2010 NFL Preview: AFC South

Standings
1. Indianapolis Colts (14-2)
2. Houston Texans (9-7)
3. Tennessee Titans (7-9)
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)

Most Valuable Offensive Player: Peyton Manning (QB, Indianapolis)
Most Valuable Defensive Player: Mario Williams (DE, Houston)
Addition With Biggest Impact: Aaron Kampman (DE, Jacksonville)
Mr. Irrelevant: Kerry Collins (QB, Tennessee)

The safest bet one could make for this coming season is that the Indianapolis Colts will win the AFC South. Sure, the division is becoming more competitive thanks to the Houston Texans' phenomenal passing game and the resurgence of the Tennessee Titans over the past few years. However, the Colts will continue to be several notches ahead of them as long as they have Peyton Manning as their field general. Ol' premature grandpa Joseph Addai helps make their overall running game pretty much crap, but Reggie Wayne can still be considered a premier receiver, and the rest of the corps are young and improving. Somehow, this makes their offense just sick. The defense isn't half bad with Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis as their defensive ends and Bob Sanders returning from injury (yet again) at free safety bodes well for them as he can completely disrupt an offense on his own (almost in the same way that Troy Polamalu can). They made it all the way to the Super Bowl last year, and nothing has really changed. And, Manning needs to win at least one more championship to go along with those incredible stats to make him the greatest quarterback of all time. What can't that happen this year?

The Houston Texans are another team with a totally boss passing game and nothing to write home about in regards to running the ball. Matt Schaub has emerged as a Pro Bowl quarterback, and Andre Johnson is without question the best wide receiver in the game right now. These facts, along with the support that receiver Kevin Walter and tight end Owen Daniels (who, before getting injured mid-way through the season, was playing better than every other tight end in the league, and there are a lot of really good ones) offer suggest that the Texans may finally squeeze their way into a Wild Card spot. Two years ago, running back Steve Slaton could have been Rookie of the Year, but last year was terrible for him. I'm not convinced anyone else they've got can be any better. The team's secondary is pretty bad, but the rest of the defense should soon become dominant. Mario Williams potentially could be the next Reggie White or Bruce Smith, and DeMeco Ryans and second year man Brian Cushing are two of the best linebackers around. There is no way this team can compete with Indianapolis just yet, though.

Last season was pretty insane for the Tennessee Titans. Opening up with an 0-6 record with Kerry Collins leading the team (when the year before he led them to 13-3, the best record in the NFL), then finally giving Vince Young another chance as he led the team to an 8-2 finish. Young is not a statistically impressive QB, but he sure knows how to win games. The only other thing that is special about their offense is running back Chris Johnson, who already has unseated Minnesota's Adrian Peterson as the best RB in the game. His rushing of 2,000+ yards may have been an over-intensive work load in today's NFL, but his numbers will continue to be gaudy, and he has quite a career ahead of him. Their defense is not what it was two years ago, but Stephen Tulloch, Cortland Finnegan and Michael Griffin have shown flashes of brilliance. There's a chance that the Titans could break out and have a great year, but I think it is more likely that they will simply be mediocre.

The only thing the Jacksonville Jaguars have going especially great for them is running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who finally got the chance to prove that he is capable of being the main guy in town. Quarterback David Garrard could have been great but has really blown it the past few seasons, and all the passing game's really got is receiver Mike Sims-Walker, who only seemed to want to play during the first half of the season. Here is another defense but used to be great but is now on the border of being atrocious. Aaron Kampman was a smart pick-up for Green Bay, as he excels in a 4-3 system, but other than that, expect offenses to score quite a bit on these guys.