September Predictions
2nd Tennessee Titans
3rd Houston Texans
4th Jacksonville Jaguars
Final Placing
1st Indianapolis Colts 14-2
2nd Houston Texans 9-7
3rd Tennessee Titans 8-8
4th Jacksonville Jaguars 7-9
As expected the South turned out to be a tough division but the biggest surprise was probably the Colts going 14-0 and then giving up on the chance to emulate the Patriots perfect season. With games against the Jets and Bills to finish with it was on and they might regret this decision if they don’t add another Super Bowl to the trophy cabinet. Home field advantage will help and they are probably justifiable favourites going into the post season.
Spare a thought for the poor Houston Texans who have finally managed a winning season but narrowly missed out on their first post season place. The Texans are improving fast and seem to make good use of their draft picks which have included Pro Bowlers Mario Williams, Andre Johnston and Brian Cushing and with a respected QB in Matt Schaub form the basis of a team who have done quite well considering they only joined the league in 2002. I fully expect them to make the playoffs in the next year or two.
The Titans started badly losing their first 6 games, including a humiliating thrashing by the Patriots in what looked more like an exhibition game than a NFL contest. To their credit they finished well and 8-8 is a respectable end to a season they will want to forget.
The Jags played ok this year and despite finishing 7-9 were in the wild card race right up to the last week of the season. However 7-9 was not good enough to save Jack Del Rio’s job and whoever comes in might find this a poisoned chalice as their divisional rivals don’t look like they are going backwards.