Yates vs. Whitehurst for first place in the AFC South? Get ready!
First of all, I see you, Jacksonville Jaguars. You’re 5-8, lurking one game back in the AFC South, waiting to pounce and become one of the strangest division champions we’ve ever seen. So don’t think I’m ignoring you.
But we’re here to talk about two first-place teams. The Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts are squaring off Sunday for first place in the AFC South, and most likely the AFC South championship. Both teams enter this titanic game with sterling 6-7 records. And what better way to sell a division championship game than a quarterback matchup of T.J. Yates vs. Charlie Whitehurst?
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Yep, each team might be down to its third quarterback option by Sunday. We know Brian Hoyer won’t start for the Texans, because he has been ruled out with a concussion. Ryan Mallett got himself cut long ago by sleeping in and missing a team flight. So it will be Yates, who as we know started in a playoff win for the Texans in 2011. He has started one NFL game since. Remember that, folks who claim “quarterback wins” is an accurate statistic.
The Colts have it no better. Andrew Luck has started to practice after being out with a lacerated kidney, but he won’t play this week. And longtime Colts beat writer Mike Chappell said that after talking to Matt Hasselbeck, there’s no guarantee Hasselbeck will be able to start Sunday. Hasselbeck got banged up last week and is having trouble breathing due to a rib injury. Charlie Whitehurst is next up. He has started nine games in 10 seasons and has a 74.5 career passer rating.
So that’s what it has come to. Yates (career rating: 74.4) against either a battered 40-year-old Hasselbeck or a journeyman third-stringer known fondly as “Clipboard Jesus” with first place on the line. What fun.
The NFC East and AFC South have been jockeying for position of “The NFL’s worst division” all season. The NFC East probably gave that “honor” to the AFC South when its top three teams all won last week. But as we sit here with three weeks to go, there are five 6-7 NFL squads that can claim with a straight face to be first-place teams.
Surely we can do better than this, NFL.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
