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Based off of team pre-game warmups, it appears as though Will Holden and Chaz Green will be starting at left and right tackle for the Indianapolis Colts respectively in the absence of bookends Anthony Castonzo and Braden Smith on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers:
Colts tackles in initial warmups: Chaz Green on the right, Will Holden on the left.
— Joel A. Erickson (@JoelAErickson) December 27, 2020
Interior OL looks like it normally does.
So from left to right: Holden, Nelson, Kelly, Glowinski, Green
Update pregame @WISH_TV — Chaz Green is at right tackle, Quenton Nelson left guard and Will Holden at left tackle. #Colts #Steelers pic.twitter.com/5TMrr2ToYn
— Charlie Clifford (@cliffWISH8) December 27, 2020
Both Holden and Green have made 7 career starts each during their careers.
It means that the Colts will keep their usual interior offensive line starters of Quenton Nelson (LG), Ryan Kelly (OC), and Mark Glowinski (RG) at their natural positions—which might be a safe bet, with the unit still having to square off against Steelers Pro Bowl DT Cameron Heyward along the inside.
Still, it’ll be a difficult matchup for the Colts’ replacement offensive tackles off the edge, as the Steelers lead the league with 47.0 sacks and have the NFL’s best pass rush win rate at 55%. Steelers All-Pro pass rusher T.J. Watt currently tops the league with 13.0 sacks.
It’s next man up in Indianapolis, but the Colts may be forced to shuffle things further—if the early in-game results aren’t encouraging at offensive tackle (with Nelson and veteran backup J’Marcus Webb potentially factoring into the equation then).