Colts
Colts HC Frank Reich was glad to come away with the narrow 12-9 victory over the Broncos on Thursday despite not having a good game offensively.
“Isn’t it awesome that you can have a game like that and still win?” Reich said. “It really is. I’m really happy that we made the plays against a good defense. This is a really good defense, so we played well enough on offense to win the game today. It wasn’t good, we didn’t play good offense, so I’m not going to be critical of the offense right now. We know we need to get better. We won the game; these are hard to win on the road on Thursday night. … This is a win. We’ll figure out how to get better on offense, but we played good enough to get the win tonight.”
Colts LB Zaire Franklin said they understood that it would be a defensive game against Denver.
“Coming into the game we all understood what type of game it was going to be,” Franklin said. “We know it’s gonna be a defensive battle. When I was in college, our defensive coordinator used to tell us, you want to be the top dog, and you want to be the best defense on the field. So coming in, you’re hearing everything about how their defense is top five and all the guys they got. We got guys too.”
Colts DT DeForest Buckner reiterated that they knew it would be a “dogfight” against the Broncos’ defense and they had to perform well to limit Denver’s offense.
“Guys knew it was gonna be a dogfight,” Buckner said. “We knew they had a top five defense. We knew what we had to do — we had to show up, and guys did. Guys made plays when we needed to.”
- Ian Rapoport reports that Colts DE Kwity Paye is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain after being carted off of the field in Thursday’s game.
- Colts HC Frank Reich said Paye’s x-rays came back negative and they are still determining the severity of his injury. (Zak Keefer)
- Colts G Quenton Nelson said that their offensive line must improve going forward: “We’ve given up a ton of sacks, hits, pressures, been inconsistent in the run game. It’s frustrating. Right now, it’s our defense and special teams stepping up. We need to get better. This isn’t good enough.” (Zak Keefer)
- Colts HC Frank Reich said that they must continue developing at the quarterback position with Matt Ryan: “You’re always growing. It’s like versions of software. There’s 1.0, 2.0, 3.0. And when you get a guy, you can get to further versions. Now, the software works a little better and is a little faster and there are new things that it can do. We know in this league the turnover rate is high at every position. But there are some core positions, quarterback being one of them, that just help you get to those future iterations and go deeper and further.” (Stephen Holder)
Jaguars
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence feels that the team is “heading in the right direction” at 2-2 but must develop consistency.
“We really believe in who we are,” Lawrence said, via John Oehser of the team’s official site. “We know we’re heading in the right direction; it’s just about consistency. It’s the way we work, our process – we trust that. It has been paying off for us.”
Regarding the Jaguars’ Week 1 loss to the Commanders and responding with a shutout victory over the Colts, WR Christian Kirk said that they must avoid requiring “bounce back” performances and come out stronger.
“Hopefully, we don’t make too much of a habit of having to bounce back,” Kirk said. “But that’s the mentality for this team and the kind of guys we have. We always say, ‘When things don’t go right, it’s us shooting ourselves in the foot.’ We’ve been eager to get back out there on the practice field. We had a good day today. We want to finish the week strong and come out and make a statement Sunday.”
Lawrence reiterated that the team still has “so much to build on” going forward.
“We still have a long way to go to get to where we want to be as far as playing our best football at the end of the year,” Lawrence said. “We’ve played some really good football early and played not-so-great at times, too. There’s so much to build on – good and bad.”
Titans
Titans WR Josh Gordon said that he is “waiting for my opportunity” to get more involved but is feeling comfortable with Tennessee’s offensive system.
“It’s coming along. I’ve kind of just got to go at it day-by-day, step-by-step and wait for my opportunity and make sure I’m ready,” Gordon said, via Terry McCormick of TitansInsider. “But I’m pretty comfortable right now with the plays and I’ve got all the help I can get from the coaches and my teammates with the plays and everything like that. It’s just a matter of where they might feel the most use for me, and get the most use out of me, whether it be in the slot or outside. I’m not 100 percent sure, but we’ll find out.”
Gordon is confident that he’ll be able to execute when he’s called upon.
“Most definitely. If I’m called on, I think I’ll be able to execute and make some plays if they need me to, in whichever capacity I’m called upon. If not, I’ll be there to support whoever’s up,” Gordon said.
Titans QB Ryan Tannehill said that Gordon is still learning the system and they will continue developing him in their scheme.
“Josh has been out here for a few weeks now. I think he’s learning as we go forward, and we’ll continue to try to do that, including this week,” Tannehill said.
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