The Colts will head into Sunday night’s matchup with the Chiefs missing one of their most important special teams pieces, but they got encouraging news elsewhere on the injury front.
Ashton Dulin has been ruled out with an ankle injury, head coach Shane Steichen said Friday. Dulin, who handles kickoff returns and works as a gunner on punt coverage, missed all three practices this week and was spotted with a sizable brace on his left ankle. Steichen didn’t have a timeline for his return, only saying, “I don’t know right now,” and adding, “He’s week-to-week.”
That makes Dulin the lone Colt officially out for the Week 2 road game.
There’s better news for the offense. Anthony Richardson Sr. is set to play after missing Wednesday’s practice with a groin injury.
He got in a full session Thursday and was back on the field Friday during the portion open to reporters. Steichen said Richardson “tweaked” his groin lifting weights early in the week, “but he’s good now,” Steichen said.
Alec Pierce is also cleared. The wideout sat out Thursday as the Colts continue to manage his return from late-March ankle and heel surgery, which kept him from practicing until Aug. 27 and from taking team reps until roughly 10 days before the opener.
Pierce logged his first “full” practice since the end of last season Wednesday, and Steichen said Friday, “Just monitoring him. Just being smart with him,” and, “Obviously, it’s a long season, so we’ve just got to be smart with him.”
Pierce played 32 of 54 snaps, or 59%, in Sunday’s 41-23 home loss to the Ravens. That was well below the 85%-90% workload he’d normally carry when fully healthy.
Pierce said Thursday he expects to “keep building off that” after being “thrown into the fire a little bit” because of his shortened ramp-up. He also briefly left Sunday’s game after banging his left hand on Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith’s helmet, though that issue has not appeared on the injury report this week.
“He’s ready to go. We’ll see how the game plays out, but he’s ready,” Steichen said of Pierce and the snap count he could see in Week 2.
The Colts may also get linebacker Austin Ajiake back after he missed the season opener with a hamstring injury. Ajiake had a full practice Thursday after being limited Wednesday and appears set to return.
Linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither, dealing with a knee issue, and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who is managing an ankle injury, were full participants in the first two practices of the week. Running back DJ Giddens, who didn’t practice Thursday because of a knee injury, returned to the field Friday.
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There is some reason for Indianapolis to feel better than the record suggests, though. Jones has played well in his two previous games against the Chiefs, and the Colts will also lean on the work of defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, whose past success against opposing quarterbacks has been a point of discussion, along with Shane Steichens offensive track record against Kansas Citys defense. Even so, the spotlight on Jones is obvious, and Sunday night will be another chance to see whether the prime-time trend follows him or finally starts to bend. [Read more 🡒]