One NFL regular-season prediction this week has the Houston Texans finishing in last place in the AFC South.
Are the Houston Texans really bad enough to go from an 11-5 overall record to a 6-10 record in just one season? Has the AFC South gotten that much better in a span of one year? Is the schedule for the Texans that strong where they lose five more games than they did in 2018?
John Breech of CBSSports.com wrote his NFL predictions for the 2019 NFL season, and the NFL analyst has the Texans — the ’18 AFC South champions — finishing in fourth place with a record of 6-10 overall.
Breech wrote the following about the Texans in his NFL prediction article this week:
"“Although the Texans got busy on cut day, I would argue that they lost every trade they made.”"
There is some disagreement in that above statement. For example, trading Martinas Rankin isn’t a loss when they added running back depth. Also, even though the Texans gave up a lot for Laremy Tunsil, the Texans have some of the best possible protection for the blind side of Deshaun Watson this season, something he’s never had in the first two years of his NFL career.
Now for the prediction of the Texans having a losing record in ’19, that is tough to see too. The AFC South could honestly be won with a 9-7 record, which is something the Texans have done before under O’Brien.
Before Andrew Luck retired from the Indianapolis Colts, they were the favorites to win the division, but now the AFC South is honestly a coin flip because nobody knows how any of the four teams in the division will fare as all have made changes.
The Texans traded Jadeveon Clowney, the Colts had Luck retire, the Jacksonville Jaguars have a new starting quarterback and the defense is healthy. With the Tennessee Titans, they might have Taylor Lewan having a four-game suspension to start the season.
Also with Tennessee, Marcus Mariota is in a make-or-break season, plus if you look at the Jaguars, they need to have running back Leonard Fournette healthy, which hasn’t happened in his first two seasons.
For Indy, Jacoby Brissett will have all eyes on him, and it will be very interesting to see how he does as the main starter, knowing there is no Luck around at all and the offense is his. This time around with Brissett, it will be different than his time in as ’17 as the top quarterback, as he started 15 of 16 games, finishing 4-11.
Though it is debatable that the Texans will finish with a losing record and last in the AFC South, this division as a whole is tough to call, and that makes the AFC South the closest division in all of the NFL.