There is a lot of talk about the AFC South division this year. I find it very interesting that people are quick to put the Jaguars ahead of the bunch. I think that the AFC south has the most talented players on each team in the history of the division. This season will come down to coaching. Looking at the history of all of these guys, just like the preseason stats, Bill O'Brien sits at the top of the stats in coaching accolades as well.O'Brien's eight wins were the most by a first-year Penn State coach in the 126 years of the program and led to a plethora of accolades for his leadership, coaching acumen and commitment under unprecedented conditions.
To call Bill O'Brien's first year as a head coach "great" would be a vast understatement.
As head coach he lost all his major recruits, about 15 to be exact, and still posted 2 winning seasons with Penn State.
The Texans have had two 2-14 seasons. Gary Kubiak took over after the first one and the next 2 years were rebuilding years. O'Brien took over after the second one. Missed the playoffs by one game in his first year with basically the same players, and made the playoffs the following year. Looking at the Bill Belichick coaching tree, not many have had a huge amount of success. Eric Mangini started the spygate scandal against his former mentor Bill Belichick and failed to have success in a head coaching role. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2012/05/eric-mangini-regrets-turning-in-patriots-for-spygate/1#.V8sCNvkrKUk Josh McDaniel's short stint as a head coach in Denver saw him add assistants around him that coincide with how the Broncos do business now. They all were associated with the Broncos in previous years. Bill seems to be the first to build a staff of people who were associated with him in his former role at Penn State. But the major roles in the organization has top tier talent with Superbowl wins as Patriots. Romeo not only has ties back to Bill Belichick, but has strong ties back to Bill Belichick's mentor Bill Parcells. Not to mention Romeo is no stranger to coaching NFL's best defensive players in the league. Working with Lawrence Taylor and also JJ Watt, has to put Romeo as one of the top defensive coordinators of all time. Now we all know that Wade was the foundation as a coach for JJ, but I'm sure we can all agree that both Wade and Romeo are Hall of Fame DC's for sure. Even though they didn't fair to well in the Head Coach role. In looking at the other coaches in the division, I do not see any of them being able to out coach Billy Jr. In fact, I predict that the last game of the season against the Titans may be the battle to see who wins the division and who gets the wild card birth. I have the Texans, whose roster is much improved over the last Texans roster that posted a 12-4 record. So I have them going at least 12-4. If they continue to win the turn over battle, move the ball with this new powered offense, we will be in the running for the AFC title. I have the Colts taking a huge step back, and I think this will be Pagano's last season. I don't feel they did enough to improve on defense. With all of the other teams improving significantly on offense, I think the Colts will fall, even with Luck, to the bottom of the division. With the Jags and Titans fighting for 2nd place in the division. My AFC division winners are Jets, Steelers, Texans, and Chiefs. NFC, I have, Cowboys, Panthers, Packers, and Cardinals. As with my bold prediction of Pagano being fired, I have Dak Prescott leading the Cowboys on a phenomenal run, and Romo's return being a huge controversy and distraction to the team. However, you can rest assured that if the Superbowl comes down to a Texas battle at NRG of Cowboys vs Texans, call 911 cause my head will likely be ready to explode.
Ok I'm up from that dream. Looking ahead to the season opener,
I think this will be an all out rout of the Bears. Unless they have a magic potion in their back pocket, the Bears looked very similar throughout the preseason. The Texans are extremely hungry to revenge the embarrassing lost in our home stadium against the Chiefs. It's too bad we didn't pull the Chiefs as the first game. With both Duane Brown and JJ out of the game, it is extremely important to 99 that we get that stench off our backs. He will have them pumped and ready go, no matter how many limited snaps he may receive. Clowney and Mercilus on the field at the same time with Watt and a healthy Cushing is something I don't think any offense is ready for this season.
I am also extremely happy that Osweiler is rated 27th among NFL quarterbacks even after throwing laser accurate passes during the preseason. For me it was never about reading defenses, and checking in and out of plays. For the first time in our history I saw a Quarterback lead a speedy receive down field that didn't have to stop and wait on the ball or run back to it. I mentioned to you that I feel that Wade is also a Hall of Fame DC. The Broncos defense has been at the top of the league for over 4 years. Elway bringing in Kubiak, in my humble opinion, had a lot to do with his ability to bring Wade to that defense. I have a ton of respect for Kubiak, but his offensive system eventually gets figured out, and the QB's inability to check in and out of plays limits their ability to move the ball. But with Brock running the scout team as the back up quarterback over the past 4 years has trained him to be ready for this league. I'm not ready to crown him MVP of the league, but I definitely feel that practicing every day against the best of the best will train and prepare you much like Aaron Rogers who took over a Green Bay team that had the 6th rated defense in the league in 2007. The Broncos dropped from 4th in the league to 17th and 22nd in the league which prompted the offensive minded Elway to recognize that he had top rated defensive talent. Getting Gary, who was a former Bronco, to bring Wade was just a genius move on his part. Letting Osweiler go, was a blessing for us and possible curse for the city of Denver.
Rick Smith also deserves a lot more credit than he's received. We have been eating him up in this city for some time now, and he WON the off season. We could absolutely have mortgaged the farm to go up and get Goff who is not ready to start, or Wentz who is only going to start because Teddy Bridgewater allowed them to recoup the farm of picks they gave up for a #2 draft pick who also failed to win the starting job. We KILLED him for not moving up to get Teddy Bridgewater. Instead he picked a guard. Did he know all along Osweiler would become available? I'm sure he didn't. But the way the cards fell has me very optimistic about this season. I predict that our starters will be on the sideline to start the 4th quarter of this game. Our true test will be Kansas City who I will focus my next blog about once we get to see all the bullets fly and who knows even see Braxton Miller hit Fuller down the field for a 60 yard touchdown. Texans 38 Bears 10 and always.....................
Go Texans!
DJ THE DJ
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