AFC South

Our spin around the NFL brings us to the Houston Texans and their Help Wanted needs. The Texans played like one of the best teams in football last season. When they lost their quarterback, Matt Schaub, mid-season it torpedoed their chances at the Super Bowl, and they dropped out of the playoffs in the divisional round.

That being said, they made their run without some key pieces, which speaks volumes to the quality of the roster, much of which returns intact. They do have some key players hitting free agency though, so much of their off-season will be dictated by how they treat those players. In fact, their most glaring needs would come as a result of free agents allowed to walk.

Let’s take a look at what their needs are as free agency comes ever closer.

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The good news is that the Jaguars have two major things going for them. They have a strong run game as well as a strong run defense. However, the NFL is a passing game, and with some injuries on both sides of the ball, the Jaguars weren’t going anywhere in the 2011 season.

Jacksonville still has a long way to go before they can be a competitive football team. While the improvement of Blaine Gabbart would help the team more than anything, there are a number of other positions that the Jaguars can address in free agency and get some instant upgrades. They have shown in the past that they aren’t afraid to make free agent additions. On defense alone they’ve added Matt Roth, Paul Posluszny, Clint Session, Dawan Landry and Dwight Lowery last year. We could see the makeover continue in the coming months. There are still improvements that can be made on the defensive side of the ball, as well as help in the passing game.

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The Titans wasted no time getting back to winning ways under Mike Munchak in 2011. Tennessee is a franchise with high expectations for the new campaign as they had only experienced five losing seasons in 16 years under Jeff Fisher. This is a team used to winning, and with the AFC South blown wide open by the colossal fall from grace by the perennial Peyton Manning-led Colts team, the Titans will absolutely be eyeing a place for themselves in the playoffs.

This is a team with a good nucleus of players for the future. This team had a lot going for it in 2011, perhaps its most valuable asset being an offensive line which we ranked 6th in the NFL. However, with several key players about to become free agents, and underperforming players now under the microscope, there are certainly areas of the field they will need to concentrate their efforts in bringing in new talent. Let’s take a look at where they are and how the Titans can go forward.

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Pro Football Focus first spoke to Chris Myers during the 2011 season, just after the loss of QB Matt Schaub and the first start of his backup Matt Leinart. At the time, T.J. Yates wasn’t even on anybody’s radar, and the Texans were hoping they could keep their season on the tracks and secure that elusive first postseason berth. He was quick to talk about the team’s goals and reluctant to even think about the prospect of any individual honors before those goals had been realized.

This time we caught up with him after having won the franchise’s first playoff game, running the Baltimore Ravens close in their second, and after he had been off to Hawaii as a member of the AFC’s Pro Bowl squad. Read the rest of this entry »

When Peyton Manning had neck surgery you kind of new things were going to change in the AFC South. So it proved with the Houston Texans taking full advantage of the situation to dominate the division, leaving the Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars trailing in their wake. The Texans finally turned in a consistent season despite losing key players on both sides of the ball, aided by an excellent offensive line and an invigorated defense after switching to a 3-4.

As we continue to break down the 2011 season, we’re looking at some of the most noticeable (and not always for the right reason) performances from the year gone by in this Trending series. We’re highlighting one player from each team that fits as the Most improved, the Biggest Drop Off, and the one who’s most in need of more snaps. Here’s the AFC South:

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Our Off-season Depth Chart Outlook series concludes today with the AFC South division.

What I’m doing here is going team-by-team and taking a look at each team’s roster situation at the four key offensive Fantasy Football positions (QB RB WR TE). I’ll also be speculating on a few potential off-season moves we could see each of these teams make.

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Day 3 of our All-Division Teams takes us to the AFC South which is currently in a state of flux. With no Peyton Manning it was anything but the status quo as the Texans managed to dominate a division they justly won, while overcoming a plethora of injuries in the process.

But what about the best players from the AFC South? Were the Texans able to make us much noise with our team as they did in the regular season? Or were the combined efforts of the Titans, Colts, and Jaguars enough to make this more of an AFC South team, and less of a Houston Texans team?

As ever, reading on provides the answers.

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In a closely contested affair, you always got the feeling that whoever made fewer mistakes out of the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans would win, and so it proved with the Ravens advancing to the AFC Championship game as they held onto victory against a stubborn and resolute Texans side.

While people have been quick to come out and criticize Joe Flacco, the Ravens quarterback did exactly what was needed, against a defense that has caused plenty of teams problems and didn’t turn it over. Throw in several excellent throws and compare it with the performance of T.J. Yates, and you have the biggest reason the Texans are going home and the Ravens are preparing for the Patriots.

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For this game we decided to do the NFL equivalent of tracking an endangered species–we scouted the fullback and in Vonta Leach, one of the few players at that position who get any significant playing time.

It amazed me this year when Michael Robinson was named as the NFC’s first alternate; in part because he actually wasn’t very good as a blocker, but more to do with the fact he only played 22.8% of the Seahawks’ snaps. No fullback played more snaps than Leach (584) and with 52.6% of snaps, it may even be worth my while putting it all to paper. As it turned out, the Ravens game plan was so conservative that he ended up playing an awful lot more than his season average. Let’s have a look at how he did. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s rematch weekend in the NFL Playoffs and the encounter between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans is arguably the most intriguing games and the toughest to pick. Even though the Texans have been hit by injuries, both teams are built on very similar models and matchup very well. Both run the ball well, play stifling defense, and have a quarterback who is just surviving and not making the mistakes to throw their team off course. The Ravens maintained their momentum down the stretch but have taken a week off while the Texans stumbled into the playoffs, but have momentum going into this game after a comfortable victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Wildcard Weekend. This game could not be more finely balanced. Read the rest of this entry »