Indianapolis Colts
Love - A Lucky Renaissance
RG3 got Rookie of the Year honors and Russell Wilson already has a ring, but all signs point to Andrew Luck as the very best QB in a loaded 2012 draft class. It's impossible to imagine the Colts getting to 0.500 much less two straight playoff appearances without him, especially given their awful point differential in 2012 and the loss of Reggie Wayne and any decent running game in 2013. No. 12 looks like a Hall of Famer in all the ways you'd expect like arm strength, mobility and exceptional decision-making, but he's also a sorcerer sometimes. Under Luck's leadership, the Colts handed both the Seahawks and Broncos their first losses last season and had a face melting 28-point comeback in the Wild Card round against the Chiefs. With that kind of experience and resilience in just two years, he's got a higher ceiling than just about anyone else under center these days so it's a matter of when, not if, you jump on the Andrew Luck bandwagon.
The highs were indeed very high for the Colts in 2013 as referenced above, but Indy also had some horrific games that have surely made fans feel that nothing is safe. They lost four games by three possessions or more including a very public divisional round drubbing in New England. For all of Andrew Luck's magical powers, the Colts still have some major vulnerabilities that could keep them from making the leap just yet. Indy's did not have a 100-yard rusher all season, and the defense has oscillated from brilliant to pathetic with lots of spare parts and injuries contributing to that instability. Left unresolved, these issues probably won't affect the Colts' cushion atop the decimated AFC South, but they may not be so fortunate against the conference's top brass.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Love - Emerging from Futility
You never really know with the AFC, but it’s pretty safe to say the Jaguars aren’t ready for the playoffs yet after years of unbridled failure and regression. Nevertheless, I love everything Jacksonville is doing to earn back some respect and a foundation to build on… before the team packs up for LA or London anyway. The Seahawks’ historic defense of 2013 has Coach Gus Bradley’s fingerprints all over it, and now he’s lured some of that defensive muscle to the Southeast a la Chris Clemmons and Red Bryant. And though they may have a rookie baptism by fire, the draft additions of Blake Bortles and Marqise Lee will give the Jaguars' aerial game a fresh start after the epic busts of Blaine Gabbert and Justin Blackmon. Winners they probably aren’t, but these Jaguars might finally take 3rd place in the South away from the Titans this year - that’s better than nothing!
Maybe the Jaguars front office will prove us wrong, but let's be honest, how often has that happened? It was a quintessentially Jacksonville move to take Blake Bortles third overall in this year's draft when they could have loaded up on additional picks and still gotten their man much later in all likelihood. They just can't help but reach for the proverbial tabloid and Reese's Pieces in the checkout line in hopes that these many years of suckitude will finally end with a relatively untested project for a quarterback. I genuinely hope Bortles works out for this long-suffering and diminished fanbase, but he's fighting quite a franchise track record of draft day incompetence.
Houston Texans
Love - Jadeveon the Terror
Outside of Andrew Luck, it’s hard to think of a #1 overall pick in recent memory who has received as much buzz over the course of a year as Jadeveon Clowney has. If he’s as good as they all say, the Texans may not need to worry about their offense at all, especially given the tandem with J.J. Watt. For those who worry that Clowney won’t be able to overcome the hype in his debut, I say, have you seen the Texans’ schedule this year? After a precipitous fall in 2013, they’ll basically be prancing on marshmallow clouds with an itinerary including up to four games against rookie QBs (Jaguars x2, Raiders, Browns) and eight games against wildly inconsistent and/or frequently injured QBs (Redskins, Giants, Bills, Cowboys, Titans x2, Bengals, Ravens). I like them odds- it’s Clowney’s Defensive ROY to lose.
In all fairness, you'd have a broken spirit too if you were tasked with making David Carr/Matt Schaub look serviceable for over a decade. But can somebody please get Andre Johnson some Prozac before he tries to do it again with Ryan Fitzpatrick this season? In case you missed it, Johnson decided to skip out on offseason team activities after the Texans neglected to draft a new QB until Tom "Who?" Savage in the fourth round. In some respect, you can't really blame the guy - he's an All Pro receiver who's only been to the playoffs twice and suffered through many a losing season. BUT Johnson's locked into his current contract with Houston until 2017, so he should probably rethink his team spirit strategy or run for the hills while he's got some good years left.
Tennessee Titans
Love - Um, Baby Steps?
In full transparency, there's not a lot of love lost between Memphians like me and the Tennessee Titans. But beyond intra-state resentment, what can you say about this team that makes them remotely promising in the post-Jeff Fisher era? If I'm scouring for the thinnest of silver linings, it was good of the Titans to part ways--finally--with the deadweight that was Chris Johnson, and they picked up a few playmakers on defense by way of Shaun Phillips and Bernard Pollard. Further, if a testament only to how terrible the AFC South is, the Titans have the second easiest strength of schedule going into 2014. That means no excuses for how this revamped roster and management team fare this season.
Hate - Whisen-What?
The Titans had plenty of issues going into this offseason, most prominently with the ouster of Mike Munchak and pretty much the entire coaching staff. Jake Locker is not the answer at quarterback, there are no guaranteed playmakers in the backfield, and now the fate of this shaky offense is in the hands of new coach Ken Whisenhunt. Sure, Whisenhunt took the Cardinals to the Super Bowl five years ago and had a solid year as the Chargers' OC, but if you want to characterize this as guaranteed success in Tennessee, you'd be forgetting the three miserable seasons Whisenhunt had in between without Kurt Warner or Philip Rivers at the QB helm. As chronicled excellently by Bill Barnwell here, the guy has a penchant for playing Russian Roulette with his passers when there isn't an obvious starter, which should be a great idea when the Titans have Locker, Charlie Whitehurst and newbies Zach Mettenberger/Tyler Wilson to choose from. Instability and ineptitude are all but guaranteed.
