INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts and Lions had a competitive first joint practice session on Wednesday afternoon.
It was one of the better passing days of camp for the Colts, although they did appear to suffer their first major injury at Westfield.
Here is what was learned at Wednesday’s 11th practice of camp:
- Matt Ryan finished Wednesday afternoon 9-of-11 with completions to the following guys: Michael Pittman (3), Mo Alie-Cox (3), Kylen Granson (1), Alec Pierce (1), Ashton Dulin (1). In full pads, this was probably the best day of passing offense for Ryan and the starters. Pittman had the highlight, catching a ball in stride over the middle, pulling away from former top-5 pick Jeff Okudah for a gain in the 30-40 yard range. The Colts were really strong in a red-zone period, with Ryan connecting on TDs to Alec Pierce (see more below), Michael Pittman, Ashton Dulin. Through 12 practices, Ryan is 100-of-145 in the full teamwork. Ryan’s completed his passes to the following guys: Michael Pittman (30), Kylen Granson (14), Mo Alie-Cox (13), Jonathan Taylor (11), Nyheim Hines (10), Parris Campbell (8), Alec Pierce (5), Drew Ogletree (3), Ashton Dulin (4), Dezmon Patmon (1), Keke Coutee (1).
- Easily the biggest negative from Wednesday’s practice for the Colts came when rookie Drew Ogletree went down with a knee injury during a 7-on-7 period. Frank Reich said the early thought was Ogletree suffered a “pretty significant knee injury” and it was believed to have been non-contact. Ogletree was barely putting any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the field. An MRI is coming for Ogletree to determine the severity (NFL Network is reporting a torn ACL for Ogletree). First, you feel awful for Ogletree if this is indeed a season-ender. He was having such a promising camp, had a spot on the 53-man roster and likely would have played a rotational tight end role. Now, the Colts really need rookie Jelani Woods to show some growth and be ready to factor in behind Mo Alie-Cox and Kylen Granosn.
- Going back to the starting offense, it did appear to be a struggle for the run game to get much going against the Lions. Now, this was not a full tackling in practice, but numerous run plays were whistled as down for Jonathan Taylor with little gain. This is a flip—the pass game excelling more than the run game—of how we’ve seen the Colts offense operate in camp. In 1-on-1 offensive line drills, it was a mixed bag for the Colts starting group.
- Rookie Alec Pierce was dazzling in 1-on-1 drills on Wednesday. In creating consistent separation, Pierce was the only Colts player to win all his reps with Matt Ryan (3-for-3). During those 1-on-1 drills, the Colts pass catchers and Ryan had 10 “wins” (completions) and 11 “losses” (incompletions). It was a tougher session for Michael Pittman and the tight ends. The biggest highlight for Pierce on Wednesday came when he snagged a TD on a fade pass with that hand and ball pressed against a defender’s back, before completely securing the grab. It’s been pretty quiet for Pierce in 11-on-11, especially with the starters, but he made a quite a statement with this TD catch. Wednesday was the best day of camp for Pierce.
- For joint practices, it was a very quiet afternoon in the ‘fight’ department. The only true extracurricular activity came after some jawing back and forth went up another notch, thanks to Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah. With Okudah deciding to throw a fist in the face of Michael Pittman that led to a brief interruption to the 90-minute practice. Quenton Nelson quickly got involved to defend Pittman. Still though, compared to most joint practices around the NFL, the Colts and Lions behaved very well and got some competitive work in at Grand Park.
- Nick Foles had some shaky moments with the second-team offense, including an interception off an overthrow. It was an up and down afternoon for Mike Strachan, who was practicing for the second time this camp.
- Jim Irsay has turned these joint practices into an annual press conference setting. In typical Irsay fashion, he was uber optimistic about the 2022 Colts, stressing the need to focus on beating Tennessee and winning the division. Irsay believes a contract extension with Quenton Nelson will get done, but the timing of such a deal isn’t set in stone.
- While my focus was on the Colts offense vs. the Lions defense, here’s some intel from the other practice field—pitting the Lions offense vs. the Colts defense. It sounded like the Colts controlled the early sessions of 1-on-1 and 7-on-7 work. But the Lions settled in and had their fair share of wins during the team periods. Colts linebacker Bobby Okereke mentioned that the tempo of the Lions was a good challenge for the Indy defense.
- Here is how the starting offense looked on Wednesday: QB-Matt Ryan, RB-Jonathan Taylor, WR-Michael Pittman, WR-Parris Campbell, TE-Kylen Granson, TE-Mo Alie-Cox, LT-Matt Pryor, LG-Quenton Nelson, C-Ryan Kelly, RG-Danny Pinter, RT-Braden Smith.
- Here is how the starting defense looked on Wednesday: DE-Yannick Ngakoue, DT-Grover Stewart, DT-DeForest Buckner, DE-Kwity Paye, LB-Zaire Franklin, LB-Bobby Okereke, CB-Kenny Moore, CB-Stephon Gilmore, CB-Brandon Fcayson, S-Julian Blackmon, S-Nick Cross.
- Guys that stood out at Wednesday’s practice for a variety of reasons: WR-Alec Pierce, RB-Nyheim Hines, WR-Michael Pittman.
Injury Report: The following players remain on the PUP or non-football injury list: LB-Shaquille Leonard (back/ankle). The following players also did not practice on Wednesday: DT-Chris Williams (left foot), OT-Dennis Kelly (knee), WR-Keke Coutee (groin), CB-Isaiah Rodgers (concussion), CB-Anthony Chelsey (undisclosed), LB-JoJo Domann (undisclosed), S-Armani Watts (undisclosed), S-Will Redmond (undisclosed). Rodgers was present and watching Wednesday’s practice, which is a good sign for his concussion progression.
Weekly Camp Schedule
-Thursday: 12:00 – 1:35 Joint practice with Lions
-Friday: Off day
-Saturday: Preseason home opener 1:00 vs. Lions
-Sunday: Off day
-Monday: Off day
-Tuesday: 12:00 – 1:45 Practice
-Wednesday: 12:00 – 1:45 Practice
-Thursday: 10:00 – 11:20 Final camp practice
