Like in previous years, I'm going division by division to preview how I think teams are going to finish the 2014 campaign. Like last year, I'm ending with the division of the defending champ, so the NFC West will pop up next week.
Also this year, I will be renewing the COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em, and I will be re-instituting picking with a guest writer. He's been excited to join in on this since during the season last year, and I'm excited to have him.
So without further ado, let's dive into the previews, starting with the AFC South.
Common opponents: AFC North, NFC East
2013: 11-5 (1st), lost in AFC Divisional Round
The schedule gets tougher for this year's Colts after they reclaimed ownership of the division last year. To me for this year, the bigger issue is the offensive line, and how well they do protecting third-year star Andrew Luck. Luck has good weapons at receiver again this year, but I wonder about his running game too. Will Trent Richardson bounce back from an awful year last year? And what about the defense? They've gotten away with it the past couple years in terms of getting to the postseason, but will they hold up against the attacks of teams like Philly, Denver and New England? I think given their overall schedule, they'll be fine.
2014 Prediction: 11-5
2013: 2-14 (4th), missed playoffs
One of the biggest goofs I made last year? Picking the Texans to repeat as division champs. For whatever reason, Matt Schaub turned into a pick-6 machine and Houston couldn't really stop anything. They shored up their defense in the offseason, including drafting Jadeveon Clowney to line up opposite JJ Watt, which is terrifying. Facing a last place schedule, they have some very winnable games. Bill O'Brien proved he's a good coach during his stint at Penn State. But can he get Ryan Fitzpatrick back to the level he was at a few years ago when he got that big contract from Buffalo? If he does, the Texans might contend for a wild card.
2014 Prediction: 7-9
2013: 7-9 (2nd), missed playoffs
The keys to the Titan offense have officially been passed to Jake Locker. Looking at his stats, he's actually been a bit better than I would have thought. They made a change at running back too, with Shonn Greene taking over the starting running back role with the departure of Chris Johnson. I'm not too sold on their receiving corps, with Nate Washington as the #1 guy. Defensively, I'm not really sold on these guys either. And Tennessee isn't playing New England, so the Bernard Karmell Pollard curse isn't a factor.
2014 Prediction: 5-11
2013: 4-12 (3rd), missed playoffs
This team was bad last year (remember, they were 27.5 point dogs at Denver last year). The advantage of being so bad? They potentially have their franchise quarterback now in Blake Bortles, though we said that about Blaine Gabbert too. Problem is, their starting running back is Toby Gerhart, though he was a good backup to Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. Meanwhile, this is a bad defense that really didn't do a lot to improve. They're on the right track as long as Bortles develops well, but they're not going anywhere this year.
2014 Prediction: 4-12
I'm back to work tomorrow, and I'll switch conferences over to the NFC South.
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