Have the Colts given Andrew Luck the necessary pieces?
For Luck’s first couple of NFL seasons Indianapolis were everybody’s surprise. General manager Ryan Grigson did a great job of uncovering gems, drafting smart and finding players nobody else wanted. Luck did a wonderful job of making everything work, improving every year and showing all the promise that soon he will be one of the top two or three quarterbacks in the league.
The Colts’ loss to New England in the AFC Championship game should show just how far they have yet to go to be a true Super Bowl contender. That’s why they got Luck the two weapons he needed most by signing two of the NFL’s most consistent skill players over the last several years. Andre Johnson is exactly the receiver Luck needs – someone tall, who can cut across the middle of the field and make big third-down catches. Running back Frank Gore might finally give Indianapolis the legitimate running threat that can make Luck even more dangerous.
The problem is: they are old. In football years, they are very old. Johnson is 34 and Gore 32. Neither is going to be with the Colts for more than a season or two but if both can deliver a typical performance for one more year, the team is significantly better. This will buy time to develop younger players. It’s a gamble but one the Colts needed to take. Questions still remain about the offensive line in front of Luck. His protection has never been good, but maybe the presence of an elite running back will solidify the line, allowing Indianapolis to finally establish a running game.
A bigger concern is the Colts defensive line. Top pass rusher Robert Mathis is pushing to be back for the first game despite missing last year with an achilles injury, yet no one knows if he will have the same explosiveness. The team signed another ageing star in Trent Cole to add to the pass rush and that could help. But Indianapolis have struggled to stop the run the last few years and that can well remain a problem. Ultimately, the Colts’ Super Bowl hopes come down to how much Johnson and Gore have left. Are they the missing pieces? Or a couple guys at the end?
Are the Texans wasting the best years of JJ Watt?
If the best players in the NFL usually considered to be quarterbacks, then JJ Watt – a defensive end in case you’ve been on a jaunt to Mars lately – is a very close second. Last year he had 20.5 sacks, 10 deflected passes and 47 quarterback hurries. Nobody does this. He was simply dominating in ways Lawrence Taylor was in his prime, when he changed the game defensively. But Houston have been dysfunctional around Watt. What was supposed to be a well-balanced team of deep talent two years ago has instead become a franchise with holes. And it shows why quarterback is such an important position. As great as Watt has been, the Texans are mediocre without a good quarterback.
The Texans have struggled to find the one passer upon which to build. This year doesn’t promise to be much better as career backups Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett have battled for the starting job. For now, Hoyer is the No1 for more reasons than Mallett’s inability to set an alarm clock. But this does not elevate the Texans to anything more than the 8-8 team they have been the last two years.
DeAndre Hopkins is the team’s top receiver now, while former Jaguars receiver Cecil Shorts and draft pick Jaelen Strong will also have an impact. Arian Foster, who has been one of the league’s top running backs, will return from his groin injury in late September or early October. That will help the offense too. And yet even a fully healthy Foster can only do so much for a team that might spend the season bouncing between Hoyer and Mallett. Houston seem to be waiting for that great quarterback to come in the draft. They may be waiting right through Watt’s best years.
Much like the Colts, the Texans are trying to fill gaps with ageing players. They are gambling that defensive lineman Vince Wilfork has something left at 34. Houston will need that big season from Jadeveon Clowney to add stability around Watt. As long as Watt is there, Houston are dangerous, especially if Foster is his old self. But as talented as the Texans are in key spots, they lack what they have always lacked: a quarterback who can take them deep in the playoffs.
Will Dick LeBeau work magic once again?
Much of the talk about the Titans has been about Marcus Mariota, the Heisman Trophy winner who Tennessee took with the second pick in the draft. In limited preseason glimpses, Mariota has looked promising – at least as promising as a rookie quarterback can look in preseason games. For the Titans to improve immediately their defense will have to get much better. The person who can do that is 77 years old.
Technically Dick LeBeau is not the defensive coordinator, but Tennessee’s defense is all his. After the Steelers dumped the architect of Super Bowl defenses, Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt snatched him up, hoping LeBeau can still deliver an aggressive, attacking defense. He doesn’t have a lot to work with. The team’s biggest offseason acquisition was former Washington pass rusher Brian Orakpo who has often been injured in his NFL career. If Orakpo is healthy, Tennessee has a chance to be scary. He is rarely healthy.
The Titans have rebuilt their secondary with the additions of Da’Norris Searcy and Perrish Cox but it’s seems hard to imagine that they will be able to significantly improve a defense that gave up 373 yards a game last year. LeBeau will not have the kind of talent he had in Pittsburgh. But if anyone can make this group into something effective it is LeBeau.
Maybe Mariota becomes the answer in Tennessee, the team’s first franchise quarterback since Steve McNair. Whisenhunt has promised to let Mariota run, which can be a good and bad thing. The biggest hope he can have is that receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, a second-round pick, turns out to be the player everyone believed when he first went to the University of Missouri. Beckham is tall, elusive and rangy. But he has had repeated problems off the field. His progress in training camp has been slow. Like everything else with this team, he is a question.
Is Blake Bortles the answer to a neverending question?
For years the Jaguars have searched for the quarterback who can return them to the late 1990s, back when they were new to the NFL and instantly one of the league’s most dangerous teams. In those days, Mark Brunell was an effective and dependable starter. But those who followed – Byron Leftwich, David Garrard and Blaine Gabbert – did not prove suitable replacements.
Now comes Bortles as the latest possible hope at the position. And there’s no certainty he will be any better. The Jags are hopeful, mainly because he’s their best shot. They are relying on new offensive coordinator Greg Olson, who has had good success with quarterbacks in the past, to turn Bortles into an effective passer. Former Denver tight end Julius Thomas gives Bortles a good target and receiver Allen Robinson could become a star. Rookie TJ Yeldon from Alabama has the potential to give the Jaguars a dynamic running attack. Former Bills coach Doug Marrone has been brought in to mould the line in front of Bortles.
The pressure is on the second-year quarterback to be the player around whom the Jags can build. That is probably a lot to ask of someone so young but Jacksonville are desperate for a winner and Bortles is the latest to be framed as the team’s savior. Last season was not a spectacular one for Borles, especially with 17 interceptions and just 11 touchdowns, but he had little to work with.
Jacksonville are a young team with an enthusiastic coach in Gus Bradley. They have been wise to build through the draft rather than sign ageing free agents in the hope they can jumpstart the winning. But this is the year those young players have to deliver. None more than Bortles, who is expected to do the impossible. Immediately.
Predicted final standings
1) Indianapolis Colts
2) Houston Texans
3) Jacksonville Jaguars
4) Tennessee Titans
