WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Notes, Quotes

The Sports Xchange

October 18, 2018 at 12:09 am.

–Pro Bowl wide receiver T.Y. Hilton will test out a sore hamstring in practice the next three days to see if he can return to the lineup after missing two starts. He was a full-practice participant on Wednesday. “My less than (100 percent) is better than a lot of people,” Hilton said, when asked if he could play injured.

–Quarterback Andrew Luck doesn’t need to be reminded that the Colts offense has squandered scoring opportunities after the defense comes up with a turnover. “We look back to last week and I think the Jets scored 20 points off turnovers and we scored six,” he said.

Luck wasn’t sacked for the first time in a game this season. Despite playing behind a shuffled offensive line with five different combinations in six games, he’s taken just 10 sacks in 288 pass attempts. “We continue to make good progress,” head coach Frank Reich said. “We’re really going to be put to the test this week. This defense will really get after you.”

–Reich is quick to defend Luck’s eight interceptions, saying, “a number of them aren’t on him.” Case in point was his first of three in Sunday’s 42-34 road loss to the New York Jets, where running back Marlon Mack bobbled away a screen pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. But Luck, true to form, blames himself for most of those picks. “Each interception certainly has a life of its own,” Luck said. “Some tipped balls, things happen and some like the last one in the game that was a mistake on my part. It was a bad read. I messed up that. That’s 100 percent – I knew he was going to be there, but I didn’t see him. We knew through film study that that was where he was going to be and that’s on me. I am not happy about that, but I get a chance to go out and improve on those reads this week. So that’s what I am excited about.”

–Defensive tackle Jihad Ward downplays the significance of his three sacks, although the third-year pro began his first Colts season with only one in 21 games with the Raiders. “I’m not really looking at (my) results, I’m just trying to see what we can do to win games,” he said.

–Eric Ebron, who leads all NFL tight ends with six TD receptions, reiterates that the Colts aren’t out of the division race when considering Houston, Jacksonville and Tennessee are just 3-3 and two games ahead. “It’s still up in the air. It’s still up for grabs,” he said. “We’re not counted out.”

–Reich was known as one of the NFL’s best backup quarterbacks when he played for the Bills, who drafted him in the third round in 1985. He was with the Bills through 1994. Some familiar names in Bills history are expected to attend, including quarterback Jim Kelly and possibly running back Thurman Thomas. “It was a real close-knit group,” Reich said. “It will be good to see whoever ends up showing up.”

BY THE NUMBERS: 39 – Average points allowed by the Colts in the past three losses. That includes a Jets defensive score on an interception return. The Colts are 30th in points allowed at 30 per game.

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