Colts wide receiver Austin Collie has been a full participant in just about every practice since the start of the regular season, but he is still waiting to make his 2012 debut.
If he’s going to make that debut this weekend against the Jaguars, Collie is going to get one more go-ahead from doctors. Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star reports that Colts coach Chuck Pagano said Friday that Collie needs to meet with the medical folks on Saturday before he’ll be given the green light to get on the field for the game. Collie suffered a concussion, his fourth in less than two years, during one of the team’s preseason games.
It’s not known exactly what Collie has to show the doctors to satisfy them. He’s had full clearance in terms of practice for a while and there’s been no indication of any setback from a player who Pagano essentially deemed ready to go before the first game of the season before leaving him on the inactive list.
With a bye looming in Week Four, you wonder if the Colts might choose to keep Collie on the sideline this weekend to buy him a little bit more time before he returns to game action. The argument against that is that Collie’s not going to be in any better position to avoid another concussion by waiting a little bit longer. At some point the Colts are going to have to bite the bullet and roll the dice or move on from Collie because it doesn’t sound like there’s going to be major changes in his condition in the coming days or weeks.