AFC South Notes: Colts, Texans, Titans

Colts

Colts DC Matt Eberflus said fifth-round LB E.J. Speed is โ€œjumping off the tapeโ€ in practice and praised his tackling ability and speed. 

โ€œComing from a small school, our scouting department did a great job of looking at their measurables and those things were certainly high with him,โ€ Eberflus said, via Andrew Walker of the teamโ€™s official site. โ€œHeโ€™s jumping off the tape right now in terms of just hitting, speed and those things.โ€

Texans

Texans HC Bill Oโ€™Brien said DE Jadeveon Clowney is โ€œworking hardโ€ while he holds out for a new contract.

โ€œI think just from my knowledge of what I know, heโ€™s working hard,โ€ Oโ€™Brien said, via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. โ€œWe want him back. We need him here, but heโ€™ll come when he decides itโ€™s best for him to come.โ€

Oโ€™Brien said they intend on running Clowney through conditioning tests when he returns to the team. 

โ€œWeโ€™re going to have to see when he comes back, see where heโ€™s at, run the conditioning test, see where heโ€™s at just from a baseline conditioning standpoint, and then weโ€™ll go from there,โ€ Oโ€™Brien said. โ€œI think a lot of that depends on when he decides to come back.โ€

  • Texans HC Bill Oโ€™Brien said C Nick Martin (ankle) is โ€œcoming alongโ€ with his recovery and will travel with the team to their Week 1 preseason game against the Packers. (Aaron Wilson)
  • Although Oโ€™Brien said, โ€œwe need Nick back out there,โ€ he praised OL Greg Manczโ€˜s progress while filling in for Martin this offseason. 

Titans

Titans OLB Harold Landry believes the game speed of the NFL has โ€œslowed downโ€ for him and feels โ€œmore reactionaryโ€ when playing. 

โ€œThe game speed has slowed down,โ€ Landry said. โ€œLast year was a big learning experience for me. I am much more relaxed, and itโ€™s much more reactionary; flying off the ball itโ€™s a lot more read-and-react. I am developing these moves so when I am preparing for a game and see a guy thatโ€™s a low puncher, thatโ€™s good for a chop. When I see a high puncher, thatโ€™s good for a dip. I can get under him. I want to go into a game and be able to use more than one move that I know will work. It might not be the best time to go to a dip and corner on him. I might have to stab him or do something else. Building my overall repertoire of moves helps me go against the tackles or tight ends.โ€

Landry added that he is looking forward to implementing the โ€œnew pass-rush movesโ€ heโ€™s learned. 

โ€œItโ€™s time to make those things [new pass-rush moves] my thing,โ€ Landry said. โ€œIโ€™ve worked on them so much, and now itโ€™s time to perfect it and make it ready to go.โ€œ

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