Jaguars
The Jaguars moved to 4-1 after a thrilling comeback win over the Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Jacksonville HC Liam Coen was impressed with QB Trevor Lawrence‘s ability to will the team to a win on a chaotic final play where the quarterback fell after getting the snap, only to score the game-winning touchdown.
“Yeah, that’s a goofy finish, but what a tough moment for him to be able to say like, ‘He wasn’t going to lose’ and that’s kind of really what it comes down to,” Coen said, via Grant Gordon of NFL.com. “He wasn’t going to lose, and he made an unbelievable individual effort that hopefully can continue to springboard us.”
Following the big win, Lawrence expressed his belief in the team when he was asked if he believes the Jaguars are a legitimate contender.
“I mean, we feel like we are,” Lawrence said. “So, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but we’ve got a long season. We’ve played five games, so there’s a lot of football left. We have to take it week by week. Obviously, we think we’re a good team, so we believe that. You don’t listen to the outside noise and not many of those people were around beginning of the season. So, it’s really about the guys in the locker room, the staff, coaches and all the people that put the work in and we have that confidence and belief. That’s what matters.”
Texans
Texans RB Joe Mixon has been out since early in the offseason with a foot injury, and there haven’t been a ton of updates on the veteran’s status. Houston GM Nick Caserio said they believe they will learn whether Mixon will play this season in the coming weeks.
“In a few weeks, we’ll probably have a better idea,” Caserio said, via the team’s YouTube. “He’s making progress. I wouldn’t put a particular timetable on it. . . . Once we kinda get to that period, probably have a better sense of which way it’s gonna go for the duration of the year.”
Titans
The Titans snapped their winless streak to start the season in Week 5 when beating the Cardinals 22-21 after trailing 21-3 at one point. Tennessee HC Brian Callahan praised rookie QB Cam Ward for staying determined to turn things around.
“His first half wasn’t great. We didn’t play as well as we needed to play in the first half,” Callahan said, via Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “And he just came into halftime and, whether this made a difference or not, I don’t know, I just looked at him and said, ‘Just put your eyes where they’re supposed to be, read the key and make the throw.’ That’s really what it comes down to. I thought he did that the rest of the second half, which was super impressive. He didn’t flinch either, bounced back from a rough start and found his way into making the throws we had to have in big moments and that’s what we’ve been waiting to see from him.”
Ward thinks the biggest change in the game was that he started to execute plays.
“Honestly, the biggest thing is I started to play the way I needed to play,” Ward said. “I took the completions. I wasn’t doing that early in the game. I was iffy, I was in-and-out about it. Through the game, I started to take the completions, get my guys the ball, Chig [Okonkwo] made plays for us, Gunnar [Helm] made a lot of plays for us. I had to get those guys the ball and they made plays.”
Ward believes Week 5’s victory was important for team morale.
“I just think we needed that, we needed it to be known that we weren’t complementing each other on both sides of the ball,” Ward said. “The biggest thing is that the guys in the locker room, they respected it. They know how I feel when we’re not on our P’s & Q’s on offense. We’ve got a group of individuals who take it to heart, but the good way, in holding each other accountable, being resilient. We did that today.”
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