While meeting with reporters after Sunday's win against New England, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts There is a “good chance” that center Ryan Kelly could return from injured reserve after the week of release.
Kelly was placed on injured reserve before the Colts' Week 10 game against the Buffalo Bills due to a knee injury.
Once a player is placed on IR, he will be sidelined for at least the next four weeks, making the Colts' crucial Week 14 game against Denver the first game Kelly can return to.
Without Kelly, the Colts turned to rookie Tanor Bortolini from Weeks 10-13. Overall, Bortolini has performed well when played this season, allowing seven pressures and no sacks on the year and ranking 14th among all centers in pass-blocking efficiency. According to PFF's run-blocking rating, Bortolini ranks 19th.
However, Bortolini suffered a concussion after the Detroit game and missed last Sunday's game against the Patriots. After defeating both Kelly and Bortolini, the Colts turned to veteran Danny Pinter.
Pinter gave up just one pressure in 28 pass-blocking snaps, and the combination of him and new starting right guard Mark Glowinski helped create running lanes to finally get the ground game going for Indianapolis – an element that has been in the mix month has been sorely missing in recent years.
Before Kelly was placed on injured reserve, she had given up one sack and seven pressures. He ranked 15th among centers by PFF's pass blocking efficiency metric entering Week 10 and ranked 26th in run blocking.
The consistency of the Colts' overall offense in this final stretch of the season starts with more consistent play along the offensive line, which is what we saw with this unit against the Patriots.
