Things to Watch for in the AFC South
The National Football League (NFL) season seems to finally be within reach and teams are now preparing themselves for the 16 games ahead of them. The past few seasons, the American Football Conference’s Southern division has been dominated by the Indianapolis Colts, who have won the division since 2003. Could the trend finally be broken this season? Here are the things to watch for in the AFC South:
Houston’s Kicking:
Had the Houston Texans been able to kick the ball last season, they most likely would have made the playoffs. While last season was poor for kickers on all counts, Texans kicker Kris Brown had one of the worst showings.
Brown said the issues were fixable, as they were mechanical rather than mental. He has been honing his game in the offseason and the Texans have brought in competition in the form of Neil Rackers. Rackers was also an elite kicker who fell apart, but the two seem to be going head-to-head evenly in contests.
The Texans have also been using smaller field goal posts in practice, so both kickers should be extra precise this year and could give Houston that final edge it lacked last season.
Indianapolis’s Offensive Line:
For the first time in a long time, the Colts offensive line (O-line) seems penetrable. Colts president Bill Polian said he would be fielding the five best linemen produced by offseason competition, but that sort of uncertainty never bodes well.
As the Colts are essentially the Peyton Manning show, it is important for the O-line to do its job. Manning is 34 years-old and has just had offseason surgery to relieve a pinched nerve in his neck. Simply put, he can’t take many sacks. He is smart at avoiding hits, but still needs the O-line to help him out as much as possible.
The Colts have new offensive coaching and have had poor player development at the tackle positions, such as bust Tony Ugoh. It will be interesting to see how Manning manages to fare behind such uncertainty.
Jacksonville’s Quarterback:
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard is in a stressful position. After last season, head coach Jack Del Rio even went as far as saying that Garrard was not an elite quarterback.
Unfortunately, Garrard has the salary of an elite quarterback so the pressure is on for him to perform on the same level he did before he signed his mammoth contract. Gerrard has acknowledged his faults in work ethic and performance, and will be under heavy scrutiny next season even though he has almost no competition for his spot.
Jacksonville fans desperately want native son Tim Tebow at the helm for the Jaguars and Garrard will have to convince the fans he is a much better investment than the unproven rookie.
Michael Griffin:
The Tennessee Titans’ safety was a Pro Bowl player in 2008. Then in 2009 he disappeared, not exactly a feature desired for a team’s last line of defence. Titans secondary coach Marcus Robertson attributed Griffin’s poor performance to a "lack of focus." Has Griffin been able to regain his focus?
The entire Titans defence has struggled to prove itself since the departure of star defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. Haynesworth, at the head of a four man rush, created a lot of immediate pressure on offences, which in turn meant much easier defensive assignments for the secondary. The Titans are not stagnant upfront and their safeties, Griffin especially, have seemed incapable of picking up the extra slack.
Griffin is a Pro Bowl level talent and he needs to focus because it will be much harder for him to succeed in the backfield than it was a few years ago.
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