Matt Ryan threw a pick early, but on a nick play by rookie safety Nick Cross, so it wasn’t a moment to hang his head.
That’s how training camp works. The offense makes a great play, so the defensive looks bad – or vice versa.
As the Colts measure themselves against each other, guessing what that might mean on September 11 in Houston is a fool’s errand, but there are more than a few takeaways after the first workout:
- Matt Ryan is a superb technician. His play action fakes are letter perfect rep after rep, and the throws were mostly right on time and on target. He was even better than expected.
- Safety Julian Blackmon appeared fully recovered from his Achilles repair. Hell, he looked really good over a month ago during OTAs, so his explosiveness was not a huge surprise. He had a pass breakup on a Ryan throw where he sprinted, spun, leaped, adjusted, and batted the ball away.
- Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo looked different – quicker, faster, and more eager to play. Last year, as he recovered from his own Achilles surgery, Odeyingo never appeared to have what the Colts saw while he was at Vanderbilt. Now, he does.
- The tight ends are big – really big. Jelani Woods and Andrew Ogletree are both 6’7″ with big hands. They stand out even when next to Mo Alie-Cox.
- Edge Yannick Ngakoue is smaller than I expected. His stature evokes Robert Mathis. Let’s hope his ability to get to the quarterback is also similar.
- Receivers coach Reggie Wayne is not afraid to pull a rookie out of seven on seven work to school him up with typical Reggie Wayne energy. He did that to second round pick Alec Pierce roughly midway threw practice.
- Defensive line coaches always seem to be the loudest guys at practice, and that was certainly true for Nate Ollie.
- Running back Jonathan Taylor is not going to get hit during a training camp non-pad workout, but he still appeared to make linebackers miss on several occasions.
Overall, the Colts looked crisper and faster in this first workout. Again, who knows whether this practice was fool’s gold or the real deal. The first time the Colts get after it for real is still 46 days away.
We will talk about it at 2:30p today at this link – https://www.callin.com/room/colts-camp-live-OIYzlilftm