Why Colts limited Jelani Woods' snaps, rotated right tackles vs. Cowboys
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INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts made a couple of surprising personnel decisions on the offensive side of the ball in Sunday night’s loss to the Cowboys.
First of all, Indianapolis rotated Dennis Kelly and Matt Pryor at right tackle in place of starting tackle Braden Smith, who missed Sunday’s game due to illness.
The two veteran tackles have been through very different seasons in Indianapolis. Pryor, who signed a one-year, $5 million deal this offseason to be the Colts’ stopgap solution at left tackle, has played 568 snaps, made starts at three positions and struggled at all three in a frustrating year.
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According to Sports Info Solutions, Pryor had given up seven sacks on the season entering Sunday night’s game, tied with rookie left tackle Bernhard Raimann.
By comparison, Kelly has played relatively little. The veteran swing tackle, who has spent most of his career playing on the right side, has made four starts, but they have been few and far between as Indianapolis balks at keeping Kelly in the lineup. Kelly hadn’t given up a single sack this season, according to Sports Info Solutions, although he hasn’t been dominant, either.
The Colts turned to both players on Sunday night.
Kelly played 48 snaps; Pryor played 24.
By design.
“I sometimes think it makes it harder for rushers to kind of pinpoint what you do,” Colts interim coach Jeff Saturday said. “I thought both Matt and Dennis did a good job out there.”
Injury might have played a role in the other decision.
The Colts gave Jelani Woods just 15 snaps against the Cowboys, one week after the rookie tight end caught eight passes for 98 yards in 41 snaps, becoming one of the few bright spots in a Monday night loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Woods made two catches for 28 yards on four targets despite the lack of snaps.
“Kind of the flow of the game; again, we’re in a 21-19 game at the beginning of the fourth quarter,” Saturday said. “I really wasn’t looking at player rotation, where it was. I thought the guys in there were doing what they needed to do, and unfortunately, it fell that way for Jelani.”
Three other factors might have been at play, even if Saturday didn’t point them out.
The Colts focused on the running game for most of Sunday’s game against the Cowboys, and Woods is still learning to be an effective blocker. Additionally, Woods sat out the first two days of practice last week due to a lingering shoulder injury and a quadriceps injury that cropped up last week, and Indianapolis might have been trying to keep a heavy load off of the rookie.
Receiving tight end Kylen Granson returned to the lineup on Sunday night and played a position-most 41 snaps. Granson made four catches for 19 yards on six targets, and when he’s not there, Woods is the tight end best suited to take over his spot.
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