HOUSTON TEXANS-PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus - With Deshaun Watson before he tore his ACL, the Texans had 19 touchdown passes and were in a groove. With Tom Savage, they’re back to being awful again.-RUSHING OFFENSE: B-minus - The Texans have ranked in the top five in rushing offense for weeks, but have now lost the threat of Deshaun Watson due to his injury.-PASS DEFENSE: D - The Texans have allowed a dozen touchdown passes combined to Tom Brady, Alex Smith and Russell Wilson. They’re very inconsistent. The only real pass rush comes from Jadeveon Clowney, who has five sacks.-RUSH DEFENSE: B - Despite injuries in the front seven to J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus and Christian Covington, the Texans remain stout against the run. Especially linebacker Benardrick McKinney.-SPECIAL TEAMS: C - The punt coverage is typically substandard despite the excellence of veteran punter Shane Lechler. New kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn has made 11 of 12 field goals and missed two extra points. The return game is average.-COACHING: C - Bill O’Brien did a nice job with Deshaun Watson, but he has clock management issues and is struggling again with Tom Savage under center. The defense has regressed, but that’s not his fault.INDIANAPOLIS COLTS-PASSING OFFENSE: B-minus — As QB Jacoby Brissett continues to learn more of the offensive playbook, his overall performance and consistency will continue to improve. Brissett was a late arrival to the roster after being acquired from New England a few days before the season opener. After QB Scott Tolzien struggled in his only start of the season against the Rams, Brissett has taken over as the team No. 1 quarterback for the remainder of the year. He has completed 165-of-270 passes for 1,950 yards with seven TD passes and four interceptions. He has, however, been sacked 32 times. WR T.Y. Hilton and TE Jack Doyle have been the only reliable receiving threats. Hilton has 34 receptions for 702 yards and three TDs while Doyle has added 50 catches for 441 yards and two TDs.-RUSHING OFFENSE: C-plus — RB Frank Gore leads the way with 455 yards and two TDs on 127 carries. Rookie Marlon Mack has been impressive in limited work and is second on the team with 212 yards on 53 rushes. Mack also has two rushing touchdowns. Brissett has added 147 yards on 34 attempts and a team high three TDs. The team lost RB Robert Turbin to a dislocated elbow a couple of weeks ago and he is out for the remainder of the season. Former Redskins RB Matt Jones has been battling an ankle injury and has seen little work.-PASS DEFENSE: C — Opposing quarterbacks have completed 190-of-317 passes for 2,638 yards with 13 touchdown passes. The Colts have picked off seven passes, led by rookie S Malik Hooker’s three. CB Rashaan Melvin has played well this season and has two interceptions. Indianapolis’ pass rush has shown some improvement, but it has come in flashes. The Colts have recorded 18 sacks as a team, led by OLB Jabaal Sheard’s 4.5.-RUSH DEFENSE: C-plus — There has been improvement shown in the Colts’ run defense this season, especially in the last few games. Indianapolis has allowed 1,025 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns through the first nine games of the season. The Colts did a nice job of bottling up two of the league’s better rushing attacks in splitting games with Cincinnati and Houston the last two weeks. The addition of DT Johnathan Hankins and NT Al Woods as veteran free agents has helped. DT Henry Anderson has made a nice recovery from 2015 knee surgery and appears to be returning to the form that he showed as a rookie that season.-SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus — K Adam Vinatieri continues to climb the NFL’s kicking records list. Vinatieri has made 17-of-18 field-goal attempts this season and is an impressive 4-for-4 from 50 yards or more. Not bad for a 22-year league veteran who is 44 years old. Rookie P Rigoberto Sanchez has filled in admirably for former veteran punter Pat McAfee, who retired during the offseason. Sanchez is averaging 45.4 yards on 50 punts, with 18 of his punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. His kickoffs have been impressive as well. WR Quan Bray is averaging 5.3 yards on 17 punt returns and 23.9 yards on 18 kickoff returns. Indianapolis has not allowed a kickoff return or punt return for a touchdown this season.-COACHING: C - Head coach Chuck Pagano continues to try and steer the Colts ship in the right direction. Indianapolis has gotten the 2017 season off to a 3-6 start, however, and the team finds itself in last place in the AFC South. Getting a win at division rival Houston Sunday was big. But things need to improve over the last half of the season. Pagano finds himself once again on the hot seat. Indianapolis has to make a run against a tough slate of opponents if it wants to get back in the playoff picture. It all starts this week with a home game against Pittsburgh. The Colts haven’t fared very well against the Steelers in recent seasons.JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS-PASSING OFFENSE: B - It’s a case of less is more. The less Blake Bortles has to pass, the better the Jaguars rushing game and offense has been. In the Jaguars first four wins this season, Bortles threw 31 or fewer passes. In the three losses, he threw the ball 34, 35 and 35 times. In their win over Cincinnati last Sunday, Bortles threw a season-high 38 times, completing a season-best 24 passes. When the running game is going good (177.8 yards per game in the five wins), the Jaguars don’t need to rely on Bortles nearly as much. While he’s improved his numbers this year, including fewer interceptions, fewer sacks and a higher passer rating than a year ago, his yards are also lower. Last year, Bortles had 10 games in which he threw for at least 245 yards. This year he’s had two - a 330-yard effort against the Colts and a 259-performance against the Bengals. The most encouraging thing about Bortles is that he’s been over 63 percent accuracy in his last three games after hitting that mark just once in the first five weeks.-RUSHING OFFENSE: A - A quick check of the numbers from a year ago to this season shows the difference in the running game. In 2016, the Jaguars had five games in which they rushed for more than 100 yards, three times exceeding 155 yards. In the first eight games this year, Jacksonville has not only topped the century mark seven times, but in six of the seven games it totaled 155 yards or more and had 148 in another. As a team, the Jaguars are averaging 4.8 yards per carry compared to 4.2 a year ago. Leonard Fournette has been an instant success in his rookie season, breaking out for 596 yards in the first six games before he missed the last two games due to an injury and suspension. The fact that the Jaguars still managed to average 168 yards on the ground in Fournette’s absence shows that the team has strengthened its overall running attack.-PASS DEFENSE: A - The addition of cornerback A.J. Bouye and strong safety Barry Church was done to shore up a secondary that has had a lot of difficulties in stopping opposing teams’ passing attacks. Bouye and Church have been a big part of the reason the Jaguars rank first in the NFL in defensing the pass, allowing an average of 156.4 yards per game through the air, a marked difference from their 2016 average of 226.7 passing yards per game. They’ve also dropped the number of touchdown passes allowed, going from 20 for all of last year to just four in the first eight games this season. Same success with interceptions, where a year ago, the Jaguars finished with a total of seven. Jacksonville has already picked off 10 passes - all of which came in the first five games of the season. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey is playing at an All-Pro level while Bouye, Church and free safety Tashaun Gipson are all playing exceptionally well.-RUSH DEFENSE: B-minus - The one weakness for the Jaguars defense this season has been its inability to shut down opposing ground games. They’ve had some success, like holding four teams to less than 100 yards on the ground. But the other four games, opponents have rushed for an average of 177.9 yards per game. Through seven games, the Jaguars were allowing an NFL-high 138.6 yards a game on the ground. But a superlative effort against the Bengals in which they held them to just 29 yards in 17 attempts lowered their season mark to a more respectable 124.9 average, good enough to get them out of last place. Acquiring Marcell Dareus in a trade with the Buffalo Bills appears to have helped strengthen this unit. One area where the front line has been exceptionally stout is putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Jaguars lead the NFL in sacks and are on pace to establish an NFL record if they continue their current mark of just under five sacks a game.-SPECIAL TEAMS: C - There have been too many ups and downs from this unit to warrant a better grade. The kicking is the best example. Jason Myers led the team in scoring with 48 points in the first six games, converting on 11 of 12 field-goal attempts inside the 50, but missing all three of his attempts from beyond 50 yards. Replacement Josh Lambo has connected on all five of his field-goal attempts including a 56-yarder against Cincinnati and all five extra-point tries. Punter Brad Nortman has also had his good and bad moments. He’s averaging 44.6 yards per punt, but that includes a 16-yarder against the Los Angeles Rams that led to an easy Rams field goal. The Jaguars have covered kicks well, but had gotten very little out of their own return game until Jaydon Mickens returned a punt 63 yards for a score against Cincinnati.-COACHING: B-plus - Doug Marrone has done a solid job with the team in his first full season as head coach. Marrone’s message has stayed consistent all season, placing a special emphasis on solid defensive play, getting off to a fast start and finishing strong. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has done a good job with the play-calling, especially in terms of sticking with a running game that has emerged as the NFL’s best after eight weeks. Defensive coordinator Todd Wash has benefitted from the acquisition of several free-agent additions as well as the improved play of second-year players CB Jalen Ramsey, DE Yannick Ngakoue and LB Myles Jack. Wash’s aggressive style has resulted in a league-leading 35 sacks in eight games. Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis hasn’t been as successful as his counterparts and will need to have a better showing in the second half of the season to guarantee his return in 2017.TENNESSEE TITANS-PASSING OFFENSE: C-minus — Marcus Mariota’s completion percentage is still good at just over 63 percent, but he has only thrown six touchdown passes thus far. His receivers - save for reliable tight end Delanie Walker and receiver Rishard Matthews - have not stepped up as consistently as the Titans had hoped and the play-calling has been pedestrian at times, leading to inconsistency in the passing game.-RUSHING OFFENSE: C — Tennessee still ranks 10th in the NFL in rushing, but seems to be trending downward, having struggled to move the ball on the ground against Cleveland and Baltimore in recent weeks. DeMarco Murray is banged up and has battled a number of injuries, and Marcus Mariota’s mobility has been limited at times with a hamstring issue that seems to finally be over. Derrick Henry probably needs a chance to carry more of the load, and the offensive line has to show more consistency.-PASS DEFENSE: C-plus — The Titans made a concerted effort to upgrade the secondary in the offseason, but their best player there has been safety Kevin Byard, a holdover from a year ago, who has made great strides in year two. He leads the NFL with six interceptions, including five in the past two games. New cornerbacks Logan Ryan and Adoree’ Jackson are getting better. Despite sack numbers being down, the pass defense has righted itself after an embarrassing 57-point fiasco at Houston.-RUSH DEFENSE: A-minus — The Titans are 10th in the league against the run. The run defense was strong last season, and though not quite as good as last year when it was second overall, has been fairly solid - save for the occasional lapse. The play of Wesley Woodyard, who is rejuvenated at age 31, has been the brightest point for the run defense.-SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus — Ryan Succop (21 of 23 field goals) has been about as automatic as can be and deserves a Pro-Bowl berth if he continues at his current pace. The same can be said for punter Brett Kern, who is averaging a career-best 51.5 yards per punt through eight games. The return units have improved with the explosiveness of Adoree’ Jackson. But both the coverage and return units still have too many penalties and mistakes, despite lots of offseason spending there.-COACHING: C-plus — The Titans have underwhelmed at times, but still are 5-3 and tied atop the AFC South. So even if the plays aren’t always being made, the message is apparently getting through. The defense came under fire early, especially after the debacle in Houston. But lately things have improved there. On offense, when the Titans have been able to run the ball, it has been good. But that hasn’t happened often enough. The offensive play-calling has been predictable at times, and also there seems to be a reluctance to speed things up with the no-huddle that was so effective last year.
