In the AFC South, the Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to be on the Colts’ heels for most of the season, but in the end, the Colts with an improved defense must be given the go-ahead to win the division. Colt HC Tony Dungy had to do something with their defense given the fact that they ranked 28th overall in the NFL last season and allowed a whopping 237 yards per game in the air, which ranked them 26th in pass defense. way by selecting five defensive players from his first six picks and three of those picks were used on defensive backs.
The Colts’ first draft pick this year was used on CB Marlin Jackson of Michigan, with their second pick being CB Kelvin Hayden of Illinois, Jackson should be an instant starter, while Hayden will likely be used on nickel packs. With their fifth pick, the Colts pulled S Matt Giordano out of California for depth and help on special teams.
When he had the best passing attack in the NFL in 2004 and averaged 404.4 yards per game overall on offense, it’s no wonder the Colts didn’t play much on this side of the ball, yet the Colts were lucky to finish the game. play. 2004 season with a straight 13-5 record overall when you consider how poor his defense was at allowing an average of 366.1 total yards per game, which of course is why Colt’s contests exceeded the posted total in 12 of 18 departures last year. .
Jacksonville was the opposite of Indianapolis in terms of not allowing a lot of points, but they didn’t score a lot of points either, in fact 12 of the Jags’ 16 outings in 2004 fell BELOW the posted total and according to the Jags have failed to score 30 or more points in their last 50 consecutive games, with QB Byron Leftwich back at the center and a year of experience under his belt. However, he would look to the Jags to score more points this season. Please note that HC Jack Del Rio is and will always be a first defense coach who likes to play conservatively on offense.
Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Houston all have the distinction of being in a three-way tie for having the 13th toughest schedule in the NFL for the 2005 season based on their opponents’ final win / loss records in 2004, this doesn’t bode well. for Jacksonville and Houston, who are trying to unseat the Colts for first place.
Houston has improved its seasonal win / loss total each of the last three years since its NFL debut in 2002 and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this Texan team win 8 or 9 games in 2005 and possibly take second place in the standings. divisional when its all said and done. What seems to stop these young Texans in 2005 is the fact that they are in the same division as the Colts and Jags.
Texas quarterback David Carr has shown he can suck and keep ticking considering he was sacked 49 times last season, this same offensive line was responsible for most of the injuries Texan RB absorbed in 2004 and this weakness it will probably disappear. they proved to be Houston’s downfall once again in 2005 as they have not taken action to correct this flaw.
If these young Texans can stay healthy this season and improve their offensive line game they will indeed surprise some folks, however expect these Texans to tire down the stretch as they will be taking their break early in the season during the season. third week of the season. schedule and must play three of their last five games on the road and in this same span will play teams from Arizona and Jacksonville much improved at home.
The Titans finished last year’s season with a 5-11 straight and ATS record, which was by far the worst result under HC Jeff Fisher during his tenure. The good news for the Titans is that they had a pretty good draft that should give them a much needed youth shot on their roster, the bad news is that they are still in salary cap hell for this upcoming season, which is why they were so calm. in free agent wars.
That said, the Titan HC Jeff Fisher is still one of the best coaches in the league and he always seems to get the most out of his troops. Although I see Tennessee once again finishing in the basement, I think there will be plenty of chances to win some bets this season with these Titans, however these opportunities probably won’t present themselves until after the first four weeks of the new season.
Tennessee opens its season against four 2004 playoff teams when they face the likes of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, St Louis and Indianapolis in their first four outings, all four games will in all likelihood be marked in the loss column that will create “Value” when play their next five games against non-playoff teams before taking their break during week 10 of the 2005 season.