The AFC South is still terrible
By Evan Reller
Houston Texans
2015: 9-7
The Texans have won the division three times now in their 14 year history. That puts them second all-time in AFC South titles. Kudos all around.
Their reward has been getting thoroughly smashed in their playoff losses, and they now own a 2-3 record in the postseason. And really, both wins were against the Bengals and shouldn’t actually count because the Bengals have made beating themselves an art form.
The worst of which was being drop kicked out of the playoffs by the Chiefs on their home field, 30-0. Really it was over as soon as it started with the Chiefs Kniles Davis returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown Brian Hoyer managed made quarterbacking look more difficult than putting a man on the moon.
It took the Texans 14 years to finally beat the Colts in Indianapolis. Even in 2011 when a devastating gas leak made everyone forget the dumpster fire that was the Colts, the Texans couldn’t win in Indianapolis. And how did they finally pull off this miraculous feat? By pulling off a 16-10 come from behind win after injuring Matt Hasselbeck.
So what’s changed? Brock Osweiler, hell yeah.
Osweiler spurned the Broncos for benching him (as he stumbled against a truly horrible Chargers team with home field advantage on the line). The Texans paid an awful lot for a QB who is…OK? We really don’t know. He threw 10 touchdowns to six picks in eight games and ranked 22nd in efficiency.
It doesn’t help that Houston is an elephant graveyard for quarterbacks. Seriously, it’s like really bad down there (maybe not Cleveland bad, but still). Matt Schaub started to look good, then completely lost his confidence and started throwing pick-sixes like he got a $10 million bonus for each one .
Their two best players are both out right now too. J.J. Watt just had back surgery and his timetable for return is unknown. He also had approximately all of the injuries last year, yet didn’t miss a game. Captain Tryhard will certainly do his best to get back on the field and let everyone know about it through the process.
Just this weekend wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins announced he was holding out for a new contract. Let’s keep in mind that he has two years left on his rookie deal, which won’t earn him much adoration from fans. The Texans should just go ahead and pay him since he’s, you know, really really good.
The Texans are roughly the favorites because they A) won last year, B) have a new QB who isn’t awful (and has potential!), and C) had something resembling a good defense last year.
Next: The Jags