The Indianapolis Colts came away with the win against the Arizona Cardinals in their second preseason game. For the most part, the starters did not play in this one.
As always, with the game just wrapping up, let’s dive into our gut reactions from the Colts’ performance.
– Shane Steichen said on Thursday that the Colts’ starters would not play, but we still saw a few of them on the field. This included Nick Cross, JuJu Brents, and Dayo Odeyingbo.
– My guess is that Brents and Odeyingbo saw playing time because they had dealt with injuries in camp. Brents didn’t play in the Week 1 game against Denver, while Odeyinbo missed several practices early on with a calf injury. We even saw Odeyingbo taking snaps into the third quarter.
– This last week has all but secured Cross’ spot as the starting safety next to Julian Blackmon. With Cross’ running mate in this game being Rodney Thomas, Cross was the strong safety. He was all over the place, making five tackles, including three solo and one for a loss.
– Both Tyler Goodson and Evan Hull looked very good as ball carriers, with Goodson averaging 5.8 yards per carry and Hull 6.5 yards per attempt. The third running back spot is up for grabs and it’s difficult from the outside to decipher who has the advantage. If Trey Sermon’s injury lingers into the season, then both Hull and Goodson could make the team. Zavier Scott also played well.
– Brents would exit the game with a nose injury. CBS4 reported that it was a “scrape” that led to bleeding. Tight end Jelani Woods would leave with a toe injury. From the sounds of it, Woods has been a bit underwhelming in training camp. He missed all of 2023 with hamstring injuries and hopefully won’t miss out on more valuable reps that he needs.
– Adetomiwa Adebawore had another impressive performance, again making his way into the backfield with regularity. Improved technique, along with playing with added power have resulted in the play on the field that we’ve seen so far. Earlier in the week, Gus Bradley called Adebawore the most improved defensive tackle on the team.
– Along with Adebawore, Isaiah Land had another standout performance as well at defensive end. He’s making a strong push to be the fifth defensive end on the roster with Samson Ebukam out injured.
– The Colts haven’t blitzed a lot under Gus Bradley, but they did throw a lot at the Cardinals tonight–something to monitor moving forward.
– It’ll be interesting to see how the back-end of the cornerback depth chart shakes out. Dallis Flowers has taken his lumps, Darrell Baker has been more steady, and Jaylin Simpson–the Colts fifth-round pick–is navigating the learning curve that really every Day 3 pick faces. Also in the slot, Chis Lammons got the start over rookie Micah Abraham.
– This was another tough showing for Blake Freeland. From the looks of it, Matt Goncalves is going to end up as the swing tackle, but that’s less to do with Goncalves’ play and more to do with Freeland’s struggles.
– UDFA quarterback Jason Bean is a playmaker. Plain and simple. With that play-style we’ve seen Bean turn the ball over twice in two games, but he certainly made up for it.
– With potentially just one roster spot along the offensive line up for grabs, UDFA Dalton Tucker may have emerged as the favorite over the last week. He’s been very steady at right guard, and there is also the upside and potential that the he possesses as a rookie that the Colts will want to hang on to.
– After Danny Pinter took over at center for Ryan Kelly last week, it was Tanor Bortolini who got the start at center tonight. Pinter wasn’t in the starting lineup, until he came in at left guard for Josh Sills who exited with an ankle injury.
– As we search for more clarity at tight end, Mo Alie-Cox and Kylen Granson did not suit up, while Woods, Will Mallory, and Drew Ogletree did.
– There were a few chunk runs surrendered here and there, but overall a much better performance this week by the Colts’ backup run defense compared to what we saw against Denver.
– Segun Olubi was all over the field at middle linebacker, totaling double-digit tackles. GM Chris Ballard said the backup middle linebacker role was up for grabs at the start of training camp, but Olubi appears to have secured that–which was expected.
– Yes, it’s only the preseason, but Matt Gay is now 0/2 from 50-plus yards in the preseason. He struggled from over 50 yards in 2023. Gay would also miss from 44 yards.
– Jaylon Carlies, Ashton Dulin, and Genard Avery saw their first snaps of the preseason.