Doyel: When Andrew Luck struggles, Colts preseason game is for the dogs

Gregg Doyel | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Penalties, sloppy play hurt Colts in loss The Indianapolis Colts lose to the Baltimore Ravens 20-19 Monday night.

INDIANAPOLIS – There were moments. Good moments, I mean. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise, that there were no moments Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, they must have been watching only the game. And if that’s all they saw, well, sure. There were no moments. This game, this thing that happened between the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens, wasn’t momentous. It was moment-less.

But before the game …

And at halftime …

Well, there were moments. You want to read about some of the stuff that happened during the actual game itself, an NFL exhibition game in a mostly empty stadium that one team won by scoring more points than the other team? Fine. I’ll tell you some stuff here in a minute, but not much of it is good. Not as far as the Colts are concerned. Quarterback Andrew Luck wasn’t good (6-for-13 for 50 yards; one interception). The Colts’ offensive line wasn’t good. Their running backs, their receivers, their return man, their penalty-plagued defense and special teams? Not good not good not good not good.

More: Insider: Colts, Andrew Luck sloppy in preseason loss to Ravens

More: Penalties, sloppy play hurt Colts in loss

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But Jack Mewhort? He was good. Jack Mewhort, he was the guy banging on the anvil before the opening kickoff. That’s a relatively new thing the Colts are doing, hitting the anvil. It goes with their #ColtsForged slogan, or something. Most of the time, it’s going to be awkward and even embarrassing for whoever’s hitting the anvil, because … dude? Nobody cares.

But this was Jack Mewhort, the Colts’ injury-plagued offensive lineman until the injuries and the pain conspired to end his career at age 26. Jack Mewhort, second-round draft pick out of Ohio State in 2014, retired last month. But there he was Monday night, banging on the anvil, and the crowd cared. There weren’t many of them – the stadium was half-full, if that – but those who showed up cared and cheered and there was ol’ Mewhort banging away on that anvil. A good moment. No, a great moment.

That was before the game. At halftime, if you were watching – and it’s possible I was the only person in the stadium watching – you were treated to the sight of Colts second-team kicker Michael Badgley staying on the field to kick field goals. Badgley isn’t on the roster to compete with Adam Vinatieri, the sure-thing Hall of Famer. Badgley is here to handle some of the kicking chores in practice, so Vinatieri can save his golden (and 45-year-old) leg for moments like Monday night, when he blasted a 57-yard field goal.

Badgley also is here to catch the eye of other NFL teams, given that few franchises have been as set at kicker as the Colts have been since Vinatieri arrived in 2006. And with seats in the press box reserved for seven scouts from six NFL teams – the Bills, Bengals, Texans, Jets (two seats), Eagles and Steelers – Badgley was on the field at halftime, drilling a kick from 60 yards that would have been good from 65.

And that’s not the moment I’m talking about.

See, Badgley wasn’t alone on the field. I mean, he almost was. Everyone else on both teams was in the locker room, talking about strategy or more likely checking Instagram on their phones, but Badgley was on the field with the halftime entertainment: the Frisbee-catching dog troupe called the K9 Crew Trick Dog Show out of New Castle. They appeared on “America’s Got Talent,” you know.

So anyway, there were three people throwing Frisbees to a handful of dogs, and you know how it is: You can’t tell a dog anything. So these dogs kept chasing Frisbees into the path of Michael Badgley, who was trying to kick field goals, trying to show off for scouts or stay awake or whatever it was he was doing at halftime, and these dogs kept getting in the way.

Badgley was setting up the ball underneath one of those hands-free kicking tees – no holder; he was the only player on the field, I tell you – and backing up three steps and then looking both ways for doggie traffic. Every now and then he’d pause as an Australian Shepherd scooted past, chasing a Frisbee as if the dog owned the place.

That was a good moment.

Colts lose to Ravens 20-19 The Indianapolis Colts lose to the Baltimore Ravens 20-19 on Monday night.

The game? You’re really going to make me describe this, aren’t you? Fine. Let’s start here: The Colts have a Nyheim Hines problem. He can’t hang onto the football.

Seeing how his job is to catch the football at the receiving end of kickoffs and punts, and to advance the football without dropping it, well, you can see how this isn’t going to work out. He fumbled twice in the preseason opener at Seattle, and twice more on Monday night against Baltimore, though one fumble didn’t count if you want to be technical about it, because he coughed it up an instant after his knee hit the turf. On the other hand, I’m not even including the punt Hines bobbled before grabbing it out of the air and going on his merry way. That’s me being Mr. Brightside.

Beyond that, this game didn’t offer much in the way of hard, factual insight. Well, there’s this:

The Colts need Anthony Castonzo (hamstring). Without him, they tried Le’Raven Clark at left tackle. First of all: Colts, don’t ever try that again. Second: Le’Raven, do you understand your job is to protect Andrew Luck’s blind side? No, I’m not sure you do. On the play I’m describing – and there were several bad plays by Clark I could describe – Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs lined up outside of Clark. Colts tight end Jack Doyle also was out there, and Doyle gave Suggs a bump before releasing into his pass route. Chipping, you call that.

Suggs was slowed, but not stopped. That’s the point of chipping; it’s meant to slow down a pass-rusher, not stop him. But Le’Raven Clark, bless him, never looked at Suggs. In Clark’s defense, there are 16 players in NFL history with more career sacks than Suggs’ 125½. It’s not like Suggs is all that good.

So Suggs is running toward Luck’s blind side, and Clark is just standing there, blocking nobody, looking at nobody as Suggs is raking down on Luck’s right shoulder. Fortunately, Luck maintained control of the ball. And his surgically repaired shoulder. And came back to the sideline gleefully telling Castonzo how happy he was to be hit by Suggs, to land on his right elbow, to feel no pain at all.

"Death stare," is how Luck describes Castonzo's reaction.

More insight: The Colts need tailback Marlon Mack (hamstring). Without him, the Colts continued to give Josh Ferguson carries despite all evidence to the contrary, and Jordan Wilkins fumbled near the goal line, though the ball rolled to receiver Chester Rogers, who bent over and picked it up. Touchdown, you call that.

More insight: The Colts need receiver T.Y. Hilton (shoulder). Without him, the Colts have no dynamic playmakers on the outside. Ryan Grant could be one, I suppose, but he dropped the only catchable pass thrown his way. Luck threw another one toward Grant, but as was often the case Monday night, it wasn’t catchable. Luck’s 24.5 passer rating would have been the worst of his regular-season career, if this were a regular-season game.

But it was not, it was a preseason game, and Colts coach Frank Reich understands. Which is why he went for two points after Tarell Basham’s punt block late in regulation led to Phillip Walker’s touchdown pass to Zach Pascal, cutting the Ravens’ lead to 20-19. The conversion failed, and catastrophe was avoided:

Overtime in an NFL preseason game.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter: @GreggDoyelStar or at facebook.com/gregg.doyel.