Colts will shut Kendall Langford down “for a little bit” as he’ll miss first career game

For the first time since entering the NFL in 2008, Kendall Langford will miss a game. He’ll be out this Sunday when the Colts host the Chiefs, snapping a streak of 135 straight games for the ever-reliable veteran.

That streak was the longest active streak in the NFL for a defensive lineman, but he’ll sit out Sunday’s game as he continues to deal with a knee injury. In fact, it’s unclear when he’ll return to the field, as he’s going to be out for a while as he recovers from his knee injury.

“You guys have watched him play, and we’ve watched it, and he’s been battling through that thing and just never really got right,” head coach Chuck Pagano said today. “So he’s a tough, tough guy, he’s an iron man, he’s a warrior, he wants to play, he wants to be out there, Mike [Chappell] you know that, I know that, his teammates know that, but finally we just said, you know what, let’s shut him down for a little bit and get that thing totally healed and calmed down to where he can get back to playing winning football. And he wants to be out there with his teammates and all that stuff, but we’ve just got to give him some time to let that thing heal.”

Langford initially suffered a knee injury in training camp and missed several weeks after having it scoped, but he returned in time to begin the regular season. He’s started the first seven games this year, but it has been obvious that he hasn’t been the same player he was a year ago. So the Colts have now made the decision to hold him out and let him get 100%, but it’s unknown how long that will take. When asked whether it’s a week-to-week thing, Pagano said that he really doesn’t know.

So for the time being, it’s best to assume that Langford will miss some time, as Pagano said they’re going to shut him down for a little bit. The good news is that the Colts have some depth along their defensive line, as aside from Langford they have Henry Anderson, David Parry, Zach Kerr, Hassan Ridgeway, T.Y. McGill, and Art Jones. Anderson will also miss Sunday’s game, however, meaning that the depth guys will have to step up even more. In Langford’s absence, however, it’s expected that Zach Kerr (who’s been having a very good season and has been arguably their best defensive lineman) will fill in.