Colts head coach Shane Steichen switched up this week's practice schedule, swapping what had become a weekly Wednesday walkthrough out for a full practice on Wednesday at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center.
Part of that, Steichen said, was to try to inject some juice into a team that's lost four of its last five games. Another part, though, was getting Philip Rivers a full week of practice so both he and the Colts could evaluate the 44-year-old recently un-retired quarterback's readiness to play on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field.
Rookie quarterback Riley Leonard participated Wednesday's practice; a knee injury cropped up after he tagged in for an injured Daniel Jones on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. So as the Colts' first of three practices began Wednesday, the team is still very much evaluating who its starting quarterback will be this coming weekend.
"We'll see how the week goes," Steichen said. "We'll get to the end of the week and make that decision."
Rivers last played on Jan. 9, 2021 – he threw for 309 yards in the Colts' wild card loss to the Buffalo Bills – and the near five-year gap between then and now certainly weighed on him as he decided whether or not to join the Colts. There's a difference in being in shape versus being in football shape, and being able to absorb hits from a Seahawks defense that's second in the NFL with 102 combined sacks and quarterback hits.
But Rivers, from 2006-2020, never missed a start. He played through everything from bumps and bruises from sustaining a torn ACL and meniscus to playing six days later in the 2007 AFC Championship. Rivers in 2020 didn't miss a game and threw for over 4,000 yards despite dealing with a toe injury.
"For 250 games or whatever it was, that was a risk," Rivers said. "As you see every week, whether you're 24 in the best shape of your life or 44 and not so sure, anything can happen. That has never been a concern of mine."
And, Rivers added with a chuckle: "Something like that happens, I got a long time to recover."
Rivers, later, was asked what his playing weight is right now. He said he was unsure, but then with some of his trademark joviality, offered an answer.
"It's not what it was when I walked off the field in Buffalo, I can tell you that," Rivers said, "but then I follow that up with, I ain't never ran away from anybody anyway."
Steichen said he'll be watching how Rivers moves in the pocket during practice this week. That's not to be confused with moving out of the pocket – which never has been a staple of Rivers' game – but it's more about how he's able to navigate things after the snap.
"Taking drops in the pocket, feeling the pass rush, all those things I think will be the biggest thing for him," Steichen said.
"The only way to to find out can you still do it," Rivers said, "is to go try."
As for Leonard, who was cleared to practice Wednesday, Steichen said the first-year quarterback is feeling better as he works through the knee injury he sustained at some point against the Jaguars.
"He's going to go through practice, but he's feeling good," Steichen said. "We'll see how the week goes."
Leonard, after stepping into difficult circumstances, completed 18 of 29 passes for 145 yards with an interception and a rushing touchdown; a passing touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr. was taken off the board for offensive pass interference, too.
But, again, the operative phrase on Wednesday was what Steichen said in the quote above. We'll see how the week goes.
And then we'll learn who the Colts decide will be their starting quarterback Sunday afternoon in Seattle.
