After a fine weather day in Indianapolis Wednesday, the skies opened Thursday as practice began between the Arizona Cardinals and Colts. Rain, very heavy at times, continued throughout the approximate 80-minute workout, but there were no lightning threats that would have forced everyone off the field.
That had been the scheduled length of practice following Wednesday’s two-hour session and head coach Jonathan Gannon said before Thursday’s work that it would be “full tilt.”
Here are some nuggets from Gannon:
Plans for Saturday
“We’ll see,” he said. “I wanna see what happens today and then we’ll sit down with the staff and talk about who’s gonna be up and down and the pros and cons of that. A lot of guys are competing for roles and they’re excited to practice today and play.”
It’s doubtful that the rain-affected practice will have much impact on the starters’ status for the game.
What Gannon likes about joint practices
“Going up against a different scheme, really not game planning like a game,” he said.
Noting that offensive coordinator Drew Petzing “said it best in the offensive meeting. It’s like if we would’ve game-planned that maybe it would be a little bit different, but we have to have SOPs, standard operating procedures, and then we’ve got to be able to handle and think on the run. Two different things because that’s what a game can be.
“So you’re not going to get every look and know everything that’s going on. We’ve got to be able to get to things that can handle that stuff, so it’s a really a good learning experience for our guys. That’s why I love these things.”
Tap the brakes a bit
Hey, we know wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. will be a productive player.
However, it’s clear there can be overreactions when video clips of isolated plays from practice are populated on Twitter/X. That happened Wednesday on a play where Harrison caught a pass on cornerback Kenny Moore and Thursday when receiver Greg Dortch did the same, showing great quickness against deep backup Chris Lammons.
Asked about the Harrison play, Gannon emphasized “that’s an offensive drill,’ effectively noting that the offensive player has the advantage.
Gannon then said, “Kenny Moore, I had him for three years, a really good player. Marvin’s just trying to improve his game every day. I think it’s cool for him, all our receivers, to go against different DBs. Kenny looks one way and then the next guy he goes against looks the complete opposite way. So, that’s good because that’s what it’s gonna be week in and week out on Sunday, so good they get the exposure to that in these two days.”
McBride a worker
We won’t see much, if anything, of tight end Trey McBride in the preseason games, but Gannon was asked what he’s seen him working on after the productive play in the second half of the season.
“Detail of route-running is the main thing that I think that he’s worked on,” Gannon said. “That part of his game has improved. In the run game, he’s doing a really good job. We ask him at times to play a lot of different roles.
“Whether he is on the move or at the point of attack, I think his consistency of technique is showing up where he’s doing a good job in the run game.”
Most important though is he “gets open and he catches it.”
Returning from injuries
Cornerback Max Melton and running back Emari Demercado were back at practice this week after missing time.
Gannon said there were “pros and cons” to Melton being out. He said, “The pros for us is you see other guys go in because now other guys are eating reps. The con for him is he lost those reps, so he kind of picked back up where he kind of left off but I could see a little rust in his game. He’s been doing a good job mentally on things, but to take a week off you’ve got to get back in the saddle a little bit.”
Gannon stated the obvious when he said, “There’s a good competition for that spot right now; all of the corner spots.”
Demercado had been taking first-team reps in practice instead of Trey Benson when James Conner was rested. However, Demercado missed the Saints game because of a shoulder injury suffered last week.
“I thought he had a couple of good reps in there,” Gannon said of Wednesday’s practice. “Running it, put it where it’s supposed to go. And then you don’t really know because we’re not tackling, but I thought he had a chance for a couple of good runs in there. And then third down looked good, too.”
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