AFC South Review: Week 8
Twitter: @kongfu4u AFC South
Week 8 had some amazing outcomes.
The New York Giants and the New Orleans Saints totaled 101 points (the Saints won and Eli Manning might be the only quarterback in NFL history to score 6 TDs and 0 interceptions and lose), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4) defeated the Atlanta Falcons (6-2) and the Denver Broncos (7-0) defeated the Green Bay Packers (6-1), showing that Peyton Manning still has some football life remaining.
Then some not-so-surprising things happened – the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins (36-7), proving that the Dolphins of late are still the Dolphins of old and interim coach Dan Campbell might not be the second coming for the team.
As for the AFC South in week 8…
Indianapolis Colts (3-5)
Indianapolis Colts (26) @ Carolina Panthers (29)
The rain pounded on the field at Bank of America Stadium as the Colts and Panthers faced-off on Monday night. I had predicted that the Colts would win, but then again I also predicated the Green Bay Packers would win.
With that said, neither team played an exceptional game, but the weather was bad enough and the score was close enough to keep the game interesting. The Panthers held the lead for most of the game. And unbelievably, the Colts had a fourth quarter rally for a second week in a row. With seconds remaining, the Colts got close but were unable to score a touchdown to win the game – it’s the underwhelming story of the Colts season. The Adam Vinatieri field goal was good, tying the game and forcing overtime, where Luck managed to throw an interception leading to a Graham Gino game winning field goal for the Panthers. A too-little-too-late effort once again has left this Colts team in disappointment.
Andrew Luck too-little-too late against the Carolina Panthers. – AP Photo
This was the Colts 3rd loss in a row, after winning three in a row against division rivals, proving essentially that the Colts aren’t the team they were deemed to be in the off-season and furthering Andrew Luck’s downward slide since his AFC Championship blowout loss to the New England Patriots (7-45).
So who’s to blame? “Obviously”, offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. Hamilton was fired and replaced with Rob Chudzinski – Cleveland Brown ex-head coach (fired 2013), special assistant to the head coach (2014), associate head coach and now offensive coordinator (2015).
In week 9, the Colts host the undefeated Denver Broncos. The Colts have never lost to Peyton Manning’s Broncos at home, but it looks like that run might soon end. Currently, the two teams, with their current quarterbacks, are 1-1 in the regular season (each winning at home against the other team) and 0-1 in the post season, with the Colts winning the 2014 post season AFC divisional playoffs against the Broncos.
Houston Texans (3-5) & Tennessee Titans (1-6)
Tennessee Titans (6) @ Houston Texans (20)
The loss of Arian Foster clearly impacted the Houston Texans offense. The Texans were just beginning to rebuild their run game when tragedy struck. Now, the Texans find themselves in the same predicament as in the beginning of the season. It’s fortunate for the Texans that Brian Hoyer (QBR of 56.8) is a better quarterback than Zack Mettenberger (QBR 11.7), throwing two touchdowns and leading to a win that ties the Texans with he Colts at the top of the AFC South. Not much more could be said for this slow moving game, where the Texans dominated their division rivals. On a positive note, Week 8 was the best we’ve seen the Texans defense in a long time, as J.J. Watt added 2.5 sacks to his stats, Whitney Mercilus totaled 3.5 and Jared Crick added 1. Let’s just say it was a tough day for Mettenberger.
Zach Mettenberger had a tough day against the Houston Texans Defense,
With a miserable loss to the Texans, the Titans fired head coach Ken Whisenhunt on Tuesday, only 23 games into his tenure. The Titans didn’t necessarily expect to win the division, as they just rebuilt this team, but a 1-6 start was far from what was expected with second overall draft pick quarterback Marcus Mariota at the helm. Mariota has been out of the line-up in the team’s last two losses, so there’s hope a healthy Mariota will turn things around, but a loss is still a loss.
So what’s next for the Titans? There seems to be a trend in the NFL in firing head coaches and making tight end coaches the interim head coaches. Is there something that tight end coaches know that the other coaches don’t? Interim coach Bill Campbell was thought to be the second coming for the Dolphins, and as the Dolphins are still a work in progress, he might be. The Titans are hoping the change will bring about some positive results, but with Mariota still learning, the positive results might take longer than anticipated.
The Titans face the New Orleans Saints in Week 9. The Saints have been on a tear, having a three-win streak against the Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants. A change might be coming for the Titans, but it’s unlikely to happen in Week 9 against the Saints.