AFC South Notes: Colts, Texans, Titans

Colts

Colts GM Chris Ballard said QB Jacoby Brissett needs to play better, but they also have to do more to help him succeed. 

“I said this in my press conference, ‘I thought Andrew Luck was going to be our quarterback starting Week 1 this season,’ so I won’t make that predication. But I’ll make some comments about Jacoby. It’s almost like the tale of two seasons. Watching the first seven or eight games, Jacoby was playing good football. Making quick decisions. Making the throws that needed to be made. We were really good on third down. I think we were like 1^st or 2^nd in the league on third down,” said Ballard, via Kevin Bowen of 1075TheFan. “Then we just hit a stretch in the second half of the season where he didn’t play as well. Jacoby knows he’s got to play better. We’ve got to help him. I’ve got to help him. Frank has got to help him. And he’s got to help himself with better play.”

Ballard said that Andrew Luck informed owner Jim Irsay, HC Frank Reich and himself on Aug. 19of his decision to retire from them NFL prior to their Week 3 preseason game against the Bears. 

“The Monday before we played Chicago (Luck retired 5 days later), Andrew came in and we had a meeting with Mr. Irsay, Frank, Andrew and I. That’s the first time we knew. In terms of (Luck’s) attitude and his excitement for football, he was frustrated during Training Camp, but I had seen that frustration before, with the shoulder. At no point, did any of us think that retirement was going to exit out of his mouth.”

Ballard said they tried to talk Luck out of retirement but had to move on with Brissett when it was clear he wouldn’t return. 

“Of course I tried to reason with him and Frank and Jim, all three of us did. ‘When you make this decision now, it’s hard to come back from.’ But we talked it through all week. At that point, you don’t have time (to feel sorry for yourself). You have to find ways to win games. Nobody gives a crap about our problems. Nobody cares. They are just glad you’ve got them. So we don’t have time to worry about it. We’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to roll. And we have to get moving forward. At that point, he’s retiring. What can you do? I feel bad for the kid. I feel bad for the story. Football lost a great representative of the game of football. The Colts lost a great freaking player, but we have to go, move forward and find a way to win games. That’s what we did. It didn’t hit me until after the season. I thought about it a little bit. ‘Like, hey man, this guy is a special player.’”

Texans

Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle writes that the Texans face an important decision this offseason whether or not to exercise CB Vernon Hargreaves‘ fifth-year option for the 2021 season. 

Fifth-year options are guaranteed for injury only, but it would cost the Texans around $9.594 million. 

Despite being cut by the Buccaneers midseason, Texans HC Bill O’Brien credited Hargreaves for working hard and making the best of a tough situation. 

“Vernon came in here, he works very hard,” O’Brien said. “Very hard worker, guy that really showed up to practice every day, learned the system. I don’t think that’s easy to be able to come in, in the middle of a season, and really later than that, and play that nickel position is not easy.

“So, I give a lot of credit to Vernon. There’s a lot of things that he’s going to work hard to improve upon. We’re going to help them with that, but I think Vernon stepped into a tough situation and really made the best of it.”

Titans

Regarding his expiring contract with the Titans, QB Ryan Tannehill said he likes the direction of the organization but “everything has to work out” with negotiations. 

“Yeah, I don’t know, I went there on a one-year deal and planned for one year. We’ll see what happens here in the next few months if I’m back there or not. Like I said, I like my guys on the team, the organization and the direction it’s headed, but everything has to work out. So, we’ll see how that goes,” said Tannehill, via SiriusXM NFL Radio. 

We have Tannehill included in our Top 100 – 2020 Free Agents list.