Indianapolis Colts Rookie Report: Week 2 vs. Washington Redskins We witnessed another

considerable contribution from Indianapolis Colts rookies on the road against the Washington Redskins. In fact Jordan Wilkins Jersey , it is fair to say that rookies had an even bigger impact on the outcome of Sunday’s game than they did against the Redskins week one.There are three rookies who are really starting to separate themselves as some of the most productive players to come out of this year’s draft class. Linebacker Darius Leonard is certainly leading all rookie linebackers, if not all linebackers period, in terms of production and in-game impact on defense. Guard Quenton Nelson continues to make his presence felt as a dominant force on the offensive line. He has played an important role in this group taking steps forward. Running back Jordan Wilkins built off of his impressive training camp and preseason performances and has been the Colts most efficient and effective ball carrier. Let’s take a look at the performance provided by rookies on each side of the ball.OFFENSEQuenton Nelson played every offensive snap for a second straight week. This won’t change as long as he stays healthy. He helped the offensive line block for a backfield committee that generated 104 yard on 28 carries, good for 3.7 yards per carry.He also helped limit a formidable Redskins front seven to 1 sack and 7 quarterback hits in 31 attempts. Fellow offensive lineman Braden Smith did not take a on Sunday and appeared to be replaced by Ryan Hewitt in jumbo packages, which call for an additional blocker. With Le’Raven Clark serving as Anthony Castonzo’s backup at left tackle and Joe Haeg a likely starter until Denzelle Good returns from injury, Smith could be left to compete with Matt Slauson for starting duties at right guard as the season progresses.With Marlon Mack clearly not back to 100 percent, rookies Jordan Wilkins and Nyheim Hines were the primary weapons in the backfield. They each received 24 offensive snaps, which is just shy of 40% per player. Wilkins was more heavily utilized as a runner, carrying the ball 5 times for 31 yards, a 6.2 yards per carry clip. Nyheim Hines only carried the ball 3 times for 7 yards with a long run of 8. He has been getting short-yardage carries and hasn’t proven overly effective in this area. In case you were wondering, Wilkins is currently fourth among all rookie rushers in total yards through 2 games.DEFENSEDarius Leonard’s performance on Sunday has been discussed at length. It was one of the most productive and dominant single game performances by a Colts linebacker in the team’s history. His 18 total tackles pushed him ahead of Anthony Hitchens for the league lead after two games. His forced fumble shut the door on any hopes Washington had to complete a comeback. In general, the speed he brings to the game is unlike anything fans have seen in Indianapolis for quite some time. If he can play anywhere close to the level he played Sunday the rest of the season, he will play a major role in Colts victories. Rookie defensive end Kemoko Turay continues to get a lot of reps as the team’s edge rusher. He has not yet put everything together and finished without a sack or hit on Alex Smith but he did have 3 total tackles. The roster is currently lacking in any other legitimate edge rushing options so it’s likely he will continue to get live reps until another player can take his spot.Linebackers Skai Moore and Zaire Franklin played a much smaller role against the Redskins than they did a week ago but part of the reason is that second-year linebacker Anthony Walker increased his snap share and safety Clayton Geathers didn’t leave the field. Geathers was used as the nickel linebacker on more than one occasion and certainly played a role in blazing speed fans witnessed on the field. There is no question that Skai Moore is a valuable pass defender but he isn’t as fleet of foot as Geathers and Eberflus appears to have gone that direction for now.Skai Moore and Franklin still out-snapped veteran Najee Goode and are clearly on the Colts radar as developmental depth players. It has to be discouraging for Goode who many thought joined the with an inside track on a starting job as a veteran leader who is familiar to head coach Frank Reich from his time with the Eagles. Instead, he has had to sit and watch as young players ahead of him continue flashing potential and taking his snaps.Sophomore players Malik Hooker, Kenny Moore, Nate Hairston Authentic Eric Ebron Jersey , and Quincy Wilson continue to get a lot of time in the secondary. Wilson suffered a concussion that limited him to 13 defensive snaps, but he was able to gather 2 tackles and entered the game as a starter. Hooker (1 tackle), Hairston (6 tackles) and Moore (9 tackles and a TFL) all played every defensive snap. When you throw second-year defensive lineman Grover Stewart (1 tackle) into the mix with 12 snaps, it is clear the youth movement is very real for Chris Ballard and his Indianapolis Colts.Revisiting 5 Colts To Watch in Week 1 Against The Bengals The Colts have dropped their first game of the season to the Bengals 34-23 in heartbreaking fashion. Although it is hard to look at the positives after a tough loss, there is a lot to be happy about in this game. The Colts are a young team that played well but just ultimately couldn’t get it done.So before we shift our weekly focus to the upcoming matchup with a talented Redskins team, lets look back on my 5 Colts players to watch from last week and see how they did this past weekend against the Bengals:Anthony Castonzo, LT (or whoever starts at LT):Anthony Castonzo came into this game as a game time decision and was inactive for the game. As I predicted in my preview piece for the game, Joe Haeg ended up getting the start in his place with J’Marcus Webb starting at right tackle. Overall Haeg held his own in pass protection and was about average in the run game. His pass blocking was especially commendable in this game as he made his first career start at left tackle against a very good Bengals pass rush.The most promising aspect of Haeg’s performance was that Luck had time to get rid of the ball. Even though a lot of what the Colts were doing involved quick passes, Luck did pass the ball 53 times and was only sacked twice. Neither of those sacks came from young budding star pass rusher Carl Lawson, who Haeg was tasked with blocking in passing situations on Sunday. Overall it was a good spot start for Haeg and hopefully Castonzo can play next week against Washington.Eric Ebron, TE: I did say in my preview article that Eric Ebron will be the X-Factor for this Colts offense as he has the athleticism and ability to be a matchup problem for any defense. Reich obviously thought the same way. We heard all offseason by multiple reporters and coaches that Ebron was going to be heavily involved in this offense. Well he definitely was involved this past Sunday with an impressive 4 catches for 51 yards and a touchdown stat line. Ebron was deployed all over the place this weekend in order to get the best matchup possible. With Jack Doyle and Ryan Grant mostly being used underneath, Ebron was the main target in the intermediate to long game. His ability in space and athleticism were on full display on his 26 yard touchdown catch in the second quarter. Overall, it was a very good debut for Ebron with the Colts and I expect his role to expand even more after this promising start.Darius Leonard, LB:It may not have been the flashiest game by Darius Leonard, but he was very solid in his rookie debut. In his first career game, Leonard was credited with 9 total tackles and a fumble recovery. In run defense Youth Matt Slauson Jersey , he was pretty solid in general. He could’ve taken some better angles in some moments and filled run lanes a bit better in other moments but overall not too many negatives in that aspect of his game. He played his role well in pass coverage as well as he wasn’t noticeably beat at any point either.This game was just really solid from Leonard outside of a few rookie mistakes. Leonard has been really impressive so far in his young career with the Colts and I fully expect him to continually progress into a really good starter. He will need to be on his “A” game this next week though as Washington rolls into town coming off a performance where running backs Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson are coming off of huge games.Malik Hooker, SAF:Hooker didn’t have a great game this past Sunday but like I mentioned last week a lot of his play doesn’t really show up in the box score. By that, I mean that his presence in the backend of the field brings an intimidation factor to quarterbacks and forces them to not take as many deep shots. Besides one long touchdown pass to AJ Green, who is one of the best in the game, Hooker’s effect was felt as the Bengals rarely attacked the Colts downfield. That touchdown to Green was the one lowlight for Hooker though. Overall, Hooker finished with 4 tackles in his first game back.I fully expect Hooker to up his play as the season goes on. He was on pace for an excellent season last year before that horrible ACL injury that cost him his season. Although he did play well on Sunday, there is definitely room for improvement. As the season progresses though, I do expect Hooker to solidify himself as one of the NFL’s top young safeties. Andrew Luck, QB:LUCK IS BACK. Andrew Luck was dealing this Sunday. After a poor decision on his first pass which resulted in a red zone interception, Luck completed a career high 39 passes on 53 attempts for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also boasted a 73.6% completion percentage and finished as Pro Football Focus’ 6th ranked QB of the week. Not bad for a guy coming off of shoulder rehab and not playing for the last year and a half. This was as good a start as anybody could have hoped for from Luck. Everything appears to still be there from pocket presence, mobility, and arm strength. If Luck can continually churn out performances like this last weekend, the Colts will have a chance to win each and every game this year. Overall, Luck playing as well as he did is reason enough to be hopeful this season as a Colts fan.