AFC Notes: Colts, Jaguars, Travis Etienne, Texans, Justin Britt

Colts

Colts WR Michael Pittman feels that still has areas he can prove and must “get open more.”

“I got to get open more,” Pittman said, via James Boyd of The Athletic. “I let one slant get away from me and I just gotta have all of those. There’s things that I could’ve done better.”

Colts WR Ashton Dulin said that RB Jonathan Taylor and Pittman can’t always carry the load. 

“We know that Pitt and JT can’t make all of the plays all day long. We can’t ask them to do that,” Dulin said. “There’s (nine) other guys on the field, so for us to go out there and make plays, it just comes down to trust. … We know what we have on our team and we know we can be great.”

Colts QB Matt Ryan added that they must be able to spread the ball around. 

“The ball got spread around pretty good… At different times, you never know when the ball’s gonna find you, you stay patient,” Ryan said. “But you make the plays when they’re there, when your number is called.”

• Colts HC Frank Reich announced that LB Shaquille Leonard (back) and WR Alec Pierce (concussion) have been ruled out from Week 2. (Aaron Wilson)

Jaguars

Jaguars RB Travis Etienne said that they want to “run the ball” in Week 2 against the Colts but must prevent committing turnovers. 

“What [the Indianapolis Colts] do well is create turnovers,” Etienne said, via JaguarsWire. “So we just have to go in there and take care of the ball. … We want to dominate the line of scrimmage and just run the ball.”

Etienne reiterated that they want to control the line of scrimmage and enable their offense to have shorter third-down situations. 

“I feel like we’re going to run it. We want to the ball, create the line of scrimmage, and just play … be third-and-short. Not so many third-and-longs and I feel like we’ll be right where we need to be.”

Texans

• Texans HC Lovie Smith said C Justin Britt has been ruled out from Week 2 due to “personal reasons.”
• According to Aaron Wilson, Britt remains absent from the Texans while working through personal issues related to football as he contemplates his options.
• Smith added that Houston will start C Scott Quessenberry in Week 2. (Aaron Wilson)