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2020 #ColtsCamp Notebook, Aug. 18: Jonathan Taylor, Daurice Fountain Shine, Kicking Battle Heats Up, As Team Moves Indoors

The Indianapolis Colts held their second straight fully-padded practice Tuesday, this time at the indoor training facility at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center. What were some of the top takeaways from the day?

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts held their second straight fully-padded practice Tuesday, this time at the indoor training facility at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center. What were some of the top takeaways from the day?

» The Colts held their second of 11 scheduled fully-padded training camp practice sessions on Tuesday. With rain in the area all morning, the team moved things indoors for the first time since actual practices began late last week.

» Among those not participating on Tuesday were tight end Trey Burton (rest/maintenance), defensive tackle Sheldon Day (unknown), guard Chaz Green (unknown), wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (rest/maintenance), defensive end Justin Houston (neck strain), wide receiver Marcus Johnson (unknown), cornerback Kenny Moore II (groin strain), cornerback Xavier Rhodes (illness), cornerback Isaiah Rodgers (unknown) and tackle Braden Smith (foot).

» Head coach Frank Reich said after Tuesday’s practice that Moore II will be out "at least a week" with the groin strain he suffered during Monday's practice. Rhodes, meanwhile, was kept at home Tuesday as a precaution.

» While neither Rodrigo Blankenship nor Chase McLaughlin had any field goal attempts on Monday, the two kickers got after it on Tuesday. McLaughlin hit all seven of his field goal tries on the day, while Blankenship hit six of his seven, with his only miss barely clipping the right upright. We also learned today why we've been seeing about half the team running sprints in the middle of practice — Reich said it's tied to the kicking competition. Any player with the uniform number 1 through 49 is attached to one kicker, while Nos. 50-99 are attached to the other, and whichever side is connected to the kicker who "wins the day" doesn't have to run. That's definitely an interesting way to mix it up and add a little bit more pressure without the luxury of preseason games.

» Another major theme of Tuesday's practice was the tough running style of rookie Jonathan Taylor, who also benefitted from some nice blocking up front to spring free on a couple occasions. On one early play, left guard Quenton Nelson pulled to his right and crunched the blitzing linebacker, Darius Leonard, and combined with a solid block of defensive tackle DeForest Buckner by right guard Mark Glowinski, Taylor had quite the opening and did the rest from there, gaining about 20 yards on the play.

» About midway through practice, Taylor got the handoff from quarterback Jacoby Brissett, and this time it was center Jake Eldrenkamp getting the job done as a puller, taking linebacker E.J. Speed out of the play off the edge and propelling the running back into about a 15-yard gain.

» Marlon Mack probably doesn't get the credit he's due in pass protection. The 6-foot, 210-pounder did a solid job early on picking up Leonard, who came flying in on a blitz, and kept him out of the grill of quarterback Philip Rivers. While Rivers was ultimately unable to connect with tight end Jack Doyle on the play, it's always good for the new QB to know his top running back can handle his own in the pocket.

» The battle for the No. 3 quarterback job brought out some terrific throws from both Jacob Eason and Chad Kelly on Tuesday. Kelly on one play had plenty of time to scan the field and ultimately find rookie wide receiver DeMichael Harris for about 25 yards; later in a team drill, Kelly worked through his options and ultimately delivered a strike down the right sideline to wide receiver Daurice Fountain. The throw was placed just out of the reach of cornerback Travis Reed for a gain of about 25 yards.

» Eason had an impressive all-around play to Fountain during 7-on-7s, as the receiver had broken free in a zone between Reed and safety George Odum near the sideline and was able to make an impressive toe-tap catch to stay inbounds for another gain of about 25. On the very next play, Eason unleashed a bullet through a tiny window to wide receiver Chad Williams, right between the covering cornerback Tremon Smith and linebacker Zaire Franklin.

» A little side note: it's just nice to see Fountain back and making plays on offense with a smile on his face. He was having such a terrific all-around camp last year when he suffered a gruesome season-ending ankle injury, and he's had to work extremely hard to get back to this point. Kudos to Fountain for his hard work, determination and positive attitude throughout some understandably tough times over the last year.

» Another day, another Tyquan Lewis flash play. Lewis has seemingly had at least one big-time play each of the last three practices, and that continued today when he absolutely blew up a double team effort on the inside by the center, Eldrenkamp, and right tackle, Carter O'Donnell, to wrap up Taylor for a loss of about five yards.

» Linebacker Matthew Adams had a nice little pop on Doyle during a 7-on-7 drill, sending the veteran tight end to the turf. Doyle hung on to the pass, and then banged shoulder-to-shoulder with Adams on his way back to the huddle as if to acknowledge, "Yeah, nice hit."

» Wilson was able to earn his second interception of Rivers in three days on Tuesday. This time, Rivers faked the handoff to Mack and tried to hit Doyle over the middle, but the pass sailed on him, and Wilson was able to make a diving catch to secure the pick. While the 30-year-old safety was just signed to the team recently, he certainly seems to already be making an impact both on and off the field as a saavy veteran.

» The Colts' defense almost had another takeaway to end the day. Brissett found fullback Roosevelt Nix on a crossing route, and after bumping into one defender, Nix had the ball poked out by Franklin near midfield. Tackle Andrew Donnal had a heads-up play to dive on the loose ball and save the offense from a turnover, however.

» We had more 1-on-1s between the pass catchers and the defensive backs on Tuesday. If we're counting "wins" for the pass catchers as a reception, and a "win" for the defensive backs as any other result, then the receivers won the day, 22-14.

The Indianapolis Colts took practice indoors today at Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center as they continue preparation during training camp.

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