The young quarterbacks for the Indianapolis Colts got their first taste of facing a live opponent on Thursday when the Carolina Panthers came to town for joint training camp practices at the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield.
Suffice it to say, the duo of Jacob Eason and Sam Ehlinger, who are splitting snaps with the first-team offense, had as strong of days as they have had during the first three weeks of camp.
Head coach Frank Reich told the media after Thursday’s practice that he was pleased with how the day went for the young passers.
“Yeah, and actually they (Sam Ehlinger and Jacob Eason) both did,” Reich said Thursday. “I thought the redzone period, both quarterbacks had a nice touchdown pass. Both Sam and Jacob I thought today were really solid. I thought it was solid days by both of them, we’ll look at the film more closely but felt good about the day.”
According to Jake Arthur of Horseshoe Huddle and George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin, Ehlinger finished the day 13-of-16 with three touchdown passes to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., wide receiver Mike Strachan and tight end Jack Doyle.
Meanwhile, Eason went 8-of-11 with a touchdown pass to rookie tight end Kylen Granson.
Given the up-and-down play both quarterbacks have shown throughout the training camp practices in Westfield, this is extremely encouraging to see from the young signal-callers. This becomes even more encouraging when considering the first-team offense has been without three starting offensive linemen in Eric Fisher, Quenton Nelson and Ryan Kelly.
“I just felt like there was pretty good execution all things considered, where we are in camp,” said Reich. “These guys, it’s their first go around, like you said, going up against a NFL defense. We’ll learn from the film and see if we can get them better tomorrow.”
Stacking days together is vital for young players at this time of the preseason and with Carson Wentz’s return still unknown at the moment, this weekend will be huge for Eason and Ehlinger.
The Colts will have one more joint practice with the Panthers on Friday at 4:00 p.m. before hosting the preseason opener on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
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