The Colts will look to shake off another Week 1 loss as they have for 11 straight seasons now. This week the challenge does not get any easier as the Colts take on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon. The Colts did get a small gift handed to them as they will not have to prepare for QB Jordan Love this week. Instead, they will prepare for backup QB Malik Willis, formerly of the Tennessee Titans. Love suffered an MCL sprain in the opening loss to Philadelphia in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Packers have not officially ruled out Jordan Love, but it appears incredibly unlikely that he will suit up for Sunday’s game. Let’s dive into our weekly three storylines as we preview this upcoming Colts/Packers matchup.
Colts Defensive Injuries Are Piling Up
The often-coy Shane Steichen did not mention many injuries in the Week 1 post-game press conference outside of the back injury to DeForest Buckner. Things have changed since then with starting outside CB JuJu Brents placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. Other names that popped up on the injury report include DeForest Buckner (back) and Kwity Paye (hamstring) as well as Julian Blackmon (shoulder) who is now OUT for Sunday’s matchup. It appears that Buckner and Paye will be true game-time decisions. It does not look good for them this weekend though Buckner has become a rest player throughout the weeks over the years in Indy.
The roster gymnastics was seen earlier in the week with the Colts promoting veteran CB Chris Lammons to the active roster and signing CB Kelvin Joseph to the practice squad. We also saw the return of safety Ronnie Harrison Jr to the practice squad as this looks to be some depth with the injury to Julian Blackmon. This is not an ideal spot for the Colts to be in this early in the season as they cannot afford to go into the 0-2 hole to start the season. Did GM Chris Ballard leave the cupboard to bare for this coaching staff? This week will be a true measure of where this defense stands after last week’s overall uninspiring performance.
Gus Bradley Scheme Change Coming?
It was obvious that the scheme and game plan they had for Houston did not work. I will give some credit to Bradley, the team seemed to blitz more than they did last season. They got Stroud off his game a bit with the pass rush, however, when the run game was as dominant as it was, it didn’t get noticed. With the potential injuries to this unit for this game, what will we see Bradley throw at this Green Bay offense?
Gus Bradley said to the media that they were focusing on Malik Willis tape from college since there is not much to see as a professional. Willis only has 3 starts in the NFL with a 1-2 record. The plan last week was to handle the run as they got after Stroud and this week they will have an (arguably) better running back this week to handle in Josh Jacobs. The young trio of receivers that Green Bay has is not as accomplished as they saw last week in Houston but they are very talented. Gus Bradley will have another full plate this week and will need to change up some scheme to slow down this offense.
Play Calling Battle
This game will showcase two premier playcallers in the league and two very different situations. Both are terrific at accentuating the strengths of their offense and executing that at a high level. We saw what Steichen wants to do with Anthony Richardson under center. The vertical passing game will be a new wrinkle this season in the playbook. Especially with the breakout of Alec Pierce in week one. Will Shane Steichen try to get some more of the skill players involved after minimal distribution last week? Will we see a bigger role from the tight ends? Will he call more designed runs? Anthony Richardson must get more out of the supporting cast this week. He cannot be relied upon to bail us out every single week, it’s not sustainable.
For Green Bay, Malik Willis will be the true wild card. How will Packers Head Coach Matt LeFleur scheme up this offense? The Colts defense (as of now) looks to be depleted and how much will LeFleur really take advantage of that on this defense? I think they will see a heavy dose of Josh Jacobs (especially if Buckner is inactive) and sprinkle in the pass offense with Malik Willis.
Even with both teams missing some key players, the Colts must take advantage of the loss of Jordan Love. Both teams lost their openers and getting their first win is imperative. Both teams are in a must-win situation to prevent a 0-2 start.
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