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INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts had their last practice of the 2019 offseason on Tuesday afternoon, putting the cap on 34 sessions they’ve had over the last 4 months.
Tuesday was also the final 90-man practice of 2019, as the Colts have their preseason finale on Thursday, leading into Saturday’s roster cuts.
Here are some tidbits from the Colts practicing one more time before taking on the Bengals this Thursday:
- Some surprising, yet positive, news on Tuesday from the Colts: it looks like rookie WR-Parris Campbell will play on Thursday, in the team’s preseason finale. “It’s looking like he will play this week, a little bit,” Frank Reich said on Tuesday. “We will see how he does in the game. If he makes it to the game, which we are hopeful he will, then with the number of plays he plays, we will see how he makes it out of that to see if he’s ready for Week 1.” That’s very encouraging on Campbell, who practiced on Monday and Tuesday, in his first work in over a month. I’ll be very curious to watch Campbell on Thursday. Would the Colts even dare put him back at kick returner in Week 1, if they feel comfortable with his hamstring? Given Marlon Mack and Anthony Castonzo’s issues with their respective hamstring injuries last preseason, it’s a little surprising to see Campbell playing after just two practices. Campbell’s presence could provide a jolt to this offense looking for chunk plays, via high percentage play calls.
- As far other playing time for the Colts on Thursday, Reich said the Colts will be resting quite a few guys on Thursday night: “The 1s won’t play and there might even be a couple of other guys who don’t play,” the head coach said. This is wise, and tons of teams handle things this way in the final week of the preseason.
- The advice to Jacoby Brissett from his head coach? “Have a plan every day. Keep it simple. And don’t try to be a hero. Just play good football. You have good guys around you.”
- On Tuesday, Frank Reich detailed the responsibilities on the plate of Jacoby Brissett. A lot falls on the QB in regards to handling pre-snap protection looks and making sure the numbers are ideal in the run game. “Part of I think the strength of our system is we empower players and it starts with the quarterback,” Reich said. “He has to have the mastery of the offense. He has to know the run game. We teach the run game. And the quarterbacks have to know the why behind why are we running a run play? Not just throw the football. Because we feel like there’s 5 or 7 runs in a game that we call, that the defense might not be the best look and you got to get us out. And if you don’t understand what that looks like and why we are asking you to do what you’re doing, then you are not going to put the team in the best position and we need you to put us in the best position to win games. That’s required. Then when it comes to protections, it’s the same way. Our center handles a lot of it, but ultimately the quarterback has the last say. He has the trump card. He sees it all. You have to be a master at protections. Jacoby has worked very hard at it and he has become that.” Reich added on Tuesday that the Colts “place a lot of emphasis” on avoiding sacks and getting the ball out quickly.
- Frank Reich has put a focus on his team starting fast this season, but he’s not being very vocal about it. Reich has held back from drilling that home to his football team. Since 2014, the Colts are 1-9 in the first two weeks of regular season. This is what Reich had to say on Tuesday about wanting to start fast: “I don’t talk about it that much because I think the way to get a faster start is not to talk about it,” the head coach said. “I’ve had people say this to me in the past, ‘You have to get off to a fast start.’ Yeah, we are trying to score every time you touch the ball. But it’s more about playing the type of football, making the (right) kinds of decisions. What you find most of all is, for us, it’s more about don’t make the mistakes. We are going to make plays. Let’s just not make the mistakes that are going to beat ourselves. And I think that’s what happened to us early in the year. We were making mistakes, turning the ball over, making mistakes on both sides of the ball that were getting us beat. For us to get off to a better start this year, it means we have to make fewer mistakes. I know we are going to make plays because we have talented players, but we have to play disciplined football to not make the big mistakes.” The Colts will open up at the Chargers and at the Titans to start the season, which are two of the tougher games on this year’s slate.
- With Jacoby Brissett now under center in Indianapolis, Frank Reich said the Colts might see some more pressure/blitzing from opposing defenses. “They might test Jacoby with pressure,” Reich acknowledged. “It’s just going to be more dependent on the coordinators. Some coordinators have philosophies that with new guys, ‘We are going to pressure more.’ I’ve been around other coordinators that have said, ‘We don’t want to pressure more. We want to make it more difficult by putting more guys in coverage and make him see tight windows.’ I think that’s a game-by-game decision.”
- This sounds crazy, but hear me out: If the Colts believe Phillip Walker is their backup quarterback for the first two weeks of the season, would they rest him on Thursday night? I’d be very surprised if they did that, but it’s not the craziest question. Chad Kelly can’t be the backup to start the year (he’s suspended for the first two games). So, it’s either Walker behind Jacoby Brissett, or some other QB currently not in the building. What a crazy question to even be debating, but that’s what happens when Andrew Luck abruptly retires.
- Adam Vinatieri said he first heard some chatter on Andrew Luck possibly retiring late in Saturday’s game. “I think we were all shocked,” Vinny, 46, said on Tuesday. “I definitely was, he’s a 29-year-old superstar quarterback. I know he’s been going through some stuff over the years. It’s a tough game. Throughout the history of football there have been people that have retired and you kind of shake your head and go, ‘Wow. Really? I mean really, is this really happening?’ But at the end of the day he had to deal with injuries and different things. I wish him the best moving forward for him and for our team. It’s a crazy sport, things never stop, the wheel keeps rolling no matter what.”
- Local product WR-Krishawn Hogan has had a such a strong preseason and camp. Hogan is probably still on the outside looking in for the 53-man roster, but he’s “staying positive mentally” as he enters a weekend where 37 guys on every team will lose their jobs. Hogan could/should make the practice squad.
- The upbeat WR-Reece Fountain was in the locker room on Tuesday, scooting around with a boot on his fractured and dislocated ankle. Fountain, who is on injured reserve after suffering a brutal injury on the final day of Training Camp, said he actually caught some balls off the jugs machine on Tuesday. The second-year wideout has yet to watch the play that ended his season, but says he will eventually: “It all happened so fast. I just remember engaging (a Browns linebacker) and we were at a standstill. In my mind, I’m thinking, ‘This play is about over. We are about to be done.’ Then it snapped. I honestly think he got tripped up and fell on me, but the only thing I literally remember from that moment is that when it happened, both of our eyes got big. And I thought when I heard the snap that he hurt something. But then once I realized I was falling down and he was starting to cry, I looked down and I’m like, ‘Oh man.’”
- We haven’t seen WR-Devin Funchess (back) at practice in a few days. Frank Reich said Funchess had ‘an incident’ in practice in which he hurt his back. “A back spasm type thing that we are just trying to make sure we get him ready for Week 1 and play it safe,” Frank Reich said. “He’s making good progress and we feel fairly confident he’ll be ready.” Funchess did miss a game last season due to a back injury.
- In regards to injuries, DE-Jabaal Sheard (knee) and RB-Jordan Wilkins (foot) remain my best bets to possibly miss the season opener. Wilkins appears to be closer to returning than Sheard.
- On Tuesday, Tony Dungy joined the Dan Patrick Show and touched on Andrew Luck’s retirement. Dungy was at Colts Camp on Thursday, August 15th, just two days after Chris Ballard had said that Luck’s new injury was more in the ankle region. “He was working like a maniac, throwing balls 1,000 miles an hour,” Dungy said of what he saw from Luck. “I left thinking maybe not Week 1, but Week 2, Week 3, he’ll be out there.”
- Here were the Colts who did not appear to be practicing on Tuesday: DE-Jabaal Sheard, RB-Jordan Wilkins, RB-Jonathan Williams (ribs), CB-Kenny Moore (thumb), WR-Devin Funchess. One note I don’t think we’ve mentioned lately, DT-Tyquan Lewis (knee) has practiced this week.
- Tuesday was the final practice of the preseason for the Colts. They will now head to Cincinnati on Wednesday for this Thursday’s preseason finale. Roster cuts from 90 to 53 players are due by Saturday at 4:00 PM, with the Colts returning to practice on Monday heading into next weekend’s regular season opener.
