NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Houston Texans have a chance to win a third straight AFC South title this season with quarterback C.J. Stroud and coach DeMeco Ryans.
The challenge?
Nobody has won three straight titles since Peyton Manning was in his prime with the Indianapolis Colts in this division's early years. The Tennessee Titans most recently came the closest only to come up short in 2022.
“I’m not really sure like what the next step is,” Houston general manager Nick Caserio said. “I mean we have a good football team, so we’ve been one of the best eight teams in the league the last two years. So what’s going to happen beyond that nobody has any idea.”
The Texans have advanced to two straight divisional rounds each of the past two postseasons, losing both with the most recent to Kansas City 23-14 in January. Caserio made a variety of moves to help Stroud, and coach DeMeco Ryans switched offensive coordinators as well.
Houston tight end Dalton Schultz said they just have to do one thing to get past the divisional round.
“It’s never the same as the year before, and there’s always some little wrinkle that is going to hit the league or hit your team,” Schultz said.
Houston went 10-7 in 2024 with the Colts at 8-9 with everyone working furiously to catch up — or else.
Indianapolis switched starting quarterbacks. Jacksonville hired a new coach and general manager before trading up to draft Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Tennessee has No. 1 draft pick overall in Cam Ward starting at quarterback after firing and hiring a new general manager.
“This league is a year-to-year league and what do I feel is best for the Colts in 2025," Colts coach Shane Steichen said.
Houston has to protect Stroud better. Only Chicago's Caleb Williams was sacked more than the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. With the pounding, Stroud's production dipped as he was sacked 52 times with his interceptions more than doubling to 12 from his rookie season.
Stroud still threw for 3,727 yards and 20 touchdowns. Ryans fired Bobby Slowik and hired Nick Caley as offensive coordinator.
“He comes from a different style than I’m used to, at least in the NFL,” Stroud said of Caley. “So, it’s cool just to learn something new and put another tool in my toolbox.”
Caserio traded five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to Washington during the offseason to clear space to sign younger players. The Texans are expected to start a rookie at left tackle in second-round pick Aireontae Ersery with Tytus Howard at right tackle where he started 16 games last season.
Houston also acquired Christian Kirk, signed Justin Watson and drafted a pair of receivers out of Iowa State to provide depth behind Nico Collins after letting Stefon Diggs leave in free agency. Caserio also sent wide receiver John Metchie to Philadelphia for tight end Harrison Bryant on Aug. 17.
Indianapolis has missed the playoffs the past four seasons, and a fifth straight could cost Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard their jobs with the late Jim Irsay's daughters now running the franchise.
Going with Daniel Jones means the franchise who went two decades with Manning and Andrew Luck at quarterback will have yet another starter on opening day. Since 2017, only Anthony Richardson has started back-to-back season openers.
Yet the fourth overall pick in 2023 couldn't stay healthy or help Jonathan Taylor nearly enough. Taylor ran for 1,431 yards and 11 TDs as Richardson completed just 47.7% of his throws, the lowest rate of any regular starter in the NFL.
Steichen said Richardson, 23, was thrown into the fire. The Colts coach isn't ready to talk about Jones' future.
“Let's see how the season goes,” Steichen said.
The biggest makeover came in Jacksonville, firing a Super Bowl-winning coach in Doug Pederson and GM Trent Baalke. The Jaguars hired Liam Coen as coach and James Gladstone, 34, as their new GM.
The Jaguars are trying to fix a team that went 3-10 in one-score games in 2024 with the franchise losers of 18 of its past 23.
In his first head coaching job, Coen, 39, has a pair of first-timers in offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile. As coordinator in Tampa Bay, Coen became the first NFL coordinator in at least 25 years to help a team average more than 28 points a game.
He has Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, who was limited by injuries to 10 games in 2024. Wide receiver Brian Thomas now can get help from Hunter, even if the rookie will also play some defense.
Brian Callahan also was a first-time head coach a year ago with the Titans. He brought in a former NFL head coach in Mike McCoy this offseason among a handful of other changes to apply his lessons learned.
Mike Borgonzi was hired as GM when Ran Carthon's big offseason spending spree didn't pan out. The Titans have embraced their rebuild even if they added veteran receivers Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson along with left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and right guard Kevin Zeitler.
Houston, Indianapolis, Tennessee, Jacksonville.
AP Sports Writers Kristie Rieken and Michael Marot and AP Pro Football Writer Mark Long contributed to this report.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen walks on the field to check on an injured player in the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) hands off to Jonathan Taylor (28) during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Houston Texans owner Cal McNair greets quarterback C.J. Stroud after an NFL preseason football game against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
NEW YORK (AP) — It's only two weeks into the new year, and President Donald Trump has already claimed control of Venezuela, escalated threats to seize Greenland and flooded American streets with masked immigration agents.
And that's not even counting an unprecedented criminal investigation at the Federal Reserve, a cornerstone of the national economy that Trump wants to bend to his will.
Even for a president who thrives on chaos, Trump is generating a stunning level of turmoil as voters prepare to deliver their verdict on his leadership in the upcoming midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Each decision carries tremendous risks, from the possibility of an overseas quagmire to undermining the country's financial system, but Trump has barreled forward with a ferocity that has rattled even some of his Republican allies.
“The presidency has gone rogue,” said historian Joanne B. Freeman, a Yale University professor. She said it's something "we haven’t seen in this way before.”
Trump seems undeterred by the potential blowback. Although he doesn't always follow through, he seems intent on doubling and tripling down whenever possible.
“Right now I’m feeling pretty good," Trump said Tuesday in Detroit. His speech was ostensibly arranged to refocus attention on the economy, which the president claimed is surging despite lingering concerns about higher prices.
However, he couldn't resist lashing out at Jerome Powell, who leads the Federal Reserve and has resisted Trump's pressure to lower interest rates.
"That jerk will be gone soon,” Trump said.
Republican leaders have overwhelmingly rallied behind Trump throughout his turbulent second term. But new cracks began to appear this week immediately after Powell disclosed on Sunday that the Federal Reserve was facing a criminal investigation over his testimony about the central bank's building renovations.
Over the last year, the Justice Department has already pursued criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, among other Trump adversaries.
But going after Powell, who helps set the nation's monetary policy, appeared to be a step too far for some conservatives. Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, a fierce Trump defender, was unusually critical.
“It just feels like most on Wall Street do not want to see this kind of fight,” she said during her Monday show. “The president has very good points, certainly. But Wall Street doesn’t want to see this kind of investigation.”
The Federal Reserve plays a key role in the economy by calibrating interest rates, which Trump insists should be lower. However, reducing the institution's independence could backfire and cause borrowing costs to increase instead.
At the same time, Trump has decided to expand the United States' role in complicated foreign entanglements — a seeming departure from the “America First” foreign policy that he promised on the campaign trail.
No move was more significant than the U.S. military operation earlier this month to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from his country. In the months leading up to the attack, Trump frequently insisted he was targeting Maduro because of his role in the drug trade. He has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as an economic opportunity for the U.S.
Trump has said the U.S. will start controlling the sale of some Venezuelan oil, and he declared that the South American nation will be run from Washington. He even posted a meme declaring himself the “acting president of Venezuela.”
Trump has also threatened the leadership of Cuba and Iran, while insisting that the U.S. will control Greenland “ one way or the other ” — a position that has raised questions about U.S. relations with European allies. Greenland belongs to Denmark, a NATO member.
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday morning. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, Trump's immigration crackdown continues to spark confrontations in American cities. Some have turned deadly, such as when a federal agent shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three in Minneapolis.
Administration officials have said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer acted in self-defense, accusing Good of trying to hit him with her car. But that explanation has been widely disputed by local officials and others based on videos circulating online.
The incident came after Trump dispatched 2,000 immigration agents to Minnesota, responding to reports of fraud involving the state's Somali community.
On Tuesday, Trump said the administration was targeting “thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners, dangerous people from foreign mental institutions and insane asylums, and other deadly criminals too dangerous to even mention.”
The Trump administration's moves have created “chaos, confusion and uncertainty,” said Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who leads the Democratic Mayors Association.
“There’s so much uncertainty across my city right now. The ICE raids in Minneapolis have really shocked the consciousness of many of my residents, and we’re trying to do everything we can to calm that concerns and quell those fears," Bibb said. “But people don’t feel like the world is getting better. People don’t feel like the economy is getting better.”
Voters across the nation will have their next chance to weigh in on Trump's leadership at the ballot box this November, when Republicans hope to retain control of Congress for the last two years of his presidency.
Democratic campaign officials in Washington are focused largely on the economy in their early political messaging. Most voters maintain a decidedly negative view on the issue, despite Trump's rosy assessment this week.
Just 37% of U.S. adults approved of how the president is handling the economy, according to a January poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. His economic approval, which was previously a strength, has been low throughout his second term.
“Donald Trump’s visit to Michigan puts a glaring, unflattering spotlight on how he and House Republicans have failed to address the affordability crisis," said Rep. Suzan DelBene, who leads the Democrats' House campaign arm.
But some activists are frustrated that their party's leadership isn't focusing more on Trump's unprecedented power grabs.
Ezra Levin, co-founder of the leading progressive protest group Indivisible, said he expects Trump's actions to get worse as his second and final term nears its conclusion.
“Folks at the end of last year who thought he would become a typical lame duck and limp toward a midterm loss have a framework for understanding this moment that is drastically outdated,” Levin said. “Authoritarians don’t willingly give up power. When weakened and cornered they lash out.”
Trump has repeatedly insisted he's only doing what voters elected him to do, and his allies in Washington remain overwhelmingly united behind him.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels predicted that voters will reward the party this year.
“Voters elected President Trump to put American lives first — and that’s exactly what he’s doing," she said. "President Trump is making our country safer, and the American people will remember it in November.”
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
