Colts Overcome Injuries, COVID Issues; Carson…

1. The Colts overcame an immense amount of adversity to win.

For myriad reasons, the Colts had to rely on a long list of reserves for all or most of Saturday’s game in Arizona:

• WR Keke Coutee (29 snaps, season high)
• TE Kylen Granson (32 snaps, career high)
• T Julién Davenport (52 snaps, highest since Week 2)
• G Chris Reed (59 snaps, highest since Week 8)
• C Danny Pinter (70 snaps, third straight game playing 100 percent of offensive snaps)
• G Will Fries (12 snaps, career high)
• G Matt Pryor (70 snaps, season high and first at guard with Colts)
• DE Dayo Odeyingbo (27 snaps, career high)
• DE Ben Banogu (14 snaps, season high)
• LB E.J. Speed (65 snaps, career high)
• CB Isaiah Rodgers (55 snaps, highest since Week 5 and second highest this season)
• S George Odum (65 snaps, second game in which he’s played 100 percent of defensive snaps)
• S Jahleel Addae (61 snaps, season high)

Tight end Mo Alie-Cox (63 snaps) set a season high in play time; wide receiver Ashton Dulin (28 snaps) had his second-highest snap count in 2021. And, of course, Dezmon Patmon caught his first career touchdown to effectively seal the Colts’ win.

Also: Because so many of these reserves played significant snaps on offense and defense, special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone’s depth chart was “a complete turnaround” from where it usually is, head coach Frank Reich said. Guys like safety Will Redmond and Anthony Chesley, who were both elevated to the active roster from the practice squad as COVID-19 replacements, had to play a handful of snaps on special teams.

Every team preaches a “next man up” mentality, but the Colts truly coalesced around it to produce a 22-16 win on Saturday.

“We talked about it today,” Reich said after the game. “‘Hey, we’re prepared for this. We’ve practiced this. Everyone going out there today has practiced every one of these plays a million times. There’s no excuses, no explanations. We’re prepared for this, we’ve practiced these reps over and over and let’s just go perform.’ And that’s what they did.”

Now, as the Colts head into the final two games of the regular season and then potentially the playoffs, they’ll do so knowing they can count on their depth to step up and play well if needed.

“We finally got a chance to come together and show how much depth is on the roster,” Speed said.