AFC South Wrap Up Week 5

                    AFC South Wrap Up Week 5
 
By Rafael Garcia
Sr. Contributing Writer Football Reporters Online
Southeast Region
 
 
Indianapolis 31 Tennessee 9
Code Blue turned into Code Red in Nashville Sunday night. The game started well for the Titans as they played the Colts close. The crowd was into the game but when they had the chance to swing the momentum their way they kicked a field goal on fourth and one. This was a night that fans were hoping the team would turn things around. What they saw is a team that couldn’t run or pass. This is a team that shows no sign of playing with enthusiasm or determination. They were supposed to control the football with their running game and that never materialized. Chris Johnson finished with 34 yards and LenDale White had 51. With the Colts pulling away they had to abandon the run and switch to the pass. Well that didn’t go any better.  Kerry Collins continues his struggles but he is not the only problem. Titan receivers are dropping balls in their hands. They are not finishing routes and still do not have that go to receiver. Rookie Kenny Britt dropped a pass and Collins over and under threw passes too. The defense is a really big mess right now as they are making average quarterbacks look like stars. With Peyton Manning at the table with a carving knife the game went as expected. It’s not like he had a slew of veterans catching his passes. He had the likes of Austin Collie catching eight for 97 yards. There were also names like Donald Brown and Pierre Garcon. We see what is means to have a top tier quarterback who can get the ball to his receivers no matter who they are. The Titan defense has rookies trying to get the job done as well as veterans that can’t at this point. Then there is the argument about Vince Young or Kerry Collins. Head coach Jeff Fisher is still standing by Collins and fans and some media members are starting to ask why. Young finally got some playing time, but if you saw him on the sidelines when he was asked to come in, he looked like he didn’t want to. He looked up at the clock and later said that he was not expecting to come in. Some would say words like that hurt him because you should always be ready to play as the backup. Still you have to wonder when they will decide to play him. Next year he will make almost $15M if he is on the roster. Don’t you think its time to see what your investment can do before you find out too late?
 
Seattle 41 Jacksonville 0
See, this is the thing about this division after the Colts. You never know what team is going to show up in Nashville, Florida or Texas. Here in this one the Jags showed their low side. Just last week they looked like a playoff team against Tennessee. Ok, it was just the Titans. David Garrard looked nothing like last week and receiver Mike Sims-Walker was a scratch for violation of team policy. Matt Hasselbeck returned for the Seahawks and was fantastic going 18-30 for 241 yards and four touchdowns. He did this with most of his offensive line out and after a hard week of practice. Nate Burleson and T. J. Houshmandzadeh each caught two scoring passes and Nick Reed returned a fumble 79 yards for another touchdown. The Jags looked like they were in shock as they had one three and out after another to open the game. Maurice Jones-Drew had 12 carries for just 34 yards and the Jags were held to 199 yards of total offense. Pretty darn bad for a team that can look so good at times. Garrard finished 18-31 for 188 yards and two fumbles he lost. They had a total of 10 first downs and nine penalties to go with that. At the end of the day you could say they failed in all facets of the game including red-zone opportunities. They now stand at 2-3 and the only thing the other teams are fighting for now is who will end up second behind the Colts.
 
Arizona 28 Houston 21
This was a game of two halves, and then a fantastic finish. The first half belonged to the Cards as they jumped out to a 21-0 lead behind the arm of Kurt Warner and his two touchdown passes to Larry Fitzgerald. It was beautiful to watch these two quarterbacks as they threw to some of the best receivers in the game. In the second half it was the Texans turn to score and they did when Chris Brown ran in from one in the third to make it 21-7. In the fourth Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson went to work connecting twice from 11 and 17 yards to tie it at 21. Schaub had a huge day going 35-50 for 371 yards and the two scores. Johnson and Owen Daniels each had eight catches for 101 and 94 yards respectively. So it came down to one last big play. Kurt Warner had fizzled in the second half after a huge first but had one last chance. It failed miserably, and Houston got the ball back, but on third and seven, Schaub missed intended receiver Kevin Walter and Arizona’s Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie picked off the pass and high stepped it to the house for the winning score. So as was noted before, the teams in this division don’t show up all the time. The Texans sit at 2-3 and share second place with Jacksonville. Not much competition for the Colts at this time huh?