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Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich had his weekly conference call Monday with the media and gave several updates.
Per Coach Reich, tests confirmed that RB Marlon Mack suffered a season-ending Achilles injury on Sunday.
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 14, 2020
One of the biggest updates Reich gave was the injury status of starting running back Marlon Mack who went off injured in the first quarter of the game Sunday with an ankle injury. Reich confirmed the rumours surrounding Mack that he had torn his Achilles and will be out for the remainder of the season. It is a real shame for Mack to have this injury as he was coming off such a productive year, first 1,000 yard rushing year of his career, and was also trying to prove a point in a contract year. Having Mack injured for the season is a big knock but one that the Colts can afford due to the depth they have at the position.
Reich says Jonathan Taylor will step into the starting role at running back.
— Andrew Walker (@AWalkerColts) September 14, 2020
“He looked good yesterday,” Reich said. “Jonathan’s ready. He’ll step up and do a great job.”
Nyheim Hines — on all downs — and Jordan Wilkins will also be counted on to step up.
#Colts still plan to rotate RBs. But Taylor "has to be the lead dog," Reich said.
— George Bremer (@gmbremer) September 14, 2020
Reich then went on to outline the plan at running back now that Mack the teams starter is injured for the season. He confirmed that rookie Jonathan Taylor will be the starting running back, with Nyheim Hines getting more snaps too on all downs and Wilkins being counted to step up and take on a bigger role. Taylor was great in his limited snaps Sunday and the Colts should find themselves lucky to have such a good next man up in place of the injured Mack.
Frank Reich expresses full confidence in defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) September 14, 2020
"Yesterday was a small sample size," Reich says.
Reich said the gameplan worked largely as intended. Jags had just 2 completions over 20 yards. Problem is they didn't force FGs, Reich said.
Reich says that if you look at the defense's complete body of work under Eberflus, there's reason to believe the defense is headed in the right direction.
— Joel A. Erickson (@JoelAErickson) September 14, 2020
The defense on Sunday took some major knocks on their performance. However, Reich believes the defense did their job to a certain degree mentioning that the defensive game plan worked, limiting the offense to only two 20 yard plays but that the defense didn’t force enough field goals instead they allowed touchdowns. Reich is confident in Matt Eberflus and his scheme. The Colts defense has seemingly always been a “bend don’t break” defense under Eberflus with reliance on the front four to create pressure and the coverage to be primarily zone. However, the defensive front didn’t create anywhere near enough pressure and the zone coverage was easily picked apart leading to the “bend don’t break” defense breaking on Sunday.