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We are exactly one week from kickoff of the AFC South.

While a few of these won’t fire up until after we’ve seen Week 1, I wanted to give you a sense of the weekly staples you can expect out of me through the regular season.

Mondays

"What I Think They Are Thinking" -- I get inside the heads of the people running the show inside the four team headquarters, exposing their real thoughts.

Tuesdays

"Decisive Moment" -- A closer look at a key play from the AFC South’s games.

"High Energy Player of the Week" -- Highlighting a player who did a little something extra, and perhaps received less notice, from AFC South games.

"On the Air" -- A look at the television broadcast teams for the next set of AFC South games.

Power Rankings -- An AFC South slanted take on the new edition of ESPN.com’s power rankings.

Thursdays

AFC South column -- Our biggest post of the week, where we take an in-depth look at someone or something.

AFC South Chat -- An hour of quality banter that kicks off at 2 CT, 3 ET.

Fridays

"My Primary Complaint" -- My weekly vlog contemplating something that makes me unhappy. (I have a few days still, if another concept jumps up, this could still change.)

The Dreaded Coin Flip -- A check in on the AFC South Blog Pigskin Pick'em pool, where we’re all battling a coin flip.

"Final Word" -- A last look at key topics for the weekend ahead.

Saturdays

AFC South Mailbag -- The more you send here, the more I can fill these up.

Sundays

Entries before, during and after my game of the week, including a “Rapid Reaction” and a column.

"Wrap-Up" -- Observations from the games I am not attending.

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Those, of course, are just the sign posts. They'll be constantly surrounded by deep thoughts, reaction and analysis ranging from stinging criticism to resounding applause. Plus anything else I come up with.

You can always help by hitting that mailbag I mentioned above.

Adam in Cookeville, Tenn., writes: Why does the NFL have two cut-down dates? The first one, tomorrow seems pointless. It will be five players that no one has heard of. Camp legs and arms I think the coach calls them. Seems teams should be able to keep all of them through the last preseason game. I wonder how an 18-game season will affect this?

Paul Kuharsky: The first cut down used to be much bigger. Now Tuesday’s cut is just from 80 to 75. I think the league still wants there to be some action and decisions made, and if teams could stay at 80 you’d probably see most of them hold an additional five guys out to ensure they don’t get hurt and therefore don’t cost them any additional money.

But it’s a largely a non-event. Then Saturday’s cut to 53 is big.

When they add two games to the season, the rosters will be bigger. With two fewer games and more guys around for the long haul, teams won’t be as in need of extra players for the preseason.

John Clayton gives you the latest news from each team in the AFC South .

Posted by ESPN.com Staff


Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston reports in his blog that the Tennesee Titans and their coach, Jeff Fisher, where embarrassed by Sunday's 59-0 loss to New England.

"Career-wise, I have never been through anything like this before," said Fisher, who is the longest tenured NFL head coach with the same team (15 years). "I am very disappointed obviously and embarrassed to say the least. We played a very good football team, but that wasn't us out there."

Posted by ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky

Please forgive the absence of a "Reading the Coverage" entry this morning.

While there was no sizzling I could hear or smoke I could smell, the main computer at the AFC South blog headquarters suffered a hard drive meltdown.

It will slow us down some, but while a tight end chipping us makes our pass rushing more difficult, we still intend to find ways to get to the quarterback. (And Friday afternoon we will be acting as our own IT guy, hopefully installing a new drive.)

You’ll see a big Andre Johnson piece Thursday afternoon and the chat should go on as scheduled at 3 p.m. ET.

Thank you for bearing with us at this difficult time.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

DJ in St. Paul, Minn. writes: Seriously? AP and Chris Johnson are not in the same league and the Titan did not dismantle the Vikings. Despite 4 turnovers, numerous bone-head calls and all the penalties the Vikings still could have won the game at the end. You are an idiot.

Paul Kuharsky: I pretty much said they aren't the same and that the Titans didn't need Johnson to be Peterson.

Newsflash, if you claim to be a team with dominant lines and get pushed around on both side of the ball and you lose by 13 and never have any control over the game, it's a dismantling. Any game you can say if this, that and this didn't happen, my team would have won.

The Vikings got handled this time. Not really my opinion. A fact.

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Nicholas Giannino from parts unknown writes: HOw is Marshawn Lynch so Tragically overlooked? No disrespect to Chris Johnson but if you had to choose would you honestly take him over Lynch?

Paul Kuharsky: People are so eager to claim their team or player is overlooked, I just don't understand it. I sure don't think tragic is the correct word.

The Bills are legit. Lynch is great.

I was covering Vikings at Titans. Don't know that people were looking for me to write about a Bill playing in St. Louis.

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Josh in Dallas writes: Paul- It sure is amusing to me that no one mentions Kerry Collins' numbers, or lack thereof. Those numbers, 18-35 for 199, NO TOUCHDOWNS, and a 68.6 rating fall pretty well along with what Vince was doing when everyone said he wasn't progressing. I think your point on Vince being disinterested is valid, though I do believe you, like the rest of the media, like to make a mountain out of a mole-hill. What I don't get is why there was so much attention placed on the lack of progression and there is so little attention placed on the lack of numbers. You can say with this defense the QB only has to "manage" a game, I can say a 68.6 rating is less than managing, especially when you are barely completing 50% of your passes. Again, I do agree that VY is going to have to make a change in his attitude and stance on his own expectations, but I am baffled why no one harps on Collins when this was clearly a defensive win and not a result of his "Management Skills"...one last thing, Chris Johnson might be a good running back in the NFL, but he will NEVER be what Adrian Peterson is.

Paul Kuharsky: I think everyone has made it clear Collins is only being asked to manage the game most of the time. And his team is 4-0. He and Vince can't be compared the same way -- Vince is at the beginning and is expected to show improvement, dramatic improvement in year three; Kerry is an old guy who is what he is.

You talk about lack of numbers and you're right to focus on that. Here's the most significant number Collins is lacking in the context of this team: interceptions. He's thrown one.

I never said Johnson would be Peterson. In fact I said he doesn't need to be.

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Grant from Dickson writes: When you compare records, defenses, and wins against the same opponent and some would say a very good Jaguars team, why would you still vote the Giants HIGHER than the Titans? It doesn't make sense

Paul Kuharsky: Because I believe they have better talent and far better experience ... If they played on a neutral field Sunday, I'd pick the Giants. One man's opinion.

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JL from Hoboken, NJ writes: I haven't had the chance to look at other 7th rounds but would you say the 2006 draft has been the best 7th round thus far, producing 2 stars (Finnegan and Colston)? What is it that scouts miss about these players? Although they played at small schools, you still see guys out of unheralded programs get drafted high (i.e. Rodgers-Cromartie, Flacco, McKelvin) so I wouldn't think that would be it

Paul Kuharsky: So much of it is a crap shoot. Even teams that hit home runs kind of missed -- If you thought Colston or Finnegan were going to be this good, you'd probably have drafted them higher, some GMs will say. I say if you value him high but know the rest of the league doesn't and can get him in the seventh, that's great work.

Congrats to the Titans on Finnegan. But imagine if they'd also hit on the first-round picks they used for Andre Woolfolk, Pacman Jones and maybe VY.

Small schools stopped being a surprise a long time ago. The Colts shop off the beaten path a lot, and they are hardly alone.

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Mike in NOLA writes: Hey Paul. Enjoyed the dialogue on your chat. I think the bottom line is that reports about sports figures that don't involve sports are not sports news. It may be a human interest story but its not sports news. When i tune into ESPN, i want to read/hear about sports, not some BS happening outside of sports. Whether it involves a sports figure or not is irrelevant to me. Its like saying Donald Trump getting busted with a hooker is financial news.

Paul Kuharsky: If a guy is getting a divorce or dealing with some personal issue, absolutely it's private. Until it has a direct impact on his performance. At that point it becomes relevant to the team and to those who follow it. If you're paying a lot of money to watch a franchise that's paying him a lot of money to play and he's playing poorly because of something, that something is newsworthy.

The Trump example isn't a good one. Because if it's an NFL player who gets suspended under the personal conduct policy the whole team feels it. His decision-making is then up for debate, no?

The beauty of it, however, is you can skip the clicks on the subject matter that you don't care for or flip to a different channel for a bit.

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Arthur artjuarez from part unknown writes: I dont know if you remember, but this is exactly what I wrote you about, what a great move, letting Slaton have a chance, and him capitalizing on his opportunity. We will release Green this offseason, HOPEFULLY sooner. Have a good day Paul.

Paul Kuharsky: Slaton is doing very well and I am looking forward to watching him in person tomorrow.

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JP from LR, ARK writes: My question is, "How is giving up a late first rounder for a Pro Bowl WR extreme?" Really? Extreme? Come on you mean to tell me you'd rather roll the dice than pick up a known commodity who will produce. Anq Boldin and Roy Williams are higher risks than gambling on a pick in the first round. I'm OK if they don't trade for a WR, but I come up with a better excuse. I like Michael Griffin, but I'd trade him straight up for one of two WR's mentioned above..much less for a 1st round pick that you aren't sure will pan out!

Paul Kuharsky writes: Good stuff.

If I am the Titans, I'd trade
my 2009 first if I could negotiate something new with Roy Williams. (It sounds like he's off the market by the way, I don't want to add any life to the idea this could actually pan out.)

I'm not painting it as extreme. I'm merely showing you that they consider such a thing extreme. Mike Reinfeldt called such a midseason deal an "ordeal." Does that sound like a guy who's eager to make the move?

And they Titans are hardly alone. Most teams consider first-round picks more valuable than players, sometimes to an unreasonable extent.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

Words that players and fans seem to love from a sportswriter, and claim they never hear: I was wrong.

When I signed on for a preseason piece on why the AFC South would be the best division in football, I wasn't hell bent on the idea and thought the case for the NFC East was as compelling.

Just three games in, I don't feel like it's too early to say I was wrong since the top of the power rankings ballot I submitted last night read like this:

1. Dallas
2. NY Giants
3. Philadelphia

I grew up in Central Jersey tracking that division, and while it's early, it sure seems as if that group is on course for a spectacular showing. A chance to play the meek NFC West and the not-so-deep AFC North will certainly help the records of the Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Redskins. (Though the AFC South doesn't have it too tough either with AFC North and NFC North).

Paul Kuharsky's AFC South ballot Team Last Week This Week Indianapolis 6 12 Tennessee 9 6 Jacksonville 14 11 Houston 22 23

The drop for Indianapolis may be a little big, but once the Colts got close to the Jaguars, I had to get Jacksonville ahead of them based on Sunday's result.

As always, if you're into these numbers I recommend Mike Sando's detailed breakdown of how we arrived at them.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

Join me this afternoon to discuss all things AFC South.

We'll be under way at 3 p.m.

Just head here.

In Thursday's Football Today podcast, Jeremy Green reacts to the Brett Favre trade to the Jets with Keith Kidd, KC Joyner and the Jets Super Fan. Plus, Paul Kuharsky discusses the AFC South.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

Young

Vince Young is spending some time this week pitching his new Reebok line of VY Electrify shoes and I spoke with him for a bit this afternoon.

(Here's the commercial and some stuff from behind the scenes, a little heavy on the hype, but we learn he was a Dolphin as a kid.)

Two things that might have turned into traditions for him didn't or won't happen this year.

While he invited receivers to Houston for some work after OTAs were done, everyone but Biren Ealy had 4th of July plans and so the gathering didn't happen. And he said there won't be a second version of the letter of thanks and encouragement he left in every player's locker at the start of camp in 2007, though he plans on addressing the team early on once he sorts it out with Jeff Fisher.

Here's most of the rest of our chat:

PK: You've got Reebok, Spaulding, Powerade and you were on the cover of Madden last year -- how's life as a pitchman?

VY: It's going good, my dream coming true, a lot of great partnerships. Reebok is doing a lot of great things with the VY Electrify that's out right now. It's pretty much a dream come true. It's a pretty cool deal to do.

PK: The offseason had included so much talk about your footwork. How different will things be for you at the first practice of camp on Friday compared to last year?

VY: It's going to be great. First, I'm more relaxed. I know what to expect going into camp now, it's my third year so I am more comfortable, I know what's going on around me, so I can concentrate more on the game and what I need to do to get myself better and better. Working with Coach (Mike) Heimerdinger and Craig (Johnson), they've done a great job of getting my footwork to come with my arm when I am throwing the ball down the field.

PK: Can you name one thing you want to improve on during camp?

VY: One thing? I can't really say just one. I just want overall my game to continue to keep (progressing) like it is. From the things that are being taught to me now are going to help me out a while lot, getting the ball out of my hands a little bit quicker. Coach Heimerdinger has done a great job behind the scenes with a lot of film work, a lot of board work, so I can understand different things about what defenses are trying to do to me. That part, bringing that with the talent I have I really feel like I am going to do a good job this year.

The whole team, we had a great offseason. Individually, what I started working out in February, getting my core back stronger and back right and getting more in shape a little bit quicker, I really feel like with that along with a new offensive scheme and us being more aggressive, wanting to get in the end zone more, the good things about it, when you have a whole offense that buys into it, that means we're definitely going to have a good season. On the offensive side of the ball we're on the same page.

PK: Do you expect the offense will spread things out more often this year considering it's been a strength for you and is a good fit for speedy first-round running back Chris Johnson?

VY: It's just bringing another X factor to the game that a lot of people are going to have to take a lot of concentration off me and when he steps into the game put more on him. And then we've got LenDale White and (Alge) Crumpler coming in. We've got a lot of guys who can make a lot of plays for us on and with the offensive scheme Coach Heimerdinger has, very aggressive, likes to go downfield, they're going to have to pay attention to all of us and him spreading things out is going to be real great for our offense this year.

PK: How much better does the TD-to-interception ratio need to be after nine and seventeen last year?

VY: I definitely want my interceptions down and more touchdowns. But at the same time as long as we keep putting up Ws on the scoreboard, that's all that matters to me.
---

I'll be interested to see how Young reacts to the first bit of adversity he faces this season. We talked at OTAs about his maturation, and I believe his progress in that department will be a factor in his success along with the new offense, spreading things out and his improved footwork.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

Mike Silver's third annual ratings of NFL owners are out. He started it at SI.com and now builds his tradition at yahoo.com in two installments, 17-32 and 16-1.

The AFC South had mixed results as he tried to answer one question: "If you root for this team, is this the person (or people) you want in charge?"

Here's how the AFC South stacks up.

32. Wayne Weaver, Jacksonville
19. Bud Adams, Tennessee
7. Bob McNair, Houston
6. Jim Irsay, Indianapolis

If you have a reaction, I'm interested and will be checking the comments here.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

As things crank up over the next two weeks, I'll be sorting through everything I can find that's written about anything pertaining to the AFC South, aiming to be your one-stop shop for such links. Below is an installment that covers the last couple days (when I snuck out of town).

I'll also do my best to provide instant analysis, commentary and color about what's going on in the division. Right now, my plan is to visit each AFC South training camp twice and hit six preseason games, starting with the Colts against the Redskins in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 3.

This will work best if we're a two-way street.

Under my silly mug and bio to the right of this, you'll find a link to my mailbag.

I invite you to use it when you see something I should be aware of and anytime you've got a suggestion, comment or complaint. I'll always do my best to answer.

I'm looking forward to interacting with you.

Indianapolis Colts

• The Indianapolis Star's story on Peyton Manning's surgery reminds us how durable he's been. Manning, 32, has started all 160 regular-season games during his 10-year career, the longest streak among active quarterbacks. He has taken every snap in 134 of those 160 games and 9,778 of 10,098 snaps (96.8 percent) overall since being taken with the first pick in the 1998 draft.

Houston Texans

• Steve Campbell says the improving Texans remain too much of a secret and likes the team's chances to win at least eight games again.

• It won't be a surprise if first-round draft pick Duane Brown overtakes Ephraim Salaam as the Texans left tackle, according to Pro Football Weekly.

Jacksonville Jaguars

• Matt Jones' father said while there were drugs in the car when the Jaguars receiver was arrested last week, "he does not claim any responsibility for the drugs."

Tennessee Titans

• It's deadline day for Albert Haynesworth and the Titans. If they don't reach an accord on a long-term deal by 4 p.m., they aren't allowed to negotiate a long-term deal until the end of the regular season. It will be a surprise if a deal for the Titan wearing the franchise tag happens. If it doesn't, the question is when Haynesworth will sign his one-year tender worth $7.25 million and join the team. He'd like some sort of performance incentive that could produce a guarantee he won't get tagged again next season.
• Sports Business Journal reports that NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw and president Kevin Mawae were excluded from a recent meeting, further signaling a rift.