INDIANAPOLIS – For a second straight week, the Colts were working remotely on Monday and Tuesday.
The NFL has teams working virtually on Monday’s and Tuesday’s to help mitigate the COVID-19 risk during the holiday season.
What did we learn from the Colts on Tuesday afternoon?
- Tuesday was the first time we’ve heard from DeForest Buckner since he tested positive from COVID-19 and had to miss the Titans game (on November 29th). As you’d expect, Buckner was quite upset he had to watch that game from home. And his family didn’t enjoy that either. “It was very difficult for me to watch especially because I was fully capable of playing in that game,” Buckner, who was asymptomatic with COVID-19, said on Tuesday. “I was a screamer (watching the Titans game). My wife was telling me that I need to go back to work soon. I’m pretty sure I was driving her and the baby crazy.” Sunday was another example of how insanely important Buckner is to the Colts defense. There’s a reason why the Colts gave up the No. 13 overall pick for the defensive tackle. And I think Colts fans agree with Buckner’s wife that they like it better when he’s at work, too.
- Sunday was the first time this season we’ve seen a healthy cornerback group with T.J. Carrie (36 snaps) outsnapping Rock Ya-Sin (29 snaps). In the last two weeks, the Colts have really scaled back the play time for Ya-Sin. “T.J. has played well during the course of the year,” Matt Eberflus said on Tuesday. “Rock has played well during the course of the year, so we feel we have two good corners there that can play football for us. We are rotating those guys to maximize our potential as a defense. We put T.J. in there some for certain situations and do situational football for us and we will continue to do that.”
- In facing Deshaun Watson, we saw the Colts employ one of their more exotic game plans from a blitzing/pre-snap disguise look with their pressures. They sacked Deshaun Watson 5 times, to go along with some very close calls. “We’ve done some of those concepts in the last few years,” Matt Eberflus said on Tuesday. “We have some new things that we’re are doing. We do that every single week, maybe not at that rate. Maybe go back to the Lions, we had more pressures because of the effect it had on the opposing offense.” This will be something to watch in the second matchup coming a week from Sunday.
- I thought this quote from Nick Sirianni about Kenny Moore on Tuesday was so accurate: “I think he’s a physical player that you are not going to be able to go block. For whatever reason, that’s one of the first things that comes to mind, ‘How are you going to get Kenny Moore blocked when you are running certain plays? And I’m not just talking run plays. I’m talking about screens, different things like that because he really has a knack for the football. He’s sticky in coverage. You are going to have to run good routes, with good fundamentals and technique to get open on him. We see that every day in 1-on-1s. And then we’ve got competitive guys on offense, but they know when they are going against Kenny, if you are not on your game and not being competitive that day, he’ll expose you.”
- When Anthony Castonzo is out of the lineup, more is on the Colts running backs plates in terms of helping that left tackle spot in protection: “We are obviously more conscious of it when AC is not in,” Nyheim Hines said on Tuesday. “With the next guy up, we are going to be even more conscious if it now.”
- We will have more on this in a Wednesday article, but special teamer George Odum needs to be a Pro Bowler. Why is Odum such a dynamic special teams player? “He’s a tough kid, now,” special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone says of Odum. “He’s willing to do anything you ask him to do. He’s very productive, instinctive. He just finds the ball, consistently, in all these coverage units. He’s been a great guy for our unit and obviously the production bas been outstanding this year. To be able to lead the league in tackles at this point in the season is a testament to him, his hard work and his toughness.”
- Tuesday was the 39th birthday for Philip Rivers. Even though the Colts and Rivers signed just a 1-year deal this spring, both parties expected it to be a 2-year marriage. How does a 39-year-old Rivers fit into the Colts locker room? “Philip is one of those guys who loves to have fun in the locker room,” DeForest Buckner says. “As a 39-year-old quarterback, you feel that veteran leadership for sure. And the guy is smart at what he does. That’s where his age and knowledge of the game shows, and experience and veteran leadership. Other than that, in the locker room, Philip is just like one of the young guys.”
- The Colts will get back to practice on Wednesday, with sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoon before taking on the Raiders at 4:05 PM this Sunday, in Las Vegas.
