During the game against the Buffalo Bills this weekend T.Y. Hilton went down with an apparent knee injury. Every Colts fan held their breath hoping that it wasn’t a season-ending injury. Fortunately, it seems that Hilton will not miss the rest of the season though he may miss a couple of games. Assuming that the diagnosis of a knee bruise is what really is going on then I would say “The Ghost” will be on the sidelines at least until week 3 if not week 4. It’s terrible news considering the Colts wide receiver outside of Hilton and Donte Moncrief did very little against Buffalo. However, this is the hand that has been dealt and the team must move on in the game. Next man up.
So the question is, does the team roll with the receivers they have now or do they call up Duron Carter from the practice squad? Some have even said, including myself I’m sorry to say, brought up another scenario that is very unlikely, but giving former Colt receiver Reggie Wayne a call and see if he wants to come back or not. I said that and I can’t un-say it, but I don’t believe that is the right move. I am with the majority of the others who rightfully blasted me for my Reggie comment in that the team should bring up Carter for the next couple of weeks. If he does well then leave him on the roster. If he doesn’t then they can waive him and hope he can be put back on the practice squad.
Bringing up Carter doesn’t cure all the problems we saw from week 1. Andre Johnson looked like Father Time had caught up with him against the Bills and Phillip Dorsett only made it on the field offensively after Hilton went down. Right now the Colts have Moncrief, Johnson, Dorsett and Griff Whalen as their wide receivers. I figure Moncrief and Johnson are the starting wide receivers with Whalen as the slot to start out against the New York Jets next Monday. Dorsett will see the field more for sure, but does that leave room for Carter to get some snaps? Not really, but if Whalen or Dorsett are ineffective then maybe having three 6’2+ wide receivers on the field at the same time would be a great way to go. Add in Dwayne Allen, Coby Fleener, and Frank Gore I would say that is a blueprint for success.
If they don’t bring up Carter then I would hope to see more of Gore against the Jets. Even if they do bring up Carter it wouldn’t surprise me to see Gore gets more touches than his “pitch count” is calling for and he should be seeing more touches right now. The Jets blitz just like the Bills do so Luck will need all of his weapons to step up their games in a big way when the Jets fly in to town.
