Notes from the Sports Desk by Tyler Julson

 

We have just one more sport yet to make its start in the fall season — football. A couple teams are playing their first games tonight, but as of writing this column it still hasn’t officially started in my book.

All but one of the Tribune’s Football Prognosticators picked Albert Lea to get a win in their first game. It’s going to be a tough task, going up against defending Section 1A champion Winona, but it just goes to show a lot of people are buying in to the Tigers this season.

How about the Andrew Luck news? I always thought he was going to be a huge name in the NFL. In some ways he still was, but the injuries and recovery process held him back. Good for him, deciding what was best for his future and sticking to it. The video of fans booing him out of the Colts stadium was incredibly sad and fans who were a part of that should be ashamed.

This guy suffered how many injuries and kept coming back from all of them for the betterment of the team, and when he decides to hang it up so he can walk when he’s older, people can’t seem to understand that.

I don’t get all the hate he has gotten, but with that being said, I sure am glad I waited until now to give my AFC South predictions.

I didn’t have the Colts winning the division, but I will definitely be taking some wins away with Jacoby Brissett under center.

I think the Colts have a lot of solid pieces and depth in skill positions. T.Y. Hilton and Devin Funchess at wide receiver and Eric Ebron and Jack Doyle at tight end set up a pretty decent core. And for the sake of my fantasy team, I hope Marlon Mack comes into his own at running back and has a stellar year.

While they are on both sides of the young and old spectrum up front on defense, I really like their secondary lineup.

The Texans have the ability to really make some noise this year. As long as quarterback Deshaun Watson can stay healthy, I don’t see them having any trouble at all winning the division.

They might be a little weak at running back, but with DeAndre Hopkins and a healthy Will Fuller at wideout, the run game is going to be secondary. As much as I don’t like J.J. Watt, he leads a defense that is filled with big names and will be a big threat this season.

Why in the world did the Titans bring in Ryan Tannehill? Even if they don’t think Marcus Mariota can be their future quarterback (they’re wrong), do they honestly think Ryan Tannehill is going to be the answer? Especially with the lack of talent at wide receiver, they need a quarterback who can get a few things done on with his feet. The Titans just seem to be a bit of a dumpster fire right now.

Lastly, the Jaguars. After making a run to the AFC Championship two seasons ago, the Jaguars stunned us all with a 5-11 record last year. I guess Blake Bortles was the fluke at quarterback we all thought he was. Now they have Nick Foles running the offense. While Foles has been a fantastic backup, I don’t think his ceiling goes much higher than that.

The offense has a lot of well-known names, but none of them have really performed as well as we thought they were going to when they came into the league.

 

Final AFC South predictions

1. Texans 11-5

2. Titans 8-8

3. Jaguars 7-9

4. Colts 5-11

 

Tyler Julson is the Tribune sports reporter. Contact him at tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com.