INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Colts return to the practice field on Tuesday after having Monday off. A point of emphasis for them this week -- outside of improving their tackling -- will be protecting the football and avoiding penalties. The Colts had four turnovers and committed four turnovers in their preseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
"Your knee-jerk reaction is that it’s never as good or as bad as you think, both ways, until you look at the tape," coach Chuck Pagano said. "But like I said after the game, there were some good things that we did, some positive things, things to build on and then obviously some areas that need to be addressed. We didn’t take care of the football the way that we wanted to. Too many penalties, two areas that a couple of years ago we were really good at, but we have to be better there. So again there’s a lot of stuff. It’s early, we know that. It was good to play the game and see exactly where we are at, where the guys are individually, where we are at offense, defense, special teams and as a team, and then go back to work.”
This week of practice will be a different one for the Colts under Pagano.
After their regular practice Tuesday, the Colts will hold a joint practice (it's not open to the public) with the Chicago Bears at their team facility on Wednesday and Thursday before the teams meet at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday.
“You get to see different bodies so to speak," Pagano said. "Wide receivers running against different D-backs and vice versa. Schematically, you get to see a different scheme than what you see going against yourself day in and day out, so that’s a positive. Again, just the matchups, you get different matchups, which is great. (Broncos) coach (John) Fox is a great guy and they will do, both sides will, we want to be competitive, but obviously you've got to be smart about it as well.”
Other than injuries, the one thing the Colts want to avoid is fights during the joint practice. The Washington Redskins and Houston Texans had an altercation during their joint practice recently. And the same thing, though not to the same extent, happened in a joint practice with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns on Monday. Pagano kicked center Jonotthan Harrison and defensive lineman Kelcy Quarles out of practice earlier in camp.
"Yeah, that really has got no place," Pagano said. "It’s going to be just a distraction and deter from what we’re trying to get accomplished with both teams. This year I talked to the guys early on and before we ever took a snap in training camp that if you fight during the game and throw a punch, you’re going to get ejected, you’re going to hurt the team, you’re going to get fined and you’re going to get thrown out of the game. So you just can’t have it.
"We want to compete at a high level, but at the same time we want to take care of each other just like we do ourselves in training camp. It isn’t about cheap shots and doing the trash talk and all that. Let’s play football, let’s get better and let’s help each other get better, both teams. We carry the same message, if something happens and it gets out of hand, then guys are going to miss practice time.”
Tuesday, Aug. 18
11:30 a.m. -- Practice
Wednesday, Aug. 19
1:50 p.m. -- Joint practice with Chicago Bears
Thursday, Aug. 20
1:50 p.m. -- Joint practice with Bears
