Inside the AFC South: End Game
Every Saturday, reporters covering the AFC South teams for SI.com’s NFL community weigh in on one aspect of the division as it relates to each of the franchises, the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.
This week’s topic: End game, each team’s goals for Week 17 of the season.
TENNESSEE TITANS
This is the fourth straight season the Titans have reached Week 17 with their postseason status undetermined.
Thus, the most pressing matters for Sunday’s contest at Houston are to earn a playoff berth for the third time in four seasons and to win the AFC South for the first time since 2008. Yet it is possible that both of those things could happen without a victory. Of the five AFC teams at 10-5 in the hunt for four playoff spots, the Titans have the best chance to reach the postseason due to the strength of their tiebreakers.
In a way, therefore, the more important thing is to play well enough to put Sunday’s disastrous 40-14 defeat at Green Bay in the past. The Packers had their way in virtually every aspect of that contest and cast serious doubts about Tennessee’s ability – particularly on defense – to replicate or exceed last season’s playoff run.
The Texans (4-11) look like the right kind of opponent for the situation. Based on records and recent play, this is a game the Titans should win. But Houston rolled up 36 points in the season’s first meeting, which went to overtime, and quarterback Deshaun Watson has consistently bedeviled this defense. Therefore, a comfortable victory would provide some degree of genuine confidence headed into the postseason, and this is a team that could use a reason to feel good in the wake of what was arguably its worst performance of 2020.
-- David Boclair, All Titans
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
After blowing a 17-point, third-quarter lead in a 28-24 loss at Pittsburgh, the Colts have had to accept the reality that they are on the verge of a dubious distinction. Since 1978, just two 11-5 teams have failed to make the playoffs.
If they beat the visiting Jaguars, but none of four other AFC playoff contenders lose, the Colts will become the third non-qualifier on that list. Because the season started with a 27-20 loss at Jacksonville, the Colts haven’t had any difficulty focusing on wanting to make things right for being the only team that the 1-14 Jaguars have defeated.
But unless the Titans, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, or Baltimore Ravens lose on Sunday, there’s only so much the Colts can make right. And for a franchise that has missed the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, any positive spin about improving four wins will fall on deaf ears.
That’s not why the Colts paid quarterback Philip Rivers $25 million to lead the offense. That’s not why general manager Chris Ballard deviated from his draft-pick-stockpiling M.O. and traded a first-round selection to acquire defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
From day one, the Colts expected to be a legitimate playoff team. The offense and defense improved statistically but were still inconsistent at key junctures in losses.
Ballard and coach Frank Reich decided that Lucas Oil Stadium video boards wouldn’t show the out-of-town NFL scores involving teams that will impact the Colts’ situation. They don’t want anything to distract from focusing on the Jaguars.
But as Rivers conceded on Wednesday, he’ll keep tabs on those early games, like he always does. He’ll know if the Colts got help early or need a loss from the Titans, who play a late game. Most of his team will know, too, although running back Nyheim Hines insists he will block out any possible spoiler alerts.
-- Phillip B. Wilson, All Colts
HOUSTON TEXANS
Nobody could blame interim head coach Romeo Crennel for wanting to rest cornerstone players such as quarterback Deshaun Watson and defensive end J.J. Watt with nothing but pride on the line in Sunday’s home finale against the division-leading Titans.
But after last Sunday’s fourth consecutive loss, three of those finishing with a Texans lost fumble, Watt went off about teammates who have failed to be true professionals in how they prepare and play.
“We're professional athletes getting paid a whole lot of money," Watt said. "If you can't come in and put in work in the building, go out to the practice field and work hard, do your lifts and do what you're supposed to do, you should not be here. This is a job. We are getting paid a whole lot of money. There are a lot of people that watch us and invest their time and their money into buying our jerseys and buying a whole bunch of (crap). And they care about it. They care every single week. We're in Week 16 and we're 4-11 and there are fans that watch this game and show up to the stadium that put in time and energy and effort and care about this.
"So, if you can't go out there and you can't work out, you can't show up on time, you can't practice, you can't go out there and win, you shouldn't be here. Because this is a privilege. This is the greatest job in the world. You get to go out and play a game. And if you can't care enough, even in Week 17, even when you're trash at 4-11, if you can't care enough to go out there and give everything you've got and try your hardest, that's bull (crap).”
When a great player speaks that loudly, everyone else is expected to listen. There’s no way the Texans were going to take the final game off.
Watson, recently named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl after the fourth-year pro’s best season, didn’t hesitate to say he would play. Crennel joked he might take out the ultra-competitive Watson if the Texans were ahead by 50 points.
Fact is, the Titans are seven-point road favorites to beat the Texans and clinch the division title as well as the AFC’s No. 4 seed and earn a first-round home playoff game. The last time the teams met in Week 6 in Nashville, the Texans pushed the Titans to overtime in a 42-36 loss.
-- Texans Daily
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
For a Jaguars team that was eliminated from playoff contention some time ago, Week 17 offers little in terms of a meaningful win ... at least in the eyes of many. In the eyes of the Jaguars, Week 17 offers a final chance at redemption.
Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone and his staff are almost certainly entering their final games with the franchise. The 1-14 Jaguars have faced loss after loss in the franchise-record 14-game losing streak, essentially ensuring the collective fate of the staff. Because of this, Jacksonville’s locker room will likely galvanize and put everything they possibly can into winning one more game for their widely-respected coach.
The lone win of the season came in Week 1 against the same Colts team they are set to face on Sunday. Winning won't change the failures of the 2020 season or even prevent the Jaguars from making sweeping changes, but it could give the Marrone-era Jaguars a chance to end a disappointing regime on a high note. Not many coaches win their final game with a team, but there is a chance that is exactly what could happen if the Jaguars play their cards right in Week 17.
Jacksonville's season is, for all intents and purposes, over. But Marrone and his locker room have a chance to go out the right way, making Week 17 one of their most important games of the entire season.
-- John Shipley, Jaguar Report
