Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor wants to play Thursday against the Denver Broncos, but his status remains very much up in the air because of an ankle injury.

"I definitely do plan to play, but if you can't go you can't go," Taylor told reporters Tuesday. "That's why you have to get as much treatment as you can."

Taylor wore a boot on his leg during Tuesday's practice session after he twisted his ankle late in Week 4's loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Colts coach Frank Reich said Taylor is not at risk of further injury if he plays Thursday.

"From what I understand, the discussions that I've had, that's not a concern at this point," Reich said. "It's an injury where he's not ready to go right now, but we'll see if he'll be ready to go Thursday night."

Taylor has had a disappointing start to the 2022 season, compiling 328 yards and one touchdown on the ground. After opening the year with a massive 161-yard performance, Taylor's been held under 80 yards on the ground in three straight contests despite a significant workload. He is averaging a full 1.5 yards less per carry in 2022 than he did a year ago.

Even if Taylor manages to play, it's hard to imagine he'll get a full workload. Nyheim Hines would be in line for more work if Taylor doesn't go or is limited.

It's also possible the Colts elevate former Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay from the practice squad.

The Indianapolis Colts are one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL after their 1-2-1 start, and changes could be coming soon following their 24-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

"Jim Irsay is not going to stand for this," NBC Sports' Peter King said of the team's owner. "He really isn't. I can feel him fixing to blow from here."

Indianapolis entered the year with high expectations after adding veteran quarterback Matt Ryan to a squad that went 9-8 last season. Outside of the surprising win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3, the Colts have been an embarrassment in 2022 with two losses and a tie against the other three teams in the AFC South.

Considering the Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans only have a combined two wins outside of the Colts, the performances are especially disconcerting.

It could put head coach Frank Reich, who is in his fifth year with the team, on the hot seat. The squad has cycled through six different starting quarterbacks in that stretch: Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, Brian Hoyer, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Ryan.

With the Colts currently dead last in the NFL at just 14.3 points scored per game, Irsay might be running out of patience.

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor told reporters his ankle was "tweaked up a little bit but feeling good now" after Sunday's loss to the Tennessee Titans.

He also said, "I'm not sure yet, but we'll see how things are tomorrow morning," when asked if he will be available for Thursday's game against the Denver Broncos.

According to Zak Keefer of The Athletic, the Colts fear Taylor suffered a high ankle sprain. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the Indianapolis star will undergo testing to make sure there is "no major damage."

The 23-year-old had an excellent rookie season in 2020, rushing for 1,169 yards and 11 scores while adding 36 receptions for 299 yards and a touchdown.

Expectations were high for Taylor after he was selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, and he delivered, ascending to become one of the best running backs in the NFL by season's end.

He took another step in 2021 and was arguably the best offensive player in football, registering 1,811 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns, both the top marks in the NFL.

He largely avoided injuries in his first season, though the Wisconsin product missed the team's Week 12 loss versus the Tennessee Titans after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

He played all 17 games last year.

All in all, no buyer's remorse in Indianapolis, and the Colts will sorely miss Taylor if he's forced to miss time. In that event, look for Nyheim Hines to handle the bulk of the running back duties.

NFL referee Shawn Smith provided some insight into why he flagged Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones for unsportsmanlike conduct during what turned out to be the game-winning drive for the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3.

According to ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio, Smith noted in the game report that Jones used "disturbing language" toward Colts quarterback Matt Ryan and that it has "no place in professional football."

The penalty helped extend Indy's drive, as the Chiefs had stopped the Colts on third down and likely would have forced a punt. Ryan went on to throw the go-ahead touchdown pass to rookie tight end Jelani Woods with 24 seconds left in a 20-17 upset.

Smith did not provide any specifics regarding what Jones said, nor did Jones divulge the particulars of the incident.

Per NFL Network's James Palmer, Jones took responsibility for the penalty while speaking to the media after the game but said he was "clearly surprised" the call was made. He said he was having a "conversation" with Ryan.

The Chiefs still had ample opportunities to stop the Colts after that, but Ryan and Co. methodically marched down the field, taking 8:14 off the clock during a 16-play, 76-yard drive.

Kansas City is known for doing some miraculous things with little time left on the clock, and while quarterback Patrick Mahomes was able to get the Chiefs down to the Colts' 46-yard line in mere seconds, he was picked off with two seconds remaining to win the game.

That gave the Colts their first win of the season in dramatic fashion, moving them to 1-1-1, while the Chiefs lost for the first time in 2022 and fell to 2-1.

While Jones' penalty cost the Chiefs on Sunday, he remains one of their best and most impactful players.

The 28-year-old veteran is in the midst of his seventh NFL season with the Chiefs and is a three-time Pro Bowler. That includes last season, when he matched the second-highest sack total of his career with nine.

Jones has long been one of the league's best interior pass-rushers, as his 51.5 career sacks can attest to, and he will continue to be a key cog in the Chiefs' success regardless of what happened against the Colts.

The Indianapolis Colts have gotten off to a disappointing start to the 2022 season largely because of the lackluster play by quarterback Matt Ryan, but head coach Frank Reich isn't panicking just yet.

Per Pro Football Talk's Myles Simmons, Reich said on Monday that he has not lost confidence in Ryan at all.

"What I love about Matt is that he takes responsibility. He's the leader. I could not be happier that he's our quarterback," Reich said. "He's an elite leader and I really believe he can be an elite player in this offense."

Ryan went 16-of-30 for 195 yards and three interceptions in Sunday's 24-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, which dropped Indianapolis to 0-1-1. The 37-year-old was sacked five times and coughed up a fumble that the Colts managed to recover.

Despite his immense struggles against a team Indianapolis was favored to beat, Reich said the loss didn't fall solely on Ryan's shoulders.

"I mean the protection yesterday wasn't our best effort. He was under duress a number of times," Reich said. "There's still mistakes that he made, that we all make, but I think overall—listen, I understand how the quarterback position is. You're really dependent on everybody else on there, but you're at the center of it so you have to make it work."

Through the first two weeks of the season, Ryan has thrown for 547 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions while completing 60 percent of his passes. He's been sacked seven times and he's fumbled the ball five times, though only one was lost. That level of production is well below what was expected of the 2016 NFL MVP when the Colts acquired him from the Atlanta Falcons.

While Ryan obviously needs to improve, Reich said it's up to the entire team to address their deficiencies if they hope to turn their season around.

"We've all got to pull it together. We all have got to carry our own weight, each one of us, including him and everybody on that offense," he said.

The Colts have a tough matchup in Week 3 as they will welcome the Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) to Lucas Oil Stadium for their home opener.

The Indianapolis Colts cannot figure out the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"The s--t was embarrassing," Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said after Sunday's 24-0 loss, per Stephen Holder of ESPN. "We got our ass whupped. We have to come in tomorrow, take it on the chin and grow from this."

He wasn't the only one who was upset, as head coach Frank Reich called Sunday's performance "pathetic" even though he sees a path to turn things around.

"As pathetic as that was today, where this is and where we need to be, the distance is not that far," Reich said. "We have the players and coaches to do it. I know that doesn't play in the outside world and I'm fine with that. We'll take our medicine, and I'll take my medicine, and we'll just keep doing what we do."

The defense allowed two touchdown catches to Christian Kirk and didn't create a single turnover, but the offense was the biggest problem.

Matt Ryan was an ugly 16-of-30 passing for 195 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions. He was also sacked five times, as the offensive line struggled to protect him from Josh Allen and Co. throughout the game.

Star running back Jonathan Taylor had just nine carries with the Colts in comeback mode, and the result is a 0-1-1 record through two games that also includes a tie with the Houston Texans.

It was Indianapolis' eighth straight defeat in Jacksonville, a streak that also includes last season's stunning Week 18 loss that kept it out of the playoffs.

Things don't get much easier for the Colts from here with the next three contests against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, the division-rival Tennessee Titans, and Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos.

The season will slip away quickly if they don't improve from Sunday's showing.

The Indianapolis Colts announced Saturday that wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. will miss the team's Week 2 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday with a quad injury.

Pittman was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday before sitting out practice sessions on Thursday and Friday.

As the Colts' unquestioned No. 1 wideout, Pittman recorded nine receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown in Indy's Week 1 tie against the Houston Texans.

Expectations were high for Pittman entering the 2021 season, as he showed flashes of brilliance during his rookie campaign, finishing with 40 receptions for 503 yards and one touchdown, as well as five grabs for 90 yards in Indy's playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Pittman didn't disappoint during his sophomore season, as he leveled up to 88 receptions for 1,082 yards and six touchdowns in 17 games.

The Colts didn't have a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft after trading it to the San Francisco 49ers for defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, but when they were on the clock for the first time in the second round at No. 34 overall, they used the selection on Pittman.

Pittman was considered a borderline first-round prospect after a standout collegiate career at USC. He was especially good as a senior in 2019, finishing with 101 receptions for 1,275 yards and 11 touchdowns.

By taking the 6'4", 223-pound Pittman, the Colts added some much-needed talent and size to their receiving corps.

It didn't take long for Pittman to establish himself as the Colts No. 1 wideout, taking that role in his second season and retaining it this season.

Indianapolis has some other talented pieces in its receiving corps, but none of them have come anywhere close to producing at the level Pittman has during his young NFL career.

Losing Pittman for any period of time isn't ideal, and it will require Parris Campbell, Dezmon Patmon, Mike Strachan and Ashton Dulin to step up. The Colts may also lean more heavily on tight ends Mo Alie-Cox and Jelani Woods in the passing game.

With rookie receiver Alec Pierce also out due to a concussion, look for Indy to potentially go even more run-heavy as well with running backs Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines leading the way.

Even when Matt Ryan is being recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he is still the butt of the joke.

The Indianapolis Colts quarterback topped 60,000 career passing yards on Sunday, making the game-used ball a piece of memorabilia as the eighth player to reach the milestone.

The problem is the football was numbered "283," causing many to recall the 28-3 lead Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons had before losing to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

It's unlikely this was an intentional troll job by the Hall of Fame, but fans on social media won't let a moment like this pass without getting in their jokes.

Ryan has four Pro Bowl selections, an MVP award in 2016 and is in the top 10 of NFL history in both passing yards (60,087) and passing touchdowns (368), but he likely won't be able to live down his team's epic Super Bowl collapse.

Rodrigo Blankenship's third season with the Indianapolis Colts reportedly didn't last long.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Colts decided to waive the kicker on Tuesday. Blankenship made both of his extra points and two of his three field-goal attempts during Sunday's 20-20 tie with the Houston Texans, but his miss on a 42-yarder in overtime proved critical as the Colts were unable to secure a victory in Week 1.

Pelissero also reported the Colts signed kickers Chase McLaughlin and Lucas Havrisik to the practice squad and plan on using one of them for their Week 2 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star previously reported the Colts also tried out Josh Lambo and Matthew Wright on Tuesday.

While Lambo has made 87.1 percent of his career field goals and made headlines last year for alleging former Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer kicked him during the preseason, he also played just seven combined games in 2020 and 2021.

The ability to kick off may be a deciding point for Indianapolis as it moves on from Blankenship, who kicked two out of bounds during the matchup with the Texans.

He kicked off because of punter Rigoberto Sanchez's season-ending Achilles tear.

Blankenship appeared well on his way to establishing himself as a key figure for the Colts' special teams for the foreseeable future when he made 86.5 percent of his field goals and 95.6 percent of his extra points as a rookie in 2020.

However, a hip injury limited him to just five games in 2021, and his percentages dropped to 78.6 percent on field goals and 87.5 percent on extra points in a smaller sample size.

Sunday was a less-than-ideal start to the campaign for him as well, and the Colts are apparently turning in a different direction as they look to compete in the AFC South.

The Indianapolis Colts looked like they were on their way to a disappointing loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday, but veteran quarterback Matt Ryan had other plans.

The 37-year-old helped lead a comeback that saw the Colts score 17 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime, which ended in a 20-20 tie.

Through the first three quarters of Sunday's game, Ryan and the rest of the offense struggled to build any momentum. Turnovers didn't help, as Ryan threw an interception in the first half and then lost a fumble in the third quarter.

The former NFL MVP had no issues putting his early mistakes behind him when it was crunch time. Ryan opened the fourth quarter by engineering an 11-play, 76-yard drive that ended with a field goal.

On the ensuing possession, Indianapolis' stout defense made its presence felt by recovering a fumble by Texans quarterback Davis Mills deep in Houston territory. Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor capped a four-play drive with a two-yard touchdown.

The Indianapolis defense stepped up once again and forced Houston to punt after five plays with under five minutes left on the clock. Ryan and the Colts marched down the field and the signal-caller found Michael Pittman Jr. for the game-tying score with less than two minutes remaining.

In overtime, Indianapolis had a prime opportunity to win the game. After Houston's first possession ended with a punt, Ryan and the Colts ate the clock with a 13-play drive to set up the go-ahead field goal. However, Rodrigo Blankenship's 42-yard attempt sailed wide right.

After such a disappointing start to the game, the Colts can take some solace with the fight they showed toward the end. Indianapolis will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday, while Houston will face the Denver Broncos.