Colts Starting LG Jack Mewhort will be Out Sunday with an Ankle Injury

This afternoon, Colts rookie starting left guard Jack Mewhort missed practice with an ankle injury.  He played every offensive snap Sunday, meaning that he played through the injury, but he missed practice today..  When asked about his status, Pagano didn't hide anything, saying that Mewhort will miss this Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens.

"He's out," Pagano said this afternoon.  "He's out.  I will not string anybody along with that.  We're just upfront and forthright around here, trying to be as honest as we can."

So who will replace Mewhort at left guard?  Pagano offered an answer to that question as well: they'll put Lance Louis there.

"When you've got a bunch of guys that prepare as starters," Pagano said, "and I just think of Lance (Louis) going in and stepping in for Hugh (Thornton) at right guard last week and doing a great job, we've got Hugh back so now we just put Lance over at the left side and we roll."

Simple as that: Jack Mewhort will miss this Sunday's game, and Lance Louis, who started at right guard last week in place of the injured Hugh Thornton, will shift over to left guard to play this week.  When Donald Thomas initially went down with a season-ending injury, Pagano mentioned both Mewhort and Louis as options to replace him.  We all knew that it would be Mewhort, but Louis was at least a bit of an option there for Pagano and the staff.

Additionally, there was a rumor going around this morning that the Colts would start Jonotthan Harrison at center over A.Q. Shipley (possibly because of Shipley moving to guard), but while the second part of that seems to have been shot down by Pagano in saying that Louis will move to left guard, when asked about the rumors of Harrision possibly replacing Shipley, Pagano gave a sort of non-answer.

"I don't know where that's coming from," Pagano said.  He continued to say "just be careful what you listen to and read.  Wait 'till game day."  While that last part might suggest there's something more to the situation, Pagano's answer appeared much more to indicate that he wasn't really going to answer the question about the center position.  To me, it seemed like a non-answer - different from last week, when Pagano definitively named A.Q. Shipley the starting center on Wednesday.  I wouldn't make too much out of it, but it did send the feeling of a typical "non-answer."

What we do know, however, is that Chuck Pagano said today that Jack Mewhort will miss Sunday's game and that Lance Louis will shift over to left guard to replace him.  It will be the second straight week that a different starting lineman (both guards) will miss a game, and hopefully the streak ends at two.