Indianapolis, IN
Green Bay Packers scouting report vs Indianapolis Colts in Week 2
The Indianapolis Colts head to Lambeau Field, where the tundra won’t be frozen as they meet the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 action. Both teams are looking for their first victory of the season.
The Colts are coming off an odd 29-27 loss to the Houston Texans, who rolled up 417 yards (213 rushing) and had possession for 40 minutes. Anthony Richardson had the fewest completions among Week 1 starters (9), but a league-best 11.2 yards per attempt, including three completions of at least 50 yards.
Green Bay started the season in Brazil, losing to 34-29 to the Philadelphia Eagles. They also lost starting quarterback Jordan Love to an MCL sprain in the closing seconds. The Packers’ defense was vulnerable (410 yards allowed), but their rushing offense was potent (7.8 yards per carry).
Colts vs Packers injury report: Jordan Love does not practice, while Colts have longer list
Malik Willis steps in as Packers quarterback
Love is likely out this week, so Malik Willis is scheduled to step in. The Packers traded for Willis from the Tennessee Titans late in the preseason. The Titans drafted Willis in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, but played little for them. He threw 61 passes as a rookie and 5 in 2023. His next touchdown pass will be his first in the NFL.
Green Bay has Super Bowl hopes behind Love, who justified its bold decision to pick him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft with a breakout 2023 season. He had 64.2% completions for 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as the Packers earned a wild-card playoff berth and led the San Francisco 49ers in the closing minutes of a divisional playoff game.
Scouting the Packers offense
Green Bay averaged a league-best 7.8 yards per carry and gained 414, third most in Week 1.
The Packers added running back Josh Jacobs, the 2022 NFL rushing leader for the Las Vegas Raiders whose production dropped off in 2023 (805 rushing yards, 37 catches, 6 TDs in 13 games). He replaces Aaron Jones as the RB1, and gained 84 yards in the opener.
Green Bay’s receiving corps and offensive line are considered adequate, with room to grow. Jayden Reed starred in Week 1, with 4 catches for 138 yards and a touchdown, and also a 33-yard touchdown run. Packers QBs were sacked just twice in Week 1.
Pro Football Focus gave Reed and right tackle Zach Tom Team of the Week grades from Week 1.
Scouting the Packers defense
Green Bay allowed the 4th-most yards (410) in Week 1 but had the most takeaways (3).
Green Bay has a strong group of pass rushers, with Rashad Gary (9 sacks in 2023), Preston Smith (8), Kenny Clark (7.5) and run stuffer T.J. Slaton returning.
Quay Walker leads the Green Bay linebackers (118 tackles in 2023, 11 in Week 1), and cornerback Jaire Alexander and safety Xavier McKinney each had an interception against the Eagles. Second-round safety Javon Bullard is already contributing (11 tackles).
Who is Green Bay’s kicker?
Brayden Narveson, who was 3-of-4 in the opener. He wasn’t even in Packers training camp. The rookie was strong for the Tennessee Titans in the preseason (6-of-7 field goals, long of 59 yards), and Green Bay claimed him off waivers. (Nick Folk has been Tennessee’s kicker for an eon.)
Greg Joseph and incumbent kicker Anders Carlson didn’t make the cut.
Green Bay has the NFL’s best kick returner over the past two seasons in Keisan Nixon (26.1-yard average in 2023), and with a renewed emphasis on kickoff returns, his presence looms larger.
When do the Colts play in Week 2?
1 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.
What channel are the Colts on against the Packers?
TV: Fox, Joe Davis (play-by-play), Greg Olsen (analysis) and Pam Oliver (sideline reporting)
Radio: 93.5, 97.1, 107.5 FM in Indianapolis, with Matt Taylor (play-by-play), Rick Venturi (analysis) and Larra Overton (sideline reporting)
Streaming: SiriusXM Channels 384, 813, Fubo (free trial)
INDIANAPOLIS — One person is in critical condition following a shooting on Indy’s near east side.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, around 8:10 p.m., officers were called to the 2000 block of East Washington Street on reports of a person shot.
Upon arrival, police located a 50-year-old man with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.
He is currently reported to be in extremely critical condition.
No additional information has been made available at the time of this article’s publication.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on June 17 gave AES the nod to raise electricity rates enough to earn an additional $71 million each year, a decision that drew reproof from Indiana lawmakers who called it another blow to cost-burdened consumers.
The approved rate represents less than half of the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It’s also less than the $91 million increase proposed in an October settlement agreement between AES, the city of Indianapolis and major electricity consumers like Kroger and Walmart.
But the new rate is still significantly more than what the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state agency representing ratepayers in the case, recommended in September. The OUCC’s proposal would have capped AES’s annual operating revenue at $21 million less than the current level.
The rate increase authorizes AES to earn a total of nearly $2 billion each year, or an estimated $384 million in profit.
The higher base rate comes as a double whammy for Indianapolis-area households, who are already paying more for electricity this summer after AES temporarily raised rates to account for higher-than-anticipated fuel costs during last winter’s storms. The increase also arrives against the backdrop of inflation, which rose to a three-year high last month, and surging gas prices due to the war in Iran.
Gov. Mike Braun wrote in a Wednesday post to X that he was “deeply disappointed” by the IURC’s approval of the rate increase.
“Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions,” Braun wrote. “It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
The IURC’s decision also drew fire from the other side of the aisle. In a June 17 news release, five Democrats representing Indianapolis in the state Senate – J.D. Ford, Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, Fady Qaddoura, and Greg Taylor – chastised Indiana’s Republican supermajority for failing to rein in rising utility costs.
“Hoosiers pay more. Monopoly utilities collect more. And the leaders in the super-majority who promise affordability over and over again show those are just empty words,” the news release said. “Instead, they continue to defend a system that takes more and more out of our paychecks.”
The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition also slammed the rate increase. Ben Inskeep, CAC’s program director, said the decision left him “less optimistic that this commission is willing to do things differently and to actually hold utilities accountable.”
He said the IURC should have penalized AES for issues that plagued customers after the utility updated its billing system in 2023, including duplicated withdrawals for the same monthly bill.
The rate increase will take effect in two phases, with rates going up in July 2026 and January 2027. AES officials anticipate the hikes “will be less than $5 per month per phase” for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, according to a Wednesday news release from the utility.
“The IURC’s decision reflects a thorough, transparent process and balances the need for continued investment in the electric system with a focus on customer affordability,” the news release stated.
Under a state law that Braun signed in February, AES cannot ask for another increase to its base rate until January 2030 — though electricity bills could still go up for other reasons, like the fuel adjustment charge hitting consumers this month.
Three members of the five-member IURC signed off on the rate increase: Andy Zay, David Veleta, and David Ziegner. Commissioner Bob Deig dissented. Commissioner Anthony Swinger recused himself from the decision because he worked on the AES rate case for the OUCC before he was appointed to the IURC by Braun in January.
“None of this was taken lightly,” Zay, the IURC’s chair, said at the Wednesday hearing, adding that the commission and its staff had carefully weighed concerns about affordability. The commissioners did not go into further detail at the hearing.
But the commission’s order shows some of the debates that played out during the rate case. One point of contention was AES’s authorized return on equity — that is, how much the utility can earn each year in profits. Other disputes hinged on how AES forecasts its operating expenses.
The OUCC accused AES of including more than 100 “phantom hires,” vacant positions it did not necessarily intend to fill in its calculations. Last year, AES said that the rising costs of vegetation management, or trimming trees around power lines, also drove the need to raise rates. The OUCC recommended keeping vegetation management costs flat.
One factor that’s not driving higher prices? Data centers.
AES does not currently provide service to any data centers and did not include them in its calculations, AES president Brandi Davis-Handy said in testimony before the IURC.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
Interactive radar | Weather alerts by county
WATCH LIVE COVERAGE
(WRTV) — A tornado watch has been issued through 1 a.m. EDT Thursday for much of Indiana, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
The watch area covers 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and includes Indianapolis and its surrounding counties.
Counties in the watch area are Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, and White.
WRTV Meteorologist Ryan Morse says Wednesday afternoon’s rain was the first of two rounds coming to the Hoosier state. A line of supercells were expected to form in Illinois and travel into central Indiana.
In neighboring Illinois, dozens of counties are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. EST.
All threats of severe weather were on the table: damaging wind, strong tornadoes, large hail, and flooding.
Severe storms should exit Indiana in the early morning hours.
WISH-TV Meteorologist Keith Gibson says people should have multiple ways of getting alerts and have electronic devices fully charged in case they lose power.
The next chance for rain after these storms could be on Saturday.
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