Jaguars

Jaguars WR/CB Travis Hunter ended up being penalized for a crucial pass interference in the fourth quarter that led to the Bengals winning the game.

The call was controversial but Hunter knows he needs to not put refs in position to make those calls in the first place.

“I can’t leave it up to the ref,” Hunter said, via Jaguars.com. “I just got to do my job and put myself in a better position.”

Jaguars HC Liam Coen said the refs should make the players decide a play like that on the field. 

“They call a pass interference on fourth down,” Coen said. “I’d like to them maybe go earn it, but it is what it is.”

“Jarrian [Jones] got nicked up a little bit, so it forced [Hunter to play] a little bit more naturally even though we wanted to get him a little bit more work as it was,” Coen added. “He just keeps competing. I didn’t get a great chance to watch him individually. I just know I don’t think he hurt us.”

Texans

Texans QB C.J. Stroud took a notably different approach this past offseason than he did in his first between his rookie year and second season. Coming off winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023, Stroud was a hot name and in high demand for media appearances and off-field opportunities. That spotlight ended up putting more shine on his and the Texans’ struggles in Year 2, so Stroud was intentional to be heard from less this past spring. 

“When you’re young in the NFL, trying to have fun being around, you enjoy a lot of the different things that it comes with,” Stroud said via ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime. “And I think I’ve just grown as a person. … So I just try my best to learn as a man of God, first and foremost, and then, just as an NFL quarterback, just the things to do and not to do.”

As a result, there were far fewer clickbait headlines about Stroud and things he needed to answer for during the season. That meant turning down opportunities like an interview with GQ and an appearance on Netflix’s Quarterback documentary series. 

“When you’re going on a podcast, sometimes they use you, and I learned that,” Stroud said. “I don’t want to be used just for clout and clickbait. I don’t want to be on [media outlets] every week. But at the end of the day, it’s the life I sign up for. So I’m grateful for both. I can’t accept the good and not [the] bad. I’ve learned I like to be behind the shadows more now than I did when I was younger. I spent a lot of time with my family this offseason, a lot of time with my friends at the beach — just doing nothing, just clearing my mind.”

It’s early in the season still, but teammates say they see a difference. 

“I really feel like he just went back to the basics for himself,” Texans WR Xavier Hutchinson said. “He went back to what he truly cares about. It wasn’t so much the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. He really just honed in on his craft this offseason. You can tell.”

• Texans TE Harrison Bryant‘s contract includes $1.105 million base salary, plus $500,000 in incentives. (Aaron Wilson)

Titans

Week 2 was bittersweet for Titans first-round QB Cam Ward. He threw his first NFL touchdown to fellow rookie and fourth-round WR Elic Ayomanor on a highlight-reel scramble drill, a play that could easily be the lead on his sizzle tape for the year. 

“That’s really the O-line giving me time, Elic just knowing what I like in scramble drill, then just executing and throwing the play,” Ward said in his postgame press conference. “So, it’s exciting to throw my first touchdown. But I just wish we came out with the win.”

As Ward alluded to, Tennessee fell for the second straight week and the rookie is still looking for his first NFL win. The Titans hung with the Rams for the better part of three quarters but a 21-point outburst later in the second half finished them off. 

“I don’t think anything changed [in the second half],” Ward said. “I just think we’ve just got to continue to have urgency. I think at times it drops — and I think that’s the biggest thing, on offense, you have to have urgency every play. At the end of the day, we’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. My turnover, penalties … throughout the game on both sides of the ball. We’ve just got to lock in.”