Colts Monday Notebook: Frank Reich Sees Multiple Playing Years Ahead For Philip Rivers

INDIANAPOLIS – Getting back from their farthest road trip of the season, the Colts welcomed another remote start to the workweek.

Just three weeks remain in the 2020 regular season with Frank Reich’s football team knocking on the door of securing a playoff berth.

Here is what we learned from Reich and the Colts (9-4) on Monday:

We will have more on the 2020 season for Philip Rivers in the coming days. As you’d expect, Frank Reich is loving what Rivers has given the organization. Reich has always said the Rivers/Colts marriage would be 2 years (even though the contract was for 1-year). On Monday, Reich was asked specifically about the 39-year-old Rivers playing again in 2021: “At the way he’s playing right now…we said when we got him here, I said Philip is more than capable. If he wants, he has multiple years of good football ahead of him. I really believe that.”

Sunday was the first time we’ve seen Quenton Nelson at left tackle in the NFL. With Anthony Castonzo in the locker room after 5 snaps to re-test his injured right knee, and Chaz Green hitting the bench after an early false start penalty, the Colts decided to use Nelson blocking the blindside of Philip Rivers, until AC returned late in the first quarter. How did this idea develop? “He’s taken some reps during scout team,” Reich said of first experimenting with Nelson at left tackle. “That’s really where it kind of started. That’s where we noticed he looked pretty good doing it, so that’s where we talked about the possibility, at the beginning of the week, moving him out there. Later in the week, rather than just have him run scout team reps, we did get him a couple of reps with the first team at left tackle. We thought it seemed good that AC would be able to go (against the Raiders). But we weren’t 100 percent sure, so we kept Quenton in the mix. Still had confidence in Chaz, but Quenton is Quenton Nelson. And that (left tackle) spot is very important, so we knew if we put him out there, he is the kind of player that would rise to the occasion. Looking at the tape, of the handful of snaps that he got in there, he looked good. His pass sets looked really good. Not surprising, but just knew he would be up for the challenge.”

With 1 second to go in Sunday’s first half, the Colts had a decision to make from the Raiders 2-yard line. Initially, Frank Reich was all about going for it, thinking that the ball was at the 1-yard line. The head coach/play caller had a specific play, from the 1-yard line, that he was ready to call. Once Reich learned the Colts were actually on the 2-yard line though, he decided to kick the chip shot field goal and secure some points out of a big late-half drive. Speaking of those decisions, Reich credited the team’s analytical crew of John Park and George Li for helping him out, quickly from the booth: “John Park and George Li are so fast on that stuff,” Reich said on Monday when asked about how quickly those decisions get made on game day. “John Park is more of the 4^th down chart guy and he’s talking to me and he and I are talking the whole drive. It might be second down and I’m saying, ‘Where’s the go cut off point, John?’ Or if I’m not asking, he’s telling me, kind of in soft undertones because there’s other talk on the phone and Nick (Sirianni) and I are talking about stuff. So (Park will) insert things. We’ve just developed a rhythm to the communication that is good. It’s not always perfect but those guys upstairs to a phenomenal job.”

Having won 6 of 8 games, including 4 straight away from home, Frank Reich is pretty bullish on his football team right now: “I feel like we are getting better,” Reich said on Monday. “I do think that’s actually happening with us and I think the reason is because our players work hard and they work hard for themselves and for each other. We, as a team, believe that we have the personnel to make some noise. There’s a lot of belief and conviction in that.”

How ‘fast’ were the Colts on Sunday? Per Next Gen Stats, Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines produced the 3^rd and 4^th fastest plays in the NFL in Week 14. Taylor revved it up to 21.35 MPH on his 62-yard touchdown run. Hines ran 21.15 MPH on his 31-yard rush. Only Tyreek Hill and Derrick Henry had faster plays with the ball in their hands in Week 14.

After 4 straight games with 12,500 capacity at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts are lowering their attendance to 10,000 for this Sunday’s matchup with the Texans. The Colts said the reduction is ‘due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Indianapolis and Indiana.’ At the beginning of the year, the Colts had 2,500 capacity and then 7,500 for their first two home games, before upping that number to 12,500. They’ll now have 10,000 this Sunday, with one more regular season home game left on January 3^rd. “From the beginning of the pandemic, our top priority has always been to protect the health and safety of our fans, players and staff,” Colts Chief Operation Officer Pete Ward said in a team release. “We have taken extraordinary steps to keep people safe in the stadium this year, and along with our partners at the health department, we believe this is right thing to do to help limit the spread of the virus in the greater community.”

One scheduling note, the Week 16 matchup between the Colts/Steelers did not get flexed into primetime, meaning it’ll stay as a 1:00 PM kick on Sunday, December 26^th. With this news, it’s looking like the Colts will have just 1 primetime game in 2020 (the mandatory Thursday night game). Again, this is pathetic by the NFL and Jim Irsay should be irate.

On the injury front, Reich had this to say about LB-Darius Leonard (back) and CB-Xavier Rhodes (knee). “They don’t appear to be serious, but we’ll continue to monitor them during the week, but we are optimistic.” Both guys left Sunday’s loss early and did not return. However, neither guy was officially ruled out by the medical staff.

Rookie linebacker Jordan Glasgow is on the COVID-19/Reserve list. Glasgow returned to Indy late on Sunday night, taking a private charter home, separate from his teammates. Reich said the Colts believe this is an isolated COVID situation, with the team yet to have any additional positive tests.