croyle came in.

This defense is the real deal when they are healthy. They got healthy over that bye week. This offensive line can be devastating when they are in synch, they got in synch over the bye week.

The Texans come into JAX next week, Andre Johnson might be back for the game. Jaguars are 0-1 in the division, this is a must win game early in the season. You have to win division games at home and to go 0-2 and both losses at home would be devastating after two road wins at places that historically are tough to play at.

These next two weeks may tell us who this Jags team is in 07. A split isn't good enough, 2 wins is what they need. They go on a 3 game road trip(Tampa, New Orleans, and then the Titans). Like Cody said, they division went 4-0 today, that isn't good for any AFC South teams. The division is tough which is going to make it harder for the teams here. Colts might be looking over their shoulder this season when they haven't had to in years.

1/4 of the season has been amazing. Hopefully this divison keeps up the fun for the next 3/4 of the season. Good football and a good journey is all I ask for.

[TheNoodleMan]

The Colts win today was one of the most impressive games I've seen them play. Its not often you see a team lose 5 starters in one game then bounce back a week later and dominate.

Kenton Keith said hello to the NFL in style, carrying 28 times for 121 yards with 2 scores and adding 5 catches for 37 more yards. If there are more guys like him hiding in Canada then we all need to watch more CFL.

I know TB has some injuries of their own but its its hard to overstate just how dominating the D was. Missing both starting OLBs and everyones favorite cannonball Bob Sanders, the remaining guys played like men possessed. Tampa managed just 17 yards rushing, a stat I'd like to know is how many 17+ yard rushes the Colts gave up last year.

The combination of Keith's rushing and the defense resulted in a 38-22 edge in TOP, including an absurd 3rd quarter in which the Colts held the ball for over 14 minutes.

They are flying somewhat under the radar due to all the attention that New England is getting but this Colts team looks like its the best one yet.

[Billy Bibbit]

[ QUOTE ]
Damn travel, didn't get to post much today, but wow, 4-0 week for the AFC South. At this point I'm starting to wonder if we'll get both wild cards.

Cody

[/ QUOTE ]

The only reason why we wouldn't is that we'll give each other too many losses from head-to-head competition. Who else is there? Obviously no one in the AFC East.

Baltimore hasn't played one truly impressive game yet. They have two last-second wins against bottom-feeders and a close win at home against Arizona whom I think will make the playoffs so I guess that was a decent win. Cleveland is an OK team, but I don't see them getting more than 8 wins.

In the AFC West I still think San Diego is really good and they'll bounce back to go 10-6 or so. No one else in the division is better than any AFC South team IMO, although Oakland is playing pretty well and could challenge for a Wild Card.

Indy and Jacksonville both looked awesome yesterday. Didn't catch the Tennessee and Houston games, but they're both on NFL Replay so I'll watch them this week. Houston has struggled against two pretty bad teams but they're hanging around with a lot of injuries which is all you can ask for. Right now I think Tennessee and Jacksonville are the favorites to get Wild Cards, but it's close enough that if Houston beats Jacksonville next week, they'd pass them.

[Richard Tanner]

AFC South Week 5 in review:

Well sadly I was traveling so I didn't get to do a "week in preview" so I've nothing to copy, d'oh.

MIA 19 @ HOU 22
This game is probably not cause to celebrate in HOU. Yeah they won, but they did so while their offense sputtered and had to rely on 5 FGs (3 from 50+ yards). More over their defense gave up alot of yards and points and all this to one of the three worst (and winless) teams in football.
HOU needs to get healthy and sharpen its play if it wants to stay competitive in the toughest division in football.

Offense=C+
Defense=B-
Special Teams=A
Coaching=C+

JAX 17 @ KC 7
Really this was a game dominated by JAX. They controlled the pace and the LOS. So much so that JAX actually pitched a shutout for 59:59. That garbage time TD by KC not withstanding, this was a game for the JAX D to be proud of. True KC is in shambles right now, but recently they'd managed to pull their act together somewhat and Arrowhead is never an easy place to come in and win.
The JAX offense does seem to be lacking punch, however, and it remains to be seen if they'll be able to compete with more explosive offenses like IND. That said, the JAX rushing D seems to have tightend up considerably, which will certainly help them control the tempo against those offenses.

Offense=B
Defense=B+
Special Teams=B+
Coaching=B

ATL 13 @ TEN 20
Well the good news is that, unlike HOU last week, TEN managed to get the memo that ATL is an awful team and as long as they don't beat themselves, they'll do fine.
The bad news? They almost beat themselves. QB Vince Young's sup-par arm was on full display as he threw for only 157 yards and 3 INTs. The TEN running game never really got on track and the offense only managed to score through FGs and a short run.
Thankfully for TEN, their defense was able to step up and not only keep ATL to 13 pts. but also provide 7 of their own with FS Vince Fuller's INT return for a TD. Holding ATL to few points is no great feat, but this was a game TEN really needed to win.

Offense=D+
Defense=B+
Special Teams=C
Coaching=C+

TB 14 @ IND 33
The Colts came into this game serverly banged up. WR Marvin Harrison, RB Joseph Addai, LB Rob Morris, FS Bob Sanders, and 5 others were listed as out. It seemed unlikely that, missing so many pieces of both its offense and defense, that a Colts team often though of as shallow could win this game, much less blow a TB team that came in 3-1 out.
If it wasn't obvious before it should be now, the Colts really are that good. It's true the TB were largely paper tigers (i.e. they weren't as good as their record) but a performance as dominant as the one IND put on can't be ignored. Playing 2nd and 3rd stringers the Colts offense looked as unstoppable as ever and the defense held TB to 17 total rushing yards.
I can't remember the Colts being this banged up in the Manning era, but the good news is they're heading right into a bye and all injuries (save for OLB Rob Morris) are expected to heal with the week off.

Offense=A+
Defense=A-
Special Teams=B
Coaching=B+

Cody

[Needle77]

Cody,

Yet again good analysis. Though I can't comment to much on any of the games as I was unable to watch any(I refused to watch the Colts spank the Bucs, heh), but I will say this about JAX, Meester is coming back!!! There are reports that he could be available this week and that would be enormous. Also, Mo Williams started last week for an injured Khalif Barnes who should return for next week as well.

The Jags are getting healthy and Garrard [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]'s Northcutt. This offense is just starting to get together and if the line meshes it could get to scary good like vs Colts last season. I'm getting giddy watching this team the past 3 weeks and can't wait for Sunday. A "teal out" is in effect. The only downer might be the fact that the game is 50-50 to be blacked out right now. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[TruFloridaGator]

Maybe I will try to go to the game.

[Needle77]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe I will try to go to the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just discussed this with a few of my housemates and we just don't think we can find time for a 15 hour trip not to mention afford the trip down. I'm really struggling to find a chance to get down there, but I'm gonna make every effort I can this year.

[Richard Tanner]

AFC South Week 6 in Review:

HOU 17 @ JAX 37

An interdivisional game this weekend provided the Jaguars with a chance to excercise some demons from their past. Having lost their last two games against the Texans, JAX wasn't going to let this game slip away. The JAX offense scored often and the running attack never let up. The 1-2 punch of RB Maurice Jones-Drew and RB Fred Taylor proved too much for HOU to handle.
HOU let this game slip away early following a fumble and falling victim to one of the worst rules in football (fumbles out of the endzone resulting in a touchback). Still, HOU had very little to offer JAX in the long run, and whatever momentum HOU started the season with, it's likely all gone to JAX.

JAX
Offense=B+
Defense=B-
Special Teams=B
Coaching=B

HOU
Offense=C-
Defense=D+
Special Teams=B-
Coaching=D+

TEN 10 @ TB 13
TEN was hit hard by the injury bug this week. Losing QB Vince Young (Day-to-Day) with a leg injury early certainly didn't help their chances. Their sputting offense and suddenly pourus defense didn't help either.
The game was largely uneventful (save for QB Kerry Collins making a backwards spike that, if not for a referee's opinion, would've been a gimmie fumble) until the final few series when TB CB Ronde Barber had three turnovers either overturned or given back via his fumble. Finally TEN put together a solid TD drive but oddly it was teh TEN defense that gave up the winning drive to QB Jeff Garcia and TB.

Offense=C
Defense=C-
Special Teams=B
Coaching=C

Cody