Colts guard Hugh Thornton "week to week" with knee sprain

The Indianapolis Colts held the first of two joint practices with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday, and while they came away from it without fighting, they didn't come away completely uninjured.  A couple of players left practice early yesterday, most notably guard Hugh Thornton.

Head coach Chuck Pagano gave an update on Thornton's status this morning, saying that he suffered a knee sprain that, while it won't require surgery, will cause him to miss some time.  The official designation from Pagano on Thornton is that the guard is "week to week."

With the Colts, even "day to day" can mean that a player might miss a week or two, so "week to week" typically indicates that the player will miss a period of time.  For example, Robert Mathis was described as "week to week" when training camp opened at the beginning of the month, but he has yet to come off the PUP list, much less come close to playing in a game.  With the Colts, when they say "week to week," it usually means the player will miss a significant period of time.

The depth for the Colts at guard is questionable at best, so losing Thornton hurts.  He was trying to play his way into the starting lineup at left guard, though Lance Louis is clearly the favorite there.  With Thornton likely missing some time, it means that Louis will probably wind up winning that competition pretty easily to be the week one starter.  But Thornton has started 20 games over the past two years for the Colts and still has talent that the team can work with, making him a valuable depth piece.  Now, they'll be without him for many, if not all, of the preseason games.  That leaves the Colts with just 13 healthy linemen, and five of them are the starters.  In Thornton's absence, Pagano said that David Arkin will likely fill in, but the Colts need others to do so as well.

As far as injury updates go, Pagano also gave an update on cornerback Jalil Brown and wide receiver Quan Bray.  Brown has a hamstring injury while Bray has a groin injury, and both are "day to day."