AFC Notes: Matt Ryan, Jeff Saturday, Colts, Jaguars, Texans

Colts

Colts interim HC Jeff Saturday said QB Matt Ryan will continue to be the starting quarterback despite being a part of two more turnovers in the loss to the Steelers on Monday night. 

“Matt’s going to continue to be the guy,” Saturday said via NFL Media. “We’re going to keep moving forward, keep pressing forward with what we got. I tell the guys in the locker room, we’ve got the players in the locker room to do it. We’ve got the plays to do it. We gotta figure out how to execute in moments that matter. That’s really what we have to focus in on and hone in on.”

Saturday also commented on his handling of the clock near the end of the game against Pittsburgh.

“I thought we had plenty of time, I wasn’t really concerned,” Saturday said after the game, via NFL.com. “We still had timeouts. I wasn’t too concerned. When [Ryan] was going down, I couldn’t tell where they were going to start him from going down, right? If he was gonna get the first down. And then we got there, I expected us to get on the ball and have another play, a little bit quicker than that. But again, this wasn’t a press for time. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

“We already had it, I mean we had it as the play was happening, that was the mode of the whole second half, so we already had it in our head, we were going to the next play, so as soon as [Ryan] got tackled we knew where we were going,” Saturday said. “Would I have liked him to snap it a little earlier, sure, but we never felt pressed for time.”

• Saturday had a different tune on on the ending of the game Tuesday after having more time to reflect: “I wish I had that third down back and in all honestly, wish I would have called a timeout…. Looking at the film, you could tell we were in disarray.” (Stephen Holder)

Jaguars

All of the hype surrounding Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence as a draft prospect might have obscured how raw of a prospect he actually was. At least that’s what Jaguars HC Doug Pederson believes, as while Lawrence’s physical talent is immense, his offense at Clemson didn’t do him any favors in transitioning to the NFL, and neither did having Urban Meyer as his first NFL head coach. Pederson and his staff have taken a ground-up approach in working with Lawrence and are starting to see dividends. 

“He’s had three head coaches in three years. Three coordinators, three position coaches, three different offenses,” Pederson said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “So yeah, raw, first-year, whatever it is, that’s hard. That’s hard on a young player, young quarterback in this league, where you’re the face of the franchise and everything’s riding on your shoulders, right? And we took him and we treated him almost like he didn’t know anything. We were just pouring everything we know as a staff into him and getting him situational awareness, football awareness.

“He comes from a situation in college like a lot of these kids, I mean, they’re on such great football teams with much better talent than their opponent and they don’t really have to pay much attention to a lot of things. Where now, you come to this level, everything is magnified. Every little detail, every throw, every step, is magnified.”

Texans

Texans HC Lovie Smith was asked about their rotation with first-round G Kenyon Green, who has had a lot of learning moments as a rookie. 

“It’s big boy business a little bit, too,” Smith said, via Click2Houston.com. “That’s what we’re going to do with Kenyon. I believe there’s been a lot of learning moments that we’ve gone through with him. A part of taking that next step is to go through some of those days, when the guy playing against you may be better than you right now, but you learn and you just hope you get better and better. What we’re going to do if that player, whoever it is, Kenyon, whoever is who we think is our best option, we have to let them get their nose bloodied a little bit. Keep going to try to get them better.”