Sunday, September 09, 2007
AFC South preview
The defending Super Bowl champs, the Colts, are the team to beat again, but don’t sleep on Vince Young and the Titans.
1st Place
The Colts will win the division going away. The Jags are going backwards. The Titans are young. The Texans are in transition. The Colts have Peyton Manning and future Hall of Famer, former Syracuse Orangmen, still underappreciated Marvin Harrison. They have an All-Pro wideout across the field from Marvin, Reggie Wayne from the U. The Colts will miss retiring offensive tackle Tarik Gleen, but perhaps nobody in the history of the game has made better line of scrimmage adjustments than Manning. The Clarion thinks running back Joseph Addai will take a small step back, but still be a useful player. Rookie first round receiver out of Ohio State, Anthony Gonzales could make a contribution at some point before the year is over. All the talking heads knock the Colts defense, but all they have to be is good enough. Last year everything came together when tackling warrior, safety Bob Sanders returned from injury. No reason to think the Colts defense can’t be good enough to give Peyton Manning another shot in the playoffs this year. Lucky for Manning he already has his ring, because this year the AFC is even tougher. The Colts are not getting past the Pats, Chargers, Ravens again this time.
2nd Place
In an upset, the Clarion likes the Tennessee Titans to slip into second place in the South. We love long time winning coach Jeff Fisher. The Clarion was down on Vince Young for the ages time, but when we’re wrong, we’re wrong. We bagged on his Wonderlic test score last year. We are biased against Longhorns, but Vince has won us over. He is a winner. The 8-3 stretch run last year was tremendous. Even if injury prone starting running back Chris Brown gets hurt, LenDale White of USC fame is looking more and more like a capable replacement. At receiver Eric Moulds is past his prime, but not useless. Brandon Jones is untested, but Young has the ability to raise the game of those around him. On the defensive side of the ball, the talented distraction at cornerback, another Jones, is gone. This is addition by subtraction. The Titans defense is talented, led by a strong defensive line and undervalued, hard hitting linebacker Keith Bulluck. Nick Harper poached from division foe the Colts has shown himself to be a capable cornerback. The Titans are part of the mix at the edge of the AFC Wild Card, seven or eight wins are likely, nine or even ten are possible.
3rd Place
The strength of the rest of the division will likely be the key determining factor whether the Titans win seven games, and miss the playoffs, or ten games, and make the playoffs. The Clarion thinks the Houston Texans are weak, but improving and will take third place. Big offseason acquisition Matt Schaub will have his ups and downs in his first year as a full time starter. People always love the backup QB until he has to play regularly. The jury is very much still out on Schaub. The Texans offensive line has been atrocious the last few years. O-line improvement is the single biggest key to the Texans season. Aging running back Ahman Green is well past his prime. But all that said, the Texans still have two exciting wideouts in Andre Johnson from the U and rookie sleeper Jacoby Jones. And, this is a big and, the Texans have a terrific young defense. Yes they will forever regret passing on Reggie Bush, but they still came up with the defensive rookie of the year last year in third round linebacker DeMeco Ryans. First overall pick Mario Williams figures to improve on a lackluster season with some of the spotlight off of him. This year’s first round defensive line pick 19 year old, that’s right 19, Amobi Okoye, is a special person as well as a special player. Dunta Robinson is a decent corner. Safeties Michael Boulware and Will Demps were solid pick ups. Seven or even eight wins are possible.
4th Place
The Jacksonville Jaguars are not quite in disarray, but are clearly heading in the wrong direction. The Clarion feels like this is likely the last year of the Jack Del Rio regime. David Garrard may be a slightly better quarterback than the totally immobile, statue of Byron Leftwich they have been keeping in the backfield the last few years, but there are not enough dynamic offensive performers. Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew are good backs, but not great. On the other hand, Dennis Northcutt and Ernest Wilford should be somebody's 4th and 5th wideouts, not the Jaguars starters. Then, when you start looking for play makers on Del Rio’s usually stout defense, there is a dearth. Big hitter Donovan Darius is gone. The much touted defensive tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson are starting to show mileage. Henderson had a career low in tackles last year. He is approaching age thirty and has already played 80 regular season games. Marcus Stroud is even closer to thirty, missed five games for the first time in his career last year and also had a career low in tackles. It could be a long season in Jacksonville ending with a high draft pick next year.
1st Place
The Colts will win the division going away. The Jags are going backwards. The Titans are young. The Texans are in transition. The Colts have Peyton Manning and future Hall of Famer, former Syracuse Orangmen, still underappreciated Marvin Harrison. They have an All-Pro wideout across the field from Marvin, Reggie Wayne from the U. The Colts will miss retiring offensive tackle Tarik Gleen, but perhaps nobody in the history of the game has made better line of scrimmage adjustments than Manning. The Clarion thinks running back Joseph Addai will take a small step back, but still be a useful player. Rookie first round receiver out of Ohio State, Anthony Gonzales could make a contribution at some point before the year is over. All the talking heads knock the Colts defense, but all they have to be is good enough. Last year everything came together when tackling warrior, safety Bob Sanders returned from injury. No reason to think the Colts defense can’t be good enough to give Peyton Manning another shot in the playoffs this year. Lucky for Manning he already has his ring, because this year the AFC is even tougher. The Colts are not getting past the Pats, Chargers, Ravens again this time.
2nd Place
In an upset, the Clarion likes the Tennessee Titans to slip into second place in the South. We love long time winning coach Jeff Fisher. The Clarion was down on Vince Young for the ages time, but when we’re wrong, we’re wrong. We bagged on his Wonderlic test score last year. We are biased against Longhorns, but Vince has won us over. He is a winner. The 8-3 stretch run last year was tremendous. Even if injury prone starting running back Chris Brown gets hurt, LenDale White of USC fame is looking more and more like a capable replacement. At receiver Eric Moulds is past his prime, but not useless. Brandon Jones is untested, but Young has the ability to raise the game of those around him. On the defensive side of the ball, the talented distraction at cornerback, another Jones, is gone. This is addition by subtraction. The Titans defense is talented, led by a strong defensive line and undervalued, hard hitting linebacker Keith Bulluck. Nick Harper poached from division foe the Colts has shown himself to be a capable cornerback. The Titans are part of the mix at the edge of the AFC Wild Card, seven or eight wins are likely, nine or even ten are possible.
3rd Place
The strength of the rest of the division will likely be the key determining factor whether the Titans win seven games, and miss the playoffs, or ten games, and make the playoffs. The Clarion thinks the Houston Texans are weak, but improving and will take third place. Big offseason acquisition Matt Schaub will have his ups and downs in his first year as a full time starter. People always love the backup QB until he has to play regularly. The jury is very much still out on Schaub. The Texans offensive line has been atrocious the last few years. O-line improvement is the single biggest key to the Texans season. Aging running back Ahman Green is well past his prime. But all that said, the Texans still have two exciting wideouts in Andre Johnson from the U and rookie sleeper Jacoby Jones. And, this is a big and, the Texans have a terrific young defense. Yes they will forever regret passing on Reggie Bush, but they still came up with the defensive rookie of the year last year in third round linebacker DeMeco Ryans. First overall pick Mario Williams figures to improve on a lackluster season with some of the spotlight off of him. This year’s first round defensive line pick 19 year old, that’s right 19, Amobi Okoye, is a special person as well as a special player. Dunta Robinson is a decent corner. Safeties Michael Boulware and Will Demps were solid pick ups. Seven or even eight wins are possible.
4th Place
The Jacksonville Jaguars are not quite in disarray, but are clearly heading in the wrong direction. The Clarion feels like this is likely the last year of the Jack Del Rio regime. David Garrard may be a slightly better quarterback than the totally immobile, statue of Byron Leftwich they have been keeping in the backfield the last few years, but there are not enough dynamic offensive performers. Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew are good backs, but not great. On the other hand, Dennis Northcutt and Ernest Wilford should be somebody's 4th and 5th wideouts, not the Jaguars starters. Then, when you start looking for play makers on Del Rio’s usually stout defense, there is a dearth. Big hitter Donovan Darius is gone. The much touted defensive tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson are starting to show mileage. Henderson had a career low in tackles last year. He is approaching age thirty and has already played 80 regular season games. Marcus Stroud is even closer to thirty, missed five games for the first time in his career last year and also had a career low in tackles. It could be a long season in Jacksonville ending with a high draft pick next year.
Labels: NFL, Predictions, sports
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