1. Houston Texans– At one time during the 2018 season, they were being mentioned in the same category with the Chiefs and Patriots as one of the top teams in the AFC. They finally had a healthy Deshaun Watson who had to get reacclimated in the first few games after tearing his ACL during his rookie year in 2017. When they had things clicking, they were a fun offense to watch. DeAndre Hopkins made more people notice him. He went the entire season without dropping a single pass which is remarkable. The defense regroups and had a nice season with a healthy J.J. Watt on the field. When he’s healthy, the league is fun because he’s such a great player. They won the division for the second time in three seasons. I need to see improvement from the Texans offensive line in 2019. They can’t let Watson get hit how he did last season.
2. Indianapolis Colts– They were the biggest improvement of 2018 by far. They looked miserable without Andrew Luck for so long as he was dealing with a lingering shoulder injury. He returned to the field and worked his magic. The Colts started their season with a 1-5 record. Then came a winning streak that had people talking. Luck had to reintroduce himself and showed he was elite. The Colts had a balanced offense and a stingy defense. Frank Reich proved to be a great hire for them. Luck won the Comeback Player of The Year award and Darius Leonard won Defensive Rookie of The Year. This is one team that I’m looking forward to watching in 2019. They return a large chunk of the team from last year, they added another offensive weapon in Parris Campbell from Ohio State to give Luck a nice trio of weapons with Parris, T.Y. Hilton and Eric Ebron. The defense will look to take another step in 2019.
3. Tennessee Titans– I couldn’t figure them out in 2018. There were weeks when they looked tough to beat, then you had moments where they just didn’t show up. They’d lose to a team they had no business losing too, then turn around and beat a team nobody saw them beating like the Patriots for example. Mike Vrabel still has some work to do to get this team back to its winning ways. Here’s a question I want to ask you guys: Is Marcus Mariota the answer? Can they win with him under center? This year could tell us some more.
4. Jacksonville Jaguars– They were by far the biggest disappointment in the league last year. They were a game away from getting to the Super Bowl in 2017 but fell short to New England in the AFC title game. They just couldn’t get anything going last year. Leonard Fournette struggled to stay healthy, Blake Bortles struggled (what else is new there?) and the defense I felt was a little overconfident. Jalen Ramsey was talking about which quarterbacks weren’t that great, then proceeds to get torched by some of those same guys he called trash. Nick Foles had been linked to the Jaguars once free agency started. The Jaguars got their quarterback that can hopefully get them back to their winning ways.
2019 Predictions
1. Colts (12-4)
2. Texans (10-6)
3. Jaguars (7-9)
4. Titans (6-10)
I’m picking the Colts to win the AFC South. I really like what they were able to start in 2018 and I can see that continuing this year. With a healthy Luck, a running game and defense that gets takeaways, I don’t see anyone coming close to them in the division. Frank Reich came in and did a tremendous job with this group in 2018.
