Previewing the 2022 NFL Season: AFC South Edition
The AFC South is, low-key, one of the more intriguing divisions in the entire league. For the last several seasons the division has belonged primarily to two teams: The Tennessee Titans and the Indianapolis Colts with a couple random appearances from the Texans and Jaguars as division winners from time to time. As it stands I believe the Colts and Titans will duke it out for AFC South supremacy this year once again but there’s still plenty of interesting stories to talk about regarding the Texans and Jaguars. Let’s get to the rankings.
1. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
The moment Andrew Luck shocked the sports world and retired during the pre-season of 2019 was the moment the Colts’ future at QB became a massive question mark. After a year of backup Jacoby Brissett in 2019 and one year of Philip Rivers in 2020 before he ultimately retired, Chris Ballard decided to risk some draft capital to acquire Carson Wentz from the Eagles to pair with his old offensive coordinator from 2017, Frank Reich, who happens to be the current head coach of the Colts. To no one’s surprise, the Carson Wentz era in Indianapolis ended just as quickly as it began. The Colts got off to a slow start but became one of the most dominant teams in the NFL towards the latter half of the year...before imploding at the worst possible time and missing the playoffs entirely. Someone’s head had to roll and it ended up being Wentz’s. Fast forward to free agency and the Colts managed to land Matt Ryan away from the Falcons for pennies on the dollar. Once again the team refuses to address their future at QB and is relying on another retread. Having said that, Matt Ryan still has plenty of juice left in the tank and the team around him is more than imposing. Jonathan Taylor alone is enough firepower to win a few games on his own. The reason they are at number one has less to do with the strength of their roster and more due to the subtraction of key pieces to their main rival in the Titans. Still, Reich is a hell of a coach and that sturdy defense should be just as tough this year as it was last year. The question is how deep do the Colts really expect Matt Ryan to lead them? The AFC South title might not be enough to satisfy Jim Irsay, the team owner, nor the fans in Indiana. There’s a ton of pressure on Reich, Ballard and Ryan to make a deep playoff run. Time will tell if they will deliver.
2. TENNESSEE TITANS
The Titans have dominated the division for the past two seasons but I fear their title window might have slammed shut after their surprising divisional round exit against the Bengals last year. Mike Vrabel is one of the best coaches in the league, period. How he got his team to a 12-5 record against the top teams in the AFC and NFC without Derrick Henry for most of those games is mind-boggling. His coach of the year award for the 2021 season was more than appropriate given the adversity the team faced all year. Still, despite the incredibly impressive season, the Titans face planted when it mattered most. They earned the number one seed in the AFC, secured a bye week for the first round of the playoffs and then got bounced thanks to Ryan Tannehill throwing three ghastly interceptions, including the backbreaker to set up the Bengals’ game-winning field goal as time expired. Now they have lost Julio Jones to the Bucs and, most importantly, AJ Brown to the Eagles in a stunning trade that shifted the balance of power in the AFC South. Two one and done appearances in the playoffs in back to back years is tough for any team to overcome mentally. Now the team has far less depth and talent and Tannehill’s age is now becoming a factor, especially due to his injury history. The roster is still solid but the Titans are no longer the clear favorites in the division anymore.
3. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
You know who’s thrilled Urban Meyer is gone? All of northern Florida. Urban Meyer might go down as the worst coaching hire of all time, even more so than Bobby Petrino. In the coming
years there’s going to be an incredible 30 for 30 about just how toxic and disastrous his tenure in Jacksonville really was. In the wake of that unmitigated disaster comes the hiring of Doug Pedersen, the man who lead the Eagles to their 2017 title with Nick Foles under center. Pedersen has a reputation for being a QB guru as he played the position himself and the results of his labor speak for themselves. Trevor Lawrence officially has a coach that can unlock his true potential, at least that’s what Jags owner Shad Khan is banking on. The Jags also spent a shit ton of money in free agency to fill as many holes on their barren roster as possible. There’s really nowhere for this offense to go but up after they ranked at the bottom of the league in almost very single offensive stat. The main reason I’m picking the Jags over the Texans is due to the presence of Pedersen on the sideline and Lawrence under center. The team will still be a bottom feeder but I’m willing to bet we’re going to see solid strides towards what they can ultimately become.
4. HOUSTON TEXANS
The Texans were able to win a couple shocking games last year mostly due to the strength of their coaching staff...and then ownership decided to fire David Culley and his staff out of nowhere. It was one of the most egregious and uncalled for firings in recent NFL history as far as I’m concerned. Now Texans’ GM Nick Caserio has brought in Lovie Smith, a man who was also unjustly fired from his head coaching job with the Bears years ago, to mold second year quarterback Davis Mills into the starter they envision him to be. The simple fact is that the Texans, like their rivals in Duval County, have a lot of work to do in order to get back into contention in the stacked AFC. Can the Texans pull off a couple of stunning upsets like they did last year? Sure. But the truth is it’s in their best interest to compete as hard as possible while still losing games to ensure high draft positioning. That’s just the way it works in professional sports. If your team sucks then lose out to give yourself a chance of making it better with smart drafting. Still, it will be interesting to see just how well Mills plays. He was one of the surprise stories last year on a team who’s biggest story was their former superstar QB sitting on the sideline due to legal issues. Just because a team won’t be elite doesn’t mean they can’t be interesting.
