AFC Notes: Devin Lloyd, Jaguars, Texans, Titans

Jaguars

Jaguars DC Mike Caldwell said first-round LB Devin Lloyd experienced a couple of learnable moments in Week 1 and thinks he was overly trying to “make every play.” 

“He started off, had some great moments and had a couple that he can learn from,” Caldwell said, via JaguarsWire. “I think, again, he was excited. He was really trying to make every play. He’ll settle down, and the plays will come to him, and he’ll continue to do it.”

Caldwell reiterated that Lloyd must find a way to “relax and play the game.” 

“First game of the season, everybody’s going to be amped up, and everybody’s ready to go. You just have to take a deep breath, calm down, and do what you’ve done in practice. The plays don’t change. Your technique won’t change. Just go out there and relax and play the game you’ve always played.”

Texans

Texans OC Pep Hamilton told the media that he plans to get RB Dameon Pierce more touches in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos.

“We just have to get more first downs,” Hamilton told reporters, via TexansWire.com. “We need more opportunities to just run more plays in general. For us, we want to start faster. We want to finish fast as well. We want to finish the way that we always talk about finishing, and that’s with the ball in hand, in a victory formation, but that didn’t happen. We started that game, we went three-and-out, missed opportunities on third down for whatever reason and that just affects the overall volume of runs and plays that you’ll run over the course of a game.”

Titans

Titans fifth-round WR Kyle Philips spoke to reporters after the team’s loss to the Giants and reflected on how he could have done better in the game, despite leading the team in receiving.

“I wasn’t consistent, so I am a little disappointed with how I played,” Philips said, via Jim Wyatt of TenneseeTitans.com. “Obviously the muffed punt, and there were a couple of catches I felt like I should have had. So, not a great game, and definitely something to build on. I felt like I was a little too much up and down, and I need to be more consistent for Ryan (Tannehill) and the team. I am going to go to work next week and work on being more consistent and reliable.”

Titans S Kevin Byard and HC Mike Vrabel both reaffirmed their faith in Philips as the team will be counting on him once again in Week 2.

“Kyle, he is a competitor,” Byard said. “I spoke about him during training camp – he’s a really good route runner, and he showed that during the game. And obviously, he flashed a little bit during the preseason with his punt return ability and he showed that in the game. So, it is good to see that translate from the preseason to the regular season. You know, when you are a rookie, when you mess up or muff a punt or you might screw up a route or drop a pass or something like that, you just kind of feel like it’s the end of the world. But me just talking to him and letting him know: ‘Hey, you did some really great things during the game, and you just have to continue to build on those things.’ At the end of the day, you don’t want to look at it like the glass is half-empty. The glass is definitely half-full for Kyle Philips.”

“He’s got a lot of trust,” Vrabel said of Philips. “You saw a great punt return, a great effort from him. A lot of great efforts from other guys out there. It wasn’t perfect, because then he muffed one. Kyle is a competitor. He’s got a knack for getting open. Ryan (Tannehill) was able to find him a couple of times (on Sunday).”

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