–A video clip of Colts rookie guard Quenton Nelson screaming as he pancaked Jaguars defender Barry Church was edited, according to Nelson. The play quickly made the rounds on Twitter, but Nelson was surprised. “I saw it got pretty viral on the internet, which is cool,” Nelson said on Tuesday. “(But) I wasn’t yelling, not on that play. I don’t know how it got amped up like that.”
Nelson, the sixth overall pick in the draft, has made a habit of pancaking defenders. He became the first guard in league history to be named NFL Rookie of the Month for October.
–Quarterback Andrew Luck has had a 100-plus passer rating in three consecutive games, the first time in 79 regular-season games. He was 131.5 against Buffalo, 125.6 against Oakland and 123.5 versus the Jaguars. “He’s playing at an elite level right now,” head coach Frank Reich said of Luck. “The next step is just continue to elevate the game of everybody around you, which he’s doing.”
Luck has never lost to the Titans in nine games, a stat that head coach Mike Vrabel mentioned in the Titans team meeting. “He’s 9-0 vs. us, and we definitely want to end that streak,” said Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard.
–What’s changed about Colts tight end Eric Ebron? He leads all NFL players at his position with nine TD receptions, and his three-TD game against the Jaguars included a 2-yard scoring rush. Only Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown has more TD catches with 10. In four seasons with Detroit, Ebron had 11 TD receptions and was heaped with criticism for drops, so much so that some in the media suggested he should be traded. The Lions didn’t want to pay him what he wanted in free agency. The Colts signed him to a two-year deal worth up to $15 million in incentives.
“I’m a grown man,” Ebron said of what’s different. “I just came here and they allowed me to do the things I’m best at, and it’s showing.”
He averaged 46.5 catches for 517.5 yards and 2.75 TDs with the Lions. In nine games this season, he has 39 catches for 463 yards with the nine TD receptions. The rushing score was the second of his career.
–The Colts haven’t registered a sack on defense in two games, which has dropped the team to a tie for 23rd with 21 sacks. “It’s one of those drought moments,” said defensive end Margus Hunt. “We’ve just got to keep working, keep going out there and keep after it. Once they start coming, they’ll start coming again.”
Hunt was one of the Colts’ best pass rushers early on, at one juncture the league leader in tackles for loss. His 11 now rank tied for fourth. His four sacks are tied with Darius Leonard and Jabaal Sheard for the team lead. But all four of Hunt’s sacks came in the first four games. “We’re always just a hair short or a click too late,” he said.
–Four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is just fourth on the team with 29 receptions and second with 430 receiving yards, but insists he’s not upset about a decrease in his production in an offense that spreads the ball around more and has been the best in the league at utilizing tight ends, who have caught 15 of Luck’s 26 TD passes.
“I’m a team player,” Hilton said. “It don’t matter to me. As long as the team keeps winning, if the game plan is they’re going to take me out of the game, other guys have to step up, which they have.”
–Rookie defensive end/tackle Tyquan Lewis was expected to be on a play count in his NFL debut, but he started and played 54 snaps (71 percent). The second-round selection, who had been sidelined since early in preseason by a toe injury, had three tackles, one quarterback hit and one pass defended.
“They had told me early on (that) they expect me to play a variety of positions,” Lewis said. “So I prepared myself each and every week as if I was going to play every single position on the d-line. You’ve just got to know them all.”
Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said he wasn’t surprised by Lewis playing so much. “We planned on playing him and when you get some two-minute situations there at the end of the half and at the end of the game – he was on our green rush team so he was going to get more reps,” Eberflus said. “If those reps decreased then he would’ve had less, obviously. It’s just the way it worked out.”
–Eberflus got defensive when asked about how his unit, which ranks 26th in points allowed (26.6 per game) and 24th in total yards allowed (376.2 per game), is bend but don’t break. “I have no idea what that means,” he said of the term. “Yeah, I’ve heard it. I’ve been in the business for 28 years. I’ve heard ‘bend but don’t break,’ but I think it’s – we are a zone team. They are going to throw the ball underneath. We’ve got to set up and break and we’ve got to get better at it.”
–The Colts have scored at least 21 points in every game but one. The Titans have allowed more than 21 points just twice. “I know they are very well-coached,” said Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni. “(Titans assistant) Dean Pees has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL for a long time and he’s a heck of a coach. I know every time we have went against a defense that he had coached you’ve got to be ready for everything because he can scheme you up.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 72.3 – Percent completion percentage for QB Andrew Luck in three-game winning streak. He’s completed 60 of 83 passes for 680 yards and 10 TDs. The lone interception should have been caught as wide-open tight end Mo Alie-Cox bobbled the pass into the turnover. After missing last season due to shoulder surgery, Luck is arguably the top candidate for NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
