Well, if Savage proves to be worth his salt I could see us winning 10 games. If Savage sucks then we could be looking at a sub .500 season despite how good the defense will be.
This is a brutal ****ing schedule. Some one on here said 11-5, must've been celebrating the holiday last night, there is no sugar coating it, if this team makes the playoffs with schedule regardless of who is throwing the ball then B'OB is worth his salt and needs a Bill Cowher extension. There is absolutely no let up from week to week and there are no gimme games, not even the Browns. 9-7 would be a great accomplishment
According to this, the Colts, Jags, and Titans strength of schedules are easiest, 2nd easiest, and 3rd easiest respectively in the NFL: http://247sports.com/Gallery/2017-NFL-strength-of-schedule-51226045
I don't see anyway they win more than 9 games. The division will undoubtedly be better this year (especially Tennessee). Jacksonville should be two wins, Indy will at least be one but there's a good chance we will lose at their place, and Tennessee will be a split at the least. So a realistic scenario for the division, in my opinion, would be 4-2. Outside of the division, I think only the 49ers, Browns and Rams are nearly guaranteed wins. I think they should beat Cincinnati, but you never know. So that could very easily be a loss. The nearly guaranteed losses, in my opinion, are @NE, @SEA and PIT. The complete toss up games outside of the division are KC, @BAL and Cardinals. I think an optimistic view at all of this is that they go 4-2 against the division, they go 2-2 against KC, BAL, AZ and CIN, they go 0-3 against NE, SEA and PIT and they go 3-0 against SF, CLE, and LA. That gets you to 9-7. And unfortunately, I think that scenario is only realistic if Savage proves to be a slightly above league average QB. Yes, the defense will be good again. But I think it would be shortsighted to say that the loss of Bouye won't affect this team to some degree. Johnson is more than capable of taking Bouye's place, but health could very well be an issue with him. We still need safety help. And the LB core is a little thinner after losing Simon. Getting Watt back will undoubtedly be a big help, but the DL and DB's work together. If the DB's prove to be any sort of weakness for this team, it will in turn be a little tougher for the DL to get consistent pressure. I'm not saying I think the defense will be bad this year, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them regress ever so slightly. And if that were to happen, the offense would need to make up for that. So if that happens and Savage is a consistently below league average QB, then I could easily see them going 3-3 in the division, 1-3 against KC, BAL, AZ and CIN, 2-1 against SF, CLE and LA and 0-3 against NE, SEA and PIT. That would put you at 6-10. So I will be impressed with a 9-7 season, but with how much the Titans have improved and their two 1st round picks, I will be slightly surprised if the Texans win the division again this year.
I agree the potential is there for the defense to regress but I think the offense should be MUCH better. Fuller, LMiller, BMiller, Allen will all be in their 2nd year in the offense. Savage (if healthy for 16 games) should have a better season than Oz. Martin comes back and anchors the interior oline.
There is no worse conversation in all of sports than the annual tradition of analyzing the NFL schedule (outside of just letting me know how many national TV games there are). ****, I bet 610 and everyone in Katy, TX will be talking about this for the next 60 days.
After careful analysis* I have come to the conclusion that we will go 9-7. *I didn't even look at the schedule, we go 9-7 every year
9 wins. The bad teams they got are really bad (like maybe the 3 worst teams in the NFL), but there are a lot of tough games there. If they can find a way to take care of the division again, it shouldn't matter too much.
And it won't matter after they are AFC South champions for a 3rd time in a row.....but some will still complain.
Jaguars: Win Bengals: Loss Patriots: Loss Titans: Loss Chiefs: Win Browns: Win Seahawks: Loss Colts: Win Rams: Win Cardinals: Loss Ravens: Win Titans: Win 49ers: Win Jaguars: Win Steelers: Loss Colts: Loss Overall: 9-7 After a strong home opener against the Jaguars, Texans drop 3 straight against superior competition including a tough game against their upstart divisional rival Titans. 1-3 at the quarter-season mark, the top-ranked defense in the league responds by etching out a solid win against the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in front of a national TV audience in week 5. Then, the Browns provide for another easy pickup, but Seahawks are too much to handle after the bye week. By mid-season, Texans inch back up to .500 at 4-4, string together a few victories and have a winning record again after defeating the Rams. In week 11, the Cardinals prove why the Texans are .500 team at best. Then, the defense puts up another rebound effort in Baltimore and shuts down Flacco in a statement game on Monday Night Football. This leads to the first sustained winning streak of the season at 4 games, but then the Texans hit the Steel Curtain on their second MNF appearance and drop the last two games including a must-win against division rival Colts, which costs the Texans the division and ultimately leads to the firing of Bill O'Brien after 4 seasons of identical 9-7 records.
Sounds like a fun "worst case scenario" look, but who are you predicting to have better than 9 wins in the AFC South?
