Several Colts Take Advantage of Last Shot at Roster | Jake's Takes
The Indianapolis Colts hosted Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, finally getting off the schneid with their first and only win of the preseason.
It was the Colts' first victory in three tries — two of which were at home — commanding the game by a score of 27-10.
For many players on the field tonight, it was their final opportunity to prove themselves worthy of a roster spot, as teams must cut down to 53 players from where they currently sit at 80 by 4:00pm ET on Tuesday.
We saw plenty of players take advantage of that opportunity and perform quite well.
Here are some of my main observations from Saturday.
—Tom Brady slices through Colts' defense on first drive. Tampa's quarterback took a well-documented 11 days away from the Buccaneers during camp recently, returning last Monday. Sure, he's been playing for a while but it was a genuine curiosity if he'd look rusty against the Colts. He did not. In his lone drive of the day, he took the Bucs' offense 11 plays and 66 yards, resulting in a 30-yard field goal. Overall, he went 6-of-8 passing (75.0%) for 44 yards (5.5 YPA), including a 20-yard play to receiver Julio Jones. Same ol' Tom against the Colts.
—The Colts will be alright at punter with Matt Haack. The Colts lost punter Rigoberto Sanchez to a torn Achilles earlier in the week but were able to bring in the top punter on the free-agent market in Haack, who'd recently been let go by the Buffalo Bills. Haack was excellent in his first game with the Colts on Saturday. He punted five times, averaging 50.6 yards per kick, and put his first four inside the opponent's 20-yard line. His first punt put Tampa at their own 10-yard line before his second kick put them at their own 9. Haack also held on placekicks as Rodrigo Blankenship converted all five of his field goal/extra points.
—Grover Stewart dominates the run game. The Colts' jumbo interior defender completely took over against the Bucs on their second drive. It began on Tampa's own 10-yard line. They ran the ball three straight times, with Stewart leading the charge on each. The runs went for -5 yards, -2 yards, and no gain. The sixth-year stalwart continues to get better each year.
—Deon Jackson isn't going down without a fight. Jackson seemed like a probable bet for the roster as camp began but he was quickly usurped by Phillip Lindsay as RB3 and then got shuffled down to RB5 when the first unofficial depth chart came out. However, he started for the Colts on Saturday with Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines sitting out, and he looked pretty good doing it. His rushing stats looked abysmal (4 carries, 3 yards, 1 touchdown) but two of his carries were from the 1-yard line, the latter being a touchdown. His initial run appeared to be a touchdown as well but the officials didn't agree after further review. Jackson also caught a 26-yard pass on the same drive, totaling 34 yards on 3 receptions.
—One more shot. With this being the final shot for fringe roster players to make their case, the Colts have some guys step up. In particular, quarterback Sam Ehlinger, linebacker Sterling Weatherford, cornerback Anthony Chesley, and safety Rodney Thomas II stood out to me as these "bubble" guys. Ehlinger has been the unofficial MVP in all three preseason games and scored on a 45-yard run on Saturday. Weatherford has stacked good days lately and led both teams with 10 tackles. Chesley also seems to have made a play in each game and did so again on Saturday with 2 big tackles for loss. Thomas is a tackle machine, which isn't always a good thing for a free safety because it means they're making plays that guys in front of them aren't. That's exactly what Thomas is doing, is cleaning up after other players.
—Bernhard Raimann continues showing growth. The Colts' third-round pick entered camp competing for the Colts' starting left tackle spot. He never was able to bump Matt Pryor's momentum but that hasn't stopped him from showing clear maturation in his game. In particular, the Colts' last two preseason games, Raimann has looked solid both as a run blocker and pass protector. His eyes and feet appear to be getting more in sync, which is an indication he's getting more comfortable.
What were your biggest takeaways from Saturday? Drop your thoughts below in the comment section!
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