Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano has been in the coaching business since the 1980’s and for the first time he is not sure how to proceed. He claims to have never experienced so many injuries to the same position at the same time.
If things aren’t bad enough for the 0-2 Colts, their cornerback position is a dreadful mess due to injuries.
“I’ve never been in a situation quite like this, to be honest with you,” said Pagano on a conference call Wednesday (via the team’s official website). “But on the back end, to have number two, number three, and number four corner out, and then lose your top guy during the ball game Monday night, I’ve never quite been in that situation.”
In Monday’s slaughtering loss to the New York Jets, the team’s cornerback position stood as follows in the second half of the game:
- No. 1 cornerback Vontae Davis – left game with a concussion.
- No. 2 cornerback Greg Toler – has been out for two games with a neck injury
- No. 3 cornerback Darius Butler – was out with a hip injury
- No. 4 cornerback D’Joun Smith – on IR with a designation to return last week from a knee injury
No wonder Pagano is wringing his hands in frustration.
With the above cornerbacks out, the team was left with Sheldon Price, Jalil Brown and Eric Patterson, who is now on the practice squad, to defend New York’s receivers on Monday night. It took safety Dwight Lowery to step in as a corner when the Jets lined up in four receiver sets.
As for Sunday’s upcoming game against the Tennessee Titans, the Colts are hoping to be in better shape. Davis has since passed the league’s concussion protocol and Toler started practicing with limitations this week. His status to play is less hopeful than Davis’ is, however.
The gaps in the secondary are only magnified by the Colts’ offensive struggles. So far, the Colts have scored the least amount of points in the league — 21 than any NFL team over the past two weeks.
I guess that’s why Coach Pagano gets paid the big bucks. Work certainly isn’t easy some days, and with the rumors of his impending departure following the season if the Colts don’t win the Super Bowl, Pagano must be dealing with some extreme stress these days.