NFL DIVISION WINNERS:
Part 8 of our 11 Part Series and today we focus on the AFC SOUTH.
ODDS TO WIN DIVISION:
Houston +2500
Indianapolis -130
Jacksonville +700
Tennessee +150
Houston has no shot at winning this division so throw them out. Jacksonville will be improved and their 7 to 1 odds suggest exactly that however, basically everything would have to break right for them to even have a chance to win the south.
So that brings it down to a 2-horse race between Tennessee and Indianapolis. Oddly enough, both of those teams will be done with each other after week 6 as they play in week 4 in Indianapolis and then again in week 6 at Tennessee.
We feel both teams are pretty equal to one another and in that case, you would tend to lead towards the underdog, but we are going to buck that trend and go with the Colts to win this division.
The addition of Matt Ryan should help them over what they had at the QB position last season when Carson Wentz was their starter. Last year the Colts began the season 1-4 and then straightened out to the point where they just needed to win 1 of their final 2 games to make the playoffs. They failed to do that in what was a terrible late season collapse.
They finished the season at 9-8 but lost 2 games in overtime and 2 others by 3 points. They start this season at Houston and at Jacksonville so they should get off to a better start then they did last season. The thing that we feel helps them the most this season though is the fact they get Kansas City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and the LA Chargers at home. If those were road games, it could get tricky but having some tough teams at home will help them.
Tennessee must go to Buffalo, Kansas City, Green Bay, Philadelphia, and the LA Chargers this season and they have a very tough home game against Cincinnati. We feel this will ultimately be the difference within the division.
Indianapolis isn’t going to run away with it as we feel it will be closely contested but the schedule favors the Colts which is why we will go with the favorite here.
Lay the -130 with Indianapolis to win the AFC South.
