Day Five Colts Training Camp Notebook: Sloppy Return To Practice

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INDIANAPOLIS – The major story on Tuesday was all about Andrew Luck and his calf strain now halting his Training Camp practice participation.

But there was still a practice on the field, and it was one of the sloppier sessions we’ve seen from the Colts at Grand Park.

The Colts returned to practice on Tuesday, after an off day on Monday, and practiced for a little more than 90 minutes in shorts and helmets.

Here are some tidbits from Tuesday’s fifth practice of Training Camp:

Officials were tossing flags all over the practice field on Tuesday. Frank Reich said after practice he would be leading off a team meeting later in the day referencing the penalty-filled day his team had on the practice field. “Of course we do tell the officials to call it a little bit tighter, like the pass interference stuff because we want our guys to kind of get used to it, so we need to clean that up,” Reich said after practice. “We’ve talked about that as a team that we’ve got to become a less penalized team, more disciplined in that way so that’s certainly a goal.” The offense put the ball on the grass a couple of times, too. Offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni was so fired up at one point, he yelled to his players, “STUDY YOUR SH*T!” It was definitely not the cleanest practice for the Colts.
With a flag-filled day spilling over to 1-on-1 drills, I thought the pass catchers got the better of the defensive backs on Tuesday. Marcus Johnson made a really nice grab over Rock Ya-Sin, which was probably the highlight from Tuesday’s session.
We again saw the Colts initially turn to Quincy Wilson in rounding out their nickel group, with the starting defense, on Tuesday. But in the next two full 11-on-11 sessions, the Colts had Rock Ya-Sin in the ‘starting’ nickel group. Again, we continue to see lots of interchanging in cornerback spots 3-7.
Rookie Parris Campbell (hamstring) was a spectator at Tuesday’s practice, so the top 3 receiver set remained the same: T.Y. Hilton, Devin Funchess and Chester Rogers. With the latest Luck news, you worry how that might impact newcomers like Funchess and Campbell as they try to build a rapport with No. 12 before the season opener on September 9^th. Rogers continues to be a steady contributor, which is key for him retaining his roster spot. During a special teams period on Tuesday, Campbell was on the sideline tossing balls back and forth with Funchess.
It’s been sort of a quiet camp in team settings for Devin Funchess, but he did beat Quincy Wilson out of the slot for a completion from Jacoby Brissett on Tuesday. Again, it’s hard to truly evaluate this offense with Brissett under center. But it looks like Brissett will be leading the starting offense for several more practices, and maybe the entire preseason?

Tuesday was a nice day for rookie Khari Willis. He first rotated in as the 3^rd safety, behind Malik Hooker and Clayton Geathers. Willis, who had a pass deflection on Tuesday, was also back as a safety in the ‘starting’ dime package look.
I’d say the highlight from Tuesday’s practice were two completions from Chad Kelly and Phillip Walker. Kelly threw a great corner route ball into the arms of Reece Fountain, who also ran a very nice route for the completion. And Walker’s big play came on a deep completion to Marcus Johnson, with Jalen Collins close in coverage.
You can tell a definite difference in how Deon Cain and Ross Travis are dealing in their ACL returns. First, Cain tore his in the preseason opener last year and Travis tore his in the preseason finale, so there’s about a 3-week gap in their respective injuries. At camp this year, you have Travis wearing a bulky brace that he took off mid-way through practice on Tuesday after making a really nice catch near the sideline. Cain, unlike Travis, is wearing no brace and has showed zero signs of limping or favoring his injured knee during camp. It’s still impressive to see how much these two have practiced early on in camp.
Tuesday’s practice ended with a red zone drill, where Quincy Wilson forced an incompletion on a ball thrown down the seam to Eric Ebron and then Pierre Desir broke up a pass intended for Chester Rogers.
One defensive personnel note that has certainly changed since post-draft: Ben Banogu is going to be a defensive end in 2019 and Matthew Adams is the favorite to retain his ‘starting’ SAM linebacker spot. Banogu continues to take reps exclusively at defensive end. And it’s been Adams as the SAM, when the Colts have used a 4-3 base defense look this camp. Now, it remains to be seen just how much a third linebacker is used come the regular season, and that’s something that will vary week-to-week.
Some great insight, and detail, from Justin Houston on Tuesday about facing Anthony Castonzo daily in practice: “I love going against (him). He helps me get better. I think he’s one of the best left tackles in the game, so any day I can compete against him, and one of the best tackles in the game, it’s going to better me. I love going against him every day…His technique is amazing to me. I love the way he works his hands. It’s constantly got me working, because he never does the same thing over and over. It makes it hard for me to try and figure out what he’s doing. I can never figure him out, so it’s just constantly got me working and thinking at all times.”

Wanted to sneak in this Frank Reich quote from Tuesday on defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad. With Jabaal Sheard out, it’s been Muhammad serving as a starting defensive end, opposite Justin Houston. Here is Reich on Muhammad: “He has a lot of talent and he’s what you call an effort player. Every player should be that way, but he’s like a 10 out of 10 when it comes to effort. You know he’s going to finish every play. So that attitude is contagious. That’s where he has made his plays, that combination of attitude and effort.”
Here were the Colts who did not practice on Tuesday: RB-Spencer Ware (muscle injury with a boot on his right foot/leg, on PUP list for 1-2 weeks), DE-Jabaal Sheard (sore knee, has missed 4 straight practices), DE-Kemoko Turay (shoulder, has missed 3 straight practices), WR-Parris Campbell (hamstring).
ROSTER MOVES: Following Tuesday’s practice, the Colts made a couple of moves at the back end of their roster. They waived G-William Poehls and LB-Drew Lewis, and signed WR-Roger Lewis and G-Ian Silberman. Lewis comes to the Colts with 28 career games of experience (with the Titans and Giants). The Colts have a couple of banged up receivers in Parris Campbell and Penny Hart right now. Silberman was actually with the Colts back in 2017. He’s a former 6^th round pick and has played for 6 NFL teams.
The Colts are will have two more morning practices this week before another off day on Friday. They will return to work for four straight afternoon practices before heading to Buffalo for their preseason opener.