INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts (11-5) on Sunday begin postseason play by traveling to take on the Buffalo Bills (13-3) in their Wild Card Round matchup at Bills Stadium — and, accordingly, it's time to look at the team's unofficial depth chart for the game.
Here is a look at the Colts' unofficial depth chart for the Bills game, with some notes for each unit:
OFFENSE
» WR: T.Y. Hilton, Dezmon Patmon
» LT: Chaz Green
» LG: Quenton Nelson
» C: Ryan Kelly, Danny Pinter, Joey Hunt
» RG: Mark Glowinski
» RT: Braden Smith, Will Holden
» TE: Jack Doyle, Trey Burton
» TE: Mo Alie-Cox, Noah Togiai
» WR: Zach Pascal, DeMichael Harris
» WR: Michael PIttman Jr., Ashton Dulin
» QB: Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, Jacob Eason
» RB: Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines
Notes:
» After being signed on Thursday and getting just two practices with the team, the Colts started veteran Jared Veldheer at left tackle last Sunday in their regular season finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Veldheer played 67 total offensive snaps — 66 at left tackle and one technically as an in-line blocker — and came away with a very respectable 66.9 game grade from Pro Football Focus, including 69.8 in pass blocking and 69.6 in run blocking. According to PFF, Veldheer allowed just two pressures overall on the day, including one quarterback hit and one hurry.
» After paving the way for an historic performance from running back Jonathan Taylor, who had 253 rushing yards, a single-game franchise record and the ninth-most by a player in NFL history, the Colts as a team earned their best single-game running game grade from PFF of the year at 81.4. The run-blocking grade of 74.3 was actually the sixth-best of the season, but the team's 87.9 pass-blocking grade was their best effort of the year.
» After spending the first 15 games of his rookie season as a healthy scratch, wide receiver Dezmon Patmon made his NFL debut last Sunday against the Jaguars. The 2020 sixth-round pick out of Washington State logged two offensive snaps.
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DEFENSE
» DE: Justin Houston, Ben Banogu, Kemoko Turay
» DT: DeForest Buckner, Tyquan Lewis
» NT: Grover Stewart, Taylor Stallworth
» DE: Denico Autry, Al-Quadin Muhammad
» WLB: Darius Leonard, Matthew Adams
» MLB: Anthony Walker, Zaire Franklin, Jordan Glasgow
» SAM: Bobby Okereke, E.J. Speed
» CB: Rock Ya-Sin, T.J. Carrie
» FS: Julian Blackmon, George Odum
» SS: Khari Willis, Tavon Wilson
» N: Kenny Moore II, Isaiah Rodgers
» CB: Xavier Rhodes, Tremon Smith
Notes:
» Kemoko Turay had the best outing of his abbreviated 2020 season last Sunday against the Jaguars. The third-year defensive end out of Rutgers played 15 defensive snaps and finished with his first sack of the season to go along with three quarterback hits. It seems as if Turay has fully worked his way back from that brutal ankle injury and subsequent surgery that ended his 2019 season after just five weeks, and resulted in him having to sit out more than half of the 2020 season — what a boost he could be for this Colts defense heading into the postseason.
» With Khari Willis and Rock Ya-Sin in the concussion protocol and unable to play last Sunday against the Jaguars, Tavon Wilson and T.J. Carrie had themselves some busy afternoons. Wilson got the start at strong safety and ended up playing 100 percent of the defensive snaps (65) as well as 11 special teams snaps, finishing with four tackles on defense and one special teams stop. Carrie, meanwhile, played 86 percent of the snaps on defense at cornerback (56 in all) on top of six special teams snaps, and had five tackles and a fumble recovery.
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SPECIALISTS
» P: Rigoberto Sanchez
» PK: Rodrigo Blankenship
» H: Rigoberto Sanchez
» LS: Luke Rhodes
» KR: Isaiah Rodgers
» PR: Nyheim Hines, Isaiah Rodgers
Notes:
» Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship hit two field goals and two extra points last Sunday for eight points, and passed Raul Allegre (30) for the most field goals made by a rookie in franchise history. He also tied Adam Vinatieri (139 in 2013) for the fourth-most points in a single-season in franchise history. What a rookie campaign for the undrafted Georgia product.
» Kudos to safety George Odum, who had yet another special teams tackle last Sunday against the Jaguars to finish the season with a league-leading 20 special teams stops. Odum became just the seventh player in franchise history to register at least 20 special teams tackles in a single season (since 1994) and tied Derwin Gray (20 in 1995) and Robert Mathis (20 in 2005) for the fifth-most special teams tackles by a Colts player in a single season (since 1994).»
