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Bullseye · 09-07-2020, 10:58 AM

Egads what a year so far! Covid-19 an the accompanying shurdown has caused all kinds of chaos. The sports leagues, including football, have not been immune. Baseball and Basketball have had shortened seasons. I'm not sure what hockey is doing. The horse races, and as I understand it, autoraces and gold tournaments were impacted too. Though I don't follow other sports closely, it is nonetheless troubling to see all that turmoil happen in the sports landscape. As for the NFL, the first noticeable impact was on the draft-held remotely at Godell's house. But fear not my fellow Jaguars fans. The tradition of cutting to commercial during the Jaguars pick continued stronger than ever. We lost the preseason dynamic as the preseason games were canceled and training camp practices leaguewide were closed to the public.Many teams will have either no fans or a highly reduced number of fans during games and teams will carry larger practice squads. Some college conferences will opt not to play football at all this year, and others look to play substantially reduced schedules. This will have an impact on scouting for the next year. But for now we have football, and despite all of the horrific circumstances surrounding the season, I will try to enjoy this season as much as I can, and I suspect if you are on the boards, you are of a similar mindset in this regard.

With that said, here are the Opening Week's slate in the AFC South.

Houston Texans (0-0) at Kansas City Chiefs (0-0)-In a rematch of the playoff matchup, the Texans venture into KC to go against the world champion Chiefs. If any team is going to suffer from the lack of a home field crowd/minimized home field advantage, it's KC. But at the end of the night, it will depend on which offense (both of whom are operating with young franchise QBs fresh off of contract extensions) will execute more efficiently. I still give the edge to KC eere, as they retained all of their receivers from last year's Super Bowl run. On the other hand, the Texans went through some turnover, starting with the trade of DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. If the Chiefs can block Watt-and I think they will-the Chiefs win. KC Wins 38-34.

Indianapolis Colts (0-0) at Jacksonville Jaguars (0-0)-There is the hope around here that an experienced Gardner Minshew in a Jay Gruden led offense, stocked with a good group of receivers, combined with a bunch of young hungry players with chips on their shoulders will shock some people. The Jaguars look like they have the makings of a pretty strong WR corps with the addition of rookie LaViska Shenault and proficiency-if not an abundance of durability at TE with the addition of Tyler Eifert. Minshew looks like he could take a step up. But it takes talent to win in this league, and the trends show the past two seasons, the Colts have been accumulating a considerable amount of talent, while the Jaguars have been dismantling their team. One of the Colts additions was QB Phillip Rivers. In my entire Jaguars fan existence, I have dreaded facing him more than any other QB. People say he is old and past his prime, but he put up fifty on us last year, and he's going against a rookie CB in Henderson. Until his arm falls off, or he retires, I will always view him as a threat to the Jaguars. This is the first of many losses in what should be a long season for the Jaguars. Colts win 35, Jaguars 17.

Tennessee Titans (0-0) at Denver Broncos (0-0)-last we saw the tacks, they were losing to KC in the AFC championship after an impressive playoff run which included wins over New England and Baltimore. After planting seeds of dount during his stint in Houston, Vrabel has impressed as tack coach. They aded DE-OLB Jadeveon Clowney, who is no stranger to the division, starting his career in Houston. They got to Denver on a Monday night game to face the Broncos. While Denver is another team that will have a less of a home field advantage than normal, they also offer an impressive array of skill position players with 2nd year QB Drew Lock, WRs Courtland Sutton, rookie WRs Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler, and 2nd year TE Noah Fant. To win, Denver's front seven must find a way to control Derrick Henry and pressure Tannehilll. Von Miller, who is problematic for most offenses under normal circumstances, will either be up against a rookie in Isaiah Wilson (who is currently on the Covid 19 reserve list) or capable swing T Dennis Kelly. former tack and current Bronco pain in the butt Jurrell Casey, a fine DL, could play a huge role. It'll be nice to see him give Tennesse problems for a change. Despite the impressive skill positions, they are unproven. Though they could give Tennessee problems, I am picking Tennessee to win on the road 23 20.

Last year: (incomplete)
Overall: 0-0

Worst to 1st. Curse Reversed!