INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts today officially began on-field preparations for Sunday's Week 13 contest against the Houston Texans. What were some of the top takeaways on the day?
Injury report
Here is today's injury report, the first of the week for the Colts:
Kelly, Taylor return
Wednesday brought some good news on the injury/COVID-19 front for the Colts.
Center Ryan Kelly, who has been battling a neck injury and missed his first game of the season last Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, made his return to the practice field today; he was listed as a full participant.
Running back Jonathan Taylor, meanwhile, was officially removed from the Reserve/COVID-19 list and placed back on the active roster on Wednesday.
Taylor was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list last Saturday, and missed last Sunday's Week 12 loss to the Titans.
Castonzo, Willis, Rivers DNP
Here's some other Colts injury-related news and developments from Wednesday:
— Left tackle Anthony Castonzo and safety Khari Willis, both of whom were injured in last Sunday's game against the Titans and did not return, were non-participants in Wednesday's practice.
Running back Jordan Wilkins (ribs), who was also injured in the game but didn't end up missing many, if any, snaps, was a full participant on Wednesday.
Quarterback Philip Rivers, who suffered a toe injury two weeks ago against the Green Bay Packers, also watched from the side today as a precaution.
Castonzo suffered a sprained MCL early in the second quarter on a touchdown run by quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Head coach Frank Reich has been hesitant to attach a potential return date to the injury, but said Wednesday the team is mostly going to rely on the veteran tackle and how he feels moving forward.
"This guy is a finely tuned athlete. He knows his body so we will trust him, the doctors and the trainers," Reich said. "(We're) just kind of giving him the freedom to test this thing out as he sees fit and how he feels. We've just decided not to lock ourselves in to any formula other than, 'Hey, you just keep pushing it a little bit every day.' There is no reason to say, 'This is going to be one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks.' There is just no reason to say that so let's not put ourselves in a box. Let's just keep working at it as you can and try to get a little bit better every day."
The Colts last Sunday utilized fifth-year veteran Le'Raven Clark in Castonzo's place, but do have a couple other options to test out at practice this week if needed — although Chaz Green, the team's other backup tackle, missed Wednesday's practice with a back injury.
Willis, meanwhile, suffered injuries to his back and quad against the Titans. Reich said Monday the second-year safety was "pretty banged up," but wasn't immediately sure of his status for Sunday's game in Houston.
As for Rivers, the veteran QB told reporters today that his toe was "pretty sore" after last Sunday's game against the Titans, but that it's "definitely a week better than last Wednesday at this time." The 38-year-old has started 235 straight regular season games, fourth-most in NFL history.
