Rich: How the Houston Texans’ Adding RB David Montgomery Impacts the AFC South

It started as a caller bit and ended with a declaration. After Ed in Charleston, South Carolina walked Rich through the entire Texans schedule and landed on a 13-4 record, Rich did not flinch. "Thirteen and four wins the AFC South. I will say that. Fact."

Ed's path there was its own kind of fun, opening with a repeat of last year's Bills game complete with a nine-sack afternoon, surviving Joe Burrow the following week, and dropping only a handful, including the Ravens and a Christmas Eve trip to the Eagles. Whether you buy 13-4 or not, the conversation underneath it is where Houston gets interesting, and it kept circling back to one move.

The acquisition Rich and the crew kept calling sneaky was David Montgomery. "Professional running back," was the verdict, presumably slotting into the lead back role to give the Texans a real presence in the backfield. They like what Woody Marks brings behind him too, and with the receiver room getting healthy, the missing piece named was Tank Dell. Get him back, the thinking went, and the skill positions are whole again.

Then there is the defense, which the room clearly believes is the engine. The phrase that kept repeating was simple. "It's all on the quarterback." If that group plays lights out, the season comes down to whether C.J. Stroud takes the next step. That ties into the contract question hovering over Houston: do the Texans sign Stroud to an extension before the season, and if they do, the math says he has to make more than Will Anderson. The Texans win total sits at 9.5, a number that looks beatable if the Montgomery addition and the defense both deliver.

The schedule has a wrinkle worth flagging. Houston draws the Jaguars in London at Wembley, which Rich noted is essentially Jacksonville's home away from home. It is rare to ship a division game overseas, but he understood the logic. If you are the Jaguars, you give up the Jacksonville home date and make the Texans travel to a building that has become yours. Jacksonville also has a game in Tottenham the week before, all part of figuring out what year two of Liam Cohen looks like.

The bigger takeaway, the one Rich kept landing on, is that the AFC South is sneaky good again. Maybe the Colts do not fall off the edge of the NFL planet this time. Either way, with Montgomery in the backfield and that defense behind Stroud, Houston has positioned itself to be the team to beat. Can't wait for it.