ANDERSON, Ind. – Could the Colts be down another defensive lineman for the start of the regular season?
The Colts returned to Anderson on Tuesday morning and will be on the practice field without veteran defensive end Kendall Langford.
In today's media scrums, Chuck Pagano talked about the injury news to Langford, center Ryan Kelly returning to practice and how the Colts will handle the rest of the preseason after having their opener cancelled on Sunday night.
Chuck Pagano on the injury to Kendall Langford:
"Kendall Langford had an episode last week during practice with his knee.*He got an MRI on it, he's got a chondral defect *in there, so he got a scope and is going to be three to four weeks on his return."
Bowen's Analysis:* *Langford was down in Alabama on Monday getting his knee scoped by the famed athletic medical guru, Dr. James Andrews. The timetable is just under a month away from the Colts' regular season opener on Sept. 11.
It goes without saying that Langford's potential loss is substantial. Langford, who was one of the Colts' best defenders last season, has yet to miss a game in his eight-year NFL career. His 128 straight games played is the longest active streak in the NFL for defensive linemen. The Colts are already without Henry Anderson in camp and Arthur Jones is suspended for the first quarter of the season. Throughout camp, the Colts have lauded their defensive line depth. It's about to be tested even more.
Chuck Pagano on getting Ryan Kelly back to practice:
"We'll start him in individual and keep him on a pitch count and a certain amount of reps."
Bowen's Analysis: Kelly will be eased back into practice on Tuesday afternoon. This is promising after a shoulder strain had kept Kelly sidelined for five straight practices.
With Kelly back, the Colts still have a couple of injuries to the right side of their line. Both Hugh Thornton (ankle) and Joe Reitz (groin) are listed as day-to-day. Denzelle Good will continue to take the first-team reps at right guard. Over at right tackle, expect fifth-round pick Joe Haeg to slide in with the first unit. Chuck Pagano on the repercussions of having the Hall of Game cancelled:
"We were going to treat (preseason) games one and two as one. We missed out on those snaps.
"So we'll adjust and go back and look at it and see how this week goes. Look at our depth situation and our injury situation and who we get back. We'll make an assessment and adjustment based on that and get the guys an appropriate amount of reps."
Bowen's Analysis: For the Colts, the biggest impact in not having played in the preseason opener is for the backend of the roster guys. Many undrafted free agents coming to the Colts in 2016 were loving an extra preseason game to make them noticed. That's now gone and the Colts will revert to having the normal four-game preseason schedule.
CBA rules forced the Colts to keep Monday as a normal day off. That means Tuesday's return to work is the first time the Colts have done fieldwork since last Friday. The Colts will be in Anderson through Thursday morning before breaking camp. The team will travel to Buffalo on Friday for their now preseason opener against the Bills on Saturday night.
