OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Forty-one years, four months and a week later, the Colts were back in Owings Mills.
Indianapolis held a joint practice Tuesday with the Baltimore Ravens, two days before the teams’ preseason matchup. The Colts have played several games in Baltimore since moving from Charm City to Indianapolis in 1984, but this practice brought them even closer to the defining scene of that relocation — moving vans essentially sneaking the team out of its facility in Owings Mills in the middle of the night in late March of that year.
There’s now a university campus where the Colts’ facility used to be, about a 15-minute drive from where the Ravens practice. The rivalry between Baltimore and Indianapolis isn’t particularly heated anymore, with the Ravens more worried about teams such as Pittsburgh in their own division. Still, Tuesday’s practice included the type of skirmish that is fairly common in joint sessions like this.
“You can’t get out of a joint practice without a fight,” Colts safety Camryn Bynum said. “Obviously, it’s going to get chippy, especially during the special teams phase. That’s a staple in joint practices.”
Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen announced that Anthony Richardson would start at quarterback against the Ravens and play about 1 1/2 quarters, with Daniel Jones playing half a quarter. Then the plan is to start Jones in the following game against Green Bay, with the playing time split reversed.
While those two compete for the starting job with the Colts, Baltimore will keep two-time MVP Lamar Jackson off the field. Coach John Harbaugh confirmed that neither Jackson nor star running back Derrick Henry will play Thursday — and safety Kyle Hamilton wasn’t suited up Tuesday.
This may be as close as Jackson gets to live action against an opponent before the regular season starts — although he said he was careful not to get too involved in the fight.
“I’m chilling. I know the cameras (are) on all of us, so I can’t really do too much,” Jackson said. “But I feel like our guys handled their own.”
Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike took the scrap in stride.
“I was far away. I didn’t see exactly what happened,” he said. “I heard (Ravens cornerback) Nate (Wiggins) was slugging somebody or something. I don’t know, but it was crazy.”
Veteran defensive lineman Brent Urban was back with the Ravens after signing over the weekend.
One of the highlights for the Colts was an interception by rookie safety Hunter Wohler on a pass by Jackson.
“The D-Line made a play and got him flushed, and knowing that it’s a towards-the-end-of-the-game situation, you’ve got to keep your depth and not bite down low,” Wohler said. “And just try to follow the quarterback and hope the ball finds you, and that time it did.”
Wohler said linebacker Segun Olubi told him he’d have a chance to intercept Jackson.
“I was like, ‘Bro, that’s not going to happen. … He’s not going to be in when I’m in there,'” Wohler said. “I’m with the twos. And then yeah, it ended up happening. So that was just kind of a funny little moment that we got to enjoy.”
Steichen said Wohler might be keeping the ball.
“Even though it was practice,” Steichen said. “I said, ‘You keeping the ball?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, it was Lamar.’”
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