Colts with 5 players listed on Thursday injury report

The Indianapolis Colts have five players listed on their Thursday injury report. Here’s what you need to know.

There were no changes to the Indianapolis Colts’ Thursday injury report, which still included three key defensive starters not practicing.

Julian Blackmon (shoulder) – did not practice
DeForest Buckner (back) – did not practice
Kwity Paye (hamstring) – did not practice
Josh Downs (ankle) – limited
Matt Gay (hernia) – full participant

DeForest Buckner told James Boyd of The Athletic before practice that he would be a “game-time decision” for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. Buckner added that this is a similar back injury that he had to work through last season, and a key factor in determining if can play or not will be making sure that injury won’t worsen.

Julian Blackmon played 100 percent of the Colts’ defensive snaps in the Week 1 loss to the Houston Texans but has been sidelined the last two days with a shoulder injury.

The Colts secondary already faces a number of question marks without JuJu Brents at cornerback and those unknowns would only be heightened if Blackmon is unable to play against a Packers’ offense that has its share of playmaking options at receiver and tight end.

Paye is working through a hamstring injury after playing 52 snaps on Sunday, the most at the defensive end position for the Colts. Paye was one of the better ranked defensive ends by ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric in Week 1.

Some good news is that Matt Gay was again a full participant, so there was no setback as he continues to work his way back from a hernia injury. And Josh Downs was limited once again. He said on Wednesday that he feels he is “80-90%,” according to Boyd.

Having Downs back in the mix on offense would provide some needed consistency to the passing game. He was having an impressive summer before the ankle injury.