INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts' injury report for Wednesday's practice was a lengthy one, and with just four days remaining until the team's AFC South Division opener against the Houston Texans, it could've been a cause for concern.
But Thursday's injury report? We'll take it.
The Colts today saw the return of several key players to the practice field, most of whom are starters, including tight end Eric Ebron and safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker.
Left tackle Anthony Castonzo was also able to return to practice on Thursday for the first time since re-aggravating his hamstring injury on Sept. 12.
Ebron, Geathers and Hooker each started in and played the entire game last Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. But all three were not present at Wednesday's practice, which featured nine total players as "DNPs" on the injury report. Ebron was lited with a shoulder/knee injury; Geathers was listed with a knee injury; and Hooker was listed a hip/groin injury.
Castonzo, meanwhile, initially suffered his hamstring injury working out on his own before the start of training camp. He re-aggravated the injury a few days into his return during camp, and did not participate in the preseason.
He was held out of the Colts' regular season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals as a precaution, and was hopeful he'd be able to play Week 2 against the Washington Redskins before re-aggravating the hamstring injury once again during the week leading up to that game.\
Castonzo told reporters this week he's "doing everything I can to make sure I get back as soon as possible (and) make sure I stay back."
Defensive end Tarell Basham, who missed Wednesday's practice due to the birth of his daughter, was also back on Thursday.
Notable quotable
"I mean, I think it starts with the trust in the system, trust in the coaches and then the trust within ourselves. We're taking on the mantra of it's just us, just the men in the room — the brotherhood of men in the room — and we just try to do it for each other. You know, we trust each other; we trust that the play call is going to be correct — and whatever the play call is, we just want to go out and execute it and we know if we do our assignments and everybody does their job, we'll be fine. So that's just the mindset right now going around, and we feel confident with that." — Colts linebacker Anthony Walker, on why the team's defense has had success through the first three weeks of the season.
Injury report
Here's Thursday's full practice report:
» DNP: TE Jack Doyle (hip); T/G Joe Haeg (ankle); DT Hassan Ridgeway (calf); CB Quincy Wilson (concussion), DT Al Woods (quadricep)
» Limited: T Anthony Castonzo (hamstring); S Malik Hooker (hip/groin); RB Marlon Mack (hamstring); LB Anthony Walker (groin)
» Full: DT/DE Denico Autry (ankle); DE Tarell Basham (not injury related); TE Eric Ebron (shoulder/knee); S Clayton Geathers (knee); QB Andrew Luck (groin)
— Woods is new to the injury report. Keep an eye on his progress tomorrow and heading into the weekend.
— Autry moved from limited on Wednesday to full today. He has not played since Week 1 after suffering an ankle injury in practice heading into the Redskins game.
— Walker is also new to the injury report. He was not on the field for the start of practice available to be seen to the media, but jogged back on the field during individual and positional drills.
