Colts News
Indianapolis Colts wide receivers Josh Downs and Ashton Dulin will not play Sunday when the team travels to Los Angeles to face the Chargers. Head coach Shane Steichen ruled out both players Friday along with cornerback Charvarius Ward.
Downs entered concussion protocol earlier this week after sustaining a head injury during the Colts’ victory over the Arizona Cardinals. He did not practice Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. The injury likely occurred late in the fourth quarter when Cardinals safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson delivered a hard hit to Downs immediately after his five-yard touchdown reception. Downs took another significant blow later in the quarter when Taylor-Demerson and two other defenders converged on him following a nine-yard catch.
Downs completed the game despite the hits and finished with six catches for forty-two yards and one touchdown on six targets. The symptoms of his concussion apparently developed after the final whistle. The third-year receiver has caught twenty-six passes for two hundred seventeen yards and one touchdown through six games this season.
Dulin has missed practice all week with a chest injury. The veteran receiver provides depth and special teams value for Indianapolis. His absence removes another option from the receiving corps.
The Colts will turn to Adonai Mitchell to fill the void left by Downs and Dulin. Mitchell was inactive for last week’s game against Arizona as a healthy scratch. That decision came after Mitchell made two critical errors in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams that proved costly in the Colts’ only loss of the season. He fumbled the football just before crossing the goal line on what should have been a seventy-six-yard touchdown reception. Later in that game, Mitchell committed a holding penalty that negated a Jonathan Taylor fifty-three-yard rushing touchdown.
Mitchell caught three passes for ninety-six yards in that Week 4 contest. The second-round pick from the twenty twenty-four draft has seven receptions for one hundred thirty-seven yards in five games this season. He will join Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce as the Colts’ top three wide receivers Sunday.
Pierce returned to action last week after missing two games with a concussion. He managed two catches for twenty-one yards on three targets against the Cardinals.
Downs will need to clear the league’s concussion protocol before returning to action. His next opportunity to play will come in Week 8 when the Colts host Tennessee. Indianapolis welcomes the Titans to Lucas Oil Stadium on October twenty-sixth for a four twenty-five afternoon kickoff.
The Colts enter Week 7 with a five and one record and sit atop the AFC South standings. Sunday’s game against the Chargers kicks off at four oh five Pacific Time from SoFi Stadium. The game will air on CBS. Pierce becomes a potential streaming option in fantasy football formats with Downs sidelined.
