Biggest Questions for EVERY AFC South team RIGHT NOW: Jaguars, Colts, Texans, and Titans

Biggest Questions for EVERY AFC South team RIGHT NOW: Jaguars, Colts, Texans, and Titans

All right, how about the AFC South? Because a lot of folks thought that the Texans were going to run away with this thing like they did the last two seasons, but there’s still a lot of football left to play. So, that could happen. But for now, the Colts are leading the way, sitting at the top of the division, 4-1, a minus 105 favorites to win the AFC South. The Jags also at 4-1 after beating the Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Shout out to the slip six. They’re plus 125 to win the division, followed by the Texans, and then the Titans, who by the way, just picked up their first win of the season in like the craziest comeback fashion. All right, let’s welcome back the guys, Ryan Wilson and John Breach. Gentlemen, I saw we had some questions about the Jaguars defense. And I’m kind of curious, right, because this is a defense that leads the league in takeaways with 14. Devin Lloyd is on this defense who just had a 99 yard pick six on Monday Night Football. He said, “Thank you very much, Patrick Mahomes. I’m going to take this to the house.” The secondary just got a little bit spicier with Greg Newsome alongside Jordan Lewis. So, they’re going to be talking all the trash. I don’t have a question in sight, John Breach. But somehow both of you guys have a question about the defense. What is going on? Well, first I think you’ll be happy to know I now call this team the Jaclynville Jaguars. Uh because you are such a huge fan. Look, here’s my question is that are the turnovers sustainable? It has been nothing short of amazing what they have done through the first five weeks. They have forced 14 turnovers which leads the NFL. No other team has more than 10. And we are talking about a Jacksonville defense that only forced nine turnovers during the entire 2024 season. So they already moved past that number. And these turnovers have come in big spots. As you mentioned, Jacqueline, that Devin Lloyd game that flipped it around against the Chiefs and really allowed Jacksonville to be in a position to win that game at the end. The problem is turnovers are unpredictable. You don’t know when they’re going to come. And if you don’t get them, is Jacksonville going to be able to win games? Their passing defense has struggled a little bit. They’re rank in the bottom five of the NFL. They’ve done a good job of stopping the run, but if the turnovers aren’t there, are they going to still win games? That is what I want to know with Jacksonville. So that’s what remains to be seen cuz I don’t think they’re going to be able to quite keep up the pace of forcing almost three turnovers per game. You just got a big thumbs down for you. That’s what we’re saying. Breach. Um you know what? I I don’t care. I think we can sustain it. And Anthony Campanelli we trust. Let’s move this thing along to the Colts. All right. So Indiana Jones, man, he has been on fire. Found a new home and he looks really, really good there in that Colts offense. But um can we continue to trust Daniel Jones? That is the question here. Ryan Wilson. Do you trust Indiana Jones? Of course you do. So, you got to trust Daniel Jones. And by the way, Jacqueline, as a Jaguars fan who’s a fan of a lot of teams in Florida, you went to the University of Florida. I know you have a chip on your shoulder. I would just point out your teams beat Arch Manning and Payton uh excuse me, uh Patrick Mahomes in the span of two days. Celebrate the victories. Uh and that’s exactly what the Indianapolis Colts are doing with, and you we heard Haley talk about it, potential MVP candidate in Daniel Jones. Shane Syiken has his quarterback that can do exactly what he needs him to do, which is not too much, which is to be a game manager in the best sense of the word. He only has two interceptions so far this season. That was a typical Sunday for Daniel Jones during his New York days. They have the running game that they can lean on. The offensive line is playing well. They have playmakers down the field when AD Mitchell isn’t throwing the ball out of the out of the end zone. And the defense is playing well. Now, they do have to watch out for the Jacksonville Jaguars in that division, but I think you have to feel so much better today than you felt perhaps in late July before training camp started about where this Colts team is. Absolutely. Daniel Jones can be trusted. Uh he should wear a Indiana Jones hat and carry a whip like Indiana Jones to the next game to uh you know, like the the pregame drip as as the kids say. Indiana Jones is literally an elite nickname for him. Like this is where he was supposed to be. And of course for Breach, that was your same question for the Colts as well. Let’s go to the Texans because this is a team that has won the division the last two seasons. And now it’s looking more and more like they’re going to have to crawl themselves out of a really deep hole to get there. But brereech, what are your main questions when it comes to CJ Stra, Demo Ryan, and the Texans? Well, my biggest one, Jacqueline, is can they fix the offense? Is that offense fixed yet? And I know, yes, that sounds like a bizarre question to ask after they put up 44 points on the Ravens on Sunday, but let’s be real, we’ve seen Baltimore play this season. Everyone’s scoring 40 points on them. So, it’s just not a big deal when you light up the scoreboard against the Ravens. Can you do this against better teams that have better defenses? And when the Texans come out of their by-week, we’re going to find that out quickly because they have some very difficult games. They play the Seahawks, they play the Broncos, they play the 49ers. Those are their first three games coming out of that buy. And so CJ Stroud is still taking sacks at a pretty high rate. He’s been sacked 12 times this season. That running game is still kind of trying to find its footing. Nick Chub has certainly been serviceable. Woody Marks is coming along, and the offensive line hasn’t quite gelled yet, but they’ve seem to be playing better each week. So, the question is, are they going to continue to get better? Uh, or are they going to struggle once they start playing those better teams once they get out of the buy? I like the way you’re thinking, Bri. I’m going with a subset of what you just said, specifically the run game, and it comes down to a couple things, and you touched on no Joe Mixon yet, so that’s a part of it. Uh, Nick Chub hasn’t quite looked himself, and that’s understandable given the injury he had in recent years. Woody Mars is coming along as the third round pick uh who can both run the ball and catch the ball out of the back field, but the offensive line has struggled because of injuries and inconsistency. They have a new offensive coordinator, so they’re running a little different scheme in terms of the run game and I think that’s affected them a little bit. So hopefully they get up to speed on it the next few weeks and they look something like the offense we saw in 2023 and less like what we’ve seen over the last year and a half because otherwise they’re not going to win this division and they might even be in a wild card conversation because that’s the defense is where it needs to be. offense as Breach noted and specifically the run game has to figure this thing out and they have to do it pretty quickly. All right, finally we go to the bottom of the division with the Titans and Cam Ward had some pretty blunt words for his team and then somehow they get this crazy comeback win over the Cardinals. I had to kind of do a double take and that’s kind of what your question is surrounding Ryan. Yeah, also I found out as an old person what keeping it a buck means. So that was fun for me. But in terms of the Titans, they have to find uh thanks for laughing at that. They have to find some guys that can get open. Calvin Ridley did do it against Arizona, but we talked about previously Arizona decided not to play the second half of that football game. They drafted Alec Ainor who’s not a speedster. He’s more of a possession receiver. Uh they have Tony Pard come out of the back field. Uh you’ve seen Chica Conquo and they drafted Gunnar Helm. They have guys, but they don’t have a dude. And I think they have to figure that out. that’s probably going to be hard to accomplish prior to the trade deadline if they’re trying to keep their draft capital and you just have to hope fingers crossed that Calvin Ridley can continue to play like he had previously in his career and then circle back and sort all this out during free agency and the upcoming draft. But Cam Wars been lights out. The issue is he just doesn’t have anyone consistently to throw to like perhaps say a Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson. That that guy does not exist currently on this team. Uh Ryan, my biggest question is, is Brian Callahan going to survive the season? He is an offensive-minded head coach and his offense has been one of the worst in the NFL this year. The Titans are averaging under 150 passing yards per game. Here’s a fun fact for you guys. The 1939 Chicago Bears averaged more than 150 passing yards per game. The Titans are playing at a 1939 level. So when you are doing that, uh, something has to happen. So maybe it is going to be a move where they let go Callahan if this offense doesn’t improve. They got gifted a win as you mentioned, Jacqueline, on Sunday against the Cardinals, but this offense does have to improve. Whether that’s Cam Ward uh, making passes, whether that’s getting the running game going, but it has to be better. And I think this team is going to have to win two or three more games uh, over the final weeks of the season to save Callahan’s job. breach. Ryan Wilson, we certainly appreciate it taking a closer look at the AFC South. I certainly appreciate you guys letting me always get on my soap box about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Um, sorry, the Jacquelineville Jaguars. Yeah, I’m going to I’m going to workshop it. I’m going to like put that in my ex bio or something. All right, the AFC South games we have on deck for week six. The Colts, the Cardinals, the Jags welcoming the Seahawks to town, and then the Titans are going to try to build off of that win over the Cardinals as they take on the Raiders.

Ryan Wilson and John Breech join CBS Sports HQ Spotlight with their biggest questions for each AFC South team right now.

(0:00) Jacksonville Jaguars
(2:26) Indianapolis Colts
(4:00) Houston Texans
(6:07) Tennessee Titans

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