In 1999, the Titans, Jaguars and Colts were in the AFC's final four of the playoffs. Not only that, all three were also among the six youngest teams in the conference.

	Tony Dungy is looking for ways to get more out of Indy's defense.

Fate and frustration have brought them together this fall under one division, the AFC South. How the mighty have fallen. In two years, the Titans dropped from the Super Bowl to 7-9 mediocrity. The Colts and Jaguars plummeted to 6-10 disappointments.

"The AFC South is a division with teams on the rebound," Titans general manager Floyd Reese said. "Two years ago, Indianapolis was one of the best, Jacksonville played us in the championship game and we were a pretty decent team. We all struggled last year. This year, we are all trying to come back to power."

Throw in perhaps the best conceived expansion team in league history, and it's easy to predict that the South should rise in its first year as an AFC division. It's a division that features four highly rated quarterbacks -- Steve McNair, Mark Brunell, Peyton Manning and Houston Texans rookie David Carr. It's a division loaded with winning coaches -- Jeff Fisher, Tom Coughlin, new Colts coach Tony Dungy and Dom Capers, each good enough to have taken franchises to conference championship games.

If that isn't enough, the AFC South is loaded with rivalries. The Titans and Jaguars have been feuding since 1999 when the Titans danced on the Alltel Stadium grass after whipping the Jaguars in the AFC title game. That memory will linger as long as Coughlin is the Jaguars' coach and some of the players remain.

Houston fans have a natural hatred for the Titans since owner Bud Adams moved their Oilers to Nashville. Jaguars fans, meanwhile, wonder if the heart of their team is now in Houston. The key to the Jaguars' season is whether the $16 million savings from losing left tackle Tony Boselli and defensive tackles Gary Walker and Seth Payne in the expansion draft rescued the team from salary-cap hell.

"Jacksonville will always be a good franchise because of the coaching style of Tom Coughlin," Colts general manager Bill Polian said. "He runs the ball well. He has a good defense, a good kicking game and good, sound fundamental football."

But the drain of two years of cap problems leave the Jaguars only a shell of the team that they were in 1999. They've spent only around $1 million of signing bonus money to lure free-agent replacements such as guard Chris Naeole, defensive tackles Stalin Colinet and Tim Morabito, wide receivers Patrick Johnson and Bobby Shaw, tight end Pete Mitchell and fullback Detron Smith.

On Saturday, the Jaguars' talent base will be even further drained by the releases of wide receiver Keenan McCardell and linebacker Hardy Nickerson in order to free up money to sign draft choices.

"Clearly, I think Tennessee will be held in most places as the division favorite," Polian said. "If they can hit on Albert Haynesworth to go with Kevin Carter and Jevon Kearse, they will have an exceptional, blue-chip defensive line. Eddie George is a major plus. So is Steve McNair."

It can be argued that the Colts and Titans are the two AFC teams that have reloaded well enough to be considered among the AFC elite. Injuries pulled down the Titans last season. For George, it was a bad toe injury. For McNair, the injuries were multiple. The secondary was destroyed by injuries.

But Haynesworth's development might be the key to the Titans' season. If he does well, the Titans will have the Colts to thank. The Colts passed on Haynesworth in the first round to grab the pass-rusher the team has been missing for years -- defensive end Dwight Freeney from Syracuse. Though finding interior tackle help was a priority, the Colts made a calculated move and believe they succeeded. In the second round, they chose defensive tackle Larry Tripplett from Washington.

"We think Larry is the most talented big person we've added to this team in some time, and we say that knowing that Josh Williams is a good one," Polian said. "How quickly we adapt to Tony Dungy's new system will determine how we do. We'll need David Macklin and Walt Harris to see them do well at cornerback."

	“	Talking about (the Texans) as an expansion team is a misnomer. They got at least eight starters from the expansion draft. Name me any team in free agency that can get eight starters in a given year. ”
		— Bill Polian, Colts GM

There is a mutual respect between the Titans and Colts. For one, the Colts will always receive a favorable response in Nashville because former Tennessee star Peyton Manning is the quarterback. Polian and Titans coach Jeff Fisher are members of the league's competition committee and spend a portion of their winter together working on rule changes.

Because the Colts have consistently ranked among the top five offenses since Manning's arrival, everyone knows the team was just a defense away from a Super Bowl. The problem is that most of the Colts' cap is tied up on offense, so Dungy was hired to make the best out of the leftover resources to build a championship defense.

While the Titans are the division favorites, the Colts considered a close second and the Jaguars thought to be rebuilding, everyone in the division can't stop talking about the Texans.

"Houston is the best expansion club in the history of the league," Reese said.

"Talking about them as an expansion team is a misnomer," Polian said. "They got at least eight starters from the expansion draft. Name me any team in free agency that can get eight starters in a given year."

Polian should know because he worked with Texans coach Dom Capers in building the Carolina Panthers into an NFC championship team in two seasons. On paper, the Texans have enough talent to be considered a team that could win six or seven games.

Still, putting everything together in one season makes winning tough, and trying to do it with a rookie quarterback makes it tougher. It puts the Texans into an interesting debate.

Should they make a move on Lions quarterback Charlie Batch and try to go for an eight-win season this year while they develop Carr for the future? Had they signed Trent Dilfer in March, the eight-win scenario might not have been out of the question.

Rookie quarterbacks usually lose, and in the long run, that's not a bad thing for a first-year expansion team. At stake is a package of seven draft choices available to the Texans if they don't make the playoffs.

What the teams in the AFC South realize is that the Texans can't be taken lightly. They've drafted well and reaped riches from the expansion draft.

Of course, when you are as humbled as the three young elite teams from 1999, you can't take anything for granted. The Colts, Titans and Jaguars have all learned that being young and good doesn't come with any long-term guarantees.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.