AFC Notes: Calen Bullock, Travis Etienne, Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

Jaguars RB Travis Etienne spoke about what he hopes to see from QB Trevor Lawrence for him to take the next step.

I would say the biggest thing for him is just let his nuts hang, I guess. Just be cocky, stop caring what people think,” Etienne said, via PFT. “Just don’t give a damn, you’re the man. Just go out there, be yourself, make plays, and just play fearlessly with reckless abandon.

Heading into his first unrestricted free agency, Etienne said it “would be crazy” to play elsewhere, and suggested he won’t go anywhere cold. 

“You don’t have to worry about me going to the cold,” Etienne said, via Fox Sports. “I’m probably not supposed to say that.”

Texans

The Texans’ defense held Pittsburgh out of the end zone and scored two touchdowns in a 30-6 win in the Wild Card round. Texans S Calen Bullock was adamant that they have the best defense in the league following his game-sealing pick-six. 

“Shoot, I think everybody knows we are the best defense,” Bullock said, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “The whole world knows that. Every time we go out there we show it and we went out there and showed it today. I don’t even think they scored a touchdown.”

Houston HC DeMeco Ryans was most impressed with their tackling and ability to make stops on third downs. 

“Our guys they were locked in. That’s the thing that I could see. Those guys were locked in,” Ryans said. “The way we tackle was really the key, and can’t say much about this performance without talking about the third downs. Like that was the game. Like we got off the field on third downs defensively. I think they only converted two and then for us offensively we converted ten of 16. So that’s the game right there. That allowed us to stay on the field offensively, and defense was able to get off on thirds, which was very vital to our success.”

Titans

Titans OT JC Latham believes that he’s capable of playing at a high level at right tackle and looks forward to proving it in 2026.

I know I can do anything,” Latham said, via the team’s website. “You are not going to win every rep – this is the NFL. There’s a lot of great talent, so you might lose a rep or two against some of the top players in the league. But one million percent I know I can do it. And I know (the team) has a lot of faith, trust and confidence in me.

One of Latham’s biggest issues was penalties that he created, something that he hopes to get cleaned up this off-season.

The biggest thing for me is the mental part of it, the maturity part of it in the sense of not getting penalties,” Latham said. “(Coaches) see everything I am capable of doing, and we have those conversations about being more consistent. The penalties are what derails us, and if you take away my penalties – I’m not saying I’m perfect, there are plays I have to clean up – it creates a different perspective on the type of player that I am. My biggest issue was the penalties, and I had way too many. No issue is a good issue to have. If you sit here and say, you didn’t have a penalty at all this whole year, I am a completely different player. But if me holding the team back is because of penalties, then that’s the maturity aspect, and I know I am 100 percent capable of erasing it.

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