If the Houston Texans are to win the AFC South, it is simple: dethrone the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Sweeping the Jaguars is the most straightforward way to do so. However, stacking a series sweep would count just two games against Jacksonville’s record. If they finish 10-7, so what are a couple of games to the Texans, who still need to carry their own water?
According to Will Brinson from CBS Sports, the Jaguars are a team to watch in 2023 for possibly falling out of playoff contention.
The AFC South is almost certainly a one-bid division with how the conference stacks out this season and all three of the other teams have pathways to upsetting a Jacksonville team without, ahem, a lengthy history of success. Indy, Houston and Tennessee all have rookie quarterbacks, making them substantial wild cards. Left tackle Cam Robinson is facing a suspension … but the length somehow still isn’t known? Reports peg it between two and six games. Given the timing of the report and the use of a first-round pick on tackle Anton Harrison, it feels safe to assume the suspension could end up being on the higher side. Expectations are sky high for Jacksonville and it’s not unreasonable they don’t meet them.
The Jaguars would have to start playing inconsistently as they did in the early part of last season when they had a 3-7 record going into their bye week. It won’t just take beatings within the division to oust the Jaguars.
Commensurate with a total failure from Jacksonville, the Texans would have to measure up. Even if Houston went 6-0 in the division yet faltered elsewhere, they would barely be in contention should the Indianapolis Colts or Tennessee Titans hover anywhere near .500.
The last time the Jaguars won the division was 2017, and then the Texans wrested control of the AFC South for the next two years thereafter. Clutch City sports fans are hopeful history rhymes.
