Sep. 11—INDIANAPOLIS — The time was so specific it’s clear how much the moment stuck in Darius Leonard‘s mind.
Talking about a recent text he received from Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, the All-Pro linebacker didn’t estimate or round up to the hour. Leonard remembers it was exactly 1:57 a.m. when Irsay dropped a note emphasizing the importance of Sunday’s opener against the Seattle Seahawks.
Indianapolis hasn’t won a Week 1 contest since 2013. Leonard has been around for the three most recent losses in that streak. The fact ending it is a priority for the owner only underlines Leonard’s determination.
“It’s nothing new,” Leonard said of Irsay reaching out. “Any time there’s a big game or something — he’s the owner. He wants to make sure that you understand the importance of it. So, I mean, it’s not his first time texting me or texting any player on the team. Things like that you look for, that give you that extra little motivation and you go out and say all right — it’s already a chip on your shoulder, but when you’ve got the owner hitting you up, you gotta make sure that you understand that — how important this game is.”
There’s plenty of unknown heading into the 2021 season in Indianapolis.
The roster is chock full of talent, and expectations are high after the team finished 11-5 in 2020 and took the Buffalo Bills to the wire in a road wild-card game in January. Never the less, questions abound.
Chief among them is the health — both mental and physical — of quarterback Carson Wentz. He missed three weeks of the preseason with a foot injury and is coming off the worst season of his five-year career.
The No. 2 overall pick out of North Dakota State in 2016, Wentz was an MVP candidate before suffering a season-ending knee injury after 13 games in 2017. The Philadelphia Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl that season behind backup quarterback Nick Foles, and Wentz’s relationship with the franchise soured from there.
It all came to a head last year when Wentz completed just 57.4% of his passes and threw an NFL-high 15 interceptions despite being benched for the final month. It was a stunning decline with no identifiable cause.
Some speculate Wentz reacted poorly to the drafting of former Alabama and Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second round the previous April. Others believe his woes were as simple as poor mechanics and an attempt to do too much as the season began to spiral out of control.
The quarterback hasn’t talked much about his past, preferring to focus on the future. There’s optimism his reunion with Colts head coach Frank Reich — the Eagles offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017 — will produce a turnaround season. But Wentz got just eight practices with his teammates during the preseason, and it seems inevitable some on-the-job learning will be required.
“Obviously, we wish he had more (time) in training camp, but that’s not the situation here,” offensive coordinator Marcus Brady said. “He’s looked good the past few days. For a quarterback, it’s really just the timing with the receivers, being on the same page. I think we’re pretty close to that, and we’re going to iron out those details this week. We’ve got a full week of practice this week, so I think he’s going to be even closer to where we want him to be.”
Indianapolis will play Sunday without top wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, and the first-team offense will play with Wentz in a competitive environment for the first time. So growing pains are to be expected.
The Colts have high hopes for a defense that ranked eighth in the NFL a year ago and is loaded with young talent and athleticism. But quarterback Russell Wilson and an explosive Seattle passing game figures to be a difficult first test.
Indianapolis is likely to lean on emerging star running back Jonathan Taylor and attempt to shorten the game. The Seahawks would be happy with a final score in the mid- to upper-30s. The Colts would prefer something in the mid- to lower-20s.
The battle lines have been drawn, and the preparation is over. It’s time for the games that count to start, and Irsay has made the expectations crystal clear.
“Starting off 1-0 is everything,” Indianapolis All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Bucker said. “It sets the tempo for the season. Last year, when we started off 0-1, all the guys had that bad taste in their mouth, knowing that we definitely should’ve won that first game. And it determines the outcome of the season. It determines who wins the division or who doesn’t, little things like that. So we’ve gotta do everything that we can to prepare for this week to start off 1-0.”