Frank Reich shares how Colts will attack the preseason
Frank Reich recently shared with the media how the Indianapolis Colts plan to play their starters in Indy’s three preseason games.
The Indianapolis Colts kick off the preseason on Saturday against the Buffalo Bills and fans can expect to see some action for Indy’s top players. While some teams are giving their starters limited snaps or holding them out completely, the Colts are planning to take advantage of the three games.
Head coach Frank Reich has already revealed that newly acquired quarterback, Matt Ryan, will be playing about the entire first quarter on Saturday and if the starting quarterback is playing that much, it’s safe to assume all other healthy starters will also be in.
On Thursday, Reich went past his plan for Week 1 of the preseason and shared how Indy plans to attack all three games in terms of starters’ playing time. Reich said that in Weeks 1 and 2 of the preseason, the starters will get limited time, likely a quarter, but for the final preseason game, the starters will get a lot of work, probably playing the entire first half.
Colts preseason plan, per Frank Reich:
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 11, 2022
They'll play the starters a little in W1 (at Buffalo) and W2 (vs. Detroit) but they'll treat the W3 game vs. Tampa Bay as the dress rehearsal. Expect Matt Ryan and the starters to play up to a half in that one.
Colts starters will get a lot of work in the preseason
Indy’s second preseason game is against the Detroit Lions and the Colts will be holding joint practices with Detroit in the week leading up to the game. Since both teams will get a lot of best-on-best work in those practices, the coaches may not feel the need to get the starters a lot of work in the actual game. In Week 3, however, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Colts will turn things up a notch.
The reason Indianapolis will be so aggressive in the preseason is that the team has so many new pieces that it’s incorporating. From Matt Ryan to young receivers to Gus Bradley’s defensive scheme, there are a lot of new moving parts that Indy is getting accustomed to.
Another reason the Colts are planning to take advantage of the preseason is that they want to avoid the kind of slow start that labored them last season. Everything Indy has done so far in training camp has been to help the team get off to a better start. The team adjusted the start of practice to help with their circadian rhythm and now they are planning to get top guys a lot of reps in the preseason.
As long as the Colts make it to Week 1 healthy, they should be prepared to get things rolling out the gate. Indy opens the season against the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars so there will be no excuse for the team to start this season like they did last year.
