Familiar sounds could be heard from down the hall, and they grew louder upon entering the Colts’ locker room at their practice facility Wednesday. Some players were trash-talking, ping-pong, and even trash-talking at the end of each point. Others smiled and laughed in small groups as the put on their practice gear.
Then, there were Matt Ryan. He wasn’t part of the ruckus. The 15-year-old quarterback sat quietly, waiting for his weekly media scrum. This one was going out to be different.
Ryan was benched for the rest of the season following the Colts’ 19-10 loss at Tennessee on Sunday. Coach Frank Reich made the announcement Monday. Sam EhlingerRyan suffered a Grade 2 shoulder injury. Asked whether Ryan’s injury factored into the team’s decision to demote him, Reich said it did not.
Ehlinger, a second year quarterback who has never attempted a regular-season pass before, will be taking the reins. Ryan will not be the starter quarterback for the first time in Ryan’s career.
Reich said the swap was “in the best interest of the team.”
Ryan stated that it was hard to swallow.
“Individually and personally disappointed,” the 2016 NFL MVP said. “As a player, as a competitor, you want to be out there, you want to go. It’s part of the deal in this league. You gotta produce, you gotta go out there and play (well), and I’m frustrated that we weren’t able to do that the first seven games, but you move forward. The league’s life is week to week and you need to show your production. Obviously disappointed personally, but (I’m) here for the team.”
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Ryan led the team to victory with 42 passes, a record for the franchise. ColtsA dramatic victory over the JaguarsNothing is more important than his rookie-winning deep ball Alec Pierce. But after another poor outing in Week 7 to add to an overall rough start in Indianapolis, the Colts — with influence from owner Jim Irsay — decided to pull the plug. Ryan threw nine touchdowns to a league record nine interceptions, and he fumbled a league record 11 times in seven matches.
He wasn’t given much help from a porous offensive line that gave up 24 sacks, 88 hits and 110 pressures, but to jump-start an offense averaging 16.1 points per game, the more mobile Ehlinger was elevated to QB1.
Sunday will be his first start against the CommandersAt Lucas Oil Stadium
“As I’ve told you guys, I’m always preparing to be the starter,” said Ehlinger, who was a third-stringer for the first five weeks of the season before becoming the backup the past two weeks. “Regardless of when that opportunity was going to come, I was going to be ready and do what I could to be prepared. That’s alleviated a lot of the stress. I can’t imagine if I weren’t preparing the way that I was and it was like, ‘Hey, you’re up.’”
Ryan begins what is arguably the most challenging part of Ehlinger’s career, as he works to realize his dream.
“There is a little bit of that surprise and shock or whatever at the beginning, but it’s a decision they had to make, and as a player and as a teammate you have to move forward,” Ryan said. “You’ve got to help out where you can.”
Where Ryan, 37, feels disappointment, Ehlinger, 24, feels “excitement.” A sixth-round pick last season, Ehlinger noted that Ryan and former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles have been instrumental to his improvement, calling their knowledge of quarterbacking “an education that I can’t pay for.” Earlier this year, he thought he’d still be receiving lessons.
“If I want to play in this league for 15 years, I should spend really the first three learning,” Ehlinger said during the preseason. “I have a great opportunity to learn and soak up as much information as possible while still developing physically and not being asked to play on Sundays.”
This plan has clearly changed.
“With a new opportunity, there’s new nerves,” Ehlinger said. “So, navigating through those, trying to stay in the moment is going to be the challenge.”
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Ehlinger will attempt to lead the 3-3-1 Colts towards their third home win of this season Sunday. Second-year tight end Kylen GransonHis Texas high school teammate and former friend will be there to support him.
“Not many people can say in the NFL that they’re going out there and playing with their high school quarterback, so it’s definitely a really cool and unique thing that I think me and him get to experience,” Granson said. “I’m just more than blessed to have the opportunity to play out there with him.”
Granson described Ehlinger as “stone cold,” and several other players praised him for his poise. But at least a few were caught off guard by the decision to bench Ryan, who has engineered game-winning drives in all three of the team’s victories.
“I think everybody’s got their own opinions about it,” center Ryan Kelly said. “I’m not gonna get into mine, but yeah, certainly, I think everybody is a little bit surprised.”
Jelani Woods — who grew up in the Atlanta area watching Ryan with the FalconsHe caught the game-winning pass in Week 3, a win over the Chiefs — said he was “surprised” as well. Woods hadn’t spoken to Ryan yet, planning to give him some time to process his new role. Kelly added that he couldn’t help but feel for Ryan, the QB he and his counterparts up front largely failed to protect.
Ryan had his vision of something special when he was traded from the Falcons and the Colts in March. Seven months later, that opportunity has slipped from his grasp and fallen into the lap of Ehlinger, whose best Colts performance came in the preseason against a lot of players who most likely didn’t make their teams’ 53-man roster.
Is he really ready?
“I don’t think you know you’re ready,” Ehlinger said. “I think you just do everything you can in preparation and then see where it goes from there.”
(Photo of Sam Ehlinger by Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images
