Tag: Isaiah McKenzie

Bills’ Sean McDermott ‘working through’ return to coordinator duties

#Bills’ Sean McDermott ‘working through’ return to coordinator duties:

The Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts at home 23-19 in their preseason opener.

The game was the first of the preseason for the team and head coach McDermott, who made his return to defensive play calling in the contest. The last time that McDermott was a defensive coordinator was with the Carolina Panthers from 2011 to 2016 prior to becoming the Bills head coach.

He is known for being an aggressive play caller as a DC, which was noticeably on display during Saturday’s game.

The Bills defense mirrored that aggressiveness on the field, attacking the pocket and logging six quarterback hits and three sacks on the day in a strong showing despite a high number of penalties.

McDermott spoke after the game about those strengths, the need for consistency, and clean play.

“I thought there were some good things, we showed moments of our standard that we hold ourselves to, but not enough though,” The head coach said to the press. “We have to be more consistent starting with penalties, more discipline on pre-snap penalties because it hurts you.”

McDermott’s playcalling on defense helped make a difference early, opting to blitz on a second down play during the game’s first series in which defensive back Saran Neal forced rookie Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson to throw an interception that set up the Bills’ first touchdown.

“I’m still working through the communication piece,” McDermott added. “A preseason game is a little bit different than a regular-season game. We’ll go back, just like we do with the players, and evaluate that and talk about some areas that we’ve got to improve on. It was just kind of getting on the same cadence, when I’m going to be in certain spots and when I need information at times, and make sure that information is readily available when I need it.

Still, the coach noted, “It was a pretty good first game.”

The Bills defense is aiming to bounce back from last season’s injuries and return to the upper ranks of the NFL once again under McDermott and the teams’ coaching staff.

“It was fun to be back out there, rolling up my sleeves a little bit but still working through the communication piece.”

 

Colts’ Isaiah McKenzie says hello to former Bills teammates

Face of the franchise:

Former Bills “face of the franchise” is back in Buffalo for the preseason.

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie is in Orchard Park for the Bills-Colts preseason opener. McKenzie, who spent four-plus seasons playing for Buffalo, signed in Indy as a free agent this offseason.

The former Bill was captured saying hello to some of his old teammates on the home sideline prior to kickoff between the two teams. Some of those clips can be found below:

6 takeaways from Day 7 of Colts’ training camp

Here are six takeaways from Day 7 of Colts’ training camp.

The Indianapolis Colts are just about set to wrap up their second week of training camp as they concluded their seventh practice at the Grand Park Sports Complex on Saturday.

Inclement weather forced the Colts to go inside for practice, but that didn’t keep the energy down. It was another session featuring full pads following Friday’s day off, and things got a bit chippy.

We also conducted a quick rundown of what all transpired during Saturday’s training camp practice.

Here are six takeaways from Day 7 of Colts’ training camp:

Madden 24: Launch ratings for Colts WRs, safeties

Check out the Madden NFL 24 launch ratings for Colts WRs and safeties.

With training camp right around the corner for the majority of teams, EA Sports has started unveiling “Madden NFL 24” launch ratings ahead of the release date for the game.

The first group to be revealed in these launch ratings were the wide receivers and safeties. Only one member of the Colts at these positions was given a rating above 80, which was wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

Here’s a look at the launch ratings for the wide receivers and safeties on the Colts in “Madden NFL 24:”

Colts’ 2023 training camp preview: Wide Receiver

Michael Pittman Jr. leads the Colts WRs into training camp.

The Indianapolis Colts are set to return for training camp at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield with their first practice being held July 26.

Before then, we’ll be previewing each position, giving our takes on the starters, position battles and projected depth chart entering camp under the new regime.

The wide receiver position will be an interesting one to watch. There’s plenty of talent in the room, and they will need to step up for rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson whenever he takes over as the starter.

You can follow along with our training camp previews as we post the links below:

Quarterback Running Back Wide Receiver Tight End
Offensive Line Defensive Line Linebacker Cornerback
Safety Special Teams

Here’s our preview of the wide receiver room entering training camp:

Ranking the WRs in the AFC South entering 2023

From Calvin Ridley to Kyle Philips, here’s a ranking of the WRs in the AFC South entering 2023.

The AFC South isn’t the first division to come to mind when you think of the elite receivers in the NFL.

As far as what it does offer at the position is the return of a player that was on the trajectory to be one of the best in the league, a group that has the potential to be good-to-great receivers that are in the developmental stages of their career, and players that are looking to prove that they are more than being role players that contribute on special teams.

For the purpose of this list, I took the top three receivers from all four team’s depth charts according to Ourlads so you won’t find rookies like Josh Downs and Tank Dell who will likely end up being contributors for their offenses as rookies.

Be sure to check out our other AFC South rankings entering the new season:

Let’s take a look at how the receivers rank across the AFC South:

10 Colts among PFF’s top-300 fantasy football rankings

See where PFF ranked the Colts players in their top-300 fantasy football rankings.

With training camp just a few weeks away, fantasy football managers will begin preparing for their drafts.

The Indianapolis Colts will have a handful of fantasy-relevant players while being one of the more unpredictable teams when it comes to making projections and rankings. Having a rookie quarterback will do that.

As Pro Football Focus released their top-300 rankings for the upcoming fantasy football season, there were 10 players on the Colts roster featured on the list:

8 players to watch as Colts begin minicamp

Here are eight players to watch as the Colts begin mandatory minicamp.

The Indianapolis Colts are set to begin mandatory minicamp Tuesday at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, which is the final time the team will be together before summer break.

There will be a lot going on during the three days at minicamp, and this will be a great time for players to make a strong impression while building some momentum for when they arrive back for training camp at the end of July.

Here are eight players to watch as the Colts begin minicamp Tuesday.

Colts’ Isaiah McKenzie dubbed ‘player to watch’ at OTAs

The Athletic named Isaiah McKenzie as a ‘player to watch’ entering OTAs.

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The Indianapolis Colts will have an intriguing competition in the wide receiver room as veteran Isaiah McKenzie looks to fight off an electric rookie.

McKenzie, who signed with the Colts in free agency, will be competing with third-round pick Josh Downs for the starting slot receiver role in Shane Steichen’s offense.

Most analysts, including ourselves, are projecting the rookie to come out on top during the competition, and The Athletic named McKenzie as a player to watch with OTAs starting up this week.

The Colts signed McKenzie after losing Parris Campbell in free agency. But they then drafted Josh Downs out of North Carolina, and he along with Michael Pittman Jr. could wind up making it hard for the streaky former Bills slot receiver to carve out a steady role.

McKenzie is a nice depth piece for the offense to have in the wide receiver room, but he’s never recorded more than 42 receptions or 423 yards in a season throughout his career, both of which he achieved in 2022.

Downs was seemingly a high-priority pick for the new head coach in Steichen, feeling the need to add a crafty route runner with reliable hands in the middle of the field to aid the development of rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson.

We’ll see what this competition has in store over the next few months as McKenzie has some stiff competition to fend off if he’s going to be the starting slot receiver.

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Ranking the best moves made by Chris Ballard this offseason

Breaking down the 12 best moves Colts GM Chris Ballard made this offseason.

The Indianapolis Colts have some buzz around them with the excitement of their first-round pick, Anthony Richardson, being the new face of the franchise but for the most part this offseason, the team itself has been relatively quiet.

General manager Chris Ballard is known for not being a big spender in free agency, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been offseason splash news in his tenure.

Whether it was the trade back from No. 3 to No. 6 in 2018 with the New York Jets that landed Quenton Nelson, signing Philip Rivers in 2019, the trade for DeForest Buckner in 2020, trading for Carson Wentz in 2021, last year when he traded for Matt Ryan and signed Stephon Gilmore, there have been some big moves made in recent memory.

There weren’t any star-studded players added to the roster this offseason, but Ballard made some quality moves this offseason.

Let’s take a look at the best ones that he made over the last few months: