It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year (AFC South edition)

Houston Texans 11-5

With a talented, well balanced offense, a defense looking to be much improved with the drafting of JJ Watt and Brooks Reed, the FA signings of Daniel Manning and Jonathan Joseph under the guidance of new DC Wade Phillips, the Houston Texans will breakdown that Playoff door. It is time. With all the uncertainty that surrounds Peyton Manning and the Colts the Texans will rise to dethrone the Kings of the AFC South. The Texans aren't without uncertainties of their own as last years league leading rusher Arian Foster is dealing with a hamstring issue. Whether it causes him to miss time or not the Texans will go on not missing a beat with ticking time bomb Ben Tate waiting to explode. The Texans defense was a laughing stock last season. Kareem Jackson was historically bad. Glover Quinn became the butt of many jokes. There is no where to go but up for this unit and all they have to be is respectable to get this squad into the post season. With the newly installed 3-4 defense of Wade Phillips I look for the Texans to do exactly that. They have many tough games on their schedule, but it’s no different from the one the colts will be facing and in recent years the Texans have proven able to compete with anyone. Sadly, that’s all they have been able to do is compete. Not win. This year it changes, this year the Texans ascend.

Indianapolis Colts 9-7

Maybe the speculations of Manning’s injury are false. Maybe being the great competitor he is he will over come it all. And who’s to doubt him? He is quite possibly the greatest regular season QB in NFL history and hasn't missed a start since his freshman year at Tennessee. The last time Manning sat out an entire preseason however, the colts got off to a sluggish 3-4 start. Yes, Manning would go on to lead the colts to 9 straight wins capturing his 3rd MVP in the process, but this time around it's different. Manning is expected to miss at least one game, potentially 4-5 games. He's also past his prime at 35 adding validity to the suspected slow recovery and reinjury potential. The Colts with out their franchise center piece could quite possibly fall apart this year. I believe Kerry Collins can prove useful in keeping them from a death sentence 0-4 type start but I don't see him carrying the load by any means. The Colts can rebound no doubt but I am not buying into this situation even with their stock being at such a bargain.

Tennessee Titans 6-10

The contract dispute with Chris Johnson is over, but unfortunately the titans have many more issues to address. Their Defense was atrocious last year (26th) giving up numerous big plays and they have given no reason to believe improvement is on the horizon. Their offense has enough weapons to be dynamic. Outside of CJ2K they have a great big play threat and potential breakout star in Kenny Britt. A WR with the skill set to take a game over (example: 225 3 td outburst against the eagle last season). TE Jared Cook will also prove to be quite the asset in the passing game standing 6'5" 250 lbs with 4.5 speed. He and Britt will produce many big plays downfield this season with teams keying in on Chris Johnson. I have serious questions about just how much is left in the tank for QB Matthew Hasselback (soon to be 36 coming off a 12 td 17 int season). If he is consistently able to get the ball accurately in the hands of his playmakers their offense will put up points unfortunately it will most often be less than the amount their defense gives up.

Jacksonville Jaguars 2-14

Let the Luke McCown era begin? It appears that’s exactly what’s on Jack Del Rio's mind. David Garrard is expected to be released and McCown anointed the starting gig. If there’s one thing positive I can say about McCown its that he has a Cannon for an arm, but like the Knuckle-Puck of Russ from the Mighty Ducks "Its hard to be accurate" - Many years ago the QB fetish man himself John Gruden brought in Luke with aspirations of molding this cannon into an offensive weapon. The McCown experiment was eventually terminated after being fairly productive, but just not the direction the organization was looking to head towards. McCown has risen from the depths of NFL rosters to claim a starting job once again. He can launch the bomb, but the rest of his game brings a lot of uncertainty. It appears Gabbert will get his shot by midseason killing any kind of offensive momentum they may have going. Giving them a bad offense to pair with bad defense (28th last season). Sorry Jags fans, but ready the paper bag masks.