WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Jordan Love showed up to Thursday’s practice wearing a red jersey and a bucket hat, his injured left thumb in a protective cast.
A short distance away, on a second field, Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones resumed their battle to become the Indianapolis Colts’ starter.
Yes, the joint practice between the Green Bay Packers and Colts just outside Indianapolis went just like any other training camp practice — with all eyes studying the good, bad and ugly of the quarterbacks.
“Had a torn ligament in my thumb and we did a surgery to repair it. So on the road to recovery,” Love said in his first public comments since having the procedure earlier this week on his non-throwing hand. “If this was in the middle of the season, we probably would have been doing something that we didn’t get the surgery on. But with it still being early, having time to recover and be fully ready for Week 1, the recommendation was for surgery.”
The hope is Love begins working his way back next week and will have a couple of additional weeks to recover before Green Bay’s Sept. 7 season opener against Detroit. Love said it hasn’t been decided whether he’ll participate in next week’s joint practice with Seattle.
So for now, Malik Willis is running the offense. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters Tuesday that Love would be out at least a week.
“I think easing back into it, we might do some things differently just to protect the thumb for now,” Love said. “That’s one of those things where, after having the surgery, you don’t want to go back out there and re-injure it before the season. So we’ll be smart with it.”
Love was injured on the final play of Green Bay’s second series in last week’s loss to the New York Jets. Initially, he said he didn’t think anything was wrong, but he talked with trainers to see what they thought. While he practiced Monday, Love was making handoffs with his right hand instead of his left.
Meanwhile, the Colts still haven’t announced who will start their opener against Miami.
Richardson is expected to get his most extensive action of the preseason when the Colts and Packers square off Saturday. Coach Shane Steichen said earlier this week he plans to use Jones for the first two series and let Richardson take most of the first-half snaps.
That assumes Richardson stays healthy. He missed some of Indy’s offseason workouts with a sore throwing shoulder, and then dislocated the pinkie on his throwing hand during last week’s preseason loss at Baltimore. Trainers popped the finger back into place, but Richardson didn’t take another snap against the Ravens because he couldn’t grip the ball properly.
By Saturday, he was back on the practice field.
Jones and Richardson continued to split snaps Thursday, with both taking turns with the starters and the backups.
But as another week nears its end, no starter has been named.
“I think that’s natural,” Jones said when asked if he wonders when a winner will emerge. “I think in this position, obviously, you’re aware of it and are thinking about it. But I think you know that strategy for me and anyone in this situation is kind of focus as much as you can on what you need to do.”
Colts coach Shane Steichen and Packers coach Matt LaFleur were watching more than just quarterbacks, especially after miserable opening-week performances from both teams.
Near the end of practice, the Packers were credited with a sack of Jones, who then threw an interception as play continued.
He was far from alone in making a mistake.
“I think our youth showed a little bit today in some instances with the injuries we have,” Packers tight end Tucker Kraft said. “We’re out here, full pads, expecting big things from some of the guys we’re elevating and I think we just left some meat on the bone.”
Injury report
Colts receiver Josh Downs suffered a hamstring injury during the practice. Steichen did not have an update on the severity of the injury. Steichen also said defensive end Samson Ebukam has a back injury.
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