INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts left tackle Anthony Castonzo on Tuesday talked to local reporters via video conference. What did he have to say about his recent rib injury, as well as the work ahead for the offensive line when the team returns from its bye week? Here's the latest edition of "Colts Chatter."
Left tackle Anthony Castonzo
» Castonzo is feeling much better after working his way back from a rib injury: The 10th-year left tackle missed the final four plays of the Colts' Week 4 victory over the Chicago Bears, and then sat out the following week's loss to the Cleveland Browns, to give his rib plenty of time to heal up as much as possible.
Castonzo returned for last Sunday's Week 6 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, however, and didn't miss a beat, playing all 63 offensive snaps in Indy's 31-27 come-from-behind victory at Lucas Oil Stadium in which the Colts racked up 430 total offensive yards, including 371 through the air.
Quarterback Philip Rivers was sacked just once on the day.
With the Colts now on their bye week, Castonzo said he's going to take advantage of the time away to rest up for the remainder of the season.
"It's some rib cartilage stuff going on," Castonzo said when asked what he was dealing with in recent weeks. "It actually felt pretty good on Sunday. I think I'm going to be good to go from here on out. I would say, I'll be coming off the bye feeling 100 percent for sure."
» The Colts will use Wednesday to take a deep dive into what's gone right, and what needs improvement, along the offensive line: The Colts players are expected to be in the building for a couple more hours on Wednesday before getting a few days off to take full advantage of their bye week. While head coach Frank Reich has emphasized the importance of staying tuned-in mentally and physically, all players are encouraged to take this time to recharge their batteries.
But first things first: a rare opportunity on Wednesday to take a look back at the first six games of the season and evaluate what each position group, and each individual player, is doing great so far, and what needs some more work moving forward, starting with the team's Week 8 road matchup against the Detroit Lions.
For Castonzo and the Colts' offensive line, there is clear work to do. The unit has done a terrific job keeping Rivers on his feet — he's being sacked on just 2.88 percent of his dropbacks, which is the lowest percentage in the NFL — but Indy wants more chunks in the run game overall; it ranks 31st in the league in yards-per-carry average (3.6).
"I don't think the gap is huge," Castonzo said when asked where the offensive line wants to be compared to where it is now. "We're definitely not where we want to be. We know that. It's just a little technique thing here and there. Football comes down to such minute details. We're going to be doing a self-scout tomorrow where we really look at a lot of the stuff that we've been doing throughout the year and what we need to change to make that next step. Hopefully this week of kind of being able to reflect and not having to worry about a game plan, but really being able to focus on the technique type things is going to make a difference for us and is going to help us out going forward."
