Sam Ehlinger remains Colts’ starting quarterback

Posted by Charean Williams on November 7, 2022, 9:11 PM EST
Indianapolis Colts (3) Vs. New England Patriots (26) At Gillette Stadium
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The Colts have a new head coach. They will not have a new quarterback.

Interim coach Jeff Saturday announced at his introductory news conference that Sam Ehlinger will remain the starter this week against the Raiders.

Then-head coach Frank Reich announced Oct. 24 the Colts would start Ehlinger for the rest of the season. Reich called it the best thing for the organization for Ehlinger to start over Nick Foles or Matt Ryan.

That remains the case despite Reich’s departure.

Ryan started the first seven games when the Colts went 3-3-1. He took 24 sacks, losing a league-high 184 yards, and threw a league-high nine interceptions. Ryan also had 11 fumbles, losing three.

Ehlinger is 0-2 with an interception, no touchdowns, 11 sacks and a lost fumble, while passing for a total of 304 yards.

It is the Colts’ inability to find a long-term solution at the position that ultimately cost Reich his job. Ehlinger is the sixth starter at the position for the Colts since Andrew Luck’s abrupt retirement before the 2019 season.

Saturday also announced that Bernhard Raimann will remain the starting left tackle. The rookie has started three games this season, including Sunday’s loss to the Patriots.

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26 responses to “Sam Ehlinger remains Colts’ starting quarterback”

  1. Looks like the Colts are starting another Suck For Luck campaign. That worked out so well the first time around.

  2. Worst case of tanking I have seen in my 50 years. You bench the former Super Bowl QB for a guy that takes 9 in a game and is not a NFL QB. You fire the coach who got you to the playoffs two of the last four years for a guy that coached in high school. If I was a season ticket holder I would be pissed. As horrible as the Commanders owner is, at least he is trying to win,

  3. My guess is that Irsay thinks the O-line is issue #1 and believes Saturday can fix it? That sounds utterly ridiculous to me, but I can’t think of any other reason he hired him.

  10. Wait a second. I thought tanking wasn’t allowed? This is a clear tank job. Saying he is the best QB option for your team is admitting it.

  12. I can see not playing Ryan and risking all that extra money. But you have literally the Cinderella backup and you don’t play him either?? Gross.

  13. Does anyone really believe that Saturday will be making any decisions that are not approved by Irsay?

  14. Irsay: here’s an offer of a lifetime
    Saturday: what’s the catch?
    Irsay: start ehlinger and lose out
    Saturday: deal.

  15. People accusing the Colts of tanking haven’t been paying attention. They weren’t exactly setting the world on fire with Matt Ryan and Frank Reich.

  16. Whatever – it just shows that the team is only as good as the QB – when Payton got hurt and then left and when they drafted the next big thing who got hurt and left they have had nothing but failures since. Saturday played center for Payton so he must know a little bit about the Offense – but he is just a care taker and we will see if Irsay can finally hit is with somebody who can manage the team – and part of that is selecting and getting a good coaching team – the fact that he has to do the minority coaching selecting process is good but I wonder if there are guys who can not only be good coaches but good team builders – what has happened in Tampa this year takes one out of the equation IMO – He might want to bring Caldwell back and maybe Bieniemy from KC might have learned a lot from Andy – but the flavor of the times seems to be these young geniuses as in LAR, San Fran GB and I am not so sure that is going to be the way to go. Any way one looks at it somebody needs to be in that front office who knows how to scout and draft.

  17. The Steelers should hire Frank Reich ASAP. He would be a major upgrade over Matt Canada and make the Steelers offense instantly better. That being said, Canada has set such a ridiculously low bar the stadium grounds keeper might be an instant upgrade.

  18. These are some of the best, most sound decisions made by an NFL team in recent memory. Irsay is a brilliant owner. What a way to rebound mid season from a minor slump. Don’t believe me? Just ask Pat McAfee.

  19. canadapacker says:
    November 7, 2022 at 10:54 pm

    Whatever – it just shows that the team is only as good as the QB – when Payton got hurt and then left and when they drafted the next big thing who got hurt and left they have had nothing but failures since. Saturday played center for Payton so he must know a little bit about the Offense – but he is just a care taker and we will see if Irsay can finally hit is with somebody who can manage the team – and part of that is selecting and getting a good coaching team – the fact that he has to do the minority coaching selecting process is good but I wonder if there are guys who can not only be good coaches but good team builders – what has happened in Tampa this year takes one out of the equation IMO – He might want to bring Caldwell back and maybe Bieniemy from KC might have learned a lot from Andy – but the flavor of the times seems to be these young geniuses as in LAR, San Fran GB and I am not so sure that is going to be the way to go. Any way one looks at it somebody needs to be in that front office who knows how to scout and draft.

    _______________________________

    Peyton

  20. “You bench the former Super Bowl QB for a guy that takes 9 in a game and is not a NFL QB”

    They’ve got TWO superbowl QBs sitting on the bench right now. You can’t make this stuff up!

  21. When it comes to not playing Ryan he is making a financial decision as a portion of Ryan’s contract is guaranteed for injury and he has no plans on bringing him back next year.

    I was actually surprised he fired Reich before the end of the year unless he thinks Reich would still manage to win a few games this year and cost him draft position.

  22. Jeff Saturday doesn’t need money. The Colts are the reason. They asked him to take a job as a “lame duck” coach, he said, “I owe you, sure”. Don’t bash on the man. He will do his best. He knows line protections, just ask Peyton. He knows how to block. What is the Colts biggest problem? Line protection and blocking. He will help. Now he should be an assistant offensive line coach, not a head coach, but details.

  23. I forgot they had Nick Foles on the roster. That makes all of the recent decisions even worse.

  26. “My guess is that Irsay thinks the O-line is issue #1 and believes Saturday can fix it? That sounds utterly ridiculous to me, but I can’t think of any other reason he hired him.”
    ________

    Honestly, that’s probably it and just shows how clueless Irsay is. Rather than get better personnel or a better position coach hire a former lineman as head coach where he’ll be busy with everything else and have almost no time to dedicate to the O-line. His mere presence in the building as a former lineman will magically improve things.

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