Houston Texans: Andrew Luck retirement changes outlook of AFC South
The Houston Texans have a better chance of winning the AFC South with the retirement of Andrew Luck from the Indianapolis Colts.
My, how things have changed for the Houston Texans as of late, with the recent retirement of quarterback Andrew Luck from the NFL and the Indianapolis Colts. Before Luck’s retirement, the Colts were the odds-on favorites to win the AFC South championship, but that has significantly changed in the AFC now with the Colts now having Jacoby Brissett under center.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Texans are now the favorites to win the AFC South for a second consecutive year at +130, followed by the Jacksonville Jaguars (+270), Tennessee Titans (+310) and the Colts (+500).
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For Houston as a franchise, the retirement does help the teams chances to win the division as Luck and the Colts were 2-1 against the Texans last season. In 2018, Luck and the Colts faced the Texans three times, and here were his numbers in those three games:
• Week 4 — Passing: 40-of-62 for 464 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Rushing: three rushes for 11 yards and two fumbles.
• Week 14 — Passing: 27-of-41 for 399 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Rushing: six rushes for 16 yards.
• Wild Card Playoff — Passing: 19-of-32 for 222 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Rushing: eight rushes for 29 yards.
Even with the Texans not having to face Luck in ’19, they have their own issues to deal with, especially overcoming the loss of running back Lamar Miller, who tore his ACL this past Saturday in the first quarter of a preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Houston also has to overcome not having the best offensive line too, so for Vegas to have the Texans as the favorites — especially with the Jaguars most likely being a better team than a season ago — well, the team had better not get too confident, because there is a lot of work ahead of them.
The Texans can be a solid and even very good football team. They won 11 games last season with poor play from their offensive line, but like it has been stated before, the overall play of the o-line needs to be better.
Speaking of quarterback play affecting a team, the Texans are in the same boat as the Colts because we all saw a couple seasons ago what the Texans can be like when Watson was injured with an ACL injury, and it wasn’t pretty.
Without Luck on the team, it is evident that the Colts won’t be as good as they could be — it is tough to replace 4,593 passing yards and 39 touchdown passes from ’18 — but they won’t be a walk in the park to play either, so the Texans had better not overlook them.
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The Texans have a great opportunity in front of them to repeat as AFC South champions, but it won’t be easy, as nothing in the NFL is. To do so, Houston will still have to overcome their own issues to stay champions of the division.