Welcoming Brissett back
AFC South is probably the closest division in the league. Jacksonville Jaguars in the last place are only two wins behind the Houston Texans that are currently on top. Colts were in a great position to compete with the Texans for the division title just a couple of weeks ago, but another QB injury completely derailed them. When Andrew Luck decided to retire in august, they had a backup ready in Jacoby Brissett, who stepped in and performed admirably. But after Brissett went down in that Steelers game, they had to go with their 3rd string option - Brian Hoyer, and that didn't turn out so well.
Losing a close game in Pittsburgh was not a big deal. But dropping the next one at home vs Miami Dolphins, who seemed like a legit candidate to go winless this entire season, is a disaster. Hoyer played a huge part in that with sub 50% completion percentage and 3 interceptions thrown. They couldn't be welcoming Brissett back at a more appropriate time. They need this win to keep themselves in the playoff race. But they'll have to do it without TY Hilton once again.
Can Foles push another team in the playoffs with his magic?
On the other side, there was a lot of optimism surrounding Jacksonville Jaguars before the start of the season. They were a good team with poor QB play. Letting Blake Bortles go and signing Nick Foles in the offseason seemed like a move that might get them into AFC championship game once again. But when he broke his collarbone in the first half of the opening game, those hopes dissapeared. But, the positive thing in all of that was that they found out a lot about their rookie Gardner Minshew II. There was even some discussion earlier that he might stay a starter even when Foles returnes from the IR. But I guess those rumors got completely shut down in London couple of weeks ago, when the Jags lost to Houston 26-3.
With Foles back in the lineup, offense might look even better than the defense, which is not something we were able to say about Jacksonville in last couple of years. They have AFC's No.1 rusher in Leonard Fournette. A decent OL, and couple of weapons on the outside, including DJ Chark who is having a really good season. Defensively, they were an elite unit in the past couple of years. But this year they haven't played like it. Traded away their best corner Jalen Ramsey and lost Marcell Dareus to an injury. And the recurring theme when Dareus was not in there was that they struggled to stop the run.
Colts vs Jaguars best bet
I like the over in this one. The main reason is that both offenses should be able to run the ball against the opposing defense. Jaguars are allowing 4.9 yards per carry and are in 29th place in that category. With already mentioned Dareus out, they will have a tough job trying to stop Marlon Mack behind that solid OL. Colts run D is slightly better, but allowing 4.4 yards doesn't sound promising when going against Leonard Fournette. Having a lot of success on the ground opens up the play-action pass and I expect Foles and Brissett taking a bunch of deep shots out of those.
