Three AFC South teams are squaring off against AFC North opponents this week, as the Jaguars seek their first win of their season against the Browns, the Texans look to knock off the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and perhaps most importantly, the Colts will face the Bengals in a battle of first-place teams. With 11 weeks still to play, there’s plenty of time for teams to move up or down in the standings, but there’s a real possibility that Sunday’s Colts/Bengals matchup could have seeding or home field implications for two teams with 2013 playoff teams with Super Bowl aspirations.
As we look forward to that game and the rest of this weekend’s slate, let’s check out the latest out of the AFC South:
- The Texans traded for Ryan Mallett just before the beginning of the season, and his history with head coach Bill O’Brien from their time in New England led some to believe that Mallett would eventually get a chance to play. O’Brien spoke up on Friday, praising the strong-armed former Patriot for his preparation and presence on the sidelines, reports Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com. However, O’Brien stops short of saying Mallett is ready to go under center and get his first real NFL action.
- Titans’ head coach Ken Whisenhunt indicated today that tight end Brett Brackett, who’s currently on the team’s practice squad, could be re-added to the 53-man roster again this week, tweets Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean.
- In addition to the offensive lineman whose auditions have been previously reported, the Titans also worked out Dennis Roland and Kevin Murphy this week, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com and Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links).
- The Colts will be looking very carefully at the 2015 transition tag numbers, with Andrew Luck and Trent Richardson both approaching the final year on their respective rookie deals. The 2015 transition tag will be equal to the 2016 fifth-year options for the top ten picks of the 2012 NFL Draft, where both Luck and Richardson were selected, according to Albert Breer of NFL.com. Keeping Luck for a fifth year at $16.12MM is a no-brainer, but declining Richardson’s number of $9.02MM is just as obvious a choice according to Breer.
Rob DiRe contributed to this post.