Division Winner: The Indianapolis Colts should win the AFC South this season. Indianapolis should win not due to them improving this offseason, but due to the losses of the champions of the South last season, the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee lost their big run stopper, defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, to free agency this summer and are scrambling to fill his loss with a few different players. This division will come down to a game or two in the standings, but it is a two-horse race between the Colts and the Titans.

Wild Card Winner: No Wild Card winner will come from this division I believe. Tennessee will be close and in the race for the playoffs but will come up short. The losses on defense will be too much for the Titans to overcome this season. Houston and Jacksonville are at least another season away from competing for the playoffs, but another year of rebuilding and developing will lead these teams to the playoffs in the coming years.

Player on the Rise: With the departure of Marvin Harrison, third-year receiver Anthony Gonzalez has as much to gain as his counterpart Reggie Wayne. Gonzalez had 576 yards receiving his rookie season, and 664 yards last year with his catch total rising by 20 in two years. He has become a reliable target to quarterback Peyton Manning and now as the number two receiver for the Colts, Gonzalez has a chance to explode this season. Expect him to have his first 1,000 yard season this year with over a dozen touchdown receptions for the Colts.

Player on the Demise: Quarterback Matt Schaub’s inability to stay healthy will finally catch up with him and the Houston Texans. He has played well when healthy and able to, completing 66% of his passes both years in Houston. But the fact that he has only appeared in 22 games in two years for Houston has got to become a concern. The Texans traded backup Sage Rosenfels to the Minnesota Vikings meaning that Schaub was on his own, but will he be able to stay healthy? I don’t think he will be able to shake the injury bug, and will miss at least 6 games this season causing concern for the Texans and maybe a search for his replacement for the future.

Division MVP: The MVP of this division is always a candidate for MVP of the league, Peyton Manning. Manning is a model of consistency playing in all 16 games each of his 11 seasons in the league while throwing for over 4,000 yards in nine of those 11 seasons. Expect another 4,000 yard, 35 touchdown season from Manning this year as he leads the Colts to a division title.