Joint Practice Better than Games? Frank Reich Explains

Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich explains why he gets more from the joint practices with the Detroit Lions than the preseason games.

The Indianapolis Colts wrapped two days of joint practices with the Detroit Lions on Thursday ahead of their preseason game on Saturday. Head coach Frank Reich was thrilled with the work put in by both teams and thinks the joint practices are more beneficial than the preseason games.

"Two great days against the Detroit Lions, really hats off to Coach (Dan) Campbell and his team," said Reich. "Coming down here and really bringing the heat, bringing two good, spirited practices."

"We got a lot of good work done in two days. Just normal situation – red zone, third down, first and second down, everything. It was great intensity by both sides of the ball, really felt like an opportunity to learn and get better."

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Going through each situation against an opponent was one of the reasons Reich appreciates the scripted practices.

"Yeah, you just get so many more and you can control what situations you get," said Reich on preferring the joint practices over games. "You don’t always get every situation in a game. But when you practice against a team, we can make sure to get the situations that we know we need work on."

"That is the advantage. From a count wise, the ones probably got about 20 plays yesterday and probably about 20-some today, or if you count the seven-on-seven more than that. That’s good work for both sides of the ball."

Don't expect to see the ones (first team) get too much action on Saturday as the Colts look to keep their starters healthy and evaluate the back half of the roster ahead of Tuesday's cutdowns.

"Most of the ones won’t play. Dan (Campbell) and I talked about that way back when we said joint practices," said Reich. "Kind of the normal M-O is that most of the ones will not play."

"There may be one or two exceptions to that, where we think we need to because of depth and how many guys have to play. But for the most part the ones will not play."

Earlier this week running back Phillip Lindsay stated the importance the preseason games hold for players further down the roster.

"For younger kids, this is a great opportunity for them to showcase something, not just to the Colts but for 31 other teams that are looking for somebody," said Lindsay.  

The Colts kickoff against the Lions on Saturday at 1 p.m. EST. While the first team may have gotten more work from joint practices, the game on Saturday will still be incredibly important for many of the Colts as rosters are trimmed from 85 to 80 on Tuesday and then to the final 53 on August 30th.