AFC South Week 1 Review

By Joanne Kong

Twitter: @kongfu4u 

Four AFC South teams enter into week 1 of the 2016 regular season, but only one team ends the week victoriously.

Houston Texans (1-0)

Chicago BearsHouston Texans

Chicago Bears (14) @ Houston Texans (23)

Yes.  The Texans won.

Yes.  The Bears lost.

Could the Texans have found their franchise quarterback?

After a slow start and an interception intended for DeAndre Hopkins, Osweiler seemed to shake off the interception, settled in and continued with confidence.

“That turnover that happened on the first series — that’s 100 percent on me.  I threw the ball behind DeAndre, and didn’t give him a chance to make a play on it. … I need to be better with that. That’s something I will clean up.”

Osweiler is looking to lead the Texans to the post season, something he wasn’t able to do with the Denver Broncos.  The offensive line seemed out of sync at the start of the game, but ultimately found some consistency.  Osweiler had 231 passing yards and 2 touchdowns and got a ‘W.’

Of course, it couldn’t have been possible without the Texans defense, sacking Bears quarterback Jay Cutler 5 times for a loss of 31 yards and shutting the Bears out in the second half.

This victory did come with a price.  The Texans lost one of their starting defensive players, Brian Cushing, for six weeks.

Of course, some of the credit should go to the Bears crumbling front line and the inability of the Bears offense to convert 3rd down, with an efficiency of only 4-out-of-13 attempts.

jay-cutler-sacked AP Photo/ Eric Christian Smith

AP Photo

The final game statistics favored the Texans in ball possession, total yards and 1st down completions.  However, the Texans shouldn’t pop the champagne just yet.  They racked up 6 penalties costing them 69 yards.

And there are still fifteen more obstacles a head of them before the post season, and week 2 is just around the corner.

Indianapolis Colts (0-1)

Detroit LionsIndianapolis Colts

Detroit Lions (39) @ Indianapolis Colts (35)

The Colt’s remained relentless up until the clock read 0:00, but it still wasn’t enough.

The Colts returned in the second half of the game to close the gap.  It was an amazing effort by quarterback, Andrew Luck, who was said to have been suffering from a shoulder injury, had 385 passing yards, 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, making fantasy owners drool.

It couldn’t have been accomplished with the breakdown of the Lions defense in the second half of the game, as they allowed the Colts to come from behind and score two of four touchdowns in the fourth quarter of the game.  Ultimately, although “Luck” was on their side, “luck” wasn’t.  In the second to last drive, the Detroit Lions countered the Colts touchdown, who were ahead by 1 point, with a last second 47-yard field goal and the Colts behind by 2.  To add insult to injury, a forward pass in the end-zone resulted in a safety, adding 2 points to the final score and probably screwing up the line in Las Vegas.

Luck hasn’t played since November 8th 2015, but it didn’t show against the Lions.  It was all about the offense with these two teams.  But how long can this last?  A weak defensive will place all of the pressure on Andrew Luck and the offense, which will be difficult to do against any top ranking defense in the league.  In 2015, the Colts defense ranked near the bottom of the league allowing 379.1 yards per game and 25.5 points per game.  It doesn’t look like the defense has improved much this season.  If the Colts can’t win against a team with a mediocre defense like the Lions, how will they handle teams like the Denver Broncos (week 2), Houston Texans (week 6 and week 14), Pittsburg Steelers (week 12), Minnesota Vikings (week 15), and Oakland Raiders (week 16).  And, these are among the top defensive teams in the league.

It was a tough loss for the Colts in Sunday’s game.  And, probably not the way Andrew Luck wanted to celebrate his birthday September 12th.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (0-1)

Green Bay PackersJacksonville Jaguars

Green Bay Packers (27) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (23)

If there was one word to describe Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, it would be ‘DISAPPOINTING.’  Even though, the Jaguars were slotted to lose Sunday’s game, they showed great effort on offense.  Bortles had 329 passing yards, 1 touchdowns 1 interception (in the first drive) and 3 sacks for a loss of 20 yards.  At the end of the half, the Jaguars had managed to keep the game within 4 points.

The Jaguars team looked improved, even with a 0-1 start to the season.  The Jaguars defense was able to minimize the Packers run game, Eddie Lacy was held to only 61 yards in 14 carries, held the Packers to only 199 passing yards and prevented a Packers touchdown in the second half.

Unfortunately, the Packers defense also shut down the Jaguars run game, holding T.J. Yeldon to 39 yards in 21 attempts.  And, they also prevented a Jaguars touchdown in the second half.

A disappointing loss for the Jaguars in lue of the how close they kept the game, and the heartbreaking lost opportunity in the last Jaguars drive to score.  The Packers were the better team, but just barely.

The additions to the team looks to be an improvement of last year.  But like all young teams, they’re still some tinkering that needs to be done if the Jaguars seek to improve in the 2016 season.

Luckily, there are 15 weeks left in the season.

TENNESSEE TITANS (0-1)

Minnesota VikingsTennessee Titans

Minnesota Viking (25) @ Tennessee Titans (16)

You had to see it to believe this game.

The Titans managed to enter the half with a solid 10-0 lead, due to the Vikings’ kicker, Blair Walsh, missing two field goals.  The second half was a different story.  Whatever the Vikings did during half time revived this team.

The Minnesota Vikings decided on quarterback Shaun Hill.  Hill threw for 236 passing yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 0 sacks.  He was the ultimate game manager, and that’s what the Vikings needed.   Quick releases for short throws, moving the ball down field for field goal opportunities or goal line rushing plays.

Even though there were no offensive scoring for the Vikings, Blair Walsh put 13 points on the board, making 4-out-of-6 field goals attempts and 1-out-of-2 extra points.

But the real stars of the game were the Vikings defense.  And if the 2015 season showed us anything, it was that a strong defense can win games.  And that’s exactly what the Vikings defense did, scoring two defensive touchdowns.

Marcus Mariota

Marcus Mariota

Even a healthy Marcus Mariota with 271 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, seemed to be no match for this Vikings defense.  The Vikings defense easily exploited the Titans offensive with 2 sacks for a loss of 19 yards, an interception by line-backer Eric Kendricks, leading to a touchdown, and a fumble by Mariota lead to a fumble recovery for a touchdown by defensive end Danielle Hunter.

It was to the credit of the Titans defense, holding Vikings top running back, Adrian Peterson to only 19 carries for 31 yards.  Unfortunately, the Titan running back duo wasn’t as explosive as demonstrated during the pre-season. Running back, Derrick Henry, had 5 carries for 3 yards, and running back, DeMarco Murray, had only 13 carries for 42 yards.  But, it was Murray, who scored the two 2 receiving touchdowns.

After week 1, it looks like it’s going to be another tough learning curve year for the Titans.

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