Colts
Colts HC Frank Reich says the team is optimistic that QB Carson Wentz can continue to rehab his sprained ankles while continuing the function as the starting quarterback.
“We’re definitely ahead of where we were last week,” Reich said, via IndyStar. “I had a conversation with him out there today, and the goal is try to be one day better than we were last week.”
Reich adds that he hopes that Wentz can move past the issue “in a week or two.”
“He’s certainly always under the risk of reinjuring it,” Reich said. “Barring him reinjuring it, if he just plays the game the way we play quarterback, he should physically get better every week.”
Wentz was able to get the ball out of his hands a fraction of a second quicker than his first two games, something Reich says the team put an emphasis on to keep his signal-caller upright.
“The docs give Carson the clearance, Carson says, ‘I want to play,’ so now it’s our job as a staff to try to protect him as best we can,” Reich said. “That’s we tried to do. We had the game plan set up, and we called it in a way that we tried to protect him.”
Jaguars
Jaguars HC Urban Meyer hasn’t gotten the results he had hoped for as the team is off to an 0-3 start, but he is noticing improvement within his organization, which is the most important part of an organization in the middle of a rebuild.
“I see a lot of progress,” Meyer said, via Jaguars.com. “Obviously, this is a production-based business we’re all in. The won-loss column is not good. I still think we’ve got good enough people to pick it up, make some moves this year and win some games.”
Texans
In his first start against a terrific Panthers defense, it was obvious Texans QB Davis Mills was operating with training wheels designed by the game plan. It appears those may be coming off this week against the Bills.
“He’s going to have a lot more put on him than we put on him last week,” Texans HC David Culley said via the Houston Chronicle’s Brooks Kubena. “I feel like he’ll be able to handle it. We’re just going to run our offense and let him handle it from there.”
Culley added the short week of preparation was a factor, too, for last Thursday.
“I don’t think we went in thinking we just want to protect him,” Culley said. “There are certain things that they were going to do regardless of what we called, they were going to do it. We just felt like that we wanted to make sure we gave him stuff that he knew. That there was never any doubt about what he needed to do on these particular plays.”
- Culley notes Texans QB Tyrod Taylor is still looking at a two to four-week recovery timeline for his hamstring injury from the time of the initial injury. (Aaron Wilson)
Titans
Titans WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, a former UDFA, caught his first career touchdown pass on Sunday after the team dealt with a number of injuries on both sides of the ball.
“I don’t think any of us guys were drafted, but it doesn’t matter where you came from. It matters what you do with the opportunities you get,” Westbrook-Ikhine said, via TitansInsider.com
Westbrook-Ikhine attributes joint practices with the Bucs during training camp as a huge confidence boost to his game.
“I had a lot of training camp opportunities this year, and I took a lot of first-team reps when we were down in Tampa, and I felt like I did pretty well. So I figured if I can do that against them, I should be able to do it against anybody,” he said.
Titans HC Mike Vrabel expressed confidence in the team’s depth and was complimentary of the guys that had to step up in order to help the team secure a victory over the Colts.
“Just some guys that maybe you hadn’t heard of and that aren’t household names, but guys that we have confidence in. They’re on the roster,” Vrabel said. “We have confidence in them that they can go out there and do their job and execute and help us win, and that’s going to be from now until certainly the end of this season. As long as we’re here, we’re going to believe in that because that’s what happens. It’s a long season. Things come up. Things happen. Guys are unavailable. And then all of a sudden they’re back in and then they’re down. So everybody just has to be ready to go and be able to understand the gameplan and what’s going to be asked of them.”
Titans WR Julio Jones was also unable to finish the game, as the team took a cautious approach to the wide receiver’s tender hamstring.
“I think as this thing played out, tried to manage where he’s at and understand that what the type of game that we thought the end of the game was going to be. And those guys were going in there trying to dig safeties out,” Vrabel said. “We’ll keep looking at those guys, and there’s a lot of guys that are going to need some rest this week. A lot of guys. They played a hard, physical game. And hopefully we can be ready to go when we head up to New York.”
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