After trial, football 'a saving grace' for Colts' McNary

A cloud hung over Josh McNary for most of the past eight months.

A pending criminal case in which he faced charges of rape, criminal confinement and battery was more than enough to cast that sort of pall.

But things have turned for McNary. He was found not guilty Sept. 3 by a majority female jury, and then, within days, he won another victory.

He got a call from the Indianapolis Colts.

Soon, the inside linebacker was back on the roster, back to football, back doing what he loves.

"Football has kind of been a saving grace and was kind of the constant that I could grab hold of through this event and regain some normalcy in my life," McNary said Wednesday, in his first interview since rejoining the Colts.

McNary was arrested Jan. 14 after the allegations were made. He vehemently denied the accusations through his attorneys, but the damage was done. The Colts placed McNary on the commissioner's exempt list, sidelining him for the AFC Championship Game later that week.

"It was pretty bad timing," McNary said. "It was really unfortunate. I really wanted to play in that game. It would have been the biggest game of my career. But it did happen. I can't cry over it."

During the following months, his contract expired and the team's offseason plans moved forward without him. But McNary remained in his teammates' thoughts.

"I received a lot of support from throughout the team, people reaching out to me and telling me they know better than (to believe) the accusations, that it would only be a matter of time," McNary said.

Once the case was resolved, he got the ultimate reinforcement. General Manager Ryan Grigson called him within days and told him he wanted to conduct a workout with him. McNary, who had worked to stay in optimum shape – "I had a lot of free time on my hands," he said – aced the workout and was signed to the practice squad. He's now on the active roster and made his season debut in Week 2 versus the New York Jets.

"It happened really quickly," McNary said. "It just showed the faith."

The experience has changed McNary. He was careful not to respond to questions that dealt with specifics of the incident. But he spoke generally about some of the things that have swirled his head since the night in question in January.

"The fact of the matter is, you can kind of backtrack and think in hindsight about what you could have done," McNary said. "I could have stayed home... There's a lot of personal takeaways that I plan to implement in my life. Easy changes. Too many to pinpoint."

McAfee honored

Maybe it was that 18-yard run on the fake punt. Or maybe it was the impressive 49.8-yard average of his five punts. Either way, punter Pat McAfee's efforts Sunday against the Tennessee Titans earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

McAfee's contributions weren't minor. He helped the Colts win the field-position battle, something they'd struggled with in the season's first two games.

"I think since (special teams coordinator) Tom McMahon has got here, we've lost the field position battle three times," McAfee said. "It's all been in games that we've lost. It's a full team effort.

"We've got a great group of guys right now playing special teams."

Follow Star reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.