Inside the AFC South: Defining Moments

A look at what got the Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars where they are right now.

Every Saturday, reporters covering the AFC South teams for SI.com’s NFL community will weigh in on one aspect of the division as it relates to each of the franchises, the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.

This week’s topic: Defining moments. The one play, coaching decision, roster move or injury that best sums up how the Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars got to where they are halfway through the 2020 NFL season.

TENNESSEE TITANS

A.J. Brown’s 7-yard touchdown reception in the final seconds of regulation in the Titans’ Week 6 matchup against the Texans is the most dramatic moment to date in a season that has been filled with them.

Brown’s sliding catch along the left side of the end zone was confirmed after a lengthy video review, which only added the tension. The subsequent PAT forced overtime in a game that featured four lead changes after halftime.

Tennessee was one of three NFL teams that started 5-0 but did not make it look easy. The margin in the first three victories was three points or fewer, and in each case the decisive points came from kicker Stephen Gostkowski within the final two minutes. The Titans trailed or were tied in the fourth quarter of all three before quarterback Ryan Tannehill directed a scoring drive.

Then came the game with Houston, which presented the most significant challenge yet to the offense’s ability to put points on the board as time ran short. Trailing 36-29, Tennessee got the ball at its own 24 with one timeout and 1:45 remaining. After one incomplete pass, Tannehill connected on eight straight to five different receivers, the last of them to Brown. The Titans never faced a third down.

“Just go play confidently, one play at a time, and do what we do,” Tannehill said after the game. “This is a situation, it's not new for us.”

Tennessee got the ball to start overtime and put together another touchdown drive that ended the contest and completed the 5-0 start. Afterward, players said that Brown’s score left them with no doubt they could do it again.

-- David Boclair, AllTitans

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Before Thursday night, take your pick on what resonated about a Colts team that had beaten weaker foes convincingly but also lost badly to Baltimore and inexplicably stumbled in the season opener at Jacksonville against a Jaguars team that hasn’t won a game since.

But Thursday night could be proof to doubters that these Colts are capable of playing well against a decent team. The Colts’ 34-17 road win against the Tennessee Titans was a surprising about-face from four days earlier. A Colts offense that didn’t score in a Sunday home loss to Baltimore relied upon quarterback Philip Rivers going mostly no-huddle to dictate situations in scoring 24 consecutive points, including three touchdowns after halftime. The Titans failed to score a point against the Colts’ No. 1-ranked defense.

In a defining moment perhaps for both the Colts and Titans, an unblocked E.J. Speed stuffed Trevor Daniel’s punt and T.J. Carrie scooped and scored from 6 yards out in the third quarter. That pushed the Colts’ lead to 27-17. As it turned out, the Colts didn’t need the TD, but the special-teams score was reminiscent of last season, when the Titans returned a blocked field goal for a game-clinching touchdown in a December win at Indianapolis.

While the jury is still out on Rivers and an inconsistent Colts offense that struggles on third down and in the red zone, there’s no question the defense and special teams are vastly improved. The Carrie score was the Colts’ fifth miscellaneous touchdown — special teams had another TD on rookie Isaiah Rodgers’ 101-yard kickoff return at Cleveland and the defense has returned three interceptions for scores.

But, it’s only one game. The Colts and Titans are tied at 6-3 atop the AFC South Division, with the Colts earning an early edge in the head-to-head tiebreaker. They meet again in Indianapolis in two weeks.

-- Phillip B. Wilson, AllColts

HOUSTON TEXANS

There is not another moment that defines the 2020 Houston Texans’ season more than the trade of DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals this past offseason. In fact, it not only defines the season to this point, but the entire Bill O’Brien era as a whole.

Already known for making questionable moves as the head coach and GM, O’Brien earned the ire of the Texans fan base (and likely more) when he moved Hopkins, one of the most beloved players in franchise history, and a fourth round pick for running back David Johnson and a second round pick last March.

The move not only handcuffed up-and-coming quarterback Deshaun Watson, taking away his best weapon and arguably the best wideout in the NFL, but it also changed the entire dynamic of the offense. And to this point, the results speak for themselves.

Gone are the explosive plays in the passing game. Gone are the clutch catches in the red zone or on third and long. And gone are the days of keeping the defense on their toes with one of the best receiving groups in football.

Instead, the Texans offense has developed into a predictable, underwhelming nightmare that can’t protect its quarterback. An offense that requires that quarterback to carry constantly dig deep and make plays on his own to keep his team alive. And an offense that still struggles in the run game, despite the entire genesis of the trade being centered around improving that aspect of the offense in the first place.

People may forget, but this team, with Watson at the helm, and Hopkins as his lieutenant, were knocking on the door of a Super Bowl appearance last season. Less than a year later, their head coach and GM are gone, and the team is about to embark on a complete structural rebuild, that could years to recover from.

-- Matthew Galatzan, Texans Daily

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

There are a lot of potential moments the Jaguars could point to that have defined their 2020 season. There have been scrappy, wire-to-wire losses. An emotionally driven Week 1 upset of the Indianapolis Colts defined the young and raw Jaguars squad comes to mind as well. And of course, most recently, Jacksonville's newfound quarterback carousel has taken center stage.

But to fully sum up the 2020 Jaguars, we instead think of the key two-day stretch in the Jaguars officially shed the most significant remnants of their 2017 AFC Championship squad.

On Aug. 30, the Jaguars put an end to one of the longest player-team disputes in franchise history. After an entire offseason of defensive end Yannick Ngakoue requesting a trade, the Jaguars granted the Pro Bowler's request and dealt him to the Minnesota Vikings for a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2022. What had been a public and eventful divorce ended in the early hours of a Sunday, signaling the end of "Sacksonville".

The next day, the Jaguars made another giant move by releasing running back Leonard Fournette. The former No. 4 overall back was fresh off a career year in 2019, but the Jaguars saw undrafted rookie James Robinson as an immediate and clear upgrade. The move to release Fournette only three years into his tenure, and only 13 days from the season opener, was a shock to all.

The trade of Ngakoue and release of Fournette followed an offseason purge of the roster. Other 2017 stalwarts such as Jalen Ramsey, Calais Campbell and A.J. Bouye had already been traded, but moving forward without Ngakoue and Fournette were the final dominos to what had been a complete overhaul of the team.

This has been a year of transition for the Jaguars. On Aug. 30 and Aug. 31, they made the final and most defining moves of the transition's final phase.

-- John Shipley, JaguarReport