Indianapolis Colts relying on rest to reverse historic 8-game season-opening losing streak

INDIANAPOLIS – The final time the Indianapolis Colts gained a season opener, they defeated an Oakland Raiders crew that includes Terrelle Pryor at quarterback and Charles Woodson at security.

President Barack Obama was within the first 12 months of his second time period, Apple’s newest cellular phone providing was the iPhone 5, and the Dow Jones Industrial Common was about half its present mark.

Sure, 2013 was a very long time in the past.

When the Colts debut their 2022 roster on the street towards the Houston Texans on Sunday, they are going to be trying to reverse a pattern of historic proportions. Their eight consecutive losses in season openers is the longest present streak within the NFL, and it’s tied for the third-longest streak of season-opening losses in NFL historical past.

The Colts, to say the least, are exhausted with the subject. Publicly, they’ve taken a decidedly completely different method to this topic in 2022: Avoidance. The Colts have downplayed the significance of breaking the streak and customarily haven’t talked about it.

“We’re simply sort of targeted this 12 months on saying, ‘You realize, let’s go play our greatest soccer and let’s get it carried out,” proprietor Jim Irsay mentioned lately, “as an alternative of me ranting right here for 10 minutes. That hasn’t appeared to work prior to now.

“However you understand how I really feel concerning the openers.”

Privately, nevertheless, there was an intense concentrate on attaining a greater begin to the season for a crew that has been a notoriously slow-starting membership lately.

Coach Frank Reich, after exhaustive planning by the crew’s medical and coaching staffs, dealt with coaching camp and the preseason in a special trend in an effort to alter the Colts’ Week 1 fortunes.

Among the many adjustments: The Colts pushed again their apply instances from mid-morning to noon, a transfer aimed toward getting gamers’ our bodies acclimated to acting at a time much like kickoff. The Colts, who additionally shortened their practices, usually practiced at midday all through coaching camp. Is it any coincidence their season begins at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday?

“We will begin setting their clocks to how we play,” basic supervisor Chris Ballard mentioned.

The Colts additionally condensed their night assembly schedule all through coaching camp by about an hour. They balanced these strikes with a heightened concentrate on sleep, with the workers encouraging gamers to utilize the additional time to get further relaxation.

“Shoot, our first assembly was beginning at like 9 o’clock, 9:15 [a.m.],” receiver Parris Campbell mentioned. “Then, we have been getting carried out earlier [at night]. That simply provides that point to relaxation and get away from ball, and take time to really get work carried out on our our bodies and get well.”

Even whereas Reich was easing up on apply depth and decreasing the lengths of conferences, he ramped up enjoying time for key gamers within the preseason.

Reich has traditionally been very conservative along with his starters within the preseason, so it was uncommon to see the beginning offense and protection enjoying into the second quarter of the Colts’ preseason opener towards the Buffalo Payments.

The thought behind the transfer? Reich believed extra dwell motion might promote higher execution early within the season. In Reich’s 4 seasons, the Colts have needed to overcome wretched begins in two of them — 1-5 in 2018 and 1-4 final season.

The proof will finally come all the way down to early season outcomes, however the adjustments have been successful within the locker room. It is also price noting the Colts largely averted main accidents in coaching camp, outdoors of punter Rigoberto Sanchez’s Achilles tear sustained throughout wind sprints. There have been simply two gamers on the crew’s harm report this week: Shaquille Leonard (recovering from June again surgical procedure to handle a nerve problem) and Dennis Kelly (recovering from current knee surgical procedure).

“Guys purchased into it,” defensive deal with DeForest Buckner mentioned. “I undoubtedly really feel a distinction in my physique heading into Week 1 in comparison with earlier years. [Reich] has been harping on this and about getting relaxation. I’m an early hen, however that additional half-hour or hour of sleep goes a good distance.”

Have the Colts lastly discovered the antidote they’ve been looking for for eight lengthy years? If they’ve, search for this method to be recycled sooner or later.

“I believe all the most effective video games we’ve had in [recent] seasons,” linebacker Zaire Franklin mentioned, “is after we have been recent and rested and able to go.”