Sunday Takeaway: Tennessee Titans should take over the AFC South
Sunday takeaway for Titans
The Tennessee Titans have yet to play this season, but they may already look like the best team in the AFC South.
On football’s opening night, the Houston Texans put up a fight against the defending champs, but only for about 15 minutes.
Patrick Mahomes and company thrashed the Texans behind 3 passing touchdowns from football’s richest man, as well as 138 yards from rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire. For the final quarter and a half, the Texans showed no urgency in closing the gap between them and the Kansas City Chiefs, and they looked pretty bad doing it despite the box score suggesting they put up any sort of fight.
Every single Texans offensive linemen gave up multiple pressures each to a Chiefs defensive line that was ranked 15th coming into the season by Pro Football Focus.
Then, Sunday came, and there was football in Jacksonville that included NFL fans. The Indianapolis Colts (aka the national media’s AFC South darling) failed to prove themselves playoff-ready against a Jaguars team that might be actively trying to lose. That’s huge.
Philip Rivers looked much the way he did his final season with the Los Angeles Chargers, and Jacksonville was exactly what they were expected to be: Gardner Minshew or nothing. If the Jaguars are trying to tank (which all indications suggest) then they seem to be as incompetent at that as they are at trying to win football games most seasons, evidenced by their 27-20 win.
What does this mean for a Tennessee Titans team walking into Mile High Stadium on Monday night?
It means there’s nothing to stop the Titans this year.
Quick recap:
-The Texans are frustratingly inconsistent, and worst of all they are led by Bill O’Brien.
-Indianapolis looks like a team that paid a lot of money to a quarterback without improving on what they got from Jacoby Brissett‘s tenure under center.
-The Jaguars are also attempting to play this football thing, kinda…maybe?
The only thing that can realistically get in the Titans’ path to an AFC South crown, is themselves. The schedule is challenging, but the difficult games are spread out enough that losses likely won’t compound.
You can crucify me in December if I’m wrong about this. The Tennessee Titans will only not win the division on their own accord, due to their own mistakes.
The stars have aligned, all the Titans have to do is stay out of their own way.
9-7 looks to be the floor for this team this season.