The AFC South has been a rollercoaster ride all season long, so why would it be any different in Week 12? Although, Week 12’s action might’ve gone off the rails for a little while.
Titans’ can’t win without their king
Well that was ugly. Of course, we say that after most Titans’ games, but without an effective Derrick Henry, let’s just say the whole operation looks off. Cincinnati came into Nashville and shut down the one thing that Tennessee team excels at, running the ball and controlling the clock. If anything, it highlighted the importance of needing playmakers in the passing game, because otherwise it can get real scary for Mike Vrabel’s team. Whether they just ran into the better team that is about to get in a roll remains to be seen, but right now it’s a fairly alarming result, which might provide a blueprint to the rest of the league. Not that the blueprint hasn’t been there before, but Cincinnati showed the league how to properly execute it too.
How about those Jaguars?
Aggressive coaching week certainly paid dividends for the Jaguars on Sunday, who pulled off the shocking victory over the Ravens. Trevor Lawrence led a spectacular game winning drive over a Baltimore team that has been underwhelming at best, but still a Baltimore group that should’ve taken care of business. Doug Pederson’s decision to go for two was a gutsy move that also worked out, announcing to his team that they are about winning, which is something the organization hasn’t been able to say much over the years. Give them credit for a big win. It won’t result in a playoff spot unless something crazy happens, but maybe this is the turning point Jacksonville needed to start sailing in the right direction for a change.
Timeout Colts.
Welcome to pile on week for Jeff Saturday and the Colts. Yes, anyone who took issue with the unorthodox hire of the former Colt has taken a victory lap this week to make their thoughts heard. That’s fine. Part of the job. Saturday’s end of game management sure left a lot to be desired there, no doubt about it. Yet those same people appear unwilling to acknowledge that Matt Ryan is allowed to call timeouts too. He could’ve opted for one as the clock kept ticking away, but no. Nobody on that sideline thought to call the timeouts. So before we go crazy about all of this, maybe we should just be aware that this Colts team hired Saturday for a reason. They only hired him because they fired Frank Reich and they only fired Reich because the team was unbelievably bad this season, which brings us to this. Bad teams are bad for a reason. We can understand two things. First thing is that Saturday blew his team’s chances on Monday night. The second thing is that it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. That’s just what bad teams do.
The Texans.
Only six more weeks to go Texans fans. You’re almost there. Who knows if it gets any better in the future, but it can’t get any worse, right? Right?!?