It’s not a fun NFL world for the Indianapolis Colts these days. Veteran center Ryan Kelly took a visit to the IR, Shane Steichen decided Joe Flacco is still that dude, and Michael Pittman Jr. couldn’t make it to practice again because of injury. The latter came via posts on X by Chris Brown and James Boyd.
“Indy Thursday Injury Report. Colts top tackler back practicing fully. WR Michael Pittman still sidelined.”
Boyd’s post read: “No sight of #Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. (back) at practice. He did not practice yesterday.”
It hasn’t been a great year for Pittman, and it’s not getting better any time soon. Pittman said he’s trying to take it in stride, according to colts.com.
“I'm not going to make excuses,” Pittman said. “If I'm out there, I'm out there.”
Colts WR Michael Pittman losing his way in 2024
Coming off a 109-catch, 1,152-yard season in 2023, Pittman received praise as one of the NFL’s best receivers. For three years, he made defenses pay and put up fringe numbers in terms of the Pro Bowl.
But there’s nothing pretty about Pittman this season. In seven games, he has just 30 catches. He had one nice game with six catches for 113 yards against the Steelers. But that’s it. Every other game shows five or fewer grabs with a yardage high of 63. The other yardage totals are 14, 16, 35, 37, 36, 21, and 31. Just plain awful for a presumed No. 1 receiver.
Yes, a big bag of burden goes to Anthony Richardson, whose inaccuracy is almost legendary in his short NFL career. But even with veteran Joe Flacco behind center, Pittman hasn’t produced lately.
Now Flacco might provide a comfort zone for rookie center Tanor Bortolini, who must replace Kelly in the starting lineup for at least four weeks. Bortolini sung the praises of Flacco, according to colts.com.
“The good thing about having Joe back there is he's someone that's played a ton of football,” Bortolini said. “So he sees things that I don't see or haven't seen yet because he's had all this reps, all that time. It's really great to be paired up with somebody. He's able to help a young guy along the way. You have a veteran quarterback and a rookie center. I think there's probably not a bigger age gap in the NFL between the two. But it's good to have a guy like that I can lean on, and if I have any questions I'm able to ask, he's able to help out.”
But any offensive line question marks won’t help Pittman or the other receivers.
“It's definitely frustrating because I feel like I need to do better, Pittman said. “And I'm trying to find ways to do that. Whether it's extra film work, rehab, just finding ways around it and trying to find the best system.
“At this point, everybody's fighting through some type of thing so it's not like I'm doing anything that's special.”
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