Andrew Luck, Frank Gore, and Robert Mathis among 13 players not in uniform for Colts tonight vs. Bills

The Indianapolis Colts will make their preseason debut tonight against the Buffalo Bills at 7:00 p.m., but 13 players won’t be participating.

The inactive list doesn’t exist for preseason games, but there are 13 Colts players who are not in uniform for tonight’s game:

Marcus Leak, WR

Andrew Luck, QB

Frank Gore, RB

Clayton Geathers, S

Winston Guy, S

D’Joun Smith, CB

Jalil Brown, CB

Tevin Mitchel, CB

Hugh Thornton, OL

Kendall Langford, DL

Henry Anderson, DL

Art Jones, DL

Robert Mathis, OLB

There aren’t too many surprises on this list, as eight of these players were ruled out by Chuck Pagano on Thursday and most of them have been dealing with injuries during training camp. The three most notable names are obviously Andrew Luck, Frank Gore, and Robert Mathis, but the fact that none of them are playing shouldn’t be too surprising. It came as a bit of a surprise when Jim Irsay tweeted that Luck wouldn’t play just because of the fact that Pagano said Luck would play, but when you really stop and think about it the move makes sense: Luck still will have games two and three go get ready, so with rainy field conditions tonight there’s no reason to put him out there yet. Frank Gore won’t play much at all this preseason (nor should he) as the Colts try to keep the veteran running back fresh, and the same can be said for Robert Mathis, who is the team’s only reliable pass rusher.

What this does mean, however, is that we should see most of the other starters for at least a series or two, so there will still be plenty to watch tonight.