The Indianapolis Colts saw two of their starters go down with an injury during the second half of the 44-27 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15 as linebacker Darius Leonard and cornerback Xavier Rhodes.
Though there wasn’t a big update from head coach Frank Reich on Monday in his press conference with reporters, he did say that the team doesn’t view their injuries to be serious.
“Also mention to you the injuries on Darius (Leonard) and Xavier (Rhodes), we will continue to monitor those,” Reich said. “They don’t appear to be serious, but we will monitor them during the week, but we’re optimistic that they’ll be fine.”
Rhodes suffered a knee injury during the third quarter of the game. He seemed to be in a lot of pain on the turf when he was getting checked out by the training staff and even though he was never officially ruled out for the game, he didn’t make a return.
Leonard went to the sideline in the fourth quarter with a back injury during the fourth quarter. By that time, the Colts had a sizeable lead and Leonard didn’t make a return. But he wasn’t ruled out either.
Both players are enjoying strong seasons at their respective positions in 2020. Rhodes is allowing a 42.9% completion rate and a 60.9 passer rating in coverage this season while Leonard is second on the team with 30 defensive stops, per Pro Football Focus.
Their injuries will bear monitoring throughout the week and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they are on the injury report, but it’s encouraging that Reich and the staff don’t see these injuries lingering too long.
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