Living with Bernhard Raimann's 'Rookie Mistakes'
When the Indianapolis Colts selected offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann out of Central Michigan in the third-round of the NFL Draft, the move was considered a steal.
Raimann was thought of as a raw talent who grew up in Austria and is relatively new to the game, but his physical tools have helped land him a starting spot at left tackle for the Colts this season.
He has inevitably made some "rookie mistakes" in his play for the Colts including a crucial-holding call in the Colts' 17-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Interim head coach Jeff Saturday was asked if that was something he was just going to have to live with.
"Yeah, young players and penalties," said Saturday after the loss to the Eagles. "And I told Bernie (Bernhard Raimann) early, the holding call down the field, when a guy's spinning away from a play you’ve got to let go and push and transition."
"And, again, that's just teaching. And we just got to continue to teach him. Like you said, you kind of grunt and bear it with some of that, just because of the age of the players and how little they've actually played."
"Again, those are just details we got to continue to fine tune and train, teach things for (Will) Fries. And, you know, staying tight in there, thinking about they're going to do – they're going to shift late, they're going to do things to try to get you to jump or move. And you just got to settle in."
Raimann wasn't alone in having his teaching moments from Saturday. The Colts' coach said it was an up and down performance from his offensive line.
"I think that's kind of mixed bag, right," Saturday asked rhetorically about his offensive line. "I mean, listen, they're (Eagles) a very good front. And when their ears are pinned back and they know what's coming it's going to be tough, it doesn't matter who it is."
"So I thought, when it's late in the game, the advantage always goes to the d-line, right? I mean, you think about that from a football perspective. But there were some where coverage was really good downfield."
"We were trying to buy that split second, just couldn't get it to where we wanted it to. You know, Matt's (Ryan) trying to step up to find his way."
"So I think it was a mixed bag."
"So we'll go back and evaluate. But, you know, overall, again, I think it goes back to missed opportunities and just negative plays."
Saturday finished by saying he doesn't plan on making any changes on the offensive line when asked about Raimann and guard Will Fries specifically.
"Yeah. No change there," said Saturday.
