Colts Notebook: Expect Starting Lineup Changes This Week

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INDIANAPOLIS – It’s a trip to a place no Colts fans likes to visit, albeit this one is against a very, very different looking Patriots team.

A run of 13 straight games before a bye week for the Colts (5-7) and Patriots (3-9) will take place Sunday afternoon.

Here are takeaways from the Colts first practice (walk through) of the week:

Shane Steichen says “it’s going to be tough for” Josh Downs (shoulder) to play on Sunday, although the head coach isn’t ruling the second-year wideout out just yet. If Downs can’t go, it will probably mean more of a role for AD Mitchell, especially with Ashton Dulin (ankle) dealing with his own injury, and didn’t participate. Perhaps rookie Anthony Gould will go field punts for the first time in a while. But that slot role mainly went to Mitchell back when Downs missed the first two weeks of the season.

Good luck penciling in a Colts starting offensive line for this week. Due to injuries and poor play, the Colts have some definite offensive line starting lineup questions for Sunday’s game in New England. Quenton Nelson at left guard and Braden Smith at right tackle are safe bets, of course, even though the Colts could use some better play from that highly paid duo (more on that below). At left tackle, is Bernhard Raimann (knee) healthy enough to return or will we see rookie Matt Goncalves gets another start? Raimann was a limited participant during Wednesday’s walk-through, a positive step in him trying to return to the lineup. At center, rookie Tanor Bortolini is in concussion protocol, so it could be time for Danny Pinter to get his first start since September 2022. And at right guard, the Colts will have a decision to make with struggling undrafted free agent Dalton Tucker or 32-year-old Mark Glowinski, who joined the Colts last week and hasn’t been on an NFL team since March. Shane Steichen was asked on Wednesday if he expects to make a change at right guard for Sunday: “We’ll see. We are looking at some things, some stuff, so we’ll see how that goes.”. It’s one of the most uncertain Colts offensive line makeups in quite some time.

If you do some digging, you’ll see some more flashes from Laiatu Latu, and a solid rookie season building. Latu ranks 21^st in the NFL in quarterback pressures and 24^th in quarterback hits. That’s not bad for a rookie rusher. Yes, you’d like to see Latu have a couple more sacks (4.0 on the year). But he’s had some nice production in the last two weeks.

A “huge emphasis” this week for the Colts is to get Jonathan Taylor going. In the last two weeks, 26 of Taylor’s 35 carries have gone for 3 yards or less. That’s a shocking number to see with Anthony Richardson back in the lineup, but some of it can probably be attributed to the team starting 3 rookie offensive linemen in each of the past two games.

Two Colts players have more than 5 penalties this season. That’s Quenton Nelson with 11 and Braden Smith with 11. The Colts are playing too much youth on their offensive line this season to have two of their highest paid players lead the team in penalties by such a drastic difference.

A favorite Thanksgiving dish for Shane Steichen? Steichen was asked that on Wednesday: “I’d probably go with stuffing, just the Stove Top box. Fast, simple, easy, tastes pretty good. Honey-baked ham ain’t bad either.” The Colts will have a morning practice on Thursday before letting players go home in the afternoon to spend time with their families.

Want some Colts hope at 5-7? They have the NFL’s easiest schedule the rest of the way with games against the at Patriots (Drake Maye), at Broncos (Bo Nix), Titans (Will Levis), at Giants (Tommy DeVito), Jaguars (Trevor Lawrence). To push for true playoff consideration, the Colts will need a 4-1 or 5-0 finish, with a win over the Broncos a virtual must. On paper, a Colts finish with teams having a combined record of 17-40 isn’t too daunting. Of course, the last time the Colts won 5 straight games was with Andrew Luck under center in the 2018 season (when the Colts beat these 5 quarterbacks in a row: Derek Anderson, Derek Carr, Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles, Ryan Tannehill).

It is quite amazing how little production the Colts have got out of the tight end and running back positions in the pass game. You have 55 tight ends with more catches than any Colts tight end. And you have 44 running backs with more catches than any Colts running back. This is hurting the Colts offense keep drives alive.

While the faces have changed a lot, the Colts have also not won in Foxborough since 2006, having beat the Patriots in Frankfurt, Germany last year. They have lost 7 straight at New England. Shane Steichen was playing collegiately at UNLV and Anthony Richardson was 4 years old the last time the Colts won in Foxborough.

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