10. Which team will dominate the AFC South?
The AFC South was the second-to-lowest winning division in the league in 2016. Not one team managed a double-digit win record. It is a sad day when a Brock Osweiler-led Houston Texans squad with nine wins conquers the division.
Fortunately, Houston’s top-ranked defense held up its amateur-hour quarterback much of the time.
Keeping with the sad, what happened in the much-anticipated return of Andrew Luck to the Indianapolis Colts? Luck missed one game and managed a 8-7 win-to-loss record. He performed decently enough to rank ninth in passing yards with 4,240 for the year. Unfortunately, the team had several shortcomings. They were enough that the Colts missed the playoffs for the second time since Luck was drafted in 2012.
Another club that severely disappointed was the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-13). This was too bad considering all of the offseason hype surrounding the franchise. Quarterback Blake Bortles regressed and threw only 23 touchdowns compared to 16 interceptions. Turnovers were a major Achilles heel and will continue to limit the team’s success unless Bortles improves.
Lastly, the Tennessee Titans will be the franchise to watch in 2017. They improved from three wins in 2015 to nine victories in quarterback Marcus Mariota’s second year. The team is an exciting work in progress, and the signing of DeMarco Murray and drafting of Derrick Henry made a big difference. As a result, Tennessee’s rushing offense ranked No. 2, compared to 18th the prior year.
Of the four AFC South teams, the Titans look to be the freshest one with the sunniest forecast heading into 2017.