INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts today officially began on-field preparations for Sunday's Week 9 contest against the Baltimore Ravens. 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:
Hilton, Dulin DNP
Two Colts wide receivers who exited last Sunday's Week 8 road win over the Detroit Lions with injuries sat out Wednesday's first Ravens practice.
T.Y. Hilton (groin) and Ashton Dulin (knee) both were the only Colts players to miss practice with injuries; tight end Mo Alie-Cox (knee), center Ryan Kelly (knee) and running backs Jonathan Taylor (ankle) and Jordan Wilkins (groin) were all limited on Wednesday.
Hilton, the Colts' top receiver, suffered his injury in the first half of last Sunday's 41-21 victory over the Lions; at the time, he had two receptions for nine yards in the ballgame.
Colts head coach Frank Reich said before Wednesday's practice that the team will "continue to evaluate" Hilton throughout the week to determine his status for this Sunday's game against the Ravens.
"We know T.Y. is a fast healer, obviously a veteran player," Reich said. "So he'll need to practice in order to play, but right now it's still too early to tell."
Dulin, meanwhile, finished the Lions game with one reception for 13 yards, but perhaps his best play didn't appear on the stat sheet. Early in the fourth quarter with the Colts clinging to a 20-14 lead, Indy faced a 3rd and 14 from the Detroit 45 when quarterback Philip Rivers heaved a deep pass down the field for Dulin, who was able to draw a pass interference penalty against cornerback Justin Coleman, setting up the Colts with 1st and Goal from the Lions' 4-yard line; Wilkins would punch it in from one yard out three plays later, and then also add a two-point conversion, to extend the Colts' lead to 28-14.
If Hilton and/or Dulin remain limited or are ruled out heading into the Ravens game, then 2020 sixth-round pick Dezmon Patmon, who has been a healthy scratch the first seven games of the year, could be an option at the wide receiver position for the Colts. The team also has two wide receivers — Daurice Fountain and DeMichael Harris — on its practice squad if needed, both of whom have already played in at least one regular season game this year for the team.
Adams returns; too early on Turay
In other Colts injury-related news, linebacker Matthew Adams, who has been on IR since Sept. 26 with an ankle injury, officially returned to the practice field on Wednesday. Indianapolis now has 21 days to decide whether to move Adams back to the active roster or revert him to IR for the remainder of the season.
Then there's defensive end Kemoko Turay, who has been on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list since the start of training camp and returned to practice this week, and is continuing to work his way back towards a possible return to game action.
Adams, who has been a key piece of depth at linebacker as well as a top special teams contributor since being selected by the Colts in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft, suffered an ankle injury in the Colts' Week 2 victory over the Minnesota Vikings; he was placed on IR the following week.
Adams is hoping to become the fourth Colts player to return from IR this season; tight end Trey Burton (calf), defensive tackle Sheldon Day (knee) and wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (lower leg) have been moved back to the active roster in recent weeks.
If Adams does indeed officially return to the active roster, the Colts will have just three players left on their IR list: wide receiver Parris Campbell, safety Malik Hooker and running back Marlon Mack. Reich is yet to officially rule Campbell out for the season as he works his way back from knee surgery, while both Hooker and Mack are done for the year with Achilles injuries.
Turay, meanwhile, has been working his way back from an ankle injury suffered in Week 5 last season against the Kansas City Chiefs. He returned to practice last week, and Reich had estimated at that time that he thought Turay would likely need at least a couple weeks under him before he could possibly return to game action.
While Turay has had some nice moments in practice, Reich said today that it's still too early to tell if the third-year Rutgers product will be ready to go for Sunday's game against the Ravens.
"He is going to practice and continue to get reps," Reich said. "He looks good. So we're not going to box ourselves in on any decision one way or another, but right now he is practicing and making the progress that we want to see in him practicing."
