Colts Notebook: JuJu Brents Return Coming?

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INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in nearly a month, the Colts will play at home.

It’s the Titans (3-11) coming to Lucas Oil Stadium (6-8) for a 1:00 PM kickoff in Week 16.

Here are takeaways from the Colts first practice of the week:

Hello, JuJu Brents. The former 2^nd round pick from Indy injured his knee in the season opener. The Colts are opening up the window for Brents to possibly play this season, returning him to practice on Wednesday. Around a half dozen injuries have forced Brents to play in just 10 of a possible 31 games. Some might say a guy who has missed 3 months should just sit the rest of the season, with 3 games left, but Brents desperately needs reps as he reaches the mid-way point of his rookie contract at the end of this season. Any reps for him is important. Period. Of course, Brents playing on Sunday is no guarantee. We just saw Ryan Kelly and Jaylon Carlies return to practice last week, but not play in the game.

Wideout Alec Pierce remains in concussion protocol and did not practice on Wednesday. Pierce has yet to miss a game in 2024 (has only missed 1 in his 3-year career). Potentially not having his vertical threat could impact how much the Colts can stretch the Titans. Pierce still leads the NFL in yards per catch at 22.5.

We didn’t see Ryan Kelly (knee) make it all the way back to game action last week, despite practicing all week. The Colts opted for Danny Pinter, over Tanor Bortolini for the starting job against Denver, liking what the Ball State product showed against New England. Kelly said on Wednesday he thinks there’s a “high chance” he will be back for Sunday against the Titans.

Along with Kelly, linebacker Jaylon Carlies is the other injured reserve to return player to watch this week. The Colts still are on the low end of the 21-day window to get Kelly and/or Carlies back to the 53-man roster. For either to play on Sunday, the Colts will need to make roster moves.

The Colts will end this season going 1-7 against teams with records better than .500. The lone win was against Justin Fields and the Steelers. Why haven’t the Colts stepped up in those higher competition games? “That’s a great question,” Shane Steichen said on Wednesday. “We’ve got to raise our standard. It starts with myself. We’ve got to be better. I told our guys today, ‘We’ve got to play for each other.’ We’ve got to play together and attack every single day to get better, so we can play a complementary football game.”

In facing the Titans again, a lot has changed from when these teams met in Week 6, as the Colts came back to beat Tennessee, 20-17. The Colts didn’t have Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor or DeForest Buckner in that game, with the Titans starting Will Levis. The Colts benefitted from a 60-yard penalty yardage advantage and a banged-up Michael Pittman Jr. made a couple of huge plays on 50/50 balls.

One of the bigger mysteries of this Colts season is they are struggling to score at a consistently high level this season. In 2023, the Colts scored 21 points or more in 12 of their 17 games. With 3 games to go this season, the Colts have scored 21 points or more in just 6 of their 14 games. And that is with a healthier Jonathan Taylor, more depth at wide receiver and an on paper QB duo of Year 2 Anthony Richardson/Joe Flacco vs. rookie Anthony Richardson/Gardner Minshew.

Honestly, the path to the playoffs for the Colts doesn’t sound as outrageous as I thought it would after losing to the Broncos. They need to do their part (win out), but the help from other teams is mostly centered around the Chargers losing 2 of 3. For a closer look at all this, head here.

The scene inside of Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday could get a tad interesting on Sunday, if the Colts begin to struggle. Yes, it’s the first Colts home game in nearly a month, and this one will not have Lions fans chanting for “Jared Goff.” But if the Colts start to trail against the lowly Titans, you are going to hear some boo birds. The Colts are favored by around 4 points in Week 16.

It sounds like the Titans are thinking long and hard about benching Will Levis and starting Mason Rudolph for Sunday’s game in Indy. They benched Levis in their loss to the Bengals last week, and Rudolph actually performed pretty well, going 21-of-26 the rest of the game. Rudolph started 3 games for the injured Levis earlier this year, throwing 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on the season.