Brunt: Five things to watch now that Reggie Wayne is out for Colts
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
Here are five things to watch for from the Indianapolis Colts now that we know Reggie Wayne will be out for the season with a torn ACL.
1. Can Wayne recover?
Wayne caught 38 passes for 503 yards and two touchdowns in seven starts this season. He posted an NFL-record 71 consecutive games with three-or-more receptions. He has 1,006 receptions for 13,566 yards and 80 touchdowns in 196 games in a Hall-of-Fame-caliber career.
We know he loves the game and treasures his role as a leader. We know he is a workaholic like few others.
But we also know that Father Time is ticking.
Though he was still an elite receiver at the time of his injury, he also is 34 years old and will be 35 on Nov. 17. His recovery time will likely be longer than that of most players because of his age.
An ACL tear can make it difficult to regain speed. While he has decent speed, Wayne’s route running and hands are what have made him great, so a potential long-term decrease in mobility won’t affect him as much as it might affect others. Still, even if he returns, he’ll be an older player at risk for future injuries. And he’s at a point in life where most players lose a step anyway, so losing another could be a problem.
Coach Chuck Pagano isn’t betting against him.
“Everybody is going to say no way, but after the conversation I just had with him, just wait and see,” Pagano said Monday. “So, we’ll all put on the gloves for Reggie and we’ll help him get through this and get him back.”
Pagano said Wayne has too much pride to retire after an injury.
“He’s not going out like this,” Pagano said. “He’s not going to leave this game like this. There’s no way. So he’ll fight, he’ll get his surgery, and he’ll rehab and he’ll grind like nobody’s ever grinded. And he’ll do whatever it takes to get back on that football field.”
2. Is T.Y. Hilton ready to be the man?
We know that Hilton is an electrifying playmaker — what he did to the Seattle Seahawks should be filed under the completely unfair category. But what happens when Hilton is the No. 1 focus of an opponent’s game plan?
I liken this to the Paul George-Danny Granger situation with the Pacers last season. Granger was the established veteran with the big contract while George was the budding star. We all saw George’s potential, but we wondered if he could be the man. We wondered if he had the ability to take the reins of the team before Granger returned from his knee injury. A year later, George is the man. In the same way, we see Hilton’s enormous potential. He has the talent to be the go-to player for years to come. This transition was going to take place at some point anyway. Much like the Granger-George situation, we now are going to find out sooner than expected if the young star is a franchise player. My guess is, just like George, he’s ready.
3. Is Darrius Heyward-Bey ready to step up?
Heyward-Bey’s performance against Denver was encouraging — He had seven catches for 44 yards and scored his first touchdown as a Colt. The speedster now has 18 catches for 190 yards this season. He will be called upon now to carry a primary role. Around him, there is a stud for a quarterback, a stud across the way in Hilton and a potentially great running back in Trent Richardson. There are no excuses now. If DHB can’t succeed here, he never will. Pagano also said LaVon Brazill and David Reed will have to step up.
4. Can Trent Richardson get it going?
Richardson’s stats aren’t all that good, and he had a costly fumble against Denver that allowed the Broncos a chance to get back into last Sunday’s game. He has played five games for Indianapolis and has 75 carries for 228 yards and two touchdowns. That’s 3.04 yards per carry. Now, we could blame the offensive line, which would make some sense because that’s been a problem area for the Colts in recent years. But Ahmad Bradshaw averaged 4.5 yards per carry before being put on injured reserve, and Donald Brown has 26 carries for 165 yards since Richardson joined the team — that’s 6.3 yards per carry, more than double Richardson’s output. Richardson needs to step up, or he might find himself in the shocking position of being Brown’s backup. Ideally, Richardson will be the player he was expected to be and that the team needs him to be in order to take pressure off quarterback Andrew Luck.
5. Can Indianapolis withstand all these injuries?
The list is getting longer and longer. Vick Ballard, Dwayne Allen, Bradshaw and now, Wayne. Yet, the Colts keep winning. Indianapolis always has talked about the ‘next man up’ mentality, but this is ridiculous. While the Colts have continued their meteoric rise back to prominence in the AFC, they can’t afford too many more injuries to key offensive players. It’s getting to the point where there aren’t very many quality next men left to be up. I believe they can withstand this one, but not many more.
