INDIANAPOLIS – Once T.Y. Hilton saw the text from Donte Moncrief, he knew what had to be done.
The news wasn't what Hilton wanted to hear.
His "little brother" is going to miss four-to-six weeks with a fractured scapula, eliminating the team's No. 2 receiver and the most unique passing option on the roster.
Hilton's response to Moncrief: "I got you."
It was a simple message for a guy who has extra motivation after a four-catch, 41-yard performance in 11 targets last week.
"41 yards? Unacceptable," Hilton said on Wednesday of his outing against the defending Super Bowl Champions.
"I'm coming out this week guns blazing and I've got to make plays. I haven't made plays, haven't had a game-changing performance yet, so this week, I look forward to it."
Once Moncrief left after nine snaps in Denver, chunks of yardage did not come frequently at all for the receiving group.
Hilton says he put last week's game "on me," knowing that for the next month or so, even with coverages more prevalent his way, plays must be made.
What the Colts are missing now in Moncrief is a guy that can use his 6-2 frame over the middle of the field, in the red zone on fade patterns and over the top of underneath coverage.
So far in 2016, Phillip Dorsett hasn't shied away from going up to make plays typically seen from Moncrief.
Dorsett has three catches of at least 30 yards through two games (the second most in the NFL). That nature of attacking the football like a dog snatching a Frisbee has to carry on sans Moncrief.
"We saw him do that collegiately," Pagano says of the 5-10 Dorsett excelling in the air, "go down the middle of the field and go up in traffic and go get balls. We need him to continue that.
"Him having the success that he has had as far as making the big plays down the field is obviously going to help us."
With the Colts using a lot of three-wide personnel early in 2016, Dorsett has already played 113 total snaps. As a rookie, Dorsett played just 215 snaps all season with injuries and a crowded depth chart hindering such reps.
The depth chart has opened up now and Dorsett's name is squarely atop it, alongside Hilton.
Besides the obvious, Hilton and Dorsett, the Colts will also rely on Quan Bray (1 career NFL catch), Chester Rogers (0 career NFL catches) and Devin Street (who joined the team Wednesday and has nine career NFL catches) to absorb reps when the Colts do want to use a three-wide personnel grouping.
Continued production from Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle, plus a re-birth of the run game, wouldn't hurt things either with Moncrief out for the next month.
While injuries have hit virtually every position group early in 2016, the receivers had been pretty clean.
That changed on Sunday when Moncrief got hit over the middle.
Now a player many thought to be a breakout start in 2016 has been put on the shelf for a critical stretch of the season.
Life goes on though for the 0-2 Colts, with a bye week still seven weeks away.
"It is a skillset that we will miss," Pagano says of not having Moncrief.
"Other guys have to step up. It is what it is. We will deal with it."
