AFC South Review: Week 1

For the better part of a little over a decade, the AFC North has been dominated by the Indianapolis Colts with the Titans and Jaguars hovering around the top and bottom, as inconsistent as Alex Rios' production in the MLB, from season to season. And the Texans have been in the basement up until two seasons ago. As of now, the order of these four teams (talent and success wise) in the are the Texans, Colts, Titans and Jaguars (in order). In Week 1, this division had the best record, tying with the AFC East and NFC West, with a 3-1 record, with the loss being the Jaguars (who would've known...) and the Texans, Colts and Titans, all picking wins against their respective foes.

Indianapolis Colts vs Oakland Raiders

This game wasn't easy as it was thought to be for the Colts as the Raiders put up a fight in Terrelle Pryor's first career NFL start, in a difficult 21-17 victory.

The Good: Even though the Colts got the victory, it wasn't a very impressive one as the Colts barely sneaked by with it.

• Even though Andrew Luck only put up 178 yards throwing, going 18/23 on passes and 2 touchdowns thrown, he did scamper for a 19-yard TD run for the game winning touchdown. 
• Reggie Wayne had another stellar game as usual, catching 8 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown
• The Colts put up 127 rushing yards against the Raider defense
• The Colts won

The Bad: The bad was much worse for the Colts in this game than good was good. Just ask Chuck Pagano who said, "We still drove the ball. We still got it to midfrield. We were still on their side of the 50. But when we'd shoot ourselves in the foot. If it weren't for two bad throws by Terrelle Pryor, in the red-zone, the Raiders would've probably won.

• The Colts didn't get as much production from their RB's as they would've liked as combined, Vick Ballard and Ahmad Bradshaw put up 89 rushing yards on 20 carries and no rushing TD's with 2 caught passes for a mere 2 yards
• The Colts offensive line did a terrible job of protecting Andrew Luck, as he was sacked four times and hit plenty of more. The Raiders defense put pressure on Luck all game long
• Even though their defense picked off 2 passes and 1 sack (which isn't that good anyways), they let Terrelle Pryor rip their defense apart for 112 rushing yards on 13 carries and may I remind you that he is a QB. Pryor ended up breaking Rich Gannon's record of 85-rushing yards for a QB in a game. 
• Dwayne Allen landed awkwardly on his hip after going up for a catch and had to leave the game in the 3rd-quarter with a hip injury. Allen said after the game that he is fine. 

On Another Note Bad: Two fans were injured following the game when a railing gave way and they fell into the walkway leading through one of the tunnels. I hope these fans are okay and get better soon.

Houston Texans @ San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers were about to pull off a huge upset victory against one of the best teams in the NFL, the Houston Texans, when they were leading before the 4th quarter 28-7; but then the 4th quarter happened. The whistle blew the Texans erased a 21-point deficit and won 31-28 after a Randy Bullock game-winning field goal.

The good: First of all, the fact that they came back from a 21-point Chargers lead is freaking amazing.

• Matt Schaub threw the ball 45 times (I know, shocker, considering the Texans offence), completing 34 passes for 346 yards and 3 TD passes
• Andre Johnson hauled in a monster 12 receptions for 146 yards and surprisingly, no TD's. Another day in the office for Johnson.
• Ben Tate looked good on the 9 carries he had, totaling 55 rushing yards along the way
• Owen Daniels caught 5 passes for 68 yards and 2 TD's.He has become one of Schaub's favorite targets. 
• Rookie, DeAndre Hopkins had an impressive debut with 5 receptions and 67 receiving yards.
• Whitney Mercelius looked good as he amassed 1 sack in the season opener
• Brian Cushing intercepted a Philip Rivers pass for an 18-yard TD return.

The bad: The fact that the Texans defense let the Chargers let them get ahead 28-7 was the main thing that was bad.

• Arian Foster rushed for 57 yards on 18 carries for a putrid 3.2 YPC. 
• Philip Rivers threw 4 TD passes against the Texans defense
• Matt Schaub threw 1 interception but the 3 TD passes compensated for the INT

That's about it honestly, the Texans had a good game other than these three things.

Tennessee Titans @ Pittsburgh Steelers

The Titans were thought of as clear underdogs and were predicted to ultimately lose this game against the Steelers. I mean, just look at how the game started. Darius Reynaud "self-safetied" himself, seriously, watch.
This game was rather boring and showed either that the Steelers offense is horrible or the Titans defense is amazing.

The good: Defense was the main, if not only impressive thing about the Titans in Week 1

• Jackie Battle rushed for a touchdown, indicating that he might take over the handcuff spot under Chris Johnson, from Shonn Greene.
• Both Zach Brown and Jurrell Casey both sacked Ben Rothlisberger twice and got 8 and 3 tackles respectively. 
• Rob Bironas scored 10 of the Titans 16 points, proving he still has it in him
• Titans newly signed Safety, Bernard Pollard, played great out there, getting 6 tackles (5 solo, 1 assisted)
• The Titans defense held the Steelers to just 222 yards of offense, including 32 rushing yards on 15 carries

The bad: Darius Reynaud... nuff' said

• The Titans ran the ball 42 times for 112 yards for a horrible 2.7 YPC average as a team including Chris Johnson running for 70 yards on 25 carries
• Jake Locker threw the ball 20 times, completing 11 of those passes for 125 yards and no TD's
• Kenny Britt didn't perform as well as he could of, considering how talented he is, catching 1 pass for 15 yards
• The Titans new signee, Delanie Walker, did fumble the ball once but recovered it before the Steelers could

Jacksonville Jaguars vs Kansas City Chiefs

(Yeah I just showed y'all a pic of one of the Jaguars' cheerleaders; why? That's about the highlight of the game for them from Week 1's game)

We all knew the Jaguars were going to lose this game, probably the Jaguars themselves as well. Maybe they would've won this game last year but with Andy Reid calling the shots for the Chiefs with newly acquired Alex Smith, the chances of them winning were slim at best. Andy Reid and Alex Smith were impressive in their debuts, beating the Jaguars 28-2. I know it was the Jaguars, but still.

The good: Basically nothing...

• Jason Babin sacked Alex Smith once
• Paul Posluszny totaled 10 tackles on the day, all solo

The bad: Everything...

• Blaine Gabbert... if you want me to elaborate, he threw 135 yards on a 45.7 completion percentage with 2 picks
• The Jaguars rushed for 71 yards on 23 carries for a 3.1 YPC average, which included Maurice Jones-Drew rushing for 45 of those yards on 15 carries
• The defense let the Andy Reid led Chiefs scores 28 points. If anything the Jaguars have been known for, for the past couple seasons is that they're defense isn't half bad but that didn't show today. 

I could explain further about how the Jaguars were horrible in Week 1 but I'm sure y'all don't want to hear about that.

Recap of the standings for the AFC South after Week 1:

Next week match-ups:

Colts vs Dolphins

Texans vs Titans

Titans @ Texans

Jaguars vs Raiders

As it was a good week for the AFC South after Week 1, after finishing 3-1, I predict next week's standings will look like:

Colts: 2-0

Texans: 1-1

Titans 1-1

Jaguars: 0-2

Watch out for some good games in this division for Week 2.