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Houston Texans

The Texans became at least the fifth team to beg off of being the subject of HBO's "Hard Knocks" series, John McClain reported. The Texans join the Jets, Redskins, 49ers and Falcons as teams that have declined to be on the show.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts signed Justin Anderson, the Georgia guard whom they selected in the draft's seventh round, and David Legree, an undrafted quarterback from Hampton University. Indianapolis also waived tight end Brody Eldridge.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags' offense is primed for a big jump this season, at least from the vantage point of linebacker Clint Session. "I have never seen an offense since I've been here as precise and as accurate as they are now," Session told Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union. "They're looking like the greatest show on turf compared to what it was last year."

The Jaguars remain a candidate to appear on HBO's "Hard Knocks" for the first time. Jacksonville participated in a similar program that aired on NFL Network in 2004, and have said they would be willing to be the subject of the HBO show.

Mike Mularkey says he has learned to stop worrying about what he can't control in his second stint as a head coach, writes Ganguli.

Tennessee Titans

Citing the mad-scientist-like abilities of offensive coordinator Chris Palmer, receiver Nate Washington predicted that the Titans will be more pass-oriented than in the recent past. "Coach Palmer has been in the lab all offseason,” Washington told the Tennessean. “He’s been licking his chops to get back to us, so you can tell on his face that he has some different things up his sleeve. I think this is going to be a pretty explosive offense."

Defensive coordinator Jerry Gray finally gets a full offseason to install his own schemes, writes Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press.

The Titans want second-year linebacker Akeem Ayers to improve as a pass-rusher, writes John Glennon of the Tennessean.

Houston Texans

The Texans re-signed Quintin Demps on Thursday to a one-year deal worth $700,000. Demps is a "young player with a huge upside," according to defensive backs coach Vance Joseph.

ProFootballWeekly.com identifies the Texans' top three needs heading into the 2012 NFL draft.

Indianapolis Colts

The team signed free agent defensive tackle Brandon McKinney, who had been with the Ravens since 2008.

ProFootballWeekly.com identifies the Colts' top three needs heading into the 2012 NFL draft.

Jacksonville Jaguars

After struggling to recover from the three concussions he suffered during the 2011 season, linebacker Clint Session finally found relief.

Terrance Knighton has taken being in shape more seriously this offseason. "I don’t want to be remembered for the guy who had weight problems, I want to be remembered for the guy who turned it around, is a positive role model for kids," Knighton said in an interview with Florida Times-Union's Tania Ganguli.

Tennessee Titans

The newest Titan, Leger Douzable, said he considers himself "the steal of free agency."

The Titans need more help at defensive end, writes the Tennessean's John Glennon, and with no clear-cut upgrades still available in free agency, the team will likely turn its attention to the draft.

Nickel defenses are played more than ever in the NFL.

But the AFC South may be moving the other direction in games against each other.

The Texans are comfortable lining up with three wide receivers or splitting tight end Owen Daniels out into spread formations. The Jaguars and Titans figured to remain running back-centric. If the Titans get a bounce-back from Chris Johnson, they will likely run more. Of course those two teams can spread things out with the intent to run, of course.

But two games when AFC South teams loaded up with nickel packages are likely to change.

The departure of Peyton Manning from the Colts means one team that dictated constant nickel defenses is being altered. New coach Chuck Pagano has talked about running and stopping the run and GM Ryan Grigson said Monday he expects the Colts to be a fullback team.

A linebacker is typically going to stay on the field against a two-back set. The lack of a precision passing offense and weapons like Dallas Clark and Pierre Garcon will make it tougher for the Colts to dictate a team's defensive personnel, or to take advantage of it.

"The third linebacker or the nickel corner?” Texans coach Gary Kubiak said at the owners meetings, repeating a question about what’s more important. “You look at your schedule and say, 'OK, what are we going to play this year? Are we going to be in nickel all year, or are we going to be trying to stop the run?' I think that's what things will come down to.

“One year you might be out there in nickel defense 60 or 70 percent of the time. The next year it could be 50. It all starts with your division. When Peyton was at Indy, if we didn't have three good corners we were in trouble every time we played them. So I think you've kind of got to build your roster to compete in your division, No. 1, and make that decision."

This means the Jaguars will have two more games where they can play more with their great linebacking trio of Paul Posluszny, Daryl Smith and Clint Session on the field together.

This means the Titans' new nickelback -- whether he's an outsider or Ryan Mouton, Chris Hawkins or Tommie Campbell -- isn't going to be as important against Indy as recent ones have been.

This means DeMeco Ryans' replacement in the Texans base defense, Darryl Sharpton, will get additional snaps.

Is that better or worse? As good as Andrew Luck will be coming out of Stanford, defenses are going to want to play the rebuilding Colts in 2012.

The sort of bold move the Jaguars were due to make thanks to plenty of salary-cap room and a new owner who’s talked about being all-in has arrived.

While the Jaguars signed receiver Laurent Robinson and backup quarterback Chad Henne, the addition of former Giants cornerback Aaron Ross is a bigger move.

Adam Schefter reports the Jaguars and Ross have agreed on a three-year deal worth up to $15.3 million.

Ross should bring the Jaguars a great deal in play and leadership -- he started in both the Giants’ Super Bowl wins over the Patriots.

Corner depth was the Jaguars’ second-biggest need on defense, behind only the sort of special pass-rushing end that many teams are searching for fruitlessly.

Jacksonville had previously re-signed Rashean Mathis, a one-time staple. He’s coming off a torn ACL, however, and his deal is an incentive-laden one-year package.

The Jaguars now have Ross, Derek Cox, Mathis and nickel corner Drew Coleman.

That’s a pretty solid stable to fill out the defensive backfield with safeties Dawan Landry and Dwight Lowery.

Despite managing to re-sign end Jeremy Mincey, end and receiver remain the primary needs.

The defense is an end away from being loaded, having now added a quality six pack of veterans in the past two seasons: linebackers Paul Posluszny and Clint Session, safeties Landry and Lowery and corners Ross and Coleman.

The Jaguars won’t be as active in free agency this year as they were last year, according to general manager Gene Smith, writes Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union.

I hope that doesn’t prove to be the case. The team could go a long way toward solving at least two of its three primary issues -- receiver, end, cornerback -- in free agency and it has the money.

Smith: "I think [owner Shahid Khan] understands the philosophy is to build your team through the draft. I think most teams have figured that out. Where you don’t want to be is in pro free agency year in and year out. That’s not our philosophy. It’s to supplement the college draft."

Sure, the philosophy is to build through the draft. But the core players you need on your roster left from the drafts before Smith got control aren’t really around. So now you get those guy in free agency, the way the Jaguars got Paul Posluszny, Clint Session and Dawan Landry last year.

I hope the Jaguars don’t avoid free agency on principle, to prove they are centered on building though the draft. Mario Williams or Robert Mathis or Vincent Jackson or Brandon Carr -- better yet a couple of those guys -- can help transform the Jaguars.

Smith can have the semantics.

Emphasize that free agency is supplemental all you like.

Just so long as you’re not going forward thinking a good draft can do the bulk of the work to get Blaine Gabbert the weapons he needs and to give the Jaguars the special pass-rusher they covet.

Khan’s pushed his chips to the middle for the table and has said he’s all in.

All in means at least a couple big moves in free agency.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jacksonville defensive tackle Tyson Alualu had surgery on the balky knee that kept him from approaching his peak performance in 2011, Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey said Friday at the scouting combine.

“We’re anxious to see how he is when he feels 100 percent,” Mularkey said. “I know that when we played him when I was with Atlanta, he was a disruptive player on that knee. Here’s a guy that’s going to hopefully come back full speed and see how much more he can improve from it. He should be ready to go by the time we get to camp."

Mularkey said the operation was not serious and is expected to solve Alualu’s issues.

The Jaguars can be an excellent defense, especially if they add a big-time pass rushing end. They are at their best when Alualu and Terrance Knighton clog up the middle and force teams to try to run outside.

Mularkey had less to say about other injured players like defensive ends Aaron Kampman (knee) and Matt Roth (concussions), linebacker Clint Session (concussions ) and cornerbacks Derek Cox (knee) and Rashean Mathis (knee).

“Our first camp will be on April 16, again I’m going to call it a veteran orientation camp … we’re hoping to see if they are ready for that but it’s not going to be a setback if they’re not,” Mularkey said.

Dear Duane Brown,

When the NFL fined you $7,500 for punching Jacksonville’s Clint Session in a sideline interaction on Oct. 30, I took it as the final word on the matter. I wrote it put the issue to rest, confirming it was a punch as I believed, despite your denial.

In its speedy wisdom, the NFL has now retracted the fine, reports Mark Berman of Fox in Houston.

You were tripped for sure and braced yourself when you did. But that you did so with a closed first rather than an open palm was highly unusual to me. I guess that’s how you fall.

Rather than revisit my opinion and interpretation on the whole matter, I’d like to apologize for giving you so much grief over it.

Congrats on winning the appeal.

Again, my apologies.

Sincerely,

Paul Kuharsky

Clint Session and Matt Roth talked concussions today, and they said the sensible things the league and most fans would expect to hear.

Roth told Tania Ganguli that he thought about playing through lingering headaches, but asked around and changed his mind.

"With all we know about head injuries now, it’s not something I want to risk the rest of my life with head injuries," Roth said. "... I think in the long run, for myself and for this team, I think that would probably be the best decision."

Said Session: "This is one thing that can affect you and it can affect your family. You get situations where you end up having dementia, all those things that those boxers get, all those different head injuries, they’re available to you as a football player once you start having those head injuries. I’m just trying to attack these symptoms. Quit while I notice them and just evaluate as much as I can and just try to get some peace."

Perhaps their assessments signal a change in thinking for NFL players with regard to head injuries. Their teammate, running back Maurice Jones-Drew, recently said he’d hide concussion symptoms in order to return to action.

Concussions are simply an occupational hazard, Jones-Drew said.

"The only reason they're making a big deal about concussions right now is because the league is getting sued over it," Jones-Drew said. "Before this, you never heard about it. A couple of years ago, you didn't hear anything about it. Let's not make something out of nothing. Yeah, people are getting messed up. That happens. Most of the time it's because they're not wearing mouth pieces and they're probably doing some other stuff. Obviously, back in the day they were doing some things that weren't going to help your body out. It's 2012; there's ways to fix your body. Sometimes that means you have to pay the price."

I appreciate Jones-Drew sharing a stance I am sure many guys around the league share. It helps give us a three-dimensional picture of the issue. Spurred by the threat of law suits or not, the league is hoping more and more players will increasingly think and act like Roth instead.

The Jaguars couldn’t have had a much more costly loss in Cleveland last week. The defeat featured end of game debacles in play-calling and clock management. Veteran linebacker Clint Session was lost for the season after suffering his second concussion of the year. And Friday the team put cornerback Derek Cox on IR with a knee injury.

Cox joins Rashean Mathis on the list of Jacksonville cornerbacks out for the season.

As Andre Johnson returns to action for the Texans on Sunday and Matt Leinart takes his place as Houston’s quarterback, the explosive and powerful receiver will be working against Will Middleton or Ashton Youboty.

Few teams have third and fourth cornerbacks who are on the level of their first and second. But that’s a substantial drop off. Veteran nickelback Drew Coleman now ranks as the team’s best and most experienced corner, but he’s apparently viewed as strictly a slot guy and it doesn’t appear the team plans to use him as a corner in the base defense.

The Jaguars filled Cox’s roster spot by adding quarterback Den LeFevour, who was signed off the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad.

Russell Allen is a capable linebacker who should thrive playing with Daryl Smith and Paul Posluszny the rest of the way for the Jaguars.

But Allen is simply not as dynamic or as impactful as the guy he’s replacing, Clint Session.

The Jaguars put Session on IR after he suffered his second concussion of the season Sunday in Cleveland.

It’s a disappointing end to the year for the big-hitting linebacker, who joined the Jaguars as a free agent from Indianapolis before the season. He arrived with a bit of a reputation for getting banged up, and it’s unfortunate he’s adding to that.

Allen made the Jaguars in 2009 as an undrafted free agent from San Diego State.

The challenge for him is to do his part without trying to be Session. Posluszny and Smith are outstanding players having good seasons for a defense that’s had to carry Jacksonville this season.

Sunday the Jaguars hope to disrupt Matt Leinart in his first start in place of Matt Schaub, the Houston Texans quarterback who’s out with a serious foot injury.

Here is Scouts Inc.’s report on Allen:

"Allen is an active linebacker with a good nose for the ball. He is quick to locate the ball and takes good angles to get to the play. He has adequate lateral range and shows good effort to get to the perimeter and make plays near the sideline. He can struggle when stepping up into the hole and trying to take on blockers and leverage his way to the play, but he generally does a good job of playing the edges and slipping blocks. He is most effective when he is protected up front and left free to run and make plays. He gets good depth in his drops and shows improving route recognition."

Reading the coverage ...

Houston Texans

Andre Johnson’s ready to move from rehab back to playing, while Matt Leinart’s working on a different sort of rehab with a second act of his career, says Jeffrey Martin of the Houston Chronicle.

Danieal Manning returned to practice and could play in Jacksonville, says John McClain of the Chronicle.

The Texans worked out five quarterbacks on Monday -- Kellen Clemens, Trent Edwards, Brodie Croyle, Jeff Garcia and Chase Clement. They’ll likely sign one after they get a second opinion/verdict on Matt Schaub Wednesday, says McClain.

Football Outsiders is impressed with the Texans' balance, says Stephanie Stradley.

Indianapolis Colts

Whether it's Curtis Painter or Dan Orlovsky under center, the Colts’ offense must show life, show much better ball security and alleviate the pressure on a shaken team, says Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star.

The 2-minute drill lacks some serious punch, says Phil Richards of the Star.

A recap of Bill Polian’s radio show from Brad Wells of Stampede Blue. You’ll find all the usual contradictions.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Jack Del Rio said he didn’t have any big issues with the end-of-game sequence for the Jaguars in Cleveland. Vito Stellino of the Times-Union runs through it all.

The Jaguars didn’t offer injury updates for defensive end Matt Roth or linebacker Clint Session, says Tania Ganguli of the T-U.

Tennessee Titans

Matt Hasselbeck had a sore elbow and forearm but is expected to start Sunday against the Buccaneers, says Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.

The Titans let LeGarrette Blount go after training camp last year. Now they’ll try to stop a guy who runs angry when they face the Bucs, says Wyatt.

Reading the coverage ...

Houston Texans

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle looks at all the people involved in building the Texans’ roster depth. GM Rick Smith and the front office have done some very good work, but we shouldn’t forget the influence they’ve given Wade Phillips.

Quintin Demps had a pick in his first game back with the Texans in another chance, says Jeffrey Martin of the Chronicle.

Indianapolis Colts

How the mighty have fallen. Colts-Patriots has long been the league’s premier matchup. Now it’s been flexed out of prime time to save us. Phillip B. Wilson of the Indianapolis Star has this story.

Mike Chappell of the Star on the issues the team has with the local media.

Jimmy Johnson says the Colts should take Andrew Luck and deal Peyton Manning, says Mike Berardino of the Sun-Sentinel. Hat tip to Mark Alesia.

“Somehow I think Bill Polian is so smart, so shrewd, that he figured out how to leave the Colts in good shape for the next 10-15 years … and this is his plan,” says Clark Judge of CBSSports.com.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars rebuilt linebacking group is living up to the billing, says Tania Ganguli of the Times-Union. It’s not easy to find a better trip than Paul Posluszny, Daryl Smith and Clint Session.

Linebacker Mike Lockley was promoted from the practice squad says Ganguli.

Tennessee Titans

Despite his ties to Nashville and the Titans, Albert Haynesworth is unlikely to be heading back to Tennessee, says John Glennon of The Tennessean.

If the concept of “Dreads on a Stick” is of interest to you, here’s you link. Chris Johnson’s apparently fighting with former business associates over the promotional concept, says Glennon.

Resist the urge to call for Jake Locker, urges Music City Miracles.

Houston left tackle Duane Brown's sideline "interaction" with Jaguars linebacker Clint Session last Sunday created a lot of debate here at the AFC South blog. (Catch up here and here.)

The league has now officially chimed in, proclaiming Brown's action a punch.

Here's what a league spokesman wrote me:

"Duane Brown was fined $7,500 for unnecessary roughness. Specifically, on a pass play, he unnecessarily punched the opponent."

Yes, the play in question -- a strip sack by Session of Matt Schaub that resulted in a two-lateral return with the ball in Session's hands at the end -- is identified as a pass play, as Schaub intended to pass.

And thus ends our mini-punchgate.

Carry on.

I beg each and every American to pause today and consider the issue of shrinking accountability.

Are we absolutely incapable of owning what we say or do anymore?

After linebacker Clint Session forced a Houston fumble at Reliant Stadium Sunday, he wound up with the ball on the return after two laterals. And after he was tackled out of bounds, Houston left tackle Duane Brown clearly, deliberately, delivered a punch with his left hand to Session’s chest before he got up. (Tania Ganguli of the Times-Union writes about it here.)

Brown’s explanation on Houston’s 1510 The Game radio?

He called the accusation of a punch “outrageous” and made it as if it was merely him catching his balance. Yes, if you lose your balance, you generally close your fist and look for the nearest solar plexus as you attempt to steady yourself.

Brown did get pushed, but looking at the replay I have no problem saying he saw the shove as an opportunity to land a blow before getting up to deal with the shover, who is not identifiable on video.

And that Session offered no objection doesn’t make it OK.

People are not that dumb.

Brown threw a punch. What you do when you’ve thrown a punch that’s on film is say something like, I lost my poise for a second there and it’s a mistake. I’m not proud of it. I’m sorry about it and you can expect I’ll try not to lose my poise again.

If the league doesn’t issue a fine here, it’s a poor call.

And if Brown does get a FedEx envelope notifying him that money will be taken out of his paycheck, he’d be wise not to appeal it using the weak I-lost-my-balance defense.

Own it, man.

ESPN Stats & Information can now delve into playtime percentages, a great feature we will use often.

My initial reaction to the available info was merely to ask for the numbers on some key situational guys and some stars from each of our teams. Keep in mind some are influenced by time missed because of injuries.

Here’s the percentage of their team's snaps on offense or defense they’ve played.

Houston Texans: CB Kareem Jackson 74.4, CB Jason Allen 52.8, WR Kevin Walter 66.8, WR Jacoby Jones 71.5, DT Shaun Cody 35.9, DT Earl Mitchell 25.6.

Indianapolis Colts: TE Dallas Clark 86.9, TE Brody Eldridge 41.3, WR Austin Collie 59.2, CB Jacob Lacey 75.3, DE Dwight Freeney 63.1, DE Robert Mathis 64.3, DE Jamaal Anderson, 38.3, DE Tyler Brayton 45.6, S David Caldwell 44.1, S Joe Lefeged 38.1.

Jacksonville Jaguars: LB Clint Session 42.3, FB Greg Jones 40.3, RB Maurice Jones-Drew, 71.9, CB Drew Coleman 53.0, DE John Chick 25.3.

Tennessee Titans: DE Derrick Morgan 57.7, LB Will Witherspoon 83.8, DT Karl Klug 50.7, DT Jurrell Casey 56.1, TE Craig Stevens 33.6. TE Jared Cook 62.1, RB Chris Johnson 70.7.