Among all eight NFL divisions, the AFC South has historically lagged behind the rest of the league.

It is a division that is currently experiencing the NFL's longest Super Bowl drought, with none of its members winning the sport’s biggest prize since the Indianapolis Colts in 2007.

Since that season, the division has sent a league-low three teams to a conference championship, with the Jacksonville Jaguar’s 2017 run the most recent.

While the Houston Texans have won five of the last eight division crowns, their regular-season success hasn’t translated into anything meaningful come NFL Playoff time. The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville have just two combined playoff appearances from their last 20 seasons. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts, whom, under Peyton Manning, represented one of the league’s most recognisable franchises, is only now starting to get their organisation back on track after a few seasons in the competitive wilderness.

With just under a month left until the start of the NFL season, Stats Insider is analysing the talking points from each of the NFL’s eight divisions and asking one pertinent question for each team. 

Here is the AFC South.

UPDATED: Every Division Preview (as they are published)

- Inside the NFC SOUTH: Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Buccaneers
- Inside the NFC EAST: Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Giants
- Inside the NFC WEST: Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals
- Inside the NFC NORTH: Bears, Vikings, Packers, Lions

The Indianapolis Colts are going somewhere very exciting. How quickly can they get there?

** Editor's note. Since publication, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Andrew Luck, as announced his retirement from the NFL.

When assessing the Indianapolis Colts, everything should be cased within a pre-Chris Ballard and post-Chris Ballard context.

Prior to the Colts hiring Ballard as General Manager in late January 2017, Indianapolis had been one of the league’s most mismanaged and dysfunctional franchises under former GM Ryan Gregson.

Gregson was hired in 2012 amidst a period of intense transition in Indianapolis, coming off a 2-14 season and Peyton’s Manning’s departure to Denver.

Gregson also walked into a franchise who had stumbled into the #1 pick in the NFL Draft, where one of the most tantalising QB prospects in recent times was waiting for them in the form of Stanford’s Andrew Luck.

Luck would indeed immediately prove his worth by returning the Colts to the NFL Playoffs in his rookie season, with a sense in Indianapolis that after 14 marvellous Manning years, the baton had been seamlessly handed over to another potential Hall of Fame QB.

If only it was all so simple.

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What would follow would be five terrible years under Gregson’s stewardship, with much of his work as Colts’ GM bordering on malfeasance.

While the five drafts Gregson presided over make for grim reading, his biggest sin was continually neglecting to protect his quarterback with an offensive line to keep their star on the field.

Gregson’s refusal to invest around his franchise’s most prized asset meant the former Stanford phenom was continually knocked down, suffering a range of injuries ranging from basic rehab to lower-leg surgeries, to needing to have his shoulder re-constructed.

Thankfully Luck is back and rediscovering his most devastating form having just recorded his best season as a Colt, tossing 39 touchdowns, and posting career highs for pass accuracy (67.3%) and QB rating (98.7).

However the most important franchise development actually hasn't been Luck's return to health, but the organisation’s decision to hire former Kansas City assistant GM, Chris Ballard to run their football operations.

The 'Ballard effect' is already being felt across the Indianapolis roster, with his astute moves resulting in the club now flushed with young, high-end talent, while also bringing in former Philadelphia Eagles QB guru, Frank Reich, as head coach.

Ballard has bought in no less than 10 first and second-round picks in through the last three NFL drafts. For context’s sake, Gregson bought in just four first-round selections over his last three drafts.  

In the finals months of Gregson’s Indianapolis tenure, there was a genuine darkness hanging over this once-proud franchise, and by the time the cord was cut, they had laboured to a 4-12 record, devoid of talent, and with serious questions as to whether Luck would ever play the sport again.

Within twelve months of starting the Ballard and Reich partnership, the Colts have returned to the NFL Playoffs following a 10-6 season, while the sheer strength and depth of the roster will ensure their Super Bowl window remains wide open over the coming seasons.

How long can the Houston Texans stay on the tightrope? 

Strange as it may seem, but for a team who has won five of the last eight AFC divisional titles, the Houston Texans is a franchise very much teetering on the brink.

Like the Colts before them, the offensive line casts a huge shadow over everything in Houston.

Like the Colts with Andrew Luck, the Texans have a potentially generational quarterback on their hands in DeShaun Watson, who, in just 23 games, has posted a phenomenal 103.1 QB rating, while slashing his rookie interception rate of 3.9% down to a minuscule 1.6% in season two.

The sheer level of talent the 2017 NFL Draft #12 overall pick possesses is undeniable, yet Houston’s front office incompetence threatens to derail a potentially extraordinary career.

Unlike Indianapolis, who finally took the step to fire former underperforming GM Ryan Gregson and replace him with one of the NFL’s most progressive minds in Chris Ballard, the Texans have gone in the opposite direction, opting to go into NFL 2019 without a general manager at all.  

This front office instability is a saddening reality for a team who has posted six winning seasons through its last eight campaigns, but whose lack of imagination could well plunge the Texans back into irrelevance.

The Texans have been a franchise which has thrived this decade on the back of its star power.

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In five-time All-Pro, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, JJ Watt, the NFL hasn’t seen a more dominant, disruptive force this decade.

Since coming into the league in 2011, Watt’s 244 quarterback hits have led to a phenomenal 92 sacks.

In recent seasons, Watt has been joined by the almost-as-dominant, 2014 NFL Draft overall #1 pick, Jadeveon Clowney, whose immense talent is only now started to be realised, being selected for the last three Pro Bowls, while amassing 29 sacks over his last three campaigns.

On offense, the Texans have relied on one of the league’s very best wide receivers, former Clemson star DeAndre Hopkins, whose 6,635 receiving yards over the last five seasons are numbers bettered only by Julio Jones (7,994) and Antonio Brown (7,646) in that time span.

Yet despite Houston’s star power and host of future Hall of Famers, this is a franchise with a very weak underbelly and who’s lack of front office vision may come back to haunt them.

Houston enters NFL 2019 with much uncertainty going forward.

Outside of Watt being 30 years of age, with a history of serious back problems, the franchise has a significant issue developing in the form of Clowney who is yet to report to training camp with less than a month to go before opening day.

Clowney’s holdout could well see the star traded before the season starts with the defensive end's camp furious at the franchise tag the Texans have controversially placed on him, leaving him without any contractual security beyond the season.

Yet for all of the Texans front office missteps - including its substandard draft classes in recent seasons and the botching of the Clowney situation, the biggest sin has been its failure to invest around Watson by providing him with a dependable offensive line.

While the Texans have at least devoted five of its last seven top 100 picks over the last two drafts to players who will contribute to Watson’s protection, we are talking about very raw prospects, with Houston continually being one of the cheapest teams in the league when it comes to paying their big guys upfront.

2019 looms as a critical season for the Texans as they try to maintain their grip upon the AFC South. Unfortunately, it’s make-shift front office means a lack of creativity and dynamism could just as likely plunge the Texans back towards the bottom, while seriously risking Watson’s health.   

Can the Tennessee Titans bulldoze their way back to the NFL Playoffs? 

Like the Detroit Lions in the NFC North, the Tennessee Titans have attempted to copy the New England Patriots model by bringing in key Patriots staff members to help elevate them to Super Bowl contention.

The boldest step was in 2016 when the Titans hired away former Patriots Director of Scouting Jon Robinson to be their General Manager.

The Patriots theme has continued in recent seasons with the Titans choosing former 3-time Super Bowl-winning linebacker - and former Patriot - Mike Vrabel as head coach, while the team itself has former Patriots on the roster in Dion Lewis, Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan.

After three consecutive 9-7 seasons, the Titans may well have set the foundations of a franchise ready to consistently compete in the post-season.

To take the next step however the Titans simply must get more out of former #2 overall NFL Draft pick, Marcus Mariota, at quarterback.

While Mariota hasn’t set the world on fire during his time in Nashville, 2019 looms as a huge season for the former Oregon Duck, particularly as he’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

In four seasons as a pro, Mariota has failed to get his interception rate under 2%, with his overall QB rating currently sitting at an alarming 89.4.

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The biggest concern with Mariota is the actual strength of his arm, not once breaking through 3,500 yards as a passer, while he’s thrown for less than 20 touchdowns in three of his four seasons as a Titan.

While Tennessee will be hoping for the kind of season the Hawaiian’s talent suggests he is capable of, they can at least rest easy knowing they’ve put an offence in place which will give Mariota every chance to succeed. 

The Titans are one team which has invented significantly - both through the draft and free agency - on the offensive line, while consistently adding skill weapons around Mariota as well.

Since Robinson took over as GM, the Titans have developed into one of the league’s most physical teams, placing a priority on a 'ground and pound' run attack, largely led through a two-pronged strike force of Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis.

Yet what has kept Tennessee afloat and around playoff contention over the last three seasons has been the play of its vaunted defense, which was last year ranked third in the entire league for points conceded, while finishing 8^th in total yards.

Two areas Tennessee excels at from a defensive perspective is the sheer depth of talent, eight different players recording at least two sacks in 2019, with so many of their contributors being young and under team control.

The Titans defense was also superb in red-zone defensive situations in 2018, with just 44.7% of opposition red zone entries ending in a touchdown, a number only slightly bettered by the Philadelphia Eagles' 44.6%.

If Mariota can develop more strings to his game, coupled with the Titans lethal run attack and lock-down defence, Tennessee actually presents as something of a sleeper Super Bowl candidate in 2019.

Are the Jacksonville Jaguars on the brink of explosion? 

The good news for Jacksonville Jaguars fans is that for the first time since drafting Blake Bortles in 2014, they won’t have to worry about him being in uniform this season.

After five particularly pedestrian campaigns where the maligned QB was able to post an average 80.6 QB rating, the Jaguars finally decided to cut him loose this off-season.

The bad news for Jags fans is that they will still be paying Bortles an astonishing $16.5 million to not play for them this year.

The decision means that although Bortles will be far, far away from Northern Florida, the ghost of his time in Jacksonville will continue to haunt the club for some time yet.

The $16.5 million figure is painful enough, but extending Bortles after the 2017 season created great disharmony in the organisation as so many of the defensive players which fueled the surprising 2018 AFC title run felt their output was disrespected.

Jacksonville’s two most talented and acclaimed defensive players, two-time Pro Bowl cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue - whose 29.5 sacks over the last 3 seasons rank in the league’s top ten - are still waiting for the lucrative contract extensions their production would indicate they deserve.

Jacksonville enters a 2019 season where absolutely anything is possible.

While former Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl MVP, Nick Foles, will come in and surely provide more than the previous QB, there are serious question marks yet to be answered around a team that went from participating in the 2018 AFC Championship - where they nearly toppled to the all-conquering New England Patriots - to falling back to a 5-11 record last season, missing the NFL Playoffs for the tenth time in 11 years.

This is a franchise who is desperate to shed its shambolic reputation, with the Bortles contract fiasco only reminding their long-suffering fan base of how far away they have been from legitimate contention.

2019 shapes as a crucial season for the Jaguars. Should they once again falter and miss the postseason it will be a season which will not only claim the scalp of head coach Doug Marrone, but will surely end the seven-year tenure of General Manager David Caldwell as well.

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