WESTFIELD - Sunday’s Colts practice brought back a sight Indianapolis had been waiting to see for months: DeForest Buckner looking like a force again.
After playing only sparingly through the first nine practices of camp, the Colts’ defensive captain finally flashed the kind of disruptive presence that has defined so much of his career. Head coach Shane Steichen didn’t hide what it meant.
“Whenever Buck’s out there, you can feel him,” Steichen said.
Buckner’s return to form matters because the Colts have been easing him back carefully. His season ended last year with a herniated disc in his neck, and he had surgery on New Year’s Eve. The Colts cleared him before camp, but the staff has limited his work early on while he builds back up.
On Sunday, though, Buckner looked like himself. In one-on-one pass rush work for the first time, he opened with a swim move to beat Quenton Nelson at the snap, then used another swim off that initial move to burst past Matt Goncalves.
He kept rolling in 11-on-11 periods, too. Buckner got around Jalen Travis for a pressure early, recorded a “sack” of Daniel Jones later, and then made a key stop on Taylor that forced a 55-yard field goal try.
Spencer Shrader hooked that kick left.
The Colts’ defense made the first-team offense work all day, and Jones had a rough outing. He finished 8 of 15 and threw two interceptions, doubling his total for the entire training camp.
Neither pick looked like a clean quarterback mistake. On the first, Jones tried to hit Nick Westbrook-Ikhine over the middle, but Westbrook-Ikhine briefly started to settle and the pass popped up off the veteran’s hands.
Rookie strong safety A.J. Haulcy was waiting for the takeaway.
The second was even uglier. With nothing available downfield, Jones checked toward Jonathan Taylor, but Taylor mishandled the catch and the ball floated into the air for free safety Camryn Bynum, who took it back for a touchdown.
Jones also took two sacks, nearly threw another interception when Sauce Gardner jumped a short route in the two-minute drill, and didn’t have many easy answers. The offense got most of its yardage in that two-minute period only after linebacker Jaylon Carlies was flagged for pass interference on a throw to Tyler Warren down the sideline.
The secondary, meanwhile, has another useful piece taking shape in Cam Taylor-Britt. The veteran corner is lining up as a flexible backup, and Colts secondary coach Chris Hewitt said the team is using him all over the formation.
“Right now, he’s playing the nickel, he’s playing the corner, getting him all these valuable reps, because we’re looking for him to be the first guy to go in,” Hewitt said. “He’s our third or fourth corner, however you want to slice it, dice it. He’s that guy.”
Taylor-Britt has to sit out the season opener because of a one-game suspension tied to the five days he spent in an Ohio jail for reckless driving earlier this year, but he showed exactly why the Colts are leaning on him. He broke up a sideline throw during the two-minute drill, closed hard on a route over the middle for another incompletion, and also teamed with Akeem Davis-Gaither for a “sack” of Jones while working mostly in the slot because starter Justin Walley was limited.
Anthony Richardson got a bit more run as the backup quarterback battle continued. He went 3 of 6 and delivered one of the day’s bigger offensive moments when he fired a downfield throw to Deion Burks on the first play of the two-minute drill, quickly putting the Colts in field-goal range. On the next snap, Trey Washington was flagged for pass interference, and rookie running back Seth McGowan finished the sequence with a 40-yard touchdown run for the No. 2 offense.
Richardson also had a pass broken up by Robert Carter Jr. on his first throw of the day, and Jonathan Owens added another breakup when Richardson was under pressure from Micheal Clemons.
Riley Leonard kept the momentum going later. He completed 3 of 4 passes in 11-on-11 work, including a big gain to Eli Pancol down the right sideline over Carter, then a touchdown to Pancol a few snaps later.
Shrader’s struggles continued on the kicking field. He made kicks from 25, 33, 42 and 49 yards, but missed from 50 and 52 and also missed both 55-yard attempts, again pulling the ball left. Blake Grupe has been the steadier leg in camp, going 27 of 30 so far, while Shrader sits at 20 of 30 as he works back from the torn ACL and MCL that ended his season.
There were a few absences and limited participants as well. Josh Downs missed his second straight practice with a groin injury the Colts view as minor.
“Downs ain’t serious at all,” Steichen said. “I think he might practice on Tuesday. We’ll just be smart with him.”
Walley did individual work with the defensive backs before sitting out the rest of practice.
“We’re just monitoring him,” Steichen said. “He had a little thing in practice, a little hamstring, but it wasn’t bad.”
Rookie linebacker CJ Allen, running back DJ Giddens, strong safety Hunter Wohler and wide receiver Laquon Treadwell have been out for a while with hamstring injuries. Backup nose tackle Tim Smith returned after missing a couple of days, and Pierce remains on the physically unable to perform list after offseason ankle surgery.
There were other defensive flashes around the practice, too. Jaylahn Tuimoloau beat Luke Tenuta badly with a spin move in one-on-ones, George Gumbs blew past Jalen Travis in pass rush work and later recorded a sack of Leonard, and Will Mallory stood out in 7-on-7 with the second team by hauling in a deep ball over Jonathan Owens and under Jaylon Jones’ coverage. Devin Veresuk had a pass breakup during the developmental period, Easton Stick threw a touchdown to Ben Nikkel to finish a live period, and Cam Ball and Tim Smith appeared to get sacks of Stick.
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