AFC Notes: Colts, Texans, Titans

Colts

The Colts talked up RB Nyheim Hines for most of the offseason as someone they needed to get the ball to more in 2022. In Week 2, it seemed like a perfect game to feature Hines given Indianapolis was missing both starting WR Michael Pittman and second-rounder Alec Pierce. Instead, Hines played just 15 of the team’s 48 snaps. Colts HC Frank Reich said the low number of plays made it harder to get Hines in the game. 

“Actually in our first 15 scripted (plays), he was scheduled to kind of get involved quite a bit,” Reich said via the Athletic’s James Boyd. “Obviously, we only had 50 total plays (actually 48), which is on the low side. You’re trying to get him involved. As you saw, we opened up with him, tried to throw a screen to him early. We had another play in that first drive that he got targeted that didn’t come up quite the way we wanted it to come up. So really in the first 15 plays, I think we tried to scheme him up three, four, five times. From there, obviously, we’re going to focus on JT. He’s always going to be the focus. When you get down to 50 or in the high 40s (for) plays, it’s just going to limit everybody as far as snap counts.”

The Colts also had issues getting RB Jonathan Taylor going. He had five yards on four carries in the first half and finished the game with just 10 total touches. 

“Last week we had 33 first downs, this week we had nine first downs. You guys have heard me say this over the last number of years, whenever it comes down to him not getting enough carries, one of — it’s not the only factor — but one of the factors, usually, almost always, is we’re poor on third down,” Reich said. “You’ve got to convert on third down to get runs called. If you’re three-and-out or four-and-out, it’s hard to get runs called because you’re getting third-down plays and then when you add onto that, we were third-and-long all day so it’s hard to get enough runs to Jonathan. So, that was the primary reason right there. Then, you fall behind and you’re playing a little bit of catch-up, but we’ll still try to mix it up as we did. We had a couple of long runs in the second half, but still not very many attempts.”

Texans

• PFN’s Aaron Wilson reports Texans QB Davis Mills‘ right thumb injury is not considered a serious issue and is “good to go” for Week 3. 
• Texans OC Pep Hamilton had high praise of fourth-round RB Dameon Pierce and hopes to see him finish more runs with more playing time: “He’s shown he’s explosive and can create his own yards. We hope as he plays more, he find ways to finish the runs. It’s good to see he’s tough and physical and aggressive to get extra yards.” (Wilson)
• Hamilton confirmed that Mills’ thumb injury has no impact on the quarterback: “Not affecting him at all, as far as I know.” (Wilson)

Titans

• Titans OC Todd Downing is excited to see how OT Dennis Daley plays in Week 3 after having a full week to prepare. He’s likely starting at left tackle in place of the injured Taylor Lewan. (Terry McCormick)