INDIANAPOLIS – Another Monday arrived for the Colts and the team is still in search for their first winning streak of 2016.
A chance to achieve that escaped the Colts on Sunday in a performance that looked all too familiar to what has become commonplace in the team's five losses this season.
The Colts (3-5) will begin their prep for the Packers (4-3) this week, with the injury situation once again at the forefront of questions.
Chuck Pagano said on Monday that he doesn't have a great idea of how that will play out until the team hits the practice field Wednesday.
The team is evaluating options at punt returner after a trio of guys had unsuccessful turns back there against the Chiefs.
Here is the Monday notebook recapping Pagano's thoughts after the 30-14 loss in Week Eight:
**INJURY NEWS
**
- TE-Dwayne Allen (ankle): Allen has missed the past two weeks with the ankle injury he suffered against Houston.
- DE-Henry Anderson (knee): A knee injury for Anderson has kept him out of the lineup the past two weeks.
- CB-Vontae Davis (concussion): Is beginning the concussion protocol after leaving Sunday's game in the early in the second quarter.
- WR-Jacoby Brissett (foot): Dorsett had to be helped off the field following a fourth-quarter Hail Mary on Sunday. Pagano said he doesn't believe the injury to Dorsett is serious.
- WR-T.Y. Hilton (hamstring): The fifth-year receiver played through a tweaked hamstring on Sunday, but ended the afternoon with just one catch in six targets.
- DE-Kendall Langford (knee): The Langford update is here. The Colts are shutting Langford down after he played through a knee scope for much of the first half of 2016. There's no specific timetable for Langford's return.
- OLB-Curt Maggitt (ankle): Maggitt has missed the past two weeks.
- OT-Joe Reitz (concussion): Reitz, who started again at right tackle on Sunday, is beginning the concussion protocol after leaving in the fourth quarter of the loss to Kansas City.
Chuck Pagano on cornerback Vontae Davis:
"(He) will begin the concussion protocol."
Bowen's Analysis:* *Outside of Andrew Luck, Davis is probably next on the list of guys the Colts cannot afford to lose for any period of time. That's especially the case when you have Green Bay next on the schedule and QB-Aaron Rodgers has thrown 97 passes the past two weeks (and completing more than 70 percent of those).
With Davis out on Sunday, the Colts had two costly penalties from the secondary in the fourth quarter. Predicting how quickly a player will progress through the concussion protocol is impossible. Davis suffered the concussion on Travis Kelce's second-quarter touchdown, when safety T.J. Green had some friendly fire against his own teammate.
Chuck Pagano on Jack Mewhort practicing last Wednesday then missing the next two days:
"He had a setback."
Bowen's Analysis:* *Anytime a player practices on a Wednesday and then proceeds to miss the next two days of work, it's not a good sign. Pagano confirmed that at his Monday presser. A triceps injury from Mewhort has kept him out of the lineup the past two weeks.
In Mewhort's first game missed last week, the line protected very solidly. That was not the case this past Sunday. Now the Colts are going on the road to face one of the league's most impressive defensive fronts. When Joe Reitz (concussion) left Sunday at the start of the fourth quarter, the line to finish the game was as followed: LT-Anthony Castonzo, LG-Jonotthan Harrison, C-Ryan Kelly, RG-Denzelle Good and RT-Joe Haeg.D'Qwell Jackson on a 3-5 record after the first half of the season:
"We have enough time to change things around. That's what keeps us motivated."
Bowen's Analysis: Time. That is the Colts' best friend right now. Time is where the hope lies in turning this thing around. D'Qwell Jackson said he thinks the Colts are a good football team that has just shot themselves in the foot far too many times this season. Jackson said an abundance of energy must be present when the Colts gather on Wednesday for their first day of Green Bay prep.
On Monday, rookie center Ryan Kelly also mentioned the need for more energy. For Kelly, five losses in the first eight games of 2016 is very foreign. Kelly was 50-6 in his four seasons of play at Alabama. While the time is still there for the Colts (with eight weeks remaining), they are going to need some amount of help from the Texans, while also taking care of their own business, with a much more daunting second half of 2016 ahead.
