LogFAQs > #946528198

AFC South

1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Columbus Pioneers
3. Jacksonville Jaguars
4. Tennessee Titans

The Colts managed to win 10 games last season, plus one in the playoffs, essentially because of their defense and special teams. The Colts finished with the league's #1 D last season, and with bringing all 11 starters back, you have to expect they will be elite again this season. That alone is good enough to get them in the playoffs. While long-time and one of the league's best Ps in Shane Lechler retired, they immediately went out and got a great replacement in Dustin Colquitt. K Jeff Reed has hit 82+ % of his FGs in five of the past six seasons, and WR Cordarrelle Patterson has been a Returner of the Year candidate for the past two seasons. I expect their special teams to perform well again this season. That just leaves the offense, and well, that was a Bottom 10 unit last season with free agent busts and rookies playing like rookies. While one would expect QB Colin Kaepernick to finish with something better than the fourth-worst passer rating among qualified passers and HB Duke Johnson to improve upon his paltry 3.6 YPC, this offense doesn't have much high-end talent or depth, so I can't imagine this offense being anything resembling prolific. If it can just be more efficient, the Colts can be a Super Bowl contender. The schedule won't make it easy though.

The Pioneers had one of the most surprising seasons in our history. Coming off of a losing record with an offense in the upper-20s, new management got them to finish in the Top 5 both overall and scording and also improved the defense to 11th overall and Top 5 in scoring. They ended up 12-4 in the regular season and became the first AFC South team to reach the Super Bowl. The funny thing is that the team was still in a rebuilding phase, and it is still putting the finishing touches on it. It is completely unrealistic, especially with the schedule that they have (75% of the teams they face had .500 or better records last season), to expect a similar season this year, especially with the league's most productive WR in Mark Clayton retiring. With a balanced team and depth all over, they should still be firmly in the playoff hunt as well as the division, but with the conference looking a lot more competitive this season, they may once again have to overachieve if they want a repeat trip to the playoffs.

The Jaguars' defense regressed hard to ultimately finish in the 30s after making several changes in the offseason that backfired spectacularly, and that lead to their first losing record under current management. They are still a prime bounceback candidate because of their history, level of talent, and strong draft class. In fact, I expect that their defense finishes is in the teens at the very least. It's the offense that I am worried about. The oft-injured QB Tim Tebow is basically a superior version of Matt Ryan having seen his passer rating drop in each of his six seasons as the starter. Hall of Fame HB Adrian Peterson retired giving way to Devonta Freeman and his 3.4 YPC last season and a lack of depth behind him. OTs Marcus McNeil and Reggie Youngblood and G Ronald Leary combined to play 19 games last season. While most of their schedule is rough, they do get the benefit of having finished last in the division last season and thus get the Chiefs, Bills, and Bengals. If they can win all three of those, they have a good shot of getting back to .500 even if I am not enthusiastic about their playoff chances.

Since the league began, offensive player ratings have exploded. We are 14 seasons in, and I for the life of me cannot understand how the Titans are fielding an offense that would have been considered the worst among all teams during the inaugural season. It isn't simply ratings. They are paying three people who claim to be QBs, but they have none on the roster. The third-best HB that this team has employed in the past two seasons is who has actually been the starter, and Melvin Gordon has 958 carries in just two seasons with a sub-4.0 YPC. Mike Evans is the only pass-catcher worth mentioning. They had a starting WR last season averaging just a shade over 10 yards a game. The OL has been sneakily great I will admit, but they have been done a great disservice. The Titans had four picks in the first two rounds in an offensive draft, and they only came away with a FB, and I have been quite vocal about how I feel about FBs from Madden-generated drafts. With the Titans having a pretty brutal schedule, I have to imagine that the offense has very high odds of finishing in the 30s. The defense is not in awful shape, but there's very little to write home about. There's MLB Brian Cushing and the DT duo of Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan. I guess OLB Tom Burton emerged a little too last season. That's it though. The Titans are simply a bad team, and Madden has deemed them to be the least talented in the league. I expect to see them picking in the Top 5 next offseason.
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