Preseason Takeaways: AFC South Week 1
By Anthony Wood
What was the good and bad in the AFC South in Preseason Week 1
Naturally, the results from NFL preseason games must be taken with a pinch of salt. Especially this early on, most starters will get little to no reps whatsoever with the fringe players benefitting most from these games as an opportunity to prove their worth.
However, of course, there is still plenty to be learned from the Week 1 results and unfortunately for most of the AFC South, it will have been a harsh awakening.
1. Jaguars manhandled by Ravens
It was a terrible day for the Jaguars, who looked very poor offensively, and did not do much to be impressed about on defense. There was no Nick Foles on offense, and the offensive line was mostly a patchwork but there was not a lot to be enthusiastic about. Gardner Minshew struggled massively and not much will have been learnt about his potential from this outing.
Defensively they mustered just one sack. However, the defense is not the unit to be concerned about, and the Jaguars really dd not show us enough starters in this one for major concern about the team. This was simply an outing to forget.
2. Colts young defense struggles on the ground
On the plus side defensively they managed to hold the Bills to 218 receiving yards and just one touchdown reception. However, the fact that Buffalo racked up 163 yards on the ground will come as a major concern given how much of their offseason was spent addressing their front seven. I will say this, I strongly believe that the Colts had a good draft especially when it came to young defensive talent, they will come good over time. 65 of those yards came on that rush by Christian Wade, but even so the Colts will want to see more from their defense in the coming weeks.
3. Positive QB play the highlight for Tennessee
The Titans signal-callers were impressive this week. Marcus Mariota had a good connection with Adam Humphries on a couple of plays. However, both Ryan Tannehill and Logan Woodside showed positive play with over 100 yards and two touchdowns for each of them. It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks how that pair shake out, and whether wither of them can put pressure on Mariota for the starting role.
Deshaun Watson will likely have had his head in hands watching that.4. Offensive line a problem for the Texans
Joe Webb was only sacked twice in this one but the Texans also lost Greg Mancz through injury which adds to concerns about that line. There was also this:
When you play for the Texans you learn pretty quickly how to do nothing to protect your QB.
38 & 79 whiff while 3 linemen proudly block 1 DL as the QB runs for his life.
Blocking like this is why Deshaun Watson gets hit so hard he can’t fly to road games.
(@BenFennell_NFL) pic.twitter.com/X3HPP8klkL
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 10, 2019
5. Chad Kelly's redemption story begin to unfold
It was a good day for Chad Kelly under centre for the Colts. He completed 13-of-19 for 121 yards and added 53 yards on four rushes with the Colts only rushing touchdown. With Jacoby Brissett going 2-for-5 for 21 yards Kelly will have closed the gap. In terms of a roster spot there is always the price the team paid being much higher for Brissett. However, a few more performances like this and Kelly will find himself getting a shot to back up someone in the league this year.
Especially when you consider some of the other performances we saw this past week.
Anthony Wood
NFL analyst
REPRESENTING BRITS IN THE US, ANTHONY WILL BE WRITING FOR THE TOUCHDOWN FROM HIS NEW HOME IN TEXAS. WHERE HE ALSO WRITES AND PODCASTS FOR THE TEXANS WIRE. FOLLOW HIM @ARWOODNFL ON TWITTER.