INDIANAPOLIS – That one injury the Colts announced on Sunday proved to be notable.
Rookie wideout Michael Pittman is expected to miss multiple games after needing surgery late on Sunday night for a lower leg compartment injury.
Pittman appeared to suffer the injury with about 5 minutes to go in the first half, walking to the locker room with what was first announced as an ankle injury. After missing the start of the second half, Pittman eventually returned to the game and actually caught a pair of balls from Jacoby Brissett in the final quarter.
But symptoms of the injury worsened once Pittman went home on Sunday. That led to the rookie alerting the Colts medical staff and having surgery.
NFL Network has reported that Pittman will miss the next three games, returning after the bye week for the Colts matchup on November 1st against the Lions.
Frank Reich mentioned on Monday that Pittman’s surgery went well, which is especially key due to a possible infection that can arise with this specific injury.
With Pittman now joining Parris Campbell (see more below) on the sideline, the Colts will be counting on Zach Pascal, Reece Fountain, Ashton Dulin and rookie Dezmon Patmon to aid T.Y. Hilton. The Colts could also promote Marcus Johnson from the practice squad.
What else did we learn from the Colts on Monday?
- In better injury news, the Colts will get CB-Rock Ya-Sin (stomach illness) back to practice at some point this week, according to Reich. Ya-Sin has missed the last two games since needing surgery earlier this month.
- Speaking of Parris Campbell, he is scheduled to undergo surgery at some point for his injured PCL, MCL. But the Colts are still not ruling Campbell out for the 2020 season, Reich said on Monday. Campbell still is expected to miss a substantial amount of time.
- Along with Ya-Sin, the Colts are expected to have TE-Trey Burton (calf) and DT-Sheldon Day (knee) practice this week for the first time during the regular season. Burton and Day are both eligible to come off injured reserve this week. Day hasn’t practiced in full pads in 2020, missing all of those sessions during camp. Burton injured his calf back in late August. You know the former Chicago Bear would love to play against his former team this weekend, but he has to juggle rushing back—something he admitted he did last season, leading to an injury-filled campaign.
- As Reich watched film of his team’s 36-7 victory on Monday, he found himself using more of that critical eye. “We have to get better,” the head coach said . “This game is so funny. You go through a game, you win by that margin of points and of course you feel good about the victory, then you watch the film and you say, ‘Ok, we’ve got good players. We did a lot of good things but there’s so much room to get better. And we must and have to get better.’” Specifically, Reich wanted to calm the headlines down about the Colts having the top yardage defense in the league through three weeks. “Obviously I’m fired up about our defense and I think we are going to play great the whole year, but it’s a small sample size and we still have a lot to prove,” the head coach said. “We believe in our guys, we believe we are going to be a top notch defense when it’s all said and done, but it’s a small sample size and we shouldn’t be getting too giddy about how many yards ahead we are in the stats. We have a lot of good teams that we’ll be facing. We have to play our best football ahead of us. But really happing with how we are playing so far.”
- We saw third-year back Jordan Wilkins carry the ball 9 times for 39 yards (4.3 yards per carry) on Sunday. It’s a tough juggle to find Wilkins consistent carries, but he is definitely someone the Colts value. “We love Jordan,” Reich said on Monday. “We’ve loved him since Day One, we think he’s a really talented runner. He’s never been the guy, but I can just tell you that literally Chris (Ballard) and I have had so many conversations about him. Last year, he would have got a few opportunities when Marlon (Mack) was hurt, but then he also got hurt, and that’s when Jonathan Williams came in and had a few 100-yard games. Jordan missed out on that opportunity there. We have a lot of confidence in him. He’s running the ball really well. We made a conscious effort that he had his handful of carries in there this week. We’ll continue to mix those guys up.”
- Frank Reich loved the field position his team fully controlled again in Week Three. The Colts had a 16-yard advantage in average drive start against the Jets. “Really good day in hidden yardage,” the head coach said on Monday. “Really the highlight and something we can continue to build on.”
- On Monday, Reich was asked about each of his specialists, P-Rigoberto Sanchez and rookie K-Rodrigo Blankenship. “Rigo is really top-notch,” Reich said of his punter. “He’s been that way. This (past) week in practice, he had an unbelievable week. When you see what he’s doing in practice, it was just phenomenal. The way he’s hitting the ball, how accurate he is, how explosive his leg is, he can put it anywhere he wants to. He’s just really talented. Couldn’t be happier with him.” And what about Blankenship, his rookie kicker who is 8-of-10 on field goals this year, and perfect on extra points? “Perfection is the standard, that’s always what you want, you are not happy with any miss, but you realize he’s making good progress and we feel good about his development. We want to make every kick, so we’ll keep striving to do that.”
- The Colts will get back to practice on Wednesday, preparing to take on the Bears (with defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano) in Chicago this Sunday. Reich will also see another familiar face in Nick Foles being named the starting QB for the Week 4 matchup.
