Will Shaquille Leonard be Ready Week 2?
The Indianapolis Colts ruled linebacker Shaquille Leonard out for their Week 1 contest on Sunday vs. the Houston Texans.
"The only player we are ruling out is Shaq (Shaquille) Leonard," head coach Frank Reich told reporters on Friday. "As I mentioned earlier, he’s making good progress. I feel good about the progress he’s making, but we just felt after talking with Shaq, the trainers and the doctors, that it was the best thing for him and for our team to hold him out this week."
Leonard was a full participants at practice on Wednesday, but he was limited on Thursday and Friday. There was a simple explanation for the downgrade in injury status as the week wore on.
"No setback," said Reich. "The first day we weren’t in pads so there was really nothing to limit him from. In Day Two when we were in pads, he did a lot, he got his share, but just with the pads on and working back into things, it just felt like it was right to limit him a little bit."
With a 17-game season, Reich understands the regular season is a marathon, not a sprint, and he's willing to be more cautious early on.
"No doubt," answered Reich quickly when asked if the long-term played into his decision making. "He’s a great player, he’s a great leader for us."
"The other factor is as great of a player as Shaq (Shaquille Leonard) is, there is nobody better at his position, but it sounds crazy to say that our guys have done a good job in his absence. I feel confident in the guys that will be in there, the linebackers – Zaire (Franklin) stepping in there, Bobby (Okereke), E.J. (Speed), the whole crew."
"I just feel confident they are going to do a good job. Shaq will keep working back. We’ll get him in there as soon as we can."
Reich is planning on having Leonard with the team in Houston, but he can't be sure when he'll be ready to play again.
"Chris (Ballard) and I talked about that this morning," said Reich. "We both agreed that this is the right thing for him to travel with us. I don’t know how many weeks away we are. We could be one week away, we could be – I don’t know. You guys know me, I don’t play that game. I really don’t. I’m not trying to figure it out."
"I’m optimistic."
"I think you probably felt from me that on Wednesday I thought it was going to be a long shot, but I wasn’t ruling it out. So, honestly, just the way I think, I probably will think that every week."
"So, the mindset is let’s get ready to play and then if we have to back off later in the week as far as our mentality, then we can do that."
While the Colts are on the road the first two weeks of the season, they're opening up with the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. Those two teams are routinely in the bottom five of most NFL power rankings.
While preseason power rankings aren't gospel and any-given Sunday and all that... if the Colts are going to be a playoff threat this year, they should be able to beat teams like the Texans and Jaguars without risking one of their best players.
