INDIANAPOLIS – It’s tough to imagine less intrigue from a football game. Not a single first-team offensive or defensive player played Thursday for the Colts.
Even though the Colts lost 30-28 to Cincinnati, and finished the preseason 0-4, that’s inconsequential. They are 4-22 over the last six preseasons, but 65-15 in the regular season with a playoff berth every year and two Super Bowls appearances in that span.
Thursday’s game was highlighted by three late touchdown catches from Brandon James, who is on the bubble of making the 53-man roster, but the most tangible battle related kick and punt returners.
It’s fitting the return specialist would be such an afterthought; the Colts always seem unconcerned with that post, and again the job will be up in the air until Sept. 12 at Houston.
“That’s an area that we’ve looked at as certainly wanting to see some improvement in,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “I do think we’ve seen a little bit of improvement, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We have some guys who are certainly capable of doing the job, so it’ll be a tough situation for us to nail down.”
The Colts have ranked no better than 18th in kick returns since 2006. In that time, the averages of their primary returners – T.J. Rushing’s 23 yards, Pierre Garcon’s 21.6 yards and Chad Simpson’s 23.6 yards – have all been below the benchmark of 24 yards one typically needs to be deemed a threat.
The Colts have been even worse returning punts, ranking 32nd in 2008 with an average of 6 yards and 28th last year with 5.2.
Imagine what Peyton Manning would have done with better starting field position.
This is about a lack of priority.
Whereas teams like Minnesota and Baltimore have handled the roles with high draft picks like Percy Harvin and Lardarius Webb, respectively, others like Cleveland have spent big money on talent like Josh Cribbs. The Colts have stuck to their philosophy of ignoring high-profile free agents or finding players late in the draft or undrafted free agents.
Not helping matters have been terrible blocking and penalties, of which there were three Thursday.
The Colts are looking at Devin Moore, a former practice-squad player with Seattle, the undrafted rookie James, seventh-round pick Ray Fisher and second-year player Sam Giguere.
Based on Thursday, the job appears to be Moore’s. He came into the night with a kick-return average of 32.3 yards and a 49-yard punt return against Buffalo, then had two returns for a total of 45 yards against the Bengals. The Colts averaged 22.1 yards on kick returns and 2yards on punt returns Thursday.
That’s improvement?
Until the Colts show they have a legitimate threat on returns, Manning’s job will be tougher.
