Broncos at Colts, 8:25 p.m. Thursday, NBC, NFL

INDIANAPOLIS -- The second start of Quincy Wilson’s NFL career arrived during the first snowfall he’d ever seen.

“I’m a Florida boy, I’m good for now,” the Indianapolis Colts rookie declared a day later, asked if he was anxious to return to the blizzard-like conditions that swept through Buffalo’s New Era Field on Sunday afternoon, blanketing the turf in roughly eight inches of fresh powder while the winds howled and football was reduced to its most elementary level: Run, tackle, and above all – stay on your feet.

“I just accepted it for what it was,” Wilson said. “I knew I’d be freezing, so you do what you’ve got to do. It’s definitely something to talk about. It’s something I’ll tell my kids about one day.”

While the relentless snowfall made no man’s job easy, not on that afternoon, Wilson was afforded a valuable opportunity in a season where they’ve been excruciatingly hard to find. The Colts, down two starting corners, have finally called Wilson’s number in recent weeks if for no other reason than he’s available.

So much for the benching that lasted most of the regular season. Now the Colts have nowhere else to turn.

And Wilson has responded. He played 67 snaps in Sunday’s dreadful conditions, the most of his four games this season, and didn’t miss a single one on defense. He spent the entire second half following the Bills’ top receiver, Kelvin Benjamin, around the snowy field. It was the best game of Wilson’s young career and only his second start.

“It was kind of like a free-for-all (on Sunday), but we also knew that they could only use two routes, the slant and the fade,” Wilson said later. “So, basically, whatever he did at the line told you what it was going to be. They were trying to get a big body out there and throw a jump ball to him.”

It was about the only element of the passing game that worked in the first half. On the Bills’ lone touchdown, late in the second quarter, QB Nathan Peterman lobbed up a jump ball to Benjamin in the end zone, who easily swiped it over Colts corner Kenny Moore. On a day when points were precious, a single score might’ve proved enough.

Benjamin went quiet in the second half after the Colts switched Wilson to his side. No catches, no yards, no nothing.

It was Colts defensive backs coach Greg Williams who suggested the move at the break. At 6-1 and 211 pounds, Wilson owns the size necessary to matchup with the towering 6-5 Benjamin in press coverage. He spent the next 39 minutes proving it.

“Quincy did a great job on him,” Chuck Pagano said this week, one of the rare times a Colts coach has praised Wilson during his rocky rookie campaign.

But there was plenty to like Sunday, Wilson’s first start since he saw 65 snaps in a loss to Arizona in Week 2. That feels like ages ago.

Wilson was the Colts’ top-graded defensive player against the Bills, according to Pro Football Focus, allowing just two catches on six targets for 18 yards. The 42.4 passer rating against him was surely skewed by the snow’s impact on the passing game, but it wasn’t bad for a rookie’s second start in a season that’s been lost for some time. At this point, he’ll take any looks he can get – snow or sunshine. It’s far more about getting better for 2018 than it is about whatever’s left of 2017.

Now, Wilson is getting the repetitions – both in practice and on game days – that a 21-year-old playing a demanding position craves. The only way he’s going to get better is by seeing live bullets, and for the bulk of the last few months, he’s been in football purgatory, stranded on the sidelines, healthy but inactive. Wilson was a healthy scratch four times this year, and that’s never a good thing for a second-round pick.

Now that he’s finally playing, he’s not going to complain about it coming in less than ideal conditions.

“It’s so funny,” Wilson said. “We went out there for pregame and there was like no snow. We came back out 20 minutes later and it’s like, ‘Oh, man. We’re about to be in for it.’

“You just had to stay alive out there.”

With three games left, a playoff spot eliminated and the fanbase thinking next spring’s draft, Pagano was asked Tuesday if he felt it time to play the youngsters more, to start thinking about the future. He quickly shook his head. “We’re going to play to win,” he shot back. “I don’t care how old they are. First year, 13th year.”

Quincy Wilson, just 21, happens to be the youngest player on this roster, and it took until the season’s final month for the rookie cornerback to see the field consistently. He’s not complaining. The Denver Broncos will be in town Thursday night, and somebody’s going to have to follow Demaryius Thomas around the field. Wilson wants to be that guy.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

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