No NFL division has fewer wins on the season than the eight compiled by the AFC South, and the division had another forgettable Sunday in Week 7. The Colts and Texans – who entered the weekend as the South’s top two teams, trailed by a combined score of 61-0 after the first halves of their respective games on Sunday.
Needless to say, it hasn’t been a pleasant Monday morning in either Indianapolis or Houston. Here’s the latest from around the AFC South:
- Colts owner Jim Irsay and general manager Ryan Grigson engaged in a “heated conversation” after the team’s loss to the Saints, says Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star. While Keefer doesn’t go into details about the specifics of the conversation, neither Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano is currently considered a lock to remain in Indianapolis beyond the 2015 season.
- For his part, the typically mild-mannered Pagano delivered an “animated, emotional” halftime speech that featured “plenty of expletives,” according to Mike Wells of ESPN.com, who provides more details on a frustrated Colts locker room.
- Following the Texans’ most embarrassing loss of the 2015 season, Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle writes that GM Rick Smith and head coach Bill O’Brien could be on the hot seat if the team continues to struggle, and wonders why quarterback Ryan Mallett is still on the roster.
- There was speculation on Sunday that if Arian Foster’s Achilles injury is indeed a season-ender, he may have played his last game with the Texans, and Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) echoes that sentiment today. According to Cole, given the probable severity of Foster’s most recent injury, along with his history of health problems, his age, and his contract situation, there are plenty of factors pointing to Houston potentially moving on from him on the offseason.
Afc south could be won by the Jaguars still…… Shocking
It’s not as if the league hasn’t had notable examples of sub-standard four-team sectors ruining the playoff pursuit — the NFC South last year and NFC West in 2010 being the notable outliers. But if I were a Colts fan, I’d feel incredibly uncomfortable with the three men making the decisions. The man most likely not to return, Chuck Pagano, may be the most stable of the three, considering Grigson’s moves in recent years (none obviously worse than a first-rounder for Trent Richardson) and Jim Irsay’s frequent evidence — from ill-advised comments to his DUI arrest that further divided the owners and players — of being incompetent.