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.

The NFL's Best 5 Young QB's Now

Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin lll, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepnerick, how do you rank them? Leave it in the comments section on what you think is the order of these young studs now.

Current Rank:

1. Robert Griffin lll

• RGlll as people like to call him, is an exceptional dual-threat QB, coming off of stellar rookie year in which he won NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year over Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, by throwing for 3,200 with a 20-5 TD-INT ratio, along with a 65.6 passing completion percentage and 102.4 passer rating. To go along with those outstanding passing numbers for a rookie, he rushed for 815 yards and 7 TD's with a 6.8 YPC average. All those numbers in 15 games, leading Washington to a 10-6 record, which meant playoffs. Griffin has all the makings of a franchise QB in the NFL and time will only tell. At this point, RGlll is the best QB among these 5. 

2. Cam Newton

• Some people may find me placing Cam Newton ahead of Andrew Luck, at this moment in their careers, absurd but I assure you, once I am done explaining, it may change your opinion on this matter. Cam Newton is better than y'all think and he does all that with a horrible O-Line and not much help on offence, other than Steve Smith, who is not getting any younger. Plus the neither Running Back, DeAngelo Williams or Jonathon Stewart get enough carries to make a serious impact. Through his first two seasons in the NFL, Newton has averaged 3960 yards passing, including passing for 4051 in the 2011-12 season, setting the rookie record, 20 passing TD's, 14.5 Interceptions with a 58.9 completion percentage and a 85.3 passer rating. On the ground, he has averaged 723.5 yards rushing, 11 rushing TD's, including 14 in his first season alone, on 5.7 YPC, through his 1st 2 NFL seasons. And the thing is, he's only improving and the Panthers as a team as well. Cam Newton led the Panthers to a 6-10 record in his rookie year and a 7-9 in his sophomore campaign. Now that may not be much of an improvement but the the record bettering, shows strides in him becoming an even better leader and decision maker. That is why Cam Newton is ranked above Andrew Luck, as of now. 

3. Andrew Luck

• Luck was certainly on Luck's side (no pun intended) in his rookie campaign, leading the Colts to an improbable, 7 come-from-behind victories en route to a playoff appearance with a 10-6 record. Andrew Luck did set the rookie record for passing yards with 4,374, however on a putrid 54.1 completion percentage and a pedestrian 76.5 passer rating. He did however throw for 23 TD passes, but unfortunately with 18 Interceptions. Luck wasn't bad on the ground either, he rushed for 255 yards on 4.1 YPC and 5 Rushing TD's. For however many good things Andrew Luck did, he did an equal amount of bad. With the success and numbers, Luck finished 2nd in NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, to the aforementioned RGlll. Luck also had a way better O-Line compared to Cam Newton and a better defence as well. The Panthers defense is improving but let's face it, it was average both the season's Newton's been in the NFL and the Colts has been above-average. All this information only proves that at this moment, Luck is not better than Cam Newton.

4. Russell Wilson

• The 5'11, 3rd round draftee is the lowest QB drafted from all these 5, performed like an underdog in his rookie year, finishing 3rd in the NFL Rookie of the Year voting behind Luck and RGlll. However, he did get the most passing TD's with 26 in his rookie season, ahead of Luck's 23 and RGlll's 20. To round out his stat line, Wilson passed for 3,118 yards with 10 Interceptions, on a 64.1 completion percentage and 100.0 passer rating. He also contributed 489 rushing yards and 4 rushing TD's on a 5.9 YPC average. Leading his team to a 11-5 record, Russell Wilson showed leadership of a veteran in his rookie season. Albeit, he did play on a great team, the Seahawks, but they wouldn't of gotten as far without him. All that and he wasn't even given the starting job at first. He had to work hard and win it. Taking all the above considered, Russell Wilson is the 4th best QB on this list. 

5. Colin Kaepernick

• A 6'5, 2nd round pick of the 49ers out of Nevada, Kaepnerick, like Russell Wilson, wasn't handed his starting job on a platter like the first three on this list. He got the start in week 12 when Alex Smith went down and didn't look back. In all the 8 starts he's had in his career (playoff included), he has compiled a 6-2 record, including a Super Bowl trip where the 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens. If you make those 8 game numbers into a full 16 game NFL season, his stats translate to 3,472 yards passing and 24 passing TD's on a 62.1 completion percentage and amassing 838 yards on the ground with an amazing 10 rushing TD's. As you look at these numbers, you think, "Well shouldn't he be higher then?". The only thing holding Kaepnerick from being higher on this list is that he's only started 8 games and we don't know how he'll be over a whole regular season. We haven't seen enough of Colin Kaepernick to justify him being higher on this list. At this point in his career, he's the 5th best QB out of all these future superstars.