JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As far as bye week Sundays go, this one could not have gone much better for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jaguars had some clear games they needed to see go their way in Week 7 as they enjoyed their bye week after a 4-2 start, and that is exactly what they got. Of course, they got some welcomed help from their AFC South rivals in the process.

Week 7 Boosts Jaguars

The AFC South went 0-3 during the early afternoon slate of games on Sunday, with the Houston Texans losing at home in overtime to the New York Giants, the Tennessee Titans losing on a walk-off field goal against the Cleveland Browns, and the Indianpolis Colts losing yet another game, this time against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Jaguars were always going to remain in firm control of first-place in the AFC South regardless of Sunday's results, but their position was made even stronger by the fact that every single other team dropping their Week 7 game. As a result, the Jaguars gained a bit of a cushion against the rest of their rivals, with the space between them and the Texans as the highlight.

The Jaguars will get another chance to take a big step in the AFC South over the next few weeks, starting with Week 8's game against the Indianapolis Colts. With the Colts now at 2-5 and offseveral brutal losses, it certainly stands to reason the Colts could shop some of their key veterans and look very different a week from now as their season continues to slip out of control.

The Colts are already a cursed team when it comes to playing games in Jacksonville, but they could reasonably trade any of Jonathan Taylor, Quenton Nelson, or DeForest Buckner over the next week as they prepare for next year's rebuild. If the Colts are without any of those players, a scenario that was made more possible by Sunday's loss, then they are an even easier target for the Jaguars to hit next week.

As for the Texans, they are on a bye next week. This means a Jaguars win over the Colts in Week 8 would bring the Jaguars back to being three games ahead of Houston in the AFC South, which was the exact spot the Jaguars were in before they lost to Houston in Week 6. Few teams start 2-5 and win their divison. Even if the Texans are still far from done, they took a big hit this week.

The Jaguars play three AFC South games in their next five weeks, with next week's game against the Colts and then two games against the lowly Titans in the next four games after that. In part due to today's results, the Jaguars can make things look very, very good for their playoff chances by December.

Outside of this week's news about left tackle Anton Harrison being ruled out for the rest of the season, the bye week went about as good as the Jaguars could have hoped. Consider this a winning weekend for Duval and Liam Coen's squad.