AFC South Review: Week 15

By Joanne Kong

Twitter: @kongfu4u  AFC South

Houston Texans (7-7) & Indianapolis Colts (6-8)

Houston Texans (16) @ Indianapolis Colts (10)

With the Texans first win at Lucas Oil Stadium, they move to first place in the AFC South.  But it wasn’t T.J Yates that lead this team to victory, it was Brandon Weeden.  The Texans 3rd quarterback took the field after T.J. Yates was taken out just before the end of the first half of the game with a torn ACL.

And honestly, Yates’ injury might have been the turning point of this game.

Cut by the Dallas Cowboys in November, the Texans signed Weeden on November 18th.  With little preparation to take the field on Sunday, Weeden, a 4th year veteran (though now 32 years old due to a 5 year stint in professional baseball), was able to move the ball down field targeting the endzone, but settling for the field goal with 3 seconds remaining in the first half.  It was an impressive job for Weeden to enter the game without any expectation to play, while giving the team some needed confidence by showing his ability to move the ball downfield and putting some much needed points on the board.

Whether you want to say both teams suffered from an atrocious offense, or whether you want to give credit to both defenses is up to you.  Regardless, the Texans were held to 3 points in the first half and the Colts were shutout in the second.

The Colts had a total of 160 passing yards.  Hasselbeck completed only 17 of 30 passes, 147 passing yards, a touchdown, an interception and absorbing 2 sacks for a combined loss of 20 yards.

The Texans had a total of 173 passing yards.  Weeden had 11 completed passes of 18 attempts, 105 passing yards and a touchdown to rookie Jaelen Strong.

The difference in the game?  The running backs.

Both teams have been struggling with the run game this season.  For the Colts, Matt Hasselbeck had minimal help from his running backs as they failed to relieve pressure off the pass rush or move the ball downfield, having only 50 rushing yards.  The Texans, on the other hand, had 155 rushing yards with running back Alfred Blue piling up 107 yards.

The Colts will need to win the final two weeks of the regular season against the Miami Dolphins (week 16) and the Tennessee Titans (week 17) and hope the Texans lose at least one of their next two divisional games – Tennessee Titans (week 16) and Jacksonville Jaguars (week 17) – to sit on top of the AFC South again and enter the post season.

Jacksonville Jaguars (5-9)

Atlanta Falcons (23) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (17)

Atlanta scored first with an early rushing touchdown by DeVonta Freeman, his first in six weeks.  They then added a passing touchdown to Julio Jones.  The Jaguars left the first half of the game down 3 to 17.  I wasn’t nervous.  So what if it takes the team two quarters to warm up and make adjustments at halftime?  It’s better than having the lead in the first half and falling apart in the second, which is what the Jaguars were doing in the beginning of the season.

As expected, the Jaguars returned to score 14 points in the third quarter, while the Jaguars defense held the Falcons from scoring.  And at the end of the third quarter, the score was tied.

The bottom line, Atlanta broke a six week losing streak on the road to win against the Jaguars, who are now eliminated from the post-season.

What happened?  It goes without saying, if the offense is unable to move the ball downfield, a loss is inevitable.  Bortles completed 23 of 38 passes for 297 passing yards, a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, an interception, but the team saddled him with 62 yards in penalties.  Regardless, Bortles’ inability to effectively adjust and audible based on what the defensive shows demonstrates he still has a lot to learn if he wants to bring the Jaguars into the post season.  And unfortunately, Bortles continues to struggle under pressure, forcing plays instead of making them.  In the Jaguars’ final drive of the game, with less than a minute left, a touchdown would have put the Jaguars ahead by 1 point and could have saved their season.  But, Bortles continued to force passes which ultimately resulted in a turnover on downs and the end of the Jaguars’ playoff hopes.

Tennessee Titans (3-11)

Tennessee Titans (16) @ New England Patriots (33)

Titans lose.  Was anyone surprised?  What actually was surprising about Sunday’s game was Marcus Mariota’s exit in the second quarter with a knee injury after being sacked.

It was a week of the AFC South back-up quarterbacks.   And even though, they couldn’t find victory (except for the Houston Texans), they did find the endzone, far exceeding expectations.  Mariota had difficulty against the Patriots defense, putting only 3 points on the board at the end of the first half.

Zack Mettenberger entered the game to complete 20 of 28 passes for 242 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and taking 2 sacks for a combined loss of 19 yards.

Don’t let the final score fool you.  Tom Brady completed 23 of 35 passes for only 267 yards, 2 touchdowns while taking 2 sacks.  Much of the Patriots point total came from kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who made 4 of 5 field goals, and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks, who returned a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

As it stands now, it appears unlikely that the Titans will endanger their franchise quarterback in a lost season.  Mettenberger is likely to remain the starting quarterback for weeks 16 and 17.