NFL: Report Card Grades For The AFC South For Week 5

The fifth week of the NFL season is in the books. It’s time to look at each team in the AFC South and grade their offense, defense, and coaching, and give out final grades on the latest games.

Indianapolis Colts Offense: A+

The offense led an attack that scored 40+ points for the second time in three games. Prior to this season, the Colts hadn’t scored 40+ points in a game since November of 2021, when they did it twice in three games at that time as well. Back in those two games in 2021, a former top-10 pick, Carson Wentz, was the quarterback, and Jonathan Taylor rushed for six touchdowns in those games. Now, another former top-10 pick, Daniel Jones, is leading the attack, and Jonathan Taylor has rushed for six touchdowns in the two 40+ point games.  

Indianapolis Colts Defense: A+

The Colts held the Raiders without a touchdown, with four different players recording a sack, and six different players having a pass defensed, including Laiatu Latu with his second interception of the season. Indy held Las Vegas to an impressive 0 for 4 in the red zone in this game. Tyquan Lewis recorded his third sack in the last three games. Lewis is in his eighth NFL season, and his three sacks this year are only one off from his season-high of 4 set in 2020 and 2023.

Indianapolis Colts Coaching: B+

Really, the only thing to get on the coaching about is the penalties. Indianapolis has had 9+ penalties in three of the last four games, including two of those games in which they had 11 penalties. The penalties don’t hurt much when you’re blowing out teams, but against the best competition, they’ll cost this Colts team. In Week 2, they had 11 penalties against the Denver Broncos and barely pulled out a 1-point win. They lost Week 4 to the Los Angeles Rams when they had 11 penalties. The coaches will need to have a more disciplined team when they face a tough run over the last seven games of the season.

Indianapolis Colts Overall: A

This team is blowing out the teams they’re supposed to and are in games with a chance to win against the good teams. Their only loss is to an NFC team (Rams), which gives them the tiebreaker over the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars for the top team in the AFC after five weeks of NFL action.

Jacksonville Jaguars Offense: A-

Trevor Lawrence completed a season-high 72% of his passes, rushed for two touchdowns for the fourth time in his career, and put up the second-most rushing yards (54) in his career. Lawrence’s top two receiving options, Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter, each had their most receiving yards in a game this year, were efficient, and showed up with key plays. Lawrence and the Jaguars’ offense had their best performance on the season in the red zone (75%) and on third downs (55.6%). Lawrence’s two turnovers (fumble at the goal line and an interception) keep this performance from being a top graded effort. 

Jacksonville Jaguars Defense: B

The Jaguars defense didn’t record any sacks and had one TFL. They gave up almost 500 yards of offense to the Kansas City Chiefs, including 300+ through the air and 150+ on the ground. Their saving grace was Devin Lloyd continuing to play like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate with his NFL-leading fourth interception, which he returned 99 yards for a touchdown. 

Jacksonville Jaguars Coaching: A+

The coaches continue to set their players up to play to their strengths. In a game with the smallest margin of error, they lost a key piece of their offense when Brenton Strange left injured, but responded by getting the most out of their top receivers. Lloyd is playing the best football of his career, and it’s allowing the team to be in every game. The Jaguars had averaged almost 10 penalties a game over their first four games, and on Monday Night Football against the Chiefs, they had their lowest amount of penalties on the season, with just four for 25 yards.

Jacksonville Jaguars Overall: A-

This was a hard-fought win against a talented team and an opposing quarterback who’s in the conversation for one of the best that have ever played the game. In a big Monday Night Football game, the team showed up, went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs, had a key pick-six on Mahomes, and a game-winning drive from their franchise quarterback. 

Houston Texans Offense: A+

C.J. Stroud had his best game of the season, in which his four touchdown passes matched the amount of incompletions he had in the game, giving him a new career-high in completion percentage for a game at 85.2%. The offensive line played well, the running game went for 167 yards, and the team didn’t have any turnovers.

Houston Texans Defense: A+

The Texans have the top-scoring defense in the NFL, holding opposing offenses to just 12.2 points per game in 2025. The next closest team is the Denver Broncos at 16.8. It’s a dominant defense that was just missing the turnovers that they created at ease in 2024, but that too has come on with Houston picking off the Baltimore Ravens three times in this game, led by Jalen Pitre’s two interceptions. The Texans now have five interceptions in their last three games.

Houston Texans Coaching: A+

This was the first time that the Texans didn’t have at least six penalties in a game in 2025. Their four penalties were only for 26 yards. After early-season struggles, the coaches have made changes, fixing issues with the offensive line, making Stroud comfortable, and getting the running game going. They’re firing on all cylinders as they head into their bye week.

Houston Texans Overall: A+

The offense, defense, and special teams have been in one accord over the last couple of games. They continue to get better, figure themselves out, and gel as a team. They’re hitting their stride and now get a week off to rest and recalibrate for the long run after the bye.  

Tennessee Titans Offense: C+

I may be grading on a curve here, based on how the unit has performed so far this season. The Titans continue to show growth as an offense, with Cam Ward taking fewer sacks and passing for more yards. Tony Pollard continues to play well as he has had his fourth game this season with 60+ rushing yards and, for the third time in the last four games, has averaged 4.6+ yards per carry. The biggest change in Week 5 was Tennessee finally getting good production out of Calvin Ridley, with him catching five of 10 targets for 131 yards after previously only catching 10 of 24 targets for a total of 141 receiving yards over his first four games. 

Tennessee Titans Defense: D+

The defense did shut out the Arizona Cardinals in the second half, but opposing quarterbacks have now completed at least 70% of their passes in the last four games. Despite Arizona being without their top-two running back,s the Titans still gave up a 71-yard rush and 168 yards total on the ground, along with three rushing touchdowns. Jeffery Simmons continues to be the lone bright spot as he contributed eight tackles and 1.5 sacks. 

Tennessee Titans Coaching: C

The team went on the road, and as ugly and unique a win as it was, it was still a win and signals that the team hasn’t quit on the coaching staff. Ward is still progressing, Pollard is playing well, Ridley is starting to come on, and the team found a way to shut out the Cardinals in the second half after being down by as much as 21-3. This is a game that Tennessee can grow off of.

Tennessee Titans Overall: C-

It was a good win for a team that has been down as low as the Titans have been this season, but the win had more to do with the Cardinals shooting themselves in the foot than with Tennessee developing into a complete team. It’s a stepping stone that the team could build off of with a winnable game against the Las Vegas Raiders next up on the schedule.