Indianapolis Colts rookie offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini made his NFL debut on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers and put together a strong performance against a good defensive front.
Veteran center Ryan Kelly was ruled out of Sunday’s game with a neck injury. After not being on Wednesday’s injury report, Kelly would miss practice on Thursday and Friday before being listed as questionable and eventually inactive.
During the Colts first three games of the season, Bortolini–a fourth-round pick in this past April’s draft–had been a healthy scratch with the team opting to go with Danny Pinter as Kelly’s backup.
One might of thought that the Colts would have started Pinter and his experience against the Steelers, but they instead chose to go with the rookie, giving Bortolini some very crucial and valuable NFL snaps.
According to PFF’s metrics, Bortolini surrendered only one pressure the entire game on 35 pass-blocking snaps.
On running plays where Jonathan Taylor ran between Bortolini and Will Fries, he averaged 4.0 yards per rush. On plays where he ran between Bortolini and Quenton Nelson, Taylor averaged 4.7 yards per attempt.
This success that Bortolini and the Colts offensive line as a whole had came against a Steelers front that entered the game ranked second in yards per rush allowed and was near the top-10 in pressure rate, per Pro Football Reference.
With Kelly in the final year of his current deal, Bortolini could be the team’s long-term answer at the center position.