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Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich had his weekly conference call today with the media and gave several updates.
Reich: "Guy had a bad day, does he have the confidence to bounce back? Do we have the patience for him to bounce back? Those are all of the things you work through."
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) September 12, 2022
Related: Reich **almost always** gives his players a vote of confidence.
Colts can't keep ignoring this issue.
Reich says Colts deferred final conversation on Blankenship’s status to his meeting with Ballard at 5:45 today.
— Joel A. Erickson (@JoelAErickson) September 12, 2022
Reich deflects when asked about the kicking situation. Says they are "gathering information" and will have further staff meetings later today.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) September 12, 2022
My sense is that they are having a serious discussion but details still elusive. TBD.
Regarding kicker again, Reich adds, "Chris (Ballard) and I will sit down and have a long talk about that tonight."
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) September 12, 2022
What he did NOT say is "Rod is our kicker."
Read between the lines as you please.
Rodrigo Blankenship had arguably the worst game a kicker could have Week 1 against the Houston Texans. He kicked two kickoffs out of bounds gifting the Texans good field position late in the game and then missed a game winning field goal. The Colts are clearly unimpressed by Blankenship’s outing on Sunday and are having internal discussion to determine the best course of action, The Colts could have a new kicker Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Regarding kickoffs, Reich says punter Matt Haack is not an option right now. That's code for he's not very good at it, which is fine (he's a punter).
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) September 12, 2022
So, that's where that stands in case you were wondering.
Reich went on to talk about in house options/changes the teams to make the kickoff unit after two out of bounds kicks by Blankenship. However, he was quick to say punter Matt Haack would not be an option for kickoff duty. If the Colts are going to make a change then it looks to be an outside option to replace Blankenship. The Colts will likely bring some free agent kickers in this week for workouts.
Frank Reich on Shaq Leonard's status for this week: "As I sit here right now I’d like to say hey he’s got a chance to play ... but we’ve gotta make progress from where we were last week."
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) September 12, 2022
Leonard traveled to Houston and got treatment. Will practice this week.
Reich went on to talk about the status of linebacker Shaquille Leonard for Week 2 after he missed the Texans game still rehabbing his back injury from the off-season. Leonard missed the game but did manage to practice all week even though two of the three practices he was limited for. The Colts rotated linebackers Zaire Franklin and EJ Speed in the starting line up in replace of Leonard but sorely need his play-making ability back in the line up next week.
Frank Reich says Bernhard Raimann's snaps in place of Matt Pryor on Sunday was part of a planned rotation. That will continue each week with the split changing from week to week. #Colts
— George Bremer (@gmbremer) September 12, 2022
The @Colts will plan on rotating rookie Bernhard Raimann at left tackle with Matt Pryor at times this season. "The amount will be a week-to-week decision," HC Frank Reich said. Added Pryor graded out well in Week 1.
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) September 12, 2022
Reich went on to talk about the starting left tackle position. Matt Pryor started the game at left tackle but rookie Bernhard Raimann was rotated in at times during the game. With how poor the Colts offensive tackles played on Sunday it is to no surprise that the Colts want to continue to rotate Raimann in to get a more indepth look at him. Reich said the amount of snaps Raimann and Pryor will get at the starting left tackle position will be determined each week but with the team already looking at another option to Pryor doesn’t bode well fro him long term at the position. Raimann is still acclimatising to the NFL after only playing his first game on Sunday but if he continues to develop and show promise then he could unseat Pryor sooner than later.
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